>-^-^r r^'^' -K ^.^ >-"^ -"ff ■i .M-, ^^ \y-^^^m^ ' .J^ u^ 1^\ \j>/ie*.^ ^;'^2#v44w j J MUCH DARKER DAYS L0XI30X : PIUXTED BY SPOTTISAVOODK AND CO., KEW-STHEET SQUAllE A2\D PAllLIAMEXT STREET MUCH DARKER DAYS A. HUGE LONGWAY AUTHOR OF 'gCUAWLKD BIJ^CK ' UNBOUND ' *THE MYSTERY OF PAUL TARDUS ' ETC. LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1884, All rights reserved PEEFACE A BELIEF tliat modern Clirlstmas fiction is too cheerful in tone, too artistic in construction, and too original in motive, lias inspired the autlior of tills tale of middle-class life. He trusts that he has escaped, at least, the errors he deplores, and has set an example of a more seasonable and sensational style of narrative. CONTENTS. ClIAPTEU PA OK I. THE CURSE (registered) 1 II. A villain's by-blow 11 III. MES GAGES I MES GAGES ! . . . .20 IV. AS A hatter! 25 V. THE WHITE GROOM 33 Vr. HARD AS KAILS IJi) VII. KESCUE AND RETIRE ! 51 Vlir. LOCAL COLOUR 67 IX. SAVED ! SAVED 1 7G X. NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST .MAI) KNUlliil . 81 XI. A TKintiHF.E tt:mpt\tiox . , , . . 8S XU. JUn(^H .J re. C INS 'JO Mil. 7 Here the final question arose and shook its ghostly finger at me : ' Can a sane man \)e an accessory after the fact in a murder committed by an insane woman ? ' So far as I know, there is no monograph on this subject, or certainly I would have con- sulted it for the purpose of this Christmas Annual . All these questions swept like lightning through my brain, as I knelt by Philippa's bedside, and awaited her first word. ^ Bon jour ^ PJdlippine/ I said. ' Basil,' she replied, ^ where am I ? ' ^ Under my roof —your brother's roof,' I said. ' Brother ! oh, stow that bosh ! ' she said, turning languidly away. There could not be a doubt of it, Philippa was herself again ! I rose pensively, and wandered out towards tlie stables. 38 THE WHITE GROOM, Covered with wliite snow over a wliite macintosh, I met by the coach-house door William, the Sphynx. The White Groom ! Twiddling a small object, a cloor-liGy of 2')ecidiar make, in his hand, he grinned stolidly * at me. ^ She's a rum un, squire, your sister, she be,' chuckled the Sphynx. * William,' I said, ' go to Roding, and bring back two nurses, even if they have to hire twenty drags to draw them here. And, William, bring some drugs in the drags.' By setting him on this expedition I got rid of the Sphynx. Was he a witness ? He ivas certainly acquainted with the nature of an oath ! 39 CHAPTER VI. HARD AS NAILS. jF course when I woke next morning my first thought was of Philippa ; my second was of the weather. Always interesting, meteorological observation becomes peculiarly absorbing when it entirely depends on the thermometer whether you shall, or shall not, be arrested as an accessory after the fact, or (as lawyers say) jpost-mortem. My heart sank into my boots, or rather (for I had not yet dressed) into my slippers, when I found that, for the first time during sixteen days, the snow hud ceased falling. I thrGw up the sash, the cold air cut me like a knife. Mechanically I tlii'.'W ii|) ili(^ spoil i^'t ' ; if struck liard against 40 HARD AS NAILS. the coiling, Jiud fell Lack a mass of brittle, jingling icicles, so severe was tLe iron frost that liad bound it. T gathered up a handful of snow from the window-sill. It crumbled in my fingers like patent camphorated tooth-powder, for which purpose I instantly proceeded to use it. Neces- sity is the mother of invention. Then I turned, as a final test, to my bath. Oh, joy ! it was frozen ten inches thick ! No tub for me to- day! I ran downstairs gleefully, and glanced at the thermometer outside my study window. Hooray, it registered twenty degrees below zero ! It registered ! That reminded me of my oath ! I registered it once more, regardless of legal expenses. My spirits rose as rapidly as the glass had fallen. The wind was due east, not generally a matter for indecent exultation. But wdiile the wind was due east, so HARD AS NAILS. 41 loJig the frost would last, and tliat white mass on the roadside would remain 176 skdii (ino. So long, Philippa was safe. After that her fate, and mine too, depended on the eccentricities of a jury, the chartered libertinism of an ermined judge, the humour of the law, on a series of points without precedent concerning which no monograph had as yet been written ; and, as a last desperate resource, on the letters of a sympathetic British public in the penny papers. The penny papers, the criminal's latest broadsheet anchor! Under the exasperating circumstances, Philippa re- mained as w^ell as could be expected. She spoke little, but ate and drank a good deal. Day after day the brave black frost lasted, and the snowy grave hid all that it would have been highly inconvenient for me to have discovered. The heavens themselves seemed to be shieldinii^ us mid working for us. Do 42 HARD AS NAILS. the heavens generally shield accessories after the factj and ladies who have shortened the careers of their lords ? These questions I leave to the casuist, the meteorologist, the compilers of weather forecasts, and other con- stituted authorities on matters connected with theology and the state of the barometer. I have not given the year in which these unobtrusive events occurred. Many who can remember that mighty fall of snow, exceeding aught in the recollection of the oldest inhabitant, and the time during which the frost kept it on the earth, will be able and willing to fix the date. I do not object to their thus occupying their leisure with chronological research. If they feel at all baffled by the difficulties of the problem, I will give them an additional ^ light': Since that year there Jia.^ heen no ■irrafJier liJie it. HARD AS NAILS. 43 Answers may be sent to the Puzzle I'Alitor of Truth, Day by day Philippa grew better and better. This appears to be the usual result of exces- sively seasonable weather acting on a constitu- tion previously undermined by bigamy, murder, and similar excesses. I spare all technical summary of- the case, sufficient to say that this was one of the rare instances in which the mind, totally unhinged, is restored to its balance by sixty drops of laudanum taken fasting, with a squeeze of lemon, after violent exercise on an empty stomach. The case is almost unique ; but, had things fallen out otherwise, this story could never have been got ready in time to romp in before the other Christmas Annuals. Matters would Iklvi' In't'oiiu' rcjilly fou com- plicated! 44 HARD AS NAILS, As l^liilippa recovered, it became more and more evidenb even to the most dilatory mind tliat the sooner she left the scene of her late unrehearsed performance the better. The baronet had not yet been missed — in- deed, he never was missed, and that is one of the very most remarkable points in the whole affair. When he did com^ to be missed, however, he would naturally be sought for in the neigh- bourhood of the most recent and attractive of his wives. That wife was Philippa. Everything pointed to instant flight. But how was I to get Philippa to see this ? Tlx liijiDotliesi she knew nothing of the murder. On the other hand, all her pure, though pas- sionate nature would revolt against sharing my home longer than was necessary. But would not the same purity prevent her from accom- panying me abroad ? HARD AS NAILS. 45 Brother and sister we had called ourselves but Philippa had never been the dupe of this terminology. Besides, was not her position, in any case, just a little shady ? An idea now occurred to me for the first time. Many men would long ere now have asked their mothers to clia'peron them. It flashed across me that I had a mother. He who says ^ mother ' says ' cliaperoii.^ I would take my Philippa to my mother. Philippa was now completely convalescent. T can only attribute my lingering to the sense of fatality that all things would come round and be all square. Love I had laid aside till I could see my w ay a little clearer in the certainly perplexing combination of circumstances. Nevertheless, Philippa, I say it advisedly, seemed to me a good deal more pure and 46 HARD AS NAILS. innocent than when we first met. True, she had been secretly married to a man nnder a name which she knew to be false. True, she had given birth to a baby whose later fate remains a mystery even to this day. True, her hands were stained with the blood of Sir Eunan Errand. But why speak of Redistribution, why agi- tate for Woman's Suffrage, if trifles like these are to obstruct a girl's path in society ? Philippa's wrongs had goaded her to mad- ness. Her madness was responsible for the act. She was not mad any longer. Therefore she was not responsible. Therefore Philippa was innocent. If she became mad again, then it would be time to speak of guilt. But would these arguments be as powerful with a British as they certainly would have proved with a French jury ? HARD AS NAILS. 47 Once riiilippa seemed to awaken to a sense of tlie situation. Once slie asked me ' How slie came to my liorae that niglit ? ' ' You came out of the whirling snow, and in a high state of delirium/ I answered, epi- grammatically. ^ I thought I came on foot/ she replied, dreamily. ' But, Basil,' she went on, ' what after- wards ? What's the next move, my noble sportsman ? ' What, indeed ! Philippa had me there. Clearly it was time to move. In order to avert suspicion, I thought it was better not to shut up my house. For the same purpose, I did a little in crime on my own account. A man tires of only being an accessory. Willi.ini, the Sphynx, obviously Sv;».s in flic 48 HARD AS NAILS. know,' as sporting characters say. Was in tlie know of what w^as in the snow ! I must silence William. I took my measures quietly. First I laid in two dozen of very curious pale sherry at half-a-crown. I bought each bottle at a separate sliop in a different disguise (making twenty-four in all), that my proceedings might not attract attention. I laid down the deadly fluid with all proper caution in the cellar. At parting from AVilliam I gave him five shillings and the cellar key, telling him to be very careful, and await my instructions. I knew well that long before my ' in- structions ' could reach him, the faithful William would be speechless, and far beyond the reach of human science. HARD AS NAILS. 49 His secret would sleep with the White Groom. Then Philippa and I drove to town, Philippa asking me conundrums, like Nebu- chadnezzar. ' There was something I dreamed of. Tell me what it was ? ' she asked. But, though better informed than the Wise ]\ren and Soothsayers of old, I did not gratify her unusual desire. On reaching town I drove straight to the hotel at which my mother was staying. It was one of those highly-priced private hotels in the New Cut. As, however, I had no desire to purchase this place of entertainment, the exorbitant value set on it by its proprietors did not affect my spirits. In a few minutes I had told my mother all save two things : the business of the £ 50 HARD AS AAILS. baby, and tlie fate wliicli liad overtaken Sir Runan. With tliese trifling exceptions slie knew all. To fall into Pkilippa's arms was, to my still active parent, the work of a moment. Then Philippa looked at me with an artless wink. ' Basil, my brother, you are really too good.' Ah, how happy I should have felt could that one dark niorlit's work have been undone ! 5^ CHAPTER VII. RESCUE AND I^ETIHE ! ITHEKTO I have said little about my mother, and I may ev^en seem to have regarded that lady in the light of a temporary convenience. My readers will, however, already have guessed tnat mu mother was no common character. Consider for a moment the position which she so readily consented to occupy. The trifling details about the sudden de- cease of Sir Runan and the affair of the bab}', as we have seen, I had thought it better not to name to her. Matters, therefore, in her opinion, stood thus: — B 2 52 RESCUE AND RETIRE! l^bilippa was the victim of a baronet's wiles. Wlien off with the new love, she had promptly returned and passed a considerable time under the roof of the old love ; that is, of myself. Then I had suddenly arrived with this eligible prospective daughter-in-law at my mother's high-priced hotel, and I kept insist- ing that we should at once migrate, we three, to foreign parts — the more foreign the better. I had especially dilated on the charms of the scenery and the salubrity of the climate in countries luhere there ivas no extradition treaty tvith JEngland. Even if there was nothing in these circum- stances to arouse the watchful jealousy of a mother, it must be remembered that, as a chaj)eron, she did seem to come a little late in the day. RESCUE AND RETIRE! 53 ' As you have lived together so long without me,' some parents would have observed, / you can do without me altogether/ None of these trivial objections occurred to my mother. She was good-nature itself. Just returned from a professional tour on the Continent (she was, I should have said, in the profession herself, and admirably filled the cxlgeant part of Stout Lady in a highly respect- able exhibition), my mother at once began I0 pack up her properties and make ready to accompany us. Never was there a more good-humoured chaperon. If one of us entered the room where she was sitting with the other, she would humorously give me a push, and observing ' Two is company, young peoj^le, three is none,' would toddle off with all the alacrity Ihnt her iiguro and n;j^t' ponnilhMl. 5t RESCUE AND RETIRE! I learned from inquiries addressed to the Family IJerald (correspondence column) that the Soudan was then, even as it is now, the land safest against English law. Spain, in this respect, was reckoned a bad second. The very next day I again broached the subject of foreign travel to my mother. It was already obvious that the frost would not last for ever. Once the snow melted, once the crushed mass that had been a baronet was dis- covered, circumstantial evidence would point to Philippa. True, there was no one save myself who could positively sivear that Philippa had killed Sir Kunan. Again, though I could positively swear it, my know- ledge was only an inference of my own. Pliilippa herself had completely forgotten the circumstance. But the suspicions of the Bearded ^Voman and of the AVhite Groom RESCUE AND RETIRE! 55 were sure to be aroused, and the Soudan I resolved to seek without an hour's delay. I reckoned without my hostess. My mother at first demurred. ^ You certainly don't look well, Basil. But why the Soudan ? ' 'A whim, a sick man's fancy. Perhaps because it is not so very remote from Old Calabar, the country of Philippa's own father. Mother, tell me, how do you like her ? ' ^ She is the woman you love, and however shady her antecedents, however peculiar her style of conversation, she is, she must be, blameless. To say more, after so short an acquaintance, might savour of haste and ex- aggeration.' A woman's logic ! ^ Then you vnll come to the Soudan with us to-morrow ? ' 56 RESCUE AND RETIRE! ^No, my child, further south than Spain I will not gOj not this journey ! ' Here Philippa entered. ^ Well, what's the next news, old man ? ' she said. ^ To Spain, to-morrow ! ' ^ Rain, rain, Go to Spain, Be sure you don't come back again.' sang sweet Philippa, in childish high spirits. I had rarely seen her thus ! Alas, Philippa's nursery charm against the rain proved worse than unavailing. That afternoon, after several months of brave black frost, which had gripped the land in its stern clasp, the rain began to fall heavily. The white veil of snow gradually with- drew. RESCUE AND RETIRE I 57 All that night I dreamed of the white suow slowly vanishiDg from the white hat. Next morning the snow liad vanished, and the .white hat must have been obvious to the wayfaring man though a fool. Next morning, and the next, and the next, found me still in London. Why? Mij mother teas shoj^pmg ! Oh, the awful torture of having a gay mother shopping the solemn hours away, when each instant drew her son nearer to the doom of an accessory after the fact ! My mother did not object to travel, but she did like to have her little comforts about her. She occupied herself in purchasing — . A water-bed. A hoide, or hot-water bottle. A portable slove. 58 RESCUE AND RETIRE! A travelling kitchen-range. A medicine cliest. A complete set of Ollendorff. Ten thousand pots of Dundee marmalade. And such other articles as she deemed essential to her comfort and safety during the expedition. In vain I urged that our motto was Bescue and Betirej and that such elaborate preparations might prevent our retiring from our native shore, and therefore make rescue exceedingly problematical. My Tory mother only answered by quoting the example of Lord Wolseley and the Nile Expedition. ^ How long did theij tarry among the pots — the marmalade pots ? ' said my mother. ' Did tliey start before every mess had its proper share of extra teaspoons in case of accident, and a double supply of patent respirators for the drummer-boys, and of snow-shoes for the RESCUE AND RETIRE! 59 Canadian boatmen in case the climate proved uncertain ? ' My mother s historical knowledge, and the unique example of provident and exhaustive equipment which she cited, reduced me to silence, but did not diminish my anxiety. The delay made me nervous, excited, and chippy. To-morrow morning we were to starfc. To-morrow morning was too late. With an effort I opened the morning paper — the Mornincj Post, as it happened — and ran hastily up and down the columns, active exer- cise having been recommended to me. What cared I for politics, foreign news, or even the sportive intelligence ? All I sought for was a paragraph headed ^ Horrible Disclosures,' or, ' Awful Death of a Baronet.' I ran up and down the columns in vain. No such item of news met iii\ cxc. -I<)\- 6o RESCUE AND RETIRE/ ously I rose to go, when my eye fell on tlio Standard. Mechanically I opened it. Those words were written (or so they seemed to me to be written) in letters of fire, though the admirable press at Shoe Lane did not really employ that suitable medium. ^Horrible Discovery near Boding.' At once the truth flashed across me. The Morninc) Post had not contained the intel- ligence because The Government had Boycotted the ' Morning Post ' ! Only journals which more or less supported the Government were permitted to obtain ' copy ' of such thrilling interest ! And yet they speak of a free press and a free countrj^! Tearing myself away from these reflec- tions, I bent my mind on the awful parngrtiph. RESCUE AND RETIRE! 6i ' TLe melting of the snow lias thrown a lurid light on the mysterious disappearance (which up to this moment had attracted no attention) of an eccentric baronet, well known in sporting circles. Yesterday afternoon a gentleman's groom, wading down the highway, discovered the white hat of a gentleman float- ing on the muddy stream into which the unparalleled weather and the negligence of the Road Trustees has converted our thorouofh- fare. An inscription in red ink within the lining leaves no doubt that this article of dress is all that is left of the late Sir Eunan Errand. The unfortunate nobleman's friends have been communicated with. The active and intellisrent representative of the local police believes that he is in possession of a clue to the author of the crime. Probably the body of the mur- dered noble has been carried down by the flooded road to the sea.' 62 RESCUE AND RETIRE ! I tore that j^aper to pieces, and used it to wrap up sandwiclies for the journey. Once again I say, if you cannot feel with me, throw this tale aside. Heaven knows it is a sombre one, and it goes on getting sombrer and sombrer ! But ]orobably, by this time, you have either tossed the work away or looked at the end to see what happened to them all. The morning dawned. I filled my bag with Hanover pieces, which I thought might come in handy on the Spanish Turf, and packed up three or four yellow, red, green, and blue opera hats, so useful to the adventurous bookmaker. At this very moment the postman arrived and gave me a letter in a woman's hand. I thrust it in my breast pocket recklessly. The cab rattled away. At last we were off. I am sure that no one who could have seen RESCUE AND RETIRE/ 63 us that ]norning would have dreamt that out of that party of three — a more than comfortable- looking English matron, a girl whose strange beauty has been sufficiently dwelt upon, and a gentleman in a yellow crush hat and a book- maker's bag — two w^ere flying from the hands of justice. Our appearance was certainly such as to disarm all suspicion. . But appearances are proverbially deceitful. Were ours deceitful enough ? ' But where are we going ? ' said my mother, with the short memory of old age. ' To Paris first, then to Spain, and, if need- ful, down to Khartoum.' ' Then you young people will have to go alone. I draw the line at Dongola.' I glanced at Philippa. Then for the first time since her malady I saw Philippa blushing! Her long curved 64 RESCUE AND RETIRE! eyelashes Lid lisr eyes, wliicli presumably were also pink, but certainly my mother's broad pleasantry had called a tell-tale blush to the cheek of the young person. As we drew near Folkestone I remembered the letter, but the sight of the Eoding post- mark induced me to defer opening it till we should be on board the steamer. When Philippa was battling with the agonies of the voyage, then, undisturbed, I might ascertain what Mrs. Thompson (for it was sure to be Mrs. Thompson) had to say. We were now on board. Philippa and my mother fled to the depths of the saloon, and I opened the fateful missive. It began without any conventional formalities, and the very first words blanched a cheek already pale. ' I see yer ! ' This strange epistle commenced : — • ^ J know why Sir Eunan never reached my RESCUE AND RETIRE! 65 Louse. I know the reason (it was only too obvious) for lier strange, excited state. I know how he met the death he deserved. ' I never had the pluck. None of the rest of us ever had the pluck. "\Ye all swore we'd swing for him as, one after another, he wedded and deserted us. The Two-headed Nightingale swore it, and the Missing Link, and the Spotted Girl, and the Strong Woman who used to double up horseshoes. Now she doubles up her perambulator with her children in it, but she never doubled up him. 'As to 3^our sister, tell her from mo tliat she is all right. She has made herself his widow, she is the Dowager Lady Errand. * The fact is, tliQ Lvvg Mermaid was never alive at all I She was a put-up thing of wax* work and a stuffed salmo fevox. His pretended marriage with licr is therefore a mere specious V 66 RESCUE AND RETIRE I excuse to enable him to avoid your sister's claims. ' Now he is dead, your sister can take the name, title, and estates. I wish she may get them.' 67 CHAPTER VIII. LOCAL COLOUR. READ tlie woman's letter again and again, read it with feelings of the most mingled description. First, I reflected with solemn pride that Philippa was more than an honest woman ; that she really was a baronet's lady ! After we were married she should keep her title. Many people do. How well it would sound when we entered a room together — ^ Dr. South and Lady Errand !' Yet, on second thoughts, would not this conjunction of names rather set people asking questions ? Yes, disagreeable associations might be revived. 68 LOCAL COL^OUR. My second tliouglit was tliat^ if Mrs. Tliompson kept lier word, we might as well go home at once, without bothering about the Soudan. The White Groom, I felt certain, had long been speechless. There was thus no one to connect Lady Errand with the decease of Sir Eunan. Moreover, Philippa's self-respect was now assured. She had lost it when she learned that she was not Sir Runan's wife ; she would regain it when she became aware that she had made herself Sir Runan's widow. Such is the character of feminine morality, as I understand the workings of woman's heart. I had reached this point in my soliloquy, when I reflected that perhaps I had better not tell Philippa anything about it. You see, things were so very mixed, because Philippa's memory was so curiously constructed that she had entirely forgotten the murder LOCAL COLOUR. 69 wliicli she Lad committed; and even if I proved to lier by documentary evidence that she had only murdered her own husband, it might not help to relieve her burdened con- science as much as I had hoped. There are times when I almost give up this story in despair. To introduce a heroine who is mad in and out, so to speak, and forgets and remembers things exactly at the right moment, seems a delightfully simple artifice. But, upon my word, I am constantl}^ for- getting what it is that Philippa should remem- ber, and on the point of making her remember the very things she forgets ! So puzzled had I become that I consoled myself by cursing Sir Eunan s memory. Vq mortals nil nisi honiim I What a lot of trouble a single little murder, of wliicli one thinks little enough at the time, often ffives a fellow. 70 LOCAL COLOUR. All this wliile we were approacliing l^aris. The stains of travel washed away, my mother gave a sigh of satisfaction as she seated herself at the dinner table. As any one might guess who looked at lier, she was no despiser of the good things of this life ! That very night we went to the Hippodrome, where we met many old acquaintances. My own Artillery Twins were there, and kissed their hands to me as they flew gracefully over our heads towards the desired trapeze. Here, also, was the Tattooed Man, and I grasped his variegated and decorative hand with an emo- tion I have rarely felt. Without vanity I may say that Philippa and my mother had a siK^d's foil. From the moment when they entered their box every lorgnette was fixed upon them. All Paris was there, the tout Paris of premieres, of les courses, the tout Paris of cliihs- LOCAL COLOUR, 71 man^ of bcllc^ pclitcx, of ladies a. cliijuoti jncin-. Here were the Booksmen, the gommcKx, they who font courlr, the journalists, and here I observed with j^^^^^^i*"^^ interest my great masters, M. Fortune du Boisgobey and ]\f. Xavier de Montepin. In the intervals of the performance {out le monde crowded into our loge^ and I observed that my mother and Lady Errand made an almost equal impression on many a gallant and enterprising young hwpresario. We supped at the Cafe Bkjnon ; toasts were carried ; 1 also was carried home. Next morning I partly understood the mental condition of Philippa. I had absolutely forgotten the events of the later part of the entertainment. Several bills arrived for windows, which, it seems, I had broken in a moment of effusion. Gendarmes arrived, and would have arrested. 73 LOCAL CGIX^UIl me on a cliarge of having knocked clown some tliirfcy-seven of their number. This little matter was easily arranged. I apologised separately and severally to each of the thirty-seven hraves homines, and collectively to the whole corps, the French army, the President, the Eepublic, and the statue of Strasbourg in the Place de la Con- corde. These duties over, I was at leisure to reflect on the injustice of English law. Certain actions which I had entirely for- gotten I expiated at the cost of a few thousand francs, and some dozen apologies. For only one action, about which she remembered nothing at all, Philippa had to fly from English justice, and give up her title and place in society! Both ladies now charmed me with a narrative of the compliments that had been paid them ; both absolutely declined to leave Paris. LOCAL COLOUR. 73 ' I want to look at tlie shops/ said my mother. * I want the gommcux to look at me/ said Philippa. Neither of them saw the least fun in my proposed expedition to Spain. Weeks passed and found us still in the capital of pleasure. My large fortune, except a few insignificant thousands, had passed away in the fleeting exhilaration of baccarat. AYe must do something to restore our wealth. My mother had an idea. ^ Basil,' she said, ^ you speak of Spain. You long to steep yourself in local colour. Y'ou sigh for hidalgos, somlreo'os, carhonachs, and carhoncilloSy why not combine business with pleasure ? * Why not take the Alhambra ? ' 74 LOCAL COLOUR. Tliis /fi*/j,s an idea ! AYliere could we be safer tliaii under the old Moorish flag ? Philippa readily fell in with my mother's proposal. When woman has once tasted of public admiration, when once she has stepped on the boards, she retires without enthusiasm, even at the age of forty. ' I had thought,' said Philippa, ^ of exhibit- ing myself at the Social Science Congress, and lecturing on self-advertisement and the ethical decline of the Moral Show business, with some remarks on waxworks. But the Alhambra sounds ever so much more toney.' It was decided on. I threw away the Baedeker and Murray, and Ford's ^ Spain,' on which I had been relying for three chapters of padding and local colour. I ceased to think of the very old churches of St. Croix and St. Seurin and a variety of other LOCAL COLOUR. 75 interesting objects. I did not bother about St. Sebastian, and the Valley of the Giralda, and BurgoSj the capital of the old Castilian king- dom, and the absorbing glories of the departed Moore. Gladly, gaily, I completed the neces- sary negotiations, and found myself, with l^hilippa, my mother, and many of my old troiijie, in the dear old Alhambra, safe under the shelter of the gay old Moorish flag. Shake off black gloom, Basil Soutli, and make things skip. You have conquered Fate ! 1^ CHAPTER IX. SAVED ! SAVED ! JLOIIIOUS, wonderful Alliambra! Magical Cuadrado de Leicestero ! Philippa and I were as liappy as children, and tlie house was full every night. We called everything by Spanish names, and played perpetually at being Spaniards. The foijdff we named a faiio — a space fragrant with the perfume of oranges, which the public were always sucking, and perilous w^ith peel. Add to this a refreshment-room, refGctorio, full of the rarest old cigarros, and redolent of agua de soda and aguardiente. Here the hotellas of agua de soda were continually popping, and the corclios flying with a ^AVED! SAVED! 77 murmur of merry voices and of mingling waters. Here half througli the night you could listen to — The delight of happy laughter, The delight of low replies. With such surroundings, almost those of a sybarite, who can blame me for being lulled into security, and telling myself that my troubles were nearly at an end? Who can wonder at the clidteanx en Esjmgne that I built as I lounged in the patio, and assisted my customers to consume the media agna ch soda, or ^ split soda,' of the country ? Sometimes we roamed as far as the Alcazar ; sometimes wo wandered to the Oxford, or lauorhed linfht- heartedly in the stalls of the Alegria. Such was our life. So in calm and peace (for we had secured a Tory chuclceroiito from Birmingham) passed the even tenor of out days. 78 SAVED/ SAVED/ As to marrying Philippa, it had always been my intention. Whether she was or was not Lady Errand ; whether she had or had not precipitated the hour of her own widowhood, made no kind of difference to me. A moment of ill-judged haste had been all her crime. That moment had passed. Philippa was not that moment. I was not marrying that moment, but Philippa. Picture, then, your Basil naming and insisting on the day, yet somehow the day had not yet arrived. It did, however, arrive at last. The difficulty now arose under w^hich name was Philippa to be married ? To tell you the truth, I cannot remember under which name Philippa icas married. It w^as a difficult point. If slie wedded me under lier maiden name, SAVED! SAVED! 79 and if Mrs. Thompson s letter contained the truth, then would the wedding be legal and binding ? If she married me under the name of Lady- Errand, and if Mrs. Thompson's letter was false, then would the wedding be all square ? So far as I know, there is no monogTaph on the subject, or there was none at the time. Be it as it may, wedded we were. Morality was now restored to the show busi- ness, the legitimate drama began to look up, and the hopes of the Social Science Congress were fulfilled. But evil days were at hand. One day, Philippa and I were lounging in the iHitio, when I heard the young hidnhjos — cr MacheroSj as they are called — talking as they smoked their princely ci(j"rUos. ' Sir Hunan Errand,' said one of them ; ' where he's efone under. A rare bad lot lie So SAVED/ SAVED/ ' Murdered/ replied tlie other. ' Nothing ever found of him but his hat.' * What a rum go ! ' replied the other. I looked at Philippa. She had heard all. I saw her dark brow contract in anguish. She was beating her breast furiously — her habit in moments of agitation. Then I seem to remember that I and the two hidalgos bore Philippa to a couch in the jmtioj while I smiled and smiled and talked of the heat of the weather ! When Philippa came back to herself, she looked at me with her wondrous eyes and saidj — ' Basil, tell me the square truth, honest Injun ! What had I been up to that night ? ' 8i CHAl^TER X. NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGH. fT was out! She knew ! AVliat was I to say, liow evade lier impulsive cross-examinations. T fell back upon evasions. ' Why do I want to know ? ' she echoed, ' because I choose to ! I liated him. He took a walk, I took a walk, and I had taken some- thing before I took a walk. If we met, I was bound to have words with him. Basil, did I dream it, or read it long ago in some old penny dreadful of the past ? ' Philippa occasionally broke into blank verse like this, but not often. ^ Dearest, it must have been a dream,' 82 NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGIL I said, catcliing at this hope of soothing her. ' No, no ! ' she screamed ; ^ no — no dream. Not any more, thank yon ! I can see myself standing now over that crushed white mass ! Basil, I could never bear him in that hat, and I must have gone for him ! ' I consoled Philippa as well as I could, but she kept screaming. ^ Jibi?; did I kill him ? ' ^ Goodness only knows, Philippa,' I replied ; ' but you had a key in your hand — a door- key.' 'Ah, that fatal latch-key!' she said, Hhe cause of our final quarrel. Where is it ? What have you done with it ? ' she shouted. 'I threw it away,' I replied. This was true, but I could not think of anything better to say. ■ ' You threw it awav ! Didn't vou know it NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGH. 83 would become i\ j>irri' jusiijicoiif'y said my poor Philippa, wlio liad not read Gaboriau to 110 purpose. I passed tlie iiiglit wrestling in argument willi l*liilippa. 81ie reproaclied me for liaviug returned from Spain, ^ wliicli Avas quite safe, you kno^v — it is the place city men go to when they bust up/ she remarked in her peculiarly idiomatic style. She reproved me for not havmg told her all about it before, in which case she would never have consented to return to England. ^ They w^ill try me — they wdll hang me ! ' she repeated. ' Not a bit,' i answered. 'I can prove that you were quite out of your sous.^s when you did for him.' ' YoH prove it ! ' she sneered ; ' a pretty lawyer you. are. Wliy, they won't take a liusband's evieliMice for or jigainst a wife iu a a 2 84 NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MADENOUGIL criminal case. This comes of your insisting on marrying me.' ' But I doubt if we are married, Philippa, dear, as we never could remember wlietlier you were wedded under your maiden name or as Philippa Errand. Besides- ' I was going to say that William, the White Groom (late the Sphynx), could show to her having been (as he once expressed it) as ' crazy as a loon,' but I remembered in time. William had, doubtless, long been speechless. The sherry must have done its fatal work. This is the worst of committing crimes. They do nothing, very often, but complicate matters. Had I not got rid of William — but it was too late for remorse. As to the evidence of her nurses, I forgot all about tJiat, I tried to console Philippa on another line. NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGH. ^ I remarked tliut, if slie had ^ gone for ' Sir lUinaiij she had only served him right. Then I tried to restore her self-respect by quoting the bearded woman's letter. I pointed out that she had been Lady Errand J after all. This gave Philippa no comfort. ' It makes things worse/ she said. ^ I thought I had only got rid of my betrayer ; and now you say I have killed my husband. You men have no tact.' * Besides/ Philippa went on, after pausing to reflect, ^ I have not bettered myself one bit. If I had not gone for him I would be Lady Errand, and no end of a swell, and now I'm only plain Mrs. Basil South.' Speaking thus, Philippa wept afresh, and refused to be comforted. Her remarks were not flattering to my self-esteem. %6N0T TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGIL At this time I felt, witli peculiar bitterness, tlie blanks in Pliilippa's memory. Nothing is more difficult than to make your heroine not too mad, but just mad enough. Had Philippa been a trifle saner, or less under the influence of luncheon, at first, she would either never have murdered Sir Runan at all (which perhaps would have been the best course), or she would have known how she murdered him. The entire absence of information on this head added much to my perplexities. On the other hand, had Philippa been a trifle madder, or mora under the influence of luncheon, nothing could ever have recalled the event to her memory at all. As it is, my poor wife (if she i\:as my wife, a subject on which I intend to submit a mono- graph to a legal contemporary), my poor wife was almost provoking in what she forgot and what she remembered. NOT TOO MAD, BUT JUST MAD ENOUGH. ^7 One day as my dear patient was creeping about the patio, she asked me if I saw all the papers ? I said I saw most of them. * Well, look at them all, for who knows how many may be boycotted by the present Government ? In a boycotted print you don't know but you may miss an account of how some fellow was hanged for what I did. I believe two people can't be executed for the same crime. Now, if any one swings lor Sir Hunan, I am safe ; but it might happen, and you never know it.' ])ear Pliilippa, ever thoughtful for others ! I promised to read every one of the papers, and I was soon rewarded for the unparalleled tedium of these studies. 88 CHAPTER XI. A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. ighM HATE looking back and reading I ^ words wkicli I have written wlien tlie printer's devil was waiting for copy in tlie liall, but I fancy I have somewhere called this tale a confession ; if not, I meant to do so. It has no more claim to be called a work of art than the cheapest penny dreadful. How could it ? It holds but two characters, a man and a woman. All the rest are the merest supers. Per haps you may Avonder that I thus anticipate criticism ; but review^writing is so easy that I A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 89 may just as well fill up witli this as witli any other kind of padding. My publisher insists on so many pages of copy. When he does not get what he wants, the language rich and powerful enough to serve his needs has yet to be invented. But he struggles on with the help of a dictionary of American expletives. However, we are coming to the conclusion, and that, I think, will waken the public up ! And yet this chapter will be a short one. It will be the review of a struggle against a temptation to commit, not perhaps crime, but an act of the grossest bad taste. To that temptation I succumbed ; we both succumbed. It is a temptation to which I dare think poor human nature has rarely been subjected. The temptation to go and see a man, a fellow-creature, tried for a crime which one's 90 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. wife committed^ and to wliicli one is an accessory after tlie fact. Oil, tliat morning ! How well I remember it. Breakfast was just over, the table with its relics of fragrant bloaters and terrinG of p^f/J still stood in the ixdio, I was alone. I loafed lazily and at my ease. Then I lighted a princely Aarft?i?ia, blaming myself for profaning the scented air from cl Cnadro de Letcestero, You see I have such a sensitive a}sthetic conscience. Then I took from my pocket the Siiortlnrj Times ^ and set listlessly to work to skim its lengthy columns. This was owing to my vow to Philippa, that I would read every journal published in England. As the day went on, I often sat A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION, 91 with tliem up to my slioulderSj and littering all the ixitio, I ran down the topics of the da}'. Tliis scene is an ' under-stndy/ by the way, of the otlier scene in which I read of the discovery of Sir Runan's liat. At last I turned my atten- tion to the provincial news column. A name, a familiar name, caught my eye ; the name of one whoj I had fondly fancied, had long lain unburied in my cellar at the 'pike. My princely hauarina fell unheeded on the marble pavement of the ixitlo^ as with indescribable amazement I read the following ^ par.' ' William Evans, the man accused of the murder of Sir llunan Errand, will be tried at the Newnham Assizes on the 20th, Tlie case, which excites considerable interest among the C'lite of Eoding and district, will come on the tapis the first day of the meeting. The evi- dence will be of a purely circumstantial kind.' 92 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOA. Every word of that ' par ' was a staggerer. I sat as one stumiedj dazed, stupid, motionless, with my eye on the sheet. Was ever man in such a situation before ? Your wife commits a murder. You become an accessory after the fact. You take steps to destroy one of the two people who suspect the truth. And then you find that the man on whom you committed murder is accused of the murder which you and your wife committed. The sound of my mother s voice scolding riiilippa wakened me from my stupor. They were coming. I could not face them. Doubling up the newspaper, I thrust it into my pocket, and sped swiftly out ^of the patio. Where did I go? I scarcely remember. I think it must have been to one of the public A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 93 gardens or public-houses, I am not certain wliicli. All sense of locality left me. I found at last some lonely spot, and there I threw myself on the ground, dug my finger-nails into the dry ground, and held on with all the tenacity of despair. In the wild whirl of my brain I feared that I might be thrown off into infinite space. This sensation passed off*. At first I thought I had gone mad. Then I felt pretty certain that it must be the other people who had gone mad. I had killed William Evans. My wife had killed Runan Errand. How, then, could Eunan Errand have been killed by William Evans ? ^ Which is absurd,' I found myself saying, iu tlie language of Eukleides, the grand old CIrec'k. Human justice! What is justice? See how it can err ! Was there ever such a bound- 94 A rLRRIBLE TEMPTATJOA. less, unlimited blunder in tlie wliole annals of penny fiction ? ]?robably not. I remember nothing like it in all the learned pages of the Jjondon Journal and the Family llorald. Mrs. Henry Wood and Miss Braddon never dreamed of aught like this. Philippa must be told. It was too good a joke. Would she laugh ? Would she be alarmed ? Picture me lying on the ground, with the intelligence fresh in my mind. I felt confidence, on the whole, in Philippa's sense of humour. Then rose the temptation. Trust this man (William Evans, late the Sphynx) to the vaunted array of justice ! Let him have a run for his money. Nay, more. do down and see the fun ! AVhy hesitate ? You cannot possibly be implicated in the deed. You will enjoy a posi- A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 95 tion nearly unique in human history. You will see the man, of whose murder you thought you were guilty, tried for the offence which you know Avas committed by your wife. Every sin is not easy. My sense of honour arose against this temptation. I struggled, but I was mastered. I would go and see the trial. Home I went and broached the subject to Philippa. The brave girl never blenched. She had no hesitations, no scruples to conquer. ' Oh, Basil,' she exclaimed, with sparkling eyes, ^ wot larx ! When do w^e start ? ' The reader will admit that I did myself no injustice when, at the commencement of this tale, I said I had whHowimI in crime. 96 CHAPTER XII. JUDGE JUGGINS. iE got down to Newnliamj wliere tlie 'Sizes were lieklj on tlie morning of September 20tli. There we dis- covered that we had an hour or two for refresh- ment, and I may say that both Philippa and I employed that time to the best advantage. While at the hotel I tried to obtain the file of the Times. I wanted to look back and see if I could find the account of the magisterial pro- ceedings against the truly unlucky William Evans. After allj should I call him unlucky ? He had escaped the snare I had laid for him, and JUDGE JUGGINS. 97 perhaps (such things have been) even a Newn- ham jury might find him not guilty. But the file of the Times was not forth- coming. I asked the sleepy-eyed Teutonic waiter for it. He merely answered, with the fatuous patronising grin of the German Icellner ;- - c:^ :^^ ^ ^.