Rust implementation of the CVM algorithm for counting distinct elements in a stream
Add benchmarks
author
Stephan Hügel
date
(May 25, 2024, 12:24 PM +0100)
commit
f9083d3b
f9083d3b4e8180f24e2d7634a49be5d7da972211
parent
05b97a21
05b97a212c441c0430c4a7033ef7361fca94ff71
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Cargo.toml
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Cargo.toml
···
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regex = "1.10.4"
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clap = { version = "4.5.4", features = ["cargo"] }
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[dev-dependencies]
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rand = "0.8.5"
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criterion = "0.5.1"
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[lib]
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name = "cvmcount"
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path = "src/lib.rs"
···
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[profile.dist]
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inherits = "release"
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lto = "thin"
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[[bench]]
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name = "benchmarks"
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harness = false
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# Config for 'cargo dist'
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[workspace.metadata.dist]
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README.md
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README.md
···
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If you're thinking about using this library, you presumably know that it only provides an estimate (within the specified bounds), similar to something like HyperLogLog. You are trading accuracy for speed!
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## Perf
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Calculating the unique tokens in a [418K UTF-8 text file](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8492) takes 18.6 ms ± 0.3 ms on an M2 Pro
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Calculating the unique tokens in a [418K UTF-8 text file](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8492) using the CLI takes 18.6 ms ± 0.3 ms on an M2 Pro. Run `cargo bench` for more.
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## Implementation Details
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The CLI app strips punctuation from input tokens using a regex. I assume there is a small performance penalty, but it seems like a small price to pay for increased practicality.
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benches/benchmarks.rs
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benches/benchmarks.rs
···
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#[macro_use]
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extern crate criterion;
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use std::{
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fs::File,
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io::{BufRead, BufReader},
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path::Path,
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};
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use criterion::Criterion;
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use cvmcount::CVM;
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use rand::{thread_rng, Rng};
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use regex::Regex;
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// generate 1 million 7-digit random positive integers
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fn generate_random_numbers() -> Vec<i32> {
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let mut rng = thread_rng();
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let numbers = (0..1_000_000)
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.map(|_| rng.gen_range(1_000_000..10_000_000))
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.collect();
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numbers
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}
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fn open_file<P>(filename: P) -> BufReader<File>
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where
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P: AsRef<Path>,
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{
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let f = File::open(filename).expect("Couldn't read from file");
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BufReader::new(f)
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}
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fn line_to_word(re: &Regex, cvm: &mut CVM<String>, line: &str) {
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let words = line.split(' ');
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words.for_each(|word| {
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let clean_word = re.replace_all(word, "").to_lowercase();
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cvm.process_element(clean_word)
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})
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}
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#[allow(unused_must_use)]
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fn bench_count_strings_integers(c: &mut Criterion) {
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c.bench_function(
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&format!("Count unique strings in The King in Yellow with regex regularization: e = 0.8, d = 0.1, s = 1000"),
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|b| {
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let input_file = "benches/kiy.txt";
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let epsilon = 0.8;
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let delta = 0.1;
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let stream_size = 1000;
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let re = Regex::new(r"[^\w\s]").unwrap();
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b.iter(|| {
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let mut string_counter: CVM<String> = CVM::new(epsilon, delta, stream_size);
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let br = open_file(input_file);
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br.lines()
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.for_each(|line| line_to_word(&re, &mut string_counter, &line.unwrap()));
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string_counter.calculate_final_result()
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})
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},
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);
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c.bench_function(
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&format!("Count uniques in ten million 7-digit random positive integers: e = 0.8, d = 0.1, s = 1000"),
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|b| {
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let epsilon = 0.8;
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let delta = 0.1;
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let stream_size = 1000;
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let digits = generate_random_numbers();
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b.iter(|| {
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let mut int_counter: CVM<i32> = CVM::new(epsilon, delta, stream_size);
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digits.iter().for_each(|integer| int_counter.process_element(*integer));
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int_counter.calculate_final_result()
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})
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}
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);
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}
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criterion_group!(benches, bench_count_strings_integers,);
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criterion_main!(benches);
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benches/kiy.txt
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benches/kiy.txt
···
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The King in Yellow
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This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
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most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
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whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
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of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
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at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
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you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
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before using this eBook.
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Title: The King in Yellow
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Author: Robert W. Chambers
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Release date: July 1, 2005 [eBook #8492]
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Most recently updated: August 23, 2017
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Language: English
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Credits: Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beth Trapaga, Charles Franks,
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and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by
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Chuck Greif.
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING IN YELLOW ***
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Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beth Trapaga, Charles Franks,
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and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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THE KING IN YELLOW
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BY
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ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
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Original publication date: 1895
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THE KING IN YELLOW
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IS DEDICATED
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TO
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MY BROTHER
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Along the shore the cloud waves break,
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The twin suns sink behind the lake,
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The shadows lengthen
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In Carcosa.
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Strange is the night where black stars rise,
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And strange moons circle through the skies
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But stranger still is
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Lost Carcosa.
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Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
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Where flap the tatters of the King,
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Must die unheard in
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Dim Carcosa.
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Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
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Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
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Shall dry and die in
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Lost Carcosa.
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Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act i, Scene 2.
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THE REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS
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I
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"Ne raillons pas les fous; leur folie dure plus longtemps que
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la nôtre.... Voila toute la différence."
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Toward the end of the year 1920 the Government of the United States had
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practically completed the programme, adopted during the last months of
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President Winthrop's administration. The country was apparently tranquil.
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Everybody knows how the Tariff and Labour questions were settled. The war
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with Germany, incident on that country's seizure of the Samoan Islands,
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had left no visible scars upon the republic, and the temporary occupation
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of Norfolk by the invading army had been forgotten in the joy over
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repeated naval victories, and the subsequent ridiculous plight of General
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Von Gartenlaube's forces in the State of New Jersey. The Cuban and
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Hawaiian investments had paid one hundred per cent and the territory of
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Samoa was well worth its cost as a coaling station. The country was in a
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superb state of defence. Every coast city had been well supplied with land
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fortifications; the army under the parental eye of the General Staff,
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organized according to the Prussian system, had been increased to 300,000
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men, with a territorial reserve of a million; and six magnificent
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squadrons of cruisers and battle-ships patrolled the six stations of the
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navigable seas, leaving a steam reserve amply fitted to control home
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waters. The gentlemen from the West had at last been constrained to
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acknowledge that a college for the training of diplomats was as necessary
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as law schools are for the training of barristers; consequently we were no
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longer represented abroad by incompetent patriots. The nation was
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prosperous; Chicago, for a moment paralyzed after a second great fire, had
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risen from its ruins, white and imperial, and more beautiful than the white
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city which had been built for its plaything in 1893. Everywhere good
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architecture was replacing bad, and even in New York, a sudden craving for
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decency had swept away a great portion of the existing horrors. Streets
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had been widened, properly paved and lighted, trees had been planted,
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squares laid out, elevated structures demolished and underground roads
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built to replace them. The new government buildings and barracks were fine
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bits of architecture, and the long system of stone quays which completely
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surrounded the island had been turned into parks which proved a god-send
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to the population. The subsidizing of the state theatre and state opera
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brought its own reward. The United States National Academy of Design was
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much like European institutions of the same kind. Nobody envied the
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Secretary of Fine Arts, either his cabinet position or his portfolio. The
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Secretary of Forestry and Game Preservation had a much easier time, thanks
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to the new system of National Mounted Police. We had profited well by the
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latest treaties with France and England; the exclusion of foreign-born
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Jews as a measure of self-preservation, the settlement of the new
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independent negro state of Suanee, the checking of immigration, the new
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laws concerning naturalization, and the gradual centralization of power in
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the executive all contributed to national calm and prosperity. When the
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Government solved the Indian problem and squadrons of Indian cavalry
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scouts in native costume were substituted for the pitiable organizations
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tacked on to the tail of skeletonized regiments by a former Secretary of
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War, the nation drew a long sigh of relief. When, after the colossal
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Congress of Religions, bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves
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and kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together, many
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thought the millennium had arrived, at least in the new world which after
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all is a world by itself.
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But self-preservation is the first law, and the United States had to look
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on in helpless sorrow as Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium writhed in the
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throes of Anarchy, while Russia, watching from the Caucasus, stooped and
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bound them one by one.
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In the city of New York the summer of 1899 was signalized by the
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dismantling of the Elevated Railroads. The summer of 1900 will live in
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the memories of New York people for many a cycle; the Dodge Statue was
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removed in that year. In the following winter began that agitation for
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the repeal of the laws prohibiting suicide which bore its final fruit in
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the month of April, 1920, when the first Government Lethal Chamber was
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opened on Washington Square.
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I had walked down that day from Dr. Archer's house on Madison Avenue,
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where I had been as a mere formality. Ever since that fall from my horse,
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four years before, I had been troubled at times with pains in the back of
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my head and neck, but now for months they had been absent, and the doctor
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sent me away that day saying there was nothing more to be cured in me. It
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was hardly worth his fee to be told that; I knew it myself. Still I did
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not grudge him the money. What I minded was the mistake which he made at
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first. When they picked me up from the pavement where I lay unconscious,
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and somebody had mercifully sent a bullet through my horse's head, I was
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carried to Dr. Archer, and he, pronouncing my brain affected, placed me
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in his private asylum where I was obliged to endure treatment for
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insanity. At last he decided that I was well, and I, knowing that my mind
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had always been as sound as his, if not sounder, "paid my tuition" as he
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jokingly called it, and left. I told him, smiling, that I would get even
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with him for his mistake, and he laughed heartily, and asked me to call
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once in a while. I did so, hoping for a chance to even up accounts, but
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he gave me none, and I told him I would wait.
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The fall from my horse had fortunately left no evil results; on the
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contrary it had changed my whole character for the better. From a lazy
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young man about town, I had become active, energetic, temperate, and
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above all--oh, above all else--ambitious. There was only one thing which
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troubled me, I laughed at my own uneasiness, and yet it troubled me.
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During my convalescence I had bought and read for the first time, _The
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King in Yellow_. I remember after finishing the first act that it
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occurred to me that I had better stop. I started up and flung the book
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into the fireplace; the volume struck the barred grate and fell open on
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the hearth in the firelight. If I had not caught a glimpse of the opening
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words in the second act I should never have finished it, but as I stooped
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to pick it up, my eyes became riveted to the open page, and with a cry of
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terror, or perhaps it was of joy so poignant that I suffered in every
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nerve, I snatched the thing out of the coals and crept shaking to my
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bedroom, where I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled
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with a horror which at times assails me yet. This is the thing that
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troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the
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heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon,
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when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for
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ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as
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the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation,
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terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now
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trembles before the King in Yellow. When the French Government seized the
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translated copies which had just arrived in Paris, London, of course,
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became eager to read it. It is well known how the book spread like an
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infectious disease, from city to city, from continent to continent,
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barred out here, confiscated there, denounced by Press and pulpit,
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censured even by the most advanced of literary anarchists. No definite
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principles had been violated in those wicked pages, no doctrine
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promulgated, no convictions outraged. It could not be judged by any known
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standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art
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had been struck in _The King in Yellow_, all felt that human nature
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could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of
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purest poison lurked. The very banality and innocence of the first act
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only allowed the blow to fall afterward with more awful effect.
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It was, I remember, the 13th day of April, 1920, that the first
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Government Lethal Chamber was established on the south side of Washington
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Square, between Wooster Street and South Fifth Avenue. The block which
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had formerly consisted of a lot of shabby old buildings, used as cafés
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and restaurants for foreigners, had been acquired by the Government in
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the winter of 1898. The French and Italian cafés and restaurants were
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torn down; the whole block was enclosed by a gilded iron railing, and
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converted into a lovely garden with lawns, flowers and fountains. In the
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centre of the garden stood a small, white building, severely classical in
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architecture, and surrounded by thickets of flowers. Six Ionic columns
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supported the roof, and the single door was of bronze. A splendid marble
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group of the "Fates" stood before the door, the work of a young American
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sculptor, Boris Yvain, who had died in Paris when only twenty-three years
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old.
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The inauguration ceremonies were in progress as I crossed University
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Place and entered the square. I threaded my way through the silent throng
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of spectators, but was stopped at Fourth Street by a cordon of police. A
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regiment of United States lancers were drawn up in a hollow square round
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the Lethal Chamber. On a raised tribune facing Washington Park stood the
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Governor of New York, and behind him were grouped the Mayor of New
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York and Brooklyn, the Inspector-General of Police, the Commandant of
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the state troops, Colonel Livingston, military aid to the President of the
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United States, General Blount, commanding at Governor's Island,
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Major-General Hamilton, commanding the garrison of New York and Brooklyn,
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Admiral Buffby of the fleet in the North River, Surgeon-General
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Lanceford, the staff of the National Free Hospital, Senators Wyse and
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Franklin of New York, and the Commissioner of Public Works. The tribune
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was surrounded by a squadron of hussars of the National Guard.
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The Governor was finishing his reply to the short speech of the
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Surgeon-General. I heard him say: "The laws prohibiting suicide and
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providing punishment for any attempt at self-destruction have been
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repealed. The Government has seen fit to acknowledge the right of man to
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end an existence which may have become intolerable to him, through
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physical suffering or mental despair. It is believed that the community
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will be benefited by the removal of such people from their midst. Since
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the passage of this law, the number of suicides in the United States has
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not increased. Now the Government has determined to establish a Lethal
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Chamber in every city, town and village in the country, it remains to be
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seen whether or not that class of human creatures from whose desponding
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ranks new victims of self-destruction fall daily will accept the relief
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thus provided." He paused, and turned to the white Lethal Chamber. The
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silence in the street was absolute. "There a painless death awaits him
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who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life. If death is welcome let
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him seek it there." Then quickly turning to the military aid of the
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President's household, he said, "I declare the Lethal Chamber open," and
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again facing the vast crowd he cried in a clear voice: "Citizens of New
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York and of the United States of America, through me the Government
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declares the Lethal Chamber to be open."
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The solemn hush was broken by a sharp cry of command, the squadron of
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hussars filed after the Governor's carriage, the lancers wheeled and
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formed along Fifth Avenue to wait for the commandant of the garrison, and
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the mounted police followed them. I left the crowd to gape and stare at
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the white marble Death Chamber, and, crossing South Fifth Avenue, walked
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along the western side of that thoroughfare to Bleecker Street. Then I
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turned to the right and stopped before a dingy shop which bore the sign:
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HAWBERK, ARMOURER.
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I glanced in at the doorway and saw Hawberk busy in his little shop at
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the end of the hall. He looked up, and catching sight of me cried in his
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deep, hearty voice, "Come in, Mr. Castaigne!" Constance, his daughter,
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rose to meet me as I crossed the threshold, and held out her pretty
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hand, but I saw the blush of disappointment on her cheeks, and knew
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that it was another Castaigne she had expected, my cousin Louis. I
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smiled at her confusion and complimented her on the banner she was
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embroidering from a coloured plate. Old Hawberk sat riveting the worn
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greaves of some ancient suit of armour, and the ting! ting! ting! of his
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little hammer sounded pleasantly in the quaint shop. Presently he
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dropped his hammer, and fussed about for a moment with a tiny wrench.
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The soft clash of the mail sent a thrill of pleasure through me. I
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loved to hear the music of steel brushing against steel, the mellow
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shock of the mallet on thigh pieces, and the jingle of chain armour.
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That was the only reason I went to see Hawberk. He had never interested
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me personally, nor did Constance, except for the fact of her being in
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love with Louis. This did occupy my attention, and sometimes even kept
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me awake at night. But I knew in my heart that all would come right,
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and that I should arrange their future as I expected to arrange that of
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my kind doctor, John Archer. However, I should never have troubled
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myself about visiting them just then, had it not been, as I say, that
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the music of the tinkling hammer had for me this strong fascination. I
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would sit for hours, listening and listening, and when a stray sunbeam
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struck the inlaid steel, the sensation it gave me was almost too keen
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to endure. My eyes would become fixed, dilating with a pleasure that
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stretched every nerve almost to breaking, until some movement of the
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old armourer cut off the ray of sunlight, then, still thrilling
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secretly, I leaned back and listened again to the sound of the
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polishing rag, swish! swish! rubbing rust from the rivets.
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Constance worked with the embroidery over her knees, now and then pausing
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to examine more closely the pattern in the coloured plate from the
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Metropolitan Museum.
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"Who is this for?" I asked.
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Hawberk explained, that in addition to the treasures of armour in the
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Metropolitan Museum of which he had been appointed armourer, he also
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had charge of several collections belonging to rich amateurs. This was the
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missing greave of a famous suit which a client of his had traced to a
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little shop in Paris on the Quai d'Orsay. He, Hawberk, had negotiated for
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and secured the greave, and now the suit was complete. He laid down his
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hammer and read me the history of the suit, traced since 1450 from owner
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to owner until it was acquired by Thomas Stainbridge. When his superb
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collection was sold, this client of Hawberk's bought the suit, and since
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then the search for the missing greave had been pushed until it was,
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almost by accident, located in Paris.
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"Did you continue the search so persistently without any certainty of the
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greave being still in existence?" I demanded.
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+
"Of course," he replied coolly.
327
+
328
+
Then for the first time I took a personal interest in Hawberk.
329
+
330
+
"It was worth something to you," I ventured.
331
+
332
+
"No," he replied, laughing, "my pleasure in finding it was my reward."
333
+
334
+
"Have you no ambition to be rich?" I asked, smiling.
335
+
336
+
"My one ambition is to be the best armourer in the world," he answered
337
+
gravely.
338
+
339
+
Constance asked me if I had seen the ceremonies at the Lethal Chamber.
340
+
She herself had noticed cavalry passing up Broadway that morning, and had
341
+
wished to see the inauguration, but her father wanted the banner
342
+
finished, and she had stayed at his request.
343
+
344
+
"Did you see your cousin, Mr. Castaigne, there?" she asked, with the
345
+
slightest tremor of her soft eyelashes.
346
+
347
+
"No," I replied carelessly. "Louis' regiment is manoeuvring out in
348
+
Westchester County." I rose and picked up my hat and cane.
349
+
350
+
"Are you going upstairs to see the lunatic again?" laughed old Hawberk.
351
+
If Hawberk knew how I loathe that word "lunatic," he would never use it
352
+
in my presence. It rouses certain feelings within me which I do not care
353
+
to explain. However, I answered him quietly: "I think I shall drop in and
354
+
see Mr. Wilde for a moment or two."
355
+
356
+
"Poor fellow," said Constance, with a shake of the head, "it must be hard
357
+
to live alone year after year poor, crippled and almost demented. It is
358
+
very good of you, Mr. Castaigne, to visit him as often as you do."
359
+
360
+
"I think he is vicious," observed Hawberk, beginning again with his
361
+
hammer. I listened to the golden tinkle on the greave plates; when he had
362
+
finished I replied:
363
+
364
+
"No, he is not vicious, nor is he in the least demented. His mind is a
365
+
wonder chamber, from which he can extract treasures that you and I would
366
+
give years of our life to acquire."'
367
+
368
+
Hawberk laughed.
369
+
370
+
I continued a little impatiently: "He knows history as no one else could
371
+
know it. Nothing, however trivial, escapes his search, and his memory is
372
+
so absolute, so precise in details, that were it known in New York that
373
+
such a man existed, the people could not honour him enough."
374
+
375
+
"Nonsense," muttered Hawberk, searching on the floor for a fallen rivet.
376
+
377
+
"Is it nonsense," I asked, managing to suppress what I felt, "is it
378
+
nonsense when he says that the tassets and cuissards of the enamelled
379
+
suit of armour commonly known as the 'Prince's Emblazoned' can be found
380
+
among a mass of rusty theatrical properties, broken stoves and
381
+
ragpicker's refuse in a garret in Pell Street?"
382
+
383
+
Hawberk's hammer fell to the ground, but he picked it up and asked, with
384
+
a great deal of calm, how I knew that the tassets and left cuissard were
385
+
missing from the "Prince's Emblazoned."
386
+
387
+
"I did not know until Mr. Wilde mentioned it to me the other day. He said
388
+
they were in the garret of 998 Pell Street."
389
+
390
+
"Nonsense," he cried, but I noticed his hand trembling under his leathern
391
+
apron.
392
+
393
+
"Is this nonsense too?" I asked pleasantly, "is it nonsense when Mr.
394
+
Wilde continually speaks of you as the Marquis of Avonshire and of Miss
395
+
Constance--"
396
+
397
+
I did not finish, for Constance had started to her feet with terror
398
+
written on every feature. Hawberk looked at me and slowly smoothed his
399
+
leathern apron.
400
+
401
+
"That is impossible," he observed, "Mr. Wilde may know a great many
402
+
things--"
403
+
404
+
"About armour, for instance, and the 'Prince's Emblazoned,'" I
405
+
interposed, smiling.
406
+
407
+
"Yes," he continued, slowly, "about armour also--may be--but he is wrong
408
+
in regard to the Marquis of Avonshire, who, as you know, killed his
409
+
wife's traducer years ago, and went to Australia where he did not long
410
+
survive his wife."
411
+
412
+
"Mr. Wilde is wrong," murmured Constance. Her lips were blanched, but her
413
+
voice was sweet and calm.
414
+
415
+
"Let us agree, if you please, that in this one circumstance Mr. Wilde is
416
+
wrong," I said.
417
+
418
+
419
+
420
+
421
+
II
422
+
423
+
I climbed the three dilapidated flights of stairs, which I had so often
424
+
climbed before, and knocked at a small door at the end of the corridor.
425
+
Mr. Wilde opened the door and I walked in.
426
+
427
+
When he had double-locked the door and pushed a heavy chest against it,
428
+
he came and sat down beside me, peering up into my face with his little
429
+
light-coloured eyes. Half a dozen new scratches covered his nose and
430
+
cheeks, and the silver wires which supported his artificial ears had
431
+
become displaced. I thought I had never seen him so hideously
432
+
fascinating. He had no ears. The artificial ones, which now stood out at
433
+
an angle from the fine wire, were his one weakness. They were made of wax
434
+
and painted a shell pink, but the rest of his face was yellow. He might
435
+
better have revelled in the luxury of some artificial fingers for his
436
+
left hand, which was absolutely fingerless, but it seemed to cause him no
437
+
inconvenience, and he was satisfied with his wax ears. He was very small,
438
+
scarcely higher than a child of ten, but his arms were magnificently
439
+
developed, and his thighs as thick as any athlete's. Still, the most
440
+
remarkable thing about Mr. Wilde was that a man of his marvellous
441
+
intelligence and knowledge should have such a head. It was flat and
442
+
pointed, like the heads of many of those unfortunates whom people
443
+
imprison in asylums for the weak-minded. Many called him insane, but I
444
+
knew him to be as sane as I was.
445
+
446
+
I do not deny that he was eccentric; the mania he had for keeping that
447
+
cat and teasing her until she flew at his face like a demon, was
448
+
certainly eccentric. I never could understand why he kept the creature,
449
+
nor what pleasure he found in shutting himself up in his room with this
450
+
surly, vicious beast. I remember once, glancing up from the manuscript I
451
+
was studying by the light of some tallow dips, and seeing Mr. Wilde
452
+
squatting motionless on his high chair, his eyes fairly blazing with
453
+
excitement, while the cat, which had risen from her place before the
454
+
stove, came creeping across the floor right at him. Before I could move
455
+
she flattened her belly to the ground, crouched, trembled, and sprang
456
+
into his face. Howling and foaming they rolled over and over on the
457
+
floor, scratching and clawing, until the cat screamed and fled under the
458
+
cabinet, and Mr. Wilde turned over on his back, his limbs contracting and
459
+
curling up like the legs of a dying spider. He _was_ eccentric.
460
+
461
+
Mr. Wilde had climbed into his high chair, and, after studying my face,
462
+
picked up a dog's-eared ledger and opened it.
463
+
464
+
"Henry B. Matthews," he read, "book-keeper with Whysot Whysot and
465
+
Company, dealers in church ornaments. Called April 3rd. Reputation
466
+
damaged on the race-track. Known as a welcher. Reputation to be repaired
467
+
by August 1st. Retainer Five Dollars." He turned the page and ran his
468
+
fingerless knuckles down the closely-written columns.
469
+
470
+
"P. Greene Dusenberry, Minister of the Gospel, Fairbeach, New Jersey.
471
+
Reputation damaged in the Bowery. To be repaired as soon as possible.
472
+
Retainer $100."
473
+
474
+
He coughed and added, "Called, April 6th."
475
+
476
+
"Then you are not in need of money, Mr. Wilde," I inquired.
477
+
478
+
"Listen," he coughed again.
479
+
480
+
"Mrs. C. Hamilton Chester, of Chester Park, New York City. Called April
481
+
7th. Reputation damaged at Dieppe, France. To be repaired by October 1st
482
+
Retainer $500.
483
+
484
+
"Note.--C. Hamilton Chester, Captain U.S.S. 'Avalanche', ordered home
485
+
from South Sea Squadron October 1st."
486
+
487
+
"Well," I said, "the profession of a Repairer of Reputations is
488
+
lucrative."
489
+
490
+
His colourless eyes sought mine, "I only wanted to demonstrate that I
491
+
was correct. You said it was impossible to succeed as a Repairer of
492
+
Reputations; that even if I did succeed in certain cases it would cost
493
+
me more than I would gain by it. To-day I have five hundred men in my
494
+
employ, who are poorly paid, but who pursue the work with an enthusiasm
495
+
which possibly may be born of fear. These men enter every shade and grade
496
+
of society; some even are pillars of the most exclusive social temples;
497
+
others are the prop and pride of the financial world; still others, hold
498
+
undisputed sway among the 'Fancy and the Talent.' I choose them at my
499
+
leisure from those who reply to my advertisements. It is easy enough,
500
+
they are all cowards. I could treble the number in twenty days if I
501
+
wished. So you see, those who have in their keeping the reputations of
502
+
their fellow-citizens, I have in my pay."
503
+
504
+
"They may turn on you," I suggested.
505
+
506
+
He rubbed his thumb over his cropped ears, and adjusted the wax
507
+
substitutes. "I think not," he murmured thoughtfully, "I seldom have to
508
+
apply the whip, and then only once. Besides they like their wages."
509
+
510
+
"How do you apply the whip?" I demanded.
511
+
512
+
His face for a moment was awful to look upon. His eyes dwindled to a pair
513
+
of green sparks.
514
+
515
+
"I invite them to come and have a little chat with me," he said in a soft
516
+
voice.
517
+
518
+
A knock at the door interrupted him, and his face resumed its amiable
519
+
expression.
520
+
521
+
"Who is it?" he inquired.
522
+
523
+
"Mr. Steylette," was the answer.
524
+
525
+
"Come to-morrow," replied Mr. Wilde.
526
+
527
+
"Impossible," began the other, but was silenced by a sort of bark from
528
+
Mr. Wilde.
529
+
530
+
"Come to-morrow," he repeated.
531
+
532
+
We heard somebody move away from the door and turn the corner by the
533
+
stairway.
534
+
535
+
"Who is that?" I asked.
536
+
537
+
"Arnold Steylette, Owner and Editor in Chief of the great New York
538
+
daily."
539
+
540
+
He drummed on the ledger with his fingerless hand adding: "I pay him very
541
+
badly, but he thinks it a good bargain."
542
+
543
+
"Arnold Steylette!" I repeated amazed.
544
+
545
+
"Yes," said Mr. Wilde, with a self-satisfied cough.
546
+
547
+
The cat, which had entered the room as he spoke, hesitated, looked up at
548
+
him and snarled. He climbed down from the chair and squatting on the
549
+
floor, took the creature into his arms and caressed her. The cat ceased
550
+
snarling and presently began a loud purring which seemed to increase in
551
+
timbre as he stroked her. "Where are the notes?" I asked. He pointed to
552
+
the table, and for the hundredth time I picked up the bundle of
553
+
manuscript entitled--
554
+
555
+
"THE IMPERIAL DYNASTY OF AMERICA."
556
+
557
+
One by one I studied the well-worn pages, worn only by my own handling,
558
+
and although I knew all by heart, from the beginning, "When from Carcosa,
559
+
the Hyades, Hastur, and Aldebaran," to "Castaigne, Louis de Calvados,
560
+
born December 19th, 1877," I read it with an eager, rapt attention,
561
+
pausing to repeat parts of it aloud, and dwelling especially on "Hildred
562
+
de Calvados, only son of Hildred Castaigne and Edythe Landes Castaigne,
563
+
first in succession," etc., etc.
564
+
565
+
When I finished, Mr. Wilde nodded and coughed.
566
+
567
+
"Speaking of your legitimate ambition," he said, "how do Constance and
568
+
Louis get along?"
569
+
570
+
"She loves him," I replied simply.
571
+
572
+
The cat on his knee suddenly turned and struck at his eyes, and he flung
573
+
her off and climbed on to the chair opposite me.
574
+
575
+
"And Dr. Archer! But that's a matter you can settle any time you wish,"
576
+
he added.
577
+
578
+
"Yes," I replied, "Dr. Archer can wait, but it is time I saw my cousin
579
+
Louis."
580
+
581
+
"It is time," he repeated. Then he took another ledger from the table and
582
+
ran over the leaves rapidly. "We are now in communication with ten
583
+
thousand men," he muttered. "We can count on one hundred thousand within
584
+
the first twenty-eight hours, and in forty-eight hours the state will
585
+
rise _en masse_. The country follows the state, and the portion that
586
+
will not, I mean California and the Northwest, might better never have
587
+
been inhabited. I shall not send them the Yellow Sign."
588
+
589
+
The blood rushed to my head, but I only answered, "A new broom sweeps
590
+
clean."
591
+
592
+
"The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not
593
+
rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their
594
+
unborn thoughts," said Mr. Wilde.
595
+
596
+
"You are speaking of the King in Yellow," I groaned, with a shudder.
597
+
598
+
"He is a king whom emperors have served."
599
+
600
+
"I am content to serve him," I replied.
601
+
602
+
Mr. Wilde sat rubbing his ears with his crippled hand. "Perhaps Constance
603
+
does not love him," he suggested.
604
+
605
+
I started to reply, but a sudden burst of military music from the street
606
+
below drowned my voice. The twentieth dragoon regiment, formerly in
607
+
garrison at Mount St. Vincent, was returning from the manoeuvres in
608
+
Westchester County, to its new barracks on East Washington Square. It was
609
+
my cousin's regiment. They were a fine lot of fellows, in their pale
610
+
blue, tight-fitting jackets, jaunty busbys and white riding breeches with
611
+
the double yellow stripe, into which their limbs seemed moulded. Every
612
+
other squadron was armed with lances, from the metal points of which
613
+
fluttered yellow and white pennons. The band passed, playing the
614
+
regimental march, then came the colonel and staff, the horses crowding
615
+
and trampling, while their heads bobbed in unison, and the pennons
616
+
fluttered from their lance points. The troopers, who rode with the
617
+
beautiful English seat, looked brown as berries from their bloodless
618
+
campaign among the farms of Westchester, and the music of their sabres
619
+
against the stirrups, and the jingle of spurs and carbines was delightful
620
+
to me. I saw Louis riding with his squadron. He was as handsome an
621
+
officer as I have ever seen. Mr. Wilde, who had mounted a chair by the
622
+
window, saw him too, but said nothing. Louis turned and looked straight
623
+
at Hawberk's shop as he passed, and I could see the flush on his brown
624
+
cheeks. I think Constance must have been at the window. When the last
625
+
troopers had clattered by, and the last pennons vanished into South Fifth
626
+
Avenue, Mr. Wilde clambered out of his chair and dragged the chest away
627
+
from the door.
628
+
629
+
"Yes," he said, "it is time that you saw your cousin Louis."
630
+
631
+
He unlocked the door and I picked up my hat and stick and stepped into
632
+
the corridor. The stairs were dark. Groping about, I set my foot on
633
+
something soft, which snarled and spit, and I aimed a murderous blow at
634
+
the cat, but my cane shivered to splinters against the balustrade, and
635
+
the beast scurried back into Mr. Wilde's room.
636
+
637
+
Passing Hawberk's door again I saw him still at work on the armour, but
638
+
I did not stop, and stepping out into Bleecker Street, I followed it to
639
+
Wooster, skirted the grounds of the Lethal Chamber, and crossing
640
+
Washington Park went straight to my rooms in the Benedick. Here I lunched
641
+
comfortably, read the _Herald_ and the _Meteor_, and finally went
642
+
to the steel safe in my bedroom and set the time combination. The
643
+
three and three-quarter minutes which it is necessary to wait, while the
644
+
time lock is opening, are to me golden moments. From the instant I set
645
+
the combination to the moment when I grasp the knobs and swing back
646
+
the solid steel doors, I live in an ecstasy of expectation. Those moments
647
+
must be like moments passed in Paradise. I know what I am to find at
648
+
the end of the time limit. I know what the massive safe holds secure for
649
+
me, for me alone, and the exquisite pleasure of waiting is hardly enhanced
650
+
when the safe opens and I lift, from its velvet crown, a diadem of purest
651
+
gold, blazing with diamonds. I do this every day, and yet the joy of
652
+
waiting and at last touching again the diadem, only seems to increase as
653
+
the days pass. It is a diadem fit for a King among kings, an Emperor
654
+
among emperors. The King in Yellow might scorn it, but it shall be worn
655
+
by his royal servant.
656
+
657
+
I held it in my arms until the alarm in the safe rang harshly, and then
658
+
tenderly, proudly, I replaced it and shut the steel doors. I walked
659
+
slowly back into my study, which faces Washington Square, and leaned on
660
+
the window sill. The afternoon sun poured into my windows, and a gentle
661
+
breeze stirred the branches of the elms and maples in the park, now
662
+
covered with buds and tender foliage. A flock of pigeons circled about
663
+
the tower of the Memorial Church; sometimes alighting on the purple tiled
664
+
roof, sometimes wheeling downward to the lotos fountain in front of the
665
+
marble arch. The gardeners were busy with the flower beds around the
666
+
fountain, and the freshly turned earth smelled sweet and spicy. A lawn
667
+
mower, drawn by a fat white horse, clinked across the green sward, and
668
+
watering-carts poured showers of spray over the asphalt drives. Around
669
+
the statue of Peter Stuyvesant, which in 1897 had replaced the
670
+
monstrosity supposed to represent Garibaldi, children played in the
671
+
spring sunshine, and nurse girls wheeled elaborate baby carriages with a
672
+
reckless disregard for the pasty-faced occupants, which could probably be
673
+
explained by the presence of half a dozen trim dragoon troopers languidly
674
+
lolling on the benches. Through the trees, the Washington Memorial Arch
675
+
glistened like silver in the sunshine, and beyond, on the eastern
676
+
extremity of the square the grey stone barracks of the dragoons, and the
677
+
white granite artillery stables were alive with colour and motion.
678
+
679
+
I looked at the Lethal Chamber on the corner of the square opposite. A
680
+
few curious people still lingered about the gilded iron railing, but
681
+
inside the grounds the paths were deserted. I watched the fountains
682
+
ripple and sparkle; the sparrows had already found this new bathing nook,
683
+
and the basins were covered with the dusty-feathered little things. Two
684
+
or three white peacocks picked their way across the lawns, and a drab
685
+
coloured pigeon sat so motionless on the arm of one of the "Fates," that
686
+
it seemed to be a part of the sculptured stone.
687
+
688
+
As I was turning carelessly away, a slight commotion in the group of
689
+
curious loiterers around the gates attracted my attention. A young man
690
+
had entered, and was advancing with nervous strides along the gravel path
691
+
which leads to the bronze doors of the Lethal Chamber. He paused a moment
692
+
before the "Fates," and as he raised his head to those three mysterious
693
+
faces, the pigeon rose from its sculptured perch, circled about for a
694
+
moment and wheeled to the east. The young man pressed his hand to his
695
+
face, and then with an undefinable gesture sprang up the marble steps,
696
+
the bronze doors closed behind him, and half an hour later the loiterers
697
+
slouched away, and the frightened pigeon returned to its perch in the
698
+
arms of Fate.
699
+
700
+
I put on my hat and went out into the park for a little walk before
701
+
dinner. As I crossed the central driveway a group of officers passed, and
702
+
one of them called out, "Hello, Hildred," and came back to shake hands
703
+
with me. It was my cousin Louis, who stood smiling and tapping his
704
+
spurred heels with his riding-whip.
705
+
706
+
"Just back from Westchester," he said; "been doing the bucolic; milk and
707
+
curds, you know, dairy-maids in sunbonnets, who say 'haeow' and 'I don't
708
+
think' when you tell them they are pretty. I'm nearly dead for a square
709
+
meal at Delmonico's. What's the news?"
710
+
711
+
"There is none," I replied pleasantly. "I saw your regiment coming in this
712
+
morning."
713
+
714
+
"Did you? I didn't see you. Where were you?"
715
+
716
+
"In Mr. Wilde's window."
717
+
718
+
"Oh, hell!" he began impatiently, "that man is stark mad! I don't
719
+
understand why you--"
720
+
721
+
He saw how annoyed I felt by this outburst, and begged my pardon.
722
+
723
+
"Really, old chap," he said, "I don't mean to run down a man you like,
724
+
but for the life of me I can't see what the deuce you find in common with
725
+
Mr. Wilde. He's not well bred, to put it generously; he is hideously
726
+
deformed; his head is the head of a criminally insane person. You know
727
+
yourself he's been in an asylum--"
728
+
729
+
"So have I," I interrupted calmly.
730
+
731
+
Louis looked startled and confused for a moment, but recovered and
732
+
slapped me heartily on the shoulder. "You were completely cured," he
733
+
began; but I stopped him again.
734
+
735
+
"I suppose you mean that I was simply acknowledged never to have been
736
+
insane."
737
+
738
+
"Of course that--that's what I meant," he laughed.
739
+
740
+
I disliked his laugh because I knew it was forced, but I nodded gaily and
741
+
asked him where he was going. Louis looked after his brother officers who
742
+
had now almost reached Broadway.
743
+
744
+
"We had intended to sample a Brunswick cocktail, but to tell you the
745
+
truth I was anxious for an excuse to go and see Hawberk instead. Come
746
+
along, I'll make you my excuse."
747
+
748
+
We found old Hawberk, neatly attired in a fresh spring suit, standing at
749
+
the door of his shop and sniffing the air.
750
+
751
+
"I had just decided to take Constance for a little stroll before dinner,"
752
+
he replied to the impetuous volley of questions from Louis. "We thought
753
+
of walking on the park terrace along the North River."
754
+
755
+
At that moment Constance appeared and grew pale and rosy by turns as
756
+
Louis bent over her small gloved fingers. I tried to excuse myself,
757
+
alleging an engagement uptown, but Louis and Constance would not listen,
758
+
and I saw I was expected to remain and engage old Hawberk's attention.
759
+
After all it would be just as well if I kept my eye on Louis, I thought,
760
+
and when they hailed a Spring Street horse-car, I got in after them and
761
+
took my seat beside the armourer.
762
+
763
+
The beautiful line of parks and granite terraces overlooking the wharves
764
+
along the North River, which were built in 1910 and finished in the
765
+
autumn of 1917, had become one of the most popular promenades in the
766
+
metropolis. They extended from the battery to 190th Street, overlooking
767
+
the noble river and affording a fine view of the Jersey shore and the
768
+
Highlands opposite. Cafés and restaurants were scattered here and there
769
+
among the trees, and twice a week military bands from the garrison played
770
+
in the kiosques on the parapets.
771
+
772
+
We sat down in the sunshine on the bench at the foot of the equestrian
773
+
statue of General Sheridan. Constance tipped her sunshade to shield her
774
+
eyes, and she and Louis began a murmuring conversation which was
775
+
impossible to catch. Old Hawberk, leaning on his ivory headed cane,
776
+
lighted an excellent cigar, the mate to which I politely refused, and
777
+
smiled at vacancy. The sun hung low above the Staten Island woods, and
778
+
the bay was dyed with golden hues reflected from the sun-warmed sails of
779
+
the shipping in the harbour.
780
+
781
+
Brigs, schooners, yachts, clumsy ferry-boats, their decks swarming with
782
+
people, railroad transports carrying lines of brown, blue and white
783
+
freight cars, stately sound steamers, déclassé tramp steamers, coasters,
784
+
dredgers, scows, and everywhere pervading the entire bay impudent little
785
+
tugs puffing and whistling officiously;--these were the craft which
786
+
churned the sunlight waters as far as the eye could reach. In calm
787
+
contrast to the hurry of sailing vessel and steamer a silent fleet of
788
+
white warships lay motionless in midstream.
789
+
790
+
Constance's merry laugh aroused me from my reverie.
791
+
792
+
"What _are_ you staring at?" she inquired.
793
+
794
+
"Nothing--the fleet," I smiled.
795
+
796
+
Then Louis told us what the vessels were, pointing out each by its
797
+
relative position to the old Red Fort on Governor's Island.
798
+
799
+
"That little cigar shaped thing is a torpedo boat," he explained; "there
800
+
are four more lying close together. They are the _Tarpon_, the _Falcon_,
801
+
the _Sea Fox_, and the _Octopus_. The gun-boats just above are the
802
+
_Princeton_, the _Champlain_, the _Still Water_ and the _Erie_. Next to
803
+
them lie the cruisers _Faragut_ and _Los Angeles_, and above them the
804
+
battle ships _California_, and _Dakota_, and the _Washington_ which is
805
+
the flag ship. Those two squatty looking chunks of metal which are
806
+
anchored there off Castle William are the double turreted monitors
807
+
_Terrible_ and _Magnificent_; behind them lies the ram, _Osceola_."
808
+
809
+
Constance looked at him with deep approval in her beautiful eyes. "What
810
+
loads of things you know for a soldier," she said, and we all joined in
811
+
the laugh which followed.
812
+
813
+
Presently Louis rose with a nod to us and offered his arm to Constance,
814
+
and they strolled away along the river wall. Hawberk watched them for a
815
+
moment and then turned to me.
816
+
817
+
"Mr. Wilde was right," he said. "I have found the missing tassets and
818
+
left cuissard of the 'Prince's Emblazoned,' in a vile old junk garret in
819
+
Pell Street."
820
+
821
+
"998?" I inquired, with a smile.
822
+
823
+
"Yes."
824
+
825
+
"Mr. Wilde is a very intelligent man," I observed.
826
+
827
+
"I want to give him the credit of this most important discovery,"
828
+
continued Hawberk. "And I intend it shall be known that he is entitled
829
+
to the fame of it."
830
+
831
+
"He won't thank you for that," I answered sharply; "please say nothing
832
+
about it."
833
+
834
+
"Do you know what it is worth?" said Hawberk.
835
+
836
+
"No, fifty dollars, perhaps."
837
+
838
+
"It is valued at five hundred, but the owner of the 'Prince's Emblazoned'
839
+
will give two thousand dollars to the person who completes his suit; that
840
+
reward also belongs to Mr. Wilde."
841
+
842
+
"He doesn't want it! He refuses it!" I answered angrily. "What do you
843
+
know about Mr. Wilde? He doesn't need the money. He is rich--or will
844
+
be--richer than any living man except myself. What will we care for money
845
+
then--what will we care, he and I, when--when--"
846
+
847
+
"When what?" demanded Hawberk, astonished.
848
+
849
+
"You will see," I replied, on my guard again.
850
+
851
+
He looked at me narrowly, much as Doctor Archer used to, and I knew he
852
+
thought I was mentally unsound. Perhaps it was fortunate for him that he
853
+
did not use the word lunatic just then.
854
+
855
+
"No," I replied to his unspoken thought, "I am not mentally weak; my mind
856
+
is as healthy as Mr. Wilde's. I do not care to explain just yet what I
857
+
have on hand, but it is an investment which will pay more than mere gold,
858
+
silver and precious stones. It will secure the happiness and prosperity
859
+
of a continent--yes, a hemisphere!"
860
+
861
+
"Oh," said Hawberk.
862
+
863
+
"And eventually," I continued more quietly, "it will secure the happiness
864
+
of the whole world."
865
+
866
+
"And incidentally your own happiness and prosperity as well as Mr.
867
+
Wilde's?"
868
+
869
+
"Exactly," I smiled. But I could have throttled him for taking that tone.
870
+
871
+
He looked at me in silence for a while and then said very gently, "Why
872
+
don't you give up your books and studies, Mr. Castaigne, and take a tramp
873
+
among the mountains somewhere or other? You used to be fond of fishing.
874
+
Take a cast or two at the trout in the Rangelys."
875
+
876
+
"I don't care for fishing any more," I answered, without a shade of
877
+
annoyance in my voice.
878
+
879
+
"You used to be fond of everything," he continued; "athletics, yachting,
880
+
shooting, riding--"
881
+
882
+
"I have never cared to ride since my fall," I said quietly.
883
+
884
+
"Ah, yes, your fall," he repeated, looking away from me.
885
+
886
+
I thought this nonsense had gone far enough, so I brought the
887
+
conversation back to Mr. Wilde; but he was scanning my face again in a
888
+
manner highly offensive to me.
889
+
890
+
"Mr. Wilde," he repeated, "do you know what he did this afternoon? He
891
+
came downstairs and nailed a sign over the hall door next to mine; it
892
+
read:
893
+
894
+
"MR. WILDE,
895
+
REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS.
896
+
Third Bell.
897
+
898
+
"Do you know what a Repairer of Reputations can be?"
899
+
900
+
"I do," I replied, suppressing the rage within.
901
+
902
+
"Oh," he said again.
903
+
904
+
Louis and Constance came strolling by and stopped to ask if we would join
905
+
them. Hawberk looked at his watch. At the same moment a puff of smoke
906
+
shot from the casemates of Castle William, and the boom of the sunset gun
907
+
rolled across the water and was re-echoed from the Highlands opposite.
908
+
The flag came running down from the flag-pole, the bugles sounded on the
909
+
white decks of the warships, and the first electric light sparkled out
910
+
from the Jersey shore.
911
+
912
+
As I turned into the city with Hawberk I heard Constance murmur something
913
+
to Louis which I did not understand; but Louis whispered "My darling," in
914
+
reply; and again, walking ahead with Hawberk through the square I heard a
915
+
murmur of "sweetheart," and "my own Constance," and I knew the time had
916
+
nearly arrived when I should speak of important matters with my cousin
917
+
Louis.
918
+
919
+
920
+
921
+
922
+
III
923
+
924
+
One morning early in May I stood before the steel safe in my bedroom,
925
+
trying on the golden jewelled crown. The diamonds flashed fire as I
926
+
turned to the mirror, and the heavy beaten gold burned like a halo about
927
+
my head. I remembered Camilla's agonized scream and the awful words
928
+
echoing through the dim streets of Carcosa. They were the last lines in
929
+
the first act, and I dared not think of what followed--dared not, even
930
+
in the spring sunshine, there in my own room, surrounded with familiar
931
+
objects, reassured by the bustle from the street and the voices of the
932
+
servants in the hallway outside. For those poisoned words had dropped
933
+
slowly into my heart, as death-sweat drops upon a bed-sheet and is
934
+
absorbed. Trembling, I put the diadem from my head and wiped my forehead,
935
+
but I thought of Hastur and of my own rightful ambition, and I remembered
936
+
Mr. Wilde as I had last left him, his face all torn and bloody from the
937
+
claws of that devil's creature, and what he said--ah, what he said. The
938
+
alarm bell in the safe began to whirr harshly, and I knew my time was up;
939
+
but I would not heed it, and replacing the flashing circlet upon my head
940
+
I turned defiantly to the mirror. I stood for a long time absorbed in the
941
+
changing expression of my own eyes. The mirror reflected a face which was
942
+
like my own, but whiter, and so thin that I hardly recognized it And all
943
+
the time I kept repeating between my clenched teeth, "The day has come!
944
+
the day has come!" while the alarm in the safe whirred and clamoured, and
945
+
the diamonds sparkled and flamed above my brow. I heard a door open but
946
+
did not heed it. It was only when I saw two faces in the mirror:--it was
947
+
only when another face rose over my shoulder, and two other eyes met
948
+
mine. I wheeled like a flash and seized a long knife from my
949
+
dressing-table, and my cousin sprang back very pale, crying: "Hildred!
950
+
for God's sake!" then as my hand fell, he said: "It is I, Louis, don't
951
+
you know me?" I stood silent. I could not have spoken for my life. He
952
+
walked up to me and took the knife from my hand.
953
+
954
+
"What is all this?" he inquired, in a gentle voice. "Are you ill?"
955
+
956
+
"No," I replied. But I doubt if he heard me.
957
+
958
+
"Come, come, old fellow," he cried, "take off that brass crown and toddle
959
+
into the study. Are you going to a masquerade? What's all this theatrical
960
+
tinsel anyway?"
961
+
962
+
I was glad he thought the crown was made of brass and paste, yet I didn't
963
+
like him any the better for thinking so. I let him take it from my hand,
964
+
knowing it was best to humour him. He tossed the splendid diadem in the
965
+
air, and catching it, turned to me smiling.
966
+
967
+
"It's dear at fifty cents," he said. "What's it for?"
968
+
969
+
I did not answer, but took the circlet from his hands, and placing it in
970
+
the safe shut the massive steel door. The alarm ceased its infernal din
971
+
at once. He watched me curiously, but did not seem to notice the sudden
972
+
ceasing of the alarm. He did, however, speak of the safe as a biscuit
973
+
box. Fearing lest he might examine the combination I led the way into my
974
+
study. Louis threw himself on the sofa and flicked at flies with his
975
+
eternal riding-whip. He wore his fatigue uniform with the braided jacket
976
+
and jaunty cap, and I noticed that his riding-boots were all splashed
977
+
with red mud.
978
+
979
+
"Where have you been?" I inquired.
980
+
981
+
"Jumping mud creeks in Jersey," he said. "I haven't had time to change
982
+
yet; I was rather in a hurry to see you. Haven't you got a glass of
983
+
something? I'm dead tired; been in the saddle twenty-four hours."
984
+
985
+
I gave him some brandy from my medicinal store, which he drank with a
986
+
grimace.
987
+
988
+
"Damned bad stuff," he observed. "I'll give you an address where they
989
+
sell brandy that is brandy."
990
+
991
+
"It's good enough for my needs," I said indifferently. "I use it to rub
992
+
my chest with." He stared and flicked at another fly.
993
+
994
+
"See here, old fellow," he began, "I've got something to suggest to you.
995
+
It's four years now that you've shut yourself up here like an owl, never
996
+
going anywhere, never taking any healthy exercise, never doing a damn
997
+
thing but poring over those books up there on the mantelpiece."
998
+
999
+
He glanced along the row of shelves. "Napoleon, Napoleon, Napoleon!" he
1000
+
read. "For heaven's sake, have you nothing but Napoleons there?"
1001
+
1002
+
"I wish they were bound in gold," I said. "But wait, yes, there is
1003
+
another book, _The King in Yellow_." I looked him steadily in the
1004
+
eye.
1005
+
1006
+
"Have you never read it?" I asked.
1007
+
1008
+
"I? No, thank God! I don't want to be driven crazy."
1009
+
1010
+
I saw he regretted his speech as soon as he had uttered it. There is only
1011
+
one word which I loathe more than I do lunatic and that word is crazy.
1012
+
But I controlled myself and asked him why he thought _The King in
1013
+
Yellow_ dangerous.
1014
+
1015
+
"Oh, I don't know," he said, hastily. "I only remember the excitement it
1016
+
created and the denunciations from pulpit and Press. I believe the author
1017
+
shot himself after bringing forth this monstrosity, didn't he?"
1018
+
1019
+
"I understand he is still alive," I answered.
1020
+
1021
+
"That's probably true," he muttered; "bullets couldn't kill a fiend like
1022
+
that."
1023
+
1024
+
"It is a book of great truths," I said.
1025
+
1026
+
"Yes," he replied, "of 'truths' which send men frantic and blast their
1027
+
lives. I don't care if the thing is, as they say, the very supreme
1028
+
essence of art. It's a crime to have written it, and I for one shall
1029
+
never open its pages."
1030
+
1031
+
"Is that what you have come to tell me?" I asked.
1032
+
1033
+
"No," he said, "I came to tell you that I am going to be married."
1034
+
1035
+
I believe for a moment my heart ceased to beat, but I kept my eyes on his
1036
+
face.
1037
+
1038
+
"Yes," he continued, smiling happily, "married to the sweetest girl on
1039
+
earth."
1040
+
1041
+
"Constance Hawberk," I said mechanically.
1042
+
1043
+
"How did you know?" he cried, astonished. "I didn't know it myself until
1044
+
that evening last April, when we strolled down to the embankment before
1045
+
dinner."
1046
+
1047
+
"When is it to be?" I asked.
1048
+
1049
+
"It was to have been next September, but an hour ago a despatch came
1050
+
ordering our regiment to the Presidio, San Francisco. We leave at noon
1051
+
to-morrow. To-morrow," he repeated. "Just think, Hildred, to-morrow I
1052
+
shall be the happiest fellow that ever drew breath in this jolly world,
1053
+
for Constance will go with me."
1054
+
1055
+
I offered him my hand in congratulation, and he seized and shook it like
1056
+
the good-natured fool he was--or pretended to be.
1057
+
1058
+
"I am going to get my squadron as a wedding present," he rattled on.
1059
+
"Captain and Mrs. Louis Castaigne, eh, Hildred?"
1060
+
1061
+
Then he told me where it was to be and who were to be there, and made me
1062
+
promise to come and be best man. I set my teeth and listened to his
1063
+
boyish chatter without showing what I felt, but--
1064
+
1065
+
I was getting to the limit of my endurance, and when he jumped up, and,
1066
+
switching his spurs till they jingled, said he must go, I did not detain
1067
+
him.
1068
+
1069
+
"There's one thing I want to ask of you," I said quietly.
1070
+
1071
+
"Out with it, it's promised," he laughed.
1072
+
1073
+
"I want you to meet me for a quarter of an hour's talk to-night."
1074
+
1075
+
"Of course, if you wish," he said, somewhat puzzled. "Where?"
1076
+
1077
+
"Anywhere, in the park there."
1078
+
1079
+
"What time, Hildred?"
1080
+
1081
+
"Midnight."
1082
+
1083
+
"What in the name of--" he began, but checked himself and laughingly
1084
+
assented. I watched him go down the stairs and hurry away, his sabre
1085
+
banging at every stride. He turned into Bleecker Street, and I knew he
1086
+
was going to see Constance. I gave him ten minutes to disappear and then
1087
+
followed in his footsteps, taking with me the jewelled crown and the
1088
+
silken robe embroidered with the Yellow Sign. When I turned into Bleecker
1089
+
Street, and entered the doorway which bore the sign--
1090
+
1091
+
MR. WILDE,
1092
+
REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS.
1093
+
Third Bell.
1094
+
1095
+
I saw old Hawberk moving about in his shop, and imagined I heard
1096
+
Constance's voice in the parlour; but I avoided them both and hurried up
1097
+
the trembling stairways to Mr. Wilde's apartment. I knocked and entered
1098
+
without ceremony. Mr. Wilde lay groaning on the floor, his face covered
1099
+
with blood, his clothes torn to shreds. Drops of blood were scattered
1100
+
about over the carpet, which had also been ripped and frayed in the
1101
+
evidently recent struggle.
1102
+
1103
+
"It's that cursed cat," he said, ceasing his groans, and turning his
1104
+
colourless eyes to me; "she attacked me while I was asleep. I believe she
1105
+
will kill me yet."
1106
+
1107
+
This was too much, so I went into the kitchen, and, seizing a hatchet
1108
+
from the pantry, started to find the infernal beast and settle her then
1109
+
and there. My search was fruitless, and after a while I gave it up and
1110
+
came back to find Mr. Wilde squatting on his high chair by the table. He
1111
+
had washed his face and changed his clothes. The great furrows which the
1112
+
cat's claws had ploughed up in his face he had filled with collodion, and
1113
+
a rag hid the wound in his throat. I told him I should kill the cat when
1114
+
I came across her, but he only shook his head and turned to the open
1115
+
ledger before him. He read name after name of the people who had come to
1116
+
him in regard to their reputation, and the sums he had amassed were
1117
+
startling.
1118
+
1119
+
"I put on the screws now and then," he explained.
1120
+
1121
+
"One day or other some of these people will assassinate you," I insisted.
1122
+
1123
+
"Do you think so?" he said, rubbing his mutilated ears.
1124
+
1125
+
It was useless to argue with him, so I took down the manuscript entitled
1126
+
Imperial Dynasty of America, for the last time I should ever take it down
1127
+
in Mr. Wilde's study. I read it through, thrilling and trembling with
1128
+
pleasure. When I had finished Mr. Wilde took the manuscript and, turning
1129
+
to the dark passage which leads from his study to his bed-chamber,
1130
+
called out in a loud voice, "Vance." Then for the first time, I noticed a
1131
+
man crouching there in the shadow. How I had overlooked him during my
1132
+
search for the cat, I cannot imagine.
1133
+
1134
+
"Vance, come in," cried Mr. Wilde.
1135
+
1136
+
The figure rose and crept towards us, and I shall never forget the face
1137
+
that he raised to mine, as the light from the window illuminated it.
1138
+
1139
+
"Vance, this is Mr. Castaigne," said Mr. Wilde. Before he had finished
1140
+
speaking, the man threw himself on the ground before the table, crying
1141
+
and grasping, "Oh, God! Oh, my God! Help me! Forgive me! Oh, Mr.
1142
+
Castaigne, keep that man away. You cannot, you cannot mean it! You are
1143
+
different--save me! I am broken down--I was in a madhouse and now--when
1144
+
all was coming right--when I had forgotten the King--the King in Yellow
1145
+
and--but I shall go mad again--I shall go mad--"
1146
+
1147
+
His voice died into a choking rattle, for Mr. Wilde had leapt on him and
1148
+
his right hand encircled the man's throat. When Vance fell in a heap on
1149
+
the floor, Mr. Wilde clambered nimbly into his chair again, and rubbing
1150
+
his mangled ears with the stump of his hand, turned to me and asked me
1151
+
for the ledger. I reached it down from the shelf and he opened it. After
1152
+
a moment's searching among the beautifully written pages, he coughed
1153
+
complacently, and pointed to the name Vance.
1154
+
1155
+
"Vance," he read aloud, "Osgood Oswald Vance." At the sound of his name,
1156
+
the man on the floor raised his head and turned a convulsed face to Mr.
1157
+
Wilde. His eyes were injected with blood, his lips tumefied. "Called
1158
+
April 28th," continued Mr. Wilde. "Occupation, cashier in the Seaforth
1159
+
National Bank; has served a term of forgery at Sing Sing, from whence he
1160
+
was transferred to the Asylum for the Criminal Insane. Pardoned by the
1161
+
Governor of New York, and discharged from the Asylum, January 19, 1918.
1162
+
Reputation damaged at Sheepshead Bay. Rumours that he lives beyond his
1163
+
income. Reputation to be repaired at once. Retainer $1,500.
1164
+
1165
+
"Note.--Has embezzled sums amounting to $30,000 since March 20, 1919,
1166
+
excellent family, and secured present position through uncle's influence.
1167
+
Father, President of Seaforth Bank."
1168
+
1169
+
I looked at the man on the floor.
1170
+
1171
+
"Get up, Vance," said Mr. Wilde in a gentle voice. Vance rose as if
1172
+
hypnotized. "He will do as we suggest now," observed Mr. Wilde, and
1173
+
opening the manuscript, he read the entire history of the Imperial
1174
+
Dynasty of America. Then in a kind and soothing murmur he ran over the
1175
+
important points with Vance, who stood like one stunned. His eyes were so
1176
+
blank and vacant that I imagined he had become half-witted, and remarked
1177
+
it to Mr. Wilde who replied that it was of no consequence anyway. Very
1178
+
patiently we pointed out to Vance what his share in the affair would be,
1179
+
and he seemed to understand after a while. Mr. Wilde explained the
1180
+
manuscript, using several volumes on Heraldry, to substantiate the result
1181
+
of his researches. He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in
1182
+
Carcosa, the lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of
1183
+
the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounded the cloudy
1184
+
depths of Demhe, and the Lake of Hali. "The scolloped tatters of the King
1185
+
in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever," he muttered, but I do not believe
1186
+
Vance heard him. Then by degrees he led Vance along the ramifications of
1187
+
the Imperial family, to Uoht and Thale, from Naotalba and Phantom of
1188
+
Truth, to Aldones, and then tossing aside his manuscript and notes, he
1189
+
began the wonderful story of the Last King. Fascinated and thrilled I
1190
+
watched him. He threw up his head, his long arms were stretched out in a
1191
+
magnificent gesture of pride and power, and his eyes blazed deep in their
1192
+
sockets like two emeralds. Vance listened stupefied. As for me, when at
1193
+
last Mr. Wilde had finished, and pointing to me, cried, "The cousin of
1194
+
the King!" my head swam with excitement.
1195
+
1196
+
Controlling myself with a superhuman effort, I explained to Vance why I
1197
+
alone was worthy of the crown and why my cousin must be exiled or die.
1198
+
I made him understand that my cousin must never marry, even after
1199
+
renouncing all his claims, and how that least of all he should marry the
1200
+
daughter of the Marquis of Avonshire and bring England into the question.
1201
+
I showed him a list of thousands of names which Mr. Wilde had drawn up;
1202
+
every man whose name was there had received the Yellow Sign which no
1203
+
living human being dared disregard. The city, the state, the whole land,
1204
+
were ready to rise and tremble before the Pallid Mask.
1205
+
1206
+
The time had come, the people should know the son of Hastur, and the
1207
+
whole world bow to the black stars which hang in the sky over Carcosa.
1208
+
1209
+
Vance leaned on the table, his head buried in his hands. Mr. Wilde drew
1210
+
a rough sketch on the margin of yesterday's _Herald_ with a bit of
1211
+
lead pencil. It was a plan of Hawberk's rooms. Then he wrote out the
1212
+
order and affixed the seal, and shaking like a palsied man I signed my
1213
+
first writ of execution with my name Hildred-Rex.
1214
+
1215
+
Mr. Wilde clambered to the floor and unlocking the cabinet, took a long
1216
+
square box from the first shelf. This he brought to the table and opened.
1217
+
A new knife lay in the tissue paper inside and I picked it up and handed
1218
+
it to Vance, along with the order and the plan of Hawberk's apartment.
1219
+
Then Mr. Wilde told Vance he could go; and he went, shambling like an
1220
+
outcast of the slums.
1221
+
1222
+
I sat for a while watching the daylight fade behind the square tower of
1223
+
the Judson Memorial Church, and finally, gathering up the manuscript and
1224
+
notes, took my hat and started for the door.
1225
+
1226
+
Mr. Wilde watched me in silence. When I had stepped into the hall I
1227
+
looked back. Mr. Wilde's small eyes were still fixed on me. Behind him,
1228
+
the shadows gathered in the fading light. Then I closed the door behind
1229
+
me and went out into the darkening streets.
1230
+
1231
+
I had eaten nothing since breakfast, but I was not hungry. A wretched,
1232
+
half-starved creature, who stood looking across the street at the Lethal
1233
+
Chamber, noticed me and came up to tell me a tale of misery. I gave him
1234
+
money, I don't know why, and he went away without thanking me. An
1235
+
hour later another outcast approached and whined his story. I had a blank
1236
+
bit of paper in my pocket, on which was traced the Yellow Sign, and I
1237
+
handed it to him. He looked at it stupidly for a moment, and then with an
1238
+
uncertain glance at me, folded it with what seemed to me exaggerated care
1239
+
and placed it in his bosom.
1240
+
1241
+
The electric lights were sparkling among the trees, and the new moon
1242
+
shone in the sky above the Lethal Chamber. It was tiresome waiting in the
1243
+
square; I wandered from the Marble Arch to the artillery stables and back
1244
+
again to the lotos fountain. The flowers and grass exhaled a fragrance
1245
+
which troubled me. The jet of the fountain played in the moonlight, and
1246
+
the musical splash of falling drops reminded me of the tinkle of chained
1247
+
mail in Hawberk's shop. But it was not so fascinating, and the dull
1248
+
sparkle of the moonlight on the water brought no such sensations of
1249
+
exquisite pleasure, as when the sunshine played over the polished steel
1250
+
of a corselet on Hawberk's knee. I watched the bats darting and turning
1251
+
above the water plants in the fountain basin, but their rapid, jerky
1252
+
flight set my nerves on edge, and I went away again to walk aimlessly to
1253
+
and fro among the trees.
1254
+
1255
+
The artillery stables were dark, but in the cavalry barracks the
1256
+
officers' windows were brilliantly lighted, and the sallyport was
1257
+
constantly filled with troopers in fatigue, carrying straw and harness
1258
+
and baskets filled with tin dishes.
1259
+
1260
+
Twice the mounted sentry at the gates was changed while I wandered up and
1261
+
down the asphalt walk. I looked at my watch. It was nearly time. The
1262
+
lights in the barracks went out one by one, the barred gate was closed,
1263
+
and every minute or two an officer passed in through the side wicket,
1264
+
leaving a rattle of accoutrements and a jingle of spurs on the night air.
1265
+
The square had become very silent. The last homeless loiterer had been
1266
+
driven away by the grey-coated park policeman, the car tracks along
1267
+
Wooster Street were deserted, and the only sound which broke the
1268
+
stillness was the stamping of the sentry's horse and the ring of his
1269
+
sabre against the saddle pommel. In the barracks, the officers' quarters
1270
+
were still lighted, and military servants passed and repassed before the
1271
+
bay windows. Twelve o'clock sounded from the new spire of St. Francis
1272
+
Xavier, and at the last stroke of the sad-toned bell a figure passed
1273
+
through the wicket beside the portcullis, returned the salute of the
1274
+
sentry, and crossing the street entered the square and advanced toward
1275
+
the Benedick apartment house.
1276
+
1277
+
"Louis," I called.
1278
+
1279
+
The man pivoted on his spurred heels and came straight toward me.
1280
+
1281
+
"Is that you, Hildred?"
1282
+
1283
+
"Yes, you are on time."
1284
+
1285
+
I took his offered hand, and we strolled toward the Lethal Chamber.
1286
+
1287
+
He rattled on about his wedding and the graces of Constance, and their
1288
+
future prospects, calling my attention to his captain's shoulder-straps,
1289
+
and the triple gold arabesque on his sleeve and fatigue cap. I believe I
1290
+
listened as much to the music of his spurs and sabre as I did to his
1291
+
boyish babble, and at last we stood under the elms on the Fourth Street
1292
+
corner of the square opposite the Lethal Chamber. Then he laughed and
1293
+
asked me what I wanted with him. I motioned him to a seat on a bench
1294
+
under the electric light, and sat down beside him. He looked at me
1295
+
curiously, with that same searching glance which I hate and fear so in
1296
+
doctors. I felt the insult of his look, but he did not know it, and I
1297
+
carefully concealed my feelings.
1298
+
1299
+
"Well, old chap," he inquired, "what can I do for you?"
1300
+
1301
+
I drew from my pocket the manuscript and notes of the Imperial Dynasty
1302
+
of America, and looking him in the eye said:
1303
+
1304
+
"I will tell you. On your word as a soldier, promise me to read this
1305
+
manuscript from beginning to end, without asking me a question. Promise
1306
+
me to read these notes in the same way, and promise me to listen to what
1307
+
I have to tell later."
1308
+
1309
+
"I promise, if you wish it," he said pleasantly. "Give me the paper,
1310
+
Hildred."
1311
+
1312
+
He began to read, raising his eyebrows with a puzzled, whimsical air,
1313
+
which made me tremble with suppressed anger. As he advanced his, eyebrows
1314
+
contracted, and his lips seemed to form the word "rubbish."
1315
+
1316
+
Then he looked slightly bored, but apparently for my sake read, with an
1317
+
attempt at interest, which presently ceased to be an effort He started
1318
+
when in the closely written pages he came to his own name, and when he
1319
+
came to mine he lowered the paper, and looked sharply at me for a moment
1320
+
But he kept his word, and resumed his reading, and I let the half-formed
1321
+
question die on his lips unanswered. When he came to the end and read the
1322
+
signature of Mr. Wilde, he folded the paper carefully and returned it to
1323
+
me. I handed him the notes, and he settled back, pushing his fatigue cap
1324
+
up to his forehead, with a boyish gesture, which I remembered so well in
1325
+
school. I watched his face as he read, and when he finished I took the
1326
+
notes with the manuscript, and placed them in my pocket. Then I unfolded
1327
+
a scroll marked with the Yellow Sign. He saw the sign, but he did not
1328
+
seem to recognize it, and I called his attention to it somewhat sharply.
1329
+
1330
+
"Well," he said, "I see it. What is it?"
1331
+
1332
+
"It is the Yellow Sign," I said angrily.
1333
+
1334
+
"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Louis, in that flattering voice, which
1335
+
Doctor Archer used to employ with me, and would probably have employed
1336
+
again, had I not settled his affair for him.
1337
+
1338
+
I kept my rage down and answered as steadily as possible, "Listen, you
1339
+
have engaged your word?"
1340
+
1341
+
"I am listening, old chap," he replied soothingly.
1342
+
1343
+
I began to speak very calmly.
1344
+
1345
+
"Dr. Archer, having by some means become possessed of the secret of the
1346
+
Imperial Succession, attempted to deprive me of my right, alleging that
1347
+
because of a fall from my horse four years ago, I had become mentally
1348
+
deficient. He presumed to place me under restraint in his own house in
1349
+
hopes of either driving me insane or poisoning me. I have not forgotten
1350
+
it. I visited him last night and the interview was final."
1351
+
1352
+
Louis turned quite pale, but did not move. I resumed triumphantly, "There
1353
+
are yet three people to be interviewed in the interests of Mr. Wilde and
1354
+
myself. They are my cousin Louis, Mr. Hawberk, and his daughter
1355
+
Constance."
1356
+
1357
+
Louis sprang to his feet and I arose also, and flung the paper marked
1358
+
with the Yellow Sign to the ground.
1359
+
1360
+
"Oh, I don't need that to tell you what I have to say," I cried, with a
1361
+
laugh of triumph. "You must renounce the crown to me, do you hear, to
1362
+
_me_."
1363
+
1364
+
Louis looked at me with a startled air, but recovering himself said
1365
+
kindly, "Of course I renounce the--what is it I must renounce?"
1366
+
1367
+
"The crown," I said angrily.
1368
+
1369
+
"Of course," he answered, "I renounce it. Come, old chap, I'll walk back
1370
+
to your rooms with you."
1371
+
1372
+
"Don't try any of your doctor's tricks on me," I cried, trembling with
1373
+
fury. "Don't act as if you think I am insane."
1374
+
1375
+
"What nonsense," he replied. "Come, it's getting late, Hildred."
1376
+
1377
+
"No," I shouted, "you must listen. You cannot marry, I forbid it. Do you
1378
+
hear? I forbid it. You shall renounce the crown, and in reward I grant
1379
+
you exile, but if you refuse you shall die."
1380
+
1381
+
He tried to calm me, but I was roused at last, and drawing my long knife
1382
+
barred his way.
1383
+
1384
+
Then I told him how they would find Dr. Archer in the cellar with his
1385
+
throat open, and I laughed in his face when I thought of Vance and his
1386
+
knife, and the order signed by me.
1387
+
1388
+
"Ah, you are the King," I cried, "but I shall be King. Who are you to
1389
+
keep me from Empire over all the habitable earth! I was born the cousin
1390
+
of a king, but I shall be King!"
1391
+
1392
+
Louis stood white and rigid before me. Suddenly a man came running up
1393
+
Fourth Street, entered the gate of the Lethal Temple, traversed the path
1394
+
to the bronze doors at full speed, and plunged into the death chamber
1395
+
with the cry of one demented, and I laughed until I wept tears, for I had
1396
+
recognized Vance, and knew that Hawberk and his daughter were no longer
1397
+
in my way.
1398
+
1399
+
"Go," I cried to Louis, "you have ceased to be a menace. You will never
1400
+
marry Constance now, and if you marry any one else in your exile, I will
1401
+
visit you as I did my doctor last night. Mr. Wilde takes charge of you
1402
+
to-morrow." Then I turned and darted into South Fifth Avenue, and with a
1403
+
cry of terror Louis dropped his belt and sabre and followed me like the
1404
+
wind. I heard him close behind me at the corner of Bleecker Street, and I
1405
+
dashed into the doorway under Hawberk's sign. He cried, "Halt, or I
1406
+
fire!" but when he saw that I flew up the stairs leaving Hawberk's shop
1407
+
below, he left me, and I heard him hammering and shouting at their door
1408
+
as though it were possible to arouse the dead.
1409
+
1410
+
Mr. Wilde's door was open, and I entered crying, "It is done, it is done!
1411
+
Let the nations rise and look upon their King!" but I could not find Mr.
1412
+
Wilde, so I went to the cabinet and took the splendid diadem from its
1413
+
case. Then I drew on the white silk robe, embroidered with the Yellow
1414
+
Sign, and placed the crown upon my head. At last I was King, King by my
1415
+
right in Hastur, King because I knew the mystery of the Hyades, and my
1416
+
mind had sounded the depths of the Lake of Hali. I was King! The first
1417
+
grey pencillings of dawn would raise a tempest which would shake two
1418
+
hemispheres. Then as I stood, my every nerve pitched to the highest
1419
+
tension, faint with the joy and splendour of my thought, without, in the
1420
+
dark passage, a man groaned.
1421
+
1422
+
I seized the tallow dip and sprang to the door. The cat passed me like a
1423
+
demon, and the tallow dip went out, but my long knife flew swifter than
1424
+
she, and I heard her screech, and I knew that my knife had found her. For
1425
+
a moment I listened to her tumbling and thumping about in the darkness,
1426
+
and then when her frenzy ceased, I lighted a lamp and raised it over my
1427
+
head. Mr. Wilde lay on the floor with his throat torn open. At first I
1428
+
thought he was dead, but as I looked, a green sparkle came into his
1429
+
sunken eyes, his mutilated hand trembled, and then a spasm stretched his
1430
+
mouth from ear to ear. For a moment my terror and despair gave place to
1431
+
hope, but as I bent over him his eyeballs rolled clean around in his
1432
+
head, and he died. Then while I stood, transfixed with rage and despair,
1433
+
seeing my crown, my empire, every hope and every ambition, my very life,
1434
+
lying prostrate there with the dead master, _they_ came, seized me
1435
+
from behind, and bound me until my veins stood out like cords, and my
1436
+
voice failed with the paroxysms of my frenzied screams. But I still
1437
+
raged, bleeding and infuriated among them, and more than one policeman
1438
+
felt my sharp teeth. Then when I could no longer move they came nearer; I
1439
+
saw old Hawberk, and behind him my cousin Louis' ghastly face, and
1440
+
farther away, in the corner, a woman, Constance, weeping softly.
1441
+
1442
+
"Ah! I see it now!" I shrieked. "You have seized the throne and the
1443
+
empire. Woe! woe to you who are crowned with the crown of the King in
1444
+
Yellow!"
1445
+
1446
+
1447
+
[EDITOR'S NOTE.--Mr. Castaigne died yesterday in the Asylum for Criminal
1448
+
Insane.]
1449
+
1450
+
1451
+
1452
+
1453
+
THE MASK
1454
+
1455
+
CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
1456
+
1457
+
STRANGER: Indeed?
1458
+
1459
+
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
1460
+
1461
+
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
1462
+
1463
+
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
1464
+
1465
+
_The King in Yellow, Act I, Scene 2_.
1466
+
1467
+
1468
+
I
1469
+
1470
+
Although I knew nothing of chemistry, I listened fascinated. He picked up
1471
+
an Easter lily which Geneviève had brought that morning from Notre Dame,
1472
+
and dropped it into the basin. Instantly the liquid lost its crystalline
1473
+
clearness. For a second the lily was enveloped in a milk-white foam,
1474
+
which disappeared, leaving the fluid opalescent. Changing tints of orange
1475
+
and crimson played over the surface, and then what seemed to be a ray of
1476
+
pure sunlight struck through from the bottom where the lily was resting.
1477
+
At the same instant he plunged his hand into the basin and drew out the
1478
+
flower. "There is no danger," he explained, "if you choose the right
1479
+
moment. That golden ray is the signal."
1480
+
1481
+
He held the lily toward me, and I took it in my hand. It had turned to
1482
+
stone, to the purest marble.
1483
+
1484
+
"You see," he said, "it is without a flaw. What sculptor could reproduce
1485
+
it?"
1486
+
1487
+
The marble was white as snow, but in its depths the veins of the lily
1488
+
were tinged with palest azure, and a faint flush lingered deep in its
1489
+
heart.
1490
+
1491
+
"Don't ask me the reason of that," he smiled, noticing my wonder. "I have
1492
+
no idea why the veins and heart are tinted, but they always are.
1493
+
Yesterday I tried one of Geneviève's gold-fish,--there it is."
1494
+
1495
+
The fish looked as if sculptured in marble. But if you held it to the
1496
+
light the stone was beautifully veined with a faint blue, and from
1497
+
somewhere within came a rosy light like the tint which slumbers in an
1498
+
opal. I looked into the basin. Once more it seemed filled with clearest
1499
+
crystal.
1500
+
1501
+
"If I should touch it now?" I demanded.
1502
+
1503
+
"I don't know," he replied, "but you had better not try."
1504
+
1505
+
"There is one thing I'm curious about," I said, "and that is where the
1506
+
ray of sunlight came from."
1507
+
1508
+
"It looked like a sunbeam true enough," he said. "I don't know, it always
1509
+
comes when I immerse any living thing. Perhaps," he continued, smiling,
1510
+
"perhaps it is the vital spark of the creature escaping to the source
1511
+
from whence it came."
1512
+
1513
+
I saw he was mocking, and threatened him with a mahl-stick, but he only
1514
+
laughed and changed the subject.
1515
+
1516
+
"Stay to lunch. Geneviève will be here directly."
1517
+
1518
+
"I saw her going to early mass," I said, "and she looked as fresh and
1519
+
sweet as that lily--before you destroyed it."
1520
+
1521
+
"Do you think I destroyed it?" said Boris gravely.
1522
+
1523
+
"Destroyed, preserved, how can we tell?"
1524
+
1525
+
We sat in the corner of a studio near his unfinished group of the
1526
+
"Fates." He leaned back on the sofa, twirling a sculptor's chisel and
1527
+
squinting at his work.
1528
+
1529
+
"By the way," he said, "I have finished pointing up that old academic
1530
+
Ariadne, and I suppose it will have to go to the Salon. It's all I have
1531
+
ready this year, but after the success the 'Madonna' brought me I feel
1532
+
ashamed to send a thing like that."
1533
+
1534
+
The "Madonna," an exquisite marble for which Geneviève had sat, had been
1535
+
the sensation of last year's Salon. I looked at the Ariadne. It was a
1536
+
magnificent piece of technical work, but I agreed with Boris that the
1537
+
world would expect something better of him than that. Still, it was
1538
+
impossible now to think of finishing in time for the Salon that splendid
1539
+
terrible group half shrouded in the marble behind me. The "Fates" would
1540
+
have to wait.
1541
+
1542
+
We were proud of Boris Yvain. We claimed him and he claimed us on the
1543
+
strength of his having been born in America, although his father was
1544
+
French and his mother was a Russian. Every one in the Beaux Arts called
1545
+
him Boris. And yet there were only two of us whom he addressed in the
1546
+
same familiar way--Jack Scott and myself.
1547
+
1548
+
Perhaps my being in love with Geneviève had something to do with his
1549
+
affection for me. Not that it had ever been acknowledged between us. But
1550
+
after all was settled, and she had told me with tears in her eyes that it
1551
+
was Boris whom she loved, I went over to his house and congratulated him.
1552
+
The perfect cordiality of that interview did not deceive either of us, I
1553
+
always believed, although to one at least it was a great comfort. I do
1554
+
not think he and Geneviève ever spoke of the matter together, but Boris
1555
+
knew.
1556
+
1557
+
Geneviève was lovely. The Madonna-like purity of her face might have been
1558
+
inspired by the Sanctus in Gounod's Mass. But I was always glad when she
1559
+
changed that mood for what we called her "April Manoeuvres." She was
1560
+
often as variable as an April day. In the morning grave, dignified and
1561
+
sweet, at noon laughing, capricious, at evening whatever one least
1562
+
expected. I preferred her so rather than in that Madonna-like
1563
+
tranquillity which stirred the depths of my heart. I was dreaming of
1564
+
Geneviève when he spoke again.
1565
+
1566
+
"What do you think of my discovery, Alec?"
1567
+
1568
+
"I think it wonderful."
1569
+
1570
+
"I shall make no use of it, you know, beyond satisfying my own curiosity
1571
+
so far as may be, and the secret will die with me."
1572
+
1573
+
"It would be rather a blow to sculpture, would it not? We painters lose
1574
+
more than we ever gain by photography."
1575
+
1576
+
Boris nodded, playing with the edge of the chisel.
1577
+
1578
+
"This new vicious discovery would corrupt the world of art. No, I shall
1579
+
never confide the secret to any one," he said slowly.
1580
+
1581
+
It would be hard to find any one less informed about such phenomena than
1582
+
myself; but of course I had heard of mineral springs so saturated with
1583
+
silica that the leaves and twigs which fell into them were turned to
1584
+
stone after a time. I dimly comprehended the process, how the silica
1585
+
replaced the vegetable matter, atom by atom, and the result was a
1586
+
duplicate of the object in stone. This, I confess, had never interested
1587
+
me greatly, and as for the ancient fossils thus produced, they disgusted
1588
+
me. Boris, it appeared, feeling curiosity instead of repugnance, had
1589
+
investigated the subject, and had accidentally stumbled on a solution
1590
+
which, attacking the immersed object with a ferocity unheard of, in a
1591
+
second did the work of years. This was all I could make out of the
1592
+
strange story he had just been telling me. He spoke again after a long
1593
+
silence.
1594
+
1595
+
"I am almost frightened when I think what I have found. Scientists would
1596
+
go mad over the discovery. It was so simple too; it discovered itself.
1597
+
When I think of that formula, and that new element precipitated in
1598
+
metallic scales--"
1599
+
1600
+
"What new element?"
1601
+
1602
+
"Oh, I haven't thought of naming it, and I don't believe I ever shall.
1603
+
There are enough precious metals now in the world to cut throats over."
1604
+
1605
+
I pricked up my ears. "Have you struck gold, Boris?"
1606
+
1607
+
"No, better;--but see here, Alec!" he laughed, starting up. "You and I
1608
+
have all we need in this world. Ah! how sinister and covetous you look
1609
+
already!" I laughed too, and told him I was devoured by the desire for
1610
+
gold, and we had better talk of something else; so when Geneviève came in
1611
+
shortly after, we had turned our backs on alchemy.
1612
+
1613
+
Geneviève was dressed in silvery grey from head to foot. The light
1614
+
glinted along the soft curves of her fair hair as she turned her cheek to
1615
+
Boris; then she saw me and returned my greeting. She had never before
1616
+
failed to blow me a kiss from the tips of her white fingers, and I
1617
+
promptly complained of the omission. She smiled and held out her hand,
1618
+
which dropped almost before it had touched mine; then she said, looking
1619
+
at Boris--
1620
+
1621
+
"You must ask Alec to stay for luncheon." This also was something new.
1622
+
She had always asked me herself until to-day.
1623
+
1624
+
"I did," said Boris shortly.
1625
+
1626
+
"And you said yes, I hope?" She turned to me with a charming conventional
1627
+
smile. I might have been an acquaintance of the day before yesterday. I
1628
+
made her a low bow. "J'avais bien l'honneur, madame," but refusing to
1629
+
take up our usual bantering tone, she murmured a hospitable commonplace
1630
+
and disappeared. Boris and I looked at one another.
1631
+
1632
+
"I had better go home, don't you think?" I asked.
1633
+
1634
+
"Hanged if I know," he replied frankly.
1635
+
1636
+
While we were discussing the advisability of my departure Geneviève
1637
+
reappeared in the doorway without her bonnet. She was wonderfully
1638
+
beautiful, but her colour was too deep and her lovely eyes were too
1639
+
bright. She came straight up to me and took my arm.
1640
+
1641
+
"Luncheon is ready. Was I cross, Alec? I thought I had a headache, but I
1642
+
haven't. Come here, Boris;" and she slipped her other arm through his.
1643
+
"Alec knows that after you there is no one in the world whom I like as
1644
+
well as I like him, so if he sometimes feels snubbed it won't hurt him."
1645
+
1646
+
"À la bonheur!" I cried, "who says there are no thunderstorms in April?"
1647
+
1648
+
"Are you ready?" chanted Boris. "Aye ready;" and arm-in-arm we raced into
1649
+
the dining-room, scandalizing the servants. After all we were not so much
1650
+
to blame; Geneviève was eighteen, Boris was twenty-three, and I not quite
1651
+
twenty-one.
1652
+
1653
+
1654
+
1655
+
1656
+
II
1657
+
1658
+
Some work that I was doing about this time on the decorations for
1659
+
Geneviève's boudoir kept me constantly at the quaint little hotel in the
1660
+
Rue Sainte-Cécile. Boris and I in those days laboured hard but as we
1661
+
pleased, which was fitfully, and we all three, with Jack Scott, idled a
1662
+
great deal together.
1663
+
1664
+
One quiet afternoon I had been wandering alone over the house examining
1665
+
curios, prying into odd corners, bringing out sweetmeats and cigars from
1666
+
strange hiding-places, and at last I stopped in the bathing-room. Boris,
1667
+
all over clay, stood there washing his hands.
1668
+
1669
+
The room was built of rose-coloured marble excepting the floor, which was
1670
+
tessellated in rose and grey. In the centre was a square pool sunken
1671
+
below the surface of the floor; steps led down into it, sculptured
1672
+
pillars supported a frescoed ceiling. A delicious marble Cupid appeared
1673
+
to have just alighted on his pedestal at the upper end of the room. The
1674
+
whole interior was Boris' work and mine. Boris, in his working-clothes of
1675
+
white canvas, scraped the traces of clay and red modelling wax from his
1676
+
handsome hands, and coquetted over his shoulder with the Cupid.
1677
+
1678
+
"I see you," he insisted, "don't try to look the other way and pretend
1679
+
not to see me. You know who made you, little humbug!"
1680
+
1681
+
It was always my rôle to interpret Cupid's sentiments in these
1682
+
conversations, and when my turn came I responded in such a manner, that
1683
+
Boris seized my arm and dragged me toward the pool, declaring he would
1684
+
duck me. Next instant he dropped my arm and turned pale. "Good God!" he
1685
+
said, "I forgot the pool is full of the solution!"
1686
+
1687
+
I shivered a little, and dryly advised him to remember better where he
1688
+
had stored the precious liquid.
1689
+
1690
+
"In Heaven's name, why do you keep a small lake of that gruesome stuff
1691
+
here of all places?" I asked.
1692
+
1693
+
"I want to experiment on something large," he replied.
1694
+
1695
+
"On me, for instance?"
1696
+
1697
+
"Ah! that came too close for jesting; but I do want to watch the action
1698
+
of that solution on a more highly organized living body; there is that
1699
+
big white rabbit," he said, following me into the studio.
1700
+
1701
+
Jack Scott, wearing a paint-stained jacket, came wandering in,
1702
+
appropriated all the Oriental sweetmeats he could lay his hands on,
1703
+
looted the cigarette case, and finally he and Boris disappeared together
1704
+
to visit the Luxembourg Gallery, where a new silver bronze by Rodin and a
1705
+
landscape of Monet's were claiming the exclusive attention of artistic
1706
+
France. I went back to the studio, and resumed my work. It was a
1707
+
Renaissance screen, which Boris wanted me to paint for Geneviève's
1708
+
boudoir. But the small boy who was unwillingly dawdling through a series
1709
+
of poses for it, to-day refused all bribes to be good. He never rested an
1710
+
instant in the same position, and inside of five minutes I had as many
1711
+
different outlines of the little beggar.
1712
+
1713
+
"Are you posing, or are you executing a song and dance, my friend?" I
1714
+
inquired.
1715
+
1716
+
"Whichever monsieur pleases," he replied, with an angelic smile.
1717
+
1718
+
Of course I dismissed him for the day, and of course I paid him for the
1719
+
full time, that being the way we spoil our models.
1720
+
1721
+
After the young imp had gone, I made a few perfunctory daubs at my work,
1722
+
but was so thoroughly out of humour, that it took me the rest of the
1723
+
afternoon to undo the damage I had done, so at last I scraped my palette,
1724
+
stuck my brushes in a bowl of black soap, and strolled into the
1725
+
smoking-room. I really believe that, excepting Geneviève's apartments, no
1726
+
room in the house was so free from the perfume of tobacco as this one. It
1727
+
was a queer chaos of odds and ends, hung with threadbare tapestry. A
1728
+
sweet-toned old spinet in good repair stood by the window. There were
1729
+
stands of weapons, some old and dull, others bright and modern, festoons
1730
+
of Indian and Turkish armour over the mantel, two or three good pictures,
1731
+
and a pipe-rack. It was here that we used to come for new sensations in
1732
+
smoking. I doubt if any type of pipe ever existed which was not
1733
+
represented in that rack. When we had selected one, we immediately
1734
+
carried it somewhere else and smoked it; for the place was, on the whole,
1735
+
more gloomy and less inviting than any in the house. But this afternoon,
1736
+
the twilight was very soothing, the rugs and skins on the floor looked
1737
+
brown and soft and drowsy; the big couch was piled with cushions--I found
1738
+
my pipe and curled up there for an unaccustomed smoke in the
1739
+
smoking-room. I had chosen one with a long flexible stem, and lighting it
1740
+
fell to dreaming. After a while it went out, but I did not stir. I
1741
+
dreamed on and presently fell asleep.
1742
+
1743
+
I awoke to the saddest music I had ever heard. The room was quite dark, I
1744
+
had no idea what time it was. A ray of moonlight silvered one edge of the
1745
+
old spinet, and the polished wood seemed to exhale the sounds as perfume
1746
+
floats above a box of sandalwood. Some one rose in the darkness, and came
1747
+
away weeping quietly, and I was fool enough to cry out "Geneviève!"
1748
+
1749
+
She dropped at my voice, and, I had time to curse myself while I made a
1750
+
light and tried to raise her from the floor. She shrank away with a
1751
+
murmur of pain. She was very quiet, and asked for Boris. I carried her to
1752
+
the divan, and went to look for him, but he was not in the house, and the
1753
+
servants were gone to bed. Perplexed and anxious, I hurried back to
1754
+
Geneviève. She lay where I had left her, looking very white.
1755
+
1756
+
"I can't find Boris nor any of the servants," I said.
1757
+
1758
+
"I know," she answered faintly, "Boris has gone to Ept with Mr. Scott. I
1759
+
did not remember when I sent you for him just now."
1760
+
1761
+
"But he can't get back in that case before to-morrow afternoon, and--are
1762
+
you hurt? Did I frighten you into falling? What an awful fool I am, but I
1763
+
was only half awake."
1764
+
1765
+
"Boris thought you had gone home before dinner. Do please excuse us for
1766
+
letting you stay here all this time."
1767
+
1768
+
"I have had a long nap," I laughed, "so sound that I did not know whether
1769
+
I was still asleep or not when I found myself staring at a figure that
1770
+
was moving toward me, and called out your name. Have you been trying the
1771
+
old spinet? You must have played very softly."
1772
+
1773
+
I would tell a thousand more lies worse than that one to see the look of
1774
+
relief that came into her face. She smiled adorably, and said in her
1775
+
natural voice: "Alec, I tripped on that wolf's head, and I think my ankle
1776
+
is sprained. Please call Marie, and then go home."
1777
+
1778
+
I did as she bade me, and left her there when the maid came in.
1779
+
1780
+
1781
+
1782
+
1783
+
III
1784
+
1785
+
At noon next day when I called, I found Boris walking restlessly about
1786
+
his studio.
1787
+
1788
+
"Geneviève is asleep just now," he told me, "the sprain is nothing, but
1789
+
why should she have such a high fever? The doctor can't account for it;
1790
+
or else he will not," he muttered.
1791
+
1792
+
"Geneviève has a fever?" I asked.
1793
+
1794
+
"I should say so, and has actually been a little light-headed at
1795
+
intervals all night. The idea! gay little Geneviève, without a care in
1796
+
the world,--and she keeps saying her heart's broken, and she wants to
1797
+
die!"
1798
+
1799
+
My own heart stood still.
1800
+
1801
+
Boris leaned against the door of his studio, looking down, his hands in
1802
+
his pockets, his kind, keen eyes clouded, a new line of trouble drawn
1803
+
"over the mouth's good mark, that made the smile." The maid had orders to
1804
+
summon him the instant Geneviève opened her eyes. We waited and waited,
1805
+
and Boris, growing restless, wandered about, fussing with modelling wax
1806
+
and red clay. Suddenly he started for the next room. "Come and see my
1807
+
rose-coloured bath full of death!" he cried.
1808
+
1809
+
"Is it death?" I asked, to humour his mood.
1810
+
1811
+
"You are not prepared to call it life, I suppose," he answered. As he
1812
+
spoke he plucked a solitary goldfish squirming and twisting out of its
1813
+
globe. "We'll send this one after the other--wherever that is," he said.
1814
+
There was feverish excitement in his voice. A dull weight of fever lay on
1815
+
my limbs and on my brain as I followed him to the fair crystal pool with
1816
+
its pink-tinted sides; and he dropped the creature in. Falling, its
1817
+
scales flashed with a hot orange gleam in its angry twistings and
1818
+
contortions; the moment it struck the liquid it became rigid and sank
1819
+
heavily to the bottom. Then came the milky foam, the splendid hues
1820
+
radiating on the surface and then the shaft of pure serene light broke
1821
+
through from seemingly infinite depths. Boris plunged in his hand and
1822
+
drew out an exquisite marble thing, blue-veined, rose-tinted, and
1823
+
glistening with opalescent drops.
1824
+
1825
+
"Child's play," he muttered, and looked wearily, longingly at me,--as if
1826
+
I could answer such questions! But Jack Scott came in and entered into
1827
+
the "game," as he called it, with ardour. Nothing would do but to try the
1828
+
experiment on the white rabbit then and there. I was willing that Boris
1829
+
should find distraction from his cares, but I hated to see the life go
1830
+
out of a warm, living creature and I declined to be present. Picking up a
1831
+
book at random, I sat down in the studio to read. Alas! I had found
1832
+
_The King in Yellow_. After a few moments, which seemed ages, I was
1833
+
putting it away with a nervous shudder, when Boris and Jack came in
1834
+
bringing their marble rabbit. At the same time the bell rang above, and a
1835
+
cry came from the sick-room. Boris was gone like a flash, and the next
1836
+
moment he called, "Jack, run for the doctor; bring him back with you.
1837
+
Alec, come here."
1838
+
1839
+
I went and stood at her door. A frightened maid came out in haste and ran
1840
+
away to fetch some remedy. Geneviève, sitting bolt upright, with crimson
1841
+
cheeks and glittering eyes, babbled incessantly and resisted Boris'
1842
+
gentle restraint. He called me to help. At my first touch she sighed and
1843
+
sank back, closing her eyes, and then--then--as we still bent above her,
1844
+
she opened them again, looked straight into Boris' face--poor
1845
+
fever-crazed girl!--and told her secret. At the same instant our three
1846
+
lives turned into new channels; the bond that held us so long together
1847
+
snapped for ever and a new bond was forged in its place, for she had
1848
+
spoken my name, and as the fever tortured her, her heart poured out its
1849
+
load of hidden sorrow. Amazed and dumb I bowed my head, while my face
1850
+
burned like a live coal, and the blood surged in my ears, stupefying me
1851
+
with its clamour. Incapable of movement, incapable of speech, I listened
1852
+
to her feverish words in an agony of shame and sorrow. I could not
1853
+
silence her, I could not look at Boris. Then I felt an arm upon my
1854
+
shoulder, and Boris turned a bloodless face to mine.
1855
+
1856
+
"It is not your fault, Alec; don't grieve so if she loves you--" but he
1857
+
could not finish; and as the doctor stepped swiftly into the room,
1858
+
saying--"Ah, the fever!" I seized Jack Scott and hurried him to the
1859
+
street, saying, "Boris would rather be alone." We crossed the street to
1860
+
our own apartments, and that night, seeing I was going to be ill too, he
1861
+
went for the doctor again. The last thing I recollect with any
1862
+
distinctness was hearing Jack say, "For Heaven's sake, doctor, what ails
1863
+
him, to wear a face like that?" and I thought of _The King in
1864
+
Yellow_ and the Pallid Mask.
1865
+
1866
+
I was very ill, for the strain of two years which I had endured since
1867
+
that fatal May morning when Geneviève murmured, "I love you, but I think
1868
+
I love Boris best," told on me at last. I had never imagined that it
1869
+
could become more than I could endure. Outwardly tranquil, I had deceived
1870
+
myself. Although the inward battle raged night after night, and I, lying
1871
+
alone in my room, cursed myself for rebellious thoughts unloyal to Boris
1872
+
and unworthy of Geneviève, the morning always brought relief, and I
1873
+
returned to Geneviève and to my dear Boris with a heart washed clean by
1874
+
the tempests of the night.
1875
+
1876
+
Never in word or deed or thought while with them had I betrayed my sorrow
1877
+
even to myself.
1878
+
1879
+
The mask of self-deception was no longer a mask for me, it was a part of
1880
+
me. Night lifted it, laying bare the stifled truth below; but there was
1881
+
no one to see except myself, and when the day broke the mask fell back
1882
+
again of its own accord. These thoughts passed through my troubled mind
1883
+
as I lay sick, but they were hopelessly entangled with visions of white
1884
+
creatures, heavy as stone, crawling about in Boris' basin,--of the wolf's
1885
+
head on the rug, foaming and snapping at Geneviève, who lay smiling
1886
+
beside it. I thought, too, of the King in Yellow wrapped in the fantastic
1887
+
colours of his tattered mantle, and that bitter cry of Cassilda, "Not
1888
+
upon us, oh King, not upon us!" Feverishly I struggled to put it from me,
1889
+
but I saw the lake of Hali, thin and blank, without a ripple or wind to
1890
+
stir it, and I saw the towers of Carcosa behind the moon. Aldebaran, the
1891
+
Hyades, Alar, Hastur, glided through the cloud-rifts which fluttered and
1892
+
flapped as they passed like the scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow.
1893
+
Among all these, one sane thought persisted. It never wavered, no matter
1894
+
what else was going on in my disordered mind, that my chief reason for
1895
+
existing was to meet some requirement of Boris and Geneviève. What this
1896
+
obligation was, its nature, was never clear; sometimes it seemed to be
1897
+
protection, sometimes support, through a great crisis. Whatever it seemed
1898
+
to be for the time, its weight rested only on me, and I was never so ill
1899
+
or so weak that I did not respond with my whole soul. There were always
1900
+
crowds of faces about me, mostly strange, but a few I recognized, Boris
1901
+
among them. Afterward they told me that this could not have been, but I
1902
+
know that once at least he bent over me. It was only a touch, a faint
1903
+
echo of his voice, then the clouds settled back on my senses, and I lost
1904
+
him, but he _did_ stand there and bend over me _once_ at least.
1905
+
1906
+
At last, one morning I awoke to find the sunlight falling across my bed,
1907
+
and Jack Scott reading beside me. I had not strength enough to speak
1908
+
aloud, neither could I think, much less remember, but I could smile
1909
+
feebly, as Jack's eye met mine, and when he jumped up and asked eagerly
1910
+
if I wanted anything, I could whisper, "Yes--Boris." Jack moved to the
1911
+
head of my bed, and leaned down to arrange my pillow: I did not see his
1912
+
face, but he answered heartily, "You must wait, Alec; you are too weak to
1913
+
see even Boris."
1914
+
1915
+
I waited and I grew strong; in a few days I was able to see whom I would,
1916
+
but meanwhile I had thought and remembered. From the moment when all the
1917
+
past grew clear again in my mind, I never doubted what I should do when
1918
+
the time came, and I felt sure that Boris would have resolved upon the
1919
+
same course so far as he was concerned; as for what pertained to me
1920
+
alone, I knew he would see that also as I did. I no longer asked for any
1921
+
one. I never inquired why no message came from them; why during the week
1922
+
I lay there, waiting and growing stronger, I never heard their name
1923
+
spoken. Preoccupied with my own searchings for the right way, and with my
1924
+
feeble but determined fight against despair, I simply acquiesced in
1925
+
Jack's reticence, taking for granted that he was afraid to speak of them,
1926
+
lest I should turn unruly and insist on seeing them. Meanwhile I said
1927
+
over and over to myself, how would it be when life began again for us
1928
+
all? We would take up our relations exactly as they were before Geneviève
1929
+
fell ill. Boris and I would look into each other's eyes, and there would
1930
+
be neither rancour nor cowardice nor mistrust in that glance. I would be
1931
+
with them again for a little while in the dear intimacy of their home,
1932
+
and then, without pretext or explanation, I would disappear from their
1933
+
lives for ever. Boris would know; Geneviève--the only comfort was that
1934
+
she would never know. It seemed, as I thought it over, that I had found
1935
+
the meaning of that sense of obligation which had persisted all through
1936
+
my delirium, and the only possible answer to it. So, when I was quite
1937
+
ready, I beckoned Jack to me one day, and said--
1938
+
1939
+
"Jack, I want Boris at once; and take my dearest greeting to
1940
+
Geneviève...."
1941
+
1942
+
When at last he made me understand that they were both dead, I fell into
1943
+
a wild rage that tore all my little convalescent strength to atoms. I
1944
+
raved and cursed myself into a relapse, from which I crawled forth some
1945
+
weeks afterward a boy of twenty-one who believed that his youth was gone
1946
+
for ever. I seemed to be past the capability of further suffering, and
1947
+
one day when Jack handed me a letter and the keys to Boris' house, I took
1948
+
them without a tremor and asked him to tell me all. It was cruel of me to
1949
+
ask him, but there was no help for it, and he leaned wearily on his thin
1950
+
hands, to reopen the wound which could never entirely heal. He began very
1951
+
quietly--
1952
+
1953
+
"Alec, unless you have a clue that I know nothing about, you will not be
1954
+
able to explain any more than I what has happened. I suspect that you
1955
+
would rather not hear these details, but you must learn them, else I
1956
+
would spare you the relation. God knows I wish I could be spared the
1957
+
telling. I shall use few words.
1958
+
1959
+
"That day when I left you in the doctor's care and came back to Boris, I
1960
+
found him working on the 'Fates.' Geneviève, he said, was sleeping under
1961
+
the influence of drugs. She had been quite out of her mind, he said. He
1962
+
kept on working, not talking any more, and I watched him. Before long, I
1963
+
saw that the third figure of the group--the one looking straight ahead,
1964
+
out over the world--bore his face; not as you ever saw it, but as it
1965
+
looked then and to the end. This is one thing for which I should like to
1966
+
find an explanation, but I never shall.
1967
+
1968
+
"Well, he worked and I watched him in silence, and we went on that way
1969
+
until nearly midnight. Then we heard the door open and shut sharply, and
1970
+
a swift rush in the next room. Boris sprang through the doorway and I
1971
+
followed; but we were too late. She lay at the bottom of the pool, her
1972
+
hands across her breast. Then Boris shot himself through the heart." Jack
1973
+
stopped speaking, drops of sweat stood under his eyes, and his thin
1974
+
cheeks twitched. "I carried Boris to his room. Then I went back and let
1975
+
that hellish fluid out of the pool, and turning on all the water, washed
1976
+
the marble clean of every drop. When at length I dared descend the steps,
1977
+
I found her lying there as white as snow. At last, when I had decided
1978
+
what was best to do, I went into the laboratory, and first emptied the
1979
+
solution in the basin into the waste-pipe; then I poured the contents of
1980
+
every jar and bottle after it. There was wood in the fire-place, so I
1981
+
built a fire, and breaking the locks of Boris' cabinet I burnt every
1982
+
paper, notebook and letter that I found there. With a mallet from the
1983
+
studio I smashed to pieces all the empty bottles, then loading them into
1984
+
a coal-scuttle, I carried them to the cellar and threw them over the
1985
+
red-hot bed of the furnace. Six times I made the journey, and at last,
1986
+
not a vestige remained of anything which might again aid in seeking for
1987
+
the formula which Boris had found. Then at last I dared call the doctor.
1988
+
He is a good man, and together we struggled to keep it from the public.
1989
+
Without him I never could have succeeded. At last we got the servants
1990
+
paid and sent away into the country, where old Rosier keeps them quiet
1991
+
with stones of Boris' and Geneviève's travels in distant lands, from
1992
+
whence they will not return for years. We buried Boris in the little
1993
+
cemetery of Sèvres. The doctor is a good creature, and knows when to pity
1994
+
a man who can bear no more. He gave his certificate of heart disease and
1995
+
asked no questions of me."
1996
+
1997
+
Then, lifting his head from his hands, he said, "Open the letter, Alec;
1998
+
it is for us both."
1999
+
2000
+
I tore it open. It was Boris' will dated a year before. He left
2001
+
everything to Geneviève, and in case of her dying childless, I was to
2002
+
take control of the house in the Rue Sainte-Cécile, and Jack Scott the
2003
+
management at Ept. On our deaths the property reverted to his mother's
2004
+
family in Russia, with the exception of the sculptured marbles executed
2005
+
by himself. These he left to me.
2006
+
2007
+
The page blurred under our eyes, and Jack got up and walked to the
2008
+
window. Presently he returned and sat down again. I dreaded to hear what
2009
+
he was going to say, but he spoke with the same simplicity and
2010
+
gentleness.
2011
+
2012
+
"Geneviève lies before the Madonna in the marble room. The Madonna bends
2013
+
tenderly above her, and Geneviève smiles back into that calm face that
2014
+
never would have been except for her."
2015
+
2016
+
His voice broke, but he grasped my hand, saying, "Courage, Alec." Next
2017
+
morning he left for Ept to fulfil his trust.
2018
+
2019
+
2020
+
2021
+
2022
+
IV
2023
+
2024
+
The same evening I took the keys and went into the house I had known so
2025
+
well. Everything was in order, but the silence was terrible. Though I
2026
+
went twice to the door of the marble room, I could not force myself to
2027
+
enter. It was beyond my strength. I went into the smoking-room and sat
2028
+
down before the spinet. A small lace handkerchief lay on the keys, and I
2029
+
turned away, choking. It was plain I could not stay, so I locked every
2030
+
door, every window, and the three front and back gates, and went away.
2031
+
Next morning Alcide packed my valise, and leaving him in charge of my
2032
+
apartments I took the Orient express for Constantinople. During the two
2033
+
years that I wandered through the East, at first, in our letters, we
2034
+
never mentioned Geneviève and Boris, but gradually their names crept in.
2035
+
I recollect particularly a passage in one of Jack's letters replying to
2036
+
one of mine--
2037
+
2038
+
"What you tell me of seeing Boris bending over you while you lay ill, and
2039
+
feeling his touch on your face, and hearing his voice, of course troubles
2040
+
me. This that you describe must have happened a fortnight after he died.
2041
+
I say to myself that you were dreaming, that it was part of your
2042
+
delirium, but the explanation does not satisfy me, nor would it you."
2043
+
2044
+
Toward the end of the second year a letter came from Jack to me in India
2045
+
so unlike anything that I had ever known of him that I decided to return
2046
+
at once to Paris. He wrote: "I am well, and sell all my pictures as
2047
+
artists do who have no need of money. I have not a care of my own, but I
2048
+
am more restless than if I had. I am unable to shake off a strange
2049
+
anxiety about you. It is not apprehension, it is rather a breathless
2050
+
expectancy--of what, God knows! I can only say it is wearing me out.
2051
+
Nights I dream always of you and Boris. I can never recall anything
2052
+
afterward, but I wake in the morning with my heart beating, and all day
2053
+
the excitement increases until I fall asleep at night to recall the same
2054
+
experience. I am quite exhausted by it, and have determined to break up
2055
+
this morbid condition. I must see you. Shall I go to Bombay, or will you
2056
+
come to Paris?"
2057
+
2058
+
I telegraphed him to expect me by the next steamer.
2059
+
2060
+
When we met I thought he had changed very little; I, he insisted, looked
2061
+
in splendid health. It was good to hear his voice again, and as we sat
2062
+
and chatted about what life still held for us, we felt that it was
2063
+
pleasant to be alive in the bright spring weather.
2064
+
2065
+
We stayed in Paris together a week, and then I went for a week to Ept
2066
+
with him, but first of all we went to the cemetery at Sèvres, where Boris
2067
+
lay.
2068
+
2069
+
"Shall we place the 'Fates' in the little grove above him?" Jack asked,
2070
+
and I answered--
2071
+
2072
+
"I think only the 'Madonna' should watch over Boris' grave." But Jack was
2073
+
none the better for my home-coming. The dreams of which he could not
2074
+
retain even the least definite outline continued, and he said that at
2075
+
times the sense of breathless expectancy was suffocating.
2076
+
2077
+
"You see I do you harm and not good," I said. "Try a change without me."
2078
+
So he started alone for a ramble among the Channel Islands, and I went
2079
+
back to Paris. I had not yet entered Boris' house, now mine, since my
2080
+
return, but I knew it must be done. It had been kept in order by Jack;
2081
+
there were servants there, so I gave up my own apartment and went there
2082
+
to live. Instead of the agitation I had feared, I found myself able to
2083
+
paint there tranquilly. I visited all the rooms--all but one. I could not
2084
+
bring myself to enter the marble room where Geneviève lay, and yet I felt
2085
+
the longing growing daily to look upon her face, to kneel beside her.
2086
+
2087
+
One April afternoon, I lay dreaming in the smoking-room, just as I had
2088
+
lain two years before, and mechanically I looked among the tawny Eastern
2089
+
rugs for the wolf-skin. At last I distinguished the pointed ears and flat
2090
+
cruel head, and I thought of my dream where I saw Geneviève lying beside
2091
+
it. The helmets still hung against the threadbare tapestry, among them
2092
+
the old Spanish morion which I remembered Geneviève had once put on when
2093
+
we were amusing ourselves with the ancient bits of mail. I turned my eyes
2094
+
to the spinet; every yellow key seemed eloquent of her caressing hand,
2095
+
and I rose, drawn by the strength of my life's passion to the sealed door
2096
+
of the marble room. The heavy doors swung inward under my trembling
2097
+
hands. Sunlight poured through the window, tipping with gold the wings of
2098
+
Cupid, and lingered like a nimbus over the brows of the Madonna. Her
2099
+
tender face bent in compassion over a marble form so exquisitely pure
2100
+
that I knelt and signed myself. Geneviève lay in the shadow under the
2101
+
Madonna, and yet, through her white arms, I saw the pale azure vein, and
2102
+
beneath her softly clasped hands the folds of her dress were tinged with
2103
+
rose, as if from some faint warm light within her breast.
2104
+
2105
+
Bending, with a breaking heart, I touched the marble drapery with my
2106
+
lips, then crept back into the silent house.
2107
+
2108
+
A maid came and brought me a letter, and I sat down in the little
2109
+
conservatory to read it; but as I was about to break the seal, seeing the
2110
+
girl lingering, I asked her what she wanted.
2111
+
2112
+
She stammered something about a white rabbit that had been caught in the
2113
+
house, and asked what should be done with it I told her to let it loose
2114
+
in the walled garden behind the house, and opened my letter. It was from
2115
+
Jack, but so incoherent that I thought he must have lost his reason. It
2116
+
was nothing but a series of prayers to me not to leave the house until he
2117
+
could get back; he could not tell me why, there were the dreams, he
2118
+
said--he could explain nothing, but he was sure that I must not leave the
2119
+
house in the Rue Sainte-Cécile.
2120
+
2121
+
As I finished reading I raised my eyes and saw the same maid-servant
2122
+
standing in the doorway holding a glass dish in which two gold-fish were
2123
+
swimming: "Put them back into the tank and tell me what you mean by
2124
+
interrupting me," I said.
2125
+
2126
+
With a half-suppressed whimper she emptied water and fish into an
2127
+
aquarium at the end of the conservatory, and turning to me asked my
2128
+
permission to leave my service. She said people were playing tricks on
2129
+
her, evidently with a design of getting her into trouble; the marble
2130
+
rabbit had been stolen and a live one had been brought into the house;
2131
+
the two beautiful marble fish were gone, and she had just found those
2132
+
common live things flopping on the dining-room floor. I reassured her and
2133
+
sent her away, saying I would look about myself. I went into the studio;
2134
+
there was nothing there but my canvases and some casts, except the marble
2135
+
of the Easter lily. I saw it on a table across the room. Then I strode
2136
+
angrily over to it. But the flower I lifted from the table was fresh and
2137
+
fragile and filled the air with perfume.
2138
+
2139
+
Then suddenly I comprehended, and sprang through the hall-way to the
2140
+
marble room. The doors flew open, the sunlight streamed into my face, and
2141
+
through it, in a heavenly glory, the Madonna smiled, as Geneviève lifted
2142
+
her flushed face from her marble couch and opened her sleepy eyes.
2143
+
2144
+
2145
+
2146
+
2147
+
IN THE COURT OF THE DRAGON
2148
+
2149
+
2150
+
"Oh, thou who burn'st in heart for those who burn
2151
+
In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn;
2152
+
How long be crying--'Mercy on them.' God!
2153
+
Why, who art thou to teach and He to learn?"
2154
+
2155
+
In the Church of St. Barnabé vespers were over; the clergy left the
2156
+
altar; the little choir-boys flocked across the chancel and settled in
2157
+
the stalls. A Suisse in rich uniform marched down the south aisle,
2158
+
sounding his staff at every fourth step on the stone pavement; behind him
2159
+
came that eloquent preacher and good man, Monseigneur C----.
2160
+
2161
+
My chair was near the chancel rail, I now turned toward the west end of
2162
+
the church. The other people between the altar and the pulpit turned too.
2163
+
There was a little scraping and rustling while the congregation seated
2164
+
itself again; the preacher mounted the pulpit stairs, and the organ
2165
+
voluntary ceased.
2166
+
2167
+
I had always found the organ-playing at St. Barnabé highly interesting.
2168
+
Learned and scientific it was, too much so for my small knowledge, but
2169
+
expressing a vivid if cold intelligence. Moreover, it possessed the
2170
+
French quality of taste: taste reigned supreme, self-controlled,
2171
+
dignified and reticent.
2172
+
2173
+
To-day, however, from the first chord I had felt a change for the worse,
2174
+
a sinister change. During vespers it had been chiefly the chancel organ
2175
+
which supported the beautiful choir, but now and again, quite wantonly as
2176
+
it seemed, from the west gallery where the great organ stands, a heavy
2177
+
hand had struck across the church at the serene peace of those clear
2178
+
voices. It was something more than harsh and dissonant, and it betrayed
2179
+
no lack of skill. As it recurred again and again, it set me thinking of
2180
+
what my architect's books say about the custom in early times to
2181
+
consecrate the choir as soon as it was built, and that the nave, being
2182
+
finished sometimes half a century later, often did not get any blessing
2183
+
at all: I wondered idly if that had been the case at St. Barnabé, and
2184
+
whether something not usually supposed to be at home in a Christian
2185
+
church might have entered undetected and taken possession of the west
2186
+
gallery. I had read of such things happening, too, but not in works on
2187
+
architecture.
2188
+
2189
+
Then I remembered that St. Barnabé was not much more than a hundred years
2190
+
old, and smiled at the incongruous association of mediaeval superstitions
2191
+
with that cheerful little piece of eighteenth-century rococo.
2192
+
2193
+
But now vespers were over, and there should have followed a few quiet
2194
+
chords, fit to accompany meditation, while we waited for the sermon.
2195
+
Instead of that, the discord at the lower end of the church broke out
2196
+
with the departure of the clergy, as if now nothing could control it.
2197
+
2198
+
I belong to those children of an older and simpler generation who do not
2199
+
love to seek for psychological subtleties in art; and I have ever refused
2200
+
to find in music anything more than melody and harmony, but I felt that
2201
+
in the labyrinth of sounds now issuing from that instrument there was
2202
+
something being hunted. Up and down the pedals chased him, while the
2203
+
manuals blared approval. Poor devil! whoever he was, there seemed small
2204
+
hope of escape!
2205
+
2206
+
My nervous annoyance changed to anger. Who was doing this? How dare he
2207
+
play like that in the midst of divine service? I glanced at the people
2208
+
near me: not one appeared to be in the least disturbed. The placid brows
2209
+
of the kneeling nuns, still turned towards the altar, lost none of their
2210
+
devout abstraction under the pale shadow of their white head-dress. The
2211
+
fashionable lady beside me was looking expectantly at Monseigneur C----.
2212
+
For all her face betrayed, the organ might have been singing an Ave
2213
+
Maria.
2214
+
2215
+
But now, at last, the preacher had made the sign of the cross, and
2216
+
commanded silence. I turned to him gladly. Thus far I had not found the
2217
+
rest I had counted on when I entered St. Barnabé that afternoon.
2218
+
2219
+
I was worn out by three nights of physical suffering and mental trouble:
2220
+
the last had been the worst, and it was an exhausted body, and a mind
2221
+
benumbed and yet acutely sensitive, which I had brought to my favourite
2222
+
church for healing. For I had been reading _The King in Yellow_.
2223
+
2224
+
"The sun ariseth; they gather themselves together and lay them down in
2225
+
their dens." Monseigneur C---- delivered his text in a calm voice,
2226
+
glancing quietly over the congregation. My eyes turned, I knew not why,
2227
+
toward the lower end of the church. The organist was coming from behind
2228
+
his pipes, and passing along the gallery on his way out, I saw him
2229
+
disappear by a small door that leads to some stairs which descend
2230
+
directly to the street. He was a slender man, and his face was as white
2231
+
as his coat was black. "Good riddance!" I thought, "with your wicked
2232
+
music! I hope your assistant will play the closing voluntary."
2233
+
2234
+
With a feeling of relief--with a deep, calm feeling of relief, I turned
2235
+
back to the mild face in the pulpit and settled myself to listen. Here,
2236
+
at last, was the ease of mind I longed for.
2237
+
2238
+
"My children," said the preacher, "one truth the human soul finds hardest
2239
+
of all to learn: that it has nothing to fear. It can never be made to see
2240
+
that nothing can really harm it."
2241
+
2242
+
"Curious doctrine!" I thought, "for a Catholic priest. Let us see how he
2243
+
will reconcile that with the Fathers."
2244
+
2245
+
"Nothing can really harm the soul," he went on, in, his coolest, clearest
2246
+
tones, "because----"
2247
+
2248
+
But I never heard the rest; my eye left his face, I knew not for what
2249
+
reason, and sought the lower end of the church. The same man was coming
2250
+
out from behind the organ, and was passing along the gallery _the same
2251
+
way_. But there had not been time for him to return, and if he had
2252
+
returned, I must have seen him. I felt a faint chill, and my heart sank;
2253
+
and yet, his going and coming were no affair of mine. I looked at him: I
2254
+
could not look away from his black figure and his white face. When he was
2255
+
exactly opposite to me, he turned and sent across the church straight
2256
+
into my eyes, a look of hate, intense and deadly: I have never seen any
2257
+
other like it; would to God I might never see it again! Then he
2258
+
disappeared by the same door through which I had watched him depart less
2259
+
than sixty seconds before.
2260
+
2261
+
I sat and tried to collect my thoughts. My first sensation was like that
2262
+
of a very young child badly hurt, when it catches its breath before
2263
+
crying out.
2264
+
2265
+
To suddenly find myself the object of such hatred was exquisitely
2266
+
painful: and this man was an utter stranger. Why should he hate me
2267
+
so?--me, whom he had never seen before? For the moment all other
2268
+
sensation was merged in this one pang: even fear was subordinate to
2269
+
grief, and for that moment I never doubted; but in the next I began to
2270
+
reason, and a sense of the incongruous came to my aid.
2271
+
2272
+
As I have said, St. Barnabé is a modern church. It is small and well
2273
+
lighted; one sees all over it almost at a glance. The organ gallery gets
2274
+
a strong white light from a row of long windows in the clerestory, which
2275
+
have not even coloured glass.
2276
+
2277
+
The pulpit being in the middle of the church, it followed that, when I
2278
+
was turned toward it, whatever moved at the west end could not fail to
2279
+
attract my eye. When the organist passed it was no wonder that I saw him:
2280
+
I had simply miscalculated the interval between his first and his second
2281
+
passing. He had come in that last time by the other side-door. As for the
2282
+
look which had so upset me, there had been no such thing, and I was a
2283
+
nervous fool.
2284
+
2285
+
I looked about. This was a likely place to harbour supernatural horrors!
2286
+
That clear-cut, reasonable face of Monseigneur C----, his collected
2287
+
manner and easy, graceful gestures, were they not just a little
2288
+
discouraging to the notion of a gruesome mystery? I glanced above his
2289
+
head, and almost laughed. That flyaway lady supporting one corner of the
2290
+
pulpit canopy, which looked like a fringed damask table-cloth in a high
2291
+
wind, at the first attempt of a basilisk to pose up there in the organ
2292
+
loft, she would point her gold trumpet at him, and puff him out of
2293
+
existence! I laughed to myself over this conceit, which, at the time, I
2294
+
thought very amusing, and sat and chaffed myself and everything else,
2295
+
from the old harpy outside the railing, who had made me pay ten centimes
2296
+
for my chair, before she would let me in (she was more like a basilisk, I
2297
+
told myself, than was my organist with the anaemic complexion): from that
2298
+
grim old dame, to, yes, alas! Monseigneur C---- himself. For all
2299
+
devoutness had fled. I had never yet done such a thing in my life, but
2300
+
now I felt a desire to mock.
2301
+
2302
+
As for the sermon, I could not hear a word of it for the jingle in my
2303
+
ears of
2304
+
2305
+
"The skirts of St. Paul has reached.
2306
+
Having preached us those six Lent lectures,
2307
+
More unctuous than ever he preached,"
2308
+
2309
+
keeping time to the most fantastic and irreverent thoughts.
2310
+
2311
+
It was no use to sit there any longer: I must get out of doors and shake
2312
+
myself free from this hateful mood. I knew the rudeness I was committing,
2313
+
but still I rose and left the church.
2314
+
2315
+
A spring sun was shining on the Rue St. Honoré, as I ran down the church
2316
+
steps. On one corner stood a barrow full of yellow jonquils, pale violets
2317
+
from the Riviera, dark Russian violets, and white Roman hyacinths in a
2318
+
golden cloud of mimosa. The street was full of Sunday pleasure-seekers. I
2319
+
swung my cane and laughed with the rest. Some one overtook and passed me.
2320
+
He never turned, but there was the same deadly malignity in his white
2321
+
profile that there had been in his eyes. I watched him as long as I could
2322
+
see him. His lithe back expressed the same menace; every step that
2323
+
carried him away from me seemed to bear him on some errand connected with
2324
+
my destruction.
2325
+
2326
+
I was creeping along, my feet almost refusing to move. There began to
2327
+
dawn in me a sense of responsibility for something long forgotten. It
2328
+
began to seem as if I deserved that which he threatened: it reached a
2329
+
long way back--a long, long way back. It had lain dormant all these
2330
+
years: it was there, though, and presently it would rise and confront me.
2331
+
But I would try to escape; and I stumbled as best I could into the Rue de
2332
+
Rivoli, across the Place de la Concorde and on to the Quai. I looked with
2333
+
sick eyes upon the sun, shining through the white foam of the fountain,
2334
+
pouring over the backs of the dusky bronze river-gods, on the far-away
2335
+
Arc, a structure of amethyst mist, on the countless vistas of grey stems
2336
+
and bare branches faintly green. Then I saw him again coming down one of
2337
+
the chestnut alleys of the Cours la Reine.
2338
+
2339
+
I left the river-side, plunged blindly across to the Champs Elysées and
2340
+
turned toward the Arc. The setting sun was sending its rays along the
2341
+
green sward of the Rond-point: in the full glow he sat on a bench,
2342
+
children and young mothers all about him. He was nothing but a Sunday
2343
+
lounger, like the others, like myself. I said the words almost aloud, and
2344
+
all the while I gazed on the malignant hatred of his face. But he was not
2345
+
looking at me. I crept past and dragged my leaden feet up the Avenue. I
2346
+
knew that every time I met him brought him nearer to the accomplishment
2347
+
of his purpose and my fate. And still I tried to save myself.
2348
+
2349
+
The last rays of sunset were pouring through the great Arc. I passed
2350
+
under it, and met him face to face. I had left him far down the Champs
2351
+
Elysées, and yet he came in with a stream of people who were returning
2352
+
from the Bois de Boulogne. He came so close that he brushed me. His
2353
+
slender frame felt like iron inside its loose black covering. He showed
2354
+
no signs of haste, nor of fatigue, nor of any human feeling. His whole
2355
+
being expressed one thing: the will, and the power to work me evil.
2356
+
2357
+
In anguish I watched him where he went down the broad crowded Avenue,
2358
+
that was all flashing with wheels and the trappings of horses and the
2359
+
helmets of the Garde Republicaine.
2360
+
2361
+
He was soon lost to sight; then I turned and fled. Into the Bois, and far
2362
+
out beyond it--I know not where I went, but after a long while as it
2363
+
seemed to me, night had fallen, and I found myself sitting at a table
2364
+
before a small café. I had wandered back into the Bois. It was hours now
2365
+
since I had seen him. Physical fatigue and mental suffering had left me
2366
+
no power to think or feel. I was tired, so tired! I longed to hide away
2367
+
in my own den. I resolved to go home. But that was a long way off.
2368
+
2369
+
I live in the Court of the Dragon, a narrow passage that leads from the
2370
+
Rue de Rennes to the Rue du Dragon.
2371
+
2372
+
It is an "impasse"; traversable only for foot passengers. Over the
2373
+
entrance on the Rue de Rennes is a balcony, supported by an iron dragon.
2374
+
Within the court tall old houses rise on either side, and close the ends
2375
+
that give on the two streets. Huge gates, swung back during the day into
2376
+
the walls of the deep archways, close this court, after midnight, and one
2377
+
must enter then by ringing at certain small doors on the side. The sunken
2378
+
pavement collects unsavoury pools. Steep stairways pitch down to doors
2379
+
that open on the court. The ground floors are occupied by shops of
2380
+
second-hand dealers, and by iron workers. All day long the place rings
2381
+
with the clink of hammers and the clang of metal bars.
2382
+
2383
+
Unsavoury as it is below, there is cheerfulness, and comfort, and hard,
2384
+
honest work above.
2385
+
2386
+
Five flights up are the ateliers of architects and painters, and the
2387
+
hiding-places of middle-aged students like myself who want to live alone.
2388
+
When I first came here to live I was young, and not alone.
2389
+
2390
+
I had to walk a while before any conveyance appeared, but at last, when I
2391
+
had almost reached the Arc de Triomphe again, an empty cab came along and
2392
+
I took it.
2393
+
2394
+
From the Arc to the Rue de Rennes is a drive of more than half an hour,
2395
+
especially when one is conveyed by a tired cab horse that has been at the
2396
+
mercy of Sunday fete-makers.
2397
+
2398
+
There had been time before I passed under the Dragon's wings to meet my
2399
+
enemy over and over again, but I never saw him once, and now refuge was
2400
+
close at hand.
2401
+
2402
+
Before the wide gateway a small mob of children were playing. Our
2403
+
concierge and his wife walked among them, with their black poodle,
2404
+
keeping order; some couples were waltzing on the side-walk. I returned
2405
+
their greetings and hurried in.
2406
+
2407
+
All the inhabitants of the court had trooped out into the street. The
2408
+
place was quite deserted, lighted by a few lanterns hung high up, in
2409
+
which the gas burned dimly.
2410
+
2411
+
My apartment was at the top of a house, halfway down the court, reached
2412
+
by a staircase that descended almost into the street, with only a bit of
2413
+
passage-way intervening, I set my foot on the threshold of the open door,
2414
+
the friendly old ruinous stairs rose before me, leading up to rest and
2415
+
shelter. Looking back over my right shoulder, I saw _him,_ ten paces
2416
+
off. He must have entered the court with me.
2417
+
2418
+
He was coming straight on, neither slowly, nor swiftly, but straight on
2419
+
to me. And now he was looking at me. For the first time since our eyes
2420
+
encountered across the church they met now again, and I knew that the
2421
+
time had come.
2422
+
2423
+
Retreating backward, down the court, I faced him. I meant to escape by
2424
+
the entrance on the Rue du Dragon. His eyes told me that I never should
2425
+
escape.
2426
+
2427
+
It seemed ages while we were going, I retreating, he advancing, down the
2428
+
court in perfect silence; but at last I felt the shadow of the archway,
2429
+
and the next step brought me within it. I had meant to turn here and
2430
+
spring through into the street. But the shadow was not that of an
2431
+
archway; it was that of a vault. The great doors on the Rue du Dragon
2432
+
were closed. I felt this by the blackness which surrounded me, and at the
2433
+
same instant I read it in his face. How his face gleamed in the darkness,
2434
+
drawing swiftly nearer! The deep vaults, the huge closed doors, their
2435
+
cold iron clamps were all on his side. The thing which he had threatened
2436
+
had arrived: it gathered and bore down on me from the fathomless shadows;
2437
+
the point from which it would strike was his infernal eyes. Hopeless, I
2438
+
set my back against the barred doors and defied him.
2439
+
2440
+
2441
+
There was a scraping of chairs on the stone floor, and a rustling as the
2442
+
congregation rose. I could hear the Suisse's staff in the south aisle,
2443
+
preceding Monseigneur C---- to the sacristy.
2444
+
2445
+
The kneeling nuns, roused from their devout abstraction, made their
2446
+
reverence and went away. The fashionable lady, my neighbour, rose also,
2447
+
with graceful reserve. As she departed her glance just flitted over my
2448
+
face in disapproval.
2449
+
2450
+
Half dead, or so it seemed to me, yet intensely alive to every trifle, I
2451
+
sat among the leisurely moving crowd, then rose too and went toward the
2452
+
door.
2453
+
2454
+
I had slept through the sermon. Had I slept through the sermon? I looked
2455
+
up and saw him passing along the gallery to his place. Only his side I
2456
+
saw; the thin bent arm in its black covering looked like one of those
2457
+
devilish, nameless instruments which lie in the disused torture-chambers
2458
+
of mediaeval castles.
2459
+
2460
+
But I had escaped him, though his eyes had said I should not. _Had_
2461
+
I escaped him? That which gave him the power over me came back out of
2462
+
oblivion, where I had hoped to keep it. For I knew him now. Death and the
2463
+
awful abode of lost souls, whither my weakness long ago had sent
2464
+
him--they had changed him for every other eye, but not for mine. I had
2465
+
recognized him almost from the first; I had never doubted what he was
2466
+
come to do; and now I knew while my body sat safe in the cheerful little
2467
+
church, he had been hunting my soul in the Court of the Dragon.
2468
+
2469
+
I crept to the door: the organ broke out overhead with a blare. A
2470
+
dazzling light filled the church, blotting the altar from my eyes. The
2471
+
people faded away, the arches, the vaulted roof vanished. I raised my
2472
+
seared eyes to the fathomless glare, and I saw the black stars hanging in
2473
+
the heavens: and the wet winds from the lake of Hali chilled my face.
2474
+
2475
+
And now, far away, over leagues of tossing cloud-waves, I saw the moon
2476
+
dripping with spray; and beyond, the towers of Carcosa rose behind the
2477
+
moon.
2478
+
2479
+
Death and the awful abode of lost souls, whither my weakness long ago had
2480
+
sent him, had changed him for every other eye but mine. And now I heard
2481
+
_his voice_, rising, swelling, thundering through the flaring light,
2482
+
and as I fell, the radiance increasing, increasing, poured over me in
2483
+
waves of flame. Then I sank into the depths, and I heard the King in
2484
+
Yellow whispering to my soul: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the
2485
+
hands of the living God!"
2486
+
2487
+
2488
+
2489
+
2490
+
THE YELLOW SIGN
2491
+
2492
+
"Let the red dawn surmise
2493
+
What we shall do,
2494
+
When this blue starlight dies
2495
+
And all is through."
2496
+
2497
+
2498
+
I
2499
+
2500
+
There are so many things which are impossible to explain! Why should
2501
+
certain chords in music make me think of the brown and golden tints of
2502
+
autumn foliage? Why should the Mass of Sainte Cécile bend my thoughts
2503
+
wandering among caverns whose walls blaze with ragged masses of virgin
2504
+
silver? What was it in the roar and turmoil of Broadway at six o'clock
2505
+
that flashed before my eyes the picture of a still Breton forest where
2506
+
sunlight filtered through spring foliage and Sylvia bent, half curiously,
2507
+
half tenderly, over a small green lizard, murmuring: "To think that this
2508
+
also is a little ward of God!"
2509
+
2510
+
When I first saw the watchman his back was toward me. I looked at him
2511
+
indifferently until he went into the church. I paid no more attention to
2512
+
him than I had to any other man who lounged through Washington Square
2513
+
that morning, and when I shut my window and turned back into my studio I
2514
+
had forgotten him. Late in the afternoon, the day being warm, I raised
2515
+
the window again and leaned out to get a sniff of air. A man was standing
2516
+
in the courtyard of the church, and I noticed him again with as little
2517
+
interest as I had that morning. I looked across the square to where the
2518
+
fountain was playing and then, with my mind filled with vague impressions
2519
+
of trees, asphalt drives, and the moving groups of nursemaids and
2520
+
holiday-makers, I started to walk back to my easel. As I turned, my
2521
+
listless glance included the man below in the churchyard. His face was
2522
+
toward me now, and with a perfectly involuntary movement I bent to see
2523
+
it. At the same moment he raised his head and looked at me. Instantly I
2524
+
thought of a coffin-worm. Whatever it was about the man that repelled me
2525
+
I did not know, but the impression of a plump white grave-worm was so
2526
+
intense and nauseating that I must have shown it in my expression, for he
2527
+
turned his puffy face away with a movement which made me think of a
2528
+
disturbed grub in a chestnut.
2529
+
2530
+
I went back to my easel and motioned the model to resume her pose. After
2531
+
working a while I was satisfied that I was spoiling what I had done as
2532
+
rapidly as possible, and I took up a palette knife and scraped the colour
2533
+
out again. The flesh tones were sallow and unhealthy, and I did not
2534
+
understand how I could have painted such sickly colour into a study which
2535
+
before that had glowed with healthy tones.
2536
+
2537
+
I looked at Tessie. She had not changed, and the clear flush of health
2538
+
dyed her neck and cheeks as I frowned.
2539
+
2540
+
"Is it something I've done?" she said.
2541
+
2542
+
"No,--I've made a mess of this arm, and for the life of me I can't see
2543
+
how I came to paint such mud as that into the canvas," I replied.
2544
+
2545
+
"Don't I pose well?" she insisted.
2546
+
2547
+
"Of course, perfectly."
2548
+
2549
+
"Then it's not my fault?"
2550
+
2551
+
"No. It's my own."
2552
+
2553
+
"I am very sorry," she said.
2554
+
2555
+
I told her she could rest while I applied rag and turpentine to the
2556
+
plague spot on my canvas, and she went off to smoke a cigarette and look
2557
+
over the illustrations in the _Courrier Français_.
2558
+
2559
+
I did not know whether it was something in the turpentine or a defect in
2560
+
the canvas, but the more I scrubbed the more that gangrene seemed to
2561
+
spread. I worked like a beaver to get it out, and yet the disease
2562
+
appeared to creep from limb to limb of the study before me. Alarmed, I
2563
+
strove to arrest it, but now the colour on the breast changed and the
2564
+
whole figure seemed to absorb the infection as a sponge soaks up water.
2565
+
Vigorously I plied palette-knife, turpentine, and scraper, thinking all
2566
+
the time what a _séance_ I should hold with Duval who had sold me
2567
+
the canvas; but soon I noticed that it was not the canvas which was
2568
+
defective nor yet the colours of Edward. "It must be the turpentine," I
2569
+
thought angrily, "or else my eyes have become so blurred and confused by
2570
+
the afternoon light that I can't see straight." I called Tessie, the
2571
+
model. She came and leaned over my chair blowing rings of smoke into the
2572
+
air.
2573
+
2574
+
"What _have_ you been doing to it?" she exclaimed
2575
+
2576
+
"Nothing," I growled, "it must be this turpentine!"
2577
+
2578
+
"What a horrible colour it is now," she continued. "Do you think my flesh
2579
+
resembles green cheese?"
2580
+
2581
+
"No, I don't," I said angrily; "did you ever know me to paint like that
2582
+
before?"
2583
+
2584
+
"No, indeed!"
2585
+
2586
+
"Well, then!"
2587
+
2588
+
"It must be the turpentine, or something," she admitted.
2589
+
2590
+
She slipped on a Japanese robe and walked to the window. I scraped and
2591
+
rubbed until I was tired, and finally picked up my brushes and hurled
2592
+
them through the canvas with a forcible expression, the tone alone of
2593
+
which reached Tessie's ears.
2594
+
2595
+
Nevertheless she promptly began: "That's it! Swear and act silly and ruin
2596
+
your brushes! You have been three weeks on that study, and now look!
2597
+
What's the good of ripping the canvas? What creatures artists are!"
2598
+
2599
+
I felt about as much ashamed as I usually did after such an outbreak, and
2600
+
I turned the ruined canvas to the wall. Tessie helped me clean my
2601
+
brushes, and then danced away to dress. From the screen she regaled me
2602
+
with bits of advice concerning whole or partial loss of temper, until,
2603
+
thinking, perhaps, I had been tormented sufficiently, she came out to
2604
+
implore me to button her waist where she could not reach it on the
2605
+
shoulder.
2606
+
2607
+
"Everything went wrong from the time you came back from the window and
2608
+
talked about that horrid-looking man you saw in the churchyard," she
2609
+
announced.
2610
+
2611
+
"Yes, he probably bewitched the picture," I said, yawning. I looked at my
2612
+
watch.
2613
+
2614
+
"It's after six, I know," said Tessie, adjusting her hat before the
2615
+
mirror.
2616
+
2617
+
"Yes," I replied, "I didn't mean to keep you so long." I leaned out of
2618
+
the window but recoiled with disgust, for the young man with the pasty
2619
+
face stood below in the churchyard. Tessie saw my gesture of disapproval
2620
+
and leaned from the window.
2621
+
2622
+
"Is that the man you don't like?" she whispered.
2623
+
2624
+
I nodded.
2625
+
2626
+
"I can't see his face, but he does look fat and soft. Someway or other,"
2627
+
she continued, turning to look at me, "he reminds me of a dream,--an
2628
+
awful dream I once had. Or," she mused, looking down at her shapely
2629
+
shoes, "was it a dream after all?"
2630
+
2631
+
"How should I know?" I smiled.
2632
+
2633
+
Tessie smiled in reply.
2634
+
2635
+
"You were in it," she said, "so perhaps you might know something about
2636
+
it."
2637
+
2638
+
"Tessie! Tessie!" I protested, "don't you dare flatter by saying that you
2639
+
dream about me!"
2640
+
2641
+
"But I did," she insisted; "shall I tell you about it?"
2642
+
2643
+
"Go ahead," I replied, lighting a cigarette.
2644
+
2645
+
Tessie leaned back on the open window-sill and began very seriously.
2646
+
2647
+
"One night last winter I was lying in bed thinking about nothing at all
2648
+
in particular. I had been posing for you and I was tired out, yet it
2649
+
seemed impossible for me to sleep. I heard the bells in the city ring
2650
+
ten, eleven, and midnight. I must have fallen asleep about midnight
2651
+
because I don't remember hearing the bells after that. It seemed to me
2652
+
that I had scarcely closed my eyes when I dreamed that something impelled
2653
+
me to go to the window. I rose, and raising the sash leaned out.
2654
+
Twenty-fifth Street was deserted as far as I could see. I began to be
2655
+
afraid; everything outside seemed so--so black and uncomfortable. Then
2656
+
the sound of wheels in the distance came to my ears, and it seemed to me
2657
+
as though that was what I must wait for. Very slowly the wheels
2658
+
approached, and, finally, I could make out a vehicle moving along the
2659
+
street. It came nearer and nearer, and when it passed beneath my window I
2660
+
saw it was a hearse. Then, as I trembled with fear, the driver turned and
2661
+
looked straight at me. When I awoke I was standing by the open window
2662
+
shivering with cold, but the black-plumed hearse and the driver were
2663
+
gone. I dreamed this dream again in March last, and again awoke beside
2664
+
the open window. Last night the dream came again. You remember how it was
2665
+
raining; when I awoke, standing at the open window, my night-dress was
2666
+
soaked."
2667
+
2668
+
"But where did I come into the dream?" I asked.
2669
+
2670
+
"You--you were in the coffin; but you were not dead."
2671
+
2672
+
"In the coffin?"
2673
+
2674
+
"Yes."
2675
+
2676
+
"How did you know? Could you see me?"
2677
+
2678
+
"No; I only knew you were there."
2679
+
2680
+
"Had you been eating Welsh rarebits, or lobster salad?" I began,
2681
+
laughing, but the girl interrupted me with a frightened cry.
2682
+
2683
+
"Hello! What's up?" I said, as she shrank into the embrasure by the
2684
+
window.
2685
+
2686
+
"The--the man below in the churchyard;--he drove the hearse."
2687
+
2688
+
"Nonsense," I said, but Tessie's eyes were wide with terror. I went to
2689
+
the window and looked out. The man was gone. "Come, Tessie," I urged,
2690
+
"don't be foolish. You have posed too long; you are nervous."
2691
+
2692
+
"Do you think I could forget that face?" she murmured. "Three times I saw
2693
+
the hearse pass below my window, and every time the driver turned and
2694
+
looked up at me. Oh, his face was so white and--and soft? It looked
2695
+
dead--it looked as if it had been dead a long time."
2696
+
2697
+
I induced the girl to sit down and swallow a glass of Marsala. Then I sat
2698
+
down beside her, and tried to give her some advice.
2699
+
2700
+
"Look here, Tessie," I said, "you go to the country for a week or two,
2701
+
and you'll have no more dreams about hearses. You pose all day, and when
2702
+
night comes your nerves are upset. You can't keep this up. Then again,
2703
+
instead of going to bed when your day's work is done, you run off to
2704
+
picnics at Sulzer's Park, or go to the Eldorado or Coney Island, and when
2705
+
you come down here next morning you are fagged out. There was no real
2706
+
hearse. There was a soft-shell crab dream."
2707
+
2708
+
She smiled faintly.
2709
+
2710
+
"What about the man in the churchyard?"
2711
+
2712
+
"Oh, he's only an ordinary unhealthy, everyday creature."
2713
+
2714
+
"As true as my name is Tessie Reardon, I swear to you, Mr. Scott, that
2715
+
the face of the man below in the churchyard is the face of the man who
2716
+
drove the hearse!"
2717
+
2718
+
"What of it?" I said. "It's an honest trade."
2719
+
2720
+
"Then you think I _did_ see the hearse?"
2721
+
2722
+
"Oh," I said diplomatically, "if you really did, it might not be unlikely
2723
+
that the man below drove it. There is nothing in that."
2724
+
2725
+
Tessie rose, unrolled her scented handkerchief, and taking a bit of gum
2726
+
from a knot in the hem, placed it in her mouth. Then drawing on her
2727
+
gloves she offered me her hand, with a frank, "Good-night, Mr. Scott,"
2728
+
and walked out.
2729
+
2730
+
2731
+
2732
+
2733
+
II
2734
+
2735
+
The next morning, Thomas, the bell-boy, brought me the _Herald_ and
2736
+
a bit of news. The church next door had been sold. I thanked Heaven for
2737
+
it, not that being a Catholic I had any repugnance for the congregation
2738
+
next door, but because my nerves were shattered by a blatant exhorter,
2739
+
whose every word echoed through the aisle of the church as if it had been
2740
+
my own rooms, and who insisted on his r's with a nasal persistence which
2741
+
revolted my every instinct. Then, too, there was a fiend in human shape,
2742
+
an organist, who reeled off some of the grand old hymns with an
2743
+
interpretation of his own, and I longed for the blood of a creature who
2744
+
could play the doxology with an amendment of minor chords which one hears
2745
+
only in a quartet of very young undergraduates. I believe the minister
2746
+
was a good man, but when he bellowed: "And the Lorrrrd said unto Moses,
2747
+
the Lorrrd is a man of war; the Lorrrd is his name. My wrath shall wax
2748
+
hot and I will kill you with the sworrrrd!" I wondered how many centuries
2749
+
of purgatory it would take to atone for such a sin.
2750
+
2751
+
"Who bought the property?" I asked Thomas.
2752
+
2753
+
"Nobody that I knows, sir. They do say the gent wot owns this 'ere
2754
+
'Amilton flats was lookin' at it. 'E might be a bildin' more studios."
2755
+
2756
+
I walked to the window. The young man with the unhealthy face stood by
2757
+
the churchyard gate, and at the mere sight of him the same overwhelming
2758
+
repugnance took possession of me.
2759
+
2760
+
"By the way, Thomas," I said, "who is that fellow down there?"
2761
+
2762
+
Thomas sniffed. "That there worm, sir? 'Es night-watchman of the church,
2763
+
sir. 'E maikes me tired a-sittin' out all night on them steps and lookin'
2764
+
at you insultin' like. I'd a punched 'is 'ed, sir--beg pardon, sir--"
2765
+
2766
+
"Go on, Thomas."
2767
+
2768
+
"One night a comin' 'ome with Arry, the other English boy, I sees 'im a
2769
+
sittin' there on them steps. We 'ad Molly and Jen with us, sir, the two
2770
+
girls on the tray service, an' 'e looks so insultin' at us that I up and
2771
+
sez: 'Wat you looking hat, you fat slug?'--beg pardon, sir, but that's
2772
+
'ow I sez, sir. Then 'e don't say nothin' and I sez: 'Come out and I'll
2773
+
punch that puddin' 'ed.' Then I hopens the gate an' goes in, but 'e don't
2774
+
say nothin', only looks insultin' like. Then I 'its 'im one, but, ugh!
2775
+
'is 'ed was that cold and mushy it ud sicken you to touch 'im."
2776
+
2777
+
"What did he do then?" I asked curiously.
2778
+
2779
+
"'Im? Nawthin'."
2780
+
2781
+
"And you, Thomas?"
2782
+
2783
+
The young fellow flushed with embarrassment and smiled uneasily.
2784
+
2785
+
"Mr. Scott, sir, I ain't no coward, an' I can't make it out at all why I
2786
+
run. I was in the 5th Lawncers, sir, bugler at Tel-el-Kebir, an' was shot
2787
+
by the wells."
2788
+
2789
+
"You don't mean to say you ran away?"
2790
+
2791
+
"Yes, sir; I run."
2792
+
2793
+
"Why?"
2794
+
2795
+
"That's just what I want to know, sir. I grabbed Molly an' run, an' the
2796
+
rest was as frightened as I."
2797
+
2798
+
"But what were they frightened at?"
2799
+
2800
+
Thomas refused to answer for a while, but now my curiosity was aroused
2801
+
about the repulsive young man below and I pressed him. Three years'
2802
+
sojourn in America had not only modified Thomas' cockney dialect but had
2803
+
given him the American's fear of ridicule.
2804
+
2805
+
"You won't believe me, Mr. Scott, sir?"
2806
+
2807
+
"Yes, I will."
2808
+
2809
+
"You will lawf at me, sir?"
2810
+
2811
+
"Nonsense!"
2812
+
2813
+
He hesitated. "Well, sir, it's Gawd's truth that when I 'it 'im 'e
2814
+
grabbed me wrists, sir, and when I twisted 'is soft, mushy fist one of
2815
+
'is fingers come off in me 'and."
2816
+
2817
+
The utter loathing and horror of Thomas' face must have been reflected in
2818
+
my own, for he added:
2819
+
2820
+
"It's orful, an' now when I see 'im I just go away. 'E maikes me hill."
2821
+
2822
+
When Thomas had gone I went to the window. The man stood beside the
2823
+
church-railing with both hands on the gate, but I hastily retreated to my
2824
+
easel again, sickened and horrified, for I saw that the middle finger of
2825
+
his right hand was missing.
2826
+
2827
+
At nine o'clock Tessie appeared and vanished behind the screen with a
2828
+
merry "Good morning, Mr. Scott." When she had reappeared and taken her
2829
+
pose upon the model-stand I started a new canvas, much to her delight.
2830
+
She remained silent as long as I was on the drawing, but as soon as the
2831
+
scrape of the charcoal ceased and I took up my fixative she began to
2832
+
chatter.
2833
+
2834
+
"Oh, I had such a lovely time last night. We went to Tony Pastor's."
2835
+
2836
+
"Who are 'we'?" I demanded.
2837
+
2838
+
"Oh, Maggie, you know, Mr. Whyte's model, and Pinkie McCormick--we call
2839
+
her Pinkie because she's got that beautiful red hair you artists like so
2840
+
much--and Lizzie Burke."
2841
+
2842
+
I sent a shower of spray from the fixative over the canvas, and said:
2843
+
"Well, go on."
2844
+
2845
+
"We saw Kelly and Baby Barnes the skirt-dancer and--and all the rest. I
2846
+
made a mash."
2847
+
2848
+
"Then you have gone back on me, Tessie?"
2849
+
2850
+
She laughed and shook her head.
2851
+
2852
+
"He's Lizzie Burke's brother, Ed. He's a perfect gen'l'man."
2853
+
2854
+
I felt constrained to give her some parental advice concerning mashing,
2855
+
which she took with a bright smile.
2856
+
2857
+
"Oh, I can take care of a strange mash," she said, examining her chewing
2858
+
gum, "but Ed is different. Lizzie is my best friend."
2859
+
2860
+
Then she related how Ed had come back from the stocking mill in Lowell,
2861
+
Massachusetts, to find her and Lizzie grown up, and what an accomplished
2862
+
young man he was, and how he thought nothing of squandering half-a-dollar
2863
+
for ice-cream and oysters to celebrate his entry as clerk into the
2864
+
woollen department of Macy's. Before she finished I began to paint, and
2865
+
she resumed the pose, smiling and chattering like a sparrow. By noon I
2866
+
had the study fairly well rubbed in and Tessie came to look at it.
2867
+
2868
+
"That's better," she said.
2869
+
2870
+
I thought so too, and ate my lunch with a satisfied feeling that all was
2871
+
going well. Tessie spread her lunch on a drawing table opposite me and we
2872
+
drank our claret from the same bottle and lighted our cigarettes from the
2873
+
same match. I was very much attached to Tessie. I had watched her shoot
2874
+
up into a slender but exquisitely formed woman from a frail, awkward
2875
+
child. She had posed for me during the last three years, and among all my
2876
+
models she was my favourite. It would have troubled me very much indeed
2877
+
had she become "tough" or "fly," as the phrase goes, but I never noticed
2878
+
any deterioration of her manner, and felt at heart that she was all
2879
+
right. She and I never discussed morals at all, and I had no intention of
2880
+
doing so, partly because I had none myself, and partly because I knew she
2881
+
would do what she liked in spite of me. Still I did hope she would steer
2882
+
clear of complications, because I wished her well, and then also I had a
2883
+
selfish desire to retain the best model I had. I knew that mashing, as
2884
+
she termed it, had no significance with girls like Tessie, and that such
2885
+
things in America did not resemble in the least the same things in Paris.
2886
+
Yet, having lived with my eyes open, I also knew that somebody would take
2887
+
Tessie away some day, in one manner or another, and though I professed to
2888
+
myself that marriage was nonsense, I sincerely hoped that, in this case,
2889
+
there would be a priest at the end of the vista. I am a Catholic. When I
2890
+
listen to high mass, when I sign myself, I feel that everything,
2891
+
including myself, is more cheerful, and when I confess, it does me good.
2892
+
A man who lives as much alone as I do, must confess to somebody. Then,
2893
+
again, Sylvia was Catholic, and it was reason enough for me. But I was
2894
+
speaking of Tessie, which is very different. Tessie also was Catholic and
2895
+
much more devout than I, so, taking it all in all, I had little fear for
2896
+
my pretty model until she should fall in love. But _then_ I knew
2897
+
that fate alone would decide her future for her, and I prayed inwardly
2898
+
that fate would keep her away from men like me and throw into her path
2899
+
nothing but Ed Burkes and Jimmy McCormicks, bless her sweet face!
2900
+
2901
+
Tessie sat blowing rings of smoke up to the ceiling and tinkling the ice
2902
+
in her tumbler.
2903
+
2904
+
"Do you know that I also had a dream last night?" I observed.
2905
+
2906
+
"Not about that man," she laughed.
2907
+
2908
+
"Exactly. A dream similar to yours, only much worse."
2909
+
2910
+
It was foolish and thoughtless of me to say this, but you know how little
2911
+
tact the average painter has. "I must have fallen asleep about ten
2912
+
o'clock," I continued, "and after a while I dreamt that I awoke. So
2913
+
plainly did I hear the midnight bells, the wind in the tree-branches, and
2914
+
the whistle of steamers from the bay, that even now I can scarcely
2915
+
believe I was not awake. I seemed to be lying in a box which had a glass
2916
+
cover. Dimly I saw the street lamps as I passed, for I must tell you,
2917
+
Tessie, the box in which I reclined appeared to lie in a cushioned wagon
2918
+
which jolted me over a stony pavement. After a while I became impatient
2919
+
and tried to move, but the box was too narrow. My hands were crossed on
2920
+
my breast, so I could not raise them to help myself. I listened and then
2921
+
tried to call. My voice was gone. I could hear the trample of the horses
2922
+
attached to the wagon, and even the breathing of the driver. Then another
2923
+
sound broke upon my ears like the raising of a window sash. I managed to
2924
+
turn my head a little, and found I could look, not only through the glass
2925
+
cover of my box, but also through the glass panes in the side of the
2926
+
covered vehicle. I saw houses, empty and silent, with neither light nor
2927
+
life about any of them excepting one. In that house a window was open on
2928
+
the first floor, and a figure all in white stood looking down into the
2929
+
street. It was you."
2930
+
2931
+
Tessie had turned her face away from me and leaned on the table with her
2932
+
elbow.
2933
+
2934
+
"I could see your face," I resumed, "and it seemed to me to be very
2935
+
sorrowful. Then we passed on and turned into a narrow black lane.
2936
+
Presently the horses stopped. I waited and waited, closing my eyes with
2937
+
ear and impatience, but all was silent as the grave. After what seemed to
2938
+
me hours, I began to feel uncomfortable. A sense that somebody was close
2939
+
to me made me unclose my eyes. Then I saw the white face of the
2940
+
hearse-driver looking at me through the coffin-lid----"
2941
+
2942
+
A sob from Tessie interrupted me. She was trembling like a leaf. I saw I
2943
+
had made an ass of myself and attempted to repair the damage.
2944
+
2945
+
"Why, Tess," I said, "I only told you this to show you what influence
2946
+
your story might have on another person's dreams. You don't suppose I
2947
+
really lay in a coffin, do you? What are you trembling for? Don't you see
2948
+
that your dream and my unreasonable dislike for that inoffensive watchman
2949
+
of the church simply set my brain working as soon as I fell asleep?"
2950
+
2951
+
She laid her head between her arms, and sobbed as if her heart would
2952
+
break. What a precious triple donkey I had made of myself! But I was
2953
+
about to break my record. I went over and put my arm about her.
2954
+
2955
+
"Tessie dear, forgive me," I said; "I had no business to frighten you
2956
+
with such nonsense. You are too sensible a girl, too good a Catholic to
2957
+
believe in dreams."
2958
+
2959
+
Her hand tightened on mine and her head fell back upon my shoulder, but
2960
+
she still trembled and I petted her and comforted her.
2961
+
2962
+
"Come, Tess, open your eyes and smile."
2963
+
2964
+
Her eyes opened with a slow languid movement and met mine, but their
2965
+
expression was so queer that I hastened to reassure her again.
2966
+
2967
+
"It's all humbug, Tessie; you surely are not afraid that any harm will
2968
+
come to you because of that."
2969
+
2970
+
"No," she said, but her scarlet lips quivered.
2971
+
2972
+
"Then, what's the matter? Are you afraid?"
2973
+
2974
+
"Yes. Not for myself."
2975
+
2976
+
"For me, then?" I demanded gaily.
2977
+
2978
+
"For you," she murmured in a voice almost inaudible. "I--I care for you."
2979
+
2980
+
At first I started to laugh, but when I understood her, a shock passed
2981
+
through me, and I sat like one turned to stone. This was the crowning bit
2982
+
of idiocy I had committed. During the moment which elapsed between her
2983
+
reply and my answer I thought of a thousand responses to that innocent
2984
+
confession. I could pass it by with a laugh, I could misunderstand her
2985
+
and assure her as to my health, I could simply point out that it was
2986
+
impossible she could love me. But my reply was quicker than my thoughts,
2987
+
and I might think and think now when it was too late, for I had kissed
2988
+
her on the mouth.
2989
+
2990
+
That evening I took my usual walk in Washington Park, pondering over the
2991
+
occurrences of the day. I was thoroughly committed. There was no back out
2992
+
now, and I stared the future straight in the face. I was not good, not
2993
+
even scrupulous, but I had no idea of deceiving either myself or Tessie.
2994
+
The one passion of my life lay buried in the sunlit forests of Brittany.
2995
+
Was it buried for ever? Hope cried "No!" For three years I had been
2996
+
listening to the voice of Hope, and for three years I had waited for a
2997
+
footstep on my threshold. Had Sylvia forgotten? "No!" cried Hope.
2998
+
2999
+
I said that I was no good. That is true, but still I was not exactly a
3000
+
comic opera villain. I had led an easy-going reckless life, taking what
3001
+
invited me of pleasure, deploring and sometimes bitterly regretting
3002
+
consequences. In one thing alone, except my painting, was I serious, and
3003
+
that was something which lay hidden if not lost in the Breton forests.
3004
+
3005
+
It was too late for me to regret what had occurred during the day.
3006
+
Whatever it had been, pity, a sudden tenderness for sorrow, or the more
3007
+
brutal instinct of gratified vanity, it was all the same now, and unless
3008
+
I wished to bruise an innocent heart, my path lay marked before me. The
3009
+
fire and strength, the depth of passion of a love which I had never even
3010
+
suspected, with all my imagined experience in the world, left me no
3011
+
alternative but to respond or send her away. Whether because I am so
3012
+
cowardly about giving pain to others, or whether it was that I have
3013
+
little of the gloomy Puritan in me, I do not know, but I shrank from
3014
+
disclaiming responsibility for that thoughtless kiss, and in fact had no
3015
+
time to do so before the gates of her heart opened and the flood poured
3016
+
forth. Others who habitually do their duty and find a sullen satisfaction
3017
+
in making themselves and everybody else unhappy, might have withstood it.
3018
+
I did not. I dared not. After the storm had abated I did tell her that
3019
+
she might better have loved Ed Burke and worn a plain gold ring, but she
3020
+
would not hear of it, and I thought perhaps as long as she had decided to
3021
+
love somebody she could not marry, it had better be me. I, at least,
3022
+
could treat her with an intelligent affection, and whenever she became
3023
+
tired of her infatuation she could go none the worse for it. For I was
3024
+
decided on that point although I knew how hard it would be. I remembered
3025
+
the usual termination of Platonic liaisons, and thought how disgusted I
3026
+
had been whenever I heard of one. I knew I was undertaking a great deal
3027
+
for so unscrupulous a man as I was, and I dreamed the future, but never
3028
+
for one moment did I doubt that she was safe with me. Had it been anybody
3029
+
but Tessie I should not have bothered my head about scruples. For it did
3030
+
not occur to me to sacrifice Tessie as I would have sacrificed a woman of
3031
+
the world. I looked the future squarely in the face and saw the several
3032
+
probable endings to the affair. She would either tire of the whole thing,
3033
+
or become so unhappy that I should have either to marry her or go away.
3034
+
If I married her we would be unhappy. I with a wife unsuited to me, and
3035
+
she with a husband unsuitable for any woman. For my past life could
3036
+
scarcely entitle me to marry. If I went away she might either fall ill,
3037
+
recover, and marry some Eddie Burke, or she might recklessly or
3038
+
deliberately go and do something foolish. On the other hand, if she tired
3039
+
of me, then her whole life would be before her with beautiful vistas of
3040
+
Eddie Burkes and marriage rings and twins and Harlem flats and Heaven
3041
+
knows what. As I strolled along through the trees by the Washington Arch,
3042
+
I decided that she should find a substantial friend in me, anyway, and
3043
+
the future could take care of itself. Then I went into the house and put
3044
+
on my evening dress, for the little faintly-perfumed note on my dresser
3045
+
said, "Have a cab at the stage door at eleven," and the note was signed
3046
+
"Edith Carmichel, Metropolitan Theatre."
3047
+
3048
+
I took supper that night, or rather we took supper, Miss Carmichel and I,
3049
+
at Solari's, and the dawn was just beginning to gild the cross on the
3050
+
Memorial Church as I entered Washington Square after leaving Edith at the
3051
+
Brunswick. There was not a soul in the park as I passed along the trees
3052
+
and took the walk which leads from the Garibaldi statue to the Hamilton
3053
+
Apartment House, but as I passed the churchyard I saw a figure sitting on
3054
+
the stone steps. In spite of myself a chill crept over me at the sight of
3055
+
the white puffy face, and I hastened to pass. Then he said something
3056
+
which might have been addressed to me or might merely have been a mutter
3057
+
to himself, but a sudden furious anger flamed up within me that such a
3058
+
creature should address me. For an instant I felt like wheeling about and
3059
+
smashing my stick over his head, but I walked on, and entering the
3060
+
Hamilton went to my apartment. For some time I tossed about the bed
3061
+
trying to get the sound of his voice out of my ears, but could not. It
3062
+
filled my head, that muttering sound, like thick oily smoke from a
3063
+
fat-rendering vat or an odour of noisome decay. And as I lay and tossed
3064
+
about, the voice in my ears seemed more distinct, and I began to
3065
+
understand the words he had muttered. They came to me slowly as if I had
3066
+
forgotten them, and at last I could make some sense out of the sounds. It
3067
+
was this:
3068
+
3069
+
"Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
3070
+
3071
+
"Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
3072
+
3073
+
"Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
3074
+
3075
+
I was furious. What did he mean by that? Then with a curse upon him and
3076
+
his I rolled over and went to sleep, but when I awoke later I looked pale
3077
+
and haggard, for I had dreamed the dream of the night before, and it
3078
+
troubled me more than I cared to think.
3079
+
3080
+
I dressed and went down into my studio. Tessie sat by the window, but as
3081
+
I came in she rose and put both arms around my neck for an innocent kiss.
3082
+
She looked so sweet and dainty that I kissed her again and then sat down
3083
+
before the easel.
3084
+
3085
+
"Hello! Where's the study I began yesterday?" I asked.
3086
+
3087
+
Tessie looked conscious, but did not answer. I began to hunt among the
3088
+
piles of canvases, saying, "Hurry up, Tess, and get ready; we must take
3089
+
advantage of the morning light."
3090
+
3091
+
When at last I gave up the search among the other canvases and turned to
3092
+
look around the room for the missing study I noticed Tessie standing by
3093
+
the screen with her clothes still on.
3094
+
3095
+
"What's the matter," I asked, "don't you feel well?"
3096
+
3097
+
"Yes."
3098
+
3099
+
"Then hurry."
3100
+
3101
+
"Do you want me to pose as--as I have always posed?"
3102
+
3103
+
Then I understood. Here was a new complication. I had lost, of course,
3104
+
the best nude model I had ever seen. I looked at Tessie. Her face was
3105
+
scarlet. Alas! Alas! We had eaten of the tree of knowledge, and Eden and
3106
+
native innocence were dreams of the past--I mean for her.
3107
+
3108
+
I suppose she noticed the disappointment on my face, for she said: "I
3109
+
will pose if you wish. The study is behind the screen here where I put
3110
+
it."
3111
+
3112
+
"No," I said, "we will begin something new;" and I went into my wardrobe
3113
+
and picked out a Moorish costume which fairly blazed with tinsel. It was
3114
+
a genuine costume, and Tessie retired to the screen with it enchanted.
3115
+
When she came forth again I was astonished. Her long black hair was bound
3116
+
above her forehead with a circlet of turquoises, and the ends, curled
3117
+
about her glittering girdle. Her feet were encased in the embroidered
3118
+
pointed slippers and the skirt of her costume, curiously wrought with
3119
+
arabesques in silver, fell to her ankles. The deep metallic blue vest
3120
+
embroidered with silver and the short Mauresque jacket spangled and sewn
3121
+
with turquoises became her wonderfully. She came up to me and held up her
3122
+
face smiling. I slipped my hand into my pocket, and drawing out a gold
3123
+
chain with a cross attached, dropped it over her head.
3124
+
3125
+
"It's yours, Tessie."
3126
+
3127
+
"Mine?" she faltered.
3128
+
3129
+
"Yours. Now go and pose," Then with a radiant smile she ran behind the
3130
+
screen and presently reappeared with a little box on which was written my
3131
+
name.
3132
+
3133
+
"I had intended to give it to you when I went home to-night," she said,
3134
+
"but I can't wait now."
3135
+
3136
+
I opened the box. On the pink cotton inside lay a clasp of black onyx, on
3137
+
which was inlaid a curious symbol or letter in gold. It was neither
3138
+
Arabic nor Chinese, nor, as I found afterwards, did it belong to any
3139
+
human script.
3140
+
3141
+
"It's all I had to give you for a keepsake," she said timidly.
3142
+
3143
+
I was annoyed, but I told her how much I should prize it, and promised to
3144
+
wear it always. She fastened it on my coat beneath the lapel.
3145
+
3146
+
"How foolish, Tess, to go and buy me such a beautiful thing as this," I
3147
+
said.
3148
+
3149
+
"I did not buy it," she laughed.
3150
+
3151
+
"Where did you get it?"
3152
+
3153
+
Then she told me how she had found it one day while coming from the
3154
+
Aquarium in the Battery, how she had advertised it and watched the
3155
+
papers, but at last gave up all hopes of finding the owner.
3156
+
3157
+
"That was last winter," she said, "the very day I had the first horrid
3158
+
dream about the hearse."
3159
+
3160
+
I remembered my dream of the previous night but said nothing, and
3161
+
presently my charcoal was flying over a new canvas, and Tessie stood
3162
+
motionless on the model-stand.
3163
+
3164
+
3165
+
3166
+
3167
+
III
3168
+
3169
+
The day following was a disastrous one for me. While moving a framed
3170
+
canvas from one easel to another my foot slipped on the polished floor,
3171
+
and I fell heavily on both wrists. They were so badly sprained that it
3172
+
was useless to attempt to hold a brush, and I was obliged to wander about
3173
+
the studio, glaring at unfinished drawings and sketches, until despair
3174
+
seized me and I sat down to smoke and twiddle my thumbs with rage. The
3175
+
rain blew against the windows and rattled on the roof of the church,
3176
+
driving me into a nervous fit with its interminable patter. Tessie sat
3177
+
sewing by the window, and every now and then raised her head and looked
3178
+
at me with such innocent compassion that I began to feel ashamed of my
3179
+
irritation and looked about for something to occupy me. I had read all
3180
+
the papers and all the books in the library, but for the sake of
3181
+
something to do I went to the bookcases and shoved them open with my
3182
+
elbow. I knew every volume by its colour and examined them all, passing
3183
+
slowly around the library and whistling to keep up my spirits. I was
3184
+
turning to go into the dining-room when my eye fell upon a book bound in
3185
+
serpent skin, standing in a corner of the top shelf of the last bookcase.
3186
+
I did not remember it, and from the floor could not decipher the pale
3187
+
lettering on the back, so I went to the smoking-room and called Tessie.
3188
+
She came in from the studio and climbed up to reach the book.
3189
+
3190
+
"What is it?" I asked.
3191
+
3192
+
"_The King in Yellow._"
3193
+
3194
+
I was dumfounded. Who had placed it there? How came it in my rooms? I had
3195
+
long ago decided that I should never open that book, and nothing on earth
3196
+
could have persuaded me to buy it. Fearful lest curiosity might tempt me
3197
+
to open it, I had never even looked at it in book-stores. If I ever had
3198
+
had any curiosity to read it, the awful tragedy of young Castaigne, whom
3199
+
I knew, prevented me from exploring its wicked pages. I had always
3200
+
refused to listen to any description of it, and indeed, nobody ever
3201
+
ventured to discuss the second part aloud, so I had absolutely no
3202
+
knowledge of what those leaves might reveal. I stared at the poisonous
3203
+
mottled binding as I would at a snake.
3204
+
3205
+
"Don't touch it, Tessie," I said; "come down."
3206
+
3207
+
Of course my admonition was enough to arouse her curiosity, and before I
3208
+
could prevent it she took the book and, laughing, danced off into the
3209
+
studio with it. I called to her, but she slipped away with a tormenting
3210
+
smile at my helpless hands, and I followed her with some impatience.
3211
+
3212
+
"Tessie!" I cried, entering the library, "listen, I am serious. Put that
3213
+
book away. I do not wish you to open it!" The library was empty. I went
3214
+
into both drawing-rooms, then into the bedrooms, laundry, kitchen, and
3215
+
finally returned to the library and began a systematic search. She had
3216
+
hidden herself so well that it was half-an-hour later when I discovered
3217
+
her crouching white and silent by the latticed window in the store-room
3218
+
above. At the first glance I saw she had been punished for her
3219
+
foolishness. _The King in Yellow_ lay at her feet, but the book was
3220
+
open at the second part. I looked at Tessie and saw it was too late. She
3221
+
had opened _The King in Yellow_. Then I took her by the hand and led
3222
+
her into the studio. She seemed dazed, and when I told her to lie down on
3223
+
the sofa she obeyed me without a word. After a while she closed her eyes
3224
+
and her breathing became regular and deep, but I could not determine
3225
+
whether or not she slept. For a long while I sat silently beside her, but
3226
+
she neither stirred nor spoke, and at last I rose, and, entering the
3227
+
unused store-room, took the book in my least injured hand. It seemed
3228
+
heavy as lead, but I carried it into the studio again, and sitting down
3229
+
on the rug beside the sofa, opened it and read it through from beginning
3230
+
to end.
3231
+
3232
+
When, faint with excess of my emotions, I dropped the volume and leaned
3233
+
wearily back against the sofa, Tessie opened her eyes and looked at
3234
+
me....
3235
+
3236
+
We had been speaking for some time in a dull monotonous strain before I
3237
+
realized that we were discussing _The King in Yellow_. Oh the sin of
3238
+
writing such words,--words which are clear as crystal, limpid and musical
3239
+
as bubbling springs, words which sparkle and glow like the poisoned
3240
+
diamonds of the Medicis! Oh the wickedness, the hopeless damnation of a
3241
+
soul who could fascinate and paralyze human creatures with such
3242
+
words,--words understood by the ignorant and wise alike, words which are
3243
+
more precious than jewels, more soothing than music, more awful than
3244
+
death!
3245
+
3246
+
We talked on, unmindful of the gathering shadows, and she was begging me
3247
+
to throw away the clasp of black onyx quaintly inlaid with what we now
3248
+
knew to be the Yellow Sign. I never shall know why I refused, though even
3249
+
at this hour, here in my bedroom as I write this confession, I should be
3250
+
glad to know _what_ it was that prevented me from tearing the Yellow
3251
+
Sign from my breast and casting it into the fire. I am sure I wished to
3252
+
do so, and yet Tessie pleaded with me in vain. Night fell and the hours
3253
+
dragged on, but still we murmured to each other of the King and the
3254
+
Pallid Mask, and midnight sounded from the misty spires in the
3255
+
fog-wrapped city. We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda, while outside the
3256
+
fog rolled against the blank window-panes as the cloud waves roll and
3257
+
break on the shores of Hali.
3258
+
3259
+
The house was very silent now, and not a sound came up from the misty
3260
+
streets. Tessie lay among the cushions, her face a grey blot in the
3261
+
gloom, but her hands were clasped in mine, and I knew that she knew and
3262
+
read my thoughts as I read hers, for we had understood the mystery of the
3263
+
Hyades and the Phantom of Truth was laid. Then as we answered each other,
3264
+
swiftly, silently, thought on thought, the shadows stirred in the gloom
3265
+
about us, and far in the distant streets we heard a sound. Nearer and
3266
+
nearer it came, the dull crunching of wheels, nearer and yet nearer, and
3267
+
now, outside before the door it ceased, and I dragged myself to the
3268
+
window and saw a black-plumed hearse. The gate below opened and shut, and
3269
+
I crept shaking to my door and bolted it, but I knew no bolts, no locks,
3270
+
could keep that creature out who was coming for the Yellow Sign. And now
3271
+
I heard him moving very softly along the hall. Now he was at the door,
3272
+
and the bolts rotted at his touch. Now he had entered. With eyes starting
3273
+
from my head I peered into the darkness, but when he came into the room I
3274
+
did not see him. It was only when I felt him envelope me in his cold soft
3275
+
grasp that I cried out and struggled with deadly fury, but my hands were
3276
+
useless and he tore the onyx clasp from my coat and struck me full in the
3277
+
face. Then, as I fell, I heard Tessie's soft cry and her spirit fled: and
3278
+
even while falling I longed to follow her, for I knew that the King in
3279
+
Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to
3280
+
now.
3281
+
3282
+
I could tell more, but I cannot see what help it will be to the world. As
3283
+
for me, I am past human help or hope. As I lie here, writing, careless
3284
+
even whether or not I die before I finish, I can see the doctor gathering
3285
+
up his powders and phials with a vague gesture to the good priest beside
3286
+
me, which I understand.
3287
+
3288
+
They will be very curious to know the tragedy--they of the outside world
3289
+
who write books and print millions of newspapers, but I shall write no
3290
+
more, and the father confessor will seal my last words with the seal of
3291
+
sanctity when his holy office is done. They of the outside world may send
3292
+
their creatures into wrecked homes and death-smitten firesides, and their
3293
+
newspapers will batten on blood and tears, but with me their spies must
3294
+
halt before the confessional. They know that Tessie is dead and that I am
3295
+
dying. They know how the people in the house, aroused by an infernal
3296
+
scream, rushed into my room and found one living and two dead, but they
3297
+
do not know what I shall tell them now; they do not know that the doctor
3298
+
said as he pointed to a horrible decomposed heap on the floor--the livid
3299
+
corpse of the watchman from the church: "I have no theory, no explanation.
3300
+
That man must have been dead for months!"
3301
+
3302
+
3303
+
I think I am dying. I wish the priest would--
3304
+
3305
+
3306
+
3307
+
3308
+
THE DEMOISELLE D'YS
3309
+
3310
+
"Mais je croy que je
3311
+
Suis descendu on puiz
3312
+
Ténébreux onquel disoit
3313
+
Heraclytus estre Vereté cachée."
3314
+
3315
+
"There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I
3316
+
know not:
3317
+
3318
+
"The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the
3319
+
way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid."
3320
+
3321
+
3322
+
I
3323
+
3324
+
The utter desolation of the scene began to have its effect; I sat down to
3325
+
face the situation and, if possible, recall to mind some landmark which
3326
+
might aid me in extricating myself from my present position. If I could
3327
+
only find the ocean again all would be clear, for I knew one could see
3328
+
the island of Groix from the cliffs.
3329
+
3330
+
I laid down my gun, and kneeling behind a rock lighted a pipe. Then I
3331
+
looked at my watch. It was nearly four o'clock. I might have wandered far
3332
+
from Kerselec since daybreak.
3333
+
3334
+
Standing the day before on the cliffs below Kerselec with Goulven,
3335
+
looking out over the sombre moors among which I had now lost my way,
3336
+
these downs had appeared to me level as a meadow, stretching to the
3337
+
horizon, and although I knew how deceptive is distance, I could not
3338
+
realize that what from Kerselec seemed to be mere grassy hollows were
3339
+
great valleys covered with gorse and heather, and what looked like
3340
+
scattered boulders were in reality enormous cliffs of granite.
3341
+
3342
+
"It's a bad place for a stranger," old Goulven had said: "you'd better
3343
+
take a guide;" and I had replied, "I shall not lose myself." Now I knew
3344
+
that I had lost myself, as I sat there smoking, with the sea-wind blowing
3345
+
in my face. On every side stretched the moorland, covered with flowering
3346
+
gorse and heath and granite boulders. There was not a tree in sight, much
3347
+
less a house. After a while, I picked up the gun, and turning my back on
3348
+
the sun tramped on again.
3349
+
3350
+
There was little use in following any of the brawling streams which every
3351
+
now and then crossed my path, for, instead of flowing into the sea, they
3352
+
ran inland to reedy pools in the hollows of the moors. I had followed
3353
+
several, but they all led me to swamps or silent little ponds from which
3354
+
the snipe rose peeping and wheeled away in an ecstasy of fright I began
3355
+
to feel fatigued, and the gun galled my shoulder in spite of the double
3356
+
pads. The sun sank lower and lower, shining level across yellow gorse and
3357
+
the moorland pools.
3358
+
3359
+
As I walked my own gigantic shadow led me on, seeming to lengthen at
3360
+
every step. The gorse scraped against my leggings, crackled beneath my
3361
+
feet, showering the brown earth with blossoms, and the brake bowed and
3362
+
billowed along my path. From tufts of heath rabbits scurried away through
3363
+
the bracken, and among the swamp grass I heard the wild duck's drowsy
3364
+
quack. Once a fox stole across my path, and again, as I stooped to drink
3365
+
at a hurrying rill, a heron flapped heavily from the reeds beside me. I
3366
+
turned to look at the sun. It seemed to touch the edges of the plain.
3367
+
When at last I decided that it was useless to go on, and that I must make
3368
+
up my mind to spend at least one night on the moors, I threw myself down
3369
+
thoroughly fagged out. The evening sunlight slanted warm across my body,
3370
+
but the sea-winds began to rise, and I felt a chill strike through me
3371
+
from my wet shooting-boots. High overhead gulls were wheeling and tossing
3372
+
like bits of white paper; from some distant marsh a solitary curlew
3373
+
called. Little by little the sun sank into the plain, and the zenith
3374
+
flushed with the after-glow. I watched the sky change from palest gold to
3375
+
pink and then to smouldering fire. Clouds of midges danced above me, and
3376
+
high in the calm air a bat dipped and soared. My eyelids began to droop.
3377
+
Then as I shook off the drowsiness a sudden crash among the bracken
3378
+
roused me. I raised my eyes. A great bird hung quivering in the air above
3379
+
my face. For an instant I stared, incapable of motion; then something
3380
+
leaped past me in the ferns and the bird rose, wheeled, and pitched
3381
+
headlong into the brake.
3382
+
3383
+
I was on my feet in an instant peering through the gorse. There came the
3384
+
sound of a struggle from a bunch of heather close by, and then all was
3385
+
quiet. I stepped forward, my gun poised, but when I came to the heather
3386
+
the gun fell under my arm again, and I stood motionless in silent
3387
+
astonishment A dead hare lay on the ground, and on the hare stood a
3388
+
magnificent falcon, one talon buried in the creature's neck, the other
3389
+
planted firmly on its limp flank. But what astonished me, was not the
3390
+
mere sight of a falcon sitting upon its prey. I had seen that more than
3391
+
once. It was that the falcon was fitted with a sort of leash about both
3392
+
talons, and from the leash hung a round bit of metal like a sleigh-bell.
3393
+
The bird turned its fierce yellow eyes on me, and then stooped and struck
3394
+
its curved beak into the quarry. At the same instant hurried steps
3395
+
sounded among the heather, and a girl sprang into the covert in front.
3396
+
Without a glance at me she walked up to the falcon, and passing her
3397
+
gloved hand under its breast, raised it from the quarry. Then she deftly
3398
+
slipped a small hood over the bird's head, and holding it out on her
3399
+
gauntlet, stooped and picked up the hare.
3400
+
3401
+
She passed a cord about the animal's legs and fastened the end of the
3402
+
thong to her girdle. Then she started to retrace her steps through the
3403
+
covert As she passed me I raised my cap and she acknowledged my presence
3404
+
with a scarcely perceptible inclination. I had been so astonished, so
3405
+
lost in admiration of the scene before my eyes, that it had not occurred
3406
+
to me that here was my salvation. But as she moved away I recollected
3407
+
that unless I wanted to sleep on a windy moor that night I had better
3408
+
recover my speech without delay. At my first word she hesitated, and as I
3409
+
stepped before her I thought a look of fear came into her beautiful eyes.
3410
+
But as I humbly explained my unpleasant plight, her face flushed and she
3411
+
looked at me in wonder.
3412
+
3413
+
"Surely you did not come from Kerselec!" she repeated.
3414
+
3415
+
Her sweet voice had no trace of the Breton accent nor of any accent which
3416
+
I knew, and yet there was something in it I seemed to have heard before,
3417
+
something quaint and indefinable, like the theme of an old song.
3418
+
3419
+
I explained that I was an American, unacquainted with Finistère, shooting
3420
+
there for my own amusement.
3421
+
3422
+
"An American," she repeated in the same quaint musical tones. "I have
3423
+
never before seen an American."
3424
+
3425
+
For a moment she stood silent, then looking at me she said. "If you
3426
+
should walk all night you could not reach Kerselec now, even if you had a
3427
+
guide."
3428
+
3429
+
This was pleasant news.
3430
+
3431
+
"But," I began, "if I could only find a peasant's hut where I might get
3432
+
something to eat, and shelter."
3433
+
3434
+
The falcon on her wrist fluttered and shook its head. The girl smoothed
3435
+
its glossy back and glanced at me.
3436
+
3437
+
"Look around," she said gently. "Can you see the end of these moors?
3438
+
Look, north, south, east, west. Can you see anything but moorland and
3439
+
bracken?"
3440
+
3441
+
"No," I said.
3442
+
3443
+
"The moor is wild and desolate. It is easy to enter, but sometimes they
3444
+
who enter never leave it. There are no peasants' huts here."
3445
+
3446
+
"Well," I said, "if you will tell me in which direction Kerselec lies,
3447
+
to-morrow it will take me no longer to go back than it has to come."
3448
+
3449
+
She looked at me again with an expression almost like pity.
3450
+
3451
+
"Ah," she said, "to come is easy and takes hours; to go is different--and
3452
+
may take centuries."
3453
+
3454
+
I stared at her in amazement but decided that I had misunderstood her.
3455
+
Then before I had time to speak she drew a whistle from her belt and
3456
+
sounded it.
3457
+
3458
+
"Sit down and rest," she said to me; "you have come a long distance and
3459
+
are tired."
3460
+
3461
+
She gathered up her pleated skirts and motioning me to follow picked her
3462
+
dainty way through the gorse to a flat rock among the ferns.
3463
+
3464
+
"They will be here directly," she said, and taking a seat at one end of
3465
+
the rock invited me to sit down on the other edge. The after-glow was
3466
+
beginning to fade in the sky and a single star twinkled faintly through
3467
+
the rosy haze. A long wavering triangle of water-fowl drifted southward
3468
+
over our heads, and from the swamps around plover were calling.
3469
+
3470
+
"They are very beautiful--these moors," she said quietly.
3471
+
3472
+
"Beautiful, but cruel to strangers," I answered.
3473
+
3474
+
"Beautiful and cruel," she repeated dreamily, "beautiful and cruel."
3475
+
3476
+
"Like a woman," I said stupidly.
3477
+
3478
+
"Oh," she cried with a little catch in her breath, and looked at me. Her
3479
+
dark eyes met mine, and I thought she seemed angry or frightened.
3480
+
3481
+
"Like a woman," she repeated under her breath, "How cruel to say so!"
3482
+
Then after a pause, as though speaking aloud to herself, "How cruel for
3483
+
him to say that!"
3484
+
3485
+
I don't know what sort of an apology I offered for my inane, though
3486
+
harmless speech, but I know that she seemed so troubled about it that I
3487
+
began to think I had said something very dreadful without knowing it, and
3488
+
remembered with horror the pitfalls and snares which the French language
3489
+
sets for foreigners. While I was trying to imagine what I might have
3490
+
said, a sound of voices came across the moor, and the girl rose to her
3491
+
feet.
3492
+
3493
+
"No," she said, with a trace of a smile on her pale face, "I will not
3494
+
accept your apologies, monsieur, but I must prove you wrong, and that
3495
+
shall be my revenge. Look. Here come Hastur and Raoul."
3496
+
3497
+
Two men loomed up in the twilight. One had a sack across his shoulders
3498
+
and the other carried a hoop before him as a waiter carries a tray. The
3499
+
hoop was fastened with straps to his shoulders, and around the edge of
3500
+
the circlet sat three hooded falcons fitted with tinkling bells. The girl
3501
+
stepped up to the falconer, and with a quick turn of her wrist
3502
+
transferred her falcon to the hoop, where it quickly sidled off and
3503
+
nestled among its mates, who shook their hooded heads and ruffled their
3504
+
feathers till the belled jesses tinkled again. The other man stepped
3505
+
forward and bowing respectfully took up the hare and dropped it into the
3506
+
game-sack.
3507
+
3508
+
"These are my piqueurs," said the girl, turning to me with a gentle
3509
+
dignity. "Raoul is a good fauconnier, and I shall some day make him grand
3510
+
veneur. Hastur is incomparable."
3511
+
3512
+
The two silent men saluted me respectfully.
3513
+
3514
+
"Did I not tell you, monsieur, that I should prove you wrong?" she
3515
+
continued. "This, then, is my revenge, that you do me the courtesy of
3516
+
accepting food and shelter at my own house."
3517
+
3518
+
Before I could answer she spoke to the falconers, who started instantly
3519
+
across the heath, and with a gracious gesture to me she followed. I don't
3520
+
know whether I made her understand how profoundly grateful I felt, but
3521
+
she seemed pleased to listen, as we walked over the dewy heather.
3522
+
3523
+
"Are you not very tired?" she asked.
3524
+
3525
+
I had clean forgotten my fatigue in her presence, and I told her so.
3526
+
3527
+
"Don't you think your gallantry is a little old-fashioned?" she said; and
3528
+
when I looked confused and humbled, she added quietly, "Oh, I like it, I
3529
+
like everything old-fashioned, and it is delightful to hear you say such
3530
+
pretty things."
3531
+
3532
+
The moorland around us was very still now under its ghostly sheet of
3533
+
mist. The plovers had ceased their calling; the crickets and all the
3534
+
little creatures of the fields were silent as we passed, yet it seemed to
3535
+
me as if I could hear them beginning again far behind us. Well in
3536
+
advance, the two tall falconers strode across the heather, and the faint
3537
+
jingling of the hawks' bells came to our ears in distant murmuring
3538
+
chimes.
3539
+
3540
+
Suddenly a splendid hound dashed out of the mist in front, followed by
3541
+
another and another until half-a-dozen or more were bounding and leaping
3542
+
around the girl beside me. She caressed and quieted them with her gloved
3543
+
hand, speaking to them in quaint terms which I remembered to have seen in
3544
+
old French manuscripts.
3545
+
3546
+
Then the falcons on the circlet borne by the falconer ahead began to beat
3547
+
their wings and scream, and from somewhere out of sight the notes of a
3548
+
hunting-horn floated across the moor. The hounds sprang away before us
3549
+
and vanished in the twilight, the falcons flapped and squealed upon their
3550
+
perch, and the girl, taking up the song of the horn, began to hum. Clear
3551
+
and mellow her voice sounded in the night air.
3552
+
3553
+
"Chasseur, chasseur, chassez encore,
3554
+
Quittez Rosette et Jeanneton,
3555
+
Tonton, tonton, tontaine, tonton,
3556
+
Ou, pour, rabattre, dès l'aurore,
3557
+
Que les Amours soient de planton,
3558
+
Tonton, tontaine, tonton."
3559
+
3560
+
As I listened to her lovely voice a grey mass which rapidly grew more
3561
+
distinct loomed up in front, and the horn rang out joyously through the
3562
+
tumult of the hounds and falcons. A torch glimmered at a gate, a light
3563
+
streamed through an opening door, and we stepped upon a wooden bridge
3564
+
which trembled under our feet and rose creaking and straining behind us
3565
+
as we passed over the moat and into a small stone court, walled on every
3566
+
side. From an open doorway a man came and, bending in salutation,
3567
+
presented a cup to the girl beside me. She took the cup and touched it
3568
+
with her lips, then lowering it turned to me and said in a low voice, "I
3569
+
bid you welcome."
3570
+
3571
+
At that moment one of the falconers came with another cup, but before
3572
+
handing it to me, presented it to the girl, who tasted it. The falconer
3573
+
made a gesture to receive it, but she hesitated a moment, and then,
3574
+
stepping forward, offered me the cup with her own hands. I felt this to
3575
+
be an act of extraordinary graciousness, but hardly knew what was
3576
+
expected of me, and did not raise it to my lips at once. The girl flushed
3577
+
crimson. I saw that I must act quickly.
3578
+
3579
+
"Mademoiselle," I faltered, "a stranger whom you have saved from dangers
3580
+
he may never realize empties this cup to the gentlest and loveliest
3581
+
hostess of France."
3582
+
3583
+
"In His name," she murmured, crossing herself as I drained the cup. Then
3584
+
stepping into the doorway she turned to me with a pretty gesture and,
3585
+
taking my hand in hers, led me into the house, saying again and again:
3586
+
"You are very welcome, indeed you are welcome to the Château d'Ys."
3587
+
3588
+
3589
+
3590
+
3591
+
II
3592
+
3593
+
I awoke next morning with the music of the horn in my ears, and leaping
3594
+
out of the ancient bed, went to a curtained window where the sunlight
3595
+
filtered through little deep-set panes. The horn ceased as I looked into
3596
+
the court below.
3597
+
3598
+
A man who might have been brother to the two falconers of the night
3599
+
before stood in the midst of a pack of hounds. A curved horn was strapped
3600
+
over his back, and in his hand he held a long-lashed whip. The dogs
3601
+
whined and yelped, dancing around him in anticipation; there was the
3602
+
stamp of horses, too, in the walled yard.
3603
+
3604
+
"Mount!" cried a voice in Breton, and with a clatter of hoofs the two
3605
+
falconers, with falcons upon their wrists, rode into the courtyard among
3606
+
the hounds. Then I heard another voice which sent the blood throbbing
3607
+
through my heart: "Piriou Louis, hunt the hounds well and spare neither
3608
+
spur nor whip. Thou Raoul and thou Gaston, see that the _epervier_
3609
+
does not prove himself _niais_, and if it be best in your judgment,
3610
+
_faites courtoisie à l'oiseau. Jardiner un oiseau_, like the
3611
+
_mué_ there on Hastur's wrist, is not difficult, but thou, Raoul,
3612
+
mayest not find it so simple to govern that _hagard_. Twice last
3613
+
week he foamed _au vif_ and lost the _beccade_ although he is
3614
+
used to the _leurre_. The bird acts like a stupid _branchier.
3615
+
Paître un hagard n'est pas si facile."_
3616
+
3617
+
Was I dreaming? The old language of falconry which I had read in yellow
3618
+
manuscripts--the old forgotten French of the middle ages was sounding in
3619
+
my ears while the hounds bayed and the hawks' bells tinkled accompaniment
3620
+
to the stamping horses. She spoke again in the sweet forgotten language:
3621
+
3622
+
"If you would rather attach the _longe_ and leave thy _hagard au
3623
+
bloc_, Raoul, I shall say nothing; for it were a pity to spoil so fair
3624
+
a day's sport with an ill-trained _sors_. _Essimer abaisser_,--it is
3625
+
possibly the best way. _Ça lui donnera des reins._ I was perhaps hasty
3626
+
with the bird. It takes time to pass _à la filière_ and the exercises
3627
+
_d'escap_."
3628
+
3629
+
Then the falconer Raoul bowed in his stirrups and replied: "If it be the
3630
+
pleasure of Mademoiselle, I shall keep the hawk."
3631
+
3632
+
"It is my wish," she answered. "Falconry I know, but you have yet to give
3633
+
me many a lesson in _Autourserie_, my poor Raoul. Sieur Piriou Louis
3634
+
mount!"
3635
+
3636
+
The huntsman sprang into an archway and in an instant returned, mounted
3637
+
upon a strong black horse, followed by a piqueur also mounted.
3638
+
3639
+
"Ah!" she cried joyously, "speed Glemarec René! speed! speed all! Sound
3640
+
thy horn, Sieur Piriou!"
3641
+
3642
+
The silvery music of the hunting-horn filled the courtyard, the hounds
3643
+
sprang through the gateway and galloping hoof-beats plunged out of the
3644
+
paved court; loud on the drawbridge, suddenly muffled, then lost in the
3645
+
heather and bracken of the moors. Distant and more distant sounded the
3646
+
horn, until it became so faint that the sudden carol of a soaring lark
3647
+
drowned it in my ears. I heard the voice below responding to some call
3648
+
from within the house.
3649
+
3650
+
"I do not regret the chase, I will go another time Courtesy to the
3651
+
stranger, Pelagie, remember!"
3652
+
3653
+
And a feeble voice came quavering from within the house,
3654
+
"_Courtoisie_."
3655
+
3656
+
I stripped, and rubbed myself from head to foot in the huge earthen basin
3657
+
of icy water which stood upon the stone floor at the foot of my bed. Then
3658
+
I looked about for my clothes. They were gone, but on a settle near the
3659
+
door lay a heap of garments which I inspected with astonishment. As my
3660
+
clothes had vanished, I was compelled to attire myself in the costume
3661
+
which had evidently been placed there for me to wear while my own clothes
3662
+
dried. Everything was there, cap, shoes, and hunting doublet of silvery
3663
+
grey homespun; but the close-fitting costume and seamless shoes belonged
3664
+
to another century, and I remembered the strange costumes of the three
3665
+
falconers in the court-yard. I was sure that it was not the modern dress
3666
+
of any portion of France or Brittany; but not until I was dressed and
3667
+
stood before a mirror between the windows did I realize that I was
3668
+
clothed much more like a young huntsman of the middle ages than like a
3669
+
Breton of that day. I hesitated and picked up the cap. Should I go down
3670
+
and present myself in that strange guise? There seemed to be no help for
3671
+
it, my own clothes were gone and there was no bell in the ancient chamber
3672
+
to call a servant; so I contented myself with removing a short hawk's
3673
+
feather from the cap, and, opening the door, went downstairs.
3674
+
3675
+
By the fireplace in the large room at the foot of the stairs an old
3676
+
Breton woman sat spinning with a distaff. She looked up at me when I
3677
+
appeared, and, smiling frankly, wished me health in the Breton language,
3678
+
to which I laughingly replied in French. At the same moment my hostess
3679
+
appeared and returned my salutation with a grace and dignity that sent a
3680
+
thrill to my heart. Her lovely head with its dark curly hair was crowned
3681
+
with a head-dress which set all doubts as to the epoch of my own costume
3682
+
at rest. Her slender figure was exquisitely set off in the homespun
3683
+
hunting-gown edged with silver, and on her gauntlet-covered wrist she
3684
+
bore one of her petted hawks. With perfect simplicity she took my hand
3685
+
and led me into the garden in the court, and seating herself before a
3686
+
table invited me very sweetly to sit beside her. Then she asked me in her
3687
+
soft quaint accent how I had passed the night, and whether I was very
3688
+
much inconvenienced by wearing the clothes which old Pelagie had put
3689
+
there for me while I slept. I looked at my own clothes and shoes, drying
3690
+
in the sun by the garden-wall, and hated them. What horrors they were
3691
+
compared with the graceful costume which I now wore! I told her this
3692
+
laughing, but she agreed with me very seriously.
3693
+
3694
+
"We will throw them away," she said in a quiet voice. In my astonishment
3695
+
I attempted to explain that I not only could not think of accepting
3696
+
clothes from anybody, although for all I knew it might be the custom of
3697
+
hospitality in that part of the country, but that I should cut an
3698
+
impossible figure if I returned to France clothed as I was then.
3699
+
3700
+
She laughed and tossed her pretty head, saying something in old French
3701
+
which I did not understand, and then Pelagie trotted out with a tray on
3702
+
which stood two bowls of milk, a loaf of white bread, fruit, a platter of
3703
+
honey-comb, and a flagon of deep red wine. "You see I have not yet broken
3704
+
my fast because I wished you to eat with me. But I am very hungry," she
3705
+
smiled.
3706
+
3707
+
"I would rather die than forget one word of what you have said!" I
3708
+
blurted out, while my cheeks burned. "She will think me mad," I added to
3709
+
myself, but she turned to me with sparkling eyes.
3710
+
3711
+
"Ah!" she murmured. "Then Monsieur knows all that there is of chivalry--"
3712
+
3713
+
She crossed herself and broke bread. I sat and watched her white hands,
3714
+
not daring to raise my eyes to hers.
3715
+
3716
+
"Will you not eat?" she asked. "Why do you look so troubled?"
3717
+
3718
+
Ah, why? I knew it now. I knew I would give my life to touch with my lips
3719
+
those rosy palms--I understood now that from the moment when I looked
3720
+
into her dark eyes there on the moor last night I had loved her. My great
3721
+
and sudden passion held me speechless.
3722
+
3723
+
"Are you ill at ease?" she asked again.
3724
+
3725
+
Then, like a man who pronounces his own doom, I answered in a low voice:
3726
+
"Yes, I am ill at ease for love of you." And as she did not stir nor
3727
+
answer, the same power moved my lips in spite of me and I said, "I, who
3728
+
am unworthy of the lightest of your thoughts, I who abuse hospitality and
3729
+
repay your gentle courtesy with bold presumption, I love you."
3730
+
3731
+
She leaned her head upon her hands, and answered softly, "I love you.
3732
+
Your words are very dear to me. I love you."
3733
+
3734
+
"Then I shall win you."
3735
+
3736
+
"Win me," she replied.
3737
+
3738
+
But all the time I had been sitting silent, my face turned toward her.
3739
+
She, also silent, her sweet face resting on her upturned palm, sat facing
3740
+
me, and as her eyes looked into mine I knew that neither she nor I had
3741
+
spoken human speech; but I knew that her soul had answered mine, and I
3742
+
drew myself up feeling youth and joyous love coursing through every vein.
3743
+
She, with a bright colour in her lovely face, seemed as one awakened from
3744
+
a dream, and her eyes sought mine with a questioning glance which made me
3745
+
tremble with delight. We broke our fast, speaking of ourselves. I told
3746
+
her my name and she told me hers, the Demoiselle Jeanne d'Ys.
3747
+
3748
+
She spoke of her father and mother's death, and how the nineteen of her
3749
+
years had been passed in the little fortified farm alone with her nurse
3750
+
Pelagie, Glemarec René the piqueur, and the four falconers, Raoul,
3751
+
Gaston, Hastur, and the Sieur Piriou Louis, who had served her father.
3752
+
She had never been outside the moorland--never even had seen a human soul
3753
+
before, except the falconers and Pelagie. She did not know how she had
3754
+
heard of Kerselec; perhaps the falconers had spoken of it. She knew the
3755
+
legends of Loup Garou and Jeanne la Flamme from her nurse Pelagie. She
3756
+
embroidered and spun flax. Her hawks and hounds were her only
3757
+
distraction. When she had met me there on the moor she had been so
3758
+
frightened that she almost dropped at the sound of my voice. She had, it
3759
+
was true, seen ships at sea from the cliffs, but as far as the eye could
3760
+
reach the moors over which she galloped were destitute of any sign of
3761
+
human life. There was a legend which old Pelagie told, how anybody once
3762
+
lost in the unexplored moorland might never return, because the moors
3763
+
were enchanted. She did not know whether it was true, she never had
3764
+
thought about it until she met me. She did not know whether the falconers
3765
+
had even been outside, or whether they could go if they would. The books
3766
+
in the house which Pelagie, the nurse, had taught her to read were
3767
+
hundreds of years old.
3768
+
3769
+
All this she told me with a sweet seriousness seldom seen in any one but
3770
+
children. My own name she found easy to pronounce, and insisted, because
3771
+
my first name was Philip, I must have French blood in me. She did not
3772
+
seem curious to learn anything about the outside world, and I thought
3773
+
perhaps she considered it had forfeited her interest and respect from the
3774
+
stories of her nurse.
3775
+
3776
+
We were still sitting at the table, and she was throwing grapes to the
3777
+
small field birds which came fearlessly to our very feet.
3778
+
3779
+
I began to speak in a vague way of going, but she would not hear of it,
3780
+
and before I knew it I had promised to stay a week and hunt with hawk and
3781
+
hound in their company. I also obtained permission to come again from
3782
+
Kerselec and visit her after my return.
3783
+
3784
+
"Why," she said innocently, "I do not know what I should do if you never
3785
+
came back;" and I, knowing that I had no right to awaken her with the
3786
+
sudden shock which the avowal of my own love would bring to her, sat
3787
+
silent, hardly daring to breathe.
3788
+
3789
+
"You will come very often?" she asked.
3790
+
3791
+
"Very often," I said.
3792
+
3793
+
"Every day?"
3794
+
3795
+
"Every day."
3796
+
3797
+
"Oh," she sighed, "I am very happy. Come and see my hawks."
3798
+
3799
+
She rose and took my hand again with a childlike innocence of possession,
3800
+
and we walked through the garden and fruit trees to a grassy lawn which
3801
+
was bordered by a brook. Over the lawn were scattered fifteen or twenty
3802
+
stumps of trees--partially imbedded in the grass--and upon all of these
3803
+
except two sat falcons. They were attached to the stumps by thongs which
3804
+
were in turn fastened with steel rivets to their legs just above the
3805
+
talons. A little stream of pure spring water flowed in a winding course
3806
+
within easy distance of each perch.
3807
+
3808
+
The birds set up a clamour when the girl appeared, but she went from one
3809
+
to another, caressing some, taking others for an instant upon her wrist,
3810
+
or stooping to adjust their jesses.
3811
+
3812
+
"Are they not pretty?" she said. "See, here is a falcon-gentil. We call
3813
+
it 'ignoble,' because it takes the quarry in direct chase. This is a blue
3814
+
falcon. In falconry we call it 'noble' because it rises over the quarry,
3815
+
and wheeling, drops upon it from above. This white bird is a gerfalcon
3816
+
from the north. It is also 'noble!' Here is a merlin, and this tiercelet
3817
+
is a falcon-heroner."
3818
+
3819
+
I asked her how she had learned the old language of falconry. She did not
3820
+
remember, but thought her father must have taught it to her when she was
3821
+
very young.
3822
+
3823
+
Then she led me away and showed me the young falcons still in the nest.
3824
+
"They are termed _niais_ in falconry," she explained. "A
3825
+
_branchier_ is the young bird which is just able to leave the nest
3826
+
and hop from branch to branch. A young bird which has not yet moulted is
3827
+
called a _sors_, and a _mué_ is a hawk which has moulted in
3828
+
captivity. When we catch a wild falcon which has changed its plumage we
3829
+
term it a _hagard_. Raoul first taught me to dress a falcon. Shall I
3830
+
teach you how it is done?"
3831
+
3832
+
She seated herself on the bank of the stream among the falcons and I
3833
+
threw myself at her feet to listen.
3834
+
3835
+
Then the Demoiselle d'Ys held up one rosy-tipped finger and began very
3836
+
gravely.
3837
+
3838
+
"First one must catch the falcon."
3839
+
3840
+
"I am caught," I answered.
3841
+
3842
+
She laughed very prettily and told me my _dressage_ would perhaps be
3843
+
difficult, as I was noble.
3844
+
3845
+
"I am already tamed," I replied; "jessed and belled."
3846
+
3847
+
She laughed, delighted. "Oh, my brave falcon; then you will return at my
3848
+
call?"
3849
+
3850
+
"I am yours," I answered gravely.
3851
+
3852
+
She sat silent for a moment. Then the colour heightened in her cheeks and
3853
+
she held up her finger again, saying, "Listen; I wish to speak of
3854
+
falconry--"
3855
+
3856
+
"I listen, Countess Jeanne d'Ys."
3857
+
3858
+
But again she fell into the reverie, and her eyes seemed fixed on
3859
+
something beyond the summer clouds.
3860
+
3861
+
"Philip," she said at last.
3862
+
3863
+
"Jeanne," I whispered.
3864
+
3865
+
"That is all,--that is what I wished," she sighed,--"Philip and Jeanne."
3866
+
3867
+
She held her hand toward me and I touched it with my lips.
3868
+
3869
+
"Win me," she said, but this time it was the body and soul which spoke in
3870
+
unison.
3871
+
3872
+
After a while she began again: "Let us speak of falconry."
3873
+
3874
+
"Begin," I replied; "we have caught the falcon."
3875
+
3876
+
Then Jeanne d'Ys took my hand in both of hers and told me how with
3877
+
infinite patience the young falcon was taught to perch upon the wrist,
3878
+
how little by little it became used to the belled jesses and the
3879
+
_chaperon à cornette_.
3880
+
3881
+
"They must first have a good appetite," she said; "then little by little
3882
+
I reduce their nourishment; which in falconry we call _pât_. When,
3883
+
after many nights passed _au bloc_ as these birds are now, I prevail
3884
+
upon the _hagard_ to stay quietly on the wrist, then the bird is
3885
+
ready to be taught to come for its food. I fix the _pât_ to the end
3886
+
of a thong, or _leurre_, and teach the bird to come to me as soon as
3887
+
I begin to whirl the cord in circles about my head. At first I drop the
3888
+
_pât_ when the falcon comes, and he eats the food on the ground.
3889
+
After a little he will learn to seize the _leurre_ in motion as I
3890
+
whirl it around my head or drag it over the ground. After this it is easy
3891
+
to teach the falcon to strike at game, always remembering to _'faire
3892
+
courtoisie á l'oiseau'_, that is, to allow the bird to taste the
3893
+
quarry."
3894
+
3895
+
A squeal from one of the falcons interrupted her, and she arose to adjust
3896
+
the _longe_ which had become whipped about the _bloc_, but the
3897
+
bird still flapped its wings and screamed.
3898
+
3899
+
"What _is_ the matter?" she said. "Philip, can you see?"
3900
+
3901
+
I looked around and at first saw nothing to cause the commotion, which
3902
+
was now heightened by the screams and flapping of all the birds. Then my
3903
+
eye fell upon the flat rock beside the stream from which the girl had
3904
+
risen. A grey serpent was moving slowly across the surface of the
3905
+
boulder, and the eyes in its flat triangular head sparkled like jet.
3906
+
3907
+
"A couleuvre," she said quietly.
3908
+
3909
+
"It is harmless, is it not?" I asked.
3910
+
3911
+
She pointed to the black V-shaped figure on the neck.
3912
+
3913
+
"It is certain death," she said; "it is a viper."
3914
+
3915
+
We watched the reptile moving slowly over the smooth rock to where the
3916
+
sunlight fell in a broad warm patch.
3917
+
3918
+
I started forward to examine it, but she clung to my arm crying, "Don't,
3919
+
Philip, I am afraid."
3920
+
3921
+
"For me?"
3922
+
3923
+
"For you, Philip,--I love you."
3924
+
3925
+
Then I took her in my arms and kissed her on the lips, but all I could
3926
+
say was: "Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne." And as she lay trembling on my breast,
3927
+
something struck my foot in the grass below, but I did not heed it. Then
3928
+
again something struck my ankle, and a sharp pain shot through me. I
3929
+
looked into the sweet face of Jeanne d'Ys and kissed her, and with all my
3930
+
strength lifted her in my arms and flung her from me. Then bending, I
3931
+
tore the viper from my ankle and set my heel upon its head. I remember
3932
+
feeling weak and numb,--I remember falling to the ground. Through my
3933
+
slowly glazing eyes I saw Jeanne's white face bending close to mine, and
3934
+
when the light in my eyes went out I still felt her arms about my neck,
3935
+
and her soft cheek against my drawn lips.
3936
+
3937
+
3938
+
When I opened my eyes, I looked around in terror. Jeanne was gone. I saw
3939
+
the stream and the flat rock; I saw the crushed viper in the grass beside
3940
+
me, but the hawks and _blocs_ had disappeared. I sprang to my feet.
3941
+
The garden, the fruit trees, the drawbridge and the walled court were
3942
+
gone. I stared stupidly at a heap of crumbling ruins, ivy-covered and
3943
+
grey, through which great trees had pushed their way. I crept forward,
3944
+
dragging my numbed foot, and as I moved, a falcon sailed from the
3945
+
tree-tops among the ruins, and soaring, mounting in narrowing circles,
3946
+
faded and vanished in the clouds above.
3947
+
3948
+
"Jeanne, Jeanne," I cried, but my voice died on my lips, and I fell on my
3949
+
knees among the weeds. And as God willed it, I, not knowing, had fallen
3950
+
kneeling before a crumbling shrine carved in stone for our Mother of
3951
+
Sorrows. I saw the sad face of the Virgin wrought in the cold stone. I
3952
+
saw the cross and thorns at her feet, and beneath it I read:
3953
+
3954
+
"PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF THE
3955
+
DEMOISELLE JEANNE D'Ys,
3956
+
WHO DIED
3957
+
IN HER YOUTH FOR LOVE OF
3958
+
PHILIP, A STRANGER.
3959
+
A.D. 1573."
3960
+
3961
+
But upon the icy slab lay a woman's glove still warm and fragrant.
3962
+
3963
+
3964
+
3965
+
3966
+
THE PROPHETS' PARADISE
3967
+
3968
+
"If but the Vine and Love Abjuring Band
3969
+
Are in the Prophets' Paradise to stand,
3970
+
Alack, I doubt the Prophets' Paradise,
3971
+
Were empty as the hollow of one's hand."
3972
+
3973
+
3974
+
3975
+
3976
+
THE STUDIO
3977
+
3978
+
He smiled, saying, "Seek her throughout the world."
3979
+
3980
+
I said, "Why tell me of the world? My world is here, between these walls
3981
+
and the sheet of glass above; here among gilded flagons and dull jewelled
3982
+
arms, tarnished frames and canvasses, black chests and high-backed
3983
+
chairs, quaintly carved and stained in blue and gold."
3984
+
3985
+
"For whom do you wait?" he said, and I answered, "When she comes I shall
3986
+
know her."
3987
+
3988
+
On my hearth a tongue of flame whispered secrets to the whitening ashes.
3989
+
In the street below I heard footsteps, a voice, and a song.
3990
+
3991
+
"For whom then do you wait?" he said, and I answered, "I shall know her."
3992
+
3993
+
Footsteps, a voice, and a song in the street below, and I knew the song
3994
+
but neither the steps nor the voice.
3995
+
3996
+
"Fool!" he cried, "the song is the same, the voice and steps have but
3997
+
changed with years!"
3998
+
3999
+
On the hearth a tongue of flame whispered above the whitening ashes:
4000
+
"Wait no more; they have passed, the steps and the voice in the street
4001
+
below."
4002
+
4003
+
Then he smiled, saying, "For whom do you wait? Seek her throughout the
4004
+
world!"
4005
+
4006
+
I answered, "My world is here, between these walls and the sheet of glass
4007
+
above; here among gilded flagons and dull jewelled arms, tarnished frames
4008
+
and canvasses, black chests and high-backed chairs, quaintly carved and
4009
+
stained in blue and gold."
4010
+
4011
+
4012
+
4013
+
4014
+
THE PHANTOM
4015
+
4016
+
The Phantom of the Past would go no further.
4017
+
4018
+
"If it is true," she sighed, "that you find in me a friend, let us turn
4019
+
back together. You will forget, here, under the summer sky."
4020
+
4021
+
I held her close, pleading, caressing; I seized her, white with anger,
4022
+
but she resisted.
4023
+
4024
+
"If it is true," she sighed, "that you find in me a friend, let us turn
4025
+
back together."
4026
+
4027
+
The Phantom of the Past would go no further.
4028
+
4029
+
4030
+
4031
+
4032
+
THE SACRIFICE
4033
+
4034
+
I went into a field of flowers, whose petals are whiter than snow and
4035
+
whose hearts are pure gold.
4036
+
4037
+
Far afield a woman cried, "I have killed him I loved!" and from a jar she
4038
+
poured blood upon the flowers whose petals are whiter than snow and whose
4039
+
hearts are pure gold.
4040
+
4041
+
Far afield I followed, and on the jar I read a thousand names, while from
4042
+
within the fresh blood bubbled to the brim.
4043
+
4044
+
"I have killed him I loved!" she cried. "The world's athirst; now let it
4045
+
drink!" She passed, and far afield I watched her pouring blood upon the
4046
+
flowers whose petals are whiter than snow and whose hearts are pure gold.
4047
+
4048
+
4049
+
4050
+
4051
+
DESTINY
4052
+
4053
+
I came to the bridge which few may pass.
4054
+
4055
+
"Pass!" cried the keeper, but I laughed, saying, "There is time;" and he
4056
+
smiled and shut the gates.
4057
+
4058
+
To the bridge which few may pass came young and old. All were refused.
4059
+
Idly I stood and counted them, until, wearied of their noise and
4060
+
lamentations, I came again to the bridge which few may pass.
4061
+
4062
+
Those in the throng about the gates shrieked out, "He comes too late!"
4063
+
But I laughed, saying, "There is time."
4064
+
4065
+
"Pass!" cried the keeper as I entered; then smiled and shut the gates.
4066
+
4067
+
4068
+
4069
+
4070
+
THE THRONG
4071
+
4072
+
There, where the throng was thickest in the street, I stood with Pierrot.
4073
+
All eyes were turned on me.
4074
+
4075
+
"What are they laughing at?" I asked, but he grinned, dusting the chalk
4076
+
from my black cloak. "I cannot see; it must be something droll, perhaps
4077
+
an honest thief!"
4078
+
4079
+
All eyes were turned on me.
4080
+
4081
+
"He has robbed you of your purse!" they laughed.
4082
+
4083
+
"My purse!" I cried; "Pierrot--help! it is a thief!"
4084
+
4085
+
They laughed: "He has robbed you of your purse!"
4086
+
4087
+
Then Truth stepped out, holding a mirror. "If he is an honest thief,"
4088
+
cried Truth, "Pierrot shall find him with this mirror!" but he only
4089
+
grinned, dusting the chalk from my black cloak.
4090
+
4091
+
"You see," he said, "Truth is an honest thief, she brings you back your
4092
+
mirror."
4093
+
4094
+
All eyes were turned on me.
4095
+
4096
+
"Arrest Truth!" I cried, forgetting it was not a mirror but a purse I
4097
+
lost, standing with Pierrot, there, where the throng was thickest in the
4098
+
street.
4099
+
4100
+
4101
+
4102
+
4103
+
THE JESTER
4104
+
4105
+
"Was she fair?" I asked, but he only chuckled, listening to the bells
4106
+
jingling on his cap.
4107
+
4108
+
"Stabbed," he tittered. "Think of the long journey, the days of peril,
4109
+
the dreadful nights! Think how he wandered, for her sake, year after
4110
+
year, through hostile lands, yearning for kith and kin, yearning for
4111
+
her!"
4112
+
4113
+
"Stabbed," he tittered, listening to the bells jingling on his cap.
4114
+
4115
+
"Was she fair?" I asked, but he only snarled, muttering to the bells
4116
+
jingling on his cap.
4117
+
4118
+
"She kissed him at the gate," he tittered, "but in the hall his brother's
4119
+
welcome touched his heart."
4120
+
4121
+
"Was she fair?" I asked.
4122
+
4123
+
"Stabbed," he chuckled. "Think of the long journey, the days of peril,
4124
+
the dreadful nights! Think how he wandered, for her sake, year after year
4125
+
through hostile lands, yearning for kith and kin, yearning for her!"
4126
+
4127
+
"She kissed him at the gate, but in the hall his brother's welcome
4128
+
touched his heart."
4129
+
4130
+
"Was she fair?" I asked; but he only snarled, listening to the bells
4131
+
jingling in his cap.
4132
+
4133
+
4134
+
4135
+
4136
+
THE GREEN ROOM
4137
+
4138
+
The Clown turned his powdered face to the mirror.
4139
+
4140
+
"If to be fair is to be beautiful," he said, "who can compare with me in
4141
+
my white mask?"
4142
+
4143
+
"Who can compare with him in his white mask?" I asked of Death beside me.
4144
+
4145
+
"Who can compare with me?" said Death, "for I am paler still."
4146
+
4147
+
"You are very beautiful," sighed the Clown, turning his powdered face
4148
+
from the mirror.
4149
+
4150
+
4151
+
4152
+
4153
+
THE LOVE TEST
4154
+
4155
+
"If it is true that you love," said Love, "then wait no longer. Give her
4156
+
these jewels which would dishonour her and so dishonour you in loving
4157
+
one dishonoured. If it is true that you love," said Love, "then wait no
4158
+
longer."
4159
+
4160
+
I took the jewels and went to her, but she trod upon them, sobbing:
4161
+
"Teach me to wait--I love you!"
4162
+
4163
+
"Then wait, if it is true," said Love.
4164
+
4165
+
4166
+
4167
+
4168
+
THE STREET OF THE FOUR WINDS
4169
+
4170
+
"Ferme tes yeux à demi,
4171
+
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,
4172
+
Et de ton coeur endormi
4173
+
Chasse à jamais tout dessein."
4174
+
4175
+
"Je chante la nature,
4176
+
Les étoiles du soir, les larmes du matin,
4177
+
Les couchers de soleil à l'horizon lointain,
4178
+
Le ciel qui parle au coeur d'existence future!"
4179
+
4180
+
4181
+
I
4182
+
4183
+
The animal paused on the threshold, interrogative alert, ready for flight
4184
+
if necessary. Severn laid down his palette, and held out a hand of
4185
+
welcome. The cat remained motionless, her yellow eyes fastened upon
4186
+
Severn.
4187
+
4188
+
"Puss," he said, in his low, pleasant voice, "come in."
4189
+
4190
+
The tip of her thin tail twitched uncertainly.
4191
+
4192
+
"Come in," he said again.
4193
+
4194
+
Apparently she found his voice reassuring, for she slowly settled upon all
4195
+
fours, her eyes still fastened upon him, her tail tucked under her gaunt
4196
+
flanks.
4197
+
4198
+
He rose from his easel smiling. She eyed him quietly, and when he walked
4199
+
toward her she watched him bend above her without a wince; her eyes
4200
+
followed his hand until it touched her head. Then she uttered a ragged
4201
+
mew.
4202
+
4203
+
It had long been Severn's custom to converse with animals, probably
4204
+
because he lived so much alone; and now he said, "What's the matter,
4205
+
puss?"
4206
+
4207
+
Her timid eyes sought his.
4208
+
4209
+
"I understand," he said gently, "you shall have it at once."
4210
+
4211
+
Then moving quietly about he busied himself with the duties of a host,
4212
+
rinsed a saucer, filled it with the rest of the milk from the bottle on
4213
+
the window-sill, and kneeling down, crumbled a roll into the hollow of his
4214
+
hand.
4215
+
4216
+
The creature rose and crept toward the saucer.
4217
+
4218
+
With the handle of a palette-knife he stirred the crumbs and milk together
4219
+
and stepped back as she thrust her nose into the mess. He watched her in
4220
+
silence. From time to time the saucer clinked upon the tiled floor as she
4221
+
reached for a morsel on the rim; and at last the bread was all gone, and
4222
+
her purple tongue travelled over every unlicked spot until the saucer
4223
+
shone like polished marble. Then she sat up, and coolly turning her back
4224
+
to him, began her ablutions.
4225
+
4226
+
"Keep it up," said Severn, much interested, "you need it."
4227
+
4228
+
She flattened one ear, but neither turned nor interrupted her toilet. As
4229
+
the grime was slowly removed Severn observed that nature had intended her
4230
+
for a white cat. Her fur had disappeared in patches, from disease or the
4231
+
chances of war, her tail was bony and her spine sharp. But what charms she
4232
+
had were becoming apparent under vigorous licking, and he waited until she
4233
+
had finished before re-opening the conversation. When at last she closed
4234
+
her eyes and folded her forepaws under her breast, he began again very
4235
+
gently: "Puss, tell me your troubles."
4236
+
4237
+
At the sound of his voice she broke into a harsh rumbling which he
4238
+
recognized as an attempt to purr. He bent over to rub her cheek and she
4239
+
mewed again, an amiable inquiring little mew, to which he replied,
4240
+
"Certainly, you are greatly improved, and when you recover your plumage
4241
+
you will be a gorgeous bird." Much flattered, she stood up and marched
4242
+
around and around his legs, pushing her head between them and making
4243
+
pleased remarks, to which he responded with grave politeness.
4244
+
4245
+
"Now, what sent you here," he said--"here into the Street of the Four
4246
+
Winds, and up five flights to the very door where you would be welcome?
4247
+
What was it that prevented your meditated flight when I turned from my
4248
+
canvas to encounter your yellow eyes? Are you a Latin Quarter cat as I am
4249
+
a Latin Quarter man? And why do you wear a rose-coloured flowered garter
4250
+
buckled about your neck?" The cat had climbed into his lap, and now sat
4251
+
purring as he passed his hand over her thin coat.
4252
+
4253
+
"Excuse me," he continued in lazy soothing tones, harmonizing with her
4254
+
purring, "if I seem indelicate, but I cannot help musing on this
4255
+
rose-coloured garter, flowered so quaintly and fastened with a silver
4256
+
clasp. For the clasp is silver; I can see the mint mark on the edge, as is
4257
+
prescribed by the law of the French Republic. Now, why is this garter
4258
+
woven of rose silk and delicately embroidered,--why is this silken garter
4259
+
with its silver clasp about your famished throat? Am I indiscreet when I
4260
+
inquire if its owner is your owner? Is she some aged dame living in memory
4261
+
of youthful vanities, fond, doting on you, decorating you with her
4262
+
intimate personal attire? The circumference of the garter would suggest
4263
+
this, for your neck is thin, and the garter fits you. But then again I
4264
+
notice--I notice most things--that the garter is capable of being much
4265
+
enlarged. These small silver-rimmed eyelets, of which I count five, are
4266
+
proof of that. And now I observe that the fifth eyelet is worn out, as
4267
+
though the tongue of the clasp were accustomed to lie there. That seems to
4268
+
argue a well-rounded form."
4269
+
4270
+
The cat curled her toes in contentment. The street was very still outside.
4271
+
4272
+
He murmured on: "Why should your mistress decorate you with an article
4273
+
most necessary to her at all times? Anyway, at most times. How did she
4274
+
come to slip this bit of silk and silver about your neck? Was it the
4275
+
caprice of a moment,--when you, before you had lost your pristine
4276
+
plumpness, marched singing into her bedroom to bid her good-morning? Of
4277
+
course, and she sat up among the pillows, her coiled hair tumbling to her
4278
+
shoulders, as you sprang upon the bed purring: 'Good-day, my lady.' Oh, it
4279
+
is very easy to understand," he yawned, resting his head on the back of
4280
+
the chair. The cat still purred, tightening and relaxing her padded claws
4281
+
over his knee.
4282
+
4283
+
"Shall I tell you all about her, cat? She is very beautiful--your
4284
+
mistress," he murmured drowsily, "and her hair is heavy as burnished
4285
+
gold. I could paint her,--not on canvas--for I should need shades and
4286
+
tones and hues and dyes more splendid than the iris of a splendid rainbow.
4287
+
I could only paint her with closed eyes, for in dreams alone can such
4288
+
colours as I need be found. For her eyes, I must have azure from skies
4289
+
untroubled by a cloud--the skies of dreamland. For her lips, roses from
4290
+
the palaces of slumberland, and for her brow, snow-drifts from mountains
4291
+
which tower in fantastic pinnacles to the moons;--oh, much higher than our
4292
+
moon here,--the crystal moons of dreamland. She is--very--beautiful, your
4293
+
mistress."
4294
+
4295
+
The words died on his lips and his eyelids drooped.
4296
+
4297
+
The cat, too, was asleep, her cheek turned up upon her wasted flank, her
4298
+
paws relaxed and limp.
4299
+
4300
+
4301
+
4302
+
4303
+
II
4304
+
4305
+
"It is fortunate," said Severn, sitting up and stretching, "that we have
4306
+
tided over the dinner hour, for I have nothing to offer you for supper but
4307
+
what may be purchased with one silver franc."
4308
+
4309
+
The cat on his knee rose, arched her back, yawned, and looked up at him.
4310
+
4311
+
"What shall it be? A roast chicken with salad? No? Possibly you prefer
4312
+
beef? Of course,--and I shall try an egg and some white bread. Now for the
4313
+
wines. Milk for you? Good. I shall take a little water, fresh from the
4314
+
wood," with a motion toward the bucket in the sink.
4315
+
4316
+
He put on his hat and left the room. The cat followed to the door, and
4317
+
after he had closed it behind him, she settled down, smelling at the
4318
+
cracks, and cocking one ear at every creak from the crazy old building.
4319
+
4320
+
The door below opened and shut. The cat looked serious, for a moment
4321
+
doubtful, and her ears flattened in nervous expectation. Presently she
4322
+
rose with a jerk of her tail and started on a noiseless tour of the
4323
+
studio. She sneezed at a pot of turpentine, hastily retreating to the
4324
+
table, which she presently mounted, and having satisfied her curiosity
4325
+
concerning a roll of red modelling wax, returned to the door and sat down
4326
+
with her eyes on the crack over the threshold Then she lifted her voice in
4327
+
a thin plaint.
4328
+
4329
+
When Severn returned he looked grave, but the cat, joyous and
4330
+
demonstrative, marched around him, rubbing her gaunt body against his
4331
+
legs, driving her head enthusiastically into his hand, and purring until
4332
+
her voice mounted to a squeal.
4333
+
4334
+
He placed a bit of meat, wrapped in brown paper, upon the table, and with
4335
+
a penknife cut it into shreds. The milk he took from a bottle which had
4336
+
served for medicine, and poured it into the saucer on the hearth.
4337
+
4338
+
The cat crouched before it, purring and lapping at the same time.
4339
+
4340
+
He cooked his egg and ate it with a slice of bread, watching her busy with
4341
+
the shredded meat, and when he had finished, and had filled and emptied a
4342
+
cup of water from the bucket in the sink, he sat down, taking her into his
4343
+
lap, where she at once curled up and began her toilet. He began to speak
4344
+
again, touching her caressingly at times by way of emphasis.
4345
+
4346
+
"Cat, I have found out where your mistress lives. It is not very far
4347
+
away;--it is here, under this same leaky roof, but in the north wing which
4348
+
I had supposed was uninhabited. My janitor tells me this. By chance, he is
4349
+
almost sober this evening. The butcher on the rue de Seine, where I bought
4350
+
your meat, knows you, and old Cabane the baker identified you with
4351
+
needless sarcasm. They tell me hard tales of your mistress which I shall
4352
+
not believe. They say she is idle and vain and pleasure-loving; they say
4353
+
she is hare-brained and reckless. The little sculptor on the ground floor,
4354
+
who was buying rolls from old Cabane, spoke to me to-night for the first
4355
+
time, although we have always bowed to each other. He said she was very
4356
+
good and very beautiful. He has only seen her once, and does not know her
4357
+
name. I thanked him;--I don't know why I thanked him so warmly. Cabane
4358
+
said, 'Into this cursed Street of the Four Winds, the four winds blow all
4359
+
things evil.' The sculptor looked confused, but when he went out with his
4360
+
rolls, he said to me, 'I am sure, Monsieur, that she is as good as she is
4361
+
beautiful.'"
4362
+
4363
+
The cat had finished her toilet, and now, springing softly to the floor,
4364
+
went to the door and sniffed. He knelt beside her, and unclasping the
4365
+
garter held it for a moment in his hands. After a while he said: "There is
4366
+
a name engraved upon the silver clasp beneath the buckle. It is a pretty
4367
+
name, Sylvia Elven. Sylvia is a woman's name, Elven is the name of a town.
4368
+
In Paris, in this quarter, above all, in this Street of the Four Winds,
4369
+
names are worn and put away as the fashions change with the seasons. I
4370
+
know the little town of Elven, for there I met Fate face to face and Fate
4371
+
was unkind. But do you know that in Elven Fate had another name, and that
4372
+
name was Sylvia?"
4373
+
4374
+
He replaced the garter and stood up looking down at the cat crouched
4375
+
before the closed door.
4376
+
4377
+
"The name of Elven has a charm for me. It tells me of meadows and clear
4378
+
rivers. The name of Sylvia troubles me like perfume from dead flowers."
4379
+
4380
+
The cat mewed.
4381
+
4382
+
"Yes, yes," he said soothingly, "I will take you back. Your Sylvia is not
4383
+
my Sylvia; the world is wide and Elven is not unknown. Yet in the darkness
4384
+
and filth of poorer Paris, in the sad shadows of this ancient house, these
4385
+
names are very pleasant to me."
4386
+
4387
+
He lifted her in his arms and strode through the silent corridors to the
4388
+
stairs. Down five flights and into the moonlit court, past the little
4389
+
sculptor's den, and then again in at the gate of the north wing and up the
4390
+
worm-eaten stairs he passed, until he came to a closed door. When he had
4391
+
stood knocking for a long time, something moved behind the door; it opened
4392
+
and he went in. The room was dark. As he crossed the threshold, the cat
4393
+
sprang from his arms into the shadows. He listened but heard nothing. The
4394
+
silence was oppressive and he struck a match. At his elbow stood a table
4395
+
and on the table a candle in a gilded candlestick. This he lighted, then
4396
+
looked around. The chamber was vast, the hangings heavy with embroidery.
4397
+
Over the fireplace towered a carved mantel, grey with the ashes of dead
4398
+
fires. In a recess by the deep-set windows stood a bed, from which the
4399
+
bedclothes, soft and fine as lace, trailed to the polished floor. He
4400
+
lifted the candle above his head. A handkerchief lay at his feet. It was
4401
+
faintly perfumed. He turned toward the windows. In front of them was a
4402
+
_canapé_ and over it were flung, pell-mell, a gown of silk, a heap of
4403
+
lace-like garments, white and delicate as spiders' meshes, long, crumpled
4404
+
gloves, and, on the floor beneath, the stockings, the little pointed
4405
+
shoes, and one garter of rosy silk, quaintly flowered and fitted with a
4406
+
silver clasp. Wondering, he stepped forward and drew the heavy curtains
4407
+
from the bed. For a moment the candle flared in his hand; then his eyes
4408
+
met two other eyes, wide open, smiling, and the candle-flame flashed over
4409
+
hair heavy as gold.
4410
+
4411
+
She was pale, but not as white as he; her eyes were untroubled as a
4412
+
child's; but he stared, trembling from head to foot, while the candle
4413
+
flickered in his hand.
4414
+
4415
+
At last he whispered: "Sylvia, it is I."
4416
+
4417
+
Again he said, "It is I."
4418
+
4419
+
Then, knowing that she was dead, he kissed her on the mouth. And through
4420
+
the long watches of the night the cat purred on his knee, tightening and
4421
+
relaxing her padded claws, until the sky paled above the Street of the
4422
+
Four Winds.
4423
+
4424
+
4425
+
4426
+
4427
+
THE STREET OF THE FIRST SHELL
4428
+
4429
+
4430
+
"Be of Good Cheer, the Sullen Month will die,
4431
+
And a young Moon requite us by and by:
4432
+
Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan
4433
+
With age and Fast, is fainting from the sky."
4434
+
4435
+
The room was already dark. The high roofs opposite cut off what little
4436
+
remained of the December daylight. The girl drew her chair nearer the
4437
+
window, and choosing a large needle, threaded it, knotting the thread over
4438
+
her fingers. Then she smoothed the baby garment across her knees, and
4439
+
bending, bit off the thread and drew the smaller needle from where it
4440
+
rested in the hem. When she had brushed away the stray threads and bits of
4441
+
lace, she laid it again over her knees caressingly. Then she slipped the
4442
+
threaded needle from her corsage and passed it through a button, but as
4443
+
the button spun down the thread, her hand faltered, the thread snapped,
4444
+
and the button rolled across the floor. She raised her head. Her eyes were
4445
+
fixed on a strip of waning light above the chimneys. From somewhere in the
4446
+
city came sounds like the distant beating of drums, and beyond, far
4447
+
beyond, a vague muttering, now growing, swelling, rumbling in the distance
4448
+
like the pounding of surf upon the rocks, now like the surf again,
4449
+
receding, growling, menacing. The cold had become intense, a bitter
4450
+
piercing cold which strained and snapped at joist and beam and turned the
4451
+
slush of yesterday to flint. From the street below every sound broke sharp
4452
+
and metallic--the clatter of sabots, the rattle of shutters or the rare
4453
+
sound of a human voice. The air was heavy, weighted with the black cold as
4454
+
with a pall. To breathe was painful, to move an effort.
4455
+
4456
+
In the desolate sky there was something that wearied, in the brooding
4457
+
clouds, something that saddened. It penetrated the freezing city cut by
4458
+
the freezing river, the splendid city with its towers and domes, its quays
4459
+
and bridges and its thousand spires. It entered the squares, it seized the
4460
+
avenues and the palaces, stole across bridges and crept among the narrow
4461
+
streets of the Latin Quarter, grey under the grey of the December sky.
4462
+
Sadness, utter sadness. A fine icy sleet was falling, powdering the
4463
+
pavement with a tiny crystalline dust. It sifted against the window-panes
4464
+
and drifted in heaps along the sill. The light at the window had nearly
4465
+
failed, and the girl bent low over her work. Presently she raised her
4466
+
head, brushing the curls from her eyes.
4467
+
4468
+
"Jack?"
4469
+
4470
+
"Dearest?"
4471
+
4472
+
"Don't forget to clean your palette."
4473
+
4474
+
He said, "All right," and picking up the palette, sat down upon the floor
4475
+
in front of the stove. His head and shoulders were in the shadow, but the
4476
+
firelight fell across his knees and glimmered red on the blade of the
4477
+
palette-knife. Full in the firelight beside him stood a colour-box. On the
4478
+
lid was carved,
4479
+
4480
+
J. TRENT.
4481
+
Ecole des Beaux Arts.
4482
+
1870.
4483
+
4484
+
This inscription was ornamented with an American and a French flag.
4485
+
4486
+
The sleet blew against the window-panes, covering them with stars and
4487
+
diamonds, then, melting from the warmer air within, ran down and froze
4488
+
again in fern-like traceries.
4489
+
4490
+
A dog whined and the patter of small paws sounded on the zinc behind the
4491
+
stove.
4492
+
4493
+
"Jack, dear, do you think Hercules is hungry?"
4494
+
4495
+
The patter of paws was redoubled behind the stove.
4496
+
4497
+
"He's whining," she continued nervously, "and if it isn't because he's
4498
+
hungry it is because--"
4499
+
4500
+
Her voice faltered. A loud humming filled the air, the windows vibrated.
4501
+
4502
+
"Oh, Jack," she cried, "another--" but her voice was drowned in the scream
4503
+
of a shell tearing through the clouds overhead.
4504
+
4505
+
"That is the nearest yet," she murmured.
4506
+
4507
+
"Oh, no," he answered cheerfully, "it probably fell way over by
4508
+
Montmartre," and as she did not answer, he said again with exaggerated
4509
+
unconcern, "They wouldn't take the trouble to fire at the Latin Quarter;
4510
+
anyway they haven't a battery that can hurt it."
4511
+
4512
+
After a while she spoke up brightly: "Jack, dear, when are you going to
4513
+
take me to see Monsieur West's statues?"
4514
+
4515
+
"I will bet," he said, throwing down his palette and walking over to the
4516
+
window beside her, "that Colette has been here to-day."
4517
+
4518
+
"Why?" she asked, opening her eyes very wide. Then, "Oh, it's too
4519
+
bad!--really, men are tiresome when they think they know everything! And I
4520
+
warn you that if Monsieur West is vain enough to imagine that Colette--"
4521
+
4522
+
From the north another shell came whistling and quavering through the sky,
4523
+
passing above them with long-drawn screech which left the windows singing.
4524
+
4525
+
"That," he blurted out, "was too near for comfort."
4526
+
4527
+
They were silent for a while, then he spoke again gaily: "Go on, Sylvia,
4528
+
and wither poor West;" but she only sighed, "Oh, dear, I can never seem to
4529
+
get used to the shells."
4530
+
4531
+
He sat down on the arm of the chair beside her.
4532
+
4533
+
Her scissors fell jingling to the floor; she tossed the unfinished frock
4534
+
after them, and putting both arms about his neck drew him down into her
4535
+
lap.
4536
+
4537
+
"Don't go out to-night, Jack."
4538
+
4539
+
He kissed her uplifted face; "You know I must; don't make it hard for me."
4540
+
4541
+
"But when I hear the shells and--and know you are out in the city--"
4542
+
4543
+
"But they all fall in Montmartre--"
4544
+
4545
+
"They may all fall in the Beaux Arts; you said yourself that two struck
4546
+
the Quai d'Orsay--"
4547
+
4548
+
"Mere accident--"
4549
+
4550
+
"Jack, have pity on me! Take me with you!"
4551
+
4552
+
"And who will there be to get dinner?"
4553
+
4554
+
She rose and flung herself on the bed.
4555
+
4556
+
"Oh, I can't get used to it, and I know you must go, but I beg you not to
4557
+
be late to dinner. If you knew what I suffer! I--I--cannot help it, and
4558
+
you must be patient with me, dear."
4559
+
4560
+
He said, "It is as safe there as it is in our own house."
4561
+
4562
+
She watched him fill for her the alcohol lamp, and when he had lighted it
4563
+
and had taken his hat to go, she jumped up and clung to him in silence.
4564
+
After a moment he said: "Now, Sylvia, remember my courage is sustained by
4565
+
yours. Come, I must go!" She did not move, and he repeated: "I must go."
4566
+
Then she stepped back and he thought she was going to speak and waited,
4567
+
but she only looked at him, and, a little impatiently, he kissed her
4568
+
again, saying: "Don't worry, dearest."
4569
+
4570
+
When he had reached the last flight of stairs on his way to the street a
4571
+
woman hobbled out of the house-keeper's lodge waving a letter and calling:
4572
+
"Monsieur Jack! Monsieur Jack! this was left by Monsieur Fallowby!"
4573
+
4574
+
He took the letter, and leaning on the threshold of the lodge, read it:
4575
+
4576
+
"Dear Jack,
4577
+
4578
+
"I believe Braith is dead broke and I'm sure Fallowby is. Braith swears he
4579
+
isn't, and Fallowby swears he is, so you can draw your own conclusions.
4580
+
I've got a scheme for a dinner, and if it works, I will let you fellows
4581
+
in.
4582
+
4583
+
"Yours faithfully,
4584
+
4585
+
"West.
4586
+
4587
+
"P.S.--Fallowby has shaken Hartman and his gang, thank the Lord! There is
4588
+
something rotten there,--or it may be he's only a miser.
4589
+
4590
+
"P.P.S.--I'm more desperately in love than ever, but I'm sure she does not
4591
+
care a straw for me."
4592
+
4593
+
"All right," said Trent, with a smile, to the concierge; "but tell me, how
4594
+
is Papa Cottard?"
4595
+
4596
+
The old woman shook her head and pointed to the curtained bed in the
4597
+
lodge.
4598
+
4599
+
"Père Cottard!" he cried cheerily, "how goes the wound to-day?"
4600
+
4601
+
He walked over to the bed and drew the curtains. An old man was lying
4602
+
among the tumbled sheets.
4603
+
4604
+
"Better?" smiled Trent.
4605
+
4606
+
"Better," repeated the man wearily; and, after a pause, "Have you any
4607
+
news, Monsieur Jack?"
4608
+
4609
+
"I haven't been out to-day. I will bring you any rumour I may hear, though
4610
+
goodness knows I've got enough of rumours," he muttered to himself. Then
4611
+
aloud: "Cheer up; you're looking better."
4612
+
4613
+
"And the sortie?"
4614
+
4615
+
"Oh, the sortie, that's for this week. General Trochu sent orders last
4616
+
night."
4617
+
4618
+
"It will be terrible."
4619
+
4620
+
"It will be sickening," thought Trent as he went not into the street and
4621
+
turned the corner toward the rue de Seine; "slaughter, slaughter, phew!
4622
+
I'm glad I'm not going."
4623
+
4624
+
The street was almost deserted. A few women muffled in tattered military
4625
+
capes crept along the frozen pavement, and a wretchedly clad gamin hovered
4626
+
over the sewer-hole on the corner of the Boulevard. A rope around his
4627
+
waist held his rags together. From the rope hung a rat, still warm and
4628
+
bleeding.
4629
+
4630
+
"There's another in there," he yelled at Trent; "I hit him but he got
4631
+
away."
4632
+
4633
+
Trent crossed the street and asked: "How much?"
4634
+
4635
+
"Two francs for a quarter of a fat one; that's what they give at the St.
4636
+
Germain Market."
4637
+
4638
+
A violent fit of coughing interrupted him, but he wiped his face with the
4639
+
palm of his hand and looked cunningly at Trent.
4640
+
4641
+
"Last week you could buy a rat for six francs, but," and here he swore
4642
+
vilely, "the rats have quit the rue de Seine and they kill them now over
4643
+
by the new hospital. I'll let you have this for seven francs; I can sell
4644
+
it for ten in the Isle St. Louis."
4645
+
4646
+
"You lie," said Trent, "and let me tell you that if you try to swindle
4647
+
anybody in this quarter the people will make short work of you and your
4648
+
rats."
4649
+
4650
+
He stood a moment eyeing the gamin, who pretended to snivel. Then he
4651
+
tossed him a franc, laughing. The child caught it, and thrusting it into
4652
+
his mouth wheeled about to the sewer-hole. For a second he crouched,
4653
+
motionless, alert, his eyes on the bars of the drain, then leaping forward
4654
+
he hurled a stone into the gutter, and Trent left him to finish a fierce
4655
+
grey rat that writhed squealing at the mouth of the sewer.
4656
+
4657
+
"Suppose Braith should come to that," he thought; "poor little chap;" and
4658
+
hurrying, he turned in the dirty passage des Beaux Arts and entered the
4659
+
third house to the left.
4660
+
4661
+
"Monsieur is at home," quavered the old concierge.
4662
+
4663
+
Home? A garret absolutely bare, save for the iron bedstead in the corner
4664
+
and the iron basin and pitcher on the floor.
4665
+
4666
+
West appeared at the door, winking with much mystery, and motioned Trent
4667
+
to enter. Braith, who was painting in bed to keep warm, looked up,
4668
+
laughed, and shook hands.
4669
+
4670
+
"Any news?"
4671
+
4672
+
The perfunctory question was answered as usual by: "Nothing but the
4673
+
cannon."
4674
+
4675
+
Trent sat down on the bed.
4676
+
4677
+
"Where on earth did you get that?" he demanded, pointing to a
4678
+
half-finished chicken nestling in a wash-basin.
4679
+
4680
+
West grinned.
4681
+
4682
+
"Are you millionaires, you two? Out with it."
4683
+
4684
+
Braith, looking a little ashamed, began, "Oh, it's one of West's
4685
+
exploits," but was cut short by West, who said he would tell the story
4686
+
himself.
4687
+
4688
+
"You see, before the siege, I had a letter of introduction to a '_type_'
4689
+
here, a fat banker, German-American variety. You know the species, I see.
4690
+
Well, of course I forgot to present the letter, but this morning, judging
4691
+
it to be a favourable opportunity, I called on him.
4692
+
4693
+
"The villain lives in comfort;--fires, my boy!--fires in the ante-rooms!
4694
+
The Buttons finally condescends to carry my letter and card up, leaving me
4695
+
standing in the hallway, which I did not like, so I entered the first room
4696
+
I saw and nearly fainted at the sight of a banquet on a table by the fire.
4697
+
Down comes Buttons, very insolent. No, oh, no, his master, 'is not at
4698
+
home, and in fact is too busy to receive letters of introduction just now;
4699
+
the siege, and many business difficulties--'
4700
+
4701
+
"I deliver a kick to Buttons, pick up this chicken from the table, toss my
4702
+
card on to the empty plate, and addressing Buttons as a species of
4703
+
Prussian pig, march out with the honours of war."
4704
+
4705
+
Trent shook his head.
4706
+
4707
+
"I forgot to say that Hartman often dines there, and I draw my own
4708
+
conclusions," continued West. "Now about this chicken, half of it is for
4709
+
Braith and myself, and half for Colette, but of course you will help me
4710
+
eat my part because I'm not hungry."
4711
+
4712
+
"Neither am I," began Braith, but Trent, with a smile at the pinched faces
4713
+
before him, shook his head saying, "What nonsense! You know I'm never
4714
+
hungry!"
4715
+
4716
+
West hesitated, reddened, and then slicing off Braith's portion, but not
4717
+
eating any himself, said good-night, and hurried away to number 470 rue
4718
+
Serpente, where lived a pretty girl named Colette, orphan after Sedan, and
4719
+
Heaven alone knew where she got the roses in her cheeks, for the siege
4720
+
came hard on the poor.
4721
+
4722
+
"That chicken will delight her, but I really believe she's in love with
4723
+
West," said Trent. Then walking over to the bed: "See here, old man, no
4724
+
dodging, you know, how much have you left?"
4725
+
4726
+
The other hesitated and flushed.
4727
+
4728
+
"Come, old chap," insisted Trent.
4729
+
4730
+
Braith drew a purse from beneath his bolster, and handed it to his friend
4731
+
with a simplicity that touched him.
4732
+
4733
+
"Seven sons," he counted; "you make me tired! Why on earth don't you come
4734
+
to me? I take it d----d ill, Braith! How many times must I go over the same
4735
+
thing and explain to you that because I have money it is my duty to share
4736
+
it, and your duty and the duty of every American to share it with me? You
4737
+
can't get a cent, the city's blockaded, and the American Minister has his
4738
+
hands full with all the German riff-raff and deuce knows what! Why don't
4739
+
you act sensibly?"
4740
+
4741
+
"I--I will, Trent, but it's an obligation that perhaps I can never even in
4742
+
part repay, I'm poor and--"
4743
+
4744
+
"Of course you'll pay me! If I were a usurer I would take your talent for
4745
+
security. When you are rich and famous--"
4746
+
4747
+
"Don't, Trent--"
4748
+
4749
+
"All right, only no more monkey business."
4750
+
4751
+
He slipped a dozen gold pieces into the purse, and tucking it again under
4752
+
the mattress smiled at Braith.
4753
+
4754
+
"How old are you?" he demanded.
4755
+
4756
+
"Sixteen."
4757
+
4758
+
Trent laid his hand lightly on his friend's shoulder. "I'm twenty-two, and
4759
+
I have the rights of a grandfather as far as you are concerned. You'll do
4760
+
as I say until you're twenty-one."
4761
+
4762
+
"The siège will be over then, I hope," said Braith, trying to laugh, but
4763
+
the prayer in their hearts: "How long, O Lord, how long!" was answered by
4764
+
the swift scream of a shell soaring among the storm-clouds of that
4765
+
December night.
4766
+
4767
+
4768
+
4769
+
4770
+
II
4771
+
4772
+
West, standing in the doorway of a house in the rue Serpentine, was
4773
+
speaking angrily. He said he didn't care whether Hartman liked it or not;
4774
+
he was telling him, not arguing with him.
4775
+
4776
+
"You call yourself an American!" he sneered; "Berlin and hell are full of
4777
+
that kind of American. You come loafing about Colette with your pockets
4778
+
stuffed with white bread and beef, and a bottle of wine at thirty francs
4779
+
and you can't really afford to give a dollar to the American Ambulance and
4780
+
Public Assistance, which Braith does, and he's half starved!"
4781
+
4782
+
Hartman retreated to the curbstone, but West followed him, his face like a
4783
+
thunder-cloud. "Don't you dare to call yourself a countryman of mine," he
4784
+
growled,--"no,--nor an artist either! Artists don't worm themselves into
4785
+
the service of the Public Defence where they do nothing but feed like rats
4786
+
on the people's food! And I'll tell you now," he continued dropping his
4787
+
voice, for Hartman had started as though stung, "you might better keep
4788
+
away from that Alsatian Brasserie and the smug-faced thieves who haunt it.
4789
+
You know what they do with suspects!"
4790
+
4791
+
"You lie, you hound!" screamed Hartman, and flung the bottle in his hand
4792
+
straight at West's face. West had him by the throat in a second, and
4793
+
forcing him against the dead wall shook him wickedly.
4794
+
4795
+
"Now you listen to me," he muttered, through his clenched teeth. "You are
4796
+
already a suspect and--I swear--I believe you are a paid spy! It isn't my
4797
+
business to detect such vermin, and I don't intend to denounce you, but
4798
+
understand this! Colette don't like you and I can't stand you, and if I
4799
+
catch you in this street again I'll make it somewhat unpleasant. Get out,
4800
+
you sleek Prussian!"
4801
+
4802
+
Hartman had managed to drag a knife from his pocket, but West tore it from
4803
+
him and hurled him into the gutter. A gamin who had seen this burst into a
4804
+
peal of laughter, which rattled harshly in the silent street. Then
4805
+
everywhere windows were raised and rows of haggard faces appeared
4806
+
demanding to know why people should laugh in the starving city.
4807
+
4808
+
"Is it a victory?" murmured one.
4809
+
4810
+
"Look at that," cried West as Hartman picked himself up from the pavement,
4811
+
"look! you miser! look at those faces!" But Hartman gave _him_ a look
4812
+
which he never forgot, and walked away without a word. Trent, who suddenly
4813
+
appeared at the corner, glanced curiously at West, who merely nodded
4814
+
toward his door saying, "Come in; Fallowby's upstairs."
4815
+
4816
+
"What are you doing with that knife?" demanded Fallowby, as he and Trent
4817
+
entered the studio.
4818
+
4819
+
West looked at his wounded hand, which still clutched the knife, but
4820
+
saying, "Cut myself by accident," tossed it into a corner and washed the
4821
+
blood from his fingers.
4822
+
4823
+
Fallowby, fat and lazy, watched him without comment, but Trent, half
4824
+
divining how things had turned, walked over to Fallowby smiling.
4825
+
4826
+
"I've a bone to pick with you!" he said.
4827
+
4828
+
"Where is it? I'm hungry," replied Fallowby with affected eagerness, but
4829
+
Trent, frowning, told him to listen.
4830
+
4831
+
"How much did I advance you a week ago?"
4832
+
4833
+
"Three hundred and eighty francs," replied the other, with a squirm of
4834
+
contrition.
4835
+
4836
+
"Where is it?"
4837
+
4838
+
Fallowby began a series of intricate explanations, which were soon cut
4839
+
short by Trent.
4840
+
4841
+
"I know; you blew it in;--you always blow it in. I don't care a rap what
4842
+
you did before the siege: I know you are rich and have a right to dispose
4843
+
of your money as you wish to, and I also know that, generally speaking, it
4844
+
is none of my business. But _now_ it is my business, as I have to supply
4845
+
the funds until you get some more, which you won't until the siege is
4846
+
ended one way or another. I wish to share what I have, but I won't see it
4847
+
thrown out of the window. Oh, yes, of course I know you will reimburse me,
4848
+
but that isn't the question; and, anyway, it's the opinion of your
4849
+
friends, old man, that you will not be worse off for a little abstinence
4850
+
from fleshly pleasures. You are positively a freak in this famine-cursed
4851
+
city of skeletons!"
4852
+
4853
+
"I _am_ rather stout," he admitted.
4854
+
4855
+
"Is it true you are out of money?" demanded Trent.
4856
+
4857
+
"Yes, I am," sighed the other.
4858
+
4859
+
"That roast sucking pig on the rue St. Honoré,--is it there yet?"
4860
+
continued Trent.
4861
+
4862
+
"Wh--at?" stammered the feeble one.
4863
+
4864
+
"Ah--I thought so! I caught you in ecstasy before that sucking pig at
4865
+
least a dozen times!"
4866
+
4867
+
Then laughing, he presented Fallowby with a roll of twenty franc pieces
4868
+
saying: "If these go for luxuries you must live on your own flesh," and
4869
+
went over to aid West, who sat beside the wash-basin binding up his hand.
4870
+
4871
+
West suffered him to tie the knot, and then said: "You remember,
4872
+
yesterday, when I left you and Braith to take the chicken to Colette."
4873
+
4874
+
"Chicken! Good heavens!" moaned Fallowby.
4875
+
4876
+
"Chicken," repeated West, enjoying Fallowby's grief;--"I--that is, I must
4877
+
explain that things are changed. Colette and I--are to be married--"
4878
+
4879
+
"What--what about the chicken?" groaned Fallowby.
4880
+
4881
+
"Shut up!" laughed Trent, and slipping his arm through West's, walked to
4882
+
the stairway.
4883
+
4884
+
"The poor little thing," said West, "just think, not a splinter of
4885
+
firewood for a week and wouldn't tell me because she thought I needed
4886
+
it for my clay figure. Whew! When I heard it I smashed that smirking
4887
+
clay nymph to pieces, and the rest can freeze and be hanged!" After a
4888
+
moment he added timidly: "Won't you call on your way down and say _bon
4889
+
soir_? It's No. 17."
4890
+
4891
+
"Yes," said Trent, and he went out softly closing the door behind.
4892
+
4893
+
He stopped on the third landing, lighted a match, scanned the numbers over
4894
+
the row of dingy doors, and knocked at No. 17.
4895
+
4896
+
"C'est toi Georges?" The door opened.
4897
+
4898
+
"Oh, pardon, Monsieur Jack, I thought it was Monsieur West," then blushing
4899
+
furiously, "Oh, I see you have heard! Oh, thank you so much for your
4900
+
wishes, and I'm sure we love each other very much,--and I'm dying to see
4901
+
Sylvia and tell her and--"
4902
+
4903
+
"And what?" laughed Trent.
4904
+
4905
+
"I am very happy," she sighed.
4906
+
4907
+
"He's pure gold," returned Trent, and then gaily: "I want you and George
4908
+
to come and dine with us to-night. It's a little treat,--you see to-morrow
4909
+
is Sylvia's _fête_. She will be nineteen. I have written to Thorne, and
4910
+
the Guernalecs will come with their cousin Odile. Fallowby has engaged not
4911
+
to bring anybody but himself."
4912
+
4913
+
The girl accepted shyly, charging him with loads of loving messages to
4914
+
Sylvia, and he said good-night.
4915
+
4916
+
He started up the street, walking swiftly, for it was bitter cold, and
4917
+
cutting across the rue de la Lune he entered the rue de Seine. The early
4918
+
winter night had fallen, almost without warning, but the sky was clear and
4919
+
myriads of stars glittered in the heavens. The bombardment had become
4920
+
furious--a steady rolling thunder from the Prussian cannon punctuated by
4921
+
the heavy shocks from Mont Valérien.
4922
+
4923
+
The shells streamed across the sky leaving trails like shooting stars, and
4924
+
now, as he turned to look back, rockets blue and red flared above the
4925
+
horizon from the Fort of Issy, and the Fortress of the North flamed like a
4926
+
bonfire.
4927
+
4928
+
"Good news!" a man shouted over by the Boulevard St. Germain. As if by
4929
+
magic the streets were filled with people,--shivering, chattering people
4930
+
with shrunken eyes.
4931
+
4932
+
"Jacques!" cried one. "The Army of the Loire!"
4933
+
4934
+
"Eh! _mon vieux_, it has come then at last! I told thee! I told thee!
4935
+
To-morrow--to-night--who knows?"
4936
+
4937
+
"Is it true? Is it a sortie?"
4938
+
4939
+
Some one said: "Oh, God--a sortie--and my son?" Another cried: "To the
4940
+
Seine? They say one can see the signals of the Army of the Loire from the
4941
+
Pont Neuf."
4942
+
4943
+
There was a child standing near Trent who kept repeating: "Mamma, Mamma,
4944
+
then to-morrow we may eat white bread?" and beside him, an old man
4945
+
swaying, stumbling, his shrivelled hands crushed to his breast, muttering
4946
+
as if insane.
4947
+
4948
+
"Could it be true? Who has heard the news? The shoemaker on the rue de
4949
+
Buci had it from a Mobile who had heard a Franctireur repeat it to a
4950
+
captain of the National Guard."
4951
+
4952
+
Trent followed the throng surging through the rue de Seine to the river.
4953
+
4954
+
Rocket after rocket clove the sky, and now, from Montmartre, the cannon
4955
+
clanged, and the batteries on Montparnasse joined in with a crash. The
4956
+
bridge was packed with people.
4957
+
4958
+
Trent asked: "Who has seen the signals of the Army of the Loire?"
4959
+
4960
+
"We are waiting for them," was the reply.
4961
+
4962
+
He looked toward the north. Suddenly the huge silhouette of the Arc de
4963
+
Triomphe sprang into black relief against the flash of a cannon. The boom
4964
+
of the gun rolled along the quay and the old bridge vibrated.
4965
+
4966
+
Again over by the Point du Jour a flash and heavy explosion shook the
4967
+
bridge, and then the whole eastern bastion of the fortifications blazed
4968
+
and crackled, sending a red flame into the sky.
4969
+
4970
+
"Has any one seen the signals yet?" he asked again.
4971
+
4972
+
"We are waiting," was the reply.
4973
+
4974
+
"Yes, waiting," murmured a man behind him, "waiting, sick, starved,
4975
+
freezing, but waiting. Is it a sortie? They go gladly. Is it to starve?
4976
+
They starve. They have no time to think of surrender. Are they
4977
+
heroes,--these Parisians? Answer me, Trent!"
4978
+
4979
+
The American Ambulance surgeon turned about and scanned the parapets of
4980
+
the bridge.
4981
+
4982
+
"Any news, Doctor," asked Trent mechanically.
4983
+
4984
+
"News?" said the doctor; "I don't know any;--I haven't time to know any.
4985
+
What are these people after?"
4986
+
4987
+
"They say that the Army of the Loire has signalled Mont Valérien."
4988
+
4989
+
"Poor devils." The doctor glanced about him for an instant, and then: "I'm
4990
+
so harried and worried that I don't know what to do. After the last sortie
4991
+
we had the work of fifty ambulances on our poor little corps. To-morrow
4992
+
there's another sortie, and I wish you fellows could come over to
4993
+
headquarters. We may need volunteers. How is madame?" he added abruptly.
4994
+
4995
+
"Well," replied Trent, "but she seems to grow more nervous every day. I
4996
+
ought to be with her now."
4997
+
4998
+
"Take care of her," said the doctor, then with a sharp look at the people:
4999
+
"I can't stop now--goodnight!" and he hurried away muttering, "Poor
5000
+
devils!"
5001
+
5002
+
Trent leaned over the parapet and blinked at the black river surging
5003
+
through the arches. Dark objects, carried swiftly on the breast of the
5004
+
current, struck with a grinding tearing noise against the stone piers,
5005
+
spun around for an instant, and hurried away into the darkness. The ice
5006
+
from the Marne.
5007
+
5008
+
As he stood staring into the water, a hand was laid on his shoulder.
5009
+
"Hello, Southwark!" he cried, turning around; "this is a queer place for
5010
+
you!"
5011
+
5012
+
"Trent, I have something to tell you. Don't stay here,--don't believe in
5013
+
the Army of the Loire:" and the _attaché_ of the American Legation slipped
5014
+
his arm through Trent's and drew him toward the Louvre.
5015
+
5016
+
"Then it's another lie!" said Trent bitterly.
5017
+
5018
+
"Worse--we know at the Legation--I can't speak of it. But that's not what
5019
+
I have to say. Something happened this afternoon. The Alsatian Brasserie
5020
+
was visited and an American named Hartman has been arrested. Do you know
5021
+
him?"
5022
+
5023
+
"I know a German who calls himself an American;--his name is Hartman."
5024
+
5025
+
"Well, he was arrested about two hours ago. They mean to shoot him."
5026
+
5027
+
"What!"
5028
+
5029
+
"Of course we at the Legation can't allow them to shoot him off-hand, but
5030
+
the evidence seems conclusive."
5031
+
5032
+
"Is he a spy?"
5033
+
5034
+
"Well, the papers seized in his rooms are pretty damning proofs, and
5035
+
besides he was caught, they say, swindling the Public Food Committee. He
5036
+
drew rations for fifty, how, I don't know. He claims to be an American
5037
+
artist here, and we have been obliged to take notice of it at the
5038
+
Legation. It's a nasty affair."
5039
+
5040
+
"To cheat the people at such a time is worse than robbing the poor-box,"
5041
+
cried Trent angrily. "Let them shoot him!"
5042
+
5043
+
"He's an American citizen."
5044
+
5045
+
"Yes, oh yes," said the other with bitterness. "American citizenship is a
5046
+
precious privilege when every goggle-eyed German--" His anger choked him.
5047
+
5048
+
Southwark shook hands with him warmly. "It can't be helped, we must own
5049
+
the carrion. I am afraid you may be called upon to identify him as an
5050
+
American artist," he said with a ghost of a smile on his deep-lined face;
5051
+
and walked away through the Cours la Reine.
5052
+
5053
+
Trent swore silently for a moment and then drew out his watch. Seven
5054
+
o'clock. "Sylvia will be anxious," he thought, and hurried back to the
5055
+
river. The crowd still huddled shivering on the bridge, a sombre pitiful
5056
+
congregation, peering out into the night for the signals of the Army of
5057
+
the Loire: and their hearts beat time to the pounding of the guns, their
5058
+
eyes lighted with each flash from the bastions, and hope rose with the
5059
+
drifting rockets.
5060
+
5061
+
A black cloud hung over the fortifications. From horizon to horizon the
5062
+
cannon smoke stretched in wavering bands, now capping the spires and domes
5063
+
with cloud, now blowing in streamers and shreds along the streets, now
5064
+
descending from the housetops, enveloping quays, bridges, and river, in a
5065
+
sulphurous mist. And through the smoke pall the lightning of the cannon
5066
+
played, while from time to time a rift above showed a fathomless black
5067
+
vault set with stars.
5068
+
5069
+
He turned again into the rue de Seine, that sad abandoned street, with its
5070
+
rows of closed shutters and desolate ranks of unlighted lamps. He was a
5071
+
little nervous and wished once or twice for a revolver, but the slinking
5072
+
forms which passed him in the darkness were too weak with hunger to be
5073
+
dangerous, he thought, and he passed on unmolested to his doorway. But
5074
+
there somebody sprang at his throat. Over and over the icy pavement he
5075
+
rolled with his assailant, tearing at the noose about his neck, and then
5076
+
with a wrench sprang to his feet.
5077
+
5078
+
"Get up," he cried to the other.
5079
+
5080
+
Slowly and with great deliberation, a small gamin picked himself out of
5081
+
the gutter and surveyed Trent with disgust.
5082
+
5083
+
"That's a nice clean trick," said Trent; "a whelp of your age! You'll
5084
+
finish against a dead wall! Give me that cord!"
5085
+
5086
+
The urchin handed him the noose without a word.
5087
+
5088
+
Trent struck a match and looked at his assailant. It was the rat-killer of
5089
+
the day before.
5090
+
5091
+
"H'm! I thought so," he muttered.
5092
+
5093
+
"Tiens, c'est toi?" said the gamin tranquilly.
5094
+
5095
+
The impudence, the overpowering audacity of the ragamuffin took Trent's
5096
+
breath away.
5097
+
5098
+
"Do you know, you young strangler," he gasped, "that they shoot thieves of
5099
+
your age?"
5100
+
5101
+
The child turned a passionless face to Trent. "Shoot, then."
5102
+
5103
+
That was too much, and he turned on his heel and entered his hotel.
5104
+
5105
+
Groping up the unlighted stairway, he at last reached his own landing and
5106
+
felt about in the darkness for the door. From his studio came the sound of
5107
+
voices, West's hearty laugh and Fallowby's chuckle, and at last he found
5108
+
the knob and, pushing back the door, stood a moment confused by the light.
5109
+
5110
+
"Hello, Jack!" cried West, "you're a pleasant creature, inviting people to
5111
+
dine and letting them wait. Here's Fallowby weeping with hunger--"
5112
+
5113
+
"Shut up," observed the latter, "perhaps he's been out to buy a turkey."
5114
+
5115
+
"He's been out garroting, look at his noose!" laughed Guernalec.
5116
+
5117
+
"So now we know where you get your cash!" added West; "vive le coup du
5118
+
Père François!"
5119
+
5120
+
Trent shook hands with everybody and laughed at Sylvia's pale face.
5121
+
5122
+
"I didn't mean to be late; I stopped on the bridge a moment to watch the
5123
+
bombardment. Were you anxious, Sylvia?"
5124
+
5125
+
She smiled and murmured, "Oh, no!" but her hand dropped into his and
5126
+
tightened convulsively.
5127
+
5128
+
"To the table!" shouted Fallowby, and uttered a joyous whoop.
5129
+
5130
+
"Take it easy," observed Thorne, with a remnant of manners; "you are not
5131
+
the host, you know."
5132
+
5133
+
Marie Guernalec, who had been chattering with Colette, jumped up and took
5134
+
Thorne's arm and Monsieur Guernalec drew Odile's arm through his.
5135
+
5136
+
Trent, bowing gravely, offered his own arm to Colette, West took in
5137
+
Sylvia, and Fallowby hovered anxiously in the rear.
5138
+
5139
+
"You march around the table three times singing the Marseillaise,"
5140
+
explained Sylvia, "and Monsieur Fallowby pounds on the table and beats
5141
+
time."
5142
+
5143
+
Fallowby suggested that they could sing after dinner, but his protest was
5144
+
drowned in the ringing chorus--
5145
+
5146
+
"Aux armes!
5147
+
Formez vos bataillons!"
5148
+
5149
+
Around the room they marched singing,
5150
+
5151
+
"Marchons! Marchons!"
5152
+
5153
+
with all their might, while Fallowby with very bad grace, hammered on the
5154
+
table, consoling himself a little with the hope that the exercise would
5155
+
increase his appetite. Hercules, the black and tan, fled under the bed,
5156
+
from which retreat he yapped and whined until dragged out by Guernalec and
5157
+
placed in Odile's lap.
5158
+
5159
+
"And now," said Trent gravely, when everybody was seated, "listen!" and he
5160
+
read the menu.
5161
+
5162
+
Beef Soup à la Siège de Paris.
5163
+
5164
+
Fish.
5165
+
Sardines à la père Lachaise.
5166
+
(White Wine).
5167
+
5168
+
Rôti (Red Wine).
5169
+
Fresh Beef à la sortie.
5170
+
5171
+
Vegetables.
5172
+
Canned Beans à la chasse-pot,
5173
+
Canned Peas Gravelotte,
5174
+
Potatoes Irlandaises,
5175
+
Miscellaneous.
5176
+
5177
+
Cold Corned Beef à la Thieis,
5178
+
Stewed Prunes à la Garibaldi.
5179
+
5180
+
Dessert.
5181
+
Dried prunes--White bread,
5182
+
Currant Jelly,
5183
+
Tea--Café,
5184
+
Liqueurs,
5185
+
Pipes and Cigarettes.
5186
+
5187
+
Fallowby applauded frantically, and Sylvia served the soup.
5188
+
5189
+
"Isn't it delicious?" sighed Odile.
5190
+
5191
+
Marie Guernalec sipped her soup in rapture.
5192
+
5193
+
"Not at all like horse, and I don't care what they say, horse doesn't
5194
+
taste like beef," whispered Colette to West. Fallowby, who had finished,
5195
+
began to caress his chin and eye the tureen.
5196
+
5197
+
"Have some more, old chap?" inquired Trent.
5198
+
5199
+
"Monsieur Fallowby cannot have any more," announced Sylvia; "I am saving
5200
+
this for the concierge." Fallowby transferred his eyes to the fish.
5201
+
5202
+
The sardines, hot from the grille, were a great success. While the others
5203
+
were eating Sylvia ran downstairs with the soup for the old concierge and
5204
+
her husband, and when she hurried back, flushed and breathless, and had
5205
+
slipped into her chair with a happy smile at Trent, that young man arose,
5206
+
and silence fell over the table. For an instant he looked at Sylvia and
5207
+
thought he had never seen her so beautiful.
5208
+
5209
+
"You all know," he began, "that to-day is my wife's nineteenth birthday--"
5210
+
5211
+
Fallowby, bubbling with enthusiasm, waved his glass in circles about his
5212
+
head to the terror of Odile and Colette, his neighbours, and Thorne, West
5213
+
and Guernalec refilled their glasses three times before the storm of
5214
+
applause which the toast of Sylvia had provoked, subsided.
5215
+
5216
+
Three times the glasses were filled and emptied to Sylvia, and again to
5217
+
Trent, who protested.
5218
+
5219
+
"This is irregular," he cried, "the next toast is to the twin Republics,
5220
+
France and America?"
5221
+
5222
+
"To the Republics! To the Republics!" they cried, and the toast was drunk
5223
+
amid shouts of "Vive a France! Vive l'Amérique! Vive la Nation!"
5224
+
5225
+
Then Trent, with a smile at West, offered the toast, "To a Happy Pair!"
5226
+
and everybody understood, and Sylvia leaned over and kissed Colette, while
5227
+
Trent bowed to West.
5228
+
5229
+
The beef was eaten in comparative calm, but when it was finished and a
5230
+
portion of it set aside for the old people below, Trent cried: "Drink to
5231
+
Paris! May she rise from her ruins and crush the invader!" and the cheers
5232
+
rang out, drowning for a moment the monotonous thunder of the Prussian
5233
+
guns.
5234
+
5235
+
Pipes and cigarettes were lighted, and Trent listened an instant to the
5236
+
animated chatter around him, broken by ripples of laughter from the girls
5237
+
or the mellow chuckle of Fallowby. Then he turned to West.
5238
+
5239
+
"There is going to be a sortie to-night," he said. "I saw the American
5240
+
Ambulance surgeon just before I came in and he asked me to speak to you
5241
+
fellows. Any aid we can give him will not come amiss."
5242
+
5243
+
Then dropping his voice and speaking in English, "As for me, I shall go
5244
+
out with the ambulance to-morrow morning. There is of course no danger,
5245
+
but it's just as well to keep it from Sylvia."
5246
+
5247
+
West nodded. Thorne and Guernalec, who had heard, broke in and offered
5248
+
assistance, and Fallowby volunteered with a groan.
5249
+
5250
+
"All right," said Trent rapidly,--"no more now, but meet me at Ambulance
5251
+
headquarters to-morrow morning at eight."
5252
+
5253
+
Sylvia and Colette, who were becoming uneasy at the conversation in
5254
+
English, now demanded to know what they were talking about.
5255
+
5256
+
"What does a sculptor usually talk about?" cried West, with a laugh.
5257
+
5258
+
Odile glanced reproachfully at Thorne, her _fiancé_.
5259
+
5260
+
"You are not French, you know, and it is none of your business, this war,"
5261
+
said Odile with much dignity.
5262
+
5263
+
Thorne looked meek, but West assumed an air of outraged virtue.
5264
+
5265
+
"It seems," he said to Fallowby, "that a fellow cannot discuss the
5266
+
beauties of Greek sculpture in his mother tongue, without being openly
5267
+
suspected."
5268
+
5269
+
Colette placed her hand over his mouth and turning to Sylvia, murmured,
5270
+
"They are horridly untruthful, these men."
5271
+
5272
+
"I believe the word for ambulance is the same in both languages," said
5273
+
Marie Guernalec saucily; "Sylvia, don't trust Monsieur Trent."
5274
+
5275
+
"Jack," whispered Sylvia, "promise me--"
5276
+
5277
+
A knock at the studio door interrupted her.
5278
+
5279
+
"Come in!" cried Fallowby, but Trent sprang up, and opening the door,
5280
+
looked out. Then with a hasty excuse to the rest, he stepped into the
5281
+
hall-way and closed the door.
5282
+
5283
+
When he returned he was grumbling.
5284
+
5285
+
"What is it, Jack?" cried West.
5286
+
5287
+
"What is it?" repeated Trent savagely; "I'll tell you what it is. I have
5288
+
received a dispatch from the American Minister to go at once and identify
5289
+
and claim, as a fellow-countryman and a brother artist, a rascally thief
5290
+
and a German spy!"
5291
+
5292
+
"Don't go," suggested Fallowby.
5293
+
5294
+
"If I don't they'll shoot him at once."
5295
+
5296
+
"Let them," growled Thorne.
5297
+
5298
+
"Do you fellows know who it is?"
5299
+
5300
+
"Hartman!" shouted West, inspired.
5301
+
5302
+
Sylvia sprang up deathly white, but Odile slipped her arm around her and
5303
+
supported her to a chair, saying calmly, "Sylvia has fainted,--it's the
5304
+
hot room,--bring some water."
5305
+
5306
+
Trent brought it at once.
5307
+
5308
+
Sylvia opened her eyes, and after a moment rose, and supported by Marie
5309
+
Guernalec and Trent, passed into the bedroom.
5310
+
5311
+
It was the signal for breaking up, and everybody came and shook hands with
5312
+
Trent, saying they hoped Sylvia would sleep it off and that it would be
5313
+
nothing.
5314
+
5315
+
When Marie Guernalec took leave of him, she avoided his eyes, but he spoke
5316
+
to her cordially and thanked her for her aid.
5317
+
5318
+
"Anything I can do, Jack?" inquired West, lingering, and then hurried
5319
+
downstairs to catch up with the rest.
5320
+
5321
+
Trent leaned over the banisters, listening to their footsteps and chatter,
5322
+
and then the lower door banged and the house was silent. He lingered,
5323
+
staring down into the blackness, biting his lips; then with an impatient
5324
+
movement, "I am crazy!" he muttered, and lighting a candle, went into the
5325
+
bedroom. Sylvia was lying on the bed. He bent over her, smoothing the
5326
+
curly hair on her forehead.
5327
+
5328
+
"Are you better, dear Sylvia?"
5329
+
5330
+
She did not answer, but raised her eyes to his. For an instant he met her
5331
+
gaze, but what he read there sent a chill to his heart and he sat down
5332
+
covering his face with his hands.
5333
+
5334
+
At last she spoke in a voice, changed and strained,--a voice which he had
5335
+
never heard, and he dropped his hands and listened, bolt upright in his
5336
+
chair.
5337
+
5338
+
"Jack, it has come at last. I have feared it and trembled,--ah! how often
5339
+
have I lain awake at night with this on my heart and prayed that I might
5340
+
die before you should ever know of it! For I love you, Jack, and if you go
5341
+
away I cannot live. I have deceived you;--it happened before I knew you,
5342
+
but since that first day when you found me weeping in the Luxembourg and
5343
+
spoke to me, Jack, I have been faithful to you in every thought and deed.
5344
+
I loved you from the first, and did not dare to tell you this--fearing
5345
+
that you would go away; and since then my love has grown--grown--and oh! I
5346
+
suffered!--but I dared not tell you. And now you know, but you do not know
5347
+
the worst. For him--now--what do I care? He was cruel--oh, so cruel!"
5348
+
5349
+
She hid her face in her arms.
5350
+
5351
+
"Must I go on? Must I tell you--can you not imagine, oh! Jack--"
5352
+
5353
+
He did not stir; his eyes seemed dead.
5354
+
5355
+
"I--I was so young, I knew nothing, and he said--said that he loved me--"
5356
+
5357
+
Trent rose and struck the candle with his clenched fist, and the room was
5358
+
dark.
5359
+
5360
+
The bells of St. Sulpice tolled the hour, and she started up, speaking
5361
+
with feverish haste,--"I must finish! When you told me you loved
5362
+
me--you--you asked me nothing; but then, even then, it was too late, and
5363
+
_that other life_ which binds me to him, must stand for ever between you
5364
+
and me! For there _is another_ whom he has claimed, and is good to. He
5365
+
must not die,--they cannot shoot him, for that _other's_ sake!"
5366
+
5367
+
Trent sat motionless, but his thoughts ran on in an interminable whirl.
5368
+
5369
+
Sylvia, little Sylvia, who shared with him his student life,--who bore
5370
+
with him the dreary desolation of the siege without complaint,--this
5371
+
slender blue-eyed girl whom he was so quietly fond of, whom he teased or
5372
+
caressed as the whim suited, who sometimes made him the least bit
5373
+
impatient with her passionate devotion to him,--could this be the same
5374
+
Sylvia who lay weeping there in the darkness?
5375
+
5376
+
Then he clinched his teeth. "Let him die! Let him die!"--but then,--for
5377
+
Sylvia's sake, and,--for that _other's_ sake,--Yes, he would go,--he
5378
+
_must_ go,--his duty was plain before him. But Sylvia,--he could not be
5379
+
what he had been to her, and yet a vague terror seized him, now all was
5380
+
said. Trembling, he struck a light.
5381
+
5382
+
She lay there, her curly hair tumbled about her face, her small white
5383
+
hands pressed to her breast.
5384
+
5385
+
He could not leave her, and he could not stay. He never knew before that
5386
+
he loved her. She had been a mere comrade, this girl wife of his. Ah! he
5387
+
loved her now with all his heart and soul, and he knew it, only when it
5388
+
was too late. Too late? Why? Then he thought of that _other_ one, binding
5389
+
her, linking her forever to the creature, who stood in danger of his life.
5390
+
With an oath he sprang to the door, but the door would not open,--or was
5391
+
it that he pressed it back,--locked it,--and flung himself on his knees
5392
+
beside the bed, knowing that he dared not for his life's sake leave what
5393
+
was his all in life.
5394
+
5395
+
5396
+
5397
+
5398
+
III
5399
+
5400
+
It was four in the morning when he came out of the Prison of the Condemned
5401
+
with the Secretary of the American Legation. A knot of people had gathered
5402
+
around the American Minister's carriage, which stood in front of the
5403
+
prison, the horses stamping and pawing in the icy street, the coachman
5404
+
huddled on the box, wrapped in furs. Southwark helped the Secretary into
5405
+
the carriage, and shook hands with Trent, thanking him for coming.
5406
+
5407
+
"How the scoundrel did stare," he said; "your evidence was worse than a
5408
+
kick, but it saved his skin for the moment at least,--and prevented
5409
+
complications."
5410
+
5411
+
The Secretary sighed. "We have done our part. Now let them prove him a spy
5412
+
and we wash our hands of him. Jump in, Captain! Come along, Trent!"
5413
+
5414
+
"I have a word to say to Captain Southwark, I won't detain him," said
5415
+
Trent hastily, and dropping his voice, "Southwark, help _me_ now. You know
5416
+
the story from the blackguard. You know the--the child is at his rooms.
5417
+
Get it, and take it to my own apartment, and if he is shot, I will provide
5418
+
a home for it."
5419
+
5420
+
"I understand," said the Captain gravely.
5421
+
5422
+
"Will you do this at once?"
5423
+
5424
+
"At once," he replied.
5425
+
5426
+
Their hands met in a warm clasp, and then Captain Southwark climbed into
5427
+
the carriage, motioning Trent to follow; but he shook his head saying,
5428
+
"Good-bye!" and the carriage rolled away.
5429
+
5430
+
He watched the carriage to the end of the street, then started toward his
5431
+
own quarter, but after a step or two hesitated, stopped, and finally
5432
+
turned away in the opposite direction. Something--perhaps it was the sight
5433
+
of the prisoner he had so recently confronted nauseated him. He felt the
5434
+
need of solitude and quiet to collect his thoughts. The events of the
5435
+
evening had shaken him terribly, but he would walk it off, forget, bury
5436
+
everything, and then go back to Sylvia. He started on swiftly, and for a
5437
+
time the bitter thoughts seemed to fade, but when he paused at last,
5438
+
breathless, under the Arc de Triomphe, the bitterness and the wretchedness
5439
+
of the whole thing--yes, of his whole misspent life came back with a pang.
5440
+
Then the face of the prisoner, stamped with the horrible grimace of fear,
5441
+
grew in the shadows before his eyes.
5442
+
5443
+
Sick at heart he wandered up and down under the great Arc, striving to
5444
+
occupy his mind, peering up at the sculptured cornices to read the names
5445
+
of the heroes and battles which he knew were engraved there, but always
5446
+
the ashen face of Hartman followed him, grinning with terror!--or was it
5447
+
terror?--was it not triumph?--At the thought he leaped like a man who
5448
+
feels a knife at his throat, but after a savage tramp around the square,
5449
+
came back again and sat down to battle with his misery.
5450
+
5451
+
The air was cold, but his cheeks were burning with angry shame. Shame?
5452
+
Why? Was it because he had married a girl whom chance had made a mother?
5453
+
_Did_ he love her? Was this miserable bohemian existence, then, his end
5454
+
and aim in life? He turned his eyes upon the secrets of his heart, and
5455
+
read an evil story,--the story of the past, and he covered his face for
5456
+
shame, while, keeping time to the dull pain throbbing in his head, his
5457
+
heart beat out the story for the future. Shame and disgrace.
5458
+
5459
+
Roused at last from a lethargy which had begun to numb the bitterness of
5460
+
his thoughts, he raised his head and looked about. A sudden fog had
5461
+
settled in the streets; the arches of the Arc were choked with it. He
5462
+
would go home. A great horror of being alone seized him. _But he was not
5463
+
alone._ The fog was peopled with phantoms. All around him in the mist they
5464
+
moved, drifting through the arches in lengthening lines, and vanished,
5465
+
while from the fog others rose up, swept past and were engulfed. He was
5466
+
not alone, for even at his side they crowded, touched him, swarmed before
5467
+
him, beside him, behind him, pressed him back, seized, and bore him with
5468
+
them through the mist. Down a dim avenue, through lanes and alleys white
5469
+
with fog, they moved, and if they spoke their voices were dull as the
5470
+
vapour which shrouded them. At last in front, a bank of masonry and earth
5471
+
cut by a massive iron barred gate towered up in the fog. Slowly and more
5472
+
slowly they glided, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh. Then all
5473
+
movement ceased. A sudden breeze stirred the fog. It wavered and eddied.
5474
+
Objects became more distinct. A pallor crept above the horizon, touching
5475
+
the edges of the watery clouds, and drew dull sparks from a thousand
5476
+
bayonets. Bayonets--they were everywhere, cleaving the fog or flowing
5477
+
beneath it in rivers of steel. High on the wall of masonry and earth a
5478
+
great gun loomed, and around it figures moved in silhouettes. Below, a
5479
+
broad torrent of bayonets swept through the iron barred gateway, out into
5480
+
the shadowy plain. It became lighter. Faces grew more distinct among the
5481
+
marching masses and he recognized one.
5482
+
5483
+
"You, Philippe!"
5484
+
5485
+
The figure turned its head.
5486
+
5487
+
Trent cried, "Is there room for me?" but the other only waved his arm in a
5488
+
vague adieu and was gone with the rest. Presently the cavalry began to
5489
+
pass, squadron on squadron, crowding out into the darkness; then many
5490
+
cannon, then an ambulance, then again the endless lines of bayonets.
5491
+
Beside him a cuirassier sat on his steaming horse, and in front, among a
5492
+
group of mounted officers he saw a general, with the astrakan collar of
5493
+
his dolman turned up about his bloodless face.
5494
+
5495
+
Some women were weeping near him and one was struggling to force a loaf of
5496
+
black bread into a soldier's haversack. The soldier tried to aid her, but
5497
+
the sack was fastened, and his rifle bothered him, so Trent held it, while
5498
+
the woman unbuttoned the sack and forced in the bread, now all wet with
5499
+
her tears. The rifle was not heavy. Trent found it wonderfully manageable.
5500
+
Was the bayonet sharp? He tried it. Then a sudden longing, a fierce,
5501
+
imperative desire took possession of him.
5502
+
5503
+
"_Chouette!_" cried a gamin, clinging to the barred gate, "_encore toi mon
5504
+
vieux_?"
5505
+
5506
+
Trent looked up, and the rat-killer laughed in his face. But when the
5507
+
soldier had taken the rifle again, and thanking him, ran hard to catch his
5508
+
battalion, he plunged into the throng about the gateway.
5509
+
5510
+
"Are you going?" he cried to a marine who sat in the gutter bandaging his
5511
+
foot.
5512
+
5513
+
"Yes."
5514
+
5515
+
Then a girl--a mere child--caught him by the hand and led him into the
5516
+
café which faced the gate. The room was crowded with soldiers, some, white
5517
+
and silent, sitting on the floor, others groaning on the leather-covered
5518
+
settees. The air was sour and suffocating.
5519
+
5520
+
"Choose!" said the girl with a little gesture of pity; "they can't go!"
5521
+
5522
+
In a heap of clothing on the floor he found a capote and képi.
5523
+
5524
+
She helped him buckle his knapsack, cartridge-box, and belt, and showed
5525
+
him how to load the chasse-pot rifle, holding it on her knees.
5526
+
5527
+
When he thanked her she started to her feet.
5528
+
5529
+
"You are a foreigner!"
5530
+
5531
+
"American," he said, moving toward the door, but the child barred his way.
5532
+
5533
+
"I am a Bretonne. My father is up there with the cannon of the marine. He
5534
+
will shoot you if you are a spy."
5535
+
5536
+
They faced each other for a moment. Then sighing, he bent over and kissed
5537
+
the child. "Pray for France, little one," he murmured, and she repeated
5538
+
with a pale smile: "For France and you, beau Monsieur."
5539
+
5540
+
He ran across the street and through the gateway. Once outside, he edged
5541
+
into line and shouldered his way along the road. A corporal passed, looked
5542
+
at him, repassed, and finally called an officer. "You belong to the 60th,"
5543
+
growled the corporal looking at the number on his képi.
5544
+
5545
+
"We have no use for Franc-tireurs," added the officer, catching sight of
5546
+
his black trousers.
5547
+
5548
+
"I wish to volunteer in place of a comrade," said Trent, and the officer
5549
+
shrugged his shoulders and passed on.
5550
+
5551
+
Nobody paid much attention to him, one or two merely glancing at his
5552
+
trousers. The road was deep with slush and mud-ploughed and torn by wheels
5553
+
and hoofs. A soldier in front of him wrenched his foot in an icy rut and
5554
+
dragged himself to the edge of the embankment groaning. The plain on
5555
+
either side of them was grey with melting snow. Here and there behind
5556
+
dismantled hedge-rows stood wagons, bearing white flags with red crosses.
5557
+
Sometimes the driver was a priest in rusty hat and gown, sometimes a
5558
+
crippled Mobile. Once they passed a wagon driven by a Sister of Charity.
5559
+
Silent empty houses with great rents in their walls, and every window
5560
+
blank, huddled along the road. Further on, within the zone of danger,
5561
+
nothing of human habitation remained except here and there a pile of
5562
+
frozen bricks or a blackened cellar choked with snow.
5563
+
5564
+
For some time Trent had been annoyed by the man behind him, who kept
5565
+
treading on his heels. Convinced at last that it was intentional, he
5566
+
turned to remonstrate and found himself face to face with a fellow-student
5567
+
from the Beaux Arts. Trent stared.
5568
+
5569
+
"I thought you were in the hospital!"
5570
+
5571
+
The other shook his head, pointing to his bandaged jaw.
5572
+
5573
+
"I see, you can't speak. Can I do anything?"
5574
+
5575
+
The wounded man rummaged in his haversack and produced a crust of black
5576
+
bread.
5577
+
5578
+
"He can't eat it, his jaw is smashed, and he wants you to chew it for
5579
+
him," said the soldier next to him.
5580
+
5581
+
Trent took the crust, and grinding it in his teeth morsel by morsel,
5582
+
passed it back to the starving man.
5583
+
5584
+
From time to time mounted orderlies sped to the front, covering them with
5585
+
slush. It was a chilly, silent march through sodden meadows wreathed in
5586
+
fog. Along the railroad embankment across the ditch, another column moved
5587
+
parallel to their own. Trent watched it, a sombre mass, now distinct, now
5588
+
vague, now blotted out in a puff of fog. Once for half-an-hour he lost it,
5589
+
but when again it came into view, he noticed a thin line detach itself
5590
+
from the flank, and, bellying in the middle, swing rapidly to the west. At
5591
+
the same moment a prolonged crackling broke out in the fog in front. Other
5592
+
lines began to slough off from the column, swinging east and west, and the
5593
+
crackling became continuous. A battery passed at full gallop, and he drew
5594
+
back with his comrades to give it way. It went into action a little to the
5595
+
right of his battalion, and as the shot from the first rifled piece boomed
5596
+
through the mist, the cannon from the fortifications opened with a mighty
5597
+
roar. An officer galloped by shouting something which Trent did not catch,
5598
+
but he saw the ranks in front suddenly part company with his own, and
5599
+
disappear in the twilight. More officers rode up and stood beside him
5600
+
peering into the fog. Away in front the crackling had become one prolonged
5601
+
crash. It was dreary waiting. Trent chewed some bread for the man behind,
5602
+
who tried to swallow it, and after a while shook his head, motioning Trent
5603
+
to eat the rest himself. A corporal offered him a little brandy and he
5604
+
drank it, but when he turned around to return the flask, the corporal was
5605
+
lying on the ground. Alarmed, he looked at the soldier next to him, who
5606
+
shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to speak, but something struck
5607
+
him and he rolled over and over into the ditch below. At that moment the
5608
+
horse of one of the officers gave a bound and backed into the battalion,
5609
+
lashing out with his heels. One man was ridden down; another was kicked in
5610
+
the chest and hurled through the ranks. The officer sank his spurs into
5611
+
the horse and forced him to the front again, where he stood trembling. The
5612
+
cannonade seemed to draw nearer. A staff-officer, riding slowly up and
5613
+
down the battalion suddenly collapsed in his saddle and clung to his
5614
+
horse's mane. One of his boots dangled, crimsoned and dripping, from the
5615
+
stirrup. Then out of the mist in front men came running. The roads, the
5616
+
fields, the ditches were full of them, and many of them fell. For an
5617
+
instant he imagined he saw horsemen riding about like ghosts in the
5618
+
vapours beyond, and a man behind him cursed horribly, declaring he too had
5619
+
seen them, and that they were Uhlans; but the battalion stood inactive,
5620
+
and the mist fell again over the meadows.
5621
+
5622
+
The colonel sat heavily upon his horse, his bullet-shaped head buried in
5623
+
the astrakan collar of his dolman, his fat legs sticking straight out in
5624
+
the stirrups.
5625
+
5626
+
The buglers clustered about him with bugles poised, and behind him a
5627
+
staff-officer in a pale blue jacket smoked a cigarette and chatted with a
5628
+
captain of hussars. From the road in front came the sound of furious
5629
+
galloping and an orderly reined up beside the colonel, who motioned him to
5630
+
the rear without turning his head. Then on the left a confused murmur
5631
+
arose which ended in a shout. A hussar passed like the wind, followed by
5632
+
another and another, and then squadron after squadron whirled by them into
5633
+
the sheeted mists. At that instant the colonel reared in his saddle, the
5634
+
bugles clanged, and the whole battalion scrambled down the embankment,
5635
+
over the ditch and started across the soggy meadow. Almost at once Trent
5636
+
lost his cap. Something snatched it from his head, he thought it was a
5637
+
tree branch. A good many of his comrades rolled over in the slush and ice,
5638
+
and he imagined that they had slipped. One pitched right across his path
5639
+
and he stopped to help him up, but the man screamed when he touched him
5640
+
and an officer shouted, "Forward! Forward!" so he ran on again. It was a
5641
+
long jog through the mist, and he was often obliged to shift his rifle.
5642
+
When at last they lay panting behind the railroad embankment, he looked
5643
+
about him. He had felt the need of action, of a desperate physical
5644
+
struggle, of killing and crushing. He had been seized with a desire to
5645
+
fling himself among masses and tear right and left. He longed to fire, to
5646
+
use the thin sharp bayonet on his chassepot. He had not expected this. He
5647
+
wished to become exhausted, to struggle and cut until incapable of lifting
5648
+
his arm. Then he had intended to go home. He heard a man say that half the
5649
+
battalion had gone down in the charge, and he saw another examining a
5650
+
corpse under the embankment. The body, still warm, was clothed in a
5651
+
strange uniform, but even when he noticed the spiked helmet lying a few
5652
+
inches further away, he did not realize what had happened.
5653
+
5654
+
The colonel sat on his horse a few feet to the left, his eyes sparkling
5655
+
under the crimson képi. Trent heard him reply to an officer: "I can hold
5656
+
it, but another charge, and I won't have enough men left to sound a
5657
+
bugle."
5658
+
5659
+
"Were the Prussians here?" Trent asked of a soldier who sat wiping the
5660
+
blood trickling from his hair.
5661
+
5662
+
"Yes. The hussars cleaned them out. We caught their cross fire."
5663
+
5664
+
"We are supporting a battery on the embankment," said another.
5665
+
5666
+
Then the battalion crawled over the embankment and moved along the lines
5667
+
of twisted rails. Trent rolled up his trousers and tucked them into his
5668
+
woollen socks: but they halted again, and some of the men sat down on the
5669
+
dismantled railroad track. Trent looked for his wounded comrade from the
5670
+
Beaux Arts. He was standing in his place, very pale. The cannonade had
5671
+
become terrific. For a moment the mist lifted. He caught a glimpse of the
5672
+
first battalion motionless on the railroad track in front, of regiments on
5673
+
either flank, and then, as the fog settled again, the drums beat and the
5674
+
music of the bugles began away on the extreme left. A restless movement
5675
+
passed among the troops, the colonel threw up his arm, the drums rolled,
5676
+
and the battalion moved off through the fog. They were near the front now
5677
+
for the battalion was firing as it advanced. Ambulances galloped along the
5678
+
base of the embankment to the rear, and the hussars passed and repassed
5679
+
like phantoms. They were in the front at last, for all about them was
5680
+
movement and turmoil, while from the fog, close at hand, came cries and
5681
+
groans and crashing volleys. Shells fell everywhere, bursting along the
5682
+
embankment, splashing them with frozen slush. Trent was frightened. He
5683
+
began to dread the unknown, which lay there crackling and flaming in
5684
+
obscurity. The shock of the cannon sickened him. He could even see the fog
5685
+
light up with a dull orange as the thunder shook the earth. It was near,
5686
+
he felt certain, for the colonel shouted "Forward!" and the first
5687
+
battalion was hastening into it. He felt its breath, he trembled, but
5688
+
hurried on. A fearful discharge in front terrified him. Somewhere in the
5689
+
fog men were cheering, and the colonel's horse, streaming with blood
5690
+
plunged about in the smoke.
5691
+
5692
+
Another blast and shock, right in his face, almost stunned him, and he
5693
+
faltered. All the men to the right were down. His head swam; the fog and
5694
+
smoke stupefied him. He put out his hand for a support and caught
5695
+
something. It was the wheel of a gun-carriage, and a man sprang from
5696
+
behind it, aiming a blow at his head with a rammer, but stumbled back
5697
+
shrieking with a bayonet through his neck, and Trent knew that he had
5698
+
killed. Mechanically he stooped to pick up his rifle, but the bayonet was
5699
+
still in the man, who lay, beating with red hands against the sod. It
5700
+
sickened him and he leaned on the cannon. Men were fighting all around him
5701
+
now, and the air was foul with smoke and sweat. Somebody seized him from
5702
+
behind and another in front, but others in turn seized them or struck them
5703
+
solid blows. The click! click! click! of bayonets infuriated him, and he
5704
+
grasped the rammer and struck out blindly until it was shivered to pieces.
5705
+
5706
+
A man threw his arm around his neck and bore him to the ground, but he
5707
+
throttled him and raised himself on his knees. He saw a comrade seize the
5708
+
cannon, and fall across it with his skull crushed in; he saw the colonel
5709
+
tumble clean out of his saddle into the mud; then consciousness fled.
5710
+
5711
+
When he came to himself, he was lying on the embankment among the twisted
5712
+
rails. On every side huddled men who cried out and cursed and fled away
5713
+
into the fog, and he staggered to his feet and followed them. Once he
5714
+
stopped to help a comrade with a bandaged jaw, who could not speak but
5715
+
clung to his arm for a time and then fell dead in the freezing mire; and
5716
+
again he aided another, who groaned: "Trent, c'est moi--Philippe," until a
5717
+
sudden volley in the midst relieved him of his charge.
5718
+
5719
+
An icy wind swept down from the heights, cutting the fog into shreds. For
5720
+
an instant, with an evil leer the sun peered through the naked woods of
5721
+
Vincennes, sank like a blood-clot in the battery smoke, lower, lower, into
5722
+
the blood-soaked plain.
5723
+
5724
+
5725
+
5726
+
5727
+
IV
5728
+
5729
+
When midnight sounded from the belfry of St. Sulpice the gates of Paris
5730
+
were still choked with fragments of what had once been an army.
5731
+
5732
+
They entered with the night, a sullen horde, spattered with slime, faint
5733
+
with hunger and exhaustion. There was little disorder at first, and the
5734
+
throng at the gates parted silently as the troops tramped along the
5735
+
freezing streets. Confusion came as the hours passed. Swiftly and more
5736
+
swiftly, crowding squadron after squadron and battery on battery, horses
5737
+
plunging and caissons jolting, the remnants from the front surged through
5738
+
the gates, a chaos of cavalry and artillery struggling for the right of
5739
+
way. Close upon them stumbled the infantry; here a skeleton of a regiment
5740
+
marching with a desperate attempt at order, there a riotous mob of Mobiles
5741
+
crushing their way to the streets, then a turmoil of horsemen, cannon,
5742
+
troops without, officers, officers without men, then again a line of
5743
+
ambulances, the wheels groaning under their heavy loads.
5744
+
5745
+
Dumb with misery the crowd looked on.
5746
+
5747
+
All through the day the ambulances had been arriving, and all day long the
5748
+
ragged throng whimpered and shivered by the barriers. At noon the crowd
5749
+
was increased ten-fold, filling the squares about the gates, and swarming
5750
+
over the inner fortifications.
5751
+
5752
+
At four o'clock in the afternoon the German batteries suddenly wreathed
5753
+
themselves in smoke, and the shells fell fast on Montparnasse. At twenty
5754
+
minutes after four two projectiles struck a house in the rue de Bac, and a
5755
+
moment later the first shell fell in the Latin Quarter.
5756
+
5757
+
Braith was painting in bed when West came in very much scared.
5758
+
5759
+
"I wish you would come down; our house has been knocked into a cocked hat,
5760
+
and I'm afraid that some of the pillagers may take it into their heads to
5761
+
pay us a visit to-night."
5762
+
5763
+
Braith jumped out of bed and bundled himself into a garment which had once
5764
+
been an overcoat.
5765
+
5766
+
"Anybody hurt?" he inquired, struggling with a sleeve full of dilapidated
5767
+
lining.
5768
+
5769
+
"No. Colette is barricaded in the cellar, and the concierge ran away to
5770
+
the fortifications. There will be a rough gang there if the bombardment
5771
+
keeps up. You might help us--"
5772
+
5773
+
"Of course," said Braith; but it was not until they had reached the rue
5774
+
Serpente and had turned in the passage which led to West's cellar, that
5775
+
the latter cried: "Have you seen Jack Trent, to-day?"
5776
+
5777
+
"No," replied Braith, looking troubled, "he was not at Ambulance
5778
+
Headquarters."
5779
+
5780
+
"He stayed to take care of Sylvia, I suppose."
5781
+
5782
+
A bomb came crashing through the roof of a house at the end of the alley
5783
+
and burst in the basement, showering the street with slate and plaster. A
5784
+
second struck a chimney and plunged into the garden, followed by an
5785
+
avalanche of bricks, and another exploded with a deafening report in the
5786
+
next street.
5787
+
5788
+
They hurried along the passage to the steps which led to the cellar. Here
5789
+
again Braith stopped.
5790
+
5791
+
"Don't you think I had better run up to see if Jack and Sylvia are well
5792
+
entrenched? I can get back before dark."
5793
+
5794
+
"No. Go in and find Colette, and I'll go."
5795
+
5796
+
"No, no, let me go, there's no danger."
5797
+
5798
+
"I know it," replied West calmly; and, dragging Braith into the alley,
5799
+
pointed to the cellar steps. The iron door was barred.
5800
+
5801
+
"Colette! Colette!" he called. The door swung inward, and the girl sprang
5802
+
up the stairs to meet them. At that instant, Braith, glancing behind him,
5803
+
gave a startled cry, and pushing the two before him into the cellar,
5804
+
jumped down after them and slammed the iron door. A few seconds later a
5805
+
heavy jar from the outside shook the hinges.
5806
+
5807
+
"They are here," muttered West, very pale.
5808
+
5809
+
"That door," observed Colette calmly, "will hold for ever."
5810
+
5811
+
Braith examined the low iron structure, now trembling with the blows
5812
+
rained on it from without. West glanced anxiously at Colette, who
5813
+
displayed no agitation, and this comforted him.
5814
+
5815
+
"I don't believe they will spend much time here," said Braith; "they only
5816
+
rummage in cellars for spirits, I imagine."
5817
+
5818
+
"Unless they hear that valuables are buried there."
5819
+
5820
+
"But surely nothing is buried here?" exclaimed Braith uneasily.
5821
+
5822
+
"Unfortunately there is," growled West. "That miserly landlord of mine--"
5823
+
5824
+
A crash from the outside, followed by a yell, cut him short; then blow
5825
+
after blow shook the doors, until there came a sharp snap, a clinking of
5826
+
metal and a triangular bit of iron fell inwards, leaving a hole through
5827
+
which struggled a ray of light.
5828
+
5829
+
Instantly West knelt, and shoving his revolver through the aperture fired
5830
+
every cartridge. For a moment the alley resounded with the racket of the
5831
+
revolver, then absolute silence followed.
5832
+
5833
+
Presently a single questioning blow fell upon the door, and a moment later
5834
+
another and another, and then a sudden crack zigzagged across the iron
5835
+
plate.
5836
+
5837
+
"Here," said West, seizing Colette by the wrist, "you follow me, Braith!"
5838
+
and he ran swiftly toward a circular spot of light at the further end of
5839
+
the cellar. The spot of light came from a barred man-hole above. West
5840
+
motioned Braith to mount on his shoulders.
5841
+
5842
+
"Push it over. You _must_!"
5843
+
5844
+
With little effort Braith lifted the barred cover, scrambled out on his
5845
+
stomach, and easily raised Colette from West's shoulders.
5846
+
5847
+
"Quick, old chap!" cried the latter.
5848
+
5849
+
Braith twisted his legs around a fence-chain and leaned down again. The
5850
+
cellar was flooded with a yellow light, and the air reeked with the stench
5851
+
of petroleum torches. The iron door still held, but a whole plate of metal
5852
+
was gone, and now as they looked a figure came creeping through, holding a
5853
+
torch.
5854
+
5855
+
"Quick!" whispered Braith. "Jump!" and West hung dangling until Colette
5856
+
grasped him by the collar, and he was dragged out. Then her nerves gave
5857
+
way and she wept hysterically, but West threw his arm around her and led
5858
+
her across the gardens into the next street, where Braith, after replacing
5859
+
the man-hole cover and piling some stone slabs from the wall over it,
5860
+
rejoined them. It was almost dark. They hurried through the street, now
5861
+
only lighted by burning buildings, or the swift glare of the shells. They
5862
+
gave wide berth to the fires, but at a distance saw the flitting forms of
5863
+
pillagers among the _débris_. Sometimes they passed a female fury crazed
5864
+
with drink shrieking anathemas upon the world, or some slouching lout
5865
+
whose blackened face and hands betrayed his share in the work of
5866
+
destruction. At last they reached the Seine and passed the bridge, and
5867
+
then Braith said: "I must go back. I am not sure of Jack and Sylvia." As
5868
+
he spoke, he made way for a crowd which came trampling across the bridge,
5869
+
and along the river wall by the d'Orsay barracks. In the midst of it West
5870
+
caught the measured tread of a platoon. A lantern passed, a file of
5871
+
bayonets, then another lantern which glimmered on a deathly face behind,
5872
+
and Colette gasped, "Hartman!" and he was gone. They peered fearfully
5873
+
across the embankment, holding their breath. There was a shuffle of feet
5874
+
on the quay, and the gate of the barracks slammed. A lantern shone for a
5875
+
moment at the postern, the crowd pressed to the grille, then came the
5876
+
clang of the volley from the stone parade.
5877
+
5878
+
One by one the petroleum torches flared up along the embankment, and now
5879
+
the whole square was in motion. Down from the Champs Elysées and across
5880
+
the Place de la Concorde straggled the fragments of the battle, a company
5881
+
here, and a mob there. They poured in from every street followed by women
5882
+
and children, and a great murmur, borne on the icy wind, swept through the
5883
+
Arc de Triomphe and down the dark avenue,--"Perdus! perdus!"
5884
+
5885
+
A ragged end of a battalion was pressing past, the spectre of
5886
+
annihilation. West groaned. Then a figure sprang from the shadowy ranks
5887
+
and called West's name, and when he saw it was Trent he cried out. Trent
5888
+
seized him, white with terror.
5889
+
5890
+
"Sylvia?"
5891
+
5892
+
West stared speechless, but Colette moaned, "Oh, Sylvia! Sylvia!--and they
5893
+
are shelling the Quarter!"
5894
+
5895
+
"Trent!" shouted Braith; but he was gone, and they could not overtake
5896
+
them.
5897
+
5898
+
The bombardment ceased as Trent crossed the Boulevard St. Germain, but the
5899
+
entrance to the rue de Seine was blocked by a heap of smoking bricks.
5900
+
Everywhere the shells had torn great holes in the pavement. The café was a
5901
+
wreck of splinters and glass, the book-store tottered, ripped from roof to
5902
+
basement, and the little bakery, long since closed, bulged outward above a
5903
+
mass of slate and tin.
5904
+
5905
+
He climbed over the steaming bricks and hurried into the rue de Tournon.
5906
+
On the corner a fire blazed, lighting up his own street, and on the bank
5907
+
wall, beneath a shattered gas lamp, a child was writing with a bit of
5908
+
cinder.
5909
+
5910
+
"HERE FELL THE FIRST SHELL."
5911
+
5912
+
The letters stared him in the face. The rat-killer finished and stepped
5913
+
back to view his work, but catching sight of Trent's bayonet, screamed and
5914
+
fled, and as Trent staggered across the shattered street, from holes and
5915
+
crannies in the ruins fierce women fled from their work of pillage,
5916
+
cursing him.
5917
+
5918
+
At first he could not find his house, for the tears blinded him, but he
5919
+
felt along the wall and reached the door. A lantern burned in the
5920
+
concierge's lodge and the old man lay dead beside it. Faint with fright he
5921
+
leaned a moment on his rifle, then, snatching the lantern, sprang up the
5922
+
stairs. He tried to call, but his tongue hardly moved. On the second floor
5923
+
he saw plaster on the stairway, and on the third the floor was torn and
5924
+
the concierge lay in a pool of blood across the landing. The next floor
5925
+
was his, _theirs_. The door hung from its hinges, the walls gaped. He
5926
+
crept in and sank down by the bed, and there two arms were flung around
5927
+
his neck, and a tear-stained face sought his own.
5928
+
5929
+
"Sylvia!"
5930
+
5931
+
"O Jack! Jack! Jack!"
5932
+
5933
+
From the tumbled pillow beside them a child wailed.
5934
+
5935
+
"They brought it; it is mine," she sobbed.
5936
+
5937
+
"Ours," he whispered, with his arms around them both.
5938
+
5939
+
Then from the stairs below came Braith's anxious voice.
5940
+
5941
+
"Trent! Is all well?"
5942
+
5943
+
5944
+
5945
+
5946
+
THE STREET OF OUR LADY OF THE FIELDS
5947
+
5948
+
"Et tout les jours passés dans la tristesse
5949
+
Nous sont comptés comme des jours heureux!"
5950
+
5951
+
5952
+
I
5953
+
5954
+
The street is not fashionable, neither is it shabby. It is a pariah among
5955
+
streets--a street without a Quarter. It is generally understood to lie
5956
+
outside the pale of the aristocratic Avenue de l'Observatoire. The
5957
+
students of the Montparnasse Quarter consider it swell and will have none
5958
+
of it. The Latin Quarter, from the Luxembourg, its northern frontier,
5959
+
sneers at its respectability and regards with disfavour the correctly
5960
+
costumed students who haunt it. Few strangers go into it. At times,
5961
+
however, the Latin Quarter students use it as a thoroughfare between the
5962
+
rue de Rennes and the Bullier, but except for that and the weekly
5963
+
afternoon visits of parents and guardians to the Convent near the rue
5964
+
Vavin, the street of Our Lady of the Fields is as quiet as a Passy
5965
+
boulevard. Perhaps the most respectable portion lies between the rue de la
5966
+
Grande Chaumière and the rue Vavin, at least this was the conclusion
5967
+
arrived at by the Reverend Joel Byram, as he rambled through it with
5968
+
Hastings in charge. To Hastings the street looked pleasant in the bright
5969
+
June weather, and he had begun to hope for its selection when the Reverend
5970
+
Byram shied violently at the cross on the Convent opposite.
5971
+
5972
+
"Jesuits," he muttered.
5973
+
5974
+
"Well," said Hastings wearily, "I imagine we won't find anything better.
5975
+
You say yourself that vice is triumphant in Paris, and it seems to me that
5976
+
in every street we find Jesuits or something worse."
5977
+
5978
+
After a moment he repeated, "Or something worse, which of course I would
5979
+
not notice except for your kindness in warning me."
5980
+
5981
+
Dr. Byram sucked in his lips and looked about him. He was impressed by the
5982
+
evident respectability of the surroundings. Then frowning at the Convent
5983
+
he took Hastings' arm and shuffled across the street to an iron gateway
5984
+
which bore the number 201 _bis_ painted in white on a blue ground. Below
5985
+
this was a notice printed in English:
5986
+
5987
+
1. For Porter please oppress once.
5988
+
2. For Servant please oppress twice.
5989
+
3. For Parlour please oppress thrice.
5990
+
5991
+
Hastings touched the electric button three times, and they were ushered
5992
+
through the garden and into the parlour by a trim maid. The dining-room
5993
+
door, just beyond, was open, and from the table in plain view a stout
5994
+
woman hastily arose and came toward them. Hastings caught a glimpse of a
5995
+
young man with a big head and several snuffy old gentlemen at breakfast,
5996
+
before the door closed and the stout woman waddled into the room, bringing
5997
+
with her an aroma of coffee and a black poodle."
5998
+
5999
+
"It ees a plaisir to you receive!" she cried. "Monsieur is Anglish? No?
6000
+
Americain? Off course. My pension it ees for Americains surtout. Here all
6001
+
spik Angleesh, c'est à dire, ze personnel; ze sairvants do spik, plus ou
6002
+
moins, a little. I am happy to have you comme pensionnaires--"
6003
+
6004
+
"Madame," began Dr. Byram, but was cut short again.
6005
+
6006
+
"Ah, yess, I know, ah! mon Dieu! you do not spik Frainch but you have come
6007
+
to lairne! My husband does spik Frainch wiss ze pensionnaires. We have at
6008
+
ze moment a family Americaine who learn of my husband Frainch--"
6009
+
6010
+
Here the poodle growled at Dr. Byram and was promptly cuffed by his
6011
+
mistress.
6012
+
6013
+
"Veux tu!" she cried, with a slap, "veux tu! Oh! le vilain, oh! le
6014
+
vilain!"
6015
+
6016
+
"Mais, madame," said Hastings, smiling, "il n'a pas l'air très féroce."
6017
+
6018
+
The poodle fled, and his mistress cried, "Ah, ze accent charming! He does
6019
+
spik already Frainch like a Parisien young gentleman!"
6020
+
6021
+
Then Dr. Byram managed to get in a word or two and gathered more or less
6022
+
information with regard to prices.
6023
+
6024
+
"It ees a pension serieux; my clientèle ees of ze best, indeed a pension
6025
+
de famille where one ees at 'ome."
6026
+
6027
+
Then they went upstairs to examine Hastings' future quarters, test the
6028
+
bed-springs and arrange for the weekly towel allowance. Dr. Byram appeared
6029
+
satisfied.
6030
+
6031
+
Madame Marotte accompanied them to the door and rang for the maid, but as
6032
+
Hastings stepped out into the gravel walk, his guide and mentor paused a
6033
+
moment and fixed Madame with his watery eyes.
6034
+
6035
+
"You understand," he said, "that he is a youth of most careful bringing
6036
+
up, and his character and morals are without a stain. He is young and has
6037
+
never been abroad, never even seen a large city, and his parents have
6038
+
requested me, as an old family friend living in Paris, to see that he is
6039
+
placed under good influences. He is to study art, but on no account would
6040
+
his parents wish him to live in the Latin Quarter if they knew of the
6041
+
immorality which is rife there."
6042
+
6043
+
A sound like the click of a latch interrupted him and he raised his eyes,
6044
+
but not in time to see the maid slap the big-headed young man behind the
6045
+
parlour-door.
6046
+
6047
+
Madame coughed, cast a deadly glance behind her and then beamed on Dr.
6048
+
Byram.
6049
+
6050
+
"It ees well zat he come here. The pension more serious, il n'en existe
6051
+
pas, eet ees not any!" she announced with conviction.
6052
+
6053
+
So, as there was nothing more to add, Dr. Byram joined Hastings at the
6054
+
gate.
6055
+
6056
+
"I trust," he said, eyeing the Convent, "that you will make no
6057
+
acquaintances among Jesuits!"
6058
+
6059
+
Hastings looked at the Convent until a pretty girl passed before the gray
6060
+
façade, and then he looked at her. A young fellow with a paint-box and
6061
+
canvas came swinging along, stopped before the pretty girl, said something
6062
+
during a brief but vigorous handshake at which they both laughed, and he
6063
+
went his way, calling back, "À demain Valentine!" as in the same breath
6064
+
she cried, "À demain!"
6065
+
6066
+
"Valentine," thought Hastings, "what a quaint name;" and he started to
6067
+
follow the Reverend Joel Byram, who was shuffling towards the nearest
6068
+
tramway station.
6069
+
6070
+
6071
+
6072
+
6073
+
II
6074
+
6075
+
"An' you are pleas wiz Paris, Monsieur' Astang?" demanded Madame Marotte
6076
+
the next morning as Hastings came into the breakfast-room of the pension,
6077
+
rosy from his plunge in the limited bath above.
6078
+
6079
+
"I am sure I shall like it," he replied, wondering at his own depression
6080
+
of spirits.
6081
+
6082
+
The maid brought him coffee and rolls. He returned the vacant glance of
6083
+
the big-headed young man and acknowledged diffidently the salutes of the
6084
+
snuffy old gentlemen. He did not try to finish his coffee, and sat
6085
+
crumbling a roll, unconscious of the sympathetic glances of Madame
6086
+
Marotte, who had tact enough not to bother him.
6087
+
6088
+
Presently a maid entered with a tray on which were balanced two bowls of
6089
+
chocolate, and the snuffy old gentlemen leered at her ankles. The maid
6090
+
deposited the chocolate at a table near the window and smiled at Hastings.
6091
+
Then a thin young lady, followed by her counterpart in all except years,
6092
+
marched into the room and took the table near the window. They were
6093
+
evidently American, but Hastings, if he expected any sign of recognition,
6094
+
was disappointed. To be ignored by compatriots intensified his depression.
6095
+
He fumbled with his knife and looked at his plate.
6096
+
6097
+
The thin young lady was talkative enough. She was quite aware of Hastings'
6098
+
presence, ready to be flattered if he looked at her, but on the other hand
6099
+
she felt her superiority, for she had been three weeks in Paris and he, it
6100
+
was easy to see, had not yet unpacked his steamer-trunk.
6101
+
6102
+
Her conversation was complacent. She argued with her mother upon the
6103
+
relative merits of the Louvre and the Bon Marché, but her mother's part of
6104
+
the discussion was mostly confined to the observation, "Why, Susie!"
6105
+
6106
+
The snuffy old gentlemen had left the room in a body, outwardly polite and
6107
+
inwardly raging. They could not endure the Americans, who filled the room
6108
+
with their chatter.
6109
+
6110
+
The big-headed young man looked after them with a knowing cough,
6111
+
murmuring, "Gay old birds!"
6112
+
6113
+
"They look like bad old men, Mr. Bladen," said the girl.
6114
+
6115
+
To this Mr. Bladen smiled and said, "They've had their day," in a tone
6116
+
which implied that he was now having his.
6117
+
6118
+
"And that's why they all have baggy eyes," cried the girl. "I think it's a
6119
+
shame for young gentlemen--"
6120
+
6121
+
"Why, Susie!" said the mother, and the conversation lagged.
6122
+
6123
+
After a while Mr. Bladen threw down the _Petit Journal_, which he daily
6124
+
studied at the expense of the house, and turning to Hastings, started to
6125
+
make himself agreeable. He began by saying, "I see you are American."
6126
+
6127
+
To this brilliant and original opening, Hastings, deadly homesick, replied
6128
+
gratefully, and the conversation was judiciously nourished by observations
6129
+
from Miss Susie Byng distinctly addressed to Mr. Bladen. In the course of
6130
+
events Miss Susie, forgetting to address herself exclusively to Mr.
6131
+
Bladen, and Hastings replying to her general question, the _entente
6132
+
cordiale_ was established, and Susie and her mother extended a
6133
+
protectorate over what was clearly neutral territory.
6134
+
6135
+
"Mr. Hastings, you must not desert the pension every evening as Mr. Bladen
6136
+
does. Paris is an awful place for young gentlemen, and Mr. Bladen is a
6137
+
horrid cynic."
6138
+
6139
+
Mr. Bladen looked gratified.
6140
+
6141
+
Hastings answered, "I shall be at the studio all day, and I imagine I
6142
+
shall be glad enough to come back at night."
6143
+
6144
+
Mr. Bladen, who, at a salary of fifteen dollars a week, acted as agent for
6145
+
the Pewly Manufacturing Company of Troy, N.Y., smiled a sceptical smile
6146
+
and withdrew to keep an appointment with a customer on the Boulevard
6147
+
Magenta.
6148
+
6149
+
Hastings walked into the garden with Mrs. Byng and Susie, and, at their
6150
+
invitation, sat down in the shade before the iron gate.
6151
+
6152
+
The chestnut trees still bore their fragrant spikes of pink and white, and
6153
+
the bees hummed among the roses, trellised on the white-walled house.
6154
+
6155
+
A faint freshness was in the air. The watering carts moved up and down the
6156
+
street, and a clear stream bubbled over the spotless gutters of the rue de
6157
+
la Grande Chaumière. The sparrows were merry along the curb-stones, taking
6158
+
bath after bath in the water and ruffling their feathers with delight. In
6159
+
a walled garden across the street a pair of blackbirds whistled among the
6160
+
almond trees.
6161
+
6162
+
Hastings swallowed the lump in his throat, for the song of the birds and
6163
+
the ripple of water in a Paris gutter brought back to him the sunny
6164
+
meadows of Millbrook.
6165
+
6166
+
"That's a blackbird," observed Miss Byng; "see him there on the bush with
6167
+
pink blossoms. He's all black except his bill, and that looks as if it had
6168
+
been dipped in an omelet, as some Frenchman says--"
6169
+
6170
+
"Why, Susie!" said Mrs. Byng.
6171
+
6172
+
"That garden belongs to a studio inhabited by two Americans," continued
6173
+
the girl serenely, "and I often see them pass. They seem to need a great
6174
+
many models, mostly young and feminine--"
6175
+
6176
+
"Why, Susie!"
6177
+
6178
+
"Perhaps they prefer painting that kind, but I don't see why they should
6179
+
invite five, with three more young gentlemen, and all get into two cabs
6180
+
and drive away singing. This street," she continued, "is dull. There is
6181
+
nothing to see except the garden and a glimpse of the Boulevard
6182
+
Montparnasse through the rue de la Grande Chaumière. No one ever passes
6183
+
except a policeman. There is a convent on the corner."
6184
+
6185
+
"I thought it was a Jesuit College," began Hastings, but was at once
6186
+
overwhelmed with a Baedecker description of the place, ending with, "On
6187
+
one side stand the palatial hotels of Jean Paul Laurens and Guillaume
6188
+
Bouguereau, and opposite, in the little Passage Stanislas, Carolus Duran
6189
+
paints the masterpieces which charm the world."
6190
+
6191
+
The blackbird burst into a ripple of golden throaty notes, and from some
6192
+
distant green spot in the city an unknown wild-bird answered with a frenzy
6193
+
of liquid trills until the sparrows paused in their ablutions to look up
6194
+
with restless chirps.
6195
+
6196
+
Then a butterfly came and sat on a cluster of heliotrope and waved his
6197
+
crimson-banded wings in the hot sunshine. Hastings knew him for a friend,
6198
+
and before his eyes there came a vision of tall mulleins and scented
6199
+
milkweed alive with painted wings, a vision of a white house and
6200
+
woodbine-covered piazza,--a glimpse of a man reading and a woman leaning
6201
+
over the pansy bed,--and his heart was full. He was startled a moment
6202
+
later by Miss Byng.
6203
+
6204
+
"I believe you are homesick!" Hastings blushed. Miss Byng looked at him
6205
+
with a sympathetic sigh and continued: "Whenever I felt homesick at first
6206
+
I used to go with mamma and walk in the Luxembourg Gardens. I don't know
6207
+
why it is, but those old-fashioned gardens seemed to bring me nearer home
6208
+
than anything in this artificial city."
6209
+
6210
+
"But they are full of marble statues," said Mrs. Byng mildly; "I don't see
6211
+
the resemblance myself."
6212
+
6213
+
"Where is the Luxembourg?" inquired Hastings after a silence.
6214
+
6215
+
"Come with me to the gate," said Miss Byng. He rose and followed her, and
6216
+
she pointed out the rue Vavin at the foot of the street.
6217
+
6218
+
"You pass by the convent to the right," she smiled; and Hastings went.
6219
+
6220
+
6221
+
6222
+
6223
+
III
6224
+
6225
+
The Luxembourg was a blaze of flowers. He walked slowly through the long
6226
+
avenues of trees, past mossy marbles and old-time columns, and threading
6227
+
the grove by the bronze lion, came upon the tree-crowned terrace above the
6228
+
fountain. Below lay the basin shining in the sunlight. Flowering almonds
6229
+
encircled the terrace, and, in a greater spiral, groves of chestnuts wound
6230
+
in and out and down among the moist thickets by the western palace wing.
6231
+
At one end of the avenue of trees the Observatory rose, its white domes
6232
+
piled up like an eastern mosque; at the other end stood the heavy palace,
6233
+
with every window-pane ablaze in the fierce sun of June.
6234
+
6235
+
Around the fountain, children and white-capped nurses armed with bamboo
6236
+
poles were pushing toy boats, whose sails hung limp in the sunshine. A
6237
+
dark policeman, wearing red epaulettes and a dress sword, watched them for
6238
+
a while and then went away to remonstrate with a young man who had
6239
+
unchained his dog. The dog was pleasantly occupied in rubbing grass and
6240
+
dirt into his back while his legs waved into the air.
6241
+
6242
+
The policeman pointed at the dog. He was speechless with indignation.
6243
+
6244
+
"Well, Captain," smiled the young fellow.
6245
+
6246
+
"Well, Monsieur Student," growled the policeman.
6247
+
6248
+
"What do you come and complain to me for?"
6249
+
6250
+
"If you don't chain him I'll take him," shouted the policeman.
6251
+
6252
+
"What's that to me, mon capitaine?"
6253
+
6254
+
"Wha--t! Isn't that bull-dog yours?"
6255
+
6256
+
"If it was, don't you suppose I'd chain him?"
6257
+
6258
+
The officer glared for a moment in silence, then deciding that as he was a
6259
+
student he was wicked, grabbed at the dog, who promptly dodged. Around and
6260
+
around the flower-beds they raced, and when the officer came too near for
6261
+
comfort, the bull-dog cut across a flower-bed, which perhaps was not
6262
+
playing fair.
6263
+
6264
+
The young man was amused, and the dog also seemed to enjoy the exercise.
6265
+
6266
+
The policeman noticed this and decided to strike at the fountain-head of
6267
+
the evil. He stormed up to the student and said, "As the owner of this
6268
+
public nuisance I arrest you!"
6269
+
6270
+
"But," objected the other, "I disclaim the dog."
6271
+
6272
+
That was a poser. It was useless to attempt to catch the dog until three
6273
+
gardeners lent a hand, but then the dog simply ran away and disappeared in
6274
+
the rue de Medici.
6275
+
6276
+
The policeman shambled off to find consolation among the white-capped
6277
+
nurses, and the student, looking at his watch, stood up yawning. Then
6278
+
catching sight of Hastings, he smiled and bowed. Hastings walked over to
6279
+
the marble, laughing.
6280
+
6281
+
"Why, Clifford," he said, "I didn't recognize you."
6282
+
6283
+
"It's my moustache," sighed the other. "I sacrificed it to humour a whim
6284
+
of--of--a friend. What do you think of my dog?"
6285
+
6286
+
"Then he is yours?" cried Hastings.
6287
+
6288
+
"Of course. It's a pleasant change for him, this playing tag with
6289
+
policemen, but he is known now and I'll have to stop it. He's gone home.
6290
+
He always does when the gardeners take a hand. It's a pity; he's fond of
6291
+
rolling on lawns." Then they chatted for a moment of Hastings' prospects,
6292
+
and Clifford politely offered to stand his sponsor at the studio.
6293
+
6294
+
"You see, old tabby, I mean Dr. Byram, told me about you before I met
6295
+
you," explained Clifford, "and Elliott and I will be glad to do anything
6296
+
we can." Then looking at his watch again, he muttered, "I have just ten
6297
+
minutes to catch the Versailles train; au revoir," and started to go, but
6298
+
catching sight of a girl advancing by the fountain, took off his hat with
6299
+
a confused smile.
6300
+
6301
+
"Why are you not at Versailles?" she said, with an almost imperceptible
6302
+
acknowledgment of Hastings' presence.
6303
+
6304
+
"I--I'm going," murmured Clifford.
6305
+
6306
+
For a moment they faced each other, and then Clifford, very red,
6307
+
stammered, "With your permission I have the honour of presenting to you my
6308
+
friend, Monsieur Hastings."
6309
+
6310
+
Hastings bowed low. She smiled very sweetly, but there was something of
6311
+
malice in the quiet inclination of her small Parisienne head.
6312
+
6313
+
"I could have wished," she said, "that Monsieur Clifford might spare me
6314
+
more time when he brings with him so charming an American."
6315
+
6316
+
"Must--must I go, Valentine?" began Clifford.
6317
+
6318
+
"Certainly," she replied.
6319
+
6320
+
Clifford took his leave with very bad grace, wincing, when she added, "And
6321
+
give my dearest love to Cécile!" As he disappeared in the rue d'Assas, the
6322
+
girl turned as if to go, but then suddenly remembering Hastings, looked at
6323
+
him and shook her head.
6324
+
6325
+
"Monsieur Clifford is so perfectly harebrained," she smiled, "it is
6326
+
embarrassing sometimes. You have heard, of course, all about his success
6327
+
at the Salon?"
6328
+
6329
+
He looked puzzled and she noticed it.
6330
+
6331
+
"You have been to the Salon, of course?"
6332
+
6333
+
"Why, no," he answered, "I only arrived in Paris three days ago."
6334
+
6335
+
She seemed to pay little heed to his explanation, but continued: "Nobody
6336
+
imagined he had the energy to do anything good, but on varnishing day the
6337
+
Salon was astonished by the entrance of Monsieur Clifford, who strolled
6338
+
about as bland as you please with an orchid in his buttonhole, and a
6339
+
beautiful picture on the line."
6340
+
6341
+
She smiled to herself at the reminiscence, and looked at the fountain.
6342
+
6343
+
"Monsieur Bouguereau told me that Monsieur Julian was so astonished that
6344
+
he only shook hands with Monsieur Clifford in a dazed manner, and actually
6345
+
forgot to pat him on the back! Fancy," she continued with much merriment,
6346
+
"fancy papa Julian forgetting to pat one on the back."
6347
+
6348
+
Hastings, wondering at her acquaintance with the great Bouguereau, looked
6349
+
at her with respect. "May I ask," he said diffidently, "whether you are a
6350
+
pupil of Bouguereau?"
6351
+
6352
+
"I?" she said in some surprise. Then she looked at him curiously. Was he
6353
+
permitting himself the liberty of joking on such short acquaintance?
6354
+
6355
+
His pleasant serious face questioned hers.
6356
+
6357
+
"Tiens," she thought, "what a droll man!"
6358
+
6359
+
"You surely study art?" he said.
6360
+
6361
+
She leaned back on the crooked stick of her parasol, and looked at him.
6362
+
"Why do you think so?"
6363
+
6364
+
"Because you speak as if you did."
6365
+
6366
+
"You are making fun of me," she said, "and it is not good taste."
6367
+
6368
+
She stopped, confused, as he coloured to the roots of his hair.
6369
+
6370
+
"How long have you been in Paris?" she said at length.
6371
+
6372
+
"Three days," he replied gravely.
6373
+
6374
+
"But--but--surely you are not a nouveau! You speak French too well!"
6375
+
6376
+
Then after a pause, "Really are you a nouveau?"
6377
+
6378
+
"I am," he said.
6379
+
6380
+
She sat down on the marble bench lately occupied by Clifford, and tilting
6381
+
her parasol over her small head looked at him.
6382
+
6383
+
"I don't believe it."
6384
+
6385
+
He felt the compliment, and for a moment hesitated to declare himself one
6386
+
of the despised. Then mustering up his courage, he told her how new and
6387
+
green he was, and all with a frankness which made her blue eyes open very
6388
+
wide and her lips part in the sweetest of smiles.
6389
+
6390
+
"You have never seen a studio?"
6391
+
6392
+
"Never."
6393
+
6394
+
"Nor a model?"
6395
+
6396
+
"No."
6397
+
6398
+
"How funny," she said solemnly. Then they both laughed.
6399
+
6400
+
"And you," he said, "have seen studios?"
6401
+
6402
+
"Hundreds."
6403
+
6404
+
"And models?"
6405
+
6406
+
"Millions."
6407
+
6408
+
"And you know Bouguereau?"
6409
+
6410
+
"Yes, and Henner, and Constant and Laurens, and Puvis de Chavannes and
6411
+
Dagnan and Courtois, and--and all the rest of them!"
6412
+
6413
+
"And yet you say you are not an artist."
6414
+
6415
+
"Pardon," she said gravely, "did I say I was not?"
6416
+
6417
+
"Won't you tell me?" he hesitated.
6418
+
6419
+
At first she looked at him, shaking her head and smiling, then of a sudden
6420
+
her eyes fell and she began tracing figures with her parasol in the gravel
6421
+
at her feet. Hastings had taken a place on the seat, and now, with his
6422
+
elbows on his knees, sat watching the spray drifting above the fountain
6423
+
jet. A small boy, dressed as a sailor, stood poking his yacht and crying,
6424
+
"I won't go home! I won't go home!" His nurse raised her hands to Heaven.
6425
+
6426
+
"Just like a little American boy," thought Hastings, and a pang of
6427
+
homesickness shot through him.
6428
+
6429
+
Presently the nurse captured the boat, and the small boy stood at bay.
6430
+
6431
+
"Monsieur René, when you decide to come here you may have your boat."
6432
+
6433
+
The boy backed away scowling.
6434
+
6435
+
"Give me my boat, I say," he cried, "and don't call me René, for my
6436
+
name's Randall and you know it!"
6437
+
6438
+
"Hello!" said Hastings,--"Randall?--that's English."
6439
+
6440
+
"I am American," announced the boy in perfectly good English, turning to
6441
+
look at Hastings, "and she's such a fool she calls me René because mamma
6442
+
calls me Ranny--"
6443
+
6444
+
Here he dodged the exasperated nurse and took up his station behind
6445
+
Hastings, who laughed, and catching him around the waist lifted him into
6446
+
his lap.
6447
+
6448
+
"One of my countrymen," he said to the girl beside him. He smiled while he
6449
+
spoke, but there was a queer feeling in his throat.
6450
+
6451
+
"Don't you see the stars and stripes on my yacht?" demanded Randall. Sure
6452
+
enough, the American colours hung limply under the nurse's arm.
6453
+
6454
+
"Oh," cried the girl, "he is charming," and impulsively stooped to kiss
6455
+
him, but the infant Randall wriggled out of Hastings' arms, and his nurse
6456
+
pounced upon him with an angry glance at the girl.
6457
+
6458
+
She reddened and then bit her lips as the nurse, with eyes still fixed on
6459
+
her, dragged the child away and ostentatiously wiped his lips with her
6460
+
handkerchief.
6461
+
6462
+
Then she stole a look at Hastings and bit her lip again.
6463
+
6464
+
"What an ill-tempered woman!" he said. "In America, most nurses are
6465
+
flattered when people kiss their children."
6466
+
6467
+
For an instant she tipped the parasol to hide her face, then closed it
6468
+
with a snap and looked at him defiantly.
6469
+
6470
+
"Do you think it strange that she objected?"
6471
+
6472
+
"Why not?" he said in surprise.
6473
+
6474
+
Again she looked at him with quick searching eyes.
6475
+
6476
+
His eyes were clear and bright, and he smiled back, repeating, "Why not?"
6477
+
6478
+
"You _are_ droll," she murmured, bending her head.
6479
+
6480
+
"Why?"
6481
+
6482
+
But she made no answer, and sat silent, tracing curves and circles in the
6483
+
dust with her parasol. After a while he said--"I am glad to see that young
6484
+
people have so much liberty here. I understood that the French were not at
6485
+
all like us. You know in America--or at least where I live in Milbrook,
6486
+
girls have every liberty,--go out alone and receive their friends alone,
6487
+
and I was afraid I should miss it here. But I see how it is now, and I am
6488
+
glad I was mistaken."
6489
+
6490
+
She raised her eyes to his and kept them there.
6491
+
6492
+
He continued pleasantly--"Since I have sat here I have seen a lot of
6493
+
pretty girls walking alone on the terrace there,--and then _you_ are alone
6494
+
too. Tell me, for I do not know French customs,--do you have the liberty
6495
+
of going to the theatre without a chaperone?"
6496
+
6497
+
For a long time she studied his face, and then with a trembling smile
6498
+
said, "Why do you ask me?"
6499
+
6500
+
"Because you must know, of course," he said gaily.
6501
+
6502
+
"Yes," she replied indifferently, "I know."
6503
+
6504
+
He waited for an answer, but getting none, decided that perhaps she had
6505
+
misunderstood him.
6506
+
6507
+
"I hope you don't think I mean to presume on our short acquaintance," he
6508
+
began,--"in fact it is very odd but I don't know your name. When Mr.
6509
+
Clifford presented me he only mentioned mine. Is that the custom in
6510
+
France?"
6511
+
6512
+
"It is the custom in the Latin Quarter," she said with a queer light in
6513
+
her eyes. Then suddenly she began talking almost feverishly.
6514
+
6515
+
"You must know, Monsieur Hastings, that we are all _un peu sans gêne_ here
6516
+
in the Latin Quarter. We are very Bohemian, and etiquette and ceremony are
6517
+
out of place. It was for that Monsieur Clifford presented you to me with
6518
+
small ceremony, and left us together with less,--only for that, and I am
6519
+
his friend, and I have many friends in the Latin Quarter, and we all know
6520
+
each other very well--and I am not studying art, but--but--"
6521
+
6522
+
"But what?" he said, bewildered.
6523
+
6524
+
"I shall not tell you,--it is a secret," she said with an uncertain smile.
6525
+
On both cheeks a pink spot was burning, and her eyes were very bright.
6526
+
6527
+
Then in a moment her face fell. "Do you know Monsieur Clifford very
6528
+
intimately?"
6529
+
6530
+
"Not very."
6531
+
6532
+
After a while she turned to him, grave and a little pale.
6533
+
6534
+
"My name is Valentine--Valentine Tissot. Might--might I ask a service of
6535
+
you on such very short acquaintance?"
6536
+
6537
+
"Oh," he cried, "I should be honoured."
6538
+
6539
+
"It is only this," she said gently, "it is not much. Promise me not to
6540
+
speak to Monsieur Clifford about me. Promise me that you will speak to no
6541
+
one about me."
6542
+
6543
+
"I promise," he said, greatly puzzled.
6544
+
6545
+
She laughed nervously. "I wish to remain a mystery. It is a caprice."
6546
+
6547
+
"But," he began, "I had wished, I had hoped that you might give Monsieur
6548
+
Clifford permission to bring me, to present me at your house."
6549
+
6550
+
"My--my house!" she repeated.
6551
+
6552
+
"I mean, where you live, in fact, to present me to your family."
6553
+
6554
+
The change in the girl's face shocked him.
6555
+
6556
+
"I beg your pardon," he cried, "I have hurt you."
6557
+
6558
+
And as quick as a flash she understood him because she was a woman.
6559
+
6560
+
"My parents are dead," she said.
6561
+
6562
+
Presently he began again, very gently.
6563
+
6564
+
"Would it displease you if I beg you to receive me? It is the custom?"
6565
+
6566
+
"I cannot," she answered. Then glancing up at him, "I am sorry; I should
6567
+
like to; but believe me. I cannot."
6568
+
6569
+
He bowed seriously and looked vaguely uneasy.
6570
+
6571
+
"It isn't because I don't wish to. I--I like you; you are very kind to
6572
+
me."
6573
+
6574
+
"Kind?" he cried, surprised and puzzled.
6575
+
6576
+
"I like you," she said slowly, "and we will see each other sometimes if
6577
+
you will."
6578
+
6579
+
"At friends' houses."
6580
+
6581
+
"No, not at friends' houses."
6582
+
6583
+
"Where?"
6584
+
6585
+
"Here," she said with defiant eyes.
6586
+
6587
+
"Why," he cried, "in Paris you are much more liberal in your views than we
6588
+
are."
6589
+
6590
+
She looked at him curiously.
6591
+
6592
+
"Yes, we are very Bohemian."
6593
+
6594
+
"I think it is charming," he declared.
6595
+
6596
+
"You see, we shall be in the best of society," she ventured timidly, with
6597
+
a pretty gesture toward the statues of the dead queens, ranged in stately
6598
+
ranks above the terrace.
6599
+
6600
+
He looked at her, delighted, and she brightened at the success of her
6601
+
innocent little pleasantry.
6602
+
6603
+
"Indeed," she smiled, "I shall be well chaperoned, because you see we are
6604
+
under the protection of the gods themselves; look, there are Apollo, and
6605
+
Juno, and Venus, on their pedestals," counting them on her small gloved
6606
+
fingers, "and Ceres, Hercules, and--but I can't make out--"
6607
+
6608
+
Hastings turned to look up at the winged god under whose shadow they were
6609
+
seated.
6610
+
6611
+
"Why, it's Love," he said.
6612
+
6613
+
6614
+
6615
+
6616
+
IV
6617
+
6618
+
"There is a nouveau here," drawled Laffat, leaning around his easel and
6619
+
addressing his friend Bowles, "there is a nouveau here who is so tender
6620
+
and green and appetizing that Heaven help him if he should fall into a
6621
+
salad bowl."
6622
+
6623
+
"Hayseed?" inquired Bowles, plastering in a background with a broken
6624
+
palette-knife and squinting at the effect with approval.
6625
+
6626
+
"Yes, Squeedunk or Oshkosh, and how he ever grew up among the daisies and
6627
+
escaped the cows, Heaven alone knows!"
6628
+
6629
+
Bowles rubbed his thumb across the outlines of his study to "throw in a
6630
+
little atmosphere," as he said, glared at the model, pulled at his pipe
6631
+
and finding it out struck a match on his neighbour's back to relight it.
6632
+
6633
+
"His name," continued Laffat, hurling a bit of bread at the hat-rack, "his
6634
+
name is Hastings. He _is_ a berry. He knows no more about the world,"--and
6635
+
here Mr. Laffat's face spoke volumes for his own knowledge of that
6636
+
planet,--"than a maiden cat on its first moonlight stroll."
6637
+
6638
+
Bowles now having succeeded in lighting his pipe, repeated the thumb touch
6639
+
on the other edge of the study and said, "Ah!"
6640
+
6641
+
"Yes," continued his friend, "and would you imagine it, he seems to think
6642
+
that everything here goes on as it does in his d----d little backwoods
6643
+
ranch at home; talks about the pretty girls who walk alone in the street;
6644
+
says how sensible it is; and how French parents are misrepresented in
6645
+
America; says that for his part he finds French girls,--and he confessed
6646
+
to only knowing one,--as jolly as American girls. I tried to set him
6647
+
right, tried to give him a pointer as to what sort of ladies walk about
6648
+
alone or with students, and he was either too stupid or too innocent to
6649
+
catch on. Then I gave it to him straight, and he said I was a vile-minded
6650
+
fool and marched off."
6651
+
6652
+
"Did you assist him with your shoe?" inquired Bowles, languidly
6653
+
interested.
6654
+
6655
+
"Well, no."
6656
+
6657
+
"He called you a vile-minded fool."
6658
+
6659
+
"He was correct," said Clifford from his easel in front.
6660
+
6661
+
"What--what do you mean?" demanded Laffat, turning red.
6662
+
6663
+
"_That_," replied Clifford.
6664
+
6665
+
"Who spoke to you? Is this your business?" sneered Bowles, but nearly lost
6666
+
his balance as Clifford swung about and eyed him.
6667
+
6668
+
"Yes," he said slowly, "it's my business."
6669
+
6670
+
No one spoke for some time.
6671
+
6672
+
Then Clifford sang out, "I say, Hastings!"
6673
+
6674
+
And when Hastings left his easel and came around, he nodded toward the
6675
+
astonished Laffat.
6676
+
6677
+
"This man has been disagreeable to you, and I want to tell you that any
6678
+
time you feel inclined to kick him, why, I will hold the other creature."
6679
+
6680
+
Hastings, embarrassed, said, "Why no, I don't agree with his ideas,
6681
+
nothing more."
6682
+
6683
+
Clifford said "Naturally," and slipping his arm through Hastings',
6684
+
strolled about with him, and introduced him to several of his own friends,
6685
+
at which all the nouveaux opened their eyes with envy, and the studio were
6686
+
given to understand that Hastings, although prepared to do menial work as
6687
+
the latest nouveau, was already within the charmed circle of the old,
6688
+
respected and feared, the truly great.
6689
+
6690
+
The rest finished, the model resumed his place, and work went on in a
6691
+
chorus of songs and yells and every ear-splitting noise which the art
6692
+
student utters when studying the beautiful.
6693
+
6694
+
Five o'clock struck,--the model yawned, stretched and climbed into his
6695
+
trousers, and the noisy contents of six studios crowded through the hall
6696
+
and down into the street. Ten minutes later, Hastings found himself on top
6697
+
of a Montrouge tram, and shortly afterward was joined by Clifford.
6698
+
6699
+
They climbed down at the rue Gay Lussac.
6700
+
6701
+
"I always stop here," observed Clifford, "I like the walk through the
6702
+
Luxembourg."
6703
+
6704
+
"By the way," said Hastings, "how can I call on you when I don't know
6705
+
where you live?"
6706
+
6707
+
"Why, I live opposite you."
6708
+
6709
+
"What--the studio in the garden where the almond trees are and the
6710
+
blackbirds--"
6711
+
6712
+
"Exactly," said Clifford. "I'm with my friend Elliott."
6713
+
6714
+
Hastings thought of the description of the two American artists which he
6715
+
had heard from Miss Susie Byng, and looked blank.
6716
+
6717
+
Clifford continued, "Perhaps you had better let me know when you think of
6718
+
coming so,--so that I will be sure to--to be there," he ended rather
6719
+
lamely.
6720
+
6721
+
"I shouldn't care to meet any of your model friends there," said Hastings,
6722
+
smiling. "You know--my ideas are rather straitlaced,--I suppose you would
6723
+
say, Puritanical. I shouldn't enjoy it and wouldn't know how to behave."
6724
+
6725
+
"Oh, I understand," said Clifford, but added with great cordiality,--"I'm
6726
+
sure we'll be friends although you may not approve of me and my set, but
6727
+
you will like Severn and Selby because--because, well, they are like
6728
+
yourself, old chap."
6729
+
6730
+
After a moment he continued, "There is something I want to speak about.
6731
+
You see, when I introduced you, last week, in the Luxembourg, to
6732
+
Valentine--"
6733
+
6734
+
"Not a word!" cried Hastings, smiling; "you must not tell me a word of
6735
+
her!"
6736
+
6737
+
"Why--"
6738
+
6739
+
"No--not a word!" he said gaily. "I insist,--promise me upon your honour
6740
+
you will not speak of her until I give you permission; promise!"
6741
+
6742
+
"I promise," said Clifford, amazed.
6743
+
6744
+
"She is a charming girl,--we had such a delightful chat after you left,
6745
+
and I thank you for presenting me, but not another word about her until I
6746
+
give you permission."
6747
+
6748
+
"Oh," murmured Clifford.
6749
+
6750
+
"Remember your promise," he smiled, as he turned into his gateway.
6751
+
6752
+
Clifford strolled across the street and, traversing the ivy-covered alley,
6753
+
entered his garden.
6754
+
6755
+
He felt for his studio key, muttering, "I wonder--I wonder,--but of course
6756
+
he doesn't!"
6757
+
6758
+
He entered the hallway, and fitting the key into the door, stood staring
6759
+
at the two cards tacked over the panels.
6760
+
6761
+
FOXHALL CLIFFORD
6762
+
6763
+
RICHARD OSBORNE ELLIOTT
6764
+
6765
+
"Why the devil doesn't he want me to speak of her?"
6766
+
6767
+
He opened the door, and, discouraging the caresses of two brindle
6768
+
bull-dogs, sank down on the sofa.
6769
+
6770
+
Elliott sat smoking and sketching with a piece of charcoal by the window.
6771
+
6772
+
"Hello," he said without looking around.
6773
+
6774
+
Clifford gazed absently at the back of his head, murmuring, "I'm afraid,
6775
+
I'm afraid that man is too innocent. I say, Elliott," he said, at last,
6776
+
"Hastings,--you know the chap that old Tabby Byram came around here to
6777
+
tell us about--the day you had to hide Colette in the armoire--"
6778
+
6779
+
"Yes, what's up?"
6780
+
6781
+
"Oh, nothing. He's a brick."
6782
+
6783
+
"Yes," said Elliott, without enthusiasm.
6784
+
6785
+
"Don't you think so?" demanded Clifford.
6786
+
6787
+
"Why yes, but he is going to have a tough time when some of his illusions
6788
+
are dispelled."
6789
+
6790
+
"More shame to those who dispel 'em!"
6791
+
6792
+
"Yes,--wait until he comes to pay his call on us, unexpectedly, of
6793
+
course--"
6794
+
6795
+
Clifford looked virtuous and lighted a cigar.
6796
+
6797
+
"I was just going to say," he observed, "that I have asked him not to come
6798
+
without letting us know, so I can postpone any orgie you may have
6799
+
intended--"
6800
+
6801
+
"Ah!" cried Elliott indignantly, "I suppose you put it to him in that
6802
+
way."
6803
+
6804
+
"Not exactly," grinned Clifford. Then more seriously, "I don't want
6805
+
anything to occur here to bother him. He's a brick, and it's a pity we
6806
+
can't be more like him."
6807
+
6808
+
"I am," observed Elliott complacently, "only living with you--"
6809
+
6810
+
"Listen!" cried the other. "I have managed to put my foot in it in great
6811
+
style. Do you know what I've done? Well--the first time I met him in the
6812
+
street,--or rather, it was in the Luxembourg, I introduced him to
6813
+
Valentine!"
6814
+
6815
+
"Did he object?"
6816
+
6817
+
"Believe me," said Clifford, solemnly, "this rustic Hastings has no more
6818
+
idea that Valentine is--is--in fact is Valentine, than he has that he
6819
+
himself is a beautiful example of moral decency in a Quarter where morals
6820
+
are as rare as elephants. I heard enough in a conversation between that
6821
+
blackguard Loffat and the little immoral eruption, Bowles, to open my
6822
+
eyes. I tell you Hastings is a trump! He's a healthy, clean-minded young
6823
+
fellow, bred in a small country village, brought up with the idea that
6824
+
saloons are way-stations to hell--and as for women--"
6825
+
6826
+
"Well?" demanded Elliott
6827
+
6828
+
"Well," said Clifford, "his idea of the dangerous woman is probably a
6829
+
painted Jezabel."
6830
+
6831
+
"Probably," replied the other.
6832
+
6833
+
"He's a trump!" said Clifford, "and if he swears the world is as good and
6834
+
pure as his own heart, I'll swear he's right."
6835
+
6836
+
Elliott rubbed his charcoal on his file to get a point and turned to his
6837
+
sketch saying, "He will never hear any pessimism from Richard Osborne E."
6838
+
6839
+
"He's a lesson to me," said Clifford. Then he unfolded a small perfumed
6840
+
note, written on rose-coloured paper, which had been lying on the table
6841
+
before him.
6842
+
6843
+
He read it, smiled, whistled a bar or two from "Miss Helyett," and sat
6844
+
down to answer it on his best cream-laid note-paper. When it was written
6845
+
and sealed, he picked up his stick and marched up and down the studio two
6846
+
or three times, whistling.
6847
+
6848
+
"Going out?" inquired the other, without turning.
6849
+
6850
+
"Yes," he said, but lingered a moment over Elliott's shoulder, watching
6851
+
him pick out the lights in his sketch with a bit of bread.
6852
+
6853
+
"To-morrow is Sunday," he observed after a moment's silence.
6854
+
6855
+
"Well?" inquired Elliott.
6856
+
6857
+
"Have you seen Colette?"
6858
+
6859
+
"No, I will to-night. She and Rowden and Jacqueline are coming to
6860
+
Boulant's. I suppose you and, Cécile will be there?"
6861
+
6862
+
"Well, no," replied Clifford. "Cécile dines at home to-night, and I--I had
6863
+
an idea of going to Mignon's."
6864
+
6865
+
Elliott looked at him with disapproval.
6866
+
6867
+
"You can make all the arrangements for La Roche without me," he continued,
6868
+
avoiding Elliott's eyes.
6869
+
6870
+
"What are you up to now?"
6871
+
6872
+
"Nothing," protested Clifford.
6873
+
6874
+
"Don't tell me," replied his chum, with scorn; "fellows don't rush off to
6875
+
Mignon's when the set dine at Boulant's. Who is it now?--but no, I won't
6876
+
ask that,--what's the use!" Then he lifted up his voice in complaint and
6877
+
beat upon the table with his pipe. "What's the use of ever trying to keep
6878
+
track of you? What will Cécile say,--oh, yes, what will she say? It's a
6879
+
pity you can't be constant two months, yes, by Jove! and the Quarter is
6880
+
indulgent, but you abuse its good nature and mine too!"
6881
+
6882
+
Presently he arose, and jamming his hat on his head, marched to the door.
6883
+
6884
+
"Heaven alone knows why any one puts up with your antics, but they all do
6885
+
and so do I. If I were Cécile or any of the other pretty fools after whom
6886
+
you have toddled and will, in all human probabilities, continue to toddle,
6887
+
I say, if I were Cécile I'd spank you! Now I'm going to Boulant's, and as
6888
+
usual I shall make excuses for you and arrange the affair, and I don't
6889
+
care a continental where you are going, but, by the skull of the studio
6890
+
skeleton! if you don't turn up to-morrow with your sketching-kit under one
6891
+
arm and Cécile under the other,--if you don't turn up in good shape, I'm
6892
+
done with you, and the rest can think what they please. Good-night."
6893
+
6894
+
Clifford said good-night with as pleasant a smile as he could muster, and
6895
+
then sat down with his eyes on the door. He took out his watch and gave
6896
+
Elliott ten minutes to vanish, then rang the concierge's call, murmuring,
6897
+
"Oh dear, oh dear, why the devil do I do it?"
6898
+
6899
+
"Alfred," he said, as that gimlet-eyed person answered the call, "make
6900
+
yourself clean and proper, Alfred, and replace your sabots with a pair of
6901
+
shoes. Then put on your best hat and take this letter to the big white
6902
+
house in the Rue de Dragon. There is no answer, _mon petit_ Alfred."
6903
+
6904
+
The concierge departed with a snort in which unwillingness for the errand
6905
+
and affection for M. Clifford were blended. Then with great care the young
6906
+
fellow arrayed himself in all the beauties of his and Elliott's wardrobe.
6907
+
He took his time about it, and occasionally interrupted his toilet to play
6908
+
his banjo or make pleasing diversion for the bull-dogs by gambling about
6909
+
on all fours. "I've got two hours before me," he thought, and borrowed a
6910
+
pair of Elliott's silken foot-gear, with which he and the dogs played ball
6911
+
until he decided to put them on. Then he lighted a cigarette and inspected
6912
+
his dress-coat. When he had emptied it of four handkerchiefs, a fan, and a
6913
+
pair of crumpled gloves as long as his arm, he decided it was not suited
6914
+
to add _éclat_ to his charms and cast about in his mind for a substitute.
6915
+
Elliott was too thin, and, anyway, his coats were now under lock and key.
6916
+
Rowden probably was as badly off as himself. Hastings! Hastings was the
6917
+
man! But when he threw on a smoking-jacket and sauntered over to Hastings'
6918
+
house, he was informed that he had been gone over an hour.
6919
+
6920
+
"Now, where in the name of all that's reasonable could he have gone!"
6921
+
muttered Clifford, looking down the street.
6922
+
6923
+
The maid didn't know, so he bestowed upon her a fascinating smile and
6924
+
lounged back to the studio.
6925
+
6926
+
Hastings was not far away. The Luxembourg is within five minutes' walk of
6927
+
the rue Notre Dame des Champs, and there he sat under the shadow of a
6928
+
winged god, and there he had sat for an hour, poking holes in the dust and
6929
+
watching the steps which lead from the northern terrace to the fountain.
6930
+
The sun hung, a purple globe, above the misty hills of Meudon. Long
6931
+
streamers of clouds touched with rose swept low on the western sky, and
6932
+
the dome of the distant Invalides burned like an opal through the haze.
6933
+
Behind the Palace the smoke from a high chimney mounted straight into the
6934
+
air, purple until it crossed the sun, where it changed to a bar of
6935
+
smouldering fire. High above the darkening foliage of the chestnuts the
6936
+
twin towers of St. Sulpice rose, an ever-deepening silhouette.
6937
+
6938
+
A sleepy blackbird was carolling in some near thicket, and pigeons passed
6939
+
and repassed with the whisper of soft winds in their wings. The light on
6940
+
the Palace windows had died away, and the dome of the Pantheon swam aglow
6941
+
above the northern terrace, a fiery Valhalla in the sky; while below in
6942
+
grim array, along the terrace ranged, the marble ranks of queens looked
6943
+
out into the west.
6944
+
6945
+
From the end of the long walk by the northern façade of the Palace came
6946
+
the noise of omnibuses and the cries of the street. Hastings looked at the
6947
+
Palace clock. Six, and as his own watch agreed with it, he fell to poking
6948
+
holes in the gravel again. A constant stream of people passed between the
6949
+
Odéon and the fountain. Priests in black, with silver-buckled shoes; line
6950
+
soldiers, slouchy and rakish; neat girls without hats bearing milliners'
6951
+
boxes, students with black portfolios and high hats, students with bérets
6952
+
and big canes, nervous, quick-stepping officers, symphonies in turquoise
6953
+
and silver; ponderous jangling cavalrymen all over dust, pastry cooks'
6954
+
boys skipping along with utter disregard for the safety of the basket
6955
+
balanced on the impish head, and then the lean outcast, the shambling
6956
+
Paris tramp, slouching with shoulders bent and little eye furtively
6957
+
scanning the ground for smokers' refuse;--all these moved in a steady
6958
+
stream across the fountain circle and out into the city by the Odeon,
6959
+
whose long arcades were now beginning to flicker with gas-jets. The
6960
+
melancholy bells of St Sulpice struck the hour and the clock-tower of the
6961
+
Palace lighted up. Then hurried steps sounded across the gravel and
6962
+
Hastings raised his head.
6963
+
6964
+
"How late you are," he said, but his voice was hoarse and only his flushed
6965
+
face told how long had seemed the waiting.
6966
+
6967
+
She said, "I was kept--indeed, I was so much annoyed--and--and I may only
6968
+
stay a moment."
6969
+
6970
+
She sat down beside him, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder at the
6971
+
god upon his pedestal.
6972
+
6973
+
"What a nuisance, that intruding cupid still there?"
6974
+
6975
+
"Wings and arrows too," said Hastings, unheeding her motion to be seated.
6976
+
6977
+
"Wings," she murmured, "oh, yes--to fly away with when he's tired of his
6978
+
play. Of course it was a man who conceived the idea of wings, otherwise
6979
+
Cupid would have been insupportable."
6980
+
6981
+
"Do you think so?"
6982
+
6983
+
"_Ma foi_, it's what men think."
6984
+
6985
+
"And women?"
6986
+
6987
+
"Oh," she said, with a toss of her small head, "I really forget what we
6988
+
were speaking of."
6989
+
6990
+
"We were speaking of love," said Hastings.
6991
+
6992
+
"_I_ was not," said the girl. Then looking up at the marble god, "I don't
6993
+
care for this one at all. I don't believe he knows how to shoot his
6994
+
arrows--no, indeed, he is a coward;--he creeps up like an assassin in the
6995
+
twilight. I don't approve of cowardice," she announced, and turned her
6996
+
back on the statue.
6997
+
6998
+
"I think," said Hastings quietly, "that he does shoot fairly--yes, and
6999
+
even gives one warning."
7000
+
7001
+
"Is it your experience, Monsieur Hastings?"
7002
+
7003
+
He looked straight into her eyes and said, "He is warning me."
7004
+
7005
+
"Heed the warning then," she cried, with a nervous laugh. As she spoke she
7006
+
stripped off her gloves, and then carefully proceeded to draw them on
7007
+
again. When this was accomplished she glanced at the Palace clock, saying,
7008
+
"Oh dear, how late it is!" furled her umbrella, then unfurled it, and
7009
+
finally looked at him.
7010
+
7011
+
"No," he said, "I shall not heed his warning."
7012
+
7013
+
"Oh dear," she sighed again, "still talking about that tiresome statue!"
7014
+
Then stealing a glance at his face, "I suppose--I suppose you are in
7015
+
love."
7016
+
7017
+
"I don't know," he muttered, "I suppose I am."
7018
+
7019
+
She raised her head with a quick gesture. "You seem delighted at the
7020
+
idea," she said, but bit her lip and trembled as his eyes met hers. Then
7021
+
sudden fear came over her and she sprang up, staring into the gathering
7022
+
shadows.
7023
+
7024
+
"Are you cold?" he said.
7025
+
7026
+
But she only answered, "Oh dear, oh dear, it is late--so late! I must
7027
+
go--good-night."
7028
+
7029
+
She gave him her gloved hand a moment and then withdrew it with a start.
7030
+
7031
+
"What is it?" he insisted. "Are you frightened?"
7032
+
7033
+
She looked at him strangely.
7034
+
7035
+
"No--no--not frightened,--you are very good to me--"
7036
+
7037
+
"By Jove!" he burst out, "what do you mean by saying I'm good to you?
7038
+
That's at least the third time, and I don't understand!"
7039
+
7040
+
The sound of a drum from the guard-house at the palace cut him short.
7041
+
"Listen," she whispered, "they are going to close. It's late, oh, so
7042
+
late!"
7043
+
7044
+
The rolling of the drum came nearer and nearer, and then the silhouette of
7045
+
the drummer cut the sky above the eastern terrace. The fading light
7046
+
lingered a moment on his belt and bayonet, then he passed into the
7047
+
shadows, drumming the echoes awake. The roll became fainter along the
7048
+
eastern terrace, then grew and grew and rattled with increasing sharpness
7049
+
when he passed the avenue by the bronze lion and turned down the western
7050
+
terrace walk. Louder and louder the drum sounded, and the echoes struck
7051
+
back the notes from the grey palace wall; and now the drummer loomed up
7052
+
before them--his red trousers a dull spot in the gathering gloom, the
7053
+
brass of his drum and bayonet touched with a pale spark, his epaulettes
7054
+
tossing on his shoulders. He passed leaving the crash of the drum in their
7055
+
ears, and far into the alley of trees they saw his little tin cup shining
7056
+
on his haversack. Then the sentinels began the monotonous cry: "On ferme!
7057
+
on ferme!" and the bugle blew from the barracks in the rue de Tournon.
7058
+
7059
+
"On ferme! on ferme!"
7060
+
7061
+
"Good-night," she whispered, "I must return alone to-night."
7062
+
7063
+
He watched her until she reached the northern terrace, and then sat down
7064
+
on the marble seat until a hand on his shoulder and a glimmer of bayonets
7065
+
warned him away.
7066
+
7067
+
She passed on through the grove, and turning into the rue de Medici,
7068
+
traversed it to the Boulevard. At the corner she bought a bunch of violets
7069
+
and walked on along the Boulevard to the rue des Écoles. A cab was drawn
7070
+
up before Boulant's, and a pretty girl aided by Elliott jumped out.
7071
+
7072
+
"Valentine!" cried the girl, "come with us!"
7073
+
7074
+
"I can't," she said, stopping a moment--"I have a rendezvous at Mignon's."
7075
+
7076
+
"Not Victor?" cried the girl, laughing, but she passed with a little
7077
+
shiver, nodding good-night, then turning into the Boulevard St. Germain,
7078
+
she walked a tittle faster to escape a gay party sitting before the Café
7079
+
Cluny who called to her to join them. At the door of the Restaurant Mignon
7080
+
stood a coal-black negro in buttons. He took off his peaked cap as she
7081
+
mounted the carpeted stairs.
7082
+
7083
+
"Send Eugene to me," she said at the office, and passing through the
7084
+
hallway to the right of the dining-room stopped before a row of panelled
7085
+
doors. A waiter passed and she repeated her demand for Eugene, who
7086
+
presently appeared, noiselessly skipping, and bowed murmuring, "Madame."
7087
+
7088
+
"Who is here?"
7089
+
7090
+
"No one in the cabinets, madame; in the half Madame Madelon and Monsieur
7091
+
Gay, Monsieur de Clamart, Monsieur Clisson, Madame Marie and their set."
7092
+
Then he looked around and bowing again murmured, "Monsieur awaits madame
7093
+
since half an hour," and he knocked at one of the panelled doors bearing
7094
+
the number six.
7095
+
7096
+
Clifford opened the door and the girl entered.
7097
+
7098
+
The garçon bowed her in, and whispering, "Will Monsieur have the goodness
7099
+
to ring?" vanished.
7100
+
7101
+
He helped her off with her jacket and took her hat and umbrella. When she
7102
+
was seated at the little table with Clifford opposite she smiled and
7103
+
leaned forward on both elbows looking him in the face.
7104
+
7105
+
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
7106
+
7107
+
"Waiting," he replied, in accents of adoration.
7108
+
7109
+
For an instant she turned and examined herself in the glass. The wide blue
7110
+
eyes, the curling hair, the straight nose and short curled lip flashed in
7111
+
the mirror an instant only, and then its depths reflected her pretty neck
7112
+
and back. "Thus do I turn my back on vanity," she said, and then leaning
7113
+
forward again, "What are you doing here?"
7114
+
7115
+
"Waiting for you," repeated Clifford, slightly troubled.
7116
+
7117
+
"And Cécile."
7118
+
7119
+
"Now don't, Valentine--"
7120
+
7121
+
"Do you know," she said calmly, "I dislike your conduct?"
7122
+
7123
+
He was a little disconcerted, and rang for Eugene to cover his confusion.
7124
+
7125
+
The soup was bisque, and the wine Pommery, and the courses followed each
7126
+
other with the usual regularity until Eugene brought coffee, and there was
7127
+
nothing left on the table but a small silver lamp.
7128
+
7129
+
"Valentine," said Clifford, after having obtained permission to smoke, "is
7130
+
it the Vaudeville or the Eldorado--or both, or the Nouveau Cirque, or--"
7131
+
7132
+
"It is here," said Valentine.
7133
+
7134
+
"Well," he said, greatly flattered, "I'm afraid I couldn't amuse you--"
7135
+
7136
+
"Oh, yes, you are funnier than the Eldorado."
7137
+
7138
+
"Now see here, don't guy me, Valentine. You always do, and, and,--you know
7139
+
what they say,--a good laugh kills--"
7140
+
7141
+
"What?"
7142
+
7143
+
"Er--er--love and all that."
7144
+
7145
+
She laughed until her eyes were moist with tears. "Tiens," she cried, "he
7146
+
is dead, then!"
7147
+
7148
+
Clifford eyed her with growing alarm.
7149
+
7150
+
"Do you know why I came?" she said.
7151
+
7152
+
"No," he replied uneasily, "I don't."
7153
+
7154
+
"How long have you made love to me?"
7155
+
7156
+
"Well," he admitted, somewhat startled,--"I should say,--for about a
7157
+
year."
7158
+
7159
+
"It is a year, I think. Are you not tired?"
7160
+
7161
+
He did not answer.
7162
+
7163
+
"Don't you know that I like you too well to--to ever fall in love with
7164
+
you?" she said. "Don't you know that we are too good comrades,--too old
7165
+
friends for that? And were we not,--do you think that I do not know your
7166
+
history, Monsieur Clifford?"
7167
+
7168
+
"Don't be--don't be so sarcastic," he urged; "don't be unkind, Valentine."
7169
+
7170
+
"I'm not. I'm kind. I'm very kind,--to you and to Cécile."
7171
+
7172
+
"Cécile is tired of me."
7173
+
7174
+
"I hope she is," said the girl, "for she deserves a better fate. Tiens, do
7175
+
you know your reputation in the Quarter? Of the inconstant, the most
7176
+
inconstant,--utterly incorrigible and no more serious than a gnat on a
7177
+
summer night. Poor Cécile!"
7178
+
7179
+
Clifford looked so uncomfortable that she spoke more kindly.
7180
+
7181
+
"I like you. You know that. Everybody does. You are a spoiled child here.
7182
+
Everything is permitted you and every one makes allowance, but every one
7183
+
cannot be a victim to caprice."
7184
+
7185
+
"Caprice!" he cried. "By Jove, if the girls of the Latin Quarter are not
7186
+
capricious--"
7187
+
7188
+
"Never mind,--never mind about that! You must not sit in judgment--you of
7189
+
all men. Why are you here to-night? Oh," she cried, "I will tell you why!
7190
+
Monsieur receives a little note; he sends a little answer; he dresses in
7191
+
his conquering raiment--"
7192
+
7193
+
"I don't," said Clifford, very red.
7194
+
7195
+
"You do, and it becomes you," she retorted with a faint smile. Then again,
7196
+
very quietly, "I am in your power, but I know I am in the power of a
7197
+
friend. I have come to acknowledge it to you here,--and it is because of
7198
+
that that I am here to beg of you--a--a favour."
7199
+
7200
+
Clifford opened his eyes, but said nothing.
7201
+
7202
+
"I am in--great distress of mind. It is Monsieur Hastings."
7203
+
7204
+
"Well?" said Clifford, in some astonishment.
7205
+
7206
+
"I want to ask you," she continued in a low voice, "I want to ask you
7207
+
to--to--in case you should speak of me before him,--not to say,--not to
7208
+
say,--"
7209
+
7210
+
"I shall not speak of you to him," he said quietly.
7211
+
7212
+
"Can--can you prevent others?"
7213
+
7214
+
"I might if I was present. May I ask why?"
7215
+
7216
+
"That is not fair," she murmured; "you know how--how he considers me,--as
7217
+
he considers every woman. You know how different he is from you and the
7218
+
rest. I have never seen a man,--such a man as Monsieur Hastings."
7219
+
7220
+
He let his cigarette go out unnoticed.
7221
+
7222
+
"I am almost afraid of him--afraid he should know--what we all are in the
7223
+
Quarter. Oh, I do not wish him to know! I do not wish him to--to turn from
7224
+
me--to cease from speaking to me as he does! You--you and the rest cannot
7225
+
know what it has been to me. I could not believe him,--I could not believe
7226
+
he was so good and--and noble. I do not wish him to know--so soon. He will
7227
+
find out--sooner or later, he will find out for himself, and then he will
7228
+
turn away from me. Why!" she cried passionately, "why should he turn from
7229
+
me and not from _you_?"
7230
+
7231
+
Clifford, much embarrassed, eyed his cigarette.
7232
+
7233
+
The girl rose, very white. "He is your friend--you have a right to warn
7234
+
him."
7235
+
7236
+
"He is my friend," he said at length.
7237
+
7238
+
They looked at each other in silence.
7239
+
7240
+
Then she cried, "By all that I hold to me most sacred, you need not warn
7241
+
him!"
7242
+
7243
+
"I shall trust your word," he said pleasantly.
7244
+
7245
+
7246
+
7247
+
7248
+
V
7249
+
7250
+
The month passed quickly for Hastings, and left few definite impressions
7251
+
after it. It did leave some, however. One was a painful impression of
7252
+
meeting Mr. Bladen on the Boulevard des Capucines in company with a very
7253
+
pronounced young person whose laugh dismayed him, and when at last he
7254
+
escaped from the café where Mr. Bladen had hauled him to join them in a
7255
+
_bock_ he felt as if the whole boulevard was looking at him, and judging
7256
+
him by his company. Later, an instinctive conviction regarding the young
7257
+
person with Mr. Bladen sent the hot blood into his cheek, and he returned
7258
+
to the pension in such a miserable state of mind that Miss Byng was
7259
+
alarmed and advised him to conquer his homesickness at once.
7260
+
7261
+
Another impression was equally vivid. One Saturday morning, feeling
7262
+
lonely, his wanderings about the city brought him to the Gare St. Lazare.
7263
+
It was early for breakfast, but he entered the Hôtel Terminus and took a
7264
+
table near the window. As he wheeled about to give his order, a man
7265
+
passing rapidly along the aisle collided with his head, and looking up to
7266
+
receive the expected apology, he was met instead by a slap on the shoulder
7267
+
and a hearty, "What the deuce are you doing here, old chap?" It was
7268
+
Rowden, who seized him and told him to come along. So, mildly protesting,
7269
+
he was ushered into a private dining-room where Clifford, rather red,
7270
+
jumped up from the table and welcomed him with a startled air which was
7271
+
softened by the unaffected glee of Rowden and the extreme courtesy of
7272
+
Elliott. The latter presented him to three bewitching girls who welcomed
7273
+
him so charmingly and seconded Rowden in his demand that Hastings should
7274
+
make one of the party, that he consented at once. While Elliott briefly
7275
+
outlined the projected excursion to La Roche, Hastings delightedly ate his
7276
+
omelet, and returned the smiles of encouragement from Cécile and Colette
7277
+
and Jacqueline. Meantime Clifford in a bland whisper was telling Rowden
7278
+
what an ass he was. Poor Rowden looked miserable until Elliott, divining
7279
+
how affairs were turning, frowned on Clifford and found a moment to let
7280
+
Rowden know that they were all going to make the best of it.
7281
+
7282
+
"You shut up," he observed to Clifford, "it's fate, and that settles it."
7283
+
7284
+
"It's Rowden, and that settles it," murmured Clifford, concealing a grin.
7285
+
For after all he was not Hastings' wet nurse. So it came about that the
7286
+
train which left the Gare St. Lazare at 9.15 a.m. stopped a moment in its
7287
+
career towards Havre and deposited at the red-roofed station of La Roche a
7288
+
merry party, armed with sunshades, trout-rods, and one cane, carried by
7289
+
the non-combatant, Hastings. Then, when they had established their camp in
7290
+
a grove of sycamores which bordered the little river Ept, Clifford, the
7291
+
acknowledged master of all that pertained to sportsmanship, took command.
7292
+
7293
+
"You, Rowden," he said, "divide your flies with Elliott and keep an eye on
7294
+
him or else he'll be trying to put on a float and sinker. Prevent him by
7295
+
force from grubbing about for worms."
7296
+
7297
+
Elliott protested, but was forced to smile in the general laugh.
7298
+
7299
+
"You make me ill," he asserted; "do you think this is my first trout?"
7300
+
7301
+
"I shall be delighted to see your first trout," said Clifford, and dodging
7302
+
a fly hook, hurled with intent to hit, proceeded to sort and equip three
7303
+
slender rods destined to bring joy and fish to Cécil, Colette, and
7304
+
Jacqueline. With perfect gravity he ornamented each line with four split
7305
+
shot, a small hook, and a brilliant quill float.
7306
+
7307
+
"_I_ shall never touch the worms," announced Cécile with a shudder.
7308
+
7309
+
Jacqueline and Colette hastened to sustain her, and Hastings pleasantly
7310
+
offered to act in the capacity of general baiter and taker-off of fish.
7311
+
But Cécile, doubtless fascinated by the gaudy flies in Clifford's book,
7312
+
decided to accept lessons from him in the true art, and presently
7313
+
disappeared up the Ept with Clifford in tow.
7314
+
7315
+
Elliott looked doubtfully at Colette.
7316
+
7317
+
"I prefer gudgeons," said that damsel with decision, "and you and Monsieur
7318
+
Rowden may go away when you please; may they not, Jacqueline?"
7319
+
7320
+
"Certainly," responded Jacqueline.
7321
+
7322
+
Elliott, undecided, examined his rod and reel.
7323
+
7324
+
"You've got your reel on wrong side up," observed Rowden.
7325
+
7326
+
Elliott wavered, and stole a glance at Colette.
7327
+
7328
+
"I--I--have almost decided to--er--not to flip the flies about just now,"
7329
+
he began. "There's the pole that Cécile left--"
7330
+
7331
+
"Don't call it a pole," corrected Rowden.
7332
+
7333
+
"_Rod_, then," continued Elliott, and started off in the wake of the two
7334
+
girls, but was promptly collared by Rowden.
7335
+
7336
+
"No, you don't! Fancy a man fishing with a float and sinker when he has a
7337
+
fly rod in his hand! You come along!"
7338
+
7339
+
Where the placid little Ept flows down between its thickets to the Seine,
7340
+
a grassy bank shadows the haunt of the gudgeon, and on this bank sat
7341
+
Colette and Jacqueline and chattered and laughed and watched the swerving
7342
+
of the scarlet quills, while Hastings, his hat over his eyes, his head on
7343
+
a bank of moss, listened to their soft voices and gallantly unhooked the
7344
+
small and indignant gudgeon when a flash of a rod and a half-suppressed
7345
+
scream announced a catch. The sunlight filtered through the leafy thickets
7346
+
awaking to song the forest birds. Magpies in spotless black and white
7347
+
flirted past, alighting near by with a hop and bound and twitch of the
7348
+
tail. Blue and white jays with rosy breasts shrieked through the trees,
7349
+
and a low-sailing hawk wheeled among the fields of ripening wheat, putting
7350
+
to flight flocks of twittering hedge birds.
7351
+
7352
+
Across the Seine a gull dropped on the water like a plume. The air was
7353
+
pure and still. Scarcely a leaf moved. Sounds from a distant farm came
7354
+
faintly, the shrill cock-crow and dull baying. Now and then a steam-tug
7355
+
with big raking smoke-pipe, bearing the name "Guêpe 27," ploughed up the
7356
+
river dragging its interminable train of barges, or a sailboat dropped
7357
+
down with the current toward sleepy Rouen.
7358
+
7359
+
A faint fresh odour of earth and water hung in the air, and through the
7360
+
sunlight, orange-tipped butterflies danced above the marsh grass, soft
7361
+
velvety butterflies flapped through the mossy woods.
7362
+
7363
+
Hastings was thinking of Valentine. It was two o'clock when Elliott
7364
+
strolled back, and frankly admitting that he had eluded Rowden, sat down
7365
+
beside Colette and prepared to doze with satisfaction.
7366
+
7367
+
"Where are your trout?" said Colette severely.
7368
+
7369
+
"They still live," murmured Elliott, and went fast asleep.
7370
+
7371
+
Rowden returned shortly after, and casting a scornful glance at the
7372
+
slumbering one, displayed three crimson-flecked trout.
7373
+
7374
+
"And that," smiled Hastings lazily, "that is the holy end to which the
7375
+
faithful plod,--the slaughter of these small fish with a bit of silk and
7376
+
feather."
7377
+
7378
+
Rowden disdained to answer him. Colette caught another gudgeon and awoke
7379
+
Elliott, who protested and gazed about for the lunch baskets, as Clifford
7380
+
and Cécile came up demanding instant refreshment. Cécile's skirts were
7381
+
soaked, and her gloves torn, but she was happy, and Clifford, dragging out
7382
+
a two-pound trout, stood still to receive the applause of the company.
7383
+
7384
+
"Where the deuce did you get that?" demanded Elliott.
7385
+
7386
+
Cécile, wet and enthusiastic, recounted the battle, and then Clifford
7387
+
eulogized her powers with the fly, and, in proof, produced from his creel
7388
+
a defunct chub, which, he observed, just missed being a trout.
7389
+
7390
+
They were all very happy at luncheon, and Hastings was voted "charming."
7391
+
He enjoyed it immensely,--only it seemed to him at moments that flirtation
7392
+
went further in France than in Millbrook, Connecticut, and he thought that
7393
+
Cécile might be a little less enthusiastic about Clifford, that perhaps it
7394
+
would be quite as well if Jacqueline sat further away from Rowden, and
7395
+
that possibly Colette could have, for a moment at least, taken her eyes
7396
+
from Elliott's face. Still he enjoyed it--except when his thoughts drifted
7397
+
to Valentine, and then he felt that he was very far away from her. La
7398
+
Roche is at least an hour and a half from Paris. It is also true that he
7399
+
felt a happiness, a quick heart-beat when, at eight o'clock that night the
7400
+
train which bore them from La Roche rolled into the Gare St. Lazare and he
7401
+
was once more in the city of Valentine.
7402
+
7403
+
"Good-night," they said, pressing around him. "You must come with us next
7404
+
time!"
7405
+
7406
+
He promised, and watched them, two by two, drift into the darkening city,
7407
+
and stood so long that, when again he raised his eyes, the vast Boulevard
7408
+
was twinkling with gas-jets through which the electric lights stared like
7409
+
moons.
7410
+
7411
+
7412
+
7413
+
7414
+
VI
7415
+
7416
+
It was with another quick heart-beat that he awoke next morning, for his
7417
+
first thought was of Valentine.
7418
+
7419
+
The sun already gilded the towers of Notre Dame, the clatter of workmen's
7420
+
sabots awoke sharp echoes in the street below, and across the way a
7421
+
blackbird in a pink almond tree was going into an ecstasy of trills.
7422
+
7423
+
He determined to awake Clifford for a brisk walk in the country, hoping
7424
+
later to beguile that gentleman into the American church for his soul's
7425
+
sake. He found Alfred the gimlet-eyed washing the asphalt walk which led
7426
+
to the studio.
7427
+
7428
+
"Monsieur Elliott?" he replied to the perfunctory inquiry, "_je ne sais
7429
+
pas_."
7430
+
7431
+
"And Monsieur Clifford," began Hastings, somewhat astonished.
7432
+
7433
+
"Monsieur Clifford," said the concierge with fine irony, "will be pleased
7434
+
to see you, as he retired early; in fact he has just come in."
7435
+
7436
+
Hastings hesitated while the concierge pronounced a fine eulogy on people
7437
+
who never stayed out all night and then came battering at the lodge gate
7438
+
during hours which even a gendarme held sacred to sleep. He also
7439
+
discoursed eloquently upon the beauties of temperance, and took an
7440
+
ostentatious draught from the fountain in the court.
7441
+
7442
+
"I do not think I will come in," said Hastings.
7443
+
7444
+
"Pardon, monsieur," growled the concierge, "perhaps it would be well to
7445
+
see Monsieur Clifford. He possibly needs aid. Me he drives forth with
7446
+
hair-brushes and boots. It is a mercy if he has not set fire to something
7447
+
with his candle."
7448
+
7449
+
Hastings hesitated for an instant, but swallowing his dislike of such a
7450
+
mission, walked slowly through the ivy-covered alley and across the inner
7451
+
garden to the studio. He knocked. Perfect silence. Then he knocked again,
7452
+
and this time something struck the door from within with a crash.
7453
+
7454
+
"That," said the concierge, "was a boot." He fitted his duplicate key into
7455
+
the lock and ushered Hastings in. Clifford, in disordered evening dress,
7456
+
sat on the rug in the middle of the room. He held in his hand a shoe, and
7457
+
did not appear astonished to see Hastings.
7458
+
7459
+
"Good-morning, do you use Pears' soap?" he inquired with a vague wave of
7460
+
his hand and a vaguer smile.
7461
+
7462
+
Hastings' heart sank. "For Heaven's sake," he said, "Clifford, go to bed."
7463
+
7464
+
"Not while that--that Alfred pokes his shaggy head in here an' I have a
7465
+
shoe left."
7466
+
7467
+
Hastings blew out the candle, picked up Clifford's hat and cane, and said,
7468
+
with an emotion he could not conceal, "This is terrible,
7469
+
Clifford,--I--never knew you did this sort of thing."
7470
+
7471
+
"Well, I do," said Clifford.
7472
+
7473
+
"Where is Elliott?"
7474
+
7475
+
"Ole chap," returned Clifford, becoming maudlin, "Providence which
7476
+
feeds--feeds--er--sparrows an' that sort of thing watcheth over the
7477
+
intemperate wanderer--"
7478
+
7479
+
"Where is Elliott?"
7480
+
7481
+
But Clifford only wagged his head and waved his arm about. "He's out
7482
+
there,--somewhere about." Then suddenly feeling a desire to see his
7483
+
missing chum, lifted up his voice and howled for him.
7484
+
7485
+
Hastings, thoroughly shocked, sat down on the lounge without a word.
7486
+
Presently, after shedding several scalding tears, Clifford brightened up
7487
+
and rose with great precaution.
7488
+
7489
+
"Ole chap," he observed, "do you want to see er--er miracle? Well, here
7490
+
goes. I'm goin' to begin."
7491
+
7492
+
He paused, beaming at vacancy.
7493
+
7494
+
"Er miracle," he repeated.
7495
+
7496
+
Hastings supposed he was alluding to the miracle of his keeping his
7497
+
balance, and said nothing.
7498
+
7499
+
"I'm goin' to bed," he announced, "poor ole Clifford's goin' to bed, an'
7500
+
that's er miracle!"
7501
+
7502
+
And he did with a nice calculation of distance and equilibrium which would
7503
+
have rung enthusiastic yells of applause from Elliott had he been there to
7504
+
assist _en connaisseur_. But he was not. He had not yet reached the
7505
+
studio. He was on his way, however, and smiled with magnificent
7506
+
condescension on Hastings, who, half an hour later, found him reclining
7507
+
upon a bench in the Luxembourg. He permitted himself to be aroused, dusted
7508
+
and escorted to the gate. Here, however, he refused all further
7509
+
assistance, and bestowing a patronizing bow upon Hastings, steered a
7510
+
tolerably true course for the rue Vavin.
7511
+
7512
+
Hastings watched him out of sight, and then slowly retraced his steps
7513
+
toward the fountain. At first he felt gloomy and depressed, but gradually
7514
+
the clear air of the morning lifted the pressure from his heart, and he
7515
+
sat down on the marble seat under the shadow of the winged god.
7516
+
7517
+
The air was fresh and sweet with perfume from the orange flowers.
7518
+
Everywhere pigeons were bathing, dashing the water over their iris-hued
7519
+
breasts, flashing in and out of the spray or nestling almost to the neck
7520
+
along the polished basin. The sparrows, too, were abroad in force, soaking
7521
+
their dust-coloured feathers in the limpid pool and chirping with might
7522
+
and main. Under the sycamores which surrounded the duck-pond opposite the
7523
+
fountain of Marie de Medici, the water-fowl cropped the herbage, or
7524
+
waddled in rows down the bank to embark on some solemn aimless cruise.
7525
+
7526
+
Butterflies, somewhat lame from a chilly night's repose under the lilac
7527
+
leaves, crawled over and over the white phlox, or took a rheumatic flight
7528
+
toward some sun-warmed shrub. The bees were already busy among the
7529
+
heliotrope, and one or two grey flies with brick-coloured eyes sat in a
7530
+
spot of sunlight beside the marble seat, or chased each other about, only
7531
+
to return again to the spot of sunshine and rub their fore-legs, exulting.
7532
+
7533
+
The sentries paced briskly before the painted boxes, pausing at times to
7534
+
look toward the guard-house for their relief.
7535
+
7536
+
They came at last, with a shuffle of feet and click of bayonets, the word
7537
+
was passed, the relief fell out, and away they went, crunch, crunch,
7538
+
across the gravel.
7539
+
7540
+
A mellow chime floated from the clock-tower of the palace, the deep bell
7541
+
of St. Sulpice echoed the stroke. Hastings sat dreaming in the shadow of
7542
+
the god, and while he mused somebody came and sat down beside him. At
7543
+
first he did not raise his head. It was only when she spoke that he sprang
7544
+
up.
7545
+
7546
+
"You! At this hour?"
7547
+
7548
+
"I was restless, I could not sleep." Then in a low, happy voice--"And
7549
+
_you!_ at this hour?"
7550
+
7551
+
"I--I slept, but the sun awoke me."
7552
+
7553
+
"_I_ could not sleep," she said, and her eyes seemed, for a moment,
7554
+
touched with an indefinable shadow. Then, smiling, "I am so glad--I seemed
7555
+
to know you were coming. Don't laugh, I believe in dreams."
7556
+
7557
+
"Did you really dream of,--of my being here?"
7558
+
7559
+
"I think I was awake when I dreamed it," she admitted. Then for a time
7560
+
they were mute, acknowledging by silence the happiness of being together.
7561
+
And after all their silence was eloquent, for faint smiles, and glances
7562
+
born of their thoughts, crossed and recrossed, until lips moved and words
7563
+
were formed, which seemed almost superfluous. What they said was not very
7564
+
profound. Perhaps the most valuable jewel that fell from Hastings' lips
7565
+
bore direct reference to breakfast.
7566
+
7567
+
"I have not yet had my chocolate," she confessed, "but what a material man
7568
+
you are."
7569
+
7570
+
"Valentine," he said impulsively, "I wish,--I do wish that you
7571
+
would,--just for this once,--give me the whole day,--just for this once."
7572
+
7573
+
"Oh dear," she smiled, "not only material, but selfish!"
7574
+
7575
+
"Not selfish, hungry," he said, looking at her.
7576
+
7577
+
"A cannibal too; oh dear!"
7578
+
7579
+
"Will you, Valentine?"
7580
+
7581
+
"But my chocolate--"
7582
+
7583
+
"Take it with me."
7584
+
7585
+
"But _déjeuner_--"
7586
+
7587
+
"Together, at St. Cloud."
7588
+
7589
+
"But I can't--"
7590
+
7591
+
"Together,--all day,--all day long; will you, Valentine?"
7592
+
7593
+
She was silent.
7594
+
7595
+
"Only for this once."
7596
+
7597
+
Again that indefinable shadow fell across her eyes, and when it was gone
7598
+
she sighed. "Yes,--together, only for this once."
7599
+
7600
+
"All day?" he said, doubting his happiness.
7601
+
7602
+
"All day," she smiled; "and oh, I am so hungry!"
7603
+
7604
+
He laughed, enchanted.
7605
+
7606
+
"What a material young lady it is."
7607
+
7608
+
On the Boulevard St. Michel there is a Crémerie painted white and blue
7609
+
outside, and neat and clean as a whistle inside. The auburn-haired young
7610
+
woman who speaks French like a native, and rejoices in the name of Murphy,
7611
+
smiled at them as they entered, and tossing a fresh napkin over the zinc
7612
+
_tête-à-tête_ table, whisked before them two cups of chocolate and a
7613
+
basket full of crisp, fresh croissons.
7614
+
7615
+
The primrose-coloured pats of butter, each stamped with a shamrock in
7616
+
relief, seemed saturated with the fragrance of Normandy pastures.
7617
+
7618
+
"How delicious!" they said in the same breath, and then laughed at the
7619
+
coincidence.
7620
+
7621
+
"With but a single thought," he began.
7622
+
7623
+
"How absurd!" she cried with cheeks all rosy. "I'm thinking I'd like a
7624
+
croisson."
7625
+
7626
+
"So am I," he replied triumphant, "that proves it."
7627
+
7628
+
Then they had a quarrel; she accusing him of behaviour unworthy of a child
7629
+
in arms, and he denying it, and bringing counter charges, until
7630
+
Mademoiselle Murphy laughed in sympathy, and the last croisson was eaten
7631
+
under a flag of truce. Then they rose, and she took his arm with a bright
7632
+
nod to Mile. Murphy, who cried them a merry: "_Bonjour, madame! bonjour,
7633
+
monsieur_!" and watched them hail a passing cab and drive away. "_Dieu!
7634
+
qu'il est beau_," she sighed, adding after a moment, "Do they be married,
7635
+
I dunno,--_ma foi ils ont bien l'air_."
7636
+
7637
+
The cab swung around the rue de Medici, turned into the rue de Vaugirard,
7638
+
followed it to where it crosses the rue de Rennes, and taking that noisy
7639
+
thoroughfare, drew up before the Gare Montparnasse. They were just in time
7640
+
for a train and scampered up the stairway and out to the cars as the last
7641
+
note from the starting-gong rang through the arched station. The guard
7642
+
slammed the door of their compartment, a whistle sounded, answered by a
7643
+
screech from the locomotive, and the long train glided from the station,
7644
+
faster, faster, and sped out into the morning sunshine. The summer wind
7645
+
blew in their faces from the open window, and sent the soft hair dancing
7646
+
on the girl's forehead.
7647
+
7648
+
"We have the compartment to ourselves," said Hastings.
7649
+
7650
+
She leaned against the cushioned window-seat, her eyes bright and wide
7651
+
open, her lips parted. The wind lifted her hat, and fluttered the ribbons
7652
+
under her chin. With a quick movement she untied them, and, drawing a long
7653
+
hat-pin from her hat, laid it down on the seat beside her. The train was
7654
+
flying.
7655
+
7656
+
The colour surged in her cheeks, and, with each quick-drawn breath, her
7657
+
breath rose and fell under the cluster of lilies at her throat. Trees,
7658
+
houses, ponds, danced past, cut by a mist of telegraph poles.
7659
+
7660
+
"Faster! faster!" she cried.
7661
+
7662
+
His eyes never left her, but hers, wide open, and blue as the summer sky,
7663
+
seemed fixed on something far ahead,--something which came no nearer, but
7664
+
fled before them as they fled.
7665
+
7666
+
Was it the horizon, cut now by the grim fortress on the hill, now by the
7667
+
cross of a country chapel? Was it the summer moon, ghost-like, slipping
7668
+
through the vaguer blue above?
7669
+
7670
+
"Faster! faster!" she cried.
7671
+
7672
+
Her parted lips burned scarlet.
7673
+
7674
+
The car shook and shivered, and the fields streamed by like an emerald
7675
+
torrent. He caught the excitement, and his faced glowed.
7676
+
7677
+
"Oh," she cried, and with an unconscious movement caught his hand, drawing
7678
+
him to the window beside her. "Look! lean out with me!"
7679
+
7680
+
He only saw her lips move; her voice was drowned in the roar of a trestle,
7681
+
but his hand closed in hers and he clung to the sill. The wind whistled in
7682
+
their ears. "Not so far out, Valentine, take care!" he gasped.
7683
+
7684
+
Below, through the ties of the trestle, a broad river flashed into view
7685
+
and out again, as the train thundered along a tunnel, and away once more
7686
+
through the freshest of green fields. The wind roared about them. The girl
7687
+
was leaning far out from the window, and he caught her by the waist,
7688
+
crying, "Not too far!" but she only murmured, "Faster! faster! away out of
7689
+
the city, out of the land, faster, faster! away out of the world!"
7690
+
7691
+
"What are you saying all to yourself?" he said, but his voice was broken,
7692
+
and the wind whirled it back into his throat.
7693
+
7694
+
She heard him, and, turning from the window looked down at his arm about
7695
+
her. Then she raised her eyes to his. The car shook and the windows
7696
+
rattled. They were dashing through a forest now, and the sun swept the
7697
+
dewy branches with running flashes of fire. He looked into her troubled
7698
+
eyes; he drew her to him and kissed the half-parted lips, and she cried
7699
+
out, a bitter, hopeless cry, "Not that--not that!"
7700
+
7701
+
But he held her close and strong, whispering words of honest love and
7702
+
passion, and when she sobbed--"Not that--not that--I have promised! You
7703
+
must--you must know--I am--not--worthy--" In the purity of his own heart
7704
+
her words were, to him, meaningless then, meaningless for ever after.
7705
+
Presently her voice ceased, and her head rested on his breast. He leaned
7706
+
against the window, his ears swept by the furious wind, his heart in a
7707
+
joyous tumult. The forest was passed, and the sun slipped from behind the
7708
+
trees, flooding the earth again with brightness. She raised her eyes and
7709
+
looked out into the world from the window. Then she began to speak, but
7710
+
her voice was faint, and he bent his head close to hers and listened. "I
7711
+
cannot turn from you; I am too weak. You were long ago my master--master
7712
+
of my heart and soul. I have broken my word to one who trusted me, but I
7713
+
have told you all;--what matters the rest?" He smiled at her innocence and
7714
+
she worshipped his. She spoke again: "Take me or cast me away;--what
7715
+
matters it? Now with a word you can kill me, and it might be easier to die
7716
+
than to look upon happiness as great as mine."
7717
+
7718
+
He took her in his arms, "Hush, what are you saying? Look,--look out at
7719
+
the sunlight, the meadows and the streams. We shall be very happy in so
7720
+
bright a world."
7721
+
7722
+
She turned to the sunlight. From the window, the world below seemed very
7723
+
fair to her.
7724
+
7725
+
Trembling with happiness, she sighed: "Is this the world? Then I have
7726
+
never known it."
7727
+
7728
+
"Nor have I, God forgive me," he murmured.
7729
+
7730
+
Perhaps it was our gentle Lady of the Fields who forgave them both.
7731
+
7732
+
7733
+
7734
+
7735
+
RUE BARRÉE
7736
+
7737
+
"For let Philosopher and Doctor preach
7738
+
Of what they will and what they will not,--each
7739
+
Is but one link in an eternal chain
7740
+
That none can slip nor break nor over-reach."
7741
+
7742
+
"Crimson nor yellow roses nor
7743
+
The savour of the mounting sea
7744
+
Are worth the perfume I adore
7745
+
That clings to thee.
7746
+
The languid-headed lilies tire,
7747
+
The changeless waters weary me;
7748
+
I ache with passionate desire
7749
+
Of thine and thee.
7750
+
There are but these things in the world--
7751
+
Thy mouth of fire,
7752
+
Thy breasts, thy hands, thy hair upcurled
7753
+
And my desire."
7754
+
7755
+
7756
+
I
7757
+
7758
+
One morning at Julian's, a student said to Selby, "That is Foxhall
7759
+
Clifford," pointing with his brushes at a young man who sat before an
7760
+
easel, doing nothing.
7761
+
7762
+
Selby, shy and nervous, walked over and began: "My name is Selby,--I have
7763
+
just arrived in Paris, and bring a letter of introduction--" His voice was
7764
+
lost in the crash of a falling easel, the owner of which promptly
7765
+
assaulted his neighbour, and for a time the noise of battle rolled through
7766
+
the studios of MM. Boulanger and Lefebvre, presently subsiding into a
7767
+
scuffle on the stairs outside. Selby, apprehensive as to his own reception
7768
+
in the studio, looked at Clifford, who sat serenely watching the fight.
7769
+
7770
+
"It's a little noisy here," said Clifford, "but you will like the fellows
7771
+
when you know them." His unaffected manner delighted Selby. Then with a
7772
+
simplicity that won his heart, he presented him to half a dozen students
7773
+
of as many nationalities. Some were cordial, all were polite. Even the
7774
+
majestic creature who held the position of Massier, unbent enough to say:
7775
+
"My friend, when a man speaks French as well as you do, and is also a
7776
+
friend of Monsieur Clifford, he will have no trouble in this studio. You
7777
+
expect, of course, to fill the stove until the next new man comes?"
7778
+
7779
+
"Of course."
7780
+
7781
+
"And you don't mind chaff?"
7782
+
7783
+
"No," replied Selby, who hated it.
7784
+
7785
+
Clifford, much amused, put on his hat, saying, "You must expect lots of it
7786
+
at first."
7787
+
7788
+
Selby placed his own hat on his head and followed him to the door.
7789
+
7790
+
As they passed the model stand there was a furious cry of "Chapeau!
7791
+
Chapeau!" and a student sprang from his easel menacing Selby, who reddened
7792
+
but looked at Clifford.
7793
+
7794
+
"Take off your hat for them," said the latter, laughing.
7795
+
7796
+
A little embarrassed, he turned and saluted the studio.
7797
+
7798
+
"Et moi?" cried the model.
7799
+
7800
+
"You are charming," replied Selby, astonished at his own audacity, but the
7801
+
studio rose as one man, shouting: "He has done well! he's all right!"
7802
+
while the model, laughing, kissed her hand to him and cried: "À demain
7803
+
beau jeune homme!"
7804
+
7805
+
All that week Selby worked at the studio unmolested. The French students
7806
+
christened him "l'Enfant Prodigue," which was freely translated, "The
7807
+
Prodigious Infant," "The Kid," "Kid Selby," and "Kidby." But the disease
7808
+
soon ran its course from "Kidby" to "Kidney," and then naturally to
7809
+
"Tidbits," where it was arrested by Clifford's authority and ultimately
7810
+
relapsed to "Kid."
7811
+
7812
+
Wednesday came, and with it M. Boulanger. For three hours the students
7813
+
writhed under his biting sarcasms,--among the others Clifford, who was
7814
+
informed that he knew even less about a work of art than he did about the
7815
+
art of work. Selby was more fortunate. The professor examined his drawing
7816
+
in silence, looked at him sharply, and passed on with a non-committal
7817
+
gesture. He presently departed arm in arm with Bouguereau, to the relief
7818
+
of Clifford, who was then at liberty to jam his hat on his head and
7819
+
depart.
7820
+
7821
+
The next day he did not appear, and Selby, who had counted on seeing him
7822
+
at the studio, a thing which he learned later it was vanity to count on,
7823
+
wandered back to the Latin Quarter alone.
7824
+
7825
+
Paris was still strange and new to him. He was vaguely troubled by its
7826
+
splendour. No tender memories stirred his American bosom at the Place du
7827
+
Châtelet, nor even by Notre Dame. The Palais de Justice with its clock and
7828
+
turrets and stalking sentinels in blue and vermilion, the Place St. Michel
7829
+
with its jumble of omnibuses and ugly water-spitting griffins, the hill of
7830
+
the Boulevard St. Michel, the tooting trams, the policemen dawdling two by
7831
+
two, and the table-lined terraces of the Café Vacehett were nothing to
7832
+
him, as yet, nor did he even know, when he stepped from the stones of the
7833
+
Place St. Michel to the asphalt of the Boulevard, that he had crossed the
7834
+
frontier and entered the student zone,--the famous Latin Quarter.
7835
+
7836
+
A cabman hailed him as "bourgeois," and urged the superiority of driving
7837
+
over walking. A gamin, with an appearance of great concern, requested the
7838
+
latest telegraphic news from London, and then, standing on his head,
7839
+
invited Selby to feats of strength. A pretty girl gave him a glance from a
7840
+
pair of violet eyes. He did not see her, but she, catching her own
7841
+
reflection in a window, wondered at the colour burning in her cheeks.
7842
+
Turning to resume her course, she met Foxhall Clifford, and hurried on.
7843
+
Clifford, open-mouthed, followed her with his eyes; then he looked after
7844
+
Selby, who had turned into the Boulevard St. Germain toward the rue de
7845
+
Seine. Then he examined himself in the shop window. The result seemed to
7846
+
be unsatisfactory.
7847
+
7848
+
"I'm not a beauty," he mused, "but neither am I a hobgoblin. What does she
7849
+
mean by blushing at Selby? I never before saw her look at a fellow in my
7850
+
life,--neither has any one in the Quarter. Anyway, I can swear she never
7851
+
looks at me, and goodness knows I have done all that respectful adoration
7852
+
can do."
7853
+
7854
+
He sighed, and murmuring a prophecy concerning the salvation of his
7855
+
immortal soul swung into that graceful lounge which at all times
7856
+
characterized Clifford. With no apparent exertion, he overtook Selby at
7857
+
the corner, and together they crossed the sunlit Boulevard and sat down
7858
+
under the awning of the Café du Cercle. Clifford bowed to everybody on the
7859
+
terrace, saying, "You shall meet them all later, but now let me present
7860
+
you to two of the sights of Paris, Mr. Richard Elliott and Mr. Stanley
7861
+
Rowden."
7862
+
7863
+
The "sights" looked amiable, and took vermouth.
7864
+
7865
+
"You cut the studio to-day," said Elliott, suddenly turning on Clifford,
7866
+
who avoided his eyes.
7867
+
7868
+
"To commune with nature?" observed Rowden.
7869
+
7870
+
"What's her name this time?" asked Elliott, and Rowden answered promptly,
7871
+
"Name, Yvette; nationality, Breton--"
7872
+
7873
+
"Wrong," replied Clifford blandly, "it's Rue Barrée."
7874
+
7875
+
The subject changed instantly, and Selby listened in surprise to names
7876
+
which were new to him, and eulogies on the latest Prix de Rome winner. He
7877
+
was delighted to hear opinions boldly expressed and points honestly
7878
+
debated, although the vehicle was mostly slang, both English and French.
7879
+
He longed for the time when he too should be plunged into the strife for
7880
+
fame.
7881
+
7882
+
The bells of St. Sulpice struck the hour, and the Palace of the Luxembourg
7883
+
answered chime on chime. With a glance at the sun, dipping low in the
7884
+
golden dust behind the Palais Bourbon, they rose, and turning to the east,
7885
+
crossed the Boulevard St. Germain and sauntered toward the École de
7886
+
Médecine. At the corner a girl passed them, walking hurriedly. Clifford
7887
+
smirked, Elliot and Rowden were agitated, but they all bowed, and, without
7888
+
raising her eyes, she returned their salute. But Selby, who had lagged
7889
+
behind, fascinated by some gay shop window, looked up to meet two of the
7890
+
bluest eyes he had ever seen. The eyes were dropped in an instant, and the
7891
+
young fellow hastened to overtake the others.
7892
+
7893
+
"By Jove," he said, "do you fellows know I have just seen the prettiest
7894
+
girl--" An exclamation broke from the trio, gloomy, foreboding, like the
7895
+
chorus in a Greek play.
7896
+
7897
+
"Rue Barrée!"
7898
+
7899
+
"What!" cried Selby, bewildered.
7900
+
7901
+
The only answer was a vague gesture from Clifford.
7902
+
7903
+
Two hours later, during dinner, Clifford turned to Selby and said, "You
7904
+
want to ask me something; I can tell by the way you fidget about."
7905
+
7906
+
"Yes, I do," he said, innocently enough; "it's about that girl. Who is
7907
+
she?"
7908
+
7909
+
In Rowden's smile there was pity, in Elliott's bitterness.
7910
+
7911
+
"Her name," said Clifford solemnly, "is unknown to any one, at least," he
7912
+
added with much conscientiousness, "as far as I can learn. Every fellow in
7913
+
the Quarter bows to her and she returns the salute gravely, but no man has
7914
+
ever been known to obtain more than that. Her profession, judging from her
7915
+
music-roll, is that of a pianist. Her residence is in a small and humble
7916
+
street which is kept in a perpetual process of repair by the city
7917
+
authorities, and from the black letters painted on the barrier which
7918
+
defends the street from traffic, she has taken the name by which we know
7919
+
her,--Rue Barrée. Mr. Rowden, in his imperfect knowledge of the French
7920
+
tongue, called our attention to it as Roo Barry--"
7921
+
7922
+
"I didn't," said Rowden hotly.
7923
+
7924
+
"And Roo Barry, or Rue Barrée, is to-day an object of adoration to every
7925
+
rapin in the Quarter--"
7926
+
7927
+
"We are not rapins," corrected Elliott.
7928
+
7929
+
"_I_ am not," returned Clifford, "and I beg to call to your attention,
7930
+
Selby, that these two gentlemen have at various and apparently unfortunate
7931
+
moments, offered to lay down life and limb at the feet of Rue Barrée. The
7932
+
lady possesses a chilling smile which she uses on such occasions and,"
7933
+
here he became gloomily impressive, "I have been forced to believe that
7934
+
neither the scholarly grace of my friend Elliott nor the buxom beauty of
7935
+
my friend Rowden have touched that heart of ice."
7936
+
7937
+
Elliott and Rowden, boiling with indignation, cried out, "And you!"
7938
+
7939
+
"I," said Clifford blandly, "do fear to tread where you rush in."
7940
+
7941
+
7942
+
7943
+
7944
+
II
7945
+
7946
+
Twenty-four hours later Selby had completely forgotten Rue Barrée. During
7947
+
the week he worked with might and main at the studio, and Saturday night
7948
+
found him so tired that he went to bed before dinner and had a nightmare
7949
+
about a river of yellow ochre in which he was drowning. Sunday morning,
7950
+
apropos of nothing at all, he thought of Rue Barrée, and ten seconds
7951
+
afterwards he saw her. It was at the flower-market on the marble bridge.
7952
+
She was examining a pot of pansies. The gardener had evidently thrown
7953
+
heart and soul into the transaction, but Rue Barrée shook her head.
7954
+
7955
+
It is a question whether Selby would have stopped then and there to
7956
+
inspect a cabbage-rose had not Clifford unwound for him the yarn of the
7957
+
previous Tuesday. It is possible that his curiosity was piqued, for with
7958
+
the exception of a hen-turkey, a boy of nineteen is the most openly
7959
+
curious biped alive. From twenty until death he tries to conceal it. But,
7960
+
to be fair to Selby, it is also true that the market was attractive. Under
7961
+
a cloudless sky the flowers were packed and heaped along the marble bridge
7962
+
to the parapet. The air was soft, the sun spun a shadowy lacework among
7963
+
the palms and glowed in the hearts of a thousand roses. Spring had
7964
+
come,--was in full tide. The watering carts and sprinklers spread
7965
+
freshness over the Boulevard, the sparrows had become vulgarly obtrusive,
7966
+
and the credulous Seine angler anxiously followed his gaudy quill floating
7967
+
among the soapsuds of the lavoirs. The white-spiked chestnuts clad in
7968
+
tender green vibrated with the hum of bees. Shoddy butterflies flaunted
7969
+
their winter rags among the heliotrope. There was a smell of fresh earth
7970
+
in the air, an echo of the woodland brook in the ripple of the Seine, and
7971
+
swallows soared and skimmed among the anchored river craft. Somewhere in a
7972
+
window a caged bird was singing its heart out to the sky.
7973
+
7974
+
Selby looked at the cabbage-rose and then at the sky. Something in the
7975
+
song of the caged bird may have moved him, or perhaps it was that
7976
+
dangerous sweetness in the air of May.
7977
+
7978
+
At first he was hardly conscious that he had stopped then he was scarcely
7979
+
conscious why he had stopped, then he thought he would move on, then he
7980
+
thought he wouldn't, then he looked at Rue Barrée.
7981
+
7982
+
The gardener said, "Mademoiselle, this is undoubtedly a fine pot of
7983
+
pansies."
7984
+
7985
+
Rue Barrée shook her head.
7986
+
7987
+
The gardener smiled. She evidently did not want the pansies. She had
7988
+
bought many pots of pansies there, two or three every spring, and never
7989
+
argued. What did she want then? The pansies were evidently a feeler toward
7990
+
a more important transaction. The gardener rubbed his hands and gazed
7991
+
about him.
7992
+
7993
+
"These tulips are magnificent," he observed, "and these hyacinths--" He
7994
+
fell into a trance at the mere sight of the scented thickets.
7995
+
7996
+
"That," murmured Rue, pointing to a splendid rose-bush with her furled
7997
+
parasol, but in spite of her, her voice trembled a little. Selby noticed
7998
+
it, more shame to him that he was listening, and the gardener noticed it,
7999
+
and, burying his nose in the roses, scented a bargain. Still, to do him
8000
+
justice, he did not add a centime to the honest value of the plant, for
8001
+
after all, Rue was probably poor, and any one could see she was charming.
8002
+
8003
+
"Fifty francs, Mademoiselle."
8004
+
8005
+
The gardener's tone was grave. Rue felt that argument would be wasted.
8006
+
They both stood silent for a moment. The gardener did not eulogize his
8007
+
prize,--the rose-tree was gorgeous and any one could see it.
8008
+
8009
+
"I will take the pansies," said the girl, and drew two francs from a worn
8010
+
purse. Then she looked up. A tear-drop stood in the way refracting the
8011
+
light like a diamond, but as it rolled into a little corner by her nose a
8012
+
vision of Selby replaced it, and when a brush of the handkerchief had
8013
+
cleared the startled blue eyes, Selby himself appeared, very much
8014
+
embarrassed. He instantly looked up into the sky, apparently devoured with
8015
+
a thirst for astronomical research, and as he continued his investigations
8016
+
for fully five minutes, the gardener looked up too, and so did a
8017
+
policeman. Then Selby looked at the tips of his boots, the gardener looked
8018
+
at him and the policeman slouched on. Rue Barrée had been gone some time.
8019
+
8020
+
"What," said the gardener, "may I offer Monsieur?"
8021
+
8022
+
Selby never knew why, but he suddenly began to buy flowers. The gardener
8023
+
was electrified. Never before had he sold so many flowers, never at such
8024
+
satisfying prices, and never, never with such absolute unanimity of
8025
+
opinion with a customer. But he missed the bargaining, the arguing, the
8026
+
calling of Heaven to witness. The transaction lacked spice.
8027
+
8028
+
"These tulips are magnificent!"
8029
+
8030
+
"They are!" cried Selby warmly.
8031
+
8032
+
"But alas, they are dear."
8033
+
8034
+
"I will take them."
8035
+
8036
+
"Dieu!" murmured the gardener in a perspiration, "he's madder than most
8037
+
Englishmen."
8038
+
8039
+
"This cactus--"
8040
+
8041
+
"Is gorgeous!"
8042
+
8043
+
"Alas--"
8044
+
8045
+
"Send it with the rest."
8046
+
8047
+
The gardener braced himself against the river wall.
8048
+
8049
+
"That splendid rose-bush," he began faintly.
8050
+
8051
+
"That is a beauty. I believe it is fifty francs--"
8052
+
8053
+
He stopped, very red. The gardener relished his confusion. Then a sudden
8054
+
cool self-possession took the place of his momentary confusion and he held
8055
+
the gardener with his eye, and bullied him.
8056
+
8057
+
"I'll take that bush. Why did not the young lady buy it?"
8058
+
8059
+
"Mademoiselle is not wealthy."
8060
+
8061
+
"How do you know?"
8062
+
8063
+
"_Dame_, I sell her many pansies; pansies are not expensive."
8064
+
8065
+
"Those are the pansies she bought?"
8066
+
8067
+
"These, Monsieur, the blue and gold."
8068
+
8069
+
"Then you intend to send them to her?"
8070
+
8071
+
"At mid-day after the market."
8072
+
8073
+
"Take this rose-bush with them, and"--here he glared at the
8074
+
gardener--"don't you dare say from whom they came." The gardener's eyes
8075
+
were like saucers, but Selby, calm and victorious, said: "Send the others
8076
+
to the Hôtel du Sénat, 7 rue de Tournon. I will leave directions with the
8077
+
concierge."
8078
+
8079
+
Then he buttoned his glove with much dignity and stalked off, but when
8080
+
well around the corner and hidden from the gardener's view, the conviction
8081
+
that he was an idiot came home to him in a furious blush. Ten minutes
8082
+
later he sat in his room in the Hôtel du Sénat repeating with an imbecile
8083
+
smile: "What an ass I am, what an ass!"
8084
+
8085
+
An hour later found him in the same chair, in the same position, his hat
8086
+
and gloves still on, his stick in his hand, but he was silent, apparently
8087
+
lost in contemplation of his boot toes, and his smile was less imbecile
8088
+
and even a bit retrospective.
8089
+
8090
+
8091
+
8092
+
8093
+
III
8094
+
8095
+
About five o'clock that afternoon, the little sad-eyed woman who fills the
8096
+
position of concierge at the Hôtel du Sénat held up her hands in amazement
8097
+
to see a wagon-load of flower-bearing shrubs draw up before the doorway.
8098
+
She called Joseph, the intemperate garçon, who, while calculating the
8099
+
value of the flowers in _petits verres_, gloomily disclaimed any knowledge
8100
+
as to their destination.
8101
+
8102
+
"_Voyons_," said the little concierge, "_cherchons la femme_!"
8103
+
8104
+
"You?" he suggested.
8105
+
8106
+
The little woman stood a moment pensive and then sighed. Joseph caressed
8107
+
his nose, a nose which for gaudiness could vie with any floral display.
8108
+
8109
+
Then the gardener came in, hat in hand, and a few minutes later Selby
8110
+
stood in the middle of his room, his coat off, his shirt-sleeves rolled
8111
+
up. The chamber originally contained, besides the furniture, about two
8112
+
square feet of walking room, and now this was occupied by a cactus. The
8113
+
bed groaned under crates of pansies, lilies and heliotrope, the lounge was
8114
+
covered with hyacinths and tulips, and the washstand supported a species
8115
+
of young tree warranted to bear flowers at some time or other.
8116
+
8117
+
Clifford came in a little later, fell over a box of sweet peas, swore a
8118
+
little, apologized, and then, as the full splendour of the floral _fête_
8119
+
burst upon him, sat down in astonishment upon a geranium. The geranium was
8120
+
a wreck, but Selby said, "Don't mind," and glared at the cactus.
8121
+
8122
+
"Are you going to give a ball?" demanded Clifford.
8123
+
8124
+
"N--no,--I'm very fond of flowers," said Selby, but the statement lacked
8125
+
enthusiasm.
8126
+
8127
+
"I should imagine so." Then, after a silence, "That's a fine cactus."
8128
+
8129
+
Selby contemplated the cactus, touched it with the air of a connoisseur,
8130
+
and pricked his thumb.
8131
+
8132
+
Clifford poked a pansy with his stick. Then Joseph came in with the bill,
8133
+
announcing the sum total in a loud voice, partly to impress Clifford,
8134
+
partly to intimidate Selby into disgorging a _pourboire_ which he would
8135
+
share, if he chose, with the gardener. Clifford tried to pretend that he
8136
+
had not heard, while Selby paid bill and tribute without a murmur. Then he
8137
+
lounged back into the room with an attempt at indifference which failed
8138
+
entirely when he tore his trousers on the cactus.
8139
+
8140
+
Clifford made some commonplace remark, lighted a cigarette and looked out
8141
+
of the window to give Selby a chance. Selby tried to take it, but getting
8142
+
as far as--"Yes, spring is here at last," froze solid. He looked at the
8143
+
back of Clifford's head. It expressed volumes. Those little perked-up ears
8144
+
seemed tingling with suppressed glee. He made a desperate effort to master
8145
+
the situation, and jumped up to reach for some Russian cigarettes as an
8146
+
incentive to conversation, but was foiled by the cactus, to whom again he
8147
+
fell a prey. The last straw was added.
8148
+
8149
+
"Damn the cactus." This observation was wrung from Selby against his
8150
+
will,--against his own instinct of self-preservation, but the thorns on
8151
+
the cactus were long and sharp, and at their repeated prick his pent-up
8152
+
wrath escaped. It was too late now; it was done, and Clifford had wheeled
8153
+
around.
8154
+
8155
+
"See here, Selby, why the deuce did you buy those flowers?"
8156
+
8157
+
"I'm fond of them," said Selby.
8158
+
8159
+
"What are you going to do with them? You can't sleep here."
8160
+
8161
+
"I could, if you'd help me take the pansies off the bed."
8162
+
8163
+
"Where can you put them?"
8164
+
8165
+
"Couldn't I give them to the concierge?"
8166
+
8167
+
As soon as he said it he regretted it. What in Heaven's name would
8168
+
Clifford think of him! He had heard the amount of the bill. Would he
8169
+
believe that he had invested in these luxuries as a timid declaration to
8170
+
his concierge? And would the Latin Quarter comment upon it in their own
8171
+
brutal fashion? He dreaded ridicule and he knew Clifford's reputation.
8172
+
8173
+
Then somebody knocked.
8174
+
8175
+
Selby looked at Clifford with a hunted expression which touched that young
8176
+
man's heart. It was a confession and at the same time a supplication.
8177
+
Clifford jumped up, threaded his way through the floral labyrinth, and
8178
+
putting an eye to the crack of the door, said, "Who the devil is it?"
8179
+
8180
+
This graceful style of reception is indigenous to the Quarter.
8181
+
8182
+
"It's Elliott," he said, looking back, "and Rowden too, and their
8183
+
bulldogs." Then he addressed them through the crack.
8184
+
8185
+
"Sit down on the stairs; Selby and I are coming out directly."
8186
+
8187
+
Discretion is a virtue. The Latin Quarter possesses few, and discretion
8188
+
seldom figures on the list. They sat down and began to whistle.
8189
+
8190
+
Presently Rowden called out, "I smell flowers. They feast within!"
8191
+
8192
+
"You ought to know Selby better than that," growled Clifford behind the
8193
+
door, while the other hurriedly exchanged his torn trousers for others.
8194
+
8195
+
"_We_ know Selby," said Elliott with emphasis.
8196
+
8197
+
"Yes," said Rowden, "he gives receptions with floral decorations and
8198
+
invites Clifford, while we sit on the stairs."
8199
+
8200
+
"Yes, while the youth and beauty of the Quarter revel," suggested Rowden;
8201
+
then, with sudden misgiving; "Is Odette there?"
8202
+
8203
+
"See here," demanded Elliott, "is Colette there?"
8204
+
8205
+
Then he raised his voice in a plaintive howl, "Are you there, Colette,
8206
+
while I'm kicking my heels on these tiles?"
8207
+
8208
+
"Clifford is capable of anything," said Rowden; "his nature is soured
8209
+
since Rue Barrée sat on him."
8210
+
8211
+
Elliott raised his voice: "I say, you fellows, we saw some flowers carried
8212
+
into Rue Barrée's house at noon."
8213
+
8214
+
"Posies and roses," specified Rowden.
8215
+
8216
+
"Probably for her," added Elliott, caressing his bulldog.
8217
+
8218
+
Clifford turned with sudden suspicion upon Selby. The latter hummed a
8219
+
tune, selected a pair of gloves and, choosing a dozen cigarettes, placed
8220
+
them in a case. Then walking over to the cactus, he deliberately detached
8221
+
a blossom, drew it through his buttonhole, and picking up hat and stick,
8222
+
smiled upon Clifford, at which the latter was mightily troubled.
8223
+
8224
+
8225
+
8226
+
8227
+
IV
8228
+
8229
+
Monday morning at Julian's, students fought for places; students with
8230
+
prior claims drove away others who had been anxiously squatting on coveted
8231
+
tabourets since the door was opened in hopes of appropriating them at
8232
+
roll-call; students squabbled over palettes, brushes, portfolios, or rent
8233
+
the air with demands for Ciceri and bread. The former, a dirty ex-model,
8234
+
who had in palmier days posed as Judas, now dispensed stale bread at one
8235
+
sou and made enough to keep himself in cigarettes. Monsieur Julian walked
8236
+
in, smiled a fatherly smile and walked out. His disappearance was followed
8237
+
by the apparition of the clerk, a foxy creature who flitted through the
8238
+
battling hordes in search of prey.
8239
+
8240
+
Three men who had not paid dues were caught and summoned. A fourth was
8241
+
scented, followed, outflanked, his retreat towards the door cut off, and
8242
+
finally captured behind the stove. About that time, the revolution
8243
+
assuming an acute form, howls rose for "Jules!"
8244
+
8245
+
Jules came, umpired two fights with a sad resignation in his big brown
8246
+
eyes, shook hands with everybody and melted away in the throng, leaving an
8247
+
atmosphere of peace and good-will. The lions sat down with the lambs, the
8248
+
massiers marked the best places for themselves and friends, and, mounting
8249
+
the model stands, opened the roll-calls.
8250
+
8251
+
The word was passed, "They begin with C this week."
8252
+
8253
+
They did.
8254
+
8255
+
"Clisson!"
8256
+
8257
+
Clisson jumped like a flash and marked his name on the floor in chalk
8258
+
before a front seat.
8259
+
8260
+
"Caron!"
8261
+
8262
+
Caron galloped away to secure his place. Bang! went an easel. "_Nom de
8263
+
Dieu_!" in French,--"Where in h--l are you goin'!" in English. Crash! a
8264
+
paintbox fell with brushes and all on board. "_Dieu de Dieu de_--" spat! A
8265
+
blow, a short rush, a clinch and scuffle, and the voice of the massier,
8266
+
stern and reproachful:
8267
+
8268
+
"Cochon!"
8269
+
8270
+
Then the roll-call was resumed.
8271
+
8272
+
"Clifford!"
8273
+
8274
+
The massier paused and looked up, one finger between the leaves of the
8275
+
ledger.
8276
+
8277
+
"Clifford!"
8278
+
8279
+
Clifford was not there. He was about three miles away in a direct line and
8280
+
every instant increased the distance. Not that he was walking fast,--on
8281
+
the contrary, he was strolling with that leisurely gait peculiar to
8282
+
himself. Elliott was beside him and two bulldogs covered the rear. Elliott
8283
+
was reading the "Gil Blas," from which he seemed to extract amusement, but
8284
+
deeming boisterous mirth unsuitable to Clifford's state of mind, subdued
8285
+
his amusement to a series of discreet smiles. The latter, moodily aware of
8286
+
this, said nothing, but leading the way into the Luxembourg Gardens
8287
+
installed himself upon a bench by the northern terrace and surveyed the
8288
+
landscape with disfavour. Elliott, according to the Luxembourg
8289
+
regulations, tied the two dogs and then, with an interrogative glance
8290
+
toward his friend, resumed the "Gil Blas" and the discreet smiles.
8291
+
8292
+
The day was perfect. The sun hung over Notre Dame, setting the city in a
8293
+
glitter. The tender foliage of the chestnuts cast a shadow over the
8294
+
terrace and flecked the paths and walks with tracery so blue that Clifford
8295
+
might here have found encouragement for his violent "impressions" had he
8296
+
but looked; but as usual in this period of his career, his thoughts were
8297
+
anywhere except in his profession. Around about, the sparrows quarrelled
8298
+
and chattered their courtship songs, the big rosy pigeons sailed from tree
8299
+
to tree, the flies whirled in the sunbeams and the flowers exhaled a
8300
+
thousand perfumes which stirred Clifford with languorous wistfulness.
8301
+
Under this influence he spoke.
8302
+
8303
+
"Elliott, you are a true friend--"
8304
+
8305
+
"You make me ill," replied the latter, folding his paper. "It's just as I
8306
+
thought,--you are tagging after some new petticoat again. And," he
8307
+
continued wrathfully, "if this is what you've kept me away from Julian's
8308
+
for,--if it's to fill me up with the perfections of some little idiot--"
8309
+
8310
+
"Not idiot," remonstrated Clifford gently.
8311
+
8312
+
"See here," cried Elliott, "have you the nerve to try to tell me that you
8313
+
are in love again?"
8314
+
8315
+
"Again?"
8316
+
8317
+
"Yes, again and again and again and--by George have you?"
8318
+
8319
+
"This," observed Clifford sadly, "is serious."
8320
+
8321
+
For a moment Elliott would have laid hands on him, then he laughed from
8322
+
sheer helplessness. "Oh, go on, go on; let's see, there's Clémence and
8323
+
Marie Tellec and Cosette and Fifine, Colette, Marie Verdier--"
8324
+
8325
+
"All of whom are charming, most charming, but I never was serious--"
8326
+
8327
+
"So help me, Moses," said Elliott, solemnly, "each and every one of those
8328
+
named have separately and in turn torn your heart with anguish and have
8329
+
also made me lose my place at Julian's in this same manner; each and every
8330
+
one, separately and in turn. Do you deny it?"
8331
+
8332
+
"What you say may be founded on facts--in a way--but give me the credit of
8333
+
being faithful to one at a time--"
8334
+
8335
+
"Until the next came along."
8336
+
8337
+
"But this,--this is really very different. Elliott, believe me, I am all
8338
+
broken up."
8339
+
8340
+
Then there being nothing else to do, Elliott gnashed his teeth and
8341
+
listened.
8342
+
8343
+
"It's--it's Rue Barrée."
8344
+
8345
+
"Well," observed Elliott, with scorn, "if you are moping and moaning over
8346
+
_that_ girl,--the girl who has given you and myself every reason to wish
8347
+
that the ground would open and engulf us,--well, go on!"
8348
+
8349
+
"I'm going on,--I don't care; timidity has fled--"
8350
+
8351
+
"Yes, your native timidity."
8352
+
8353
+
"I'm desperate, Elliott. Am I in love? Never, never did I feel so d--n
8354
+
miserable. I can't sleep; honestly, I'm incapable of eating properly."
8355
+
8356
+
"Same symptoms noticed in the case of Colette."
8357
+
8358
+
"Listen, will you?"
8359
+
8360
+
"Hold on a moment, I know the rest by heart. Now let me ask you something.
8361
+
Is it your belief that Rue Barrée is a pure girl?"
8362
+
8363
+
"Yes," said Clifford, turning red.
8364
+
8365
+
"Do you love her,--not as you dangle and tiptoe after every pretty
8366
+
inanity--I mean, do you honestly love her?"
8367
+
8368
+
"Yes," said the other doggedly, "I would--"
8369
+
8370
+
"Hold on a moment; would you marry her?"
8371
+
8372
+
Clifford turned scarlet. "Yes," he muttered.
8373
+
8374
+
"Pleasant news for your family," growled Elliott in suppressed fury.
8375
+
"'Dear father, I have just married a charming grisette whom I'm sure
8376
+
you'll welcome with open arms, in company with her mother, a most
8377
+
estimable and cleanly washlady.' Good heavens! This seems to have gone a
8378
+
little further than the rest. Thank your stars, young man, that my head is
8379
+
level enough for us both. Still, in this case, I have no fear. Rue Barrée
8380
+
sat on your aspirations in a manner unmistakably final."
8381
+
8382
+
"Rue Barrée," began Clifford, drawing himself up, but he suddenly ceased,
8383
+
for there where the dappled sunlight glowed in spots of gold, along the
8384
+
sun-flecked path, tripped Rue Barrée. Her gown was spotless, and her big
8385
+
straw hat, tipped a little from the white forehead, threw a shadow across
8386
+
her eyes.
8387
+
8388
+
Elliott stood up and bowed. Clifford removed his head-covering with an air
8389
+
so plaintive, so appealing, so utterly humble that Rue Barrée smiled.
8390
+
8391
+
The smile was delicious and when Clifford, incapable of sustaining himself
8392
+
on his legs from sheer astonishment, toppled slightly, she smiled again in
8393
+
spite of herself. A few moments later she took a chair on the terrace and
8394
+
drawing a book from her music-roll, turned the pages, found the place, and
8395
+
then placing it open downwards in her lap, sighed a little, smiled a
8396
+
little, and looked out over the city. She had entirely forgotten Foxhall
8397
+
Clifford.
8398
+
8399
+
After a while she took up her book again, but instead of reading began to
8400
+
adjust a rose in her corsage. The rose was big and red. It glowed like
8401
+
fire there over her heart, and like fire it warmed her heart, now
8402
+
fluttering under the silken petals. Rue Barrée sighed again. She was very
8403
+
happy. The sky was so blue, the air so soft and perfumed, the sunshine so
8404
+
caressing, and her heart sang within her, sang to the rose in her breast.
8405
+
This is what it sang: "Out of the throng of passers-by, out of the world
8406
+
of yesterday, out of the millions passing, one has turned aside to me."
8407
+
8408
+
So her heart sang under his rose on her breast. Then two big
8409
+
mouse-coloured pigeons came whistling by and alighted on the terrace,
8410
+
where they bowed and strutted and bobbed and turned until Rue Barrée
8411
+
laughed in delight, and looking up beheld Clifford before her. His hat was
8412
+
in his hand and his face was wreathed in a series of appealing smiles
8413
+
which would have touched the heart of a Bengal tiger.
8414
+
8415
+
For an instant Rue Barrée frowned, then she looked curiously at Clifford,
8416
+
then when she saw the resemblance between his bows and the bobbing
8417
+
pigeons, in spite of herself, her lips parted in the most bewitching
8418
+
laugh. Was this Rue Barrée? So changed, so changed that she did not know
8419
+
herself; but oh! that song in her heart which drowned all else, which
8420
+
trembled on her lips, struggling for utterance, which rippled forth in a
8421
+
laugh at nothing,--at a strutting pigeon,--and Mr. Clifford.
8422
+
8423
+
"And you think, because I return the salute of the students in the
8424
+
Quarter, that you may be received in particular as a friend? I do not know
8425
+
you, Monsieur, but vanity is man's other name;--be content, Monsieur
8426
+
Vanity, I shall be punctilious--oh, most punctilious in returning your
8427
+
salute."
8428
+
8429
+
"But I beg--I implore you to let me render you that homage which has so
8430
+
long--"
8431
+
8432
+
"Oh dear; I don't care for homage."
8433
+
8434
+
"Let me only be permitted to speak to you now and then,--occasionally--very
8435
+
occasionally."
8436
+
8437
+
"And if _you_, why not another?"
8438
+
8439
+
"Not at all,--I will be discretion itself."
8440
+
8441
+
"Discretion--why?"
8442
+
8443
+
Her eyes were very clear, and Clifford winced for a moment, but only for a
8444
+
moment. Then the devil of recklessness seizing him, he sat down and
8445
+
offered himself, soul and body, goods and chattels. And all the time he
8446
+
knew he was a fool and that infatuation is not love, and that each word he
8447
+
uttered bound him in honour from which there was no escape. And all the
8448
+
time Elliott was scowling down on the fountain plaza and savagely checking
8449
+
both bulldogs from their desire to rush to Clifford's rescue,--for even
8450
+
they felt there was something wrong, as Elliott stormed within himself and
8451
+
growled maledictions.
8452
+
8453
+
When Clifford finished, he finished in a glow of excitement, but Rue
8454
+
Barrée's response was long in coming and his ardour cooled while the
8455
+
situation slowly assumed its just proportions. Then regret began to creep
8456
+
in, but he put that aside and broke out again in protestations. At the
8457
+
first word Rue Barrée checked him.
8458
+
8459
+
"I thank you," she said, speaking very gravely. "No man has ever before
8460
+
offered me marriage." She turned and looked out over the city. After a
8461
+
while she spoke again. "You offer me a great deal. I am alone, I have
8462
+
nothing, I am nothing." She turned again and looked at Paris, brilliant,
8463
+
fair, in the sunshine of a perfect day. He followed her eyes.
8464
+
8465
+
"Oh," she murmured, "it is hard,--hard to work always--always alone with
8466
+
never a friend you can have in honour, and the love that is offered means
8467
+
the streets, the boulevard--when passion is dead. I know it,--_we_ know
8468
+
it,--we others who have nothing,--have no one, and who give ourselves,
8469
+
unquestioning--when we love,--yes, unquestioning--heart and soul, knowing
8470
+
the end."
8471
+
8472
+
She touched the rose at her breast. For a moment she seemed to forget him,
8473
+
then quietly--"I thank you, I am very grateful." She opened the book and,
8474
+
plucking a petal from the rose, dropped it between the leaves. Then
8475
+
looking up she said gently, "I cannot accept."
8476
+
8477
+
8478
+
8479
+
8480
+
V
8481
+
8482
+
It took Clifford a month to entirely recover, although at the end of the
8483
+
first week he was pronounced convalescent by Elliott, who was an
8484
+
authority, and his convalescence was aided by the cordiality with which
8485
+
Rue Barrée acknowledged his solemn salutes. Forty times a day he blessed
8486
+
Rue Barrée for her refusal, and thanked his lucky stars, and at the same
8487
+
time, oh, wondrous heart of ours!--he suffered the tortures of the
8488
+
blighted.
8489
+
8490
+
Elliott was annoyed, partly by Clifford's reticence, partly by the
8491
+
unexplainable thaw in the frigidity of Rue Barrée. At their frequent
8492
+
encounters, when she, tripping along the rue de Seine, with music-roll and
8493
+
big straw hat would pass Clifford and his familiars steering an easterly
8494
+
course to the Café Vachette, and at the respectful uncovering of the band
8495
+
would colour and smile at Clifford, Elliott's slumbering suspicions awoke.
8496
+
But he never found out anything, and finally gave it up as beyond his
8497
+
comprehension, merely qualifying Clifford as an idiot and reserving his
8498
+
opinion of Rue Barrée. And all this time Selby was jealous. At first he
8499
+
refused to acknowledge it to himself, and cut the studio for a day in the
8500
+
country, but the woods and fields of course aggravated his case, and the
8501
+
brooks babbled of Rue Barrée and the mowers calling to each other across
8502
+
the meadow ended in a quavering "Rue Bar-rée-e!" That day spent in the
8503
+
country made him angry for a week, and he worked sulkily at Julian's, all
8504
+
the time tormented by a desire to know where Clifford was and what he
8505
+
might be doing. This culminated in an erratic stroll on Sunday which ended
8506
+
at the flower-market on the Pont au Change, began again, was gloomily
8507
+
extended to the morgue, and again ended at the marble bridge. It would
8508
+
never do, and Selby felt it, so he went to see Clifford, who was
8509
+
convalescing on mint juleps in his garden.
8510
+
8511
+
They sat down together and discussed morals and human happiness, and each
8512
+
found the other most entertaining, only Selby failed to pump Clifford, to
8513
+
the other's unfeigned amusement. But the juleps spread balm on the sting
8514
+
of jealousy, and trickled hope to the blighted, and when Selby said he
8515
+
must go, Clifford went too, and when Selby, not to be outdone, insisted on
8516
+
accompanying Clifford back to his door, Clifford determined to see Selby
8517
+
back half way, and then finding it hard to part, they decided to dine
8518
+
together and "flit." To flit, a verb applied to Clifford's nocturnal
8519
+
prowls, expressed, perhaps, as well as anything, the gaiety proposed.
8520
+
Dinner was ordered at Mignon's, and while Selby interviewed the chef,
8521
+
Clifford kept a fatherly eye on the butler. The dinner was a success, or
8522
+
was of the sort generally termed a success. Toward the dessert Selby heard
8523
+
some one say as at a great distance, "Kid Selby, drunk as a lord."
8524
+
8525
+
A group of men passed near them; it seemed to him that he shook hands and
8526
+
laughed a great deal, and that everybody was very witty. There was
8527
+
Clifford opposite swearing undying confidence in his chum Selby, and there
8528
+
seemed to be others there, either seated beside them or continually
8529
+
passing with the swish of skirts on the polished floor. The perfume of
8530
+
roses, the rustle of fans, the touch of rounded arms and the laughter grew
8531
+
vaguer and vaguer. The room seemed enveloped in mist. Then, all in a
8532
+
moment each object stood out painfully distinct, only forms and visages
8533
+
were distorted and voices piercing. He drew himself up, calm, grave, for
8534
+
the moment master of himself, but very drunk. He knew he was drunk, and
8535
+
was as guarded and alert, as keenly suspicious of himself as he would have
8536
+
been of a thief at his elbow. His self-command enabled Clifford to hold
8537
+
his head safely under some running water, and repair to the street
8538
+
considerably the worse for wear, but never suspecting that his companion
8539
+
was drunk. For a time he kept his self-command. His face was only a bit
8540
+
paler, a bit tighter than usual; he was only a trifle slower and more
8541
+
fastidious in his speech. It was midnight when he left Clifford peacefully
8542
+
slumbering in somebody's arm-chair, with a long suede glove dangling in
8543
+
his hand and a plumy boa twisted about his neck to protect his throat from
8544
+
drafts. He walked through the hall and down the stairs, and found himself
8545
+
on the sidewalk in a quarter he did not know. Mechanically he looked up at
8546
+
the name of the street. The name was not familiar. He turned and steered
8547
+
his course toward some lights clustered at the end of the street. They
8548
+
proved farther away than he had anticipated, and after a long quest he
8549
+
came to the conclusion that his eyes had been mysteriously removed from
8550
+
their proper places and had been reset on either side of his head like
8551
+
those of a bird. It grieved him to think of the inconvenience this
8552
+
transformation might occasion him, and he attempted to cock up his head,
8553
+
hen-like, to test the mobility of his neck. Then an immense despair stole
8554
+
over him,--tears gathered in the tear-ducts, his heart melted, and he
8555
+
collided with a tree. This shocked him into comprehension; he stifled the
8556
+
violent tenderness in his breast, picked up his hat and moved on more
8557
+
briskly. His mouth was white and drawn, his teeth tightly clinched. He
8558
+
held his course pretty well and strayed but little, and after an
8559
+
apparently interminable length of time found himself passing a line of
8560
+
cabs. The brilliant lamps, red, yellow, and green annoyed him, and he felt
8561
+
it might be pleasant to demolish them with his cane, but mastering this
8562
+
impulse he passed on. Later an idea struck him that it would save fatigue
8563
+
to take a cab, and he started back with that intention, but the cabs
8564
+
seemed already so far away and the lanterns were so bright and confusing
8565
+
that he gave it up, and pulling himself together looked around.
8566
+
8567
+
A shadow, a mass, huge, undefined, rose to his right. He recognized the
8568
+
Arc de Triomphe and gravely shook his cane at it. Its size annoyed him. He
8569
+
felt it was too big. Then he heard something fall clattering to the
8570
+
pavement and thought probably it was his cane but it didn't much matter.
8571
+
When he had mastered himself and regained control of his right leg, which
8572
+
betrayed symptoms of insubordination, he found himself traversing the
8573
+
Place de la Concorde at a pace which threatened to land him at the
8574
+
Madeleine. This would never do. He turned sharply to the right and
8575
+
crossing the bridge passed the Palais Bourbon at a trot and wheeled into
8576
+
the Boulevard St. Germain. He got on well enough although the size of the
8577
+
War Office struck him as a personal insult, and he missed his cane, which
8578
+
it would have been pleasant to drag along the iron railings as he passed.
8579
+
It occurred to him, however, to substitute his hat, but when he found it
8580
+
he forgot what he wanted it for and replaced it upon his head with
8581
+
gravity. Then he was obliged to battle with a violent inclination to sit
8582
+
down and weep. This lasted until he came to the rue de Rennes, but there
8583
+
he became absorbed in contemplating the dragon on the balcony overhanging
8584
+
the Cour du Dragon, and time slipped away until he remembered vaguely that
8585
+
he had no business there, and marched off again. It was slow work. The
8586
+
inclination to sit down and weep had given place to a desire for solitary
8587
+
and deep reflection. Here his right leg forgot its obedience and attacking
8588
+
the left, outflanked it and brought him up against a wooden board which
8589
+
seemed to bar his path. He tried to walk around it, but found the street
8590
+
closed. He tried to push it over, and found he couldn't. Then he noticed a
8591
+
red lantern standing on a pile of paving-stones inside the barrier. This
8592
+
was pleasant. How was he to get home if the boulevard was blocked? But he
8593
+
was not on the boulevard. His treacherous right leg had beguiled him into
8594
+
a detour, for there, behind him lay the boulevard with its endless line of
8595
+
lamps,--and here, what was this narrow dilapidated street piled up with
8596
+
earth and mortar and heaps of stone? He looked up. Written in staring
8597
+
black letters on the barrier was
8598
+
8599
+
RUE BARRÉE.
8600
+
8601
+
He sat down. Two policemen whom he knew came by and advised him to get up,
8602
+
but he argued the question from a standpoint of personal taste, and they
8603
+
passed on, laughing. For he was at that moment absorbed in a problem. It
8604
+
was, how to see Rue Barrée. She was somewhere or other in that big house
8605
+
with the iron balconies, and the door was locked, but what of that? The
8606
+
simple idea struck him to shout until she came. This idea was replaced by
8607
+
another equally lucid,--to hammer on the door until she came; but finally
8608
+
rejecting both of these as too uncertain, he decided to climb into the
8609
+
balcony, and opening a window politely inquire for Rue Barrée. There was
8610
+
but one lighted window in the house that he could see. It was on the
8611
+
second floor, and toward this he cast his eyes. Then mounting the wooden
8612
+
barrier and clambering over the piles of stones, he reached the sidewalk
8613
+
and looked up at the façade for a foothold. It seemed impossible. But a
8614
+
sudden fury seized him, a blind, drunken obstinacy, and the blood rushed
8615
+
to his head, leaping, beating in his ears like the dull thunder of an
8616
+
ocean. He set his teeth, and springing at a window-sill, dragged himself
8617
+
up and hung to the iron bars. Then reason fled; there surged in his brain
8618
+
the sound of many voices, his heart leaped up beating a mad tattoo, and
8619
+
gripping at cornice and ledge he worked his way along the façade, clung to
8620
+
pipes and shutters, and dragged himself up, over and into the balcony by
8621
+
the lighted window. His hat fell off and rolled against the pane. For a
8622
+
moment he leaned breathless against the railing--then the window was
8623
+
slowly opened from within.
8624
+
8625
+
They stared at each other for some time. Presently the girl took two
8626
+
unsteady steps back into the room. He saw her face,--all crimsoned
8627
+
now,--he saw her sink into a chair by the lamplit table, and without a
8628
+
word he followed her into the room, closing the big door-like panes behind
8629
+
him. Then they looked at each other in silence.
8630
+
8631
+
The room was small and white; everything was white about it,--the
8632
+
curtained bed, the little wash-stand in the corner, the bare walls, the
8633
+
china lamp,--and his own face,--had he known it, but the face and neck of
8634
+
Rue were surging in the colour that dyed the blossoming rose-tree there on
8635
+
the hearth beside her. It did not occur to him to speak. She seemed not to
8636
+
expect it. His mind was struggling with the impressions of the room. The
8637
+
whiteness, the extreme purity of everything occupied him--began to trouble
8638
+
him. As his eye became accustomed to the light, other objects grew from
8639
+
the surroundings and took their places in the circle of lamplight. There
8640
+
was a piano and a coal-scuttle and a little iron trunk and a bath-tub.
8641
+
Then there was a row of wooden pegs against the door, with a white chintz
8642
+
curtain covering the clothes underneath. On the bed lay an umbrella and a
8643
+
big straw hat, and on the table, a music-roll unfurled, an ink-stand, and
8644
+
sheets of ruled paper. Behind him stood a wardrobe faced with a mirror,
8645
+
but somehow he did not care to see his own face just then. He was
8646
+
sobering.
8647
+
8648
+
The girl sat looking at him without a word. Her face was expressionless,
8649
+
yet the lips at times trembled almost imperceptibly. Her eyes, so
8650
+
wonderfully blue in the daylight, seemed dark and soft as velvet, and the
8651
+
colour on her neck deepened and whitened with every breath. She seemed
8652
+
smaller and more slender than when he had seen her in the street, and
8653
+
there was now something in the curve of her cheek almost infantine. When
8654
+
at last he turned and caught his own reflection in the mirror behind him,
8655
+
a shock passed through him as though he had seen a shameful thing, and his
8656
+
clouded mind and his clouded thoughts grew clearer. For a moment their
8657
+
eyes met then his sought the floor, his lips tightened, and the struggle
8658
+
within him bowed his head and strained every nerve to the breaking. And
8659
+
now it was over, for the voice within had spoken. He listened, dully
8660
+
interested but already knowing the end,--indeed it little mattered;--the
8661
+
end would always be the same for him;--he understood now--always the same
8662
+
for him, and he listened, dully interested, to a voice which grew within
8663
+
him. After a while he stood up, and she rose at once, one small hand
8664
+
resting on the table. Presently he opened the window, picked up his hat,
8665
+
and shut it again. Then he went over to the rosebush and touched the
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blossoms with his face. One was standing in a glass of water on the table
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and mechanically the girl drew it out, pressed it with her lips and laid
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it on the table beside him. He took it without a word and crossing the
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room, opened the door. The landing was dark and silent, but the girl
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lifted the lamp and gliding past him slipped down the polished stairs to
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the hallway. Then unchaining the bolts, she drew open the iron wicket.
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Through this he passed with his rose.
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End of Project Gutenberg's The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers
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