LIBRARY 
 
 UHIVt**TY OF 
 
 SAN DIEGO 
 
 I
 
 1-5819 
 
 ..O
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF 
 JOHN SMITH
 
 THE 
 
 STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN SMITH 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON 
 
 LONDON 
 SANDS & CO. 
 
 12 BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 IQ02
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 COWAN & Co., LTD. 
 
 PERTH,
 
 MY WIFE
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chap. Page 
 
 I In which John Smith discusses his manifest 
 
 destiny 9 
 
 II In which John Smith determines to play a trick 
 
 on Fate, and see what comes of it - - 18 
 
 III An adventure on the underground railway - 30 
 
 IV The end of John's adventure in the under- 
 
 ground railway 45 
 
 V The next day 63 
 
 VI Is it a clue? 74 
 
 VII At the "Mews," and afterwards 83 
 
 VIII In which John Smith begins to realise that 
 
 things may happen in life 94 
 
 IX Another turn of the screw .... 109 
 
 X Showing how John, having had enough of 
 
 romance, is invited to try a little more - 121 
 
 XI In which John Smith astonishes himself and 
 
 perhaps the reader 139 
 
 XII In which love, as usual, gets the better of 
 
 discretion - 150 
 
 XIII In which John pays a visit to Quemby Court, 
 and is introduced, in due course, to Uncle 
 Michael and other friends of the charmer 173
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chap. 
 
 XIV In which John is treated as a brother by the 
 embodiment of all the virtues, and closes 
 a lively evening by coming to the assist- 
 ance of a polite gentleman from the West 188 
 
 XV In which John gets deeper and deeper in love 210 
 
 XVI In which John, having declared his willingness 
 to do anything for Victorine's sake, is 
 suddenly taken at his word ... 230 
 
 XVII In which John Smith prepares for his mission, 
 
 but has much cause for disquietude - 250 
 
 XVIII Which tells of John Smith's safe journey to 
 Paris, and of the pleasant reception which 
 awaited him there 275 
 
 XIX In which Ben Chadwick has the melancholy 
 satisfaction of being able to declare that 
 he had said so all along .... 294 
 
 XX In which the postman brings John Smith a 
 
 Christmas missive from beyond the sea - 304
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN SMITH DISCUSSES HIS MANIFEST 
 DESTINY 
 
 LIFE might have been in many ways a very different 
 thing with him, he was profoundly convinced, if only 
 his name had not been John Smith. 
 
 John Smith ! Who gave him that name ? Not 
 his god- fathers and god-mother, certainly, for his 
 family did not belong to the Church of England as 
 by law established ; but his own father and mother 
 which only made matters worse. They, at least, 
 ought to have realised they were Smiths them- 
 selves the enormity of their blunder. It was 
 practically like sending their child out into the 
 world with a paternal curse. The " Smith " of it 
 they could not help, of course ; that was their mis- 
 fortune, not their fault, though wiser people have been 
 known before this to change the inherited form into 
 
 9
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Smythe. But then, John ! They had the whole 
 dictionary of Christian, and, strictly speaking, of 
 heathen names, too, to choose from ; and they 
 might surely have selected one, or perhaps two poor 
 John was not wildly ambitious ; he did not aspire 
 to the voluminous appellations of royalty by the 
 strength and virtue of which the commonplace 
 cognomen itself might have been lifted above the 
 dead level of insignificance and vulgarity. And yet 
 it was vain to question why they had actually 
 fastened upon John. 
 
 John Smith ! the whole thing was at once tragic 
 and absurd. 
 
 " If only I had been a girl, I might have married, 
 and changed Smith into something else," the much 
 troubled young man remarked plaintively to his 
 bosom friend, Ben Chadwick. 
 
 " If you had been a girl, you might have been 
 Smith, but you certainly wouldn't have been John," 
 said Ben sententiously, taking his pipe from one side 
 of his mouth, and placing it carefully in at the 
 other. 
 
 John appeared to be considerably impressed by 
 the argument. He smoked for a few minutes in 
 silence, gazing vacuously out of the window, without, 
 however, seeing anything ; which was indeed just as 
 well, for the small, dismal houses across the narrow 
 suburban street were not beautiful to look at. 
 
 " Unless it were in France," he suggested presently, 
 "where, you know, they get male and female names 
 so oddly mixed up together. I've read of French 
 chaps whose names were Mary." 
 
 10
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " In France you would hardly have been Smith, 
 and if you had been, Smith would be a deucedly 
 uncommon name," said the logical Ben. 
 
 There was a pause, during which both young men 
 puffed away industriously, and in the fading light of 
 the early autumn evening the stuffy little room grew 
 blue with tobacco smoke. 
 
 "Well, I daresay you may be right, Ben," said 
 John at length, in his non-committal way. " Still, I 
 put the whole thing into a nut-shell. It's like this, 
 you see. How can you expect a fellow to turn out 
 to be anything whose name is John Smith ? Could 
 John Smith ever make a fortune? or become a 
 general in the army? or a great poet? or a philo- 
 sopher? or or even a member of Parliament, or 
 a famous lawyer?" John did not intend to be 
 sarcastic. "Ask yourself the question, Ben. Did 
 you ever hear of John Smith falling heir to a vast 
 fortune? or rescuing a girl from drowning, and 
 afterwards marrying her? or getting implicated in 
 strange mysteries, and fighting duels with unknown 
 men before daybreak? or why, the very idea is 
 ridiculous ! Now, isn't it ? " 
 
 They were discussing the subject for, probably, the 
 nine hundred and ninety-ninth time, for it was one 
 that had been a burden grievous to be borne on 
 John's mind for many years, and seldom gave him 
 peace. But Ben Chadwick was a man of infinite 
 patience, if somewhat slight responsiveness. It was 
 nothing to him that he knew his companion's 
 troubles of heart. He had his pipe, and the only 
 easy-chair in the room rolled close to the only 
 
 II
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 window, and he was completely comfortable. And 
 being comfortable, he was willing enough to listen 
 sympathetically, and occasionally to bestir himself 
 sufficiently to say something to the point. 
 
 " What in the world do you want to turn out to 
 be anything for ? " he now asked, developing, as was 
 usual with him, a theory of existence marked by a 
 genial optimism which, in turn, was bred of easy 
 digestion, perfect health, and a conscience which, like 
 his body's machinery, had never yet given him a 
 moment's twinge. " Isn't life all right enough as it 
 is ? You don't know when you're well off, John. I 
 hate a man to grumble in that stupid way. It isn't 
 well, I don't call it " with a sudden dash " I 
 don't call it religious. There ! It must be an awful 
 nuisance to be a great general, for instance ; no end 
 of responsibility, and that kind of thing. And I 
 don't see what fun there would be in philosophy, and 
 mysteries, and duels ; and all poets are mad, you 
 know, and unhappy, and die young." 
 
 Mr. Chadwick offered this interesting generalisation 
 with the easy confidence of a man who knows well 
 what he is talking about. It will be seen that he was a 
 person of low ideals and coarse views of life. In fact, 
 he was a Philistine. 
 
 " Now, put it to yourself in this way," he went 
 on argumentatively, though not quite so effectively, 
 perhaps, as was desirable, for he did not trouble 
 himself to remove the pipe from his mouth while he 
 talked, "what is the object of life?" Here Mr. 
 Chadwick impinged, without knowing it, upon a 
 question much canvassed in philosophy, and thus 
 
 12
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 far, it is to be feared, with no very satisfactory results. 
 " I take it that the object of life is to get all the fun 
 out of things that we can. Very well, then," the 
 speaker continued, in a tone of fine self-complacency, 
 as though this were a statement from which there 
 could be no possible appeal, " and how can we get 
 the most fun out of things ? Why, by just taking 
 them easy, and enjoying them as they come, don't 
 you know. What's the use of ambition ? I'll under- 
 take to say " here he removed the pipe for a 
 moment, and waved it rather impressively in the air, 
 thus adding much weight to his sentiment " I'll 
 undertake to say that nine-tenths of the trouble and 
 worry in life are due to ambition the women being 
 responsible for the remainder ; and a pretty big 
 remainder it is, too more than all the rest put 
 together, sometimes." 
 
 It would probably be vain to seek the logical 
 bearings of this dark utterance. We can only 
 assume that Mr. Chadwick spoke under the 
 stress of some unpleasant reflections ; and, given 
 such conditions, precision of statement is hardly to 
 be expected. 
 
 " At any rate, here you are, John." Ob- 
 serving that his friend paused on this assertion, 
 John nodded in acknowledgment of the fact that 
 there indeed he was. " Well, can't you enjoy your- 
 self, and be content? You've got a good billet in 
 the city ; hours easy ; decent pay ; Saturday after- 
 noons free ; everything, in short, a fellow can possibly 
 want. You can smoke your pipe ; go to the theatre ; 
 have your Sunday up the river, at Richmond or 
 
 13
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 'Enley ; take a fortnight's holiday in the summer at 
 Margate or Clacton, or where the deuce you please. 
 And what" here Mr. Chadwick became really earnest 
 "what do you mean by grumbling about poets, and 
 philosophers, and members of Parliament ? Can a 
 poet enjoy his brandy-and-soda any more than you 
 do ? Not he ! And as for members of Parliament 
 and lawyers good gracious, they have a thousand 
 times more to think about than you or I ! Then why 
 the dickens do you everlastingly make such a fuss ? 
 Can't you see you're much better off as you are ? 
 Great heavens, John " Mr. Chadwick could restrain 
 his indignation no longer " sometimes you make 
 me sick." 
 
 He knocked the ashes quite fiercely from his pipe, 
 and filled it again from the open tobacco-box on the 
 floor by his chair. Ben's feelings were not easily 
 wrought upon, for he was of the phlegmatic humour. 
 But naturally, John's visionary extravagances were 
 occasionally unbearably exasperating to a young 
 man of such a healthily-balanced and eminently 
 practical mind. 
 
 " I'm afraid you don't quite understand me, Ben," 
 John remonstrated mildly. 
 
 " No, I don't that's pat," was Ben's blunt retort. 
 He was busily engaged in lighting his pipe, and in 
 the now dark room the flare of the match threw into 
 clear relief his round, fresh-coloured, pleasant, un- 
 intelligent face, short fat nose, and close- cropped 
 sandy hair. Mr. Chadwick was not endowed with 
 the fatal gift of beauty. 
 
 " You say I ought to be contented," John continued. 
 14
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Well, I can't be contented. Life for me is a dull, 
 flat routine. I have cravings " 
 
 " Indigestion," Ben interjected, with a snort. 
 
 " For change, stir, romance." 
 
 " Romance ! Horrors ! is the man crazy ? " 
 
 When the conversation took this turn, Ben always 
 became seriously alarmed. 
 
 " Why is my existence so prosaic ? Why don't 
 things happen to me ? I know well enough my 
 name is John Smith." 
 
 The poor fellow, be it remarked, had never even 
 heard of the elder Mr. Shandy's ingenious speculations 
 concerning the subtle influence over men's characters 
 and destinies exerted by the praenomina they are 
 forced to bear with them through life. But he was 
 in profound, though quite unconscious, agreement 
 with that astute philosopher, being in the position of 
 many disciples who often do not so much as know 
 the name of the great master to whose school they 
 nevertheless belong. 
 
 " Supposing my name had been Clarence, now, or 
 FitzHugh, or Lancelot, or Bertram, or " 
 
 " Or Jemima," Ben interposed, with biting sarcasm. 
 
 " Supposing it had been FitzHugh Vespasian 
 Smith, for example " John scorned to take notice of 
 his friend's rude suggestion " well, I think I might 
 have been or done something romantic then. Fitz- 
 Hugh Vespasian Smith," he rolled the sonorous 
 syllables over his tongue with the air of a con- 
 noisseur. " Yes, there might have been some chance 
 for poetry in a fellow's life with a name like that. 
 Things might have happened to me who knows? 
 
 15
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Don't you see for yourself, Ben, what a difference it 
 would have made ? " 
 
 " Well, John, I can't truthfully say that your logic's 
 very clear or convincing to me just at present," Ben 
 admitted. " The whole business seems a little airy 
 and and that kind of thing ; and what the dickens 
 a man wants with romance, and why he should make 
 himself unhappy because things don't happen to him, 
 I confess I don't quite understand. Still, after all, 
 it's your affair, and not mine, thank goodness ; and 
 if you insist upon romance, and fancy that all the 
 trouble lies in your name, I see but one way out of 
 the difficulty change it ! If FitzHugh Thingumbob 
 will save you, why, for Heaven's sake, call yourself 
 FitzHugh Thingumbob, and have done with it. 
 Who's to prevent ? See a lawyer. He'll settle the 
 matter legally for you in double quick time, if you 
 don't mind paying the fees." 
 
 But John dejectedly shook his head. 
 
 " It wouldn't be the same thing, Ben ; it wouldn't 
 be the same thing at all," he said gloomily. " You 
 know I'm really John Smith, and where would be the 
 slightest use in my calling myself anything else. 
 Would it make any difference to a cat if you chose 
 to call it a dog ? " John laughed a bitter little laugh. 
 " Would it run up to you, and wag its tail, and lick 
 your hand, and run for sticks, and swim ? Not a bit 
 of it ! It's a cat, call it what you please. It's a cat, 
 and there's an end of the matter. And I'm John 
 Smith, and there's an end of the matter, too. My 
 destiny is settled, and I can't help myself." 
 
 " Well, my boy, I can't argue the question with 
 16
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 you," said Ben, as he rose to go. To tell the truth, 
 Mr. Chadwick's intellect was not of the metaphysical 
 order, and John's scholastic realism bewildered him. 
 " But keep your pecker up, all the same. I don't 
 know, and I don't care, anything about romance 
 myself. But, hang it all, it may not be quite as bad 
 as you think. Things may happen to you yet 
 plenty of 'em. Give me a match. I never knew 
 such tobacco as this for going out. Why don't you 
 try a new brand ? Thanks. Good-night ! "
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN SMITH DETERMINES TO PLAY A 
 TRICK ON FATE, AND SEE WHAT COMES OF IT 
 
 LET us hasten to say that John Smith's trouble, 
 strange as it may seem, was a very real one to him. 
 It lay like a dull load upon his life. One would 
 never have guessed from his mild, watery blue eyes, 
 his pallid face, his weak mouth and chin, and his 
 thin light-brown hair, always carefully parted in the 
 middle, and plastered down on both sides across a 
 low but rather protruding forehead, that the young 
 man had any mental history to speak of; still less 
 that it was a mental history of ceaseless stress and 
 strain. Yet such was indeed the case. John Smith 
 had cravings which were not to be referred, as Mr. 
 Chadwick rudely suggested, to dyspepsia. He was 
 though he did not himself phrase it in this neat, 
 philosophic fashion ; in other words, he missed the 
 delicate happiness of finding a high-sounding formula 
 for his conditions he was in constant friction with 
 his surroundings. He was miserable because he felt 
 that Fate had dealt harshly with him ; and for the 
 time being he saw no way of escape. 
 
 The source of all his difficulty may be indicated in 
 a very few words. He was a young man of romantic 
 
 18
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 temper, born into an environment of the most dismally 
 stupid and prosaic kind. He was another instance, 
 he often thought his knowledge of mythology, or 
 perhaps of Longfellow, extended thus far of Pegasus 
 getting into the Pound ; though the liberation whereof 
 the poet wrote seemed, so far as he was concerned, 
 to be very remote indeed. With visions and hints of 
 an order of things very different from his own, he 
 found himself condemned to a routine of daily 
 drudgery against which his whole nature rose in 
 revolt. He cherished his dreams, while he struggled 
 blindly and hopelessly with the realities of existence ; 
 and the sharp contrast between matters of fancy and 
 matters of fact kept him in a state of perpetual fume 
 and ferment. 
 
 Not that John Smith was an idealist, or a poet in 
 embryo, or a Utopian of any sort or school. The 
 tragedy of his inner life worked itself out on a much 
 lower plane. He nourished himself on no lofty 
 speculations ; he followed no transcendental counsels 
 of perfection. He never read philosophy ; never 
 went through any spiritual crisis ; never cared for 
 poetry, except once in a while, perhaps, for a few 
 things of the Byronic order. His visions were 
 simply visions of romance of " moving accidents by 
 flood and field," strange adventures, hair-breadth 
 escapes, midnight murders in muddy marshes, fair 
 ladies in distress, villains of the regulation stamp, 
 schemers, mysterious fortunes, and dark deeds gener- 
 ally. The world which sent its faint whispers to 
 him as he plodded on in his own dull, uneventful 
 life was the great world of fiction and melodrama 
 
 19
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the world of the novelist and the playwright. And 
 because the visions and the realities held themselves 
 so severely apart because his own domain of every- 
 day fact seemed to have no point of contact with 
 that large dreamland of splendid possibilities where 
 existence was highly interesting and things con- 
 stantly happened, John Smith felt himself to be a 
 deeply aggrieved and disappointed man. That was 
 all ; but for his happiness and peace of mind it was 
 more than enough. 
 
 Just how a man of these romantic proclivities 
 managed to get himself born into the family of a 
 middle-class Cockney dissenter surely the most 
 hopelessly unromantic of environments we must 
 leave it to the evolutionists to explain. Like wise 
 men, we will accept the fact, and not trouble our- 
 selves about the theory. In such surroundings, at 
 any rate, John Smith made his appearance in this 
 overpopulated world. James Smith, his father, who 
 kept a little grocery shop in one of the most grim 
 and uninviting streets in one of the most grim and 
 uninviting suburbs of the great metropolis, and who, 
 in his capacity of local preacher, frequently delivered 
 lengthy harangues in fervently ungrammatical 
 English at the Primitive Methodist Bethel just 
 round the corner, died when his offspring had as 
 yet given no signs of a growing dissatisfaction 
 with the world in which his lot had been cast, 
 beyond a tendency not altogether unusual, we 
 believe to demand things that he ought not to 
 have, and cry when he did not get them. Left a 
 widow with this one child, Mrs. Smith presently 
 
 20
 
 moved to another suburban district, and began to 
 take in lodgers. For some unknown reason, she 
 actually thrived. In this way she had been able 
 to carry out the plan of her heart, which was to 
 give her son something of an education. 
 
 So John went to school ; and there the discord 
 of his life commenced. Spelling, arithmetic, book- 
 keeping Mr. Speedwell's Academy was statedly 
 commercial in its scheme and purpose history, 
 geography, grammar, and the smattering of Latin 
 which was thrown in by way of gentlemanly 
 ornamentation : to those things he straightway 
 developed a profound antagonism. Meanwhile, he 
 began to devour greedily all the novels that came 
 within his reach. Over the works of Marryat and 
 Harrison Ainsworth, Dumas pbre and James Grant, 
 G. P. R. James and Charles Lever, he spent many 
 an hour which ought to have been given to problems 
 in the rule of three, or the mysteries of single and 
 double entry ; and in proportion as his mental 
 appetite for this kind of stimulating food increased, 
 did he come more and more to appreciate the flat, 
 stale, and unprofitable character of the uses of his 
 own little world. We say nothing here of the pain- 
 fully unromantic scenes between master and pupil 
 to which this condition of things presently gave rise 
 scenes in which poor John played no very heroic 
 part ; for Mr. Speedwell belonged to the older order 
 of disciplinarians. For him the theory of single and 
 double entry was one of the sanctities of life ; and 
 he had a short and easy way with dissenters from 
 the faith. It is more to the point to remark that in 
 
 21
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 this manner John Smith was unwittingly laying the 
 foundations of the misery and dissatisfaction of his 
 later years. He dwelt upon the doings of Midship- 
 man Easy and Jack Sheppard, of the Count of 
 Monte Cristo and Dick Rodney, of Henry Masterton 
 and Charles O'Malley, until these people became 
 flesh-and-blood realities for him, haunting his dreams 
 by night, and following him through his waking 
 hours, in the playground and at the desk. And 
 thus as time went on, the fatal rift in his life 
 widened gradually into a yawning chasm. On the 
 one side lay the beautiful land of romance, rich with 
 strange adventures and wonderful experiences ; on 
 the other side, the grim, dismal, uninteresting country 
 of the actual, the prosaic, the commonplace. Then 
 the question began to buzz like a fly in his brain : 
 Why had he been born to such a sordid and hum- 
 drum destiny? why was he not also a Dick Turpin 
 or a D'Artagnan ? Things happened to them, and 
 life was clearly worth living. To him, John Smith, 
 the son of James Smith, a Primitive Methodist grocer, 
 nothing had ever happened nothing would ever 
 happen ! 
 
 Had he been of stronger and more virile make, he 
 might, in this period of youthful greensickness, have 
 taken his destiny into his ow;i hands, as many another 
 restless lad has done, by running away to sea, or 
 emigrating to California, where, according to Mr. 
 Bret Harte, things have been known to happen to a 
 good many people. But John Smith was not, except 
 in his dreams, cast in the heroic mould ; and so he 
 got into the habit of grumbling with his fate without 
 
 22
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 making the slightest decisive effort to mend or 
 change it. And thus the period of youth passed 
 by, and the greensickness remained, because he had 
 given himself no chance to throw it off, as healthier 
 boys generally do. 
 
 At seventeen, John's school-days came to a close, 
 and he entered upon the brilliant career of shorthand 
 writer in the office of a firm of flourishing shipping 
 merchants in the city. To sit perched on a high 
 stool, in a gloomy upper room, engaged from nine 
 to six in transcribing notes and copying strangely- 
 worded documents such was now his fate. People 
 told him he was lucky to get such a position. He 
 did not think himself lucky at all. He was not a 
 bad young fellow, for all his weakness and absurdities. 
 He realised that his mother had done much for him, 
 and was willing enough to help her to the best of 
 his ability now that his turn had come round. He 
 was even delighted when he saw her able to give up 
 the lodging-house, and enjoy a small but private 
 house of her own. But it was terribly hard work 
 for him, none the less. The school had been bad ; 
 the office was, if anything, worse duller, more stupid, 
 more hopelessly practical and commonplace. Nor, 
 as the years went by, did poor John make the smallest 
 attempt to rise above his circumstances, or push 
 forward in the direction of better things. He had 
 no strength of character, no vigour or determination, 
 no special ability, and, so far as business went, no 
 ambition. The stories sometimes told of great city 
 magnates who, beginning life as errand boys or 
 copying clerks, had mounted the commercial ladder 
 
 23
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 rung by rung, and had become at length millionaires, 
 aldermen, members of Parliament, made little appeal 
 to his sluggish mind. He felt in a vague, dim way 
 that it would be pleasant to be rich and influential, 
 and he often talked about business success and the 
 power it gives men. But such matters took no real 
 hold upon him. His weak nature, still fed on highly- 
 seasoned fiction, and rejecting all solid food, con- 
 tinued to crave morbidly for excitements which, in 
 his daily routine, were certainly not to be looked 
 for ; and because to him, as to hundreds of thousands 
 of other young men similarly situated, nothing more 
 surprising happened than an occasional break-down 
 in an omnibus, or a bilious attack brought about 
 by over-indulgence in beef-steak pie and beer, he 
 insisted on being miserable, and on regarding himself 
 as one of the failures of the world. 
 
 Such was, broadly presented, the spiritual history 
 of John Smith down to the time when he had well 
 passed his thirty-second year. It was about this 
 period that he had that conversation with Mr. 
 Benjamin Chadwick which has been duly reported 
 in our earlier pages. This particular dialogue was, 
 as we have said, but a sample of many such. Chad- 
 wick was John's friend and only confidant, and the 
 unfortunate fellow was accustomed to pour his grief, 
 with much earnestness and persistency, into that 
 excellent young man's sympathetic ear. It neces- 
 sarily happened, therefore, that the two, smoking 
 their postprandial pipes, traversed the same ground 
 over and over again, meeting the same experiences 
 
 by the way, and coming out, evening after evening, 
 
 24
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and month after month, with pretty much the same 
 entirely unsatisfactory results. John, apparently, 
 found some solace in thus discussing his woeful 
 situation with the only living creature to whom he 
 had ever opened his heart ; while Ben, as we have 
 seen, was, after his own bourgeois and undemonstra- 
 tive fashion, a true and well-meaning friend, and, 
 provided the physical conditions were fairly good, 
 exhibited extraordinary patience under circumstances 
 which, we are forced to admit, must sometimes have 
 been desperately trying. The net consequence of all 
 these numerous and lengthy interviews, however, 
 must, from any practical point of view, be set down 
 as nil. 
 
 But it happened on this particular night that 
 something Ben had let drop in the course of their 
 conversation fixed itself in John's mind, and would 
 give him no rest. Left alone, he did not, though it 
 was already late, at once prepare for bed. He filled 
 his pipe once more, and sat down in the chair Ben 
 had vacated by the open window, watching the great 
 autumn moon as it rose above the roofs of the houses 
 opposite, and flooded the deserted street with its 
 strange, weird light. Even when at last he turned in 
 for the night, it was not to sleep. A new idea had 
 taken possession of him, and he tossed from side to 
 side on his hot pillow till well on towards the 
 dawn. 
 
 To explain what this new idea was, and why it 
 came to trouble John so sorely, we must go back a 
 little, and pick up a dropped thread. 
 
 Had he been questioned about the matter, he 
 25
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 could not, for the life of him, have settled on any 
 exact date, but it was somewhere about the time 
 when he left school, and the dazzling prospects of a 
 commercial career first opened up before him, that 
 he had conceived a sudden and intense aversion to 
 the name with which he found himself afflicted 
 John Smith ! The indescribable horrors of such a 
 ridiculous combination of cacophonous monosyllables 
 had burst upon him like a flash of inspiration. 
 Instantly, his mind seized upon the newly-realised 
 fact as if it had been a great psychological discovery, 
 and the circumstances of his life were thrust for 
 him into an entirely fresh light. Straightway he 
 began to dwell on the matter after his foolish, 
 moody habit, until little by little it came to be a 
 fixed idea with him that in the thrice confounded 
 John Smith were to be sought the source and origin 
 of all his woes. Thus the cup of his sorrows was 
 filled to the very brim. At thirty-two he regarded 
 the entire question as definitely settled, and his 
 destiny as partaking of something of the character 
 of cosmic law, from which no deviation was possible. 
 Now, the new thought that Ben Chad wick had 
 just started had direct connection with this same 
 problem of the name. Ben's suggestion was a 
 simple one : if John revolted against the curt and 
 vulgar handle which his benighted parents had 
 nailed upon him, why should he not himself 
 change it for something more to his taste? John, 
 as we have seen, had scouted the idea. Philoso- 
 phically considered, it had seemed to him trivial 
 and superficial, having no relation with the hard 
 
 26
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 realities of his existence a childish trick, say, to 
 hoodwink Fate, and as such, clearly foredoomed to 
 failure. And yet, left to himself, he began to feel, 
 as he pondered upon it, that the hint, hastily thrown 
 out and just as hastily rejected, was not so wildly 
 extravagant, after all. What harm could there be, 
 at any rate, in trying the experiment ? Might it not 
 perchance offer, at least, a partial way of escape? 
 Who could tell ? It is true that, in all his confused 
 speculations on the subject, he had always treated 
 the "John Smith" as actually part and parcel of his 
 identity like his nose or his foot; it is true, like- 
 wise, that even now he made no pretence at being 
 convinced that by altering " John " into anything 
 else he might choose he would get a whit nearer the 
 essence of his being than, for instance, by playing 
 that his eyes were deep black, while all the time he 
 knew they would remain of their feeble, washed-out 
 blue. Such matters obviously belonged to Destiny ; 
 as he had told Ben, John Smith he was, and John 
 Smith he would continue to be to the end of the 
 chapter. Still, once again, why should he not make 
 the trial ? For desperate conditions, desperate 
 remedies are proverbially necessary. Success 
 might follow the venture he caught his breath as 
 he thought of the possibility, remote though he 
 felt it to be; and even if it failed well, then he 
 would only be still just where he had been all 
 along. Nothing would be lost ; something might 
 be gained. Yes, the scheme- was worth putting to 
 the test ; and to the test, without hesitation or delay, 
 John Smith, wide awake on his pillow, determined 
 
 27
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 to put it. Here he noted that the clock in the 
 sitting-room beneath struck three. He fell asleep 
 at last, and might have slept till mid-day, but for 
 his mother's sharp rapping at the door. As it was, 
 he was a full half-hour late. He scrambled through 
 his toilet, omitting the formality of shaving, not, 
 however, without a rueful glance at his chin ; 
 swallowed a cup of coffee and a few mouthfuls of 
 sausage ; had a fierce run for the omnibus, and a 
 tussle to get a place ; and finally discovered him- 
 self, hardly more than half-awake, outside the office 
 door. 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding this unpropitious be- 
 ginning of a new day's work, John was conscious 
 of a certain vague feeling of exaltation. It seemed 
 to him that in some mysterious way a fresh chapter 
 was about to open for him, tentatively, FitzHugh 
 Vespasian Smith. He mounted his high stool with 
 quite unwonted energy, and answered the morning 
 greetings gruff and laconic, or cheery and expan- 
 sive, as the case might be of his fellow-clerks with 
 a freshness of voice and manner that might have 
 surprised them, had they been given to observation. 
 At intervals during the day he amused himself by 
 scribbling his newly-assumed name on scraps of 
 paper, which he immediately tore into the minutest 
 pieces ; and when he went out to lunch, he gave 
 himself a jaunty appearance by tipping his well- 
 worn hat just a tiny trifle to one side. FitzHugh 
 Vespasian Smith ! He felt there was some chance 
 for him now. Things might happen. 
 
 Now, it is no part of our purpose here to enter 
 28
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 into any speculations on the intricate questions of 
 human life and destiny. We will confine ourselves 
 to a plain, unvarnished statement of fact, leaving 
 theories and explanations to the philosophic inquirer, 
 to whom they come as grist to the mill. And the 
 plain, unvarnished fact of the matter is, that some- 
 thing forthwith did happen to John, alias, FitzHugh 
 Vespasian Smith. Year by year, as child, boy, youth, 
 man, he had bemoaned his uneventful, prosaic exis- 
 tence. Now he was suddenly to find himself what 
 he had never expected to become the hero of a 
 genuine romance. 
 
 And this is the way in which it all came about. 
 
 29
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 AN ADVENTURE ON THE UNDERGROUND 
 RAILWAY 
 
 JOHN SMITH it will be more convenient for us to 
 continue to call him by his vulgar name did not go 
 straight home from the office when the day's work 
 was over. He was engaged for a little convivial 
 evening with a few chosen spirits at the home of 
 one of his city friends, Mr. Robert Simpson, who was 
 understood to hold quite a confidential position with 
 the well-known law-firm of Nockerborn, Gurney, 
 & Nockerborn. This Simpson was a man of high 
 repute in certain circles by reason of his unim- 
 peachable cigars, his ready, if somewhat boisterous, 
 wit, and his extensive repertoire of comic songs ; 
 and was, indeed, regarded by those whom he con- 
 descended to include in the list of his intimates 
 as a veritable glass of fashion and mould of form. 
 An evening at Simpson's was accepted as meaning 
 generous potations, late hours, and for John, at 
 any rate a good deal of yawning and a failure of 
 appetite for solid food on the following day. But, 
 after all, how can you be really sure that you 
 enjoyed yourself overnight if you do not feel a 
 trifle the worse for it afterwards ? So John took 
 
 30
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 a chop by way of dinner, and had a satisfactory 
 interview with the barber ; and at eight o'clock 
 sharp knocked rather more vigorously than usual at 
 Mr. Simpson's door. It was close on midnight when 
 he hurried away, leaving the party in full swing ; 
 and then he had all he could do to catch the last 
 train that would serve his purpose on the " Metro- 
 politan." 
 
 It was a generally expressed sentiment among 
 those who remained for just one more cigar, and 
 the proper accompaniment, that that was the draw- 
 back of London. Everyone had to live such a 
 deuced distance from everyone else, to the manifest 
 disadvantage of social gatherings and the intercourse 
 of friends, who otherwise would not think of going 
 home till morning, when daylight doth begin. 
 
 Meanwhile, John had actually caught his train with 
 something less than ten seconds to spare, and was 
 now the sole occupant of a dirty, badly-lighted third- 
 class compartment, which he had selected because it 
 was one of the small, closed kind, and therefore at 
 that late hour rendered him tolerably secure against 
 intrusion. Lack of his customary rest the night 
 before, and the excitement of the present evening's 
 joviality, had proved in combination to be rather 
 more than he could stand. He was desperately tired 
 and sleepy, and having a considerable distance to 
 travel, wisely determined to make himself as com- 
 fortable as possible under the circumstances. To 
 this end he ensconced himself in the further corner, 
 with his back towards the engine, placed his feet on 
 the opposite seat, folded his arms, rammed his hat
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 well down over his eyes, and with a deep-drawn 
 sigh settled himself to dose. 
 
 Of course, he had the usual difficulties to contend 
 with. The train seemed to take a fiendish delight 
 in rolling and jolting with a violence altogether out 
 of proportion to the progress made, and in indulging 
 in wild sudden stops and rebounds, which brought 
 his head with a dull thud into collision with the un- 
 upholstered back of the compartment. Every jar of 
 the carriage played havoc with his hat, and his hat 
 unreasonably avenged itself upon his nose. For the 
 first few minutes, too, he would start up with an 
 excited snort at every station, under the firm im- 
 pression that he had reached his journey's end, and 
 was in instant peril of being swept beyond his 
 destination. Obviously, all this was inimical to 
 peaceful slumbers, and John may surely be forgiven 
 if his muttered criticisms on the malice of things in 
 general were of the kind best left unreported. But 
 by-and-by he grew partially inured to the rattle and 
 the shaking, the abrupt stoppages and lurching de- 
 partures, the banging of doors at the successive 
 stations, and the hoarse, unintelligible cries of the 
 porters, and sank down into a heavy sleep. . . . 
 
 Bump ! Plunge ! He could account for it after- 
 wards only by supposing that in his somnolent con- 
 dition he had been nodding himself more and more 
 out of the perpendicular, and that the infernal train, 
 taking advantage of his general limpness, had given 
 an unusually vigorous lunge, with the design of 
 throwing him head foremost out of his seat. At any 
 rate, he awoke with a jerk which seemed to wrench 
 
 32
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 every bone in his body, caught himself up in the act 
 of diving off somewhere into space, made a mad 
 dash at his hat as it bounded from his knees with 
 the elasticity of a tennis ball, and, looking round 
 with a stupid stare, was horrified to realise that he 
 was no longer alone in the compartment. 
 
 John was wide awake in a moment, and at once 
 began to gather himself up into such semblance of 
 dignity as he was able to assume under circumstances 
 which would have sorely tested a greater aplomb 
 than his. Good heavens ! what had happened 
 during those past minutes of unconsciousness ? Had 
 he it was frightful to think of had he actually 
 been snoring ? He could have sworn that his mouth 
 had been half-open. What sounds might nay, must 
 have issued thence ! 
 
 Out of the corners of his eyes he glanced sheepishly 
 across at the further corner of the carriage, feeling 
 that he had never before been caught at such a 
 terrible disadvantage. But the girl sat perfectly still 
 and quiet, to all appearance entirely unaware of his 
 existence, and absorbed in gazing out of the window 
 into the thick, sulphurous darkness of the tunnel. 
 
 Though by no means satisfied, and still very hot 
 and embarrassed, John felt just a trifle relieved. He 
 arranged his tie and pulled down his waistcoat, and 
 began to solace himself with the reflection that, amid 
 the incessant noise of the train, the snoring might 
 not have been so very audible, after all. Then he 
 ventured to look across at his companion again this 
 time a little more boldly. 
 
 The girl was certainly pretty ; yes, very pretty, 
 33 C
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 indeed. Though her face was turned well away from 
 him, so that he could catch only the soft line of her 
 cheek, he saw enough to convince him of that. Her 
 luxuriant brown hair clustered carelessly under a 
 most coquettish little hat, tipped, he noticed, some- 
 what to one side of her head ; she was dressed in a 
 way which, to his masculine eye, was faultless in its 
 ensemble, though he would never have been able to 
 describe the details by the subtle blending of which 
 the general effect had been produced ; the figure and 
 pose were, he thought, by all odds the most dainty 
 and graceful he had ever seen. Her tightly-gloved 
 hands lay folded in her lap, and the tiny pointed tip 
 of a diminutive shoe peeped coyly from beneath her 
 skirt. Here, of a surety, was one of his own heroines 
 of romance in flesh and blood before him ! Once 
 having taken all this in, himself unobserved, he con- 
 tinued, spellbound and bewildered, to allow his gaze 
 to rest upon her, till he became so absorbed in the 
 charm of the picture she presented that he forgot all 
 about himself and his own discomfiture. He longed 
 for her to turn, even for a moment, from the window, 
 that he might get a full view of her face, which he 
 was absolutely certain beforehand would be beautiful 
 radiantly beautiful. But the train rumbled and 
 rattled along on its clumsy way ; and still he watched 
 her with rapt intentness, and still, placid and unmoved, 
 she kept her head averted from him. 
 
 The revelation came at last, and came so suddenly 
 that the few stray wits poor John had left about him 
 were scattered in the instant. 
 
 They had just pulled up in a station, and there 
 34
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 was at once a wild confusion of slamming doors and 
 vociferous shoutings from a couple of porters who 
 rushed along the platform bawling prolix directions 
 about doing something or the other, or leaving it 
 undone at one's peril, in a tongue no man uninitiated 
 into their mysteries could hope to understand. All 
 this scuffle and tumult was nothing to John, but, as it 
 were, the faint murmur of the ral world breaking in 
 upon a dream which he vaguely felt he must struggle 
 to hold intact just as long as possible. But the 
 snapping of the spell came in a moment from within 
 the dream itself. Transfixed by the sudden flash of 
 a pair of large, luminous grey eyes turned easily and 
 frankly upon his own, and by the dimpling of a smile 
 which seemed as childishly innocent as it was fascinat- 
 ingly beautiful, the rapt young man started to find 
 himself addressed in accents which gained in sweet- 
 ness by reason of a slight, piquant suggestion of 
 foreign quality to be detected, as he fancied, in 
 them. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but could you tell me if this 
 is Portland Road ? " 
 
 " Portland Road ! " exclaimed John, with the air of 
 a man who now heard the name for the first time in 
 his life. " No, no, this isn't Portland Road certainly 
 not. I I don't quite know what station it is," he 
 added, without in the least realising what he was 
 saying, and peering through the smoke at the jumble 
 of advertisements which lined the opposite platform, 
 for the confusion of anxious passengers ; " but," with 
 decision, " I am sure it isn't Portland Road." 
 
 "Oh, that's all right, then," said the girl, with 
 35
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 another smile, which seemed to John to fill the dark, 
 , dirty compartment with a flood of light. " One 
 doesn't want to be carried quite out of one's way at 
 this time of night, you know," she went on, in easy 
 tones of explanation ; " and all the stations seem so 
 much alike, and I'm pretty much of a stranger in this 
 part of the world, anyway. I suppose this train does 
 go to Portland Road ? I was told so by the conductor, 
 or guard, or whatever you call him." 
 
 " Oh yes, it goes to Portland Road right enough," 
 said John, who was gradually regaining control of his 
 wits. " You want to get out there, do you ? " 
 
 " Most certainly 1 do ! " 
 
 " Well, then, don't worry." John cleared his throat 
 loudly, and took a sudden leap. " I'll see that you 
 don't miss the station. I I'm going to get out there 
 myself." 
 
 Oh, John ! John ! what in the world would your 
 good father, the Primitive Methodist local preacher, 
 have said to a plump lie like that ? Portland Road, 
 indeed ! when you know that you are bound for 
 Hammersmith, and that this is the last train that will 
 take you there to-night ! No wonder you flush red 
 to the roots of your hair when you meet the steady, 
 yet quizzical, gaze of your new companion's lustrous 
 grey eyes. 
 
 John, of course, could never afterwards give any 
 reasonable account to himself of his extraordinary 
 announcement. The words were out of his mouth 
 before he knew what he was about, or had time to 
 realise the rashness of the move he was making. All 
 he could possibly say concerning the matter, when he 
 
 36
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 came afterwards to think it over and over, and to 
 turn it in his astonishment this way and that, was 
 that he was spellbound, bewildered, carried completely 
 out of himself. Chance had thrown him, in the most 
 unexpected fashion, into the society of a strange 
 young woman, who had questioned him earnestly, as 
 one puzzled passenger has surely a right to question 
 another, about her route ; and within three minutes, 
 under the fascination of her presence, he had, in his 
 own mind, already practically constituted himself her 
 knight-attendant ; and as a first step to whatever 
 might come of it, had mendaciously asserted her 
 destination to be also his, notwithstanding that he 
 would be deposited in consequence miles out of his 
 proper way. Was it not rash, thoughtless, crazy ? 
 Or rather, was it not a thousand times worse than 
 this ? Here was a young girl, smartly dressed, talka- 
 tive, singularly unembarrassed in her behaviour, 
 travelling by herself in a third-class compartment on 
 the underground railway after midnight. She must 
 have entered the carriage of which he had been in 
 sole possession purposely, one might suppose, choos- 
 ing this from the score of unoccupied ones at her 
 disposal. Looked at in calm blood, it all appeared 
 very suspicious, and John, had he been wise, might 
 very well have argued with himself that in offering 
 her any counsel or assistance, certainly in putting 
 himself to any inconvenience to help her, he would 
 run serious risk of having, at the best, only his trouble 
 for his pains. But he was in no mood to lend ear to 
 the whispers of wisdom. Sermons and soda-water 
 are proverbially known to belong to the day after. 
 
 37
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 He did not stop to reason with himself, or even in his 
 excitement to give a second thought to the plain facts 
 of his situation. Touched by a magic, the like of 
 which, in power and subtlety, he had never felt, never 
 so much as dreamed of before, the infatuated young 
 man capitulated entirely, and without a struggle. 
 
 After all, even when the time came for sermons 
 and soda-water, though he might look back on his 
 erratic and apparently unaccountable conduct with 
 ever-growing surprise, he could not find it in his 
 heart to pass harsh judgment upon himself for reck- 
 lessness or stupidity. There was something about 
 the girl which distinguished her sharply from the 
 common adventuress. Her dress, it is true, betrayed 
 a fondness for high colour, and somewhat fantastic, if 
 not exactly hazardous effects. But John felt instinc- 
 tively, uncritical though he was in such matters, as a 
 rule, that it was neither fast nor vulgar, but admirably 
 conceived, and in perfectly good taste. Whatever 
 one might say of individual touches here and there 
 and it is hardly to the point to remark that John 
 himself would not have had a detail altered her 
 whole appearance was at once dainty and neat ; her 
 style and bearing had the mysterious but unmistak- 
 able cachet of the lady ; while, the moment she spoke, 
 her clear, delicate enunciation and low-pitched, 
 musical voice carried conviction of breeding and 
 culture. Her very ease and frankness of bearing 
 were beyond exception ; so far from giving the 
 slightest hint of coarseness or careless freedom, they 
 seemed only the unchecked expression of a candid 
 and simple nature a nature wholly innocent of guile. 
 
 38
 
 All these considerations, however, had, it is almost 
 needless to say, absolutely nothing to do with John's 
 line of action at the moment. They formed a large 
 part of his self-defence in many a later hour, when 
 his adventure, viewed in retrospect, had come to 
 seem more like a dream than a reality, and when he 
 marvelled greatly how he had been led to conduct 
 himself as he had done. For the time being, a spell 
 was upon him, which he did not even wish to break. 
 Without breathing-space for question or doubt, and 
 perfectly willing to let things take their own course, 
 be the issue what it might, he was deaf to reason and 
 blind to consequences, and, of course, extremely 
 happy. 
 
 " Ah, thank you now I feel safe ! " said the girl 
 lightly, as though John's veiled offer of service and 
 escort was the most natural thing in the world. 
 The words themselves, and the tone in which they 
 were uttered, gave no suggestion of surprise ; but 
 was there, or was there not the young man was 
 never able to satisfy himself about this, though he put 
 the question a hundred times a certain mischievous 
 look about the eyes ? " This underground is a 
 terrible invention, isn't it ? ugh ! Do you Lon- 
 doners ever get used to these awful fumes, I wonder ? 
 Why don't you build an elevated railroad, like they 
 have in New York ? It isn't pretty, of course, and I 
 daresay it's awkward to have the train running just 
 outside one's bedroom window. But then, after all, 
 fresh air is something don't you think so? Do you 
 know " John was too much infatuated to notice 
 particularly the way in which she rattled on without 
 
 39
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 waiting for any reply to her queries " do you know," 
 and she laughed in the merriest and most musical 
 way, " I was really very much afraid that you were 
 going to miss your own station, you seemed to be so 
 fast asleep." 
 
 John felt himself turn crimson again, remembering 
 the half-open mouth. Yes ; there appeared to be no 
 question about it the girl's laugh settled the matter 
 he had snored. 
 
 " I I really don't think I was actually asleep," he 
 stammered, in his confusion. " I think I may have 
 I hardly know, but I think I may have just closed 
 my eyes, perhaps. I was awfully tired ; it's getting 
 late and I I the motion of the train, you 
 know " 
 
 He broke down abruptly in his attempted explana- 
 tion, for his companion was shaking her pretty head 
 in a way that left no possible doubt as to what she 
 thought of its value. 
 
 "Well, well," she said, "and why in the world 
 should not you close your eyes if you wanted to ? 
 No apology is necessary to me, I am sure, for with 
 your eyes closed, you couldn't know of my existence, 
 could you? And this is a free country, I'm told, 
 where everyone may do as he likes. Come over here, 
 and sit by me. We may as well be friends for the 
 few minutes we are together, mayn't we ? and I hate 
 to shout against all the noise and jolting of the train. 
 That's better ! Nobody will interrupt us ; they'll 
 avoid our carriage, thinking we're a pair of devoted 
 young lovers, I suppose regular 'Any and 'Arriet 
 style, eh ? Isn't that fun ? " The girl laughed 
 
 40
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 again, and John was really surprised to find that he 
 did not feel a bit embarrassed or uncomfortable, save 
 perhaps for a certain haunting recollection of the 
 snoring. " And now then, 'Any I may call you 
 'Any to keep up the joke, mayn't I ? It's just as 
 well to get all the fun one can out of things, don't 
 you think so? and now then, 'Any, how did you 
 come to be out by yourself at this time of night ? 
 Do you know that it's past twelve o'clock ? " 
 
 This was too good ! 
 
 " I'd rather like to know how you come to be out 
 by yourself at this time of night," said John boldly. 
 
 Yes, John actually said this the ordinarily shy and 
 reticent John. 
 
 Once more his enigmatical little companion laughed 
 gaily, and her laughter bubbled up in light ripples, 
 and was very pleasant to listen to. She did not 
 seem to take the question amiss, or to treat it at all 
 seriously. Would she ever treat anything seriously, 
 John wondered, this bright and dainty maiden, so 
 curiously out of place in her present surroundings, 
 and so bewildering in her perfect frankness and 
 composure ? 
 
 " I ? Oh, I'm all right ! I can take care of myself 
 very well, thank you. And I thought it was always 
 considered extremely impolite to answer one question 
 by asking another, especially where a lady's con-, 
 cerned." She pouted with mock gravity, and John 
 could not help noticing that her face, suddenly grave 
 and almost severe, had all the mobility of an actress's. 
 " Come, sir/' she continued, " I'm not going to let 
 you off. What are you doing on the underground 
 
 41
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 railroad at midnight, eh ? You ought to be at home 
 and in bed." 
 
 John had no genius for chaff, and unlike most men 
 of his age and station, knew too little of certain 
 classes of society to be able to take his part in light 
 banter and meaningless repartee. It was his habit 
 to regard everything solemnly and in particular, 
 everything that, however remotely, concerned him- 
 self. Moreover, the present situation was for him 
 one in which any kind of badinage would have been 
 ill-timed and impertinent. He concluded afterwards, 
 what any other young fellow would have seen at once, 
 that the girl had, in reality, no kind of interest in him 
 or his movements that in all probability she was 
 only obeying the dictates of a spontaneous and effer- 
 vescent nature in carelessly keeping up a sort of 
 nonsensical give-and-take conversation with a travel- 
 ling companion whom chance had thrown in her way, 
 and whom there was not the slightest probability of 
 her ever meeting again. But this view of the matter 
 did not dawn upon him at the moment, and he 
 answered with laborious precision and earnestness. 
 
 " I've been out spending the evening with some 
 friends of mine. They live a long way off. All one's 
 friends live a long way off in London. London's a 
 big place altogether too big, I think." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about that," said the girl, with 
 a little toss of her head ; " I guess that depends on 
 taste and and other things." John felt that she 
 now really meant what she said, and was piqued with 
 the notion that there must be some inner significance 
 in her words. " I, for one, like a big place a place 
 
 42
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 where one can be swallowed in the crowd, and where 
 no one knows or cares anything about you." 
 
 The low, musical tones had a ring of genuine 
 emotion, and the grey eyes had grown almost hard. 
 But there was no keeping pace with this strange, 
 volatile creature. In another instant she had gone 
 back to her reckless jesting. 
 
 " Friends, eh ? Well, I daresay you had a good 
 time. You men always do when you're alone. 
 Women are always in the way, though you're too 
 gallant to own it sometimes, at least." 
 
 " But I assure you " 
 
 "Yes, there you are! Never mind. I'll forgive 
 you. I daresay I should have been the same if I'd 
 had the misfortune to be born a man. I hope you 
 didn't drink too much. That's wicked, you know. 
 I smell you of tobacco-smoke." 
 
 " Well, all the other fellows were smoking " 
 
 " Naturally all the other fellows always do, I 
 believe. You needn't care, anyway, as long as your 
 wife doesn't mind." 
 
 " My wife ! " exclaimed John, in horror. " Why, 
 I'm not married ! " 
 
 " Oh, come now " 
 
 " Ton my honour, I'm not." John looked at the 
 girl with such pleading solemnity that she broke 
 into a laugh. 
 
 " Well, don't be angry. You you look like a 
 married man. Oh, I don't know why exactly, but 
 you do. There's a sort of air about you I can't 
 define it ! Feminine instinct wrong for once, eh ? 
 Besides, I thought all Englishmen settled down by 
 
 43
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the time they got to be thirty years of age. I've 
 always heard so much of the domestic hearth, and 
 that sort of thing. You really disillusion me dread- 
 fully. You ought by your time of life to be a regular 
 prosy pere de famille, with half-a-dozen children to 
 take to church with you on Sunday. How can 
 you dare to fly in the face of Providence in this 
 disgraceful way ? " 
 
 " It's all very well for you to make fun of of these 
 things," said John, a trifle ruefully. "I I wish you 
 wouldn't." He might dream vain dreams of stirring 
 incident and adventure, and stimulate his fancy with 
 romance ; but, after all, he could not entirely throw 
 off the influences of the great British Middle-class 
 Tradition into which he had been born, and for 
 which, as he was quick to observe, his companion 
 had but scant respect. " I I well, I don't see why 
 a man shouldn't get married, and and take his 
 children to church, or chapel, for that matter. Don't 
 laugh. I'm quite sure that I that you I mean, 
 that if I suppose," exclaimed John, making a 
 sudden dash out of his confusion, " that you are not 
 English yourself!" 
 
 " Don't I speak English like a native ? " asked the 
 girl gaily. 
 
 John had no time to reply to her question, for the 
 train lumbered into a station, and stopped with a 
 jerk. 
 
 " This is Portland Road," he said. 
 
 Though his brain was in a whirl, he felt perfectly 
 ready for whatever might happen next. So he held 
 out his hand, and helped the girl to alight. 
 
 44
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE END OF JOHN'S ADVENTURE ON THE 
 UNDERGROUND RAILWAY 
 
 WHEN they reached the top of the station stairway 
 and turned into the Euston Road, the girl faced round 
 and held out her hand. 
 
 " Good-night, and good-bye ! " she said. " Thank 
 you for all your kindness ! " 
 
 " I don't see why it should be good-night ! " said 
 John boldly. " It's awfully late for you to be out 
 alone ; which way are you going ? " 
 
 " I won't tell you. It's awfully late for you, too. 
 It would be a shame to trespass on your good-nature 
 any longer. Come good-bye ! " 
 
 " Which way are you going ? " John insisted. 
 
 He had never spoken in such a manner before. 
 He was no more the mild John Smith, whom Ben 
 Chadwick was wont to counsel, and whom Simpson 
 loved to chaff. He was quite dictatorial and 
 peremptory. 
 
 " Well, then, if you must know, I have to go as far 
 as Great Coram Street." 
 
 " Capital ! " exclaimed John. " That's quite in my 
 direction. I'm going to to Russell Square." 
 
 John said this quite naturally, and met, without 
 45
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 flinching, the sharp glance of the keen, sceptical grey 
 eyes. It is wonderful what rapid progress may be 
 made in the fine art of lying with a little practice, 
 and if one only takes oneself steadily in hand. And 
 after all, was he lying ? You can get from Portland 
 Road Station to Hammersmith by way of Russell 
 Square, as one can get from London to Paris by way 
 of the Cape of Good Hope. Only, it is not exactly 
 the shortest cut. 
 
 " Will you walk, or shall I call a hansom ? " 
 continued the reckless young man. 
 
 Having regard to his own statement of destination, 
 he did not think it necessary to inform his companion 
 that she had made a mistake in coming so far as 
 Portland Road, and that her most convenient station 
 would have been King's Cross or Gower Street. 
 
 " Thanks, I'll walk, certainly. It's not far, is it ? 
 and I've been riding in trains all day." 
 
 " Let me offer you my arm, then." 
 
 A sudden but decided change had come over John 
 since he left the railway compartment and stepped 
 out into the fresh air. At first he had been simply 
 staggered and bewildered ; he had talked, listened, 
 acted as in a strange, wild dream. Now he had 
 wakened, not, however, to reality, but to romance. 
 Vague memories of the novels over which he had 
 pored from boyhood up swept through his brain. 
 He recalled in an instant a dozen dramatic situations, 
 and seemed, as it were, to gain inspiration and strength. 
 This dainty creature at his side, with her little kid- 
 gloved hand placed lightly on his arm, and her pretty 
 delicate face half hidden for the moment beneath her 
 
 46
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 coquettish hat surely she belonged not to the pro- 
 saic, sordid life, against which he had so long vainly 
 protested, but to the bright world of which he had 
 caught fleeting glimpses in his visions the world in 
 which things happened. He felt himself on the 
 threshold of a real adventure. Life might turn out to 
 be worth living, after all. Let him but screw his 
 courage to the sticking-point, and who could tell what 
 might come to pass. Vast possibilities possibilities 
 undefined, it is true, but still vast and tempting 
 flashed upon his mind. Poor John ! Little, -indeed, 
 did he dream of what would be the issue of that 
 night's rash conduct. Little did he foresee into what 
 tortuous paths his innocent feet were to be led. Had 
 he been endowed for just one second with the faculty 
 of anticipating the future, I think he would have 
 drawn back in horror, bidding his companion a 
 hasty farewell. But as he had no greater power 
 of prescience than the rest of us, he went his way, 
 stirred to energy and pluck by the girl's beauty 
 and fascination, and by the thought that surely 
 something unusual, something worth while, would 
 certainly come from this unexpected interruption to 
 the ordinary humdrum course of his daily affairs. 
 
 Though it was still early autumn, the night air 
 was chilly, and a mist, through which the lamp-lights 
 gleamed a sickly and ineffective yellow, hung over 
 the long quiet street. 
 
 " Are you warm enough ? " asked John, as they 
 set out together. He noticed that she had only the 
 lightest of summer wraps about her shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, amply, thank you ! And isn't it a relief to 
 47
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 be out of that terrible railroad, and in the fresh air 
 again ? " She threw her head back a little, breathing 
 hard. " I suppose you're quite used to it ? But I 
 don't think I should ever get so, if I lived in 
 London twenty years. It seems to poison me 
 bah!" 
 
 " I travel by it as little as ever I can," said John. 
 " I go into the city and back every day by omnibus, 
 unless it's very wet This is about the worst part of 
 the line, you know." 
 
 She ignored this piece of information. 
 
 " You're wiser than than you've given me reason 
 to believe you, then," she said, glancing up into his 
 face. 
 
 " What d'you mean by that ? " 
 
 " You'll understand to-morrow, if you don't now." 
 
 " But I want to understand now, and if " 
 
 " Oh, no, you don't ! " was the decisive reply. " It 
 would spoil the fun altogether. There's always 
 plenty of time for understanding anything. At any 
 rate, a man can always wait to realise what a donkey 
 he's been. There's never any hurry about that." 
 
 " Why do you think I've been a donkey ? " asked 
 John. He did not know whether the girl was in 
 earnest ; he more than half thought she was. He 
 was, at all events profoundly so. 
 
 " I didn't say you'd been a donkey." 
 
 " But you implied it " 
 
 " My dear friend, I was only laying down a very 
 interesting general proposition ; and, of course " 
 
 " Stuff and rubbish ! " exclaimed John. " I'm not 
 talking about general propositions. You as good as 
 
 48
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 said that I had been a donkey. I want to know 
 why ? " 
 
 He spoke quite fiercely. The girl laughed. She 
 seemed really delighted to have teased poor John 
 into an excitement bordering upon positive anger. 
 
 " Do be quiet ! " she said. " I shan't walk with 
 you if you're going to make such a fuss. You have 
 no right to cross-examine a lady. We are quite 
 irresponsible, and may say what we please. Besides, 
 we shall be taken for lovers having a quarrel, and I 
 wouldn't tolerate anything so absurd." 
 
 Just at that moment they were passing a police- 
 man on his beat, who was flashing the bright light of 
 his bull's-eye upon the fastenings of the door and 
 windows of one of the houses. 
 
 John gave an indifferent glance at the officer of 
 the law, who scarcely turned to look at them, and 
 then continued his slow, regular way up the street. 
 
 " I think you might answer a fair question," he 
 said woefully. 
 
 " But I don't think it is a fair question there ! 
 And I'm not going to answer it there again ! And 
 it will answer itself soon enough ; you see if it 
 doesn't there for the third time ! Why, good 
 gracious me ! what nonsense we're talking ! Let's 
 change the subject. You haven't told me all about 
 yourself yet, you know." 
 
 " And you haven't told me anything about your- 
 self? said John doggedly. " I was asking you just 
 before we got out of the train whether you were 
 English, and you only replied by asking me in return 
 whether you didn't speak like a native. You said 
 
 49 D
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 yourself that that isn't the polite way of meeting a 
 question. You do speak as well as any native I ever 
 heard," continued John, with enthusiasm ; " but I 
 don't believe you're an Englishwoman, for all that." 
 
 " Well, there's no doubt about you're being an 
 Englishman, and a Cockney at that," answered the 
 girl. " Why do all you Londoners speak with such a 
 twang ? " 
 
 " Twang ! " said John. " Why, it's only Americans 
 who have a twang. I didn't know there was anything 
 peculiar about the way we talk." 
 
 " There's British insularity for you ! " 
 
 " I suppose you're an American yourself " 
 
 "Where did you learn to jump at conclusions in 
 such an extraordinary way ? Your brain works with 
 wonderful rapidity, doesn't it ? " 
 
 "But you were talking in the train about the 
 elevated railroad in New York ; and you said 
 ' conductor,' and ' guess,' and " 
 
 " And you think I have a twang, do you ? " 
 
 "Well, your accent seems to me just a little 
 foreign French or something. I don't know what 
 I'm not very well up in these things " 
 
 " And because I have a French accent, you think I 
 come from America, eh?" said the girl quizzically. 
 " You're a splendid logician, certainly." 
 
 But John stuck to his purpose. 
 
 " I don't mind your chaff," he said. " Are you 
 French, or American, or what ? " 
 
 John remembered afterwards every detail of this 
 conversation, going over it a hundred times ; and he 
 could not help thinking what a remarkably curious, 
 
 50
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 abrupt, and unprofitable conversation it was, leading, 
 as far as he was concerned, nowhither. It had quite 
 evidently been the girl's purpose though he had not 
 specially observed this in his flurry at the time to 
 keep the interest entirely off herself. What, he was 
 fain to ask himself, would two young people, situated 
 as they had been, have naturally talked about? 
 About all sorts of pleasant things, personal and 
 impersonal, and mainly, no doubt, the former. It 
 was easy enough to evolve an ideal conversation for 
 them a conversation in perfect harmony with what 
 he delighted to describe as the romantic circumstances 
 of their meeting and intercourse. He had offered, 
 and she had cheerfully accepted, his escort. Surely 
 this should have meant a little serious talk, bordering 
 upon the sentimental, perhaps, but at any rate open 
 and confidential. But instead of that, they had, as it 
 seemed to him, spent most of their time in fencing ; 
 and he was conscious that he had not got the better 
 of it in any of their trials of skill. 
 
 But how she might have parried his last point- 
 blank question, had she been left to herself by what 
 renewed banter she might have thrown him again off 
 his line of inquiry John had no chance of discovering; 
 for just then a strange thing happened, which forced 
 their attention for the moment into quite a fresh 
 channel. 
 
 John had a born Cockney's "extensive and 
 peculiar " knowledge of London, and while they were 
 talking, he had turned off sharply to the left, taking 
 a by-street which he knew would lead them most 
 directly to their destination. He did this, not because 
 
 Si
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 he was anxious to curtail their walk together by a 
 single minute, for he would willingly have extended 
 it indefinitely ; but because, with all his vapouring 
 foolishness, he was at bottom a good young fellow, 
 and having a vague feeling that he had become 
 responsible for his companion's safe-conduct, and that 
 some mother, or sister, or perhaps male relative, might 
 be worrying about her, he concluded that it was his 
 duty to see her home as quickly as possible. But 
 this short cut of his had brought them into a neigh- 
 bourhood of narrower, and darker, and more lonely 
 streets, in which the unwary pedestrian might easily 
 miss his way, and through which, at any rate, had he 
 given a second thought to the matter, he might have 
 hesitated to escort a lady. He had not given such 
 second thought to it ; indeed, his mind was too full to 
 find place for any consideration of the kind, and to 
 him this present route seemed simply a thing of course. 
 Nevertheless, he was a good deal startled when the 
 girl stopped suddenly, as they turned a corner, 
 and in a voice that rang with some new feeling, 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " What do you think of that ? " 
 
 John, brought to an unexpected standstill, looked 
 round in a dazed way. The pressure of the small 
 hand upon his arm had tightened into a grip. 
 
 " What do I think of what ? " he asked blankly. 
 
 " Of that" replied the girl, pointing to the doorstep 
 before which they had paused. 
 
 Gazing down in the direction indicated, John saw 
 a small bundle of rags, which, on closer inspection, 
 turned out to be a sleeping child. There was 
 
 52
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 little light in the street, but enough to show a 
 tiny face, prematurely old and worn, and pinched 
 features which bore every mark of hunger and ill- 
 usage. 
 
 " It's only a child," he said. To him, a Londoner, 
 such sights were familiar enough. He was not 
 naturally less sympathetic than most men of his age, 
 but custom had dulled his sensibilities. 
 
 " Only a child ! " cried the girl, turning fiercely 
 upon him. " My God ! how can you talk like that 
 how dare you talk like that ! " She snatched her 
 hand from his arm. " You call yourself a Christian, I 
 suppose, eh ? and you live in what you call a 
 Christian country ; and you read newspapers which 
 tell you how great and rich you English people are, 
 and you fancy that, under Heaven, there's no one like 
 you. Bah ! you make me sick. You're as bad as 
 the rest of them. Who do you think put that child 
 there to starve? You did, whatever your name is. 
 And don't you know, or don't you ever care to know, 
 that in this big, wealthy, gorgeous, pleasure-loving, 
 hypocritical London there are hundreds of thousands 
 of such children, born in misery, bred in misery, 
 doomed to a life of hopeless misery ; and that it's all 
 your fault your fault your fault ! Look at that 
 child look at her, I say ! She's only a symbol a 
 mere unconscious symbol of everything that is 
 hideous, and bad, and revolting in the great social 
 system that you help to foster yes, you, with your 
 lies and your conventions. Only a child, indeed ! 
 I say, how dare you talk like that ? " 
 
 Poor John could only stand and stare in speechless 
 53
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 amazement. Who could have foreseen such an 
 explosion ? And what a little spitfire the girl was ! 
 Only two minutes ago she had been walking at his 
 side, full of pretty nonsense and whimsicality, a gay, 
 volatile creature whom one never would have imagined 
 capable of any deep or serious thought. And now 
 she had burst upon him, her face darkened with 
 sudden passion, and had accused him, in her flighty 
 volubility, of all sorts of horrible things that had 
 never before entered his mind. Was she mad ? 
 What, in the name of common sense, had this child 
 to do with him ? 
 
 " I I don't see that there's anything to be done," 
 he muttered. 
 
 His teeth were positively chattering. 
 
 " Of course, there's nothing to be done," answered 
 the girl, in a hard voice. " At least, not now. 
 There's lots to be done by-and-by, though lots and 
 lots ! Oh, things won't last for ever as they are at 
 present. Mark my words, you'll never forget that 
 child never never ! You'll think of her a thousand 
 times, and you'll come, perhaps, to realise that she's a 
 symbol. Did you never ask yourself what, at the 
 very bottom of your soul, is your final judgment of a 
 civilisation which makes such a thing possible nay, 
 rather inevitable ? Not you ! You're a fool, like 
 most people. Perhaps you'll live to see your folly 
 who knows ? The child's asleep. Let us leave her 
 here. For once we'll act on your favourite maxim of 
 c Nothing to be done.' Come on ! " 
 
 Decidedly, John thought, this girl must be a trifle 
 crazy. What was she talking about ? What did she 
 
 54
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 mean with her symbols ? And why had she called 
 him a fool ? 
 
 He did not offer her his arm again, but she took 
 it as a matter of course, and for a few minutes they 
 walked on in silence. Then she spoke. 
 
 " I know what you're thinking of me." 
 
 " Do you ? " said John. He was so bewildered 
 that there was nothing else that he could find to 
 say. And if she knew what he was thinking of 
 her, it was more at the moment than he did. 
 
 " Yes, perfectly well. You're thinking that I must 
 have escaped from a lunatic asylum, or be on my 
 way to one." 
 
 She turned her bright young face up to his, and 
 John noticed that all the hardness and passion had 
 gone from it. 
 
 " Well," he began, with much deliberation, " I was 
 a little surprised, you know, and I couldn't quite 
 understand " 
 
 " Of course, you couldn't." She laughed in the 
 old, thoughtless way. " No, I'm not a lunatic at 
 least, I don't fancy I am yet. No one can quite 
 tell. But I am a fool ; there's no doubt about that 
 I am a fool." 
 
 " You called me that," John remarked. 
 
 " Did I ? Well, I suppose you are. So am I. 
 That satisfies you, doesn't it ? Men and women 
 are only species of the genus Fool. Don't look so 
 glum. We're nearly there now, aren't we ? and 
 and what were we talking about before this stupid 
 interruption ? Never mind. You were going to tell 
 me about yourself, weren't you ? " 
 
 55
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " I don't think so." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you were." Manner, voice, expression 
 had undergone another lightning-like change. The 
 terrible Symbol seemed to have passed entirely out 
 of her mind. She was quite her old self again. 
 
 " What do you want to know ? " asked John 
 stupidly. She might have recovered ; but he had 
 not done so. 
 
 " Everything, of course. To begin with what's 
 your name?" 
 
 John felt himself grow hot all over, and hesitated. 
 
 " Smith," he said thickly. 
 
 " Rather vague, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Well, but " 
 
 " Oh, I know you couldn't help it ! It's one of the 
 things over which one has no control. But isn't it 
 Byron, or somebody, who said that a man might as 
 well have no name at all as be called John Smith ? " 
 
 " If Byron said that" 
 
 " I'm not sure that he did ; somebody said it, any 
 way. What's your other name ? " 
 
 John swallowed hard. Here was a crisis. What 
 he might have answered a moment before, there is 
 no telling ; but after that fatal quotation from Byron, 
 or some other cynic, the simple truth was out of the 
 question. Besides, did he not now feel himself to 
 be the hero of a romance, and should he go back 
 upon the experiment to which, after much painful 
 agitation, he had only last night committed himself? 
 
 " FitzHugh Vespasian," he replied, with fatal 
 distinctness. 
 
 The next instant he wished with all his heart he 
 56
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 had stuck to plain John, for a merry peal of laughter 
 literally awoke the echoes of the slumbering street. 
 
 " Fitz what?" exclaimed the girl. "Oh, do say 
 it again ! " 
 
 John said it again. He was hotter than ever. 
 
 " Why, I never in my life heard anything so 
 funny. FitzHugh Ves pas ian Smith," making 
 long pauses between the syllables. " Well, no one 
 could ever forget that. How did you come by 
 such a name?" 
 
 " How does anyone come by their name ? " groaned 
 the unfortunate John, with ungrammatical solemnity. 
 He had done for himself now, and there was no 
 getting out of it 
 
 " But it sounds for all the world like a novel. It's 
 too funny. Your father and mother must have been 
 great novel readers." 
 
 It was John's turn to be amused now, though there 
 was little heart in his mirth. 
 
 " I don't suppose my father and mother ever looked 
 at a novel in their lives," he answered, " or ever had 
 one in their possession." 
 
 " Then I give it up. What an awfully odd fellow 
 you are, Mr. FitzHugh Vespasian Smith. Go on ; 
 tell me something about them." 
 
 Whereupon John, only too glad to change a sub- 
 ject which threatened to plunge him, with every fresh 
 step, into deeper and deeper abysses of absurdity and 
 wretchedness, proceeded to give some account of his 
 home-life. He suppressed entirely all reference to 
 his own struggle against the overwhelming odds of 
 destiny, his strange dreams of romance, and his long 
 
 57
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 cherished ambitions. But with much simplicity he 
 spoke of his widowed mother, and of the quiet, 
 uneventful routine of their daily existence. 
 
 His companion listened attentively, only once 
 interrupting him to ask when they had removed 
 from Hammersmith (to which place he had un- 
 wittingly alluded), to the neighbourhood of Russell 
 Square. This question John was wise enough to 
 feign not to hear ; and it was not repeated. 
 
 It was very pleasant to be talking so freely about 
 himself to this pretty and fascinating little creature, 
 and to find in her so sympathetic a listener. It 
 will be readily understood, therefore, that Great 
 Coram Street came altogether too soon, and that it 
 was with a shock that he found himself brought by 
 the girl once more to a sudden standstill. 
 
 " Now, then, Mr. Smith, good-bye ! " 
 
 " But I must see you right home," the young man 
 protested. 
 
 " No, you must not come a step farther with 
 me." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you why. You must take my word 
 for it. Beyond which, if you are a gentleman and 
 I know you are, for you have behaved as one 
 to-night you will leave me here, and promise not 
 to follow me and stare after me, or try in any way to 
 find out where I go to. You promise?" 
 
 John was rueful and crestfallen. This seemed a 
 very flat and unsatisfactory ending to his evening's 
 wonderful adventure. But the girl spoke with great 
 firmness, and he saw that she meant what she said, 
 
 58.
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMFTH 
 
 " Yes, I promise on my honour as a gentleman ! " 
 assuming the heroic. 
 
 "Thank you. I know you will think it very 
 curious ; but it is my wish, and that's enough, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " I would do anything you might ask," said John 
 fervently. 
 
 " Thanks again, and good-bye, then ! " 
 
 "At least, it might be good-night instead of 
 good-bye ! " 
 
 " No, no ; good-bye and for ever ! " said the girl, 
 holding out her hand. 
 
 "Do you mean," said John, in mingled despair 
 and amazement, " that I am never to see you again ? " 
 
 " Of course, that is what I mean. That is my 
 wish my command Mr. Smith. No, you mustn't 
 ask why. If I could tell you I would ; but I cannot 
 do so." 
 
 " Your word is law to me," said John, now quite 
 in the heroic mood, and striking an attitude which 
 would have done credit to one of his own favourite 
 gentlemen of the cap-and-sword. " But but all 
 the same, you know " and here the heroic failed 
 him suddenly, and he became the simple Cockney 
 young man "it seems deuced hard." 
 
 " It is for the best," answered his companion 
 decisively. " Mr. Smith " he had taken her hand 
 now, and she allowed him to hold it, while she 
 spoke very clearly and seriously " Mr. Smith, will 
 you allow me to say a word to you before you go ? 
 You have been extremely kind to me to-night 
 extremely kind and courteous. I want to tell you 
 
 59
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 that I appreciate your conduct thoroughly. I know 
 more of the world than you, perhaps, may suppose ; 
 and I know, therefore, that you might have acted 
 quite differently towards me. I I shall not 
 forget you ; your your funny name " John winced 
 "will remain in my mind whatever may happen 
 to me, and wherever I may be. But do you think 
 that you have been very wise ? You know as well 
 as I do that you have no business here in Russell 
 Square, and that you are miles from Hammersmith, 
 where you ought to have been safely in bed an hour 
 ago. Ask yourself haven't you come on a wild- 
 goose chase to-night? How did you know who 
 and what I was ; how " 
 
 " Oh, hang it all," John burst out ; "I know you 
 are as good as you are beautiful " 
 
 " Stuff and rubbish, Mr. Smith. All that kind of 
 thing belongs to the novels your father and mother 
 didn't read. Yes, yes, it's well enough to be kind to 
 a stranger ; but London's a big place, as you said, 
 and a wicked one, and you ought to be careful what 
 you are about. You think I'm talking nonsense, I 
 daresay. I'm not You're a good young man, and 
 I like you, or I wouldn't take the trouble to say what 
 I'm saying now. You have your mother to care for, 
 and your way to make, and your life is before you. 
 You have absolutely no business with a girl like me. 
 Don't misunderstand me " she looked into his face 
 frankly, and without the slightest embarrassment 
 " I'm not a Marion or a Marguerite, or anything of 
 that sort." John did not follow her allusions, but 
 none the less he understood what she meant perfectly 
 
 60
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 well. " But all the same, I am what I am, and what 
 you would never, never understand. Chance threw 
 us into the way of one another this evening, and 
 we've had a jolly time together, though I did tease 
 you at first, I'm afraid, for I thought somehow that 
 you were a little bit of an English milksop. Well, 
 there the matter ends. Let's take what the gods 
 have sent us, and be thankful. There'll be no bad 
 taste in the mouth, no unpleasantness or disappoint- 
 ments, if we leave things just as they are. To go 
 farther would bring us both nothing but misery. Go 
 home, like a good boy " her voice trembled a little, 
 though she broke into a laugh " be more careful in 
 the future, and, above all, do your best to forget me." 
 
 John was too much staggered by this extraordinary 
 speech to undertake any reply. All he could stammer 
 out was : 
 
 " At least for I shall never forget you you might 
 tell me your name." 
 
 " If you ever think of me, think of me as Victorine," 
 answered the girl. " But it will be much better never 
 to think of me at all. So good-bye ! " 
 
 " Good-bye ! " said John huskily. 
 
 He pressed her hand, and was about to turn on his 
 heel to go. But Fate would have it that his night's 
 adventure was not to close quite so tamely. Suddenly, 
 noiselessly, from somewhere out of the darkness, a tall, 
 massive figure stepped up to them, and laid a large 
 hand on Victorine's shoulder. John caught sight of 
 the face by the faint light of the street lamp at the 
 corner. It was a huge, rough-hewn, swarthy face, 
 set with the keenest of black eyes, and half buried in 
 
 61
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 shaggy eyebrows, rough hair, and a short, bristly, 
 untidy red beard. 
 
 What this repulsive individual said to his com- 
 panion, John could not even guess, for the tongue 
 was entirely strange to him it was not German or 
 French, he knew, and it seemed full of rumbling 
 gutturals; but he could tell from the man's surly 
 manner, and the tones of his voice, that he was 
 angry. 
 
 John's blood was up, and for a moment he stood 
 alert, quite ready to interfere. 
 
 But Victorine answered the new-comer in his own 
 language, gaily, and with one of her ripples of 
 laughter, and then pointed to John. 
 
 " This gentleman," she said, dropping into English, 
 " has been very kind to me to-night. He has been 
 good enough to see me home, and I don't know what 
 I should have done without him. I'm all right now, 
 you see, Mr. Smith. I'm so much obliged to you for 
 taking so much trouble. Good-bye ! " 
 
 And she shook hands with him, as she might have 
 done with any ordinary stranger. 
 
 The next moment John found himself alone in the 
 street. What had just happened had happened so 
 quickly that it seemed like a dream. At first, in his 
 confusion and anxiety, he was on the point of 
 following the ill-assorted pair ; but he remembered 
 his promise, and resisted the impulse. What, then, 
 was to be done? Nothing. He lingered for a few 
 seconds where they had left him ; and then, dazed 
 and excited, turned and went his way. 
 
 62
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE NEXT 
 
 "YOU'RE not looking very well, John," said Mrs. 
 Smith the following morning, when her son joined 
 her at their simple breakfast-table. " Have you got 
 a headache ? " 
 
 " I'm all right, mother," replied John tartly, 
 helping himself, but without enthusiasm, to a rasher 
 of bacon. " I'm rather tired, that's all." 
 
 His appearance certainly belied his words, and 
 justified the anxiety depicted on the maternal 
 countenance. He was pale and haggard, and there 
 were dark rims under his eyes. We have spoken 
 of the unpleasant effects which the good cheer at 
 Simpson's commonly had upon him. In the present 
 case matters had been made ten times worse by the 
 excitement of his subsequent adventures, his hurried 
 return, well on in the small hours, in a hansom cab, 
 and the feverish dreams which had haunted the 
 broken snatches of sleep which, towards daybreak, 
 he had at last succeeded in getting. 
 
 " You were very late, weren't you ? " continued Mrs. 
 Smith, handing him his cup of tea. 
 
 "Yes, rather," John answered, evading her eye. 
 " I missed my train, and one thing and another, and 
 
 63
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 had some difficulty in getting home. It's a long way, 
 you know." 
 
 John had been careful to dismiss the cab at the 
 corner of the street, and to effect his entrance with 
 more than usual precaution. He always did his best 
 not to disturb his mother when he happened to return 
 after her early bed-time. His habit of closing the 
 front door softly, and creeping on tiptoe up the stairs 
 and past her room, had really grown out of his 
 thoughtfulness for her. On the present occasion, 
 however, he was conscious that selfish considerations 
 had been in the ascendant. 
 
 As for Mrs. Smith herself, I do not suppose that 
 she was altogether satisfied with her son's explana- 
 tion, though no suspicions were aroused. She was 
 simply sorry that he had been so late she had heard 
 the clock strike one before she fell asleep, and knew 
 then that he had not yet come in ; and she regretted 
 to see his sallow cheeks, and to observe the effort it 
 required for him to swallow a few mouthfuls of solid 
 food. She was a kindly, weak, absolutely common- 
 place woman, with a long, expressionless face, faint 
 blue eyes, and hair that was rapidly turning to rusty 
 grey. She was entirely devoted to her son, and in 
 her heart of hearts would have liked to have him sit 
 at home every evening and read the newspaper, 
 safely out of harm's way. But for years past she 
 had held her peace, lacking the strength of character 
 necessary to make a decided stand, and fully aware, 
 indeed, that no interference on her part was called 
 for. She knew well enough that John was not dis- 
 sipated ; he was, after all, rarely out at night ; he 
 
 64
 
 always told her quite freely about his friends and his 
 doings. Nor had she ever shared the notion of her 
 husband, dead now many years, that because the 
 young man sometimes smoked of an evening with 
 his fellows, joined in the chorus of comic songs, and 
 once in a while took a seat in the pit of a theatre, 
 he was therefore on the downward road to perdition. 
 But she silently harboured a feeling of dislike towards 
 the great Mr. Simpson, whom John had once brought 
 to the house, and who had behaved towards her in a 
 facetious and slap-dash style which she, poor woman, 
 could not understand ; and she had long been aware 
 that Simpson's social gatherings were, to put it mildly, 
 of a lively and vivacious character, and thoroughly 
 unfitted her boy for the enjoyment of breakfast and 
 the pursuit of business on the following day. 
 
 But while she held her own opinion about these 
 and other matters, it was not her habit to criticise 
 her son, or to pester him with questions ; nor did she 
 do so on this particular morning. Finding that he 
 was little disposed to talk about himself, she turned 
 the conversation to other subjects, telling him of this 
 and that occurrence in the unexciting annals of the 
 street, and asking his judgment on the advisability 
 of laying in an extra supply of coal before the prices 
 went up for the winter. This important domestic 
 question, which had to be discussed from many 
 points of view, occupied them till the hand of the 
 clock on the mantelshelf indicated John's hour of 
 departure. And then Mrs. Smith kissed him good- 
 bye, and watching him from the window, duly marked 
 the inelasticity of his step, and shook her head sadly 
 
 65 E
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 over the seductions of Simpson and the terrible 
 expense of coals. 
 
 If only she could have guessed what was in John's 
 mind as he slammed the front door behind him, and 
 set his face towards the city ! Simpson and the 
 problems of the kitchen fire would have taken, we 
 may be sure, quite a secondary place in her thoughts. 
 And yet the good mother was firmly convinced 
 that she held the keys of the young man's heart, and 
 that he had no secrets from her. 
 
 It was fortunate for John that the work that fell to 
 his share that day was for the most part of a purely 
 clerical character. Had it demanded the exercise of 
 any particular thought, there is no telling what might 
 have happened, for he went about his duties like a 
 man in a dream. But after a few years' practice one 
 can fill up official forms and transcribe shorthand notes 
 with perfect success while the mind is disporting itself 
 elsewhere. So John got through the day somehow 
 or other without serious mishap, and even without 
 introducing the name of Victorine into letters about 
 under-writing and long-winded declarations concern- 
 ing cargoes, as he was several times on the point of 
 doing. That his behaviour was completely normal 
 cannot, indeed, be said. Mr. Werry, the " governor " 
 an elderly man, with head as bare as a billiard-ball, 
 whiskers that looked as if they had been blown all 
 ways by a recent north-easter, and voice thickened by 
 chronic asthma Mr. Werry glanced at him sharply 
 once or twice, evidently inclined to ask him if anything 
 was the matter ; while his fellow-clerks indulged in 
 sundry sparkling and highly original jests at his 
 
 66
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 expense : " Try getting out the other side of the 
 bed to-morrow, Smith ; you have no idea what a 
 difference it makes ; " and " Take a blue pill to-night, 
 old man, it's good for the liver ; " and " I say, Smith, 
 what time's the funeral this afternoon ; " and so on. 
 But John acknowledged these sallies with a quiet 
 smile, and met the governor's inquiring eye without 
 flinching ; and thus the day, though it seemed 
 interminable, worried on to an end at last. Never 
 more thankfully, though often thankfully enough In all 
 those years of office-routine, had John seized his hat, 
 and with a " Good-night, you fellows ! " turned his 
 back upon the hated prison which hemmed him in, 
 with all his vague ambitions and unrealised dreams. 
 
 Muddled his poor brain had been all that dreary 
 morning and afternoon, and muddled it continued to 
 be as he rode homeward on the top of his omnibus, 
 quite heedless of the roar and bustle of the traffic 
 about him. Yet by the time he reached Hammer- 
 smith, he had felt his way very clearly to one definite 
 conclusion. Whoever and whatever this Victorine 
 might be, he was in love with her desperately in 
 love with her. There was no question about that ; 
 he might as well acknowledge it to himself, and like 
 a philosopher, acknowledge it he accordingly did. ' It 
 gave him a greater shock to do this than it would 
 have given most young men, for, unlike most young 
 men, he had not only never been in love before, but 
 had never even imagined himself to be so. He had 
 often enough regretted this untoward circumstance ; 
 often enough marvelled over it ; contrasting, after his 
 wont, his own perfect emotional freedom with the 
 
 67
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 storm of passion which seemed always ready to 
 break, on the slightest provocation, over the devoted 
 heads of his model heroes of romance. But regret, 
 wonder, argument, had been of no avail. You cannot 
 reason yourself out of love, say the sages ; perhaps it 
 is equally to the point sometimes, as it is certainly 
 quite as true, to declare that you cannot reason your- 
 self into it. John's range of social experience had 
 been narrow enough, of course ; but he must have 
 seen many pretty faces, I should suppose, and must 
 once in a while, at any rate, have made personal 
 acquaintance with their owners. Yet with the most 
 absolute readiness, with the heartiest desire to burn 
 himself in the flame, he had hitherto remained un- 
 scathed. Now he was singed, and singed badly; he 
 who had not yet known what it was to carry on even 
 an innocent flirtation. He could not mistake the 
 symptoms ; he had studied them too often in the 
 analyses furnished by those veracious chroniclers of 
 the heart, the writers of sensational fiction. And 
 now that the supreme crisis had come to him, late in 
 life and quite unexpectedly, the poor fellow could 
 hardly tell whether he was more delighted or 
 frightened. Delighted he was, of course ; his blood 
 tingled whenever he said over to himself the mystic 
 words, " I love her, I love her." But the experience 
 was so sudden and strange, it snatched him so roughly 
 out of a world of vague dreams into a world of sharp 
 realities, that he was frightened, terribly frightened, 
 as well 
 
 Whoever and whatever this Victorine might be 
 that qualifying phrase entered perforce into his con- 
 
 68
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 fessions; and there, indeed, was the rub. For now 
 that all the excitement of their curious meeting was 
 over, and the inevitable reaction had set in, the 
 impertinent and obnoxious question would assert 
 itself: After all, who was she, and what was she? 
 And to that question he had no answer, nor, for the 
 present, any clue to an answer. The blunt fact of the 
 matter was, that she was a mystery who only got more 
 and more mysterious the more he puzzled himself 
 about her ; and though it is interesting enough to 
 read about mysteries, they are apt, as he now began 
 to discover, to cause uneasiness when they get mixed 
 up with one's own concerns. What did he know 
 about her ? Nothing ; simply nothing ! He had met 
 her under conditions which were odd, if not equivocal ; 
 he had scraped acquaintance with her by the merest 
 accident, and had talked with her for something less 
 than an hour ; and during that time she had con- 
 ducted herself in a way, or, more correctly speaking, 
 in ways, which, viewed judiciously and in the white 
 light which next morning has a knack of throwing 
 over things, could only be considered he baulked 
 at the word, but had at length to come to it could 
 only be considered unladylike. Here was a nice mess 
 for a young man of unimpeachable morality when he 
 woke up one fine day to find himself in love. 
 
 He recapitulated the various points which the 
 devil's advocate would not fail to make against her, 
 and asked himself emphatically, as he scored them 
 off one by one, what his mother would have to say 
 to that, and that, and that. In the first place, there 
 was the extraordinary coolness with which she had 
 
 69
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 invaded the privacy of his compartment. How she 
 had come to be wandering about London by herself 
 at midnight was a matter concerning which it was 
 useless to guess ; but the fact remained that there 
 she was, an unprotected female ; and John could not 
 make it fit into his preconceived notions of propriety 
 that, under such circumstances, she should have 
 stepped into a railway carnage occupied by a soli- 
 tary gentleman, even when that gentleman was 
 soundly asleep. Then, when he awoke and dis- 
 covered her there, nothing could have exceeded 
 her complete insouciance and composure. She had 
 talked to him as freely as any girl might talk to her 
 brother ; had invited him to sit beside her ; had 
 teased and laughed at him ; and had ended by 
 accepting, without hesitation or protest, the escort 
 which, had she been a woman of greater reticence 
 and more conventional behaviour, he knew that he 
 would have been too timid to offer. All this was 
 bad enough, but what had followed was, if possible, 
 a trifle worse. For what could be said about a girl 
 who, after accepting a gentleman's arm, and placing 
 herself under his protection, had read him a lecture 
 about his folly, warned him to conduct himself more 
 circumspectly in the future, and talked openly of 
 matters about which a young woman may be sup- 
 posed to know nothing, or of which, at any rate, she 
 would not ordinarily be willing to speak ? It was no 
 good insisting that voice and enunciation were elo- 
 quent of refinement, that dress and manner declared 
 the lady. The devil's advocate would naturally 
 reply that these were the facts ; and such as they 
 
 70
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 were, it was clearly impossible to explain them 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 Nor was this all ; for to make the problem still 
 more hopeless, there were the girl's rapid and 
 astounding changes of mood and behaviour. Listen- 
 ing to her gay laugh and inconsequential chatter, 
 one might have pronounced her a giddy and heedless 
 little creature, a thing of high spirits and irrepressible 
 vitality, too innocent to care for the world's opinion, 
 or understand the risks that she ran. But then 
 what about that violent explosion and the awful 
 symbolic child ? What about the sudden passion 
 that had blanched her cheeks, and made her lips 
 quiver, and brought that strange, hard expression 
 into the dancing grey eyes ? It would be pleasant 
 to believe her merely thoughtless and unwitting ; but 
 how could one do that, remembering her own declara- 
 tion concerning her knowledge of the dark and miry 
 places of life, and the solemn words with which she 
 had taken leave of him, frankly speaking of herself 
 as one with whom he, the respectable John Smith, 
 should have no association, and even making him 
 promise her never to try to see her again ? All this 
 did not seem like girlish innocence. Whatever it 
 suggested, it most assuredly did not suggest that. 
 
 In fact, John could made nothing of it ; nor did he 
 succeed any better when he tried to force the inquiry 
 in other directions. What was her nationality ? It 
 was impossible for him, at any rate, with his limited 
 experience of the world, to reach any conclusion on 
 that elemental question. She had practically con- 
 fessed that she was not English, and had even, to
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 John's sorrow, spoken of the English with some 
 asperity. Was she American ? She appeared to 
 know America ; here and there a phrase or an 
 intonation reminded him of transatlantic business 
 men whom he had met at Werry & Co.'s. But her 
 accent was not exactly American. It was slight, 
 and sometimes hardly perceptible ; but what there 
 was of it was distinctly foreign the accent of a 
 person to whom English is not a native tongue. Yet 
 she spoke English perfectly ; with absolute ease and 
 freedom, and, John acknowledged, with a grammati- 
 cal correctness that might have satisfied the severest 
 critic. Here, then, was another puzzle, upon which 
 no light was thrown by the brief conversation, at 
 which he had assisted, between her and the strange 
 man at the street corner. What language they had 
 used was altogether beyond his ken he only knew, 
 and of this he was completely confident, that it was a 
 language he had never heard spoken before. Indeed, 
 that last episode of the night's adventures, instead of 
 helping him to any explanation, only plunged him 
 the deeper into darkness and mystery. For who 
 was this red-bearded individual who had risen, as it 
 seemed, suddenly out of the ground, and had accosted 
 her so roughly ? Was he expecting her ? Had she 
 kept him waiting beyond an appointed hour ? What 
 in the world could be the relations between them ? 
 These were questions and questions they had to 
 remain, 
 
 Do we wonder that John, as he sat over his supper 
 that evening, seemed moody, abstracted, out of sorts ? 
 That with all his well-meaning efforts, he could get up 
 
 72
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 very little interest in his mother's interview with the 
 coal-dealer, and the negotiations she had entered into, 
 subject to her son's approval, for the immediate 
 delivery of a considerable supply of fuel? Do we 
 wonder that her solicitude presently got the better of 
 her discretion, and that she began to sound him on 
 the matter of health, the meals he took in the city, 
 and the advisability of purchasing thicker socks? 
 And do we wonder that poor Mrs. Smith's kind 
 inquiries and suggestions drove him nearly crazy, 
 and that he answered her with a bluntness so 
 unusual that it brought the ready tears to her 
 eyes ? 
 
 It was a miserable evening for them both, and 
 John, at least, was heartily glad when it came to be 
 time for him to make a decent excuse, and go early 
 to bed. Thoroughly exhausted by two broken nights, 
 and the intense excitement of recent events, he 
 presently fell asleep ; but not before he had added 
 one more disquieting thought to the many that were 
 already fermenting in his mind. 
 
 " If ever you think of me," the girl had said to him, 
 just before they parted, "think of me as Victorine." 
 
 Surely he could not mistake the significance of 
 such a remark? It meant that she was anxious to 
 conceal her identity, and that he should understand 
 that she was concealing it. Victorine evidently was 
 not her real name. Was she mad, then, as he almost 
 found himself driven to believe ? Or was she, 
 perhaps, some great lady a foreign princess, say 
 who had, for some unknown reason, escaped from her 
 country, and was masquerading in disguise ? 
 
 73
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IS IT A CLUE ? 
 
 ON the afternoon of the Sunday following, according 
 to his habit, Ben Chadwick dropped in for a chat and 
 a smoke. 
 
 Ben illustrated in his own person the beauty and 
 value of the English Sabbath. He rose late, and 
 breakfasted about eleven, without collar or tie a 
 luxury it was possible for him to indulge in on one 
 morning only out of the seven. Then, if the weather 
 were favourable, he would shamble out in carpet 
 slippers, and stand for a while at the front door 
 taking the air, and gazing, pipe in mouth, with philo- 
 sophic placidity up and down the street. Having 
 watched the milkman out of sight, exhausted the 
 interest offered by the dirty servant-girl on the other 
 side of the way, and drunk his fill of the general 
 picturesqueness of his surroundings, he would retire 
 to the sanctity of his private apartment, and abandon 
 himself, in his own witty phrase, to an hour's reverie 
 over the Referee. This brought him to the two 
 o'clock dinner, for which he would make an imposing 
 toilet, and after which, in all the appropriate glory of 
 billycock hat, tail coat, and stick, he would sally forth 
 in quest of exercise and the intercourse of friends. 
 
 74
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 A pleasant and, spiritually considered, a profitable 
 day, and one which it should give us great satisfaction 
 to compare with the Sunday doings of those be- 
 nighted foreigners among whom the Puritan Sabbath 
 is unknown. 
 
 " Hulloa, old man, 'commong voo porty voo,' as the 
 saying is ? " cried Mr. Chadwick briskly. " I say, 
 it's a stunning afternoon. Don't you want to take a 
 walk?" 
 
 " No, I don't ! " replied John decisively. 
 
 " Oh, well, if you don't, there's an end of it," said 
 the cheerful Ben. " I only thought a turn round the 
 Mall to Kew Bridge and back would do us both good. 
 I've had a tremendous dinner, and it wants shaking 
 down." 
 
 " You go if you like," said John, " and don't bother 
 about me. I'm awfully tired." 
 
 " Not a bit of it," was the reply. " I don't care. 
 I'll take a stroll presently. Where's the ' baccy ' ? " 
 
 John indicated the jar beside the soap-dish on the 
 wash-stand he always used his bedroom as his 
 den, and out of consideration for his mother, smoked 
 only on rare occasions elsewhere in the house and 
 threw some papers off a chair to make a place for his 
 friend. Then Ben filled and lighted his pipe, and sat 
 down with a sigh which might have startled a stranger 
 by its depth and fulness, but which was probably 
 nothing more than physiological in its origin. Such 
 expression as there was on his broad flabby face 
 bespoke a conscience perfectly at peace with himself 
 and all the world. 
 
 John and he had not seen each other since the 
 75
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 evening before Simpson's reunion an event which 
 already seemed to the former to have dropped some 
 half-a-dozen years into the past. They now met, it 
 will have been observed, without any great ebullition 
 of feeling on either side. Ben was never given to 
 emotional transports of any kind, regarding them, in 
 his phlegmatic fashion, as " rot " ; while John, for his 
 own part, would, on this particular afternoon, have 
 preferred to be left alone with his thoughts. 
 
 " Well, and how's old Simpson ? " said Mr. 
 Chadwick, after a few preliminary puffs to get the 
 pipe going. " All alive, I suppose, as usual ? Did 
 you have a rattling good time ? " 
 
 Ben had been duly invited to form one of the 
 party, and never on any account willingly let such an 
 opportunity slip by. Simpson's, as we are aware, 
 was considered, in the set to which Ben and John 
 belonged, as quite the place to go to. But it unfor- 
 tunately happened that just one hour before the 
 receipt of his note of invitation which was brief and 
 humorous, being thus conceived : " Dear Chad, I 
 am going to have some fellows round on Wednesday 
 evening next. Come, too. You can put on a clean 
 collar if you like. Yours, R. S." it unfortunately 
 happened, we say, that just one hour before the 
 receipt of this brilliant and characteristic epistle, Ben 
 had committed himself to another engagement for that 
 same evening an engagement of a very much less 
 exciting kind. The malice of Fate has often been 
 referred to by philosophers, though they seldom, 
 perhaps, employ quite such vigorous language as 
 Chad did on this occasion. 
 
 76
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 John answered that they had, as usual, had a 
 rattling good time ; and, pressed by Ben, proceeded 
 into details, giving some account of the fellows who 
 had been present, the songs they had sung, and the 
 nature and variety of the articles they had mainly 
 depended upon for inspiration ; but he spoke without 
 enthusiasm. A party at Simpson's was ordinarily 
 an event of the first importance for him. In this 
 instance, however, it had been swallowed up in 
 matters of much larger interest. 
 
 Ben listened quietly, putting an occasional question, 
 and nodding his head now and then over some special 
 item of information. When John had come to the 
 end of his narrative, he took his pipe slowly out of his 
 mouth, pressed down the tobacco with his thumb, 
 and said, quite inappropriately : 
 
 " You're not looking up to snuff, old man. What's 
 the matter ? A bit off your feed, eh ? " 
 
 A man doesn't like to be told repeatedly that he's 
 not looking well, especially when he knows that he 
 isn't. John must be forgiven if he answered his 
 friend with a testy " Oh, I'm all right ! " without 
 adding a " thank you " to round the statement off 
 to a decent close. Excitement and mental worry 
 had told upon him, and he was undeniably pale 
 and worn. This fact every acquaintance whom he 
 had chanced to meet during the past few days had 
 been studiously careful to keep before his attention, 
 and John was tired of it. 
 
 Mr. Chadwick rose, knocked the ashes out of his 
 pipe, and took his hat from the bed. He was not 
 gifted with abnormal powers of penetration ; but 
 
 77
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 then, no abnormal powers of penetration were 
 needed to convince him that here was an occasion 
 on which his room would be quite as welcome as 
 his company. 
 
 " You're not going ? " said John. 
 
 " Yes," answered Ben ; " I think I'd better go." 
 It was on the tip of his tongue to make some 
 remark in reference to the likelihood of his getting 
 the blues if he stayed longer, but wiser counsels 
 prevailed. " My dinner doesn't seem to be settling 
 exactly right," he went on, by way of explanation. 
 " I don't know how it is, but somehow I can't seem 
 to stand roast pork and apple dumplings as well as 
 I used to ; I find them sit heavy. It's a sign I'm 
 getting old, I suppose. Well, I'll take a bit of a 
 walk. See you again soon, old bird ! O reservoir ! " 
 
 John stirred himself from his lethargy. He hated 
 to feel that he was driving his friend away by his 
 own shabby behaviour. 
 
 " Wait a bit ! " he said. " I haven't seen you for 
 nearly a week. What have you been doing with 
 yourself?" 
 
 Ben stood by the bed, with his hat on the back 
 of his head; cogitating. John had put an innocent 
 question out of the promptings of good-fellowship, 
 really caring not one straw how Ben had recently been 
 turning his time to profit. Little did he guess to 
 what that simple question was to lead. 
 
 " Oh, I haven't been doing much," Chadwick 
 replied. " Went round one evening to see o d 
 Morlox, and had a precious dull time. To play 
 cribbage hour after hour with him and the re- 
 
 78
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 spected Daddy gets pretty tiresome, and then I 
 oh, yes, I had almost forgotten ! I went one 
 night with some fellows to the 'Mews.'" 
 
 " Oh ! " said John, doing his best to keep up a 
 semblance of interest. ("Mews," the refined reader 
 may require to be informed, is the nickname current 
 in certain circles of one of the smaller and less famous 
 of the London music-halls.) "Anything special going 
 on there ? " John asked, gazing vacantly into the 
 street. 
 
 " No," said Ben emphatically, " nothing ; it's all 
 the same old fakes." It was Mr. Chadwick's habit 
 to enjoy himself prodigiously wherever he went, and 
 then growl a good deal about it afterwards. A 
 person entering into casual conversation with him 
 might have supposed him to be afflicted with satiety, 
 iveltschmerZ) and other fashionable maladies, but no 
 judgment could be wider of the mark. " However," 
 he continued, " they're going to have a complete new 
 bill there next week, and they do say it's a good one. 
 There's a dandy conjurer coming, and a fellow who 
 rides the bicycle standing on his head, and a ripping 
 new comic singer that Dykes says he heard the other 
 day somewhere in the north a French girl, he says 
 and scrumptious." 
 
 " Oh ! " said John again, determined to hold up 
 his end of the conversation with proper politeness 
 till Ben saw fit to take his departure. Balancing 
 the tobacco-jar on his knees, he began moodily to 
 fill his pipe. " A new singer, eh ? Who is she ? " 
 
 " Well, Dykes says her name's Victorine " 
 
 " What ! " roared John, bounding out of his chair, 
 79
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 sending pipe and jar flying, and scattering the 
 tobacco all over the floor. 
 
 If Mr. Chadwick had possessed even a rudimentary 
 notion of dramatic propriety, we might here have had 
 a very pretty situation to describe. But he was 
 altogether unequal to the occasion. He simply sat 
 down, meekly and ineffectively, on the side of the 
 bed. 
 
 " Well, John, are you taken worse ? " he asked 
 blankly. " You are a chump, and no mistake. 
 You've smashed the tobacco jar " 
 
 " Damn the tobacco jar ! " shouted John, seizing his 
 friend's shoulder. " What did you say her name 
 was ? " 
 
 " I didn't say it was anything," replied Ben 
 doggedly. " I only said that Dykes said it was 
 Victorine." 
 
 His tones were those of a man who wishes it to 
 be clearly understood that he takes no individual 
 responsibility for his statements. 
 
 " It can't be," said John, very slowly. 
 
 " Can't be, indeed ! " exclaimed his friend. " What 
 the doose is the matter with you, this afternoon ? 
 Can't be ? Why can't it be ? I don't know anything 
 about it myself, but Dykes said the name was 
 Victorine. I'll take my oath to that." 
 
 John had walked over to the window, and stood 
 with his back to Ben, gazing out. Ben rose to his 
 feet. 
 
 "Perhaps you'll be good enough to tell me," he 
 said, with studied politeness, " what it is that makes 
 you so devilish touchy this afternoon ? I never saw 
 
 80
 
 you in such a pucker. S'pose the French gal's name 
 is Victorine ; what's that to you, eh ? There's no 
 harm in it, is there ? A woman can call herself what 
 she likes without asking you, I imagine. You needn't 
 jump down a chap's throat." 
 
 " Ben," said John hoarsely, turning on his heel, 
 " tell me what is she like ? " 
 
 Ben's countenance expressed mingled astonish- 
 ment and contempt. 
 
 " I'd see a doctor if I were you, John," he said. 
 " It isn't natural, you know 'pon my word, it isn't." 
 
 " Don't be a fool ! '' retorted John, still trembling 
 with excitement. " What isn't natural ? I ask you 
 what Viet what this this French girl is like? " 
 
 " And how the dickens do I know what she is like ? 
 Didn't I tell you that I'd never seen her? Ask 
 Dykes. Fool, indeed ! Who's the fool, I should like 
 to know ? " 
 
 Ben rammed his hat quite fiercely down on his 
 head, and seized his walking-stick. John went back 
 to the window. 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Chadwick at length, " have you 
 anything to tell me about this Victorine, and what 
 particularly her coming up to London can have to 
 do with you ? If so, I shall be charmed to hear if 
 
 He still spoke slowly, and with marked distance 
 of manner. 
 
 John did not reply. 
 
 " Then I'll decamp," said the other, dropping into 
 the colloquial. " Good-bye ! Take my advice and 
 
 see a doctor." 
 
 8l F
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Stay, Ben," cried John, calling him back for the 
 second time that afternoon. " Don't go away angry, 
 old fellow! I couldn't help it. What you told me 
 was so sudden so so unexpected so so sur- 
 prising it it knocked the wind out of me for a 
 minute. I'm awfully sorry, but I can't talk about it 
 now. Some time or the other, perhaps, you shall 
 know all about it ; but not this afternoon. You 
 don't understand now ; but but " he held out 
 his hand, and Ben, like a good fellow, took it, and 
 returned its friendly pressure. "Go and take your 
 walk. I'm all upset and stupid, and and bilious, 
 or something ; and I'm not fit company for anyone. 
 Ta-ta ! Drop round again soon, won't you ? " 
 
 " You may expect to see yours obediently before 
 very long," replied Ben, making a noble effort to 
 regain his ordinary nonchalance of tone and bearing. 
 He was not an imaginative man, or one given to 
 fanciful anxieties ; but he was deeply worried over 
 John's condition. " I really think you'd better see 
 a doctor," he said pleadingly in parting ; " it never 
 does any harm, you know I daresay it's liver and 
 a pill, and that sort of thing, helps to set a fellow 
 right." 
 
 With this last bit of advice, he started off for the 
 Mall ; but there was an unwonted look of worry in 
 his face, and once in a while he shook his head, like 
 a man in doubt. 
 
 82
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 AT THE "MEWS," AND AFTERWARDS 
 
 THE hall, colloquially known as the " Mews," and 
 dedicated (see advertisement) to variety entertain- 
 ments of strictly refined character, is located in a 
 narrow and dingy side-street in the salubrious 
 neighbourhood of Drury Lane. Though he had 
 never, to his recollection, been within a quarter of 
 a mile of the spot before, since he was accustomed to 
 gratify his own aesthetic cravings at the larger places 
 of popular resort, suc,h as the " Oxford " and the 
 " Pav.," John Smith found his way thither the next 
 evening without difficulty, after a day at the office 
 which had threatened never to come to a close. 
 
 Of course, in his excitement, he contrived to 
 reach the scene an hour or so before the time fixed 
 for the opening of the doors ; and he was altogether 
 too restless to take up his position in the small group 
 that presently formed outside the shilling entrance. 
 He knew enough of such places to be aware that 
 business at the " Mews " would be relatively slack on 
 a Monday evening, and that, without lining up, he 
 might be certain of a very fair place in the house. 
 So he paced up and down the street, aimlessly 
 watching a few dirty children at play on the pave- 
 
 83
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ment, and reading over and over again, as one intent 
 upon forcing the ultimate secret out of its bald and 
 simple words, the bill which announced the first 
 appearance on any London stage of the dashing 
 French chanteuse and comedienne. Mademoiselle 
 Victorine. And over and over again the question 
 which had tormented him all day long arose with a 
 fresh vigour of meaning, and set his brain in a 
 whirl. Could this queen of the music-hall be his 
 Victorine? In the name of all that was strange and 
 wonderful, was it possible? Since his conversation 
 with Ben Chadwick the previous afternoon, he had 
 thought only, and with ever-growing delight, of the 
 chance of rediscovering her, swallowed as she had 
 been in all the vastness of London. Now, as he 
 more vividly realised the circumstances of the case, 
 hope began to change into something very much 
 like despair. Nor was this the worst. For even in 
 more sanguine moments during his restless pacing 
 to and fro, the pleasure of anticipation was chilled 
 by the first suggestions of revolt. He had felt 
 himself willing to stake everything to find the girl 
 again who had touched his dull life with such a new 
 and subtle charm. And yet would he, after all, be 
 quite contented to discover her the radiant maiden 
 whom he had already invested with the most 
 delicate halo of romance in some flaunting, half- 
 dressed, over-painted singer of foolish and risky 
 songs? Could he with any sort of satisfaction 
 exchange his cherished memories and his dainty 
 dreams for so coarse and disenchanting a reality ? 
 More than once he shuddered at the thought ; and 
 
 84
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 when at length the tardy door was thrown open, he 
 even hung back for an instant, with doubt deepening 
 fast into dread. 
 
 But only for an instant. Curiosity and desire 
 were stronger than the newly-arisen and perhaps 
 rather fantastic fear of possible disillusion. He 
 followed in the wake of the motley crowd that 
 had gathered by slow accretions, and now surged 
 forward with a deadly determination which might 
 have suggested to any onlooker that issues of vital 
 importance depended upon their exertions, paid his 
 shilling, and hurried in, easily finding a seat that 
 commanded a good view of the stage. 
 
 A glance at the programme filled John with a 
 feeling of disgust, which found vent in some 
 muttered remarks fortunately inaudible to the fat 
 and voluble lady at his side. Clearly the Fates 
 were against him. Mademoiselle Victorine was 
 announced for the last "turn" but one in the 
 evening's over-generous bill of fare. Could anything 
 have been more exasperating? Sick with appre- 
 hension and excitement, he would thus have to 
 wait there three mortal hours before He passed 
 his hand over his damp forehead, and wondered 
 how he could ever stand the strain. 
 
 It would have been too much to expect that he 
 should carry away with him any distinct idea of 
 that evening's performance. He remembered in the 
 vaguest way as one catches at the confused images 
 in a feverish dream the principal items of what 
 seemed to him the longest, and dreariest, and most 
 absolutely inane entertainment it had ever been his 
 
 85
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ill-luck to witness : the fancy bicycle-riders who rode 
 round the stage with their heads on their saddles, 
 and their hands where their feet should have been ; 
 the stupid monologuist who enacted drunkenness 
 with a realism which might almost appear to be 
 beyond the reach of art, and told spicy anec- 
 dotes of marital infelicities ; the conjurer who 
 extracted a beef-steak pie from the crown of a 
 silk hat ; the dancing girl with alarmingly short 
 skirts, and legs which, though undeniably shapely, 
 were so loose-jointed that they gave one the odd 
 impression that they did not really belong to her ; 
 the topical singer, in immaculate evening dress, whose 
 patriotic personalities were hailed with a perfect howl 
 of satisfaction ; the three negro comedians who made 
 hideous faces, rolled large white eyes, exposed rows 
 of admirable teeth, exchanged time-worn jokes, and 
 a propos of nothing in particular, warbled pathetic 
 ditties about mother and the old, old home. All 
 these things John afterwards remembered, with the 
 sense that they belonged to some far-away past. 
 He remembered, too, marvelling greatly within him- 
 self why the people about him laughed uproariously 
 at every stale witticism, and what they saw that was 
 so bewilderingly beautiful about the dancer's ab- 
 breviated petticoats and twinkling feet. He recalled 
 with a sort of subdued amusement the astonished 
 glance which from time to time the fat lady directed 
 upon his own stolid face ; and he recollected going 
 twice, at least he could not be certain that it was 
 not more than twice to the bar at the bottom 
 of the hall, and returning to his place with a 
 
 86
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 consciousness of flushed cheeks, and a feeling that 
 he was looking at the stage through a tremulous 
 haze. 
 
 At last the long tension, which was rapidly 
 growing unendurable, came to an end. The negro 
 comedians finished their tender reminiscences of 
 childhood and domestic love, and by way of encore 
 for an encore was insisted upon rattled off some 
 rollicking verses about the extraordinary conduct of 
 a yaller girl, which effectively cleared the air of 
 sentiment, and made the fat lady, who had evidently 
 been on the point of weeping, literally shake her 
 sides with laughter. A moment more, and Victorine 
 herself would be there before him, and the question 
 whether she was really his Victorine or not solved 
 for good or ill. Giddy with suppressed excitement 
 now that the crisis had come, even wishing at the 
 bottom of his heart that something might happen 
 say, that some extra " turn " might be introduced 
 to stave the fatal revelation off a few minutes longer, 
 John leaned forward, with parched lips and hands 
 that convulsively clutched the back of the seat before 
 him, while the number was changed in the indicator, 
 and the orchestra struck up the opening bars of a 
 lively melody. Then the curtain was rung up, and a 
 faint murmur of applause went round the house as 
 the dashing new French chanteuse swept smilingly 
 upon the stage. And then 
 
 And then the hall seemed to spin about him, and 
 heave like a ship at sea, as he plunged towards the 
 door. The next minute he caught his breath in the 
 fresh air of the open street. 
 
 87
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Feeling faint, sir?" asked a solicitous policeman, 
 who was standing in the entrance. 
 
 " No, no, thanks ! " stammered John ; " there's 
 nothing the matter. I'll be all right directly. It was 
 the heat." 
 
 And he turned and walked rapidly down the 
 street. 
 
 What a fool he had been ! He might have known 
 it all along. What ! that creature with the rouged 
 cheeks and the impudent eyes, and the shrill, metallic 
 voice, and a costume abominable in its grotesque 
 vulgarity that woman his Victorine! Why, she 
 must have weighed twelve stone if she weighed 
 a pound, and be fifty years old if a day. Horrors ! 
 Why, it was nothing short of sacrilege to have con- 
 nected, even by blunder, and in his passing thought, 
 that loud-mouthed, shameless old harridan with the 
 bright fresh girl whose lightest tones still caressed his 
 ear, and whose delicate face and slim, young figure 
 haunted his memory night and day. Yes, what a 
 fool he had been ! He had wasted his time, and 
 made himself ill with agitation, and all for nothing ! 
 For nothing? No; not quite for nothing. For it 
 was surely some satisfaction to have proved though 
 why should proof ever have been necessary? that 
 his Victorine was not the mere idea of such a thing 
 now seemed to him monstrous was not a common 
 music-hall singer. For a while, as he strode on and 
 on, through one deserted street into another, caring 
 not whither he went, John found himself positively 
 rejoicing that his evening's quest had ended in failure. 
 Could he have wished it to end otherwise ? But the 
 
 88
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 pleasure was soon tempered by other considerations. 
 His pace suddenly slackened as he remembered what 
 his failure implied. He had set out that night in the 
 hope, even in the expectation, of finding the girl he 
 had met and lost ; and now that his supposed clue 
 had led him nowhere, he was as far from finding her 
 as ever. 
 
 Unwonted physical exertion will sometimes do 
 wonders, not only in stimulating the circulation, but 
 also in pacifying the brain. After half an hour of 
 reckless walking, now in one direction, now in another, 
 John came to himself, to discover that he had got 
 himself entangled in a maze of narrow and tortuous 
 streets, which at that time of night, as he now 
 suddenly realised, were unpleasantly dark and lonely. 
 It was quite unheroic, to be sure ; but the notion 
 presented itself to him with startling vividness that 
 he would gain nothing by beating the pavements 
 in an unsalubrious neighbourhood where he had no 
 possible business, and that, considering the advanced 
 hour, by all odds the safest and sanest course for him 
 to adopt was simply to go straight home and to 
 bed. One's appetite for thrilling adventure is, like 
 other fine things in life, curiously mixed up with 
 vulgar bodily needs, and is apt to decline when one 
 grows tired and hungry ; and John now remembered 
 with a pang how little dinner he had eaten in that 
 chop-house in the city some six hours ago. He 
 proceeded, therefore, to deliberate on his whereabouts, 
 and concluding, with a Cockney's instinct for location, 
 that, as he was now in the purlieus of Clare Market, 
 his quickest way out of the labyrinth lay towards the 
 
 89
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Strand, he turned right-about face, and set off sharply 
 in what he conceived to be the direction of that 
 historic thoroughfare. And oddly enough, though 
 the veracious historian greatly regrets to have to 
 record such weakness, his dreams of love and romance 
 receded for the time being into the background. His 
 attention was now chiefly taken up with the shaping 
 of his course, his anxiety to reach a familiar land- 
 mark, his avoidance from time to time, by an 
 opportune crossing of the street, of a dimly outlined 
 figure in the shadow of a doorway or an arch. And 
 with these concerns there mingled various questions 
 about the last 'bus for Hammersmith, and the 
 possibility of discovering, on his return home, that 
 maternal prescience had left out on the kitchen-table 
 a substantial loaf, with cheese to match. 
 
 But John Smith's evening of reconnoitre, unevent- 
 ful as thus far it had certainly been, was destined not 
 to close without its item of adventure. He had not 
 embarked upon his new romantic career for the 
 purpose simply of going home that night to eat his 
 supper in peace, and fall asleep with thoughts of the 
 Victorine he had not unearthed chasing one another 
 through his weary brain. If the delicious thrill of 
 seeing her once again had not been vouchsafed him, 
 he was now to learn that Fate had kept in store for 
 him a sensation of a somewhat different kind. 
 
 He had just at length realised his precise where- 
 abouts, and had breathed a sigh of relief to find 
 himself within a stone's throw of St. Clement's Danes, 
 when, making a rapid turn round a corner, he 
 cannoned straight into a couple of men who were 
 
 90
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 walking slowly in the opposite direction. The 
 collision was so unexpected that for a moment John 
 was dazed. 
 
 " Damn you ! can't you see where you're going, you 
 idiot ! " exclaimed the man nearest the wall, giving 
 John an angry shove with his elbow. 
 
 " I I beg your pardon, I'm sure ! " John stammered, 
 recovering himself as best he might. " I really didn't 
 mean I " 
 
 The yellow glare of the lamp hard by fell full upon 
 the faces of the men, and as John collected his senses, 
 he gave a violent start. He saw that the individual 
 who had addressed him with such a singular lack of 
 suavity was a tall, raw-boned young fellow, hatchet- 
 faced, with a long, trailing moustache and great goggle- 
 glasses. His companion was quite as tall, but was 
 much more massively built ; his face was swarthy ; 
 his keen black eyes glittered fiercely beneath his 
 shaggy eyebrows ; and he wore a short, bristly, 
 untidy red beard. 
 
 John recognised him at a glance. He was the man 
 who, the other night, had surprised him in conversa- 
 tion with Victorine, and had taken the girl away. 
 
 The stammered apology died uncompleted upon 
 his lips. 
 
 " Perhaps you'll keep your wits about you another 
 time, duffer," growled the impolite young man. He 
 linked his arm impetuously in his friend's, and the 
 next moment the two had disappeared round the 
 corner. 
 
 John stood rooted to the spot, his face fixed in an 
 absurd expression of astonishment. Then a sense of 
 
 91
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the full possibilities of the strange encounter swept 
 over him, and set his heart beating fast. That 
 shaggy, red-bearded man with the piercing black eyes 
 had been far enough from his thoughts during his 
 evening's excitement. And yet to have rediscovered 
 him by this odd accident might, after all, prove to 
 be the next best thing to rediscovering Victorine 
 herself. Here was his chance. He would follow 
 him, and gain a bit of information which might 
 presently be of service by learning his destination. 
 
 Too thoroughly intent upon his design to appreci- 
 ate the fine dramatic qualities of the situation, John 
 crept stealthily but quickly round the corner, in the 
 hope that the two men had not yet got out of sight. 
 It took him but an instant to satisfy himself that 
 they had indeed not done so ; for at the very turn 
 he again came face to face with them. They were 
 standing close together in the shadow, apparently 
 deep in whispered colloquy. 
 
 This was not at all what John had calculated upon, 
 and he recoiled with a half-stifled exclamation of 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Yes, dat is de man," he heard the red- bearded 
 individual say in a tone of conviction to his com- 
 panion. And two pairs of eyes one black and 
 piercing beneath the shaggiest of eyebrows, one 
 gleaming angrily through monstrous goggle-glasses 
 were fixed with sharpest scrutiny upon his face. 
 
 " Oh, that's the man, is it ? " retorted the fierce 
 young fellow. " Well, I should know his ugly phiz 
 again anywhere." 
 
 Poor John Smith ! Alas, for all his long-cherished 
 92
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 dreams of heroism, and adventure, and romance ! 
 Surely the opportunity for which he had waited and 
 yearned through all the long dull years had come to 
 him at last ! And by way of showing how he could 
 rise to a great occasion, he turned incontinently and 
 fled. 
 
 93
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN SMITH BEGINS TO REALISE THAT 
 THINGS MAY HAPPEN IN LIFE 
 
 DURING the next few days, on his stool in the city, 
 at meals, in bed, John was able to think of little 
 beyond his midnight encounter with the two strange 
 men ; and the more he thought of it, the less he 
 liked it. It must be remembered that, in spite of all 
 his romantic aspirations, he was in reality the very 
 mildest and most guileless of young fellows, in whose 
 imagination it seemed the simplest thing in the world 
 to shoot half-a-dozen bandits, but who would have 
 been hard put to had he been forced to kill a rat. 
 The first taste of genuine adventure the first acute 
 realisation that he had stepped out of his dull routine 
 of life into a dim region of dramatic possibility 
 beyond, thus proved altogether too much for him ; 
 and an incident which would have been trifling 
 enough to read or dream about began to prey upon 
 his mind. The result was that he lost his appetite 
 and his power of sleep, and grew pale, nervous, and 
 abstracted. At the office he was more than once 
 sharply reprimanded by Mr. Boroughgate, the 
 managing clerk, for carelessness and inattention. 
 At home his mother, observing his fits of preoccupa- 
 
 94
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 tion, and his frequent starts and twitches, became 
 seriously concerned about his health, and commenced 
 a systematic course of beef-tea and domestic medicine, 
 to which the unfortunate hero had to submit with the 
 best grace possible as the one way of avoiding the 
 torment of persistent cross-examinations. And when, 
 one evening, he chanced to fall in with Ben Chad- 
 wick, whom, under the circumstances, he would most 
 willingly have eluded, that gentleman shook his head 
 more dubiously than ever, and spoke quite urgently 
 of pills. 
 
 Naturally enough, one principal cause of John's 
 tumult of mind lay in the question of the identity of 
 the two men who had dropped so suddenly and 
 yes, there were moments when he was ready to 
 acknowledge it so unpleasantly into his life. Who 
 could they be ? And there was the special issue 
 where could be the point of intimate contact between 
 them and Victorine ? For point of intimate contact 
 there was, John was assured. He had not forgotten 
 how, that memorable night of meeting and losing, 
 the elder of the twain the individual with the quick 
 black eyes and untidy red beard had pounced upon 
 them from somewhere out of the darkness ; and what 
 had then occurred had sufficed to convince him, as he 
 remembered well to his mystification and chagrin, 
 that the relations between them were of the freest 
 and most friendly character. As for this shaggy 
 person's companion the thin, ferocious young fellow, 
 with the trailing moustache and the goggle-glasses 
 it is true that he had no immediate reason to con- 
 clude that he likewise enjoyed the girl's good graces ; 
 
 95
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 yet that the inference that he did so was almost 
 inevitable will become manifest if we recollect how 
 greatly it added to our friend's discomfort. John was 
 just far enough gone in love to find a very genuine, 
 if somewhat dismal, kind of satisfaction in the thought 
 of the utter hopelessness of his passion ; and owing 
 to his peculiar temperament, and the half-unreal or 
 dramatic quality of his emotion, there was for him 
 peculiar pungency in the notion of playing the 
 faithful but unfavoured lover. 
 
 He delighted, therefore, to torture himself with the 
 construction of hypothetical romances of domestic 
 relationship, in which, whatever the other lines of 
 connection might be, one or other of the two strangers 
 was bound to figure as Victorine's husband, actual or 
 to be. On the whole, for some totally unassignable 
 reason for who can ever explain these bizarre tricks 
 of fancy? he inclined to the conclusion that the 
 red-bearded individual was the fortunate man ; that 
 Victorine' had been his wife perhaps a year, perhaps 
 two years ; and that the ferocious young fellow was 
 either his brother or hers. And yet how absurd the 
 thing seemed to be when one looked at it a little 
 critically ! How absurd, for that matter, anything 
 which sought to bring Victorine and the two men 
 together on any rational family basis ! For though 
 he might amuse as well as worry himself by posing 
 as faithful and unfavoured lover, his whole soul 
 revolted against the idea that she could possibly 
 belong, that she ever would belong, to either one of 
 those unspeakable rivals, or that any ties of blood 
 could conceivably exist between them. 
 
 96
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 But there was something fermenting in John's 
 mind worse than all this. Bound up with the 
 question of the two men's identity was the other 
 exceedingly personal and exceedingly grave question 
 of their interest in him. That they were interested 
 in him hardly admitted of doubt. The red-bearded 
 individual had recognised him ; he had pointed him 
 out to the ferocious young fellow, and the ferocious 
 young fellow had testified to the accuracy with which 
 he had taken observation of him. " Yes, that is the 
 man," the one had declared ; and the other had 
 responded, with lamentable lack of politeness, that 
 he would know his (John's) ugly phiz again any- 
 where. The recollection of this trifling incident in 
 the night's adventures was distinctly uncomfortable. 
 John felt that the tables had been most unfairly 
 turned upon -Lira. It was well enough for him to 
 do a little unearthing on his own account, even 
 though it were done by accident. That was quite 
 proper ; it belonged, one might say, to his new role 
 of romantic hero. But to find himself, on his side, 
 unearthed by the other fellow that was something 
 that he had never bargained for, and which (there 
 was no disguising the matter) he did not by any 
 means like. It gave him an odd, creepy feeling 
 somewhere in his bones. And he asked himself 
 again and again : What in the world could the two 
 men want with him ? Why had they waited round 
 the corner, evidently debating whether they should 
 or should not track him ? Why had the one who 
 had surprised him with Victorine been so decisive 
 in his indication of him to the other who had never 
 
 97 G
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 seen him before ? To these questions there was no 
 answer. But it became more and more clear, as he 
 thought over them, that he must have got, so to 
 speak, into the wrong end of a romance. And this 
 idea did not please him at all. He had dreamed of 
 weaving a drama for himself according to his own 
 fancy, holding the threads of the story always 
 firmly in hand. It now began to occur to him that 
 it would be a vastly different thing if his material, 
 moving beyond his control, took to fashioning 
 patterns on its own account more especially if he 
 himself, instead of being the architect and director of 
 the performance, came to be caught up and woven in 
 as one of the threads. 
 
 It was odd that, after all the years he had given to 
 the study of fiction and plays, he now realised the 
 possibility of such an unprecedented development of 
 affairs for the first time, and with the sudden shock 
 of surprise. Things had never turned out in that 
 fashion in his favourite novels ! If John had only 
 been somewhat more of a philosopher, he might have 
 remembered that when the gods take to answering 
 our prayers, they are apt to do so in ways that are 
 calculated to cause us some little astonishment. 
 
 Meanwhile, the gad-fly of curiosity that had got 
 possession of him gave him no rest. 
 
 " You're late again, John," Mrs. Smith would say to 
 him, evening after evening, as he entered their little 
 sitting-room at eight, nine, or even ten o'clock. And 
 the good woman might well make remarks, since 
 John was due home, in the regular course of business 
 at seven. 
 
 98
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Well, I can't help it, mother," the young man 
 would reply petulantly, or wearily, or apologetically, 
 as the case might be, sitting down, but without much 
 show of interest, to the supper that was spread for 
 him at one end of the table. " You know there are 
 times " 
 
 " Oh, I'm not complaining, John dear," Mrs. 
 Smith's answer would be. " Of course, when you 
 are kept at the office, you can't help it. But I am 
 so sorry you happen to be busy just when you are 
 feeling so much out of sorts. I'm afraid you are 
 in no condition to stand the strain of constant 
 overwork." 
 
 John would drop his eyes uneasily before the 
 anxious maternal gaze, and protest that he was really 
 feeling better to-day ; and so the talk would go on 
 till the time came when he could decently escape to 
 his own room on the pretext that he was tired, and 
 that perhaps it would be wise for him to go straight 
 to bed. 
 
 "Yes, go, by all means, my dear," Mrs. Smith 
 would rejoin, as she took his good-night kiss. " And 
 mind, John " this always as he was on his way up- 
 stairs " don't forget to take your medicine. You'll 
 find it in the glass on the washstand." 
 
 Do you imagine that, in a skulking kind of a 
 fashion, John Smith was not really ashamed of him- 
 self? Let us give the foolish fellow his due. It did 
 not come naturally to him to deceive his mother 
 night after night It made him thoroughly uncom- 
 fortable to keep what had grown to be the deepest, at 
 any rate the most urgent, interest in his life an utter 
 
 99
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 secret from her. It did not make matters much 
 better for him that he was careful not to tell her or, 
 at least, not to tell her more frequently than he 
 found imperatively necessary direct, unvarnished, 
 unmitigated lies. He was living apart from her, was 
 guilty of falsehood towards her, all the same. 
 
 For knowing so much about him that poor Mrs. 
 Smith did not even dream of, we need not follow her 
 in inferring that, because he did not turn up at home 
 till eight, or nine, or ten at night for a whole week 
 together, unusual pressure of business at the office 
 was necessarily the cause. Likewise, we may re- 
 member that a young man may grow pale and Jose 
 his wonted appetite for other reasons than over-close 
 attention to daily duty. In point of fact, there was 
 no unusual pressure of business at the office at the 
 time, where, indeed, things were, on the whole, rather 
 slacker than the " governor " liked ; and therefore, if 
 John did not, punctually upon the stroke of six, put 
 away his papers, lock up his desk, and take his hat 
 and coat from their appointed peg, the fault would 
 simply have been his own. 
 
 If, then, you wanted an explanation of the tardi- 
 ness of John's appearance in his mother's sitting- 
 room, of the physical weariness that revealed itself 
 in every gesture, and of the alternating apathy and 
 acrimony of manner which appeared to be getting 
 habitual with him, you would have found it by 
 following him in his long, weary tramps in and out 
 and round about the streets and squares of Blooms- 
 bury, and over the whole area bounded by Tottenham 
 
 Court Road, New Oxford Street, Southampton Row, 
 
 100
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and the Euston Road. There he wandered, like an 
 unhappy spirit, in the darkness, now loitering almost 
 aimlessly by shop-windows, now lingering at street 
 corners, now pausing as if in doubt before the area- 
 gate of some chance house, now stooping to investigate 
 a stray kitten piping its forlornness by some inhos- 
 pitable railings, and now dashing forward at a pace 
 which would have led you to suppose that it was a 
 matter of life and death with him that he should 
 catch a certain train. Even the marked unpleasant- 
 ness of the weather during the whole of that week 
 the dark, yellow fog of one evening, the raw, pene- 
 trating drizzle of the next proved insufficient to 
 discourage him ; nor did he allow himself to be more 
 than temporarily embarrassed by the sharp glance of 
 inquiry which a policeman on his beat would some- 
 times turn upon him as he hurried or dawdled past. 
 Night after night he persevered in his peregrinations, 
 until by-and-by he got to know almost every house 
 and shop in the vicinity, every pillar-box and lamp- 
 post, the familiars of the various public-houses, the 
 servant-girls on their occasional errands to and fro. 
 And night after night he went to bed in sheer 
 exhaustion and disgust, to chafe through many 
 sleepless hours under the irritation of repeated 
 failure, and to vow feebly that he would throw up 
 the whole idiotic business. For never once was he 
 rewarded by a momentary glimpse of anyone who 
 looked in the remotest degree like Victorine, or even 
 which would have been the next best thing by a 
 sight of either of the two men whom he longed as 
 much as he dreaded to see again. Of course, he 
 
 101
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 remembered exactly the spot where he and the girl 
 had parted company after their never-to-be-forgotten 
 walk from Portland Road Station ; he knew, from 
 her own admission, that her destination that evening 
 had been somewhere immediately thereabouts, and it 
 was not unnatural, therefore, that he should have 
 made up his mind that if he only stuck long enough 
 to the exploration of the neighbourhood, the chances 
 were that he would eventually come across some 
 traces of her or her associates. That, at any rate, 
 would be the way in which things would shape 
 themselves for the recompense of the patient hero in 
 any properly-constituted novel. But though John 
 held to his quest with a courage which we are bound 
 to describe as admirable, the happy accident for 
 which his favourite works of fiction had taught him 
 to look still obstinately refused to come to his 
 relief. 
 
 Just how long, circumstances permitting, John 
 might have been willing to keep up his seemingly 
 hopeless game with destiny, it is impossible to say ; 
 for by the end of the week feverish anxiety, constant 
 exposure, and careless feeding had begun to tell upon 
 him, and he came down with a heavy cold. All 
 Sunday he lay in bed sneezing and groaning, and by 
 no means greatly exhilarated by his mother's openly 
 expressed belief that he was on the verge of rheu- 
 matic fever, pneumonia, bronchitis, or all these 
 combined ; and though on Monday morning he 
 managed to summon up energy and ambition 
 enough to crawl, sneezing and groaning still, as 
 far as the city, he was well aware that for the 
 
 1 02
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 time being a period had been put to his nocturnal 
 prowlings. Only one course was now open to him : 
 to stand passively aside, and allow matters to go 
 their own way. Instead of wandering about the 
 damp and chilly streets of Bloomsbury, therefore, 
 he returned to his normal habits, hurried home 
 every day as soon as the office was closed, and 
 spent his evening in an arm-chair by the fire 
 dozing over the Echo, or discussing local intelli- 
 gence with his mother. It was not heroic, cer- 
 tainly ; and it made him positively wretched, while 
 Mrs. Smith held forth to him on the progress of 
 the next-door baby and the scarcity of vegetables, 
 to realise how the romance that had opened so 
 brilliantly threatened, after all, to fritter itself away 
 to a most pitifully lame and impotent conclusion. 
 But what was he to do ? What is any fellow to 
 do when his eyes begin to water without provo- 
 cation, and his head is all a-buzz? So far as 
 John could remember, the behaviour of heroes under 
 these trying conditions has never yet been set forth 
 in detail a regrettable omission on the part of the 
 chroniclers. Having no precedent before him, he 
 simply collapsed. 
 
 But these few days of influenza and reaction were 
 to form only a brief prosaic interlude in the develop- 
 ment of John Smith's romantic story. Just as his 
 life seemed about to slip back into its ordinary 
 placid and uneventful routine, something was to 
 happen to fill it with restlessness and fever again ; 
 and, of course, this something was to occur precisely 
 when he was least expecting it. 
 
 103
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Several weeks had now gone by since the Sunday 
 of his utter prostration, and he was beginning to feel, 
 as Mr. Chadwick elegantly expressed it for him, 
 " pretty steady on his pins again," when it chanced 
 that one afternoon he was sent from the office on a 
 business affair of some importance in the neighbour- 
 hood of Limehouse Basin. The short November day 
 was already drawing in when, the matter despatched, 
 John turned into the main thoroughfare, and after hold- 
 ing a brief debate with himself on the relative merits of 
 the various possible routes back to the city, concluded 
 that he would make for the nearest railway station. 
 It had been a dull and murky afternoon, and the 
 rain which had long been threatening now began to 
 descend in a thick, heavy mist of the description 
 usually known as Scotch the sort of drizzle which, 
 for all its quiet, undemonstrative style of procedure, 
 possesses almost unequalled powers of penetration. 
 He paused for a moment to button his collar about 
 him, and put up his umbrella ; and as he did so, he 
 became suddenly aware that a man very tightly 
 muffled up in an immense overcoat, which might 
 have done duty in the Arctic regions, was observing 
 his performance with something more than casual 
 attention from the shadow of a doorstep near by. 
 For the instant, he did not attach any importance 
 to the stranger's scrutiny, and, indeed, as soon as his 
 arrangements were completed, started forward again 
 without giving it a second thought. He had gone 
 hardly a hundred yards, however, when the oddness 
 of the circumstance struck him with sudden force, 
 and looking back, he saw that the man was perhaps 
 
 104
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 a quarter of that distance behind him. John's heart 
 came into his mouth. He was being followed ! The 
 inference was a rapid one, certainly ; but, after his 
 ridiculous fashion, he reached it at a single bound, 
 heedless of any consideration that the apparent 
 pursuit and surely there was nothing so very 
 remarkable about one man's walking behind another, 
 at that time of the day, down the Commercial Road 
 might after all be only another case of Madame 
 Blaize and the King. He quickened his pace, only 
 to find that his mysterious pursuer did the same. 
 He crossed and recrossed the street with an insolici- 
 tude about vehicles which brought him into imminent 
 danger of being run down ; he dodged behind a 
 brewer's dray ; plunged into a tobacconist's shop, and 
 over the purchase of three pennyworth of honey-dew, 
 held a brief conversation with the fat Jewish woman 
 at the counter on the subject of the weather his eye 
 always on the door ; he made a detour through 
 several side streets, and emerged from their darkness 
 and silence, glad enough to return to the main 
 thoroughfare, with its shops and bustle, only to find 
 that the man was still close on his heels. Filled now 
 with genuine alarm, he broke into a sharp trot, and 
 with a final dash, rushed into the booking-office of the 
 station. " Third single Fenchurch Street ! " he 
 panted, with hardly breath to get out the words. 
 " Change, sir ! " bawled the man, as John was tearing 
 off, forgetting the coppers that came to him out of 
 his shilling. He turned to clutch them with his 
 trembling fingers. " One third-class single to Fen- 
 church Street, if you please," said a voice, with great 
 
 105
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 deliberation, at his side. One quick glance was 
 enough. In an instant, despite the coat-collar which 
 muffled part of the face, and the hat rammed tightly 
 down over the brow, John recognised the long, 
 trailing moustache and great goggle-glasses of the 
 rude young man. 
 
 Ticket in hand, he turned from the booking-office, 
 elbowed his way through an incoming stream of 
 steaming, ill-tempered humanity, and fled back into 
 the street. An omnibus was just passing, city-bound. 
 " Full inside, sir," said the conductor, as John sprang 
 on the step, and stood there an instant, dazed and 
 reeling. He was in no mood to trouble himself 
 about a little physical discomfort. He clambered to 
 the top of the vehicle, and found himself in the 
 company of one small boy, who, with a dripping 
 tarpaulin wrapped round his shoulders, was whistling, 
 with an ear-piercing shrillness only achievable by his 
 kind, one of the popular music-hall melodies of the 
 day. 
 
 Peering over the railing of the omnibus into the 
 darkness, now this side and now that, John drew a 
 long sigh of relief, though his heart was still pumping 
 away fiercely as a result of his recent excitement. 
 At least, he had escaped. There was no sign of the 
 stranger anywhere. 
 
 In a few minutes the small boy descended, whistling 
 more loudly than ever, and John had the top of the 
 conveyance to himself. It was very wet, very cold, 
 very dismal, unspeakably uncomfortable ; but he did 
 not care. He was aware only of an intense feeling 
 of satisfaction in having, by a bold change of plan, 
 
 1 06
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 baffled his pursuer, and got safely away. But what a 
 narrow squeak it had been ! And though for this 
 time he had made good his escape, the ugly fact 
 remained he had been followed, and the chances 
 were that those who, for some unknown and un- 
 divinable reason, seemed to have developed so keen 
 an interest in him, would not rest until they had got 
 on his track again. And then well, what then ? 
 
 John was so busy over this question, and the alarm- 
 ing speculations to which it gave rise, that he did 
 not notice and, indeed, in the crowded condition of 
 the streets, would not, under any circumstances, have 
 been likely to notice that a hansom cab, maintain- 
 ing a steadiness of pace quite remarkable in a vehicle 
 belonging to so sprightly a class, was meanwhile 
 crawling along behind the omnibus, sometimes 
 almost coming up with it, but never exhibiting the 
 slightest disposition to pass it on the way. Nor did 
 he observe that, when he got down at the corner of 
 Leadenhall Street, the cab forsook the omnibus, the 
 driver, or whatever passenger may have been shut in 
 behind the glass doors, appearing to have business 
 in precisely those same narrow, and now well-nigh 
 deserted, streets by which John made a short cut to 
 his office in St. Mary Axe. Deep in thought, he 
 reached that building, ran upstairs to his own room, 
 locked the papers he had brought from Limehouse 
 safely in his desk, descended the stairs again, and 
 once more strode out into the darkness and the 
 drizzle. And now another shock was in store for 
 him. Just opposite the door, on the further side of 
 the street, stood the same closely-muffled figure, with 
 
 107
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the light of the nearest lamp gleaming from the 
 great goggle-glasses beneath his heavy hat. John 
 stopped sharp in a moment, rooted to the spot. As 
 he did so, the man turned and quietly walked away. 
 And when John went to bed that night, and, for 
 prophylactic reasons, gulped down the glass of stiff 
 whisky-lemonade which the careful mother brought 
 piping hot to his side, he found himself most un- 
 pleasantly convinced of two points first, that it was 
 quite possible for things to happen in life beyond 
 one's expectation and even one's desire ; and secondly, 
 that he had unquestionably got into the wrong end 
 of his romance. There could be no doubt about it 
 he was plunging blindfold into some serious, though 
 mysterious danger. And meanwhile, though he was 
 thus tempting an unguessed but perhaps terrible fate, 
 the real object of all his recent adventures and dreams 
 was as yet as far off as ever. For he had not got 
 even a glimpse of Victorine, and knew no more than 
 we had done at the beginning how and where, if at 
 all, she was to be found. 
 
 108
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ANOTHER TURN OF THE SCREW 
 
 A COUPLE of mornings later, when John reached the 
 office several minutes after time, he noticed that the 
 red-headed messenger-boy, whose duty it was to take 
 the names of callers and run on miscellaneous errands, 
 acknowledged his curt matutinal greeting with what 
 even for him was a peculiarly broad grin ; and enter- 
 ing his own room, he found three of his colleagues 
 making merry among themselves over something 
 which lay on his desk. 
 
 " Looks like a lady's handwriting, too," one was 
 just saying, as he closed the door behind him; and 
 there was a roar of laughter. 
 
 " I say, Smith, you fraud," said another a cross- 
 eyed young fellow with a spotty face, who, none the 
 less, made great boasts of his conquests among the 
 fair, " I always thought your name was John." 
 
 " FitzHugh Vespasian Smith," giggled the third 
 the youngest and pertest of the trio. " My heye, 
 what a go ! " 
 
 John plunged in among them, without more ado, 
 and snatched the envelope away ; and the opportune 
 arrival of the managing clerk sent them all scuttling 
 to their places, and brought their banter to a close. 
 
 109
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Smith,'' said Mr. Boroughgate, as he passed 
 through to his own sanctum, " I have some important 
 letters that I must get off at once. Bring your book, 
 please." 
 
 There was nothing for John to do but to thrust his 
 own missive into his pocket, with one more hasty 
 glance at the address " FitzHugh Vespasian 
 Smith, Esq. Private and confidential " and to 
 follow his superior, note-book in hand. For the next 
 hour he was fully occupied in taking shorthand notes 
 from Mr. Boroughgate's rapid dictation ; and as the 
 managing clerk was occasionally rather incoherent 
 as well as rapid, and was deeply annoyed by being 
 asked to repeat himself, John's faculties were kept 
 well on the stretch. And meanwhile, the mysterious 
 envelope seemed to burn right into his flesh. 
 
 " Get those letters out immediately, Smith, and let 
 me have them for signature," were Mr. Boroughgate's 
 directions, as John returned to his room. His desk 
 was close beside that of the cross-eyed young fellow 
 Starkins by name; and what with his sharp glances 
 of inquiry, shot from time to time from the columns 
 of figures upon which he was engaged, and the rush- 
 orders which kept John himself steadily upon his 
 correspondence, the morning went by without any 
 chance presenting itself for an examination of the 
 envelope or its contents. 
 
 " How is she, Smith ? " or, " Did she send any 
 message to rne ? " or, " I say, Fitzy, is that pet-name 
 of yours her own invention ? " these are samples of 
 the questions with which John was everlastingly plied 
 by his neighbour, who, for the rest, seemed to be but 
 
 no
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 little disturbed by the " Shut up, you donkey, I can't 
 get out these notes if you keep nagging in that 
 absurd way ! " which he ordinarily received by way of 
 answer. 
 
 Once during the morning the pert young fellow 
 came in from the "governor's" room to bring 
 Starkins another bundle of accounts, and, of course, 
 he had to put in his oar. 
 
 " I say, Clarence FitzWheezlem, old Jasper wants 
 to know" " old Jasper " was colloquial for the head 
 of the firm " whether there's a good rent-roll 
 attached to the dookdom, and how soon you are 
 intending to deprive him of your valuable services ? " 
 
 John's pen went faster than ever. 
 
 " Don't bother him, Paxton," said Starkins, throw- 
 ing much sympathy into his tones. " He ain't feeling 
 well this morning. You know, a letter like that will 
 upset any man." 
 
 " Oh, she'll come round, right enough," Paxton 
 went on. " Give her time, Clarence, my boy ; give 
 her time. Eh, Starkins ? Starkins knows the sex, 
 Clarence, and he'll put you up to a thing or two. 
 Only, I say don't leave old Jasper's name out of the 
 wedding invitations. He'd be awfully hurt, you 
 know. He was askin' me only just now when you 
 expected it to come off." 
 
 As this kind of thing went on through the entire 
 morning, John, by lunch-time, was in a state of 
 nervous irritability bordering on distraction. 
 
 At length half-past twelve came, and he was able 
 to escape. He did not go straight to the restaurant 
 where he was accustomed to get his mid-day chop or 
 
 ill
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 cut from the joint. He hurried off, instead, to a 
 secluded spot in the shadow of one of the big ware- 
 houses not far away ; and there, after satisfying 
 himself that he was safe from inspection, he drew the 
 letter from his pocket. 
 
 Yes, there was the address, written in a small and 
 exceedingly delicate feminine hand : " FitzHugh 
 Vespasian Smith, Esq. Private and Confidential." 
 The inscription danced so bewilderingly before his 
 eyes that he had some difficulty in reading it. 
 Nothing else was on the envelope no further 
 direction, and no postage stamp. Evidently, then, 
 the missive had been brought to the office person- 
 ally or by messenger. John's heart gave a great 
 thump. Could she have left it there herself? For 
 somehow he knew that the writer was Victorine. 
 
 He turned so sick that for a moment or two he 
 could not make up his mind to break the envelope 
 open. When he did so, it was with trembling fingers 
 that he drew forth a small sheet of daintily perfumed 
 paper. And this is what he read : 
 
 " FitzHugh Vespasian Smith, Esq. 
 
 " SIR, This is to give you warning that you are 
 recognised and known. From this time forward, all 
 your movements will be watched. Take care. 
 Your safety lies in keeping out of our way. If 
 you endeavour to meddle with our plans, you must 
 take the consequences. I need not particularise. 
 Perhaps you may remember how Penny Whistle 
 disappeared mysteriously six months ago, and has 
 
 112
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 not been heard of since. No one wants to disappear 
 mysteriously if he can help it. Look out ! " 
 
 That was all, and the epistle contained neither 
 address, date, nor signature. But that was quite 
 enough. Starkins had been well within the mark 
 when he had jestingly said : " You know a letter 
 like that will upset any man." 
 
 It certainly upset John Smith. When, obeying 
 his reason rather than his desire, he turned into his 
 restaurant for a little lunch, the buxom damsel who 
 had attended to his gastronomic needs every day 
 these three years was positively startled, as she 
 took his order, at the sight of his haggard face; 
 and as she watched him stagger out of the dining- 
 room, leaving his succulent bit of roast mutton and 
 boiled potato all but untasted, she confided to the 
 Hebe of the adjoining table that she knew "poor 
 Mr. Smith was goin' to be ill he looked that 
 hawful ! " 
 
 And, indeed, the letter contained that which 
 might well have set a-flutter a stouter heart than 
 poor Mr. Smith's. I should like myself to be con- 
 sidered as plucky as most men of my size ; but 
 I confess to a feeling that such dark hints and 
 covert warnings would go far to disturb even my 
 wonted equanimity. No one, indeed, as our friend's 
 laconic correspondent suggested, wants to disappear 
 mysteriously if he can help it; and the mere 
 possibility of doing so is distinctly unpleasant, not 
 to say alarming. John had not the remotest idea 
 of the identity of the Penny Whistle alluded to in 
 
 113 H
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the document ; but it was only too evident from 
 the context that, whoever or whatever he might be, 
 he had been guilty of doing precisely what John 
 himself was delicately advised not to do meddling 
 with somebody's plans and that his mysterious 
 disappearance had been compassed in consequence. 
 John was suddenly filled with the keenest interest 
 in the untoward fate of Penny Whistle ! Mysterious 
 disappearance was manifestly only a euphemism 
 if, indeed, it could be styled a euphemism ; perhaps 
 brutal synonym would be more correct for assassina- 
 tion, or it had to come out direct and simple 
 murder. And for a respectable young man who 
 had hitherto known absolutely nothing of bad 
 company, and whose only acquaintance with deeds 
 of violence had been through the medium of novels, 
 to find himself threatened with murder this, indeed, 
 was something to turn his stomach against roast 
 mutton and boiled potatoes, and to bring a cold 
 perspiration to his brow. John's mind was instantly 
 filled with a vision of becoming the hero, not of a 
 delightful and well-ordered love-romance, but of a 
 coroner's inquest and a number of sensational 
 paragraphs in the newspapers ; and among all 
 the happenings he had contemplated even in his 
 most extravagant moods, it is safe to say that the 
 chance of being "sat upon" had never entered his 
 thoughts. 
 
 When, after recovering from the first shock, he 
 began to consider the contents of the letter a little 
 carefully, he found himself completely baffled. Study 
 it as he would, he could make neither head nor tail 
 
 114
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 of it. Could such an epistle conceivably have 
 emanated from Victorine ? Horrible as the inference 
 was, it was one not to be avoided. The handwriting 
 was a woman's ; it answered exactly, as he was 
 forced to admit, in its combined delicacy and free- 
 dom, to what he knew of her personality and 
 character. He could think of no other woman who 
 would have written to him at all ; and certainly she 
 was the only individual, male or female, so far as he 
 was aware and how he cursed his folly ! to whom 
 he was known under his idiotic romantic alias, in 
 place of simple John. But would Victorine ever 
 have addressed him with warnings and threats ? 
 Could such a girl sit down and write, in that perfectly 
 monstrous and cold-blooded way, of assassination ? 
 How vividly he remembered every detail of their 
 walk from Portland Road Station that evening, which 
 now seemed, oh, so many years ago ; her half-childish 
 chatter, her bright face and innocent laughter ; the 
 frank kindness with which she had parted from him ; 
 the thanks she had given him for his behaviour 
 towards her. Why, to connect her, even remotely, 
 with these sanguinary menaces was not only fright- 
 ful, it was downright absurd. And yet did he not 
 also recall these odd utterances of hers that same 
 night, and the almost pleading manner in which she 
 had told him to forget her as quickly and as com- 
 pletely as possible ! ' " You have absolutely no 
 business with a girl like me I am what I am, and 
 what you would never, never understand ! " These 
 had been her very words the tone in which she 
 had uttered them, the strange emphasis she had laid 
 
 "5
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 upon them, still lingered in his ears. And somehow, 
 when he dwelt on these words, that tone, that 
 emphasis, the idea of connecting Victorine with the 
 letter, gruesome as it was, did not, after all, appear 
 quite so furiously ridiculous. Good heavens ! what 
 did it all mean ? 
 
 But supposing the letter had come from her, John 
 was still as far as ever from understanding, or even 
 guessing at, its purpose and significance. Whoever 
 the writer was, she had written on behalf of others as 
 well as of herself. She had told him that he was re- 
 cognised ; that his movements would henceforth be 
 followed ; that his only safety lay in keeping out of 
 the way of herself and her friends ; that swift and 
 certain retribution of the most terrible character 
 would follow if he persisted in meddling with their 
 plans. Now, where in the devil's name was he to 
 look for the explanation of all this wild nonsense ? 
 That the friends, on behalf of whom his correspon- 
 dent had spoken, were none other than the men 
 whom he had come to associate with Victorine, 
 whose attention, for some reason or other, he had 
 unwillingly attracted, and by one of whom he had 
 recently been followed, did not admit of doubt ; 
 but what were their plans ? And how in the world 
 had he been meddling with them ? How had he 
 indicated the slightest desire of so doing? There 
 was the puzzle ! John put his brain upon the 
 rack, but all he could extort from it was a 
 suggestion that there was some love question at the 
 bottom of the trouble. Someone perhaps, as he 
 now began to fancy, from the conspicuous part that 
 
 116
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 individual had lately been playing in his life, the 
 ferocious young man with the goggle-glasses was 
 on the point of marrying Victorine, and scented in 
 him John Smith (as possibly he had found before 
 in poor Penny Whistle) a dangerous rival. The idea 
 flattered his pride, or would, under other circum- 
 stances, have done so ; but otherwise it could hardly 
 be regarded as satisfactory. For, to say the least of 
 it, it was odd that Victorine should have written 
 about such a matter, instead of leaving her pretendu 
 to air his own jealousies. And, on the chance of 
 possible rivalship though a duel might have been 
 strictly in order all this talk about mysterious 
 disappearances was surely a trifle uncalled for. 
 
 On his return to the office, John at once got hold 
 of the red-headed messenger boy, and on some trivial 
 pretext, took him aside. 
 
 " Mason," he said, " I want to ask you a question." 
 The boy's face crinkled in all directions under the 
 influence of suppressed mirth. " Don't be a fool, but 
 listen to me a minute ! How did that letter get on 
 my desk this morning ? " 
 
 " Wot letter ? " grinned Mason (otherwise Carrots), 
 whose wit always took the form of exasperation. 
 
 " Why, the letter that was lying on my desk when 
 I came in." John knew the youth of old, and re- 
 sisted a strong temptation to twitch a lock of his 
 flaming hair. 
 
 " Oh, that letter ! I put that there." 
 
 " Of course you did ! But how did you come by 
 it ? Who gave it to you ? Look here, Mason. 
 That letter is really not of the least importance. It 
 
 117
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 came from from some friends of mine who who 
 well, who sent it to me just as a joke see ! But I 
 want to know all about it, just the same, and if you 
 tell me a straight story, I don't mind giving you 
 half-a-crown." 
 
 John produced a two-and-sixpenny piece from his 
 pocket, and balanced it thoughtfully on his finger- 
 tips. Just how much or how little of his own ex- 
 planative statement found acceptance with Carrots 
 who, like most members of his profession, was 
 preternaturally wise in the wisdom of the world he 
 did not bother to inquire. He saw by the look in 
 the boy's greenish eyes that the proffered bribe had 
 made the required impression. 
 
 " Well," said Carrots, with a deliberation which 
 was intended to indicate complete veracity, " wen I 
 got 'ere this morning, I saw a bloke 'angin' about the 
 front door, as if he was waiting for somebody. At 
 fust I didn't take no notice of 'im " 
 
 " What sort of a man was he ? " 
 
 " He was so wrapped up in a big overcoat and a 
 great big 'at that I couldn't tell exactly what he 
 looked like. But he was quite a tall, 'eavy chap, with 
 a red beard, and he spoke like a furrener." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed John involuntarily. Mason's 
 meagre description left no doubt in his mind as to 
 the man's identity. He was the " other one." 
 
 " I was just a-goin' in," Carrots continued, " wen 
 the bloke spotted me, and came up so sudden that 
 he quite took my breath away. ' Do you belong in 
 there ? ' says he. He spoke quite fierce. ' Wot if 
 I do ? ' says I. { Are you in the employ of Werry & 
 
 118
 
 Co. ? ' says he. f S'posin' I am,' says I, ' I don't see 
 any 'arm in that,' says I. ' Well,' says he, ' do you 
 know a party of the name of Smith ? ' And he 
 looked at me sharp. My ! but he has a pair of black 
 heyes in his 'ead ! " The narrator added dramatic 
 force to his story at this point by making a gesture 
 to simulate the boring of a gimlet through a board. 
 " ' P'raps I do, and p'raps I don't,' says I ; ' may I ast 
 wot you want with 'im ? ' ' Give 'im that,' says he, 
 and he 'anded me the letter. ' And mind,' says he, 
 speakin' quite fierce," and here Carrots sank his voice 
 to a quite preternatural bass " ' mind he gets it, for 
 it's very partikler,' says he ; ' and I tell you wot, 
 youngster, if he don't get it, it'll be so much the 
 worse for you.' " 
 
 "Well?" said John, to whom it will be readily under- 
 stood every detail of this recital had its interest. 
 
 " So I took the letter," Mason went on, " and the 
 bloke was just a-goin' away, when I called to him 
 to stop. ' 'Ere,' says I, ' there's some mistake about 
 this.' ' Wot mistake ? ' says he, glowerin'. ' There 
 ain't no one of this name in Werry & Co.'s,' says I, 
 lookin' at the address. ' You told me you knew 
 Mr. Smith,' says he. ' So I do,' says 1, answerin' up, 
 ' but our Mr. Smith ain't got no rigmarole like that 
 afore his name' and I read out the Clarence 
 Wot-d'ye-call-'em you know." 
 
 " Yes, yes," said John rapidly ; " that was part of 
 the joke." 
 
 " Well, the bloke didn't seem to think it much of a 
 joke himself," said Carrots. " He glared at me as if 
 he had 'arf a mind to eat me the hogre. ' Wot do 
 
 119
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 you mean ? ' says he. ' Only,' says I, ' that our Mr. 
 Smith is just John plain John Smith/ says I, ' and 
 nothink else.' This seemed to knock the wind out 
 of him for a minute. ' Are you sure ? ' says he. 
 ' Cock ! ' says I. Then he pulled 'ard at his beard " 
 the speaker illustrated the action "and after a 
 while he says, ' Wot is your Mr. Smith like ? ' says he. 
 ' Oh/ says I, ' he's just like any ordinary gentleman.' 
 Then he described you exactly your eyes, and 'air, 
 and clothes, and walk, and everythink ; and says he, 
 ' Is that your Mr. Smith ? ' ' If it ain't/ says I, ' then 
 it's his twin brother.' For wot he said 'it you awf 
 as if he'd known you from the cradle." Such accur- 
 acy of portrayal gave John a most uncomfortable 
 feeling. " ' Then/ says he, ' no matter about the 
 name; that ain't nothink. The letter's meant for 
 your Mr. Smith, wotever he chooses to call himself; 
 and I daresay/ says he, 'that he calls himself a 
 variety of things. So see that he gets it, youngster, 
 at once.' And with that he went away, without as 
 much as a ' Thank you.' " 
 
 John plied his informant with a number of ques- 
 tions touching points in the story, but elicited no 
 further particulars of any importance. So he handed 
 over the half-crown, which Carrots playfully made 
 feint to spit on, for luck, spun in the air, and con- 
 fided to one of his countless pockets. Then John 
 went back to his desk, to spend so much of the 
 afternoon as he could spare from his work in thinking 
 over Mason's account, and its possible bearings upon 
 the problems presented by the letter itself, without, 
 however, deriving much light or comfort from his 
 meditations. 
 
 1 20
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SHOWING HOW JOHN, HAVING HAD ENOUGH OF 
 ROMANCE, IS INVITED TO TRY A LITTLE MORE 
 
 SINCE that Sunday afternoon, now a number of 
 weeks ago, when John had overturned the tobacco- 
 jar, and otherwise behaved so unaccountably, Ben 
 Chadwick had seen comparatively little of his friend ; 
 but that little, combined with what he had heard 
 from common acquaintances in a roundabout way, 
 had sufficed to deepen his conviction that, somehow 
 or other, something was radically wrong. Being 
 himself of a practical turn of mind, and limited 
 outlook upon life, Ben oscillated, in search of some 
 sufficient cause for such serious disturbance, between 
 liver and love. His own temperament had naturally 
 inclined him towards the former line of explanation, 
 but what he knew of John's romantic vagaries made 
 the latter and more disquieting supposition fill an 
 increasingly large place in his mind. 
 
 " I think I must drop round and see the poor old 
 chap," he said to himself one evening, after the 
 somewhat nondescript meal which awaited him on 
 his return from the city. 
 
 Having partaken heartily of some of his favourite 
 viands, and washed them down with a bottle of Bass, 
 
 121
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 he felt himself in a glow of satisfaction and sympathy. 
 And drop round he accordingly did. 
 
 He found John ensconced by the parlour fire, his 
 slippered feet on the fender, a copy of the Echo on 
 his knees. A pipe, and an unopened packet of 
 honey-dew, lay on the corner of the table near by ; for 
 since his indisposition, it had been amicably settled 
 between his mother and himself that he might smoke 
 downstairs if he chose to ; an understanding of 
 which, however judging from the absence of any 
 smell of tobacco in the room he had apparently, on 
 that particular evening, not seen fit to take advantage. 
 Ben noted this circumstance, and drew some alarming 
 influences therefrom. As for Mrs. Smith, she was 
 seated in her usual place at the table, with the usual 
 litter of needlework in evidence beside her. It is 
 rather astonishing, when one comes to think about it, 
 what an enormous amount of darning and mending 
 ladies of Mrs. Smith's type always find to do. They 
 never read, they never sit idle. When the severer 
 household tasks of the day the scrubbing, the 
 dusting, the cooking are over, they invariably and 
 instinctively sit down to sew. 
 
 The ordinary salutations done with, Ben took the 
 large chair indicated to him on the side of the 
 fire-place opposite to John. 
 
 " Glad to see you looking so much better, old 
 man," he said, in his cheery way. 
 
 His private opinion was that John was really look- 
 ing nothing of the kind, but seemed wretchedly ill 
 and depressed. It was not his habit, however, to lead 
 off by giving a man so unconsoling a view of his case. 
 
 122
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Oh, yes, I'm all right," John replied glumly. 
 Why was it that everybody would persist in talking 
 about his health ? 
 
 But here Mrs. Smith chimed in. 
 
 " That's all nonsense ! " she said emphatically. 
 " John is not all right, Mr. Chadwick. I don't know 
 what's the matter with him, but he worries me more 
 than I can say." 
 
 Ben's fat, unintelligent face assumed an expression 
 of genuine sympathy. 
 
 " Cod-liver oil is a good thing," he suggested, with 
 his head tilted a little, at an owl-like angle of 
 wisdom, to one side. 
 
 " Rot ! " muttered John. 
 
 " I have tried to get him to take that, Mr. Chad- 
 wick," said the solicitous mother. " I have given 
 him medicine " 
 
 " Yes, you've dosed me with all sorts of stuff," inter- 
 rupted her son, testily enough. " When I'm a bit off my 
 base," he explained, " mother thinks I want quarts of 
 physic. I don't want physic. I want to be left alone." 
 
 Mrs. Smith turned upon Mr. Chadwick a look 
 eloquent of uncertainty and alarm, and Ben re- 
 sponded with a glance which was as full of emotional 
 meaning as his chubby features would allow. But 
 John's words and tone made it perfectly clear that 
 any further discussion of his health would lead to 
 something perilously like a quarrel. So that delicate 
 subject was forthwith dropped. 
 
 Nothing could well have been flatter and less 
 entertaining than the discursive conversation which 
 followed. John hardly stirred himself to speak, 
 
 123
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 merely answering direct questions with a mono- 
 syllable or a curt phrase, and obstinately refusing 
 Ben's lead into even the most promising topics. Mrs. 
 Smith did her best to be agreeable, but she was 
 clearly preoccupied, and never once laid aside her 
 sewing, except to go through the necessary operation 
 of threading her needle. Thus the burden of the 
 talk devolved upon Ben, who for a time struggled 
 manfully to keep the ball going, but whose energy 
 and resources gradually gave out under the stress of 
 such adverse conditions. He experimented alter- 
 nately upon questions of private and public interest, 
 but not even by his spirited account of the sudden 
 and quite unexpected marriage of Sarah Sneddon, a 
 prominent young lady in the choir of the "Little 
 Bethel " which Mrs. Smith attended for " worship " ; 
 not even by his detailed description of the alleged 
 aims and methods of a set of eccentrics belonging to 
 some secret society, who (according to the evening 
 paper) had been discovered in London, in active 
 search for the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's 
 Stone ; not even by such exciting themes as these 
 was he able to take the chill off the social atmosphere. 
 Altogether, he spent a most dismal and depressing 
 hour, the lugubriousness of which was considerably 
 intensified by the fact that John was so entirely 
 oblivious of his duties as host that he never did so 
 much as dimly hint at the possibilities of a pipe; and 
 he was just about to give the whole business up as 
 a bad job, and with a heavy sense of duty done to 
 take his farewell, when Mrs. Smith herself rose, and 
 began to gather up her work. 
 
 124
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " I'll bid you good-night, Mr. Chadwick," she said. 
 " It's early yet ; but I've had a big day's house- 
 cleaning, and want to get to bed. You and John, I 
 daresay, will be glad to have a bit of talk only don't 
 be too late, John, will you ? And, by the way, I'll 
 leave the bread and cheese out on the kitchen-table, in 
 case Mr. Chadwick would like a crust before he goes." 
 
 And so the good mother who had not a parti- 
 cularly long day of housekeeping, and did not 
 specially want to go to bed excused herself to get 
 out of the way, that she might leave the two young 
 men together. She felt and hoped that Ben might 
 succeed in cheering John up. Her son's strange 
 nervousness, his constant abstraction, his fitful starts, 
 and the gloom which seemed always to rest upon his 
 mind, were now causing her the most serious alarm. 
 And the worst aspect of the matter was that, for the 
 first time in her experience, she felt herself absolutely 
 powerless to do anything with him or for him. 
 
 As soon as she had gone upstairs, John made a 
 couple of trips to the kitchen, and brought thence 
 the loaf and cheese, together with knives, plates, 
 a bottle of whisky, a couple of glasses, and a jug 
 of water. These elements of a repast he placed in 
 silence at Ben's end of the table. 
 
 " Help yourself," he said ; " I don't want anything 
 to eat." 
 
 By way of answer, Ben poured out some whisky, 
 filled the glass with water, and pushed the beverage 
 towards his friend. 
 
 " You ain't going to let a chap drink by himself, 
 though," he remarked, in a tone of reproof. 
 
 125
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 John so far relented as to acknowledge a willing- 
 ness to join in that rite of hospitality which is, by an 
 odd convention, supposed to be particularly symbolical 
 of good fellowship. 
 
 Then Ben himself proceeded to do ample justice 
 to the more solid part of the supper ; after which he 
 pushed his plate aside, and mixed himself a second 
 glass of grog. 
 
 " I'll smoke a bit, old man, if you don't mind," he 
 said, drawing from his pocket a stumpy briar pipe, 
 which gave every sign of having seen good service. 
 
 John threw over the unopened packet of honeydew; 
 and Ben filled, lighted, puffed, and settled himself 
 comfortably in his chair. Then he cleared his 
 throat. He had made up his mind that the duty of 
 friendship demanded that he should " pump " John, 
 and now the opportunity had come. But duty has 
 an unpleasant way of assuming a distinctly repcllant 
 appearance when one gets close up to it ; and Ben 
 admitted to himself that he did not like the job. 
 
 " John," he said, after a few minutes of silence, 
 which his companion did not exhibit the slightest 
 signs of breaking, " John, old man, there's something 
 the matter with you, and I want you to tell me what 
 it is." 
 
 He fired off his remark at a venture, and no one 
 could well have been more surprised than he was at 
 its instantaneous effect. The case was one in which 
 his own bluntness of speech served the purpose he 
 had in view far better than any diplomatic soundings 
 or delicacy of tact might have done. Had he 
 approached his subject in the elaborately ingenious, 
 
 126
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 circuitous way, which would, doubtless, have com- 
 mended itself to a more subtle mind than his, John, 
 put on his guard, would most probably have resisted 
 his advance inch by inch. But under such a sudden 
 and direct appeal, the poor fellow's feelings, long 
 pent up, gave way entirely. The unheroic young 
 man had for so many weeks lived and brooded 
 within himself that he had come to crave sympathy, 
 counsel, comfort, or at least someone to talk to 
 frankly and unreservedly. And the result was that, 
 on the spur of the moment, he capitulated before he 
 had given himself time to consider the wisdom or 
 unwisdom of his course. 
 
 " Ben," he said hoarsely, " I am the most miserable 
 man alive ! " 
 
 Mr. Chadwick took his pipe out of his mouth, and 
 for a moment or two stared across at his friend in 
 speechless bewilderment. There was no mistaking 
 the concentrated passion of John's tones. 
 
 " Heavens ! " he said at last, " has anything 
 happened ? " He did not realise that in formulating 
 his question in this way, he was making ironical use of 
 a phrase which had played a considerable part in his 
 many discussions with John over the latter's romantic 
 aspirations. 
 
 " Has anything happened ! " said John, almost 
 fiercely. " Good God ! I should think that something 
 has happened ! " He stepped across to the door, and 
 satisfied himself that it was securely fastened. Then 
 he went to Ben's side, and leaning over him, dropped 
 his voice to a whisper. " Ben, don't think I'm 
 fooling. I'm a doomed man ! " 
 
 127
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 The complete blankness of Ben's stare would baffle 
 description. Again he took his pipe from his mouth ; 
 his eyes were riveted on his companion's face in 
 absolute amazement, and he breathed hard. 
 
 " It's truth gospel truth ! " John went on. " For 
 aught I know, I may be shot any day or or 
 chucked into the river or or done away with 
 somehow. They're after me ! I saw them again 
 yesterday, and to-day. This evening one of them 
 was hanging about the street corner when I left the 
 office. Ben ! Ben ! if I shouldn't come home one 
 night if I shouldn't turn up again if if the police 
 get hold of the thing, and there's an inquest, and 
 and you know, Ben ! I say, Ben you'll tell mother, 
 won't you, that there really wasn't any harm in it. I 
 swear to God I never hurt the girl ! Why, good 
 heavens ! " here John spluttered in the most unheroic 
 manner " I never had the chance. I only saw her 
 once. What the devil they want to murder me for, 
 I don't know I can't even guess ! " 
 
 Ben's first impression, as he listened to this tirade, 
 was that John had gone mad out and out mad ; 
 and he drew the rapid inference that much reading 
 of romance and brooding over his sterile lot had 
 ended by turning his brain. But he realised the 
 next moment that, however flighty and extravagant 
 his friend's talk might be, there must certainly be 
 some substantial basis for his trouble. 
 
 " John," he said slowly, " I haven't the wildest 
 notion of what you are talking about. Fellows don't 
 go about in these days with the idea of murdering 
 other fellows. If you've been fooling about with 
 
 128
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 another chap's gal, I daresay he'll try to punch your 
 head for it; and after all, you couldn't blame him, 
 could you ? " Ben stated this part of the case with 
 the admirable coolness of a scientific observer of life. 
 " But as for murdering, and that sort of thing, you 
 know why, that's all rot, you know." 
 
 John groaned aloud. 
 
 " You don't understand anything about it," he 
 said. 
 
 " I never contradict a gentleman unless it's abso- 
 lutely necessary," Ben replied. " S'posing you 
 explain exactly what's up. Who is the gal that all 
 the fuss is about ? and what sort of a chap is it that 
 wants to chuck you into the river ? Come, begin at 
 the beginning, John, and tell me all about it." 
 
 Ben lighted another pipe, and once more settled 
 himself to listen ; but his pipe went out and was 
 forgotten, and all considerations of ease were set at 
 naught, long before his friend came to the close of 
 his narrative. For John did begin at the beginning 
 at that first memorable meeting with Victorine in 
 the underground railway train, and made a full and 
 detailed confession of his troubles, pursuing his story 
 with relentless veracity and minuteness down to the 
 time when the receipt of the anonymous letter, with 
 its warnings and menaces, brought him the assurance 
 that his visions of coming evil were not unfounded, 
 but that, by some method or other, he had succeeded 
 in arousing the bitter hostility of at least a couple of 
 exceedingly bloodthirsty and reckless men. At first, 
 it is true, his summary of facts and conclusions lacked 
 somewhat in orderliness and lucidity. But Ben did 
 
 129 I
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 not scruple to stop him short from time to time in 
 his over-fluent and zigzag recital, to ply him with 
 questions, and confront him with objections; with 
 the result that out of poor John's confused mass of 
 incidents and guesses, he managed at length to 
 construct a pretty clear record of what had actually 
 taken place. 
 
 " And did you say just now," he inquired, " that 
 since you got that letter you have reason to believe 
 that these fellows are after you again." 
 
 " I know they are," answered John emphatically. 
 " One of them the young man with the goggles 
 was watching for me when I left the office at six 
 o'clock this evening. He was standing at the corner, 
 out of the light of the lamp. I didn't see him at 
 least, I didn't recognise him till I was close up 
 against him." 
 " And then ? " 
 
 " And then why, then, of course, I crossed the 
 street, and " 
 " Yes ? " 
 
 " And when I looked round, he had disappeared." 
 " H'm ! Have you got that letter handy, John ?" 
 John had the letter quite handy safely deposited 
 in the inner pocket of his waistcoat. He passed it to 
 Ben, who perused it slowly and critically. When he 
 had finished it, he turned back to the beginning, and 
 perused it slowly and critically again. 
 
 " Well, that beats anything / ever saw ! " was his 
 curt commentary, as he folded the document and 
 returned it to its unhappy owner, who meanwhile 
 had been watching him with big, anxious eyes. 
 
 130
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 "John, my boy, you've got yourself into a pretty 
 mess this time, with all your tomfoolery about 
 romance, and that sort of thing a pretty mess, 
 indeed ! Unless " with a sudden flash of inspira- 
 tion " unless the whole beastly thing is nothing 
 but a practical joke ! " 
 
 " You don't think it is a joke, do you, then ? " 
 cried John, clutching fiercely at this new idea. 
 
 " No, I don't," answered Ben bluntly. " That was 
 merely a notion that struck me. There can't be any 
 joke about it you may bank on that. Who in the 
 world would take the trouble to cook up all this 
 nonsense just for fun ? Whatever it is, it's serious 
 enough. You're likely to get your damned fill of 
 romance for once, my boy." 
 
 Ben had been cruel enough to give his friend a 
 momentary glimpse of hope, and to snatch away the 
 light in an instant, leaving the darkness deeper than 
 before. He was singularly brutal, too, in his judg- 
 ment, having evidently in his own mind struck up 
 a causal relationship between John's long-cherished 
 heroic aspirations and the pickle into which he had 
 got. This notion naturally irritated Mr. Chadwick, 
 and made him unusually harsh and unsympathetic. 
 John, it is true, found a certain ease of mind in 
 having taken Ben into his confidence ; but, on the 
 other hand, matters were made rather worse than 
 better by the serious view which, now that the 
 whole case was before him, his phlegmatic friend 
 evidently took of the situation. He had started out, 
 in his ignorance, by pooh-poohing the very idea of 
 murder ; but since he had heard the entire story, and
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 had read the letter, that idea no longer seemed to 
 strike him as so grotesque and outrageous. 
 
 " Ben," he said hoarsely, " never mind about that 
 damned romance. I've been an awful fool, I know. 
 You needn't rub that into me, old man. Tell me at 
 least what you think is the matter. Why do these 
 fellows dog my footsteps ? Why do they write me 
 that I am recognised that I must keep out of their 
 way that if I don't look alive they'll treat me 
 good Lord ! they'll treat me as they did Penny 
 Whistle? Who the devil was Penny Whistle, and 
 what has he to do with me ? Why can't they let me 
 alone ? What have I done to hurt them ? " 
 
 " Well," said Ben deliberately, " I only see one 
 explanation of the difficulty myself. It's the gal. 
 For some reason or other, they think you're after 
 her, and they're determined to stop you. Perhaps 
 they fancy you want to carry her off. At any rate, 
 it's the gal you may take my word for that You 
 tell me yourself you've been dangling about Blooms- 
 bury, night after night, in the hope of finding her. 
 They got to know that, you may depend upon it, 
 and there you are." 
 
 "But still I don't understand their behaviour," 
 said John. " Of course, somehow or other, Victorine 
 is at the bottom of the trouble at least, I mean " 
 he broke off suddenly, and after a moment made a 
 fresh start. " But even supposing they don't want 
 me to have anything to do with her, don't you think 
 they go to work well, in a mighty odd kind of way? 
 Couldn't they come and tell me that she's married, or 
 engaged, or whatever it is ? Why do they spy on 
 
 132
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 me, and threaten me with murder? tJiafs what I 
 don't understand." 
 
 "John," said Ben, "didn't you say these fellows 
 were foreigners ? " 
 
 " I have every reason to believe they are," was the 
 reply. 
 
 " Well, there's the whole . thing in a nutshell. 
 Foreigners ain't like Englishmen, and don't behave 
 as such. Take an Englishman, now. If you go 
 fooling about after his gal, he'll either take no notice 
 or will give you a bit of his mind on the subject, and 
 perhaps will make his ideas on the subject clearer 
 supposing you persist in your attentions, don't you 
 know by punching your head into the bargain. 
 But it'll be all square and above board, and a little 
 punching doesn't do any harm. But that ain't a 
 foreigner's way. There's never anything square and 
 above board about him. He sets his teeth, and 
 curses, and plays the sneak generally. And instead 
 of having it out with you like a man, he just hangs 
 about and waits his chance, and one dark night, when 
 you're not thinking anything about him, he comes up 
 behind you on tiptoe with a pistol or a knife, and " 
 
 " Yes, yes," interrupted John hurriedly, " I see the 
 difference. I daresay you're right there if these, 
 fellows are foreigners, that explains it all. But here's 
 the real question. A man doesn't like to go about 
 fancying that somebody means to kill him." 
 
 " It is unpleasant," Ben conceded. 
 
 " And so, what's to be done, Ben ? " 
 
 " Done ? " Ben exclaimed. " Well, I'm hanged if, 
 in your place, I wouldn't try a little head-punching 
 
 133
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 on my own account. The next time you meet one 
 of these fire-eating Italians, or whatever they are, 
 just go up to him, with a polite 'Good morning, 
 mounseer,' by way of introduction, and then invite 
 him to smell a bit of real English fist. Make him 
 see a few dozen stars, my boy real beauties ! 
 That's the ticket ! I wouldn't mind betting a pony 
 or two that he'd melt away pretty quick." Ben 
 actually laughed outright as he pictured the capital 
 scene : John triumphant, and the discomfited Italian 
 picking himself up and rubbing his nose. " That's 
 just like them foreigners. You'd be astonished to 
 see what cowards they are. They're all right behind 
 a man's back ; but when it's face to face, on fair 
 ground yah ! " 
 
 But John shook his head dubiously. Ben's belli- 
 cose advice did not at all fit in with his present 
 completely unmilitant mood. His politics were now 
 of the " peace at any price " complexion. 
 
 " It won't do, Ben," he said, " it won't do ! You 
 know I never was anything with the knuckles. 
 Besides, it's ten chances to one that he'd have a 
 knife or a revolver in his pocket, and then " 
 
 " Oh, well," said Ben, " if you don't like that way 
 out of it mind you, I think that's the proper 
 method of dealing with such chaps myself but if 
 you don't like that way, there's only one other that 
 I can see open to you : you must do as they tell you 
 you must keep out of their road " 
 
 " I am keeping out of their road," groaned John. 
 " It's they who are getting into mine." 
 
 " You must keep out of their road," Ben went on, 
 134
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 paying no attention to the interruption ; " you must 
 have absolutely nothing to do with that gal abso- 
 lutely nothing, mind ! And from all I can make out, 
 she must be a pretty tough case " 
 
 " I am sure that, so far as Victorine is concerned " 
 
 " Don't think another thing about her avoid her 
 like poison ; just go on as you always did before you 
 knew of her existence ; and then, if these blackguards 
 give you any more trouble " 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Just go straight to the police, and put the whole 
 affair into their hands." 
 
 " I never thought of that," John said, very slowly, 
 foreseeing all sorts of scandal. He began to fancy 
 that even head punching might have its advantages. 
 
 " You never thought of it ? Why didn't you ever 
 think of it ? " said the practical Ben. " Look here, 
 John, we ain't living in one of your bloomin' novels, 
 nor, thank the pigs, in Italy, or or Texas. We're 
 living in England. And in England a fellow pays 
 rates and taxes, and has a right to police protection. 
 In the streets of London a man can't go about 
 picking off the people he doesn't like with a revolver, 
 or sticking a bowie-knife between their shoulders as 
 he might do in in thingumbob. You pay your 
 taxes ; you're a free and independent citizen. And 
 if a couple of blasted foreigners come prowling about 
 after you at night, and write you damned impudent 
 letters about mysterious disappearances, and that sort 
 of thing well, just you go and make a clean breast 
 of it at the nearest police-station. Those blooming 
 unshaved villains would look a trifle silly if they were 
 
 135
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 bound over to keep the peace for six months, or 
 marched off to prison. If you don't want to pitch 
 into them yourself, introduce them to an English 
 magistrate, and let him deal with them. He'll take 
 the spots off them for you trust him for that." 
 
 With this Ben rose, serene in patriotic pride, and 
 made ready to depart. 
 
 " Your mother would never forgive me, John, if I 
 kept you sitting up any longer. By George ! it's well 
 on towards twelve already. Who'd have thought it ? 
 How the time does fly when one is in cheerful 
 society ! Well, good-night, old fellow ! Just you go 
 to bed and think over my advice, and I fancy by 
 morning you'll have come to the conclusion that it is 
 marked by my usual sound common sense. Don't 
 forget that this ain't a novel, John, or a play over at 
 the Surrey. It's dead earnest, and if those fellows 
 annoy you any more, just let the police into the 
 secret, and that'll soon settle them. Understand ? " 
 
 " I certainly will think over what you say," John 
 replied. " Good-bye ! Drop round soon." 
 
 He saw Ben out into the raw, gusty night ; bolted 
 the door, put out the gas, and crept up to bed, in the 
 hope that his mother was long since fast asleep. 
 And it really was with a lighter heart than he had 
 carried about with him for several weeks past that he 
 went down to breakfast the next morning. For what 
 Ben Chadwick had said, when thought over quietly 
 and carefully, was found to contain more comfort 
 than he had at first anticipated. After all, why 
 should he worry so much ? Ben was perfectly right ! 
 He, John Smith, was not, he was thankful to say 
 
 136
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 yes, he actually admitted that he was thankful to 
 say it an inhabitant of the far-off No Man's Land of 
 his favourite novelists and playwrights, where all 
 sorts of sanguinary things constantly happened, and 
 men even went about to shoot one another upon 
 the slightest provocation, or none. He lived in the 
 steady-going, humdrum world of London, where, if 
 foreign swashbucklers did venture to try any of their 
 desperado tricks, recourse could always be had to 
 the eminently prosaic but really rather satisfactory 
 machinery of the law. He had been foolish to take 
 the affair so seriously. That came of living too much 
 with himself, and brooding over everything in such 
 an idiotic way. Hang those foreigners ! Ben was 
 really a very good chap. He had the faculty of 
 putting questions into such a sensible light. He 
 soon saw the absurdity 
 
 His airy meditations came to an abrupt close ; 
 for there, on his desk, lay a delicate blue envelope, 
 addressed, " FitzHugh Vespasian Smith, Esq. 
 Private" in the little dainty feminine hand he re- 
 membered only too well. He stood for a moment 
 transfixed, and then slowly picked up the note, and 
 turned it over in gingerly fashion, as though he had 
 some expectation of its exploding in his hands. 
 Fortunately, he was alone ; for neither Starkins nor 
 Paxton had as yet put in an appearance, while 
 Carrots, as he could hear, was busy making up Mr. 
 Boroughgate's fire in the adjoining room. He seized 
 his opportunity, and broke open the letter, fully ex- 
 pecting a repetition of the familiar upbraidings and 
 threats, with, perhaps, some specific indications of 
 
 137
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the date on which, and the method by which, his 
 " disappearance " was to be brought about. But this 
 is what he read : 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. SMITH, If you have not 
 altogether forgotten me though I don't for a 
 moment imagine that your recollection of our one 
 pleasant meeting can be half as lively as mine is of 
 your kindness and courtesy on that occasion you 
 may, perhaps, be willing to listen to something of 
 some importance that I want to tell you. If so, will 
 you be good enough to meet me in the first-class 
 waiting-room of Charing Cross Station on Monday 
 evening next, at nine o'clock? / shall be alone. 
 Most sincerely yours, " VlCTORINE. 
 
 " P.S. Don't worry a bit about the ridiculous 
 behaviour of my friends. There has been a stupid 
 mistake. I will explain all, and we will have a good 
 laugh over it together." 
 
 133
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN SMITH ASTONISHES HIMSELF 
 AND PERHAPS THE READER 
 
 To say that John Smith was surprised by the perusal 
 of this missive would be to put the matter mildly. 
 As Mr. Chadwick might have phrased it for us, he 
 had all the wind completely knocked out of him. 
 
 What, in the name of good or ill fortune, could be 
 the explanation of the fresh turn which things had 
 suddenly taken ? For that things had taken a fresh 
 turn, and a most extraordinary one that for some 
 reason, not even to be guessed at, the whole attitude 
 of Victorine and her friends towards him had under- 
 gone a complete change did not seem at the 
 moment of first reading to admit of doubt. It was 
 still only a few days ago that he had received a letter, 
 even now safely buttoned up in the inner pocket of 
 his waistcoat, in which, without any unnecessary 
 mincing of language, he had been warned to look 
 well to his behaviour, or take the consequences the 
 consequences being his own mysterious and im- 
 mediate disappearance. And now that abusive and 
 minatory document had been followed up by the 
 most gracious and friendly of notes, indited in what 
 (for there had been no attempt made to disguise 
 
 *39
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 it) was manifestly the same handwriting ; and 
 he was invited in the pleasantest fashion to a 
 private and confidential interview with a young 
 woman who, not a week ago, had been the 
 medium of transmission of the direst threats upon 
 his life. Nor was this all. Instead of apologising 
 for such threats instead either of treating them 
 with the seriousness which they surely deserved, or 
 of showing the slightest disposition to ignore them 
 as too painful for discussion, his correspondent just 
 alluded to them with a light and airy kind of non- 
 chalance, as if, after all, they might be properly 
 regarded as rather a good joke. What tortures had 
 he not endured for days and nights w T hich had been 
 the most miserable of his life ! How had he not 
 trodden even the busy city streets in dread of unseen 
 danger ! How, even at high noon, had he not 
 trembled in glancing furtively up by-alleys and 
 round suggestive corners ! How, night after night 
 had he not tossed feverishly upon his hot pillow ; 
 his occasional snatches of sleep being haunted by 
 monstrous dreams of terror which still made his 
 flesh creep and his blood run cold, when he was 
 jolted back to consciousness again ! And now he 
 was told and in a postscript, look you ! as if the 
 whole business came as a sort of after-thought that 
 he was not to " worry a bit " about the " ridiculous 
 behaviour " of Victorine's friends, who had laboured, 
 it would appear, under some " stupid mistake " over 
 which, when the matter was once made clear to him, 
 John himself would be expected to go into spasms 
 of laughter. Well, points of view differ, and there 
 
 140
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 are all kinds of ways of describing the same 
 occurrence ; and thus, while Victorine might see fit 
 to speak of threatening letters and premeditated 
 murder as " ridiculous/' " ridiculous " was hardly the 
 adjective which John, for his part, would have chosen 
 as the most appropriate. He could not help asking 
 himself whether, supposing his " mysterious dis- 
 appearance" had actually been effected, that, too, 
 would have been classed as " ridiculous," and quietly 
 dismissed as nothing beyond the somewhat comical 
 result of a " stupid mistake." There was something 
 oddly and uncomfortably inadequate about such 
 language ; especially as, in the event of the stupidity 
 of the mistake not having been discovered in time, he 
 John would probably not have been in a position 
 to join with Victorine in a " good laugh " over its 
 deliciously humorous effects. Would Victorine then 
 have enjoyed the " good laugh " all to herself, he 
 wondered. Perhaps the situation might, in that 
 case, have seemed to her even more irresistibly 
 funny ! There is no accounting for tastes in jokes, 
 and as someone has sagely remarked, any difference 
 of opinion in such delicate matters is apt to strain 
 even the closest friendship. 
 
 Victorine's second letter reached John on Friday 
 morning, and the appointment proposed by her 
 was, as we remember, for Monday night. This left 
 practically four days open in which the young man 
 might add doubt to doubt and puzzle to puzzle, and 
 brood himself to the verge of lunacy over the 
 bewildering results. Of course, he read the few 
 lines of the note again and again, with the earnest- 
 ly
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ness and fixed attention of a scholiast intent upon 
 wringing the innermost meaning from even the 
 simplest and most fugitive chance word of his 
 favourite author. And equally, of course, in spite 
 of all his study, or as a result of it, his judgment 
 continued to see-saw in perpetual uncertainty and 
 misgiving. Little by little, however, with every re- 
 perusal, his mind, prone in its tensity of excitement 
 to take alarm at the smallest provocation, began to 
 veer round to a line of interpretation diametrically 
 opposed to that with which he had set out. At the 
 start, he was, as we have seen, struck with astonish- 
 ment at the fresh turn which, as it then seemed to 
 him, things had suddenly taken. Superficially con- 
 sidered, Victorine's epistle was like the declaration 
 of a complete change of front, and an invitation to 
 him to regard the past and its unpleasantness 
 its " ridiculous " happenings and " stupid mistakes " 
 as over and done with. But could he venture to 
 take this hasty and shallow view of the subject as 
 final ? Certainly not, he now told himself. Would 
 it not be, indeed, the height and depth of folly to do 
 so ? He realised at once, when he came to think 
 about the matter quietly, how completely his first 
 opinion jumped with his dearest wishes. Here, at 
 last, after weeks of weary waiting and fruitless effort, 
 the chance seemed to have come to him for which, 
 since that walk from Portland Road Station, he would 
 have been willing to stake the most cherished thing 
 in his life the chance of seeing Victorine once more, 
 of feasting his eyes on her dazzling and elusive 
 
 beauty, of" listening to the melody of her voice and 
 
 142
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 bird-like ripple of her laughter. And should he 
 could he throw such an opportunity away ? Had 
 he not walked miles and miles in the faint hope of 
 finding her by some happy accident ; and now that 
 she had actually written him, proposing a meeting, 
 and promising him, with all the emphasis of feminine 
 italics, that she would be alone, could he turn a 
 churlish back upon the proffered kindness of the 
 gods ? It seemed hard, truly. But still John, for all 
 his lover-like craving for even a glimpse of the 
 radiant face of his mistress, had been thoroughly 
 frightened frightened to the extent of wishing in 
 most unlover-like fashion that the seductive vision 
 of the girl had never come across his prosaic path 
 frightened even to the point of determining that, 
 in real life at any rate, he would never again be per- 
 suaded to have anything more to do with romance. 
 And terror of possible consequences now wrought as a 
 discordant, destructive element among the poor shreds 
 and patches which were left over from his once pleasant 
 daydreams. To accept, even to think of accepting, 
 Victorine's subtly-worded invitation would be the 
 sheerest madness. He saw it all. It was simply a 
 trap cunningly devised for his unwary feet. Clearly 
 enough, she and her friends, who had already pro- 
 claimed their desire and intention of getting him out 
 of their way, had come to the conclusion that it 
 would be necessary to act circumspectly in the 
 carrying out of their plan. They had found it incon- 
 venient to strike him down in the open street, shoot 
 him in a train or omnibus, or pitch him over the 
 embankment into the river. As Ben had said, there 
 
 143
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 are policemen in London, and their presence makes 
 reckless slaughtering in frequented thoroughfares 
 on the whole rather difficult. Equally clearly, 
 too, when, in view of this obstacle they had decided 
 to try secret means to get him into their power, they 
 would be likely to go to work in the most far-sighted 
 and circuitous way. They would never have been 
 guilty of making open statement of their scheme 
 of writing him, in effect : " We want to kill you. 
 Please meet us at a certain time and place that you 
 may be killed." And so they had done exactly what 
 anyone whose wits were sharpened by fear might 
 have anticipated. They had put even now John 
 persisted in regarding Victorine as a passive, if not as 
 a completely innocent agent in the matter they had 
 put the girl forward as a decoy, knowing his admira- 
 tion for her, and believing that through this device 
 they would have no great difficulty in casting their 
 net about him, and making him secure. It was 
 plain as a pikestaff. There was no change of 
 attitude, as he had at first absurdly imagined ; 
 only a clever change and enlargement of plan. 
 The suggested meeting with Victorine was simply 
 a blind, a part of a well-thought-out line of action. 
 He saw through it all, and shuddered. 
 
 In reviewing the situation as a whole, therefore, 
 John, like a certain distinguished statesman, realised 
 that there were three courses open to him. He might, 
 for example, take Victorine at her word, and accept 
 the appointment, relying implicitly on her good faith. 
 Or he might, in the second place, present himself at 
 the place and hour named, but secretly armed, and 
 
 144
 
 prepared for any possible emergency ; in which case 
 he would ask someone say, Ben Chadwick to 
 accompany and support him. Or, thirdly and flatly, 
 he might decide not to go at all. The first suggestion 
 he came gradually to consider as settled in a negative 
 sense ; he had every reason in the world, he felt, not 
 to take the girl at her word, and therefore to act on 
 the supposition that she had written in good faith 
 would be little short of lunacy. To regard her letter 
 as a challenge, on the other hand, and to turn up at 
 Charing Cross with the determination of following 
 matters up to the bitter end, seemed heroically attrac- 
 tive in the abstract, but might practically be held as 
 undesirable. For why run unnecessarily into dangers 
 that might just as well be avoided? The idea of 
 trying conclusions in this way single-handed already 
 filled him with vague alarm ; and he hardly felt that 
 he could depend upon Ben, as in a similar crisis 
 Aramis might have depended upon Athos or Porthos, 
 as a fitting and efficient companion in arms. This 
 line of procedure being in its turn rejected, he was 
 driven to the third course by simple default. It was 
 not a romantic course, certainly ; it was, to be frank, 
 a course which would have struck him as utterly 
 contemptible had he found it adopted by the hero of 
 one of his favourite books. But John had by this 
 time, after a skulking fashion which he did not like 
 to scrutinise too critically, ceased to regard his once 
 beloved novels as presenting an ideal to which he 
 was bound to square his own affairs. In his actual 
 life there were the demands of wisdom to be kept in 
 mind. And Wisdom, as it appeared to him, said very 
 emphatically : " John Smith, don't make a fool of 
 
 MS K
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 yourself! This girl Victorine, of whom you know 
 so little, is clearly enough a mysterious, irresponsible, 
 and probably dangerous character. At best, you can 
 do yourself no good ; at worst, you may do yourself 
 a great deal of harm, by bothering about her. Do 
 not be blinded by her beauty and superficial charm. 
 She is simply laying snares for you. As you value 
 your happiness and your life, leave her alone." 
 
 By Sunday morning John Smith had thought his 
 way round to the conclusion that this view of the 
 matter was thoroughly sound. He would leave 
 Victorine alone. Come what might of it, he would 
 not pay the slightest attention to her letter, but would 
 keep as far as he possibly could from Charing Cross 
 Station on the following night. He even began to 
 plan a call for that evening on a friend he had not 
 seen for years, in the neighbourhood of Hampstead 
 Heath. 
 
 His determination was strengthened by the con- 
 versation he had with Ben Chadwick that same 
 afternoon, when that faithful friend called and took 
 him off for a walk along the river-side to Chiswick 
 Strand and Kew. 
 
 For, judging from the unusual drift of his talk, Mr. 
 Chadwick must, in the meanwhile, have been devoting 
 himself industriously to a careful perusal of news- 
 papers, police journals, and volumes dealing with the 
 darker sides of London life ; from the columns and 
 pages of which he had culled it must be assumed 
 for John's delectation and edification a most varied 
 and picturesque assortment of blood-curdling incident 
 and adventure. Had John ever happened to read a 
 book called " The Mysteries of Paris," by a chap named 
 
 146
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Soo, or something like that? John had read that 
 instructive work, which, indeed, stood at the moment, 
 with " Monte Cristo " and " Jack Sheppard " as its 
 right and left hand supporters, on the shelf over the 
 washstand in his bedroom. Well, according to Ben's 
 statements which he gave out as " gospel truth " 
 the hair-raising themes of Soo's narrative did not 
 begin to compare with such tragedies as were of 
 daily and nightly occurrence in the streets and houses 
 of the English metropolis. If only a chap like Soo, 
 or whatever his name was, would undertake to write 
 the " Mysteries of London." My eye ! but that 
 would be a book, if you like ! Talk about Sicily or 
 Corsica, the lonely parts of Greece, the wild mountain 
 ranges of California ! An occasional bandit or stage- 
 robber why, that was nothing ! For London, it 
 now appeared, was the chosen and particular home 
 of thugs, sabreurs, garotters, professional assassins of 
 all kinds, anarchists, socialists, false coiners, house- 
 breakers, murderers' clubs, and secret societies whose 
 lightest amusements were robberies, tortures, and 
 bloodshed. What ! one never heard of all these 
 ghastly things ? Why, man alive, of course one 
 never heard of them that is, in the ordinary way 
 of business. They belonged to to subterranean 
 London. But there they were; and the most horrible 
 circumstance about the whole affair was, that every 
 now and then perhaps by mere accident, perhaps 
 through a little inadvertence or recklessness on his 
 own part some quiet-going, seemingly respectable, 
 law-abiding citizen would get himself entangled in 
 the meshes of underground scoundrelism. And then, 
 what was the result ? Ben did not quote Virgil, for 
 
 147
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the classics were out of his line ; but, nevertheless, he 
 translated a famous thought of the Latin poet into 
 his own vernacular. It was easier to get into a mess 
 of that kind than to get out of it again. And if you 
 would only read the newspapers, old man, you would 
 see how often people dropped out of sight in the 
 strangest and most unexpected fashion. Well, when 
 a fellow dropped out of sight, it meant that he had 
 been done for. He first disappeared that was all. 
 Oh, there were a hundred ways of getting rid of him ! 
 Scotland Yard knew a thing or two about that. 
 Why, there were men that day in London who, like 
 the fellow in the play "Macbeth," wasn't it? Ben had 
 seen it last summer at a provincial theatre when he 
 was off on his holiday could be hired for a sovereign 
 or two to make away with anybody. There were 
 clubs where chaps actually drew lots as to who should 
 have the fun of smashing a chap over the head, or 
 sticking him between the ribs. And then a para- 
 graph or two in the papers about a mysterious occur- 
 rence somewhere or other, or a frightful tragedy at 
 Whitechapel, or the sudden disappearance of some 
 venerable old gentleman the deacon of a chapel, 
 perhaps finished the matter. A chap could never 
 be too cautious in making friends. 
 
 And so forth, and so forth. And as Ben dilated 
 with surprising interest and facile eloquence upon his 
 gruesome topic, John's heart sank deeper and deeper 
 within him. Under the circumstances, all this talk 
 was exceedingly disquieting. 
 
 That night when he went to bed, the voice of 
 Wisdom spoke louder, more urgently than ever. 
 Victorine clearly belonged to that world of subter- 
 
 148
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ranean London of which his friend had given such a 
 vivid picture. He would have nothing more to do 
 with her. He would resolutely dismiss her seductive 
 image from his thoughts. 
 
 The next evening, towards nine o'clock, a tall and 
 rather slight figure, tightly buttoned up in a winter 
 overcoat, and with a bowler hat jammed down over 
 his brows, descended from an omnibus just outside 
 the Charing Cross terminus, threaded his perilous 
 way among hansom cabs and four-wheelers, and 
 struck out towards the station. He walked like a 
 man in some uncertainty about his movements ; 
 stopped several times on the pavement to glance 
 round rapidly, or allow another pedestrian to over- 
 take and pass him ; and once turned sharply on his 
 heel, and took several steps back in the direction of 
 the Strand. Then, as if under the influence of a 
 fresh and unchangeable determination, he dashed 
 forward once more, with long strides, towards the 
 booking-office. 
 
 It was John Smith hastening to keep the appoint- 
 ment he had so wisely abandoned with the girl he 
 had finally and irrevocably made up his mind to 
 forget ! 
 
 149
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 IN WHICH LOVE, AS USUAL, GETS THE BETTER OF 
 DISCRETION 
 
 PERHAPS there is no time in his life when a man 
 feels such a thorough contempt for himself as he does 
 when, having carefully thought out a policy of 
 prudence and self-restraint, he proceeds forthwith to 
 plunge, eyes open, into those very absurdities of 
 behaviour which he had determined, at all hazards, 
 to avoid. Some people are relatively sensitive, while 
 others are comparatively callous, in thinking over 
 their infractions of the higher law ; but we are all at 
 one in hating to have to pass judgment upon our- 
 selves as fools. Moralists occasionally edify us with 
 vivid descriptions of the pangs of remorse over evil 
 done and good left undone. Yet the cynic may still 
 be right in doubting whether such rackings of con- 
 science are, in the average of cases, a whit more 
 severe than the stings of vanity and self-respect, when 
 wisdom serves only to give us a bitter sense of our 
 folly, and is powerless to check us in our headlong 
 pursuit of it. 
 
 John Smith was a fool. He needed no one to 
 force that singularly unpleasant fact upon his atten- 
 tion. He knew that he had no business sneaking 
 about that Monday night in the dismal and draughty 
 purlieus of Charing Cross Station. Till six o'clock
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 that evening, when he had left the office, it had been 
 his fixed intention to go straight home to Hammer- 
 smith, and there to spend the hours before 
 bedtime in the placid, if somewhat monotonous, 
 quietude of his mother's warm and cosy sitting-room. 
 He was fully and keenly aware, even at that moment, 
 that such a course of action was, under the circum- 
 stances, the only one of which calm judgment could 
 possibly approve. He had argued it all out with 
 himself again and again ; the results of his reasoning 
 were clearly before him for guidance and direction ; 
 and he understood perfectly that not to do as he had 
 arranged to do would be to set deliberately at defiance 
 every consideration of safety for himself and duty 
 towards his mother. He had not changed his mind 
 one iota about Victorine, and the only too evident 
 nature of the designs she had upon him. He had 
 not shifted his ground by a hair's breadth in regard to 
 the dangers he was about to incur in the new adven- 
 ture upon which, he had firmly decided, nothing 
 should induce him to embark. And here he was at 
 Charing Cross, ten minutes, as the big clock over the 
 booking-office told him, in advance of the hour set by 
 the girl for their meeting. Fool ! yes ; he was a fool, 
 if ever one lived ; he knew it he cursed himself for 
 his folly ; he even turned sick at the thought of the 
 risks he was about to run. Still, there he was ! Of 
 course, there was even now time to turn back. But 
 to turn back at the last moment that suggested 
 itself to him only as a kind of crowning absurdity. 
 And after all, even if he should turn back 
 
 He pushed open the heavy swing-door of the first- 
 class waiting-room, and entered. One rapid, search-
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ing glance sufficed him to take in the entire scene. 
 There were the various groups of people and mis- 
 cellaneous individuals who are usually to be found in 
 such a place the stout, uneasy women, with babies 
 and bundles innumerable ; the regular, business-like 
 travellers, with their wraps, portmanteaus, and evening 
 newspapers ; the dozers in comfortable corners, who 
 seemed to have no more part or lot in the bustle of a 
 metropolitan terminus than the cat curled up beneath 
 the table ; the tremulous old ladies, whose anxious 
 faces and nervous bobbings to and fro testified to 
 their deeply-rooted conviction that their train, an- 
 nounced to start in half an hour, might take it into 
 its head to go off at any time, and be rather pleased 
 than otherwise over the thought of leaving them 
 behind ; the seedy-looking, chilly folks who had stolen 
 in for the warmth and comfort they had no hope of 
 finding elsewhere ; and the whispering couples who 
 had clearly chosen that public apartment as the one 
 fitting spot for lovers' quarrels and reconciliations. 
 John's eyes swept in an instant this strange medley 
 of human types, resting nowhere till it lighted on a 
 single slight figure, sitting apart, on the further side 
 of the room. Her face was turned away at the 
 moment ; but he knew her as he would have known 
 her anywhere, among a hundred thousand by the 
 easy grace of her provoking attitude, the admirable 
 poise of her little head, the something indescribable 
 yet unmistakable a certain subtle charm of self- 
 possession and distinction about her appearance and 
 mien which marked her off completely from all the 
 girls he had ever seen. His heart gave a wild throb, 
 and he stood entranced. How good she was to look 
 
 152
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 at ! and how petty and trivial any personal sacrifice 
 would be compared with the heavenly privilege of 
 speaking to her again, and of holding that small, 
 neatly-gloved hand of hers even for a second in his 
 own ! Prudence ! danger ! A fig for all such things ! 
 The next instant he was standing before her ; her 
 large grey eyes were lifted to his, blotting out the 
 rest of the world ; and the smile he remembered so 
 well that radiant, haunting, enigmatical smile had 
 given him recognition and welcome. The crisis had 
 passed ; and John, throwing every doubt and question 
 to the winds, had yielded himself absolutely and 
 unconditionally to the spell of the charmer. 
 
 " Mr. Smith," she said her low, rich voice made 
 every pulse thrill, and lent a weird music to the most 
 casual phrase "sit down." She drew her dress 
 about her, to make room for him beside her on the 
 long seat. " Do you know, this is awfully good of you. 
 I was so afraid you mightn't come ! " 
 
 " Not come ! " John exclaimed. " Why, how could 
 you even think of such a thing?" To John himself, 
 at that moment, it seemed as if he could never 
 have felt the slightest hesitation about accepting the 
 appointment ; it was so impossible to conceive that 
 he could ever have decided to cast away such a 
 golden opportunity as this. " Of course, when I 
 knew that you wanted to see me oh, yes, I know 
 I'm a duffer! but you don't imagine that I'm such 
 a duffer as all that. I say, Miss Miss Victorine, 
 I got your letter on Friday morning, and positively 
 it seemed as if Monday evening would never arrive ! " 
 How delicious it was to hear her rippling laugh 
 again, though it did make it so hard for him to tell 
 
 153
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 whether she intended to treat what he said seriously 
 or as a jest. 
 
 " Really, that sounds quite sentimental, Mr. Smith," 
 she said, in her light, bantering way ; " quite like the 
 novels I remember your father and mother didn't 
 read. Only, I'm afraid that, at that rate, I must have 
 interfered a good deal with your peace of mind. I 
 didn't mean to upset you." 
 
 " Peace of mind ! " answered John contemptuously. 
 " Good heavens ! I haven't had any peace of mind 
 since the night I met you and never expected to 
 know what it was again. Victorine " he was sitting 
 very close to her ; her skirt touched his knee ; he 
 caught, as he glanced down, a ravishing glimpse of 
 one firm, neat little foot peeping coquettishly out 
 from beneath the dark dress. Perhaps these circum- 
 stances conspired, with the excitement which naturally 
 followed upon the discharge of feelings long pent up, 
 to turn the young man's head. At all events, he 
 grew, of a sudden, exceedingly bold and bold 
 beyond the point at which he was any longer 
 astonished at himself. As for the other people in the 
 room as for the room itself they no longer existed. 
 He was alone with his mistress, somewhere in 
 celestial space. " Victorine," he said, in a thick 
 whisper, " you needn't play that you don't understand. 
 You understand just as well as I do. That walk 
 from Portland Road Station began a new life for me. 
 Everything else was past and done with. I couldn't 
 think of anything any more except you. I I 
 didn't care for anything any more except you. 
 And I thought of you all the time I swear I 
 did!" 
 
 154
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " And after I had told you to forget me," said the 
 girl slowly. 
 
 " How was I to forget you ? " John responded 
 explosively. " I couldn't, and and hang it all ! 
 I didn't want to. There ! Perhaps you don't quite 
 realise what I did, Victorine. They may have said 
 something about it to you ; but how could they 
 understand ? I was determined to find you again ; 
 and night after night I went round and round 
 Bloomsbury, where I fancied it was most likely that 
 you would be, in the mad hope that by some accident 
 I might chance to run across you. I never did ; it 
 was just as if you had somehow been swallowed up. 
 And then " John's face was hot, and his lips quivered 
 with excitement u then I caught an awfully bad 
 cold, and was ill and and there it all seemed to 
 end." 
 
 " Poor fellow," said Victorine, very quietly. " And 
 did you really care for me as much as all that ? " 
 
 The look in her eyes as she turned them frankly 
 upon his was different from anything he had ever 
 seen in them before. 
 
 " And then I was wretched oh, I can't tell you 
 how wretched I was ! And you know what happened 
 next those men their threats and and I thought 
 I had lost you altogether. Then the other morning 
 that last letter of yours came " 
 
 " Do you know why I wrote it ? " 
 
 " I only know that when I read it," John began ; 
 but Victorine broke him off sharply. 
 
 " Cannot you guess why I wrote it? " she persisted. 
 
 " No," said John blankly ; " I don't know, and I 
 can't guess. How should I ? " 
 
 155
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " You silly boy ! " The girl dropped her eyes. 
 " Because because I wanted to see you again," she 
 said very deliberately. 
 
 " Victorine ! " exclaimed John, "you don't mean 
 
 " Why shouldn't I mean it ? " she said. " I did 
 want to see you again, Mr. Smith." Caring nothing 
 for the other people in the waiting-room, he had laid 
 his hand gently on hers, and he noticed that she did 
 not push it away. " I knew all the while that it was 
 all wrong that I had no business to to bother you ; 
 that it wasn't kind of me to you know what I want 
 to say you remember what I told you before we 
 parted the other night. But it was no use. I thought 
 of that evening over and over again " 
 
 " I thought of it all the time yes, all the time? 
 John put in ; and he even pressed her hand a little 
 as it lay beneath his own on her lap. 
 
 " And then," she continued, " I came to realise 
 more and more how kind you had been to me how 
 helpful, and attentive, and good. A girl like me 
 doesn't expect a gentleman to treat her as you 
 treated me, Mr. Smith. Oh, I know what I'm talking 
 about ; it's true." Consciousness of virtue, and 
 vague notions of heroism, and the ever-deepening 
 feelings of love, had combined by this time to put 
 poor John into a perfect glow of self-satisfaction. 
 " And so well, perhaps you'll laugh at me " 
 
 " Laugh at you ! " exclaimed John, quite fiercely. 
 
 " But I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated 
 your kindness, Mr. Smith " 
 
 "Oh, don't call me Mr. Smith," he interrupted, 
 with a splutter ; " it sounds so formal ! " 
 
 " Well, then " and it seemed to him that those 
 156
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 great grey eyes of hers looked right down into his 
 soul, though there was the oddest flicker of a smile 
 somewhere about the corners of her mouth " I 
 wanted you to know that I really did feel grateful 
 oh, so grateful ! for all that you did for me 
 Vespasian ! " 
 
 That one unfortunate word brought him down to 
 earth again with a terrific bump. His cheeks, scarlet 
 already, turned purple. 
 
 " No, no ! " he muttered hoarsely, " not Vespasian, 
 Victorine not Vespasian." He could not bear that 
 any element of absurdity should be left to mar their 
 delicious relationships. "That was all nonsense, 
 you know a joke just a silly joke nothing else. 
 My name isn't Vespasian at all and and never 
 was, you know. It's simple John." 
 
 He hardly knew whether he was sorry or glad that 
 she took his confession with the merriest of laughs. 
 
 " Do you know, you naughty boy," she said, with 
 the ripple still in her voice, " I had my suspicions 
 from the first. FitzHugh Vespasian did seem such 
 an impossible name ; and well, somehow you didn't 
 look a bit like it not a bit ! But I like simple John 
 so much better ; so it's all right, you see. And so 
 John" she made a pause before bringing out the 
 name, and then rounded her lips into such a be- 
 witching little pout in pronouncing it, that he had 
 the hardest matter in the world to prevent himself 
 from kissing her, then and there, on the spot, 
 spectators notwithstanding " and so John 
 though I knew you would think it awfully funny 
 of me to do so, I made wp my mind to write you, 
 and ask you to meet me somewhere that I might 
 
 157
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 tell you all about it, and that I might explain 
 everything that must have puzzled you in in the 
 behaviour of my friends." 
 
 Under the spell of the girl's presence, John had 
 forgotten altogether that she had any friends, or, if 
 she had any, that their conduct had been in the 
 least out of the usual course. And now this 
 sudden return to a subject which, till then, had 
 been uppermost in his mind, produced a kind of 
 jar. It was like another fearful drop from the 
 seventh heaven of bliss into the midst of things 
 which he would willingly have banished from his 
 attention, once and for all. 
 
 " Never mind about explanation, Victorine," he 
 began. He had a vague suspicion that the less 
 said about such things the better. 
 
 " Ah, but I do mind ! " she interjected fervently. 
 "You must have been astonished, and hurt, and 
 worried, John you must have thought us all crazy. 
 It is only right that you should know how it all 
 happened." 
 
 " I don't want to hear a word about it," said John 
 magnanimously. " All I care for, Victorine, is that 
 I have seen you again that I have talked with 
 you that I have learned that you do like me just 
 a little bit. Nothing else in the world matters ! " 
 
 He felt that he had spoken in quite a fine heroic 
 strain, and was wonderfully well-pleased with him- 
 self in consequence the more so as the slight 
 hand-pressure with which he had accompanied his 
 little bit of gasconade was not only not resented, 
 but was even gently returned. 
 
 " Ah, that's all very well," the girl answered, " and 
 158
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 it's just like you to put it in that generous way, 
 John." Her eyes were luminous with pleasure and 
 admiration, and the young man may be forgiven if 
 he experienced a thrill of secret pride. " But you 
 must listen to me, for I won't have the matter 
 dropped like that. If you don't want to listen to 
 me for your own sake, you must do so for mine, 
 for I wouldn't for all the world have you think of 
 me more harshly than I deserve. Tell me frankly 
 what did you make of that first letter of mine when 
 you got it ? " 
 
 " Well," answered John, speaking very slowly, and 
 with no little embarrassment, "of course I was 
 well surprised." 
 
 "And then the men who, you thought, were 
 following you? They must have surprised you, 
 too ! " 
 
 " Indeed they did," John replied ; and his words 
 unconsciously caught the subtle emphasis of truth. 
 Victorine nodded her head. 
 
 " I am sure I don't wonder at that," she said. 
 " But were you alarmed? Did you make any attempt 
 to understand it all ? Could you even guess what 
 all the trouble was about ? " 
 
 " Well, naturally, I couldn't help feeling a trifle " 
 he searched about for a moment in doubt as to the 
 best word for his purpose " a trifle uncomfortable, 
 you know. It does make a man uncomfortable to 
 feel that people have designs on his life," he went 
 on, in a weak, explanatory way. He began to fancy 
 that since the conversation had taken this unpleasant 
 turn, he was not shining nearly as much as he had 
 done a few moments before. " I really thought 
 
 159
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 those those friends of yours intended to shoot 
 me or something 'pon my word, I did ! They 
 seemed you don't mind my saying so, do you? 
 they seemed capable of anything, you know. They 
 were such funny-looking chaps ; I mean " he 
 paused awkwardly, with the sense of having gone 
 too far. 
 
 "Their appearance is somewhat peculiar,.! admit," 
 said Victorine, smiling reassuringly. " Besides," she 
 added, in the lightest possible way, " your misgivings 
 were certainly not without basis, John. There was a 
 time when they did think of shooting you in earnest." 
 
 John turned goose-fleshy all over. 
 
 " Oh, they did, did they ? " he said blankly. Here 
 he was on the seamy side of his romance again. 
 
 " Why, of course, they did," she answered, with 
 some surprise. " You remember my first letter, don't 
 you ? I told you then what they intended to do. 
 You didn't imagine that that was written as a joke, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " It didn't seem much like a joke, certainly," John 
 acknowledged, recalling his conversation about the 
 matter with Ben. " Only I thought that the threats 
 might have been well, just threats, you know." 
 
 Victorine actually laughed. 
 
 " Not likely," she replied decisively. " You don't 
 know the fellows if you fancy they would waste their 
 time in empty warnings. What they say they mean, 
 even if " she stopped abruptly, but not before 
 the bewildered John had detected that curious har- 
 dening in her voice and expression which, brief as 
 their intercourse had been, had amazed him more 
 than once before. " But we needn't bother about that 
 
 1 60
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 now," she went on, with a funny little gesture, as of 
 one who puts an ugly subject behind him in the hope 
 of forgetting it. " That's over and done with. They 
 did for a little while mean to get rid of you. And 
 can't you guess why ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I can't," answered John dismally. 
 " Unless " he gulped frantically before he finished 
 his sentence " unless it was because of you." 
 
 The whole affair was one of tragic significance to 
 him. Yet this inexplicable girl was so impressed 
 by the humour of it all that she threw herself back 
 and laughed aloud. 
 
 " Capital, John ! " she said, patting him roguishly on 
 the arm. " You are a man of great acumen, and of 
 infinite gallantry as well. You are quite right. It 
 was about me." 
 
 " Then they must have taken me very seriously," 
 he almost groaned. 
 
 " Why, of course, they did ! " she answered, in a tone 
 of astonishment. " They take everything very 
 seriously ; and when such a man as you are gets 
 himself mixed up in their affairs, you can't wonder 
 that they should determine at any cost to see the 
 thing through can you ? " 
 
 Perhaps there was a delicate compliment implied 
 in this way of putting the case ; but John was so 
 much preoccupied with all that was suggested by the 
 notion of "seeing the thing through" that the innuendo 
 escaped his attention. 
 
 " But I am sure I had no earthly intention of 
 mixing up in their affairs," he protested. 
 
 " Perhaps not," she replied cheerfully ; " but then, 
 you know, all sorts of things happen that we never 
 
 161 L
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 intend. Stay ! I said that one chief reason I had 
 in asking you to meet me here this evening was that 
 I might tell you the truth about this strange 
 business." 
 
 It did not occur to John until many weeks later, 
 when all sorts of extraordinary and terrible events 
 had thrown a fierce light back upon every detail of 
 their interview, that the girl had been in no hurry to 
 redeem her promise of confidence, and had, in fact, 
 only done so after feeling her way, as it were, to his 
 own judgment in the matter. 
 
 " Well, I will tell you the truth, and in as few words 
 as possible. Let us see. How many of my friends 
 have you met ? Just two, isn't it ? " 
 
 John nodded. 
 
 " Just two," he said. " Only I haven't exactly met 
 them, you know at least " 
 
 He remembered the midnight encounter near St 
 Clement's Danes, and the sentence died away on his 
 lips. 
 
 " Do you recollect exactly what they look like ? " 
 asked Victorine. 
 
 " Do I recollect what they look like ? I should 
 rather say I did ! I shouldn't forget them in a hurry, 
 I can tell you. One the chap I saw first the night 
 I took you from Portland Road Station, you know 
 is a great, big, heavy fellow, with thick eyebrows and 
 a red beard." 
 
 " You've got him pat enough, anyhow," said 
 Victorine. " And he isn't a beauty, is he ? Well, 
 that's my uncle." 
 
 "Your uncle ! " gasped John incredulously. 
 
 How did such a hideous monster dare to claim 
 162
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 avuncular relationship with the dainty creature at his 
 side? 
 
 " Yes, my uncle," Victorine repeated, in a tone of 
 conviction. " My own mother's brother. You don't 
 see much family likeness, eh ? " she went on, with a 
 merry little laugh. " There's no accounting for 
 these things, certainly, though people do talk so 
 much about heredity, and all the rest of it. And as 
 for the other man, he's a good deal younger, isn't 
 he tall, pale, with long moustaches, and big 
 glasses ? " 
 
 " That's him," said John. 
 
 "Well, that's Alexis, the man I was engaged to 
 marry." 
 
 " The devil you were ! " John ejaculated, with a 
 violent start. 
 
 " Of course I was," Victorine replied. " You 
 needn't be surprised, John. Don't you see that that 
 was exactly how all the trouble came about ? " 
 
 She dropped her eyes, and began to press the toe 
 of one slender little foot quite energetically against 
 the ground, while a rosy flush spread over her cheeks. 
 She had never looked more bewitching than at that 
 moment of girlish hesitation and confusion. 
 
 " Naturally, he guessed I mean, you can under- 
 stand the the " and all of a sudden, blushing 
 as she was, she lifted her great clear eyes to his, and 
 frankly met his admiring gaze. " Oh, you know 
 what I mean, John ! He saw that that I liked you ; 
 and he was angry. That's all." 
 
 John seized her hand, and pressed it rapturously. 
 
 " And so he wanted to murder me, did he ? " he 
 whispered, with his face close to hers. 
 
 163
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " To get you out of the way, you know," Victorine 
 explained. 
 
 Yes I understand," said John slowly. " Of 
 course to get me out of the way. Yes yes ! But, 
 after all, that was rather a rather an odd kind of 
 notion, wasn't it ? " 
 
 " It may seem a little odd to you, John," was the 
 reassuring reply. " But then things strike different 
 people differently don't they ? My uncle was 
 awfully wild because because, for family reasons 
 and money, and things, you know he had made 
 up his mind that I was to marry Alexis, and no one 
 else. Uncle brought me up from childhood, for I 
 lost my father and mother when I was a mere tot of 
 a thing, and he has always treated me and looked 
 upon me as his own daughter. And Alexis is the 
 son of a dear, dear dead friend of his own, and well, 
 it's a long, complicated story, and I'll tell you all 
 about it some day. But it doesn't matter now. Only 
 uncle is a very strange man very obstinate and self- 
 willed, and the moment he thought that anything 
 might occur to interfere with the strongest wish of 
 his life, he was almost beside himself; indeed, it was 
 quite terrible to see his grief. You can understand 
 how he would feel, can't you ? " 
 
 Ye es ; John could understand, or, at any rate, 
 under the fascination of the girl's presence, he 
 thought he could, in rather a dim way, understand 
 something of the poor uncle's disappointment. Still, 
 murder seemed rather an extreme measure, didn't it ? 
 It wasn't usual 
 
 "Perhaps not for Englishmen," Victorine interrupted, 
 quile earnestly ; oddly enough taking exactly Ben's 
 
 164
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 own line of argument and explanation. " Of course, 
 Englishmen have their own ideas about such things. 
 But then they are cold and phlegmatic, you know, 
 and must not judge every other nationality by their 
 own standards. Men of other races love more 
 fiercely, and hate more fiercely, than the ordinary 
 Englishman." 
 
 " I heard your uncle talking some extraordinary 
 language that night when he took you away," said 
 John. " I didn't know what it was." 
 
 " That was Polish," answered Victorine. " My 
 uncle and Alexis are both Poles." 
 
 " Then you are Polish, too ? " said the young man, 
 by no means sure how he liked the discovery. 
 
 John had the middle-class Briton's wholesome sus- 
 picion of foreigners of all kinds. And Poles were, so 
 to speak, foreigners in an exaggerated degree. 
 
 " On my mother's side, yes ; on my father's, I am 
 American. But then, naturally, I can speak my 
 mother's tongue. And so, John," she continued, 
 getting back to the main theme, "you mustn't be 
 too hard upon dear uncle or Alexis. They are not 
 like you, and it's difficult for you to understand them 
 at first, and see things as they do, simply because 
 you are an Englishman and they are Poles. If you 
 only knew Alexis, you'd find that he was the 
 gentlest and sweetest of men, and you'd admire 
 because you are so noble yourself his courage and 
 manliness, and his intense appreciation of all that is 
 true and good." 
 
 Perhaps Victorine did not observe the comical 
 expression of doubt that at this point came into 
 
 165
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 John's face. At any rate, she rattled on in the most 
 facile style : 
 
 " But then he is full of sentiment and passion ; he 
 has been devoted to me ever since we were children 
 together thousands of miles away ; and, naturally, he 
 would think no more of crushing the man who came 
 n his way, and threatened his love, than he would of 
 treading upon an insect that happened to be in his 
 path. That's Alexis, the dear boy ! " 
 
 " Oh, that's Alexis, is it ? " said John glumly. 
 
 " Yes ; and you only want to know him to like 
 him awfully, and he will like you just as much when 
 he comes to know you. Two such men as you are 
 are bound to be the very best of friends. And that 
 reminds me, John, my uncle and Alexis are most 
 anxious to meet you. Won't you come round soon 
 and spend a good long evening with us all ? " 
 
 At this amazing proposal for, under the circum- 
 stances, it was nothing short of amazing, though 
 Victorine's manner implied that she thought it the 
 most natural thing in the world John Smith nearly 
 fell from his seat. Did the girl expect, in this bare- 
 faced fashion, to induce him to walk straight into the 
 lion's den ? 
 
 " Good heavens, Victorine ! " he stammered, 
 struggling with his astonishment ; " what are you 
 talking about? If these people want to kill me, 
 as you confess " 
 
 " Oh, I assure you they don't want to kill you 
 now ! " Victorine interrupted. " Ah " she made a 
 funny little gesture of impatience, such as John now 
 realised no English girl would use " I see you don't 
 understand Alexis ! " 
 
 166
 
 John acknowledged that he was afraid he didn't. 
 As a matter of fact, he no longer felt that he under- 
 stood anything. Listening to Victorine, and vainly 
 trying to detect in her talk the play of ordinary 
 motives and familiar passions, he seemed to be 
 translated into a world as remote and unreal as 
 that of a comic opera. 
 
 " But you admitted that this man this Alexis 
 wanted to kill me ? " he persisted. 
 
 " Of course, I did, because he did want to do so. 
 But that's all over now, you know, and we needn't 
 bother any more about it." 
 
 " I don't see why," John answered doggedly. For 
 his part, he saw every reason to bother about it as 
 much as ever. " If he hated me last week, he must 
 hate me just as much, perhaps more " he thought of 
 the present meeting, and what the sweetest and 
 gentlest of men might see fit to do about it "yes, 
 perhaps even more to-day." 
 
 " John," said the girl solemnly, " I'm afraid you're 
 awfully dense." 
 
 " Dense ! " John ejaculated ; and then, noticing 
 that several people on the other side of the room 
 looked curiously across at them, he dropped his voice 
 to a whisper. " Look here, Victorine ! " he went on, 
 quite angrily ; "you may fancy I'm a fool if you like, 
 but, confound it all ! I don't know what you're 
 talking about." 
 
 His companion's eyes fell, and the rosy flush which 
 added so much to her beauty surged into her cheeks 
 again. 
 
 " Alexis at first mistook you altogether," she said 
 slowly. " He believed you were one of those young 
 
 167
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 men there are lots of them in London, you know 
 who go about picking up acquaintance with defence- 
 less girls, and who care nothing what happens to 
 them when once they get tired of them. It was that 
 which made him so angry. He is the soul of honour 
 himself, John, and hates everything low and mean. 
 It was to defend me that he made me write to you as 
 I did in that first letter. But when he found out that 
 it was all a ridiculous mistake on his part " 
 
 A light broke in upon John's troubled mind. 
 
 " Then that was the mistake you referred to ? " he 
 aid. 
 
 " Certainly it was ! And absurd as it seems to us, 
 you can understand his feelings so long as he did not 
 realise his error, and thought that you wanted to take 
 advantage of me. But when I had convinced him 
 that you were not that sort of a man, but, like him- 
 self, a gentleman through and through, then he at 
 once felt differently towards you. Besides " 
 
 She stopped short. 
 
 " Besides what ? " 
 
 The more Victorine explained, the deeper John's 
 confusion seemed to grow. 
 
 " I don't think I ought to tell you anything more," 
 said the girl, turning her face away. 
 
 " Indeed, you must tell me everything," John 
 answered resolutely. He waited a moment, leaning 
 towards her. " I want to know all, Victorine 
 all ! " 
 
 Then came her slow reply. 
 
 " Well, Alexis and I are not engaged any longer 
 at least, for the present." 
 
 John could only stare at her in stupid silence. It 
 1 68
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 seemed idle to try to find anything appropriate to 
 say to such a speech as that. 
 
 " Didn't I tell you it was he I was to marry ? But 
 when he saw, and when my uncle saw that that 
 oh, John, you know what I mean ! that I didn't 
 really love him as they thought I did, and and as 
 I used to think I did oh, they are so noble and 
 good, John ! Don't you see how noble and good 
 they are ? " 
 
 He clutched wildly at what he fancied must be her 
 meaning. 
 
 " You don't tell me that Alexis was willing to 
 give you up altogether because of me!" he ex- 
 claimed, with a gasp. Such goodness and noble- 
 ness transcended anything his poor brain had ever 
 conceived. Surely he was still in the world of 
 comic opera ! (or was he in Verona, where the 
 Two Gentlemen lived ?) 
 
 " It is my happiness he desires my happiness, 
 and not his own," Victorine said, very softly. The 
 tears were in her eyes, and she drew out a tiny, 
 delicately-scented handkerchief to wipe them away. 
 " Think of it, John ! Such absolute unselfishness, 
 I know, will appeal to you. Yet you can hardly 
 guess what a sacrifice he is making for my sake. 
 .All his life " again she brushed away the now 
 fast-flowing tears, while the room just rocked and 
 heaved about John Smith as he listened bewildered 
 to her story " all his life he has looked forward to 
 the day when he would be able to call me his wife. 
 He went out to Chicago a couple of years ago just to 
 see me. He came from Warsaw the other day to 
 meet me on my return here from the United States. 
 
 169
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 But when he saw that that I was not wholly and 
 entirely his ; that, perhaps, I I was wavering a little 
 in my love ever so little, but his keen eye detected 
 the change what do you think he did ? " How 
 beautiful those great clear eyes of hers were, 
 luminous now with tears ! " He came straight to 
 me. ' Vicky,' he said. He " a half-sob choked 
 her utterance for a moment " he always calls me 
 Vicky, you know " 
 
 " Does he now ? " said John idiotically ; for some- 
 how she seemed to expect him to speak, and nothing 
 else occurred to him to say. " That's very nice of 
 him, isn't it ? " 
 
 " ' Vicky,' he said, ' not for the world would I do 
 anything to jeopardise your happiness ; that is dearer 
 to me than life itself. I see that you are in doubt 
 about yourself. I release you, if you wish to be 
 released.' And when I began to cry for oh, John, 
 Alexis is so kind and good ! he simply said, ' Vicky, 
 let everything be over between us for three months ; 
 by that time you will have learned to know your 
 heart. And then, if you still love me as much as 
 ever you did, tell me ; if not, God bless you ! I will 
 make any sacrifice for your sake.' " 
 
 At this point Victorine was so completely over- 
 come by the recollection of her lover's chivalrous 
 behaviour that she buried her face in her handkerchief, 
 and gave free vent to her tears. 
 
 Here was a situation ! To say that John was 
 confused, embarrassed, bewildered, would be to give 
 a very inadequate idea of his condition. He was 
 nonplussed completely. Never, in his wildest visions 
 of romance, had he ever conceived himself as the 
 
 170
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 appointed comforter of a weeping girl let alone of 
 a girl who had all but confessed to him that she had 
 thrown over such a paragon of all the virtues as 
 Alexis was portrayed as being in favour of himself ! 
 And to cap the climax, in the public waiting-room 
 of a railway station ! In after years, he saw the 
 entire business in all its essential absurdity. But at 
 the moment there was nothing absurd about it It 
 was deeply, poignantly tragic. And what the deuce 
 was he to do ? What was any fellow to do with a 
 young woman crying at his side, and half-a-dozen 
 people looking on with newly-awakened interest 
 from the other end of the room ? 
 
 " I say, Victorine, don't, please, don't," he murmured. 
 " It's all right, you know. Alexis is a brick, and no 
 mistake ! Victorine, don't ! " 
 
 By this time he had his arm about the girl's slender 
 waist, and was pressing her closely to him. 
 
 " Oh, John," she said suddenly, looking straight 
 into his face, and smiling through her tears, "what 
 will you think of me ? " 
 
 What John thought of her just then was only this 
 that she was the prettiest, dearest, sweetest girl 
 he had ever known. And he told her so. 
 
 Upon which she dried her eyes rapidly, and began 
 to laugh. And then, for half an hour, they had the 
 most delightful and confidential little talk together 
 all in whispers, and parentheses, and unfinished 
 sentences ; and John sat all the while with his arm 
 round her waist, and she never once suggested that 
 he should take it away. When at length she insisted 
 (for it may have been the tenth time) that she really 
 must be getting home, he led her with the tenderest 
 
 171
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 care out into the wind and driving sleet of the Strand ; 
 and only on her most peremptory denial of his escort 
 (she laid her wishes upon him as a command) re- 
 linquished his proposal of taking her home. And 
 when it was finally settled that he was not to accom- 
 pany her, he called a hansom cab, and handed her 
 into it with an assurance which would have surprised 
 him had he stopped to think of it ; and gave the cab- 
 man the directions she had given to him to drive as 
 rapidly as possible to the Broad Street Station, where 
 it seemed that Uncle Michael was to meet her, and 
 whence he would see her home. Then he leaned 
 over, holding her hand a moment in his own. 
 
 " You won't forget, John, will you ? " she said 
 earnestly. " Wednesday evening next, mind ; and as 
 much before eight o'clock as you like. You have the 
 address." 
 
 Yes ; John had the address he repeated it to her 
 satisfaction ; and he wouldn't forget not he ! 
 
 " Good-bye, then good-bye ! " 
 
 A little kid-gloved hand was waved to him from 
 the cab, and the vehicle dashed away. 
 
 172
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN PAYS A VISIT TO QUEMBY 
 COURT, AND IS INTRODUCED, IN DUE COURSE, 
 TO UNCLE MICHAEL AND OTHER FRIENDS OF 
 THE CHARMER 
 
 " So you haven't heard another word from those 
 bloomin' foreign scoundrels, eh, old man ? " 
 
 John Smith lied to his friend without the slightest 
 hesitation or tremor of voice. 
 
 " Not a word so far." 
 
 " Then you may depend upon it, they've dried up 
 completely," Ben said, in his cheeriest tones. " I 
 thought they would as soon as they saw you had 
 dropped hanging about after their gal. Well, John, 
 you nearly got badly burned this time, didn't you ? 
 Never play with fire, my boy never play with fire ! " 
 he went on, improving the occasion. " That gal 
 would have got you into a pretty scrape if you'd 
 ventured a bit farther ; you may lay your last coin on 
 that. I know the style. Take my advice, and for 
 the future have nothing more to do with romance. 
 It ain't safe or pleasant outside of books." 
 
 And Ben, cocking his hat on one side, after his 
 wont, wrung John's hand, and went off whistling 
 merrily a few bars from a popular melody of the day. 
 He was really delighted to find his friend so much 
 
 173
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 better in health and spirits, and to be able to regard 
 what he jocularly called John's " foreign com- 
 plications " as things of the past. It will be readily 
 understood that John had kept his own counsel in 
 respect to Victorine's second letter, the interview in 
 the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and the general 
 change which had been wrought thereby in his 
 feelings. Little did Ben guess, therefore, the reckless 
 step which the enamoured young fellow deliberately 
 contemplated taking the very next night. 
 
 For John had thoroughly made up his mind to 
 accept Victorine's invitation to visit herself and her 
 friends. His period of doubt was now over. He 
 did not argue the matter; did not pause to inquire 
 into the wisdom or unwisdom of his course ; did not 
 even trouble himself with any questions as to what 
 the gentle Alexis and dear uncle might possibly see 
 fit to do with him when once they had him in their 
 power. The spell of the girl's beauty and fascination 
 of manner was upon him ; and the memory of his 
 long and intimate talk with her, and the delirious 
 thought that she had all but confessed her love for 
 him, combined to obliterate every prudential con- 
 sideration, to crush out every scruple, to set every 
 misgiving at rest. He was now in the mood when 
 a man snaps his fingers at discretion, and brushes 
 reason contemptuously aside. He had passed the 
 Rubicon, and did not care even to look back. 
 Whithersoever Victorine beckoned him he would 
 go yes, though he might realise that he was 
 marching open-eyed to his doom. 
 
 It is not to be inferred from this that he did not see 
 the dangers in his way ; still less that he was perfectly 
 
 174
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 satisfied, turning over the whole matter as quietly and 
 calmly as was possible to him at such a time, with 
 the situation in which he found himself. His con- 
 versation with Victorine itself furnished ample food 
 for thought, and thought not altogether of a pleasant 
 character. Her manner throughout their interview 
 had been marked by all the delightful frankness (if 
 also by the capricious, though to him equally delight- 
 ful fickleness of mood) to which he was now accus- 
 tomed ; and John would have dealt sharply with 
 anyone who had ventured to cast the slightest doubt 
 upon the absolute accuracy of everything she had 
 said. And yet to be honest with himself what 
 kind of opinion was he compelled to form of her 
 story ? Not exactly a reassuring one, certainly. It 
 had sounded all very well so long as, sitting entranced 
 by her side, he had been privileged to listen to the 
 music of her voice and the bird-like ripple of her 
 laughter; to feel the fascination of her bodily presence; 
 to hold her little yielding hand clasped tightly within 
 his own. Yes, it had sounded all very well then ; 
 though, as he remembered, even in the telling, it had 
 given him from time to time the oddest sense of 
 being in a world altogether unlike that of his every- 
 day experiences. But the day after is proverbially 
 cynical ; and somehow, considered dispassionately 
 under its prosaic light, Victorine's account of herself 
 and her friends did not seem exactly he cast about a 
 long while before he got the right word did not seem 
 exactly convincing. Unwonted circumstances which 
 they had laughed away together overnight now stood 
 out in all their gaunt and naked uniqueness ; fantastic 
 twists of motive and unaccountable freaks of be- 
 
 175
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 haviour which at the time had struck him as nothing 
 more than ludicrous, now assumed a serious shape, and 
 rendered him distinctly uncomfortable. Could he, 
 when he came to grapple with the problem could he 
 really believe in the model Alexis of the girl's 
 narrative? in his chivalrous instincts? in his punc- 
 tilious delicacy of sentiment? in his supra-mundane 
 code of honour ? Did it seem human that is, human 
 according to all his previous knowledge of humanity 
 that this young man, and the scarcely less incredible 
 Uncle Michael, after going about night after night (as 
 was candidly admitted) with murderous intentions 
 against himself, should suddenly, and from no cause 
 that could in a worldly sense be regarded as adequate, 
 turn right-about face, throw all their scruples aside, 
 and express a desire to welcome the man they had 
 sought to kill into the intimacy of their family circle 
 and perhaps as the accepted lover of Victorine 
 herself? Did it seem human ? John shook his head 
 in dull despair. He had had little experience of the 
 preux chevalier in the flesh, it is true ; but not all his 
 preparation in novel-reading sufficed to minimise the 
 extravagance of the claims which the girl's state- 
 ment made upon his credence. Unwilling as he was 
 to impugn her veracity, or to harbour a thought 
 disloyal to the love he cherished for her, he was none 
 the less fain to acknowledge that if things had 
 happened just in the way she described, then the world 
 in which she lived was vastly different from his 
 world, and the chasm which divided Englishmen 
 from foreigners a great deal deeper and wider than 
 he, or even Ben himself, had ever imagined. And 
 
 then it was strange that such a detail should haunt 
 
 176
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 him as it did ; but it kept forcing itself most per- 
 versely into all his meditations what about 
 Penny Whistle ? He had been reminded how the 
 unfortunate individual so strangely referred to by 
 that name had disappeared mysteriously some six 
 months before, and had not been heard of since ; and 
 that unspecified tragedy, which, as he had not for- 
 gotten, had been employed in the way of solemn 
 warning to himself, now hung upon his mind with 
 constantly increasing oppressiveness. Perhaps it was 
 foolish ; but no one can account satisfactorily for such 
 things, and he blamed himself again and again for not 
 having posed Victorine with Penny Whistle's fate, 
 and settled once for all its possible bearing upon the 
 problem of his own destiny. 
 
 With such doubts and difficulties keeping up a 
 ceaseless clatter in his brain, poor John was certainly 
 not at ease. But the fact was, that he had now 
 wrought himself up to such a pitch of febrile excite- 
 ment that no considerations of comfort, or even 
 safety, any longer had the slightest practical weight 
 with him. He was to see Victorine again ; he was 
 to spend a few hours by her side, or, at least, near 
 her. That was enough. Beyond that promise of 
 unspeakable bliss he did not dream of looking. For 
 thus had love so thoroughly transformed the once 
 timid and self-conscious young fellow, that he never 
 paused to take cognisance of any obstacle that might 
 stand between his mistress and himself; and so far 
 as he thought of possible danger at all, thought of it 
 only as adding a delicate zest to the undertaking to 
 which he stood committed. 
 
 It was not without a good deal of trouble that, 
 177 M
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 when Wednesday evening at length came round, 
 John found his way to the house which Victorine 
 had carefully indicated in her directions. The whole 
 family, according to her statement, had moved from 
 Bloomsbury almost immediately after the night when 
 she and he had walked together from Portland Road 
 Station, and were now temporarily lodged with a 
 distant connection of Uncle Michael's second wife's 
 sister (so he dimly made out the relationship) some- 
 where in the unattractive wilderness of brick and 
 mortar which stretches in monotonous ugliness be- 
 tween King's Cross and Barnsbury. Thither, mar- 
 velling not a little over the change of neighbourhood 
 and its conceivable advantages (other than domestic), 
 John bent his steps through a cold, steady drizzle 
 which hourly threatened to turn outright into snow ; 
 now following that Cockney instinct of locality of 
 which we have already spoken, and which is well- 
 nigh as sure in a maze of city thoroughfares as an 
 Indian's in an unbroken forest ; now stopping for 
 enlightenment or encouragement at a dingy green- 
 grocer's or a flaming " pub." At last, with the final 
 assistance of a half-tipsy loafer, braced hopelessly 
 against a corner lamp-post, he reached his destination 
 a certain Quemby Court; about which one could 
 imagine what one pleased, but which proved in 
 reality to be a very short, very narrow, very dark 
 cul-de-sac^ with a particularly malodorous gin-shop 
 at one end, and a high blank wall at the other. To 
 find the house itself was now a simple matter, and 
 in a couple of seconds John stood on its doorstep, 
 fumbling with the bell. 
 
 Love, we are often told, has thaumaturgic power ; 
 178
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 it can suffuse the most angular facts of life with a 
 softening radiance. According to all regular pre- 
 cedent, therefore, our passionate pilgrim should have 
 been entirely blind to the appearance of the place 
 where he was once more to meet the lady of his 
 heart. Unfortunately, however, his critical faculties 
 remained active enough, amid all the tumult of 
 anticipation, for him to take pretty accurate note of 
 many things he would willingly have overlooked ; 
 for the results of his anxious survey were hardly 
 exhilarating. Windows apparently closely curtained, 
 and certainly with no trace of light behind them ; 
 a front door which, by its scarified condition, suggested 
 daily poundings and scrapings by generations of 
 wanton children ; steps slippery with a thick coating 
 of slimy mud ; a battered beer-can dependent from 
 the rusty railings ; a pervading odour of onions ; 
 a general sense of slatternliness and dilapidation 
 about the dwelling itself and its surroundings : yes ! 
 John could have wished that he might have found 
 the jewel he craved for his possession in a some- 
 what more appropriate setting. 
 
 He had ample time to make observations and 
 deductions, since for several minutes his repeated 
 ringing of the bell called forth no sign of life from 
 within. More than once he stepped back on to the 
 pavement, and glanced anxiously from window to 
 window, afterwards returning with renewed vigour 
 to the charge. Indeed, he was almost on the point 
 of throwing up the whole thing as a bad job, and 
 going off in disgust, when he caught the sound of 
 heavy footsteps descending the stairs, and coming 
 slowly along the passage. Instinctively he threw 
 
 179.
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 himself into an attitude of self-defence. Then the 
 door was opened slightly perhaps a couple of feet ; 
 and John found himself confronted by a tall, fat, 
 elderly woman holding a guttering candle. 
 
 " Well, young fellow, what do you want ? " inquired 
 this person, without giving him a chance to make 
 known the purpose of his visit. She had the wheezy 
 breathing of an asthmatic subject ; though her 
 English was fluent enough, she spoke with the 
 slightest tinge of foreign accent ; her whole manner 
 was as distinctly unamiable as her general appearance 
 was uninviting. 
 
 John was taken aback. 
 
 " I have called to see Miss Victorine," he said 
 tentatively. It was thus that the girl had directed 
 him to proceed. 
 
 "Miss who?" demanded the woman, breathing 
 harder than ever. 
 
 John repeated the name. 
 
 " Who are you, any way ? " With which brusque 
 question his interlocutor held the candle aloft, and 
 though the wind caught and swept the flame, evidently 
 did her best to examine his face. 
 
 " I ? I am John Smith," answered the young man 
 simply. 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 Though it would have been impossible to say 
 whether this exclamation was intended to express 
 surprise, or satisfaction, or annoyance, or indeed any 
 special emotion, it was at once manifest that John's 
 declaration of identity had a mollifying effect. 
 
 " Well, if you're John Smith," the woman went on, 
 " you can walk right in, I guess." And opening the 
 
 1 80
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 door more generously, she made way for him to enter ; 
 meanwhile protecting the light with one fat, bejewelled 
 hand. 
 
 In the dark hall, John immediately came to grief 
 over a huge trunk, which left but small space between 
 itself and the opposite wall for any one to pass to the 
 stairs. He was in too much of a tremor at the time 
 to pay attention to such minor matters as personal 
 damage ; but the bruise on his shin the next day 
 testified to the violence of the collision. 
 
 " Don't fall over the trunk, young fellow," said his 
 guide, adopting our common human habit of proffering 
 advice when it is too late to be of service. " Guess 
 you're some wet;" and on John's acknowledging 
 the correctness of the supposition, " well, just throw 
 your hat and coat down there," indicating the trunk, 
 which appeared to be the only article of furniture of 
 which the hall could boast, " and then you can come 
 right up with me. Vick expects you, I guess ; and 
 you'll find a fire there where you can dry off good." 
 
 One thing only John seized upon in this rather 
 incoherent speech the fact that Vick expected him. 
 He did not even pause to resent as under other 
 circumstances he certainly would have done the 
 familiar way in which this fat, untidy woman with 
 the diamond rings referred to her. His heart beat 
 violently as he stumbled up the stairs in the wake 
 of the bearer of the candle, whose breathing, under 
 stress of the exertion, grew more and more like the 
 puffing of a donkey engine. When they reached 
 the landing, she stopped for a moment to gasp ; 
 then she threw open the door which faced the top 
 of the staircase. 
 
 181
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 "Vick," she called out, in her strident tones, 
 " here's the young man you said was coming to see 
 you. He looks pretty much like a drowned rat. 
 You'd better let him dry off by the fire." 
 
 In this unceremonious fashion was John ushered 
 into the room ; but though he had a confused sense 
 of being in the presence of a number of people who 
 all turned as he entered, and of breathing an atmo- 
 sphere laden with the fumes of tobacco-smoke, he 
 realised nothing distinctly beyond the single 
 supreme fact that Victorine was before him, and 
 that his icy fingers were tightly clasped in her 
 warm, soft hand. 
 
 " Why, John, this is indeed kind of you ! I hardly 
 dared to expect you on such a night, though I 
 should have been terribly disappointed, I admit, if 
 you hadn't come. Wet ! I should say you were 
 wet ! Aunt is right as usual ; in fact, she's always 
 right You must come and sit by the fire, or you'll 
 be catching an awful cold and all for my sake, too." 
 
 John would have liked to say that for her sake 
 he would be willing to contract pneumonia, and die 
 at once ; but he could do nothing better than 
 stammer out some ineffective remark about being 
 perfectly comfortable, except as to the feet. 
 
 "Well, you can toast your toes as long as you 
 like now, John," said Victorine gaily. 
 
 " And a drop of something stiff and hot will help 
 to fix him," said a deep bass voice on the other side 
 of the central table. 
 
 "Capital! that's a good idea of yours, Patrick," 
 answered the girl, leading John, dazed and be- 
 wildered, towards the fire. " But stop ! " she went 
 
 182
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 on, "before you sit down, I must introduce you to 
 all my friends or rather, I must introduce them all 
 to you, for they've heard so much of you that they 
 know you already. Stand up straight, so that they 
 may have a good look at you, John. That's it. 
 This, all of you," addressing herself generally to the 
 room, " is John Smith, who was so kind to me that 
 night in the underground railroad. And now to 
 do things in proper order. Here, John, is Uncle 
 Michael, whom I know you've seen once or twice 
 before." 
 
 John did his best to carry off the situation 
 creditably, but he was powerless to overcome his 
 embarrassment when he found himself actually 
 shaking hands with the tall, massive, black-eyed, 
 red-bearded man, who had figured so often and so 
 unpleasantly in his ponderings by day and dreams 
 by night 
 
 " Glat to know you, sir glat to know you ! " said 
 Uncle Michael warmly, though in extremely broken 
 English. He held John's hand grasped as in a 
 vice while he spoke. " I am delighted to haf de 
 occasion to tank you for your gootness to my little 
 girl here. You like her, hein ? " 
 
 Utterly thrown off his guard by this unexpected 
 question, John felt the blood surge into his cheek. 
 
 " Indeed, I do," he blurted out ; and felt that he 
 was getting redder than ever. 
 
 " Dat's right ; we all like her. Yaw she's a good 
 little girl." And Uncle Michael's swarthy face 
 crinkled into a smile beneath his shaggy eyebrows, 
 as, with a curious inarticulate sound, which was pro- 
 
 183
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 / 
 
 bably intended for a chuckle, he pulled vigorously at 
 his short, untidy red beard. 
 
 Just then the fat woman who had escorted him 
 upstairs re-entered the apartment, carrying a large 
 tray on which were a number of tumblers, a plate of 
 lemons, and a bottle of whisky. 
 
 " And this," said Victorine, seizing the opportunity, 
 " is Aunt Anna, busy as usual in trying to make other 
 people comfortable." 
 
 Aunt Anna deposited the tray on the table, and 
 presented John with a couple of plump fingers. 
 
 " I'll have a glass of hot whisky and water ready 
 for you in a couple of minutes," she said ; " and then 
 you'll feel better, I guess. Put the kettle on the fire, 
 Bobby. It won't take long to boil." 
 
 The individual addressed as Bobby did as she re- 
 quested, though the effort of leaning forward in his 
 chair, and transferring the kettle from hearth to hob, 
 seemed to tax him considerably, for he heaved a 
 heavy sigh when the arduous enterprise was accom- 
 plished. Victorine introduced him to John at once, 
 but did not seem to think it necessary to mention 
 his surname. He nodded carelessly, saying nothing, 
 and turned away to spit into the fire. He was a 
 lanky fellow, perhaps forty years of age, with pale 
 face, high cheek-bones, blue eyes, a forehead which 
 appeared to jut out everywhere in bumps (perhaps 
 indicative of immense intellectuality), and sandy hair, 
 worn a la Pompadour. 
 
 " Bobby has only just come from Chicago, and 
 doesn't know anything about London yet," Victorine 
 explained, " though he has made up his mind that it 
 rains here three hundred and fifty days out of the 
 
 184
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 year. As if any weather wouldn't seem a relief to a 
 person who's lived all his life in Chicago ! " 
 
 " I guess you'd be glad enough to be back in 
 Chicago, anyhow," remarked Bobby, in the most 
 aggressively nasal twang John had ever heard, and 
 with a manner which struck him as intensely dis- 
 agreeable. Then he spat again into the fire, and 
 seemed relieved. 
 
 "And this is Mrs. Bobby," Victorine continued, 
 hurriedly turning John aside. Her haste gave him 
 the idea either that she wished to get him away from 
 Bobby, feeling that they would not hit it off very 
 well together, or that she did not care to have the 
 Chicago topic pursued further. 
 
 Mrs. Bobby rose from the sofa where she had been 
 sitting, and welcomed John with somewhat oppressive 
 dignity. She was a little woman, of exceedingly 
 solemn appearance, with pinched features, a restless, 
 hungry look about the eyes, close-fitting spectacles, 
 and hair already turning to grey. 
 
 " I am proud to shake hands with any friend of 
 Victorine's," she said slowly, measuring her words, 
 and speaking like one accustomed to addressing 
 immense public meetings. 
 
 Her voice, like her husband's, was of the high- 
 pitched, shrill, American description. It was 
 gradually becoming apparent to him that he was 
 the only Englishman in the party, and the revelation 
 of this fact made him feel some little alarm. He was 
 by no means certain how well he was likely to get 
 on with a lot of foreigners, concerning whose manners, 
 customs, and prejudices, he was totally in the dark. 
 
 However, as Mrs. Bobby continued to gaze at him, 
 185
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 in the expectation, as he imagined, that he would 
 say something in reply to her speech, he braced 
 himself to meet the emergency. 
 
 " I'm sure I am very proud to be regarded by you 
 all as a friend of Victorine's," he said. 
 
 " And as you are a friend of mine, and as these are 
 all friends of mine, they are friends of yours, eh ? and 
 so we are all friends together," said Victorine merrily. 
 " Les amis de nos amis, you know. Come, Patrick, 
 you must shake hands with John Smith, too. This 
 is Patrick, John and the best fellow you ever met, 
 though he doesn't look it." 
 
 The individual thus presented took his pipe from 
 his mouth, and responded with a genial laugh to the 
 girl's sally. 
 
 " You little vixen," he said, pinching her cheek, 
 " you'll never leave me alone, will you ? She leads 
 me such a life, Mr. Smith such a life! The man that 
 marries her or rather, the man whom she conde- 
 scends to marry will have my sincerest sympathy, I 
 can tell you." And he laughed again, loudly and 
 long, shaking John's hand heartily all the while. 
 
 John at once felt drawn towards this great, deep- 
 voiced man. There was something indescribably but 
 irresistibly attractive about his broad, clean-shaven 
 face, his quick grey eyes, his clear, resonant voice, 
 and rich Irish accent. Moreover, he impressed one 
 immediately as being, in one important respect, unlike 
 all the other men in the room. Voice, speech, 
 manner, all attested the cultivated gentleman. 
 
 " I'm very pleased to meet you, sir," said John 
 spontaneously. 
 
 " And I can return the compliment, Mr. Smith, I 
 1 86
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 assure you. I hope to get the chance of having a 
 good chat with you by-and-by. From what Vicky 
 tells me, we must have a great deal in common. 
 Only, first of all, I must insist upon you taking some- 
 thing hot and stiff. Aunt Anna, how is the toddy 
 getting on ? " 
 
 Aunt Anna was busy cutting and squeezing lemons. 
 
 " I'm only waiting for the kettle," she replied. 
 " Bobby, doesn't the kettle boil yet ? " 
 
 Bobby threw away the end of the cigarette he had 
 been smoking. 
 
 "'Twon't be long now, I guess," he answered, 
 leaning forward to inspect it critically. 
 
 The opportunity was too good to be neglected, so 
 he spat twice before subsiding again into his chair. 
 By this time John felt as much repelled by the lanky, 
 sallow, acrimonious, expectorating Chicagoan as he 
 was attracted by the cordial, suave, laughter-loving 
 Irishman. And he marvelled greatly to find two 
 such dissimilar men associated on what seemed to be 
 terms of family intimacy in such a company. What, 
 he could not help asking himself, could be the tie 
 of relationship, or, if none such existed, the bond of 
 sympathy between them ? 
 
 187
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN IS TREATED AS A BROTHER BY 
 THE EMBODIMENT OF ALL THE VIRTUES, AND 
 CLOSES A LIVELY EVENING BY COMING TO THE 
 ASSISTANCE OF A POLITE GENTLEMAN FROM 
 THE WEST 
 
 JOHN had now been duly presented to every member 
 of the gathering, and was on the point of availing 
 himself of the large easy-chair which Patrick had 
 pushed towards the fire for his particular use, when 
 the door was flung violently open, and another 
 person strode into the room. John's heart stood still 
 for a moment, and then began to pump away in the 
 most erratic fashion ; for the new-comer was the tall, 
 raw-boned young fellow, with hatchet face, long, 
 trailing moustaches, and great goggle-glasses, who had 
 filled his life with nightmare horrors, not altogether 
 banished by what Victorine had told him the other 
 evening the man whom, of all men in the world, he 
 now most dreaded to meet, and whose unexpected 
 absence from the party hitherto had been to him a 
 source of lively satisfaction. 
 
 " Oh, Alexis, so you've come at last ? " exclaimed 
 Victorine, running forward, and taking both his hands 
 in hers. " You're late, aren't you ? " 
 
 " I couldn't get here an instant sooner," answered 
 188
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Alexis gruffly, and without taking the slightest 
 notice of the other occupants of the room. " It's a 
 damned dirty night ! You're lucky to have me here 
 at all ! " 
 
 " That's all right, my dear boy," the girl rejoined. 
 " I was only afraid you might be detained altogether. 
 John's here, you know ! " 
 
 For the moment Alexis did not look as if he was 
 particularly pleased by the receipt of this bit of in- 
 formation. However, the scowl on his brow disap- 
 peared almost instantly, and he stepped towards the 
 fire with his right hand extended to the visitor. 
 
 " And so this is John Smith, is it ? " he said. 
 Though his voice was still harsh and metallic, the 
 gruffness had pretty well gone from its tones. He 
 scrutinised John closely. " Yes, I recognise you," 
 he added, with a short laugh. 
 
 If John had felt extreme embarrassment in his 
 introduction to Uncle Michael, you may judge what 
 emotions he experienced now, as he stood exchang- 
 ing the hand-clasp of good fellowship with the man 
 who had been the lover of Victorine, and all but the 
 assassin of himself. It gave him a creepy sensation 
 up and down the spine to realise that he was now 
 within striking distance of one who, if he still chose to 
 do so, would scarcely scruple to take advantage of 
 the situation. 
 
 " I want you two men to be the very best of 
 friends," said Victorine, standing by, and looking 
 from one to the other with a beaming face. 
 
 " Of course, we shall be the very best of friends," 
 said Alexis, quite fiercely, in a tone, indeed, which 
 suggested that he had been challenged on the point. 
 
 189
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " At least, it won't be my fault if we are not. John 
 Smith, I admire you, and hope that I shall soon 
 know you better. Damned unpleasant night, isn't 
 it ? Ah ah have a cigar ? " 
 
 He drew a case from his pocket, and offered it with 
 an air of defiance which would have been more 
 appropriate if it had been a pistol. Certainly, said 
 John to himself, a singular and rather alarming 
 young man ! He took a cigar, and proceeded to 
 light it slowly and cautiously, half inclined to believe 
 that it contained dynamite, and was intended to 
 blow his head off. He was encouraged, however, by 
 the fact that Victorine herself held the match for 
 him, and that Alexis helped himself to a cigar from 
 the same case. 
 
 John was struck then, and during the evening 
 became more strongly impressed, by sundry peculi- 
 arities in the conduct of this Alexis, whom naturally 
 he watched more critically than he did any of the 
 others. Though neither so taciturn nor so disagree- 
 able as Mr. Bobby, who rarely opened his mouth 
 except to growl, he talked little, and then with 
 manifest effort ; and while he perhaps too conspicu- 
 ously laid himself out to be cordial in all his dealings 
 with the visitor, the result, strictly speaking, could 
 hardly be reckoned a brilliant success. Moreover, his 
 field of conversation was exceedingly limited. Save 
 when directly questioned about other matters, he con- 
 fined himself almost wholly to such topics as eating, 
 drinking, smoking, and the weather, concerning which 
 his opinions, though commonly expressed with quite 
 unnecessary vigour of language, were in themselves 
 neither very original nor very valuable. In a man 
 
 190
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 who had been described as a paragon, a consummate 
 type of sensibility, large-hearted ness, and chivalrous 
 idealism, all this was distinctly disappointing. Not, 
 of course, that one has any right to expect that such 
 a paragon, such a consummate type, shall naturally 
 and inevitably possess all the external attributes of 
 charming manners and suavity of behaviour to boot. 
 A very slight knowledge of the world is sufficient to 
 convince one that exceedingly good people are not 
 always the best to look at, the pleasantest to meet, or 
 the easiest to talk with. Still, after all that John had 
 heard of the splendid qualities, the unselfishness, the 
 quixotic loyalty and devotion of Alexis, he was fain 
 to confess that the hero in the flesh was even more 
 disenchanting than heroes in the flesh (wide as is 
 their privilege in this respect) have any right to be; 
 indeed, it was difficult to identify Victorine's Alexis 
 in the guise of this unprepossessing young man, who, 
 from time to time (generally, John came to fancy, on 
 a glance from Victorine) broke his customary silence 
 by uttering a commonplace, punctuated with an oath. 
 Could the girl's love for this extraordinary creature 
 have brought about a sort of transfiguration of him 
 in her imagination ? John hated to tolerate such a 
 thought. But where otherwise could he hope to 
 discover the key to the riddle ? Finally, as a mere 
 matter of detail, he presently became aware that this 
 so-called young Pole whose nationality had, in fact, 
 been specially referred to in explanation of certain 
 puzzling features of his character spoke English with 
 perfect ease and fluency, and without even such a 
 delicate suggestion of foreign accent as rendered 
 Victorine's own pronunciation so piquant. Taken 
 
 191
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 by itself, this circumstance might have meant little 
 or nothing ; taken in conjunction with other matters, 
 it certainly added to the mystery with which Alexis 
 was surrounded. 
 
 John's cigar, though he puffed at it in rather a 
 gingerly fashion, did not exhibit any signs of un- 
 pleasant behaviour, but proved, on the contrary, to 
 be a very excellent weed. 
 
 " I can't do without my smoke, you know," Alexis 
 remarked. " It's the only thing I've found yet that 
 makes life worth living. It's an infernal piece of 
 business anyway, even with tobacco " Alexis did 
 not say " infernal," though his epithet was practically 
 synonymous with this; but we will take the liberty of 
 editing the speeches " and what it would be without 
 tobacco, I should tremble even to guess. Sit down. 
 If Bobby will only take his feet out of the way, you'll 
 be able to feel the fire. By the way, I forgot to 
 ask you, but perhaps you would have preferred a 
 cigarette ? " 
 
 " This cigar is very good, thank you," said John. 
 
 He took his place in the chair which Patrick had 
 already pushed forward for him, feeling that Alexis 
 had not so much invited, as commanded, him to be 
 seated. 
 
 " Do you happen to have any cigarettes about 
 you ? " asked Mrs. Bobby. " It's no use troubling 
 Bobby. He never thinks of anybody but himself. 
 And his tobacco is out of the question, anyway." 
 
 Bobby remained perfectly indifferent to the con- 
 jugal criticism ; while Alexis, without a word, threw 
 a box of Russian cigarettes, which he took from his 
 pocket, into the lady's lap. She did not thank him ; 
 
 192
 
 but selected a cigarette, lighted it, and began to 
 smoke, laying the box on the sofa by her side. John 
 had never seen a woman smoke before, and if he 
 did not now experience any special surprise, it was 
 simply because so many extraordinary things were 
 happening with such rapidity that his capacity for 
 astonishment was fast being exhausted. No one else 
 in the room took the slightest notice of the lady's 
 doings. 
 
 By this time, the kettle boiled, and Aunt Anna 
 proceeded to make the grog. Victorine offered to 
 hand the glasses round. 
 
 "No one ever mixed drink like auntie," she remarked 
 confidentially to John, allowing her hand to rest just 
 a moment on his shoulder. " Her touch amounts to 
 genius." 
 
 "Put plenty of the craytur in John Smith's!" cried 
 Patrick, who was watching the performance with 
 intense interest, his head on one side. " He needs it 
 after his exposure." 
 
 " And for the same, or any other reason you can 
 think of put plenty in mine, too," said Alexis. 
 " This damned weather is enough to give one his 
 death of cold." 
 
 " Well, whisky's the thing," said Patrick cheerily. 
 " Good whisky and lots of it." 
 
 " You might have been raised in Kentucky," re- 
 marked Mrs. Bobby solemnly, blowing out a cloud 
 of smoke. 
 
 John had now the extreme felicity of taking his 
 glass from Victorine's own hand. 
 
 " I know you'll like it," she said. " You never 
 tasted anything that approached it in your life." 
 
 193 N
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 In a sense, this was quite true ; for the first sip 
 nearly took his head off. 
 
 " How's that ? " asked Victorine triumphantly. 
 
 " Splendid !" said John, with a gasp. 
 
 The girl laughed as she perched herself jauntily on 
 the arm of his chair. 
 
 " But where's your own glass ? " he asked. 
 
 " Why, you don't suppose that / indulge in whisky 
 and water, do you ? " Again the light hand rested 
 on his shoulder, but now she permitted it to remain 
 there. 
 
 " I I well, I didn't know," he said, in some 
 confusion. 
 
 " I never touch it, as a rule," she answered 
 decisively. " But as this is a special occasion, I'll 
 tell you what I'll do. I'll take a little, just a very 
 little, and for the sake of being sociable, out of your 
 glass, John that is, if you don't mind." 
 
 Mind ! As if any man would mind ! John 
 thrilled with delight. 
 
 She took a tiny sip of the concoction, and handed 
 the tumbler back to him with the quaintest and 
 prettiest little grimace of disgust. 
 
 " Well, there's no accounting for tastes," she said. 
 
 " And yet you told me that I should like it that 
 I never tasted anything that approached it." 
 
 " That's what I say there's no accounting for 
 tastes. Just look at Patrick, and Bobby, and Alexis, 
 and Mrs. Bob. They think that anything that dear 
 old Aunt Anna mixes for them is the genuine nectar 
 of the gods." 
 
 John quaffed again, and was more than ever 
 convinced that, if this were really nectar, then the 
 
 194
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 gods must like their beverages superhumanly strong. 
 But inferring from the beatific expressions on the 
 faces of his companions, and from the loud smacking 
 of their lips, that it was an accepted tradition among 
 them to wax enthusiastic over Aunt Anna's pro- 
 ductions, he deemed it wise to keep his opinion to 
 himself. 
 
 " It is good, awfully good,' he said, measuring the 
 quantity left in the glass, and calculating upon his 
 ability to get through it all without unpleasant 
 results. Then he sank his voice to a whisper : " Is 
 Aunt Anna a Pole, too ? " 
 
 " Well, practically so," Victorine replied. " Partly 
 that, and partly Russian. Only she's lived a great 
 many years in America, you know." 
 
 " Oh ! And Mr. Patrick ? " 
 
 She laughed in her airy way. 
 
 " Mr. Patrick ! How awfully droll that sounds, 
 No, he's not a Pole. He's Irish, of course." 
 
 John would have liked to pursue his investigations 
 farther ; but Patrick himself, at this point, broke in 
 upon his confidences. 
 
 " Friends," he said, in his mellow and musical 
 voice, "I want to propose a toast. Here's to our new 
 friend, John Smith ! I call him a friend because I 
 believe we all of us already regard him as such." 
 Murmurs of " Hear, hear ! " and the clinking of glasses 
 indicated the company's highly favourable reception 
 of this sentiment. " John Smith has proved himself 
 a gentleman. We know a gentleman when we see 
 one, and are glad to take him at his true worth." 
 (" Hear, hear ! " and more clinking.) " There are not 
 many such about, more's the pity ; and this leads us 
 
 195
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 to estimate the more truly the occasional and rare 
 exceptions. John Smith is one of the occasional 
 and rare we grieve to say the only too occasional 
 and rare exceptions. Let us show him that we do 
 not overlook or underrate his qualities, intellectual 
 and moral. Ladies and gentlemen, with your kind 
 permission " Patrick now stood up, and with glass 
 held elegantly aloft, bowed towards the visitor " I 
 propose the health of John Smith." 
 
 The rest of the company rose, lifting their glasses 
 and likewise bowing all but Bobby, who half-turned, 
 with a kind of surly smile, and Victorine, who re- 
 tained her perch, laughing and clapping her hands. 
 " John Smith ! John Smith ! " went round the room ; 
 and then " Prosit ! Prosit ! " Whereupon John, who 
 now was on his feet, had to go through the elaborate 
 ceremony of touching glasses with every member of 
 the party Victorine, of course, still excepted. Even 
 Bobby so far unbent as to lean forward and take his 
 share, though grudgingly enough, it must be confessed, 
 in the mystic rite. 
 
 John was caught altogether unprepared. His face 
 was scarlet ; his lips trembled as he tried to speak. 
 
 " Go on, John ; go on ! " cried Victorine, looking 
 up at him, with the merriest twinkle in her great 
 grey eyes. 
 
 And poor John did his utmost to go on. 
 
 " I say," he stammered, " this is awfully good of 
 you, you know. It is really ! I'm sure I'm 
 tremendously glad to meet you all. I I hope I 
 shall get to know you all better, you know. I I'm 
 awfully grateful to you for your kindness. I I " 
 
 He might have floundered on in this absurd way 
 196
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 indefinitely but for the applause which now fortunately 
 brought him to a natural stop. " Bravo ! bravo ! " 
 l< Capital ! '' And from Victorine : " Good, John ! 
 why, you're quite an orator ! " He sat down covered 
 with confusion, and with a keen sense that his lame 
 and commonplace sentences were in pitiful contrast 
 with Patrick's fluent and graceful periods. But 
 Victorine patted him so familiarly on the shoulder 
 as he collapsed into his seat, and the rest were so 
 cordial in their rather noisy encouragement, that his 
 embarrassment rapidly passed away, and before long 
 he was feeling perfectly at home. 
 
 Perhaps, however, the whisky and water had some- 
 thing to do with this. For under the benign influences 
 of the cups which cheered by gentle inebriation, a 
 most fraternal spirit soon pervaded the entire gather- 
 ing. The chairs were brought into a large circle 
 round the fire, the place of honour, in the centre of 
 the group, being assigned to John. Patrick sat at 
 his right, and Alexis at his left ; while Victorine, at 
 length consenting to find her elevated position un- 
 comfortable, curled herself unceremoniously on the 
 hearth-rug at her lover's feet, and even rested her arm 
 on his knees. Then all tongues if we except that 
 of the taciturn Bobby, who retired meanwhile as far 
 as possible into the chimney corner, growling at being 
 obliged to move were unloosed, and the conversation 
 flowed fast and freely. What they talked about, 
 John could not afterwards exactly remember (perhaps 
 the whisky and water had something to do with his 
 lack of clearness on that point, too) ; but he did 
 recollect that it seemed very good talk racy, 
 voluble, and highly amusing. Probably, like most 
 
 197
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 talk on similar social occasions, it did not linger long 
 over any one subject, but played lightly about a dozen 
 different themes in as many minutes, shifting and 
 changing at a chance word, as various threads of 
 interest were taken up and dropped. 
 
 Presently, to John's horror, the glasses were re- 
 plenished ; after which the voices grew louder, and 
 the laughter more boisterous. His own potations, as 
 he was well aware, were by this time having an effect 
 upon him ; he found himself chattering away to 
 everybody with unprecedented glibness, and giggling 
 rather aimlessly when for the moment he had nothing 
 more to say. He even slapped Patrick on the back 
 in the most familiar fashion, and addressed Alexis 
 yes, actually addressed Alexis as " oP man." It is 
 true that he experienced a sudden twinge of conscience 
 when he had done this, and became preternaturally 
 grave; but Victorine's laughing eyes, turned up to 
 his own, brought him reassurance. By this time, 
 indeed, the girl had come to seem the only real thing 
 in the room to him. Uncle Michael, Aunt Anna, 
 Bobby, and the rest of them, were now as so many 
 half-realised figures in some fantastic dream ; their 
 voices came to him from ever so far away ; their 
 faces glimmered through a tremulous haze. But 
 Victorine, thank Heaven ! was still of the stuff of the 
 genuine human world. Coiled close against him on 
 the rug, in an attitude of kittenish ease and grace, 
 she had gradually allowed herself to subside against 
 him for support. Her head was propped upon one 
 hand, her elbow was upon his knee ; he felt an un- 
 speakable delight in bearing her weight, and in 
 watching the glint of the gas-light upon her soft 
 
 198
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 brown hair. Yes ; she was real and tangible, and 
 that was enough. If only he might claim that fair, 
 dear creature as his own, what would it matter to him 
 if everybody else and everything else should vanish 
 as by the snapping of a conjuror's spell ? 
 
 " Don't you sing, John Smith ? " asked Aunt Anna 
 suddenly. 
 
 Startled by the question which brought him sud- 
 denly out of his dream, John could only protest that 
 vocal music had never been one of his accomplish- 
 ments. He did not think it necessary to confess that, 
 in years gone by, he had been one of a small choir in 
 the chapel of his mother's choice. 
 
 " Then you're just like me," Alexis remarked, now, 
 as at other times, with the evident purpose of saying 
 something friendly. " I don't know one note of 
 music from another. My friends ought to be grateful 
 for that mercy, at any rate. Have a cigarette ! " 
 
 " Patrick is always ready," said Victorine. " Sing 
 to us, Pat, there's a good boy." 
 
 Pat cleared his throat, arranged his collar, and 
 smiled expressively on the company. 
 
 " Have you any particular choice ? " he inquired. 
 
 It was the unanimous opinion that the choice should 
 be left to Pat. Whereupon that gentleman, without 
 more ado, threw himself back in his chair, and began 
 to sing in a voice so true and tender that every chord 
 in John's nature seemed to vibrate in response. He 
 had never heard any singing like it before at once 
 so spontaneous, so simple, so wonderfully effective. 
 He did not recognise the song, which was some old- 
 fashioned little Irish ditty telling of the parting of a 
 young soldier from his bride, but the first stanza 
 
 199
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 brought the tears to his eyes, and thenceforth he 
 listened with quivering lip. When Pat ceased, he 
 noticed that no one broke the silence. 
 
 Then Victorine looked up at him, and her eyes, 
 too, were moist. She did not speak, but held her 
 hand towards him, and when he took it, she pressed 
 his own tightly. He leaned down till his face was 
 close to hers. 
 
 " How beautiful ! " he whispered. 
 
 " Yes," she murmured, and her voice was so low 
 that he hardly caught the words ; " yes, very beauti- 
 ful ! And it means so much, because after all it 
 gives part of the real tragedy of life. Loving 
 parting joy duty most of what we suffer is 
 there!" 
 
 John did not a bit understand her at the time. 
 He took what she said as only another expression of 
 her capricious changefulness of mood and feeling. 
 Afterwards he came, as he thought, to realise why 
 she spoke as she did. 
 
 Meanwhile Patrick himself, having stirred his grog 
 quite ferociously, took a long, steady drink, and put 
 down the glass, smacking his lips. 
 
 " Good Lord ! you're not going to sing again, are 
 you ? " growled Bobby from the chimney-corner. 
 
 Pat laughed in his merry way. 
 
 " As you are so pressing " he began. 
 
 " Rats ! " said Bobby. " All I ask is, that if you 
 must favour the company, you give us something to 
 clear the air of all this confounded sentimentalism. 
 You are the greatest chap I ever saw for the snuffles. 
 I don't see the fun of it myself ! " 
 
 " Bobby makes it a point of honour never to see 
 200
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 the fun of anything that other people enjoy," re- 
 marked Mrs. Bobby casually, and she lighted a fresh 
 cigarette. 
 
 " I must say," observed Alexis, " that I've never 
 been able to understand why art should everlastingly 
 be used to perpetuate just the very things in life it 
 might help us to forget, at anyrate for a little while. 
 The only wisdom of life consists in cheating ourselves 
 about it Art ought to help us in our self-deception. 
 If it doesn't cheat us, we don't want it. It can have 
 no other purpose." 
 
 " Lucid as usual, Alexis," said Mrs. Bobby. 
 
 " As dogmatic as ever," added Victorine. 
 
 "Well," said Patrick, "I won't discuss aesthetics 
 with Alexis, or anything else, for that matter, nor 
 will I try to satisfy Bobby because his only satis- 
 faction lies in feeling dissatisfied. But if the rest of 
 you want something out of the lachrymose line, how 
 do you like this ? Only, you must all join in the 
 chorus." 
 
 This was a rattling, nonsensical ballad of one 
 Thomson and his " old grey mule " a beast which 
 seemed to indulge in manifold eccentricities of be- 
 haviour. Much was made, in particular, of his dietetic 
 vagaries, and especially of his marked predilection for 
 tomato cans, and other similar delicacies. And at 
 the close of every stanza came the idiotic refrain, in 
 which all the company took part with boisterous 
 hilarity : 
 
 " And the mule he said, Hee-haw, 
 Hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw, 
 Hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw, 
 When they combed him down with a rake ! " 
 201
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 This performance gave the liveliest satisfaction. 
 Only when Victorine asked Alexis if it entirely 
 fulfilled his idea of the aims and purposes of art, 
 that gentleman saw fit to ignore the question. 
 Bobby's judgment was conveyed by a grunt. 
 
 It was all very jolly, and John had got to feel 
 vastly at home with his newly-made friends, whose 
 very peculiarities, for the time being at least, seemed 
 natural as well as interesting. But it is a familiar 
 fact, of which we must leave the optimist to make 
 what he can, that the moments fly the faster the 
 more we desire to have them stay ; and the sound 
 of a church clock somewhere near by booming in 
 upon the laughter which followed one of Patrick's 
 excellent Irish stories, warned our young man that 
 the hour of departure had arrived all too soon. 
 
 " I'm awfully sorry I have to go," he said, jumping 
 to his feet. " I hate to break up the party. I I've 
 had the jolliest evening I ever had in my life. Ton 
 my word, I have." 
 
 " I hope there are many more such evenings in 
 store for us all," said Aunt Anna heartily. 
 
 This sentiment was received with a general murmur 
 of approval. 
 
 " You must come again fery soon, hein ! " said 
 Uncle Michael, laying his great hand heavily on 
 John's shoulder. And John did not even wince. 
 
 " Yes, yes, we must see lots of you," said Alexis. 
 " We shall reckon you as one of us mark you, one 
 of us ! " He waxed quite fierce in giving expression 
 to this kindly thought ; but then it was clearly a 
 habit of his to be fierce about everything. 
 
 " I'm sure it's awfully kind of you," John stam- 
 202
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 mered. All this manifestation of friendliness, he 
 felt, was rather embarrassing at any rate, to an 
 Englishman. Foreigners were more given to that 
 kind of thing. 
 
 " Not a bit not a bit ! " exclaimed the jovial 
 Patrick. " We shall reckon you as one of us, 
 John Smith, because we've taken a fancy to you 
 because we know a gentleman when we meet 
 one" 
 
 Here Bobby spat into the fire. 
 
 " Because you are a man of our own sort," said 
 Mrs. Bobby. 
 
 " And because you were goot to de leetle girl," 
 said Uncle Michael. " Goot-bye, John Smit ! " 
 
 Then John had to shake hands all round. Bobby 
 barely condescended to acknowledge him with the 
 momentary touch of three clammy fingers ; but as 
 for the others, if vigour of grip gives any trustworthy 
 measure of warmth of feeling, then they must all 
 have felt very warmly towards him indeed. By the 
 time he had made the round, his hand ached as if 
 all the bones had been mashed together. 
 
 " Good-bye, John Smith, good-bye ! " " You must 
 come again soon, mind ! " "We are delighted to know 
 you ! " with some such cordial phrase was every fresh 
 grasp accompanied. But it was reserved for Alexis 
 to utter the final word. 
 
 "John Smith," and his eyes seemed to light up 
 more ferociously than ever behind his big goggle- 
 glasses, " from this time on I regard you as a 
 brother mark you, as a brother ! " 
 
 Anxious as John was to enter to the full into 
 the spirit of the occasion, he could only murmur 
 
 203
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 incoherently in reply to this speech. Fortunately, 
 Patrick came to the rescue. 
 
 " Now, a drop of something hot and stiff to keep 
 out the cold" 
 
 But John was firm. 
 
 And so the wonderful evening had come to an end. 
 No not quite to an end ; for down in the dark 
 passage something occurred that made his heart beat 
 with delirious joy as the front door closed behind 
 him, and he started out on his dreary homeward way. 
 Never mind exactly what passed between himself and 
 Victorine during their long, whispered colloquy be- 
 side that colossal American trunk. I don't suppose 
 what they said to one another would make very 
 interesting reading even if I took the space necessary 
 to set it down. But how good it was to think about ! 
 How delightful to realise that he had actually found 
 courage to tell her right out that he loved her, and 
 that she had more than half confessed that she loved 
 him in return. It seemed to him that he could 
 still feel the touch of her little soft hands as she 
 buttoned his coat collar for him across his throat, 
 telling him to be very careful of the damp ; that her 
 warm breath was still on his cheek ; and his blood 
 was all a- tingle from the memory of those intoxicat- 
 ing moments when he had held her in his passionate 
 embrace, and their lips had closed together in one 
 long lover's kiss. 
 
 Do you suppose that he minded the wind that cut 
 like an knife, and the rain that beat against his face ? 
 Not a whit ! He had passed through the golden 
 gates of Paradise, and, head down to meet the storm, 
 strode rapidly on, making his way by mere blind 
 
 204
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 instinct, and knowing and caring nothing for 
 drenched pavements and dismal, deserted streets. 
 Only what malicious spirit of evil was it that 
 suddenly slipped the thought into his mind, to play 
 havoc there with all his visions of future bliss ? only, 
 why had he again missed his opportunity of finding 
 out the secret of Penny Whistle? 
 
 " Damn ! " said John. He said it aloud, too, and 
 astonishment at the explosion brought him to a 
 stand-still. 
 
 " I beg your pardon ! " 
 
 Turning sharply round, he found himself face to 
 face with a gentleman who had come up behind 
 him unperceived. He was tightly muffled up in a 
 mackintosh coat, and carried an umbrella well down 
 over his head, but John could see that he was an 
 elderly man, with close-cut grey side-whiskers, fresh 
 pink cheeks, and clean-shaven upper lip and chin. 
 
 "I beg your pardon!" the stranger repeated, and his 
 tone and manner were extremely urbane and kindly; 
 " but I am afraid that I've missed my way, and as 
 there does not seem to be any policeman about I 
 thought you might perhaps help me." 
 
 " Of course, if I can," said John. " Where d'you 
 want to go ? " He spoke as politely as he could, but 
 really, under the circumstances, he could not help 
 resenting the gentleman's interference a little. 
 
 " King's Cross Station," was the reply. 
 
 " Oh, that's close by here," said John, " and that's 
 where I'm bound for. You may as well come with 
 me. I'll show you the way, if you don't mind." 
 
 " You are very kind very kind, indeed. I wouldn't 
 for the world wish to trouble you " The gentleman 
 
 205
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 appeared to be quite pained at the notion of inflicting 
 himself upon John, and as they started off together, 
 he was profuse in apologies and explanations. He 
 knew so little about London ; was up from the West 
 of England on business only ; had always found the 
 Metropolitan Railway service so exceedingly con- 
 fusing of course, he begged pardon to a mere 
 stranger. Probably his kind friend in need was 
 himself a resident of London ? 
 
 " Born and bred here," said John. 
 
 Ah, that was different, of course ! Would not his 
 kind friend in need share his umbrella ? No thanks 
 necessary. All the thanks were on the other side. 
 Really, John thought him one of the most gentlemanly 
 people he had ever met. 
 
 " Terrible night ! " said John, as they walked on side 
 by side. 
 
 " Indeed, yes, a very unpleasant night one might, 
 in fact, say an extremely disagreeable night. One 
 would, I believe, be justified in putting the case as 
 strongly as that." 
 
 John, who was conscious of having put the case 
 more strongly than that, thought one would certainly 
 be justified in so doing. 
 
 " It is to be hoped that you have not very far to 
 go," said the gentleman, in a tone of deep solicitation. 
 
 " To Hammersmith." 
 
 " Hammersmith ! Ah, the name is familiar ! But 
 you must excuse me as a stranger, you understand 
 if it gives me no very clear idea of distance and 
 location." 
 
 John gave his companion a general statement both 
 of the whereabouts of Hammersmith and of the time 
 
 206
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 it would probably take him to reach it, and received 
 many thanks for the information. What possible 
 interest it could have for the gentleman from the 
 West, however, was not apparent. By this time 
 John began to think that if courtesy was one of his 
 characteristics, curiosity was another. 
 
 " This is a long way to come on business," the 
 gentleman went on. 
 
 " Oh, I wasn't here on business. I have friends 
 living in this neighbourhood." 
 
 " Friends ! ah, yes, that's quite another matter ; I 
 think we may say that that is quite another matter. 
 One cares little for weather and distance where 
 friendship is concerned." (Weather and distance, 
 indeed ! John thought of Victorine, and smiled.) 
 " None the less excuse me you are in business, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " The law, probably. You you won't mind my 
 venturing to say so, I hope but you look like a 
 lawyer." 
 
 " Do I ? " said John, wondering what might be the 
 distinguishing marks of the legal profession. " Well, 
 it happens that I'm not a lawyer. I'm engaged in 
 the shipping business." 
 
 "In the shipping business ? Really ! Now that is 
 very odd very odd and very interesting. I have 
 relatives in that business myself in Bristol. May 
 I take the liberty of inquiring the name of the 
 firm in which you are a partner ? " 
 
 John was obliged to laugh outright. 
 
 " My goodness, I'm not a partner in any firm," he 
 replied. " That's not my luck. I'm just a clerk, 
 
 207
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 you know. Werry's the governor's name 
 Werry & Co." 
 
 " A very good house a very good house indeed ! " 
 said the strange gentleman emphatically. " I have 
 frequently heard the name through my relatives. 
 Let me see, let me see ; their place of business is 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood of of pardon me, 
 but I am, as you are aware, unfamiliar with London, 
 and the precise locality escapes me." 
 
 " St. Mary Axe," said John, " if you know where 
 that is." 
 
 " Ah, yes, St. Mary Axe ; the address comes back 
 to me at once, now you mention it, though positively 
 I don't know that I am very much the wiser," and 
 the gentleman laughed quite gaily ; and John, who 
 was highly amused by his little oddities, joined in his 
 mirth, at the same time doing his best to put him 
 right in regard to this new question of metropolitan 
 topography. 
 
 " And here's King's Cross Station," he added. 
 " Which way do you want to go ? " 
 
 It turned out that the gentleman from the West 
 wanted to go to the Mansion House. 
 
 " Then I'm awfully sorry that I must wish you 
 good-night," said John. " Our roads part here, for 
 mine takes me in the opposite direction, you see." 
 
 The suave stranger was filled with regret. 
 
 " Then good-night, my dear sir, if it must be so," 
 he said. " I am afraid I have been a great deal of 
 trouble to you. I thank you very much, very much 
 indeed, for your kindness.'' 
 
 " Not at all," said John, in some alarm lest his com- 
 panion's volubility might cause him to miss his train. 
 
 208
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " You have rendered me a great service you must 
 permit me to put it in that way ; and I thank you." 
 The speaker waved a kid-gloved hand. " The world 
 is not nearly as large as we are apt to imagine not 
 nearly as large. Perhaps we may meet again who 
 can tell ? Let us hope so." 
 
 " I'm sure I hope we may," said John. " Excuse 
 me, but there's my train. Good-night ! " 
 
 Five minutes later, he was alone in a third-class 
 compartment on the Underground, and was wrapped 
 in blissful memories of Victorine. He had chuckled 
 over the peculiar mannerisms of the excessively 
 polite elderly gentleman, to whom he had played 
 the good Samaritan, and had dismissed him alto- 
 gether from his mind. As for their ever meeting 
 again that was something to which he did not give 
 a second thought. Chance acquaintances constantly 
 talk in that fashion, and even exchange cards and 
 promise visits ; but half the time they are not really 
 in earnest when they do so. And for John, who had 
 no reason in the world to attach the slightest im- 
 portance to the recent interview, the gentleman from 
 the West was nothing more than a figure who had 
 accidentally come into his life for a moment, to drop 
 out of it again, leaving no trace behind. Little 
 did he imagine that he was indeed destined to meet 
 him again, and under circumstances which would 
 stamp the minutest details of their past conversation 
 indelibly upon his memory. 
 
 209
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN GETS DEEPER AND DEEPER 
 IN LOVE 
 
 THE world is born anew for every one of us ; and the 
 lover, in all the raptures of his virgin romance, must 
 be forgiven if he never pauses to consider that a 
 story which seems original with him has been told 
 over and over again, who shall say how many millions 
 of times, since "Adam first embraced his Eve in 
 happy hour." And surely no one but a confirmed 
 cynic would wish it otherwise. Life may not be 
 exactly a brilliant success, even as it is. The more 
 grateful ought we to be, then, that the wisdom 
 accumulated by ages of experience, though it brings 
 disenchantment to humanity in the mass, does not 
 altogether destroy the poetry of the personal lot. 
 "The planet is old," sang the cheery Frenchman, 
 " but still the young girl is young ! " 
 
 For several weeks after that memorable evening 
 in Quemby Court, John Smith went through the 
 monotonous routine of his daily existence like a man 
 under the potent influence of some magic draught. 
 Life for him had undergone a complete and miraculous 
 transformation. Eating and sleeping, shorthand notes 
 and bills of lading, trains and omnibuses, work and 
 leisure, were now absurdly trivial accidents of his 
 
 210
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 experience. The world contained only one vital and 
 certain fact the fact of Love. Everything else was 
 not only unimportant, but unreal. It was amusing to 
 see how seriously people concerned themselves about 
 matters which, properly viewed, could have no possible 
 significance such as politics and the money-market. 
 But then the men whom he everywhere saw reading 
 their newspapers or discussing stocks were merely 
 shadows in a shadow-world. They might vanish one 
 and all into thin air, and he would not be surprised, 
 nor would he miss them. Life consisted of Victorine. 
 Of course, his mother and Ben Chadwick noticed 
 for it required no great keenness of observation to do 
 so the peculiar light in John's eye, the glow in his 
 cheeks, the clear ring of his voice, the general 
 exaltation which marked his manner and speech. 
 Never had Mrs. Smith seen her son so alert and 
 buoyant. She had long, as we know, been anxious 
 about him, worrying herself into sleeplessness and 
 constant nervous headaches over his feverish cold, 
 his lack of appetite, his mental depression and 
 irritability. And now a heavy weight had been taken 
 off the good woman's mind. It is true that there 
 were things about his conduct still which she was at 
 a loss to understand. He was subject to strange fits 
 of abstraction ; sometimes talked disjointedly ; often 
 made unexpected and inappropriate answers to even 
 the simplest questions ; ate and drank capriciously, 
 and without appearing to discriminate very closely 
 between mutton and beef, coffee and tea. But surely, 
 though these peculiarities might cause her occasionally 
 a few minutes' disquietude, there could be no ground 
 for alarm while the young man's step was so jaunty, 
 
 211
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 his smile so quick and responsive. John was certainly 
 better very much better. This one fact sufficed. 
 Mrs. Smith did not try to account for the remarkable 
 change. She merely noted that the old languor and 
 apathy had given place to freshened energy and 
 interest in things. She merely noted this, and was 
 satisfied. 
 
 Not so Ben. He, too, observed the change, but 
 was by no means satisfied. He regarded John's 
 behaviour as distinctly unnatural. His present elation 
 was every bit as bad as his former dejection had been. 
 Something had been wrong then ; something, Ben 
 was convinced, was wrong, seriously wrong, now. Ben 
 shook his head in despair. What could be the cause 
 of all the trouble? He could only guess; and his 
 guessing led him to nothing but the vaguest of vague 
 suspicions that in some way those " foreigners and 
 their gal " must be at the bottom of it. 
 
 He could only guess, because, to his genuine grief, 
 he found John more and more inaccessible. With 
 the stolid, canine kind of fidelity which characterised 
 the poor fellow, he made his regular calls at Mrs. 
 Smith's house, but on each successive occasion he 
 came away as wise as he went. Half the time John 
 was not at home, and he had the pleasure of sitting 
 for fifteen or twenty minutes in Mrs. Smith's parlour 
 watching her at her everlasting needlework. It was 
 not precisely exhilarating, and it was not in the least 
 what Ben wanted ; but he had a kindly feeling for 
 his friend's mother, and, apart from that, he was one 
 of those people who, when they once get into a room, 
 have the greatest difficulty in the world in getting 
 out of it again. 
 
 212
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 "John's out this evening, Mr. Chadwick," Mrs. 
 Smith would say. 
 
 Then Ben would express disappointment ; murmur 
 that it didn't matter, as he only " dropped round," 
 having nothing particular to do ; and finish up with 
 a casual remark to the effect that John seemed to be 
 out a good deal just now. 
 
 If Ben had any idea that this suggestion might 
 possibly lead to fruitful conversation, he was always 
 doomed to disenchantment. Mrs. Smith, in her 
 guileless fashion, evidently took her son's frequent 
 absences as a matter of course. She would explain 
 at great length that, owing to extreme pressure of 
 business, John had often to stay overtime at the 
 office ; that he was really working very hard indeed, 
 but that she didn't mind that so long as he remained 
 well. Whereupon would follow much maternal solilo- 
 quy upon the large and pregnant theme of John's 
 health, which, she was glad to say, had lately im- 
 proved so wonderfully ; with some discussion of her 
 recent anxiety on his behalf; and appropriate re- 
 miniscences of various coughs, colds, aches and pains 
 from which he had suffered from childhood up. 
 Once drawn into this conversational current, Ben 
 was fain to realise that the only way of escape lay 
 in departure ; and after sundry ineffectual attempts, 
 he would finally succeed in working his way out into 
 the street. 
 
 " John will be so sorry not to have seen you, 
 Mr. Chadwick/' Mrs. Smith would observe, wishing 
 him good-bye. " You'll come again soon, won't 
 you ? " 
 
 Then Ben would promise to come again very soon, 
 213
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and swear softly to himself as soon as the front door 
 was closed upon him. 
 
 Yes, there was something wrong seriously wrong. 
 He was sure of it, though the old woman did not 
 seem to have the slightest inkling of any trouble. 
 
 Nor were things much better on the other occa- 
 sions when Ben was lucky enough to find John at 
 home. Mr. Chadwick, as we are aware, was not 
 endowed with great sensibility or power of per- 
 ception ; but he knew enough, as he told himself 
 over and over again, to realise that his friend was 
 not glad to see him, and was thoroughly ill at 
 ease in his presence. And this made Ben, in his 
 turn, completely uncomfortable. Their intercourse 
 thus lacked the old spontaneity of long and perfect 
 intimacy, and even by degrees became awkward and 
 strained. A barrier of some sort had come between 
 them. Formerly it had been John's regular custom 
 to take Ben up to his bedroom the little " den " 
 where we first discovered them together for John, as 
 we remember, seldom smoked elsewhere in the house, 
 at all events till his mother had retired for the night. 
 He would light a bit of fire in the little grate, and, 
 sitting one on each side of its cheerful blaze, the two 
 young men would suck their pipes in complete com- 
 fort till all the room was blue, chatting in aimless 
 fashion as long as they had anything to talk about ; 
 or, when the spirit ceased to move them, indulging 
 in the silence which is the special and peculiar 
 privilege of friendship. What happy evenings they 
 had been ! Ben thought of them with a pang. For 
 John rarely took him upstairs now ; under pretext 
 that it was warmer and pleasanter in the sitting- 
 
 214
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 room, he kept him in Mrs. Smith's company. Ben 
 saw through the subterfuge. It was evident enough 
 to him that John wanted, so far as possible, to avoid 
 a tete-a-tete ; and when Mrs. Smith had gathered up 
 her miscellaneous garments, and needles and reels of 
 cotton, and had gone to bed, Ben was well enough 
 aware that his friend was not only sorry they were 
 thus left alone, but was fully determined that he, 
 Ben, should gain no advantage from the fact. 
 Again and again he did his utmost to get John 
 into his power, and to surprise and capture his 
 secret (for secret he knew there was), now by 
 manoeuvring, and now by direct assault ; but the result 
 was always discomfiture. In one or another way, John 
 always contrived to prevent the conversation from 
 turning in the direction of intimately personal 
 themes. Sometimes he was silent and grumpy ; 
 more often he would talk fast and feverishly 
 about all sorts of indifferent topics the abominable 
 weather, the approach of Christmas, the peculiarities 
 of his mother's charwoman, the latest dancer at the 
 Gaiety ; a totally unimportant occurrence at the 
 office ; and, do what he would, Ben was baffled. 
 One thing only became, with every fresh evening 
 passed in this unsatisfactory fashion, increasingly 
 clear to him : at the most distant and incidental 
 allusion on his part to the foreigners, or to any 
 matter remotely connected with them, John instantly 
 took fright. That one subject was evidently fatal. 
 Wherefore, Ben sapiently inferred that with that one 
 subject the present mystery of John's conduct was in 
 some inexplicable manner bound up. 
 
 Surely enough, Mr. Chadwick had every reason to 
 215
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 be worried about his friend. For the first time in 
 his life, he of the easy conscience and perfect digestion 
 knew what it was to lie awake at night. 
 
 Meanwhile, if John Smith, as we see, had made up 
 his mind to keep his own counsel, he had ample 
 grounds for so doing. To begin with, under any 
 circumstances, it would be no easy thing for him to 
 go to his mother or Ben, and confess his love for 
 Victorine, when, of course, he would have at the 
 same time to lay bare the events which had brought 
 them together. He was perfectly frank with himself 
 in admitting a serious doubt as to whether Mrs. Smith 
 would be completely satisfied with the daughter-in- 
 law he had chosen for her, and still more whether she 
 would take quite kindly to the young lady's friends. 
 Anyone who did not at once fall in love with 
 Victorine, anyone who did not at first sight regard 
 her as the most beautiful, the most captivating, the 
 sweetest and dearest of girls, was indeed to be pitied 
 for blindness and insensibility ; but this did not alter 
 the fact that, face to face with Victorine, Mrs. Smith 
 was very likely to show herself both blind and 
 insensible. He could imagine his mother cross- 
 examining him in true motherly fashion as to what 
 he really knew of the girl, her relatives, up-bringing, 
 and good heavens ! her religious views and church 
 affiliations. " Let me see just how did you meet 
 her, John ? Have you ever had any talk with her 
 about her purposes in life ? Do you think she can 
 cook and sew well ? because, you know, John, it 
 doesn't seem to me that any girl is fit to be a man's 
 wife who can't give him a good chop, and fasten on 
 his buttons for him. What was her father's business, 
 
 216
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 John ? I think you said he was dead. She is living 
 with her uncle and aunt, is she ? Foreigners h'm ! 
 And I may have forgotten but did you mention 
 her family name ? " 
 
 That would be, John foresaw, the style of thing ; 
 and do we wonder that he should flinch at the 
 prospects of such an ordeal ? And then, in fancy, he 
 went through his own part of the performance, with 
 the liveliest sense of the change which would come 
 over Mrs. Smith's face as he told her not everything, 
 but just what he would be obliged to tell her 
 about his first meeting with Victorine, the incidents 
 of his courtship, the manner of her life in Quemby 
 Court ; closing, as he would be forced to do, with 
 the damaging admission that he was not absolutely 
 certain of her American father's identity, but that 
 she seemed, for no reason that he could assign, to 
 go under the name of her maternal uncle, Michael, 
 which was it could not, of course, be helped, but 
 it was certainly calculated to shock respectable 
 prejudices nothing less than Goszczynski. 
 
 By the time John reached this critical point in the 
 rehearsal, he would find himself growing very hot all 
 over. No, it wouldn't do it wouldn't do at all ! 
 Sooner or later, of course, the confession would have 
 to be made ; but it would be later rather than 
 sooner. 
 
 Then, as he knew, things would be quite as dis- 
 agreeable when the time came to confide in Ben. 
 Concerning that gentleman's judgment no possible 
 doubt could be entertained. He, too, would be 
 afflicted with blindness and insensibility ; and his 
 vigorously expressed opinions of John's own folly in 
 
 217
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 getting himself mixed up with a lot of people, who, 
 to put the matter mildly, were distinctly queer, would 
 be so much the more unpalatable because they would 
 simply bring to the surface and define the doubts and 
 questions which the lover himself strove most valiantly 
 to silence, but which, at most inopportune seasons, 
 would persist in making themselves heard. How 
 would he ever endure Ben's heavy, Philistine touch 
 upon his delicately- woven romance? How resist the 
 attack of his stolid common-sense ? No, no ! Once 
 more, it wouldn't do it wouldn't do at all ! Sooner 
 or later, again, Ben, too, would have to be told all 
 about it ; but the evil day must still be put off as 
 long as possible. 
 
 But while a wholesome dread of his mother and 
 Ben Chadwick would thus have sufficed of itself to 
 keep his mouth shut, John had another and even 
 weightier reason for his policy of silence. Victorine 
 herself had begged him to keep their relationship a 
 secret for the present. 
 
 " Unless, John dear," she said, " you feel that you 
 really must tell your mother at once " 
 
 " Not at all, not at all ! " answered John readily. 
 " I want to do exactly what you wish about it, 
 Victorine." 
 
 " Then just for a little while not for long, John ; 
 but just a little while I would rather we kept it 
 entirely to ourselves. Aunt Anna thinks it would be 
 better, and I think so, too. There is no need to be 
 in a hurry " 
 
 " Certainly not," said John decisively ; " so long as 
 as" 
 
 " So long as what, dear ? " 
 218
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " As we we understand all about it ourselves, you 
 know." 
 
 " You foolish boy ! As if there is any chance for 
 doubt about that ! " 
 
 " All right, then, darling ! I will do whatever you 
 feel is for the best. For your sake I would do 
 anything." 
 
 "Are you sure of that, John? Are you certain 
 that, come what may, and whatever I might ask 
 you to do for me, you would never demur, never 
 hesitate " 
 
 " Do you doubt me, Victorine ? " cried the en- 
 amoured one explosively. " I only ask you to test 
 my love in any way you like, and ..." 
 
 At which point the girl, with a merry laugh, threw 
 her arms round John's neck, and the conversation 
 became too incoherent to be worth reporting. 
 
 Without any conscious intention of conveying a 
 false impression, John was most likely glad enough 
 to leave Victorine with the idea that it was only in 
 obedience to her wishes that he had promised not, 
 for the time being, to open his heart to anyone, even 
 to his mother. It even gave him a certain thrill of 
 satisfaction to fancy that in holding his tongue he 
 was not so much following his own cowardly impulses 
 as bowing unquestioningly to his mistress's com- 
 mands. But the perfect coincidence of his own 
 impulses and her commands led to one rather un- 
 fortunate result. It blinded him to what would 
 otherwise have struck him as an element of caprice 
 in the girl's behaviour. Why did she agree with 
 Aunt Anna, whose opinion she seemed to quote as 
 authoritative, in thinking it better that their relation- 
 
 219
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ship should just for the present be kept to them- 
 selves ? What reason could they have for avoiding 
 disclosure? But for his own absolute agreement 
 with Aunt Anna, such questions would undoubtedly 
 have forced themselves upon him. As it was, he 
 never even thought of asking Victorine for an ex- 
 planation of her desire for temporary secrecy. 
 
 The scrap of conversation just quoted may be 
 taken to indicate that matters between John and his 
 charmer had now assumed a fairly settled character. 
 To speak by the letter, their agreement was, indeed, 
 of the nature rather of what is commonly called an 
 " understanding " than of a regular hard-and-fast 
 engagement. The girl had never yet, in so many 
 words, promised to be his wife, nor had anything 
 ever been said about their prospective marriage to 
 or by her friends. Doubtless John would presently 
 have found this a trifle unsatisfactory, and would 
 have been restless to have his own position more 
 clearly defined. But for the time being, immediate 
 bliss was all that he asked or cared for. If Victorine 
 had never formally yielded herself to him, he could 
 comfort himself with the assurance that as between 
 them, under the circumstances, there was no need 
 of formality. To all intents and purposes she had 
 accepted his suit. Was not that enough ? And as 
 for Uncle Michael, Aunt Anna, and the rest of the 
 household, though they never referred to his footing 
 in their circle, they always welcomed him most 
 cordially, treated him with marked attention, and 
 by the mere fact that they often left him alone with 
 Victorine, gave evidence that they acknowledged 
 him as her lover. 
 
 220
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 And what delicious hours those were, which, 
 evening after evening, John Smith was privileged to 
 spend in that dingy, poorly-furnished, ill-smelling 
 upper room in Quemby Court ! hours to be recalled 
 in after years with a lump in the throat and a fierce 
 wringing of the heart ! Generally, when he reached 
 the house, there were half-a-dozen or so men and 
 women gathered about the table, over their whisky 
 and tobacco ; and little by little, John came in this 
 way to know a good many other strange people 
 besides those to whom he had first been introduced. 
 They were, he was forced to admit, a motley set; 
 foreigners, for the most part; of varying ages and 
 styles ; but all more or less shaggy, untidy, eccentric 
 in speech, and redolent of spirits and smoke. When- 
 ever he found a stranger in the group, he was at 
 once presented as a habitue" of the house, and a 
 special friend of Victorine ; whereupon, the said 
 stranger never failed to express in vigorous, if some- 
 times rather uncertain English, his peculiar pleasure 
 in meeting a man of whom he had already heard so 
 much, and to invite him to drink on the spot. They 
 were all very familiar with one another, helped them- 
 selves to one another's cigarettes and tobacco without 
 so much as a "Thank you," and called Victorine 
 " Vicky " or " Vick," with a freedom which John did 
 not by any means approve of. His original acquaint- 
 ances were rather irregular in their attendance, Bobby/ 
 in particular, seldom turning up, if at all, till late in 
 the evening, when he was always in the very gruffest 
 of humours. But Aunt Anna, and perhaps one or- 
 two of the others, were usually on hand. On his 
 arrival, John frequently discovered them in animated 
 
 221
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 discussion, and more than once he was driven to infer 
 from their heightened voices and excited gesticula- 
 tion, and from the fact that everybody was talking at 
 once and nobody listening to what the others said, 
 that such discussion was not exactly as amicable as 
 might be desired. But inasmuch as they invariably at 
 such times employed a foreign tongue, he was quite in 
 the dark as to the cause of their misunderstandings, 
 while immediately upon his appearance in their midst 
 they always dropped into English perhaps, he 
 thought, out of politeness to himself and fell to 
 chatting about the weather or the day's occurrences. 
 Now and then he noticed a newspaper spread out 
 across the table. But this, too, was in an unknown 
 language, and was quickly folded up, and pocketed 
 by someone of the gathering. 
 
 Despite his preoccupation with more important 
 matters, John's curiosity was naturally aroused by 
 these proceedings, and once he asked Victorine what 
 in the world it was that seemed to interest her friends 
 so keenly. 
 
 The girl laughed. 
 
 "What always does interest a lot of men when 
 they get together ? " she inquired, with a toss of the 
 head, as if to suggest that the thing was of no great 
 importance. 
 
 " But there are women here, too," John reminded 
 her. 
 
 "Oh, women are often as bad especially American 
 women." 
 
 " You mean politics ? " 
 
 " No, not politics, John ; business ! " 
 
 John expressed some surprise. 
 
 222
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " I didn't think they looked and talked precisely 
 like business people." 
 
 " Perhaps not like the business people you know, 
 John; but they are all interested in foreign stocks 
 and securities, and and that sort of thing. They 
 get frightfully excited over it all, as you can see for 
 yourself ; and sometimes, when it becomes a question 
 of selling or not selling, they have most tremendous 
 rows. It's awfully amusing ; I wish you could under- 
 stand what they say. You'd have the greatest fun 
 in the world in listening to them swear at one 
 another." 
 
 John privately thought that this was an odd way 
 of conducting financial discussions, but he merely 
 remarked that it must be very funny. 
 
 " You bet your life it is, as Mrs. Bobby would say, 
 in the high style of Chicago. It is very funny. Only 
 there's a serious side to it all as well." 
 
 " There generally is a serious side to things where 
 money's concerned," remarked John, with the con- 
 viction born of experience. This was thrown out 
 as a joke. But Victorine did not even smile. 
 
 "It's serious for me," she said; "perhaps very 
 serious. I'll tell you all about it some day, John ; 
 not now. It's a long story, and complicated, and 
 and there are reasons why I mustn't go into it 
 without Uncle Michael's permission. But my father, 
 when he died, left me a little fortune, and it's all 
 invested in some of these foreign securities ; and 
 Uncle Michael's my trustee, and is looking after 
 things for me ; and a cousin of his has been manag- 
 ing some of my affairs for him in Paris, and now we 
 are afraid that he has been dishonest, and perhaps 
 
 223
 
 has wasted the money, or turned it to his own use. 
 We don't know yet we may get some news about 
 it almost any day. But doesn't it seem odd ? you 
 may be making love to an heiress, John, or to an 
 absolutely penniless girl, who will have to go out 
 sewing, maybe, to earn her living." 
 
 What John said and did in reply to this state- 
 ment does not need to be set down. It was what 
 any properly constituted young man would have 
 said and done under the circumstances. 
 
 " Yes, dear, that's all very well, I know," Victorine 
 continued, disengaging herself. " Bread and cheese 
 and kisses would satisfy me completely ; but for 
 your sake, I'd rather have a little gold in my purse. 
 However, you can see how terribly worried poor 
 Uncle Michael is about the whole affair. He 
 doesn't like me to talk about it yet ; and anyway, 
 it's all so mixed up that I couldn't give you any 
 real idea of the business if I tried. Some day you 
 will have the whole story from uncle himself, 
 and you will be able to understand it. I can't. 
 It makes my head spin." 
 
 John's own head was in something of a whirl ; 
 but finding that Victorine really did not seem to 
 want to pursue the matter farther for the present, 
 he quietly changed the subject of conversation. 
 And the following evening, when he surprised 
 Uncle Michael, Mrs. Bobby, Alexis, and a couple 
 of strangers in the midst of a heated wrangle, in 
 which a glass of whisky had been thrown on to the 
 floor and smashed, he began to wonder in what way 
 the altercation might possibly bear upon Victorine's 
 fortune, and to wish that her money was safely 
 
 224
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 invested in some conservative English Savings Bank 
 or decently conducted Building Society. 
 
 Intensely interested as they all were in funds and 
 stocks, however, they were none the less ready, as we 
 have noted, with one accord to lay business affairs 
 aside as soon as John came into the room. Leaving 
 Bobby out of the question, with whom, week after 
 week, he hardly exchanged a word, and whose 
 manner exhibited no signs of mollification, he found 
 them all genial and chatty, his newly-made acquaint- 
 ances no less than those he had first met, and whom 
 by this time he had come to look upon as personal 
 friends of long standing. They were an easy-going, 
 Bohemian lot, full of joke and anecdote, and some- 
 times, according to John's notions, alarmingly free 
 in their talk ; they all, men and women alike, drank 
 without measure, and smoked in proportion ; but 
 astonishingly unconventional as were their standards 
 of behaviour, they proved themselves amusing com- 
 panions for a social hour. Their very eccentricities, 
 when once he grew accustomed to them, were to 
 John an unending source of pleasure and surprise ; 
 and as his first feelings of strangeness and misgiving 
 wore rapidly away, he found himself getting on with 
 them every bit as well as with the redoubtable 
 Robert Simpson and his kind. His special favourite 
 was Patrick, who captivated him by his high spirits 
 and racy Irish wit, and completely won his heart by 
 his sunny temper and constant thoughtfulness in 
 little things. " There was never a better fellow in 
 this world," he would say enthusiastically almost 
 every evening to Victorine ; and in this judgment 
 the girl as enthusiastically concurred. " The more 
 
 225 p
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 you come to know him, the more you will like him," 
 she would add. After Patrick, John was most 
 thoroughly at home with Aunt Anna and Uncle 
 Michael. The good fat woman had nothing in the 
 least attractive about her, it is true ; her eternal 
 wheezing sometimes made him nervous, her love of 
 tawdry finery and jewels seemed positively vulgar ; 
 she was brusque in manner, and. he thought, stupid ; 
 but she looked after his creature comforts with almost 
 motherly solicitude, and appeared to take a certain 
 feminine interest in the progress of affairs between 
 Victorine and himself. As for Uncle Michael, John 
 was astonished to discover how soon he managed to 
 forget the extremely unpleasant nature of their early 
 associations ; for now, without the slightest feeling of 
 trepidation, he would spend many a cosy half-hour 
 with him in the friendliest fireside chat. What en- 
 deared him above all things else to the man who had 
 once cherished designs against his life was that he 
 seemed never to tire of talking about his " tear leetle 
 girl." He told John over and over again how he had 
 watched and cared for her as a tiny motherless child ; 
 how his heart had been well-nigh broken when the 
 physicians in Paris had hinted that she was going to 
 die ; how she had been as a daughter to him in his 
 many wanderings about the world ; and how, as she 
 grew up, she had responded to his paternal affection 
 with all the warmth of an only child's love. " Oh, she 
 is goot, zo goot ! Mine frient, I cannot tell you how 
 goot she is ! " And John listened, deeply moved, 
 drinking in all these tender reminiscences with low 
 murmurs of approval, and always anxious for more. 
 At first, it was hard for him to make out more than a 
 
 226
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 third or so of what Michael was saying, but little by 
 little his ear became accustomed to the broken speech 
 and contorted sentences, and he followed without 
 difficulty, except, indeed, when his companion took 
 to quoting poetry, which he sometimes did, appar- 
 ently as a relief to his pent-up emotions. Shake- 
 speare, according to his own statement, was his 
 favourite author, and from Shakespeare he would 
 occasionally (especially when primed with a couple 
 of glasses of whisky and water) reel off lengthy 
 passages in a loud voice, and with many gestures. 
 But John was never very clear as to what they were 
 about, or how they were connected, if at all, with the 
 immediate topic of their conversation. 
 
 We have said that, with the exception of Bobby, 
 John found all the Quemby Court people genial and 
 chatty ; but this needs modification, for it takes no 
 due stock of Alexis. Of all his acquaintances, the 
 young Pole (if Pole indeed he were) puzzled him 
 most. He did his utmost to like him, because 
 Victorine expressed herself as anxious that the two 
 should be the closest of friends, and because he felt 
 that he ought, by self-compulsion if necessary, to 
 like a man of such fine character and chivalrous 
 ideals. But with the best intentions in the world, 
 he simply could not bring himself to like him ; nor 
 could he even feel the confidence in him that he felt in 
 the others. They were odd enough, in all conscience ; 
 but their oddness did not impress him seriously, and 
 while he was frequently amused, he was never troubled 
 by it. His peculiarities, on the other hand, were 
 unpleasantly suggestive of genuine mystery. His 
 variableness was indeed amazing. John never knew 
 
 227
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 how to take him. Sometimes he would scuffle into 
 the room, hat on, in the vilest of tempers, and without 
 so much as a nod of recognition, begin to growl and 
 swear about everything and at everybody. Then he 
 would treat the guest with the scantest courtesy, 
 hardly deigning to acknowledge his presence, or to 
 take any notice of his questions. At such times, too, 
 as John marked, with great resentment, he was parti- 
 cularly rough with Victorine, who, however, merely 
 laughed at his churlishness. Then there were other 
 occasions when for him he was relatively communica- 
 tive ; and when, reserving his curses for the weather, 
 which was always unendurable, he condescended to 
 join, with some show of interest, in the general talk. 
 In this mood, while pleasant enough towards the 
 company at large, he would be quite sportive with 
 Victorine, and almost over-insistent in his attentions 
 to John himself. He would force his cigars and 
 cigarettes upon him, half-a-dozen at a time ; grasp 
 him by the hand ; make him sit close to him ; engage 
 him in conversation about his (John's) health, family, 
 movements, opinions of this or that ; and contrive, in 
 a more or less awkward fashion, to assure him of the 
 high esteem and brotherly affection in which he 
 personally held him. All this was very strange and 
 very embarrassing, and it kept John's mind in a 
 perpetual turmoil. Once or twice he ventured to 
 speak of the matter to Victorine ; but her replies 
 were always rambling and unsatisfactory : " Yes ; 
 he's a queer fellow poor old Alexis ! Everybody 
 finds him so especially at first. You've got to know 
 him well before you can understand him. He has 
 only recently recovered from a very serious illness, 
 
 228
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and is still in a terribly nervous condition. You 
 mustn't mind him, John ! You'll get on famously 
 together by-and-by. He's very fond of you as it is, 
 only and then, his disappointment, you know . . ." 
 John saw that, for some reason, the girl had an 
 objection to having the subject discussed between 
 them, and for his own part, he was indeed glad 
 enough at this point to let it drop. Such explana- 
 tion as she offered, however, he felt to be really no 
 explanation at all ; and her own reticence only 
 served to make things worse. On the whole, he was 
 distinctly well pleased when Alexis saw fit, as he did 
 once in a while, to keep out of the way altogether. 
 
 In fact, John was glad enough to have the others keep 
 out of the way, too. Even Uncle Michael's memories 
 of Victorine were, after all, far less ravishing than 
 Victorine herself, and when they came in between him 
 and his Dulcinea, they seemed a trifle long-winded 
 and impertinent. Fortunately, there was scarcely an 
 evening when the lovers were not left to enjoy at 
 least half an hour of solitiide a deux, and its unalloyed 
 bliss. Either because other engagements called them 
 off, as they were wont to allege, or perhaps simply 
 to escape from the embarrassment which people 
 generally feel when they are conscious of interfering 
 with the necessities of courtship, one by one the 
 frequenters of the house put on their hats, nodded 
 good-night, and disappeared. Then with the closing 
 of the door upon the last of them, Elysium opened, 
 and John was privileged to revel in its indescribable 
 glory. 
 
 229
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN, HAVING DECLARED HIS WILLING- 
 NESS TO DO ANYTHING FOR VICTORINE'S 
 SAKE, IS SUDDENLY TAKEN AT HIS WORD 
 
 THEIR talk was nearly always of the present, and 
 when, on rare occasions, it turned for a moment or 
 two upon the future, and the possibilities it held in 
 store, it touched the question of prospective bliss 
 only in the vaguest and most general way. There 
 were a hundred little things John would well have 
 liked to discuss things of a distinctly mundane and 
 practical character, such as might probably be held 
 to interest a young man and maiden, who looked 
 forward to becoming, at no very remote date, 
 husband and wife. To him, such subjects would not 
 have jarred with his romance, but rather served to 
 give it basis and reality. But any attempt made by 
 him to broach the question of increasing salary 
 (problematical, but alluring), the most convenient 
 suburb for people of quiet tastes and limited means, 
 the price of provisions, and so forth, was sure to end 
 in failure. However serious she might till that 
 moment have been, Victorine's mood would then 
 undergo an instant change, and sometimes with a 
 petulant little grimace, sometimes with a whimsical 
 jest or wayward fancy, sometimes with an outspoken 
 
 230
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 protest that it would be soon enough to bother their 
 heads about such matters by-and-by, she would put a 
 hasty period to her lover's prosaic discourse. Such 
 behaviour puzzled and hurt him at first, and once or 
 twice he tried to reason with her about it. 
 
 " You know, dearest," he would say, " all these 
 questions are very important. When presently we 
 are quite ready to to get married you needn't 
 laugh, Victorine " 
 
 "Yes, yes, John, I know," she would answer 
 lightly ; " we'll come round to them all in good time. 
 But why should we let them interfere with us now ? 
 Let us live in the present, and enjoy it as much as 
 ever we can, because " 
 
 " But it seems to me, darling, that we can enjoy it 
 all the more by looking forward a little into the 
 future, and thinking of the time when you know, 
 Victorine when we shall belong to one another 
 always. I love to think of all that myself. I build 
 up all sorts of beautiful air-castles while I am riding 
 on the tops of omnibuses, or in the Underground ; 
 and when I go to bed at night Hulloa, dearest, 
 why, what's the matter ? " 
 
 For this strange girl, who only a moment before 
 had appeared to be in the merriest of humours, was 
 now sobbing on John's shoulder, with her face buried 
 in her hands. It need hardly be said that the dis- 
 cussion was dropped while the necessary work of 
 consolation proceeded, and that the young man was 
 in no hurry to take it up again. It was all very odd, 
 it was even unaccountable yet it was quite in 
 keeping with Victorine's capricious ways. And so, 
 when, after two or three attempts, he became quite 
 
 231
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 convinced that for some unfathomable reason she did 
 not really want as yet to talk about the future, he 
 was careful to leave the objectionable topic severely 
 alone. 
 
 Meanwhile, though, with a truly lover - like 
 lack of perception, he did not himself realise 
 it, in all their long, delicious tete -a- tetes the 
 lion's part of the conversation fell always to his 
 share. He chattered away, and she listened 
 this was their ordinary division of labour. Night 
 after night, week after week, he learned nothing more 
 definite about herself, her family, her past, her educa- 
 tion, her present condition, her relations with the 
 curious folk among whom at the moment her lot was 
 cast. To all intents and purposes, she remained to 
 him as much a riddle and mystery as she had been 
 on the occasion of his first visit to Quemby Court. 
 But, on the other hand, night after night, and week 
 after week, he, little by little, gave her a full and 
 detailed account of his life from childhood up of 
 his father, the sometime Primitive Methodist local 
 preacher ; of his mother, and her struggles on his 
 behalf, the old lodging-house out of which she had 
 made money enough to put him through school, and 
 their quiet little home in Hammersmith ; of his own 
 boyish days, and their misery (which did not look 
 quite as miserable in the retrospect) ; of the office, 
 and his daily routine there ; and of Ben Chadwick, 
 and their many smokes together. Very lightly 
 indeed did he touch upon his old romantic dreams 
 and aspirations, and upon his devotion to a class of 
 literature which had well-nigh turned his head ; for 
 at any reference to this theme he became conscious 
 
 232
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 of the girl's keen eyes fixed quizzically upon him, 
 and felt it, on the whole, best not to enter into 
 particulars. But this was the solitary subject con- 
 nected with himself about which he did not talk freely 
 and unreservedly. And with what avidity she drank 
 in all he said ! How intensely interesting it all 
 seemed to be to her! How she made him repeat 
 certain incidents and experiences over and over 
 again ! How she cross-examined him about even 
 unimportant details, and was never quite contented 
 till she had mentally put everything into its proper 
 place. " Stop, John ! " she would sometimes say. 
 " Did all this occur before you went to the office ? " 
 or, "Was Mr. Chadwick with you when this hap- 
 pened ? " or, " Did you tell your mother about that, 
 John dear ? and if so, what did she say ? " And 
 then John had to tax his memory for specific replies, 
 and repeat conversations, and explain away incon- 
 sistencies in his narratives. In particular, Victorine 
 was never tired of hearing him talk about his mother, 
 concerning whom she exhibited the liveliest curiosity. 
 " How delightful it must be that you are so fond of 
 one another ! " she would often remark, when he 
 touched accidentally upon some intimate phase of their 
 domestic life. " You are a lucky boy, John, to have 
 such a mother, and and she's a happy woman to 
 have such a son ! " And always as she spoke in this 
 way her voice dropped to a tremulous whisper, and 
 more than once he saw that the tears were in her 
 eyes. And then, heedless of all possible difficulties, 
 he would urge her to let him take her the very next 
 day to Hammersmith, that she might meet his mother 
 in the flesh. " You could then know her for yourself, 
 
 233
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Victorine. Why not, darling? You'd like her, I 
 know, and she would love you. Who could help 
 loving you ? " But Victorine was always firm. " Not 
 just yet, John dear by-and-by a little later on ; 
 not just now." And then, suddenly, a strange expres- 
 sion would come into her face an expression he 
 could not in the least understand. Sometimes it 
 seemed to him a hard, stern look ; sometimes it half 
 suggested amusement ; more often it was a look of 
 sudden and intense pain. But whatever it was, it was 
 only momentary. As if by magic, this mysterious 
 cloud blew over, and the reckless jest and light laugh 
 told him that the girl was herself again. 
 
 As time went on, however, John gradually became 
 aware of a remarkable change in Victorine's whole 
 manner and conversation. He began first of all to 
 notice that she was losing something of her old 
 buoyancy and abandon, and growing silent and dis- 
 traite. She would fall into fits of abstraction, during 
 which it was perfectly clear that she did not heed 
 what he was talking about, or whether, indeed, he was 
 talking at all ; and when he recalled her by the 
 generous offer of a penny for her thoughts, she would 
 start as if frightened, and answer his merriment with 
 a forced smile, which had nothing about it of the old 
 radiance and vivacity. It seemed to him, too, as he 
 watched her furtively he soon saw that she was 
 embarrassed by anything approaching scrutiny, and 
 this in turn filled him with vague alarm that she 
 was losing the delicate colour from her cheeks ; that 
 dark rings were coming under her eyes, and hard 
 lines about the corners of her mouth ; that her face 
 was paler, her features sharper than formerly. AH 
 
 234
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 this did not in the least interfere with her beauty- 
 he even thought sometimes that it rather enhanced 
 it ; but it told of some secret trouble, and made him 
 sick at heart Now keenly observant of every slight 
 peculiarity of her behaviour, he presently observed 
 that she had ceased altogether to question him about 
 his personal affairs the very subject in which she 
 had shown the deepest interest and was evidently 
 anxious to deflect the < conversation into another 
 channel when it ran towards his mother or his life 
 at home. But worse than all, perhaps, was the un- 
 natural nervousness which evening by evening became 
 more and more marked, and the excitability of move- 
 ment and speech which he saw clearly enough, from 
 their quick glances now at the girl, and now at one 
 another, did not escape the attention of Uncle Michael 
 and Aunt Anna, though they said no word about it. 
 Something was wrong terribly wrong ; on that he 
 was convinced. But what could it be ? Was it physical 
 or mental? Had it anything to do with himself? 
 Was it possibly connected with the men and women 
 with whom she lived with Alexis, perhaps, and their 
 old relations together ? Could it even mean good 
 God ! could it even mean that the spell of a rival 
 lover was falling upon her, and that she was struggling 
 against a powerful current which was little by little 
 bearing her away from him ? Night after night, in 
 his long, lonely homeward way, he was tortured by 
 these questions, and after he hurried, brain-weary, 
 to bed, they gave him no rest. He felt at last that he 
 could stand it no longer that come what might of 
 it, he must and would find out the worst. For a 
 short time he half thought that he would go first, not 
 
 235
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 to Victorine herself, but to Patrick, with whom he 
 was now on the pleasantest of terms, and whom he 
 believed he could implicitly trust. But when the 
 moment came, he revolted against the idea of taking 
 anyone, even Patrick, into his confidence. He waited 
 that evening longer than usual, as it happened, for 
 Uncle Michael, and Mrs. Bobby, and Aunt Anna 
 remained gossiping by the fire till he fancied they 
 had made up their minds never to go away for the 
 opportunity of private intercourse to come. And 
 then, alone with Victorine, he made a plunge. 
 
 " Darling, what is the matter with you ? Are you 
 ill ? Are you worried ? You don't know how 
 wretched you are making me ! Answer me, darling 
 I must and will know." 
 
 " Don't be silly, John," the girl replied. " What- 
 ever should be the matter with me ? " 
 
 " Ah, that's exactly what I want to find out," was 
 John's response. " Come, dear, it's of no use for you 
 to try to turn me aside. If there is anything on your 
 mind" 
 
 To poor John's astonishment, Victorine disengaged 
 herself from his encircling arm, and sprang to her 
 feet. 
 
 " Look here, John," she said petulantly, " I don't 
 see why you should assume the right of cross-exam- 
 ining me upon my word, I don't I call it very, 
 very impertinent there ! You ought to know better 
 at any rate, you ought to know me better. Just 
 because other girls stand being bullied, you think I'll 
 stand it, too. But you're very much mistaken, for I 
 won't so there again ! When I don't see fit to talk, 
 it's my usual habit to hold my tongue ; and if you 
 
 236
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 don't like that, I'm sorry for it. That's all I can say. 
 You must take me as you find me, and if I don't 
 come up to your English standard, you'd better tell 
 me so at once, and have done with it ! " 
 
 Absolutely taken aback by this extraordinary and 
 unexpected outburst, and, indeed, completely over- 
 whelmed by it, John sat rooted to the sofa, blankly 
 gazing at the girl, like one suddenly deprived of the 
 power of both movement and speech. His jaw had 
 fallen, his blue eyes were fixed in a stare of anguish 
 and fright, his hands were tightly clutched upon his 
 knees. Meanwhile, with every muscle of her body 
 seemingly strained to its utmost tension, she stood 
 with her back to the fire in an attitude of rigid 
 determination, and her half-averted face was all 
 ablaze. 
 
 It was some moments before either of them broke 
 the painful silence. 
 
 " Oh, Victorine ! " he said at last. His voice was 
 hardly raised above a whisper, but his quiet tones 
 were full of blended pain, and pity, and reproach. 
 " Oh, Victorine ! " 
 
 It was all he could find to say, for his whole nature 
 was stunned and crushed. But the words that were 
 thus wrung from his heart acted like magic upon the 
 strange, impulsive girl. The next instant she was on 
 her knees beside him ; her hands were clasped in 
 fierce embrace about his neck ; he felt her rock and 
 sway against him in a passionate storm of tears. 
 
 " Oh, John, John ! " she cried convulsively, while the 
 poor fellow, as much staggered by this explosion of 
 remorse as he had been just before by her irruption 
 of anger, vainly did his best to calm her. " Oh, John ! 
 
 237
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 darling, darling John ! what will you think of me ? 
 I couldn't help it, John really, I couldn't ; it was all 
 because I love you. And I do love you more than 
 you know more than I ever thought I could love 
 anyone a thousand times more than I can tell you. 
 But I am a wicked girl, and not a bit worthy of 
 you, and I could only make you unhappy, and bring 
 all sorts of trouble into your life. And so you must 
 leave me, John leave me altogether, and go away, 
 and never see me again, and and forget all about 
 me. Oh, John ! promise me that you will go away, and 
 never come back, and forget all about me ! Promise 
 me, John ! " 
 
 John's brain was in a tumult, and thevery foundations 
 of the world seemed to be breaking up beneath him. 
 In the confused welter of thoughts and feelings, there 
 was only one thing that he could see clearly, and to 
 this he clung with all the tenacity of despair. 
 
 " I'll not promise anything of the kind," he said 
 stoutly. 
 
 " Oh, but you must you must ! " the girl went on, 
 more wildly than ever. " You don't understand, 
 John, but you must do as I tell you ; and some day 
 you will know all about it, and then you will see that 
 I was right. And when the time comes " 
 
 But here the tempest of her feelings was again too 
 much for her, and burying her face in her hands upon 
 his knees, she began to sob hysterically. 
 
 John Smith knew little about women and their 
 ways, and had never before been concerned in such 
 an emotional crisis as this. Moreover, as he had not 
 the slightest conception of what Victorine was talk- 
 ing about, he would have been at a total loss to 
 
 238
 
 decide what line of argument to take with her, even 
 if argument of any sort had seemed likely to avail. 
 But simple love, when it is as strong and pure as his, 
 may often be relied upon for guidance where other 
 counsels would fail, and in that moment of sudden 
 agitation and bewilderment, the unsophisticated 
 young fellow behaved with a tact and delicacy which 
 I daresay would have astonished him had he 
 paused to think. Very gently and very tenderly he 
 leaned over the trembling .girl, softly caressing her 
 beautiful brown hair, and whispering broken 
 sentences of appeal and consolation, which would 
 look very foolish indeed if set down here in cold print, 
 but which fell from his lips quivering with all the 
 resistless eloquence of the heart. How often, and 
 with what a strange pang of wonder and regret, did 
 he think in after years of all that happened in those 
 few passionate minutes, during which there came to 
 him for the first time, and as if in a lightning-flash, 
 the full realisation of his power over the girl who 
 hitherto, as he now felt, had received his love with- 
 out yielding herself absolutely and completely in 
 return. But now he knew her to be his indeed 
 knew it by every subtle token knew it by the long, 
 hot, clinging kiss in which their lips presently met, 
 and which seemed to him as the ultimate sign and 
 seal of their union and their fate! And little by 
 little the fit passed away, the sobs subsided, and 
 Victorine grew calm again. 
 
 " Oh, John," she cried, looking up into his face, and 
 her great grey eyes gleamed more luminously than 
 ever through her tears" oh, John, will you can you 
 forgive me ? " 
 
 239
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Forgive you, Victorine ? Don't talk like that, 
 darling. As if I had anything to forgive ! " 
 
 " Ah, but I need your forgiveness you don't know 
 how I need it ! Tell me you forgive me, John tell 
 me you forgive me ! " She caught her breath. " Tell 
 me you forgive me ! " she insisted. 
 
 John tried to treat her earnest pleadings with a 
 smile, but her over-strained and serious face told him 
 that his answer must be serious, too. 
 
 " I don't like you to talk like that, Victorine," he 
 said, very quietly ; " but if you think there is any- 
 thing to forgive, I forgive it with all my heart." 
 
 " Oh, John, how good you are ! And now I want 
 you to promise me " She stopped suddenly, 
 evidently in sharp struggle with herself, lest she 
 should again lose her self-control. 
 
 " Anything, dearest," said John, by way of en- 
 couragement. "I mean anything but what you asked 
 me to promise just now." 
 
 " No, I won't ask you that," answered Victorine 
 slowly. " I was talking madly then, and I could not 
 bear to think you would ever leave me of your own 
 accord, John, or that you would ever forget me. No 
 not that, not that ! " She passed her hand across her 
 eyes, as if to shut out the very thought. " I want 
 you to promise me " she dropped her voice to so 
 low a whisper that John had to bend close down to 
 her to catch the words " I want you to promise me 
 that that you will always think kindly of me that, 
 if you can, you will always love me, however your 
 love may be tested, John, and whatever may happen!" 
 
 " Victorine," said John firmly, " what in the world 
 is putting all these outlandish and absurd notions 
 
 240
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 into your head ? You are out of sorts, darling, and 
 low-spirited, or you wouldn't say such things. As if 
 anything could happen to part us now ! As if " 
 
 " John/' she said, with a touch of her old impati- 
 ence, " I will not be put off. Oh, John, if you 
 really, really care for me one little bit " And again 
 she buried her face in her hands upon his knees, and 
 gave way to the tears she was no longer able to 
 restrain. 
 
 Then John clasped her to him in closer embrace. 
 
 " I swear, dearest, that whatever may happen, 
 nothing can ever make me love you less, or think of 
 you otherwise than I do now ! " 
 
 Little did he guess how soon and how severely 
 that solemn declaration of his was to be brought to 
 the test. 
 
 When, fifteen minutes later, the violent slamming 
 of the front door and a confused sound of voices in 
 the lower passage gave warning of the arrival of 
 some of their friends, Victorine sprang hurriedly to 
 her feet. 
 
 " It will never do to let them catch me like this," 
 she said, with an only half-successful attempt to treat 
 the situation as the subject for a joke, " with my eyes 
 all red, and my hair just anyhow. Why, they'd 
 think we'd been having a downright quarrel, John, 
 and that you had just been bullying me right and 
 left." She gave a hollow little laugh, evidently in 
 recognition of the absurdity of such a supposition. 
 " I shan't be a minute, dear, but I positively must go 
 and put myself a bit straight." And with a light 
 pat on his cheek, she hastened from the room. 
 
 The next minute Patrick and Alexis came in 
 241 Q
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 together. The former seemed in his customary 
 cheerful spirits, and was humming one of his favour- 
 ite Irish ditties. The latter wore his usual scowl. 
 They were followed almost immediately by Bobby 
 and his wife. 
 
 " Hello, John Smith ! " cried Patrick, throwing his 
 hat on the table and divesting himself of his great- 
 coat " All alone, eh ? Where's the charmer ? " 
 
 John confined himself to the statement that she 
 would probably be back directly, and, to change the 
 subject, asked whether it had stopped raining. This 
 gave Alexis an opening for a little characteristic 
 blasphemy. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bobby began to roll a 
 cigarette with some tobacco she chanced to spy on 
 the mantelpiece, and Bobby, with his hands deep 
 down in his pockets, spat meditatively several times 
 into the fire. Certainly, if Patrick was cheerful, his 
 companions looked and acted as if they were tired, 
 morose, and generally out of sorts. 
 
 Victorine soon returned, with little about her to 
 indicate the stress through which she had recently 
 passed. Cold water and eau-de-cologne, and a 
 resolute application of the brush and comb, had 
 made her appear almost as fresh as ever again ; but 
 there was still a tell-tale redness about the eyes, and, 
 in spite of her wonderful self-control, a certain strain 
 of nervousness betrayed itself in her movements, and 
 in the heightened tones of her voice. Perhaps it was 
 because he was unusually observant that evening that 
 John was quick to notice that these little signs did 
 not escape the attention of the others in the room. 
 Mrs. Bobby paused in the act of lighting her cigar- 
 ette with a spill made out of the corner of a news- 
 
 242
 
 paper ; Patrick and Alexis exchanged rapid looks of 
 intelligence ; even Bobby turned on his heel and shot 
 an inquiring glance across at his wife. It was an 
 affair of an instant only, but not a detail was lost on 
 the lover. For a moment he held his breath, fancy- 
 ing that someone was going to say something that, 
 on Victorine's account, he would resent ; but 
 Patrick, in his happy way, soon scattered every 
 unpleasant thought. 
 
 " Vicky, my dear," he cried, collapsing into an 
 easy-chair, " go and fetch a bottle of whisky from 
 the kitchen, there's a good girl ; and then, with John 
 Smith's permission, I will give you a chaste, paternal 
 kiss. I'm confoundedly tired, and, good gracious ! 
 I haven't had a drink this evening, 'pon my sammy, 
 I haven't." 
 
 The prospect of a friendly glass at once restored 
 the social equilibrium. Alexis offered John one of 
 his famous cigars ; Mrs. Bobby gave herself up to 
 the pastime of blowing one ring of smoke through 
 another ; and Bobby renewed his attentions to the 
 fire. 
 
 All that night, and the following day, John had 
 plenty to think about, and his thoughts were by 
 no means of the brightest complexion. Victorine's 
 behaviour filled him with indescribable alarm, which 
 was only intensified by the fact that, try as he would, 
 he could find no explanation for her wild words and 
 hysterical emotion. Ill at ease, he had, indeed, been 
 about her for several weeks now ; she had not been 
 herself; he had fancied her out of health, feverish, 
 perhaps (he had told himself, for there seemed some 
 reason for such a hypothesis) worried and depressed 
 
 243
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 about household affairs. But nothing had led him to 
 anticipate the terrible storm which had broken so 
 suddenly, and which baffled him the more, the more 
 carefully he went in memory over its every detail. 
 And somehow, though he would have been at a total 
 loss to say why he could not persuade himself that 
 it was due only to his own high-strung condition he 
 found himself attaching a sort of critical importance 
 to the conduct of those other four people when 
 Victorine had returned to the room. Why had they 
 glanced at one another in that furtive, suspicious 
 way? Did they see anything surprising, anything 
 which they did not like, in her appearance, and what 
 they might infer from it ? How could it be any con- 
 cern of theirs ? And yet they regarded it as some 
 concern of theirs ; he was thoroughly convinced of 
 that. They were annoyed, even angry, over what 
 they guessed or fancied must have taken place ; he 
 was convinced of that, too. No, it was not imagina- 
 tion. He had seen the scowl deepen on Alexis' 
 brow, and the cynical smile which just for one instant 
 had flitted over Mrs. Bobby's lips, and Bobby's 
 fugitive look of contempt, and the glance of anger 
 which, rapidly as it had passed again, had rilled 
 Patrick's eyes with a light he had never seen there 
 before. 
 
 All this was not imagination, he told himself again 
 and again ; and all this added incalculably to the 
 anxiety which Victorine's own conduct had caused. 
 Something was evidently the matter ; something very 
 serious, indeed ; something which had its root in 
 troubles far deeper than any young girl's caprice. 
 The agony of that knowledge, and still worse, the 
 
 244
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 agony of the ignorance which went along with it, 
 were not to be endured. For his sake and for hers, 
 he felt, as he had felt before, only now with a thousand 
 times the strength of his former conviction, that he 
 must and would get to the bottom of the mystery. 
 
 " This very evening," he said to himself, " I will go 
 straight to Uncle Michael, and point-blank, I will ask 
 him what is the matter. He is sure to know all about 
 it. And if he knows, I will know, too." 
 
 It was thus in a very determined, and even 
 pugnacious, frame of mind that John Smith repaired 
 to Quemby Court on the night following his amazing 
 scene with Victorine. He walked with the firm step 
 of a man who was determined to " have it out " with 
 somebody. His knock at the door was longer and 
 louder than usual. And the faithful and veracious 
 chronicler of these adventures is glad to add the 
 assurance that John's behaviour would unquestion- 
 ably have reached the highest standard of romantic 
 morals, if only a chance had been given to him to 
 show his mettle. But, unluckily, no such chance was 
 given to him. Once more his adventures were to be 
 made for him, and not by him ; and if past events 
 had been surprising, what was yet to come was to be 
 more surprising still. 
 
 On entering the room, he found a small group 
 gathered about the table, and he was instantly aware 
 of a general atmosphere of excitement and unrest. 
 Uncle Michael was there, and Aunt Anna, Mrs. 
 Bobby, and Victorine ; and in addition to these were 
 a certain Frenchman, whom he had seen only once 
 before, and who spoke English so imperfectly that 
 their conversation had then been limited to a few 
 
 245
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 spasmodic nods and smiles, and an individual who 
 always went by the extraordinary name of Spooks 
 a large, unwholesome-looking creature, of doubtful 
 nationality, who never seemed to have shaved more 
 recently than yesterday, and who everlastingly carried 
 an exceedingly dirty pocket-handkerchief screwed up 
 into a hard ball in his hand. John's first impression 
 was that they had all been quarrelling, but this, of 
 course, was merely conjecture. That they were all 
 extremely agitated was, however, perfectly manifest. 
 Uncle Michael was holding a letter on the table 
 before him, and his hand trembled so violently that 
 the paper rustled. The others were bending across 
 to him, as though they had been listening intently 
 to what he had been reading ; their faces were 
 strained, their mouths partly open. Victorine was 
 ghastly pale, and her eyes were red, as they had 
 been the night before. When John took her hand, 
 he shuddered, for it was icy cold. 
 
 No one but Victorine took much notice of his 
 arrival, and even she did not rise from her place, or 
 give any indication of gladness on seeing him. 
 The rest merely nodded. What struck him at once 
 as curious was that, despite his presence, they all kept 
 their seats, and preserved their attitudes of fixed 
 attention. Often enough before he had found some of 
 them in conference, but his appearance had always 
 been the signal for its breaking up. 
 
 Embarrassed by this unusual reception, and, while 
 unwilling to intrude where he was not wanted, seeing 
 no reason why he should assume that his appearance 
 was unwelcome, John, after a moment's hesitation, 
 quietly dropped into a chair. He would even have 
 
 246
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 broken the silence which seemed to hold them as a 
 spell had he found an opportunity, but those about 
 the table still ignored him altogether. To his 
 surprise, Victorine herself kept her face obstinately 
 turned away. 
 
 " Den we are to consider dat settled," said Uncle 
 Michael, at length, in English, and glancing sharply 
 from beneath his shaggy eyebrows from one to 
 another of his companions. He held up the letter as 
 he spoke, as if his remark had direct reference to its 
 contents, and John noticed that his hand trembled 
 more than ever. 
 
 Mrs. Bobby and Spooks nodded in reply. The 
 Frenchman was heard to murmur something that 
 sounded like " d'accord." Aunt Anna and Victorine, 
 so far as John could perceive, gave no answer, either 
 by word or sign. 
 
 Then Uncle Michael, suddenly shifting his position, 
 looked John straight in the face. 
 
 "John Smit," he said, speaking very slowly, and 
 measuring his words in a way that was quite unusual 
 with him, " I belief I am right in tinking dat we 
 may treat you as a frient." 
 
 Taken by surprise as he was by this unexpected 
 question, the young man nevertheless found words to 
 say that the supposition was perfectly correct. 
 
 " Den I will speak to you as a frient," Uncle 
 Michael went on. "We are in difficulties I mean, 
 our leetle girl here is in difficulties." John sat farther 
 forward in his chair, and Victorine began to cry very 
 quietly, with her face still averted from him. " We 
 want someone to help us someone we can apsolutely 
 trust. Patrick has peen callt away on pusiness ; zo 
 
 247
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 has Poppy ; zo has Alexis ; ant as bod Spooks ant I 
 are bount to stay here, we can neider of us do what 
 has to be done. Oderwise, we shoult nefer ask you 
 to undertake somding which may which may 
 
 "Be very inconvenient," put in Mrs. Bobby, as 
 Uncle Michael began to stumble. 
 
 " Yaw which may pe fery inconfenient," Uncle 
 Michael continued, " Put I belief you haf more dan 
 once said dat you were ready to do anyding for our 
 tear leetle girl here, even even " 
 
 " Even at the risk of some trouble and self- 
 sacrifice," suggested Mrs. Bobby again. 
 
 " Yaw efen at de risk of some trouple and self- 
 sacrifice hem ? " 
 
 " I assure you," said John fervently, " that if 
 Victorine is in any need of help, and if I can help her 
 in any way, you have only to tell me what you want 
 me to do." 
 
 " Yaw yaw," said Uncle Michael, speaking more 
 rapidly, yet with a curious, anxious expression 
 lingering about his face ; " dat is goot, fery goot. 
 Well, den, Victorine is in neet of help, ant you can 
 help her, and I can tell you how in a nudshell, John 
 Smit. I haf a letter here which compels somebody 
 to go to Paris at once. Will you go ? " 
 
 John could never have dreamed that the request 
 for assistance, so readily acceded to in advance, 
 would have come in such an impossible shape as 
 this. 
 
 " Will I go to Paris ? " he stammered, staring be- 
 wildered at Uncle Michael, Aunt Anna, Mrs. Bobby, 
 the Frenchman, and Spooks, who had all turned 
 towards him, and were watching him with undisguised 
 
 248
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 interest. " I am sure I would do anything I could, 
 as I said just now ; but, you see, I can't get away 
 from the office and and good heavens ! I don't 
 know how it could be done." 
 
 " Then you refuse to undertake this for Victorine ? " 
 said Mrs. Bobby, in a voice which betokened excite- 
 ment no longer to be suppressed. 
 
 " Refuse ! " faltered poor John. " I I" 
 
 " John," said Victorine, turning on him for the first 
 time that evening, and clasping her hands with a 
 quick, convulsive movement, " you won't say no. 
 It " her voice almost broke, but with an evident 
 effort she managed to control herself " it is for 
 my sake ! " 
 
 The appealing eloquence of those tones, the im- 
 ploring look in that beautiful, tear-stained face, 
 settled the question with him instantly. 
 
 " I will go for you," he said, quite simply. " When 
 do you want me to start ? " 
 
 249
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN WHICH JOHN SMITH PREPARES FOR HIS MISSION, 
 BUT HAS MUCH CAUSE FOR DISQUIETUDE 
 
 A CHURCH clock, somewhere in the distance, told 
 the hour of three with great deliberation, and a few 
 moments later was followed in hot haste by the old- 
 fashioned clock in the sitting-room downstairs, which 
 had a habit of being a trifle behind time, and struck 
 all in a hurry, as if rather ashamed of itself. John 
 Smith, wrapped up in his thick overcoat, as some 
 protection against the chill night air, for which, 
 however, he was far too excited to care very much, 
 pushed the letter he had just finished from him with 
 a heavy sigh of relief, and leaned back in his chair. 
 It had given him immense trouble to indite those 
 few lines. A whole heap of tiny scraps of paper on 
 the table at his side bore testimony to the number 
 of his failures. 
 
 " There, I think that will do," he muttered ; " at 
 all events, I don't see how I can improve upon it" 
 
 He took up the letter again, and read it over, 
 slowly and critically, now and then pausing with 
 painful precision to dot an i, or cross a t ; and this 
 is how it ran : 
 
 250
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Wednesday Evening. 
 " Messrs. Werry & Co., 
 
 St. Mary Axe, E.G. 
 
 "DEAR SIRS, It is with deep regret that I have 
 to inform you that news has just reached me by 
 telegram of the sudden death of an aunt of mine in 
 the North. As I am the only one of the family who 
 can take charge of her affairs, and make the necessary 
 arrangements for the funeral, etc., I find myself com- 
 pelled to leave by the first train in the morning for 
 her former home. My absence from the office will, 
 I anticipate and trust, be a matter of a few days 
 only. I shall, of course, make it as brief as I possibly 
 can. I hope, under the circumstances, that you will 
 pardon me for not waiting to report myself to you 
 to-morrow in person. I need hardly add that I shall 
 be quite willing to deduct the time of my absence 
 from my regular fortnight's holiday next summer. 
 
 " In the hope that this unforeseen event will not put 
 you to any great inconvenience, I remain, 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 "JOHN SMITH." 
 
 " Yes, that will do," John repeated, with a nod 
 expressive of entire satisfaction ; and he crept tip- 
 toe across the room after his pipe and matches, 
 for his head was throbbing from the strain of 
 composition, and he craved the soothing influences 
 of tobacco. 
 
 Those scraps of discarded letters at his side, could 
 they have been put together into their proper order, 
 would have furnished an instructive history of the 
 evolution of the elaborate falsehood which John 
 
 251
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 had now achieved. His simple nature did not take 
 readily to lying ; and now that, after many blunders, 
 he had finally got his trumped-up explanation into 
 shape, it did not for a moment occur to him that to 
 anyone reading it disinterestedly his story of the 
 aunt and her funeral might easily seem at least 
 suspicious. And what wrenchings of the brain and 
 fierce rufflings of the hair (which now stood up like 
 porcupine quills all over his head) had been required 
 to bring his myth to birth ! If Victorine only knew 
 what he was already undergoing for her sake ! Well, 
 the time would come ; and meanwhile, even now there 
 was the intense pleasure of realising that all his 
 labours, his vigils, his difficulties (present and to 
 come), his inconveniences, his untruths (of which 
 otherwise he would have been heartily ashamed) 
 were for her dear sake. 
 
 He folded the letter, fastened the envelope, wrote 
 the address. 
 
 " I'll post that the first go-off in the morning," he 
 thought. " They'll get it by mid-day, almost as soon 
 as they have begun to wonder why I don't turn up." 
 
 So much for Werry & Co. It remained to settle 
 with his mother. He had already taken the first 
 necessary step with her ; he had called from out- 
 side her bedroom door, on his return from Quemby 
 Court, to tell her that he had to leave for the city 
 very early the next morning, and to bespeak break- 
 fast for an hour before the usual time. But now to 
 cover his absence ! Of course, it would be of no use 
 to try any aunt-story with Mrs. Smith ; that> on the 
 face of it, would be absurd. But, fortunately, this 
 aspect of his problem presented no great difficulty. 
 
 252
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 As he had employed the domestic form of excuse 
 with the " governor," so he would now make the 
 " governor " himself in turn serve his purpose at 
 home : he would have to be sent away suddenly 
 by the office on business of pressing importance. 
 It is true that such a thing had never before hap- 
 pened during all the years he had been in St. Mary 
 Axe ; that there was not the slightest likelihood of 
 its happening, should he remain there till he was 
 toothless and bald. But that did not much matter. 
 Mrs. Smith was not suspicious ; " business " with her 
 was always a word of vaguest significance, covering 
 many unknown facts and more possibilities. Deeply 
 interested as she was in her son in a general way, 
 she had never inquired very curiously into the details 
 of his city life. 
 
 " I can square her all right," said John to himself, 
 ignoring the heinousness of a deception to which, 
 under other conditions, he would never have dreamed 
 of stooping ; " I can square her all right. And as for 
 Ben, it's lucky I shan't see him before I go ; so there's 
 no need to bother about him till I get back. And 
 when this business is over and done with, and 
 Victorine is willing as I am sure she will be to 
 have everything come out, then I'll tell him the whole 
 story from first to last. Good old Ben ! If I'm not 
 very much mistaken, he'll be a bit surprised." 
 
 John laughed a little, softly, in anticipation of his 
 friend's astonishment, and then, hastily undressing, 
 scrambled into bed but not to rest ; he had too 
 many things to think of for that. Thus far he had 
 only made his practical plans for an easy escape ; 
 these were troublesome enough, in all conscience. 
 
 253
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 But what were these, after all, compared with all the 
 anxieties and dangers attendant upon the mysterious 
 adventure upon which he was now about to embark ? 
 A journey to Paris, undertaken on the spur of the 
 moment, and without opportunity for forethought 
 or preparation, was in itself no trivial matter for a 
 young man of narrow Cockney training, who had 
 scarcely been a couple of hundred miles from London 
 during the whole course of his life ; who knew, 
 perhaps, ten words of French ; who regarded all 
 French people with distrust and animosity, and to 
 whom Paris had hitherto seemed as remote and 
 impossible as San Francisco or Buenos Ayres. Any- 
 one accustomed to pack his Gladstone at a few hours' 
 notice, and run across to meet an appointment or 
 enjoy a day or two's holiday on the other side of the 
 Channel, would find it hard to appreciate the state of 
 wild excitement into which John was thrown by the 
 mere thought of the novel experiences which the 
 morrow was to bring forth. Visions of tempest and 
 sea-sickness haunted him unceasingly ; apparitions 
 of ferocious Custom-house officers, and truculent 
 railway guards, and quarrelsome cabmen, all jabber- 
 ing an unknown tongue, and all angry (as only 
 " foreigners " can be angry) at his inability to under- 
 stand them, jostled one another in his feverish 
 imagination. But these 'things were not the worst. 
 Try as he would and for his own peace of mind he 
 did try very hard indeed he could not ignore the 
 fact that he was still a good deal in the dark as to 
 the precise object of his hurried mission to the 
 French capital. Uncle Michael had been long- 
 winded enough in his explantions, to be sure ; but 
 
 254
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Uncle Michael, as John had had many previous 
 occasions for discovering, possessed the true oratorical 
 gift of making matters more obscure the more he 
 talked about them ; and in this particular instance, 
 neither Spooks nor the Frenchman, Mrs. Bobby nor 
 Victorine herself, had done much to help him out. 
 It appeared that the serious difficulties, in the settle- 
 ment of which his own assistance was so urgently 
 required, were in some way directly connected with 
 those foreign investments about which Victorine had 
 more than once spoken to him. He remembered 
 how she had told him that her little personal fortune 
 had been left in entire charge of Uncle Michael's 
 cousin in Paris, and how, a short time back, she had 
 expressed some doubt about the possible misuse, on 
 his part, of the powers which, through simple care- 
 lessness or for unspecified family reasons (into that 
 question John had not entered) had been placed in 
 his hands. And now, what the girl had foreseen and 
 dreaded had actually come to pass. Uncle Michael's 
 cousin had been guilty of dishonesty, and there was 
 every probability that he had swallowed up every 
 penny of Victorine's in his own reckless and unfortu- 
 nate speculations. So much John understood, or 
 fancied he understood ; though even here he felt that 
 the many intricate details of the business, Uncle 
 Michael's discussion of which he had done his best to 
 follow, for the most eluded him as he went over 
 their conversation again and again in his thoughts. 
 But what were his functions in the matter ? It is 
 needless to say that he would have gone anywhere and 
 done anything to save Victorine's money, if that were 
 possible not for selfish reasons ; it is only justice to 
 
 255
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 him to say that no personal consideration had entered 
 his mind, but wholly 'and solely for her sake ; and 
 according to Uncle Michael, the money might still be 
 saved, provided that they could act with sufficient 
 rapidity and decision. And what he had to do was 
 this : He had to take with him a certain document 
 of the most importance ; he had to carry this post- 
 haste to an address which was to be given to him 
 before starting ; he had then to inquire for a parti- 
 cular individual, whose name had not as yet 
 transpired ; this said individual would sign the said 
 document in his presence, and after witnessing 
 it in proper form, he would take it, at the earliest 
 possible moment, to a firm of lawyers, also to be 
 designated in due season, who would then be able 
 to act upon it without delay. This done, his errand 
 was at an end, and he was free to return to London 
 as soon as he liked. Such were his general direc- 
 tions ; and John, in reply to Uncle Michael's question, 
 had given his assurance that he could follow them 
 without difficulty. But when, in his turn, he had 
 instituted some inquiry into the exact nature of the 
 document of which he was to be the bearer, and 
 which he was to witness with his own signature 
 into the bearings of this upon the various problems 
 involved in the case, and into the probable use 
 which the lawyers would make of it he had failed 
 to elicit any satisfactory answers. Uncle Michael 
 had begun by being excited and unintelligible ; he 
 ended by declaring that it was impossible to give- 
 John a clear idea of all these things without a minute 
 analysis of particulars in connection both with the 
 case itself and with French methods of legal pro- 
 
 256
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 cedure ; and for such they had now no time to spare. 
 The great thing was to get the business settled while 
 there was still a chance of success. " And then, you 
 know," Mrs. Bobby had added, with much sagacity 
 she seemed the only one to keep her wits about 
 her " when it is properly settled, we can give John 
 Smith a full account of it all, from first to last. 
 It's a terribly confused affair, but we can unravel it 
 at our leisure, and when all the anxiety and excite- 
 ment are over. In the meantime, Victorine asks 
 you to do this for her, because there is no one in 
 the world she can trust as she trusts you, John no 
 one who would so willingly help her in the hour of 
 need." " Yaw, yaw dat is zo, dat is zo," Uncle 
 Michael had murmured, apparently much relieved 
 to have the case presented so lucidly. And 
 Victorine's cold and clammy fingers had met his 
 own, under the table, at this point, and their fierce 
 pressure had told him of her tension of feeling. 
 He had noticed, all through the conference, that it 
 was only by the greatest effort that she had 
 succeeded in keeping her self-control. 
 
 John saw the point of Mrs. Bobby's reasoning, 
 and made the most of it. Of course, if the matter 
 was really as complex and mysterious as they all 
 seemed to consider it, while immediate action was 
 necessary, it was the proper thing to do first of all, 
 and as quickly as possible, whatever might be 
 required. There would be plenty of time to discuss 
 it all in its various aspects afterwards. And as for 
 John well, if Uncle Michael could use him to good 
 purpose by acting upon the knowledge which he, 
 John, did not possess, he was willing enough to be 
 
 257 'R
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 so used ; only he could not help feeling that his own 
 part was too much like that of the common soldier, 
 who is sent into the field in total ignorance of the 
 relation of his individual efforts to the grand plan 
 of campaign. And this thought made him a little 
 restless, and gave him a vague sense of alarm. 
 
 " However," he said to himself, turning for the 
 fiftieth time on his pillow, "something else may 
 come out in the morning. They are all so con- 
 fused and worried that it's no wonder they don't 
 want to bother themselves about anything that 
 isn't directly a part of the course of action they 
 have made up their minds to adopt. Perhaps things 
 may get to seem a trifle clearer before I start. But 
 if not" 
 
 He thought of Victorine's pale, tear-stained face 
 and worn, sleepless expression, and felt that if he 
 could only be instrumental in bringing back the 
 colour to her cheeks and the natural light to her 
 eyes, he would indeed have gained an exceeding 
 great reward. 
 
 The next morning he was up long before day- 
 break, and finding himself already dressed half an 
 hour too early for the breakfast, in preparation of 
 which he heard his mother bustling about below, he 
 filled in the time by putting into his bag the few 
 things he fancied he might need on his journey. He 
 was not a little nervous when he joined his mother at 
 the breakfast-table ; but to his surprise, it seemed 
 easier to break the news to her than he had expected. 
 The truth is, that matters of such weight were oc- 
 cupying the foreground of his thought that the 
 practical business of settling his departure with her 
 
 258
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 appeared only an incident. Poor Mrs. Smith at first 
 stared at her son in dumb, open-mouthed astonish- 
 ment. His absence from home, even for a night or 
 two, was a thing unheard of, save during his regular 
 summer outing to the sea-side, when more often than 
 not she had herself accompanied him ; and then that 
 he should be called away to Paris, beyond all places 
 in the world a city which loomed up vaguely in her 
 imagination as a perfect sink of unrighteousness 
 and iniquity ! It took her some minutes to digest 
 John's announcement, and some minutes more to 
 get over the shock, and reconcile herself to it. But 
 gradually, as he had anticipated, she came to see 
 things in the proper light. Of course, business was 
 business ; that he should be selected for the journey 
 indicated Mr. Werry's increasing confidence in him ; 
 there was no telling but what, if this experiment 
 turned out well, he might get a considerable promo- 
 tion in the firm, with an increase of salary, which 
 would certainly be highly acceptable ; he wouldn't 
 be away long, and she would get on as best she could 
 without him ; Mrs. Brown next door was very kind, 
 and she could always rap on the wall in case of 
 wanting anything in the night ; and and by the 
 way, was John certain that the clean shirt he would 
 want to take with him was properly aired ? and had 
 he put collars enough in his bag ? John was greatly 
 relieved when the conversation took this turn. He 
 was glad to have his mother overhaul his packing, 
 rearrange things, add, change, do whatever her 
 maternal instinct suggested as necessary or desirable, 
 for this kept her mind employed. Then he took a 
 long and affectionate farewell of her, during which 
 
 259
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 his heart for the first time misgave him for the deceit 
 he was practising towards her, and set out, ostensibly 
 for the city, as he had, he informed her, to go to St. 
 Mary Axe first for final instructions. In reality, his 
 final instructions were awaiting him at Quemby 
 Court. 
 
 " Kom early in de morning," Uncle Michael had 
 said to him, on his leaving the night before, " we will 
 den haf eberyding ready for you de paper ant all 
 and will gif you full tirections how you are to proceet. 
 Den you can take de elefen o'clock train for Paris, 
 which will get you dere in de efening. Dat will be 
 goot hem ! " 
 
 To Quemby Court John accordingly took his 
 way. 
 
 Aunt Anna opened the door to him, breathing 
 more heavily, and looking, in her extraordinary 
 matutinal neglige, fatter and untidier than usual. 
 Her face was so white, her whole appearance so 
 weird and fantastic, that one might almost have 
 taken her, in the grey, uncertain light of the winter 
 morning, for an extremely well-fed and substantial 
 ghost. She grasped his hand warmly, and con- 
 gratulated him on his early appearance. 
 
 " I hope you're feeling in good trim for your 
 little jaunt ? " she said. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I'm all right," John replied. Then 
 the natural question sprang to his lips : " How's 
 Victorine ? " 
 
 Aunt Anna shook her head. 
 
 " She's not at all well, poor child not at all well. 
 I guess all this this " she paused, and waved her 
 hand to fill up the gap in her sentence " I guess it's 
 
 260
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 just been too much for her. She had quite a little 
 fever last night, and hardly got any sleep, and she's 
 in bed with a splitting headache this morning." 
 
 John's countenance expressed his alarm. 
 
 " She's not going to be really ill, is she ? " he asked 
 hurriedly. 
 
 " Oh, no, I guess not," was Aunt Anna's reassuring 
 reply. " We must keep her quiet till you get back. 
 When she has you safely home again, and all this 
 bad business has been settled, she'll pick up and be 
 herself soon enough. She's not really a strong girl, 
 you know, though she is so high-spirited ; and there's 
 one thing she can't stand, and that's worry." 
 
 " But I may see her again before I start, just to 
 wish her good-bye, you know ? " 
 
 " Best not, John, best not," answered the good fat 
 woman decisively. " The great thing is to keep her 
 absolutely quiet, to save her from everything that 
 would be likely to excite her. I went into her room 
 a few minutes ago, and found her sleeping as soundly 
 as a child. That's what she wants quiet and sleep, 
 and nothing in the shape of excitement. I guess 
 she'll sleep the whole day through now if she's only 
 left alone ; and when she wakes, I'll tell her you're 
 gone, and give her all sorts of nice messages from 
 you." 
 
 John found it difficult to reconcile himself to this 
 arrangement. 
 
 " It seems awfully hard " he began. 
 
 " Of course it does, of course it does," said Aunt 
 Anna sympathetically her wheezing sadly inter- 
 fered with her utterance. " You'd naturally have liked 
 a last word with her, and all that. I understand. 
 
 261
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 But it wouldn't do it wouldn't do a bit ! You don't 
 know how she takes on about you having to make 
 this journey, in all this cold, trying weather, just on 
 her account. If she saw you again in her present 
 nervous state, she'd be terribly upset, and the conse- 
 quences might be really serious. It wouldn't take much 
 more than that to give her brain fever, or or some- 
 thing. If we can only keep her fast asleep till you've 
 got away, I guess she'll be all right. She won't 
 have anything to do, then, but to look forward to 
 your return and that, you know, will only be a 
 matter of of a few hours." 
 
 " Oh, well, if you really think that this will be the 
 wisest course," said John, very slowly. 
 
 " I don't think about it at all, my boy I know." 
 Aunt Anna put her fat hand in a motherly way upon 
 his shoulder, and looked into his face with an en- 
 couraging smile. " You just take an old woman's 
 advice, and you won't regret it, you may reckon on 
 that. Now go right on up to the parlour. You'll find 
 Uncle Michael there. He's all ready for you." 
 
 John obeyed, bitterly disappointed, of course, not 
 to have even a few moments with Victorine, and 
 greatly worried over these reports of her condition, 
 yet not for a moment doubting that Aunt Anna was 
 perfectly right. He entered the familiar sitting-room 
 (which looked terribly dirty by the morning light, 
 and smelt more like a tap-room than anything else) 
 on tiptoe, fearful of making the slightest sound that 
 might disturb the sleeping girl on the floor above. 
 The consequence was that Uncle Michael, having at 
 that instant his back towards the door, was uncon- 
 scious of his approach. He was restlessly pacing the 
 
 262
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 room, with his head thrown forward, and his hands 
 thrust deep down into the pockets of his shabby, ill- 
 fitting smoking coat. A bottle of whisky and a glass 
 stood on the table among a confused litter of journals 
 and papers. 
 
 " Good morning ! " said John quietly. 
 
 Uncle Michael faced round with a violent 
 start. 
 
 " My Got ! I did not hear you kom," he said. 
 " You haf crept in like a mouse." 
 
 There was a very noticeable touch of petulance in 
 his voice, as if he resented having been taken by 
 surprise. 
 
 " I did not want to make a noise," John explained, 
 " because of Victorine." 
 
 " Ah because of Victorine," Michael repeated, 
 darting a quick look at the young man from beneath 
 his shaggy brows. " So Aunt Anna has tolt you " 
 he paused, waiting for John to speak. 
 
 " She has told me that Victorine is not well this 
 morning. I do hope it will not turn out to be 
 anything serious." 
 
 " No, no," rejoined the other ; " it will be nodings 
 it will be nodings. She must keep quiet fery quiet, 
 ant haf plenty of sleep, dat is all. Den she will be 
 all right when you kom pack." 
 
 "Aunt Anna says she is sleeping now," John 
 remarked. 
 
 " Ach, she is sleeping now ? Dat is goot dat is 
 fery goot hein I We must let her sleep. Dat is 
 what she wants sleep and quiet." He tapped his 
 forehead. " She is a fery excitable leetle girl, ant we 
 haf sometimes to be careful wid her. But if she is 
 
 263
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 sleeping now, dat is goot And zo, John Smit, you 
 ant I can get to pusiness." 
 
 He indicated a chair near the table for John, and 
 then drew another close up for himself. The two 
 men were thus placed face to face, their knees almost 
 touching. 
 
 " You will take a trop of whisky ? " said Uncle 
 Michael, by way of opening the proceedings in proper 
 form. 
 
 John replied that he could not possibly drink 
 spirits at that hour in the morning. 
 
 " Den I will take a moutful just a moutful." The 
 good gentleman poured himself out a quantity that 
 might have been measured rather to the mouth of a 
 Gargantua than to that of an ordinary mortal, drank 
 it at a draught, and smacked his lips. John noticed 
 that his hand was exceedingly unsteady. His whole 
 appearance suggested a sleepless night. " Dat is for 
 de success of your journey," he remarked, with a 
 benign smile, "ant ant for your quick ant safe 
 return." He pressed his temples for a moment, as if 
 his head was throbbing. " Now, den, let us go to 
 work in a regular, pusiness-like way. First, you will 
 take a cap from here, ant trive straight town to 
 Holborn Station hein I De Paris express leafes " 
 he took an A.B.C. Railway Guide from the table, 
 and opened it where a page was turned down " at 
 elefen o'clock yaw, at elefen exactly. You get to 
 Dofer at twelf-fifty dat is ten minutes to one. It 
 only takes you a leetle more dan an hour and a 
 quarter to cross to Calais. As you haf no luggage 
 to speak of " 
 
 " Nothing but a small bag," said John. 
 264
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Yaw, as you haf nodings but a small bak, you 
 won't haf any tifficulty at de douane de Custom- 
 house, you know. At Calais you fint a train alreaty 
 waiting for you. Dere is no troubles about it you 
 just step in. Den all you haf to do is to sit dere till 
 you get to Paris. Dat is all clear hein ! " 
 
 He handed John the Guide, that he might satisfy 
 himself of the accuracy of these statements. 
 
 " Yes, that's all plain sailing," said John, thinking 
 that it did seem wonderfully easy and simple to 
 talk about. 
 
 " Yaw, quite plain sailing. Goot ! You reach 
 Paris at seven " 
 
 " Yes, at seven," John concurred from the time- 
 table. 
 
 " At seven precisely yaw ! You get dere py de 
 Gare du Nord " 
 
 " By the" 
 
 "Py de Gare du Nord de Nortern Railway Station, 
 you know. Dat is in de Boulevard Magenta, close to 
 de Rue Lafayette." 
 
 John nodded, because Uncle Michael appeared to 
 expect him to acknowledge this intelligence in some 
 way. Naturally enough, however, it conveyed no 
 meaning to him. 
 
 " Den dere is no more troubles. You just call a 
 cap" 
 
 "Oh, I just call a cab, do I?" said John 
 dubiously. 
 
 Things were beginning to get interesting. The 
 Paris cabman was a monster of whom he had already 
 heard tales, vague as to detail, but not the less 
 alarming. 
 
 265
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Yaw, yaw ; you just call a cap, and you gif de 
 cocker de address " 
 
 " That's all very well," said John ; " but I don't 
 speak a word of French, you know." 
 
 Uncle Michael's face grew radiant. He drew a 
 folded sheet of notepaper from his pocket, and handed 
 it to John. 
 
 " I have tought of eferydings," he said, slapping 
 his companion triumphantly on the knee. " Dere is 
 de address, all written out clear. You gif dat to de 
 cocker ; he understands ; he drifes you straight dere. 
 You haf no more troubles hein I " 
 
 John looked blankly at the address. 
 
 " The fellow will be sure to know where this is, I 
 suppose ? " he remarked, still foreseeing possibilities of 
 difficulty. 
 
 Uncle Michael laughed. 
 
 " Of course, he will know yaw. You need not 
 boter yourself, John Smit. You just sit in your cap, 
 and he will take you straight dere." 
 
 John folded the precious paper, and put it carefully 
 away in his purse, which he restored to his trousers 
 pocket. 
 
 " Is it far from the station ? " he inquired. 
 
 "It will take you dree quarters of an hour, I tare- 
 say. Perhaps not so much perhaps a leetle more. 
 You should be dere by eight o'clock." 
 
 " And then" 
 
 " Ant den you pay de capman ; you gif him tree 
 francs if you like ; dat will satisfy him ; and you go 
 up to the fourt floor " 
 
 " The fourth floor," repeated John, anxious to make 
 266
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 certain of every detail of the directions, and to lodge 
 it once and for all in his memory. 
 
 " Yaw, yaw ; M. Bergerat lifs in a flat, you know 
 au quatrieme. M. Bergerat, dat is de name. You 
 fint him dere. Dere is no more troubles. You tell 
 him you kom from Uncle Michael. You gif him de 
 paper. Dat is all." 
 
 " But does M. Ber does he understand English ? " 
 asked John. 
 
 'Yaw, yaw; he understands English. He speaks 
 it as well as you or me." And Uncle Michael smiled 
 expansively 
 
 " Then there'll be no difficulty there," said John, 
 sincerely wishing himself already in M. Bergerat's 
 apartments, " And after that " 
 
 " After dat, you just leaf yourself in M. Bergerat's 
 hands. I cannot say what he will do wit you. He 
 will do whatever is best. You will probably stay wid 
 him dat night. Yaw, yaw ; I guess so, but I do not 
 know. If he tinks dere is still time for you to take 
 de paper on to de lawyers at once, you will take it. 
 If not, you will take it de first ting in de morning. 
 He will know. You just leaf yourself in his hands, 
 and do what he says. You understand hein ? " 
 
 " I understand," said John. 
 
 " Goot ! And after you haf done what he says, 
 dere is an end of de matter. You kom pack to 
 London as soon as efer you like. Dere will be nodings 
 to keep you." 
 
 " It will be of no use my staying," John suggested, 
 " on the chance of my being wanted for something 
 else?" 
 
 " No, no ; dat will make nodings. When you haf 
 267
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 taken de paper to M. Bergerat, and afterwarts to his 
 frients, the lawyers, dat is all you haf to do. Dere 
 will be no more trouple. Ant now, John Smit '' he 
 thrust his hand into his trousers pocket, and drew 
 out a worn leather purse " you cannot trafel witout 
 money, you know." 
 
 " I have ten pounds with me," said John, " surely 
 I shan't need more ? " 
 
 " But it is not for you to pay. You are not going 
 on a pleasure-trip," and the old man laughed softly. 
 " See here ! " He turned the contents of the purse 
 out on the table, and began to pick them over. 
 " Dere's five pounds in English golt. You puy a 
 return ticket hein ? And den dere's some French 
 golt and silver. Dese are twenty franc pieces dese 
 are ten dese are two francs dese are one. You 
 take dem all. It will prevent you from hafing de 
 boter of changing money hein ? " Despite John's 
 protests, he poured them all into his hands. " What 
 you don't use, you can gif me again when you get 
 pack. Haf a trop of whisky ? No ! Den I will 
 take just a moutful. It is kolt dis morning hein ? 
 Dere ! Dat is again to your safe journey and quick 
 return. Goot ! " And Uncle Michael chuckled and 
 rubbed his hands. 
 
 John separated the English money from the French 
 money, and put the one lot into his left hand trousers 
 pocket, the other into his right 
 
 " And now, all I want is the paper," he said. 
 
 "Yaw de paper." Uncle Michael began to 
 fumble nervously inside his waistcoat. "Dat is all 
 you want now," he said slowly; but he drew his 
 hand out empty. John noticed that the colour had 
 
 268
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 left his cheeks. " You are quite sure dat dis is not 
 going -to gif you too much trouple hein ? " He 
 leaned forward, and looked at John keenly. 
 
 " I have told you that I am ready to do this, or 
 anything else, to help Victorine." 
 
 " Dat is zo dat is zo. To help Victorine ! Goot ! 
 Fery goot ! " Again he fumbled inside his waistcoat, 
 and this time brought forth a square envelope of 
 ordinary size. He passed his fingers along the 
 gummed edge at the back, scrutinised the address, 
 turned it over two or three times, and handed it to John. 
 
 " Is this all ? " asked John. 
 
 " Yaw, yaw ; dat is all. I see I haf fastened it 
 down accidentally ; but no matters. I intended to 
 show it to you, but I haf fastened it witout tinking. 
 But no matters. It is in French, so you vvoult not 
 understand it." 
 
 John held the envelope for a moment, reading the 
 inscription. It was addressed simply to M. Bergerat, 
 and bore neither the name of the street nor any other 
 direction. 
 
 " It's quite a small document," he remarked, turning 
 it over curiously. 
 
 Uncle Michael smiled and nodded. 
 
 " Dere is not much of it," he acknowledged, " but 
 enough. Yaw, yaw ; quite enough ! I gif it to you 
 because because you luf Victorine, and I can trust 
 you hein ? Now what will you to wit it ? " 
 
 " I shall just put it inside my pocket-book," 
 answered the young man, suiting the action to the 
 word. " It will be quite safe then." 
 
 Uncle Michael watched the proceeding with every 
 sign of interest. Not a movement escaped him. 
 
 269
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Goot ! " he said, when John had buttoned up his 
 coat. " Fery goot ! " He sprang to his feet, hastened 
 across the room, and opened the door. "Yaw, yaw, 
 I kom," he shouted into the passage ; and then to 
 John : " Dere is Mrs. Poppy, who calls me town pelow. 
 I must speak wit her one minute. You stay here, 
 John Smit. I kom directly again." 
 
 He hurried from the room, and John heard him 
 shuffling down the stairs. Then the young man got 
 up, and walking to the window, looked out into the 
 dingy street. But he did not care for the muddy 
 pavements beneath him ; the two slatternly women 
 in shrill dispute outside the public-house just over 
 the way ; the soot and the sleet which were beginning 
 to come down together, and to cover everything with a 
 black, sticky slime. His attention was too much 
 preoccupied with what had just passed ; with Uncle 
 Michael's manifest nervousness ; with what still 
 impressed him as a distinct lack of frankness amid all 
 the details with which he had been entrusted ; with the 
 various particulars he had to remember and attend 
 to for his own safety and success in the coming 
 expedition. Yet, after all, he told himself, he was 
 probably worrying himself without any cause. The 
 sense of mystery which had come over him last 
 night, and which hung even more heavily upon him 
 this morning, was most likely the result of his own 
 abnormal mental condition. Uncle Michael was a 
 foreigner, and had a foreigner's odd and inexplicable 
 way of dealing with things ; he was nearly wild with 
 anxiety over the reverses with which Victorine was 
 threatened, and for which, in a sense, he seemed to 
 hold himself personally responsible. If he was 
 
 270
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 nervous, then, and a little irritable if he conducted 
 himself strangely, was queer in his talk, and showed 
 too constant a tendency to have recourse to the 
 whisky-bottle, it was only what might have been 
 expected. It would be absurd to make trouble 
 when no trouble really existed. His (John's) own 
 part in the matter was perfectly simple. He had to 
 take this little document, now resting snugly in his 
 inner coat pocket, to a given address in Paris ; and 
 after that 
 
 "John!" 
 
 He turned in astonishment, to find himself face to 
 face with a slight, trembling figure, wrapped in a thin, 
 dark, dressing-gown. 
 
 " My darling ! " he exclaimed, seizing both the 
 girl's hands. " How did you come here ? They told 
 me you were ill." 
 
 " I am ill," answered Victorine, in a strange, 
 broken voice " very ill ! I have not slept all night." 
 Her appearance certainly did not belie her words. 
 Her face was white and haggard, save where her 
 cheeks were touched with the hectic flush of fever. 
 Her lips were drawn as if in physical anguish. Her 
 eyes were unnaturally large and bright. 
 
 " You ought not to be here," he said, forgetting all 
 his own difficulties in his anxiety for her. " You 
 must go straight back to bed. You must, indeed. 
 Why, your hands are like ice, and you are shivering 
 all over. You stay, I will call Aunt Anna ! " 
 
 " No, no," she whispered hoarsely, clutching him by 
 the arm. " Don't do that for God's sake, John. I must 
 have a word with you before Michael Goszczynski 
 comes back." It did not occur to him till afterwards 
 
 271
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 that there was something odd in her thus for the first 
 time speaking of him by his full name, instead of 
 calling him Uncle Michael. " Hush ! " She turned to 
 listen, still holding him by the arm. " He may be 
 here directly, and he must not find me with you. 
 They did not want me to see you this morning." 
 
 " Why not ? " demanded John, in dull astonish- 
 ment. "They said you were asleep that you 
 ought not to be disturbed that that Good 
 heavens, Victorine, what is the meaning of this ? " 
 
 " Never mind what the meaning is now, John," 
 was the rapid reply. " You will understand every- 
 thing soon. But tell me are you going ? " 
 
 "Ami" 
 
 " Are you going to Paris to-day ? " 
 
 " Of course I am ! " 
 
 " Then Michael Goszczynski has not changed his 
 mind ? " 
 
 " Changed his mind ! What should make him 
 change his mind ? " 
 
 " Hush ! " Again she turned to listen. " John, 
 there is no time to waste ! There is nothing for it 
 now. You must go, as he tells you to, and do 
 whatever he directs. That is the only way left you. 
 Has he given you the the paper ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered John, " I have it in my pocket- 
 book." 
 
 " Then give it to me ! " 
 
 " Give it to you, Victorine ? " 
 
 " Give it to me at once." She spoke in a tone of 
 command. " Don't I tell you there's no time to 
 waste ? " She seized the envelope with trembling 
 fingers, and hid it in her bosom. The next moment 
 
 272
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 she had drawn thence another envelope, and of 
 exactly the same size, shape, and general appear- 
 ance. " There ! " she exclaimed, thrusting this into 
 his hands, " put that into your pocket-book instead 
 of the one I have taken. And not a word not a 
 syllable, mind to anyone of what I have done, or 
 even that you have seen me." She watched his 
 every movement with fixed intentness, until the 
 substituted envelope was safely in the pocket-book, 
 the pocket-book safely in his pocket, and his coat 
 again buttoned up. " Now all that you have to do 
 is to follow Michael Goszczynski's instructions to the 
 letter ; and when you see Eugene Trapadoux I 
 mean, M. Bergerat without a word of explanation, 
 you are to give him what I have given you. You 
 understand ? " 
 
 " No," returned John blankly, " I don't understand 
 at all. Victorine, you must tell me what all this is 
 about. If there is anything strange, I ought to know. 
 If there is any mystery and surely there is " 
 
 But the girl cut him short. 
 
 " As you love me, John, do exactly as I have said." 
 As she spoke, a door opened in the lower hall, and 
 there came to them the sound of several voices 
 mingled in conversation. " He is coming," Victorine 
 exclaimed excitedly. " I trust you, mind, John ! 
 Good-bye ! " 
 
 She threw her arms about him, and kissed him 
 passionately on the lips. In his confusion, careless 
 of what might happen, he would have held her there, 
 dazed with the wild delight of feeling her absolutely 
 his own. But with a snake-like movement she slid 
 from his embrace. 
 
 273 s
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Good-bye ! " she whispered again, " good-bye, 
 John! I never knew how much I loved you till 
 now ! " 
 
 The next moment she was gone. 
 
 274
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF JOHN SMITH'S SAFE JOURNEY TO 
 PARIS, AND OF THE PLEASANT RECEPTION 
 WHICH AWAITED HIM THERE 
 
 ON shuffling back into the room, Uncle Michael 
 looked at John sharply. 
 
 " I am sorry I haf kept you waiting so long," he 
 said. 
 
 " Oh, don't mention it ! " John replied. " There's 
 no very special hurry, you know." 
 
 Uncle Michael feigned to be searching for some- 
 thing among the papers on the table. 
 
 " I tought I heart you speaking wit sompody 
 hein ? " he said suddenly. 
 
 In a moment of emergency, a kind of blind instinct 
 will sometimes come to the rescue, in a way which, in 
 retrospect, may well fill one with surprise. 
 
 " I don't know why you should have thought so," 
 said John coolly ; " unless perhaps I may have been 
 talking to myself. I occasionally do that. It's a silly 
 habit of mine." 
 
 " It is a fery bat hapit," the old man curtly rej'oined. 
 He seemed on the point of adding something to this 
 remark, and stood for a moment with his eyes fixed 
 on his companion. But John met his gaze without 
 
 275
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 flinching, and Uncle Michael began to forage among 
 the papers again. 
 
 There was an awkward silence of two or three 
 minutes. 
 
 " He guesses, or at any rate fancies, that Victorine 
 has been here," thought John uneasily. " Why is it 
 that they're all so anxious she shouldn't see me this 
 morning? Has it anything to do with this letter? 
 Confound it, I have more than half a mind to 
 challenge the old fellow, and declare that till he's 
 made a clean breast of all this plaguey business I 
 won't stir another inch." 
 
 He slipped over to the table with a question on his 
 lips which, for good or evil, would have absolutely 
 changed the subsequent course of his adventures ; 
 but on the instant, he recalled the command which 
 Victorine herself had laid upon him. Loyal to her, 
 whatever might be the consequence, his simple duty 
 lay in keeping silent, waiting till the explanation of 
 the present mystery should come of itself, and mean- 
 while following her explicit directions. And so 
 the question was never put. Instead of that, John 
 said very quietly : 
 
 " I suppose now that I might just as well start?" 
 
 " You haf eferyting reaty ? " asked Uncle Michael. 
 
 " Everything. I left my coat and hat, and bag, and 
 so on downstairs. By the way, I shall, of course, come 
 to see you directly I get back ? " 
 
 " Yaw, yaw ; of course you will. Tirectly. We 
 shall all want to know how how you haf got on. 
 You take a cap to the station hein ? " 
 
 " I shall take the first one I find. But I have 
 heaps of time. Good-bye ! " He held out his hand. 
 
 276
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Stop a minute. You haf de de paper all right 
 hem?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; that's all right," John replied, patting 
 his chest. 
 
 " Let me see it," said Uncle Michael. " I want to 
 know it is all right." 
 
 Do what he would, John could not prevent his 
 fingers from trembling and bungling a little as he 
 unbuttoned his coat. Once more the instinct of the 
 moment lent him assistance. He drew out his 
 pocket-book and opened it wide, in such a way, how- 
 ever, that the letter lay, address downward, with 
 nothing to distinguish it from that for which it had 
 been substituted. 
 
 Uncle Michael leaned forward, looked at the 
 envelope, stretched out his hand, and took it 
 for a moment in his fingers, while John held 
 his breath. 
 
 " Yaw, yaw ; put it pack safely so ! Now you 
 will not haf to take out dat pocket-pook again till 
 you reach Paris hein ? " 
 
 " No, not till I reach Paris," answered John 
 reassuringly ; and he added to himself, " He does 
 not really suspect there is anything amiss with this 
 letter ? He was nervous about it, and wanted to have 
 just one more peep ; that was all." 
 
 " Den goot-pye, John Smit, goot-pye ! You kom 
 to see us tirectly you get pack. You haf no more 
 trouples now, and you take just a moutful of whisky 
 before you go, to keep out de raw air ? No ? Well, 
 goot-pye ! " 
 
 John took one rapid glance round the room which 
 had been the scene of so many delicious experiences, 
 
 277
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and which, though he little guessed it then, was 
 destined to live strangely in his memory as he 
 saw it that morning ; then he hastened downstairs. 
 
 Uncle Michael shambled after him to the end of 
 the landing, and then stopped, watching him over 
 the bannisters, and repeatedly calling, in a hoarse 
 sort of whisper, " Goot-pye, John Smit, goot-pye ! " 
 
 " So you are off, John ! " 
 
 It was Aunt Anna, who came plump upon him 
 from the lower room as he was busy gathering up 
 his things in the dark passage. 
 
 "Yes, I'm off; but I'm coming to see you all as 
 soon as ever I get back. But I hope Victorine will 
 be quite herself again then." His intensity of excite- 
 ment enabled him to carry things off with splendid 
 nonchalance. 
 
 To his astonishment, Aunt Anna began to cry. 
 
 " You don't mean that you think she's going 
 to be really ill ? " said John, in alarm. He had 
 but one interpretation to put upon Aunt Anna's 
 collapse. 
 
 " No, no," blubbered the good woman softly ; 
 " she will be all right, John ; she will be all right ! 
 But but I'm sorry you have to go; that's all. 
 You you will catch cold ; and and have you any 
 sandwiches with you, and a flask of brandy ? " 
 
 " I've everything I want," answered John, " and I 
 shall have a bit of lunch at Holborn, to set me up for 
 the journey down to Dover. There's plenty of time 
 for that. So good-bye till the day after to-morrow, 
 and look after Victorine for me ! " 
 
 " Good-bye ! " returned Aunt Anna, with a gulp ; 
 and then, if she had surprised the young man before 
 
 278
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 by bursting into tears, she surprised him still more 
 now by what she did. She clasped him suddenly 
 coat, umbrella, bag, and all in her arms, and gave 
 him a wet, motherly kiss. 
 
 As John hurried away down the court, he turned 
 to have a last look at the dirty house which the 
 magic of love had changed for him into an enchanted 
 castle. Was he right, or was he wrong, in fancying 
 that he caught, between the slats of the Venetian 
 blinds at one of the upper windows, a momentary 
 glimpse of a white girlish face ? Perhaps it was only 
 imagination. But it gave him a keen pleasure after- 
 wards to think that Victorine had indeed stood there 
 to watch him to the last. 
 
 He had not to walk far before he found a dis- 
 engaged hansom, by means of which he reached 
 Holborn Station, with nothing more exciting to 
 break the monotony of the journey than a spirited, 
 though brief altercation, carried on in picturesque 
 phraseology, between his own Jehu and the driver 
 of an omnibus, arising from the fact that each man 
 wanted to get the advantage of the other in the 
 most crowded part of the route. Arrived at the 
 station, his first concern was with the precautionary 
 lunch, for which, unfortunately, he could muster very 
 little appetite ; and over which he hurried, from a 
 dread, characteristic of all amateur travellers, lest he 
 might, through some unlooked-for catastrophe, be 
 late for his train. The result was, that when he 
 emerged from the restaurant he discovered he had 
 a full hour left on his hands ; and everybody is aware 
 that an hour on a railway platform, with nothing to 
 do, is as long as six hours under any other circum- 
 
 279
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 stances. In his restlessness and agitation, he was 
 at a total loss as to how to kill time. First of 
 all, he wandered out into Holborn, but there it 
 was so wet, and cold, and miserable that he soon 
 beat a retreat. He thought he would treat himself 
 to the luxury of a cigar, with which in his mouth 
 he began to pace up and down the draughty plat- 
 form ; but the threepenny weed did not give him half 
 the satisfaction that he never failed to find in his own 
 briar-pipe, which he now suddenly realised, to his 
 dismay, he had left on the mantelpiece in his bed- 
 room. Then he purchased one of those silly penny- 
 worths of miscellaneous clippings and personal gossip, 
 which stand in the place of literature for people of 
 weak or untrained intellects ; but the scrappy columns, 
 with their dismal attempts at smartness, failed alto- 
 gether to hold his attention, and he turned from one 
 vulgar picture to another without caring to know 
 what they were about. By this time a conviction 
 came upon him that the big station clock must have 
 stopped, and he was only persuaded that it had not 
 done so by a minute comparison between it and his 
 own watch. It was so utterly absurd to suppose that 
 only fifteen minutes had gone by ! A little diversion 
 was now introduced by the approaching departure of 
 a train ; and he watched with an intense interest, born 
 of boredom and vacuity, the moist passengers in their 
 rush for the gate ; the porters labelling the luggage 
 and wheeling it off for their trucks ; an old lady, with 
 two bird-cages, and a small hamper which looked 
 very much as if it might contain a dog or a cat, and 
 which evidently aroused some official suspicion ; a 
 husband and wife sharply accusing each other of 
 
 280
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 having dropped the tickets, which between them, had 
 somehow got lost. 
 
 When the little crowd had dispersed, and the 
 train was off, John felt as if an element of real 
 importance had been blotted out of his life. 
 He turned aimlessly away from the spot where 
 it might almost have seemed that he had taken 
 root, and then an awful thought struck him like a 
 lightning flash. What a fool he was to be wandering 
 about in such a public place ! Supposing the 
 "governor" should chance to come along? or Mr. 
 Boroughgate? or any of the fellows at the office? 
 It was useless for him to remind himself that never, 
 to his certain knowledge, had any one of those gentle- 
 men ever appeared at that time of the day at the 
 Holborn Station. The vague fear of being seen and 
 recognised by someone was enough to set all his 
 nerves on edge, and to force home upon him again, 
 what for the time being he had forgotten the secret 
 nature of his present escapade. Tapping his breast 
 pocket for the fiftieth time to assure himself of the 
 safety of his pocket-book, and throwing his half- 
 smoked cigar away in disgust, he walked straight into 
 the first-class waiting-room a room with a close 
 family likeness to that in which he had had that first 
 memorable interview with Victorine. It was dark 
 and clammy, and almost deserted. With the fear of 
 detection uppermost for the moment in his mind, he 
 drew his hat down over his eyes, and made himself 
 as comfortable as he could in a corner. There, at 
 least, he was out of people's way ; there, at least, he 
 could live again in memory through every detail of 
 that evening how long ago it seemed now ! when 
 
 281
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 he and she had sat together as it might be yonder 
 (he pictured the scene), and he had enjoyed the 
 delicious consciousness of having at last, after so 
 many failures and so much despair, brought her back 
 once more out of the vastness and chaos of London 
 into his life. Yet how little he had dreamed then 
 that fortune would ever smile upon his love! She 
 had seemed so far away from his world a creature 
 of such strange beauty and such alien charm that 
 he had never dared to fancy it could be his privilege 
 to woo and win her, and to call her indeed his own. 
 And now that which had appeared altogether im- 
 possible had actually come to pass. Those old 
 visions of romance which he had used to conjure up 
 for himself in the dull routine of an existence against 
 whose narrow and sordid conditions his whole spirit 
 had been in revolt, had vanished away, only to give 
 place to a more brilliant, a more romantic reality. 
 And like one of those heroes whose fictitious careers 
 he had been accustomed to follow with such breath- 
 less interest, he was, as it were, by one act of courage 
 and self-sacrifice (for so in that inspired moment he 
 chose to regard his journey), about to prove himself 
 worthy of the love of her to whom his love had been 
 given. "When I get back," said John to himself, 
 " I shall feel that I have indeed done something to 
 deserve her." That thought filled him with a great 
 joy. The mystery which surrounded his enterprise, 
 his doubts and anxieties concerning it, were 
 temporarily forgotten, and all the future grew radiant 
 with golden promises and hopes. 
 
 But as other heroes besides John Smith have dis- 
 covered, it is one thing to sit in a corner and indulge 
 
 282
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 in romantic daydreams of achievement and reward, 
 and quite another to step down into the world's 
 common life, and face the practical details of the 
 appointed task. No sooner was John settled in his 
 second-class compartment than all the old nervous- 
 ness and unrest returned upon him. The realisation 
 that he was still in the dark as to the exact nature 
 and purpose of his mission gave full opportunity for 
 the play of imaginary fears ; and these were none the 
 less harrassing because they were utterly vague. Not 
 knowing what to expect, he felt that danger might 
 be lurking on every side ; not knowing what to 
 dread, he dreaded everything. Though he would 
 have been totally unable to assign any definite reason 
 for his conduct, he scrutinised, with the deepest 
 anxiety, every individual who passed down the plat- 
 form ; experienced a sudden qualm when anyone 
 stopped for a moment before his carnage door ; and 
 breathed a sigh of relief when he went on again. 
 Even the innocuous guard's official glance in at the 
 window seemed, for the moment, to have something 
 behind it ; and the hurried arrival of a gentleman 
 who, at first sight, looked a little like Mr. Werry, 
 though, on nearer view, he turned out to be a totally 
 different kind of person, literally set him trembling in 
 every limb. 
 
 All this did not constitute exactly an auspicious 
 beginning for his journey ; which, none the less, was 
 destined to be a very tame and uneventful affair. Few 
 people, it appeared, were starting for Paris by that 
 train, and he had his compartment entirely to himself 
 right down to Dover. There he easily found his way 
 on board the boat ; and being in great uncertainty as 
 
 283
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 to his seamanship, he at once retired to the general 
 cabin, and made himself as comfortable as he could 
 on one of the couches. No one took the slightest 
 notice of him there, and, on the whole, he behaved 
 himself quite as well as he had expected. There was 
 a good deal of sea in the Channel, and the steamer 
 tossed and rolled confoundedly ; but though he more 
 than once experienced indubitable intimations of 
 coming disaster, he continued, by keeping very quiet, 
 to ward off a positive attack of that much-dreaded 
 complaint at which everyone feels at liberty to smile 
 complacently save those who are actually in its grip. 
 At Calais, again, he found no difficulty awaiting 
 him. The light was already beginning to fail, and a 
 thick haze clung about the coast, so that he could 
 enjoy little of that emotion with which we are apt to 
 take our first view of a foreign shore ; nor, indeed, 
 under the circumstances of his journey, was there 
 much chance for him to indulge himself in any such 
 traveller's luxury. Of two feelings only was he specially 
 conscious on landing, and making his way through 
 the Custom-house : one was a general sense of 
 forlornness and home-sickness, such as is almost 
 certain to beset anyone who realises for the first time 
 in his life that he is among total strangers ; the other, 
 a shock of surprise over the fact that everybody was 
 chattering French, combined with a sort of pity for 
 the unfortunate folk who were shut out from the 
 privilege of his own tongue. However, when he had 
 succeeded in making the Customs officer understand 
 that the little bag he carried in his hand represented 
 the sum-total of his luggage, the examination was 
 the merest matter of form ; and before long he found 
 
 284
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 himself ensconced in a corner seat in a second-class 
 compartment in the Paris express. Once more he 
 was left entirely to himself a circumstance which 
 filled him with the greatest satisfaction, as the train 
 presently swung out into the deepening dusk. Then, 
 mile after mile, the country between Calais and the 
 capital flew by him fields, white under their mantle 
 of snow ; half-outlined villages, with their scattered 
 lights ; stretches of mysterious landscape, out of 
 which the eye could make nothing ; towns whichj 
 even to the wayfarer rushing past them, seemed 
 full of the warmth and charm of human life. 
 At Amiens alone the train made a short stop, 
 and there John was less interested in the brief 
 glimpse of a fresh world offered to him than in the 
 chances that his solitude might, perchance, be at 
 length invaded. But the Fates continued to favour 
 him ; he was still left undisturbed. 
 
 In one other respect, however, he was now doomed 
 to misfortune. At Amiens he had noticed with mis- 
 giving signs of increasing fog, to the significance of 
 which he, as a Londoner, was only too keenly alive. 
 After leaving that station, the train began to slow 
 up ; crept cautiously along at a snail's pace for a 
 couple of miles or so ; and then came to a complete 
 standstill for nearly half an hour. At Creil, which 
 was reached long after time, the fog was still denser, 
 and a wearisome pause was made just outside the 
 station. Seven o'clock came, and with it an ever- 
 diminishing likelihood of their ever reaching their 
 destination. Impatience, anxiety, loneliness, all sorts 
 of dismal forbodings, made John fret and chafe at 
 the exasperating delay ; he gazed hopelessly into the 
 
 285
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 thick night, now from one window, and now from the 
 other ; he grew, with every passing moment, colder, 
 hungrier, more nervous, more abjectly miserable. If 
 he could only have got out and done something ! 
 If he could only have exchanged a few intelligible 
 words of commiseration or encouragement with any 
 living creature ! But to sit there and wait wait 
 wait with aching fingers and frozen feet, alone in 
 a silence and solitude hardly to be borne : it was 
 terrible ! Ah, they were moving again at last ! He 
 would have given anything to know what all those 
 men on the track were talking about ! He could see 
 them gesticulating wildly ; he could hear their high- 
 pitched speech ; but, alas, it meant nothing to him, 
 save that it gave him a heavier sense of his own 
 complete isolation. Still, they were moving that 
 was one comfort ! And then, crawling and halting, 
 halting and crawling, the train presently felt its way 
 out of the fog into a comparatively clear air, after 
 which the speed was increased to what seemed like 
 the usual rate of running. But the only comfort 
 brought to the passengers thereby was in the feeling 
 that, at least, no more time would be wasted ; over 
 the time already lost it was idle to grieve. When at 
 length they drew up in the splendid terminus of the 
 Northern Railway, it was close on eleven o'clock. 
 They were nearly four hours late. 
 
 And now John, chilled to the bone, numb to the 
 finger-tips, ravenous from his protracted fast and 
 exposure, altogether more dead than alive, pulled 
 himself together as well as he could, and stared 
 defiantly about him. At this point, as he felt, his 
 adventures were really going to begin ; and, indeed, 
 
 286
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 he at once had plenty to engage his attention. First 
 of all came a most unsatisfactory interview with a 
 porter, who rolled out long sentences, of which, of 
 course, John could not understand a syllable, and at 
 whom he could only shake his head. Still the 
 porter chattered and gesticulated, pointing now to 
 the young man's bag and now to the train ; and after 
 a while, John made out, or fancied he made out, that 
 the man was questioning him about the rest of his 
 luggage. Whereupon he held up his bag, and said 
 "Nong" and shook his head more vigorously than ever. 
 More eloquence from the porter followed, but whether 
 the theme of it all was something connected with 
 John himself, or with the lateness of the train, or 
 with the international affairs of France and England, 
 the bewildered Cockney had not the remotest idea. 
 " Je ne parle pas frangais," he said again and again, 
 with laborious distinctness, adding, with a weak lapse 
 into his own vocabulary, " Cab cab ! " Then- a 
 bright idea struck him. He relinquished his bag to 
 his companion, who had made several efforts to pos- 
 sess himself of it, and drew from his trouser pocket 
 the paper on which Uncle Michael had written M. 
 Bergerat's address. This he gave the porter to read. 
 " Ah, oui, oui, monsieur," said that excitable in- 
 dividual, and off he started across the station, with 
 John in full chase. In half a minute they had 
 emerged into the open ; in half a minute more a 
 cabman was perusing Uncle Michael's directions. 
 " Rue des Trois Petites Sceurs, 27, pres Boulevard 
 Voltaire. Bien, monsieur." John stepped into the 
 cab, handed the porter the first French coin he could 
 lay his fingers upon (he afterwards fancied it must 
 
 287
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 have been a two-franc piece), and the next minute 
 was rolling and jolting at breakneck speed down the 
 Boulevard Magenta. 
 
 It was never of the slightest use for anyone to ask 
 John afterwards about his first impressions of Paris. 
 All he could ever recall was a sort of mad rush along 
 broad streets, a confused blur of lights and shops and 
 houses, and a babel of unfamiliar sounds. How long 
 that fateful drive had lasted, he could not even re- 
 member he only knew that it had seemed to him as 
 if it never would come to an end. At last, however, 
 the cab turned out of the great avenue into a narrower 
 thoroughfare, and out of this again into one that was 
 very narrow indeed, and likewise, he noted, exceed- 
 ingly ill-lighted. Something told him perhaps the 
 recollection of Quemby Court suggested the idea 
 that this must be the Rue des Trois Petites Sceurs. 
 Nor was he wrong. For only a hundred yards or so 
 from the last corner, the cab stopped with a lurch, 
 and the cocker descended from his seat. John reck- 
 lessly handed him a few coins, and the cab turned and 
 rattled away. And here he was, then, at his destination 
 colder, number, hungrier than ever, and all alone in 
 a dark, deserted street, down which the wind whistled 
 and moaned, as now it rose to a shrill blast, and now 
 died away into a melancholy cadence like that of 
 some dumb creature in "pain. 
 
 John's heart sank within him. He looked down 
 the street into the darkness, and up the street towards 
 the broader thoroughfare out of which he had just 
 come. He looked at the house before which he had 
 been planted so unceremoniously, and which seemed 
 to frown at him from all its blank, unlighted windows ; 
 
 288
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 and then he looked up and down the street again. 
 And his first impulse was to sit down upon the pave- 
 ment, and give way to his feeling of utter loss and 
 bewilderment, and despair ; his second, to turn and 
 fly somewhere, anywhere, provided it were only out 
 among the lights and bustle of life again, and in the 
 direction of home. 
 
 Perhaps it would have been well if he had obeyed 
 that latter wild instinct to escape. But naturally 
 enough, his hesitation was of brief duration. To sit 
 on the pavement would do him no good ; and of 
 what use would it be to rush out into that vast world 
 of Paris, where no one knew him or cared for him, 
 and where he would have not a soul to turn to for 
 guidance or help ? In that dark house there was at 
 least someone who, for the sake of Uncle Michael 
 and Victorine, and his errand, would give him, as he 
 had every reason to believe, a kind, perhaps a hearty 
 welcome ; who would doubtless have a fire and some- 
 thing to eat ; who at least blessed thought ! could 
 understand English and speak it. He pulled the bell 
 energetically, and was rather surprised by the rapid 
 appearance of the concierge. 
 
 " Oui, oui, monsieur, au quatrieme," said that fat 
 little man, reading Uncle Michael's directions by the 
 light of his candle. And then John could have 
 embraced him for it he broke into English of a 
 sort : " I kom vid you to show you de vay." 
 
 Up one long, narrow flight of stairs after another 
 they went together, the concierge first with his candle, 
 and John close on his heels. 
 
 " It is 'ere, monsieur," said the former, finally 
 stopping on a landing, much out of breath with the 
 
 289 T
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 ascent. "You knock. I tink M. Bergerat expect 
 you. Good-night ! " 
 
 John knocked, tremulously at first, then louder; 
 and upon the second application, the door was opened 
 cautiously, and John found himself face to face with 
 a tall, slim, middle-aged gentleman, with a little 
 pointed beard, and hair brushed straight back from 
 his forehead. 
 
 " Oh, I beg pardon ! Are are you M. Bergerat ? " 
 asked John. 
 
 " That is my name, sir," replied the other, in 
 perfectly good English, though with an unmistakable 
 French accent. " May I ask your business ? " 
 
 The gentleman's manner was courteous enough, 
 but by no means effusive. 
 
 " I am John Smith, from London," John explained. 
 " I come on behalf of of Uncle Michael and 
 Victorine." 
 
 A bow and a faint smile acknowledged this 
 declaration. 
 
 " I am glad to see you, sir very glad to see you ! 
 Pray be at the trouble of stepping in. Though 
 Michael Goszczynski intimated that I was to expect 
 you to-night, I must confess that I had my suspicions 
 about your coming. It is unpleasant weather for 
 travelling." 
 
 " It isn't exactly the kind of weather when one 
 would choose to travel just for the fun of the thing," 
 John replied, a little piqued. 
 
 He could have wished M. Bergerat just a trifle less 
 distant and stately. It was rather disappointing not 
 to have the offer of even a shake of the hand. 
 
 " And surely you are very late," M. Bergerat 
 290
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 continued. " I was told to expect you about eight 
 o'clock. I have been long waiting for you, and had 
 about given you up." 
 
 " We were delayed by fog," said John curtly. He 
 was on the point of adding that if M. Bergerat, with 
 his cosy room and his pleasant fire, felt cause for 
 dissatisfaction, he, John, had certainly something 
 to make a fuss about. But he checked the sentence 
 ere it reached his lips ; for the delight of feeling 
 that he had at last arrived, and in safety, was so 
 intense that the irritation aroused by the peculiarities 
 of his newly- made friend was of short duration. It 
 was probable, he told himself, that the Frenchman 
 would thaw out presently. And for the moment 
 what an unspeakable relief it was to pass out of the 
 wet, cold, windy street into the cheery light and 
 warmth of M. Bergerat's apartments. The bright 
 fire in the grate, the red-shaded lamp on the central 
 table, the close-drawn curtains, gave him a lively 
 sense of home. 
 
 His host shut the door carefully behind them. 
 
 " You have brought something for me from Michael 
 Goszczynski, I believe," he said quietly. He was 
 evidently so anxious about John's mission that he 
 had no thought to spare for such a minor matter as 
 his personal comfort. 
 
 " I have brought a letter," John replied, dropping 
 his voice to a whisper. 
 
 "Then will you kindly give it to me, sir? We 
 may as well settle our little business at once." 
 
 John hesitated, with a slight but significant turn of 
 the head towards the further corner of the room. 
 
 "Oh, 'you need not trouble yourself about him," 
 291
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 returned the other, following the young man's 
 doubtful glance in the direction of a third person, 
 who was sitting with his back towards the door, and 
 just outside the small round island of light made by 
 the lamp. " He is a friend of ours, and quite in our 
 confidence." 
 
 Thus reassured, John drew out his pocket-book, 
 opened it, carefully extracted the envelope, and 
 handed the same to M. Bergerat That gentleman 
 held it for a moment under the lamp, turned it over 
 once or twice, and critically examined the address. 
 
 " Did Michael Goszczynski give you this ? " he 
 inquired, with a just perceptible sharpening in his 
 tones. 
 
 " Yes," answered John. " At least " 
 
 He paused in some confusion. He was still so 
 cold and dazed that he could not be sure of Victorine's 
 final instructions. 
 
 " At least " M. Bergerat repeated. 
 
 " At least, Victorine gave it to me." 
 
 " Oh, she gave it to you, did she? Well, I imagine 
 that it's all one and the same, isn't it ? This is, at 
 any rate, the document with which you were en- 
 trusted for Eugene Trapadoux?" He glanced at 
 John quickly. 
 
 "For M. Bergerat," John corrected, in some 
 surprise. 
 
 Then, in a moment, he remembered that Victorine 
 had just mentioned that second name, and had 
 speedily substituted that of Bergerat. 
 
 " Ah ! " Again the Frenchman looked at him 
 steadily. " Well, even now I imagine that it's all one 
 and the same." 
 
 292
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 He tore open the envelope, and hastily ran his 
 eye over the contents of the single sheet of letter- 
 paper which he took from it. John fancied that a 
 shade of disappointment passed over his face. 
 
 " Mr. Staplehurst ! " he said quietly. 
 
 The third person, thus addressed, turned slowly, 
 rose from his seat, and came forward into the light. 
 His face at once struck John as curiously familiar, 
 with its close-cut grey side-whiskers, its fresh pink 
 cheeks, its clean-shaven upper lip and chin, though 
 for the moment he was at a total loss to know where 
 he could have seen it before. Then it suddenly 
 flashed upon him that this was the suave and kindly 
 gentleman from the West of England, to whom he 
 had played the part of good Samaritan on the night 
 of that first visit of his to Quemby Court. But what 
 in the world could he be doing there ? 
 
 "You are satisfied?" this gentleman asked in his 
 bland, mellow voice. 
 
 " Perfectly." The Frenchman indicated the letter. 
 " This is the messenger you are expecting from the 
 so-called Goszczynski party in London, and he is the 
 bearer of a paper which I here hold in my hands. 
 It remains to see whether he can give us what we need 
 for decisive action. At any rate, the way is clear." 
 
 As he spoke, the soi-disant M. Bergerat stepped to 
 the door, and took up his position with his back 
 against it. 
 
 At the same moment, Mr. Staplehurst strode 
 forward, and laid a heavy hand on John's shoulder. 
 
 293
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IN WHICH BEN CHADWICK HAS THE MELANCHOLY 
 SATISFACTION OF BEING ABLE TO DECLARE 
 THAT HE HAD SAID SO ALL ALONG 
 
 " I WON'T stand it any longer ! Confound it all, I 
 won't ! " said Mr. Benjamin Chadwick, leaning 
 back in his chair, and thrusting both his hands as far 
 as they would go into his trousers pockets. " It's 
 getting past a joke ! It's hulloa, Mary, my dear ! 
 what's this ? Not apple-pie ? " 
 
 The slatternly, weak-eyed maid-of-all-work, who, 
 with much satisfaction to herself, was wont to look 
 after Mr. Chadwick's requirements during his evening 
 repast, and who secretly regarded that gentleman 
 with a romantic attachment, and as a sort of 
 Chevalier Bayard and Admirable Crichton rolled 
 into one, hastened to assure him that the dish she 
 had just set on the table was indeed apple-pie. 
 
 " Then, bless your little heart, here goes ! " said 
 Ben, cutting down into the crisp crust with an ogre- 
 like smile of anticipation. " Jeminy ! but how good 
 it looks ! My love to Mrs. Bumpers, Mary, and tell 
 her I won't forget her in my will." 
 
 Mary went off, giggling hysterically over one of 
 the most sparkling witticisms she had ever heard 
 in the course of a life in which witticisms had had an 
 
 294
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 inconspicuous share, while Ben proceeded to devote 
 himself, with a singleness of purpose worthy of the 
 highest praise, to the good thing which providence 
 had sent him as a reward for an unusually disagree- 
 able day's work. Had anyone else been by, he would 
 have heard, for ten minutes or more, nothing but the 
 clatter of spoon or fork, and the regular champing of 
 an unusually fine pair of jaws. At length the dish 
 was cleared to the uttermost morsel, and then Ben, 
 feeling, as he himself would have put it, for all the 
 world like an alderman, pushed his plate away, and 
 rose rather painfully to his feet. Like a wise man, 
 he had dismissed all unpleasant thoughts from his 
 mind so long as dinner had engaged his attention. 
 Now he returned to the subject which had been so 
 happily broken in upon by the apple-pie. 
 
 "I certainly won't stand it any longer," he repeated, 
 half-aloud. " I'll lay ten to one that it's something 
 to do with that gal. But, by hook or by crook, I'm 
 going to find out. He may kick me out of doors if 
 he likes ; but, hang it " 
 
 He looked ferociously at the clock, threw some 
 coal on the fire, rang the bell as a signal to Mary 
 that she might "clear away" as soon as ever she 
 found time to do so, put his tobacco-pouch in his 
 pocket, seized his coat and hat, and, indifferent to 
 the claims of digestion, started out at a good 
 swinging pace in the direction of John Smith's. 
 
 He found Mrs. Smith alone in her little parlour, 
 sewing, of course. 
 
 "John not come home yet?" he inquired, after 
 learning, in answer to a preliminary question, that 
 the good woman's condition of health was on the 
 
 295
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 whole satisfactory, and assuring her, in turn, that he 
 felt wonderfully " fit." 
 
 "Ah, then you have heard nothing from him 
 about his business trip abroad?" 
 
 Ben stared at her open-mouthed. 
 
 " About his" 
 
 " About his business trip abroad ? Well, it was 
 very sudden, or I am sure he would have seen you, 
 or dropped you a post-card, or something. He left 
 for Paris this morning." 
 
 Mrs. Smith made this statement with an air of no 
 little importance. To have her son go to Paris was 
 a fact about which she felt some natural pride. 
 
 " Well, I'm I beg your pardon, Mrs. Smith," said 
 Ben, checking himself in the very nick of time, " but 
 it seems well, it seems awfully rum, you know." 
 
 Whereupon Mrs. Smith proceeded to tell him all 
 about it, laying particular emphasis upon the urgency 
 of the matter which had called John away so un- 
 expectedly, dwelling at some length on the circum- 
 stance that the case was one in which only a most 
 trustworthy messenger could be sent, and glancing 
 pointedly at the revelation which his selection had 
 afforded of the high estimation in which he was held 
 by his employers. 
 
 "If he manages well this time, it may mean a 
 great deal to him in the future," remarked the good 
 mother, darning away at one of her boy's socks. 
 " You know, Mr. Chadwick, it will be a fine thing for 
 him to get thoroughly into Mr. Werry's confidence. 
 John does not push himself forward, as many young 
 men do, but he has good, steady qualities ; and when 
 once they are found out, they are certain to be 
 
 296
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 appreciated." And she looked across at John's 
 friend with a quick, bright twinkle in her eyes 
 which was very seldom seen there. 
 
 Ben wriggled in his chair, feeling thoroughly un- 
 comfortable; stammered out a few broken sentences, 
 intended to express the firmest faith in John's 
 prospects ; and after blundering about for some 
 minutes in a vain attempt to carry on respectably 
 his part in the conversation, rose abruptly, and took 
 a hurried leave. Oh, yes, certainly ! he would drop 
 round again very soon. John was expected home 
 in a day or two, was he ? All right ; he'd run in 
 to hear at first hand all about his journey Oh, 
 don't trouble ; he could find his way out, of course ! 
 Well, good-night ! 
 
 " Office be damned ! " ejaculated Ben, as soon as 
 he got out into the street. " He won't come over 
 me with any such rot as that!" He stopped to fill 
 and light his pipe, during which operation he gave 
 vent to several low, angry chuckles. "The idea of 
 sending him to Paris on important business ! He'll 
 end by being sent on important business to the 
 lunatic asylum ! That's where he belongs." 
 
 When his lunch-hour came, the next day, Ben did 
 not, as had been his habit these many years, turn 
 into the little chop-house round the corner, where 
 he was accustomed to refresh the inner man, and 
 enjoy the exhilarating society of half-a-dozen choice 
 spirits and the frizzy-headed waitress who called 
 them all familiarly by name. Instead of that, he 
 made his way as rapidly as possible to St. Mary 
 Axe, and to the office of Werry & Co., shipping 
 agents. 
 
 297
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 " How d'ye do, young 'un ? " he said pleasantly, as 
 Carrots came forward to learn his errand. "Is the 
 governor in, eh ? " 
 
 Carrots, rather staggered, replied that Mr. Werry 
 was in, but that he was just then engaged. 
 
 " And likely to be for fifteen hours yet, I suppose ? " 
 Mr. Chad wick continued facetiously. 
 
 Carrots faltered that he really did not know, but 
 
 " Then don't disturb him," said Ben reassuringly. 
 " I'll take my chance of finding him another day. But 
 just tell Mr. Smith that I want to speak to him half 
 a minute." 
 
 " Do you mean Mr. Fitzyou Vespasium ? " inquired 
 the red-haired youth, with a grin which seemed to 
 involve and distort every single feature of his face- 
 
 That ancient joke was still a tradition in the office, 
 and the native impudence of Master Carrots reasserted 
 itself the moment he discovered that his somewhat 
 baffling interlocutor was in search, not of the governor, 
 but of one of the subordinates. 
 
 " Now, look here, young razor," said Ben severely, 
 " I'll trouble you to keep your witticisms to yourself. 
 You're too clever by half, and you know what happens 
 to clever boys, don't you ? They always die young, 
 and have a marble slab put over 'em in the cemetery. 
 So look out ; and tell Mr. Smith that I want to see 
 him." 
 
 " You can't see him," Carrots made answer, strug- 
 gling against the grin that still would insist upon 
 coming. 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " 'Cos he ain't here." 
 
 At this point, a cross-eyed, spotty-faced young 
 298
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 fellow to wit, the would-be Lovelace, Mr. Starkins 
 sitting at the long desk on the further side of the 
 office, tilted himself back on his high stool, at much 
 risk, it might have seemed, of a broken neck, and 
 thrusting his pen behind his ear, took stock of Ben. 
 
 " You're looking for Smith ? " he asked curtly. 
 
 Ben responded, as curtly, that he was. 
 
 " Well, he won't be here for a day or two. An 
 aunt of his has died in the country, and he has gone 
 to look after her funeral." 
 
 With which succinct statement, Mr. Starkins let his 
 stool down with a jerk, resumed his pen, and returned 
 to his columns of figures. 
 
 Mr. Chadwick stood for a moment irresolute, and 
 then, without even a " Thank you," walked away. His 
 darkest misapprehensions were now substantiated. 
 He had never for a moment believed in the alleged 
 business in Paris, and now it was evident that while 
 John had used this for a blind with his mother, he 
 had fallen back upon an equally stupid story for the 
 purpose of misleading his employers. 
 
 As Ben walked back to his own office, so much 
 preoccupied that he never even troubled himself 
 about the lunch he had foregone, his mind was a prey 
 to the gloomiest thoughts. He had long enough been 
 aware that something serious was amiss in the affairs 
 of his friend, and if this knowledge had not deprived 
 him of both appetite and sleep, it was not because it 
 had not made him thoroughly miserable, but simply 
 on account of the fact that, no matter what might be 
 his troubles and anxieties, the good fellow's physical 
 machinery was wont to work away with little jar or 
 interruption. He had, in truth, been very wretched 
 
 299
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 indeed wretched over the realisation that John was 
 withholding his confidence from him at a time when 
 he might have been of service, even more wretched 
 over the sense of his own powerlessness, under the 
 circumstances, to advise or help. " Something's going 
 to happen, I'll take my oath on that," he had said to 
 himself, not once or twice, but scores of times during 
 the past few weeks ; " and when it comes, there'll be 
 the devil of a smash." As to what form the smash 
 was likely to take, he had never indeed paused to 
 inquire very seriously ; perhaps he had been well 
 contented to allow his doubts to remain in the vague. 
 Only now that, as he felt, the long-dreaded catastrophe 
 had actually come, it had come in a shape so appall- 
 ing that his liveliest vaticinations of evil would seem 
 ludicrous beside the overwhelming reality. He had 
 figured, at most, upon a love imbroglio, a little 
 unpleasantness with a few foreigners, and perhaps an 
 ill-advised marriage or unfortunate liaison. That 
 would have been bad enough, in all conscience ! But 
 this ! Why, it was awful ! 
 
 For Ben, as he elbowed his way through the 
 crowded city thoroughfare, and made perilous 
 dives among cabs and omnibuses, soon sprang at 
 what seemed to him a perfect obvious conclusion. 
 John had gone and gone for good. That was the 
 general fact of the matter ; it was impossible for the 
 moment to fill in the details. Had he committed 
 suicide ? or fled to America ? Had he eloped with 
 the foreign gal who most indubitably had more than 
 a little to do with this tragic affair ? or had he simply 
 made off with his employer's cash-box ? Such were 
 the questions that buzzed in poor Ben's brain, and 
 
 300
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 made him indifferent to the pedestrians who shoved him 
 on this side or that, and to the drivers who roared at 
 him from their boxes. And to such questions there 
 was at present no answer. A couple of days would 
 have to pass before John's absence came to appear 
 suspicious either to his mother or to the people at 
 the office. Then folks would begin to ask what had 
 become of him, inquiries would be instituted, the 
 thing would assume the proportions of a mystery, 
 the newspapers would get wind of the matter, the 
 police would be communicated with, and " O 
 Lord ! O Lord ! " groaned the young man, " I knew 
 that something would come of all John's damned 
 nonsense I've said so all along. But I didn't think 
 it would be as bad as this ! O Lord ! O Lord ! O 
 Lord ! And, confound it ! I've never had a bit to eat, 
 and " he glanced at a clock he chanced to be pass- 
 ing " yes, I've got five minutes. I must have a 
 sandwich or a bit of bread and cheese." 
 
 "Piper, sir evenin' piper second eedition 
 reported plot to assasinate the Emperor of Rooshia ! " 
 bawled a ragged urchin, over whom he nearly 
 stumbled, as he made a sharp turn into a little lunch- 
 room, up a side street. 
 
 He invested in a paper, not in the least because he 
 wanted one, but simply because the youngster held 
 it under his very nose, and his mind was too full at 
 the moment to know or care what he was about. He 
 opened it automatically as he sat waiting for his 
 snack. 
 
 " A ham sandwich and a glass of bitter and look 
 sharp, miss, please ! " he said ; and began to glance 
 aimlessly over the closely-packed columns. 
 
 301
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 Then suddenly his eye was riveted by the follow- 
 ing paragraph : 
 
 "RUMOURED PLOT AGAINST THE CZAR. 
 " ALLEGED ACTIVITY OF ANARCHISTS IN LONDON. 
 
 " It is reported that the police have been fortunate 
 enough to discover in time the existence of an 
 elaborate and well-concerted plot for the assassination 
 of several of the crowned heads of Europe. Vigorous 
 preparations appear to have been recently in progress 
 in several of the Continental capitals, though the. 
 Czar of Russia had been selected as the first object 
 of attack. It is further stated, on the most excellent 
 authority, that the headquarters of the conspirators 
 have been in London, where a number of dangerous 
 Nihilists and political refugees, well known to the 
 international police, have lately gathered together, 
 and have been reinforced by several desperadoes from 
 Chicago and Patterson, N.J. An important arrest 
 was made late last night in Paris, when a young man 
 giving the name of John Smith, or FitzHugh Ves- 
 pasian Smith, but supposed to be a criminal for 
 whom the detectives have long been in search, was 
 neatly captured on his arrival there from London. 
 He was on a mission to a Paris agent, who was him- 
 self arrested during the afternoon, and in whose 
 rooms the alleged Smith found, from the detectives in 
 possession, a different reception from what he had 
 expected. He is said to have been the bearer of 
 most important papers from the English Society, 
 whose headquarters were for some time in Blooms- 
 bury, and more recently somewhere in the neigh- 
 
 302
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 bourhood of Islington. But the contents and signi- 
 ficance of the documents found upon him have not 
 yet been divulged," 
 
 When, leaving his sandwich untouched and his beer 
 untasted, Ben Chadwick staggered down the room 
 and out into the street, the few men who were 
 still lunching there looked after him in speechless 
 astonishment, thinking that he was either ill or 
 drunk. 
 
 303
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 IT took John Smith some little time and no little 
 trouble to prove to the satisfaction of the learned and 
 solemn representatives of the law, upon whose de- 
 cision his fate was left to hang, that he was neither a 
 red-handed conspirator against the social order, nor 
 even a hardened villain of a more vulgar type, but 
 simply an exceedingly absurd young man, who had 
 had his brains turned by a pretty girl, and had per- 
 mitted himself, in all the blindness of romantic love, 
 to be used by her and her associates as an instrument 
 in their nefarious schemes. At length, however, he 
 succeeded in clearing his character of every charge 
 against it, except that of egregious folly, and even in 
 explaining away the mystery of his ridiculous alias > 
 out of which at first it had seemed likely that serious 
 complications might arise. To say that the motives 
 which had dictated, or the considerations which had 
 governed his conduct, when set forth baldly and in 
 the abstract, appeared to anybody who studied the 
 matter either rational or adequate, would, indeed, 
 be going too far. But it presently came to be per- 
 fectly evident that he had acted as he had done, with 
 little forethought, it is true, but still without criminal 
 
 304
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 knowledge or intention. Upon which the case against 
 him was dismissed, and he found himself once more 
 a free man. 
 
 It is probable that the detective-police, who had 
 been duly praised by the press for their activity 
 and acumen, were not a little disconcerted and 
 disquieted to find that they had expended their 
 ingenuity in cleverly nabbing, not a political male- 
 factor of first-rate importance, but only a com- 
 monplace, every-day kind of London clerk, who 
 could not be made of the slightest service to them, 
 who certainly did not put a feather in their caps, 
 and whom they were at length only too happy 
 to get out of the way. Their disappointment was, 
 in fact, complete. For not only was John himself a 
 totally uninteresting and worthless individual in their 
 eyes, but even indirectly he could yield them no 
 assistance in the further prosecution of their investi- 
 gations. He had no information to give them which 
 they could turn to practical use about the men and 
 women he had so often met in Quemby Court, and 
 of whose real characters and doings he had never, till 
 the moment of his own arrest, had the smallest 
 inkling. And as for the valuable documents which, 
 it was fully expected, would be found upon him 
 well, there was nothing of much significance, surely, 
 in a letter which, when translated from Polish into 
 English, merely said for that was absolutely all the 
 envelope which John had carried with him to Paris 
 contained " Nothing can be done at present. Wait 
 further instructions. MICHAEL GOSZCZYNSKI." 
 
 Even people who seek notoriety are apt sometimes 
 to get rather too much of it. How much worse it 
 
 305 U
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 must be, then, for those who, greatly against their 
 own wishes, have notoriety suddenly forced upon 
 them. For several days after his release, our ill- 
 starred young man went about oppressed by the 
 dismal knowledge that the newspapers, not one of 
 which he dared so much as to glance at, were making 
 free with his name, and, after their happy journalistic 
 manner, creating a little cheap amusement at his 
 expense. At first, he recoiled from even putting his 
 nose outside his own door. He felt that everyone 
 would recognise him as the unheroic hero of an 
 utterly absurd romance. In the omnibus, in the 
 railway carriage, in the crowded street, his haunting 
 self-consciousness gave him not a moment's peace. 
 Did anyone glance at him with what seemed a trifle 
 more than the attention one ordinarily bestows upon 
 a stranger, then the blood rushed to his cheeks, and 
 his hand began to tremble. Did a passing couple 
 turn on the pavement to take a second look at him, 
 then he instantly imagined one saying to the other : 
 " That's John Smith or FitzHugh Vespasian, as he 
 called himself the stupid fellow who got mixed up 
 with that Nihilist girl, you know, and came near 
 landing himself in a precious scrape ! " It was all 
 morbid fancy, of course, for it is more than probable 
 that all the while he was tormenting himself with the 
 extravagant notion of publicity, the people across the 
 way in the street in which he lived were totally un- 
 conscious of his identity. Who, in fact, does care any- 
 thing about a person's identity in this huge world of 
 London, where half the time one does not know even 
 the name of one's next-door neighbour ? But for a 
 while, the matter threatened to make life intolerable 
 
 306
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 for him, none the less. Fortunately, the passing days 
 brought their customary relief. Little by little, as he 
 learned from the faithful Ben, who was now a nightly 
 visitor at Mrs. Smith's house, the incident dropped 
 out of the newspapers. Having made their bit of 
 " copy " out of it, they were ready to turn to the next 
 sensation, and an opportune triple murder in Shore- 
 ditch, with blood-curdling possibilities, materially 
 helped to drive the Anarchist scare out of the 
 journalistic mind. In a week, the very name of John 
 Smith was altogether forgotten. Sic transit ! 
 
 Still dazed and bewildered by his recent experi- 
 ences which, it will be admitted, were of a kind to 
 shake stronger nerves than his John returned to the 
 dull routine of his daily existence, and found it, per- 
 chance, even in its very dulness, something of a relief 
 after the wild stress and feverish excitement through 
 which he had passed. His employers treated him, 
 as he himself confessed, a great deal better than he 
 deserved, and took him back into the office, though 
 not until he had had a serious interview with Mr. 
 Werry, and had given his solemn promise that he 
 would be more careful in his choice of companions 
 in the future. The " governor " was a shrewd busi- 
 ness man, and withal kindly and sympathetic in his 
 brusque Lancashire way ; and having hitherto known 
 John as, on the whole, an industrious and faithful 
 servant at all events, till the beginning of the inci- 
 dent which had come perilously near to ruining his 
 life he did not hesitate, believing him contrite, to 
 give him another chance. John did not find it 
 pleasant, as may readily be imagined, to mount his 
 high stool again, and endure, as cheerfully as might 
 
 307
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 be, the boisterous gibes and elephantine jocosities of 
 Starkins and the rest. But the sting soon went even 
 out of these ; while at home there was kindness, and 
 care, and loving compassion enough to make ample 
 amends for the rough treatment dealt out to him 
 by his fellow-clerks. The good mother, though for 
 many days she could never welcome him on his 
 return from the city without dissolving in tears, 
 never uttered a word that suggested reproach ; and 
 evening after evening, Ben Chadwick appeared, pipe 
 and all, to stretch out his legs, and chat entertain- 
 ingly of this and that, in his cosy corner by the little 
 parlour fire. If John was not happy, he was pro- 
 foundly thankful. His whole nature went out in 
 gratitude to mother and friend, though there was 
 still, as he felt that there always must be, an 
 emptiness and aching at the heart. 
 
 One night, impelled by a curiosity he had vainly 
 striven to master, he did not go straight home from 
 the office, but, instead, turned his steps in the direc- 
 tion of Quemby Court. How fiercely his heart beat 
 against his ribs as he entered the dark, malodorous 
 alley ! How strangely familiar everything looked 
 there the dingy, decaying houses, the blank wall 
 at the end, the flaring " pub." with its little group of 
 besotted women and ragged children, just inside ! 
 How vividly he remembered was it a dozen years, 
 or only a few weeks ago ? the feelings with which 
 he had hurried along that narrow, mud-spattered 
 pavement, while the glow of love turned even the 
 filth and wretchedness of the place to beauty, and 
 the anticipation of meeting HER again of holding 
 her in his arms, of clasping her tightly to himself, 
 
 308
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 of calling her his own then and for ever had lent 
 wings to his feet ! Good God ! was it possible that 
 all this was only a dream, too lovely to last, yet 
 altogether too perfect wholly to die away ? Before 
 that door, the sense of all he had lost came upon 
 him with intense and poignant bitterness. He could 
 hardly restrain himself from pulling the bell, as he 
 had so often done, and standing, with every nerve 
 on the strain, waiting and listening for the sound of 
 HER footstep down the carpetless stairs and along 
 the passage. A moment more, and surely his lips 
 would be fastened to hers again, and her bright 
 face 
 
 " There ain't no one there, mister," volunteered a 
 ragamuffin, shuffling by with a pot of beer almost 
 as big as himself. 
 
 Of course, there was no one there. John did not 
 need the wizened child, or the bill announcing that 
 the house was to let, which stared at him from the 
 windows, to tell him that. He knew that he should 
 not find Victorine there ; yet none the less he turned 
 away with a sick feeling of disappointment and 
 despair. 
 
 " So that is the end of it all," he groaned ; and 
 with bowed head he made his way slowly back into 
 the open street. 
 
 But it was not quite the end of it all. 
 
 On Christmas morning, while Mrs. Smith was busy 
 in the kitchen over her preparations for a dinner 
 which should at once tempt John's appetite, and 
 satisfy that of her one guest who, of course, was 
 none other than Mr. Chadwick the postman came 
 bearing just such a miscellaneous collection of 
 
 309
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 friendly greetings and remembrances as one is apt 
 to look for at that season of goodwill. John 
 carried the little bundle of missives into the 
 parlour, and sat down to glance them through. 
 He laid one after another on the table beside him, 
 with little interest when he did not recognise the 
 handwriting of the address, and even less when he 
 did. After all, they would contain nothing but 
 Christmas cards, for the most part from people he 
 never heard of more than once a year, and, if the 
 truth must be told, cared very little about. Thus, 
 mechanically and apathetically, he came to the last 
 letter of the bundle. Then his heart stood still, and 
 he felt all the blood rush from his face. " Mr. John 
 Smith " it was from her ! He knew the hand- 
 writing ; and who else would address him from 
 Berlin ? With trembling fingers he tore open the 
 envelope, and unfolded the sheet of paper which lay 
 within. At first his eyes were blurred, and the 
 words leaped and danced in hopeless confusion 
 before them ; but gradually, as he regained some- 
 thing of his self-control, they fell into their proper 
 shapes and relationships. And this is what he then 
 read : 
 
 " I remembered your mother's address, which you 
 mentioned to me one night, and write to you there, 
 in the hope that you will get my letter safely. Oh, 
 John, can you ever forgive me? You understand it 
 all now. You know why, to begin with, they wanted 
 to kill you, thinking you were a spy, as they killed / 
 the detective they called Penny Whistle, who nearly 
 discovered their plans. It was I who saved your 
 
 310
 
 life, then, after they had made me threaten you, not 
 because I cared whether you were murdered or not, 
 but because I showed them that, through what I felt 
 to be your love for me, they could make use of you 
 in a very dangerous plot they were elaborating at 
 the time. And so, we had you come to us, and made 
 you think we liked you, and I pretended to accept 
 you as my lover, while we all laughed at you behind 
 your back. Alexis was the only one who stood out 
 against the plan, and called it a shame, and would 
 have found some way of breaking it up, if it had not 
 been for Patrick, who overruled him by his tremendous 
 influence, and a will-power that literally conquers 
 everything. And then I was punished for what I had 
 done, for I grew to love you, John, as I love you now 
 more, more, a thousand times more, as I told you 
 once, than I ever thought I could love anybody. 
 And you can guess the rest my horror, my misery, 
 my despair, when I saw the meshes being woven 
 round and round you, and no way of escape. Oh, 
 John ; I would have told you all, then and there, but 
 for the dreadful vow I had sworn to secrecy, and the 
 fearful fate that would have overwhelmed us both if I 
 had breathed a word ! For myself I would not have 
 cared but for you ! I did what I could, believe me, 
 John, I did everything I could, and I cannot tell you 
 how cruelly they treated me when they saw that I 
 was turning against them. But if I suffered, I deserved 
 to suffer. It was you, not myself that I was thinking of. 
 If they guess now that I have written to you, they 
 will murder me outright, or torture me to death! 
 But what do I care ? In the end I beat them. The 
 paper you were to have carried with you to Paris
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JOHN SMITH 
 
 contained something that I cannot even now tell you 
 it is too dreadful ! but which would almost cer- 
 tainly have caused your destruction ! The one I gave 
 you instead would have ruined our plot, even if it had 
 not been discovered ; but it would have saved you ! 
 Oh, John, John ! forgive me ! I cannot, cannot tell 
 you of my unhappiness ! My heart is broken ! 
 Forgive me, and forget me, and may God bless you ! 
 V." 
 
 "John ! are you ill ? " cried Mrs. Smith, entering 
 the room, with a handful of plates and dishes, to find 
 her son with his face buried in his hands. 
 
 " Yes no mother not ill ! I I oh, mother ! " 
 And staggering to his feet, he passed her hurriedly, 
 and with the letter clutched convulsively in his hand, 
 reeled upstairs to his own room. 
 
 THE END 
 
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