New Arabian Nights E-book
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Literature, Mystery
1882
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
CONTENTS
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THE SUICIDE CLUB
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS
A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT
THE SIRE DE MALETROIT'S DOOR
PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR
THE SUICIDE CLUB
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STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS
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DURING his residence in London, the accomplished Prince Florizel
of Bohemia gained the affection of all classes by the seduction of his
manner and by a well-considered generosity. He was a remarkable man
even by what was known of him; and that was but a small part of what
he actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary
circumstances, and accustomed to take the world with as much
philosophy as any ploughman, the Prince of Bohemia was not without a
taste for ways of life more adventurous and eccentric than that to
which he was destined by his birth. Now and then, when he fell into
a low humour, when there was no laughable play to witness in any of
the London theatres, and when the season of the year was unsuitable to
those field sports in which he excelled all competitors, he would
summon his confidant and Master of the Horse, Colonel Geraldine, and
bid him prepare himself against an evening ramble. The Master of the
Horse was a young officer of a brave and even temerarious disposition.
He greeted the news with delight, and hastened to make ready. Long
practice and a varied acquaintance of life had given him a singular
faculty in disguise; he could adapt not only his face and bearing, but
his voice and almost his thoughts, to those of any rank, character, or
nation; and in this way he diverted attention from the Prince, and
sometimes gained admission for the pair into strange societies. The
civil authorities were never taken into the secret of these
adventures; the imperturbable courage of the man and the ready
invention and chivalrous devotion of the other had brought them
through a score of dangerous passes; and they grew in confidence as
time went on.
One evening in March they were driven by a sharp fall of sleet
into an Oyster Bar in the immediate neighbourhood of Leicester Square.
Colonel Geraldine was dressed and painted to represent a person
connected with the Press in reduced circumstances; while the Prince
had, as usual, travestied his appearance by the addition of false
whiskers and a pair of large adhesive eyebrows. These lent him a
shaggy and weather-beaten air, which, for one of his urbanity,
formed the most impenetrable disguise. Thus equipped, the commander
and his satellite sipped their brandy and soda in security.
The bar was full of guests, male and female; but though more than
one of these offered to fall into talk with our adventurers, none of
them promised to grow interesting upon a nearer acquaintance. There
was nothing present but the lees of London and the commonplace of
disrespectability; and the Prince had already fallen to yawning, and
was beginning to grow weary of the whole excursion, when the swing
doors were pushed violently open, and a young man, followed by a
couple of commissionaires, entered the bar. Each of the
commissionaires carried a large dish of cream tarts under a cover,
which they at once removed; and the young man made the round of the
company, and pressed these confections upon every one's acceptance
with an exaggerated courtesy. Sometimes his offer was laughingly
accepted; sometimes it was firmly, or even harshly, rejected. In these
latter cases the new-comer always ate the tart himself, with some more
or less humorous commentary.
At last he accosted Prince Florizel.
"Sir," said he, with a profound obeisance, proffering the tart at
the same time between his thumb and forefinger, "will you so far
humour an entire stranger? I can answer for the quality of the pastry,
having eaten two dozen and three of them myself since five o'clock."
"I am in the habit," replied the Prince, "of looking not so much
to the nature of a gift as to the spirit in which it is offered."
"The spirit, sir," returned the young man, with another bow, "is one
of mockery."
"Mockery?" replied Florizel. "And whom do you propose to mock?"
"I am not here to expound my philosophy," replied the other, "but to
distribute these cream tarts. If I mention that I heartily include
myself in the ridicule of the transaction, I hope you will consider
honour satisfied and condescend. If not, you will constrain me to
eat my twenty-eighth, and I own to being weary of the exercise."
"You touch me," said the Prince, "and I have all the will in the
world to rescue you from this dilemma, but upon one condition. If my
friend and I eat your cakes- for which we have neither of us any
natural inclination- we shall expect you to join us at supper by way
of recompense."
The young man seemed to reflect.
"I have still several dozen upon hand," he said at last; "and that
will make it necessary for me to visit several more bars before my
great affair is concluded. This will take some time; and if you are
hungry-"
The Prince interrupted him with a polite jesture.
"My friend and I will accompany you," he said; "for we have
already a deep interest in your very agreeable mode of passing an
evening. And now that the preliminaries of peace are settled, allow me
to sign the treaty for both."
And the Prince swallowed the tart with the best grace imaginable.
"It is delicious," said he.
"I perceive you are a connoisseur," replied the young man.
Colonel Geraldine likewise did honour to the pastry; and every one
in that bar having now either accepted or refused his delicacies,
the young man with the cream tarts led the way to another and
similar establishment. The two commissionaires, who seemed to have
grown accustomed to their absurd employment, followed immediately
after; and the Prince and the Colonel brought up the rear, arm in arm,
and smiling to each other as they went. In this order the company
visited other taverns, where scenes were enacted of a like nature to
that already described- some refusing, some accepting, the favours
of this vagabond hospitality, and the young man himself eating each
rejected tart.
On leaving the third saloon the young man counted his store. There
were but nine remaining, three in one tray and six in the other.
"Gentlemen," said he, addressing himself to his two new followers,
"I am unwilling to delay your supper. I am positively sure you must be
hungry. I feel that I owe you a special consideration. And on this
great day for me, when I am closing a career of folly of my most
conspicuously silly action, I wish to behave handsomely to all who
give me countenance. Gentlemen, you shall wait no longer. Although
my constitution is shattered by previous excesses, at the risk of my
life I liquidate the suspensory condition."
With these words he crushed the nine remaining tarts into his mouth,
and swallowed them at a single movement each. Then, turning to the
commissionaires, he gave them a couple of sovereigns.
"I have to thank you," said he, "for your extraordinary patience."
And he dismissed them with a bow apiece. For some seconds he stood
looking at the purse from which he had just paid his assistants, then,
with a laugh, he tossed it into the middle of the street, and
signified his readiness for supper.
In a small French restaurant in Soho, which had enjoyed an
exaggerated reputation for some little while, but had already begun to
be forgotten, and in a private room up two pairs of stairs, the
three companions made a very elegant supper, and drank three or four
bottles of champagne, talking the while upon indifferent subjects. The
young man was fluent and gay, but he laughed louder than was natural
in a person of polite breeding; his hands trembled violently, and
his voice took sudden and surprising inflections, which seemed to be
independent of his will. The dessert had been cleared away, and all
three had lighted their cigars, when the Prince addressed him in these
words:-
"You will, I am sure, pardon my curiosity. What I have seen of you
has greatly pleased but even more puzzled me. And though I should be
loath to seem indiscreet, I must tell you that my friend and I are
persons very well worthy to be entrusted with a secret. We have many
of our own, which we are continually revealing to improper ears. And
if, as I suppose, your story is a silly one, you need have no delicacy
with us, who are two of the silliest men in England. My name is
Godall, Theophilus Godall; my friend is Major Alfred Hammersmith- or
at least, such is the name by which he chooses to be known. We pass
our lives entirely in the search for extravagant adventures; and there
is no extravagance with which we are not capable of sympathy."
"I like you, Mr. Godall," returned the young man; "you inspire me
with a natural confidence; and I have not the slightest objection to
your friend the Major whom I take to be a nobleman in masquerade. At
least, I am sure he is no soldier."
The Colonel smiled at this compliment to the perfection of his
art; and the young man went on in a more animated manner.
"There is every reason why I should not tell you my story. Perhaps
that is just the reason why I am going to do so. At least, you seem so
well prepared to hear a tale of silliness that I cannot find it in
my heart to disappoint you. My name in spite of your example, I
shall keep to myself. My age is not essential to the narrative. I am
descended from my ancestors by ordinary generation, and from them I
inherited the very eligible human tenement which I still occupy and
a fortune of three hundred pounds a year. I suppose they also handed
on to me a hare-brain humour, which it has been my chief delight to
indulge. I received a good education. I can play the violin nearly
well enough to earn money in the orchestra of a penny gaff, but not
quite. The same remark applies to the flute and the French horn. I
learned enough of whist to lose a hundred a year at that scientific
game. My acquaintance with French was sufficient to enable me to
squander money in Paris with almost the same facility as in London. In
short, I am a person full of manly accomplishments. I have had every
sort of adventure, including a duel about nothing. Only two months ago
I met a young lady exactly suited to my taste in mind and body; I
found my heart melt; I saw that I had come upon my fate at last, and
was in the way to fall in love. But when I came to reckon up what
remained to me of my capital, I found it amounted to something less
than four hundred pounds! I ask you fairly- can a man who respects
himself fall in love on four hundred pounds? I concluded, certainly
not; left the presence of my charmer, and slightly accelerating my
usual rate of expenditure, came this morning to my last eighty pounds.
This I divided into two equal parts; forty I reserved for a particular
purpose; the remaining forty I was to dissipate before the night. I
have passed a very entertaining day, and played many farces besides
that of the cream tarts which procured me the advantage of your
acquaintance; for I was determined, as I told you, to bring a
foolish career to a still more foolish conclusion; and when you saw me
throw my purse into the street, the forty pounds were at an end. Now
you know me as well as I know myself: a fool, but consistent in his
folly; and, as I will ask you to believe, neither a whimperer nor a
coward."
From the whole tone of the young man's statement it was plain that
he harboured very bitter and contemptuous thoughts about himself.
His auditors were led to imagine that his love affair was nearer his
heart than he admitted, and that he had a design on his own life.
The farce of the cream tarts began to have very much the air of a
tragedy ill disguise.
"Why, is this not odd," broke out Geraldine, giving a look to Prince
Florizel, "that we three fellows should have met by the merest
accident in so large a wilderness as London, and should be so nearly
in the same condition?"
"How?" cried the young man. "Are you, too, ruined? Is this supper
a folly like my cream tarts? Has the devil brought three of his own
together for a last carouse?"
"The devil, depend upon it, can sometimes do a very gentlemanly
thing," returned Prince Florizel; "and I am so much touched by this
coincidence, that, although we are not entirely in the same case, I am
going to put an end to the disparity. Let your heroic treatment of the
last cream tarts be my example."
So saying, the Prince drew out his purse and took from it a small
bundle of bank-notes.
"You see, I was a week or so behind you, but I mean to catch you
up and come neck and neck into the winning-post," he continued.
"This," laying one of the notes upon the table, "will suffice for
the bill. As for the rest-"
He tossed them into the fire, and they went up the chimney in a
single blaze.
The young man tried to catch his arm, but as the table was between
them his interference came too late.
"Unhappy man," he cried, "you should not have burned them all. You
should have kept forty pounds."
"Forty pounds!" repeated the Prince. "Why, in heaven's name, forty
pounds?"
"Why not eighty?" cried the Colonel; "for to my certain knowledge
there must have been a hundred in the bundle."
"It was only forty pounds he needed," said the young man gloomily.
"But without them there is no admission. The rule is strict. Forty
pounds for each. Accursed life, where a man cannot even die without
money!"
The Prince and the Colonel exchanged glances.
"Explain yourself," said the latter. "I have still a pocket-book
tolerably well lined, and I need not say how readily I should share my
wealth with Godall. But I must know to what end; you must certainly
tell us what you mean."
The young man seemed to awaken; he looked uneasily from one to the
other, and his face flushed deeply.
"You are not fooling me?" he asked. "You are indeed ruined men
like me?"
"Indeed, I am for my part," replied the Colonel.
"And for mine," said the Prince, "I have given you proof. Who but
a ruined man would throw his notes into the fire? The action speaks
for itself."
"A ruined man- yes," returned the other suspiciously, "or else a
millionaire."
"Enough, sir," said the Prince; "I have said so, and I am not
accustomed to have my word remain in doubt."
"Ruined?" said the young man. "Are you ruined, like me? Are you,
after a life indulgence, come to such a pass that you can only indulge
yourself in one thing more? Are you"- he kept lowering his voice as he
went on- "are you going to give yourselves that last indulgence? Are
you going to avoid the consequences of your folly by the one
infallible and easy path? Are you going to give the slip to the
sheriff's officers of conscience by the one open door?"
Suddenly he broke off and attempted to laugh.
"Here is your health!" he cried, emptying his glass, "and good night
to you, my merry ruined men."
Colonel Geraldine caught him by the arm as he was about to rise.
"You lack confidence in us," he said, "and you are wrong. To all
your questions I make answer in the affirmative. But I am not so
timid, and can speak the Queen's English plainly. We, too, like
yourself, have had enough of life, and are determined to die. Sooner
or later, alone or together, we meant to seek out death and heard
him where he lies ready. Since we have met you, and your case is
more pressing, let it be to-night- and at once- and, if you will,
all three together. Such a penniless trio," he cried, "should go arm
in arm into the halls of Pluto, and give each other some countenance
among the shades!"
Geraldine had hit exactly on the manners and intonations that became
the part he was playing. The Prince himself was disturbed, and
looked over at his confidant with a shade of doubt. As for the young
man, the flush came back darkly into his cheek, and his eyes threw out
a spark of light.
"You are the men for me!" he cried, with an almost terrible
gaiety. "Shake hands upon the bargain!" (his hand was cold and wet).
"You little know in what a company you will begin the march! You
little know in what a happy moment for yourselves you partook of my
cream tarts! I am only a unit, but I am a unit in an army. I know
Death's private door. I am one of his familiars, and can show you into
eternity without ceremony and yet without scandal."
They called upon him eagerly to explain his meaning.
"Can you master eighty pounds between you?" he demanded.
Geraldine ostentatiously consulted his pocket-book, and replied in
the affirmative.
"Fortunate beings!" cried the young man. "Forty pounds is the
entry money of the Suicide Club."
"The Suicide Club," said the Prince; "why, what the devil is that?"
"Listen," said the young man; "this is the age of convenience, and I
have to tell you of the last perfection of the sort. We have affairs
in different places; and thence railways were invented. Railways
separated us infallibly from our friends; and so telegraphs were
made that we might communicate speedily at great distances. Even in
hotels we have lifts to spare us a climb of some hundred steps. Now,
we know that life is only a stage to play the fool upon as long as the
part amuses us. There was one more convenience lacking to modern
comfort; a decent, easy way to quit that stage; the back stairs to
liberty; or, as I said this moment, Death's private door. This, my two
fellow-rebels, is supplied by the Suicide Club. Do not suppose that
you and I are alone, or even exceptional, in the highly reasonable
desire that we profess. A large number of our fellowmen, who have
grown heartily sick of the performance in which they are expected to
join daily and all their lives long, are only kept from flight by
one or two considerations. Some have families who would be shocked, or
even blamed, if the matter became public; others have a weakness at
heart and recoil from the circumstances of death. That is, to some
extent, my own experience. I cannot put a pistol to my head and draw
the trigger; for something stronger than myself withholds the act; and
although I loathe life, I have not strength enough in my body to
take hold of death and be done with it. For such as I, and for all who
desire to be out of the coil without posthumous scandal, the Suicide
Club has been inaugurated. How this has been managed, what is its
history, or what may be its ramifications in other hands, I am
myself uninformed; and what I know of its constitution, I am not at
liberty to communicate to you. To this extent, however, I am at your
service. If you are truly tired of life, I will introduce you to-night
to a meeting; and if not to-night, at least some time within the week,
and you will be easily relieved of your existences. It is now"
(consulting his watch) "eleven; by half-past, at latest, we must leave
this place; so that you have half-an-hour before you to consider my
proposal. It is more serious than a cream tart," he added, with a
smile; "and I suspect more palatable."
"More serious, certainly," returned Colonel Geraldine; "and as it is
so much more so, will you allow me five minutes' speech in private
with my friend, Mr. Godall?'
"It is only fair," answered the young man. "If you will permit, I
will retire."
"You will be very obliging," said the Colonel.
As soon as the two were alone- "What," said Prince Florizel, "is the
use of this confabulation, Geraldine? I see you are flurried,
whereas my mind is very tranquilly made up. I will see the end of
this."
"Your Highness," said the Colonel, turning pale; "let me ask you
to consider the importance of your life, not only to your friends, but
to the public interest. 'If not to-night,' said this madman; but
supposing that to-night some irreparable disaster were to overtake
your Highness's person, what, let me ask you, what would be my
despair, and what the concern and disaster of a great nation?"
"I will see the end of this," repeated the Prince in his most
deliberate tones; "and have the kindness, Colonel Geraldine, to
remember and respect your word of honour as a gentleman. Under no
circumstances, recollect, nor without my special authority, are you to
betray the incognito under which I choose to go abroad. These were
my commands, which I now reiterate. And now," he added, "let me ask
you to call for the bill."
Colonel Geraldine bowed in submission; but he had a very white
face as he summoned the young man of the cream tarts, and issued his
directions to the waiter. The Prince preserved his undisturbed
demeanour, and described a Palais Royal farce to the young suicide
with great humour and gusto. He avoided the Colonel's appealing
looks without ostentation, and selected another cheroot with more than
usual care. Indeed, he was now the only man of the party who kept
any command over his nerves.
The bill was discharged, the Prince giving the whole change of the
note to the astonished waiter; and the three drove off in a four
wheeler. They were not long upon the way before the cab stopped at the
entrance to a rather dark court. Here all descended.
After Geraldine had paid the fare, the young man turned, and
addressed Prince Florizel as follows:-
"It is still time, Mr. Godall, to make good your escape into
thraldom. And for you too, Major Hammersmith. Reflect well before
you take another step; and if your hearts say no- here are the
cross-roads."
"Lead on, sir," said the Prince. "I am not the man to go back from a
thing once said."
"Your coolness does me good," replied their guide. "I have never
seen any one so unmoved at this conjuncture; and yet you are not the
first whom I have escorted to this door. More than one of my friends
has preceded me, where I knew I must shortly follow. But this is of no
interest to you. Wait me here for only a few moments; I shall return
as soon as I have arranged the preliminaries of your introduction."
And with that the young man, waving his hand to his companions,
turned into the court, entered a doorway and disappeared.
"Of all our follies," said Colonel Geraldine in a low voice, "this
is the wildest and most dangerous."
"I perfectly believe so," returned the Prince.
"We have still," pursued the Colonel, "a moment to ourselves. Let me
beseech your Highness to profit by the opportunity and retire. The
consequences of this step are so dark, and may be so grave, that I
feel myself justified in pushing a little farther than usual the
liberty which your Highness is so condescending as to allow me in
private."
"Am I to understand that Colonel Geraldine is afraid?" asked his
Highness, taking his cheroot from his lips, and looking keenly into
the other's face.
"My fear is certainly not personal," replied the other proudly;
"of that your Highness may rest well assured."
"I had supposed as much," returned the Prince, with undisturbed good
humour; "but I was unwilling to remind you of the difference in our
stations. No more- no more," he added, seeing Geraldine about to
apologize, "you stand excused."
And he smoked placidly, leaning against a railing, until the young
man returned.
"Well," he asked, "has our reception been arranged?"
"Follow me," was the reply. "The President will see you in the
cabinet. And let me warn you to be frank in your answers. I have stood
your guarantee; but the club requires a searching inquiry before
admission; for the indiscretion of a single member would lead to the
dispersion of the whole society for ever."
The Prince and Geraldine put their heads together for a moment.
"Bear me out in this," said the one; and "bear me out in that," said
the other; and by boldly taking up the characters of men with whom
both were acquainted, they had come to an agreement in a twinkling,
and were ready to follow their guide into the President's cabinet.
There were no formidable obstacles to pass. The outer door stood
open; the door of the cabinet was ajar; and there, in a small but very
high apartment, the young men left them once more.
"He will be here immediately," he said, with a nod, as he
disappeared.
Voices were audible in the cabinet through the folding doors which
formed one end; and now and then the noise of a champagne cork,
followed by a burst of laughter, intervened among the sounds of
conversation. A single tall window looked out upon the river and the
embankment; and by the disposition of the lights they judged
themselves not far from Charing Cross station. The furniture was
scanty, and the coverings worn to the thread; and there was nothing
movable except a hand-bell in the centre of a round table, and the
hats and coats of a considerable party hung round the wall on pegs.
"What sort of a den is this?" said Geraldine.
"That is what I have come to see," replied the Prince. "If they keep
live devils on the premises, the thing may grow amusing."
Just then the folding door was opened no more than was necessary for
the passage of a human body; and there entered at the same moment a
louder buzz of talk, and the redoubtable President of the Suicide
Club. The President was a man of fifty upwards; large and rambling
in his gait, with shaggy side whiskers, a bald top to his head, and
a veiled grey eye, which now and then emitted a twinkle. His mouth,
which embraced a large cigar, he kept continually screwing round and
round and from side to side, as he looked sagaciously and coldly at
the strangers. He was dressed in light tweeds, with his neck very open
in a striped shirt collar; and carried a minute book under one arm.
"Good evening," said he, after he had closed the door behind him. "I
am told you wish to speak with me."
"We have a desire, sir, to join the Suicide Club," replied the
Colonel.
The President rolled his cigar about his mouth.
"What is that?" he said abruptly.
"Pardon me," returned the Colonel, "but I believe you are the person
best qualified to give us information on that point."
"I?" cried the President. "A Suicide Club? Come, come! this is a
frolic for All Fools' Day. I can make allowance for gentlemen who
get merry in their liquor; but let there be an end to this."
"Call your Club what you will," said the Colonel, "you have some
company behind these doors, and we insist on joining it."
"Sir," returned the President, curtly, "you have made a mistake.
This is a private house, and you must leave instantly."
The Prince had remained quietly in his seat throughout this little
colloquy; but now, when the Colonel looked over to him, as much as
to say, "Take your answer and come away, for God's sake!" he drew
his cheroot from his mouth, and spoke-
"I have come here," said he, "upon the invitation of a friend of
yours. He had doubtless informed you of my intention in thus intruding
on your party. Let me remind you that a person in my circumstances has
exceedingly little to bind him, and is not at all likely to tolerate
much rudeness. I am a very quiet man, as a usual thing; but, my dear
sir, you are either going to oblige me in the little matter of which
you are aware, or you shall very bitterly repent that you ever
admitted me to your ante-chamber."
The President laughed aloud.
"That is the way to speak," said he. "You are a man who is a man.
You know the way to my heart, and can do what you like with me. Will
you," he continued, addressing Geraldine, "will you step aside for a
few minutes? I shall finish first with your companion, and some of the
club's formalities require to be fulfilled in private."
With these words he opened the door of a small closet, into which he
shut the Colonel.
"I believe in you," he said to Florizel, as soon as they were alone;
"but are you sure of your friend?"
"Not so sure as I am of myself, though he has more cogent
reasons," answered Florizel, "but sure enough to bring him here
without alarm. He has had enough to cure the most tenacious man of
life. He was cashiered the other day for cheating at cards."
"A good reason, I daresay," replied the President; "at least, we
have another in the same case, and I feel sure of him. Have you also
been in the Service, may I ask?"
"I have," was the reply; "but I was too lazy, I left it early."
"What is your reason for being tired of life?" pursued the
President.
"The same, as near as I can make out," answered the Prince;
"unadulterated laziness."
The President started. "D__n it," said he, "you must have
something better than that."
"I have no more money," added Florizel. "That is also a vexation,
without doubt. It brings my sense of idleness to an acute point."
The President rolled his cigar round in his mouth for some
seconds, directing his gaze straight into the eyes of this unusual
neophyte; but the Prince supported his scrutiny with unabashed good
temper.
"If I had not a deal of experience," said the President at last,
"I should turn you off. But I know the world; and this much any way,
that the most frivolous excuses for a suicide are often the toughest
to stand by. And when I downright like a man, as I do you, sir, I
would rather strain the regulation than deny him."
The Prince and the Colonel, one after the other, were subjected to a
long and particular interrogatory: the Prince alone; but Geraldine
in the presence of the Prince, so that the President might observe the
countenance of the one while the other was being warmly
cross-examined. The result was satisfactory; and the President,
after having booked a few details of each case, produced a form of
oath to be accepted. Nothing could be conceived more passive than
the obedience promised, or more stringent than the terms by which
the juror bound himself. The man who forfeited a pledge so awful could
scarcely have a rag of honour or any of the consolations of religion
left to him. Florizel signed the document, but not without a
shudder; the Colonel followed his example with an air of great
depression. Then the President received the entry money; and without
more ado, introduced the two friends into the smoking-room of the
Suicide Club.
The smoking-room of the Suicide Club was the same height as the
cabinet into which it opened, but much larger, and papered from top to
bottom with an imitation of oak wainscot. A large and cheerful fire
and a number of gas-jets illuminated the company. The Prince and his
follower made the number up to eighteen. Most of the party were
smoking, and drinking champagne; a feverish hilarity reigned, with
sudden and rather ghastly pauses.
"Is this a full meeting?" asked the Prince.
"Middling," said the President. "By the way," he added, "if you have
any money, it is usual to offer some champagne. It keeps up a good
spirit, and is one of my own little perquisites."
"Hammersmith," said Florizel, "I may leave the champagne to you."
And with that he turned away and began to go round among the guests.
Accustomed to play the host in the highest circles, he charmed and
dominated all whom he approached; there was something at once
winning and authoritative in his address; and his extraordinary
coolness gave him yet another distinction in this half maniacal
society. As he went from one to another he kept both his eyes and ears
open, and soon began to gain a general idea of the people among whom
he found himself. As in all other places of resort, one type
predominated: people in the prime of youth, with every show of
intelligence and sensibility in their appearance, but with little
promise of strength or the quality that makes success. Few were much
above thirty, and not a few were still in their teens. They stood,
leaning on tables and shifting on their feet; sometimes they smoked
extraordinarily fast, and sometimes they let their cigars go out; some
talked well, but the conversation of others was plainly the result
of nervous tension, and was equally without wit or purport. As each
new bottle of champagne was opened, there was a manifest improvement
in gaiety. Only two were seated- one in a chair in the recess of the
window, with his head hanging and his hands plunged deep into his
trouser pockets, pale, visibly moist with perspiration, saying never a
word, a very wreck of soul and body; the other sat on the divan
close by the chimney, and attracted notice by a trenchant
dissimilarity from all the rest. He was probably upwards of forty, but
he looked fully ten years older; and Florizel thought he had never
seen a man more naturally hideous, nor one more ravaged by disease and
ruinous excitements. He was no more than skin and bone, was partly
paralysed, and wore spectacles of such unusual power, that his eyes
appeared through the glasses greatly magnified and distorted in shape.
Except the Prince and the President, he was the only person in the
room who preserved the composure of ordinary life.
There was little decency among the members of the club. Some boasted
of the disgraceful actions, the consequences of which had reduced them
to seek refuge in death; and the others listened without
disapproval. There was a tacit understanding against moral
judgments; and whoever passed the club doors enjoyed already some of
the immunities of the tomb. They drank to each other's memories, and
to those of notable suicides in the past. They compared and
developed their different views of death- some declaring that it was
no more than blackness and cessation; others full of hope that that
very night they should be scaling the stars and commercing with the
mighty dead.
"To the eternal memory of Baron Trenck, the type of suicides!" cried
one. "He went out of a small cell into a smaller, that he might come
forth again to freedom."
"For my part," said a second, "I wish no more than a bandage for
my eyes and cotton for my ears. Only they have no cotton thick
enough in this world."
A third was for reading the mysteries of life in a future state; and
a fourth professed that he would never have joined the club, if he had
not been induced to believe in Mr. Darwin.
"I could not bear," said this remarkable suicide, "to be descended
from an ape."
Altogether, the Prince was disappointed by the bearing and
conversation of the members.
"It does not seem to me," he thought, "a matter for so much
disturbance. If a man has made up his mind to kill himself, let him do
it, in God's name, like a gentleman. This flutter and big talk is
out of place."
In the meanwhile Colonel Geraldine was a prey to the blackest
apprehensions; the club and its rules were still a mystery, and he
looked round the room for some one who should be able to set his
mind at rest. In this survey his eye lighted on the paralytic person
with the strong spectacles; and seeing him so exceedingly tranquil, he
besought the President, who was going in and out of the room under a
pressure of business, to present him to the gentleman on the divan.
The functionary explained the needlessness of all such formalities
within the club, but nevertheless presented Mr. Hammersmith to Mr.
Malthus.
Mr. Malthus looked at the Colonel curiously, and then requested
him to take a seat upon his right.
"You are a new-comer," he said, "and wish information? You have come
to the proper source. It is two years since I first visited this
charming club."
The Colonel breathed again. If Mr. Malthus had frequented the
place for two years there could be little danger for the Prince in a
single evening. But Geraldine was none the less astonished, and
began to suspect a mystification.
"What!" cried he, "two years! I thought- but indeed I see I have
been made the subject of a pleasantry."
"By no means," replied Mr. Malthus mildly. "My case is peculiar. I
am not, properly speaking, a suicide at all; but, as it were, an
honorary member. I rarely visit the club twice in two months. My
infirmity and the kindness of the President have procured me these
little immunities, for which besides I pay at an advanced rate. Even
as it is my luck has been extraordinary."
"I am afraid," said the Colonel, "that I must ask you to be more
explicit. You must remember that I am still most imperfectly
acquainted with the rules of the club."
"An ordinary member who comes here in search of death like
yourself," replied the paralytic, "returns every evening until fortune
favours him. He can even, if he is penniless, get board and lodging
from the President: very fair, I believe, and clean, although, of
course, not luxurious; that could hardly be, considering the
exiguity (if I may so express myself) of the subscription. And then
the President's company is a delicacy in itself."
"Indeed!" cried Geraldine, "he had not greatly prepossessed me."
"Ah!" said Mr. Malthus, "you do not know the man: the drollest
fellow! What stories! What cynicism! He knows life to admiration
and, between ourselves, is probably the most corrupt rogue in
Christendom."
"And he also," asked the Colonel, "is a permanency- like yourself,
if I may say so without offence?"
"Indeed, he is a permanency in a very different sense from me,"
replied Mr. Malthus. "I have been graciously spared, but I must go
at last. Now he never plays. He shuffles and deals for the club, and
makes the necessary arrangements. That man, my dear Mr. Hammersmith,
is the very soul of ingenuity. For three years he has pursued in
London his useful and, I think I may add, his artistic calling; and
not so much as a whisper of suspicion has been once aroused. I believe
him myself to be inspired. You doubtless remember the celebrated case.
six months ago, of the gentleman who was accidentally poisoned in a
chemist's shop? That was one of the least rich, one of the least racy,
of his notions; but then, how simple! and how safe!"
"You astound me," said the Colonel. "Was that unfortunate
gentleman one of the-" He was about to say "victims"; but bethinking
himself in time, he substituted- "members of the club?"
In the same flash of thought, it occurred to him that Mr. Malthus
himself had not at all spoken in the tone of one who is in love with
death; and he added hurriedly:
"But I perceive I am still in the dark. You speak of shuffling and
dealing; pray for what end? And since you seem rather unwilling to die
than otherwise, I must own that I cannot conceive what brings you here
at all."
"You say truly that you are in the dark," replied Mr. Malthus with
more animation. "Why, my dear sir, this club is the temple of
intoxication. If my enfeebled health could support the excitement more
often, you may depend upon it I should be more often here. It requires
all the sense of duty engendered by a long habit of ill-health and
careful regimen, to keep me from excess in this, which is, I may
say, my dissipation. I have tried them all, sir," he went on, laying
his hand on Geraldine's arm, "all without exception, and I declare
to you, upon my honour, there is not one of them that has not been
grossly and untruthfully overrated. People trifle with love. Now, I
deny that love is a strong passion. Fear is the strong passion; it
is with fear that you must trifle, if you wish to taste the
intensest joys of living. Envy me- envy me, sir," he added with a
chuckle, "I am a coward!"
Geraldine could scarcely repress a movement of repulsion for this
deplorable wretch; but he commanded himself with an effort, and
continued his inquiries.
"How, sir," he asked, "is the excitement so artfully prolonged?
and where is there any element of uncertainty?"
"I must tell you how the victim for every evening is selected,"
returned Mr. Malthus; "and not only the victim, but another member,
who is to be the instrument in the club's hands, and death's high
priest for that occasion."
"Good God!" said the Colonel, "do they then kill each other?"
"The trouble of suicide is removed in that way," returned Malthus
with a nod.
"Merciful heavens!" ejaculated the Colonel, "and may you- may I- may
the- my friend I mean- may any of us be pitched upon this evening as
the slayer of another man's body and immortal spirit? Can such
things be possible among men born of women? Oh! infamy of infamies!"
He was about to rise in his horror, when he caught the Prince's eye.
It was fixed upon him from across the room with a frowning and angry
stare. And in a moment Geraldine recovered his composure.
"After all," he added, "why not? And since you say the game is
interesting, vogue la galere- I follow the club!"
Mr. Malthus had keenly enjoyed the Colonel's amazement and
disgust. He had the vanity of wickedness; and it pleased him to see
another man give way to a generous movement, while he felt himself, in
his entire corruption, superior to such emotions.
"You now, after your first moment of surprise," said he, "are in a
position to appreciate the delights of our society. You can see how it
combines the excitement of a gaming-table, a duel, and a Roman
amphitheatre. The Pagans did well enough; I cordially admire the
refinement of their minds; but it has been reserved for a Christian
country to attain this extreme, this quintessence, this absolute of
poignancy. You will understand how vapid are all amusements to a man
who has acquired a taste for this one. The game we play," he
continued, "is one of extreme simplicity. A full pack- but I
perceive you are about to see the thing in progress. Will you lend
me the help of your arm? I am unfortunately paralysed."
Indeed, just as Mr. Malthus was beginning his description, another
pair of folding-doors was thrown open, and the whole club began to
pass, not without some hurry, into the adjoining room. It was
similar in every respect to the one from which it was entered, but
somewhat differently furnished. The centre was occupied by a long
green table, at which the President sat shuffling a pack of cards with
great particularity. Even with the stick and the Colonel's arm, Mr.
Malthus walked with so much difficulty that every one was seated
before this pair and the Prince, who had waited for them, entered
the apartment; and, in consequence, the three took seats close
together at the lower end of the board.
"It is a pack of fifty-two," whispered Mr. Malthus. "Watch for the
ace of spades, which is the sign of death, and the ace of clubs, which
designates the official of the night. Happy, happy young men!" he
added. "You have good eyes, and can follow the game. Alas! I cannot
tell an ace from a deuce across the table."
And he proceeded to equip himself with a second pair of spectacles.
"I must at least watch the faces," he explained.
The Colonel rapidly informed his friend of all that he had learned
from the honorary member, and of the horrible alternative that lay
before them. The Prince was conscious of a deadly chill and a
contraction about his heart; he swallowed with difficulty, and
looked from side to side like a man in a maze.
"One bold stroke," whispered the Colonel, "and we may still escape."
But the suggestion recalled the Prince's spirits.
"Silence!" said he. "Let me see that you can play like a gentleman
for any stake, however serious."
And he looked about him, once more to all appearance at his ease,
although his heart beat thickly, and he was conscious of an unpleasant
heat in his bosom. The members were all very quiet and intent; every
one was pale, but none so pale as Mr. Malthus. His eyes protruded; his
head kept nodding involuntarily upon his spine; his hands found
their way, one after the other, to his mouth, where they made clutches
at his tremulous and ashen lips. It was plain that the honorary member
enjoyed his membership on very startling terms.
"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President.
And he began slowly dealing the cards about the table in the reverse
direction, pausing until each man had shown his card. Nearly every one
hesitated; and sometimes you would see a player's fingers stumble more
than once before he could turn over the momentous slip of
pasteboard. As the Prince's turn drew nearer, he was conscious of a
growing and almost suffocating excitement; but he had somewhat of
the gambler's nature, and recognised almost with astonishment that
there was a degree of pleasure in his sensations. The nine of clubs
fell to his lot; the three of spades was dealt to Geraldine; and the
queen of hearts to Mr. Malthus, who was unable to suppress a sob of
relief. The young man of the cream tarts almost immediately afterwards
turned over the ace of clubs, and remained frozen with horror, the
card still resting on his finger; he had not come there to kill, but
to be killed; and the Prince in his generous sympathy with his
position forgot the peril that still hung over himself and his friend.
The deal was coming round again, and still Death's card had not come
out. The players held their respiration, and only breathed by gasps.
The Prince received another club; Geraldine had a diamond; but when
Mr. Malthus turned up his card a horrible noise, like that of
something breaking, issued from his mouth; and he rose from his seat
and sat down again, with no sign of his paralysis. It was the ace of
spades. The honorary member had trifled once too often with his
terrors.
Conversation broke out again almost at once. The players relaxed
their rigid attitudes, and began to rise from the table and stroll
back by twos and threes into the smoking-room. The President stretched
his arms and yawned, like a man who had finished his day's work. But
Mr. Malthus sat in his place, with his head in his hands, and his
hands upon the table, drunk and motionless- a thing stricken down.
The Prince and Geraldine made their escape at once. In the cold
night air their horror of what they had witnessed was redoubled.
"Alas!" cried the Prince, "to be bound by an oath in such a
matter! to allow this wholesale trade in murder to be continued with
profit and impunity! If I but dared to forfeit my pledge!"
"That is impossible for your Highness," replied the Colonel,
"whose honour is the honour of Bohemia. But I dare, and may with
propriety, forfeit mine."
"Geraldine," said the Prince, "if your honour suffers in any of
the adventures into which you follow me, not only will I never
pardon you, but- what I believe will much more sensibly affect you-
I should never forgive myself."
"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the Colonel. "Shall we
go from this accursed spot?"
"Yes," said the Prince. "Call a cab in Heaven's name, and let me try
to forget in slumber the memory of this night's disgrace."
But it was notable that he carefully read the name of the court
before he left it.
The next morning, as soon as the Prince was stirring, Colonel
Geraldine brought him a daily newspaper, with the following
paragraph marked:-
"MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.- This morning, about two o'clock, Mr.
Bartholomew Malthus, of 16 Chepstow Place, Westbourne Grove, on his
way home from a party at a friend's house, fell over the upper parapet
in Trafalgar Square, fracturing his skull and breaking a leg and an
arm. Death was instantaneous. Mr. Malthus, accompanied by a friend,
was engaged in looking for a cab at the time of the unfortunate
occurrence. As Mr. Malthus was paralytic, it is thought that his
fall may have been occasioned by another seizure. The unhappy
gentleman was well known in the most respectable circles, and his loss
will be widely and deeply deplored."
"If ever a soul went straight to Hell," said Geraldine solemnly, "it
was that paralytic man's."
The Prince buried his face in his hands, and remained silent.
"I am almost rejoiced," continued the Colonel, "to know that he is
dead. But for our young man of the cream tarts I confess my heart
bleeds."
"Geraldine," said the Prince, raising his face, "that unhappy lad
was last night as innocent as you and I; and this morning the guilt of
blood is on his soul. When I think of the President, my heart grows
sick within me. I do not know how it shall be done, but I shall have
that scoundrel at my mercy as there is a God in heaven. What an
experience, what a lesson, was that game of cards!"
"One," said the Colonel, "never to be repeated."
The Prince remained so long without replying, that Geraldine grew
alarmed.
"You cannot mean to return," he said. "You have suffered too much
and seen too much horror already. The duties of your high position
forbid the repetition of the hazard."
"There is much in what you say," replied Prince Florizel, "and I
am not altogether pleased with my own determination. Alas! in the
clothes of the greatest potentate, what is there but a man? I never
felt my weakness more acutely than now, Geraldine, but it is
stronger than I. Can I cease to interest myself in the fortunes of the
unhappy young man who supped with us some hours ago? Can I leave the
President to follow his nefarious career unwatched? Can I begin an
adventure so entrancing, and not follow it to an end? No, Geraldine:
you ask of the Prince more than the man is able to perform.
To-night, once more, we take our places at the table of the Suicide
Club."
Colonel Geraldine fell upon his knees.
"Will your Highness take my life?" he cried. "It is his- freely; but
do not, O do not! let him ask me to countenance so terrible a risk."
"Colonel Geraldine," replied the Prince, "with some haughtiness of
manner, your life is absolutely your own. I only looked for obedience;
and when that is unwillingly rendered, I shall look for that no
longer. I add one word: your importunity in this affair has been
sufficient."
The Master of the Horse regained his feet at once.
"Your Highness," he said, "may I be excused in my attendance this
afternoon? I dare not, as an honourable man, venture a second time
into that fatal house until I have perfectly ordered my affairs.
Your Highness shall meet, I promise him, with no more opposition
from the most devoted and grateful of her servants."
"My dear Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel, "I always regret when
you oblige me to remember my rank. Dispose of your day as you think,
but be here before eleven in the same disguise."
The club, on this second evening, was not so fully attended; and
when Geraldine and the Prince arrived, there were not above
half-a-dozen persons in the smoking-room. His Highness took the
President aside and congratulated him warmly on the demise of Mr.
Malthus.
"I like," he said, "to meet with capacity, and certainly find much
of it in you. Your profession is of a very delicate nature, but I
see you are well qualified to conduct it with success and secrecy."
The President was somewhat affected by these compliments from one of
his Highness's superior bearing. He acknowledged them almost with
humility.
"Poor Malthy!" he added, "I shall hardly know the club without
him. The most of my patrons are boys, sir, and poetical boys, who
are not much company for me. Not but what Malthy had some poetry, too;
but it was of a kind that I could understand."
"I can readily imagine you should find yourself in sympathy with Mr.
Malthus," returned the Prince. "He struck me as a man of a very
original disposition."
The young man of the cream tarts was in the room, but painfully
depressed and silent. His late companions sought in vain to lead him
into conversation.
"How bitterly I wish," he cried, "that I had never brought you to
this infamous abode! Begone, while you are clean-handed. If you
could have heard the old man scream as he fell, and the noise of his
bones upon the pavement! Wish me, if you have any kindness to so
fallen a being- wish the ace of spades for me to-night!"
A few more members dropped in as the evening went on, but the club
did not muster more than the devil's dozen when they took their places
at the table. The Prince was again conscious of a certain joy in his
alarms; but he was astonished to see Geraldine so much more
self-possessed than on the night before.
"It is extraordinary," thought the Prince, "that a will, made or
unmade, should so greatly influence a young man's spirit."
"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President, and he began to deal.
Three times the cards went all round the table, and neither of the
marked cards had yet fallen from his hand. The excitement as he
began the fourth distribution was overwhelming. There were just
cards enough to go once more entirely round. The Prince, who sat
second from the dealer's left, would receive, in the reverse mode of
dealing practised at the club, the second last card. The third
player turned up a black ace- it was the ace of clubs. The next
received a diamond, the next a heart, and so on; but the ace of spades
was still undelivered. At last, Geraldine, who sat upon the Prince's
left, turned his card; it was an ace, but the ace of hearts.
When Prince Florizel saw his fate upon the table in front of him,
his heart stood still. He was a brave man, but the sweat poured off
his face. There were exactly fifty chances out of a hundred that he
was doomed. He reversed the card; it was the ace of spades. A loud
roaring filled his brain, and the table swam before his eyes. He heard
the player on his right break into a fit of laughter that sounded
between mirth and disappointment; he saw the company rapidly
dispersing, but his mind was full of other thoughts. He recognised how
foolish, how criminal, had been his conduct. In perfect health, in the
prime of his years, the heir to a throne, he had gambled away his
future and that of a brave and loyal country. "God," he cried, "God
forgive me!" And with that, the confusion of his senses passed away,
and he regained his self-possession in a moment.
To his surprise Geraldine had disappeared. There was no one in the
cardroom but his destined butcher consulting with the President, and
the young man with the cream tarts, who slipped up to the Prince,
and whispered in his ear:-
"I would give a million, if I had it, for your luck."
His Highness could not help reflecting, as the young man departed,
that he would have sold his opportunity for a much more moderate sum.
The whispered conference now came to an end. The holder of the ace
of clubs left the room with a look of intelligence, and the President,
approaching the unfortunate Prince, proffered his hand.
"I am pleased to have met you, sir," said he, "and pleased to have
been in a position to do you this trifling service. At least, you
cannot complain of delay. On the second evening- what a stroke of
luck!"
The Prince endeavoured in vain to articulate something in
response, but his mouth was dry and his tongue seemed paralysed.
"You feel a little sickish?" asked the President, with some show
of solicitude. "Most gentlemen do. Will you take a little brandy?"
The Prince signified in the affirmative, and the other immediately
filled some of the spirit into a tumbler.
"Poor old Malthy!" ejaculated the President, as the Prince drained
the glass. "He drank near upon a pint, and little enough good it
seemed to do him!"
"I am more amenable to treatment," said the Prince, a good deal
revived. "I am my own man again at once, as you perceive. And so,
let me ask you, what are my directions?"
"You will proceed along the Strand in the direction of the City,
on the left-hand pavement, until you meet the gentleman who has just
left the room. He will continue your instructions, and him you will
have the kindness to obey; the authority of the club is vested in
his person for the night. And now," added the President, "I wish you a
pleasant walk."
Florizel acknowledged the salutation rather awkwardly, and took
his leave. He passed the smoking-room, where the bulk of the players
were still consuming champagne, some of which he had himself ordered
and paid for; and he was surprised to find himself cursing them in his
heart. He put on his hat and greatcoat in the cabinet, and selected
his umbrella from a corner. The familiarity of these acts, and the
thought that he was about them for the last time, betrayed him into
a fit of laughter which sounded unpleasantly in his own ears. He
conceived a reluctance to leave the cabinet, and turned instead to the
window. The sight of the lamps and the darkness recalled him to
himself.
"Come, come, I must be a man," he thought, "and tear myself away."
At the corner of Box Court three men fell upon Prince Florizel and
he was unceremoniously thrust into a carriage, which at once drove
rapidly away. There was already an occupant.
"Will your Highness pardon my zeal?" said a well-known voice.
The Prince threw himself upon the Colonel's neck in a passion of
relief.
"How can I ever thank you?" he cried. "And how was this effected?"
Although he had been willing to march upon his doom, he was
overjoyed to yield to friendly violence, and return once more to
life and hope.
"You can thank me effectually enough," replied the Colonel, "by
avoiding all such dangers in the future. And as for your second
question, all has been managed by the simplest means. I arranged
this afternoon with a celebrated detective. Secrecy has been
promised and paid for. Your own servants have been principally engaged
in the affair. The house in Box Court has been surrounded since
nightfall, and this, which is one of your own carriages, has been
awaiting you for nearly an hour."
"And the miserable creature who was to have slain me- what of
him?" inquired the Prince.
"He was pinioned as he left the club," replied the Colonel, "and now
awaits your sentence at the Palace, where he will soon be joined by
his accomplices."
"Geraldine," said the Prince, "you have saved me against my explicit
orders, and you have done well. I owe you not only my life, but a
lesson; and I should be unworthy of my rank if I did not show myself
grateful to my teacher. Let it be ours to choose the manner."
There was a pause, during which the carriage continued to speed
through the streets, and the two men were each buried in his own
reflections. The silence was broken by Colonel Geraldine.
"Your Highness," said he, "has by this time a considerable body of
prisoners. There is at least one criminal among the number to whom
justice should be dealt. Our oath forbids us all recourse to law;
and discretion would forbid it equally if the oath were loosened.
May I inquire your Highness's intention?"
"It is decided," answered Florizel; "the President must fall in
duel. It only remains to choose his adversary."
"Your Highness has permitted me to name my own recompense," said the
Colonel. "Will he permit me to ask the appointment of my brother? It
is an honourable post, but I dare assure your Highness that the lad
will acquit himself with credit."
"You ask me an ungracious favour," said the Prince, "but I must
refuse you nothing."
The Colonel kissed his hand with the greatest affection; and at that
moment the carriage rolled under the archway of the Prince's
splendid residence.
An hour after, Florizel in his official robes, and covered with
all the orders of Bohemia, received the members of the Suicide Club.
"Foolish and wicked men," said he, "as many of you as have been
driven into this straight by the lack of fortune shall receive
employment and remuneration from my officers. Those who suffer under a
sense of guilt must have recourse to a higher and more generous
Potentate than I. I feel pity for you all, deeper than you can
imagine; tomorrow you shall tell me your stories; and as you answer
more frankly, I shall be the more able to remedy your misfortunes.
As for you," he added, turning to the President, "I should only offend
a person of your parts by any offer of assistance; but I have
instead a piece of diversion to propose to you. Here," laying his hand
on the shoulder of Colonel Geraldine's brother, "is an officer of mine
who desires to make a little tour upon the Continent; and I ask you,
as a favour, to accompany him on this excursion. Do you," he went
on, changing his tone, "do you shoot well with the pistol? Because you
may have need of that accomplishment. When two men go travelling
together, it is best to be prepared for all. Let me add that, if by
any chance you should lose young Mr. Geraldine upon the way, I shall
always have another member of my household to place at your
disposal; and I am known, Mr. President, to have long eyesight and
as long an arm."
With these words, said with much sternness, the Prince concluded his
address. Next morning the members of the club were suitably provided
for by his munificence, and the President set forth upon his
travels, under the supervision of Mr. Geraldine, and a pair of
faithful and adroit lackeys, well trained in the Prince's household.
Not content with this, discreet agents were put in possession of the
house in Box Court, and all letters or visitors for the Suicide Club
or its officials were to be examined by Prince Florizel in person.
-
Here (says my Arabian author) ends THE STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH
THE CREAM TART, who is now a comfortable householder in Wigmore
Street, Cavendish Square. The number for obvious reasons, I
suppress. Those who care to pursue the adventures of Prince Florizel
and the President of the Suicide Club, may read the HISTORY OF THE
PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK.
STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK
-
MR. SILAS Q. SCUDDAMORE was a young American of a simple and
harmless disposition, which was the more to his credit as he came from
New England- a quarter of the New World not precisely famous for these
qualities. Although he was exceedingly rich, he kept a note of all his
expenses in a little paper pocket-book; and he had chosen to study the
attractions of Paris from the seventh story of what is called a
furnished hotel, in the Latin Quarter. There was a great deal of habit
in his penuriousness; and his virtue, which was very remarkable
among his associates, was principally founded upon diffidence and
youth.
The next room to his was inhabited by a lady, very attractive in her
air and very elegant in toilette, whom, on his first arrival, he had
taken for a Countess. In course of time he had learned that she was
known by the name of Madame Zephyrine, and that whatever station she
occupied in life it was not that of a person of title. Madame
Zephyrine, probably in the hope of enchanting the young American, used
to flaunt by him on the stairs with a civil inclination, a word of
course, and a knock-down look out of her black eyes, and disappear
in a rustle of silk, and with the revelation of an admirable foot
and ankle. But these advances, so far from encouraging Mr. Scuddamore,
plunged him into the depths of depression and bashfulness. She had
come to him several times for a light, or to apologise for the
imaginary depredations of her poodle; but his mouth was closed in
the presence of so superior a being, his French promptly left him, and
he could only stare and stammer until she was gone. The slenderness of
their intercourse did not prevent him from throwing out insinuations
of a very glorious order when he was safely alone with a few males.
The room on the other side of the American's- for there were three
rooms on a floor in the hotel- was tenanted by an old English
physician of rather doubtful reputation. Dr. Noel, for that was his
name, had been forced to leave London, where he enjoyed a large and
increasing practice; and it was hinted that the police had been the
instigators of this change of scene. At least he, who had made
something of a figure in earlier life, now dwelt in the Latin
Quarter in great simplicity and solitude, and devoted much of his time
to study. Mr. Scuddamore had made his acquaintance, and the pair would
now and then dine together frugally in a restaurant across the street.
Silas Q. Scuddamore had many little vices of the more respectable
order, and was not restrained by delicacy from indulging them in
many rather doubtful ways. Chief among his foibles stood curiosity. He
was a born gossip; and life, and especially those parts of it in which
he had no experience, interested him to the degree of passion. He
was a pert, invincible questioner, pushing his inquiries with equal
pertinency and indiscretion; he had been observed, when he took a
letter to the post, to weigh it in his hand, to turn it over and over,
and to study the address with care; and when he found a flaw in the
partition between his room and Madame Zephyrine's, instead of
filling it up, he enlarged and improved the opening, and made use of
it as a spy-hole on his neighbour's affairs.
One day, in the end of March, his curiosity growing as it was
indulged, he enlarged the hole a little further, so that he might
command another corner of the room. That evening, when he went as
usual to inspect Madame Zephyrine's movements, he was astonished to
find the aperture obscured in an odd manner on the other side, and
still more abashed when the obstacle was suddenly withdrawn and a
titter of laughter reached his ears. Some of the plaster had evidently
betrayed the secret of his spy-hole, and his neighbour had been
returning the compliment in kind. Mr. Scuddamore was moved to a very
acute feeling of annoyance; he condemned Madame Zephyrine
unmercifully; he even blamed himself; but when he found, next day,
that she had taken no means to baulk him of his favourite pastime,
he continued to profit by her carelessness, and gratify his idle
curiosity.
That next day Madame Zephyrine received a long visit from a tall,
loosely-built man of fifty or upwards, whom Silas had not hitherto
seen. His tweed suit and coloured shirt, no less than his shaggy
side-whiskers, identified him as a Britisher, and his dull grey eye
affected Silas with a sense of cold. He kept screwing his mouth from
side to side and round and round during the whole colloquy, which
was carried on in whispers. More than once it seemed to the young
New Englander as if their gestures indicated his own apartment; but
the only thing definite he could gather by the most scrupulous
attention was this remark made by, the Englishman in a somewhat higher
key, as if in answer to some reluctance or opposition.
"I have studied his taste to a nicety, and I tell you again and
again you are the only woman of the sort that I can lay my hands on."
In answer to this, Madame Zephyrine sighed, and appeared by a
gesture to resign herself, like one yielding to unqualified authority.
That afternoon the observatory was finally blinded, a wardrobe
having been drawn in front of it upon the other side; and while
Silas was still lamenting over this misfortune, which he attributed to
the Britisher's malign suggestion, the concierge brought him up a
letter in a female handwriting. It was conceived in French of no
very rigorous orthography, bore no signature, and in the most
encouraging terms invited the young American to be present in a
certain part of the Bullier Ball at eleven o'clock that night.
Curiosity and timidity fought a long battle in his heart; sometimes he
was all virtue, sometimes all fire and daring; and the result of it
was that, long before ten, Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore presented himself
in unimpeachable attire at the door of the Bullier Ball Rooms, and
paid his entry money with a sense of reckless deviltry that was not
without its charm.
It was Carnival time, and the Ball was very full and noisy. The
lights and the crowd at first rather abashed our young adventurer, and
then, mounting to his brain with a sort of intoxication, put him in
possession of more than his own share of manhood. He felt ready to
face the devil, and strutted in the ballroom with the swagger of a
cavalier. While he was thus parading, he became aware of Madame
Zephyrine and her Britisher in conference behind a pillar. The
cat-like spirit of eavesdropping overcame him at once. He stole nearer
and nearer on the couple from behind, until he was within earshot.
"That is the man," the Britisher was saying; "there- with the long
blond hair- speaking to a girl in green."
Silas identified a very handsome young fellow of small stature,
who was plainly the object of this designation.
"It is well," said Madame Zephyrine. "I shall do my utmost. But,
remember, the best of us may fail in such a matter."
"Tut!" returned her companion; "I answer for the result. Have I
not chosen you from thirty; Go; but be wary of the Prince. I cannot
think what cursed accident has brought him here to-night. As if
there were not a dozen balls in Paris better worth his notice than
this riot of students and counter-jumpers! See him where he sits, more
like a reigning Emperor at home than a Prince upon his holidays!"
Silas was again lucky. He observed a person of rather a full
build, strikingly handsome, and of a very stately and courteous
demeanour, seated at table with another handsome young man, several
years his junior, who addressed him with conspicuous deference. The
name of Prince struck gratefully on Silas's Republican hearing, and
the aspect of the person to whom that name was applied exercised its
usual charm upon his mind. He left Madame Zephyrine and her Englishman
to take care of each other, and threading his way through the
assembly, approached the table which the Prince and his confidant
had honoured with their choice.
"I tell you, Geraldine," the former was saying, "the action is
madness. Yourself (I am glad to remember it) chose your brother for
this perilous service, and you are bound in duty to have a guard
upon his conduct. He has consented to delay so many days in Paris;
that was already an imprudence, considering the character of the man
he has to deal with; but now, when he is within eight-and-forty
hours of his departure, when he is within two or three days of the
decisive trial, I ask you, is this a place for him to spend his
time? He should be in a gallery at practice; he should be sleeping
long hours and taking moderate exercise on foot; he should be on a
rigorous diet, without white wines or brandy. Does the dog imagine
we are all playing comedy? The thing is deadly earnest, Geraldine."
"I know the lad too well to interfere," replied Colonel Geraldine,
"and well enough not to be alarmed. He is more cautious than you
fancy, and of an indomitable spirit. If it had been a woman I should
not say so much, but I trust the President to him and the two valets
without an instant's apprehension."
"I am gratified to hear you say so," replied the Prince; "but my
mind is not at rest. These servants are well-trained spies, and
already has not this miscreant succeeded three times in eluding
their observation and spending several hours on end in private, and
most likely dangerous, affairs? An amateur might have lost him by
accident, but if Rudolph and Jerome were thrown off the scent, it must
have been done on purpose, and by a man who had a cogent reason and
exceptional resources."
"I believe the question is now one between my brother and myself,"
replied Geraldine, with a shade of offence in his tone.
"I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel.
"Perhaps, for that very reason, you should be all the more ready to
accept my counsels. But enough. That girl in yellow dances well."
And then talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris ballroom in
the Carnival.
Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour was already near at
hand when he ought to be upon the scene of his assignation. The more
he reflected the less he liked the prospect, and as at that moment
an eddy in the crowd began to draw him in the direction of the door,
he suffered it to carry him away without resistance. The eddy stranded
him in a corner under the gallery, where his ear was immediately
struck with the voice of Madame Zephyrine. She was speaking in
French with the young man of the blond locks who had been pointed
out by the strange Britisher not half-an-hour before.
"I have a character at stake," she said, "or I would put no other
condition than my heart recommends. But you have only to say so much
to the porter, and he will let you go by without a word."
"But why this talk of debt?" objected her companion.
"Heavens!" said she, "do you think I do not understand my own
hotel?"
And she went by, clinging affectionately to her companion's arm.
This put Silas in Mind of his billet.
"Ten minutes hence," thought he, "and I may be walking with as
beautiful a woman as that, and even better dressed- perhaps a real
lady, possibly a woman of title."
And then he remembered the spelling, and was a little downcast.
"But it may have been written by her maid," he imagined.
The clock was only a few minutes from the hour, and this immediate
proximity set his heart beating at a curious and rather disagreeable
speed. He reflected with relief that he was in no way bound to put
in an appearance. Virtue and cowardice were together, and he made once
more for the door, but this time of his own accord, and battling
against the stream of people which was now moving in a contrary
direction. Perhaps this prolonged resistance wearied him, or perhaps
he was in that frame of mind when merely to continue in the same
determination for a certain number of minutes produces a reaction
and a different purpose. Certainly, at least, he wheeled about for a
third time, and did not stop until he had found a place of concealment
within a few yards of the appointed place.
Here he went through an agony of spirit, in which he several times
prayed to God for help, for Silas had been devoutly educated. He had
now not the least inclination for the meeting; nothing kept him from
flight but a silly fear lest he should be thought unmanly; but this
was so powerful that it kept head against all other motives; and
although it could not decide him to advance, prevented him from
definitely running away. At last the clock indicated ten minutes
past the hour. Young Scuddamore's spirit began to rise; he peered
round the corner and saw no one at the place of meeting; doubtless his
unknown correspondent had wearied and gone away. He became as bold
as he had formerly been timid. It seemed to him that if he came at all
to the appointment, however late, he was clear from the charge of
cowardice. Nay, now he began to suspect a hoax, and actually
complimented himself on his shrewdness in having suspected and
out-manoeuvred his mystifiers. So very idle a thing is a body's mind!
Armed with these reflections, he advanced boldly from his corner;
but he had not taken above a couple of steps before a hand was laid
upon his arm. He turned and beheld a lady cast in a very large mould
and with somewhat stately features. but bearing no mark of severity in
her looks.
"I see that you are a very self-confident lady-killer," said she;
"for you make yourself expected. Bat I was determined to meet you.
When a woman has once so far forgotten herself as to make a first
advance, she has long ago left behind her all considerations of
petty pride."
Silas was overwhelmed by the size and attractions of his
correspondent and the suddenness with which she had fallen upon him.
But she soon set him at his ease. She was very towardly and lenient in
her behaviour; she led him on to make pleasantries, and then applauded
him to the echo; and in a very short time, between blandishments and a
liberal exhibition of warm brandy, she had not only induced him to
fancy himself in love, but to declare his passion with the greatest
vehemence.
"Alas!" she said; "I do not know whether I ought not to deplore this
moment, great as is the pleasure you give me by your words. Hitherto I
was alone to suffer; now, poor boy, there will be two. I am not my own
mistress. I dare not ask you to visit me at my own house, for I am
watched by jealous eyes. Let me see," she added; "I am older than you,
although so much weaker; and while I trust in your courage and
determination, I must employ my own knowledge of the world for our
mutual benefit. Where do you live?"
He told her that he lodged in a furnished hotel, and named the
street and number.
She seemed to reflect for some minutes, with an effort of mind.
"I see," she said, at last. "You will be faithful and obedient
will you not?"
Silas assured her eagerly of his fidelity.
"To-morrow night, then," she continued, with an encouraging smile,
"you must remain at home all the evening; and if any friends should
visit you, dismiss them at once on any pretext that most readily
presents itself. Your door is probably shut by ten?" she asked.
"By eleven," answered Silas.
"At a quarter past eleven," pursued the lady, "leave the house.
Merely cry for the door to be opened, and be sure you fall into no
talk with the porter, as that might ruin everything. Go straight to
the corner where the Luxembourg Gardens join the Boulevard; there
you will find me waiting you. I trust you to follow my, advice from
point to point: and remember, if you fail me in only one particular,
you will bring the sharpest trouble on a woman whose only fault is
to have seen and loved you."
"I cannot see the use of all these instructions," said Silas.
"I believe you are already beginning to treat me as a master," she
cried, tapping him with her fan upon the arm. "Patience, patience!
that should come in time. A woman loves to be obeyed at first,
although afterwards she finds her pleasure in obeying. Do as I ask
you, for Heaven's sake, or I will answer for nothing. Indeed, now I
think of it," she added, with the manner of one who has just seen
further into a difficulty, "I find a better plan of keeping
importune visitors away. Tell the porter to admit no one for you,
except a person who may come that night to claim a debt; and speak
with some feeling, as though you feared the interview, so that he
may take your words in earnest."
"I think you may trust me to protect myself against intruders," he
said, not without a little pique.
"That is how I should prefer the thing arranged," she answered
coldly. "I know you men; you think nothing of a woman's reputation."
Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the scheme he had in
view had involved a little vain-glorying before his acquaintances.
"Above all," she added, "do not speak to the porter as you come
out."
"And why?" said he. "Of all your instructions, that seems to me
the least important."
"You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the others, which you
now see to be very necessary," she replied. "Believe me, this also has
its uses; in time you will see them; and what am I to think of your
affection, if you refuse me such trifles at our first interview?"
Silas confounded himself in explanations and apologies; in the
middle of these she looked up at the clock and clapped her hands
together with a suppressed scream.
"Heavens!" she cried, "is it so late? I have not an instant to lose.
Alas, we poor women, what slaves we are! What have I not risked for
you already?" And after repeating her directions, which she artfully
combined with caresses and the most abandoned looks, she bade him
farewell and disappeared among the crowd.
The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense of great
importance; he was now sure she was a countess; and when evening
came he minutely obeyed her orders and was at the corner of the
Luxembourg Gardens by the hour appointed. No one was there. He
waited nearly half-an-hour, looking in the face of every one who
passed or loitered near the spot; he even visited the neighbouring
corners of the Boulevard and made a complete circuit of the garden
railings; but there was no beautiful countess to throw herself into
his arms. At last, and most reluctantly, he began to retrace his steps
towards his hotel. On the way he remembered the words he had heard
pass between Madame Zephyrine and the blond young man, and they gave
him an indefinite uneasiness.
"It appears," he reflected, "that every one has to tell lies to
our porter."
He rang the bell, the door opened before him, and the porter in
his bedclothes came to offer him a light.
"Has he gone?" inquired the porter.
"He? Whom do you mean?" asked Silas, somewhat sharply, for he was
irritated by his disappointment.
"I did not notice him go out," continued the porter, "but I trust
you paid him. We do not care, in this house, to have lodgers who
cannot meet their liabilities."
"What the devil do you mean?" demanded Silas rudely. "I cannot
understand a word of this farrago."
"The short, blond young man who came for his debt," returned the
other. "Him it is I mean. Who else should it be, when I had your
orders to admit no one else?"
"Why, good God, of course he never came," retorted Silas.
"I believe what I believe," returned the porter, putting his
tongue into his cheek with a most roguish air.
"You are an insolent scoundrel," cried Silas, and, feeling that he
had made a ridiculous exhibition of asperity, and at the same time
bewildered by a dozen alarms, he turned and began to run upstairs.
"Do you not want a light then?" cried the porter.
But Silas only hurried the faster, and did not pause until he had
reached the seventh landing and stood in front of his own door.
There he waited a moment to recover his breath, assailed by the
worst forebodings and almost dreading to enter the room.
When at last he did so he was relieved to find it dark, and to all
appearance, untenanted. He drew a long breath. Here he was, home again
in safety, and this should be his last folly as certainly as it had
been his first. The matches stood on a little table by the bed, and he
began to grope his way in that direction. As he moved, his
apprehensions grew upon him once more, and he was pleased, when his
foot encountered an obstacle, to find it nothing more alarming than
a chair. At last he touched curtains. From the position of the window,
which was faintly visible, he knew he must be at the foot of the
bed, and had only to feel his way along it in order to reach the table
in question.
He lowered his hand, but what it touched was not simply a
counterpane- it was a counterpane with something underneath it like
the outline of a human leg. Silas withdrew his arm and stood a
moment petrified.
"What, what," he thought, "can this betoken?"
He listened intently, but there was no sound of breathing. Once
more, with a great effort, he reached out the end of his finger to the
spot he had already touched; but this time he leaped back half a yard,
and stood shivering and fixed with terror. There was something in
his bed. What it was he knew not, but there was something there.
It was some seconds before he could move. Then, guided by an
instinct, he fell straight upon the matches, and keeping his back
towards the bed lighted a candle. As soon as the flame had kindled, he
turned slowly round and looked for what he feared to see. Sure enough,
there was the worst of his imaginations realised. The coverlid was
drawn carefully up over the pillow, but it moulded the outline of a
human body lying motionless; and when he dashed forward and flung
aside the sheets, he beheld the blond young man whom he had seen in
the Bullier Ball the night before, his eyes open and without
speculation, his face swollen and blackened, and a thin stream of
blood trickling from his nostrils.
Silas uttered a long, tremulous wail, dropped the candle, and fell
on his knees beside the bed.
Silas was awakened from the stupor into which his terrible discovery
had plunged him by a prolonged but discreet tapping at the door. It
took him some seconds to remember his position; and when he hastened
to prevent any one from entering it was already too late. Dr. Noel, in
a tall nightcap, carrying a lamp which lighted up his long white
countenance, sidling in his gait, and peering and cocking his head
like some sort of bird, pushed the door slowly open, and advanced into
the middle of the room.
"I thought I heard a cry," began the Doctor, "and fearing you
might be unwell I did not hesitate to offer this intrusion."
Silas, with a flushed face and a fearful beating heart, kept between
the Doctor and the bed; but he found no voice to answer.
"You are in the dark," pursued the Doctor; "and yet you have not
even begun to prepare for rest. You will not easily persuade me
against my own eyesight; and your face declares most eloquently that
you require either a friend or a physician- which is it to be? Let
me feel your pulse, for that is often a just reporter of the heart."
He advanced to Silas, who still retreated before him backwards,
and sought to take him by the wrist; but the strain on the young
American's nerves had become too great for endurance. He avoided the
Doctor with a febrile movement, and, throwing himself upon the
floor, burst into a flood of weeping.
As soon as Dr. Noel perceived the dead man in the bed his face
darkened; and hurrying back to the door which he had left ajar, he
hastily closed and double-locked it.
"Up!" he cried, addressing Silas in strident tones; "this is no time
for weeping. What have you done? How came this body in your room?
Speak freely to one who may be helpful. Do you imagine I would ruin
you? Do you think this piece of dead flesh on your pillow can alter in
any degree the sympathy with which you have inspired me? Credulous
youth, the horror with which blind and unjust law regards an action
never attaches to the doer in the eyes of those who love him; and if I
saw the friend of my heart return to me out of seas of blood he
would be in no way changed in my affection. Raise yourself," he
said; "good and ill are a chimera; there is nought in life except
destiny, and however you may be circumstanced there is one at your
side who will help you to the last."
Thus encouraged, Silas gathered himself together, and in a broken
voice, and helped out by the Doctor's interrogations, contrived at
last to put him in possession of the facts. But the conversation
between the Prince and Geraldine he altogether omitted, as he had
understood little of its purport, and had no idea that it was in any
way related to his own misadventure.
"Alas!" cried Dr. Noel, "I am much abused, or you have fallen
innocently into the most dangerous hands in Europe. Poor boy, what a
pit has been dug for your simplicity! into what a deadly peril have
your unwary feet been conducted! This man," he said, "this Englishman,
whom you twice saw, and whom I suspect to be the soul of the
contrivance, can you describe him? Was he young or old? tall or
short?"
But Silas, who, for all his curiosity, had not a seeing eye in his
head, was able to supply nothing but meagre generalities, which it was
impossible to recognise.
"I would have it a piece of education in all schools!" cried the
Doctor angrily. "Where is the use of eyesight and articulate speech if
a man cannot observe and recollect the features of his enemy? I, who
know all the gangs of Europe, might have identified him, and gained
new weapons for your defence. Cultivate this art in future, my poor
boy; you may find it of momentous service."
"The future!" repeated Silas. "What future is there left for me
except the gallows?"
"Youth is but a cowardly season," returned the Doctor; "and a
man's own troubles look blacker than they are. I am old, and yet I
never despair."
"Can I tell such a story to the police?" demanded Silas.
"Assuredly not," replied the Doctor. "From what I see already of the
machination in which you have been involved, your case is desperate
upon that side; and for the narrow eye of the authorities you are
infallibly the guilty person. And remember that we only know a portion
of the plot; and the same infamous contrivers have doubtless
arranged many other circumstances which would be elicited by a
police inquiry, and help to fix the guilt more certainly upon your
innocence."
"I am then lost, indeed!" cried Silas.
"I have not said so," answered Dr. Noel, "for I am a cautious man."
"But look at this!" objected Silas, pointing to the body. "Here is
this object in my bed; not to be explained, not to be disposed of, not
to be regarded without horror."
"Horror?" replied the Doctor. "No. When this sort of clock has run
down, it is no more to me than an ingenious piece of mechanism to be
investigated with the bistoury. When blood is once cold and
stagnant, it is no longer human blood; when flesh is once dead, it
is no longer that flesh which we desire in our lovers and respect in
our friends. The grace, the attraction, the terror, have all gone from
it with the animating spirit. Accustom yourself to look upon it with
composure; for if my scheme is practicable you will have to live
some days in constant proximity to that which now so greatly horrifies
you."
"Your scheme?" cried Silas. "What is that? Tell me speedily, Doctor;
for I have scarcely courage enough to continue to exist."
Without replying, Doctor Noel turned towards the bed, and
proceeded to examine the corpse.
"Quite dead," he murmured. "Yes, as I had supposed, the pockets
empty. Yes, and the name cut off the shirt. Their work has been done
thoroughly and well. Fortunately, he is of small stature."
Silas followed these words with an extreme anxiety. At last the
Doctor, his autopsy completed, took a chair and addressed the young
American with a smile.
"Since I came into your room," said he, "although my ears and my
tongue have been so busy, I have not suffered my eyes to remain
idle. I noted a little while ago that you have there, in the corner,
one of those monstrous constructions which your fellow-countrymen
carry with them into all quarters of the globe- in a word, a
Saratoga trunk. Until this moment I have never been able to conceive
the utility of these erections; but then I began to have a glimmer.
Whether it was for convenience in the slave trade, or to obviate the
results of too ready an employment of the bowie-knife, I cannot
bring myself to decide. But one thing I see plainly- the object of
such a box is to contain a human body."
"Surely," cried Silas, "surely this is not a time for jesting."
"Although I may express myself with some degree of pleasantry,"
replied the Doctor, "the purport of my words is entirely serious.
And the first thing we have to do, my young friend, is to empty your
coffer of all that it contains."
Silas, obeying the authority of Doctor Noel, put himself at his
disposition. The Saratoga trunk was soon gutted of its contents, which
made a considerable litter on the floor; and then- Silas taking the
heels and the Doctor supporting the shoulders- the body of the
murdered man was carried from the bed, and, after some difficulty
doubled up and inserted whole into the empty box. With an effort on
the part of both, the lid was forced down upon this unusual baggage,
and the trunk was locked and corded by the Doctor's own hand, while
Silas disposed of what had been taken out between the closet and a
chest of drawers.
"Now," said the Doctor, "the first step has been taken on the way to
your deliverance. To-morrow, or rather today, it must be your task
to allay the suspicions of your porter, paying him all that you owe;
while you may trust me to make the arrangements necessary to a safe
conclusion. Meantime, follow me to my room, where I shall give you a
safe and powerful opiate; for, whatever you do, you must have rest."
The next day was the longest in Silas's memory; it seemed as if it
would never be done. He denied himself to his friends, and sat in a
corner with his eyes fixed upon the Saratoga trunk in dismal
contemplation. His own former indiscretions were now returned upon him
in kind; for the observatory had been once more opened, and he was
conscious of an almost continued study from Madame Zephyrine's
apartment. So distressing did this become, that he was at last obliged
to block up the spy-hole from his own side; and when he was thus
secured from observation he spent a considerable portion of his time
in contrite tears and prayer.
Late in the evening, Dr. Noel entered the room carrying in his
hand a pair of sealed envelopes without address, one somewhat bulky,
and the other so slim as to seem without enclosure.
"Silas," he said, seating himself at the table, "the time has now
come for me to explain my plan for your salvation. To-morrow
morning, at an early hour, Prince Florizel of Bohemia returns to
London, after having diverted himself for a few days with the Parisian
Carnival. It was my fortune, a good while ago, to do Colonel
Geraldine, his Master of the Horse, one of those services, so common
in my profession, which are never forgotten upon either side. I have
no need to explain to you the nature of the obligation under which
he was laid; suffice it to say that I knew him ready to serve me in
any practicable manner. Now, it was necessary for you to gain London
with your trunk unopened. To this the Custom House seemed to oppose
a fatal difficulty; but I bethought me that the baggage of so
considerable a person as the Prince, is, as a matter of courtesy,
passed without examination by the officers of Custom. I applied to
Colonel Geraldine, and succeeded in obtaining a favourable answer.
To-morrow, if you go before six to the hotel where the Prince
lodges, your baggage will be passed over as a part of his, and you
yourself will make the journey as a member of his suite."
"It seems to me, as you speak, that I have already seen both the
Prince and Colonel Geraldine; I even overheard some of their
conversation the other evening at the Bullier Ball."
"It is probable enough; for the Prince loves to mix with all
societies," replied the Doctor. "Once arrived in London," he
pursued, "your task is nearly ended. In this more bulky envelope I
have given you a letter which I dare not address; but in the other you
will find the designation of the house to which you must carry it
along with your box, which will there be taken from you and not
trouble you anymore."
"Alas!" said Silas, "I have every wish to believe you; but how is it
possible? You open up to me a bright prospect, but, I ask you, is my
mind capable of receiving so unlikely a solution? Be more generous,
and let me further understand your meaning."
The Doctor seemed painfully impressed.
"Boy," he answered, "you do not know how hard a thing you ask me.
But be it so. I am now inured to humiliation; and it would be
strange if I refused you this, after having granted you so much. Know,
then, that although I now make so quiet an appearance- frugal,
solitary, addicted to study- when I was younger, my name was once a
rallying-cry among the most astute and dangerous spirits of London;
and while I was outwardly an object for respect and consideration,
my true power resided in the most secret, terrible, and criminal
relations. It is to one of the persons who then obeyed me that I now
address myself to deliver you from our burden. They were men of many
different nations and dexterities, all bound together by a
formidable oath, and working to the same purposes; the trade of the
association was in murder; and I who speak to you, innocent as I
appear, was the chieftain of this redoubtable crew."
"What?" cried Silas. "A murderer? And one with whom murder was a
trade? Can I take your hand? Ought I so much as to accept your
services? Dark and criminal old man, would you make an accomplice of
my youth and my distress?"
The Doctor bitterly laughed.
"You are difficult to please, Mr. Scuddamore," said he; "but I now
offer your choice of company between the murdered man and the
murderer. If your conscience is too nice to accept my aid, say so, and
I will immediately leave you. Thenceforward you can deal with your
trunk and its belongings as best suits your upright conscience."
"I own myself wrong," replied Silas. "I should have remembered how
generously you offered to shield me, even before I had convinced you
of my innocence, and I continue to listen to your counsels with
gratitude."
"That is well," returned the Doctor; "and I perceive you are
beginning to learn some of the lessons of experience."
"At the same time," resumed the New Englander, "as you confess
yourself accustomed to this tragic business, you and the people to
whom you recommend me are your own former associates and friends,
could you not yourself undertake the transport of the box, and rid
at once of its detested presence?"
"Upon my word," replied the Doctor, "I admire you cordially. If
you do not think I have already meddled sufficiently in your concerns,
believe me, from my heart I think the contrary. Take or leave my
services as I offer them; and trouble me with no more words of
gratitude, for I value your consideration even more lightly than I
do your intellect. A time will come, if you should be spared to see
a number of years in health and mind, when you will think
differently of all this, and blush for your to-night's behaviour."
So saying, the Doctor arose from his chair, repeated his
directions briefly and clearly, and departed from the room without
permitting Silas any time to answer.
The next morning Silas presented himself at the hotel, where he
was politely received by Colonel Geraldine, and relieved, from that
moment, of all immediate alarm about his trunk and its grisly
contents. The journey passed over without much incident, although
the young man was horrified to overhear the sailors and railway
porters complaining among themselves about the unusual weight of the
Prince's baggage. Silas travelled in a carriage with the valets, for
Prince Florizel chose to be alone with his Master of the Horse. On
board the steamer, however, Silas attracted his Highness's attention
by the melancholy of his air and attitude as he stood gazing at the
pile of baggage; for he was still full of disquietude about the
future.
"There is a young man," observed the Prince, "who must have some
cause for sorrow."
"That," replied Geraldine, "is the American for whom I obtained
permission to travel with your suite."
"You remind me that I have been remiss in courtesy," said Prince
Florizel, and advancing to Silas, he addressed him with the most
exquisite condescension in these words:
"I was charmed, young sir, to be able to gratify the desire you made
known to me through Colonel Geraldine. Remember, if you please, that I
shall be glad at any future time to lay you under a more serious
obligation."
And he then put some questions as to the political condition of
America, which Silas answered with sense and propriety.
"You are still a young man," said the Prince; "but I observe you
to be very serious for your years. Perhaps you allow your attention to
be too much occupied with grave studies. But, perhaps, on the other
hand, I am myself indiscreet and touch upon a painful subject."
"I have certainly cause to be the most miserable of men," said
Silas; "never has a more innocent person been more dismally abused."
"I will not ask you for your confidence," returned Prince
Florizel. "But do not forget Colonel Geraldine's recommendation is
an unfailing passport; and that I am not only willing, but possibly
more able than many others, to do you a service."
Silas was delighted with the amiability of this great personage; but
his mind soon returned upon its gloomy preoccupations; for not even
the favour of a Prince to a Republican can discharge a brooding spirit
of its cares.
The train arrived at Charing Cross, where the officers of the
Revenue respected the baggage of Prince Florizel in the usual
manner. The most elegant equipages were in waiting; and Silas was
driven, along with the rest, to the Prince's residence. There
Colonel Geraldine sought him out, and expressed himself pleased to
have been of any service to a friend of the physician's, for whom he
professed a great consideration.
"I hope," he added, "that you will find none of your porcelain
injured. Special orders were given along the line to deal tenderly
with the Prince's effects."
And then, directing the servants to place one of the carriages at
the young gentleman's disposal, and at once to charge the Saratoga
trunk upon the dickey, the Colonel shook hands and excused himself
on account of his occupations in the princely household.
Silas now broke the seal of the envelope containing the address, and
directed the stately footman to drive him to Box Court, opening off
the Strand. It seemed as if the place were not at all unknown to the
man, for he looked startled and begged a repetition of the order. It
was with a heart full of alarms, that Silas mounted into the luxurious
vehicle, and was driven to his destination. The entrance to Box
Court was too narrow for the passage of a coach; it was a mere footway
between railings, with a post at either end. On one of these posts was
seated a man, who at once jumped down and exchanged a friendly sign
with the driver, while the footman opened the door and inquired of
Silas whether he should take down the Saratoga trunk, and to what
number it should be carried.
"If you please," said Silas. "To number three."
The foreman and the man who had been sitting on the post, even
with the aid of Silas himself, had hard work to carry in the trunk;
and before it was deposited at the door of the house in question,
the young American was horrified to find a score of loiterers
looking on. But he knocked with as good a countenance as he could
muster up, and presented the other envelope to him who opened.
"He is not at home," said he, "but if you will leave your letter and
return to-morrow early, I shall be able to inform you whether and when
he can receive your visit. Would you like to leave your box?" he
added.
"Dearly," cried Silas; and the next moment he repented his
precipitation, and declared, with equal emphasis, that he would rather
carry the box along with him to the hotel.
The crowd jeered at his indecision and followed him to the
carriage with insulting remarks; and Silas, covered with shame and
terror, implored the servants to conduct him to some quiet and
comfortable house of entertainment in the immediate neighbourhood.
The Prince's equipage deposited Silas at the Craven Hotel in
Craven Street, and immediately drove away, leaving him alone with
the servants of the inn. The only vacant room, it appeared, was a
little den up four pairs of stairs, and looking towards the back. To
this hermitage, with infinite trouble and complaint, a pair of stout
porters carried the Saratoga trunk. It is needless to mention that
Silas kept closely at their heels throughout the ascent, and had his
heart in his mouth at every corner. A single false step, he reflected,
and the box might go over the banisters and land its fatal contents,
plainly discovered, on the pavement of the hall.
Arrived in the room, he sat down on the edge of his bed to recover
from the agony that he had just endured; but he had hardly taken his
position when he was recalled to a sense of his peril by the action of
the boots, who had knelt beside the trunk, and was proceeding
officiously to undo its elaborate fastenings.
"Let it be!" cried Silas. "I shall want nothing from it while I stay
here."
"You might have let it lie in the hall, then," growled the man; "a
thing as big and heavy as a church. What you have inside I cannot
fancy. If it is all money, you are a richer man than me."
"Money?" repeated Silas, in a sudden perturbation. "What do you mean
by money? I have no money, and you are speaking like a fool."
"All right, captain," retorted the boots with a wink. "There's
nobody will touch your lordship's money. I'm as safe as the bank,"
he added; "but as the box is heavy, I shouldn't mind drinking
something to your lordship's health."
Silas pressed two Napoleons upon his acceptance, apologising, at the
same time, for being obliged to trouble him with foreign money, and
pleading his recent arrival for excuse. And the man, grumbling with
even greater fervour, and looking contemptuously from the money in his
hand to the Saratoga trunk and back again from the one to the other,
at last consented to withdraw.
For nearly two days the dead body had been packed into Silas's
box; and as soon as he was alone the unfortunate New-Englander nosed
all the cracks and openings with the most passionate attention. But
the weather was cool, and the trunk still managed to contain his
shocking secret.
He took a chair beside it, and buried his face in his hands, and his
mind in the most profound reflection. If he were not speedily
relieved, no question but he must be speedily discovered. Alone in a
strange city, without friends or accomplices, if the Doctor's
introduction failed him, he was indubitably a lost New-Englander. He
reflected pathetically over his ambitious designs for the future; he
should not now become the hero and spokesman of his native place of
Bangor, Maine; he should not, as he had fondly anticipated, move on
from office to office, from honour to honour; he might as well
divest himself at once of all hope of being acclaimed President of the
United States, and leaving behind him a statue, in the worst
possible style of art, to adorn the Capitol at Washington. Here he
was, chained to a dead Englishman doubled up inside a Saratoga
trunk; whom he must get rid of, or perish from the rolls of national
glory!
I should be afraid to chronicle the language employed by this
young man to the Doctor, to the murdered man, to Madame Zephyrine,
to the boots of the hotel, to the Prince's servants, and, in a word,
to all who had been ever so remotely connected with his horrible
misfortune.
He slunk down to dinner about seven at night; but the yellow
coffee-room appalled him, the eyes of the other diners seemed to
rest on his with suspicion, and his mind remained upstairs with the
Saratoga trunk. When the waiter came to offer him cheese, his nerves
were already so much on edge that he leaped half-way out of his
chair and upset the remainder of a pint of ale upon the tablecloth.
The fellow offered to show him to the smoking-room when he had done;
and although he would have much preferred to return at once to his
perilous treasure, he had not the courage to refuse, and was shown
downstairs to the black, gas-lit cellar, which formed, and possibly
still forms, the divan of the Craven Hotel.
Two very sad betting men were playing billiards, attended by a
moist, consumptive marker; and for the moment Silas imagined that
these were the only occupants of the apartment. But at the next glance
his eyes fell upon a person smoking in the farthest corner, with
lowered eye and a most respectable and modest aspect. He knew at
once that he had seen the face before; and, in spite of the entire
change of clothes, recognised the man whom he had found seated on a
post at the entrance to Box Court, and who had helped him to carry the
trunk to and from the carriage. The New Englander simply turned and
ran, nor did he pause until he had locked and bolted himself into
his bedroom.
There, all night long, a prey to the most terrible imaginations,
he watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh. The suggestion of
the boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired him with all manner
of new terrors, if he so much as dared to close an eye; and the
presence in the smoking-room, and under an obvious disguise, of the
loiterer from Box Court convinced him that he was once more the centre
of obscure machinations.
Midnight had sounded some time, when, impelled by uneasy suspicions,
Silas opened his bedroom door and peered into the passage. It was
dimly illuminated by a single jet of gas; and some distance off he
perceived a man sleeping on the floor in the costume of an hotel
under-servant. Silas drew near the man on tiptoe. He lay partly on his
back, partly on his side, and his right forearm concealed his face
from recognition. Suddenly, while the American was still bending
over him, the sleeper removed his arm and opened his eyes, and Silas
found himself once more face to face with the loiterer of Box Court.
"Good-night, sir," said the man, pleasantly.
But Silas was too profoundly moved to find an answer, and regained
his room in silence.
Towards morning, worn out by apprehension, he fell asleep on his
chair, with his head forward on the trunk. In spite of so
constrained an attitude and such a grisly pillow, his slumber was
sound and prolonged, and he was only awakened at a late hour and by
a sharp tapping at the door.
He hurried to open, and found the boots without.
"You are the gentleman who called yesterday at Box Court," he asked.
Silas, with a quaver, admitted that he had done so.
"Then this note is for you," added the servant, proffering a
sealed envelope.
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