ll^iiiS -: 
 
 GREAT MYSTERY 
 SOLVED 
 
 \ Continuation of Dickens 
 .. ED ,,,,x, r^r, 
 
 Mii! *!> :; 11 IH tiiti iHilnit 
 
 liijlllillj 
 
 I u 
 
 .LAN VASE 
 
 II! 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
A GREAT 
 MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 BEING A CONTINUATION OF AND CONCLUSION TO 
 
 "THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD" 
 
 (THE UNFINISHED WORK OF CHARLI:S DICKEKS) 
 
 BY" 
 
 GILLAN VASE 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SHIRLEY BYRON JEVONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 M c BRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
 
 1914 
 
PS 3M9 
 46 
 
 914. 
 
 EDITOR S NOTE 
 
 THE fate of Edwin Drood, the last of Charles Dickens 
 creations, has exercised the minds of not a few literary 
 men of eminence. The best of them could but guess ; 
 and which has gone nearest will never be known. They 
 were content to suggest the answer without troubling 
 to work it out in detail as a continuation and finish 
 of the story. This more difficult task was undertaken 
 by " Gillan Vase," whose luxuriant imagination 
 led her not only to follow up the destinies of the 
 characters which we owe in their inception to Dickens, 
 but also to create several others. 
 
 As rather detracting from the value of a sequel 
 in which it seemed desirable that only known Dickens- 
 ian characters should appear, these new ones have 
 been eliminated. The completion of the original 
 story, the spirit and diction of which are, it is thought, 
 pretty closely imitated, is now offered as an ingenious 
 and probable solution of the mystery. 
 
 331063 
 
"THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD 
 
 (SUMMARISED) 
 
 IN Cloisterham, an English Cathedral town, the Dean 
 was the most important personage, though Mr. Sapsea, 
 mayor and auctioneer of the city, had doubts on the 
 point. By strangers the one might be mistaken for 
 the other, Mr. Sapsea, in dress and dignity of bearing, 
 paying Mr. Dean the compliment of the sincerest form 
 of flattery. He was more clerical indeed than the 
 clergy, and the monument he had raised to his late 
 wife testified to some of the admirable qualities which 
 in him inhered. The most charming little person the 
 city could boast was Miss Rosa Bud, who was being 
 harboured at the scholastic establishment of Miss 
 Twinkleton, preparatory to her approaching marriage 
 with Mr. Edwin Drood, to whom she had, in a sort of 
 way, been betrothed almost since childhood. That 
 rather supercilious young gentleman took the prospect 
 of his future happiness very much as a matter of 
 course, a lofty state of the adolescent masculine mind 
 which the lad did not try to hide from his dour, if loving, 
 uncle, Mr. John Jasper, a man only a few years older 
 than he, the relationship notwithstanding, and choir 
 master of the Cathedral, his fine voice being not the 
 least attractive part of the services. Within the 
 Close lived the Reverend Septimus Crisparkle, a Minor 
 
viii "THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD" 
 
 Canon, whose tiny, timid mother kept house for him 
 there, and was as dainty as a little china shepherdess, 
 a figure which she oddly suggested. Very proud was 
 she of her seventh and only surviving son, and he, 
 in his stalwart manhood, no less so of his frail little ma. 
 
 It takes all sorts to make a world, and in the small 
 one of the Cathedral and its precincts Durdles, the 
 drunken stonemason, was fairly conspicuous, with his 
 dinner bundled into a handkerchief and carried about 
 all day and every day. A satellite of his was Deputy, 
 a hideous small lad employed at a common lodging- 
 house, whom he had hired to pelt him home with stones 
 in case he was out too late in his cups, the bargain being 
 that first he was to have a " widdy widdy warning " 
 in the form of some doggerel verse. Durdles always 
 spoke of himself in the third person, and his hobby was 
 to go about tapping tombs and walls with his hammer, 
 the answering sound telling him many things dulled 
 to less sensitive ears. Even in sleepy Cloisterham 
 events out of the common would happen occasionally, 
 such as the arrival from Ceylon of Neville and Helena 
 Landless, brother and sister, orphaned and of neglected 
 up-bringing, so that the girl was to go to Miss Twinkle- 
 ton and the youth to Mr. Crisparkle, for the bettering 
 of their education. Both were dark and remarkably 
 handsome, and both had been hurt to the soul by the 
 harsh treatment of a conscienceless step-father. 
 
 Edwin and Neville met, and a mutual dislike was 
 not long in manifesting itself. The newcomer resented 
 Drood s cavalier treatment of Rosa, with whom he 
 himself was at sight in love. At a meeting brought 
 about by John Jasper, with the avowed idea of a recon 
 ciliation, high words passed between the young fellows, 
 and Neville drank more than was good for him. Jasper 
 
" THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD " ix 
 
 maladroitly or maliciously foments the quarrel while 
 trying to smooth it over. Neville flings the dregs of 
 a glass of wine in Drood s face, and leaves the room 
 in a rage, after Jasper has parted them. Later Mr. 
 Crisparkle brings about the reconciliation between 
 the two, and to mark it the choir-master for Christmas 
 Eve invites them to supper. In his diary he has 
 entered an account of the quarrel, which makes it 
 look black against the passionate Neville. One night 
 before Yuletide, Jasper gets Durdles to show him 
 over the Cathedral, from the crypt to the top of the 
 tower, by lantern light, for the satisfaction of his 
 archaeological bent. On their way thither they pass 
 a mound of stuff which the choir-master is warned 
 against treading on, as it is quicklime, which eats 
 up anything brought into contact with it. Jasper has 
 brought with him a bottle, which his companion is 
 encouraged to pay attention to, and, nothing loath, 
 the stonemason presently feels the need of " forty 
 winks." Jasper volunteers to stay by him while they 
 are taken, but it happens that the clock is striking two 
 in the morning when he is aroused, so that he must 
 have slept a couple of hours. Before the evening of 
 the supper, Rosa and Edwin have met and agreed 
 that the idea of their marriage was a mistake. Let 
 them be as brother and sister to each other. 
 
 Landless has it in mind to start off on a walking 
 tour on Christmas Day, and to be away for a fortnight. 
 He carries out the intention, but does not get far on 
 his way when he is overtaken, surrounded and captured 
 by a small body of men, after a struggle in which he 
 uses his heavy stick freely and cracks a skull or two. 
 The stupid fellows have given no intimation of the fact 
 that they are not footpads but acting with authority, 
 
x " THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD " 
 
 as Edwin Drood has disappeared and foul play is 
 suspected on the part of Neville, with whom he was 
 last seen leaving Jasper s lodgings in the Gate House 
 and going towards the tidal river that runs through 
 Cloisterham. The sapient Mayor is half inclined to 
 commit him to prison, but Mr. Crisparkle s indignant 
 protest and his promise to be answerable for Neville s 
 appearance when required bring saner counsel. 
 Mr. Grewgious, a receiver and collector of rents, 
 living and having his office in Staple Inn, London, 
 is Rosa s guardian, and devoted to her for her dead 
 mother s sake, whom he had loved and hoped to make 
 his wife, but another man had been luckier than he, 
 winning her. From him, widowed and on his death 
 bed, Mr. Grewgious had received her betrothal ring, 
 and this he had given Edwin, with some fatherly 
 advice on the seriousness of the step he and Rosa were 
 about to take, a little while before they came to the 
 decision that, in fact, it was too serious for them to 
 venture on. He had been told of this, and hurrying 
 down to Cloisterham on the news of Edwin s disappear 
 ance, he seeks out and informs Jasper of the broken 
 engagement, whereupon the choir-master gasps, open- 
 mouthed, and falls down in a fit. Grewgious suspects 
 him of being in love with Rosa, and maybe of much 
 worse. Meanwhile, diligent but vain search has been 
 made for Edwin Drood s body ; the people of Cloister- 
 ham have jumped to the illogical conclusion that 
 Landless is guilty, and to avoid the torture of their 
 accusing eyes, he and his sister move to London, taking 
 up their quarters in Staple Inn, near Mr. Grewgious, 
 another neighbour being a retired naval lieutenant, 
 Mr. Tartar, between whom and Neville an acquaintance 
 is struck up. Meanwhile, at Cloisterham, Jasper has 
 
"THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD " xi 
 
 openly and violently declared his love to Rosa, who, 
 greatly alarmed, flies to Mr. Grewgious for protection. 
 He receives her with warm affection and comforting 
 assurances of help and safeguard, puts her up for a 
 night at Furnival s Inn Hotel, and presently establishes 
 her in Bloomsbury lodgings, with Miss Twinkleton as 
 chaperon, at a Mrs. Billickin s, a terror of a woman, 
 as the school-mistress soon finds out. That Mr. Tartar 
 feels a tender regard for the sweetly fascinating Miss 
 Rosa Bud presently appears, as also that Crisparkle 
 is in love with Helena Landless. At Cloisterham has 
 arrived a Mr. Datchery, who takes up his residence 
 at the Gate House, with Mrs. Tope, John Jasper s 
 landlady. Whoever he may be, he is disguised by a 
 shock of white hair and other means, and he has a habit 
 of chalking on the inside of a cupboard door certain 
 marks which indicate the progress he makes from day 
 to day in the work of investigation into the Edwin 
 Drood mystery. 
 
 The opening chapter of the book describes a scene 
 in an East End opium den, from which a wreck of a 
 man creeps in the early morning. It is kept by a 
 hag who has listened without learning much to the 
 mutterings of this customer, as he lies in a half stupor 
 from the effects of the drug. The last chapter tells of 
 a visit stealthily paid to this den by the choir-master, 
 so that there is little doubt that he was the visitor 
 of whom we read in the first. At this point the 
 unfinished story halts. 
 
 S. B. JEVONS. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Two BREAKFASTS IN CLOISTERHAM 
 
 II. MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 
 
 III. INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S . 
 
 IV. A SELFISH PROPOSAL 
 V. EDDY S WIDOW . . 
 
 VI. MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 
 
 VII. THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 
 
 VIII. A DAY UPON THE WATER . 
 
 IX. THE PLACE is HAUNTED ! 
 
 X. THE MAYOR UNDER A CLOUD 
 
 XI. Two BIRDS OF NIGHT ; . 
 
 XII. THE PURSUIT OF ROSA . 
 
 XIII. ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM . 
 
 XIV. JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING 
 XV. A BRUTAL SUITOR .... 
 
 XVI. " THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE " 
 
 XVII. A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 
 
 XVIII. IN WHICH MR. CRISPARKLE READS A 
 
 LONG MANUSCRIPT 
 
 XIX. CODDLER AND HlS MISSION 
 
 XX. EDWIN AND ROSA .... 
 
 XXI. THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 
 
 XXII. EDWIN S FAREWELL 
 
 XXIII. WHERE EAST AND WEST COME 
 TOGETHER 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 32 
 
 43 
 58 
 67 
 80 
 
 107 
 
 112 
 124 
 136 
 151 
 
 155 
 
 179 
 
 215 
 
 229 
 
 255 
 258 
 
 273 
 
 284 
 
 289 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TWO BREAKFASTS IN CLOISTERHAM 
 
 SERVICE is over the early morning service in the 
 old Cathedral of the ancient city of Cloisterham, and 
 the few who have composed the small congregation 
 are rapidly dispersing in various directions, when one 
 of the Minor Canons, Mr. Crisparkle, stumbles over 
 something lying crouched upon the ground at his feet ; 
 and saving himself with a start from the imminent 
 danger of falling forward on his face, nearly goes 
 to the other extreme of falling on his back. 
 
 Now for one who prides himself and with reason 
 on the keenness of his vision, such a mishap, barely 
 averted, is trying, to say the least ; and when further 
 aggravated by the cause, which grins up at you, 
 delighted at your discomfiture, raising, at the same 
 time, a stone threateningly, is very trying. The Minor 
 Canon has a fine temper, but he says, sternly 
 
 " What are you doing here, and what do you mean 
 by lying right in my way like that ? " 
 
 " What I m a doin here ? " says the ragged urchin, 
 who calls himself Deputy ; "a purty question that, 
 for a clergyman and a minor canon ! Hain t I as much 
 right to go to the Kinfreederal as you yourself ? What 
 do you mean by a falling over me, and a kickin my 
 shins, without so much as a widdy warning ? I m 
 man-servant in attendance on Her Royal Ighness, the 
 Princess Puffer, and I m a waiting here fur to conduct 
 her ome." 
 
2 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 And Deputy, sharp-eyed and fleet of foot, slips past 
 Mr. Crisparkle, and disappears round a corner, where 
 a miserably-attired and trembling old woman has 
 preceded him. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle, in the course of a few minutes, 
 arrives at the cosy home, upon the threshold of which 
 he is accustomed to throw away all disagreeable 
 thoughts. There he calls up a smile to his lips, assumes 
 his usually elastic tread, and, humming a portion of 
 the anthem so beautifully sung that morning by Mr. 
 Jasper, the choir-master, and his choir, softly opens 
 the dining-room door, whereupon his nose is welcomed 
 by a mixture of Mocha, rasher and chop perfume, 
 deliciously blended ; and he himself by a charming 
 little old lady, daintily attired as a china shepherdess, 
 and radiant to behold. After an affectionate saluta 
 tion of her, he sits down and attacks his breakfast 
 with a good appetite. She watches him for a while, 
 and then says 
 
 " Septimus, tell me what has happened to vex you ; 
 for that something has, even my old eyes are still sharp 
 enough to see. You brought a load upon your heart 
 home from London. You took that load with you to 
 the Cathedral, and you haven t left it there, in spite 
 of your singing and your brisk step. From your earliest 
 infancy, your mind was always an open book for me ; 
 don t, don t shut it now." 
 
 Here the old lady s voice falters, and the tears rise 
 to her bright eyes. A short pause, and the son slowly 
 and hesitatingly speaks 
 
 " You may be sure that you would be the first I 
 should open my heart to on any and every occasion ; 
 and if on this one point I have kept it closed, it is 
 because, unfortunately, you and I differ very much 
 about it." 
 
 The old lady rises, rings the bell, paces up and down 
 the room in a hurried and nervous manner while the 
 neat maid-servant clears away the things. Then, 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS 3 
 
 drawing a chair close to her son, and seating herself, 
 she fixes her bright eyes keenly upon his troubled face, 
 and speaks to this effect 
 
 " Now that the plunge is made, and the ice broken, 
 Sept, let me hear the whole. I don t agree with you, 
 and I tell you so beforehand ; I do differ from you, 
 and you may as well know it to begin with ; but your 
 troubles are my troubles, and your fears and anxieties 
 must be mine, too. You have been to see Mr. Neville ? 
 " I have, ma." 
 
 " And you visit him every time you go to London ? " 
 " Certainly I do," says the Minor Canon, and his 
 troubled face becomes suddenly illuminated with a 
 proud, exultant smile, which vanishes, however, 
 immediately, though not before the anxious, scrutinis 
 ing eyes of his mother have seized upon it and stored 
 it up for future and careful examination. " Certainly, 
 ma ; it is all I can do for him now, poor fellow ! But 
 you must not imagine that my troubled thoughts 
 came from him. It would, indeed, be impossible 
 to meet him and his sister unmoved ; to see how 
 patiently they bear an affliction, so great, so terrible, 
 that it would be no wonder if they sank under it. 
 I often preach them patience and endurance, but I do 
 not believe, put to the proof, I myself should practise 
 the half of it. To think of their being driven away, 
 outcasts from the only friends who love them ; watched, 
 and harassed, and threatened darkly by a foe, who will 
 not meet them face to face. And to bear all this and 
 be innocent -for, upon my soul, the lad is innocent ! 
 is it not enough to drive them to despair ? And yet, 
 all the gold in that boy s nature is being ten times 
 refined in the fiery furnace of affliction, and as for his 
 sister- 
 Here a radiant smile appears on the lips of the Minor 
 Canon, and brightens his eyes ; but it is lost on his 
 mother, whose own eyes are cast down and clouded 
 by thickly-falling tears. She quickly wipes them away, 
 
4 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and not to expose herself to the bare supposition of 
 having changed her mind, says 
 
 " Then what is the reason of your being so sad and 
 troubled and so unlike yourself, since it is not that ? " 
 
 " A horrible suspicion has sprung up in my mind ; 
 a suspicion so horrible that, without proof to confirm 
 it, it would be a sin to utter it, even to you. It seems 
 a sin to have conceived it, and yet it suddenly came 
 to me, almost like an inspiration, and having come, 
 seemed to be the result of reasoning, which my mind 
 had been carrying on unconsciously for months. 
 God grant I may be wrong," adds the Minor Canon, 
 rising and shaking himself, as if to be rid of these 
 melancholy thoughts. Then, catching a glimpse of 
 his mother s anxious face 
 
 " I must take a run in the fresh air. You see I have 
 my fits, as well as other people ; but I know a cure 
 a fresh air cure. I shall come back in half an hour 
 as fresh as a bee, gathering honey from every opening 
 flower/ 
 
 Humming cheerfully, to complete the metaphor, 
 the Rev. Septimus is in full trot, leaving her looking 
 wistfully after him from the doorstep. 
 
 The Very Revd. the Dean was both surprised and 
 perplexed, though, as he declared to Mrs. Dean 
 
 " Not quite so surprised, as perplexed, perplexed. 
 For, my dear, how are we in so short a time, to find a 
 substitute ? And even with time before us, such a 
 choir-master is not so easily to be found again ; such 
 voice ! such expression ! so attentive too, and punctual 
 in attendance in short, in every respect so unexcep 
 tional. A sad calamity for a man, though, a very sad 
 calamity ! " 
 
 Now that the Dean comes to think of it, he is not 
 surprised at all that Mr. Jasper should wish to give 
 up his situation as choir-master, and go to London, 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS 5 
 
 He had declared that he could not remain any longer 
 in Cloisterham ; the very air he breathed there, every 
 note he sung there, every corner in the town, and every 
 nook in the Cathedral, reminded him here he had 
 choked and become deadly pale ; but the Dean had 
 understood him ; yes, the Dean had understood him 
 perfectly, and had felt for him deeply ; poor man ! 
 poor man ! His salary was not the object to him it 
 had been ; the lawyer from London had communicated 
 with him, and informed him that certain moneys, 
 which would have been handed over to his lost nephew 
 on his coming of age the words brought out in a 
 spasmodic way, and with the same deadly paleness 
 were at his disposal, as the only near relative. He had 
 begged the Dean as a personal favour to supply his 
 place as soon as possible, and of course the Dean could 
 not refuse him ; though, as he said before, " he was 
 grieved to part with him, grieved and perplexed." 
 
 Thus the Dean, sitting cosily with Mrs. Dean, in 
 the cool of the evening, in the verandah at the back 
 of the Deanery, and speaking in that tone of lazy, 
 cheerful discontent, becoming and natural to an after- 
 dinner Dean ; with such a glorious vista before him 
 of sunny peaches and apricots, and mellowing plums, 
 and blushing apples, in such quantity and quality 
 as only were to be found in that Deanery garden, 
 hidden from profane eyes by high walls, and only 
 accessible to the favoured few, who were honoured 
 in Cloisterham by the general and significant title 
 of " those who visited at the Deanery." Thus the 
 Dean, and the opinions expressed by him on this occa 
 sion, were echoed that same evening through all 
 Cloisterham. Every one related it to somebody else, 
 and though occasional variations were observable, 
 the echo remained pretty faithful to its original. 
 All had felt sure that he would not and could not 
 remain. He had taken the loss of his nephew too 
 much to heart, poor fellow ! he was quite an altered 
 
6 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 man since then. Always still and reserved, he had 
 become so much stiller, and so much more reserved, 
 that his voice was seldom heard except in the choir. 
 
 " He had grown as thin as a skeleton," said tearful 
 Mrs. Tope, relating the news to her lodger, Mr. Datchery, 
 who took little notice of it, remarking indifferently 
 
 " What did it matter to a buffer, whether this or 
 that master led the choir," but supper being over, 
 and Mrs. Tope departed, he added one thick stroke 
 to his reckoning behind the door, and then taking up 
 his hat, strolled out into the Cathedral Close. It 
 was already dark, and light was shining out from the 
 Gate House window, so that Mr. Datchery could 
 distinctly see the figure of a man passing to and fro 
 inside, Mr. Jasper, doubtless, perhaps already making 
 preparations for departure. With a perplexed face, 
 Mr. Datchery watched him, until aroused by feeling 
 something hit him from behind. Turning round sharply, 
 he became aware of Deputy, who was dancing behind 
 him in great glee, and exclaimed, angrily 
 
 " Ah, you young vagabond, are you going to make 
 a mark for your stones of me. You had better leave 
 off that game, I can tell you." 
 
 " Ere s a row," said Deputy, "just because I give 
 you one as a widdy warning. I want s to speak to 
 you, and I don t want for im to hear," shaking his 
 fist angrily in the direction of the shadow on the 
 blind. " I ve been a watchin of im for the last arf-a- 
 hour, while I ve been a waitin for you, and now you 
 comes a rowin and a scandalizin of me like that. 
 It s arrowin to the feelin s of a chap," said Deputy, 
 rubbing both dirty eyes with his dirty fists, and pre 
 tending to be bitterly hurt, while all the while, he 
 sharply scanned Mr. Datchery between his fingers, and 
 mentally calculated how much he might get out of 
 him. 
 
 " Come, come," said Mr. Datchery, good- 
 humouredly, " out with it, Winks, what have you got 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS 7 
 
 to tell me ? A shilling will make us good friends again, 
 will it not ? " 
 
 " A arf-a-crown," whimpered Deputy, " I ve injered 
 my ealth a findin of it out. Er Royal Ighness is 
 confounded hard to badger. I d tried every dodge 
 and a most given it up. I told her she reminded me 
 of my dead and gone mother, who died o whisky, after 
 avin nearly broke every bone of my body (this for 
 the private information of Mr. Datchery) and that 
 I d come and see her in London. She didn t rise to that 
 fly at all. I didn t remind her of her dead and gone 
 son, and she didn t receive no wisitors, except in a 
 business way." 
 
 " Well, well," put in Mr. Datchery, impatiently, 
 " did you find it out at last ? " 
 
 " Wait a bit," continued Winks, " you re a comin 
 to it a deal faster than I did. I was dead beat, and, 
 af eared you d come too short this time, Dick, but when 
 she set out to walk back to the station, all mumblin 
 and totterin , I made up my mind not to lose the last 
 chance, and follered her." 
 
 " Hoping to hitch it out of her on the road, eh, 
 Winks ? " 
 
 "At a conwenient distance," went on Deputy, 
 gravely, " lookin out for the chance of pickin of it 
 up ; a mindful of my promise and a reckonin on your 
 gratitood." 
 
 " Not in vain, Winks, old boy ! " said Mr. Datchery 
 with a laugh, " I m an inquisitive old buffer, and I ve 
 got the means of gratifying my curiosity ; the woman 
 interests me ; I ve a notion of making a call upon her, 
 when I go up to town ; she seems one of the right sort 
 for mixing the opium pipe, and for a buffer who s 
 nothing on earth to do, anything that turns up is a 
 godsend." 
 
 Winks, who during these few remarks had been 
 profusely illustrating his name, now put his thumb 
 to his nose, and widened his fingers towards his friend, 
 
8 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 with every sign of contempt and derision ; then, with 
 a laugh, which seemed to proceed from his stomach, 
 his mouth being totally unaffected by it, he replied 
 
 " Don t take no trouble to waste none of your chaff 
 on me, Dick, for I sees through yer as through a winder- 
 pane." 
 
 " Bless my soul ! " exclaimed Mr. Datchery, angrily, 
 " what an offshoot of the devil it is ! Why don t 
 you tell me what I want to know ? I know you found 
 out at last, and it don t matter to you why I want to 
 know." 
 
 " She got so tottery on her pins," pursued 
 Winks, with immovable gravity, " that at last she 
 broke down on a stone by the road, and began to cough 
 and to spit quite dreadful ; then she closed her eyes 
 and fell to mumblin . Creepin up to her, I says, 
 soft like, where am I to come to, mother dear, when 
 I wants a pipe ? You ve clean forgot to tell me that, 
 and without it, you know, I shall have to go to Jack 
 Chinaman. I d heer d her mumblin some at about 
 Jack Chinaman, and so I said it at a wenture. Lor ! 
 she were quite lively in a moment. Don t go to Jack 
 Chinaman, deary, she says, cause he s much dearer 
 than I am, and he don t know neither the right mixin 
 of it as I do ; come to me, deary ; to Mother Coombs 
 in Purgatory Court, No. 162, down by the river. 
 She kept on a mumblin and a coughin , but I didn t 
 wait to hear no more, and there s your answer, Dick, 
 and now fork out my arf-a-crown." 
 
 " There it is, and now be off with you," said Mr. 
 Datchery. " I ve something to do before night, and 
 I must have time to do it in. Stay," he added sud 
 denly, " you may still help me. Watch that man there 
 till I come back, and if he leaves the house, you follow 
 him, and find out where he goes. You may earn 
 another shilling to-night, Winks, if you are sharp, 
 and more shillings in the future ; you understand ? " 
 
 Deputy gave a significant and quick sign of com- 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS g 
 
 prehension and assent, and shook one dirty fist again 
 in the direction of the shadow. In the other was closely 
 clenched his half-a-crown ; yet, between his defiant 
 growls for Mr. Jasper, and his congratulatory chuckles 
 for himself, he did not fail to observe that Mr. Datchery, 
 behind him, was copying his actions with even increased 
 vehemence. Indeed, this latter gentleman seemed, for 
 some unaccountable reason, to be stepping completely 
 out of his role of easy-going buffer, and to take a keen 
 and curious interest in the actions of the shadow, who, 
 in bodily form, called himself John Jasper, choir 
 master. 
 
 And John Jasper, the threatened ; John Jasper, 
 the regretted ; John Jasper, the indispensable late 
 professor of music in the ancient city of Cloisterham, 
 and leader of the Cathedral choir what of him ? 
 If the devil had not been dancing before his house that 
 evening, he had most surely been present in its interior, 
 standing in almost palpable form beside its wretched 
 inmate, and pointing, with a shadowy hand, to the 
 reckoning that would not balance. Had he not been 
 trying to add it up all that evening, and many a weary 
 evening and day before, and yet, when it seemed 
 nearly finished, only one figure or so more, something 
 had turned it all wrong, and he must begin again at 
 the beginning How weary he was ! How heavy his 
 head ! How heavy his heart ! Ha ! was that the 
 devil who laughed ? He had a heart ; how it throbbed 
 and beat passionately for love of her or hatred, which 
 was it ? Once he had loved her, how well he remem 
 bered that. How, all the week, he had but one thought, 
 one longing, for the hour when he could sit by her side, 
 touch her hand, sometimes even her little foot. How 
 often it came upon the wrong pedal, and then, was it 
 not his duty to put it right ? Such a careless little 
 thing, and he such a careful master ! 
 
 He could praise her, correct her, scold her ; any 
 thing, everything, to make her lift her bright eyes, 
 
io A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 whether in anger or content. How long he had 
 cherished the hope that she returned his love, when 
 the saucy naughtiness with which she treated her 
 music-master Eddy s uncle had changed into a 
 steady, childish gravity, not unmixed with fear. 
 How often he had seen her meet his eyes with a look 
 of recognition in them recognition of what ? of 
 his love, or of her acknowledgment of it ? How, at 
 this time, when he touched her hand by accident, 
 or in performance of his duty as her music-master, 
 instead of the pretty, naughty pettishness she had 
 formerly shown, she would draw it away with a shudder, 
 as if in fear, and the bright colour would flush her face, 
 even to the roots of her waving hair. Was not that 
 the working of the troubled conscience that reproached 
 her for treachery to her betrothed ? Was not that 
 almost a proof that she returned his love ? And, 
 even though the last interview he had had with her 
 had shown him his error in this respect, had revealed 
 to him, so distinctly that miscomprehension was 
 impossible, her shuddering abhorrence of him, could 
 he give her up ? No ! a thousand times, No ! 
 a million times, No ! No devil in hell, no God in heaven, 
 should make him leave her to another ! 
 
 Smiting himself upon the breast, anon cursing 
 himself and cursing her, anon pressing her picture 
 passionately to his heart, so the wretched man passed 
 the slow hours of the weary night. 
 
 Deputy and Mr. Datchery, always on the watch, 
 saw the light, the steady light, ever burning in the 
 Gate House. The grey morning peeping in, revealed 
 a motionless form, haggard and worn out with watching 
 and passion. Finally, Mrs. Tope, all bustle and 
 broom and duster, coming in, was " that shocked " 
 at beholding her honoured Mr. Jasper so prostrate, 
 that, as she afterwards said, you might have knocked 
 her down with a feather. 
 
 " Lord, ha mercy on us ! " was her first terrified 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS n 
 
 exclamation, then, prompt in action, she had assisted 
 Mr. Jasper to his easy chair, and was moistening his 
 pale forehead with water, before he had time to become 
 fully conscious of her presence. " There, there ! " 
 said the good woman, patting him as if he were a 
 baby, " you are coming round nicely now ; a few drops 
 of wine will set you all right again," and hastening 
 to a small sideboard behind the door, she poured 
 out a glass of strong wine and held it to his lips. A 
 faint colour flushed his face, and, with a slight motion 
 of his hand, he indicated the open boxes and things 
 scattered about, as if to account for his condition. 
 
 But Mrs. Tope bless her heart ! knew all about 
 it, and her busy woman s tongue was already supplying 
 all deficiencies in his explanation. 
 
 " Lord bless you, sir, / know ! what with a packin 
 up, and what with a thinkin of Mr. Edwin, it s been 
 too much for you. Tope, he ll bear me witness, that 
 only last night I said to him, Tope, says I, I ll 
 bet you all the money in the parish boxes, and some 
 thing more for there ain t much in em that not 
 one-half an eye does Mr. Jasper close this live-long 
 night. It ain t no wonder either, for a sweeter young 
 gentleman, or a kinder, never lived, and many s the 
 tear I ve shed, as Tope will certify to, for him and for 
 you, sir ; but, if you ll excuse my takin the liberty 
 for to say it, we must all try not to fret and worry 
 ourselves too much, even when the trouble s very 
 hard to bear. It ain t no mortal use, the grave will 
 never give up its dead." 
 
 What was that, glancing out sinister from the half- 
 closed eyes of the pale occupant of the easy chair ? 
 What devil was that, hissingly and triumphantly 
 repeating her last words, " the grave will never give 
 up its dead ? " Whatever it was, it was gone again 
 in a moment, sinking back into the darkness whence 
 it had sprung, and leaving no trace of its presence 
 behind. Mrs. Tope could have sworn she had seen 
 
12 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and heard it one moment, and the next, almost doubted 
 her own senses. It stopped her chatter, however, 
 and left her staring with foolish, wide-open eyes at the 
 motionless figure opposite her. 
 
 " You are very kind and sympathising," said the 
 choir-master feebly, " and I trust and rely on your 
 affection and fidelity to me in all things ; but this is 
 a topic upon which I cannot trust myself to speak ; 
 the wound is still too new ; it hurts too much," and, 
 covering his eyes with his long, thin hand, he sank 
 back in his easy chair, while Mrs. Tope, a little rebuffed 
 and a little piqued at first, speedily recovered her 
 spirits in the exercise of her household duties. 
 
 The room became brighter, healthier, freer. Even 
 Mr. Jasper, not insensible to the cheerful influence, 
 let fall the hand shadowing his eyes, and smiled grateful 
 acknowledgment at the verger s wife. 
 
 Presently, out of the small kitchen below, issued a 
 savoury odour ; coffee perfumed the atmosphere ; 
 a snowy cloth decked the table ; plate and cup and 
 saucer, and brightly polished knives contributed 
 their part to the completion of a cheerful whole. In 
 a word, and in an incredibly short time, breakfast, 
 neat and dainty, was laid. Before beginning on it, 
 he motioned Mrs. Tope to take the vacant chair beside 
 him. 
 
 "Just this once," he pleaded, as she modestly 
 hesitated, " for the first and perhaps the last time, 
 good Mrs. Tope. You have waited upon me so often, 
 and now that the place which has known me so well 
 will soon know me no more, I cannot take my last meal 
 alone. You have a few minutes to spare, have you 
 not ? " 
 
 " As for that," said Mrs. Tope, " nothing should 
 have induced me to go, sir, until I had seen you take 
 a few mouthfuls ; for it frightened me terrible when I 
 first came in, to see you lying there so still and white ; 
 and I couldn t answer it to my conscience to go away 
 
TWO BREAKFASTS 13 
 
 and you not fully restored ; so if you wishes it, and 
 orders me to sit myself beside you, then I will take 
 the liberty, sir, and many thanks for your goodness ; 
 and I hope, after all, that you will change your mind 
 and come back to us ; for it s a lone place is London, 
 sir, for a lone man, and we shall miss you here sorely, 
 particularly in the Cathedral." 
 
 Thus the verger s wife, casting anxious glances 
 from time to time at the choir-master, who, reviving 
 a little under the influence of the warm and savoury 
 morsels, smiled back at her. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Datchery, packed and ready, 
 awaited impatiently the return of Mrs. Tope, in order 
 to inform her that a letter he had received that morning 
 summoned him peremptorily to London ; a distant 
 relation, lying dangerously ill, having demanded, 
 in terms impossible to refuse, his presence there ; and 
 to pour into her sympathising ears his bitter complaint 
 of what a fatality it was for a single buffer, who denied 
 and utterly abjured all family ties, and who had so 
 completely found his nook in life, where he could 
 hang up his hat for the remainder of his days and 
 live in peace and quietude, to be compelled, positively 
 compelled, again to face the world he hated, and to 
 bore himself with matters which could be of no possible 
 interest to him. 
 
 Meanwhile, Deputy, munching a crust, his frugal 
 breakfast, in a corner, and occasionally, with half an 
 eye, making a mark of some early passer by, watched 
 with keen intelligence the door of the Gate House, 
 ready on the faintest sign of movement on the part 
 of its inmate, to report to his friend and ally. 
 
 Breakfast over in the Gate House the two having 
 eaten little, Mr. Jasper being still too feeble and too 
 engrossed with anxious thought, while Mrs. Tope s 
 modesty prevented her doing justice to her usually 
 healthy appetite the verger s wife packed the port 
 manteau, which the choir-master had decided on taking 
 
14 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 with him, and received his instructions concerning 
 the rest of his worldly goods in Cloisterham. Then 
 the two sallied forth, Mr. Jasper propping himself 
 on Mrs. Tope s strong arm, and proceeded in the 
 direction of the coach which was to convey him to the 
 station. Mr. Crisparkle, having said good-bye to his 
 mother, and heartily saluted her on both rosy cheeks, 
 soon overtook them, and releasing Mrs. Tope, good- 
 naturedly offered his arm to Jasper ; but he avoided 
 all unnecessary conversation with him, and fell into 
 so meditative a mood, that the choir-master, furtively 
 watching him, became every moment stiller and sterner. 
 Finally, Mr. Datchery, with his hat in his hand, his 
 snowy locks waving in the gentle breeze, and accom 
 panied by Winks, brought up the rear ; but at a 
 convenient distance, where they could neither be seen 
 nor heard by the two before them. Thus the three 
 arrived at the omnibus and took their places. Jasper 
 first, kindly assisted by Mr. Crisparkle, who, however, 
 did not take the seat beside him but at the other end 
 of the vehicle ; then, Mr. Datchery, cunningly assisted 
 by Deputy, who, with a volley of oaths and a volley 
 of stones, thrown indiscriminately in every direction, 
 let him slip unobserved into the seat by the driver, 
 Joe, who nodded his honest head in comprehension 
 of the situation. Then a mild expostulation from Mr. 
 Crisparkle, a half muttered curse between Jasper s 
 clenched teeth, a crack of Joe s whip, a strong pull 
 from the horses, a cloud of dust Deputy becoming 
 gradually a mere speck in the distance and rattle, 
 rattle towards the great city, whither they were all 
 bound. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 
 
 MR. GREWGIOUS, in his solitary chambers in Staple 
 Inn, sipping a cup of coffee after a late dinner, and 
 sipping it in no very enviable frame of mind, has had 
 a trying day. He is feeling deeply that he is getting 
 too old for change, and yet change has been forced upon 
 him come upon him, as he says to himself, discon 
 solately, like a clap of thunder from a cloudless sky. 
 
 For, however unpleasant it may be, in some points 
 of view, to have a clerk who, intellectually, is im 
 measurably your superior, and who never hesitates to 
 force the conviction of this fact down your reluctant 
 throat a bitter tonic for your humility ; however 
 inconvenient it may be to have a clerk, so liable to 
 wander into the mazes of fancy and lose himself there 
 as to be never up to the point of poking his own fire, 
 and therefore virtually compelling you to perform 
 that office for him ; however harrowing to the feelings 
 it may be, to have a clerk so sunk in melancholy 
 and clogged by the weight of a Tragedy which no one 
 will buy of him, that it is a matter of hard work to 
 hoist him to the surface of everyday life, when he is 
 wanted there ; yet all these evils, like all other evils 
 to which mankind is subject, become comparatively 
 easy to bear, from usage. 
 
 Not that Mr. Grewgious has had a want of applicants 
 for the post vacated by his late clerk, Bazzard ; no, 
 indeed ! that would have been a blessing, compared 
 to the dread reality. Ever since he had been so unfor 
 tunate as to make his want known in the " Times/ 
 
 15 
 
16 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 crowds of applicants for the vacant place have been 
 invading the quiet of Staple Inn, and making it as 
 noisy as the noisy streets outside, with the echo of 
 their footsteps. The frightened sparrows, scared 
 from their search for crumbs below, fly dismayed to 
 sheltering roof and chimney, looking down with ruffled 
 feathers, cocked heads, and bright attentive eyes, 
 upon the unwonted scene ; and the husky door-bell of 
 Mr. Grewgious s chambers, breaking down under this 
 unprecedented demand upon its strength, grows dumb 
 and voiceless. Poor Mr. Grewgious himself clerkless, 
 and only assisted by a temporary boy who is usually 
 absent, occupied in a vain attempt to bring down a 
 sparrow, when the force of the invaders is numerically 
 strongest is quite knocked off his legs by the constant 
 running to and fro, and what is worse, knocked off his 
 balance too. 
 
 Aged clerks have presented themselves, with snowy 
 heads and scanty locks, and faces, more pinched, 
 perhaps, from want, than from old Time himself ; 
 and youthful clerks, with rosy health upon their 
 beardless cheeks. Mysterious clerks, with untold 
 horrors in their hollow eyes ; and ingenuous clerks, 
 with gaudy flowers in their buttonholes ; dismal 
 clerks, with long-drawn whining voices and heart 
 rending sighs ; and cheerful clerks, one broad grin from 
 ear to ear ; come-down-in-the- world clerks, with a sort 
 of faded and shabby gentility about them still ; and 
 coming-up-in-the-world clerks, with a smack of the 
 errand-boy upon them yet ; fast clerks, in at the door 
 and out again, before one could cry " Jack Robinson " ; 
 and slow clerks, impossible to be got rid of when once 
 there. Distracting clerks, one and all, to worried 
 Mr. Grewgious, who is most thankful to get rid of each 
 in turn, and who, in a worse dilemma than at the first, 
 has finally placed the temporary boy behind the outer 
 door with strict injunctions to let no one in, and 
 has retired, worn-out and disconsolate, to his inner 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 17 
 
 sanctuary, to brood over the vicissitudes of human life, 
 and to rest a little from the toils and labours of that 
 trying day. 
 
 Is that a rap on the door ? Now heaven be merciful 
 to the ears of that temporary boy, for Mr. Grewgious, 
 who has never administered a box on the ear in his 
 life, has vowed to make his first experiment in that 
 way on them, and to make it with a vengeance. 
 
 Incapable of rising to the emergency by doubly 
 bolting and barricading the door to keep out the 
 intruder, Mr. Grewgious utters his customary " come 
 in," and succumbs to his feelings in an easy chair, 
 into which he sinks, a prey to despair, as a tall figure 
 shows itself upon the threshold. 
 
 " Bless my soul ! " he murmurs, " if it ain t another ! " 
 
 Another comes in with a low bow. 
 
 " Their name is Legion," groans Mr. Grewgious, 
 adding aloud with the resignation of utter despair, 
 " Take a seat, sir." 
 
 The new comer seating himself, and still remaining 
 silent, Mr. Grewgious continues 
 
 " You are come, I presume, in answer to the adver 
 tisement ? " 
 
 A low bow again. An old young man, or a young 
 old man ? Mr. Grewgious short-sighted eyes cannot 
 make out which. A man of about middle height ; 
 thin and scared looking ; with black beard and whis 
 kers ; and hair dark as night. A pale man, with 
 something weird and mysterious about him like a 
 spectre, and whose eyes, hidden behind a massive pair 
 of blue spectacles, are all the more open to terrible 
 suspicion on that account. A voiceless man, sitting 
 still in the chair, into which he had sunk on Mr. Grew 
 gious invitation, and in which he remains motionless, 
 with his glazed eyes fixed upon that exhausted gentle 
 man, freezing him. 
 
 " This is getting alarming," thinks Mr. Grewgious, 
 " and I m on the wrong side for the bell. Besides, 
 c 
 
i8 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 that boy is sure not to be at his post. But boys will 
 be boys," he adds, as his anger ebbs fast, " I was a 
 boy once myself, and remember perfectly how it hurt 
 me to have my ears boxed, and how they burned 
 afterwards. I ll lay it on gently, only as a matter 
 of warning." Then aloud, "Do you wish to confer 
 with me on any subject, sir ? " 
 
 " You are seeking a clerk ? " 
 
 " Unfortunately," says Mr. Grewgious, " I am." 
 He is greatly relieved to hear the mysterious stranger 
 speak ; for, exhausted as he is, his imagination has 
 been conjuring up in him a ghostly visitor. 
 
 " I am come to offer myself as a candidate for the 
 place." 
 
 " Very good ! " responds Mr. Grewgious, wishing 
 that he hadn t. 
 
 " I beg you to try me." 
 
 There is a curious roughness in the voice as if the 
 speaker were struggling with tears, and as if the issue 
 of the struggle were doubtful. But after a pause, 
 he goes on again 
 
 " I am poor, and without friends. I am exceedingly 
 anxious to get work to do because, if I cannot, I must 
 beg or starve, and to beg I am ashamed. But I will 
 work work night and day, if you wish it ; and you 
 shall pay me for that work not one penny more than 
 you decide that it is worth." 
 
 Although staggered by this address, so unusual, 
 so wholly different from anything said by the fifty-odd 
 applicants who have been besieging his rooms and 
 altering the chronic aspect of Staple Inn all that day, 
 and touched by the pathos and apparent sincerity 
 of the speaker, and by something else a something 
 undefinable, but which makes the strange figure, and 
 the broken voice seem not altogether unfamiliar 
 though why familiar, or where, he cannot tell Mr. 
 Grewgious is, nevertheless, far too versed in the ways 
 of the world and its hypocrisies to show for the present 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 19 
 
 anything more than his strict business side to the 
 stranger. He inquires, therefore, more drily than 
 ever 
 
 " What is your name, sir ? " 
 
 " Brandis. Robert Brandis, at your service." 
 
 " Are you young," continues Mr. Grewgious, screwing 
 up his eyes in an earnest endeavour to penetrate the 
 blue spectacles, and unscrewing them again, as wise 
 as he was before, " or middle-aged, or old ? " 
 
 " I am young, sir ; young in years, though trouble 
 has aged me." 
 
 " Humph ! " exclaims Mr. Grewgious, smoothing his 
 head in some perturbation of spirit ; for good sense 
 and good feeling are pointing in opposite directions, 
 and he cannot make up his mind which to follow. 
 Then, abruptly " Have you anything the matter 
 with your eyes ? I wear spectacles myself, sometimes, 
 on account of my short sight ; but not blue ones. 
 I cannot say," viewing these articles with strong dis 
 favour, and speaking more sharply than he would have 
 done but for the conflict within, " that I consider them 
 an improvement. Not at all." 
 
 " I wear them, sir, because I must. They do not 
 interfere with my seeing all it is necessary for me to 
 see." 
 
 " Very likely," thinks Mr. Grewgious, " but they 
 interfere with your being seen, and that s what I want 
 to do. Can you write a good, clear, legible hand ? " 
 inquires Mr. Grewgious further, in a hard and severe 
 tone. For common good sense is slowly yielding to 
 the attack of uncommon kindly feeling, and Mr. 
 Grewgious is half-angry with himself for his own 
 weakness, as he knows the world will call it. 
 
 " Let me show you, sir." He turns to a table, 
 upon which writing materials are lying, and writes his 
 name in full. There is no manner of objection to be 
 made to the handwriting. It will do. 
 
 " Have you any notion of bookkeeping ? " 
 
20 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Not much, sir, as yet ; but I will learn, in my spare 
 hours, if I have any. In a very short time, I will learn. 
 I am a good arithmetician. Do not let that be an 
 obstacle." 
 
 " That shall be no obstacle," says Mr. Grewgious, 
 feeling strangely drawn towards, and at the same time 
 strangely repelled by this individual with the blue 
 spectacles, " just as if," he says to himself, " I were a 
 hard old bit of iron, which I very likely am, and he 
 a magnet, continually changing poles." 
 
 " So far, all being satisfactory," continues Mr. Grew 
 gious, who has been stroking his head to bring that too, 
 if possible, to a satisfactory degree of smoothness, 
 though apparently without the wished-for result, 
 for he still looks perplexed and dissatisfied, " there 
 only remains the business form of consulting your 
 testimonials. May I trouble you for them ? " 
 
 The result of this very natural question is a startling 
 one. The stranger springs to his feet ; and approaches 
 Mr. Grewgious with a passionate gesture. 
 
 " Have I not told you," he says, " that I have none ? 
 Have I not said that I am a stranger in the city in the 
 country itself, and that I have no acquaintance or 
 friend to speak a word in my favour ? Painful family 
 affairs, which have tainted me although I am innocent, 
 have forced me to begin life again, and to begin it at 
 the foot of the ladder. You are a good and kind-hearted 
 man, sir. I feel it. I have heard others say so. Do 
 not send me away on that account, as others have done 
 over and over again. For, sir, the devil is always close 
 at hand to tempt desperate men, and there is such 
 a thing as desperation, there is such a condition as 
 despair." 
 
 The repulsive power of the magnet is strongly 
 brought to bear upon Mr. Grewgious during this speech, 
 and makes him turn a cold ear to the passionate appeal. 
 For he can read no confirmation of its truth in the eyes 
 of the speaker. Their cold, glassy covering baffles all 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 21 
 
 his efforts to penetrate it, and he draws back stiffly, 
 to say, drily and coldly 
 
 " That is all very well, though hardly a business way 
 of going to work, and may be true, may be. I have no 
 right to doubt it, but I am a remarkably unimaginative 
 man, and I find it difficult to bring any imagination 
 to bear upon such a case. It is, however, excuse me, 
 so unusual for a young man to have attained your age, 
 and attained it blamelessly, without being able to 
 produce any one, personally or by letter, to testify 
 to that fact, that, as a well-wisher, I should advise 
 you to lose no time in endeavouring to hunt up some 
 one to perform that friendly office for you. I should 
 indeed, should indeed." 
 
 " That is impossible," answers the stranger, burying 
 his agitated face in his trembling hands, and the tone 
 of his voice strikes cold on the warm heart of the old 
 man, for it is a tone of anguish. Then, after a pause, 
 he raises his head again, to make one last effort. 
 
 " Oh, sir, can you not feel that I am honest ? Can 
 you not hear that I am only longing for work ; and 
 willing and wishful to perform that work to the best 
 of my ability ? Is there no possibility of my getting 
 anything to do without testimonials ? Is it utterly 
 hopeless to think of obtaining work without a charac 
 ter ? " 
 
 " As a man of business," answers Mr. Grewgious, 
 clearing his voice, which is getting husky, and smooth 
 ing his smooth head again, " I should say it is. As 
 a man acquainted with the ways of the world, and 
 its customs, and its requirements, as a rule, I should 
 say decidedly yes ! " 
 
 " Then may God save me, and protect me from evil," 
 says the young man, taking his hat, " and help me, if 
 it be possible, to find some one who thinks differently. 
 I have heard, casually heard, you spoken of as a kind- 
 hearted, benevolent man, and that gave me courage 
 to come to you. Otherwise, I would never have 
 
22 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 crossed your threshold ; otherwise, I would have gone 
 to the world s end, rather than have risked what I 
 have risked in coming here to-night. Not that I 
 blame you ; you are acting, no doubt, according to 
 your lights. God help me now, for there is no help in 
 man ! " 
 
 Uttering these last words under his breath, more 
 to himself than to his hearer, he turns hurriedly to go 
 would have been gone in another moment, but that 
 Mr. Grewgious, in whose benevolent heart his last words 
 seem to ring like a knell, crossing the room with an 
 agility utterly unexpected in him, lays a detaining 
 hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 " Wait a bit ; wait a bit ! " he pants, out of breath, 
 " and sit down again. We haven t done with one 
 another yet. Who told you I didn t mean to try you ? 
 Not I, I am sure. Why, you are like a Jack-in-the- 
 box (I had one given me once, when I was a little lad, 
 and it was the terror of my childhood), springing out 
 like mad, when one never means or expects him. 
 We business men are not accustomed to making con 
 tracts in a hurry ; and I, in particular, am so remark 
 ably slow in my decisions, that without sufficient 
 time I can decide on nothing. Bless my soul ! I m 
 all of a tremble still with the effort of stopping you. 
 Give me time, my good fellow, give me time." 
 
 With his blue spectacles all awry, and his hat falling 
 from his trembling hand ; with his lips quivering, and 
 the tears he had kept back with such difficulty during 
 the interview falling thick and fast, the young man 
 sinks into the chair again, opposite Mr. Grewgious, 
 who is blowing his nose with a trumpet-sound. 
 
 " I was just upon the point of saying," begins Mr. 
 Grewgious, speaking very slowly and distinctly, as 
 if he fears his voice may turn traitor, and let out 
 something he wishes to conceal, " that I didn t object 
 to give you a trial, contrary to custom, even without 
 a character, when you broke into what may be termed 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 23 
 
 the Emotional. Being myself a man born without 
 emotions, or, at any rate, with emotions in so rarefied 
 a state that they never expose me to the risk of an 
 explosion, it is naturally mortifying and trying to my 
 feelings to see people meandering into entirely un- 
 business-like paths where I cannot follow em. You 
 took a by-path, sir, in entering into the Emotional, 
 and I beg you to return to me now into the broad 
 highroad of Common Sense." 
 
 How hard and dry are the words the old man utters ; 
 and his voice, hard and dry, too, chimes in unison. 
 Yet his eyes, screwed together so tightly, are not 
 screwed this time only to enable his short sight to reach 
 further. And when he again attacks his nose, and 
 brings forth a renewal of the trumpet-sound, he turns 
 aside his head to make use of his handkerchief for 
 another and more secret purpose. 
 
 " Your duties would not be heavy," he resumes, 
 " and though naturally hard (I was born so) I trust 
 you would not find me an unjust master. Your 
 salary, I will pay you monthly for the present (it is 
 more convenient to me), a month in advance. If you 
 are unprovided with lodgings, there are some nice 
 ones not far from here which are to be had. The lady 
 who keeps them a most remarkable female of the 
 name of Billickin has begged me to remember that 
 they are empty, and to help her to fill them. But 
 that, of course, rests with you," continues Mr. Grew- 
 gious, remembering, with some alarm, that a sojourn 
 with that lady is not without its drawbacks. " Though 
 she might take more kindly to a male than to a female," 
 he thinks. 
 
 The stranger, who can hardly speak for tears, 
 thanks him fervently. 
 
 "It is a pleasant custom (among heathens) in 
 ratifying a contract," says Mr. Grewgious, " to break 
 bread over it. My coffee is cold, but my boy shall run 
 over to Furnival s for a fresh supply. Not that we 
 
24 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 are heathens, I trust ; or that coffee is bread, or any 
 thing like it (though we may have a morsel to eat 
 along with it, for I m as hungry, myself, as a wolf), 
 but I m the most unfortunate man in the world at a 
 simile, and invariably break down when I attempt 
 one ; and it may answer the same purpose, perhaps." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, during these remarks, has been 
 guilty of the rudeness of turning his back upon the 
 stranger, and has been studiously contemplating in 
 different objects in the room with a sudden interest 
 in them which demands all the short sight with which 
 Nature has provided him, for the young man has 
 broken into low sobs, and is vainly struggling to com 
 pose himself. To give the stranger further time and 
 opportunity, Mr. Grewgious shuffles out of the room ; 
 and on his return the young man has (to use Mr. 
 Grewgious own words) emerged from the by-paths of 
 the Emotional, and come out into the broad, high road 
 of Common Sense. 
 
 In with Mr. Grewgious, or rather, close upon the 
 heels of that gentleman, comes a waiter from Furnivals 
 with the smoking coffee, and the " bit of eatable," 
 which promptitude on the part of said waiter is so 
 approved of by Mr. Grewgious that he rewards it on 
 the spot with a piece of silver. 
 
 " Really/ he remarks, rubbing his hands com 
 placently, " this will be quite a cheerful family tea, 
 to which I ve long been a stranger only it ain t tea, 
 and we ain t a family but that s like me. Draw up 
 to the table, my good sir, and let s begin, for I m 
 absolutely starving. My dinner must have gone all 
 the wrong way, on account of the worry I ve been in, 
 for I m sure I don t know what s become of it. Dear 
 me ! it s just occurred to me that perhaps you don t 
 like coffee." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I do, sir." 
 
 11 Well, that s a blessing ! Now let me try and pour 
 out for you, and if I don t make it to your liking, pray 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 25 
 
 mention it, and I shall be extremely obliged to you. 
 I m such a remarkably helpless man, and so little used 
 to pouring out anything for anybody except myself 
 and I m nobody that I m almost sure to bungle. 
 Here s cream, here s sugar, here s (holding it close, to 
 make out what) something I can t specify, but it s 
 something to eat, and very nice, I dare say. Now, 
 do try it. I shall feel personally flattered if you 
 like it." 
 
 Handing all these things to his guest, and pressing 
 them upon him, as if he had got the notion into his 
 head that he must be on the point of perishing 
 from starvation, Mr. Grewgious, in spite of his pro 
 testations of hunger, touches not a morsel, nor 
 imbibes a drop, until he has seen his visitor fully 
 occupied. 
 
 " And now," says Mr. Grewgious, " to return to 
 the subject of your qualifications. There s one question 
 I must ask you, which I almost forgot, though it s a 
 most important one can you poke a fire ? " 
 
 Smiling for the first time during the interview, the 
 young man answers with some surprise at the 
 question 
 
 " I hope so, sir. Are you very particular about the 
 manner of doing it ? " 
 
 " No, it isn t that. Every human individual, I do 
 believe, has his own particular way of poking a fire ; 
 I ve got my way, and I dare say you have yours. 
 But I mean, whether you are liable to forget to do 
 it? " 
 
 " If I should be so foolish, sir, I should have to 
 suffer the penalty ; but I do not think my memory is 
 so short." 
 
 " Why, you see," says Mr. Grewgious, smoothing 
 his head somewhat dejectedly, " I had a clerk alas ! 
 I have him no more ! who, being a genius, and a writer 
 of tragedies, couldn t be expected, you know (and I 
 didn t expect it, I am sure) to think of such a thing 
 
26 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 as a fire, and, every day a most, his fire used to go 
 out." 
 
 " He couldn t have been so liable to take cold as I, 
 then, or he would have remembered to replenish it for 
 his own sake." 
 
 " Not liable to take cold ! Bless you ! he was liable 
 to take it to a most extraordinary degree. Cold in the 
 head, cold on the chest, cold in the stomach, cold 
 running to rheumatism, or to a cough, or to seed and 
 becoming chronic. It makes me hot to think in how 
 many dreadful forms cold used to attack and prostrate 
 him." 
 
 The stranger, not knowing what to say to this, yet 
 conscious that Mr. Grewgious eyes are emphatically 
 demanding a comment, says, with an expression of 
 surprise and concern 
 
 " Indeed ! " 
 
 " Of course I felt it my bounden duty not to let the 
 unfortunate young man, so highly talented, fall a prey 
 to cold of any kind on my premises," continues Mr. 
 Grewgious. " I therefore took upon myself to attend 
 to his fire, privately, and without letting him know of 
 my intention. But, unfortunately, I am as liable to 
 forget as he is to take cold, particularly when engrossed 
 in my accounts, and the pangs of conscience I have 
 suffered, when he would hint severely as he did, 
 sometimes that cold might turn to inflammation, 
 and inflammation might carry him off in a winking, 
 and that then I should have to bear, not only his loss 
 which, naturally, would be hard upon me but 
 the whole weight of his inflamed blood and unfinished 
 tragedies upon my luckless head." 
 
 There is a sort of twinkle in Mr. Grewgious eye 
 at this juncture which rather modifies the tragic 
 solemnity of his words, but it disappears, as he goes 
 on again. 
 
 " Now, I am a remarkably wooden man, and stiff 
 in the joints, and indisposed to be much in motion ; 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 27 
 
 therefore, as a precautionary measure, I always had 
 his fire made up in the morning very big indeed ; 
 but as if possessed by a demoniacal desire to worry me, 
 or perhaps out of pure disgust at finding itself looked 
 upon so coldly by Mr. Bazzard (that s the name), that 
 fire had an almost unnatural propensity for going out. 
 I used to hear him cough or sneeze (a most terrific 
 sneeze, shaking Staple Inn like a small earthquake), 
 and, rushing in frantically (which last I beg to be con 
 sidered a figure of speech, it being impossible for me 
 to rush), I always found that fire dead or dying. 
 
 " You have no idea," goes on Mr. Grewgious, after 
 a short break in his narration in order to replenish his 
 visitor s cup and plate, in spite of the protestations of 
 that satiated person ; " you can have no idea of the 
 bitter reproaches I used to make myself. In imagina 
 tion also a figure of speech, for I haven t any I saw 
 myself and my name, until yet respectable, branded 
 by indignant contemporaries, and basely defrauded 
 posterity, on account of having been an active agent, 
 or rather inactive one (it may be difficult to understand 
 me, for I am getting into deep waters, and can t swim), 
 in the premature extinguishing of a bright and shining 
 light. I feel his loss, and mine, immensely." 
 
 " Why did he leave you ? " enquires the stranger, 
 while Mr. Grewgious gulps down his coffee (cold) with 
 as lively an expression of enjoyment as his unfinished 
 features could express, smacking his lips afterwards. 
 
 " Ah, that s the best part of the story ; and the 
 only thing which reconciles me to my deprivation. 
 His father, a rough, uneducated, unappreciative, 
 remarkably prejudiced man, who couldn t be got to see 
 what a treasure he possessed in a son who composed 
 tragedies and who, in short, was so opposed to em 
 that a hint of their existence brought on blood to the 
 head which had to be taken from him in quarts, kept 
 my poor fellow so short of money that he couldn t 
 bring out his masterpiece in confidence, A Thorn ! 
 
28 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and even threatened to cut him off with a shilling, 
 if he ever heard another word about it. But (it was 
 a judgment, no doubt) he was cut off himself in the 
 midst of his prejudiced career, knocked into the other 
 world by a stroke which he couldn t avert and which 
 prevented him from carrying out his unnatural inten 
 tion, for ever." 
 
 " Violence or apoplexy ? " enquires the stranger. 
 
 " Apoplexy," says Mr. Grewgious, with solemnity, 
 gently and apologetically shaking his head, as if death 
 were a thing to be disapproved of in the abstract, 
 but that here there were extenuating circumstances. 
 " Blood to the head, you know. He was always sub 
 ject to it, and there was no one on the spot to draw it 
 off in quarts. Dear, dear ! such is life ! You should 
 have seen my Genius, when he came to tell me the 
 news." 
 
 " He was, no doubt, terribly cast down ? " 
 
 " Cast down ! " says Mr. Grewgious. " Not a bit. 
 Picked up, he was, my poor fellow. He had been cast 
 down enough before. There was no mistake about 
 the money. A small annuity for his mother, a trifle 
 for his sisters, and all the rest of it for the tragedies. 
 You may imagine my feelings when he told me that it 
 was his intention to dedicate his next to me ! " 
 
 The stranger is understood to murmur that " that 
 was only what you might expect from so very remark 
 able a clerk." 
 
 " Only think of that, to me ! " continues Mr. Grew 
 gious, complacently. " Only fancy my figuring in a 
 book ! Why, if I shut my eyes, I can almost see it : 
 Dedicated to my friend, Mr. Hiram Grewgious, 
 Receiver of Rents, of Staple Inn, Holborn ; who, in a 
 humble way, always did his best to preserve my life for 
 a grateful country. 
 
 The stranger, smiling, thinks it would not be like 
 that. 
 
 ** No ? Don t you really ? " says Mr. Grewgious, 
 
MR. GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 29 
 
 seemingly disappointed. " Well, I dare say you are 
 right. I am a remarkably unimaginative man, and 
 have so little acquaintance with the flowery paths of 
 literature, and so clear a conviction that I should cut 
 the poorest of poor figures there, that perhaps it may 
 be as well if he forgets it. What, you ain t going, are 
 you ? " 
 
 " It is very late, sir, nearly ten ; and I fear to weary 
 you." 
 
 " A gentlemanly way of telling me that I have 
 wearied you to death," says Mr. Grewgious, smiling ; 
 " I ve been jabbering and chattering like a lean magpie, 
 or or a female. Well, I won t detain you, for you 
 look pale and tired." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious screws up his eyes very tight to watch 
 the stranger draw on his gloves and take his hat, but 
 the mysterious spectacles baffle all his efforts to 
 make out more. Bold, hard, impenetrable, these glassy 
 foreposts effectually hinder him from seeing what he 
 seeks to see ; and he finally smooths his head resignedly. 
 
 " When do you wish me to come to you, sir ? " 
 
 " If you can manage to come to-morrow or, at any 
 rate, as soon as possible, I shall be glad ; for I have at 
 present only a temporary boy " (Mr. Grewgious is again 
 sensible of a pang, as he remembers the painful duty 
 before him), " who helps me mostly, by trying to rid 
 Staple Inn of its sparrows, and the sooner the better 
 for me." 
 
 " The sooner the better for me too, sir. I will come 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " And here," says Mr. Grewgious, who has been 
 fumbling in his pockets, " here is the first monthly 
 payment." 
 
 He is so painfully conscious of the unbusiness nature 
 of this act, that he has drawn out with the purse his 
 pocket-handkerchief, and now noisily applies it to his 
 nose. 
 
 But his confusion is as nothing compared to that 
 
30 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 of the stranger. With a violent rush of colour, that 
 might have been shame, to his pallid face, and with a 
 convulsed lip, as if he were keeping back by force a 
 rush of words as violent which struggled to free them 
 selves, he faintly raises a deprecatory hand ; then, 
 as if yielding to fate stronger than his will, he accepts 
 the money. 
 
 " It would be useless to make further assurances," 
 he says, " but may God bless you, sir, and help me to 
 serve you as you deserve to be served." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, accompanying his newly-engaged 
 substitute for the never-to-be-forgotten Bazzard, lets 
 him out. Waiting to see him cross Staple Inn, and 
 pass out of the gateway, which the porter opens for 
 the purpose, he falls into a short reverie, smoothing 
 his smooth head perplexedly ; then, turning, goes back 
 slowly and meditatively to his solitary apartment. 
 
 A fancy which has been vaguely haunting him all 
 through the interview and which now, as he sits ex 
 hausted in his easy chair, assumes gigantic proportions, 
 troubles him. 
 
 " What is it," he thinks, " in this stranger, upon 
 whom I have never set eyes before, to my knowledge, 
 which has kept reminding me all the evening of the 
 dead lad in his unknown grave ? It is not his height, 
 or figure, for this man is taller and thinner. It is not 
 the colour of his hair, for young Drood s was brown, 
 and his dark as night. It is not his face, for the lost 
 boy s was as bright and fresh as a fine morning in May, 
 and his sombre and pallid, like that of a man risen from 
 the grave. It is not his eyes, for I could see nothing 
 of them through those hideous spectacles. It is his 
 voice, perhaps ; yet I cannot tell, for it seems an 
 indignity and insult to the dead boy to compare the 
 two, one of which was as clear as the fresh song of 
 the blackbird, while the other sounds as mournful and 
 tuneless as the cry of that bird of night and mystery 
 the owl." 
 
MR, GREWGIOUS S NEW CLERK 31 
 
 He rises to light his evening lamp, and let down his 
 blind, but still the merciless thoughts haunt and worry 
 him, refuse to be satisfied with his concession, show no 
 sympathy with the weariness of his body, and clamor 
 ously demand an audience. His head is bowed and 
 his face is sorely troubled, as he listens perforce to 
 what they insist on saying. 
 
 " I was hard with him that last time, too hard I fear, 
 yet God knows I only meant to do my duty. How his 
 colour changed, and his lip quivered, as I and who am 
 I, to presume to set myself up as judge in such a matter ? 
 gave him my uncalled for, and, perhaps, mistaken 
 notion of what a true lover ought to feel. Yet I do 
 not think I was mistaken ; I do not think I was." 
 
 His head is bowed still lower, and his mien is still 
 sadder and more dejected when the next thought 
 begins. 
 
 " I wonder if I shall ever see her ring again ! Ah 
 me, who can tell me where it may now be lying ! 
 Shall I succeed in finding it ? If I do, I shall find out 
 something else besides ; something to which I have 
 dedicated my life. For I charged him by the living 
 and by the dead, to bring back that ring to me, if it 
 were not placed on Rosa s finger ; and I know, I know, 
 that he would have done it if he had lived. Shall I 
 see the day when I shall have hunted down the 
 murderer, and avenged the lad s death ? Y\~hen I 
 do, something tells me I shall find her ring again." 
 
 The next thought comes with a burst, rushing to 
 the attack. 
 
 " I do not repent what I have done, for the dead 
 lad s sake. What a strange quiver and thrill there 
 was in his voice, as he asked me if I could not feel and 
 hear that he was honest. I think I could ; I do not 
 repent what I have done, and I am sure I shall not 
 sleep the worse for it to-night." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 
 
 SOME very warm contentions between Miss Twinkleton 
 and the Billickin, which had resulted, as usual, in the 
 utter discomfiture of the former, though nothing would 
 have induced her to admit it, had so oppressed little 
 Rosa on the hot summer day, that her girlish face, 
 looking disconsolately out upon the neighbours from 
 the open window of the best parlour, had an expression 
 of care which would have troubled her guardian had 
 he been there to see it to the depths of his honest 
 heart. The announcement that Mr. Crisparkle had 
 called was heard with joy. He came forward gaily 
 as she entered, holding out both hands to greet her ; 
 and at the sight of his honest, kindly face, a great sob 
 rose up chokingly in the throat of the solitary girl, 
 and tears she could not repress rose to her eyes, spark 
 ling there like jewels in the light of her welcoming smile. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Crisparkle, how glad I am to see you ! 
 You come like a breath of fresh country air, after the 
 close dullness of this great weary city. And how is 
 Mrs. Crisparkle, and everybody else in dear old Cloister- 
 ham ? Ah, how long the time has seemed since I 
 ran away from it ! and how much I should like to go 
 back again, if if 
 
 As she faltered and hesitated, dreading to give 
 utterance to the hated name, the Minor Canon, keenly 
 watching her troubled face, saw how grave and even 
 sad its expression had become. 
 
 There was a shadow, as of pain, under the dark eyes, 
 which gave them a depth and womanly earnestness, 
 
 32 
 
INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 33 
 
 strange and new to them ; the small mouth, slightly 
 lowered at the corners not peevishly, but sadly 
 was irresolute and nervous, and the childish roundness 
 of the cheeks had lengthened into a more perfect oval. 
 Yet so innocent and childlike still were the sweet face 
 and wistful eyes, that Mr. Crisparkle had to remind 
 himself that the little creature before him was a woman 
 now, and a child no longer, or he would have been 
 tempted to take the innocent face between his strong 
 man s hands and kiss away the trouble settling there. 
 
 " I have come to talk to you about that," he began 
 gravely. " There is no need, dear Miss Bud, for you 
 to remain away from Cloisterham any longer on his 
 account, for he has given up his situation there, and 
 gone away for good. Another music-master has already 
 taken his place, and leads the choir in our venerable 
 Cathedral/ 
 
 Rosa s cheek had blanched a little as the Minor 
 Canon referred to the dreaded man, and she drew 
 involuntarily closer to him, as if for protection ; but 
 the clergyman could not ascertain whether the horrible 
 suspicion which haunted him raised any echo in her 
 breast. 
 
 The fear and abhorrence which overcame her even 
 at the mention of that man might merely be the result 
 of his unreturned and terrible love for her, and nothing 
 more. Yet her shrewd perception had come to a 
 conclusion and settled in her mind the true state of 
 things, while his was still wandering in darkness. 
 
 But that she feared even to think of the horrors 
 of the past, she might, perhaps, have spoken ; but 
 womanly pride and womanly terror kept her lips 
 closed, and the mystery that had gathered so darkly 
 round the lost boy, must remain a mystery until man s 
 patient search and patient watching had found the 
 clue. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle spoke no word and gave no sign. 
 Yet he, too, set himself on the side of the watchers 
 D 
 
34 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 watching and waiting till the time of disclosure should 
 come. 
 
 " Oh, I am quite forgetting Miss Twinkleton," 
 suddenly exclaimed Rosa, recalled to a sense of the 
 trust reposed in her. " We must go upstairs at once, 
 Mr. Crisparkle. She will be fidgetting herself to skin 
 and bone as to what has become of me, and who else 
 is here alone with me in the back parlour. Oh, dear 
 me ! " said Rosa, with dimpling cheeks, and tossing 
 back her bright hair, " what a fuss poor dear Miss 
 Twinkleton will be in ! " 
 
 " Let us at once relieve her anxiety," said the gallant 
 Minor Canon, smiling, though not without a prick of 
 conscience at having forgotten to enquire for that 
 estimable lady. " My motto, and I hope my practice 
 is, never to keep a lady waiting." 
 
 And yet, as he followed the sedate little maiden, 
 with that shower of soft, wavy hair, he was mentally 
 calculating how much weariness it might have taken 
 to have so quickly subdued her childish impetuosity 
 and to have ripened ^her so speedily into a woman. 
 
 " No need to enquire after your health, Miss Twinkle- 
 ton, for, as I see, you are blooming wonderfully here 
 in London, casting us poor country folks quite into 
 shadow." 
 
 " You find me, sir," rejoined Miss Twinkleton, in 
 whose virgin breast the venomous arrows cast by the 
 Billickin still rankled, " in a state of mind not calcu 
 lated, according to my poor opinion, to renovate or 
 invigorate the body. And the flush you observe on 
 my countenance," she continued, with some sharpness, 
 " is by no means occasioned as you seem to imagine 
 by robust health, but is rather the natural and 
 inevitable result of the daily conflict which I have to 
 maintain with the person of the house." 
 
 Now it happened that in acknowledging this fact, 
 which her dignity would have sought to ignore for 
 can a philosopher stoop to dispute with his laundress, 
 
INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 35 
 
 or a prince with his valet ? Miss Twinkleton s feelings 
 ran away with her discretion, as has occurred once or 
 twice, perhaps, to others before her, therefore becoming 
 suddenly aware that she had somewhat betrayed her 
 weakness, she coloured still more deeply, bit her lips 
 a little savagely, and fanned herself more energetically 
 than ever. 
 
 Rather discomfited, for he could not but see that 
 he had roughened the way, instead of smoothing it, 
 the Minor Canon inwardly and wisely determined never 
 again to pay a compliment without being sure of its 
 being well received beforehand. He was then under 
 stood to remark, that colour, like many other things, 
 was often deceptive, and while expressing his sympathy 
 with the lady s sufferings, offered himself as her cham 
 pion against the offending landlady, with somewhat 
 superfluous energy. 
 
 But his assurances were brought to an untimely 
 end by Rosa s clear laugh which, ringing through the 
 room and out into the hot, sunshiny street, sounded, 
 for the moment, almost as merry and lighthearted as 
 in the old days at Cloisterham. She was imagining 
 the Revd. Septimus Crisparkle, Minor Canon in 
 Cloisterham, in a wordy conflict with the Billickin 
 the vigour of the onset, and the completeness of the 
 defeat. 
 
 Rosa s clear laugh was so infectious, that the Minor 
 Canon caught it on the spot, in spite of Miss Twinkle- 
 ton s antidotal nods, and waves of the hand ; he was 
 so glad to see sunshine again in the girl s sorrowful 
 face. Miss Twinkleton sat smileless, in sedate and 
 offended dignity, waving them back into propriety 
 again. 
 
 "It is in very bad taste, my dear," she said, with 
 severity, addressing Rosa, but glancing sideways at 
 the abashed Minor Canon, who hung his head far more 
 like a frightened schoolgirl than did Rosa, who didn t 
 seem to mind it much, " to burst out into a fit of laugh- 
 
36 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 ter, without beforehand explaining the reason why. 
 It is always unladylike to laugh loudly ; a gentle smile 
 is the utmost in which a gentlewoman should indulge, 
 and then only when the example is given her. To 
 laugh, and particularly to laugh loudly, is decidedly 
 vulgar, and shows a lamentable want of refinement." 
 
 During the delivery of this homily, Miss Twinkleton 
 seemed to be recovering her lost spirits amazingly ; 
 and the sight of the prostrate Minor Canon proved so 
 complete a balsam for her wounded self-esteem, that 
 she became quite precept orially gay. 
 
 " Why, I might have thought," she said quite good 
 humouredly, though with the manner of one to whom 
 the notion of such audacity never could really have 
 occurred, " that you were laughing at me." 
 
 This so nearly set Rosa off again, that only the sight 
 of the distressed Minor Canon prevented a fresh burst. 
 She hastened to come to his rescue and explain. 
 
 " Don t be angry, dear Miss Twinkleton. You 
 know I always was a silly thing, and I could not help 
 thinking how funny it would be to see Mr. Crisparkle 
 and Mrs. Billickin in a discussion, for you know, he 
 \vould have the worst of it in next to no time." 
 
 " So I had better not try," said the Minor Canon, 
 " but keep clear of this formidable woman. There 
 are times when discretion is the better part of valour. 
 And you can t knock a woman down after all, however 
 much she may deserve it ; even if knocking down were, 
 under any circumstances, consistent with my cloth." 
 
 " No," said Rosa, " but she might knock you down, 
 and when she had, oh, how she would trample on you, 
 and buffet you ! She doesn t know what mercy means, 
 and her only notion of a fallen adversary is, that she 
 has him more completely in her power." 
 
 " You make my flesh creep." 
 
 " Then you will have some sympathy with our 
 sufferings, and some notion of what we have been 
 enduring," said Rosa, mischievously glancing at Miss 
 
INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 37 
 
 Twinkleton, upon whose intellectual brow the scat 
 tered shadows had returned since the mention of the 
 landlady s baleful name. "But, hush! I hear her 
 on the stairs." 
 
 The sudden glance of terror which Miss Twinkleton 
 cast at the door, was so spontaneous and involuntary, 
 that it spoke volumes. This excellent instructress of 
 youth, so formidable in the eyes of defaulting members 
 of the Nuns House, conscious of unlearned lessons ; 
 or tart crumbs in their beds ; or of stray glances cast 
 during church service towards some member of the 
 masculine half of youth in the sanctuary, had evidently 
 found more than her match in the Billickin. Fortunately 
 the alarm was a false one. It was only the housemaid 
 with a letter ; but it set Miss Twinkleton to vindicating 
 her character, and clearing herself from the barest 
 suspicion of cowardice. 
 
 " I am sure," she said, after a pause, during which 
 she affected to be examining the post mark on the 
 letter, but in reality was composing her agitated coun 
 tenance, which still showed an untoward propensity to 
 twitch, " that Mr. Crisparkle will not suppose me to 
 be capable of entertaining that weak and unworthy 
 sentiment, denominated fear, of a person so far removed 
 from me in the social scale, and whose feeble imper 
 tinences, which Rosa much exaggerates, I could, if I 
 would, crush instantaneously (Mr. Crisparkle caught 
 himself wondering why she wouldn t). We are not 
 afraid," continued Miss Twinkleton, in a sprightlier 
 tone, "of a mosquito or a gnat, though it stings; 
 but we do not expose ourselves voluntarily to their 
 tiny instruments of torture." 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle was eagerly about to adduce various 
 experiences of his own in this respect, and to relate 
 anecdotes of times and seasons when he had been stung 
 by both mosquitoes and gnats. He was even going 
 further to explain that some naturalists were of opinion 
 that the only difference between these two small plagues 
 
38 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 was a difference of climate when Miss Twinkleton 
 waved him into silence again. It was astounding how 
 ill at ease the Minor Canon felt, and with what difficulty 
 appropriate words rose to his tongue, but it was a 
 peculiarity of this excellent lady speedily to reduce 
 gentlemen to this condition, and bring down their 
 opinion of themselves to a minimum. 
 
 " My position in Cloisterham ought to be a 
 guarantee, and I hope is, that I know how to maintain 
 my authority, and uphold my dignity under all circum 
 stances," continued Miss Twinkleton, extremely 
 anxious to re-establish herself in his opinion. " The 
 young ladies in my establishment, although invariably 
 treated with the most judicious kindness (which does 
 not consist in pampering their foolish fancies) and 
 discreet indulgence, when they have committed any 
 little fault or indiscretion, tremble in my presence ; 
 not from fear of correction, but at the glance of my 
 reproving eye." 
 
 It was well for naughty Rosa, that that self -same eye 
 was severely directed towards the opposite houses, 
 and heedless of her, for she was wickedly gesticulating 
 with an imaginary rod right before the nose of the 
 Minor Canon, who was coughing suspiciously behind 
 his open hand. But when Miss Twinkleton looked 
 round, before continuing, they were both regarding 
 her with grave and respectful attention. 
 
 " The domestics employed in my institution are 
 accustomed implicitly to obey my directions with a 
 reverence not unmixed with awe ; the masters accom 
 modate themselves invariably to my regulations, and 
 testify for me on all occasions a deep and heartfelt 
 respect. One master, a Frenchman, said it made him 
 shiver to look at me ; naturally, on those occasions, 
 when his native levity had caused him to depart 
 from that staid and sober deportment which my regu 
 lations direct. I am confident," concluded Miss 
 Twinkleton, looking at the Minor Canon with a frigid 
 
INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 39 
 
 challenge to contradict her if he dared, and causing 
 him, particularly in the small of the back, to participate 
 in the sentiment of the Frenchman, " that you do not 
 doubt my ability to cope with the person of the house, 
 if I should choose to abase myself to the effort." 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle s frosty condition thawed a little 
 under the warmth of his assurances that he did not. 
 He seemed willing to assert this, and stick to it, in the 
 face of a contradictory world. 
 
 " Therefore," continued Miss Twinkleton, in a 
 milder tone, " the resolution which I have already 
 communicated to Rosa, and which now I repeat to you, 
 to the effect that we must change our place of abode, 
 is not occasioned by puerile cowardice, or fear of any 
 human being whatever, still less of the upstart person 
 of the house. But mosquitoes bite and gnats sting," 
 said Miss Twinkleton, returning to her former simile 
 with the smile of a gentlewoman, " and instead of 
 crushing these creatures which, no doubt, have their 
 usefulness in the all-wise order of things let us go 
 to a place where they are not." 
 
 " Why, that is odd," said Mr. Crisparkle, " or rather, 
 even, for it fits in with a plan of mine exactly, or, I 
 should say, with a plan of ma s. I came specially to 
 make a proposal this afternoon, about something ma 
 has set her heart on." 
 
 He glanced at Rosa as he spoke. The childish 
 burst of gaiety was over, leaving the sadness, which 
 had re-settled on the young face, all the more apparent 
 after it. She was sitting looking listlessly out of the 
 window, with an expression of profound weariness. 
 Mr. Crisparkle s face grew a shade less cheerful as he 
 enquired if Miss Twinkleton meant to go back to 
 Cloisterham at once ? 
 
 " No, reverend sir. A fortnight s rest from toil still 
 remains to us ; a fortnight s pause before resuming 
 those arduous labours which, though dear, often 
 weigh heavily upon us poor, yet proud, educators 
 
40 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 of our sex. You find me, now that the flush has 
 faded, pale. You find Rosa pale. I have thought of 
 spending these few fleeting days at the sea-side. I 
 have thought of Brighton, if Mr. Grewgious should 
 approve. The sea breeze will give us back our faded 
 roses. Strengthened in body, invigorated in soul, we 
 then return to Cloisterham." 
 
 Miss Twinkleton was not particularly referring to 
 Rosa when she used the word " we," which she did in 
 an editorial sort of w r ay, and as an enhancement of her 
 personal dignity. Satisfied, apparently, that she had 
 sufficiently asserted herself, and proved her invincibility, 
 she now appeared in a new and startling light, wherein 
 she seemed to the alarmed Minor Canon still more 
 appalling, and under the influence of which he grew 
 hot, instead of shivery. 
 
 " Ah, dear sir ! " she said, letting her faded blue 
 eyes rest upon him, with a shade of sadness, " believe 
 me, there are times when we poor, maligned educators 
 of our sex forced into the position by a stern destiny 
 would gladly indulge in those little weaknesses which 
 other women have so large a right to enjoy ; there are 
 times (after school hours, and in the privacy of our 
 own apartments) when we would gladly lay down our 
 arms and become weak. For the improvement of our 
 own sex we learn to suffer and be strong. But, alas ! 
 strength is apt to be viewed by you gentlemen as an 
 unwomanly attribute in the fair sex. Weakness is, 
 after all, our only available weapon in contending 
 with you." 
 
 With a sigh, half too real, half sentimentally called 
 into being for the occasion, Miss Twinkleton looked 
 dreamily out of the open window, as if wondering if 
 ever, or how soon, her implacable destiny would allow 
 her to make use of that formidable weakness for the 
 destruction of the male portion of mankind in general, 
 and of Minor Canons in particular ; while he began to 
 feel that it was high time he should go. 
 
INSIDE THE BILLICKIN S 41 
 
 " I think your plan of removing to Brighton for the 
 next fortnight," he said, "is an excellent one ; and 
 I feel almost sure that Mr. Grewgious will consent to it 
 on behalf of his ward. But a fortnight is soon over, 
 and then and that is the question which brought me 
 here to-day what is to become of Miss Bud ? " 
 
 " I have thought of that. Of all my pupils, no 
 one has ever had so strong a hold on my affections as 
 the orphan child who knew no other home than mine. 
 I never thought of her quitting it but for the home 
 and heart of her affianced husband. The terrible fate 
 which has separated them has upset all our plans for 
 her future ; but the time will come when some one 
 else will find out the attractions of my pretty one ; 
 and time, too, will heal her sorrows, and prepare her to 
 accept another. Until such time, let her, if she will, 
 return with me to the Nuns House ; not as a pupil, of 
 course, but as a beloved and cherished young friend. 
 Rosa, my love, I am proposing to Mr. Crisparkle that 
 you should come and live with me for the present at 
 the Nuns House. Would you like to do so ? " 
 
 With a loving, grateful gesture Rosa took Miss 
 Twinkleton s hand, and pressed it to her lips, but her 
 wistful eyes were turned towards Mr. Crisparkle, be 
 seeching him to give utterance to the negative, which 
 her loving lips hesitated to pronounce. He understood 
 and hastened to her assistance. 
 
 " I was going to beg you, dear madam," he began, 
 " to allow Miss Bud to accompany me to Mr. Grew 
 gious on a little matter of business, and we will lay your 
 kind offer before his consideration. I have a proposal 
 to make on my own account too, or, as I should say, 
 on ma s, and the decision must rest, of course, with him, 
 as Miss Bud s guardian." 
 
 Miss Twinkleton giving her gracious permission to 
 this, Rosa withdrew to make, ready, returning in a 
 few minutes looking so sweet and fair that the Revd. 
 Septimus would have been hardly a man had he not 
 
42 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 secretly congratulated himself on his good fortune in 
 being permitted to escort so charming a girl. And 
 when she slipped her little hand within his arm, as a 
 matter of course, and they passed out together into 
 the hot and dusty street, his complacency was at its 
 height. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A SELFISH PROPOSAL 
 
 " THAT is a very excellent lady ! " said the Minor 
 Canon, gravely, as he and Rosa paced the dusty streets 
 together. 
 
 " And I love her dearly," responded Rosebud, 
 raising her face wistfully to Mr. Crisparkle s, " she 
 has always been a kind and true friend to me." 
 
 Having thus relieved their somewhat burdened 
 conscience, the two relapsed into silence. That part 
 of Holborn through which they were passing was 
 thronged with people, seeking towards evening that 
 which the hot and thunderous atmosphere of the day 
 had failed to yield them, a breath of cooling air. Dust 
 lay thick everywhere, upon the hot and stifling houses, 
 with windows and doors wide open, as if they, too, 
 were panting for fresh air ; upon the burning pavement, 
 where the heated and irritated passers-by jostled and 
 crowded one another ; upon the pale faced, peevish 
 children, dragging back reluctantly from the hands 
 which led them ; upon the perspiring shopmen, who 
 having nothing else to do, peered out of every available 
 opening, perhaps speculating upon the chance of some 
 stray breeze, fresh from the river, or from the still 
 more distant ocean, having lost its way and wandered 
 there ; upon the rattling omnibuses, empty inside, 
 but doubly piled up without ; upon the foaming 
 horses, bathed in sweat ; upon the suffering passengers, 
 grumbling and grimy ; upon the tarts and jellies at 
 the confectioners, where it struggled for the supremacy 
 with myriads of gorging and gluttonous flies ; upon 
 
 43 
 
44 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the ices, even in the short interval between their 
 being made and consumed ; upon the sturdy policemen 
 at the corners of the streets ; even upon Rosa s pretty 
 bonnet, and the Minor Canon s own clerical black suit, 
 which on the road had turned to iron-grey. Every 
 whiff or faint apology for a breeze brought the inevit 
 able dust along with it ; every rattle of the piled-up 
 omnibuses and the jaded cabs showered it upon the 
 crowd. Gritty, grindy, dusty High Holborn, defied 
 even the watermen with their watering barrels, and 
 laughed to scorn every attempt to make it other than 
 it was. Very glad indeed was Mr. Crisparkle to get his 
 charge safely out of this highly-populated Sahara 
 into the comparatively cool oasis of Staple Inn. 
 
 Coming out of the gateway as they entered was 
 a man, so white-faced and sombre, so shadow-like 
 and spectral, that Rosa passing him, uttered a little 
 cry. Strange to say, this cry was repeated, echoed by 
 the man himself. Perhaps she had startled him ; 
 perhaps something else was agitating him, for he 
 staggered heavily and would have fallen but that 
 Mr. Crisparkle s strong arm caught and held him. 
 
 Strange to see, this sombre man, without a word of 
 thanks, without a syllable of acknowledgment, or 
 explanation, almost wrenched himself from the Minor 
 Canon s strong support, and covering his face, went 
 his way. He walked so unsteadily and falteringly, 
 that the Minor Canon, who had turned in surprise to 
 watch him, thought he would have fallen again, but 
 he kept on and never looked back. Then the Revd. 
 Septimus, turning to Rosa, saw that she too was deadly 
 pale, tremblingly clinging to his arm. 
 
 * The man frightened you," he said. " No wonder. 
 He must have been drunk." 
 
 " It was like a ghost," she answered, shivering, 
 and added under her breath, " like the ghost of Eddy ! " 
 
 " This is a most unexpected pleasure," so Mr. 
 Grewgious welcomed them, " and to what most fortun- 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 45 
 
 ate combination of circumstances am I indebted 
 for it ? I was sitting here, after a hard day s work, 
 in a state of melt if so hard-favoured a man as I 
 am may be allowed to participate in the general 
 condition of humanity, on this tropical occasion and 
 my mind reverted, naturally reverted, to my ward, to 
 my charming ward, who occupies so much, nay, nearly 
 all, of my leisure opportunities for thought, but I never 
 imagined her so near." 
 
 Rosa raised his hard hand to her soft lips, with a 
 pretty apologetic expression in her still agitated face. 
 
 " My dear," responded Mr. Grewgious, " my hand 
 hardly knows how to deport itself under so much 
 honour. Really," he continued, viewing that member 
 with admiration, as if her gentle kiss had transformed it 
 into pure gold, or sparkling diamonds, " you must 
 never do that again, my dear, you really must not ; 
 for my hand would then, I feel sure, refuse ever to 
 work, on plea of having become ennobled. 
 
 Rosa smiling at this, and Mr. Crisparkle laughing 
 heartily, Mr. Grewgious came back to a sense of his 
 responsibility as host. 
 
 " Sit down, my dear," he said, " and take off your 
 hat, and we will consider what refreshment would be 
 most suitable to the occasion. Would you like a glass 
 of lemonade or iced champagne ; or would you prefer 
 anything else whatever ? " 
 
 Rosa wanted nothing ; they were come on business ; 
 at least Mr. Crisparkle had said so. 
 
 " But business, my dear," expostulated Mr. Grew 
 gious, "is so very dry a subject, particularly for a 
 young lady, that it will be absolutely necessary to 
 moisten it with something. My clerk, my new clerk, 
 who has come in the place of Mr. Bazzard, is just gone 
 home you must almost have met him, I should think 
 or I could have asked him to run over to Furnival s, 
 though now I come to consider it, I really do not think 
 I should have liked to do so, he is so much the gentle- 
 
46 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 man. Bazzard was a gentleman too, there is no doubt 
 about that, of course, a gentleman and a genius ; 
 but this one is so much more the gentleman, that 
 perhaps it is fortunate that he is gone; for, on 
 consideration, I really should not like to have asked 
 him. So if you will excuse me for a moment, and I 
 shall only be a moment, I assure you, then I will go 
 myself." 
 
 Suiting the action to the word, and before they had 
 time to stop him, he was gone, bareheaded ; and before 
 they had time to think about his being gone, was back 
 again. 
 
 " There," he exclaimed, panting, seating himself with 
 much deliberation in his easy chair, and mopping 
 energetically the huge drops of moisture from his face ; 
 " there, my dear, what do you say to that, for an 
 angular man ? Why, it s the lovely presence in my 
 room which oils my bones, lubricates my stiff joints, 
 and makes me active and alert as a lad in his teens. 
 Furnival s are most attentive, and will be here directly, 
 my love, with your iced champagne, and while you are 
 cooling yourself with that, we my reverend friend 
 and myself will cool ourselves with something 
 heavier." 
 
 " You are too kind," said the Revd. Septimus, 
 smiling, " and I feel quite ashamed to give you so much 
 trouble, and to have given Miss Bud so much trouble 
 on this hot, dusty day, to hear only, after all, a selfish 
 proposal of mine." 
 
 " Selfish ! " echoed Mr. Grewgious, thoughtfully, 
 " that would be quite new and quite unexpected, 
 coming from you, reverend sir ; would it not, my 
 dear ? " 
 
 Rosa nodded, though in an absent sort of way, 
 and sipped iced champagne which, in the meantime, 
 had arrived, accompanied by something heavier for 
 the gentlemen. 
 
 Mr. Grewgious eyed his ward thoughtfully through 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 47 
 
 his mopping fingers, and eyed her again still more 
 thoughtfully, during the cooling process with something 
 heavier, for there was a look upon her face which he 
 did not like to see there. 
 
 " And now," continued Mr. Grewgious, after a 
 short pause, during which they all sipped, or watched 
 the dusty sparrows hopping about disconsolately on 
 the dusty pavement, and seeking vainly something 
 cool, or something green ; " now, reverend sir, if you 
 are feeling somewhat better, and my ward is refreshed, 
 why, I am too, and we might begin either with that 
 little piece of business you spoke of, or with the selfish 
 proposal you are about to make." 
 
 With a strong emphasis on the word, and with a 
 twinkling eye, or as nearly one as he could make it, 
 directed towards Rosa, Mr. Grewgious endeavoured 
 jocosely to draw her into the conversation; but her 
 bright eyes remaining fixed intently upon the sparkling 
 wine, Mr. Grewgious eye lost its twinkle, and he 
 mopped himself again profusely, and somewhat 
 dejectedly. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle commenced by relating all that had 
 lately happened in Cloisterham ; dwelling particularly 
 upon the fact that Mr. Jasper had resigned his situa 
 tion there, and had taken up his abode for the present 
 in London. 
 
 " I came up with him yesterday morning," continued 
 the clergyman, " though not for the pleasure of his 
 company ; and before that ma and I had a long talk 
 together. You know, Mr. Grewgious, that un 
 fortunately ma does not quite agree with us in some 
 particulars, but though ma s judgment may be wrong 
 sometimes, her heart never is, and when I mentioned 
 it, ma was quite taken with it directly, and begged 
 me to lose no time in coming up and speaking to you 
 about it ; and ma hopes, and I hope, that you will 
 agree to it, and that Miss Bud may approve of it, 
 which would make us very happy." 
 
48 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " I have no doubt whatever," interposed Mr. Grew- 
 gious, " that we should and shall, when we know what 
 4 it is ; and as we are, figuratively, sitting upon thorns 
 to hear it though it does not become me to attempt 
 comparisons ; for what do I know about figures, except 
 those in my counting-books, and as for thorns, I have 
 had enough of them to last me my lifetime, without 
 introducing em uncalled for I am sure we shall 
 both agree in begging you to bring it out as soon as 
 quite convenient." 
 
 Casting a cheerful glance at his ward, and encounter 
 ing only a downcast and troubled little face, Mr. 
 Grewgious shook his head remonstratingly ; and then, 
 apparently fearing it had become terribly ruffled, 
 smoothed it the wrong way so energetically that, if 
 at all electric, it must have emitted sparks of fire. 
 
 " And ma thinks, and I think," continued Mr. 
 Crisparkle, who was far too much in earnest with his 
 subject to notice the perturbation of Mr. Grewgious 
 or the silence of his ward, " since that dreadful man 
 has left Cloisterham, and as Miss Bud is accustomed 
 to Cloisterham, and was happy there, and as we know 
 that you are still undecided as to where she shall go at 
 the end of the holidays, that if you approved, and she 
 approved, she might come to us." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, brightening, again looked at Rosa, 
 who, very pale, and with a doubtful, pondering look, 
 and anxious and knitted little brow, seemed so absorbed 
 in her own thoughts as to be hardly conscious of their 
 presence, and even yet gave no response. 
 
 " As far as I am concerned," said Mr. Grewgious, 
 with troubled earnestness, " I thank you gratefully ; 
 as far as my ward is concerned, I should have thought 
 that such a proposal would have met with her 
 certain and full approbation ; but she is silent. She 
 may have formed other plans for herself, which 
 it will be our duty carefully to consider, and to weigh 
 thoroughly. My ward is silent let her speak." 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 49 
 
 " Minor Canon Corner," continued Mr. Crisparkle, 
 still cheerfully, though with a very perceptible fall 
 in his voice, " is a quiet spot. I have never found it 
 dull ; but a young lady has other wishes and other 
 wants than mine, and a home inhabited by an old lady 
 and a middle-aged clergyman may be nay, perhaps, 
 must be dull, and have too little brightness for her. 
 Nevertheless, I must say, in justice to myself, that ma 
 and I had not forgotten this, and had planned a hundred 
 little plans to make it brighter, and as Miss Bud would 
 have been near her old home, and among her old friends, 
 we thought it might have met with her approbation. 
 I may say also, I hope, for myself, and I am sure I 
 may say for ma, that we would have done our poor 
 utmost to make her happy." 
 
 Both gentlemen now looked at Rosa. Feeling that, 
 perhaps, or struck by the sudden silence, she started, 
 changed colour, and, looking back at them with wide 
 wondering eyes, came to herself and to a knowledge of 
 where she was. 
 
 " What was it you said ? " she asked, pressing a 
 bewildered and trembling little hand to her head. " I 
 was so lost in thought that I did not quite understand 
 you." 
 
 " Mr. Crisparkle, my love," began Mr. Grewgious, 
 " has proposed your returning to Cloisterham and 
 taking up your abode for the present in his house. 
 I am free to confess that my mind has been seeking 
 anxiously a suitable home for you, and has come to 
 no result. Mr. Crisparkle s offer so kind and generous 
 has lightened my heart of a load. Nevertheless, 
 the decision rests with you, my dear. If you have 
 formed any other wish, if you have made any other 
 plan, or, simply if you have any objection to make to 
 this, mention it freely." 
 
 " And do not let any consideration for me, or any 
 consideration for ma," put in the Revd. Septimus, 
 his honest face glowing from the eagerness with which 
 E 
 
50 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 he spoke, " influence you in the very least ; for, 
 though, of course, there is plenty of selfishness in our 
 wishing to secure so much brightness for our quiet 
 home, yet that has not been our only motive either ; 
 and though I left ma wandering from room to room, 
 uncertain which you would like best, and in a state 
 of bewildered delight at the prospect of having, as it 
 were, a little daughter to care for, yet we would not 
 for a moment wish to induce you to act in opposition 
 to any scheme you may have planned, or urge you " 
 
 " But you will let me thank you, will you not ? " 
 said Rosa, rising, and putting both her hands into 
 those of the delighted clergyman, " and you will let 
 me tell you that if I could have my choice of all the 
 happy homes in happy England, there is not one 
 there is not one that I would choose in preference 
 to yours." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious puckered face smoothing of its own 
 accord at this, he considered the occasion propitious 
 for smoothing his head again, and did so (this time the 
 right way) accordingly. 
 
 " And if," continued Rosa, with tears in her eyes, 
 " if one who, until now, has only been a trouble and 
 an anxiety to all about her ; who till now has only 
 been able to repay with love and affection and not 
 always with enough of that those who have been kind 
 to her, dare make assurances, then take hers that she 
 will try to be a comfort, and not a trouble only, to 
 her kind friends ; and do her very best to make them 
 never regret having taken her in." 
 
 The Revd. Septimus opening his mouth here to make 
 assurances, she stopped him, with her finger upon her 
 lip, and went on again 
 
 " And if, as may sometimes be the case, though not 
 often, she hopes, the troubles which have borne heavily 
 upon her may cast their shadow over her, and partially 
 also, from their sympathy, over her generous friends, 
 so noble and true, she will try, oh, so hard, to conquer 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 51 
 
 the sadness, to rise superior to the despondency, to 
 shake off the doubts and fears. God helping her, she 
 will do so, and her friends will have patience with her, 
 and help her, too." 
 
 Rosa s small figure seemed to grow as she spoke, and 
 a steadiness and continuity of purpose, hardly to 
 have been looked for in the childish beauty, com 
 pressed her small mouth, and shone brightly in her 
 steadfast eyes. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle and her guardian contemplated her 
 with wonder and admiration, though the latter slightly 
 and almost imperceptibly shook his head. 
 
 Meeting their astonished glance, she smiled ; nay, 
 laughed aloud at the sight of Mr. Grewgious dishevelled 
 locks, which, from constant smoothing, first one way, 
 and then the other, had compromised matters by 
 remaining at the last stark upright, making of him a 
 popular impersonation of fright. With the laugh 
 she became the old Rosebud again, at least, the same 
 externally. 
 
 " And now," said Mr. Grewgious, " that matter 
 being settled, and settled to all our satisfactions, I 
 am sure (don t let your champagne get cold, my dear, 
 that is to say, I mean the opposite, but being a man with 
 such remarkably confused ideas, I generally do mean 
 the opposite of what I say, or rather, say the opposite 
 of what I mean), when do you wish my ward to come 
 to you, reverend sir ; and when, my dear, do you wish 
 to go ? " 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle here mentioned Miss Twinkleton s 
 plans with regard to Brighton, and Mr. Grewgious 
 heartily agreed with them. 
 
 " Let us say, then, a fortnight from this time," said 
 Mr. Grewgious, " that will allow your excellent mother 
 plenty of time for deciding between the blue room 
 and the green, and in making any other arrangements 
 she may deem necessary. And now, my dear, what 
 can I do for you before you go ? " 
 
52 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Rosa, with a hanging head and a blushing cheek, 
 would dearly like to see Helena. 
 
 " So you shall, my dear, so you shall ; I will run 
 across at once to Mr. Tartar s, and I have no doubt his 
 rooms will be at your disposal." 
 
 Rosa, hiding her face still more, and colouring, 
 until the tips of her pretty fingers were rosy red 
 too, answered hesitatingly that she wanted to see 
 Helena, not as she had before, but quite close this 
 time ; it it wasn t like the same thing through 
 a window." 
 
 " I understand," said Mr. Grewgious, putting his 
 finger knowingly on one side of his nose, and nodding 
 slyly at his ward. " When young ladies meet, bless 
 their hearts ! I ve seen em at it once or twice, 
 and," continued Mr. Grewgious, " a most uncommon 
 pretty sight it was they fall into one another s arms, 
 they clasp one another round the waist, they bring their 
 rosy lips together. Why," continued Mr. Grewgious, 
 dilating on his theme with the delight of an epicure, 
 " it s most natural ; it s only what other people would 
 like to do too, if they dared." 
 
 Rosa joined heartily in Mr. Crisparkle s merry laugh ; 
 but, as she laughed, her blushes deepened. 
 
 " And to think," added Mr. Grewgious, sympathetic 
 ally, " of two beautiful beings, with all the lovely 
 and loving emotions of their sex agitating their bosoms ; 
 to think of their being separated by a chasm, when their 
 hearts are full of the delight of meeting, full and running 
 over. Why, my dear, you are quite right ; you are 
 perfectly and comprehensibly right." 
 
 Rosa, delighted to see how readily he was marching 
 in a wrong direction, and greatly relieved to find how 
 little her real motive was comprehended by him, 
 recovered somewhat from her confusion, and courage 
 ously met his eye. 
 
 " And now, my dear, we must consider how we can 
 best manage it ; for you wouldn t, and we all of us 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 53 
 
 shouldn t, wish to do anything rashly, or to put our 
 young friends opposite into any sort of danger. * 
 
 " Oh, no," said Rosa, with a deep breath. 
 
 " Did you not tell me, reverend sir," continued 
 Mr. Grewgious, " that our local friend is now in 
 London ? " 
 
 " I left him at the station, sir, and lost sight of him 
 in the fog." 
 
 " And have you no clue to the reason for his giving 
 up his situation so abruptly ? " 
 
 " None whatever, except that I fear he wishes to 
 have more time and opportunity to pursue his investi 
 gations, and to carry out his schemes for revenge." 
 
 " Ah, he is up to no good, is our local friend, we 
 may be sure of that," said Mr. Grewgious, " and it 
 behoves us, therefore, to be very careful ; yet I should 
 be sorry to disappoint my ward. 
 
 " I propose," said Mr. Grewgious again, after a 
 moment s thought, with his hand on his ruffled locks, 
 " that we, each of us, look out for an idea. The first 
 who finds an idea speaks. When I say three," said 
 Mr. Grewgious, lifting his hand, " let us sit still and 
 ponder. One, two, three, and begin." 
 
 Bringing down his hand upon the table before him 
 with a vehemence which startled the sparrows outside 
 so effectually that, abandoning their fruitless search for 
 that day, they flew to roost, Mr. Grewgious composed 
 himself into an attitude of deep reflection, while 
 Rosa and Mr. Crisparkle, following his directions, sat 
 in solemn silence, waiting for the birth of an idea. 
 Perhaps they had never felt in their lives so completely 
 destitute of one. 
 
 For a few succeeding minutes nothing was to be 
 heard in the room, save the loud ticking of the clock, 
 the occasional tread of a footstep outside, and the 
 distant roar from the city ; then Mr. Grewgious began 
 to exhibit signs of internal commotion. He breathed 
 more quickly, screwed up both eyes tightly, exhibited 
 
54 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 tokens of strangulation, and hurriedly loosened his 
 cravat. The birth was at hand. 
 
 " Have you found an idea yet, reverend sir ? " he 
 enquired, abruptly, still in a state of agitation, and 
 looking out of the window. 
 
 " I have turned the subject carefully over in my 
 mind, but no plan, at all feasible, has occurred to 
 me." 
 
 " And you, my dear ? " 
 
 But Rosa s usually busy little brain had almost 
 seemed to stand still during the interval, and she shook 
 her head. 
 
 " I hope you won t consider it presumptuous," 
 went on Mr. Grewgious, slowly, yet in a voice of 
 smothered excitement, and with his screwed-up eyes 
 still turned towards the window, to have hit upon an 
 idea before you, as I think I have. It isn t, by any 
 means, because I am so flush of em ; for I was born 
 without ideas almost, and might have remained here 
 until doomsday without finding one, but that I am 
 sitting, as you perceive, with my face towards the 
 window, and have had, therefore, the opportunity 
 which you have not, of viewing Staple Inn, and seeing 
 what was going on there. And what is it that my short 
 sighted eyes have gradually been taking in ? Why, 
 a slouching form, a slinking figure, an evil eye ; to sum 
 up all devilish unpleasantness in a word, my idea has 
 appeared before me in bodily shape, and is Look out 
 of the window, Mr. Crisparkle Shut your pretty eyes, 
 my lamb our local friend." 
 
 Rosa, with an exclamation of terror which she could 
 not repress, drew closer to her guardian, and clung to 
 his protecting arm. 
 
 "Don t be afraid, my dear," said Mr. Grewgious, 
 looking down upon the girl s shrinking figure with the 
 tenderest compassion in his unfinished features, " for 
 Mr. Crisparkle is on one side of you, and / am on the 
 other. If our local friend (whose intentions, no doubt, 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 55 
 
 are evil, and whom I beg to be permitted, parenthetic 
 ally and sotto voce, to blast and blight) should venture 
 to approach you, or even to cast one baleful glance in 
 your direction, he would be crushed. And, when I 
 say crushed," continued Mr. Grewgious, with a flushed 
 face and an angry gesture, " I mean what I say, and 
 mean crushed to fragments." 
 
 "If he could have known ! " Rosa thought, trem 
 bling, as she knelt down beside him, and hid her pale 
 face upon his shoulder. But he only knew as he laid 
 his arm gently and protectingly around her, that she 
 would never appeal to him in vain for help and for 
 support ; j he only knew, as he looked once more 
 defiantly across the way, that his old arm would grow 
 strong and vigorous again to annihilate her enemies ; 
 he only knew that the soft touch of her round cheek 
 against his was bringing up the warm blood there as 
 hotly as in the days of his youth, and reviving sweet 
 memories, scarcely tasted, but never to be forgotten ; 
 for he was but mortal, and could not read the thoughts 
 of her agitated and frightened heart. 
 
 " Our local friend," continued Mr. Grewgious, when 
 Rosa had a little recovered from the shock of knowing 
 that dreadful man to be so near her, " has retired into 
 the apartment which I pointed out to you once before, 
 reverend sir, and in which he seems to concoct his 
 hellish plans. Under the circumstance of our local 
 friend being there in propria persona which is not 
 alarming, my dear, and only means that he is there 
 himself ; though to be sure that is unpleasant enough " 
 (this to Rosa, who had shuddered) " I think I see 
 the way clear to gratify my ward." 
 
 " Pray tell Jus how ! " said the Minor Canon. 
 
 " Let me first propound a question," said Mr. 
 Grewgious, deliberately, with the manner of an acute 
 lawyer, whom nothing could induce to go indiscreetly 
 direct to the heart of the matter. " Do you intend 
 to visit Mr. Neville ? " 
 
56 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " I thought of going to him to-morrow morning," 
 answered the Revd, Septimus, " before returning to 
 Cloisterham." 
 
 " Would you object to make your visit this evening ?" 
 
 " Not in the least, if you wish it." 
 
 " I have noticed," continued Mr. Grewgious, " that 
 Mr. Neville usually takes his walks in the evening, 
 and indeed I should think anybody not a not a sala 
 mander, would prefer to do so during this present 
 state of the weather ; so if you and Mr. Neville should 
 go out together for a walk this evening, it would be a 
 natural circumstance, and excite no suspicion. If you 
 are not tired, reverend sir for if you are, I beg to with 
 draw my idea before having given it utterance you 
 might like to walk with him." 
 
 " I am not in the least tired, and am quite at your 
 disposal, particularly as I think I see what you are 
 leading up to." 
 
 " I am leading up to it, no doubt, crookedly enough, 
 having nothing straight about me from my nose to my 
 legs," said Mr. Grewgious, looking down upon his nether 
 continuations with a sigh for their imperfections, 
 " and I dare say your mind, which is as straight as 
 your body, has taken you ahead of me. But you don t 
 need to tire yourself out with walking ; you may take 
 a cab or a hansom, or hail a passing omnibus, so as to 
 get over as much ground as possible in the course of 
 an hour or two. I take it to be fair in love and war 
 to wear out the enemy." 
 
 " You think he will follow us ? " 
 
 " I think it highly probable that he may, and that, 
 being here in propria persona, he will be relying for 
 the time on his satanic self and his own infernal 
 devices, and will, when following, leave the path 
 clear for us. Anyhow, we will wait and see if it 
 happens as I expect, and if so, Miss Rosa may go to 
 her friend." 
 
 Then Rosa and Mr. Grewgious, stealthily watching 
 
A SELFISH PROPOSAL 57 
 
 behind the window curtains, soon saw Mr. Crisparkle 
 and Neville emerge from the house opposite ; and a 
 few seconds afterwards had the satisfaction of observing 
 them followed by a dark figure, which Rosa tremblingly 
 recognised as that of her terrible lover. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 EDDY S WIDOW 
 
 HELENA was still standing at the window where she 
 had been watching her brother and Mr. Crisparkle pass 
 out of Staple Inn together. The colour on her dark 
 cheek was a trifle more brilliant than usual, and the 
 light in her lustrous eyes was softened into inex 
 pressible tenderness, before which pride had melted 
 away, when she was startled by the sound of a light 
 footstep, followed by a gentle rap upon the door ; and 
 a moment afterwards, Rosa, with a beating heart, 
 stood beside her. 
 
 " Rosa, you ? How glad I am to see you." 
 
 " And I to see you, dear, dear Helena ! " 
 
 If Mr. Grewgious short-sighted eyes had been able 
 to penetrate stone walls, he would have seen his glow 
 ing prediction verified, for the two girls fell into one 
 another s arms, and laid their soft lips lovingly together. 
 
 " But how is it, dear," continued Helena, " that you 
 are able to come to me ? Is the danger over ? May 
 we meet again, freely and unrestrainedly ? " 
 
 " Did not Mr. Crisparkle say I was coming ? " 
 asked Rosa, answering her friend s questions with 
 another. 
 
 " No ; he only said he had come to fetch Neville for 
 a walk. I was glad for him to go, for he has been 
 working hard to-day, poor fellow ! although it is so hot ; 
 and Neville forgets all his weariness when he sees his 
 kind friend." 
 
 It seemed as if the sight did the same good office for 
 Helena, for her lips were parted in a happy smile, and 
 
 58 
 
EDDY S WIDOW 59 
 
 all vestige of care and trouble had vanished from her 
 face. 
 
 " I am come to stay a while, if you will have me/ 1 
 said Rosa, taking off her hat, and pushing back her 
 clustering hair, " f or I want to have a good, long talk 
 with you. I have missed you, Helena/ 
 
 " If I will have you, my pet ? Why, I have been 
 hungering and thirsting for you. But (looking archly 
 at her friend) I m afraid Mr. Tartar won t be^pleased 
 with the change." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Tartar ! " said Rosa, tossing her head. 
 " What do I care about Mr. Tartar ! " But the next 
 moment, to Helena s great surprise, the pouting lips 
 began to tremble, the dark eyes filled with tears, and, 
 throwing her arms round her friend s neck, Rosa 
 burst into a fit of passionate crying, sobbing like 
 a child. 
 
 Helena drew the pretty head to her bosom, and 
 gently stroked the soft hair, but she made no other 
 attempt to soothe her for a while ; until Rosa s 
 sobs grew so violent and her delicate frame shook 
 and trembled so alarmingly, that she became quite 
 frightened. 
 
 " Rosa, you will make yourself ill," she whispered. 
 " Try to compose yourself, my darling, and tell me all 
 about it. What can have happened to grieve you so 
 terribly ? " 
 
 Holding the childish form closer to her bosom, 
 Helena wiped the streaming eyes, kissed the convulsed 
 mouth, and caressed the hot cheeks, until at length 
 the sobs subsided. 
 
 " Tell me what it is, my child." 
 
 " Oh, I will, I will," sobbed Rosa, raising her tear- 
 stained face and overflowing eyes, and meeting Helena s 
 look of love and sympathy. " I came to tell you, dear. 
 I cannot bear it alone any longer. And you will help 
 me, Helena, you are so brave and strong, you will help 
 me to do what is right ? " 
 
60 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Helena s look was sufficient answer, as she smoothed 
 back the tangled hair from Rosa s hot forehead. 
 
 " I am so giddy and thoughtless, so coquettish and 
 vain, that even when he that dreadful man first 
 looked admiringly at me, I did not abhor and detest 
 it, as I did afterwards. Not that I liked him, Helena, 
 for a single moment ; but sometimes when Eddy 
 poor, poor Eddy ! used to seem so indifferent to me ; 
 or when we were walking together, and he had eyes for 
 every pretty girl who passed, and none for me ; or 
 when I saw how long the time seemed to him in my 
 company, and how glad he often was to say good-bye ; 
 then I used to think, in my anger at his neglect, ah, 
 you do not care for me ; never mind ! I know some 
 one, of whom you do not dream in your boyish self- 
 sufficiency and conceit, as a rival, who would go a long 
 way out of his road to catch a glimpse of me ; whose 
 heart I can set beating to suffocation when I like ; 
 and whose eyes glow, as yours have never glowed, when 
 they meet mine. Ah, I did not know then, that it was 
 the fire of hell that lighted them ! " 
 
 Again Rosa hid her burning face in her friend s 
 protecting lap, and again Helena laid a gentle and 
 caressing hand upon her head. 
 
 " I tried sometimes," continued Rosa, after a few 
 minutes of silence, " to open Eddy s eyes, and show him 
 the real state of things. I was not afraid of his being 
 angry with his uncle ; he was far too fond of him for 
 that ; but I thought he would care a little more for me, 
 if he saw that another cared so much. I thought he 
 would value me more, if he found out how precious I 
 was in another s eyes. I hoped he might learn to love 
 me then as I wanted to be loved, and as I knew, young 
 as I was, that a bridegroom ought to love his bride ; 
 a husband, his wife. He treated me as a baby, and I 
 behaved as one ; making it, more shame for me, the 
 chief amusement of my life to tease and worry him, and 
 often weeping bitterly afterwards for having done it. 
 
EDDY S WIDOW 61 
 
 Yet though I grew every day more indifferent to him, 
 and scarcely needed to sham indifference any more, 
 I still looked forward to our marriage as inevitable. 
 Many and many a time my heart ached bitterly as I 
 thought of the long years which lay before us, when we 
 should be yoked together, and should rebel against the 
 yoke in vain." 
 
 " My poor darling ! " said Helena soothingly, " I 
 cannot imagine how any man could help loving you 
 dearly, far less that man who was your betrothed 
 husband." 
 
 " And yet I loved him through it all," said Rosa, 
 putting up her hot lips to be kissed and comforted, and 
 struggling hard to subdue the emotion mastering her. 
 " I am so glad now, to think that I did love him to the 
 end, poor boy ! Yet it was better we parted when we 
 did ; far, far better ! And though I am sorry to have 
 grieved him at the last, I am not sorry for that." 
 
 " You did what you believed to be right, and that 
 always brings peace, and can leave behind no regret," 
 said Helena. 
 
 " Yes," said Rosa, " but that is not all I wanted to 
 tell you. Very soon the admiration my music-master 
 showed became irksome to me ; very soon it became 
 intolerable. I showed it him as plainly as I could, 
 but instead of abandoning, he only redoubled his 
 attentions, until you know at last how I felt towards 
 him." 
 
 " I remember, indeed," said Helena. 
 
 " And now," continued Rosa, drawing still closer to 
 her friend, and glancing round the darkening room with 
 a look of terror, " I have something dreadful to tell you, 
 but only you, Helena. I dare not mention it to my 
 guardian, though he is so good and true, and I dare not 
 mention it to Mr. Crisparkle, though he also is the very 
 soul of honour ; for they are both men, Helena ; but 
 you are a woman, and can feel for and with me, 
 even though I should appear as degraded in your eyes 
 
62 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 as I am in my own. And, confiding in you, Helena, I 
 do so with the firm and full confidence that you will 
 keep my secret." 
 
 Helena s smile and earnest eyes would have satisfied 
 any one ; and Rosa, needing no proof of the trust 
 worthiness of her friend, was more than satisfied. 
 
 " Look," said Rosa, drawing a folded paper from her 
 pocket, and handing it to her friend, " look and read, 
 Helena, and put your arm round me while you do so, 
 for I am almost dead with fright and terror ; and forgive 
 me for burdening you too, for I am sure if I kept it to 
 myself any longer, I shall die." 
 
 Clasping her friend with one hand, Helena opened 
 the paper with the other, and, straining her eyes in the 
 gathering twilight to make out the words, read as 
 follows 
 
 " MY BELOVED. You have fled before me, and 
 think, dear, foolish one ! that I could let you go. 
 Know that there is not a spot on earth where I would 
 not follow you, that there is no crack nor cranny in the 
 wide universe where the fury and intensity of my 
 passion would not enable me to find you out. In the 
 remotest and most secluded corner of this great city, 
 on the trackless paths of the ocean, I would haunt you 
 with my presence, and to cherish you as the apple of 
 my eye would hunt you down. I have been near you 
 a hundred times when you have deemed me far away ; 
 I shall be near you a hundred times, when you have no 
 visible token of my presence. I have revelled in the 
 exquisite charm of your lovely face, gloated over your 
 beautiful form, and pressed my burning lips to yours in 
 thought, a thousand times, and no flush on your face, 
 no look of fear or of delight has shown me that you felt 
 it. Is the passion which consumes my heart utterly 
 powerless to kindle a sympathetic spark in yours ? 
 It cannot be so ; but if it were, even then you must be 
 mine. You shall never I swear it to you you shall 
 never belong to another. The blow I spoke of would 
 
EDDY S WIDOW 63 
 
 have fallen ere now, but that I have seen other eyes 
 looking with admiration at your beauty, but that I have 
 seen another face glow when your sweet voice fell upon 
 his ear. 
 
 " Beware, my goddess ! angel of my life ! star of my 
 existence ! beware, beware ! Can you wonder that 
 any and every man who contemplates your beauty, 
 that any and every man who basks in the light of your 
 countenance, must become my hated rival my dead 
 liest enemy, for your sake. By this token, my beloved, 
 that even as you read I am watching you, take warning 
 and give heed to what I say ; for I swear to you again, 
 by Heaven and Hell, that, dead or living, you shall 
 belong to no man but me." 
 
 Here the letter abruptly closed, without signature. 
 After a pause, Rosa spoke again. 
 
 " I have had that letter two or three days," she said, 
 " long enough to form a resolution which even before 
 then had been taking shape and gathering in my brain. 
 I have made up my mind to remain all my life as I 
 should have remained if I had married Eddy, and he 
 had died his widow. Do not laugh at me, dear ; it 
 is a foolish way of putting it, I know. But it may 
 satisfy the dead, perhaps/ said Rosa, shuddering, 
 " and it may appease that dreadful man. At any rate, 
 only I then should have to suffer from his wrath." 
 
 "Satisfy the dead!" exclaimed Helena. " What 
 new terror haunts you, dearest ? " 
 
 " I have dreamt so often of Eddy lately," answered 
 Rosa, in a low, frightened voice. " I used to dream of 
 him in Cloisterham, after he was lost, but never un 
 happily or painfully. I fancied myself walking with 
 him in the Close, or by the river, as we used to do ; 
 but we never quarrelled, as we so often had done in 
 reality. He was kind and gentle, and loving, as he 
 had been the last, last time. When I awoke then 
 in the morning, my pillow was wet with tears, but 
 they had been happy ones. Now my dreams are quite 
 
64 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 different. I think I am sleeping in my little bedroom, 
 just as I am really, and that Eddy is standing by my 
 bedside. He does not look as Eddy used to look, 
 but rather as the ghost of Eddy might look, if it could 
 appear to me. I do not know why I am sure that it 
 is he, but I am sure ; I feel it in my inmost heart. He 
 never speaks a word, but looks at me steadily and sadly. 
 I try to cry out, but my tongue is tied, and I can only 
 make a feeble notion with my hand. Then he vanishes ; 
 and in vanishing I see his face contract with an anguish 
 so terrible, with a sadness so bitter and intense, that 
 I wake with the fright, shaking in every limb, and 
 bathed in perspiration." 
 
 " Your nerves are terribly excited," said Helena, 
 " and the dullness of your life here wears upon your 
 constitution, and will seriously affect your health. 
 You must have a change, dear one, and the dreams 
 will vanish too." 
 
 " That is not all," continued Rosa. " This very 
 evening, as I was entering Staple Inn with Mr. Cris- 
 parkle, we met a man coming out. I was thinking 
 of my dream, it is true, and perhaps that may have 
 made me partly fancy it, but as the man looked at 
 me in passing, I saw his face grow pallid with suffering, 
 and drawn with the anguish of Eddy s in my dream." 
 
 " My darling, you seriously alarm me," said Helena. 
 " At any rate, we must speak to Mr. Grewgious about 
 this ; you must have a change of scene immediately." 
 
 " I am going to have a change," explained Rosa. 
 " I am going to Brighton with Miss Twinkleton, and 
 then I am going to stay with Mrs. Crisparkle for the 
 present." 
 
 With a start, and a sharp exclamation, only half 
 uttered, Helena for one moment let fall the arm 
 encircling Rosa s waist, and stepped back only for 
 one moment ; the next she drew her almost passion 
 ately towards her again, and covered her face with 
 kisses. 
 
EDDY S WIDOW 65 
 
 " Do you not approve, Helena ? " asked Rosa, 
 surprised, trying to see her friend s face in the 
 darkness. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ! " answered Helena, in a voice which 
 she strove to render cheerful, but which, in spite of 
 herself, waxed slow and sad ; " you must, you must be 
 happy there." 
 
 " Then why do you speak so sadly ; what are you 
 sorry f or ? >J 
 
 " Oh, I am not sorry, Rosa ; I am glad, glad with 
 my whole heart. Believe me, dear, I am indeed. 
 Do not mind my weeping, Rosa ; they are tears of joy. 
 What could I wish better for you than that you should 
 live with them ? You will forget your troubles there, 
 and grow contented and happy again. How can it 
 be otherwise ; surrounded by friends so generous 
 and high-minded, so large-hearted, and so true." 
 
 If joy were the source from which Helena s tears 
 sprang, it was a prolific one indeed ; for notwithstand 
 ing her strong effort to control herself, they fell thick 
 and heavy. Clenching her delicate hands, and biting 
 her lips till the blood sprang, she kept back sob or 
 sound, but the barrier which confined her tears had 
 broken down utterly, and they must and would have 
 way. Rosa, terrified, clung to her friend. 
 
 " You, crying, Helena," she said, in great distress. 
 " What cruel thing have I said or done to hurt you ? 
 I never knew you shed tears, even during all that 
 dreadful time in Cloisterham. I cannot bear it," 
 sobbed Rosa, weeping in sympathy ; " you, who are 
 always so fearless and undaunted." 
 
 " It is all over now," said Helena, at last, " and will 
 never happen again. I do not know how I could be 
 so foolish, but all of a sudden, here in the darkness 
 (I have had my troubles, too, you know) , in the midst 
 of my joy for you, came a feeling of loneliness for 
 myself, deeper and sadder than I ever had before. 
 I felt myself it was a foolish fancy cast out, alone, 
 
 F 
 
66 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and forgotten. Oh, Rosa, you will not forsake 
 me ? " 
 
 " Forsake you, my best and dearest friend ; oh, 
 never, never." 
 
 " And now it is time for you to go," continued 
 Helena. " You told me you dared not stay more than 
 an hour. God bless you ! God make you happy, 
 darling ! He will, He will, I know." 
 
 Helena bowed her head again, and kissed Rosa 
 tenderly. Poor Rosa s cheek was wet with tears, 
 but Helena s was dry ; she had fought out that brief 
 battle with herself, and wept no more. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 
 
 THE heat of the last few days had terminated in violent 
 thunderstorms, and a chilly, steady rain now falling, 
 cooled the heated pavements of the city. In the 
 extreme east of it a man of nearly forty was trudging 
 along under his umbrella the streets with the air of 
 one who knows where he is, and what he means to do. 
 After walking some distance he stood still, doubtfully, 
 and looking round, found himself face to face with a 
 hideous old woman, who was leering at him out of her 
 bleared and watering eyes. 
 
 " Was you a lookin for any one here, deary ? " 
 she enquired. " P raps I can show you what you want, 
 and you ll give me a trifle for the trouble, partickler 
 as times is bad, and it s a hard matter for a poor old 
 soul to scrape together enough to live on, deary ; 
 though, Lord knows, tis little enough she wants, 
 and faint long neither as she ll want that little." 
 
 " I was looking for a woman of the name of Coombs/ 
 he said, regarding her fixedly. " A woman celebrated 
 for mixing opium, and recommended to me on that 
 account ; if I am not much mistaken, you are she." 
 
 " Lord bless ye, so I am ! " retorted the woman, 
 with a chuckle, and trembling from the eagerness with 
 which she spoke. " Lord love ye, sir, tis nobody but 
 me. Twould a broke my heart not to have come across 
 ye, and so have missed ye, deary. There s people in 
 this court as would a sent ye to Jack Chinaman, as 
 soon as not sooner than not just to spite me, deary. 
 They d a told ye that he knows how to mix it as well 
 
 67 
 
68 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 as me ; but it s a lie, a wicked lie, and they re thieves 
 and liars as says it. I ve only been out buyin a bit 
 o whittles, for one must live, must live, deary, and times 
 is bad, times is drefful bad. Come in, come in, and you 
 shall have what you want in a winkin. I m drenched 
 to the bone and a shakin with ager ; but I ll have it 
 ready for ye, before ye re ready for it, deary. I will 
 upon my soul." 
 
 Trembling with joy at having found a customer, 
 and shaking from cold and wet, the withered fingers 
 of the hag closed impatiently upon a key, which she 
 drew from the pocket of her ragged dress, and she 
 strove to put it in the lock. Twice, thrice it fell from 
 her palsied hand, until at length her companion, though 
 without any show of impatience, putting her aside, 
 opened the door himself. 
 
 Before him he dimly perceived, by the faint and 
 murky light which penetrated from the court outside, 
 a dilapidated and tottering staircase, which his com 
 panion hastily motioned him to ascend. 
 
 Following close upon his steps, she opened a door 
 at the top, and almost pushed him before her, as if 
 she feared he might yet desert her, if not kept close, 
 as they entered a small room together. 
 
 The smell outside in the open court had been foul 
 enough, indeed, for noses not accustomed to such 
 odours ; but the smell issuing from the room was more 
 loathsome and disgusting still. 
 
 Mingling with the scent of unaired beds, and drying, 
 half-washed clothes and foul decay, was another, pene 
 trating, sickly sweet and almost overpowering scent 
 the smell of opium. 
 
 The man drew back involuntarily, but the woman, 
 pushing him still further in, closed and locked the door 
 behind him. 
 
 He was a brave man enough, and accustomed to all 
 sorts of adventures, and had many a time seen danger 
 close before him, terrible and threatening, without 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 69 
 
 flinching ; here, too, was only an old woman whom 
 in one moment his strong man s arm could render 
 powerless, and yet a strange terror fell upon him, and 
 the loathsome air made him sick and faint. 
 
 From the early morning it had been only half-day 
 in the city ; in the court outside it was evening ; and 
 here it was the dead of night. He would have opened 
 the door again for even the air of the court was pure 
 compared to this, but he could see nothing, and, groping 
 with his hands, he only struck against something cold 
 and hard as iron. 
 
 " Wait a bit, wait a bit," said the woman, groping 
 also about as if she were seeking something. " I ll 
 strike a light, and then I ll have it ready for ye in next 
 to no time, deary. Celebrated ! ha, ha ! They knows 
 that, they knows it. There s a many, a many, deary, 
 who s gone to the world s end to seek comfort, and has 
 come to me at last and found it here, by old Mother 
 Coombs, who knows the right mixin of it." 
 
 She had lit the candle by this time, and now, seating 
 herself exhausted, coughed and spat till the few scat 
 tered teeth in her head, as if anxious to quit an abode 
 upon which they held such uncertain tenure, shook 
 visibly. 
 
 His eyes had, however, in the meantime, grown 
 accustomed to the darkness, and he had dimly made out 
 the principal objects in the room before that. They 
 were not many ; a wretched bedstead, against which 
 he had stumbled on entering, a crazy chair or two, a 
 crippled table, supporting itself as best it could against 
 a wall, and a battered easy chair, in which he had 
 seated himself, striving to overcome the giddiness 
 which threatened to overwhelm him, and almost 
 already feeling the effect of the stupefying opium, so 
 strongly was he affected by the sickly scent. 
 
 He had made out these few details in one sharp, 
 comprehensive glance ; so strong was the instinct 
 and the habit of his life, even though his eyes were 
 
70 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 growing heavy, and a mist rose before his vision as 
 he gazed. 
 
 When the woman recovered from her fit of coughing, 
 she turned to view him. Her red and swollen eyelids 
 covered eyes which had learned to scrutinise almost 
 as sharply as his ; but there was nothing to excite 
 suspicion in his appearance ; his head was bent ; and 
 his eyes almost stupidly cast upon the ground. 
 
 " Ah, you ve found out the right seat, deary," she 
 croaked ; "let you alone for that. This ain t a par- 
 tickler out-and-out court, and this room might be better 
 than it is ; but I ll warrant you that there ain t a court 
 in all London as have held so much delight and happi 
 ness within it as this, and in another half an hour, deary, 
 you will have tasted the delights of Paradise." 
 
 He made no answer, but remained intent upon the 
 floor, and after eyeing him again for a moment with a 
 satisfied grin, she turned to prepare the pipe for him. 
 
 " It s trouble brought you to me, ain t it, deary ? 
 It don t need a lynx-eye to make out that, nor to guess 
 at it neither. Tis trouble brings the most here, except 
 the Chinamen, and them as has learned it in furrin 
 lands ; and maybe it s trouble that s brought them to 
 it too ; Lord knows ! But what a blessin to think 
 that they forgets that here, and comes in heaven ; 
 so cheap, so cheap, too." 
 
 He murmured something that might have been 
 assent or dissent, she knew not which, and still his 
 eyes were cast upon the ground. 
 
 " Oh, I ve had a many, a many sittin there before 
 you," she went on. " Gentlemen as had lost their 
 fortunes, and found em again here, deary ; gentlemen 
 as had been crossed in love, and ladies, too. Ah, you 
 may believe me, or you may not, as you please, but 
 it s the livin truth, deary ladies, too." 
 
 Raising his head quickly, as if for the first time he 
 had heard what she said, he asked if his pipe were 
 ready. 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 71 
 
 " In a minnit, in one little minnit, deary. Lord 
 love you, ye d a had it afore now, but my fingers was 
 numbed with the wet and cold, and are a shakin still 
 with the thought of having nearly missed ye, deary. 
 Tell us, lovey, was you crossed in love, maybe ? " 
 
 " No, not that." 
 
 " Ah, that s a pity, that is," she muttered, " for in 
 a leetle, leetle half-hour you d have had her in your 
 arms, deary. Aye, that you would, take my word for 
 it, and I ought to know. There s a many who ve 
 been crossed in love, who cuts their own throats, or 
 hers ; or dashes out their own brains, or the other s ; or 
 throws themselves into the rushing river, who never 
 need have done it if they d come to me, for they d 
 a had her sure and certain, aye, much more sure and 
 certain than their rival, deary." 
 
 " You think, then, that the imagination conjures 
 up visions, under the influence of opium, almost equal 
 to the reality ? " he enquired, lifting his head again. 
 
 " You speak the truth, deary," she answered, 
 chuckling. " Leave out the almost, and you speaks 
 the truth. Not almost ; far, far better than the reality. 
 In the vision you have perfect enjoyment ; all, all 
 you wants and wishes for. In the reality, as a gentle 
 man like you knows better than me, there s more than 
 half disappointment more than half, deary, sometimes 
 all." 
 
 " You open up enchanting vistas," he remarked, 
 dreamily. " Make haste, I am impatient." 
 
 " And well you may be," she answered, handing 
 him the pipe. " There, take it, take it, and when you ve 
 tried it once you ll try it again. Tis a taste that always 
 makes ye long for more. Good luck for us, it always 
 makes ye long for more." 
 
 Taking the pipe thoughtfully from her hand, he put 
 it to his lips. 
 
 The rain poured heavily against the window pane ; 
 the ragged curtain fluttered in the draught, sharp- 
 
72 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 teethed rats gnawed behind the wainscot, and the 
 withered figure of the hag, resting on the bed now, 
 as she moved, half hidden in the darkness, now, lit 
 up weirdly by the flickering light might have been 
 an evil spirit presiding over the whole. 
 
 If the pipe were to open for him the gates of heaven, 
 it seemed as if the road there lay through hell. 
 
 The woman regarded him attentively, with a cat 
 like and stealthy gaze. Making a great pretence of 
 going to sleep upon the bed, and often fearfully racked 
 by her cough, she yet never turned away her scrutinis 
 ing eyes. The satisfied grin which had sat upon her 
 countenance at first, faded, then vanished quite, and 
 gave place to a malignant scowl. 
 
 Rising, she made as if she would approach him, when, 
 ringing through the rising wind and splashing rain, 
 outside, came a fearful shriek, succeeded by another, 
 and yet another. 
 
 The man, letting his pipe fall, sprang to his feet, 
 and hastily drew something out of the pocket of his 
 coat ; his face reddened heavily, and his downcast 
 eye grew, as if by magic, keen and bright. Was it 
 really hell in this accursed place, then, and w r ere those 
 the screams of the condemned ? 
 
 " What was that ? " he asked, shuddering, yet with 
 a sharp, clear ring in his voice, and with a resoluteness 
 as if he would compel an answer. " What was that 
 fearful cry ? " 
 
 " What was that ? " repeated the woman, who had 
 carefully observed and noted his every gesture, and 
 accompanying her words with a fierce oath ; " nothin, 
 nothin at all. Only a drunken neighbour a beatin 
 of his wife. Go out and interfere between them if 
 you like, and have your own brains knocked out, and 
 hers into the bargain, or at the best beat twice as much 
 when you are done for. What s that you ve got in 
 your hand ? " 
 
 The sudden sharpness of the enquiry ; the feeling 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 73 
 
 that she was right, and that interference would be 
 madness ; the confusion consequent on the sense that 
 he had betrayed himself ; and the fear that the work 
 he had come to do might be frustrated on that 
 account, combined to restore the man to a sense of 
 his position. Hastily replacing the something in his 
 pocket, he sat down again. 
 
 " What did you come for ? " continued the woman, 
 in a fury ; " what do you mean by a bringin weapons, 
 and God knows what else, along with you ? Do you 
 think a poor old soul as earns a honest livin is to be 
 looked upon as thieves and robbers ? What did you 
 come here for, a pokin and a pryin ? You warn t 
 smokin , I see that. Oh, deary, deary me ! " 
 
 "I m not accustomed to it," he returned, " and 
 that s the truth. Here, you take the pipe, and smoke 
 it ; I will pay for it all the same, and while you are 
 smoking, let me tell you a story. " 
 
 " Oh, deary, deary me ! " complained the woman, 
 falling upon the bed again, and clasping her knees 
 with both hands, while she rocked herself to and fro, 
 as if in bodily agony. " I see he warn t a smokin of 
 it. I knowed as he hadn t come for no good purpose, 
 when I see that ; them as longs for it don t play with 
 it aforehand, but goes at it with all their might and 
 main, as eager as a suckin babe upon its mother s 
 breast. Oh, deary, deary me ! " 
 
 ** I tell you," he said, " that I came here to do you 
 no harm. I did not come to smoke, that is true, but 
 I came to benefit you, nevertheless. You say the times 
 are hard ; a few bright pieces of gold, though hard 
 themselves, will not make them harder." 
 
 He saw by the sudden change of expression on her 
 face, and by the glitter in her eye, that his words were 
 beginning to tell ; but still she did not change her 
 position, and, continuing to rock herself, complained 
 further 
 
 " To fall upon a poor, lone woman that never did 
 
74 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 nothing to hurt nobody ; that has been able through 
 knowin the right receipt for mixin of it to give 
 comfort to hundreds, who found no comfort more 
 no, not even in the bottle ; who earns a honest livin 
 by a honest trade ; and never had nothin to do, neither 
 with peelers nor with law courts, though she ve been 
 hard put to it many and many a day. Oh, deary, deary 
 me ! " 
 
 " Come ! " he said, persuasively. " Listen to me ! 
 I only came here to tell you a story, and I will pay you 
 for listening to it, every minute that it costs you. If you 
 can supplement my story, which I think you can, I will 
 pay you double, treble. If you cannot, or will not, I 
 will go my way again, as I came ; and if you are none 
 the better for my visit, you will assuredly be none the 
 worse." 
 
 Drawing out his purse, to satisfy her that his words 
 were earnest, he took two sovereigns out, and holding 
 it so as to show her plainly that it held many more, 
 continued 
 
 " These two pieces are yours, when you have heard 
 my story. When you have supplemented and, as I 
 hope, completed it, I will place the purse and its 
 contents in your hand." 
 
 " There s no harm done, I suppose, in hearing of 
 it ? " she said, her eyes and mouth watering at the sight 
 of the gold. " There s no law, as I knows on, to punish 
 a poor old soul for listenin to what is told her. We re 
 hedged all round about with laws cruel laws for the 
 poor, though easy enough for the rich and powerful as 
 makes em, but I reckon there ain t no law at present 
 to prevent my hearin what ye say, though like enough, 
 they ill be makin of one by-and-by." 
 
 " Then take my pipe and smoke it while I speak," 
 he said. " I suspect it will not be too strong for you, 
 though it would very soon have drowned all my faculties 
 except the faculty of imagination, as you tell me." 
 
 " You are right again there, deary," she answered, 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 75 
 
 with a chuckle, recovering her good humour, while she 
 relit the pipe, and put it to her mouth. " It s only 
 strong enough to rouse up my faculties, and to make 
 me bright and wakeful, while listening to ye." Then 
 making herself as comfortable as she could, and 
 composing herself to listen, she made a sign to him to 
 begin. 
 
 " My story is not long/ he commenced, fixing his 
 eyes attentively upon her, " nor is it, perhaps, either 
 peculiar or orignal. It is the story of two men uncle 
 and nephew both young. The uncle, a dark man, of 
 six or seven and twenty ; the nephew, almost a boy 
 still, barely twenty." 
 
 He saw the pipe tremble in her hand, and that her 
 eyes, dilating, met his as if in a manner fascinated by 
 their gaze, but she spoke no word. 
 
 " The nephew, a light-hearted, thoughtless youth ; 
 frank, unsuspicious and good natured, is although 
 so young betrothed to a beautiful young girl. This 
 betrothal has grown out of the earnest, expressed wish 
 of the parents on both sides long dead for the two, 
 boy and girl, are orphans. 
 
 " The children, brought up in constant communica 
 tion with one another, have grown accustomed to this 
 idea, and, though without any strong attachment on 
 either side, are contented in it. The time, which 
 running its rapid course has transformed them into 
 man and woman, brings the period nigh when they 
 will be united for ever. 
 
 " The uncle, who, apparently, is deeply attached to 
 his nephew, conceives a violent passion for this girl ; 
 it burns inwardly, for he gives no outward sign or token, 
 but it burns fiercely, consuming and devouring his 
 heart. Perhaps to obtain relief from the pain and 
 agony he suffers, he takes to smoking opium." 
 
 Pausing with his searching eyes upon her, he seemed 
 to try to read her very thoughts ; but though her eyes 
 met his again as if drawn there against her will, she 
 
76 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 showed no other emotion, and uttered no sound, except 
 a kind of crooning comfort and enjoyment of her pipe. 
 
 " At this crisis, just before the time fixed for the 
 marriage, and when it seems inevitable, the nephew 
 disappears. There is strong reason to suppose he has 
 been murdered. The body remains undiscovered. 
 
 " The uncle, who accepts this surmise as sure and 
 certain and indeed it seems the only probable one 
 and bowed down with grief so intense and terrible that 
 he has wasted away to a mere nothing, has moved 
 heaven and earth to find out and hunt down the 
 murderer. He is moving heaven and earth to find 
 him still." 
 
 The woman laughed ; a laugh so harsh and dis 
 cordant, that, as it rang through the room, even the 
 rats sharp teeth ceased in terror, and scuttling away 
 behind the wainscot, they abandoned, for a short time, 
 their work of destuction. The rain fell less heavily, 
 but the wind, which had been howling outside, changed 
 its tune, and laughed too, as if a thousand demons 
 peopled it. 
 
 "Do you think he will find him ? " enquired the 
 narrator, as the echoes her laugh had awakened died 
 away. 
 
 " How should I know," she replied, " what do you 
 come a tellin of your stories to me for ? What odds 
 do it make to me, whether he find him or not ? " 
 
 " You remember that I promised to pay you for 
 listening," he said. 
 
 " Yes, I do, deary, indeed I do ; I ain t forgot that. 
 My memory s goin for a many things ; it s goin fast, 
 but I don t forget that, or I shouldn t have listened to 
 ye. Go on, if you like, or tell me another story for a 
 change. There s prettier stories than that ; of lovely 
 ladies and lovely princes as comes to court and marries 
 em. Tell me another story this time, deary, and let it 
 be a merrier one. Murder s an ugly thing to talk of in 
 the dark." 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 77 
 
 " But you forget," he replied, " that I promised 
 you much more money, if you could help me to finish 
 my story. It is very incomplete now. The murdered 
 young man is not found ; the murderer is undiscovered, 
 and the disconsolate uncle is unappeased. I want my 
 story finished." 
 
 "Do you want it finished here ? " she enquired 
 peevishly, " then ask the rats ; ask the wind roarin 
 outside ; ask anybody you like, but not me. What 
 do I know about it ? " 
 
 " I told you that the uncle, to soothe the pangs of a 
 hopeless passion, took to smoking opium." 
 
 " And he did right," retorted the woman, with 
 sudden energy, " he did right ! Where else could 
 he go for comfort ! I d a done it myself. I told you 
 that them as had been crossed in love, could have what 
 they wanted here ; or anywhere else, if there is such 
 a place, where they knows the right mixin of it." 
 
 " And I know more," continued the man, " I know 
 that he cap*e here to smoke ; in this very room, probably 
 on that very bed." 
 
 " He couldn t a come to nowhere better," said the 
 woman, indifferently, " maybe you re right. There s 
 a many comes and a many goes. I mixes for em and 
 they has their wisions, and they knows that opium s 
 rare, and pays accordin ; then they goes ; but they 
 don t tell me, deary, what their wisions was." 
 
 " I know also," pursued the man quietly, always 
 with his searching eyes upon her face, " that from this 
 court, and this house, an old and feeble woman made a 
 journey for her, a long journey to follow this man. 
 I know that conquering all difficulties which must have 
 lain in her way, she persevered and tracked him to his 
 destination ; that she did this secretly ; and that the 
 object of her chase had no idea that he was followed. I 
 know that notwithstanding her age, and her decrepitude, 
 she made this journey twice. I am sure that a very 
 strong interest in his actions must have influenced her." 
 
78 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 The hag, who, during these last remarks, had been 
 eyeing him with undisguised astonishment, now, letting 
 her pipe fall, got down from her seat as quickly as her 
 trembling limbs would allow her, and taking up the 
 puny light, approached her visitor, and without the 
 least attempt to hide what she was doing, examined 
 his countenance closely and curiously; then abruptly 
 setting down the candle, she put the unexpected 
 question 
 
 " Do I know ye, deary ? " 
 
 " You must be the best judge of that," he answered. 
 
 " There was two," continued the woman, " as give 
 me three and sixpence ; two, as I never forgits, out of 
 gratitood. One was a handsome youth, who told me 
 twas last Christmas Eve that he hadn t got a sweet 
 heart, and that his name warn t Ned. He was for all 
 he told me a lie the nephew as is lost ; and t other 
 three and sixpence, deary, that was you." 
 
 He made no attempt to contradict her, and she 
 went on, grinning with delight at her own penetration. 
 
 " You was a easy-going chap then, deary, not so 
 brisk as you are now ; your head was snowy white 
 then, and I m blessed if at this minute, I see in it one 
 white hair ; other people grows older with time, but 
 you has the secret of growing young again, deary. 
 Ha, ha ! give me your secret for mine ; a fair exchange 
 is no robbery ; that would puzzle you, that would. 
 Aye, for all the change that s come over ye, my eyes is 
 sharper than ye thought for, though I was blind at 
 first ; and I knows ye now, and would know ye among 
 a thousand, for t other three and sixpence, deary." 
 
 As he still remained silent, with a hoarse chuckle, 
 she continued 
 
 " Show me the gold again, lovey ; the bright, 
 sparkling gold in your purse ; tis chilly and cold, and 
 I ll make up a little fire in the grate, and sitting before 
 it, we ll have a chat again a cozy, comfortable chat 
 and you ll give me the purse into my hand, and we ll 
 
MOTHER COOMBS HAS A VISITOR 79 
 
 change places, while I talks and you listens, deary. 
 Don t be afraid, give it to me. I ll not run away with 
 it. I ll help ye, I will ! I ll tell ye what it ll comfort 
 ye to hear, pretty nigh as well as the pipe, lovey. 
 Ugh, how the wind howls outside, and roars at us down 
 the chimney ! First smoke and then fire, deary. 
 Never heed what ye hears at the neighbour s, she s 
 accustomed to it, and I reckon she makes more on it 
 nor it is. I ve heerd her screech, that I never thought 
 to see her alive again, but she isn t dead yet, deary, and 
 half of it s sham I don t doubt." 
 
 Drawing her chair close to him, the hag began to 
 relate, and he to listen. The fire she had made burnt 
 up briskly and crackled lustily ; the only lusty thing 
 there ! The rats, reassured, returned to their ravages, 
 and hastened to complete what they had begun ; the 
 wind shrieked in at the window, roared through the 
 court, and shook the wretched tenement, till it trembled 
 to its basis ; the fire burned itself down to ashes ; 
 the fictitious night of the court outside turned to real 
 night, and still the crackled, eager voice of the hag, 
 mumbled at his ear, and still his watchful eyes were 
 turned towards her face. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 
 
 PONDERING over the instability of human greatness, 
 and with a shadowy and undefined fear haunting the 
 region of his waistcoat in fact, lying heavy there in 
 company with an undigested dinner, taken some 
 hours before that at the end of the year, now in its 
 autumnal and shortening stage, the burden and dignity 
 of mayorship would fall from his shoulders so fitted to 
 bear them his Honour turns out of the ancestral home 
 which he adorns, and proceeds, in solitary state and 
 grandeur, to take his constitutional. 
 
 A vague suspicion, which certain outward signs and 
 tokens palpable enough to one less completely arm 
 oured in self-esteem than his Honour have tended 
 to arouse, that, in the eyes of Cloisterham, he has fallen 
 somewhat from his high estate, coupled with a feeling 
 not of fear as yet, but as nearly like it as one so 
 invulnerable can be supposed to feel that on some sub 
 sequent occasions he had not quite so brilliantly distin 
 guished himself as in the affair of Mr. Landless (when 
 even his enemies and calumniators had been compelled 
 to acknowledge, in spite of themselves, that he had not 
 only shone as a bright particular star, but had displayed 
 a depth of penetration and keenness of intellect almost 
 unparalleled) gnaws at the Mayor s heart. 
 
 Why Mr. Jasper, whom he had favoured so unre 
 servedly with his improving conversation, should leave 
 a town where he could enjoy that privilege, is a problem 
 which the Mayor does not attempt to solve. 
 
 " Put not your trust in princes ! " murmurs the 
 
 80 
 
THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 81 
 
 Mayor, pathetically, as he paces to and fro, " no, nor 
 in choir-masters ! " 
 
 Dismissing the thought, he quickens his pace invol 
 untarily, in anticipation of the treat awaiting him, and 
 of the complacent admiration of himself which the 
 perusal of the epitaph on his wife s tombstone never 
 fails to awaken ; when, to his surprise, he sees that he 
 is anticipated. 
 
 Before the monument of Mrs. Sapsea is a man upon 
 his knees, who rising suddenly and turning round, 
 discloses the face and figure of Durdles Durdles, 
 begrimed and dusty, with a short, dirty pipe, brown 
 from constant use, in the corner of his mouth ; a 
 hammer in one hand, and his never-failing dinner 
 bundle though he has long dined in the other. 
 
 " Why, it s only you," stammers his Honour at last. 
 
 " And who should it be, if not Durdles ? " replies 
 that worthy, regarding the Mayor with a by no means 
 propitiatory glance, and removing his short pipe from 
 between his teeth, to spit upon the grass. " Who 
 comes a wishing of em except Durdles ? When the 
 day s fine and Durdles have got a ten-minute to spare, 
 which ain t often, through being most overrun with 
 work, and not a bit overrun with time to do it in, 
 Durdles comes out to wisit em. Not having wisited 
 Mrs. Sapsea for a long time, a year a most, and having 
 a notion to find out how things is going on down there 
 with that old ooman, and having fust cleaned himself, 
 as is the proper thing to do when a genleman is going 
 to call upon a lady, Durdles sets out to do it." 
 
 Mr. Sapsea gulps down the feelings which are naturally 
 aroused within him on hearing Mrs. Sapsea, deceased 
 who would have been a sort of Lady Mayoress, if her 
 liver had supported her to that epoch spoken of so 
 disrespectfully, as an " old woman," sagaciously con 
 sidering that any expression thereof would probably 
 check the explanation, upon which Durdles has now 
 entered in earnest, and feeling, in spite of this 
 
 G 
 
82 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 incomprehensible beginning, a strong curiosity to hear 
 the end. 
 
 " Well ! " continues Durdles, drawing strongly on 
 his pipe, and puffing the smoke with perfect indifference 
 in the face of his Honour, " I takes my hammer, which 
 is house-bell and front-door knocker, when I wisits 
 them, and I raps and raps, and raps and raps again, 
 and leaves off rapping, and stare and poke my fingers 
 into my ears, which seem all of a sudden to be stopped 
 up with cotton- wool, and raps once more. It warn t of 
 no use ; there wern t no cotton-wool in Durdles ears. 
 They was as clear as Natur made em, and as empty 
 of any thing or body to obstruct em, as is Mrs. Sap- 
 sea s tomb. Instead o answering to the perlite hinquiry 
 of Durdles, Well, mum, and how are you gitting on 
 down there ? with : Pretty well, pretty well, Durdles, 
 thankin you kindly for the haskin ; as well as can be 
 expected within the narrow limits of my abitation, and 
 the consekent closeness of the hatmosphere, that 
 perwerse female, contrairy to the well-known abits of 
 her sex, remains as silent as silent as a oyster. 
 You think that Mrs. Sapsea lies in that there silent 
 tomb, where she was laid, and where she ought to lie. 
 Durdles thought so, and yet I tell ye now, and Durdles 
 knows what he s talking about, that she ain t there no 
 more than you nor me. I tell ye that that there female, 
 who ought in the nature of things to be lying quiet and 
 comfortable where she was buried, has wanished." 
 
 " Vanished ! " repeats the Mayor mechanically, 
 " vanished ! You are drunk, Durdles, quite indecently 
 intoxicated. I am ashamed of you ; I wouldn t have 
 believed it, if I hadn t seen it myself. You have been 
 talking the most execrable nonsense ; you have been 
 fancying, I see it in your face, that you frightened me. 
 Ha, ha, the thought tickles me ! You would have to 
 have been born, Durdles, a long time before you could 
 do that. The man you see before you," continues the 
 Mayor, pompously, puffing himself out like a turkey- 
 
THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 83 
 
 cock, the high colour of indignation on his cheek in 
 creasing his resemblance to that pugnacious bird, " is 
 a man, Durdles, humbly, yet fully conscious of his social 
 position ; impregnated with the belief that the Almighty 
 has graciously endowed him with gifts superior to the 
 common herd ; grateful for his high station, as an 
 Englishman of mark, which, in contradiction to all 
 foreigners imbecile lot ! forbids him to feel fear. 
 Come to me when you are sober ; but heed my 
 words, and make off for to-day, or it will be worse 
 for you/ 
 
 " No, heed my words ! " exclaims Durdles, raising his 
 hand solemnly, " heed my words, you, Mr. Sapsea ; 
 I tell ye, with Cloisterham a hearing of me, and a bearing 
 witness to what I say, that Mrs. Sapsea, now dead nigh 
 upon two years, has arose from her grave, and is, as 
 likely as not, a walking this here earth of ours. I tell 
 ye, that it s solemn truth that her coffin s empty, and 
 that she has wanished. I tell ye, that she may be a 
 waiting for ye in your house there. Go in and be 
 comfortable, if ye can, with the dead at yer side. If 
 ye doubts Durdles words, then have the vault entered 
 and the coffin opened, and ye ll prove them true. 
 Have the coffin opened and then say if Durdles knows 
 what he s a talking about. I renounces ye and all your 
 works. There s an old saying that murdered men 
 can t rest in their graves. Murdered women, as is 
 nat ral in the sex, may be more restless still. There s 
 folks in Cloisterham as says, for all you are Mayor, 
 that you, in a sort of way, did for your wife, by a f orcin 
 that poor female, as was weak in the back and of a 
 sickly constitootion, to break it, lookin up to ye ! " 
 
 Miss Twinkleton and Rosa had met with a pleasant 
 set of rooms in Brighton facing the sea, from the bow- 
 windows of which they could watch the brightly 
 dressed visitors to that renowned watering-place, who, 
 
84 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 sauntering by, for the most part as bright-faced and 
 cheerful as their attire, looked as if they had cast off 
 London care with London dust and smoke, and made 
 up their minds thoroughly to enjoy themselves. 
 
 Their landlady, also, was as gay and pleasant in 
 appearance as the rooms themselves, and might have 
 been made to match them ; so there was every reason 
 to hope that the roses on both ladies cheeks, faded in 
 the thunderous atmosphere surrounding the Billickin, 
 would bloom again, or make room for new ones. 
 
 The fresh air, blowing from the sea ; the music of 
 the rolling waves, sometimes varied and variety is 
 ever charming by the music from " German Bands " 
 upon the Promenade ; the rows of blooming school 
 girls, walking together in twos and threes, headed by 
 a young teacher, as giddy as themselves, and brought 
 up in the rear by a female dragon, stern of visage and 
 Argus-eyed, reminding Rosa of her own happy school 
 days ; the joyous laugh from the children, building 
 speedily- demolished sand-castles on the beach ; the 
 brightness and cheerfulness on every hand, so pleasant 
 a contrast to the roar and rattle, grit and dust of the 
 vast Babylon they had left behind all these things 
 cheered Rosa, and lightened the load on her sad young 
 heart. 
 
 On a bright sunny morning, Rosa, leaving Miss 
 Twinkleton and the landlady in deep discussion about 
 the dinner, and knowing that on such occasions she 
 could well be spared, slipped away down to the beach, 
 bent on finding out some cosy nook by the water, where 
 she could sit undisturbed, fanned by the cooling sea 
 breeze, and refresh herself for in whatever gloomy 
 channel her thoughts ran, they always did refresh her 
 with the glories of the sea. 
 
 She passed, also, a group of robust seamen, who 
 greeted her kindly in their rough way, and one of them, 
 who had lost a bright-eyed daughter many year 
 before, looked wistfully down upon the beautiful little 
 
THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 85 
 
 face, sending after her a hearty " God bless ye, 
 Missy." 
 
 Leaving them, too, behind, Rosa went on until she 
 came to a spot secluded enough to satisfy her. A large 
 boat, drawn up high upon the shore, afforded her 
 protection against the hot sun, and shut out all 
 sight and almost all sound of the people upon the 
 beach. 
 
 With a soft, dreamy sensation stealing over her ; a 
 peace and comfort indescribable ; a feeling of security 
 and happiness which she had not felt for months ; she 
 lazily watched the boats upon the water rowing to and 
 fro some fishing-smacks manned by sunburnt, hard- 
 featured, and hard-handed mariners ; some pleasure 
 boats, brightly painted, and with gay awnings to shield 
 the passengers from the burning sunshine, until at last 
 her attention was attracted to a smart little yacht, 
 which appeared to be bearing straight towards the spot 
 where she was sitting. Its white sails bellied out 
 in the breeze, and the figure-head seemed, to her idle 
 fancy, to be leaning intently forward to spy her out in 
 her hiding-place. 
 
 Smiling at her own folly, Rosa, nevertheless, watched 
 with interest the natty little craft which evidently 
 intended to put in at Brighton ; and as it came nearer, 
 she saw that there were gentlemen on board. With 
 half-closed eyes she noticed all this, and noted it sleepily 
 in some corner of her brain ; and then the delicious 
 drowsiness was not to be contended against any longer 
 she had slept but little the night before and, lulled 
 by the soft murmur of the waves, her heavy lids closed, 
 and she fell asleep. 
 
 In her dreams the yacht, which had been the last 
 object apparent to her waking senses, still haunted her. 
 She seemed to see it plainly still, as it sailed straight to 
 wards her, ever nearer and nearer, until at last, with a 
 grating sound, it stranded upon the sand at her feet, and 
 the mysterious figure-head, coming out of its place and 
 
86 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 approaching her, revealed itself before her astonished 
 vision as Mr. Tartar. 
 
 Mr. Tartar ! who from head and upper part, came 
 into sudden possession of a body and legs, in a manner 
 which would have been miraculous out of the land of 
 dreams, and which startled Rosa, not a little, even 
 there ; for she was looking now with her eyes wide open 
 her hat fallen off, and her hair dishevelled right into 
 the blue orbs of the sea-lieutenant : into the blue eyes 
 of Mr. Tartar which looked out smilingly from his sun 
 burnt visage as he stood, hat in hand, looking down 
 upon her. 
 
 Springing up hurriedly, covered with confusion and 
 blushes which enhanced her loveliness (at least the sea- 
 lieutenant seemed to think so) a thousand-fold, Rosa 
 rubbed her eyes, to punish them for their laziness, and 
 with a puzzled look at the sea, where no yacht was to 
 be seen, came at last to the conclusion that she had been 
 sleeping, and was now awake, and that she must have 
 been sleeping for a time, for the water, which had 
 been almost at her feet, had retreated some distance, 
 leaving a wide stretch of sand before her. 
 
 The sea-lieutenant appeared in no hurry, not in the 
 least ; he stood as steadily and quietly as if he were 
 stationed there in performance of his duty, and would 
 have been ready and willing to stand another hour ; 
 yet his blue eyes seemed totally indifferent to the glories 
 of the sea and sky before him, and to have only thought 
 and feeling for the sweet face on which he gazed. 
 
 " How did you come here ? " enquired Rosa, still 
 colouring deeply, and so angry with herself for doing 
 so that tears of vexation came into her eyes. " Oh, if 
 anything is the matter, tell me so at once." 
 
 At these words, Mr. Tartar recovered the use of his 
 tongue, and the rest of his senses, all of which, with the 
 exception of sight (which had been put, as it were, 
 under high pressure) appeared to have deserted him 
 (or perhaps had been absorbed into that faculty), and 
 
THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 87 
 
 becoming aware of the indiscretion of staring a young 
 lady out of countenance, turned as red as she, and began 
 to murmur an apology. 
 
 Nothing whatever was the matter, and he begged 
 her pardon for having startled her by appearing before 
 her so unexpectedly. He had been looking for her, 
 commissioned to do so by Mr. Grewgious, who was now 
 waiting for them at the lodgings, and finding her so 
 sound asleep, had not dared to disturb her slumbers. 
 Would she forgive him, and believe that he that he 
 in short (quite overwhelmed with confusion), it was 
 a dilemma, now, wasn t it ? 
 
 Rosa, busy smoothing her ruffled hair, and arranging 
 her hat, made no attempt to answer that question, 
 being absorbed in another ; to wit : what would the 
 girls say, if they knew, which they never should, that 
 he had found her asleep ; and her hair as rough as 
 rough could be ? And how modest and handsome 
 he looked standing there, with his hat still in his hand ! 
 
 " We all came together," explained Mr. Tartar, 
 " about an hour ago ; Mr. Crisparkle and myself in 
 my yacht (the weather is so lovely, that I persuaded 
 him to a little trip with me), and Mr. Grewgious came 
 down by train to meet us here. I thought," he con 
 tinued modestly, " that perhaps the ladies would favour 
 us with their company on board for a few hours. The 
 weather is all that can be desired, and Lobley, my man, 
 you know, is quite enraptured at the idea of doing the 
 honours of the water. He was running to seed in 
 London, and it would be a matter of charity to give him 
 something to do." Would she would Miss Twinkle- 
 ton gratify them both, and let him show them 
 Brighton from the sea ? 
 
 " I should like to go myself Mr. Tartar ; very much, 
 I am sure ; but I am afraid Miss Twinkleton won t. 
 Now I come to think of it, I am certain she won t. 
 She s just the sort of person to be extremely sea-sick, 
 and though she might say yes, not to disappoint me, 
 
88 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 I couldn t accept the sacrifice on any account ; so, 
 though I am very, very sorry you have had so much 
 trouble for nothing, I fear we must give it up." 
 
 She began to wonder again this time puzzling her 
 little head, as to why it was so difficult to do right ; 
 and even to know, with certainty, what was right. She 
 wanted to be good ; she wanted to avoid being the 
 cause of undeserved suffering to others, and was willing 
 to suffer herself instead ; and now, here was another 
 who would be happy if she only took thought for herself. 
 She knew it was so, by the sinking of her overburdened 
 heart. Oh, if she had but a mother to tell her what was 
 really right, and what she ought to do ! 
 
 So she walked by his side, sad and troubled, while he 
 was feeling somehow as if the sunshine had faded, and 
 the laughter of the merrymakers on the beach were 
 hollow mockery. 
 
 Presently Rosa asked how it was that they had 
 known where to look for her, and her companion ex 
 plained that Miss Twinkleton had told them she was 
 probably upon the beach ; that he and Mr. Crisparkle 
 had volunteered to go and look for her ; and that, after 
 a short search, he had lighted upon her resting-place. 
 The Minor Canon was no doubt searching still 
 
 They were now close to the lodgings, and Rosa 
 fancied that she could distinguish Miss Twinkleton s 
 stiff curls, and Mr. Grewgious smooth head behind 
 the curtains of the bow window ; when it occurred to 
 her that it was hardly fair to Mr. Crisparkle to leave 
 him to his fate ; and with her usual impulsive quickness 
 she said so. 
 
 And/oh dear ! what a long time they were in finding 
 Mr. Crisparkle ! As if that gentleman had provided 
 himself with a coat of invisibility for the occasion ; 
 or, in league with Mr. Tartar, shrouded his cheerful 
 countenance in a veil too dense to penetrate. Once 
 or twice, Rosa felt almost sure she saw him in the 
 distance ; but she must have been mistaken, for Mr. 
 
THE DEAD AND THE QUICK 89 
 
 Tartar, whose eyes, as he gravely informed her, were 
 so accustomed to distinguish objects far ahead, as to be 
 incapable of erring, always persisted that she was 
 wrong, and turning would recommence the search in 
 an opposite direction. 
 
 It was remarkable, too, that in spite of their hurry, 
 the sea-lieutenant s pace was extremely easy ; and 
 when Rosa rather uneasily proposed that they should 
 mend it, he informed her that having only just " cast " 
 his sea-legs, as it were, he found it difficult to get accus 
 tomed to his land ones ; he hoped, however, that with 
 time and patience, he might yet learn to use them with 
 a landsman s agility. Furthermore, she could not help 
 noticing, that his far-seeing eyes, instead of sweeping 
 the distance, rested repeatedly on her face, where of 
 course he could not expect to find Mr. Crisparkle ; 
 and she could have cried with vexation, as she keenly 
 realised that he made use of the bright blushes which 
 his earnest gaze called up there, as nutriment for his 
 hopes. And the worst, and hardest of it was, that 
 she could not help liking and admiring him through 
 it all. 
 
 At length, when she could speak without betraying 
 her emotion, she expressed her determination to return 
 to the lodgings ; for, on the one hand, Miss Twinkleton 
 would be shocked at her remaining out so long ; and, 
 on the other, she felt certain that Mr. Crisparkle was 
 waiting for them there, and had given up the search as 
 hopeless, long ago. 
 
 Of course, Mr. Tartar had no choice but to accom 
 pany her ; and lo, and behold ! as they recrossed the 
 beach, there was the Revd. Septimus, bearing down 
 upon them in full sail, very hot from hard walking, 
 and with the faintest, tiniest, little idea of a shadow on 
 his face. 
 
 After warmly greeting Rosa, and expressing his 
 pleasure at seeing her look so well poor child, the 
 bright colour on her cheeks had been called up by shame 
 
go A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and vexation ! he turned wonderingly towards his 
 friend. 
 
 " Why, Tartar, what on earth have you been running 
 away from me for ? I ve seen you twenty times, 
 and then, as if by magic, you disappeared. It s made 
 me uncommonly warm," he continued, taking off his 
 hat to let the fresh sea-breeze play about his temples, 
 " and reminded me of as stiff a game of hide and seek 
 as I ever played in my life." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A DAY UPON THE WATER 
 
 IN the pretty parlour, directly opposite Miss Twinkle- 
 ton, sits Mr. Grewgious, waiting for the return of his 
 ward. The poor man has found the time long. He 
 has been bountifully regaled with a moral repast ; and, 
 to judge by the appearance of his discomfited look, 
 perplexed face, and ruffled locks ruffled from excess of 
 smoothing seems to have found it rather strong than 
 savoury. He is now engaged in digesting it, and is 
 troubled by the reflection that it must be some serious 
 fault in his organisation which makes it disagree with 
 him. 
 
 But the downcast and depressed physiognomy of 
 Mr. Grewgious brightens up amazingly at sight of his 
 ward, and of her glowing cheeks ; and when she, with a 
 little burst of delight at feeling herself safe again under 
 his protection, throws her arms around his neck, 
 letting her loosened brown curls play about it, to press 
 her warm, soft lips to his withered face, he reddens, 
 bashful as a schoolboy. But he likes it. Oh, he likes 
 it ! Proud, happy and elate, he enters into a mental 
 calculation as to how much Mr. Crisparkle would give 
 for it, and how much more, multiplied a hundred-fold, 
 Mr. Tartar. And he forgets all about Miss Twinkleton, 
 as he lays his favoured arm round Rosa s waist, and, 
 drawing the sweet little flushed face close to his to let 
 his short-sighted eyes feast upon it at their ease, asks 
 her what has kept them so long. 
 
 It is naughty of Rosa ! It is utterly unanswerable, 
 inconsiderate and non-resolution-like of Rosa, with 
 
 91 
 
92 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 those wistful blue eyes upon her ! Why, if even Mr. 
 Crisparkle, with his heart full of the remembrance of 
 another girlish figure ; with tender recollections of 
 other warm lips upon his hand ; with eyes softening 
 even now at the thought of other dark eyes, so haughty 
 and resolute for the rest of the world, so gentle and 
 submissive when they meet his why, if even Mr. 
 Crisparkle looks on with admiration, and, perhaps, some 
 envy, what must be the feelings of the sea-lieutenant ? 
 It is naughty of Rosa, with those longing eyes upon 
 her face ! 
 
 And, alas for her resolution, doomed to be attacked 
 so fatally this morning ! What on earth can she have 
 been thinking of to make such a monstrous and incom 
 prehensible assertion, to wit : that she believes Miss 
 Twinkleton is afraid of the water. Has Rosa ever 
 known Miss T. puts the question with stern pathos 
 and total forgetfulness of the Billickin has Rosa ever 
 known her afraid of anything ? Is Miss Twinkleton 
 not already dressed quite youthfully and charmingly 
 dressed for the occasion ? And she will not cast a 
 damper upon the pleasure in prospect by referring, 
 however distantly, to a word in private and in season 
 which she must address to her young charge as to the 
 impropriety of remaining alone so long upon the beach. 
 And so speaking, Miss T. hurries Rosa away to make 
 her toilette. 
 
 Now it happens that that lady, usually so discreet, 
 has caught a glimpse of Mr. Tartar s longing blue eyes, 
 and interpreted their unspoken words, not only without 
 anger, but also with a certain satisfaction. Her pretty 
 charge united to that handsome gentleman ; herself 
 ahem ! united to a gentleman whose moral qualities 
 more than compensate for his want of personal attrac 
 tions what further need of professing to regard these 
 possible events as otherwise than natural and desirable ? 
 With the cap of the matron upon her corkscrew curls, 
 Miss T. feels that she would be even capable of avowing, 
 
A DAY UPON THE WATER 93 
 
 that, after all, the fetters of matrimony are easier to bear 
 than is the burden of single blessedness. 
 
 A movement downstairs as of impatiently pacing 
 gentlemanly feet so alarms Miss Twinkleton, before 
 whose lively imagination arises a vision of the yacht 
 stranded ; Lobley s sunflower face behind a cloud ; 
 the gentlemanly feet pacing off without them ; and her 
 own hopes for ever shattered, that she almost drags 
 Rosa downstairs again into the parlour, where they 
 arrive, breathless. 
 
 Still breathless, Rosa finds herself on the road to the 
 shore, supported by Mr. Tartar and Mr. Crisparkle, 
 while Miss Twinkleton follows close behind, her virgin 
 hand resting on Mr. Grewgious stiffly bent arm, and her 
 faded blue eyes brightened with unwonted light, as 
 she smiles into his face, improving the occasion, and 
 deeming herself already in Elysium. 
 
 " This is pleasure, indeed, Mr. Grewgious ! " she 
 murmurs when they are aboard. 
 
 He is trying for some compromise between his 
 inmost thoughts, and the sentiments which politeness 
 would seem to demand, when a roll of the ship sends his 
 cap over his eyes, and shuts out simultaneously both 
 Miss Twinkleton and the heaving sea. 
 
 " The wind is rising," pursues Miss Twinkleton, 
 whose spirits are rising, too, to an appalling degree, 
 and who is exhibiting unmistakable signs of a highly 
 alarming preceptorial gaiety, " and our attentive host 
 has just informed me that our fairy craft is going at 
 the rate of I forget how many knots an hour." 
 (Miss Twinkleton lays an emphasis on the word knots, 
 as an intimation that she always puts the right word in 
 the right place.) 
 
 Something very unpleasant, indeed not wind is 
 rising in Mr. Grewgious throat, but with a tremendous 
 effort he gulps it down, and once more emerging from 
 his cap, looks about him. 
 
 Presently Mr. Grewgious suddenly and unceremoni- 
 
94 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 ously turns his back on the expectant Miss Twinkle- 
 ton, and shows her an unmistakably cold shoulder. 
 Falling into the extended arms of Lobley, Mr. Tartar s 
 man, who turns up at the very nick of time, the 
 prostrate gentleman is conveyed into the tiny cabin 
 by that dexterous seaman. 
 
 He remains a full hour eclipsed, but at the end of 
 that time he allows the beams of his countenance to 
 irradiate the deck again. He is pale, but composed. 
 He is gently pensive, but tranquil. He has been 
 tended by the attentive Lobley, who allows his con 
 tempt for the greenness of the subject only so much 
 licence as may be gratified by stealthy grins behind the 
 patient s back. 
 
 At a sign from Mr. Tartar, Lobley presents a bottle all 
 round as a preventive. Miss Twinkleton refuses at 
 first with some indignation, but yields at last to 
 the persuasions of the sea-lieutenant. She becomes 
 immediately unconscious of an inside, and almost for 
 gets her sorrows. They all become, as if by magic, more 
 lively. The spirits, which have been ebbing, rise again. 
 
 Lobley, who has disappeared with the bottle, 
 reappears with everything necessary for a cold collation, 
 and arranges and lays a table, with a seaman s neatness 
 and dexterity, upon the deck. Lobley is conscious, 
 though with becoming modesty, that this sort of thing 
 can only be done to perfection on the water. He shows 
 a gentle sympathy, and manifests a mild compassion 
 for those unfortunates who have spent their lives on 
 land, and who cannot conceive the bliss of a storm at 
 sea. He is particularly considerate towards Mr. Grew- 
 gious, as a strong man might be towards a helpless 
 child, and has an air about him, as if he were constantly, 
 in imagination, patting that worthy gentleman upon 
 the back. He flanks the table with bottles of rare 
 wine, chosen by the sea-lieutenant for the occasion, and 
 finally announces, with the manner of a butler-in-chief 
 to King Neptune, that the feast is ready. 
 
A DAY UPON THE WATER 95 
 
 Miss Twinkleton, who, in lieu of the faithless Mr. 
 Grewgious, has been victimizing the good-natured 
 Minor Canon, and making him acquainted, in a funereal 
 voice, with certain sombre recollections of her youth, 
 when occasions, expected to be pleasurable, turned to 
 woe, and bright and promising mornings ended in 
 darkest night, winds up with the^trite observation, 
 " That this is indeed a vale of tears, Mr. Crisparkle," 
 lets fall one, shares in the good things before her, 
 and is comforted. Mr. Crisparkle, who has deemed it 
 a matter of courtesy not to contradict a lady, though 
 cherishing in secret his own private ideas of life, sees 
 less reason than ever to change his views on the subject. 
 Mr. Grewgious partakes, in moderation, and after due 
 consultation with Lobley ; for whose wisdom, he in 
 forms their host, in an audible whisper, he entertains 
 the highest respect. The spirits which have been ebbing 
 fast, rise high again. 
 
 Lobley, behind Miss Twinkleton s spare shoulders, 
 lets fall mysterious hints of a dinner in course of 
 preparation, more wonderful than the mind of a 
 landsman can conceive. 
 
 He pours out a glass of wine for the good lady as he 
 speaks, and recommends her to " tip it off," for it will do 
 her good. She follows the recommendation, quaffs 
 the fragrant liquid, and is heard to laugh, actually to 
 laugh. 
 
 As for Mr. Tartar and Rosa what makes Mr. Grew 
 gious viewing them intently with screwed-up eyes 
 what makes him so fidgetty and restless ? Is it not a 
 pleasant sight, that delicate, girlish figure, those graceful 
 proportions ? Is it not a delight to contemplate 
 that soft brown hair, loosened by the wind, which, 
 falling free over her black dress, shines there like sun 
 shine ? Or is it the figure at her side, brave, manly, and 
 modest ; frank, fearless, and unassuming is that an 
 object to trouble Mr. Grewgious ? 
 
 No. It is the look in the sea-lieutenant s handsome 
 
96 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 face, plain even to his short-sighted eyes. He has not 
 seen it often, but he has felt it once ; and he knows, 
 ah ! he knows full well what it means. 
 
 Good God ! Does the child love him ? He cannot 
 see her face, for it is turned towards the sea, but her 
 figure is shrinking, her head downcast. He hears Miss 
 Twinkleton expatiating on the amount of the infor 
 mation she has gained. He hears various cries and 
 exclamations from the sailors. He hears Mr. Cris- 
 parkle call him to come and look through the telescope. 
 But he heeds none of them. He is absorbed in his 
 anxiety to see the child s face, and read its meaning if 
 he can. As if he were her father and no father could 
 feel more tenderly, more lovingly towards the little 
 creature, whom he loves for her dear sake he thinks 
 of her at this moment only as " the child." 
 
 At last he sees it ; pale, troubled, with the tears 
 trembling on her dark lashes, and with quivering lips. 
 What has he been saying to her ? 
 
 Mr. Grewgious does not wait to answer his own 
 question, but hurries across the deck, reckless of his 
 unhappy propensity for running foul of everything in his 
 way, and almost capsizing the telescope and the Minor 
 Canon ; and for the rest of the day he does not leave 
 her side again. 
 
 What fun it is, Rosa thinks, to see sure-footed Mr. 
 Crisparkle cross the deck, so uncertain and so slow. 
 And to see Miss Twinkleton give it up at the first step 
 and fall plump into Lobley s tatooed arms. And to 
 feel herself reeling and staggering like a drunken man, 
 when she makes the experiment herself. Oh, the fun 
 and frolic of that day upon the water ! 
 
 And when the sun sets, going down into the deep 
 blue water like a ball of molten gold, dyeing the heavens 
 deep red and purple in its passage, and lighting up the 
 whole great ocean with tints of gold ! 
 
 And in the mysterious twilight, almost windstill, 
 when the sailors, incited by Lobley, sing snatches of 
 
A DAY UPON THE WATER 97 
 
 wild sea-songs, weird and strange to hear ; when Mr. 
 Tartar appears in the character of a first-rate tenor, and 
 Mr. Crisparkle gives them the essence of the " Alternate 
 Musical Wednesdays," in his cheerful bass, Mr. Grew- 
 gious joining in, and, taking the will for the deed, not 
 badly either, in the chorus ; when Rosa s fresh voice 
 sings a sweet song of love ; and even Miss Twinkleton 
 contributes her mite in a sentimental ballad of her 
 girlhood, the substance of which is, emphatically, that 
 " Men are false, and women are fair." Oh, the happi 
 ness, and sweet, sweet peace of that day upon the water ! 
 It is over at last. The gentlemen are gone their 
 various ways, and Rosa and Miss Twinkleton are alone 
 again in their lodgings. Late as it is, the elder lady 
 would like to improve the occasion, but Rosa, some 
 what stormily pleading great weariness, is finally (not 
 without a struggle) permitted to retire for the night, 
 unimproved and unreproved. The fight between 
 inclination and duty has been fought out to the end, 
 and Rosa s wishes have been conquered by Rosa s 
 sense of duty. As she lays her weary head upon the 
 pillow, her slight frame trembles with emotion that is 
 not joy, and her cheeks are wet with scalding drops, 
 which she cannot persuade even herself to be tears of 
 happiness. 
 
 H 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PLACE IS HAUNTED ! 
 
 A STRANGE rumour has sprung up in Cloisterham 
 (always, by-the-by, a fruitful and well prepared bed for 
 such a growth, by reason of its chronic drowsiness), 
 and has developed with such amazing rapidity 
 that it has become, as it were, a stately tree, over 
 shadowing the whole community, before anyone has 
 thought of attacking its young life, and nipping it in the 
 bud. A sort of Upas tree, diffusing sickly vapours all 
 around, and destroying every plant of healthier 
 growth in its vicinity ; and not only overwhelming 
 Cloisterham, but extending beyond the confines of that 
 ancient city, and tainting with its poisonous breath the 
 country for miles on every side. Passers through the 
 town suck in the poison on the road there, and becoming 
 deeply and mortally affected during the transit, carry 
 it out with them far beyond. Swarthy labourers, 
 housing the golden harvest, relate it to new comers, 
 with loud guffaws of disbelief, in the burning sunshine ; 
 but huddle together when the evening comes, like a 
 flock of sheep, and not one would risk, on any account, 
 being left alone in the solitary field, where the harvest 
 moon is shining. Errant schoolboys, heedless of the 
 master s threatening rod, linger behind in shady lanes, 
 to whisper it into the ears of their fellows, round-eyed 
 and open-mouthed, with wonder. Old wives and young 
 maids ; old maids and young wives, forget old heart 
 burnings, and cackle about it over a friendly cup of tea, 
 with weird delight in its horrors, as only the much 
 maligned female sex can cackle. Sturdy citizens of 
 
 98 
 
THE PLACE IS HAUNTED! 99 
 
 Cloisterham, foaming over with it in emulation of their 
 foaming beer, gather together in cozy bar-rooms, and, 
 drinking an extra pot or two, to give it seasoning, con 
 fide to each other their various informations concerning 
 it ; then stagger home at midnight, irate and out of 
 pocket, to scold their expectant wives for having 
 chattered about the same thing at home, and finally go 
 heavily to bed, to dream mayhap, in remembrance of 
 their late waking propensity, of two ghosts instead 
 of one. 
 
 For it is a ghost which troubles Cloisterham. A 
 ghost raised up, no one knows by whose agency, and 
 refusing with the tenacity of a shadow, to be laid again. 
 " The place is haunted ! " 
 
 Not by long dead monk or nun, committed " dust to 
 dust and ashes to ashes, * centuries ago, and putting 
 itself together, God knows how ! with most unpardonable 
 self-conceit, in order to present itself to public scrutiny, 
 when its time for being taken notice of, and of taking 
 notice, is past long years before. Not by any of the 
 " old uns " far too wise now to meddle with the often 
 dirty affairs of mortals, with which they soiled their 
 fingers, in the times when they were, they rest peace 
 fully in their coffins under the vaults, until pitched into 
 by Durdles or his satellites, then turn to dust without 
 a moment s notice, or a moment s inclination to resist 
 their fate. Shrinking from public notice, instead of 
 courting it, they sleep a dreamless sleep in their prison 
 houses, and enjoy deep unconscious rest after their 
 short span of life ; rest from toil and care ; rest from 
 fierce passions and ambitions ; rest from cruel oppres 
 sion of their fellow-men ; rest from crimes unrevealed, 
 which only the last great day will bring to light. 
 And till that summons comes, they sleep undisturbed 
 and undisturbing, leaving their successors to live out 
 their little day, until their night comes too, as they did 
 before them. 
 
 What is it then that haunts Cloisterham ? Rumour 
 
loo A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 can tell you, for Rumour knows all about it ; gets 
 entangled sometimes in the fullness of its information ; 
 running risk of tripping up, or being tripped up, like 
 a naughty boy telling a story. Rumour can tell you 
 that a female, tall, sepulchral-looking most natural 
 for one, who spends her day time in a sepulchre clothed 
 in white (of course ! what ghost would appear in a 
 black garment ! its object being to be seen, one would 
 suppose, or why turn out at all ? and clothing of a 
 sombre hue being undiscernible by mortal vision in 
 the dead of night) and in flowing garments ; in short, 
 with every indispensable to make it thoroughbred and 
 indisputably legitimate ; and always on view at mid 
 night in the churchyard, or in the Cathedral, " a singing 
 ghostly songs," or in the vaults, " screeching like an 
 out-and-outer," or stalking about Cloisterham on 
 particularly dark nights. Rumour has seen it often, 
 as plain as plain, nay, much plainer. Rumour has heard 
 it wailing, like ten thousand horrors, in the Cathedral. 
 What, you don t believe it ? You pucker up your lips, 
 and wrinkle your nose, and shake your head, making a 
 perfect fright of yourself, and proclaim the whole affair 
 bosh and nonsense ! Go with Rumour, between twelve 
 and two o clock at night, through the churchyard, when 
 the wind is rising, and mark, if you don t hear it then ! 
 But as nobody does go, and wouldn t have gone for the 
 world, not even you ! Rumour has it all its own way, 
 and makes the most of it. Bless you, it grows fat and 
 hale upon it. It even whispers in everybody s ear 
 for it has ferreted out the secret, and knows all about 
 it who it is who makes these nightly rounds. Nobody 
 is to tell anybody else on any account whatever ; which 
 isn t in the least necessary, for Rumour takes precious 
 good care to perform that office itself, and lets every 
 man, woman and child it can get at, into its confidence. 
 Listen ! Bend your head ! Be sure you don t tell ! 
 The reverential wife ; the incomparable looker up ; the 
 late Mrs. Sapsea ! 
 
THE PLACE IS HAUNTED! 101 
 
 There now, isn t that a stunner ! Did you ever ? 
 No, you never ; of course you do ; they all never, one 
 and all. Mrs. Tope even reports that the Revd. 
 Septimus Crisparkle, Minor Canon in Cloisterham, on 
 first receiving the startling information, made use of 
 the same unsesthetical observation. But Mrs. Tope s 
 excitement is so great, that she can hardly be looked 
 upon in the light of an authentic witness, and having 
 been losing her head, as she has pathetically declared 
 to her lord and master, every hour of the last fortnight, 
 may be supposed to have reached the culminating point 
 at this present, and to have really lost it. 
 
 The very last person likely ! A woman, who had 
 passed through life as a shadow, and gone off the stage 
 through utter inability to act even that inanimate part 
 any longer, could certainly not be expected to return 
 of her own free will, and react it, for her own delecta 
 tion ! A woman, even in life so faint and colourless, 
 that her pupils had almost utterly ignored her, and, 
 revelling in the extravagances prompted by their 
 exuberant youth, had been wont to regard her faint 
 remonstrances, and still fainter penalties, as of hardly 
 any account whatever ! A woman, whom even her 
 bereaved conjugal partner had only chosen on account 
 of her extreme humility and unparalleled capacity for 
 looking up, without making even a step towards the 
 contemplated level ! And this woman, this nonentity, 
 who died, apparently, because she hadn t strength of 
 mind enough to live, should take it upon herself to 
 raise up all this commotion, and to intrude her indiff 
 erent charms into a sphere which had thrust her out 
 for ever, and to which she had no manner of right to 
 return ! If Rumour hadn t been absolutely certain 
 of the fact, it would have seemed an impossibility. 
 
 But stay ! There are reasons for not being able 
 to remain quiet in the grave, made out and fully 
 established long ago as unanswerable ones, to which 
 even a departed spirit must submit, and which may be 
 
102 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 strong enough to compel it to return, willing or unwill 
 ing, to the scenes of its former sins or sorrows ; either 
 to do penance on earth, for crimes committed there, or 
 to reveal to mortals the mystery of crimes perpetrated 
 on itself, which they must avenge. Is it one of these 
 reasons, or is it any other, that is influencing the late 
 Mrs. Sapsea ? 
 
 Or is it her modesty, perhaps, which is the cause of 
 her restlessness ? Does that high-sounding epitaph, 
 attracting so much of public attention, appeal to her 
 sense of her deficiencies, and, disturbing her rest, even 
 in the tomb, drive her forth to wander. Or is the 
 contradictory spirit of her sex aroused, even at this 
 late period, prompting her because she had enjoyed so 
 little of popular attention during her lifetime, to deter 
 mine to possess it afterwards. Who can decide between 
 these conjectures ? Not muddle-headed Cloisterham ! 
 Not many-tongued Rumour, who proposes a new 
 solution every day. And this is the great point now 
 under consideration ; for as to the fact of her reappear 
 ance, Rumour is considered, on all hands, to have 
 proved that beyond a doubt. 
 
 Two people in Cloisterham at this time, next to the 
 ghost, absorb the greater part of popular attention 
 the stonemason, Durdles, and his stoner-in-chief, the 
 ragged Deputy. The latter, indeed, is so in vogue, that 
 he might have eclipsed even Rumour, were it not that 
 that vague individual, finding his reputation in danger, 
 cunningly makes a league with his rival, and unites his 
 powers to his, till they become almost inseparable. 
 A jolly time of it has Deputy in the tap-room of various 
 public-houses " none of your low sort, either," but 
 in houses of undoubted respectability, where, in the 
 times that are past, he would have been regaled with 
 nothing better than the taste of a rope s end but 
 where now he is sumptuously accommodated, gratis, 
 with pots of foaming beer or porter, glasses hot as hot 
 of stiff brandy and water, or any other fragrant mixture 
 
THE PLACE IS HAUNTED! 103 
 
 handy ; the while he draws on his imagination, inflamed 
 with drink, for the benefit of a trembling, yet delighted 
 audience. 
 
 No matter that the tale repeated undergoes so 
 many and such astonishing variations, demoralised 
 Cloisterham always has ready for the newest account the 
 most profound belief, and no supper can be eaten 
 without a plentiful seasoning of this piquant sauce. 
 
 As for Deputy, he has fully made up his mind, in 
 the event of such a dreadful calamity occurring as this 
 ghost being laid, to raise up a private one of his own 
 as speedily as possible, completely convinced that no 
 other investment of any sort whatever could yield him 
 such big and safe returns. 
 
 Durdles is, perhaps, though in a different way, quite 
 as interesting an object in the eyes of Cloisterham as 
 his faithless retainer. He is a hundred times more 
 mysterious, and suffers, by reason of boundless popu 
 larity, in very much the same way as other great people 
 whose renown capricious Fame deserved or un 
 deserved has sounded upon her mighty trumpet. 
 
 He is invariably attended by an admiring crowd, 
 who gaze rapturously at him eating his dinner upon a 
 tombstone ; tread upon his heels as he staggers through 
 Cloisterham ; yell outside his dwelling, the while he is 
 engaged within in that process of " cleaning himself," 
 which is attended by no visible results ; and even 
 dodge his footsteps to the dreaded vaults, where he 
 retires sometimes, as a monarch might retire when the 
 adulation of his loyal subjects becomes oppressive. 
 Dozens of ragged urchins clamorously make applica 
 tions for the post vacated by the faithless Deputy, 
 and express their willingness to stone him to any 
 amount whatever for even less than the proverbial 
 song. 
 
 As for phlegmatic Durdles, he accepts this sudden 
 and full-blown popularity with the same indifference 
 with which he will lose it when it goes ; and, provided 
 
104 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 with a heavy stick to keep intruders from too close 
 contact with his person, swills his beer and bolts his 
 dinner in exactly the same space of time as was his 
 wont, allowing all curious gazers to enjoy this sublime 
 spectacle with a perfect nonchalance all his own. 
 
 In one respect, however, Deputy is much better off 
 than the stonemason. Thrifty landladies discover 
 after a while that no amount of beer, although freely 
 accepted and partaken of, can oil the mouth of this 
 latter worthy, or induce him to go beyond his original 
 communication, that " Durdles knowed what he 
 knowed ; and Durdles could speak if he would ; and if 
 folk wouldn t heed folk, they hadn t no right to wonder 
 if folk bothered em." 
 
 This remark, though possessing all the high qualities 
 of an oracle, or a Sphinx s riddle, and admitting of 
 almost any construction whatever, loses gradually, 
 by dint of repetition, the charm of novelty ; and the 
 landladies relax in their attentions, contenting them 
 selves with rushing to the door whenever he passes 
 with his numerous retinue, and wondering pensively, 
 as they contemplate him, what sort of a charnel house 
 of delicious horrors his dusty coat and waistcoat 
 
 cover up. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Whatever curiosity Mrs. Tope may have had con 
 cerning the doings of her lodger, Mr. Datchery, during 
 his long absence from Cloisterham (and you may be 
 sure she was no exception to her sex, or to either sex, 
 for the matter of that, in this respect, and had her 
 full share), she obtained very little gratification 
 for it. 
 
 The single buffer, living on his means, re-appeared 
 quite unexpectedly, and without any previous notice, 
 in his lodgings, cut out of the city wall under the arch 
 way, on a pouring wet afternoon ; protesting that he 
 was drenched to the skin, and hungry as a wolf ; and 
 begging Mrs. Tope to get him a bit of something to 
 
THE PLACE IS HAUNTED! 105 
 
 peck at, the while he dried and warmed himself at her 
 kitchen fire. 
 
 The Verger s wife threw out various little lines, with 
 the hooks thereof cunningly concealed, but landed no 
 fish worth speaking of. 
 
 Mr. Datchery fell to, at a juicy rump steak, with a 
 famous appetite ; declaring, to Mrs. Tope s great satis 
 faction, that there was no ale in the world comparable 
 to that brewed in Cloisterham. Partaking thereof 
 copiously, before the blazing kitchen fire, with his boots 
 steaming upon the hob, and a fragrant odour from some 
 delicious mixture which Mrs. Tope was concocting for 
 him and which he was to drink boiling hot, to keep him 
 from taking cold after his exposure, tickling his nose, 
 as a delightful foretaste of what it meant to do regarding 
 his palate, this simple-minded individual contrived 
 somehow in the most natural manner in the world, and 
 without asking a single question indeed, with rather 
 the air of one who was good-natured enough to listen 
 to her prattle, although it bored him somewhat ; he 
 yawned once or twice quite naturally to obtain from 
 Mrs. Tope s lips, only too glad to be allowed to open 
 themselves, the sum and substance of everything which 
 had occurred in the town during his absence ; and was 
 put upon such terms with the ghost and its usual 
 whereabouts, that he might have risked going out blind 
 fold, and coming upon its haunts as sure as fate. 
 
 <; And there is some as says," concluded Mrs. Tope, 
 dropping her voice mysteriously, and looking out of the 
 window into the Precincts to see if anyone was passing, 
 " as the poor soul didn t come to her death in a nat rel 
 way. Yeller she were, afore she died ; I remember 
 that well. I think I see her still, a walking in the Close, 
 along with him," jerking her thumb in the direction of 
 the High Street, " and I says to Tope, Tope, ain t she 
 yeller ? I says. But, Lor , that ain t no proof. It 
 may be slow pison, or it may be bile, yeller may. The 
 doctor said twas liver, and he ought to know, though 
 
io6 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 he ain t much looked up to, ain t Mr. Green, as being 
 what you may call fust-rate ; and folks did say as he 
 was called in because he s cheap. But folks will 
 talk/ said the Verger s wife, with a toss of her head in 
 conscious superiority to " folks " in this respect, 
 " and what with one bit o scandal and what with 
 another as I ve a said to Tope, a good hundred time, 
 I do believe my head s a going." 
 
 She shook it again, as who should say, " As it is my 
 fate to lose it, the sooner the better," and looked 
 enquiringly at her lodger, to see what effect this last 
 savoury morsel of news had had upon him. 
 
 But he was nodding in his seat before the kitchen 
 fire, and as Mrs. Tope s voice died away, she distinctly 
 heard a little snore. Perhaps that roused him, or 
 perhaps the sudden stop in her conversation did. 
 
 He started up, covered a tremendous gape with his 
 hand, and vowing he was worn out bade her good 
 night. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE MAYOR UNDER A CLOUD 
 
 THINGS had come to such a pass in Cloisterham that 
 Mr. Sapsea s life was hardly safe in the old city ; and 
 he was virtually compelled, under the transparent 
 pretence of ill-health, to take his constitutionals in the 
 seclusion of his own apartments. The necessity for 
 immediate measures became daily more urgent. 
 
 Cloisterham had made up its mind at last, that the 
 reason why Mrs. Sapsea was not where she ought to be 
 (viz., in her grave) was, that she had been murdered. 
 And who had murdered Mrs. Sapsea ? Why, who but 
 her husband ! 
 
 There was no earthly reason why he should have done 
 so ; but that made no difference to Cloisterham. He 
 had expected a great deal of silent adoration and looking 
 up to, undoubtedly, yet had never been otherwise an 
 unkind husband ; but Cloisterham was not the sort of 
 city to puzzle its head with unnecessary details. 
 
 Just as in the years past, this city of a bygone time 
 would have condemned and burnt a witch (after first 
 torturing her) only because she was accused of being 
 one ; so they condemned and would have executed Mr. 
 Sapsea as a murderer, for the sole reason that he was 
 accused of being one. 
 
 Among the many anxious to place the rope round 
 the murderer s neck (and it is astonishing how many 
 competitors there always are for this odious office, 
 which it might be supposed for the sake of common 
 humanity one would only be too glad to leave to the 
 hangman and birds of his feather), there were some 
 
 107 
 
io8 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 who even went further than the general voice ; some 
 who even mooted the hypothesis that Mr. Sapsea had 
 not only murdered Mrs. Sapsea by slow degrees, but 
 Mr. Edwin Drood by rapid ones ; that he was, in short, 
 one of those wholesale murderers, offshoots of the devil, 
 who spring up, from time to time, to show us of what 
 mankind is capable, and prove that if, as Wordsworth 
 says, " trailing clouds of glory, we do come from God," 
 we most certainly must have passed through the other 
 place also, in our transit, and accumulated no small 
 proportion of its filth. 
 
 Some few adherents still clung fondly to him who 
 had been the former object of so much reverence and 
 admiration. Among the warmest of these was Miss 
 Twinkleton. In a constant state of flaming indigna 
 tion against the public, this excellent lady found 
 herself far less able than usual to cope with the 
 rebellious spirits of the young ladies. 
 
 So it had come to pass that Mr. Sapsea s life was 
 hardly safe in Cloisterham, and that he was forced to 
 make use of his hall and passage as a promenade. 
 Stones, thrown by invisible hands, had stuck him pain 
 fully behind, and even had the presumption to ascend 
 to the magisterial hat, and precipitate that priestly and 
 venerable headpiece into the gutter. 
 
 Rotten eggs had sullied the purity of his nether 
 garments, and had laid their desecrating touch upon 
 the majesty of his black, and, previously, spotless coat. 
 
 A drowned kitten, foul to touch and scent, had 
 alighted upon his august head from an unknown window 
 in the High Street. 
 
 " Where s yer wife ? " became the popular street 
 cry in Cloisterham, repeated with shouts of derisive 
 laughter. Placards were posted on the door of the 
 Mayor s house, full of vague threatenings. Anony 
 mous letters were addressed to his Honour, containing 
 the ominous words : " Who poisoned the old lady ? " 
 
 At last private counsel and advice, and public 
 
THE MAYOR UNDER A CLOUD 109 
 
 execration and ignominy, prevailed with his Honour, 
 and he made his famous suggestion that the vault should 
 be entered, the coffin opened, and the body examined, 
 " so as to put an end for ever (so the Mayor worded it) 
 to all these false and lying calumniations, concocted 
 by his enemies ; who, jealous of his high renown, had 
 sought by such means, base enough for the Evil One, 
 to undermine and ruin him. But (so the Mayor con 
 cluded) their vile machinations would perish and come 
 to shame, and they along with them ; and his tarnished 
 honour would shine more brightly than ever for the 
 ordeal to which it had been subjected." 
 
 On hearing of this decree, the few constant admirers 
 of his Honour, who had taken to skulking in by-ways, 
 and hardly dared show themselves in the light of day, 
 raised their voices again in a shout of triumph. 
 
 They had always said so ; had always known that 
 no man alive, except his Honour, was equal to the 
 occasion. His disinterestedness ; his complete putting 
 aside of his private feelings for the public benefit ; his 
 sound common sense in suggesting the only thing 
 which could silence for ever the voice of the backbiter ; 
 his triumphant heading of that verb which as yet had 
 been so imperfectly conjugated in Cloisterham, to wit : 
 Thou must put it down ; he, she, or it, must put it 
 down ; we, you, or they, must put it down ; with : 
 I will put it down taking such certain steps for doing 
 it they could hardly sufficiently extol. 
 
 Therefore, in pursuance of his suggestion, the Mayor 
 handed over to Mr. Crisparkle, as ambassador of his 
 Reverence the Dean, the heavy key opening the door 
 of Mrs. Sapsea s monument, with full authority to 
 make such use of it as he thought proper ; and Durdles 
 was communicated with ; and one or two other men 
 were bidden to meet at a certain place, quietly, to 
 arouse no sensation, and for a dread and solemn 
 purpose. 
 
 On the afternoon of that same day, Mr. Crisparkle, 
 
no A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 pale and agitated, hurried up to the Mayor s house, 
 and requested an immediate audience of that dignitary. 
 He found his Honour complacently awaiting his arrival, 
 with a bottle of port and a couple of glasses before him 
 (one of which had been made use of), after an early 
 dinner, and already contemplating with " the eye of his 
 mind, the utter confusion with which his enemies would 
 be scattered and put to flight before the strong power 
 of the truth." But Mr. Sapsea s ,lips, slightly parted 
 still with this sentiment, opened themselves yet wider, 
 though speechless, when Mr. Crisparkle communicated 
 to him the awful news of which he was the bearer. His 
 jaws fell aghast ; his plump cheeks, glowing from rosy 
 wine, grew sunk and haggard. Wine, which cheers 
 the heart of man, was powerless to perform that good 
 office any more for Mr. Sapsea, and as for oil to make his 
 face to shine, that was rendered superfluous by the 
 sweat of anguish which lubricated his lofty brow. 
 Helpless, paralytic, trembling, he glared back speech 
 lessly at the Minor Canon, a miserable, idiotic old man. 
 In the moment when real strength of mind and energy 
 were most needed, the insufferable vanity and pom 
 posity which had struggled (pretty successfully too, as 
 far as Cloisterham was concerned) to supply their vacant 
 places, broke down utterly, and left him to bear alone 
 his ignominy and his shame. 
 
 For the Minor Canon had broken to him, gently and 
 considerately, that Durdles dread assertion had been 
 proved true beyond a doubt ; that the opened coffin 
 of Mrs. Sapsea had disclosed no dead form mouldering 
 away, but was empty, with the exception of a little case 
 containing a ring a lady s ring, with a rose of dia 
 monds and rubies, which possibly Mr. Sapsea would 
 be able to identify as the property of the deceased. 
 That a great crime had been committed ; the sanctity 
 of the grave denied ; and the dead body forcibly 
 removed from its resting-place. That, what had been 
 the motive, remained, of course, at present, shrouded 
 
THE MAYOR UNDER A CLOUD in 
 
 in profoundest mystery, but that the course to be 
 pursued was plain and clear, and would no doubt accord 
 with Mr. Sapsea s wishes. The matter must be placed 
 at once, without delay, in the hands of the authorities, 
 and all the machinery of the law put in motion to dis 
 cover and hunt down the perpetrator of the crime. 
 
 So far, Mr. Crisparkle, warm and eager, yet tender too 
 towards the wretched old man, so terribly affected by 
 the disclosure ; but there was no getting anything out 
 of Mr. Sapsea. He did not attempt to identify the 
 ring or not to identify it. He only whined like a child 
 for his housekeeper, and when she came, frightened to 
 see her pompous master brought so low, and full of 
 curiosity to hear what had happened, he said he 
 " must go to bed, must go to bed," and after she had 
 brought him there, putting him to bed as if he were a 
 baby, he drew the counterpane over his head like a 
 frightened child, as if he would shut out the dreadful, 
 dreadful news, and the cruel, cruel world, mocking him 
 in his abasement. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 
 
 MR. JOHN JASPER, sitting watching behind the window 
 curtain of the room he had hired in Staple Inn, and 
 Mr. Grewgious, watching him with intently screwed-up 
 eyes from behind his window curtain opposite, must 
 both have spent a dreary and unprofitable afternoon. 
 
 " Umph ! " said Mr. Grewgious at last, yawning, and 
 releasing his weary eyes from the strain put upon them, 
 " if he has not been more fortunate than I, then there is 
 no denying that we have both been wasting our time." 
 
 For a leaden sky hung so threateningly and uncom 
 promisingly over Staple Inn and the whole wide city, 
 and wore a frown so sullen and sombre, so hopeless and 
 dreary, that only such as had no choice dared to brave 
 it, and venture forth. 
 
 Many of the less frequented streets were nearly empty, 
 and Staple Inn in particular was as empty as the 
 desert of Sahara ; while the angry wind, raging through 
 it in sudden and unexpected gusts, brought clouds 
 of dust, almost sufficient to have swamped a small 
 caravan, thereby increasing its resemblance to that 
 world-renowned and often-quoted wilderness. 
 
 " There s nobody been going either in or out/ 
 soliloquized Mr. Grewgious further, solitary in his 
 office (he had sent his clerk away for two or three days 
 change of air, " for the poor, industrious fellow grew 
 quite haggard and down in the mouth, and all work 
 and no play you know "), " and my pretty Rosa 
 is safe, thank God ! in Cloisterham. Neither Mr. 
 Neville nor his handsome sister has put a nose outside 
 
 112 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 113 
 
 the door this whole afternoon, and I should wonder if 
 they did, for the wind is sharp enough and keen enough 
 to bite off that useful and ornamental member ; and 
 really, as regards the sister s, it would be a loss to 
 society." 
 
 Here Mr. Grewgious gave his own nose a thoughtful 
 tug, perhaps from association of ideas, perhaps as a sort 
 of congratulation to it that it was not under the un 
 pleasant necessity of exposing itself to the chance of 
 such a dismal fate ; whereupon, as the injured member 
 resented this treatment with a violent sneeze, he 
 punished it severely with a red and yellow pocket- 
 handkerchief, leaving it to glare out irate and fiery 
 from his otherwise unmoved and unsympathetic 
 countenance, as he resumed his meditations 
 
 " Mr. Tartar is out of town, somewhere as I could 
 have told my respected friend opposite, and saved him 
 the trouble of finding out for himself, if it were not the 
 chief employment of my life to distract and puzzle him 
 gone, as I remember now, down to Cloisterham to 
 visit his old friend, and pay his respects to the charm 
 ing old lady his mother. There is no charming 
 young lady in the case, I suppose ? Oh dear, no ! 
 Certainly not ! 
 
 " Bless me ! how red my nose is, and how frightfully 
 my little looking-glass reflects and contorts that would- 
 be look of archness in my face. It is blushing, no doubt, 
 honest member ! at its master presuming to be satirical, 
 he being, of all men, the most eminently unfitted to 
 maintain that character. Hiram Grewgious ! Hiram 
 Grewgious ! keep strictly within those narrow limits in 
 which you were placed by an all-wise Providence, or 
 you will come to grief. What a mercy there is no one 
 here to see or hear me ! 
 
 " Cunning youth ! But he can t hoodwink me, and 
 I presumptuous I am the last man in the world who 
 ought to blame him. But if his ail-too evident admir 
 ation should worry and annoy my sweet ward, he will 
 I 
 
U4 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 find he has to deal with a tougher customer in me than 
 he thinks for. And yet, if she could learn to love him 
 he is not worthy of such a prize, but no mail is, and he 
 seems to be a brave and noble young fellow, far better 
 suited to her than the poor boy so basely murdered 
 why then then I could be content to die and to be 
 buried cheaply, and without any unnecessary ex 
 penditure of money, which might afterwards be useful 
 to them leaving behind to the child whom I look upon 
 almost as my own the little property which I have 
 amassed, and my love and blessing. Ho, old skulker ! 
 up to a new game, are you ? Bowled out of the other, 
 hey ? " 
 
 This last remark, though addressed to Mr. John 
 Jasper over the way, was neither heard, nor intended to 
 be heard, by that gentleman, who, with scowling face to 
 match the scowling sky, was, at the moment when Mr. 
 Grewgious caught sight of him, issuing from the door 
 way opposite. 
 
 " Out for a solitary walk in this weather ? " con 
 tinued the old man, watching him till he disappeared 
 through the gateway, " that has a bad look, bird of 
 night ! I m not rancorous, as a rule, I hope, but I 
 wish, I do wish that the wind would bite off your nose ; 
 or, better still, your head ; or, better still, take you up 
 bodily, and waft you into the river, or any other place 
 where the world s eyes would be rid of the sight of you, 
 crawling and stinging reptile that you are ! There ! 
 I m calling names ; I, quiet Hiram Grewgious ! but I 
 do wish that something would happen to enable me to 
 wash my hands of this dirty work, which I loathe and 
 abhor, and which only the strongest necessity " 
 
 Breaking off abruptly, he sighed and fell into a muse, 
 which lasted until he was aroused by the entrance of a 
 visitor, whom the sharp wind and the lowering sky 
 had not been able to keep back, and who came in with a 
 quick eager step, not even waiting for an answer to his 
 announcing rap. 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 115 
 
 A man of about forty or thereabouts, with dark hair 
 and black eyebrows ; out of whose flashing eyes darted 
 exultant light, which would show through and break 
 up the studied gravity of his face. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir," he exclaimed, " for coming 
 in thus unceremoniously upon you, but I am the bearer 
 of good news ! glorious news ! and that must be my 
 excuse. We have got our hand upon him at last, and 
 hold him tight. He is run to earth, I tell you. Run 
 to earth ! " 
 
 And leaving Mr. Grewgious to execute a most re 
 markable and ingenious dance of his own invention 
 something in the dancing-dervish style, though infinitely 
 more complicated, and fraught with danger to every 
 article of furniture in the room and his astonished 
 visitor, alias Mr. Datchery, alias " T other Three and 
 Sixpence," to look on amazed, let us array ourselves in 
 our thickest overcoat and warmest comforter, and, 
 umbrella not forgotten, for heavy drops are beginning 
 to fall, sally forth to follow the fortunes of Mr. John 
 Jasper. 
 
 The threatened rain had come at last First fell 
 single, heavy drops ; then many in a company ; then 
 a flood. Undecided as it had been all the afternoon, 
 the rain now set about its work in good earnest, and 
 flooded the streets and filled the gutters in quite a 
 business way. 
 
 It did not spare the passers-by, either, but came 
 down upon them to such extent, that even quite good- 
 natured people, jostling together, and receiving the 
 splashings of the others umbrellas in their boots, gave 
 vent to angry and impatient exclamations. It wasn t 
 the sort of weather to feel cheerful or pleasant by, and 
 it was no wonder, therefore, that John Jasper s face was 
 neither cheerful nor pleasant to look upon. He had 
 neglected to provide himself with an umbrella, and the 
 merciless rain, taking no heed of this fact, poured down 
 upon his streaming hat quite as remorselessly as on the 
 
n6 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 umbrellas jostling him. He had on no great coat, and 
 the rain, easily penetrating the thin material of his 
 summer garments, must have wetted him to the skin. 
 
 Perhaps it was this fact, pleasant to none, which 
 forced, from time to time, a muttered oath from between 
 his clenched teeth awful and terrible to hear. Per 
 haps, on this account, his face wore so livid and fearful 
 an expression that even those who passed him in the 
 driving rain gave themselves extra trouble to go a step 
 or two out of his way. 
 
 Unshorn, unkempt, unwashed, with shrunken cheeks 
 and burning eyes, in which unholy fire gleamed, John 
 Jasper, late choir-master of Cloisterham, at this present 
 engaged in business which he kept secret, or in none at 
 all, would not have been an agreeable object of con 
 templation even in the sunshine, and was still less so 
 under these unfavourable circumstances. 
 
 Time had dealt hardly with John Jasper, and aged 
 him prematurely. Consumed, as he was, and devoured 
 by the passion always raging at his heart, one might 
 have added twenty years to his real age, and feared no 
 contradiction. 
 
 He had turned into one of the narrow streets behind 
 Holborn, when a lean and shrivelled hand, belonging to 
 an old woman, who had crept into the shelter of a 
 doorway, and was crouching there for protection against 
 the weather, seized a lappet of his coat as he strode by. 
 
 " Lor , deary, don t be in such a mortal hurry ; 
 don t ee now. I ve been a lookin for ye, but couldn t 
 find ye nowheres. I tracked ye to hereabouts, and then 
 I lost sight of ye. I was took with my cough, and that 
 shakes me so bad that I loses sense and feelin , deary. 
 And when I come to myself you was wanished, you was. 
 How bad you look, lovey. A most at death s door/ 
 
 And Mother Coombs coughed and spit, but still kept 
 tight hold of the lappet she had seized. 
 
 " Let go of my coat, woman ! What have I to do 
 with you ? Let go, or I shall kill you." 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 117 
 
 " No, ye won t, deary. Not yet awhile," croaked 
 the old woman, almost stifled with the violence of her 
 cough, but clinging to him in spite of it. ** There s 
 other folks to kill afore me, and no time to lose in doing 
 of it. I reckon I ll give ye the slip after all. What, 
 strike a poor old soul, as come out in weather not fit 
 for dogs, to save ye, deary ? " For he had raised his 
 clenched fist threateningly. 
 
 " What do you mean ? Tell me what you mean or 
 I will strangle you, she-devil that you are ! " 
 
 " Now I knows my poppet ! Now I recognises my 
 pretty pet ! I began to think it weren t you, after all. 
 You ve grown so lovely since I see you last ; and if the 
 pretty ladies are not all in love with your handsome 
 mug, it only shows their want of taste, deary. Strangle 
 me ? I know you could ! You ve got the knack of it, 
 you see, and wouldn t be tryin yer hand at it for the 
 first time, my duck ! Help us ! Save us ! Murder ! 
 Thieves ! " 
 
 For, in his fury, he had grasped her skinny throat 
 between his cruel hands, and was queezing the breath 
 out of her. 
 
 " Will you tell me now what you mean, villainous 
 hag ? Or shall I kick you to the devil on the spot ? " 
 
 " No, lovey," gasped the woman, who had scrambled 
 to her feet during the short struggle, and who now 
 stood panting and glaring at him with eyes full of 
 hatred and malice, " not there, cause there you d be a 
 folio win me quick and certain, and I d rayther see the 
 last on ye here." 
 
 " Why do you enrage me so, then ? Don t you see 
 that I m wet through and shaking with cold ? Don t 
 you see that I am mad ? " 
 
 " That conwiction have been a coming into my brain," 
 answered the woman, composedly, " since I heerd ye, 
 deary ; for ye must be mad to behave so to me to me, 
 who with a single word, could get ye hung." 
 
 And, as again with a bitter oath, he turned upon her, 
 
n8 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 menacingly, she was in the middle of the street In a 
 moment, in spite of her age and decrepitude ; ready, if 
 he touched her, to shriek for help. 
 
 " Accursed babbler ! what have you got to say to 
 me ? Scum of hell ! tell me what it is, or I swear I ll 
 shed your blood, even if it cost me my own. Speak, 
 and you shall have a piece of gold for every word." 
 
 " There now, that s my poppet ! " said the woman, 
 drawing nearer again, and leering well satisfied into his 
 face. " Now ye talks reason ; and I ll not only listen 
 to ye, but I ll tell ye what ye wants to know. Tis too 
 far to the old court, deary, in this drenching rain ; let 
 us go into some tavern where we can warm ourselves 
 and dry ourselves, and with a glass of summut hot, thaw 
 the life-blood freezing in our veins. Is them your 
 views, ducky ? " 
 
 " As you will," he answered, sullenly, following her 
 into a low public-house ; and a few minutes afterwards 
 they were seated together in a room, where a fire was 
 burning, with a couple of glasses and a bottle of some 
 thing upon a table before them, from which the woman 
 was quaffing with evident satisfaction. 
 
 " Now this is what I calls comfort," began the woman. 
 " It s gin, and good stuff, too, deary. Take a glass, and 
 it ll warm ye and cheer ye up, for ye re drefful low now ; 
 awful in the dumps, lovey. A pipe would do it better, 
 but I haven t got a bit of opium, more s the pity ! 
 Customers is rare, since ye went, deary, and if ye could 
 ha known how I ve fretted and worried after ye, ye 
 wouldn t have had the heart to stay away so long ; and 
 ye wouldn t have looked like that neither, if ye d smoke 
 a pipe, mixed by the only soul in the great city who 
 knows how to do it. I might have starved but for a 
 
 piece of good luck which come to me quite " 
 
 " Quite what ? " he enquired, mechanically, as she 
 hesitated. 
 
 He had sunk into a chair by the fire, which was 
 drawing out great clouds of steam from his drenched 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 119 
 
 clothes ; and either this or the warmth of the close, 
 unaired room, misty still with the smoke from the pipes 
 of its former occupants, seemed to have almost stupefied 
 him. 
 
 There was no trace now of the fury which had raged 
 within him in the street. In a sort of lethargy, 
 with his heavy head sunk low upon his breast, he 
 appeared scarcely to heed, or to listen to what she was 
 saying. 
 
 " Quite unexpected, deary; like manner in the 
 wilderness. How pleasant it is here, ain t it ? We re 
 good friends now, ain t we, deary ? You was riled, 
 and so was I ; for the wet, and the rain, and the cold, 
 and the hunger is riling, deary, and we ain t the fust 
 neither that it s angered. But I knows my poppet ! 
 Bless ye, I wasn t born yesterday ! And now, lovey, 
 if ye s warmed and cheered, let s see the money ye 
 spoke of. * 
 
 " What did you mean by saying you could get me 
 hung, woman ? " he said at last, seemingly remembering 
 that he had come there to hear that, and making a 
 violent effort to overcome the stupor which was laming 
 thought and sense. 
 
 " Softly, softly ! lovey. Not so loud, not so quick ! 
 There s ears outside as can hear, and tongues as can 
 repeat ! Ye always was too quick for me, but I goes 
 slow and sure. I m old enough to be yer granny, and 
 I m sure as I loves ye as sich, and I says : slow and 
 sure. First let us see the money, ducky." 
 
 " Curse you ! Haven t I told you that I mean to 
 pay you ? Do you doubt my word ? " 
 
 " Lord love and save us ; no, my poppet ! You s 
 a man of your word, you is. A man of word and deed. 
 I knows that. But the sight of the money stimmilates 
 me, deary, gives me woice and langvidge. I m a pore 
 old soul, I am, and needs stimmilants. I can t do 
 without em. Just let s see the gold." 
 
 Drawing out a little bag of money, he laid it on the 
 
120 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 table before her, while she, with greedy, staring eyes, 
 and clutching hands, grinned delightedly. 
 
 " Count it out, my duck ! Let me see the bright 
 colour of it, and the sparkle. It ain t so good as opium, 
 but it s the next best thing, for it will buy it, lovey. 
 Ye promised me a bit of gold for every word, but I 
 won t be so hard upon ye as that. / ain t miserly. 
 I ll give ye a lot of words into the bargain and never 
 reckon em up with ye. Count it, lovey, and don t ye 
 be afeared of my takin it before ye re satisfied. I ve 
 got summut to tell ye, remember that ! I ll save ye 
 from a tighter squeeze round yer throat than you giv 
 me, or than ever yer true love give you, I will." 
 
 But as he still remained silent and immovable, she 
 went on again. 
 
 " Tell us, lovey, is ye married ? Does yer true love 
 love ye still, or have ye got another ? " 
 
 " What true love ? " 
 
 " Lor , my memory s goin , deary ; but I can make 
 a shift to say, I reckon, cause you said it so often. Let 
 me see : Polly, Jenny, Rosy. Yes, I know now. Of 
 course, I do, I ought to. Pretty Rosy ! Hangel Rosy ! 
 Henchanting Rosy ! " 
 
 " Woman, if you continue to torture me," he cried, 
 with a sudden return of fury and with gnashing teeth, 
 " if you do not speak soon and say what you mean, I 
 swear to you by the God above us, if there is one ; by 
 the devil in our hearts and all around us, that I will 
 tear the heart out of your living body, and murder you 
 where you sit." 
 
 " O, my ducky, how bad you needs the pipe ! How 
 you ve been a wasting and a wearing yourself out for 
 want of it ! What a mortal pity as we ain t at ome 
 where I could give ye one ! Will ye count it out, or will 
 ye not, deary ? " (coaxingly). 
 
 Even in the midst of his mortal agony, and fierce 
 eagerness to hear what she had to say, he had sense 
 enough to feel that he must humour her ; and with 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 121 
 
 trembling hands he counted out the money, and set it 
 before her ; two little heaps of gold. 
 
 " Six big ones and eight little ones," counted the 
 woman after him. " Ten big ones in all. It ain t 
 much, deary." 
 
 " It is all I have." 
 
 " All you have ! and the rich nevvy dead ! The 
 nevvy who left you his fortun , and his sweetheart into 
 the bargain. O, fie upon ye ! " 
 
 " What do you know about my nephew ? " 
 
 "Don t touch me, deary. I ll screech if ye do, and 
 tell em outside where the nevvy is, and who put him 
 there. There s people seekin of him igh and low, and 
 if ye comes a hinch nearer to me, I ll tell it to the whole 
 
 world. O, but ye re a clever one, deary ! A d d 
 
 clever one ! " 
 
 " Have you issued from hell to bind me to the rack ? 
 Did Satan beget you ? " 
 
 "If he did, you re my brother, lovey, sure and 
 certain, and ought to be my friend. But I ll trust ye, 
 deary. / ain t niggardly. Look you here ! Don t 
 stay another day in London, deary, but pack up all 
 ye ve got, and make off with yerself, across the seas to 
 Ameriky, to cut off the scent, for the hounds is after 
 ye. They re strong upon ye, deary, and they ve got 
 noses so trained and fine that I bet ten to one they ve 
 found out the secret of the grave the secret buried so 
 deep. Ha, ha ! what a precious cute one, you is ! " 
 
 He was so awful to look upon just then, with livid 
 face, and grinding teeth, with foaming lips, and veins 
 swollen to bursting on his burning forehead, that even 
 the hardened woman, watching his every movement, 
 shuddered as she sneered 
 
 " What a pity it is, that yer true love, yer pretty 
 Rosy, can t see you now, my poppet ; she would be 
 a most ready to die of love for ye, I m thinking." 
 
 " Woman, have pity on me, if you ever felt pity ; 
 and tell me what you know or think you know 
 
122 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and how you know it ? and I will treble quadruple, 
 the sum lying there." 
 
 "There! Now ye speaks reason," retorted his 
 companion, " and I can talk to ye like a reasonable 
 being, and not like a lunatic. I tell ye, a fellow come 
 to me to ferret and to find out what I knew, and I 
 see from what he say, that they was a closing round 
 ye on every side. But I kep my own counsel, and 
 never told him what I d heerd ye say." 
 
 "You lie, miserable hypocrite! you told him all. 
 Not that it matters much. What was it, after all ? 
 Foolish visions ! foolish dreams ! " 
 
 " But two and two make four," remarked the 
 woman, cunningly, " and I reckon them spies knows 
 how to put two and two together. And when they do, 
 it makes a whole, not pleasant to think of, deary." 
 
 " If you have betrayed me, miserable wretch ! be 
 sure of this, that whatever happens to me, you shall 
 go to hell first." 
 
 " Do you suppose," she said, unconcernedly, " that 
 I should put myself in your power, if I had betrayed 
 ye ? That I should warn ye, if I wished ye to 
 be took? I m old enough to be yer granny, as I 
 said afore, and I loves ye as a mother. Take my 
 advice and pack up yer things, and take them with 
 ye to Ameriky ; or, better still, leave them here for 
 me to take care of for ye. And ye 11 send me the money 
 ye spoke of, won t ye ? Ye ll not forget ? Give me 
 yer watch, and the ring on yer finger as a pledge, and 
 ye shall have them back agin when I gits the money." 
 
 " Have I not said that I would send it ! " 
 
 " But ye might forgit, deary. And if ye did, I 
 might be driv to do something which would vex ye 
 and me too, lovey. The worry might drive me to it." 
 
 Tearing off his watch and ring, he flung them upon 
 the table before her, with a fierce oath, which seemed 
 to blast his lips as it passed them, for it left them 
 deadly white ; and without another word, quitted 
 
TWO BIRDS OF NIGHT 133 
 
 the room and the house. The rain was still pouring, 
 splashing, dripping down, but he neither felt nor 
 heeded it. Baffled, daunted, all his hopes vanish 
 ing ; all his evil deeds done in vain, and rising 
 up to overwhelm him ; remorseless still ; full of 
 hatred ; full of raging fire, fed from hell itself, and which 
 no rain, no nor ocean either, could subdue or quench, 
 he paced the darkening and deserted streets till mid 
 night, and not until all the clocks in the city had rung 
 out the twelfth hour, did he turn his steps homeward. 
 But not to find sleep or rest. Like a caged panther, 
 tameless, cruel, furious, he beat himself against the 
 bars which penned him in, with hourly-increasing fury, 
 until the day broke. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 
 
 RESOLVED to put his fate to the proof, Mr. Tartar had 
 accepted the Minor Canon s friendly invitation to pay 
 his mother and him a visit. Rosa, herself somewhat 
 disconcerted by his unexpected arrival, succeeded 
 to admiration in disconcerting the eager gentleman, 
 by the coldness of the reception she gave him. She 
 avoided every possibility of being left alone with him, 
 and when the Minor Canon was absent on clerical duty 
 and Mrs. Crisparkle left the room to attend to some 
 household affair, the girl invariably found an excuse 
 for following her. But the old lady, being on his side, 
 hit upon the idea that Mr. Tartar should intercept 
 Rosa in the solitary walk, which she took every day 
 when the weather permitted, persistently refusing an 
 escort, and there, when no escape was possible, lay his 
 case before her. 
 
 It only required, on her part, an anxious look, out 
 of the window, when Rosa had been gone some ten 
 minutes ; a fear that a storm was rising, and she 
 believed that that naughty, naughty, wilful little 
 puss had turned in the direction of the river. It was 
 silly, no doubt, but she felt quite uneasy. The road 
 was so lonely, and all sorts of bad people always about, 
 and the days so short now. What could poor Mr. Tar 
 tar do but offer himself as a substitute for the Minor 
 Canon, whose absence his mother deplored ? And he 
 was no sooner on the road, breathing the fresh, invigor 
 ating air of the bright autumn afternoon, than his 
 depressed spirits rose, and hope and confidence came 
 
 124 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 125 
 
 back to him. He even began to thank heaven in his 
 heart for having given him this one more chance, 
 almost believing that a merciful Providence was 
 interfering specially on his behalf ; although it was 
 only Mrs. Crisparkle and not the Higher Power who 
 had been taking active steps to bring about the 
 meeting, and this excellent lady was not quite unerring 
 in her judgment. 
 
 Rosa had really turned in the direction of the river, 
 and Mr. Tartar, flushing alternately with hope and with 
 despair, soon caught sight of the little figure, walking 
 slowly along the bank. She looked up, startled. 
 He saw, he felt, with sinking heart, and fainting hope, 
 the look of troubled annoyance on her candid face, 
 which she could not hide ; but it was now too late to 
 retreat. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Miss Bud," he said, while the 
 betraying colour dyed his face scarlet, " but but 
 Mrs. Crisparkle 
 
 As he stammered and hesitated, she repeated the 
 word after him, interrogatively 
 
 " Mrs. Crisparkle ? " 
 
 " The dear old lady grew anxious about you, feared 
 your walk was ill-chosen for the time of year, and that a 
 storm was coming," he said, with effort. 
 
 The girl smiled slightly, as she pointed to the calm 
 and peaceful evening sky. 
 
 " And that that the road is solitary, and you might 
 meet some rough and rude wanderer, who would frighten 
 and distress you. She requested me, therefore, to go 
 and seek you and bring you home." 
 
 " I am not afraid," answered Rosa. " I generally 
 choose this walk when I am alone. I used to walk here 
 with Eddy my poor lost Eddy." 
 
 The sea-lieutenant remained silent, though she eyed 
 him narrowly, as if she expected him to speak. 
 
 " And I generally find here what I sometimes long 
 for, and come to seek solitude," she said, further. 
 
126 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Which I have rudely broken in upon," remarked 
 Mr. Tartar, sadly. " I beg your pardon again. Do 
 you bid me go ? " 
 
 The girl regarded him for a moment with keen 
 attention, then said rapidly 
 
 " No, we can return together. I have overstayed my 
 time, and wandered further than I intended. Let us 
 make haste, Mr. Tartar, and walk fast, so that kind 
 Mrs. Crisparkle may not have time to grow seriously 
 alarmed." 
 
 " Will you take my arm, Miss Bud," said the sea- 
 lieutenant, humbly. 
 
 She had been very cruel, to him, very ! She poured 
 cold water upon the fire of his love to quench it, with 
 steady and unerring hand. Better far, she reasoned, 
 to nip this hopeless passion in the bud, than allow it to 
 burst out into full bloom and power, when it might 
 defy her. But now her soft heart melted with pity as 
 she looked upon his mournful and dejected face. 
 
 He had learned his lesson. Surely, surely he had 
 learned his lesson ! Was there any further need to 
 torture him ? Without a word she laid her hand on 
 his arm. 
 
 She would not have done so had she known the result. 
 But she was young, poor child ! and inexperienced, 
 and had no one to counsel her. 
 
 What were all her cold words and actions compared 
 to the ineffable bliss of that slight touch. 
 
 The fire of love, never quenched, burnt up strong 
 and high again. To the winds with reason and cruel 
 doubts and fears. He who would win all, must risk all. 
 
 They were alone together ; her magical touch 
 thrilling heart and soul, her delicate head almost 
 resting on his shoulder. 
 
 " Rosa," he said, stopping abruptly, and looking 
 down upon her grave, sweet face, half raised to his, and 
 whitening with fear of what she felt was coming, in 
 spite of all she had done to prevent it, " Rosa, I must 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 127 
 
 say what I came to say ; must speak out what is in my 
 heart ; forgive me if I pain you, for I love you, Rosa." 
 
 Hastily withdrawing her hand from his, the girl burst 
 into a passion of tears. Heavy drops oozed through the 
 slender fingers, covering her face. 
 
 " Oh, Rosa," he went on, " how weak and powerless 
 are words to express what we mean. I have thought of 
 some such scene between us for weeks and months, and 
 now can say nothing more than that simple truth : 
 * I love you/ How much, how earnestly, how devotedly, 
 I cannot put in words." 
 
 " Oil, I am so sorry," sobbed the girl ; " so unhappy, 
 and so grieved." 
 
 As he sighed bitterly and despairingly, the rising 
 wind seemed to echo the mournful sound, and they both 
 shivered as the sun went down, and a mist coming 
 slowly up, crept stealthily over the river. 
 
 " Can you give me no hope, Rosa ? " 
 
 " It would be cruel to give you hope," she said, 
 raising her tear-stained and agitated face, and struggling 
 to regain her composure, " for it is quite, quite hopeless. 
 I dare not love you." 
 
 Even as he spoke, her eyes wandered away from his, 
 in the direction whence she had been coming, and 
 she shuddered and covered her face again with her 
 hand, as if she saw something there to terrify her. He 
 looked back also, for a moment ; and he, too, fancied he 
 saw a face, rising out of the mist, and glaring at them 
 menacingly. But though he advanced a few steps to 
 make sure, he saw nothing more. No wonder that his 
 eyes played him false, for they were dim with tears. 
 
 " Dare not, Rosa ? Why ? " 
 
 " Hush, do not ask me. I dare not, Mr. Tartar, 
 and I do not I will not. Do not question me further. 
 I shall never marry, never ! Leave me to my fate. 
 Pity, and forgive me ! " 
 
 " Forgive you, Rosa ! I have nothing to forgive. 
 I thank God that He has let me love you. I thank 
 
128 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 God for every minute we have spent together. Perhaps 
 the time may come when your feelings will change 
 towards me ; mine never will towards you." 
 
 "Do not think of that," she said hurriedly, and 
 pressing her hands together earnestly, " for it is 
 impossible ; it can never be. I do not love you ; and 
 if I were free instead of bound, I think I should say the 
 same, for I have learned the misery of an engagement 
 without true, deep love, by sad, sad experience, and 
 would never risk it again." 
 
 " How can you be bound, Rosa ? Who has power 
 to bind you ? " 
 
 " My own conviction of what is right," she said, with 
 sad seriousness. " My own unalterable will. Promise 
 me never to renew this topic. It would be useless. 
 Only a source of grief and misery to me, and to you, 
 also, I fear. Promise me." 
 
 " I promise," he answered in a tone of unutterable 
 sadness, for even more forcibly than her words her look, 
 her whole mien, showed him that all was over. He 
 knew he was ringing a death-knell as he spoke, the 
 knell of the first true love in his heart. But what 
 mattered his fate compared to hers ? Would he not 
 willingly offer himself up to give her happiness ? Like 
 a brave man he struck down his own cherished hopes, 
 and buried them for ever. 
 
 " We must not see each other again," continued 
 Rosa, weeping afresh. " At least, not for a long, long 
 time, and until the pain we are both now suffering is 
 over and forgotten. I thank you for your generous 
 love ; love too generous to urge itself upon me, and 
 give me needless pain. I am ignorant," she added, 
 smiling faintly, and putting out her small hand ; " but 
 believe me, I know how to appreciate that, and to 
 estimate its true nobility." 
 
 He took the little tender hand, and pressed it rever 
 ently to his lips. He dared not speak, or he must have 
 broken down and given way to an unmanly weakness, 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 129 
 
 which would only have distressed her. But how hard 
 it was to bear ! 
 
 Never had she appeared to him so lovely and so 
 lovable. The knowledge of the inestimable worth of 
 the jewel he had longed to possess heightened his 
 suffering. 
 
 " And now let us part/ continued the girl. Her 
 voice was faint, and she felt weak and dizzy, but she 
 longed to be alone. " Leave me ! " she said. " I 
 must have time to collect myself, and I would rather 
 you went on before me." 
 
 He hesitated. It was twilight already, and the night 
 gathering. 
 
 " Let me first bring you home, Miss Bud, I implore 
 you." 
 
 " No, no ! " she cried, in a sort of agony ; "I must 
 be alone. I cannot go back yet to Minor Canon Corner. 
 Look, there are the lights of the city before us, and I 
 am perfectly safe. I have been here alone many times 
 before, and I shall follow you in a few minutes. Leave 
 me, I beseech you ! " 
 
 Still he lingered, uneasy and undecided. A dread 
 of he knew not what, fell heavily upon him. He 
 looked back along the path by the river, with a 
 strange, undefmable, unaccustomed sense of fear. 
 
 But his far-seeing eyes could find no tangible reason 
 for such a feeling. The path lay plainly visible by the 
 light of the rising moon which shone brighter every 
 moment, and was empty and deserted. Only over the 
 placid river, flowing calmly towards the ocean, lay the 
 autumn mist. 
 
 And they were so close to the city that they could 
 hear the hum of its population. There was no outward 
 reason apparently for his shuddering shuddering, as 
 old wives say, as if some one were walking over his 
 grave. 
 
 " Leave me ! " said the weeping girl again. 
 
 He had no choice but to obey. No shadow of 
 K 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 right to force his company upon her, or compel her to 
 return with him. 
 
 Begging her, therefore, to follow him as soon as 
 possible, and with a solemn good-bye for ever as he 
 thought ; with heavy heart and wounded soul, he went 
 away towards the city, and left her to the solitude she 
 desired. 
 
 J"; How could he imagine, how was it possible for him to 
 imagine, that his doing so would become a source of 
 bitter self-reproach, and make one of the saddest 
 memories of his life ? 
 
 Weary and worn out from futile passion and hopeless 
 fury, John Jasper sat solitary and friendless in his 
 lodgings, in a narrow, mean street behind Holborn, and 
 watched, with bloodshot and haggard eyes, the coming 
 day. It had ceased raining during the night, and the 
 fitful wind, which " bloweth where it listeth," no longer 
 howled and roared through the city. The sun rose, 
 and smiling in at the dark chamber where sat John 
 Jasper, brought out into strong relief hard, cruel lines 
 about his mouth and eyes, invisible before ; and seemed 
 to point at him with its bright rays, as wfro should say : 
 " Take notice of these signs and tokens which not Time, 
 but Crime, hath graven ! For this purpose, I still 
 shine upon this man, to point him out as one to be 
 avoided." 
 
 As the day advanced, and the sounds of busy life 
 outside grew more and more frequent, increasing to a 
 bewildering hubbub, John Jasper got up wearily from 
 the hard sofa on which he had been resting, and began 
 to make his toilette. He washed himself, for the first 
 time for days, with great care and deliberation ; then 
 shaved away all hair from cheeks and chin, not even 
 sparing his luxuriant whiskers, and not desisting until 
 he was as bare in face as a Catholic Priest. Only a 
 blue shadow on the parts thus exposed to public 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 131 
 
 view gave token of what had been, and what might 
 be again. His trembling and unnerved hand played 
 him an ugly trick, though, just at last, and with the 
 sharp razor inflicted a sharp cut upon his cheek, from 
 which the blood flowed freely. With a curse, he flung 
 away the instrument, and stilling the flow of blood, 
 covered the wound with a bit of sticking-plaster, which 
 did not tend to diminish the sinister and lowering 
 expression of his face. He put on a new shirt, new 
 waistcoat, spick and span new coat and trousers all 
 of which he took out of a drawer he had unlocked, and 
 which had been lying there j together, apparently 
 in readiness for a special occasion, which had now 
 arrived. These preparations completed, he donned a 
 new collar and new tie, and finally took a careful survey 
 of himself in the looking-glass. Notwithstanding the 
 newness and respectability of his apparel, and the 
 cleanliness of his person, the result did not appear, 
 if but to himself, to be satisfactory. Even his personal 
 vanity, if he possessed any, could not help him to deny 
 the fact which the dingy and dirty looking-glass failed 
 to conceal that he was not pleasant to look at. The 
 jetty blackness of his hair ; the deep, dark shadows 
 under his eyes ; the lurid light which shone out of those 
 eyes themselves, contrasted in a sinister and Mephisto- 
 phelian manner with the sallow and sickly pallor of his 
 face. He had been a good-looking man a few months 
 ago ; he was a very ill-looking man now. 
 
 His eyes wandered away from that reflection of him 
 self in the mirror, and fell upon the open razor, lying 
 still upon the table. A sudden and impulsive thought 
 rushed into his brain, and the truthful looking-glass 
 reflected back the hot colour which instantaneously 
 suffused his livid face. Should he end the struggle 
 then and there ? that thing was sharp enough ! A 
 scratch across his throat, one vein severed at his wrist, 
 and the world and its troubles, its tortures and its fierce 
 conflicts, would flow away from him for ever with his 
 
132 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 flowing blood. He had heard that it was an easy death 
 to die. He took up the razor, and felt its keen, sharp 
 edge. 
 
 But the next moment he dashed it down again with 
 an oath, " What, lose her, and let them triumph ? " 
 he muttered. " No, not so long as there is a devil to 
 help me/ 
 
 Going up to the shabby mantelpiece, beside which 
 hung a moth-eaten and nearly worn out bell-rope, he 
 gave the summons for his breakfast. 
 
 He ate little, and that little without appetite. The 
 tea was weak and tasteless, the roll doughy, the butter 
 disgusting. But the most costly viands would not have 
 tempted him. 
 
 He poured out a glass of brandy, and took a long 
 draught. Ah, that was what he needed ! It gave him 
 new strength and new courage. His hand became 
 steady ; his drooping form straightened itself. He was 
 able to complete his preparations. Unlocking another 
 drawer, he took out of it a small box, padlocked. It 
 contained money bank notes ; gold and silver in little 
 rolls. He counted it out with a hand almost firm 
 and steady now, and his face assumed a satisfied and 
 triumphant expression as he did so. 
 
 " It is enough ! " he said in a low voice. " The 
 proceeds of the sale of my connection in Cloisterham ; 
 that money which the infernal lawyer made such 
 difficulty about giving me ; the little I have saved by 
 long years of drudgery. Curse it all ! No, bless it, for 
 it is enough ! " 
 
 He tied the notes together and put them in the breast 
 pocket of his coat ; distributed the rolls of gold in other 
 receptacles about his person, and dropped the silver 
 loose into the pockets of his trousers ; smiling and 
 singing in a low, sweet voice as he did so. He was quite 
 calm and serene now ; and might have been simply 
 dressing himself for service at the Cathedral, so com 
 posed and orderly was his demeanour. 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 133 
 
 He was tolerably well weighted by this time, but he 
 added a loaded revolver, and took another draught of 
 brandy. 
 
 For reasons of his own perhaps only to stretch his 
 cramped limbs after long and close watching of the 
 house which Neville and Helena inhabited Mr. Jasper 
 never went straight from one place to the other, but 
 dodged in and out of the intricate streets, in a manner 
 which must have proved fatal to the hopes of any one 
 desirous of tracking him. 
 
 Threading street after street, in the same steady, 
 resolute manner, he did not avail himself of any of 
 the public conveyances which continually rattled past 
 him, as he might have done easily, but kept on, always 
 on foot, until he had reached the extreme outskirts of 
 the great city ; when he began to feel that his strength 
 was failing him. 
 
 He had stopped to rest nowhere, and eaten nothing ; 
 and having made a great many unnecessary turns, to 
 mystify any one who might take a fancy to follow him, 
 he found to his surprise and alarm that it was close 
 upon the sunset ; that all the fictitious strength which 
 the brandy had given him was evaporated ; that he 
 was weary to death from his long march, and famishing 
 
 The road before him began to heave and surge, like 
 the waters of a great sea ; a black shroud to envelop him 
 from head to foot ; he fancied for a moment that he 
 was being wafted away to an unknown region ; then 
 thought and feeling left him, and he sank to the ground. 
 
 He could have been insensible but a few minutes, 
 when he opened his eyes again. At first he could see 
 nothing, and in an agony of fear, believed that he 
 had been struck blind. But feebly grasping in the 
 air for something to catch hold of, and stay him up, 
 he encountered a helping hand, and the next moment 
 not only felt, but saw, a man standing by his side. 
 
 An old man, shabby and palsied, whose hand shook 
 and teeth chattered as he addressed him 
 
134 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Have you hurt yourself ? You fell heavy, master. 
 Have you had a faint, or a drop too much ? (with a 
 feeble grin). No offence, master. It may happen to 
 the best on us, when we ve got the money for the 
 drink." 
 
 " I ve had a fainting fit, I fear. I ve come a long 
 way to-day." 
 
 " Sure, sure, master ! No offence ! I wish I had 
 the money for the drop too much. I wouldn t stick 
 at the drop, and never did, master. There s a pothe- 
 cary close by ; as good as a doctor, master. Shall I 
 call un ? " 
 
 " No, no ! It s nothing. I m used to it. I m 
 better now. Quite well again. I can stand, you see." 
 
 " As you will, master. It ain t for the likes of me 
 to contradict you. Ned Nobbles knows his place." 
 
 But John Jasper still shook and trembled, and he 
 clung to the old man a very indifferent support or 
 he would have fallen again. It was evident that he 
 could go no further without food and rest. 
 
 " Is there a decent public-house anywhere about here 
 where I can get a bed and something fit to eat ? " 
 
 " Yes, sure," the old man answered, " as decent a 
 house and as affable a landlady as you might meet with 
 on a day s march ; and fust-rate beer." 
 
 And the old man tottered on before, with a faint 
 hope kindling in his withered old heart that the well- 
 dressed stranger would stand treat, while John Jasper 
 staggered after, with a feebler gait, and still more 
 trembling limbs than the grey-haired veteran of 
 eighty-five. 
 
 " Here, friend, drink a couple of glasses in the bar 
 for my reckoning," said Mr. Jasper, when they got 
 there, putting half-a-crown into the old man s hand. 
 
 " Thank ye kindly, master. Time was when Ned 
 Nobbles could have treated ye, and been proud to do it, 
 but ill-fortune have brought un low, and he ain t above 
 acceptin of a trifle now." 
 
THE PURSUIT OF ROSA 135 
 
 And the bustling landlady, coming out with a smiling 
 remonstrance for Ned Nobbles quickly changed to a 
 smiling assent at the sight of the Queen s head upon 
 the coin, which he held up triumphantly had com 
 prehended the state of things in a twinkling ; had a 
 glass of something to set the poor gentleman upon his 
 feet again in a trice ; and was giving directions to an 
 unseen individual in the kitchen, and an unseen individ 
 ual in the upper regions, to get the supper ready, and to 
 prepare No. 3 for a " gentleman as is going to stay the 
 night," before you could draw your first delighted 
 breath of satisfaction at the joviality of her appearance. 
 
 In half an hour John Jasper was eating the supper 
 prepared for him as good and well-cooked a supper 
 as the heart, or rather the palate of man could desire 
 at first greedily, till the first sharp pangs of hunger 
 were appeased ; then more deliberately ; and after 
 swallowing for a second time a glass of a mixture, 
 fragrant to smell, delicious to taste, and possessing, 
 as the radiant hostess said, looking on smilingly as he 
 swallowed it, properties so narcotic that he was safe 
 for a good night s rest, which it would be superfluous 
 to further wish him, he staggered upstairs to No. 3, 
 and had scarcely laid himself between the well-aired 
 sheets, when sleep, heavy and dreamless such sleep 
 as he had not enjoyed for months fell upon him. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 
 
 FOR many hours John Jasper lay prostrate in a heavy 
 and dreamless sleep, or, if, as some learned in such things 
 tell us, the brain is more hardly dealt with than the 
 body, that although the latter may enjoy repose, the 
 former may never, and that we think or dream always 
 at any rate, one dream swallowed up and effaced the 
 foregoing one, and they left no impression which he 
 could retain when he awoke. But towards morning, 
 when the cocks began to crow, and the horses to grow 
 restless in theii stables ; when the birds drew their 
 heads out of their feathers, and twittered and chirped 
 in expectation of the coming day ; when the active 
 landlady, already in her stockings, and smiling from 
 purest habit, rang the bell for the lazy maids, and 
 began to poke and harass her more sluggardly mate, 
 John Jasper had a dream. 
 
 He dreamed that he was back again in Cloisterham, 
 and that the bells were ringing for early service in the 
 Cathedral ; that Mrs. Tope was moving softly in the 
 next room, getting his breakfast how deliciously and 
 temptingly the fragrant scent of the coffee tickled his 
 nose ! that the dreadful and accusing past was only a 
 cruel nightmare which had brooded over him during 
 the long night, and which would vanish with the 
 daylight ; that he was innocent and happy, glad once 
 more and joyous ; that his nephew what an awful 
 dream he had had about him ; thank God, that it was 
 over ! was standing by his bedside, laughing. He 
 heard him call him with his fresh young voice 
 
 136 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 137 
 
 " Jack, old boy, wake up, tis morning ! Get up, 
 lazy fellow ! " 
 
 He threw back the bed clothes, started up, sprang 
 vigorously out of bed, and hurried, still half-asleep, to 
 the window to draw up the blind, for it was still nearly 
 quite dark. It was about six o clock, and there was a 
 fresh, healthful and invigorating " feel " in the air. 
 In the east, the day was breaking. 
 
 Suddenly, with a start and a shiver, with a rush of 
 accusing blood to his damp forehead, the glorious 
 vision vanished. With the old, old weight upon his 
 heart and soul, which had been lightened for a moment, 
 the dread reality came back. Covering his face with 
 his guilty hands, the stains on which nothing could 
 efface, he knew again where he was, and what he was. 
 
 There are many who have felt the inexpressible 
 relief and bliss which fills the heart, when waking up 
 from a dream of terror and anguish, with the cold sweat 
 of fear upon the brow, with convulsive shudderings in 
 the limbs, and an indescribable terror weighing down 
 every faculty, as with leaden weights, we come back 
 to the delightful knowledge, that it is only a foolish 
 dream a chimera, which has been haunting us, 
 probably induced by an indigestible supper, or an un 
 comfortable position ; that we are still happy and 
 honoured ; that the sunshine is trying to peep through 
 our own snug window curtains, and not through prison 
 bars ; that the wife of our bosom, whom we dreamed 
 of we shudder still at the recollection ! as foully 
 murdered, is lying, sweetly sleeping at our side ; that 
 our darling little cherubs, whom we fancied croup had 
 carried off victims, are roaring lustily at the very 
 moment overhead (we hear nurse scolding them, what 
 a mercy Lucy does not) ; that the spectre which ap 
 palled is laid again, and that we can doze off once 
 more, on the other side for it would be a crying 
 shame to rouse our darling Lucy ; who does not know 
 the bliss of such a waking ! Who can imagine, being 
 
138 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 innocent, the agony of mind, the horror of himself, 
 which a lost soul must feel, who, having dreamed 
 himself guiltless, wakes up guilty ? 
 
 John Jasper had awakened to the full misery of such 
 a feeling. To the bitter dregs, he must drink the cup 
 which he had mixed. Yet perhaps an all merciful 
 Heaven sent the vision as a last warning to desist. 
 Did the guardian angel given him at his birth come 
 back once more after long absence and point with 
 gentle hand to repentance, as a last hope of rescue ? 
 Perhaps even to John Jasper, standing barefoot in the 
 middle of the little bedroom, looking with clenched 
 hands and wide-open horror-struck eyes upon the 
 rising sun tinging the heavens with the glory of its 
 presence perhaps even to his strayed soul a warning 
 voice was speaking, Turn back upon the path 
 which thou art treading ! Repent of the sins which 
 thou hast committed, in sackcloth and in ashes, and sin 
 no more ! Even for sinners lost as thee, Heaven can 
 find a refuge ! " Merciful God ! Once upon a time, 
 long, long ago, he had loved to look upon the rising sun, 
 and rejoiced he also in the sunshine. 
 
 Glorious and majestic rose the orb of day, looking 
 down in splendour upon the earth which it quickened. 
 No wonder that the ancients worshipped and bowed 
 down before it. No wonder that to them, this sun, 
 life-giving and life-restoring, was not alone an emblem 
 of the God who made it, but that God Himself. Float 
 ing up into the blue heaven, it rose grandly ; higher, 
 and ever higher. The great wonder, which takes place 
 every morning, before the eyes of the indifferent and 
 unobserving, before the eyes of scoffers and scorners, 
 before the eyes of believers and unbelievers, took place 
 once more. God said, " Let there be light, and there 
 was light." 
 
 But all light was powerless to lighten the darkness 
 of John Jasper. If, for one moment, a fitful ray fell 
 upon his black soul, showing him dimly the depth of its 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 139 
 
 depravity, it soon went out again. If, for one moment, 
 his guardian angel made a last effort to rescue him, he 
 was foiled in the attempt, and fled away for ever. 
 
 He laughed loud and recklessly : strength had come 
 back to him with the morning light, and that was all he 
 cared for, strength to do the evil he desired. 
 
 He dressed himself, went downstairs, and ordered 
 breakfast. It was soon ready, and he ate, if not heartily, 
 at any rate abundantly, for he was determined not to 
 run the risk again of fainting on the road. Then he 
 paid the ever-smiling landlady, and set off to walk 
 again, taking the high road which led to Cloisterham. 
 
 It was not strange that he should feel a wish to 
 revisit his old home, and old acquaintances ; but it 
 was singular that he should choose to walk there, when 
 the place was so easily accessible by means of the 
 railroad and the coach ; or if, for old acquaintance 
 sake, he preferred the road upon which he had trudged 
 weary footed many a time in his younger days, but 
 with a lighter heart then, why did he not hire a vehicle 
 of some kind, and drive there ? Why, indeed ? 
 
 He had not gone very far, when he saw before him a 
 young man, also walking in the same direction, who 
 turned round at the sound of footsteps behind him, and 
 then stooped to pick a late flower by the hedgeside. 
 A dark, spare man with shabby coat, and blue spec 
 tacles. John Jasper knew the man, or thought he did. 
 If he were not much mistaken, it was the same young 
 fellow whom he had seen go in and out of Staple Inn 
 sometimes when he was on the watch there. He had 
 ascertained by direct enquiries of the porter in charge 
 of the gate who had no objection to a shilling now 
 and then, though the information he could give in 
 return was very scant that the young man was the 
 new clerk of Mr. Grewgious ; that nobody knew any 
 thing further about him, good or bad, except that 
 he was always punctual and always melancholy. 
 " Crossed in love, maybe," said the porter jocosely, 
 
140 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " them young chaps takes such things terrible to 
 eart the fust time, and goes downright melancholy 
 mad ; but Lord love you ! it don t last long ; and the 
 second time it don t hurt so much, you see " (with a 
 wink, intended to express that he had large experience 
 in this respect himself, and spoke from profound 
 personal knowledge) . 
 
 John Jasper eyed the young man, or rather the back 
 of the young man, narrowly (for he was still engaged 
 in picking leaves and flowers) as he recalled the porter s 
 observations. This was a long way from Staple Inn, 
 and past the hour for the usual attendance at the office. 
 What the devil was he doing here ? 
 
 Nothing, apparently, or only botanising. And as 
 John Jasper passed him, he turned back again, and 
 went slowly in the direction of the city. Whom was 
 he like ? Whom did he remind him of, in gait and 
 carriage ? although he walked more slowly, and had 
 not the elastic spring of the other. Bah ! why must 
 he always, sleeping and waking, be so constantly in his 
 thoughts ; he was quiet for ever now ; could never 
 more drive him mad by boyish boasting of his own 
 good fortune and happiness, so cruel a contrast to 
 another s ; for he " had put on immortality." 
 
 Forgetting in this new groove of thought, the man 
 whose presence had sent him there, he began to wonder, 
 if, after all, his fears were not driving him too fast ; 
 if the woman had not lied, when she said the hounds 
 were after him mother of lies that she was ! He had 
 always had this last plan in reserve, if the others should 
 fail ; but it would be an infernal pity, if later events 
 should prove that he might still have completed that 
 web, at which he had been weaving so ceaselessly, and 
 which was almost ready to catch and hold the man for 
 whom it was intended, in its murderous meshes. There 
 were a hundred chances to one that she had lied, in 
 order to extort money from him. 
 
 But if she had not ? If she had told the truth for 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 141 
 
 the first time in her life (and that she knew his secret, 
 he could not doubt, after what she had said ; he must 
 have blabbed it out under the influence of that accursed 
 opium) what then ? what then ? 
 
 Why then, delay would have been madness and 
 almost surely fatal to his hopes. All the labours of his 
 sleepless nights and weary days would have been in 
 vain. He had made so certain that he had closely 
 shut the door, and effectually blocked up all the windows 
 and crannies by which suspicion might enter, and now 
 now he must find, that in the dead of night, when 
 no one could have dreamed her on the look out, he had 
 opened the carefully locked and barricaded door, and 
 let her in himself. 
 
 A sort of fury against his own person, which had been 
 guilty of such unpardonable weakness, overcame him 
 for a moment, and he struck himself violently in the 
 face with his clenched fist. His own enemy once more, 
 for the blood spurted from his nose, and dropped down 
 upon his new tie and spotless waistcoat ! He shud 
 dered as he saw what he had done, but it was too late 
 now. He was a marked man again ; blood upon his 
 face and hands ; blood staining his new clothes ; 
 crimsoning the white handkerchief which he drew out 
 to staunch it blood everywhere. 
 
 It was awful, sickening. He not only smelt, but 
 tasted it. The instinctive aversion which almost 
 every human being feels at the sight of blood, which is 
 the life, he, the murderer, felt no less than others. He 
 sat down on a milestone by the road, with closed 
 eyes, and almost fainting. When he recovered suffi 
 ciently to try and wipe away the stains, they were 
 dry already. He only succeeded in removing the 
 marks from his face and hands with the handkerchief, 
 which he put, blood-stained, into his pocket, buttoning 
 his great coat (which for ease in walking, for the day 
 was bright and warm, he had worn loose) over the ugly 
 stains upon his waistcoat. 
 
142 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Shine down upon him, oh sun, in all thy splendour ! 
 Bring out into strong relief the sinister and cruel lines 
 upon his beardless face ! Point at him with thy bright 
 finger, and show him up to the whole world, as a 
 dangerous man a murderous man a man to be 
 avoided ! 
 
 Never mind ! Even if the hounds were after him, 
 they were a long way behind. A whole day in arrear, 
 at all events. He would baffle them yet, and obtain 
 what he wanted in spite of them. Ha, ha, he was 
 baffling them at that moment ! 
 
 Not so fast, John Jasper ! Who are these two 
 individuals, rough of coat and rough of tongue, though 
 endeavouring to soften the latter, out of deference to a 
 smiling, radiant little landlady, who is mixing with her 
 own fair hands, and with equal readiness, for their 
 delectation, a couple of glasses of the same mixture 
 which set you on your feet yesterday and which is to 
 keep them on their feet to-day ? 
 
 " Capital stuff, missus," said one of them, draining 
 his glass to the last drop, and even then trying to 
 make it yield another, " a most as capital and as 
 worthy of hadmiration as the fair mixer." And the 
 speaker, an undersized, strongly-built man, with light 
 hair, full red beard, and sharp twinkling blue eyes, 
 leered admiringly at the hostess. 
 
 The other man, taller than his companion, with darker 
 hair and eyes, and a serious, not to say heavy expres 
 sion of countenance, was still engaged in the business of 
 emptying his glass, as his companion spoke ; but he now 
 put it down empty also. 
 
 " Took the road to Cloisterham, did he, missus ? " he 
 enquired slowly, fingering something contemplatively 
 in his pocket as he spoke. 
 
 " The road to Cloisterham," chirruped the beaming 
 landlady. " I went out myself to see. Have another 
 glass, gentlemen ? it shall be ready in a minute." 
 
 The little man, with a longing look in his blue eyes, 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 143 
 
 glanced enquiringly at the other, who answered him, 
 and not the landlady. 
 
 " No, William ; we ve a long pull, and a strong 
 pull, to make to-day, and I m not a gwine to let 
 you fuddle yourself beforehand, not if I knows it, 
 William." 
 
 " You are right, Josiah," answered the other, 
 resignedly. 
 
 " Now I d risk another glass of the stuff," said the 
 man called Josiah, this time speaking to the hostess, 
 " that the man, missus, was a handsome man. I 
 calculate on having some experience of the ladies, and 
 the ladies wouldn t take the trouble to run after us, 
 for the puppus of one more look of our handsome mugs. 
 Now would they, William ? " 
 
 " I believe you," said the other. 
 
 " He wasn t a handsome man," cried the landlady, 
 eagerly, and blushing a little, " he was an ugly man, a 
 frightful man, an odious man." 
 
 As she spoke, William leered at Josiah ; and Josiah, 
 fondly patting again that something in his pocket, 
 frowned at William. 
 
 " Lor now ! Only think ! Not handsome ! " said 
 the tall man. " But I reckon I know what missus 
 means. Lor, I m acquainted with the lovely sex, have 
 studied em on all sides, and from all pints of the 
 compass. Though, for the matter of that, tis im 
 possible to get to the bottom on em arter all. But 
 in the matter of beauty in the masculine gender, the 
 ladies have but one opinion. A man may have the 
 face and figur of an Apoller, but if he ain t got a beard, 
 he s an * odious man to them. They dotes upon 
 beards, bless em ! Ten to one, William, and sure to 
 win, that the gentleman hadn t got no beard." 
 
 The landlady laughed as she met the speaker s eyes, 
 and laughed more loudly still, as Josiah pulled at his 
 own black beard, and William ran his fingers through 
 his bushy red one, with unspeakable complacency. 
 
144 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " No, he hadn t a beard/ she said, " not that she 
 cared about one, not a bit." 
 
 " Nor whiskers ? " put in William, on his own account. 
 
 " Nor whiskers." 
 
 " Nor moustaches ? " enquired William, again. 
 
 " Nor moustaches," answered the hostess. 
 
 " William," interrupted Josiah, suddenly, in a sombre 
 and rebuking manner, " if you ain t got nothing better 
 to say than them there remarks, hunder the gravity 
 of the present hoccasion, then you d much better turn 
 your I won t say insignificant person, William, for 
 I never wounds the feelings of a friend, hunder any 
 circumstances, however haggravated, but will only 
 say your person, such as it is, back towards London, 
 and stay there, William. That s my advice, William. 
 Take it or leave it." 
 
 " You are right, Josiah," answered the other, 
 humbly. 
 
 " Very well. Favour me with your attention, 
 missus. The cove has took the road to Cloisterham ; 
 has got no beard ; had on a new suit of dark brown 
 cloth." 
 
 " No, grey," said the landlady. 
 
 " Of course, mum. Only a slip of the tongue. And 
 his at ? A chimney pot, warn t it, missus ? " 
 
 " A dark felt hat, drawn low over his face." 
 
 " To be sure ! And what was it o clock, mum, when 
 the cove took the high road to Cloisterham ? " 
 
 " More than two hours ago." 
 
 " Only think ! Two hours ago ! Come along, 
 William. We ain t got no time to lose. Good morning, 
 missus ; we shall be a coming back for another glass 
 of the stuff, shan t we, William ? But before we goes 
 just tell us, missus. You ve been a wondering what on 
 airth makes us so curious about the cove ; now, haven t 
 you ? " 
 
 Not a bit, with a contemptuous toss of the pretty 
 head. She had other things to think of. 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 145 
 
 " Well, missus, there ain t no mystery in it. We re 
 three of the best of friends, we are ; me, the cove, and 
 William there ; and we are a going to make a pedestrian 
 tower together ; and the cove, which is name is 
 Anthony Green, if so be as you might like to know it, 
 missus ; though I ll be bound he was always up to a 
 joke, was Anthony he gave you another for the fun 
 of it." 
 
 " He gave me no name at all," pouted the land 
 lady, " and I didn t ask him for it. He paid his bill 
 and went away like a gentleman. Anthony, indeed ! " 
 
 " Well, it ain t a purty name," remarked Josiah, 
 * but what can a cove do ? A cove don t give himself 
 his own name, as a rule, and this cove didn t for 
 certain. Now did he, William ? " 
 
 William, who had been regarding" Josiah with open- 
 eyed admiration, replied, heading his remark with 
 something quite different, " That he d be blest if he 
 did." 
 
 " Well, good-day, missus. Two hours on ahead, 
 did you say ? Never mind ! Me and William is 
 steady on our pins, and we ll ketch him up in next to 
 no time. Lor, how glad I shall be to see him ! We are 
 so fond of him, ain t we, William ? Won t we hug 
 him, and never let him loose again. Now, William, 
 will you toddle, or will you not ? If it hadn t been for 
 you, standing here and chattering as if time warn t 
 of no importance, we should have been a good 
 hour further on the road by this time. You under 
 stand now, missus, why we was so curious about the 
 cove." 
 
 O yes, she understood ! Better far than either 
 William or Josiah fancied, and was gone full trot to 
 tell her husband all about it, ere the two cunning ones 
 were quite lost sight of on the road. 
 
 And George, the male factotum, and Eliza, the 
 female one, who had been listening to the conversation 
 at a respectful distance, had their own opinions about 
 
 L 
 
146 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 it too ; which opinions they began to impart to one 
 another as soon as the missus was out of hearing. 
 
 " Look ee here, Liz, old girl ! " began George, laying 
 a massive finger by the side of his massive nose, and 
 winking double winks of supernatural intelligence at 
 his listener, " if the first chap hadn t murder writ 
 on his face, and the two hothers handcuffs, then my 
 name ain t George, which my godfathers and my god 
 mothers did give me, and your name won t never be 
 Mrs. George, which it shall be, if you ll say the word, 
 old girl, and give us a buss to settle it." 
 
 Whereupon Eliza, who had been looking out for 
 ten years or more for some such remark from George, 
 and was quite willing to give both word and " buss," 
 did so with tremendous emphasis then and there, and 
 thus to these two, at least, the ill-omened visitors had 
 been messengers of good-will and unity. 
 
 All unconscious of what was going on so far behind 
 him, John Jasper, who had wrestled with success 
 against the weakness threatening to overwhelm him, 
 went on again apace. Something within him warned 
 him that he had no time to waste, that he must make 
 the best use of the strength he had, before it deserted 
 him again. Did he feel danger in the balmy air ? Did 
 he scent the hounds following him ? 
 
 On, on, faster than ever. He had something of the 
 harassed, anxious look of one hunted by this time, and 
 drew his breath in short, quick gasps. But if he was 
 pursued, he was distancing his pursuers every moment. 
 He knew of a dozen short cuts through fields and 
 lanes which they did not. They stopped to dine on 
 the road ; he stopped nowhere. He had taken the 
 precaution of providing himself at the inn with cold 
 meat and bread, and a flask of brandy, and ate and 
 drank on the road. 
 
 On, on, with the bloodhounds on his track. They 
 are coming on with noses full of the scent of him, and 
 in the right direction now. They are far behind still, 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 147 
 
 but they are fresh and vigorous, and Heaven help him, 
 or his own master the Evil One, or they will hunt him 
 down after all. 
 
 It was about three o clock in the afternoon when he 
 approached Cloisterham, and saw before him the old 
 square tower of the Cathedral and the red-brick houses, 
 warm and glowing in the sunshine. 
 
 He was almost exhausted, but seemed to gather 
 new courage on arriving at his journey s end. He 
 did not enter the city by the direct way, but skirted it 
 rather, going in at last by byways and alleys, which he 
 knew well, and where he met hardly anybody. He had 
 drawn his felt hat low over his eyes, and one or two 
 whom he met, and whom he knew slightly, as he did 
 almost every one in Cloisterham, passed him by as 
 indifferently as if he had been the stranger he would 
 appear. His object was attained ; a casual glance 
 failed to recognise him, and he breathed more freely. 
 
 Always creeping and sidling along, he emerged at 
 last into a part where he could see the Cathedral Close 
 and Minor Canon Corner, yet remain himself pretty 
 secure from observation. If any one should chance 
 to pass him, he had only to pretend to walk on quietly, 
 and return, when they were gone, to his post of obser 
 vation. There he set himself to wait and watch. 
 
 Fixing his cruel eyes upon the house inhabited by the 
 Minor Canon, he saw that fresh-faced gentleman, the 
 personified image of a good conscience and a guileless 
 heart, issue therefrom, and turn his steps towards the 
 Cathedral. He saw other clergymen, and the Dean him 
 self, come from various directions, and enter the sacred 
 edifice. He saw the choir boys arrive, rosy and noisy, 
 jostling and treading upon one another s heels, and 
 with difficulty restrained in the free exercise of these 
 boyish ebullitions by the grave choir-master, his suc 
 cessor. He saw Mr. Tope, the verger, and a small 
 congregation enter, too. Finally, he heard the organ 
 swell and rise, and the fresh, clear treble voices of the 
 
148 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 smaller boys join the deeper ones of the elders in a 
 glorious burst of melody, which seemed as if it floated 
 up to the gates of heaven. 
 
 That is to say, he saw all this with his eyes and heard 
 it with his ears, mechanically, for all his heart and all 
 his thoughts were concentrated on one spot, and lost 
 in one contemplation the Minor Canon s house, and 
 a little figure there, which he longed to see pass the 
 threshold. 
 
 At last at last he had been waiting about an hour, 
 but he hardly knew himself whether it had been an 
 eternity or a second the door opened, and Rosa, 
 dressed for walking, came out alone. He had made up 
 his mind that he might have to wait a day days 
 perhaps for this opportunity, and had laid his plans 
 accordingly ; but that devil, whom he served so 
 well, had worked miracles for his retainer, and had 
 granted him, before he expected it, the opportunity he 
 desired. 
 
 He had not looked upon that lovely face in the flesh 
 for a month for thirty long days and he now let his 
 longing eyes famished for want of her take their 
 full, and feast ravenously. 
 
 She was pale, he thought, and thinner. The childish 
 plumpness had vanished, and the sweet mouth was 
 drawn down slightly at the corners not peevishly or 
 discontentedly as he had seen it often in the old times, 
 when it had been his blessed privilege to sit beside 
 her, but as if weary and in pain and as her wonderful 
 eyes, so dark and soft, looked in the direction where he 
 was crouching, he fancied they shone through tears 
 which she kept back with effort. 
 
 But how beautiful she was ! How much more 
 beautiful than he had imagined her. If the bud had 
 given glorious promise, the wondrous beauty of the 
 opening flower exceeded expectation. He fancied, 
 looking with gloating eyes upon her loveliness, that he 
 had only faintly dreamed of it before, and that he now, 
 
ON THE HIGH ROAD TO CLOISTERHAM 149 
 
 for the first time, really felt it felt it like a sharp knife 
 wounding every fibre of his quivering heart. 
 
 She went towards the river ; he always following 
 her, climbing up towards the Monastery ruin as he 
 saw that she intended to take the path below, and 
 going on swiftly and noiselessly until he had attained 
 a point where he could descend without attracting her 
 observation, and, cowering behind a few stunted bushes 
 growing there, arrest her as she passed. 
 
 As she came slowly on, nearing him every moment, 
 the passionate beating of his heart almost stifled him, 
 and the blood, rushing wildly to his head, blinded him 
 and blotted her out from his sight. 
 
 Was he going to faint again ? Was he going to 
 become insensible, and lose her, now that he was almost 
 certain of her ? He must compose himself ; must turn 
 away his eyes for a moment, for the sight of her beauty 
 intoxicated him. 
 
 He swallowed a deep draught of brandy, and looked 
 back along the path which he had taken, and then saw 
 that there was some one there. 
 
 A tall, lithe man, coming along as he had done, and 
 looking ever and anon down upon the fairy figure far 
 below. John Jasper knew him recognised him as he 
 came nearer, with a bitter malediction. No chance 
 passer-by ; but one who had followed her, as he 
 had followed, and with the same intent. It was the 
 man who had dared to look love at her in London, and 
 whose sentence, if a successful rival, was without 
 mercy Death. 
 
 He drew out the revolver which he had brought with 
 him, cocked and levelled it ; waited in breathless 
 expectation, keeping him covered with his murderous 
 weapon. 
 
 On came Mr. Tartar, quickly and securely, with a 
 light, elastic step, little dreaming that his life hung by 
 a thread ; while John Jasper, alternately watching 
 him and the girl below, with murder in his heart, and 
 
150 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the means of committing murder in his hand, waited 
 for his coming. 
 
 Suddenly the sea-lieutenant began to descend : the 
 murderer crouching there might have carried into 
 execution his evil purpose many times during this 
 descent, but he hesitated still, knowing that he had 
 him always in his power, and fearing that the noise of 
 the discharge might be heard, and baffle his plans. 
 
 He waited, therefore, to note the result of the inter 
 view ; and thus became a witness to what passed 
 below between the two ah ! so unconscious of this 
 deadly neighbour 1 
 
 He was too far up, and too far in advance, to hear all 
 they said, but he understood its import. If the sea- 
 lieutenant had kissed the sweet lips of the girl, his 
 mad jealousy might have gained the victory over his 
 prudence, and he might have shot him dead where he 
 stood ; but at the close of the interview, he only touched 
 her hand with his lips as they parted, and left her 
 behind alone. 
 
 Rapture indescribable ! Bliss unutterable ! Alone 
 and in his power ! 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING 
 
 MR. TARTAR had gone away from Rosa in an uneasy 
 and ever-increasing solicitude concerning her, which 
 seemed, for the moment, to overbalance his deep sorrow 
 and disapppointment. He had barely left her, in 
 obedience to her repeated request that he would do so, 
 before he blamed himself severely for having yielded 
 to it ; and would have retraced his steps, had he not 
 feared to cause her pain and annoyance. But she 
 was accustomed to walk alone The country was not 
 like London, and she was close to the town. Every 
 object was brilliantly illuminated by the moonlight, 
 and besides, who would think of harming her ? He 
 met Mr. Crisparkle at the door, who taking him by the 
 arm, said : "I have received a most mysterious letter 
 from Mr. Grewgious, informing me that he is coming 
 down to Cloisterham this evening, accompanied by 
 Neville and Hel Miss Landless, and begging me to 
 meet them at the omnibus, as he has some startling 
 communication to make to me. Ma is busy with 
 preparations for the arrival of our guests ; she will 
 find room for Miss Landless, who will like to be with her 
 friend, but the gentlemen will have to lodge at the 
 Crozier, for our little nest in Minor Canon Corner is not 
 large enough to hold all." 
 
 " They can have my room," said Mr. Tartar. " I 
 will lodge at the Crozier to-night, and must go up to 
 London early in the morning. It will be a good 
 excuse, Crisparkle. You guess what has happened." 
 
 " I suppose you are right, Tartar," answered his 
 
152 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 friend, " and that I should do the same in your position, 
 though I m sorry to part with you so, old fellow ! " 
 
 The Minor Canon laid his arm affectionately round 
 the shoulder of the young man, but only through this 
 
 ving action gave expression to his sympathy. He 
 knew how cruel was the conflict in which his friend was 
 engaged, and how barren and unfruitful words of 
 comfort are at such a moment. Only love and time 
 can heal such wounds as these. 
 
 Duly a little delayed perhaps by Mr. Tartar s con 
 fidences they arrived at the spot where the omnibus 
 was expected, and found they had still some minutes 
 to spare. In a very little while, however, before they 
 had time or reasonable cause to grow impatient, the 
 crack of Joe s whip was heard, and at full trot, with a 
 rush and a rattle, up dashed the horses to the spot 
 where they were waiting. 
 
 The three expected were there, inside. Mr. Cris- 
 parkle saw them first. Had the recital of his friend s 
 sufferings affected the good man so much, and was it 
 only sympathy for him which made the Minor Canon s 
 face flush so hotly, his strong hand tremble, his eye 
 soften with emotion ? Alas, poor Mr. Tartar, mournful 
 and subdued in the background, feeling himself sadly 
 in the way, and yet hardly knowing how to beat a 
 retreat, was as completely forgotten, as he was com 
 pletely lost sight of, for the time ! For the Minor 
 Canon was raising his hat, and looking with all his eyes 
 and all his heart at a young lady s face, framed in by 
 the old coach window ; while the proud beauty blush- 
 ingly returned his salute ; her brilliant eyes drooping, 
 and her face softening into sweet humility as she did so. 
 
 After the usual greetings, Mr. Crisparkle offered his 
 arm to Helena, who, radiant and bewildered, appeared 
 so strangely transformed to her pale brother, that he 
 looked at her in wonder, and almost in alarm. As for 
 the Minor Canon, he, with unwonted inconsiderateness, 
 was so engrossed in contemplating, with a sort of 
 
JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS 1 MEETING 153 
 
 rapturous awe, the blushing face beside him, as barely 
 to notice how sharp and pale was his pupil s, and 
 how worn and wasted the young manyooked. Long 
 continued mental anxiety and suffering had been doing 
 their work too surely, and Mr. Grewgious kind heart 
 bled as he observed what ravages they had wrought 
 on the poor lad s frame. 
 
 " Take my arm, Mr. Neville," he said, noticing and 
 perhaps dimly comprehending Mr. Crisparkle s un 
 accountable absence of mind, "and lean your whole 
 weight upon it. You don t look over-strong, and I m 
 as strong as a horse. I m an angular man, and my arm 
 naturally partakes of this quality, but I m able and 
 willing." 
 
 Neville laughed ; such a thin, poor, puny laugh ! 
 It had not strength to stand upon its legs, but fell 
 faint, and died by reason of its weakness. But he felt 
 so unusually bright and well this evening unusually 
 so for him, poor fellow ! and so calm and contented. 
 Cloisterham looked so beautiful and full of peace. He 
 had first seen it in the moonlight, and now once more 
 the moon s mild beams shed their calm, sweet light on 
 all around. He no longer felt himself an outcast ; it 
 seemed to him why, he did not know as if he need 
 be no longer shunned and avoided by his race. He had 
 been so afraid to come back, and~only persuaded to do 
 so by the united persuasions of his sister and Mr. 
 Grewgious, but now all fear was gone. He no longer 
 dreaded to meet old acquaintances, nor would have 
 gone out of his way to avoid them. He had sinned 
 much, been harsh and unforgiving many times, way 
 ward and passionate. He had had murder in his 
 heart, and fierce anger, and he had been punished for 
 it justly ; but of the crime laid to his charge he was 
 innocent, and God knew it, and his fellow-men would 
 know it, in God s time. He could kiss the rod, and 
 submit meekly to his chastisement, for he was forgiven 
 he knew he was forgiven. How sweet was the fresh 
 
154 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 air, after the dust and smoke of London ! how glad he 
 was to breathe it once more. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle and Helena were ahead, exchanging a 
 word or two now and then, but satisfied, for the present, 
 in being so near together, arm in arm the throbbings of 
 his heart awakening echoes in hers. But the girl s face 
 grew grave as they approached Minor Canon Corner, 
 and for the first time in his life, the Revd. Septimus 
 wished that dear home were further away. 
 
 They all went into the house, bright and warm to 
 welcome them, with its cheery little hostess, a beaming 
 image of hospitality, awaiting them in the hall all 
 except, of course, poor, forlorn Mr. Tartar, who crept 
 away, as the door closed upon him, with an aching heart. 
 Nobody cared for him ! His friend had forgotten him 
 quite, and they were all indifferent to his sufferings ! 
 He peered into the lighted rooms, but saw no Rosa. 
 Even this last comfort was denied him. Had it been 
 a sin to love her, that he was punished for it so remorse 
 lessly? He had just turned to go back to the Inn, 
 almost wishing he could lie down and die by the way, 
 when the door burst open again, and the Minor Canon 
 came out, pale and horror-struck. 
 
 " Is that you, Tartar ? " he cried. " Rosa has not 
 come back. She is alone, Tartar at this time of night 
 alone by the river." 
 
 And without another word, the two men set off, 
 running at full speed. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A BRUTAL SUITOR 
 
 ROSA had sunk down on a little rustic seat under the hill 
 side, on Mr. Tartar s departure, and given full vent again 
 to her feelings in a renewed burst of grief. Her pocket- 
 handkerchief was wet when she stopped exhausted, 
 and the fountain whence flowed her tears had run dry, 
 and would yield no more for the present. She had 
 tried so hard to prevent this acknowledgment of love 
 on the part of the sea-lieutenant, which her duty or 
 her duty as she believed it forbade her to return. 
 What she might have done under other circumstances ? 
 Whether she might have learned to love him ? 
 Whether she did love him in her inmost heart ? all 
 these were questions which she dared neither review 
 nor contemplate, and she put them away from her with 
 strong effort and determination. He was so handsome 
 and so manly ; so worthy of love, and of a woman s 
 deep and undivided affection ; so generous and so noble ; 
 so gentle and so strong (these two last qualities alone 
 are almost irresistible in the eyes of a woman), that she 
 avoided, with a sort of fear, all thought of him, and 
 did her utmost to forget him altogether, as far as 
 possible. It was this feeling of doubt in herself, 
 more than doubt in him, which had prompted her 
 to say that they must never meet again: although, 
 as she reflected now with shame and distress, she 
 had no right whatever to dictate to him, and that 
 having declined to accept his love, she had been 
 guilty of great presumption in so doing, and had 
 virtually banished him from the home which was hers 
 
156 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 for the present, and which was also the home of his 
 friend. 
 
 With a sigh and a tear for her own indiscretion, she 
 began to reflect mournfully upon what a poor gift 
 beauty was after all, and how much suffering it entailed 
 suffering for its unfortunate possessor, and suffering 
 for those attracted by it. 
 
 Whatever faults poor Rosa had, she was honest and 
 true, and her bright eyes could not but see, for they 
 were keen and sharp as well as bright, that she had 
 beauty. 
 
 She had been undisputedly the queen at Miss 
 Twinkleton s, and even the advent of that brilliant 
 star, Miss Landless, could not shake the allegiance of the 
 pupils in the Nun s House to their chosen one. It had 
 occasioned a panic among the young ladies when Miss 
 Giggles about as unaesthetical a young person as ever 
 lived had declared openly in the " apartment allotted 
 to study," that, for her part, she considered Helena to 
 the full as handsome as Rosa, and that she did not 
 admire little women. Then and there had Miss Giggles 
 been transported to Coventry, and accompanied thither 
 by every mark * of opprobrium and ignominy ; Miss 
 Ferdinand in particular a most ardent admirer of 
 little Rosa strictly keeping her vow of not speaking 
 to her for a whole week. Not that Rosa herself had 
 ever felt the least bit jealous of her friend, but was 
 always her most sincere advocate, and admired her with 
 her whole heart. >> 
 
 But how many a time she had felt proud and glad to 
 be so pretty ; how many a time, she had smiled back 
 well content at her own image in the glass ; how many 
 a time, she had triumphed in the reflection that every 
 eye falling upon her must be pleased and satisfied ; and 
 how often she had pitied other girls less favoured than 
 she ; had shown Miss Jones little attentions and kind 
 nesses, because, poor girl ! she had red hair and 
 freckled skin, and had even sought out Miss Giggles 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 157 
 
 in Coventry, with her snub nose and wide mouth, and 
 petted and consoled her there. 
 
 And poor innocent Rosa, with her tender conscience 
 and her loving heart, fancied, even as she had done 
 before at Brighton, as she sat weeping all alone by the 
 river in the moonlight, that she had been to blame 
 somehow for her beauty ; that she had petted and 
 rejoiced in it, as if it were a virtue ; that she had tried 
 to enhance it with fine clothes and bright ribbons, and 
 other foolish vanities, and, with bowed head and heart, 
 believed God was punishing her for this. Oh, how she 
 envied others who had been spared this temptation ; 
 how gladly she would have resigned it ; how despicable 
 it appeared to her at this moment. 
 
 She raised her hot face to the peaceful sky, and let 
 the cool breeze of the evening fan it, as she clasped her 
 hands and prayed fervently to her Father in Heaven, 
 that He would punish and forgive her (but not let 
 others suffer for her sins), and show her, in His love 
 and mercy, what she ought to do that He would 
 teach her what was right , and give her strength to 
 doit. 
 
 That appeal to God calmed and comforted her more 
 than anything else could have done, and she began to 
 think it was time she went home, or she would cause 
 kind Mrs. Crisparkle needless anxiety on her account. 
 She would just take one more turn by the river to cool 
 her flushed cheeks and dry her wet eyes, and then she 
 would hasten back to Minor Canon Corner. 
 
 How peaceful and soothing was the aspect of the 
 landscape ; how brilliant was the moonshine ; how 
 calm the face of Nature ! 
 
 She got up, and began to walk along the bank of the 
 river as she had done before. The elasticity of youth, 
 and a naturally buoyant nature, could not fail to assert 
 itself, and rose, ultimately, superior to the depression 
 which had almost mastered it. God would show her 
 some way of escape out of this labyrinth ; she was sure 
 
158 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 He would. She had put her case in His hands, and 
 could patiently await His will. 
 
 O, dear ! how far she had wandered, and how 
 thoughtless she had been ! She must run for it now, 
 or Mrs. Crisparkle would never let her go out to walk 
 alone any more. She pushed back the clustering hair 
 from her hot forehead, drew her hat further over her 
 eyes, and began to hasten homewards. 
 
 What was that rustling in the bushes behind her ? 
 A bird a rabbit ? No, a man ! A solitary pedestrian 
 coming on rapidly. She wondered that she had not 
 heard or seen him before, but she had been lost in her 
 reflections. Still unalarmed, she drew aside to let him 
 pass, for he was gaining on her swiftly. 
 
 But he did not pass, as she expected. He stood still 
 as he came up beside her, regarding her silently, with 
 dark eyes gleaming fire. 
 
 " What was the meaning of this ? Why did the 
 man look at her in that strange and awful manner ? " 
 she asked herself with beating heart. For an instant 
 her terrified gaze met his with wonder and amaze ; 
 then she recognised him, with a wild shriek of terror. 
 
 But before her cry for help could ring out into the 
 clear night air, he had smothered it with his hand upon 
 her mouth, which he held there, until he felt that she 
 was silent. 
 
 " Don t scream, don t be frightened, my beauty ! 
 It is I ! " he said, "I, who love you, who adore you. 
 No, don t scream, beloved, or I must stop your mouth 
 again ; not with my rough hand pardon me if I have 
 hurt you but with something softer, sweet one ! 
 with a kiss." 
 
 In an agony of horror and alarm, which whitened 
 her face even to the trembling lips, she nevertheless 
 struggled successfully against the feeling of deadly 
 faintness which threatened to lay her at his feet, and 
 looked despairingly backwards and forwards along 
 the path upon which they were standing, up the hill- 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 159 
 
 side and over the misty river, but saw no one to help 
 her. Strange to say or, rather, not strange, for it is a 
 proved fact that the intrepidity of many a woman 
 grows with the magnitude of the demand upon it, in a 
 manner unexpected and unlocked for this helplessness 
 this being cast entirely upon her own resources, did 
 not rob her of her courage, but gave it back to her 
 tenfold. 
 
 With high spirit always dwelling latent in her, 
 but which, as yet, had been uncalled for and unneeded 
 in her sheltered and protected life and with ready 
 appreciation of the danger which would increase if she 
 lost her presence of mind, and gave way to her natural 
 alarm before this madman, she faced him no longer 
 tremblingly, but dauntlessly ; and, like Una with the 
 savage lion, shielded by her own spotless innocence and 
 purity, dared him to approach her, or to touch her 
 again. 
 
 He was contemplating her with a gloating rapture 
 which sickened her once more and was murmuring 
 
 "A kiss, beloved! Only one kiss! No more till 
 we have spoken. I have kissed you a million times 
 in my dreams, but what is a dream to the reality ? 
 Give me one give me one, for I am hungering and 
 famishing for want of it, and must die if you refuse 
 me." 
 
 " Never ! " she exclaimed, with a gesture of unspeak 
 able loathing and abhorrence, drawing back as he 
 approached her, and she felt his hot breath upon her 
 cheek, but always keeping her steady eyes upon 
 him. " How can you be so base, and mean, and 
 cowardly, as thus to pursue a helpless girl ? Is that the 
 way to win love or respect ? Pass on, and cease to 
 persecute me ; you have had your answer, what further 
 do you want of me ? " 
 
 " You yourself, my darling ! Nothing more ; but, 
 by all the devils in hell, I swear to you, nothing less. 
 Give me one kiss, my angel ! that I may live and be a 
 
i6o A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 man again. I saw your other lover go away just now. 
 You were less scrupulous and prudish with him. You 
 kissed him, beloved." 
 
 " It is a wicked lie," she cried indignantly, " I did 
 not." 
 
 " No, you did not," he answered, with a curling 
 lip, " well for him that you did not ! He would never 
 have gone back alive to Cloisterham if you had. I 
 could never have looked on and borne that, with his 
 life in my hand. I had him covered with my weapon, 
 and should have killed him, had he dared to touch your 
 lips." 
 
 Even in the midst of this terrible scene, so awful 
 that it seemed to Rosa as if it could not be real, but 
 mustjjbe a fearful nightmare from which she would 
 awake, her heart bounded with joy as she heard this, 
 and knew that he was out of danger now. Even in the 
 midst of this mortal agony, she uttered a prayer of 
 fervent thanks and heartfelt gratitude to God, who 
 had enabled her to resist that temptation, to do what 
 she had believed to be right, and so to have been the 
 unconscious instrument in saving him. 
 
 " Listen," she said, raising her small hand, and 
 drawing her little figure up to its full height ; the pallor 
 of her face, and the solemn look in her dark eyes, making 
 her appear almost like a spirit in the moonlight. " Let 
 us be patient with one another ! Let us speak like 
 reasonable beings over our hard fate ! A strange and 
 unaccountable destiny has ordained that you should 
 love me (she brought out the word love with a shudder 
 which she could not repress), and the same destiny 
 has ordained that I that I should not be able to return 
 the feeling. This is how the case stands. Is it not 
 so? " 
 
 "Go on," he murmured, regarding her with fierce 
 delight, " go on, most beautiful of women ! peerless 
 among your sex ! and I will listen. If you bid me, 
 I will wait for my reward. I have waited years 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 161 
 
 centuries, and I can wait a few minutes longer. There 
 are no commands, save one, issuing from those lovely 
 lips that I would not obey." 
 
 "I am willing," she continued, faintly, for her 
 courage was giving way under the strain upon it, and 
 ebbing fast, as she noticed how little effect her words 
 were producing, ** to meet you half way, and to bear 
 my share of the suffering to which we are condemned. 
 I promise you, if you will abandon your pursuit of me 
 which makes me wretched, and which can be productive 
 of no other result to you by my most sacred word and 
 honour, to remain single all my life, to accept no man 
 as a suitor or a husband, and, in this way, to give you 
 no reason for hatred or jealousy, only begging you to 
 leave me undisturbed to my solitary life and lonely 
 fate, to which your love will have consigned me." 
 
 There was no quaver in her voice, nor tear in her eye, 
 as she concluded this proposal ; no shrinking back from 
 this sacrifice, this laying down of her young life upon 
 the altar of his remorseless love, worse than any hate ; 
 and she looked at him gravely and steadily, awaiting 
 his reply. 
 
 What she said seemed to have made some impression 
 on him. When he spoke again, his voice had lost 
 its wildness, and was subdued into a tone of quieter 
 persuasion. 
 
 " Ask me anything but that," he said, " and I will 
 grant it ; make any other request, wish for anything 
 else, and if it be within the range of human possibility 
 to obtain it, it shall be yours ; but this is impossible. 
 I cannot give you up, even if I would. The ties which 
 bind me to you are too strong for any power to rend. 
 Now listen to my proposal. Stay ! you must hear it ! 
 I will be your humblest vassal in all else, but now I 
 must compel you. I have been a moody, envious, 
 wicked man, beloved all for you. I will be cheerful, 
 happy, contented, if you will take me all for you 
 again. I have let talent, genius, ambition rust away 
 
 M 
 
162 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 in that accursed nest yonder, only to be near you, Rosa ; 
 I will now use the abilities which have been given me, 
 make a great name ; attain honour and riches only 
 to lay them at your worshipped feet. In the great, 
 free country over the water, where every man is valued 
 according to what is in him, and not for what he hap 
 pens to have been born, or for what he has amassed, 
 there we will go together. Everything is ready. I 
 will become a king among men, only to make you my 
 queen, and bow down and worship you. Speak, Rosa, 
 and say you will go with me of your own free will, 
 or " 
 
 " Or what ? " she asked. She felt her senses were 
 deserting her, and looked round wildly and despair 
 ingly. 
 
 " Or I must use violence, and take you with me by 
 force. It is your last chance ; speak, Rosa ! " And 
 he flung himself upon his knees before her, pressing his 
 lips upon her feet. 
 
 She made one more effort as she staggered back. 
 
 " Do not touch me. I I know your secret. I have 
 kept it. I will keep it, and pray for your forgiveness. 
 How can I clasp the hand of a murderer ? Oh, God, 
 do not desert me ! " 
 
 He sprang to his feet, and laughed aloud. 
 
 " All the more reason never to let you go, my beauty ! 
 All the more reason for keeping you safe and sure/ 
 
 But as he stretched out his arms to encircle her in 
 his embrace, they both heard through the still night, 
 footsteps, as of men running, and the next moment the 
 echoes repeated Rosa s piercing shriek for help. 
 
 He alone heard the answer. " We are coming, Rosa ; 
 we are coming " ; for night encompassed the girl s 
 senses, and she sank down unconscious. 
 | Like those of a wild beast brought to bay, the fierce 
 eyes of the desperate man glared in the direction 
 whence the sounds proceeded, for he was uncertain 
 what course to pursue. He listened intently ; if only 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 163 
 
 one man were coming to the rescue he might shoot him 
 down and take her with him still ; but the words which 
 had been uttered by Mr. Crisparkle -he had recognised 
 the voice had been : " We are coming." 
 
 There were two, or perhaps more, pursuers then, 
 unless the words had been used as a feint to terrify him, 
 and induce him to abandon her. He would have 
 wrestled with Mr. Crisparkle, or any two men even, 
 in his present state of passion and strong nervous 
 excitement ; but numbers must overpower him in the 
 end, and tear away his precious prize, now that he 
 possessed it. 
 
 The girl was quiet and lifeless, and could be carried 
 like a baby ; the deep swoon which had overpowered 
 her, would prevent any further struggle or resistance 
 on her part, and he might even yet, favoured by the 
 night, fly with her and hide her. It was worth trying, 
 at any rate, and fortune favoured the determined. 
 
 All these thoughts passed through his mind like a 
 flash of lightning, as he stooped and raised the lifeless 
 form of the girl, pressing it even in that dread moment, 
 when the exercise of his keenest faculties and highest 
 bodily strength were imperative for his safety, and the 
 carrying out of his designs with wild passion to his 
 heart. 
 
 For the first time he held her in his arms and encircled 
 her in his embrace. The contact seemed to fill his 
 veins with living fire, and to give him strength to 
 combat with twenty for her possession, and to conquer 
 one and all. 
 
 Swiftly and noiselessly he fled along the path by the 
 river, leaving Mr. Crisparkle, one of the swiftest run 
 ners in Cloisterham, who had caught sight of the two, 
 and was calling~out to him to stop and surrender himself 
 for God s sake, far behind again. 
 
 But his strength deserted him as suddenly and 
 unexpectedly as it had done the day before ; his knees 
 shook and trembled under him ; leaden weights seemed 
 
164 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 to hang upon his feet and ankles ; he gasped for breath, 
 but found none ; stumbled and fell with his burden. 
 
 He was on his feet again in a moment, and staggering 
 on once more ; but he felt and knew that all was over. 
 In another minute or two, the Minor Canon, coming 
 on like the wind, would gain upon him, and all power 
 of grappling with him was lost and gone. 
 
 With a wild curse for the master whom he had served 
 so long, and who had deserted him at this crisis, he 
 imagined himself run down ; the girl torn from him, to 
 be happy with another, and to detest his memory and 
 mock his hopeless love ; he himself delivered over to 
 justice, to be punished with the rigour of the laws of 
 God and man, against which he had sinned so fatally. 
 
 Never ! Never ! If she could not be his in life, 
 she should be his in death. He would not be able to 
 lie quiet in the grave, knowing her in the arms of a rival. 
 
 With sudden impulse, he sprang up the bank of the 
 river, and standing upon its brink, looked back towards 
 his pursuers, and then down upon the lovely face 
 resting on his shoulder. 
 
 He had never seen it so beautiful, he fancied. No, 
 not even when flushed with health and happiness. Her 
 bright luxuriant hair hung over his arm and framed a 
 face, pale as death, and chaste and pure as marble. 
 
 Tenderly, almost reverently, he stroked back the soft, 
 clinging curls, and let his eyes feast for the last time in 
 contemplation of her beauty beauty which had 
 brought them both to this to this. 
 
 Then he bowed his head, and pressed convulsively his 
 burning, passionate lips on her pure cold ones ; raised 
 her high in the air in full sight of his pursuers, who 
 stood still, paralysed with terror ; clasped her to 
 his heart again ; and with a wild cry of defiance and 
 exultation, sprang with her into the river. 
 
 High up splashed countless drops as they fell together. 
 Wide and broad circled the eddies. Then all was quiet 
 and peaceful once more. With calm and untroubled 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 165 
 
 smile the bright moon looked down upon the spot where 
 the crime had been committed, and undisturbed over 
 the placid river, flowing smoothly towards the ocean, 
 lay the autumn mist. 
 
 The Minor Canon had quickly recovered his presence 
 of mind, lost for one moment in the contemplation of 
 this terrible scene, and, throwing off his coat, dashed 
 up the bank, and ran along it, in hopes of seeing the 
 bodies rise, and being in time to arrest them on their 
 fatal course ; but he was too late. 
 
 They rose, indeed, but further down, beyond him, 
 and notwithstanding his utmost efforts, he felt that it 
 would be impossible for him to reach the spot, where 
 they might be expected to rise again, in time to save 
 them. With a fervour with which he had hardly ever 
 prayed good and religious man though he was he 
 implored the All-powerful to interpose, for human aid 
 was vain. 
 
 As if a miracle had been worked in answer to his 
 passionate supplication, his sharp eyes, sharpened 
 with anxiety, saw another man further down on the 
 bank, looking eagerly, as it appeared, into the river. 
 And a moment later, as the bodies rose again, he heard 
 the splash with which the stranger cleft the water. 
 
 He saw him (still running as fast as his legs would 
 carry him) seize the girl s long hair and twine it round 
 his hand. But the tide was running out, and the 
 weight of the two bodies, so closely interlocked that 
 there was no separating them, proved too great for 
 the strength of their deliverer ; he struggled bravely, 
 but unsuccessfully, to swim with them to the shore, 
 and cried out for help. 
 
 " Hold them till I come, for the love of God," cried 
 back Mr. Crisparkle, springing into the water, and 
 striking out, like the famous swimmer that he was. 
 
 He was only just in time, for, with the girl s hair 
 still entwined in his hand, the rescuer had been forced 
 to succumb, and it was three lifeless bodies which the 
 
166 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Minor Canon, with the utmost exertion, and assisted by 
 Mr. Tartar, brought to shore at last. 
 
 " She is dead ! " cried the sea-lieutenant, in heart 
 rending tones, throwing himself down by the un 
 conscious form of the girl ; " and I am the cause, 
 Crisparkle. I have killed her. Would to God that 
 I were dead, too." 
 
 And he broke into sobs and lamentations, regardless 
 of the other two motionless figures. 
 
 The Minor Canon, had been quietly disengaging the 
 poor girl from the murderer s terrible embrace, and was 
 now searching John Jasper s pockets to see if he could 
 find something to restore her. To his great joy, the 
 search was successful. He found the flask, with still 
 a little brandy in it. 
 
 " Be a man, Tartar, and help me to save these poor 
 creatures," he said, almost sternly, as he tried to pour 
 a drop or two of the spirit between Rosa s clenched 
 teeth. " Look at the young man, lying there, who has 
 risked his life, and perhaps lost it, in endeavouring to 
 save others. We may bring them all back to life, 
 please God ! if we do our utmost. Fetch me my coat 
 from the bank yonder, and I will wrap it round this 
 poor child, and you can wrap yours round that brave 
 fellow there." 
 
 Mr. Tartar was off like a shot to execute these com 
 missions, and having done so, waited for further in 
 structions from his friend. 
 
 " Now take the poor lad in your arms, Tartar," said 
 the Minor Canon, lifting Rosa himself as he spoke. 
 " We must carry them home, and send help as speedily 
 as possible for the other. I do not like to abandon the 
 miserable wretch, but there is nothing else for it, and 
 he is certainly the last to be considered." 
 
 " God bless and reward you as you deserve, Cris 
 parkle, my friend ! " cried Mr. Tartar, greatly moved, 
 as he obeyed again. 
 
 " To them sentiments, which does the cove as utters 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 167 
 
 of em honour/ said a voice below, so suddenly and 
 unexpectedly, that the two friends started as if it had 
 been a spirit s, " I says so be it, and * amen, and so 
 would William here, only he s dazed and bewildered 
 like for the moment, and a born fool always." And 
 the speaker, scrambling up the steep bank, clapped the 
 Minor Canon approvingly and encouragingly on the 
 back. 
 
 " You are a out and outer, ole chap," he said, " a 
 downright plucky one, you air, and it ain t many as 
 I d a say that to, as William knows. Now is it, 
 William ? " 
 
 " I believe you, Josiah," answered his companion, 
 but he spoke in an agitated manner, and looked scared 
 and trembling. 
 
 " As for the cove lying there," continued Josiah, 
 " so still and white, you ve no call to trouble yourselves 
 about him, gentlemen. He ll be well looked after, 
 he will. William and me is come a puppus to 
 take care o him, and we re a gwine to do it, ain t us, 
 William ? " 
 
 " I believe you," said the little man again, adding 
 under his breath, " O, ain t it horrible ! Three on 
 em. Lora mussy on us ! three on em, Josiah." 
 
 " I don t mind telling you, gentlemen," said the tall 
 man, looking down on his companion with undisguised 
 contempt, " that William, drivelling there, is noo to the 
 purfession, and ain t likely to make his fortun in it. 
 Come round, did you ask, gentlemen ? To be sure ! 
 The pretty creetur for she is a pretty creetur, though 
 I ain t partial to faymales, myself, as a rule ; they re 
 the very devil to handcuff will be a dancin and a 
 singin to-morrow like a lark, if she don t take cold 
 and it is confounded cold from the water ; and the 
 young chap, he s a hopening his hies a ready. He s 
 only in a faint, he is. There now, what do you say to 
 that, William ? Them coves have acut off, and left me 
 a talking to the hair, or to you, which is much of a 
 
168 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 muchness. That s what I call p liteness in coves as 
 purtends to be gentlefolk, cuss em ! 
 
 " Now, William, will you look alive and pull off 
 your coat to wrap it round the cove, or will you 
 not ? He looks ugly, don t he ? looks like summut 
 as we shall all come to sooner or later like death, 
 William." 
 
 " O, he looks horrible, Josiah ! He s as dead as a 
 stone, ain t he ? Blest if this ain t beastly work ; it 
 makes my flesh creep/ 
 
 " They says, as folks born to be hanged can t never 
 be drowned," said Josiah thoughtfully, looking down 
 upon the ghastly image lying on the wet grass, " but 
 there ain t no rule without exceptions, William, and 
 I m blowed if I don t believe this is one of the excep 
 tions." He stooped as he spoke, and laid his hand upon 
 the heart of the prostrate man. It had been beating 
 wildly and passionately only a few moments before, 
 but now no sign of life was to be felt. 
 
 " Take him up, William, wrap your coat about him, 
 and give him a drop of brandy from the bottle there." 
 How cold and clammy is his hand ! Has he crossed 
 the final barrier separating man from God his Father 
 or inexorable Judge ? Will the world, and the things 
 of the world, know him no more ? Has he evadedpiuman 
 justice for ever, and is he now trembling in presence of 
 the Divine ? 
 
 If some such questions as these vaguely suggest 
 themselves to the bewildered brain of William, Josiah 
 has other things to think of. He is wondering whether 
 the cove has given him the slip after all ; is wondering 
 whether the reward will be as great for capturing the 
 dead man as the living one ; is deciding that he will do 
 his utmost to fan the spark of life which may still be 
 lingering in the stiffening body, in order to have it 
 quenched again in a lawful way, by the last dread 
 executor of his country s laws the hangman. 
 
 They lift the body between them, wrap it up as 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 169 
 
 warmly as they can, and trudge away with it towards 
 the city. William is the first to speak again. 
 
 " I don t see," he begins, "why we should take so 
 much trouble to bring back the poor wretch to life, 
 Josiah, neither. It would be far better, I think, if he 
 should never open his eyes no more, for he s sure of the 
 gallows now, if he do ; if not for the first crime, at any 
 rate, for the second ; and drowning s better than 
 hanging any day." 
 
 "I m ashamed of you, William. I wouldn t a took 
 you for a comrade in this here work, if I d known 
 that your hideas was of that low natur. No, William, 
 I m a honest man, I am, and I d scorn to cheat justice 
 of its wictim. I hunts down the victim, I won t let him 
 make away with hisself , not if he wants to. I ketches, 
 I binds, and I handcuffs him, and I hands him over to 
 justice, and I says, Hang him up, flog him, imprison 
 him, and make an example of him for hothers. Them s 
 my sentiments, William, and I glories in em. I ain t 
 proud, pride is one of the deadly sins, but I thanks 
 Evin for having steeped me in them sentiments, which 
 was inculcated in me from my youth up." 
 
 " You re a hard man, Josiah," said his companion, 
 shifting his burden a little. 
 
 " I am," said the other, " I ain t butter nor honey, 
 to melt in yer mouth, I m made of iron. And what s 
 more, I m a religious man. I was driv to chapel when 
 I was a boy with the stick, and I goes there now, with 
 out no driving. If this chap here," indicating with a 
 nod, the lifeless body he was bearing, " is dead, which 
 I hope he ain t, then he s a self-murderer, and went 
 slap-bang to hell. A self-murderer or fellow-d ye- 
 see, which I ve heered is the right name for t, must go 
 there slap-bang ; he can t help hisself. He s damned 
 eternal, he is. Now if I gives him time for repentance, 
 he may git to Heaven after all, if he d made away with 
 a hundred. Thus, on the one hand, I does this chap a 
 good work by givin him the chance of being saved 
 
170 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 (for what s the pain of being hanged-up, compared to 
 the pains 01 damnation ?), and I does justice a good 
 work, on the hother hand, by delivering up its wictim. 
 What do you say to that, William ? ain t that killing 
 two birds with one stone, with a wengeance ? " 
 
 " It sounds all right enough, Josiah, but somehow 
 it feels all wrong, and I don t like it. I do believe if I 
 were to get into trouble, for all we re cronies, you d 
 betray me sooner than not that you d be glad to 
 do it." 
 
 " In coorse I should, William. If you go agin the 
 laws, you must expect the laws to go agin you. Lor, 
 I d have the handcuffs round your wrists so neat and 
 quick, that it would be a pleasure to you yourself to 
 wear em." 
 
 " And you wouldn t have no thought for my poor 
 Betsy, who s expectin her fifth next month, and the 
 four little childer. You wouldn t think o them, 
 Josiah," said the small man bitterly. 
 
 " Wives and childer," retorted the other, serenely, 
 " is harticles which I awoids, except when they re to 
 be took ; then I does my dooty by em. If I speaks 
 hotherwise to a female, I flatters her, in order to hinduce 
 her to open her mouth, which she does then, imme 
 diate. I never knew that to fail." 
 
 They had reached Cloisterham by this time and now 
 entered an inn, in the parlour of whch they deposited 
 their burden ; and from this moment Josiah was 
 too exclusively occupied in using every possible and 
 probable means, assisted by a doctor, whom he had sent 
 for immediately on their arrival, for the resuscitation 
 of the apparently dead man, to have any further time 
 to bestow on the instruction of his companion in his 
 own grand and enlightened principles of humanity. 
 They laboured long in vain, and the doctor was inclined 
 to pronounce the case as hopeless ; but Josiah still 
 kept on, as tenderly solicitous as the most loving parent 
 with an only child could be, to bring him back to life. 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 171 
 
 At last, when even he was slackening in his labours, 
 and giving utterance to a final opinion, " that the cove 
 had been and done it, and that justice was shamefully 
 defrauded," the doctor uttered a slight exclamation, 
 and bent his ear to listen. 
 
 Was that a sigh issuing from the tightly closed lips ? 
 Was that fancy, or a real quiver of the eyelids ? 
 
 In another moment, Josiah turned round in breath 
 less satisfaction to William, sitting indifferently and 
 with averted head in the window-seat. 
 
 " Have them things ready, William. Quick ! " 
 
 " For shame, for shame, Josiah ! Would you hand 
 cuff the dead ? " 
 
 " Dead ! He ain t no more dead than me or you. 
 He s a coming round bootiful. He s opening his eyes, 
 I tell you, William. That s about where it is, and no 
 thanks to you, for I m the man who s saved him." 
 
 Josiah (the man of iron, as he proudly called him 
 self) had been right in his prediction, that the gallant 
 young man who, by the mercy of God, had been upon 
 the spot in time to rescue Rosa and her terrible lover 
 from that watery grave, to which they would inevitably 
 have been borne, but for his heroism was only in a 
 faint. Mr. Tartar had been carrying him but a few 
 minutes, when he recovered full consciousness, and 
 sufficient strength to enable him to walk, assisted by the 
 sea-lieutenant s arm, until they reached Cloisterham. 
 On arriving there, he abruptly thanked Mr. Tartar for 
 his support, declared he was now perfectly restored, 
 and that he preferred to return alone to his inn (he was 
 a stranger in Cloisterham, he said) where he could 
 change his clothes, and adopt some simple precautions 
 against taking cold, the only thing he feared now on his 
 own account. He made light of the swoon into which 
 he had fallen, probably occasioned, he explained, by 
 the effort of endeavouring, unassisted, to drag the 
 
172 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 bodies to the shore, for his constitution had been 
 weakened by a long and severe illness. He expressed 
 his satisfaction at having been successful in his 
 endeavours to save the two unfortunates, and gave 
 utterance to his fervent hope and conviction that they 
 would be brought back to life again, having been, 
 comparatively, so short a time in the water. Finally, 
 he declined the earnest request of the sea-lieutenant, to 
 be permitted to accompany him to the inn, and satisfy 
 himself that his every want was attended to, with 
 a decision and curtness almost uncourteous, which 
 tended considerably to damp the enthusiasm with which 
 Mr. Tartar was inclined to regard him. The discom 
 fited sea-lieutenant was forced to let him depart alone, 
 after begging permission to wait upon him next day 
 with news God grant good news ! of the others, 
 and assure himself that their brave rescuer had sus 
 tained no injury to his own health ; and then, with a 
 repetition of his warmest thanks and most heartfelt 
 gratitude, he watched him disappear into the night. 
 
 For a further minute or two the puzzled and 
 bewildered young man stood looking after the stranger, 
 who had left him so unceremoniously and abruptly, and 
 who had put away all notion of thanks with a slighting 
 motion of his hand, and the ungraciously curt remark 
 that he had only done his duty, and what any other 
 man, deserving the name, must have done, in en 
 deavouring to save two perishing fellow-creatures. But 
 the remembrance of Rosa, and his cruel anxiety con 
 cerning her fate, soon swallowed up thought of all else, 
 and he hastened after the Minor Canon, who had sped 
 on before with his precious burden, wisely adopting the 
 precaution of calling at the house of the family doctor 
 on his way, and getting him to accompany him. 
 
 They found the usually quiet home in Minor Canon 
 Corner in a state of wild confusion and alarm. The 
 servants were scuttling hither and thither, with no 
 apparent object, or crowding round the door of poor 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 173 
 
 Rosa s little room to get a look at the pretty darling, 
 cold and dead. Only the Minor Canon and the hand 
 some, proud Miss Landless preserved anything like 
 self-command under these distressing circumstances. 
 
 " She can t have no heart at all," said sobbing Mary, 
 from behind her apron, to sobbing cook, just emerging 
 from hers, to take a curious survey of the little motion 
 less figure, so still and beautiful " or she d have a tear 
 now, at all events, and her eyes is as dry as a bone. 
 Missus has her faults, and far be it from me to wish to 
 conceal em, but she ve got a kind heart at bottom ; 
 see how she s a taking on, cook. I ain t got no patience 
 with them aughty, cold-blooded ones, and I can t abear 
 that Miss Landless." 
 
 But Helena, cold and hard-hearted as the world 
 from below-stairs had just pronounced her, was the 
 only one capable of carrying out, with a steady hand, 
 the directions given by the Minor Canon was the only 
 one who could take off the wet clothes clinging to the 
 frozen limbs of the lifeless girl, and wrapping her in 
 warm blankets, lay her on her little white bed ; for 
 cook couldn t, for the life of her, touch a corpse the 
 very idea turned her blood to water ; and Mary shrieked 
 out a vehement negation of a proposal that she should 
 help ; and the china shepherdess herself, although 
 willing and ready, was blinded by the tears which 
 coursed down her usually rosy cheeks, now pale with 
 apprehension and alarm, and her nominal help was 
 little better than nothing. It required stern and 
 almost harsh words, rare from the mild lips of the 
 master of the house, to subdue the untimely agitation 
 of the china shepherdess, and to bring the frightened 
 servants to a sense of their duty : but at length some 
 thing like order was restored, fires were lit, hot bottles 
 were prepared, and the work of wrestling with death 
 for his almost certain prey was carried on with vigour. 
 It was no time for selfish thoughts or selfish longings, 
 and the Minor Canon was the last man in the world to 
 
174 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 indulge in them, but his heart swelled, and his eye 
 brightened involuntarily with wonder and admiration 
 when it rested by chance on the pale, composed face of 
 the brave girl his heart had chosen, and he felt how 
 dearly he loved and honoured her. 
 
 Mr. Tartar and the doctor had entered the house 
 together, and the latter had gone to the room where 
 poor Rosa lay, sternly prohibiting the servants from 
 entering unless they were summoned ; while the sea- 
 lieutenant, feeling almost as if he had violated his 
 promise to Rosa in coming into the house again, made 
 his way noiselessly to the little drawing-room, thinking 
 he might venture to sit there awhile, and await the 
 doctor s verdict. There he found Neville and Mr. 
 Grewgious ; the former sitting in a low chair, with his 
 head almost resting on his knees, and drawing a long, 
 gasping sob, from time to time, like a child who has 
 exhausted itself with violent weeping, but has by no 
 means exhausted the intensity of its sorrow ; and the 
 latter regarding, with a certain rigidity of woe, the 
 wasting and the dying fire. Both looked up as Mr. 
 Tartar entered, but both drooped their heads again as 
 they saw that he was neither the bearer of good news, 
 nor any news whatever. Neville drew his breath pain 
 fully and sobbingly once more, and the old man began 
 to murmur again, as he had murmured ever since he 
 had heard of the catastrophe : " Like her mother ! 
 O, pitiful God, just like her mother ! " 
 
 Mr. Tartar felt he had no words to alleviate such 
 bitter sorrow as this ; and cold and shivering for 
 though he had not been actually in the water, his 
 clothes had been much splashed and wetted he sat 
 down silently before the fire, which he stirred mechanic 
 ally, trying to gather hope from the simile, that even 
 as the faint spark under his hands burned up into new 
 life and vigour, so the faint spark of life upstairs might, 
 by careful fanning and attention, be revived once more, 
 the while he listened, with strained attention, for any 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 175 
 
 sound from the room above, where she was lying. There 
 was no lamp in the room, but the moonshine streamed 
 in through the unshuttered windows, lighting it up 
 weirdly, and making the accustomed articles of furni 
 ture look strange and unreal. 
 
 Since the arrival of the doctor, and the exercise of 
 the doctor s authority, the noise and confusion had 
 subsided into absolute quiet quiet so undisturbed and 
 intense, that it seemed as if it must draw its origin from 
 death. Only the low, painfully-rending sobs of 
 Neville broke the silence. 
 
 Helena, kneeling by the bedside, had slightly raised 
 her eyes as the grave doctor came in, and then, as if she 
 could not bear to read in his expression that hope was 
 in vain, had buried her pale face in the snowy bed linen, 
 trembling from head to foot, but uttering neither sob 
 nor sound. The china shepherdess wiped her streaming 
 eyes, and both she and her son looked imploringly at 
 their old friend as if the issues of life and death lay in 
 his hands, and they were, mutely but most eloquently, 
 beseeching him to bring back the young life, almost 
 fled for ever. The family doctor was also the " medical 
 man " (as Miss Twinkleton preferred to style him) 
 of the Nuns House, and ever since pretty Rosa, a 
 tiny, bright-eyed little girl, had become an inmate 
 thereof, he had attended her in her various little 
 ailments. 
 
 He had re-vaccinated her, on an occasion when small 
 pox had been rife in Cloisterham ; had brought her 
 through whooping-cough, measles, scarlatina, and other 
 ills to which youth are subject ; and he loved the child, 
 as every one did with whom she came in contact. 
 Something like emotion was working in his rugged face 
 as he looked down upon her now. 
 
 He took the little passive hand and laid his own upon 
 the quiet heart. Did it beat, though faintly, or was 
 it still for ever ? 
 
 With the imploring eyes of mother and son upon him 
 
176 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 always Helena continued to kneel motionless, with her 
 face hidden he repeated this performance, with still 
 more gravity ; felt the cold feet, to which no amount 
 of hot bottles could bring the warm blood ; took a 
 lighted candle from a table close by, and holding the 
 small, tightly-clenched hand before the flame, regarded 
 it intently ; then he held the same candle carefully to 
 her lips. 
 
 Finally, with a compassionate look at the two 
 observing him and his every action so narrowly, with 
 subdued, though intense emotion, he put the candle 
 down again, let his glance rest for a moment on the dark, 
 bowed head, half-buried in the counterpane, and said, 
 using the only words of hope he could use with truth 
 
 " She is not dead yet." 
 
 Not dead yet ! Then there is still a chance, and 
 we must make the most of it, and wrestle once more 
 and with renewed vigour, with cruel death for his 
 almost certain prey. 
 
 Heat blankets there, before the fire. Chafe the cold 
 limbs. Use every means which human experience 
 and human skill can employ to induce the almost 
 frozen blood to circulate again ; to make the stiffening 
 limbs supple once more ; to resuscitate this image, 
 wondrously fair yet, but which death would turn in a 
 few short days to loathsome clay, and make it the 
 beauteous habitation of a loving and a living spirit, as 
 it was before. 
 
 She is not dead yet ! Then labour to restore her, 
 dear friends who love her, again and yet again, un 
 wearied and unwearying. While there is life, there is 
 hope ; and hope grows stronger every minute. 
 
 Death, astonished at this determined opposition, 
 draws back, removes his icy hand from the heart, 
 stirring now audibly, and beats at last a retreat. 
 Rosa stirred, half-opened her eyes, then closed them, 
 exhausted ; trembled, quivered, uttered a faint 
 moan, as if in pain. The doctor s face grew grave, 
 
A BRUTAL SUITOR 177 
 
 and he examined her uneasily, as he stooped down 
 over her. 
 
 She opened her eyes again ; this time, wide and wildly. 
 She stared about her, and at the doctor, but without 
 comprehension of where she was. She even seemed 
 to try to repulse him with her feeble hand, as she 
 muttered 
 
 " Eddy, Eddy ! " 
 
 She had come back to life, but not to consciousness. 
 As the colour returned to her cheeks, it burned there 
 with a fierceness and intensity terrifying and alarming. 
 As the warmth came back to her members, they glowed 
 like fire. As the heart, which had almost ceased its 
 labours, began them once more, it appeared as if it 
 were trying to make up for lost time, so furiously did it 
 beat. The exposure, terror, and strain upon her 
 courage had proved too much for a delicate frame. 
 Rosa was in a raging fever. 
 
 For many days, the sorrowful watchers by her sick 
 bed feared that death, foiled in one attempt, had only 
 made a sham retreat, in order to attack from another 
 side with renewed vigour, and success. 
 
 They cut off, weeping, the long bright brown hair 
 from the restless head, ever tossing to and fro upon 
 the pillow, and laid ice upon it to still its fatal burning. 
 
 They listened with agitated hearts and subdued 
 breath to the incoherent words which issued from the 
 innocent lips ; and let hot tears fall as they prayed to 
 God for help and succour, acknowledging with deep 
 humility that only He could wrestle successfully with 
 their remorseless enemy, and imploring Him to give 
 them back their treasure. 
 
 Day followed day, and night, night, until the time 
 came when the doctor and Helena, the mother and her 
 son, stood solemnly round the couch, awaiting breath 
 lessly the result of the most dreaded moment in the 
 malady ; the moment which would decide the question, 
 whether death or life the crisis. 
 
 N 
 
178 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 The fever had burnt itself out at last, and the little 
 creature, who had been torn and rent by this unclean 
 spirit, had stretched out her weary limbs and fallen into 
 a sleep so profound and deep that they hardly dared to 
 hope that she could ever wake again. 
 
 Once more the doctor took the little hand ah, so 
 worn and wasted ! once more, he laid his own upon the 
 faintly beating heart once more, he uttered the only 
 words of hope which would have been true : She is not 
 dead yet." 
 
 And she did not die. The patient, tender nurses were 
 rewarded a hundred-fold for their love and care. The 
 fragile plant, from whose heart the cruel worm was 
 taken away, though presenting hardly any outward 
 sign of life, had a little green spot at its centre still, 
 and they nourished it so carefully that it began to 
 grow again. 
 
 A life so frail and feeble, that a breath would have 
 quenched it, but no baleful breath was suffered to blow 
 upon it, and the flickering light of life burned up afresh. 
 Again she came back from the brink of the grave, 
 opened her eyes, and smiled upon them. Thanks be 
 to God, ever merciful ! She knew them now. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 " THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE " 
 
 THE prisoner, John Jasper, had sent a message to the 
 Revd. Septimus, requesting him to visit him in the 
 prison, and, of course, that good and Christian gentle 
 man hastened to comply with the demand. As he 
 came in sight of the stone walls and iron bars, the 
 gloom and hopelessness of the place fell heavily on his 
 warmly-beating heart. As he thought of the wretched 
 man within, once abroad and free, with health, good 
 looks, talents, and the world before him, and realized 
 to what a condition a guilty love had brought him, a 
 great pity for his fate swallowed up his loathing of the 
 sin and his abhorrence of the sinner. He had felt more 
 aversion towards the man, before this last crime, and 
 when he was honoured in the eyes of the world, than he 
 did now. 
 
 He tried to imagine what his own feelings might be, 
 if he should return to learn that the woman of his 
 affections, so tenderly cherished in the warmest corner 
 of his heart, had bestowed her love on some one else, 
 and was lost for him. The sharp pang which even this 
 thought caused him this groundless thought, grant 
 Heaven ! raised up in him heartfelt pity for the man. 
 who must have suffered it a million times. 
 
 As he entered the prison, and paced the dark cold 
 passage, with the gaoler conducting him, a prayer of 
 pity towards the Author of all compassion in our hearts 
 rose strong within him. 
 
 Heaven help him to speak words which might bring 
 repentance and bring comfort! Heaven be merciful 
 
 I7Q 
 
i8o A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 to this sinner, so deeply dyed with blood, for 
 which earth cried for vengeance for he had loved 
 much ! 
 
 With these words on his lips, and heavenly compassion 
 in his heart, the Minor Canon entered the cell. They 
 had not met face to face since that time, some months 
 before, when they had journeyed up to London to 
 gether. The Minor Canon was as erect and fresh 
 just the same, to all outward appearance as if it had 
 been yesterday ; but to the other, nearly ten years 
 younger, what a change had come ! Twenty years of 
 ordinary life could not have worked it. Twenty years 
 of misery could have done no more. Bowed down and 
 broken ; his hair streaked with grey ; his eyes blood 
 shot ; his face lined and marked like that of a man of 
 fourscore ; his bushy and well-kept whiskers gone ; 
 and the heavy, relentless chin, the thin, compressed and 
 cruel lips, telling their own story plainly to be read 
 by the least observing eyes so, one marked by God, 
 and the other by sin the good man and the bad man 
 met. 
 
 " This is the prisoner, sir," said the gaoler. " Look 
 up, prisoner; here s the gentleman come to see you. 
 Here s the Minor Canon." 
 
 The man knew John Jasper well, as who did not in 
 Cloisterham ? but here he had lost all rank and title. 
 Here he was only the prisoner. 
 
 " My orders is, to leave you alone together, sir," 
 began the keeper again, " but you ve no reason to be 
 afraid. He was wild and furious at first, so we were 
 obliged to put him into chains, but he s as quiet as a 
 lamb now, and I m outside within call. He can t 
 touch you, sir." 
 
 "I m not in the least afraid," said the Minor Canon, 
 quietly ; yet, as the door clicked in the lock, and the 
 heavy key turned, as he stood there facing the prisoner 
 in the gloom of the prison, breathing the damp, chill 
 atmosphere, tainted with prison breath, something, 
 
THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 181 
 
 not fear, but an involuntary creeping of the flesh, made 
 him shudder. 
 
 John Jasper had not looked up as the two entered, 
 and he still remained impassive when the gaoler went, 
 cowering down upon a rude bedstead, upon which he 
 was sitting, motionless as death. 
 
 For a moment the Minor Canon waited for him to 
 begin, but, as he still kept silent, the clergyman spoke. 
 
 " You wished me to come to you," he said, " what 
 can I do for you ? " 
 
 There was no answer, no roused expression in the 
 face to indicate that the words had been heard ; yet 
 the chains clinked faintly, as if the prisoner trembled. 
 
 " Oh, believe me/ said the Minor Canon, earnestly, 
 " that I do not stand before you as an accuser, or an 
 enemy, but as one who longs to comfort you, and be 
 your friend. Oh, believe me (laying his hand gently on 
 the prisoner s bowed head), that I can realise fully, for 
 the first time that, if your sin was great and terrible, 
 so also was the temptation, and that I am filled with 
 the deepest compassion for you, and will serve you 
 all I can." 
 
 Still the prisoner sat rigid and still, but the Minor 
 Canon noticed that a new expression began to break 
 up the stupor of his face, and that his breast rose and 
 fell more quickly than at first. 
 
 At that moment, the bells of the Cathedral began to 
 ring for afternoon service. The prisoner started as he 
 heard the old familiar sound, raised his eyes to the 
 clergyman s, and listened with rapt attention. As 
 he listened, his eyes brightened, his chest heaved con 
 vulsively, his nostrils quivered ; that inward life of the 
 soul, which seemed to have almost deserted hm, came 
 back with a rush, 
 
 Watching him attentively, the Minor Canon thought 
 he understood what thus moved him, and gave utter 
 ance to his belief. 
 
 " That accustomed sound reminds you of former 
 
182 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 times," he said, " when you were free ; of old days 
 when you were innocent ; of associations which were 
 yours when your life was not overshadowed as it is now. 
 Oh, listen to that inward voice recalling those old 
 times ; repent for the greater the sin, the greater 
 the mercy repent and be forgiven." 
 
 " Fool, you ! " exclaimed the prisoner, rising suddenly, 
 and facing the astonished Minor Canon how terribly 
 the chains rattled as he did so ! " hear what I have 
 to say, and spare me those idiotic remarks about for 
 giveness. When I ask to be forgiven, then palaver 
 about your and your Master s willingness to forgive. 
 When I repent ha, ha ! I can laugh still, you see ! 
 then prattle about my penitence. I ll tell you what 
 I think about when those bells ring (I used to curse 
 them often, little dreaming of the comfort they would 
 be to me in the prison) I also think of the time when 
 I walked unfettered and honoured aye, and loved, 
 too outside these walls, but not free, as you inno 
 cently imagine (milksops like you, in whose languid 
 veins runs water instead of blood ; who have never 
 loved, and never can), but bound bound in chains to 
 which these are nothing." 
 
 Again he raised his chained hands, and laughed 
 triumphantly and wildly. Then, when the mocking 
 echoes had ceased, he went on again. 
 
 " I also think of the many times when I sang in 
 yonder pile, clothed in white like a saint ; when no iron 
 visible to the human eye manacled and galled me, but 
 when I knew and felt that the iron had entered into my 
 soul." 
 
 With a wild and terrible cry he raised his fettered 
 hands once more, as if he would appeal to Heaven as a 
 witness that he spoke the truth. The awe-struck and 
 shocked Minor Canon drew back a step. 
 
 " You used to say," continued John Jasper, " and 
 others used to say, that my voice, pealing through the 
 Cathedral, was sweet as the voice of an angel. Oh, 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 183 
 
 ye would-be wise ones of the earth, moles and bats are 
 ye ! for only I knew, and revelled in the knowledge, 
 even then, that it was no angel s, but the devil s own 
 voice to which ye listened enraptured ; and that ye 
 bowed down and worshipped not in God s but in 
 Baal s temple. Thus it is that I glory in the sound of 
 the bells, and love to hear them in my narrow cell 
 though I hated them before for they, and only they, 
 bring back to me clearly the difference between now 
 and then. When they chime, I remember that the 
 bonds which bound me are burst at last ; that I have 
 held my love in my arms, pressed her to my heart, 
 revelled in the sweetness of her lips ; and that she is 
 mine now, and must be mine for ever. Then I recognise 
 to the full that in the prison I have regained my freedom, 
 that I was bound and am free." 
 
 He was silent for a moment, listening to the clear 
 sound of the bells with a smiling mouth ; then, turning 
 towards the Minor Canon, he enquired 
 
 " Where have they laid her ? " 
 
 " God, in His mercy," answered the clergyman, firmly 
 and almost severely, " has spared you from the com 
 mittal of that crime. She is saved ! " 
 
 The wretched man made a sudden bound towards 
 the speaker with raised hands, as if he would crush him, 
 but paused, even before he had reached the end of his 
 chain, and smiled as if amused, while the fury faded 
 out of his eyes as rapidly as it had come. 
 
 " Bah ! " he exclaimed, " / am making a fool of my 
 self now. You are telling a lie to frighten me. I know 
 she is dead. I feel it here (striking himself upon the 
 breast). If she were not but she is, she is I should 
 break through stone walls and iron bars to get to her. 
 I felt her die, I tell you, on my heart on my heart, her 
 natural resting-place, where she will rest for ever now, 
 for I shall die and go to her. You cannot take her 
 from me. No one can ; no one dare. I shall die and 
 go to her, where she is waiting for me. Welcome death ! 
 
184 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 welcome, even on a scaffold ! I sit here, happy in 
 captivity, because she lies in my arms, and I whisper 
 to her of my love," and he flung himself down upon his 
 straw mattress, and pressed it convulsively to his 
 heart. 
 
 But, as the bells ceased, the light died out of his 
 eyes ; the rapture faded ; and he grew quiet and 
 composed. The Minor Canon had made a motion as if 
 to summon the keeper, which the prisoner seemed to 
 feel rather than to see, for, without rising, he peremp 
 torily requested him to remain. His voice sounded 
 hard and cold, his bearing and manner were totally 
 different from what they had been as the bells rang, 
 as he said 
 
 " Not yet, Mr. Crisparkle. You will not grudge a 
 dying man the benefit of your ghostly counsel. I am 
 going to make this cell well adapted for the purpose 
 into a confessional, and to make you my father con 
 fessor. Take a chair, sir. It is a poor chair, certainly, 
 neither cushioned nor padded, but perhaps you will be 
 kind enough to remember that it is the best I have 
 to offer you, and make allowance for its deficiencies. 
 What, you will not stay and hear me you decline to 
 hear these interesting confessions of a criminal, and are 
 determined to neglect this never-to-be-recalled oppor 
 tunity of tickling the respected ears of Cloisterham. 
 Ah, you are yielding ; I thought you would. The 
 story promises to be exciting, and even a clergyman 
 can t resist that. There, make yourself as comfortable 
 as you can, for I have much to tell you. 
 
 " Why do I tell it, not being penitent ? nay, declaring 
 at the outset, to prevent any sanguine hopes of yours, 
 that I utterly decline the favour of an absolution, and 
 would do it all again, if I had it still to do. Perhaps, 
 I am still man enough that is to say, still frail enough 
 to wish to relieve myself of a burden which I have 
 carried alone for years, and to shift some portion of it 
 on another ; perhaps, I am proud of the skill and per- 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE 1 185 
 
 severance which I have exhibited, and want to win the 
 applause I have earned ; perhaps I want to show the 
 world that my plans were perfect, and admirably 
 carried out, and that no one could have discovered 
 them, or ferreted out the facts, if I had not disclosed 
 them with my own lips. Perhaps it is all these reasons 
 together, or perhaps one of them, or perhaps another 
 reason totally opposed to these no matter, I have 
 resolved to tell it. For years I have lived for only one 
 object, and been filled with only one desire. I have 
 strained every nerve to attain it, and I have done so, 
 though not quite in the way I intended. Never mind ! 
 I have attained it, and I am satisfied." 
 
 " It is my duty to tell you," interrupted the Minor 
 Canon, " that your own words may be used against 
 you on your trial, and may help to incriminate you. 
 Remember that ! " 
 
 " Do you think I care to live, now that she is dead ? " 
 he answered, " the law can only take my life, and that 
 is of no value to me nay, it is hated by me. If the 
 law should spare me, I would take it myself." 
 
 The Minor Canon turned sick, almost paralysed 
 with horror. How terrible was all this ! Where were 
 his hopes that the sinner was penitent and longed to be 
 forgiven ? In his love for truth, and strict conscien 
 tiousness, he feared it might be his duty to disabuse 
 him of his delusion, and prove to him beyond doubt, 
 that the girl lived. And yet, what awful consequences 
 might ensue if he did so ? He did not dare, and he could 
 not go, for a sort of fascination rooted him to the spot. 
 
 " What shall we call my story ? " said the prisoner, 
 reflectively, as if that were the only matter for con 
 sideration and thought. " We must give it a title, 
 you know. Ha ! I have it. The Secret of the Grave. 
 A charming title, is it not ? At once mysterious and 
 attractive. The Secret of the Grave, therefore." 
 
 Sitting opposite him, filled with terror, and yet 
 compelled to listen, almost against his will, the Minor 
 
i86 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Canon, leaning forward on the chair, with fascinated 
 eyes upon the prisoner, heard this horrible confession. 
 
 " To begin at the beginning/ as the story-tellers 
 say, I must go back a long way back to the time when 
 I was a boy, about ten or eleven years of age, and my 
 nephew, Edwin Drood, a little child. Looking back to 
 that time, with intent to realise what sort of a boy I 
 was, I can only remember one thing with any degree of 
 clearness. Standing out like a vivid light athwart 
 the dull gloom and sameness of my uninteresting and 
 hopeless boyhood I still see its reflection intense and 
 concentrated as my nature, one feeling rose dominant 
 to all others, and seemed the only emotion of which 
 at that time I was capable a feeling of passionate 
 hatred towards you will be surprised to hear it, for 
 you thought I loved him towards that child. 
 
 " I was a quiet, reserved, obstinate boy, unamiable 
 and little beloved ; and he was outspoken, frank and 
 free ; in all respects my opposite. Many a time, when 
 I had been punished (and I was punished often, and 
 often unjustly, for I was too proud to clear myself, 
 even when I could), my disciplinarians would say : 
 Shame on you ! Look at little Edwin ! Take pattern 
 by little Edwin so much younger, so much more 
 amiable and tractable ! Many a time (we were 
 brought up together, as you know, for I was still earlier 
 left an orphan than he) when we had been engaged in 
 some boyish mischief, in which, although six years 
 younger, he was always the ringleader I only took 
 part in it in hopes of bringing him into trouble I was 
 invariably the one to suffer for it. He would wheedle, 
 and coax, and sob, and pray to be forgiven, and promise 
 never to do so any more a promise made to be broken. 
 Then he would be kissed, and loved, and petted, the 
 while the chorus would arise and swell again * What a 
 difference there is between the two ! What a loving 
 heart this child has, and what a hard one the other ! 
 No torture would have induced me to sue for forgive- 
 
<4 THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 187 
 
 ness, and they knew it. And when my nephew, 
 witnessing my punishment, and knowing well how to 
 curry favour, would cry out, weeping he always 
 pretended to be generous that it was he who was the 
 most to blame, and that they must whip him, and not 
 me louder and more vehemently than ever he would 
 be praised and caressed. Bless the little darling ! 
 Learn to imitate him, bad, hard-hearted boy him, 
 so much younger and so much better ! So they sowed 
 diligently the seeds of hatred in my heart, and 
 wondered, miserable fools ! to see them spring up 
 and grow." 
 
 " But this feeling towards an innocent child is dread 
 ful !"-exclaimed the Minor Canon, as the prisoner paused 
 with glowing eyes, out of which the old hatred gleamed 
 so fiercely still, that it was evident that neither death 
 nor the grave between them had been able to quench 
 it ; " this is dreadful, Jasper ; base and wicked ! " * 
 
 " This is nothing," said the prisoner, mockingly. 
 " Strengthen your nerves, revd. sir, which seem 
 remarkably weak, with a glass of wine before I pro 
 ceed. There is a bottle of wine and a glass upon the 
 table there. I am coming now to the full-grown hatred 
 of the man, to which the boyish feeling will bear no 
 comparison. The plant was a tender plant as yet, 
 might have been torn up by the roots still ; but it had 
 been planted in fruitful ground, and, carefully nourished 
 and nurtured as it was on every side, it grew and 
 flourished mightily. 
 
 " Strange enough, though I hated the boy, ever 
 more and more for all things favoured him he loved 
 me, or rather, pretended to love me. Let Jack have 
 some of it, was his cry from infancy. It was a 
 cunning device to win praise and love from others, 
 but I saw through it plainly, and it never won me. 
 Yet, as time wore on, and I grew older, came greater 
 depth of reflection, more subtlety of thought, and I 
 began to see, that to exhibit this feeling of hatred to the 
 
i88 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 world was to put it out of my power to do him any real 
 harm. I had only been as a dark background, and 
 shown up more clearly, by comparison, his beauty 
 and his light. In appearing openly as his enemy, 
 I should only succeed in having him taken from me 
 and well protected on every hand. In order to injure 
 him, I must pretend to be his friend ; for only thus 
 could I gain the opportunity and power to stab him in 
 the dark. 
 
 " Pretence was not so easy to me as it was to him, 
 for I possessed a sullen and obdurate nature, which 
 would rather break than bend ; but I had sense enough 
 to perceive clearly that I must abandon my former 
 habit of continually wounding him slightly now, in order 
 to wound him to death hereafter. And, conquering 
 the difficulties, which my own disposition raised up to 
 baffle me, I did so with a steadiness of purpose, and 
 relentlessness of determination, rarely to be found in a 
 boy, and in which I glory still." 
 
 That he did, was evident from the look of triumph 
 in his face ; apparent even in the gloom of the prison. 
 With raised head, smiling lips, and dilated nostrils, he 
 continued. 
 
 " I played my cards well, and won, as every man can 
 win, if he has strength of mind to will with purpose. 
 First, they said, I was improving, then, improved. 
 Instead of a perpetual warning to Edwin, I became, 
 in one respect, a sort of model, in my turn. Jack was a 
 living example of the benefits arising from a strict and 
 rigorous discipline. The correcting rod had not been 
 spared in the case of Jack (Heaven knows it had not !) 
 and the child was saved. Jack was not quite the 
 reprobate and fool he had been believed to be. He had 
 one talent, at least, that he had not buried in a napkin. 
 The petted, indulged, charming boy had to play second 
 fiddle to Jack in one repsect. Jack could sing, and 
 Jack could play, and did play, on the old piano of his 
 dead sister, Edwin s mother, always better and better, 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 189 
 
 The son and heir felt no jealousy, of course, not even 
 now. The same tune that he had sung as a baby, 
 he sung again. This is how the melody ran : * Let 
 Jack learn, papa. Bah, I sicken at the sound of it ! 
 But I kept my own counsel. I took the crusts, as I had 
 taken the kicks, in deferential silence, and licked the 
 hands of my benefactors. 
 
 " So they let Jack learn, and why ? Surely the 
 answer is plain, and easy to be understood. Jack had 
 been eating the bread of idleness long enough, and 
 must learn to earn it. Jack must not be a burden upon 
 Edwin. Jack might make a very good music-master, 
 and give capital interest for the money invested in him. 
 Thus this poor Jack, in whom burned the light of 
 genius, was to be shackled and hindered from spreading 
 his wings for flight. If Jack needed nourishment, let 
 him devour his own heart, and relish the diet, if he 
 could." 
 
 " Oh, Jasper, Jasper ; how wickedly you pervert 
 and distort the facts you relate ! I knew your brother- 
 in-law, and respected him, and am sure that he meant 
 you only kindness. I knew your murdered nephew, 
 whom you so cruelly and foully wrong, and am sure that 
 he truly loved you." 
 
 For a moment, the prisoner eyed the Minor Canon 
 with an evil and lowering eye, then sneered contemp 
 tuously. " Why should I argue with you ? Why be 
 angry with one born blind, because he cannot see ? 
 Our allotted time is not endless, and I have much more 
 to tell you. 
 
 " About this period, I think Edwin must have been 
 about nine years of age, and I, fifteen, something 
 occurred which made me forget my hate forget every 
 thing but the one thing. You remember the death of 
 her her mother. Mr. Bud, an intimate friend of my 
 brother-in-law s, had lost his beautiful young wife by 
 drowning, and my brother-in-law frequently went to 
 comfort him in his bereavement. After a time he began 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 to return these visits (I remember him as a young man, 
 bowed down with the intensity of his grief ; he followed 
 her, a year later), bringing his little girl, from whom he 
 was inseparable, with him. 
 
 " At the sight of this child, at the very first sight, 
 I do believe, I learned that my heart was capable of 
 another feeling, a passion, stronger and more powerful 
 than even hate ; for the hatred, which had before 
 absorbed my every faculty, finding itself, for the first 
 tune, unheeded and unfed, shrank away abashed, 
 leaving my heart free for its great adversary which, 
 entering in triumph, began to reign there in its stead. 
 
 " I do not know what love means in the mouth of 
 another man, for I have little experience of my fellow 
 creatures. I do not know that I can explain even what 
 it means in mine. I only know that, for the first time, 
 I realized that I was a creature born for all eternity, 
 because this new feeling, new to me and yet as old as 
 God, must live for ever. 
 
 " I do not mean to say that this emotion sprang at 
 its birth into full maturity. That would be unnatural 
 and absurd, and no one would believe that a little girl, 
 a child, could awaken such a feeling, but it drew its 
 first breath of life at sight of her, and in course of time 
 has grown to what it is. And in my heart, filled to the 
 brim jwith this strange, ineffable delight, there was no 
 longer room for hate it either withdrew altogether 
 to make way for the new occupant, or, dissolving in its 
 presence, melted into love." 
 
 Tears sprang to the Minor Canon s eyes, tears of hot 
 sympathy. Forgetting how stained was the hand of the 
 speaker, he stretched out his own to grasp it. He was 
 coldly and contemptuously repulsed, and in an unmoved 
 and unfaltering voice, the prisoner continued 
 
 " I was happy then. For the first time in my life 
 I understood that happiness was not an idle word, a 
 pretty fable, but a wonderful reality. I had found an 
 object in life ; something to live for ; something to 
 
THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 191 
 
 attain ; and I worked hard, and worked earnestly to 
 attain it. They praised me all, my masters and my 
 rulers, and acknowledged that I did them credit ; but 
 my highest reward was to see my child goddess 
 standing still to listen when I sang, with bright eyes 
 wide with wonder, and to know that I that I, had 
 power to entrance her. Oh, for one short space of 
 time I was truly happy ! " 
 
 His voice grew dreamy and he closed his eyes for a 
 moment, as if he would recall the old time when he 
 had felt this bliss and was innocent. When he opened 
 them again, the Minor Canon fancied that they glistened 
 through unshed tears, and his voice trembled as he 
 went on hurriedly, as if afraid of his resolution faltering. 
 
 " I can see her now, as she was then so plainly, that 
 she might be standing by me in the prison. Not one 
 of your pink and white bits of goodness. A resolute 
 child ; quick to anger, and quick to penitence. A 
 child far oftener naughty than good ; far oftener wilful 
 than obedient. Restless and impatient of control, she 
 would have galled herself against the curb, but answered 
 to the slightest touch of the reins in the hands of love. 
 I used to laugh inwardly over the wisdom of my own 
 masters and rulers who, wagging together their solemn 
 heads in counsel, would resolve that the same strict 
 and rigorous discipline, which had made of the reprobate 
 Jack such a bright and shining light, ought to be applied 
 to the baby rebel, who so saucily defied them. Idiots ! 
 they might have disciplined her to death, but would 
 never have broken her in. Fortunately for her, her 
 destiny, kinder than mine, did not deliver her into their 
 hands. 
 
 " I can see her now, with her small face, so changeful 
 in expression, so wondrously beautiful, that it seemed 
 to me as if every change increased its magical charm ; 
 now flushed with hot anger ; now paling, as her tender 
 heart told her that she had grieved her dearly loved 
 and sorrowful papa ; now frowning over some trifle 
 
192 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 not to her liking ; now dimpled with laughter, and 
 mischief ; now bathed in tears. Every time more 
 beautiful than it had been before. Always, from the 
 very first, my ideal of beauty, my only one, from the 
 first and to the last. 
 
 I could have laboured a life-time for her possession, 
 content with the certainty of my reward at its end. 
 I would have granted my nephew anything, everything 
 else that fate could give him. Riches, goodwill, love, 
 happiness. Let him keep his flocks and herds ! I only 
 asked to be allowed to earn my one little ewe-lamb." 
 
 He stopped, for thick drops of sweat stood on his pale 
 forehead, even in the chilly atmosphere, and the foam 
 gathered round his lips. Fierce and furious boiled 
 within him the fury and passion he had been compelled 
 to subdue so long, and some minutes passed before he 
 could proceed. 
 
 " Although I always felt sure that she would be 
 mine, yet sometimes the old jealousy and hate towards 
 my nephew struggled to regain possession of my heart. 
 When I sang, she would listen speechless with delight, 
 at a distance ; but when I ended, she was gone. She 
 never fondled or caressed me, as she did almost every 
 one else ; but she never teased me, either. She would 
 play with Edwin, and quarrel with him often. I have 
 seen her (watching them both hungrily from a spot 
 where they could not see me) slap him smartly with her 
 tiny hand ; scold him vigorously with her baby voice ; 
 but I have seen her kiss him, too. I can feel the pang 
 now as I felt it each time then, when I saw her raise her 
 rosy lips, although his touched them so carelessly. 
 
 " Not that I wanted to kiss her myself not yet ; 
 but I could not bear others to do so, and particularly, 
 I could not bear it from him. I meant to kiss her in 
 the time to come ; I, as man, she, as woman ; and to 
 have done so now would have been, to my mind, like 
 foolishly quaffing the juice of the grape before it had 
 undergone that wonderful transformation into wine 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 193 
 
 like plucking the bud before it had ripened into the 
 flower. 
 
 " You remember, sir, as I said before, that Mr. Bud 
 died of grief a year after his wife, and that the child was 
 left an orphan. She was put to school, as you know, 
 and for many a long year I saw her no more. Edwin 
 and Edwin s father went to visit her sometimes, but I 
 never accompanied them. There was a kind of under 
 talk even then that the little folk were intended for a 
 pair, but I neither listened to it, nor heeded it. I made 
 so sure, you see, that she must and would be mine so 
 sure, that at the end of the long years of hard and 
 earnest work to win means and a position to lay at her 
 feet, I had only to go and claim her. 
 
 " My diligence and untiring industry were rewarded 
 at last by an appointment which would enable me to 
 earn my bread, if not brilliantly, at any rate, creditably 
 and decently. I was elected choir-master of the 
 Cathedral in Cloisterham, and, in addition to this, there 
 was a large connection in the matter of private pupils. 
 I was a clever and careful master, and so discreet and 
 sedate with the young ladies, that my praises were on 
 every tongue. I doubled the connection, and if I 
 could have doubled myself, should still have had enough 
 to do. I was no bad looking fellow, either. Straight 
 and well-built, dark-haired, dark-eyed, with even, 
 regular features, and teeth white and polished as 
 ivory, I was looked upon with no unfavourable eye 
 by many of my older female pupils, and pretty plainly 
 given to understand sometimes that, if I chose to make 
 love to them, I might do so with impunity ; but they 
 were one and all powerless either to please my fancy, or 
 to touch my heart. I cannot even remember how they 
 looked, or which among them was dark, or which was 
 fair. To me they were only dull blocks of humanity, 
 into whom I had to instil, if possible, with infinite 
 labour and endless drudgery, some idea of melody, some 
 notion of tune, and I doubt if even one of their own sex 
 
I 9 4 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 would have been so totally indifferent to their charms 
 as I was. I never felt that they were flesh and blood : 
 there existed for me but one woman in the world. 
 
 " Shortly after my installation in Cloisterham, 
 Edwin s father died. I was considered now in the light 
 of a rising man ; I was esteemed and respected. I 
 lived a sober, serious life, free from vice and dissolute 
 ness, and not even the most evil-conditioned tongue 
 ventured to wag to my discredit. My brother-in-law, 
 apparently fully satisfied as to my intrinsic merits, had 
 appointed me in his will guardian to his only child 
 had commended him to my love, and, in addition to 
 this, had left me a small sum of money as executor, 
 and his blessing. His blessing, you understand, after 
 having delivered me over in my childhood and boyhood 
 to the tender mercies of those masters and rulers of mine. 
 Well, I knew how to be grateful. 
 
 " I had played my part so well, that every one felt 
 it to be the most natural and satisfactory thing in the 
 world that I should have been chosen for this post. I 
 had played it so well, that the whole town, and you 
 also, thought I had abandoned my own claims on youth 
 and happiness, and only lived for him. So I did. So 
 I did ! 
 
 "It was then I became aware, for the first time with 
 certainty, that there had been truth in those whispered 
 reports, that my nephew was intended for the girl I 
 loved. There had been a sort of betrothal between 
 them, even during the lifetime of Mr. Drood, in accord 
 ance with his earnest wish, and in consequence of the 
 plans which both parents had fondly cherished before 
 Mr. Bud died. 
 
 " The children, knowing nothing of what love meant, 
 yet tickled and elated at the prospect, charming to their 
 inexperience, had consented willingly she as well as 
 he. I shall never forget the insolent arrogance with 
 which he boasted about this betrothal, and of his power 
 over her. I shall never forget the way in which he 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 195 
 
 would talk of restraining her here, and hampering her 
 there showing in every word and look how much he 
 felt himself the lord and master. I shall never forget 
 how he traduced her lovely face, openly exposing to 
 the rude gaze of others, in a portrait, an expression 
 which his own treatment roused there; a hint he 
 called it a hint to model herself after his liking. 
 What a difference between us ! / did not wish to be 
 her master, only her humblest slave. 
 
 " The knowledge that I should have to struggle with 
 him for her possession neither surprised nor discom 
 posed me much. It was a natural sequence to our 
 lives as yet, in which he had had all the good things, 
 and I all the evil ones. And perhaps there would be 
 no need of struggling. He had no character at all ; was 
 as easy to move as a bit of straw, carried in a different 
 direction with every puff of wind but she had plenty. 
 The time would come when the breath of love would 
 be breathed into her slumbering heart, and it would 
 awake out of its torpor ; she would know then that she 
 could never love him ; would feel the fetters, would 
 throw them off (I knew how the least control irritated 
 her of old), and would be free again. The time would 
 come, and I could bide it. 
 
 " In the meantime she had become my pupil, and in 
 the first joy of these weekly meetings, I forgot all else. 
 To sit by her side, close, close to her, to feel the fragrance 
 of her breath, to even touch her sometimes, were 
 delights so great, so inexpressible, that I wonder I did 
 not die for very rapture. Every nerve, aroused to a 
 thousand times its normal sensitiveness, quivered and 
 tingled for joy in her presence with an intensity which 
 bordered on nay, was absolute pain. 
 
 " Nevertheless, as the time went on, I began to feel 
 some anxiety and some uneasiness. For her heart, 
 even in the atmosphere of my passionate love, gave 
 no sign of life. If it had been roused, of which I was 
 not sure, it feigned still to sleep. Only one thing gave 
 
196 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 me comfort she had begun to feel the shackles in 
 which she was bound, and to chafe against them. The 
 discontented expression which my nephew had repre 
 sented, with such coarse truthfulness in his portrait of 
 her lovely face, deepened sometimes into actual un- 
 happiness. I have seen her look at me with fear and 
 dread, and I knew she quarrelled incessantly with her 
 betrothed : he would return to me after an interview 
 with her, to complain of her treatment of him, and 
 with his vanity and self-conceit the only qualities he 
 possessed sharply wounded. However much he still 
 boasted of mastering her, when she was his wife, it was 
 plain to see that she lorded it over him finely now. 
 But for all this and it was that which caused me 
 unspeakable concern they always made it up again, 
 with tears and kisses. 
 
 " Then I began to feel that this betrothal, which I 
 had almost viewed in the light of a safeguard, preventing 
 others from aspiring to her charms, grew into a real and 
 imminent danger. The time appointed for their union 
 was no longer in the far distance, but close at hand, 
 and her heart slept, to all appearance, still. I knew it 
 would must, wake up some time or other ; but what 
 could it avail me what avail her ? if it woke up too 
 late ? And to have known her in the possession of 
 another, even for a single hour, would have driven me 
 mad. 
 
 " I had always hated him : for the old boyish hatred, 
 driven away for a time by the new emotion, had soon 
 proved itself only stunned and not dead, and resumed 
 dominion of me. Besides, his lips had ventured to 
 steal kisses from the sweet lips of my love, and that was 
 an offence in my eyes never to be blotted out. I had 
 resolved, long before, smarting with indignation at 
 witnessing the robbery, that he should pay a heavy 
 heavy price for those kisses, when my time came. 
 
 " But hatred is not murder only the road to it ; 
 and whoever traverses that road, may know what he 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE 1 197 
 
 will come to at the end. Therefore I, who had been 
 walking on it so long, saw the last stage of the journey 
 close before me, and saw it, hardly appalled, and no 
 whit amazed. 
 
 " Clear him out of the way ? It was only the 
 question : either he or I, and self-preservation is the 
 first law of Nature. Clear away the obstacles which 
 hemmed the current of my life ? Yes, I would. But 
 how ? 
 
 " I felt no remorse, and certainly no tenderness 
 towards him, and yet some feeling or wish to give him 
 one more chance, made me warn him of the danger he 
 was incurring. I did warn him once or twice, but he 
 was too entirely the fool to comprehend me. I could 
 not help that, and when you condemn me, as men of 
 your sort are sure to condemn, remember that I warned 
 him." 
 
 The Minor Canon had covered his face with his hand, 
 as if he could not bear to look at the man before him. 
 He tried to speak, in answer to this direct appeal, but 
 the words died away upon his agitated lips, and the 
 effort almost choked him. He could only bow his head 
 in response. 
 
 " There have been times, I tell you," continued the 
 prisoner, " when I have undergone absolute agony, 
 not because my soul revolted against the idea of 
 murdering him, but because I could hardly await in 
 patience the fitting hour to do it. 
 
 " There have been times, when, as he sat before me, 
 puffed up with pride and miserable self-conceit ; gloat 
 ing over, and boasting of his good luck and fortune, 
 which he had never raised a lazy hand to earn, and yet 
 accepted as his unquestionable due when I have been 
 hardly able to resist the strong impulse to blot out all 
 youth and beauty from his insolent face, with my heavy 
 fist upon it, and trample him to death then and there. 
 
 " I laid my plans wilily. The first necessity was to 
 avert all suspicion from myself, and throw it upon 
 
igS A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 another. This was difficult, because the boy curse 
 him ! had no enemies besides me. This caused me so 
 much anxious consideration and thought that I was 
 obliged to resort to artificial means (I took to smoking 
 opium) to gain rest and ease. 
 
 " But fortune favoured me, or rather, the devil, who 
 always can find his followers materials for carrying out 
 any such a purpose, and I soon alighted upon a tool, 
 which would suit me to perfection. I allude, sir, to your 
 dark-haired, dark-skinned, hot-blooded young Indian. 
 
 " The first time I met him at your house, I had my 
 eye upon him. He was a young man, and a handsome ; 
 and every human being of the male sex, possessing 
 these advantages, and brought into contact with 
 my love, was an object of suspicion to me. I soon 
 observed that he was struck and fascinated by her 
 beauty ; and that was enough to make me hate him. 
 I soon observed that he was not favourably disposed 
 towards my nephew, for the same reason that I was not ; 
 and then I knew that I had found my tool, and that 
 it only wanted sharpening. That evening I resolved 
 to lose no time in sharpening it. 
 
 " The young men accompanied the ladies to The 
 Nuns House that evening, as you have reason to 
 remember, Mr. Crisparkle, and I slunk, unobserved, 
 behind them. They came back alone, together, all 
 unconscious of my proximity ; and very soon, to my 
 great satisfaction, I heard them begin to quarrel, as I 
 had foreseen they would. 
 
 " I had let them come to hot and angry words before 
 I interposed, and then, coming up behind them, as if 
 by purest accident, I discreetly dropped some oil into 
 the smouldering fire, until it blazed up again fierce 
 and high. 
 
 " Pretending to be shocked, I endeavoured to restore 
 peace between them apparently successfully and 
 then I invited them to enter my lodging and drink 
 together a friendly glass of wine as a sign of complete 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 199 
 
 reconciliation. They could not well decline to do so, 
 and they came. 
 
 " I drugged the wine, and by a little skilful man 
 oeuvring soon had them by the ears again. My work 
 was ridiculously easy. If I had chosen, Mr. Crisparkle, 
 I might have had murder in my house that evening, 
 for it was all I could do to separate them. But the time 
 for carrying out my scheme was not fully ripe, and 
 besides, there must be no chance of his escaping, any 
 way. No possibility of his being only half killed and 
 recovering. I must make quite sure of that. 
 
 " The next day I had enough to do in spreading the 
 news, and in making sure without myself being a too 
 active propagator that the whole town should hear, 
 and what was more, digest it. 
 
 " I foresaw that you, sir, would keep your own 
 counsel, and that shame would tie the young men s 
 tongues. 
 
 " I succeeded again beyond expectation. The whole 
 town learned that young Mr. Landless had made a 
 murderous attack upon my nephew ; and also, what 
 was of far more importance, why he had done so. 
 Even the noddle-headed inhabitants of Cloisterham 
 understood that, although every means would be taken 
 to keep the young men apart, and to avoid a collision 
 between them, the cause of enmity still existed, and 
 that any moment might bring a second explosion." 
 
 " He told me there was something amiss with the 
 wine," murmured the horror-struck clergyman, " and 
 I did not believe him. Poor, poor Neville ! " 
 
 " Aye, poor, poor Neville," repeated the prisoner, 
 bitterly, " and never, poor Jasper. And yet I had been 
 suffering worse torments than any Tantalus, ever since 
 my childhood. What were his sufferings compared to 
 mine ? A mere drop in the ocean a mere nothing." 
 
 There was silence in the cell for a few moments after 
 this. The Minor Canon was too appalled to speak, 
 even if any words could have been of avail with this 
 
200 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 man ; while the prisoner tried to subdue his rising anger. 
 Then John Jasper s voice rose again. 
 
 " My tool finely sharpened, and ready to my hand, 
 I had only to consider further in reference to it 
 when and where ? These questions were so trivial 
 and so easy to be solved, that I put them aside for a 
 time and devoted the whole of my attention to the last 
 point, and the most important one. What was to be 
 done with the body ? 
 
 " I had read so often, and heard so often, how very, 
 very frequently the discovery of the real murderer 
 followed the discovery of the corpse, that I felt I must 
 give most close and earnest attention to this particular. 
 A few hairs, a scrap of clothing, a footmark, a trifle 
 forgotten in the agitation of the moment, a speck of 
 blood had one and all been proved sufficient to turn 
 attention towards the real murderer, even though he 
 had laid traps and pitfalls for another with a wary hand ; 
 and had, on thousands of occasions, led to his ruin. 
 
 " To prevent this in my case to prevent the possi 
 bility of this, the body must be buried, or destroyed so 
 effectually as to spoil its chance of ever, pieced or 
 whole, bones or flesh, reappearing before the eyes of men. 
 The river might cast it upon its banks, the ocean upon its 
 shore, dogs might scent it in its newly-dug grave, fire 
 prove incapable to destroy it. Again, absorbing my 
 every faculty by night and by day, came the perplexing 
 query : How ? 
 
 " I racked my weary brain to find an answer, but for 
 a long time without success. Many ideas occurred to 
 me, but only, after careful test, to be rejected as im 
 practicable. I had smoked opium moderately before ; 
 I took to smoking it immoderately now, in order to 
 irritate my brain into compliance with the demand 
 upon it ; sometimes so immoderately that it refused to 
 work altogether for a time, and I sank into lethargy. 
 
 " I thought about it during my daily drudgery ; in 
 the company of my nephew ; even by her side. I 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 201 
 
 thought about it in the Cathedral, chanting or singing, 
 and when my voice resounded through the ancient pile, 
 moving others to tears, and to increased earnestness 
 in their devotions, I knew what it was asking, ever 
 and always How shall I do it ? how shall I do 
 it? 
 
 " At last the answer came to me suddenly, with the 
 recollection of an interview I had had some time before 
 with a man, the most unlikely in the world to be the 
 suggestor of an idea. And yet, in a manner, he had 
 been, though unconsciously. 
 
 " I had for some time past, in pursuance of my one 
 plan, endeavoured to ingratiate myself with the more 
 influential inhabitants of the town and so had brought 
 myself into contact with one who, by reason of his 
 innate stupidity, I suppose (for I know no other), 
 had attained a high and was destined to attain a still 
 higher position in the place. The immediate result 
 was a dreary supper, and a still drearier conversation 
 (I yawn still at the remembrance), and yet, going back 
 to it in thought at this later period, out of the words of 
 that unmitigated jackass, I drew my clue. 
 
 * To bury him in no pauper s grave, or out in field 
 or wood, where the faintest sign might be sufficient to 
 arrest attention, or where a stray dog might scent the 
 newly-slain. To bury him in a grave dug for another, 
 in a coffin put together with no reference to him, in 
 consecrated ground, and under a stately monument, 
 befitting his position as his father s son and my near 
 relation. To know him there, cleared out of the way 
 for ever, and under no necessity to shun the spot, for 
 who could ever guess what it concealed ? to revel in 
 this knowledge every time I passed his resting-place. 
 What a continuous source of nourishment for my long- 
 famished heart ! What an original what a grand 
 idea ! Do you begin to see light, Mr. Crisparkle ? 
 Do you comprehend why I called my story, * The 
 Secret of the Grave ?" 
 
202 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 The Minor Canon made no answer how could he ? 
 But he leaned forward breathlessly to hear the rest. 
 
 " I laughed out loud as it occurred to me for the 
 first time for months ; for years, I think laughed out 
 loud and free. My nephew was with me at the time, 
 and I remember he turned round to look at me with 
 eyes full of wonder. 
 
 " Jack, dear old boy, how merry you are to night/ " 
 he said. 
 
 " At that I laughed again, more loudly than ever, 
 and he joined in heartily. Like all empty-headed 
 people of his age, he could giggle at anything and 
 nothing. What a mercy that the thoughts of the 
 heart are not readable upon the face ! If he could 
 have divined the cause of my mirth ! 
 
 "On that same opportunity, I had made another 
 acquaintance : and going home, weary to death, on 
 the road between Mr. Sapsea s residence and my 
 lodgings in the Gate House, I stumbled again upon this 
 man. It was the stonemason Durdles, in whom I felt 
 an uncomfortable interest uncomfortable, because I 
 had heard that he possessed a strange and almost super 
 natural gift of discovering, with pretty certain accuracy, 
 where the dead were buried. This gift of his might be 
 very awkward to me, and I felt it necessary to sound 
 him. 
 
 " He was just that degree drunk that the task I 
 had set myself was lightened. I took him in tow, 
 therefore, first getting rid of a remarkably vicious 
 small boy, his companion ; and so shallow was he and 
 his wisdom, that I soon got to the bottom of him. 
 
 " I found that his method of knowing where a dead 
 body lay was regulated by a certain calculation ; that 
 his ear, from long practice, had attained a really re 
 markable fineness in assisting him ; and that his dis 
 coveries were by no means only the result of some 
 fortunate guess, or purest chance, as I had been inclined 
 to consider them. Having satisfied myself as to this, 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 203 
 
 and still further gained that knowledge that he would 
 always be at my disposal if previously given a stiff glass 
 of grog, I left him. Only as a possible danger regarding 
 the discovery of the body, was Durdles capable of 
 interesting me at that period. 
 
 " But now, with this new plan in my head, he became 
 a matter of deep and absorbing interest. The more I 
 thought about it, the better it pleased me, and I grew 
 every minute more sanguine as to its success. Care 
 fully carried out ; every detail considered beforehand ; 
 every possible emergency provided for ; every danger 
 avoided ; it must succeed. And then, freed of my 
 deadliest enemy and hated rival, I would begin a new 
 life with Rosa. For that I should win her in the end, I 
 never doubted. This great passion was not given me 
 for nothing. I should win her, for I would. 
 
 " The first thing was to get the co-operation of 
 Durdles not his spiritual co-operation, of course, but 
 his bodily. The next, was to fix the hour and the day. 
 You yourself, Mr. Crisparkle, were the one to bring that 
 to a point. I daresay you remember calling upon me 
 one evening to beg me to exert my influence with Edwin, 
 and induce him to hold out a hand of reconciliation to 
 your young Indian, do you not ? " 
 
 As the prisoner looked at him for an answer, the 
 Minor Canon made a gesture of assent. If anything 
 could have made this horrible confession more horrible, 
 it would have been the composure, swelling sometimes 
 into triumphant exultation, with which it was narrated. 
 
 An occasional burst of anger flashed out once or 
 twice, and threatened to disturb its even current, but 
 only for a moment. Looking back upon his past* 
 life from the verge of the grave, John Jasper appeared 
 to see it with a startling clearness, just as a drowning 
 man is said to do. 
 
 No one could doubt, hearing him, that this love and 
 this hate had been the ruling motives of his life, and 
 that without them he must die. No one could doubt, 
 
204 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 hearing him, the accuracy of the facts and feelings he 
 narrated, nor that this story was not only a part of, 
 but his whole life. 
 
 " You did not notice perhaps," he continued, ** that 
 your proposal quite confounded me. It was no part 
 of my plan to quench the animosity between these 
 two, or to allow them to be reconciled. And yet to 
 refuse would have aroused wonder and, very probably, 
 suspicion. I rapidly reviewed all the details of my plan, 
 and came to the conclusion that I should incur the 
 smaller danger by complying with your request. I 
 did so, therefore, with an appearance of great cordiality. 
 Then it was that the sands in my nephew s life-glass 
 ran low indeed, and that the few remaining hours he 
 had to live were easy to be counted. 
 
 " I immediately put myself into communication with 
 Durdles, and obtained as much of his goodwill as he 
 had to spare (little enough, for his stock-in-hand was as 
 small as my own), by frequently and liberally finding 
 him drink. 
 
 " I then proposed to accompany him in his nightly 
 rounds, and view the inside of the old Cathedral, so 
 wearily familiar to me by day, in the new light of 
 night. A bottle in perspective, and Durdles would have 
 been willing to be accompanied by the devil himself. 
 Surprise was totally foreign to the sot s nature, and I 
 took care to guard against it in the minds of others, 
 by carelessly referring to this proposed expedition in 
 their presence. So the night came, and the bottle 
 and Durdles was ready. 
 
 " The particulars of our ramble through the old 
 building, up in the tower and down in the vaults, would 
 prove as uninteresting to you as they were to me, and 
 are foreign to the purpose here. The contents of the 
 bottle, judiciously drugged, Durdles had inside 
 him, and we had hardly regained the crypt, before 
 emerging, when I saw that my object was attained. 
 Durdles sank down unconscious. 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 205 
 
 " I had the keys, which he carried, in my possession 
 in a moment the key which would open the door of 
 the crypt, and another key that belonging to the 
 monument of the late Mrs. Sapsea." 
 
 The Minor Canon uttered a sharp exclamation of 
 amaze ; raising his hand, and regarding the prisoner 
 with a wild look of terror. 
 
 " Ah, you begin to understand," said John Jasper, 
 smiling (what a smile!). "That last was the key 
 which I had been struggling to obtain, and which I 
 knew he had not yet delivered up to Mr. Sapsea, but 
 frequently carried about with him. Without that key, 
 my whole plan would have been frustrated, and I should 
 have had to begin over again. Fortunately, this was 
 not necessary. I had had it in my hand once before, 
 and I knew it for certain the moment that I touched it. 
 
 " Durdles slept where he had fallen, heavily. He 
 was safe to sleep for a good hour or two, and in the 
 meantime I had work to do, and not an instant s time 
 to lose in doing it. 
 
 " I crept out of the crypt and looked carefully around 
 me. The moon shone bright and clear, and I could see 
 distinctly all over the Close and the immediate neigh 
 bourhood. No human being was to be seen or heard. 
 I made quite certain of that before I emerged into the 
 moonlight. The time was about midnight. 
 
 " I hurried, quick as thought, towards the church 
 yard. There, cunningly concealed in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Mrs. Sapsea s monument, lay certain 
 things which I had placed there beforehand a sack, 
 a lantern, various tools. Equipped with these, I turned 
 towards the monument, and drawing out the rusty key 
 placed it in the lock. 
 
 * It was so little used that all my strength was not 
 sufficient to turn it, but even for this emergency I was 
 provided. I had brought a little bottle of oil with me, 
 and after carefully lubricating the key and the lock, 
 I could open the door and enter. 
 
206 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " For a few moments I paused upon the threshold of 
 this house appointed for the dead, and let in a little 
 fresh air before descending. Then I summoned up all 
 my resolution, lit my lantern, opened a trap-door at my 
 feet, and going down a few steps, found myself in the 
 vault. 
 
 " To deny that my heart beat faster than usual, 
 or that my pulse throbbed feverishly, would be to lie, 
 Mr. Crisparkle, and my story is, from first to last, true, 
 every word of it. I was but a man after all, and 
 although my nerves were steeled to do the work I had 
 appointed myself, I felt to the full how horrible it was ; 
 and I sickened at first in the chilly and loathsome air, 
 while the cold sweat of an unutterable loathing and 
 terror rose to my brow. But I never thought of going 
 back and abandoning my project ; no, not once. 
 
 " I took a deep draught of a cordial which I had 
 brought with me, and it so far revived me that I was 
 able to look about, and carefully review the place before 
 commencing my work. The vault was about eight 
 feet square, well built and tolerably dry. Mr. Sapsea 
 had spared no expense, as I knew. Then my eye fell 
 upon a solitary coffin the only coffin in the vault 
 wherein lay the remains of his wife. 
 
 " It was a very handsome coffin, elegantly decorated 
 and of massive oak. On the lid was a silver plate, on 
 which I read by the light of my lantern, Ethelinda 
 Sapsea, aged forty- three. It stood upon a sort of 
 trestle of stone. 
 
 " Towards this coffin my principal attention was 
 directed, because it was what I wanted wanted for a 
 new occupant, for whose accommodation, I must 
 dislodge the old one. I immediately began therefore, 
 without waste of time, and without further thought 
 or reflection, which I dreaded, to loosen the screws, 
 which held down the lid. 
 
 " I was unskilful and awkward at this unaccustomed 
 work, and it progressed slowly. I was obliged, too, 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 207 
 
 to have frequent recourse to my cordial, for I more 
 than once turned sick and faint. But at last all the 
 screws were drawn out, and I could remove the lid. 
 
 " I did so without one moment s pause for thought. 
 I dared not think, you see. With trembling haste I 
 tore off the lid and looked down upon the corpse. I 
 had prepared myself for the rising of a foul and loath 
 some odour, but to my surprise, the air, already impure 
 and mouldy, did not grow much worse. I believe the 
 corpse must have been embalmed in some way against 
 decay. I had prepared myself for that, I say, and had 
 bound a loose handkerchief before my mouth and nose, 
 but I was not prepared for what I saw, or fancied. 
 
 " I saw the dead eyes, sunken in the dead face, open 
 and look at me. I saw the dead mouth utter words. 
 There was no sound in the vault except the ticking of 
 the watch in my pocket, and the wild beating of my 
 heart, which bounded fiercely at first, and then stood 
 still to listen. 
 
 " Without sound, and yet as plainly audible as if they 
 had been words of thunder not heard, but felt the 
 long-dead and long-buried Mrs. Sapsea made me under 
 stand these words : * Thou hast planned well, mortal, 
 to hide thy secret from all living eyes, but hadst for 
 gotten these dead ones of mine which, though dead, 
 can see thee. Know, that when the witnesses rise 
 up against thee, I shall be among them. Then the 
 eyes closed again, the mouth stood still, and only 
 a dead face, shrivelled and shrunken, dried up 
 and withered, lay motionless before me. And my 
 paralysed heart began to beat again. 
 
 " With the exertion of all my strength, bodily and 
 mental, I gathered up the dead body, and thrust it into 
 the sack, brought for that purpose, laid the lid care 
 fully upon the coffin, put my tools into my pocket, and, 
 with my lantern in my hand, and the sack upon my 
 back, staggered up the steps again, and once more 
 into the moonlight. The churchyard and the Close 
 
208 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 were deserted; it was hardly likely that any one 
 would choose that time of night to wander there, of all 
 places in the world. Then I hastened with my burden 
 to the lime-pit in the neighbourhood, and cast it in. 
 And then I hid my lantern and my tools again, took 
 off in wax an impress of the key to Mrs. Sapsea s 
 monument, and hastened back to Durdles. I knew 
 that the quick-lime in the pit would be true to its name 
 and do its work of destruction speedily and well. And 
 if at any time any remnant of Mrs. Sapsea s bones should 
 be discovered, they would be female ones and could not 
 be supposed to have any connection with the murder 
 of Edwin Drood ; while the presence of a dead body in 
 Mrs. Sapsea s coffin would be perfectly natural, and 
 only its absence could excite surprise. Not even 
 Durdles with all his knockings and his rappings could 
 discover that it was the wrong one. Therefore my 
 nephew, once laid in that abode, would remain there 
 undisturbed until he, and I also, had long been dust 
 and ashes. And the discovery of his dead body, 
 unless I chose to reveal it, was an impossibility. The 
 worst part of my work was accomplished, and well 
 accomplished. 
 
 " It was high time that I arrived in the crypt. 
 Durdles was beginning to move, and to utter unmean 
 ing words. I laid the keys by his side, as if he had 
 dropped them there, and began to pace up and down 
 to warm myself, for my teeth were chattering. It 
 was close upon two o clock in the morning. I had been 
 absent nearly two hours. 
 
 " Durdles came back to consciousness peevish and 
 discontented. I got rid of him as speedily as possible, 
 and regaining possession of my lantern and my tools, 
 which I should want once more, went home to rest after 
 my labours. I had been greatly alarmed at first on 
 coming out of the Cathedral to find that same hideous 
 urchin in waiting for Durdles, but I discovered that 
 he had only just arrived, and could not possibly 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 209 
 
 have seen me, and so went back to the Gate House 
 reassured. 
 
 " I could laugh now so thankful was I to have the 
 night behind me at the remembrance of that foolish 
 and unmeaning vision in the vault. If I were safe from 
 living eyes, I had no occasion to fear dead ones. But I 
 laughed noiselessly, for I was standing by the bedside 
 of my sleeping nephew, and looking down upon him as 
 he slept. That night, or the remainder of that night, 
 I, too, enjoyed sound and refreshing sleep, and when 1 
 woke I felt almost like a new-born man for very 
 lightness. 
 
 " It was close upon Christmas Eve, and upon the 
 evening of that day my nephew was to die. I had 
 made sure long before, that there was no chance, not 
 the remotest, of the betrothal being dissolved, and I 
 saw them myself renew their vows with a tender kiss, 
 more tenderly, so it seemed to me, than they had ever 
 kissed. My comfort was, that it was for the last time. 
 
 " My nephew and young Mr. Landless, as you know, 
 met to dine at my house on Christmas Eve. They met 
 cordially, and each did his utmost to preserve that 
 cordiality until the end. Nothing whatever occurred to 
 disturb the harmony. I played and sang to them, at 
 their request, until at last we all sat silent, and listened 
 to the fierce play of the wind out of doors. The play 
 had risen into fury when Mr. Neville rose to go. There 
 was a wild cry in the air as the angry wind lashed it, 
 and the trees swayed and trembled. 
 
 " I proposed that the two young people should go 
 down to the river together, and contemplate the 
 grandeur of the storm. They did so ; and during their 
 absence I made my preparations. In a very short time, 
 my nephew returned alone. I was waiting for him in 
 the gateway. 
 
 " Is that you, Ned ? I said, as he entered it. 
 
 " Yes, Jack. Why ? What are you doing here in 
 this awful draught ? 
 p 
 
2io A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Waiting for you, dear boy. 
 
 " c Mercy on us, Jack ! You didn t suppose that the 
 wind would carry me away bodily, did you ? Not 
 but what it tried to do so. 
 
 " * I want to show you something, Ned. 
 
 " Then let s go upstairs and see it, Jack, for I m 
 nearly frozen. 
 
 " * It is in the churchyard. 
 
 " Then if you please, Jack, I will see it to-morrow, 
 or if it can t be seen then, will be satisfied to go without 
 seeing it. No sight, however wonderful, could please 
 me better now than a roaring fire. 
 
 " To please me, Ned ; I promise you that it will 
 surprise you. 
 
 " What a tiresome old Jack you are ! Well, I 
 suppose I must go with you. But for all you pretend 
 to make so much of me, I know who s master. You 
 always end, you old tyrant ! in making me do what 
 you wish. 
 
 " He spoke these last words half pettishly, half 
 playfully, looking, nevertheless, wistfully into my face 
 to see if he had offended me. His face was turned 
 towards the lantern on one side of the archway, so that 
 I could see it plainly. Well for him, or ill for him, that 
 he could not see mine. 
 
 " For my blood was boiling hot and madly within 
 me, suffusing my face with burning colour, and my 
 restless hands were itching to lay him low. This delay, 
 occasioned by his unexpected opposition, irritated me 
 to death. 
 
 " Come, I said, hoarsely. 
 
 " Just one moment, Jack. I really must run 
 upstairs and take a drop of that mixture you brewed for 
 us this evening. The wind, roaring so fiercely, has got 
 down into my stomach I do believe, and is playing the 
 very deuce there. Go on before ; I shall overtake 
 you in a minute. 
 
 " To have lost sight of him, for ever so short a time, 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 211 
 
 would have been more than I could endure. Grasping 
 him by the shoulder with one hand, I took a small flask 
 of brandy out of my pocket with the other (I always 
 carried it with me on account of a sort of fainting attack, 
 to which I was subject) and gave it to him. 
 
 * We must make haste/ I said, or we shall be too 
 late. Take a drop of this. We shall have seen what 
 I want to show you in another minute, and if you still 
 feel the need of it, I will brew you any amount of the 
 mixture on our return. 
 
 " He put the flask to his lips; then transferred it to 
 his own pocket. 
 
 " * I shall want another sip in the churchyard/ he 
 said, since you will take me there/ 
 
 " That flask lies buried with him in Mrs. Sapsea s 
 cofnn, for I forgot it afterwards. 
 
 " I almost dragged him forward. As we passed out 
 from under the gateway, the wind rushed to meet us, 
 frantically strove to separate us, and shrieked so I 
 fancied in wild despair at failing. We heard it crash 
 the glass of the lantern behind us, by the light of which 
 I had seen his face for the last time, and it went out 
 as the light of his life would soon go out, for ever. 
 
 " My nephew seemed bewildered by the crash and 
 roar, and clung to me as a terrified child might have 
 done. I fancy he spoke, or tried to speak, but the 
 angry wind seized the words he uttered, or would have 
 uttered, and scattered them far and wide. 
 
 " When we got under the shadow of the Cathedral, 
 on that side where the churchyard lay, we were sheltered 
 from the extreme fury of the wind, and could speak and 
 breath again. My time was come. 
 
 " Go on a step, Ned, and I will show it you/ 
 
 " He answered, 
 
 " All right, Jack, but if it isn t well worth the 
 trouble we have had, see if I don t pay you out, old 
 chap/ 
 
 " Those were the last words I heard him speak. 
 
A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 The very last words he ever would speak in his world. 
 The next moment I had flung a noose around his neck, 
 with a skilful and steady hand, and drawn it close and 
 tight. He neither struggled nor cried out, but fell dull 
 and heavy like a stone. 
 
 " I never could have thought any one could have 
 been killed so easily. What a miserable thing is the 
 breath of life in our nostrils ! Another breath can 
 quench it. I stooped down, and took him in my arms. 
 He was warm, of course, but motionless and dead. I 
 must have broken something in his neck, I suppose, 
 by the suddenness and sharpness of the pull. But he 
 was dead : there was no doubt about that, and I must 
 make haste to bury him. Any moment might bring 
 discovery. I could only breathe freely when I knew 
 him in the coffin I had prepared for him. 
 
 " We were close to Mrs. Sapsea s monument. This 
 time I had no difficulty in opening it, and found all as 
 I had left it. 
 
 " I laid him in the coffin ; first, for a reason I had, 
 taking off his watch and his shirt pin. He fitted it to 
 perfection. I was just about to fasten down the lid, 
 when, for the second time, I had a renewal of that 
 strange vision which had appeared to me before in the 
 vault. I saw in the coffin, not my nephew, whom I 
 had just laid there, but Mrs. Sapsea again. I saw the 
 dead eyes open in the shrunken and shrivelled face, I 
 saw the dead mouth move, as if uttering words. And 
 my heart once more gave one fierce bound, then stood 
 still to listen. 
 
 " It stood still so long, that I became unconscious. 
 When I came to myself, I was icy cold, and my hands 
 were so numbed that I had hardly strength to screw 
 down the coffin lid, and make it firm and sure. But 
 at last my task was ended, and I was a free man. 
 I had carefully avoided looking again into the coffin 
 for fear of another repetition of the vision, which I 
 knew would have unmanned me. 
 
"THE SECRET OF THE GRAVE" 213 
 
 " I left the vault, exactly to all outward appearance, 
 as I had first found it. It would probably only be 
 re-entered when, in the course of nature, Mr. Sapsea 
 should be gathered to his fathers. How astonished 
 the pompous idiot would have been could he have 
 imagined who would be his neighbour ! 
 
 " The wind seemed as desirous to keep me in the 
 vault as I had been to bring my nephew there. I had 
 quite a struggle to get out, but I had conquered and 
 subdued the wind, as man always can the elements, 
 locked the door for the last time, and went back to the 
 Gate House alone. 
 
 " I warmed myself inside and out, for I was chilled 
 to the bone, and then, though the storm still raged 
 madly, I went out again, taking the key (a new one, 
 made from the impress in wax) and Edwin s watch 
 and pin with me. I might have left them also in the 
 coffin, which would have been the last place where 
 they would have been sought, but that I wanted them 
 to play another part. I wished the world to make 
 sure that Edwin had been murdered, and also I wished 
 to throw suspicion upon your young Indian. There 
 would be no chance of my nephew s having absconded, 
 if his watch and pin should be found, as I meant them 
 to be ; and your young man, who had ventured to cast 
 an eye of love upon my choice, must be rendered 
 powerless ever to win her. I cast, therefore, the key 
 into a deep part of the river, and the watch and pin 
 into a spot where I hoped they might be found. You 
 know the rest, Mr. Crisparkle, and if you wonder, as 
 perhaps you do, how it is that I should remember 
 even the smallest details, even to the conversation 
 with my nephew, so accurately, do as I have done, 
 and you will find that the difficulty the only difficulty 
 is to forget." 
 
 As he ended thus abruptly, the prisoner turned his 
 back upon the Minor Canon, as if he had done with 
 him and the world from this time forward. All life 
 
214 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and animation died out of his face, his eye lost its fire, 
 and as he crouched down again upon the bed on which 
 he was sitting, he had more the look of a stunned 
 animal than of a human being, so completely and 
 heavily he sank into lethargy. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 
 
 MR. CRISPARKLE had been listening to the story of the 
 prisoner, ever since the mention of Mrs. Sapsea s 
 monument, with a feeling of intense and bewildering 
 amaze. He had not interrupted its progress once 
 since that period, but sat with bowed head, hearing 
 every word which John Jasper uttered, and not only 
 mechanically hearing, but understanding it too, yet 
 with an impression, growing as the story proceeded, 
 that it was too wild and improbable to be true, but 
 must be a vision of the narrator. And even in the 
 midst of this, an inward voice seemed to be saying to 
 him, constantly so constantly, that the repetition 
 grew almost unbearable : 
 
 " Edwin Drood s dead body laid in Mrs. Sapsea s 
 coffin. Mrs. Sapsea s coffin opened and found empty. 
 Who can reconcile these two facts, if facts they are ? " 
 And again : " Mrs. Sapsea s coffin opened and found 
 empty. Edwin Drood s dead body laid in Mrs. Sap- 
 sea s coffin. What is the meaning of all this ? " 
 And again, ditto, ditto, ad infinitum, ending at last 
 with : "I dare not think any more about this at 
 present, or I shall grow distracted." 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this firm resolve, he was still 
 thinking about it when the story was concluded (that 
 story which he found so wildly improbable, and yet 
 which he could have repeated again, word for word, 
 as if he had lived, instead of only heard it), and was 
 still thinking about it when the gaoler, pre-announced 
 by the rattling of his tools, turned the key of this 
 
 21$ 
 
216 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 particular cell in the rusty lock, and came to 
 summon him. 
 
 " You ve been a long while over your time, sir," 
 said the gaoler, " but as I heerd him (with a rattle 
 of his keys towards the bed) a talking constant, and 
 as it was you, sir, I took the liberty of closing a hi, 
 and let the time be hanged." 
 
 This last word sounded so unpleasantly suggestive 
 in the prison, that even the gaoler felt it. Following, 
 therefore, the metaphorical closing of the eye with the 
 literal one, he managed with the other organ of vision, 
 and with remarkable ingenuity, to glance respectfully 
 at the Minor Canon, and significantly at the prisoner. 
 
 " You ll be glad enough to get out into the fresh 
 hair," he continued, energetically re-opening the closed 
 eye and looking about him as if he feared he had gone 
 too far with his experiment, and that his eyes might 
 have lost the power of ever working together in unison, 
 " the hatmosphere of the cells brings down the prisoners 
 remarkable, and it ain t a bit wonderful that it should 
 affect you, sir. He s quiet now, as quiet as a lamb," 
 bringing again one eye to bear upon John Jasper, who 
 still sat upon the bedstead, as rigid and unlike life, 
 as if he were dead, " but he ve got the prison ager for 
 all that ; there s a many on em gets it, and he, in 
 partickler, has his hot and cold fits, reglar. He was so 
 obstreperous, that we had to put him in irons, though 
 it ain t customary, unless they re wiolent, afore the 
 trial." 
 
 The Minor Canon looked uneasily at the prisoner, 
 and slightly shook his head. Then, staggering, rather 
 than rising, to his feet, he indicated that he was ready. 
 
 " Bless you, sir," said the gaoler, with a chuckle 
 (he had caught the deprecatory glance of the clergyman, 
 and fully understood its import), " he ain t a listening 
 to me. He s too far gone for that ; he s as good as dead 
 now, and in a few short weeks he ll be as bad as it, 
 Now, sir, if you ll have the goodness," 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 217 
 
 He followed the gaoler^out through the chilly stone 
 passages, into the fresh air, leaving John Jasper 
 locked up in the solitude of his cell, but closely pursued 
 by the importunate riddle which he had found there, 
 and which would not be left behind ; my first, Edwin 
 Brood s dead body laid in Mrs. Sapsea s coffin ; my 
 second, Mrs. Sapsea s coffin opened and found empty ; 
 my whole, what? and " I must put off the solving 
 of this to a moment when my mind is clearer and less 
 agitated, for now it is making me light-headed." 
 
 At night, from under his pillow it crept out in the 
 darkness, and took up its station by his ear, repeating : 
 " Mrs. Sapsea s coffin opened and found empty. Edwin 
 Drood s dead body laid in Mrs. Sapsea s coffin. Who 
 can make head or tail of this ? " and : " I must banish 
 it with a strong effort, or it will haunt me all the night." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, in the kindness of his heart, had 
 made up his mind to call on Mr. Sapsea. He had heard 
 of the popular excitement concerning Mrs. Sapsea s 
 ghost, and the consequent ignominious treatment 
 which the unfortunate widower had received at the 
 hands of his townspeople. 
 
 Mr. Sapsea, still confined to bed, graciously expressed 
 his desire that Mr. Grewgious should visit him there ; 
 and the Collector of Rents, conscious what a poor 
 figure he would inevitably make of himself, and 
 ashamed to feel how sorry he was, submissively 
 followed the maid conducting him. 
 
 The sight of the tremendous bed and the solemn 
 figure reposing therein, tended still further to confuse 
 and overawe him ; and he arrived at the bedside 
 in such bodily and mental perturbation that he was 
 incapable of uttering a word, and stood, an image of 
 despair and dismay, before the Mayor. 
 
 That fallen Power, hollow-eyed and shrunken, 
 pointed, with somewhat of his old stately manner, 
 
218 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 to a chair beside his bedstead, and harassed Mr. 
 Grewgious actually found himself seated there at 
 length, before the look had vanished. 
 
 " This is an unexpected pleasure," began his Honour. 
 
 Mr. Grewgious felt that Society expected him to 
 reply that the pleasure was on his side ; but this would 
 have been such an unmitigated fib that it never got 
 any further than his conscientious throat, where it 
 stuck fast. 
 
 " You find me/ continued the Mayor, no whit 
 disconcerted, but rather gratified, by the silence and 
 awkwardness of Mr. Grewgious, which he looked upon 
 as an involuntary tribute to the Presence in which he 
 found himself, " you find me abashed and laid low, 
 and my enemies triumphing over me." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " said Mr. Grewgious, forgetting himself 
 in his sympathy, " don t say that. Things are sure 
 to clear up. I have good reason for saying that I am 
 sure they will." 
 
 " Let us not deny the facts," continued Mr. Sapsea, 
 with raised voice and increased solemnity, " let us 
 not be guilty, as men and Englishmen, of turning our 
 backs upon the Truth. If I had compared myself 
 in the times past to a stately tree, spreading out wide 
 branches over the community to protect and shield 
 them from the storm, you might probably have 
 admitted that the comparison was a just one." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, bowing his head low, smoothed 
 it also. 
 
 " And shall I shrink now," went on the Mayor, 
 quite in a lively tone and struggling to sit up in bed, 
 " from the acknowledgment that that same mighty 
 tree, the ornament of the forest, has been struck by 
 lightning, while braving the storm for others, and 
 blasted in its pride. No, sir, I scorn to do it, It is 
 a ruin whom you favour with your company. A 
 ru u in ! Though, perhaps, you may wish to add, 
 a majestic one/ 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 219 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, uttering some inarticulate sounds, 
 might have been understood to imply that he did wish 
 to add it. 
 
 It was astonishing to note the change which this 
 uncontradicted self-laudation was producing in his 
 Honour. He had looked old, shrivelled and shrunken, 
 in the depths of his tremendous bed when the Collector 
 of Rents had entered, but he seemed to fill out visibly 
 before his visitor s eyes, like a collapsed air-cushion 
 re-inflated. 
 
 " Like all men who, from gifts of Nature or circum 
 stance, tower above the herd/ 1 he continued, quite 
 revivified * might I trouble you to raise the pillow 
 at my head ? I have been at the disadvantage of being 
 out of their range of vision, and consequently misunder 
 stood and undervalued. Time, as you justly observe, 
 will open their blinded eyes, and I shall have my niche 
 in the Temple of Fame, but I may not live to see it. 
 And now to turn to a subject which made me specially 
 desirous of conversing with you this afternoon you 
 know that a terrible crime has been committed ? " 
 
 " Certainly. You allude to the attempted suicide 
 and murder by the river ? " 
 
 " I allude to no such thing," said the Mayor, severely. 
 " Since that misguided young man quitted Cloisterham, 
 and wantonly abandoned those opportunities for 
 instruction which he might have profited by (I had 
 admitted him to the favour of my acquaintance, and 
 my evening conversation), I immediately foresaw 
 that he would to put it familiarly go to the Bad. 
 He has gone to the Bad, as was to be expected, and has 
 justified my predictions. But he has wholly ceased to 
 interest me ; for, the moment he left Cloisterham and 
 his unheard-of privileges, I had done with him." 
 
 " But perhaps you do not know," said Mr. Grewgious. 
 " that he is also accused of the murder of his nephew, 
 Edwin Drood, and that there is almost overwhelming 
 evidence against him," 
 
220 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " I have heard that also," responded the Mayor, 
 " and it does not surprise me in the least. A young 
 man, capable of casting away such inestimable advan- 
 ages, is capable of anything. For the rest, spare 
 me the details. They do not interest me. They are 
 distasteful to me/ said his Honour. 
 
 " Then, of what crime are you speaking ? " 
 
 " Of another, far more terrible. Of the sacrilegious 
 violation of the sanctity of the tomb. Of the desecra 
 tion of the coffin of my deceased wife." 
 
 " What ! you know that, too ? " cried Mr. Grewgious, 
 in amaze. " And we meant to keep it close for the 
 present, it seems so improbable ; and yet the old woman 
 swears it." 
 
 The Mayor regarded the speaker with severe dis 
 pleasure. 
 
 " If," he began slowly, " you are speaking in those 
 highly offensive terms of a most excellent and appre 
 ciative lady residing opposite, I beg to inform you that 
 I cherish a warm regard for her, and a high opinion of 
 her capacity for looking up, and cannot permit it, in my 
 presence." 
 
 " Oh dear ! " murmured Mr. Grewgious, who, quite 
 innocent of any intention of offending, was all the more 
 confounded. " I knew I should get into a mess. I ain t 
 fit for society. It s like trying to walk on eggs and 
 not breaking em with my weight too. Bless me ! 
 (punishing his head without mercy for its incapacity) 
 how couldn t I see that I was better out of it ? " 
 
 " That ornament to her sex," continued the Mayor 
 with righteous warmth, " truer to me in misfortune 
 than in prosperity, prepares with her own scholastic 
 hands, little accustomed to such uncongenial work, 
 basins of delicious gruel, cups of the strongest beef 
 tea, jellies and broths of surpassing quality, and 
 requests my acceptance of these refreshments with a 
 deference more refreshing still. Therefore, I repeat, 
 that a lady capable of such acts of spontaneous and 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 221 
 
 reverential homage, is not a lady to be spoken of as 
 * an old woman/ and shall not be, in my presence." 
 
 The Mayor was now actually sitting up in bed, and, 
 puffed out and pompous, was becoming alarmingly his 
 old self again. 
 
 1 " Good Heavens ! " ejaculated the unfortunate and 
 horror-struck Collector of Rents, upon whom a light 
 began to break, " you don t fancy I meant Miss Twinkle- 
 ton do you ? I should never have dreamed of taking 
 such a liberty. The very mere thought," said Mr. 
 Grewgious, wiping his face and head with a pocket- 
 handkerchief drawn out for that purpose, " makes me 
 break out into a copious perspiration. I was referring 
 to an old woman in London, who don t mind being called 
 so ; if she did, I shouldn t do it, I hope." 
 
 " Would you be so obliging," said the Mayor, accept 
 ing this apology with gracious condescension, " as to 
 hand me my dressing-gown and slippers. There s a fire 
 in my dressing-room, and I feel almost strong enough 
 for an easy-chair." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, anxious to assist, but still confused 
 in his mind, handed the Mayor successively, apparently 
 under the impression that it was what was requested of 
 him, a bootjack, a razor, a pair of trousers and a poker, 
 and finally was obliged to ring the bell and obtain 
 assistance. 
 
 When his Honour was comfortably established in 
 his easy-chair, looking (so Mr. Grewgious thought) 
 quite a man and Mayor again, Mr. Sapsea resumed the 
 interruped conversation. 
 
 " We were speaking of the desecration of the tomb 
 of my late wife," he said. " It was opened, at my 
 suggestion, in order to silence the voice of calumny, 
 and then the awful discovery was made that it had 
 been opened before and robbed of its contents." 
 
 " Opened ? Already ? " cried Mr. Grewgious. 
 " How vain is every attempt of the murderer to hide 
 his fatal secret ! If the living are silent, the very stones 
 
222 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 cry out, and the dead bear witness to the crime. So 
 you have had it done, while we were waiting ! " 
 
 " I do not understand you, sir," said the Mayor, 
 with a look which added, " and when I say I do not 
 understand you, it is equivalent to saying that you are 
 not to be understood." 
 
 But Mr. Grewgious went on hurriedly and eagerly, 
 never heeding his Honour, and apparently forgetting 
 all his fears concerning the demands of society. 
 
 " Thus, even without our efforts at hunting him 
 down, and tracking out the crime so cunningly con 
 cealed, it would have come to light. Wonderful as it 
 appears that this should have been hidden from 
 me, yet I can finish your narration, Mr. Sapsea. You 
 found the corpse of your dead wife removed, and 
 another laid in its place." 
 
 The Mayor, alarmed at this sudden outburst on the 
 part of his abashed and silent visitor, regarded him 
 as if he feared he had shared the fate of Durdles, and 
 had gone mad. 
 
 " I repeat, sir, that I do not understand you, and 
 I fear you do not understand yourself. Whether the 
 corpse was removed for anatomical purposes, or by an 
 enemy, jealous of my renown, and seeking thus to throw 
 suspicion on my honour, I cannot say I have my eye 
 on a villain capable of both these crimes the fact is, 
 as a very worthy witness has informed me, that the 
 coffin contained no remains whatever of the late Mrs. 
 Sapsea, but was empty." 
 
 " Empty ? " 
 
 " Empty." 
 
 Each of the gentlemen looked aghast at the other ; 
 the one aghast at the unexpected news ; the other 
 aghast at a vision conjured up by his fears. 
 
 " It can t have been empty," began Mr Grewgious, 
 after an interval of alarmed silence, during which the 
 Mayor had cautiously laid his hand upon the bell-rope 
 by his side. " We agreed to keep it secret, till the 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 223 
 
 time came, I and my helper ; but it cannot have been 
 empty. The old woman said so, the old woman swore 
 he had said so, in his visions/ 
 
 " You speak," said the Mayor, tightening his grasp 
 of the bell-rope, " in enigmas." 
 
 " What is the meaning of this ? " enquired Mr. 
 Grewgious, of the air, of the fire, of the window, and of 
 a picture hanging over the mantelpiece, successively. 
 As, however, these insensate objects remained speech 
 less, with the exception of the fire, which roared lustily, 
 but incomprehensively, he applied finally to Mr. 
 Sapsea (growing stony) and repeated for the fifth time 
 " What is the meaning of this ? " He was using 
 the very words unconsciously, which Mr. Crisparkle 
 was uttering almost at the same moment. 
 
 " The meaning," answered the Mayor, somewhat 
 peevishly, and doubtful whether it would be wiser to 
 ring or not, " is, that I am still an invalid, and can t 
 stand long visits as yet and when I say, the coffin was 
 empty, I mean, of course, empty of anything expected 
 to be found there. There was a ring new to me, and 
 hardly possible to have belonged to Mrs. Sapsea without 
 my knowledge. To have supposed that ring to have 
 been the property of Mrs. Sapsea, would have been to 
 suppose Mrs. Sapsea capable of concealing something 
 from me, and an insult, not only to Mrs. Sapsea, but 
 also to me, sir " (irritably, as if Mr. Grewgious persisted 
 in supposing it). 
 
 " May I see the ring ? " 
 
 " I feel very weak," said the Mayor, with a sudden 
 relapse, " but if you will not be too long about it, you 
 can do so. You will find it in that little drawer third 
 one from the top of my secretary." 
 
 What made Mr. Grewgious tremble and shake as if 
 a storm wind had seized him ? Why, even when he. 
 had found the right drawer, after repeated failures, did 
 he hesitate to open it ? Why, when he did so, did he 
 show symptoms of such violent agitation ? Perhaps 
 
224 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Mr. Sapsea, with alarmed eyes upon him, might have 
 been propounding these questions. 
 
 A little leather case, worn and old. A ring so 
 small that one fell instinctively into a muse, to think 
 how slender must have been the finger that could 
 wear it. 
 
 A ring ! Her ring ! Bringing back with a rush 
 old days long past, but cherished still as a blessed 
 memory of my youth. Oh, love, dead so many weary 
 years ; leaving behind only the hope of meeting thee in 
 heaven, and daring, unreproved, to love thee there ! 
 Oh little dead hand, now mouldering in the grave, yet 
 once, when wearing this, so soft and fair ! Oh, God, 
 ever merciful, who gave me one never-to-be-forgotten 
 glimpse into Thy Paradise, and endless longing to live 
 worthy of such rich reward ! With bowed heart and 
 head, I acknowledge the wisdom of Thy decree and 
 know that though Thou tookest my treasure, Thou 
 hast restored and wilt restore it. 
 
 A ring ! Her ring ! Given back to life and light, 
 and sparkling in the dancing firelight like an emblem 
 of immortality. Forgive these tears which will not be 
 restrained ; they are not tears of rebellion, O Lord ! 
 but of humblest submission to Thy decree, and seek to 
 praise and glorify Thy name ! 
 
 " I can identify this ring," he said slowly, when the 
 first burst of uncontrollable emotion had been sup 
 pressed, " but not now ; I am too affected too deeply 
 moved at the sight of it, to be able to collect my 
 thoughts sufficiently even to wonder how the ring was 
 found there, alone. Let me lay it for the present back 
 again, where you laid it, till I can." And tremblingly 
 smoothing his smooth head, Mr. Grewgious took leave 
 of the astonished Mayor, quitting the room just as 
 a servant-maid entered it, carrying a tray, on which 
 stood a basin of smoking beef tea, that moment come 
 with Miss Twinkleton s humblest compliments. 
 
 Mr. Grewgious never knew how he got back to his 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 225 
 
 hotel, for his legs carried him thither without any 
 conscious instruction from his mind. He was thinking 
 of years long past, when he, an awkward, shambling 
 lad, had first looked into a sweet face, and felt in doing 
 so, what heaven really was ; he was recalling the time 
 when the hope of attaining such a treasure had dawned 
 upon him like a wonder too great to be possible, yet 
 rapturously cherished while it lasted ; he was enduring 
 again the old agony, when the vain hope died out for 
 ever ; he was plodding again the dreary, dreary path of 
 life without it ; he was thinking how the first dim light 
 which shone upon this dreary life was the wish so to live 
 as to have been worthy of her, if God had willed it so ; 
 he was thanking God that this light had grown and 
 spread, not dazzling as the other, but calm and peaceful 
 as twilight before the night comes, and the re-breaking 
 of the day. And he knew that though the All-good 
 and All-merciful had given man, for his earthly portion, 
 mourning as well as gladness, sorrow as well as joy, 
 yet that all His gifts were good. 
 
 On arriving at the ** Crozier," he enquired, coming 
 back from time past to time present, where Mr. Neville 
 was, and learned from the waiter that he had returned 
 about an hour before, and being weary from his walk, 
 had followed his sister s earnest advice, and gone to 
 lie down. 
 
 " But there s another young gent," added the 
 waiter, " a waiting for you in the coffee-room, and 
 is, at this moment, a pacing up and down, and a 
 walking to and fro, like as if tired of it. And if it is 
 your pleasure, sir, will you see the gentleman in 
 your own room, for he wishes to speak to you in 
 private ? " 
 
 It was certainly not Mr. Grewgious pleasure to do 
 so, but he seldom consulted that as to his actions, and 
 he answered, wearily 
 
 " I suppose so," adding, " is he a Cloisterham 
 gentleman ? " 
 Q 
 
226 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " No, sir ; from Lunnen, sir. Come down on busi 
 ness, sir." 
 
 " A gentleman with bushy white hair ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; a young gent, with blue spectables." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Mr. Grewgious, in a livelier tone, 
 
 " my clerk from town. I hope there s nothing amiss." 
 
 " He hasn t said there is, but he looks like thunder, 
 
 and have rung at least ten times to ask if you was 
 
 come ; which ain t the manners of a gentleman," 
 
 said the waiter, indignant at this presumption on the 
 
 part of so inferior a human being, " and might a showed 
 
 me as he was only a clerk or something of that sort." 
 
 " Bring him up to my room," said Mr. Grewgious, 
 
 without further comment, and in a few moments the 
 
 new clerk, still called by that name to avoid confounding 
 
 him with that lost genius and unity, Mr. Bazzard, stood 
 
 before him. 
 
 " Take a chair, Mr. Brandis," began Mr. Grewgious. 
 " I hope nothing s the matter. Yet stay, you are 
 hungry and tired, no doubt, let me order some refresh 
 ment for you first." 
 
 But the young man came forward, until close to 
 Mr. Grewgious, putting the strange and alarming 
 enquiry 
 
 " Do you know me, sir ? " 
 
 There was something so new in the low and agitated 
 voice strange, and yet strangely familiar that the 
 old man, whose nerves were still shaken, turned a shade 
 paler, as he answered, trying to smile as if it were a 
 joke 
 
 " My senses are never very acute, and I have been 
 alarmed and agitated just now, but unless they have 
 quite deserted me, I think I do. Come, Mr. Brandis, 
 if you have anything to communicate, either good or 
 bad, out with it, and let me know the best or worst at 
 once." 
 
 " Look once more, sir, I beseech you. Has the sight 
 of me never aroused in you the memory of another ? 
 
A DOUBLE RESURRECTION 227 
 
 Let me take off these disfiguring glasses. Do you 
 know me now ? " 
 
 As he raised his uncovered eyes, brimming over with 
 tears, Mr. Grewgious trembled so violently that he was 
 obliged to grasp a chair near him for support ; but when 
 he spoke, his voice was hard and cold, and cuttingly 
 severe. 
 
 " I know this, sir, that you have been deceiving me 
 who trusted in you ; and that I am cruelly disappointed 
 in you, therefore. I see, also, that your hair, which 
 was dark as night, has changed its colour, and is brown. 
 You have been disguising yourself for some purpose, 
 and disguise is false, sir. No honourable and honest 
 man need take refuge in a lie." 
 
 " Oh, for Heaven s sake," cried the young man, 
 wildly, making a movement as if he would have flung 
 himself on his knees before his master, which, however, 
 Mr. Grewgious prevented him from doing, " hear me 
 before you condemn ! Oh, my benefactor ! dear to 
 me as if you were my father ; whom I look up to 
 and reverence next to God ; try once more ! Listen 
 to the sound of my voice, so long purposely changed 
 and altered. Look at my face, marked as if years 
 had passed over it, instead of only months. Fancy me 
 bright and young and happy, as I was before all my 
 happiness and youth were blasted by a fearful crime. 
 Take away in imagination this year s growth of beard, 
 and imagine the face without it. Oh, Mr. Grewgious, 
 it is true that I have assumed a new face and a new 
 voice to blind you, but with no mean or base motive ! 
 You must, must know me, now." 
 
 " No," returned the old man, drawing back and 
 holding out both hands as if to repulse him, while 
 every drop of blood vanished out of his shrunken 
 cheeks, " I do not know you. What do you mean by 
 frightening me ? How do you dare to do it ! " 
 
 " Then," said the young man, more quietly, but with 
 an accent of such intense sadness, that it struck on 
 
228 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the tender heart of Mr. Grewgious like a sharp knife, 
 " I must be changed far more awfully than even I feared, 
 and might have spared myself the trouble of this 
 unnecessary disguise ; for, sir, though you do not know 
 me, as sure as there is a God above us, I am Edwin 
 Drood ! " 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IN WHICH MR. CRISPARKLE READS A LONG MANUSCRIPT 
 
 A FEW days had elapsed since the unexpected and 
 marvellous disclosure to Mr. Grewgious, and, after the 
 first burst of incredulous surprise and even terror, 
 on his re-appearance, when every one, even the most 
 sanguine, had long abandoned all hope of his possible 
 escape, the new Edwin Drood (so different from the 
 old one, that it seemed as natural to prefix this 
 adjective to his name as if he had really been 
 another) was gradually beginning to be believed in. 
 
 Yet, but for the evidence of the ring and the evidence 
 of the desecrated tomb of the late Mrs. Sapsea, every 
 body, not excepting Mr. Grewgious, might have been 
 inclined to regard him as a cunning impostor, who, 
 having in his position as clerk to the Collector of Rents 
 obtained possession of the particulars of this sad family 
 drama, had resolved to make them a means of base 
 profit to himself. 
 
 For Mr. Crisparkle, up to the present time, had 
 related no particulars of the murderer s confession, 
 and had resolved not to do so until the disclosure 
 should be sanctioned by the result of the trial. 
 
 Mr. Grewgious had refused to hear any detailed 
 account of the escape until Mr. Crisparkle could be 
 present as one of the auditors, declaring that his poor 
 head would not be able to support it alone ; therefore, 
 one evening, a few days later, the Minor Canon and the 
 old man sat down together in the cosy book-room, in 
 Minor Canon Corner, to peruse a manuscript which 
 the former clerk had put into his employer s hand : 
 
 229 
 
230 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 begging him to excuse his being present at the inter 
 view, for the remembrance of all he had passed through 
 never failed completely to upset him, even now. He 
 had written it out, he added, further, during the last 
 few days in London, because the necessity of keeping 
 silence for his uncle s sake had been changed, by altered 
 circumstances, into a necessity to disclose the real 
 facts of the case, and he had felt he could do it more 
 efficiently in this manner. 
 
 He had also implored the old man to refer to past 
 events, in his hearing, as little as possible ; although 
 if considered necessary, he could still further prove his 
 identity by minute descriptions of places and persons, 
 impossible for an impostor to know. 
 
 Then Mr. Crisparkle, previously narrating to Mr. 
 Grewgious such outline of the prisoner s confession 
 as might be useful in comparing the accuracy of the 
 two narrations, began to read as follows : 
 
 " I need go no further back in this narrative of my 
 wonderful and almost miraculous escape from death 
 and the grave, than to the evening before the day I was 
 missed, to last Christmas Eve. 
 
 " Hardly one full year, and yet time enough to have 
 made me such a different being to what I was, that I 
 fancy sometimes I must have dreamed the past, and 
 that I the I, who write these words can never really 
 have been the light-hearted, careless, giddy boy whom 
 the world knew as Edwin Drood. 
 
 " Will the world believe me, when I tell them that 
 I was he, or will it (terrible fear which appals me, not 
 for myself, for God knows that I suffer as much in 
 resuming the old name as I did in losing it, but because 
 the certainty of my being alive is the only means of 
 saving him, my uncle, from the gallows) will it reject 
 my claim, and damn me as an impostor ? 
 
 " Only one short year, and yet it might be ages, 
 so far, far back must I go, when I would return to the 
 thoughtless days of my youth, and the last evening 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 231 
 
 of my life, as it was. I have read somewhere of a 
 man, a doctor, I believe, who fell asleep only ten 
 minutes, by his watch, and who dreamed in that time 
 that he married ; had children ; saw them grow up 
 into men and women ; became a grandfather ; lived 
 a long life, in short, in ten minutes. I slept for many 
 weary months, and dreamed enough, I am sure, to 
 have long since attained the allotted age of three 
 score years and ten. 
 
 " What is age, after all ? and what do we mean by 
 old and young ? Is not suffering, with its attendant 
 experience, age ? Is not happiness, fresh and bright, 
 always young ? There are worn out mothers of 
 families, only two or three and twenty years of age ; 
 there are young men about town who have seen fifty 
 or sixty summers, and are gay boys still. 
 
 " I raise my head to look into the glass opposite, 
 and see a face reflected back, familiar to me now, but 
 which, when I looked at it, six months ago, made 
 me turn round suddenly to see what stranger was 
 standing behind me. A face, pale, hollow-eyed, 
 and middle-aged ; somewhat lined, as if forty years 
 had passed over it, and left no uncertain marks 
 behind. 
 
 " Combed low over the troubled forehead, clusters 
 bright brown hair, lit up with a touch of sunshine 
 (I have washed away the black dye, you understand) ; 
 this and the fresh growth of beard, which frames 
 the worn face, and covers the upper lip, are the only 
 visible tokens of youth left me, and of brightness. 
 Take away ten years, therefore, in deference to this 
 legacy, and there remain thirty. A man, certainly not 
 much under thirty years, and aged for his time of life. 
 That is the final verdict, after careful scrutiny. No 
 one would doubt it. 
 
 " Yet the register of Edwin Drood s birth is only 
 twenty-one years old, and the clerk who wrote it, and 
 the witnesses thereof, are living still and could prove 
 
232 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 its correctness. Nevertheless, for all that, I am Edwin 
 Drood, or rather was was. 
 
 " Let me return to that evening when I was destined 
 to die, and yet to live a strange anomaly. I cannot 
 quite understand it myself, and if others cannot either, 
 it will not be surprising. 
 
 " My uncle, Mr. John Jasper, had invited me and 
 young Landless to a bachelors dinner in the Gate 
 House, for the purpose of our becoming reconciled ; 
 and also of showing to the world, which (that is to say, 
 that bit of the world, Cloisterham) had taken a very 
 absurd interest in our foolish quarrel, that we were 
 reconciled. 
 
 " I did not like Mr. Landless ; not even without the 
 particular reason which afterwards made us almost 
 natural enemies, because his nature was so opposed to 
 my own, and so superior, as I could not but acknow 
 ledge, that I fear I was jealous. He was about the same 
 age as myself, and yet so different ; so grave, earnest, 
 and manly that I felt at a disadvantage beside 
 him, and for the first time in my life confessed myself 
 the " stupid boy " Rosa, so often to my displeasure, 
 called me, which I intended, once and for all, sternly 
 to prohibit, when our union had removed me from the 
 subordinate position of lover into the superior one of 
 the husband, whom it would be her duty to obey. 
 I meant to be kind and indulgent to my pretty wife, 
 but to show her, in good time, who was to be 
 master ; and I had no intention of putting up then 
 with her nonsense, as I called it, as I had been 
 obliged to put up with it, during our unromantic 
 courtship. 
 
 "Ah me ! when I think of my folly, and to what 
 depths of misery it might have brought us misery 
 even worse than that I suffer now but for the courage, 
 energy, and noble nature of the pretty little creature 
 whom I, in my arrogance, considered so inferior to me, 
 yet who, upon an eminence far above, had been quietly 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 233 
 
 reading and understanding every foolish purpose of my 
 foolish heart, I am so ashamed of the boy, whose name 
 I must assume again, that it increases my dislike to 
 doit. 
 
 " And here was this young fellow, treated by every 
 one with marked respect ; spoken of as Mr. Landless 
 and Mr. Neville/ while I was only young Drood/ 
 or Eddy, or Ned/ or idiot and booby, perhaps, 
 behind my back, if I did but know it. Just at the very 
 time, too, when I would have wished to show a polish, 
 equal to those of my brightly-shining leather boots, 
 bought to satisfy Rosa, and which glared at me, as my 
 downcast eyes rested there in despair at my fancied 
 ignominy, as if they were impertinently pointing out 
 to me the contrast between my dullness and their 
 brilliancy. 
 
 " For, the stately figure, dark beauty, and brilliant 
 eyes of the sister of this young man had already made 
 so deep an impression on me, that I felt an intense 
 desire to appear at my best, instead of, as I was 
 conscious of doing, at my very worst. 
 
 " As I sat opening and shutting Miss Twinkleton s 
 fan, apparently my thoughtless self, and treated by 
 everybody (so I imagined) exactly as Jack often treated 
 me : like a fortunate fellow who had won the first prize 
 in a lottery, without, of course, ever having done any 
 thing to deserve it, I was seized with an almost irre 
 sistible impulse to fling the fan into the face of that 
 stuck-up and coxcomb brother who so coolly put me 
 aside, as if, being the winner of the first prize, I could 
 be no possible competitor for the second. 
 
 " I dare say there are many men, and women too, 
 who, having won something rare and beautiful, are 
 apt to regard it with an indifferent eye, as having lost 
 its value through possession. That was my case. I 
 was fully aware that my lovely betrothed was a jewel 
 beyond price ; but it was mine, and had been mine so 
 long that I had grown accustomed to its beauty, even 
 
234 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 fancied I could detect flaws in it, and was half weary of 
 what I had attained without any trouble. 
 
 " And might I not dare to admire another ? Why, 
 he, the coxcomb brother, was casting looks of fiery 
 admiration at my possession, and / didn t mind. 
 
 " No ! the reason which Cloisterham assigned for it 
 was not the reason why I did not like Landless. Rosa 
 was so certainly mine, that it only gratified my vanity 
 to see her admired. Just as if she were a valuable 
 jewel, of which I was the possessor and which I could 
 feign to regard with indifference, although I was willing 
 to acknowledge that she would make a pretty ornament, 
 with the sharp corners, which wounded me, rounded 
 off, and set in our married home, of which I was to be 
 lord, and she the dutiful wife. 
 
 " So, in my way, and shown according to my nature, 
 which was not explosive like his, I was quite as full of 
 passionate dislike towards Landless as he towards me ; 
 and I wish to state emphatically, now, with the know 
 ledge of the suffering he has endured since then brought 
 forcibly home to me, that I was the provoker in the 
 quarrel between us ; and that though his hot and fiery 
 disposition may have blazed up with peculiar readiness 
 at the first contact with the match I lit, yet I was the 
 one to cause the explosion, and that I humbly pray him 
 to forgive me, as I have prayed God to do so, although 
 I can never forgive myself. 
 
 " Mr. Grewgious you to whom I address these pages 
 my noble benefactor ! my truest friend ! you were the 
 first to open my blinded eyes, and show me what love, 
 true love towards a chosen wife, ought to be. Not 
 that I comprehended clearly, at first ; yet I tremblingly 
 felt that I was on the verge of an abyss, and that a few 
 more heedless steps might be fatal to both Rosa and 
 myself. And if I know now, that which I dimly felt 
 then, what true love is, the agony of soul the knowledge 
 has brought me may atone perhaps in some measure 
 for my reckless folly. 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 235 
 
 " From your honoured lips (inspired almost as it 
 seems to me ; or had you discovered the real nature of 
 the chains, already galling, which bound us two young 
 things ? young enough to have aroused sincere pity for 
 the fate impending), I learned in what hallowed light 
 a man ought to regard the woman he would make his 
 wife. Not as an ornament for himself, or for his house ; 
 not as a toy to play with, or to cast aside heedlessly, 
 when tired of it ; not as a child to be loved and caressed, 
 petted or punished ; not as his housekeeper, and possible 
 mother of his children his absolute property anyway, 
 and to be treated ill or well, according to his sovereign 
 pleasure. Ah ! as none of these, for either misery, 
 absolute misery, must be the inevitable result, or cool 
 indifference, almost sadder still. As the light of his 
 life he must regard her, sent by heaven to brighten the 
 dull round of earthly duties, and make them not only 
 bearable, but pleasurable, for the love of her as the 
 completion of himself, the other half which makes him 
 first into a whole. No angel, for an angel would not 
 suit his nature, but a human being like himself ; and 
 I wonder, as I write, at the marvellous stupidity which 
 would set the sexes in opposition, or venture to 
 compare them, when it was so evidently the intention of 
 the Creator that the one should be the complement 
 of the other. 
 
 " But I am digressing, and am almost inclined to 
 leave out the last paragraph, as the crudeness natural 
 to a youth who, though feeling so old so old, has been 
 an inmate of the world he criticises, only, after all, 
 twenty-one years. Yet the solitariness of my present 
 life is favourable to reflection, and I do reflect, and have 
 reflected much, more than is healthful probably. 
 
 " You will have heard an account, no doubt, of my 
 last interview with Rosa, for later events would impose 
 on her the necessity of revealing it. I had gone to her 
 with more real humility than I had ever felt before, I 
 think, and yet with a half -feeling of pride too, that I 
 
236 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 should be the one to open her eyes, as you had opened 
 mine. 
 
 " Alas for my foolish vanity, doomed to so complete 
 a humiliation ! Before I had time to begin my exposi 
 tion and to consult with her as to whether, after all, 
 we loved each other sufficiently to venture upon a life 
 together, she was speaking to me, and with no uncertain 
 sound. She, whom I had looked upon as a pretty toy, 
 almost incapable of earnest thought she, with no one 
 to help her, had been entertaining the same doubts for 
 many months, to which my foolish brain had only just 
 given access, through the agency of another. 
 
 " I acceded to her proposition that we should dissolve 
 our engagement ; how could I do otherwise, with my 
 own newly aroused doubts to back her up ? though 
 with a heavy heart. I felt so deeply grieved, that it 
 surprised me myself. I supposed I had sense enough to 
 feel that I had not only lost a beautiful jewel, but a 
 loving woman, the depths of whose generous and earnest 
 nature I had never thought of sounding. 
 
 " Therefore, I was no longer angry with young 
 Landless, or resented his mean opinion of one who had 
 sunk so low in his own estimation. And as the face of 
 his beautiful sister rose vividly before me, I almost 
 felt a wish to become his friend, and thus pave the 
 way towards the winning of the second prize, now 
 that I had lost the first." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious, listening with rapt attention, was 
 surprised to see the Minor Canon suddenly lay down 
 the manuscript and energetically and almost angrily 
 attack the waning fire. Perhaps the clergyman s 
 gentle heart was wounded and mortified at hearing, 
 for the second time, his beautiful choice spoken of as an 
 inferior prize ; perhaps some spark of latent jealousy 
 was fanned into action, by this reference to her in 
 connection with another. But the momentary irri 
 tation faded and gave place to a look and smile of happy 
 confidence, and before the Collector of Rents had quite 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 237 
 
 had time to screw his eyes into the right focus for 
 observing him, he had resumed his reading. 
 
 " Yet, notwithstanding this new fancy, my sad 
 heart told me that no woman could quite replace my 
 pretty Rosa ; and my feet, sore with the rough walking 
 in the valley of humiliation, grew impatient to carry me 
 away out of dull Cloisterham, where the pain was most 
 acute. That Christmas Eve I said good-bye to it in 
 imagination, and shed some of the bitterest tears I had 
 ever shed till then. My heart was heavy with gloomy 
 forebodings, as though I were destined never to see the 
 old familiar place again. I did not know that it was 
 not Cloisterham I was going to lose, but my own 
 identity. 
 
 " The dinner was a dull affair enough. Landless and 
 I had met with every appearance of frank cordiality 
 before Jack joined us. It was well he did, not that 
 there was any danger of our quarrelling again we 
 were both too depressed for that, he as well as I 
 but to raise our spirits which, after the first spasmodic 
 effort at cheerfulness, were sinking fast again. I don t 
 know what was the matter with him, but I could not 
 help remembering with a sharp pang of jealousy, the 
 first pang I had ever felt from that source, and now I 
 had no right whatever to feel it that if I was free to 
 cultivate the acquaintance of his sister, he was also 
 free to make love to Rosa ; and wondering if he would 
 have the infernal impudence to do it. 
 
 " My sadness, during the progress of the meal, 
 seemed to undergo a sort of fermenting process, and to 
 be gathering into anger, rapidly. Not particularly with 
 Landless. With everybody, myself most of all. 
 What a sheep s head I had. What a blundering fool 
 I was ! Such were the compliments I showered upon 
 myself incessantly and unmercifully. I wished I had 
 been a boy again, and that somebody would give me 
 a sound flogging. I so richly deserved it, that I almost 
 longed to suffer the pain and humiliation. The smart 
 
238 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 of the body might act as a counter-irritant to the smart 
 of the mind, and do me good. 
 
 " But unfortunately there was no one possessing 
 authority enough over me to try this remedy, and I 
 went on getting angry with every one in turn. There 
 were Mr. and Mrs. Tope, she one beam of horrible con 
 gratulation on the nearness of what was never to be ; 
 he coarse enough to whisper in my ear, as he handed 
 me the potatoes, I ve a promised Mrs. Tope a new 
 gownd for the occasion, and I don t grudge it, Mr. 
 Edwin. I could have knocked him down upon the 
 spot, but, restraining myself, only refused potatoes 
 with a sharpness that must have brought him to his 
 senses, or, at any rate, to a sense of his position. 
 
 " There was Jack, too, so remarkably lively and gay, 
 that I nearly worked myself into believing he did it to 
 insult me. But as I saw in his face, turned towards me 
 lovingly as ever, nothing but the well-known look of 
 engrossing affection, I was so ashamed that I could have 
 sobbed out like a naughty but penitent child Oh, 
 Jack, for mercy s sake, fetch the thickest stick you ve 
 got in the house, and break it over my ungrateful back. 
 
 " It was a gloomy dinner, in spite of all Jack s efforts 
 to make it cheerful. I don t know whether it was 
 a sort of reaction from the melancholy which had 
 oppressed me all the day, or whether I was in the firts 
 stage of an illness, as I have sometimes thought since, 
 but even as the wind out of doors began to rise into 
 fury, so my whole nature, body and spirit, did the same, 
 and it was as much as I could do to repress all outward 
 sign of the storm within me. As for Landless, his 
 smiles were so forced and constrained that, even in my 
 excited state, I could almost have pitied him. It was 
 an egregious mistake of Jack s, to bring two young 
 men, with such a marked want of sympathy between 
 them, together for a whole long evening. We ought 
 to have shaken hands in the open street, and then have 
 gone our different ways. 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 239 
 
 " And even Jack s manner appeared to me unnatural 
 on closer scrutiny. He was unusually gay ; quite ex 
 cited, in short. When, at last, he proposed my health, 
 happiness, and prosperity, particularly with regard to a 
 certain near event, which he need not further specify, 
 I felt almost frightened at the look with which he 
 accompanied his words. The scalding tears of anger 
 and mortification rose to my eyes, and had to be 
 swallowed with the ruby wine, which sickened me. 
 
 " I was heartily glad when the dinner was over, and 
 Jack sat down to sing and play to us. It was a relief to 
 escape for a time the steady, searching gaze, almost 
 always resting on my face. I began to think he must, in 
 some way or other, have heard of my loss. If I had not 
 promised Rosa, I would have told him all about it, I 
 thought ; I so longed for sympathy I so longed to pour 
 out my sorrows into a friendly ear. Anything would be 
 better than this feeling of absolute loneliness ; even 
 severe reproof. 
 
 " The storm raged furiously all the evening, and 
 when Landless took his leave, Jack proposed that I 
 should go down to the river with Landless to see to 
 perfection the grandeur of it. I did not want to go, 
 I am sure, for, though never before sensitive to atmos 
 pheric influence, this storm seemed to be raging all at 
 me, and its echo resounding in my heart. And the wind, 
 to my fancy (although I wasn t a bit sentimental or 
 fanciful by nature), would remind me of a drunken old 
 woman, who had begged of me that afternoon, and 
 who had told me in going away, that I might be thank 
 ful that my name wasn t Ned, for Ned was in danger of 
 his life. I had made light of it at the time, but I 
 couldn t make light of it now, because the wind, 
 howling in my ear, kept saying, And you are, are, are 
 Ned ; you know you are. 
 
 " Oh, Rosa, Rosa, I sobbed, as, after having taken 
 leave of Landless in Minor Canon Corner, I fought my 
 way back to the Gate House, through the storm, now 
 
240 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 a perfect hurricane, you never loved me, I know, 
 but I love you I feel I do, now that all is over between 
 us ; and it is that which is making me so wicked and 
 so utterly miserable/ 
 
 " You are, are, are, are Ned/ so the wind kept 
 shrieking, with a voice that would not be silenced, until 
 I should like to have stopped my ears to keep out the 
 sound. You are, are, are, are Ned/ as I turned in under 
 the gateway where Jack was standing waiting for me. 
 
 " It was so imprudent of Jack to expose himself so 
 unnecessarily, with his delicate throat, that I was angry 
 with him on his account at first. It was so aggravating 
 of Jack to look after me as if I were a child who could 
 not take care of myself that I was doubly angry with 
 him on that account too. He must have noticed my 
 irritation when I spoke, though I tried to subdue it. 
 
 " He wanted me to accompany him to the church 
 yard, to see, as I believed, some particular ravages 
 which the storm had committed. I considered it the 
 purest folly, trembling with cold as I was already, 
 even in my warm great coat and fur cap drawn down 
 over my forehead, and opposed it as energetically as 
 I could. 
 
 " I was tired to death of the storm, and the monot 
 onous warning of the wind, meaning nothing, of course, 
 but not the less disagreeable to listen to. But I had 
 to give way. Somehow or other I always had to give 
 way to Jack when there was a difference between us : 
 and I did so now as ever, though not without a feeling 
 of resentment, and a touch of wonder at his almost 
 passionate earnestness about such a trifle. But with 
 no suspicion no, not with a shadow of suspicion. 
 
 " You are, are, are, are Ned. You are, are, are, are 
 Ned/ So the wind again, as it struggled to tear us 
 from one another. But I clung to Jack, and he held me 
 tight, and we defied the wind together the moaning, 
 wailing, baffled wind which fled, shrieking wildly. 
 But it came again, and again, and again. Alas ! my 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 241 
 
 ears were deaf to the meaning of the warning ! If I 
 had but heeded it, I might have saved him, my wretched 
 uncle. 
 
 " How often God sends warning to those in danger, 
 and how often they heedlessly neglect to profit thereby. 
 How many sufferers, by what are called unforeseen 
 events, must have been conscious of an inward voice, 
 pointing out some possible danger, to which they 
 turned persistently a deaf and careless ear. 
 
 " Looking back upon my own experience, I seem to 
 see the outstretched hand of God pointing ever towards 
 the right and safe road, and know that disobedience 
 to its behests, indifference to the inward warning, may 
 lead to terrible danger, and cause endless suffering. 
 
 " When we reached the shelter of the Cathedral, 
 Jack bade me go on ahead. I was feeling strangely 
 unwell, with a restless heat and pain inside me, to which 
 I had hitherto been a stranger. Suddenly (I had raised 
 my head to look up at the Cathedral, fancying it was 
 something connected with it that I was to see) all the 
 pain and uneasy sense of fullness in my chest and 
 stomach rushed to my head. I saw the Cathedral 
 totter and reel ; it was falling on me, and the next 
 moment I lay dead beneath it. 
 
 " Then a long blank, followed by a troubled dream. 
 Jack and I were playing together, boys again. We 
 were playing at horses, and Jack, instead of putting the 
 bit between my teeth, had tied it round my throat 
 so tight, so tight that my head ached frightfully, and 
 I could hardly breathe. He laughed at my distress, 
 mocking me, while I feebly put up my hand to loosen it. 
 
 " I was better now, though my head still ached as if 
 it would split, and my tongue seemed so much too large 
 for my mouth, that I wondered feebly how it managed 
 to find room there. I was lying on my bed in the Gate 
 House, and it was hard, and hurt me, and I could not 
 remember, for the life of me, how I got there, and what 
 had happened yesterday. I tried so hard to bring back 
 
242 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 to my remembrance what happened yesterday, that I 
 thought my aching head would burst. It was some 
 thing of importance, I knew. Ah ! I remembered it 
 at last. I had been with Jack to see something ; but 
 what, I could not recall. Something in the church 
 yard ; oh dear ! what was it in the churchyard ? 
 
 " Good God ! the Cathedral had been blown down 
 upon me, and I was dead, or if not dead, buried under 
 the ruins, and doomed to perish of starvation. The 
 agony of this horrible thought gave me strength to rise 
 and push away something hard and heavy covering 
 me. 
 
 " There was light somewhere, a feeble light, like the 
 dim light of a lantern. It was a lantern, and Jack was 
 lying beside it, dead too, with his glassy eyes wide open, 
 and an awful look of terror on his ghastly face. And 
 I I was lying in a coffin ! 
 
 " The dread, which every human being, in whom is 
 still the breath of life, feels instinctively for this last 
 house of the dead, made me exert the little strength I 
 had, to get out as soon as possible ; and only when I 
 had accomplished this, and stood beside Jack, who was 
 unconscious, and who lay rigid and motionless, I began 
 to reflect. 
 
 " This was a vault, evidently, and we had both been 
 cast into it by the fall of the Cathedral. But how did 
 I come into the coffin ? and who had put me there ? 
 I could not answer these questions, yet I avoided touch 
 ing or rousing Jack, with a dread for which I could not 
 account, and some impulse made me carefully replace 
 the lid of the coffin before seeking means of egress ; 
 for I must get out of this horrible place, and hide myself 
 from Jack s glassy stare, which seemed to follow me 
 menacingly, and note every movement I made. 
 
 " By the feeble light, I made out a few stone steps, 
 up which I clambered, and the door above, yielding to 
 my desperate thrust, opened, and let me out into the 
 air. The storm had abated somewhat, though the 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 243 
 
 wind was busy still, and began again as soon as it felt 
 my presence, though using one different word. It 
 said no more, you are, but you were, were Ned, you 
 see. 
 
 " By the fitful light of the moon, sometimes breaking 
 through the driving clouds, I was able to make my way 
 to a tall monument near at hand ; for I was in the 
 churchyard, and could see that the Cathedral, sound 
 and massive as ever, was still standing where it had 
 stood before. 
 
 " Behind the monument grew a weeping ash, whose 
 low branches swept the ground, and under this shelter 
 I crept out of the biting, mocking wind, and pitiless 
 storm. I was tolerably protected there, and I cowered 
 down upon the cold, damp earth, waiting. 
 
 " Waiting. For what, I did not know. Not for 
 Jack, certainly, whom I had left behind in the vault, 
 dead or swooning, and of whom I dared not think, for 
 something too horrible to be entertained was dawning 
 upon me, in spite of myself. A vision so terrible, that 
 the mere notion paralyzed me. But my head was 
 turned towards the little door, hidden from me now, 
 as was the moon, and all my faculties were absorbed in 
 it, and in dread waiting for the next manifestation. 
 
 " I have no notion how long I waited, with my eyes 
 upon the fatal door, now fully visible in the sharp light 
 of the moon, now lost in darkness, deep and awful. It 
 might have been an hour, it might have been only ten 
 minutes. I was not capable of connected thought, but 
 crouched there waiting, waiting for what would follow. 
 
 " At last, at last, the door opened, and some one came 
 out, carrying a lantern ; the lantern which I had seen 
 burning in the vault. 
 
 " I felt it was Jack, before I saw him. The wind told 
 me so as it sped past me to the attack. The lantern 
 was extinguished in a moment, but the moon shone out 
 bright again between the driving clouds, and showed 
 me his face in brilliant light. 
 
244 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Then I comprehended all, with the rapidity and 
 intensity of a flash of lightning; all, everything. I 
 knew that Jack had meant to murder me. And I 
 knew why. 
 
 " His face was sternly set, ghastly white, and awful 
 to look upon, yet full of fierce triumph too. He was 
 evidently entirely unconscious of my escape, for after 
 quietly relocking the door, he looked up victoriously 
 to the moon, his only witness, as he thought, and his 
 lips parted in a smile. 
 
 " Such a smile ! Oh, heaven, it has haunted my 
 dreams for one long year, and I fear the remembrance 
 will never be effaced, but will still haunt me to my 
 dying day ! Not that it was distorted or horrible. 
 It was grand almost ; like the fierce grandeur of a fallen 
 angel, who has dared to cast down the gauntlet at the 
 feet of God. And, though triumphant, it was remark 
 able, too, for a sort of unutterable sadness, as if a long- 
 borne agony had fashioned it so for ever. 
 
 " Agony ! oh, merciful God, what excruciating 
 tortures must he have endured, to bring him to this. 
 And if I could only have told him in time, he might have 
 been saved, he and I also. 
 
 " I understood now Rosa s last look, that look of 
 astonished and imploring enquiry. She had known 
 that he loved her, and I, in my boyish folly and egotism, 
 had never even imagined the possibility of such a 
 thing. And yet I could have given her up to him, I 
 could then. 
 
 " My heart ached with pity for the sufferings which 
 my heedless tongue had inflicted, hundreds of times. 
 How my thoughtless boastings must have lacerated 
 his bleeding wounds. And he had warned me, too, 
 tried to warn me, tried to save me if he could. Oh, 
 Jack ! Poor, poor Jack ! My thoughtless hands had 
 bound him daily upon the rack, until the torture had 
 driven him mad. 
 
 " Now, thank God upon my bended knees, for having 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 245 
 
 spared him this terrible crime, and having saved me 
 from being cut off in my sins. I prayed as I had never 
 prayed before, that He would support me with His 
 gracious hand, and give me strength as long as I had 
 need of it. 
 
 " I scrambled to my feet again, and strove to think 
 what was the best course to pursue. As I did so, I 
 stumbled over the long ends of a silken scarf about my 
 neck. With this he must have intended to strangle 
 me, and must have believed he had. 
 
 " I have thought since then, not at the time, for I 
 was too confused, that this scarf must have got loosened 
 somehow, when he was carrying me to the vault, and 
 that in this way I was enabled to breathe again. 
 Perhaps my uncle took no particular pains to make 
 certain of my death after I lost consciousness, knowing 
 that he was bringing me to a place where escape would 
 be impossible. So it would have been, but for his 
 swoon, which gave me time to fly. And yet I 
 cannot believe that he could have contemplated the 
 possibility of my being buried alive. No, I am sure, 
 strange as it seems, that he believed me to be surely 
 dead. 
 
 " I was dressed in my usual walking costume, with 
 my greatcoat on, and had even mechanically replaced 
 on my head my fur cap, which had been lying beside 
 me in the coffin. But my watch was gone. I knew 
 that ; because as I wondered what the time might be, 
 I had, instinctively, out of habit, laid my hand upon 
 the watch pocket in my waistcoat, and had found it 
 empty. 
 
 " I must fly, fly while I had strength of body to do so 
 and I felt that would not be the case for long for 
 Jack s sake, to save him from the consequences of his 
 crime. I can truly say that, at that moment, I thought 
 as little of myself as of any one else but him ; and as 
 old remembrances of what, and how much, he had been 
 to me all my life, came back to me in a flood, I only 
 
246 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 longed to shield and rescue him, though he would never 
 know it. 
 
 " I was chilled to the bone, from lying on the wet 
 grass, and trembling from head to foot, and the bitter, 
 wintry blast, tearing over me like a flood, seemed to be 
 carrying away, little by little, the feeble remnants of 
 the life remaining to me. Yet I dared not die, for then 
 I should be powerless to save him, either from the 
 punishment of the crime to which a passionate love had 
 brought him, or, still worse, from the crime itself. 
 
 " Suddenly, as if a ministering angel had whispered 
 it to me, inspired with heavenly pity for us both, I 
 thought of the little flask of brandy, which Jack had 
 given me to drink and warm myself with, before enter 
 ing the churchyard. Had I got it by me still ? If so, 
 then it would impart new life, and we might both be 
 saved for this confused thought always rose upper 
 most to my bewildered brain, and was the one influ 
 encing me so strongly, that as no one would succeed in 
 discovering my body, no one would be able to charge 
 my disappearance against Jack. 
 
 " Yes ! I had it still in the pocket where I had placed 
 it. Thank God, with all my heart and soul ! I drank 
 deep and long, and as the liquid fire circulated through 
 every vein, rewarming and revivifying for a time, my 
 powerless limbs regained some portion of their lost 
 vigour, and were able to obey the commands which my 
 brain had still sense and power to dictate. 
 
 " Where I should go ? what road I should take ? 
 or whither would my feet, left to their own free will, 
 carry me ? were questions which I neither asked nor 
 could have answered. Anywhere, far away from 
 Cloisterham, away from Jack, away from Jack s possible 
 accusers ! So I sped into the night the future as dark 
 and overshadowed as the heaven above my head 
 the prospect before me as uncertain as the cruel and 
 relentless, ever shifting wind. 
 
 " On, through darkness which might be felt ; my 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 247 
 
 progress one continual battle with the storm, many 
 tongued, and which, when broken through, followed 
 me, full of terrible forebodings. On, during the long 
 night, of which so much remained, as to make me feel 
 almost sure that I must have let the day pass me 
 unawares. On, through the grey, reluctant morning, 
 struggling against the necessity of appearing at all 
 upon the scene. On, during the whole of the feeble, 
 short-lived day, until darkness returned more friendly 
 than the light, for it covered me up from the eyes of all 
 men ; and then, night again. 
 
 " At last I found myself looking curiously at myriads 
 of shining stars, which looked back at me cunningly, 
 and I said to myself, pressing a cold and trembling hand 
 upon my forehead I am quite calm and clear, and 
 not mad as the lying wind would tell me if I would listen 
 to it. These are not God s eyes which can see into my 
 heart like those out upon the roadside. They are as 
 weak and extinguishable as the men who lit them, and 
 cannot read my secret, though they wink so knowingly. 
 They are the lights of a great city. This is London ! 
 
 " I have some vague idea that I entered a house here, 
 rested, ate and drank. I cannot tell whether this is 
 fact, or only fancy, induced perhaps by the body s 
 natural craving for sustenance and repose. A similar 
 notion haunts me, that a number of people came 
 peering around me with curious eyes, all eager to learn 
 my secret, and that I asked them over and over again 
 with increasing earnestness, to believe that it was not I 
 who murdered Jack ; that no power on earth could 
 have induced me to commit so foul a crime ; that he 
 was my only relative and kindest benefactor, and that 
 I would have died a thousand times over, rather than 
 have done it. They would not believe me, and I broke 
 through them again, and with beating and agitated 
 heart ran through the lighted streets, until I made sure 
 that either they had not pursued me, or that I had 
 distanced them. But both of these notions may 
 
248 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 have been only visions of my sick and excited 
 brain. 
 
 " Then, I was in an omnibus I have no idea how I 
 got there and rattling, rattling over the streets to 
 I knew not where. My head was aching horribly again, 
 and the rattle of the vehicle seemed to go through it like 
 a knife ; but I did not mind that so long as it was carry 
 ing me further away from Jack. For, now I had quite 
 settled in my own mind, in spite of my obstinate denial, 
 that I had really murdered him, and that his avenging 
 spirit was pursuing me incessantly. 
 
 " I might have been a whole night in the omnibus, 
 so interminable appeared the time, and my head every 
 minute was growing worse and worse, when the vehicle 
 stopped, and the few passengers descended I among 
 them. 
 
 " There was one man who got out just before me, 
 and, not knowing what else to do, I followed where he 
 led. 
 
 " He went on in advance, through several quiet 
 streets, while I, with great effort, kept pretty close 
 behind him. The streets were absolutely deserted ; 
 no living soul to be seen but our two selves ; he, my 
 unconscious guide ; I, following, I knew not whither. 
 But for the lighted windows, here and there, it might 
 have been a city of the dead. 
 
 " My strength to follow was nearly gone, and still 
 my leader went on apace. I could keep up with him 
 no more, and when, at last, he turned a corner and 
 disappeared, I stopped. 
 
 " The rows of houses on either side began to reel and 
 stagger, as I had fancied the Cathedral had done ; 
 the lighted lamps danced up and down like Will o* 
 the Wisps, and then began to fade. I raised my eyes 
 in anguish to the stars in the calm heaven those 
 stars, which, on the lonely roadside, had appeared to me 
 as the multitudinous eyes of an ever watching God 
 and commended my departing soul to its Creator. 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 249 
 
 " There are philosophers, who have eaten largely of 
 the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge more, perhaps, 
 than any human being can digest who tell us that the 
 special interference of the Divine Author of our being, 
 on behalf of one of His creatures, is, even for the 
 Almighty, an absolute impossibility ; who declare that 
 those eternal laws which Nature is compelled to follow, 
 are not to be put aside or neglected even by their Maker. 
 That not one of the millions of prayers addressed to 
 God can be heeded or answered, and are in vain. 
 
 " These doctrines are so terrible that the soul of a 
 man in bodily or mental anguish instinctively refuses 
 to believe in them, however convinced of their verity 
 he may profess himself, when all goes well with him. 
 As naturally as the child, understanding nothing of a 
 mother s love, turns to that mother in pain or suffering, 
 for comfort or healing ; so the grown-up child turns to 
 its Father. 
 
 " Would the instinct be so universal if it were founded 
 on a lie ? I cannot believe it. I am sure that in that 
 last extremity, when no man was near to help me, God 
 heard my unspoken cry for succour, and upheld me with 
 His Gracious Hand. 
 
 " For, at that moment, when I had given up the 
 unavailing struggle to save myself and save Jack, and 
 was perforce succumbing to my terrible fate, my eyes, 
 nearly closing, were directed to a placard in a window 
 near at hand, where I read the words quite plainly, 
 although everything else was dim before my fading 
 vision : Lodgings for a single gentleman. 
 
 " This was my haven my shelter from the raging 
 storm. The Hand of God was directing me, and I 
 followed where He showed the way followed trustingly 
 though blindly. 
 
 " I climbed the steps, rang the bell, and made appli 
 cation for the lodgings. A woman had opened the door 
 in answer to my summons. I do not know what I said 
 to her, or how I presented my case. The only sense or 
 
250 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 wish left me was to hide and rest ; I either never 
 thought about being ill, or must have fancied, that in 
 seclusion and quiet, I should speedily recover. I 
 remember seeing, or imagining, a look of indecision in 
 her face no wonder and I pulled out my purse to 
 show that I could pay. I had been saving up money 
 to buy a fine present for Rosa, that last time I should 
 see her before our wedding day, and had money in notes 
 and gold. I remember this ; and that, all of a sudden, 
 the woman and the furniture swayed to and fro, as the 
 houses in the street had done ; I put out my arms to 
 save her, and after that I remember nothing more. 
 
 " Nothing more in reality, although the visions 
 the awful visions that succeeded in rapid and bewilder 
 ing succession, were as real to me as what I have told 
 above ; and I should never have been able to draw 
 the line an uncertain one always between fact and 
 fancy, but with the help of the noble woman who saved 
 me. 
 
 * I had found my haven ! Through weeks of sickness, 
 this woman sat by my bedside, nursing me the 
 stranger, whose former life, for what she knew, might 
 have been deeply stained with sin, as if I were her 
 brother. Through the labyrinth of contending fancies, 
 when, Heaven knows, what horrors I may have revealed! 
 she guided me, and tended me, back to life and reason. 
 
 " Poor herself, with daily necessity to labour for daily 
 bread, she plied her busy needle night and day, watching 
 by my bedside. Sickly, weak and delicate, she per 
 formed the labours of a giantess, and never gave way 
 until success crowned her labours, and the sick man was 
 rescued. 
 
 " The first object my conscious eyes rested on was her 
 gentle figure ; the first sound which I was capable of 
 connecting with a cause, was that of the never-flagging 
 needle ; and the first welcome back to life shone out of 
 her earnest, softly-beaming grey eyes. Heaven bless 
 and reward her ! 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 251 
 
 " I was lying in a small room, scantily furnished with 
 absolute necessaries, but clean and exquisitely neat. 
 On one side of my bed, daintily covered with a white 
 counterpane, stood upon a table a little vase of spring 
 violets, scenting the room with their fragrant breath ; 
 on the other sat my ministering angel, her wonderful 
 eyes, full of glad tears, fixed upon me. 
 
 " I felt so peaceful and so tranquil ; weak and trust 
 ful as a baby, who troubles itself not one whit as to 
 what is to become of it, but leaves every care to the 
 never-failing love surrounding it. I had never known 
 my mother, who had died when I was born, but I could 
 have imagined that the loving eyes were hers, and that 
 she had come down from heaven to guard her orphan 
 boy. 
 
 " I regained my strength very, very slowly, in spite 
 of the most careful nursing. The shock to the consti 
 tution so the doctor said had been too great to admit 
 of rapid convalescence. Also, with returning strength 
 of body came intolerable anguish of soul. I had been 
 simply happy to live at first, without caring why. 
 
 " Now I remembered that I had nothing to live for, 
 and no means of living, and wished that I had died. 
 I dare say this inward conflict retarded my recovery. 
 But Nature and a good constitution were not to be 
 foiled. I was doomed to live, as I said to myself 
 bitterly, and now that I had saved Jack, it would be 
 far better if I died. 
 
 " But there was a powerful reason why I dared not 
 wilfully retard my progress towards health, and that 
 was the necessity of being in a condition to provide for 
 myself the means of sustenance, little as I cared to live. 
 
 " I thought about that late enough, more shame for 
 me ! But when it occurred to me, and I sought for 
 information from my gentle nurse, her evasive answers 
 showed me the truth ; and I at length extracted from 
 her unwilling lips the confession that my money was 
 nearly exhausted. Not that that would have made 
 
252 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 any difference to her this good Samaritan. She 
 would have worked for me and never let me know it ; 
 but there was another person in the house her mother 
 and the mistress of it who had been unfavourable to 
 the keeping me from the first, and who now gave me 
 pretty plain intimation that it was time for me to go. 
 
 " I tried to get work, therefore work which my 
 previous education might have fitted me for (it was 
 humiliating to feel, now that I had to bring my fancied 
 accomplishments into the market, how little they 
 were worth, and how very small a price would be paid 
 for them), and I hunted up every likely and unlikely 
 advertisement for a worker (how few they were, com 
 pared to the number of competitors for them), and 
 traversed the whole wide city North, South, East and 
 West to answer them. Alas ! without result, for 
 if even the work were so simple as to leave no doubt 
 of my ability to perform it, one thing always failed 
 me : testimonials. Everything satisfactory up to this 
 point, and my heart beating high with hope, the dreaded 
 question would be the damper to extinguish it again : 
 To whom can you refer for a character ? And then 
 the inevitable look of profound astonishment at the 
 unmitigated impudence which could presume to hope to 
 do without it. 
 
 " Then it was, sir, that I lighted upon your adver 
 tisement. Despair was gnawing at my vitals, and I 
 had almost abandoned hope, or I should have put it 
 aside without a moment s thought. But, standing 
 thus between two fires the possible chance of your 
 recognising me, and the certainty of want I dared to 
 contemplate the possibility of entering your service, 
 and yet effectually blinding you as to who I really was. 
 If I [should be successful in my application, and you 
 should be willing to employ me, I could always take to 
 flight again on the least hint of suspicion on your part. 
 
 " If, on the other hand, I could disguise myself 
 sufficiently to mislead you, then I should probably be 
 
A LONG MANUSCRIPT 253 
 
 as secure in your office, from accidental exposure, as 
 anywhere else. I little knew to what it would lead me, 
 and what it would cost me, or I think I would rather 
 have laid myself down on the roadside to perish. 
 
 " Not that you ever suspected me. My long illness ; 
 the terrible shock to my system ; last, though not 
 least, the hopeless search for work, had done their 
 cruel business effectually enough, and rendered disguise 
 almost superfluous. 
 
 " I dyed my hair and beard ; the fresh healthy colour 
 of my face had faded to a deadly pallor, and I covered 
 my eyes with a pair of blue spectacles. I had even 
 practised a different tone of voice and manner of 
 speaking, till I grew absolutely doubtful sometimes 
 myself if I really ever had been Edwin Drood. 
 
 " You know the result, sir. I have little further to 
 add, except that in my new position, the frequent and 
 unavoidable contact in your office with yourself and 
 others whom I had known and loved in my former life, 
 and whom I neither dared to love or know now, caused 
 me such poignant suffering as almost to unsettle my in 
 tellect ; and when I learned, from conversation between 
 you and others, that my old rival, young Landless, had 
 been accused of my murder, and that my uncle was the 
 chief mover in the accusation, and was remorselessly 
 seeking (or inventing) new proofs to hunt him down, 
 and noted the suffering which this infamous accusation 
 caused him the innocent I was torn with an agony 
 of conflict as to what I ought to do. Ought I to deliver 
 up Jack ? Ought I anonymously to warn him ? 
 
 " This anguish of mind, united to the anguish of 
 being cut off from all near and dear to me, drove me to 
 the verge of self-destruction. I have stood upon the 
 brink of the river, thinking it was whispering to me to 
 come to its bosom, and rest there from the toil of the 
 battle. But that God, long-suffering and full of tender 
 mercies, once more graciously interfered to save me 
 from this most fatal crime, I should never have written 
 
254 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 these lines, and never been able to save my uncle after 
 all. 
 
 " I resolved, finally, to watch my miserable uncle 
 closely, to interfere, if absolutely necessary, to save 
 Rosa from the terrible fate of being united to him, and 
 to save poor Neville from a further accusation. Other 
 wise I would remain, all my life, lost and dead. Robert 
 Brandis s chances of happiness in the world, poor as 
 they were, were greater, after all, than Edwin Brood s ; 
 and I could not could not resolve to give up my uncle, 
 once so dearly loved, to the punishment of his crime. 
 
 " Now the case is altered ; now, the crime has been 
 brought home to him without my agency ; and I only 
 seek, before leaving England, for ever probably, to 
 prove to the world, with your assistance, now that you 
 are in possession of the details of my escape, and proofs 
 of the verity of my words, that Jack cannot have 
 murdered me, because I am alive. 
 
 " EDWIN DROOD." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 CODDLER AND HIS MISSION 
 
 THE Revd. Septimus, laying down the manuscript, 
 uttered a deep sigh of conviction and relief, loudly 
 echoed by Mr. Grewgious, who, from eager interest in the 
 story, and anxiety not to lose one syllable of it, had 
 hardly ventured to breathe during its perusal. 
 
 " Who could have foreseen it ? " enquired the 
 Collector of Rents, appealing to the ceiling. 
 
 " Who, indeed ? " said Mr. Crisparkle, appealing to 
 the window curtains. 
 
 " I shall never forgive myself ! " said Mr. Grewgious, 
 smiting himself anew upon the breast. 
 
 " Nor I, either/ said Mr. Crisparkle, following his 
 example. 
 
 "Lord love us!" broke out Mr. Grewgious again, 
 in his agitation. 
 
 " May He ever do so," answered the clergyman. 
 
 They were interrupted at this point by a rap at the 
 door, followed by the appearance of the housemaid, 
 who announced a gentleman, " leastways one of the 
 gaolers from the prison." 
 
 It was the gaoler who had conducted Mr. Crisparkle 
 to the cell of John Jasper, on the occasion of his visit 
 there, and who, now entering, saluted the clergyman 
 respectfully, but at the same time with the easy manner 
 of an old acquaintance. His face was decently mourn 
 ful, like the face of one who bringeth evil tidings, yet 
 elated, too. After working his auditors into a fever by 
 the circumlocution of his opening remarks, and at 
 last being brought sharply to the point, he proceeded : 
 
 2 55 
 
256 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " It was damp and chilly, this morning, as you are no 
 doubt aweer on, gentlemen, and must have rained all 
 night, for the water stood in little pools still in the 
 courtyard. I never had so much trouble to open the 
 door of his cell, as I had then. I was afraid the lock 
 was hampered, and was forced to put down my break 
 fast-tray to turn the key. When I got in, I could see 
 nothing at all, at first ; but, gradually, by the light 
 shining in from the passage, through the door and the 
 grating above the door, I could make him out, crouching 
 in a corner. 
 
 " Good morning/ I said, cheerfully. I m always 
 cheerful with the prisoners, when they behaves them 
 selves ; when they don t, I downs upon em wiolent, 
 and that soon settles their hash. It ain t no effort to 
 me to be cheerful. Many o my mates is a most as 
 low and gloomy as the prisoners themselves ; they says 
 the sight on em makes em dumpy, and the prison 
 hatmosphere preys upon their sperrits. That s curious, 
 ain t it ? but man s a riddle, never yet solved, gentle 
 men. Good morning/ says I. Then I stopped, 
 surprised, for notwithstanding the cheerfulness of my 
 manner and the inspirin natur of my words, he made 
 no answer. 
 
 " * Sulky/ says I, pretendin not to mind, though all 
 the while I felt oncommon queer, for he crouched there 
 so still, and there was a nasty, sickenin scent about the 
 place which neither the coffee nor the rasher could quite 
 get the better on. And there was a creepin in the 
 small of my back, gentlemen, that meant something 
 onpleasant, though what, I couldn t tell. 
 
 " I stooped down to give the prisoner a shake and 
 rouse him up, for I thought he must be dozing in the 
 corner : he was half-sitting, half-lying, with his arms 
 extended and his hands clasped, and his head was 
 sunk low upon his breast. Then I drew back the hand 
 which I had stretched out to touch him, and cried out 
 loud, for he was wet, too, though not with water, and 
 
CODDLER AND HIS MISSION 257 
 
 the pool in which I was standing, gentlemen, was 
 blood." 
 
 " Blood ? " 
 
 Both listeners had echoed the word simultaneously. 
 Mr. Crisparkle was leaning forward with wide open, 
 terrified eyes upon the speaker. Mr. Grewgious had 
 covered his with his trembling hands. The keeper 
 uttered a sigh for decency s sake, but returned Mr. 
 Crisparkle s gaze with a look of heartfelt satisfaction 
 as to the state to which he had reduced them, and which 
 it was impossible for him to disguise. 
 
 " Blood, gentlemen ! And what s more, human 
 blood, gentlemen. Thickening a ready and sickening, 
 too, gentlemen. I upped and ran to the door in a 
 winkin , though I was all of a tremble. There was one 
 o my mates coming down the passage. I called him in, 
 and together we examined the body. He was dead 
 and cold. For the second time he d been and com 
 mitted suicide, and this time no power on airth couldn t 
 bring him back to life again. We found the bit of 
 broken plate, lying beside him, with which he had 
 cut open a wein at his wrist, and so bled to death, 
 gentlemen." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 EDWIN AND ROSA 
 
 IT had been necessary, of course, to acquaint Rosa 
 with the fact of Edwin Brood s re-appearance, and also 
 of the death, in the prison, of his and her most cruel 
 enemy ; and although these communications had been 
 made with the tenderest care and forethought for her 
 condition, the startling intelligence had so affected her, 
 that a relapse, sufficiently severe to re-awaken the 
 liveliest fears, had been the immediate result. She 
 had earnestly asked to see the recovered lover of her 
 childish days, whose supposed death she had so deeply 
 and sincerely mourned, but the doctor had peremp 
 torily refused assent until she should be better, and her 
 nerves stronger to support the agitation of the interview. 
 Thus some weeks had elapsed, during which Edwin s 
 claims had been legally and undoubtedly established, 
 the dead body of the suicide committed to dust, 
 and popular excitement lulled again, before the two, 
 separated by so strange a destiny, and brought 
 together again by a destiny stranger still, met face 
 to face. 
 
 Rosa, from whose pale cheeks the faint roses, which 
 returning health had brought there some weeks before, 
 had again taken their departure, was sitting, carefully 
 wrapped up, in a low rocking-chair by a blazing fire, 
 when the grave, hollow-eyed, bearded young man, 
 whom henceforth she must receive as Edwin Drood, 
 accompanied by Mr. Grewgious and Mr. Crisparkle, 
 came in and stood before her. 
 
 They had told her that she would fail to recognise 
 258 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 259 
 
 him, as others had done. They had gently, but firmly, 
 prepared her for the startling change which illness and 
 mental agony had wrought in him. They had reminded 
 her of the ravages which a terrible storm may work in 
 a few short hours, and had told her not to forget that he 
 had been struggling with the storm for one long year. 
 
 But they were wrong, wrong. She knew him 
 would have known him anywhere, with the quick, 
 superior instinct of a true woman, who does not 
 wait to calculate or prove, but simply feels. It was 
 he, and not she, who was startled and alarmed. Was 
 that puny, pale little creature in the low chair, the 
 blooming girl whom he had left ? He drew back, 
 startled and inexpressibly shocked, burying his face 
 in his hands. 
 
 " Eddy, Eddy ! " she cried, pathetically, stretching 
 out her wasted hands. " Come to me, brother. 
 Nearer, nearer ! Let me touch you, brother. Let me 
 be quite certain that I have you once more." 
 
 The same sweet, familiar voice ! More soft and 
 womanly than of yore, and without a shadow of the 
 former petulance ; yet with the old musical ring in 
 the tone of it. He came forward, vainly endeavouring 
 to master the emotion which the sight of and the 
 change in her awakened, sank upon his knees, and 
 laid his head upon her lap. 
 
 There was silence in the room, only broken by the 
 low and subdued, yet plainly audible, weeping of the 
 young man. Mr. Crisparkle and Mr. Grewgious had 
 turned aside to hide their starting tears from one 
 another, with that strange shyness which men exhibit 
 on giving way to an emotion which only does them 
 honour. And bright drops from Rosa s eyes were 
 falling thick upon the young man s shining hair. When 
 the girl spoke again, and she was the first to regain her 
 composure and to do so, the two elder gentlemen quietly 
 left the room, and the two alone together. 
 
 The young man wept still, though more quietly, 
 
260 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the while she tried to comfort him. The joy of hearing 
 her, and resting there ; the intense happiness of 
 knowing that her recognition of him had been complete 
 and instantaneous ; the sorrow of finding her so sadly 
 changed ; the mingled feeling of gladness and pain at 
 her re-assuming, as the natural one, the new relation 
 which they had agreed, in their last meeting, to adopt 
 towards one another all these things so unmanned 
 him that he could form no other wish than that he 
 might kneel there for ever, at the feet of the woman 
 he had learned to love, too late. 
 
 " Eddy, dear, look up and let me see you/ she said 
 at length, when she had exhausted all her resources of 
 comfort for him, and he still knelt motionless. 
 
 He raised his tear-stained face instantly. How 
 different from the old time when he had been united to 
 her by a far nearer and dear tie. Now her slightest 
 wish was his law. 
 
 " Do my looks frighten you, Rosa ? Am I a terrible 
 object ? " he enquired, earnestly. 
 
 She laughed, almost merrily 
 
 " You are grown into a man, Eddy, as I am grown 
 into a woman, and I don t think you are a bit the worse 
 for the change ; only you are too grave and sad. But 
 by-and-by you will get the better of that, and it s not 
 your fault, poor boy ! " 
 
 The sweet naturalness of her manner, which seemed 
 to bridge over the gulf that had yawned between them, 
 and to make a way for his clumsier man s feet to pass 
 to her, was inexpressibly loving and beautiful. All 
 the awkwardness and strangeness of their position 
 towards one another melted away before its influence, 
 like morning mist before the sun. Yet there was no 
 idea of encouragement in it to any possible renewal 
 of the rent bonds between them. Though she had torn 
 down one barrier, which might have kept them strangers 
 all the rest of their lives, her delicate womanly instinct 
 had instantly erected another, finer, subtler, but not a 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 261 
 
 whit less tough. She was his warmly interested friend 
 his loving and affectionate sister ; nothing more. 
 
 " Rosa, darling sister, can you really forgive me my 
 share in your sufferings ? forgive me the relationship 
 with your persecutor ? " 
 
 " Was that unhappy man not yours, also, Eddy ? 
 We have both suffered you, ten thousand times more 
 than I both innocently, and both, perhaps, in part 
 justly. Let us forgive him, Eddy. Let us remember 
 that his power to injure us is gone, and that we have 
 no right to judge him any more, for he has been judged 
 by God. And having forgiven him with all our 
 hearts, brother let us strive to forget. For his sake, 
 and for our own, let us strive to forget." 
 
 She was right. He had forgiven all the injuries he 
 himself had suffered, long ago, and if he still felt resent 
 ment, it was only on her account. She was right. 
 From that moment the name of the dead man was 
 not spoken between them. They shed together a few 
 last tears over his grave before leaving him to his 
 Creator. 
 
 " And now, Eddy, dear," began Rosa, in a sprightlier 
 tone, after a short period of reverential silence, in which 
 they had taken a final farewell of the dead, " now, 
 Eddy, dear, let us talk about our plans for the future, 
 and what we both mean to do in the life the long life, 
 possibly, for we are both so young still which lies 
 before us. Let us begin with you, Eddy, because you 
 are far the most important, you know. What are you 
 going to do ? " 
 
 Could she not understand the yearning look in his 
 wistful eyes, or would she not ? Was her usually keen 
 instinct quite unaware of the passionate longing of his 
 heart ? However that might be, she made no sign, 
 and waited quietly, unmoved (so he thought), for his 
 answer. 
 
 " Mr. Grewgious, Rosa my best friend and almost 
 father, whom I love and reverence more than words 
 
262 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 can tell, and whom it is my pride and pleasure to obey 
 tells me I must go to Egypt, and assume the place 
 and position there which belong to me by inheritance, 
 and for which I have been educated. It seems a little 
 hard to have to leave my friends again so soon, after 
 my year of cruel banishment ; but he thinks it best, 
 and if you advise it too, Rosa, I will go." 
 
 He had tried to speak hopefully and cheerfully, but 
 the effort had only made the heart s sadness which 
 rang through his words more apparent. He hoped, 
 perhaps, that she would try to dissuade him ; at all 
 events, express some sympathy for him, perhaps even 
 say how sorry she would be to lose him. But though 
 she remained silent for a few moments, when she spoke 
 at last, her voice was clear and calm. 
 
 * Yes, Eddy. That will be the best thing, certainly. 
 There s nothing like earnest, hearty work to keep down 
 all sorrowful thought ; and in a strange country, with 
 nothing to remind you of old scenes and old events, 
 you will soon outlive your troubles, and grow into a 
 bright and happy man again. It may be a sharp 
 remedy, Eddy, and need some courage on your part, 
 but it is a sure one." 
 
 " Then I will go, Rosa. The sooner the better. No 
 one can be more anxious to get rid of me than I am to 
 get rid of myself." 
 
 Taking no apparent notice of the bitter disappoint 
 ment which had found utterance in the last words, she 
 went on in her soft, sweet voice, pouring balm into his 
 wounds. 
 
 " And you will not forget your sister in England, 
 Eddy," she said, affectionately, laying her small, white 
 hand gently on his clustering hair, " you will write to 
 me sometimes, and tell me what you are doing, and 
 how you are getting on, and all your triumphs of 
 engineering skill in the far country which I used to 
 tease you about when I was a self-willed girl, who needed 
 some sorrow to curb her waywardness." 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 263 
 
 It was a dangerous thing to have reminded him of, 
 as she read in a moment in his upturned face and eager 
 eyes, and she continued hurriedly 
 
 " But your sister is older and wiser now, Eddy, and 
 even if she were not that last, she promised never to 
 tease you any more, if you recollect, and means to keep 
 her word. So you must make her your confidante, 
 and be sure that she will always feel a loving interest 
 in her brother, and prove herself worthy to be trusted in. 
 And if, Eddy, the time should come, as it will, no doubt, 
 when (she hesitated a moment, then went on steadily) 
 you fall in love with some sweet girl, who loves 
 you dearly in return, brother, then you must tell me 
 all about it, and must tell her of the little sister whom 
 you left behind in the old country, and who will love 
 her, too, for her dear brother s sake." 
 
 His face, which had been flushed from weeping and 
 excitement, paled as she spoke, and his eyes rested upon 
 the sweet lips uttering his doom, with sadness un 
 speakable, and almost with reproach. He was going 
 passionately to repudiate the idea that he would ever 
 marry, and thus reveal a secret which his conscience 
 told him it would be base and cowardly to tell now that 
 it was too late, and which would, perhaps, completely 
 alienate her. But he stopped in time. 
 
 " Yes," he answered, so quietly as to be barely 
 audible, " when I fall in love and marry, I shall 
 certainly tell you of it." Then, with effort, " Now 
 that I am settled and done for, tell me what is to 
 become of you ? " 
 
 She breathed more freely, and a look of anxiety 
 which had overshadowed her face, brightened into a 
 smile of relief. She knew that they had been treading 
 dangerous ground, although she herself had been the 
 leader there. Possibly she had wished to avoid ground 
 more dangerous still. 
 
 " It is nice of you to want to know, Eddy, dear, and 
 I am so glad to have a kind listener to tell it to. I have 
 
264 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 thought about it a good deal lately, because I foresee 
 that I shall soon be terribly in the way here, kind as they 
 all are to me. I sometimes have been so silly as to cry 
 a little when I was alone, and to fancy myself solitary 
 and uncared for. But it was ungrateful and wicked 
 to think it, for I have so many more kind friends than 
 I deserve ; and now I have got you, my brother, I am 
 quite content and happy." 
 
 She squeezed his hands, resting in hers, and smiled as 
 he gently touched hers with his lips. 
 
 " So I have made a little plan, Eddy, which will be 
 charming ; and if my guardian will consent, and I think 
 he will, for he does everything dear, good man ! 
 to please me, I hope to carry it out. For, one thing is 
 certain, I can t stay here much longer." 
 
 " Why, Rosa ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I hope I know what is proper and what is 
 not," she answered, laughing and blushing, and looking 
 mischievously at him out of her dancing eyes. " But 
 it s a secret, and I can t tell you, unless you are clever 
 enough to guess, Eddy. Try." 
 
 " How can I guess, Rosa, without a particle of clue ? " 
 
 " Dear me, Eddy, you are quite as stupid as you used 
 to be ! Oh ! I beg your pardon, I didn t mean to say 
 that. But confess that you are a little wee bit of a 
 goose after all. I should have guessed it in a minute." 
 
 Had she been talking about a possible wife for him 
 in Egypt as a preparation a merciful preparation for 
 what she had in store for him, on her own account ? 
 Must she leave the house in Minor Canon Corner, in 
 order to sacrifice to the proprieties, before returning 
 thither as its mistress ? His fears, blinding him, as 
 unreasonable fears always do, presented this interpre 
 tation of her words as the only one possible. He had 
 never thought of Mr. Crisparkle as a suitor to the girl 
 whom he had learned to love in losing, until he now 
 thought of him as a successful one. 
 
 " Is Mr. Crisparkle ? " he asked, in very agony, as 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 265 
 
 the hopes he cherished, in spite of his ail-but certainty 
 in their fallacy, faded away to nothing. 
 
 " Charming, Eddy ! No, you are not stupid, but 
 the cleverest of boys." 
 
 " Going to be " 
 
 " De li cious ! " exclaimed Rosa, in an ecstasy, 
 clapping her hands, " I have heard, somewhere, that, 
 if women are quick, they are shallow, and that men, 
 though slow, are deep, and it is true, Eddy. Now, I 
 hope that compliment has quite purchased my pardon 
 for calling you (unintentionally, I am sure) stupid. Go 
 on, Eddy, you are as warm as warm can be." 
 
 " Married, Rosa ? " 
 
 She sprang to her feet, and tried to dance across the 
 room in her old wild way. It was a failure ; her feet 
 were not strong enough for dancing yet, but the effort 
 showed the lightness of her heart. He caught her frail 
 figure, and replaced it in the chair. She little knew how 
 sadly. 
 
 " When I ve got my breath, Eddy, I ll tell you 
 something more. In the meantime, guess who it is." 
 
 " I can t guess, Rosa." 
 
 " Not guess, after guessing so famously. Well, 
 I ll give you a hint a very broad one. It s an old 
 flame of yours, Eddy oh, my eyes were sharp as razors, 
 and I saw and the handsomest girl in Cloisterham." 
 
 " Then it must be you, Rosa." Yet his heart was 
 lighter already. 
 
 She laughed ; such a clear, joyous, ringing laugh. 
 Mr. Grewgious heard it in the room below, where he 
 was waiting, and he laughed, too, for very joy and 
 sympathy. And Edwin Drood s fears fled away before 
 it, back to that land of foolish fancies whence they came. 
 
 " Oh, Eddy, dear ! do you think I am vain enough 
 to call myself something that I never was, even before 
 I lost my beauty, now that I have grown into a little 
 fright ? " 
 
 " You, a fright, Rosa ? " 
 
266 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 It was said with such genuine surprise, that it was 
 worth a thousand asseverations to the contrary from 
 one better versed in the art of paying compliments. 
 
 The girl laughed again. She had hardly laughed 
 once in that old, wilful, charming way since he was lost, 
 last Christmas Eve. 
 
 "It is very kind of you, Eddy, to pretend not to 
 see it ; and I do hope, when my hair is grown again, 
 that I shall recover some portion of my good looks, 
 which I was so vain of once, and which I have abused 
 so much since, and yet which I am so sorry to have lost 
 after all. But, not to talk about that any more, guess 
 who it is Mr. Crisparkle is going to marry." 
 
 " Since it is not you, Rosa, I do not care." 
 
 " But you must care, Eddy, because you are my 
 brother, and because I care so much ; for she is my 
 dearest friend, and has been my most loving nurse, and 
 I am glad with all my heart to know that she will be so 
 happy, for I love her dearly." 
 
 " Can it be ? " 
 
 " Yes, Eddy, dear," she answered with a smile and a 
 tear, laying, with her old pretty naturalness, her small 
 forefinger upon his lips to prevent the word hovering 
 there from escaping them, " but don t speak it out loud, 
 because they don t know it themselves for certain yet, 
 though it s as plain as plain can be ; and I tell it to 
 you only to prevent your cherishing any hopes in that 
 direction, which would cause you and them needless 
 pain." 
 
 What a wise little thing she had become ! he said, in 
 one short year ; what a prudent and far-seeing little 
 sister ! But there was no fear of that ; oh no ! no 
 fear of that. 
 
 His sad earnestness seemed to strike her. She 
 looked at him with a quiver, almost like fear, on her 
 sensitive lips, and a faint shadow on her candid brow. 
 But he returned her gaze so quietly, so true-heartedly, 
 that she grew reassured. 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 267 
 
 " I hope it is no breach of confidence, Eddy, to have 
 told you," she went on, after they had sat thus a few 
 moments in silence, " and yet it can t be, either, for 
 
 they have never confided in me ; or a breach of of . 
 
 Well, never mind what it is, if it is not wrong ; and I 
 do not think it can be that, for I only meant to avoid 
 trouble in telling you. And besides, Eddy, I know you 
 will be discreet, and not betray me." 
 
 She might be quite, quite sure of that, he said. 
 
 " I have seen it coming on for a long while, " con 
 tinued Rosa, delighted with the subject, and doubly 
 delighted, like the majority of her sex in possession of 
 such a secret, not to be obliged to keep it locked up 
 within her own bosom, but to have found some one 
 to whom she might dilate upon it, " they were made for 
 one another. She is so grandly beautiful, so majestic, 
 Eddy, that she kept all gentlemen at a distance, and 
 I believe, although they couldn t help admiring her, 
 they were all afraid of her, though she has the kindest 
 and noblest heart in the world : but with him she is 
 like a little child ; so gentle and so humble, and as 
 pliable as a bit of soft wax in his hands. He is moulding 
 her into the gentlest, sweetest and loveliest clergyman s 
 wife in all England, and when she is that, and the last 
 touch has made her quite perfect for the office, why, 
 then I should be terribly in the way, and that s the 
 reason I must go." 
 
 " You in anybody s way, Rosa ! " He seemed to 
 think it an impossibility. 
 
 " Of course, Eddy. And I m thankful that I ve 
 wit enough to see it, and instead of waiting to be turned 
 out, have the sense to take my departure, so long as 
 I can accomplish it with dignity. And now, Eddy, 
 before proceeding any further, there s one thing I wish 
 to mention seriously. I have found you extremely 
 satisfactory, on the whole, and am very, very glad to 
 have my dear brother again (affectionately), but I see 
 the germs of a fault in you, which I never saw before, 
 
268 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and I want you, as far as I am concerned, to destroy 
 them as fast as possible." 
 
 " If," he said, colouring deeply, " if she saw any fault 
 in him, painful or disagreeable to her, and she would 
 have the kindness to tell him what it was, he would not 
 rest until he had conquered it. To do so," he added, 
 " should be the chief object of his life." 
 
 " There you go, Eddy," she answered, " and that is 
 just the very thing I mean. The chief object of your 
 life must not be to please me. You must find a higher 
 object than that, brother. And to tell you plainly 
 what I mean : I have discovered in you a tendency to 
 pay compliments, which I fear will grow upon you. I 
 do not mean to say," she said, with the air of a con 
 noisseur, " that you have attained any great proficiency 
 in the art ; but the wish to do so is too apparent ; and 
 if you have overcome many faults of your boyhood, 
 and you have, I am sure, this is a newly-acquired one ; 
 for then, if I remember right, it was not a habit of 
 yours, rather the contrary." 
 
 If she could have known how her words were torturing 
 him. If she could have known how the remembrance 
 of his careless and indifferent behaviour towards her in 
 the old time was a daily agony for him now. 
 
 " And," she went on, quite unconscious of the pain 
 she was inflicting, " brothers never pay compliments. 
 I know that, because all the girls in the Nuns House, 
 who had any, said so. The principal use of brothers, 
 Miss Williams used to say, was, that even truer than 
 your own looking-glass they were sure to tell you, if 
 you were not looking so fresh and bright as usual." 
 
 He would endeavour not to offend in that way again, 
 although he had not been aware of having done so. 
 And now (to change the conversation) would she not 
 tell him where she was going ? 
 
 " Certainty, Eddy, though I had nearly forgotten it. 
 I mean, if he will have me, to go and live with my 
 guardian. He is such a good, good man, and I love 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 269 
 
 him dearly, dearly ; and he is so lonely in Staple Inn 
 and those dull old gloomy chambers ; so, one day, 
 when I was thinking about him, and about myself, and 
 feeling I am ashamed to say it again, because it is so 
 ungrateful of me almost as if I were as uncared-for 
 and solitary as he, this plan came into my head, and I 
 said to myself : one and one make two, and two lonely 
 ones together are not lonely any more ; and I can make 
 him happy, and he me." 
 
 " Dear, generous Rosa ! " 
 
 " Eddy, I hope that s not a you know what, but 
 really meant, and therefore I will pass it over, and 
 thank you, too, for what is kindly intended, though 
 undeserved, I am sure. Therefore, when he came to 
 see me, so glad to find me better, and took me in his 
 arms, calling me his dear child ! his pretty, blessed 
 child ! and kissed me, till I felt his tears an old man s 
 tears, Eddy on my cheek, I made up my mind to be 
 his child in reality, to devote my life to cheering his ; 
 and in making him happy, I know I shall be still 
 happier myself." 
 
 Although the childish beauty the fresh budding 
 beauty of the growing girl had faded, perhaps never 
 to return, there was a far higher beauty shining through 
 her radiant eyes, and refining and idealizing every 
 feature of her earnest face. 
 
 If it had been possible for him, he thought, to love 
 her better, he must have done so now, when he felt, 
 as he had never felt before, that the beautiful body only 
 held a soul more lovely still, which could never fade or 
 perish. 
 
 " I have a little money of my own, Eddy, so that I 
 need not be a burden to him in that way ; and we 
 might take a nice little cosy house in some pretty 
 neighbourhood, not too far from Staple Inn ; and then 
 some nice old lady must come and live with us, who will 
 have nothing to do but doze comfortably by the fire, 
 when he is at home, and be company for me when he is 
 
270 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 at his office ; and when he comes home tired, Eddy, 
 and fagged from his day s work perhaps, his daughter 
 will be standing upon the doorstep to receive him ; to 
 take nice walks with him in the summer evenings ; to 
 sing and play for him in the winter ones ; to make him 
 forget dull Staple Inn and all its account books and 
 worrying clerks (forgive me, Eddy, I don t mean you), 
 and wish the evenings were twice, three times as long 
 as they are. Isn t that a charming prospect, brother ? " 
 
 Oh, Heaven ! Such a charming prospect ! Oh, 
 God, such a glimpse of Paradise, before the door is shut 
 for ever ! Oh, what a reward to have been able to look 
 forward to, if God had willed it, at the end of a long 
 life s work ! Such were his thoughts, as he bowed his 
 head to hide the starting tears he dared not let her see. 
 
 " Thus the happy days will flow on, Eddy ; calm 
 and peaceful, if God permits, and varied from too 
 severe a sameness by the frequent receipt of letters 
 from my brother in Egypt, who will not forget his 
 sister, I know. And though Time will almost seem to 
 stand still with my guardian, his loving daughter will 
 grow, little by little, into an old maid not a cankering, 
 backbiting old maid, Eddy, I hope, but a kind-hearted, 
 benevolent and happy one ; and as busy a little old 
 maid, Eddy, as any under the sun." 
 
 She felt long before he could utter it, the almost 
 indignant negation to this last part of her plans, upon 
 his lips, and held up her small hand to prevent his giving 
 it utterance. 
 
 " Don t interrupt me, Eddy, please, for I ve nearly 
 finished. There are sure to be some nice little children 
 somewhere (and I m going to be an old maid very fond 
 of children) who are poor, and whom I can sew for, 
 and make warm clothes for, when winter comes ; and 
 poor old women, too, with asthma or rheumatism, who 
 will let me visit them and bring them little comforts, 
 such as broth, or jellies, which I will learn to make 
 from the clever old lady who is going to live with us. 
 
EDWIN AND ROSA 271 
 
 And then I think they may learn to love me, Eddy ; 
 for love is something I do covet, and cannot do with 
 out." 
 
 Love her ! Who could help it ? One who lavished 
 love on others so freely was sure of a return. 
 
 " And when my brother from Egypt comes to visit 
 us bringing a dear little wife or, no, a big one : I 
 haven t forgotten your partiality for big women, with 
 big noses, Eddy (whimsically, and with a half-return of 
 the old propensity to tease him) and, perhaps, some 
 dear little children, whom I shall love so much that 
 they won t be able to help loving their aunty in return 
 (and one of them must be my namesake, Eddy), then 
 I shall be as happy a little old maid as can be. There 
 won t be a little old maid in all England so happy as I." 
 If she could have known, that each loving word fell 
 upon his heart like a coal of fire, how it would have 
 wrung hers. If she could but have known ! 
 
 He sat silent, with his sad eyes upon her. She 
 thought he was pitying her for a fate which not all her 
 bright hopefulness could induce him to concur in, as a 
 suitable or natural one for her ; and his quiet com 
 passion forced a tear into her eye. 
 
 " I don t mean to say, Eddy," she went on, more 
 gravely, " that it s quite as brilliant or rainbow-tinted 
 a life as I fancied mine was going to be when I was a 
 babyish, ignorant girl in the Nuns House. But my 
 air-castles have melted away, one by one, and I m too 
 old and sensible now to build up any more such unsub 
 stantial edifices. And now, Eddy dear, I hear Mr. 
 Grewgious on the stairs, and I remember the doctor told 
 me on no account to talk too much, or too long, and I ve 
 been chattering away all the time like a magpie. I m 
 afraid I must send you away for the present, if I am 
 ever to get permission to see you again." 
 He rose immediately, holding out his hand. 
 Rosa, with an innocent and unconscious impulse, 
 half-raised her sweet face to his, as if she expected, 
 
272 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 and would have permitted, the accustomed caress, 
 natural to the new and near relationship which they had 
 adopted still more natural to the old one they had 
 abandoned, nearer still that accustomed caress, which 
 he had given and received so indifferently and carelessly 
 in the old time, and which he would have given the 
 world to have dared to accept now. 
 
 If she could have known if she could have known, 
 how gladly he would have given up every other hope 
 in life to have dared to accept the priceless boon which 
 she had offered him all unconscious of its worth. If 
 she could have known, that only the certainty of 
 betraying himself, if his lips met hers, had made him 
 turn away from a delight, sweeter to him far than 
 anything in earth or heaven, and which, having once 
 tasted, he must have striven to win for ever, or died 
 in the attempt. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 
 
 THE good people of Cloisterham, though a little less 
 wide-awake than was desirable, and a good bit behind 
 hand in certain new-fangled ways which circulated 
 freely in the world without them, particularly in that 
 great and mighty city (mighty for evil as well as good) 
 removed so short a distance as to be almost a next-door 
 neighbour, were not a particle less kindly at heart than 
 other folks, who made more noise in the world than they, 
 surrounded by so many evidences of sleep and slow 
 decay, were ever likely to do, in the drowsy city of 
 their birth ; and a Cloisterham conscience, once roused, 
 was rather more restive than an average conscience on 
 the w r hole, and capable of inflicting pricks in no way 
 to be disregarded. Thus, the honest inhabitants of this 
 ancient city, who had until now strongly sympathised 
 with John Jasper, no sooner really comprehended (a 
 slow process, for its worst enemy couldn t accuse Clois 
 terham of having a quick comprehension) that they had 
 been upon a wrong tack, than they veered round com 
 pletely to the other side ; and, in the enthusiasm for 
 the falsely accused boy, and the furious indignation 
 against his accuser, even the nephew, Edwin Drood, 
 who had been the greatest sufferer, was neglected, or 
 even looked upon askant, as an instrument, although 
 an unwilling one, in the persecution ; for all eyes were 
 directed towards the hero of the occasion towards 
 poor Neville. Every one wanted to atone in some 
 measure for his own share in the persecution, and thus 
 appease his troubled conscience, ere it was too late ; 
 T 2 73 
 
274 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 for those who had eyes to understand the significant 
 language of his wasted form and too brilliant colour saw 
 in the lad s face the unmistakable signs of death. Alas ! 
 popular adulation, or popular execration, were alike 
 to him now, except for Helena s dear sake. For, before 
 his earnest eyes turned towards a land afar off, the 
 world, and the things of the world, were passing away. 
 
 Mr. Grewgious and Edwin Drood had returned to 
 London, the latter to make immediate preparations 
 for his voyage to Egypt, and the former to resume his 
 duties in his neglected office, to try to make up for lost 
 time, and to advertise for another clerk, to enter upon 
 his work as speedily as possible. Rosa was quite 
 " out of the sick list," as she said, and the roses in her 
 cheeks had grown bold, refusing to evacuate their 
 newly- won places any more. She had cast off the 
 invalid, and taken her old place in the family circle, 
 which she made musical with her sweet voice and simple 
 songs. But the old doctor still came to Minor Canon 
 Corner, and calves foot jellies and chicken broth were 
 daily prepared there as before, and voices were hushed, 
 and tiny feet crept on tiptoe when another slept, for 
 the place vacated was refilled by a new invalid, Helena s 
 only brother. 
 
 Yet Neville s decline was so gradual, that the one 
 who loved him most of all, whose life was, so to speak, 
 bound up in his, refused to see it. If his cough was 
 more wearing and constant (and it was), why, that was 
 not surprising. It was winter-time, close on Christmas, 
 and in spring it would be better. Other people had 
 coughs and got rid of them. If his strength for walking 
 far was gone, even when supported on her never-tiring 
 arm (and it was), why, that was nothing to be alarmed 
 at either. His sedentary habit of life in Staple Inn, 
 his too close study, had pulled him down a little, and 
 now that the weight, the intolerable weight, under 
 which he had laboured, was taken off, now that all the 
 world knew that he was no murderer, no base assassin, 
 
THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 275 
 
 the natural elasticity of his constitution would quickly 
 re-assert itself. She put away the thought, the 
 doubt, which would come sometimes, that perhaps, 
 perhaps ? with indignation, as something sinful. Had 
 God raised up for them such noble friends, cleared away 
 the obstacles in their path, brought them so far on their 
 thorny road, to blast His own work at last ? Was not 
 the fear sinful, and bitter wrong to Him. If that had 
 been His purpose, then why had He not left them both 
 to perish, and not mocked them with groundless hope. 
 God forgive her for even this shadow of doubt in His 
 goodness. 
 
 Having reached this point, Helena would begin again 
 to bring forward further proof that she was right, 
 though her sinking heart would sometimes warn her 
 that her proofs were built upon the sand, even though 
 she despised the warning. Was not his eye clear and 
 bright ? His brow free again from the melancholy 
 which had overclouded it ? Had his smile ever been 
 so bright and sunny, his laugh, though feeble, ever so 
 joyous ? Thus she battled fiercely and ceaselessly 
 with the doubt in the faces of others, and the doubt 
 in her own heart, putting it away from her as if to 
 harbour it were infamous. 
 
 Ah, how easy it is to persuade ourselves that what 
 we earnestly desire is good and virtuous, and what we 
 dread, bad and opposed to God s will ! How easy it is, 
 comparatively, to talk down our own conscience and 
 bring forward a thousand arguments indisputable 
 arguments to silence its remonstrances. Nay, there 
 are some among us many, may be who have, by 
 dint of a course of rigid discipline, so trained and cowed 
 this " still small voice " as to have reduced it to the 
 condition of a dog, well-accustomed to the whip, which 
 wags its tail when they approve, and only dares to 
 growl and show its teeth all the more viciously for its 
 constraint towards themselves at the enormities of 
 others ; or like a clock which ticks and strikes when 
 
276 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 they choose to wind it up, but is as mute and silent as 
 the dead when they do not ! 
 
 It was a touching, beautiful sight, to see the twin 
 brother and sister together ; sometimes, on sunny 
 days, walking arm-in-arm not far, and in the imme 
 diate neighbourhood of Minor Canon Corner. Many, 
 meeting the two and greeting them with earnest 
 cordiality for it was quite a matter of competition as 
 to who should show them the most sympathy and 
 kindness particularly tender-hearted women, would 
 stand still to look after them, as they moved slowly 
 forward. " Poor young things ! " such a one would 
 say, with her handkerchief or apron at her eyes, 
 according to her position on the world s ladder, 
 " Poor young things ! " 
 
 It was beautiful to see them together, so much alike 
 and yet so different. Both tall, slender, graceful ; the 
 girl, straighter now, for her brother was forced to stoop 
 to rest upon her arm. Both dark-haired and dark- 
 eyed, with the same brilliant colouring on their dusky 
 cheeks. Yet hers was the rich colour of vigorous health, 
 melting imperceptibly back to the delicate ear and 
 rounded throat ; his more sharply denned, that crimson 
 tint, so beautiful to look at, and yet so unutterably sad ; 
 that vivid colouring with which the most fatal and 
 insidious of diseases marks its victims, like the red 
 cross of the forester upon the tree doomed to fall. 
 She, nourished upon an inexhaustible source of joy 
 within her, growing every day into more exquisite 
 beauty, and ripening in the sunshine of warmest and 
 tenderest love, into the fullness and richness of a glorious 
 womanhood ; he, ripening, too, but not for earth. 
 
 Often, they would walk in silence, each satisfied and 
 happy in the society of the other ; each indulging in 
 dreams of bliss for the future, bliss springing from 
 sources as far apart as earth from heaven. Happy, too, 
 in the friendliness of all they met ; in the beauties of 
 nature, even in her sleeping-time ; in the removal of 
 
THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 277 
 
 the heavy cloud which had darkened their sunshine. 
 Sometimes, they would talk he chiefly, while she would 
 listen. It was one of his chief pleasures to plan her 
 future life, and, with a glad smile of comprehension on 
 his lips, to tell her, that he felt sure that one so beautiful 
 and good would make a happy marriage, and live a 
 happy life ; and the smile would broaden, as he saw 
 the answer to his unspoken question in the deepening 
 of the colour on her cheek. Then, he would speak of 
 their dear friends, and that he knew they would be true 
 to her always ; would compare their happiness now with 
 the desolation of their childhood, and tell her never to 
 forget that all God s decrees are good ; adding fervently, 
 each time, how very, very happy he was, and how 
 devoutly thankful. And when she, on her side, would 
 talk of his future, and of all that he would accomplish, 
 when she would picture him as a brilliant and successful 
 lawyer, reminding him that there was nothing now to 
 prevent his pursuing his studies under the immediate 
 superintendence of Mr. Crisparkle, the kindest and best 
 of teachers, he would be silent ; only looking up yearn 
 ingly to the deep blue sky ; and if there were a shade 
 like trouble on his face, it was not on his own account. 
 Oh, no ! not on his account, only on hers. After all, 
 is it not a most merciful dispensation, blunting the edge 
 of sorrow and preventing that foreshadowing of it, 
 which is the hardest and most terrible to bear, that, 
 where all around can see, love alone is blind ? 
 
 The end came at last, as it often does in such cases, 
 suddenly and unexpectedly. Neville had seemed 
 particularly bright all day ; and, as the weather was 
 mild and sunny, he had, accompanied, of course, by his 
 sister, who hardly ever left him, taken a few steps, about 
 noontide, in the Close. But he soon complained of 
 fatigue, and she led him home again. 
 
 When they entered the little sitting-room, arranged 
 especially for them, she noticed how white and wan 
 he looked ; and rang for help. But before it arrived, 
 
278 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 he had fainted away in her arms. Assisted by the 
 frightened housemaid (who was only kept back from a 
 fit of hysterics by the terrible look in the dark eyes 
 a look of fixed determination, which repressed her own 
 agony in this dread moment as decisively as the foolish 
 expression of fear in the maid), she carried him to his 
 bedroom near at hand, and laid him on his bed. 
 
 Then, bidding the girl, in a hard, authoritative 
 manner, first inform Mr. Crisparkle, and then fetch 
 the doctor, she applied such simple restoratives as she 
 had at hand, with the precision and exactness of a 
 skilful nurse, and without a moment s pause for useless 
 grief. In a few minutes, the Minor Canon, as quiet 
 and self-possessed as she, was there to help her. 
 
 Neville opened his eyes at last, and turned them 
 immediately towards his sister, as if the thought of 
 her had never left him during his swoon, and concern for 
 her was the only feeling which he could entertain. He 
 was unable to speak in the first moment of conscious 
 ness, but the undying solicitude and love, which could 
 only find expression in his brilliant orbs, lit with a new 
 and unearthly light, was so moving, that it was more 
 than Mr. Crisparkle or his mother, who had hastened to 
 the scene, could bear. 
 
 But his sister met his look with a smile. Heaven 
 knows what it cost her to smile at such a moment, for 
 only Heaven knew what depths of heroism there were 
 in that girlish breast ! Even in mortal agony, worse 
 than that of death for what was her life to his ? 
 she fiercely banished all sign of it from her face, which, 
 though as white as her brother s, looked back at him 
 steadily, with a reassuring smile. To spare his feelings 
 at this supreme moment, she trod down her own. 
 
 Neville s feeble voice returned, though they had to 
 bend their heads to hear it ; he was understood to express 
 a wish to be left alone with Mr. Crisparkle. Helena, 
 without a word or sign of remonstrance, obeyed 
 instantly, and followed the weeping china shepherdess 
 
THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 279 
 
 out of the room. Then, pale and rigid as marble, she 
 remained standing on the cold stone floor of the little 
 hall in spite of the entreaties of Mrs. Crisparkle that 
 she would come into the drawing-room and warm 
 herself so as to be near at hand for the re-summons. 
 
 At last it came. " Quick, Helena." And she was 
 standing by the bed and looking down upon her dying 
 brother. 
 
 For he was dying. That look upon his face was 
 unmistakable, even to a novice in such matters. Calm 
 and sweet, but quite unearthly in its beauty, it seemed 
 as if a reflection of a light from above irradiated and 
 refined its perfect features into the likeness of a saint s. 
 For the battle of life which he had fought out almost to 
 the end, though severe, had been but short, and it was 
 the dawn of victory. 
 
 Mr. Crisparkle was standing beside him, and, as the 
 sister entered, he said, in a clear, earnest voice, first 
 looking at her, so dear to them both, as if she were 
 included in the promise 
 
 " Depart in peace, dear boy ; and may God do so to 
 me, and more also, if I forget." 
 
 Then he stooped over him and kissed the pale lips 
 and forehead, clammy with the dews of death, and, 
 withdrawing to the foot of the bed, left the twin sister 
 alone in the place which was hers of right, and into 
 which no other dared intrude. 
 
 She kissed him, too, without a sob or tear, and knelt 
 down beside him. His wondrous eyes, the counterpart 
 of hers in form and colour, settled finally upon her 
 loved face, and remained there, steadfast and im 
 movable, full of undying affection, until the light faded 
 out of them on earth for ever, to be relit in heaven. 
 
 Helena had been carried out senseless from the 
 room, where the dead body lay, by the doctor, who had 
 arrived when all was over, and laid on her own bed, 
 where she had been carefully tended until she recovered 
 consciousness ; upon which, she had turned her face to 
 
280 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the wall, still tearless, and had shown such an evident 
 wish to be alone, that they had yielded to this mute 
 entreaty, and left her to herself. 
 
 Once or twice since then, Rosa had crept to the door 
 of her room and listened ; but hearing no sound, had 
 concluded that Nature was soothing the girl with her 
 unfailing narcotic, and that she had forgotten her grief 
 for the time in sleep. 
 
 At last, Rosa, too anxious and disturbed to be quite 
 satisfied, had ventured quietly to open the door and 
 peep in, when, to her terror and dismay, she discovered 
 that the bed was empty, and Helena gone. They had 
 sought her everywhere, and found her at last in her 
 brother s room, lying upon the bed where he lay, and 
 embracing the dead body. 
 
 Stretched out upon the bed where they had placed 
 him until the last bed was ready, lay the dead boy, his 
 hands folded upon his breast, as if in prayer ; the last 
 heavenly smile, which had beamed upon his sister, still 
 lingering on his lips ; and the long, black lashes of the 
 eyes which had been closed after death, sweeping the 
 pure, pale cheek ; and, by his side, one arm thrown 
 around him, and the other hanging listless beside her, 
 lay Helena. 
 
 It was a sight beautiful beyond expression, yet awe- 
 striking, and almost terrible, too ; because the living 
 part of the picture looked so like death, and the dead, 
 with that sweet smile upon his face, that wondrous 
 calm, those softly-folded hands, might have been only 
 sleeping, and dreaming happy dreams. And he was 
 only sleeping, although the radiant eyes would reopen, 
 not to time, but to eternity. 
 
 The girl s long hair had escaped from the confining 
 comb, and fell down, one thick, dusky mass, around her 
 form ; her face was as white and still as the face of the 
 dead, and her cheek, pressing his, so like in contour and 
 colour, that they seemed to melt into one another, and 
 to be, not two, but one. 
 
THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 281 
 
 Yet there was a look of pain and suffering in her face, 
 absent from his, which was full of saintly peace ; and 
 of unrest in hers, while in his was perfect rest. Yet 
 notwithstanding this difference, and though her bosom 
 rose and fell slightly the only token of life while his 
 was still, they might have been supposed by a casual 
 observer to be either both sleeping or both dead. 
 
 " Helena," said the Minor Canon, gently, advancing 
 towards the bedside and speaking in a low, impressive 
 voice, " get up, dear girl, and come to us. You have 
 been taking a last farewell of the dead brother only 
 gone before, remember that and it is natural and 
 excusable that you should do so ; but it must not last 
 too long. It will injure your health and add to your 
 grief unnecessarily. Get up, dear girl, and come to us 
 who love you love you dearly and let us comfort 
 you." 
 
 She had started at the sound of the speaker s voice 
 that dear voice ! and shivered slightly, but she 
 remained silent ; only nestling loser to the dead brother, 
 as if beseeching him to let her stay there. 
 
 " Helena," continued the Revd. Septimus, more 
 emphatically still, and with a tinge of reproach in his 
 voice, " cannot you, always so brave, be brave even 
 now ? To remain where you are is impossible, and 
 must do you cruel harm. Try to remember what the 
 dear lad would have wished ! Try to remember that he 
 is not lost, but only gone where you, in the fullness of 
 time, will follow him ! Exercise the noble self-com 
 mand now, which you have shown so often ! For the 
 sake of the dead, for the sake of the living, who suffer, 
 in seeing you suffer, rise superior to this momentary 
 weakness, I beseech you, Helena ! " 
 
 His appeal was not without effect, though without 
 the effect he desired. She did not attempt to rise even 
 yet ; but she opened her dark eyes and fixed them upon 
 him, as if to beg him not to be displeased with her, for 
 she could not help it. 
 
282 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 Then, at the sight of his troubled face, worn with 
 anxiety on her account, the frozen fount of her tears 
 began to thaw. Slowly creeping out from under her 
 dark lashes, one or two large drops rolled down her face. 
 
 Now, Heaven be praised for this at least ; the healing 
 tears began to flow ! But that was not enough ; the 
 Minor Canon raised his voice again, this time with a 
 sternness which alarmed his mother, and which she 
 deemed almost cruel. 
 
 But it was the physician s skilful hand which wounds 
 to heal, and which dares not hesitate or shrink from the 
 work it as to do, because it must inflict, temporarily, 
 extra pain. 
 
 " This is not only weak, Helena," he began again, 
 " but it is wrong. You expose yourself, unnecessarily, 
 to danger, and by so doing, increase our anxiety a 
 hundred-fold. You even rob this room of its sanctity, 
 by making it an abode of saintly peace into a scene 
 of conflict. By the authority given me by your dead 
 brother, just before he died ; by the authority which I 
 possess as your spiritual guide and counsellor, I bid 
 you struggle against a weakness unworthy of you, and 
 get up ! I command you, Helena ! " 
 
 He knew his power over her ; he had not miscalcu 
 lated the effect of his words. His severity, prompted 
 by tenderest love, succeeded in controlling her, where all 
 persuasion would have failed. 
 
 It gave her back what she had lost, her own proud 
 self-possession, and, as if it were his indisputable right 
 to command, and her, as indisputable, duty to obey, 
 she rose instantly, laid her cheek for the last time against 
 the cold cheek of her brother, and turned to leave the 
 room. But, in the very act of doing so, she stood still, 
 trembling from head to foot, raised her eyes to his 
 imploringly as if beseeching him to forgive her, for 
 though her will was conquered, her bodily strength 
 failed, and she fell, for the second time insensible, into 
 his outstretched arms. 
 
THE PASSING OF NEVILLE 283 
 
 Carrying her, as a man carries his most precious 
 treasure, he took her upstairs to the room which she 
 occupied with Rosa, and laid her upon a sofa. Then, 
 before leaving her to the tender care of his mother, and 
 her little fluttering, trembling friend, he stooped low 
 over her, as if to contemplate once more her lovely face, 
 every outline of which was graven on his heart, and 
 murmured a few words, the purport of which his 
 mother could not catch. 
 
 There were tears in his honest blue eyes when he raised 
 them again, and one had fallen upon the pale sweet face 
 of the senseless girl ; but they were tears of devout 
 and grateful happiness, for he knew now that his love 
 his first and only love had obtained Heaven s 
 sanction. He knew that she loved him, this matchless 
 girl, as he had yearned to be loved. He knew, and 
 thanked God for the knowledge, that no mortal could 
 wean away her affections, or take her from him any 
 more. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 EDWIN S FAREWELL 
 
 WHETHER the preparations for Edwin Brood s departure 
 for Egypt occupied more time than he, in his first 
 resolution to start at once, had considered necessary ; 
 or whether poor Neville s death had caused them to be 
 delayed, or whether, finally, anything else had inter 
 posed to retard them, were open questions. Certain 
 it was, however, that Christmas had come and gone ; 
 that the baby year had cast off its swaddling clothes 
 and was beginning to " feel its legs," and assert its 
 independence ; that, in a word, the first month of its 
 existence was drawing to its end, and he was still in 
 England. There were so many consultations to be 
 had with Mr. Crisparkle, whose clear head and sound 
 common-sense were invaluable to him ; there were 
 visits to be paid, and good-byes to give and take, and 
 congratulations to receive ; there were endless com 
 munications to be made to Rosa ; there were, in short, 
 a thousand and one arguments to be taken advantage 
 of, to delay that last fatal step of going away, and 
 leaving her, perhaps for ever. For what chance, what 
 possible chance, would remain to him, to win once more 
 the girl whom he had trifled with and lost, when he was 
 far away in that distant land ? And he loved her 
 now with an intensity of passion, so intertwined with 
 every fibre of his being, that to part from her without 
 hope was like tearing the soul out of his body, and a 
 mortal agony. 
 
 He had told her all the incidents of his rescue, and of 
 the noble woman who had doubly saved him ; and she 
 
 284 
 
EDWIN S FAREWELL 285 
 
 had listened with sweet, sisterly interest, with pity for 
 him, and admiration for her. With all her ready 
 sympathy enlisted for the lonely girl, she had promised 
 him to seek her out in London, and be a friend to her, 
 for his sake. But when, animated by her ardour, and 
 encouraged by her simple candour, he had ventured 
 tremblingly to approach a step nearer, and try to dis 
 close the real nature of his sentiments towards her, an 
 invincible dread of losing, in the grasp for more, that 
 sweet sisterly love which was so freely given him, froze 
 the words upon his lips. 
 
 But the dreaded moment of departure could not be 
 postponed for ever, and the time came when no excuse 
 more was to be found for delay ; when everything was 
 ready, and he must go. He had been spending the day 
 in Minor Canon Corner, and now, as evening drew on, he 
 rose to take a final leave. He would be for a few days 
 in London, but this was his last visit to Cloisterham, 
 before quitting it and his country, possibly never to 
 return. 
 
 It had been a sad day to all of them, and no one 
 wondered to see the tears shining brightly in Rosa s 
 eyes, as he held out his hand to grasp hers. The china 
 shepherdess was weeping too, and even Helena, whose 
 own deep, deep sorrow had only rendered her more 
 sympathising than before with the woes of others, 
 turned aside her head to conceal one or two drops, 
 which coursed slowly down her cheek. 
 
 " Rosa," he said, bending to her ear, " come out to 
 the garden gate with me ; I have something to tell you 
 something I must say to you before I go ; and say to 
 you alone." 
 
 It was the sudden impulse of the moment, the grasp 
 of a drowning man at a straw. Before he submitted 
 to his fate, and sank into an abyss of despair, he would 
 make certain that nothing could have saved him. She 
 turned pale, but followed him without a word. 
 
 It was touching to see rent and torn as he was by 
 
286 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 the vehement struggle within himself how the giddy, 
 thoughtless boy of a year ago, now thought for her. 
 The air was keen and frosty out of doors, and he seized 
 a hat and shawl which hung in the little hall, and 
 placing the hat upon her head, wrapped the shawl 
 closely round her. She was passive in his hands, 
 letting him do as he would, and thus they went out 
 together. The others remained behind. It was natural 
 that these two, so closely connected from childhood, 
 and who had both suffered so much from the same 
 cause, should not be content with a formal leave-taking 
 in the presence of others, but should wish to have a last 
 word alone. So, even that stickler for propriety, the 
 discreet china shepherdess, saw them pass through the 
 gate into the Close, without uneasiness or surprise. 
 
 The sun was setting behind the house they had left 
 in Minor Canon Corner, and the whole western sky was 
 bright and glowing from its parting caress ; but the 
 east, towards which their faces were turned, had no 
 share in this glory, and was sharp, cold and grey, 
 while the wind, which had been easterly all day, came 
 towards them, not with a rush, but slowly, as if 
 malignantly determined to make the most of its 
 opportunity, and nip them mercilessly. 
 
 " Rosa," said the young man, passionately, bending 
 down over her, " I cannot part from you like this 
 cannot, cannot. Have you no eyes to see that the 
 sisterly affection you have offered me is either too 
 much, or infinitely too little ? Can you not understand 
 that it is no mild, fraternal affection with which I 
 regard you, but with that all-powerful, all-absorbing 
 love, which a man only feels, only dares to feel, towards 
 the woman he would make his wife ? " 
 
 She tried to speak, but the words died away upon 
 her lips, and she only shook her head sorrowfully. 
 
 " It is unmanly, ignoble, mean to urge you, is it not ? 
 I have said that to myself over and over again, and 
 Heaven knows I meant to refrain. Heaven knows, 
 
EDWIN S FAREWELL 287 
 
 that up to this moment, I meant to refrain. But it has 
 been too strong for me. It has carried me away with it. 
 It is cruel to extort a promise from the woman one 
 loves, and hamper her freedom. Heroes in books can 
 be happy in giving up her whom they love to another ; 
 but can men in real life, Rosa ? I think, then, they 
 cannot love as I do. Oh, my darling, my darling ! 
 give me a fragment of hope to take away with me ; 
 only one fragment to sustain me for long weary 
 years." 
 
 She could not speak yet, but her tears were falling, 
 and her head was bent like that of some frail, fair 
 flower, over which the storm wind rages. 
 
 " Let me earn your love, sweetest ! I do not deserve 
 it yet, I know. The remembrance of the careless 
 indifference with which I treated you, when I was a 
 foolish boy who did not know your worth, is the bitterest 
 drop in my cup of sorrow. Let me work for you, prove 
 myself worthy of you, if that be possible ; serve for 
 you seven years, or twice seven years, if need be, as 
 Jacob served for Rachel." 
 
 Struggling hard to subdue her agitation, she pointed 
 towards the east, and said in a low, broken voice, 
 which grew calmer and more resolute as she proceeded : 
 
 " There is your path before you, Eddy the plain 
 path of duty ; and mine mine lies now in a contrary 
 direction. Be brave and patient, even though it must 
 be trodden at first with bleeding feet ; and power to 
 endure and even hope will surely come in time. We 
 both of us have a cross to bear ; oh, brother, brother, 
 I as well as you." 
 
 It was the first word she had uttered to show that the 
 future before her appeared not quite so unclouded and 
 bright as she would have had him believe. Strange to 
 say, instead of depressing him, this avowal seemed to 
 him like a faint hope of dawn. 
 
 " For the love of Heaven, Rosa," he exclaimed, 
 " crush my hopes to death at once, or tell me if your 
 
288 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 last words mean that I am not wholly indifferent that 
 it might might be possible " 
 
 " There is a spot," she said, with a burning blush, 
 and voice scarcely audible through her tears, " where 
 East and West come together ; perhaps if God wills 
 it perhaps we may meet there in the years to come." 
 
 Thus they separated, without further word or sign. 
 
 He passed away towards the East, cold and grey, 
 and she went back into the house, behind which the 
 sun was setting. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It was in accordance with their earnest wish, not 
 withstanding the sympathetic joy in it of all Cloister- 
 ham a very quiet wedding, that of the Revd. Septimus 
 and Helena, celebrated about nine months after 
 Neville s death ; and yet the springs of peace and 
 happiness in the hearts of both were so deep and clear, 
 that mirth and gaiety would have been incongruous, 
 and rather diminished than heightened their perfect 
 bliss. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHERE EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 
 
 MORE than five years have come and gone since the 
 Revd. Septimus and Helena plighted their troth to 
 gether in the old Cathedral. Five springs, summers, 
 autumns, winters and spring again. May has come 
 into the land not pouting, wilful, changeable, bois 
 terous, like so many of her predecessors and name 
 sakes, who seem to have occupied their precious time 
 in a constant effort to emulate the wild gambols of 
 their elder brother, March, and were regular tomboys, 
 wholly undeserving of their fame but soft, sweet, 
 smiling through gentle tears ; clothed in bridal garments 
 and lovely as a bride. The gardens in Cloisterham are 
 fragrant with the breath of the lilac and jessamine, 
 beautiful with the blossoms of the pear-tree and the 
 apple, and a very glory to behold. The birds, intoxi 
 cated with love, sing impassioned songs to their brooding 
 mates, and, animated by a spirit of gentle rivalry, seem 
 each to strive to excel the others. 
 
 But no song of the birds, nor scent of the flowers, 
 appears half so new and wonderful to the Minor Canon 
 though he sees it daily as the lovely face of his wife, 
 happy and smiling with pleasure, as she watches the 
 gambols of their children. For two pair of little feet 
 patter incessantly in the old house and in the old garden 
 in Minor Canon Corner, and two rosy mouths chatter 
 there the livelong day. The tears rise to his eyes as he 
 looks at her and them, and wonders, as he has wondered 
 many thousand times before, if ever man alive was half 
 so happy and blessed as he. Every day since he and 
 u 289 
 
290 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 she became one, he has learned he thinks so learned 
 to love her better, honour her more, reverence her more 
 completely as his better angel. And when the prattle 
 of the children is hushed in sleep, and he stands beside 
 their cots, with his wife s dear hand, clasped ah, so 
 tenderly ! in his, their soft breathing seems to him to 
 sanctify the old, loved home, and make it more like 
 heaven. 
 
 Grandmamma is a stationary guest in Minor Canon 
 Corner, and (in confidence) she probably always will 
 remain so. Yet there are times and seasons (particu 
 larly at such periods, when the more judicious love of the 
 parents interposes a slight impediment to the unlimited 
 spoiling of the laddies) when she declares it her irre 
 vocable resolution to retire into some cottage in the 
 neighbourhood and bury her diminished head there. 
 She sometimes even goes so far as to insist on her Sept 
 (the big one) taking immediate steps to bring about this 
 catastrophe ; for of course now that little Neville and 
 little Sept have grown into such sturdy urchins, there 
 oughtn t to be and isn t room for her any more. 
 But this is a joke ; she would pine to death without her 
 darlings ; and as for the children why, the merest hint 
 of a possibility that grandma ever could, or would, go 
 away, is sure to elicit such heartrending and despairing 
 howls, that she has more than enough to do to pacify 
 them, forgetting, in so doing, her baleful intentions. 
 Indeed, this threat, like the old imaginary rod, the 
 only one in Minor Canon Corner, is, when judiciously 
 made use of, never known to fail, as a corrective for 
 the children. If first-born Neville (a child of earnest 
 nature and strong passions) falls into a fit of childish 
 rage, which sometimes still occurs, though the holy 
 restraint of love is working wonderfully, the warning, 
 that dear grandma s head cannot stand that, will 
 check him instantly. If baby Sept, a born scapegrace, 
 wanders beyond bounds, heedless of mamma s gentle 
 command, the mere question what would grand- 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 291 
 
 mamma say ? brings a flood of penitent tears, and an 
 eager assurance of " never doing it again." The Revd. 
 Septimus says on such occasions, or when reference is 
 made to the cottage, that he can t afford, any way, to 
 part with grandmamma, for she is worth her weight in 
 gold, in bringing up the children. And Helena says 
 nothing, only lays her soft arm round the old lady s 
 neck, and rests her dark head upon her shoulder ; and it 
 is noticeable that this silent appeal is more effective 
 in silencing the china shepherdess, than any reasoning 
 on the part of her son. 
 
 Mr. Sapsea is no longer Mayor of Cloisterham. His 
 renown had never recovered the shock it had sustained, 
 and his after-dinner fears had proved but too fatally 
 prophetic. He was not re-elected. 
 
 The Nuns House is also presided over by another 
 than Miss Twinkleton, who has, in point of law, ceased 
 to exist, for she has become Mrs. Sapsea. 
 
 She and her conjugal partner partake together of 
 beef, backgammon and salad in the evening ; that is to 
 say, when the lady chooses to do so. There is only one 
 master in the ancestral home of the auctioneer, and that 
 is not Mr. Sapsea. And though a vast deal of looking 
 up takes place there daily, the devout worshipper is 
 not Mrs. Sapsea, nie Twinkleton. On the contrary, 
 malignant tongues assert that she takes little trouble 
 to disguise the fact that she looks down upon him. But 
 she allows no one to imitate her example, and though 
 the discipline with which she rules him is unbending 
 and inexorable, she cares for his bodily wants, takes 
 him out to walk with her, pours him out his allowance 
 of wine, mixes his grog with judicious hand (not too 
 strong), and performs her duty towards him though 
 rather as a stern mother than a wife. He is not un 
 happy on the whole, and has become, in a wonderfully 
 short space of time, the meekest of the meek. 
 
 Only one thing seriously troubles him, to wit, that his 
 wife has put her veto on his dressing like the Dean. 
 
292 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 She is not going to let him make a fool of himself, she 
 tells him, emphatically ; and when Mrs. Sapsea, n&e 
 Twinkleton, speaks emphatically, no " young lady " 
 in the Nuns House was ever more easily quelled than 
 he is now. He knows, by experience, how sharp and 
 cutting are the twigs of that rod in pickle, and how 
 dexterously and mercilessly Mrs. Sapsea, nie Twinkle- 
 ton, knows how to wield it. Yet, in spite of this, or, 
 perhaps, in consequence of this, he considers, and looks 
 up to, his wife as a most remarkable woman ; and so 
 she is. 
 
 Mr. Tartar has not forgotten Rosa. The memory of 
 her beauty, and the love he bore her, can never be 
 blotted from his mind, and he cannot hear her name, 
 or think of her without emotion, even yet. But he does 
 not make her a topic of conversation with the charming 
 little lady whom the world calls " Mrs. Tartar," and he 
 calls " my wife." Upon this subject his mouth is 
 closed, and it is just possible that the theme might fail 
 to interest Mrs. Tartar, or interest her far too much. 
 He prefers not to risk it, therefore. But his little 
 daughter, who came into the world with the snowdrops, 
 and now, in this bright May-time, is just three months 
 old, bears the name of Rosa, added to that of her 
 mother, because he thinks it the second prettiest name 
 in the world ; and happy Mrs. Tartar little imagines 
 how, once, he thought it far the prettiest. The old 
 rapturous dream, the awakening from which caused him 
 such bitter agony, has faded into a sweet and tender 
 memory. Time has healed his wounds, as it heals the 
 wounds of all. 
 
 Lobley s sole occupation and daily delight is to carry 
 little Miss Tartar about in his brawny arms, sing her 
 old wild sea songs, spin for her endless yarns (not one 
 word of which she can understand) and pour out praises 
 of the Capting into her unheeding ears. She exhibits 
 at present (though Lobley prophesies no end of accom 
 plishments for the future) only two faculties with any 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 293 
 
 degree of distinctness, viz., a remarkable aptitude for 
 imbibing her natural nourishment, and a still more 
 remarkable aptitude for rending the air with her cries. 
 
 Lobley considers these two performances as some 
 thing almost supernatural, and signs of an unheard-of 
 intelligence. 
 
 " Listen," he exclaims, delighted, holding up his 
 hand to still all other sound which might impede his 
 enjoyment, " that ere blessed leetle chicking is a 
 piping again ! Ain t it wonderful ? " 
 * Pretty Rosa s plan of living with her guardian, and 
 keeping house for him as his little daughter, has been 
 carried out long ago. Mr. Grewgious had chosen the 
 sweetest little house in the most charming of neighbour 
 hoods, and, assisted by Rosa, had furnished it to a 
 miracle. 
 
 Among other necessary articles of furniture, there is 
 the nicest of old ladies, who, in addition to being 
 possessed of all the cardinal virtues, is stone-deaf. 
 This is convenient, because they so often talk of Eddy in 
 Egypt that, if she could hear, it might weary her. They 
 wonder, in the evenings, whether he will ever pay them 
 his promised visit. They wonder (Rosa, with rising 
 tears in her eyes, which she wouldn t have her guardian 
 see for the world) whether he thinks and talks of them 
 as much as they do of him. They are sure he does not. 
 Rosa is vehemently certain, he does not, and that it 
 would be preposterous to think he did ; of course, he has 
 more important and more interesting matters to occupy 
 his attention. 
 
 They discuss the probability of his bringing a wife 
 with him. Mr. Grewgious, screwing up his eyes in the 
 endeavour to ascertain if that is really a tear on Rosa s 
 eyelash, is doubtful about this, and shakes his head. 
 Rosa shakes her head, too, but only in vigorous denial 
 of his unspoken thought. Of course the dear fellow will 
 marry, and what a welcome they will prepare for the 
 new sister 1 How dearly she will love her ! Rosa is 
 
294 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 conscious that her voice is unsteady, yet strives in vain 
 to steady it. Mr. Grewgious thinks all women are 
 enigmas, even his own little darling. 
 
 Rosa stirs the sluggish fire, addresses a few words to 
 the deaf old lady on the sofa, who smiles and nods, 
 although totally ignorant of their import, and they 
 begin again to talk about his letters. What nice letters 
 they were simple, open-hearted, manly ! Nothing on 
 earth would have induced Rosa to hint that she thinks 
 them a trifle cold, particularly that invariable ending, 
 " Your affectionate brother, Edwin." 
 
 She had bid him remain her brother, and now she 
 is hurt, angry, mortified that he does her bidding. She 
 had warned him to approach no nearer, and now her 
 heart sinks low because he does not cast her warning to 
 the wind. An enigma ? She and all her sex ? Yes, 
 truly, not only to Mr. Grewgious, but to her own 
 puzzled heart ! 
 
 He is prospering in Egypt. They hear that, not 
 from himself, but from other sources ; he has risen 
 every year higher in his profession, has become the 
 mainstay of the firm, has largely increased its sphere of 
 action, and is respected and looked up to on every hand. 
 
 He has proved himself a true, brave man to the 
 backbone, and, in so far, fulfilled his promise of showing 
 himself worthy of a woman s love. 
 
 But he has given no sign. Not one. Surely, surely, 
 if it had been for love of her, he would not, and could 
 not sign himself for five long years, " Your affectionate 
 brother." That had been a passing dream, and he had 
 awakened, in the distant land, to other hopes, and other 
 desires. 
 
 Yet this reticence does not repulse, but draws her 
 heart to him, as powerfully, as irresistibly as a magnet 
 attracts iron. No passionate pleading could have 
 gained her love as surely as this. 
 
 The deaf * old r lady, whose eyes have been fixed 
 longingly on the clock for the last quarter of an hour, 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 295 
 
 rises at the moment when the hands point to ten, kisses 
 Rosa good-night, curtseys Mr. Grewgious a parting 
 salute, and retires to bed. 
 
 Rosa throws her arms round her guardian s neck, 
 rising on tiptoe to do it, rests her bright head one 
 moment on his faithful breast, then kisses him a dozen 
 times, and, taking her candle, follows the old lady s 
 example. Mr. Grewgious, glorified by the kisses, 
 remains behind with a radiant face. 
 
 Presently, still smiling, but thoughtful, too, he begins 
 softly to pace up and down the pleasant room, filled 
 with a hundred tokens of its sunbeam. 
 
 There, on a chair in the corner, lies a tiny glove, 
 and, dangling by its ribbons, a broad-brimmed garden 
 hat. On the work-table in the bay window stands her 
 work-basket still, filled to the brim and running over, 
 with sewing for the poor children whom she has hunted 
 up ; and, on the floor, lies her thimble. The book in 
 which she has been reading reposes on its face, where 
 she threw it down, on hearing his well-known footstep, 
 to run and meet him. 
 
 The piano is still open, with the notes upon it of the 
 song which her sweet voice sang to him that evening. 
 Little, heedless, careless thing ! He must take her to 
 task. Point out to her the beauty of order. Seriously 
 take her to task. 
 
 He says he will, but he knows he will not. In his 
 office reigns an order, complete and perfect. A scrap 
 of paper in the wrong place, a bit of tape upon the 
 floor, would worry him to death there. His clerks 
 know him for an indulgent master in all other respects, 
 but in this he is stiff-backed and hard as iron. 
 
 Yet here, in this room, he would not have it different. 
 No room, swept and garnished, could be half so pleasant 
 to him, as this one, all alive with her memory. Her 
 pretty carelessness, her dainty disorder, is a thousand 
 times sweeter to him than the most supreme carefulness 
 of another. 
 
296 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 And yet and yet ! He only has the treasure 
 entrusted to him, to guard it for the real owner, when he 
 comes to claim it. He knows that ; he would not have 
 it otherwise. He would not have it otherwise ! When 
 its preciousness is most apparent to him, and he 
 values it at its highest, he says that to himself with 
 an unfaltering voice. 
 
 Many have coveted and stretched out eager hands 
 to take it, but Mr. Right (as Mr. Grewgious says 
 jokingly) was not among them. Till he comes, he will 
 guard it. When he comes, he will give it up with a 
 joyful heart, and be happy in the consciousness of 
 having done his duty, and kept the treasure bright. 
 
 He has taken her with him to the opera, the theatre, 
 and other places of amusement, in the winter ; hearing 
 nothing of the music, seeing nothing of the acting, or 
 the gay throng around, for delight in her delight ; and 
 finding pleasure and joy enough in the sight of her 
 brightening face. 
 
 He has taken her with him to the sea-side in the 
 summer, or among the mountains, suffering martyrdom 
 in boats, or upon the backs of stubborn mules, yet more 
 than repaid, when her silvery laugh rang out clear and 
 untroubled. To make her happy he is happy to 
 know it is his daily thought, his daily endeavour. 
 
 At last, he, too, goes to bed, treading softly not to 
 disturb her slumbers, and troubled somewhat still 
 with the fear, which his short-sighted eyes had not 
 been able to settle definitely, that that had been a tear 
 upon her eyelash. 
 
 But Rosa is not slumbering. Her candle is out, and 
 her room dark and quiet, yet the thought of Eddy is 
 with her in the solitude, and though her head rests upon 
 the pillow, she is thinking of him still wondering still, 
 if those last foolish words of hers were understood by 
 him : " Where East and West come together." She 
 would die of shame if she did feel sure that they were 
 long forgotten. Why can she not forget him, as she 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 297 
 
 has forgotten others ? Is this love this yearning 
 longing to see him once more, touch him, hear his voice ? 
 If he should call her only write, " Rosa, come," she 
 would she knew she would hasten on foot, if need be, 
 to go to him at his bidding. But he does not want her 
 any more ; she has expected too much from him, and 
 has lost all. Otherwise he would have given some sign 
 all these long years. Oh, why has she learned to 
 comprehend her own heart, too late ! Oh, Eddy, 
 Eddy, Eddy! 
 
 The last letter from Egypt had been written a long 
 time back, and even this comfort seems likely to be 
 taken from her. As day after day goes by, and no 
 news comes, she tries to brace herself for a still further 
 trial, and not even Mr. Grewgious guesses what the 
 effort costs her. Her high courage rises to the cruel 
 task of struggling against a passionate longing, and she 
 will not yield an inch. Thousands of men and women 
 live and are happy without that love, and so will she. 
 
 One morning, when May is far advanced, and through 
 the open windows, leading on to the lawn, sloping 
 gently towards the river, came the heavy perfumes of 
 the lilac and the jessamine, syringa and hawthorn, she is 
 startled out of a little reverie by the entrance of a maid, 
 announcing a visitor. 
 
 The old lady is snoozing peacefully on the sofa, 
 dreaming, perhaps, of the days when she too was young, 
 and Mr. Grewgious is absent at his office, in Staple Inn. 
 Rosa bids the maid show the visitor into the room 
 adjoining. 
 
 " A gentleman, Susan ? Did he ask for me ? " 
 
 " Yes, miss. For master, first ; and when I said he 
 was not at home, for Miss Bud." 
 
 With the natural wish of a woman, old or young, to 
 appear to the best possible advantage before a member 
 of the opposite sex, Rosa, with innocent and unconscious 
 coquetry, smoothes her glossy hair, shakes out the folds 
 of her simple muslin dress, and re-arranges the ribbon 
 
298 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 on her bosom ; then, with a soft step, she opens the 
 door of the next room the sedate little mistress of the 
 house to welcome the visitor. 
 
 She catches a glimpse of a manly, tall, upright form, 
 as yet unconscious of her presence, standing looking out 
 into the pretty garden, and on the green soft lawn, 
 dotted with flower beds, and shaded by trees, clothed 
 in the first freshness of the summer. Perhaps, oh, 
 perhaps, he is the bearer of news from Eddy ! 
 
 He had heard her footfall, and turns to greet her. 
 Her grave salute is arrested as she returns his look, her 
 heart begins to beat rapidly, her cheeks pale, and she 
 stands still trembling. For, changed as he is once more, 
 she knows her brother more dearly loved than any 
 brother and she knows not his mission. Oh, Eddy, 
 Eddy, Eddy ! 
 
 Not one word issues from her trembling lips, and not 
 one word from his. He is as agitated as she. She sees 
 how eagerly and anxiously he scans her face, how 
 searchingly he tries to penetrate to her thoughts, if that 
 be possible sees it through her gathering tears. Then 
 he opens his arms wide to receive her, and she goes into 
 his embrace, as a weary wanderer, long outcast in 
 foreign lands, and sick with longing for the Fatherland, 
 enters into his home. 
 
 They have been sitting together for a short time, 
 silent with a rapturous silence more eloquent than any 
 words, when Rosa at last, with a sigh of deep content, 
 raises her head from its resting-place. 
 
 Through the open window come the sweet sounds 
 and scents from the garden, beautiful with the untarn 
 ished brightness and glory of the spring. The insects 
 hum, the birds twitter and sing, the water bubbles and 
 murmurs, and all seem to the two within to be talking 
 of nothing but love. 
 
 A little spaniel Rosa s pet comes barking into the 
 room, full of indignation against the usurper ; but even 
 he cannot withstand the prevailing influence, grows 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 299 
 
 amicable and friendly, and after sniffing round the 
 stranger, crouches down satisfied at his feet. Rosa 
 laughs as she pats him. 
 
 " Ah, poor Netta ! Your nose is out of joint, my pet, 
 but you must live and bear it." Then, glancing shyly 
 at her lover : " How handsome you have grown, Eddy, 
 dear ! " 
 
 " Don t say that, my darling, or I must return the 
 compliment, and if I once begin in that line, I m 
 afraid I shall never stop, and you wouldn t like it." 
 
 " No, don t Eddy ! But (nestling closer to him) 
 I am glad that you like me." 
 
 " And I am glad, my precious, so devoutly thankful, 
 that you like me." 
 
 " I do like you, Eddy." 
 
 He stoops^ down to thank her, with a fervent kiss. 
 As his eyes rest upon her lovely face, flushed with 
 happiness, he records a solemn vow to devote his life to 
 make her happy, and prove to her how he values her 
 love. 
 
 " No, Eddy, dear. Love me as much as you can, for 
 I am quite insatiable for that ; but don t spoil me or 
 pet me too much. Scold me when I deserve it. Put me 
 down when I forget my place. Help me to be good, 
 for I am weak, and want a strong hand to check and 
 guide me. Be sure, Eddy, that I shall not love you 
 one bit the less if your hand be firm as well as kind." 
 
 For answer, he clasps her to his heart, and holds her 
 there with a passionate pressure. They are silent for 
 a space again. His heart is too full of fervent gratitude 
 to speak. The long years of working and waiting 
 appear as nothing when weighed against the supreme 
 happiness of this moment. 
 
 " Eddy," says Rosa, raising her face wistfully, " will 
 you tell me something ? " 
 
 " If I can, my own ! " 
 
 " Did you ever try to guess, Eddy, who it was who 
 saved me ? " 
 
300 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 " Saved you, Rosa ? " 
 
 " Saved me from drowning, Eddy, when, but for him, 
 I should have perished miserably. When, but for his 
 noble self-forgetfulness, I should have died in the arms 
 of " She stops, shuddering. 
 
 " I have never tried to guess, my sweet. " 
 
 She looks at him eagerly and enquiringly, with a 
 flush, almost of impatience, on her face. His eyes sink 
 beneath her searching gaze, not with shame, but with 
 a proud delight. 
 
 " Because you knew, Eddy. Because I know you 
 know. Oh, tell me, tell me." 
 
 " Darling, it was I." 
 
 " I was sure of it," she says, with a flushing face 
 " All the time I was ill I seemed to know it ; yet when 
 I came to myself I thought (how could I think other 
 wise ?) that it was a phantom of my imagination. 
 When you were found, it came back to me again, 
 with more certainty than ever, but I was ashamed to 
 speak, because you were silent. Why were you silent, 
 Eddy ? " 
 
 " My darling, I would not have had you know 
 then for all that earth could give me ; no, not even to 
 win you, yourself. I would not have advanced a claim 
 upon you, or striven to purchase, as it were, the blessing 
 of your love, which, unspeakably as I longed for it, I 
 could and would only accept as a free gift. I knew your 
 generous heart, my Rosa ! I feared a noble self- 
 sacrifice. The thought that it might be that, and not 
 love, would have been a source of misery. And, 
 besides, it was purest accident, or rather the boundless 
 mercy of God, which led me to the spot in time." 
 
 " Oh, I love you, I love you, Eddy ! " 
 
 He clasps her to his heart again. Then they sit 
 silent once more, until he speaks at last, in answer to 
 her questioning look. 
 
 " Yes, my precious ! you have a right to know now, 
 and you shall. I had long feared and watched, on your 
 
EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER 301 
 
 account, that miserable man. I tracked him on the 
 road to Cloisterham, and followed him, dreading that 
 his mission there meant danger to you. But he was 
 fleeter of foot than I, and distanced me. Nevertheless, 
 I went on to the city, and meeting some whom I had 
 known, and who regarded me, as I fancied, with 
 suspicious looks, I grew alarmed on my own account, 
 and, terrified at the thought of detection, went down 
 to the river, wandering along its bank until I was far 
 away again. I thought of you, and of the times we had 
 walked there together, and forgot time and all else in 
 the bitter sorrow at the remembrance of how I had 
 trifled with your affection. On my return, I heard a 
 splash in the water, and a cry for help. I did not know 
 whom I was going to save, when I sprang in." 
 
 " My noble Eddy ! " She can scarce say it through 
 her tears. 
 
 " So you see, my bird ! (he draws her closer to him 
 as he speaks) that you have no reason to feel grateful 
 to me at all, for I did not know that it was you. It 
 was well I did not ! for when I found out whose bright 
 hair I was twining round my hand, when I saw your 
 loved face, cold and still in the moonlight, though I 
 strove hard to strike out for the shore, my feelings 
 overcame me, and I lost consciousness. So it was 
 Mr. Crisparkle who saved you, and not I." 
 
 " He, too," she says, " and I am grateful to him ; 
 but for all your trying to pretend it wasn t, it was you 
 also : and I am so glad to be alive so glad to know, 
 Eddy, what happiness really means so glad to be able 
 to give you back my life, until I die." 
 
 Mr. Grewgious misses the waiting little figure at the 
 door when he comes home, and is surprised to find 
 himself only admitted by the maid, whose triumphant 
 yet commiserating face " speaks volumes." But when 
 he enters the drawing-room to look for her, he under 
 stands the cause. They are still sitting, hand in hand, 
 together. For a moment a shadow, like a mist, blots 
 
302 A GREAT MYSTERY SOLVED 
 
 them out from the old man s gaze ; then the sun of a 
 pure, unselfish affection swallows it up, and he comes 
 forward gently to lay his hands in blessing on the head 
 of the son whom he has found, and the daughter (he 
 sees it in her loving eyes) whom he will never lose, for 
 Mr. Right has come at last, and All is right. 
 
 THE END 
 
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