THE GREAT GOD PAN

by

ARTHUR MACHEN

CONTENTS

 I THE EXPERIMENT II MR. CLARKE'S MEMOIRS III THE CITY OF RESURRECTIONS IV THE DISCOVERY IN PAUL STREET V THE LETTER OF ADVICE VI THE SUICIDES VII THE ENCOUNTER IN SOHO VIII THE FRAGMENTS

I

THE EXPERIMENT

"I am glad you came, Clarke; very glad indeed. I was not sure youcould spare the time. "

"I was able to make arrangements for a few days; things are not verylively just now. But have you no misgivings, Raymond? Is itabsolutely safe?"

The two men were slowly pacing the terrace in front of Dr. Raymond'shouse. The sun still hung above the western mountain-line, but itshone with a dull red glow that cast no shadows, and all the air wasquiet; a sweet breath came from the great wood on the hillside above, and with it, at intervals, the soft murmuring call of the wild doves. Below, in the long lovely valley, the river wound in and out betweenthe lonely hills, and, as the sun hovered and vanished into the west, afaint mist, pure white, began to rise from the hills. Dr. Raymondturned sharply to his friend. 

"Safe? Of course it is. In itself the operation is a perfectly simpleone; any surgeon could do it. "

"And there is no danger at any other stage?"

"None; absolutely no physical danger whatsoever, I give you my word. You are always timid, Clarke, always; but you know my history. I havedevoted myself to transcendental medicine for the last twenty years. Ihave heard myself called quack and charlatan and impostor, but all thewhile I knew I was on the right path. Five years ago I reached thegoal, and since then every day has been a preparation for what we shalldo tonight. "

"I should like to believe it is all true. " Clarke knit his brows, andlooked doubtfully at Dr. Raymond. "Are you perfectly sure, Raymond, that your theory is not a phantasmagoria--a splendid vision, certainly, but a mere vision after all?"

Dr. Raymond stopped in his walk and turned sharply. He was amiddle-aged man, gaunt and thin, of a pale yellow complexion, but as heanswered Clarke and faced him, there was a flush on his cheek. 

"Look about you, Clarke. You see the mountain, and hill followingafter hill, as wave on wave, you see the woods and orchard, the fieldsof ripe corn, and the meadows reaching to the reed-beds by the river. You see me standing here beside you, and hear my voice; but I tell youthat all these things--yes, from that star that has just shone out inthe sky to the solid ground beneath our feet--I say that all these arebut dreams and shadows; the shadows that hide the real world from oureyes. There is a real world, but it is beyond this glamour and thisvision, beyond these 'chases in Arras, dreams in a career, ' beyond themall as beyond a veil. I do not know whether any human being has everlifted that veil; but I do know, Clarke, that you and I shall see itlifted this very night from before another's eyes. You may think thisall strange nonsense; it may be strange, but it is true, and theancients knew what lifting the veil means. They called it seeing thegod Pan. "

Clarke shivered; the white mist gathering over the river was chilly. 

"It is wonderful indeed, " he said. "We are standing on the brink of astrange world, Raymond, if what you say is true. I suppose the knifeis absolutely necessary?"

"Yes; a slight lesion in the grey matter, that is all; a triflingrearrangement of certain cells, a microscopical alteration that wouldescape the attention of ninety-nine brain specialists out of a hundred. I don't want to bother you with 'shop, ' Clarke; I might give you a massof technical detail which would sound very imposing, and would leaveyou as enlightened as you are now. But I suppose you have read, casually, in out-of-the-way corners of your paper, that immense strideshave been made recently in the physiology of the brain. I saw aparagraph the other day about Digby's theory, and Browne Faber'sdiscoveries. Theories and discoveries! Where they are standing now, Istood fifteen years ago, and I need not tell you that I have not beenstanding still for the last fifteen years. It will be enough if I saythat five years ago I made the discovery that I alluded to when I saidthat ten years ago I reached the goal. After years of labour, afteryears of toiling and groping in the dark, after days and nights ofdisappointments and sometimes of despair, in which I used now and thento tremble and grow cold with the thought that perhaps there wereothers seeking for what I sought, at last, after so long, a pang ofsudden joy thrilled my soul, and I knew the long journey was at an end. By what seemed then and still seems a chance, the suggestion of amoment's idle thought followed up upon familiar lines and paths that Ihad tracked a hundred times already, the great truth burst upon me, andI saw, mapped out in lines of sight, a whole world, a sphere unknown;continents and islands, and great oceans in which no ship has sailed(to my belief) since a Man first lifted up his eyes and beheld the sun, and the stars of heaven, and the quiet earth beneath. You will thinkthis all high-flown language, Clarke, but it is hard to be literal. And yet; I do not know whether what I am hinting at cannot be set forthin plain and lonely terms. For instance, this world of ours is prettywell girded now with the telegraph wires and cables; thought, withsomething less than the speed of thought, flashes from sunrise tosunset, from north to south, across the floods and the desert places. Suppose that an electrician of today were suddenly to perceive that heand his friends have merely been playing with pebbles and mistakingthem for the foundations of the world; suppose that such a man sawuttermost space lie open before the current, and words of men flashforth to the sun and beyond the sun into the systems beyond, and thevoice of articulate-speaking men echo in the waste void that bounds ourthought. As analogies go, that is a pretty good analogy of what I havedone; you can understand now a little of what I felt as I stood hereone evening; it was a summer evening, and the valley looked much as itdoes now; I stood here, and saw before me the unutterable, theunthinkable gulf that yawns profound between two worlds, the world ofmatter and the world of spirit; I saw the great empty deep stretch dimbefore me, and in that instant a bridge of light leapt from the earthto the unknown shore, and the abyss was spanned. You may look inBrowne Faber's book, if you like, and you will find that to the presentday men of science are unable to account for the presence, or tospecify the functions of a certain group of nerve-cells in the brain. That group is, as it were, land to let, a mere waste place for fancifultheories. I am not in the position of Browne Faber and thespecialists, I am perfectly instructed as to the possible functions ofthose nerve-centers in the scheme of things. With a touch I can bringthem into play, with a touch, I say, I can set free the current, with atouch I can complete the communication between this world of senseand--we shall be able to finish the sentence later on. Yes, the knifeis necessary; but think what that knife will effect. It will levelutterly the solid wall of sense, and probably, for the first time sinceman was made, a spirit will gaze on a spirit-world. Clarke, Mary willsee the god Pan!"

"But you remember what you wrote to me? I thought it would berequisite that she--"

He whispered the rest into the doctor's ear. 

"Not at all, not at all. That is nonsense. I assure you. Indeed, itis better as it is; I am quite certain of that. "

"Consider the matter well, Raymond. It's a great responsibility. Something might go wrong; you would be a miserable man for the rest ofyour days. "

"No, I think not, even if the worst happened. As you know, I rescuedMary from the gutter, and from almost certain starvation, when she wasa child; I think her life is mine, to use as I see fit. Come, it'sgetting late; we had better go in. "

Dr. Raymond led the way into the house, through the hall, and down along dark passage. He took a key from his pocket and opened a heavydoor, and motioned Clarke into his laboratory. It had once been abilliard-room, and was lighted by a glass dome in the centre of theceiling, whence there still shone a sad grey light on the figure of thedoctor as he lit a lamp with a heavy shade and placed it on a table inthe middle of the room. 

Clarke looked about him. Scarcely a foot of wall remained bare; therewere shelves all around laden with bottles and phials of all shapes andcolours, and at one end stood a little Chippendale book-case. Raymondpointed to this. 

"You see that parchment Oswald Crollius? He was one of the first toshow me the way, though I don't think he ever found it himself. Thatis a strange saying of his: 'In every grain of wheat there lies hiddenthe soul of a star. '"

There was not much furniture in the laboratory. The table in thecentre, a stone slab with a drain in one corner, the two armchairs onwhich Raymond and Clarke were sitting; that was all, except anodd-looking chair at the furthest end of the room. Clarke looked atit, and raised his eyebrows. 

"Yes, that is the chair, " said Raymond. "We may as well place it inposition. " He got up and wheeled the chair to the light, and beganraising and lowering it, letting down the seat, setting the back atvarious angles, and adjusting the foot-rest. It looked comfortableenough, and Clarke passed his hand over the soft green velvet, as thedoctor manipulated the levers. 

"Now, Clarke, make yourself quite comfortable. I have a couple hours'work before me; I was obliged to leave certain matters to the last. "

Raymond went to the stone slab, and Clarke watched him drearily as hebent over a row of phials and lit the flame under the crucible. Thedoctor had a small hand-lamp, shaded as the larger one, on a ledgeabove his apparatus, and Clarke, who sat in the shadows, looked down atthe great shadowy room, wondering at the bizarre effects of brilliantlight and undefined darkness contrasting with one another. Soon hebecame conscious of an odd odour, at first the merest suggestion ofodour, in the room, and as it grew more decided he felt surprised thathe was not reminded of the chemist's shop or the surgery. Clarke foundhimself idly endeavouring to analyse the sensation, and half conscious, he began to think of a day, fifteen years ago, that he had spentroaming through the woods and meadows near his own home. It was aburning day at the beginning of August, the heat had dimmed theoutlines of all things and all distances with a faint mist, and peoplewho observed the thermometer spoke of an abnormal register, of atemperature that was almost tropical. Strangely that wonderful hot dayof the fifties rose up again in Clarke's imagination; the sense ofdazzling all-pervading sunlight seemed to blot out the shadows and thelights of the laboratory, and he felt again the heated air beating ingusts about his face, saw the shimmer rising from the turf, and heardthe myriad murmur of the summer. 

"I hope the smell doesn't annoy you, Clarke; there's nothingunwholesome about it. It may make you a bit sleepy, that's all. "

Clarke heard the words quite distinctly, and knew that Raymond wasspeaking to him, but for the life of him he could not rouse himselffrom his lethargy. He could only think of the lonely walk he had takenfifteen years ago; it was his last look at the fields and woods he hadknown since he was a child, and now it all stood out in brilliantlight, as a picture, before him. Above all there came to his nostrilsthe scent of summer, the smell of flowers mingled, and the odour of thewoods, of cool shaded places, deep in the green depths, drawn forth bythe sun's heat; and the scent of the good earth, lying as it were witharms stretched forth, and smiling lips, overpowered all. His fanciesmade him wander, as he had wandered long ago, from the fields into thewood, tracking a little path between the shining undergrowth ofbeech-trees; and the trickle of water dropping from the limestone rocksounded as a clear melody in the dream. Thoughts began to go astrayand to mingle with other thoughts; the beech alley was transformed to apath between ilex-trees, and here and there a vine climbed from boughto bough, and sent up waving tendrils and drooped with purple grapes, and the sparse grey-green leaves of a wild olive-tree stood out againstthe dark shadows of the ilex. Clarke, in the deep folds of dream, wasconscious that the path from his father's house had led him into anundiscovered country, and he was wondering at the strangeness of itall, when suddenly, in place of the hum and murmur of the summer, aninfinite silence seemed to fall on all things, and the wood was hushed, and for a moment in time he stood face to face there with a presence, that was neither man nor beast, neither the living nor the dead, butall things mingled, the form of all things but devoid of all form. Andin that moment, the sacrament of body and soul was dissolved, and avoice seemed to cry "Let us go hence, " and then the darkness ofdarkness beyond the stars, the darkness of everlasting. 

When Clarke woke up with a start he saw Raymond pouring a few drops ofsome oily fluid into a green phial, which he stoppered tightly. 

"You have been dozing, " he said; "the journey must have tired you out. It is done now. I am going to fetch Mary; I shall be back in tenminutes. "

Clarke lay back in his chair and wondered. It seemed as if he had butpassed from one dream into another. He half expected to see the wallsof the laboratory melt and disappear, and to awake in London, shuddering at his own sleeping fancies. But at last the door opened, and the doctor returned, and behind him came a girl of about seventeen, dressed all in white. She was so beautiful that Clarke did not wonderat what the doctor had written to him. She was blushing now over faceand neck and arms, but Raymond seemed unmoved. 

"Mary, " he said, "the time has come. You are quite free. Are youwilling to trust yourself to me entirely?"

"Yes, dear. "

"Do you hear that, Clarke? You are my witness. Here is the chair, Mary. It is quite easy. Just sit in it and lean back. Are you ready?"

"Yes, dear, quite ready. Give me a kiss before you begin. "

The doctor stooped and kissed her mouth, kindly enough. "Now shut youreyes, " he said. The girl closed her eyelids, as if she were tired, andlonged for sleep, and Raymond placed the green phial to her nostrils. Her face grew white, whiter than her dress; she struggled faintly, andthen with the feeling of submission strong within her, crossed her armsupon her breast as a little child about to say her prayers. The brightlight of the lamp fell full upon her, and Clarke watched changesfleeting over her face as the changes of the hills when the summerclouds float across the sun. And then she lay all white and still, andthe doctor turned up one of her eyelids. She was quite unconscious. Raymond pressed hard on one of the levers and the chair instantly sankback. Clarke saw him cutting away a circle, like a tonsure, from herhair, and the lamp was moved nearer. Raymond took a small glitteringinstrument from a little case, and Clarke turned away shudderingly. When he looked again the doctor was binding up the wound he had made. 

"She will awake in five minutes. " Raymond was still perfectly cool. "There is nothing more to be done; we can only wait. "

The minutes passed slowly; they could hear a slow, heavy, ticking. There was an old clock in the passage. Clarke felt sick and faint; hisknees shook beneath him, he could hardly stand. 

Suddenly, as they watched, they heard a long-drawn sigh, and suddenlydid the colour that had vanished return to the girl's cheeks, andsuddenly her eyes opened. Clarke quailed before them. They shone withan awful light, looking far away, and a great wonder fell upon herface, and her hands stretched out as if to touch what was invisible;but in an instant the wonder faded, and gave place to the most awfulterror. The muscles of her face were hideously convulsed, she shookfrom head to foot; the soul seemed struggling and shuddering within thehouse of flesh. It was a horrible sight, and Clarke rushed forward, asshe fell shrieking to the floor. 

Three days later Raymond took Clarke to Mary's bedside. She was lyingwide-awake, rolling her head from side to side, and grinning vacantly. 

"Yes, " said the doctor, still quite cool, "it is a great pity; she is ahopeless idiot. However, it could not be helped; and, after all, shehas seen the Great God Pan. "

II

MR. CLARKE'S MEMOIRS

Mr. Clarke, the gentleman chosen by Dr. Raymond to witness the strangeexperiment of the god Pan, was a person in whose character caution andcuriosity were oddly mingled; in his sober moments he thought of theunusual and eccentric with undisguised aversion, and yet, deep in hisheart, there was a wide-eyed inquisitiveness with respect to all themore recondite and esoteric elements in the nature of men. The lattertendency had prevailed when he accepted Raymond's invitation, forthough his considered judgment had always repudiated the doctor'stheories as the wildest nonsense, yet he secretly hugged a belief infantasy, and would have rejoiced to see that belief confirmed. Thehorrors that he witnessed in the dreary laboratory were to a certainextent salutary; he was conscious of being involved in an affair notaltogether reputable, and for many years afterwards he clung bravely tothe commonplace, and rejected all occasions of occult investigation. Indeed, on some homeopathic principle, he for some time attended theseances of distinguished mediums, hoping that the clumsy tricks ofthese gentlemen would make him altogether disgusted with mysticism ofevery kind, but the remedy, though caustic, was not efficacious. Clarkeknew that he still pined for the unseen, and little by little, the oldpassion began to reassert itself, as the face of Mary, shuddering andconvulsed with an unknown terror, faded slowly from his memory. Occupied all day in pursuits both serious and lucrative, the temptationto relax in the evening was too great, especially in the winter months, when the fire cast a warm glow over his snug bachelor apartment, and abottle of some choice claret stood ready by his elbow. His dinnerdigested, he would make a brief pretence of reading the evening paper, but the mere catalogue of news soon palled upon him, and Clarke wouldfind himself casting glances of warm desire in the direction of an oldJapanese bureau, which stood at a pleasant distance from the hearth. Like a boy before a jam-closet, for a few minutes he would hoverindecisive, but lust always prevailed, and Clarke ended by drawing uphis chair, lighting a candle, and sitting down before the bureau. Itspigeon-holes and drawers teemed with documents on the most morbidsubjects, and in the well reposed a large manuscript volume, in whichhe had painfully entered he gems of his collection. Clarke had a finecontempt for published literature; the most ghostly story ceased tointerest him if it happened to be printed; his sole pleasure was in thereading, compiling, and rearranging what he called his "Memoirs toprove the Existence of the Devil, " and engaged in this pursuit theevening seemed to fly and the night appeared too short. 

On one particular evening, an ugly December night, black with fog, andraw with frost, Clarke hurried over his dinner, and scarcely deigned toobserve his customary ritual of taking up the paper and laying it downagain. He paced two or three times up and down the room, and openedthe bureau, stood still a moment, and sat down. He leant back, absorbed in one of those dreams to which he was subject, and at lengthdrew out his book, and opened it at the last entry. There were threeor four pages densely covered with Clarke's round, set penmanship, andat the beginning he had written in a somewhat larger hand:

 Singular Narrative told me by my Friend, Dr. Phillips. He assures me that all the facts related therein are strictly and wholly True, but refuses to give either the Surnames of the Persons Concerned, or the Place where these Extraordinary Events occurred. 

Mr. Clarke began to read over the account for the tenth time, glancingnow and then at the pencil notes he had made when it was told him byhis friend. It was one of his humours to pride himself on a certainliterary ability; he thought well of his style, and took pains inarranging the circumstances in dramatic order. He read the followingstory:--

The persons concerned in this statement are Helen V. , who, if she isstill alive, must now be a woman of twenty-three, Rachel M. , sincedeceased, who was a year younger than the above, and Trevor W. , animbecile, aged eighteen. These persons were at the period of the storyinhabitants of a village on the borders of Wales, a place of someimportance in the time of the Roman occupation, but now a scatteredhamlet, of not more than five hundred souls. It is situated on risingground, about six miles from the sea, and is sheltered by a large andpicturesque forest. 

Some eleven years ago, Helen V. Came to the village under ratherpeculiar circumstances. It is understood that she, being an orphan, was adopted in her infancy by a distant relative, who brought her up inhis own house until she was twelve years old. Thinking, however, thatit would be better for the child to have playmates of her own age, headvertised in several local papers for a good home in a comfortablefarmhouse for a girl of twelve, and this advertisement was answered byMr. R. , a well-to-do farmer in the above-mentioned village. Hisreferences proving satisfactory, the gentleman sent his adopteddaughter to Mr. R. , with a letter, in which he stipulated that the girlshould have a room to herself, and stated that her guardians need be atno trouble in the matter of education, as she was already sufficientlyeducated for the position in life which she would occupy. In fact, Mr. R. Was given to understand that the girl be allowed to find her ownoccupations and to spend her time almost as she liked. Mr. R. Dulymet her at the nearest station, a town seven miles away from his house, and seems to have remarked nothing extraordinary about the child exceptthat she was reticent as to her former life and her adopted father. Shewas, however, of a very different type from the inhabitants of thevillage; her skin was a pale, clear olive, and her features werestrongly marked, and of a somewhat foreign character. She appears tohave settled down easily enough into farmhouse life, and became afavourite with the children, who sometimes went with her on her ramblesin the forest, for this was her amusement. Mr. R. States that he hasknown her to go out by herself directly after their early breakfast, and not return till after dusk, and that, feeling uneasy at a younggirl being out alone for so many hours, he communicated with heradopted father, who replied in a brief note that Helen must do as shechose. In the winter, when the forest paths are impassable, she spentmost of her time in her bedroom, where she slept alone, according tothe instructions of her relative. It was on one of these expeditions tothe forest that the first of the singular incidents with which thisgirl is connected occurred, the date being about a year after herarrival at the village. The preceding winter had been remarkablysevere, the snow drifting to a great depth, and the frost continuingfor an unexampled period, and the summer following was as noteworthyfor its extreme heat. On one of the very hottest days in this summer, Helen V. Left the farmhouse for one of her long rambles in the forest, taking with her, as usual, some bread and meat for lunch. She was seenby some men in the fields making for the old Roman Road, a greencauseway which traverses the highest part of the wood, and they wereastonished to observe that the girl had taken off her hat, though theheat of the sun was already tropical. As it happened, a labourer, Joseph W. By name, was working in the forest near the Roman Road, andat twelve o'clock his little son, Trevor, brought the man his dinner ofbread and cheese. After the meal, the boy, who was about seven yearsold at the time, left his father at work, and, as he said, went to lookfor flowers in the wood, and the man, who could hear him shouting withdelight at his discoveries, felt no uneasiness. Suddenly, however, hewas horrified at hearing the most dreadful screams, evidently theresult of great terror, proceeding from the direction in which his sonhad gone, and he hastily threw down his tools and ran to see what hadhappened. Tracing his path by the sound, he met the little boy, whowas running headlong, and was evidently terribly frightened, and onquestioning him the man elicited that after picking a posy of flowershe felt tired, and lay down on the grass and fell asleep. He wassuddenly awakened, as he stated, by a peculiar noise, a sort of singinghe called it, and on peeping through the branches he saw Helen V. Playing on the grass with a "strange naked man, " who he seemed unableto describe more fully. He said he felt dreadfully frightened and ranaway crying for his father. Joseph W. Proceeded in the directionindicated by his son, and found Helen V. Sitting on the grass in themiddle of a glade or open space left by charcoal burners. He angrilycharged her with frightening his little boy, but she entirely deniedthe accusation and laughed at the child's story of a "strange man, " towhich he himself did not attach much credence. Joseph W. Came to theconclusion that the boy had woke up with a sudden fright, as childrensometimes do, but Trevor persisted in his story, and continued in suchevident distress that at last his father took him home, hoping that hismother would be able to soothe him. For many weeks, however, the boygave his parents much anxiety; he became nervous and strange in hismanner, refusing to leave the cottage by himself, and constantlyalarming the household by waking in the night with cries of "The man inthe wood! father! father!"

In course of time, however, the impression seemed to have worn off, andabout three months later he accompanied his father to the home of agentleman in the neighborhood, for whom Joseph W. Occasionally didwork. The man was shown into the study, and the little boy was leftsitting in the hall, and a few minutes later, while the gentleman wasgiving W. His instructions, they were both horrified by a piercingshriek and the sound of a fall, and rushing out they found the childlying senseless on the floor, his face contorted with terror. Thedoctor was immediately summoned, and after some examination hepronounced the child to be suffering form a kind of fit, apparentlyproduced by a sudden shock. The boy was taken to one of the bedrooms, and after some time recovered consciousness, but only to pass into acondition described by the medical man as one of violent hysteria. Thedoctor exhibited a strong sedative, and in the course of two hourspronounced him fit to walk home, but in passing through the hall theparoxysms of fright returned and with additional violence. The fatherperceived that the child was pointing at some object, and heard the oldcry, "The man in the wood, " and looking in the direction indicated sawa stone head of grotesque appearance, which had been built into thewall above one of the doors. It seems the owner of the house hadrecently made alterations in his premises, and on digging thefoundations for some offices, the men had found a curious head, evidently of the Roman period, which had been placed in the mannerdescribed. The head is pronounced by the most experiencedarchaeologists of the district to be that of a faun or satyr. [Dr. Phillips tells me that he has seen the head in question, and assures methat he has never received such a vivid presentment of intense evil. ]

From whatever cause arising, this second shock seemed too severe forthe boy Trevor, and at the present date he suffers from a weakness ofintellect, which gives but little promise of amending. The mattercaused a good deal of sensation at the time, and the girl Helen wasclosely questioned by Mr. R. , but to no purpose, she steadfastlydenying that she had frightened or in any way molested Trevor. 

The second event with which this girl's name is connected took placeabout six years ago, and is of a still more extraordinary character. 

At the beginning of the summer of 1882, Helen contracted a friendshipof a peculiarly intimate character with Rachel M. , the daughter of aprosperous farmer in the neighbourhood. This girl, who was a yearyounger than Helen, was considered by most people to be the prettier ofthe two, though Helen's features had to a great extent softened as shebecame older. The two girls, who were together on every availableopportunity, presented a singular contrast, the one with her clear, olive skin and almost Italian appearance, and the other of theproverbial red and white of our rural districts. It must be statedthat the payments made to Mr. R. For the maintenance of Helen wereknown in the village for their excessive liberality, and the impressionwas general that she would one day inherit a large sum of money fromher relative. The parents of Rachel were therefore not averse fromtheir daughter's friendship with the girl, and even encouraged theintimacy, though they now bitterly regret having done so. Helen stillretained her extraordinary fondness for the forest, and on severaloccasions Rachel accompanied her, the two friends setting out early inthe morning, and remaining in the wood until dusk. Once or twice afterthese excursions Mrs. M. Thought her daughter's manner rather peculiar;she seemed languid and dreamy, and as it has been expressed, "differentfrom herself, " but these peculiarities seem to have been thought tootrifling for remark. One evening, however, after Rachel had come home, her mother heard a noise which sounded like suppressed weeping in thegirl's room, and on going in found her lying, half undressed, upon thebed, evidently in the greatest distress. As soon as she saw hermother, she exclaimed, "Ah, mother, mother, why did you let me go tothe forest with Helen?" Mrs. M. Was astonished at so strange aquestion, and proceeded to make inquiries. Rachel told her a wildstory. She said--

Clarke closed the book with a snap, and turned his chair towards thefire. When his friend sat one evening in that very chair, and told hisstory, Clarke had interrupted him at a point a little subsequent tothis, had cut short his words in a paroxysm of horror. "My God!" hehad exclaimed, "think, think what you are saying. It is tooincredible, too monstrous; such things can never be in this quietworld, where men and women live and die, and struggle, and conquer, ormaybe fail, and fall down under sorrow, and grieve and suffer strangefortunes for many a year; but not this, Phillips, not such things asthis. There must be some explanation, some way out of the terror. Why, man, if such a case were possible, our earth would be a nightmare. "

But Phillips had told his story to the end, concluding:

"Her flight remains a mystery to this day; she vanished in broadsunlight; they saw her walking in a meadow, and a few moments later shewas not there. "

Clarke tried to conceive the thing again, as he sat by the fire, andagain his mind shuddered and shrank back, appalled before the sight ofsuch awful, unspeakable elements enthroned as it were, and triumphantin human flesh. Before him stretched the long dim vista of the greencauseway in the forest, as his friend had described it; he saw theswaying leaves and the quivering shadows on the grass, he saw thesunlight and the flowers, and far away, far in the long distance, thetwo figure moved toward him. One was Rachel, but the other?

Clarke had tried his best to disbelieve it all, but at the end of theaccount, as he had written it in his book, he had placed theinscription:

ET DIABOLUS INCARNATE EST. ET HOMO FACTUS EST. 

III

THE CITY OF RESURRECTIONS

"Herbert! Good God! Is it possible?"

"Yes, my name's Herbert. I think I know your face, too, but I don'tremember your name. My memory is very queer. "

"Don't you recollect Villiers of Wadham?"

"So it is, so it is. I beg your pardon, Villiers, I didn't think I wasbegging of an old college friend. Good-night. "

"My dear fellow, this haste is unnecessary. My rooms are close by, butwe won't go there just yet. Suppose we walk up Shaftesbury Avenue alittle way? But how in heaven's name have you come to this pass, Herbert?"

"It's a long story, Villiers, and a strange one too, but you can hearit if you like. "

"Come on, then. Take my arm, you don't seem very strong. "

The ill-assorted pair moved slowly up Rupert Street; the one in dirty, evil-looking rags, and the other attired in the regulation uniform of aman about town, trim, glossy, and eminently well-to-do. Villiers hademerged from his restaurant after an excellent dinner of many courses, assisted by an ingratiating little flask of Chianti, and, in that frameof mind which was with him almost chronic, had delayed a moment by thedoor, peering round in the dimly-lighted street in search of thosemysterious incidents and persons with which the streets of London teemin every quarter and every hour. Villiers prided himself as apractised explorer of such obscure mazes and byways of London life, andin this unprofitable pursuit he displayed an assiduity which was worthyof more serious employment. Thus he stood by the lamp-post surveyingthe passers-by with undisguised curiosity, and with that gravity knownonly to the systematic diner, had just enunciated in his mind theformula: "London has been called the city of encounters; it is morethan that, it is the city of Resurrections, " when these reflectionswere suddenly interrupted by a piteous whine at his elbow, and adeplorable appeal for alms. He looked around in some irritation, andwith a sudden shock found himself confronted with the embodied proof ofhis somewhat stilted fancies. There, close beside him, his facealtered and disfigured by poverty and disgrace, his body barely coveredby greasy ill-fitting rags, stood his old friend Charles Herbert, whohad matriculated on the same day as himself, with whom he had beenmerry and wise for twelve revolving terms. Different occupations andvarying interests had interrupted the friendship, and it was six yearssince Villiers had seen Herbert; and now he looked upon this wreck of aman with grief and dismay, mingled with a certain inquisitiveness as towhat dreary chain of circumstances had dragged him down to such adoleful pass. Villiers felt together with compassion all the relish ofthe amateur in mysteries, and congratulated himself on his leisurelyspeculations outside the restaurant. 

They walked on in silence for some time, and more than one passer-bystared in astonishment at the unaccustomed spectacle of a well-dressedman with an unmistakable beggar hanging on to his arm, and, observingthis, Villiers led the way to an obscure street in Soho. Here herepeated his question. 

"How on earth has it happened, Herbert? I always understood you wouldsucceed to an excellent position in Dorsetshire. Did your fatherdisinherit you? Surely not?"

"No, Villiers; I came into all the property at my poor father's death;he died a year after I left Oxford. He was a very good father to me, and I mourned his death sincerely enough. But you know what young menare; a few months later I came up to town and went a good deal intosociety. Of course I had excellent introductions, and I managed toenjoy myself very much in a harmless sort of way. I played a little, certainly, but never for heavy stakes, and the few bets I made on racesbrought me in money--only a few pounds, you know, but enough to pay forcigars and such petty pleasures. It was in my second season that thetide turned. Of course you have heard of my marriage?"

"No, I never heard anything about it. "

"Yes, I married, Villiers. I met a girl, a girl of the most wonderfuland most strange beauty, at the house of some people whom I knew. Icannot tell you her age; I never knew it, but, so far as I can guess, Ishould think she must have been about nineteen when I made heracquaintance. My friends had come to know her at Florence; she toldthem she was an orphan, the child of an English father and an Italianmother, and she charmed them as she charmed me. The first time I sawher was at an evening party. I was standing by the door talking to afriend, when suddenly above the hum and babble of conversation I hearda voice which seemed to thrill to my heart. She was singing an Italiansong. I was introduced to her that evening, and in three months Imarried Helen. Villiers, that woman, if I can call her woman, corrupted my soul. The night of the wedding I found myself sitting inher bedroom in the hotel, listening to her talk. She was sitting up inbed, and I listened to her as she spoke in her beautiful voice, spokeof things which even now I would not dare whisper in the blackestnight, though I stood in the midst of a wilderness. You, Villiers, you may think you know life, and London, and what goes on day and nightin this dreadful city; for all I can say you may have heard the talk ofthe vilest, but I tell you you can have no conception of what I know, not in your most fantastic, hideous dreams can you have imaged forththe faintest shadow of what I have heard--and seen. Yes, seen. I haveseen the incredible, such horrors that even I myself sometimes stop inthe middle of the street and ask whether it is possible for a man tobehold such things and live. In a year, Villiers, I was a ruined man, in body and soul--in body and soul. "

"But your property, Herbert? You had land in Dorset. "

"I sold it all; the fields and woods, the dear old house--everything. "

"And the money?"

"She took it all from me. "

"And then left you?"

"Yes; she disappeared one night. I don't know where she went, but I amsure if I saw her again it would kill me. The rest of my story is of nointerest; sordid misery, that is all. You may think, Villiers, that Ihave exaggerated and talked for effect; but I have not told you half. I could tell you certain things which would convince you, but you wouldnever know a happy day again. You would pass the rest of your life, asI pass mine, a haunted man, a man who has seen hell. "

Villiers took the unfortunate man to his rooms, and gave him a meal. Herbert could eat little, and scarcely touched the glass of wine setbefore him. He sat moody and silent by the fire, and seemed relievedwhen Villiers sent him away with a small present of money. 

"By the way, Herbert, " said Villiers, as they parted at the door, "whatwas your wife's name? You said Helen, I think? Helen what?"

"The name she passed under when I met her was Helen Vaughan, but whather real name was I can't say. I don't think she had a name. No, no, not in that sense. Only human beings have names, Villiers; I can't sayanymore. Good-bye; yes, I will not fail to call if I see any way inwhich you can help me. Good-night. "

The man went out into the bitter night, and Villiers returned to hisfireside. There was something about Herbert which shocked himinexpressibly; not his poor rags nor the marks which poverty had setupon his face, but rather an indefinite terror which hung about himlike a mist. He had acknowledged that he himself was not devoid ofblame; the woman, he had avowed, had corrupted him body and soul, andVilliers felt that this man, once his friend, had been an actor inscenes evil beyond the power of words. His story needed noconfirmation: he himself was the embodied proof of it. Villiers musedcuriously over the story he had heard, and wondered whether he hadheard both the first and the last of it. "No, " he thought, "certainlynot the last, probably only the beginning. A case like this is like anest of Chinese boxes; you open one after the other and find a quainterworkmanship in every box. Most likely poor Herbert is merely one ofthe outside boxes; there are stranger ones to follow. "

Villiers could not take his mind away from Herbert and his story, whichseemed to grow wilder as the night wore on. The fire seemed to burnlow, and the chilly air of the morning crept into the room; Villiersgot up with a glance over his shoulder, and, shivering slightly, wentto bed. 

A few days later he saw at his club a gentleman of his acquaintance, named Austin, who was famous for his intimate knowledge of London life, both in its tenebrous and luminous phases. Villiers, still full of hisencounter in Soho and its consequences, thought Austin might possiblybe able to shed some light on Herbert's history, and so after somecasual talk he suddenly put the question:

"Do you happen to know anything of a man named Herbert--CharlesHerbert?"

Austin turned round sharply and stared at Villiers with someastonishment. 

"Charles Herbert? Weren't you in town three years ago? No; then youhave not heard of the Paul Street case? It caused a good deal ofsensation at the time. "

"What was the case?"

"Well, a gentleman, a man of very good position, was found dead, starkdead, in the area of a certain house in Paul Street, off TottenhamCourt Road. Of course the police did not make the discovery; if youhappen to be sitting up all night and have a light in your window, theconstable will ring the bell, but if you happen to be lying dead insomebody's area, you will be left alone. In this instance, as in manyothers, the alarm was raised by some kind of vagabond; I don't mean acommon tramp, or a public-house loafer, but a gentleman, whose businessor pleasure, or both, made him a spectator of the London streets atfive o'clock in the morning. This individual was, as he said, 'goinghome, ' it did not appear whence or whither, and had occasion to passthrough Paul Street between four and five a. M. Something or othercaught his eye at Number 20; he said, absurdly enough, that the househad the most unpleasant physiognomy he had ever observed, but, at anyrate, he glanced down the area and was a good deal astonished to see aman lying on the stones, his limbs all huddled together, and his faceturned up. Our gentleman thought his face looked peculiarly ghastly, and so set off at a run in search of the nearest policeman. Theconstable was at first inclined to treat the matter lightly, suspectingcommon drunkenness; however, he came, and after looking at the man'sface, changed his tone, quickly enough. The early bird, who had pickedup this fine worm, was sent off for a doctor, and the policeman rangand knocked at the door till a slatternly servant girl came downlooking more than half asleep. The constable pointed out the contentsof the area to the maid, who screamed loudly enough to wake up thestreet, but she knew nothing of the man; had never seen him at thehouse, and so forth. Meanwhile, the original discoverer had come backwith a medical man, and the next thing was to get into the area. Thegate was open, so the whole quartet stumped down the steps. The doctorhardly needed a moment's examination; he said the poor fellow had beendead for several hours, and it was then the case began to getinteresting. The dead man had not been robbed, and in one of hispockets were papers identifying him as--well, as a man of good familyand means, a favourite in society, and nobody's enemy, as far as couldbe known. I don't give his name, Villiers, because it has nothing todo with the story, and because it's no good raking up these affairsabout the dead when there are no relations living. The next curiouspoint was that the medical men couldn't agree as to how he met hisdeath. There were some slight bruises on his shoulders, but they wereso slight that it looked as if he had been pushed roughly out of thekitchen door, and not thrown over the railings from the street or evendragged down the steps. But there were positively no other marks ofviolence about him, certainly none that would account for his death;and when they came to the autopsy there wasn't a trace of poison of anykind. Of course the police wanted to know all about the people atNumber 20, and here again, so I have heard from private sources, one ortwo other very curious points came out. It appears that the occupantsof the house were a Mr. And Mrs. Charles Herbert; he was said to be alanded proprietor, though it struck most people that Paul Street wasnot exactly the place to look for country gentry. As for Mrs. Herbert, nobody seemed to know who or what she was, and, between ourselves, Ifancy the divers after her history found themselves in rather strangewaters. Of course they both denied knowing anything about thedeceased, and in default of any evidence against them they weredischarged. But some very odd things came out about them. Though itwas between five and six in the morning when the dead man was removed, a large crowd had collected, and several of the neighbours ran to seewhat was going on. They were pretty free with their comments, by allaccounts, and from these it appeared that Number 20 was in very badodour in Paul Street. The detectives tried to trace down these rumoursto some solid foundation of fact, but could not get hold of anything. People shook their heads and raised their eyebrows and thought theHerberts rather 'queer, ' 'would rather not be seen going into theirhouse, ' and so on, but there was nothing tangible. The authoritieswere morally certain the man met his death in some way or another inthe house and was thrown out by the kitchen door, but they couldn'tprove it, and the absence of any indications of violence or poisoningleft them helpless. An odd case, wasn't it? But curiously enough, there's something more that I haven't told you. I happened to know oneof the doctors who was consulted as to the cause of death, and sometime after the inquest I met him, and asked him about it. 'Do youreally mean to tell me, ' I said, 'that you were baffled by the case, that you actually don't know what the man died of?' 'Pardon me, ' hereplied, 'I know perfectly well what caused death. Blank died offright, of sheer, awful terror; I never saw features so hideouslycontorted in the entire course of my practice, and I have seen thefaces of a whole host of dead. ' The doctor was usually a cool customerenough, and a certain vehemence in his manner struck me, but I couldn'tget anything more out of him. I suppose the Treasury didn't see theirway to prosecuting the Herberts for frightening a man to death; at anyrate, nothing was done, and the case dropped out of men's minds. Doyou happen to know anything of Herbert?"

"Well, " replied Villiers, "he was an old college friend of mine. "

"You don't say so? Have you ever seen his wife?"

"No, I haven't. I have lost sight of Herbert for many years. "

"It's queer, isn't it, parting with a man at the college gate or atPaddington, seeing nothing of him for years, and then finding him popup his head in such an odd place. But I should like to have seen Mrs. Herbert; people said extraordinary things about her. "

"What sort of things?"

"Well, I hardly know how to tell you. Everyone who saw her at thepolice court said she was at once the most beautiful woman and the mostrepulsive they had ever set eyes on. I have spoken to a man who sawher, and I assure you he positively shuddered as he tried to describethe woman, but he couldn't tell why. She seems to have been a sort ofenigma; and I expect if that one dead man could have told tales, hewould have told some uncommonly queer ones. And there you are again inanother puzzle; what could a respectable country gentleman like Mr. Blank (we'll call him that if you don't mind) want in such a very queerhouse as Number 20? It's altogether a very odd case, isn't it?"

"It is indeed, Austin; an extraordinary case. I didn't think, when Iasked you about my old friend, I should strike on such strange metal. Well, I must be off; good-day. "

Villiers went away, thinking of his own conceit of the Chinese boxes;here was quaint workmanship indeed. 

IV

THE DISCOVERY IN PAUL STREET

A few months after Villiers' meeting with Herbert, Mr. Clarke wassitting, as usual, by his after-dinner hearth, resolutely guarding hisfancies from wandering in the direction of the bureau. For more than aweek he had succeeded in keeping away from the "Memoirs, " and hecherished hopes of a complete self-reformation; but, in spite of hisendeavours, he could not hush the wonder and the strange curiosity thatthe last case he had written down had excited within him. He had putthe case, or rather the outline of it, conjecturally to a scientificfriend, who shook his head, and thought Clarke getting queer, and onthis particular evening Clarke was making an effort to rationalize thestory, when a sudden knock at the door roused him from his meditations. 

"Mr. Villiers to see you sir. "

"Dear me, Villiers, it is very kind of you to look me up; I have notseen you for many months; I should think nearly a year. Come in, comein. And how are you, Villiers? Want any advice about investments?"

"No, thanks, I fancy everything I have in that way is pretty safe. No, Clarke, I have really come to consult you about a rather curious matterthat has been brought under my notice of late. I am afraid you willthink it all rather absurd when I tell my tale. I sometimes think somyself, and that's just what I made up my mind to come to you, as Iknow you're a practical man. "

Mr. Villiers was ignorant of the "Memoirs to prove the Existence of theDevil. "

"Well, Villiers, I shall be happy to give you my advice, to the best ofmy ability. What is the nature of the case?"

"It's an extraordinary thing altogether. You know my ways; I alwayskeep my eyes open in the streets, and in my time I have chanced uponsome queer customers, and queer cases too, but this, I think, beatsall. I was coming out of a restaurant one nasty winter night aboutthree months ago; I had had a capital dinner and a good bottle ofChianti, and I stood for a moment on the pavement, thinking what amystery there is about London streets and the companies that pass alongthem. A bottle of red wine encourages these fancies, Clarke, and Idare say I should have thought a page of small type, but I was cutshort by a beggar who had come behind me, and was making the usualappeals. Of course I looked round, and this beggar turned out to bewhat was left of an old friend of mine, a man named Herbert. I askedhim how he had come to such a wretched pass, and he told me. We walkedup and down one of those long and dark Soho streets, and there Ilistened to his story. He said he had married a beautiful girl, someyears younger than himself, and, as he put it, she had corrupted himbody and soul. He wouldn't go into details; he said he dare not, thatwhat he had seen and heard haunted him by night and day, and when Ilooked in his face I knew he was speaking the truth. There wassomething about the man that made me shiver. I don't know why, but itwas there. I gave him a little money and sent him away, and I assureyou that when he was gone I gasped for breath. His presence seemed tochill one's blood. "

"Isn't this all just a little fanciful, Villiers? I suppose the poorfellow had made an imprudent marriage, and, in plain English, gone tothe bad. "

"Well, listen to this. " Villiers told Clarke the story he had heardfrom Austin. 

"You see, " he concluded, "there can be but little doubt that this Mr. Blank, whoever he was, died of sheer terror; he saw something so awful, so terrible, that it cut short his life. And what he saw, he mostcertainly saw in that house, which, somehow or other, had got a badname in the neighbourhood. I had the curiosity to go and look at theplace for myself. It's a saddening kind of street; the houses are oldenough to be mean and dreary, but not old enough to be quaint. As faras I could see most of them are let in lodgings, furnished andunfurnished, and almost every door has three bells to it. Here andthere the ground floors have been made into shops of the commonestkind; it's a dismal street in every way. I found Number 20 was to let, and I went to the agent's and got the key. Of course I should haveheard nothing of the Herberts in that quarter, but I asked the man, fair and square, how long they had left the house and whether there hadbeen other tenants in the meanwhile. He looked at me queerly for aminute, and told me the Herberts had left immediately after theunpleasantness, as he called it, and since then the house had beenempty. "

Mr. Villiers paused for a moment. 

"I have always been rather fond of going over empty houses; there's asort of fascination about the desolate empty rooms, with the nailssticking in the walls, and the dust thick upon the window-sills. But Ididn't enjoy going over Number 20, Paul Street. I had hardly put myfoot inside the passage when I noticed a queer, heavy feeling about theair of the house. Of course all empty houses are stuffy, and so forth, but this was something quite different; I can't describe it to you, butit seemed to stop the breath. I went into the front room and the backroom, and the kitchens downstairs; they were all dirty and dustyenough, as you would expect, but there was something strange about themall. I couldn't define it to you, I only know I felt queer. It wasone of the rooms on the first floor, though, that was the worst. Itwas a largish room, and once on a time the paper must have beencheerful enough, but when I saw it, paint, paper, and everything weremost doleful. But the room was full of horror; I felt my teethgrinding as I put my hand on the door, and when I went in, I thought Ishould have fallen fainting to the floor. However, I pulled myselftogether, and stood against the end wall, wondering what on earth therecould be about the room to make my limbs tremble, and my heart beat asif I were at the hour of death. In one corner there was a pile ofnewspapers littered on the floor, and I began looking at them; theywere papers of three or four years ago, some of them half torn, andsome crumpled as if they had been used for packing. I turned the wholepile over, and amongst them I found a curious drawing; I will show itto you presently. But I couldn't stay in the room; I felt it wasoverpowering me. I was thankful to come out, safe and sound, into theopen air. People stared at me as I walked along the street, and oneman said I was drunk. I was staggering about from one side of thepavement to the other, and it was as much as I could do to take the keyback to the agent and get home. I was in bed for a week, sufferingfrom what my doctor called nervous shock and exhaustion. One of thosedays I was reading the evening paper, and happened to notice aparagraph headed: 'Starved to Death. ' It was the usual style of thing;a model lodging-house in Marylebone, a door locked for several days, and a dead man in his chair when they broke in. 'The deceased, ' saidthe paragraph, 'was known as Charles Herbert, and is believed to havebeen once a prosperous country gentleman. His name was familiar to thepublic three years ago in connection with the mysterious death in PaulStreet, Tottenham Court Road, the deceased being the tenant of thehouse Number 20, in the area of which a gentleman of good position wasfound dead under circumstances not devoid of suspicion. ' A tragicending, wasn't it? But after all, if what he told me were true, whichI am sure it was, the man's life was all a tragedy, and a tragedy of astranger sort than they put on the boards. "

"And that is the story, is it?" said Clarke musingly. 

"Yes, that is the story. "

"Well, really, Villiers, I scarcely know what to say about it. Thereare, no doubt, circumstances in the case which seem peculiar, thefinding of the dead man in the area of Herbert's house, for instance, and the extraordinary opinion of the physician as to the cause ofdeath; but, after all, it is conceivable that the facts may beexplained in a straightforward manner. As to your own sensations, whenyou went to see the house, I would suggest that they were due to avivid imagination; you must have been brooding, in a semi-consciousway, over what you had heard. I don't exactly see what more can besaid or done in the matter; you evidently think there is a mystery ofsome kind, but Herbert is dead; where then do you propose to look?"

"I propose to look for the woman; the woman whom he married. She isthe mystery. "

The two men sat silent by the fireside; Clarke secretly congratulatinghimself on having successfully kept up the character of advocate of thecommonplace, and Villiers wrapped in his gloomy fancies. 

"I think I will have a cigarette, " he said at last, and put his hand inhis pocket to feel for the cigarette-case. 

"Ah!" he said, starting slightly, "I forgot I had something to showyou. You remember my saying that I had found a rather curious sketchamongst the pile of old newspapers at the house in Paul Street? Hereit is. "

Villiers drew out a small thin parcel from his pocket. It was coveredwith brown paper, and secured with string, and the knots weretroublesome. In spite of himself Clarke felt inquisitive; he bentforward on his chair as Villiers painfully undid the string, andunfolded the outer covering. Inside was a second wrapping of tissue, and Villiers took it off and handed the small piece of paper to Clarkewithout a word. 

There was dead silence in the room for five minutes or more; the twoman sat so still that they could hear the ticking of the tallold-fashioned clock that stood outside in the hall, and in the mind ofone of them the slow monotony of sound woke up a far, far memory. Hewas looking intently at the small pen-and-ink sketch of the woman'shead; it had evidently been drawn with great care, and by a trueartist, for the woman's soul looked out of the eyes, and the lips wereparted with a strange smile. Clarke gazed still at the face; itbrought to his memory one summer evening, long ago; he saw again thelong lovely valley, the river winding between the hills, the meadowsand the cornfields, the dull red sun, and the cold white mist risingfrom the water. He heard a voice speaking to him across the waves ofmany years, and saying "Clarke, Mary will see the god Pan!" and then hewas standing in the grim room beside the doctor, listening to the heavyticking of the clock, waiting and watching, watching the figure lyingon the green char beneath the lamplight. Mary rose up, and he lookedinto her eyes, and his heart grew cold within him. 

"Who is this woman?" he said at last. His voice was dry and hoarse. 

"That is the woman who Herbert married. "

Clarke looked again at the sketch; it was not Mary after all. Therecertainly was Mary's face, but there was something else, something hehad not seen on Mary's features when the white-clad girl entered thelaboratory with the doctor, nor at her terrible awakening, nor when shelay grinning on the bed. Whatever it was, the glance that came fromthose eyes, the smile on the full lips, or the expression of the wholeface, Clarke shuddered before it at his inmost soul, and thought, unconsciously, of Dr. Phillip's words, "the most vivid presentment ofevil I have ever seen. " He turned the paper over mechanically in hishand and glanced at the back. 

"Good God! Clarke, what is the matter? You are as white as death. "

Villiers had started wildly from his chair, as Clarke fell back with agroan, and let the paper drop from his hands. 

"I don't feel very well, Villiers, I am subject to these attacks. Pourme out a little wine; thanks, that will do. I shall feel better in afew minutes. "

Villiers picked up the fallen sketch and turned it over as Clarke haddone. 

"You saw that?" he said. "That's how I identified it as being aportrait of Herbert's wife, or I should say his widow. How do you feelnow?"

"Better, thanks, it was only a passing faintness. I don't think Iquite catch your meaning. What did you say enabled you to identify thepicture?"

"This word--'Helen'--was written on the back. Didn't I tell you hername was Helen? Yes; Helen Vaughan. "

Clarke groaned; there could be no shadow of doubt. 

"Now, don't you agree with me, " said Villiers, "that in the story Ihave told you to-night, and in the part this woman plays in it, thereare some very strange points?"

"Yes, Villiers, " Clarke muttered, "it is a strange story indeed; astrange story indeed. You must give me time to think it over; I may beable to help you or I may not. Must you be going now? Well, good-night, Villiers, good-night. Come and see me in the course of aweek. "

V

THE LETTER OF ADVICE

"Do you know, Austin, " said Villiers, as the two friends were pacingsedately along Piccadilly one pleasant morning in May, "do you know Iam convinced that what you told me about Paul Street and the Herbertsis a mere episode in an extraordinary history? I may as well confessto you that when I asked you about Herbert a few months ago I had justseen him. "

"You had seen him? Where?"

"He begged of me in the street one night. He was in the most pitiableplight, but I recognized the man, and I got him to tell me his history, or at least the outline of it. In brief, it amounted to this--he hadbeen ruined by his wife. "

"In what manner?"

"He would not tell me; he would only say that she had destroyed him, body and soul. The man is dead now. "

"And what has become of his wife?"

"Ah, that's what I should like to know, and I mean to find her sooneror later. I know a man named Clarke, a dry fellow, in fact a man ofbusiness, but shrewd enough. You understand my meaning; not shrewd inthe mere business sense of the word, but a man who really knowssomething about men and life. Well, I laid the case before him, and hewas evidently impressed. He said it needed consideration, and asked meto come again in the course of a week. A few days later I receivedthis extraordinary letter. "

Austin took the envelope, drew out the letter, and read it curiously. It ran as follows:--

"MY DEAR VILLIERS, --I have thought over the matter on which youconsulted me the other night, and my advice to you is this. Throw theportrait into the fire, blot out the story from your mind. Never giveit another thought, Villiers, or you will be sorry. You will think, nodoubt, that I am in possession of some secret information, and to acertain extent that is the case. But I only know a little; I am like atraveller who has peered over an abyss, and has drawn back in terror. What I know is strange enough and horrible enough, but beyond myknowledge there are depths and horrors more frightful still, moreincredible than any tale told of winter nights about the fire. I haveresolved, and nothing shall shake that resolve, to explore no whitfarther, and if you value your happiness you will make the samedetermination. 

"Come and see me by all means; but we will talk on more cheerful topicsthan this. "

Austin folded the letter methodically, and returned it to Villiers. 

"It is certainly an extraordinary letter, " he said, "what does he meanby the portrait?"

"Ah! I forgot to tell you I have been to Paul Street and have made adiscovery. "

Villiers told his story as he had told it to Clarke, and Austinlistened in silence. He seemed puzzled. 

"How very curious that you should experience such an unpleasantsensation in that room!" he said at length. "I hardly gather that itwas a mere matter of the imagination; a feeling of repulsion, in short. "

"No, it was more physical than mental. It was as if I were inhaling atevery breath some deadly fume, which seemed to penetrate to every nerveand bone and sinew of my body. I felt racked from head to foot, myeyes began to grow dim; it was like the entrance of death. "

"Yes, yes, very strange certainly. You see, your friend confesses thatthere is some very black story connected with this woman. Did younotice any particular emotion in him when you were telling your tale?"

"Yes, I did. He became very faint, but he assured me that it was amere passing attack to which he was subject. "

"Did you believe him?"

"I did at the time, but I don't now. He heard what I had to say with agood deal of indifference, till I showed him the portrait. It was thenthat he was seized with the attack of which I spoke. He lookedghastly, I assure you. "

"Then he must have seen the woman before. But there might be anotherexplanation; it might have been the name, and not the face, which wasfamiliar to him. What do you think?"

"I couldn't say. To the best of my belief it was after turning theportrait in his hands that he nearly dropped from the chair. The name, you know, was written on the back. "

"Quite so. After all, it is impossible to come to any resolution in acase like this. I hate melodrama, and nothing strikes me as morecommonplace and tedious than the ordinary ghost story of commerce; butreally, Villiers, it looks as if there were something very queer at thebottom of all this. "

The two men had, without noticing it, turned up Ashley Street, leadingnorthward from Piccadilly. It was a long street, and rather a gloomyone, but here and there a brighter taste had illuminated the darkhouses with flowers, and gay curtains, and a cheerful paint on thedoors. Villiers glanced up as Austin stopped speaking, and looked atone of these houses; geraniums, red and white, drooped from every sill, and daffodil-coloured curtains were draped back from each window. 

"It looks cheerful, doesn't it?" he said. 

"Yes, and the inside is still more cheery. One of the pleasantesthouses of the season, so I have heard. I haven't been there myself, but I've met several men who have, and they tell me it's uncommonlyjovial. "

"Whose house is it?"

"A Mrs. Beaumont's. "

"And who is she?"

"I couldn't tell you. I have heard she comes from South America, butafter all, who she is is of little consequence. She is a very wealthywoman, there's no doubt of that, and some of the best people have takenher up. I hear she has some wonderful claret, really marvellous wine, which must have cost a fabulous sum. Lord Argentine was telling meabout it; he was there last Sunday evening. He assures me he has nevertasted such a wine, and Argentine, as you know, is an expert. By theway, that reminds me, she must be an oddish sort of woman, this Mrs. Beaumont. Argentine asked her how old the wine was, and what do youthink she said? 'About a thousand years, I believe. ' Lord Argentinethought she was chaffing him, you know, but when he laughed she saidshe was speaking quite seriously and offered to show him the jar. Ofcourse, he couldn't say anything more after that; but it seems ratherantiquated for a beverage, doesn't it? Why, here we are at my rooms. Come in, won't you?"

"Thanks, I think I will. I haven't seen the curiosity-shop for awhile. "

It was a room furnished richly, yet oddly, where every jar and bookcaseand table, and every rug and jar and ornament seemed to be a thingapart, preserving each its own individuality. 

"Anything fresh lately?" said Villiers after a while. 

"No; I think not; you saw those queer jugs, didn't you? I thought so. I don't think I have come across anything for the last few weeks. "

Austin glanced around the room from cupboard to cupboard, from shelf toshelf, in search of some new oddity. His eyes fell at last on an oddchest, pleasantly and quaintly carved, which stood in a dark corner ofthe room. 

"Ah, " he said, "I was forgetting, I have got something to show you. "Austin unlocked the chest, drew out a thick quarto volume, laid it onthe table, and resumed the cigar he had put down. 

"Did you know Arthur Meyrick the painter, Villiers?"

"A little; I met him two or three times at the house of a friend ofmine. What has become of him? I haven't heard his name mentioned forsome time. "

"He's dead. "

"You don't say so! Quite young, wasn't he?"

"Yes; only thirty when he died. "

"What did he die of?"

"I don't know. He was an intimate friend of mine, and a thoroughlygood fellow. He used to come here and talk to me for hours, and he wasone of the best talkers I have met. He could even talk about painting, and that's more than can be said of most painters. About eighteenmonths ago he was feeling rather overworked, and partly at mysuggestion he went off on a sort of roving expedition, with no verydefinite end or aim about it. I believe New York was to be his firstport, but I never heard from him. Three months ago I got this book, with a very civil letter from an English doctor practising at BuenosAyres, stating that he had attended the late Mr. Meyrick during hisillness, and that the deceased had expressed an earnest wish that theenclosed packet should be sent to me after his death. That was all. "

"And haven't you written for further particulars?"

"I have been thinking of doing so. You would advise me to write to thedoctor?"

"Certainly. And what about the book?"

"It was sealed up when I got it. I don't think the doctor had seen it. "

"It is something very rare? Meyrick was a collector, perhaps?"

"No, I think not, hardly a collector. Now, what do you think of theseAinu jugs?"

"They are peculiar, but I like them. But aren't you going to show mepoor Meyrick's legacy?"

"Yes, yes, to be sure. The fact is, it's rather a peculiar sort ofthing, and I haven't shown it to any one. I wouldn't say anythingabout it if I were you. There it is. "

Villiers took the book, and opened it at haphazard. 

"It isn't a printed volume, then?" he said. 

"No. It is a collection of drawings in black and white by my poorfriend Meyrick. "

Villiers turned to the first page, it was blank; the second bore abrief inscription, which he read:

Silet per diem universus, nec sine horrore secretus est; lucetnocturnis ignibus, chorus Aegipanum undique personatur: audiuntur etcantus tibiarum, et tinnitus cymbalorum per oram maritimam. 

On the third page was a design which made Villiers start and look up atAustin; he was gazing abstractedly out of the window. Villiers turnedpage after page, absorbed, in spite of himself, in the frightfulWalpurgis Night of evil, strange monstrous evil, that the dead artisthad set forth in hard black and white. The figures of Fauns and Satyrsand Aegipans danced before his eyes, the darkness of the thicket, thedance on the mountain-top, the scenes by lonely shores, in greenvineyards, by rocks and desert places, passed before him: a worldbefore which the human soul seemed to shrink back and shudder. Villierswhirled over the remaining pages; he had seen enough, but the pictureon the last leaf caught his eye, as he almost closed the book. 

"Austin!"

"Well, what is it?"

"Do you know who that is?"

It was a woman's face, alone on the white page. 

"Know who it is? No, of course not. "

"I do. "

"Who is it?"

"It is Mrs. Herbert. "

"Are you sure?"

"I am perfectly sure of it. Poor Meyrick! He is one more chapter inher history. "

"But what do you think of the designs?"

"They are frightful. Lock the book up again, Austin. If I were you Iwould burn it; it must be a terrible companion even though it be in achest. "

"Yes, they are singular drawings. But I wonder what connection therecould be between Meyrick and Mrs. Herbert, or what link between her andthese designs?"

"Ah, who can say? It is possible that the matter may end here, and weshall never know, but in my own opinion this Helen Vaughan, or Mrs. Herbert, is only the beginning. She will come back to London, Austin;depend on it, she will come back, and we shall hear more about herthen. I doubt it will be very pleasant news. "

VI

THE SUICIDES

Lord Argentine was a great favourite in London Society. At twenty hehad been a poor man, decked with the surname of an illustrious family, but forced to earn a livelihood as best he could, and the mostspeculative of money-lenders would not have entrusted him with fiftypounds on the chance of his ever changing his name for a title, and hispoverty for a great fortune. His father had been near enough to thefountain of good things to secure one of the family livings, but theson, even if he had taken orders, would scarcely have obtained so muchas this, and moreover felt no vocation for the ecclesiastical estate. Thus he fronted the world with no better armour than the bachelor'sgown and the wits of a younger son's grandson, with which equipment hecontrived in some way to make a very tolerable fight of it. Attwenty-five Mr. Charles Aubernon saw himself still a man of strugglesand of warfare with the world, but out of the seven who stood beforehim and the high places of his family three only remained. Thesethree, however, were "good lives, " but yet not proof against the Zuluassegais and typhoid fever, and so one morning Aubernon woke up andfound himself Lord Argentine, a man of thirty who had faced thedifficulties of existence, and had conquered. The situation amused himimmensely, and he resolved that riches should be as pleasant to him aspoverty had always been. Argentine, after some little consideration, came to the conclusion that dining, regarded as a fine art, was perhapsthe most amusing pursuit open to fallen humanity, and thus his dinnersbecame famous in London, and an invitation to his table a thingcovetously desired. After ten years of lordship and dinners Argentinestill declined to be jaded, still persisted in enjoying life, and by akind of infection had become recognized as the cause of joy in others, in short, as the best of company. His sudden and tragical deaththerefore caused a wide and deep sensation. People could scarcelybelieve it, even though the newspaper was before their eyes, and thecry of "Mysterious Death of a Nobleman" came ringing up from thestreet. But there stood the brief paragraph: "Lord Argentine was founddead this morning by his valet under distressing circumstances. It isstated that there can be no doubt that his lordship committed suicide, though no motive can be assigned for the act. The deceased noblemanwas widely known in society, and much liked for his genial manner andsumptuous hospitality. He is succeeded by, " etc. , etc. 

By slow degrees the details came to light, but the case still remaineda mystery. The chief witness at the inquest was the deceased's valet, who said that the night before his death Lord Argentine had dined witha lady of good position, whose named was suppressed in the newspaperreports. At about eleven o'clock Lord Argentine had returned, andinformed his man that he should not require his services till the nextmorning. A little later the valet had occasion to cross the hall andwas somewhat astonished to see his master quietly letting himself outat the front door. He had taken off his evening clothes, and wasdressed in a Norfolk coat and knickerbockers, and wore a low brown hat. The valet had no reason to suppose that Lord Argentine had seen him, and though his master rarely kept late hours, thought little of theoccurrence till the next morning, when he knocked at the bedroom doorat a quarter to nine as usual. He received no answer, and, afterknocking two or three times, entered the room, and saw Lord Argentine'sbody leaning forward at an angle from the bottom of the bed. He foundthat his master had tied a cord securely to one of the short bed-posts, and, after making a running noose and slipping it round his neck, theunfortunate man must have resolutely fallen forward, to die by slowstrangulation. He was dressed in the light suit in which the valet hadseen him go out, and the doctor who was summoned pronounced that lifehad been extinct for more than four hours. All papers, letters, and soforth seemed in perfect order, and nothing was discovered which pointedin the most remote way to any scandal either great or small. Here theevidence ended; nothing more could be discovered. Several persons hadbeen present at the dinner-party at which Lord Augustine had assisted, and to all these he seemed in his usual genial spirits. The valet, indeed, said he thought his master appeared a little excited when hecame home, but confessed that the alteration in his manner was veryslight, hardly noticeable, indeed. It seemed hopeless to seek for anyclue, and the suggestion that Lord Argentine had been suddenly attackedby acute suicidal mania was generally accepted. 

It was otherwise, however, when within three weeks, three moregentlemen, one of them a nobleman, and the two others men of goodposition and ample means, perished miserably in the almost preciselythe same manner. Lord Swanleigh was found one morning in hisdressing-room, hanging from a peg affixed to the wall, and Mr. Collier-Stuart and Mr. Herries had chosen to die as Lord Argentine. There was no explanation in either case; a few bald facts; a living manin the evening, and a body with a black swollen face in the morning. The police had been forced to confess themselves powerless to arrest orto explain the sordid murders of Whitechapel; but before the horriblesuicides of Piccadilly and Mayfair they were dumbfoundered, for noteven the mere ferocity which did duty as an explanation of the crimesof the East End, could be of service in the West. Each of these men whohad resolved to die a tortured shameful death was rich, prosperous, andto all appearances in love with the world, and not the acutest researchshould ferret out any shadow of a lurking motive in either case. Therewas a horror in the air, and men looked at one another's faces whenthey met, each wondering whether the other was to be the victim of thefifth nameless tragedy. Journalists sought in vain for their scrapbooksfor materials whereof to concoct reminiscent articles; and the morningpaper was unfolded in many a house with a feeling of awe; no man knewwhen or where the next blow would light. 

A short while after the last of these terrible events, Austin came tosee Mr. Villiers. He was curious to know whether Villiers hadsucceeded in discovering any fresh traces of Mrs. Herbert, eitherthrough Clarke or by other sources, and he asked the question soonafter he had sat down. 

"No, " said Villiers, "I wrote to Clarke, but he remains obdurate, and Ihave tried other channels, but without any result. I can't find outwhat became of Helen Vaughan after she left Paul Street, but I thinkshe must have gone abroad. But to tell the truth, Austin, I haven'tpaid much attention to the matter for the last few weeks; I knew poorHerries intimately, and his terrible death has been a great shock tome, a great shock. "

"I can well believe it, " answered Austin gravely, "you know Argentinewas a friend of mine. If I remember rightly, we were speaking of himthat day you came to my rooms. "

"Yes; it was in connection with that house in Ashley Street, Mrs. Beaumont's house. You said something about Argentine's dining there. "

"Quite so. Of course you know it was there Argentine dined the nightbefore--before his death. "

"No, I had not heard that. "

"Oh, yes; the name was kept out of the papers to spare Mrs. Beaumont. Argentine was a great favourite of hers, and it is said she was in aterrible state for sometime after. "

A curious look came over Villiers' face; he seemed undecided whether tospeak or not. Austin began again. 

"I never experienced such a feeling of horror as when I read theaccount of Argentine's death. I didn't understand it at the time, andI don't now. I knew him well, and it completely passes myunderstanding for what possible cause he--or any of the others for thematter of that--could have resolved in cold blood to die in such anawful manner. You know how men babble away each other's characters inLondon, you may be sure any buried scandal or hidden skeleton wouldhave been brought to light in such a case as this; but nothing of thesort has taken place. As for the theory of mania, that is very well, of course, for the coroner's jury, but everybody knows that it's allnonsense. Suicidal mania is not small-pox. "

Austin relapsed into gloomy silence. Villiers sat silent, also, watching his friend. The expression of indecision still fleeted acrosshis face; he seemed as if weighing his thoughts in the balance, and theconsiderations he was resolving left him still silent. Austin tried toshake off the remembrance of tragedies as hopeless and perplexed as thelabyrinth of Daedalus, and began to talk in an indifferent voice of themore pleasant incidents and adventures of the season. 

"That Mrs. Beaumont, " he said, "of whom we were speaking, is a greatsuccess; she has taken London almost by storm. I met her the othernight at Fulham's; she is really a remarkable woman. "

"You have met Mrs. Beaumont?"

"Yes; she had quite a court around her. She would be called veryhandsome, I suppose, and yet there is something about her face which Ididn't like. The features are exquisite, but the expression isstrange. And all the time I was looking at her, and afterwards, when Iwas going home, I had a curious feeling that very expression was insome way or another familiar to me. "

"You must have seen her in the Row. "

"No, I am sure I never set eyes on the woman before; it is that whichmakes it puzzling. And to the best of my belief I have never seenanyone like her; what I felt was a kind of dim far-off memory, vaguebut persistent. The only sensation I can compare it to, is that oddfeeling one sometimes has in a dream, when fantastic cities andwondrous lands and phantom personages appear familiar and accustomed. "

Villiers nodded and glanced aimlessly round the room, possibly insearch of something on which to turn the conversation. His eyes fellon an old chest somewhat like that in which the artist's strange legacylay hid beneath a Gothic scutcheon. 

"Have you written to the doctor about poor Meyrick?" he asked. 

"Yes; I wrote asking for full particulars as to his illness and death. I don't expect to have an answer for another three weeks or a month. Ithought I might as well inquire whether Meyrick knew an Englishwomannamed Herbert, and if so, whether the doctor could give me anyinformation about her. But it's very possible that Meyrick fell inwith her at New York, or Mexico, or San Francisco; I have no idea as tothe extent or direction of his travels. "

"Yes, and it's very possible that the woman may have more than onename. "

"Exactly. I wish I had thought of asking you to lend me the portraitof her which you possess. I might have enclosed it in my letter to Dr. Matthews. "

"So you might; that never occurred to me. We might send it now. Hark!what are those boys calling?"

While the two men had been talking together a confused noise ofshouting had been gradually growing louder. The noise rose from theeastward and swelled down Piccadilly, drawing nearer and nearer, a verytorrent of sound; surging up streets usually quiet, and making everywindow a frame for a face, curious or excited. The cries and voicescame echoing up the silent street where Villiers lived, growing moredistinct as they advanced, and, as Villiers spoke, an answer rang upfrom the pavement:

"The West End Horrors; Another Awful Suicide; Full Details!"

Austin rushed down the stairs and bought a paper and read out theparagraph to Villiers as the uproar in the street rose and fell. Thewindow was open and the air seemed full of noise and terror. 

"Another gentleman has fallen a victim to the terrible epidemic ofsuicide which for the last month has prevailed in the West End. Mr. Sidney Crashaw, of Stoke House, Fulham, and King's Pomeroy, Devon, wasfound, after a prolonged search, hanging dead from the branch of a treein his garden at one o'clock today. The deceased gentleman dined lastnight at the Carlton Club and seemed in his usual health and spirits. He left the club at about ten o'clock, and was seen walking leisurelyup St. James's Street a little later. Subsequent to this his movementscannot be traced. On the discovery of the body medical aid was at oncesummoned, but life had evidently been long extinct. So far as isknown, Mr. Crashaw had no trouble or anxiety of any kind. This painfulsuicide, it will be remembered, is the fifth of the kind in the lastmonth. The authorities at Scotland Yard are unable to suggest anyexplanation of these terrible occurrences. "

Austin put down the paper in mute horror. 

"I shall leave London to-morrow, " he said, "it is a city of nightmares. How awful this is, Villiers!"

Mr. Villiers was sitting by the window quietly looking out into thestreet. He had listened to the newspaper report attentively, and thehint of indecision was no longer on his face. 

"Wait a moment, Austin, " he replied, "I have made up my mind to mentiona little matter that occurred last night. It stated, I think, thatCrashaw was last seen alive in St. James's Street shortly after ten?"

"Yes, I think so. I will look again. Yes, you are quite right. "

"Quite so. Well, I am in a position to contradict that statement atall events. Crashaw was seen after that; considerably later indeed. "

"How do you know?"

"Because I happened to see Crashaw myself at about two o'clock thismorning. "

"You saw Crashaw? You, Villiers?"

"Yes, I saw him quite distinctly; indeed, there were but a few feetbetween us. "

"Where, in Heaven's name, did you see him?"

"Not far from here. I saw him in Ashley Street. He was just leaving ahouse. "

"Did you notice what house it was?"

"Yes. It was Mrs. Beaumont's. "

"Villiers! Think what you are saying; there must be some mistake. Howcould Crashaw be in Mrs. Beaumont's house at two o'clock in themorning? Surely, surely, you must have been dreaming, Villiers; youwere always rather fanciful. "

"No; I was wide awake enough. Even if I had been dreaming as you say, what I saw would have roused me effectually. "

"What you saw? What did you see? Was there anything strange aboutCrashaw? But I can't believe it; it is impossible. "

"Well, if you like I will tell you what I saw, or if you please, what Ithink I saw, and you can judge for yourself. "

"Very good, Villiers. "

The noise and clamour of the street had died away, though now and thenthe sound of shouting still came from the distance, and the dull, leaden silence seemed like the quiet after an earthquake or a storm. Villiers turned from the window and began speaking. 

"I was at a house near Regent's Park last night, and when I came awaythe fancy took me to walk home instead of taking a hansom. It was aclear pleasant night enough, and after a few minutes I had the streetspretty much to myself. It's a curious thing, Austin, to be alone inLondon at night, the gas-lamps stretching away in perspective, and thedead silence, and then perhaps the rush and clatter of a hansom on thestones, and the fire starting up under the horse's hoofs. I walkedalong pretty briskly, for I was feeling a little tired of being out inthe night, and as the clocks were striking two I turned down AshleyStreet, which, you know, is on my way. It was quieter than ever there, and the lamps were fewer; altogether, it looked as dark and gloomy as aforest in winter. I had done about half the length of the street when Iheard a door closed very softly, and naturally I looked up to see whowas abroad like myself at such an hour. As it happens, there is astreet lamp close to the house in question, and I saw a man standing onthe step. He had just shut the door and his face was towards me, and Irecognized Crashaw directly. I never knew him to speak to, but I hadoften seen him, and I am positive that I was not mistaken in my man. Ilooked into his face for a moment, and then--I will confess thetruth--I set off at a good run, and kept it up till I was within my owndoor. "

"Why?"

"Why? Because it made my blood run cold to see that man's face. Icould never have supposed that such an infernal medley of passionscould have glared out of any human eyes; I almost fainted as I looked. I knew I had looked into the eyes of a lost soul, Austin, the man'soutward form remained, but all hell was within it. Furious lust, andhate that was like fire, and the loss of all hope and horror thatseemed to shriek aloud to the night, though his teeth were shut; andthe utter blackness of despair. I am sure that he did not see me; hesaw nothing that you or I can see, but what he saw I hope we nevershall. I do not know when he died; I suppose in an hour, or perhapstwo, but when I passed down Ashley Street and heard the closing door, that man no longer belonged to this world; it was a devil's face Ilooked upon. "

There was an interval of silence in the room when Villiers ceasedspeaking. The light was failing, and all the tumult of an hour ago wasquite hushed. Austin had bent his head at the close of the story, andhis hand covered his eyes. 

"What can it mean?" he said at length. 

"Who knows, Austin, who knows? It's a black business, but I think wehad better keep it to ourselves, for the present at any rate. I willsee if I cannot learn anything about that house through privatechannels of information, and if I do light upon anything I will let youknow. "

VII

THE ENCOUNTER IN SOHO

Three weeks later Austin received a note from Villiers, asking him tocall either that afternoon or the next. He chose the nearer date, andfound Villiers sitting as usual by the window, apparently lost inmeditation on the drowsy traffic of the street. There was a bambootable by his side, a fantastic thing, enriched with gilding and queerpainted scenes, and on it lay a little pile of papers arranged anddocketed as neatly as anything in Mr. Clarke's office. 

"Well, Villiers, have you made any discoveries in the last three weeks?"

"I think so; I have here one or two memoranda which struck me assingular, and there is a statement to which I shall call yourattention. "

"And these documents relate to Mrs. Beaumont? It was really Crashawwhom you saw that night standing on the doorstep of the house in AshleyStreet?"

"As to that matter my belief remains unchanged, but neither myinquiries nor their results have any special relation to Crashaw. Butmy investigations have had a strange issue. I have found out who Mrs. Beaumont is!"

"Who is she? In what way do you mean?"

"I mean that you and I know her better under another name. "

"What name is that?"

"Herbert. "

"Herbert!" Austin repeated the word, dazed with astonishment. 

"Yes, Mrs. Herbert of Paul Street, Helen Vaughan of earlier adventuresunknown to me. You had reason to recognize the expression of her face;when you go home look at the face in Meyrick's book of horrors, and youwill know the sources of your recollection. "

"And you have proof of this?"

"Yes, the best of proof; I have seen Mrs. Beaumont, or shall we sayMrs. Herbert?"

"Where did you see her?"

"Hardly in a place where you would expect to see a lady who lives inAshley Street, Piccadilly. I saw her entering a house in one of themeanest and most disreputable streets in Soho. In fact, I had made anappointment, though not with her, and she was precise to both time andplace. "

"All this seems very wonderful, but I cannot call it incredible. Youmust remember, Villiers, that I have seen this woman, in the ordinaryadventure of London society, talking and laughing, and sipping hercoffee in a commonplace drawing-room with commonplace people. But youknow what you are saying. "

"I do; I have not allowed myself to be led by surmises or fancies. Itwas with no thought of finding Helen Vaughan that I searched for Mrs. Beaumont in the dark waters of the life of London, but such has beenthe issue. "

"You must have been in strange places, Villiers. "

"Yes, I have been in very strange places. It would have been useless, you know, to go to Ashley Street, and ask Mrs. Beaumont to give me ashort sketch of her previous history. No; assuming, as I had toassume, that her record was not of the cleanest, it would be prettycertain that at some previous time she must have moved in circles notquite so refined as her present ones. If you see mud at the top of astream, you may be sure that it was once at the bottom. I went to thebottom. I have always been fond of diving into Queer Street for myamusement, and I found my knowledge of that locality and itsinhabitants very useful. It is, perhaps, needless to say that myfriends had never heard the name of Beaumont, and as I had never seenthe lady, and was quite unable to describe her, I had to set to work inan indirect way. The people there know me; I have been able to do someof them a service now and again, so they made no difficulty aboutgiving their information; they were aware I had no communication director indirect with Scotland Yard. I had to cast out a good many lines, though, before I got what I wanted, and when I landed the fish I didnot for a moment suppose it was my fish. But I listened to what I wastold out of a constitutional liking for useless information, and Ifound myself in possession of a very curious story, though, as Iimagined, not the story I was looking for. It was to this effect. Some five or six years ago, a woman named Raymond suddenly made herappearance in the neighbourhood to which I am referring. She wasdescribed to me as being quite young, probably not more than seventeenor eighteen, very handsome, and looking as if she came from thecountry. I should be wrong in saying that she found her level in goingto this particular quarter, or associating with these people, for fromwhat I was told, I should think the worst den in London far too goodfor her. The person from whom I got my information, as you maysuppose, no great Puritan, shuddered and grew sick in telling me of thenameless infamies which were laid to her charge. After living there fora year, or perhaps a little more, she disappeared as suddenly as shecame, and they saw nothing of her till about the time of the PaulStreet case. At first she came to her old haunts only occasionally, then more frequently, and finally took up her abode there as before, and remained for six or eight months. It's of no use my going intodetails as to the life that woman led; if you want particulars you canlook at Meyrick's legacy. Those designs were not drawn from hisimagination. She again disappeared, and the people of the place sawnothing of her till a few months ago. My informant told me that shehad taken some rooms in a house which he pointed out, and these roomsshe was in the habit of visiting two or three times a week and alwaysat ten in the morning. I was led to expect that one of these visitswould be paid on a certain day about a week ago, and I accordinglymanaged to be on the look-out in company with my cicerone at a quarterto ten, and the hour and the lady came with equal punctuality. Myfriend and I were standing under an archway, a little way back from thestreet, but she saw us, and gave me a glance that I shall be long inforgetting. That look was quite enough for me; I knew Miss Raymond tobe Mrs. Herbert; as for Mrs. Beaumont she had quite gone out of myhead. She went into the house, and I watched it till four o'clock, when she came out, and then I followed her. It was a long chase, and Ihad to be very careful to keep a long way in the background, and yetnot lose sight of the woman. She took me down to the Strand, and thento Westminster, and then up St. James's Street, and along Piccadilly. I felt queerish when I saw her turn up Ashley Street; the thought thatMrs. Herbert was Mrs. Beaumont came into my mind, but it seemed tooimpossible to be true. I waited at the corner, keeping my eye on herall the time, and I took particular care to note the house at which shestopped. It was the house with the gay curtains, the home of flowers, the house out of which Crashaw came the night he hanged himself in hisgarden. I was just going away with my discovery, when I saw an emptycarriage come round and draw up in front of the house, and I came tothe conclusion that Mrs. Herbert was going out for a drive, and I wasright. There, as it happened, I met a man I know, and we stood talkingtogether a little distance from the carriage-way, to which I had myback. We had not been there for ten minutes when my friend took offhis hat, and I glanced round and saw the lady I had been following allday. 'Who is that?' I said, and his answer was 'Mrs. Beaumont; lives inAshley Street. ' Of course there could be no doubt after that. I don'tknow whether she saw me, but I don't think she did. I went home atonce, and, on consideration, I thought that I had a sufficiently goodcase with which to go to Clarke. "

"Why to Clarke?"

"Because I am sure that Clarke is in possession of facts about thiswoman, facts of which I know nothing. "

"Well, what then?"

Mr. Villiers leaned back in his chair and looked reflectively at Austinfor a moment before he answered:

"My idea was that Clarke and I should call on Mrs. Beaumont. "

"You would never go into such a house as that? No, no, Villiers, youcannot do it. Besides, consider; what result. .. "

"I will tell you soon. But I was going to say that my information doesnot end here; it has been completed in an extraordinary manner. 

"Look at this neat little packet of manuscript; it is paginated, yousee, and I have indulged in the civil coquetry of a ribbon of red tape. It has almost a legal air, hasn't it? Run your eye over it, Austin. Itis an account of the entertainment Mrs. Beaumont provided for herchoicer guests. The man who wrote this escaped with his life, but I donot think he will live many years. The doctors tell him he must havesustained some severe shock to the nerves. "

Austin took the manuscript, but never read it. Opening the neat pagesat haphazard his eye was caught by a word and a phrase that followedit; and, sick at heart, with white lips and a cold sweat pouring likewater from his temples, he flung the paper down. 

"Take it away, Villiers, never speak of this again. Are you made ofstone, man? Why, the dread and horror of death itself, the thoughts ofthe man who stands in the keen morning air on the black platform, bound, the bell tolling in his ears, and waits for the harsh rattle ofthe bolt, are as nothing compared to this. I will not read it; Ishould never sleep again. "

"Very good. I can fancy what you saw. Yes; it is horrible enough; butafter all, it is an old story, an old mystery played in our day, and indim London streets instead of amidst the vineyards and the olivegardens. We know what happened to those who chanced to meet the GreatGod Pan, and those who are wise know that all symbols are symbols ofsomething, not of nothing. It was, indeed, an exquisite symbol beneathwhich men long ago veiled their knowledge of the most awful, mostsecret forces which lie at the heart of all things; forces before whichthe souls of men must wither and die and blacken, as their bodiesblacken under the electric current. Such forces cannot be named, cannotbe spoken, cannot be imagined except under a veil and a symbol, asymbol to the most of us appearing a quaint, poetic fancy, to some afoolish tale. But you and I, at all events, have known something of theterror that may dwell in the secret place of life, manifested underhuman flesh; that which is without form taking to itself a form. Oh, Austin, how can it be? How is it that the very sunlight does not turnto blackness before this thing, the hard earth melt and boil beneathsuch a burden?"

Villiers was pacing up and down the room, and the beads of sweat stoodout on his forehead. Austin sat silent for a while, but Villiers sawhim make a sign upon his breast. 

"I say again, Villiers, you will surely never enter such a house asthat? You would never pass out alive. "

"Yes, Austin, I shall go out alive--I, and Clarke with me. "

"What do you mean? You cannot, you would not dare. .. "

"Wait a moment. The air was very pleasant and fresh this morning;there was a breeze blowing, even through this dull street, and Ithought I would take a walk. Piccadilly stretched before me a clear, bright vista, and the sun flashed on the carriages and on the quiveringleaves in the park. It was a joyous morning, and men and women lookedat the sky and smiled as they went about their work or their pleasure, and the wind blew as blithely as upon the meadows and the scentedgorse. But somehow or other I got out of the bustle and the gaiety, and found myself walking slowly along a quiet, dull street, where thereseemed to be no sunshine and no air, and where the few foot-passengersloitered as they walked, and hung indecisively about corners andarchways. I walked along, hardly knowing where I was going or what Idid there, but feeling impelled, as one sometimes is, to explore stillfurther, with a vague idea of reaching some unknown goal. Thus Iforged up the street, noting the small traffic of the milk-shop, andwondering at the incongruous medley of penny pipes, black tobacco, sweets, newspapers, and comic songs which here and there jostled oneanother in the short compass of a single window. I think it was a coldshudder that suddenly passed through me that first told me that I hadfound what I wanted. I looked up from the pavement and stopped beforea dusty shop, above which the lettering had faded, where the red bricksof two hundred years ago had grimed to black; where the windows hadgathered to themselves the dust of winters innumerable. I saw what Irequired; but I think it was five minutes before I had steadied myselfand could walk in and ask for it in a cool voice and with a calm face. I think there must even then have been a tremor in my words, for theold man who came out of the back parlour, and fumbled slowly amongsthis goods, looked oddly at me as he tied the parcel. I paid what heasked, and stood leaning by the counter, with a strange reluctance totake up my goods and go. I asked about the business, and learnt thattrade was bad and the profits cut down sadly; but then the street wasnot what it was before traffic had been diverted, but that was doneforty years ago, 'just before my father died, ' he said. I got away atlast, and walked along sharply; it was a dismal street indeed, and Iwas glad to return to the bustle and the noise. Would you like to seemy purchase?"

Austin said nothing, but nodded his head slightly; he still lookedwhite and sick. Villiers pulled out a drawer in the bamboo table, andshowed Austin a long coil of cord, hard and new; and at one end was arunning noose. 

"It is the best hempen cord, " said Villiers, "just as it used to bemade for the old trade, the man told me. Not an inch of jute from endto end. "

Austin set his teeth hard, and stared at Villiers, growing whiter as helooked. 

"You would not do it, " he murmured at last. "You would not have bloodon your hands. My God!" he exclaimed, with sudden vehemence, "youcannot mean this, Villiers, that you will make yourself a hangman?"

"No. I shall offer a choice, and leave Helen Vaughan alone with thiscord in a locked room for fifteen minutes. If when we go in it is notdone, I shall call the nearest policeman. That is all. "

"I must go now. I cannot stay here any longer; I cannot bear this. Good-night. "

"Good-night, Austin. "

The door shut, but in a moment it was open again, and Austin stood, white and ghastly, in the entrance. 

"I was forgetting, " he said, "that I too have something to tell. Ihave received a letter from Dr. Harding of Buenos Ayres. He says thathe attended Meyrick for three weeks before his death. "

"And does he say what carried him off in the prime of life? It was notfever?"

"No, it was not fever. According to the doctor, it was an uttercollapse of the whole system, probably caused by some severe shock. But he states that the patient would tell him nothing, and that he wasconsequently at some disadvantage in treating the case. "

"Is there anything more?"

"Yes. Dr. Harding ends his letter by saying: 'I think this is all theinformation I can give you about your poor friend. He had not beenlong in Buenos Ayres, and knew scarcely any one, with the exception ofa person who did not bear the best of characters, and has since left--aMrs. Vaughan. '"

VIII

THE FRAGMENTS

[Amongst the papers of the well-known physician, Dr. Robert Matheson, of Ashley Street, Piccadilly, who died suddenly, of apoplectic seizure, at the beginning of 1892, a leaf of manuscript paper was found, coveredwith pencil jottings. These notes were in Latin, much abbreviated, andhad evidently been made in great haste. The MS. Was only decipheredwith difficulty, and some words have up to the present time evaded allthe efforts of the expert employed. The date, "XXV Jul. 1888, " iswritten on the right-hand corner of the MS. The following is atranslation of Dr. Matheson's manuscript. ]

"Whether science would benefit by these brief notes if they could bepublished, I do not know, but rather doubt. But certainly I shallnever take the responsibility of publishing or divulging one word ofwhat is here written, not only on account of my oath given freely tothose two persons who were present, but also because the details aretoo abominable. It is probably that, upon mature consideration, andafter weighting the good and evil, I shall one day destroy this paper, or at least leave it under seal to my friend D. , trusting in hisdiscretion, to use it or to burn it, as he may think fit. 

"As was befitting, I did all that my knowledge suggested to make surethat I was suffering under no delusion. At first astounded, I couldhardly think, but in a minute's time I was sure that my pulse wassteady and regular, and that I was in my real and true senses. I thenfixed my eyes quietly on what was before me. 

"Though horror and revolting nausea rose up within me, and an odour ofcorruption choked my breath, I remained firm. I was then privileged oraccursed, I dare not say which, to see that which was on the bed, lyingthere black like ink, transformed before my eyes. The skin, and theflesh, and the muscles, and the bones, and the firm structure of thehuman body that I had thought to be unchangeable, and permanent asadamant, began to melt and dissolve. 

"I know that the body may be separated into its elements by externalagencies, but I should have refused to believe what I saw. For herethere was some internal force, of which I knew nothing, that causeddissolution and change. 

"Here too was all the work by which man had been made repeated beforemy eyes. I saw the form waver from sex to sex, dividing itself fromitself, and then again reunited. Then I saw the body descend to thebeasts whence it ascended, and that which was on the heights go down tothe depths, even to the abyss of all being. The principle of life, which makes organism, always remained, while the outward form changed. 

"The light within the room had turned to blackness, not the darkness ofnight, in which objects are seen dimly, for I could see clearly andwithout difficulty. But it was the negation of light; objects werepresented to my eyes, if I may say so, without any medium, in such amanner that if there had been a prism in the room I should have seen nocolours represented in it. 

"I watched, and at last I saw nothing but a substance as jelly. Thenthe ladder was ascended again. .. [here the MS. Is illegible] . .. For oneinstance I saw a Form, shaped in dimness before me, which I will notfarther describe. But the symbol of this form may be seen in ancientsculptures, and in paintings which survived beneath the lava, too foulto be spoken of. .. As a horrible and unspeakable shape, neither man norbeast, was changed into human form, there came finally death. 

"I who saw all this, not without great horror and loathing of soul, here write my name, declaring all that I have set on this paper to betrue. 

"ROBERT MATHESON, Med. Dr. "

 * * * * *

. .. Such, Raymond, is the story of what I know and what I have seen. The burden of it was too heavy for me to bear alone, and yet I couldtell it to none but you. Villiers, who was with me at the last, knowsnothing of that awful secret of the wood, of how what we both saw die, lay upon the smooth, sweet turf amidst the summer flowers, half in sunand half in shadow, and holding the girl Rachel's hand, called andsummoned those companions, and shaped in solid form, upon the earth wetread upon, the horror which we can but hint at, which we can only nameunder a figure. I would not tell Villiers of this, nor of thatresemblance, which struck me as with a blow upon my heart, when I sawthe portrait, which filled the cup of terror at the end. What this canmean I dare not guess. I know that what I saw perish was not Mary, andyet in the last agony Mary's eyes looked into mine. Whether there canbe any one who can show the last link in this chain of awful mystery, Ido not know, but if there be any one who can do this, you, Raymond, arethe man. And if you know the secret, it rests with you to tell it ornot, as you please. 

I am writing this letter to you immediately on my getting back to town. I have been in the country for the last few days; perhaps you may beable to guess in which part. While the horror and wonder of London wasat its height--for "Mrs. Beaumont, " as I have told you, was well knownin society--I wrote to my friend Dr. Phillips, giving some briefoutline, or rather hint, of what happened, and asking him to tell methe name of the village where the events he had related to me occurred. He gave me the name, as he said with the less hesitation, becauseRachel's father and mother were dead, and the rest of the family hadgone to a relative in the State of Washington six months before. Theparents, he said, had undoubtedly died of grief and horror caused bythe terrible death of their daughter, and by what had gone before thatdeath. On the evening of the day which I received Phillips' letter Iwas at Caermaen, and standing beneath the mouldering Roman walls, whitewith the winters of seventeen hundred years, I looked over the meadowwhere once had stood the older temple of the "God of the Deeps, " andsaw a house gleaming in the sunlight. It was the house where Helen hadlived. I stayed at Caermaen for several days. The people of theplace, I found, knew little and had guessed less. Those whom I spoketo on the matter seemed surprised that an antiquarian (as I professedmyself to be) should trouble about a village tragedy, of which theygave a very commonplace version, and, as you may imagine, I toldnothing of what I knew. Most of my time was spent in the great woodthat rises just above the village and climbs the hillside, and goesdown to the river in the valley; such another long lovely valley, Raymond, as that on which we looked one summer night, walking to andfro before your house. For many an hour I strayed through the maze ofthe forest, turning now to right and now to left, pacing slowly downlong alleys of undergrowth, shadowy and chill, even under the middaysun, and halting beneath great oaks; lying on the short turf of aclearing where the faint sweet scent of wild roses came to me on thewind and mixed with the heavy perfume of the elder, whose mingled odouris like the odour of the room of the dead, a vapour of incense andcorruption. I stood at the edges of the wood, gazing at all the pompand procession of the foxgloves towering amidst the bracken and shiningred in the broad sunshine, and beyond them into deep thickets of closeundergrowth where springs boil up from the rock and nourish thewater-weeds, dank and evil. But in all my wanderings I avoided onepart of the wood; it was not till yesterday that I climbed to thesummit of the hill, and stood upon the ancient Roman road that threadsthe highest ridge of the wood. Here they had walked, Helen and Rachel, along this quiet causeway, upon the pavement of green turf, shut in oneither side by high banks of red earth, and tall hedges of shiningbeech, and here I followed in their steps, looking out, now and again, through partings in the boughs, and seeing on one side the sweep of thewood stretching far to right and left, and sinking into the broadlevel, and beyond, the yellow sea, and the land over the sea. On theother side was the valley and the river and hill following hill as waveon wave, and wood and meadow, and cornfield, and white houses gleaming, and a great wall of mountain, and far blue peaks in the north. And soat least I came to the place. The track went up a gentle slope, andwidened out into an open space with a wall of thick undergrowth aroundit, and then, narrowing again, passed on into the distance and thefaint blue mist of summer heat. And into this pleasant summer gladeRachel passed a girl, and left it, who shall say what? I did not staylong there. 

In a small town near Caermaen there is a museum, containing for themost part Roman remains which have been found in the neighbourhood atvarious times. On the day after my arrival in Caermaen I walked overto the town in question, and took the opportunity of inspecting themuseum. After I had seen most of the sculptured stones, the coffins, rings, coins, and fragments of tessellated pavement which the placecontains, I was shown a small square pillar of white stone, which hadbeen recently discovered in the wood of which I have been speaking, and, as I found on inquiry, in that open space where the Roman roadbroadens out. On one side of the pillar was an inscription, of which Itook a note. Some of the letters have been defaced, but I do not thinkthere can be any doubt as to those which I supply. The inscription isas follows:

 DEVOMNODENTi FLAvIVSSENILISPOSSvit PROPTERNVPtias quaSVIDITSVBVMra

"To the great god Nodens (the god of the Great Deep or Abyss) FlaviusSenilis has erected this pillar on account of the marriage which he sawbeneath the shade. "

The custodian of the museum informed me that local antiquaries weremuch puzzled, not by the inscription, or by any difficulty intranslating it, but as to the circumstance or rite to which allusion ismade. 

 * * * * *

. .. And now, my dear Clarke, as to what you tell me about Helen Vaughan, whom you say you saw die under circumstances of the utmost and almostincredible horror. I was interested in your account, but a good deal, nay all, of what you told me I knew already. I can understand thestrange likeness you remarked in both the portrait and in the actualface; you have seen Helen's mother. You remember that still summernight so many years ago, when I talked to you of the world beyond theshadows, and of the god Pan. You remember Mary. She was the mother ofHelen Vaughan, who was born nine months after that night. 

Mary never recovered her reason. She lay, as you saw her, all thewhile upon her bed, and a few days after the child was born she died. I fancy that just at the last she knew me; I was standing by the bed, and the old look came into her eyes for a second, and then sheshuddered and groaned and died. It was an ill work I did that nightwhen you were present; I broke open the door of the house of life, without knowing or caring what might pass forth or enter in. Irecollect your telling me at the time, sharply enough, and rightly too, in one sense, that I had ruined the reason of a human being by afoolish experiment, based on an absurd theory. You did well to blameme, but my theory was not all absurdity. What I said Mary would seeshe saw, but I forgot that no human eyes can look on such a sight withimpunity. And I forgot, as I have just said, that when the house oflife is thus thrown open, there may enter in that for which we have noname, and human flesh may become the veil of a horror one dare notexpress. I played with energies which I did not understand, you haveseen the ending of it. Helen Vaughan did well to bind the cord abouther neck and die, though the death was horrible. The blackened face, the hideous form upon the bed, changing and melting before your eyesfrom woman to man, from man to beast, and from beast to worse thanbeast, all the strange horror that you witness, surprises me butlittle. What you say the doctor whom you sent for saw and shuddered atI noticed long ago; I knew what I had done the moment the child wasborn, and when it was scarcely five years old I surprised it, not onceor twice but several times with a playmate, you may guess of what kind. It was for me a constant, an incarnate horror, and after a few years Ifelt I could bear it no more, and I sent Helen Vaughan away. You knownow what frightened the boy in the wood. The rest of the strangestory, and all else that you tell me, as discovered by your friend, Ihave contrived to learn from time to time, almost to the last chapter. And now Helen is with her companions. ..