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the fragment of paper in the dead man s hand bearing as it does the very hour of his death written upon it is of extreme importance it should give a clue mr it does g ve a clue whoever wrote that note was the man who brought william out of his bed at that hour but where is the rest of th t sheet of paper by of i the ground carefully in the hope of finding it said the it was torn out of the dead man s hand why was so anxious to get possession of it because it him and what would he do with it thrust it into his pocket most likely never noticing that a corner of it had been left in the grip of the corpse if we could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have gone a long way towards the mystery yes but how can we get at the criminal s pocket before we catch the criminal well well it was worth thinking over then there is another obvious the note was sent to the man who wrote it could not have taken it otherwise of course he might have delivered his own message by word of mouth who brought the note then or did it come through the post i have made inquiries said the william received a letter by the afternoon post yesterday the envelope was destroyed by him excellent cried the by the on the back you ve seen the it is a pleasure to work with you well here is the lodge and if you will come up colonel i will show you the scene of the crime we passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived and walked up an oak lined avenue to the fine old queen anne house which bears the date of upon the of the door and the led us round it until we came to the side gate which is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the road a was standing at the kitchen door throw the door open officer said now it was on those stairs that young mr stood and saw the two men struggling just where we are old mr was at that window the second on the left and he saw the fellow get away just to the left of that bush so did the son they are both sure of it on account of the bush then ran out and knelt beside the wounded man the ground is very hard you see and there are no marks to guide us of by of as he spoke two men came down the garden path from round the angle of the house the one was an elderly man with a strong deep lined face the other a dashing young fellow whose bright smiling expression and dress were in strange contrast with the business which had brought us there still at it then said he to i thought you were never at fault you don t seem to be so very quick after all ah you must give us a little time said good you ll want it said young why i don t see that we have any clue at all there s only one answered the we thought that if we could only find good heavens mr what is the matter my poor friend s face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful expression his eyes rolled upwards his features in agony and with a suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground at the suddenness and severity by the of tlie attack we carried him into the kitchen where he lay back in a large chair and breathed heavily for some minutes finally with a shame faced apology for his weakness he rose once more would tell you that i have only just recovered from a severe illness he explained i am liable to these sudden nervous attacks shall i send you home in my trap asked old well since i am here there is one point on which i should like to feel sure we can very easily it what is it well it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of this poor fellow william was not before but after the entrance of the into the house you appear to take it for granted that although the door was forced the robber never got in i fancy that is quite obvious said mr gravely why my son had not yet gone to bed and he would certainly have heard anyone moving about by of where was he sitting i was sitting smoking in my dressing which window is that the last on the left next my father s both your lamps were lit of course undoubtedly there are some very points here said smiling is it not extraordinary that a and a who had had some previous experience should deliberately break into a house at a time when he could see from the lights that two of the family were still he must have been a cool hand well of course if the case were not an odd one we should not have been driven to ask you for an explanation said but as to your idea that t ie man had robbed the house before william him i think it a most absurd notion shouldn t we have found the place and missed the things which he had taken it depends on what the things were said you must remember that we are dealing by the with a who is a very peculiar fellow and who appears to work on lines of his own look for example at the queer lot of things which he took from s what was it a ball of string a and i don	4
t know what other odds and ends well we are quite in your hands said old anything which you or the may suggest will most certainly be done la the first place said i should like you to offer a reward coming from yourself for the officials may take a little time before they would agree upon the sum and these things cannot be done too promptly i have down the form here if you would not mind it fifty pounds was quite enough i thought i would willingly give five hundred said the j p taking the slip of paper and the pencil which handed to him this is not quite correct however he added glancing over the document i wrote it rather hurriedly you see you begin whereas at about a quarter to one on tuesday morning an attempt was made by of and so on it was at a quarter to twelve as a matter of fact i was pained at the mistake for i knew how keenly would feel any slip of the kind jt was his to be accurate as to fact but his recent illness had shaken him and this one little incident was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself he was obviously embarrassed for an instant while the raised his eyebrows and burst into a laugh the old gentleman corrected the mistake however and handed the paper back to get it printed as soon as possible he said i think your idea is an excellent one put the slip of paper carefully away in his pocket book and now said he it would really be a good thing that we should all go over the house together and make certain that this rather did not after all carry an away with before entering made an examination of the door which had been forced it was by the j that a or strong knife had been thrust in and the lock forced back with it we could see the marks in the wood where it had been pushed in you don t use bars then he asked we have never found it necessary you don t keep a dog yes but he is chained on the other side of the house when do the servants go to bed about ten i understand that william was usually in bed also at that hour yes it is singular that on this particular night he should have been up now i should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show us over the house mr a stone passage with the away from it led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house it came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental stair which led up from the front hall out of this land by of ing opened the drawing room and several including those of mr and his son walked slowly taking keen note of the architecture of the house i could tell from his expression that he was on a hot scent and yet i could not in the least imagine in what direction his were leading him my good sir said mr with some impatience this is surely very unnecessary that is my room at the end of the stairs and my son s is the one beyond it i leave it to your judgment whether it was possible for the thief to have come up here without disturbing us you must try round and get on a fresh scent i fancy said the son with a rather malicious smile still i must ask you to humour me a little further i should like for example to see how far the windows of the command the front this i understand is your son s room he pushed open the door and that i presume is the in which he sat smoking when the alarm was given where does the window of that look out to by the he stepped across the bedroom pushed open the door and glanced round the other chamber i hope you are satisfied now said mr thank you i think i have seen all that i wished then if it is really necessary we can go into my room if it is not oo much trouble the j p shrugged his shoulders and led the way into his own chamber which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room as we moved across it in the direction of the window fell back until he and i were the last of the group near the foot of the bed was a small square table on which stood a dish of and a of water as we passed it to my unutterable astonishment leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over the glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every comer of the room youve done it now said he coolly a pretty mess youve made of the carpet by op i stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit understanding that for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon myself the others did the same and set the table on its legs again cried the where s he got to had disappeared wait here an instant said young the fellow is off his head in my opinion come with me father and see where he has got they rushed out of the room leaving the the colonel and me staring at each other ton my word i am inclined to agree with said the official it may be the effect of this illness but it seems to me that his words were cut short by a sudden scream of help help murder with a thrill i recognised the voice as that of my friend i rushed	4
madly from the room on to the landing the cries which had sunk down into a hoarse inarticulate shouting came by the from the room which we had first visited i dashed in and on into the dressing room beyond the two were bending over the prostrate figure of the younger clutching his throat with both hands while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists in an instant the three of us had torn them away from him and staggered to his feet very pale and evidently greatly exhausted arrest these men he gasped what charge that of their coachman william the stared about him in bewilderment oh come now mr said he at last i am sure you don t really mean to tut man look at their faces cried never certainly have i seen a confession of guilt upon human countenances the older man seemed and dazed with a heavy sullen expression upon his strongly marked face the son on the other hand had dropped all that by of dashing style which had him and tlie ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features the said nothing but stepping to the door he blew his whistle two of his came at the call have no alternative mr said he i trust that this may all prove to be an absurd mistake but you can see that ah would you drop he struck out with his hand and a revolver which the younger man was in the act of down upon the floor keep that said quickly putting his foot upon it you will find it useful at the trial but this is what we really wanted he held up a little piece of paper the remainder of the sheet cried the precisely and where was it where i was sure it must be til make the whole matter clear to you presently i think colonel that you and might return now and i will be with you again in an hour at the the by the and i must have a word with the prisoners but you will certainly see me back at time was as good as his word for about one o clock he rejoined us in the colonel s smoking room he was accompanied by a little elderly gentleman who was introduced to me as the mr whose house had been the scene of the original i wished mr to be present while i this small matter to you said for it is natural that he should take a keen interest in the details i am afraid my dear colonel that you must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy as i am on the contrary answered the colonel warmly i consider it the greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of working i confess that they quite my expectations and that i am utterly unable to account for your result i have not yet seen the of a clue i am afraid that my explanation may dis you but it has always been my habit to by of hide none of my methods either from my friend or from anyone who might take an intelligent interest in them but first as i am rather shaken by the knocking about which i in the dressing room i think that i shall help myself to a dash of your brandy colonel my strength has been rather tried of late i trust you had no more of these nervous attacks laughed heartily we will come to that in its turn said he i will lay an account of the case before you in its due order showing you the various points which guided me in my decision interrupt me if there is any which is not perfectly clear to you it is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize out of a number of facts which are and which are vital otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated now in this case there was not the slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the key of the whole matter must be looked for in tb scrap of paper in the de d man s hand by the j before going into this i would draw your attention to the fact that if s narrative were correct and if the after shooting william had instantly fled then it obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man s hand but if it was not he it must have been himself for by the time that the old man had descended several servants were upon the scene the point is a simple one but the had overlooked it because he had started with the supposition that these county had had nothing to do with the matter now i make a point of never having any prejudices and of following wherever fact may lead me and so in the very first stage of the investigation i found myself looking a little at the part which had been played by mr and now i made a very careful examination of the comer of paper which the had submitted to us it was at once clear to me that it formed part of a very remarkable document here it is do you not observe something very suggestive about it by of it has a very irregular look said the colonel my dear sir cried there cannot be the least doubt in the world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words when i draw your attention to the strong t s of at and to and ask you to compare them with the weak ones of quarter and twelve you will instantly recognise the fact a very brief analysis of those four words would	4
enable you to say with the utmost confidence that the and the maybe are written in the stronger hand and the what in the weaker by jove it s as dear as day cried the colonel why on earth should two men write a letter in such a fashion obviously the business was a bad one and one of the men who the other was determined that whatever was done each should have an equal hand in it now of the two men it is dear that the one who wrote the at and to was the ring leader how do you get at that we it from the mere character of the one hand as compared with the other but by the we have more assured reasons than that for supposing it if you examine this scrap with attention you will come to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all his words first leaving for the other to fill up these were not always sufficient and you can see that the second man had a squeeze to fit his quarter in between the at and the to showing that the latter were already written the man who wrote all his words first is undoubtedly the man who planned this affair excellent cried mr but very superficial said we come now however to a point which is of importance you may not be aware that the of a mail s age from his writing is one which has been brought to considerable accuracy by in normal cases one can place a man in his true with tolerable confidence i say normal cases because ill health and physical weakness the signs of old age even when the invalid is a youth in this case looking at the bold strong of by of of the one and the rather broken backed ap of the other which still its although the t s have begun to lose their we can say that the one was a young man and the other was advanced in years without being positively excellent cried mr again there is a further point however which is and of greater interest there is something in common between these hands they belong to men who are blood relatives it may be most obvious to you in the greek e s but to me there are many small points which indicate the same thing i have no doubt at all that a family can be traced in these two specimens of writing i am only of course giving you the leading results now of my examination of the paper there were twenty three other which would be of more interest to than to you they all tended to the impression upon my mind that the father and son had written this letter having got so far my next step was of course by the to examine into the details of the crime and to see how far they would help us i went up to the house with the and saw all that was to be seen the wound upon the dead man was as i was able to determine with absolute confidence caused by a shot from a revolver fired at the distance of something over four yards there was no on the clothes evidently therefore had lied when he said that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired again both father and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the road at that point however as it happens there is a ditch moist at the bottom as there were no indications of boot marks about this ditch i was absolutely sure not only that the had again lied but that there had never been any unknown man upon the scene at all and now i had to consider the motive of this crime to get at this i endeavoured first of all to solve the reason of the original at mr s i understood from something which by of the colonel told us that a law suit had been going on between you mr and the of course it instantly occurred to me that they had broken into your library with the intention of getting at some document which might be of importance in the case precisely so said mr there can be no possible doubt as to their intentions i have the claim upon half their present estate and if they could have found a single paper which fortunately was in the strong box of my they would undoubtedly have crippled our case there you are said smiling it was a dangerous reckless attempt in which i seem to trace the influence of young having found nothing they tried to divert suspicion by making it appear to be an ordinary to which end they carried off whatever they could lay their hands upon that is all dear enough but there was much that was still obscure what i wanted above all was to get the missing part of that note i was certain that had torn it out of the dead man s hand and almost certain that he must have thrust it into the pocket of his dressing gown where else could by the lie have put it the only question was whether it was still there it was worth an effort to find out and for that object we all went up to the house the joined us as you doubtless remember outside the kitchen door it was of course of the very first importance that they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper otherwise they would naturally destroy it without delay the was about to tell them the importance which we attached to it when by the chance in the world i tumbled down in a sort of fit and so changed the conversation good heavens cried the colonel laughing	4
do you mean to say all our s was wasted and your fit an speaking it was admirably done cried i looking in amazement at this man who was for ever me with some new phase of his it is an art which is often useful said he when i recovered i managed by a device which had perhaps some little merit of ingenuity to get old to write the word twelve so that i might compare it with the twelve upon the paper by of what an s i have been i see that you were with me over my weakness said i was to cause you the pain which i know that you felt we then went upstairs together and having entered the room and seen the dressing gown hanging up behind the door i con by a to engage their attention for the moment and slipped back to examine th pockets i had hardly got the er however which was as i had expected in one of them when the two were on me and would i verily believe have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and friendly aid as it is i feel that young man s grip on my throat now and the father has twisted my wrist md in the effort to get the paper out of my hand they saw that i must know all about it you and sudden change from absolute security to complete despair made them perfectly desperate i had a little talk with old afterwards as to the motive of the crime he was enough though his son was a perfect demon ready to blow out his own or anybody else s by the brains if he could have got to his revolver when saw that the case against him was so strong he lost all heart and made a clean breast of everything it seems that william had secretly followed his two masters on the night when they made their upon mr s and having thus got them into his power proceeded under of exposure to upon them however was a dangerous man to play games of that sort with it was a stroke of positive genius on his part to see in the scare which was the country side an opportunity of getting rid of the man whom he feared william was up and shot and had they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention to detail in their it is very possible that suspicion might never have been aroused and the note i asked placed the paper before us it is very much the sort of thing that i expected said he of course we do not yet know what the relations may have been between by o op william and the result shows that the trap was i am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of shown in the p s and in the tails of the g s the absence of the i in the old man s writing is also most characteristic i think our quiet rest in the country has been a distinct success and i shall certainly return much to baker street to morrow end of vou l f office of the by the of by a author of the adventures of etc edition in two volumes vol h by e library from te of by contents of volume il the crooked man the resident patient the greek the naval treaty the final problem by by the crooked man by by the crooked man one summer night a few months after my marriage i was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel for my day s work had been an one my wife had already gone upstairs and the sound of the of the hall door some time before told me that the servants had also retired i had risen from my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when i suddenly heard the of the bell i looked at the clock it was a quarter to twelve this could not be a visitor at so late an hour a patient evidently and possibly an all night sitting with a face i went out into the hall by of and opened the door to my astonishment it was who stood upon my step ah said he i hoped that i might not be too late to catch you my dear fellow pray come in you looked surprised and no wonder relieved too i fancy hum you still smoke the mixture of your bachelor days then there s no that ash upon your coat it s easy to tell that you ve been accustomed to wear a uniform you ll never pass as a pure bred as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve could you put me up to night with pleasure you told me that you had bachelor quarters for one and i see that you have no gentleman visitor at present your hat stand as much i shall be delighted if you will stay thank you til fill a vacant th en sorry by crooked man ii to see that you ve had the british workman in the house he s a token of evil not the i hope no the gas ah he has left two nail marks from his boot upon your just where the light strikes it no thank you i had some supper at but ru smoke a pipe with you with pleasure i handed him my and he seated himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence i was well aware that nothing but business of importance could have brought him to me at such an hour so i waited patiently until he should come round to	4
it i see that you are rather busy just now said he glancing very keenly across at me yes i ve had a busy day i answered it may seem very foolish in your eyes i added but really i don t know how you it chuckled to himself by of i have the advantage of knowing your habits my dear said he when your round is s short one you walk and when it is a long one you use a as i perceive that your boots although used are by no means dirty i cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the excellent i said he it is one of those instances where the can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the the same may be said my dear fellow for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours which is entirely depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some in the problem which are never imparted to the reader now at present i am in the position of these same readers for i hold in this hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man s brain and yet i lack the one or two which are needful to complete my by the crooked man theory but til have them fu have them his eyes kindled and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks for an instant the veil had lifted upon his keen intense nature but for an instant only when i glanced again his face had resumed that red indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man the problem present features of interest said he i may even say very exceptional features of interest i have already looked into the matter and have come as i think within sight of my solution if you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable service to me i should be delighted could you go as far as to morrow i have no doubt would take my practice veiy good i want to start by the ii io from that would give me time then if you are not too sleepy i will give you by of a sketch of what has happened and of what remains to be done i was sleepy before you came i am quite now i will the story as far as may be done without anything vital to the case it is conceivable that you may even have read some account of the matter it is the supposed murder of colonel of the royal at which i am i have heard nothing of it it has not excited much attention yet except the facts are only two days old briefly they are these the royal is as you know one of the most famous irish in the british army it did wonders both in the and the and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion it was commanded up to monday night by james a gallant started as full private was raised to com by the crooked man rank for his bravery at the time of the and so to command the regiment in which he had once carried a colonel had married at the time when he was a and his wife whose maiden name was miss was the daughter of a former colour in the same corps there was therefore as can be imagined some little social when the young couple for they were still young found themselves in their new surroundings they appear however to have quickly adapted themselves and mrs has always i understand been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers i may add that she was a woman of great beauty and that even now when she has been married for upwards of thirty years she is still of a striking appearance colonel s family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one major to whom i owe most of my facts mc that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between by of the pair on the whole he thinks that s devotion to his wife was greater than his wife s to he was uneasy if he were absent from her for a day she on the other hand though devoted and faithful was less affectionate but they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle aged couple there was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow colonel himself seems to have had some singular traits in his character he was a dashing jovial old soldier in his usual mood but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself capable of considerable violence and this side of his nature however appears never to have been turned towards his wife another fact which had struck major and three out of five of the other officers with whom i conversed was the singular sort of depression which came upon him at times as the major expressed it the smile had often been struck from his mouth as if by some invisible hand when he has been by the crooked joining in the and of the mess table for days on end when the mood was on him he had been sunk in the deepest gloom this and a certain tinge of superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his brother officers had observed the latter peculiarity took the form of a dislike to being left alone especially after dark this feature in a nature which was manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture the first of	4
the royal which is the old th has been stationed at for some years the married officers live out of and the colonel has during all this time occupied a villa called about half a mile from the north camp the house stands in its own grounds but the west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high road a coachman and two maids form the staff of servants these with their master and mistress were the sole occupants of for the had no children nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors of by ib of now for the events at between nine and ten on the evening of last monday mrs was it appears a member of die roman catholic church and had interested herself veiy much in the establishment of the of st george which was formed in connection with street chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast off clothing a meeting of the had been held that evening at eight and mrs had hurried over her dinner in order to be present at it when leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband and to assure him that she would be back before long she then called for miss a young lady who lives in the next villa and the two went off together to their meeting it lasted forty minutes and at a quarter past nine mrs returned home having left miss at her door as she passed there is a room which is used as a at this faces the road and opens by a large glass folding door on to the lawn the by the crooked man lawn i t y yards across and is only divided from the hi by a low wall with an iron rail above it k o this room that mrs went upon her return the blinds were not down for the room was seldom used in the evening but mrs herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell asking jane the to her a cup of tea which was quite contrary to her usual habits the colonel had been sitting in the but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the morning room the coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it he was never seen again alive the tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten minutes but the maid as she approached the door was surprised to hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious she knocked without receiving any answer and even turned the handle but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside naturally enough she ran down to tell the cook and the two women with the coachman came up into the hall by j o of and listened to the dispute which was still raging they all agree that only two voices were to be heard y those of and his wife s remarks were subdued and abrupt so that none of them were to the listeners the lady s on the other hand were most bitter and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard you coward she repeated over ar d over again what can be done now me back my life i will never so much as breathe the same ah as you you coward you those w ere scraps of her conversation ending in a dreadful cry ia the man s voice with a crash and a piercing scream from the woman convinced th t some tragedy had occurred the coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it while scream after scream issued from within he was unable however to make his way in and the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him a sudden thought struck him however and he ran through the hall door and round to the lawn upon which the french windows opened one side of the window by the crooked man was open which i understand was quite usual in the summer time and he passed without difficulty into the room his mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch while with his feet over the side of an arm chair and his head upon the ground near the comer of the was lying the unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood naturally the coachman s first thought on find that he could do nothing for his master was to open the door but here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself the key was not on the inner side of the door nor could he find it anywhere in the room he went out again therefore through the window and having obtained the help of a policeman and of a medical man he returned the lady against whom naturally the strongest rested was removed to her room still in a state of the colonel s body was then placed upon the sofa and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy by of the injury from which the unfortunate was suffering was found to be a ragged cut some two inches long at the back part of his head which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have upon the floor close to the body was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle the colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in which he had fought and it is by the police that this club was among his the servants deny having seen it before but among the numerous in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked nothing else of	4
importance was discovered in the room by the police save the inexplicable fact that neither upon mrs s person not upon that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to be found the door had eventually to be opened by a from that was the state of things when by the man upon the tuesday morning i at the request of major went down to to the efforts of the police i think you will acknowledge that the problem was already of but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much m m e extraordinary than would at first sight appear before examining the room i cross questioned the servants but only succeeded in the facts which i have already stated one other detail of interest was remembered by jane the maid you will remember that on healing the sound of the quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants on that when she was alone she says the voices of her master and mistress were sunk so low she could hear hardly anything and judged by their tones rather than their words that they had fallen out on my pressing her however e remembered that she heard the word david uttered twice by the lady the point is of the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden by of quarrel the colonel s name you remember was james there was one thing in the case which had made the deepest impression both upon the servants and the police this was the of the colonel s face it had set according to their account into the most dreadful expression of feat and horror a human countenance is capable of assuming more than one person fainted at the mere sight of him so terrible was the effect it was quite certain that he had foreseen his fat and that it had caused him the utmost horror this of course fitted in well enough with the police theory if the colonel could have seen his wife making a attack upon him nor was the fact of the wound on the back of his head a fatal objection to this as he might have turned to avoid the blow no information could be got from the lady herself who was y insane from aa acute attack of brain fever from the police i learned that miss who you went put that evening with by the crooked man mrs denied having any knowledge of what it was which had caused the ill humour in which her companion had returned having gathered these facts i smoked several pipes over them trying to separate those which were from others which were merely there could be no question that the most and suggestive point in the case was the singular disappearance of the door key a most careful search had failed to discover it in the room therefore it must have been taken from it but neither the colonel nor the colonel s wife could have taken it that was perfectly clear therefore a third person must have entered the room and that third person could only have come in through the window it seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual you know my methods there was not one of them which i did not apply to the inquiry and it ended by my discovering traces but very different ones from which i had ex by of there had been a man in the room and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road i was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his one on the itself at the where he had climbed the low wall two on the lawn and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered he had apparently rushed across the lawn for his toe marks were much deeper than his heels but it was not the man who surprised me it was his companion his companion pulled a large sheet of paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee what do you make of that he asked the paper was covered with of the of some small animal it had five an indication of long nails and the whole print might be nearly as large as a spoon it s a dog said i by the crooked did ever you hear of a dog tip a curtain i found distinct that this creature had done so a monkey then but it is not the print of a monkey what can it be then neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with i have tried to it from the here are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless you see that it is no less than inches from fore foot to hind add to that the length of neck and head and you get a creature not much less than two feet long probably more if there is any tail but now observe this other the animal has been moving and we have the length of its stride in each case it is only about three inches you have an indication you see of a long body with very short legs attached to it it has not been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it but its general by of shape must be what i have indicated and it can run up a curtain and is how do you that because it ran up the curtain a s cage was hanging in the window and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird then what was the beast ah if i could give it a name it might go a long way	4
towards the case on the whole it was probably some creature of the or tribe and yet it is larger than any of these that i have seen but what had it to do with the crime that also is still obscure but we have learned a good deal you perceive we know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel between the the blinds were up and the room lighted we know also that he ran across the lawn entered the room accompanied by a strange animal and that he either struck the colonel or as is equally possible that the colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of him and cut his head by the crooked man g on the comer of the finally we have the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he left your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure than it was before said l quite so they undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than was at first i thought the matter over and i came to the conclusion that i must approach the case from another aspect but really i am keeping you up and i might just as well tell you all this on our way to to morrow thank you you ve gone rather too far to stop it was quite certain that when mrs left the house at half past seven she was on good terms with her husband she was never as i think i have said affectionate but she was heard by the coachman with the colonel in a friendly fashion now it was equally certain that immediately on her return she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see her by or had flown to tea as an woman will on his in to had broken into violent therefore had occurred between seven thirty and nine o clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him but miss had been with her during the whole of that hour and a half it was absolutely certain therefore in ite of her denial that she must know something of the matter my first conjecture was that possibly there had been some passages between this young woman and the old soldier which the former had now to the wife that would account for the angry return and also for the girl s denial that anything had occurred nor would it be entirely with most of the words overheard but there was the reference to david and there was the known affection of the colonel for his wife to weigh against it to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other man which might of course be entirely with what had gone before it was not easy to pick one s steps but on by the crooked man the whole i was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the col and miss but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the due as to what it was which had turned mrs to hatred of her husband i took the obvious course therefore of calling upon miss of explaining to her that i was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession and of assuring her that her friend mrs might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up miss is a little ethereal slip of a girl with timid eyes and hair but i found her by no means wanting in and common she sat thinking for some time after i had spoken and then turning to me with a brisk air of resolution she broke into a remarkable statement which i will for your benefit i promised my friend that i would say nothing of the matter and a promise is a promise said she but if i can really help her when so serious by of a charge is made against her and when her own mouth poor darling is by illness then i think i am from my promise i will tell you exactly what happened on monday evening we were returning from the street mission about a quarter to nine o clock on our way we had to pass through street which is a very quiet there is only one lamp in it upon the left hand side and as we approached this lamp i saw a man coming towards us with his back very bent and something like a box over one of his shoulders he appeared to be for he carried his head low and walked with his knees bent we were passing him when he raised his face to look at us in the of light thrown by the lamp and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice my god if s mrs turned as white as death and would have fallen down had the dreadful looking creature not caught hold of her i was going to call for the police but she to my surprise spoke quite to the fellow by the crooked man i thought you had been dead this thirty years henry said she in a shaking voice so i have said he and it was awful to hear the tones that he said it in he had a very dark face and a gleam in his eyes that comes back to me in my dreams his hair and whiskers were shot with grey and his face was all and like a withered apple just walk on a little way dear said mrs l want to have a word with this man there is nothing to be afraid of she tried to speak boldly but she was still deadly pale and could hardly get her words out for the trembling of her lips i did	4
as she asked me and they talked together for a few minutes then she came down the street with her eyes blazing and i saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp post and shaking his clenched fists in the air as if he were mad with rage she never said a word until we were at the door here when she took me by the hand and begged me to tell no one what had happened it of ii by of is an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world said she when i promised her that i would say nothing she kissed me and i have never seen her since i have told you now the whole truth y and if i withheld it from the police it is because i did not realize then the danger in which my dear friend stood i know that it can only be to her advantage that everything should be known there was her statement and to me as you can imagine it was like a light on a dark night everything which had been before began at once to assume its true place and i had a shadowy of the whole of events my next step obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable upon mrs if he were still in it should not be a very difficult matter there are not such a very great number of and a man was sure to have attracted attention i spent a day in the search and by evening this very evening i had run him by the crooked man down the man s name is henry wood and he lives in lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him he has only been five days in the place in the character of a agent i had a most interesting gossip with his landlady the man is by trade a and going round the after nightfall and giving a little entertainment at each he carries some creature about with him in his box about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable for she had never seen an animal like it he uses it in some of his tricks according to her account so much the woman was able to tell me and also that it was a wonder the man lived seeing how twisted he was and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes and that for the last two nights she had heard him groaning and weeping in his bedroom he was all right as far as money went but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a bad she showed it to me and it was an indian so now my dear fellow you see exactly how by of we stand and why it is i want you it is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from this man he followed them at a distance that he saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window that he rushed in and that the creature which he carried in his box got loose that b all very certain but he is the only person in this world who can tell us exactly what happened in that room and you intend to ask him most certainly but in the presence of a witness and am the witness if you will be so good if he can clear the matter up well and good if he refuses we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant but how do you know he will be there when we return you may be sure that i took some precautions i have one of my baker street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like a go where he might we shall find him in street to morrow and meanwhile i should by the crooked man be the criminal myself if i kept you out of bed any longer it was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy and under my companion s guidance we made our way at once to street in spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions i could easily see that was in a state of suppressed excitement while i was myself with that half sporting half intellectual pleasure which i invariably experienced when i associated myself with him in his this is the street said he as he turned into a short lined with plain two brick houses ah here is to report he s in all right mr cried a small street running up to us good said patting him on the head come along this is the house he sent in his card with a message that ie had come on important business and a moment later we were face to face with the man whom we had come to see in spite of the warm weather he by of was crouching over a fire and the little room was like an oven the man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way which gave an indescribable impression of but the face which he turned towards us though worn and must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty he looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow shot eyes and without speaking or rising he waved towards two chairs mr henry wood late of india i believe said come over this little matter of colonel s death what should i know about that that s what i wanted to ascertain you know i suppose that unless the matter is cleared up mrs who is an old friend of yours will in all probability be tried for murder the man gave a violent start i don t know who you are he cried nor how you come to know what you do know but will	4
you swear that this is true that you tell me by the crooked why they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her my are you in the police yourself no what business is it of yours then it s every man s business to see justice done you can take my word that she is innocent then you are guilty no i am not who killed colonel james then it was a just providence that killed him but mind you this that if i had knocked his brains out as it was in my heart to do he would have had no more than his due from my hands if his own guilty conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that i might have had his blood upon my soul you want me to tell the story well i don t know why i shouldn t for there s no cause for me to be ashamed of iu it was in this way sir you see me now with my back like a and my ribs all but there was a time when henry wood was by of the man in the th foot we were in india then in at a place we ll call who died the other day was in the same company as myself and the of the regiment aye and the finest girl that ever had the breath of life between her lips was the daughter of the colour there were two men who loved her and one whom she loved and you ll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled before the fire and hear me say that it was for my good looks that she loved me well though i had her heart her father was set upon her marrying i was a reckless lad and he had had an education and was already marked for the sword belt but the girl held true to me and it seemed that i would have had her when the broke out and all hell was loose in the country we were shut up in the regiment of us with half a battery of a company of and a lot of and women folk there by the crooked man were ten thousand round us and they were as keen as a set of round a rat cage about the second week of it our water gave out and it was a question whether we could communicate with general s column which was moving up country it was our only chance for we could not hope to fight our way out with all the women and children so i volunteered to go out and warn general of our danger my offer was accepted and i talked it over with who was supposed to know the ground better than any other man and who drew up a route by which i might get through the rebel lines at ten o clock the same night i started off upon my journey there were a thousand lives to save but it was of only one that i was thinking when i dropped over the wall that night my way ran down a dried up which we hoped would screen me from the enemy s but as i crept round the comer of it i walked right into six of them who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me in an instant i was stunned with a blow and bound hand and foot by or but the real blow was to my heart and not to my head for as i came to and listened to as much as i could understand of their talk i heard enough to tell me that my comrade the very man who had arranged the way that i was to take had betrayed me by means of a native servant into the hands of the enemy well there s no need for me to dwell on that part of it you know now what james was capable of was relieved by next day but the took me away with them in their retreat and it was many a long year before ever i saw a white face again i was tortured and tried to get away and was captured and tortured again you can see for yourselves the state in which i was some of them that fled into took me with them and then afterwards i was up past the hill folk up there murdered the who had me and i became their slave for a time until i escaped but instead of going south i had to go north until i found myself among the there i wandered about for many a year and at by crooked man came back to the where i lived mostly among the natives and picked up a living by the tricks that i had learned what use was it for me sl wretched to go back to england or to make myself known to my old comrades even my wish for revenge would not make me do that i had rather that and my old should think of harry wood as died with a straight back than see him living and crawling with a stick like a they never doubted that i was dead and i meant that they never should i heard that had married and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment but even that did not make me speak but when one gets old one has a longing for home for years been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of england at last i determined to see them before i died i saved enough to bring me across and then i came here where the soldiers are for i know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me	4
every little rumour or suspicion of crime appreciation of nature found no place among his many gifts and his only change was when he turned his mind from the evil of the town to track down his brother of the country finding that was too absorbed for conversation i had tossed aside the barren paper and leaning back in my chair i fell into a brown study suddenly my companion s voice broke in upon my thoughts you are right said he it does seem a very preposterous way of settling a dispute most preposterous i exclaimed and then suddenly how he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul i sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement by of what is this i cried this is beyond anything which i could have imagined he laughed heartily at my perplexity you remember said he that some little time ago when i read you the passage in one of s sketches in which a dose follows the thoughts of his companion you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour de force of the author on my remarking that i was constantly in the habit of doing the same thing you expressed h perhaps not with your tongue my dear but certainly with your eyebrows so when i saw you throw down your paper and enter upon a train of thought i was very happy to have the opportunity of reading it off and eventually of breaking into it as a proof that i had been in with you but i was still far from satisfied the example which you read to me said i the drew his conclusions from the actions of the man whom he observed if i remember right by the resident patient he stumbled over a heap of stones looked up at the stars and so on but i have been seated quietly in my chair and what can i have given you you do yourself an injustice the features are given to man as the means by which he shall express his emotions and yours are faithful servants do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my features your features and especially your eyes per you cannot yourself recall how your reverie commenced no i cannot then i will tell you after throwing down your paper which was the action which drew my attention to you you sat for half a minute with a vacant expression then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly framed picture of general and i saw by the alteration in your face that a train of thought had been started but it did not lead very far your eyes turned across to the portrait of henry ward which stands upon the top of your books you then glanced up t the by of wall and of course your meaning was obvious yon were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover that bare space and correspond with s picture over there you have followed me wonderfully i exclaimed so far i could hardly have gone astray but now your thoughts went back to and you looked hard across as if you were studying the character in his features then your eyes ceased to but you continued to look across and your face was thoughtful you were recalling the incidents of s career i was well aware that you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he undertook on behalf of the north at the time of the civil war for i remember you expressing your passionate indignation at the way in which he was received by the more turbulent of our people you felt so strongly about it that i knew you could not think of without thinking of that also when a moment later i saw your eyes wander away from the picture i suspected that your by the patient mind had now turned to the civil war and when i observed that your lips set your eyes sparkled and your hands clenched i was positive that you were indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in that desperate struggle but then again your face grew you shook your head you were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling questions had forced itself upon your mind at this point i agreed witli you that it was preposterous and was glad to find that all my had been correct absolutely said i and now that you have explained it i confess that i am as amazed as before it was very superficial my dear i assure you i should not have it upon your attention had you not shown some incredulity the other day but the has brought a breeze with it what do you say to a through london by of i was weary of our little sitting room and gladly for three hours we strolled about together watching the of life as it and flows through fleet street and the strand s characteristic talk with its keen of detail and subtle power of held me amused and it was ten o clock before we reached baker street again a was waiting at our door hum a doctor s general i perceive said not been long in practice but has had a good deal to do come to consult us i fancy lucky we came back i was with s methods to be able to follow his reasoning and to see that the nature and state of the various medical instruments in the basket which hung in the lamp light inside the had given him the for his swift the light in	4
our window above showed that this late visit was indeed intended for us with some curiosity as to what by the resident patient could have sent a brother to us at such an hour i followed into our a pale faced man with sandy whiskers rose up from a chair by the fire as we entered his age may not have been more than three or four and thirty but his haggard expression and hue told of a life which had his strength and robbed him of his youth his manner was nervous and shy like that of a sensitive gentleman and the thin white hand which he laid on the as he rose was that of an artist rather than of a surgeon his dress was quiet and sombre a black frock coat dark trousers and a touch of colour about his good evening doctor said cheerily i am glad to see that you have only been waiting a very few minutes you spoke to my coachman then no it was the candle on the side table that told me pray resume your seat and let me know how i can serve you by o of my name is doctor said our visitor and i live at brook street are you not the author of a upon obscure nervous i asked his pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was known to me i so seldom hear of the work that i thought it was quite dead said he my give me a most account of its sale you are yourself t presume a medical man a retired army surgeon my own has always been nervous disease i should wish to make it an absolute but of course a man must take what he can get at first this however is beside the question mr and i quite appreciate how valuable your time is the fact is that a very singular train of events has occurred recently at my house in brook street and to night they came to such a head that i felt it was quite impossible for me to wait another hour before asking for your advice and assistance by the resident patient sat down and lit his pipe you are very welcome to both said he pray let me have a detailed account of what the circumstances are which have disturbed you one or two of them are so trivial said dr that really i am almost ashamed to mention them but the matter is so inexplicable and the recent turn which it has taken is so elaborate that i shall lay it all before you and you shall judge what is essential and what is not i am compelled to begin with say something of my own college career i am a london university man you know and i am sure you will not think that i am singing my own praises if i say that my student career was considered by my professors to be a very promising one after i had i continued to devote myself to occupying a minor position in king s college hospital and i was fortunate enough to excite considerable interest by my into the of and finally to win the prize and by the on nervous to by op which your friend has just alluded i should not go too far if i were to say that there was a general im at that time that a distinguished career lay before me but the one great block lay in my want of capital as you will readily understand a who aims high is compelled to start in one of a dozen streets in the square quarter all of which enormous rents and furnishing expenses besides this preliminary he must be prepared to keep himself for some years and to hire a carriage and horse to do this was quite beyond my power and i could only hope that by economy i might in ten years time save enough to enable me to put up my plate suddenly however an unexpected incident opened up quite a new prospect to me this was a visit fr om a gentleman of the name of who was a complete stranger to me he came up into my room one morning and plunged into business in an instant you are the same who has by the resident patient bad so distinguished a career and won a great prize lately said he i bowed answer me frankly he continued for you will find it to your interest to do so you have all the which makes a successful man have you the tact i could not help smiling at the of the question i trust that i have my share i said and bad habits not towards drink eh sir i cried quite right that s all right but i was bound to ask with all these qualities why are you not in practice i shrugged my shoulders come said he in his bustling way it s the old story more in your brains than in your pocket eh what would you say if i were to start you in brook street i stared at him in astonishment oh it s for my sake not for yours he cried by op til be perfectly with you and if it suits you it will suit me very well i have a few thousands to invest d ye see and i think sink them in you but why i gasped it s just like any other speculation and safer than most what am i to do then i tell you ni take the house furnish it pay the maids and run the whole place all you have to do is just to wear out your chair in the consulting room i ll let you have pocket money and ever then you hand over to me	4
of what you earn and you keep the other quarter for yourself this was the strange proposal mr with which the man approached me i won t weary you with the account of how we and it ended in my moving into the house next lady day and starting in practice on very much the same conditions as he had suggested he came himself to live with me in the character of a resident patient his heart was weak by ths pat nt it appears and he needed constant medical he turned the two best rooms on the first floor into a sitting room and bedroom for himself he was a man of singular habits company and very seldom out his life was irregular but in one respect he was regularity itself every evening at the same hour he walked into the con r room examined the books put down five and for every guinea that i had earned and carried the rest off to the strong box in his own h may say with confidence that he never had occasion to regret his speculation from the first it was a success a few good cases and the reputation which i had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to the front and during the last year or two i have made him a rich man so much mr for my past history and my relations with mr it only remains for me now to tell you what has occurred to bring me here to night some weeks ago mr came down to of ji by of me in as it seemed to me a state of considerable agitation he spoke of some which he said had been committed in the west end and he appeared i remember to be quite excited about it declaring that a day should not pass before we should add stronger to our windows and doors for a week he continued to be in a peculiar state of restlessness peering continually out of the windows and ceasing to take the short walk which had usually been the to his dinner from his manner it struck me that he was in mortal of something or somebody but when i questioned him upon the point he became so offensive that i was compelled to drop the subject gradually as time passed his fears appeared to die away and he had renewed his former habits when a fresh event reduced him to the pitiable state of in which he now lies what happened was this two days ago i received the letter which i now read to you neither address nor date is attached to it a russian nobleman who is now resident in by the resident patient england it runs would be glad to avail himself of the professional assistance of dr he has been for some years a victim to attacks on which as is well known dr is an authority he to call at about a quarter past six to morrow evening if dr will it convenient to be at this letter interested me deeply because the chief difficulty in the study of is the of the disease you may believe then that i was in my consulting room when at the appointed hour the page showed in the patient he was an elderly man and by no means the conception one forms of a russian nobleman i was much more struck by the appearance of his companion this was a tall young man handsome with a dark fierce face and the limbs and chest of a he had his hand under the other s arm as they entered and helped him to a chair with a tenderness which one would hardly have expected from his appearance by of you will excuse my coming in doctor said he to me speaking english with a slight this is my father and his health is a matter of the most overwhelming importance to me i was touched by this filial anxiety yoa would perhaps care to remain during the consultation said l not for the world he cried with a gesture of horror it is more painful to me than i can ex press if i were to see my father in one of those dreadful i am convinced that i should never survive it my own nervous system is an q ally sensitive one with your permission i will remain in the waiting room while you go into my father s case to this of course i assented and the young man withdrew the patient and i then plunged into a discussion of his case of which i notes he was not remarkable for intelligence and his answers were frequently obscure which i attributed to his limited acquaintance with our language suddenly however as i sat by the resident patient he ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries and on my turning towards him i was shocked to see that he was sitting bolt upright in his chair staring at me with a perfectly blank and rigid face he was again in the grip of his m malady my first feeling as i have just said was one of pity and horror my second i fear was rather one of professional satisfaction i made notes of my patient s pulse and temperature tested the of his muscles and examined his there was nothing in any of these conditions which with my former experiences i had obtained good results in such cases by the of of and the present seemed an admirable opportunity of its virtues the bottle was downstairs in my so leaving my patient seated in his chair i ran down to get it there was some little delay in finding it five minutes let us say and then i returned imagine my amazement to find the room empty and the patient gone of course my first act	4
was to run into the by of waiting room the son had gone also the hall door had been but not shut my page who admits b a new boy and by no means quick he waits downstairs and runs up to show out when i ring the consulting room bell he had heard nothing and the affair remained a complete mystery mr came in from his walk shortly afterwards but i did not say thing to him upon the subject for to tell the truth i have got in the way of late of holding as little communication with him as possible well i never thought that i should see anything more of the russian and his son so you can imagine my amazement when at the very same hour this evening they both came marching into my room just as they had done before i feel that i owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt departure yesterday doctor said my patient i confess that i was very much surprised at it said i weu the fact is he remarked that when i by the resident patient recover from these attacks my mind is rs very clouded as to all that has gone before i woke up in a strange room as it seemed to me and made my way out into the street in a sort of dazed way when you were absent and v said the son seeing my father pass the door of the waiting room naturally thought that the consultation had come to an end it was not until we had reached home that i began to realize the true state of affairs well said i laughing there is no harm done except that you puzzled me terribly so if you sir would kindly step into the waiting room i shall be happy to continue our consultation which was brought to so abrupt an ending for half an hour or so i discussed the old gentleman s symptoms with him and then having prescribed for him i saw him go off on the arm of his son i have told you that mr generally chose this hour of the day for his exercise he came in shortly afterwards and passed upstairs an by of instant later i heard him running down and he burst into my consulting room like a man who is mad with has been in my room he cried no one said l it s a he come up and look passed over the of his language as he seemed half out of his mind with fear when i went upstairs with him he to several foot prints upon the light carpet d you mean to say those are mine he cried they were certainly veiy much larger than any which he could have made and were evidently quite fresh it rained hard this afternoon as you know and my the only pe le who called it must have been the case then that the man in the waiting room had for some unknown while i was busy with the other ascended to the room of my resident patient nothing had been touched or but there were the to prove that the intrusion was an fact mr seemed more excited over the by the nt than i should have thought possible thou of course it was enough to disturb s peace of mind he actually sat crying in an arm chair and i could hardly get him to speak it was his suggestion that i should come round to you and of course i at once saw the propriety of it for certainly the incident is a very singular one though he appears to completely its importance if you would only come back with me in my you would at least be able to soothe him though i hardly hope that you will be able to explain this remarkable occurrence had listened to this long narrative with an which showed me that his was his face was as as ever but his had drooped more heavily over his eyes and his smoke had curled up more thickly from his pipe to each curious episode in the doctor s tale as our visitor con sprang up without a word handed me my hat picked up his own from the table and followed dr to the door within a by of quarter of an hour we had been dropped at the door of the physician s residence in brook street one of those sombre flat faced houses which one associates with a west end practice a small page admitted us and we began at once to ascend the broad well stair but a singular interruption brought us to a stand still the light at the top was suddenly out and from the darkness came a voice i have a it cried i give you ray word that fu fire if you come any nearer this really grows outrageous mr cried dr oh then it is you doctor said the voice with a great heave of relief but those other gentle men are they what they pretend to be we were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the darkness yes yes it s all right said the voice at last you can come up and i am sorry if my precautions have annoyed you by the resident patient he re lit the stair gas as he spoke and we saw before us a singular looking man whose appearance as well as his voice to his nerves he was very fat but had apparently at some time been much so that the skin hung about his face in loose like the cheeks of a he was of a sickly colour and his thin sandy hair seemed to up with the intensity of his emotion in his hand he held a pistol but he thrust it into his pocket as we	4
advanced good evening mr said he i am sure i am very much obliged to you for coming round no one ever needed your advice more than i do i suppose that dr has told you of this most intrusion into my rooms quite so said who are these two men mr and why do they wish to you well well said the resident patient in a nervous fashion of course it is hard to say that you can hardly expect me to answer that mr by op do you mean that you don t know come in here if you please just have the kindness to step in here he led the way into his bedroom which was large and comfortably furnished you see that said he pointing to a big black box at the end of his bed i have never been a very rich man mr never made but one in my life as dr would tell you but i don t believe in i would never trust a banker mr between ourselves what little i have is in that box so you can understand what it means to me when unknown people force themselves into my rooms looked at in his questioning way and shook his head i cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me said he but i have told you turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust good night dr said he by th resident patient and no advice for me cried ia a breaking voice my advice to you sir is to speak the truth a minute later we were in the street and walking for home we had crossed oxford street and were half way down street before i could get a word from my companion sorry to bring you out on such a fool s errand he said at last it is an interesting case too at the bottom of it i can make little of it i confessed well it is quite evident that there are two men more perhaps but at least two who are determined for some reason to get at this fellow i have no doubt in my mind that both on the first and on the second occasion that young man penetrated to s room while his by an ingenious device kept the doctor from interfering and the a imitation though i should hardly dare to hint as much to our it is by op a very easy complaint to imitate i have done it myself and then by the purest chance was out on each occasion their reason for choosing so unusual an hour for a consultation was obviously to that there should be no other patient in the waiting room it just happened however that this hour with s constitutional which seems to show that they were not very well acquainted with his daily routine of course if they had been merely after plunder they would at least have made some attempt to search for it besides i can read in a man s eye when it is his own skin that he is frightened for it is inconceivable that this fellow could have made two such enemies as these appear to be without knowing of it i hold it therefore to be certain that he does know who these men are and that for reasons of his own he it it is just possible that to morrow may find him in a more mood is there not one alternative i suggested by j the resident patient improbable no doubt but still just conceivable might the whole story of the russian and his son be a of dr s who has for his own purposes been in s rooms i saw in the that wore an amused smile at this brilliant departure of mine my dear fellow said he it was one of the first which occurred to me but i was soon able to the doctor s tale this young man has left prints upon the stair carpet which made it quite superfluous for me to ask to see those which he had made in the room when i tell you that his shoes were square instead of being pointed like s and were quite an inch and a third longer than the doctor s you ill acknowledge that there can be no doubt as to his individuality but we may sleep on it now for i shall be surprised if we do not hear something further from brook street in the morning s prophecy was soon fulfilled and in a dramatic fashion at half past seven next by o of in the first dim glimmer of daylight i found him standing by my bedside in his there s a waiting for us said he what s the matter then the brook street business any fresh news tragic but said he pulling up the look at this a sheet from a with for god s sake come at once p t upon it in pencil our friend the doctor was hard put to it when he wrote this come along my dear fellow for it s aa urgent call in a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the physician s house he came running out to meet us with a face of horror oh such a business he cried with his hands to his temples what then has committed suicide whistled by the resident patient yes he hanged himself during the night we had entered and the doctor had preceded us into what was evidently his waiting room i really hardly know what i am doing he cried the police are already upstairs it has shaken me most dreadfully when did you find it out he has a cup of tea taken in to him early every morning when the maid entered about seven there the unfortunate fellow was	4
hanging in the middle of the room he had tied his cord to the hook on which the heavy lamp used to hang and he had jumped off from the top of the very box that he showed us yesterday stood for a moment in deep thought with your permission said he at last i should like to go upstairs and look into the matter we both ascended followed by the doctor it was a dreadful sight which met us as we entered the bedroom door i have spoken of the impression of which this man conveyed as he from the hook it was ex of ii by op and until he was scarce in his appearance the neck was drawn out like a plucked chicken s making the rest of him seem the more and unnatural by the contrast he was clad only in his long night dress and his swollen ankles and feet from beneath it beside him stood a smart looking police who was taking notes in a ah mr said he heartily as my friend entered i am delighted to see you good morning answered you won t think me an intruder i am sure have you heard of the events which led up to this affair yes i heard something of them have you formed any opinion as far as i can see the man has been driven out of his senses by fright the bed has been well slept in you see there s his impression deep enough it s about five in the morning you know that are most common that would be by the resident patient about his time for hanging himself it seems to have been a very affair i should say that he has been dead about three hours judging by the of the said l noticed anything peculiar about the room asked found a and some on the wash hand stand seems to have smoked heavily during the night too here are four cigar ends that i picked out of the fireplace hum said have you got his cigar no i have seen none his cigar case then yes it was in his coat pocket opened it and the single cigar which it contained oh this is a and these others are cigars of the peculiar sort which are imported by the dutch from their east indian colonies they are usually wrapped in straw you know and are by of thinner for their length than any other brand he picked up the four ends and examined them with his pocket two of these have been smoked from a and two without said he two have been cut by a not very sharp knife and two have had the ends bitten off by a set of excellent teeth this is no suicide mr it is a very deeply planned and cold blooded murder impossible cried the and why why should anyone murder a man in so clumsy a fashion as by hanging him that is what we have to find out how could they get in through the door it was barred in the morning then it was barred after them how do you know i saw their traces excuse me a moment and i may be able to give you some further about it by the patient he went over to the door and turning the lock he examined it in his fashion then he took out the key which was on the inside and that also the bed the carpet the chairs the the dead body and the rope were in turn examined until at last he professed himself satisfied and with my aid and that of the cut down the wretched object and laid it reverently under a sheet how about this rope he asked it is cut off this said dr drawing a large from under the bed he was nervous of fire and always kept this beside him so that he might escape by the window in case the stairs were burning that must have saved them trouble said thoughtfully yes the actual facts are very plain and i shall be surprised if by the afternoon i cannot give you the reasons for them as well i will take this photograph of which i see upon the as it may help me in my inquiries by of but you have told us nothing cried the doctor oh there can be no doubt as to the of events said there were three of them in it the young man the old man and a third to whose identity i have no due the first two i need hardly remark are the same who as the russian count and his son so we can give a very full description of them they were admitted by a inside the house if i might offer you a word of advice it would be to arrest the page who as i understand has only recently come into your service doctor the young cannot be found said dr the maid and the cook have just been searching for him shrugged his shoulders he has played a not unimportant part in this drama said he the three men having ascended the stair which they did on the elder man first the younger man second and the unknown man in the rear by the patient my dear i ejaculated oh there could be no question as to the of the i had the advantage of learning which was which last night they ascended then to mr s room the door of which they found to be locked with the help of a wire however they forced round the key even without the you will perceive by the on this ward where the pressure was applied on entering the room their first proceeding must have been to mr he may have been asleep or he may have been so with terror as to have	4
been unable to cry out these walls are thick and it is conceivable that his shriek if he had time to utter one was unheard having secured him it is evident to me that a consultation of some sort was held probably it was something in the nature of a proceeding it must have lasted for some time for it was then that these cigars were smoked the older man sat in that chair it was lie who used by of the cigar the younger man sat over yonder he knocked his ash off against the chest of drawers the third fellow paced up down i think sat upright in the bed but of that i cannot be absolutely certain well it ended by their taking and hanging him the matter was so pre arranged that it is my belief that they brought with them some sort of block or which might serve as a gallows that and those were as i conceive for fixing it up seeing the hook however they naturally saved themselves the trouble having finished their work they made off and the door was barred behind them by their we had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the night s doings which had from signs so subtle and minute that even when he had pointed them out to us we could scarcely follow him in his the hurried away on the instant to make inquiries about the page while and i returned to baker street for breakfast by the resident patient be back by three said he when we had j our meal both the and the doctor will meet me here at that hour and i hope by that time to have cleared up any little obscurity which the case may still present our visitors arrived at the appointed time but it was a quarter to four before my friend put in an appearance from his expression as he entered however i could see that all had gone well with him any news we have got the boy sir excellent and i have got the men you have got we cried all three well at least i have got their identity this so called is as i expected well known at and so are his their names are and l the bank gang cried the precisely said then must have been by go of exactly said why that makes it as clear as crystal said the but and i looked at each other in bewilderment you must surely remember the great bank business said five men were in it these four and a fifth called the was murdered and the thieves got away with seven thousand pounds this was in they were all five arrested but the evidence against them was by no means this or who was the worst of the gang turned on his evidence was hanged and the other three got fifteen years apiece when they got out the other day which was some years before their full term they set themselves as you perceive to hunt down the traitor and to the death of their comrade upon him twice they tried to get at him and failed a third time you see it came ofl is by the resident patient there anything further which i can explain dr i think you have made it all remarkably clear said the doctor no doubt the day on which he was so was the day when he had read of their release in the newspapers quite so his talk about a was the merest blind but why could he not tell you this well my dear sir knowing the character of his old associates he was trying to hide his own identity from everybody as long as he could his secret was a shameful one and he could not bring himself to it however wretch as he was he was still living under the shield of british law and i have no doubt that you will see that though that shield may fail to guard the sword of justice is still there to such were the singular circumstances in connection with the resident patient and the brook street doctor from that night nothing has been seen of the three by the police and it is sur by of at scotland yard that they were among the passengers of the ill fated steamer which was lost some years ago with all hands upon the coast some to the north of the proceedings against the page broke down for want of evidence and the brook street mystery as it was called has never until now been fully dealt with in any public print by the greek by by the greek during my long and intimate acquaintance with mr i had never heard him refer to his relations and hardly ever to his own early life this upon his part had increased the somewhat effect which he produced upon me until sometimes i found myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon a brain without a heart as deficient in human s as he was pre eminent in intelligence aversion to women and his to form new were both typical of his character but not more so than his complete of every reference to his own people i had come to believe that he was an orphan with no relatives living by of but one day to my very great surprise he began to talk to me about his brother it was after tea on a summer evening and the conversation which had in a fashion from clubs to the of the change in the of the came round at last to the question of and hereditary the point under discussion was how far any singular gift in an individual was due to his and how far to his own early training in your own case said i from all that you have told	4
me it seems obvious that your faculty of observation and your peculiar facility for are due to your own training to some extent he answered thoughtfully my ancestors were country who appear to have led much the same life as is natural to their class but none the less my that way is in my veins and may have come with my grandmother who was the sister of the french artist art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms but how do you know that it is hereditary by the greek q because my brother possesses it in a larger degree than i do this was news to me indeed if there were another man with such powers in england how was it that neither police nor public had heard of him i put the question with a hint that it was my companion s modesty which made him acknowledge his brother as his superior laughed at my suggestion my dear said he i cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues to the all things should be seen exactly as they are and to under estimate is as much a departure from truth as to one s own powers when i say therefore that has better powers of observation than i you may take it that i am speaking the exact and literal truth is he your junior seven years my senior how comes it that he is unknown h he is very well known in his own circle where then of ii by of well in the for example i had never heard of the institution and my face must have proclaimed as much for pulled out his watch the club is the club in london and one of the men he s always there from a quarter to five till twenty to eight if s six now so if you care for a stroll this beautiful evening i shall be very happy to introduce you to two five minutes later we were in the street walking towards you wonder said my companion why it is that does not use his powers for work he is incapable of it but i thought you said i said that he was my superior in observation and if the art of the began and ended in reasoning from an my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived but he has no ambition and no energy he will not even go out of his way to his own by the greek and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right again and again i have taken a problem to him and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one and yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into before a case could be laid before a judge or jury it is not his profession then by no means what is to me a means of is to him the merest of a he has an extraordinary faculty for figures and the books in some of the government in pall and he walks round the comer into every morning and back every evening from year s end to year s end he takes no other exercise and is seen nowhere else except only in the club which is just opposite his rooms i cannot recall the name very likely not there are many men in london you know who some from shyness some from by loo of have no wish for the company of their fellows yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest it is for the convenience of these that the club was started and it now contains the most and men in no member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one save in the strangers room no talking is under any circumstances permitted and three if brought to the notice of the committee render the liable to my brother was one of the and i have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere we had reached pall as we talked and were walking down it from the st james s end stopped at a door some httle distance from the and me not to speak he led the way into the hall through the glass i caught a glimpse of a large and luxurious room in which a considerable number of men were sitting about and reading papers each in his own little nook showed me into a small chamber which looked out on to pall by the greek loi and then leaving me for a minute he came back with a companion who i knew could only be his brother was a much larger and man than his body was absolutely but his face though massive had preserved something of the of expression which was so remarkable in that of his brother his eyes which were of a peculiarly light watery grey seemed to always retain that far away look which i had only observed in s when he was his full powers i am glad to meet you sir said he putting out a broad flat hand like the of a seal i hear of everywhere since you became his by the way i expected to see you round last week to consult me over that house case i thought you might be a little out of your depth no i solved it said my friend smiling it was of course yes it was by i or i was sure of k from the first the two down together in the bow window of the to anyone who wishes to study mankind this is the spot said look at the magnificent types look at these two men who are coming towards us for example the and the other precisely what do you make of the	4
were covered with paper so as to prevent my seeing through them i am sorry to cut off your view mr said he the fact is that i have no intention that you should see what the place is to which we are driving it might possibly be inconvenient to me if you could find your way there again as you can imagine i was utterly taken by such an address my companion was a powerful broad shouldered young fellow and apart from the weapon i should not have had the slightest chance in a struggle with him this is very extraordinary conduct mr i stammered you must be aware that what you are doing is quite it is somewhat of a liberty no doubt said he but we ll make it up to you but i must warn you however mr that if at any time to night you attempt to raise an alarm or do an which is by the greek against my interests you will find it a very serious thing i beg you to remember that no one knows where you are and that whether you are in this carriage or in my house you are equally in my power his words were quiet but he had a way of saying them which was very menacing i sat in silence wondering what on earth could be his reason for me in this extraordinary fashion whatever it might be it was perfectly clear that there was no possible use in my resisting and that i could only wait to see what might befall for nearly two hours we drove without my having the least clue as to where we were going sometimes the rattle of the stones told of a paved and at others our smooth silent course suggested but save this in sound there was nothing at all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to where we were the paper over each window was impenetrable to light and a blue curtain was drawn across the in front it was a quarter past seven when we by no of left fall and my watch showed me that it was ten minutes to nine when we at last came to a stand still my companion let down the window and i caught a glimpse of a low arched doorway with a lamp burning above it as i was hurried from the carriage it swung open and i found myself inside the house with a vague impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me as i entered whether these were private grounds however or bond country was more than i could possibly venture to say there was a coloured gas lamp inside which was turned so low that i could see little save that the hall was of some size and hung with pictures in the dim light i could make out that the person who had opened the door was a small mean looking middle aged man with rounded shoulders as he turned towards us the of the showed me that he was wearing glasses is this mr said he yes well done well done no ill will mr by the greek i hope but we could not get on without you if you deal fair with us you ll not regret it but if you try any tricks help he spoke in a nervous fashion and with some laughs in between but somehow he impressed me with fear more than the other what do you want with me i asked only to ask a few questions of a greek gentleman who is visiting us and to let us have the answers but say no more than you are told to say or here came the nervous again you had better never have been bom as he spoke he opened a door and showed the way into a room which appeared to be very richly furnished but again the only light was afforded by a single lamp half turned down the chamber was certainly large and the way in which my feet sank into the carpet as i stepped across it told me of its richness i caught glimpses of velvet chairs a high white marble and what seemed to be a suit of at one side of it there was a chair just under the lamp and the elderly man by of that i should sit in it the younger had left ur but he suddenly returned through another door leading with him a gentleman clad in some sort of loose dressing gown who moved slowly towards us as he came into the circle of dim light which enabled me to see him more clearly i was thrilled with horror at his appearance he was deadly pale and terribly with the brilliant eyes of a man whose spirit is greater than his strength but what shocked me more than any signs of physical weakness was that his face was crossed with sticking plaster and that one large of it was fastened over his mouth have you the slate cried the older man as this strange being fell rather than sat down into a chair are his hands loose now then give him the pencil you are to ask the questions mr and he will write the answers ask him first of all whether he is prepared to sign the papers the man s eyes flashed fire never he wrote in greek upon the slate by the greek i i n no conditions i asked at the bidding of our tyrant only if i see her married in my presence by a greek whom i know the man in his way you know what you then care nothing for myself these are of the questions and answers which made up our strange half spoken half written conversation again and again i had to	4
ask him whether he would give in and sign the document again and again i had the same indignant reply but soon a happy thought came to me i took to adding on little sentences of my own to each question innocent ones at first to test whether either of our companions knew anything of the matter and then as i found that they showed no sign i played a more dangerous game our conversation ran something like this can do no good by this obstinacy w o are you i care not i am a stranger in london of ii by of your fate will be on your own head how long have you been here let it be so three weeks the property can never be yours what you it shall not go to are starving me you shall go free if you sign what house is this i will never sign do not know you are not doing her any service what is your name let me hear her say so you shall see her if you sign where are you from then i shall never see her another five minutes mr and i should have out the whole story under their very noses my very next question might have cleared the matter up but at that instant the door opened and a woman stepped into the room i could not see her clearly enough to know more than that she by ii was tall and with black hair and clad in some sort of j gown rf i ic he speaking english with a broken l j i ld not stay away longer it is so lonely ii i only oh my god it is paul i fl cf these fc i were in greek and at the same the man with a effort tore the plaster it iii lips and screaming out i ni fed mo the woman s arms their embrace w for an instant however for the younger m m i the woman and pushed her out of the the elder easily overpowered his vi y a and dragged him away through the other pi w for a moment i was left alone in the room x to my feet with some vague idea tha i l i fat in some way get a clue to what this which i found myself fortunately no steps for looking up i saw that the as standing in the doorway with his eyes i im j f io mr said he you per by of that we have taken y confidence over some very private should not have troubled you only that who speaks greek and who began the e has bee a forced to return to the east n l ite necessary for us to find to lake f and we were fortunate in hearing of i bowed v f f t there are five sovereigns hm he walking up to me which will i sufficient fee but remember he added im tiie lightly on the chest and if you i a human soul about this one human soul l well may god have mercy upon your soul m w i cannot tell you the with which this insignificant looking man i me could see him better now as the lit shone upon him his features were and hi little pointed beard was he pushed his face forward as he t ind lips and eyelids were continually like a man with st s dance i could i ik think the greek j ing that his strange little laugh was also a symptom of some nervous malady the terror of his face lay in his eyes however steel grey and glistening with a malignant inexorable cruelty in their depths we shall know if you speak of this said he we have our own means of information now you will find the carriage waiting and my friend will see you on your way i was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle again obtaining that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden mr followed closely at my heels and took his place opposite to me without a word in silence we again drove for an interminable distance with the windows raised until at last just midnight the carriage pulled up you will get down here mr said my companion i am sorry to leave you so far from your house but there is no alternative any attempt upon your part to follow the carriage can only end in injury to yourself he opened the door as he spoke and i had by il op hardly time to spring out when the coachman lashed the horse and the carriage rattled away i looked round me in astonishment i was on some sort of a common over with dark of bushes far away stretched a line of houses with a light here and there in the upper windows on the other side i saw the red signal lamps of a railway the carriage which had brought me was already out of sight i stood gazing round and wondering where on earth i might be when i saw coming towards me in the darkness as he came up to me i made out that it was a railway porter can you tell me what place this is i asked common said he can i get a train into town if you walk on a mile or so to said he you ll just be in time for the last to victoria so that was the end of my adventure mr i do not know where i was nor whom i spoke with nor anything save what i have told you by the greek ii but i know that there is foul play going on and i want to help that unhappy man if i	4
can i told the whole story to mr next morning and subsequently to the police we all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative then looked across at his brother any steps he asked picked up the daily news which was lying on a side table anybody supplying any information as to the whereabouts of a greek gentleman named paul from who is unable to speak english will be rewarded a similar reward paid to anyone giving information about a greek lady whose first name is x that was in all the no answer how about the greek i have inquired they know nothing a wire to the head of the police then has all the energy of the family said turning to me well you take up the by of case by all means and let me know if you do any good certainly answered my friend rising from his chair til let you know and mr also in the meantime mr i should certainly be on my guard if i were you for of course they must know through these that you have betrayed them as we walked home together stopped at a telegraph and sent off several wires you see he remarked our evening has been by no means wasted some of my most interesting cases have come to me in this way through the problem which we have just listened to although it can admit of but one explanation has still some features you have hopes of it well knowing as much as we do it will be singular indeed if we fail to discover the rest you must yourself have formed some theory which will explain the facts to which we have listened in a vague way yes by the greek what was your idea then it seemed to me to be obvious that this greek girl had been carried off by the young englishman named carried off from where perhaps shook his head this young man could not talk a word of greek the lady could talk english fairly well that she had been in england some little time but he had not been in greece well then we will presume that she had come on a visit to england and that this had persuaded her to fly with him that is the more probable then the brother for that i fancy must be the relationship comes over from greece to interfere he puts himself into the power of the young man and his older associate they seize him and use violence towards him in order to make him sign some papers to make over the girl s fortune of which he may be to them this he by of refuses to do in order to with him they have to get an and they pitch upon this mr having used some other one before the girl is not told of the arrival of her brother and finds it out by the merest accident excellent cried i really fancy that you are not far from the truth you see that we hold all the cards and we have only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part if tliey give us time we must have them but how can we find where this house lies well if our conjecture is correct and the girl s name is or was we should have no difficulty in tracing her that must be our main for the brother of course is a complete stranger it is clear that some time has elapsed since this established these relations with the girl some weeks at any rate since the brother in greece has had time to hear of it and come across if they have been living in the same place during this time it is probable that we shall have some answer to s advertisement by toe greek we had reached our house in baker street whilst we had been talking ascended the stairs first and as he opened the door of our room he gave a start of surprise looking over his shoulder i was equally astonished brother was sitting smoking in the come in come in sir said he smiling at our surprised faces you don t expect such energy from me do you but somehow this case me how did you get here i passed you in a there has been some new development i had an answer to my advertisement ah yes it came within a few minutes of your leaving and to what effect took out a sheet of paper here it is said he written with a j pen on royal cream paper by a middle aged man with a weak constitution sir he says in answer to your by me of advertisement of to day s date i beg to inform you that i know the young lady in question very well if you should care to call upon me i could give you some particulars as to her painful history she is living at present at the yours faithfully j he writes from lower said do you not think that we might drive to him now and learn these particulars my dear the brother s life is more valuable than the sister s story i think we should call at scotland yard for and go straight out to we know that a man is being done to death and every hour may be vital better pick up mr upon our way i suggested we may need an excellent said send the boy for a four and we shall be off at once he opened the table drawer as he spoke and i noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket yes said he in answer to my glance i should by the greek i say from what we have heard that we are	4
with a particularly dangerous gang it was almost dark before we found ourselves in pall at the rooms of mr a gentleman had just called for him and he was gone can you tell me where asked i don t know sir answered the woman who had opened the door i only know that he drove away with the gentleman in a carriage did the gentleman give a name no sir he wasn t a tall handsome dark young man oh no sir he was a little gentleman with glasses thin in the face but very pleasant in his ways for he was laughing all the time that he was talking come along cried abruptly this grows serious he observed as we drove to scotland yard these men have got hold of again he is a man of no physical courage as they are well aware from their experience the other night by of this villain was able to him the instant that he got into his presence no doubt they want his professional services but having used him they may be inclined to punish him for what they will regard as his treachery our hope was that by taking train we get to as soon as or sooner than the carriage on reaching scotland yard however it was more than an hour before we could get and with the legal which would enable us to enter the house it was a quarter to ten before we reached london bridge and before the four of us alighted on the platform a drive of half a mile brought us to the a large dark house standing back from the road in its own grounds here we dismissed our cab and made our way up the drive together the windows are all dark remarked the the house seems deserted our birds are flown and the nest empty said by the greek j why do you say so a carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the last hour the laughed i saw the wheel tracks in the light of the gate lamp but where does the luggage come in you may have observed the same wheel tracks going the other way but the outward bound ones were very much deeper so much so that we can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on the carriage you get a trifle beyond me there said the his shoulders it will not be an easy door to force but we will try if we cannot make hear us he loudly at the and pulled at the bell but without any success had slipped away but he came back in a few minutes i have a window open said he it is a mercy that you are on the side of the force and not against it mr remarked the as he noted the clever way in which by of my friend had forced back the catch well i think that under the circumstances we may enter without waiting for an invitation one after the other we made our way into a large apartment which was evidently that in which mr had found himself the had lit his lantern and by its light we could see the two doors the curtain the lamp and the suit of mail as he had described them on the table stood two glasses an empty brandy bottle and the remains of a meal what is that asked suddenly we all stood still and listened a low moaning sound was coming from somewhere above our heads rushed to the door and out into the hall the dismal noise came from upstairs he dashed up the and i at his heels while his brother followed as quickly as his great bulk would permit three doors faced us upon the second floor and it was from the central of these that the sinister sounds were issuing sinking sometimes into a dull by the greek i and rising again into a shrill it was locked but the key was on the outside flung open the door and rushed in but he was out again in an instant with his hand to his throat it s he cried give it time it will clear peering in we could see that the only light in the room came from a dull blue flame which from a small brass in the centre it threw a livid unnatural circle upon the floor while in the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which crouched against the wall from the open door there a horrible poisonous which set us gasping and rushed to the top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air and then dashing into the room he threw up the window and hurled the brazen out into the garden we can enter in a minute he gasped darting out again where is a candle i doubt if we of by i of could strike a match in that atmosphere hold the h at the door and we shall get th m oat with a rush we got to the poisoned men and dragged them out on to the landing both of them were blue and insensible with swollen faces and eyes indeed so distorted were their features that save for his black beard and stout figure we might have failed to recognise in one of them the greek who had parted from us only a few hours before at the club his hands and feet were securely together and he bore over one eye the mark of a violent blow the other who was secured in a similar fashion was a tall man in the last stage of with several of sticking plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern over his face he had ceased to moan as we laid him down and a glance me that for him at least our aid	4
had come too late mr however still lived and in less than an hour with the aid of and brandy i had the satisfaction of seeing him by the greek i i open his eyes and of knowing that my hand had drawn him back from the dark valley in which all paths meet it was a simple story which he had to tell and one which did but confirm our own his visitor on entering his rooms had drawn a life from his sleeve and had so impressed him with the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had him for the second time indeed it was almost the effect which this had produced upon the unfortunate for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and a cheek he had been taken swiftly to and had acted as in a second interview even more dramatic than the first in which the two had their prisoner with instant death if he did not with their demands finally finding him proof against every threat they had hurled him back into his prison and after with his treachery which appeared from the newspaper advertisement they had stunned him with a by of blow from a stick and he remembered nothing more until he found us bending over him and this was the singular case of the the explanation of which is involved in some mystery we were able to find out by communicating with the gentleman who had answered the advertisement that the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy family and that she had been on a visit to some friends in england while there she had met a young man named who had acquired an over her and had eventually persuaded her to fly with him her friends shocked at the event had contented themselves with informing her brother at and had then washed their hands of the matter the brother on his arrival in england had placed himself in the power of and of his associate whose name was a man of the these two finding that through his ignorance of the language he was helpless in their hands had kept him a prisoner and had end favoured by cruelty and by the greek starvation to make him sign away his own and his sister s property they had kept him in the house without the girl s knowledge and the plaster over the face had been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she should ever catch a glimpse of him her feminine however had instantly seen through the disguise when on the occasion of the s first visit she had seen him for the first time the poor girl however was herself a prisoner for there was no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman and his wife both of whom were tools of the finding that their secret was out and that their prisoner was not to be the two with the girl had fled away at a few hours notice from the furnished house which they had hired having first as they thought taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one who had betrayed them months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from it told how two englishmen who ad been travelling with a woman by of had met with a tragic end they had each been it seems and the police were of opinion that they had quarrelled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other however is i fancy of a different way of thinking and he holds to this day that if one could find the girl one might learn how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be by the naval treaty by by the naval treaty the july which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable by three cases of interest in which i had the privilege of being associated with and of studying his methods i find them recorded in my notes under the of the adventure of the second stain the adventure of the naval treaty and the adventure of the tired captain the first of these however with interests of such importance and so many of the first families in the kingdom that for many years it will be impossible to make it public no case however in which was ever engaged has illustrated the value of his methods so clearly or has im by of pressed those who were associated with him so deeply i still retain an almost report of the interview in which he the true facts of the case to of the paris police and von the well known of both of whom had wasted their energies upon what proved to be side issues the new century will have come however before the story can be safely told meanwhile i pass on to the second upon my list which promised also at one time to be of national importance and was marked by several incidents which give it a quite unique character during my school days i had been intimately associated with a lad named who was of much the same age as myself though he was two classes ahead of me he was a very brilliant boy and carried away every prize which the school had to offer finishing his exploits by winning a which sent him on to continue his triumphant career at cambridge he was i remember extremely well connected and even when we were all by the naval little boys together we knew that his mother s brother was lord the great this gaudy relationship did him little good at school on the contrary it seemed rather a thing to us to him about the and hit him over the with a but it was another thing when he came put into the world i heard vaguely that his abilities and	4
him hand this two months back perhaps we had better go in at once for i know how impatient he is the chamber into which we were shown was on the same floor as the drawing room it was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as a bedroom with flowers arranged in every nook and comer a young man very pale and worn was lying upon a sofa near the open window through which came the rich scent of the garden and the summer air a woman was sitting beside him and rose as we entered shall i leave she asked he clutched her hand to detain her how are you said he cordially i should never have known you under that moustache and i you would not be prepared to swear to me this i presume is your celebrated friend mr i introduced him in a few words and we both sat down the stout young man had left us but his of ii i o by of sister still remained with her hand in that of the invalid she was a striking looking woman a little short and thick for but with a beautiful olive complexion large dark italian eyes and a wealth of deep black hair her rich tints made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the contrast i won t waste your time said he raising himself upon the sofa i ll plunge into the matter without further i was a happy and successful man mr and on the eve of being married when a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life i was as may have told you in the foreign office and through the influence of my uncle lord i rose rapidly to a responsible position when my uncle became foreign minister in this administration he gave me several of trust and as i always brought them to a successful conclusion he came at last to have the utmost confidence in my ability and tact nearly ten weeks ago to be more accurate on by the naval treaty the rd of may he called me into his private room and after me upon the good work which i had done informed me that he had a new commission of trust for me to execute this said he taking a grey roll of paper from his is the original of that secret treaty between england and italy of which i regret to say some have already got into the public press it is of enormous importance that nothing further should out the french or russian would pay an immense sum to learn the contents of these papers they should not leave my were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied you have a desk in your yes sir then take the treaty and lock it up there i shall give directions that you may remain behind when the others go so that you may copy it at your leisure without fear of being overlooked when you have finished re lock both the original and the by of in the desk and hand them over to me personally tomorrow morning took the papers and excuse me an instant said were you alone during this conversation absolutely in a large room thirty feet each way in the centre yes about it and speaking low my uncle s voice is always remarkably low i hardly spoke at all thank you said shutting his eyes pray go on i did exactly what he had indicated and waited until the other clerks had departed one of them in my room charles had some of work to make up so i left him there and went out to dine when i returned he was gone i was anxious to hurry my work for i knew that joseph ihe mr whom you saw just now was in by the naval treaty town and that he would travel down to by the eleven o clock train and i wanted if possible to catch il when i came to the treaty i saw at once that it was of such importance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in what he had said without going into details i may say that it defined the position of great britain towards the triple alliance and the policy which this country would pursue in the event of the french fleet gaining a complete over that of italy in the the questions treated in it were purely naval at the end were the of the high who had signed it i glanced my eyes over it and then settled down to my task of it was a long document written in the french language and containing twenty six separate articles i copied as quickly as i could but at nine o clock i had only done nine articles and it seemed hopeless for me to attempt to catch my train i was feeling drowsy and stupid partly from my dinner and also by of from the effects of a long da s work a cup of coffee would dear my brain a remains all night in a little lodge at the foot of the stairs and is in the habit of making coffee at his spirit lamp for any of the officials who may be working i rang the bell therefore to summon him to my surprise it was a woman who answered the summons a large coarse faced elderly woman in an apron she explained that she was the s wife who did the and i gave her the order for the coffee i wrote two more articles and then more drowsy than ever i rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs my coffee had not yet come and i wondered what the cause of the delay could be opening the door i	4
of any had it been all the evening since about seven how is it then that the woman who came into by the naval treaty the room about nine left no traces with her muddy boots i am glad you raise the point it occurred to me at the time the are in the habit of taking their boots at the s office and putting on list slippers that is very clear there were no marks then though the night was a wet one the chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest what did you do next we examined the room also there was no possibility of a secret door and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground both of them were fastened on the inside the carpet prevents any possibility of a trap door and the ceiling is of the ordinary white washed kind i will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have come through the door how about the fireplace they use none there is a stove the hangs from the wire just to the right of my desk whoever rang it must have come right up by r of to the desk to do it but why should any criminal wish to ring the bell it is a most mystery certainly the incident was unusual what were your next steps you examined the room i presume to see if the intruder had left any traces any end or dropped glove or or other trifle there was nothing of the sort no smell well we never thought of that ah a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in such an investigation i never smoke myself so i think i should have observed it if there had been any smell of there was absolutely no due of any kind the only fact was that the s wife mrs was the had hurried out of the place he could give no explanation save that it was about the time when the woman always went home the policeman and i agreed that our best by the naval treaty plan would be to seize the woman before she could get rid of the papers that she had them the alarm had reached scotland yard by this time and mr the came round at once and took up the case with a great deal of energy we hired a and in half an hour we were at the address which had been given to us a young woman opened the door who proved to be mrs s eldest daughter her mother had not come back yet and we were shown into the front room to wait about ten minutes later a knock came at the door and here we made the one serious mistake for which i blame myself instead of opening the door ourselves we allowed the girl to do so we heard her say mother there are two men in the house waiting to see you and an instant afterwards we heard the of feet rushing down the passage flung open the door and we both ran into the back room or kitchen but the woman had got there before us she stared at us with defiant eyes by t of and then suddenly me an expression of absolute astonishment came over her face why if it isn t mr of the office she cried come come who did you think we were when you ran away from us asked my companion i thought you were the said she we ve had some trouble with a that s not quite good enough answered we have reason to believe that you have taken a paper of importance from the foreign office and that you ran in here to dispose of it you must come back with us to scotland yard to be searched it was in vain that she protested and resisted a four was brought and we all three drove back in it we had first made an examination of the kitchen and especially of the kitchen fire to see whether she might have made away with the papers during the instant that she was alone there were no signs however of any ashes or scraps by the naval treaty l l when we reached scotland yard she was handed over at once to the female i waited in an agony of suspense until she came back with her report there were no signs of the papers then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its full force upon me hitherto i had been acting and action had thought i had been so confident of the treaty at once that i had not dared to think of what would be the consequence if i failed to do so but now there was nothing more to be done and i had leisure to realize my position it was horrible there would tell you that i was a nervous sensitive boy at school it is my nature i thought of my uncle and of his in the cabinet of the shame which i had brought upon him upon myself upon connected with me what though i was the victim of an extraordinary accident no allowance is made for accidents where interests are at stake i was ruined hopelessly ruined i don t know what i did i fancy i must have made a scene i have a of ii by of dim recollection of a group of officials who crowded round me endeavouring to soothe me one of them drove down with me to and saw me into the train i believe that he would have come all the way had it not been that dr who lives near me was going down by that very train the doctor most kindly took charge of me and it was well	4
gives me fresh life to know that i something is being by the way i have had a letter from lord ha what did he say he was cold but not harsh i my severe illness prevented him from being that he repeated that the matter was of the utmost importance and added that no steps would be taken about my future by which he means of course my dismissal until my health was restored and i had an opportunity of my misfortune well that was reasonable and considerate said come for we have a good day s work before us in town mr joseph drove us down to the station and we were soon whirling up in a train was sunk in profound thought and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed by the naval treaty it s a very cheering thing to come into london by any of these lines which run high and allow you to look down upon the houses like this i thought he was joking for the view was sordid enough but he soon explained himself look at those big isolated of building rising up above the like brick islands in a lead coloured sea the board schools my boy of the future with hundreds of bright little seeds in each out of which will spring the wiser better england of the future i suppose that man does not drink i should not think so nor should l but we are bound to take every possibility into account the poor devil has certainly got himself into very deep water and it s a question whether we shall ever be able to get him ashore what did you think of miss a girl of strong character by of yes but she is a good sort or i am mistaken she and her brother are the only children of an somewhere up way got engaged to her when travelling last winter and she came down to be introduced to his people with her brother as escort then came the and she stayed on to nurse her lover while brother joseph finding himself pretty snug stayed on too been making a few independent inquiries you see but to day must be a day of inquiries my practice i began oh if you find your own cases more interesting than mine said with some i was going to say that my practice could get along very well for a day or two since it is the time in the year excellent said he recovering his good humour then we ll look into this matter together i think that we should begin by seeing he can probably tell us all the details we want until we know from what side the case is to be approached by the naval treaty i you said you had a clue well we have several but we can only test their value by further inquiry the most difficult crime to track is the one which is now this is not who is it that profits by it there is the french there is the russian there is whoever might sell it to either of these and there is lord lord well it is just conceivable that a might find himself in a position where he was not sorry to have such a document accidentally destroyed not a with the honourable record of lord it is a possibility and we cannot to disregard it we shall see the noble lord to day and find out if he can tell us anything meanwhile i have already set inquiries upon foot already yes i sent wires from station to every by of evening paper in london this advertisement will appear in each of them he handed over a sheet torn from a note on it was in pencil io reward the number of the cab which dropped a fare at or about the door of the foreign office in charles street at a quarter to ten in the evening of may rd apply ib baker street you are confident that the thief came in a cab if not there is no harm done but if mr is correct in stating that there is no either in the room or the then the person must have come from outside if he came from outside on so wet a night and yet left no trace of damp upon the which was examined within a few minutes of his passing then it is exceedingly probable that he came in a cab yes i think that we may safely a cab it sounds plausible that is one of the of which i spoke it by the naval treaty may lead us to something and then of course there is the bell which is the most feature of the case why should the bell ring was it the thief that did it out of or was it who was with the thief who did it in order to prevent the crime or was it an accident or was it he sank back into the state of intense and silent thought from which he had emerged but it seemed to me accustomed as i was to his every mood that some new possibility bad dawned suddenly upon him it was twenty past three when we reached our and after a hasty luncheon at the we pushed on at once to scotland yard bad already to and we found him waiting to receive us a small man with a sharp but by no means amiable expression he was decidedly in his manner to us especially when he heard the errand upon which we had come ive heard of your methods before now mr said he you are ready enough to use all the information that the police can lay at by of your disposal and then you try to finish the case yourself and bring upon	4
hang it up perhaps he is waiting for a better price if he waits a little longer he will get no price at all the treaty will cease to be a secret in a few months that is most important said of course it is a possible supposition that the thief has had a sudden illness by the naval treaty l l an attack of brain fever for example asked the flashing a swift glance at him i did not say so said and now lord we have already taken up too much of your valuable time and we shall wish you good day every success to your investigation be the criminal who it may answered the nobleman as he bowed us out at the door he s a fine fellow said as we came out into but he has a struggle to keep up his position he is far from rich and has many calls you noticed of course that his boots had been re now i won t detain you from your legitimate work any longer i shall do nothing more to day unless i have an answer to my cab advertisement but i should be extremely obliged to you if you would come down with me to to morrow by the same train which we took to day by l of i met him accordingly next morning and we travelled down to together he had had no answer to his advertisement he said and no fresh light had been thrown upon the case he had when he so willed it the utter of countenance of a red indian and i could not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with the position of the case his conversation i remember was about the s of and he expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the french we found our still under the charge of his devoted nurse but looking considerably better than before he rose from the sofa and greeted us without difficulty when we entered any news he asked eagerly my report as i expected is a negative one said i have seen and i have seen your uncle and i have set one or two trains of inquiry upon foot which may lead to something by the naval treaty you have not lost heart then by no means god bless you for sa ring cried miss if we keep our courage and our patience the truth must come out we have more to tell you than you have for us said himself upon the couch i hoped you might have something yes we have had an adventure during the night and one which might have proved to be a serious one his expression grew very grave as he spoke and a look of something akin to fear sprang up in his eyes do you know said he that i begin to believe that i am the unconscious centre of some monstrous conspiracy and that my life is aimed at as well as my honour ah cried it sounds incredible for i have not as far as i know an enemy in the world yet from last night s experience i can come to no other conclusion pray let me hear it by of you must know that last night was the very first night that i have ever slept without a nurse in the room i was so much better that i thought i could dispense with one i had a night light burning however well about two in the morning i had sunk into a light sleep when i was suddenly aroused by a slight noise it was like the sound which a mouse makes when it is a plank and i lay listening to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that cause then it grew louder and suddenly there came from the window a sharp i sat up in amazement there could be no doubt what the sounds were now the faint ones had been caused by forcing an instrument through the between the and the second by the catch being pressed back there was a pause then for about ten as if the person were waiting to see whether the noise had me then i heard a gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened i could stand it no longer for my nerves are not what by the naval treaty they used to be i sprang out of bed a d flung open the shutters a man was crouching at the window i could see little of him for he was gone like a flash he was wrapped in some sort of cloak which came across the lower part of his face one thing only i am sure of and that is that he had some weapon in his hand it looked to me like a long knife i distinctly saw the gleam of it as he turned to run this is most interesting said pray what did you do then i should have followed him through the open window if i had been stronger as it was i rang the bell and roused the house it took me some little time for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants all sleep upstairs i shouted however and that brought joseph down and he roused the others joseph and the groom found marks on the outside the window but the weather has been so dry lately that they found it hopeless to follow the trail across the grass there s a place however on the wooden fence which skirts the road which by op shows they tell me as if had got over and had snapped the top of the rail in doing so i have said nothing to the local police yet for i thought i had best have your opinion first this tale of our s appeared to have an extraordinary	4
effect upon he rose from his chair and paced about the room in excitement misfortunes never come singly said smiling though it was evident that his adventure had somewhat shaken him you have certainly had your share said do you think you could walk round the house with me oh yes i should like a little sunshine joseph will come too and i also said miss i am afraid not said shaking his head i think i must ask you to remain sitting exactly where you are the young lady resumed her seat with an air of by toe naval treaty displeasure her brother however had joined us and we set off all four together we passed round the lawn to the outside of the young s window there were as he had said marks upon the flower bed but they were hopelessly and vague stooped over them for an instant and then rose his shoulders i don t think anyone could make much of this said he let us go round the house and see why this particular room was chosen by the i should have thought those larger windows of the drawing room and dining room would have had more attractions for him they are more visible from the road suggested mr joseph ah yes of course there is a door here which he might have attempted what is it for it is the side entrance for of course it is locked at night have you ever had an alarm like this before never said our by of do you keep plate in the house or anything to attract nothing of value strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and a air which was unusual with him by the way said he to joseph you found some place i understand where the fellow the fence let us have a look at that the young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the wooden rails had been cracked a small fragment of the wood was hanging down pulled it off and examined it do you think that was done last night it looks rather old does it not well possibly so there are no marks of anyone jumping down upon the other side no i fancy we shall get no help here let us go back to the bedroom and talk the matter over was walking very slowly leaning by the naval treaty l g upon the arm of his brother in law walked swiftly across the lawn and we were at the open window of the bedroom long before the others came up miss said speaking with the utmost intensity of manner you must stay where you are all day let nothing prevent you from staying where you are all day it is of most vital importance certainly if you wish it mr said the girl in astonishment when you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside and keep the key promise to do this but he will come to london with us and i am to remain here it is for his sake you can serve him quick promise she gave a nod of assent just as the other two came up by of why do you sit there cried her brother come out into the sunshine no thank you joseph i have a slight headache and this room is cool and soothing what do you propose now mr asked our well in this minor affair we must not lose sight of our main inquiry it would be a very great help to me if you would come up to london with us at once well as soon as you conveniently can say in an hour i feel quite strong enough if i can really be of any help the greatest possible perhaps you would like me to stay there tonight i was just going to propose it then if my friend of the night comes to re by the naval treats me he find the bird flown we are all in your hands mr and you must tell us ex what you would like done perhaps you would prefer that joseph came with us so as to look after me oh no my friend is a medical man you know and he ll look after you we ll have our lunch here if you will permit us and then we shall all three set off for town together it was arranged as he suggested though miss excused herself from leaving the bedroom in accordance with s suggestion what the object of my friend s was i could not conceive unless it were to keep the lady away from who rejoiced by his returning health and by the prospect of action with us in the dining room had a still more startling surprise for us however for after accompanying us down to the station and seeing us into our carriage he announced that he had no intention of leaving there are one or two small points which i by of should re to clear up before i go said he your absence mr will in some ways rather assist me when you reach london you would oblige me by driving at once to baker street with our friend here and remaining with him until i see you again it is fortunate that you are old as you must have much to talk over mr can have the spare bedroom to night and i shall be with you in time for breakfast for there is a train which will take me into at eight but how about our investigation in london asked we can do that to morrow i think that just at present i can be of more immediate use here you might tell them at that i hope to be back to morrow ni t cried as we began to move	4
from the platform i hardly expect to go back to answered and waved his hand to us cheerily as we shot out from the station by the naval treaty and i talked it over on our journey but neither of us could devise a satisfactory reason for this new development i suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the last night if a it was for myself i don t believe it was an ordinary thief what is your idea then upon my word you may put it down to my weak nerves or not but i believe there is some deep political going on around me and that for some reason that passes my understanding my life is aimed at by the it sounds high flown and absurd but consider the facts why should a thief try to break in at a bedroom window where there could be no hope of any plunder and why should he come with a long knife in his hand you are sure it was not a s oh no it was a knife i saw the flush of the blade quite distinctly but why on earth should you be pursued with such of by of that is the question well if takes the same view that would account for his action would it not that your theory is correct if he can lay his hands upon the man who threatened you last night he will have gone a long way towards finding who took the naval treaty it is absurd to suppose that you have two enemies one of whom you while the other your life but mr said that he was not going to i have known him for some time said i but i never knew him do anything yet without a very good reason and with that our conversation drifted off into other topics but it was a weary day for me was still weak after his long illness and his misfortunes made him and nervous in vain i endeavoured to him in in india in social questions in anything which might take his mind out of the he would always come by the naval treaty back to his lost treaty wondering as to what was doing what steps lord was taking what news we should have in the morning as the evening wore on his excitement became quite painful you have faith in he asked i have seen him do some remarkable things but he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this oh yes i have known him solve questions which presented fewer than yours but not where such large interests are at stake i don t know that to my certain knowledge be has acted on behalf of three of the houses of europe in very vital matters but you know him well he is such an inscrutable fellow that i never quite know what to make of him do you think he is hopeful do you think he expects to make a success of it he has said nothing that is a bad sign on the contrary i have noticed that when he by of is off the trail he generally says so it is when he is on a scent and is not quite absolutely sure yet that it is the right one that he is most now my dear fellow we can t help matters by making ourselves nervous about them so let me you to go to bed and so be fresh for whatever may await us to morrow i was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice though i knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep for him indeed his mood was for i lay tossing half the night myself brooding over this strange problem and a hundred theories each of which was more impossible than the last why had remained at why had he asked miss to stay in the sick room all day why had he been so careful not to inform uie people at that he intended to remain near them i my brains i fell asleep in the endeavour to find some explanation which would cover all these facts it was seven o clock when i awoke and i set off by the naval treaty at once for s room to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night his first question was whether had arrived yet he ll be here when he promised said i and not an instant sooner or later and my words were true for shortly after eight a dashed up to the door and our friend got out of it standing in the window we saw that his left hand was in a and that his face was very grim and pale he entered the house but it was some little time before he came upstairs he looks like a beaten man cried i was forced to confess that he was right after all said i the clue of the matter lies probably here in town gave a groan i don t know how it is s d he but i had hoped for so much from his return but surely his hand was not tied up like that yesterday what can be the matter by of you are not wounded i asked as my friend entered the room tut it is only a scratch through my own he answered nodding his good morning to us this case of yours mr is certainly one of the darkest which i have ever i feared that you would find it beyond you it has been a most remarkable experience that tells of adventures said l won t you tell us what has happened after breakfast my dear remember that i have breathed thirty miles of air this morning i suppose there has been no answer to my advertisement	4
well well we cannot expect to score every time the table was all laid and just as i was about to ring mrs entered with the tea and coffee a few minutes later she brought in the covers and we all drew up to the table i curious and in the state of depression by the naval treaty mrs has risen to the occasion said a dish of chicken her is a little limited but she has as good an idea of breakfast as a what have you there ham and eggs i answered good what are you going to take mr fowl eggs or will you help yourself thank you i can eat nothing said oh come try the dish before you thank you i would really rather not well then said with a mischievous twinkle i suppose that you have no objection to helping me raised the cover and as he did so he a scream and sat there staring with a face as white as the plate upon which he looked across the centre of it was lying a little of blue grey paper he caught it up devoured it with his eyes and then danced madly about the room pressing it to his bosom and shrieking out in his delight then he fell back into an arm chair so limp and exhausted by of with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his throat to keep him from fainting there said soothingly patting him upon the shoulder it was too bad to spring it on you like this but here will tell you that i never can resist a touch of the dramatic seized his hand and kissed it god bless you he cried have saved my honour well my own was at stake you know said i assure you it is just as hateful to me to fail in a case as it can be to you to blunder over a commission thrust away the precious document into the pocket of his coat i have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further and yet i am dying to know how you got it and where it was swallowed a cup of coffee and turned his attention to the ham and eggs then he rose lit his pipe and settled himself down into his chair by the naval treaty i f tell you what i did first and how i came to do it afterwards said he after leaving you at the station i went for a charming walk through some admirable scenery to a pretty little village called where i had my tea at an inn and took the precaution of filling my and of putting a paper of in my pocket there i remained until evening when i set off for again and found myself in the high road outside just after sunset well i waited until the road was clear it is never a very frequented one at any time i fancy and then i over the fence into the grounds surely the gate was open ejaculated yes but i have a peculiar taste in these matters i chose the place where the three fir trees stand and behind their screen i got over without the least chance of anyone in the house being able to see me i crouched down among the bushes on the other side and crawled from one to the other witness the state of my knees i by of had reached the of just opposite to your bedroom window there i down and awaited the blind was not down in your room and i could see miss sitting there reading by the table it was a quarter past ten when she closed her book fastened the shutters and retired i heard her shut the door and felt quite sure that she had turned the key in the lock the key ejaculated yes i had given miss instructions to lock the door on the outside and take the key with her when she went to bed she carried out every one of my to the letter and certainly without her co operation you would not have that paper in your coat pocket she departed then the lights went out and i was left in the bush the night was fine but still it was a very weary of course it has the sort of excitement about it that the feels when he lies beside the by the naval treaty and waits for the big game it was very long though almost as long as when you and i waited in that deadly room when we looked into the little problem of the band there was a church clock down at which struck the quarters and i thought more than once that it had stopped at last however about two in the morning i suddenly heard the gentle sound of a bolt being pushed back and the creaking of a key a moment later the servants door was opened and mr joseph stepped out into the moonlight joseph ejaculated he was bare headed but he had a black cloak thrown over his shoulder so that he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any alarm he walked on tip toe under the shadow of the wall and when he reached the window he worked a knife through the and pushed back the catch then he flung open the window and putting his knife through the crack in the shutters he thrust the bar up and swung them open by of from where i lay i had a perfect view of the inside of the room and of every one of his movements he lit the two candles which stand upon the and then he proceeded to turn back the comer of the carpet in the neighbourhood of the door presently he stooped and picked out a square	4
piece of board such as is usually left to enable to get at the joints of the gas pipes this one covered as a matter of fact the t joint which gives off the pipe which supplies the underneath out of this hiding place he drew that little of paper pushed down the board the carpet blew out the candles and walked straight into my arms as i stood waiting for him outside the window well he has rather more than i gave him credit for has master joseph he flew at me with his knife and i had to grass him twice and got a cut over the before i had the upper hand of him he looked murder out of the only eye he could see with when we had finished but he listened to reason and gave up the papers by j the naval treaty having got them i let my man go but i full particulars to this morning if he is quick enough to catch his bird well and good but if as i suspect he finds the nest empty before he gets there why all the better for the government i fancy that lord for one and mr for another would very much rather that the affair never got as far as a police court my god gasped our do you tell me that during these long ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very room with me all the time so it was and joseph joseph a villain and a thief hum i am afraid joseph s character is a rather deeper and more dangerous one than one might judge from his appearance from what i have heard from him this morning i gather that he has lost heavily in with stocks and that he is ready to do anything on earth to better his by of fortunes being an absolutely selfish man when a chance presented itself he did not allow either his sister s happiness or your reputation to hold his hand sank back in his chair my head said he your words have dazed me the principal difficulty in your case remarked in his fashion lay in the fact of there being too much evidence what was vital was and hidden by what was of all the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those which we deemed to be essential and then piece them together in their order so as to this very remarkable chain of events i had already begun to suspect joseph from the fact that you had intended to travel home with him that night and that therefore it was a likely enough thing that he should call for you knowing the foreign office well upon his way when i heard that had been so anxious to get into the bedroom in which no one but joseph could by the naval treaty have concealed anything you told us in your narrative how you had turned joseph out when you arrived with the doctor my suspicions all changed to especially as the attempt was made on the first night upon which the nurse was absent showing that the intruder was well acquainted with the ways of the house how blind i have been facts of the case as far as i have worked them out are these this joseph entered the office through the charles street door and knowing his way he walked straight into your room the instant after you left it finding no one there he promptly rang the bell and at the instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper upon the table a glance showed him that chance had put in his way a state document of immense value and in a flash he had thrust it into his pocket and was gone a few minutes elapsed as you remember before the sleepy drew your attention to the bell and those were just enough to give the thief time to make his escape by o or he made his way to by the first train and having examined his and assured himself that it really was of immense value he concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place with the intention of taking it out again in a day or two and it to the french or wherever he thought that a long price was to be had then came your sudden return he without a moment s warning was out of his room and from that time there were at least two of you there to prevent him from his treasure the situation to him must have been a one but at last he thought he saw his chance he tried to steal in but was baffled by your you may remember that you did not take your usual draught that night i remember i fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious of course i understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could by the naval treaty be done with safety your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted i kept miss in it all day so that he might not anticipate us then having given him the idea that the coast was clear i kept guard as i have described i already knew that the papers were probably in the room but i had no desire to up all the and in search of them i let him take them therefore from the hiding place and so saved myself an of trouble is there any other point which i can make clear why did he try the window on the first occasion i asked when he might have entered by the door in reaching the door he would have to pass seven on the other hand he could	4
the quiet fashion which is most congenial to me and to my attention upon my but i could not rest i could not sit quiet in my chair if i thought that such a man as professor were walking the streets of london what has e done then r his career has been an extraordinary one he is a man of good birth and excellent education endowed by nature with a by the final problem faculty at of twenty one he wrote a upon the which has had a european on th strength of it he won the chair at of our smaller and had to all appearance a most career before him but the hereditary tendencies of the most d a criminal strain ran in his blood which instead of being modified was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers dark gathered round him in the university town and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and to come down ta london where he set up as an army coach so much is known to the world but what i am now is what i have myself discovered as you are there is no one who knows the higher l world of london so well as i do for years i st l have continually been conscious of some power behind the some deep power which for ever stands in the way of the law and th its shield by or over the wrong again and again in cases of the most varying sorts cases i have felt the presence of this force and i have its action in many of those crimes in which i have not been personally consulted for years i have endeavoured to break through the veil which it and at last the time came when i seized my thread and followed it until it led me after a thousand to ex professor of he is the napoleon of crime he is the of half that is evil and of nearly all that is in this great city he is a genius a philosopher an abstract he has a brain of the first order he sits motionless like a spider in the centre of its web but that web has a thousand and he knows well every quiver of each of them he does little himself he only plans but his agents are numerous and splendidly organized is there a crime to be done a paper to be abstracted we will say to be a by the final problem man to be removed the word is passed to the professor the matter is organized and carried out the agent may be caught in that case money is found for his or his defence but the central power which uses the agent is never caught never so much as suspected this was the organization which i and which i devoted ray whole energy to exposing arid but the professor was round with so devised that do what i would it seemed impossible to get evidence which could in a court of law you know my powers my dear and yet at the end of three months i was forced to confess that i had at last met an who was my intellectual equal my horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skill but at last he made a trip only a little little trip but it was more than he could afford when i was so close upon him i had my chance and starting from that point i have woven my net round him until now it is all ready to dose in three days that is to say on monday matters by ot will be ripe and the professor with all the principal members of his gang will be in the hands of the police then will come the greatest criminal trial of the century the clearing up of over forty mysteries and the rope for all of them but if we move at all you understand they may slip out of our hands even at the last moment now if i could have done this without the knowledge of professor all would have been well but he was too for that he saw every step which i took to draw my toils round him again and again he strove to break away but i as often headed him off i tell you my friend th if a detailed account of that silent contest could be written it would take its place as the most brilliant bit of thrust and work in the history of detection never have i risen to such a height and never have i been so hard pressed by an opponent he cut deep and yet i just him this morning the last steps were taken and three days only were wanted to complete the business i was sitting in my room thinking the matter by the final over when the door opened and professor stood before me my nerves are proof but i must confess to a start when i saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing there on my threshold his appearance was quite familiar to me he is extremely tall and thin his forehead out in a white curve and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head he is clean shaven pale and looking retaining something of the professor in his features his shoulders are rounded from much study and his face forward and is for ever slowly from side to side in a curiously fashion he peered at me with great curiosity in his eyes you have less development than i should have expected said he at last it is a dangerous habit to finger loaded in the pocket of one s dressing gown the fact is that upon his	4
entrance i had instantly recognised the extreme personal danger in which i lay the only conceivable escape for him by op lay in my tongue in an instant i had slipped the revolver from the drawer into my and was covering him through the doth at his remark i drew the weapon out and laid it cocked upon the table he still smiled and but there was something about his eyes which made me feel very glad that i had it there you evidently don t know me said he on the contrary i answered i think it is fairly evident that i do pray take a chair i can spare you five minutes if you have anything to say all that i have to say has already crossed your mind said he then possibly my answer has crossed yours i replied you stand fast absolutely he clapped his hand into his pocket and i raised the pistol from the table but he merely by ihe final drew out a book in which he had some dates you crossed my path on the th of january said he on the rd you me by the middle of february i was seriously by you at the end of march i was absolutely in my plans and now at the dose of april i find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution that i am in positive danger of losing my liberty the situation is becoming an impossible one have you any suggestion to make i asked you must drop it mr said he his face about you really must you know after monday said i tut tut said he i am quite sure that a man of your intelligence will see that there can be but one to this affair it is necessary that you should withdraw you have worked things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left of ii by of it has been an treat to me to see tbe way in which you have with this affair and i say that it would be a grief to me to be forced to t ke any extreme measure you smile sir but i assure you that it would danger is part of my trade i remarked this is not danger said he it is inevitable destruction you stand in the way not merely of an individual but of a mighty organization the full extent of which you with all your cleverness have been unable to realize you must stand dear mr or be trodden under foot i am afraid said i rising that in the pleasure of this conversation i am business of importance which me elsewhere he rose also and looked at me in silence shaking his head sadly well well said he at last it seems a pity but i have done what i could i know every move of your game you can do nothing before monday by the final problem it has been a between you and me mr you hope to place me in the dock i tell you that i will never stand in the dock you hope to beat me i tell you that you will never beat me if you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me rest assured that i shall do as much to you you have paid me several compliments mr said l let me pay you one in return when i say that if i were assured of the former i would in the interests of the cheerfully accept the latter i can promise you the one but not the other he and so turned his rounded back upon me and went peering and out of the room that was my singular interview with professor i confess that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind his soft precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully could not produce of course you will say why not take police precautions against him the reason is that i am well convinced that it is from his agents by op the blow would fall i have the best of proofs that it would be so you have already been my dear professor is not a man who lets the grass grow under his feet i went out about midday to some business in oxford street as i passed the comer which leads from street on to the street crossing a two horse van furiously driven round and was on me like a flash i sprang for the and saved myself by the of a second the van dashed round by lane and was gone in an i kept to the pavement after that but as i walked down street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses and was shattered to fragments at my feet i called the police and had the place examined there were and bricks piled upon the roof preparatory to some and they would have me believe that the wind had over one of these of course i knew better but i could prove nothing i took a cab after that and reached my by the final brother s rooms in pall where i spent the day now i have come round to you and on my way i was attacked by a rough with a i knocked him down and the police have him in but i can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front teeth i have my and the retiring coach who is i working out problems upon a black board ten miles away you will not wonder that my first act on entering your rooms was to close your shutters and that i have been compelled to ask your permission to leave the house by some less conspicuous	4
exit than the front door i had often admired my friend s courage but never more than now as he sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must have combined to make up a day of horror you will spend the night here i said no my friend you might find me a dangerous by of guest i have my plans laid and all will be well matters have gone so far now that they can move without my help as far as the arrest goes though my presence is necessary for a conviction it is obvious therefore that i cannot do better than get away for the few days which remain before the police are at liberty to act it would be a great pleasure to me therefore if you could come on to the continent with me the practice is quiet said i and i have an neighbour i should be glad to come and to start to morrow morning if necessary oh yes it is most necessary then these are your instructions and i beg my dear that you will obey them to the letter for you are now playing a double handed game with me against the rogue and the most powerful of in europe now listen you will whatever luggage you intend to take by a by the final messenger to victoria to night in the you send for a desiring your man to take neither the first nor the second which may present itself into this you will jump and you will drive to the strand end of the handing the address to the upon a slip of paper with a request that he will not throw it away have your fare ready and the instant that your cab stops dash through the yourself to reach the other side at a quarter past nine you will find a small dose to the driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collar with red into this you will step and you will reach victoria in time for the continental express where shall i meet you at the station the second first class carriage from the front will be reserved for us the carriage is our then yes it was in vain that i asked to remain by op for the evening it was evident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to the roof he was under and that that was the motive which impelled him to with a few hurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose and came out with me into the garden over the wall which leads into street and immediately whistling for a in which i heard him drive away in the morning i obeyed s to the letter a was procured with such precautions as would prevent its being one which was placed ready for us and i drove immediately after breakfast to the through which i hurried at the top of my speed a was waiting with a very massive driver wrapped in a dark who the instant that i had stepped in whipped up the horse and rattled oflf to victoria station on my there he turned the carriage and dashed away again without so much as a look in my direction so far all had gone admirably my luggage was waiting for me and i had no difficulty in find by the final ing the carriage which had indicated the less so as it was the only one in the train which was marked engaged my only source of anxiety now was the non appearance of the station clock marked only seven minutes from the time when we were due to start in vain i searched among the groups of travellers and leave for the figure of my friend there was no sign of him i spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable italian priest who was endeavouring to make a porter understand in his broken english that his luggage was to be through to paris then having taken another look round i returned to my carriage where i found that the porter in spite of the ticket had given me my italian friend as a travelling companion it was useless for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion for my italian was even more limited than his english so i shrugged my shoulders and continued to look out anxiously for my friend a chill of fear had come over me as i thought that his absence might mean that ome blow had fallen by of during the night already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown when my dear said a voice you have not even condescended to say good morning i turned in astonishment the aged had turned his face towards me for an instant the wrinkles were smoothed away the nose drew away from the chin the lower lip ceased to and the mouth to the dull eyes regained their fire the drooping figure expanded the next the whole frame again and had gone as quickly as he had come good heavens i cried how you startled me every is still necessary he whispered i have reason to think that they are hot upon our trail ah there is himself the train had already begun to move as spoke glancing back i saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd and waving his by the final problem hand as if he desired to have the train stopped it was too late however for we were rapidly gathering and an instant later had shot dear of the station with all our precautions you see that we have cut it rather fine said laughing he rose and throwing the black and hat which had formed his disguise he packed them away in a hand bag have you seen the morning paper no	4
you haven t seen about baker street then baker street they set fire to our rooms last night no great harm was done good heavens this is intolerable they must have lost my track completely after their man was arrested otherwise they could not have imagined that i had returned to my rooms th y have taken the precaution of watching you however and that is what has by or brought to victoria you could not have made any slip in coming i did what you advised did you find your yes it was waiting did you recognise your coachman no it was my brother it is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a into your confidence but we must plan what we are to do about now as this is an express and as the boat runs in connection with it i should think we have shaken him off very my dear you evidently did not realize my meaning when i said that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual plane as myself you do not imagine that if i were the i should allow myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle why then should you think so of by the final problem j what will he do what i should do what would you do then engage a special but it must be late by no means this train stops at and there is always at least a quarter of an hour s delay at the boat he will catch us there one would think that we were the let us have him arrested on his arrival it would be to ruin the work of three months we should get the big fish but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net on monday we should have them all no an arrest is what then we shall get out at and then well then we must make a cross country journey to and so over to will again do what i should do he will get on to paris mark down our luggage and wait by of for two days at the t in the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of bags encourage the of the countries through which we travel and make our way at our leisure into vi and i am too old a traveller to allow myself to be seriously by the loss of my luggage but i confess that i was annoyed at the idea of being forced to and hide before a man whose record was black with unutterable it was evident however that understood the situation more clearly than i did at therefore we alighted only to find that we should have to wait an hour before we could get a train to i was still looking rather after the rapidly disappearing luggage van which contained my wardrobe when pulled my sleeve and pointed up the line already you see said he far away from among the woods there by the final problem i should certainly recommend you to return to your practice it was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was an old as well as an old friend we sat in the h arguing the question for half an hour but the same night we had resumed our journey and were well on our way to for a charming week we wandered up the valley of the and then off at we made our way over the pass still deep in snow and so by way of to it was a lovely trip the dainty green of the spring below the virgin white of the winter above but it was clear to me that never for one instant did forget the shadow which lay across him in the homely villages or in the lonely mountain passes i could still tell by his quick glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that passed us that he was well convinced that walk where we of ii by of would we could not walk ourselves clear of the danger which was our footsteps once i remember as we passed over the and walked along the border of the melancholy a large rock which had been from the ridge upon our right down and roared into the lake behind us in an instant had up on to the ridge and standing upon a lofty his neck in every direction it was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of stones was a common chance in the spring time at that spot he said nothing but he smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the fulfilment of that which he had expected and yet for all his he was never depressed on the contrary i can never recollect having seen him in such spirits again and again he to the fact that if he could be assured that society was freed from professor he would cheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion by the final problem i think that i may go so far as to say that i have not lived wholly in vain he remarked if my record were closed to night i could still survey it with the air of london is the sweeter for my presence in over a thousand cases i am not aware that i have ever used my powers upon the wrong side of late i have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by nature rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of society is responsible your will draw to an end upon the day that i crown my career by the capture or of the most dangerous and capable criminal in europe i shall be brief and yet exact in the little which remains for me to tell it is	4
not a subject on which i would willingly dwell and yet i am conscious that a duty upon me to omit no detail it was upon the rd of may that we reached the little village of where we put up at by of the then kept by peter the elder our landlord was an intelligent man and spoke excellent english having served for three years as waiter at the hotel in london at his advice upon the afternoon of the th we set off together with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at the hamlet of we had strict however on no account to pass the falls of which are about half way up the mil without making a small to see them it is indeed a fearful place the torrent swollen by the melting snow into a tremendous abyss from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house the shaft into which the river itself is an immense chasm lined by glistening coal black rock and into a boiling pit of depth which over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip the long sweep of green water for ever down and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing for ever upwards turn a by the final problem man giddy with their constant whirl and we stood near the edge peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against the black rocks and listening to the half human shout which came up with the spray out of the a the path has been cut half way round the fall to afford a complete view but it ends abruptly and the traveller has to return as he came we had turned to do so when we saw a lad come running along it with a letter in his hand it bore the mark of the hotel which we had just left and was addressed to me by the landlord it appeared that within a very few minutes of our leaving an english lady had arrived who was in the last stage of consumption she had at and was now to join her friends at when a sudden had overtaken her it was thought that she could hardly live a few hours but it would be a great consolation to her to see an english doctor and if i would only return etc etc the good assured me in a by of that he would himself look upon my compliance as a very great favour since the lady absolutely refused to see a physician and he could not but feel that he was a great responsibility the appeal was one which could not be ignored it was impossible to refuse the request of a dying in a strange land yet i had my scruples about leaving it was finally agreed however that he should retain the young messenger with him as guide and companion while i returned to my friend would stay some little time at the fall he said and would then walk slowly over the hill to where i was to him in the evening as i turned away i saw with his back against a rock and his arms folded gazing down at the rush of the waters it was the last that i was ever destined to see of him in this world when i was near the bottom of the descent i looked back it was impossible from that position by the final problem to see the fall but i could see the path which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to it along this a man was i remember walking very rapidly i could see his black figure clearly against the green behind him i noted him and the energy with which he walked but he passed from my mind again as i hurried on upon my errand it may have been a little over an hour before i reached old was standing at the porch of his hotel well said i as i came hurrying up i trust that she is no worse a look of surprise passed over his face and at the first quiver of his eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast you did not write this i said pulling the letter from my pocket there is no sick in the hotel certainly not he cried but it has the hotel mark upon it must have been written by by of that tall englishman who came in after you had gone he said but i waited for none of the landlord s explanations in a of fear i was already running down the village street and making for the path which i had so lately descended it had taken me an hour to come down for all my efforts two more had passed before i found myself at the fall of once more there was s stock still leaning against the rock by which i had left him but there was no sign of him and it was in vain that i shouted my only answer was my own voice in a rolling echo from the cliffs around me it was the sight of that stock which turned me cold and sick he had not gone to then he had remained on that three foot path with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop upon the other until his enemy had overtaken him the young had gone too he had probably been in the pay of and had left the two me by the final problem together and then what had happened who was to tell us what had happened then i stood for a minute or two to collect myself for i was dazed with the horror of the thing then i began to think of s own methods and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy it	4
seriousness plays the part of the and in medicine bitter to the taste but in the result there are a few stories in this little collection which might have such an effect and i have so far shared in your feeling that i have reserved them from publication in the reader can see that they are medical stories and can if he or she be so minded avoid them yours very truly a p s you ask about the lamp it is the usual sign of the general in england contents behind the times his operation a of the generation a false start the curse of eye a s wife ill the of lady a question of a medical document lot ko the los the doctors of the surgeon talks bound the bed lamp behind the times my first interview with dr james winter was under dramatic circumstances it occurred at two in the morning in the bedroom of an old country house i kicked him twice on the white waistcoat and knocked off his gold spectacles while he with the aid of a female stifled my angry cries in a flannel and thrust me into a warm bath i am told that one of my parents who happened to be present remarked in a whisper that there was nothing the matter with my lungs i cannot recall how dr winter looked at the time for i had other things to think of but his description of my own appearance is far from flattering a head a body like a goose very legs and feet with the turned those are the main which he can remember from this time the of my life were the which dr winter round the red lamp made upon me he me he cut me for an he me for it was a world of peace and he the one dark cloud that threatened but at last there came a time of real illness a time when i lay for months together inside my basket bed and then it was that i learned that that hard face could that those country made creaking boots could steal very gently to a bedside and that that rough voice could thin into a whisper when it spoke to a sick child and now the child is himself a medical man and yet dr winter is the same as ever i can see no change since first i can remember him save that perhaps the hair is a trifle and the huge shoulders a little more bowed he is a very tall man though he loses a couple of inches from his stoop that big back of his has curved itself over sick beds until it has set in that shape his face is of a brown and tells of long winter drives over bleak country roads with the wind and the rain in his teeth it looks smooth at a little distance but as you approach him you see that it is shot with innumerable fine wrinkles like a last year s apple they are hardly to be seen when he is in repose but when he laughs his face breaks like a glass and you then that though he looks old he must be older than he looks behind the times how old that is i could never discover i have often tried to find out and have struck his stream as high up as george iv and even the but without ever getting quite to the source his mind must have been open to impressions very early but it must also have closed early for the politics of the day have little interest for him while he is fiercely excited about questions which are entirely he shakes his head when he speaks of the first reform bill and expresses grave doubts as to its wisdom and i have heard him when he was warmed by a glass of wine say bitter things about robert and his of the com laws the death of that brought the history of england to a definite close and dr winter to everything which had happened since then as to an insignificant but it was only when i had myself become a medical man that i was able to appreciate how entirely he is a of a past generation he had learned his medicine under that and forgotten system by which a youth was to a surgeon in the days when the study of was often approached through a grave his views upon his own profession are even more than in politics fifty years have brought him little and deprived him of less was well within the teach round the bed lamp ing of his youth though i think he has a secret preference for bleeding he would practise freely but for public opinion he regards as a dangerous and he always with his tongue when it is mentioned he has even been known to say vain things about and to refer to the as a new french toy he carries one in his hat out of deference to the expectations of his but he is very hard of hearing so that it makes little difference whether he uses it or not he reads as a duty his weekly medical er so that he has a general idea as to the advance of modem science he always in looking upon it as a huge and rather ludicrous experiment the theory of disease set him for a long time and his favourite joke in the sick room was to say shut the door or the will be getting in as to the theory it struck him as being the crowning joke of the century the children in the nursery and the ancestors in the stable he would cry and laugh the tears out of his eyes he is so very much behind the day that occasionally as things move	4
round in their usual circle he finds himself to his bewilderment in the front of the fashion treatment for example had behind the been much in in his youth and he has more practical knowledge of it than any one whom i have met too was familiar to him when it was new to our generation he had been trained also at a time when instruments were in a state and when men learned to trust more to their own fingers he has a model han muscular in the palm tax in the fingers with an eye at the end of each i shall not easily forget how dr and i cut sir john the county member and were unable to find the stone it was a horrible moment both our were at stake and then it was that br winter whom we had asked out of courtesy to be present introduced into the wound a which seemed to our excited senses to be about nine inches long and out the stone at the end of it it s always well to bring one in your waistcoat said he with a chuckle but i suppose you are above all that we made him president of our branch of the british medical association but he resigned after the first meeting the young men are too much for me he said i don t understand what they are talking about yet his do very well he has the healing that thing which explanation or analysis but which is a very evident fact none the less his mere bound the red lamp ence leaves the patient with more and vitality the sight of disease affects him as dust does a careful it makes him angry and impatient tut tut this will never do he cries as he takes over a new case he would death out of the room as though he were an hen but when the intruder refuses to be when the blood moves more slowly and the eyes grow then it is that dr winter is of more avail than au the in his dying folk cling to his hand as if the presence of his bulk and vigour gives them more courage to the change and that kindly face has been the last earthly impression which many a sufferer has carried into the unknown when dr and i both of us young energetic and up to settled in the district we were most cordially received by the old doctor who would have been only too happy to be relieved of some of his the themselves however followed their own inclinations which is a way that have so that we remained neglected with our modem instruments and our latest while he was serving out and to au the we both of us loved the old fellow but at the same time in the privacy of our own intimate conversations we could not help behind the times upon this deplorable lack of judgment it s all very well for the poorer people said but after all the educated classes have a right to expect that their medical man will know the difference between a murmur and a r le it s the frame of mind not the sympathetic which is the essential one i thoroughly agreed with in what he said it happened however that very shortly afterwards the of broke out and we were all worked to death one morning i met on my round and found him looking rather pale and out he made the same remark about me i was in fact feeling far from well and i lay upon the sofa all the afternoon with a headache and pains in every joint as evening closed in i could no longer disguise the fact that the was upon me and i felt that i should have medical advice without delay it was of naturally that i thought but somehow the idea of him had suddenly become to me i thought of his cold critical attitude of his endless questions of his and his i wanted something more something more genial mrs said i to my housekeeper would you kindly run along to old dr winter round the red lamp and tell mm that i should be obliged to him if he would step round she was back with an answer presently dr winter will come round in an hour or so sir but he has just been called in to attend dr his first operation it was the first day of the winter and the third year s man was walking with the first year s man twelve o clock was just out from the church let me see said the third year s man you have never seen an operation never then this way please this is s historic bar a glass of please for this gentleman you are rather sensitive are you not my nerves are not very strong i am afraid hum another glass of for this gentleman we are going to an operation now you know the his shoulders and made a gallant attempt to look nothing very eh well pretty bad an no it s a bigger affair than that bound the bed lamp i i think they be expecting me at home there s no sense in if you don t go to day you must to morrow better get it over at once feel pretty fit oh yes all right the smile was not a success one more glass of then now come on or we shall be late i want you to be well in front surely that is not necessary oh it is far better what a drove of students i there are plenty of new men among them you can tell them easily enough can t you k they were going down to be upon themselves they could not look i don t think i should	4
look as white well i was just the same myself but the feeling soon wears off you see a fellow with a face like plaster and before the week is out he is eating his lunch in the rooms i ll teu you au about the case when we get to the theatre the students were pouring down the sloping street which led to the each with his little of note books in his hand there were pale frightened lads fresh from the high schools and old whose generation had passed on and left them they swept in an un i his first operation h broken tumultuous stream from the university gate to the hospital the figures and gait of the men were young but there was little youth in most of their faces some looked as if they ate too a few as if they drank too much tall and short and black round shouldered and slim they crowded with clatter of feet and rattle of sticks through the hospital gate now and again they into two lines as the carriage of a surgeon of the staff rolled over the between there s going to be a crowd at s whispered the senior man with suppressed excitement it is grand to see him at work i ve seen him all round the until it made me to watch him this way and mind the they passed under an and down a long stone corridor with coloured doors on either side each marked with a number some of them were and the glanced into them with nerves he was reassured to catch a glimpse of cheery fires lines of beds and a profusion of coloured upon the wall the corridor opened upon a small hall with a fringe of poorly clad people seated all round upon benches a young man with a pair of stuck like a flower in his and a note book in his hand was round the bed lamp passing from one to the other whispering and writing anything good asked the third year s man you should have been here yesterday said the out patient clerk glancing up we had a regular field day a a a a tropical and an how s that for a single haul i m sorry i missed it but they ll come again i suppose what s up with the old gentleman a broken workman was sitting in the shadow rocking himself slowly to and fro and groaning a woman beside him was trying to console him patting his shoulder with a hand which was spotted over with curious little white it s a fine said the clerk with the air of a who describes his to one who can appreciate them it s on his back and the passage is so we must not look at it must we he added carelessly pointing to the woman s hands would you care to stop and take out a no thank you we are due at s come on and they rejoined the throng which was hurrying to the theatre of the famous surgeon the of benches rising from the floor to the ceiling were already packed and the his first operation as he entered saw vague lines of faces in front of him and heard the deep of a hundred voices and sounds of laughter from somewhere up above him his companion an opening on the second bench and they both squeezed into it this is grand the senior man whispered have a rare view of it all only a single row of heads between them and the table it was of deal plain strong and clean a sheet of brown water covered half of it and beneath stood a large tin tray f of on the further side in front of the window there was a board which was with glittering instruments and a line of knives with long thin delicate blades lay at one side two young men in front of this one needles the other doing something to a brass po like thing which out of steam that s whispered the senior the big bald man in the front row he s the man you know and that s who took a out successfully last winter and there s the and the eye man you ll come to know them au soon who are the two men at the table round the red lamp nobody one has charge of the and the other of the puffing it s s spray you know and s one of the men is the leader of the cleanliness and cold water school and they all hate each other like poison a flutter of interest passed through the closely packed benches as a woman in and was led in by two nurses a red shawl was draped over her head and round her neck the face which looked out from it was that of a woman in the prime of her years but drawn with suffering and of a peculiar tint her head drooped as she walked and one of the nurses with her arm round her waist was whispering consolation in her ear she gave a quick at the instrument table as she passed but the nurses turned her away from it what her asked the of the it s the devil of a case extends right away back behind the there s hardly a man but would dare to follow it ah here he is himself as he spoke a small brisk iron grey man came into the room rubbing his hands together as he walked he had a clean shaven face of the naval officer type with large bright eyes and a firm straight mouth behind him came his big house surgeon with his gleaming j and a his first operation of who themselves into the comers of the room gentlemen cried the surgeon in a	4
voice as hard and brisk as his manner we have here an interesting case of of the originally but now assuming malignant characteristics and therefore requiring on to the table nurse thank you clerk thank you you can take the shawl oflf nurse the woman lay back upon the water pillow and her lay revealed in itself it was a pretty thing ivory white with a of blue veins and gently from jaw to chest but the lean yellow face and the throat were in horrible contrast with the and of this monstrous growth the surgeon placed a hand on each side of it and pressed it slowly backwards and forwards at one place gentlemen he cried the growth the and and passes behind the of the jaw whither we must be prepared to follow it it is impossible to say how deep our may carry us tray thank you of if you please push the mr johnson have the small saw ready in case it is necessary to remove the jaw the patient was moaning gently under the which had been placed over her face she bound the red lamp tried to raise her arms and to draw up her knees but two restrained her the heavy air was full of the penetrating smells of and of a cry came from under the and then a snatch of a song sung in a high monotonous voice he says says he if you fly with me be mistress of the ice cream van be mistress of the it off into a and stopped the surgeon came across still rubbing his hands and spoke to an elderly man in front of the narrow for the government he said oh ten is enough they won t have ten long they d do better to resign before they are driven to it oh i should fight it out what s the use they can t get past the committee even if they get a vote in the house i was talking to patient s ready sir said the talking to but i ll tell you about it presently he walked back to the patient who was breathing in long heavy i propose said he passing his hand over the in an almost caressing fashion to make a free over the border and to take another forward at right angles to the lower end of his first operation it might i trouble you for a medium knife mr johnson the with eyes which were with horror saw the surgeon pick up the long gleaming knife dip it into a tin basin and balance it in his as an artist might his brush then he saw him pinch up the skin above the with his left hand at the sight his nerves which had already been tried once or twice that day gave way utterly his head swam round and he felt that in another instant he might faint he dared not look at the patient he his into his ears lest some scream should come to haunt him and he fixed his eyes rigidly upon the wooden ledge in front of him one glance one cry would he knew break down the of which he still retained he tried to think of of green fields and rippling water of his sisters at of anything rather than of what was going on so near him and yet somehow even with his ears stopped up sounds seemed to penetrate to him and to carry their own tale he heard or thought that he heard the long hissing of the engine then he was conscious of some movement among the were there groans too breaking in upon him and some other sound some sound which was more dreadfully suggestive still his mind would keep building up every round the bed lamp step of the operation and fancy made it more ghastly than fact could have been his nerves and quivered minute by minute the grew more marked the sickly feeling at his heart more distressing and then suddenly with a groan his head forward and his brow sharply upon the narrow wooden shelf in front of him he lay in a dead faint when he came to himself he was lying in the empty theatre with his collar and shirt undone the third year s man was a wet over his face and a couple of grinning were looking on all right cried the sitting up and rubbing his eyes fm sorry to have made an ass of myself well so i should think said his companion what on earth did you faint about i couldn t help it it was that operation what operation why that there was a pause and then the three students burst out laughing why you cried the senior man there never was an operation at all they found the patient didn t stand the well and so the whole thing was off has been giving us one of his lectures and you fainted just in the middle of his favourite story a of it was a dull october morning and heavy rolling fog wreaths lay low over the wet grey roofs of the houses down in the long brick lined streets all was and greasy and cheerless from the high dark buildings of the came the of many wheels the of and the and of human toil beyond the dwellings of the smoke stained and away in a perspective of road and wall there were few folk in the streets for the had all been absorbed since break of day by the huge smoke monster which sucked in the manhood of the town to it forth weary and work stained every night little groups of children to school or to peep through the single front windows at the big gilt edged balanced upon small three legged tables which were their usual stout women with thick red arms and dirty stood	4
upon round the red lamp the leaning upon their and shrieking their morning greetings across the road one and than the rest had gathered a small knot of around her and was talking with little shrill from her audience to her remarks old enough to know better she cried in answer to an exclamation from one of the listeners if he t no sense now i he won t learn much on this side o why ow old is he at all blessed if i could ever make out well it ain t so hard to reckon said a pale faced woman with watery blue eyes he s been at the battle o and has the and to prove it that were a ter ble long time remarked a third it were afore i were born it were fifteen year after the of the century cried a younger woman who had stood leaning against the wall with a smile of superior knowledge upon her face my bill was a saying so last sabbath when i spoke to him o old here and suppose he spoke truth ow long do that make it it s eighty one now said the original speaker checking off the years upon her coarse a op fingers and that were fifteen ten and ten and ten and ten and ten why it s only mix year so he ain t so old after all but he weren t a babe at the battle silly r cried the young woman with a chuckle s pose he were only twenty then he couldn t be less than six and eighty now at the lowest aye he s every day of it cried several i ve had bout enough of it remarked the large woman gloomily unless his young niece or or whatever she is come to day i m off and he can find some one else to do his work your own ome first says i ain t he quiet then asked the youngest of the group listen to him now she answered with her hand half raised and her head turned towards the open door the upper floor there came a shuffling sliding sound with a sharp tapping of a stick there he go back and doing what he call his go the night through he s at that game the silly old at six o clock this very there he was with a stick at my door turn out guard he cried and a lot more that i could make nothing of then what with his and and there ain t no a wink o sleep hark to him now round the red lamp cried a cracked and voice from above that s him she cried nodding her head with an air of triumph he do go on scandalous yes mr sir i want my morning it s just ready mr sir blessed if he ain t like a baby cry in for its said the young woman i feel as if i could shake his old bones up sometimes cried mrs but who s for a of the whole company were about to oflf to the public house when a young girl stepped across the road and touched the housekeeper timidly upon the arm i think that is no view she said can you tell me if mr lives here the housekeeper looked at the she was a girl of about twenty and comely with a up nose and large honest grey eyes her print dress her straw hat with its bunch of glaring and the bundle she carried had all a of the country you re i s pose said mrs her up and down with no friendly gaze yes i ve come to look after my a op and a good job too cried the housekeeper with a toss of her head it s about time that some of his own folk took a turn at it for i ve had enough of it there you are young woman in you go and make yourself at home there s tea in the and bacon on the and the old man will be about you if you don t fetch him his breakfast i ll send for my things in the with a nod she strolled oflf with her attendant in the direction of the public house thus left to her own devices the country girl walked into the front room and took oflf her hat and jacket it was a low apartment with fire upon which a small brass kettle was singing cheerily a stained cloth lay over half the table with an empty brown a loaf of bread and some coarse looked rapidly about her and in an instant took over her new duties ere five minutes had passed the tea was made two of bacon were on the pan the table was the straightened over the sombre brown furniture and the whole room had taken a new air of comfort and neatness this done she looked round curiously at the prints upon the walls over the fireplace in a small square case s brown caught her eye hanging from a strip of purple ribbon beneath was a slip of round the red lamp paper she stood on her with her fingers on the edge of the and her neck up to see it glancing down from time to time at the bacon which and beneath her the cutting was yellow with age and ran in this way on tuesday an interesting ceremony was performed at the of the third regiment of guards when in the presence of the prince lord hill lord and an assemblage which beauty as well as a special was presented to of captain s flank company in recognition of his gallantry in the recent great battle in the it appears that on the ever memorable th of june four companies of the third guards and	4
of the under the command of and held the important of at the right of the british position at a critical point of the action these troops found themselves short of powder seeing that and were again their for an attack on the position colonel to the rear to hasten up the reserve came upon two powder of the division and succeeded after menacing the drivers with his in them to convey a op their powder to in his absence however the hedges surrounding the position had been set on fire by a battery of the french and the passage of the carts full of powder became a most matter the first exploded blowing the driver to fragments by the fate of his comrade the second driver turned his horses but springing upon his seat hurled the man down and urging the powder cart through the flames succeeded in forcing his way to his companions to this gallant deed may be directly attributed the success of the british arms for without powder it would have been impossible to have held and the duke of had repeatedly declared that had fallen as well as la haye he would have found it impossible to have held his ground long may the heroic live to treasure the which he has so bravely won and to look back with pride to the day when in the presence of his comrades he received this tribute to his from the august hands of the first gentleman of the realm the reading of this old cutting increased in the girl s mind the veneration which she had always had for her warrior her infancy he had been her hero and she remembered how her father used to speak of his courage and round the red lamp ms strength how he strike down a with a blow of his fist and carry a fat sheep under either arm true she had never seen him but a rude painting at home which depicted a square faced clean shaven man with a great cap rose ever before her memory when she thought of him she was still gazing at the brown and wondering what the et decorum est might mean which was inscribed upon the edge when there came a sudden tapping and shuffling upon the stair and there at the door was standing the very man who had been so often in her thoughts but could this indeed be he where was the martial air the flashing eye the warrior face which she had pictured there framed in the doorway was a huge twisted old man gaunt and with hands and shuffling feet a cloud of white hair a red nose two thick of and a pair of dimly questioning watery blue eyes these were what met her gaze he leaned forward upon a stick while his shoulders rose and fell with his breathing i want my morning he as he forward to his chair the cold me without em see to my fingers he held out ms distorted hands au blue at the tips a op wrinkled and with huge projecting it s nigh ready answered the girl gazing at him with wonder in her eyes don t you know who i am i am from rum is warm the old man rocking to and fro in his chair and is warm and there s eat in soup but it s a dish o tea for me what did you say your name was you can speak out seems to me folk s voices isn t as loud as they used i m uncle i m your come down from way to live with you you ll be brother s girl i lor to think o little having a girl he chuckled hoarsely to himself and the long of his throat jerked and quivered i am the daughter of your brother george s son said she as she turned the bacon lor but little was a rare un he continued eh by there was no he s got a bull o mine that i gave him when i took the you ve heard him speak of it likely why george has been dead this twenty year said she pouring out the tea round the red lamp well it was a aye a un by tin cold for lack o my bum is good and so is but as have tea as either he breathed heavily while he devoured his food it s a way you ve come said he at last likely the stage left the what uncle the coach that brought you nay i came by the train lor now think o that i you ain t o those things by to think of you by railroad like that what s the world a to there was silence for some minutes while sat stirring her tea and glancing sideways at the lips and jaws of her companion you must have seen a deal o life uncle said she it must seem a long long time to you not so very long neither i m ninety come but it don t seem long since i took the and that battle it might have been yesterday eh but i get a power o good from my he did indeed look less worn and than when she first saw him his face was flushed and his back more erect a op have you read that he asked his head towards the cutting yes uncle and i m sure you must be proud of it ah it was a great day for me a great day the was there and a fine body of a man too the is proud of you says he and i m proud of the say i a damned good answer too says he to lord hill and they both bu st out a but what be you a out o the window for	4
pipe from his pocket and began to stuff the tobacco into the bowl in an instant it slipped through his fingers and was broken to pieces on the floor round the red lamp his lip quivered his nose up and he began with the long helpless sobs of a child ive broke my pipe he cried don t uncle oh don t cried bending over him and patting his white head as one a baby it don t matter we can easy get another don t you fret yourself sir said the ere s a wooden pipe with an mouth if you ll do me the honour to accept it from me i d be real glad if you will take it cried he his smiles breaking in an instant through his tears it s a fine pipe see to my new pipe i lay that never had a pipe like that you ve got your there yes sir i was on my way back from the when i looked in let me have the feel of it but it seems like old times to have one s hand on a what s the manual eh cock your look to your present your eh oh i ve broke your in that s all right sir cried the laughing you pressed on the and opened the piece that s where we load em you know load em at the wrong end well well to a of think o that and no neither i ve heard tell of it but i never believed it afore ah it won t come up to brown when there s work to be done you mark my word and see if they don t come back to brown by the lord sir cried the hotly they need some change out in south africa now i see by this s paper that the government has under to these they re hot about it at the non com mess i can teu you sir eh eh old by it wouldn t ha done for the the book would ha had a word to say over that ah that he would sir cried the and god send us another like him but wearied you enough for one sitting i ll look in again and bring a comrade or two with me if i may for there isn t one but would be proud to have speech with you so with another salute to the and a gleam of white teeth at the big withdrew leaving a memory of blue cloth and of gold behind him many days had not passed however before he was back again and during all the long winter he was a frequent visitor at view there came a time at last when it might be doubted to which of the two occupants his visits were directed nor was it hard to say by which he was most anxiously awaited round the red lamp he brought others with him and soon through all the lines a pilgrimage to s came to be looked upon as the proper thing to do and and came bowing and into the little parlour with clatter of side arms and of spurs stretching their long legs across the rug and hunting in the front of their for the screw of tobacco or paper of snuff which they had brought as a sign of their esteem it was a deadly cold winter with six weeks on end of snow on the ground and had a hard task to keep the life in that time worn body there were times when his mind would leave him and when save an animal when the hour of his meals came round no word would fall from him he was a white haired child with all a child s troubles and emotions as the warm weather came once more however and the green peeped forth again upon the trees the blood in his veins and he would even drag himself as far as the door to in the life giving sunshine it do me up so he said one morning as he glowed in the hot may sun it s a job to keep back the flies though they get in this weather and they do plague me cruel m keep them off you uncle said a of eh but it s fine this sunshine makes me think o the glory to come you might read me a bit o the bible i find it wonderful soothing what part would you like uncle oh them wars the wars aye keep to the wars give me the old testament for choice there s more taste to it to my mind when parson comes he wants to get off to something else but it s or nothing with me them was good soldiers good soldiers all of em but uncle pleaded it s all peace in the next world no it ain t oh yes uncle surely the old knocked his stick upon the ground i tell ye it ain t i asked parson weu what did he say he said there was to be a last fight he even gave it a name he did the battle of arm arm aye that s the name parson said i the third guards ll be there and the the ll have a word to say an elderly grey gentleman had been round the red lamp walking down the street glancing up at the numbers of the houses now as his eyes fell upon the old man he came straight for him said he perhaps you are my name sir answered the you are the same as i understand who is on the roll of the guards as having been present at the battle of i am that man sir though we called it the third guards in those days it was	4
a fine and they only need me to make up a full muster tut tut they have to wait years for that said the gentleman heartily but i am the colonel of the guards and i thought i would like to have a word with you old was up in an instant with his hand to his rabbit skin cap god bless me he cried to think of to think of hadn t the gentleman better come in suggested the practical from behind the door surely sir surely walk in sir if i may be so bold in his excitement he had forgotten his stick and as he led the way into the parlour his knees and he threw out his hands in an instant the colonel had caught him on one side and on the other a op easy and steady said the colonel as he led him to his thank ye sir i was near gone that time bat why i can scarce believe it to think of me the of the flank company and you the colonel of the how things come round to be sure why we are very proud of you in london said the colonel and so you are actually one of the men who held he looked at the bony trembling hands with their huge knotted the throat and the heaving rounded shoulders could this indeed be the last of that band of heroes then he glanced at the half filled the blue bottles the long kettle and the sordid details of the sick room better surely had he died under the blazing of the thought the colonel i hope that you are pretty comfortable and happy he remarked after a pause thank ye sir i have a good deal o trouble with my a deal o trouble you wouldn t think the job it is to cut the and i need my i gets cold without em and the flies i ain t strong enough to against them how s the memory asked the colonel oh there ain t nothing amiss there why round the red lamp sir i could give you the name of every man in captain s flank company and the battle you remember it why i sees it all afore me every time i my eyes sir you wouldn t hardly believe how clear it is to me there s our line from the bottle right along to the d ye see well then the box is for on the right where we and s for la haye there it is au right sir and here were our guns and here behind the and the them he furiously into the fire then here s the french where my pipe lies and over here where i put my was the a up on our left flank but it was a glad sight to see the smoke of their guns and what was it that struck you most now in connection with the whole affair asked the colonel i lost three half crowns over it i did old i shouldn t wonder if i was never to get that money now i lent em to smith my rear rank man in only till pay day says he by he was stuck by a at and me with not so much as a slip o paper to prove the debt i them three half crowns is as good as lost to me a op the colonel rose from his chair laughing the officers of the guards want you to buy yourself some little trifle which may add to your comfort he said it is not from me so you need not thank me he took up the old man s tobacco and slipped a crisp inside it thank ye kindly sir but there s one favour that i would like to ask you colonel yes my man if i m called colonel you won t grudge me a flag and a party i m not a fm a i m the last of the old third guards all right my man til see to it said the colonel good bye i hope to have nothing but good news from you a kind gentleman old as they saw him walk past the window but he ain t to hold the o my colonel it was on the very next day that the old took a sudden change for the worse even the golden sunlight streaming through the window seemed unable to warm that withered frame the doctor came and shook his head in silence all day the man lay with only his puffing blue lips and the of his neck to show that he still held the breath of life and round the red lamp had sat by him in the afternoon but he had shown no consciousness of their presence he lay peacefully his eyes half closed his hands under his cheek as one who is very weary they had left him for an instant and were sitting in the front room where was preparing tea when of a sudden they heard a shout that rang through the house loud and clear and swelling it in their ears a voice full of strength and energy and fiery passion the guards need powder it cried and yet again the guards need powder the sprang from his chair and rushed in followed by the trembling there was the old man standing up his blue eyes sparkling his white hair his whole figure towering and with eagle head and glance of fire the guards need powder he thundered once again and by god they shall have it he threw up his long arms and sank back with a groan into his chair the stooped over him and his face darkened oh sobbed the frightened girl what do you think of him the turned away i think said he that	4
the third guards have a full muster now the lane sloping down from just behind the monument lies at night in the shadow of two black and monstrous which loom high above the glimmer of the scattered gas lamps the are narrow and the is paved with rounded so that the endless roar along it like breaking waves a few old fashioned houses lie scattered among the business premises and in one of these half way down on the left hand side dr his large practice it is a singular street for so big a man but a who has an european reputation can afford to live where he likes in his particular branch too do not always regard seclusion as a disadvantage it was only ten o clock the dull roar of the traffic which all day upon london bridge had died away now to a mere confused murmur it was heavily and the gas shone dimly through the and dripping c a round the red lamp glass throwing little circles upon the glistening the air was of the sounds of the rain the thin of its fall the heavier from the and the and down the two steep and through the grating there was only one figure in the whole length of lane it was that of a man and it stood outside the door of dr he had just rung and was waiting for an answer the beat full upon the gleaming shoulders of his and upon his features it was a wan sensitive clear cut face with some subtle nameless peculiarity in its expression something of the startled horse in the white eye something too of the helpless child in the drawn cheek and the of the lower lip the man servant knew the stranger as a patient at a bare glance at those frightened eyes such a look had been seen at that door many times before is the doctor in r the man hesitated he has had a few friends to dinner sir he does not like to be disturbed outside his usual hours sir teu l that i see him tell him that it is of the very first importance here is my card he with his trembling fingers in the third generation trying to draw one from his case sir francis is the name tell him that sir francis of park must see him without delay yes sir the butler closed his fingers upon the card and the half sovereign which accompanied it better hang coat up here in the hall it is very wet now if you will wait here in the consulting room i have no doubt that i shall be able to send the doctor in to you it was a large and lofty room in which the young found the carpet was so soft and thick that his feet made no sound as he walked across it the two gas were turned only half way up and the dim light with the faint smell which filled the air had a vaguely religious suggestion he sat down in a shining leather by the fire and looked gloomily about him two sides of the room were taken up with books fat and sombre with broad gold upon their backs beside him was the high old fashioned of white marble the top of it with cotton and measures and little bottles there was one with a broad neck just above him containing and another one with what looked like the ruins of a broken and outside upon a red bound the bed lamp and were scattered about both on the and on the central table on either side of the sloping desk on the same table to the right stood copies of the five books which dr had written upon the subject with which his name is peculiarly associated while on the left on the top of a red medical lay a huge glass model of a human eye the size of a which opened down the centre to expose the and double chamber within sir francis had never been remarkable for his powers of observation and yet he found himself watching these trifles with the keenest attention even the of the cork of an bottle caught his eye and he wondered that the doctor did not use glass tiny where the light off from the table little upon the leather of the desk upon the of the nothing was too slight to arrest his attention and his sense of hearing was equally alert the heavy of the solemn black clock above the struck quite painfully upon his ears yet in spite of it and in spite also of the thick old fashioned wooden he could hear voices of men talking in the next room and could even catch scraps of their conversation second hand was bound to take if why you drew the last of them yourself the third how could i play the queen when i knew that the ace was against me i the phrases came in little falling back into the dull murmur of conversation and then suddenly he heard the creaking of a door and a step in the hall and knew with a mixture of impatience and horror that the crisis of his life was at hand dr was a large man with an imposing presence his nose and chin were bold and pronounced yet his features were a combination which would more freely with the wig and of the early than with the close hair and black frock coat of the end of the nineteenth century he was clean shaven for his mouth was too good to cover large and sensitive with a kindly human softening at either comer which with his brown sympathetic eyes had drawn out many a sinner s secret two little side whiskers out from under his ears away upwards to in the thick curves of his	4
himself in a somewhat situation some years ago said the doctor thoughtfully his device was a singular one he deliberately committed a offence and so compelled the young lady s people to withdraw their consent to the marriage the young shook his head my i honour is as yet said he i have little else left but that at least i will preserve well well it is a nice and the choice lies with you have you no other suggestion you don t happen to have property in none the third generation but you have capital i yes then you could buy some to morrow morning would do a thousand shares would be enough then you might write to say that urgent business affairs have compelled you to start at an hour s notice to inspect your property that would give you six at any rate well that would be possible yes certainly it would be possible but think of her position the house full of wedding presents guests coming from a distance it is awful and you say that there is no alternative the doctor shrugged his shoulders well then i might write it now and start to eh perhaps you would let me use your desk thank you i am so sorry to keep you from your guests so long but i won t be a moment now he wrote an abrupt note of a few lines then with a sudden impulse he tore it to and flung it into the fireplace no i can t sit down and tell her a lie doctor he said rising we must find some other way out of this i will think it over and let you know my decision you must allow me to double your fee as i have taken such an time now good bye and thank you a thousand times for your sympathy and advice round the red lamp why dear me you haven t even got your yet this is the mixture and i should recommend one of these every morning and the will put all directions upon the box you are placed in a cruel situation but i trust that these may be but passing clouds when may i hope to hear from you again to morrow morning very good how the rain is in the street you have your there you will need it good bye then until tomorrow he opened the door a gust of cold damp air swept into the hall and yet the doctor stood for a minute or more watching the lonely figure which passed slowly through the yellow of the gas lamps and into the broad bars of darkness between it was but his own shadow which up the wall as he passed the lights and yet it looked to the doctor s eye as though some huge and sombre figure walked by a s side and led him silently up the lonely street dr heard again of his patient next morning and rather earlier than he had expected a paragraph in the daily news caused him to push away his breakfast and turned him sick and faint while he read it a the third generation deplorable accident it was headed and it ran in this way a fatal accident of a peculiarly painful character is reported from king william street about eleven o clock last night a young man was observed while endeavouring to get out of the way of a to slip and fall under the wheels of a heavy two horse on being picked up his injuries were found to be of the most shocking character and he expired while being conveyed to the hospital an examination of his and shows beyond any question that the deceased is none other than sir francis of park who has only within the last year come into the the accident is made the more deplorable as the deceased who was only just of age was on the eve of being married to a young lady belonging to one of the oldest families in the south with his wealth and his talents the ball of fortune was at his feet and his many friends will be deeply grieved to know that his promising career has been cut short in so sudden and tragic a fashion a false start is dr at home i am he pray step in the visitor looked somewhat astonished at having the door opened to him by the master of the house i wanted to have a few words the doctor a pale nervous young man dressed in an professional long black frock coat with a high white collar cutting oflf his in the centre rubbed his hands together and smiled in the thick man in front of him he scented a patient and it would be his first his scanty resources had begun to run somewhat low and although he had his first quarter s rent safely locked away in the drawer of his desk it was becoming a question with him how he should meet the current expenses of his very simple housekeeping he bowed therefore waved his visitor in closed the hall door in a careless fashion as though his own presence had been a purely accidental a false start and finally led the stranger into his furnished front room where he him to a seat dr planted himself behind his desk and placing his finger tips together he gazed with some apprehension at his companion what was the matter with the man he seemed very red in the face some of his old professors would have his case by now and would have the patient by describing his own symptoms before he had said a word about them dr his brains for some clue but nature had fashioned him as a a very and nothing more he could think of nothing save that the visitor s watch chain had a	4
very appearance with a to the effect that he would be lucky if he got half a crown out of him still even half a crown was something in those early days of struggle whilst the doctor had been running his eyes over the stranger the latter had been plunging his hands into pocket after pocket of his heavy coat the heat of the weather his dress and this exercise of pocket had all combined to still further his face which had changed from brick to with a of moisture on his brow this extreme brought a clue at last to the observant doctor surely it was not to be attained without in lay the red lamp the secret of this man s trouble some little delicacy was needed however in showing him that he had read his case aright that at a glance he had penetrated to the inmost sources of his it s very hot observed the stranger his forehead yes it is weather which one to drink rather more beer than is good for one answered dr looking very at his companion from over his finger tips dear dear you shouldn t do that ii i never touch beer neither do i been an for twenty years this was dr blushed until he was nearly as red as the other may i ask what i can do for he asked picking up his and tapping it gently against his thumb nail yes i was just going to tell you i heard of your coming but i couldn t get round before he broke into a nervous little cough yes said the doctor i should have been here three weeks ago but you know how these things get put off he again behind his large red hand i do not think that you need say anything more said the doctor taking over the case with a false start an easy air of command your cough is quite sufficient it is entirely by the sound no doubt the mischief is at present but there is always the danger that it may spread so you have done wisely to come to me a little judicious treatment will soon set you right your waistcoat please but not your shirt puff out your chest and say ninety nine in a deep voice the red faced man began to laugh it s all right doctor said he that cough comes from tobacco and i know it s a very bad habit nine and is what i have to say to you for i m the officer of the gas company and they have a claim against you for that on the dr into his chair then you re not a patient he gasped never needed a doctor in my life sir h that s all right the doctor concealed his disappointment under an affectation of you don t look as if you troubled them much i don t know what we should do if every one were as robust i shall call at the company s offices and pay this small amount if you could make it convenient sir now that i am here it would save trouble h certainly these eternal little sordid money troubles were more trying to the doctor t plain living scanty food he took out his bound the red lamp purse and slid the contents on to the table there were two half crowns and some x in his drawer he had ten golden sovereigns but those were his rent if he once broke in upon them he was lost he would starve first dear me said he with a smile as at some strange unheard of incident i have run short of small change i am afraid i shall have to call upon the company after all very well sir the rose and with a practised glance around which valued every article in the room from the two guinea carpet to the eight shilling muslin curtains he took his departure when he had gone dr his room as was his habit a dozen times in the day he laid out his large s dictionary of medicine in the of the table so as to impress the casual patient that he had ever the best authorities at his elbow then he cleared all the little instruments out of his pocket case the the the the and he laid them all out beside the to make as good a show as possible his day book and visiting book were spread in front of him there was no entry in any of them yet but it would not look well to have the covers too glossy and new so he rubbed them together and ink over them n ith r would it be well a false start that any patient should observe that his name was the first in the book so he filled np the first page of each with notes of imaginary visits paid to nameless during the last three weeks having done all this he rested his head upon his hands and into the terrible occupation of waiting terrible enough at any time to the young professional man but most of au to one who knows that the weeks and even the days during which he can hold out are numbered as he would the money would still slip away in the countless little claims which a man never understands until he lives under a roof tree of his own dr could not deny as he sat at his desk and looked at the little heap of silver and that his chances of being a successful in were rapidly vanishing away and yet it was a prosperous town with so much money in it that it seemed strange that a man with a trained brain and fingers should be starved out of it for want of employment at his desk dr could see the	4
never ending double current of people which and flowed in front of his window it was a busy street and the air was forever filled with the dull roar of life the of the wheels and the of countless feet round the red lamp men women and children thousands and thousands of them passed in the day and yet each was hurrying on upon his own business scarce glancing at the small brass plate or wasting a thought upon the man who waited in the front room and yet how many of them would obviously have been the better for his professional assistance men women faces they flowed past him they him he them and yet the bar of professional etiquette kept them forever apart what could he do could he stand at his own front door pluck the casual stranger by the sleeve and whisper in his ear sir you will forgive me for remarking that you are from a severe attack of which makes you a peculiarly unpleasant object allow me to suggest that a small containing which wiu not cost you more than you often spend upon a single meal will be very much to your advantage such an address would be a degradation to the high and lofty profession of medicine and there are no such for the of that profession as some to whom she has been but a bitter and a mother dr was still looking out of the window when there came a sharp at the bell often it had rung and with every a false start ring his hopes had np only to away again and change to leaden disappointment as he faced some beggar or bat the doctor s spirit was young and elastic and again in spite of all experience it responded to that summons he sprang to his feet cast his eyes over the table thrust out his medical books a little more and hurried to the door a groan escaped him as he entered the hall he could see through the upper that a van hung round with tables and chairs had halted before his door and that a couple of the with a baby were waiting outside he had learned by experience that it was better not even to with such people i have nothing for you said he the latch by an inch go away he closed the door but the bell once more get away get away he cried impatiently and walked back into his he had hardly seated himself when the bell went for the third time in a towering passion he rushed back flung open the door what the if you please sir we need a doctor in an instant he was rubbing his hands again with his professional smile these were then whom he had tried to hunt from bound the red lamp his the very first whom he had waited for so impatiently they did not look very promising the man a tall had gone back to the horse s head there remained a small hard faced woman with a great all round her eye she wore a yellow silk handkerchief round her head and a baby tucked in a red shawl was pressed to her bosom pray step in madam said dr with his very best sympathetic manner in this case at least there could be no mistake as to if you will sit on this sofa i shall very soon make you feel much more comfortable he poured a little water from his into a made a of fastened it over the injured eye and secured the whole with a m thank ye kindly sir said the woman when his work was finished that s nice and warm and may god bless your honour but it wasn t about my eye at all that i came to see a doctor not your eye dr was beginning to be a little doubtful as to the advantages of quick it is an excellent thing to be able to surprise a patient but hitherto it was always the patient who had surprised him the baby s got the a false the mother parted the red shawl and exhibited a little dark black eyed baby whose face was all flashed and with a dark red rash the child breathed with a rattling sound and it looked up at the doctor with eyes which were heavy with want of sleep and together at the hum yes sure and a smart attack i just wanted you to see her sir so that you could signify could what r signify if anything happened oh i and now that you ve seen it sir iii go on for that s my man is in a hurry but don t you want any medicine oh now you ve seen it it s all right i ll let you know if anything happens but you must have some medicine the child is very ill he descended into the little room which he had fitted as a and he made up a two bottle of medicine in such cities as there are few who can afford to pay a fee to both doctor and so that unless the physician is prepared to play the part of both he will have little chance of making a living at either there is your medicine madam you will round the red lamp find the directions upon the bottle keep the child and give it a light diet thank you kindly sir she shouldered her baby and marched for the door excuse me madam said the doctor nervously don t you think it too small a matter to make a bill of perhaps it would be better if we had a settlement at once the woman looked at him reproachfully out of her one uncovered eye are you going to charge me for that she asked how much then well	4
say half a crown he mentioned the sum in a half way as though it were too small to take serious notice of but the woman raised quite a scream at the mention of it a crown for that well my good woman why not go to the poor doctor if you cannot afford a fee she in her pocket awkwardly to keep her grip upon the baby here s she said at last holding out a little pile of copper i ll give you that and a but my fee is half a crown the doctor s views of the glory of his profession cried out against this wretched and yet what was he to do where am i to get a crown it is well a false for like you who sit in your grand houses and can eat and drink what you like an charge a crown for just saying as much as ow d ye do we can t pick up crowns like that what we gets we ard this is just all got you told me to feed the c light she must feed light for what she s to have is more than i know whilst the woman had been speaking dr s eyes had wandered to the tiny heap of money upon the table which represented all that separated him from absolute starvation and he chuckled to himself at the grim joke that he should appear to this poor woman to be a being living in the lap of luxury then he picked up the odd leaving only the two half crowns upon the table here you are he said never mind the fee and take these they may be of some use to you good bye he bowed her out and closed the door behind her after all she was the thin edge of the these wandering people have great powers of recommendation all large have been built up from such foundations the on to the kitchen recommend to the kitchen they to the drawing room and so it at least he could say now that he had had a patient he went into the back room and lit the spirit round the red lamp kettle to boil the water for his tea laughing the while at the recollection of his recent interview if all were like this one it could easily be reckoned how many it would take to ruin him completely putting aside the dirt upon his carpet and the loss of time there were gone upon the or more upon the medicine to say nothing of cork and paper then he had given her so that his first patient had absorbed altogether not less than one sixth of his available capital if five more were to come he would be a broken man he sat upon the and shook with laughter at the thought while he measured out his one and a half of tea at one shilling into the brown suddenly however the laugh faded from his face and he cocked his ear towards the door standing listening with a head and a eye there had been a of wheels against the the sound of steps outside and then a loud peal at the bell with his in his hand he peeped round the comer and saw with amazement that a carriage and pair were waiting outside and that a powdered footman was standing at the door the spoon down upon the floor and he stood gazing in bewilderment then pulling himself together he threw open the door a false young man said the tell master dr that he is wanted just as quick as ever he can come to lady at the towers he is to come this very instant we d take him with us but we have to go back to see if br is home yet just you stir your and give him the message the footman nodded and was off in an instant while the coachman lashed his horses and the carriage flew down the street here was a new development dr stood at his door and tried to think it all out lady of the towers people of wealth and position no doubt and a serious case or why this haste and of two doctors but then why in the name of all that is wonderful should he be sent for he was obscure unknown without influence there must be some mistake tes that must be the true explanation or was it possible that some one was attempting a cruel upon him at any rate it was too positive a message to be disregarded he must set off at once and settle the matter one way or the other but he had one source of information at the comer of the street was a small shop where one of the oldest inhabitants newspapers and gossip he could get information there if anywhere he put on his well brushed top hat round the red lamp instruments and in all ms pockets and without waiting for his tea closed up his establishment and started off upon his adventure the at the comer was a human to every one and everything in so that he soon had all the information which he wanted sir john was very well known in the town it seemed he was a merchant prince an of pens three times mayor and reported to be fully worth two millions sterling the towers was his seat just outside the city his wife had been an invalid for some years and was growing worse so far the whole thing seemed to be genuine enough by some amazing chance these people really had sent for him and then another doubt assailed him and he turned back into the shop i am your neighbour dr said he is there any other medical man of that name in the town no the was quite positive that	4
anxiety came over johnson as round the red lamp his wife s time approached however after all it was a natural process other men s wives went through it and why should not he was himself one of a family of fourteen and yet his mother was alive and hearty it was quite the exception for anything to go wrong and yet in spite of his the remembrance of his wife s condition was always like a sombre background to all his other thoughts dr miles of place the best man in the neighbourhood was retained five months in advance and as time stole on many little of small white garments with work and ribbons began to arrive among the big of male necessities and then one evening as johnson was the in the shop he heard a bustle upstairs and mrs came running down to say that was bad and that she thought the doctor ought to be there without delay it was not johnson s nature to hurry he was and staid and liked to do things in an orderly fashion it was a quarter of a mile from the corner of the new north where his shop stood to the doctor s house in place there were no in sight so he set off upon foot leaving the lad to mind the shop at place he was told that the doctor had just gone to street to attend a man in a the curse op eve fit johnson started off for street losing a little of his as he became more anxious two full but no empty ones passed him on the way at street he learned that the doctor had gone on to a case of fortunately he had left the road at the other side of the s canal robert s had vanished now as he thought of the women waiting at home and he began to run as hard as he could down the r ad some way along he sprang into a cab which stood by the and drove to road the doctor had just left and robert johnson felt inclined to sit down upon the steps in despair fortunately he had not sent the cab away and he was soon back at place dr miles had not returned yet but they were him every instant johnson waited his fingers on his knees in a high dim lit room the air of which was charged with a faint sickly smell of the furniture was massive and the books in the shelves were sombre and a black clock mournfully on the it told him that it was half i seven and that he had been gone an hour and a quarter whatever would the women think of him every time that a distant door he sprang from his chair in a quiver of eagerness round the red lamp his ears strained to catch the deep notes of the doctor s voice and then suddenly with a of joy he heard a quick step outside and the sharp click of the key in the lock in an instant he was out in the hall before the doctor s foot was over the threshold if you please doctor ive come for you he cried the wife was taken bad at six o clock he hardly knew what he expected the doctor to do something very energetic certainly to seize some perhaps and rush excitedly with him through the streets instead of that dr miles threw his umbrella into the rack jerked oflf his hat with a somewhat gesture and pushed johnson back into the room let s see you did engage me didn t you he asked in no very cordial voice oh yes doctor last november johnson the you know in the new north yes yes it s a bit said the doctor glancing at a list of names in a note book with a very shiny cover well how is she i don t ah of course it s your first you ll know more about it next time mrs said it was time you were there sir my dear sir there can be no very pressing hurry in a first case we shall have an all night the curse op eve affair i fancy you can t get an engine to go without coals mr johnson and i have had nothing but a light lunch we could have something cooked for you something hot and a cup of tea thank you but i fancy my dinner is actually on the table i can do no good in the earlier stages go home and say that i am coming and i will be round immediately afterwards a sort of horror johnson as he gazed at this man who could think about his dinner at such a moment he had not imagination enough to that the experience which seemed so important to him was the merest matter of business to the medical man who could not have lived for a year had he not amid the rush of work remembered what was due to his own health to johnson he seemed little better than a monster his thoughts were bitter as he sped back to his shop you ve taken your time said his mother reproachfully looking down the stairs as he entered i couldn t help it he gasped is it over she s got to be worse poor dear before she can be where s dr miles i he s coming after he s had dinner the old woman was about to make some reply round the red lamp when from the half opened door behind a high voice cried out for her she ran back and closed the door while johnson sick at heart turned into the shop there he sent the lad home and busied himself in putting up shutters and turning out boxes when all was closed and	4
finished he seated himself in the parlour behind the shop but he could not sit still he rose incessantly to walk a few and then fell back into a chair once more suddenly the clatter of china fell upon his ear and he saw the maid pass the door with a cup on a tray and a smoking who is that for jane he asked for the mistress mr johnson she says she would fancy it there was consolation to him in that homely cup of tea it wasn t so very bad after all if his wife could think of such things so light hearted a he that he for a cup also he had just finished it when the doctor arrived with a small black leather bag in his hand well how is she he asked oh she s very much better said johnson with enthusiasm dear me that s said the doctor perhaps it will do if i look in on my morning round the curse op eve no no cried johnson clutching at his thick overcoat we are so glad that you have come and doctor please come down soon and let me know what you think about it the doctor passed upstairs his firm heavy steps through the house johnson could hear his boots creaking as he walked about the floor above him and the sound was a consolation to him it was crisp and decided the tread of a man who had plenty of self confidence presently still straining his ears to catch what was going on he heard the of a chair as it was drawn along the and a moment later he heard the door fly open and come rushing downstairs johnson sprang up with his hair thinking that some dreadful thing had occurred but it was only his mother in law with excitement and searching for and some she vanished again and jane passed up the stairs with a pile of newly linen then after an interval of silence johnson heard the heavy creaking tread and the doctor came down into the parlour that s better said he pausing with his hand upon the door you look pale mr johnson oh no sir not at all he answered his brow with his handkerchief there is no immediate cause for alarm said round the red lamp dr miles the case is not all that we could wish it still we will hope for the best is there danger sir gasped johnson well there is always danger of course it is not altogether a favourable case but still it might be much worse i have given her a draught i saw as i passed that they have been doing a little building opposite to you it s an improving quarter the rents go higher and higher you have a lease of your own little place eh yes sir yes cried johnson whose ears were straining for every sound from above and who felt none the less that it was very soothing that the doctor should be able to chat so easily at such a time that s to say no sir i am a yearly tenant ah i should get a lease if i were you there s the down the street i attended his wife twice and saw him through the when they took up the in prince street i assure you his landlord sprung his rent nearly forty a year and he had to pay or clear out did his wife get through it doctor oh yes she did very well i he his ear to the ceiling with a questioning face and then darted swiftly from the room the curse op eve it was march and the evenings were chill so jane had lit the fire but the wind drove the smoke downwards and the air was full of its taint johnson felt chilled to the bone though rather by his apprehensions than by the weather he crouched over the fire with his thin white hands held out to the blaze at ten o clock jane brought in the joint of cold meat and laid his place for supper but he could not bring himself to touch it he drank a glass of the beer however and felt the better for it the of his nerves seemed to have upon his hearing and he was able to follow the most trivial things in the room above once when the beer was still him he himself to creep on up the stair and to listen to what was going on the bedroom door was half an inch open and through the he could catch a glimpse of the clean shaven face of the doctor looking and more anxious than before then he rushed downstairs like a lunatic and running to the door he tried to his thoughts by watching what was going on in the street the shops were all shut and some boon companions came shouting along from the he stayed at the door until the had down and then came back to his seat by the fire in his dim brain he was asking himself questions which had never round the red lamp themselves before where was the justice of it what had his sweet innocent little wife done that she should be used so why was nature so cruel he was frightened at his own thoughts and yet wondered that they had never occurred to him before as the early morning drew in johnson sick at heart and shivering in every limb sat with his great coat huddled round him staring at the grey ashes and waiting hopelessly for some relief his face was white and and his nerves had been into a half conscious state by the long monotony of misery but suddenly all his feelings into keen life again as he heard the bedroom door open and the doctor s steps upon the stair johnson was	4
precise and in life but he almost shrieked now as he rushed forward to know if it were over one glance at the stem drawn face which met him showed that it was no pleasant news which had sent the doctor downstairs his appearance had altered as much as johnson s during the last few hours his hair was on end his face flushed his forehead dotted with beads of perspiration there was a peculiar in his eye and about the lines of his mouth a fighting look as a man who for hours on end had been striving with the of foes for the most precious of but there was a sadness too the curse of eve as his grim opponent had been him he sat down and leaned his head upon his hand like a man who is out i thought it my duty to see you mr johnson and to tell you that it is a very nasty case your wife s heart is not strong and she has some symptoms which i do not like what i wanted to say is that if you would like to have a second opinion i shall be very glad to meet anyone whom you might suggest johnson was so dazed by his want of sleep and the evil news that he could hardly grasp the doctor s meaning the other seeing him hesitate thought that he was considering the expense smith or would come for two guineas said he but i think of the city is the best man oh yes bring the best man cried johnson would want three guineas he is a senior man you see give him all i have if he would pull her through shall i run for him yes go to my house first and ask for the green bag the assistant will give it to you tell him i want the a c e mixture her heart is too weak for then go for and bring him back with you it was heavenly for johnson to have something round the red lamp to do and to feel that he was of some use to his wife he ran swiftly to place his through the silent streets and the big dark turning their yellow of light on him as he passed two at the night bell brought down a sleepy half clad assistant who handed him a glass bottle and a cloth bag which contained something which when you moved it johnson thrust the bottle into his pocket seized the green bag and pressing his hat firmly down ran as hard as he could set foot to ground until he was in the city and saw the name of engraved in white upon a red ground he bounded in triumph up the three steps which led to the door and as he did so there was a crash behind him his precious bottle was in fragments upon the pavement for a moment he felt as if it were his wife s body that was lying there but the run had his wits and he saw that the mischief might be repaired he pulled vigorously at the night bell well what s the matter asked a voice at his elbow he started back and looked up at the windows but there was no sign of life he was approaching the bell again with the intention of pulling it when a perfect roar burst from the wall the curse op eve i can t stand shivering here all night cried the voice say who you are and what you want or i shut the then for the first time johnson saw that the end of a speaking hung out of the wall just above the bell he shouted up it i want you to come with me to meet dr miles at a confinement at once how far shrieked the voice the new north road my consultation fee is three guineas at the time all right shouted johnson you are to bring a bottle of a c e mixture with you au right wait a bit five minutes later an elderly hard faced man with hair flung open the door as he emerged a voice from somewhere in the shadows cried mind you take your john and he impatiently growled something over his shoulder in reply the was a man who had been hardened by a life of ceaseless labour and who had been driven as so many others have been by the needs of his own increasing family to set the commercial before the side of his profession yet beneath his rough crust he was a with a kindly heart bound the red lamp we don t want to break a record said he pulling up and panting after attempting to keep up with johnson for five minutes i would go quicker if i could my dear sir and i quite with your anxiety but really i can t manage it so johnson on fire with impatience had to slow down until they reached the new north when he ran ahead and had the door open for the doctor when he came he heard the two meet outside the bed room and caught scraps of their conversation sorry to knock you up nasty decent people then it sank into a and the door closed behind them johnson sat up in his chair now listening keenly for he knew that a crisis must be at hand he heard the two doctors moving about and was able to distinguish the step of which had a drag in it from the clean crisp sound of the other s there was silence for a few minutes and then a curious drunken sing song voice came up very unlike anything which he had heard hitherto at the same time a scent perhaps to any nerves less strained than his crept down the stairs and penetrated into	4
the room the voice into a mere and finally sank away into silence and johnson gave a long sigh of relief for he knew that the the curse op had done its work and that come what might there should be no more pain for the sufferer but soon the silence became even more trying to him than the cries had been he had no clue now as to what was going on and his mind with horrible possibilities he rose and went to the bottom of the stairs again he heard the of metal against metal and the subdued murmur of the doctors voices then he heard mrs say something in a tone as of fear or and again the doctors murmured together for twenty minutes he stood there leaning against the wall listening to the occasional of talk without being able to catch a word of it and then of a sudden there rose out of the silence the strangest little cry and mrs screamed out in her delight and the man ran into the parlour and flung himself down upon the horse hair sofa his heels on it in his ecstasy but often the great cat fate lets us go only to clutch us again in a grip as minute after minute passed and still no sound came from above save those thin cries johnson cooled from his frenzy of joy and lay breathless with his ears straining they were moving slowly about they were talking in subdued tones still minute after minute passing and no word from the voice for which he listened his nerves were round the red lamp by his night of trouble and he waited in limp wretchedness upon his sofa there he still sat when the doctors came down to him a miserable figure with his face and his hair from his long he rose as they entered himself against the is she dead he asked doing well answered the doctor and at the words that little conventional spirit which had never known until that night the capacity for fierce agony which lay within it learned for the second time that there were springs of joy also which it had never tapped before his impulse was to fall upon his knees but he was shy before the doctors can i go up in a few minutes sure doctor i m very i m very he grew inarticulate here are your three guineas dr i wish they were three hundred so do i said the senior man and they laughed as they shook hands johnson opened the shop door for them and heard their talk as they stood for an instant outside looked nasty at one time very glad to have your help the curse of eve delighted fm sure won t you step round and have a cup of no thanks i m expecting another case the firm step and the dragging one passed away to the right and the left johnson turned from the door still with that turmoil of joy in his heart he seemed to be making a new start in life he felt that he was a stronger and a deeper man perhaps all this suffering had an object then it might prove to be a blessing both to his wife and to him the very thought was one which he would have been incapable of twelve hours before he was full of new emotions if there had been a there had been a planting too can i come up i he cried and then without waiting for an answer he took the steps three at a time mrs was standing by a bath with a bundle in her hands from under the curve of a brown shawl there looked out at him the strangest little red face features moist loose lips and eyelids which quivered like a rabbit s nostrils the weak neck had let the head over and it rested upon the shoulder kiss it robert cried the grandmother kiss your son but he felt a resentment to the little red round the red lamp creature he could not forgive it yet for that long night of misery he caught sight of a white face in the bed and he ran towards it with such love and pity as his speech could find no words for thank god it is over i dear it was dreadful but i m so happy now i never was so happy in my life her eyes were fixed upon the brown bundle you mustn t talk said mrs but don t leave me his wife so he sat in silence with his hand in hers the lamp was burning dim and the first cold light of dawn was breaking through the window the night had been long and dark but the day was the sweeter and the purer in consequence london was waking up the roar began to rise from the street lives had come and lives had gone but the great machine was still working out its dim and tragic destiny it is hard for the general who sits among his both morning and evening and sees them in their homes between to steal time for one little daily breath of air to win it he must slip early from his bed and walk out between shops when it is chill but very clear and all things are sharply as in a frost it is an hour that has a charm of its own when but for a or a one has the pavement to and even the most common thing takes an ever freshness as though and lamp and had all to the new day then even an inland city may seem beautiful and bear virtue in its smoke air but it was by the sea that i lived in a town that was enough were it not for its glorious neighbour and who cares for	4
the town when one can sit on the bench at the and look out over the huge blue bay and the yellow that curves before it i loved it round the red lamp when its great face was with the fishing boats and i loved it when the big ships went past far out a little of white and no with curved like a so stately and but most of all i loved it when no trace of man the majesty of nature and when the sun bursts down on it from between the drifting then i have seen the further edge draped in the of the driving rain with its thin grey under the slow clouds while my was golden and the sun gleamed upon the and struck deep through the green waves beyond showing up the purple patches where the beds of are lying such a morning as that with the wind in his hair and the spray on his lips and the cry of the in his ear may send a man back afresh to the of a sick room and the dead weariness of practice it was on such another day that i first saw my old man he came to my bench just as i was leaving it my eye must have picked him out even in a crowded street for he was a man of large frame and fine presence with something of distinction in the set of his lip and the of his head he up the winding path leaning heavily upon his stick as though those great shoulders had become too much at last for the failing limbs that bore them as he approached my eyes caught nature s danger signal that faint tinge in nose and lip which tells of a heart the is a little trying sir said i speaking as a physician i should say that you would do well to rest here before you go further he inclined his head in a stately old world fashion and seated himself upon the bench seeing that he had no wish to speak i was silent also but i could not help watching him out of the comers of my eyes for he was such a wonderful of the early half of the century with his low crowned curly hat his black satin tie which fastened with a at the back and above all his large clean shaven face shot with its of wrinkles those eyes ere they had grown dim had looked out from the box seat of mail and had seen the knots of as they toiled on the brown those lips had smiled over the first numbers of and had of the promising young man who wrote them the face itself was a seventy year and every an entry upon it where public as well as private sorrow left its trace that on the forehead stood for the perhaps that line of care for the winter it may be and that last little of wrinkles as my fancy hoped for the round the red lamp death of and so as i dreamed in my foolish way the old gentleman with the shining stock was gone and it was seventy years of a great nation s life that took shape before me on the in the morning bnt he soon brought me back to earth again as he recovered his breath he took a letter out of his pocket and putting on a pair of horn eye glasses he read it through very carefully without any design of playing the spy i could not help observing that it was in a woman s hand when he had finished it he read it again and then sat with the comers of his mouth drawn down and his eyes staring out over the bay the most forlorn looking old gentleman that ever i have seen all that is kindly within me was set stirring by that wistful face but i knew that he was in no humour for talk and so at last with my breakfast and my calling me i left him on the bench and started for home i never gave him another thought until the next morning when at the same hour he turned up upon the and shared the bench which i had been accustomed to look upon as my own he bowed again before sitting down but was no more inclined than formerly to enter into conversation there had been a change in him during the last twenty four hours and all for the worse the face seemed more heavy and more wrinkled that ominous tinge was more pronounced as he panted up the hill the clean lines of his cheek and chin were by a day s growth of grey and his large head had lost something of the brave carriage which had struck me when first i glanced at him he had a letter there the same or another but still in a woman s hand and over this he was and in his fashion with his brow and the comers of his mouth drawn down like those of a child so i left him with a vague wonder as to who he might be and why a single spring day should have wrought such a change upon him so interested was i that next morning i was on the look out for him sure enough at the same hour i saw him coming up the hill but very slowly with a bent back and a heavy head it was shocking to me to see the change in him as he approached i am afraid that our air does not agree with you sir i ventured to remark but it was as though he had no heart for talk he tried as i thought to make some fitting reply but it oflf into a and silence how bent and weak and old he ten	4
years older at the least than when first i had seen him i it went to my heart to see this fine old fellow round the red lamp wasting away before my eyes there was the eternal letter which he unfolded with his shaking fingers who was this woman whose words moved him some daughter s or who should have been the light of his home instead of i smiled to find how bitter i was growing and how swiftly i was weaving a romance round an old man and his correspondence yet all day he lingered in my mind and i had fitful glimpses of those two trembling blue hands with the paper rustling between them i had hardly hoped to see him again another day s decline must i thought hold him to his room if not to his bed great then was my surprise when as i approached my bench i saw that he was already there but as i came up to him i could scarce be sure that it was indeed the same man there were the curly hat and the shining and the horn glasses but where were the stoop and the grey pitiable he was clean shaven and firm with a bright eye and a head that poised itself upon his great shoulders like an eagle on a rock his back was as straight and square as a s and he at the i with his stick in his vitality in the button hole of his well brushed black coat there a golden blossom and the comer of a dainty red silk handkerchief over from his breast pocket he might have been the eldest son of the weary creature who had sat there the morning before good morning sir good morning he cried with a merry of his cane good morning i answered how beautiful the bay is looking yes sir but you should have seen it just before the sun rose what have you been here since then i was here when there was scarce light to see the path you are a very early on occasion sir on occasion he cocked his eye at me as if to whether i were worthy of his confidence the fact is sir that my wife is coming back to me to day i suppose that my face showed that i did not quite see the force of the explanation my eyes too may have given him assurance of sympathy for he moved quite close to me and began speaking in a low confidential voice as if the matter were of such weight that even the sea must be kept out of our are you a married man sir no i am not ah then you cannot quite understand it my wife and i have been married for nearly fifty round the red lamp years and we have never been x ted never at all until now was it for long i asked yes sir this is the fourth day she had to go to scotland a matter of duty you understand and the doctors would not let me go not that i would have allowed them to stop me but she was on their side now thank god it is over and she may be here at any moment here yes here this and bench were old friends of ours thirty years ago the people with whom we stay are not to tell the truth very congenial and we have little privacy among them that is why we prefer to meet here i could not be sure which train would bring her but if she had come by the very earliest she would have found me waiting in that case said i rising no sir no he entreated i beg that you will stay it does not weary you this domestic talk of mine on the contrary i have been so driven during these few last days ah what a nightmare it has been perhaps it may seem strange to you that an old fellow like me should feel like this it is charming no credit to me sir there s not a man on planet but would feel the same if he had the good fortune to be married to such a woman perhaps because you see me like this and hear me speak of our long life together you conceive that she is old too he laughed heartily and his eyes at the humour of the idea she s one of those women you know who have youth in their hearts and so it can never be very far from their faces to me she s just as she was when she first took my hand in hers in a little bit perhaps but then if she had a fault as a girl it was that she was a shade too slender she was above me in station you know i a clerk and she the daughter of my employer oh it was quite a romance i give you my word and i won her and somehow i have never got over the freshness and the wonder of it to think that that sweet lovely girl has walked by my side all through life and that i have been able he stopped suddenly and i glanced round at him in surprise he was shaking all over in every fibre of his great body his hands were at the and his feet on the gravel i saw what it was he was trying to rise but was so excited that he could not i half extended my hand but a higher courtesy constrained me to draw it back again and turn my round the red lamp face to the sea an instant afterwards he was np and hurrying down the path a woman was coming towards us she was quite close before he had seen her thirty yards at the	4
utmost i know not if she had ever been as he described her or whether it was but some ideal which he carried in his brain the person upon whom i looked was tall it is true but she was thick and with a ruddy full blown face and a skirt gathered up there was a green ribbon in her hat which upon my eyes and her like was full and clumsy and this was the lovely girl the ever youthful my heart sank as i thought how little such a woman might appreciate him how unworthy she might be of his love she came up the path in her solid way while he staggered along to meet her then as they came together looking out of the corner of my eye i saw that he put out both his hands while she shrinking from a public caress took one of them in hers and shook it as she did so i saw her face and i was easy in my mind for my old man god grant that when this hand is shaking and when this back is bowed a woman s eyes may look so into mine a s wife had not come down to breakfast at the usual hour the clock which stood between the of and of john hunter upon the dining room had rung out the half hour and the three quarters now its golden hand was upon the nine and yet there were no signs of the master of the house it was an occurrence during the twelve years that she had kept house for him his youngest sister had never known him a second behind his time she sat now in front of the high silver coffee pot uncertain whether to order the to be or to wait on in silence either course might be a mistake her brother was not a man who permitted mistakes miss grey was rather above the middle height thin with peering eyes and the rounded shoulders which mark the woman her face was long and spare round the red lamp with colour above the cheek bones with a reasonable thoughtful forehead and a dash of absolute obstinacy in her thin lips and prominent chin snow white and collar with a plain dark dress cut with almost like simplicity the of her taste an cross hung over her chest she sat very upright in her chair listening with raised eyebrows and swinging her eye glasses backwards and forwards with a nervous gesture which was peculiar to her suddenly she gave a sharp satisfied jerk of the head and began to pour out the coffee from outside there came the sound of heavy feet upon thick carpet the door swung open and the professor entered with a quick nervous step he nodded to his sister and himself at the other side of the table began to open the small pile of letters which lay beside his plate professor grey was at that time years of age nearly twelve years older than his sister his career had been a brilliant one at at cambridge and at he had laid the foundations of his great reputation both in and in his on the origin of nerve had won him his fellowship of the society and his a s wipe upon the nature of with some remarks upon had been translated into at least three european languages he had been referred to by one of the greatest living authorities as being the very type and of all that was best in modem science no wonder then that when the commercial city of decided to create a medical school they were only too glad to confer the chair of upon mr grey they valued him the more from the conviction that their class was only one step in his upward journey and that the first would remove him to some more illustrious seat of learning in person he was not unlike his sister the same eyes the same the same intellectual forehead his lips however were firmer and his long thin lower jaw was and more decided he ran his finger and thumb down it from time to time as he glanced over his letters those maids are very noisy he remarked as a of tongues sounded in the distance it is said his sister i shall speak about it she had handed over his cup and was at her own glancing through her at the austere face of her brother the first great advance of the human race round the red lamp said the professor was when by the development of their left they attained the power of speech their second advance was when they learned to control that power woman has not yet attained the second stage he half closed his eyes as he spoke and thrust his chin forward but as he ceased he had a trick of suddenly opening both eyes very wide and staring sternly at his i am not john said his sister no in many respects you approach the superior or male type the professor bowed over his egg with the manner of one who a compliment but the lady and gave an impatient little shrug of her shoulders you were late this morning john she remarked after a pause yes i slept badly some little no doubt due to over of the of thought i have been a little disturbed in my mind his sister stared across at him in astonishment the professor s mental processes had hitherto been as regular as his habits twelve years continual intercourse had taught her that he lived in a serene and atmosphere of scientific calm high above the petty emotions which affect minds a s wife you are surprised he remarked well i cannot wonder at it i should have been surprised myself if i had been told that i was so sensitive to influences for after	4
all all are if you them deep enough i am thinking of getting married not mrs o james cried grey laying down her egg spoon my dear you have the feminine quality of very remarkably developed mrs o james is the lady in question but you know so little of her the themselves know so little she is really only an acquaintance although she is staying at the would it not be wise to speak to mrs first john i do not think that mrs is at all likely to say anything which would materially affect my course of action i have given the matter due consideration the scientific mind is slow at arriving at conclusions but having once formed them it is not prone to change matrimony is the natural condition of the human race i have as you know been so engaged in and other work that i have had no time to devote to merely personal questions it is different now and i see no reason why i should forego this opportunity of seeking a suitable round the red lamp and you are engaged hardly that i ventured yesterday to indicate to the lady that i was prepared to submit to the common lot of humanity i shall wait upon her after my morning lecture and learn how far my proposals meet with her acquiescence but you frown his sister started and made an to conceal her expression of annoyance she even stammered out some few words of but a vacant look had come into her brother s eyes and he was evidently not listening to her i am sure john that i wish you the happiness which you deserve if i hesitated at all it is because i know how much is at stake and because the thing is so sudden so unexpected her thin white hand stole up to the black cross upon her bosom these are moments when we need guidance john if i could persuade you to turn to the professor waved the suggestion away with a hand it is useless to that question he said we cannot argue upon it you assume more than i can grant i am forced to dispute your we have no common basis his sister sighed you have no faith she said a s wipe i have faith in those great forces which are leading the human race to some unknown but elevated goal you believe in nothing on the contrary my dear i believe in the of she shook her head sadly it was the one subject upon which she ventured to dispute her brother s this is rather beside the question remarked the professor folding up his if i am not mistaken there is some possibility of another matrimonial event in the family eh what his small eyes glittered with sly as he shot a twinkle at his sister she sat very stiff and traced patterns upon the cloth with the sugar dr james m o said the professor don t john don t cried miss grey dr james m o continued her brother is a man who has already made his mark upon the science of the day he is my first and my most distinguished pupil i assure you that his remarks upon the with special reference to is likely to live as a classic it is not too much to round the red lamp say that he has our views about he paused but his sister sat silent with bent head and flushed cheeks the little cross rose and fell with her hurried dr james m o has as you know the of the chair at he has been in five years and has a brilliant future before him to day he leaves us for and in two months time he goes out to take over his new duties you know his feeling towards you it rests with you as to whether he goes out alone speaking for myself i cannot imagine any higher mission for a woman of culture than to go through life in the company of a man who is capable of such a as that which dr james m o has brought to a successful conclusion he has not spoken to me murmured the l ah there are signs which are more subtle than speech said her brother his head but you are pale your system is excited your have contracted let me entreat you to compose yourself i think i hear the carriage i fancy that you may have a visitor this morning you will excuse me now with a quick glance at the clock he strode off a s wipe into the hall and within a few minutes he was rattling in his quiet well appointed through the brick lined streets of his lecture over professor grey a visit to his where he adjusted scientific instruments made a note as to the progress of three separate of cut half a dozen sections with a and finally resolved the difficulties of seven gentlemen who were pursuing in as many separate lines of inquiry having thus and completed the routine of his duties he returned to his carriage and ordered the coachman to drive him to the his face as he drove was cold and but he drew his fingers from time to time down his prominent chin with a movement the was an old fashioned ivy clad house which had once been in the country but was now caught in the long red brick of the growing city it stood back from the road in the privacy of its own grounds a winding path lined with laurel bushes led to the arched and entrance to the right was a lawn and at the far side under the shadow of a a lady sat in a garden chair with a book in her hands at the click of the gate she started and the professor catching sight of	4
her round the red lamp turned away from the door and strode in her direction what won t yon go in and see mrs she asked sweeping ont from the shadow of the she was a small woman strongly feminine from the rich of her light hair to the dainty garden which peeped from her cream tinted dress one tiny hand was outstretched in greeting while the other pressed a thick green covered volume against her side her decision and quick manner the mature woman of the world but her face had preserved a girlish and even expression of innocence in its large fearless grey eyes and sensitive humorous mouth mrs o james was a widow and she was two and thirty years of age but neither fact could have been from her appearance you will surely go in and see mrs she repeated glancing up at him with eyes which had in them something between a challenge and a caress i did not come to see mrs he answered with no of his cold and grave manner i came to see you i am sure i should be highly honoured she said with just the slightest little touch of a s wife in her accent what are the students to do without their professor j i have already completed my duties take my arm and we shall walk in the sunshine surely we cannot wonder that people should have made a deity of the sun it is the great beneficent force of nature man s ally against cold and all that is to him what were you reading hale s matter and life the professor raised his thick eyebrows hale he said and then again in a kind of whisper hale you differ from him she asked it is not i who from him i am only a a thing of no moment the whole tendency of the highest plane of modem thought from him he the he is an excellent observer but a feeble i should not recommend you to found your conclusions upon hale i must read nature s chronicle to his influence said mrs o james with a soft laugh nature s chronicle was one of the many books in which professor grey had enforced the negative doctrines of scientific it is a work said he i cannot recommend it i would rather refer you to the stand round the red lamp writings of some of my older and more eloquent there was a pause in their talk as they paced up and down on the green velvet like lawn in the genial sunshine have you thought at all he asked at last of the matter upon which i spoke to you last night she said nothing but walked by his side with her eyes averted and her face i would not hurry you he continued i know that it is a matter which can scarcely be decided oflf hand in my own case it cost me some thought before i ventured to make the suggestion i am not an man but i am conscious in your presence of the great instinct which makes either sex the of the other you believe in love then she asked with a twinkling upward glance i am forced to and yet you can deny the soul how far these questions are and how far material is still sub said the professor with an air of may prove to be the physical basis of love as weu as of life how you are she exclaimed you would draw love down to the level of a s wipe or draw up to the level of love come that is much better she cried with her sympathetic laugh that is really very pretty and puts science in quite a delightful light her eyes sparkled and she tossed her chin with the pretty wilful air of a woman who is mistress of the situation i have reason to believe said the professor that my position here will prove to be only a stepping stone to some wider scene of scientific activity yet even here my chair brings me in some fifteen hundred pounds a year which is by a few hundreds from my books i should therefore be in a position to provide you with those comforts to which you are accustomed so much for my pecuniary position as to my constitution it has always been sound i have never suffered from any illness in my life save fleeting attacks of the result of too prolonged a of the of my father and mother had no sign of any morbid but i will not conceal from you that my grandfather was with mrs james looked startled is that very serious she asked it is said the professor oh is that all it sounded much worse than that round the red lamp it is a grave taint but i trust that i shall not be a victim to i have laid these facts before you because they are which cannot be overlooked in forming your decision may i ask now whether you see your way to accepting my proposal he paused in his walk and looked earnestly and down at her a struggle was evidently going on in her mind her eyes were cast down her little tapped the lawn and her fingers played nervously with her suddenly with a sharp quick gesture which had in it something of abandon and she held out her hand to her companion i accept she said they were standing under the shadow of the he stooped gravely down and kissed her glove covered fingers i trust that you may never have cause to regret your decision he said i trust that you never may she cried with a heaving breast there were tears in her eyes and her lips with some strong emotion come into the sunshine again said he it is the great your	4
nerves are shaken some little of the and it is always instructive to reduce or a s wife conditions to their physical yon feel that anchor is still firm in a bottom of ascertained fact but it is so dreadfully said mrs james with her old twinkle romance is the offspring of imagination and of ignorance where science throws her calm clear light there is happily no room for romance but is not love romance she asked not at all love has been taken away from the poets and has been brought within the domain of true science it may prove to be one of the great forces when the of draws the of towards it to form the of the force which it may be similar to that which draws me to you attraction and ear to be the forces this is attraction and here is said mrs o james as a stout lady came sweeping across the lawn in their direction so glad you have come out mrs here is professor grey how do you do professor said the lady with some little of manner you were very wise to stay out here on so lovely a day is it not heavenly it is certainly very fine weather the professor answered bound the red lamp listen to the wind sighing in the trees cried mrs holding up one finger it is nature s could you not imagine it professor grey to be the of angels the idea had not occurred to me madam ah professor i have always the same complaint against you a want of with the deeper of nature shall i say a want of imagination you do not feel an thrill at the singing of that i that i am not conscious of one mrs or at the delicate tint of that background of leaves see the rich murmured the professor science is so hopelessly it and and loses sight of the great things in its attention to the little ones you have a poor opinion of woman s intellect professor grey i think that i have heard you say so it is a question of said the professor closing his eyes and his shoulders the female two less in weight than the male no doubt there are exceptions nature is always elastic but the heaviest thing is not always the strongest said mrs o james laughing isn t there a law of compensation in science may we a s wipe not hope to make up in quality for what we lack in quantity i think not remarked the professor gravely but there is your luncheon no thank you mrs i cannot stay my carriage is waiting good bye good bye mrs o james he raised his hat and stalked slowly away among the laurel bushes he has no taste said mrs no eye for beauty on the contrary mrs james answered with a jerk of the chin he has just asked me to be his wife as professor grey ascended the steps of his house the hall door opened and a er gentleman stepped briskly out he was somewhat sallow in the face with dark eyes and a short black beard with an thought and work had left their traces upon his face but he moved with the brisk activity of a man who had not yet bade good bye to his youth in luck s way he cried i wanted to see you then come back into the library said the professor you must stay and have lunch with us round the red lamp the two men entered the hall and the professor led the way into his private he his companion into an arm chair i that you have been successful o said he i should be to exercise any undue pressure upon my sister but i have given her to understand that there is no one whom i should prefer for a brother in law to my most brilliant scholar the author of some remarks upon the with special reference to you are very kind professor grey you have always been very kind said the other i approached miss grey upon the subject she did not say no she said yes then no she proposed to leave the matter open until my return from i go to day as you know and i hope to commence my to morrow on the comparative of the by james m o said the professor it is a glorious subject a subject which lies at the very root of philosophy she is the dearest girl cried o with a sudden little of enthusiasm she is the soul of truth and of honour a s wife the began the professor she is an angel from heaven interrupted the other i fear that it is my of scientific freedom in religious thought which stands in my way with her you must not upon that point you must be true to your convictions let there be no compromise there my reason is true to and yet i am conscious a a i had feelings at the old church at home between the scent of the incense and the roll of the organ such as i have never experienced in the or the lecture room purely said the professor rubbing his chin hereditary tendencies stirred into life by the of the and nerves maybe so maybe so the younger man answered thoughtfully but this was not what i wished to speak to you about before i enter your family your sister and you have a claim to know all that i can tell you about my career of my worldly prospects i have already spoken to you there is only one point which i have omitted to mention i am a the professor raised his eyebrows this is news indeed said he round the red lamp i married shortly after my arrival in miss was	4
her name i met her in society it was a most unhappy match some painful emotion possessed him his quick expressive features quivered and his white hands upon the arms of the chair the professor turned away towards the window you are the best judge he remarked but i should not think that it was necessary to go into details you have a right to know everything you and miss grey it is not a matter on which i can well speak to her direct poor was the best of women but she was open to flattery and liable to be by persons she was to me grey it is a hard thing to say of the dead but she was to me she fled to with a man whom she had known before her marriage the which carried them and not a soul was saved this is very painful o said the professor with a motion of his hand i cannot see however how it your relation to my sister i have my conscience said o rising from his chair i have told you all that there is to tell i should not like the story to reach you through any lips but my own you are right o your action has a s wife been most honourable and considerate but you are not to blame in the matter save that perhaps you showed a little in choosing a life partner without due care and inquiry o drew his hand across his eyes poor girl he cried god help me i love her still but i must go you will lunch with us no professor i have my packing still to do i have already bade miss grey adieu in two months i shall see you again you will probably find me a married man married yes i have been thinking of it my dear professor let me congratulate you with all mv heart i had no idea who is the lady mrs james is her name a widow of the same as yourself but to return to matters of importance i should be very happy to see the proofs of your er upon the i may be able to furnish you with material for a or two your assistance will be invaluable to me said o with enthusiasm and the two men parted in the hall the professor walked back into the dining room where his sister was already seated at the luncheon table i shall be married at the s he re round the red lamp marked i should strongly recommend you to do the same professor grey was as good as his word a fortnight s of his classes gave him an opportunity which was too good to let pass mrs o james was an orphan without relations and almost without friends in the country there was no obstacle in the way of a speedy wedding they were married accordingly in the manner possible and went off to cambridge together where the professor and his charming wife were present at several and varied the routine of their by into and medical scientific friends were loud in their congratulations not only upon mrs grey s beauty but upon the unusual quickness and intelligence which she displayed in discussing questions the professor was himself astonished at the accuracy of her information you have a remarkable range of knowledge for a woman he remarked upon more than one occasion he was even prepared to admit that her might be of the normal weight one morning they returned to for the next day would re open the and professor grey himself upon having never once in his life failed to a s wife appear in his lecture room at the very stroke of the hour miss grey welcomed them with a constrained cordiality and handed over the keys of office to the new mistress mrs grey pressed her warmly to remain but she explained that she had already accepted an invitation which would engage her for some months the same evening she departed for the south of england a couple of days later the maid carried a card just after breakfast into the library where the professor sat his morning lecture it announced the re arrival of dr james m o their meeting was genial on the part of the younger man and coldly precise on that of his former teacher you see there have been changes said the professor so i heard miss grey told me in her letters and i read the notice in the british medical journal so it s really married you are how quickly and quietly you have managed it all i am averse to anything in the nature of show or ceremony my wife is a sensible woman i may even go the length of saying that for a woman she is sensible she quite agreed with me in the course which i have adopted and your on this matrimonial incident has interrupted it round the red lamp but i have resumed my classes and we shall soon be quite in harness again i must see miss grey before i leave england we have and i think that au will be well she must come out with me i don t think i could go without her the professor shook his head your nature is not so weak as you pretend he said questions of this sort are after all quite subordinate to the great duties of life o smiled you would have me take out my soul and put in a saxon one he said either my brain is too small or my heart is too big but when may i call and pay my respects to mrs grey will she be at home this afternoon she is at home now come into the morning room she will be glad to make your acquaintance they walked across the paved hall	4
the professor opened the door of the room and walked in followed by his friend mrs grey was sitting in a basket chair by the window light and fairy like in a loose flowing pink morning gown seeing a visitor she rose and swept towards them the professor heard a dull behind him o had fallen back into a chair with his hand pressed tight to his side he a s wipe mrs grey stopped dead in her advance and stared at him with a face from which every expression had been struck out save one of astonishment and horror then with a sharp of the breath she and would have fallen had the professor not thrown his long nervous arm round her try this sofa said he she sank back among the cushions with the same white cold dead look upon her face the professor stood with his back to the empty and glanced from the one to the other so o he said at last you have already made the acquaintance of my wife your wife cried his friend hoarsely she is no wife of yours god help me she is my wife the professor stood rigidly upon the his long thin fingers were and his head sunk a little forward his two companions had eyes only for each other said he james i how could you leave me so how could you have the heart to do it i thought you were dead i mourned for your ay and you have made me mourn for you living you have withered my life round the red lamp she made no answer but lay back among her cushions with her eyes stiu fixed upon him why do you not speak because you are right james i have treated you cruelly but it is not as bad as you think you fled with de no i did not at the last moment my better nature prevailed he went alone but i was ashamed to come back after what i had written to you i could not face you i took passage alone to england under a new name and here i have lived ever since it seemed to me that i was life again i knew that you thought i was drowned who could have dreamed that fate would throw us together again when the professor asked me she stopped and gave a gasp for breath you are faint said the professor keep the head low it the circulation he down the cushion i am sorry to leave you o but i have my class duties to look to possibly i may find you here when i return with a grim and rigid face he strode out of the room not one of the three hundred students who listened to his lecture saw any change in his manner and appearance or could have guessed that the austere gentleman in front a s wife of them had found out at last how hard it is to rise above one s humanity the lecture over he performed his routine duties in the and then drove back to his own house he did not enter by the front door but passed through the garden to the folding glass which led out of the morning room as he approached he heard his wife s voice and o s in loud and animated talk he paused among the rose bushes uncertain whether to interrupt them or no nothing was further from his nature than play the but as he stood still hesitating words fell upon his ear which struck him rigid and motionless you are still my wife said o i forgive you from the bottom of my heart i love you and i have never ceased to love you though you had forgotten me no james my heart was always in i have always been yours i thought that it was better for you that i should seem to be dead you must choose between us now if you determine to remain here i shall not open my lips there shall be no scandal if on the other hand you come with me it s little i care about the world s opinion perhaps i am as much to blame as you i thought too much of my work and too little of my wife round the red lamp the professor heard the caressing laugh which he knew so well i shall go with yon james she said and the professor the poor professor but he will not mind much james he has no heart we must tell him our resolution there is no need said professor grey stepping in through the open i have overheard the latter part of your conversation i hesitated to interrupt you before you came to a conclusion o stretched out his hand and took that of the woman they stood together with the sunshine on their faces the professor paused at the with his hands behind his back and his long black shadow fell between them you have come to a wise decision said he back to together and let what has passed be blotted out of your lives but you you stammered o the professor waved his hand never trouble about me he said the woman gave a gasping cry what can i do or say she how could i have foreseen this i thought my old life was dead but it has come back again with all its hopes and its desires what can i say to a s wife you i have brought shame and disgrace upon a worthy man i have your life how you must hate and me i wish to god that i had never been born i neither hate nor you said the professor quietly you are wrong in your birth for you have a worthy mission before you in the life work of a man who has	4
shown himself capable of the highest order of scientific i cannot with justice blame you personally for what has occurred how far the individual is to be held responsible for hereditary and tendencies is a question upon not yet said her last word he stood with his finger tips touching and his body inclined as one who is gravely a and subject o had stepped forward to say something but the other s attitude and manner the words upon his lips or sympathy would be an impertinence to one who could so easily his private in broad questions of abstract philosophy it is needless to the situation the professor continued in the same measured tones my stands at the door i beg that you will use it as your own perhaps it would be as well that you should leave the town without bound the red lamp unnecessary delay your things shall be forwarded o hesitated with a hanging head i hardly dare offer you my hand he said on the contrary i think that of the three of us you come best out of the affair you have nothing to be ashamed of your sister i shall see that the matter is put to her in its true light good bye let me have a copy of your recent good bye good bye their hands met and for one short moment their eyes also it was only a glance but for the first and last time the woman s cast a light for itself into the dark places of a strong man s soul she gave a little gasp and her other hand rested for an instant as white and as light as down upon his shoulder james james she cried don t you see that he is stricken to the heart i he turned her quietly away from him i am not an man he said i have my my on the is there your cloak is in the hall tell john where you wish to be driven he will bring you anything you need now go hia last two words were so sudden so in such contrast to his measured voice and mask a wipe like face that they swept the two away from him he closed the door behind them and paced slowly up and down the room then he passed into the library and looked out over the wire blind the carriage was rolling away he caught a last glimpse of the woman who had been his wife he saw the feminine of her head and the curve of her beautiful throat under some foolish impulse he took a few quick steps towards the door then he turned and throwing himself into his study chair he plunged back into his work there was little scandal about this singular domestic incident the professor had few personal friends and seldom went into society his marriage had been so quiet that most of his had never ceased to regard him as a bachelor mrs and a few others might talk but their field for gossip was limited for they could only guess vaguely at the cause of this sudden separation the professor was as punctual as ever at his classes and as zealous in directing the work of those who studied under him his own private were pushed on with feverish energy it was no uncommon thing for his servants when they came down of a morning to hear round the red lamp the shrill of his pen or to meet him on the staircase as he ascended grey and silent to his room in vain his friends assured him that a life his health he lengthened his hours until day and night were one long ceaseless task gradually under this discipline a change came over his appearance his features always inclined to became even and more pronounced there were deep lines about his temples and across his brow his cheek was sunken and his complexion his knees gave under him when he walked and once when passing out of his lecture room he fell and had to be assisted to his carriage this was just before the end of the and soon after the holidays commenced the professors who still remained in were shocked to hear that their brother of the chair of had sunk so low that no es could be entertained of his recovery two eminent had consulted over his case without being able to give a name to the affection f which he suffered a steadily vitality appeared to be the only a bodily weakness which left the mind he was much interested himself in his own case and made notes of his sensations as an aid to of his approaching end he spoke a s wife in his usual and somewhat fashion it is the assertion he said of the liberty of the individual cell as opposed to the cell it is the dissolution of a co society the process is one of great interest and so one grey morning his co society dissolved very quietly and softly he sank into his eternal sleep his two felt some slight embarrassment when called upon to fill in his it is to give it a name said one very said the other if he were not such an man i should have said that he had died from some sudden nervous from in fact what the vulgar would call a broken heart i don t think poor grey was that sort of a man at all let us call it anyhow said the older physician so they did so the case of lady the relations between stone and the notorious lady were very well known both among the fashionable circles of which she was a brilliant member and the scientific bodies which numbered him among their most illustrious cot there was naturally therefore a very interest when it was announced one morning that the lady	4
had absolutely and for ever taken the veil and that the world would see her no more when at the very tail of this rumour there came the assurance that the celebrated surgeon the man of steel nerves had been found in the morning by his seated on one side of his bed smiling pleasantly upon the universe with both legs into one side of his breeches and his great brain about as valuable as a cap full of the matter was strong enough to give quite a little thrill of interest to folk who had never hoped that their nerves were capable of such a sensation a the case op lady stone in his prime was one of the most remarkable men in england indeed he could hardly be said to have ever reached his prime for he was but nine and thirty at the time of this little incident those who knew him best were aware that famous as he was as a surgeon he might have succeeded with even greater rapidity in any of a dozen lines of life he could have cut his way to fame as a soldier struggled to it as an for it in the courts or built it out of stone and iron as an engineer he was bom to be great for he could plan what another man dare not do and he could do what another man dare not plan in none could follow him his nerve his judgment his were things apart again and again his knife cut away death but the very springs of life in doing it until his were as white as the patient his energy his audacity his self does not the memory of them still linger to the south of and the north of oxford street his vices were as magnificent as his virtues and infinitely more picturesque large as was his income and it was the third largest of all professional men in london it was far beneath the luxury of his living deep in his complex nature lay a rich vein of at the sport of which he placed all the of his life the round the red lamp eye the ear the touch the all were his masters the of old the scent of rare the curves and tints of the of europe it was to these that the quick running stream of gold was transformed and then there came his sudden mad passion for lady when a single interview with two glances and a whispered word set him she was the loveliest woman in london and the only one to him he was one of the men in london but not the only one to her she had a liking for new and was gracious to most men who her it may have been cause or it may have been effect that lord looked fifty though he was but six and thirty he was a quiet silent tinted man this lord with thin lips and heavy much given to and full of home like habits he had at one time been fond of acting had even a theatre in london and on its boards had first seen miss to whom he had offered his hand his title and the third of a county since his marriage this early had become distasteful to him even in private it was no longer possible to persuade him to exercise the talent which he had often shown that he possessed he was happier with a and a watering can among his and the case op lady it was quite an interesting problem whether he was absolutely devoid of sense or miserably wanting in spirit did he know his lady s ways and them or was he a mere blind fool it was a point to be discussed over the in snug little drawing rooms or with the aid of a cigar in the bow windows of clubs bitter and plain were the comments among men upon his conduct there was but one who had a good word to say for him and he was the most silent member in the smoking room he had seen him break in a horse at the university and it seemed to have left an impression upon his mind but when stone became the favourite all doubts as to lord s knowledge or ignorance were set for ever at rest there was no about stone in his high handed impetuous fashion he set all caution and discretion at defiance the scandal became notorious a learned body intimated that his name had been struck from the list of its vice two friends implored him to consider his professional credit he cursed them all three and spent forty guineas on a to take with him to the lady he was at her house every evening and she drove in his carriage in the there was not an attempt on either side to conceal their relations but there came at last a little incident to interrupt them round the red lamp it was a dismal winter s night very cold and with the wind in the chimneys and against the window panes a thin of rain on the glass with each fresh of the gale drowning for the instant the dull and from the stone had finished his dinner and sat by his fire in the study a glass of rich port upon the table at his elbow as he raised it to his he held it up against the and watched with the eye of a the tiny scales of which in its rich depths the fire as it up threw fitful lights upon his bold clear cut face with its widely opened grey eyes its thick and yet firm lips and the deep square jaw which had something in its strength and its he smiled from time to time as he back in his luxurious chair indeed he	4
had a right to feel well pleased for against the advice of six he had performed an operation that day of which only two cases were on record and the result had been brilliant beyond all expectation no other man in london would have had the daring to plan or the skill to execute such a heroic measure but he had promised lady to see her that evening and it was already half past eight his hand was outstretched to the bell to order the case op lady i the carriage when he heard the dull of the an instant later there was the shuffling of feet in the hall and the sharp closing of a door a patient to see you sir in the said the butler about himself r no sir i think he wants you to go out it is too late cried stone i won t go this is his card sir the butler presented it upon the gold which had been given to his master by the wife of a prime minister hum the fellow is a i suppose yes sir he seems as if he came from abroad sir and he s in a terrible way tut tut i i have an engagement i must go somewhere else but see him show him in here a few moments later the butler swung open the door and ushered in a small and man who walked with a bent back and with the forward push of the face and of the eyes which goes with extreme short sight his face was and his hair and beard of the deepest black in one hand he held a of white muslin striped with red in the other a small leather bag round the red lamp good evening said stone when the had closed the door you speak english i presume yes sir i am from asia minor but i speak english when i speak slow you wanted me to go out i understand yes sir i wanted very much that you should see my wife i could come in the morning but i have an engagement which prevents me from seeing your wife to night the s answer was a singular one he pulled the string which closed the mouth of the leather bag and poured a flood of gold on to the table there are one hundred pounds there said he and i promise you that it will not take you an hour i have a cab ready at the door stone glanced at his watch an hour would not make it too late to visit lady he had been there later and the fee was an high one he had been pressed by his lately and he could not afford to let such a chance pass he would go what is the case he asked oh it is so sad a one so sad a one i you have not perhaps heard of the of the never the case of lady ah they are eastern of a great age and of a singular shape with the like what you call a i am a curiosity dealer you understand and that is why i have come to england from but next week i go back once more many things i brought with me and i have a few things left but among them to my sorrow is one of these you will remember that i have an appointment sir said the surgeon with some irritation pray confine yourself to the necessary details you will see that it is necessary to day my wife fell down in a faint in the room in which i keep my wares and she cut her lower lip upon this cursed dagger of i see said stone rising and you wish me to dress the wound no no it is worse than that what then these are poisoned poisoned yes and there is no man east or west who can tell now what is the poison or what the cure but all that is known i know for my father was in this trade before me and we have had much to do with these poisoned weapons what are the symptoms deep sleep and death in thirty hours round the red lamp and you say there is no cure why then should you pay me this considerable fee no can cure but the knife may and how the poison is slow of it remains for hours in the wound ft washing then might it no more than in a snake bite it is too subtle and too deadly of the wound then i that is it if it be on the finger take the finger off so said my father always but think of where this wound is and that it is my wife it is dreadful but familiarity with such grim matters may take the finer edge from a man s sympathy to stone this was already an interesting case and he brushed aside as the feeble objections of the husband it appears to be that or nothing said he it is better to lose a lip than a life ah yes i know that you are right well well it is and must be faced i have the cab and you will come with me and do this thing stone took his case of from a drawer and placed it with a roll of and a of in his pocket he must the case of lady waste no more time if he were to see lady i am ready said he pulling on his overcoat will you take a glass of wine before you go out into this cold air his visitor shrank away with a protesting hand you forget that i am a and a true of the prophet said he but tell me what is the bottle of green glass which you have placed in your pocket it	4
is ah that also is forbidden to us it is a spirit and we make no use of such things what i you would allow your wife to go through an operation without an ah she will feel nothing poor soul the deep sleep has already come on which is the first working of the poison and then i have given her of our come sir for already an hour has passed as they stepped out into the darkness a sheet of rain was driven in upon their faces and the hall lamp which from the arm of a marble went out with a the butler pushed the heavy door to straining hard with his shoulder against the wind while the two men ed their way towards the yellow glare which showed where the cab was waiting round the red lamp an instant later they were rattling upon their journey is it far asked stone oh no we have a very little quiet place off the the surgeon pressed the spring of his and listened to the little which told him the hour it was a quarter past nine he calculated the distances and the short time which it would take him to i so trivial an operation he ought to reach lady by ten o clock through the windows he saw the gas lamps dancing past with occasionally the broader glare of a shop front the rain was and rattling upon the top of the carriage and the wheels as they rolled through and mud opposite to him the white of his companion gleamed faintly through the obscurity the surgeon felt in his pockets and arranged his needles his and his safety pins that no time might be wasted when they arrived he with impatience and his foot upon the floor but the cab down at last and pulled up in an instant stone was out and the merchant s toe was at his very heel you can wait said he to the driver it was a mean looking house in a narrow and sordid street the surgeon who knew his london the case op lady i well cast a swift glance into the shadows but there was nothing no shop no movement nothing but a double line of dull flat faced houses a double stretch of wet which gleamed in the and a double rush of water in the which and towards the the door which faced them was and and a faint light in the fan pane above it served to show the dust and the which covered it above in one of the bedroom windows there was a dull yellow glimmer the merchant knocked loudly and as he turned his dark face towards the light stone could see that it was contracted with anxiety a bolt was drawn and an elderly woman with a stood in the doorway the thin flame with her hand is all well ed the merchant she is as you left her sir she has not spoken no she is in a deep sleep the merchant closed the door and stone walked down the narrow passage glancing about him in some surprise as he did so there was no no mat no hat rack deep grey dust and heavy of met his eyes everywhere following the old woman up the winding stair his firm echoed harshly through the silent house there was no carpet round the red lamp the bedroom was on the second landing stone followed the old nurse into it with the merchant at his heels here at least there was furniture and to spare the floor was and the comers piled with tables coats of chain mail strange pipes and grotesque weapons a single small lamp stood upon a on the wall stone took it down and picking his way among the lumber walked over to a couch in the comer on which lay a woman dressed in the fashion with and veil the lower part of the face was exposed and the surgeon saw a jagged cut which along the border of the under lip you will forgive the said the you know our views about woman in the east but the surgeon was not thinking about the this was no longer a woman to him it was a case he stooped and examined the wound carefully there are no signs of irritation said he we might delay the operation until local symptoms develop the husband wrung his hands in agitation oh sir he cried do not trifle you do not know it is deadly i know and i thk case of lady give yon my assurance that an operation is absolutely necessary only the knife can save her and yet i am inclined to wait said stone that is enough the cried angrily every minute is of importance and i cannot stand here and see my wife allowed to sink it only remains for me to give you my thanks for having come and to call in some other surgeon before it is too late stone hesitated to that hundred i was no pleasant matter but of course if he left the case he must return the money and if the were right and the woman died his position before a might be an embarrassing one you have had personal experience of this i he asked i have and you assure me that an operation is needful i swear it by all that i hold sacred the will be frightful i can understand that the mouth will not be a pretty one to kiss stone turned fiercely upon the man the speech was a brutal one but the has his own fashion of talk and of thought and there was no time for stone drew round the red lamp a from his case oi it and felt the keen straight edge with his forefinger then he held the lamp closer to the bed two dark eyes	4
had been demanded they must be plucked out of those mountains by force or by or an outraged public would vent its wrath upon street all these questions pressed for a solution and yet here was the foreign minister of england planted in an arm chair with his whole thoughts and attention upon the ball of his right toe i it was horribly humiliating his reason at it he had been a of himself a of his own will but what sort of a machine was it which could be utterly thrown out of gear by a little piece of he groaned and among his cushions but after all was it quite impossible that he should go down to the house perhaps the doctor was the situation there was a cabinet council that day he glanced at his watch it must be nearly over by now but at least he might perhaps venture to drive down as far as westminster he pushed back the little round table with its of medicine bottles and himself up with a hand upon either round the red lamp arm of the chair he clutched a thick oak stick and slowly across the room for a moment as he moved his energy of mind and body seemed to return to him the british fleet should sail from pressure should be brought to bear upon the the should be ow i in an instant the was blotted out and nothing remained but that huge red hot toe he staggered to the window and rested his left hand upon the ledge while he propped himself upon his stick with his right outside lay the bright cool square garden a few well dressed and a single neatly appointed carriage which was driving away from his own door his quick eye caught the coat of arms on the and his lips set for a moment and his eyebrows gathered with a deep between them he back to his seat and struck the which stood upon the table your mistress said he as the serving man entered it was clear that it was impossible to think of going to the house the shooting up his leg warned him that his doctor had not the but he had a little mental worry now which had for the moment his physical he tapped the ground impatiently with his stick until the door of the a question op dressing room swung open and a tall elegant lady of rather more than middle age swept into the chamber her hair was touched with grey but her calm sweet face had all the freshness of youth and her gown of green shot with a sparkle of gold at her bosom and shoulders showed off the lines of her fine figure to their best advantage you sent for me charles whose carriage was that which drove away just now h you ve been up i she cried shaking an forefinger what an old dear it is how can you be so rash what am i to say to sir william when he comes you know that he gives up his cases when they are in this instance the case may give him up said the minister but i must beg that you will answer my question oh the carriage i it must have been lord arthur s i saw the three upon the muttered the invalid his lady had pulled herself a little and opened her large blue e es then why ask she said one might almost think charles that you were laying a trap did you expect that i should deceive you you have not had your powder round the red lamp for heaven s sake leave it alone i asked because i was surprised that lord arthur should call here i should have fancied that i had made myself sufficiently clear on that point who received him i did that is i and i will not have him brought into contact with i do not approve of it the matter has gone too far already lady seated herself on a velvet ed and bent her stately figure over the minister s hand which she patted softly between her own now you have said it charles said she it has gone too far i give you my word dear that i never suspected it until it was past all mending i may be to blame no doubt i am but it was all so sudden the tail end of the season and a week at lord s that was all but oh i she loves him so and she is our only one how can we make her miserable tut tut i cried the minister impatiently on the arm of his chair this is too much i tell you i give you my word that all my official duties all the affairs of this great empire do not give me the trouble that does but she is our only one charles a question of the more reason that she should not make a charles lord arthur son of the duke of with a from the takes them right back to earl of the minister shrugged his shoulders lord arthur is the fourth son of the poorest duke in england said he he has neither prospects nor profession but oh you could find him both i do not like him i do not care for the connection but consider ton know how frail her health is her whole soul is set upon him you would not have the heart charles to separate them there was a tap at the door lady swept towards it and threw it open yes thomas if you please my lady the prime minister is below show him up thomas now you must not excite yourself over public matters be very good and cool and reasonable like a darling i am sure that i may trust you she threw	4
her light shawl round the invalid s shoulders and slipped away into the bed room as round the red lamp the great man was ushered in at the door of the dressing room my dear charles said he cordially stepping into the room with all the boyish for which he was famous i trust that you find yourself a little better almost ready for harness eh we miss you sadly both in the house and in the council quite a storm over this business the times took a nasty line this morning so i saw said the invalid smiling up at his chief well well we must let them see that the country is not entirely ruled from house square yet we must keep our own course without faltering certainly charles most undoubtedly assented the prime minister with his hands in his pockets it was so kind of you to call i am all impatience to know what was done in the council pure nothing more by the prisoners are all right thank goodness for that we all other business until we should have you with us next week the question of a dissolution begins to press the reports from the provinces are excellent the foreign minister moved and groaned a question of we must really up our foreign business a little said he i must get note answered it is clever but the are obvious i wish too we could clear up the frontier this illness is most i there is so much to be done but my brain is clouded sometimes i think it is the and sometimes i put it down to the what will our medical say laughed the prime minister you are so charles with a bishop one may feel at one s ease they are not beyond the reach of argument but a doctor with his and is a thing apart your reading does not upon him he is serenely above you and then of course he takes you at a disadvantage with health and strength one might cope with him have you read what are your views upon the invalid knew his illustrious too well to follow him down any of those by paths of knowledge in which he delighted to wander to his intensely shrewd and practical mind there was something in the waste of energy involved in a discussion upon the early church or the twenty seven principles of it was his custom to slip past such with a quick step and an averted face i round the red lamp i have hardly glanced at his writings said he by the way i suppose that there was no special news ah i had almost forgotten yes it was one of the things which i had called to tell you sir jones has resigned at there is a there it had better be filled at once the longer delay the more ah patronage patronage sighed the prime minister every makes one doubtful friend and a dozen very positive enemies who so bitter as the disappointed but you are right charles better fill it at once especially as there is some little trouble in i understand that the duke of would like the place for his fourth son lord arthur we are under some obligation to the duke the foreign minister sat up eagerly my dear friend he said it is the very appointment which i should have suggested lord arthur would be very much better in at present than in square his chief with a little arch of his eyebrows well let us say london he has manner and tact he was at in s time a question of then he talks a but his french is good speaking of charles have yon dipped into no i have not but the appointment would be an excellent one in every way would you have the great goodness to arrange the matter in my absence certainly charles certainly is there anything else that i can do no i hope to be in the house by monday i trust so we miss you at every turn the times will try to make mischief over that business a leader writer is a terribly thing charles there is no method by which he may be however preposterous his good bye he shook the invalid s hand gave a wave of his broad hat and darted out of the room with the same and energy with which he had entered it the footman had already opened the great folding door to the illustrious visitor to his carriage when a lady stepped from the draw ing room and touched him on the sleeve from behind the half closed of stamped velvet a little pale face peeped out half curious the red lamp may i have one word surely lady i hope it is not i would not for the world the limits my dear lady interrupted the prime minister with a youthful bow and wave pray do not answer me if i go too far but i know that lord arthur has applied for would it be a liberty if i asked you what chance he has the post is filled up oh in the and background there was a disappointed face and lord arthur has it the prime minister chuckled over his little piece of we have just decided it he continued lord arthur must go in a week i am delighted to perceive lady that the appointment has your approval is a place of extraordinary interest of and colonel will occur to your memory has written well upon northern africa i dine at so i am sure that you will excuse my leaving you i trust that lord charles will be better he can hardly fail to be so with such a nurse he bowed waved and was off down the steps a question op to his as he drove away lady could see that he was	4
is still much to be done but i think we may venture to order the oh i how brave you are of course it will in any case be a very quiet affair arthur must get the license i do not approve of hole and corner marriages but where the gentleman has to take up an official position some allowance must be made we can have lady and the and the and i am sure that the prime minister would run down if he could and papa oh yes he will come too if he is well enough we must wait until sir william goes and meanwhile i shall write to lord arthur half an hour had passed and quite a number of notes had been dashed off in the fine bold park handwriting of the lady when the door and the wheels of the doctor s carriage were heard grating outside against the the lady laid down her pen kissed her daughter and started off for the sick room the foreign minister was lying back in his chair with a red silk handkerchief over his forehead a question of and his cotton foot still upon its rest i think it is almost time said lady shaking a blue bottle shall i put on a little oh this toe groaned the sufferer sir william won t hear of my moving yet i do think he is the most completely obstinate and pig headed man that i have ever met i tell him that he has mistaken his profession and that i could find him a post at we need a mule out there poor sir william laughed lady but how has he roused your wrath he is so persistent so upon what point well he has been laying down the law about he has it seems that she is to go to he said something to that effect before he went up to you oh he did did he the slow moving inscrutable eye came sliding round to her lady s face had assumed an expression of transparent obvious innocence an which is never seen in nature save when a woman is bent upon deception he examined her lungs charles he did round the red lamp not say but his expression was very grave not to say interrupted the minister no no charles it is no laughing matter he said that she must have a change i am sure that he thought more than he said he spoke of and and the effects of the african air then the talk turned upon dry health and he agreed that was the place he said that even a few months there would work a change and that was all yes that was all lord charles shrugged his shoulders with the air of a man who is but half convinced but of course said lady serenely if you think it better that should not go she shall not the only thing is that if she should get worse we might feel a little uncomfortable afterwards in a weakness of that sort a very short time may make a difference sir william evidently thought the matter critical still there is no reason why he should influence you it is a little responsibility however if you take it all upon yourself and free me from any of it so that afterwards my dear how you do oh i don t wish to do that charles but a question op you remember what happened to lord s she was just s age that was another case in which sir william s advice was disregarded lord charles groaned impatiently i have not disregarded it said he no no of course not i know your strong sense and your good heart too well dear you were very wisely looking at both sides of the question that is what we poor women cannot do it is emotion against reason as i have often heard you say we are swayed this way and that but you men are persistent and so you gain your way with us but i am so pleased that you have decided for have i well dear you said that you would not disregard sir william well admitting that is to go to you will allow that it is impossible for me to escort her utterly and for you while you are ill my place is by your side there is your sister she is going to lady then she is nursing her father it is out of the question round the red lamp well th n whom can we possibly ask especially just as the season is you see the fight against sir william his wife rested her elbows against the back of the great red chair and passed her fingers through the s curls stooping down as she did so until her lips were close to his ear there is lord arthur said she softly lord charles bounded in his chair and muttered a word or two such as were more frequently heard from cabinet ministers in lord s time than now are you mad he cried what can have put such a thought into your head the prime minister who the prime minister yes dear now do do be good or i i had better not speak to you about it any more well i really think that you have gone rather too far to retreat it was the prime minister then who told me that lord arthur was going to it is a fact though it had escaped my memory for the instant and then came sir with his advice a question op about oh i it is surely more than a coincidence i am convinced said lord charles with his shrewd questioning gaze that it is very much more than a coincidence lady you are a very clever woman my dear a bom manager and lady brushed past the	4
compliment think of our own young days she whispered with her fingers still with his hair what were you then a poor man not even at but i loved you and believed in you and have i ever regretted it loves and believes in lord arthur and why should she ever regret it either lord charles was silent his eyes were fixed upon the green branches which waved outside the window but his mind had flashed back to a country house of thirty years ago and to the one evening when between old hedges he paced along beside a slender girl and poured out to her his hopes his fears and his he took the white thin hand and pressed it to his lips you have been a good wife to me said he she said nothing she did not attempt to improve upon her advantage a less general might have tried to do so and ruined all round the red lamp she stood silent and noting the quick play of thought which peeped from his eyes and lip there was a sparkle in the one and a of amusement in the other as he at last glanced up at her said he deny it if you can you have ordered the she gave his ear a little pinch subject to your approval said she you have written to the it is not i yet you have sent a note to lord arthur how could you tell that he is downstairs now no but i think that is his lord charles sank back with a look of despair who is to fight against such a woman he cried oh if i could send you to i he is too much for any of my men but i cannot have them up here not for your blessing no no it would make them so happy i cannot stand scenes then i shall convey it to them and pray say no more about it to day at any rate i have been weak over the matter oh you who are so strong a question of you have me i was very well done i must congratulate you well she murmured as she kissed him you know i have been studying a very clever for thirty years a medical document men axe as a class very too busy to take stock of singular situations or dramatic events thus it happens that the of their experiences in our literature was a lawyer a life spent in watching over death beds or over birth beds which are infinitely more takes something from a man s sense of proportion as constant strong waters might corrupt his the nerve ceases to respond ask the surgeon for his best experiences and he may reply that he has seen little that is remarkable or break away into the but catch him some night when the fire has up and his pipe is with a few of his brother for company and an artful question or allusion to set him going then you will get some raw green facts new plucked from the tree of life it is after one of the dinners of the branch of the british medical association twenty cups a a medical document glasses and a solid bank of blue smoke which slowly along the high gilded ceiling gives a hint of a successful gathering but the members have to their homes the line of heavy and of bearing top hats is gone from the hotel corridor the fire in the sitting room three are still lingering however all smoking and arguing while a fourth who is a mere and young at that sits back at the table under cover of an open journal he is writing furiously with a pen asking a question in an innocent voice fr m time to time and so flickering up the conversation whenever it shows a tendency to the three men are all of that staid middle age which begins early and lasts late in the profession they are none of them famous yet each is of good and a fair type of his particular branch the man with the manner and the white splash upon his cheek is chief of the asylum and author of the brilliant obscure nervous in the unmarried he always wears his collar high like that since the half successful attempt of a student of to cut his throat with a of glass the second with the ruddy face and the merry brown eyes is a general a man of round the red lamp vast experience who with his three and his five horses takes twenty five hundred a year in half crown visits and shilling out of the poorest quarter of a great city that cheery face of foster is seen at the side of a hundred sick beds a day and if he has one third more names on his visiting list than in his cash book he always promises himself that he will get level some day when a with a complaint the ideal shall seek his services the third sitting on tho right with his dress shoes shining on the top of the is the rising surgeon his face has none of the broad humanity of foster s the eye is stern and critical the mouth straight and severe but there is strength and decision in every line of it and it is nerve rather than sympathy which the patient demands when he is bad enough to come to s door he calls himself a a mere as he modestly puts it but in point of fact he is too young and too poor to confine himself to a and there is nothing which has not the skill and the audacity to do before after and during murmurs the general in answer to some of the s i assure you one sees all sorts of forms	4
of madness ah throws in the other knock a medical document ing the curved grey ash from his cigar but you had some case in your mind foster well there was only one last week which was new to me i had been engaged by some people of the name of when the trouble came round i went myself for they would not hear of an assistant the husband who was a policeman was sitting at the head of the bed on the further side this won t do said i oh yes doctor it must do said she it s quite irregular and he must go said i it s that or nothing said she i won t open my mouth or stir a finger the whole night said he so it ended by my allowing him to remain and there he sat for eight hours on end she was very good over the matter but every now and again he would fetch a hollow groan and i noticed that he held his right hand just under the sheet all the time where i had no doubt that it was clasped by her left when it was all happily over i looked at him and his face was the colour of this cigar ash and his head had dropped on to the edge of the pillow of course i thought he had fainted with emotion and i was just telling myself what i thought of myself for having been such a fool as to let him stay there when suddenly i saw that the sheet over his hand was all soaked with blood i it down and there was the fellow s wrist half cut through the round the red lamp woman had one of a policeman s over her left wrist and the other round his right one when she had been in pain she had twisted with all her strength and the iron had fairly eaten into the bone of the man s arm aye doctor said she when she saw i had noticed it he s got to take his share as well as me turn and turn said she don t you find it a very wearing branch of the profession asks foster after a pause my dear fellow it was the fear of it that drove me into work aye and it has driven men into who never found their way on to the medical staff i was a very shy fellow myself as a student and i know what it means no joke that in general practice says the well you hear men talk about it as though it were but i tell you it s much nearer tragedy take some poor raw young fellow who has just put up his plate in a strange town he has found it a trial all his life perhaps to talk to a woman about lawn and church services when a young man is shy he is than any girl then down comes an anxious mother and him upon the most intimate family matters i shall never go to that doctor again says she afterwards his manner is so stiff and a medical document pathetic why the poor lad was struck dumb and i have known al who were so shy that they could not bring themselves to ask the way in the street fancy what sensitive men like that must endure before they get broken in to medical practice and then they know that nothing is so catching as shyness and that if they do not keep a face of stone their patient will be covered with confusion and so they keep their face of stone and earn the reputation perhaps of having a heart to correspond i suppose nothing would shake your nerve well when a man lives year in year out among a thousand with a fair of among them one s nerves either get set or shattered mine are all right so far i was frightened once says the surgeon it was when i was doing work one night i had a call from some very poor people and gathered from the few words they said that their child was ill when i entered the room i saw a small cradle in the comer the lamp i walked over and putting back the curtains i looked down at the baby i tell you it was sheer providence that i didn t drop that lamp and set the whole place alight the head on the pillow turned and i saw a face looking up at me which seemed to me to have more and bound the red lamp wickedness than i had dreamed of in a nightmare it was the flush of red over the and the brooding eyes full of of me and of everything else that impressed me ill never forget my start as instead of the face of an infant my eyes fell upon this creature i took the mother into the next room what is i asked a girl of sixteen said she and then throwing up her arms h pray god she may be taken the poor thing though she spent her life in this little cradle had great long thin limbs which she curled up under her i lost sight of the case and don t know what became of it but never forget the look in her eyes that s says dr foster but i think one of my experiences would run it close shortly after i put up my plate i had a visit from a little backed woman who wished me to come and attend to her sister in her trouble when i reached the house which was a very poor one i found two other little backed women exactly like the first waiting for me in the sitting room not one of them said a word but my companion took the lamp	4
and would throw a light upon those actions which have cut short many an honoured career and sent a man to a prison when he should have been hurried to a consulting room of all evils that may come upon the sons of men god shield us principally from that one i had a case some little time ago which was out of the ordinary says the surgeon there s a famous beauty in london society i mention no names who used to be remarkable a few seasons ago for the very low dresses which she would wear she had the of skins and most beautiful of shoulders so it was no wonder then gradually the at her neck upwards and upwards until last year she astonished by wearing quite a high collar at a time when it was completely out of fashion well one day this very woman was shown into my consulting room when the footman was gone she suddenly tore off the upper part of her bound the bed lamp dress for god s sake do something for me she cried then i saw what the trouble was a was eating its way on in its fashion until the end of it was flush with her collar the red streak of its trail was lost below the line of her bust year by year it had ascended and she had heightened her dress to hide it until now it was about to her face she had been too proud to confess her trouble even to a medical man and did you stop it well with i did what i could but it may break out again she was one of those beautiful white and pink creatures who are rotten with you may patch but you can t mend dear cries the general with that kindly softening of the eyes which had him to so many thousands i suppose we mustn t think ourselves wiser than providence but there are times when one feels that something is wrong in the scheme of things seen some sad things in my life did i ever tell you that case where nature a most loving couple he was a fine young fellow an and a gentleman but he you know how the force that us gives us a little to remind us when we get oflf the beaten track it may be a pinch on the great toe a medical document if we drink too and work too little or it may be a on our nerves if we energy too with the of course it s the heart or the lungs he had bad and was sent to well as luck would have it she developed fever which left her heart very much affected now do you see the dreadful in which those poor people found themselves when he came below four thousand feet or so his symptoms became terrible she could come up about twenty five hundred and then her heart reached its limit they had several half way down the valley which left them nearly dead and at last the doctors had to absolutely forbid it and so for four years they lived within three miles of each other and never met every morning he would go to a place which overlooked the in which she lived and would wave a great white cloth and she answer from below they could see each other quite plainly with their field glasses and they might have been in different for all their chance of meeting and one at last died says the no sir i m sorry not to be able to the story but the man recovered and is now a successful in gardens the woman too is the mother of a considerable family but what are you doing there bound the red lamp only a note or two of your talk the three medical men laugh as they walk towards their why done nothing but talk shop says the general what possible interest can the public take in that lot no of the dealings of edward with william lee and of the cause of the great terror of smith it may be that no absolute and final judgment will ever be delivered it is true that we have the full and clear narrative of smith himself and such as he could look for from thomas the servant from the reverend fellow of old s and from such other people as chanced to gain some passing glance at this or that incident in a singular chain of events yet in the main the story must rest upon smith alone and the most will think that it is more likely that one brain however outwardly sane has some subtle in its texture some strange flaw in its workings than that the path of nature has been in open day in so a centre of learning and light as the university of oxford yet when we think how narrow and how this path of nature is how dimly we can trace it for all our lamps of science and round the red lamp how from the darkness which it round great and terrible possibilities loom ever upwards it is a bold and confident man who will put a limit to the strange by paths into which the human spirit may wander in a certain wing of what we will call old college in oxford there is a comer of an exceeding great age the heavy arch which the open door has bent downwards in the centre under the weight of its years and the grey blocks of stone are bound and together with and of ivy as though the old mother had set herself to brace them up against wind and weather the door a stone stair curves upward passing two and in a third one its steps all and by the tread of so many generations of the after	4
knowledge life has flowed like water down this winding stair and has left these smooth worn behind it the scholars of days down to the young of a later age how full and strong had been that tide of young english life and what was left now of all those hopes those those fiery energies save here and there in some old world churchyard a few upon a stone and perchance a handful of dust in a coffin yet here were lot no the silent stair and the grey old with bend and and many another device still to be read upon ite surface like grotesque shadows thrown back from the days that had passed in the month of may in the year three young men occupied the sets of rooms which opened on to the separate of the old stair each set consisted simply of a and of a bedroom while the two corresponding rooms upon the ground floor were used the one as a coal cellar and the other as the living room of the servant or thomas whose duty it was to wait upon the three men above him to right and to left was a line of lecture rooms and of offices so that the in the old enjoyed a certain seclusion which made the chambers popular among the more such were the three who occupied them now smith above edward beneath him and william lee upon the lowest it was ten o clock on a bright spring night and smith lay back in his arm chair his feet upon the and his root pipe between his lips in a similar chair and equally at his ease there on the other side of the fireplace his old school friend both men were in for they had spent their evening upon the river but apart from their round the red lamp dress no one could look at their hard alert faces without seeing that they were open air men men whose minds and tastes turned naturally to all that was manly and robust in deed was stroke of his college boat and smith was an even better oar but a coming examination had already cast its shadow over him and held him to his work save for the few hours a week which health demanded a litter of medical books upon the table with scattered bones models and plates pointed to the extent as well as the nature of his studies while a couple of single sticks and a set of gloves above the hinted at the means by which with s help he might take his exercise in its most compressed and least distant form they knew each other very well so well that they could sit now in that soothing silence which is the very highest development of companionship have some said smith at last between two scotch in the and irish in the bottle no thanks i m in for the i don t liquor when tm training how about you fm reading hard i think it best to leave it alone nodded and they into a contented silence by the way smith asked presently lot no have you made the acquaintance of either of the fellows on your stair yet just a nod when we pass nothing more hum i should be inclined to let it stand at that i know something of them both not much but as much as i want i don t think i should take them to my bosom if i were you not that there s much amiss with lee meaning the thin one precisely he is a gentlemanly little fellow i don t think there is any vice in him but then you can t know him without knowing meaning the fat one yes the fat one and he s a man whom i for one would rather not know smith raised his eyebrows and glanced across at his companion what s up then he asked drink cards you used not to be ah you evidently don t know the man or you wouldn t ask there s something about something my always rises at him i should put him down as a man with secret vices an evil liver he s no fool though they say that he is one of the best men in his line that they have ever had in the round the red lamp medicine or eastern languages he s a demon at them met him somewhere above the second last long and he told me that he just to the as if he had been bom and nursed and among them he talked to the and hebrew to the jews and to the and they were all ready to kiss the hem of his frock coat there are some old up in those parts who sit on rocks and and spit at the casual stranger well when they saw this chap before he had said five words they just lay down on their and said that he never saw anything like it seemed to take it as his right too and about among them and talked down to them like a dutch uncle pretty good for an of old s wasn t it why do you say you can t know lee without knowing because is engaged to his sister such a bright little girl smith i know the whole family well it s disgusting to see that brute with her a and a dove that s what they always remind me of smith grinned and knocked his ashes out against the side of the grate you show every card in your hand old lot no chap said he what a prejudiced green eyed evil thinking old man it is you have really nothing against the fellow except that well i ve known her ever since she was as long as that cherry wood pipe and	4
i don t like to see her taking risks and it is a risk he looks and he has a temper a temper you remember his row with long no you always forget that i am a ah it was last winter of course well you know the along by the river there were several fellows going along it in front when they came on an old market woman coming the other way it had been you know what those fields are like when it has rained and the path ran between the river and a great that was nearly as broad well what does this swine do but keep the path and push the old girl into the mud where she and her came to terrible grief it was a thing to do and long who is as gentle a fellow as ever stepped told him what he thought of it one word led to another and it ended in laying his stick across the fellow s shoulders there was the deuce of a fuss about it and it s a treat to see the way in which looks at when they round the red lamp meet now by jove smith it s nearly eleven o clock no light your pipe again not i tm supposed to be in training here ive been sitting when i ought to have been safely tucked up i ll borrow your skull if you can share it has had mine for a month i ll take the little bones of your ear too if you are sure you won t need them thanks very much never mind a bag i can carry them very well under my arm good night my son and take my tip as to your neighbour when bearing his plunder had oflf down the winding stair smith hurled his pipe into the basket and drawing his chair nearer to the lamp plunged into a formidable green covered volume adorned with great coloured maps of that strange internal kingdom of which we are the and helpless though a at oxford the student was not so in medicine for he had worked for four years at and at and this coming examination would place him finally as a member of his profession with his firm mouth broad forehead and somewhat hard face he was a man who if he had no brilliant talent was yet so dogged so patient and so strong that he might in the lot no end a more genius a man who can hold his own among and north is not a man to be easily set back smith had left a name at and at and he was bent now upon doing as much at oxford if hard work and devotion could accomplish it he had sat reading for about an hour and the hands of the noisy carriage clock upon the side table were rapidly closing together upon the twelve when a sudden sound fell upon the student s ear a sharp rather shrill sound like the hissing of a man s breath who under some strong emotion smith laid down his book and his ear to listen there was no one on either side or above him so that the interruption came certainly from the neighbour beneath the same neighbour of whom had given so an account smith knew him only as a pale faced man of silent and habits a man whose lamp threw a golden bar from the old even after he had extinguished his own this community in had formed a certain silent bond between them it was soothing to smith when the hours stole on towards dawning to feel that there was another so close who set as small a value upon his sleep as he did even now as his thoughts turned towards him smith s feelings were kindly round the red lamp was a good fellow but he was rough with no imagination or sympathy he could not from what he looked upon as the model type of if a man could not be measured by a standard then he was beyond the pale with like so many who are themselves robust he was apt to the constitution with the character to to want of principle what was really a want of circulation smith with his stronger mind knew his friend s habit and made allowance for it now as his thoughts turned towards the man beneath him there was no return of the singular sound and smith was about to turn to his work once more when suddenly there broke out in the silence of the night a hoarse cry a positive the call of a man who is moved and shaken beyond all control smith sprang out of his chair and dropped his book he was a man of fairly firm fibre but there was something in this sudden shriek of horror which chilled his blood and in his skin coming in such a place and at such an hour it brought a thousand fantastic possibilities into his head should he rush down or was it better to wait he had all the national hatred of making a scene and he knew so little of his neighbour that he would not lightly intrude upon his affairs for a moment lot no he stood in doubt and even as he balanced the matter there was a quick rattle of footsteps upon the stairs and young lee half dressed and as white as ashes burst into his room come he gasped s iu smith followed him closely down stairs into the sitting room which was beneath his own and intent as he was upon the matter in hand he could not but take an amazed glance around him as he crossed the threshold it was such a chamber as he had never seen before a museum rather than a study walls and	4
ceiling were thickly covered with a thousand strange relics from and the east tall figures bearing burdens or weapons stalked in an uncouth round the apartments above were bull headed headed cat headed statues with crowned eyed and strange like cut out of the blue egyptian and and peeped down from every and shelf while across the ceiling a true son of old a great hanging was in a double in the of this singular chamber was a large square table with papers bottles and the dried leaves of some graceful palm like round the red lamp plant these objects had all been heaped together in order to make room for a case which had been conveyed from the wall as was evident from the gap there and laid across the front of the table the itself a horrid black withered thing like a head on a was lying half out of the case with its hand and bony resting upon the table propped up against the was an old yellow of and in front of it in a wooden arm chair sat the owner of the room his head thrown back his widely opened eyes directed in a stare to the above him and his blue thick lips puffing loudly with every my god he s dying cried lee he was a slim handsome young fellow and dark eyed of a spanish rather than of an english type with a intensity of manner which contrasted with the saxon of smith only a faint i think said the medical student just give me a hand with him you take his feet now on to the sofa can you kick all those little wooden devils oflf what a litter it is now he will be all right if we undo his collar and give him some water what has he been up to at all lot no i don t know i heard mm cry out i ran np i know him pretty well you know it is very good of you to come down his heart is going like a pair of said smith laying his hand on the breast of the unconscious man he seems to me to be frightened all to pieces the water over him what a face he has got on him it was indeed a strange and most face for colour and outline were equally unnatural it was white not with the ordinary of fear but with an absolutely white like the under side of a sole he was very fat but gave the impression of having at some time been considerably for his skin hung loosely in and folds and was shot with a of wrinkles short brown hair up from his with a pair of thick wrinkled ears on either side his light grey eyes were still open the pupils dilated and the balls projecting in a fixed and horrid stare it seemed to smith as he looked down upon him that he had never seen nature s danger flying so plainly upon a man s countenance and his thoughts turned more seriously to the warning which had given him an hour before what the deuce can have frightened him so he asked round the red lamp it s the the how then i don t know it s and morbid i wish he would drop it it s the second fright he has given me it was the same last winter i found him just like this with that horrid thing in front of him what does he want with the then oh he s a you know it s his he knows more about these things than any man in england but i wish he wouldn t ah he s beginning to come to a faint tinge of colour had begun to steal back into s ghastly cheeks and his eyelids shivered like a after a calm he ed and ed his hands drew a long thin breath between his teeth and suddenly up his head threw a glance of recognition around him as his eyes fell upon the he sprang the sofa seized the roll of thrust it into a drawer turned the key and then staggered back on to the sofa what s up he asked what do you want you ve been shrieking out and making no end of a fuss said lee if our neighbour here from above hadn t come down tm sure i don t know what i should have done with you lot no ah it s smith said glancing up at him how very good of yon to come in what a fool i am oh my god what a fool i am he sunk his head on to his hands and burst into peal after peal of hysterical laughter look here drop it cried smith shaking him roughly by the shoulder your nerves are all in a you must drop these little midnight games with or be going off your you re all on wires now i wonder said whether you would be as cool as i am if you had seen what then oh nothing i meant that i wonder if you could sit up at night with a without trying your nerves i have no doubt that you are quite right i dare say that i have been taking it out of myself too much lately but i am all right now please don t go though just wait for a few minutes until i am quite myself the room is very close remarked lee throwing open the window and letting in the cool night air it s said he lifted up one of the dried leaves from the table and it over the chimney of the lamp it broke away into heavy smoke wreaths and a round the red lamp biting filled the chamber it s the sacred plant the plant of the priests he	4
remarked do you know anything of eastern languages smith nothing at all not a word the answer seemed to lift a weight from the s mind by the way he continued how long was it from the time that you ran down until i came to my senses not long some four or five minutes i thought it could not be very long said he drawing a long breath but what a strange thing is i there is no to it i could not tell from my own sensations if it were seconds or weeks now that gentleman on the table was packed up in the days of the some forty centuries ago and yet if he could find his tongue he would tell us that this lapse of time hm i bat a closing of the eyes and a of them he is a singularly fine smith stepped over to the table and looked down with a professional eye at the black and twisted form in front of him the features though horribly were perfect and two little nut like eyes still in the depths of the black hollow the skin was drawn tightly from bone to bone and a tan lot ih wrap of black coarse fell over the ears two thin teeth like those of a rat the lower lip in its crouching position with bent joints and head there was a suggestion of energy about the horrid thing which made smith s rise the gaunt ribs with their like covering were exposed and the sunken leaden with the long where the had left his mark but the lower limbs were round with coarse yellow a number of little like pieces of and of were sprinkled over the body and lay scattered on the inside of the case i don t know his name said passing his hand over the head you see the outer with the is missing lot is all the title he has now you see it printed his case that was his number in the at i picked him up he has been a very pretty sort of fellow in his day remarked smith e has been a giant his is six feet seven in length and that would be a giant over there for they were never a very robust race feel these great knotted bones too he would be a nasty fellow to tackle perhaps these very hands helped to build the stones into the suggested round the red lamp house lee looking down with in his eyes at the crooked no fear this fellow has been in and looked after in the most approved style they did not serve in that fashion salt or was enough for them it has been calculated that this sort of thing cost about seven hundred and thirty pounds in our money our friend was a noble at the least what do you make of that small inscription near his feet smith i told you that i know no eastern tongue ah so you did it is the name of the i take it a very conscientious he must have been i wonder how many modem works will survive four thousand years he kept on speaking lightly and rapidly but it was evident to smith that he was still with fear his hands shook his lower lip trembled and look where he would his eye always came sliding round to his companion through all his fear however there was a suspicion of triumph in his tone and manner his eye shone and his footstep as he paced the room was brisk and he gave the impression of a man who has gone through an ordeal the marks of which he still bears upon him but which has helped him to his end lot no you re not going yet he cried as smith rose from the sofa at the prospect of solitude his fears seemed to crowd back upon him and he stretched out a hand to detain him yes i must go i have my work to do you are all right now i think that with your nervous system you should take up some less morbid study oh i am not nervous as a rule and i have before you fainted last time observed lee ah yes so i did well i must have a nerve or a course of you are not going lee do whatever you wish ned then i ll come down with you and have a shake down on your sofa good night smith i am so sorry to have disturbed you with my foolishness they shook hands and as the medical student stumbled up the and irregular stair he heard a key turn in a door and the steps of his two new acquaintances as they descended to th lower floor in this strange way began the acquaintance between edward and bound the red lamp smith an which the latter at least had no desire to further however appeared to have taken a fancy to his neighbour and made his advances in such a way that he could hardly be without absolute twice he called to thank smith for his assistance and many times afterwards he looked in with books ers and such other as two bachelor neighbours can offer each other he was as smith soon found a man of wide reading with catholic tastes and an extraordinary memory his manner too was so pleasing and that one came after a time to overlook his appearance for a and wearied man he was no unpleasant companion and smith found himself after a time looking forward to his visits and even returning them clever as he undoubtedly was however the medical student seemed to detect a dash of insanity in the man he broke out at times into a high style of talk which was in contrast with the simplicity of his life it is a wonderful thing	4
he cried to feel that one can command powers of good and of evil a angel or a demon of vengeance and again of lee he said lee is a good fellow an honest fellow but he is without strength or ambition he would not make a fit lot no partner for a man with a great enterprise he would not make a fit partner for me at such hints and stolid smith puffing solemnly at his pipe would simply raise his eyebrows and shake his head with little of medical wisdom as to earlier hours and ah one habit had developed of late which smith knew to be a frequent herald of a mind he appeared to be forever talking to himself at late hours of the night when there could be no visitor with him smith could still hear his voice beneath him in a low muffled sunk almost to a er and yet very audible in the silence this solitary annoyed and distracted the student so that he spoke more than once to his neighbour about it however flushed up at the charge and denied that he had uttered a sound indeed he showed more annoyance over the matter than the occasion seemed to demand had smith had any doubt as to his own ears he had not to go far to find tom the little wrinkled who had attended to the wants of the in the for a longer time than any man s memory could carry him was sorely put to it over the same matter bound the red lamp if you please sir said he as he down the top chamber one morning do you think mr is all right sir all right yes sir right in his head sir why should he not be then well i don t know sir his habits has changed of late he s not the same man he used to be though i make free to say that he was never quite one of my gentlemen like mr or yourself sir he s took to to himself something awful i wonder it don t disturb you i don t know what to make of him sir i don t know what business it is of yours well i takes an interest mr smith it may be forward of me but i can t help it i feel sometimes as if i was mother and father to my young gentlemen it all falls on me when things go wrong and the relations come but mr sir i want to know what it is that walks about his room sometimes when he s out and when the door s locked on the outside eh you re talking nonsense maybe so sir but i heard it more n once with my own ears rubbish yery good sir you ll ring the bell if you want me lot no smith gave little heed to the gossip of the old man but a small incident occurred a few days later which left an unpleasant effect upon his mind and brought the words of forcibly to his memory had come up to see him late one night and was entertaining him with an interesting account of the rock of in upper egypt when smith whose hearing was remarkably acute distinctly heard the sound of a door opening on the landing below there s some fellow gone in or out of your room he remarked sprang up and stood helpless for a moment with the expression of a man who is half incredulous and half afraid i surely locked it i am almost positive that i locked it he stammered no one could have opened it why i hear coming up the steps now said smith rushed out through the door it loudly behind him and hurried down the stairs about half way down smith heard him stop and thought he caught the sound of a moment later the door beneath him shut a key in a lock and with beads of moisture upon his pale face ascended the stairs once more and re entered the room round the red lamp it s all right he said throwing himself down in a chair it was that fool of a dog he had pushed the door open i don t know how i came to forget to lock it i didn t know you kept a dog said smith looking very thoughtfully at the disturbed face of his companion yes i haven t had him long i must get rid of him he s a great nuisance he must be if you find it so hard to shut him up i should have thought that shutting the door would have been without it i want to prevent old from letting him out he s of some value you know and it would be awkward to lose him i am a bit of a dog myself said smith still gazing hard at his companion from the comer of his eyes perhaps you ll let me have a look at it certainly but i am d it cannot be tonight i have an appointment is that clock right then i am a quarter of an hour late already excuse me i am sure he picked up his cap and hurried from the room in spite of his appointment smith heard him re enter his own chamber and lock his door upon the inside this interview left a disagreeable impression lot no npon the medical student s mind had lied to him and lied so that it looked as if he had desperate reasons for concealing the truth smith knew that his neighbour had no dog he knew also that the step which he had heard upon the stairs was not the step of an animal but if it were not then what could it be there was old s statement about the something which	4
heard a knocking at his outer door he resolutely refused to answer it one afternoon however he was descending the stairs when just as he was passing it s door flew open and young lee came out with his eyes sparkling and round the red lamp a dark flush of anger upon his olive cheeks close at his heels followed his fat face all quivering with malignant passion you he you ll be sorry very likely cried the other mind what i say it s oflf won t hear of it you ve promised anyhow oh ra keep that i won t speak but i d rather little was in her grave once for all it s oflf she ll do what i say we don t want to see you again so much smith could not avoid hearing but he hurried on for he had no wish to be involved in their dispute there had been a serious breach between them that was clear enough and lee was going to cause the engagement with his sister to be broken oflf smith thought of s com i of the and the dove and was glad to think that the matter was at an end s face when he was in a passion was not pleasant to look upon he was not a man to whom an innocent girl could be trusted for life as he walked smith wondered languidly what could have caused the quarrel and what the promise might be which had been so anxious that lee should keep it was the day of the match between and and a stream of men were lot no making their way down to the banks of the a may was shining brightly and the yellow path was barred with the black shadows of the tall elm trees on either side the grey lay back from the road the old mothers of minds looking out from their high windows at the tide of young life which swept so merrily past them black clad pale reading men brown faced straw young in white or many coloured all were hurrying towards the blue winding river which curves through the oxford meadows smith with the of an old chose his position at the point where he knew that the struggle if there were a struggle would come far off he heard the hum which announced the start the gathering roar of the approach the thunder of running feet and the shouts of the men in the boats beneath him a spray of half clad deep breathing shot past him and over their shoulders he saw pulling a steady thirty six while his opponent with a forty was a good boat s length behind him smith gave a cheer for his friend and pulling out his watch was starting off again for his chambers when he felt a touch upon his shoulder and found that young lee was beside him round the red lamp i saw you there he said in a timid way i wanted to speak to you if you could spare me a half hour this cottage is mine i share it with of king s come in and have a cup of tea i must be back presently said smith i am hard on the grind at present but i ll come in for a few minutes with pleasure i wouldn t have come out only is a friend of mine so he is of mine hasn t he a beautiful style wasn t in it but come into the cottage it s a little den of a place but it is pleasant to work in during the summer months it was a small square white building with green doors and shutters and a rustic work porch standing back some fifty yards from the river s bank inside the main room was roughly fitted up as a study deal table shelves with books and a few cheap upon the wall a kettle sang upon a spirit stove and there were tea things upon a tray on the table try that chair and have a said lee let me pour you out a cup of tea it s so good of you to come in for i know that your time is a good deal taken up i wanted to say to you that if i were you i should change my rooms at once eh lot no smith sat staring with a lighted match in one hand and his in the other yes it must seem very extraordinary and the worst of it is that i cannot give my reasons for i am under a solemn a very solemn promise but i may go so far as to say that i don t think is a very safe man to live near i intend to camp out here as much as i can for a time not safe i what do you mean ah that s what i mustn t say but do take my advice and move your rooms we had a grand row to day you must have heard us for you came down the stairs i saw that you had fallen out he s a horrible chap smith that is the only word for him i have had doubts about him ever since that night when he fainted you remember when you came down i him to day and he told me things that made my hair rise and wanted me to stand in with him i m not but i am a clergyman s son you know and i think there are some things which are quite beyond the pale i only thank god that i found him out before it was too late for he was to have married into my family this is all very fine lee said smith but either you are saying a great deal too much or a great deal too	4
little round the bed lamp i give you a warning if there is real reason for warning no promise can bind yon if i see a rascal about to blow a place up with no pledge will stand in my way of preventing him ah but i cannot prevent him and i can do nothing but warn you without saying what you warn me against against but that is childish why should i fear him or any man i can t tell you i can only entreat you to change your rooms you are in danger where you are i don t even say that would wish to injure you but it might happen for he is a dangerous neighbour just now perhaps i know more than you think said smith looking keenly at the young man s boyish earnest face suppose i tell you that some one else shares s rooms lee sprang from his chair in excitement you know then he gasped a woman lee dropped back again with a groan my lips are sealed he said i must not speak well anyhow said smith rising it is not likely that i should allow myself to be frightened lot no out of rooms suit me very nicely it would be a little too feeble for me to move out all my goods and because you say that might in some way do me an injury i think that just take my chance and stay where i am and as i see that it s nearly five o clock i must ask you to excuse me he bade the young student adieu in a few words and made his way homeward through the sweet spring evening feeling half ruffled ss any other strong man might who has been by a vague and shadowy danger there was one little indulgence which smith always allowed himself however closely his work might press upon him twice a week on the tuesday and the friday it was his invariable custom to walk over to the residence of dr situated about a mile and a half out of oxford had been a close friend of smith s elder brother francis and as he was a bachelor fairly well to do with a good cellar and a better library his house was a pleasant goal for a man who was in need of a brisk walk twice a week then the medical student would swing out there along the dark country roads and spend a pleasant hour in s comfortable study discussing over a glass of old port the gossip of the round the red lamp or the latest of medicine or of on the day which followed his interview with lee smith shut np his books at a quarter past eight the hour when he usually started for his friend s house as he was leaving his room however his eyes chanced to fall upon one of the books which had lent him and his conscience pricked him for not having returned it however the man might be he should not be treated with taking the book he walked downstairs and knocked at his neighbour s door there was no answer but on turning the handle he found that it was unlocked pleased at the thought of avoiding an interview he stepped inside and placed the book with his card upon the table the lamp was turned half down but smith could see the details of the room plainly enough it was all much as he had seen it the the animal headed gods the hanging and the table over with papers and dried leaves the case stood upright against the wall but the itself was missing there was no sign of any second of the room and he felt as he withdrew that he had probably done an injustice had he a guilty secret to preserve he would lot no hardly leave his door open so that all the world might enter the stair was as black as pitch and smith was slowly making his way down its irregular steps when he was suddenly conscious that something had passed him in the darkness there was a faint sound a of air a light brushing past his elbow but so slight that he could scarcely be certain of it he stopped and listened but the wind was rustling among the ivy outside and he could hear nothing else is that you he shouted there was no answer and all was still behind him it must have been a sudden gust of air for there were and cracks in the old and yet he could almost have sworn that he heard a by his very side he had emerged into the still turning the matter over in his head when a man came running swiftly across the smooth lawn is that you smith r for god s sake come at once young lee is drowned here s of king s with the news the doctor is out you ll do but come along at once there may be life in him have you brandy no m bring some there s a on my table bound the bed lamp smith bounded np the stairs taking three at a time seized the and was rushing down with it when as he passed s room his eyes fell upon something which left him gasping and staring upon the landing the door which he had closed behind him was now open and right in front of him with the lamp light shining upon it was the case three minutes ago it had been empty he could swear to that now it framed the body of its horrible who stood grim and with his black face towards the door the form was lifeless and but it seemed to smith as he gazed that there still lingered a lurid spark of vitality some faint sign of consciousness in the little eyes	4
you to be an man what in the world can have frightened you i ll tell you presently but where can it have gone ah now look look see the curve of the road just beyond your gate yes i see you needn t pinch my arm oflf i saw pass i should say a man rather thin apparently and tall very tall but what of him and what of yourself you are still shaking like an leaf i have been within hand grip of the devil that s all but come down to your study and i shall tell you the whole story he did so under the cheery with a glass of wine on the table beside him and the form and face of his friend in front he in their order all the events great and small which had formed so singular a chain from the night on which he had found round the red lamp fainting in front of the case until his horrid experience of an hour ago there now he said as he concluded s the whole black business it is monstrous and incredible but it is true dr sat for some time in silence with a very puzzled expression upon his face i never heard of such a thing in my life never he said at last you have told me the facts now tell me your you can draw your own but i should like to hear yours you have thought over the matter and i have not well it must be a little vague in detail but the main points seem to me to be clear enough this fellow in his eastern studies has got hold of some infernal secret by which a or possibly only this particular can be temporarily brought to life he was this disgusting business on the night when he fainted no doubt the sight of the creature moving had shaken his nerve even though he had expected it you remember that almost the first words he said were to call out upon himself as a fool well he got more hardened afterwards and carried the matter through without fainting the vitality which he could put into it was evidently only a passing thing for i have lot no seen it continually in its case as dead as this table he has some elaborate process i fancy by which he brings the thing to pass having done it he naturally him that he might use the creature as an agent it has intelligence and it has strength for some purpose he took lee into his confidence but lee like a decent christian would have nothing to do with such a business then they had a row and lee vowed that he would tell his sister of s true character s game was to prevent him and he nearly managed it by setting this creature of his on his track he had already tried its powers upon another man towards whom he had a grudge it is the merest chance that he has not two upon his soul then when i him with the matter he had the strongest reasons for wishing to get me out of the way before i could convey my knowledge to anyone else he got his chance when i went out for he knew my habits and where i was bound for i have had a narrow and it is mere luck you didn t find me on your in the morning fm not a nervous man as a rule and i never thought to have the fear of death put upon me as it was to night my dear boy you take the matter too seriously said his companion your nerves are out of order with your work and you make round the red lamp much of it how could such a thing as this stride about the streets of oxford even at night without being seen it has been seen there is quite a scare in the town about an escaped as they imagine the creature to be it is the talk of the place well it s a striking chain of events and yet my dear fellow you must allow that each incident in itself is capable of a more natural explanation what even my adventure of to night certainly you come out with your nerves all and your head full of this theory of yours some gaunt half tramp after you and seeing you run is to pursue you your fears and imagination do the rest it won t do it won t do and again in the instance of your finding the case empty and then a few moments later with an you know that it was that the lamp was half turned down and that you had no special reason to look hard at the case it is quite possible that you may have overlooked the creature in the first instance no no it is out of the question and then lee may have fallen into the river and been it is certainly a formidable that you have against lot no but if you were to place it before a police magistrate he would simply laugh in your face i know he would that is why i mean to take the matter into my own hands eh yes i feel that a public duty rests upon me and besides i must do it for my own safety unless i choose to allow myself to be hunted by this beast out of the college and that would be a little too feeble i have quite made up my mind what i shall do and first of all may i use your paper and pens for an hour most certainly you will find all that you want upon that side table smith sat down before a sheet of and for an hour and then for a	4
second hour his pen travelled swiftly over it page after page was finished and tossed aside while his friend leaned back in his arm chair looking across at him with patient curiosity at last with an exclamation of satisfaction smith sprang to his feet gathered his papers up into order and laid the last one upon s desk kindly sign this as a witness he said a witness of what of my signature and of the date the date is the most important why my life l ng upon it round the bed lamp my dear smith you are talking wildly let me beg you to go to bed on the contrary i never spoke so deliberately in my life and i will promise to go to bed the moment you have signed it but what is it r it is a statement of all that i have been telling you to night i wish you to witness it certainly said his name under that of his companion there you are but what is the idea you will kindly retain it and produce it in case i am arrested arrested for what for murder it is quite on the cards i wish to be ready for every event there is only course open to me and i am determined to take it for heaven s sake don t do anything rash believe me it would be far more rash to adopt any other course i hope that we won t need to bother you but it will ease my mind to know that you have this statement of my motives and now i am ready to take your advice and to go to for i want to be at my best in the morning smith was not an entirely pleasant man to have as an enemy slow and easy lot no tempered he was formidable when driven to action he brought to every purpose in life the same deliberate which had distinguished him as a scientific student he had laid his studies aside for a day but he intended that the day should not be wasted not a word did he say to his host as to his plans but by nine o clock he was well on his way to oxford in the high street he stopped at s the gun maker s and bought a heavy revolver with a box of central fire six of them he slipped into the chambers and half the weapon placed it in the pocket of his coat he then made his way to s rooms where the big was lounging over his breakfast with the sporting times propped up against the what s up he asked have some coffee no thank you i want you to come with me and do what i ask you certainly my boy and bring a heavy stick with you stared here s a that would fell an ox one other thing you have a box of knives give me the longest of them there you are you seem to be fairly on the war trail anything else round the red lamp no that will do smith placed the knife inside his coat and led the way to the we are neither of us chickens said he i think i can do this job alone but i take you as a precaution i am going to have a little talk with if i have only him to deal with i won t of course need you if i shout however up you come and lam out with your whip as hard as you can do you all right m come if i hear you stay here then it may be a little time but don t until i come down i m a smith ascended the stairs opened s door and stepped in was seated behind his table writing beside him among his litter of strange possessions the case with its sale number still stuck upon its front and its hideous stiff and within it smith looked very deliberately round him closed the door locked it took the key from the inside and then stepping across to the fireplace struck a match and set the fire alight sat staring with amazement and rage upon his face well really now you make yourself at home he gasped smith sat himself deliberately down placing lot no his watch npon the table drew out his pistol cocked it and laid it in his lap then he took the long knife from his bosom and threw it down in front of now then said he just get to work and cut up that oh is that said with a sneer yes that is it they tell me that the law can t touch you but i have a law that will set matters straight if in five minutes you have not set to work i swear by the god who made me that i will put a bullet through your brain you would murder me had half risen and his face was the colour of yes and for what to stop your mischief one minute has gone but what have i done i know and you know this is mere two minutes are gone but you must give reasons you are a madman a dangerous madman why should i destroy my own property it is a valuable you must cut it up and you must bum it round the red lamp i will do no such thing pour minutes are gone smith took up the pistol and he looked to wards with an inexorable face as the second hand stole round he raised his hand and the finger upon the there there ill do it screamed in frantic haste he caught up the knife and at the figure of the ever glancing round to see the eye and the weapon of his terrible visitor bent upon him the creature and	4
snapped under every of the keen blade a thick yellow dust rose up from it and dried rained down upon the suddenly with a crack its snapped asunder and it fell a brown heap of limbs upon the floor now into the fire said smith the flames leaped and roared as the dried and was piled upon it the little room was like the hole of a steamer and the sweat ran down the faces of the two men but still the one stooped and worked while the other sat watching him with a set face a thick fat smoke out from the fire and a heavy smell of burned and hair filled the air in a quarter of an hour a few and sticks were all that was left of lot no lot no perhaps that will satisfy you with hate and fear in his little grey eyes as he glanced back at his no i must make a clean sweep of all your materials we must have no more devil s tricks in with all these leaves they may have something to do with it and what now asked when the leaves also had been added to the blaze now the roll of which you had on the table that night it is in that drawer i think no no shouted don t burn that why man you don t know what you do it is unique it contains wisdom which is nowhere else to be found out with it but look here smith you can t really mean it m share the knowledge with you i ll teach you all that is in it or stay let me only copy it before you bum it smith stepped forward and turned the key in the drawer taking out the yellow curled roll of paper he threw it into the fire and pressed it down with his heel screamed and at it but smith pushed him back and stood over it until it was reduced to a grey ash now master b said he i think i have round the red lamp pretty well drawn your teeth you ll hear from me again if you return to your old tricks and now good morning for i must go back to my studies and such is the narrative of smith as to the singular events which occurred in old college oxford in the spring of as left the university immediately afterwards and was last heard of in the there is no one who can contradict his statement but the wisdom of men is small and the ways of nature are strange and who shall put a bound to the dark things which may be found by those who seek for them the los i used to be the leading of los of course has heard of the great gear there the town is wide spread and there are of little and villages all round which receive their supply from the same centre so that the works are on a very large scale the los folk say that they are the largest upon earth but then we claim that for everything in los except the and the death rate those are said to be the smallest now with so fine an supply it seemed to be a sinful waste of that the los should perish in the old fashioned manner and then came the news of the in the east and how the results had not after all been so as had been hoped the western raised their eyebrows when they read of the by which these men had perished and they vowed in los that when an came their round the red lamp way he should be dealt handsomely by and have the run of all the big there should be no reserve said the but he should have all that they had got and what the result of that would be none could save that it must be absolutely and deadly never before had a man been so charged with as they would charge him he was to be smitten by the essence of ten some and some and disappearance they were waiting eagerly to settle the question by actual demonstration and it was just at that moment that came that way had been wanted by the law and by nobody else for many years murderer train robber and road agent he was a man beyond the pale of human pity he had deserved a dozen deaths and the los folk him so gaudy a one as that he seemed to feel himself to be unworthy of it for he made two attempts at escape he was a powerful muscular man with a lion head tangled black locks and a sweeping beard which covered his broad chest when he was tried there was no finer head in all the crowded court it s no new thing to find the best face looking from the dock but his good looks could not balance his bad deeds his advocate did all he knew but the the los cards lay against him and was handed over to the mercy of the big los i was there at the committee meeting when the matter was discussed the town council had chosen four to look after the arrangements three of them were admirable there was joseph m the very man who had designed the and there was the of the los supply company limited then there was myself as the chief medical man and lastly an old german of the name of peter the were a strong body at los and they all for their man that was how he got on the committee it was said that he had been a wonderful at home and he was working with wires and and but as he never seemed to get any further or to have any results worth he came at last to be	4
regarded as a harmless who had made science his we three practical men smiled when we heard that he had been elected as our and at the meeting we fixed it all up very nicely among ourselves without much thought of the old fellow who sat with his ears forward in his hands for he was a trifle hard of hearing taking no more part in the proceedings than the gentle round the red lamp men of the press who their notes on the back benches we did not take long to settle it all in new york a strength of some two thousand had been used and death had not been evidently their shock had been too weak los should not fall into that error the charge should be six times greater and therefore of course it would be six times more effective nothing could possibly be more logical the whole concentrated force of the great should be employed on so we three settled it and had already risen to break up the meeting when our silent companion opened his mouth for the first time gentlemen said he you appear to me to show an extraordinary ignorance upon the subject of you have not mastered the first principles of its actions upon a human being the committee was about to break into an an reply to this comment but the of the company tapped his forehead to claim its indulgence for the of the speaker pray tell us sir said he with an smile what is there in our conclusions with which you find fault with your assumption that a large dose of the los will merely increase the effect of a small dose do you not think it possible that it might have an entirely different result do you know anything by actual experiment of the effect of such powerful we know it by said the all increase their effect when they increase their dose for example for example said joseph m quite so you see it there peter smiled and shook his head tour argument is not very good said he when i used to take i used to find that one glass would excite me but that six would send me to sleep which is just the opposite now suppose that were to act in just the opposite way also what then we three practical men burst out laughing we had known that our was queer but we never had thought that he would be as queer as this what then repeated philip we ll take our chances said the pray consider said peter that workmen who have touched the wires and who have received of only a few hundred have died instantly the fact is well known and yet when a much greater force was used upon a c round the red lamp at new york the man for some little time do yon not clearly see that the smaller dose is the more deadly t i think gentlemen that this been carried on quite long enough said the rising again the point i take it already been decided by the majority of the committee and shall be on tuesday by the full strength of the los is it not so i agree said joseph m i agree said i and i protest said peter then the motion is carried and your protest will be duly entered in the minutes said the and so the sitting was dissolved the attendance at the was a very small one we four members of the committee were of course present with the who was to act under their orders the others were the united states the governor of the the and three members of the press the room was a small brick chamber forming an out house to the central station it had been used as a and had an oven and copper at one side but no other furniture save a single chair for the condemned man a metal plate for his feet was placed in front of it to which ran a thick wire above another the los wire depended from the ceiling which could be connected with a small rod projecting from a cap which was to be placed npon his head when this connection was established s hour was come there was a solemn hush as we waited for the coming of the prisoner the practical looked a little pale and nervously with the wires even the hardened was ill at ease for a mere hanging was one thing and this of flesh and blood a very different one as to the their u es were than the sheets which lay before them the only man who appeared to feel none of the influence of these preparations was the little german who strolled from one to the other with a smile on his lips and mischief in his eyes more than once he even went so far as to burst into a shout of laughter until the sternly him for his ill timed levity how can you so forget y mr said he as to jest in the presence of death but the german was quite if i were in the presence of death i should not jest said he but since i am not i may do what i choose this reply was about to draw another and a reproof from the when the round the red lamp door was swung open and two entered leading between them he glanced round him with a set face stepped resolutely forward and seated himself upon the chair touch her said he it was barbarous to keep him in suspense the murmured a few words in his ear the attendant placed the cap upon his head and then while we all held our breath the wire and the metal were brought in contact great scott shouted he had bounded in his chair as the frightful	4
shock through his system but he was not dead on the contrary his eyes gleamed far more brightly than they had done before there was only one change but it was a singular one the black had passed from his hair and beard as the shadow passes from a landscape they were both as white as snow and yet there was no other sign of decay his skin was smooth and plump and as a child s the looked at the committee with a eye there seems to be some here gentlemen said he we three practical men looked at each other peter smiled i think that another one should do it said i the los again the connection was made and again sprang in his chair and shouted but indeed were it that he still remained in the chair none of us would have recognised him his hair and his beard had off in an instant and the room looked like a s shop on a saturday night there he sat his eyes still shining his skin radiant with the glow of perfect health but with a as bald as a dutch cheese and a chin without so much as a trace of down he began to one of his arms slowly and doubtfully at first but with more confidence as he went on that said he has puzzled half the doctors on the pacific slope it s as good as new and as as a you are feeling pretty well asked the old german never better in my life said cheerily the situation was a painful one the glared at the committee peter grinned and rubbed his hands the scratched their heads the bald headed prisoner his arm and looked pleased i think that one more shock began the no sir said the we ve had enough for one morning we are bound the bed lamp here for an and a execution well have what do you propose there s a hook handy upon the ceiling fetch in a rope and well soon set this matter straight there was another awkward delay while the departed for the cord peter bent over and whispered something in his ear the started in surprise you don t say he asked the german nodded what peter shook his head and the two began to laugh as though they shared some huge joke between them the rope was brought and the himself slipped the over the criminal s neck then the two the assistant and he swung their victim into the air for half an hour he a dreadful sight from the ceiling then in solemn silence they lowered him down and one of the went out to order the shell to be brought round but as he touched ground again what was our amazement when put his hands up to his neck loosened the and took a long deep breath paul s sale is goin well he re the los marked i could see the crowd from up yonder and he nodded at the hook in the ceiling up with him again shouted the well get the life out of him somehow in an instant the victim was up at the hook once more they kept him there for an hour but when he came down he was perfectly old man goes too much to the saloon said he three times he s been there in an hour and him with a family old man would do well to swear it was monstrous and incredible but there it was there was no getting round it the man was there talking when he ought to have been dead we all sat staring in amazement but united states carpenter was not a man to be so easily he the others to one side so that the prisoner was left standing alone said he slowly you are here to play your part and i am here to play mine your game is to live if you can and my game is to carry out the sentence of the law you ve beat us on ill give you one there and you ve beat us on hanging for you seem to on it but it s my turn to beat you now for my duty has to be done he pulled a six from his coat as he round the red lamp spoke and fired all the shots through the body of the prisoner the room was so filled with smoke that we could see nothing but when it cleared the prisoner was still standing there looking down in disgust at the front of his coat coats must be cheap where you come from said he thirty dollars it cost me and look at it now the six holes in front are bad enough but four of the balls have passed out and a pretty state the back must be in the s revolver fell from his hand and he dropped his arms to his sides a beaten man maybe some of you gentlemen can tell me what this means said he looking helplessly at the committee peter took a step forward tell you all about it said he you seem to be the only person who knows anything i am the only person who knows anything i should have warned these gentlemen but as they would not listen to me i have allowed them to learn by experience what you have done with your is that you have increased this man s vitality until he can defy death for centuries centuries yes it will take the wear of hundreds of years to the enormous nervous energy the los with which you have him life and you have charged him with it to the utmost perhaps in fifty years you might execute him but i am not sanguine about it great scott what shall i do with him cried the unhappy peter shrugged his shoulders	4
and yet he deliberately drove over next day and called upon dr smith such a of ceremony was he felt a gracious act upon his part and a fit to the intimate relations which he hoped to establish with his neighbour the house was neat and well appointed and dr was shown by a smart maid into a little consulting room as he passed in he noticed two or three and a lady s sun bonnet hanging in the hall it was a pity that his should be a married man it would put them upon a different footing and interfere with those long evenings of high scientific talk which he had pictured to himself on the other hand there was much in the consulting room to please him elaborate instruments seen more often in than in the houses of private were scattered about a stood upon the table and a like engine which was new to dr in the corner a book case full of ponderous volumes in french and german paper covered for the most part and varying in tint from the shell to the yoke of a duck s egg caught his wandering eyes and he was deeply absorbed in their titles the doctors op when the door opened suddenly behind him turning round he found himself facing a little woman whose plain face was remarkable only for a pair of shrewd humorous eyes of a blue which had two shades too much green in it she held a in her left hand and the doctor s card in her right how do you do dr said she how do you do madam returned the visitor your husband is perhaps out i am not married said she simply oh i beg your pardon i meant the doctor dr smith i am dr smith dr was so surprised that he dropped his hat and forgot to pick it up again what he grasped the lee you he had never seen a woman doctor before and his whole soul rose up in revolt at the idea he could not recall any that the man should remain ever the doctor and the woman the nurse and yet he felt as if a had been committed his face betrayed his feelings only too clearly i am sorry to disappoint you said the lady you certainly have surprised me he answered picking up his hat round the red lamp you are not among our then i cannot say that the movement has my approval and why i should much prefer not to discuss it but i am sure you will answer a lady s question ladies are in danger of losing their privileges when they the place of the other sex they cannot claim both why should a woman not earn her bread by her brains dr felt irritated by the quiet manner in which the lady cross questioned him i should much prefer not to be led into a discussion miss smith dr smith she interrupted well dr smith but if you insist upon an answer i must say that i do not think medicine a suitable profession for women and i have a personal objection to masculine ladies it was an rude speech and he was ashamed of it the instant after he had made it the lady however simply raised her eyebrows and smiled it seems to me that you are begging the question said she of course if it makes women masculine that would be a considerable the doctors op it was a neat little counter and dr like a bowed his acknowledgment i must go said he i am sorry that we cannot come to some more friendly conclusion since we are to be neighbours she remarked he bowed and took a step towards the door it was a singular coincidence she continued that at the instant that you called i was reading your paper on in the indeed said he i thought it was a very able you are very good but the views which you attribute to professor of have been by him i have his of said dr angrily here is his of she picked it from among a litter of if you have time to glance your eye down this passage dr took it from her and shot rapidly through the paragraph which she indicated there was no denying that it completely knocked the bottom out of his own article he threw it down and with another bow he made for the door as he took the reins from the groom round the bed lamp he glanced and saw that the lady was standing at her window and it seemed to him that she was laughing heartily all day the memory of this interview him he felt that he had come very badly out of it she had showed herself to be his superior on his own pet subject she had been courteous while he had been rude self possessed when he had been angry and then above all there was her presence her monstrous intrusion to in his mind a woman doctor had been an abstract thing before but distant now she was there in actual practice with a brass plate up just like his own for the same not that he feared competition but he objected to this lowering of his ideal of womanhood she could not be more than thirty and had a bright face too he thought of her humorous eyes and of her strong well turned chin it him the more to recall the details of her education a man of course could come through such an ordeal with all his purity but it was nothing short of in a woman but it was not long before he learned that even her competition was a thing to be feared the novelty of her presence had brought a few curious into her consulting rooms and once there they	4
had been so impressed by the firmness of her manner and by the singular new fashioned the doctors of ments with which she tapped and peered and sounded that it formed the core of their conversation for weeks afterwards and soon there were proofs of her powers upon the ey ton whose had been quietly spreading over his for years back under a gentle of was painted round with and found after three nights that his sore was stimulated into healing mrs who had always regarded the upon her second daughter as a sign of the indignation of the creator at a third helping of which she had of during a critical period learned that with the help of two needles the mischief was not in a month dr smith was known and in two she was famous occasionally dr met her as he drove upon his rounds she had started a high taking the reins herself with a little tiger behind when they met he invariably raised his hat with politeness but the grim severity of his face showed how formal was the courtesy in fact his dislike was rapidly deepening into absolute the woman was the description of her which he permitted himself to give to those of his who still remained but indeed they were a round the red lamp rapidly body and every day his pride was by the news of some fresh the lady had somehow impressed the country folk with almost superstitious belief in her power and from far and near they to her consulting room but what him most of all was when she did something which he had pronounced to be for all his knowledge he lacked nerve as an and usually sent his worst cases up to london the lady however had no weakness of the sort and took everything that came in her way it was agony to him to hear that she was about to little s club foot and right at the fringe of the rumour came a note from his mother the s wife asking him if he would be so good as to act as it would be to refuse as there was no other who could take the place but it was and to his sensitive nature yet in spite of his vexation he could not but admire the dexterity with which the thing was done she handled the little wax like foot so gently and held the tiny knife as an artist holds his pencil one straight one of a and it was all over without a stain upon the white which lay beneath he had never seen anything more and he had the honesty to say so though her skill increased his dis the doctors of like of her the operation spread her fame still further at his expense and self preservation was added to his other grounds for her and this very it was which brought matters to a climax one winter s night just as he was rising from his lonely dinner a groom came riding down from squire s the richest man in the district to say that his daughter had her hand and that medical help was needed on the instant the coachman had ridden for the lady doctor for it mattered nothing to the squire who came as long as it were speedily dr rushed from his with the determination that she should not effect an entrance into this of his if hard driving on his part could prevent it he did not even wait to light his lamps but sprang into his and flew off as fast as could rattle he lived rather nearer to the squire s than she did and was convinced that he could get there well before her and so he would but for that element of chance which will for ever up the affairs of this world and the whether it came from the want of his lights or from his mind being full of the thoughts of his rival he allowed too little by half a foot in taking the sharp turn upon the road the empty trap and the frightened horse round the red lamp away into the darkness while the squire s groom crawled out of the ditch into which he had been shot he struck a match looked down at his groaning companion and then after the fashion of rough strong men when they see what they have not seen before he was very sick the doctor raised himself a little on his elbow in the of the match he caught a glimpse of something white and sharp through his leg half way down the compound he groaned a three months job and fainted when he came to himself the groom was gone for he had to the squire s house for help but a small page was holding a lamp in front of his injured leg and a woman with an open case of polished instruments gleaming in the yellow light was up his with a crooked pair of it s all right doctor said she soothingly i am so sorry about it you can have dr to morrow but i am sure you will allow me to help you to night i could hardly believe my eyes when i saw you by the roadside the groom has gone for help groaned the sufferer when it comes we can move you into the a little more light john so ah dear dear we shall have unless we reduce the doctors op this before we move you allow me to give you a of and i have no doubt that i can secure it sufficiently to dr never heard the end of that sentence he tried to raise a hand and to murmur something in protest but a sweet smell was in his nostrils and a sense of rich peace and stole over his nerves down he sank	4
through clear cool water ever down and down into the green shadows beneath gently without effort while the pleasant of a great rose and fell in his ears then he rose again up and up and ever up with a terrible about his temples until at last he shot out of those green shadows and was in the light once more two bright shining golden spots gleamed before his dazed eyes he and before he could give a name to them they were only the two brass balls at the end posts of his bed and he was lying in his own little room with a head like a cannon ball and a leg like an iron bar turning his eyes he saw the calm face of dr smith looking down at him ah at last said she i kept you under all the way home for i knew how painful the would be it is in good position now with a strong side i have ordered a draught for you shall i tell your groom to ride for dr in the morning round the red lamp i should prefer that you should continue the case said dr feebly and then with a half hysterical laugh you have all the rest of the parish as you know so you may as well make the thing complete by having me also it was not a very gracious speech but it was a look of pity and not of anger which shone in her eyes as she turned away from his bedside dr had a brother william who was assistant surgeon at a london hospital and who was down in within a few hours of his hearing of the accident he raised his brows when he heard the details what you are with one of those he cried i don t know what i should have done without her i ve no doubt she s an excellent nurse she knows her work as well as you or i speak for yourself james said the london man with a but apart from that you know that the principle of the thing is all wrong you think there is nothing to be said on the other side good heavens do you well i don t know it struck me during the doctors of the night that we may have been a little narrow in our views nonsense james it s all very fine for women to win in the lecture room but you know as well as i do that they are no use in an emergency now i warrant that this woman was all nerves when she was setting your leg that reminds me that i had better just take a look at it and see that it is au right i would that you did not undo it said the patient i have her assurance that it is all right brother william was deeply shocked of course if a woman s assurance is of more value than the opinion of the assistant surgeon of a london hospital there is nothing more to be said he remarked i should prefer that you did not touch it said the patient firmly and dr william went back to london that evening in a the lady who had heard of his coming was much surprised on learning his departure we had a difference upon a point of professional etiquette said dr james and it was all the explanation he would for two long months dr was brought in contact with his rival every day and he learned many things which he had not known before she was a charming companion as well bound the red lamp as a most doctor her short presence during the long weary day was like a flower in a sand waste what interested him was precisely what interested her and she could meet him at every i upon equal terms and yet under all her learning and her firmness ran a sweet womanly nature peeping out in her talk shining in her eyes showing itself in a thousand subtle ways which the of men could read and he though a bit of a and a was by no means dull and had honesty enough to confess when he was in the wrong i don t know how to to you he said in his shame faced fashion one day when he had so far as to be able to sit in an arm chair with his leg upon another one i feel that i have been quite in the wrong why then over this woman question i used to think that a woman must inevitably lose something of her charm if she took up such studies oh you don t think they are necessarily then she cried with a mischievous smile please don t recall my expression i feel so pleased that i should have helped in changing your views i think that it is the most sincere compliment that i have ever had paid me the doctors op at any rate it is the truth said he and was happy all night at the remembrance of the flush of pleasure which made her pale face look quite comely for the instant for indeed he was already far past the stage when he would acknowledge her as the equal of any other woman already he could not disguise from himself that she had become the one woman her dainty skill her gentle touch her sweet presence the community of their tastes had all united to hopelessly upset his previous opinions it was a dark day for him now when his allowed her to miss a visit and darker still that other one which he saw approaching when all occasion for her visits would be at an end it came round at last however and he felt that his whole life s fortune would hang upon the issue of that final	4
interview he was a direct man by nature so he laid his hand upon hers as it felt for his pulse and he asked her if she would be his wife what and unite the said she he started in pain and anger surely you do not attribute any such base motive to me he cried i love you as as ever a woman was loved no i was wrong it was a foolish speech said she moving her chair a little back and tapping her upon her knee forget bound the red lamp that i ever said it i am so to cause yon any di and i appreciate most highly the which yon do me bnt what yon ask is with another woman he might have the point bnt his instincts told him that it was useless with this one her tone of voice was he said nothing bnt leaned back in his chair a stricken man i am so sorry she said again if i had known what was passing in your mind i should have told you earlier that i intended to devote my life entirely to science there are many women with a capacity for marriage but few with a taste for i will remain true to my own line then i came down here while waiting for an ox in the paris i have just heard that there is a for me there and so you will be troubled no more by my intrusion upon your practice i have done you an injustice just as you did me one i thought you narrow and with no good quality i have learned during your illness to appreciate you better and the recollection of our friendship will always be a very pleasant one to me and so it came about that in a very few weeks there was only one doctor in but folks noticed that the one had aged many years in a few the doctors of months that a weary sadness always in the depths of his blue eyes and that he was less concerned than ever with the eligible young ladies whom chance or their careful country placed in his way the surgeon talks men die of the diseases which they have studied most remarked the surgeon oflf the end of a cigar with au his professional neatness and finish it s as if the morbid condition was an evil creature which when it found itself closely hunted flew at the throat of its if you worry the too much they may worry you seen cases of it and not necessarily in diseases either there was of course the well known instance of and the and a dozen others that i could mention you couldn t have a clearer case than that of poor old of st s not heard of it well of course it was a little before your time but i wonder that it should have been forgotten you are so busy in keeping up to the day that you lose a good deal that is interesting of yesterday was one of the best men in europe on nervous disease you must have read his little book on of the columns the surgeon talks it s as interesting as a novel and epoch making in its way he worked like a horse did huge consulting practice hours a day in the wards constant original and then he enjoyed himself also de of course but still it s an open secret among all who knew him if he died at forty five he crammed eighty years into it the marvel was that he could have held on so long at the pace at which he was going but he took it beautifully when it came i was his assistant at the time was on to a of he was explaining that one of the early signs of the complaint was that the patient could not put his heels together with his eyes shut without staggering as he spoke he suited the action to the word i don t suppose the boys noticed anything i did and so did he though he finished his lecture without a sign when it was over he came into my room and lit a just run over my smith said he there was hardly a trace of them left i tapped away at his knee and might as well have tried to get a jerk out of that sofa cushion he stood with his eyes shut again and he swayed like a bush in the wind round the red lamp so said he it was not after all then i knew that he had had the lightning pains and that the case was complete there was nothing to say so i sat looking at him while he and at his here he was a man in the prime of life one of the men in london with money fame social success everything at his feet and now without a moment s warning he was told that inevitable death lay before him a death accompanied by more refined and lingering than if he were bound upon a bed indian stake he sat in the middle of the blue cloud with his eyes cast down and the slightest little of his lips then he rose with a motion of his arms as one who throws off old thoughts and enters upon a new course better put this thing straight at once said he i must make some fresh arrangements may i use your paper and he settled himself at my desk and he wrote half a dozen letters it is not a breach of confidence to say that they were not addressed to his professional brothers was a single man which means that he was not to a single woman when he had finished he walked out of that little room of mine leaving	4
every hope and ambition of his life behind him the surgeon talks and he might have had another year of ignorance and peace if it had not been for the chance illustration in his lecture it took five years to kill him and he stood it well if he had ever been a little irregular he for it in that long he kept an admirable record of his own symptoms and worked out the eye changes more fully than has ever been done when the got very bad he would hold his up with one hand while he wrote then when he could not co his muscles to write he dictated to his nurse so died in the of science james poor old was very fond of and he broke ground in several directions between ourselves there may have been some more ground breaking afterwards but he did his best for his cases you know m don t you he always wears his hair long he lets it be understood that it comes from his artistic strain but it is really to conceal the loss of one of his ears cut the other one off but you must not tell i said so it was like this had a about the the to the face you know and he thought of it came from a disturbance of the blood supply something else which that disturbance might round the red lamp he thought set it right again we had a very obstinate case of bell s in the wards and had tried it with every conceivable thing nerve stretching needles but all without result got it into his head that removal of the ear would increase the blood supply to the part and he very soon gained the consent of the patient to the operation well we did it at night of course felt that it was something of an experiment and did not wish too much talk about it unless it proved successful there were half a dozen of us there m and i among the rest the room was a small one and in the centre was in the narrow table with a over the pillow and a blanket which extended almost to the floor on either side two candles on a side table near the pillow supplied all the light in came the patient with one side of his face as smooth as a baby s and the other all in a quiver with fright he lay down and the was placed over his face while his needles in the candle light the stood at the head of the table and m was stationed at the side to control the patient the rest of us stood by to assist well the man was about half over when he fell into one of those which the surgeon talks come with the semi unconscious stage he kicked and plunged and struck out with both hands over with a crash went the little table which held the candles and in an instant we were left in total darkness tou can think what a rush and a there was one to pick up the table one to find the matches and some to restrain the patient who was still dashing himself about he was held down by two the was pushed and by the time the candles were his half smothered had changed to a his head was turned on the pillow and the was still kept over his face while the operation was carried through then the was withdrawn and you can conceive our amazement when we looked upon the face of m how did it happen why simply enough as the candles went over the had stopped for an instant and had tried to catch them the patient just as the light went out had rolled and under the table poor m clinging to him had been dragged across it and the feeling him there had naturally clapped the across his mouth and nose the others had secured him and the more he roared and kicked the more they him with was very nice about it and made the most handsome apologies round the red lamp ke to do a on the spot and make as good an ear as he could but m had had enough of it as to the patient we found him sleeping placidly under the table with the ends of the blanket him on both sides sent m round his ear next day in a jar of spirit but s wife was very angry about it and it led to a good deal of some people say that the more one has to do with human nature and the closer one is brought in contact with it the less one thinks of it i don t believe that those who know most would that view my own experience is dead against it i was brought up in the clay school of and yet here i am after thirty years of intimate acquaintance with humanity filled with respect for it the evil lies commonly upon the surface the deeper are good a hundred times i have seen folk condemned to death as suddenly as poor was sometimes it was to blindness or to which are worse than death men and women they almost all took it beautifully and some with such lovely and with such complete in the thought of how their fate would others that the man about town or the dressed woman has seemed to change into an angel before my eyes i have the surgeon talks seen death beds too of all ages and of all and want of i never saw any of them shrink save only one poor imaginative young fellow who had spent his life in the of of course an exhausted frame is incapable of fear as anyone can who is told in the midst of his	4
sea sickness that the ship is going to the bottom that is why i rate courage in the face of to be higher than courage when a wasting illness is away into death now take a case which i had in my own practice last wednesday a lady came in to consult me the wife of a well known sporting the husband had come with her but remained at her request in the waiting room i need not go into details but it proved to be a peculiarly malignant case of i knew it said she how long have i to live i fear that it may your strength in a few months i answered poor old jack said she til tell him that it is not dangerous why should you deceive him i asked well he s very uneasy about it and he is now in the waiting room he has two old friends to dinner to night and i haven t the heart to spoil his evening to morrow will be time enough for him to learn the truth out she walked the brave little and a moment later her husband round the red lamp with his big red face shining with joy came plunging into my room to shake me by the hand no i respected her wish and i did not him i dare bet that evening was one of the brightest and the next morning the darkest of his life it s wonderful how bravely and cheerily a woman can face a crushing blow it is different with men a man can stand it without complaining but it him dazed and silly all the same but the woman does not lose her wits any more than she does her courage now i had a case only a few weeks ago which would show you what i mean a gentleman consulted me about his wife a very beautiful woman she had a small upon her upper arm according to him he was sure that it wa of no importance but he wanted to know whether or the would be the better for her i examined her and found a frightful of the bone hardly showing upon the surface but the shoulder blade and as well as the a more malignant case i have never seen i sent her out of the room and i told him the truth what did he do why he walked slowly round that room with his hands behind his back looking with the greatest interest at the pictures i can see him now putting up his gold and at th m with per the surgeon vacant eyes which told me that he saw neither them nor the wall behind them of the ann he asked at last and of the collar bone and shoulder blade said i quite so the collar bone and shoulder blade he repeated still staring about him with those lifeless eyes it settled him i don t believe he ll ever be the same man again but the woman took it as bravely and brightly as could be and she has done very well since the mischief was so great that the arm snapped as we drew it from the night dress no i don t think that there will be any return and i have every hope of her recovery the first patient is a thing which one remembers all one s life mine was commonplace and the details are of no interest i had a curious visitor however during the first few months after my plate went up it was an elderly woman richly dressed with a basket in her hand this she opened with the tears streaming down her face and out there the and little dog that i have ever seen i wish you to put him out of the world doctor she cried quick quick or my resolution may give way she flung herself down with hysterical sobs upon the sofa the less experienced a doctor is the higher are his notions of professional dignity as i need not remind you my young friend so i was round the red lamp about to refuse the commission with indignation when i me that quite apart from medicine we were gentleman and lady and that she had asked me to do something for her which was evidently of the greatest i importance in her eyes i led the poor little therefore and with the help of a ul of milk and a few drops of his exit was as speedy and as could be desired is it over she cried as i entered it was really tragic to see how all the love which should have gone to husband and children had in of them been upon this uncouth little animal she left quite broken down in her carriage and it was only after her departure that i saw an envelope sealed with a large red seal and lying upon the of my desk outside in pencil was written i have no doubt that you would willingly have done this without a fee but i insist upon your acceptance of the enclosed i oi it with some vague notions of an eccentric and a fifty pound note but all i found was a order for four and sixpence the whole incident struck me as so that i laughed until i was tired you ll find there s so much tragedy in a doctor s life my boy that he would not be able to stand it if it were not for the strain of comedy which comes every now and then to it the surgeon talks and a doctor has very much to be thankful for also don t you ever forget it it is such a pleasure to do a little good that a man should pay for the privilege instead of being paid for it still of course he has his	4
on his place in an how bi his head vi how thb at thb how held thb at how a champion came thb ba t how am to xxvi how t b gained a mighty x be how club foot was passed into how thb came thb of how thb blessed of sight came to the how the men came to the ch of how five men held thb keep of how the company took counsel bound thb fallen how the passed how the company made in the of how sm at an eagle how sir took the patch his how the company was of the home coming to thi i art then sir said the p john him across ths room across m j john iron grip upon his mm still i hb z it is mm lot the and clung to thi fact of white company chapter i how ths black came fold the great bell of was ringing far away the forest might be heard its musical and swell on and upon the heard the distant throbbing rising and falling upon the summer air it was a common sound in those parts as common as the chatter of the and the of the the and the raised their heads and looked questions at each other for the had already gone and was still far off why should the great bell of toll when the shadows were neither short nor long all round the abbey the were in under the long green paved avenues of oaks and of the white brothers gathered to the sound from the and the from the or ox farm from the and even from the distant iron works of and the of st s they had all turned their steps i it had been no sudden call a swift messenger had the night before sped round to the of the abbey and had left the summons for every to be back in the by the third hour after so urgent a message had not been issued within the memory of old lay brother who had cleaned the since the year after the battle of a who knew nothing either of the abbey or of its immense resources might have gathered from the appearance of the brothers some conception of the varied duties which they were called upon to perform and of the busy wide spread life which in the old as they swept gravely in by and by with heads and muttering lips there were few who did not bear upon them some signs of their daily toil here were two with wrists and sleeves all spotted with the ruddy there again was a bearded brother with a broad headed axe and a bundle of upon his shoulders while beside him walked another with the under his arm and the white wool still clinging to his gown a long straggling troop bore and while the two of all staggered along under a huge basket of fresh caught for the morrow was friday and there were fifty to be filled and as many sturdy behind them of all the throng there was scarce one who was not labor stained and weary for was a hard man to himself and to others meanwhile in the broad and lofty chamber set apart for occasions of import the himself was pacing impatiently backward and forward with his long white nervous hands clasped in front of him his thin features and sunken haggard cheeks one who had indeed beaten down that inner foe whom every man must face but had none the less suffered sorely in the contest in crushing his passions he had well nigh crushed himself yet frail as was his person there gleamed out ever and anon from under his drooping brows a flash of fierce energy which recalled to men s minds that he came of a fighting stock and that even now his sir was one of the most famous of those stern warriors who had planted the cross of st george before the gates of paris with lips compressed and clouded brow he strode up and down the floor the very genius and of the great bell still thundered and above us head at last the uproar died away in three last and ere echo had ceased the a small which summoned a lay brother to his presence haye the brethren come he asked in the french dialect used in religious houses they are here the other answered with his eyes ei t down and his hands crossed upon his chest au two and thirty of the and fifteen of the most holy father brother mark of the is smitten with a fever and could not come he said that it boots not what he said fever or no he should have come at my call his spirit must be as most that of many more in this abbey tou yourself brother francis ha e twice raised your voice so that it hath come to my ears when the reader in the hath been dealing with the lives of god s blessed saints what hast thou to say the lay brother stood meek and silent with his arms still crossed in front of him one thousand and as many said standing with arms outstretched before the shrine of the virgin help thee to remember that the creator hath given us two ears and but one as a token that there is twice the for the one as for the other where is the master of the he is without most holy father send him hither the feet over the wooden floor and the iron bound door upon its hinges in a few it opened again to admit a short square with a heavy composed face and manner you have sent	4
for me holy father tea brother i wish that this matter be disposed of with as little scandal as may be and yet it is needful that the example should be a public one the spoke in latin now as a language which was more fitted by its age and solemnity to convey the thoughts of two high of the order it would perchance be best that the be not admitted suggested the master this mention of a woman may turn their minds from their pious meditations to worldly and evil thoughts woman i woman i groaned the well has the holy termed them r from eve downward what good hath come from any of them who brings the it is brother a holy and devout young man a light and a pattern to every let the matter be brought to an issue then according to our old time habit bid the and the lead in the brothers according to age together with brother john the accused and brother the and the let them bide in the north alley of the stay bid the send out to them thomas the to read unto them from the it may save them from foolish and the was left to himself once more and bent his thin gray face over his illuminated so he remained while the senior filed slowly and into the chamber themselves upon the long benches which lined the wall on either side at the further end in two high chairs as large as that of the though hardly so carved sat the master o the and the the latter a broad and priest with dark eyes and a thick of crisp black hair all round his head between them stood a lean white faced brother who appeared to be ill at shifting his feet from side to side and tapping his nervously with the long roll which he held in his hand the from his point of looked down on the two long lines of faces placid and for the most part with the large eyes and features which told of their easy existence then he turned his eager upon the who faced him this is thine as i learn brother said he may the holy patron of our house be present this day and aid us i how many counts are there f three most holy father the brother answered in a low and voice haye you set them forth according to rule they are here set down most holy father upon a of let the be handed to the bring in brother john and let him hear the urged against him at this order a lay brother swung open the door and two other lay brothers entered leading between them a young of the order he was a man of huge stature dark eyed and red headed with a peculiar half humorous half d ant expression upon his bold well marked features his was thrown back upon his shoulders and his at the top disclosed a round neck ruddy and like the bark of the fir thick muscular arms covered with a down from the wide sleeves of his habit while his white shirt up upon one side gave a glimpse of a huge leg and torn with the of with a bow to the which had in it perhaps more than reverence the strode across to the which had been set apart for him and stood silent and erect with his hand upon the gold bell which was used in the private of the s own household his dark eyes glanced rapidly over the assembly and finally settled with a grim and menacing upon the face of his the rose and having slowly the proceeded to read it out in a thick and voice while a subdued rustle and movement among the brothers the interest with which they followed the proceedings charges brought upon the second thursday after the feast of the assumption in the year of our lord thirteen hundred and sixty six against brother john formerly known as john or john of but now a in the holy order of the bead upon the same day at the abbey of in the presence of the most reverend and of the assembled order the charges against the said brother john are the following namely to wit first that on the above mentioned feast of the assumption small beer having been served to the in the proportion of one to each four the said brother john did drain the pot at one draught to the of brother paul brother and brother who could scarce eat their none meat of stock fish on account of their exceeding at this solemn the raised his hand and his lip while even the placid senior brothers glanced across at each other and to cover their amusement the alone sat gray and with a drawn face and a brooding eye item that having been told by the master of the that he should his food for two days to a single three pound loaf of and beans for the greater and of st mother of the holy he was heard by brother and others to say that he wished twenty thousand devils would fly away with the said mother of the holy or any other saint who came between a man and his meat item that upon brother him for this wish he did hold the said brother face downward over the or for a space during the said was able to repeat a and four a e for the better of his soul against impending death there was a and among the white brethren at this e charge but the held up his long hand what then f said he item that between and on the feast of the less the said brother john was observed npon the road near the spot which is known as s pond in	4
converse with a person of the other sex being a maiden of the name of the daughter of the king s item that after sundry and jokes the said brother john did lift np the said and did take carry and convey her across a stream to the infinite relish of die devil and the exceeding of his own soul which scandalous and wilful falling away was witnessed by three members of our order a dead silence throughout the room with a rolling of heads and of eyes the pious horror of the community the drew his gray brows low over his fiercely questioning eyes who can for this thing he asked that can i answered the so too can brother who was with me and brother mark of the who hath been so much stirred and inwardly troubled by the sight that he now lies in a fever through it and the woman asked the did she not break into and woe that a brother should so himself nay she smiled sweetly upon him and thanked him i can it and so can brother thou cried the in a high tone thou so hast forgotten that the five and rule of the order is that in the presence of a woman the face should be ever averted and the eyes cast down forgot it i say if your eyes upon your bow ye to see this smile of which ye a week in your false brethren a week of bread and with double and double may help ye to a remembrance of the laws under which ye live at this sudden of wrath the two witnesses sank their faces on their and sat as men crushed the turned his angry eyes away from them and bent them upon the accused who met his searching gaze with a firm and composed face what hast thou to say brother john upon these things which are urged against thee little enough good father little enough i said the speaking english with a broad west saxon the brothers who were english to a man pricked up their ears at the sound of the homely and yet speech but the flushed red with anger and struck his hand upon the aim of his chair what talk is this he cried is this a tongue to be used within the walls of an old and well but grace and learning have ever gone hand in hand and when one is lost it is needless to look for the other i know not about that said brother john i know only that the words come kindly to my mouth for it was the speech of my fathers before me under your favor i shall either use it now or hold my peace the patted his foot and nodded his head as one who passes a point but does not forget it for the matter of the ale continued brother john i had come in hot from the fields and had scarce got the taste of the thing before mine eye lit upon the bottom of the pot it may be too that i spoke somewhat shortly concerning the and the beans the same being poor and for a man of my inches it is true also that i did lay my hands upon this jack fool of a brother though as you can see i did him little as regards the maid too it is true that i did her over the stream she having on her and whilst i had but my wooden which could take no hurt from the water i should have thought shame upon my manhood as well as my if i had held back my hand from her he glanced around as he spoke with the half amused look which he had worn daring the whole proceedings there is no need to go further said the he has confessed to all it only remains for me to portion out the punishment which is due to his evil conduct rose and the two long lines of brothers followed his example looking sideways with scared faces at the angry john of he thundered you have shown yourself during the two months of your to be a and one who is unworthy to wear the white garb which is the outer symbol of the spirit that dress shall therefore be stripped from thee and thou shalt be cast into the outer world without benefit of and without lot or part in the graces and blessings of those who dwell under the care of the blessed thou shalt come back neither to nor to any of the of and thy name shall be struck off the of the order the sentence appeared a terrible one to the older who had become so used to the safe and regular life of the abbey that they would have been as helpless as children in the outer world from their pious they looked out at the desert of life a place full of and restless and by evil the young however appeared to have other thoughts for his eyes sparkled and his smile it needed but that to add fresh fuel to the fiery mood of the so much for thy spiritual punishment he cried but it is to the feelings that we must turn in such natures as thine and as thou art no longer under the of holy church there is the less difficulty ho lay francis joseph him and bind bis arms him forth and let the and the him from the as these three brothers advanced toward him to out the s direction the smile faded from the s face and he glanced right and left with his brown eyes like a bull at a then with a sudden deep shout be tore up the heavy and poised it to strike taking two steps backward the while that none might take	4
the playing of the and the our choir will be dumb without you you too the youth s pale face flushed with the pride of the skilled workman yes holy father he answered thanks to good brother i in wood and ivory and can do something also in silver and bronze from brother francis i have learned to paint on on glass and on metal with a knowledge of those and which can ve the color against damp or biting air brother hath given me some skill in work and in the of and for the rest i know a little of the making of covers the cutting of precious stones and the of instruments a goodly list truly cried the superior with a smile what clerk of or of could say as much but of thy reading hast not so much to show there i fear no father it hath been slight enough yet thanks to our good i am not wholly i have read bi and other of the together with the learned and the book of the holy but of the things of this world what have you gathered from your reading from this high window you may catch a glimpse over the wooded point and the smoke of of the mouth of the and the shining sea now i pray you if a man were to take a ship and spread sail across yonder waters where might he hope to arrive the youth pondered and drew a plan amongst the rushes with the point of his staff holy father said he he would come upon those parts of france which are held by the king s majesty but if he to the south he might reach spain and the states to his north would be and the country of the and of the true and how if after reaching the king s he still on to the eastward he would then come upon that of france which is still in dispute and he might hope to reach the famous city of dwells our blessed father the of and then then he would pass through the land of the and the great roman empire and so to the country of the and of the beyond which lies the great city of and the kingdom of the followers of and beyond that fair son beyond that is and the holy land and the great river hath its in the garden of and then nay good father i cannot tell the end of the world is not far from there then we can still find something to teach thee said the know that many strange nations lie there and the end of the world there is the country of the and the country of the and the country of the fair but evil women who with beholding like the beyond that again is the kingdom of john and of the great these things i know for very for i had them from that pious christian and knight sir john de who stopped twice at on his way to and from and to us what he had seen from the reader s desk in the until there was many a good brother who got neither bit nor sup so stricken were they by his strange tales i would fain know father asked the young man what there may be at the end of the world there are some things replied the gravely into which it was never intended that we should but you have a long road before you whither will you first turn to my brother s at if he be indeed an and violent man there is the more need that i should seek him out and see whether i cannot turn him to better ways the shook his head the of hath earned an evil name over the country side he said if you must go to him see at least that he doth not turn yon from the narrow path upon which you have learned to tread but you are in god s keeping and should you ever look in danger and in trouble above all the of women for they are ever set for id the foolish feet of the down my child and take an old man s blessing bent bis head while the poured out bis that heaven would watch over young soul now going forth into the darkness and danger of the world it was no mere form for either of them them the outside life of mankind did indeed seem to be one of violence and of sin beset with physical and still more with spiritual danger heaven too was very near to them in those days god s direct agency was to be seen in the thunder and the rainbow the and the lightning to the clouds of angels and and armies of the and the saved were ever stooping over their struggling brethren upon earth raising encouraging and supporting them it was then with a lighter heart and a courage that the young man turned from the s room while the latter following him to the stair head finally commended him to the protection of the holy patron of travellers underneath in the porch of the abbey the had gathered to give him a last god speed many had brought some parting token by which he should remember them there was brother with a of rare carved ivory and brother with a white backed adorned with golden bees and brother francis with the of the most set forth upon all these were duly packed away deep in the traveller s and above them old brother had placed a parcel of bread and cheese with a small of the famous blue sealed abbey wine so amid and and blessings turned his back upon at the of the road he stopped and gazed back there was the wide spread building	4
which he knew so well the s house the long church the with their line of arches all bathed and in the even ing sim there too was the broad sweep of the river the old stone well the of the virgin and in the centre of all the cluster of white figures who waved their hands to him a sudden mist swam up before the young man s eyes an he turned away upon his journey with a heavy heart and a choking throat chapter m how john the of it is not however in the nature of things that a lad of twenty with young life glowing in his veins and all the wide world before him should spend his first hours of freedom in mourning for what he had left long ere was out of sound of the bells he was along swinging his staff and whistling as merrily as the birds in the thicket it was an evening to raise a man s heart the sun shining through the trees threw delicate across the road with bars of golden light between away in the distance before and behind the green boughs now turning in places to a shot their broad arches across the track the still summer air was heavy with the smell of the great forest here and there a brook out from among the and lost itself again in the and upon the further side save the dull of insects and the of the leaves there was silence everywhere the sweet silence of nature and yet there was no want of life the whole wide wood was full of it now it was a which shot across the path upon some fell errand of its own then it was a wild cat which upon the branch of an oak and peeped at the traveller with a yellow and eye once it was a wild sow which out of the with two young at her heels and once a red walked out from among the tree trunks and looked around him with the fearless gaze of one who lived under the king s own high protection gave his staff a merry flourish how and the red deer him that the king was far off so away whence he came the youth had now considerably beyond the of the abbey he was the more surprised therefore when on coming round a turn in the path he a man clad in the familiar garb of the order and seated in a of by the roadside had known every brother well but this was a face which was new to him a face which was very red and puffed working this way and that as if the man were sore perplexed in his mind once he shook both hands in the air and twice he sprang from his seat and hurried down the road when he rose however observed that his robe was much too long and loose for him in every direction trailing upon the ground and about his ankles so that even with up skirts he could make little progress he ran once but the long gown him so that he down into a walk and finally into the once more friend said he when was abreast of him i fear from thy garb that thou know little of the abbey of then you are in error friend the clerk answered for i have spent all my days within its walls hast so indeed cried he then perhaps tell me the name of a great lump of a brother wi face an a hand like a bis eyes were an his hair was red an his voice like the parish bull i that there cannot be two alike in the same that surely can be no other than brother john said i trust he has done you no wrong that you should be so hot against him wrong cried the other jumping out of the wrong why he hath stolen every of clothing off my back if that be a wrong and hath left me this sorry frock of white f so that i have shame to go back to my wife lest she think that i have her old and alas that ever i should have met him bat how came this asked the young clerk who could scarce keep from laughter at the sight of the hot little man so in the great white cloak it came in this way he said sitting down once more i was passing this way hoping to reach ere nightfall when i came on this red headed seated even where we are sitting now i uncovered and as i passed thinking that he might be a holy man at his but he called to me and asked me if i had heard speak of the new indulgence in favor of the not i i answered then the worse for thy soul said he and with that he broke into a long tale how that on account of the virtues of the it had been by the pope that whoever should wear the habit of a of for as long as he might say the seven of david should be assured of the kingdom of heaven when i heard this i prayed him on my knees that he would give me the use of his gown which after many he at last agreed to do on my paying him three marks toward the of the image of the martyr having stripped his robe i had no choice but to let him have the wearing of my good and for as he said it was to the blood and to the eye to stand whilst i made my he had scarce got them on and it was a sore labor seeing that my inches will scarce match my he had scarce got them on i say	4
and i not yet at the end of the second when he bade me do honor to my new dress and with that set off down the road as fast as feet would carry him for myself i could no more run than if i had been in a sack so here i sit and here i am like to sit before i set eyes upon my clothes again nay friend take it not so sadly said the one the change thy robe for a once more at the abbey less perchance yon have a friend near at hand that have i he answered and close bnt i care not to go nigh him in this plight for his wife hath a tongue and would spread the tale until i could not show my face in any market from to but if you fair sir out of your kind charity would be pleased to go a matter of two bow shots out of your way you would do me such a service as i could scarce repay with all my heart said readily then take this pathway on the left i pray thee and then the deer track which passes on the right tou will then see under a great tree the hut of a give him my name good sir the name of peter the fuller of and ask him for a change of that i may pursue my journey without delay there are reasons why he would be to refuse me started off along the path indicated and soon found the log hut where the dwelt he was away cutting in the forest but his wife a ruddy bustling dame found the needful garments and tied them into a bundle while she busied herself in finding and folding them stood by the open door looking in at her with much interest and some distrust for he had never been so nigh to a woman before she had round red arms a dress of some sober stuff and a brass the of a cheese cake stuck in the front of it peter the fuller she kept repeating marry come up if i were peter the fuller s wife i would teach him better than to give his clothes to the first who asks for them but he was always a poor fond silly creature was peter though we are to him for helping to bury our second son who was a to him at in the year of the black death but who are you young sir i am a clerk on my road from to aye indeed i hast been brought up at the abbey ic then i read it from thy and downcast eye hast learned from the i to a woman as a house out upon them that they should their own mothers by such teaching a pretty world it would be with all the women out of it p heaven that a thing come to pass i said alley ne amen and amen i but thou art a pretty lad and the prettier for thy modest ways it is easy to see from thy cheek that thou hast not spent thy days in the rain and the heat and the wind as my hath been forced to do i have indeed seen little of life good dame wilt find nothing in it to pay thee for the loss of thy own freshness here are the clothes and peter can leave them when next he comes this way holy virgin see the dust upon thy it were easy to see that there is no woman to tend thee so that is better now me boy stooped and kissed her for the kiss was the common salutation of the age and as long afterward remarked more used in england than in any other country yet it sent the blood to his temples again and he wondered as he turned away what the would have answered to so frank an invitation he was still from his new experience when he came out upon the and saw a sight which drove all other thoughts from his mind some way down from where he had left him the unfortunate peter was stamping and worse than before now however instead of the great white cloak he had no clothes on at all save a short shirt and a pair of leather shoes far down the road a long legged figure was running with a bundle under one arm and the other hand to his side like a man who laughs until he is sore see him i peter look to him i tou shall be m witness he shall see for this see where he goes with my cloak under his arm who then cried who but that cursed brother john i he hath not left me clothes enough to make a the double thief hath me out of my gown stay though my friend it was his gown objected it boots not he hath them all gown and all to him that he left me the shirt and the i doubt not that he will be back for them anon but how came this asked open eyed with astonishment are those the clothes for dear charity s sake give them to me not the pope himself shall have these from me though he sent the whole college of to ask it how came it why you had scarce gone ere this john came running back again and when i my mouth to reproach him he asked me whether it was indeed likely that a man of prayer would leave his own in order to take a s he had he said but gone for a while that i might be the for my on this i plucked off the gown and he with much show of haste did begin to undo his points but when i	4
threw his frock down he it up and ran off all leaving me in this sorry plight he laughed so the while like a great that i might have caught him had my breath not been as short as his legs were long the young man listened to this tale of wrong with all the seriousness that he could maintain but at the sight of the red faced man and the dignity with which he bore him the laughter came so thick upon him that he had to lean up against a tree trunk the fuller looked sadly and gravely at him but finding that he still laughed he bowed with much mock politeness and stalked onward in his borrowed clothes watched him until he was small in the distance and then wiping the tears from his eyes he set off briskly once more upon his journey chapter iv how thb of ths two thb road along be travelled was scarce as as most other roads in the kingdom and far less so than those which lie between the larger towns yet from time to time met other and more than once was overtaken by strings of pack and in the same direction as himself once a begging came along in a brown habit imploring him in a most voice to give him a single to buy bread wherewith to save himself from impending death passed him swiftly by for he had learned from the to have no love for the wandering and besides there was a great half mutton bone sticking out of his to prove him a liar swiftly as he went however he could not escape the curse of the four blessed which the howled behind him so dreadful were his that the frightened lad thrust his fingers into his ears and ran until the fellow was but a brown upon the yellow road further on at the edge of the he came upon a and his wife who sat upon a fallen tree he had put his pack down as a table and the two of them were devouring a great and washing it down with some drink from a stone jar the broke a rough jest as he passed and the woman called to to come and join them on which the man turning suddenly from mirth to wrath began to her with his hastened on lest he make more mischief and his heart was heavy as lead within him look i s he he seemed to see nothing but injustice and and the hardness of man to man but even as he sadly over it and for the sweet peace of the abbey he came on an open space dotted with bushes where was the strangest sight that he had yet chanced upon to the pathway lay a long of and from behind this there stuck straight up into the air four human legs clad in yellow and black strangest of all was it when a brisk tune struck suddenly up and the four legs began to kick and in time to the music walking on round the bushes he stood in amazement to see two men bounding about on their heads while they played the one a and the other a pipe as merrily and as truly as if they were seated in choir crossed himself as he gazed at this unnatural sight and could scarce hold his ground with a steady face when the two dancers catching sight of him came in his direction a spear s length from him they each threw a into the air and came down upon their feet with faces and their hands over their hearts a a my knight of the staring eyes cried one a gift my prince i shouted the other any trifle will serve a purse of gold or even a thought of what he had read of possession the the the wild talk it was in his mind to repeat over the proper to such attacks but the two burst out a laughing at his face and turning on to their heads once more clapped their heels in derision hast never seen before asked the elder a black man as brown and as a why shrink from us then as if we were the of the evil one why shrink my honey bird why so my sweet exclaimed the other a loose youth with a dancing eye truly it is a new sight to the clerk answered when i saw your four legs above the bush j scarce credit my own eyes why is it that you do this thing a dry question to answer cried the younger coming back on to his feet a most question my fair bird but how a a by all that is wonderful he shot out his hand as he spoke and s bottle out of his he knocked the neck off and poured the half of it down his throat the rest he handed to his comrade who drank the wine and then to the clerk s increasing amazement made a show of the bottle with such skill that seemed to see it vanish down his throat a moment later however he flung it over his head and caught it bottom downward upon the calf of his left leg we thank you for the wine kind sir said he and for the ready courtesy wherewith you offered it touching your question we may tell you that we are and who having formed with much applause at fair are now on our way to the great market at as our art is a very fine and delicate one however we cannot let a day go by without ourselves in it to which end we choose some quiet and sheltered spot where we may break our journey here you find us and we cannot wonder that you who are new to tumbling should be	4
astounded since many great and knights who have wandered as far as the holy land are of one mind in saying that they have never seen a more noble or gracious performance if you will be pleased to sit upon that stump we will now continue our exercise sat down willingly as directed with great bundles on either side of which contained the dresses of flame colored silk and of leather with brass and tin the were on their heads once more bounding about with rigid necks playing the while in perfect time and tune it that out of one of the bundles there stuck the end of what the saw to be a so drawing it forth he it up and a harmony to the merry which the dancers played on that they dropped their own instruments and putting their hands to the ground they about faster and faster ever shouting to him to play more briskly until at last for very weariness all three had to stop well played sweet cried the younger hast a rare touch on the strings how knew you the tune asked the other i knew it not i did but follow the notes i heard both opened their eyes at this and stared at with as much amazement as he had shown at them you have a fine trick of ear then said one we have long wished to meet such a man wilt join us and on to thy duties shall be light and thou shalt have a day and meat for supper every night with as much beer as you can put away said the other and a of wine on nay it may not be i have other work to do t have with you over long and resolutely set forth upon his journey once more they ran behind him some little way offering him first and then sixpence a day but he only smiled and shook his head until at last they fell away from him looking back he saw that the smaller had mounted on the younger s shoulders and that they stood so some ten feet high waving their to him he waved back to them and then hastened on the lighter of heart for having fallen in with these strange men of pleasure had gone no great distance for all the many small passages that had befallen him to him used as he was to a life of such quiet that the failure of a or the of an had seemed to be of the deepest import the quick changing play of the lights and shadows of life was strangely startling and interesting a gulf seemed to divide this brisk existence from the old steady round of work and of prayer which he had left behind him the few hours that had passed since he saw the abbey tower stretched out in his memory until they whole months of the life of the as he walked and the soft bread from his it seemed strange to him to feel that it was still warm from the of when he passed where were three cottages and a barn he reached the edge of the tree country and found the great barren heath of stretching in front of him all pink with and with the fading on the left the woods were still thick but the road edged away from them and wound over the open the sun lay low in the west upon a purple cloud whence it threw a mild light over the wild and glittered on the fringe of forest turning the withered leaves into of dead gold the brighter for the black depths behind them to the seeing eye decay is as fair as growth and death as life the thought stole into s heart as he looked upon the and at its beauty he had little time to dwell upon it however for there were still six good miles between him and the nearest inn he sat down by the roadside to partake of his bread and cheese and then with a lighter he hastened upon his way there appeared to be more on the down than in the forest first he passed two in their long black dresses who swept by him with downcast looks and lips without so much as a glance at him then there came a gray or with a good upon him walking slowly and looking about him with the air of a man who was at peace with himself and with all men he stopped to ask him whether it were not true that there was a somewhere in those parts which was especially famous for the of the clerk having made answer that he had heard the of well spoken of the sucked in his lips and t hurried forward close at his heels three walking abreast with and over their shoulders they sang some rude chorus right as they walked but their english was so coarse and rough that to the ears of a bred man it sounded like a foreign and barbarous tongue one of them carried a young which they had caught upon the and they offered it to for a silver very glad he was to get past them for with their red and their fierce blue eyes they were uneasy men to bargain with upon a lonely it is not always the and the wildest who are the most to be dreaded the workers looked at him and then onward upon their way in slow saxon style a worse to deal with was a wooden legged who came down the path weak and so old to all appearance that a child need not stand in fear of him yet when had passed him of a sudden out of pure he screamed out a curse at him and sent a jagged flint stone past his ear so horrid was the	4
hast done evil within my and must die but sir d who was white to the lips at these bloody doings he hath not yet come to trial clerk said the you speak of that of which you know nothing it is true that he hath not come to trial but the trial hath come to him he hath fled the law and is beyond its pale touch not that which is no concern of thine but what is this boon rogue which you would i have in my shoe most sir a strip of wood which belonged once to the bark wherein the blessed paul was dashed up against the island of i bought it for two rose from a who came from the the boon i is that you will place it in my hands and let me die still grasping it in this manner not only shall my own eternal salvation be but thine also for i shall never cease to for thee at the command of the they plucked off the fellow s shoe and there sure enough at the side of the wrapped in a piece of fine lay a long dark of wood the caps at the sight of it and the crossed himself devoutly as he handed it to the robber if it should chance he said that through the surpassing merits of the blessed paul sin stained soul should gain a way into paradise i trust that you will not forget that which you have promised bear in mind too that it is the for whom you pray and not the who is my uncle s son now thomas i pray you despatch for we have a long ride before us and sun has already set gazed upon the scene the velvet clad official the knot of hard faced with their hands to the of their horses the thief with his arms back and his turned down upon his shoulders by the side of the track the old dame was standing her red once more round her head even as he looked one of the drew his sword with a sharp of steel and stepped up to the lost man the clerk hurried away in horror but ere he had gone many paces he heard a sudden sullen with a choking whistling sound at the end of it a minute later the and four of his men rode past him on their journey back to the other two having been chosen as grave as they passed saw that one of the men was wiping his sword blade upon the mane of his horse a deadly sickness came over him at the sight and sitting down by the he burst out a weeping with his nerves all in a it was a terrible world thought he and it was hard to know which were the more to be dreaded the or the men of the law v how a company at the thb night bad already fallen and the moon was shining between the of ragged drifting and weary from the unwonted exercise found himself in front of the forest inn which stood upon the outskirts of the building was long and low standing back a little from the road with two on either side of the door as a welcome to the from one window there thrust forth a pole with a bunch of tied to the end of it a sign that liquor was to be sold w as walked up to it he perceived that it was rudely fashioned oat of beams of wood with twinkling lights all over where the glow from within shone through the the roof was poor and but in strange contrast to it there ran all along under the a line of wooden most painted with bend and and every device by the door a horse stood the ruddy glow beating strongly upon his brown head and patient eyes while his body stood back in the shadow stood still in the for a few minutes reflecting upon what he should do it was he knew only a few miles further to e his ther dwelt on the other hand he had never seen this brother since and the reports which had come to his ears concerning him were seldom to his advantage by all he was a hard and a bitter man it might be an evil start to come to his door so late and claim the shelter of his roof better to sleep here at this inn and then travel on to in the morning if his brother would take him in well and good he would bide with him for a time and do what he might to serve him if on the other hand he should have hardened his heart against him he could only go on his way and do the best he might by his skill as a and a at the end of a year he would be free to return to the for such had been his father s request a one year in the world after the age of twenty and then a free selection one way or the it was a strange course which had been marked out for him such as it was however he had no choice but to follow it and if he were to begin by making a friend of his brother he had best wait until before he knocked at his dwelling the rude plank door was but as approached it there came from within such a gust of rough laughter and clatter of tongues that he stood upon the threshold courage however and reflecting that it was a public dwelling in which he had as much right as any other man he pushed it open and stepped into the common room though it was an autumn evening and somewhat warm a huge fire of heaped of wood	4
and sparkled in a broad open grate some of the smoke escaping up a rude chimney but the greater part rolling out into the room so that the air was thick with it and a man coming from without could scarce catch his breath on this fire a great and giving forth a rich and promising smell seated round it were a dozen or so folk of all ages and conditions who set up such a shout as entered that he stood peering at them through the smoke uncertain what this greeting might a rouse a rouse cried one rough looking fellow in a tattered one more round of or ale and the score to the last comer ti the law of the i shouted another ho there dame here is fresh custom come to the house and not a drain for the company i will take your orders i will assuredly take your orders the landlady answered in with her fall of drinking what is it that yon drink then beer for the lads of the forest for the strong waters for the and wine for the rest it is an old of the house young sir it has been the use at the this many a year that the company should drink to the health of the last comer is it your pleasure to humor it why good dame said i would not offend the customs of your house but it is only when i say that my purse is a thin one as far as two pence will go however i shall be right glad to do my part plainly said and bravely spoken my roared a deep voice and a heavy hand fell upon s shoulder looking up he saw beside him his former companion the john by the thorn of ill days are coming upon said he here they have got rid in one day of the only two men within their walls for i have mine eyes upon thee and i know that for all thy baby face there is the making of a man in thee then there is the too i am no friend of his nor be of mine but he has warm blood in his veins he is the only man left among them the what are they they are holy men answered gravely holy men holy holy what do they do but live and in and grow fat if that be i could show you in this forest who are fit to head the think you it was for such a life that this good arm was fixed upon my shoulder or that head placed upon your neck there is work in the world man and it is not by hiding behind stone walls that we shall do it why then did you join the brothers asked a fair enough question but it is fairly answered i joined them because of bolder crooked thomas of and left a certain john of in the cold for that he was a blade who was not to be trusted in that was why being fond and hot headed i left the world and that is why having had time to take thought i am right glad to find myself back in it once more ill the day that ever i took off my s to put on the white gown while he was speaking the landlady came in again bearing a broad upon which stood all the and charged to the brim with the brown ale or the wine behind her came a maid with a high pile of wooden plates and a great of one of which she handed round to each of the travellers two of the company who were dressed in the weather stained green of lifted the big pot off the fire and a third with a huge served out a portion of steaming to each guest bore his share and his ale away with him to a retired in the where he could sup in peace and watch the strange scene which was so different to those silent and well ordered meals to which he was accustomed the room was not unlike a stable the low ceiling smoke blackened and dingy was pierced by several square trap doors with rough leading up to them the walls of bare were studded here and there with great wooden pins placed at irregular intervals and heights from which hung and over the fireplace were suspended six or seven of wood with coats of arms rudely upon them which showed by their varying degrees of and dirt that they had been placed there at different periods there was no furniture save a single long covered with coarse and a number of wooden benches and the legs of which sank deeply into the soft clay floor while the only light save that of the fire was furnished by three stuck in on the wall which and giving forth a strong all this was novel and strange to the bred youth but most interesting of all was the circle of guests who sat eating their round the they were a humble group of such as might haye been found that night in any inn through the length and breadth of england but to him they represented that vague world against he had been so frequently and so earnestly warned it did not seem to him from what he could see of it to be such a very wicked place after all three or four of ihe men round the fire were evidently under and from the forest and bearded with the quick restless eye and movements of the deer among which they lived close to the comer of the chimney sat a middle aged clad in a faded garb of doth the of which was so that it did but fasten at the neck and at the waist his face was swollen	4

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