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began to laugh also and the others as well but it was not a very hearty laugh either the sun was almost above us when we stopped at a little place called where there is an old pump from which drew and drank a full of water â and never did a of scotch ale taste as sweet more guns passed us here and s three of them smart men with brown horses a treat to the eye the noise of the was louder the gathering of the nations io ban ever now and it through my nerves just as had done years before when with by my side had seen the merchant ship fight with the l was so loud now that it seemed to me that the battle lust be going on just beyond the nearest wood but my the knew better it s twelve to fifteen mile off said he you may e sure the general knows we are not wanted or we not be resting here at what he said proved to be true for a minute later own came the colonel with orders that we should pile and where we were and there we stayed day while horse and foot and guns english dutch nd were streaming through the went on till evening sometimes rising into a roar sinking into a until about eight clock in the evening it stopped altogether we were our hearts out as you may think to know what all meant but we knew that what the duke did be for the best so we just waited in patience next day the remained at in the but about mid day came an orderly from the duke nd we pushed on once more until we came to a little called something and there we stopped nd time too for a sudden broke over us nd a plump of rain that turned all the roads and the into and mire we got into the at this for shelter and there we found two â â ne from a regiment and the other a man of the german who had a tale to tell that was as as the weather had the the day before i the great shadow and our fellows had been sore put to it to hold their own against but had beaten him off at last it seems an old stale story to you now but you cannot think how we scrambled round those two men in the barn pushed and fought just to catch a word of what they said and how those who had heard were in turn by those who had not we laughed and cheered and groaned all in turn as we heard how the th had received cavalry in line how the dutch had fled and how the black watch had taken the into their square and then had killed them at their leisure but the had had the laugh on their side when they up the th and carried off one of the colours to it all up the duke was in retreat in order to keep in touch with the and it was that he would take up his ground and fight a big battle just at the very place where we had been halted and soon we saw that this was true for the weather cleared towards evening and we were all out on the ridge to see what we could see it was such a stretch of corn and land with the crops just half green and half yellow and fine as high as a man s shoulder a scene more full of peace you could not think of and look where you would over the low corn covered hills you could see the little village up their among the s but right across this pretty picture was a long trail of marching men â some red some green some blue some black â over the plain and choking the roads one end so close that we could shout to them as they their on the the shadow on the land io ridge at our left and the other end lost among the woods as far as we could see and then on other roads we saw the of horses toiling and the dull gleam of the guns and the men straining and swaying as they helped to turn the in tl e deep deep mud as we stood there regiment after regiment and after took position on the ridge and ere the sun had set we lay in a line of over sixty thousand men napoleon s way to but the rain had come down again and we of the st rushed off to our barn once more where we had better quarters than the greater part of our comrades who lay stretched in the mud with the storm beating upon them until the first peep of day chapter xii the shadow on the land it was still in the morning with brown drifting clouds and a damp chilly wind it was a queer thing for me as i opened my eyes to think that i should be in a battle that day though none of us ever thought it would be such a one as it proved to be we were up and ready however with the first light and as we threw open the doors of our bam we heard the most lovely music that i had ever listened to playing somewhere in the distance we all stood in clusters to it it was so sweet and innocent and sad like but our laughed when he saw how it pleased us all them are the french bands said he and if you t the great shadow come out here you ll see what some of you may not live to see again out we went the beautiful music still sounding in our ears and stood on a rise

3Edith Wharton

just outside the down below at the bottom of the slope about half a shot from us was a snug farm with a hedge and a bit of an apple orchard all round it a line of men in red coats and high fur hats were working like bees knocking holes in the wall and up the doors them s the light companies of the guards said the they ll hold that farm while one of them can wag a finger but look over yonder and you ll see the camp fires of the french we looked across the valley at the low ridge upon the further side and saw a thousand little yellow points of flame with the dark smoke up slowly in the heavy air there was another farm house on the further side of the valley and as we looked we suddenly saw a little group of appear on a beside it and stare across at us there were a dozen behind and in front five men three with one with a long straight red feather in his hat and the last with a low cap by god cried the that s him i that s the one with the grey horse aye i ll lay a month s pay on it i strained my eyes to see him this man who had cast that great shadow over europe which darkened the nations for five and twenty years and which had even fallen across our out of the world little sheep and had dragged us all â myself and jim â out of the shadow on land the lives that our folk had lived before us as far as i could see he was a square shouldered kind of man and he held his double glasses to his eyes with his elbows spread very wide out on each side i was still staring when i heard the catch of a man s breath by my side and there was jim with his eyes glowing uke two coals and his face thrust over my shoulder that s he he whispered yes that s said i no no it s he this de or de or whatever his devil s name is it is he then i saw him at once it was the with the high red feather in his hat even at that distance i could have sworn to the slope of his shoulders and the way he carried his head i clapped my hands upon jim s sleeve for i could see that his blood was boiling at the sight of the man and that he was ready for any madness but at that moment seemed to lean over and say something to de and the party wheeled and dashed away while there came the pang of a gun and a white spray of smoke from a battery along the ridge at the same instant the assembly was blown in our village and we rushed for our arms and fell in there was a burst of firing all along the hue and we thought that the battle had begun but it came really from our fellows cleaning their pieces for their was in some danger of being wet from ihe damp night from where we stood it was a sight now that was worth coming over the seas to see on our own ridge was the of red and blue stretching right i i o the great shadow away to a village over two miles from us it was whispered from man to man in the ranks however that there was too much of the blue and too little of the red for the had shown on the day before that their hearts were too soft for the work and we had twenty thousand of them for comrades then even our british troops were half made up of and for the pick of the old were on the ocean in coming back from some fool s quarrel with our of america but for all that we could see the of the guards two strong of them and the of the and the blue of the old german and the red lines of pack s and s and the green dotted in front and we knew that come what might these were men who would bide where they were placed and that they had a man to lead them who would place them where they should bide of the french we had seen little save the twinkle of their fires and a few here and there upon the curves of the ridge but as we stood and waited there came suddenly a grand from their bands and their whole army came over the low hill which had hid them after and division after division until the broad slope in its whole length and depth was blue with their and bright with the of their weapons it seemed that they would never have done still pouring over and pouring over while our men leaned on their and smoked their pipes looking down at this grand gathering and listening to what the old soldiers who had the shadow on the land ill the french before had to say about them then hen the had formed in long deep masses guns came whirling and bounding down the slope nd it was pretty to see how they nd were ready for action and then at a stately trot own came the cavalry thirty at the least ith and twinkling sword and lance forming up at the and rear in long lifting glimmering lines them s the cried our old they re to fight they are and you see them with the great high hats in the middle a bit the farm that s the guard twenty thousand f them my sons and all picked men â grey headed evils that have done nothing but fight since they were s high as

3Edith Wharton

my they ve three men to our two nd two guns to our one and by god they ll make ou wish you were back in street be re they have finished with you he was not a cheering man our but then e had been in every fight since and had a with seven upon his breast so that he ad a right to talk in his own fashion when the had all arranged themselves ist out of cannon shot we saw a small group of a in a blaze with silver and scarlet and gold de swiftly between the divisions and as they went a ar of cheering burst out from either side of them nd we could see arms outstretched to them and waving an instant later the noise had died way and the two armies stood facing each other in deadly silence â a sight which often comes the great shadow back to me in my dreams then of a sudden there was a among the men just in front of us a thin column wheeled off from the dense blue and swinging up towards the farm house which lay below us it had not taken fifty paces before a gun out from an english battery on our left and the battle of had begun it is not for me to try to tell you the story of that battle and indeed i should have kept far enough away from such a thing had it not happened that our own those of the three simple folk who came from the border country were all just as much mixed up in it as those of any king or emperor of them all to tell the honest truth i have learned more about that battle from what i have read than from what i saw for how much could i see with a comrade on either side and a great white at the very end of my it was from books and the talk of others that i learned how the heavy cavalry charged how they rode over the famous and how they were cut to pieces before they could get back from them too i learned all about the successive and how the fled and how pack and stood firm but of my own knowledge i can only speak of what we saw during that long day in the of the smoke and the of the firing and it is just of that that i will tell you ave were on the right of the line and in reserve for the duke was afraid that might work round on that side and get at him from behind so our three i with another british and the were placed there to be ready for anything the shadow on the land i ij there were two of light cavalry too but the french attack was all from the front so it was late in the day before we were really wanted the english battery which fired the first gun was still away on our left and a german one was hard at work upon our right so that we were round with the smoke but we were not so hidden as to screen us from a line of french guns opposite for a score of shot came through the air and right into the heart of us as i heard the scream of them past my ear my head went down like a but our gave me a in the back with the handle of his don t be so polite said he when you re hit you can bow once and for all there was one of those balls that knocked five men into a bloody and i saw it lying on the ground afterwards like a crimson another went through the s horse with a like a stone in the mud broke its back and left it lying like a burst three more fell further to the right and by the stir and cries we could tell that they had all told ah james you ve lost a good says major reed just in front of me looking down at the whose boots and breeches were all running with blood i gave a cool fifty for him in said the other don t you think major that the men had he down now that the guns have got our range tut said the other they are young james and it will do them good they ll get enough of it before the day s done the etc tke great shadow grumbled the other but at that moment colonel saw that the and the nd were down on either side of us so we had the order to stretch ourselves out too precious glad we were when we hear the shot like hungry dogs within a few feet of our backs even now a and a splash every minute or so with a of pain and a of boots upon the ground told us that we were still losing heavily a thin rain was falling and the damp air held the smoke low so that we could only catch glimpses of what was doing just in front of us though the roar of the guns told us that the battle was general all along the lines four hundred of them were all crashing at once now and the noise was enough to split the drum of your ear indeed there was not one of us but had a singing in his head for many a long day afterwards just opposite us on the slope of the hill was a french gun and we could see the men serving her quite plainly they were small active men with very tight breeches and high hats with great straight sticking up from them but they worked like sheep and and training there were fourteen when i saw them first and only

3Edith Wharton

four left standing at the last but they were working away just as hard as ever the farm that they called was down in front of us and all the morning we could see that a terrible fight was going on there for the walls and the windows and the orchard hedges were all flame and smoke and there rose such shrieking and crying from it as i never heard before it was half burned down the shadow on the land i ind shattered with balls and ten thousand men w ere at the gates but four hundred it in the morning and two hundred held it in the and no french foot was ever set within its but how they fought those i their were no more to them than the mud under heir feet there was one â i can see him now â a ruddy man on a he up alone q a lull of the firing to the side gate of ind he beat upon it screaming to his men to come him for five minutes he stood there strolling in front of the gun barrels which spared him but it last a in the orchard ut his brains with a rifle shot and he was only one f many for all day when they did not come in masses hey came in and with as brave a face as f the whole army were at their heels so we lay all morning looking down at the fight at but soon the duke saw that there was to fear upon his right and so he began to use is in another way the french had pushed their past the arm and they lay among the young corn in front of is at the so that three pieces out of ix on our left were lying with their men in he mud all round them but the duke had his eyes everywhere and up he galloped at that moment â a bin dark man with very bright eyes a lose and big on his cap there were a dozen â at his heels all as merry as if it were a but of the dozen there was not one left in the i the great shadow work said he as he rode up very warm your grace said our general but we can them at it i think tut tut we cannot let silence a battery just drive those fellows out of that then first i knew what a devil s thrill runs through a man when he is given a bit of fighting to do up to now we had just lain and been killed which is the kind of work now it was our turn and my word we were ready for it up we jumped the whole in a four deep line and rushed at the as hard as we could tear the snapped at us as we came and then away they bolted like their heads down their backs rounded and their at the trail half of them got away but we caught up the others the officer first for he was a very fat man who could not run fast it gave me quite a turn when i saw rob on my right stick his into the man s broad back and heard him howl like a damned soul there was no quarter in that field and it was butt or point for all of them the men s blood was and little wonder for these had been all morning without our j being able so much as to see them â and now as we broke through the further edge of the we got in front of the smoke and there was the whole french army in position before us only two meadows and a narrow lane between us we set up a yell as we saw them and away we should have gone slap at them if we had been left to our i selves for silly young soldiers never think that harm can come to them until it is there in their midst but the shadow on the land i j the duke had his horse beside us as we advanced and now he roared something to the general and the officers all rode in front of our line holding out their arms for us to stop there was a blowing â f a pushing and with the cursing and digging us with their and in less lime than it takes me to write it there was the in three neat little squares all with and in as they call it so that each could fire across the face of the other it was the saving of us as even so young a soldier as i was could very easily see and we had none too much time either there was a low rolling hill on our right flank and behind this there came a sound like nothing on this earth so much as the beat of the waves on the coast when the wind blows from the east the earth was all shaking with that dull roaring sound and the air was full of it steady st for god s sake steady shrieked the voice of our colonel behind us but in front was nothing but the green gentle slope of the all with and and then suddenly over the curve we saw eight hundred brass rise up all in a moment each with a long of flying from its crest and then eight hundred fierce brown faces all pushed forward and glaring out from between the ears of as many horses there was an instant of gleaming waving swords tossing fierce red nostrils opening and shutting and hoofs the air before us and then down came the line of and our up against their like the clatter i the great shadow of a upon a window i

3Edith Wharton

fired with the rest and then down another charge as fast as i could staring out through the smoke in front of me where i could see some long thin thing which slowly backwards and forwards a sounded for us to cease firing and a of wind came to clear the curtain from in front of us and then we could see what had happened i had expected to see half that regiment of horse lying on the ground but whether it was that their had them or whether being young and a little shaken at their coming we had fired high our had done no very great harm about thirty horses lay about three of them together within ten yards of me the middle one right on its back with its four legs in the air and it was one of these that i had seen flapping through the smoke then there were eight or ten dead men and about as many wounded sitting dazed on the grass for the most part though one was shouting i at the top of his voice another fellow who had been shot in the â a great black chap he was too â leaned his back against his dead horse and picking up his fired as coolly as if he had been shooting for a prize and hit who was only two from me right through the forehead then he out with his hand to get another that lay near but before he could reach it big who was the man of the company ran out and passed his through his throat which was a pity for he seemed to be a very fine man at first i thought that the had run away â â v â r a i â â â â â r i o r ot ev â â r y m t ti i â â tor v ce ind â iâ r f the great shadow who was the youngest in the regiment ran out from the square and pulled down the but quick as a jack after a a came flying over the ridge and he made such a thrust from behind that not only his point but his too came out between the second and third buttons of the lad s he shouted and fell dead on his face while the blown half to pieces with balls over beside him still holding on to his weapon so that they lay together with that dreadful bond still connecting them but when the battery opened there was no time for us to think of anything else a square is a very good way of meeting a but there is no worse one of taking a cannon ball as we soon learned when they began to cut red through us until our ears were weary of the and splash when hard iron met living flesh and blood after ten minutes of it we moved our square a hundred paces to the right but we left another square behind us for a hundred and twenty men and seven officers showed where we had been standing then the guns found us out again and we tried to open out into line but in an instant the â they were this time â were upon us from over the i tell you we were glad to hear the of their hoofs for we knew that that must stop the cannon for a minute and give us a chance of back and we hit back pretty hard too that time for we were cold and vicious and savage and i for one felt that i cared no more for the than if they had been so many sheep on one gets past being afraid ip the ov till â t or thinking of one s ot t r â â feel that you want tc vm â i have gone through hi i â â â i that time for hey r ii n â â them and we se r â i â r at a mi f rt m i mothers weeping for f iâ w have felt so pleased oi er i hot brutes when hey are p â â as two bull when got then the did a e v that this would the he wheeled us into line pot n hollow out of reach of the gun â again this gave us time to â â too for the regiment had â â in the sun but â â â deal worse for some of â â dutch were thousand of th in our line pleased them too and o â â had been â â with us or â â â â â soaked r ir â was firm bound â â â â â i r â â f â â â â â â â â â râ the great shadow it was little we could see of the battle but a man would be blind not to know that all the fields behind us were covered with fl men but then though we on the right wing knew nothing of it the had begun to show and napoleon had set of his men to face them which made up for ours that had bolted and left us much as we began that was all dark to us however and there was a time when the french had in between us and the rest of the army that we thought we were the only left standing and had set our teeth with the intention of selling our lives as dearly as we could at that time it was between four and five in the afternoon and we had had nothing to eat the most of us since the night before and were soaked with rain into the bargain it had off and on all day but for the last few hours we

3Edith Wharton

had not had a thought to spare either upon the weather or our hunger now we began to look round and our waist and ask who was hit and who was spared i was glad to see jim with his face all blackened with powder standing on my right rear leaning on his he saw me looking at him and shouted out to know if i were hurt all right jim i answered i fear tm here on a wild goose chase said he gloomily but it s not over yet by god til have him or he ll have me he had so much on his wrong had poor jim that i really believe that it had turned his head for he had a glare in his eyes as he spoke that was hardly human he was always a man that took even the shadow on the land i a little thing to heart and since had left him i am sure that he was no longer his own master it was at this of the fight that we saw two single fi ts which they tell me were common enough in the battles of old before men were trained in masses as we lay in the hollow two came along the ridge right in fix nt of us riding as hard as could rattle the first was an english his face right down on his horse s mane with a french an old grey headed fellow thundering behind him on a big black mare our set up a as they came flying on for it seemed shame to see an run like that but as they swept across our front we saw where the trouble lay the had dropped his sword and was while the other was pressing him so close that he could not get a weapon at last stung maybe by our he made up his mind to chance it his eye fell on a lance beside a dead frenchman so he his horse to let the other pass and off cleverly enough he hold of it but the other was too for him and was on him like a shot the thrust up i ith the lance but the other it and him through the shoulder blade it was all done in an instant and the frenchman his horse up the showing his teeth at us over his shoulder like a dog that was one to them but we one for us presently they had pushed forward a line whose fire was towards the on our right and left rather than on us but we sent out two companies of the th to keep them in check it was v i th great shadow hear the kind of noise that they made for both sides were using the rifle an officer stood among the french â a tall lean man with a mantle over his shoulders â and as our fellows came forward he ran out between the two parties and stood as a would with his sword up and his head back i can see him now with his lowered eyelids and the kind of sneer that he had upon his face on this the of the who was a fine well grown lad ran forward and drove full at him with one of the queer crooked swords that the carry they came together like two â for each ran for the other â and down they tumbled at the shock but the frenchman was below our man broke his sword short off and took the other s blade through his left arm but he was the stronger man and he managed to let the life out of his enemy with the jagged stump of his blade i thought that the french would have shot him down but not a was drawn and he got back to his company with one sword through his arm and half of another in his hand chapter xiii the end of the storm of all the things that seem strange in that battle now that i look back upon it there is nothing that was than the way in which it acted on my comrades for some took it as though it had been their daily meat without question or change and others out prayers from the first to the last and again cursed and swore in a way that was to â â â ft â s v t â â â â â â â â â r â l â â â â f r v r i r i r i â he er r r i r v i â â j â iii l â n f â â â i â â it ik t ir j i i â li r i ii e s i u u j or wo i n i r r i iâ mâ â â â ix i tt i â a â j ii â ri â â â i â â â â t ii â â â w â i l i t li i i r t v m r r m â â â â â â v â mt j â i i ⠞ â i r s r u r r l l â â â â â â i ki o i i r t i r t v l f u l j t â â â â â a â â i v â â i i â i it r â ii ij â â â â â â â t i u ii i t r i j i i i i â â â â â â â â â â â r ij ii i j v t v â â v â â â x t i â j i â â â â â â s i

3Edith Wharton

â jâ j i â the great shadow which made the din of the earlier part seem nothing in comparison it might well be twice as loud for every battery was twice as near being moved right up to point blank range with huge masses of horse between and behind them to guard them from attack when that devil s roar burst upon our ears there was not a man down to the boys who did not understand what it meant it was napoleon s last great effort to crush us there were but two more hours of light and if we could hold our own for those all would be well starved and weary and spent we prayed that we might have strength to load and and fire while a man of us stood upon his feet his cannon could do us no great hurt now for we were on our faces and in an instant we could turn into a of if his horse came down again but behind the thunder of the guns there rose a noise and rattling the wildest most stirring kind of sound it s the pas de charge cried an officer they mean business this time and as he spoke we saw a strange thing a frenchman dressed as an officer of came galloping towards us on a little bay horse he was le le at the pitch of his lungs which was as much as to say that he was a since we were for the king and they for the emperor as he passed us he roared out in english the guard is coming the guard is coming and so vanished away to the rear like a leaf blown before a storm at the same instant up there rode an de camp with the face i ever saw upon mortal man the end of the you must stop em or we are done he cried to general so that all our company could hear him how is it going asked the general two weak left out of six of said he and began to laugh like a man whose nerves are perhaps you would care to join in our advance pray consider yourself quite one of us said the general bowing and smiling as if he were asking him to a dish of tea i shall have much pleasure said the other taking off his hat and a moment afterwards our three closed up and the advanced in four lines over the hollow where we had lain in square and out beyond to the point whence we had seen the french army there was little of it to be seen now only the red of the guns flashing quickly out of the and the black figures â stooping straining â working hke devils and at devilish work but through the cloud that rattle and rose ever louder and louder with a deep mouthed shouting and the stamping of thousands of feet then there came a broad black through the haze which darkened and hardened until we could see that it was a hundred men abreast marching swiftly towards us with high for hats upon their heads and a gleam of their brow and behind that hundred came another and behind that another and on and â ua ut of the cannon smoke like a until e seemed to be no end to the m c fo fan a spray of â k the great shadow and behind them the and up they i came together at a kind of step with tl officers thickly at the sides and waving the swords and cheering there were a dozen men too at their front all shouting together and oi with his hat held aloft upon his i si again that no men upon this earth could have more than the french did upon that day it was wonderful to see them for as they can they got ahead of their own guns so that the had no longer any help from them while they got front of the two which had been on either of us all day every gun had their range to a and we saw long red lines right down the column as it advanced so near were they and i closely did they march that every shot ten of them and yet they closed up and came with a swing and dash that was fine to see their was turned straight for ourselves while the th them on one side and the nd on the other i shall always think that if we had waited so tl guard would have broken us for how could a four line stand against such a column but at that the colonel of the nd swung his right round so as to bring it on the side of the column brought the to a halt their front line w forty paces from us at the moment and we had a go look at them it was funny to me to remember that had always thought of as small men f there was not one of that first company who could n have picked me up as if i had been a child and th great hats made them look taller yet they were hai the end of the storm fellows too with fierce eyes and old soldiers who had fought and fought week in week out for many a year and then as i stood with my finger upon the waiting for the word to fire my eye fell full upon the mounted officer with his hat upon his sword and i saw that it was de i saw it and jim did too i heard a shout and saw him rush forward madly at the french column and as quick as thought the whole took their cue from him officers and all and flung themselves upon the guard in front while our

3Edith Wharton

comrades charged them on the we had been waiting for the order and they all thought now that it had been given but you may take my word for it that jim was the real leader of the when we charged the old guard god knows what happened during that mad five minutes i remember putting my against a blue coat and the and that the man could not fall because he was so in the crowd but i saw a horrid upon the cloth and a thin curl of smoke from it as if it had taken fire then i found myself thrown up against two big and so squeezed together the three of us that we could not raise a weapon one of them a fellow with a very large nose got his hand up to my throat and i felt that i was a chicken in his grasp r said he and then suddenly doubled up with a scream for had him in the with a there was very little firing after the first but there was the crash of butt against the shadow i the great shadow barrel the short cries of stricken men and the roaring of the officers and then suddenly they began to give ground â slowly sullenly step by step but still to give ground ah it was worth all that we had gone through die thrill of that moment when we felt that they were going to break there was one frenchman before me a sharp faced dark eyed man who was and firing as quietly as if he were at practice dwelling upon his aim and looking round first to try and pick an officer i remember that it struck me that to kill so cool a man as that would be a good service and i rushed at him and drove my into him he turned as i struck him and fired full into my face and the bullet left a across my cheek which will mark me to my d day i tripped over him as he fell and two others tumbling over me i was half smothered â in the heap when at last i struggled out and cleared my eyes which were half full of powder i saw that the column had fairly broken and was into groups of men who were either running for their lives or were fighting back to back in a vain attempt to check the which was still sweeping my face felt as if a red hot iron had been laid across it but t had the use of my limbs so jumping over the litter of dead and men i after my regiment and fell in upon the right flank old major was there along for his horse had been shot but none the worse in he saw me come up and nodded but it was too busy a time for words the was still advancing but the general rode in front of me with his chin upon his shoulder looking back at the british position the end of the storm i i there is no general advance said he but i m not going back the duke of has won a great victory cried the de camp in a solemn voice and then his feelings getting the better of him he added if the damned fool would only push on â which set us all laughing in the flank company but now anyone could see that the french array was breaking up the columns and which had stood so all day were now all ragged at the edges and where there had been thick of in front there were now a spray of in the rear the guard out in front of us as we pushed on and we found twelve guns looking us in the face but we were over them in a moment and i saw our youngest next to him who had been killed by the great s with a lump of chalk upon them like the that he was it was at that moment that we heard a roar of cheering behind us and saw the whole british army flood over the crest of the ridge and come pouring down upon the bâ of thâ r enemies the guns too came bounding and rattling forward and our light cavalry â as much as was left of it â kept pace with our upon the right there was no battle after that the advance went on without a check until our army stood lined upon the very ground which the french had held in the morning their guns were ours their foot were a spread over the face of the country and their gallant cavalry alone was able to preserve some sort of order and to draw off unbroken from the field then at last just as the night began to gather our the great shadow weary and starving men were able to let the take the job over and to pile their arms upon the ground that they had won that was as much as i saw or can tell you about the battle of except that i ate a two pound loaf for my supper that night with as much salt meat as they would let me have and a good of red wine until i had to bore a new hole at the end of my belt and then it fitted me as tight as a to a ban el after that i lay down in the straw where the rest of the company were and in less than a minute i was in a dead sleep the v â day was iii to steal un i li v of our bam iii u iâ and up i t ui ji i o i lu wa it ai ti the wall as o i i where i wai h i i car vol

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t i i i stared i r wa i out that had lu race war ve grave and slips of paper and ii wake up said the major quite ir hi ou fashion as if we were on â â â â major i want you to come me i fee tha râ w something to two lads for i was i took from homes is i e a start at that f r what with tho i the hunger and the weariness i had cr vn thought to my friend since the time that ho at the french guards with the whole top at heels i am going out now to take a ot li iâ â â said the major and if you to t n o ni i should be veiy glad to have o t great shadow so off we set the major the two and i and oh but it was a dreadful dreadful sight â so much so that even now after so many years i had rather say as little of it as possible it was bad to see in the heat of fight but now in the cold morning with no cheer or drum tap or all the glory had gone out of it and it was just one huge butcher s shop where poor devils had been and burst and smashed as though we had to make a mock of god s image there on the ground one could read every stage of yesterday s fight â the dead that lay in squares and the fringe of dead that had charged them and above on the slope the dead who lay round their broken piece the guards column had left a streak right up the field like the trail of a and at the head of it the blue coats were lying heaped upon the red ones where that fierce rug had been before they took their backward step and the very first thing that i saw when i got there was jim himself he was lying on the broad of his back his face turned up towards the sky and all the passion and the trouble seemed to have passed clean away from him so that he looked just like the old jim as i had seen him in his cot a hundred times when we were together i had given a cry of grief at the sight of him but when i came to look again upon his face and to see how much happier he looked in death than i could ever have hoped to see him in life it was hard to mourn for him two french had passed through his chest and he had died in an instant and without pain if one could believe the smile upon his lips the of the major and i were raising his head in the hope that some flutter of life might remain when i heard a well remembered voice at my side and there was de leaning upon his elbow among a litter of dead he had a great blue coat muffled him and the hat with the high red was on the ground beside him he was very pale and had dark under his eyes but otherwise he was as he had ever been with the keen hungry nose the moustache and the close head away to upon the top his eyelids had always drooped but now one could hardly see the of his eyes from beneath them hold he cried i didn t thought to have seen you here and yet i might have known it too when i saw friend jim it is you that has brought all this trouble said i ta ta he cried in his old impatient fashion it is all arranged for us when i was in spain i learned to believe in fate it is fate which has sent you here this morning this man s blood lies at your door said i with my hand on poor jim s shoulder and mine on his so we have paid our debts he flung open his mantle as he spoke and i saw with horror that a great black lump of blood was hanging out of his side this is my and last said he with a smile they say that thirteen is an unlucky number could you spare me a drink from your the major had some brandy and water de i the great shadow it up eagerly his eyes brightened and a little of colour came back in each of his haggard cheeks it was jim did this said he i heard calling my name and there he was with his gun against my two of my men cut him down just as he fired well well was worth it all you will be in paris in less than a month and you will see her you will find her at no of the which is near to the break it very gently to her for you cannot think how she loved me tell her that all i have are in the two black trunks and that has the keys you will not forget i will remember and madame your mother i trust that you have left her very well and too your father bear them my distinguished regards even now as death closed in upon him he gave the old bow and wave as he sent his greetings to my mother surely said i your wound may not be so serious as you think i could bring the surgeon of our regiment to you my dear i have not been giving and taking wounds this fifteen years without knowing when one has come home but it is as well for i know that all is ended for my little man and i had rather go with my than remain to be an exile and a besides it is

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quite certain that the would have shot me so i have saved myself from that humiliation the sir said the major with some heat would be guilty of no such barbarous action but de shook his head with the same sad smile the of death you do not know major said he do you suppose that i should have fled to scotland and changed my name if i had not more to fear than my comrades who remained in paris i was anxious to live for was sure that my little man would come back now i had rather die for he will never lead an army again but i have done things that could not be forgiven it was i that led the party which took and shot the due d it was i ah mon ma ch he threw out both his hands with all the fingers feeling and quivering in the air then he let them drop heavily in front of him and his chin fell forward his chest one of our laid him gently down and the other stretched the big blue mantle over him and so we left those two whom fate had so strangely brought together the and the frenchman silently and peacefully within hand s touch of each other upon the blood soaked near the great shadow chapter xv the end of it and now i have very nearly come to the end of it all and precious glad i shall be to find myself there for i began this old memory with a light heart thinking that it would give me some work for the long summer evenings but as i went on i a thousand sleeping sorrows and half forgotten and now my soul is all as raw as the hide of an ill sheep if i come safely out of it i will swear never to set pen to paper again for it is so easy at first like walking into a stream and then before you can look round you are your feet and down in a hole and can struggle out as best you may we buried jim and de with four hundred and thirty one others of the french guards and our own light in a single ah if you could sow a brave man as you sow a seed there should be a fine crop of heroes up there some day then we left that bloody battle field behind us for ever and with our we marched on over the french border on our way to paris i had always been brought up during all these years to look upon the french as very evil folk and as we only heard of them in connection with and by land and by sea it was natural enough to think that they were vicious by nature and ill to meet with but then er all they had only heard of us in the same fashion and so no doubt they had just the end of it the same idea of us but when we came to go through their country and to see their little and the quiet folk at work in the fields and the women knitting by the roadside and the old with a big white the baby to teach it manners it was all so home uke that i could not think why it was that we had been and fearing these good people for so long but i suppose that in truth it was really the man who was over them that we hated and now that he was gone and his great shadow was cleared from the land all was brightness once more we along happily enough through the loveliest country that ever i set my eyes on until we came to the great city where we thought that maybe there would be a battle for there are so many folk in it that if only one in twenty comes out it would make a fine army but by that time they had seen that it was a pity to spoil the whole country just for the sake of one man and so they had told him that he must shift for himself in the future the next we heard was that he had surrendered to the british and that the gates of paris were open to us which was very good news to me for i could get along very well just on the one battle that i had had but there were plenty of folk in paris now who loved and that was natural when you think of the glory that he had brought them and how he had never asked his army to go where he would not go himself they had stem enough faces for us i can tell you when we marched in and we of were the very first who set foot in the city we passed over a bridge which they call which is easier i the great shadow to write than to say and through a fine park â the de and so into the there we and pretty soon the streets were so full of and english that it became more like a camp than a city the very first time that i could get away i went with rob of my company â for we were only allowed to go about in couples â to the rob waited in the hall and i was shown upstairs and as i put my foot over the mat there was cousin just the same as ever staring at me with those wild eyes of hers for a moment she did not recognise me but when she did she just took three steps forward and sprang at me with her two arms round my neck oh my dear old she cried how fine you look in a red coat yes i am a soldier now said i

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very stiffly for as i looked at her pretty face i seemed to see behind it that other face which had looked up to the morning sky on the battle field fancy that she cried what are you then a general a captain no i am a private what not one of the common people who carry guns yes i carry a gun oh that is not nearly so interesting said she and she went back to the sofa from which she had risen it was a wonderful room all silk and velvet and shiny things and i felt inclined to go back to give my boots another rub as sat down again i saw that the end of it i i she was all in black and so i knew that she had heard of de s death i am glad to see that you know all said i for i am a clumsy hand at breaking things he said that you were to keep whatever was in the boxes and that had the keys thank you thank you said she it was like your kindness to bring the message i heard of it nearly a week ago i was mad for the time â quite mad i shall wear mourning all my days although you can see what a fright it makes me look ah i shall never get over it i shall take the veil and die in a if you please madame said a maid looking in the count de wishes to see you my dear said jumping up this is very important i am so sorry to cut our chat short but i am sure that you will come to see me again will you not when i am less desolate and would you mind going out by the side door instead of the main one thank you you dear old you were always such a good boy and did exactly what you were told and that was the last that i was ever to see of cousin she stood in the sunlight with the old challenge in her eyes and flash of her teeth and so i shall always remember her shining and hke a drop of as i joined my comrade in the street below i saw a grand carriage and pair at the door and i knew that she had asked me to slip out so that her grand new friends might never know what common people she had been associated with in her the great childhood she had never asked for jim nor for my father and mother who had been so kind to her well it was just her way and she could no more help it than a rabbit can help its and yet it made me heavy hearted to think of it two months later i heard that she had married this same count de and she died in child bed a year or two later and as for us our work was done for the great shadow had been cleared away from europe and should no longer be thrown across the breadth of the lands over peaceful farms and little villages darkening the lives which should have been so happy i came back to after i had bought my discharge and there when my father died i took over the sheep farm and married dean of and have brought up seven children who are all taller than their father and take mighty good care that he shall not forget it but in the quiet peaceful days that pass now each as like the other as so many scotch i can hardly get the young folks to believe that even here we have had our romance when jim and i went a and the man with the cat s whiskers came up from the sea the end beyond the city chapter i the new comers if you please said the voice of a domestic from somewhere round the angle of the door number three is moving in two little old ladies who were sitting at either side of a table sprang to their feet with of interest and rushed to the window of the sitting room take care dear said one herself in the lace curtain don t let them see us no no we must not give them reason to say that their neighbours are inquisitive but i think that we are safe if we stand like this the open window looked out upon a sloping lawn well trimmed and pleasant with rose bushes and a star shaped bed of sweet william it was bounded by a low wooden fence which it off from a broad modem new road at the other side of this road were three large detached deep with and small wooden each standing beyond the city in its own little square of grass and of flowers all three were equally new but numbers one and two were and with a human look to them while number three with yawning door and garden had apparently only just received its furniture and made itself ready for its occupants a four had driven up to the gate and it was at this that the old ladies peeping out bird like from behind their curtains directed an eager and questioning gaze the had descended and the passengers within were handing out the articles which they desired him to carry up to the house he stood red faced and with his crooked arms outstretched while a male hand from the window kept up upon him a series of articles the sight of which filled the curious old ladies with bewilderment my goodness me cried the smaller the and the more of the pair what do you call that it looks to me like four those are what young men box each other vith said with a conscious air of superior worldly knowledge and those two great bottle shaped

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pieces of yellow shining wood had been heaped upon the oh i don t know what those are confessed indian clubs had never before themselves upon her peaceful and very feminine existence these mysterious articles were followed however by others which were more within their range of com the new comers â by a pair or dumb bells a purple a set of clubs and a finally when the all top heavy and had staggered off up the garden path there emerged in a very leisurely way from the cab a big powerfully built young man with a bull under one arm and a pink sporting paper in his hand the paper he crammed into the pocket of his light yellow dust coat and extended his hand as if to assist some one else from the vehicle to the surprise of the two old ladies however the only thing which his open palm received was a violent slap and a tall lady bounded out of the cab with a wave she the young man towards the door and then with one hand upon her hip she stood in a careless lounging attitude by the gate kicking her toe against the wall and awaiting the return of the driver as she turned slowly round and the sunshine struck upon her face the two were amazed to see that this very active and energetic lady was far from being in her first youth so far that she had certainly come of age again since she first passed that in hfe s journey her finely clean cut face with something red indian about the firm mouth and strongly marked cheek bones showed even at that distance traces of the of the passing years and yet she was very handsome her features were as firm in repose as those of a greek bust and her great dark eyes were arched over by two brows so black so thick and so delicately curved t the eye turned away from the details of the face to marvel at their grace and strength her figure too was straight as a the vo beyond the city dart a little perhaps but into magnificent outlines which were half concealed and half by the strange costume which she wore her hair black but shot with grey was brushed plainly back from her high forehead and was gathered under a small round felt hat like that of a man with one of feather in tlie band as a concession to her sex a double jacket of some dark like material fitted closely to her figure while her straight blue skirt and was cut so short that the lower curve of her finely turned legs was plainly visible beneath it in a pair of broad flat low and square shoes such was the lady who at the gate of number three under the curious eyes of her two opposite neighbours but if her conduct and appearance had already somewhat upon their limited and precise sense of the fitness of things what were they to think of the next little act in this the red and heavy had come back from his labours and held out his hand for his fare the lady passed him a coin there was a moment of and and suddenly she had him with both hands by the red which his neck and was shaking him as a would a rat right across the pavement she thrust him and pushing him up against the wheel she his head three several times against the side of his own vehicle can i be of any use to you aunt asked the large youth himself in the open doorway not the slightest panted the enraged lady the ice there you low that will teach you to be impertinent to a lady the looked helplessly about him with a bewildered questioning gaze as one to whom alone of all men this unheard of and extraordinary thing had happened then rubbing his head he mounted slowly on to the box and drove away with an hand appealing to the universe the lady smoothed down her dress pushed back her hair under her little felt hat and strode in through the hall door which was closed behind her as with a her short skirts vanished into the darkness the two spectators â miss and miss â sat looking at each other in speechless amazement for fifty years they had peeped through that little window and across that trim garden but never yet had such a sight as this come to confound them i wish said at last that we had kept the field i am sure i wish we had answered her sister chapter ii breaking the ice the cottage from the window of which the miss had looked out stands and has stood for many a year in that pleasant district which lies between and forest hill be fore there had been a thought of a there when the metropolis was still quite a distant thing old mr had inhabited the as the little house was called and had owned all the fields beyond the city about it six or eight such cottages scattered over a rolling country side were all the houses to be found there in the days when the century was young from afar when the breeze came from the north the dull low roar of the great city might be heard like the breaking of the tide of life while along the horizon might be seen the dim curtain of smoke the grim spray which that tide threw up gradually however as the years passed the city had thrown out a long brick here and there extending and until at last the little cottages had been round by these red and had been absorbed to make room for the modem villa field by field the estate of old mr had been sold to the and had borne rich crops

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of snug dwellings arranged in and tree lined avenues the father had passed away before his cottage was entirely round but his two daughters to whom the property had descended lived to see the last of country taken from them for years they had clung to the one field which faced their windows and it was only after much argument and many that they had at last consented that it should share the fate of the others a broad road was driven through their quiet domain the quarter was re named the wilderness and three square staring began to up on the other side with sore hearts the two shy little old maids watched their steady progress and as to what fashion of neighbours chance would bring into the little nook which had always been their own and at last they were all three finished wooden the ice and overhanging had been added to them so that in the language of the advertisement there were vacant three eligible built with sixteen rooms no electric bells hot aod cold water and every modem convenience including a common lawn to be let at loo a year or a i oo purchase so tempting an offer did not long remain open within a few weeks the card had vanished from number one and it was known that admiral hay v c c b with mrs hay and their only son were about to move into it the news brought peace to the hearts of the sisters they had lived with a settled conviction that some wild impossible colony some shouting singing family of would break in upon their peace this establishment at least was a reference to men of the time showed them that admiral hay was a most distinguished officer who had begun his active career at and had ended it at having managed between these two to see as much service as any man of his years from the and the to off there was no variety of naval work which did not appear in his record while the victoria cross and the for saving life for it that in peace as in war his courage was still of the same true temper clearly a very eligible neighbour this the more so as they had been assured by the estate agent that mr the son was a most quiet young gentleman and that he was busy from morning to night on the stock exchange the hay had hardly moved in before beyond the number two also struck its and again the ladies found that they had no reason to be discontented with their neighbours doctor was a very well known name in the medical world did not his his and the record of his writings fill a long half column in the medical from his first little paper on the in to s upon affections of the system in a successful medical career which promised to end in a of a college and a had been cut short by his sudden inheritance of a considerable sum from a grateful patient which had rendered him independent for life and had enabled him to turn his attention to the more scientific part of his profession which had always had a greater charm for him than its more practical and commercial aspect to this end he had given up his house in street and had taken this opportunity of moving himself his scientific instruments and his two charming daughters he had been a for some years into the more peaceful atmosphere of there was thus but one villa and it was no wonder that the two maiden ladies watched with a keen interest which deepened into a dire apprehension the curious incidents which the coming of the new tenants they had already learned from the agent that the family consisted of two only mrs a widow and her nephew charles how simple and how select it had sounded who could have foreseen from it these fearful which seemed to threaten violence and discord among breaking the ice i i the in the wilderness again the two om maids cried in chorus that they wished they had not sold their field well at least remarked as they sat over their that afternoon however strange these people may be it is our duty to be as polite to them as to the others most certainly her sister since we have called upon mrs hay and upon the miss we must call upon this mrs also certainly dear as long as they are living upon our land i feel as if they were in a guests and that it is our duty to welcome them then we shall call to morrow said with decision yes dear we shall but oh i wish it was over at four o clock on the next day the two maiden ladies set off upon their hospitable errand in their stiff dresses of black silk with jet and little rows of grey curls drooping down on either side of their black they looked hke two old fashion plates which had wandered off into the wrong half curious and half fearful they knocked at the door of number three which was instantly opened by a red headed page boy yes mrs was at home he ushered them into the front room furnished as a drawing room where in spite of the fine spring weather a large fire was burning in the grate the boy took their cards and then as they sat down together upon a he set their nerves in a thrill by darting behind a curtain beyond the city with a shrill cry and at something with his foot the bull which they had seen upon the day before bolted from its hiding place and from the room it wants to get at said the youth in a confidential whisper master says she would give him more n he brought he

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smiled at the two little stiff black figures and departed in search of his mistress what â what did he say gasped something about a oh goodness gracious oh oh merciful heavens oh help help help help the two sisters had bounded on to the and stood there with staring eyes and skirts gathered in while they filled the whole house with their out of a high work basket which stood by the fire there had risen a flat diamond shaped head with wicked green eyes which came flickering upwards waving gently from side to side a foot or more of glossy neck was visible slowly the vicious head came floating up while at every a fresh burst of shrieks came from the what in the name of mischief cried a voice and there was the mistress of the house standing in the doorway her gaze at first had merely taken in the fact that two strangers were standing screaming upon her red sofa a glance at the fireplace however showed her the cause of the terror and she burst into a hearty fit of laughter she shouted here s ff again i ll settle her answered a masculine voice and the the t young man dashed mr r s horse in his ana r e rf making it fast i its x r i her â tr is x â n â oh r â â â he sit r r have he iv â i he is i w rt e â she hat r r s hat on i i â r oh et k et w v â â â her inn â ir â â r t r r â z r n v h he â â â â â â i t r â â â â â â v â â â â â â â â â â r â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â j j c â â i â â â beyond the city we thought that perhaps we might be of some assistance said timidly if there is anything which we could do to make you feel more at home oh thank you i am too old a traveller to feel anything but at home wherever i go i ve just come back from a few months in the islands where i had a very pleasant visit that was where i got in many respects the islands now lead world dear me ejaculated miss in what respect in the relation of the sexes they have worked out the great problem upon their own lines and their isolated position has helped them to come to a conclusion of their own the woman there is as she should be in every way the absolute equal of the male come in charles and sit down is all right all right aunt these are our neighbours the perhaps they will have some stout you might bring in a couple of bottles charles no no thank you none for us cried her two visitors earnestly no i am sorry that i have no tea to offer you i look upon the of woman as largely due to her drinks and exercises to the male i do neither she picked up a pair of fifteen pound dumb bells from beside the fireplace and swung them lightly about her head you see what may be done on stout said she breaking the ice but don t you think the elder miss suggested timidly don t you think mrs that woman has a mission of her own the lady of the house dropped her dumb bells with a crash upon the floor the old cant she cried the old what is this mission which is reserved for woman all that is humble that is mean that is soul killing that is so contemptible and so ill paid that none other will touch it all that is woman s mission and who imposed these upon her who her up within this narrow sphere was it providence was it nature no it was the arch enemy it was man oh i say her nephew it was man charles it was you and your fellows i say that woman is a colossal monument to the selfishness of man what is all this boasted chivalry â these fine words and vague phrases where is it when we wish to put it to the test man in the abstract will do anything to help a woman of course how does it work when his pocket is touched where is his chivalry then will the doctors help her to will the lawyers help her to be called to the bar will the clergy her in the church oh it is close your ranks then and refer poor woman to her mission her mission to be thankful for and not to interfere with the men while they for gold like swine round a that is man s reading of the mission of women you may sit there and sneer charles while you look upon your victim but you know that it is truth every word of it terrified as they were by this sudden torrent of beyond the words the two could not but smile at the sight of the fiery victim and the big representative of mankind who sat meekly bearing all the sins of his sex the lady struck a match whipped a from a case upon the and began to draw the smoke into her lungs i find it very soothing when my nerves are at all ruffled she explained you don t smoke ah you miss one of the purest of pleasures â one of the few pleasures which is without a reaction miss smoothed out her black silken lap it is a pleasure she said with some approach to which and i are rather too old fashioned to

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enjoy no doubt it would probably make you very ill if you attempted it by the way i hope that you will come to some of our meetings i shall see that tickets are sent you your it is not yet formed but i shall lose no time in forming a committee it is my habit to establish a branch of the wherever i go there is a mrs in who is already one of the so that i have a it is only by organized resistance miss that we can hope to hold our own against the selfish sex must you go then yes we have one or two other visits to pay said the elder sister you will i am sure excuse us i hope that you will find a pleasant residence all places are to me simply a battle field she answered first one and then the other with a is grip up the days for md exercise va to and c charles e she came to the door vith them â nd glanced back her still g t g the i pop ed iq and the thin blue of her om her lips what a woman whispered sister as down the street thank goodness that it is but shell return the visit answered the other i think that we had better tell l that we are not at home chapter in the wilderness how deeply are our influenced by the most trifling causes had the unknown who erected and owned these new contented himself by simply building each within its own grounds it is probable that these three small groups of people would have remained hardly conscious of each other s existence and that there would have been no opportunity for that action and reaction which is here set forth but there was a common to bind them together to single himself out from all other the landlord had devised and laid out a common lawn ground which stretched behind the houses with net green close and lines hither in search of that hard exercise which is as necessary as air or food to the english beyond the city temperament came young hay when released from the toil of the city hither too came dr and his two fair daughters and and hither also of the lawn came the muscular widow and her nephew ere the summer was gone they knew each other in this quiet nook as they might not have done after years of a and more formal acquaintance and especially to the admiral and the doctor were this closer intimacy and companionship of value each had a void in his life as every man must have who with strength steps out of the great race but each by his society might help to fill up that of his neighbour it is true that they had not much in common but that is sometimes an aid rather than a bar to friendship each had been an in his profession and had retained all his interest in it the doctor still read from cover to cover his and his medical journal attended all professional worked himself into an alternate state of exaltation and depression over the results of the election of officers and reserved for himself a den of his own in which before rows of little round bottles full of and agents he still cut sections with a and peeped through his long brass old fashioned at the of nature with his typical face clean shaven on lip and chin with a firm mouth a strong jaw a steady eye and two little white of whiskers he could never be taken for an but what he was a high class british medical of the age of fifty or perhaps just a year or two older in the wilderness the doctor in his hey day had been cool over great things but now in his retirement be was over trifles the man who had without the quiver of a finger when not only his patient s life but his own reputation and future were at stake was now shaken to the soul by a book or a careless maid he remarked it himself and knew the reason when mary was alive he would say she stood between me and the little troubles i could brace myself for the big ones my girls are as good as girls can be but who can know a man as his wife knows him then his memory would up a of brown hair and a single white thin hand over a and he would feel as we have all felt that if we do not live and know each other after death then indeed we are and betrayed by all the highest hopes and of our nature the doctor had his to make up for his loss the great scales of fate had been held on a level for him for where in all great london could one find two sweeter girls more loving more intelligent and more sympathetic than and so bright were they so quick so interested in all which interested him that if it were possible for a man to be for the loss of a good wife then might claim to be so was tall and thin and with a graceful womanly figure there was something stately and distinguished in her carriage her friends called her while her critics described her as reserved and distant such as it was however it was part and l beyond the parcel of herself for she was and had always from her childhood been different to anyone around her there was nothing in her nature she thought with her own mind saw with her own eyes acted from tier own impulse her face was pale striking rather than pretty but with two great dark eyes so earnestly questioning so quick in their from joy to pathos so swift in

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their comment upon every word and deed around her that those eyes alone were to many more attractive than all the beauty of her younger sister hers was a strong quiet soul and it was her firm hand which had taken over the duties of her mother had ordered the house restrained the servants comforted her father and her weaker sister from the day of that great misfortune was a hand s breadth smaller than but was a little fuller in the face and in the figure she had light yellow hair mischievous blue eyes with the light of humour ever twinkling in their depths and a large perfectly formed mouth with that slight upward curve of the comers which goes with a keen appreciation of fun suggesting even in repose that a latent smile is ever lurking at the edges of the lips she was modern to the of her dainty little high shoes fi fond of dress and of pleasure devoted to and to comic opera delighted with a dance which came in her way only too seldom longing ever for some new excitement and yet behind all this lighter side of her character a thoroughly good healthy minded english girl the life and soul of the house and the idol of her sister and her father such was the family at number two a rf peep the â i ih u r x v â â complete admiral ij z l i i t white haired sc v r n i common in ic ji j l r li r â â â on the be vii z r â v c more t ri ii i lit v v e xi s j i u k a j with an c a sâ it v is ow i li r r j o x o â â â â an s ii â ii n li put him as a x v â r l o v for lay l a c i z â x jl js n a ji f a large public c i il vii r i c i t â j u j i sports i p â r f m i ji â j he had a hard t x ia and formal tâ in jf tr d â iii i u him and silent iv i i iii ca t i equal he could i â aâ ou rt câ c style and he had a of j c i i c world and its wa iâ r a mu â l â ti who had seen so many of j j y ai b as lean as a ar d as j i m id might be seen any day g lit i cane and pacing along j ii with the same measured gait with ix a wont to tread the of his il r w i a good service upon his cheek for on one side it was and where a of gravel knocked up by a round shot had struck him thirty years before when he served in the gun battery yet ttie great shadow etc ii beyond the city he was hale and sound and though he was fifteen years senior to his friend the doctor he might have passed as the younger man mrs hay s life had been a very broken one and her record upon land represented a greater amount of endurance and self sacrifice than his upon the sea they had been together for four months after their marriage and then had come a of four years during which he was flitting about between st and the oil rivers in a then came a blessed year of peace and to be followed by nine years with only a three months break five upon the pacific station and four on the east indian after that was a in the shape of five years in the channel with runs home and then again he was off to the for three years and to for four now at last however this old married couple who were still almost to one another had come together in where if their short day had been and broken the evening at least promised to be sweet and mellow in person mrs hay was tall and stout with a bright round ruddy face still pretty with a gracious her whole life was a round of devotion and of love which was divided between her husband and her only son this son it was who kept them in the neighbourhood of london for the was as fond of ships and of salt water as ever and was as happy in the sheets of a two ton as on the bridge of his six knot had he been the or coast would certainly have been his choice there was however jt interests were their chief care twenty now three before te lad in hand by an of bis i ut t of a cf launched upon entrance fee paid l â pounds each i and all other t m found himself ji t wa r the of the v lie ti under the la is a r le i â in the u ft r t the strange ti tie sit carrying over and of ht tt where to i ace d nod u v be i would make a ss v f would touch m j aâ â f n il be trusted and i k t r more he v j ee us i began to to ca t f f recommended ft i h vâ v the work was m se t i i f f y his father his ii ie r il le w oi v for a aa d e i f man ue ii â ii k iâ v which he r i i â h â f e ry the rf he ii

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wm r sure in the us he ti v z had in fr r r limbs upon we â f v too with ins g ii t i w m v beyond the eyes and round black curled head were all those of a man who was fashioned for active physical work meanwhile he was popular with his fellow respected by his and beloved at home but his spirit was restless within him and his mind against his surroundings do you know said mrs hay one evening as she stood behind her husband s chair with her hand upon his shoulder i think sometimes that is not quite happy he looks happy the young rascal answered the admiral pointing with his cigar it was after dinner and through the open french window of the a clear view was to be had of the court and the players a set had just been finished and young charles was up the balls as high as he could send them in the middle of the ground doctor and mrs were pacing up and down the lawn the lady waving her as she her remarks and the doctor listening with head and little of agreement against the rails at the near end was leaning in his talking to the two sisters who stood listening to him with their long dark shadows streaming down the lawn behind them the girls were dressed alike in dark skirts with light pink and pink bands on their straw hats so that as they stood with the soft red of the setting sim their faces and quiet mischievous and daring it was a group which might have pleased the eye of a more critic than the old sailor yes he looks happy mother he repeated with a aâ â c â â r i t fi cut cure sc k i ill â a â â jt â â she a i m w i â r â â sâ io i t l â l i â â â â â â â it â â v â â â â â a â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â a p â â â â â â vi â â p tv f v i u he â â r i e lie i â â i i the r ir z her â â t â â â â â â â â â â v â a si â â â a â â â â â â â â â â â j â â â â â â â â a k beyond the city to knock the balls about and was with while and were still talking by the railing with little of laughter presently a fresh set was formed and doctor the odd man out came through the gate and strolled up the garden walk good evening mrs hay said he raising his broad straw hat may i come in gk od evening doctor pray do try one of these said the admiral holding out his cigar case they are not bad i got them on the coast i was thinking of to you but you seemed so very happy out there mrs is a very clever woman said the doctor lighting the cigar by the way you spoke about the coast just now did you see much of the when you were out there no such name on the list answered the seaman with decision there s the a harbour defence ship but she never leaves the home waters the doctor laughed we live in two separate worlds said he the is the little green tree and has founded some of his views on upon the appearances of its nerve it is a subject in which i take an interest there were of all sorts in the woods when i have been on river service i have heard it at night like the engine room when you are on the measured mile you can t sleep for the and and great scott what a woman that is she was across the lawn in three she would have made a captain of the in the old days in the wilderness she is a very remarkable woman a very one a very sensible one in some things remarked mrs hay look at that now cried the admiral with a of his forefinger at the doctor you mark my words if we don t look out that woman will raise a with her preaching here s my wife already and your girls will be no better we must combine man or there s an end of all discipline no doubt she is a little excessive in her views said the doctor but in the main i think as she does doctor cried the lady what turned traitor to your sex we ll you as a she is quite right the professions are not sufficiently open to women they are still far too much in their they are a feeble folk the women who have to work for their bread â poor timid taking as a favour what they might demand as a right that is why their case is not more constantly before the public for if their cry for was as great as their grievance it would fill the world to the of all others it is all very well for us to be courteous to the rich the refined those to whom life is already made easy it is a mere form a trick of manner if we are truly courteous we shall stoop to lift up struggling womanhood when she really needs our help â when it is life and death to her whether she has it or not and then to cant about it being to work in the higher professions it is womanly enough to starve but to use the

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beyond the brains which god has given them is it not a monstrous the admiral chuckled you are like one of these said he you have had all this talked into you and now you are it off again it s rank every word of it for man has his duties and woman has hers but they are as separate as their natures are i suppose that we shall have a woman her on the presently and taking command of the channel well you have a woman on the throne taking command of the whole nation remarked his wife and everybody is agreed that she does it better than any of the men the admiral was somewhat staggered by this that s quite another thing said he you should come to their next meeting i am to take the chair i have just promised mrs that i will do so but it has turned chilly and it is time that the girls were indoors good night i shall look out for you after breakfast for our constitutional admiral the old sailor looked after his friend with a twinkle in his eyes how old is he mother about fifty i think and mrs i heard that she was forty three the admiral rubbed his hands and shook with amusement we ll find one of these days that three and two make one said he i ll bet you a new bonnet on it mother a sister s secret chapter iv a sister s secret tell me miss you know how things should be what would you say was a good profession for a young man of twenty six who has had no education worth speaking about and who is not very quick by nature the speaker was charles and the time this same summer evening in the ground though the shadows had fallen now and the game been abandoned the girl glanced up at him amused and surprised do you mean yourself precisely but how could i tell i have no one to advise me i believe that you could do it better than any one i feel confidence in your opinion it is very flattering she glanced up again at his earnest questioning face with its saxon eyes and drooping moustache in some doubt as to whether he might be joking on the contrary all his attention seemed to be concentrated upon her answer it depends so much upon what you can do you know i do not know you sufficiently to be able to say what natural gifts you have they were walking slowly across the lawn in the direction of the house i have none that is to say none worth mentioning i have no memory and i am very slow but you are very strong beyond the city oh if that goes for anything i can put up a hundred pound bar till further orders but what sort of a calling is that some little joke about being called to the bar up in miss s mind but her companion was in such obvious earnest that she stifled down her inclination to laugh i can do a mile on the track in and across country in but how is that to help me i might be a professional but it is not a very dignified position not that i care a straw about dignity you know but i should not hke to hurt the old lady s feelings your aunt s yes my aunt s my parents were killed in the you know when i was a baby and she has looked after me ever since she has been very good to me i m sorry to leave her but why should you leave her they had reached the garden gate and the girl leaned her upon the top of it looking up with grave interest at her big white companion it s said he what don t tell my aunt that i said it â he sank his voice to a whisper â i hate off into such a merry peal of laughter that he forgot the evil things which he had suffered from the poet and burst out laughing too i can t make him out said he i try but he is one too many no doubt it is very stupid of me i don t deny it but as long as i cannot there is no use a s secret i i pretending that i can and then of course she feels hurt for she is very fond of him and likes to read him aloud in the evenings she is reading a piece now passes and i assure you miss that i don t even know what the title means you must think me a dreadful fool but surely he is not so incomprehensible as all that she said as an attempt at encouragement he is very bad there are some things you know which are fine that ride of the three and and others they are all right but there was a piece we read last week the line my aunt and it takes a good deal to do that for she rides very straight and and that was the it sounds like a charm no it is a gentleman s name three gentlemen thought at first but my aunt says one then he on he in the light of the moon it was a very trying piece w laughed again you must not think of leaving your aunt â he said think how lonely she would be without you well yes i have thought of that but you remember that my aunt is to all hardly middle aged and a very eligible person don t think that her dislike to mankind extends to individuals she might form new ties and then i should be a third wheel in the coach it was all very well ah long as t was

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a boy when her first husband wa i alive but good gracious is going to marry fi beyond the the young man glanced down at her with a question in his eyes oh it is only a remote possibility you know said he still of course it might happen and i should like to know what i ought to turn my hand to i wish i could help you said but i really know very little about such things however i could talk to my father who knows a very great deal of the world i wish you would i should be so glad if you would then i certainly will and now i must say good night mr for papa will be wondering where i am night miss he pulled off his flannel cap and stalked away through the gathering darkness had imagined that they had been the last on the lawn but looking back from the steps which led up to the french windows she saw two dark figures moving across towards the house as they came nearer she could distinguish that they were and her sister the murmur of their voices rose up to her â ears and then the musical little child like laugh which she knew so well i am so delighted she heard her sister say so pleased and proud i had no idea of it your words were such a surprise and a joy to me oh i am so glad is that you oh there is i must go in mr night there were a few whispered words â from da and a â d car â r â raised the doctor lad gone into his cf â f was empty v single small red was by i h aiid the mahogany it i s g â ck cast but a feeble light the large dimly danced off o the big lamp but put her hand upon arm rather like this quiet light said she why should we not hare a chat she sat in the doctor s large red chair and her sister upon the at her feet glancing up at her with a smile upon her lips and a mischievous gleam n her eyes there was a shade of anxiety in s ace which cleared away as she gazed into her sister s rank blue eyes have you anything to tell me dear she asked gave a little and shrug to her shoulder the general then opened the case for the said she you are going to cross ne so don t deny it i do wish you would have hat grey satin of yours done up with a little and a new white it would look as good new and it is really very you were quite late upon the lawn fr i i t yes i was rather so were y i ha v to tell me she aw f f i was with mr w â an t w with mr m f beyond now tell me truly what do you think of mr do you like him honestly now i like him very much indeed i think that he is one of the most gentlemanly modest manly young men that i have ever known so now dear have you nothing to tell me smoothed down her sister s golden hair with a gesture and stooped her face to catch the expected confidence she could wish nothing better than that should be the wife of and from the words which she had overheard as they left the lawn that evening she could not doubt that there was some understanding between them but there came no confession from only the same mischievous smile and amused gleam in her deep blue eyes that grey dress she began oh you little come now i will ask you what you have just asked me do you like oh he s a darling well you asked me that s what i think of him and now you dear old inquisitive you will get nothing more out of me so you must wait and not be too curious fm going off to see what papa is doing she sprang to her feet threw her arms round her sister s neck gave her a final squeeze and was gone a chorus from sung in her clear grew fainter and fainter until it ended in the of a distant door but still sat in the dim lit room with her chin upon her hands and her dreamy eyes looking a sister s secret out into the gathering gloom it was the duty of her a maiden to play the part of a mother â to guide in paths whidi her own steps had not yet trodden since her mother died not a thought had been given to herself all was for her father and her sister in her own eyes she was herself very plain and she knew that her manner was often when she would most wish to be she saw her face as the glass reflected it but she did not see the changing play of expression which gave it its charm â the infinite pity the sympathy the sweet which drew towards her all who were in doubt and in trouble e en as poor slow moving charles had been drawn to her that night she was herself she thought outside the pale of love but it was very different merry uttle quick bright faced she was bom for love it was her inheritance but she was young and innocent she must not be allowed to venture too far without help in those dangerous waters some understanding there was between her and in her heart of hearts like every good woman was a match maker and already she had chosen of all men as the one to whom she could most safely confide he had talked to her more once on the

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serious topics of life on his f i what a man could do to leave the world h n r hi presence she knew that h wâ n m rt f n sl i n ture high minded and r ar a â v l like this secrecy t ji w r â â one so fi sa a â â v passing she i i n fc next day die â â beyond the city this topic it was possible that she might learn from him what her sister had refused to tell her chapter v a naval conquest it was the habit of the doctor and the admiral to accompany each other upon a morning between breakfast and lunch the in those quiet roads were accustomed to see the two figures the long thin austere seaman and the short bustling clad physician pass and with such regularity that a stopped clock has been by them the admiral took two steps to his companion s three but the younger man was the quicker and both were equal to a good four and a half miles an hour it was a lovely summer day which followed the events which have been described the sky was of the deepest blue with a few white clouds drifting lazily across it and the air was filled with the low of insects or with a sudden note as bee or shot past with its quivering long drawn hum like an insect fork as the friends each rise which leads up to the crystal palace they could see the clouds of london stretching along the northern with spire or dome breaking through the low lying haze the admiral was in high spirits for the morning post had brought good news to his son it is wonderful he was saying positively wonderful the way that boy of mine has gone ahead during the last three years we heard from to a naval conquest day is the senior partner you know and my boy the junior â and the firm cunning old dog is as and as greedy as a yet he goes off for a fortnight s leave and puts my boy in full charge with all that immense business in his hands and a free hand to do what he likes with it how s that for confidence and he only three years upon change any one would confide in him his face is a said the doctor go on the admiral dug his elbow at him you know my weak side still it s truth all the same i ve been blessed with a good wife and a good son and maybe i relish them the more for having been cut off from them so long i have much to be thankful for and so have i the best two girls that ever stepped there s who has learned up as much medicine as would give her the l s a simply in order that she may s with me in my work but what is this coming along drawing and the wind cried the admiral fourteen knots if it s one why by george it is that woman a rolling cloud of yellow dust had streamed round the curve of the road and from the heart of it had emerged a high flying along at a pace in front sat mrs clad in a jacket a skirt which just passed her knees and a pair of thick of the same material she had a great bundle of red papers under her arm charles who sat behind her clad in jacket great shadow etc vl beyond the and bore a similar roll from either pocket even as they watched the pair up the lady sprang off one of her bills upon the garden railing of an empty house and then jumping on to her seat again was about to hurry when her nephew drew her attention to the two gentlemen upon the oh now really didn t notice you said she taking a few turns of the and the machine across to them is it not a beautiful morning lovely answered the doctor you seem to be very busy i am very busy she pointed to the coloured paper which still fluttered from the railing we have been pushing our you see charles and i have been at it since seven o clock it is about our meeting i wish it to be a great success see she smoothed out one of the bills and the doctor read his own name in great black letters across the bottom we don t forget our you see everybody is coming those two dear little old maids opposite the held out for some time but i have their promise now admiral i am sure that you wish us well hum i wish you no harm ma am you will come on the platform be no i don t think i can do that to our meeting then no ma am i don t go out after dinner oh yes you will come i will call in if i may and chat it over with you when you come home we a naval conquest have not yet good bye there was a of wheels and the yellow cloud rolled away down tlie road again by some the admiral found that he was clutching in his right hand one of the bills he it up and threw it into the i ll be hanged if i go said he as he resumed his walk never been into doing a thing yet whether by woman or man i am not a man answered the doctor but i rather think that the odds are in favour of your going the admiral had hardly got home and had just seated himself in his dining room when the attack upon him was renewed he was slowly and lovingly the times preparatory to the

3Edith Wharton

long read which led up to luncheon and had even got so far as to fasten his golden on to his thin high nose when he heard a of gravel and looking over the top of his paper saw mrs coming up the garden walk she was still dressed in the singular costume which offended the sailor s old fashioned notions of propriety but he could not deny as he looked at her that she was a very fine woman in many he had looked upon women of all shades and ages but never upon a more clear cut handsome face nor a more erect and womanly figure he ceased to as he gazed upon her and the frown was smoothed away from his rugged brow may i come in said she herself in the open window with a background of green and â i q beyond the city blue sky i feel like an deep in an enemy s country it is a very welcome invasion ma am said he clearing his throat and pulling at his high collar try this garden chair what is there that i can do for you shall i ring and let mrs know that you are here pray do not trouble admiral i only looked in with reference to our little chat this morning i wish that you would give us your powerful support at our coming meeting for the improvement of the condition of woman no ma am i can t do that he up his lips and shook his head and why not against my principles ma am but why because woman has her duties and man has his i may be old fashioned but that my view why what is the world coming to i was saying to dr only last night that we shall have a woman wanting to command the channel fleet next that is one of the few professions which cannot be improved said mrs with her sweetest smile poor woman must still look to man for protection i don t like these new ideas ma am i tell you honestly that i don t i like discipline and i think every one is the better for it women have got a great deal which they had not in the days of our fathers they have all for themselves i am told and there are women doctors i hear surely they should rest contented what more can they want a naval conquest l l you are a sailor and sailors are if you could see how things really are you would change opinion what are the poor to do there are so many of them and so few to which they can turn their hands but there are hardly any music and drawing there is not one in fifty has any special talent in that direction medicine it is still surrounded with difficulties for women and it takes many years and a small fortune to nursing it is hard work ill paid and none but the strongest can stand it what would you have them do then admiral sit down and starve tut tut it is not so bad as that the pressure is terrible for a lady companion at ten shillings a week which is less than a cook s and see how many answers you get there is no hope no out look for these struggling thousands life is a dull sordid struggle leading down to a cheerless did age yet when we try to bring some httle ray of hope some chance however distant of something better we are told by gentlemen that it is against their principles to help the admiral but shook his head in there is the law government offices the civil service all these â it least should be thrown freely open to women if they have brains enough to successfully for them then if woman were unsuccessful it would be her own fault and the majority of the population of this country could no longer complain that they live under a different law to the and that they are held down in poverty beyond the city and with every road to independence sealed to them what would you propose to do ma am to set the more obvious right and so to the way for a reform now look at that man digging in the field i know him he can neither read nor write he is in and he has as much intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging yet the man has a vote can possibly turn the scale of an election and may help to decide the policy of this empire now to take the nearest example here am i a woman who have had some education who have travelled and who have seen and studied the institutions of many countries i hold considerable property and i pay more in imperial taxes than that man in which is saying a great deal and yet i have no more direct influence upon the disposal of the money which i pay than that fly which along the wall is that right is it fair the admiral moved uneasily in his chair yours is an exceptional case said he but no woman has a voice consider that the women are a majority in the nation yet if there was a question of upon which all the women were agreed upon one side and all the men upon the other it would appear that the matter was settled when more than half the population were opposed to it is that right again the admiral it was very awkward for the gallant seaman to have a handsome woman opposite to him him with questions to none of which he could find an answer couldn t even a naval conquest the out of his guns as he explained the matter to the doctor that evening now those are really the points

3Edith Wharton

that we shall lay stress upon at the meeting the free and complete opening of the professions the final of the i call it and the to all women who pay queen s taxes above a certain sum surely there is nothing unreasonable in that nothing which could offend your principles we shall have medicine law and the church all that night for the protection of woman is the navy to be the one profession absent the admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil word in his throat there there ma am he cried drop it for a time i have heard enough youve turned me a point or two i won t deny it but it stand at that i will think it over certainly admiral we would not hurry you in your decision but we still hope to you on our platform she rose and moved about in her lounging fashion from one picture to another for the walls were thickly covered with reminiscences of the admiral s voyages said she surely this ship would have all her lower canvas and her if she found herself on a lee shore with the wind on her quarter of course she would the artist was never past i swear it s the as she was on the th of june throat of the straits of y with the island of on the bow on the port he painted it from beyond the city tion but of course as you very sensibly say all was snug below and she carried storm sails and for it was blowing a from the sou east i compliment you ma am i do indeed oh i have done a little myself â as much as a woman can to you know this is the bay of what a lovely lovely you say ah she was lovely that is the i was a mate aboard of her â sub lieutenant they call it now though i like the old name best what a lovely her have and what a curve to her bows she must have been a the old sailor rubbed his hands and his eyes his old ships bordered close upon his wife and his son in his affections i know said the lady carelessly a couple of years ago i had a seven ton the and we ran over to from you ma am in a seven with a couple of lads for a crew oh it was glorious a fortnight right out in the open with no no letters no no petty thoughts nothing but the grand works of god the tossing sea and the great silent sky they talk of riding indeed i am fond of horses too but what is there to compare with the of a little craft as she down the long steep side of a wave and then the quiver and spring as she is tossed upwards again oh if our souls could i d be a above all birds that ry but i keep you admiral adieu as old story i r the old sailor was too w ji to say a word he could her broad muscular hand she was half way the path before she heard him calling her and saw his head and weather stained face looking out from behind the curtains you may put me down for the platform he cried and vanished abashed behind the curtain of his times where his wife found him at lunch time i hear that you have had quite a long chat with mrs said she yes and i think that she is one of the most sensible women that i ever knew except on the woman s rights question of oh i don t know she had a good deal tn sa for herself on that also in fact mother i have l a platform ticket for her meeting chapter vi an old but this was not to be the only i n j â tion which mrs held l iy s js admiral the only person in the b w to find his opinion con ly j â neighbouring families tlie from the from hill had l invited to by mrs aiid the lawn was ly in the evening with the of the young men and i dresses of the girls to tlie older people i u gi round in their work garden chairs the dart i r stooping springing white figures the sweep of i beyond the city and twinkle of canvas shoes the click of the and sharp of the balls with the continual fifteen love â fifteen all of the made up a merry and scene to see their sons and daughters so flushed and healthy and happy gave them also a reflected glow and it was hard to say who had most pleasure from the game those who played or those who watched mrs had just finished a set when she caught a glimpse of sitting alone at the farther end of the ground she ran down the court cleared the net to the amazement of the visitors and seated herself beside her s reserved and refined nature shrank somewhat from the boisterous frankness and strange manners of the widow and yet her feminine instinct told her that beneath all her peculiarities there lay much that was good and noble she smiled up at her therefore and nodded a greeting why aren t you playing then don t for goodness sake begin to be languid and young when you give up active sports you give up youth i have played a set mrs that s right my dear she sat down beside her and tapped her upon the arm with her i like you my dear and i am going to call you you are not as as i should wish but still i like you very much self sacrifice is all very well you know but we

3Edith Wharton

have had rather too much of it on our side and should like to see a little on the other what do you think of my nephew charles the question was so sudden and unexpected that an old story gave quite a jump in her chair â â â ever have thought of your nephew charles no oh you must think him well o er for i want to speak to you about im to me but why it seemed to me most delicate you see the matter stands in this way it is quite that i may find myself in a completely new sphere of life which will involve fresh duties and make it impossible for me to keep up a household which charles can share stared did this mean that she was about to many again what else could it point to therefore charles must have a household of his own that is obvious now i don t approve of bachelor do you really mrs i have never thought of the matter oh you little sly was there ever a girl who never thought of the matter i think that a young man of six and twenty ought to be married felt very uncomfortable the awful thought had come upon her that this had come to her as a with a proposal of marriage but how could that be she had not spoken more than three or four times with her nephew and knew nothing more of him than he had told her on the evening before it was impossible then and yet what could his aunt mean by this discussion of his private affairs do you not think yourself she persisted that a yoimg man of six and twenty is better married beyond the city i should think that he is old enough to decide for himself yes yes he has done so but charles is just a little shy just a little slow in expressing himself i thought that i would the way for him two women can arrange these things so much better men sometimes have a difficulty in making themselves clear really hardly follow you mrs cried in despair he has no profession but he has nice tastes he reads every night and he is most strong when he was younger we used to put on the gloves together but i cannot persuade him to now for he says he cannot play light enough i should allow him five hundred which should be enough at first my dear mrs cried i assure you that i have not the least idea what it is that you are talking of do you think your sister would have my nephew charles her sister quite a little thrill of relief and of pleasure ran through her at the thought and charles she had never thought of it and yet they had been a good deal together they had played they had shared the again came the thrill of joy and close at its heels the cold of conscience why this joy what was the real source of it was it that deep down somewhere pushed back in the black recesses of the soul there was the thought lurking that if charles in his then would still â â â ft â i go beyond the city of herself she had reason to believe that both these men loved her sister which would be the best for her but perhaps the matter was already decided she could not forget the of conversation which she had heard the night before nor the secret which her sister had refused to confide to her if would not tell her there was but one person who could she raised her eyes and there was standing before her you were lost in your thoughts said he smiling i hope that they were pleasant ones oh i was planning said she rising it seems rather a waste of time as a rule for things have a way of working themselves out just as you least expect were you planning then the future whose oh my own and s and was i included in your joint i hope all our friends were included don t go in said he as she began to move slowly towards the house i wanted to have a word let us stroll up and down the lawn perhaps you are cold if you are i could bring you out a shawl oh no i am not cold i was speaking to your sister last night she noticed that there was a slight quiver in his voice and glancing up at his dark clear cut face she saw that he was very grave she felt that it was settled that he had come to ask her for her sister s hand she is a charming girl said he after a pause indeed she is cried warmly and no one an old story who has not lived with her and known her intimately can tell how charming and good she is she is like a in the house no one who was not good could be so absolutely happy as she seems to be heaven s last gift i think is a mind so pure and a spirit so high that it is unable even to see what is and evil in the world around us for as long as we can see it how can we be truly happy she has a deeper side also she does not turn it to the world and it is not natural that she should for she is very young but she thinks and has aspirations of her own you cannot admire her more than i do indeed miss i only ask to be brought into nearer relationship with her and to feel that there is a permanent bond between us it had come at last for a moment her heart was within her and then

3Edith Wharton

a flood of love carried all before it down with that dark thought which would still try to raise its head she turned to with sparkling eyes and words of pleasure upon her lips i should wish to be near and dear to both of you said he as he took her hand i should wish to be my sister and you my wife she said nothing she only stood looking at him with parted lips and great dark questioning eyes the lawn had vanished away the sloping gardens the brick the darkening sky with half a pale moon beginning to show over the chimney pots all was gone and she was only conscious of a dark earnest pleading beyond the city and with every road to independence sealed to them what would you propose to do ma am to set the more obvious right and so to the way for a reform now look at that man digging in the field i know him he can neither read nor write he is in and he has as much intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging yet the man has a vote can possibly turn the scale of an election and may help to decide the policy of this empire now to take the nearest example here am i a woman who have had some education who have travelled and who have seen and studied the institutions of many countries i hold considerable property and i pay more in imperial taxes than that man in which is saying a great deal and yet i have no more direct influence upon the disposal of the money which i pay than that fly which along the wall is that right is it fair the admiral moved uneasily in his chair yours is an exceptional case said he but no woman has a voice consider that the women are a majority in the nation yet if there was a question of upon which all the women were agreed upon one side and all the men upon the other it would appear that the matter was settled when more than half the population were opposed to it is that right again the admiral it was very awkward for the gallant seaman to have a handsome woman opposite to him him with questions to none of which he could find an answer couldn t even get a naval conquest the out of his guns as he explained the matter to the doctor that evening now those are really the points that we shall lay stress upon at the meeting the free and complete opening of the professions the final of the i call it and the to all women who pay queen s taxes above a certain sum surely there is nothing unreasonable in that nothing which could offend your principles we shall have medicine law and the church all that night for the protection of woman is the navy to be the one profession absent the admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil word in his throat there there ma am he cried drop it for a time i have heard enough you ve turned me a point or two i won t deny it but it stand at that i will think it over certainly admiral we would not hurry you in your decision but we still hope to you on our platform she rose and moved about in her lounging masculine fashion from one picture to another for the walls were thickly covered with reminiscences of the admiral s voyages said she surely this ship would have all her lower canvas and her if she found herself on a lee shore with the wind on her quarter of course she would the artist was never past i swear it s the as she was on the th of june in the throat of the straits of with the island of on the bow and on the port he painted it from beyond the city and with every road to independence sealed to them what would you propose to do ma am to set the more obvious right and so to the way for a reform now look at that man digging in the field i know him he can neither read nor write he is in and he has as much intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging yet the man has a vote can possibly turn the scale of an election and may help to decide the policy of this empire now to take the nearest example here am i a woman who have had some education who have travelled and who have seen and studied the institutions of many countries i hold considerable property and i pay more in imperial taxes than that man in which is saying a great deal and yet i have no more direct influence upon the disposal of the money which i pay than that fly which along the wall is that right is it fair the admiral moved uneasily in his chair yours is an exceptional case said he but no woman has a voice consider that the women are a majority in the nation yet if there was a question of upon which all the women were agreed upon one side and all the men upon the other it would appear that the matter was settled when more than half the population were opposed to it is that right again the admiral it was very awkward for the gallant seaman to have a handsome woman opposite to him him with questions to none of which he could find an answer couldn t even get a naval conquest the out of his guns as he explained the matter to the doctor that evening now those are really the points that we shall lay stress upon at the meeting the free and complete opening of the professions the final of the

3Edith Wharton

i call it and the to all women who pay queen s taxes above a certain sum surely there is nothing unreasonable in that nothing which could offend your principles we shall have medicine law and the church all that night for the protection of woman is the navy to be the one profession absent the admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil word in his throat there there ma am he cried drop it for a time i have heard enough you ve turned me a point or two i won t deny it but it stand at that i will think it over certainly admiral we would not hurry you in your decision but we still hope to you on our platform she rose and moved about in her lounging masculine fashion from one picture to another for the walls were thickly covered with reminiscences of the admiral s voyages said she surely this ship would have all her lower canvas and her if she found herself on a lee shore with the wind on her quarter of course she would the artist was never past i swear it s the as she was on the th of june in the throat of the straits of with the island of on the bow and on the port he painted it from beyond the city but â but â you know what i mean what is the matter with you why because you have something on your mind you have not laughed once he broke into a laugh i am quite jolly said he oh no you are not and why did you write me such a dreadfully stiff letter there now he cried i was sure it was stiff i said it was stiff then why write it it wasn t my own composition whose then your aunt s oh no it was a person of the name of goodness who is he i knew it would come out i felt that it would you ve heard of the author never he is wonderful at expressing himself he wrote a book called the secret solved or letter writing made easy it gives you models of all sorts of letters burst out laughing so you actually copied one it was to invite a young lady to a but i set to work and soon got it changed so that it would do very well seems never to have asked anyone to ride a but when i had written t it seemed so dreadfully stiff that i had to put a little beginning and end of my own which seemed to it up a good deal i thought there was something funny about the beginning and end did you fancy your noticing the difference in style how quick you are i am very slow at things hke that i ought to have been a or or something i was made on those lines but i have found something now what is that then i have a in and he says it is a rare life i am to buy a share in his business it is all in the open air â shooting and riding and sport would it â would it inconvenience you much to come out there with me nearly fell off her perch in her amazement the only words of which she could think were my goodness me so she said them if it would not upset your plans or change your arrangements in any way he had down and let go of the handle so that the great machine crawled about from one side of the road to the other i know very well that i am not clever or anything of that sort but still i would do all i can to make you very happy don t you think that in time you might come to like me a httle bit gave a cry of fright i won t like you if you run me against a brick wall said she as the machine up against the do attend to the yes i will but tell me whether you will come with me oh i don t know it s too absurd how can we talk about such things when i cannot see you you beyond the city speak to the of my neck and then i have to twist my head round to answer i know that was why i put you in front upon my letter i thought that it would make it easier but if you would prefer it i will stop the machine and then you can sit round and talk about it good gracious cried fancy our sitting face to face on a motionless in the middle of the road and all the people looking out of their windows at us it would look rather funny wouldn t it well then suppose that we both get off and push the along in front of us oh no this is better than that or i could carry the thing burst out laughing that would be more absurd still then we will go quietly and i will look out for the i won t talk about it at all if you would rather not but i really do love you very much and you would make me happy if you came to with me and i think that perhaps after a time i could make you happy too but aunt oh she would like it very much i can understand that your father might not like to lose you sure i wouldn t either if i were he but after all america is not very far off nowadays and is not so very wild we would take a grand piano and â and â a copy of and and his wife would come over to see us we should be quite a family party it would be jolly sat

3Edith Wharton

listening to the stumbling words and awkward phrases which were whispered from the back of her but there was something in charles s of speech which was more moving than the words of the most eloquent of he paused he stammered he caught his breath between the words and he out in little blunt phrases all the hopes of his heart if love had not come to her yet there was at least pity and sympathy which are nearly akin to t wonder there was also that one so weak and frail as she should shake this strong man so should have the whole course of his life waiting for her decision her left hand was on the cushion at her side he leaned forward and took it gently in his own she did not try to draw it back from him may i have it said he for hfe oh do attend to your said she smiling round at him and don t say any more about this today please don t when shall i know then oh to night to morrow i don t know i must ask talk about something else and they did talk about something else but her left hand was still enclosed in his and he knew without asking again that all was well beyond the chapter shadows before mrs s great meeting for the of woman had passed over and it had been a triumphant success all the maids and of the southern had rallied at her summons there was an influential platform with dr in the chair and admiral hay among his more prominent one male had come in from the outside darkness and had from the further end of the hall but he had been called to order by the chair by indignant glances from the around him and finally escorted to the door by charles fiery resolutions were passed to be forwarded to a large number of leading and the meeting broke up with the conviction that a shrewd blow had been struck for the cause of woman but there was one woman at least to whom the meeting and all that was connected with it had brought anything but pleasure watched with a heavy heart the friendship and close intimacy which had sprung up between her father and the widow from week to week it had increased until no day ever passed without their being together the coming meeting had been the excuse for these continual but now the meeting was over and still the doctor would refer every point which rose to the judgment of his neighbour he would talk too to his two daughters of her strength of character her decisive mind and of shadows before the necessity of their her acquaintance and following her example until at last it had become his most topic of conversation all this might have passed as merely the natural pleasure which an elderly man might take in the society of an intelligent and handsome woman but there were other points which seemed to to give it a deeper meaning she could not forget that when charles had spoken to her one night he had alluded to the possibility of his aunt marrying again he must have known or noticed something before he would speak upon such a subject and then again mrs had herself said that she hoped to change her style of living shortly and take over completely new duties what could that mean except that she expected to marry and whom she seemed to sec few friends outside their own little circle she must have alluded to her father it was a hateful thought and yet it must be faced one evening the doctor had been rather late at his neighbour s he used to go into the admiral s after dinner but now he turned more frequently in the other direction when he returned was sitting alone in the drawing room reading a magazine she sprang up as he entered pushed forward his chair and ran to fetch his slippers you are looking a little pale dear he remarked oh no papa i am very well all well with yes his partner mr is still away and he is doing all the work beyond the city well done he is sure to succeed where is in her room i think she was with charles on the lawn not very long ago he seems very fond of her he is not very bright but i think he will make her a good husband i am sure of it papa he is very manly and yes i should think that he is not the sort of man who goes wrong there is nothing hidden about him as to his brightness it really does not matter for his aunt mrs is very rich much richer than you would think from her style of living and she has made him a handsome provision i am glad of that it is between ourselves i am her and so i know something of her arrangements and when are you going to marry oh papa not for some time yet we have not thought of a date well really i don t know that there is any reason for delay he has a and it yearly as long as you are quite certain that your mind is made up oh papa well then i really do not know why there should be any delay and too must be married within the next few months now what i want to know is what i am to do when my two little companions run away from me he spoke lightly but his eyes were grave as he looked at his daughter shadows before papa you shall not be alone it will be years b ue and i think of marrying and when we do yoa must come and live with us â no no dear i

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know that you mean what you say but i have seen something of tlie world and i know that such arrangements never answer there cannot be two masters in a house and yet at my age my freedom is very necessary to me but you would be completely free no dear you cannot be that if you are a guest in another man s house can you suggest no er alternative that we remain with you no no that is out of the question mrs herself says that a woman s first duty is to marry marriage however should be an equal as she points out i should wish you both to marry but still i should like a suggestion from you as to what should do but there is no hurry papa let us wait i do not intend to marry yet doctor looked disappointed well if you can suggest nothing i suppose that i must take the myself said he then what do you propose papa she herself as one who sees the blow which is about to fall he looked at her and hesitated how like your poor dear mother you are he cried as i looked at you then it was as if she had come back from the grave he stooped towards her and kissed her there run away to your sister my dear and beyond the do not trouble yourself about me nothing is settled yet but you will find that all will come right went upstairs sad at heart for she was sure now that what she had feared was indeed about to come to pass and that her father was going to ask mrs to be his wife in her pure and earnest mind her mother s memory was as that of a saint and the thought that any one should take her place seemed a terrible even worse however did this marriage appear when looked at from the point of view of her father s future the widow might him by her knowledge of the world her dash her strength her â all these qualities was willing to allow her â but she was convinced that she would be as a life companion she had come to an age when habits are not lightly to be changed nor was she a woman who was at all likely to attempt to change them how would a sensitive man like her father stand the constant strain of such a wife a woman who was all decision with no softness and nothing soothing in her nature it passed as a mere when they heard of her stout drinking her smoking her occasional at a long clay pipe her of a drunken servant and her companionship with the snake whom she was in the habit of bearing about in her pocket all this would become to her father when his first was past for his own sake then as well as for her mother s memory this match must be prevented and yet how powerless she was to prevent it what could she do could aid her perhaps or at least shadows before le would her sister and see what she could was in her a tiny little as neat and dainty as herself with low walls ling with and with pretty little bearing blue ware or the pure white china in a low chair beneath a red shaded i lamp sat in a evening dress f de the ruddy her sweet face and glowing on her golden curls she up as her sister entered and threw her arms round her dear old come and sit down here me i have not had a chat for days but oh hat a troubled face what is it then she put p her forefinger and smoothed her sister s brow ith it pulled up a stool and sitting down beside er sister passed her arm round her waist i am so to trouble you dear she said but i do ot know what to do there s nothing the matter with â h no nor with my charles no no gave a sigh of relief you quite frightened le dear said she you can t think how solemn you ok what is it then i believe that papa to ask mrs marry him burst out laughing what can have put such notion into your head o beyond the city it is only too true i suspected it before and he himself almost told me as much with his own lips to night i don t think that it is a laughing matter really i could not help it if you had told me that those two dear old ladies opposite the were both engaged you would not have surprised me more it is really too funny funny think of any one taking the place of dear mother but her sister was of a more practical and less sentimental nature i am sure said she that dear mother would like papa to do whatever would make him most happy we shall both be away and why should papa not please himself but think how unhappy he will be you know how quiet he is in his ways and how even a little thing will upset him how could he live with a wife who would make his whole life a series of surprises fancy what a she must be in a house a man at his age cannot change his ways i am sure he would be miserable s face grew graver and she pondered over the matter for a few minutes i really think that you are right as usual said she at last i admire s aunt very much you know and i think that she is a very useful and good person but i don t think she would do as a wife for poor quiet papa but he will certainly ask her and i

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really think that she to accept him then it would be too late to interfere we have only a few days at the most and what can we do how can we hope to make him change his mind shadows before again pondered he has never tried what it is to live with a strong minded woman said she if we could only get him to it in time oh i have it i have it such a lovely plan she leaned back in her chair and burst into a fit of laughter so natural and so hearty that had to forget her troubles and to join in it oh it is beautiful she gasped at last poor papa what a time he will have but it s all for his own good as he used to say when we had to be punished when we were little oh i do hope your heart won t fail you i would do anything to save him dear that s it you must steel yourself by that thought but what is your plan oh i am so proud of it we will tire him for ever of the widow and of all women let me see what are mrs s main ideas you have listened to her more than i women should attend less to household duties that is one is it not yes if they feel they have for higher things then she thinks that every woman who has leisure should take up the study of some branch of science and that as far as possible every woman should herself for some trade or profession choosing for preference those which have been hitherto by men to enter the others would only be to the present competition quite so that is glorious her blue eyes were dancing with mischief and she clapped her hands in her delight what else she thinks that whatever a beyond the city man can do a woman should be allowed to do also â does she not she says so and about dress the short skirt and the divided skirt are what she believes in yes we must get in some cloth why we must make ourselves a dress each a dress dear don t you see my plan we shall act up to all mrs s views in every respect and improve them when we can then papa will know what it is to live with a woman who claims all her rights oh it will be splendid her sister sat speechless before so daring a scheme but it would be wrong she cried at last not a bit it is to save him i should not dare oh yes you would will help besides what other plan have you i have none then you must take mine yes perhaps you are right well we do it for a good motive you will do it i do not see any other way you dear good now i will show you what you are to do we must not begin too suddenly it might excite suspicion what would you do then a family plot g to morrow we must go to mrs and sit at her feet and learn all her views what we shall feel we shall be her and most enthusiastic oh it will be such fun then we shall make our plans and send for what we want and begin our new life i do hope that we shall not have to keep it up long it seems so cruel to dear papa cruel to save him i wish i was sure that we were doing right and yet what else can we do well then the die is cast and we will call upon mrs to morrow chapter ix a family plot did poor doctor imagine as he sat at his breakfast table next morning that the two sweet girls who sat on either side of him were deep in a conspiracy and that he innocently at his was the victim against whom their were planned patiently they waited until at last their opening came it is a beautiful day he remarked it will do for mrs she was thinking of having a spin upon the then we must call early we both intended to see her after breakfast oh indeed the doctor looked pleased you know pa said it seems to us that we really have a very great advantage in having mrs living so near ke great shadow etc io beyond the city why so dear well because she is so advanced you know if we only study her ways we may advance ourselves also i think i have heard you say papa remarked that she is the type of the woman of the future i am very pleased to hear you speak so sensibly my i certainly think that she is a woman whom you may very well take as your model the more intimate you are with her the better pleased i shall be then that is settled said and the talk drifted to other matters all the morning the two girls sat from mrs her most extreme views as to the duty of the one sex and the tyranny of the other absolute equality even in details was her ideal enough of the cry of and it had been invented by man to scare woman away when she too nearly upon his precious preserves every woman should be independent every woman should learn a trade it was their duty to push in where they were least welcome then they were to the cause and to their weaker sisters why should the wash tub the needle and the housekeeper s book be theirs might they not reach higher to the consulting room to the bench and even to the pulpit mrs sacrificed her ride in her eagerness over her pet subject and her two fair drank in every word

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and noted every suggestion for future use that afternoon they went in london and before evening strange began to be handed in at the doctor s door the plot was ripe for a family plot execution and one of the was merry and while the other was very nervous and troubled when the doctor came down to the dining room next morning he was surprised to find that his daughters had already been up some time was at one end of the table with a spirit lamp a curved glass and several bottles in front of her the contents of the were furiously while a smell the room in an arm chair with her feet upon a second one a blue covered book in her hand and a huge map of the british islands spread across her lap cried the doctor and where s the breakfast oh didn t you order it asked i no why should i he rang the bell why have you not laid the breakfast jane if you please sir miss was at the table oh of course jane said the young lady calmly i am so sorry i shall be ready to move in a few minutes but what on earth are you doing asked the doctor the smell is most offensive and good gracious look at the mess which you have made upon the cloth why you have burned a hole right through oh that is the answered mrs said that it would bum holes you might have taken her word for it without trying said her father beyond the city but look here pa see what the book says the scientific mind takes nothing upon trust prove all things i have proved that you certainly have well until breakfast is ready fu glance oyer the times have you seen it the times oh dear me this is it which i have under my spirit lamp i am afraid there is some upon that too and it is rather damp and torn here it is the doctor took the paper with a face everything seems to be wrong to day he remarked what is this sudden enthusiasm about oh i am trying to live up to mrs s teaching quite right quite right said he perhaps with less than he had shown the day before ah here is breakfast at last but nothing was comfortable that morning there were eggs without egg toast which was from being kept dried up and grounds in the coffee above all there was that dreadful smell which pervaded everything and gave a horrible to every i don t wish to put a upon your studies said the doctor as he pushed back his chair but i do think it would be better if you did your experiments a little later in the day but mrs says that women should rise early and do their work before breakfast then they should choose some other room besides the breakfast room the doctor was becoming just a a family plot little ruffled a torn in the open air soothe him he thought where are my boots he asked but were not in their accustomed comer bv his chair up and down he searched while the three servants took up the quest stooping and peeping under book cases and drawers had returned to her studies and to her covered volume sitting absorbed and disinterested amid the bustle and the at last a general of announced that the cook had discovered the boots hung up among the hats in the hall the doctor ver red and them on and stamped off to join the admiral in his morning walk as the door burst into a shout of laughter you see she cried the charm works already he has ne to number one instead of to number three oh we shall win a great victor you ve been very good dear i could see that you were on thorns to help him when he was looking for his boots papa it is so and what are we to do oh he will enjoy being comfortable all the more if we give him a httle discomfort now horrible work this is look at my frock it is ruined and this dreadful smell she threw open the window and thrust her little golden curled head out of it charles was at the other side of the garden fence good morning sir said â good morning the big man leaned upon his and looked up at her have you any charles beyond the city yes certainly throw me up two here is my case can you catch a seal skin case came with a soft on to the floor opened it it was full what are these she asked what are some other oh gems and and cambridge but why never mind she nodded to him and closed the window we must remember all those said she we must learn to talk about such things mrs knows all about the of has your rum come yes dear it is here and i have my stout come along up to my room now this smell is too abominable but we must be ready for him when he comes back if we sit at the window we shall see him coming down the road the fresh morning air and the genial company of the admiral had caused the doctor to forget his troubles and he came back about mid day in an excellent humour as he opened the hall door the vile smell of which had spoilt his breakfast met him with a he threw open the hall window entered the dining room and stood aghast at the sight which met his eyes was still sitting among her bottles with a lit in her left hand and a glass of stout on the table beside her with another was lounging in the easy chair with several maps spread a

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family plot t out upon the around her feet were stuck up on the and she had a of some brown composition on the smoking table close at her elbow the doctor gazed from one to the other of them through the thin grey haze of smoke but his eyes rested finally in a settled stare of astonishment upon his elder and more serious daughter he gasped i could not have believed it â is it papa you are smoking trying to papa i find it a little difficult for i have not been used to it but why in the name of goodness mrs it oh a lady of mature years may do many things which a young girl must avoid oh no cried mrs says that there should be one law for all have a pa no thank you i never smoke in the morning no perhaps you don t care for the brand what are these ah we must have some gems or i wish pa when you go into town you would get me some i will do nothing of the kind i do not at all think that it is a fitting habit for young ladies i do not agree with mrs upon the point really pa it was you who advised us to imitate her but with what is it that you are drinking l beyond the city rum papa rum in the morning he sat down and rubbed his eyes as one who tries to shake off some evil dream did you say rum yes pa they all drink it in the profession which i am going to take up profession mrs says that every woman should follow a calling and that we ought to choose those which women have always avoided quite so well i am going to act upon her advice i am going to be a pilot my dear a pilot this is too much this is a beautiful book papa the lights channels and of great britain here is another the master s you can t imagine how interesting it is you are joking you must be joking not at all pa you can t think what a lot i have learned already i m to carry a green light to and a red to port with a white light at the mast head and a up every fifteen minutes oh won t it look pretty at night cried her sister and i know the fog one blast means that a ship to two to port three four that it is but this man asks such dreadful questions at the end of each chapter listen to this you see a red light the ship is on the port tack and the wind at north what course is that ship to a point a family plot i the doctor rose with a gesture of despair i can t imagine what has come over you said he my dear papa we are trying hard to live up to mrs s standard well i must say that i do not admire the result your may perhaps do no harm but your scheme is out of the question how a girl of your sense could ever entertain such a notion is more than i can imagine but i must absolutely forbid you to go further with it but pa asked with an air of innocent inquiry in her big blue eyes what are we to do when your commands and mrs s advice are opposed you told us to obey her she says that when women try to throw off their their fathers brothers and husbands are the very first to try to them on again and that in such a matter no man has any authority does mrs teach you that i am not the head of my own house the doctor flushed and his hair in his anger certainly she says that all heads of houses are relics of the dark ages the doctor muttered something and stamped his foot upon the carpet then without a word he passed out into the garden and his daughters could see him furiously up and down cutting off the heads of the flowers with a oh you darling you played your part so splendidly cried but how cruel it is when i saw the sorrow and surprise in his eyes i very nearly put my arms about l beyond the him and told him all don t you think we have done enough no no no not nearly enough you must not turn weak now it is so funny that i should be leading you it is quite a new experience but i know that i am right if we go on as we are doing we shall be able to say all our lives that we have saved him and if we don t oh we should never forgive ourselves chapter x women of the future from that day the doctor s peace was gone never was a quiet and orderly household transformed so suddenly into a bear garden or a happy man turned int such a completely miserable one he had never before how entirely his daughters had him from all the of hfe now that they had not only ceased to protect him but had themselves become a source of trouble to him he began to understand how great the blessing was which he had enjoyed and to sigh for the happy days before his girls had come under the influence of his neighbour you don t look happy mrs had remarked to him one morning you are pale and a little off colour you should come with me for a spin upon the i am troubled about my girls they were walking up and down in the garden from time to time there sounded from the house behind them the long sad wail of a french horn women op the

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future ig is said he she has taken to n that dreadful instrument in the intervals of her and is quite as bad i declare it is quite ah doctor doctor she cried shaking her with a gleam of her white teeth you must live p to les â you must give your daughters be same liberty as you advocate for other women liberty madam certainly but this approaches to the same law for all my she tapped im r e pr o on the arm with her when ou were twenty your father did not i presume object learning or playing a musical you would have thought it t n if he ad but there is such a sudden change in them both yes i have noticed that the have been ver lately in the cause of liberty of all my i think that they promise to be the most and consistent which is the more natural since father is one of our most trusted the doctor gave a of impatience i seem have lost all authority he cried no no my dear friend they are a little t having broken the of custom that is all you cannot think what i have had to put up with it has been a dreadful experience last night i had extinguished the candle in my bedroom i my foot upon something smooth and hard which from under me imagine my horror i lit the as and came upon a well grown which beyond the city has thought fit to introduce into the house i call it a filthy custom to have such mrs dropped him a little thank you sir said she that is a nice little side hit at my poor i give you my word that i had forgotten about her cried the doctor flushing one such pet may no doubt be endured but two more than i can bear has a monkey which lives on the curtain rod it is a most creature it will remain absolutely motionless until it sees that you have forgotten its presence and then it will suddenly bound from picture to picture all round the walls and end by swinging down on the bell rope and jumping on to the top of your head at breakfast it stole a egg and it all over the door handle calls these amusing tricks oh all will come right said the widow and is as bad who used to be so good and sweet the very image of her poor mother she upon this preposterous scheme of being a pilot and will talk of nothing but revolving lights and hidden rocks and of and nonsense of the kind but why preposterous asked his companion what nobler occupation can there be than that of commerce and the to steer safely into port i should think your daughter admirably adapted for such duties then i must beg to differ from you madam still you are inconsistent women or the excuse me madam i do not see le n t er ir the same light and i should be obliged to y u if would use your influence with my daughter to i her you wish to make me inconsistent too then you refuse i am afraid that i cannot interfere the doctor was very angry very well madam said he in that case i can that i have the honour to wish you a very good he raised his broad straw hat and strode away up the gravel path while the widow looked after him with twinkling eyes she was surprised herself to find that she liked the doctor better the more masculine and he became it was unreasonable and against all principle and yet so it was and no argument could mend the matter very hot and angry the doctor retired into his room and sat down to read his paper had retired and the distant of her showed that she was upstairs in her sat opposite to him with her and her blue book the doctor glanced at her and his eyes remained fixed in astonishment upon the front of her skirt my dear he cried you have torn your his daughter laughed and smoothed out her frock to his horror he saw the red of the chair where the dress ought to have been it is all torn he cried what have you done my dear papa said she what do you know about the mysteries of ladies dress this is a divided skirt beyond the city then he saw that it was indeed so arranged and that his daughter was clad in a sort of loose extremely long it will be so convenient for my sea boots she explained her father shook his head sadly your dear mother would not have liked it said he for a moment the conspiracy was upon the point of there was something in the gentleness of his rebuke and in his appeal to her mother which brought the tears to her eyes and in another instant she would have been kneeling beside him with everything confessed when the door flew open and her sister came bounding into the room she wore a short grey skirt like that of mrs and she held t up in each hand and danced about among the furniture i feel quite the gaiety she cried how delicious it must be to be upon the stage you can t think how nice this dress is papa one feels so free in it and isn t charming go to your room this instant and take it off thundered the doctor i call it highly improper and no daughter of mine shall wear it papa improper why it is the exact model of mrs s i say it is improper and yours also your conduct is really outrageous you drive me out of the house i am going to my in town i have no comfort

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or peace of mind in my own house i will stand it no longer i may be late to night â i shall go to the british medical meeting but when i return i x the shall h to find that have your conduct and that have en dear of the have recently made an alteration in your he seized his hat the dining room do n and a few minutes later they heard the crash of the big front gate victory victory cried still around the furniture did you hear what he said influences don t you understand why do you sit there so pale and why don t you get up and dance oh i shall be so glad when it is over i do hate to give him pain surely he has learned now that it is very unpleasant to spend one s life with he has almost learned it just one more little lesson we must not risk all at this last moment what would you do oh don t do an ing too dreadful i feel that we have gone too far already oh we can do it very nicely you see we are both engaged and that makes it very easy will do what you ask him especially as you have told the reason why and my charles will do it without even wanting to know the reason now you know what mrs thinks about the reserve of young ladies mere affectation and a of uie dark ages of the those were her words were they not what then well now we must put it in practice we are all her other views to practice and we must not this one but what would you do oh don t look so wicked you look like some evil little with your golden beyond the city hair and dancing mischievous eyes i know that you are going to propose something dreadful we must give a uttle supper to night we a supper why not young gentlemen give why not young ladies but whom shall we invite why and charles of course and the admiral and mrs hay oh no that would be very old fashioned we must keep up with the times but what can we give them for supper oh something with a nice fast late kind of to it let me see champagne of course â and will do in the novels all the naughty people take champagne and besides they won t need any cooking how is your pocket money i have three pounds and i have one four pounds i have no idea how much champagne costs have you not the slightest how many does a man eat i can t imagine write and ask charles no i won t ask jane ring for her she has been a cook and is sure to know jane on being cross questioned refused to commit herself beyond the statement that it depended upon the gentleman and also upon the the united experience of the kitchen however that three dozen was a fair provision women of the future then we shall have eight dozen altogether said da down all her upon a sheet of â and two of champagne and some bread and and that s all i it is not so very difficult to give a supper after is it i don t like it it seems to me to be so very but it is needed to the matter no no here is no drawing back now or we shall ruin papa is sure to come back by the le will reach the door at we must have ready for him now just sit down at once and to come at nine o clock and i shall do the to charles the two invitations were received and was already a and he that this was some further development of he plot as to charles he was so accustomed to in the person of his aunt that the â thing which could surprise him would be a rigid â of etiquette at nine o clock they entered he dining room of number to find the master of the absent a red shaded lamp a snowy cloth a â little feast and the two whom would have as their companions a party never and the house rang with their laughter and their it is three minutes to ten cried suddenly at the clock good gracious so it is now for our little pushed the champagne bottles tke great shadow etc beyond the city forward in the direction of the door and scattered shells over the cloth have you your pipe charles my pipe yes then please smoke it now don t argue about it but do it for you will ruin the effect otherwise the large man drew out a red case and extracted a great yellow out of which a moment later he was puffing thick wreaths of smoke had lit a cigar and both the girls had that looks very nice and said glancing round now i shall lie on this sofa so now charles just sit here and throw your arm carelessly over the back of the sofa no don t stop smoking i like it dear put your feet upon the and do try to look a little dissipated i wish we could crown ourselves with flowers there are some on the oh dear here he is i hear his key she began to sing in her high fresh voice a little snatch from a french song with a swinging la la chorus the doctor had walked home from the station in a and frame of mind feeling that perhaps he had said too much in the morning that his daughters had for years been models in every way and that if there had been any change of late it was as they said themselves on account of their anxiety to

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follow his advice and to imitate mrs he could see clearly enough now that that advice was unwise and that a world peopled with mrs would not be a happy or a soothing one it was he who was himself to blame and he was grieved by the women of the future thought that perhaps his hot words had troubled and his two girls this fear however was soon dissipated as he entered his hall he heard the voice of uplifted in a and a very strong smell of tobacco was borne to his nostrils he threw open the door and stood aghast at the scene which met his eyes the room was full of the blue wreaths of smoke and the lamp light shone through the thin haze upon gold bottles plates and a litter of shells and flushed and excited was upon the a wine glass at her elbow and a between her fingers while charles sat beside her with his arm thrown over the head of the sofa with the suggestion of a caress on the other side of the room was lounging in an arm chair with beside her both smoking and both with wine glasses beside them the doctor stood speechless in the doorway staring at the scene come in papa do cried won t you have a glass of champagne pray excuse me said her father coldly i feel that i am i did not know that you were entertaining perhaps you will kindly let me know when you have finished you will find me in my study he ignored the two young men completely and closing the door retired deeply hurt and to his room a quarter of an hour afterwards he heard the door and his two daughters came to announce that the guests were gone beyond the city guests whose guests he cried angrily what is the meaning of this exhibition we have been giving a little supper papa they were our guests oh indeed the doctor laughed you think it right then to entertain young late at night to smoke and drink with them to oh that i should ever have lived to blush for my own daughters i thank god that your dear mother never saw the day dearest papa cried throwing her arms about him do not be angry with us if you understood all yoa would see that there is no harm in it no harm miss who is the best judge of that mrs suggested the doctor sprang from his chair confound mrs he cried striking into the air with his hands am i to hear of nothing but this woman is she to me at every turn i will endure it no longer but it was your wish papa then i will tell you now what my second and wiser wish is and we shall see if you will obey it as you have the first of course we will papa then my wish is that you should forget these odious notions which you have that you should dress and act as you used to do before ever you saw this woman and that in future you confine your intercourse with her to such as are necessary between neighbours a bolt from the blue we are to give up mrs r give up me oh dear how can you say an so cruel cried her golden hair into her father s shirt front while pressed her cheek against his of course we shall give her up if you prefer it of course we shall papa the doctor patted the two caressing heads these are my own two girls again he cried it has been my fault as much as yours i have been astray and you have followed me in my error it was only by seeing your mistake that i have become conscious of my own let us set it aside and neither say nor think anything more about it chapter xi a bolt from the blue so by the cleverness of two girls a dark cloud was away and turned into sunshine over one of them alas another cloud was gathering could not be so easily dispersed of these three which fate had thrown together two had already been united by ties of love it was destined however that a bond of another sort should connect the with the hay between the admiral and the widow a very cordial feeling had existed since the day when the old seaman had hauled down his flag and changed his opinions to the all that he had refused to the his own frank and downright nature re beyond the city the same qualities in his neighbour and a friendship sprang up between them which was more like that which exists between two men founded upon esteem and a community of tastes by the way admiral said mrs one morning as they walked together down to the station i understand that this boy of yours in the intervals of paying his to miss is doing something upon change yes ma am and there is no man of his age who is doing so well he s drawing ahead i can tell you ma am some of those that started with him are down now he touched his five hundred last year and before he s thirty he ll be making the four figures the reason i asked is that i have small to make myself from time to time and my present is a rascal i should be very glad to do it through your son it is very kind of you ma am his partner is away on a holiday and would like to push on a bit and show what he can do you know the isn t big enough to hold the lieutenant when the s on shore i suppose he charges the usual half per cent don t know i m sure ma

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am i ll swear that he does what is right and proper that is what i usually pay â ten shillings in the hundred pounds if you see him before i do just ask him to get me five thousand in new it is at four just now and i fancy it may rise five thousand exclaimed the admiral reckoning a bolt from the i it in his own mind see that s twenty five pounds commission a nice day s work upon my word it is a very handsome order ma am well i must pay some one and why not him i ll tell him and i m sure he ll lose no time oh there is no great hurry by the way i under stand from what you said just now that he has a partner yes my boy is the junior partner is the senior i was introduced to him years ago and he offered the opening of course we had a pretty stiff to pay mrs had stopped and was standing very stiffly with her red indian face even than usual said she the same then it s all off she cried you need not carry out that very well ma am they walked on together side by side she brooding over some thought of her own and he a little crossed and disappointed at her caprice and the lost commission for i ll tell you what admiral she exclaimed suddenly if i were you i should get your boy out of this but why madam because he is tied to one of the deepest in the whole city of london ma am what can you know of him he bears a good name beyond the no one in this world knows as i know him admiral i warn you because i have a friendly feeling both for you and for your son the man is a rogue and you had best avoid him but these are only words ma am do you tell me that you know him better than the and in the city man cried mrs will you allow that i know him when i tell you that my maiden name was and that is my only brother the admiral whistled cried he now that i think of it there is a likeness he is a man of iron admiral â a man without a heart i should shock you if i were to tell you what i have endured from my brother my father s wealth was divided equally between us his own share he ran through in five years and he has tried since then by every trick of a cunning low minded man by base by legal by brutal to me out of my share as well there is no of which the man is not capable oh i know my brother i know him and i am prepared for him this is all new to me ma am my word i hardly know what to say to it i thank you for having spoken so plainly from what you say this is a poor sort of for a man to sail with perhaps would do well to cut himself adrift without losing a day well we shall talk it over you may be sure of that but here we are at the station so i just see you into your carriage and then home to see what my wife says to the matter a bolt from the blue as he and perplexed he was surprised to hear a shout behind him and to see running down the road after him why he cried i have just come from town and the first thing i saw was your back as you marched away but you are such a quick that i had to run to catch you the admiral s smile of pleasure had broken his stern face into a thousand wrinkles you are early to day said he yes i wanted to consult you nothing wrong oh no only an inconvenience what is it then how much have we in our private account pretty fair some eight hundred i think oh half that will be ample it was rather thoughtless of what then well you see when he went away upon this little holiday to he left me to pay accounts and so on he told me that there was enough at the bank for all claims i had occasion on tuesday to pay away two one for and the other for â and here they are returned with a bank notice that we have already to the extent of some hundreds the admiral looked very grave what s the meaning of that then he asked oh it can easily be set right you see all the spare capital and keeps as small a margin as possible at the bank still it was too bad of him to allow me even to run a risk of having a re beyond the city turned i have written to him and demanded his authority to sell out some stock and i have written an explanation to these people in the meantime however i have had to issue several other so i had better transfer part of our private account to meet them quite so my boy all that s mine is yours but who do you think this is he is mrs s brother really what a singular thing well i can see a likeness now that you mention it they have both the same hard type of face she has been warning me against him â says he is the in london i hope that it is all right boy and that we may not find ourselves in broken water had turned a little pale as he heard mrs s opinion of his senior partner it gave shape and substance to certain vague fears and suspicions of his own

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which had been pushed back as often as they themselves as being too monstrous and fantastic for belief he is a well known man in the city said he of course he is â of course he is that is what i told her they would have found him out there if anything had been amiss with him bless you there s nothing so bitter as a family quarrel still it is just as well that you have written about this affair for we may as well have all fair and above board but s letter to his partner was crossed by a letter from his partner to it lay awaiting him upon the breakfast table next morning and it sent the heart into his mouth as he read it and caused him to a bolt from the blue spring up from his chair with a white face and staring eyes my boy my boy i am ruined mother â ruined he stood gazing wildly in front of him while the sheet of paper fluttered down on to the carpet then he dropped back into the chair and sank his face into his hands his mother had her arms round him in an instant while the admiral with shaking fingers picked up the letter from the floor and adjusted his glasses to read it my dear it ran by the time that this reaches you i shall be out of the reach of yourself or of anyone else who may desire an interview you need not search for me for i assure you that this letter is posted by a friend and that you will have trouble in vain if you try to find me i am sorry to leave you in such a tight place but one or other of us must be squeezed and on the whole i prefer that it should be you you ll find nothing in the bank and about for i m not sure that the best thing you can do is not to what you can and imitate your senior s example if you act at once you may get clean away if not it s not only that you must put up your shutters but i am afraid that this missing money could hardly be included as an ordinary debt and of course you are responsible for it just as much as i am take a friend s advice and get to america a young man with brains can always do something out there and you can live down this little it will be a cheap lesson if it teaches you beyond the city to take nothing upon trust in business and to insist upon knowing exactly what your partner is doing however senior he may be to you yours faithfully great heavens groaned the admiral he has and left me both a and a thief no no sobbed his mother all will be right what matter about money money mother it is my honour the boy is right it is his honour and my honour for his is mine this is a sore trouble mother when we thought our life s troubles were all behind us but we will bear it as we have borne others he held out his hand and the two old folk sat with bowed grey heads their fingers strong in each other s love and s we were too happy she sighed but it is god s will mother yes john it is god s will and yet it is bitter to bear i could have lost all the house money rank â i could have borne it but at my age â my honour â the honour of an admiral of the fleet no honour can be lost john where no has been done what have you done what has done there is no question of honour the old man shook his head but had already called together his clear practical sense which a bolt from the blue for an instant in the presence of this blow had deserted him the is right said he it is bad enough heaven knows but we must not take too dark a view of it after all this insolent letter is in itself evidence that i had nothing to do with the schemes of the base villain who wrote it they may think it they could not my whole life cries out against the thought they could not look me in the face and entertain it no boy not if they have eyes in their heads cried the admiral up courage at the sight of the flashing eyes and brave defiant face we have the letter and we have your character we ll weather it yet between them it s my fault from the beginning for choosing such a land for your god help me i thought i was finding such an opening for you dear how could you possibly know as he says in his letter it has given me a lesson but he was so much older and so much more experienced that it was hard for me to ask to examine his books but we must waste no time i must go to the city what will you do what an honest man should do i will write to all our and lay the whole matter before them read them the letter and put myself absolutely in their hands that s it boy â yard arm to yard arm and have it over i must go at once he put on his top coat and his hat but i have ten minutes yet before i can beyond the city catch a train there is one little thing which i must do before i start he had caught sight through the long glass folding door of the gleam of a white and a straw hat in the ground used often to meet him there of a

3Edith Wharton

morning to say a few words before he hurried away into the city he walked out now with the quick firm step of a man who has taken a momentous resolution but his face was haggard and his lips pale said he as she came towards him with words of greeting i am sorry to bring ill news to you but things have gone wrong in the city and â and i think that i ought to release you from your engagement stared at him with her great questioning dark eyes and her face became as pale as his how can the city affect you and me it is i cannot ask you to share it the loss of some miserable gold and silver oh if it were only that we could be far happier together in a little cottage in the country than with all the riches of the city poverty could not cut me to the heart as i have been cut this morning why it is but twenty minutes since i had the letter and it seems to me to be some old old thing which happened far away in my past life some horrid black cloud which shut out all the freshness and the peace from it but what is it then what do you fear worse than poverty to have debts that i cannot meet to be ham a bolt from the blue upon change and declared a to know that others have a just claim upon me and to feel that i dare not meet their eyes is not that worse than poverty yes a worse but all this may be got over is there nothing more my partner has fled and left me responsible for heavy debts and in such a position that i maybe required by the law to produce some at least of this missing money it has been confided to him to invest and he has it i as his partner am liable for it i have brought misery on all whom i love â my father my mother but you at least shall not be under the shadow you are free there is no tie between us it takes two to make such a tie said she smiling and putting her hand inside his arm it takes two to make it dear and also two to break it is that the way they do business in the city sir that a man can always at his own sweet will tear up his engagements you hold me to it no so as i never never shall you get from that bond but i am ruined my whole life is and so you wish to ruin me and blast my life also no indeed sir you shall not get away so lightly but seriously now you would hurt me if it were not so absurd do you think that a woman s love is like this which i carry in my hand a thing only fitted for the sunshine and of no use when the winds blow and the clouds gather beyond city i would not drag you down should i not be dragged down indeed if i left your side at such a time it is only now that i can be of use to you help you sustain you you have always been so strong so above me you are strong still but then two will be stronger besides sir you have no idea what a woman of business i am papa says so and he knows tried to speak but his heart was too full he could only press the white hand which curled round his sleeve she walked up and down by his side merrily and sending little of through the gloom which him in to listen to her he might have thought that it was and not her staid and sister who was to him it will soon be cleared up said she and then we shall feel quite dull of course all business men have these little and downs why i suppose of all the men you meet upon change there is not one who has not some such story to tell if everything was always smooth you know then of course every one would turn and you would have to hold your meetings in park how much is it that you need more than i can ever get not less than thirteen thousand pounds s face fell as she heard the amount what do you purpose doing i shall go to the city now and i shall ask all our to meet me to morrow i shall read them s letter and put myself into their hands and they what will they do friends in need what can they do they will serve for their money and the firm will be declared â and the meeting will be to morrow you say will you take my advice what is it to ask them for a few days of delay who knows what new turn matters may take what turn can they take i have no means of raising the money let us have a few days oh we should have that in the ordinary course of business the legal would take them some little time but i must go i must not seem to my place now must be at my offices yes dear you are right god bless you and guard you i shall be here in the wilderness but all day i shall be by your office table at street in spirit and if ever you should be sad you will hear my little whisper in your ear and know that there is one whom you will never be able to get rid of â never as long as we both live dear chapter xii friends in need now papa said that morning her brows and putting her finger tips together with

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the air of an experienced person of business i want to have a talk to you about money matters yes my dear he laid down his paper and looked a question kindly tell me again papa how much money i great shadow etc beyond the have in my very own right you have often tc d me before but i always forget figures you have two hundred and fifty pounds a year of your own under your aunt s will and has one hundred and fifty now i think i can live very well on fifty pounds a year papa i am not very extravagant and i could make my own dresses if i had a sewing machine very likely dear in that case i have two hundred a year which i could do without if it were necessary but it is necessary oh do help me like a good dear kind papa in this matter for my whole heart is set upon it is in sore need of money and through no fault of his own with a woman s tact and eloquence she told the whole story put in my place papa what is the money to me i never think of it from year s end to year s end but now i know how precious it is i could not have thought that money could be so valuable see what i can do with it it may help to save him i must have it by to morrow oh do do advise me as to what i should do and how i should get the money the doctor smiled at her eagerness you are as anxious to get rid of money as others are to gain it said he in another case i might think it rash but i believe in your and i can see that he has had treatment you will let deal with the matter you papa friends in need it can be done best between men your capital is some five thousand pounds but it is out on a and you could not call it in â h dear oh dear but we can still manage i have as much at my bank i will advance it to the as coming from you and you can repay it to me or the interest of it when your money becomes due oh that is beautiful how sweet and kind of you but there is one obstacle i do not think that you would ever induce to take this money s face fell don t you think so really i am sure that he would not then what are you to do what horrid things money matters are to arrange i shall see his father we can manage it all between us oh do do papa and you will do it soon there is no time like the present i will go in at once he a put it in an envelope put on his broad straw hat and strolled in through the garden to pay his morning call it was a singular sight which met his eyes as he entered the sitting room of the admiral a great stood open in the centre and all round upon the carpet were little piles of oil skins books boxes instruments and sea boots the old seaman sat gravely amidst this lumber turning it over and examining it intently while his wife with the tears running silently down her ruddy cheeks sat upon the sofa her elbows upon her knees and her chin upon her hands rocking herself slowly backwards and forwards i beyond the city doctor said the admiral holding out his hand there s foul weather set in upon us as you may have heard but i have ridden out many a worse and please god we shall all three of us weather this one also though two of us are a little more than we were my dear friends i came in to tell you how deeply we with you all my girl has only just told me about it it has come so suddenly upon us doctor sobbed mrs hay i thought that i had john to myself for the rest of our lives â heaven knows that we have not seen very much of each other â but now he talks of going to sea again aye aye that s the only way out of it when i first heard of it i was thrown up in the wind with all i give you my word that i lost my bearings more completely than ever since i a s to my belt you see friend i know something of or battle or whatever may come upon the waters but the in the city of london on which my poor boy has struck are clean beyond me had been my pilot there and now i know him to be a rogue but i ve taken my bearings now and i see my course right before me what then admiral oh i have one or two little plans i ll have some news for the boy why hang it man i may be a bit stiff in the joints but you ll be my witness that i can do my twelve miles under the three hours what then my eyes are as good as ever except just for the newspaper my head is clear i m three and sixty but friends in need fm as good a man as ever i was â too good a man to lie up for another ten years be the better for a of the salt water again and a of the breeze tut mother it s not a four years this time fu be back every month or two it s no more than if i went for a visit in the country he was talking and his sea boots and back into his chest and

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you really think my dear friend of your again my no no her majesty god bless her has too many young men to need an old hke me i shall be plain mr hay of the merchant service i that i might find some owner who would give me a chance as second or third officer it will be strange to me to feel the rails of the bridge under my fingers once more tut tut this will never do this will never do admiral the doctor sat down by mrs hay and patted her hand in token of friendly s we must wait until your son has had it out with all these people and then we shall know what damage is done and how best to set it right it will be time enough then to begin to muster our resources to meet it our resources the admiral laughed there s the fm afraid that our resources won t need much oh come there are some which you may not have thought of for example admiral i had always intended that my girl should have five thousand fi om me when she married of course your boy s trouble u beyond the city her trouble and the money cannot be spent better than in helping to set it right she has a little of her own which she wished to contribute but i thought it best to work it this way will you take the mrs and i think it would be best if you said nothing to about it and just used it as the occasion served god bless you you are a true friend i won t forget this the admiral sat down on his sea chest and his brow with his red handkerchief what is it to me whether you have it now or then it may be more useful now there s only one if things should come to the worst and if tlie business should prove so bad that nothing can set it right then hold back this for there is no use in pouring water into a broken basin and if the lad should fall he will want something to pick himself up again with he shall not fall and you shall not have occasion to be ashamed of the family into which your daughter is about to marry i have my own plan but we shall hold your money my friend and it will strengthen us to feel that it is there well that is all right said doctor rising and if a little more should be needed we must not let him go wrong for the want of a thousand or two and now admiral i m off for my morning walk won t you come too no i am going into town well good bye i hope to have better news and that all will come right good bye mrs i in strange waters feel as if the boy were my own and i shall not be easy until all is right with him chapter xiii in strange waters when doctor had departed the admiral packed all his possessions back into his sea chest with the exception of one little brass bound desk this he unlocked and took from it a dozen or so blue sheets of paper all over with and with very large v r s printed upon the heads of them he tied these carefully into a small bundle and placing them in the inner pocket of his coat he seized his stick and hat oh john don t do this rash thing cried mrs laying her hands upon his sleeve i have seen so little of you john only three years since you left the service don t leave me again i know it is weak of me but i cannot bear it there s my own brave said he down the grey shot hair lived in honour together mother and please god in honour we ll die no matter how debts are made they have got to be met and what the boy owes we owe he has not the money and how is he to find it he can t find it what then it becomes my business and there s only one way for it but it may not be so very bad john had we not best wait until after he sees these people to morrow they may give him little time but i ll have a care that i don t go so far that i can t put back again beyond the city now mother there s no use holding me it s got to be done and there s no sense in it he detached her fingers from his sleeve pushed her gently back into an arm chair and hurried from the house in less than half an hour the admiral was whirled into victoria station and found himself amid a dense bustling throng who and pushed in the crowded his errand which had seemed enough in his own room began now to present difficulties in the carrying out and he puzzled over how he should take the first steps amid the stream of business men each hurrying on his definite way the old seaman in his grey suit and black soft hat strode slowly along his head sank and his brow wrinkled in perplexity suddenly an idea occurred to him he walked back to the railway stall and bought a daily paper this he turned and turned until a certain column met his eye when he smoothed it out and carrying it over to a seat proceeded to read it at his leisure and indeed as a man read that column it seemed strange to him that there should still remain any one in this world of ours who should be in straits for want of money here were whole lines of gentlemen who were with a

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in their and who were loudly calling to the poor and to come and take it off their hands here was the person who was not a professional but who would be glad to correspond c here too was the individual who advanced sums from ten to ten thousand pounds without expense security or delay the money actually paid over within a few hours ran this fascinating advertisement up in strange waters a vision of swift messengers rushing with bags of gold to the aid of the poor a third gentleman did all business by personal application advanced money on anything or nothing the and promise was enough to content him according to his circular and finally he never asked for more than five per cent this struck the admiral as far the most promising and his wrinkles relaxed and his frown softened away as he gazed at it he folded up the paper rose from the seat and found himself face to face with charles admiral charles had always been a favourite of the seaman s what are you doing here oh i have been doing a little business for my aunt but i have never seen you in london before i hate the place it me there s not a breath of clean air on this side of but maybe you know your way about pretty well in the city well i know something about it you see never lived very far from it and i do a good deal of my aunt s business maybe you know bread street it is out of well then how do you steer for it from here you make me out a course and fu keep to it why admiral i have nothing to do take you there with pleasure will you though well take it very kindly if you would i have business there smith and financial agents bread street beyond the city the pair made their way to the river side and so down the thames to st paul s landing a mode of travel which was much more to the admiral s taste than or cab on the way he told his companion his mission and the causes which had led to it charles knew little enough of city life and the ways of business but at least he had more experience in both than the admiral and he made up his mind not to leave him until the matter was settled these are the people said the admiral twisting round his paper and pointing to the advertisement which had seemed to him the most promising it sounds honest and above board does it not the personal interview looks as if there were no and then no one could object to five per cent no it seems fair enough it is not pleasant to have to go hat in hand money but there are times as you may find before you are my age when a man must away his pride but here s their number and their plate is on the comer of the door a narrow entrance was on either side by a row of upwards from the and the who occupied the ground floors through a long succession of west indian agents and to the firm of which they were in quest a winding stone stair well and at first but growing with every landing brought them past innumerable doors until at last just under the ground glass the names of smith and were to be seen painted in large white letters across a with a invitation to in strange waters i push beneath it following out the suggestion the admiral and his companion found themselves in a dingy apartment ill lit from a couple of glazed windows an table with pens papers and an american cloth sofa three chairs of varying patterns and a much worn carpet constituted all the furniture save only a very large and and a framed and very sombre picture which hung above the fireplace sitting in front of this picture and staring gloomily at it as being the only thing which he could stare at was a small boy with a large head who in the intervals of his art studies at an apple is mr smith or mr in asked the admiral there ain t no such people said the small boy but you have the names on the door ah that is the name of the firm you see it s only a name it s mr that you wants well then is he in no he s not when will he be back can t tell i m sure he s gone to lunch sometimes he takes one hour and sometimes two it ll be two to day i for he said he was hungry afore he went then i suppose that we had better call again said the admiral not a bit cried charles i know how to manage these little see here you young here s a shilling for you rim off and fetch your master if you don t bring him here in five minutes i ll you beyond the city on the side of the head when you get back he charged at the youth who bolted from the room and madly down stairs he ll fetch him said charles let us make ourselves at home this sofa does not feel over and above safe it was not meant for fifteen stone men but this doesn t look quite the sort of place where one would expect to pick up money just what i was thinking said the admiral looking about him ah well i have heard that the best furnished offices generally belong to the poorest let us hope it s the opposite here they can t spend much on the management anyhow that headed boy was the staff i suppose ha by jove that s his voice and he s

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got our man i think as he spoke the youth appeared in the doorway with a small brown dried up little of a man at his heels he was clean shaven and blue with black hair and keen brown eyes which shone out very brightly from between under and drooping upper ones he advanced glancing keenly from one to the other of his visitors and slowly rubbing together his thin blue hands the small boy closed the door behind him and vanished i am mr said the money was it about an advance you wished to see me yes for you i presume turning to charles no for this gentleman the money looked surprised how much did you desire in strange waters i thought of five thousand pounds said the admiral and on what security i am a retired admiral of the british navy you will find my name in the navy list there is my card i have here my papers i get a year i thought that perhaps if you were to hold these papers it would be security enough that i should pay you you could draw my and repay yourselves at the rate say of a year taking your five per cent interest as well what interest five per cent per mr laughed per he said five per cent a month a month that would be sixty per cent a year precisely but that is monstrous i don t ask gentlemen to come to me they come of their own free will those are my terms and they can take it or leave it then i shall leave it the admiral rose angrily from his chair but one moment sir just sit down and we shall chat the matter over yours is a rather unusual case and we may find some other way of doing what you wish of course the security which you offer is no security at all and no sane man would advance five thousand on it no security why not sir you might die to morrow you are not a young man what age are you beyond the city sixty three mr turned over a long column of figures here is an s table said he at your time of life the average of life is only a few years even in a well preserved man do you mean to that i am not a man well admiral it is a tr life at sea sailors in their younger days are gay dogs and take it out of themselves then when they grow older they are still hard at it and have no chance of rest or peace i do not think a sailor s life a good one i ll tell you what sir said the admiral hotly if you have two pairs of gloves fu undertake to knock you out under three rounds or i ll race you from here to st paul s and my friend here will see fair i ll let you see whether i am an old man or not this is beside the question said the with a shrug the point is that if you died to morrow where would be the security then i could my life and make the policy over to you your for such a sum if any office would have you which i very much doubt would come to close on five hundred a year that would hardly suit your book well sir what do you intend to propose asked the admiral i might to accommodate you work it in another way i should send for a medical man and have an opinion upon your life then i might see what could be done in strange waters that is quite fair i have no objection to that there is a very clever doctor in the street here is his name john go and fetch doctor the youth was upon his errand while mr sat at his desk his nails and shooting out little comments upon the weather presently feet were heard upon the stairs the hurried out there was a sound of whispering and he returned with a large fat greasy looking man clad in a much worn frock coat and a very top hat doctor gentlemen said mr the doctor bowed smiled whipped off his hat and produced his from its interior with the air of a upon the stage which of these gentlemen am i to examine he asked from one to the other of them ah it is you only your waistcoat you need not undo your collar thank you a full breath thank you ninety nine thank you now hold your breath for a moment oh deaf dear what is this i hear what is it then asked the admiral coolly tut tut this is a great pity have you had fever never you have had some serious illness never ah you are an admiral you have been abroad â i know i ha e never had a day s illness not to your knowledge but you have un beyond the city healthy air and it has left its effect you have an murmur â slight but distinct is it dangerous it might at any time become so you should not take violent exercise oh indeed it would hurt me to run a half mile it would be very dangerous and a mile would be almost certainly fatal then there is nothing else the matter no but if the heart is weak then is weak and the life is not a sound one you see admiral remarked mr as the doctor his once more in his hat my remarks were not entirely for i am sorry that the doctor s opinion is not more favourable but this is a matter of business and certain obvious precautions must be taken of course then the matter is at an end well we might even now do business i

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am most anxious to be of use to you how long do you think doctor that this gentleman will in all probability live well well it s rather a delicate question to answer said mr with a show of embarrassment not a bit sir out with it i have faced death too often to from it now though i saw it as near me as you are well well we must go by ot course shall we say two years i should think that you have a full two years before you in strange waters in two years your would bring you in â now i will do my very best for you admiral i will advance you d and you can make over to me your for your life it is pure speculation on my part if you die to morrow i lose my money if the doctor s prophecy is correct i shall still be out of pocket if you live a little longer then i may see my money again it is the very best i can do for you then you wish to buy my yes for two thousand down and if i live for twenty years oh in that case of course my speculation be more successful but you have heard the doctor s opinion would you advance the money instantly you should have a thousand at once the other thousand i should expect you to take in furniture in furniture yes admiral we shall do you a beautiful at that sum it is the custom of my to take half in furniture the admiral sat in dire perplexity he had come out to get money and to go back without any to be powerless to help when his boy needed every shilling to save him from disaster that would be very bitter to him on the other hand it was so much that he surrendered and so little that he received little and yet something would it not be better than going back empty handed he saw the yellow backed upon the table the money opened it and dipped his pen into the ink the etc beyond ihe city shall i fill it up said he i think admiral remarked that we had better have a little walk and some luncheon before we settle this matter oh we may as well do it at once it would be absurd to it now spoke with some heat and his eyes angrily from between his narrow at the charles the admiral was simple in money matters but he had seen much of men and had learned to read them he saw that glance and saw too that intense eagerness was peeping out from beneath the careless air which the agent had assumed you re quite right said he we ll have a little walk before we settle it but i may not be here this afternoon then we must choose another day but why not settle it now because i prefer not said the admiral shortly very well but remember that my offer is only for to day it is off unless you take it at once let it be off then there s my fee cried the doctor how much a guinea the admiral threw a pound and a shilling upon the table come said he and they walked together from the room i don t uke it said charles when they found themselves in the street once more i don t profess to be a very sharp chap but this is a trifle too thin what did he want to go out and speak to the doctor for in strange waters and how very convenient this tale of a weak heart was i believe they are a couple of and in league with each other a and a pilot fish said the admiral tu tell you what i propose sir there s a lawyer named who does my aunt s business he is a very honest fellow and lives at the other side of poultry we ll go over to him together and have his opinion about the whole matter how far is it to his place oh a mile at least we can have a cab a mile then we shall see if there is any truth in what that of a doctor said come my boy and clap on all sail and see who can stay the longest then the sober of the heart of business london saw a singular sight as they returned from their down the among and carts ran a weather stained elderly man with wide flapping black hat and homely suit of with elbows back hands clenched near his and chest he along while close at his heels a large heavy yellow young man who seemed to feel the exercise a good deal more than his senior on they dashed until they pulled up panting at the office where the lawyer of the was to be found there now cried the admiral in triumph what d ye think of that nothing wrong in the eh you seem fit enough sir blessed if i believe the was a doctor at all he was flying false colours or i am mistaken o beyond the city they keep the and in this eating house said we ll go and look him out they did so but the medical rolls contained no such name as that of dr of bread street pretty this cried the admiral his chest a doctor and a up disease well we ve tried the let us see what we can do with your honest man chapter xiv eastward ho mr of the firm of and squire was a highly polished man who dwelt behind a highly polished table in the and of offices he was white haired and amiable with a deep lined face was to low bows and indeed always seemed to carry himself at half

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cock as though just descending into one or just recovering himself he wore a high stock took snuff and adorned his conversation with little scraps from the my dear sir said he when he had listened to their story any friend of mrs s is a friend of mine try a pinch i wonder that you should have gone to this man his advertisement is enough to condemn him in they are all the doctor was a rogue too i didn t like the look of him at the time but now we must see what we can do for you of course what said was per eastward ho right the is in itself no security at all unless it were accompanied by a life assurance which would be an income in itself it is no good whatever his faces fell but there is the second alternative you might sell the right out deal in such things i have one a sporting man who would be very likely to take it up if we could agree upon terms of course i must follow s example by sending for a doctor for the second time was the admiral and tapped and listened to this time however there could be no question of the of the doctor a well known fellow of the college of and his report was as favourable as the other s had been adverse he has the heart and chest of a man of forty said he i can recommend his life as one of the best of his age that i have ever examined that s well said mr making a note of the doctor s remarks while the admiral a second guinea your price i understand is five thousand pounds i can communicate with mr my and let you know whether he cares to touch the matter meanwhile you can leave your papers here and i will give you a receipt for them very well i should like the money soon that is why i am retaining the papers if i can see mr to day we may let you have a to morrow try another pinch no well good bye i am very happy to have been of service mr bowed them out for he was a very busy man and they beyond the city found themselves in the street once more with lighter hearts than when they had left it well i am sure i am very much obliged to you said the admiral you have stood by me when i was the better for a little help for tm clean out of my among these city but something to do now which is more in my own line and i need not trouble you any more oh it is no trouble i have nothing to do i never have anything to do i don t suppose i could do it if i had i should be delighted to come with you sir if i can be of any use no no my lad you go home again it would be kind of you though if you would look in at number one when you get back and tell my wife that all s well with me and that tu be back in an hour or so all right sir til tell her raised his h t and strode away to the westward while the admiral after a hurried lunch bent his steps towards the east it was a long walk but the old seaman swung along at a rousing pace leaving street after street behind him the great business palaces down into common place shops and dwellings which and became more even as the folk who filled them did until he was deep in the evil places of the eastern end it was a land of huge dark houses and of gin shops a land too where life moves and where adventures are to be gained â as the admiral was to learn to his cost he was hurrying down one of the long narrow lanes between the double lines of crouching eastward ho women and of dirty children who sat on the steps of the houses and in the autumn sun at one side was a with a load of and beside the a woman with a black fringe and a shawl thrown over her head she was and picking them out of the shells throwing out a remark occasionally to a rough man in a rabbit skin cap with under the knees of his trousers who stood puffing a black clay pipe with his back against the wall what the cause of the quarrel was or what sharp sarcasm from the woman s lips pricked suddenly through that thick skin may never be known but suddenly the man took his pipe in his left hand leaned forward and deliberately struck her across the face with his right it was a slap rather than a blow but the woman gave a sharp cry and up against the with her hand to her cheek you infernal villain cried the admiral raising his stick you brute and growled the rough with the deep of a savage out o this or til he took a step forward with uplifted hand but in an instant down came cut number three upon his wrist and cut number five across his and cut number one full in the centre of his rabbit skin cap it was not a heavy stick but it was strong enough to leave a good red wherever it fell the rough with pain and rushed in with both hands and kicking with his iron shod boots bnt the admiral had still a quick foot and a true eye so that he bounded backwards and sideways still a shower of blows upon beyond the city his savage suddenly however a pair of arms closed round his neck and glancing backwards he caught a glimpse of

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the black coarse fringe of the woman whom he had got him she shrieked i ll old im now bill knock the out of him her grip was as strong as a man s and her wrist pressed like an iron bar upon the admiral s throat he made a desperate effort to himself but the most that he could do was to swing her round so as to place her between his adversary and himself as it proved it was the very best thing that he could have done the rough blinded and by the blows which he had received struck out with all his strength just as his partner s head swung round in front of him there was a noise like that of a stone a wall a deep groan her grasp relaxed and she dropped a dead weight upon the pavement while the admiral sprang back and raised his stick once more ready either for attack or defence neither were needed however for at that moment there was a scattering of the crowd and two and pushed their way through the at the sight of them the rough took to his heels and was instantly from view by a veil of his friends and neighbours i have been panted the admiral this woman was attacked and i had to defend her this is said one officer bending over the heap of tattered shawl and dirty skirt she s got it hot this time he was a man thick with a beard ah that s black he s been up four times eastward ho for beating her he s about done the job now if i were you i would â let that sort settle their own little affairs sir do you think that a man who holds the queen s commission will stand by and see a woman struck cried the admiral indignantly well just as you like sir but youve lost your watch i see my watch he clapped his hand to his waistcoat the chain was hanging down in front and the watch gone he passed his hand over his forehead i would not have lost that watch for an said he no money could replace it it was given me by the ship s company after our african it has an inscription the policeman shrugged his shoulders it comes from said he what ll you give me if i tell yer where it is said a sharp faced boy among the crowd will you a certainly well where s the the admiral took a sovereign from his pocket here it is then ere s the the boy pointed to the clenched hand of the senseless woman a glimmer of gold shone out from between the fingers and on opening them up there was the admiral s this interesting victim had her protector with one hand while she had robbed him with the other the admiral left his address with the policeman beyond the city satisfied himself that the woman was only stunned not dead and then set off upon his way once more the poorer perhaps in his faith in human nature but in very good spirits none the less he walked with dilated nostrils and clenched hands all glowing and with the excitement of the combat and warmed with the thought that he could still when there was need take his own part in a street in spite of his and odd years his way now led towards the river side regions and a of tar was to be detected in the autumn air men with the blue and cap of the or the white ducks of the began to replace the and of the shops with instruments in the windows rope and paint and shops with long rows of dangling from hooks all proclaimed the neighbourhood of the the admiral quickened his pace and straightened his figure as his surroundings became more until at last peeping between two high dingy he caught a glimpse of the waters of the thames and of the of and which rose from its broad bosom to the right lay a quiet street with many brass plates upon either side and wire blinds in all of the windows the admiral walked slowly down it until the saint shipping company caught his eye he crossed the road pushed open the door and found himself in a low office with a long counter at one end and a great number of wooden sections of ships stuck upon boards and all over the walls eastward ho is mr in asked the admiral no sir answered an elderly man from a high seat in the comer he has not come into town today i can manage any business you may wish seen to you don t happen to have a first or second officer s place vacant do you the manager looked with a eye at this singular do you hold he asked i hold every there is then you won t do for us why not your age sir i give you my word that i can see as well as ever and am as good a man in every way i don t doubt it why should my age be a bar then well i must put it plainly if a man of your age holding has not got past a second officer s berth there must be a black mark against him somewhere i don t know what it is drink or temper or want of judgment but something there must be i assure you there is nothing but i find myself and so have to turn to the old business again oh that s it said the manager with suspicion in his eye how long were you in your last fifty one years what yes sir one and fifty years in the same employ yes beyond the city why you must have begun as a child

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i was twelve when i joined it must be a strangely managed business said the manager which allows men to leave it who have served for fifty years and who are still as good as ever who did you serve the queen heaven bless her oh you were in the royal navy what did you hold i am admiral of the fleet the manager started and sprang down from his high stool my name is admiral hay there is my card and here are the records of my service i don t you understand want to push any other man from his but if you should chance to have a berth open i should be very glad of it i know the from the banks right up to a great deal better than i know the streets of london the astonished manager glanced over the blue papers which his visitor had handed him won t you take a chair admiral said he thank you but i should be obliged if you would drop my title now i told you because you asked me but ive left the quarter deck and i am plain mr hay now may i ask said the manager are you the same who commanded at one time on the north american station i did then it was you who got one of our boats the off the rocks in the bay of the yoa three as and you refused them it was an which should not have been made said the admiral sternly weu it credit upon you that you should think sa if mr henry were here i am sure that he would arrange this matter for you at once as it is i shall lay it before the to day and i am sure that they will be proud to have you in our employment and i hope in some more suitable position than that which yoa suggest i am very much obliged to you sir said the admiral and started off again well pleased upon his homeward journey chapter xv still among next day brought the admiral a for â from mr and a stamped agreement by which he made over his papers to the it was not until he had signed and sent it off that the full significance of all that he had done broke upon him he had sacrificed ever his was gone he had nothing save only what he could earn but the stout old heart never he waited eagerly for a letter from the saint shipping company and in the meanwhile he gave his landlord a quarter s notice hundred pound a year houses would in future be a luxury which he could not to a small lodging in some part of london must be the substitute for his villa so be beyond the city it then better that a than that his name should be associated with failure and disgrace on that morning was to meet the of the firm and to explain the situation to them it was a hateful task a degrading task but he set himself to do it with quiet resolution at home they waited in intense anxiety to learn the result of the meeting it was late before he returned haggard and pale like a man who has done and suffered much what s this board in front of the house he asked we are going to try a little change of scene said the admiral this place is neither town nor country but never mind that boy tell us what happened in the city god help me my wretched business is driving you out of house and home cried broken down by this fresh evidence of the effects of his misfortunes it is easier for me to meet my than to see you two suffering so patiently for my sake tut tut cried the admiral there s no suffering in the matter mother would rather be near the theatres that s at the bottom of it isn t it mother you come and sit down here between us and tell us all about it sat down with a loving hand in each of his it s not so bad as we thought said he and yet it is bad enough i have about ten days to find the money but i don t know which way to turn for it however lied as usual when he spoke of the amount is not quite the admiral clapped his hands i knew we should still among weather it after all my boy hip hip hip gazed at him in surprise while the old seaman waved his arm above his head and out three cheers where am i to get seven thousand pounds from he asked never mind you spin your well they were very good and very kind but of course they must have either their money or their money s worth they passed a vote of sympathy with me and agreed to wait ten days before they took any proceedings three of them whose claim came to told me that if i would give them my personal lo u and pay interest at the rate of five per cent their might stand over as long as i wished that would be a charge of â upon my income but with economy i could meet it and it the debt by one half again the admiral burst out cheering there remains therefore about which has to be found within ten days no man shall lose by me i gave them my word in the room that if i worked my soul out of my body every one of them should be paid i shall not spend a penny upon myself until it is done but some of them can t wait they are poor men themselves and must have their money they have issued a warrant for s arrest but they think that

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he has got away to the states these men shall have their money said the admiral t beyond the city yes my boy you don t know the resources of the family one never does know until one tries what have you yourself now i have about a thousand pounds invested all right and i have about as much more there s a good start now mother it is your what is that little bit of paper of yours mrs unfolded it and placed it upon s knee five thousand pounds he gasped ah but mother is not the only rich one look at this and the admiral unfolded his and placed it upon the other knee gazed from one to the other in bewilderment ten thousand pounds he cried good heavens where did these come from you will not worry any longer dear murmured his mother slipping her arm round him but his quick eye had caught the signature upon t ne of the doctor he cried flushing this is s doing oh we cannot take this money it would not be right nor honourable no boy i am glad you think so it is something however to have proved one s friend for a real good friend he is it was he who brought it in though sent him but this other money will be enough to cover everything and it is all my own your own where did you get it tut tut see what it is to have a city man to with it is my own and fairly earned and that is enough dear old squeezed his still among hand and you mother you have lifted the trouble from my heart i feel another man you have saved my honour my good name everything i cannot owe you more for i owe you everything already so while the autumn sunset shone through the broad window these three sat together hand in hand with hearts which were too full to speak suddenly the soft of balls was heard and mrs bounded into view upon the lawn with and short skirts fluttering in the breeze the sight came as a relief to their strained nerves and they burst all three into a hearty fit of laughter she is with her nephew said at last the have not come out yet i think that it would be well if you were to give me that mother and i were to return it in person certainly i think it would be very nice he went in through the garden and the doctor were sitting together in the dining room she sprang to her feet at the sight of him oh i have been waiting for you so impatiently she cried i saw you pass the front windows half an hour ago i would have come in if i dared do tell us what has happened i have come in to thank you both how can i repay you for your kindness here is your doctor i have not needed it i find that i can lay my hands on enough to pay my thank god said fervently the sum is less than i thought and our resources great shadow etc beyond the city considerably more we have been able to do it with ease with ease the doctor s brow clouded and his manner grew cold i think that you would do better to take this money of mine than to use that which seems to you to be gained with ease thank you sir if i borrowed from any one it would be from you but my father has this very sum five thousand pounds and as i tell him i owe him so much that i have no about owing him more no surely there are some sacrifices which a son should not allow his parents to make sacrifices what do you mean is it possible that you do not know how this money has been obtained i give you my word doctor that i have no idea i asked my father but he refused to tell me i thought not said the doctor the gloom clearing from his brow i was sure that you were not a man who to clear yourself from a little money difficulty would sacrifice the happiness of your mother and the health of your father good gracious what do you mean it is only right that you should know that money represents the of your father s he has reduced himself to poverty and to go to sea again to earn a to sea again impossible it is the truth charles has told he was with him in the city when he took his poor a midnight visitor about from dealer to dealer trying to sell it he succeeded at last and hence the money he has sold his cried with his hands to his face my dear old has sold his he rushed from the room and burst wildly into the presence of his parents once more i cannot take it father he cried better than that oh if i had only known your plan we must have back the oh mother mother how could you think me capable of such selfishness give me the and i will see this man to night for i would sooner die like a dog in the ditch than touch a penny of this money chapter xvi a midnight visitor now all this time while the comedy of life was being played in these three while on a commonplace stage love and humour and fears and lights and shadows were so swiftly succeeding each other and while these three families drifted together by fate were each other s and working out in their own fashion the strange intricate ends of human life there were human eyes which watched over every stage of the performance and which were keenly critical of every actor on it

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across the road beyond the green and the close lawn behind the curtains of their framed windows sat the two old ladies miss and miss looking out as from a private box at all that was being before them the growing beyond the city ship of the three families the engagement of with the engagement of charles with her sister the dangerous fascination which the widow exercised over the doctor the preposterous behaviour of the girls and the which they had caused their father not one of these incidents escaped the notice of the two maiden ladies the younger had a smile or a sigh for the lovers the elder a frown or a shrug for the elders every night they talked over what they had seen and their own dull life took a warmth and a colouring from their neighbours as a blank wall a fire and now it was destined that they should experience the one keen sensation of their later years the one memorable incident from which all future incidents should be dated it was on the very night which succeeded the events which have just been when suddenly into s head as she tossed upon her sleepless bed there shot a thought which made her sit up with a thrill and a gasp said she at the shoulder of her sister i have left the front window open no surely not sat up also and thrilled in sympathy i am sure of it you remember i had forgotten to water the pots and then i opened the window and jane called me about the jam and i have never been in the room since good gracious it is a mercy that we have not been murdered in our beds there was a house a midnight visitor broken into at forest hill last week shall we go down and shut it i dare not go down alone dear but if you will come with me put on your slippers and dressing gown we do not need a candle now we will go down together two little white patches moved vaguely through the darkness the stairs the door and they were at the front room window closed it gently down and fastened the what a beautiful moon said she looking out we can see as clearly as if it were day how peaceful and quiet the three houses are over yonder it seems quite sad to see that to let card upon number one i wonder how number two will like their going for my part i could better spare that dreadful woman at number three with her short skirts and her snake but oh look look look her voice had fallen suddenly to a quivering whisper and she was pointing to the house her sister gave a gasp of horror and stood with a clutch at s arm staring in the same direction there was a light in the front room a slight wavering light such as would be given by a small candle or the blind was down but the light shone dimly through outside in the garden with his figure luminous square there stood a man his back to the road his two hands upon the window ledge and his body rather bent as though he were trying to peep in past the blind so absolutely still and motionless was he that in spite of the moon they beyond the city might well have overlooked him were it not for that tell tale light behind good heaven gasped it is a but her sister set her mouth grimly and shook her head we shall see she whispered it may be something worse swiftly and the man stood suddenly erect and began to push the window slowly up then he put one knee upon the glanced round to see that all was safe and climbed over into the room as he did so he had to push the blind aside then the two spectators saw where the light came from mrs was standing as rigid as a statue in the centre of the room with a lighted in her right hand for an instant they caught a glimpse of her stern face and her white collar then the blind fell back into position and the two figures disappeared from their view oh that dreadful woman cried that dreadful dreadful woman she was waiting for him you saw it with your own eyes sister hush dear hush and listen said her more charitable companion they pushed their own window up once more and watched from behind the curtains for a long time all was silent within the house the light still stood motionless as though mrs remained rigidly in the one position while from time to time a shadow passed in front of it to show that her midnight visitor was pacing up and down in front of her once they saw his outline clearly with his hands outstretched as if in appeal or entreaty then suddenly there was a dull sound a cry the noise of a a midnight visitor fall the was extinguished and a dark figure fled in the moonlight rushed across the garden and vanished amid the shrubs at the farther side then only did the two old ladies understand that they had looked on whilst a tragedy had been help they cried and help in their high thin voices timidly at first but gathering volume as they went on until the wilderness rang with their shrieks lights shone in all the windows opposite chains rattled bars were doors opened and out rushed friends to the rescue with a stick the admiral with his sword his grey head and bare feet from either end of a long brown finally doctor with a all ran to the help of the their door had been already opened and they crowded into the front room charles white to his lips was kneeling on the floor supporting

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his aunt s head upon his knee she lay outstretched dressed in her ordinary clothes the extinguished still grasped in her hand no mark or wound upon her â pale placid and senseless thank god you are come doctor said charles looking up do tell me how she is and what i should do doctor beside her and passed his left hand over her head while he grasped her pulse with the right she has had a terrible blow said he it must have been with some blunt weapon here is the place behind the ear but she is a woman of extraordinary physical powers her pulse is full and slow there is o beyond the city no it is my belief that she is merely stunned and that she is in no danger at all thank god for that we must get her to bed we shall carry her upstairs and then i shall send my girls in to her but who has done this some robber said charles you see that the window is open she must have heard him and come down for she was always perfectly fearless i wish to goodness she had called me but she was dressed sometimes she sits up very late i did sit up very late said a voice she had opened her eyes and was at them in the a villain came in through the window and struck me with a hfe you can tell the police so when they come also that it was a little fat man now charles give me your arm and i shall go upstairs but her spirit was greater than her strength for as she staggered to her feet her head swam round and she would have fallen again had her nephew not thrown his arms round her they carried her up stairs among them and laid her upon the bed where the doctor watched beside her while charles went off to the and the den mounted guard over the frightened maids in port at last chapter xvii in port at last day had broken before the several of the wilderness had all returned to their homes the police finished their inquiries and all come back to its normal quiet mrs had been left sleeping peacefully with a small draught to steady her nerves and a handkerchief soaked in bound round her head it was with some surprise therefore that the admiral received a note from her about ten o clock asking him to be good enough to step in to her he hurried in fearing that she might have taken some turn for the worse but he was reassured to find her sitting up in her bed with and in attendance upon her she had removed the handkerchief and had put on a little cap with pink ribbons and a dressing jacket at the neck and sleeves my dear friend said she as he entered i wish to make a last few remarks to you no no she continued laughing as she saw a look of dismay upon his face i shall not dream of dying for at least another thirty years a woman should be ashamed to die before she is seventy i wish that you would ask your father to step up and you just pass me my and open me a bottle of stout now then she continued as the doctor joined their party i don t quite know what i ought to say you admiral you want some ve plain speaking to beyond the city ton my word ma am i don t know what you talking about the idea of you at your age talking of going to sea and leaving that dear patient little wife of yours at home who has seen nothing of you all her life it s all very well for you you have the life and the change and the excitement but you don t think of her eating her heart out in a dreary london lodging you men are all the same well ma am since you know so much you probably know also that i have sold my how am i to live if i do not turn my hand to work mrs produced a large envelope from beneath the sheets and tossed it over to the old seaman that excuse won t do there are your papers just see if they are right he broke the seal and out tumbled the very papers which he had made over to two days before but what am i to do with these now he cried in bewilderment you will put them in a safe place or get a friend to do so and if you do your duty you will go to your wife and beg her pardon for having even for an instant thought of leaving her the admiral passed his hand over his rugged forehead this is very good of you ma am said he â very good and kind and i know that you are a friend but for all that these papers mean money and though we may have been in broken water of late we are not quite in such straits as to have to signal to our in port at last friends when we do ma am there s no one we would look to sooner than to you don t be ridiculous said the widow you know nothing whatever about it and yet you stand there laying down the law have my way in the matter and you shall take the papers for it is no favour that i am doing you but simply a restoration of stolen property how that ma am i am just going to explain though you might take a lady s word for it without asking any questions now what i am going to say is just between you four and must go no farther i have my own reasons

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for wishing to keep it from the police who do you think it was who struck me last night admiral some villain ma am i don t know his name but i do it was the same man who ruined or tried to ruin your son it was my only brother ah i will tell you about him â or a little about him for he has done much which i would not care to talk of nor you to listen to he was always a villain smooth spoken and plausible but a dangerous subtle villain all the same if i have some hard thoughts about mankind i can trace them back to the childhood which i spent with my brother he is my only living relative for my other brother charles s father was killed in the indian â our father was rich and when he died he made a good provision both for and for me he knew and he him however so instead of giving him all that he meant him to have he beyond the city handed me over a part of it telling me with what was almost his dying breath to hold it in trust for my brother and to use it in his behalf when he should have or lost all that he had this arrangement was meant to be a secret between my father and myself but unfortunately his words were overheard by the nurse and she repeated them afterwards to my brother so that he came to know that i held some money in trust for him i suppose tobacco will not harm my head doctor thank you then i shall trouble you for the matches she lit a and leaned back upon the pillow with the blue wreaths curling from her lips i cannot tell you how often he has attempted to get that money from me he has threatened done all that a man could do i still held it with the that a need for it would come when i heard of this business his flight and his leaving his partner to face the storm above all that my old friend had been driven o surrender his income in order to up for my brother s i felt that now indeed i had a need for it i sent in charles yesterday to mr and his upon hearing the facts of the case very graciously consented to give back the papers and to take the money which he had advanced not a word of thanks to me admiral i tell you that it was very cheap benevolence for it was all done with his own money and how could i use it better i thought that i should probably hear from him soon and i did last evening there was handed in a note of the usual tone he had come in port at last back from abroad at the risk of his life and liberty just in order that he might say good bye to the only sister he ever had and to entreat my forgiveness for any pain which he had caused me he would never trouble me again and he begged only that i would hand over to him the sum which i held in trust for him that with what he had already would be enough to start him as an honest man in the new world when he would ever remember and pray for the dear sister who had been his that was the style of the letter and it ended by imploring me to leave the window latch open and to be in the front room at three in the morning when he would come to receive my last kiss and to bid me farewell bad as he was i could not when he trusted me betray him i said nothing but i was there at the hour he entered through the window and implored me to give him the money he was terribly changed gaunt and spoke like a madman i told him that i had spent the money he his teeth at me and swore it was his money i told him that i had spent it on him he asked me how i said in trying to make him an honest man and in the results of his he shrieked out a curse and pulling something out of the breast of his coat â a loaded stick i think â he struck me with it and i remember nothing more the cried the doctor but the police must be hot upon his track i fancy not mrs answered calmly as my brother is a particularly tall thin man and as the police are looking for a short fat one i do not beyond the city think that it is very probable that they will catch it is best i think that these little family matters should be adjusted in private my dear ma am said the admiral if it is indeed this man s money that has bought back my then i can have no scruples about taking it you have brought sunshine upon us ma am when the clouds were at their darkest for here is my boy who upon returning the money which i got he can keep it to pay his debts for what you have done i can only ask god to bless you ma am and as to thanking you i can t even then pray don t try said the widow now run away admiral and make your peace with mrs i am sure if i were she it would be a long time before i should forgive you as for me i am going to america when charles goes you ll take me so far won t you there is a college being built in which is to the woman of the future for the struggle of life and especially for her

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i page silver blaze the yellow face the s clerk the scott the the by by silver blaze by by i silver blaze i am afraid that i shall have to go as we sat down together to our breakfast one morning go where to to to king s i was not surprised indeed my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed up in this extraordinary case which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of england for a whole day my companion had about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows charging and re charging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks fresh of every by lo of paper had been sent up by our news agent only to be glanced over and tossed down into a comer yet silent as he was i knew perfectly well what it was over which he was brooding there was but one problem before the public which could challenge his powers of analysis and that was the singular disappearance of the favourite for the cup and the tragic murder of its when therefore he suddenly announced his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only what i had both expected and hoped for i should be most happy to go down with you if i should not be in the way said l my dear you would confer a great favour upon me by coming and i think that your time will not be mis spent for there are points about this case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one we have i think just time to catch our train at and i will go further into the matter upon our journey you would oblige me by bringing with you your very excellent by t silver blaze and so it happened that an hour or so later i found myself in the comer of a first class carriage flying along en route for while with his sharp eager face framed in his ear travelling cap dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which he had procured at we had left reading far behind us before he thrust the last of them under the seat and me his cigar case we are going well said he looking out of the window and glancing at his watch our rate at present is fifty three and a half miles an hour i have not observed the quarter mile posts said l nor have l but the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty yards apart and the calculation is a simple one i presume that you have already looked into this matter of the murder of john and the disappearance of silver blaze by i of i have seen what the telegraph and the chronicle have to say it is one of those cases where the art of the should be used rather for the of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence the tragedy has been so uncommon so complete and of such personal importance to so many people that we are suffering from a of conjecture and h the difficulty is to the of fact â of absolute fact â from the of and then having established ourselves upon this sound basis it is our duty to see what may be drawn and which are the special points upon which the whole mystery turns on tuesday evening i received both from colonel the owner of the horse and from who is looking after the case inviting my co operation tuesday evening i exclaimed and this is thursday morning why did you not go down yesterday by silver blaze because i made a blunder my dear â which is i am afraid a more common occurrence than anyone would think who only knew me through your the fact is that i could not believe it possible that the most remarkable horse in england could long remain concealed especially in so inhabited a place as the north of from hour to hour yesterday i expected to hear that he had been found and that his was the murderer of john when however another morning had come and i found that beyond the arrest of young nothing had been done i felt that it was time for me to take action yet in some ways i feel that yesterday has not been wasted you have formed a theory then at least i have a grip of the essential facts of the case i shall them to you for nothing up a case so much as stating it to another person and i can hardly expect your if i do not show you the position from which we start by of i lay back against the puffing at my cigar while leaning forward with his long thin forefinger checking off the points upon the palm of his left hand gave me a sketch of the events which had led to our journey silver blaze said he is from the stock and holds as brilliant a record as his famous he is now in his fifth year and has brought in turn each of the of the turf to colonel his fortunate owner up to the time of the catastrophe he was first favourite for the cup the being three to one on he has always however been a prime favourite with the racing public and has never yet disappointed them so that even at short odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him it is obvious therefore that there were many people who had the strongest interest in preventing silver blaze from being there at the fall of the flag next tuesday this fact was of course appreciated at king s where the colonel s training stable is situated every precaution was taken to guard

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the favourite by silver blaze the john is a retired who rode in colonel s colours before he became too heavy for the weighing chair he has served the colonel for five years as and for seven as and has always shown himself to be a zealous and honest servant under him were three lads for the was a small one containing only four horses in all one of these lads sat up each night in the stable while the others slept in the all three bore excellent characters john who is a married man lived in a small villa about two hundred yards from the stables he has no children keeps one maid servant and is comfortably off the country round is very lonely but about half a mile to the north there is a small cluster of which have been built by a for the use of and others who may wish to enjoy the pure air itself lies two miles to the west while across the also about two miles distant is the larger training establishment of which belongs to lord and is managed by brown by l of â â â in every other direction tlie m n is â wilderness inhabited only by a ft w ro i l es such was the general situation last n â when the catastrophe occurred n that evening the horses had been t j and watered as usual and the stables were locked up at nine o clock two of the lads walked up to the s house where they had supper in the kitchen while the third ned hunter remained on guard at a few minutes after nine the maid carried down to the stables his supper which consisted of a dish of mutton she took liquid as there was a water tap in the stables and it was the rule that the lad on duty should nothing else the maid carried a lantern with her as it was very dark and the path ran across th open was within thirty yards of th stables when a man appeared out of the and called to her to stop as he stepped into tht circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she that he was a person of gentlemanly bearing by silver blaze in a grey suit of with a cloth cap he wore and carried a heavy stick with a to it she was most impressed however by the extreme of his face and by the of his manner his age she thought would be rather over thirty than under it can you tell me where i am he asked i had almost made up my mind to sleep on the when i saw the light of your lantern â you are close to the king s training stables she said h indeed what a stroke of luck he cried i understand that a stable boy sleeps there alone every night perhaps that is his supper which you are carrying to him now i am sure that you would not be too proud to earn the price of a new dress would you he took a piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket see that the boy has this to night and you shall have the prettiest frock that money can buy she was frightened by the earnestness of his manner and ran past him to the window through of i by l of which she was accustomed to hand the meals it was already open and hunter was seated at the small table inside she had begun to tell him of what had happened when the stranger came up again good evening said he looking through the window i wanted to have a word with you the girl has sworn that as he spoke she noticed the corner of the little paper packet from his closed hand what business have you here asked the lad it s business that may put something into your pocket said the other you ve two horses in for the cup â silver blaze and let me have the straight tip and you won t be a is it a fact that at the could give the other a hundred yards in five and that the stable have put their money on him so you re one of those damned cried the lad i ll show you how we serve them in king s he sprang up and rushed across the stable to the dog the girl fled away to the house by silver blaze iq but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through the window a minute later however when hunter rushed out with the hound he was gone and though the lad ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of him one moment i asked did the stable boy when he ran out with the dog leave the door unlocked behind him excellent excellent murmured my companion the importance of the point struck me so forcibly that i sent a special wire to yesterday to clear the matter up the boy locked the door before he left it the window i may add was not large enough for a man to get through hunter waited until his fellow had returned when he sent a message up to the and told him what had occurred was excited at hearing the account although he does not seem to have quite realized its true significance it left him however vaguely uneasy and mrs by of waking at one in the morning found that he was dressing in reply to her inquiries he said that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was well she begged him to remain at home as she could hear the rain against

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the windows but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his large and left the house mrs awoke at seven in the morning to find that her husband had not yet returned she dressed herself hastily called the maid and set off for the stables the door was open inside huddled together upon a chair hunter was sunk in a state â of absolute stupor the favourite s stall was empty and there were no signs of his the two lads who slept in the cutting above the harness room were quickly aroused they had heard nothing during the night for they are both sound hunter was obviously under the influence of some powerful and as no sense could be got out of him he was left to sleep by silver blaze it off while the two lads and the two women ran out in search of the they still had hopes that the had for some reason taken out the horse for early exercise but on ascending the near the house from which all the neighbouring were visible they not only could see no signs of the favourite but they perceived something which warned them that they were in the presence of a tragedy about a quarter of a mile from the stables john s overcoat was flapping from a bush immediately beyond there was a bowl shaped depression in the and at the bottom of this was found the dead body of the unfortunate his head had been shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon and he was wounded in the where there was a long clean cut inflicted by some very sharp instrument it was clear however that had defended himself vigorously against his for in his right hand he held a small knife which was with blood up to the handle while in his left he grasped a red by of and black silk which was recognised by the maid as having been worn on the preceding evening by the stranger who had visited the stables hunter on recovering from his stupor was also quite positive as to the of the he was equally certain that the same stranger had while standing at the window mutton and so deprived the stables of their as to the missing horse there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the struggle but from that morning he has disappeared and although a large reward has been offered and all the of are on the alert no news has come of him finally an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable lad contain an quantity of powdered while the people of the house partook of the same dish on the same night without any ill effect those are the main facts of the case stripped of all and stated as as possible i by silver blaze shall now what the police have done in the matter to whom the case has been committed is an extremely competent officer were he but gifted with imagination he might rise to great heights in his profession on his arrival he promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally rested there was little difficulty in finding him for he was thoroughly well known in the neighbourhood his name it appears was he was a man of excellent birth and education who had a fortune upon the turf and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel in the sporting of london an examination of his book shows that to the amount of five thousand pounds had been i by him against the favourite on being arrested he volunteered the statement i that he had come down to in the hope of i getting some information about the s i horses and also about the second which was in charge of brown at â by of the stables he did not attempt to deny that he had acted as described upon the evening before but declared that he had no sinister designs and had simply wished to obtain first hand information when confronted with the he turned very pale and was utterly unable to account for its presence in the hand of the murdered man his wet clothing showed that he had been out in the storm of the night before and his stick which was a lawyer with lead was just such a weapon as might by repeated blows have inflicted the terrible injuries to which the had on the other hand there was no wound upon his person while the state of s knife would show that one at least of his must bear his mark upon him there you have it all in a and if you can give me any light i shall be infinitely obliged to you i had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which with characteristic clearness had laid before me though most of the facts by silver blaze were familiar to me i had not sufficiently appreciated their relative importance nor their connection with each other is it not possible i suggested that the wound upon may have been caused by his own knife in the struggles which follow any brain injury it is more than possible it is probable said in that case one of the main points in favour of the accused and yet said i even now i fail to understand what the theory of the police can be i am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave objections to it returned my companion the police imagine i take it that this having the lad and having in some way obtained a key opened the stable door and took out the horse with the intention apparently of him altogether his bridle is missing so that must have put it on then

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having left the door open behind him he was leading the horse away over the when he was by of either met or overtaken by the a row naturally ensued beat out the s brains with his heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife which used in self defence and then the thief either led the horse on to some secret hiding place or else it may have bolted during the struggle and be now wandering out on the that is the case as it appears to the police and improbable as it is all other explanations are more improbable still however i shall very quickly test the matter when i am once upon the spot and until then i really cannot see how we can get much further than our present position it was evening before we reached the little town of which lies like the of a shield in the middle of the huge circle of two gentlemen were awaiting us at the station the one a tall fair man with lion like hair and beard and curiously penetrating light blue eyes the other a small alert person very neat and in a and with trim little side whiskers and by silver blaze an eye glass the latter was colonel the the other a man who was rapidly making his name in the english service i am delighted that you have come down mr said the colonel the here has done all that could possibly be suggested but i wish to leave no stone in trying to poor and in recovering my horse have there been any fresh asked i am sorry to say that we have made very little progress said the we have an open carriage outside and as you would no doubt like to see the place before the light fails we might talk it over as we drive a minute later we were all seated in a comfortable and were rattling through the quaint old town was full of his case and poured out a stream of remarks while threw in an occasional question or colonel leaned back with his arms folded by of and his hat over his eyes while i listened with interest to the dialogue of the two was his theory which was almost exactly what had foretold in the train the net is drawn pretty close round he remarked and i believe myself that he is our man at the same time i recognise that the evidence is purely and that some new development may upset it how about s knife we have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in his fall my friend dr made that suggestion to me as we came down if so it would tell against this man undoubtedly he has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound the evidence against him is certainly very strong he had a great interest in the disappearance of the favourite he lies under the suspicion of having poisoned the stable boy he was undoubtedly out in the storm he was armed with a heavy stick and his was found in the dead by silver blaze g man s hand i really think we have enough to go before a jury shook his head a clever counsel would tear it all to rags said he why should he take the horse out of the stable if he wished to injure it why could he not do it there has a key been found in his possession what sold him the powdered above all where could he a stranger to the district hide a horse and such a horse as this what is his own explanation as to the paper which he wished the maid to give to the stable boy he says that it was a ten pound note one was found in his purse but your other difficulties are not so formidable as they seem he is not a stranger to the district he has twice lodged at in the summer the was probably brought london the key having served its purpose would be hurled away the horse may lie at the bottom of one of the or old mines upon the what does he say about the by of he that it is his and declares that he had lost it but a new element has been introduced into the case which may account for his leading the horse from the stable pricked up his ears we have found traces which show that a party of on monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took place on tuesday they were gone now that there was some understanding between and these might he not have been leading the horse to them when he was overtaken and may they not have him now it is certainly possible the is being for these i have also examined every stable and in and for a of ten miles there is another training stable close i understand yes and that is a which we must certainly not neglect as their horse was second in the they had an interest in the by silver blaze disappearance of the favourite brown the is known to have had large upon the event and he was no friend to poor we have however examined the stables and there is nothing to connect him with the affair and nothing to connect this man with the interest of the stables nothing at all leaned back in the carriage and the conversation ceased a few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red brick villa with overhanging which stood by the road some distance off across a lay a long grey out building in every other direction the low curves of the bronze coloured from the fading stretched away to the sky line broken only by the of and by a cluster of houses away

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to the westward which marked the stables we all sprang out with the exception of who continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the sky in front of him entirely absorbed in his own thoughts it was only when i touched his arm by of that he roused himself with a violent start and stepped out of the carriage excuse me said he turning to colonel who had looked at him in some surprise i was day dreaming there was a gleam in his eyes and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced me used as i was to his ways that his hand was upon a clue though i could not imagine where he had found it perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the crime mr said i think that i should prefer to stay here a little and go into one or two questions of detail was brought back here i presume yes he lies upstairs the is tomorrow he has been in your service some years colonel i have always found him an excellent servant i presume that you made an of what he had in his pockets at the time of his death by silver blaze i have the things themselves in the sitting room if you would care to see them i should be very glad we all filed into the front room and sat round the central table while the unlocked a square tin box and laid a small heap of things before us there was a box of two inches of candle an a d p root pipe a of with half an of long cut a silver watch with a gold chain five sovereigns in gold an pencil case a few papers and an ivory handled knife with a very delicate blade marked and co london this is a very singular knife said lifting it up and examining it i presume as see upon it that it is the one which was found in the dead man s grasp this knife is in your line it is what we call a knife said i i thought so a very delicate blade devised for very delicate work a strange thing for a man of by me of to carry with him upon a rough expedition especially as it would not shut in his pocket the tip was guarded by a of cork which we found beside his body said the his wife tells us that the knife had lain for some days upon the dressing table and that he had picked it up as he left the room it was a poor weapon but perhaps the best that he could lay his hand on at the moment very possibly how about these papers three of them are hay accounts one of them is a letter of instructions from colonel this other is a s account for thirty seven pounds fifteen made out by madame of bond street to william mrs tells us that was a nd of her husband s and that occasionally his letters were addressed here madame had somewhat expensive tastes remarked glancing down the account twenty two guineas is rather heavy for a single costume however there appears to be no by silver blaze thing more to learn and we may now go down to the scene of the crime as we emerged from the sitting room a woman who had been waiting in the passage took a step forward and laid her hand upon the s sleeve her face was haggard and thin and eager stamped with the print of a recent horror have you got them have you found them she panted no mrs but mr here has come from london to help us and we shall do all that is possible surely i met you in at a garden party some little time ago mrs said â no sir you are mistaken dear me why i could have sworn to it you wore a costume of dove coloured silk with feather i never had such a dress sir answered the lady ah that quite settles it said and by of with an apology he followed the outside a short walk across the took us to the hollow in which the body had been found at the brink of it was the bush upon which the coat had been hung there was no wind that night i understand said none but very heavy rain in that case the overcoat was not blown against the bushes but placed there yes it was laid across the bush you fill me with interest i perceive that the ground has been trampled up a good deal no doubt many feet have been there since monday night a piece of has been laid here at the side and we have all stood upon that excellent in this bag i have one of the boots which wore one of s shoes and a cast of silver blaze my dear you yourself by silver blaze took the bag and descending into the hollow he pushed the into a more central position then stretching himself upon his face and leaning his chin upon his hands he made a careful study of the trampled mud in front of him said he suddenly what s this it was a wax half burned which was so with mud that it looked at first like a little of wood i cannot think how i came to overlook it said the with an expression of annoyance it was invisible buried in the mud i only saw it because i was looking for it what you expected to find it i thought it not unlikely he took the boots from the bag and compared the impressions of each of them with marks upon the ground then he up to the rim of the hollow and crawled about among the and bushes i

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am afraid that there are no more tracks said the i have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards in each direction by of indeed said rising i should not have the impertinence to do it again after what you say but i should like to take a little walk over the before it grows dark that i may know my ground to morrow and i think that i shall put this into my pocket for luck colonel who had shown some signs of impatience at my companion s quiet and method of work glanced at his watch i wish you would come back with me said he there are several points on which i should like your advice and especially as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove our horse s name from the for the cup certainly not cried with decision i should let the name stand the colonel bowed i am very glad to have had your opinion sir said he you will find us at poor s house when you have finished your walk and we can drive together into he turned back with the while by silver blaze and i walked slowly across the the sun was beginning to sink behind the stables of and the long sloping plain in front of ms was tinged with gold deepening into rich ruddy brown where the faded and caught the evening light but the glories of the landscape were all wasted upon my companion who was sunk in the deepest thought it s this way he said at last we may leave the question of who killed john for the instant and confine ourselves to finding out what has become of the horse now supposing that he broke away during or after the tragedy where could he have gone to the horse is a very creature if left to himself his instincts would have been either to return to king s or go over to why should he run wild upon the he would surely have been seen by now and why should him these people always dear out when they hear of trouble for they do not wish to be by the police they could not hope to sell such a horse they would by of run a great risk and gain nothing by taking him surely that is clear where is he then i have already said that he must have gone to king s or to he is not at king s therefore he is at let us take that as a working and see what it leads us to this part of the as the remarked is very hard and dry but it falls away towards and you can see from here that there is a long hollow over yonder which must have been very wet on monday night if our supposition is correct then the horse must have crossed that and there is the point where we should look for his tracks we had been walking briskly during this conversation and a few more minutes brought us to the hollow in question at request i walked down the bank to the right and he to the left but i had not taken fifty paces before i heard him give a shout and saw him waving his hand to me the track of a horse was plainly in the by silver blaze soft earth in front of him and the shoe which he took from his pocket exactly fitted the impression see the value of imagination said it is the one quality which we imagined what might have happened acted upon the supposition and find ourselves justified let us proceed we crossed the bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile of dry hard turf again the ground and again we came on the tracks then we lost them for half a mile but only to pick them up once more quite close to it was who saw them first and he stood pointing with a look of triumph upon his face a man s track was visible beside the horse s the horse was alone before i cried quite so it was alone before what is this the double track turned sharp off and took the direction of king s whistled and we both followed along after it his eyes were on the trail but i happened to look a little to one side by of and saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back again in the opposite direction one for you said when i pointed it out you have saved us a long walk which would have brought us back on our own traces let us follow the return track we had not to go far it ended at the of which led up to the gates of the stables as we approached a groom ran out from them we don t want any about here said he i only wish to ask a question said with his finger and thumb in his waistcoat pocket should i be too early to see your master mr brown if i were to call at five o clock to morrow morning bless you sir if anyone is about he will be for he is always the first stirring but here he is sir to answer your questions for himself no sir no it s as much as my place is worth to let him see me touch your money afterwards if you like by silver blaze as replaced the half crown which he had drawn from his pocket a fierce looking elderly man strode out from the gate with a hunting crop swinging in his hand what s this he cried no go about your business and you â what the devil do you want here ten minutes talk with you my good sir said in the sweetest of voices i ve no time

3Edith Wharton

to talk to every we want no strangers here be off or you may find a dog at your heels leaned forward and whispered something in the s ear he started violently and flushed to the temples it s a lie he shouted an infernal lie very good shall we argue about it here in or talk it over in your parlour oh come in if you wish to smiled i shall not keep you more than a few minutes he said now mr brown i am quite at your disposal by of it was quite twenty minutes and the had all faded into before and the reappeared never have i seen such a change as had been brought about in brown in that short time his face was pale beads of perspiration shone upon his brow and his hands shook until the hunting crop like a branch in the wind his manner was all gone too and he along at my companion s side like a dog with its master your instructions will be done it shall be done said he there must be no mistake said looking round at him the other as he read the menace in his eyes oh no there shall be no mistake it shall be there should i change it first or not thought a little and then burst out laughing no don t said he i shall write to you about it no tricks now or oh you can trust me you can trust me by silver blaze you must see to it on the day as if it were your own you can rely upon me yes i think i can well you shall hear from me to morrow he turned upon his heel the trembling hand which the other held out to him and we set off for king s a more perfect compound of the bully coward and than master brown i have seldom met with remarked as we along together he has the horse then he tried to out of it but i described to him so exactly what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that i was watching him of course you observed the peculiarly square toes in the impressions and that his own boots exactly to them again of course no subordinate would have dared to have done such a thing i described to him how when according to his custom he was the first down he perceived a strange horse wandering over the how he went by of out to it and his astonishment at from the white forehead which has given the favourite its name that chance had put in his power the only horse which could beat the one upon which he had put his money then i described how his first impulse had been to lead him back to king s and how the devil had shown him how he could hide the horse until the race was over and how he had led it back and concealed it at when i told him every detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin but his stables had been searched oh an old horse like him has many a but are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now since he has every interest in it my dear fellow he will guard it as the apple of his eye he knows that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe colonel did not impress me as a man by silver blaze who would be likely to show much mercy in any case the matter does not rest with colonel i follow my own methods and tell as much or as little as i choose that is the advantage of being i don t know whether you observed it but the colonel s manner has been just a trifle to me i am inclined now to have a little amusement at his expense say nothing to him about the horse certainly not without your permission and of course this is all quite a minor case compared with the question of who killed john and you will devote yourself to that on the contrary we both go back to london by the night train i was by my friend s words we had only been a few hours in and that he should give up an investigation which he had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to me not a word more could i draw from him until by of we were back at the s house the colonel and the were awaiting us in the parlour my friend and i return to town by the midnight express said we have had a charming little breath of your beautiful air the opened his eyes and the colonel s up curled in a sneer so you despair of the murderer of poor said he shrugged his shoulders there are certainly grave difficulties in the way said he i have every hope however that your horse will start upon tuesday and i beg that you will have your in readiness might i ask for a photograph of mr john the took one from an envelope in his pocket and handed it to him my dear you anticipate all my wants if i might ask you to wait here for an instant i have a question which i should like to put to the maid by silver blaze i must say that i am rather disappointed in our london said colonel as my friend left the room i do not see that we are any further than when he came at least you have his assurance that your horse will run said i yes i have his assurance said the colonel with a shrug of his shoulders i should prefer to have the horse i was about to make some reply in defence

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of my friend when he entered the room again now gentlemen said he i am quite ready for as we stepped into the carriage one of the stable lads held the door open for us a sudden idea seemed to occur to for he leaned forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve you have a few sheep in the he said who to them i do sir have you noticed anything amiss with them of late of â by o of well sir not of much account but three of them have gone lame sir i could see that was extremely pleased for he chuckled and rubbed his hands together a long shot a very long shot said he my arm let me recommend to your attention this singular among the sheep drive on coachman colonel still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion s ability but i saw by the s face that his attention had been keenly aroused you consider that to be important he asked exceedingly so is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention to the curious incident of the dog in the the dog did nothing in the night time that was the curious incident remarked by silver blaze i four days later and i were again in the train bound for to see the race for the cup colonel met us by appointment outside the station and we drove in his drag to the course beyond the town his face was grave and his manner was cold in the extreme i have seen nothing of my horse said he i suppose that you would know him when you saw him asked the colonel was very angry i have been on the turf for twenty years and never was asked such a question as that before said he a child would know silver blaze with his white forehead and his off fore leg how is the well that is the curious part of it you could have got fifteen to one yesterday but the price has become shorter and shorter until you can hardly get three to one now hum said somebody knows something that is clear as the drag drew up in the near the by of grand stand i glanced at the card to see the it ran â plate each h ft with added for four and five year second â third f new course one mile and five mr heath s the negro red cap jacket colonel s pink cap and black jacket lord s yellow cap and sleeves colonel s silver blaze black cap red jacket duke of s yellow and black lord s purple cap black sleeves we scratched our other one and put all hopes on your word said the colonel why what is that silver blaze favourite five to four against silver blaze roared the ring five to four against silver blaze fifteen to five against five to four on the field there are the numbers up i cried they are all six there all six there then my horse is running cried the colonel in great agitation but i don t see him my colours have not passed by silver blaze only five have passed this must be he as i spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighing and past us bearing on its back the well known black and red of the colonel that s not my horse cried the owner that beast has not a white hair upon its body what is this that you have done mr well well let us see how he gets on said my friend for a few minutes he gazed through my field glass capital an excellent start he cried suddenly there they are coming round the curve from our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight the six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered them but half way up the yellow of the stable showed to the front before they reached us however s bolt was shot and the colonel s horse coming away with a rush passed the post a good six before its rival the duke of s making a bad third by of it s my race anyhow gasped the colonel passing his hand over his eyes i confess that i can make neither head nor tail of it don t you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough mr certainly colonel you shall know everything let us all go round and have a look at the horse together here he is he continued as we made our way into the weighing where only owners and their friends find you have only to wash his face and his leg in spirits of wine and you will find that he is the same old silver blaze as ever you take my breath away i found him in the hands of a and took the liberty of running him just as he was sent over my dear sir you have done wonders the horse looks very fit and well it never went better in its life i owe you a thousand apologies for having doubted your ability you have done me a great service by recovering my horse you would by ver blaze do me a greater still if you could lay your hands on the murderer of john i have done so said quietly the colonel and i stared at him in amazement you have got him where is he then he is here here where in my company at the present moment the colonel flushed angrily i quite recognize that i am under obligations to you mr said he but i must regard what you have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult laughed i assure you that i

3Edith Wharton

have not associated you with the crime colonel said he the real murderer is standing immediately behind you i he stepped past and laid his hand upon the glossy neck of the the horse cried both the colonel and myself yes the horse and it may lessen his guilt if i say that it was done in self defence and that john by of was a man who was entirely unworthy of your confidence but there goes the bell and as i stand to win a little on this next race i shall a more explanation until a more fitting time we had the comer of a car to ourselves that evening as we whirled back to london and i fancy that the journey was a short one to colonel as well as to myself as we listened to our companion s narrative of the events which had occurred at the training stables upon that monday night and the means by which he had them i confess said he that any theories which i had formed from the newspaper reports were entirely and yet there were indications there had they not been by other details which concealed their true import i went to with the conviction that was the true although of course i saw that the evidence against him was by no means complete it was while i was in the carriage just as we by silver blaze reached the s house that the immense significance of the mutton occurred to me you may remember that i was and remained sitting after you had all alighted i was in my own mind how i could possibly have overlooked so obvious a clue i confess said the colonel that even now i cannot see how it helps us it was the first link in my chain of reasoning powdered is by no means the is not disagreeable but it is perceptible were it mixed with any ordinary dish the would undoubtedly detect it and would probably eat no more a was exactly the medium which would disguise this taste by no possible supposition could this stranger have caused to be served in the s family that night and it is surely too monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along with powdered upon the very night when a dish happened to be served which would disguise the that is there by j of fore becomes from the case and our attention upon and his wife the only two people who could have chosen mutton for supper that night the was added after the dish was set aside for the stable boy for the others had the same for supper with no ill effects which of them then had access to that dish without the maid seeing them before deciding that question i had grasped the significance of the silence of the dog for one true invariably suggests others the incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the stables and yet though had been in and had fetched out a horse he had not enough to arouse the two lads in the obviously the midnight visitor was whom the dog knew well i was already convinced or almost convinced that john went down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out silver blaze for what purpose a one obviously or by silver blaze why should he his own stable boy and yet i was at a loss to know why there have been cases before now where have made sure of great sums of money by laying against their own horses through agents and then preventing them from winning by fraud sometimes it is a pulling sometimes it is some and means what was it here i hoped that the contents of his pockets might help me to form a conclusion and they did so you cannot have forgotten the singular knife which was found in the dead man s hand a knife which certainly no sane man would choose for a weapon it was as dr told us a form of knife which is used for the most delicate operations known in and it was to be used for a delicate operation that night you must know with your wide experience of turf matters colonel that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the of a horse s ham and to do it so as to leave absolutely no trace a horse so treated would develop a slight which would be put down to a strain in by o of exercise or a touch of but never to foul play villain scoundrel cried the colonel we have here the explanation of why john wished to take the horse out on to the so spirited a creature would have certainly roused the of when it felt the of the knife it was absolutely necessary to do it in the open air i have been blind cried the colonel of course that was why he needed the candle and struck the match undoubtedly but in examining his i was fortunate enough to discover not only the method of the crime but even its motives as a man of the world colonel you know that men do not carry other people s bills about in pockets we have most of us quite enough to do to settle our own i at once concluded that was leading a double life and keeping a second establishment the nature of the bill showed that by silver blaze there was a lady in the case and one who had expensive tastes liberal as you are with your servants one hardly expects that they can buy twenty guinea walking dresses for their women i questioned mrs as to the dress without her knowing it and having satisfied myself that it had never reached her i made a note of the s address and felt that by

3Edith Wharton

calling there with s photograph i could easily dispose of the from that time on all was plain had led out the horse to a hollow where his light would be invisible in his flight had dropped his and had picked it up with some idea perhaps that he might use it in securing the horse s leg once in the hollow he had got behind the horse and had struck a light but the creature frightened at the sudden glare and with the strange instinct of animals feeling that some mischief was intended had lashed out and the steel shoe had struck full on the forehead he had already in spite of the rain taken off his overcoat in order by z of to do his delicate task and so as he fell his knife his do i make it clear wonderful cried the colonel wonderful you might have been there my final shot was i confess a very long one it struck me that so a man as would not undertake this delicate without a little practice what could he practise on my eyes fell upon the sheep and i asked a question which rather to my surprise showed that my was correct you have made it perfectly clear mr when i returned to london i called upon the who at once recognised as an excellent customer of the name of who had a very dashing wife with a strong partiality for expensive dresses i have no doubt that this woman had plunged him over head and ears in debt and so led him into this miserable plot you have explained all but one thing cried the colonel where was the horse ah it bolted and was cared for by one of your by silver blaze neighbours we must have an in that direction i think this is if i am not mistaken and we shall be in victoria in less than ten minutes if you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms colonel i shall be happy to give you any other details which might interest you by by the yellow face of i by by the yellow face in short sketches based upon the numerous cases in which my companion s singular gifts have made me the listener to and eventually the actor in some strange drama it is only natural that i should dwell rather upon his than upon his failures and this is not so much for the sake of his reputation for indeed it was when he was at his wits end that his energy and his were most admirable but because where he failed it happened too often that no one else succeeded and that the tale was left for ever without a conclusion now and again however it chanced that even when he the truth was still discovered i have notes of some half dozen cases of the kind of which by of the affair of the second stain and that which i am now about to are the two which present the strongest features of interest was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise s sake few men were capable of greater muscular effort and he was undoubtedly one of the finest of his weight that i have ever seen but he looked upon bodily exertion as a waste of energy and he seldom himself save where there was some professional object to be served then he was absolutely and that he should have kept himself in training imder such circumstances is remarkable but his diet was usually of the and his habits were simple to the verge of save for the occasional use of he had no vices and he only turned to the as a protest against the monotony of existence when cases were scanty and the papers uninteresting one day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the park where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon by the yellow face the elms and the of the were just beginning to burst into their five fold leaves for two hours we about together in silence for the most part as two men who know each other intimately it was nearly five before we were back in baker street once more beg pardon sir said our page boy as he opened the door there s been a gentleman here asking for you sir glanced reproachfully at me so much for afternoon walks said he has this gentleman gone then yes sir didn t you ask him in yes sir he came in how long did he wait half an hour sir he was a very restless gentleman sir a and a all the time he was here i was outside the door sir and i could hear him at last he goes out into the passage and he cries is that man never goin to come those were his very words sir you ll t y of only need to wait a little longer says i then fu wait in the open air for i feel half choked says he be back before long and with that he and he and all i could say wouldn t hold him back well well you did your best said as we walked into our room it s very though i was badly in need of a case and this looks from the man s impatience as if it were of importance that s not your pipe on the table he must have left his behind him a nice old with a good long stem of what the call i wonder how many real there are in london some people think a fly in it is a sign why it is quite a branch of trade the putting of sham flies into the sham well he must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a

3Edith Wharton

pipe behind him which he evidently highly how do you know that he it highly i asked well i should put the original cost of the by the yellow face pipe at seven and sixpence now it has you see been twice mended once in the wooden stem and once in the each of these done as you observe with silver bands must have more than the pipe did originally the man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money anything else i asked for was turning the pipe about in his hand and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way he held it up and tapped on it with his long thin forefinger as a professor might who was on a bone pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest said he nothing has more individuality save perhaps watches and the indications here however are neither very marked nor very important the owner is obviously a muscular man left handed with an excellent set of teeth careless in his habits and with no need to practice economy my friend threw out the information in a very by of off hand way but i saw that he cocked his eye at me to see if i had followed his reasoning you think a man must be well to do if he a seven shilling pipe said l this is mixture at an answered knocking a little out on his palm as he might get an excellent smoke for half the price he has no need to practise economy and the other points he has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas you can see that it is quite all down one side of course a match could not have done that why should a man hold a match to the side of his pipe but you cannot light it at a lamp without getting the bowl and it is all on the right side of the pipe from that i gather that he is a left handed man you hold your own pipe to the lamp and see how naturally you being right handed hold the left side to the flame you might do it once the other way but not as a constancy this has always been held so then he has bitten through his it by the yellow face takes a muscular energetic fellow and one with a good set of teeth to do that but if i am not mistaken i hear him upon the stair so we shall have something more interesting than his pipe to study an instant later our door opened and a tall young man entered the room he was well but quietly dressed in a dark grey suit and carried a brown wide awake in his hand i should have put him at about thirty though he was really some years older i beg your pardon said he with some embarrassment i suppose i should have knocked yes of course i should have knocked the fact is that i am a little upset and you must put it all down to that he passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is half dazed and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair i can see that you have not slept for a night or two said in his easy genial way that tries a man s nerves more than work and more even than pleasure may i ask how i can help i wanted your advice sir i don t know what by of to do and my whole life seems to have gone to pieces you wish to employ me as a consulting not that only i want your opinion as a judicious man â as a man of the world i want to know what i ought to do next i hope to god you ll be able to tell me he spoke in little sharp and it seemed to me that to speak at all was very painful to him and that his will all through was his inclinations it s a very delicate thing said he one does not like to speak of one s domestic affairs to strangers it seems dreadful to discuss the conduct of one s wife with two men whom i have never seen before it s horrible to have to do it but i ve got to the end of my and i must have advice my dear mr grant began our visitor sprang from his chair what he cried you know my name if you wish to preserve your said by the yellow face smiling i should suggest that you cease to write your name upon the of your hat or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom you are addressing i was about to say tliat my friend and i have listened to many strange secrets in this room and that we have had the good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls i trust that we may do as much for you might i beg you as time may prove to be of importance to furnish me with the facts of your case without further delay our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead as if he found it bitterly hard from every gesture and expression i could see that he was a reserved self contained man with a dash of pride in his nature more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them then suddenly with a fierce gesture of his closed hand like one who throws reserve to the winds he began the facts are these mr said he i am a married man and have been so for three years during that time my wife and i have loved by of each other as fondly and lived as happily

3Edith Wharton

as any two that ever were joined we have not had a difference not one in thought or word or deed and now since last monday there has suddenly sprung up a barrier between us and i find that there is something in her life and in her thoughts of which i know as little as if she were the woman who by me in the street we are and i want to know why now there is one thing i want to impress upon you before i go any further mr loves me don t let there be any mistake about that she loves me with her whole heart and soul and never more than now i know it i feel it i don t want to argue about that a man can tell easily enough when a woman loves him but there s this secret between us and we can never be the same until it is cleared kindly let me have the facts mr said with some impatience tell you what i know about s history she was a widow when i met her first though quite r by the yellow face young â only twenty five her name then was mrs she went out to america when she was young and in the town of where she married this who was a lawyer with a good practice they had one child but the yellow fever broke out badly in the place and both husband and child died of it i have seen his death this her of america and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at in i may mention that her husband had left her comfortably off and that she had a capital of about four thousand five hundred pounds which had been so well invested by him that it returned an average of per cent she had only been six months at when i met her we fell in love with each other and we married a few weeks afterwards i am a hop merchant myself and as i have an income of seven or eight hundred we found ourselves comfortably off and took a nice eighty year villa at our little place was very considering that it is so close to town we had an inn and two houses a little above us by of and a single cottage at the other side of the field which faces us and except those there were no houses until you get half way to the station my business took me into town at certain seasons but in summer i had less to do and then in our country home my wife and i were just as happy as could be wished i tell you that there never was a shadow between us until this accursed affair began there s one thing i ought to tell you before i go further when we married my wife made over all her property to me â rather against my will for i saw how awkward it would be if my business affairs went wrong however she would have it so and it was done well about six weeks ago she came to me jack said she when you took my money you said that if ever i wanted any i was to ask you for it certainly said i it s all your own well said she i want a hundred pounds i was a bit staggered at this for i had imagined by the yellow face it was simply a new dress or something of the kind that she was after what on earth for i asked h said she in her playful way you said that you were only my banker and never ask questions you know â if you really mean it of course you shall have the money said i h yes i really mean it and you won t tell me what you want it for some day perhaps but not just at present jack so i had to be content with that though it was the first time that there had ever been any secret between us i gave her a and i never thought any more of the matter it may have nothing to do with what came afterwards but i thought it only right to mention it well i told you just now that there is a cottage not far from our house there is just a field between us but to reach it you have to go along by o of the road and then turn down a lane just beyond it is a nice little grove of scotch and i used to be very fond of strolling down there for trees are always kinds of things the cottage had been standing empty this eight months and it was a pity for it was a pretty two place with an old fashioned porch and about it i have stood many a time and thought what a neat little it would make well last monday evening i was taking a stroll down that way when i met an empty van coming up the lane and saw a pile of carpets and things lying about on the grass plot beside the porch it was clear that the cottage had at last been let i past it and then stopping as an idle man might i ran my eye over it and wondered what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us and as i looked i suddenly became aware that a face was watching me out of one of the upper windows i don t know what there was about that face mr but it seemed to send a chill right by the yellow face l down my back i was some little way off so that i could not make out the features but there was something unnatural and about the that

3Edith Wharton

was the impression i had and i moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person who was watching me but as i did so the face suddenly disappeared so suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the darkness of the room i stood for five minutes thinking the business over and trying to my impressions i could not tell if the face was that of a man or a woman but the colour was what impressed me most it was of a livid dead yellow and with something set and rigid about it which was unnatural so disturbed was i that i determined to see a little more of the new inmates of the cottage i approached and knocked at the door which was instantly opened by a tall gaunt woman with a harsh forbidding face what may you be she asked in a northern accent i am your neighbour over yonder said i nod of by of towards my house i see that you have only just moved in so i thought that if i could be of any help to you in any aye we ll just ask ye when we want ye said she and shut the door in my face annoyed at the i turned my back and walked home all the evening though i tried to think of other things my mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the of the woman i determined to say nothing about the former to my wife for she is a nervous highly strung woman and i had no wish that she should share the unpleasant impression which had been produced upon myself i remarked to her however before i fell asleep that the cottage was now occupied to which she returned no reply i am usually an extremely sound it has been a standing jest in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night and yet somehow on that particular night whether it may have been the slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not i know not but i slept much by the yellow face more lightly than usual half in my dreams i was dimly conscious that something was going on in the room and gradually became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was slipping on her mantle and her bonnet my lips were parted to murmur out some sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this preparation when suddenly my half opened eyes fell upon her face illuminated by the candle light and astonishment held me dumb she wore an expression such as i had never seen before â such as i should have thought her incapable of assuming she was deadly pale and breathing fast glancing towards the bed as she fastened her mantle to see if she had disturbed me then thinking that i was still asleep she slipped noiselessly from the room and an instant later i heard a sharp creaking which could only come from the hinges of the front door i sat up in bed and my against the rail to make certain that i was truly awake then i took my watch from under the pillow it was three in the morning what on this earth could my wife be by of doing out on the country road at three in the morning i had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in my mind and trying to find some possible explanation the more i thought the more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear i was still over it when i heard the door gently close again and her footsteps coming up the stairs where in the world have you been i asked as she entered she gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when i spoke and that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest for there was something guilty about them my wife had always been a woman of a frank open nature and it gave me a chill to see her into her own room and crying out and when her own husband spoke to her you awake jack she cried with a nervous laugh why i thought that nothing could awaken you by the yellow face where have you been i asked more sternly i don t wonder that you are surprised said she and i could see that her fingers were trembling as she the of her mantle why i never remember having done such a thing in my life before the fact is that i felt as though i were choking and had a perfect longing for a breath of fresh air i really think that i should have fainted if i had not gone out i stood at the door for a few minutes and now i am quite myself again all the time that she was telling me this story she never once looked in my direction and her voice was quite unlike her usual tones it was evident to me that she was saying what was false i said nothing in reply but turned my face to the wall sick at heart with my mind filled with a thousand doubts and suspicions what was it that my wife was concealing from me where had she been during that strange expedition i felt that i should have no peace until i knew and yet i shrank from asking her again after once she had told me what was false all the rest of the by of night i tossed and tumbled theory theory each more than the last i should have gone to the city that day but i was too in my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters my wife seemed to be as upset as myself and i could see from the little questioning glances which she kept shooting at me

3Edith Wharton

that she understood that i her statement and that she was at her wits ends what to do we hardly exchanged a word during breakfast and immediately afterwards i went out for a walk that i might think the matter over in the fresh morning air i went as far as the crystal palace spent an hour in the grounds and was back in by one o clock it happened that my way took me past the cottage and i stopped for an instant to look at the windows and to see if i could catch a glimpse of the strange face which had stared out at me on the day before as i stood there imagine my surprise mr when the door suddenly opened and my wife walked by the yellow face i was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her but my emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her face when our eyes met she seemed for an instant to wish to shrink back inside the house again and then seeing how useless all concealment must be she came forward with a very white face and frightened eyes which the smile upon her lips oh jack she said i have just been in to see if i can be of any assistance to our new neighbours why do you look at me like that jack you are not angry with me so said i this is where you went during the night what do you mean she cried you came here i am sure of it who are these people that you should visit them at such an hour i have not been here before how can you tell me what you know is false i cried your very voice changes as you speak when have i ever had a secret from you by of i shall enter that cottage and i shall the matter to the bottom no no jack for god s sake she gasped in emotion then as i approached the door she seized my sleeve and pulled me back with strength i you not to do this jack she cried i swear that i will tell you everything some day but nothing but misery can come of it if you enter that cottage then as i tried to shake her ofi she clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty trust me jack she cried trust me only this once you will never have cause to regret it you know that i would not have a secret from you if it were not for your own sake our whole lives are at stake on this if you come home with me all will be well if you force your way into that cottage all is over between us there was such earnestness such despair in her manner that her words arrested me and i stood before the door i will trust you on one condition and on one by the yellow face condition only said i at last it is that this mystery comes to an end from now you are at liberty to preserve your secret but you must promise me that there shall be no more nightly visits no more doings which are kept from my knowledge i am willing to forget those which are passed if you will promise that there shall be no more in the future i was sure that you would trust me she cried with a great sigh of relief it shall be just as you wish come away oh come away up to the house still at my sleeve she led me away from the cottage as we went i glanced back and there was that yellow livid face watching us out of the upper window what link could there be between that creature and my wife or how could the coarse rough woman whom i had seen the day before be connected with her it was a strange puzzle and yet i knew that my mind could never know ease again until i had solved it for two days after this i stayed at home and my wife appeared to abide by our engage by of ment for as far as i know she never stirred out of the house on the third day however i had ample evidence that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from this influence which drew her away from her husband and her duty i had gone into town on that day but i returned by the instead of the which is my usual train as i entered the house the maid ran into the hall with a startled face where is your mistress i asked i think that she has gone out for a walk she answered my mind was instantly filled with suspicion i rushed upstairs to make sure that she was not in the house as i did so i happened to glance out of one of the upper windows and saw the maid with whom i had just been speaking running across the field in the direction of the cottage then of course i saw exactly what it all meant my wife had gone over there and had asked the servant to call her if i should return with anger i rushed down by ihe vâ face and strode across determined to end the matter once and for ever i saw my wife and the maid back together along the lane but i did not stop to speak with them in the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over my life i vowed that come what might it should be a secret no longer i did not even knock when i reached it but turned the handle and rushed into the passage it was all still and quiet upon the ground floor in the kitchen a kettle was singing on the fire and a

3Edith Wharton

large black cat lay up in a basket but there was no sign of the woman whom i had seen before i ran into the other room but it was equally deserted then i rushed up the stairs but only to find two other rooms empty and deserted at the top there was no one at all in the whole house the furniture and pictures were of the most common and vulgar description save in the one chamber at the window of which i had seen the strange face that was comfortable and elegant and all my suspicions rose into a fierce bitter blaze when i saw that on the stood a full length photograph of my by of wife which had been taken at my request only three months ago i stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely empty then i left it feeling a weight at my heart such as i had never had before my wife came out into the hall as i entered my house but i was too hurt and angry to speak with her and pushing past her i made ray way into my study she followed me however before i could close the door i am sorry that i broke my promise jack said she but if you knew all the circumstances i am sure you would forgive me tell me everything then said l i cannot jack i cannot she cried until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage and who it is to whom you have given that photograph there can never be any confidence between us said i and breaking away from her i left the house that was yesterday mr and i have not seen her since nor do i know any by the yellow face thing more about this strange business it is the first shadow that has come between us and it has so shaken me that i do not know what i should do for the best suddenly this morning it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me so i have hurried to you now and i place myself in your hands if there is any point which i have not made clear pray question me about it but above all tell me quickly what i have to do for this misery is more than i can bear and i had listened with the utmost interest to this extraordinary statement which had been delivered in the broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme emotion my companion sat silent now for some time with his chin upon his hand lost in thought tell me said he at last could you swear that this was a man s face which you saw at the window each time that i saw it i was some distance away from it so that it is impossible for me to say by of you appear however to have been impressed by it it seemed to be of an unnatural colour and to have a strange about the features when i approached it vanished with a jerk how long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds nearly two months have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband no there was a great fire at very shortly after his death and all her papers were destroyed and yet she had a of death you say that you saw it yes she got a after the fire did you ever meet anyone who knew her in america no did she ever talk of the place no or get letters from it by the yellow face not to my knowledge thank you i should like to think over the matter a little now if the cottage is permanently deserted we may have some difficulty if on the other hand as i fancy is more likely the inmates were warned of your coming and left you entered yesterday then they may be back now and we should clear it all up easily let me advise you then to return to and to examine the windows of the cottage again if you have reason to believe that it is inhabited do not force your way in but send a wire to my friend and me we shall be with you within an hour of receiving it and we shall then very soon get to the bottom of the business and if it is still empty in that case i shall come out to morrow and talk it over with you good bye and above all things do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for it i am afraid that this is a bad business said my companion as he returned after accompany by of ing mr grant to the door what do you make of it it has an ugly sound i answered yes there s in it or i am much mistaken and who is the well it must be this creature who lives in the only comfortable room in the place and has her photograph above his fireplace upon my word there s something very attractive about that livid face at the window and i would not have missed the case for worlds you have a theory yes a one but i shall be surprised if it does not turn out to be correct this woman s first husband is in that cottage why do you think so how else can we explain her anxiety that her second one should not enter it the facts as i read them are something like this this woman was married in america her husband developed some hateful qualities or shall we say that he con by the yellow face some disease and became a or an she fled from him at last returned to england changed her name and

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started her life as she thought afresh she had been married three years and believed that her position was quite secure â having shown her husband the death of some man whose name she had assumed â when suddenly her whereabouts was discovered by her first husband or we may suppose by some woman who had attached herself to the invalid they write to the wife and threaten to come and expose her she asks for a pounds and to buy them off they come in spite of it and when the husband casually to the wife that there are in the cottage she knows in some way that they are her she waits until her husband is asleep and then she rushes down to endeavour to persuade them to leave her in peace having no success she goes again next morning and her husband meets her as he has told us as she came out she promises him then not to go there again but of by of two days afterwards the hope of getting rid of those dreadful neighbours is too strong for her and she makes another attempt taking down with her the photograph which had probably been demanded from her in the midst of this interview the maid rushes in to say that the master has come home on which the wife knowing that he would come straight down to the cottage the inmates out at the back door into that grove of fir trees probably which was mentioned as standing near in this way he finds the place deserted i shall be very much surprised however if it is still so when he it this evening what do you think of my theory it is all but at least it covers ail the facts when new facts come to our knowledge which cannot be covered by it it will be time enough to it at present we can do nothing until we have a fresh message from our friend at but we had not very long to wait it came just as we had finished our tea the cottage is still it said have seen the face again at by the yellow face the window meet the seven o clock train and take no steps until you arrive he was waiting on the platform when we stepped out and we could see in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale and quivering with agitation they are still there mr said he lay r ing his hand upon my friend s sleeve i saw lights in the cottage as i came down we shall settle it now once and for all what is your plan then asked as we walked down the dark tree lined road i am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the house i wish you both to be there as witnesses you are quite determined to do this in spite of your wife s warning that it is better that you should not solve the mystery yes i am determined well i think that you are in the right any truth is better than indefinite doubt we had better by loo of go up at once of course we are putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong but i think that it is worth it it was a very dark night and a thin rain began to fall as we turned from the high road into a narrow lane deeply with hedges on either side mr grant pushed impatiently forward however and we stumbled after him as best we could there are the lights of my house he murmured pointing to a glimmer among the trees and here is the cottage which i am going to enter we turned a comer in the lane as he spoke and there was the building close beside us a yellow bar falling across the black showed that the door was not quite closed and one window in the upper story was brightly as we looked we saw a dark moving across the blind is that creature cried grant by the yellow face loi you can see for yourselves that is there now follow me and we shall soon know all we approached the door but suddenly a woman appeared out of the shadow and stood in the golden track of the lamp light i could not see her face in the darkness but her arms were thrown out in an attitude of entreaty for god s sake don t jack she cried i had a that you would come this evening think better of it dear trust me again and you will never have cause to regret it i have trusted you too long he cried sternly leave go of me i must pass you my friends and i are going to settle this matter once and for ever he pushed her to one side and we followed closely after him as he threw the door open an elderly woman ran out in front of him and tried to bar his but he thrust her back and an instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs grant rushed into the lighted j at the top and we entered it at his heels by of it was a well furnished apartment with two candles burning upon the table and two upon the in the corner stooping over a desk there sat what appeared to be a little girl her face was turned away as we entered but we could see that she was dressed in a red frock and that she had long white gloves on as she round to us i gave a cry of surprise and horror the face which she turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint and the features were absolutely devoid of any expression an instant later the mystery was explained with a laugh passed his hand behind the

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child s ear a mask off from her countenance and there was a little coal black with all her white flashing in amusement at our amazed faces i burst out laughing out of sympathy with her merriment but stood staring with his hand clutching at his throat my god he cried what can be the meaning of this i will tell you the meaning of it cried the by the yellow face i lady sweeping into the room with a proud set face â you have forced me against my own judgment to tell you and now we must both make the best of it my husband died at my child survived your child she drew a large silver from her bosom you have never seen this open i understood that it did not open she touched a spring and the front back there was a portrait within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent but bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his african descent that is john of said the lady and a nobler man never walked the earth i cut myself off from my race in order to wed him but never once while he lived did i for one instant regret it it was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather than mine it is often so in such matches and little is darker far by i of than ever her father was but dark or fair she is my own dear little and her mother s pet the little creature ran across at the words and up against the lady s dress when i left her in america she continued it was only because her health was weak and the change might have done her harm she was given to the care of a faithful who had once been our servant never for an instant did i dream of her as my child but when chance threw you in my way jack and i learned to love you i feared to tell you about my child god forgive me i feared that i should lose you and i had not the courage to tell you i had to choose between you and in my weakness i turned away from my own little girl for three years i have kept her existence a secret from you but i heard from the nurse and i knew that all was well with her at last however there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more i struggled against it but in vain though i knew the danger i determined to have the child over if it were but for a few di by the yellow face io weeks i sent a hundred pounds to the nurse and i gave her instructions about this cottage so that she might come as a neighbour without my appearing to be in any way connected with her i pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the and to cover up her little face and hands so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighbourhood if i had been less cautious i might have been more wise but i was half crazy with fear lest you should learn the truth it was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied i should have for the morning but i could not sleep for excitement and so at last i slipped out knowing how difficult it is to awaken you but you saw me go and that was the beginning of my troubles next day you had my secret at your mercy but you nobly refrained from pursuing your advantage three days later however the nurse and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at the front one and by i of now to night you at last know all and i ask you what is to become of us my child and me she clasped her hands and waited for an answer it was a long two minutes before grant broke the silence and when his answer came it was one of which i love to think he lifted the little child kissed her and then still carrying her he held his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door we can talk it over more comfortably at home said he i am not a very good man but i think i am a better one than you have given me credit for being and i followed them down to the lane and my friend plucked at my sleeve as we came out i think said he that we shall be of more use in london than in not another word did he say of the case until late that night when he was turning away with his lighted candle for his bedroom said he if it should ever strike you by the yellow face io that i am getting a little over confident in my powers or giving less pains to a case than it deserves kindly whisper in my ear and i shall be infinitely obliged to you by by the s clerk by by the s clerk shortly after my marriage i had bought a connection in the district old mr from whom i purchased it had at one time an excellent general practice but his age and an affliction of the nature of st s dance from which he suffered had very much it the public not goes upon the principle that he who would heal others must himself be whole and looks at the powers of the man whose own case is beyond the reach of his thus as my weakened his practice declined until when i purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred to uttle

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more than three hundred a year i had confidence however in my own youth and energy and was convinced that in by i i of very few years the concern would be as flourishing as ever for three months after taking over the practice i was kept very closely at work and saw little of my friend for i was too busy to visit baker street and he seldom went anywhere himself save upon professional business i was surprised therefore when one morning in june as i sat reading the british medical journal after breakfast i heard a ring at the bell followed by the high somewhat tones of my old companion s voice ah my dear said he into the room i am very delighted to see you i trust that mrs has entirely recovered from all the little connected with our adventure of the sign of four thank you we are both very well said i shaking him warmly by the hand and i hope also he continued sitting down in the rocking chair that the cares of medical practice have not entirely the interest by the s clerk i which you used to take in our little problems on the contrary i answered it was only last night that i was looking over my old notes and some of our past results i trust that you don t consider your collection closed not at all i should wish nothing better than to have some more of such experiences to day for example yes to day if you like and as far off as certainly if you wish it and the practice i do my neighbour s when he goes he is ready to work off the debt ha nothing could be better said leaning back in his chair and looking keenly at me from under his half closed i perceive that you have been lately summer are always a little trying i was confined to the house by a severe chill of i by of for three days last week i thought however that i had cast off every trace of it so you have you look remarkably robust how then did you know of it my dear fellow you know my methods you it then certainly and from what from your slippers i glanced down at the new patent which i was wearing how on earth i began but answered my question before it was asked your slippers are new he said you could not have had them more than a few weeks the which you are at this moment presenting to me are slightly for a moment i thought they might have got wet and been burned in the drying but near the there is a small circular of paper with the s upon it damp would of course have removed this you had then been sitting with your feet out by the s clerk stretched to the fire which a man would hardly do even in so wet a june as this if he were in his full health like all s reasoning the thing seemed simplicity itself when it was once explained he read the thought upon my features and his smile had a tinge of bitterness i am afraid that i rather give myself away when i explain said he results without causes are much more impressive you are ready to come to then certainly what is the case you shall hear it all in the train my is outside in a four can you come at once in an instant i a note to my neighbour rushed upstairs to explain the matter to my wife and joined upon the your neighbour is a doctor said he nodding at the brass plate yes he bought a practice as i did an old established one by of just the same as mine both have been ever since the houses were built ah then you got hold of the best of the two i think i did but how do you know by the steps my boy yours are worn three inches deeper than his but this gentleman in the cab is my mr hall allow me to introduce you to him whip your horse up for we have only just time to catch our train the man whom i found myself facing was a well built fresh young fellow with a frank honest face and a slight crisp yellow moustache he wore a very shiny top hat and a neat suit of sober black which made him look what he was â a smart young city man of the class who have been but who give us our crack and who turn out more fine and than any body of men in these islands his round ruddy face was naturally full of but the comers of his mouth seemed to me to be pulled down in a half distress it was not however until we were all in by the s clerk ii a first class carriage and well started upon our journey to that i was able to learn what the trouble was which had driven him to we have a clear run here of seventy minutes remarked i want you mr hall to tell my friend your very interesting experience exactly as you have told it to me or with more detail if possible it will be of use to me to hear the succession of events again it is a case which may prove to have something in it or may prove to have nothing but which at least presents those unusual and features which are as dear to you as they are to me now mr i shall not interrupt you again our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye the worst of the story is said he that i show myself up as such a confounded fool of course it may work out all

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right and i don t see that i could have done otherwise but if i have lost my and get nothing in exchange i shall feel by i of what a soft been fm not very good at telling a story dr but it is like this with me i used to have a at and of gardens but they were let in early in the spring through the loan as no doubt you remember and came a nasty i had been with them five years and old gave me a good when the came but of course we clerks were all turned adrift the twenty seven of us i tried here and tried there but there were lots of other on the same lay as myself and it was a perfect frost for a long time i had been taking three pounds a week at s and i had saved about seventy of them but i soon worked my way through that and out at the other end i was fairly at the end of my at last and could hardly find the to answer the or the to stick them to i had worn out my boots up office stairs and i seemed just as far from getting a as ever by the s clerk at last i saw a at aiid the great firm in street i e g is not much in your line but i can tell you that this is about the richest house in london the advertisement was to be answered by letter only i sent in my and application but without the least hope of getting it back came an answer by return saying that if i would appear next monday i might take over my new duties at once provided that my appearance was satisfactory no one knows how these things are worked some people say the manager just his hand into the heap and takes the first that comes anyhow it was my that time and i don t ever wish to feel better pleased the screw was a pound a week rise and the duties just about tiie same as at s and now i come to the queer part of the business i was in out way â s terrace was the address well i was sitting doing a smoke that very evening after i had been promised the appointment when up came my by i of landlady with a card which had arthur financial agent printed upon it i had never heard the name before and could not imagine what he wanted with me but of course i asked her to show him up in he walked â a middle sized dark haired dark eyed black bearded man with a touch of the about his nose he had a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply like a man that knew the value of time mr hall i believe said he yes sir i answered and pushed a chair towards him lately engaged at and s yes sir and now on the of s quite so well said he the fact is that i have heard some really extraordinary stories about your financial ability you remember who used to be s manager he can never say enough about it of course i was pleased to hear this i had by the s clerk always been pretty smart in the office but i had never dreamed that i was talked about in the city in this fashion you have a good memory said he pretty fair i answered modestly have you kept in touch with the market while you have been out of work he asked yes i read the stock exchange list every morning now that shows real application he cried that is the way to prosper i you won t mind my you will you let me how are one hundred and five to one hundred and five and a quarter i answered and new a hundred and four and british broken hills seven to seven and six wonderful he cried with his hands up this quite fits in with all that i had heard my by of boy my boy you are very much too good to be a clerk at st this outburst rather astonished me as you can think well said i other people don t think quite so much of me as you seem to do mr i had a hard enough fight to get this berth and i am very glad to have it man you should above it you are not in your true sphere now tell you how it stands with me what i have to offer is little enough when measured by your ability but when compared with s it is light to dark let me see when do you go to s n monday ha ha i think i would risk a little sporting flutter that you don t go there at all not go to s no sir by that day you will be the business manager of the company limited with one hundred and thirty four branches in the towns and villages of france not counting one in and one in san by the s clerk this took my breath away i never heard of it said i â very likely not it has been kept very quiet for the capital was all and it is too good a thing to let the public into my brother harry is and the board after as managing he knew that i was in the swim down here and he asked me to pick up a good man cheap â a young pushing man with plenty of snap about him spoke of you and that brought me here to night we can only offer you a five hundred to start with five hundred a year i shouted only that at the beginning but you are to

3Edith Wharton

have an over riding commission of i per cent on all business done by your agents and you may take my word for it that this will come to more than your salary but i know nothing about tut my boy you know about figures my head and i could hardly sit still by of in the chair but suddenly a little chill of doubt came over me i must be frank with you said l only gives me two hundred but is safe now really i know so little about your company that ah smart smart he cried in a kind of ecstasy of delight you are the very man for us i you are not to be talked over and quite right too now here s a note for a hundred pounds and if you think that we can do business you may just slip it into your pocket as an advance upon your salary that is very handsome said i when should i take over my new duties be in to morrow at one said he i have a note in my pocket here which you will take to my brother you will find him at b street where the temporary offices of the company are situated of course he must confirm your engagement but between ourselves it will be all right by the s clerk i really i hardly know how to express my gratitude mr said l not at all my boy you have only got your deserts there are one or two small things â mere â which i must arrange with you you have a bit of paper beside you there kindly write upon it i am perfectly willing to act as business manager to the company limited at a salary of â i did as he asked and he put the paper in his pocket there is one other detail said he what do you intend to do about s i had forgotten all about s in my joy til write and resign said i precisely what i don t want you to do i had a row over you with s manager i had gone up to ask him about you and he was very offensive â accused me of you away from the service of the firm and that sort of thing at last i fairly lost my temper if you want good men you should pay them a good price said i by of he would rather have our small price than your big one said he i ll lay you a said i that when he has my offer you will never so much as hear from him again done said he we picked him out of the and he won t leave us so easily those were his very words the impudent scoundrel i cried i ve never so much as seen him in my life why should i consider him in any way i shall certainly not write if you would rather that i didn t good that s a promise said he rising from his chair well i am delighted to have got so good a man for my brother here is your advance of a hundred pounds and here is the letter make a note of the address b street and remember that one o clock to morrow is your appointment good night and may you have all the fortune that you deserve that s just about all that passed between us as near as i can remember it you can imagine dr how pleased i was at such an extraordinary bit of good fortune i sat up half the by the s clerk i night myself over it and next day i was off to in a train that would take me in plenty of time for my appointment i took my things to an hotel in new street and then i made my way to the address which had been given me it was a quarter of an hour before my time but i thought that would make no difference b was a passage between two large shops which led to a winding stone stair from which there were many let as offices to companies or professional men the names of the occupants were painted up at the bottom on the wall but there was no such name as the company limited i stood for a few minutes with my heart in my boots wondering whether the whole thing was an elaborate or not when up came a man and addressed me he was very like the chap that i had seen the night before the same figure and voice but he was clean shaven and his hair was lighter are you mr hall he asked yes said l by of ah i was expecting you but you are a trifle before your time i had a note from my brother this morning in which he sang your praises very loudly i was just looking for the offices when you came we have not got our name up yet for we only secured these temporary premises last week come up with me and we will talk the matter over i followed him to the top of a very lofty stair and there right under the were a couple of empty and dusty little rooms and into which he led me i had thought of a great office with shining tables and rows of clerks such as i was used to and i i stared rather straight at the two deal chairs and one little table which with a and a waste paper basket made up the whole don t be mr said ray new acquaintance seeing the length of my face rome was not built in a day and we have lots of by the s clerk i g money at our backs though we don t cut much dash yet in

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offices ray sit down and let me have your letter i gave it to him and he read it over very carefully you seem to have made a vast impression upon my brother arthur said he and i know that he is a pretty shrewd judge he by london you know and i by but this time i shall follow his advice pray consider yourself definitely engaged what are my duties i asked you will eventually manage the great in paris which will pour a flood of english into the shops of one hundred and thirty four agents in france the purchase will be completed in a week and meanwhile you will remain in and make yourself useful â how for answer he took a big red book out of a drawer this is a of paris said he â with the trades after the names of the people i of i by of want you to take it home with you and to mark off all the with their addresses it would be of the greatest use to me to have them surely there are lists i suggested not ones their system is different to ours stick at it and let me have the lists by monday at twelve good day mr if you continue to show zeal and intelligence you will find the company a good master i went back to the hotel with the big book under my arm and with very conflicting feelings in my breast on the one hand i was definitely engaged and had a hundred pounds in my pocket on the other the look of the offices the absence of name on the wall and other of the points which would strike a business man had left a bad impression as to the position of my however come what i had my money so i settled down to my task all sunday i was kept hard at work and yet by monday i had only got as far as h i went round to my employer found him in the same kind of room and was by the s clerk i i told to keep at it until wednesday and then come again on wednesday it was still unfinished so i away until friday â that is yesterday then i brought it round to mr harry thank you very much said he i fear that i the difficulty of the task this list will be of very material assistance to me it took some time said l and now said he i want you to make a list of the furniture shops for they all sell very good and you can come tip to morrow evening at seven and let me know how you are getting on don t yourself a couple of hours at da s music hail in the evening would do you no harm after your labours he laughed as he spoke and i saw with a thrill that his second tooth upon the left hand side had been very badly stuffed with gold rubbed his hands with delight and i stared in astonishment at our by of you may well look surprised dr but it is this way said he when i was speaking to the other chap in london at the time that he laughed at my not going to s i happened to notice that his tooth was stuffed in this very identical fashion the of the gold in each case caught my eye you see when i put that with the voice and figure being the same and only those things altered which might be changed by a or a wig i could not doubt that it was the same man of course you expect two brothers to be alike but not that they should have the same tooth stuffed in the same way he bowed me out and i found myself in the street hardly knowing whether i was on my head or my heels back i went to my hotel put my head in a basin of cold water and tried to think it out why had he sent me from london to why had he got there before me and why had he written a letter from himself to himself it was altogether too much for me and i could make no sense of it and then suddenly it struck me that what was dark to me might be by the s clerk very light to mr i had just time to get up to town by the night train to see him this morning and to bring you both back with me to there was a pause after the s clerk had concluded his surprising experience then cocked his eye at me leaning back on the cushions with a pleased and yet critical face like a who had just taken his first of a rather fine is it not said he there are points in it which please me i think you will agree with me that an interview with mr arthur henry in the temporary offices of the company limited would be a rather interesting experience for both of us but how can we do it i asked oh easily enough said hall cheerily you are two friends of mine who are in want of a and what could be more natural than that by of i should bring you both round to the managing quite so of course said i should like to have a look at the gentleman and see if i can make anything of his little game what qualities have you my friend which would make your services so valuable or is it possible that he began biting his nails and staring out of the window and we hardly drew another word from him until we were in new street at seven o clock that evening we were walking the three of us down street to the

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s offices it is of no use our being at all before our time said our he only comes there to see me apparently for the place is deserted up to the very hour he names that is suggestive remarked by jove i told you cried the clerk that s he walking ahead of us there he pointed to a well dressed man who was bustling along the other side of the by the s clerk road as we watched him he looked across at a boy who was out the latest edition of the evening paper and running over among the cats and he bought one from him then clutching it in his hand he vanished through a doorway there he goes cried hall those are the company s offices into which he has gone come with me and i ll fix it up as easily as possible following his lead we ascended five stories until we found ourselves outside a half opened door at which our tapped a voice within bade us come in and we entered a bare room such as hall had described at the angle table sat the man whom we had seen in the street with his evening paper in front of him and as he looked up at us it seemed to me that i had never looked upon a face which bore such marks of grief and of something beyond grief â of a horror such as comes to few men in a lifetime his brow with perspiration his cheeks were of the dull dead white oâ a fish s belly by of and his eyes were wild and staring he looked at his as though he failed to recognise him and i could see by the astonishment depicted upon our conductor s face that this was by no means the usual appearance of his employer you look ill mr he exclaimed yes i am not very well answered the other making obvious efforts to pull himself together and his dry lips before he spoke who are these gentlemen whom you have brought with you one is mr of and the other is mr price of this town said our clerk they are friends of mine and gentlemen of experience but they have been out of a place for some little time and they hoped that perhaps you might find an opening for them in the s employment very possibly very possibly cried mr with a ghastly smile yes i have no doubt that we shall be able to do something for you what is your particular line mr i am an said by the s clerk ah yes we shall want something of the sort and you mr price a clerk said l i have every hope that the company may accommodate you i will let you know about it as soon as we come to any conclusion and now i beg that you will go for god s sake leave me to myself these last words were shot out of him as though the which he was evidently setting upon himself had suddenly and utterly burst asunder and i glanced at each other and hall took a step towards the table you forget mr that i am here by appointment to receive some directions from you said he certainly mr certainly the other answered in a calmer tone you may wait here a moment and there is no reason why your friends should not wait with you i will be entirely at your service in three minutes if i might upon your patience so far he rose with a very courteous by of air and bowing to us he passed out through a door at the further end of the room which he closed behind him what now whispered is he giving us the slip impossible answered so that door leads into an inner room there is no exit none is it furnished it was empty yesterday then what on earth can he be doing there is something which i don t understand in this matter if ever a man was three parts mad with terror that man s name is what can have put the on him he that we are i suggested that s it said shook his head he did not turn pale he was pale when we entered the room said he it is just possible that by the s clerk his words were interrupted by a sharp rat from the direction of the inner door what the deuce is he knocking at his own door for cried the again and much louder came the rat we ail gazed at the closed at i saw his face turn and he leaned forward in intense excitement then came a low and a brisk upon sprang across the room and ed at the door it was fastened the inner side following his example we upon it with all our t one snapped then the other and down came the door with a crash rushing over it we found ourselves in the inner room it was empty but it was only for a moment that we were at fault at one comer the comer nearer the room which we had left there was a second door sprang to it and pulled it open a coat and coat were lying on the floor and from a hook behind by of the door with his own round his neck was hanging the managing of the company his knees were drawn up his head hung at a dreadful angle to his body and the clatter of his heels against the door made the noise which had broken in upon our conversation in an instant i had caught him round the waist and held him up while and the elastic bands which had disappeared between the livid of skin then we carried him into the other room where he lay with a slate

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coloured face puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath â a dreadful wreck of all that he had been but five minutes before what do you think of him asked i stooped over him and examined him his pulse was feeble and but his breathing grew longer and there was a little shivering of his eyelids which showed a thin white of ball beneath it has been touch and go with him said i by the s clerk i i but he ll live now just open that window and hand me the water i his collar poured the cold water over his face and raised and sank his arms until he drew a long natural breath it s only a question of time now said i as i turned away from him stood by the table with his hands deep in his trousers pockets and his chin upon his breast i suppose we ought to call the police in now said he and yet i confess that i like to give them a complete case when they come it s a blessed mystery to me cried his head whatever they wanted to bring me all the way up here for and then all that is clear enough said impatiently it is this last sudden move you understand the rest then i think that it is fairly obvious what do you say i shrugged my shoulders i must confess that i am out of my depths said i by of oh surely if you consider the events at first they can only point to one conclusion what do you make of them well the whole thing hinges upon two points the first is the making of write a declaration by which he entered the service of this preposterous company do you not see how very suggestive that is i am afraid i miss the point well why did they want him to do it not as a business matter for these arrangements are usually verbal and there was no earthly business reason why this should be an exception don t you see my young friend that they were very anxious to obtain a specimen of your handwriting and had no other way of doing it and why quite so why when we answer that we have made some progress with our little problem why there can be only one adequate reason wanted to learn to imitate your writing and had to procure a specimen of it first and by the s clerk now if we pass on to the second point we find that â throws light upon the other that point is the request made by that you should not resign your place but should leave the manager of this important business in the full expectation that a mr hall whom he had never seen was about to enter the oâ ce upon the monday morning my god cried our what a blind i have been now you see the point about the suppose that turned up in your place who wrote a completely hand from that in which you had applied for the of course the game would have been up but in the interval the rogue learnt to imitate you and his position was therefore secure as i presume that nobody in the office had ever set eyes upon you not a soul groaned hall very good of course it was of the utmost importance to prevent you from thinking better of it and also to keep you from coming into contact with anyone who might tell you that your double was at by of work in s office therefore they gave you a handsome advance on your salary and ran you off to the where they gave you enough work to do to prevent your going to london where you might have burst their little game up that is all plain enough but why should this man pretend to his own brother well that is pretty clear also there are evidently only two of them in it the is you at the office this one as your and then found that he could not find you an employer without admitting a third person into his plot that he was most unwilling to do he changed his appearance as far as he could and trusted that the likeness which you could not fail to observe would be put down to a family resemblance but for the happy chance of the gold your suspicions would probably have never been roused hall shook his clenched hands in the air good he cried while i have been in this way what has this other hall by the s clerk been doing at s what should we do mr tell me what to we must wire to s they shut at twelve on never mind there may be some door keeper or attendant ah yes they keep a permanent guard there on account of the value of the that they hold i remember hearing it talked of in the city very good we shall wire to him and see if all is well and if a clerk of your name is working there that is clear enough but what is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the should instantly walk out of the room and hang himself the paper a voice behind us the man was sitting up and ghastly with returning reason in his eyes and hands which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which still encircled his throat the paper of course in a of excitement idiot that i was i thought so much of our visit that the paper never of by of entered my head for an instant to be sure the secret must lie there he it out upon the table and a cry of triumph burst from his lips look at this he cried it is

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a london paper an early edition of the evening standard here is what we want look at the â crime in the city murder at and gigantic attempted robbery capture of the criminal here we are all equally anxious to hear it so kindly read it aloud to us it appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event of importance in town and the account of it ran in this way â a desperate attempt at robbery in the death of one man and the capture of the criminal occurred this afternoon in the city for some time back and the famous financial house have been the of which amount in the to a sum of considerably over a million sterling so conscious was the manager of the responsibility which upon by the s clerk him in consequence of the great interests at stake that of the very latest construction have been employed and an armed has been left day and night in the building it appears that last week a new clerk named hall was engaged by the firm person appears to have been none other than the famous and who with his brother has only recently emerged from a five years spell of by some means which are not yet clear he succeeded in winning under a false name this official position in the office which he in order to obtain of various locks and a thorough knowledge of the position of the strong room and the it is customary at s for the clerks to leave at midday on saturday of the city police was somewhat surprised therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps at twenty minutes past one his suspicions being aroused the followed the man and with the aid of succeeded after a by of most desperate resistance in him it was at once clear that a daring and gigantic robbery had been committed nearly a hundred thousand pounds worth of american railway bonds with a large amount of in other mines and companies were discovered in the bag on examining the premises the body of the unfortunate was found doubled up and thrust into the largest of the where it would not have been discovered until monday morning had it not been for the prompt action of the man s skull had been shattered by a blow from a delivered from behind there could be no doubt that had obtained entrance by pretending that he had left something behind him and having murdered the rapidly the large safe and then made off with his his brother who usually works with him has not appeared in this job so far as can at present be ascertained although the police are making energetic inquiries as to his whereabouts well we may save the police some little trouble by the s in that direction said glancing at the haggard figure huddled up by the window human nature is a strange mixture you see that even a villain and a murderer can inspire such affection that his brother turns to suicide when he that his neck is however we have no choice as to our action the doctor and i will remain on guard mr if you will have the kindness to step out for the police by by the scott by by i the scott i have some papers here said my friend as we sat one winter s night on either side of the fire which i really think it would be worth your while to glance over these are the documents in the extraordinary case of the scott and this is the message which struck justice of the peace dead with horror when he read it he had picked from a drawer a little and the he handed me a short note upon a half sheet of slate grey paper the supply of game for london is going steadily up it ran head keeper we believe has been now told to receive all orders for by of fly paper and for preservation of your hen s life as i glanced up from reading this message i saw at the expression upon my face you look a little bewildered said he i cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror it seems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise very likely yet the fact remains that the reader who was a fine robust old man was knocked clean down by it as if it had been the butt end of a pistol you arouse my curiosity said l but why did you say just now that there were very particular reasons why i should study this case because it was the first in which i was ever engaged i had often endeavoured to from my companion what had first turned his mind in the direction of criminal but i had never caught him before in a humour now he by the scott â sat forward in his arm chair and spread out the documents upon his knees then he lit his pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over you never heard me talk of victor he asked he was the only friend i made during the two years that i was at college i was never a very fellow always rather of in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought so that i never mixed much with the men of my year bar and i had few tastes and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows so that we had no points of contact at all was the only man i knew and that only through the accident of his bull on to my ankle one morning as i went down to chapel it was a way of forming a friendship but it was effective i

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was laid by the heels for ten days and used to come in to inquire after me at first it was only a minute s chat but soon his visits lengthened and before the end of the term by of we were close friends he was a hearty full blooded fellow full of spirit and energy the very opposite to me in most respects but we found we had some subjects in common and it was a bond of union when i learned that he was as as l finally he invited me down to his father s place at in and i accepted the hospitality for a month of the long old was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration a j p and a landed proprietor is a little hamlet just to the north of in the country of the the house was an old fashioned wide spread oak beamed brick building with a fine lime lined avenue leading up to it there was excellent wild duck shooting in the remarkably good fishing a small but select library taken over as i understood from a former and a tolerable cook so that it would be a fastidious man who could not put in a pleasant month there senior was a and my friend was his only son there had been a daughter i by the scott heard but she had died of on a visit to the father interested me extremely he was a man of little culture but with a considerable amount of rude strength both physically and mentally he knew hardly any books but he had travelled far had seen much of the world and had remembered all that he had learned in person he was a thick set man with a shock of hair a brown weather beaten face and blue eyes which were keen to the verge of yet he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the country side and was noted for the of his sentences from the bench one evening shortly after my arrival we were sitting over a glass of port after dinner when young began to talk about those habits of observation and which i had already formed into a system although i had not yet appreciated the part which they were to play in my life the old man evidently thought that his son was in his description of one or two trivial which i had performed by of come now mr said he laughing good fm an excellent subject if you can anything from me i fear there is not very much i answered i might suggest that you have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelve months the laugh faded from his lips and he stared at me in great surprise well that s true enough said he you know victor turning to his son when we broke up that gang they swore to knife us and sir edward has actually been attacked always been on my guard since then though i have no idea how you know it you have a very handsome stick i answered by the inscription i observed that you had not had it more than a year but you have some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole so as to make it a formidable weapon i argued that you would not take such precautions unless you had some danger to fear by the scott anything else he asked smiling you have a good deal in your youth right again how did you know it is my nose knocked a little out of the straight no said i it is your ears they have the peculiar and which marks the man anything else you have done a great deal of digging by your made all my money at the gold fields you have been in new right again you have visited quite true and you have been most intimately associated with whose were j a and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely forget mr stood slowly up fixed his large blue eyes on me with a strange wild stare md then pitched forward on his face among the which the cloth in a dead faint by l of you can imagine how shocked both his son and i were his attack did not last long however for when we his collar and sprinkled the water from one of the finger glasses over his face he gave a gasp or two and sat up ah said he forcing a smile i hope i haven t frightened you strong as i look there is a weak place in my heart and it does not take much to knock me over i don t know how you manage this mr but it seems to me that all the of fact and of fancy would be children in your hands that s your line of life sir and you may take the of a man who has seen something of the world and that recommendation with the exaggerated estimate of my ability with which he it was if you will believe me the very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be made out of what had up to that time been the merest at the moment however i was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my host to think of anything else by the scott l l i hope that i have said nothing to pain you said l well you certainly touched upon rather a tender point might i ask how you know and how much you know he spoke now in a half fashion but a look of terror still at the back of his eyes â it is simplicity itself said l when you your arm to draw that fish into the boat i saw that j a had been

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in the bend of the elbow the letters were still but it was perfectly clear from their appearance and from the of the skin round them that efforts had been made to them it was obvious then that those had once been very familiar to you and that you had afterwards to forget them what an eye you have i he cried with a sigh of relief it is just as you say but we won t talk of it of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the come into the room and have a quiet cigar of ii by of from that day amid all his cordiality there was always a touch of suspicion in mr s manner towards me even his son remarked it â you ve given the governor such a turn said he that he ll never be sure again of what you know and what you don t know he did not mean to show it i am sure but it was so strongly in his mind that it peeped out at every action at last i became so convinced that i was causing him uneasiness that i drew my visit to a close on the very day however before i left an incident occurred which proved in the to be of importance we were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs the three of us in the sun and admiring the view across the when the maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to see mr what is his name asked my host he would not give any what does he want then he says that you know him and that he only wants a moment s conversation by i the scott show him round here an instant afterwards there appeared a little fellow with a manner and a style of walking he wore an open jacket with a of tar on the sleeve a red and black check shirt trousers and heavy boots badly worn his face was thin and brown and with a perpetual smile upon it which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth and his hands were half closed in a way that is of sailors as he came across the lawn i heard mr make a sort of noise in his throat and jumping out of his chair he ran into the house he was back in a moment and i smelt a strong of brandy as he passed me well my man said he what can i do for you the sailor stood looking at him with eyes and with the same loose smile upon his face â you don t know me he asked ii by of why dear me it is surely said mr in a tone of surprise it is sir said the seaman why it s thirty year and more since i saw you last here you are in your house and me still picking my salt meat out of the harness tut you will find that i have not forgotten old times cried mr and walking towards the sailor he said something in a low voice go into the kitchen he continued out loud and you will get food and drink i have no doubt that i shall find you a situation thank you sir said the seaman touching his i m just off a two in an tramp short handed at that and i wants a rest i thought i d get it either with mr or with you ah cried mr you know where mr is bless you sir i know where all my old friends are said the fellow with a sinister smile and off after the maid to the kitchen mr by the scott something to us about having been with the man when he was going back to the and then leaving us on the lawn he went indoors an hour later when we entered the house we found him stretched dead drunk upon the dining room sofa the whole incident left a most ugly impression upon my mind and i was not sorry next day to leave behind me for i felt that my presence must be a source of embarrassment to my friend all this occurred during the first month of the long i went up to my london rooms where i spent seven weeks working out a few experiments in one day however when the autumn was far advanced and the drawing to a close i received a from my friend imploring me to return to and saying that he was in great need of my advice and assistance of course i dropped everything and set out for the north once more he met me with the dog cart at the station and i saw at a glance that the last two months had by of been very trying ones for him he had grown thin and and had lost the loud cheery manner for which he had been remarkable the governor is dying were the first words he said impossible i cried what is the matter nervous shock he s been on the verge all day i doubt if we shall find him alive i was as you may think at this unexpected news what has caused it i asked ah that is the point jump in and we can talk it over while we drive you remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you left us perfectly do you know who it was that we let into the house that day i have no idea it was the devil he cried i stared at him in astonishment by the scott yes it was the devil himself we have not had a peaceful hour since â not one the governor has never held up his head from that evening and now the life has been crushed out of him and

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his heart broken all through this accursed what power had he then ah that is what i would give so much to know the kindly charitable good old governor how could he have fallen into the of such a but i am so glad that you have come i trust very much to your judgment and discretion and i know that you will advise me for the best we were dashing along the smooth white country road with the long stretch of in front of us glimmering in the red light of the setting sun from a grove upon our left i could already see the high chimneys and the flag staff which marked the squire s dwelling my father made the fellow gardener said my companion and then as that did not satisfy him he was promoted to be butler the house seemed by op to be at his mercy and he wandered about and did what he chose in it the maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language the raised their wages all round to them for the annoyance the fellow would take the boat and my father s best gun and treat himself to little shooting parties and all this with such a insolent face that i would have knocked him down twenty times over if he had been a man of my own age i tell you i have had to keep a tight hold upon myself all this time and now i am asking myself whether if i had let myself go a little more i might not have been a wiser man well matters went from bad to worse with us and this animal became more and more until at last on his making some insolent reply to my father in my presence one day i took him by the shoulder and turned him out of the room he away with a livid face and two eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue could do i don t know what passed be by scott the poor and him after that but the came to me next day and asked me whether i would mind to i refused as you can imagine and asked my father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with himself and his household ah my boy said he it is all very well to talk but you don t know how i am placed but you shall know victor tu see that you shall know come what may you wouldn t believe harm of your poor old father would you lad he was very much moved and shut himself up in the study all day where i could see through the window that he was writing busily that evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release for told us that he was going to leave us he walked into the as we sat after dinner and announced his intention in the thick voice of a half drunken man â had enough of said he til run down to mr in he ll be as glad to see me as you were i by op s you re not going away in an unkind spirit i hope said my father with a which made my blood boil not had my said he glancing in my direction victor you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow rather roughly said the turning to me n the contrary i think that we have both shown extraordinary patience towards him i answered h you do do you he very good mate we ll see about that he out of the room and half an hour afterwards left the house leaving my father in a state of pitiable night after night i heard him pacing his room and it was just as he was recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall and how i asked eagerly in a most extraordinary fashion a letter arrived for ray father yesterday evening bearing the my father read it clap by the scott i i both his hands to his head and began running round the room in little circles like a man ho has been driven out of his senses when t at last drew him down on to the sofa his and eyelids were all on one side and i saw that he had a stroke dr over at once and we put him to bed but has spread he has shown no sign of returning consciousness and i think that we shall hardly find him alive you me i cried what then could have been in this letter to cause so dreadful a result nothing there lies the inexplicable of it the message was absurd and trivial ah my god it is as i feared as he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue and saw in the fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down as we dashed up to the door my friend s face with grief a gentleman in black emerged from it when did it happen doctor asked almost immediately after you left by of he recover consciousness f an instant before the end an message for me that the papers were in the back drawer of the cabinet my ascended with the doctor to the chamber of while i remained in the study turning the whole matter over and over in my head and feeling as sombre as ever i had done in my hfe what was the past of this traveller and gold and how had he placed himself in the power of this faced seaman why too should he faint at an illusion to the upon his arm and die of fright when he had a letter from then i remembered that was in and that this mr whom the seaman had gone to visit and to

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had also been mentioned as living in the letter then might either come from the seaman saying that he had betrayed the guilty secret which appeared to exist or it might come by the â scott x from warning an old that such a was imminent so far it seemed clear enough but then how could the letter be trivial and grotesque as described by the son he must have it if so it must have been one of those ingenious secret which mean one thing while they seem to mean another i must see this letter if there were a hidden meaning in it i was confident that i could pluck it forth for an hour i sat pondering over it in the gloom until at last a weeping maid brought in a lamp and close at her heels came my friend pale but composed with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in his grasp he sat down opposite to me drew the lamp to the edge of the table and handed me a short note as you see upon a single sheet of grey paper the supply of game for london is going steadily up it ran head keeper we believe has been now told to receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation of your hen s life i my face looked as bewildered as by of yours did just now when first i read this message then i re read it very carefully it was evidently as i had thought and some second meaning must be buried in this strange combination of words or could it be that there was a significance to such phrases as fly paper and hen such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be in any way and yet i was loth to believe that this was the case and the presence of the word seemed to show that the subject of the message was as i had guessed and that it was firom rather than the sailor i tried it backwards but the combination life s hen was not encouraging then i tried alternate words but neither the of for nor supply game london promised to throw any light upon it and then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands and i saw that every third word beginning with the first would give a message which might well drive old to despair it was short and the warning as i now read it to my companion â by the scott the game is up has told all fly for your life victor sank his face into his shaking hands it must be that i suppose said he this is worse than death for it means disgrace as well but what is the meaning of these head and hen it means nothing to the message but it might mean a good deal to us if we had no other means of discovering the you see that he has begun by writing the game is and so on afterwards he had to fulfil the to fill in any two words in each space he would naturally use the first words which came to his mind and if there were so many which referred to sport among them you may be tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or interested in breeding do you know anything of this why now that you mention it said he i remember that my poor father used to have an in by of from him to shoot over his preserves every autumn then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes said i it only remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected men alas i fear that it is one of sin and shame cried my friend but from you i shall have no secrets here is the statement which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from had become imminent i found it in the cabinet as he told the doctor take it and read it to me for i have neither the strength nor the courage to do it myself these are the very papers which he handed to m and i will read them to you as i read them in the old study that night to him they are outside as you see some particulars of the voyage of the scott from her leaving on the th october to her by the scott destruction in n â w long â on november th it is in the form of a letter and runs in this way â my dear dear son â now that approaching disgrace begins to the years of my life i can write with all truth and honesty that it is the terror of the law it is not the loss of my position in the county nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have known me which cuts me to the heart but it is the thought that you should come to blush for me â you who love me and who have seldom i hope had reason to do other than respect me but if the blow falls which is for ever hanging over me i then i should wish you to read this that you may know straight from me how far i have been to blame on the other hand if all should go well which may kind god almighty grant then if by any chance this paper should be still and should fall into your hands i you by all you hold sacred by the memory of your dear mother and by the love which has been be of by of us to it into the fire and to never give one thought to

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it again if then your eye goes on to read this line i know that i shall already have been exposed and dragged from my home or as is i e likely â for you know that my heart is weak â be lying with my tongue sealed for ever in death in either case the time for is past and every word which i tell you is the naked truth and this i swear as i hope for mercy â my name dear lad is not i was james in my younger days and you can understand now the shock that it was to me a few when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed to imply that he had my secret as it was that i entered a i house and as i was convicted of breaking my country s laws and was to do not think very harshly of me it was a debt of honour so called which i had to pay and i used money which was not my own to do it in the certainty that i could by the scott replace it before there could be any possibility of its being missed but the most dreadful ill luck pursued me the money which i had reckoned upon never came to hand and a premature examination of accounts exposed my the case might have been dealt with but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than now and on my twenty third birthday i found m chained as a with thirty seven other in the decks of the scott bound for it was the year when the war was at its height and the old ships had been largely used as in the black sea the government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable vessels for sending out their prisoners the scott had been in the chinese tea trade but she was an old fashioned broad beamed craft and the new had cut her out she was a ton boat and besides her thirty eight birds she carried of a crew eighteen soldiers a captain three by l o of a doctor a and four nearly a hundred souls were in her all told when we set sail from the between the of the instead of being of thick oak as is usual in ships were quite thin and frail the man next to me upon the aft side was one whom i had particularly noticed when we were led down to the he was a young man with a dear face a long thin nose and jaws he carried his head veiy in the air had a style of walking and was above all else remarkable for his extraordinary height i don t think any of our heads would come up to his shoulder and i am sure that he could not have measured less than six and a half feet it was strange among so many sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy and resolution the sight of it was to me like a fire in a i was glad then to find that he was my neighbour and still when in the dead of the night i heard a whisper close to my ear and found that he by the scott l l had managed to cut an opening m the board which separated us said he what s your name and what are you here for i answered him and asked in turn whom i was talking with fm jack said he and by god you ll learn to bless my name before you ve done with me i remembered hearing of his case for it was one which had made an immense sensation throughout the country some time before my own arrest he was a man of good family and of great ability but of vicious habits who had by an ingenious system of fraud obtained huge sums of money from the leading london merchants ah ah you remember my case said he proudly very well indeed then maybe you remember something queer about it what was that then by of l d had nearly a quarter of a million hadn t i so it was said but none was recovered eh no well where d ye suppose the balance is he asked i have no idea said i right between my finger and thumb he cried by god i ve got more pounds to my name than you have hairs on your head and if you ve money my son and know how to handle it and spread it you can do anything now you don t think it likely that a man who could do anything is going to wear his breeches out sitting in the hold of a rat ridden old coffin of a china no sir such a man will look after himself and will look after his you may lay to that you hold on to him and you may kiss the book that he ll haul you through that was his style of talk and at first i thought it meant nothing but after a while when he had tested me and swore me in with all possible by the scott solemnity he let me understand that there really was a plot to gain command of the vessel a dozen of the prisoners had it before they came aboard was the leader and his money was the motive power a partner said he a rare good man as true as a stock to a barrel he s got the he has and where do you think he is at this moment why he s the of this ship â the no less he came aboard with a black coat and his papers right and money enough in his box to the thing right up from to main the crew are his body

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and soul he could buy em at so much a gross with a cash and he did it before ever they signed on he s got two of the and the second mate and he d get the captain himself if he thought him worth it what are we to do then i asked â what do you think said he we ll make the coats of some of these soldiers than ever the tailor did by of but they are said i and so shall we be my boy there s a brace of pistols for eveiy mother s son of us and if we can t carry this ship with the crew at our back it s time we were all sent to a young miss s boarding school you speak to your mate on the left tonight and see if he is to be trusted i did so and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the same position as myself whose crime had been his name was but he afterwards changed it like myself and he is now a rich and prosperous man in the of england he was ready enough to join the conspiracy as the only means of saving ourselves and before we had crossed the bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in the secret one of these was of weak mind and we did not dare to trust him and the other was suffering from and could not be of any use to us from the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us taking possession of the ship the crew by the scott were a set of specially picked for the job the sham came into our to us carrying a black bag supposed to be full of tracts and so often did he come that by the third day we had each away at the foot of our bed a file a brace of pistols a pound of powder and twenty two of the were agents of and the second mate was his right hand man the captain the two mates two lieutenant martin his eighteen soldiers and the doctor were all that we had against us yet safe as it was we determined to neglect no precaution and to make our attack suddenly at night it came however more quickly than we expected and in this way â one evening about the third week after our start the doctor had come down to see one of the prisoners who was iu and putting his hand down on the bottom of his he felt the outline of the pistols if he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing but he was a nervous little chap so he gave a cry of surprise and turned so pale that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized by of him he was before he could give the alarm and tied down upon the bed he had unlocked the door that led to the deck and we were through it in a rush the two were shot down and so was a who came running to see what was the matter there were two more soldiers at the door of the state room and their seemed not to be loaded for they never fired upon us and they were shot while trying to fix their then we rushed on into the captain s cabin but as we pushed open the door there was an explosion from within and there he lay with his head on the of the atlantic which was pinned upon the table while the stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow the two mates had both been seized by the crew and the whole business seemed to be settled the state room was next the cabin and we in there and down on the all speaking together for we were just mad with the feeling that we were free once more there were all round and the sham d by the scott knocked one of them in and pulled out a dozen of brown we cracked off the necks of the bottles poured the stuff out into and were just tossing them off when in an instant without warning there came the roar of in our ears and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could not see the table when it cleared away again the place was a and eight others were on the top of each other on the floor and the blood and the brown on that table turn me sick now when i think of it we were so by the sight that i think we should have given the job up if it had not been for he like a bull and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels out we ran and there on the were the lieutenant and ten of his men the swing above the saloon table had been a bit open and they had fired on us through the we got on them before they could load and they stood to it like men but we had the upper hand of them and in five minutes it was all over my god was there by op ever a slaughter house like that ship was like a raging devil and he picked the soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard alive or dead there was one that was horribly wounded and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time until in mercy blew out his brains when the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies except just the the mates and the doctor it was over them that the great quarrel arose there were many of us who were glad enough to win back our freedom and

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yet who had no wish to have murder on our souls it was one thing to knock the soldiers over with their in their hands and it was another to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood eight of us five and three sailors said that we would not see it done but there was no moving and those who were with him our only chance of safety lay in making a clean job of it said he and he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in a witness box it nearly came to our sharing the by the scott fate of the prisoners but at last he said that if we wished we might take a boat and go we jumped at the offer for we were already sick of these doings and we saw that there would be worse before it was done we were given a suit of sail m s each a barrel of water two one of and one of and a compass threw us over a told us that we were manners whose ship had in n and long â w and then cut the painter and let us go and now i come to the most part of my story my dear son the had hauled the during the rising but now as we left them they brought it square again and as there was a light wind from the north and east the a to draw slowly away from us our boat lay ri g and falling upon the long smooth and and i who were the most educated of the party were sitting in the sheets working out our position and planning what coast we should make for it as a nice question for the cape de by i go of were about miles to the north of us and the african coast about miles to the east on the whole as the wind was coming round to the we thought that might be best and turned our head in that direction the being at that time nearly down on our quarter suddenly as we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot up from her which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky line a few seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears and as the smoke away there was no sign left of the scott in an instant we swept the boat s head round again and pulled with all our strength for the place where the haze still trailing over the water marked the scene of this catastrophe it was a long hour before we reached it and at first we feared that we had come too late to save anyone a boat and a number of and fragments of rising and falling on the waves showed us where the vessel had but there was no sign of ufe and we had turned by the scott i i away in despair when we heard a cry for help and saw at some distance a piece of with a man lying stretched across it when we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to be a young seaman of the name of who was so burned and exhausted that he could give us no account of what had happened until the following morning it seemed that after we had left and his gang had proceeded to put to death the remaining five prisoners the two had been shot and thrown overboard and so also had the third mate then descended into the decks and with his own hands cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon there only remained the first mate who was a bold and active man when he saw the approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand he kicked off his bonds which he had somehow contrived to and rushing down the deck he plunged into the after hold a dozen who descended with their pistols in search of him found him with a in his hand seated beside an open powder by of barrel which was one of a hundred carried on board and swearing that he would blow all hands up if he were in any way an instant later the explosion occurred though thought it was caused by the bullet of one of the s rather than the mate s match be the cause what it may it was the end of the scott and of the who held command of her such in a few words my dear boy is the history of this terrible business in which i was in next day we were picked up by the bound for captain found no difficulty in believing that we were the of a passenger ship whidi had the transport ship scott was set down by the as being lost at sea and no word has ever out as to her true fate after an excellent voyage the landed us at where and i changed our names and made our way to the where among the crowds who were gathered from all nations we had no difficulty in losing our former by the scott the rest i need not relate we we travelled we came back as rich to england and we bought country estates for more than twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives and we hoped that our past was for ever buried imagine then our feelings when in the seaman who came to us i recognised instantly the man who had been picked off the wreck he had us down somehow and had set himself to live upon our fears you will understand now how it was that i strove to keep peace with him and you will in me measure with me in the fears which fill me now that he has gone from me to his other victim with threats upon

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his tongue underneath is written in a hand so as to be hardly writes in to say that h has told all sweet lord have mercy our souls that was the narrative which i read that night to young and i think that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one the good of by of fellow was at it and went out to the tea planting where i hear that he is doing well as to the sailor and neither of them was ever heard of again after that on which the letter of warning was written they both disappeared utterly and completely no complaint had been lodged with the police so that had mistaken a threat for a deed had been seen lurking about and it was believed the police that he had done away with and had fled for myself i believe that the truth was exactly the opposite i think it is most probable that pushed to desperation and believing himself to have been already betrayed had himself upon and had fled from the country with as much money as he could lay his hands on those are the facts of the case doctor and if they are of any use to your collection i am sure that they ate very heartily at your service by the t by by the an which often struck me in the character of my friend was that although in his methods of thought he was the and most of mankind and although also he affected a certain quiet of dress he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most men that ever drove a fellow to distraction not that i am in the least conventional in that respect myself the rough and tumble work in coming on the top of a natural of disposition has made me rather more than a medical man but with me there is a limit and when i find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal his tobacco in the toe end of a and his by of by a jack knife into the very centre of his wooden then i begin to give myself virtuous airs i have always held too that pistol practice should distinctly be an open air and when in one of his queer would sit in an arm chair with his and a hundred and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic v r done in bullet i felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it our chambers were rs full of and of criminal relics which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions and of turning up in the butter dish or in even less desirable places but his papers were my great he had a horror of destroying documents especially those which were connected with his past cases and yet it was only once in every year or two that he would muster energy to and arrange them for as i have mentioned somewhere in these the of passionate energy when he per by thi formed the remarkable with which his name is associated were followed by of during which he would lie about with his and his books hardly moving save from the sofa to the table thus month after month his papers accumulated until every comer of the room was with bundles of which wâ e on no account to be burned and which could not be put away save by their owner one s night as we sat together by the e i ventured to suggest to him that as he had finished into his commonplace book be might employ the next two hours in making our room a little more he could not deny the justice of my request so with a rather face he wâ â t off to his bedroom from which he returned presently pulling a tin box behind him he placed in the middle ai the â and upon a stool in front of it he threw back the lid i could see that it was already a third full of of paper tied up with red into separate by of there are cases enough here said he looking at me with mischievous eyes i think that if you knew all that i have in this box you would ask me to pull some out instead f putting others in these are the records of your early work then i asked i have often wished that i had notes of those cases yes my boy these were all done before my had to me he lifted bundle after bundle in a tender caressing sort of way they are not all said he but there are some pretty little problems among them here s the record of the and the case of the wine merchant and the adventure of the old russian woman and the singular affair of the as well as a full account of of the foot and his abominable wife and here â ah now this really is something a little he his arm down to the bottom of the chest and brought up a small wooden box with a by the i sliding lid such as children s toys are kept in from within he produced a piece of paper an old fashioned brass key a of wood with a ball of string attached to it and three rusty old of metal well my boy what do you make of this lot he asked smiling at my expression it is a curious collection very curious and the story that hangs round it will strike you as being more curious still these relics have a story then so much so that they are history what do you mean by that picked them up one by one and laid them along the edge of the table then he re seated himself

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in his chair and looked them over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes these said he are all that i have left to remind me of the episode of the i had heard him mention the case more than once though i had never been able to gather the details by of i should be so glad said i if you would give me an account of it and leave the litter as it is he cried your won t bear much strain after all but i should be glad that you should add this case to your annals for there are points in it which make it quite unique in the criminal records of this or i believe of any other country a collection of my trifling achievements would certainly be which contained no account of this very singular business you may remember how the affair of the scott and my conversation with the man whose fate i told you ofi first turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has become my life s work you see me now when my name has become known far and wide and when i am generally recognised both by the public aad by the official force as a final court of appeal in doubtful cases even when you knew me first at the time of the affair which you have in a study in scarlet i had already established a by the considerable though not a very connection you can hardly realize then how difficult i found it at first and how i had to wait before i succeeded in making y when i first came up to london i had in street just round the the british museum and there i waited filling in my too abundant leisure tin e by studying all those branches of science which might make me more efficient now and again cases came in my way principally through the introduction of old fellow students for during my last years at the university there was a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods the third of these cases was that of the and it is to the interest which was aroused by that i chain of events a nd the large issues which proved to be at stake that i trace my first towards the position which i now hold mu ave had been in the same college as myself and i had some slight acquaintance with him he was not generally popular among the by of though it seemed to me that what was set down as pride was really an attempt to cover extreme natural in ap he was a man of an exceedingly aristocratic type thin high and large eyed with languid and yet manners he was indeed a of one of the very oldest families in the kingdom though his branch was a one which had separated from the northern some time in the sixteenth century and had established itself in western where the house of is perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the county something of his seemed to cling to the man and i never looked at his pale keen face or the of his head without him with grey and windows and all the venerable of a keep now and again we drifted into talk and i can remember that more than once he expressed a keen interest in my methods of observation and for four years i had seen nothing of him by the until one morning he walked into my room in street he had changed little was dressed like a young man of fashion â he was always a bit of a â and preserved the same quiet manner which had formerly distinguished him how has all gone with you i asked after we had cordially shaken hands you probably heard of my poor father s death said he he was carried off about two years ago since then i have of course had the estates to manage and as i am member for my district as well my life has been a busy one but i understand that you are turning to practical ends those powers with which you used to us yes said i i have taken to living by my wits i am delighted to hear it for your advice at present would be exceedingly valuable to me we have had some very strange doings at and the police have been able to throw no light upon by o of â the matter it is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business you can imagine with what eagerness i listened to him for the very chance for which i had been panting during all those months of seemed to have come within my reach in my inmost heart i believed that i could succeed where others failed and now i had the opportunity to test myself pray let me have the details i cried sat down opposite to me and lit the which i had pushed towards him you must know said he that though i am a bachelor i have to keep up a considerable staff of servants at for it is a rambling old place and takes a good deal of looking after i preserve too and in the months i usually have a house party so that it would not do to be short handed altogether there are eight maids the cook the butler two and a boy by the the garden and the stables of course have a separate staff â of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was the butler he was a young out of place when he was first taken up by my father but he was a man of great energy and character and he soon became quite invaluable in the household he was a handsome man with a splendid forehead and though

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he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty now with his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts for he can speak several languages and play nearly every musical instrument it is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a position but i suppose that he was comfortable and lacked energy to make any change the butler of is always a thing that is remembered by all who visit us but this has one fault he is a bit of a don and you can imagine that for a man by of like it is not a very difficult part to play in a quiet country district when he was married it was all right but since he has been a we have had no end of trouble with him a few months ago we were in hopes that he was about to settle down again for he became engaged to our second but he has thrown her over since then and taken up with the daughter of the head who is a very good girl but of an temperament had a sharp touch of brain fever and goes about the house now â or did until yesterday â like a black eyed shadow of her former self that was our first drama at but a second one came to drive it from our minds and it was by the disgrace and dismissal of butler this is how it came about i have said that the man was intelligent and this very intelligence has caused his ruin for it seems to have led to an curiosity about things which did not in the least concern him i had no idea of the to by v the g which this would carry him until the merest accident opened my eyes to it i have said that the house is a rambling one one night last week â on thursday night to be more exact â i found that i could not sleep having foolishly taken a cup of strong ca after my dinner after struggling against it until two in the morning i felt that it was quite hopeless so i rose and lit the candle with the intention of continuing a novel which i was reading the book however had been left in the room so i pulled on my dressing gown and started off to get it in order to reach the room i had to descend a flight of stairs and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the library and the gun room you c n imagine my surprise when aâ i looked down this corridor i saw a of light coming from the open door of the library i had myself extinguished the lamp and closed the door before coming to bed naturally my first thought was of the at have their walls largely decorated with of of by y io of weapons from one of these i picked a battle axe and then leaving my candle behind me i crept on tip toe down the passage and peeped in at the open door the butler was in the library he was sitting fully dressed in an easy chair with a slip of paper which looked like a map upon his knee and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in deep thought i stood dumb with astonishment watching him from the darkness a small on the edge of the table shed a feeble light which to show me that he was fully dressed suddenly as i looked he rose from his chair and walking over to a at the side he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers from this he took a paper and returning to his seat he it ont beside the on the edge of the table and began to study it with minute attention my indignation at this calm examination of our family documents overcame me so far that i took a step forward and looking up saw me standing in the doorway he sprang to his feet his face turned by the i livid with fear and he thrust into his breast the like paper which he had been originally so said i this is how you repay the trust which we have in you you will leave my service to morrow he bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed and past me without a word the was still on the table and by its light i glanced to see what the paper was which had taken from the to my surprise it was nothing of any importance at all but simply a copy of the questions and answers in the singular old called the it is a sort of ceremony peculiar to our family which each for centuries past has gone through upon his coming of age â a thing of private interest and perhaps of some little importance to the like our own and charges but of no practical use whatever we had better come back to the paper afterwards said l by of if you think it really necessary he answered with some hesitation to continue my statement however i re locked the using the key which had left and i had turned to go when i was surprised to find that the butler had returned and was standing before me mr sir he cried in a voice which was hoarse with emotion i can t bear disgrace sir always been proud above my station in life and disgrace would kill me my blood will be on your head sir â it will indeed â if you drive me to despair if you cannot keep me after what has passed then for god s sake let me give you notice and leave in a month as if of my own free will i could stand that mr but

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not to be cast out before all the folk that i know so well â i you don t deserve much consideration i answered your conduct has been most infamous however as you have been a long time in the family i have no wish to bring public disgrace upon you a month however is too long take by the yourself away in a week and give what reason you like for going only a week sir he cried in a despairing voice a fortnight â say at least a fortnight a week i repeated and you may consider yourself to have been very dealt with he crept away his face sunk upon his breast like a broken man while i put out the light and returned to my room for two days after this was most in his attention to his duties i made no allusion to what had passed and waited with some curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace on the third morning however he did not appear as was his custom after breakfast to receive my instructions for the day as i left the dining room i happened to meet the maid i have told you that she had only recently recovered from an illness and was looking so pale and wan that i remonstrated with her for being at by t op you should be in bed i said come back to your duties when you are stronger she looked at me with so strange an expression that i began to suspect that her brain was affected i am strong enough mr said she we will see what the doctor says i answered you must stop work now and when you go downstairs just say that i wish to see the butler is gone said she gone gone where he is gone no one has seen him he is not in his room oh yes he is gone â he is gone she fell back against the wall with shriek after shriek of laughter while i at this sudden hysterical attack rushed to the bell to summon help the girl was taken to her room still and sobbing while i made inquiries about there was no doubt about it that he had disappeared his bed had not been slept in he had been seen by no one since he had retired to his room the night before and yet it was difficult to see how he could have left the house as both windows by the and doors were found to be fastened in the morning his clothes his watch and even his money were in his room â but the black suit which he usually wore was missing his slippers too were gone but his boots were left behind where then could butler have gone in the night and what could have become of him now f course we searched the house and the but there was no trace of him it is as i have said a of an old building especially the original wing which is now practically but we every room and without the least sign of the missing man it was incredible to me that he could have gone away leaving all his property behind him and yet where could he be i called in the local police but without success rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn and the paths all round the house but in vain matters were in this state when a new development quite drew our attention away from the original mystery for two days had been so ill by l of sometimes sometimes hysterical that a nurse had been employed to sit up with her at night on the third night after s disappearance the nurse finding her patient sleeping nicely had dropped into a nap in the arm chair when she woke in the early morning to find the bed empty the window open and no signs of the invalid i was instantly aroused and with the two started off at once in search of the missing girl it was not difficult to tell the direction which she had taken for starting from under her window we could follow her foot marks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere where they vanished close to the gravel path which leads out of the grounds the lake there is ft deep and you can imagine our feelings when we saw that the trail of the poor girl came to an end at the edge of it of course we had the at once and set to work to recover the remains but no trace of the body could we find on the other hand we brought to the surface an object of a unexpected kind it was a linen bag which contained within it a mass by the of old and metal and several dull coloured pieces of or glass this strange find was all that we could get from the mere and although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday we know nothing of the fate either of or richard the county police are at their wits end and i have come up to you as a last resource you can imagine with what eagerness i listened to this extraordinary of events and endeavoured to piece them together and to devise some common thread upon which they might all hang the butler was gone the maid was gone the maid had loved the butler but had afterwards had cause to hate him she was of blood fiery and passionate she had been terribly excited immediately after his disappearance she had flung into the lake a bag containing some curious contents these were all which had to be taken into consideration and yet none of them got quite to the heart of the matter what was the starting point by l op of this chain

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of events there lay the end of tliis tangled line i must see that paper said i which this butler of yours thought it his while to consult even at the risk of the loss of his place it is rather an absurd business this of ours he answered but it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it i have a copy of the questions and answers here if you care to run your eye over them he handed me the very paper which i have here and this is the strange to which each had to submit when he came to man s estate i will read you the questions and answers as they stand â whose was it his who is gone who shall have it he who will come what was the month the sixth from the first where was the sun by the i q over the oak where was the shadow under the elm how was it stepped north by ten and by ten east by five and by five south by two and by two west by one and by one and so under what shall we give for it all that is ours why should we give it for the sake of trust the original has no date but is in the of the middle of the century remarked i am afraid however that it can be of little help to you in this mystery at least said i it gives us another mystery and one which is even more interesting than the first it may be that the solution of the one may prove to be the solution of the other you will excuse me if i say that your butler appears to me to have been a very clever man and to have by of had a clearer insight than ten generations of his masters i hardly follow you said the paper seems to me to be of no practical importance but to me it seems immensely practical and i fancy that took the same view he had probably seen it before that night on which you caught him it is very possible we took no pains to hide it he simply wished i should imagine to refresh his memory upon that last occasion he had as i understand some sort of map or which he was comparing with the manuscript and which he thrust into his pocket when you appeared that is true but what could he have to do with this old family custom of ours and what does this mean â i don t think that we should ha e much difficulty in that said i with your permission we will take the first train down to by the and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the spot the same afternoon saw us both at possibly you have seen pictures and read descriptions of the famous old building so i will confine my account of it to saying that it is built in the shape of an l the long arm being the more modern portion and the shorter the ancient from which the other has developed over the low door in the centre of this old part is the date but are agreed that the beams and are really much older than this the thick walls and tiny windows of this part had in the last century driven the family into building the new wing and the old one was used now as a and a cellar when it was used at all a splendid park with fine old timber surrounded the house and the lake to which my had referred lay close to the avenue about two hundred yards from the building i was already firmly convinced that there were not three separate mysteries here but by of one only and that if i could read the aright i should hold in my hand the due which would lead me to the both the butler and the maid to that then i turned all my energies why should this servant be so anxious to master this old evidently because he saw something in it which had escaped all those generations of country and from which he expected some personal e what was it then and how had it affected his fate it was obvious to me on reading the that the must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document alluded and that if we could find that spot we should be in a fair way towards knowing what the secret was which the old had thought it necessary to in so curious a fashion there were two guides given us to start with an oak and an as to the oak there could be no question at all right in front of the house upon the left hand side of the drive there stood a among oaks one of the most magnificent trees that i have ever seen by the that was there when your was drawn up said i as we drove past it it was there at the conquest in all probability he answered it has a of ft here was one of my fixed points secured have you any old elms i asked there used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck by lightning ten years ago and we cut down the stump you can sec where it used to be â h yes there are no other elms no old ones but plenty of i should like to see where it grew we had driven up in a dog cart and my led me away at once without our entering the house to the on the lawn where the elm had stood it was nearly between the oak and the house my seemed to be i suppose it is impossible to find out how high the

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elm was i asked i can give you it at once it was ft by of how do you come to know it i asked in surprise when my old used to give me an exercise in it always took the shape of measuring heights when i was a lad i worked out every tree and building on the estate this was an unexpected piece of luck my were coming more quickly than i could have reasonably hoped tell me i asked did your butler ever ask you such a question looked at me in astonishment now that you call it to my mind he answered did ask me about the height of the tree some months ago in connection with some little argument with the groom this was excellent news for it showed me that i was on the right road i looked up at the sun it was low in the heavens and i calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the branches of the old oak one condition mentioned in the would then be fulfilled by and the shadow of the elm must mean the further end of the shadow otherwise the trunk would have been chosen as the guide i had then to find where the far end of the shadow would fall when the sun was just clear of the oak that must have been difficult when the elm was no longer there well at t i knew that if could do it i could also besides there was no real difficulty i went with to his study and myself this to which i tied this long string with a knot at each yard then i took two of a fishing rod which came to just six feet and i went back with to where the elm had been the sun was just the top of the oak i fastened the rod on end marked out the direction of the shadow and measured it it was in length of course the calculation now was a simple one if a rod of ft threw a shadow of ft a tree of ft would throw one of ft and the line of one would of course be the line of the other i of i by of measured out the distance which brought me almost to the wall of the house and i thrust a into the spot you can imagine my exultation when within in of my i saw a depression in the ground i knew that it was the mark made by in his and that i was still upon his trail from this starting point i proceeded to step having first taken the cardinal points by my et compass ten steps with each foot took me along parallel with the wall of the house and again i marked my spot with a then i carefully paced oflf five to the east and two to the south it brought me to the very threshold of the old door two steps to the west meant now that i was to go two paces down the stone passage and this was the place indicated by the never have t felt such a cold chill of disappointment for a moment it seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake in my calculations the setting sun shone full upon the passage floor and i could see that the old by the worn grey stones with which it was paved were firmly together and had certainly not been moved for many a long year had not been at work here i tapped upon the floor but it sounded the same all over and there was no sign of any crack or but fortunately mu grave who had begun to appreciate the meaning of my proceedings and who was now as excited as myself took out his manuscript to check my calculations and under he cried you have omitted the and under i had thought that it meant that we were to dig but now of course i saw at once that i was wrong there is a cellar under this then i cried yes and as old as the house down here through this door we went down a winding stone st and my companion striking a match lit a large which stood on a barrel in the corner in an instant it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true place and that we had not been the only people to visit the spot recently is by of it had been used for the of wood but the which had evidently been over the floor were now piled at the sides so as to leave a clear space in the middle in this space lay a large and heavy with a iron ring in the centre to which a thick shepherd s check was attached by jove cried my that s s i have seen it on him could swear to it what has the villain been doing here at my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned to be present and i then endeavoured to raise the stone by pulling on the i could only move it slightly and it was with the aid of one of the that i succeeded at last in carrying it to one side a black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered while kneeling at the side pushed down the lantern a small chamber about ft deep and square lay open to us at one side of this was a brass bound wooden box the lid of which was upwards with this curious old fashioned key by the projecting from the lock it was outside by a thick of dust and damp and worms had eaten through the wood so that a crop of livid was growing on the inside of it several of metal â old apparently â

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such as i hold here were scattered over the bottom of the box but it contained nothing else at that moment however we had no thought for the old chest for our ey s were upon that which crouched beside it it was the figure of a man clad in si suit of black who down upon his with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two arms thrown out on each side of it the attitude had drawn all the blood to his face and no man could have recognised that distorted liver coloured countenance but his height his dress and his hair were all sufficient to show my when we had drawn the body up that it was indeed his missing butler he had been dead some days but there was no wound or upon his person to show how he had met his dreadful end when his body had been carried from the by of cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was almost as formidable as that with which we had started i confess that so far i had been disappointed in my investigation i had reckoned the matter when once i had found the place referred to in the but now i was there and was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the family had concealed with such elaborate precautions it is true that i had thrown a light upon the fate of but now i had to ascertain how that fate had come upon him and what part had been played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared i sat down upon a in the comer and thought the whole matter carefully over you know my methods in such cases i put myself in the man s place and having first his intelligence i try to imagine how i should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances in this case the matter was by s intelligence being quite first rate so tha t by the t it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal as the have it he knew that something valuable was concealed he had spotted the place he found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move what would he do next he could not get help from outside even if he had whom he could trust without the of doors and considerable risk of detection it was better if he could to have his inside the house but whom could he ask this girl had been devoted to him a man always finds it hard to that he may have finally lost a woman s love however badly he may have treated her he would try by a few attentions to make his peace with the girl and then would engage her as his together they would come at night to the cellar and their united force would suffice to raise the stone so far i could follow their actions as if i had actually seen them but for two of them and one a it must have been heavy work the raising of that stone by of houses a policeman and i had found it no light job what would they do to assist them probably what i should have done myself i rose and examined carefully the different of wood which were scattered round the floor almost at once i came upon what i expected one piece about ft in length had a marked at one end while several were at the sides a if they had been compressed by some weight evidently as they had dragged the stone up they had thrust the of wood into the until at last when the opening was large enough to crawl through they would hold it open by a placed which might very well become at the lower end since the whole weight of the stone would press it down oh to the edge of the other so far i was still on safe ground and now how was i to proceed to this midnight drama clearly only one could get into the hole and that one was the girl must have waited above then unlocked the box handed up the contents â by the since they were not to be found â and then â and then what happened what of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate woman s soul when she saw the man who had wronged her â wronged her perhaps far more than we suspected â in her power was it a chance that the wood had slipped and that the stone had shut into what had become his had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate or had some sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the crashing down into its place be that as it might i seemed to see that woman s figure still clutching at her treasure and flying wildly up the winding stair with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams from behind her and with the of hands against the of stone which was choking her lover s life out here was the secret of her face her shaken nerves her of hysterical laughter on the next morning but what had been in the box by or what had she done with that of course it must have been the old metal and pebbles which my had dragged from the mere she had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the last trace of her crime for twenty minutes i bad sat motionless thinking the out still stood with a very pale face swinging his lantern and peering down into the hole these are oi charles l said he out the few which had been left in the box you see we were

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right in fixing our date for the we may find something else of charles l i cried as the probable meaning of the first two questions of ke broke suddenly upon me let me see the contents of the bag you firom the mere we ascended to his study and he laid the before me i could understand his regarding it as of when i looked at it for the metal was almost black and the stones and dull i rubbed one of them on my sleeve by the however and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand the metal work was in the form of a double ring but it had been bent and twisted out of its original shape â â you must bear in mind said i that the royal party made head in england even after the death of the king and that when they at last fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions buried behind them with the intention of returning for them in more peaceful times my sir was a prominent and the right hand man of charles il in his wanderings said my friend â ah indeed i answered now i think that really should give us the last that we wanted i must congratulate you on coming into possession though in rather a tragic manner of a which is of great value but even of greater importance as an historical curiosity what is it then he in astonishment it is nothing less than the ancient crown of the kings of england by of the crown precisely what the how does it run whose was it his who is gone that was after the execution of charles then who shall have it he who will come that was charles n whose advent was already foreseen there can i think be no doubt that this battered and once encircled the brows of the royal and how came it in the pond ah that is a question which will take some time to answer and with that i out the whole long chain of and of proof which i had constructed the twilight had closed in and the moon was shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was finished and how was it then that charles did not get his crown when he returned asked pushing back the into its linen bag ah there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall probably never be able to clear up it is likely that the who by the held the secret died in the interval a nd by some left this guide to his without explaining the meaning of it from that day to this it has been handed down from father to son until at last it came within reach of a man who tore its secret out of it and lost his life in the venture and that s the story of the they have the crown down at â though they had some legal bother and a considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it i am sure that if you mentioned my name they would be happy to show it to you of the woman nothing was ever heard and the probability is that she got away out of england and carried herself and the memory of her crime to some land beyond the seas by by the by by the it was some time before the health of my friend mr from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the spring of the whole question of the company and of the colossal schemes of baron is too recent in the minds of the public and too intimately concerned with politics and to be a fitting subject for this series of sketches it led however in an fashion to a singular and complex problem which gave my friend an opportunity of the v a fresh weapon among the many with his life long battle against crime on referring to my notes i see that it on the th of april that i received a from which informed me that was lying m l by of ill in the hotel within twenty four hours i was in his sick room and was relieved to find that there was nothing formidable in his symptoms his iron constitution however had broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended over two months during which period he had never worked less than fifteen hours a day and had more than once as he assured me kept to his task for five days at a stretch the triumphant issue of his labours could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion and at a time when europe was with his name and when his room was literally ankle deep with i found him a prey to the depression even the knowledge that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed and that he had out at every point the most in europe was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous three days later we were back in baker street together but it was evident that my friend would be much the better for a change and the thought by the â of a week of spring time in the country was full of attractions to me also my old friend colonel who had come under my professional care in had now taken a house near in and had frequently asked me to come down to him upon a visit on the last occasion he had remarked that if my friend would only come with me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to him also a little was needed but when understood that the establishment was a bachelor one and that he would be allowed the fullest freedom he fell in with

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my plans and a week after our return from we were under the colonel s roof a fine old soldier who had seen much of the world and he soon found as i had expected that and he had plenty in common on the evening of our arrival we were sitting in the colonel s gun room after dinner stretched upon the sofa while and i looked over his little of fire arms by the way said he suddenly fu take one by of f these pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm said l yes we ve had a scare in this part lately old who is one of our county had his house broken into last monday no great damage done but the fellows are still at large no clue asked his eye at the colonel none as yet but the affair is a petty one one of our little country crimes which must seem too small for your attention mr after this great affair waved away the compliment though his smile showed that it had pleased him was there any feature of interest i fancy not the thieves the library and got very little for their pains the whole place was turned down drawers burst open and presses with the result that an odd volume of pope s two by the an ivory letter weight a small oak and a ball of are all that have vanished what an extraordinary i exclaimed oh the fellows evidently hold of anything they could get from the sofa the county police ought to make something of that said he why it is surely obvious that but i held up a warning finger you are here for a rest dear fellow for heaven s sake don t get started on a new problem when your nerves are all in shrugged his shoulders with a glance of comic resignation towards the colonel and the talk drifted away into less dangerous channels it was destined however that all my professional caution should be wasted for next morning the problem itself upon us in such a way that it was impossible to it and our country visit took a turn which neither of us could have anticipated we were at breakfast when the colonel s by op butler rushed in with all his propriety shaken out of him have you heard the news sir he gasped at the cried the colonel with his coffee cup in mid air murder the colonel whistled by jove said he who s killed then the j p or his son neither sir it was william the coachman shot through the heart sir and never spoke again who shot him then the sir he was off like a shot and got clean away he d just broke in at the window when william came on him and met his end in saving his master s property what time it was last night sir somewhere about twelve ah then we ll step over presently said the colonel coolly settling down to his breakfast again it s a business he added when the butler had gone he s our leading squire about here is by the old and a very decent fellow too he ll be cut up over this for the man has been in his service for years aiid was a good servant it s evidently the same who broke into s and stole that very singular collection said thoughtfully precisely hum it may prove the simplest matter in the world b t all the same at first glance this is just a little curious is it not a gang of acting in the country might be expected to vary the scene of then operations and not to crack two in the same district within a few days when you spoke last night of taking precautions i remember that it passed through my mind that this was probably the last parish in england to which the thief or thieves would be likely to turn their attention which shows that i have still much to learn i fancy it s some local said the colonel in that case of course s and s are just the places he would go for since they are far the largest about here by of and richest well they ought to be but they ve had a for some years which has sucked the blood out of both of them i fancy old has some claim on half s estate and the lawyers have been at it with both hands if it s a local villain there should not be much difficulty in running him down said with a all right i don t intend to sir said the butler throwing open the door the official a smart keen faced young fellow stepped into the room good morning colonel said he i hope i don t intrude but we hear that mr of baker street is here the colonel waved his hand towards my friend and the bowed we thought that perhaps you would care to step across mr the are against you said he laughing we were about the matter when you came in perhaps you can let by the s us have a few details as he leaned back in his chair in the familiar attitude i knew that the case was hopeless we had no due in the affair but here we have plenty to go on and there s no doubt it is the same party in each case the man was seen yes sir but he was oflf like a deer after the shot that killed poor william was fired mr saw him from the bedroom window and mr saw him from the back passage it was a quarter to twelve when the alarm broke out mr had just got into bed and was smoking a pipe in his they both heard william the coachman calling

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for help and he ran down to see what was the matter the back door was open and as he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men together outside one of them fired a shot the other dropped and the murderer rushed across the garden and over the hedge mr looking out of his bedroom window saw by op the fellow as he gained the road but lost sight of at once stopped to see if he could help the dying man and so the villain got clean away beyond the fact that he was a man and dressed in some dark we have no personal clue but we are making energetic inquiries and if he is a stranger we shall soon find him out what was this william there did he say anything before he died not a word he lives at the lodge with his mother and as he was a very faithful fellow we imagine that he walked up to the house with the intention of seeing that all was right there of course this business has put on their guard the robber must have just open the door â the lock has been forced â when came upon him did william say anything to his mother before going out she is very old and deaf and we can get no information from her the shock has made her half but i understand that she was never by the very bright there is one v ry important circumstance however look at this he took a small piece of torn paper from a note book and spread it out upon his knee this was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man it appears to be a fragment torn from a larger sheet you will observe that the hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor fellow met his fate you see that his murderer might have torn the rest of the sheet from him or he might have taken this fragment from the murderer it reads almost as though it was an appointment took up the scrap of paper a of which is here that it is an appointment continued the it is of course a conceivable theory that this william although he had the re by i of of being an honest man may have been in league with the thief he may have met him there may even have helped him to break in the door and then they may have fallen out between themselves this writing is of extraordinary interest said who had been examining it with intense these are much deeper waters than i had thought he sank his head upon his hands while the smiled at the effect which his case had had upon the famous london your last remark said presently as to the possibility of there being an understanding between the and the servant and this a note of appointment from one to the other is an ingenious and not entirely an impossible supposition but this writing opens up he sank his head into his hands again and remained for some minutes in the deepest thought when he raised his face i was surprised to see that his cheek was tinged with colour and his eyes as bright as before his illness he sprang to his feet with all his old energy by the tell you what said he i should like to have a quiet little glance into the details of this case there is something in it which me extremely if you will permit me colonel i will leave my friend and you and i will step round with the to test the truth of one or two little fancies of mine i will be with you again in half an hour an hour and a half had elapsed before the returned alone mr is walking up and down in the field outside said he he wants us all four to go up to the house together to mr s yes sir what for the shrugged his shoulders i don t quite know sir between ourselves i think mr has not quite got over his illness yet he s been very and he is very much excited i don t think you need alarm yourself said i by of i have usually found that there was method in his madness some folk might say there was madness in his method muttered the but he s all on fire to start colonel so we had best go out if you are ready we found pacing up and down in the field his chin sunk upon his breast and his hands thrust into his pockets the matter grows in interest said he your country trip has been a distinct success i have had a charming morning you have been up to scene of the crime i understand said the colonel yes the and i have made quite a little together any success well we have seen some very interesting things i ll tell you what we did as we walk first of all we saw the body of this unfortunate man he certainly died from a revolver wound as reported had you doubted it then by the h it is as well to test ever our inspection was not wasted we then had an interview with mr and his son who were able to point out the exact spot where the murderer had broken through the garden hedge in his flight that was of great interest naturally then we had a look at this poor fellow s mother we could get no information from her however as she is very old and feeble and what is the result of your the conviction that the crime is a very peculiar one perhaps our visit now may do something to make it less obscure i think that we are both agreed that

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the fragment of paper in the dead man s hand bearing as it does the very hour of his death written upon it is of extreme importance it should give a clue mr it does g ve a clue whoever wrote that note was the man who brought william out of his bed at that hour but where is the rest of th t sheet of paper by of i the ground carefully in the hope of finding it said the it was torn out of the dead man s hand why was so anxious to get possession of it because it him and what would he do with it thrust it into his pocket most likely never noticing that a corner of it had been left in the grip of the corpse if we could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have gone a long way towards the mystery yes but how can we get at the criminal s pocket before we catch the criminal well well it was worth thinking over then there is another obvious the note was sent to the man who wrote it could not have taken it otherwise of course he might have delivered his own message by word of mouth who brought the note then or did it come through the post i have made inquiries said the william received a letter by the afternoon post yesterday the envelope was destroyed by him excellent cried the by the on the back you ve seen the it is a pleasure to work with you well here is the lodge and if you will come up colonel i will show you the scene of the crime we passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived and walked up an oak lined avenue to the fine old queen anne house which bears the date of upon the of the door and the led us round it until we came to the side gate which is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the road a was standing at the kitchen door throw the door open officer said now it was on those stairs that young mr stood and saw the two men struggling just where we are old mr was at that window â the second on the left â and he saw the fellow get away just to the left of that bush so did the son they are both sure of it on account of the bush then ran out and knelt beside the wounded man the ground is very hard you see and there are no marks to guide us of by of as he spoke two men came down the garden path from round the angle of the house the one was an elderly man with a strong deep lined face the other a dashing young fellow whose bright smiling expression and dress were in strange contrast with the business which had brought us there still at it then said he to i thought you were never at fault you don t seem to be so very quick after all ah you must give us a little time said good you ll want it said young why i don t see that we have any clue at all there s only one answered the we thought that if we could only find good heavens mr what is the matter my poor friend s face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful expression his eyes rolled upwards his features in agony and with a suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground at the suddenness and severity by the of tlie attack we carried him into the kitchen where he lay back in a large chair and breathed heavily for some minutes finally with a shame faced apology for his weakness he rose once more would tell you that i have only just recovered from a severe illness he explained i am liable to these sudden nervous attacks shall i send you home in my trap asked old well since i am here there is one point on which i should like to feel sure we can very easily it what is it well it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of this poor fellow william was not before but after the entrance of the into the house you appear to take it for granted that although the door was forced the robber never got in i fancy that is quite obvious said mr gravely why my son had not yet gone to bed and he would certainly have heard anyone moving about by of where was he sitting i was sitting smoking in my dressing which window is that the last on the left next my father s both your lamps were lit of course undoubtedly there are some very points here said smiling is it not extraordinary that a â and a who had had some previous experience â should deliberately break into a house at a time when he could see from the lights that two of the family were still he must have been a cool hand well of course if the case were not an odd one we should not have been driven to ask you for an explanation said but as to your idea that t ie man had robbed the house before william him i think it a most absurd notion shouldn t we have found the place and missed the things which he had taken it depends on what the things were said you must remember that we are dealing by the with a who is a very peculiar fellow and who appears to work on lines of his own look for example at the queer lot of things which he took from s â what was it â a ball of string a and i don

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t know what other odds and ends well we are quite in your hands said old anything which you or the may suggest will most certainly be done la the first place said i should like you to offer a reward â coming from yourself for the officials may take a little time before they would agree upon the sum and these things cannot be done too promptly i have down the form here if you would not mind it fifty pounds was quite enough i thought i would willingly give five hundred said the j p taking the slip of paper and the pencil which handed to him this is not quite correct however he added glancing over the document i wrote it rather hurriedly you see you begin whereas at about a quarter to one on tuesday morning an attempt was made by of â and so on it was at a quarter to twelve as a matter of fact i was pained at the mistake for i knew how keenly would feel any slip of the kind jt was his to be accurate as to fact but his recent illness had shaken him and this one little incident was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself he was obviously embarrassed for an instant while the raised his eyebrows and burst into a laugh the old gentleman corrected the mistake however and handed the paper back to get it printed as soon as possible he said i think your idea is an excellent one put the slip of paper carefully away in his pocket book and now said he it would really be a good thing that we should all go over the house together and make certain that this rather did not after all carry an away with before entering made an examination of the door which had been forced it was by the j that a or strong knife had been thrust in and the lock forced back with it we could see the marks in the wood where it had been pushed in you don t use bars then he asked we have never found it necessary you don t keep a dog yes but he is chained on the other side of the house when do the servants go to bed about ten i understand that william was usually in bed also at that hour yes it is singular that on this particular night he should have been up now i should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show us over the house mr a stone passage with the away from it led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house it came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental stair which led up from the front hall out of this land by of ing opened the drawing room and several including those of mr and his son walked slowly taking keen note of the architecture of the house i could tell from his expression that he was on a hot scent and yet i could not in the least imagine in what direction his were leading him my good sir said mr with some impatience this is surely very unnecessary that is my room at the end of the stairs and my son s is the one beyond it i leave it to your judgment whether it was possible for the thief to have come up here without disturbing us you must try round and get on a fresh scent i fancy said the son with a rather malicious smile still i must ask you to humour me a little further i should like for example to see how far the windows of the command the front this i understand is your son s room â he pushed open the door â and that i presume is the in which he sat smoking when the alarm was given where does the window of that look out to by the he stepped across the bedroom pushed open the door and glanced round the other chamber i hope you are satisfied now said mr thank you i think i have seen all that i wished then if it is really necessary we can go into my room if it is not oo much trouble the j p shrugged his shoulders and led the way into his own chamber which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room as we moved across it in the direction of the window fell back until he and i were the last of the group near the foot of the bed was a small square table on which stood a dish of and a of water as we passed it to my unutterable astonishment leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over the glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every comer of the room youve done it now said he coolly a pretty mess youve made of the carpet by op i stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit understanding that for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon myself the others did the same and set the table on its legs again cried the where s he got to had disappeared wait here an instant said young the fellow is off his head in my opinion come with me father and see where he has got they rushed out of the room leaving the the colonel and me staring at each other ton my word i am inclined to agree with said the official it may be the effect of this illness but it seems to me that his words were cut short by a sudden scream of help help murder with a thrill i recognised the voice as that of my friend i rushed

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madly from the room on to the landing the cries which had sunk down into a hoarse inarticulate shouting came by the from the room which we had first visited i dashed in and on into the dressing room beyond the two were bending over the prostrate figure of the younger clutching his throat with both hands while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists in an instant the three of us had torn them away from him and staggered to his feet very pale and evidently greatly exhausted arrest these men he gasped what charge that of their coachman william the stared about him in bewilderment oh come now mr said he at last i am sure you don t really mean to tut man look at their faces cried never certainly have i seen a confession of guilt upon human countenances the older man seemed and dazed with a heavy sullen expression upon his strongly marked face the son on the other hand had dropped all that by of dashing style which had him and tlie ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features the said nothing but stepping to the door he blew his whistle two of his came at the call have no alternative mr said he i trust that this may all prove to be an absurd mistake but you can see that ah would you drop he struck out with his hand and a revolver which the younger man was in the act of down upon the floor keep that said quickly putting his foot upon it you will find it useful at the trial but this is what we really wanted he held up a little piece of paper the remainder of the sheet cried the precisely and where was it where i was sure it must be til make the whole matter clear to you presently i think colonel that you and might return now and i will be with you again in an hour at the the by the and i must have a word with the prisoners but you will certainly see me back at time was as good as his word for about one o clock he rejoined us in the colonel s smoking room he was accompanied by a little elderly gentleman who was introduced to me as the mr whose house had been the scene of the original i wished mr to be present while i this small matter to you said for it is natural that he should take a keen interest in the details i am afraid my dear colonel that you must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy as i am on the contrary answered the colonel warmly i consider it the greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of working i confess that they quite my expectations and that i am utterly unable to account for your result i have not yet seen the of a clue i am afraid that my explanation may dis you but it has always been my habit to by of hide none of my methods either from my friend or from anyone who might take an intelligent interest in them but first as i am rather shaken by the knocking about which i in the dressing room i think that i shall help myself to a dash of your brandy colonel my strength has been rather tried of late i trust you had no more of these nervous attacks laughed heartily we will come to that in its turn said he i will lay an account of the case before you in its due order showing you the various points which guided me in my decision interrupt me if there is any which is not perfectly clear to you it is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize out of a number of facts which are and which are vital otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated now in this case there was not the slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the key of the whole matter must be looked for in tb scrap of paper in the de d man s hand by the j before going into this i would draw your attention to the fact that if s narrative were correct and if the after shooting william had instantly fled then it obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man s hand but if it was not he it must have been himself for by the time that the old man had descended several servants were upon the scene the point is a simple one but the had overlooked it because he had started with the supposition that these county had had nothing to do with the matter now i make a point of never having any prejudices and of following wherever fact may lead me and so in the very first stage of the investigation i found myself looking a little at the part which had been played by mr and now i made a very careful examination of the comer of paper which the had submitted to us it was at once clear to me that it formed part of a very remarkable document here it is do you not observe something very suggestive about it by of it has a very irregular look said the colonel my dear sir cried there cannot be the least doubt in the world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words when i draw your attention to the strong t s of at and to and ask you to compare them with the weak ones of quarter and twelve you will instantly recognise the fact a very brief analysis of those four words would

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enable you to say with the utmost confidence that the and the maybe are written in the stronger hand and the what in the weaker by jove it s as dear as day cried the colonel why on earth should two men write a letter in such a fashion obviously the business was a bad one and one of the men who the other was determined that whatever was done each should have an equal hand in it now of the two men it is dear that the one who wrote the at and to was the ring leader how do you get at that we it from the mere character of the one hand as compared with the other but by the we have more assured reasons than that for supposing it if you examine this scrap with attention you will come to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all his words first leaving for the other to fill up these were not always sufficient and you can see that the second man had a squeeze to fit his quarter in between the at and the to showing that the latter were already written the man who wrote all his words first is undoubtedly the man who planned this affair excellent cried mr but very superficial said we come now however to a point which is of importance you may not be aware that the of a mail s age from his writing is one which has been brought to considerable accuracy by in normal cases one can place a man in his true with tolerable confidence i say normal cases because ill health and physical weakness the signs of old age even when the invalid is a youth in this case looking at the bold strong of by of of the one and the rather broken backed ap of the other which still its although the t s have begun to lose their we can say that the one was a young man and the other was advanced in years without being positively excellent cried mr again there is a further point however which is and of greater interest there is something in common between these hands they belong to men who are blood relatives it may be most obvious to you in the greek e s but to me there are many small points which indicate the same thing i have no doubt at all that a family can be traced in these two specimens of writing i am only of course giving you the leading results now of my examination of the paper there were twenty three other which would be of more interest to than to you they all tended to the impression upon my mind that the father and son had written this letter having got so far my next step was of course by the to examine into the details of the crime and to see how far they would help us i went up to the house with the and saw all that was to be seen the wound upon the dead man was as i was able to determine with absolute confidence caused by a shot from a revolver fired at the distance of something over four yards there was no on the clothes evidently therefore had lied when he said that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired again both father and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the road at that point however as it happens there is a ditch moist at the bottom as there were no indications of boot marks about this ditch i was absolutely sure not only that the had again lied but that there had never been any unknown man upon the scene at all and now i had to consider the motive of this crime to get at this i endeavoured first of all to solve the reason of the original at mr s i understood from something which by of the colonel told us that a law suit had been going on between you mr and the of course it instantly occurred to me that they had broken into your library with the intention of getting at some document which might be of importance in the case precisely so said mr there can be no possible doubt as to their intentions i have the claim upon half their present estate and if they could have found a single paper â which fortunately was in the strong box of my â they would undoubtedly have crippled our case there you are said smiling it was a dangerous reckless attempt in which i seem to trace the influence of young having found nothing they tried to divert suspicion by making it appear to be an ordinary to which end they carried off whatever they could lay their hands upon that is all dear enough but there was much that was still obscure what i wanted above all was to get the missing part of that note i was certain that had torn it out of the dead man s hand and almost certain that he must have thrust it into the pocket of his dressing gown where else could by the lie have put it the only question was whether it was still there it was worth an effort to find out and for that object we all went up to the house the joined us as you doubtless remember outside the kitchen door it was of course of the very first importance that they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper otherwise they would naturally destroy it without delay the was about to tell them the importance which we attached to it when by the chance in the world i tumbled down in a sort of fit and so changed the conversation good heavens cried the colonel laughing

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â â do you mean to say all our s was wasted and your fit an speaking it was admirably done cried i looking in amazement at this man who was for ever me with some new phase of his it is an art which is often useful said he when i recovered i managed by a device which had perhaps some little merit of ingenuity to get old to write the word twelve so that i might compare it with the twelve upon the paper by of what an â s i have been i see that you were with me over my weakness said i was to cause you the pain which i know that you felt we then went upstairs together and having entered the room and seen the dressing gown hanging up behind the door i con by a to engage their attention for the moment and slipped back to examine thâ pockets i had hardly got the er however which was as i had expected in one of them when the two were on me and would i verily believe have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and friendly aid as it is i feel that young man s grip on my throat now and the father has twisted my wrist md in the effort to get the paper out of my hand they saw that i must know all about it you and sudden change from absolute security to complete despair made them perfectly desperate i had a little talk with old afterwards as to the motive of the crime he was enough though his son was a perfect demon ready to blow out his own or anybody else s by the brains if he could have got to his revolver when saw that the case against him was so strong he lost all heart and made a clean breast of everything it seems that william had secretly followed his two masters on the night when they made their upon mr s and having thus got them into his power proceeded under of exposure to upon them however was a dangerous man to play games of that sort with it was a stroke of positive genius on his part to see in the scare which was the country side an opportunity of getting rid of the man whom he feared william was up and shot and had they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention to detail in their it is very possible that suspicion might never have been aroused and the note i asked placed the paper before us it is very much the sort of thing that i expected said he of course we do not yet know what the relations may have been between by o op william and the result shows that the trap was i am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of shown in the p s and in the tails of the g s the absence of the i in the old man s writing is also most characteristic i think our quiet rest in the country has been a distinct success and i shall certainly return much to baker street to morrow end of vou l f office of the by the of by a author of the adventures of etc edition in two volumes vol h by e library â from te of by contents of volume il the crooked man the resident patient the greek the naval treaty the final problem by by the crooked man by by the crooked man one summer night a few months after my marriage i was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel for my day s work had been an one my wife had already gone upstairs and the sound of the of the hall door some time before told me that the servants had also retired i had risen from my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when i suddenly heard the of the bell i looked at the clock it was a quarter to twelve this could not be a visitor at so late an hour a patient evidently and possibly an all night sitting with a face i went out into the hall by of and opened the door to my astonishment it was who stood upon my step ah said he i hoped that i might not be too late to catch you my dear fellow pray come in you looked surprised and no wonder relieved too i fancy hum you still smoke the mixture of your bachelor days then there s no that ash upon your coat it s easy to tell that you ve been accustomed to wear a uniform you ll never pass as a pure bred as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve could you put me up to night with pleasure you told me that you had bachelor quarters for one and i see that you have no gentleman visitor at present your hat stand as much i shall be delighted if you will stay thank you til fill a vacant th en sorry by crooked man ii to see that you ve had the british workman in the house he s a token of evil not the i hope no the gas ah he has left two nail marks from his boot upon your just where the light strikes it no thank you i had some supper at but ru smoke a pipe with you with pleasure i handed him my and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence i was well aware that nothing but business of importance could have brought him to me at such an hour so i waited patiently until he should come round to

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it i see that you are rather busy just now said he glancing very keenly across at me yes i ve had a busy day i answered it may seem very foolish in your eyes i added but really i don t know how you it chuckled to himself by of i have the advantage of knowing your habits my dear said he when your round is s short one you walk and when it is a long one you use a as i perceive that your boots although used are by no means dirty i cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the excellent i said he it is one of those instances where the can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the the same may be said my dear fellow for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours which is entirely depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some in the problem which are never imparted to the reader now at present i am in the position of these same readers for i hold in this hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man s brain and yet i lack the one or two which are needful to complete my by the crooked man theory but til have them fu have them his eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks for an instant the veil had lifted upon his keen intense nature but for an instant only when i glanced again his face had resumed that red indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man the problem present features of interest said he i may even say very exceptional features of interest i have already looked into the matter and have come as i think within sight of my solution if you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable service to me i should be delighted could you go as far as to morrow i have no doubt would take my practice veiy good i want to start by the ii io from that would give me time then if you are not too sleepy i will give you by of a sketch of what has happened and of what remains to be done i was sleepy before you came i am quite now i will the story as far as may be done without anything vital to the case it is conceivable that you may even have read some account of the matter it is the supposed murder of colonel of the royal at which i am i have heard nothing of it it has not excited much attention yet except the facts are only two days old briefly they are these â the royal is as you know one of the most famous irish in the british army it did wonders both in the and the and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion it was commanded up to monday night by james a gallant started as full private was raised to com by the crooked man rank for his bravery at the time of the and so to command the regiment in which he had once carried a colonel had married at the time when he was a and his wife whose maiden name was miss was the daughter of a former colour in the same corps there was therefore as can be imagined some little social when the young couple for they were still young found themselves in their new surroundings they appear however to have quickly adapted themselves and mrs has always i understand been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers i may add that she was a woman of great beauty and that even now when she has been married for upwards of thirty years she is still of a striking appearance colonel s family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one major to whom i owe most of my facts mc that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between by of the pair on the whole he thinks that s devotion to his wife was greater than his wife s to he was uneasy if he were absent from her for a day she on the other hand though devoted and faithful was less affectionate but they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle aged couple there was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow colonel himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character he was a dashing jovial old soldier in his usual mood but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and this side of his nature however appears never to have been turned towards his wife another fact which had struck major and three out of five of the other officers with whom i conversed was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times as the major expressed it the smile had often been struck from his mouth as if by some invisible hand when he has been by the crooked joining in the and of the mess table for days on end when the mood was on him he had been sunk in the deepest gloom this and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual â traits in his character which his brother officers had observed the latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone especially after dark this feature in a nature which was manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture the first of

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the royal which is the old th has been stationed at for some years the married officers live out of and the colonel has during all this time occupied a villa called about half a mile from the north camp the house stands in its own grounds but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high road a coachman and two maids form the staff of servants these with their master and mistress were the sole occupants of for the had no children nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors of by ib of now for the events at between nine and ten on the evening of last monday mrs was it appears a member of die roman catholic church and had interested herself veiy much in the establishment of the of st george which was formed in connection with street chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast off clothing a meeting of the had been held that evening at eight and mrs had hurried over her dinner in order to be present at it when leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband and to assure him that she would be back before long she then called for miss a young lady who lives in the next villa and the two went off together to their meeting it lasted forty minutes and at a quarter past nine mrs returned home having left miss at her door as she passed there is a room which is used as a at this faces the road and opens by a large glass folding door on to the lawn the by the crooked man lawn i t y yards across and is only divided from the hi by a low wall with an iron rail above it k o this room that mrs went upon her return the blinds were not down for the room was seldom used in the evening but mrs herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell asking jane the to her a cup of tea which was quite contrary to her usual habits the colonel had been sitting in the but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the morning room the coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it he was never seen again alive the tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten minutes but the maid as she approached the door was surprised to hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious she knocked without receiving any answer and even turned the handle but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside naturally enough she ran down to tell the cook and the two women with the coachman came up into the hall by j o of and listened to the dispute which was still raging they all agree that only two voices were to be heard y those of and his wife s remarks were subdued and abrupt so that none of them were to the listeners the lady s on the other hand were most bitter and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard you coward she repeated over ar d over again what can be done now me back my life i will never so much as breathe the same ah as you you coward you those w ere scraps of her conversation ending in a dreadful cry ia the man s voice with a crash and a piercing scream from the woman convinced th t some tragedy had occurred the coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it while scream after scream issued from within he was unable however to make his way in and the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him a sudden thought struck him however and he ran through the hall door and round to the lawn upon which the french windows opened one side of the window by the crooked man was open which i understand was quite usual in the summer time and he passed without difficulty into the room his mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch while with his feet over the side of an arm chair and his head upon the ground near the comer of the was lying the unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood naturally the coachman s first thought on find that he could do nothing for his master was to open the door but here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself the key was not on the inner side of the door nor could he find it anywhere in the room he went out again therefore through the window and having obtained the help of a policeman and of a medical man he returned the lady against whom naturally the strongest rested was removed to her room still in a state of the colonel s body was then placed upon the sofa and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy by of the injury from which the unfortunate was suffering was found to be a ragged cut some two inches long at the back part of his head which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have upon the floor close to the body was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle the colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which he had fought and it is by the police that this club was among his the servants deny having seen it before but among the numerous in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked nothing else of

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importance was discovered in the room by the police save the inexplicable fact that neither upon mrs s person not upon that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to be found the door had eventually to be opened by a from that was the state of things when by the man upon the tuesday morning i at the request of major went down to to the efforts of the police i think you will acknowledge that the problem was already of but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much m m e extraordinary than would at first sight appear before examining the room i cross questioned the servants but only succeeded in the facts which i have already stated one other detail of interest was remembered by jane the maid you will remember that on healing the sound of the quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants on that when she was alone she says the voices of her master and mistress were sunk so low she could hear hardly anything and judged by their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out on my pressing her however e remembered that she heard the word david uttered twice by the lady the point is of the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden by of quarrel the colonel s name you remember was james there was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression both upon the servants and the police this was the of the colonel s face it had set according to their account into the most dreadful expression of feat and horror a human countenance is capable of assuming more than one person fainted at the mere sight of him so terrible was the effect it was quite certain that he had foreseen his fat and that it had caused him the utmost horror this of course fitted in well enough with the police theory if the colonel could have seen his wife making a attack upon him nor was the fact of the wound on the back of his head a fatal objection to this as he might have turned to avoid the blow no information could be got from the lady herself who was y insane from aa acute attack of brain fever from the police i learned that miss who you went put that evening with by the crooked man mrs denied having any knowledge of what it was which had caused the ill humour in which her companion had returned having gathered these facts i smoked several pipes over them trying to separate those which were from others which were merely there could be no question that the most and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of the door key a most careful search had failed to discover it in the room therefore it must have been taken from it but neither the colonel nor the colonel s wife could have taken it that was perfectly clear therefore a third person must have entered the room and that third person could only have come in through the window it seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual you know my methods there was not one of them which i did not apply to the inquiry and it ended by my discovering traces but very different ones from which i had ex by of there had been a man in the room and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road i was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his â one on the itself at the where he had climbed the low wall two on the lawn and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered he had apparently rushed across the lawn for his toe marks were much deeper than his heels but it was not the man who surprised me it was his companion his companion pulled a large sheet of paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee what do you make of that he asked the paper was covered with of the of some small animal it had five an indication of long nails and the whole print might be nearly as large as a spoon it s a dog said i by the crooked did ever you hear of a dog tip a curtain i found distinct that this creature had done so a monkey then but it is not the print of a monkey what can it be then neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with i have tried to it from the here are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless you see that it is no less than inches from fore foot to hind add to that the length of neck and head and you get a creature not much less than two feet long â probably more if there is any tail but now observe this other the animal has been moving and we have the length of its stride in each case it is only about three inches you have an indication you see of a long body with very short legs attached to it it has not been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it but its general by of shape must be what i have indicated and it can run up a curtain and is how do you that because it ran up the curtain a s cage was hanging in the window and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird then what was the beast ah if i could give it a name it might go a long way

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towards the case on the whole it was probably some creature of the or tribe â and yet it is larger than any of these that i have seen but what had it to do with the crime that also is still obscure but we have learned a good deal you perceive we know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel between the â the blinds were up and the room lighted we know also that he ran across the lawn entered the room accompanied by a strange animal and that he either struck the colonel or as is equally possible that the colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of him and cut his head by the crooked man g on the comer of the finally we have the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he left your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure than it was before said l quite so they undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than was at first i thought the matter over and i came to the conclusion that i must approach the case from another aspect but really i am keeping you up and i might just as well tell you all this on our way to to morrow thank you you ve gone rather too far to stop it was quite certain that when mrs left the house at half past seven she was on good terms with her husband she was never as i think i have said affectionate but she was heard by the coachman with the colonel in a friendly fashion now it was equally certain that immediately on her return she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see her by or had flown to tea as an woman will on his in to had broken into violent therefore had occurred between seven thirty and nine o clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him but miss had been with her during the whole of that hour and a half it was absolutely certain therefore in ite of her denial that she must know something of the matter my first conjecture was that possibly there had been some passages between this young woman and the old soldier which the former had now to the wife that would account for the angry return and also for the girl s denial that anything had occurred nor would it be entirely with most of the words overheard but there was the reference to david and there was the known affection of the colonel for his wife to weigh against it to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man which might of course be entirely with what had gone before it was not easy to pick one s steps but on by the crooked man the whole i was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the col and miss but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the due as to what it was which had turned mrs to hatred of her husband i took the obvious course therefore of calling upon miss of explaining to her that i was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession and of assuring her that her friend mrs might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up miss is a little ethereal slip of a girl with timid eyes and hair but i found her by no means wanting in and common she sat thinking for some time after i had spoken and then turning to me with a brisk air of resolution she broke into a remarkable statement which i will for your benefit i promised my friend that i would say nothing of the matter and a promise is a promise said she but if i can really help her when so serious by of a charge is made against her and when her own mouth poor darling is by illness then i think i am from my promise i will tell you exactly what happened on monday evening â we were returning from the street mission about a quarter to nine o clock on our way we had to pass through street which is a very quiet there is only one lamp in it upon the left hand side and as we approached this lamp i saw a man coming towards us with his back very bent and something like a box over one of his shoulders he appeared to be for he carried his head low and walked with his knees bent we were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the of light thrown by the lamp and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice my god if s mrs turned as white as death and would have fallen down had the dreadful looking creature not caught hold of her i was going to call for the police but she to my surprise spoke quite to the fellow by the crooked man i thought you had been dead this thirty years henry said she in a shaking voice so i have said he and it was awful to hear the tones that he said it in he had a very dark face and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams his hair and whiskers were shot with grey and his face was all and like a withered apple just walk on a little way dear said mrs l want to have a word with this man there is nothing to be afraid of she tried to speak boldly but she was still deadly pale and could hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips i did

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as she asked me and they talked together for a few minutes then she came down the street with her eyes blazing and i saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp post and shaking his clenched fists in the air as if he were mad with rage she never said a word until we were at the door here when she took me by the hand and begged me to tell no one what had happened it of ii by of is an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world said she when i promised her that i would say nothing she kissed me and i have never seen her since i have told you now the whole truth y and if i withheld it from the police it is because i did not realize then the danger in which my dear friend stood i know that it can only be to her advantage that everything should be known there was her statement and to me as you can imagine it was like a light on a dark night everything which had been before began at once to assume its true place and i had a shadowy of the whole of events my next step obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable upon mrs if he were still in it should not be a very difficult matter there are not such a very great number of and a man was sure to have attracted attention i spent a day in the search and by evening â this very evening i had run him by the crooked man down the man s name is henry wood and he lives in lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him he has only been five days in the place in the character of a agent i had a most interesting gossip with his landlady the man is by trade a and going round the after nightfall and giving a little entertainment at each he carries some creature about with him in his box about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable for she had never seen an animal like it he uses it in some of his tricks according to her account so much the woman was able to tell me and also that it was a wonder the man lived seeing how twisted he was and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes and that for the last two nights she had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom he was all right as far as money went but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a bad she showed it to me and it was an indian so now my dear fellow you see exactly how by of we stand and why it is i want you it is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from this man he followed them at a distance that he saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window that he rushed in and that the creature which he carried in his box got loose that b all very certain but he is the only person in this world who can tell us exactly what happened in that room and you intend to ask him most certainly â but in the presence of a witness and am the witness if you will be so good if he can clear the matter up well and good if he refuses we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant but how do you know he will be there when we return you may be sure that i took some precautions i have one of my baker street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like a go where he might we shall find him in street to morrow and meanwhile i should by the crooked man be the criminal myself if i kept you out of bed any longer it was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy and under my companion s guidance we made our way at once to street in spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions i could easily see that was in a state of suppressed excitement while i was myself with that half sporting half intellectual pleasure which i invariably experienced when i associated myself with him in his this is the street said he as he turned into a short lined with plain two brick houses â ah here is to report he s in all right mr cried a small street running up to us good said patting him on the head come along this is the house he sent in his card with a message that ie had come on important business and a moment later we were face to face with the man whom we had come to see in spite of the warm weather he by of was crouching over a fire and the little room was like an oven the man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way which gave an indescribable impression of but the face which he turned towards us though worn and must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty he looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow shot eyes and without speaking or rising he waved towards two chairs mr henry wood late of india i believe said come over this little matter of colonel s death what should i know about that that s what i wanted to ascertain you know i suppose that unless the matter is cleared up mrs who is an old friend of yours will in all probability be tried for murder the man gave a violent start i don t know who you are he cried nor how you come to know what you do know but will

3Edith Wharton

you swear that this is true that you tell me by the crooked why they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her my are you in the police yourself no what business is it of yours then it s every man s business to see justice done you can take my word that she is innocent then you are guilty no i am not who killed colonel james then it was a just providence that killed him but mind you this that if i had knocked his brains out as it was in my heart to do he would have had no more than his due from my hands if his own guilty conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that i might have had his blood upon my soul you want me to tell the story well i don t know why i shouldn t for there s no cause for me to be ashamed of iu it was in this way sir you see me now with my back like a and my ribs all but there was a time when henry wood was by of the man in the th foot we were in india then in at a place we ll call who died the other day was in the same company as myself and the of the regiment â aye and the finest girl that ever had the breath of life between her lips â was the daughter of the colour there were two men who loved her and one whom she loved and you ll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me well though i had her heart her father was set upon her marrying i was a reckless lad and he had had an education and was already marked for the sword belt but the girl held true to me and it seemed that i would have had her when the broke out and all hell was loose in the country we were shut up in the regiment of us with half a battery of a company of and a lot of and women folk there by the crooked man were ten thousand round us and they were as keen as a set of round a rat cage about the second week of it our water gave out and it was a question whether we could communicate with general s column which was moving up country it was our only chance for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the women and children so i volunteered to go out and warn general of our danger my offer was accepted and i talked it over with who was supposed to know the ground better than any other man and who drew up a route by which i might get through the rebel lines at ten o clock the same night i started off upon my journey there were a thousand lives to save but it was of only one that i was thinking when i dropped over the wall that night â my way ran down a dried up which we hoped would screen me from the enemy s but as i crept round the comer of it i walked right into six of them who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me in an instant i was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot by or but the real blow was to my heart and not to my head for as i came to and listened to as much as i could understand of their talk i heard enough to tell me that my comrade the very man who had arranged the way that i was to take had betrayed me by means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy well there s no need for me to dwell on that part of it you know now what james was capable of was relieved by next day but the took me away with them in their retreat and it was many a long year before ever i saw a white face again i was tortured and tried to get away and was captured and tortured again you can see for yourselves the state in which i was some of them that fled into took me with them and then afterwards i was up past the hill folk up there murdered the who had me and i became their slave for a time until i escaped but instead of going south i had to go north until i found myself among the there i wandered about for many a year and at by crooked man came back to the where i lived mostly among the natives and picked up a living by the tricks that i had learned what use was it for me sl wretched to go back to england or to make myself known to my old comrades even my wish for revenge would not make me do that i had rather that and my old should think of harry wood as died with a straight back than see him living and crawling with a stick like a they never doubted that i was dead and i meant that they never should i heard that had married and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment but even that did not make me speak but when one gets old one has a longing for home for years been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of england at last i determined to see them before i died i saved enough to bring me across and then i came here where the soldiers are for i know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me

3Edith Wharton