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as i lay my couch weak and weary the priest of came to my chamber he stood in the circle of the and he looked down upon me with eyes which were bright with a mad joy a why did you let the maiden die he asked why did you not strengthen her as you strengthened me r was too late i answered but i had forgot you also loved her you are my fellow in misfortune is it not terrible to think of the centuries which must pass ere we look upon her again fools fools that we were to take death to be our enemy o the ring of you may say that he cried with a wild laugh the words come well from your lips for me they have no meaning what mean you i cried raising myself upon my elbow surely friend this grief has turned your brain his face was with joy and he and shook like one who hath a devil do you know whither i go he asked nay i answered i cannot tell i go to her said he she lies in the further tomb by the double palm tree beyond the city wall why do you go there i asked to die i he shrieked to die i am not bound by but the is in your blood i cried i can defy it said he i have found a stronger principle which will destroy it it is working in my veins at this moment and in an hour i shall be a dead man i shall join her and you shall remain behind as i looked upon him i could see that he of truth the light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the you will teach me i cried never he answered i you by the wisdom of by the majesty of it is useless he said coldly then i will find it out i cried you cannot he answered it came to me by the ring of chance there is one which you can never get save that which is in the ring of none will ever more be made in the ring of repeated where then is the ring of that also you shall never know he answered you won her love who has won in the end i leave you to your sordid earth life my chains are broken i must go i he turned upon his heel and fled from the chamber in the morning came the news that the priest of was dead my days after that were spent in study i must find this subtle poison which was strong enough to undo the from early dawn to midnight i bent over the test and the furnace above all i collected the and the of the priest of alas i they taught me little here and there some hint or stray expression would raise hope in my bosom but no good ever came of it still month after month i struggled on when my heart grew faint i would make my way to the tomb by the palm trees there standing by the dead from which the jewel had been i would feel her sweet presence and would whisper to her that i would her if mortal wit could solve the riddle had said that his discovery was connected with the ring of had some remembrance of the it was a large and made not of gold but of a and heavier metal brought from the mines of mount you call the ring of it the ring had i remembered a hollow crystal set in it in which some few drops of liquid might be stored now the secret of could not have to do with the metal alone for there were m ny rings of that metal in the temple was it not more likely that he had stored his precious poison within the of the crystal i had scarce come to this before in hunting through his papers i came upon one which told me that it was indeed so and that there was still some of the liquid unused but how to find the ring it was not upon him when he was stripped for the of that i made sure neither was it among his private effects in vain i searched every room that he had entered every box and and that he had owned i the very sand of the desert in the places where he had been wont to walk but do what i would i could come upon no traces of the ring of yet it may be that my labours would have overcome all obstacles had it not been for a new and for misfortune a great war had been against the and the captains of the great king had been cut off in the desert with all their and the shepherd tribes were upon us like the in a dry year from the wilderness of to the great bitter lake th re was blood by day and fire by night was the of egypt but we could not keep the savages back the city fell the governor and the the ring op r soldiers were put to the sword and i with many more was led away into for years land years i tended cattle in the great plains by the my master died and his son grew old but i was still as far from death as ever at last i escaped upon a swift and made my way back to egypt the had settled in the land which they had conquered and their own king ruled over the country had been torn down the city had been burned and of the great temple there was nothing left save an mound everywhere the had been and the monuments destroyed of my s grave no sign was	4
left it was buried in the sands of the desert and the palm trees which marked the spot had long disappeared the papers of and the remains of the temple of were either destroyed or scattered far and wide over the deserts of all search after them was vain from that time i gave up all hope of ever finding the ring or discovering the subtle i set myself to live as patiently as might be until the effect of the should wear away how can you understand how terrible a thing time is you who have experience only of the narrow course which lies between the cradle and the grave i know it to my cost i who have floated down the whole stream of history i was old when fell i was very old when came to i was bowed down with years when the new gospel came upon earth yet you see the ring op me much as other men are with the cursed still my blood and guarding me against that which i would court now at last at last i have come to the end of it i have travelled in all lands and i have dwelt with all nations every tongue is the same to me i learned them all to help pass the weary time i need not tell you how slowly they drifted by the long dawn of modern the dreary middle years the dark times of they are all behind me now i have never looked with the eyes of love upon another woman knows that have been constant to her it was my custom to read all that the scholars had to say upon ancient egypt have been in many positions sometimes sometimes poor but i have always found enough to enable me to buy the journals which deal with such matters some nine months ago i was in san when i read an account of some discoveries made in the neighbourhood of my heart into my mouth as i read it it said that the had busied himself in exploring some recently in one there had been found an wi h an inscription upon the outer case setting forth that it contained the body of the daughter of the governor of the city in the days of it added that on removing the outer case there had been exposed a large ring set with a crystal which had been laid upon the breast of the woman this then the ring of was where had hid the ring of i he might well say that it was safe for no egyptian would ever stain his soul by moving even the outer case of a buried friend that very night i set off from san and in a few weeks i found myself once more at if a few sand heaps and crumbling walls may retain the name of the great city i hurried to the who were digging there and asked them for the ring they replied that both the ring and the had been sent to the museum at to i went but only to be told that had claimed them and had them to the i followed them and there at last in the egyptian chamber i came after close upon four thousand years upon the remains of my and upon the ring for which i had sought so long but how was i to lay hands upon them how was i to have them for my very own it chanced that the office of attendant was vacant i went to the i convinced him that i knew much about egypt in my eagerness i said too much he remarked that a professor s chair would suit me better than a seat in the i knew more he said than he did it was only by and letting him think that he had over estimated my knowledge that i prevailed upon him to let me move the few effects which i have retained into this chamber it is my first and my last night here such is my story mr smith i need the ring of not say more to a man of your perception by strange chance you have this night looked upon the face of the woman whom i loved in those far off days there were many rings with in the case and i had to test for the to be sure of the one which i wanted a glance at the crystal has shown me that the liquid is indeed within it and that i shall at last be able to shake off that accursed health which has been worse to me than the disease i have nothing more to say to you i have mj self you may tell my story or you may withhold it at your pleasure the choice rests with you i owe you some amends for you have had a narrow escape of your life this night i was a desperate man and not to be in my purpose had i seen you before the thing was done i might have put it beyond your power to oppose me or to raise an alarm this is the door it leads into the de good night the englishman glanced back for a moment the lean figure of the egyptian stood framed in the narrow doorway the next the door had and the heavy of a bolt broke on the silent night it was on the second day after his return to london that mr john smith saw the following narrative in the paris correspondence of the times curious occurrence in the yesterday a strange discovery was made in the the ring of egyptian chamber the who are employed to clean out the rooms in the morning found one of the attendants lying dead upon the floor with his arms round one of the so close was	4
his embrace that it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were separated one of the cases containing valuable rings had been opened and the authorities are of opinion that the man was bearing away the with some idea of selling it to a private but that he was struck down in the very act by long standing disease of the heart it is said that he was a man of uncertain age and eccentric habits without any living relations to mourn over his dramatic and end the end printed by han ion and co and london general lists of works published bt co london history politics historical c abbey and s in the century or s d b lectures on modem history mj s ireland under the land vol the press ball s systems in ireland yo s the of ireland yo i s history of the of england pre period vo s s sir g f thirty tears of government a selection of official papers s history of crown va s lord speeches vo s sir g w general history of greece crown maps m during the vo is s in central asia in with maps illustrated vo s de s life by lane vo z s de s in america crown vo s en in america virginia and the s the colonies vo s historical geography of europe d s english in ireland in the century crown s history of england popular crown i each short studies on great subjects crown mi s history of england from the accession of james i to the of the civil war crown s history of the great civil war vol vol r england in south africa s ck s earl of life by the hon s s journal of the of king george iv king william iv and queen victoria cabinet edition crown s each historic towns by e a d c x and the william hunt m a with maps and plans crown d each london by w e by b a ports by by the w hunt s france and her a of oxford by the w e c by the m by g w co london and new york of in thb fc s ro tm fc r u of i s in i life and times of in s to i works library cabinet to history of cabinet post to i library popular or student s s or people s ar to l s and historical with lays of in one or to it i popular or or s d gilt edges b critical and historical cabinet i vo s or yo tt cr people s or s writings td to t m writings and speeches edition cr student s edition cr vo writings speeches lays of te cabinet edition yo writings from crown bt corrected by himself crown to d s outlines of history s of of an minister crown to od may s history of england crown f papers the by c to s fall of the mo d general history of b s a a crown vo ti d history of the under the empire post vo s s of europe from the rise to the fall of the second french crown to s lord and by j k i the fall of to porter s history of the corps of royal to s the history of s lord john life by i s oxford d more vo l short s history of the church of crown vo s d smith s and the crown vo history of the university of i s manual of the history of india crown vo t m s history of under the or vo l history of england from d s vol ds j s history of b g under henry iv vol lot d ft co london and new general lists of works of ancient history by the rev sir a w and by g m a volumes yo with maps price d each the and by a h ma with s maps the early empire by the rev w m a with maps the roman empire of the second century by the rev w ma with maps the empire from the flight of to the fall of by the rev sir g w m a with maps the rise of the empire by arthur m m a with maps the and the by the rev sir g w with maps rome to its capture by the by with a map the roman by the very rev charles d d with map the and by charles m a with maps rome and the wars by r smith with of modern history by c m a volumes with maps price s each the beginning of the middle ages by the very rev r w church with maps the in europe by rev a h johnson ma with maps the by the rev sir g w m a with a map the early by the right rev w d d with maps edward the third by the rev w m a with maps the houses of and york by james with the early by the rev c e m a the era of the revolution by f with maps the age of elizabeth by the rev m m a ll d with the first two by samuel with maps the thirty years war by samuel with a map the english restoration and louis xiv by airy the fall of the by the rev edward hale ma with	4
maps the age of anne by e e m a with maps and plans the early by e e m a with and plans the great and the seven years war by f w with maps the war of american independence by j m with maps the french revolution by mrs s r with maps the epoch of reform by m p of church history by the rev va price s each the english church in other lands by the rev h w the history of the in england by the rev george g the church of the early fathers by alfred d d the revival in the century by the rev j h a history of the university of oxford by the hon g c d c x a history of the university of cambridge by j bass m a the english church in the middle ages by rev w hunt m a the by h m m a and movements for reform by r l the counter by a w ward the church and the roman empire by the rev a the church and the by henry the church and the eastern empire by the rev h f and his times by the rev w r w the and the by c london and new york general lists of works works a b j life and by a f u d i fund by to if a prince and people the life and works of the prince and princess of wales yo i and the s champion by a southern crown vo d by grown each is u d cloth the by h d admiral by by o by ben by j a george by frank h hill by the history of by sir q or to j a sketch grown yo ed a sir w b life by to b a life by grown vo a literary c with by b l to t s studies in naval history vo los d a lord life and by his nephew sir g popular edition vol cr vo ss student s edition vol cr vo bt cabinet edition post vo edition s vo s bishop of by c j vo s letters translated by lady or vo at each m a essays grown vo d s pro grown va hia life and labours crown d shakespeare of the life of by j o illustrated royal vo shakespeare s true life by james walter with illustrations vo a with vo s in biography grown vo a c b life by his son vo a life bv grown vo bs mental and political philosophy adam an on the of vo view of the of vo of the english constitution grown vo s with by vo works by vo by vo s logic and grown vo lot l it i n bt mental and moral science grown d the senses and the vo the emotions and the wiu vo s grown vo t co london and new york general of b to ut to j d causes of the great fall in prices i a history of and taxes in s green s thomas hill works at works vol with u s by green a to of nature by green st ii s an into drown s elements of yo i s and studies of usage and belief drown to and religion crown yo j in political vo id s history of philosophy yo s origin of s the elements of crown yo it d each the of drown yo the theory and practice of vol vol i the theory of credit vol is d vol n the press s the of s mill s james analysis of the phenomena of the human mind vo ji mill john on government crown on liberty crown examination of s philosophy crown of political vo edition vol s s three essays on religion ho s s history of prices since s crown is of with english notes b english village community s of s id teacher s of is id s logic post s a system of the problem of evil lo the religious sentiments of human mind s id progress an essay s id s the of id s elements of logic s id crown i id s history of in greek philosophy lot id and the older academy pre schools crown s and the o and crown f outlines of the history of greek philosophy loi co london and new york general lifts of works classical languages and literature the of text with translation by j p yo it the translated by b y grown to m a the text and notes by sir grant s to u the translated by crown vo m the books i ly with translation ao by and crown vo d s and by poet d each s text and notes by b y yo each s with notes by j vo d s works latin text with ck by grown loi translated into english verse by grown vo j vo a poems prose by grown tt s of translated by f m grown to d the war vo s the wanderings of grown l and books of reference s modem for private families yo s i of bible knowledge vo s s tables for tl e of per cent interest c vo d s of commercial geography maps vo s s	4
of vo s d s dictionary of geography or general vo s new maps by g g to or imperial vo i s m o h b dictionary of commerce and commercial s treasury vo s historical vo and literary treasury vo treasury of bible knowledge by vo treasury of by at two s of geography vo s treasury of knowledge and library of vo s treasury of natural history vo s s dictionary of medicine medium vo or in and housekeeping grown vo bs i of and greek grown vo l of english words and grown vo b tables by grown vo s d co london and new york general science s theory of the tides grown yo s grant and a theory of to s d of or natural drown yo m s of the steam engine crown yo d of the steam engine s in the steam engine clerk s the engine with crown yo s the story of creation illustrated crown yo s select methods in analysis m s of practical yo earl s elements of work crown vo s information for crown to d hills and yo s lectures on crown to s of crown yo b on by large crown natural by crown yo d s text book of crown yo bs s the creation and physical structure of the vo is s six lectures on physical geography yo on the sensations of ton yo s s lectures on subjects s crown yo i of square crown yo i s general crown vo n the press and s the or wheel with plates parts to d each s complete s to with as s lectures on the history of modem music yo s transition period of musical history yo s l s and practical yo d for the stars yo s short text book of crown yo is s treat ee on yo d s and of yo d s lectures on harmony yo a and lectures crown vo d martin s and yo i s modem theories of yo miller s elements of and practical yo part i part s i part iii price z s f s manual of practical yo dissolution and and the of medicine yo noble s hours with a three inch crown yo u and turning yo s for crown yo s td s and of the animals d co london and new york general lists of works s tha a of crown yo u b analysis yo m s weather and storm drown vo s on the marine steam vo s for electric light crown smith s or the art of calculation by drawing lines i with s of plates to s s the theory of the on ao to mm s dictionary of applied y vol s i to u i as a crown yo d floating matter of the air crown vo d fragments of post yo heat a mode of motion crown on light delivered in america grown vo lessons on crown vo ki notes on phenomena crown vo is is m doth notes of on light crown vo is is m doth on and action cr vo sound with and crown vo loi b the of material of construction illustrated vo of new and s vo i each s celestial for common crown vo s natural history and s of vo s bird life crown vo s s world vo loi l world vo sea and its living wonders vo d world vo loi world vo s treasury of vo london s of vo s plants vo s orchard house crown vo s miniature fruit garden va m s familiar history of british birds crown vo bs wood s bible animals with vo l homes without hands vo insects abroad vo loi insects at home with vo out of doors crown vo s crown vo l strange crown vo i co london and new york general lists of works and religious works s dr thomas sermons to s s on the articles s bishop of the articles yo s s and to the and greek new testament to s on the and book of grown to s s of the bible post yo i d is s life and letters of st paul library edition with maps plates and square vo student s edition and with and maps yo s s introduction to the study of the new testament vo i s life and times of the library edition vo cabinet edition crown vo s prophecy and history in relation to the vo lis bishop on st paul s vo s ss d ss d pastoral s d and loi d s d lectures on the life of our lord yo lis s of translated by vo s of translated by carpenter smith vo vol vol s vol vol medical language of st vo s s christ the vo s d s the record of a human soul yo s d s sacred and l art square vo legends of the vol s order vol i saints and d completed by lady vol s s new man and the eternal life vo s second death and the of all things vo types of crown vo s d the mystery of the kingdom vo d the names of god in holy scripture crown yo u d i hymns	4
xv still among xvi a midnight visitor in port at last i the great shadow chapter i the night of the it is strange to me of west inch to feel that though now in the very centre of the nineteenth century i am but five and fifty years of age and though it is only once in a week perhaps that my wife can pluck out a little grey from over my ear yet i have lived in a time when the thoughts and the ways of men were as different as though it were another planet from this for when i walk in my fields i can see down way the little of white smoke which tell me of this strange new hundred legged beast with coals for food and a thousand men in its belly for ever crawling over the border on a shiny day i can see the of the brass as it takes the curve near and then as i look out to sea there is the same beast again or a dozen of them maybe leaving a trail of black in the air and of white in the water and swimming in the face of the wind as easily as a salmon up the such a sight as that would have struck my good old father speechless with wrath the great shadow as well as surprise for he was so stricken with the fear of offending the creator that he was of nature and always held the new thing to be nearly akin to the as long as god made the horse and a man down way the engine my good old would have stuck by the saddle and the spurs but he would have been still more surprised had he seen the peace and which now in the hearts of men and the talk in the papers and at the meetings that there is to be no more war save of course with and such like for when he died we had been fighting with scarce a break save only during two short years for very nearly a quarter of a century think of it you who live so quietly and peacefully now babies who were bom in the war grew to be bearded men with babies of their own and still the war continued those who had served and fought in their prime grew stiff and bent and yet the ships and the armies were struggling it was no wonder that folk came at last to look upon it as the natural state and thought how queer it must seem to be at peace during that long time we fought the dutch we fought the we fought the spanish we fought the we fought the americans we fought the until it seemed that in this universal struggle no race was too near of kin or too far away to be drawn into the quarrel but most of all it was the french whom we fought and the man whom of all others we and feared and admired was the great captain who ruled them it was very well to draw pictures of him and sing the night of the songs about him and make as though he were an but i can tell you that the fear of that man hung like a black shadow over all europe and that there was a time when the of a fire at night upon the coast would set every woman upon her knees and every man for his he had always won that was the terror of it the seemed to be behind him and now we knew that he lay upon the northern coast with a hundred and fifty thousand and the boats for their passage but it is an old story how a third of the grown folk of our country took up arms and how our little one eyed one armed man crushed their fleet there was still to be a land of free thinking aiid free speaking in europe there was a great ready on the hill by built up of logs and tar barrels and i can well remember how night after night i strained my eyes to see if it were i was only eight at the time but it is an age when one takes a grief to heart and i felt as though the fate of the country hung in some fashion upon me and my vigilance and then one night as i looked i suddenly saw a little on the hill a single red tongue of flame in the darkness i remember how i rubbed my eyes and pinched myself and my against the stone window sill to make sure that i was indeed awake and then the flame shot higher and i saw the red quivering line upon the water between and i dashed into the kitchen to my father that the french had crossed and the light was he had been talking to mr the law student from and i can see o s v lo the great shadow knocked his pipe out at the side of the fire and looked at me from over the top of his horn spectacles are you sure says he sure as death i gasped he reached out his hand for the bible upon the table and opened it upon his knee as though he meant to read to us but he shut it again in silence and hurried out we went too the law student and i and followed him down to the gate which opens out upon the highway from there we could see the red light of the big and the glimmer of a smaller one to the north of us at my mother came down with two to keep the chill from us and we all stood there until morning speaking little to each other and that little in	4
a whisper the road had more folk on it than ever passed along it at night before for many of the up our way had themselves in the and were riding now as fast as could carry them for the muster some had a cup or two before parting and i cannot forget one who tore past on a huge white horse a great rusty sword in the moonlight they shouted to us as they passed that the north law fire was blazing and that it was thought that the alarm had come from castle there were a few who galloped the other way for and the s son and master the and such like and among others there was one a fine built heavy man on a horse who pulled up at our gate and asked some question about the road he took off his hat to ease himself and i saw that he had a the night of the i b kindly long drawn face and a great high brow that shot away up into of sandy hair i doubt it s a false alarm said he maybe i d ha done well to bide where i was but now i ve come so far i ll break my fast with the regiment he clapped spurs to his horse and away he went down the t i ken him said our student nodding after ft him he s a lawyer in and a hand t at the of verses scott is his name ti none of us had heard of it then but it was not long i before it was the best known name in scotland and w many a time we thought of how he his way of us on the night of the terror i but early in the morning we had our minds set at it was grey and cold and my mother had gone h up to the house to mask a pot of tea for us when there came a down the road with dr of li in it and his son jim the collar of the doctor s brown coat came over his ears and he looked in a deadly black humour for jim who was but fifteen years of age had off to at the first alarm with ti his father s new piece all night his had chased him and now there he was a prisoner with the ii barrel of the stolen gun sticking out from behind the i seat he looked as sulky as his father with his hands thrust into his his brows drawn down and i his lower lip thrusting out h it s all a shouted the doctor as he passed there has been no landing and all the fools in land have been about the roads for nothing his son jim something up at him on this ihe great shadow and his father struck him a blow with his clenched fist on the side of his head which sent the boy s chin forward upon his breast as though he had been stunned my father shook his head for he had a liking for jim but we all walked up to the house again nodding and and hardly able to keep our eyes open now that we knew that all was safe but with a thrill of joy at our hearts such as i have only matched once or twice in my lifetime now all this has little enough to do with what i took my pen up to tell about but when a man has a good memory and little skill he cannot draw one thought from his mind without a dozen others trailing out behind it and yet now that i come to think of it this had something to do with it after all for jim had so deadly a quarrel with his father that he was packed oflf to the academy and as my father had long wished me to go there he took advantage of this chance to send me also but before i say a word about this school i shall go back to where i should have begun and give you a hint as to who i am for it may be that these words of mine may be read by some folk beyond the border country who never heard of the of west inch it has a brave sound west inch but is not a fine estate with a house upon it but only a great wind swept sheep run off into links along the sea shore where a man might with hard work just pay his rent and have butter instead of on sundays in the centre there is a grey house with a behind it and in over the of the door there for more the night of the than a hundred years our folk have lived until for all their poverty they came to take a good place among the people for in the country parts the old is often better thought of than the new there was one queer thing about the house of west inch it has been reckoned by and other knowing folk that the boundary line between the two countries ran right through the middle of it our second best bedroom into an english half and a scotch half now the cot in which i always slept was so placed that my head was to the north of the line and my feet to the south of it my friends say that if i had chanced to lie the other way my hair might not have been so sandy nor my mind of so solemn a cast this i know that more than once in my life when my scotch head could see no way out of a danger my good thick english legs have come to my help and carried me clear away but at	4
school i never heard the end of this for they would call me half and half and the great britain and sometimes union jack when there was a battle between the scotch and english boys one side would kick my and the other my ears and then they would both stop and laugh as though it were something funny at first i was very miserable at the academy was the first master and the second and i had no love for either of them i was shy and backward by nature and slow at making a friend either among masters or boys it was nine miles as the crow flies and eleven and a half by road from to west inch and my heart grew heavy at the weary distance that separated me from my mother for m x v the great shadow you a lad of that age that he has no need of his mother s caresses but ah how sad he is when he is taken at his word at last i could stand it no and i determined to run away from the school and make my way home as fast as i might at the very last moment however i had the good fortune to win the praise and admiration of every one from the downwards and to find my school life made very pleasant and easy to me and all this came of my falling by accident out of a second floor window this was how it happened one evening i had been kicked by ned who was the bully of the school and this injury coming on the top of all my other caused my little cup to i vowed that night as i buried my tear stained face beneath the blankets that the next morning would either find me at west inch or well on the way to it our was on the second floor but i was a famous and had a fine head for heights i used to think little young as i was of swinging myself with a rope round my off the west inch and that stood three and fifty feet above the ground there was not much fear then but that i could make my way out of s i waited a weary while until the and tossing had died away and there was no sound of from the long line of wooden then i very softly rose slipped on my clothes took my shoes in my hand and walked to the window i opened the and looked out underneath me lay the garden and close by my hand was the stout branch of a tree an active lad could ask no better ladder once the night of the i the garden i had but a five foot wall to get over ad then there was nothing but distance between me ad home i took a firm grip of a branch with one hand my knee upon another one and was about to swing out of the window when in a moment i was as lent and as still as though i had been turned to stone there was a face looking at me from over the of the wall a chill of fear struck to my heart at s whiteness and its stillness the moon it and the moved slowly from side to de though i was hid from them behind the screen of le tree then in a fashion this white face until the neck shoulders waist and knees of man became visible he sat himself down on the p of the wall and with a great heave he pulled up him a boy about my own size who caught his from time to time as though to choke down a b the man gave him a shake with a few rough words and then the two dropped together own into the garden i was still standing balanced ith one foot upon the bough and one upon the not daring to for fear of their for i could hear them moving stealthily about i the long shadow of the house suddenly from beneath my feet i heard a low grating noise ad the sharp of falling glass that s done it said the man s eager whisper there is room for you but the edge is all jagged cried the other in a the fellow burst out into an oath that made my the great shadow in with you you he or i could not see what he did but there was a she quick gasp of pain go ril go cried the little lad but i heard no more for my head suddenly my heel shot oflf the branch i gave a dreadful yell a came down with my ninety five pounds of weight ri upon the bent back of the if you ask me can only say that to this day i am not quite whether it was an accident or whether i designed it may be that while i was thinking of doing it settled the matter for me the fellow was with his head forward thrusting the boy through a ti window when i came down upon him just where t neck the he gave a kind of whistling c dropped upon his face and rolled three times on the grass with his heels his little flashed off in the moonlight and was over t wall in a as for me i sat yelling at the pitch my lungs and nursing one of my legs which felt as a red hot ring were round it it was not long as may be imagined before whole household from the to the boy were out in the garden with lamps and the matter was soon cleared the man carried off up a and i borne in much state and solemnity a special bedroom where the small bone of my was set by surgeon	4
the younger of the t brothers of that name as to the robber it was that his legs were and the doctors were of t minds as to whether he would recover the use of the or no but the law never gave them a chance of the night of the i the matter for he was hanged after some six weeks later it was proved that he was the desperate rogue in the north of england for he liad done three at the least and there were c enough against him upon the sheet to have him ten times over well now i could not pass over my boyhood without telling you about this which was the most important thing that happened to me but i will go oflf upon no more side tracks for when i think of all that is coming h can see very well that i shall have more than enough x o do before i have for when a man has only his own little private tale to tell it often takes him his time but when he gets mixed up in such great matters as i shall have to speak about then it is hard n him if he has not been brought up to it to get it all set down to his liking but my memory is as good as ever thank god and i shall try to get it all straight t i finish it was this business of the that first made a friendship between jim the doctor s son nd me he was cock boy of the school from the day lie came for within the hour he had thrown who had been cock before him right through the big l lack board in the class room always ran to muscle and bone and even then he was square and tall short of speech and long in the arm much given to lounging vith his broad back against walls and his hands deep in his breeches pockets i can even recall that he had a trick of keeping a straw in the comer of his mouth where he used afterwards to hold his pipe jim was always the same for good and for bad since first i knew him great shadow etc the great shadow heavens how we all looked up to him we but young savages and had a savage s respect for p there was tom of who could as well as mere and nobody would give a snap for tom and there who had every date from the k of on the tip of his tongue so that the ma themselves would turn to him if they were in doubt he was but a narrow lad over long for breadth and what did his dates help him when of the lower third him down the pas with the end of a but you didn things like that with jim what tales we to whisper about his strength how he put his through the oak of the game room door when long was carrying the ball he ca up ball and all and ran swiftly past e opponent to the goal it did not seem fit to us such a one as he should trouble his head about and or care to know who signed the m when he said in open class that king a was the man we little boys all felt that very like was so and that perhaps jim knew more about it the man who wrote the book well it was this business of the that his attention to me for he patted me on my head said that i was a little devil which blew me with pride for a week on end for two years we y dose friends for all the gap that the years had n between us and though in passion or in want of he did many a thing that me yet i loved hke a brother and wept as much as would have fi cousin of n ink bottle when at last he went off to to his father s profession five years after that did bide at s and when i left i had become myself for i was as and as tough as though i never ran to weight and like my it was in year that i left s and then for three years i stayed at home the ways of the cattle but still the ships and le armies were and still the great shadow of lay across the country how could i guess i too should have a hand in lifting that shadow dr ever from our people chapter ii cousin of some years before when i was still but a lad there ad come over to us upon a five weeks visit the only of my father s brother had at as a maker of fishing and he ad made more out of than ever we were like to o out of the bushes and sand links of west inch o his daughter came over with a d frock and a five shilling bonnet and a full of that brought my dear mother s eyes out like a s it was wonderful to see her so free with and she but a slip of a girl paying the all that he asked and a whole over to he had no claim she made no more of beer than we did of water and she would ave her sugar in her tea and butter with her bread ist as if she had been english a the great shadow i took no great stock of girls at that time for it hard for me to see what they had been made there were none of us at s that thought much of them but the smallest seemed to the most sense for after they began to grow bigger	4
i were not so sure about it we little ones were al one mind that a creature that couldn t fight and aye carrying tales and couldn t so much as shy a si without flapping its arm like a rag in the wind was use for anything and then the airs that they w put on as if they were mother and father rolled one for ever breaking into a game with toe s come through your boot or go home you c boy and clean yourself until the very sight of tl was weariness so when this one came to the at v inch i was not best pleased to see her i was at the time it was in the holidays and she thin girl with black eyes and the w she was for ever staring out in front of her with lips parted as if she saw something wonderful when i came behind her and looked the same wa could see nothing but the or the mid or father s breeches hanging on a clothes line then if she saw a lump of or or common stuff of that sort she would over it if it had struck her sick and cry how sweet perfect just as though it had been a painted she didn t like games but i used to make her j and such like but it was no fun for i always catch her in three and she could n catch me though she would come with as much ru cousin of nd flutter as ten boys would make when i used to ill her that she was good for nothing and that her was a fool to bring her up like that she would to cry and say that i was a rude boy and that le would go home that very night and never forgive le as long as she lived but in five minutes she had all about it what was strange was that she me a deal better than i did her and she would ever leave me alone but she was always watching me ad running after me and then saying oh here you re as if it were a surprise but soon i found that there was good in her too he used sometimes to give me so that once i ad four in my pocket all at the same time but the est part of her was the stories that she could tell he was sore frightened of so i would bring one her and tell her that i would put it down her neck she told a story that always helped her to but when once she was started it was wonderful ow she would carry on and the things that had to her they were enough to take your breath way there was a that had been at and he was coming back in five years in a hip full of gold to make her his wife and then there a wandering knight who had been there also and e had given her a ring which he said he would redeem hen the time came she showed me the ring which very like the ones upon my bed curtain but she aid that this one was virgin gold i asked her what tie knight would do if he met the and he told me that he would sweep his head from his what they could all see in her was more the great shadow than i could think and then she told me that she h been followed on her way to west inch by a disguise prince i asked her how she knew it was a prince am she said by his disguise another day she said that he father was preparing a riddle and that when it was ready it would be put in the papers and anyone who guessed it would have half his fortune and his daughter i said that i was good at and that she must send it to me when it was ready she said it would be in the and wanted to know what would do with her when i won her i said f would sell her by public for what she would fetch but she would tell no more stories that evening for she was very about some things jim was away when cousin was with us but he came back the very week she went and mind how surprised i was that he should ask any questions or take any interest in a mere he asked me if she were pretty and when i said i hadn t noticed he laughed and called me a and said my eyes would be opened some day but very soon he came to be interested in something else and i never gave another thought until one day she just took my life in her hands and twisted it as i could twist this that was in after i had left school when i was already eighteen years of age with a good hairs on my upper lip and every hope of more i had changed since i left school and was not so keen on games as i had been but found myself instead lying about on the sunny side of the with my own lips parted and my eyes staring just the same as cousin cousin of s used to do it had satisfied me and filled my whole life that i could run faster and jump higher than my neighbour but now all that seemed such a little thing and i and and looked up at the big sky and down at the flat blue sea and felt that there was something wanting but could never lay my tongue to what that something was and i became quick of temper too for my nerves seemed all of a fret and when my mother	4
would ask me what me or my father would speak of my turning my hand to work i would break into such sharp bitter answers as i have often grieved over since ah a man may have more than one wife and more than one child and more than one friend but he can never have but the one mother so let him cherish her while he may one day when i came in from the sheep there was my father sitting with a letter in his hands which was a very rare thing with us except when the wrote for the rent then as i came nearer to him i saw that he was crying and i stood staring for i had always thought that it was not a thing that a man could do i can see him now for he had so deep a across his brown cheek that no tear could pass it but must away sideways and so down to his ear off on to the sheet of paper my mother sat beside him and his hands like she did the cat s back when she would soothe it aye said he poor s gone it s from the lawyer and it was sudden or they d ha sent word of it he says and a flush o blood to the head well his trouble s over said my mother the great shadow my father rubbed his ears with the he s left a his to his said he a by if she s not changed from what she to be she ll soon them flee you mind what s said of weak tea under this very roof and it at se shillings the pound my mother shook her head and looked up at of bacon that hung from the ceiling he doesn t say how much but she ll have and to spare he says and she s to come and b with us for that was his last wish to pay for her keep cried my mother sharp i was sorry that she should have spoken of money that moment but then if she had not been sharp would all have been on the roadside in a aye she ll pay and she s coming this very d lad i ll want you to drive to and meet evening coach your cousin will be in it and y can fetch her over to west inch and so off i started at quarter past five with sou the long haired fifteen year old and our c with the new painted tail board that we only used great days the coach was in just as i came and like a foolish country lad taking no heed to the ye that had passed was looking about among the folk the inn front for a slip of a girl with her j under her knees and as i past and my neck there came a touch to my elbow and th was a lady dressed all in black standing by the and i knew that it was my cousin i knew it i say and yet had she not touched i i might have passed her a score of times and ne cousin of it my word if jim had asked me if she were pretty or no i should have known how answer she was dark much darker than is among our border and yet with such a blush of pink breaking through her dainty colour like the deeper flush at the heart of a rose lips were red and kindly and firm and even then the first glance i saw that light of mischief and that danced away at the back of her great ark eyes she took me then and there as though i liad been her put out her hand and plucked she was as i have said in black dressed in what seemed to me to be a wondrous fashion with a black veil pushed up from her brow ah jack said she in a english fashion hat she had learned at the boarding school no no we are rather old for that this because i in my ard fashion was pushing my foolish brown face for to kiss her as i had done when i saw her last just hurry up like a good fellow and give a shilling to the conductor who has been exceedingly civil to me during the journey i flushed up red to the ears for i had only a silver piece in my pocket never had my lack of pence weighed so heavily upon me as just at that moment but she read me at a glance and there in an instant was a little purse with a silver clasp thrust into my hand i paid the man and would have it back but she still would have me keep it you shall be my jack said she laughing is this our carriage how funny it looks and where am i to sit the great shadow on the said i and how am i to get there put your foot on the said i help i sprang up and took her two little ha in my own as she came over the side her blew in my face sweet and warm and all that ness and seemed in a moment to have b away from my soul i felt as if that had taken me out from myself and made me one the race it took but the time of the of horse s tail and yet something had happened a bar had gone down somewhere and i was leading a wi and a wiser life i felt it all in a but shy backward as i was i could do nothing but the for her her eyes were after the co which was rattling away to and suddenly shook her handkerchief in the air	4
own way like j j y ihe great shadow were i can see you now with e thrown hair and your mischievous eyes you no gentle and quiet and soft spoken one to behave says i ah but jack liked you so much better a well when she said that i fairly stared at her thought that she could never have quite for tne f r the way i used to carry on that of ft house could have liked it was clean be thought of how when she y the door would go up on the w el and fix little clay balls at the end them at her until i made her cry and i thought of how i caught an in the and her about with it until she ran under my mother s apron half mad with fright an father gave me one on the ear hole with the i which knocked me and my under the and these were the things that she mi well she must miss them for my hand would w before i could do them now but for the first ti began to understand the that lies in a wc and that a man must not reason about one watch and try to learn we found our level after a time when she saw she had just to do what she liked and how she and that i was as much at her and call a rob was at mine you ll think i was a fool to had my head so turned and maybe i was but you must think how little i was used to women how much we were thrown together besides she the shadow on the waters i woman in a million and i can tell you that it was a head that would not be turned by her why there was major a man that had three wives and had twelve pitched battles to is no me could have turned him round her finger ke a damp rag only new from the boarding i met him from west inch the first me after she came with pink in his cheeks and a shine i his eye that took ten years from him he was up his grey at either end and curling into his eyes and out with his sound leg proud as a what she had said to him the knows but it was like old wine in his veins ive been up to see you said he but i home again now my visit has not been wasted as i had an opportunity of seeing a a most charming and engaging young lady he had a formal stiff way of talking and was fond f in a bit of the french for he had picked up in the he would have gone on liking of cousin but i saw the comer of a thrusting out of his pocket and i knew that he ad come over as was his way to give me some news r we heard little enough at west inch what is fresh major i asked he pulled the paper out with a flourish the have won a great battle my lad says e i don t think nap can stand up long against this he have thrown him over and he s been badly eat at is past the and s folk will be at before r r c z ted i it j l vi ns v v x at l i i i i t in r in i o ou o io hear it he a t i i ned r l le ix before be p i board ind rs at and key a id t my said l me x ah e l be to t td and on upon his way i down among the with m t ci my hand turning the thing over in my mind him in his old brown with the f flapping over his as he hi way np the of the hill it was a poor li a r w t inch waiting to fill my father s shoes wi h and the same bom and the same a d the grey house for ever before me bi f rf the sea ah there was a life ii au was the major a man past his k d d and and yet to get to the shadow on the waters whilst i with all the strength of my youth was i it upon these a hot wave of shame over me and i sprang up all in a to be and playing a man s part in the world for two days i turned it over in my mind and on he third there came something which first brought all ny resolutions to a head and then blew them all to like a puff of smoke in the wind i had strolled out in the afternoon with cousin and rob until we found ourselves upon the brow f the slope which away down to the beach it late in the fall and the links were all and but the sun still shone warmly and a south came in little hot rippling the broad blue sa with white curling lines i pulled an of to make a couch for and there she lay li her fashion happy and contented for of all that i have ever met she had the most joy from and light i leaned on a of grass ith rob s head upon my knee and there as we sat lone in peace in the wilderness even there we saw thrown upon the waters in front of us the of that great man over yonder who had name in red letters across the map of europe there was a ship coming up	4
with the wind a black date old bound for as likely as ot her yards were square and she was running with u sail set on the other tack coming from the north t were two great ugly like craft with one high i each and a big square brown sail a prettier one would not wish than to see the three craft along upon so fair a day but of a m xv great shadow etc the great shadow there came a of flame and a whirl of blue si from one then the same from the second rap rap rap from the ship in a twinkling hell out heaven and there on the waters was hat and and the lust for blood we had sprung to our feet at the outburst put her hand all in a tremble upon my ann they are fighting jack she cried what they who are they my heart was with the guns and it all that i could do to answer her for the catch of breath it s two french said i they call them and yon s one of our ships and they ll take her as sure as death for major says they ve always got heavy guns and are full of men as an egg is full of meat why doesn t fool make back for bar but not an inch of canvas did she lower on in her stolid fashion while a little ball ran up to her peak and the rare old flag suddenly out from the then again came rap rap rap of her little guns and the boom the big in the bows of the later the three ships met and the merchant staggered on like a with two wolves hanging the three became but a dark the smoke with the top thrusting out in a and from the heart of that cloud came the quick flashes of flame and such a devils of big and small cheering and screaming as was to din head for many a week for a stricken hour the the shadow on the waters loud moved slowly across the face of the water and with our hearts in our mouths we watched the f the flag straining to see if it were yet there and suddenly the ship as proud and black and high s ever shot on upon her way and as the smoke we saw one of the like a winged duck upon the water and the other hard to get the crew from her before she for all that hour i had lived for nothing but the my cap had been away by the wind ut i had never given it a thought now with my art full i turned upon my cousin and the sight r her took me back six years there was the vacant eye and the parted lips just as i had seen them her and her little hands were clenched until gleamed like ivory ah that captain said she talking to the heath id the bushes there is a man so strong so what woman would not be proud of a man ce that aye he did well i i cried with enthusiasm she looked at me as if she had forgotten my i would give a year of my life to meet such a n said she but that is what living in the country one never sees anybody but just those who are for nothing better i do not know that she meant to hurt me though was never very backward at that but whatever her her words seemed to strike straight upon a nerve the great shadow very well cousin i said trying to calmly that puts the cap on it take the in to night what jack you be a soldier yes if you think that every man that in country must be a coward oh you d look so handsome in a red coat and it you vastly when you are in a i wish your eyes would always flash like that i x looks so nice and manly but i am sure that you joking about the i ll let you see if i am joking then and there i set off running over the mc until i burst into the kitchen where my mother father were sitting on either side of the mother i cried i m off for a had i said i was off for a they could have looked worse over it for in those days ai the decent country folks it was mostly the sheep that were by the but word those same black sheep did their country rare service too my mother put up her her eyes and my father looked as black as a hole jack you re says he or no fm going then you ll have no blessing from me then i ll go without at this my mother gives a and throws arms about my neck i saw her hand all hard worn and with the work she had done for up bringing and it pleaded with me as words ihe shadow on the waters ot have done my heart was soft for her but my will as as hard as a flint edge i put her back in her hair with a kiss and then ran to my room to pack my it was already growing dark and i had a long before me so i thrust a few things together and out as i came through the side door touched my shoulder and there was m the silly boy said she you are not really going am i not you ll see but your father does not wish it nor your mother i know that then why go you ought to know why then because you make me i don t want you to go jack you said it you said	4
still with that smile yes said he staring at her with all his eyes so do i and generally over yonder said she but are not very hospitable to your friend jack if you not do the honours i shall have to take your place the credit of west inch well in another minute we were in with the old and jim had his plate of out for but hardly a word would he speak but sat his spoon in his hand staring at cousin shot little twinkling glances across at him all the tf and it seemed to me that she was amused at his and that she tried by what she said to him heart jack was telling me that you were studying to be said she but oh how hard it must be how long it must take before one can gather so h learning as that it takes me long enough jim answered t ril beat it yet ah but you are brave you are resolute you your eyes on a point and you move on towards it nothing can stop you indeed i ve little to boast of said he many a who began with me has put up his plate years ago here am i but a student still the great shadow that is your modesty mr they a that the are always humble but then you have gained your end what a glorious ij carry healing in your hands to raise up the to have for one s sole end the good of humanity honest jim in his chair at this tm afraid i have no such very high motives mi said he it s to earn a living and to over my father s business that i do it if i carry hei ing in one hand i have the other out for a piece how candid and truthful you are she cried an so they went on she him with every virtue ai twisting his words to make him play the part in tl way that i knew so well before he was done i see that his head was with her beauty and h kindly words i thrilled with pride to think that should think so well of my kin isn t she fine jim i could not help saying wh we stood outside the door he lighting his pipe he set off home fine he cried i never saw her match we re going to be married said i the pipe fell out of his mouth and he stood at me then he picked it up and walked off a word i thought that he would likely come bat but he never did and i saw him far off up the with his chin on his chest but i was not to forget him for cousin had hundred questions to ask me about his boyhood his strength about the women that he was likely know there was no satisfying her and then the choosing of jim later in the day i heard of him but in a less pleasant fashion it was my father who came home in the evening with his mouth full of poor jim he had been deadly drunk since midday had been down to links to fight the champion and it was not certain that the man would live through the night my father had met jim on the as a thunder cloud and with an insult in his eye for every man that passed him said the old man he ll make a fine practice for if breaking will do it cousin laughed at all this and i laughed because she did but i was not so sure that it was funny on the third day afterwards i was going up by the sheep track when who should i see down but jim himself but he was a different man from the big kindly fellow who had his with us the other morning he had no collar nor tie his was open his hair and his face like a man who has drunk heavily he carried an ash stick arid he at the on either side of the path why jim said i but he looked at me in the way that i had often seen at school when the devil was strong in him and when he knew that he was in the wrong and yet set his will to brazen it out not a word did he say but he brushed past me on the narrow path and on still his and cutting at the bushes ah well i was not angry with him i was sorry very sorry and that was all of course i was t q great shadow that i could see how the matter stood e i in love with and he could not bear to it j should have her poor devil how he if m c i should have been the same there m it when i should have wondered that a girl cool h ive turned a strong man s head like that but i it now for i fort flight i saw nothing of jim ao th ri r the which was to change the of my life had woke early that day and with a little of joy h is a rare thing to feel when a man fin his eyes had been kinder than usual th flight before and had fallen asleep with the that maybe at last i had caught the rainbow and any or make believes she was lean to love plain rough of west inch was this thought still at my heart which had given m that little morning of joy and then i that if i hastened i might be in time for her fc it was her custom to go out with the sunrise but i was too late when i came to her door was half	4
open and the room empty well thought at least i may meet her and have the homeward with her p om the top of hill you may sc all the country round so catching up my stick i off in that direction it was bright but cold and surf i remember was loudly though there ha been no wind in our parts for days i t the steep pathway breathing in the thin keen air and humming a as i went until i came out little short of breath the upon the to the choosing of jim down the long slope of the further side i saw cousin as i had expected and i saw jim walking by her side they were not far away but too taken up with other to see me she was walking slowly with he little cock of her dainty head which i knew well casting her eyes away from him and shooting mt a word from time to time he paced along beside looking down at her and bending his head in the of his talk then as he said something she her hand with a caress upon his arm and he off his feet plucked her up and kissed her again nd again at the sight i could neither cry out nor but stood with a heart of lead and the face of a lead man staring down at them i saw her hand over his shoulder and that his kisses were as to her as ever mine had been then he set her down again and i found that this lad been their parting for indeed in another hundred they would have come in view of the upper of the house she walked slowly away with a back once or twice and he stood looking after i waited until she was some way off and then i came but so taken up was he that i was within hand s touch of him before he round upon ne he tried to smile as his eyes met mine ah says he early i saw you i gasped and my throat had turned o dry that i spoke like a man with a did you so said he and gave a little whistle well on my hfe tm not sorry i was thinking c s i t f n v i it i i j ji m v i vi r ir i ii n t r n i r z r z if r ri wi i far v f i j tr i s t t r v i r v c f v der ht ins i ce c the choosing of jim said he i never knew you tell a lie oil are not trying to score trick against trick are you now between man and man it s god s truth said i he stood looking at me and his face had set like of a man who is having a hard fight with himself was a long two minutes before he spoke see here said he this woman is s both d you hear man she s us both she you at west inch and she loves me on the and in her heart she cares a blossom r neither of us let s join hands man and send the to the right about but this was too much i could not curse her in ly own heart and still less could i stand by and hear man do it not though it was my oldest friend don t you call names i cried you me with your soft talk i ll call er what she should be called will you though said i off my coat look you here jim if you say another word her i ll it down your throat if you were as ig as castle try me and see he off his coat down to the elbows and he slowly pulled it on again don t be such a fool said he four stone nd five inches is more than mortal man can give two id friends mustn t fall out over such a well there i won t ly it well by the lord if she hasn t nerve for ten i looked round and there she was not twenty yards om us looking as cool and easy and placid as we ere hot and the great shadow l was nearly home said she when i san two boys very busy talking so i came all the way to know what it was about took a run forward and caught he the wrist she gave a little at the sight o face but he pulled her towards where i was now we ve had enough here she is shall we take her word as to w she likes she can t trick us now that we re i am willing said l and so am l if she goes for you i never so much as turn an eye on her again will do as much for me yes i will well then look here you we re both he men and friends and we tell each other no lies so we know your double ways i know what you last night knows what you said to day d see now then fair and square here we are be you once and have done which is it to be or me you would have thought that the woman w have been overwhelmed with shame but instead of her eyes were shining with delight and i dare w that it	4
was the moment of her life as looked from one to the other of us with the cold m ing sun glittering on her face i had never seen look so lovely jim felt it also i am sure for dropped her wrist and the harsh lines were upon his face come which is it to be he asked the man from the sea naughty boys to fall out like this she cried cousin jack you know how fond i am of you oh then go to him said but i love nobody but jim there is nobody that i love hke jim she up to him and laid her cheek against his breast you see said he looking over her shoulder i did see and away i went for west inch another man from the time that i left it chapter v the man from the sea well i was never one to sit groaning over a cracked pot if it could not be mended then it is the part of a man to say no more of it for weeks i had an aching heart indeed it is a little sore now after all these years and a happy marriage when i think of it but i kept a brave face on me and above all i did as i had promised that day on the i was as a brother to her and no more though there were times when i had to put a hard upon myself for even now she would come to me with her ways and with tales about how rough jim was and how happy she had been when i was kind to her for it was in her blood to speak like that and she could not help it but for the most part jim and she were happy enough it was all over the country side that they were to be married when he had passed his degree and he would come up to west four nights a week to sit a shadow etc c the mv folk were about t sad i t i tar t o ma ar first was a h id ne there was not the old js but then when first smart y jl it seemed to me that he had a i l no just cause for complaint against him we w friendly in a way and as for her he had g all his anger and would have kissed the r oe in the mud we used to take tr he and i and it is about one of these that now want to tell you we had passed over heath and the of which the house of major u from the sea wind it was spring now and the was a forward one so that the trees were well by the end of april it was as warm as a di and we were the more surprised when we saw a fire roaring upon the before the major s there was half a fir tree in it and the flames we up as high as the bedroom windows jim ai i stood staring but we stared the more when out the major with a great pot in his hand and his heels his old sister who kept house for him a two of the maids and all four began ab round the fire he was a quiet man as country knew and here he was like old nick at l s dance around and waving his dr above his head we both set off running and he wai the more when he saw us coming peace i he roared boys peace and at that we both fell to dancing and the man from the sea i for it had been such a weary war as far back as e could remember and the shadow had lain so long er us that it was wondrous to feel that it was lifted it was too much to believe but the major laughed or doubts to scorn aye aye it is true he cried stopping with his and to his side the have got paris as thrown up the and his people are all swear g to louis xviii and the emperor i asked will they spare m there s talk of sending him to where he ll out of mischief s way but his officers there are me of them who will not get off so lightly deeds ave been done during these last twenty years that have been forgotten there are a few old scores to be but it s peace peace and away he went once more with his great round his well we stayed some time with the major and then we went down to the beach jim and i talking bout this great news and all that would come of it e knew a little and i knew less but we it all and talked about how the prices would come own how our brave fellows would return home how le ships could go where they would in peace and how e could pull all the coast down for there was o enemy now to fear so we as we walked long the clean hard sand and looked out at the old forth sea how little did jim know at that moment he strode along by my side so full of health and of that he had reached the extreme o v the great shadow life and that from that hour all would in truth be upon the downward slope there was a little haze out to sea for it had been very misty in the early morning though the sun had it as we looked we suddenly saw the sail of a small boat break out through the fog and come along towards the land a single man was seated in the	4
sheets and she about as she ran as though he were of two minds whether to beach her or no at last determined it may be by our presence he made straight for us and her heel upon the at our very feet he dropped his sail sprang out and pulled her bows up on the beach great britain i believe said he turning briskly round and facing us he was a man somewhat above middle height but exceedingly thin his eyes were piercing and set close together a long sharp nose out from between them and beneath was a of brown moustache as and stiff as a cat s whiskers he was well dressed in a suit of brown with brass buttons and he wore high boots which were all and by the sea water his face and hands were so dark that he might have been a but as he raised his hat to us we saw that the upper part of his brow was quite white and that it was from that he had his he looked from one to the other of us and his grey eyes had something in them which i had never seen before you could read the question but there seemed to be a menace at the back of it as if the answer were a right and not a favour the man from the sea great britain he asked again with a quick tap f his foot on the yes said i while jim burst out laughing england scotland scotland but it s england past yonder trees bon i know where i am now been in a g without a compass for nearly three days and i didn t i was ever to see land again he spoke english enough but with some turn of speech from time to time where did you come from then asked jim i was in a ship that was wrecked said he shortly what is the town down yonder it is ah well i must get stronger before i can go he turned towards the boat and as he did so he ive a and would have fallen had he not caught le on this he seated himself and looked round ith a face that was flushed and two eyes that blazed ke a wild beast s de la he roared in a voice ke a trumpet call and then again de la he waved his hat above his head and suddenly forwards upon his face on the sand he lay all into a little brown heap jim and i stood and stared at each other he coming of the man had been so strange and his and now this sudden turn we took him by shoulder each and turned him upon his back there e lay with his nose and his cat s v s i a i said his would s j iii inn cried v t f there s i x y m th haul mat be there s some iu t he t il hi u om a black leather t l it ii v ins the thing ii i h i i vi had it open m an in h iii ii c c d u t er seen so much i n ji t must have been hun i i ail u ue ii sovereigns u lip x r mt h d all about i ii back to j ex j his jaw had can tr u i i w with its row of my d he s jim here run t for a of m man oi g v his things the away tore aud was back in a minute wit water as would star in my jim open the man s coat and shirt and we the water over him and forced some between his it had a good effect for a gasp or two he s and rubbed his eyes slowly like a man who is w from a deep sleep but neither m nor i were lo at his face now for our eyes were fixed upon hi covered chest there were two deep red in it one below the collar bone and the other about the man from the sea own on the right side the skin of his body was extremely up to the brown line of his neck and angry spots looked the more vivid against from above i could see that there was a corresponding in the back at one place but not at t e other inexperienced as i was i could tell what meant two bullets had pierced his chest one passed through it and the other had remained but suddenly he staggered up to his feet and pulled shirt to with a quick suspicious glance at us what have i been doing he asked been off my head take no notice of anything i may have said have i been shouting you shouted just before you fell what did i shout i told him though it bore little meaning to my he looked sharply at us and then he shrugged shoulders it s the words of a song said he well the is what am i to do now i didn t thought i ir as so weak where did you get the water i pointed towards the bum and he staggered off to the bank there he lay down upon his face and he drank until i thought he would never have done his long neck was out stretched like a horse s and he made a loud noise with his lips at last he got up with a long sigh and wiped his moustache with his sleeve that s better said he have you any food i had crammed two bits of oat cake into my pocket when i left home and these he crushed into his mouth the	4
great shadow and swallowed then he his shoulders puffed out his chest and patted his ribs with the flat of his hands i am sure that i owe you exceedingly well said he you have been very kind to a stranger but i see that you have had occasion to open my bag we hoped that we might find wine or brandy there when you fainted ah i have nothing there but just a little how do you say it my they are not much but i must live quietly upon them until i find something to do now one could live quietly here i should say i could not have come upon a more peaceful place without perhaps so much as a nearer than that town you haven t told us yet who you are where you come from nor what you have been said jim the stranger looked him up and down with a critical eye my word but you would make a for a flank company said he as to what you ask i might take offence at it from other lips but you have a right to know since you have received me with so great courtesy my name is de i am a soldier and a wanderer by trade and i have come from as you may see printed upon the boat i thought that you had been said l but he looked at me with the straight gaze of an honest man that is right said he but the ship went from and this is one of her boats the crew got away in the long boat and went down so quickly the man from the sea i had no time to put anything into her that was n monday and to day s thursday you have been three days bite or it is too long said he twice before i have een for two days but never quite so long as this ell i shall leave my boat here and see whether i can et lodgings in any of these little grey houses upon the why is that great fire burning over yonder it is one of our neighbours who has served against le french he is rejoicing because peace has been oh you have a neighbour who has served then am glad for i too have seen a little here nd there he did not look glad but he drew his brows down ver his keen eyes you are french are you not i asked as we all up the hill together he with his black bag in is hand and his long blue cloak over his well i am of said he and you know are more german than french for myself i have een in so many lands that i feel at home in all i ave been a great traveller and where do you think i might find a lodging i can scarcely tell now on looking back with the gap of five and thirty years between what this singular man had made upon me i im i think and yet i was fascinated by him also for was something in his bearing in his look and his fashion of speech which was entirely its xv the great shadow thing that i had ever seen jim was a fine man and major was a brave one but they both lacked something that this wanderer had it was the quick alert look the flash of the eye the nameless distinction which is so hard to fix and then we had saved him when he lay gasping on the and one s heart always towards what one has once helped if you will come with me said i i have little doubt that i can find you a bed for a night or two and by tliat time you will be better able to make your own arrangements he pulled off his hat and bowed with l the grace imaginable but jim pulled me by the sleeve and led me aside you re mad he whispered the fellow s a common adventurer what do you want to get mixed up with him for but i was as obstinate a man as ever his boots and if you jerked me back it was the finest way of sending me to the front he s a stranger and it s our part to look after him said i you ll be sorry for it said he maybe so if you don t think of yourself you might think of your cousin can take very good care of herself well then the devil take you and you may do what you like he cried in one of his sudden of anger without a word of to either of us he turned off upon the track that led up towards his father s house a wandering eagle f t de smiled at me as wc w d on together i didn t thought he liked me very much m h i can very well that he has made a quarrel you because you are taking me to your home wh jt does he think of me then does he think that i have stole the gold in my bag or wliat it he fears tut i neither know nor care aid i no stranger shall pass our door without a and a bed with my head cocked and feeling as if i something very fine instead of being the most ir fool south of i marched on down the path with my new acquaintance at my elbow chapter vi a wandering eagle my father seemed to be much of jim ft opinion for he was not over warm to this new guest and looked him up and down with a very questioning eye he set a dish of before him however and i noticed that he looked more than	4
ever when my companion ate nine of them for two were always our portion when at last he had finished de s were drooping over his eyes for i doubt that he had been sleepless as well as for these three days it was but a poor room to which i had led him but he threw himself down upon the couch wrapped his big blue cloak around him and was asleep in an instant he was a o the great shadow very high and strong and as my room was next to his i had reason to remember that we had a stranger within our gates when i came down in the morning i found that he had been beforehand with me for he was seated opposite my father at the window table in the kitchen their heads almost touching and a little roll of gold pieces between them as i came in my father looked up at me and i saw a light of in his eyes such a i had never seen before he caught up the money with an eager clutch and swept it into his pocket very good said he the room s yours and you pay always on the third of the month ah and here is my first friend cried de holding out his hand to me with a smile which was kindly enough and yet had that touch of patronage which a man uses when he smiles to his dog i am myself again now thanks to my excellent supper and good night s rest ah it is hunger that takes the courage from a man that most and cold next aye that s right said my father i ve been out on the in a for six and thirty hours and ken what it s like i once saw three thousand men starve to death remarked de putting out his hands to the fire day by day they got thinner and more hke and they did come down to the edge of the where we did keep them and they howled with rage and pain the first few days their went over the whole city but after a week our on the bank could not hear them so weak they had fallen and they died i exclaimed a wandering eagle they held out a very long time they were of the corps of fine men as big as your friend of yesterday but when the town fell there were but four hundred alive and a man could lift them three at a time as if they were little it was a pity ah my friend you will do me the honours with and with it was my mother and who had come into the kitchen he had not seen them the night before but now it was all i could do to keep my face as i watched him for instead of our homely nod he bent up his back like a and slid his foot and clapped his hand over his heart in the way my mother stared for she thought he was making fun of her but cousin fell into it in an instant as though it had been a game and away she went in a great until i thought she would have had to give it up and sit down right there in the middle of the kitchen floor but no she up again as light as a piece of and we all drew up our and started on the and milk and he had a wonderful way with women that man now if i were to do it or jim it would look as if we were playing the fool and the girls would have laughed at us but with him it seemed to go with his style of face and fashion of speech so that one came at last to look for it for when he spoke to my mother or cousin and he was never backward in speaking it would always be with a bow and a look as if it would hardly be worth their while to listen to what he had to say and when they answered he the great shadow would put on a face as though every word they said was to be up and remembered for ever and yet even while he himself to a woman there was always a proud sort of look at the back of his eye as if he meant to say that it was only to them that he was so meek and that he could be stiff enough upon occasion as to my mother it was wonderful the way she softened to him and in half an hour she had told him all about her uncle who was a surgeon in and the highest of any upon her side of the house she spoke to him about my brother rob s death which i had never heard her mention to a soul before and he looked as if the tears were in his eyes over it he who had just told us how he had seen three thousand men starved to death as to she did not say much but she kept shooting little glances at our visitor and once or twice he looked very hard at her when he had gone to his room after breakfast my father pulled out eight golden pounds and laid them on the table what think ye of that said he youve sold the black after all no but it s a month s pay for board and lodging from s friend and as much to come every four weeks but my mother shook her head when she heard it two pounds a week is over much said she and it is not when the poor gentleman is in distress that we should put such a price on his bit food tut cried my	4
father he can very well and he with a bag full of gold besides it s his own proposing a wandering eagle no blessing will come from that money hu why woman he s turned your head wi his ways of speech cried my father aye and it would be a good thing if had a little more of that kindly way she that was the first time in all my life that i had t heard her answer him back he came down soon and asked me whether i would come out with him when we were in the sunshine he held out a little cross made of red one of the things that ever i had eyes upon these are said he and i got it at in spain there were two of them but i gave j other to a girl i pray that you will take as a memory of your exceedingly kindness to me yesterday it will fashion into a pin for your i could but thank him for the present which was of more value than anything i had ever owned in my life i am to the upper to count the said i maybe you would care to come up with me and see something of the country he hesitated for a moment and then he shook his head i have some letters he said which i ought to write as soon as possible i think that i will stay at quiet this morning and get them written all i was wandering over the links and you may imagine that my mind was turning all the time upon this strange man whom chance had drifted to our doors where did he gain that style of his that manner of command that haughty menacing of the great shadow the eye and his experiences to which he referred so lightly how wonderful the life must have been which had put him in the way of them he had been kind to us and gracious of speech but still i could not quite shake myself clear of the distrust with which i had regarded him perhaps after all jim had been right and i had been wrong about taking him to west inch when i got back he looked as though he had been bom and bread in the he sat in the big wooden armed chair with the black cat on his knee his arms were out and he held a of from hand to hand which mother was busily rolling into a ball cousin was sitting near and i could see by her eyes that had been crying said i what s the trouble ah like all good and true women has a soft heart said he i didn t thought it would have moved her or i should have been silent i have been talking of the suffering of some troops of which i knew something when they were crossing the mountains in the winter of ah yes it was veiy bad for they were fine men and fine horses it is strange to see men blown by the wind over the but the ground was so and there was nothing to which they could hold so companies all linked arms and they did better in that fashion but one man s hand came off as i held it for he had had the frost bite for three days i stood staring with my open and the old too who were not so a wandering eagle is they used to be they could not keep up and hey lingered the would catch them and them to the bam doors with their feet up and their heads which was a pity for these soldiers so when they could go no further it to see what they would do for they it down and say their prayers sitting on an old or their maybe and then take off and their stockings and lean their chin on of their then they would put their the and it was all over and there more marching for those fine old vas very rough work up there on these ins id what army was this i asked i have served in so many armies that i mix p sometimes yes i have seen much of war s i have seen your fight and very they make but i thought from them folk over here all wore how do you say it its lose are the and they wear them only in on the mountains but there is a man out maybe he is the one who your father said carry my letters to the post he is farmer s man shall i give him ell he would be more careful of them if he had om your hand took them from his pocket and gave them over i hurried out with them and as i did so my etc the great shadow eyes fell upon the address of the one it was written very large and clear a s le de e i did not know very much french but i had enough to make that out what sort of eagle was this which had flown into our humble little nest chapter vii the tower well it would weary me and i am very sure that it would weary you also if i were to attempt to teu you how life went with us after this man came under our roof or the way in which he gradually came to win the affections of every one of us with the women it was quick work enough but soon he had my father too which was no such easy matter and had gained jim s as well as my own indeed we were but two great boys beside him for he had been everywhere and seen ever and of an evening he would chatter away	4
in his english until he took us clean from the plain kitchen and the little farm to plunge us into courts and and and all the wonders of the world had been sulky enough with him at first but de with his tact and his easy ways soon drew him round until he had quite won his heart and jim would sit with cousin s hand in his and the two be quite lost in listening to all that he had to tell us i will not tell you all this but even now after so long the tower an interval i can trace ho week by week and month by month by this word and that deed he us all as he wished one of his first acts was to give my father the boat in which he had come only the right to have it back in case he should have need of it the were down on the coast that autumn and my uncle before he died had given us a fine set of so the gift was worth many a pound to us sometimes de would go out in the boat alone and i have seen him for a whole summer day slowly along and stopping every half dozen strokes to throw over a stone at the end of a string i could not think what he was doing until he told me of his own i am fond of studying all that has to do with the military said he and i never lose a chance i was wondering if it would be a difficult matter for the commander of an army corps to throw his men ashore here if the wind were not from the east said i quite so if the wind were not from the east have you taken here no your line of would have to lie outside but there is water enough for a forty gun right up within range your boats with them behind these then back with the for more and a stream of over their heads from the it could be done it could be his out more like a cat s than ever and i could see by the flash of his eyes that he was carried away by his dream the great shadow you forget that our soldiers would be upon the beach said i indignantly ta ta ta he cried of course it takes two sides to make a battle let us see now let us work it out what could you get together shall we say twenty thirty thousand a few of good troops the rest with arms how do you call them brave men i shouted oh yes very brave men but ah mon it is incredible how they would be not they alone i mean but all young troops they are so afraid of being afraid that they would take no precaution ah i have seen it in spain i have seen a of attack a battery of ten pieces up they went ah so gallantly and presently the looked from where i stood like how do you say it in english a and where was our fine of then another of young troops tried it all together in a rush shouting and yelling but what will shouting do against a of and there was our second laid out on the and then the foot of the guard old soldiers were told to take the battery and there was nothing fine about their advance no column no shouting nobody killed just a few scattered lines of and of support but in ten minutes the guns were silenced and the spanish cut to pieces war must be learned my young friend just the same as the farming of sheep said i not to be by a foreigner if we had thirty thousand men on the line of the hill th feel tower yonder yoa come to be ery glad that you had your boats behind you on the line of the hill said he with a flash of his eyes along the ridge yes if your man knew his he would have his left about your house his centre on and his right over near the doctor s house with his pushed out thickly in front his horse of course would try to cut us up as we on the beach but once let us form and we should soon know what to do there s the weak point there at the gap i would s it with my guns then roll in my cavalry push the on in grand columns and that wing would find itself up in the air eh jack where would your be at the heels of your man said i and we both burst out into the hearty laugh with which such usually ended sometimes when he talked i thought he was joking and at other times it was not quite so easy to say i well remember one evening that summer when he was sitting in the kitchen with my father jim and me after the women had gone to bed he began about scotland and its relation to england you used to have your own king and your own laws made at said he does it not fill you with rage and despair when you think that it all comes to you from london now jim took his pipe out of his mouth it was we who put our king over the english so if there s any rage it should have been over yonder said he yo the great shadow this was clearly news lo the stranger and it silenced him for the moment well but your laws are made down there and surely that is not good he said at last no it would be well to have a parliament back in said my father but i	4
am kept so busy with the sheep that i have little enough time to think of such things it is for fine young men like you two to think of it said de when a country is injured it is to its young men that it looks to it aye the english take too much upon themselves sometimes said jim well if there are many of that way of thinking about why should we not form them into and march them upon london cried de that would be a rare little said i laughing and who would lead us he jumped up bowing with his hand on his heart in his queer fashion if you will allow me to have the honour i he cried and then seeing that we were all laughing he began to laugh also but i am sure that there was really no thought of a joke in his mind i could never make out what his age could be nor could jim either sometimes we thought that he was an man that looked young and at others that he was a man who looked old his brown stiff close hair needed no at the top where it away to a shining curve his skin too was by a thousand fine wrinkles and and was all burned as i have the tower jt already said by the sun yet he was as as a boy and he was as tough as walking all day over the hills or on the sea without turning a hair on the whole we thought that he might be about forty or forty five though it was hard to see how he could have seen so much of life in the time but one day we got talking of ages and then he surprised us i had been saying that i was just twenty and jim said that he was twenty seven then i am the most old of the three said de we laughed at this for by our reckoning he might almost have been our father but not by so much said he his brows i was nine and twenty in december and it was this even more than his talk which made us understand what an life it must have been that he had led he saw our astonishment and laughed at it i have lived i have lived he cried i have spent my days and my nights i led a company in a battle where five nations were engaged when i was but fourteen i made a king turn pale at the words i whispered in his ear when i was twenty i had a hand in a kingdom and putting a fresh king upon a great throne the very year that i came of age mon i have lived my life that was the most that i ever heard him confess of his past life and he only shook his head and laughed when we tried to get something more out of him there were times when we thought that he was but a clever for what could a man of such influence and the great shadow talents be here in for but one day there came an incident which showed us that he had indeed a history in the past you will remember that there was an old officer of the who lived no great way from us the same who danced round the with his sister and the two maids he had gone up to london on some business about his and his wound money and the chance of having some work given him so that he did not come back until late in the autumn one of the first days after his return he came down to see us and there for the first time he clapped eyes upon de never in my life did i look upon so astonished a face and he stared at our friend for a long minute without so much as a word de looked back at him equally hard but there was no recognition in his eyes i do not know who you are sir he said at last but you look at me as if you had seen me before so i have answered the major never to my knowledge but ril swear it where then at the village of in the year de started and stared again at our neighbour mon what a he cried and you were the english i remember you very well indeed sir let me have a whisper in your ear he took him aside and talked very earnestly with him in french for a quarter of an hour with his hands and explaining something while the ihe tower major nodded his old head from time to time at last they seemed to come to some agreement and i heard the major say times and afterwards fortune de la which i could very well understand for they gave you a fine at s but after that i always noticed that the major never used the same free fashion of speech that we did towards our but bowed when he addressed him and treated him with a wonderful deal of respect i asked the major more than once what he knew about him but he always put it off and i could get no answer out of him jim was at home all that summer but late in the autumn he went back to again for the winter and as he intended to work very hard and get his degree next spring if he could he said that he would bide up there for the christmas so there was a great leave taking between him and cousin and he was to put up his plate and to marry her as soon as he had the right to practice i never knew a man love a woman more fondly than he did	4
her and she liked him well enough in a way for indeed in the whole of scotland she would not find a finer looking man but when it came to marriage i think she a httle at the thought that all her wonderful dreams should end in nothing more than in being the wife of a country surgeon still there was only me and jim to choose out of and she took the best of us of course there was de also but we always felt that he was of an altogether different class to us and so he didn t count i was never very sure at that he great shadow time whether cared for him or not when jim was at home they took little notice of each other after he was gone they were thrown more together which was natural enough as he had taken up so much of her time before once or twice she spoke to me about de as though she did not like him and yet she was uneasy if he were not in in the evening and there was no one so fond of his talk or with so many questions to ask him as she she made him describe what queens wore and what sort of carpets they walked on and whether they had in their hair and how many feathers they had in their hats until it was a wonder to me how he could find an answer to it all and yet an answer he always had and was so ready and quick with his tongue and so anxious to amuse her that i wondered how it was that she did not like him better well the summer and the autumn and the best part of the winter passed away and we were still all very happy together we got well into the year and the great emperor was still eating his heart out at and all the were together at as to what they should do with the lion s skin now that they had so fairly hunted him down and we in our little comer of europe went on with our petty peaceful business looking after the sheep attending the cattle and at night round the blazing fire we never thought that what all these high and mighty people were doing could have any bearing upon us and as to war why everybody was agreed that the great shadow was lifted from us for ever and that unless the quarrelled the tower themselves there would not be a shot fired in for another fifty years there was one incident however that stands out ery clearly in my memory i think that it must have about the february of this year and i will ill it to you before i go any further you know what the border castles are like i ave no doubt they were just square heaps built very here and there along the line so that the folk light have some place of protection against nd when and his men were over le then the people would drive some of cattle into the yard of the tower shut up the big ate and light a fire in the at the top which ould be answered by all the other towers until le lights would go twinkling up to the and so carry the news on to the and but now of course all these old keeps ere and crumbling and made fine for the wild birds many a good egg have ad for my collection out of the tower one day i had been a very long walk away over leave a message at the who ve two miles on tliis side of about five clock just before the sun set i found myself on the path with the end of west inch peeping up front of me and the old tower lying on my turned my eyes on the keep for it looked so ne i ith the flush of the level sun beating full upon it nd the blue sea stretching out behind and as i stared suddenly saw the face of a man twinkle for a moment one of the holes in the wall the great shadow well i stood and wondered over this for what could anybody be doing in such a place now that it was too early for the season it was so queer that i was determined to come to the bottom of t so tired as i was i turned my shoulder on home and walked swiftly towards the tower the grass stretches right up to the very base of the wall and my feet made little noise until i reached the crumbling arch where the old gate used to be i peeped through and there was de standing inside the keep and peeping out through the very hole at which i had seen his face he was turned half away from me and it was clear that he had not seen me at all for he was staring with all his eyes over in the direction of west inch as i advanced my foot rattled he that lay in the and he turned round with a start and faced me he was not a man whom you could put out of countenance and his face changed no more than if he had been expecting me there for a but there was something in his eyes which let me know that he would have paid a good price to have me back on the path again said i what are you doing here i may ask you that said he i came up because i saw your face at the window and i because as you may well have observed i have very much interest for all that has to do with the military and of course castles are among them you will excuse	4
me for one moment my dear and he stepped out suddenly through the hole io the wall so as to be out of my sight the tower but i was very much too curious to excuse him so easily i shifted my ground swiftly to see what it was that he was after he was standing outside and waving his hand as in a signal what are you doing i cried and then running out to his side i looked across the to see whom he was to you go too far sir said he angrily i didn t thought you would have gone so far a gentleman has the freedom to act as he choose without your being the spy upon him if we are to be friends you must not interfere in my affairs i don t like these secret doings said i and my father would not like them either your father can speak for himself and there is no secret said he it is you with your that make a secret ta ta i have no patience with such foolishness and without as much as a nod he turned his back upon me and started walking swiftly to west inch well i followed him and in the worst of for i had a feeling that there was some mischief in the wind and yet i could not for the life of me think what it all meant again i found myself over the whole mystery of this man s coming and of his long residence among us and whom could he have expected to meet at the tower was the fellow a spy and was it some brother spy who came to speak with him there but that was absurd what could there be to spy about in and besides major knew all about him and he would not show him such respect if there were anything amiss the great shadow i had just got as far as this in my thoughts when i heard a cheery hail and there was the major himself coming down the hill from his house with his big held in this dog was a savage creature and had caused more than one accident on the country side but the major was very fond of it and would never go out without it though he kept it tied with a good thick of leather well just as i was looking at the major waiting for him to come up he stumbled with his lame leg over a ot and in recovering himself he let go his hold of the and in an instant there was the beast of a dog flying down the in my direction i did not like it i can tell you for there was neither stick nor stone about and i knew that the brute was dangerous the major was shrieking to it from behind and i think that the creature thought that he was it on so furiously did it rush but i knew its name and i thought that maybe that might give me the privileges of so as it came at me with hair and its nose back between its two red eyes i cried out at the pitch of my lungs it had its effect for the beast passed me with a and flew along the path on the traces of de he turned at the shouting and seemed to take in the whole thing at a glance but he strolled along as slowly as ever my heart was in my mouth for for the dog had never seen him and i ran as fast as my feet would carry me to drag it away him but somehow as it bounded up and saw the finger and thumb which de held out the tower behind him its fury died suddenly away and we saw it its thumb of a tail and at his knee your dog then major said he as its owner came up ah it is a fine beast a fine pretty thing the major was blowing hard for he had covered the ground nearly as fast as i i was afraid lest he might have hurt you he panted ta ta ta cried de he is a pretty gentle thing i always love the dogs but i am glad that i have met you major for here is this young gentleman to whom i owe very much who has begun to think that i am a spy is it not so jack i was so taken by his words that i could not lay my tongue to an answer but coloured up and looked like the awkward country lad that i was you know me major said de and i am sure that you will tell him that this could not be no no jack certainly not certainly not cried the major thank you said de you know me and you do me justice and yourself i hope that your knee is better and that you will soon have your regiment given you i am well enough answered the major but they will never give me a place unless there is war and there will be no more war in my time oh you think that said de with a smile well we shall see my friend he off his hat and turning briskly he o the great shadow walked off in the direction of west inch the major stood looking after him with thoughtful eyes and then asked me what it was that had made me think that he was a spy when i told him he said nothing but he shook his head and looked like a man who was ill at ease in his mind chapter viii the coming of the i never felt quite the same to our after that little business at the castle it was always in my mind that he was	4
holding a secret from me indeed that he was all a secret together seeing that he always hung a veil over his past and when by chance that veil was for an instant away we always caught just a glimpse of something bloody and violent and dreadful upon the other side the very look of his body was terrible i bathed with him once in the summer and i saw then that he was with wounds all over besides seven or eight and his ribs on one side were all twisted out of shape and a part of one of his had been torn away he laughed in his merry way when he saw my face of wonder said he running his hand over his and the ribs were broke by an it is very bad to have the guns pass over one now with cavalry it is nothing a horse will pick its steps however fast it may go i have been ridden over by fifteen hundred and by the russian of and i had no harm from that but guns are very bad the coming of the i and the calf i asked it is only a wolf bite said he you would not think how i came by it you will understand that my horse and i had been struck the horse killed and i with my ribs broken by the well it was cold oh bitter bitter i the ground like iron and no one to help the wounded so that they into such shapes as would make you smile i too felt that i was so what did l do i took my sword and i opened my dead horse so well as i could and i made space in him for me to lie with one little hole for my mouth it was warm enough there but there was not room for the entire of me so my feet and part of my legs stuck out then in the night when i slept there came the wolves to eat the horse and they had a little pinch of me also as you can see but after that i was on guard with my pistols and they had no more of me there i lived very warm and nice for ten days ten days i cried what did you eat why i ate the horse it was what you call board and lodging to me but of course i have sense to eat the legs and live in the body there were many dead about who had all their water bottles so i had all i could wish and on the day there came a of light cavalry and all was well it was by such chance as these hardly worth repeating in themselves that there came light upon himself and his past but the day was coming when we should know all and how it came i shall try now to tell you the winter had been a dreary cue ihe great shadow came the first signs of spring and for a week on end we had sunshine and winds from the south on the th jim was to come back from for though the ended with the ist his examination would take him a week and i were out walking on the sea beach on the th and i could talk of nothing but my old friend for indeed he was the only friend of my own age that i had at that time was very silent which was a rare thing with her but she listened smiling to all that i had to say poor old jim said she once or twice under her breath poor old jim i and if he has passed said i why then of course he will put up his plate and have his own house and we shall be losing our i tried to make a jest of it and to speak lightly but the words still stuck in my throat poor old jim said she again and there were tears in her eyes as she said it and poor old she added slipping her hand into mine as we walked you cared for me a little bit once also didn t you oh is not that a sweet little ship out yonder it was a dainty of about thirty tons very swift by the of her and the lines of her bow she was coming up from the south under and but even as we watched her all her white canvas shut suddenly in like a closing her wings and we saw the splash of her anchor just under her she may have been rather less than a quarter of a mile from the shore so near that i could see a tall man with a cap who the coming of the stood at the quarter with a to his eye sweeping it backwards and forwards along the coast what can they want here asked they are rich english from london said i for that was how we explained everything that was above our comprehension in the border we stood for the best part of an hour watching the craft and then as the sun was lying low on a and there was a in the evening air we turned back to west inch as you come to the from the front you pass up a garden with little enough in it which leads out by a gate to the road the same gate at which we stood on the night when the were lit the night that we saw walter scott ride past on his way to on the right of this gate on the garden side was a bit of a which was said to have been made by my father s mother many years before she had fashioned it out of water worn stones and sea	4
shells with and in the well as we came in through the gates my eyes fell upon this stone heap and there was a letter stuck in a stick upon the top of it i took a step forward to see what it was but sprang in front of me and it off she thrust it into her pocket that s for me said she laughing but i stood looking at her with a face which drove the laugh from her lips who is it from i asked she but made no answer who is it from woman i cried is it possible that you have been as false to jim as you were to me the great shadow how rude you are she cried i do wish that you would mind your own business there is only one person that it could be from i cried it is from this man de and suppose that you are right the coolness of the woman amazed and enraged me you confess it i cried have you then no shame left why should i not receive letters from this gentleman because it is infamous and why because he is a stranger on the contrary said she he is my husband chapter ix the doings at west inch i can remember that moment so well i have heard from others that a great sudden blow has their senses it was not so with me on the contrary i saw and heard and thought more clearly than i had ever done before i can remember that my eyes caught a little of marble as broad as my palm which was in one of the grey stones of the and i found time to admire its delicate and yet the look upon my face must have been strange for cousin screamed and leaving me she ran off to the house i followed her and tapped at the window of her room for i could see that she was there go away go away she cried you are the doings at west inch going to me i won t be i won t open the window go away but i continued to tap i must have a word with you what is it then she cried raising the about three inches the moment you begin to i shall close it are you really married yes i am married who married you father at the roman catholic chapel at and you a he wished it to be in a catholic church when was it on wednesday week i remembered then that on that day she had driven over to while de had been away on a long walk as he said among the hills what about jim i asked oh jim will forgive me you will break his heart and ruin his life no no he will forgive me he will murder de oh how could you bring such disgrace and misery upon us ah now you are scolding she cried and down came the window i waited some little time and tapped for i had much still to ask her but she would return no answer and i thought that i could hear her sobbing at last i gave it up and i was about to go into the house for the great shadow it was nearly dark now when i heard the click of the garden gate it was de himself but as he came up the path he seemed to me to be either mad or drunk he danced as he walked cracked his fingers in the air and his eyes blazed like two will o the he shouted de la just as he had done when he was off his head and then suddenly en en and up he came waving his walking cane over his head he stopped short when he saw me looking at him and i he felt a bit ashamed of himself he cried i didn t thought anybody was there i am in what you call the high spirits to night so it seems said i in my blunt fashion may not feel so merry when my friend jim comes back to morrow ah he comes back to morrow does he and why should i not feel merry because if i know the man he will kill you ta ta ta cried de i see that you know of our marriage has told you jim may do what he likes you have given us a nice return for having taken you in my good fellow said he i have as you say given you a very nice return i have taken from a life which is unworthy of her and i have connected you by marriage with a noble family however i have some letters which i must write to night and the rest we can talk over to morrow when your friend jim is here to help us the doings at west inch he stepped towards the door and this was whom you were awaiting at the tower i cried seeing light suddenly why you are becoming quite sharp said he in a mocking tone and an instant later i heard the door of his room close and the key turn in the lock i thought that i should see him no more that night but a few minutes later he came into the kitchen where i was sitting with the old folk madame said he bowing down with his hand over his heart in his own queer fashion i have met with much kindness in your hands and it shall always be in my heart i didn t thought i could have been so happy in the quiet country as you have made me you will accept this small and you also sir you will take this little gift which i have the honour to make to you he put two little paper down upon the	4
table at their elbows and then with three more bows to my mother he walked from the room her present was a with a green stone set in the middle and a dozen little shining white ones all round it we had never seen such things before and did not know how to set a name to them but they told us afterwards at that the big one was an and the others were diamonds and that they were worth much more than all the we had that spring my dear old mother has been gone now this many a year but that at the neck of my eldest daughter when she goes out into company and i never look at it that i do not see the the at shadow keen eyes and the long thin nose and the cat s whiskers of our at west inch as to my father he had a fine gold watch with a double case and a proud man was he as he sat with it in the palm of his hand his ear stooping to to the i do not know which was best pleased and they would talk of nothing but what de had given them he s given you something more said i at last what then asked father a husband for cousin said l they thought i was when i said that but when they came to that it was the real truth they were as proud and as pleased as if i had told them that she had married the indeed poor jim with his hard drinking and his fighting had not a very bright name on the country side and my mother had often said that no good could come of a match now de was for all we knew steady and quiet and well to do and as to the secrecy of it secret marriages were very common in scotland at that time when only a few words were needed to make man and wife so nobody thought much of that the old folk were as pleased then as if their rent had been lowered but i was still sore at heart for it seemed to me that my friend had been cruelly dealt with and i knew well that he was not a man who would easily put up with it the return of the shadow chapter x the return of the shadow i woke with a heavy heart the next morning for i knew that jim would be home before long and that it would be a day of trouble but how much trouble that day was to bring or how far it would alter the lives of all of us was more than i had ever thought in my darkest moments but let me tell you it all just in the order that it happened i had to get up early that morning for it was just the first flush of the and my father and i were out on the as soon as it was fairly light as i came out into the passage a wind struck upon my face and there was the house door wide open and the grey light drawing another door upon the inner wall and when i looked again there was s room open also and de s too and i saw in a flash what that giving of presents meant upon the evening before it was a leave taking and they were gone my heart was bitter against cousin die as i stood looking into her room to think that for the sake of a new comer she could leave us all without one kindly word or as much as a and he too i had been afraid of what would happen when jim met him but now there seemed to be something cowardly in this of him i was angry and hurt and sore and i went out into the open without a word to my father and climbed up on to the to cool my flushed face go the great shadow when i got up to i caught my last glimpse of cousin the little still lay where she had but a was pulling out to her from the shore in the stern i saw a flutter of red and i knew that it came from her shawl i watched the boat reach the and the folk climb on to her deck then the anchor came up the white wings spread once more and away she dipped right out to sea i still saw that little red spot on the deck and de standing beside her they could see me also for i was against the sky and they both waved their hands for a long time but gave it up at last when they found that i would give them no answer i stood with my arms folded feeling as as ever i did in my hfe until their was only a square patch of white among the mists of the morning it was breakfast time and the upon the table before i got back but i had no heart for the food the old folk had taken the matter coolly enough though my mother had no word too hard for for the two had never had much love for each other and less of late than ever there s a letter here from him said my father pointing to a note folded up on the table it was in his room maybe you would read it to us they had not even opened it for truth to tell neither of the good folk were very clever at reading ink though they could do well with a fine large print it was addressed in big letters to the good people of west inch and this was the note which lies before me all stained and faded as i write my friends	4
all to do over again aye we thought we were out from the shadow but it s still there is ordered from to the low countries and it is thought that the emperor will break out first on that side well it s a bad the return of the shadow wind that blows nobody any good i ve just had news that i am to join the st as senior major i shook hands with our good neighbour on this for i knew how it had lain upon his mind that he should be a with no part to play in the world i am to join my regiment as soon as i can and we shall be over yonder in a month and in paris maybe before another one is over by the lord then fm with you major cried jim fm not too proud to carry a if you will put me in front of this frenchman my lad be proud to have you serve under me said the major and as to de where the emperor is he will be you know the man said i what can you tell us of him there is no better officer in the french army and that is a big word to say they say that he would have been a but he preferred to stay at the emperor s elbow i met him two days before when i was sent with a flag to speak about our wounded he was with then i knew him again when i saw him and i will know him again when i see him said with the old look on his face and then at that instant as i stood there it was suddenly driven home to me how poor and a life i should lead while this crippled friend of ours and the companion of my boyhood were away in the of the storm quick as a flash my resolution was taken come with you too major i cried the great shadow said my father wringing his hands jim said nothing but put his arm half round me and me the major s eyes shone and he flourished his cane in the air my word but i shall have two good at my heels said he well there s no time to be lost so you must both be ready for the evening coach and this was what a single day brought about and yet years pass away so often without a change just think of the alteration in that four and twenty hours de was gone was gone napoleon had escaped war had broken out jim had lost everything and he and i were setting out to fight against the french it was all like a dream until i off to the coach that evening and looked back at the grey farm and at the two little dark figures my mother with her face sunk in her shawl and my father waving his s stick to me upon my way chapter xl the gathering of the nations and now i come to a bit of my story that clean takes my breath away as i think of it and makes me wish that i had never taken the job of telling it in hand for when t write i like things to come slow and orderly and in their turn like sheep coming out of a so it was at west inch but now that we were drawn into a larger life like bits of straw that float slowly down some lazy ditch until they suddenly the gathering of the nations find themselves in the dash and of a great river then it is very hard for me with my simple words to keep pace with it all but you can find the cause and reason of everything in the books about history and so i shall just leave that alone and talk about what i saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears the regiment to which our friend had been appointed was the st light which wore the red coat and the and had its in town there we went all three by coach the major in great spirits and full of stories about the duke and the while jim sat in the comer with his lips set and his arms folded and i knew that he killed de three times an hour in his heart i could tell it by the sudden of his eyes and grip of his hand as to me i did not know whether to be glad or sorry for home is home and it is a weary thing however you may brazen it out to feel that half scotland is between you and your mother we were in next day and the major took us down to the t where a soldier with three on his arm and a of ribbons from his cap showed every tooth he had in his head at the sight of jim and walked three times round him to have the view of him as if he had been castle then he came over to me and me in the ribs and felt my muscle and was nigh as pleased as with jim these are the sort major these are the sort he kept saying with a thousand of these we could stand up to s best how do they run asked the major a poor show said he but they may into the great shadow etc the great shadow shape the best men have been to america and we are full of and tut tut said the major we ll have old soldiers and good ones against us come to me if you need any help you two and so with a nod he left us and we began to understand that a major who is your officer is a very different person from	4
a major who happens to be your neighbour in the country well well why should i trouble you with these things i could wear out a good pen just writing about what we did jim and i at the in and how we came to know our officers and our comrades and how they came to know us soon came the news that the folk of who had been cutting up europe as if it had been a of mutton had flown back each to his own country and that every man and horse in their armies had their faces towards france we heard of great and in paris too and then that was in the low countries and that on us and on the would fall the first blow the government was shipping men over to him as fast as they could and every port along the east coast was choked with guns and horses and stores on the third of june we had our marching orders also and on the same night we took ship from reaching the night after it was my first sight of a foreign land and indeed most of my comrades the same for we were very young in the ranks i can see the blue waters now and the curling surf line and the long yellow beach and queer twisting and turning a thing that a man would not see from one the gathering of the nations end of scotland to the other it was a clean well kept town but the folk were under sized and there was neither ale no cakes to be bought amongst them from there we went on to a place called and from there to where we picked up with the nd and the th which were two that we were with it s a wonderful place for churches and is and indeed of all the towns we were in there was scarce one but had a finer than any in from there we pushed on to which is a little village on a river or a burn rather called the there we were in tents mostly for it was fine sunny weather and the whole set to work at its from morning till evening general was our chief and was our colonel and they were both fine old soldiers but what put heart into us most was to think that we were under the duke for his name was like a call he was it with the bulk of the army but we knew that we should see him quick enough if he were needed i had never seen so many english together and indeed i had a kind of contempt for them as folk always have if they live near a border but the two that were with us now were as good comrades as could be the nd had a thousand men in the ranks and there were many old soldiers of the among them they came from for the most part the th were a rifle regiment and had dark green coats instead of red it was strange to see them for they would put the ball into a greasy rag and then hammer it down with a but they i loo great shadow could fire both further and than we all that part of was covered with british troops at that time for the guards were over near and there were cavalry on the further side of us you ee it was very necessary that should spread out all his force for was behind the screen of his and of course we had no means of saying on what side he might pop out except that he was pretty sure to come the way that we least expected him on the one side he might get between us and the sea and so cut us off from england and on the other he might in between the and ourselves but the duke was as clever as he for he had his horse and his light troops all round him like a great spider s web so that the moment a french foot stepped across the border he could close up all his men at the right place for myself i was very happy at and i found the folk very kindly and homely there was a farmer of the name of in whose fields we were and who was a real good friend to many of us we built him a wooden bam among us in our spare time and many a time i and my rear rank man have hung out his washing for the smell of the wet linen seemed to take us both straight home as nothing could do i have often wondered whether that good man and his wife are still living though i think it hardly likely for they were of a hale middle age at the time jim would come with us too sometimes and would sit with us smoking in the big kitchen but he was a different jim now to the old one he had always had a hard touch in him but now his trouble i the gathering of the nations loi seemed to have turned him to flint and i never saw a smile upon his face seldom heard a word from liis lips whole mind was set on himself upon de for having taken from him and he would sit for hours with his chin upon his hands glaring and frowning all wrapped in the one idea this made him a bit of a butt among the men at first and they laughed at him for it but when they came to know him better they found that he was not a good man to laugh at and then they dropped it we were early at that time and the whole was usually under arms at the	4
first flush of dawn one morning it was the sixteenth of june we had just formed up and general had ridden up to give some order to colonel within a of where i stood when suddenly they both stood staring along the road none of us dared move our heads but every eye in the regiment round and there we saw an officer with the of a general s de camp thundering down the road as hard as a great grey horse could carry him he bent his face over its mane and at its neck with the slack of the bridle as though he rode for very life says the general this begins to look like business what do you make of it they both their horses forward and tore open the which the messenger handed to him the had not touched the ground before he turned waving the letter over his head as if it had been a dismiss he cried general parade and march in half an hour i the great shadow then in an instant all was and bustle and the news on every lip napoleon had crossed the frontier the day before had pushed the before him and was already deep in the country to the east of us with a hundred and fifty thousand men away we to gather our things together and have our breakfast and in an hour we had marched off and left and the behind us for ever there was good need for haste for the had sent no news to of what was doing and though he had rushed from at the first whisper of it like a good old from its it was hard to see how he could come up in time to help the it was a bright warm morning and as the down the broad road the dust rolled up from it like the smoke of a battery i tell you that we blessed the man that planted the along the sides for their shadow was better than drink to us over across the fields both to the right and the left were other roads one quite close and the other a mile or more fi om us a column of was marching down the near one and it was a fair race between us for we were each walking for all we were worth there was such a wreath of dust round them that we could only see the gun barrels and the bear skins breaking out here and there with the head and shoulders of a mounted officer coming out above the cloud and the flutter of the colours it was a of the guards but we could not tell which for we had two of them with us in the campaign on the far road there was also dust and to spare but through it there flashed every now and then a long twinkle of brightness like a hundred silver beads the gathering of the nations io in a line and the breeze brought down such a kind of music as i had never listened to if i had been left to myself it would have been long before i knew what it was but our and were all old soldiers and i had one along with his at my elbow who was full of and advice that s heavy horse said he you see that double twinkle that means they have as well as it s the or the or the household you can hear their and the french are too good for us they have ten to our one and good men too you ve got to shoot at their faces or else at their horses mind you that when you see them coming or else you ll find a four foot sword stuck through your liver to teach you better hark hark hark there s the old music again and as he spoke there came the low grumbling of a away somewhere to the east of us deep and hoarse like the roar of some blood beast that on the lives of men at the same instant there was a shouting of from behind and somebody roared let the guns get through looking back i saw the rear companies split suddenly in two and themselves down on either side into the ditch while six cream coloured horses galloping two and two with their to the ground came thundering through the gap with a fine twelve pound gun whirling and creaking behind them behind were another and another four and twenty in all past us with such a din and clatter the blue men clinging on i the great shadow to the gun and the the drivers cursing and their the flying the and and the whole air filled with the heavy and the of chains there was a roar from the and a shout from the and we saw a rolling grey cloud before us with a score of breaking through the shadow then we closed up again while the growling ahead of us grew louder and deeper than ever there s three there said the there s bull s and smith s but the other is new there s some more on ahead of us for here is the track of a nine and the others were all choose a twelve if you want to get hit for a nine you up but a twelve you like a and then he went on to tell about the dreadful wounds that he had seen until my blood ran like water in my veins and you might have rubbed all our faces in and we should have been no aye you ll look yet when you get a of into your said he and then as i saw some of the old soldiers laughing i began to understand that this man was trying to frighten us so i	4
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 myself and jim 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 grey headed evils that have done nothing but fight since they were s high as	4
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 a great black chap he was too 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 v r a i r i o r ot ev r y m t ti i tor v ce ind i 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 they were this time 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 t or thinking of one s ot t r feel that you want tc vm i have gone through hi i i that time for hey r ii n them and we se r i r at a mi f rt m i mothers weeping for f i w have felt so pleased oi er i hot brutes when hey are p 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 again this gave us time to too for the regiment had in the sun but deal worse for some of dutch were thousand of th in our line pleased them too and o had been with us or soaked r ir was firm bound i r f r 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	4
j j i 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 stooping straining 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 ua ut of the cannon smoke like a until e seemed to be no end to the m c fo fan a spray of 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	4
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 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 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 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 b of th r enemies the guns too came bounding and rattling forward and our light cavalry as much as was left of it 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 day was iii to steal un i li v of our bam iii u i 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	4
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 major i want you to come me i fee tha r 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 i 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 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 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	4
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 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 for we were only allowed to go about in couples 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	4
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 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	4
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 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 miss and miss 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	4
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	4
smiled at the two little stiff black figures and departed in search of his mistress what 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 tr is x n oh r he sit r r have he iv i he is i w rt e she hat r r s hat on i i r oh et k et w v her inn ir r t r r z r n v h he i t r v r j j c i 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 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 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	4
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 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	4
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 i ih u r x v complete admiral ij z l i i t white haired sc v r n i common in ic ji j l r li r on the be vii z r v c more t ri ii i lit v v e xi s j i u k a j with an c a s it v is ow i li r r j o x o an s ii ii n li put him as a x v r l o v for lay l a c i z x jl js n a ji f a large public c i il vii r i c i t j u j i sports i p r f m i ji j he had a hard t x ia and formal t in jf tr d iii i u him and silent iv i i iii ca t i equal he could i a ou rt c c style and he had a of j c i i c world and its wa i r a mu l 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 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 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 a 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 v 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 ii k i v which he r i i h f e ry the rf he ii	4
wm r sure in the us he ti v z had in fr r r limbs upon we 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 a c r i t fi cut cure sc k i ill a jt she a i m w i r s io i t l l i it v a a p vi p tv f v i u he r i e lie i i i the r ir z her t v a si a j 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 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 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	4
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 he sank his voice to a whisper 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 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	4
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 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 from da and a d car r raised the doctor lad gone into his cf f was empty v single small red was by i h aiid the mahogany it i s g 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 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 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 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	4
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 w n m rt f n sl i n ture high minded and r ar a v l like this secrecy t ji w r one so fi sa a v passing she i i n fc next day die 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 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	4
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 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 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	4
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 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 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 tion which mrs held l iy s js admiral the only person in the b w to find his opinion con ly j 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 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	4
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 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 ft 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	4
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	4
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 but 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 shooting and riding and sport would it 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 and 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	4
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 no no dear i	4
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 all these qualities was willing to allow her 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 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	4
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 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	4
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 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	4
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	4
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 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 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 i could have borne it but at my age my honour 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 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	4
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 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 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 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 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	4
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	4
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 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	4
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 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	4
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 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	4
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 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 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	4
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	4
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 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 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 a loaded stick i think 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	4
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 of absolute fact 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 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	4
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 in every other direction tlie m n is wilderness inhabited only by a ft w ro i l es such was the general situation last n 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 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 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	4
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 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 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	4
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	4
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 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	4
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	4
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 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 plate each h ft with added for four and five year second 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	4
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	4
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	4
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 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	4
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 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 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 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	4
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 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	4
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	4
started her life as she thought afresh she had been married three years and believed that her position was quite secure having shown her husband the death of some man whose name she had assumed 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	4
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 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	4
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 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	4
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 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 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 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 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	4
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 mere 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 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 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	4
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 how for answer he took a big red book out of a drawer this is a of paris said he 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 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	4
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 of a horror such as comes to few men in a lifetime his brow with perspiration his cheeks were of the dull dead white o 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	4
coloured face puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath 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 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 o 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	4
a london paper an early edition of the evening standard here is what we want look at the 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 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 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	4
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 it is simplicity itself said l when you your arm to draw that fish into the boat i saw that j a had been	4
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 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 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 not one the governor has never held up his head from that evening and now the life has been crushed out of him and	4
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 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	4
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 for you know that my heart is weak 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 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 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	4
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 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	4
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 w 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 w t off to his bedroom from which he returned presently pulling a tin box behind him he placed in the middle ai the 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 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	4
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 he was always a bit of a 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 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 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	4
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 or did until yesterday 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 on thursday night to be more exact 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 a 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 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 it will indeed 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	4
not to be cast out before all the folk that i know so well 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 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 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 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	4
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 old apparently	4
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 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 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 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 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	4
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	4
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 the lock has been forced 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	4

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