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played with mrs after supper and gave us a couple of tunes on the october â the gloomy of last night were not fulfilled as the wind died away again and we are lying now in a long greasy swell here and there by a fleeting which is insufficient to fill the sails the air is colder than it was yesterday and i have put on one of the thick which my wife for me came into my cabin in the morning and we had a cigar together he sa s that he remembers having seen in in he was it appears a mystery then as now wandering about without any visible employment and extremely on his own affairs the man interests me as a study at breakfast this morning i suddenly had that vague feeling of uneasiness which comes over some people when closely stared at and looking quickly up i met his eyes bent upon me with an intensity which amounted to ferocity though their j s statement expression instantly softened as he made some conventional remark upon the weather curiously enough says that he had a very similar experience yesterday upon deck i observe that frequently talks to the coloured as he about â a trait which i rather admire as it is common to find their dark strain and treat their black with greater than a white man would do his little page is devote d to him apparently which speaks well for his treatment of him altogether the man is a curious mixture of qualities and unless i am deceived in him will give me food for observation during the voyage the captain is grumbling about his which do not register exactly the same time he says it is the first time that they have ever we were unable to get a observation on account of the haze by dead reckoning we have done about a hundred and seventy miles in the twenty four hours the dark have proved as the to be very inferior hands but as they can both manage the wheel well they are kept and so leave the more experienced men to work the ship these details are trivial enough but a small thing serves as food for gossip aboard ship the appearance of a whale in the evening caused quite a flutter among us from its sharp back and tail i should pronounce it to have been a or as they are called by the october tâ wind was cold so i remained â j s statement in my cabin all day only creeping out for dinner lying in my i can without moving reach my books pipes or anything else i may want which is one advantage of a small apartment my old wound began to ache a little to day probably from the cold read s essays and nursed myself came in in the afternoon with the captain s child and the himself followed so that i held quite a reception october and â still cold with a continual of rain and i have not been able to leave the cabin this confinement makes me feel weak and depressed came in to see me but his company did not tend to cheer me up much as he hardly uttered a word but contented himself with staring at me in a peculiar and rather manner he then got up and stole out of the cabin without saying anything am beginning to suspect that the man is a lunatic i think i mentioned that his cabin is next to mine the two are simply divided by a thin wooden which is cracked in many places some of the cracks being so large that i can hardly avoid as i lie in my observing his motions in the adjoining room without any wish to play the spy i see him continually stooping over what appears to be a and working with a pencil and i have remarked the interest he in matters connected with but i am surprised that he should take the trouble to work out the course of the ship however it is a harmless amusement enough and y s statement ne he his results by those of the captain i wish the man did not run in my thoughts so much i had a nightmare on the night of the th in which i thought my was a coffin that i was laid out in it and that was endeavouring to nail up the lid which i was pushing away even when i woke up i could hardly persuade myself that i was not in a coffin as a medical man i know that a nightmare is simply a of the and yet in my weak state i cannot shake off the morbid impression which it produces october â a fine day with hardly a cloud in the sky and a fresh breeze from the sou west which us gaily on our way there has evidently been some heavy weather near us as there is a tremendous swell on and the ship until the end of the fore yard nearly touches the water had a refreshing walk up and down the quarter deck though i have hardly found my sea legs yet several small birds â i think â perched in the p m â while i was on deck this morning i heard a sudden explosion from the direction of my cabin and hurrying down found that i had very nearly met with a serious accident was cleaning a revolver it seems in his cabin when one of the barrels which he thought was went off the ball passed through the side and itself in the in the exact place where my head usually rests i have been under fire too often to j s statement trifles but there is no doubt that if i had been in the it must have killed me poor fellow did

3Edith Wharton

not know that i gone on deck that day and must therefore have felt terribly frightened i never saw such emotion in a man s face as when on rushing out of his cabin with the smoking pistol in his hand he met me face to face as i came down from deck of course he was in his apologies though i simply laughed at the incident p m â a misfortune has occurred so unexpected and so horrible that my little escape of the morning into mrs and her child have disappeared â utterly and entirely disappeared can hardly compose myself to write the sad details about half past eight rushed into my cabin with a very white face and asked me if i had seen his wife i answered that i had not he then ran wildly into the saloon and began groping about for any trace of her while i followed him endeavouring vainly to persuade him that his fears were ridiculous we hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without coming on any sign of the missing woman or child poor lost his voice completely from calling her name even the sailors who are generally stolid enough were deeply affected by the sight of him as he and about the deck searching with feverish anxiety the most impossible places and returning to them again and again with a piteous the last time she was seen was about seven o clock when she took on to the to give him a j statement breath of fresh air before putting him to bed there was no one there at the time except the black seaman at the wheel who having seen her at all the whole affair is wrapped in mystery my own theory is that while mrs was holding the child and standing near the it gave a spring and fell overboard and that in her attempt to catch or save it she followed it i cannot account for the double disappearance in any other way it is quite that such a tragedy should be without the knowledge of the man at the wheel since it was dark at the time and the of the saloon screen the greater part of the quarter deck whatever the truth may be it is a terrible catastrophe and has cast the darkest gloom upon our voyage the mate has put the ship about but of course there is not the slightest hope of picking them up the captain is lying in a state of stupor in his cabin i gave him a powerful dose of in his coffee that for a few hours at least his anguish may be october â woke with a vague feeling of and misfortune but it was not until a few moments reflection that i was able to recall our loss of the night before when i came on deck i saw the poor standing gazing back at the waste of waters behind us which contains everything dear to him upon earth attempted to speak to him but he turned away and began pacing the deck with his head sunk upon his breast even now when the truth is so clear he cannot pass a boat or an sail without j s statement peering under it he looks ten years older than he did yesterday morning is terribly cut up for he was fond of little and seems sorry too at least he has shut himself up in his cabin all day and when i got a casual glance at him his head was resting on his two hands as if in a melancholy reverie i fear we are about as dismal a crew as ever sailed how shocked my wife will be to hear of our disaster i the swell has gone down now and we are doing about eight knots with all sail set and a nice little breeze is practically in command of the ship as though he does his best to bear up and keep a brave front is incapable of applying himself to serious work october â is the ship accursed was there ever a voyage which began so fairly and which changed so shot himself through the head during the night i was awakened about three o clock in the morning by an explosion and immediately sprang out of bed and rushed into the captain s cabin to find out the cause though with a terrible in my heart quickly as i went went more quickly still for he was already in stooping over the dead body of the captain it was a hideous sight for the whole front of his face was blown in and the little room was swimming in the pistol was lying beside him on the floor just as it had dropped from his hand he had evidently put it to his mouth before pulling the and i picked him reverently up and laid him on his bed the crew had all clustered into his cabin j s statement and the six white men were deeply grieved for they were old hands who had sailed with him many years there were dark looks and murmurs among them too and one of them openly declared that the ship was haunted helped to lay the poor out and we did him up in canvas between us at twelve the was hauled and we committed his body to the deep reading the church of england burial service the breeze has up and we have done ten knots all day and sometimes twelve the sooner we reach and get away from this accursed ship the better pleased shall i be i feel as though we were in a floating coffin little wonder that the poor sailors are superstitious when i an educated man feel it so strongly october â made a good run all day feel and depressed october â and i had a chat together

3Edith Wharton

on deck in the morning tried to draw out as to his profession and his object in going to europe but the all his questions and gave us no information indeed he seemed to be slightly offended by s and went down into his cabin i wonder why we should both take such an interest in this man i i suppose it is his striking appearance coupled with his apparent wealth which our curiosity has a theory that he is really a that he is after some criminal who has got away to and that he chooses this peculiar way of travelling that he may o j s statement arrive unnoticed and upon his unawares i think the supposition is rather a far fetched one but it upon a book which left on deck and which he picked and glanced over it was a sort of scrap book it seems and contained a large number of newspaper all these related to which had been committed at various times in the states during the last twenty years or so the curious thing which observed about them however was that they were invariably the authors of which had never been brought to justice they varied in every detail he says as to the manner of execution and the social of the victim but hey uniformly wound up with the same that the murderer was still at large though of course the police had every reason to expect his speedy capture certainly the incident seems to support s theory though it may be a mere whim of s or as i suggested to he may be collecting materials for a book which shall de in any case it is no business of ours october â wind still fair aud we are making good progress strange how easily a human may drop out of its place and be forgotten i is hardly ever mentioned now has taken possession of his cabin and all goes on as before were it not for mrs s sewing machine upon a side table we might forget that the unfortunate family had ever existed another accident occurred on board to day though fortunately not a very serious one one of j s statement f our white hands had gone down the to fetch up a spare of rope when one of the which he had removed came crashing down on the top of him he saved his life by springing out of the way but one of his feet was terribly crushed and he will be of little use for the remainder of the voyage he attributes the accident to the carelessness of his negro companion who had helped him to shift the the latter however puts it down to the roll of the ship whatever be the cause it our crew still further this run of ill luck seems to be for he has lost his usual good spirits and is the only one who preserves his cheerfulness i see him still working at his in his own cabin his knowledge would be useful should anything happen to â which god forbid october â still along with a fresh breeze all quiet and nothing of note to chronicle october â my weak lungs combined with the exciting of the voyage have shaken my nervous system so much that the most trivial incident affects me i can hardly believe that i am the same man who tied the external an operation requiring the precision under a heavy rifle fire at i am as nervous as a child i was lying half last night about four bells in the middle watch trying in vain to drop into a refreshing sleep there was no light inside my cabin but a single ray of moonlight streamed in through the port j s statement hole throwing a silvery flickering circle upon the door as i lay i kept my drowsy eyes upon this circle and was conscious that it was gradually becoming less as my senses left me when i was suddenly recalled to full by the appearance of a small dark object in the very centre of the luminous i lay quietly and watching it gradually it grew larger and and then i perceived that it was a human hand which had been cautiously inserted through the of the door â a hand which as i observed with a thrill of horror was not provided with fingers the door swung cautiously backwards and s head followed his hand it appeared in the centre of the moonlight and was framed as it were in a ghastly uncertain against which his features showed out plainly it seemed to me that i had never seen such an utterly and merciless expression upon a human face his eyes were dilated and glaring his lips drawn back so as to show his white and his straight black hair appeared to over his low forehead like the hood of a the sudden and noiseless apparition had such an effect upon me that i sprang up in bed trembling in every limb and held out my hand towards my revolver i was heartily ashamed of my when he explained the object of his intrusion as he immediately did in the most courteous language he bad been suffering from poor fellow and had come in to beg some knowing that i possessed a medicine y statement as to a sinister expression he is never a beauty and what with my state of nervous and the effect of the shifting moonlight it was easy to up something horrible i gave him twenty drops and he went off again with many expressions of gratitude i can hardly say how much this trivial incident affected me i have felt all day a week s record of our voyage is here omitted as nothing occurred during the time and my log consists merely of a few pages of unimportant gossip november â and i

3Edith Wharton

sat on the all the morning for the weather is becoming very warm as we come into southern we reckon that we have done two thirds of our voyage how glad we shall be to see the green banks of the and leave this unlucky ship for ever i i was endeavouring to amuse to day and to while away the time by telling him some of the experiences of my past life among others i related to him how i came into the possession of my black stone and as a i in the side pocket of my old shooting coat and produced the identical object in question he and i were bending over it together i pointing out to him the curious upon its surface when we were conscious of a shadow falling between us and the sun and looking round saw standing behind us glaring over our shoulders at the stone for some reason or other he appeared to be powerfully excited though he was evidently trying to control himself and to conceal his emotion he pointed once or twice at my y s statement with his thumb before he could recover himself sufficiently to ask what it was and how i obtained it â a question put in such a manner that i should have been offended had i not known the man to be an eccentric i told him the story very much as i had told it to he listened with the deepest in and then asked me if i had any idea what the stone was i said i had not beyond that it was he asked me if i had ever tried its effect upon a negro i said i had not come said he we ll see what our black friend at the wheel thinks of it he took the stone in his hand and went across to the sailor and the two examined it carefully i could see the man and nodding his head excitedly as if making some assertion while his face betrayed the utmost astonishment mixed i think with some reverence came across the deck to us presently still holding the stone in his hand he says it is a worthless useless thing he said and fit only to be overboard with which he raised his hand and would most certainly have made an end of my had the black sailor behind him not rushed forward and seized him by the wrist finding himself secured dropped the stone and turned away with a very bad grace to avoid my angry at his breach of faith the black picked up the stone and handed it to me with a low bow and every sign of profound respect the whole affair is inexplicable i am rapidly coming to the conclusion that is a or something very near one when i compare y s statement y â â the produced by the stone upon the sailor however with the respect shown to on the tion and the surprise of on its first production i cannot but come to the conclusion that i have really got hold of some powerful which appeals to the whole dark race i must not trust it in s hands again november â what splendid weather we are having beyond one little blow we have had nothing but fresh breezes the whole voyage these two days we have made better runs than any hitherto it is a pretty thing to watch the spray fly up from our as it cuts through the waves the sun shines through it and breaks it up into a number of miniature â sun dogs the sailors call them i stood on the fo head for several hours to day watching the effect and surrounded by a of colours the has evidently told the other about my wonderful stone for i am treated by them all with the greatest respect talking about phenomena we had a curious one yesterday evening which was pointed out to me by this was the appearance of a well defined object high up in the heavens to the north of us he explained that it was exactly like the peak of as seen from a great distance â the peak was however at that moment at least five hundred miles to the south it may have been a cloud or it may have been one of those strange reflections of which one reads the weather is very warm the mate says that he never knew it so warm â j s statement in these played with in the evening november lo â it is getting warmer and warmer some land birds came and perched in the today though we are still a considerable way from our destination the heat is so great that we are too lazy to do anything but about the decks and smoke came over to me to day and asked me some more questions about my stone but i answered him rather shortly for i have not quite forgiven him yet for the cool way in which he attempted to deprive me of it november ii â still making good progress i had no idea was ever as hot as this but no doubt it is cooler on land himself seemed surprised at it and so do the men november â a most extraordinary event has happened so extraordinary as to be almost inexplicable either has wonderfully or some influence has disturbed our instruments just about daybreak the watch on the fo head shouted out that he heard the sound of surf ahead and thought he saw the loom of land the ship was put about and though no lights were seen none of us doubted that we had struck the coast a little sooner than we had expected what was our surprise to see â the scene which was revealed to us at break of day as far as we could look

3Edith Wharton

on either side was one long line of surf great green rolling in and breaking into a cloud of foam but behind the j statement surf what was there not the green banks nor the high cliffs of the shores of but a great sandy waste which stretched away and away until it blended with the to right and left where you would there was nothing but yellow sand heaped in some places into fantastic some of them hundred feet high while in other parts were long stretches as level apparently as a board and i who had come on deck together looked at each other in astonishment and burst out laughing is exceedingly at the occurrence and that the instruments have been with there is no doubt that this is the of africa and that it was really the peak of which we saw some days ago upon the northern horizon at the time when we saw the land birds we must have been passing some of the islands if we continued on the same course we are now to the north of cape near the country which skirts the great all we can do is to our instruments as far as possible and start afresh for our destination p m â have been lying in a calm all day the coast is now about a mile and a half from us has examined the instruments but cannot find any reason for their extraordinary this is the end of my private journal and i must make the remainder of my statement from memory there is little chance of my being mistaken about facts which have themselves into my recollection j s statement that very night the storm which had been so long burst over us and i came to learn whither all those little incidents were tending which i had recorded so blind fool that i was not to have seen it sooner i i shall tell what occurred as precisely as i can i had gone into my cabin about half past eleven and was preparing to go to bed when a tap came at my door on opening it i saw s little black page who told me that his master would like to have a word with me on deck i was rather surprised that he should want me at such a late hour but i went up without hesitation i had hardly put my foot on the quarter deck before i was seized from behind dragged down upon my back and a handkerchief slipped round my mouth i struggled as hard as i could but a of rope was rapidly and firmly wound round me arid i found myself lashed to the of one of the boats utterly powerless to do or say anything while the point of a knife pressed to my throat warned me to cease my struggles the night was so dark that i had been unable hitherto to recognise my but as my eyes became accustomed to the gloom and the moon broke out through the clouds that obscured it i made out that i was surrounded by the two negro sailors the black cook and my fellow passenger another man was crouching on the deck at my feet but he was in the shadow and i could not recognise him â all this occurred so rapidly that a minute could hardly have elapsed from the time i mounted the com j s statement until i found myself and powerless it was so sudden that i could scarce bring myself to it or to comprehend what it all meant i heard the gang round me speaking in short fierce whispers to each other and some instinct told me that my life was the question at issue spoke and angrily â the others and all together as if his commands then they moved away in a body to the opposite side of the deck where i could still hear them whispering though they were concealed from my view by the saloon all this time the voices of the watch on deck and laughing at the other end of the ship were distinctly audible and i could see them gathered in a group little dreaming of the dark doings which going on within thirty yards of them oh that i could have given them one word of warning even though i had lost my life in doing it but it was impossible the moon was shining through the scattered clouds and i could see the silvery gleam of the and beyond it the vast weird desert with its fantastic sand hills glancing down i saw that the who had been crouching on the deck was still lying there and as i gazed at him a flickering ray of moonlight fell full upon his face great heaven even now when more than twelve years have elapsed my hand as i write that in spite of distorted features and projecting eyes i recognised the face of the cheery young clerk who had been my companion during the voyage it needed no o j s statement m â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â p â i m eye to see that he was quite dead while the twisted handkerchief round the neck and the in his mouth showed the silent way in which the hell hounds had done their work the clue which explained every event of our voyage came upon me like a flash of light as i gazed on poor ton s corpse much was dark and but i felt a great dim perception of the truth i heard the striking of a match at the other side of the and then i saw the gaunt figure of standing up on the and holding in his hands what appeared to be a dark lantern he lowered

3Edith Wharton

this for a moment over the side of the ship and to my astonishment i saw it answered by a flash among the sand hills on shore which came and went so rapidly that unless i had been following the direction of s gaze i should never have detected it again he lowered the lantern and again it was answered from the shore he then stepped down from the and in doing so slipped making such a noise that for a moment my heart bounded with the thought that the attention of the watch would be directed to his proceedings it was a vain hope the night was calm and the ship motionless so that no idea of duty kept them who after the death of was in command of both watches had gone below to snatch a few hours sleep and the who was left in charge was standing with the other two men at the foot of the powerless speechless with the cutting y s statement into my flesh and the murdered man at my feet i awaited the next act in the tragedy the four were standing up now at the other side of the deck the cook was armed with some sort of a the others had knives and had a revolver they were all leaning against the rail and looking out over the water as if watching for something i saw one of them grasp another s arm and point as if at some object and following the direction i made out the loom of a large moving mass making towards the ship as it emerged from the gloom i saw that it was a great crammed with men and by at least a score of as it shot under our stern the watch caught sight of it also and raising a cry hurried aft they were too late however a swarm of gigantic over the quarter and led by swept down the deck in an irresistible torrent all opposition was overpowered in a moment the watch were knocked over and bound and the dragged out of their and secured in the same manner made an attempt to defend the narrow passage leading to his cabin and i heard a and his voice shouting for assistance there was none to assist however and he was brought on to the with the blood streaming from a deep cut in his forehead he was like the others and a council was held upon our fate by the i saw our black pointing towards me and making some statement which was received with murmurs of astonishment and incredulity j s statement by tne savages one of them then came over to me and plunging his hand into my pocket took out my black stone and held it up he then handed it to a man who appeared to be a chief who examined it as as the light would permit and muttering a few words passed it on to the warrior beside him who also it and passed it on until it had gone from hand to hand round the whole circle the chief then said a few words to in the native tongue on which the addressed me in english at this moment i seem to see the scene the tall of the ship with the moonlight streaming down the yards and bringing the of into hard relief the group of dusky warriors leaning on their the dead man at my feet the line of white faced prisoners and in front of me the half breed looking in his white linen and elegant clothes a strange contrast to his associates you will bear me witness he said in his accents that i am no party to your life if it rested with me you would die as these other men are about to do i have no personal grudge against either you or them but i have devoted my life to the destruction of the white race and you are the first that has ever been in my power and has escaped me you may thank that stone of yours for your life these poor fellows reverence it and indeed if it really be what they think it is they have cause should it prove when we get ashore that they are mistaken and that its shape and material is a mere chance nothing y s statement can save your life in the meantime we wish to treat you well so if there are any of your possessions which you would like to take with you you are at liberty to get them as he finished he gave a sign and a couple of the me though without removing the i was led down into the cabin where i put a few into my pockets together with a and my journal of the voyage they then pushed me over the side into a small which was lying beside the large one and my guards followed me and off began for the shore we had got about a hundred yards or so from the ship when our held up his hand and the paused for a moment and listened then on the silence of the night i heard a sort of dull moaning sound followed by a succession of in the water that is all i know of the fate of my poor almost immediately afterwards the large followed us and the deserted ship was left drifting about â a dreary like nothing was taken from her by the savages the whole transaction was carried through as and as though it were a religious the first grey of daylight was visible in the east as we passed through the and reached the shore leaving half a dozen men with the the rest of the set off through the sand hills leading me with them but treating me very gently and respectfully it was difficult walking as we sank

3Edith Wharton

over our ankles into the loose shifting sand at every step and mm j s statement i was nearly dead beat by the time we reached the native village or town rather for it was a place of considerable dimensions the houses were not unlike bee and were made of com pressed over with a rude of mortar there being neither stick nor stone upon th coast nor anywhere within many hundreds of miles as we entered the town am enormous crowd of both sexes came out to meet us beating tom and howling and screaming on seeing me they their and assumed a threatening attitude which was instantly by a few words shouted by my escort a of der succeeded the war cries and of the before and the whole dense mass proceeded down the broad central street of the town having my escort and myself ia the centre my statement hitherto may seem so strange as to excite doubt in the minds of those who do not know me but it was the fact which i am now about to relate which caused my own brother in law to insult me by i can but relate the occurrence in the simplest words and trust to chance and time to prove their truth in the centre of this main street there was a large building formed in the same way as the others but towering high above them j a of beautifully polished rails wa planted all round it of the door was formed by two magnificent elephant s sunk in the ground on each side and meeting at the top and y s statement â â the was closed by a screen of native cloth richly embroidered with gold we made our way to this imposing looking structure but on reaching the opening in the the multitude stopped and down upon their while i was led through into the by a few of the chiefs and elders of the tribe accompanying us and in fact directing the proceedings on reaching the screen which closed the temple â for such it evidently was â my hat and my shoes were removed and i was then led in a venerable old negro leading the way carrying in his hand my stone which had been taken from my pocket the building was only lit up by a few long in the roof through which the tropical sun poured throwing broad golden bars upon the clay floor with intervals of darkness the interior was even larger than one would have imagined from the outside appearance the walls were hung with native shells and other ornaments but the remainder of the great space was quite empty with the exception of a single object in the centre this was the figure of a colossal negro which i at first thought to be some real king or high priest of size but as i approached it i saw by the way in which the light was reflected from it that it was a statue admirably cut in jet black stone i was led up to this idol for such it seemed to be and looking at it closer i saw that though it was perfect in every other respect one of its ears had been broken short off the grey haired negro who held my mounted upon a small stool and j statement stretching up his arm fitted s black stone on to the jagged surface on the side of the statue s head there could not be a doubt that the one had been broken off from the other the parts together so accurately that when the old man removed his hand the ear stuck in its place for a few seconds before dropping into his open palm the group round me themselves upon the ground at the sight with a cry of reverence while the crowd outside to whom the result was communicated set up a wild and cheering in a moment i found myself converted from a prisoner into a god i was escorted back through the town in triumph the people pressing forward to touch my clothing and to gather up the dust on which my foot had trod one of the largest huts was put at my disposal and a banquet of every native delicacy was served me i still felt however that i was not a free man as several were placed as a guard at the entrance of my hut all day my mind was occupied with plans of escape but none seemed in any way on the one side was the great arid desert stretching away to on the other was a sea by vessels the more i pondered over the problem the more hopeless did it seem i little dreamed how near i was to its solution night had fallen and the of the had died gradually away i was stretched on the couch of skins which had been provided for me and was still meditating over my future when walked stealthily j s statement into the hut my first idea was that he had come to complete his by making away with me the last and i sprang up upon my feet determined to defend myself to the last he smiled when he saw the action and me down again while he seated himself upon the other end of couch what do you think of me was the astonishing question with which he commenced our conversation think of you i almost i think you the most unnatural that ever the earth if we were away from these black devils of yours i would you with my hands i don t speak so loud he said without the slightest appearance of irritation i don t want our chat to be cut short so you would me would you â he went on with an amused smile i suppose i am returning good for evil for i

3Edith Wharton

have come to help you to escape you i gasped yes i he continued oh there is no credit to tne in the matter i am quite consistent ther is no reason why i should not be perfectly candid with you i wish to be king over these fellows â not a very high ambition certainly but you know what caesar said about being first in a village in well unlucky stone of yours has not only saved your life but has turned all their heads so that they think you down from heaven and my influence will be gone until you are out of the way that is why i am going td help you to escape since i cannot kill you j s statement â this in the most natural and voice as if the desire to do so were â i matter of course you would give the world to ask me a few questions he went on after a pause but you are too proud to do it never mind i ll tell you one or two things because i want your fellow white men to know them when you go back â if you are lucky enough to get back about that cursed stone of yours for instance these or at least so the legend goes were originally while himself was still alive there was a among his followers and the smaller party moved away from and eventually crossed africa they took away with them in their exile a valuable of their old faith in the shape of a large piece of the black stone of the stone was a one as you may have heard and in its fell upon the earth it broke into two pieces one of these pieces is still at the larger piece was carried away to where a skilful it into the fashion which you saw to day these men are the descendants of the original from and they have brought their safely through all their wanderings until they in this place where the desert them from their enemies and the ear i asked almost involuntarily oh that was the same story over again some of the tribe wandered away to the south a few hundred years ago and one of them wishing to have good luck for the enterprise got into the temple at night and carried y statement off one of the ears there has been a tradition among the ever since that the ear would come back some day the fellow who carried it was caught by some no doubt and that was how it got into america and so into your hands â and you have had the honour of the prophecy he paused for a few minutes resting his head upon his hands waiting apparently for me to speak when he looked up again the whole expression of his face had changed his features were firm and set and he changed the air of half levity with which he had spoken before for one of and almost ferocity i wish you to carry a message back he said to the white race the great race whom i hate and defy tell them that i have on their blood for twenty years that i have slain them until even i became tired of what had once been a joy that i did this unnoticed and in the face of every precaution which their could suggest there is no satisfaction in revenge when your enemy does not know who has struck him i am not sorry therefore to have you as a messenger there is no why i should tell you how this great hate became born in me see this and he held up his hand that was done by a white man s knife my father was white my mother was a slave when he died she was sold again and i a child then saw her lashed to death to break her of some of the little airs and graces which her late master had encouraged in her my young wife too oh my young wife i a o j s statement shudder ran through his whole frame no matter i i swore my oath and i kept it from to and from boston to san you could track my steps by sudden deaths which baffled the police i against the whole white race as they for centuries had against the black one at last as tell you i of blood still the sight of a white face was to me and i determined to find some bold free black people and to throw in my lot with them to cultivate their latent powers and to form a for a great coloured nation this idea possessed me and i travelled over the world for two years seeking for what i desired at last i almost of finding it there was no hope of in the slave dealing the or the of i was returning from my quest when chance brought me in contact with this magnificent tribe of in the desert and i threw in my lot with them before doing so however my old instinct of revenge prompted me to make one last visit to the united states and i returned from it in the as to the voyage itself your intelligence will have told you by this time that thanks to my tion both and were entirely i alone worked out the course with correct instruments of my own while the was done by my black friends under my guidance i pushed s wife overboard what you look surprised and shrink away surely you had guessed that by this y son s i time i would have shot you that day through the but unfortunately you were not there i tried again afterwards but you were awake i shot i think the idea of suicide was carried out rather neatly of

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course when once we got on the coast the rest was simple i had that all on board should die but that stone of yours upset my plans i also that there should be no plunder no one can say we are we have acted from principle not from any sordid motive i listened in amazement to the summary of his crimes which this strange man gave me all in the and most composed of voices as though incidents of every day occurrence i still seem to see him sitting like a hideous nightmare at the end of my couch with the single rude lamp flickering over his features and now he continued there is no difficulty about your escape these stupid adopted children of mine will say that you have gone back to heaven from whence you came the wind blows off the land i have a boat all ready for you well stored with provisions and water i am anxious to be rid of ou so you may rely that nothing is neglected rise up and follow me i did what he commanded and he led me through the door of the hut the guards had either been withdrawn or had arranged matters with them we passed through the town and across the sandy plain once more i heard the roar of the f y ha ba s st a sea and saw the long white line of th two figures were standing upon the shore arranging the gear of a small boat they were the two sailors who had been with us on the voyage see him safely through the surf said the two men sprang in and pushed off pulling me in after them with and we ran out from the land and passed safely over the bar then my two companions without a word of farewell sprang overboard and i saw their heads like black on the white foam as they made their way back to the shore while i away into the blackness of the night looking back i caught my last glimpse of he was standing upon the summit of a sand hill and the rising moon behind him threw his gaunt figure into hard relief he was waving his arms to and fro it may have been to encourage me on my way but the gestures seemed to me at the time to be threatening ones and i have often thought that it was more likely that his old savage instinct had returned when he that i was out of his power be that as it may it was the last that i ever saw or ever shall see of there is no for me to dwell upon my solitary voyage i as well as i could for the but was picked up upon the fifth day by the british and african steam company s boat let me take this opportunity of my thanks to captain and his officers for the great kindness which they showed me that time till j ha ba k st a they landed me in liverpool where i was enabled to take one of the boats to new york from the day on which i found myself once more in the bosom of my family i have said little of what i have undergone the subject is still an intensely painful one to me and the little which i have dropped has been i now put the facts before the public as they occurred careless how far they may be believed and simply writing them down because my is growing weaker and i feel the responsibility of holding my peace longer i make no vague statement turn to your map of africa there above cape where the land away north and south from the point of the continent there it is that still over his dark subjects unless has overtaken him and there where the long green run swiftly in to roar and hiss upon the hot yellow sand it is there that lies with and the other poor fellows who were done to death in the the great experiment of all the which have puzzled the sons of men none had such an attraction for the learned professor von as those which relate to and the ill defined relations between mind and matter a celebrated a profound and one of the first in europe it was a relief for him to turn from these subjects and to bring his varied knowledge to bear upon the study of the soul and the mysterious relationship of spirits at first when as a young man he began to dip into the secrets of his mind seemed to be wandering in a strange land where all was chaos and darkness save that here and there some great and fact loomed out in front of him as the years passed however and as the worthy professor s stock of knowledge increased for knowledge knowledge as bears interest much which had seemed strange and unaccountable began to take another shape in his eyes new trains of reasoning became familiar to him and he perceived connecting links where all had been incomprehensible and startling by experiments which extended over twenty years he obtained a basis of facts upon which it was his ambition to build up a new exact the great experiment science which should embrace and all subjects in this he was much helped by his intimate knowledge of the more intricate parts of animal which treat of nerve currents and the working of the brain for von was professor of at the university of and had all the resources of the to aid him in his profound professor von was tall and thin with a face and steel grey eyes which were singularly bright and penetrating much thought had his forehead and contracted his heavy eyebrows so that he appeared to wear a perpetual frown which often people as to his

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character for though austere he was tender hearted he was popular among the students who would gather round him after his lectures and listen eagerly to his strange theories often he would call for from amongst them in order to conduct some experiment so that eventually there was hardly a lad in the class who had not at one time or another been thrown into a trance by his professor of all these young of science there was none who equalled in enthusiasm von it had often seemed strange to his fellow students that wild reckless as dashing a young fellow as ever hailed from the should devote the time and trouble which he did in reading up works and in assisting the professor in his strange experiments the fact was however that was a knowing and the great experiment long headed fellow months before he had lost his heart to young the blue eyed yellow haired daughter of the although he had succeeded in learning from her lips that she was not indifferent to his suit he had never dared to announce himself to her family as a formal hence he would have found it a difficult matter to see his young lady had he not adopted the expedient of making himself useful to the professor by this means he frequently was asked to the old man s house where he willingly submitted to be upon in any way as long as there was a chance of his receiving one bright glance from the eyes of or one touch of her little hand young von was a handsome lad enough there were broad acres too which would descend to him when his father died to many he would have seemed an eligible but madame frowned upon his presence in the house and the professor at times on his allowing such a wolf to around their lamb to tell the truth had an evil name in never was there a riot or a or any other mischief but the young figured as a in it no one used more free and violent language no one drank more no one played cards more habitually no one was m re idle save in the one solitary subject no wonder then that the good gathered her under her wing and resented the attentions of such a as to the worthy great experiment he was too much engrossed by his strange studies to form an opinion upon the subject one way or the other for many years there was one question had continually itself upon his thoughts all his experiments and his theories turned upon a single point a hundred times a day the professor asked himself whether it was possible for the human spirit to exist apart from the body for a time and then to return to it once again when the possibility first suggested itself to him his scientific mind had from it it too violently with ideas and the prejudices of his early training gradually however as he proceeded farther and farther along the pathway of original his mind shook off its old and became ready to face any conclusion which could reconcile the facts there were many things which made him believe that it was possible for mind to exist apart from matter at last it occurred to him that by a daring and original experiment the question might be definitely decided it is evident he remarked in his celebrated article upon invisible which appeared in the medical about this time and which surprised the whole scientific world â it is evident that under certain conditions the soul or mind does separate itself from the body in the case of a person the body lies in a condition but the spirit has left it perhaps you reply that the soul is there but in a condition i answer â the t experiment that this is not so otherwise how can one account for the condition of which has fallen into through the of certain but which can easily be shown to be an fact i have been able m self with a sensitive subject to obtain an accurate description of what was going on in another room or another house how can such knowledge be accounted for on any save that the soul of the subject has left the body arid is wandering through space for a moment it is recalled by the voice of the and says what it has seen and then wings its way once more through the air since the spirit is by its very nature invisible we cannot see these and but we see their effect in the body of the subject now rigid and now struggling to impressions which could never have come to it by natural means there is only one way which i can see by which the fact can be although we in the flesh are unable to see these spirits yet our own spirits could we separate them from the body would be conscious of the presence of others it is my intention therefore shortly to one of my pupils i shall then myself in a manner which has become easy to me after that if my theory holds good my spirit will have no difficulty in meeting and with the spirit of my pupil both being separated from the body i hope to be able to communicate the result of this interesting experiment in an early number of the the treat experiment when the good professor finally fulfilled his promise and published an account of what occurred the narrative was so extraordinary that it was received with general incredulity the tone of some of the papers was so in their comments upon the matter that the angry declared that he would never open his mouth again or refer to the subject in any way â a promise which he has faithfully kept this narrative has been however from

3Edith Wharton

the most sources and the events in it may be relied upon as correct it happened then that shortly after the time when professor von conceived the idea of the above mentioned experiment he was walking thoughtfully after a long day in the when he met a crowd of students who had just streamed out from a beer house at the head of them half and very noisy was young von the professor would have passed them but his pupil ran across and him i my worthy master he said taking the old man by the sleeve and leading him down the road with him there is something that i have to say to you and it is easier for me to say it now when the good beer is humming in my head than at another lime what is it then the asked looking at him in mild surprise i hear that you are about to do some wondrous experiment in which you hope to take a the great experiment man s soul out of his body and then to put it back again is it not so it is true and have you considered my dear sir that you may have some difficulty in finding some one on whom to try this suppose that the soul went out and would not come back that would be a bad business who is to take the risk but the professor cried very much startled hy this view of the matter i had relied upon your assistance in the attempt surely you will not desert hie consider the honour and glory consider the i the student cried angrily am i to be paid always thus did i not stand two hours upon a glass while you poured into my body have you not stimulated my nerves besides my with a current round my stomach four and thirty times you have me and what have i got from all this nothing and now you wish to take my soul out as you would take the works from a watch it is more than flesh and blood can stand dear dear i the professor cried in great distress that is very true i never thought of it before if you can but suggest how i can you you will find me ready and willing then listen said solemnly if you will pledge your word that after this experiment i may have the hand of your daughter then i am willing to great experiment g assist you but if not i shall have nothing to do with it these are my only terms and what would my daughter say to this the professor after a pause of astonishment would welcome it the young man replied we have loved each other long then she shall be yours the said with decision for you are a good hearted young man and one of the best subjects that i have ever known â that is when you are not under the influence of my experiment is to be performed upon the fourth of next month you will attend at the at twelve o clock it will be a great occasion von is coming from and from the chief men of science of all south germany will be there i shall be punctual the student said briefly and so the two parted the professor homeward â thinking of the great coming event while the young man staggered along after his noisy companions with his mind full of the blue eyed and of the bargain which he had concluded with her father the professor did not when he spoke of the interest excited by his novel experiment long before the hour had arrived the room was filled by a of talent besides the whom he had mentioned there had come from london the great professor who had just established his reputation by a remarkable upon several great lights m m m mm h fm m mm the great experiment of the body had also come a long distance to be present as had a minister who considered that the proceedings might throw some light the doctrines of the rosy cross there was considerable applause from this eminent assembly upon the appearance of professor von and his subject upon the platform the in a few well chosen words explained what his views were and how he proposed to test them i hold he said that when a person is under the influence of his spirit is for the time released from his body and i challenge any one to put forward any other which will account for the fact of i therefore hope that upon my young friend here and then putting myself into a trance our spirits may be able to together though our bodies lie still and after a time nature will resume her sway our spirits will return into our respective bodies and all will be as before with your kind permission we shall now proceed to attempt the experiment the applause was renewed at this speech and the audience settled down in expectant silence with a few rapid passes the professor the young man who sank back in his chair pale and rigid he then took a bright globe of glass from his pocket and by his gaze upon it and making a strong mental effort he succeeded in throwing himself into the same condition it was a strange and impressive sight to see the old man and the young sitting together in the great experiment the same condition â whither then had their souls fled that was the question which presented itself to each and every one of the spectators five minutes passed and then ten and then fifteen and then fifteen more while the professor and his pupil sat stiff and upon the platform during that time not a sound was heard from the assembled but every eye was bent upon the two pale

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faces in search of the first signs of returning consciousness nearly an hour had elapsed before the patient were rewarded a faint flush came back to the cheeks of professor von the soul was coming back once more to its earthly suddenly he stretched out his long thin arms as one from sleep and rubbing his eyes stood up from his chair and gazed about him as though he hardly where he was he exclaimed out a tremendous south german oath to the great astonishment of his audience and to the disgust of the where the am i then and what in thunder has occurred oh yes i remember now one of these experiments there is no result this time for i remember nothing at all since i became unconscious so you have had all your long journeys for nothing my learned friends and a very good joke too at which the professor of burst into a roar of laughter and his in a highly fashion the audience were so enraged at this behaviour on the part of their host that there might have been a con the t experiment disturbance had it not been for the judicious interference of young von who had now recovered from his stepping to the front of the platform the young man for the conduct of his companion i am sorry to say he said that he is a sort of fellow although he appeared so grave at the commencement of this experiment he is still suffering from reaction and is hardly for his words as to the experiment itself i do not consider it to be a failure it is very possible that our spirits may have been in space during this hour but unfortunately our gross bodily memory is distinct from our spirit and we cannot recall what has occurred my energies shall now be devoted to some means by which spirits may be able to recollect what occurs to them in their free state and i trust that when i have worked this out i may have the pleasure of meeting ou all once again in this hall and to you the result this address coming from so young a student caused considerable astonishment among the audience and some were inclined to be offended thinking that he assumed rather too much importance the majority however looked upon him as a young man of great promise and many were made as they left the hall between his dignified conduct and the levity of his professor who during the above remarks was laughing heartily in a corner by no means abashed at the failure of the experiment now although all these learned men were out the great experiment of the lecture room under the impression that they had seen nothing of note as a matter of fact one of the most wonderful things in the whole history of the world had just occurred before their very eyes professor von had been so far correct in his theory that both his spirit and that of his pupil had been for a time absent from his body but here a strange and had occurred in their return the spirit of von had entered into the body of von and that of von had taken up its abode in the frame of von hence the and which issued from the lips of the serious professor and hence also the words and grave statements which fell from the careless student it was an event yet no one knew of it least of all those whom it concerned the body of the professor feeling conscious suddenly of a great about the back of the throat out into the street still to himself over the result of the experiment for the soul of within was reckless at the thought of the bride whom he had won so easily his first impulse was to go up to the house and see her but on second thoughts he came to the conclusion that it would be best to stay away until madame should be informed by her husband of the agreement which had been made he therefore made his way down to the which was one of the favourite places of the students and waving his cane in the air into the the t experiment little parlour where sat and and half a dozen other boon companions ha ha i my boys he shouted i knew i should find you here drink up every one of you and call for what you like for i m going to stand treat to day had the green man who is depicted upon the of that well known inn suddenly marched into the room and called for a bottle of wine the students could not have been more amazed they were by this unexpected entry of their professor they were so astonished that for a minute or two they glared at him in utter bewilderment without being able to make any reply to his hearty invitation und shouted the professor angrily what the deuce is the matter with you then you sit there like a set of stuck pigs staring at me what is it then it is the unexpected honour stammered who was in the chair honour â rubbish said the professor do you think that just because i happen to have been exhibiting to a parcel of old i am therefore too proud to associate with dear old fr leads like you come out of that chair my boy for i shall now beer or wine or my lads â call for what you like and put it all down to me never was there such an afternoon in the the foaming of and the bottles of merrily by hb great experiment â â â â â â i â â â â â m degrees the students lost their shyness in the presence of their professor as for him he shouted

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he sang he roared he balanced a long tobacco pipe upon his nose nd offered to run a hundred yards against any of the company the and the whispered to each outside the door their astonishment at such proceedings on the part of a professor of the ancient university of they had still more to whisper about afterwards for the learned man cracked the s crown and kissed the behind the kitchen door gentlemen said the professor standing up somewhat at the end of the table and his high old fashioned wine glass in his bony hand i must now explain to you what is the cause of this hear i hear roared the students their beer glasses against the table a speech a speech i â silence for a speech the fact is my friends said the professor beaming through his spectacles i hope very soon to be married married cried a student bolder than the others is madame dead then madame who why madame von of course ha ha i laughed the professor i can see then that you know all about my former difficulties no she is not dead but i have reason to believe that she will not my marriage g the great experiment that is very of her remarked one of the company in fact said the professor i hope that she will now be induced to aid me in getting a wife she and i never took to each other very much but now hope all that may be ended and when i marry she will come and stay with me what a happy family exclaimed some wag yes indeed and i hope you will come to my wedding all of you i won t mention names but here is to my little bride i and the professor waved his glass in the air here s to his little bride i roared the with shouts of laughter here s her health soil â and so the fun still more fast and furious while each young fellow followed the professor s example and drank a toast to the girl of his heart while all this had been going on at the a very different scene had been elsewhere young von with a solemn face and a reserved manner had after the experiment consulted and adjusted some instruments after which with a few words to the he had walked out into the street and his way slowly in the direction of the house of the professor as he walked he saw von the professor of in front of him and his pace he overtook him i say von he exclaimed tapping him on th sleeve ou were asking me for some information the great experiment the other day concerning the middle coat of the now i find d j shouted von who was old fellow what the deuce do you mean your impertinence i i ll have you up before the for this sir with which threat he turned on his heel and hurried away von was much surprised at this reception it s on account of this failure of my experiment he said to himself and continued on his way fresh surprises were in store for him however he was hurrying along when he was overtaken by two students these youths instead of raising their caps or showing any other sign of respect gave a wild of delight the instant that they saw him and rushing at him seized him by each arm and commenced dragging him along with them in roared von what is the meaning of this insult where are you taking me to crack a bottle of wine with us said the two students come along that is an invitation which you have never refused i never heard of such insolence in my life cried von let go my arms i shall certainly have you for this let me go i say and he kicked furiously at his oh if you choose to turn ill tempered you may go where you like the students said him v wc can very well without you too the great experiment know you til pay you out said von furiously and continued in the direction which he imagined to be his own home much at the two which had occurred to him on the way now madame von who was looking out of the window and wondering why her husband was late for dinner was considerably astonished to see the young student come down the road as already remarked she had a great to him and if ever he ventured into the house it was on and under the protection of the professor still more astonished was she therefore when she beheld him undo the gate and stride up the garden path with the air of one who is master of the situation she could hardly believe her eyes and hastened to the door with all her maternal instincts up in arms from the upper windows the fair had also observed this daring move upon the part of her lover and her heart beat quick with mingled pride and consternation good day sir madame remarked to the intruder as she stood in gloomy majesty in the open doorway a very fine day indeed returned the other now don t stand there like a statue of but bustle about and get the dinner ready for i am well nigh starved dinner ejaculated the lady falling back in astonishment yes dinner dinner howled von the t experiment loi who was becoming irritable is there anything wonderful in that request when a man has been out all day i ll wait in the dining room anything will do and and â any little thing that happens to be about there you are standing staring again woman will you or will you not stir your legs this last address delivered with a perfect shriek of rage had the effect of

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sending good madame flying along the passage and through the kitchen where she locked herself up in the and went into violent in the meantime yon strode into the room and threw himself down upon the sofa in the worst of he shouted confound the girl thus roughly summoned the young lady came timidly downstairs and into the presence of her lover dearest she cried throwing her arms round him i know this is all done for my sake it is a in order to see me von s indignation at this fresh attack upon him was so great that he became speechless for a minute from rage and could only glare and shake his fists while he struggled in her embrace when he at last regained his utterance he indulged in such a of passion that the young lady dropped back with fear into an never have i passed such a day in my life von cried stamping upon the floor my experiment has failed von has insulted me two lo the great experiment students have dragged me along the public road my wife nearly when i ask her for dinner and my daughter flies at me and me like a bear you are ill dear the young lady cried your mind is wandering you have not even kissed me once no and i don t intend to her von said with decision you ought to be ashamed of yourself why don t you go and fetch my slippers and help your mother to dish the dinner and is it for this cried burying her face in her handkerchief â is it for this that i have loved you passionately for upwards of ten months is it for this that i have my mother s wrath oh you broken my heart i am sure you have and she sobbed i can t stand much more of this roared von furiously what the deuce does the girl mean what did i do ten months ago which inspired you with such a particular affection for me if you are really so very fond you would do better to run away down and find the and some bread instead of talking all this nonsense oh my darling cried the unhappy maiden throwing herself into the arms of what she imagined to be her lover you do but joke in order to frighten your little now it chanced that at the moment of this unexpected embrace von was still leaning back against the end of the sofa which like much german the great experiment furniture was in a somewhat condition it also chanced that beneath this end of the sofa there stood a full of water in which the was conducting certain experiments upon the of fish and which he kept in his drawing room in order to an temperature the additional weight of the maiden combined with the with which she hurled herself upon him caused the precarious piece of furniture to give way and the body of the unfortunate student was hurled backwards into the in which his head and shoulders were firmly while his lower helplessly about in the air this was the last straw himself with some difficulty from his unpleasant position von gave an inarticulate yell of fury and dashing out of the room in spite of the entreaties of he seized his hat and rushed off into the town all dripping and with the intention of seeking in some inn the food and comfort which he could not find at home as the spirit of von in the body of von strode down the winding pathway which led down to the little town brooding angrily over his many wrongs he became aware that an elderly man was approaching him who appeared to be in an advanced state of von waited by the side of the road and watched this individual who came stumbling along from one side of the road to the other and singing a student song in a very and drunken voice at first his i the great experiment interest was merely excited by the fact of seeing a man of so venerable an appearance in such a disgraceful condition but as he approached nearer he became convinced that he knew the other well though he could not recall when or where he had met him this impression became so strong with him that when the stranger came abreast of him he stepped in front of him and took a good look at his features well said the drunken man surveying von and swaying about in front of him where the have i seen you before i know you as well as i know myself who the deuce are you i am professor von said the student may i ask who you are i am strangely familiar with your features you should never tell lies young man said the other you re certainly not the professor for he is an ugly old chap and you are a big young fellow as to myself i am von at your service that you certainly are not exclaimed the body of von you might very well be his father but sir are you aware that you are wearing my and my watch chain the other if those are not the trousers for which m tailor is about to sue me may i never taste beer again now as von overwhelmed by the many strange things which had occurred to him that day the great experiment mil â passed his hand over his forehead and cast his eyes downwards he chanced to catch the reflection of his own face in a pool which the rain had left upon the road to his utter astonishment he perceived that his face was that of a youth that his dress was that of a fashionable young student and that in every way he was the of the grave and figure in which

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his mind was wont to dwell in an instant his active brain ran over the series of events which had occurred and sprang to the conclusion he fairly under the blow he cried i see it all our souls are in the wrong bodies i am you and you are i my theory is proved â but at what an expense i is the most mind in europe to go about with this frivolous exterior oh the labours of a lifetime are ruined and he smote his breast in his despair i say remarked the real von from the body of the professor i quite see the force of your remarks but don t go knocking my body about like that you received it in excellent condition but i perceive that you have wet it and bruised it and snuff over my ruffled shirt front it matters little the other said such as we are so must we stay my theory is triumphantly proved but the cost is terrible if i thought so said the spirit of the student it would be hard indeed what could i do with these stiff old limbs and how could i and persuade her that i was not her father no thank io the great experiment m heaven in spite of the beer which has upset me more than ever it could upset my real self i can see a way out of it how gasped the professor why by repeating the experiment our souls once more and the chances are that they will find their way back into their respective bodies no drowning man could clutch more eagerly at a straw than did von s spirit at this suggestion in feverish haste he dragged his own frame to the side of the road and threw it into a trance he then extracted the crystal ball from the pocket and managed to bring himself into the same condition some students and who chanced to pass during the next hour were much astonished to see the worthy professor of and his favourite student both sitting upon a very muddy bank and both completely insensible before the hour was up quite a crowd had assembled and they were discussing the of sending for an to convey the pair to hospital when the learned opened his eyes and gazed around him for an instant he seemed to forget how he had come there but next moment he astonished his audience by waving his arms above his head and crying out in a voice of rapture i i am myself again i feel i am i nor was the amazement lessened when the student springing to his feet burst into the same cry and the two performed a sort of pas de in the middle of the road the great experiment io for some time after that people had some suspicion of the of both the actors in this strange episode when the professor published his experiences in the as he had promised he was met by an intimation even from his that he would do well to have his mind cared for and that another such publication would certainly him to a the student also found by experience that it was wisest to be silent about the matter when the worthy returned home that night he did not receive the cordial welcome which he might have looked for after his strange adventures on the contrary he was by both his female relatives for smelling of drink and tobacco and also for being absent while a young invaded the house and insulted its occupants it was long before the domestic atmosphere of the s house resumed its normal quiet and longer still before the genial face of von was seen beneath its roof perseverance however every obstacle and the student eventually succeeded in the enraged ladies and in establishing himself upon the old footing he has now no longer any cause to fear the enmity of madame for he is von of the emperor s own and his loving wife has already presented him with two little as a visible sign and token of her affection the man from on the fourth day of march in the year i being at that time in my five and twentieth year i wrote down the following words in my note book â the result of much mental and conflict â the system amidst a countless number of other systems as large as itself rolls ever silently through space in the direction of the of the great of which it is composed spin and spin through the eternal void and noiselessly of these one of the smallest and most insignificant is that of solid and of liquid which we have named the earth it now as it has done before my birth and will do after my death â a revolving mystery coming none know whence and going none know whither upon the outer crust of this moving mass crawl many of whom i john m am one helpless impotent being dragged through space yet such is the state of things amongst us that the little energy and glimmering of reason which i possess is entirely taken up with the labours which are necessary in order to procure certain i the man from wherewith i may purchase the elements necessary to build up my ever wasting and keep a roof over me to shelter me from the of the weather i thus have no thought to upon the vital questions which surround me on every side yet miserable as j am i can still at times feel some degree of happiness and am even â save the mark i â puffed up occasionally with a sense of my own importance these words as i have said i wrote down in my book and they reflected accurately the thoughts which i found rooted far down in my soul ever present rid unaffected

3Edith Wharton

by the passing emotions of the hour at last however came a time when my uncle m of died â the same who was at one time of of the house of he divided his great wealth among his many and i found myself with sufficient to provide amply for my wants during the remainder of my life and became at the same time owner of a bleak tract of land upon the coast of which i think the old man must have bestowed upon me in derision for it was sandy and and he had ever a grim sense of humour up to this time i had been an attorney in a town in england now i saw that i could put my thoughts into effect and leaving all petty and sordid aims could my mind by the study of the secrets of nature my departure from my english home was somewhat by the fact that i had nearly slain a man in a quarrel for my temper was fiery and no the man from i was apt to forget my own strength when enraged there was no legal action taken in the matter but the papers at me and folk looked when i met them it ended by my cursing them and their vile smoke town and hurrying to my northern possession where i might at last find peace and an opportunity for solitary study and contemplation j borrowed from my capital before i went and so was able to take with me a choice collection of the most modern philosophical instruments and books together with and such other things as i might need in my retirement the land which i had inherited was a narrow strip consisting mostly of sand and extending for rather over two miles round the coast of bay in â ness upon this strip there had been a rambling grey stone building â when erected or wherefore none could tell me â and this i had repaired so that it made a dwelling quite good enough for one of my simple tastes one room was my another my sitting room and in a third just under the sloping roof i the in which i always slept there were three other rooms but i left them vacant except one which was given over to the old who kept house for me save the and the m who were folk living round at the other side of ness there were no other people for many miles in each direction in front of the house was the great bay behind it two long barren hills by other ones be there was a be the man from m the hills and when the wind was from the land it used to sweep down this with a melancholy and whisper among the branches of the fir trees beneath my window i dislike my fellow mortals justice me to add that they appear for the most part to dislike me i hate their little crawling ways their their their narrow rights and wrongs they take offence at my my disregard for their social laws my impatience of all among my books and my in my lonely den at i could let the great drove of the human race pass with their politics and inventions and and i remained behind and happy not either for i was working in my own little and making progress i have reason to believe that s theory is founded upon error and i know that is not an element during the day i was busy with my and often i forgot my meals and when old summoned me to my tea i found my dinner lying untouched upon the table at night i read bacon â all those who have into what is they are all fruitless and empty barren of result but prodigal of reminding me of men who while digging for gold have turned up many worms and then exhibit them as being what they sought at times a restless spirit would come upon me and i would walk thirty and forty miles without rest or the man from breaking fast on these occasions when i used to stalk through the country villages gaunt and the mothers would rush into the road and drag their children indoors and the would swarm out of their pot houses to gaze at me l believe that i was known far and wide as the mad o it was rarely however that i made these into the country for i usually took my exercise upon my own beach where i soothed my spirit with strong black tobacco and made the ocean my friend and my what companion is there like the great restless throbbing sea what human mood is there which it does not match and with there are none so gay but that they may feel when they listen to its merry turmoil and see the long green racing in with the of the in their sparkling but when the grey waves toss their heads in anger and the wind screams above them them on to and more tumultuous efforts then the darkest minded of men feels that there is a melancholy principle in nature which is as gloomy as his own thoughts when it was calm in the bay of the surface would be as clear and bright as a sheet of silver broken only at one spot some little way from the shore where a long black line projected out of the water looking like the jagged back of some sleeping monster this was the top of the dangerous ridge of rocks known to the as the ragged o when the wind blew from the east the the man from waves would break upon it like thunder and the spray would be tossed far over my house and up to the hills behind the bay itself was a bold and noble one but

3Edith Wharton

too much exposed to the northern and eastern and too much dreaded for its to be much used by there was something of romance about this lonely spot i have lain in my boat upon a calm day and peering over the edge i have seen far down the flickering ghostly forms of great fish â fish as it seemed to me such as never knew and which my imagination transformed into the of that desolate bay once as i stood by the brink of the waters upon a quiet night a great cry as of a woman in hopeless grief rose from the bosom of the deep and swelled out upon the still air now sinking and now rising for a space of thirty seconds this i heard with my own ears in this strange spot with the eternal hills behind me and the eternal sea in front i worked and for more than two years by my fellow men by degrees i had trained my old servant into habits of silence so that she now rarely opened her lips though i doubt not that when twice a year she visited her relations in her tongue during those few days made up for its enforced rest i had come almost to forget that i was a member of the human family and to live entirely with the dead whose books i over when a sudden incident occurred which threw all my thoughts into a new channel three rough days in june had been succeeded by h ri the han one calm and peaceful one there was not a breath of air that evening the sun sank down in the west behind a line of purple clouds and the smooth surface of the bay was with scarlet streaks along the beach the pools left by the tide showed up like of blood against the yellow sand as if some wounded giant had passed that way and had left these red traces of his grievous hurt behind him as the darkness closed in certain ragged clouds which had lain low on the eastern horizon and formed a great irregular the glass was still low and i knew that there was mischief about nine o clock a dull moaning sound came up from the sea as from a creature who much harassed that the hour of suffering has come round again at ten a sharp breeze sprang up from the eastward at eleven it had increased to a gale and by midnight the most furious storm was raging which i ever remember upon that weather beaten coast as i went to bed the and were up against my window and the wind was screaming as though every gust were a lost soul by that time the sounds of the tempest had become a to me i knew that the grey walls of the old house would it out and for what occurred in the world outside i had small concern old was usually as to such things as i was myself it was a surprise to me when about three in the morning i was awoke by the sound of a great knocking at my door and excited cries in the voice of my house the man from keeper i sprang out of my and roughly demanded of her what was the matter eh she screamed in her hateful dialect come come i there s a ship ashore on the and the folks are a and ca in for help â and i they ll a be oh m come hold your tongue you i shouted back in a passion what is it to you whether they are drowned or not get back to your bed and leave me alone i turned in again and drew the blankets over me those men out there i said to myself have already gone through half the horrors of death if they be saved they will but have to go through the same once more in the space of a few brief years it is best therefore that they should pass away now since they have suffered that anticipation which is more than the pain of dissolution with this thought in my mind i endeavoured to compose myself to sleep once more for that philosophy which had taught hie to consider death as a small and trivial incident in man s eternal and career had also broken me of much curiosity concerning worldly matters on this occasion i found however that the old still strongly in my soul i tossed from side to side for some minutes endeavouring to beat down the impulses of the moment by the rules of conduct which i had framed during months of thought then i heard a dull roar amid the wild shriek of the gale and i knew that it was the ii the man from sound of a signal gun driven by an impulse i rose dressed and having lit my pipe walked out on to the beach it was pitch dark when i came outside and the wind blew with such violence that i had to put my shoulder against it and push my way along the my face and with the sting of the gravel which was blown against it and the red ashes of my pipe streamed away behind me dancing through the darkness i went down to where the great waves were thundering in and my eyes with my hands to keep off the salt spray i peered out to sea i could distinguish nothing and yet it seemed to me that shouts and great inarticulate cries were borne to me by the suddenly as i gazed i made out the of a light and then the whole bay and the beach were lit up in a moment by a vivid blue glare they were burning a coloured signal light on board of the vessel there she lay on her beam ends right

3Edith Wharton

in the centre of the jagged hurled over to such an angle that i could see all the of her deck she was a large two of foreign and lay perhaps a hundred and eighty or two hundred yards from the shore every and rope and piece of showed up hard and clear under the livid light which and from the highest portion of the beyond the doomed ship out of the great darkness came the long rolling lines of black waves never ending never with a of foam here and there upon their hi bi l b l the man from each as it reached the broad circle of unnatural light appeared to gather strength and volume and to hurry on more until with a roar and a crash it sprang upon its victim clinging to the weather i could distinctly see some ten or twelve frightened who when their light revealed my presence turned their white faces towards me and waved their hands i felt my rise against these poor worms why should they presume to the narrow pathway along which all that is great and noble among mankind has travelled there was one there who interested me more than they he was a tall man who stood apart from the others himself upon the swaying wreck as though he to cling to rope or his hands were clasped behind his back and his head was sunk upon his breast but even in that attitude there was a and decision in his pose and in every motion which marked him as a man little likely to yield to despair indeed i could see by his occasional rapid glances up and down and all around him that he was weighing every chance of safety but though he often gazed across the raging surf to where he could see my dark figure upon the beach his self respect or some other reason forbade him from imploring my help in any way he stood dark silent and inscrutable looking down on the black sea and waiting for whatever fortune fate might send him it seemed to me that that problem would very soon be settled as i looked an enormous ii the man from all the others and coming after them like a driver following a flock swept over the vessel her snapped short off and the men who clung to the were brushed away like a swarm of flies with a sound the ship began to split in two where the sharp back of the was into her the solitary man upon the ran rapidly across the deck and seized hold of a white bundle which i had already observed but failed to make out as he lifted it up the light fell upon it and i saw that the object was a woman with a lashed across her body and under her arms in such a way that her head should always rise above water he bore her tenderly to the side and seemed to speak for a minute or so to her as though explaining the impossibility of remaining upon the ship her answer was a singular one i saw her deliberately raise her hand and strike him across the face with it he appeared to be silenced for a moment or so by this but he addressed her again directing her as far as i could gather from his motions how she should behave when in the water she shrank away from him but he caught her in his arms he stooped over her for a moment and seemed to press his lips against her forehead then a great wave came up against the side of the breaking vessel and leaning over he placed her upon the summit of it as gently as a child might be committed to its cradle i saw her white dress flickering among the foam on the crest of the dark and then the light sank gradually lower and the man from the ship and its lonely were hidden from my eyes as i watched those things my manhood overcame my philosophy and i felt a frantic impulse to be up and doing i threw my to one side as a garment which i might don again at leisure and i rushed wildly to my boat and my she was a tub but what then was i who had cast many a wistful doubtful glance at my bottle to begin now to weigh chances and to at danger i dragged her down to the sea with the strength of a and sprang in for a moment or two it was a question whether she could live among the boiling but a dozen frantic strokes took me through it half full of water but still afloat i was out on the unbroken waves now at one time climbing climbing up the broad black breast of one then sinking down down on the other side until looking up i could see the gleam of the foam all around me against the dark heavens far behind me i could hear the wild of old who seeing me start thought no doubt that my madness had come to a climax as i rowed i peered over my shoulder until at last on the belly of a great wave which was sweeping towards me i distinguished the vague white outline of the woman stooping over i seized her as she swept by me and with an effort lifted her all with water into the boat there was no need to row back for the next carried us in and threw us upon the beach i dragged the boat out of danger and then lifting up the the man from woman i carried her to the house followed by my housekeeper loud with and praise now that i had done this thing a reaction set in upon me i felt that my burden lived for i heard the

3Edith Wharton

faint beat of her heart as i pressed my ear against her side in carrying her knowing this i threw her down beside the fire which had lit with as little as though she had been a bundle of i never glanced at her to see if she were fair or no for many years i had cared little for the face of a woman as i lay in my upstairs however i heard the old woman as she the warmth back into her a chorus of eh the eh the from which i gathered that this piece of was both young and comely the morning after the gale was peaceful and sunny as i walked along the long sweep of sand i could hear the panting of the sea it was heaving and about the but along the shore it in gently enough there was no sign of the nor was there any upon the beach which did not surprise me as i knew there was a great in those waters a couple of broad winged were hovering and over the scene of the as though many strange things were visible to them beneath the waves at times i could hear their voices as they spoke to one another of what they saw when i came back from my walk the woman was the man from waiting at the door for me i began to wish when i saw her that i had never saved her for here was an end of my privacy she was very young â at the most nineteen with a pale somewhat refined face yellow hair merry blue eyes and shining teeth her beauty was of an ethereal type she looked so white and light and fragile that she might have been the spirit of that storm foam from out of which i plucked her she had some of s garments round her in a way which was quaint and not as i strode heavily up the pathway she put out her hands with a pretty child like gesture and ran down towards me meaning as i to thank me for having saved her but i put her aside with a wave of my hand and passed her at this she seemed somewhat hurt and the tears sprang into her eyes but she followed me into the sitting room and watched me wistfully what country do you come from i asked her suddenly she smiled when i spoke but shook her head i asked â each time she shook her head and then she off into a long statement in some tongue of which i could not understand one word after breakfast was over however i got a clue to her passing along the beach once more i saw that in a of the ridge a piece of wood had been i rowed out to it in my boat and brought it ashore it was part of the of a boat and on it or rather on the piece of wood attached the man from to it was the word painted in strange quaint so i thought as i slowly back this pale is a russian a fit subject for the white and a proper on the shores of the white sea it seemed to me strange that one of her apparent refinement should perform so long a journey in so frail a craft when i came back into the house i pronounced the word several times in different but she did not appear to recognise it i shut myself up in the all the morning continuing a which i was making upon the nature of the forms of and of when i came out at mid day for some food she was sitting by the table with a needle and thread mending some rents in her clothes which were now dry i resented her continued presence but i could not turn her out on the beach to shift for herself presently she presented a new phase of her character pointing to herself and then to the scene of the she held up one finger by which i understood her to be asking whether she was the only one saved i nodded my head to indicate that she was on this she sprang out of the chair with a cry of great joy and holding the garment which she was mending over her head and swaying it f om side to side with the motion of her body she danced as lightly as a feather all round the room and then out through the open door into the sunshine as she whirled round she sang in a plaintive shrill voice some uncouth barbarous chant the man from of exultation i called out to her come in you young come in and be silent i but she went on with her dance then she suddenly ran towards me and catching my hand before i could pluck it away she kissed it while we were at dinner she one of my and taking it up she wrote the two words upon a piece of paper and then pointed to herself as a sign that that was her name she handed the pencil to me evidently expecting that i would be equally but i put it in my pocket as a sign that i wished to hold no intercourse with her every moment of my life now i regretted the with which i had saved this woman what was it to me whether she had lived or died i was no young hot headed youth to do such things it was bad enough to be compelled to have in the house but she was old and ugly and could be ignored this one was young and lively and so fashioned as to divert attention from graver things where could i send her and what could i do with her if i sent information to it would mean

3Edith Wharton

that officials and others would come to me and and peep and chatter â a hateful thought it was better to endure her presence than that i soon found that there were fresh troubles in store for me there is no place safe from the restless race of which i am a member in the evening when the sun was dipping down behind the hills casting them into dark shadow but the sands and hâ man from casting a great glory over the sea i went as is my custom for a stroll along the beach sometimes on these occasions i took my book with me i did so on this night and stretching myself upon a sand i composed myself to read as i lay there i suddenly became aware of a shadow which interposed itself between the sun and myself looking round i saw to my great surprise a very tall powerful man who was standing a few yards off and who instead of looking at me was my existence completely and was gazing over my head with a stern set face at the bay and the black line of the his complexion was dark with black hair and short curling beard a hawk like nose and golden in his ears â the general effect being wild and somewhat noble he wore a faded jacket a red flannel shirt and high sea boots coming half way up his i recognised him at a glance as being the same man who had been left on the wreck the night before i said in an voice you got ashore all right then â yes he answered in good english it was no doing of mine the waves threw me up i wish to god i had been allowed to drown there was a slight foreign in his accent which was rather pleasing two good who live round yonder point pulled me out and cared for me yet i could not honestly thank them for it ho ho thought i here is a man of my own why do you wish to be drowned i asked the man from â â â iii because he cried throwing out his long arms with a passionate despairing gesture there â there in that blue smiling bay lies my soul my treasure â everything that i loved and lived for well well i said people are ruined every day but there s no use making a fuss about it let me inform you that this ground on which you walk is my ground and that the sooner you take yourself oft it the better pleased i shall be one of you is quite trouble enough one of us he gasped yes â if you could take her off with you i should be still more grateful he gazed at me for a moment as if hardly able to what i said and then with a wild cry he ran away from me with prodigious speed and along the sands towards my house never before or since have i seen a human being run so fast i followed as rapidly as i could furious at this threatened invasion but long before i reached the house he had disappeared through the open door i heard a great scream from the inside and as i came nearer the sound of a man s bass voice speaking rapidly and loudly when i looked in the girl was crouching in a corner away with fear and expressed on her averted face and in every line of her shrinking form the other with his dark eyes flash ing and his outstretched hands quivering with emotion was pouring forth a torrent of passionate pleading words he made a step forward to her as i entered the man from but she still further away and uttered a sharp cry like that of a rabbit when the has him by the throat here i said pulling him back from her this is a pretty to do i what do you mean do think this is a inn or place of public ac oh sir he said excuse me this woman is my wife and i feared that she was drowned you have brought me back to life who are you i asked roughly i am a man from he said simply a russian man what is your name â and hers is she is no wife of yours she has no ring we are man and wife in the sight of heaven he said solemnly looking upwards we are bound by higher laws than those of earth as he spoke the girl slipped behind me and caught me by the other hand pressing it as though my protection give me up my wife sir he went on let me take her away from here look here you â whatever your name is i said sternly i don t want this here i wish i had never if she died it would be no grief to me but as to handing her over to you when it is clear she fears and hates you i won t do it so now just clear your great body out of this and leave me to the man from i my books hope i may never look upon your face again you won t give her up to me he said hoarsely i ll see you damned first i answered suppose i take her he cried his dark face growing darker ah blood flushed up in a moment i picked up a of wood from beside the fireplace go i said in a low voice go quick or i may do you an injury he looked at me for a moment and then he left the house he came back again in a moment however and stood in the doorway looking in at us have a heed what you do he said the woman is mine and

3Edith Wharton

i shall have her when it comes to blows a russian is as good a man as a we shall see that i cried springing forward but he was already gone and i could see his tall form moving away through the gathering darkness for a month or more after this things went smoothly with us i never spoke to the russian girl nor did she ever address me sometimes when i was at work in my she would slip inside the door and sit silently there watching me with her great eyes at first this intrusion annoyed me but by degrees finding that she made no attempt to my attention i suffered her to remain encouraged by this concession she gradually came to move the stool on which she sat nearer and nearer to my table until after gaining a little every day during some weeks she at last the man from â worked her way right up to me and used to perch herself beside me whenever i worked in this position she used still without ever her presence in any way to make herself very useful by holding my pens test or bottles and handing me whatever i wanted with never failing sagacity by the fact of her being a human being and looking upon her as a useful machine i accustomed myself to her presence so far as to miss her on the few occasions when she was not at her post i have a habit of talking aloud to myself at times when i work so as to fix my results better in my mind the girl must have had a surprising memory for sounds for she could always repeat the words which i let fall in without of course understanding in the least what they meant i have often been amused at hearing her discharge a of and at old and then burst into a ringing laugh when the would shake her head under the impression no doubt that she was being addressed in russian she never went more than a few yards from the house and indeed never put her foot over the threshold without looking carefully out of each window in order to be sure that there was nobody about by this i knew that she suspected that her fellow was still in the neighbourhood and feared that he might attempt to carry her off she did something else which was significant i had an old revolver with some which had been thrown away the man from among the rubbish she found this one day and at once proceeded to clean it and oil it she hung it up near the door with the in a little bag beside it and whenever i went for a walk she would take it down and insist upon my carrying it with me in my absence she would always bolt the door apart from her apprehensions she seemed fairly happy herself in helping when she was not attending upon me she was wonderfully and in all domestic duties it was not long before i discovered that her suspicions were well founded and that this man from was still lurking in the vicinity being restless one night i rose and peered out of the window the weather was somewhat cloudy and i could barely make out the line of the sea and the loom of my boat upon the beach as i gazed however and my eyes became accustomed to the obscurity i became aware that there was some other dark upon the sands and that in front of my very door where certainly there had been nothing of the sort the preceding night as i stood at my diamond still peering and peeping to make out what this might be a great bank of clouds rolled slowly away from the face of the moon and a flood of cold clear light was poured down upon the silent bay and the long sweep of its desolate shores then i saw what this was which haunted my it was he the russian he there like a gigantic with his legs doubled under him in strange fashion and his eyes fixed i t the man from apparently upon the window of the room in which the young girl and the housekeeper slept the light fell upon his face and i saw once more the hawk like grace of his countenance with the single line of care upon his brow and the beard which marks the passionate nature my first impulse was to shoot him as a but as i gazed my resentment changed into pity and contempt poor fool i said to myself is it then possible that you whom i have seen looking open eyed at present death should have your whole thoughts and ambition upon this wretched slip of a girl â a girl too who flies from you and hates you most women would love you â were it but for that dark face and great handsome body of yours â and yet you must needs after the one in a thousand who will have no traffic with you as i returned to my bed i chuckled much to myself over this thought i knew that my bars were strong and my thick it mattered little to me whether this strange man spent his night at my door or a hundred off so long as he was gone by the morning as i expected when i rose and went out there was no sign of him nor had he left any trace of his midnight it was not long however before i saw him again i had been out for a row one morning for my head was aching partly from prolonged stooping and partly from the effects of a which i had the night before i pulled along the coast some miles and then feeling thirsty i landed at a place where i knew

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im w t the man from that a fresh water stream down into the sea this passed through my land but the mouth of it where i found myself that day was beyond my boundary line i felt somewhat taken when rising from the stream at which i had my thirst i found myself face to face with the russian i was as much a now as he was and i could see at a glance that he knew it i wish to speak a few words to you he said gravely hurry up then i answered glancing at my watch i have no time to listen to chatter chatter he repeated angrily ah but there you scotch people are strange men your face is hard and your words rough but so are those of the good with whom i stay yet i find that beneath it all there lie kind honest natures no doubt you are kind and good too in spite of your in the name of the devil i said say your say and go your way i am weary of the sight of you can i not soften you in any way he cried see â see here â he produced a small cross from inside his velvet jacket look at this our may differ in form but at least we have some common thoughts and feelings when we see this emblem i am not so sure of that i answered he looked at me thoughtfully you are a very strange man he said at last i cannot understand you you still stand between me and m m aw mo the man from it is a dangerous position to take sir oh believe me before it is too late if you did but know what i have done to gain that woman â how i have risked my body how i have lost my soul i you are a small obstacle to some which i have surmounted â you whom a with a knife or a blow from a stone would put out of my way for ever but god preserve me from that he cried wildly i am deep â too deep â already anything rather than that you would do better to go back to your country i said than to about these sand hills and disturb my leisure when i have proof that you have gone away i shall hand this woman over to the protection of the russian at until then i shall guard her myself and not you nor any that ever breathed shall take her from me and what is your object in keeping me from he asked do you imagine that i would injure her why man i would give my life freely to save her from the slightest harm why do you do this thing i do it because it is my good pleasure to act so i answered i give no man reasons for my conduct look here i he cried suddenly blazing into fury and advancing towards me with his shaggy mane and his brown hands clenched if i thought you had one thought towards this girl â if for a moment i had reason to believe that you had any base motive for her â as sure as there is a god in heaven i should drag the heart out of your bosom the man from with my hands the very idea seemed to have put the man in a frenzy for his face was all distorted and his hands opened and shut i thought that he was about to spring at my throat stand off i said putting my hand on my pistol if you lay a finger on me i shall kill you he put his hand into his pocket and for a moment i thought he was about to produce a weapon too but instead of that he whipped out a and lit it breathing the smoke rapidly into his lungs no doubt he had found by experience that this was the most effectual way of his passions i told you he said in a voice that my name is â i am a by birth but i have spent my life in every part of the world i was one who could never be still nor settle down to a quiet existence after i came to own my own ship there is hardly a port from to which i have not entered i was rough and wild and free but there was one at home sir who was and white handed and soft skilful in little fancies and which women love this youth by his and tricks stole from me the love of the girl whom i had ever marked as my own and who up to time had seemed in some sort inclined to return my passion i had been on a voyage to for ivory and coming back unexpectedly i learned that my pride and treasure was to be married to this boy and that the party had actually gone to the church in such moments sir something gives the man from way in my head and i hardly know what i do i landed with a boat s crew â all men who had sailed with me for years and who were as true as steel we went up to the church they were standing she and he before the priest but the thing had not been done i dashed between them and caught her round the waist my men beat back the frightened bridegroom and the on we bore her down to the boat and aboard our vessel and then getting up anchor we sailed away across the white sea until the of sank down behind the horizon she had my cabin my room every comfort i slept among the men in the i hoped that in time her aversion to me would wear away and that

3Edith Wharton

she would consent to marry me in england or in france for days and days we sailed we saw the north cape die away behind us and we skirted the grey coast but still in spite of every attention she would not forgive me for tearing her from that pale faced lover of hers then came this cursed storm which shattered both my ship and my hopes and has deprived me even of the sight of the woman for whom i have risked sa much perhaps she may learn to love me yet you sir he said wistfully look like one who has seen much of the world do you not think that she may come to forget this man and to love me i am tired of your story i said turning away for my part i think you are a great fool if you imagine that this love of yours will pass away ou had best amuse yourself as best you can until it does if on the other the man from hand it is a fixed thing you cannot do better than cut your throat for that is the shortest way out of it i have no more time to waste on the matter with this i hurried away and walked down to the boat i never looked round but i heard the dull sounds of his feet upon the sands as he followed me i have told you the beginning of my story he said and you shall know the end some day you would do well to let the girl go i never answered him but pushed the boat off when i had rowed some distance out i looked back and saw his tall figure upon the yellow sand as he stood gazing thoughtfully after me when i looked again some minutes later he had disappeared for a long time after this my life was as regular and as monotonous as it had been before the at times i hoped that the man from had gone away altogether but certain footsteps which i saw upon sand and more particularly a little pile of ash which i found one day behind a from which a view of the house might be obtained warned me that though invisible he was still in the vicinity my relations with the russian girl remained the same as before old had been somewhat jealous of her presence at first and seemed to fear that what little authority she had would be taken away from her by degrees however as she came to my utter indifference she became reconciled to the situation and as i have said before by it as our visitor performed much of the domestic work the man and now i am coming near the end of this narrative of mine which i have written a great deal more for my own amusement than for that of any one else the termination of the strange episode in which these two had played a part was as wild and as sudden as the commencement the events of one single night freed me from all my troubles and left me once more alone with my books and my studies as i had been before their intrusion let me endeavour to describe how this came about i had had a long day of heavy and work so that in the evening i determined upon taking a long walk when i emerged from the house my attention was attracted by the appearance of the sea it lay like a sheet of glass so that never a ripple disturbed its surface yet the air was filled with that indescribable moaning sound which i have alluded to before â a sound as though the spirits of all those who lay beneath those treacherous waters were sending a sad warning of coming troubles to their brethren in the flesh the s wives along that coast know the sound and look anxiously across the waters for the brown sails making for the land when i heard it i stepped back into the house and looked at the glass it was down below â then i knew that a wild night was coming upon us underneath the hills where i walked that evening it was dull and chill but their were rosy red and the sea was brightened by the sinking sun there were no clouds of importance in the sky yet the dull the man from groaning of the sea grew louder and stronger i saw far to the eastward a beating up for with a in her it was evident that her captain had read the signs of nature as i had done behind her a long lurid haze lay low upon the water concealing the horizon i had better push on i thought to myself or the wind may rise before i can get back i suppose i must have been at least half a mile from the house when i suddenly stopped and listened my ears were so accustomed to the noises of nature the sighing of the breeze and the sob of the waves that any other sound made itself heard at a great distance i waited listening with all my ears yes there it was again â a long drawn shrill cry of despair ringing over the sands and echoed back from the hills behind me â a piteous appeal for aid it came from the direction of my house i turned and ran back at the top of my speed through the sand racing over the in my mind there was a great dim perception of what had occurred about a quarter of a mile from the house there is a high sand hill from which the whole country round is visible when i reached the top of this i paused for a moment there was the old grey building â there the boat everything seemed to be as i had

3Edith Wharton

left it even as i gazed however the shrill scream was repeated louder than before and the next moment a tall figure emerged from my door the figure of the russian the man sailor over his shoulder was the white form of the young girl and even in his haste he seemed to bear her tenderly and with gentle reverence i could hear wild cries and see her desperate struggles to break away from him behind the couple came my old housekeeper and true as the aged dog who can no longer bite still with at the intruder she staggered feebly along at the heels of the waving her long thin arms and no doubt of scotch curses and at his head i saw at a glance that he was making for the boat a sudden hope sprang up in my soul that i might be in time to him i ran for the beach at the top of my speed as i ran i slipped a into my revolver this i determined should be the last of these i was too late by the time i reached the water s edge he was a hundred yards away making the boat spring with every stroke of his powerful arms i uttered a wild cry of impotent anger and stamped up and down the sands like a returned and saw me rising from his seat he made me a graceful bow and waved his hand to me it was not a triumphant or a gesture even my furious and mind recognised it as being a solemn and courteous leave taking then he settled down to his oars once more and the little shot away out over the bay the sun had gone down now leaving a single dull red streak upon the water which stretched away until it blended with the purple haze on the horizon the man from gradually the grew smaller and smaller as it sped across this lurid band until the shades of night gathered round it and it became a mere upon the lonely sea then this vague loom died away also and darkness settled over it â a darkness which should never more be raised and why did i pace the solitary shore hot and as a wolf whose has been torn from it was it that i loved this girl no â a thousand times no i am not one who for the sake of a white skin or a blue eye would my own life and change the whole tenor of my thoughts and existence my heart was untouched but my pride â ah there i had been cruelly wounded to think that i had been unable to afford protection to the helpless one who it of me and who relied on me it was that which made my heart sick and sent the blood through my ears that night a great wind rose up from the sea and the wild waves shrieked upon the shore as though they would tear it back with them into the ocean the turmoil and the uproar were congenial to my vexed spirit all night i wandered up and down wet with spray and rain watching the gleam of the white and listening to the of the storm my heart was bitter against the russian i joined my feeble pipe to the screaming of the gale if he would but come back again i cried with clenched hands if he would but come back he came back when the grey light of morning i the man from spread over the eastern sky and lit tip the great waste of yellow tossing waters with the brown clouds drifting swiftly over them then i saw him once again a few hundred yards off along the sand there lay a long dark object cast up by the fury of the waves it was my boat much shattered and a little further on a vague something was washing to and fro in the shallow water all mixed with and with i saw at a glance that it was the russian face downwards and dead i rushed into the water and dragged him up on to the beach it was only when i turned him over that i discovered that she was beneath him his dead arms her his body still intervening between her and the fury of the storm it seemed that the fierce german sea might beat the life from him but with all its strength it was unable to tear this one idea d man from the woman whom he loved there were signs which led me to believe that during that awful night the woman s mind had come at last to learn the worth of the true heart and strong arm which struggled for her and guarded her so tenderly why else should her little head be so lovingly on his broad breast while her yellow hair itself with his flowing beard why too should there be that bright smile of happiness and triumph which death itself had not had power to banish from his dusky face i fancy that death had been brighter to him than life had ever been and i buried them there on the shores of the the man from desolate northern sea they lie in one grave deep down beneath the yellow sand strange things may happen in the world around them may rise and may fall may perish great wars may come and go but heedless of it all those two shall embrace each other for ever and aye in their lonely shrine by the side of the sounding ocean i sometimes have thought that their spirits like shadowy over the wild waters of the bay no cross or symbol marks their resting place but old puts wild flowers upon it at times and when i pass on my daily walk and see the fresh blossoms scattered over the sand i think

3Edith Wharton

of the strange couple who came from afar and broke for a little space the dull tenor of my sombre life that little square box all aboard said the captain all aboard sir said the mate then stand by to let her go it was nine o clock on a wednesday morning the good ship was lying off boston with her cargo under her passengers and everything prepared for a start the warning whistle had been sounded twice the final bell had been rung her was turned towards england and the hiss of escaping steam showed that all was ready for her run of three thousand miles she strained at the that held her like a at its i have the misfortune to be a very nervous man a literary life has helped to increase the morbid love of solitude which even in my boyhood was one of my characteristics as i stood upon the quarter deck of the steamer i bitterly cursed the necessity which drove me back to the land of my forefathers the shouts of the sailors the rattle of the the of my fellow passengers and the cheers of the mob each and all upon my sensitive nature i felt sad too an indescribable feeling as of some impending a that little square box calamity seemed to haunt me the sea was calm and the breeze light there was nothing to disturb the of the most confirmed of yet i felt as if i stood upon the verge of a great though danger i have noticed that such occur often in men of my peculiar temperament and that they are not uncommonly fulfilled there is a theory that it arises from a species of second sight a subtle spiritual communication with the future i well remember that the eminent remarked on one occasion that i was the most sensitive subject as regards supernatural phenomena that he had ever encountered in the whole of his wide experience be that as it may i certainly felt far from happy as i my way among the weeping cheering groups which dotted the white decks of the good ship had i known the experience which awaited me in the course of the next twelve hours i should even then at the last moment have sprung upon the shore and made my escape from the accursed vessel time s up said the captain closing his with a snap and it in his pocket time s up i said the mate there was a last wail from the whistle a rush of friends and relatives upon the land one was loosened the was being pushed away when there was a shout from the bridge and two men appeared running rapidly down the they were waving their hands and making frantic gestures apparently with the intention of stopping the ship look sharp i shouted the crowd that little square box hold hard i cried the captain ease her stop her i up with the i and the two men sprang aboard just as the second parted and a throb of the engine shot us clear of the shore there was a cheer from the deck another from the a mighty fluttering of handkerchiefs and the great vessel its way out of the harbour and away across the placid bay we were fairly started upon our fortnight s voyage there was a general among the passengers in quest of and luggage while a of in the saloon proved that more than one traveller was artificial means for drowning the pangs of separation i glanced round the deck and took a running of my de voyage they presented the usual types met with upon these occasions there was no striking face among them i speak as a for faces are a of mine i upon a characteristic feature as a does on a flower and bear it away with me to at my leisure and and it in my little museum there was nothing worthy of me here twenty types of young america going to a few respectable middle aged couples as an a of and professional men young ladies british and all the of an ocean going steamer i turned away from them and gazed back at the receding shores of america and as a cloud of rose before me my heart warmed towards the land of that little square box t s my a pile of and luggage chanced to be lying on one side of the deck awaiting their turn to be taken below with my usual love for solitude i walked behind these and sitting on a of rope between them and the vessel s side i indulged in a melancholy reverie i was aroused from this by a whisper behind me here s a quiet place said the voice sit down and we can talk it over in safety glancing through a between two colossal i saw that the passengers who had joined us at the last moment were standing at the other side of the pile they had evidently failed to see me as i crouched in the shadow of the boxes the one who had spoken was a tall and very thin man with a beard and a face his manner was nervous and excited his companion was a short pier little fellow with a brisk and resolute air he had a cigar in his mouth and a large over his left arm they both glanced round uneasily as if to ascertain whether they were alone this is just the place i heard the other say they sat down on a of goods with their backs turned towards me and i found myself much against my will playing the unpleasant part of to their conversation well said the taller of the two we ve got it aboard right enough yes assented the man whom he had addressed as it s safe aboard it was rather a near go

3Edith Wharton

k that little square box it was that it wouldn t have done to have missed the ship no it would have put our plans out ruined them entirely said the little man and furiously at his cigar for some minutes ive got it here he said at last let me see it is no one looking no they are nearly all below we can t be too careful where so much is at stake said as he the which hung over his arm and disclosed a dark object which he laid upon the deck one glance at it was enough to cause me to spring to my feet with an exclamation of horror luckily they were so engrossed in the matter on hand that neither of them observed me had they turned their heads they would have seen my pale face glaring at them over the pile of boxes from the first moment of their conversation a horrible had come over me it seemed more than confirmed as i gazed at what lay before me it was a little square box made of some dark wood and with brass i suppose it was about the size of a foot it reminded me of a pistol case only it was higher there was an to it on which my eyes were and which suggested the pistol itself rather than its this was a like arrangement upon the lid to which a of string was attached beside this there was a small square through the tha t little ua re box wood the tall man as his companion called him applied his eye to this and peered in for several minutes with an expression of intense anxiety upon his face it seems right enough he said at last i tried not to shake it said his companion such delicate things need delicate treatment put in some of the needful the shorter man in his pocket for some time and then produced a small paper packet he opened this and took out of it half a handful of which he poured down through the hole a curious noise followed from the inside of the box and both the men smiled in a satisfied way nothing much wrong there said right as a answered his companion look out here s some one coming take it down to our berth it wouldn t do to have any one suspecting what our game is or worse still have them with it and letting it off by mistake well it would come to the same whoever let it off said they d be rather astonished if they pulled the said the taller with a sinister laugh ha ha fancy their faces it s not a bad bit of i flatter myself no said i hear it is your own design every bit of it isn t it yes the spring and the sliding are my own that little square box we should take out a patent and the two men laughed again with a cold harsh laugh as they took up the little brass bound and concealed it in s overcoat come down and we ll it in our berth said we won t need it until to night and it will be safe there his companion assented and the two went arm along the deck and disappeared down the bearing the mysterious little box away with them the last words i heard were a muttered from to carry it carefully and avoid knocking it against the how long i remained sitting on that of rope i shall never know the horror of the conversation i had just overheard was by the first sinking of sea sickness the long roll of the atlantic was beginning to assert itself over both ship and passengers i felt in mind and in body and fell into a state of from which i was finally aroused by the hearty voice of our worthy do you mind moving out of that sir he said we want to get this lumber cleared off the deck his bluff manner and ruddy healthy face seemed to be a positive insult to me in my present condition had i been a courageous or a muscular man i could have struck him as it was i treated the honest sailor to a which seemed to cause him no small astonishment and strode past him to the that little square box other side of the deck solitude was what i wanted â solitude in which i could brood over the frightful crime which was being before my very eyes one of the quarter boats was hanging rather low down upon the an idea struck me and climbing on the i stepped into the empty boat and lay down in the bottom of it stretched on my back with nothing but the blue sky above me and an view of the as the vessel rolled i was at least alone with my sickness and my thoughts i tried to recall the words which had been spoken in the terrible dialogue i had overheard would they admit of any construction but the one which stared me in the face my reason forced me to confess that they would not i endeavoured to array the various facts which formed the chain of evidence and to find a flaw in it but no not a link was missing there was the strange way in which our passengers had come aboard them to any examination of their luggage the very name of of while suggested nothing but and murder then their mysterious manner their remark that their plans would have been ruined had they missed the ship their fear of being observed last but not least the evidence in the production of the little square box with the and their grim joke about the face of the man who should let it off by mistake â could these facts lead to any

3Edith Wharton

conclusion other than that they were the desperate of some body political or b that little square box â otherwise who intended to sacrifice themselves their fellow passengers and the ship in one great the which i had seen one of them pour into the box formed no doubt a or train for it i had myself heard a sound come from it which might have from some delicate piece of machinery but what did they mean by their allusion to to night could it be that they contemplated putting their horrible design into execution on the very first evening of our voyage the mere thought of it sent a cold shudder over me and made me for a moment superior even to the agonies of sea sickness i have remarked that i am a physical coward i am a moral one also it is seldom that the two defects are united to such a degree in the one character i have known many men who were most sensitive to bodily danger and yet were distinguished for the independence and strength of their minds in my own case however i regret to say that my quiet and retiring habits had a nervous dread of doing anything remarkable or making myself conspicuous which exceeded if possible my fear of personal peril an ordinary mortal placed under the circumstances in which i now found myself would have gone at once to the captain confessed his fears and put the matter into his hands to me however constituted as i am the idea was most the thought of becoming the observed of all cross questioned by a stranger and confronted with two desperate in the character of a de that little square box was hateful to me might it not by some remote possibility prove that i was mistaken what would be my feelings if there should turn out ta be no grounds for my accusation no i would pro i would keep my eye on the two and dog them at every turn anything was better than the possibility of being wrong then it struck me that even at that moment some new phase of the conspiracy might be developing itself the nervous excitement seemed to have driven away my attack of sickness for i was able to stand up and lower myself from the boat without any return of it i staggered along the deck with the intention of descending into the cabin and finding how my acquaintances of the morning were occupying themselves just as i had my hand on the i was astonished by receiving a hearty slap on the back which nearly shot me down the steps with haste than dignity is that you said a voice which i seemed to recognise bless me i said as i turned round it can t be dick i why how are you old man this was an unexpected piece of luck in the midst of my dick was just the man i wanted kindly and shrewd in his nature and prompt in his actions i should have no difficulty in telling him my suspicions and could rely upon his sound sense to point out the best course to pursue since i was a little lad in the second form at dick had i that little square box been my adviser and protector he saw at a glance that something had gone wrong with me he said in his kindly way what s put you about you look as white as a sheet mai de eh no not that altogether said i walk up and down with me dick i want to speak to you give me your arm supporting myself on dick s frame i along by his side but it was some time before i could muster resolution to speak have a cigar said he breaking the silence no thanks said i dick we shall be all to night that s no reason against your having a cigar how said dick in his cool way but looking hard at me from under his shaggy eyebrows as he spoke he evidently thought that my intellect was a little gone no i continued it s no laughing matter and i speak in sober earnest i assure you i have discovered an infamous conspiracy dick to destroy this ship and every soul that is in her and i then proceeded and in order to lay before him the chain of evidence which i had collected there dick i said as i concluded what do you think of that and above all what am i to do to my astonishment he burst into a hearty fit of laughter i d be frightened he said if any fellow but you had told me as much you always had a way ham tha t little ua re box of discovering nests i like to see the old traits breaking out again do you remember at school how you swore there was a ghost m the long room and how it turned out to be your own reflection in the mirror why man he continued what object would any one have in destroying this ship we have no great political guns aboard on the contrary the majority of the passengers are americans besides in this sober nineteenth century the most stop at including themselves among their victims depend upon it you have misunderstood them and have mistaken a or something equally innocent for an infernal machine nothing of the sort sir said i rather you will learn to your cost i fear that i have neither exaggerated nor a word as to the box i have certainly never before seen one like it it contained delicate machinery of that i am convinced from the way in which the men handled it and spoke of it you d make out every packet of goods to be a said dick if that is to be your only test

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the man s name was i continued i don t think that would go very far in a court of law said dick but come i have finished my cigar suppose we go down together and split a bottle of you can point out these two to me if they are still in the cabin all right i answered i am determined not to that little square box lose sight of them all day don t look hard at them though for i don t want them to think that they are being watched trust me said dick i ll look as unconscious and as a lamb and with that we passed down the companion and into the saloon a good many passengers were scattered about the great central table some with carpet bags and rug some having their luncheon and a few reading and otherwise amusing themselves the objects of our quest were not there we passed down the room and peered into every berth but there was no sign of them heavens thought j perhaps at this very moment they are beneath our feet in the hold or engine room preparing their contrivance it was better to know the worst than to remain in such suspense steward said dick are there any other gentlemen about there s two in the smoking room sir answered the steward the smoking room was a little fitted up and adjoining the we pushed the door open and entered a sigh of relief escaped from my bosom the very first object on which my eye rested was the face of with its hard set mouth and eye his companion sat opposite to him they were both drinking and a pile of cards lay upon the table they were engaged in playing as we entered i dick to show him that little square box that we had found our and we sat down beside them with as an air as possible the two seemed to take little notice of our presence i watched them both narrowly the game at which they were playing was napoleon both were at it and i could not help admiring the nerve of men who with such a secret at their hearts could devote their minds to the of a long suit or the of a queen money changed hands rapidly but the run of luck seemed to be all against the taller of the two players at last he threw down his cards on the table with an oath and refused to go on no tm hanged if i do he said i haven t had more than two of a suit for five hands never mind said his comrade as he gathered up his a few dollars one way or the other won t go very far after to night s work i was astonished at the rascal s audacity but took care to keep my eyes fixed upon the ceiling and drank my wine in as unconscious a manner as possible i felt that was looking towards me with his eyes to see if i had noticed the allusion he whispered something to his companion which i failed to catch it was a caution i suppose for the other answered rather angrily â nonsense why shouldn t i say what i like over caution is just what would ruin us i believe you want it not to come off that little square box you believe nothing of the sort said the other speaking rapidly and loudly you know as well as i do that when i play for a stake i like to win it but i won t have my words and cut short by you or any other man i have as much interest in our success as you have â more i hope he was quite hot about it and puffed furiously at his cigar for some minutes the eyes of the other wandered alternately from dick to myself i knew that i was in the presence of a desperate man that a quiver of my lip might be the signal for him to plunge a weapon into my heart but i betrayed more self command than i should have given myself credit for under such trying circumstances as to dick he was as immovable and apparently as unconscious as the egyptian there was silence for some time in the broken only by the crisp rattle of the cards as the man them up before them in his pocket he still seemed to be somewhat flushed and irritable throwing the end of his cigar into the he glanced at his companion and turned towards me can you tell me sir he said when this ship will be heard of again they were both looking at me but though my face may have turned a trifle paler my voice was as steady as ever as i answered â i presume sir that it will be heard of first when it enters harbour that little square box ts ha ha laughed the angry little man i knew you would say that don t you kick me under the table i won t stand it i know what i am doing you are wrong sir he continued turning to me utterly wrong some passing ship perhaps suggested dick no nor that either the weather is fine i said why should we not be heard of at our destination i didn t say we shouldn t be heard of at our destination possibly we may not and in any case that is not where we shall be heard of first where then asked dick that you shall never know suffice it that a rapid and mysterious agency will signal our whereabouts and that before the day is out ha ha and he chuckled once again come on deck growled his comrade you have drunk too much of that brandy it has loosened your tongue come away and

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taking him by the arm he half led him half forced him out of the smoking room and we heard them stumbling up the companion together and on to the deck well what do you think now i gasped as i turned towards dick he was as as ever think he said why i think what his companion thinks that we have been listening to the of a half drunken man the fellow of brandy that little square box nonsense dick you saw how the other tried to stop his tongue of course he did he didn t want his friend to make a fool of himself before strangers maybe the short one is a lunatic and the other his private keeper it s quite possible o dick dick i cried how can you be so blind don t you see that every word confirmed our previous suspicion man i said dick you re working yourself into a state of nervous excitement why what the devil do you make of all that nonsense about a mysterious agent which would signal our whereabouts i ll tell you what he meant dick i said bending forward and grasping my friend s arm he meant a sudden glare and a flash seen far out at sea by some lonely off the american coast that s what he meant i didn t think you were such a fool said dick if you try to fix a literal meaning on the that every drunken man talks you will come to some queer conclusions let us follow their example and go on deck you need fresh air i think depend upon it your liver is out of order a sea voyage will do you a world of good if ever i see the end of this one i groaned i ll promise never to venture on another they are laying the cloth so it s hardly worth while my going up i ll stay below and my things that little square box i hope dinner will find you in a more pleasant state of mind said dick and he went out leaving me to my thoughts until the of the great to the saloon my appetite i need hardly say had not been improved by the incidents which had occurred during the day i sat down however mechanically at the table and listened to the talk which was going on around me there were nearly a hundred first class passengers and as the wine began to their voices combined with the clash of the dishes to form a perfect i found myself seated between a very stout and nervous old lady and a little clergyman and as neither made any advances retired into my shell and spent my time in observing the appearance of my fellow i could see dick in the dim distance dividing his attentions between a fowl in front of him and a self possessed young lady at his side captain was doing the honours at my end while the surgeon of the vessel was seated at the other i â was glad to notice that was placed almost opposite to me â as long as i had him before my eyes i knew that for the time at least we were safe he was sitting with what was meant to be a smile on his grim face it did not escape me that he drank largely of wine â so largely that even before the appeared his voice had become decidedly his friend was seated a few places lower down he ate little and appeared to be nervous and restless now ladies said our genial captain i trust that i o that little square box you will consider yourselves at home aboard my vessel i have no fears for the gentlemen a bottle of steward here s to a fresh breeze and a quick passage i i trust our friends in america will hear of our safe arrival in eight days or in nine at the very latest i looked up quick as was the glance which passed between and his i was able to it there was an evil smile upon the former s thin lips the conversation on politics the sea amusements religion each was in turn discussed remained a silent though an interested listener it struck me that no harm could be done by introducing the subject which was ever in my mind it could be managed in an off hand way and would at least have the effect of turning the captain s thoughts in that direction i could watch too what effect it would have upon the faces of the there was a sudden lull in the conversation the ordinary subjects of interest appeared to be exhausted the opportunity was a favourable one may i ask captain i said bending forward and speaking very distinctly what you think of the captain s ruddy face became a shade darker from honest indignation they are poor cowardly things he said as silly as they are wicked the impotent threats of a set of f p â â that little square box i i said a looking old gentleman beside him o captain said the fat lady at my side you don t really think they would blow up a ship i have no doubt they would if they could but i am very sure they shall never blow up mine â may i ask what precautions are taken against them asked an elderly man at the end of the table ah goods sent aboard the ship are strictly examined said captain but suppose a man brought aboard with him i suggested they are too cowardly to risk their own lives in that way during this conversation had not betrayed the slightest interest in what was going on he his head now and looked at the captain don t you think you are rather them he said every secret society

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has produced desperate men â why shouldn t the have them too many men think it a privilege to die in the service of a cause which seems right in their eyes though others may think it wrong murder cannot be right in anybody s eyes said the little clergyman the of paris was nothing else said yet the whole world agreed to look on with folded arms and change the ugly word murder into the more one of war it l that little square box right enough to german eyes why shouldn t seem so to the at any rate their empty have led to nothing as yet said the captain excuse me returned but is there not some room for doubt yet as to the fate of the i have met men in america who asserted from their own personal knowledge that there was a coal aboard that vessel then they lied said the captain it was proved at the court martial to have arisen from an explosion of coal gas â but we had better change the subject or we may cause the ladies to have a restless night and the conversation once more drifted back into its original channel during this little discussion had argued his point with a gentlemanly deference and a quiet power for which i had not given him credit i could not help admiring a man who on the eve of a desperate enterprise could courteously argue upon a point which must touch him so nearly he had as i have already mentioned of a considerable quantity of wine but though there was a slight flush upon his pale cheek his manner was as reserved as ever he did not join in the conversation again but seemed to be lost in thought a whirl of conflicting ideas was in my own mind what was i to do should i stand up now and them before both passengers and captain should i demand a few minutes conversation that little square box with the latter in his own cabin and reveal it all for an instant i was half resolved to do it but then the old constitutional timidity came back with force after all there might be some mistake dick had heard the evidence and had refused to believe in it i determined to let things go on their course a strange reckless feeling came over me why should i help men who were blind to their own danger surely it was the duty of the officers to protect us not ours to give warning to them i drank off a couple of glasses of wine and staggered upon deck with the determination of keeping my secret locked in my own bosom it was a glorious evening even in my excited state of mind i could not help leaning against the and enjoying the refreshing breeze away to the westward a solitary sail stood out as a dark speck against the great sheet of flame left by the setting sun i shuddered as i looked at it it was grand but appalling a single star was twinkling faintly above our but a thousand seemed to gleam in the water below with every stroke of our the only blot in the fair scene was the great trail of smoke which stretched away behind us like a black upon a crimson curtain it was hard to believe that the great peace which hung over all nature could be by a poor miserable mortal after all i thought as i gazed into the blue depths beneath me if the worst comes to the worst it is better to die here than to linger in agony upon a sick bed on land a man s life seems a very paltry l that little square box thing amid the great forces of nature all my philosophy could not prevent my shuddering however when i turned my head and saw two shadowy figures at the other side of the deck which i had no difficulty in they seemed to be earnestly but i had no opportunity of what was said so i contented myself with pacing up and down and keeping a watch upon their movements it was a relief to me when dick came on â ven an incredulous is better than none at all well old man he said giving me a dig in the ribs we ve not been blown up yet no not yet said i but that s no proof that we are not going to be nonsense man said dick i can t conceive what has put this extraordinary idea into your head i have been talking to one of your supposed and he seems a pleasant fellow enough quite a sporting character i should think from the way he speaks dick i said i am as certain that those men have an infernal machine and that we are on the verge of eternity as if i saw them putting the match to the well if you really think so said dick half awed for the moment by the earnestness of my manner it is your duty to let the captain know of your suspicions that little square box you are right i said i will my absurd timidity has prevented my doing so sooner i be our lives can only be saved by laying the whole matter before him well go and do it now said dick but for goodness sake don t mix me up ill the matter ril speak to him when he comes off the bridge i answered and in the meantime i don t mean to lose sight them let me know of the result said my companion and with a nod he strolled away in search i fancy of his partner at the dinner table left to myself i me of my retreat of the morning and climbing on the i mounted into the quarter boat and

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lay down there in it i could my course of action and by raising my head was able at any time to get a view of my disagreeable neighbours an hour passed and the captain was still on the bridge he was talking to one of the passengers a retired naval officer and the two were deep in debate concerning some point in i could see the red tips of their cigars from where i lay it was dark now so dark that i could hardly make out the figures of and his they were still standing in the position which they had taken up after dinner a few of the passengers were scattered about the deck but had gone below a strange stillness seemed to the air the l that little square box voices of the watch and the rattle of the wheel were the only sounds which broke the silence another half hour passed the captain was still upon the bridge it seemed as if he would never come down my nerves were in a state of unnatural so much so that the sound of two steps upon the deck made me start up in a quiver of excitement i peered over the edge of the boat and saw that our suspicious passengers had crossed from the other side and were standing almost directly beneath me the light of a fell full upon the ghastly face of the even in that short glance i saw that had the whose use i knew so well loosely over his arm i sank back with a groan it seemed that my fatal had sacrificed two hundred innocent lives i had read of the vengeance which awaited a spy i knew that men with their lives in their hands would stick at nothing all i could do was to at the bottom of the boat and listen silently to their whispered talk below this place will do said a voice yes the side is best i wonder if the will act am sure it will we were to let it off at ten were we not yes at ten sharp we have eight minutes yet there was a pause then the voice began again â they ll hear the drop of the won t they that little square box it doesn t matter it will be too late for any one to prevent its going off that s true there will be some excitement among those we have left behind won t there rather how long do reckon it will be before they hear of us the first news will get in at about midnight at earliest that will be my doing no mine ha ha we ll settle that there was a pause here then i heard s voice in a ghastly whisper there s only five minutes more how the moments seemed to pass i i could count them by the throbbing of my heart it ll make a sensation on land said a voice yes it will make a noise in the newspapers i raised my head and peered over the side of the boat there seemed no hope no help death stared me in the face whether i did or did not give the alarm the captain had at last left the bridge the deck was deserted save for those two dark figures crouching in the shadow of the boat had a watch lying open in his hand three minutes more he said put it down upon the deck no put it here on the it was the little square box i knew by the sound that they had placed it near the and almost exactly under my head i that little square box r looked over again was pouring something out of a paper into his hand it was white and â the same that i had seen him use in the morning it was meant as a no doubt for he it into the little box and i heard the strange noise which had previously arrested my attention a minute and a half more he said shall you or i pull the string i will pull it said he was kneeling down and holding the end in his hand stood behind with his arms folded and an air of grim resolution upon his face i could stand it no longer my nervous system seemed to give way in a moment stop i screamed springing to my feet stop and men i they both staggered backwards i fancy they thought i was a spirit with the moonlight streaming down upon my pale face i was brave enough now i had gone too far to retreat was damned i cried and he but one would you have the blood of two hundred upon your souls v he s mad said time s up let it off i sprang down upon the deck you shan t do it i i said by what right do you prevent us by every right human and divine m â l a p n ii i p iâ â w i w w â i b that little square box it s no business of yours clear out of this never i said i confound the fellow i there s too much at stake to stand on ceremony til hold him while you pull the next moment i was struggling in the grasp of the resistance was useless i was a child in his hands he pinned me up against the side of the vessel and held me there now he said look sharp he can t prevent us i felt that i was standing on the verge of eternity half in the arms of the taller i saw the other approach the fatal box he stooped over it and seized the string i breathed one er when i saw his grasp upon it then came a sharp snap a strange noise the

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had fallen the side of the box flew out and let off â two grey little more need be said it is not a subject on which i care to dwell the whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd the best thing i can do is to retire gracefully from the scene and let the sporting correspondent of the new york herald fill my unworthy place here is an extract from its columns shortly after our departure from america â pigeon flying extraordinary â a novel match ha been brought off last week between the birds of john h of boston and a well that little square known citizen of both men have devoted much time and attention to an improved breed of bird and the challenge is an old standing one the were backed to a large amount and there was considerable local interest in the result the start was from the deck of the at ten o clock on the evening of the day of starting the vessel being then reckoned to be about a hundred miles from the land the bird which reached home first was to be declared the considerable caution had we believe to be observed as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing off of sporting events aboard their vessels in spite of some little difficulty at the last moment the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten o clock s bird arrived in in an extreme state of exhaustion on the following morning while s has not been heard of the of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing however that the whole has been by extreme the were confined in a specially invented trap which could only be opened by the spring it was thus possible to feed them through an in the top but any with their wings was quite out of the question a few such matches would go far towards in america and form an agreeable variety to the morbid of human endurance which have assumed such proportions during the last few years john s strange it is and wonderful to mark how upon this planet of ours the smallest and most insignificant of events set a train of consequences in motion which act and until their final results are and set a force however small and who can say where it shall end or what it may lead to trifles develop into and the of one day into the catastrophe of the next an throws out a to surround a grain of sand and so a pearl comes into being a pearl fishes it up a merchant it and it to a who of it to a customer the customer is robbed of it by two who quarrel over the one the other and himself upon the here is a direct chain of events with a sick for its first link and a gallows for its last one had that grain of sand not chanced to wash in between the shells of the two living breathing beings with all their for good and for evil would not have been blotted out from among their fellows who shall undertake to judge what is really small and what is great thus when in the year don x john s him that if it paid the in england to import the bark of his cork oaks it would pay him also to found a factory by which the might be cut and sent out ready made surely at first sight no very vital human interests would appear to be affected yet there were poor folk who would suffer and suffer â women who would weep and men who would become sallow and hungry looking and dangerous in places of which the don had never heard and all on account of that one idea which had flashed across him as he beneath the grateful shadow of his so crowded is this old globe of ours and so our interests that one can not think a new thought without some poor devil being the better or the worse for it don was a and the ab thought soon took the form of a great square building wherein a couple of hundred of his countrymen worked with fi at a rate of pay which no english could have accepted within a few months the result of this new competition was an abrupt fall of prices in the trade which was serious for the largest fi and disastrous for the smaller ones a few old established houses held on as they were others reduced their and cut down their expenses while one or two put up their shutters and confessed themselves beaten in this last unfortunate was the ancient and respected firm of brothers of s several causes had led up to this disaster though don s as a had brought matters to a head when a couple of generations back the original had founded the business was a little fishing town with no outlet or occupation for her superfluous population men were glad to have safe and continuous work upon any terms all this was altered now for the town was into the centre of a large district in the west and the demand for labour and its had increased again in the old days when carriage was and communication slow the of and of were glad to buy their from their neighbour of but now the large london houses sent down their travellers who with each other to gain the local custom until profits were cut down to the vanishing point for a long time the firm had been in a precarious position but this further drop in prices settled the matter and compelled mr charles the acting manager to close his establishment it was a saturday afternoon in november when the hands were paid for the last time and the old building was to be finally abandoned mr an anxious

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faced sorrow worn man stood on a raised by the while he handed the little pile of hardly earned shillings and to each successive workman as the long procession filed past his table it was usual with the to clatter away the instant that they had been paid like john s so many children let out of school but to day they waited forming little groups over the great dreary room and discussing in subdued voices the which had come upon their and the future which awaited themselves when the last pile of had been handed across the table and the last name checked by the the whole throng faced silently round to the man who had been their master and waited for any words which he might have to say to them mr charles had not expected this and it embarrassed him he had waited as a matter of routine duty until the wages were paid but he was a slow man and he had not foreseen this sudden call upon his powers he his thin cheek nervously with his long white fingers and looked down with weak watery eyes at the of serious faces i am sorry that we have to part my men he said at last in a voice it s a bad day for all of us and for too for three years we have been losing money over the works we held on in the hope of a change coming but matters are going from bad to worse there s nothing for it but to give it up before the balance of our fortune is swallowed up i hope you may all be able to get work of some sort before very long good bye and god bless you i god bless you sir god bless you cried a chorus of rough voices three cheers for mr charles i shouted a bright eyed smart young fellow john springing up upon a bench and waving his cap in the air the crowd responded to the call but their wanted the true ring which only a joyous heart can give then they began to flock out into the sunlight looking back as they went at the long deal tables and the cork strewn floor â above all at the sad faced solitary man whose cheeks were with colour at the rough cordiality of their farewell said the touching on the shoulder the young fellow who had led the cheering the governor wants to speak to you the workman turned back and stood swinging his cap awkwardly in front of his ex employer while the crowd pushed on until the doorway was clear and the heavy fog wreaths rolled into the deserted factory ah john said mr coming suddenly out of his reverie and taking up a letter from the table you have been in my service since you were a boy and you have shown that you the trust which i have placed in you from what i have heard think i am right in saying that this sudden want of work will affect your plans more than it will many of my other hands i was to be married at the man answered tracing a pattern upon the table with his forefinger i ll have to find work first and work my poor fellow is by no means easy to find you see you have been in this all â your life and are unfit for anything else it s true john you ve been my but even that won t help you for the all over england are hands and there s not a to be had it s a bad outlook for you and such as you what would you advise then sir asked john that s what i was coming to i have a letter here from and of asking for a good hand to take charge of a if you think it will suit you you can go out by the next boat the wages are far in excess of anything which i have been able to give you why sir this is real kind of you the young workman said earnestly she â my girl â mary will be as grateful to you as i am i know what you say is right and that if i had to look for work i should be likely to spend the little that i have laid by towards housekeeping before i found it but sir with your leave i d like to speak to her about it before i made up my mind could you leave it open for a few hours the mail goes out to morrow mr answered if you decide to accept you can write tonight here is their letter which will give you their address john took the precious paper with a grateful heart an hour ago his future had been all black but now this of light had broken in the west giving promise of better things he would have liked to have said something expressive of his feelings to his em john s but the english nature is not and he could not get beyond a few choking awkward words which were as awkwardly received by his benefactor with a scrape and a bow he turned on his heel and plunged out into the street so thick was the that the houses over the way were only a vague loom but the hurried on with steps through side streets and winding lanes past walls where the s were drying and over of until he reached a modest line of cottages the sea at the door of one of these the young man tapped and then without waiting for a response pressed down the latch and walked in an old silvery haired woman and a young girl hardly out of her were sitting on either side of the fire and the latter sprang to her feet as

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he entered youve got some good news john she cried putting her hands upon his shoulders and looking into his eyes i can tell it from your step mr is going to carry on after all no dear not so good as that john answered back her rich brown hair but i have an offer of a place in canada with good money and if you think as i do i shall go out to it and you can follow with the whenever i have made all straight for you at the other side what say you to that my why surely john what you think is right must m john be for the best said the girl quietly with trust and confidence in her pale plain face and loving eyes but poor how is she to cross the seas oh never mind about me the old woman broke in cheerfully til be no drag on you if you want s not too old to travel and if you don t want her why she can look after the cottage and have an english home ready for you whenever you turn back to the old country of course we shall need you john ford said with a cheery laugh fancy leaving behind i that would never do mary but if you both come out and if we are married all snug and proper at we ll look through the whole city until we find a house something like this one and we ll have on the outside just the same and when the doors are shut and we sit round the fire on the winter s nights i m hanged if we ll be able to tell that we re not at home besides mary it s the same speech out there and the same king and the same flag it s not like a foreign country no of course not mary answered with conviction she was an orphan with no living relation save her old grandmother and no thought in life but to make a and worthy wife to the man she loved where these two were she could not fail to find happiness if john went to canada then canada became home to her for what had to offer when he was gone i m to write to night then and accept the young john s man asked i knew you would both be of the same mind as myself but f course i couldn t close with the offer until we had talked it over i can get started in a week or two and then in a couple of months i ll have all ready for you on the other side it will be a wear weary time until we hear from you dear john said mary clasping his hand but it s god s will and we must be patient here s pen and ink you can sit at the table and write the letter which is to take the three of us across the atlantic strange how don s thoughts were human lives in the little village the acceptance was duly despatched and john began immediately to prepare for his departure for the firm had intimated that the was a certainty and that the chosen man might come out without delay to take over his duties in a very few days his scanty was completed and he started off in a vessel for liverpool where he was to catch the passenger ship for remember john mary whispered as he pressed her to his heart upon the the cottage is our own and come what may we have always that to fall back upon if things should chance to turn out badly over there we have always a roof to cover us there you will find me until you send word to us to come and that will be very soon my he answered cheerfully with a last embrace good bye good bye the ship was a mile and more from the i o john s land before he lost sight of the figures of the straight slim girl and her old companion who stood watching and waving to him from the end of the grey stone it was with a sinking heart and a vague feeling of impending disaster that he saw them at last as minute in the distance walking town ward and disappearing amid the crowd who lined the beach from liverpool the old woman and her received a letter from john announcing that he was just starting in the st and six weeks afterwards a second longer informed them of his safe arrival at and gave them his â first impressions of the country after that a long unbroken silence set in week after week and month after month passed by and never a word came from across the seas a year went over their heads and yet another but no news of the and were written to and replied that though john s letter had reached them he had never presented himself and they had been forced to fill up the as best they could still mary and her grandmother hoped against hope and looked out for the letter every morning with such eagerness that the kind hearted man would often make a rather than pass the two pale anxious faces which peered at him from the cottage window at last three years after the young s disappearance old died and mary was left alone a broken sorrowful woman living as best she might on a small which had descended to her and eating her john s i i heart out as she over the mystery which hung over the fate of her lover among the shrewd west country neighbours there had long however ceased to be any mystery in the matter arrived safely in canada â so much was proved by his letter had he met with his end

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in any sudden way during the journey between and there must have been some official inquiry and his luggage would have to have established his identity yet the police had been communicated with and had returned a positive answer that no had been held or any body found which could by any possibility be that of the young englishman the only alternative appeared to be that he had taken the first opportunity to break all the old ties and had slipped away to the or to the states to commence life anew under an altered name why he should do this no one professed to know but that he had done it appeared only too probable from the facts hence many a deep growl of righteous anger rose from the when mary with her pale face and sorrow sunken head passed along the on her way to her daily and it is more than likely that if the missing man had turned up in he might have met with some rough words or usage unless he could give some very good reason for his strange conduct this popular view of the case never however occurred to the simple trusting heart of the lonely girl and as years rolled by her grief and her suspense were never i john for an instant tinged with a doubt as to the good faith of the missing man from youth she grew into middle age and from that into the autumn of her life patient long suffering and faithful doing good as far as lay in her power and waiting humbly until fate should restore either in this world or the next that which it had so mysteriously deprived her of in the meantime neither the opinion held by the that john was dead nor that of the majority which pronounced him to be represented the true state of the case still alive and of honour he had yet been out by fortune as her victim in one of those strange which are of such rare occurrence and so beyond the general experience that they might be put by as incredible had we not the most evidence of their occasional possibility landing at with his heart full of hope and courage john selected a dingy room in a back street where the terms were less than elsewhere and conveyed thither the two boxes which contained his worldly goods after taking up his quarters there he had half a mind to change again for the landlady and the fellow were by no means to his taste but the coach started within a day or two and he consoled himself by the thought that the discomfort would only last for that short time having written home to mary to announce his safe arrival he ed himself in seeing as much of the town as john s was possible walking about all day and only returning to his room at night it happened however that the house on which the unfortunate youth had pitched was one which was notorious for the character of its inmates he had been directed to it by a who found regular employment in hanging about the and new comers to this den the fellow s manner and proffered civility had led the simple hearted west into the toils and though his instinct told him that he was in company he refrained unfortunately from at once making his escape he contented himself with staying out all day and as little as possible with the other inmates from the few words which he did let drop however the landlady gathered that he was a stranger without a single friend in the country to inquire after him should misfortune overtake him the house had an evil reputation for the of sailors which was done not only for the purpose of them but also to supply ships with the men being carried on board insensible and not coming to until the ship was well down the st this trade caused the wretches who followed it to be in the use of and they determined to practise their arts upon their so as to have an opportunity of his effects and of seeing what it might be worth their while to during the day he invariably locked his door and carried oflf the key in s his pocket but if they could render him insensible for the night they could examine his boxes at their leisure and deny afterwards that he had ever brought with him the articles which he missed it happened therefore upon the eve of s departure from that he found upon returning to his lodgings that his landlady and her two ill favoured sons who assisted her in her trade were waiting up for him over a bowl of punch which they cordially invited him to share it was a bitterly cold night and the fragrant steam overpowered any suspicions which the young englishman may have entertained so he drained off a and then retiring to his bedroom threw himself upon his bed without and fell straight into a slumber in which he still lay when the three crept into his chamber and having opened his boxes began to investigate his effects it may have been that the speedy action of the caused its effect to be or perhaps that the strong constitution of the victim threw it off with unusual rapidity whatever the cause it is certain that john suddenly came to himself and found the foul round their which they were dividing into the two of what was of value and should be taken and what was and might therefore be left with a bound he sprang out of bed and seizing the fellow nearest him by the collar he him through the open doorway his brother rushed at him but the young man met him with such a that he dropped jn a heap john s upon the ground unfortunately

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the violence of the blow caused him to himself and over his prostrate he came down heavily upon his face before he could rise the old sprang upon his back and clung to him shrieking to her son to bring the john managed to shake himself clear of them both but before he could stand on his guard he was from behind by a crashing blow from an iron bar which stretched him senseless upon the floor you ve hit too hard joe said the old woman looking down at the prostrate figure i heard the bone go if i hadn t fetched him down he d ha been too many for us said the young villain still you might ha done it without killing him clumsy said his mother she had had a large experience of such scenes and knew the difference between a blow and a fatal one he s still breathing the other said examining him the back o his head s like a bag o though the skull s all he can t last what are we to do he ll never come to himself again the other brother remarked him right look at my face let s see mother who s in the house only four drunk sailors they wouldn t turn out for any noise it s all quiet in the street let s carry him down a bit joe and leave him there he can die there and no one think the worse of us john take all the papers out of his pocket then the mother suggested they might help the police to trace him his i too and his money g odd better than nothing now carry him softly and don t slip kicking oflf their shoes the two brothers carried the dying man down stairs and along the deserted street for a couple of hundred yards there they laid him among the snow where he was found by the night who carried him on a to the hospital he was duly examined by the resident who bound up the wounded head but gave it as his opinion that the man could not possibly live for more than twelve hours twelve hours passed however and yet another twelve but john still struggled hard for his life when at the end of three days he was found to be still breathing the interest of the doctors became aroused at his extraordinary vitality and they him as the fashion was in those days and surrounded his shattered head with it may have been on account of these measures or it may have been in spite of them but at the end of a week s deep trance the nurse in charge was astonished to hear a noise and to find the stranger sitting up upon the couch and staring about him with wistful wondering eyes the were summoned to behold the phenomenon and warmly congratulated each other upon the success of their treatment you have been on the brink of the grave my man s is said one of them pressing the head back on to the pillow you must not excite yourself what is your name no answer save a wild stare where do you come from again no answer he is mad one suggested or a foreigner said another there were no papers on him when he came in his linen is marked j h let us try him in french and german they tested him with as many tongues as they could muster among them but were compelled at last to give the matter over and to leave their silent patient still staring up wild at the hospital ceiling for many weeks john lay in the hospital and for many weeks efforts were made to gain some clue as to his but in vain he showed as the time rolled by not only by his but also by the intelligence with which he began to pick up fragments of sentences like a clever child learning to talk that his mind was strong enough in the present though it was a complete blank as to the past the man s memory of his whole life before the fatal blow was entirely and absolutely he neither knew his name his language his home his business nor anything else the doctors held learned upon him and upon the centre of memory and depressed tables nerve and but all their began and ended at the fact that the man s memory was gone and that it was john s the power of science to restore it during the weary of his he picked up reading and writing but with the return of his strength came no return of his former life england mary â the words brought no recollection to his mind ah was absolute darkness at last he was discharged a man without a past and with very little to look to in the future his very name was altered for it had been necessary to invent one john had passed away and john hardy took his place among mankind here was a strange of a spanish gentleman s tobacco inspired meditations john s case had aroused some discussion and curiosity in so that he was not suffered to drift into utter helplessness upon emerging from the hospital a scotch named m found him a post as porter in his establishment and for a long time he worked at seven dollars a week at the and of in the course of years it was noticed however that his memory however as to the past was extremely and accurate when concerned with anything which had occurred since his accident from the factory he was promoted into the house and the year found him a junior clerk at a salary of a year steadily and surely john hardy fought his way upward from post to post with his whole heart and mind devoted to the

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business in he was third clerk in he was second and in he became manager of the whole vast john s establishment and second only to mr m himself there were few who john this rapid ad for it was obviously due to neither chance nor but entirely to his marvellous powers of application and industry from early morning until late in the night he hard in the service of his employer checking overlooking setting an example to all of cheerful devotion to duty as he rose from one post to another his salary increased but it caused no alteration in his mode of living save that it enabled him to be more open handed to the poor he his promotion to the by a of i x to the hospital in which he had been treated a quarter of a century before the remainder of his he allowed to in the business drawing a small sum for his and still in the humble dwelling which he had occupied when he was a porter in spite of his success he was a sad silent man solitary in his habits and possessed always of a vague yearning a dull feeling of dissatisfaction and of craving which never abandoned him often he would strive with his poor crippled brain to pierce the curtain which divided him from the past and to solve the of his youthful existence but though he sat many a time by the fire until his head with his efforts john hardy could never recall the least glimpse of john history i john s on one occasion he had in the interests of the firm to journey to and to visit the very cork factory which had tempted him to leave england strolling through the with the john and without knowing what he was doing picked up a square piece of the bark and fashioned it with two or three cuts of his into a smooth cork his companion picked it out of his hand and examined it with the eye of an expert this is not the first cork which you have cut by many a hundred mr hardy he remarked indeed you are wrong john answered smiling i never cut one before in my life impossible i cried the here s another bit of cork try again john did his best to repeat the performance but the brains of the manager interfered with the trained muscles of the the latter had not forgotten their cunning but they needed to be left to themselves and not directed by a mind which knew nothing of the matter instead of the smooth graceful shape he could produce nothing but rough clumsy it must have been chance said the but i could have sworn that it was the work of an old hand as the years passed john s smooth english skin had and until he was as brown and as as a his hair too after many years of iron grey had finally become as white as the of his adopted yet he was a hale and upright old man and when he at last retired from the manager john ship of the firm with which he had been so long connected he bore the weight of his seventy years h and bravely he was in the peculiar position himself of not knowing his own age as it was impossible for him to do more than guess at how old he was at the time of his accident the german war came round and while the two great rivals were destroying each other their more peaceful neighbours were quietly them out of their and their commerce many english ports by this condition of things but none more than it had long ceased to be a fishing village but was now a large and prosperous town with a great in place of the on which mary had stood and a of and grand hotels where all the of the west country came when they were in need of a change all these had made the centre of a busy trade and her ships found their way into every harbour in the world hence it was no wonder especially in that very busy year of that several vessels were lying in the river and alongside the of one day john hardy who found time hang a little on his hands since his retirement from business strolled along by the water s edge listening to the of the steam and watching the great barrels and cases as they were swung ashore and piled upon the wharf he had observed the coming in of a great ocean steamer and having waited until john s she was safely he was turning away when a few words fell upon his ear uttered by some one on board a little weather beaten close by him it was only some commonplace order that was out but the sound fell upon the old man s ears with a strange mixture of and familiarity he stood by the vessel and heard the at their work all speaking with the same broad pleasant accent why did it send such a thrill through his nerves to listen to it he sat down upon a of rope and pressed his hands to his temples drinking in the long forgotten dialect and trying to piece together in his mind the thousand half formed recollections which were up in it then he and walking along to the stern he read the name of the ship the sunlight again that flush and through every nerve why was that word and the men s speech so familiar to him he walked home and all night he lay tossing and sleepless pursuing a shadowy something which was ever within his reach and yet which ever him early next morning he was up and down on the wharf listening to the talk of the west country sailors every word

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they spoke seemed to him to revive his memory and bring him nearer to the light from time to time they paused in their work and seeing the white haired stranger sitting so silently and attentively they laughed at him and broke little upon him and even these had a familiar sound to the exile m they very well might seeing that they were the john s same which he had heard in his youth for no one ever makes a new joke in england so he sat through the long day bathing himself in the west country speech and waiting for the light to break and it happened that when the sailors broke off for their mid day meal one of them either out of curiosity or good nature came over to the old and greeted him so john asked him to be seated on a log by his side and began to put many questions to him about the country from which he came and the town all which the man answered enough for there is nothing in the world that a sailor loves to talk of so much as of his native place for it pleases him to show that he is no mere wanderer but that he has a home to receive him whenever he shall choose to settle down to a quiet life so the seaman away about the town hall and the tower and the and street and the high street until his companion suddenly shot out a long eager arm and caught him by the wrist look here man he said in a low quick whisper answer me as you hope for mercy are not the streets that out of the high street fox street street and george street in the order named they are the sailor answered shrinking away from the wild flashing eyes and at that moment john s memory came back to him and he saw clear and dis his life as it had been and as it should have been with every detail traced as in letters of fire too stricken to cry out too stricken to weep he could n warn s only hurry away wildly and hurry as fast as his aged limbs would carry him as if poor soul there were some chance yet of catching up the fifty years which had gone by staggering and tremulous he hastened on until a seemed to gather over his eyes and throwing his arms into the air with a great cry oh mary mary oh my lost lost life he fell senseless upon the pavement the storm of emotion which had passed through him and the mental shock which he had undergone would have sent many a man into a raging fever but john was too strong willed and too practical to allow his strength to be wasted at the very time when he needed it most within a few days he a portion of his property and starting for new york caught the first mail steamer to england day and night and day he trod the quarter deck until the hardy sailors watched the old man with astonish ment and how any human being could do much upon so little sleep it was only by this exercise by wearing down his vitality until fatigue brought that he could prevent himself from falling into a very frenzy of despair he hardly dared ask himself what was the object of this wild journey what did he expect would mary be still alive she must be a very old woman if he could but see her and mingle his tears with hers he would be content let her only know that it had been no fault of his and that they had both been victims to the same cruel fate the cottage was her own and i john s hi a she had said that she would wait for him there until she heard from him poor she had never reckoned on such a wait as this at last the irish lights were sighted and passed land s end lay like a blue fog upon the water and the steamer its way along the bold coast until it dropped its anchor in bay john hurried to the railway station and within a few hours he found himself back once more in his native town which he had quitted a poor half a century before â but was it the same town were it not for the name engraved all over the station and on the hotels john might have found a difficulty in believing it the broad well paved streets with the lines laid down the centre were very different from the narrow winding which he could remember the spot upon which the station had been built was now the very centre of the town but in the old days it would have been far out in the fields in every direction lines of luxurious away in streets and bearing names which were new to the exile great and long rows of shops with glittering fronts showed him how had increased in wealth as well as in dimensions it was only when he came upon the old high street that john began to feel at home it was much altered but still it was and some few of the buildings were just as he had left them there was the place where s cork works had been it was now occupied by a great john ford s brand new hotel and there was the old grey town hall the wanderer turned down beside it and made his way with eager steps but a sinking heart in the direction of the line of cottages which he used to know so well it was not difficult for him to find where they had been the sea at least was as of old and from it he could tell where the cottages had

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stood but alas where were they now in their place an imposing of high stone houses reared their tall front to the beach john walked wearily down past their feeling heart sore and despairing when suddenly a thrill shot through him followed by a warm glow of excitement and of hope for standing a little back from the line and looking as much out of place as a a was an old cottage with wooden porch and walls bright with creeping plants he rubbed his eyes and stared again but there it stood with its diamond windows and white muslin curtains the very same down to the smallest details as it had been on the day when he last saw it brown hair had become white and fishing had changed into cities but busy hands and a faithful heart had kept s cottage unchanged and ready for the wanderer and now when he had reached his very haven of rest john s mind became more filled with apprehension than ever and he came over so deadly sick that he had to sit down upon one of the beach benches which faced the cottage an old was perched â â w iâ â â â â i y w g j â ii wi i i l im â john s at one end of it smoking his black clay pipe and he remarked upon the wan face and sad eyes of the stranger you have yourself he said it doesn t do for old like you and me to forget our years tm better now thank you john answered can you tell me friend how that one cottage came among all those fine houses why said the old fellow his upon the ground that cottage belongs to the most obstinate woman in all england that woman if you ll believe me has been offered the price of the cottage ten times over and yet she won t part with it they have even promised to remove it stone by stone and put it up on some more convenient place and pay her a good round sum into the bargain but god bless you i she wouldn t so much as hear of it and why was that asked john well that s just the funny part of it it s all on account of a mistake you see her spark went away when i was a and she s got it into her head that he may come back some day and that he won t know where to go unless the cottage is there why if the fellow were alive he would be as old as you but i ve no doubt he s dead long ago she s well quit of him for he must have been a to abandon her as he did oh he abandoned her did he yes â went off to the states and never so much as sent a word to bid her good bye it was a cruel s shame it was for the girl has been a waiting and a for him ever since it s my belief that it s fifty years weeping that blinded her she is blind i cried john half rising to his feet worse than that said the she s mortal ill and not expected to live why look ye there s the doctor s carriage a waiting at her door at this evil tidings old john sprang up and hurried over to the cottage where he met the physician returning to his how is your patient doctor he asked in a trembling voice very bad very bad said the man of medicine if she continues to sink she will be in great danger but if on the other hand she takes a turn it is possible that she may recover with which answer he drove away in a cloud of dust john was still hesitating at the doorway not knowing how to announce himself or how far a shock might be dangerous to the sufferer when a gentleman in black came bustling up can you tell me my man if this is where the sick woman is he asked john nodded and the clergyman passed in leaving the door half open the wanderer waited until he had gone into the inner room and then slipped into the front parlour where he had spent so many happy hours all was the same as ever down to the smallest ornaments for mary had been in the habit whenever anything was broken of it with a s so that there might be no change in the room he stood looking about him until he heard a woman s voice from the inner chamber and stealing to the door he peeped in the invalid was upon a couch propped up with pillows and her face was turned full towards john as he looked round the door he could have cried out as his eyes rested upon it for there were mary s pale plain sweet homely features as smooth and as unchanged as though she were still the half child half woman whom he had pressed to his heart on the her calm unselfish life had left none of those rude traces upon her countenance which are the outward of internal conflict and an soul a melancholy had refined and softened her expression and her loss of sight had been for by that which comes upon the faces of the blind with her silvery hair peeping out beneath her snow white cap and a bright smile upon her sympathetic face she was the old mary im â proved and developed with something ethereal and you will keep a tenant in the cottage she was saying to the clergyman who sat with his back turned to the observer choose some poor deserving folk in the parish who will be glad of a home free and when he comes you will

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tell him that i have waited for him until i have been forced to go on but that he will find me on the other side still faithful and true there s a little money too â only a few pounds â but i should like him to have it when he comes for he may need it and then you will tell the folk you put in to be kind to him for he will be grieved poor lad and to tell him that i was cheerful and happy up to the end don t let him know that i ever fretted or he may fret too now john listened quietly to all this from behind the door and more than once he had to put his hand to his throat but when she had finished and when he thought of her long innocent life and saw the dear face looking straight at him and yet unable to see him it became too much for his manhood and he burst out into an irrepressible choking sob which shook his very frame and then occurred a strange thing for though he had spoken no word the old woman stretched out her arms to him and cried oh i oh dear dear you have come back to me again and before the parson could at all understand what had happened those two faithful lovers were in each other s arms weeping over each other and patting each other s silvery heads with their hearts so full of joy that it almost for all that weary fifty years of waiting it is hard to say how long they rejoiced together it seemed a very short time to them and a very long one to the reverend gentleman who was thinking at last of stealing away when mary recollected his presence and the courtesy which was due to him my heart is full of joy sir she said it is god s will that i should not see my but i can call his image up as clear as if i had my eyes now stand up s john and i will let the gentleman see how well i remember you he is as tall sir as the second shelf as straight as an arrow his face brown and his eyes bright and clear his hair is well nigh black and his moustache the same â i shouldn t wonder if he had whiskers as well by this time now sir don t you think i can do without my sight the clergyman listened to her description and looking at the battered white haired man before him he hardly knew whether to laugh or to cry but it all proved to be a laughing matter in the end for whether it was that her illness had taken some natural turn or that john s return had startled it away it is certain that from that day mary steadily improved until she was as well as ever no special license for me john had said it looks as if we were ashamed of what we are doing as though we hadn t the best right to be married of any two folk in the parish so the were put up accordingly and three times it was announced that john bachelor was going to be united to mary after which no one they were duly married accordingly we may not have very long in this world said old john but at least we shall start fair and square in the next john s share in the business was sold out and gave rise to a very interesting legal question as to whether knowing that his name was he could still sign that of hardy as was necessary for the completion of the business it was decided however that on his producing two witnesses to his identity all would be right so the property was duly and produced a very handsome fortune part of this john devoted to building a pretty villa just outside and the heart of the proprietor of beach terrace leaped within him when he learned that the cottage was at last to be abandoned and that it would no longer break the and the effect of his row of aristocratic and there in their snug new home sitting out on the lawn in the summer time and on either side of the in the winter that worthy old couple continued for many years to live as innocently and as happily as two children those who knew them well say that there was never a shadow between them and that the love which burned in their aged hearts was as high and as holy as that of any young couple who ever went to the altar and through all the country round if ever man or woman were in distress and fighting against hard times they had only to go up to the villa to receive help and that sympathy which is more precious than help so when at last john and mary fell asleep in their ripe old age within a few hours of each other they had all the poor and the and the of the parish among their and in talking over the troubles which these two had faced so bravely they learned that their own miseries also were but passing things and that faith and truth can never either in this existence or the next wells a literary from my boyhood i have had an intense and overwhelming conviction that my real lay in the direction of literature i have however had a most unaccountable difficulty in getting any responsible person to share my views it is true that private friends have sometimes after listening to my gone the length of remarking really smith that s not half bad i or you take my advice old boy and send that to some magazine i but i have never on

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these occasions had the moral courage to inform my adviser that the article in question had been sent to well nigh every in london and had come back again with a rapidity and precision which spoke well for the of our arrangements had my been paper they could not have returned with greater accuracy to their unhappy oh the and utter degradation of the moment when the stale little of closely written pages which seemed so fresh and full of promise a few days ago is handed in by a and what moral shines wells through the editor s ridiculous plea of want of space but the subject is a painful one and a from the plain statement of facts which i originally contemplated from the age of seventeen to that of three and twenty i was a literary in a constant state of poems and tales articles and nothing came amiss to my pen from the great sea serpent to the i was ready to write on anything or everything i can safely say that i seldom handled a subject without throwing new lights upon it poetry and romance however had always the greatest attractions for me how i have wept over the pathos of my and laughed at the of my alas i could find no one to join me in my appreciation and solitary admiration for one s self however genuine becomes after a time my father remonstrated with me too on the score of expense and loss of time so that i was finally compelled to my dreams of literary independence and to become a clerk in a firm connected with the west african trade even when condemned to the duties which fell to my lot in the office i continued faithful to my first love i have introduced pieces of word painting into the most commonplace business letters which have i am told considerably astonished the my refined sarcasm has made and occasionally like the great i would drop into poetry and so raise the whole tone wells of the correspondence thus what could be more elegant than my rendering of the firm s instructions to the captain of one of their vessels it ran in this way â from england captain you must steer a course directly to land the of beef then away to pray be careful cool and wary with the merchants of when you leave them make the most of the trade winds to the coast down it vou shall sail as far as the land of and from there you ll onward go to and po and so on for four pages the captain instead of up this little called at the office next day and demanded with quite unnecessary warmth what the thing meant and i was compelled to it all back into prose on this as on other similar occasions my employer took me severely to task â for he was you see a man entirely devoid of all pretensions to literary taste all this however is a mere and leads up to the fact that after ten years or so of i inherited a which though small was sufficient to satisfy my simple wants finding myself independent i a quiet house removed from the uproar and bustle of london and there i settled down with the o wells intention of producing some at work which should single me out from the family of the and render my name immortal to this end i laid in several of a box of pens and a bottle of ink and having given my housekeeper to deny me to all visitors i proceeded to look round for a suitable subject i was looking round for some weeks at the end of that time i found that i had by constant devoured a large number of the and had spread the ink out to such advantage what with and that there appeared to be some everywhere except in the bottle as to the story itself however the facility of my youth had deserted me completely and my mind remained a complete blank nor could i do what i would excite my imagination to up a single incident or character in this strait i determined to devote my leisure to running rapidly through the works of the leading english from daniel to the present day in the hope of my latent ideas and of getting a good grasp of the general tendency of literature for some time past i had avoided opening any work of fiction because one of the greatest faults of my youth had been that i invariably and unconsciously the style of the last author whom i had happened to read now however i made up my mind to seek safety in a multitude and by consulting all the english to avoid the danger of one too closely i wells had just accomplished the task of reading through the majority of the standard novels at the time when my narrative it was then about twenty minutes to ten on the night of the fourth of june eighteen hundred and eighty six that after of a pint of beer and a for my supper i seated myself in my arm chair cocked my feet upon a â tool and lit my pipe as was my custom both my pulse and my temperature were as far as i know normal at the time i would give the state of the but that unlucky instrument had experienced an fall of forty two inches â from a nail to the ground â and was not in a condition we live in a scientific age and i flatter myself that i move with the times whilst in that comfortable condition which both and by i suddenly became aware of the extraordinary fact that little drawing room had into a great and that my humble table had increased in proportion round this colossal mahogany were seated

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a great number of people who were talking earnestly together and the surface in front of them was strewn with books and i could not help observing that these persons were dressed in a most extraordinary mixture of for those at the end nearest to me wore swords and all the fashions of two centuries back those about the centre had tight knee breeches high and heavy of while among those at the far o over wells the majority were dressed in the most modem style and among them i saw to my surprise several eminent men of letters whom i had the honour of knowing there were two or three women in the company i should have risen to my feet to greet these unexpected guests but all power of motion appeared to have deserted me and i could only lie still and listen to their conversation which i soon perceived to be all about myself exclaimed a rough weather beaten man who was smoking a long pipe at my end of the table my heart for him why we ve been in the same straits ourselves never did mother feel more concern for her eldest born than i when random went out to make his own way in the world right right i cried another man seated at my very elbow by my i lost more flesh over poor robin on his island than had i the sickness twice told the tale was well nigh done when in my lord of â a merry gallant and one whose word in matters literary might make or mar how now he hast a tale on hand even so your i returned a right merry one i trust he discourse unto me concerning thy heroine a comely dan or i mistake nay i replied there is no heroine in the matter split not your phrases he thou every word like a attorney speak to me of thy principal female character be she heroine or wells â m â â â ⠞ â â â â â â â m m no my lord i answered there is no female character then out upon and thy book tool he cried thou best burn it i â and so out in great whilst i fell to mourning over my poor romance which was thus as it were to death before its birth yet there are a thousand now who have read of robin and his man friday to one has heard of my lord of very true said a genial looking man in a red waistcoat who was sitting at the modern end of the table bat all this won t help our good friend smith in making a start at his story which i believe was the reason why we assembled the it is stammered a little man beside him and everybody laughed especially the genial man who cried out lamb lamb you ll never alter you would make a if you were hanged for it that would be a case of returned the other on which everybody laughed again by this time i had begun to dimly in my confused brain the enormous honour which had been done me the greatest masters of fiction in every age of english letters had apparently made a beneath my roof in order to assist me in my difficulties there were many faces at the table whom i was unable to identify but when i looked hard at others i often found them to be very familiar to me whether from paintings or from mere description thus between the first two who had betrayed themselves as â w no wells and there sat a dark old man with harsh prominent features who i was sure could be none other than the famous author of there were several others of whom i was not so sure sitting at the other side pf the table but i conjecture that both and were among them and i could swear to the lantern jaws and of higher up i could see among the crowd the high forehead of sir walter scott the masculine features of george and the nose of while amongst the living i recognised james walter the lady known as robert louis and several of lesser note never before probably had such an of choice spirits gathered under one roof well said sir walter scott speaking with a very pronounced accent ye the or as the border sang â black wi his ten might the heart turn but when he s a is ten the were one of the families second cousins of the and connected by marriage to perhaps sir walter interrupted you would take the responsibility off our hands by yourself the commencement of a story to this young literary wells na na cried sir walter tu do my share but there s over there as full o as a radical s full o treason he s the to give a cheery to it was shaking his head and apparently about to refuse the honour when a voice from among the i could not see who it was for the â aid suppose we begin at the end the table and work round any one a little as the fancy him agreed i agreed i cried the whole company and â every eye was turned on who seemed very uneasy and filled his pipe from a great tobacco box in front of him nay he said there are others more worthy but he was interrupted by loud cries of no i no i from the whole table and shouted out stand to it dan â stand to it i you and i and the dean here will make three short just to fetch her out of harbour and then she may drift where she pleases thus encouraged cleared his throat and began in this way talking between the of his pipe â â my

3Edith Wharton

father was a well to do of named but marrying about the he assumed the name of his wife s family which was wells and thus i their eldest son was named wells the farm was a very fertile one and contained some of the best land in those wells so that my father was enabled to lay by money to the extent of a thousand crowns which he laid out in an adventure to the indies with such surprising success that in less than three years it had increased thus encouraged he bought a part share of the and fitting her out once more with such as were most in demand old and besides glasses needles and the like he placed me on board as to look after his interests and despatched us upon our voyage we had a fair wind as far as cape de and there getting into the north west trade winds made good progress down the african coast beyond a once our were in sad distress counting themselves already as little better than slaves we had good luck until we had come within a hundred of the cape of good hope when the wind round to the southward and blew exceeding hard while the sea rose to such a height that the end of the dipped into the water and i heard the master say that though he had been at sea for five and thirty years he had never seen the like of it and that he had little expectation of riding through it on this i fell to wringing my hands and myself until the mast going by the board with a crash thought that the ship had struck and with terror falling into the and lying like one dead which was the saving of me as will appear in the for the giving up all hope of saving the ship and being in wells momentary expectation that she would founder pushed off in the long boat whereby i fear that they met the fate which they hoped to avoid since i have never from that day heard anything of them for my own part on recovering from the into which i had fallen i found that by the mercy of providence the sea had gone down and that i was alone in the vessel at which last discovery i was so terror struck that i but stand wringing my hands and my sad fate until at last taking heart fell to comparing my lot with that of my unhappy on which i became more cheerful and descending to the cabin made a meal off such as were in the captain s having got so far remarked that he thought he had given them a fair start and handed over the story to dean swift who after that he feared he would find himself as much at sea as master wells continued in this way â for two days i drifted about in great distress fearing that there should be a return of the gale and keeping an eager look out for my late companions upon the third day towards evening i observed to my extreme surprise that the ship was under the influence of a very powerful current which ran to the north east with such violence that she was carried now bows on now stern on and occasionally drifting sideways like a at a rate which i cannot at less than twelve or fifteen knots an hour for several weeks i was borne away in this manner until one morning to wells my joy i sighted an island upon the quarter the current would however have carried me past it had i not made shift though to set he flying so as to turn her bows and then clapping on the sail sail and fore sail i up the upon the port side and put the wheel down hard a the wind being at the time north east half east at the description of this i observed that grinned and a gentleman sitting higher up the table in the uniform of the royal navy and who i guessed to be captain became very uneasy and in his seat by this means i got clear of the current and to steer within a quarter of a mile of the beach which indeed i might have approached still nearer by i making another tack but being an excellent i deemed it best to leave the vessel which was almost and to make the best of my way to the shore i had had my doubts hitherto as to whether this â new found country was inhabited or no but as i approached nearer to it being on the summit of a great wave i perceived a number of figures on the beach engaged apparently in watching me and my vessel my joy however was considerably lessened when on reaching the land i found that the figures consisted of a vast of animals of various sorts who were in groups and who hurried down to the water s edge to meet me i had scarce put my foot upon the n o wells sand before i was surrounded by an eager crowd of deer dogs wild and other creatures none of whom showed the least fear either of me or of each other but on the contrary were animated by a common feeling of curiosity as well as it would appear by some degree of disgust a second edition whispered to his neighbour served up cold did you speak sir asked the dean very sternly having evidently overheard the remark my words were not addressed to you sir answered looking rather frightened they were none the less insolent roared the dean your reverence would fain make a sentimental journey of the narrative i doubt not and find pathos in a dead donkey â though faith no man can blame thee for mourning over thy

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own and kin better that than to in all the of land returned warmly and a quarrel would certainly have ensued but for the of the remainder of die company as it was the dean refused indignantly to have any further hand in the story and also stood out of it remarking with a sneer that he was loth to fit a good blade on to a poor handle under these circumstances some further might have occurred had not rapidly taken up the narrative continuing it in the third instead of the first â our hero being considerably alarmed at this strange reception lost little time in plunging into th i wells sea again and his vessel being convinced that the worst which might befall him from the elements would be as nothing compared to the dangers oâ this mysterious island it was as well that he took this course for before nightfall his ship was and he himself picked up by a british man of war the lightning then returning from the west indies where it had formed part of the fleet under the command of admiral young wells being a likely lad enough well spoken and high spirited was at once entered on the books as officer s servant in which capacity he both gained great popularity on account of the freedom of his manners and found an opportunity for indulging in those practical for which he had all his life been famous among the of the lightning there was one named whose appearance was so remarkable that it quickly attracted the attention of our hero he was a man of about fifty dark with exposure to the weather and so tall that as he came along the decks he had to bend himself nearly double the most striking peculiarity of this individual was however that in his boyhood some evil minded person had eyes all over his countenance with such marvellous skill that it was difficult at a short distance to pick out his real ones among so many on this strange personage master determined to exercise his talents for mischief the more so as he learned that he was extremely superstitious and also that he had left behind him in ports i m m wells mouth a strong minded of whom he stood in mortal terror with this object he secured one of the sheep which were kept on board for the officers table and pouring a can of down its throat reduced it to a state of utter he then conveyed it to s berth and with the assistance of some other as mischievous as himself dressed it up in a high and gown and covered it over with the when the came down from his watch our hero met him at the door of his berth with an agitated face mr said he can it be that your wife is on board wife roared the astonished sailor ye white faced what d ye mean if she s not here in the ship it must be her ghost said shaking his head gloomily in the how in thunder could she get into the ship why master i believe as how you re weak in the upper works d ye see to as much as think o such a thing my is head and behind the point at more n two thousand mile away upon my word said our hero very earnestly i saw a female look out of your cabin not five minutes ago ay ay mr joined in several of the we all saw her â a looking craft with a dead light mounted on one side sure enough said staggered by this of evidence my s eye was for ever by long sue of the hard but if so be as she be there i must see her be i k wells she ghost or quick with which the honest sailor in much and trembling in every limb began to forward into the cabin holding the light well in front of him it chanced however that the unhappy sheep which was quietly engaged in sleeping off the effects of its unusual was awakened by the noise of this approach and finding herself in such an unusual position sprang out of the bed and rushed furiously for the door wildly and rolling about like a in a partly from and partly from the night dress which her movements as saw this extraordinary apparition bearing down upon him he uttered a yell and fell flat upon his face convinced that he had to do with a supernatural visitor the more so ai the heightened the effect by a chorus of most ghastly groans and cries the joke had nearly gone beyond what was originally intended for the lay as one dead and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he could be brought to to the end of the voyage he stoutly asserted that he had seen the distant mrs remark ing with many oaths that though he was too scared to take much note of the features there was no the strong smell of rum which was characteristic of his better half it chanced shortly after this to be the king s birthday an event which was aboard the light by the death of the commander under singular circumstances this officer who was a real fair wells weather jack hardly knowing the ship s from her had obtained his position through interest and used it with such tyranny and cruelty that he was universally so was he that when a plot was entered into by the whole crew to punish his with death he had not a among six hundred souls to warn him of his danger it was the custom on board the king s ships that upon his birthday the entire ship s company should be drawn up upon deck and that at a signal they should discharge their into the

3Edith Wharton

air in honour of his majesty on this occasion word had been secretly passed round for every man to slip a into his instead of the blank provided on the blowing his whistle the men upon deck and formed line whilst the captain standing well in front of them delivered a few words to them when i give the word he concluded you shall discharge your pieces and by thunder if any man is a second before or a second after his fellows i shall him up to the weather with these words he roared fire on which every man his straight at his head and pulled the so accurate was the aim and so short the distance that more than five hundred bullets struck him blowing away his head and a large portion of his body there were so many concerned in this matter and it was so hopeless to trace it to any individual that the officers were unable to punish any one for the affair the readily as the captain s wells haughty ways and heartless conduct had made him quite as hateful to them as to the men whom they commanded by his and the natural charm of his manners our hero so far won the good wishes of the ship s company that they parted with infinite regret upon their arrival in england filial duty however urged him to return home and report himself to his father with which object he posted from to london intending to proceed thence to as it chanced however one of the horses his off while passing through and as no change could be obtained found himself compelled to put up at the crown and bull for the night continued laughing i never could pass a comfortable without stopping and so with your permission i ll e en stop here and whoever wills may lead friend to his further adventures do you sir walter give us a touch of the of the north with these words produced a pipe and filling it at s tobacco pot waited patiently for the of the story if i must i must remarked the illustrious taking a pinch of snuff but i must beg leave to put mr wells back a few hundred years for of all things i love the true to proceed then â our hero being anxious to continue his journey and learning that it would be some time before any wells conveyance would be ready determined to push on alone mounted on his gallant grey travelling was particularly dangerous at that time for besides the usual perils which beset the southern parts of england were in a lawless and disturbed state which bordered on the young man however having loosened his sword in his so as to be ready for every galloped cheerily upon his way guiding himself to the best of his ability by the light of the rising moon he had not gone far before he that the which had been impressed upon him by the landlord and which he had been inclined to look upon as self interested advice were only too well justified at a spot the road was particularly rough and ran across some marsh land he perceived a short distance from him a dark shadow which his practised eye detected at once as a body of crouching men up his horse within a few yards of the he wrapped his cloak round his bridle arm and summoned the party to stand forth what ho my masters i he cried are beds so scarce then that ye must the high road of the king with your bodies now by st of there be those who might think that birds who fly o nights were after higher game than the or the i blades and comrades exclaimed a tall powerful man springing into the centre of the road with several companions and standing in front of the wells frightened horse who is this summons his majesty s from their repose a very o truth hark ye sir or my lord or thy grace or whatsoever title your honour s honour may be pleased to approve thou must thy tongue play or by the seven of thou may find in but a sorry plight i then that thou wilt to me who and what ye are our hero and whether your purpose be such as an honest man may approve of as to your threats they turn from my mind as your weapons would shiver upon my from nay interrupted one of the party address him who seemed to be their leader this is a lad of and such a one as our honest jack long but we not with empty hands look ye sir there is game which it may need such bold hunters as to follow come with us and take a of and we will find better work for that of thine than getting its owner into and for by my i or no if my axe do but ring against that of thine it will be an ill day for thy father s son for a our hero hesitated as to whether it would best become his traditions to himself against his enemies or whether it might not be better to obey their prudence mingled with a large share of curiosity eventually carried the day and from his horse he intimated that he was ready to follow his ca wells spoken like a man cried he whom they as jack will be right glad of such a blood and but thou hast the of a ox and i swear by the of my sword that it might have gone ill with some of us thou not listened to reason nay not so good â not so a very small man who had remained in the background while there was any prospect of a but who now came pushing to the front thou been

3Edith Wharton

alone it might indeed have been so perchance but an dan at pleasure such a one as this young knight well i remember in the how i to the even such another â the baron von he struck at me look ye so but i with and blade did as one might say it and then in i returned in and so â st save us who comes here the apparition which frightened the little man was sufficiently strange to cause a even in the bosom of the knight through the darkness there loomed a figure which appeared to be of gigantic size and a hoarse voice issuing apparently some distance above the heads of the party broke roughly on the silence of the night now out upon thee thomas and foul be thy fate if thou hast abandoned thy post without good and sufficient cause by st of the holy grove thou best have never been born than rouse my this night wherefore is it that you wells and your men are trailing over the like a flock of when is near good captain said his bonnet an example followed by others of the band we have captured a goodly youth who was it along the london road that some word of thanks were meet reward for such service rather than or threat nay take it not to heart bold exclaimed their leader who was none other than the great jack himself thou of old that my temper is somewhat and my tongue not with that which the mouths of the lip serving lords of the land and you he continued turning suddenly upon our hero are you ready to join the great cause which will make england what it was when the learned alfred reigned in the land man speak out and pick not your phrases i am ready to do aught which may become a knight and a gentleman said the soldier stoutly taxes shall be swept away cried excitedly â the and the â the and the hundred tax the poor man s salt box and flour bin shall be as free as the nobleman s cellar ha what thou it is but just said our hero ay but they give us such justice as the gives the roared the orator down with them i say â down with every man of them noble and judge priest and king down with them all t wells j nay said sir wells drawing himself up to his full height and laying his hand upon the of his sword â there i cannot follow thee but must rather defy thee as traitor and seeing that thou art no true man but one who would the rights of our master the king whom may the virgin protect at these bold words and the defiance which they conveyed the seemed for a moment utterly bewildered but encouraged by the hoarse shout of their leader they their weapons and prepared to fall upon the knight who placed himself in a posture for defence and awaited their attack there now cried sir walter rubbing his hands and put the in a pretty warm corner and we ll see which of you can take him o t ne er a word more will ye get me ta help him one way or the other you try your hand james cried several voices and the author in question had got so far as to an allusion to a solitary who was approaching when he was interrupted by a tall gentleman a little farther down with a slight and a very nervous manner excuse me he said but i fancy that i may be able to do something here some of my humble productions have been said to sir walter at his best and i was undoubtedly stronger all round i could picture modern society as well as ancient and as to my plays why shakespeare never came near the wells lady of for popularity there is this little thing here he among a great pile of papers in front of him ah that s a report of mine when i was in india i here it is no this is one of my speeches in the house and this is my criticism didn t i warm up i can t find what i wanted but of course you have read them all â and and the last of the every knows them by heart as poor would have said allow me to give you a â in spite of the gallant knight s resistance the combat was too unequal to be sustained his sword was broken by a from a brown bill and he was borne to the ground he expected immediate death but such did not seem to be the intention of the who had captured him he was placed upon the back of his own and borne bound hand and foot over the in the of which the themselves in the depths of these there stood a stone building which had once been a farm house but having been for some reason abandoned had fallen into ruin and had now become the of and his men a large near the farm had been as sleeping quarters and some rough attempts had been made to shield the principal room of the main building from the weather by stopping up the gaping in th walls in this apartment was spread out a rough meal for the returning and wells our hero was thrown still bound into an empty there to await his fate sir walter had been listening with the greatest impatience to s narrative but when it had reached this point he broke in impatiently we want a touch of your own style man he said the animal hysterical sort of story is all your own but at present you are just a poor copy of myself and nothing more there was a murmur

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of assent from the company and remarked truly master there is a resemblance in the style which may indeed be but a chance and yet it is sufficiently marked to warrant such words as our friend hath used perhaps you will think that this is an imitation also said bitterly and leaning back in his chair with a countenance he continued the narrative in this way our unfortunate hero had hardly stretched himself upon the straw with which his was when a secret door opened in the wall and a venerable old man swept into the apartment the prisoner gazed upon him with astonishment not with awe for on his broad brow was printed the seal of much knowledge â such knowledge as it is not granted to the son of man to know he was lad in a long white robe crossed and with mystic devices in the character while a high scarlet marked with the square and circle his venerable appearance my son he said turning his wells piercing and yet dreamy gaze upon sir all things lead to nothing and nothing is the foundation of all things is impenetrable why then should we exist astounded at this and at the philosophic of his visitor our hero made to bid him welcome and to demand his name and quality as the old man answered him his voice rose and fell in musical like the sighing of the east wind while an ethereal and pervaded the apartment i am the eternal non he answered i am the concentrated negative â the everlasting essence of nothing you see in me that which existed before the beginning of matter many years before the commencement of time i am the x which represents the infinite of a sir felt a shudder as though an ice cold hand had been placed upon his brow what is your message he whispered falling prostrate before his mysterious visitor to tell you that the chaos and that the are at the mercy of the divine before a personality the essence is the prime in and the is powerless before the the procession is terminated only by the and may i ask mr what you find to laugh â at wells master cried who had been for some time back it seems to me that there is little danger of any one venturing to dispute that style with you it s all your own murmured sir walter arid very pretty too with a malignant grin pray sir what language do you call it was so enraged at these remarks and at the favour with which they appeared to be received that he endeavoured to out some reply and then losing control of himself completely picked up all his loose papers and â strode out of the room dropping and speeches at every step this incident amused the company so much that they laughed for several minutes without gradually the sound of their laughter sounded more and more harshly in my ears the lights on the table grew dim and the company more misty until they and their vanished away altogether i was sitting before the of what had been a roaring fire but was now little more than a heap of grey ashes and the merry laughter of the august company had changed to the of my wife who was shaking me violently by the shoulder and me to choose some spot for my so ended the wondrous adventures of master wells but i still live in the hopes that in some future dream the great masters may themselves finish that which they have begun john it might seem rash of me to say that i the death of my poor friend john to any agency i am aware that in the present state of public feeling a chain of evidence would require to be strong indeed before the possibility of such a conclusion could be admitted i shall therefore merely state the circumstances which led up to this sad event as and as plainly as i can and leave every reader to draw his own perhaps there may be some one who can throw light upon what is dark to me i first met when i went up to university to take out medical classes there my landlady in street had a large house and being a widow without children she gained a by providing accommodation for several students happened to have taken a bedroom upon the same floor as mine and when we came to know each other better we shared a small in which we took our meals in this manner we originated a friendship which was by slightest up to the day of his death father was the colonel of a regiment and had remained in india for many years he allowed his son a handsome income but seldom gave any other sign of parental affection â writing and briefly my friend who had himself been born in india and whose whole disposition was an ardent tropical one was much hurt by this neglect his mother was dead and he had no other relation in the world to supply the blank thus he came in time to all his affection upon me and to confide in me in a manner which is rare among men even when a stronger and deeper passion came upon him it never upon the old tenderness between us was a tall slim young fellow with an olive like face and dark tender eyes i have seldom seen a man who was more likely to excite a woman s interest or to her imagination his expression was as a rule dreamy and but if in conversation a subject arose which interested him he would be all animation in a moment on such occasions his colour would his eyes gleam and he could speak with an eloquence which would carry his audience with him in spite of these natural advantages

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he led a solitary life avoiding female society and reading with great diligence he was one of the foremost men of his year taking the senior for and the prize for t john cow how well i can recollect the first time we met her often and often i have recalled the circumstances and tried to remember what the exact impression was which she produced on my mind at the time after we came to know her my judgment was so that i an curious to recollect what my instincts were it is hard however to the feelings which reason or prejudice afterwards raised in me it was at the opening of the royal academy in the spring of my poor friend was passionately attached to art in every form and a pleasing in music or a delicate effect upon canvas would give exquisite pleasure to his highly strung nature we had gone together to see the pictures and were standing in the grand central when i noticed an beautiful woman standing at the other side of the room in my whole life i have never seen such a perfect countenance it was the real greek type â the forehead broad very low and as white as marble with a of delicate locks round it the nose straight and clean cut the lips inclined to the chin and lower jaw beautifully rounded off and yet sufficiently developed to promise unusual strength of character but those eyes â those wonderful eyes if i could but give some faint idea of their varying moods their hardness their feminine softness their power of command their penetrating intensity suddenly melt ing away into an expression of womanly weakness â but i am speaking now of future impressions i was a tall yellow haired with this lady whom i at once recognised as a law with whom i had a slight acquaintance â for that was his name â was a dashing handsome young fellow and had at one time been a in every university but of late i had seen little of him and the report was that he was engaged to be married his companion was then i presumed his i seated myself upon the velvet in the centre of the room and watched the couple from behind my catalogue the more i looked at her the more her beauty grew upon me she was somewhat short in stature it is true but her figure was perfection and she bore her self in such a fashion that it was only by actual com that one would have known her to be under the medium height as i kept my eyes upon them was called away for some reason and the young lady was left alone turning her back to the pictures she passed the time until the return of her escort in taking a deliberate survey of the company without paying the least heed to the fact that a dozen pair of eyes attracted by her elegance and beauty were bent curiously upon her with one of her hands holding the red silk cord which off the pictures she stood languidly moving her eyes from face to face i john a ton co with as little self consciousness as if she were looking at the canvas creatures behind her suddenly as i watched her i saw her gaze become fixed and as it were intense i followed the direction of her looks wondering what could have attracted her so strongly john was standing before a picture â one i think by â i know that the subject was a noble and ethereal one his was turned towards us and never have i seen him to such advantage i have said that he was a strikingly handsome man but at that moment he looked absolutely magnificent it was evident that he had forgotten his surroundings and that his whole soul was in sympathy with the picture before him his eyes sparkled and a dusky pink shone through his clear olive cheeks she continued to watch him with a look of interest upon her face until he came out of his reverie with a start and turned abruptly round so that his gaze met hers she glanced away at once but his eyes remained fixed upon her for some moments the picture was forgotten already and his soul had come down to earth once more we caught sight of her once or twice before we left and each time i noticed my friend look after hen he made no remark however until we got out into the open air and were walking arm in arm along princes street did you notice that beautiful woman in the dark dress with the white fur he asked yes i saw her i answered do you know her he asked eagerly have you any idea who she is i don t know her personally i replied but i have no doubt i could find out all about her for i believe she is engaged to young and he and i have a lot of mutual friends engaged ejaculated why my dear boy i said laughing you don t mean to say you are so susceptible that the fact that a girl to whom you never spoke in your life is engaged is enough to upset you well not exactly to upset me he answered forcing a laugh but i don t mind telling you that i never was so taken by any one in my life it wasn t the mere beauty of the though that was perfect but it was the character and the intellect upon it i hope if she is engaged that it is to some man who will be worthy of her why i remarked speak quite it is a clear case of love at first sight jack however to put your spirit at rest i ll make a point of finding out all about

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her whenever i meet any fellow who is likely to know thanked me and the conversation drifted off into other channels for several days neither of us made any allusion to the subject though my companion was perhaps a little more dreamy and than usual the incident had almost vanished from my remembrance when one day young john who is a second cousin of mine came up to me on the university steps with the f ce of a bearer of tidings i say he began you know don t you yes what of him his engagement is off i cried why i only learned the other day that it was on oh yes â it s all off his brother told me so mean of you know if he has backed out of it for she was an uncommonly nice girl i ve seen her i said but i don t know her name she is a miss and live with an old aunt of hers in place nobody knows anything about her people or where she comes anyhow she is about the most unlucky girl in the world poor soul why unlucky well you know this was her second engagement said young who had a marvellous of knowing everything about everybody she was engaged to â william who died that was a very sad affair the wedding day was fixed and the whole thing looked as straight as a die when the came what i asked with some dim recollection of the circumstances why s death he came to place one night and stayed very late no one know john cow exactly when he left but about one in the morning a fellow who knew him met him walking rapidly in the direction of the queen s park he bade him good night but hurried on without him and that was the last time he was ever seen alive three days afterwards his body was found floating in st margaret s under st s chapel no one could ever understand it but of course the verdict brought it in as temporary insanity it was very strange i remarked yes and rough on the poor girl said now that this other blow has come it will quite crush her so gentle and she is too you know her personally then i i asked oh yes i know her i have met her several times i could easily manage that you should be introduced to her well i answered it s not so much for my own sake as for a friend of mine however i don t suppose she will go out much for some little time after this when she does i will take advantage of your we shook hands on this and i thought no more of the matter for some time the next incident which i have to relate as bearing at all upon the question of miss is an unpleasant one yet i must detail it as accurately as possible since it may throw some light upon the one cold night several months after the conversation with my second cousin which i have quoted above i was walking down one of the lowest streets in the â john city on my way back from a case which i had attending it was very late and i was picking my way among the dirty who were round the doors of a great gin palace when a man staggered out from among them and held out his hand to me with a drunken the fell full upon his face and to my intense astonishment i recognised in the degraded creature before me my former acquaintance young who had once been famous as one of the most and particular men in the whole college i was so utterly surprised that for a moment i almost doubted the evidence of my own senses but there was no those features which though with drink still retained something of their former i was determined to rescue him for one night at least from the company into which he had fallen i said come along with me i m going in your direction he muttered some apology for his condition and took my arm as i supported him towards his lodgings i could see that he was not only suffering from the effects of a recent but that a long course of had affected his nerves and his brain his hand when i touched it was dry and feverish and he started from every shadow which fell upon the pavement he in his speech too in a manner which suggested the delirium of disease rather than the talk of a john when i got him to his lodgings i partially him and laid him upon his bed his pulse at this time was very high and he was evidently extremely feverish he seemed to have sunk into a and i was about to steal out of the room to warn his landlady of his condition when he started up and caught me by the sleeve of my coat don t go he cried i feel better when you are here i am safe from her then from her i said from whom her her he answered ah you don t know her she is the devil beautiful â beautiful but the devil you are feverish and excited i said try and get a little sleep you will wake better sleep he groaned how am i to sleep when i see her sitting down yonder at the foot of the bed with her great eyes watching and watching hour after hour i tell you it all the strength and manhood out of me that s what makes me drink god help me â i m half drunk now you are very ill i said putting some to his temples and you are you don t know what you say yes i do he

3Edith Wharton

interrupted sharply looking up at me i know very well what i say i brought it upon myself it is my own choice but i couldn t â no by heaven i couldn t â accept the alternative i couldn t keep my faith to her it was more than man could do john i sat by the side of the bed holding one of his burning hands in mine and wondering over his strange words he lay still for some time and then raising his eyes to me said in a most plaintive voice â why did she not give me warning sooner why did she wait until i had learned to love her so f he repeated this question several times rolling his feverish head from side to side and then he dropped into troubled sleep i crept out of the room and having seen that he would be properly cared for left the house his words however rang in my ears for days afterwards and assumed a deeper significance when taken with what was to come my friend had been away for his summer holidays and i had heard nothing of him for several months when the winter came on however i received a from him asking me to secure the old rooms in street for him and telling me the train by which he would arrive i went down to meet him and was delighted to find him looking wonderfully hearty and well by the way he said suddenly that night as we sat in our chairs by the fire talking over the events of the holidays you have never congratulated me yet on what my boy i asked what do you mean to say you have not heard of my engagement â engagement i no i answered however i â â â â am delighted to hear it and congratulate you with all my heart wonder it didn t come to your ears he said it was the thing you remember that girl whom we both admired so much at the academy what i cried with a vague feeling of apprehension at my heart you don t mean to say that you are engaged to her â i thought you would be surprised v he d when i was staying with an old aunt of in in the happened to come there on a visit and as we had mutual friends we soon met i found out that it was a false alarm about her being engaged and then â well you know what it is when you are thrown into the society of such a girl in a place like not mind you he added that i consider i did a foolish or hasty thing i have never regretted it for a moment the more i know the more i admire her and love her how ever you must be introduced to her and then you will form your own opinion i expressed my pleasure at the prospect and endeavoured to speak as lightly as i could to upon the subject but i felt depressed and anxious at heart the words of and the unhappy fate of young to my recollection and though i could no reason for it a vague dim fear and distrust of the woman took possession of me it may be that this was foolish prejudice and superstition upon my part and that i involuntarily her future q u john doings and sayings to fit into some half formed wild theory of my own this has been suggested to me by others as an explanation of my narrative they are welcome to their opinion if they can reconcile it with the facts which i have to tell i went round with my friend a few days afterwards to call upon miss i remember that as we went down place our attention attracted by the shrill of a dog â which noise proved eventually to come from the house to which we were hound we were shown upstairs where i was introduced to old mrs miss s aunt and to the young lady herself she looked as beautiful as ever and i could not wonder at my friend s her face was a little more flushed than usual and she held in her hand a heavy dog whip with which she had been a small scotch whose cries we had heard in the street the poor brute was up against the wall and evidently completely so said my friend after we had taken our seats you have been falling out with again only a very little quarrel this time she said smiling he is a dear good old fellow but he needs now and then then turning to me we all do that mr don t we what a capital thing if instead of receiving a punishment at the end of our lives we were to have one at once as the dogs do when we did anything wicked it would make us more careful wouldn t it john f â i acknowledged that it would supposing that every time a man himself a gigantic hand were to seize him and he were lashed with a whip until he fainted â she clenched her white fingers as she spoke and cut out with the dog whip â it would do more to keep him good than any number of high minded theories of morality why s id my friend you are quite savage to day no jack she laughed i m only a theory for mr s consideration the two began to chat together about some and i had time to observe mrs who had remained silent our short conversation she was a very strange looking old lady what attracted attention most in her appearance was the utter want of colour which she exhibited her hair was snow white and her face extremely pale her lips were and even her eyes

3Edith Wharton

were of such a light tinge of blue that they hardly relieved the general her dress was a grey silk which with her general appearance she had a peculiar expression of countenance which i was unable at the moment to refer to its proper cause she was working at some old fashioned piece of ornamental and as she moved her arms her dress gave forth a dry melancholy rustling like the sound of leaves in the autumn there was something mournful and in the sight of her i john moved my chair a little nearer and asked her how she liked and whether she had been there long when i spoke to her she started and looked up at me with a scared look on her face then i saw in a moment what the expression was which i had observed there it was one of fear â intense and overpowering fear it was so marked that i could have my life on the woman before me having at some period of her life been subjected to some terrible experience or dreadful misfortune oh yes i like it she said in a soft timid voice and we have been here long â that is not very long we move about a great deal she spoke with hesitation as if afraid of committing herself you are a native of scotland i presume i said no â that is not entirely we are not natives of any place we are you know she glanced round in the direction of miss as she spoke but the two were still together near the window then she suddenly bent forward to me with a look of intense earnestness upon her face and said â don t talk to me any more please she does not like it and i shall suffer for it afterwards please don t do it i was about to ask her the reason for this strange request but when she saw i was going to address her she rose and walked slowly out of the room as she did so i perceived that the lovers had ceased to talk john j and that miss was looking at me with her keen grey eyes you must excuse my aunt mr she said she is odd and easily fatigued come over and look at my we spent some time examining the portraits miss s father and mother were apparently ordinary mortals enough and i could not detect in either of them any traces of the character which showed itself in their daughter s face there was one old however which arrested my attention it represented a man of about the age of forty and strikingly handsome he was clean shaven and extraordinary power was expressed upon his prominent lower jaw and firm straight mouth his eyes were somewhat deeply set in his head however and there was a snake like at the upper part of his forehead which from his appearance i almost involuntarily when i saw the head pointed to it and exclaimed â there is your in your family miss do you think so she said i am afraid you are paying me a very bad compliment uncle was always considered the black sheep of the family indeed i answered my remark was an unfortunate one then oh don t mind that she said i always thought myself that he was worth all of them put together he was an officer in the forty first regiment and he john was killed in action during the war â so he died nobly at any rate that s the sort of death i should like to die said his dark eyes flashing as they would when he was excited i often wish i had taken to my father s profession instead of this vile come jack you are not going to die any sort of death yet she said tenderly taking his hand in hers i could not understand the woman there was such an extraordinary mixture of masculine decision and womanly tenderness about her with the consciousness of something all her own in the background that she fairly puzzled me i hardly knew therefore how to answer when as we walked down the street together he asked the comprehensive question â well what do you think of her i think she is wonderfully beautiful i answered that of course he replied you knew that before you came i think she is very clever too i remarked walked on for some time and then he suddenly turned on me with the strange question â do you think she is cruel do you think she is the sort of girl who would take a pleasure in pain well really i answered i have hardly had time to form an opinion we then walked on for some time in silence john â â i â â â â she is an old fool at length muttered who is i asked why that old woman â that aunt of s â mrs or whatever her name is then i knew that my poor friend had been speaking to but he never said anything more as to the nature of her communication my companion went to bed early that night and i sat up a long time by the fire thinking over all that i had seen and heard i felt that there was some mystery about the girl â some dark so strange as to defy conjecture i thought of s interview with her before their marriage and the fatal termination of it i coupled it with poor drunken plaintive cry why did she not tell me sooner and with the other words he had spoken then my mind ran over mrs s warning to me reference to her and even the episode of the whip and the dog the whole effect of my recollections was unpleasant to a degree arid yet there was no charge

3Edith Wharton

which i could bring against the woman it would be worse than useless to attempt to warn my until i had definitely made up my mind what i was to warn him against he would treat any charge against her with scorn what could i do how could i get at some conclusion as to her character and no one in knew them except as recent acquaintances she was an orphan and as far as i john knew she had never disclosed her former home had been suddenly an idea struck me among my father s friends there was a who had served a long time in india upon the staff and who would be likely to know most of the officers who had been out there since the i sat down at once and having trimmed the lamp proceeded to write a letter to the colonel i told him that i was very curious to gain some about a certain captain who had served in the forty first foot and who had fallen in the war i described the man as well as i could from my recollection of the and then having directed the letter posted it that very night after which feeling that i had done all that could be done i retired to bed with mind too anxious to allow me to sleep part ii i got an answer from where the colonel resided within two days i have it before me as i write and copy it dear bob it said i remember the man well i was with him at and afterwards at he was a curious solitary sort of mortal but a gallant soldier enough for he distinguished himself at and was wounded if i remember right h co was not popular in his corps â they said he was a pitiless cold blooded fellow with no in him there was a rumour too that he was a devil or something of that sort and also that he had the evil eye which of course was all nonsense he had some strange theories i remember about the m power of the human will and the effects of mind upon matter how are you getting on your medical studies never forget my boy that your father s son has every claim upon me and that if i can serve in any way i am always at your command â ever affectionately yours p s â by the way did not fall in action he was killed after peace was declared in a crazy attempt to get some of the eternal fire from the temple there was considerable mystery about his death i read this over several times â at first with a feeling of satisfaction and then with one of disappointment i had come on some curious information and yet hardly what i wanted he was an eccentric man a devil and to have the power of the evil eye i could believe the young lady s eyes when endowed with that cold grey which i had noticed in them once or twice to be capable of any evil which human eye ever wrought but still the superstition was an one was there not more meaning john in that sentence which followed â he had theories of the power of the human will and of the of mind upon matter i remember having once read a quaint which i had imagined to be mere at the time of the power of certain human minds and of effects produced by them at a distance was endowed with some exceptional power of the sort the idea grew upon me and very shortly i had evidence which convinced me of the truth of the supposition it happened that at the very time when my mind was dwelling upon this subject i saw a notice in the paper that our town was to be visited by dr the well known medium and was a man whose performance such as it was had been again and again pronounced to be genuine by competent judges he was far above and had the reputation of being the living authority upon the strange of animal and determined therefore to see what the human will could do even against all the of glaring and a public platform i took a ticket for the first night of the performance and went with several student friends we had secured one of the side boxes and did not arrive until after the performance had begun i had hardly taken my seat before i recognised with his and old mrs sitting in the third or fourth row of the they caught sight of me at almost the same moment and we john bowed to each other the first portion of the lecture was somewhat commonplace the giving tricks of pure with one or two of performed upon a subject whom he had brought with him he gave us an exhibition of too throwing his subject into a trance and then demanding particulars as to the movements of absent friends and the whereabouts of hidden objects all of which appeared to be answered satisfactorily i had seen all this before however what i wanted to see now was the effect of the s will when exerted upon some independent member of the audience he came round to that as the concluding exhibition in his performance i have shown you he said that a subject is entirely by the will of the he loses all power of and his very thoughts are such as are suggested to him by the master mind the same end may be attained without any preliminary process a strong will can simply by virtue of its strength take possession of a weaker one even at a distance and can the impulses and the actions of the owner of it if there was one man in the world who had a very much more highly

3Edith Wharton

developed will than any of the rest of the human family there is no reason why he should not be able to rule over them all and to reduce his fellow creatures to the condition of happily there is such a dead level of mental power or rather of mental weakness among us that such a catastrophe is not likely to occur but still within our small john â â compass there are variations which produce surprising i shall now single out one of the audience and endeavour by the mere power of will to compel him to come upon the platform and do and say what i wish let me assure you that there is no and that the subject whom i may select is at perfect liberty to resent to the any impulse which i may communicate to him with these words the came to the front of the platform and glanced over the first few rows of the no doubt dark skin and bright eyes marked him out as a man of a highly nervous temperament for the picked him out in a moment and fixed his eyes upon him i saw my friend give a start of surprise and then settle down in his chair as if to express his determination not to yield to the influence of the was not a man whose head any great brain power but his gaze was singularly intense and penetrating under the influence of it made one or two motions of his hands as if to grasp the sides of his seat and then half rose but only to sink down again though with an evident effort i was watching the scene with intense interest when i happened to catch a glimpse of miss s face she was sitting with her eyes fixed intently upon the and with such an of concentrated power upon her features as i have never seen on any other human countenance her jaw was firmly set her lips compressed and her â ace as hard as if it were a beautiful cut out john ba co of the marble her eyebrows were drawn down however and from beneath them her grey eyes seemed to sparkle and gleam with a cold light i looked at again expecting every moment to see him rise and obey the s wishes when there came from the platform a short gasping cry as of a man utterly worn out and by a prolonged struggle was leaning against the table his hand to his forehead and the perspiration down his face i won t go on he cried addressing the audience f there is a stronger will than mine acting against me you must excuse me for to night the man was evidently ill and utterly unable to proceed so the curtain was lowered and the audience dispersed with comments upon the s sudden i waited outside the hall until my friend and the ladies came out was laughing over his recent experience he didn t succeed with me bob he cried triumphantly as he shook my hand i think he caught a that time yes said miss i think that jack ought to be very proud of his strength of mind don t you mr it took me all my time though my friend said seriously you can t conceive what a strange feeling i had once or twice all the strength seemed to have gone out of me â especially t before he himself john i walked round with in order to see the ladies home he walked in front with mrs and i found myself behind with the young lady for a minute or so i walked beside her without making any remark and then i suddenly out in a manner which must have seemed somewhat to her â you did that miss did what she asked sharply why the â i suppose that is the best way of describing the transaction what a strange idea she said laughing you give me credit for a strong will then yes i said for a strong one why dangerous she asked in a tone of surprise i think i answered that any will which can exercise such power is dangerous â for there is always a chance of its being turned to bad uses you would make me out a very dreadful individual mr she said and then looking up suddenly in my face â you have never liked me you are suspicious of me and distrust me though i have never given you cause the accusation was so sudden and so true that i was unable to find any reply to it she paused for a moment and then said in a voice which was hard and cold â don t let your prejudice lead you to interfere with me however or say anything to your friend mr john s which might lead to a difference between us you would find that to be very bad policy there was something in the way she spoke which gave an indescribable air of a threat to these few words i have no power i said to interfere with your plans for the future i cannot help however from what i have seen and heard having fears for my friend fears i she repeated scornfully pray what have you seen and heard something from mr perhaps â i believe he is another of your friends he never mentioned your name to me i answered enough you will be sorry to hear that he is dying as i said it we passed by a lighted window and i glanced down to see what effect my words had upon her she was laughing â there was no doubt of it she was laughing quietly to herself i could see merriment in every feature of her face i feared and the woman from that moment more than ever we said little more that night

3Edith Wharton

when we parted she gave me a quick warning glance as if to remind me of what she had said about the danger of interference her would have made little difference to me could i have seen my way to by anything which i might say but what could i say i might say that her former had been unfortunate i might say that i believed her to â â â â â â â he sl cruel hearted woman i might say that i considered her to possess wonderful and almost natural powers what impression would any of these make upon an ardent lover â a man with my friend s enthusiastic temperament i felt that it would be useless to advance them so i was silent and now i come to the beginning of the end hitherto much has been and and it is my painful task to relate now as and as accurately as i can what actually occurred under my own notice and to reduce to f the events which preceded the death of my friend towards the end of the winter remarked to me that he intended to marry miss as soon as possible â probably some time in the spring he was as i have already remarked fairly well oflf and the young lady had some money of her own so that there was no pecuniary reason for a long engagement we are going to take a little house out at he said and we hope to see your face at our table bob as often as you can possibly come i thanked him and tried to shake off my apprehensions and persuade myself that all would yet be well it was about three weeks before the time fixed for the marriage that remarked to me one evening that he feared he would be late that night i have had a note from he said asking me to call about eleven o clock to night which seems rather a late hour but she wants to talk over something quietly after old mrs it was not until after my friend s departure that i suddenly recollected the mysterious interview which i had been told of as preceding the suicide of young then i thought of the of poor rendered more tragic by the fact that i had heard that very day of his death what was the meaning of it all had this woman some secret to disclose which must be known before her marriage was it some reason which forbade her to marry or was it some reason which forbade others to marry her i felt so uneasy that i would have followed even at the risk of offending him and endeavoured to him from keeping his appointment but a glance at the clock showed me that i was too late i was determined to wait up for his return so i piled some coals upon the fire and took down a novel from the shelf my thoughts proved more interesting than the book however and i threw it on one side an feeling of anxiety and depression weighed upon me twelve o clock came and then half pas tj without any sign of my friend it was nearly one when i heard a step in the street outside and then a knock ing at the door i was surprised as i knew that my friend always carried a key â however i hurried down and the latch as the door flew open i knew in a moment that my worst apprehensions had been fulfilled was leaning against the outside with his face sunk upon his breast and his whole attitude expressive of the most intense despondency as he passed in he gave a and r john would have fallen had i not thrown my left arm around him supporting him with this and holding the lamp in my other hand i led him slowly upstairs into our sitting room he sank down upon the sofa without a word now that i could get a good view of him i was to see the change which had come oyer him his face was deadly pale and his very lips were his cheeks and forehead were his eyes glazed and his whole expression altered he looked like a man who had gone through some terrible ordeal and was thoroughly my dear fellow what is the matter i asked breaking the silence nothing amiss i trust are you brandy he gasped give me some brandy i took out the and was about to help him when he snatched it from me with a trembling hand and poured out nearly half a of the spirit he was usually a most man but he took this off at a without adding any water to it it seemed to do him good for the colour began to come back to his face and he leaned upon his elbow my engagement is off bob he said trying to speak calmly but with a tremor in his voice which he â could not conceal it is all over cheer up i answered trying to encourage him don t get down on your luck how it what was it all about about he groaned covering his face with his if i did tell you bob you would not believe john it it is too dreadful â too horrible â awful and incredible i o and he rocked himself to and fro in his grief i pictured you an angel and i find you a a what i asked for he had paused he looked at me with a vacant stare and then suddenly burst out waving his arms a i he cried a from the pit a soul behind a lovely face now god forgive me he went on in a lower tone turning his face to the wall i have said more than i should i have loved her too much

3Edith Wharton

to speak of her as she is i love her too much now he lay still for some time and i had hoped that the brandy had had the effect of sending him to sleep when he suddenly turned his face towards me did you ever read of wolves he asked i answered that i had there is a story he said thoughtfully in one of s books about a beautiful woman who took the form of a wolf at night and devoured her own children i wonder what put that idea into s head he pondered for some minutes and then he cried out for some more brandy there was a small bottle of upon the table and i managed by upon helping him myself to mix about half a with the spirits he drank it off and sank his head once more upon the pillow anything better than that he groaned death is better than that crime and cruelty cruelty and crime anything is better than that and so on with the monotonous refrain until at john in that sentence which followed â he had theories of the power of the human will and of the effect of mind upon matter i remember having once read a quaint which i had imagined to be mere at the time of the power of certain human minds and of effects produced by them at a distance was endowed with some exceptional power of the sort the idea grew upon me and very shortly i had evidence which convinced me of the truth of the supposition it happened that at the very time when my mind was dwelling upon this subject i saw a notice in the paper that our town was to be visited by dr the well known medium and was a man whose performance such as it was had been again and again pronounced to be genuine by competent judges he was far above and had the reputation of being the living authority upon the strange of animal and determined therefore to see what the human will could do even against all the of glaring and a public platform i took a ticket for the first night of the performance and went with several student friends we had secured one of the side boxes and did not arrive until after the performance had begun i had hardly taken my seat before i recognised with his and old mrs sitting in the third or fourth row of the they caught sight of me at almost the same moment and we john bowed to each other the first portion of the lecture was somewhat commonplace the giving tricks of pure with one or two of performed upon a subject whom he had brought with him he gave us an exhibition of too throwing his subject into a trance and then demanding particulars as to the movements of absent friends and the whereabouts of hidden objects all of which appeared to be answered satisfactorily i had seen all this before however what i wanted to see now was the effect of the s will when exerted upon some independent member of the audience he came round to that as the concluding exhibition in his performance i have shown you he said that a subject is entirely by the will of the he loses all power of and his very thoughts are such as are suggested to him by the master mind the same end may be attained without any preliminary process a strong will can simply by virtue of its strength take possession of a weaker one even at a distance and can the impulses and the actions of the owner of it if there was one man in the world who had a very much more highly developed will than any of the rest of the human family there is no reason why he should not be able to rule over them all and to reduce his fellow creatures to the condition of happily there is such a dead level of mental power or rather of mental weakness among us that such a catastrophe is not likely to occur but still within our small john it promised to be for the clouds were up in the north west and the dark was drifting across the face of the moon throwing alternate of light and shade upon the rugged surface of the island and the restless sea beyond we were standing talking close by the door of the cottage and i was thinking to myself that my friend was more cheerful than he had been since his illness when he gave a sudden sharp cry and looking round at him i saw by the light of the moon an expression of unutterable horror come over his features his eyes became fixed and staring as if upon some approaching object and he extended his long thin forefinger which quivered as he pointed look there he cried it is she i it is she i you see her there coming down the side of the he me by the wrist as he spoke there she is coming towards us who i cried straining my eyes into the darkness he screamed â she has come for me hold me fast old friend don t let me go hold up old man i said clapping him on the shoulder pull yourself together you are dreaming there is nothing to fear she is gone he cried with a gasp of relief no by heaven there she is again and nearer â coming nearer she told me she would come for me and she keeps her word come into the house i said his hand as i grasped it was as cold as ice ah i knew it i he shouted there she is waving her arms she is to me it is the signal i must go i am coming i am coming i i threw

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my arms around him but he burst from with strength and dashed into the darkness of the night i followed him calling to him to stop but he ran the more swiftly when the moon shone out between the clouds i could catch a glimpse of his dark figure running rapidly in a straight line as if to reach some definite goal it may have been imagination but it seemed to me that in the flickering light i could distinguish a vague something in front of him â a form which his grasp and led him i saw his outlines stand out hard against the sky behind him as he surmounted the brow of a little hill then he disappeared and that was the last ever seen by mortal eye of the and i walked round the island that night with and examined every nook and comer without seeing a trace of my poor lost friend the direction in which he had been running terminated in a rugged line of jagged cliffs overhanging the sea at one place here the edge was somewhat and there appeared marks upon the turf which might have been left by human feet we lay upon our faces at this spot and peered with our over the edge looking down on the boiling two hundred john feet below as we lay there suddenly above the beating of the waves and the howling of the wind there rose a strange wild from the abyss below the â a naturally superstitious race â that it was the sound of a woman s laughter and i could hardly persuade them to continue the search for my own part i think it may have been the cry of some sea fowl startled from its nest by the flash of the lantern however that may be i never wish to hear such a sound again and now i have come to the end of the painful duty which i have undertaken i have told as plainly and as accurately as i could the story of the death of john and the train of events which preceded it i am aware that to others the sad episode seemed commonplace enough here is the account which appeared in the a couple of days afterwards â sad occurrence on the isle of may â the isle of may has been the scene of a sad disaster mr john a gentleman well known in university circles as a most distinguished student and the present of the prize for has been his health in this quiet retreat the night before last he suddenly left his friend mr robert and he has not since been heard of it is almost certain that he has met his death by falling over the cliffs which surround the island mr health has been failing for some time partly from over v â â â j â â t m t mm tt i fi john study and partly from worry connected with family affairs by his death the university loses one of her most promising i have nothing more to add to my statement i have mv mind of all that i know i can well conceive that many after weighing all that i have said will see no ground for an accusation against miss they will say that because a man of a naturally disposition says and does wild things and even eventually self murder after a sudden and heavy disappointment there is no reason why vague charges should be advanced against a young lady to this i answer that they are welcome to their opinion for my own part i the death of william of and of john to this woman with as much confidence as if i had seen her drive a dagger into their hearts you ask me no doubt what my own theory is which will explain all these strange facts i have none or at best a dim and vague one that miss possessed extraordinary powers over the minds and through the minds over the bodies of others i am convinced as well as that her instincts were to use this power for base and cruel purposes that some even more and terrible phase of character lay behind this â some horrible trait which it was necessary for her to reveal before marriage â is to be inferred from the experience of her three lovers while the dreadful nature of the mystery thus revealed can only be from the fact that the very mention of it drove from her those who had loved her so passionately their subsequent fate was in my opinion the result of her remembrance of their desertion of her and that they were of it at the time was shown by the words of both and above this i can say nothing i lay the facts before the public as they came under my notice i have never seen miss since nor do i wish to do so if by the words i have written i can save any one human being from the of those bright eyes and that beautiful face then i can lay down my pen with the assurance that my poor friend has not died altogether in vain as b m the parson of s he was known in the as the reverend b but it was generally understood that the title was an one by his many eminent qualities and not borne out by any legal claim which he could the parson was another of his which was sufficiently in a land where the flock was scattered and the few to do him justice he never pretended to have received any preliminary training for the or any to practise it we re all working in the claim of the lord he remarked one day and it don t matter a cent whether we re hired for the job or whether we in on our

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own account a piece of rough which appealed directly to the instincts of s it is quite certain that during the first few months his presence had a marked effect in the excessive use both of strong drinks and of stronger which had been characteristic of the little settlement under his men began to understand that the resources of their native language were less limited than they had as b supposed and that it was possible to convey their impressions with accuracy without the aid of a gaudy of we were certainly in need of a at s about the beginning of times were flush then over the whole colony but nowhere than there our material prosperity had had a bad effect upon our morals the camp was a small one lying rather better than a hundred and twenty miles to the north of at a spot where a mountain torrent finds its way down a rugged on its way to join the river history does not relate who the original may have been but at the time i speak of the camp it contained a hundred or so many of whom were men who had sought an asylum there after making more too hot to hold them they were a rough crew hardly by the few respectable members of society who were scattered among them communication between s and the outside world was difficult and uncertain a portion of the bush between it and was by a named jim who with a small band as desperate as himself made travelling a dangerous matter it was customary at the to store up the dust and obtained from the mines in a special store each man s share being placed in a separate bag on which his name was marked a man named was to watch over this primitive bank when the amount deposited b became considerable a was hired and the whole treasure was conveyed to guarded by the police and by a certain number of who took it in turn to perform the office once in it was forwarded on to by the regular gold by this plan the gold was often kept for months in the before being despatched but jim was effectually as the escort part were far too strong for him and his gang he appeared at the time of which i write to have forsaken his haunts in disgust and the road could be traversed by small parties with comparative order used to reign during the at s for the majority of the inhabitants were out with and pick among the or washing clay and sand in their by the banks of the little stream as the sun sank down â however the claims were gradually deserted and their owners clay and shaggy came lounging into camp ripe for any form of mischief their first visit was to s gold store where their clean up of the day was duly deposited the amount being entered in the s book and each retaining enough to cover his evening s expenses after that all restraint was at an end and each set to work to get rid of his dust with the greatest rapidity possible the of was the rough bar formed by a couple of by which was dignified by the name of the drinking saloon here the b bar keeper bad at the rate of two shillings a or a guinea a bottle while his brother ben acted as in a wooden behind which had been converted into a gambling hell and was crowded every night there had been a third brother but an unfortunate misunderstanding with a customer had his existence he was too soft to live long his brother observed on the occasion of his funeral many s the time i ve said to him if you re a pint with a stranger you should always draw first then argue and then shoot if you judge that he s on the shoot bill was too he must needs argue first and draw after when he might just as well have his man before it over with him this amiable weakness of the deceased bill was a blow to the firm of which became short handed that the concern could hardly be worked without the admission of a partner which would mean a considerable in the profits had had a roadside in the before the discovery of gold and might therefore claim to be the oldest these of were a peculiar race and at the cost of a it may be interesting to explain how they managed to considerable sums of money in a land where travellers were few and far between it was the custom of the i e drivers sheep and the other white hands who worked on the sheep runs up country to sign articles by which they as b agreed to serve their master for one two or three years at so much per year and daily liquor was never included in this agreement and the men remained per force total during the whole time the money was paid in a lump sum at the end of the engagement when that day came round the would come into his master s office tree hat in hand morning master would say my time s up i guess v draw my and ride down to town you ll come back yes i ll come back maybe i ll be away three weeks maybe a month i want some clothes master and my boots are well nigh off my feet how much asks his master taking up his pen there s sixty pound screw answers thoughtfully and you mind master last march when the bull broke out o the two pound you promised me then and a pound at the dipping and a pound when s sheep got mixed with and so he goes on for can seldom write but they have memories

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which nothing escapes his master writes the and hands it across the table don t get on the drink he says no fear of that master and the slips the into his leather and within an hour b he is off upon his long horse on his hundred mile journey to town now has to pass some six or eight of the above mentioned roadside in his day s ride and experience has taught him that if he once breaks his accustomed total the unwonted has an overpowering effect upon his brain shakes his head as he that no earthly consideration will induce him to partake of any liquor until his business is over his only chance is to avoid temptation so knowing that there is the first of these houses c half mile ahead he into a through the bush which will lead him out at the other side is riding resolutely along this narrow path himself upon a danger escaped when he becomes of a black bearded man who is leaning against a tree beside the track this is none other than the keeper who having observed s in the distance has taken a short cut through the bush in order to him morning he cries as the comes up to him morning mate morning where are ye off to to day then off to town says no now â are you though you ll have bully times down there for a bit come round and have a drink at my place just by way of luck no says i don t want a drink as b just a little damp i tell ye i don t want one says the angrily well ye needn t be so short about it it s to me whether you drinks or not good good says and has ridden on about twenty yards when he hears the other calling on him to stop see here he says him again if you ll do me a kindness when you re up in town i d be obliged what is it it s a letter jim as i wants posted it s an important one too an i wouldn t trust it with every one but i knows you and if you ll take charge on it it ll be a powerful weight off my mind give it here says i t got it here it s round in my come round for it with me it ain t more n quarter of a mile reluctantly when they reach the tumble down hut the keeper asks him cheerily to and to come in give me the letter says it ain t altogether wrote yet but you sit down here for a minute and it ll be right and so the is into the at last the letter is ready and handed over now says the keeper one drink at my expense before you go s b not a taste says oh that s it is it the other says in an tone youve too damned proud to drink with a poor like me here â give us back that letter cursed if tu accept a favour from a man whose too almighty big to have a drink with me well well mate don t turn says jim give us one drink an i m off the keeper out about half a of raw rum and hands it to the the moment he smells the old familiar smell his longing for it returns and he it off at a his e es shine more brightly and his face becomes flushed the keeper watches him narrowly you can go now jim he says steady mate steady says the i m as good a man as you if you stand a drink i can stand one too i suppose so the is and s eyes shine brighter still now one last drink for the good of the house says the keeper and then it s time you were off the has a third from the and with it all his scruples and good resolutions vanish for ever look here he says somewhat taking his out of his you take this mate whoever comes along this road ask em what they ll have and tell them it s my shout let me know when the money s done so the idea of ever getting to as b town and for three weeks or a month he lies about the in a state of extreme and every upon the road to the same condition at last one fine morning the keeper comes to him the coin s done he says it s about time you made some more so has a good wash to sober him his blanket and his to his back and rides off through the bush to the she where he has another year of in another month of all this though typical of the happy go lucky manners of the inhabitants has no direct bearing upon s so we must return to that settlement additions to the population there were not numerous and such as came about the time of which i speak were even and than the original inhabitants in particular there came a brace of named and who rode into camp one day and started a claim upon the other side of the stream they the in the and of their in the of their speech and manner and in their reckless disregard of all social laws they claimed to have come from and there were some amongst us who wished that the jim was on the track once more as long as he would close it to such visitors as these after their arrival the nightly proceedings at the bar and at the gambling hell behind it became more than ever violent quarrels frequently ending in were of constant occur as b the more of the bar began to talk seriously

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of the two strangers who were the principal of disorder things were in this unsatisfactory condition when our b came into the camp travel stained and with his across his back and his bible in the pocket of his jacket his presence was hardly noticed at first so insignificant was the man his manner was quiet and his face pale and his figure fragile on better acquaintance however there was a and firmness about his clean shaven lower jaw and an intelligence in his widely opened blue eyes which marked him as a man of character he erected a small hut for himself and started a claim close to that occupied by the two strangers who had preceded him this claim was chosen with a ludicrous disregard for all practical laws of and at once stamped the as being a green hand at his work it was piteous to observe him every morning as we passed to our work digging and with the greatest industry but as we knew well without the smallest possibility of any result he would pause for a moment as we went by wipe his pale face with his handkerchief and shout out to us a cordial morning greeting and then fall to again with energy by degrees we got into the way of making a half pitying half contemptuous inquiry as to how he got on i t struck it yet boys he would as b answer cheerily leaning on his but the lies deep just and i reckon we ll get among the pay gravel to day day after day he returned the same reply with confidence and cheerfulness it was not long before he began to show us the stuff that was in him one night the proceedings were unusually violent at the drinking saloon a rich pocket had been struck during the day and the was standing treat in a lavish and fashion which had reduced three parts of the settlement to a state of wild a crowd of drunken stood or lay about the bar cursing swearing shouting dancing and here and there firing their pistols into the air out of pure from the interior of the behind there came a similar chorus and the who followed them were in the and all order and decency was swept away suddenly amid this tumult of oaths and drunken cries men became conscious of a quiet which all other sounds and itself at every pause in the uproar gradually first one man and then another paused to listen until there was a general of the and every eye was turned in the direction whence this quiet stream of words flowed there mounted upon a barrel was b the of the inhabitants of s with a good humoured smile upon his resolute face he held an open bible in his hand and was reading aloud a passage taken at random â an extract from the as b if i remember right the words were entirely and without the smallest bearing upon the scene before him but he on with great waving his left hand slowly to the of his words there was a general shout of laughter and applause at this apparition and s gathered round the barrel under the impression that this was some joke and that they were about to be treated to some mock sermon or of the chapter read when however the reader having finished the chapter placidly commenced another and having finished that on into another one the came to the conclusion that the joke was somewhat too long the commencement of yet another chapter confirmed this opinion and an angry chorus of shouts and cries with suggestions as to the reader or knocking him off the barrel rose from every side in spite of and however b away at the with the same serene countenance looking as contented as though the around him were the most gratifying applause before long an occasional boot against the barrel or whistled past our parson s head but here some of the more orderly of the inhabitants interfered in favour of peace and order aided curiously enough by the afore mentioned and who warmly the cause of the little scripture reader the little has got in him the latter explained his red as b form between the crowd and the object of its anger his ways ain t our ways and all welcome to our opinions and to them round from barrels or otherwise if so minded what i says and bill says is that when it comes to boots instead o words it s too steep by half an if this man s wronged we ll in an see him this effort had the effect of checking the more active signs of and the party of disorder attempted to settle down once more to their and to the shower of scripture which was poured upon them the attempt was hopeless the drunken portion fell asleep under the drowsy refrain and the others with many a sullen glance at the reader off to their huts leaving him still perched upon the barrel finding himself alone with the more orderly of the spectators the little man rose closed his book after marking with a lead pencil the exact spot at which he stopped and descended from his perch to morrow night boys he remarked in his quiet voice the reading will commence at the th verse of the th chapter of the with which piece of information our congratulations he walked away with the air of a man who has performed an obvious duty we found that his parting words were no empty threat hardly had the crowd begun to next night before he appeared once more upon the barrel and began to read with the same monotonous vigour over words up sentences but still o as b along through chapter after chapter laughter threats â every weapon short of actual violence â

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was used to him but all with the same want of success soon it was found that there was a method in his proceedings when silence reigned or when the conversation was of an innocent nature the reading a single word of however set it going again and it would on for a quarter of an hour or so when it stopped only to be renewed upon similar provocation the reading was pretty continuous during that second night for the language of the opposition was still considerably free at least it was an improvement upon the night before for more than a month b carried on this campaign there he would sit night after night with the open book upon his knee and at the slightest provocation off he would go like a musical box when the spring is touched the monotonous became but it could only be avoided by to the parson s code a came to be looked upon with by the community since the punishment of his fell upon all at the end of a fortnight the reader was silent more than half the time and at the end of the month his position was a never was a moral revolution brought about more rapidly and more completely our parson carried his principle into private life i have seen him on hearing an word from some in the rush across bible in hand and himself upon as b i the heap of red clay which surmounted the s claim through the tree at the commencement of the new testament in a most earnest and impressive manner as though it were especially appropriate to the occasion in time an oath became a rare thing amongst us was on the too casual travellers passing through the used to marvel at our state of grace and of it went as far as and excited much comment therein there were points about our which made him especially fitted for the work which he had undertaken a man entirely without vices would have had no common basis on which to work and no means of gaining the sympathy of his flock as we came to know b better we discovered that in spite of his piety there was a of old adam in him and that he had certainly known days he was no on the contrary he could choose his liquor with and lower it in an able manner he played a hand at and there were few who could touch him at cut throat he and the two and used to play for hours in perfect harmony except when the fall of the cards an oath from one of his companions at the first of these the parson would put on a pained smile and gaze reproachfully at the at the second he would reach for his bible and the game was over for the evening he showed us he was a good as b revolver shot too for when we were at an empty brandy bottle outside bar he took up a friend s pistol and hit it in the centre at paces there were few he took up that he could not make a show at apparently except and at that he was the alive it was pitiful to see the little canvas bag with his name printed across it lying placid and empty upon the shelf at s store while all the other bags were increasing daily and some had assumed quite a of form for the weeks were slipping by and it was almost time for the gold train to start off for we reckoned that the amount which we had stored at the time represented the greatest sum which had ever been taken by a single out of s although b appeared to derive a certain quiet satisfaction from the wonderful change which he had effected in the camp his joy was not yet rounded and complete there was one thing for which he still he opened his heart to us about it one evening we d have a blessing on the camp boys he said if we only had a service o some sort on the lord s day it s a o providence to go on in this way without any notice of it except that maybe there s more drunk and more card than on any other day we t got no parson objected one of the crowd as b ye fool growled another t we got a man as is worth any three and can splash around like clay out o a cradle what more d ye want we t got no church i urged the same have it in the open air one suggested or in s store said another or in saloon the last proposal was received with a of approval which showed that it was considered the most appropriate locality saloon was a substantial wooden building in the rear of the bar which was used partly for liquor and partly for a gambling saloon it was strongly built of rough logs the proprietor rightly judging in the days of s that of brandy and rum were which had best be secured under lock and key a strong door opened into each end of the saloon and the interior was spacious enough when the table and lumber were cleared away to accommodate the whole population the spirit barrels were heaped together at one end by their owner so as to make a very fair imitation of a pulpit at first the took but a mild interest in the proceedings but when it became known that b intended after reading the service to address the audience the settlement began to warm up to the occasion a real sermon was a novelty to all of them and one coming from their own parson was as b so rumour announced that it would be with local and that the moral would be

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pointed by men began to fear that they would be unable to gain seats and many were made to the brothers it was only when shown that the saloon could contain them all with a margin that the camp settled down into calm it was as well that the building was of such a size for the assembly upon the sunday morning was the largest which had ever occurred in the annals of s at first it was thought that the whole population was present but a little reflection showed that this was not so and had gone on a journey among the hills and had not returned as yet and the gold keeper was unable to leave his store having a very large quantity of the precious metal under his charge he stuck to his post feeling that the responsibility was too great to trifle with with these three exceptions the whole of the with clean red shirts and such other additions to their toilet as the occasion demanded sauntered in a straggling line along the pathway which led up to the saloon the interior of the building had been provided with rough benches and the parson with his quiet smile was standing at the door to welcome them good morning boys he cried cheerily as each group came lounging up pass in pass in you ll find this is as good a morning s work as any as b you ve done leave your pistols in this barrel outside the door as you pass you can pick them out as you come out again but it isn t the thing to carry weapons into the house of peace his request was complied with and before the last of the congregation filed in there was a strange of knives and in this when all had assembled the doors were shut and the service began â the first and the last which was ever performed at s the weather was and the room close yet the listened with patience there was a sense of novelty in the situation which had its attractions to some it was entirely new others were back by it to another land and other days beyond a disposition which was exhibited by the to at the end of certain prayers by way of showing that they with the sentiments expressed no audience could have behaved better there was a murmur of interest however when b looking down on the congregation from his of began his address he had attired himself with care in honour of the occasion he wore a round the waist with a of china silk a pair of trousers and held his tree hat in his left hand he began speaking in a low tone and it was noticed at the time that he frequently glanced through the small which served for a window which was placed above the heads of those who sat beneath him as b ive put you straight now he said in the course of his address i ve got you in the right if you will but stick in it here he looked very hard out of the window for some seconds you ve learned and industry and with those things you can always make up any loss you may sustain i guess there isn t one of ye that won t remember my visit to this camp he paused for a moment and three revolver shots rang out upon the quiet summer air keep your seats damn ye roared our preacher as his audience rose in excitement if a man of ye moves down he goes i the door s locked on the outside so ye can t get out anyhow your seats ye chuckle headed fools i down with ye ye dogs or i ll fire among ye i astonishment and fear brought us back into our seats and we sat staring at our and each other b whose whole face and even figure appeared to have undergone an extraordinary alteration looked fiercely down on us from his commanding position with a contemptuous smile on his stern face i have your lives in my hands he remarked and we noticed as he spoke that he held a heavy revolver in his hand and that the butt of another one from his i am armed and you are not if one of you moves or speaks he is a dead man if not i shall not harm you you must wait here for an hour why you fools this with a hiss of contempt which rang in our ears for many a long day do you know as b who it is that has stuck you up do you know who it is that has been playing it upon you for months as a parson and a saint jim the ye and and were my two right hand men they re off into the hills with your gold ha would ye this to some member of the audience who down instantly before the fierce eye and the ready weapon of the in an hour they will be clear of any pursuit and i advise you to make the best of it and not to follow or you may lose more than your money my horse is outside this door behind me when the time is up i shall pass through it lock it on the outside and be off then you may break your way out as best you can i have no more to say to you except that ye are the most cursed set of that ever trod in boot leather we had time to mentally this opinion during the long sixty minutes which followed we were powerless before the resolute it is true that if we made a rush we might bear him down at the cost of eight or ten of our number but how could such a rush be without speaking and

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who would attempt it without a previous agreement that he would be supported there was nothing for it but submission it seemed three hours at the least before the snapped up his watch stepped down from the barrel walked backwards still covering us with his weapon to the door behind him and then passed rapidly through it we heard the creaking of â as b the rusty lock and the clatter of his horse s hoofs as he galloped away it has been remarked that an oath had for the last few weeks been a rare thing in the camp we made up for our temporary during the next never was heard such and when at last we succeeded in getting the door off its hinges all sight of both and treasure had disappeared nor have we ever caught sight of either the one or the other since poor true to his trust lay shot through the head across the threshold of his empty store the had descended upon the camp the instant that we had been into the trap murdered the keeper loaded up a small cart with the boot and got safe away to some wild among the mountains where they were joined by their leader s recovered from this blow and is now a flourishing social are not in request there however and morality is at a it is said that an has been held lately upon an stranger who chanced to remark that in so large a place it would be advisable to have some form of sunday service the memory of their one and only is still green among the inhabitants and will be for many a long year to come the ring of mr john smith f r s of a street was a man whose energy of purpose and clearness of thought might have placed him in the very first rank of scientific he was the victim however of a universal ambition which prompted him to aim at distinction in many subjects rather than in one in his early days he had shown an for and for which caused his friends to look upon him as a second but when a was almost within his reach he had suddenly his studies and turned his whole attention to here his upon the of the had won him his fellowship in the royal society but again he played the with his subject and after a year s absence from the he joined the oriental society and delivered a paper on the and of el thus giving a crowning example both of the and of the of his talents the most of however is apt to be caught at last and so it was with john smith the more he his way into the more impressed he became by the vast field t the ring op which it opened to the and by the extreme importance of a subject which promised to throw a light upon the first of human and the origin of the greater part of our arts and so struck was mr smith that he straightway married an young lady who had written upon the sixth and having thus secured a sound base of operations he set himself to collect materials for a work which should unite the of and the ingenuity of the preparation of this many hurried visits to the magnificent egyptian of the upon the last of which no longer ago than the middle of last october he became involved in a most strange and adventure the trains had been slow and the channel had been rough so that the student arrived in paris in a somewhat and feverish condition on reaching the hotel de france in the he had thrown himself upon a sofa for a couple of hours but finding that he was unable to sleep he determined in spite of his fatigue to make his way to the settle the point which he had come to decide and take the evening train back to having come to this conclusion he his for it was a raw rainy day and made his way across the des and down the avenue de once in the he was on familiar ground and he speedily made his way to the collection of which it was his intention to consult the ring of the warmest admirers of john smith could hardly claim for him that he was a handsome man his high nose and prominent chin had something of the same acute and character which distinguished his intellect he held his head in a fashion and too was the motion with which in conversation he threw out his objections and as he stood with the high collar of his raised to his ears he might have seen from the reflection in the glass case before him that his appearance was a singular one yet it came upon him as a sudden jar when an english voice behind him exclaimed in very audible tones what a queer looking mortal the student had a large amount of petty vanity in his composition which manifested itself by an and disregard of all personal considerations he straightened his lips and looked rigidly at the roll of while his heart filled with bitterness against the whole race of travelling yes said another voice he really is an extraordinary fellow do you know said the first speaker one could almost believe that by the continual contemplation of the chap has become half a himself he has certainly an egyptian cast of countenance said the other john smith spun round upon his heel with the intention of his countrymen by a remark or two to his surprise and relief i the ring of the two young fellows who had been conversing had their shoulders turned towards him and were gazing at one of the attendants who was some brass work at the other side of the room will be

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waiting for us at the royal said one to the other glancing at his watch and they away leaving the student to his labours i wonder what these call an egyptian cast of countenance thought john smith and he moved his position slightly in order to catch a glimpse of the man s face he started as his eyes fell upon it it was indeed the very face with which his studies had made him familiar the regular features broad brow well rounded chin and dusky complexion were the exact of the innumerable statues cases and pictures which adorned the walls of the apartment the thing was beyond all coincidence the man must be an egyptian the national of the shoulders and of the were alone sufficient to identify him john smith towards the attendant with some intention of addressing him he was not light of touch in conversation and found it difficult to strike the happy mean between the of the superior and the of the equal as he came nearer the man presented his side face to him but kept his gaze still bent upon his work smith fixing his eyes upon the fellow s skin was conscious of a sudden impression that there was something the ring of ig and about its appearance over the temple and cheek bone it was as glazed and as shiny as there was no suggestion of one could not fancy a drop of moisture upon that arid surface from brow to chin however it was cross by a million delicate wrinkles which shot and as though nature in some mood had tried how wild and intricate a pattern she could devise oil est la collection de asked the student with the awkward air of a man who is a question merely for the purpose of opening a conversation replied the man nodding his head at the other side of the room un n est ce pas asked the englishman the attendant looked up and turned his strange dark eyes upon his they were with a misty dry such as smith had never seen in a human head before as he gazed into them he saw some strong emotion gather in their depths which rose and deepened until it broke into a look of something akin both to horror and to hatred non je the man turned abruptly and bent low over his the student gazed at him for a moment in astonishment and then turning to a chair in a retired corner behind one of the doors he proceeded to make notes of his among the his thoughts however refused to ri g of return into their natural they would run upon the attendant with the like face and the skin where have i seen such eyes said smith to himself there is something about them something there s the of the he mused himself of his studies it gives a shiny effect but there was something more here there was a sense of power of wisdom â so i read them â and of weariness utter weariness and despair it may be all imagination but i never had so strong an impression by jove i must have another look at them he rose and paced round the egyptian rooms but the man who had excited his curiosity had disappeared the student sat down again in his quiet corner and continued to work at his notes he had gained the information which he required from the and it only remained to write it down while it was still fresh in his memory for a time his pencil travelled rapidly over the paper but soon the lines became less level the words more and finally the pencil down upon the floor and the head of the student dropped heavily forward upon his chest tired out by his journey he slept so soundly in his lonely post behind the door that neither the civil guard nor the footsteps of nor even the loud hoarse bell which gives the signal for closing were sufficient to arouse him j the ring of twilight deepened into darkness the bustle from the de and then distant dame out the hour of midnight and still the dark and lonely figure sat silently in the shadow it was not until close upon one in the morning that with a sudden gasp and an of the breath smith returned to consciousness for a moment it flashed upon him that he had dropped asleep in his study chair at home the moon was shining through the window however and as his eye ran along the lines of and the endless array of polished cases he remembered clearly where he was and how he came there the student was not a nervous man he possessed that love of a novel situation which is peculiar to his race stretching out his cramped limbs he looked at his watch and burst into a chuckle as he observed the hour the episode would make an admirable anecdote to be introduced into his next paper as a relief to the graver and heavier speculations he was a little cold but wide awake and much refreshed it was no wonder that the had overlooked him for the door threw its heavy black shadow right across him the complete silence was impressive neither outside nor inside was there a or a murmur he was alone with the dead men of a dead what though the outer city of the nineteenth century in all this chamber there was scarce an article from the ear of wheat to the the ring of â box of the painter which had not held its own against four thousand years here was the and washed up by the great ocean of time from that far off empire from stately from from the great temples of from a hundred these relics had been brought the student glanced round at the long silent figures who

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vaguely up through the gloom at the busy who were now so and he fell into a and thoughtful mood an unwonted sense of his own youth and came over him leaning back in his chair he gazed down the long vista of rooms all silvery with the which extend through the whole wing of the building his eyes fell upon the yellow glare of a distant lamp john smith sat up on his chair with his nerves all on edge the light was advancing slowly towards him pausing from time to time and then coming the bearer moved noiselessly in the utter silence there was no suspicion of the pat of a an idea of robbers entered the englishman s head he up further into the corner the light was two rooms off now it was in the next chamber and still there was no sound with something approaching to a thrill of fear the student observed a face floating in the air as it were behind the of the lamp the figure was wrapped in shadow but the light fell full upon the strange eager face there was no the â w â the ring of glistening eyes and the skin it was the attendant with whom he had conversed smith s first impulse was to come forward and address him a few words of explanation would set the matter clear and lead doubtless to his being conducted to some side door from which he might make his way to his hotel as the man entered the chamber however there was something so stealthy in his movements and so in his expression that the englishman altered his intention this was clearly no ordinary official walking the rounds the fellow wore felt slippers stepped with a rising chest and glanced quickly from left to right while his hurried gasping breathing thrilled the flame of his lamp smith crouched silently back into the corner and watched him keenly convinced that his errand was one of secret and probably sinister import there was no hesitation in the other s movements he stepped lightly and swiftly across to one of the great cases and drawing a key from his pocket he unlocked it from the upper shelf he pulled down a which he bore away with him and laid it with much care and solicitude upon the ground by it he placed his lamp and then down beside it in eastern fashion he began with long quivering fingers to undo the and which it round as the rolls of linen off one after the other a strong filled the chamber and fragments of scented wood and of down upon the marble floor the ring op it was clear to john smith that thâ s had never been before the operation interested him keenly he thrilled all over with curiosity and his head further and further from behind the door when however the last roll had been removed from the four old head it was all that he could do to an of amazement first a of long black glossy poured over the workman s hands and arms a second turn of the revealed a low white forehead with a pair of delicately arched e a third uncovered a pair of bright deeply fringed eyes and a straight well cut nose while a fourth and last showed a sweet full sensitive mouth and a beautifully curved chin the whole face was one of extraordinary loveliness save for the one that in the centre of the forehead there was a single irregular coffee coloured it was a triumph of the s art smith s eyes grew larger and larger as he gazed upon it and he in his throat with satisfaction its upon the was as nothing however compared with that which it produced upon the strange attendant he threw his hands up into the air burst into a harsh clatter of words and then himself down upon the ground beside the he threw his arms round her and kissed her repeatedly upon the lips and brow ma i he groaned in french ma i his voice broke with emotion and his innumerable wrinkles the ring of quivered and but the student observed in the that his shining eyes were still as dry and as two beads of steel for some minutes he lay with a face and moaning over the beautiful head then he broke into a sudden smile said some words in an unknown tongue and sprang to his feet with the vigorous air of one has himself for an effort in the centre of the room there was a large circular case which contained as the student had frequently remarked a magnificent collection of early egyptian rings and precious stones to this the attendant strode and it he threw it open on the ledge at the side he placed his lamp and beside it a small jar which he had drawn from his pocket he then took a handful of rings from the case and with a most serious and anxious face he proceeded to each in turn with some liquid substance from the pot holding them to the light as he did so he was clearly disappointed with the first lot for he threw them back into the case and drew out some more one of these a massive ring with a large crystal set in it he seized and eagerly tested with the contents of the jar instantly he uttered a cry of joy and threw out his arms in a wild gesture which upset the pot and sent the liquid streaming across the floor to the very feet of the englishman the attendant drew a red handkerchief from his bosom and up the mess he followed o the ring op it into the corner where in a moment he found himself face to face with his observer excuse me said john smith with all imaginable politeness i have

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been unfortunate enough to fall asleep behind this door and you have been watching me the other asked in english with a most look on his corpse like face the student was a man of i confess said he that i have noticed your movements and that they have aroused my curiosity and interest in the highest degree the man drew a long knife from his bosom you have had a very narrow escape he said had i seen you ten minutes ago i should have driven this through your heart as it is if you touch me or interfere with me in any way you are a dead man i have no wish to interfere with you the student answered my presence here is entirely accidental all i ask is that you will have the extreme kindness to show me out through some side door he spoke with great for the man was still pressing the tip of his dagger against the palm of his left hand as though to assure himself of its while his face preserved its malignant expression if i thought said he but no perhaps it is as well what is your name the englishman gave it â â i ml the ring of smith the other repeated are you the same smith who gave a paper in london upon el i saw a report of it your knowledge of the subject is contemptible sir cried the yet it is superior to that of many who make even greater pretensions the whole of our old life in egypt was not the or monuments of which you make so much but was our philosophy and mystic knowledge of which you say little or nothing our old life repeated the scholar wide eyed and then suddenly good god look at the s face i the strange man turned and flashed his light upon the dead woman uttering a long cry as he did so the action of the air had already undone all the art of the the skin had fallen away the eyes had sunk the lips had away from the yellow teeth and the brown mark upon the forehead alone showed that it was indeed the same face which had shown such youth and beauty a few short minutes before the man his hands together in grief and horror then himself by a strong effort he turned his hard eyes once more upon the englishman it does not matter he said in a shaking voice it does not really matter i came here to night with the fixed determination to do something it is now done all else is as nothing i have found my quest the ring of the old curse is broken i can her what matter about her shell so long as her spirit is awaiting me at the other side of the veil these are wild words said smith he was becoming more and more convinced that he had to do with a madman time presses and i must go continued the other the moment is at hand for which i have waited this weary time but i must show you out first come with me taking up the lamp he turned from the disordered chamber and led the student swiftly through the long series of the egyptian and apartments at the end of the latter he pushed open a small door let into the wall and descended a winding stone stair the englishman felt the cold fresh air of the night upon his brow there was a door opposite him which appeared to communicate with the street to the right of this another door stood throwing a of yellow light across the passage come in here said the attendant shortly smith hesitated he had hoped that he had come to the end of his adventure yet his curiosity was strong within him he could not leave the matter so he followed his strange companion into the lighted chamber it was a small room such as is devoted to a a wood fire sparkled in the grate at one side stood a bed and at the other a coarse wooden chair with a round table in the centre which bore the remains the ring of of a meal as he visitor s eye glanced round he could not but remark with an ever thrill that all the small details of the room were of the most quaint design and antique the the upon the chimney piece the fire irons the ornaments upon the walls were all such as he had been wont to associate with the remote past the man sat himself down upon the edge of the bed and his guest into the chair there may be design in this he said still speaking excellent english it may be that i should leave some account behind as a warning to all rash mortals who would set their wits up against workings of nature i leave it with you make such use as you will of it i speak to you now with my feet upon the threshold of the other world i am as you an egyptian â not one of the down trodden race of slaves who now the of the but a of that and harder people who tamed the hebrew drove the back into the southern deserts and built those mighty works which have been the envy and the wonder of all after generations it was in the reign of sixteen hundred years before the birth of christ that i first saw the light you shrink away from me wait and you will see that i am more to be pitied than to be feared my name was my father had been the chief priest of in the great temple of which stood in those days upon the branch of the the ring of i was brought up in the temple end was trained in all those

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mystic arts which are spoken of in your own bible i was an apt pupil before i was sixteen i had learned all which the wisest priest could teach me from that time on i studied nature s secrets for myself and shared my knowledge with no man of all the questions which attracted me there were none over which i so long as over those which concern themselves with the nature of life i deeply into the vital principle the aim of medicine had been to drive away disease when it appeared it seemed to me that a method might be devised which should so the body as to prevent weakness or death from ever taking hold of it it is useless that i should my you would scarce comprehend them if i did they were carried out partly upon animals partly upon slaves and partly on myself suffice it that their result was to furnish me with a substance which when into the blood would the body with strength to resist the effects of time of violence or of disease it would not indeed confer immortality but its would endure for many thousands of years i used it upon a cat and afterwards the creature with the most deadly that cat is alive in lower egypt at the present moment there was nothing of mystery or magic in the matter it was simply a discovery which may well be made again love of life runs high in the young it seemed to me that i had broken away from all human care now the ring of that i had pain and driven death to such a distance with a light heart i poured the accursed stuff into my veins then i looked for some one whom i could benefit there was a young priest of by name who had won my by his earnest nature and his devotion to his studies to him i whispered my secret and at his request i him with my i should now i reflected never be without a companion of the same age as myself after this grand discovery i relaxed my studies to some extent but continued his with energy every day i could see him working with his and his in the temple of but he said little to me as to the result of his labours for my own part i used to walk through the city and look around me with exultation as i reflected that all this was destined to pass away and that only i should remain the people would bow to me as they passed me for the fame of my knowledge had gone abroad there was war at this time and the great king had sent down his soldiers to the eastern boundary to drive away the a governor too was sent to that he might hold it for the king i had heard much of the beauty of the daughter of this governor but one day as i walked out with we met her borne upon the shoulders of her slaves i was struck with love as with lightning my heart went out from me i could have thrown myself beneath the feet of her this was my woman life without her was impossible i swore by the head u c the ring op â of that she should be mine i swore it to the priest of he turned away from me with a brow which was as black as midnight there is no need to tell you of our she came to love me even as i loved her i learned that had seen her before i did and had shown her that he too loved her but i could smile at his passion for i knew that her heart was mine the white plague had come upon the city and many were stricken but i laid my hands upon the sick and nursed them without fear or she at my daring then i told her my secret and begged her that she would let me use my art upon her your flower shall then be i said other things may pass away but you and i and our great love for each other shall the tomb of king but she was full of timid objections was it right she asked was it not a of the will of the gods if the great had wished that our years should be so long would he not himself have brought it about with fond and loving words i overcame her doubts and yet she hesitated it was a great question she said she would think it over for this one night in the morning i should know her resolution surely one night was not too much to ask she wished to pray to â for help in her decision with a sinking heart and a sad of evil left her with her in the morning when the ring of j the early sacrifice was over i hurried to her house a slave met me upon the steps her mistress was ill she said very ill in a frenzy i broke my way through the attendants and rushed through hall and corridor to my s chamber she lay upon her couch her head high upon the pillow with a pallid face and a glazed eye on her forehead there blazed a single angry purple patch i knew that hell mark of old it was the of the white plague the of death why should i speak of that terrible time for months i was mad and yet i die never did an thirst after the sweet wells as i longed after death could poison or steel have the thread of my existence i should soon have rejoined my love in the land with the narrow i tried but it was of no avail the accursed influence was too strong upon me one night

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as i lay my couch weak and weary the priest of came to my chamber he stood in the circle of the and he looked down upon me with eyes which were bright with a mad joy a why did you let the maiden die he asked why did you not strengthen her as you strengthened me r was too late i answered but i had forgot you also loved her you are my fellow in misfortune is it not terrible to think of the centuries which must pass ere we look upon her again fools fools that we were to take death to be our enemy o the ring of you may say that he cried with a wild laugh the words come well from your lips for me they have no meaning what mean you i cried raising myself upon my elbow surely friend this grief has turned your brain his face was with joy and he and shook like one who hath a devil do you know whither i go he asked nay i answered i cannot tell i go to her said he she lies in the further tomb by the double palm tree beyond the city wall â why do you go there i asked to die i he shrieked to die i am not bound by but the is in your blood i cried i can defy it said he i have found a stronger principle which will destroy it it is working in my veins at this moment and in an hour i shall be a dead man i shall join her and you shall remain behind as i looked upon him i could see that he of truth the light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the you will teach me i cried never he answered i you by the wisdom of by the majesty of it is useless he said coldly then i will find it out i cried you cannot he answered it came to me by the ring of chance there is one which you can never get save that which is in the ring of none will ever more be made in the ring of repeated where then is the ring of that also you shall never know he answered you won her love who has won in the end i leave you to your sordid earth life my chains are broken i must go i he turned upon his heel and fled from the chamber in the morning came the news that the priest of was dead my days after that were spent in study i must find this subtle poison which was strong enough to undo the from early dawn to midnight i bent over the test and the furnace above all i collected the and the of the priest of alas i they taught me little here and there some hint or stray expression would raise hope in my bosom but no good ever came of it still month after month i struggled on when my heart grew faint i would make my way to the tomb by the palm trees there standing by the dead from which the jewel had been i would feel her sweet presence and would whisper to her that i would her if mortal wit could solve the riddle had said that his discovery was connected with the ring of had some remembrance of the it was a large and made not of gold but of a and heavier metal brought from the mines of mount you call the ring of it the ring had i remembered a hollow crystal set in it in which some few drops of liquid might be stored now the secret of could not have to do with the metal alone for there were m ny rings of that metal in the temple was it not more likely that he had stored his precious poison within the of the crystal i had scarce come to this before in hunting through his papers i came upon one which told me that it was indeed so and that there was still some of the liquid unused but how to find the ring it was not upon him when he was stripped for the of that i made sure neither was it among his private effects in vain i searched every room that he had entered every box and and that he had owned i the very sand of the desert in the places where he had been wont to walk but do what i would i could come upon no traces of the ring of yet it may be that my labours would have overcome all obstacles had it not been for a new and for misfortune a great war had been against the and the captains of the great king had been cut off in the desert with all their and the shepherd tribes were upon us like the in a dry year from the wilderness of to the great bitter lake th re was blood by day and fire by night was the of egypt but we could not keep the savages back the city fell the governor and the the ring op r soldiers were put to the sword and i with many more was led away into for years land years i tended cattle in the great plains by the my master died and his son grew old but i was still as far from death as ever at last i escaped upon a swift and made my way back to egypt the had settled in the land which they had conquered and their own king ruled over the country had been torn down the city had been burned and of the great temple there was nothing left save an mound everywhere the had been and the monuments destroyed of my s grave no sign was

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left it was buried in the sands of the desert and the palm trees which marked the spot had long disappeared the papers of and the remains of the temple of were either destroyed or scattered far and wide over the deserts of all search after them was vain from that time i gave up all hope of ever finding the ring or discovering the subtle i set myself to live as patiently as might be until the effect of the should wear away how can you understand how terrible a thing time is you who have experience only of the narrow course which lies between the cradle and the grave i know it to my cost i who have floated down the whole stream of history i was old when fell i was very old when came to i was bowed down with years when the new gospel came upon earth yet you see the ring op me much as other men are with the cursed still my blood and guarding me against that which i would court now at last at last i have come to the end of it i have travelled in all lands and i have dwelt with all nations every tongue is the same to me i learned them all to help pass the weary time i need not tell you how slowly they drifted by the long dawn of modern the dreary middle years the dark times of they are all behind me now i have never looked with the eyes of love upon another woman knows that have been constant to her it was my custom to read all that the scholars had to say upon ancient egypt â have been in many positions sometimes sometimes poor but i have always found enough to enable me to buy the journals which deal with such matters some nine months ago i was in san when i read an account of some discoveries made in the neighbourhood of my heart into my mouth as i read it it said that the had busied himself in exploring some recently in one there had been found an wi h an inscription upon the outer case setting forth that it contained the body of the daughter of the governor of the city in the days of it added that on removing the outer case there had been exposed a large ring set with a crystal which had been laid upon the breast of the woman this then the ring of was where had hid the ring of i he might well say that it was safe for no egyptian would ever stain his soul by moving even the outer case of a buried friend â that very night i set off from san and in a few weeks i found myself once more at if a few sand heaps and crumbling walls may retain the name of the great city i hurried to the who were digging there and asked them for the ring they replied that both the ring and the had been sent to the museum at to i went but only to be told that had claimed them and had them to the i followed them and there at last in the egyptian chamber i came after close upon four thousand years upon the remains of my and upon the ring for which i had sought so long but how was i to lay hands upon them how was i to have them for my very own it chanced that the office of attendant was vacant i went to the i convinced him that i knew much about egypt in my eagerness i said too much he remarked that a professor s chair would suit me better than a seat in the i knew more he said than he did it was only by and letting him think that he had over estimated my knowledge that i prevailed upon him to let me move the few effects which i have retained into this chamber it is my first and my last night here such is my story mr smith i need the ring of not say more to a man of your perception by strange chance you have this night looked upon the face of the woman whom i loved in those far off days there were many rings with in the case and i had to test for the to be sure of the one which i wanted a glance at the crystal has shown me that the liquid is indeed within it and that i shall at last be able to shake off that accursed health which has been worse to me than the disease i have nothing more to say to you i have mj self you may tell my story or you may withhold it at your pleasure the choice rests with you i owe you some amends for you have had a narrow escape of your life this night i was a desperate man and not to be in my purpose had i seen you before the thing was done i might have put it beyond your power to oppose me or to raise an alarm this is the door it leads into the de good night the englishman glanced back for a moment the lean figure of the egyptian stood framed in the narrow doorway the next the door had and the heavy of a bolt broke on the silent night it was on the second day after his return to london that mr john smith saw the following narrative in the paris correspondence of the times â curious occurrence in the â yesterday a strange discovery was made in the the ring of egyptian chamber the who are employed to clean out the rooms in the morning found one of the attendants lying dead upon the floor with his arms round one of the so close was

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his embrace that it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were separated one of the cases containing valuable rings had been opened and the authorities are of opinion that the man was bearing away the with some idea of selling it to a private but that he was struck down in the very act by long standing disease of the heart it is said that he was a man of uncertain age and eccentric habits without any living relations to mourn over his dramatic and end the end printed by han ion and co and london general lists of works published bt co london history politics historical c abbey and s in the century or s d b lectures on modem history â mj s ireland under the land vol the press ball s systems in ireland yo s â the of ireland yo â i s history of the of england pre period vo s s sir g f thirty tears of government a selection of official papers â s history of crown va â s lord speeches vo â s sir g w general history of greece crown maps â m during the vo is s in central asia in with maps illustrated vo s de s life by lane vo z s de s in america crown vo s en in america virginia and the s â â the colonies vo â s historical geography of europe â d s english in ireland in the century crown sâ â history of england popular crown â i each â short studies on great subjects crown mi s history of england from the accession of james i to the of the civil war crown s â history of the great civil war vol vol r â england in south africa s ck s earl of life by the hon s s journal of the of king george iv king william iv and queen victoria cabinet edition crown s each historic towns by e a d c x and the william hunt m a with maps and plans crown â d each london by w e by b a ports by by the w hunt s france and her a of oxford by the w e c by the m by g w co london and new york of in thb fc s ro tm fc r u â of â i s â â â in i life and times of in s to i works library â â â â â cabinet to â â â history of â cabinet post to i library â popular or â student s s or â people s ar to l â s and historical with lays of in one â or to it i popular or or sâ d gilt edges b critical and historical cabinet i â vo â s or yo tt cr people s or â s writings â td to t m â writings and speeches â edition cr student s edition cr vo writings speeches lays of te cabinet edition yo â â writings from crown bt â corrected by himself crown to â d s outlines of history s of of an minister crown to â od may s history of england crown f papers the by c to â s fall of the mo â d â general history of b s a a crown vo ti d â history of the under the empire post vo s s of europe from the rise to the fall of the second french crown to s lord and by j k i the fall of to â porter s history of the corps of royal to â s the history of â s lord john life by â i s oxford d more vo l â short s history of the church of crown vo s d smith s and the crown vo history of the university of i s manual of the history of india crown vo tâ m s history of under the or vo l â history of england from d s vol â ds j s history of b g under henry iv vol lot d ft co london and new general lists of works of ancient history by the rev sir a w and by g m a volumes yo with maps price â d each the and by a h ma with s maps the early empire by the rev w m a with maps the roman empire of the second century by the rev w ma with maps the empire from the flight of to the fall of by the rev sir g w m a with maps the rise of the empire by arthur m m a with maps the and the by the rev sir g w with maps rome to its capture by the by with a map the roman by the very rev charles d d with map the and by charles m a with maps rome and the wars by r smith with of modern history by c m a volumes with maps price s each the beginning of the middle ages by the very rev r w church with maps the in europe by rev a h johnson ma with maps the by the rev sir g w m a with a map the early by the right rev w d d with maps edward the third by the rev w m a with maps the houses of and york by james with the early by the rev c e m a the era of the revolution by f with maps the age of elizabeth by the rev m m a ll d with the first two by samuel â with maps the thirty years war by samuel with a map the english restoration and louis xiv by airy the fall of the by the rev edward hale ma with

3Edith Wharton

maps the age of anne by e e m a with maps and plans the early by e e m a with and plans the great and the seven years war by f w with maps the war of american independence by j m with maps the french revolution by mrs s r with maps the epoch of reform by m p of church history by the rev va price s each the english church in other lands by the rev h w the history of the in england by the rev george g the church of the early fathers by alfred d d the revival in the century by the rev j h a history of the university of oxford by the hon g c d c x a history of the university of cambridge by j bass m a the english church in the middle ages by rev w hunt m a the by h m m a and movements for reform by r l the counter by a w ward the church and the roman empire by the rev a the church and the by henry the church and the eastern empire by the rev h f and his times by the rev w r w the and the by c â london and new york general lists of works works a b j life and by a f u d i fund by to â if a â prince and people the life and works of the prince and princess of wales yo â i and â the s champion by a southern crown vo d by grown each is u d cloth the by h d admiral by by â o by ben by j a george by frank h hill by the history of by sir q or to j a sketch grown yo ed a sir w b life by to bâ a life by grown vo â a literary c with by b l to t s studies in naval history vo los d a lord life and by his nephew sir g popular edition vol cr vo ss student s edition vol cr vo bt cabinet edition post vo â edition s vo â s bishop of by c j vo s letters translated by lady or vo at each m a essays grown vo â d s pro grown va hia life and labours crown d shakespeare of the life of by j o illustrated royal vo shakespeare s true life by james walter with illustrations vo â a with vo â s in biography grown vo â a c b life by his son vo a life bv grown vo bs mental and political philosophy â adam an on the of vo â view of the of vo â â of the english constitution grown vo â s with by vo â works by vo â by vo â s logic and grown vo lot l it i n bt â mental and moral science grown d â the senses and the vo â the emotions and the wiu vo â s grown vo t co london and new york general of b to ut to j d â causes of the great fall in prices â i a history of and taxes in s green s thomas hill works at works vol with u s by green a to â â of nature by green st ii s an into drown â s elements of yo i s and studies of usage and belief drown to â â and religion crown yo j in political vo â id s history of philosophy yo s origin of â s the elements of crown yo it d each â the of drown yo â the theory and practice of vol â vol i â the theory of credit vol is d vol n the press s the of s mill s james analysis of the phenomena of the human mind vo ji mill john on government crown â â on liberty crown â examination of s philosophy â â crown â â of political vo edition vol s â s â â three essays on religion ho s s history of prices since s crown is of with english notes b english village community s of s id â teacher s of is id s logic post s a system of â â the problem of evil lo â the religious sentiments of human mind s id â progress an essay s id s the of â id s elements of logic s id â â â crown i id s history of in greek philosophy lot id â and the older academy â pre schools crown s and the o â and crown f outlines of the history of greek philosophy loi co london and new york general lifts of works classical languages and literature the of text with translation by j p yo it the translated by b y grown to â m a the text and notes by sir grant s to u â the translated by crown vo â m â the books i ly with translation ao by and crown vo â d s and by poet d each s text and notes by b y yo each s with notes by j vo â d s works latin text with ck by grown loi â translated into english verse by grown vo â â â â â â j vo a â poems â â â prose by grown â tt s of translated by f m grown to â d â the war â â vo sâ â the wanderings of â grown â l and books of reference s modem for private families yo s i of bible knowledge vo s s tables for tl e of per cent interest c vo â d s of commercial geography maps vo s s

3Edith Wharton

of vo s d s dictionary of geography or general vo s new maps by g g to or imperial vo i s m o h b dictionary of commerce and commercial s treasury vo s â historical vo â â and literary treasury vo â â treasury of bible knowledge by vo â â treasury of by at two s of geography vo s â treasury of knowledge and library of vo s â treasury of natural history vo s s dictionary of medicine medium vo â or in and housekeeping grown vo bs i of and greek grown vo â lâ of english words and grown vo b tables by grown vo s d co london and new york general science s theory of the tides grown yo â s grant and a theory of to s d of or natural drown yo â m s of the steam engine crown yo â d â of the steam engine s â in the steam engine â clerk s the engine with crown yo â s the story of creation illustrated crown yo â s select methods in analysis m s of practical yo â earl s elements of work crown vo s information for crown to â d â hills and yo s â lectures on crown to â s of crown yo b on by large crown â natural by crown yo â d s text book of crown yo bs s the creation and physical structure of the vo is s six lectures on physical geography yo â on the sensations of ton yo s s lectures on subjects s crown yo i of square crown yo i â s general crown vo n the press and s the or wheel with plates parts to d each s complete s to with â as s lectures on the history of modem music yo s â transition period of musical history yo s l s and practical yo â d for the stars yo â s short text book of crown yo is s treat ee on yo d s and of yo â d s lectures on harmony yo â a and lectures crown vo â d martin s and yo i s modem theories of yo miller s elements of and practical yo part i â part s i part iii price z s f s manual of practical yo â â dissolution and and the of medicine yo â noble s hours with a three inch crown yo u and turning yo s for crown yo s td s and of the animals d co london and new york general lists of works s tha a of crown yo u b analysis yo m s weather and storm drown vo â s on the marine steam vo â s for electric light crown smith s or the art of calculation by drawing lines i with s of plates to s s the theory of the on ao to mm s dictionary of applied y vol s i to u i as a crown yo â d â floating matter of the air crown vo â d â fragments of post yo â heat a mode of motion crown â on light delivered in america grown vo â â â lessons on crown vo â ki â notes on phenomena crown vo is is m doth â notes of on light crown vo is is m doth â on and action cr vo â sound with and crown vo loi b the of material of construction illustrated vo of new and s vo i each s celestial for common crown vo s natural history and s of vo s bird life crown vo s s world vo loi l â world vo â â sea and its living wonders vo â d â world vo loi â world vo â s treasury of vo london s of vo s â â plants vo â s orchard house crown vo s â miniature fruit garden va m s familiar history of british birds crown vo bs wood s bible animals with vo l â homes without hands vo insects abroad vo loi â insects at home with vo â â out of doors crown vo sâ â crown vo â l strange crown vo i co london and new york general lists of works and religious works s dr thomas sermons to s s on the articles â s bishop of the articles yo s s and to the and greek new testament to s on the and book of grown to s s of the bible post yo i d is s life and letters of st paul â library edition with maps plates and square vo student s edition and with and maps yo s s introduction to the study of the new testament vo i s life and times of the library edition vo â cabinet edition crown vo s â prophecy and history in relation to the vo lis bishop on st paul s vo s ss d ss d pastoral s d and loi d s d â â lectures on the life of our lord yo lis s of translated by vo s â of translated by carpenter smith vo â vol â vol s vol vol medical language of st vo s s christ the vo s d s the record of a human soul yo s d s sacred and l art square vo legends of the vol s â â â order vol i â â saints and â d â â â completed by lady vol sâ s new man and the eternal life vo s â second death and the of all things vo â â types of crown vo s d â the mystery of the kingdom vo â d â the names of god in holy scripture crown yo u d i hymns

3Edith Wharton

translated by miss u sermons first and second series i i each third series s d â the miracles of our lord crown vo s d s mission of the holy ghost grown â d s after the christian life crown s d â hymns of praise and prayer grown vo is d mo is d â sermons hours of thought on sacred things â l i origin and growth of s d â â of â â lectures on natural loi d s the word crown s d co london and new york general of works ii pro o â the of the grown to ss â the of a university defined and grown it â crown to â each â and on various grown vo â an on the development of doctrine grown f felt by in teaching â v l crown d vol i crown yo t m tlie of the in ac crown â each â and historical s crown on and on grown vo st â present of in england grown vo â f â an in aid of a of assent â â select of st in with the translated s crown us s the all father sermons with preface by or t â d s the work and days of moses d to dr s essays by the author of supernatural yo â greek the language of christ and his supernatural religion complete edition to on preaching crown yo i s the story of our lord told in simple language for grown to it cloth â the story of grown s m doth travels adventures c s tears in crown yo bâ â and hound in grown s b sunshine and storm in the east library edition f edition crown vo s popular edition to m â voyage in the library edition â cabinet edition cr s school to sâ popular to l â in the trades the and the roaring cabinet edition crown yo s m popular edition to d â last journals illustrated yo s and sport l end c in cape colony yo lot s notes of my journey bound the world to s d s the in seas illustrated crown s d s travel and guide books crown s d s of foreign travel grown st b days illustrated to s or england and her colonies cr va s boards t d doth â the english in the west indies grown boards â d cloth s visits to places grown t james s the long white mountain or a journey in and s b c a in british s picturesque new guinea to s guide book to s our sentimental journey through france and italy s or the mountain of the â smith s the white umbrella in s m three in by two of them grown t boards u d doth s east africa and its big game s vo â cr or vo â ft go london and new york general lists of works â works by richard a old and new parts i d each section is complete in vol to s in course the around us with and crown yo â other worlds than with grown yo the moon with plates and photographs crown yo i of stars with and â d light tor hours crown vo â each chance and crown vo â boards s m cloth larger star for the library in circular maps â new star in circular maps with index plates grown yo â the student s circular maps of with plates and illustrations vo bs studies of with and plates yo s physical geography with maps and yo â d lessons in with to it first steps in g yo i i easy lessons in the yo s how to play with the laws and etiquette of crown yo l home an easy guide to correct play mo is the poetry of crown yo the stars in their seasons imperial yo s strength with crown s strength and happiness with illustrations crown vo â the seasons pictured in forty eight sun views of the earth and twenty four maps and other drawings to i the star showing the sky week by week crown to s d nature studies by grant a b and b a cr s leisure by b a and b a c cr yo s bough ways made smooth crown yo s our place among crown yo s the expanse of on the wonders of the crown yo s pleasant ways in crown yo s and of crown yo s the great tomb and temple crown yo horses dogs and cattle s horses and stables yo s the of i london s of u s and progress of english farming crown yo t steel i of the ox a manual of yo â â â â dog vo d s dog in health and disease square yo i d s note book yo is d on by yo work on the dog yo â â m â horse s m co london and new york l general of works of fiction by h she a history of illustrated grown yo id crown vo â d s revenge â ms si d d colonel crown yo by the of grey ab y the young duke temple u each u id each cloth the edition with portraits and crown vo by g j the i the grand house general good for nothing queen s price â each j each cloth by m earl s daughter the experience of life a glimpse of the world margaret u each gilt edges by mrs marrying and giving in marriage p rice d by price by mat such is life â by mrs in trust madam price u each â each cloth lady car d by g h p judge s s friends s by a by g g a or by the

3Edith Wharton

xv still among â xvi a midnight visitor â in port at last i the great shadow chapter i the night of the it is strange to me of west inch to feel that though now in the very centre of the nineteenth century i am but five and fifty years of age and though it is only once in a week perhaps that my wife can pluck out a little grey from over my ear yet i have lived in a time when the thoughts and the ways of men were as different as though it were another planet from this for when i walk in my fields i can see down way the little of white smoke which tell me of this strange new hundred legged beast with coals for food and a thousand men in its belly for ever crawling over the border on a shiny day i can see the of the brass as it takes the curve near and then as i look out to sea there is the same beast again or a dozen of them maybe leaving a trail of black in the air and of white in the water and swimming in the face of the wind as easily as a salmon up the such a sight as that would have struck my good old father speechless with wrath the great shadow as well as surprise for he was so stricken with the fear of offending the creator that he was of nature and always held the new thing to be nearly akin to the as long as god made the horse and a man down way the engine my good old would have stuck by the saddle and the spurs but he would have been still more surprised had he seen the peace and which now in the hearts of men and the talk in the papers and at the meetings that there is to be no more war â save of course with and such like for when he died we had been fighting with scarce a break save only during two short years for very nearly a quarter of a century think of it you who live so quietly and peacefully now babies who were bom in the war grew to be bearded men with babies of their own and still the war continued those who had served and fought in their prime grew stiff and bent and yet the ships and the armies were struggling it was no wonder that folk came at last to look upon it as the natural state and thought how queer it must seem to be at peace during that long time we fought the dutch we fought the we fought the spanish we fought the we fought the americans we fought the until it seemed that in this universal struggle no race was too near of kin or too far away to be drawn into the quarrel but most of all it was the french whom we fought and the man whom of all others we and feared and admired was the great captain who ruled them it was very well to draw pictures of him and sing the night of the songs about him and make as though he were an but i can tell you that the fear of that man hung like a black shadow over all europe and that there was a time when the of a fire at night upon the coast would set every woman upon her knees and every man for his he had always won that was the terror of it the seemed to be behind him and now we knew that he lay upon the northern coast with a hundred and fifty thousand and the boats for their passage but it is an old story how a third of the grown folk of our country took up arms and how our little one eyed one armed man crushed their fleet there was still to be a land of free thinking aiid free speaking in europe there was a great ready on the hill by built up of logs and tar barrels and i can well remember how night after night i strained my eyes to see if it were i was only eight at the time but it is an age when one takes a grief to heart and i felt as though the fate of the country hung in some fashion upon me and my vigilance and then one night as i looked i suddenly saw a little on the hill â a single red tongue of flame in the darkness i remember how i rubbed my eyes and pinched myself and my against the stone window sill to make sure that i was indeed awake and then the flame shot higher and i saw the red quivering line upon the water between and i dashed into the kitchen to my father that the french had crossed and the light was he had been talking to mr the law student from and i can see o sâ v lo the great shadow knocked his pipe out at the side of the fire and looked at me from over the top of his horn spectacles are you sure says he sure as death i gasped he reached out his hand for the bible upon the table and opened it upon his knee as though he meant to read to us but he shut it again in silence and hurried out we went too the law student and i and followed him down to the gate which opens out upon the highway from there we could see the red light of the big and the glimmer of a smaller one to the north of us at my mother came down with two to keep the chill from us and we all stood there until morning speaking little to each other and that little in

3Edith Wharton

a whisper the road had more folk on it than ever passed along it at night before for many of the up our way had themselves in the and were riding now as fast as could carry them for the muster some had a cup or two before parting and i cannot forget one who tore past on a huge white horse a great rusty sword in the moonlight they shouted to us as they passed that the north law fire was blazing and that it was thought that the alarm had come from castle there were a few who galloped the other way for and the s son and master the and such like and among others there was one a fine built heavy man on a horse who pulled up at our gate and asked some question about the road he took off his hat to ease himself and i saw that he had a the night of the i b kindly long drawn face and a great high brow that shot away up into of sandy hair i doubt it s a false alarm said he maybe i d ha done well to bide where i was but now i ve come so far i ll break my fast with the regiment he clapped spurs to his horse and away he went down the t i ken him said our student nodding after ft him he s a lawyer in and a hand t at the of verses scott is his name ti none of us had heard of it then but it was not long â i before it was the best known name in scotland and w many a time we thought of how he his way of us on the night of the terror i but early in the morning we had our minds set at it was grey and cold and my mother had gone h up to the house to mask a pot of tea for us when there came a down the road with dr of li in it and his son jim the collar of the doctor s brown coat came over his ears and he looked in a deadly black humour for jim who was but fifteen years of age had off to at the first alarm with ti his father s new piece all night his had chased him and now there he was a prisoner with the ii barrel of the stolen gun sticking out from behind the i seat he looked as sulky as his father with his hands thrust into his his brows drawn down and i his lower lip thrusting out h it s all a shouted the doctor as he passed there has been no landing and all the fools in â land have been about the roads for nothing his son jim something up at him on this ihe great shadow and his father struck him a blow with his clenched fist on the side of his head which sent the boy s chin forward upon his breast as though he had been stunned my father shook his head for he had a liking for jim but we all walked up to the house again nodding and and hardly able to keep our eyes open now that we knew that all was safe but with a thrill of joy at our hearts such as i have only matched once or twice in my lifetime now all this has little enough to do with what i took my pen up to tell about but when a man has a good memory and little skill he cannot draw one thought from his mind without a dozen others trailing out behind it and yet now that i come to think of it this had something to do with it after all for jim had so deadly a quarrel with his father that he was packed oflf to the academy and as my father had long wished me to go there he took advantage of this chance to send me also but before i say a word about this school i shall go back to where i should have begun and give you a hint as to who i am for it may be that these words of mine may be read by some folk beyond the border country who never heard of the of west inch it has a brave sound west inch but is not a fine estate with a house upon it but only a great wind swept sheep run off into links along the sea shore where a man might with hard work just pay his rent and have butter instead of on sundays in the centre there is a grey house with a behind it and in over the of the door there for more the night of the than a hundred years our folk have lived until for all their poverty they came to take a good place among the people for in the country parts the old is often better thought of than the new there was one queer thing about the house of west inch it has been reckoned by and other knowing folk that the boundary line between the two countries ran right through the middle of it our second best bedroom into an english half and a scotch half now the cot in which i always slept was so placed that my head was to the north of the line and my feet to the south of it my friends say that if i had chanced to lie the other way my hair might not have been so sandy nor my mind of so solemn a cast this i know that more than once in my life when my scotch head could see no way out of a danger my good thick english legs have come to my help and carried me clear away but at

3Edith Wharton

school i never heard the end of this for they would call me half and half and the great britain and sometimes union jack when there was a battle between the scotch and english boys one side would kick my and the other my ears and then they would both stop and laugh as though it were something funny at first i was very miserable at the academy was the first master and the second and i had no love for either of them i was shy and backward by nature and slow at making a friend either among masters or boys it was nine miles as the crow flies and eleven and a half by road from to west inch and my heart grew heavy at the weary distance that separated me from my mother for m x v the great shadow you a lad of that age that he has no need of his mother s caresses but ah how sad he is when he is taken at his word at last i could stand it no and i determined to run away from the school and make my way home as fast as i might at the very last moment however i had the good fortune to win the praise and admiration of every one from the downwards and to find my school life made very pleasant and easy to me and all this came of my falling by accident out of a second floor window this was how it happened one evening i had been kicked by ned who was the bully of the school and this injury coming on the top of all my other caused my little cup to i vowed that night as i buried my tear stained face beneath the blankets that the next morning would either find me at west inch or well on the way to it our was on the second floor but i was a famous and had a fine head for heights i used to think little young as i was of swinging myself with a rope round my off the west inch and that stood three and fifty feet above the ground there was not much fear then but that i could make my way out of s i waited a weary while until the and tossing had died away and there was no sound of from the long line of wooden then i very softly rose slipped on my clothes took my shoes in my hand and walked to the window i opened the and looked out underneath me lay the garden and close by my hand was the stout branch of a tree an active lad could ask no better ladder once the night of the i the garden i had but a five foot wall to get over ad then there was nothing but distance between me ad home i took a firm grip of a branch with one hand my knee upon another one and was about to swing out of the window when in a moment i was as lent and as still as though i had been turned to stone there was a face looking at me from over the of the wall a chill of fear struck to my heart at s whiteness and its stillness the moon it and the moved slowly from side to de though i was hid from them behind the screen of le tree then in a fashion this white face until the neck shoulders waist and knees of man became visible he sat himself down on the p of the wall and with a great heave he pulled up him a boy about my own size who caught his from time to time as though to choke down a b the man gave him a shake with a few rough words and then the two dropped together own into the garden i was still standing balanced ith one foot upon the bough and one upon the not daring to for fear of their for i could hear them moving stealthily about i the long shadow of the house suddenly from beneath my feet i heard a low grating noise ad the sharp of falling glass that s done it said the man s eager whisper there is room for you but the edge is all jagged cried the other in a the fellow burst out into an oath that made my the great shadow in with you you he or i could not see what he did but there was a she quick gasp of pain go ril go cried the little lad but i heard no more for my head suddenly my heel shot oflf the branch i gave a dreadful yell a came down with my ninety five pounds of weight ri upon the bent back of the if you ask me can only say that to this day i am not quite whether it was an accident or whether i designed it may be that while i was thinking of doing it settled the matter for me the fellow was with his head forward thrusting the boy through a ti window when i came down upon him just where t neck the he gave a kind of whistling c dropped upon his face and rolled three times on the grass with his heels his little flashed off in the moonlight and was over t wall in a as for me i sat yelling at the pitch my lungs and nursing one of my legs which felt as a red hot ring were round it it was not long as may be imagined before whole household from the to the boy were out in the garden with lamps and the matter was soon cleared the man carried off up a and i borne in much state and solemnity a special bedroom where the small bone of my was set by surgeon

3Edith Wharton

the younger of the t brothers of that name as to the robber it was that his legs were and the doctors were of t minds as to whether he would recover the use of the or no but the law never gave them a chance of the night of the i the matter for he was hanged after some six weeks later it was proved that he was the desperate rogue in the north of england for he liad done three at the least and there were c enough against him upon the sheet to have him ten times over well now i could not pass over my boyhood without telling you about this which was the most important thing that happened to me but i will go oflf upon no more side tracks for when i think of all that is coming h can see very well that i shall have more than enough x o do before i have for when a man has only his own little private tale to tell it often takes him his time but when he gets mixed up in such great matters as i shall have to speak about then it is hard n him if he has not been brought up to it to get it all set down to his liking but my memory is as good as ever thank god and i shall try to get it all straight t i finish it was this business of the that first made a friendship between jim the doctor s son nd me he was cock boy of the school from the day lie came for within the hour he had thrown who had been cock before him right through the big l lack board in the class room always ran to muscle and bone and even then he was square and tall short of speech and long in the arm much given to lounging vith his broad back against walls and his hands deep in his breeches pockets i can even recall that he had a trick of keeping a straw in the comer of his mouth where he used afterwards to hold his pipe jim was â always the same for good and for bad since first i knew him great shadow etc the great shadow heavens how we all looked up to him we but young savages and had a savage s respect for p there was tom of who could as well as mere and nobody would give a snap for tom and there who had every date from the k of on the tip of his tongue so that the ma themselves would turn to him if they were in doubt he was but a narrow lad over long for breadth and what did his dates help him when of the lower third him down the pas with the end of a but you didn things like that with jim what tales we to whisper about his strength how he put his through the oak of the game room door when long was carrying the ball he ca up ball and all and ran swiftly past e opponent to the goal it did not seem fit to us such a one as he should trouble his head about and or care to know who signed the m when he said in open class that king a was the man we little boys all felt that very like was so and that perhaps jim knew more about it the man who wrote the book well it was this business of the that his attention to me for he patted me on my head said that i was a little devil which blew me with pride for a week on end for two years we y dose friends for all the gap that the years had n between us and though in passion or in want of he did many a thing that me yet i loved hke a brother and wept as much as would have fi cousin of n ink bottle when at last he went off to to his father s profession five years after that did bide at s and when i left i had become myself for i was as and as tough as though i never ran to weight and like my it was in year that i left s and then for three years i stayed at home the ways of the cattle but still the ships and le armies were and still the great shadow of â lay across the country how could i guess i too should have a hand in lifting that shadow dr ever from our people chapter ii cousin of some years before when i was still but a lad there ad come over to us upon a five weeks visit the only of my father s brother had at as a maker of fishing and he ad made more out of than ever we were like to o out of the bushes and sand links of west inch o his daughter came over with a d frock and a five shilling bonnet and a full of that brought my dear mother s eyes out like a s it was wonderful to see her so free with and she but a slip of a girl paying the all that he asked and a whole over to he had no claim she made no more of beer than we did of water and she would ave her sugar in her tea and butter with her bread ist as if she had been english a the great shadow i took no great stock of girls at that time for it hard for me to see what they had been made there were none of us at s that thought much of them but the smallest seemed to the most sense for after they began to grow bigger

3Edith Wharton

i were not so sure about it we little ones were al one mind that a creature that couldn t fight and aye carrying tales and couldn t so much as shy a si without flapping its arm like a rag in the wind was use for anything and then the airs that they w put on as if they were mother and father rolled one for ever breaking into a game with toe s come through your boot or go home you c boy and clean yourself until the very sight of tl was weariness so when this one came to the at v inch i was not best pleased to see her i was at the time it was in the holidays and she thin girl with black eyes and the w she was for ever staring out in front of her with lips parted as if she saw something wonderful when i came behind her and looked the same wa could see nothing but the or the mid or father s breeches hanging on a clothes line then if she saw a lump of or or common stuff of that sort she would over it if it had struck her sick and cry how sweet perfect just as though it had been a painted she didn t like games but i used to make her j and such like but it was no fun for i always catch her in three and she could nâ catch me though she would come with as much ru cousin of nd flutter as ten boys would make when i used to ill her that she was good for nothing and that her was a fool to bring her up like that she would to cry and say that i was a rude boy and that le would go home that very night and never forgive le as long as she lived but in five minutes she had all about it what was strange was that she me a deal better than i did her and she would ever leave me alone but she was always watching me ad running after me and then saying oh here you re as if it were a surprise but soon i found that there was good in her too he used sometimes to give me so that once i ad four in my pocket all at the same time but the est part of her was the stories that she could tell he was sore frightened of so i would bring one her and tell her that i would put it down her neck she told a story that always helped her to but when once she was started it was wonderful ow she would carry on and the things that had to her they were enough to take your breath way there was a that had been at and he was coming back in five years in a hip full of gold to make her his wife and then there a wandering knight who had been there also and e had given her a ring which he said he would redeem hen the time came she showed me the ring which very like the ones upon my bed curtain but she aid that this one was virgin gold i asked her what tie knight would do if he met the and he told me that he would sweep his head from his what they could all see in her was more the great shadow than i could think and then she told me that she h been followed on her way to west inch by a disguise prince i asked her how she knew it was a prince am she said by his disguise another day she said that he father was preparing a riddle and that when it was ready it would be put in the papers and anyone who guessed it would have half his fortune and his daughter i said that i was good at and that she must send it to me when it was ready she said it would be in the and wanted to know what would do with her when i won her i said f would sell her by public for what she would fetch but she would tell no more stories that evening for she was very about some things jim was away when cousin was with us but he came back the very week she went and mind how surprised i was that he should ask any questions or take any interest in a mere he asked me if she were pretty and when i said i hadn t noticed he laughed and called me a and said my eyes would be opened some day but very soon he came to be interested in something else and i never gave another thought until one day she just took my life in her hands and twisted it as i could twist this that was in after i had left school when i was already eighteen years of age with a good hairs on my upper lip and every hope of more i had changed since i left school and was not so keen on games as i had been but found myself instead lying about on the sunny side of the with my own lips parted and my eyes staring just the same as cousin cousin of s used to do it had satisfied me and filled my whole life that i could run faster and jump higher than my neighbour but now all that seemed such a little thing and i and and looked up at the big sky and down at the flat blue sea and felt that there was something wanting but could never lay my tongue to what that something was and i became quick of temper too for my nerves seemed all of a fret and when my mother

3Edith Wharton

would ask me what me or my father would speak of my turning my hand to work i would break into such sharp bitter answers as i have often grieved over since ah a man may have more than one wife and more than one child and more than one friend but he can never have but the one mother so let him cherish her while he may one day when i came in from the sheep there was my father sitting with a letter in his hands which was a very rare thing with us except when the wrote for the rent then as i came nearer to him i saw that he was crying and i stood staring for i had always thought that it was not a thing that a man could do i can see him now for he had so deep a across his brown cheek that no tear could pass it but must away sideways and so down to his ear off on to the sheet of paper my mother sat beside him and his hands like she did the cat s back when she would soothe it aye said he poor s gone it s from the lawyer and it was sudden or they d ha sent word of it he says and a flush o blood to the head well his trouble s over said my mother the great shadow my father rubbed his ears with the he s left a his to his said he a by if she s not changed from what she to be she ll soon them flee you mind what s said of weak tea under this very roof and it at se shillings the pound my mother shook her head and looked up at of bacon that hung from the ceiling he doesn t say how much but she ll have and to spare he says and she s to come and b with us for that was his last wish to pay for her keep cried my mother sharp i was sorry that she should have spoken of money that moment but then if she had not been sharp would all have been on the roadside in a aye she ll pay and she s coming this very d lad i ll want you to drive to and meet evening coach your cousin will be in it and y can fetch her over to west inch and so off i started at quarter past five with sou the long haired fifteen year old and our c with the new painted tail board that we only used great days the coach was in just as i came and like a foolish country lad taking no heed to the ye that had passed was looking about among the folk the inn front for a slip of a girl with her j under her knees and as i past and my neck there came a touch to my elbow and th was a lady dressed all in black standing by the and i knew that it was my cousin i knew it i say and yet had she not touched i i might have passed her a score of times and ne cousin of it my word if jim had asked me if she were pretty or no i should have known how answer she was dark much darker than is among our border and yet with such a blush of pink breaking through her dainty colour like the deeper flush at the heart of a rose lips were red and kindly and firm and even then the first glance i saw that light of mischief and that danced away at the back of her great ark eyes she took me then and there as though i liad been her put out her hand and plucked she was as i have said in black dressed in what seemed to me to be a wondrous fashion with a black veil pushed up from her brow ah jack said she in a english fashion hat she had learned at the boarding school no no we are rather old for that â this because i in my ard fashion was pushing my foolish brown face for to kiss her as i had done when i saw her last just hurry up like a good fellow and give a shilling to the conductor who has been exceedingly civil to me during the journey i flushed up red to the ears for i had only a silver piece in my pocket never had my lack of pence weighed so heavily upon me as just at that moment but she read me at a glance and there in an instant was a little purse with a silver clasp thrust into my hand i paid the man and would have it back but she still would have me keep it you shall be my jack said she laughing is this our carriage how funny it looks and where am i to sit the great shadow on the said i and how am i to get there put your foot on the said i help i sprang up and took her two little ha in my own as she came over the side her blew in my face sweet and warm and all that ness and seemed in a moment to have b away from my soul i felt as if that had taken me out from myself and made me one the race it took but the time of the of horse s tail and yet something had happened a bar had gone down somewhere and i was leading a wi and a wiser life i felt it all in a but shy backward as i was i could do nothing but the for her her eyes were after the co which was rattling away to and suddenly shook her handkerchief in the air

3Edith Wharton

he took ofl his hat said she i think he n have been an officer he was very distinguished ic ing perhaps you noticed him â a gentleman on outside very handsome with a brown overcoat i shook my head with all my flush of joy to foolish resentment ah well i shall never see him again here all the green and the brown winding road the same as ever and you jack i don t see great change in you either i hope your manners better than they used to be you won t try to put down my back will you i crept all over when i thought of such a thing we ll do all we can to make you happy at w inch said i playing with the whip cousin of tin sure it s very kind of you to take a poor lonely girl in said she it s very kind of you to come cousin i stammered you ll find it very dull i fear i suppose it is a little quiet jack eh not many men about as i remember it there is major up at he comes down of an evening a real brave old soldier who had a ball in his knee under ah when i speak of men jack i don t mean old folk with balls in their knees i meant people of our own age that we could make friends of by the way that old doctor had a son had he not oh yes that s jim my best friend is he at home no he ll be home soon he s still at studying ah then we ll keep each other company until he jack and i m very tired and i wish i was at west inch i made old cover the ground as he has never done before or since and in an hour she was seated at the supper table where my mother had laid out not only butter but a glass dish of jam which sparkled and looked fine in the candle light i could see that my parents were as overcome as i was at the difference in her though not in the same way my mother was so set back by the feather thing that she had round her neck that she called her miss ui stead of until my cousin in her pretty way would lift her forefinger to her whenever she did it after supper when she had gone to bed the great shadow could talk of nothing but her and her breeding by the way though says my father it does not look as if she were heart broke about my brother s death and then for the first time i remembered that she had never said a word about the matter since i had met her chapter iii the shadow on the waters it was not very long before cousin was queen of west inch and we all her devoted subjects from my father down she had money and to spare though none of us knew how much when my mother said that four shillings the week would cover all that she would cost she fixed on seven shillings and sixpence of her own free will the south room which was the and had the round the window was for her and it was a marvel to see the things that she brought from to put into it twice a week she would drive over and the cart would not do for for she hired a from whose farm lay over the hill and it was seldom that she went without bringing something back for one or other of us it was a wooden pipe for my father or a for my mother or a book for me or a brass collar for rob the there was never a woman more free handed but the best thing that she gave us was just her own presence to me it changed the whole country the shadow on the waters g side and the sun was brighter and the and the air sweeter from the day came our lives were common no longer now that we spent them with such a one as she and the old dull grey house was another place in my eyes since she had set her foot across the door mat it was not her face though that was enough nor her form though i never saw the that could match her but it was her spirit her queer mocking ways her fresh new fashion of talk her proud of the dress and toss of the head which made one feel like the ground beneath her feet and then the quick challenge in her eye and the kindly word that brought one up to her level again but never quite to her level either to me she was always something above and beyond i might brace and blame myself and do what i would but still i could not feel that the same blood ran in our veins and that she was but a country as i was a country lad the more i loved her the more i was at her and she could see the fright long before she knew the love i was uneasy to be away from her and yet when i was with her i was in a shiver all the time for fear my stumbling talk might weary her or give her offence had i known more of the ways of women i might have taken less pains you re a deal changed from what you used to be jack said she looking at me sideways from under her dark lashes you said not when first we met says i ah i was speaking of your looks then and of your ways now you used to be so rough to me and so and would have your

3Edith Wharton

own way like j j y ihe great shadow were i can see you now with e thrown hair and your mischievous eyes you no gentle and quiet and soft spoken one to behave says i ah but jack liked you so much better a well when she said that i fairly stared at her thought that she could never have quite for tne f â r the way i used to carry on that of ft house could have liked it was clean be thought of how when she y the door would go up on the w el and fix little clay balls at the end them at her until i made her cry and i thought of how i caught an in the and her about with it until she ran under my mother s apron half mad with fright an father gave me one on the ear hole with the i which knocked me and my under the and these were the things that she mi well she must miss them for my hand would w before i could do them now but for the first ti began to understand the that lies in a wc and that a man must not reason about one watch and try to learn we found our level after a time when she saw she had just to do what she liked and how she and that i was as much at her and call a rob was at mine you ll think i was a fool to had my head so turned and maybe i was but you must think how little i was used to women how much we were thrown together besides she the shadow on the waters i woman in a million and i can tell you that it was a head that would not be turned by her why there was major a man that had three wives and had twelve pitched battles to is no me could have turned him round her finger ke a damp rag â only new from the boarding i met him from west inch the first me after she came with pink in his cheeks and a shine i his eye that took ten years from him he was up his grey at either end and curling into his eyes and out with his sound leg proud as a what she had said to him the knows but it was like old wine in his veins ive been up to see you said he but i home again now my visit has not been wasted as i had an opportunity of seeing a a most charming and engaging young lady he had a formal stiff way of talking and was fond f in a bit of the french for he had picked up in the he would have gone on liking of cousin but i saw the comer of a thrusting out of his pocket and i knew that he ad come over as was his way to give me some news r we heard little enough at west inch what is fresh major i asked he pulled the paper out with a flourish the have won a great battle my lad says e i don t think nap can stand up long against this he have thrown him over and he s been badly eat at â is past the and s folk will be at before â r r c z ted i â it j l vi ns â v v x â at l i i i i t in r in i â o ou o io hear it he â a t i i ned r l le ix before be p i board ind rs â at and key â a id t my said l me x â ah e l be to t td and on upon his way i down among the with m t ci my hand turning the thing over in my mind him in his old brown with the f flapping over his as he hi way np the of the hill it was a poor li a r w â t inch waiting to fill my father s shoes wi h and the same bom and the same a d the grey house for ever before me bi f rf the sea ah there was a life ii au was the major a man past his k d d and and yet to get to the shadow on the waters whilst i with all the strength of my youth was i it upon these a hot wave of shame over me and i sprang up all in a to be â and playing a man s part in the world for two days i turned it over in my mind and on he third there came something which first brought all ny resolutions to a head and then blew them all to like a puff of smoke in the wind i had strolled out in the afternoon with cousin and rob until we found ourselves upon the brow f the slope which away down to the beach it late in the fall and the links were all and but the sun still shone warmly and a south came in little hot rippling the broad blue sa with white curling lines i pulled an of to make a couch for and there she lay li her fashion happy and contented for of all that i have ever met she had the most joy from and light i leaned on a of grass ith rob s head upon my knee and there as we sat lone in peace in the wilderness even there we saw thrown upon the waters in front of us the of that great man over yonder who had name in red letters across the map of europe there was a ship coming up

3Edith Wharton

with the wind a black date old bound for as likely as ot her yards were square and she was running with u sail set on the other tack coming from the north t were two great ugly like craft with one high i each and a big square brown sail a prettier one would not wish than to see the three craft along upon so fair a day but of a m xv great shadow etc the great shadow there came a of flame and a whirl of blue si from one then the same from the second rap rap rap from the ship in a twinkling hell out heaven and there on the waters was hat and and the lust for blood we had sprung to our feet at the outburst put her hand all in a tremble upon my ann they are fighting jack she cried what they who are they my heart was with the guns and it all that i could do to answer her for the catch of breath it s two french said i they call them and yon s one of our ships and they ll take her as sure as death for major says they ve always got heavy guns and are full of men as an egg is full of meat why doesn t fool make back for bar but not an inch of canvas did she lower on in her stolid fashion while a little ball ran up to her peak and the rare old flag suddenly out from the then again came rap rap rap of her little guns and the boom the big in the bows of the later the three ships met and the merchant staggered on like a with two wolves hanging the three became but a dark the smoke with the top thrusting out in a and from the heart of that cloud came the quick flashes of flame and such a devils of big and small cheering and screaming as was to din head for many a week for a stricken hour the the shadow on the waters loud moved slowly across the face of the water and with our hearts in our mouths we watched the f the flag straining to see if it were yet there and suddenly the ship as proud and black and high s ever shot on upon her way and as the smoke we saw one of the like a winged duck upon the water and the other hard to get the crew from her before she for all that hour i had lived for nothing but the my cap had been away by the wind ut i had never given it a thought now with my art full i turned upon my cousin and the sight r her took me back six years there was the vacant eye and the parted lips just as i had seen them her and her little hands were clenched until gleamed like ivory ah that captain said she talking to the heath id the bushes there is a man so strong so what woman would not be proud of a man ce that aye he did well i i cried with enthusiasm she looked at me as if she had forgotten my i would give a year of my life to meet such a n said she but that is what living in the country one never sees anybody but just those who are for nothing better i do not know that she meant to hurt me though was never very backward at that but whatever her her words seemed to strike straight upon a nerve the great shadow very well cousin i said trying to calmly that puts the cap on it take the in to night what jack you be a soldier yes if you think that every man that in country must be a coward oh you d look so handsome in a red coat and it you vastly when you are in a i wish your eyes would always flash like that i x looks so nice and manly but i am sure that you joking about the i ll let you see if i am joking then and there i set off running over the mc until i burst into the kitchen where my mother father were sitting on either side of the mother i cried i m off for a had i said i was off for a they could have looked worse over it for in those days ai the decent country folks it was mostly the sheep that were by the but word those same black sheep did their country rare service too my mother put up her her eyes and my father looked as black as a hole jack you re says he or no fm going then you ll have no blessing from me then i ll go without at this my mother gives a and throws arms about my neck i saw her hand all hard worn and with the work she had done for up bringing and it pleaded with me as words â ihe shadow on the waters ot have done my heart was soft for her but my will as as hard as a flint edge i put her back in her hair with a kiss and then ran to my room to pack my â it was already growing dark and i had a long before me so i thrust a few things together and out as i came through the side door touched my shoulder and there was m the silly boy said she you are not really going am i not you ll see but your father does not wish it nor your mother i know that then why go you ought to know why then because you make me i don t want you to go jack you said it you said

3Edith Wharton

that the folk in the were fit for nothing better you always speak ike that you think no more of me than of those tt the cot you think i am nobody at all show ou different all my troubles came out in hot little of she coloured up as i spoke and looked at me a her queer half mocking half fashion h i think so little of you as that said she and that is the reason why you are going away veil then jack will you stay if i am â if i am kind you we were face to face and close together and in an the thing was done my arms were round her nd i was kissing her and kissing her and the shadow on her mouth hear cheeks her eyes and pressing to my heart and to her that she was all to me that i could not be without her said nothing but it was long before she turned lace aside and when she pushed me back it was very hard why you are quite your rude old impudent sell said she patting her hair with her two hands y have tossed me jack i had no idea that you would so forward but all my fear of her was gone and a love fold than ex er was boiling in my veins i took up again and kissed her as if it were my right you are mv er own now i cried i shall go to but til stay and marry you but she laughed when i spoke of marriage silly boy silly boy said she with her finger up and then when i tried to lay hands on again she gave a little dainty and was the house chapter iv the choosing of jim and then there came those ten weeks which like a dream and are so now to look back upon would weary you were i to tell you what passed us but oh how earnest and and important it was at the time her wa ever varying moods now bright now dark like meadow under drifting clouds her an her sudden each in turn filling me the choosing of jim or sorrow these were my life all the rest was but but ever deep down behind all my other feelings was a vague a fear that i was like the man who set forth to lay hands upon the rainbow and that the real near she might seem was in truth for ever beyond my reach for she was so hard to understand or at she was so for a dull country lad like me for if i would talk to her of my real prospects and how by taking in the whole of we might earn a hundred good pounds over the extra rent and maybe be able to build out the parlour at west inch so as to make it fine for her when we married she would her lips and her eyes as though she scarce had patience to listen to me but if i would let her build up dreams about what i might become how i might find a paper which proved me to be the true heir of the or how without joining the army which she would by no means hear of i showed myself to be a great warrior until my name was in all folks mouths then she would be as as the may i would keep up the play as well as i could but soon some word would show that i was only plain of west inch and out would come her lip again in scorn of me so we moved on she in the air and i on the ground and if the had not come in one way it must in another it was after christmas but the winter had been mild with just frost enough to make it safe walking over the one fresh morning had been out early and she came back to breakfast with a of colour on her cheeks the great shadow has your friend the doctor s ji ic says she i h ard that it was expected ah then it must have been him that i met you met jim i am sure it must be he a splendid looking m â a hero with black hair a short straight no eyes he had shoulders like a statue ai sl to height why i suppose that your head up to his pin up to his ear said i indignantly tl ti if it was jim but tell me had he a brown wood pipe â in the comer of his mouth he was smoking he was dressed in and he has a grand deep strong voice ho ho you spoke to him said l she coloured a little as if she had said more th she meant i was going where the ground was a little s and he warned me of it she said ah it must have been dear old jim said l i should have been a doctor years back if his brains h been as strong as his arm why heart alive here the very man himself i had seen him through the kitchen window a now i rushed out with my half eaten in i hand to greet him he ran forward too with his hand out and his eyes shining ah he cried it s good to see you there are no friends like the old ones suddenly he stuck in his speech and f the choosing of jim his mouth open over my shoulder i turned and re was with such a merry smile in the door how proud i felt of her and of self too as i looked at her this is my cousin miss jim said l do you often take walks before breakfast mr she asked

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still with that smile yes said he staring at her with all his eyes so do i and generally over yonder said she but are not very hospitable to your friend jack if you not do the honours i shall have to take your place the credit of west inch well in another minute we were in with the old and jim had his plate of out for but hardly a word would he speak but sat his spoon in his hand staring at cousin shot little twinkling glances across at him all the tf and it seemed to me that she was amused at his and that she tried by what she said to him heart jack was telling me that you were studying to be said she but oh how hard it must be how long it must take before one can gather so h learning as that it takes me long enough jim answered t ril beat it yet ah but you are brave you are resolute you your eyes on a point and you move on towards it nothing can stop you indeed i ve little to boast of said he many a who began with me has put up his plate years ago here am i but a student still the great shadow that is your modesty mr they a that the are always humble but then you have gained your end what a glorious ij carry healing in your hands to raise up the to have for one s sole end the good of humanity honest jim in his chair at this tm afraid i have no such very high motives mi said he it s to earn a living and to over my father s business that i do it if i carry hei ing in one hand i have the other out for a piece how candid and truthful you are she cried an so they went on she him with every virtue ai twisting his words to make him play the part in tl way that i knew so well before he was done i see that his head was with her beauty and h kindly words i thrilled with pride to think that should think so well of my kin isn t she fine jim i could not help saying wh we stood outside the door he lighting his pipe he set off home fine he cried i never saw her match we re going to be married said i the pipe fell out of his mouth and he stood at me then he picked it up and walked off a word i thought that he would likely come bat but he never did and i saw him far off up the with his chin on his chest but i was not to forget him for cousin had hundred questions to ask me about his boyhood his strength about the women that he was likely know there was no satisfying her and then the choosing of jim later in the day i heard of him but in a less pleasant fashion it was my father who came home in the evening with his mouth full of poor jim he had been deadly drunk since midday had been down to links to fight the champion and it was not certain that the man would live through the night my father had met jim on the as a thunder cloud and with an insult in his eye for every man that passed him said the old man he ll make a fine practice for if breaking will do it cousin laughed at all this and i laughed because she did but i was not so sure that it was funny on the third day afterwards i was going up by the sheep track when who should i see down but jim himself but he was a different man from the big kindly fellow who had his with us the other morning he had no collar nor tie his was open his hair and his face like a man who has drunk heavily he carried an ash stick arid he at the on either side of the path why jim said i but he looked at me in the way that i had often seen at school when the devil was strong in him and when he knew that he was in the wrong and yet set his will to brazen it out not a word did he say but he brushed past me on the narrow path and on still his and cutting at the bushes ah well i was not angry with him i was sorry very sorry and that was all of course i was t q great shadow that i could see how the matter stood e i in love with and he could not bear to it j should have her poor devil how he if m c i should have been the same there m it when i should have wondered that a girl cool h ive turned a strong man s head like that but i it now for i fort flight i saw nothing of jim ao th ri r the which was to change the of my life had woke early that day and with a little of joy h is a rare thing to feel when a man fin his eyes had been kinder than usual th flight before and had fallen asleep with the that maybe at last i had caught the rainbow and any or make believes she was lean to love plain rough of west inch was this thought still at my heart which had given m that little morning of joy and then i that if i hastened i might be in time for her fc it was her custom to go out with the sunrise but i was too late when i came to her door was half

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open and the room empty well thought at least i may meet her and have the homeward with her p om the top of hill you may sc all the country round so catching up my stick i off in that direction it was bright but cold and surf i remember was loudly though there ha been no wind in our parts for days i t the steep pathway breathing in the thin keen air and humming a as i went until i came out little short of breath the upon the to the choosing of jim down the long slope of the further side i saw cousin as i had expected and i saw jim walking by her side they were not far away but too taken up with other to see me she was walking slowly with he little cock of her dainty head which i knew well casting her eyes away from him and shooting mt a word from time to time he paced along beside looking down at her and bending his head in the of his talk then as he said something she her hand with a caress upon his arm and he off his feet plucked her up and kissed her again nd again at the sight i could neither cry out nor but stood with a heart of lead and the face of a lead man staring down at them i saw her hand over his shoulder and that his kisses were as to her as ever mine had been then he set her down again and i found that this lad been their parting for indeed in another hundred they would have come in view of the upper of the house she walked slowly away with a back once or twice and he stood looking after i waited until she was some way off and then i came but so taken up was he that i was within hand s touch of him before he round upon ne he tried to smile as his eyes met mine ah says he early i saw you i gasped and my throat had turned o dry that i spoke like a man with a did you so said he and gave a little whistle well on my hfe tm not sorry i was thinking â â â â câ â s â â i t â â f â â â â â â â n â â â â â â vâ i it â â â â â â i â â â â â â â â i j â â â â â â ji m v i vi r ir i â ii â n t r n i r z r z if r ri wi â i far v f â â i j tr i s t â â â tâ r v i râ v â â c f v der ht ins i ce c the choosing of jim said he i never knew you tell a lie oil are not trying to score trick against trick are you now between man and man it s god s truth said i he stood looking at me and his face had set like of a man who is having a hard fight with himself was a long two minutes before he spoke see here said he this woman is s both d you hear man she s us both she you at west inch and she loves me on the and in her heart she cares a blossom r neither of us let s join hands man and send the to the right about but this was too much i could not curse her in ly own heart and still less could i stand by and hear man do it not though it was my oldest friend don t you call names i cried you me with your soft talk i ll call er what she should be called will you though said i off my coat look you here jim if you say another word her i ll it down your throat if you were as ig as castle try me and see he off his coat down to the elbows and he slowly pulled it on again don t be such a fool said he four stone nd five inches is more than mortal man can give two id friends mustn t fall out over such a â well there i won t ly it well by the lord if she hasn t nerve for ten i looked round and there she was not twenty yards om us looking as cool and easy and placid as we ere hot and the great shadow l was nearly home said she when i san two boys very busy talking so i came all the way to know what it was about took a run forward and caught he the wrist she gave a little at the sight o face but he pulled her towards where i was now we ve had enough here she is shall we take her word as to w she likes she can t trick us now that we re i am willing said l and so am l if she goes for you i never so much as turn an eye on her again will do as much for me yes i will well then look here you we re both he men and friends and we tell each other no lies so we know your double ways i know what you last night knows what you said to day d see now then fair and square here we are be you once and have done which is it to be or me you would have thought that the woman w have been overwhelmed with shame but instead of her eyes were shining with delight and i dare w that it

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was the moment of her life as looked from one to the other of us with the cold m ing sun glittering on her face i had never seen look so lovely jim felt it also i am sure for dropped her wrist and the harsh lines were upon his face come which is it to be he asked the man from the sea naughty boys to fall out like this she cried cousin jack you know how fond i am of you oh then go to him said but i love nobody but jim there is nobody that i love hke jim she up to him and laid her cheek against his breast you see said he looking over her shoulder i did see and away i went for west inch another man from the time that i left it chapter v the man from the sea well i was never one to sit groaning over a cracked pot if it could not be mended then it is the part of a man to say no more of it for weeks i had an aching heart indeed it is a little sore now after all these years and a happy marriage when i think of it but i kept a brave face on me and above all i did as i had promised that day on the i was as a brother to her and no more though there were times when i had to put a hard upon myself for even now she would come to me with her ways and with tales about how rough jim was and how happy she had been when i was kind to her for it was in her blood to speak like that and she could not help it but for the most part jim and she were happy enough it was all over the country side that they were to be married when he had passed his degree and he would come up to west four nights a week to sit a shadow etc â c the mv folk were about â t sad i t iâ tar t o ma ar first was a h id ne there was not the old â js but then when first smart â y jl it seemed to me that he had a i l no just cause for complaint against him we w friendly in a way and as for her he had g all his anger and would have kissed the râ oe in the mud we used to take tr he and i and it is about one of these that now want to tell you we had passed over heath and the of which the house of major â u from the sea wind it was spring now and the was a forward one so that the trees were well by the end of april it was as warm as a di and we were the more surprised when we saw a fire roaring upon the before the major s there was half a fir tree in it and the flames we up as high as the bedroom windows jim ai i stood staring but we stared the more when out the major with a great pot in his hand and his heels his old sister who kept house for him a two of the maids and all four began ab round the fire he was a quiet man as country knew and here he was like old nick at l s dance around and waving his dr above his head we both set off running and he wai the more when he saw us coming peace i he roared boys peace and at that we both fell to dancing and the man from the sea i â for it had been such a weary war as far back as e could remember and the shadow had lain so long â er us that it was wondrous to feel that it was lifted it was too much to believe but the major laughed or doubts to scorn aye aye it is true he cried stopping with his and to his side the have got paris as thrown up the and his people are all swear g to louis xviii and the emperor i asked will they spare m there s talk of sending him to where he ll out of mischief s way but his officers there are me of them who will not get off so lightly deeds ave been done during these last twenty years that have been forgotten there are a few old scores to be but it s peace peace and away he went once more with his great round his well we stayed some time with the major and then we went down to the beach jim and i talking bout this great news and all that would come of it e knew a little and i knew less but we it all and talked about how the prices would come own how our brave fellows would return home how le ships could go where they would in peace and how e could pull all the coast down for there was o enemy now to fear so we as we walked long the clean hard sand and looked out at the old forth sea how little did jim know at that moment he strode along by my side so full of health and of that he had reached the extreme o v the great shadow life and that from that hour all would in truth be upon the downward slope there was a little haze out to sea for it had been very misty in the early morning though the sun had it as we looked we suddenly saw the sail of a small boat break out through the fog and come along towards the land a single man was seated in the

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sheets and she about as she ran as though he were of two minds whether to beach her or no at last determined it may be by our presence he made straight for us and her heel upon the at our very feet he dropped his sail sprang out and pulled her bows up on the beach great britain i believe said he turning briskly round and facing us he was a man somewhat above middle height but exceedingly thin his eyes were piercing and set close together a long sharp nose out from between them and beneath was a of brown moustache as and stiff as a cat s whiskers he was well dressed in a suit of brown with brass buttons and he wore high boots which were all and by the sea water his face and hands were so dark that he might have been a but as he raised his hat to us we saw that the upper part of his brow was quite white and that it was from that he had his he looked from one to the other of us and his grey eyes had something in them which i had never seen before you could read the question but there seemed to be a menace at the back of it as if the answer were a right and not a favour the man from the sea great britain he asked again with a quick tap f his foot on the yes said i while jim burst out laughing england scotland scotland but it s england past yonder trees bon i know where i am now been in a g without a compass for nearly three days and i didn t i was ever to see land again he spoke english enough but with some turn of speech from time to time where did you come from then asked jim i was in a ship that was wrecked said he shortly what is the town down yonder it is ah well i must get stronger before i can go he turned towards the boat and as he did so he ive a and would have fallen had he not caught le on this he seated himself and looked round ith a face that was flushed and two eyes that blazed ke a wild beast s de la he roared in a voice ke a trumpet call and then again de la he waved his hat above his head and suddenly forwards upon his face on the sand he lay all into a little brown heap jim and i stood and stared at each other he coming of the man had been so strange and his and now this sudden turn we took him by shoulder each and turned him upon his back there e lay with his nose and his cat s v s i a i said his would s â j iii inn cried â v â t â f there s i x y m th haul mat be there s some iu t he t il hi u om a black leather tâ l it ii v ins the thing ii i h i i vi had it open m an in h iii ii c c d u t er seen so much i n ji t must have been hun i i ail u ue ii sovereigns u lip x r mt h d all about i â ii back to jâ ex j his jaw had can â â tr u i i w with its row of my d he s jim here run t for a of m man oi g v his things the away tore aud was back in a minute wit water as would star in my jim open the man s coat and shirt and we the water over him and forced some between his it had a good effect for a gasp or two he s and rubbed his eyes slowly like a man who is w from a deep sleep but neither m nor i were lo at his face now for our eyes were fixed upon hi covered chest there were two deep red in it one below the collar bone and the other about the man from the sea own on the right side the skin of his body was extremely up to the brown line of his neck and angry spots looked the more vivid against from above i could see that there was a corresponding in the back at one place but not at t e other inexperienced as i was i could tell what meant two bullets had pierced his chest one passed through it and the other had remained but suddenly he staggered up to his feet and pulled shirt to with a quick suspicious glance at us what have i been doing he asked been off my head take no notice of anything i may have said have i been shouting you shouted just before you fell what did i shout i told him though it bore little meaning to my he looked sharply at us and then he shrugged shoulders it s the words of a song said he well the is what am i to do now i didn t thought i ir as so weak where did you get the water i pointed towards the bum and he staggered off to the bank there he lay down upon his face and he drank until i thought he would never have done his long neck was out stretched like a horse s and he made a loud noise with his lips at last he got up with a long sigh and wiped his moustache with his sleeve that s better said he have you any food i had crammed two bits of oat cake into my pocket when i left home and these he crushed into his mouth the

3Edith Wharton

great shadow and swallowed then he his shoulders puffed out his chest and patted his ribs with the flat of his hands i am sure that i owe you exceedingly well said he you have been very kind to a stranger but i see that you have had occasion to open my bag we hoped that we might find wine or brandy there when you fainted ah i have nothing there but just a little â how do you say it â my they are not much but i must live quietly upon them until i find something to do now one could live quietly here i should say i could not have come upon a more peaceful place without perhaps so much as a nearer than that town you haven t told us yet who you are where you come from nor what you have been said jim the stranger looked him up and down with a critical eye my word but you would make a for a flank company said he as to what you ask i might take offence at it from other lips but you have a right to know since you have received me with so great courtesy my name is de i am a soldier and a wanderer by trade and i have come from as you may see printed upon the boat i thought that you had been said l but he looked at me with the straight gaze of an honest man that is right said he but the ship went from and this is one of her boats the crew got away in the long boat and went down so quickly the man from the sea i had no time to put anything into her that was n monday and to day s thursday you have been three days bite or it is too long said he twice before i have een for two days but never quite so long as this ell i shall leave my boat here and see whether i can et lodgings in any of these little grey houses upon the why is that great fire burning over yonder it is one of our neighbours who has served against le french he is rejoicing because peace has been oh you have a neighbour who has served then am glad for i too have seen a little here nd there he did not look glad but he drew his brows down ver his keen eyes you are french are you not i asked as we all â up the hill together he with his black bag in is hand and his long blue cloak over his well i am of said he and you know are more german than french for myself i have een in so many lands that i feel at home in all i ave been a great traveller and where do you think i might find a lodging i can scarcely tell now on looking back with the gap of five and thirty years between what this singular man had made upon me i im i think and yet i was fascinated by him also for was something in his bearing in his look and his fashion of speech which was entirely its xv the great shadow thing that i had ever seen jim was a fine man and major was a brave one but they both lacked something that this wanderer had it was the quick alert look the flash of the eye the nameless distinction which is so hard to fix and then we had saved him when he lay gasping on the and one s heart always towards what one has once helped if you will come with me said i i have little doubt that i can find you a bed for a night or two and by tliat time you will be better able to make your own arrangements he pulled off his hat and bowed with l the grace imaginable but jim pulled me by the sleeve and led me aside you re mad he whispered the fellow s a common adventurer what do you want to get mixed up with him for but i was as obstinate a man as ever his boots and if you jerked me back it was the finest way of sending me to the front he s a stranger and it s our part to look after him said i you ll be sorry for it said he maybe so if you don t think of yourself you might think of your cousin can take very good care of herself well then the devil take you and you may do what you like he cried in one of his sudden of anger without a word of to either of us he turned off upon the track that led up towards his father s house a wandering eagle f t de smiled at me as wc w d on together i didn t thought he liked me very much m h â â i can very well that he has made a quarrel you because you are taking me to your home wh jt does he think of me then does he think that i have stole the gold in my bag or wliat it he fears tut i neither know nor care â aid i no stranger shall pass our door without a and a bed with my head cocked and feeling as if i something very fine instead of being the most ir fool south of i marched on down the path with my new acquaintance at my elbow chapter vi a wandering eagle my father seemed to be much of jim ft opinion for he was not over warm to this new guest and looked him up and down with a very questioning eye he set a dish of before him however and i noticed that he looked more than

3Edith Wharton

ever when my companion ate nine of them for two were always our portion when at last he had finished de s were drooping over his eyes for i doubt that he had been sleepless as well as for these three days it was but a poor room to which i had led him but he threw himself down upon the couch wrapped his big blue cloak around him and was asleep in an instant he was a o the great shadow very high and strong and as my room was next to his i had reason to remember that we had a stranger within our gates when i came down in the morning i found that he had been beforehand with me for he was seated opposite my father at the window table in the kitchen their heads almost touching and a little roll of gold pieces between them as i came in my father looked up at me and i saw a light of in his eyes such a i had never seen before he caught up the money with an eager clutch and swept it into his pocket very good said he the room s yours and you pay always on the third of the month ah and here is my first friend cried de holding out his hand to me with a smile which was kindly enough and yet had that touch of patronage which a man uses when he smiles to his dog i am myself again now thanks to my excellent supper and good night s rest ah it is hunger that takes the courage from a man that most and cold next aye that s right said my father i ve been out on the in a for six and thirty hours and ken what it s like i once saw three thousand men starve to death remarked de putting out his hands to the fire day by day they got thinner and more hke and they did come down to the edge of the where we did keep them and they howled with rage and pain the first few days their went over the whole city but after a week our on the bank could not hear them so weak they had fallen and they died i exclaimed a wandering eagle they held out a very long time they were of the corps of fine men as big as your friend of yesterday but when the town fell there were but four hundred alive and a man could lift them three at a time as if they were little it was a pity ah my friend you will do me the honours with and with it was my mother and who had come into the kitchen he had not seen them the night before but now it was all i could do to keep my face as i watched him for instead of our homely nod he bent up his back like a and slid his foot and clapped his hand over his heart in the way my mother stared for she thought he was making fun of her but cousin fell into it in an instant as though it had been a game and away she went in a great until i thought she would have had to give it up and sit down right there in the middle of the kitchen floor but no she up again as light as a piece of and we all drew up our and started on the and milk and he had a wonderful way with women that man now if i were to do it or jim it would look as if we were playing the fool and the girls would have laughed at us but with him it seemed to go with his style of face and fashion of speech so that one came at last to look for it for when he spoke to my mother or cousin â and he was never backward in speaking â it would always be with a bow and a look as if it would hardly be worth their while to listen to what he had to say and when they answered he the great shadow would put on a face as though every word they said was to be up and remembered for ever and yet even while he himself to a woman there was always a proud sort of look at the back of his eye as if he meant to say that it was only to them that he was so meek and that he could be stiff enough upon occasion as to my mother it was wonderful the way she softened to him and in half an hour she had told him all about her uncle who was a surgeon in and the highest of any upon her side of the house she spoke to him about my brother rob s death which i had never heard her mention to a soul before and he looked as if the tears were in his eyes over it â he who had just told us how he had seen three thousand men starved to death as to she did not say much but she kept shooting little glances at our visitor and once or twice he looked very hard at her when he had gone to his room after breakfast my father pulled out eight golden pounds and laid them on the table what think ye of that said he youve sold the black after all no but it s a month s pay for board and lodging from s friend and as much to come every four weeks but my mother shook her head when she heard it two pounds a week is over much said she and it is not when the poor gentleman is in distress that we should put such a price on his bit food tut cried my

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father he can very well and he with a bag full of gold besides it s his own proposing a wandering eagle no blessing will come from that money hu why woman he s turned your head wi his ways of speech cried my father aye and it would be a good thing if had a little more of that kindly way she that was the first time in all my life that i had t heard her answer him back he came down soon and asked me whether i would come out with him when we were in the sunshine he held out a little cross made of red one of the things that ever i had eyes upon these are said he and i got it at in spain there were two of them but i gave j other to a girl i pray that you will take as a memory of your exceedingly kindness to me yesterday it will fashion into a pin for your i could but thank him for the present which was of more value than anything i had ever owned in my life i am to the upper to count the said i maybe you would care to come up with me and see something of the country he hesitated for a moment and then he shook his head i have some letters he said which i ought to write as soon as possible i think that i will stay at quiet this morning and get them written all i was wandering over the links and you may imagine that my mind was turning all the time upon this strange man whom chance had drifted to our doors where did he gain that style of his that manner of command that haughty menacing of the great shadow the eye and his experiences to which he referred so lightly how wonderful the life must have been which had put him in the way of them he had been kind to us and gracious of speech but still i could not quite shake myself clear of the distrust with which i had regarded him perhaps after all jim had been right and i had been wrong about taking him to west inch when i got back he looked as though he had been bom and bread in the he sat in the big wooden armed chair with the black cat on his knee his arms were out and he held a of from hand to hand which mother was busily rolling into a ball cousin was sitting near and i could see by her eyes that had been crying said i what s the trouble ah like all good and true women has a soft heart said he i didn t thought it would have moved her or i should have been silent i have been talking of the suffering of some troops of which i knew something when they were crossing the mountains in the winter of ah yes it was veiy bad for they were fine men and fine horses it is strange to see men blown by the wind over the but the ground was so and there was nothing to which they could hold so companies all linked arms and they did better in that fashion but one man s hand came off as i held it for he had had the frost bite for three days i stood staring with my open and the old too who were not so a wandering eagle is they used to be they could not keep up and hey lingered the would catch them and them to the bam doors with their feet up and their heads which was a pity for these soldiers so when they could go no further it to see what they would do for they it down and say their prayers sitting on an old or their maybe and then take off and their stockings and lean their chin on of their then they would put their the and it was all over and there â more marching for those fine old vas very rough work up there on these ins id what army was this i asked i have served in so many armies that i mix p sometimes yes i have seen much of war s i have seen your fight and very they make but i thought from them folk over here all wore â how do you say it â its lose are the and they wear them only in on the mountains but there is a man out maybe he is the one who your father said carry my letters to the post he is farmer s man shall i give him ell he would be more careful of them if he had â om your hand took them from his pocket and gave them over i hurried out with them and as i did so my â etc the great shadow eyes fell upon the address of the one it was written very large and clear a s le de e i did not know very much french but i had enough to make that out what sort of eagle was this which had flown into our humble little nest chapter vii the tower well it would weary me and i am very sure that it would weary you also if i were to attempt to teu you how life went with us after this man came under our roof or the way in which he gradually came to win the affections of every one of us with the women it was quick work enough but soon he had my father too which was no such easy matter and had gained jim s as well as my own indeed we were but two great boys beside him for he had been everywhere and seen ever and of an evening he would chatter away

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in his english until he took us clean from the plain kitchen and the little farm to plunge us into courts and and and all the wonders of the world had been sulky enough with him at first but de with his tact and his easy ways soon drew him round until he had quite won his heart and jim would sit with cousin s hand in his and the two be quite lost in listening to all that he had to tell us i will not tell you all this but even now after so long the tower an interval i can trace ho week by week and month by month by this word and that deed he us all as he wished one of his first acts was to give my father the boat in which he had come only the right to have it back in case he should have need of it the were down on the coast that autumn and my uncle before he died had given us a fine set of so the gift was worth many a pound to us sometimes de would go out in the boat alone and i have seen him for a whole summer day slowly along and stopping every half dozen strokes to throw over a stone at the end of a string i could not think what he was doing until he told me of his own i am fond of studying all that has to do with the military said he and i never lose a chance i was wondering if it would be a difficult matter for the commander of an army corps to throw his men ashore here if the wind were not from the east said i quite so if the wind were not from the east have you taken here no your line of would have to lie outside but there is water enough for a forty gun right up within range your boats with them behind these then back with the for more and a stream of over their heads from the it could be done it could be his out more like a cat s than ever and i could see by the flash of his eyes that he was carried away by his dream the great shadow you forget that our soldiers would be upon the beach said i indignantly ta ta ta he cried of course it takes two sides to make a battle let us see now let us work it out what could you get together shall we say twenty thirty thousand a few of good troops the rest â with arms how do you call them â brave men i shouted oh yes very brave men but ah mon it is incredible how they would be not they alone i mean but all young troops they are so afraid of being afraid that they would take no precaution ah i have seen it in spain i have seen a of attack a battery of ten pieces up they went ah so gallantly and presently the looked from where i stood like â how do you say it in english â a and where was our fine of then another of young troops tried it all together in a rush shouting and yelling but what will shouting do against a of and there was our second laid out on the and then the foot of the guard old soldiers were told to take the battery and there was nothing fine about their advance â no column no shouting nobody killed â just a few scattered lines of and of support but in ten minutes the guns were silenced and the spanish cut to pieces war must be learned my young friend just the same as the farming of sheep said i not to be by a foreigner if we had thirty thousand men on the line of the hill thâ feel tower yonder yoa come to be ery glad that you had your boats behind you on the line of the hill said he with a flash of his eyes along the ridge yes if your man knew his he would have his left about your house his centre on and his right over near the doctor s house with his pushed out thickly in front his horse of course would try to cut us up as we on the beach but once let us form and we should soon know what to do there s the weak point there at the gap i would s it with my guns then roll in my cavalry push the on in grand columns and that wing would find itself up in the air eh jack where would your be at the heels of your man said i and we both burst out into the hearty laugh with which such usually ended sometimes when he talked i thought he was joking and at other times it was not quite so easy to say i well remember one evening that summer when he was sitting in the kitchen with my father jim and me after the women had gone to bed he began about scotland and its relation to england you used to have your own king and your own laws made at said he does it not fill you with rage and despair when you think that it all comes to you from london now jim took his pipe out of his mouth it was we who put our king over the english so if there s any rage it should have been over yonder said he yo the great shadow this was clearly news lo the stranger and it silenced him for the moment well but your laws are made down there and surely that is not good he said at last no it would be well to have a parliament back in said my father but i

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am kept so busy with the sheep that i have little enough time to think of such things it is for fine young men like you two to think of it said de when a country is injured it is to its young men that it looks to it aye the english take too much upon themselves sometimes said jim well if there are many of that way of thinking about why should we not form them into and march them upon london cried de that would be a rare little said i laughing and who would lead us he jumped up bowing with his hand on his heart in his queer fashion if you will allow me to have the honour i he cried and then seeing that we were all laughing he began to laugh also but i am sure that there was really no thought of a joke in his mind i could never make out what his age could be nor could jim either sometimes we thought that he was an man that looked young and at others that he was a man who looked old his brown stiff close hair needed no at the top where it away to a shining curve his skin too was by a thousand fine wrinkles and and was all burned as i have the tower jt already said by the sun yet he was as as a boy and he was as tough as walking all day over the hills or on the sea without turning a hair on the whole we thought that he might be about forty or forty five though it was hard to see how he could have seen so much of life in the time but one day we got talking of ages and then he surprised us i had been saying that i was just twenty and jim said that he was twenty seven then i am the most old of the three said de we laughed at this for by our reckoning he might almost have been our father but not by so much said he his brows i was nine and twenty in december and it was this even more than his talk which made us understand what an life it must have been that he had led he saw our astonishment and laughed at it i have lived i have lived he cried i have spent my days and my nights i led a company in a battle where five nations were engaged when i was but fourteen i made a king turn pale at the words i whispered in his ear when i was twenty i had a hand in a kingdom and putting a fresh king upon a great throne the very year that i came of age mon i have lived my life that was the most that i ever heard him confess of his past life and he only shook his head and laughed when we tried to get something more out of him there were times when we thought that he was but a clever for what could a man of such influence and the great shadow talents be here in for but one day there came an incident which showed us that he had indeed a history in the past you will remember that there was an old officer of the who lived no great way from us the same who danced round the with his sister and the two maids he had gone up to london on some business about his and his wound money and the chance of having some work given him so that he did not come back until late in the autumn one of the first days after his return he came down to see us and there for the first time he clapped eyes upon de never in my life did i look upon so astonished a face and he stared at our friend for a long minute without so much as a word de looked back at him equally hard but there was no recognition in his eyes i do not know who you are sir he said at last but you look at me as if you had seen me before so i have answered the major never to my knowledge but ril swear it where then at the village of in the year de started and stared again at our neighbour mon what a he cried and you were the english i remember you very well indeed sir let me have a whisper in your ear he took him aside and talked very earnestly with him in french for a quarter of an hour with his hands and explaining something while the ihe tower major nodded his old head from time to time at last they seemed to come to some agreement and i heard the major say times and afterwards fortune de la which i could very well understand for they gave you a fine at s but after that i always noticed that the major never used the same free fashion of speech that we did towards our but bowed when he addressed him and treated him with a wonderful deal of respect i asked the major more than once what he knew about him but he always put it off and i could get no answer out of him jim was at home all that summer but late in the autumn he went back to again for the winter and as he intended to work very hard and get his degree next spring if he could he said that he would bide up there for the christmas so there was a great leave taking between him and cousin and he was to put up his plate and to marry her as soon as he had the right to practice i never knew a man love a woman more fondly than he did

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her and she liked him well enough in a way â for indeed in the whole of scotland she would not find a finer looking man â but when it came to marriage i think she a httle at the thought that all her wonderful dreams should end in nothing more than in being the wife of a country surgeon still there was only me and jim to choose out of and she took the best of us of course there was de also but we always felt that he was of an altogether different class to us and so he didn t count i was never very sure at that he great shadow time whether cared for him or not when jim was at home they took little notice of each other after he was gone they were thrown more together which was natural enough as he had taken up so much of her time before once or twice she spoke to me about de as though she did not like him and yet she was uneasy if he were not in in the evening and there was no one so fond of his talk or with so many questions to ask him as she she made him describe what queens wore and what sort of carpets they walked on and whether they had in their hair and how many feathers they had in their hats until it was a wonder to me how he could find an answer to it all and yet an answer he always had and was so ready and quick with his tongue and so anxious to amuse her that i wondered how it was that she did not like him better well the summer and the autumn and the best part of the winter passed away and we were still all very happy together we got well into the year and the great emperor was still eating his heart out at and all the were together at as to what they should do with the lion s skin now that they had so fairly hunted him down and we in our little comer of europe went on with our petty peaceful business looking after the sheep attending the cattle and at night round the blazing fire we never thought that what all these high and mighty people were doing could have any bearing upon us and as to war why everybody was agreed that the great shadow was lifted from us for ever and that unless the quarrelled the tower themselves there would not be a shot fired in for another fifty years there was one incident however that stands out ery clearly in my memory i think that it must have about the february of this year and i will ill it to you before i go any further you know what the border castles are like i ave no doubt they were just square heaps built very here and there along the line so that the folk light have some place of protection against nd when and his men were over le then the people would drive some of cattle into the yard of the tower shut up the big ate and light a fire in the at the top which ould be answered by all the other towers until le lights would go twinkling up to the and so carry the news on to the and but now of course all these old keeps ere and crumbling and made fine for the wild birds many a good egg have ad for my collection out of the tower one day i had been a very long walk away over leave a message at the who ve two miles on tliis side of about five clock just before the sun set i found myself on the path with the end of west inch peeping up front of me and the old tower lying on my turned my eyes on the keep for it looked so ne i ith the flush of the level sun beating full upon it nd the blue sea stretching out behind and as i stared suddenly saw the face of a man twinkle for a moment one of the holes in the wall the great shadow well i stood and wondered over this for what could anybody be doing in such a place now that it was too early for the season it was so queer that i was determined to come to the bottom of t so tired as i was i turned my shoulder on home and walked swiftly towards the tower the grass stretches right up to the very base of the wall and my feet made little noise until i reached the crumbling arch where the old gate used to be i peeped through and there was de standing inside the keep and peeping out through the very hole at which i had seen his face he was turned half away from me and it was clear that he had not seen me at all for he was staring with all his eyes over in the direction of west inch as i advanced my foot rattled he that lay in the and he turned round with a start and faced me he was not a man whom you could put out of countenance and his face changed no more than if he had been expecting me there for a but there was something in his eyes which let me know that he would have paid a good price to have me back on the path again said i what are you doing here i may ask you that said he i came up because i saw your face at the window and i because as you may well have observed i have very much interest for all that has to do with the military and of course castles are among them you will excuse

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me for one moment my dear and he stepped out suddenly through the hole io the wall so as to be out of my sight the tower but i was very much too curious to excuse him so easily i shifted my ground swiftly to see what it was that he was after he was standing outside and waving his hand as in a signal what are you doing i cried and then running out to his side i looked across the to see whom he was to â you go too far sir said he angrily i didn t thought you would have gone so far a gentleman has the freedom to act as he choose without your being the spy upon him if we are to be friends you must not interfere in my affairs i don t like these secret doings said i and my father would not like them either your father can speak for himself and there is no secret said he it is you with your that make a secret ta ta i have no patience with such foolishness and without as much as a nod he turned his back upon me and started walking swiftly to west inch well i followed him and in the worst of for i had a feeling that there was some mischief in the wind and yet i could not for the life of me think what it all meant again i found myself over the whole mystery of this man s coming and of his long residence among us and whom could he have expected to meet at the tower was the fellow a spy and was it some brother spy who came to speak with him there but that was absurd what could there be to spy about in and besides major knew all about him and he would not show him such respect if there were anything amiss the great shadow i had just got as far as this in my thoughts when i heard a cheery hail and there was the major himself coming down the hill from his house with his big held in this dog was a savage creature and had caused more than one accident on the country side but the major was very fond of it and would never go out without it though he kept it tied with a good thick of leather well just as i was looking at the major waiting for him to come up he stumbled with his lame leg over a ot and in recovering himself he let go his hold of the and in an instant there was the beast of a dog flying down the in my direction i did not like it i can tell you for there was neither stick nor stone about and i knew that the brute was dangerous the major was shrieking to it from behind and i think that the creature thought that he was it on so furiously did it rush but i knew its name and i thought that maybe that might give me the privileges of so as it came at me with hair and its nose back between its two red eyes i cried out at the pitch of my lungs it had its effect for the beast passed me with a and flew along the path on the traces of de he turned at the shouting and seemed to take in the whole thing at a glance but he strolled along as slowly as ever my heart was in my mouth for for the dog had never seen him and i ran as fast as my feet would carry me to drag it away him but somehow as it bounded up and saw the finger and thumb which de held out the tower behind him its fury died suddenly away and we saw it its thumb of a tail and at his knee your dog then major said he as its owner came up ah it is a fine beast â a fine pretty thing the major was blowing hard for he had covered the ground nearly as fast as i i was afraid lest he might have hurt you he panted ta ta ta cried de he is a pretty gentle thing i always love the dogs but i am glad that i have met you major for here is this young gentleman to whom i owe very much who has begun to think that i am a spy is it not so jack i was so taken by his words that i could not lay my tongue to an answer but coloured up and looked like the awkward country lad that i was you know me major said de and i am sure that you will tell him that this could not be no no jack certainly not certainly not cried the major thank you said de you know me and you do me justice and yourself i hope that your knee is better and that you will soon have your regiment given you i am well enough answered the major but they will never give me a place unless there is war and there will be no more war in my time oh you think that said de with a smile well we shall see my friend he off his hat and turning briskly he o the great shadow walked off in the direction of west inch the major stood looking after him with thoughtful eyes and then asked me what it was that had made me think that he was a spy when i told him he said nothing but he shook his head and looked like a man who was ill at ease in his mind chapter viii the coming of the i never felt quite the same to our after that little business at the castle it was always in my mind that he was

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holding a secret from me â indeed that he was all a secret together seeing that he always hung a veil over his past and when by chance that veil was for an instant away we always caught just a glimpse of something bloody and violent and dreadful upon the other side the very look of his body was terrible i bathed with him once in the summer and i saw then that he was with wounds all over besides seven or eight and his ribs on one side were all twisted out of shape and a part of one of his had been torn away he laughed in his merry way when he saw my face of wonder said he running his hand over his and the ribs were broke by an it is very bad to have the guns pass over one now with cavalry it is nothing a horse will pick its steps however fast it may go i have been ridden over by fifteen hundred and by the russian of and i had no harm from that but guns are very bad the coming of the i and the calf i asked it is only a wolf bite said he you would not think how i came by it you will understand that my horse and i had been struck the horse killed and i with my ribs broken by the well it was cold â oh bitter bitter i the ground like iron and no one to help the wounded so that they into such shapes as would make you smile i too felt that i was so what did l do i took my sword and i opened my dead horse so well as i could and i made space in him for me to lie with one little hole for my mouth it was warm enough there but there was not room for the entire of me so my feet and part of my legs stuck out then in the night when i slept there came the wolves to eat the horse and they had a little pinch of me also as you can see but after that i was on guard with my pistols and they had no more of me there i lived very warm and nice for ten days ten days i cried what did you eat why i ate the horse it was what you call board and lodging to me but of course i have sense to eat the legs and live in the body there were many dead about who had all their water bottles so i had all i could wish and on the day there came a of light cavalry and all was well it was by such chance as these â hardly worth repeating in themselves â that there came light upon himself and his past but the day was coming when we should know all and how it came i shall try now to tell you the winter had been a dreary cue ihe great shadow came the first signs of spring and for a week on end we had sunshine and winds from the south on the th jim was to come back from for though the ended with the ist his examination would take him a week and i were out walking on the sea beach on the th and i could talk of nothing but my old friend â for indeed he was the only friend of my own age that i had at that time was very silent which was a rare thing with her but she listened smiling to all that i had to say poor old jim said she once or twice under her breath poor old jim i and if he has passed said i why then of course he will put up his plate and have his own house and we shall be losing our i tried to make a jest of it and to speak lightly but the words still stuck in my throat poor old jim said she again and there were tears in her eyes as she said it and poor old she added slipping her hand into mine as we walked you cared for me a little bit once also didn t you oh is not that a sweet little ship out yonder it was a dainty of about thirty tons very swift by the of her and the lines of her bow she was coming up from the south under and but even as we watched her all her white canvas shut suddenly in like a closing her wings and we saw the splash of her anchor just under her she may have been rather less than a quarter of a mile from the shore â so near that i could see a tall man with a cap who the coming of the stood at the quarter with a to his eye sweeping it backwards and forwards along the coast what can they want here asked they are rich english from london said i for that was how we explained everything that was above our comprehension in the border we stood for the best part of an hour watching the craft and then as the sun was lying low on a and there was a in the evening air we turned back to west inch as you come to the from the front you pass up a garden with little enough in it which leads out by a gate to the road the same gate at which we stood on the night when the were lit the night that we saw walter scott ride past on his way to on the right of this gate on the garden side was a bit of a which was said to have been made by my father s mother many years before she had fashioned it out of water worn stones and sea

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shells with and in the well as we came in through the gates my eyes fell upon this stone heap and there was a letter stuck in a stick upon the top of it i took a step forward to see what it was but sprang in front of me and it off she thrust it into her pocket that s for me said she laughing but i stood looking at her with a face which drove the laugh from her lips who is it from i asked she but made no answer who is it from woman i cried is it possible that you have been as false to jim as you were to me the great shadow how rude you are she cried i do wish that you would mind your own business there is only one person that it could be from i cried it is from this man de and suppose that you are right the coolness of the woman amazed and enraged me you confess it i cried have you then no shame left why should i not receive letters from this gentleman because it is infamous and why because he is a stranger on the contrary said she he is my husband chapter ix the doings at west inch i can remember that moment so well i have heard from others that a great sudden blow has their senses it was not so with me on the contrary i saw and heard and thought more clearly than i had ever done before i can remember that my eyes caught a little of marble as broad as my palm which was in one of the grey stones of the and i found time to admire its delicate and yet the look upon my face must have been strange for cousin screamed and leaving me she ran off to the house i followed her and tapped at the window of her room for i could see that she was there go away go away she cried you are the doings at west inch going to me i won t be i won t open the window go away but i continued to tap i must have a word with you what is it then she cried raising the about three inches the moment you begin to i shall close it are you really married yes i am married who married you father at the roman catholic chapel at and you a he wished it to be in a catholic church when was it on wednesday week i remembered then that on that day she had driven over to while de had been away on a long walk as he said among the hills what about jim i asked oh jim will forgive me you will break his heart and ruin his life no no he will forgive me he will murder de oh how could you bring such disgrace and misery upon us ah now you are scolding she cried and down came the window i waited some little time and tapped for i had much still to ask her but she would return no answer and i thought that i could hear her sobbing at last i gave it up and i was about to go into the house for the great shadow it was nearly dark now when i heard the click of the garden gate it was de himself but as he came up the path he seemed to me to be either mad or drunk he danced as he walked cracked his fingers in the air and his eyes blazed like two will o the he shouted de la just as he had done when he was off his head and then suddenly en en and up he came waving his walking cane over his head he stopped short when he saw me looking at him and i he felt a bit ashamed of himself he cried i didn t thought anybody was there i am in what you call the high spirits to night so it seems said i in my blunt fashion may not feel so merry when my friend jim comes back to morrow ah he comes back to morrow does he and why should i not feel merry because if i know the man he will kill you ta ta ta cried de i see that you know of our marriage has told you jim may do what he likes you have given us a nice return for having taken you in my good fellow said he i have as you say given you a very nice return i have taken from a life which is unworthy of her and i have connected you by marriage with a noble family however i have some letters which i must write to night and the rest we can talk over to morrow when your friend jim is here to help us the doings at west inch he stepped towards the door and this was whom you were awaiting at the tower i cried seeing light suddenly why you are becoming quite sharp said he in a mocking tone and an instant later i heard the door of his room close and the key turn in the lock i thought that i should see him no more that night but a few minutes later he came into the kitchen where i was sitting with the old folk madame said he bowing down with his hand over his heart in his own queer fashion i have met with much kindness in your hands and it shall always be in my heart i didn t thought i could have been so happy in the quiet country as you have made me you will accept this small and you also sir you will take this little gift which i have the honour to make to you he put two little paper down upon the

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table at their elbows and then with three more bows to my mother he walked from the room her present was a with a green stone set in the middle and a dozen little shining white ones all round it we had never seen such things before and did not know how to set a name to them but they told us afterwards at that the big one was an and the others were diamonds and that they were worth much more than all the we had that spring my dear old mother has been gone now this many a year but that at the neck of my eldest daughter when she goes out into company and i never look at it that i do not see the the at shadow keen eyes and the long thin nose and the cat s whiskers of our at west inch as to my father he had a fine gold watch with a double case and a proud man was he as he sat with it in the palm of his hand his ear stooping to to the i do not know which was best pleased and they would talk of nothing but what de had given them he s given you something more said i at last what then asked father a husband for cousin said l they thought i was when i said that but when they came to that it was the real truth they were as proud and as pleased as if i had told them that she had married the indeed poor jim with his hard drinking and his fighting had not a very bright name on the country side and my mother had often said that no good could come of a match now de was for all we knew steady and quiet and well to do and as to the secrecy of it secret marriages were very common in scotland at that time when only a few words were needed to make man and wife so nobody thought much of that the old folk were as pleased then as if their rent had been lowered but i was still sore at heart for it seemed to me that my friend had been cruelly dealt with and i knew well that he was not a man who would easily put up with it the return of the shadow chapter x the return of the shadow i woke with a heavy heart the next morning for i knew that jim would be home before long and that it would be a day of trouble but how much trouble that day was to bring or how far it would alter the lives of all of us was more than i had ever thought in my darkest moments but let me tell you it all just in the order that it happened i had to get up early that morning for it was just the first flush of the and my father and i were out on the as soon as it was fairly light as i came out into the passage a wind struck upon my face and there was the house door wide open and the grey light drawing another door upon the inner wall and when i looked again there was s room open also and de s too and i saw in a flash what that giving of presents meant upon the evening before it was a leave taking and they were gone my heart was bitter against cousin â die as i stood looking into her room to think that for the sake of a new comer she could leave us all without one kindly word or as much as a and he too i had been afraid of what would happen when jim met him but now there seemed to be something cowardly in this of him i was angry and hurt and sore and i went out into the open without a word to my father and climbed up on to the to cool my flushed face go the great shadow when i got up to i caught my last glimpse of cousin the little still lay where she had but a was pulling out to her from the shore in the stern i saw a flutter of red and i knew that it came from her shawl i watched the boat reach the and the folk climb on to her deck then the anchor came up the white wings spread once more and away she dipped right out to sea i still saw that little red spot on the deck and de standing beside her they could see me also for i was against the sky and they both waved their hands for a long time but gave it up at last when they found that i would give them no answer i stood with my arms folded feeling as as ever i did in my hfe until their was only a square patch of white among the mists of the morning it was breakfast time and the upon the table before i got back but i had no heart for the food the old folk had taken the matter coolly enough though my mother had no word too hard for for the two had never had much love for each other and less of late than ever there s a letter here from him said my father pointing to a note folded up on the table it was in his room maybe you would read it to us they had not even opened it for truth to tell neither of the good folk were very clever at reading ink though they could do well with a fine large print it was addressed in big letters to the good people of west inch and this was the note which lies before me all stained and faded as i write my friends â

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i didn t thought to have left you so the return of the shadow suddenly but the matter was in other hands than mine duty and honour have called me back to my old comrades this you will doubtless understand before many days are past i take your with me as my wife and it may be that in some more peaceful time you will see us again at west inch meanwhile accept the assurance of my affection and believe me that i shall never forget the quiet months which i spent with you at the time when my life would have been worth a week at the utmost had i been taken by the but the reason of this you may also learn some day yours de colonel des de la et de camp de s m i x on i whistled when i came to those words written under his name for though i had long made up my mind that our could be none other than one of those wonderful soldiers of whom we had heard so much who had forced their way into every capital of europe save only our own still i had little thought that our roof covered s own de camp and a colonel of his guard so said i de is his name and not de well colonel or no it is as well for him that he got away from here before jim laid hands upon him and time enough too i added peeping out at the kitchen window for here is the man himself coming through the garden i ran to the door to meet him feeling that i would have given a deal to have him back in again he came running waving a paper over his head the great shadow and i thought that maybe he had a note from and that it was all known to him but as he came up i saw that it was a big stiff yellow paper which as he waved it and that his eyes were dancing with happiness he shouted where is where is what is it man i asked where is what have you there it s my i can practise when i like it s all right i want to show it to the best you can do is to forget all about said i never have i seen a man s face change as his did when i said those words what what d ye mean he stammered he let go his hold of the precious as he spoke and away it went over the hedge and across the where it stuck flapping on a bush but he never so much as glanced at it his eyes were bent upon me and i saw the devil s spark glimmer up in the of them she is not worthy of you said l he me by the shoulder what have you done he whispered this is some of your where is she she s off with that frenchman who lodged here i had been casting about in my mind how i could break it gently to him but i was always backward in and i could think of nothing better than this the return of the shadow oh said he and stood nodding his head and looking at me though i knew very well that he could neither see me nor the nor anything else so he stood for a minute or more with his hands clenched and his head still nodding then he gave a in his throat and spoke in a queer dry voice when was said he this morning were they married yes he put his hand against the to steady himself any message for me she said that you would forgive her may god blast my soul on the day i where have they gone to to france i should judge his name was de i think his real name is de and he is no less than a colonel in honey s guards ah i he would be in paris likely that is well that is well hold up i shouted father father bring the brandy his knees had given way for an instant but he was himself again before the old man came running with the bottle take it away said he have a cried my father pressing it upon him it will give you fresh heart he caught hold of the bottle and sent it flying over the garden hedge the great shadow it s very good for those who wish to forget said he i am going to remember may god forgive you for waste cried my father aloud and for well nigh an officer of his majesty s said old major putting his head over the hedge i could have done with a after a morning s walk but it is something new to have a whole bottle past my ear but what is that you all stand round like at a burying in a few words i told him our trouble while jim with a grey face and his brows drawn down stood leaning against the the major was as as we by the time i had finished for he was fond both of jim and of tut tut said he i feared something of the kind ever since that business of the tower the way with the french they can t leave the women alone but at least de has married her and that s a comfort but it s no time now to think of our own little troubles with all europe in a roar again and another twenty years war before us as like as not what d ye mean i asked why man napoleon s back from his troops have to him and louis has run for his life the news was in this morning great lord cried my father then the business is

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all to do over again aye we thought we were out from the shadow but it s still there is ordered from to the low countries and it is thought that the emperor will break out first on that side well it s a bad the return of the shadow wind that blows nobody any good i ve just had news that i am to join the st as senior major i shook hands with our good neighbour on this for i knew how it had lain upon his mind that he should be a with no part to play in the world i am to join my regiment as soon as i can and we shall be over yonder in a month and in paris maybe before another one is over by the lord then fm with you major cried jim fm not too proud to carry a if you will put me in front of this frenchman my lad be proud to have you serve under me said the major and as to de where the emperor is he will be you know the man said i what can you tell us of him there is no better officer in the french army and that is a big word to say they say that he would have been a but he preferred to stay at the emperor s elbow i met him two days before when i was sent with a flag to speak about our wounded he was with then i knew him again when i saw him and i will know him again when i see him said with the old look on his face and then at that instant as i stood there it was suddenly driven home to me how poor and a life i should lead while this crippled friend of ours and the companion of my boyhood were away in the of the storm quick as a flash my resolution was taken come with you too major i cried the great shadow said my father wringing his hands jim said nothing but put his arm half round me and me the major s eyes shone and he flourished his cane in the air my word but i shall have two good at my heels said he well there s no time to be lost so you must both be ready for the evening coach and this was what a single day brought about and yet years pass away so often without a change just think of the alteration in that four and twenty hours de was gone was gone napoleon had escaped war had broken out jim had lost everything and he and i were setting out to fight against the french it was all like a dream until i off to the coach that evening and looked back at the grey farm and at the two little dark figures my mother with her face sunk in her shawl and my father waving his s stick to me upon my way chapter xl the gathering of the nations and now i come to a bit of my story that clean takes my breath away as i think of it and makes me wish that i had never taken the job of telling it in hand for when t write i like things to come slow and orderly and in their turn like sheep coming out of a so it was at west inch but now that we were drawn into a larger life like bits of straw that float slowly down some lazy ditch until they suddenly the gathering of the nations find themselves in the dash and of a great river then it is very hard for me with my simple words to keep pace with it all but you can find the cause and reason of everything in the books about history and so i shall just leave that alone and talk about what i saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears the regiment to which our friend had been appointed was the st light which wore the red coat and the and had its in town there we went all three by coach the major in great spirits and full of stories about the duke and the while jim sat in the comer with his lips set and his arms folded and i knew that he killed de three times an hour in his heart i could tell it by the sudden of his eyes and grip of his hand as to me i did not know whether to be glad or sorry for home is home and it is a weary thing however you may brazen it out to feel that half scotland is between you and your mother we were in next day and the major took us down to the t where a soldier with three on his arm and a of ribbons from his cap showed every tooth he had in his head at the sight of jim and walked three times round him to have the view of him as if he had been castle then he came over to me and me in the ribs and felt my muscle and was nigh as pleased as with jim these are the sort major these are the sort he kept saying with a thousand of these we could stand up to s best how do they run asked the major a poor show said he but they may into the great shadow etc the great shadow shape the best men have been to america and we are full of and tut tut said the major we ll have old soldiers and good ones against us come to me if you need any help you two and so with a nod he left us and we began to understand that a major who is your officer is a very different person from

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a major who happens to be your neighbour in the country well well why should i trouble you with these things i could wear out a good pen just writing about what we did jim and i at the in and how we came to know our officers and our comrades and how they came to know us soon came the news that the folk of who had been cutting up europe as if it had been a of mutton had flown back each to his own country and that every man and horse in their armies had their faces towards france we heard of great and in paris too and then that was in the low countries and that on us and on the would fall the first blow the government was shipping men over to him as fast as they could and every port along the east coast was choked with guns and horses and stores on the third of june we had our marching orders also and on the same night we took ship from reaching the night after it was my first sight of a foreign land and indeed most of my comrades the same for we were very young in the ranks i can see the blue waters now and the curling surf line and the long yellow beach and queer twisting and turning â a thing that a man would not see from one the gathering of the nations end of scotland to the other it was a clean well kept town but the folk were under sized and there was neither ale no cakes to be bought amongst them from there we went on to a place called and from there to where we picked up with the nd and the th which were two that we were with it s a wonderful place for churches and is and indeed of all the towns we were in there was scarce one but had a finer than any in from there we pushed on to which is a little village on a river or a burn rather called the there we were â in tents mostly for it was fine sunny weather â and the whole set to work at its from morning till evening general was our chief and was our colonel and they were both fine old soldiers but what put heart into us most was to think that we were under the duke for his name was like a call he was it with the bulk of the army but we knew that we should see him quick enough if he were needed i had never seen so many english together and indeed i had a kind of contempt for them as folk always have if they live near a border but the two that were with us now were as good comrades as could be the nd had a thousand men in the ranks and there were many old soldiers of the among them they came from for the most part the th were a rifle regiment and had dark green coats instead of red it was strange to see them for they would put the ball into a greasy rag and then hammer it down with a but they i loo great shadow could fire both further and than we all that part of was covered with british troops at that time for the guards were over near and there were cavalry on the further side of us you ee it was very necessary that should spread out all his force for was behind the screen of his and of course we had no means of saying on what side he might pop out except that he was pretty sure to come the way that we least expected him on the one side he might get between us and the sea and so cut us off from england and on the other he might in between the and ourselves but the duke was as clever as he for he had his horse and his light troops all round him like a great spider s web so that the moment a french foot stepped across the border he could close up all his men at the right place for myself i was very happy at and i found the folk very kindly and homely there was a farmer of the name of in whose fields we were and who was a real good friend to many of us we built him a wooden bam among us in our spare time and many a time i and my rear rank man have hung out his washing for the smell of the wet linen seemed to take us both straight home as nothing â could do i have often wondered whether that good man and his wife are still living though i think it hardly likely for they were of a hale middle age at the time jim would come with us too sometimes and would sit with us smoking in the big kitchen but he was a different jim now to the old one he had always had a hard touch in him but now his trouble i the gathering of the nations loi seemed to have turned him to flint and i never saw a smile upon his face seldom heard a word from liis lips whole mind was set on himself upon de for having taken from him and he would sit for hours with his chin upon his hands glaring and frowning all wrapped in the one idea this made him a bit of a butt among the men at first and they laughed at him for it but when they came to know him better they found that he was not a good man to laugh at and then they dropped it we were early at that time and the whole was usually under arms at the

3Edith Wharton

first flush of dawn one morning â it was the sixteenth of june â we had just formed up and general had ridden up to give some order to colonel within a of where i stood when suddenly they both stood staring along the road none of us dared move our heads but every eye in the regiment round and there we saw an officer with the of a general s de camp thundering down the road as hard as a great grey horse could carry him he bent his face over its mane and at its neck with the slack of the bridle as though he rode for very life says the general this begins to look like business what do you make of it they both their horses forward and tore open the which the messenger handed to him the had not touched the ground before he turned waving the letter over his head as if it had been a dismiss he cried general parade and march in half an hour i the great shadow then in an instant all was and bustle and the news on every lip napoleon had crossed the frontier the day before had pushed the before him and was already deep in the country to the east of us with a hundred and fifty thousand men away we to gather our things together and have our breakfast and in an hour we had marched off and left and the behind us for ever there was good need for haste for the had sent no news to of what was doing and though he had rushed from at the first whisper of it like a good old from its it was hard to see how he could come up in time to help the it was a bright warm morning and as the down the broad road the dust rolled up from it like the smoke of a battery i tell you that we blessed the man that planted the along the sides for their shadow was better than drink to us over across the fields both to the right and the left were other roads one quite close and the other a mile or more fi om us a column of was marching down the near one and it was a fair race between us for we were each walking for all we were worth there was such a wreath of dust round them that we could only see the gun barrels and the bear skins breaking out here and there with the head and shoulders of a mounted officer coming out above the cloud and the flutter of the colours it was a of the guards but we could not tell which for we had two of them with us in the campaign on the far road there was also dust and to spare but through it there flashed every now and then a long twinkle of brightness like a hundred silver beads the gathering of the nations io in a line and the breeze brought down such a kind of music as i had never listened to if i had been left to myself it would have been long before i knew what it was but our and were all old soldiers and i had one along with his at my elbow who was full of and advice that s heavy horse said he you see that double twinkle that means they have as well as it s the or the or the household you can hear their and the french are too good for us they have ten to our one and good men too you ve got to shoot at their faces or else at their horses mind you that when you see them coming or else you ll find a four foot sword stuck through your liver to teach you better hark hark hark there s the old music again and as he spoke there came the low grumbling of a away somewhere to the east of us deep and hoarse like the roar of some blood beast that on the lives of men at the same instant there was a shouting of from behind and somebody roared let the guns get through looking back i saw the rear companies split suddenly in two and themselves down on either side into the ditch while six cream coloured horses galloping two and two with their to the ground came thundering through the gap with a fine twelve pound gun whirling and creaking behind them behind were another and another four and twenty in all past us with such a din and clatter the blue men clinging on i the great shadow to the gun and the the drivers cursing and their the flying the and and the whole air filled with the heavy and the of chains there was a roar from the and a shout from the and we saw a rolling grey cloud before us with a score of breaking through the shadow then we closed up again while the growling ahead of us grew louder and deeper than ever there s three there said the there s bull s and smith s but the other is new there s some more on ahead of us for here is the track of a nine and the others were all choose a twelve if you want to get hit for a nine you up but a twelve you like a and then he went on to tell about the dreadful wounds that he had seen until my blood ran like water in my veins and you might have rubbed all our faces in and we should have been no aye you ll look yet when you get a of into your said he and then as i saw some of the old soldiers laughing i began to understand that this man was trying to frighten us so i

3Edith Wharton