The Dynamiter Read online

  _NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY_

  I was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe, who held avaluable living in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Our family, a verylarge one, was noted for a sprightly and incisive wit, and came of a goodold stock where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian grace of characterwe were unhappily deficient. From my earliest years I saw and deploredthe defects of those relatives whose age and position should have enabledthem to conquer my esteem; and while I was yet a child, my father marrieda second wife, in whom (strange to say) the Fanshawe failings wereexaggerated to a monstrous and almost laughable degree. Whatever may besaid against me, it cannot be denied I was a pattern daughter; but it wasin vain that, with the most touching patience, I submitted to mystepmother's demands; and from the hour she entered my father's house, Imay say that I met with nothing but injustice and ingratitude.

  I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my disposition; for oneother of the family besides myself was free from any violence ofcharacter. Before I had reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, John byname, had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and although thepoor lad was too timid to hint at the nature of his feelings, I had soondivined and begun to share them. For some days I pondered on the oddsituation created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; and at length,perceiving that he began, in his distress, rather to avoid than seek mycompany, I determined to take the matter into my own hands. Finding himalone in a retired part of the rectory garden, I told him that I haddivined his amiable secret, that I knew with what disfavour our union wassure to be regarded; and that, under the circumstances, I was prepared toflee with him at once. Poor John was literally paralysed with joy; suchwas the force of his emotions, that he could find no words in which tothank me; and that I, seeing him thus helpless, was obliged to arrange,myself, the details of our flight, and of the stolen marriage which wasimmediately to crown it. John had been at that time projecting a visitto the metropolis. In this I bade him persevere, and promised on thefollowing day to join him at the Tavistock Hotel.

  True, on my side, to every detail of our arrangement, I arose, on the dayin question, before the servants, packed a few necessaries in a bag, tookwith me the little money I possessed, and bade farewell for ever to therectory. I walked with good spirits to a town some thirty miles fromhome, and was set down the next morning in this great city of London. AsI walked from the coach-office to the hotel, I could not help exulting inthe pleasant change that had befallen me; beholding, meanwhile, withinnocent delight, the traffic of the streets, and depicting, in all thecolours of fancy, the reception that awaited me from John. But alas!when I inquired for Mr. Fanshawe, the porter assured me there was no suchgentleman among the guests. By what channel our secret had leaked out,or what pressure had been brought to bear on the too facile John, I couldnever fathom. Enough that my family had triumphed; that I found myselfalone in London, tender in years, smarting under the most sensiblemortification, and by every sentiment of pride and self-respect debarredfor ever from my father's house.

  I rose under the blow, and found lodgings in the neighbourhood of EustonRoad, where, for the first time in my life, I tasted the joys ofindependence. Three days afterwards, an advertisement in the _Times_directed me to the office of a solicitor whom I knew to be in my father'sconfidence. There I was given the promise of a very moderate allowance,and a distinct intimation that I must never look to be received at home.I could not but resent so cruel a desertion, and I told the lawyer it wasa meeting I desired as little as themselves. He smiled at my courageousspirit, paid me the first quarter of my income, and gave me the remainderof my personal effects, which had been sent to me, under his care, in acouple of rather ponderous boxes. With these I returned in triumph to mylodgings, more content with my position than I should have thoughtpossible a week before, and fully determined to make the best of thefuture.

  All went well for several months; and, indeed, it was my own fault alonethat ended this pleasant and secluded episode of life. I have, I mustconfess, the fatal trick of spoiling my inferiors. My landlady, to whomI had as usual been overkind, impertinently called me in fault for someparticular too small to mention; and I, annoyed that I had allowed herthe freedom upon which she thus presumed, ordered her to leave mypresence. She stood a moment dumb, and then, recalling herself-possession, 'Your bill,' said she, 'shall be ready this evening, andto-morrow, madam, you shall leave my house. See,' she added, 'that youare able to pay what you owe me; for if I do not receive the uttermostfarthing, no box of yours shall pass my threshold.'

  I was confounded at her audacity, but as a whole quarter's income was dueto me, not otherwise affected by the threat. That afternoon, as I leftthe solicitor's door, carrying in one hand, and done up in a paperparcel, the whole amount of my fortune, there befell me one of thosedecisive incidents that sometimes shape a life. The lawyer's office wassituate in a street that opened at the upper end upon the Strand, and wasclosed at the lower, at the time of which I speak, by a row of ironrailings looking on the Thames. Down this street, then, I beheld mystepmother advancing to meet me, and doubtless bound to the very house Ihad just left. She was attended by a maid whose face was new to me, buther own was too clearly printed on my memory; and the sight of it, evenfrom a distance, filled me with generous indignation. Flight wasimpossible. There was nothing left but to retreat against the railing,and with my back turned to the street, pretend to be admiring the bargeson the river or the chimneys of transpontine London.

  I was still so standing, and had not yet fully mastered the turbulence ofmy emotions, when a voice at my elbow addressed me with a trivialquestion. It was the maid whom my stepmother, with characteristichardness, had left to await her on the street, while she transacted herbusiness with the family solicitor. The girl did not know who I was; theopportunity too golden to be lost; and I was soon hearing the latest newsof my father's rectory and parish. It did not surprise me to find thatshe detested her employers; and yet the terms in which she spoke of themwere hard to bear, hard to let pass unchallenged. I heard them, however,without dissent, for my self-command is wonderful; and we might haveparted as we met, had she not proceeded, in an evil hour, to criticisethe rector's missing daughter, and with the most shocking perversions, tonarrate the story of her flight. My nature is so essentially generousthat I can never pause to reason. I flung up my hand sharply, by way, aswell as I remember, of indignant protest; and, in the act, the packetslipped from my fingers, glanced between the railings, and fell and sunkin the river. I stood a moment petrified, and then, struck by thedrollery of the incident, gave way to peals of laughter. I was stilllaughing when my stepmother reappeared, and the maid, who doubtlessconsidered me insane, ran off to join her; nor had I yet recovered mygravity when I presented myself before the lawyer to solicit a freshadvance. His answer made me serious enough, for it was a flat refusal;and it was not until I had besought him even with tears, that heconsented to lend me ten pounds from his own pocket. 'I am a poor man,'said he, 'and you must look for nothing farther at my hands.'

  The landlady met me at the door. 'Here, madam,' said she, with a curtseyinsolently low, 'here is my bill. Would it inconvenience you to settleit at once?'

  'You shall be paid, madam,' said I, 'in the morning, in the propercourse.' And I took the paper with a very high air, but inwardlyquaking.

  I had no sooner looked at it than I perceived myself to be lost. I hadbeen short of money and had allowed my debt to mount; and it had nowreached the sum, which I shall never forget, of twelve pounds thirteenand fourpence halfpenny. All evening I sat by the fire considering mysituation. I could not pay the bill; my landlady would not suffer me toremove my boxes; and without either baggage or money, how was I to findanother lodging? For three months, unless I could invent some remedy, Iwas condemned to be without a roof and without a penny. It can surpriseno one that I decided on immediate flight; but even here I was confrontedby a difficulty, for I had no sooner
packed my boxes than I found I wasnot strong enough to move, far less to carry them.

  In this strait I did not hesitate a moment, but throwing on a shawl andbonnet, and covering my face with a thick veil, I betook myself to thatgreat bazaar of dangerous and smiling chances, the pavement of the city.It was already late at night, and the weather being wet and windy, therewere few abroad besides policemen. These, on my present mission, I hadwit enough to know for enemies; and wherever I perceived their movinglanterns, I made haste to turn aside and choose another thoroughfare. Afew miserable women still walked the pavement; here and there were youngfellows returning drunk, or ruffians of the lowest class lurking in themouths of alleys; but of any one to whom I might appeal in my distress, Ibegan almost to despair.

  At last, at the corner of a street, I ran into the arms of one who wasevidently a gentleman, and who, in all his appointments, from his furredgreat-coat to the fine cigar which he was smoking, comfortably breathedof wealth. Much as my face has changed from its original beauty, I stillretain (or so I tell myself) some traces of the youthful lightness of myfigure. Even veiled as I then was, I could perceive the gentleman wasstruck by my appearance: and this emboldened me for my adventure.

  'Sir,' said I, with a quickly beating heart, 'sir, are you one in whom alady can confide?'

  'Why, my dear,' said he, removing his cigar, 'that depends oncircumstances. If you will raise your veil--'

  'Sir,' I interrupted, 'let there be no mistake. I ask you, as agentleman, to serve me, but I offer no reward.'

  'That is frank,' said he; 'but hardly tempting. And what, may I inquire,is the nature of the service?'

  But I knew well enough it was not my interest to tell him on so short aninterview. 'If you will accompany me,' said I, 'to a house not far fromhere, you can see for yourself.'

  He looked at me awhile with hesitating eyes; and then, tossing away hiscigar, which was not yet a quarter smoked, 'Here goes!' said he, and withperfect politeness offered me his arm. I was wise enough to take it; toprolong our walk as far as possible, by more than one excursion from theshortest line; and to beguile the way with that sort of conversationwhich should prove to him indubitably from what station in society Isprang. By the time we reached the door of my lodging, I felt sure I hadconfirmed his interest, and might venture, before I turned the pass-key,to beseech him to moderate his voice and to tread softly. He promised toobey me: and I admitted him into the passage and thence into mysitting-room, which was fortunately next the door.

  'And now,' said he, when with trembling fingers I had lighted a candle,'what is the meaning of all this?'

  'I wish you,' said I, speaking with great difficulty, 'to help me outwith these boxes--and I wish nobody to know.'

  He took up the candle. 'And I wish to see your face,' said he.

  I turned back my veil without a word, and looked at him with everyappearance of resolve that I could summon up. For some time he gazedinto my face, still holding up the candle. 'Well,' said he at last, 'andwhere do you wish them taken?'

  I knew that I had gained my point; and it was with a tremor in my voicethat I replied. 'I had thought we might carry them between us to thecorner of Euston Road,' said I, 'where, even at this late hour, we maystill find a cab.'

  'Very good,' was his reply; and he immediately hoisted the heavier of mytrunks upon his shoulder, and taking one handle of the second, signed tome to help him at the other end. In this order we made good our retreatfrom the house, and without the least adventure, drew pretty near to thecorner of Euston Road. Before a house, where there was a light stillburning, my companion paused. 'Let us here,' said he, 'set down ourboxes, while we go forward to the end of the street in quest of a cab.By doing so, we can still keep an eye upon their safety, and we avoid thevery extraordinary figure we should otherwise present--a young man, ayoung lady, and a mass of baggage, standing castaway at midnight on thestreets of London.' So it was done, and the event proved him to be wise;for long before there was any word of a cab, a policeman appeared uponthe scene, turned upon us the full glare of his lantern, and hungsuspiciously behind us in a doorway.

  'There seem to be no cabs about, policeman,' said my champion, withaffected cheerfulness. But the constable's answer was ungracious; and asfor the offer of a cigar, with which this rebuff was most unwiselyfollowed up, he refused it point-blank, and without the least civility.The young gentleman looked at me with a warning grimace, and there wecontinued to stand, on the edge of the pavement, in the beating rain, andwith the policeman still silently watching our movements from thedoorway.

  At last, and after a delay that seemed interminable, a four-wheelerappeared lumbering along in the mud, and was instantly hailed by mycompanion. 'Just pull up here, will you?' he cried. 'We have somebaggage up the street.'

  And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when the policeman, stillclosely following us, beheld my two boxes lying in the rain, he arosefrom mere suspicion to a kind of certitude of something evil. The lightin the house had been extinguished; the whole frontage of the street wasdark; there was nothing to explain the presence of these unguardedtrunks; and no two innocent people were ever, I believe, detected in suchquestionable circumstances.

  'Where have these things come from?' asked the policeman, flashing hislight full into my champion's face.

  'Why, from that house, of course,' replied the young gentleman, hastilyshouldering a trunk.

  The policeman whistled and turned to look at the dark windows; he thentook a step towards the door, as though to knock, a course which hadinfallibly proved our ruin; but seeing us already hurrying down thestreet under our double burthen, thought better or worse of it, andfollowed in our wake.

  'For God's sake,' whispered my companion, 'tell me where to drive to.'

  'Anywhere,' I replied with anguish. 'I have no idea. Anywhere youlike.'

  Thus it befell that, when the boxes had been stowed, and I had alreadyentered the cab, my deliverer called out in clear tones the address ofthe house in which we are now seated. The policeman, I could see, wasstaggered. This neighbourhood, so retired, so aristocratic, was far fromwhat he had expected. For all that, he took the number of the cab, andspoke for a few seconds and with a decided manner in the cabman's ear.

  'What can he have said?' I gasped, as soon as the cab had rolled away.

  'I can very well imagine,' replied my champion; 'and I can assure youthat you are now condemned to go where I have said; for, should weattempt to change our destination by the way, the jarvey will drive usstraight to a police-office. Let me compliment you on your nerves,' headded. 'I have had, I believe, the most horrible fright of myexistence.'

  But my nerves, which he so much misjudged, were in so strange a disarraythat speech was now become impossible; and we made the drivethenceforward in unbroken silence. When we arrived before the door ofour destination, the young gentleman alighted, opened it with a pass-keylike one who was at home, bade the driver carry the trunks into the hall,and dismissed him with a handsome fee. He then led me into thisdining-room, looking nearly as you behold it, but with certain marks ofbachelor occupancy, and hastened to pour out a glass of wine, which heinsisted on my drinking. As soon as I could find my voice, 'In God'sname,' I cried, 'where am I?'

  He told me I was in his house, where I was very welcome, and had no moreurgent business than to rest myself and recover my spirits. As he spokehe offered me another glass of wine, of which, indeed, I stood in greatwant, for I was faint, and inclined to be hysterical. Then he sat downbeside the fire, lit another cigar, and for some time observed mecuriously in silence.

  'And now,' said he, 'that you have somewhat restored yourself, will yoube kind enough to tell me in what sort of crime I have become a partner?Are you murderer, smuggler, thief, or only the harmless and domesticmoonlight flitter?'

  I had been already shocked by his lighting a cigar without permission,for I had not forgotten the one he threw away on our first meeting; andnow, at these explicit insult
s, I resolved at once to reconquer hisesteem. The judgment of the world I have consistently despised, but Ihad already begun to set a certain value on the good opinion of myentertainer. Beginning with a note of pathos, but soon brightening intomy habitual vivacity and humour, I rapidly narrated the circumstances ofmy birth, my flight, and subsequent misfortunes. He heard me to an endin silence, gravely smoking. 'Miss Fanshawe,' said he, when I had done,'you are a very comical and most enchanting creature; and I can seenothing for it but that I should return to-morrow morning and satisfyyour landlady's demands.'

  'You strangely misinterpret my confidence,' was my reply; 'and if you hadat all appreciated my character, you would understand that I can take nomoney at your hands.'

  'Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular,' he returned; 'nor doI at all despair of persuading even your unconquerable self. I desireyou to examine me with critical indulgence. My name is Henry Luxmore,Lord Southwark's second son. I possess nine thousand a year, the housein which we are now sitting, and seven others in the best neighbourhoodsin town. I do not believe I am repulsive to the eye, and as for mycharacter, you have seen me under trial. I think you simply the mostoriginal of created beings; I need not tell you what you know very well,that you are ravishingly pretty; and I have nothing more to add, exceptthat, foolish as it may appear, I am already head over heels in love withyou.'

  'Sir,' said I, 'I am prepared to be misjudged; but while I continue toaccept your hospitality that fact alone should be enough to protect mefrom insult.'

  'Pardon me,' said he: 'I offer you marriage.' And leaning back in hischair he replaced his cigar between his lips.

  I own I was confounded by an offer, not only so unprepared, but couchedin terms so singular. But he knew very well how to obtain his purposes,for he was not only handsome in person, but his very coolness had acharm; and to make a long story short, a fortnight later I became thewife of the Honourable Henry Luxmore.

  For nearly twenty years I now led a life of almost perfect quiet. MyHenry had his weaknesses; I was twice driven to flee from his roof, butnot for long; for though he was easily over-excited, his nature wasplacable below the surface, and with all his faults, I loved himtenderly. At last he was taken from me; and such is the power ofself-deception, and so strange are the whims of the dying, he actuallyassured me, with his latest breath, that he forgave the violence of mytemper!

  There was but one pledge of the marriage, my daughter Clara. She had,indeed, inherited a shadow of her father's failing; but in all thingselse, unless my partial eyes deceived me, she derived her qualities fromme, and might be called my moral image. On my side, whatever else I mayhave done amiss, as a mother I was above reproach. Here, then, wassurely every promise for the future; here, at last, was a relation inwhich I might hope to taste repose. But it was not to be. You willhardly credit me when I inform you that she ran away from home; yet suchwas the case. Some whim about oppressed nationalities--Ireland, Poland,and the like--has turned her brain; and if you should anywhere encountera young lady (I must say, of remarkable attractions) answering to thename of Luxmore, Lake, or Fonblanque (for I am told she uses theseindifferently, as well as many others), tell her, from me, that I forgiveher cruelty, and though I will never more behold her face, I am at anytime prepared to make her a liberal allowance.

  On the death of Mr. Luxmore, I sought oblivion in the details ofbusiness. I believe I have mentioned that seven mansions, besides this,formed part of Mr. Luxmore's property: I have found them seven whiteelephants. The greed of tenants, the dishonesty of solicitors, and theincapacity that sits upon the bench, have combined together to make thesehouses the burthen of my life. I had no sooner, indeed, begun to lookinto these matters for myself, than I discovered so many injustices andmet with so much studied incivility, that I was plunged into a longseries of lawsuits, some of which are pending to this day. You must haveheard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore of the Law Reports: astrange destiny, indeed, for one born with an almost cowardly desire forpeace! But I am of the stamp of those who, when they have once begun atask, will rather die than leave their duty unfulfilled. I have met withevery obstacle: insolence and ingratitude from my own lawyers; in myadversaries, that fault of obstinacy which is to me perhaps the mostdistasteful in the calendar; from the bench, civility indeed--always, Imust allow, civility--but never a spark of independence, never thatknowledge of the law and love of justice which we have a right to lookfor in a judge, the most august of human officers. And still, againstall these odds, I have undissuadably persevered.

  It was after the loss of one of my innumerable cases (a subject on whichI will not dwell) that it occurred to me to make a melancholy pilgrimageto my various houses. Four were at that time tenantless and closed, likepillars of salt, commemorating the corruption of the age and the declineof private virtue. Three were occupied by persons who had wearied me byevery conceivable unjust demand and legal subterfuge--persons whom, atthat very hour, I was moving heaven and earth to turn into the street.This was perhaps the sadder spectacle of the two; and my heart grew hotwithin me to behold them occupying, in my very teeth, and with aninsolent ostentation, these handsome structures which were as much mineas the flesh upon my body.

  One more house remained for me to visit, that in which we now are. I hadlet it (for at that period I lodged in a hotel, the life that I havealways preferred) to a Colonel Geraldine, a gentleman attached to PrinceFlorizel of Bohemia, whom you must certainly have heard of; and I hadsupposed, from the character and position of my tenant, that here, atleast, I was safe against annoyance. What was my surprise to find thishouse also shuttered and apparently deserted! I will not deny that I wasoffended; I conceived that a house, like a yacht, was better to be keptin commission; and I promised myself to bring the matter before mysolicitor the following morning. Meanwhile the sight recalled my fancynaturally to the past; and yielding to the tender influence of sentiment,I sat down opposite the door upon the garden parapet. It was August, anda sultry afternoon, but that spot is sheltered, as you may observe bydaylight, under the branches of a spreading chestnut; the square, too,was deserted; there was a sound of distant music in the air; and allcombined to plunge me into that most agreeable of states, which isneither happiness nor sorrow, but shares the poignancy of both.

  From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van, very handsomelyappointed, drawn by valuable horses, mounted by several men of anappearance more than decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of atrader's name, a coat-of-arms too modest to be deciphered from where Isat. It drew up before my house, the door of which was immediatelyopened by one of the men. His companions--I counted seven of them inall--proceeded, with disciplined activity, to take from the van and carryinto the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes, such asare designed for plate and napery. The windows of the dining-room werethrown widely open, as though to air it; and I saw some of those withinlaying the table for a meal. Plainly, I concluded, my tenant was aboutto return; and while still determined to submit to no aggression on myrights, I was gratified by the number and discipline of his attendants,and the quiet profusion that appeared to reign in his establishment. Iwas still so thinking when, to my extreme surprise, the windows andshutters of the dining-room were once more closed; the men began toreappear from the interior and resume their stations on the van; the lastclosed the door behind his exit; the van drove away; and the house wasonce more left to itself, looking blindly on the square with shutteredwindows, as though the whole affair had been a vision.

  It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet, and thus brought myeyes a little nearer to the level of the fanlight over the door, I sawthat, though the day had still some hours to run, the hall lamps had beenlighted and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were expected, and werenot expected before night. For whom, I asked myself with indignation,were such secret preparations likely to be made? Although no prude, I ama woman of decided views upon morality; if my house, to which
my husbandhad brought me, was to serve in the character of a _petite maison_, I sawmyself forced, however unwillingly, into a new course of litigation; and,determined to return and know the worst, I hastened to my hotel fordinner.

  I was at my post by ten. The night was clear and quiet; the moon rodevery high and put the lamps to shame; and the shadow below the chestnutwas black as ink. Here, then, I ensconced myself on the low parapet,with my back against the railings, face to face with the moonlit front ofmy old home, and ruminating gently on the past. Time fled; eleven struckon all the city clocks; and presently after I was aware of the approachof a gentleman of stately and agreeable demeanour. He was smoking as hewalked; his light paletot, which was open, did not conceal his eveningclothes; and he bore himself with a serious grace that immediatelyawakened my attention. Before the door of this house he took a pass-keyfrom his pocket, quietly admitted himself, and disappeared into thelamplit hall.

  He was scarcely gone when I observed another and a much younger manapproaching hastily from the opposite side of the square. Consideringthe season of the year and the genial mildness of the night, he wassomewhat closely muffled up; and as he came, for all his hurry, he keptlooking nervously behind him. Arrived before my door, he halted and setone foot upon the step, as though about to enter; then, with a suddenchange, he turned and began to hurry away; halted a second time, as if inpainful indecision; and lastly, with a violent gesture, wheeled about,returned straight to the door, and rapped upon the knocker. He wasalmost immediately admitted by the first arrival.

  My curiosity was now broad awake. I made myself as small as I could inthe very densest of the shadow, and waited for the sequel. Nor had Ilong to wait. From the same side of the square a second young man madehis appearance, walking slowly and softly, and like the first, muffled tothe nose. Before the house he paused, looked all about him with a swiftand comprehensive glance; and seeing the square lie empty in the moon andlamplight, leaned far across the area railings and appeared to listen towhat was passing in the house. From the dining-room there came thereport of a champagne cork, and following upon that, the sound of richand manly laughter. The listener took heart of grace, produced a key,unlocked the area gate, shut it noiselessly behind him, and descended thestair. Just when his head had reached the level of the pavement, heturned half round and once more raked the square with a suspiciouseyeshot. The mufflings had fallen lower round his neck; the moon shonefull upon him; and I was startled to observe the pallor and passionateagitation of his face.

  I could remain no longer passive. Persuaded that something deadly wasafoot, I crossed the roadway and drew near the area railings. There wasno one below; the man must therefore have entered the house, with whatpurpose I dreaded to imagine. I have at no part of my career lackedcourage; and now, finding the area gate was merely laid to, I pushed itgently open and descended the stairs. The kitchen door of the house,like the area gate, was closed but not fastened. It flashed upon me thatthe criminal was thus preparing his escape; and the thought, as itconfirmed the worst of my suspicions, lent me new resolve. I entered thehouse; and being now quite reckless of my life, I shut and locked thedoor.

  From the dining-room above I could hear the pleasant tones of a voice ineasy conversation. On the ground floor all was not only profoundlysilent, but the darkness seemed to weigh upon my eyes. Here, then, Istood for some time, having thrust myself uncalled into the utmost peril,and being destitute of any power to help or interfere. Nor will I denythat fear had begun already to assail me, when I became aware, all atonce and as though by some immediate but silent incandescence, of acertain glimmering of light upon the passage floor. Towards this Igroped my way with infinite precaution; and having come at length as faras the angle of the corridor, beheld the door of the butler's pantrystanding just ajar and a narrow thread of brightness falling from thechink. Creeping still closer, I put my eye to the aperture. The man satwithin upon a chair, listening, I could see, with the most raptattention. On a table before him he had laid a watch, a pair of steelrevolvers, and a bull's-eye lantern. For one second many contradictorytheories and projects whirled together in my head; the next, I hadslammed the door and turned the key upon the malefactor. Surprised at myown decision, I stood and panted, leaning on the wall. From within thepantry not a sound was to be heard; the man, whatever he was, hadaccepted his fate without a struggle, and now, as I hugged myself tofancy, sat frozen with terror and looking for the worst to follow. Ipromised myself that he should not be disappointed; and the better tocomplete my task, I turned to ascend the stairs.

  The situation, as I groped my way to the first floor, appealed to mesuddenly by my strong sense of humour. Here was I, the owner of thehouse, burglariously present in its walls; and there, in the dining-room,were two gentlemen, unknown to me, seated complacently at supper, andonly saved by my promptitude from some surprising or deadly interruption.It were strange if I could not manage to extract the matter of amusementfrom so unusual a situation.

  Behind this dining-room, there is a small apartment intended for alibrary. It was to this that I cautiously groped my way; and you willsee how fortune had exactly served me. The weather, I have said, wassultry; in order to ventilate the dining-room and yet preserve theuninhabited appearance of the mansion to the front, the window of thelibrary had been widely opened, and the door of communication between thetwo apartments left ajar. To this interval I now applied my eye.

  Wax tapers, set in silver candlesticks, shed their chastened brightnesson the damask of the tablecloth and the remains of a cold collation ofthe rarest delicacy. The two gentlemen had finished supper, and were nowtrifling with cigars and maraschino; while in a silver spirit lamp,coffee of the most captivating fragrance was preparing in the fashion ofthe East. The elder of the two, he who had first arrived, was placeddirectly facing me; the other was set on his left hand. Both, like theman in the butler's pantry, seemed to be intently listening; and on theface of the second I thought I could perceive the marks of fear. Oddlyenough, however, when they came to speak, the parts were found to bereversed.

  'I assure you,' said the elder gentleman, 'I not only heard the slammingof a door, but the sound of very guarded footsteps.'

  'Your highness was certainly deceived,' replied the other. 'I am endowedwith the acutest hearing, and I can swear that not a mouse has rustled.'Yet the pallor and contraction of his features were in total discord withthe tenor of his words.

  His highness (whom, of course, I readily divined to be Prince Florizel)looked at his companion for the least fraction of a second; and thoughnothing shook the easy quiet of his attitude, I could see that he was farfrom being duped. 'It is well,' said he; 'let us dismiss the topic. Andnow, sir, that I have very freely explained the sentiments by which I amdirected, let me ask you, according to your promise, to imitate myfrankness.'

  'I have heard you,' replied the other, 'with great interest.'

  'With singular patience,' said the prince politely.

  'Ay, your highness, and with unlooked-for sympathy,' returned the youngman. 'I know not how to tell the change that has befallen me. You have,I must suppose, a charm, to which even your enemies are subject.' Helooked at the clock on the mantelpiece and visibly blanched. 'So late!'he cried. 'Your highness--God knows I am now speaking from theheart--before it be too late, leave this house!'

  The prince glanced once more at his companion, and then very deliberatelyshook the ash from his cigar. 'That is a strange remark,' said he; 'and_a propos de bottes_, I never continue a cigar when once the ash isfallen; the spell breaks, the soul of the flavour flies away, and thereremains but the dead body of tobacco; and I make it a rule to throw awaythat husk and choose another.' He suited the action to the words.

  'Do not trifle with my appeal,' resumed the young man, in tones thattrembled with emotion. 'It is made at the price of my honour and to theperil of my life. Go--go now! lose not a moment; and if you have anykindness for a young man, miserably deceived indeed, b
ut not devoid ofbetter sentiments, look not behind you as you leave.'

  'Sir,' said the prince, 'I am here upon your honour; assure you upon minethat I shall continue to rely upon that safeguard. The coffee is ready;I must again trouble you, I fear.' And with a courteous movement of thehand, he seemed to invite his companion to pour out the coffee.

  The unhappy young man rose from his seat. 'I appeal to you,' he cried,'by every holy sentiment, in mercy to me, if not in pity to yourself,begone before it is too late.'

  'Sir,' replied the prince, 'I am not readily accessible to fear; and ifthere is one defect to which I must plead guilty, it is that of a curiousdisposition. You go the wrong way about to make me leave this house, inwhich I play the part of your entertainer; and, suffer me to add, youngman, if any peril threaten us, it was of your contriving, not of mine.'

  'Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me,' cried the other. 'But Iat least will have no hand in it.' With these words he carried his handto his pocket, hastily swallowed the contents of a phial, and, with thevery act, reeled back and fell across his chair upon the floor. Theprince left his place and came and stood above him, where he layconvulsed upon the carpet. 'Poor moth!' I heard his highness murmur.'Alas, poor moth! must we again inquire which is the more fatal--weaknessor wickedness? And can a sympathy with ideas, surely not ignoble inthemselves, conduct a man to this dishonourable death?'

  By this time I had pushed the door open and walked into the room. 'Yourhighness,' said I, 'this is no time for moralising; with a littlepromptness we may save this creature's life; and as for the other, heneed cause you no concern, for I have him safely under lock and key.'

  The prince had turned about upon my entrance, and regarded me certainlywith no alarm, but with a profundity of wonder which almost robbed me ofmy self-possession. 'My dear madam,' he cried at last, 'and who thedevil are you?'

  I was already on the floor beside the dying man. I had, of course, noidea with what drug he had attempted his life, and I was forced to tryhim with a variety of antidotes. Here were both oil and vinegar, for theprince had done the young man the honour of compounding for him one ofhis celebrated salads; and of each of these I administered from a quarterto half a pint, with no apparent efficacy. I next plied him with the hotcoffee, of which there may have been near upon a quart.

  'Have you no milk?' I inquired.

  'I fear, madam, that milk has been omitted,' returned the prince.

  'Salt, then,' said I; 'salt is a revulsive. Pass the salt.'

  'And possibly the mustard?' asked his highness, as he offered me thecontents of the various salt-cellars poured together on a plate.

  'Ah,' cried I, 'the thought is excellent! Mix me about half a pint ofmustard, drinkably dilute.'

  Whether it was the salt or the mustard, or the mere combination of somany subversive agents, as soon as the last had been poured over histhroat, the young sufferer obtained relief.

  'There!' I exclaimed, with natural triumph, 'I have saved a life!'

  'And yet, madam,' returned the prince, 'your mercy may be crueltydisguised. Where the honour is lost, it is, at least, superfluous toprolong the life.'

  'If you had led a life as changeable as mine, your highness,' I replied,'you would hold a very different opinion. For my part, and afterwhatever extremity of misfortune or disgrace, I should still countto-morrow worth a trial.'

  'You speak as a lady, madam,' said the prince; 'and for such you speakthe truth. But to men there is permitted such a field of license, andthe good behaviour asked of them is at once so easy and so little, thatto fail in that is to fall beyond the reach of pardon. But will yousuffer me to repeat a question, put to you at first, I am afraid, withsome defect of courtesy; and to ask you once more, who you are and how Ihave the honour of your company?'

  'I am the proprietor of the house in which we stand,' said I.

  'And still I am at fault,' returned the prince.

  But at that moment the timepiece on the mantel-shelf began to strike thehour of twelve; and the young man, raising himself upon one elbow, withan expression of despair and horror that I have never seen excelled,cried lamentably, 'Midnight! oh, just God!' We stood frozen to ourplaces, while the tingling hammer of the timepiece measured the remainingstrokes; nor had we yet stirred, so tragic had been the tones of theyoung man, when the various bells of London began in turn to declare thehour. The timepiece was inaudible beyond the walls of the chamber wherewe stood; but the second pulsation of Big Ben had scarcely throbbed intothe night, before a sharp detonation rang about the house. The princesprang for the door by which I had entered; but quick as he was, I yetcontrived to intercept him.

  'Are you armed?' I cried.

  'No, madam,' replied he. 'You remind me appositely; I will take thepoker.'

  'The man below,' said I, 'has two revolvers. Would you confront him atsuch odds?'

  He paused, as though staggered in his purpose.

  'And yet, madam,' said he, 'we cannot continue to remain in ignorance ofwhat has passed.'

  'No!' cried I. 'And who proposes it? I am as curious as yourself, butlet us rather send for the police; or, if your highness dreads a scandal,for some of your own servants.'

  'Nay, madam,' he replied, smiling, 'for so brave a lady, you surprise me.Would you have me, then, send others where I fear to go myself?'

  'You are perfectly right,' said I, 'and I was entirely wrong. Go, inGod's name, and I will hold the candle!'

  Together, therefore, we descended to the lower story, he carrying thepoker, I the light; and together we approached and opened the door of thebutler's pantry. In some sort, I believe, I was prepared for thespectacle that met our eyes; I was prepared, that is, to find the villaindead, but the rude details of such a violent suicide I was unable toendure. The prince, unshaken by horror as he had remained unshaken byalarm, assisted me with the most respectful gallantry to regain thedining-room.

  There we found our patient, still, indeed, deadly pale, but vastlyrecovered and already seated on a chair. He held out both his hands witha most pitiful gesture of interrogation.

  'He is dead,' said the prince.

  'Alas!' cried the young man, 'and it should be I! What do I do, thuslingering on the stage I have disgraced, while he, my sure comrade,blameworthy indeed for much, but yet the soul of fidelity, has judged andslain himself for an involuntary fault? Ah, sir,' said he, 'and you too,madam, without whose cruel help I should be now beyond the reach of myaccusing conscience, you behold in me the victim equally of my own faultsand virtues. I was born a hater of injustice; from my most tender yearsmy blood boiled against heaven when I beheld the sick, and against menwhen I witnessed the sorrows of the poor; the pauper's crust stuck in mythroat when I sat down to eat my dainties, and the cripple child has setme weeping. What was there in that but what was noble? and yet observeto what a fall these thoughts have led me! Year after year this passionfor the lost besieged me closer. What hope was there in kings? what hopein these well-feathered classes that now roll in money? I had observedthe course of history; I knew the burgess, our ruler of to-day, to bebase, cowardly, and dull; I saw him, in every age, combine to pull downthat which was immediately above and to prey upon those that were below;his dulness, I knew, would ultimately bring about his ruin; I knew hisdays were numbered, and yet how was I to wait? how was I to let the poorchild shiver in the rain? The better days, indeed, were coming, but thechild would die before that. Alas, your highness, in surely noungenerous impatience I enrolled myself among the enemies of this unjustand doomed society; in surely no unnatural desire to keep the fires of myphilanthropy alight, I bound myself by an irrevocable oath.

  'That oath is all my history. To give freedom to posterity I hadforsworn my own. I must attend upon every signal; and soon my fathercomplained of my irregular hours and turned me from his house. I wasengaged in betrothal to an honest girl; from her also I had to part, forshe was too shrewd to credit my inventions and too innocent to beentrusted with t
he truth. Behold me, then, alone with conspirators!Alas! as the years went on, my illusions left me. Surrounded as I was bythe fervent disciples and apologists of revolution, I beheld them dailyadvance in confidence and desperation; I beheld myself, upon the otherhand, and with an almost equal regularity, decline in faith. I hadsacrificed all to further that cause in which I still believed; and dailyI began to grow in doubts if we were advancing it indeed. Horrible wasthe society with which we warred, but our own means were not lesshorrible.

  'I will not dwell upon my sufferings; I will not pause to tell you how,when I beheld young men still free and happy, married, fathers ofchildren, cheerfully toiling at their work, my heart reproached me withthe greatness and vanity of my unhappy sacrifice. I will not describe toyou how, worn by poverty, poor lodging, scanty food, and an unquietconscience, my health began to fail, and in the long nights, as Iwandered bedless in the rainy streets, the most cruel sufferings of thebody were added to the tortures of my mind. These things are notpersonal to me; they are common to all unfortunates in my position. Anoath, so light a thing to swear, so grave a thing to break: an oath,taken in the heat of youth, repented with what sobbings of the heart, butyet in vain repented, as the years go on: an oath, that was once the veryutterance of the truth of God, but that falls to be the symbol of ameaningless and empty slavery; such is the yoke that many young menjoyfully assume, and under whose dead weight they live to suffer worsethan death.

  'It is not that I was patient. I have begged to be released; but I knewtoo much, and I was still refused. I have fled; ay, and for the timesuccessfully. I reached Paris. I found a lodging in the Rue St.Jacques, almost opposite the Val de Grace. My room was mean and bare,but the sun looked into it towards evening; it commanded a peep of agreen garden; a bird hung by a neighbour's window and made the morningbeautiful; and I, who was sick, might lie in bed and rest myself: I, whowas in full revolt against the principles that I had served, was now nolonger at the beck of the council, and was no longer charged withshameful and revolting tasks. Oh! what an interval of peace was that! Istill dream, at times, that I can hear the note of my neighbour's bird.

  'My money was running out, and it became necessary that I should findemployment. Scarcely had I been three days upon the search, ere Ithought that I was being followed. I made certain of the features of theman, which were quite strange to me, and turned into a small cafe, whereI whiled away an hour, pretending to read the papers, but inwardlyconvulsed with terror. When I came forth again into the street, it wasquite empty, and I breathed again; but alas, I had not turned threecorners, when I once more observed the human hound pursuing me. Not anhour was to be lost; timely submission might yet preserve a life whichotherwise was forfeit and dishonoured; and I fled, with what speed youmay conceive, to the Paris agency of the society I served.

  'My submission was accepted. I took up once more the hated burthen ofthat life; once more I was at the call of men whom I despised and hated,while yet I envied and admired them. They at least were wholehearted inthe things they purposed; but I, who had once been such as they, hadfallen from the brightness of my faith, and now laboured, like ahireling, for the wages of a loathed existence. Ay, sir, to that I wascondemned; I obeyed to continue to live, and lived but to obey.

  'The last charge that was laid upon me was the one which has to-night sotragically ended. Boldly telling who I was, I was to request from yourhighness, on behalf of my society, a private audience, where it wasdesigned to murder you. If one thing remained to me of my oldconvictions, it was the hate of kings; and when this task was offered me,I took it gladly. Alas, sir, you triumphed. As we supped, you gainedupon my heart. Your character, your talents, your designs for ourunhappy country, all had been misrepresented. I began to forget you werea prince; I began, all too feelingly, to remember that you were a man.As I saw the hour approach, I suffered agonies untold; and when, at last,we heard the slamming of the door which announced in my unwilling earsthe arrival of the partner of my crime, you will bear me out with whatinstancy I besought you to depart. You would not, alas! and what couldI? Kill you, I could not; my heart revolted, my hand turned back fromsuch a deed. Yet it was impossible that I should suffer you to stay; forwhen the hour struck and my companion came, true to his appointment, andhe, at least, true to our design, I could neither suffer you to be killednor yet him to be arrested. From such a tragic passage, death, and deathalone, could save me; and it is no fault of mine if I continue to exist.

  'But you, madam,' continued the young man, addressing himself moredirectly to myself, 'were doubtless born to save the prince and toconfound our purposes. My life you have prolonged; and by turning thekey on my companion, you have made me the author of his death. He heardthe hour strike; he was impotent to help; and thinking himself forfeit tohonour, thinking that I should fall alone upon his highness and perishfor lack of his support, he has turned his pistol on himself.'

  'You are right,' said Prince Florizel: 'it was in no ungenerous spiritthat you brought these burthens on yourself; and when I see you so noblyto blame, so tragically punished, I stand like one reproved. For is itnot strange, madam, that you and I, by practising accepted andinconsiderable virtues, and commonplace but still unpardonable faults,should stand here, in the sight of God, with what we call clean hands andquiet consciences; while this poor youth, for an error that I couldalmost envy him, should be sunk beyond the reach of hope?

  'Sir,' resumed the prince, turning to the young man, 'I cannot help you;my help would but unchain the thunderbolt that overhangs you; and I canbut leave you free.'

  'And, sir,' said I, 'as this house belongs to me, I will ask you to havethe kindness to remove the body. You and your conspirators, it appearsto me, can hardly in civility do less.'

  'It shall be done,' said the young man, with a dismal accent.

  'And you, dear madam,' said the prince, 'you, to whom I owe my life, howcan I serve you?'

  'Your highness,' I said, 'to be very plain, this is my favourite house,being not only a valuable property, but endeared to me by variousassociations. I have endless troubles with tenants of the ordinaryclass: and at first applauded my good fortune when I found one of thestation of your Master of the Horse. I now begin to think otherwise:dangers set a siege about great personages; and I do not wish my tenementto share these risks. Procure me the resiliation of the lease, and Ishall feel myself your debtor.'

  'I must tell you, madam,' replied his highness, 'that Colonel Geraldineis but a cloak for myself; and I should be sorry indeed to think myselfso unacceptable a tenant.'

  'Your highness,' said I, 'I have conceived a sincere admiration for yourcharacter; but on the subject of house property, I cannot allow theinterference of my feelings. I will, however, to prove to you that thereis nothing personal in my request, here solemnly engage my word that Iwill never put another tenant in this house.'

  'Madam,' said Florizel, 'you plead your cause too charmingly to berefused.'

  Thereupon we all three withdrew. The young man, still reeling in hiswalk, departed by himself to seek the assistance of hisfellow-conspirators; and the prince, with the most attentive gallantry,lent me his escort to the door of my hotel. The next day, the lease wascancelled; nor from that hour to this, though sometimes regretting myengagement, have I suffered a tenant in this house.