Speaker 1: Cheating the gallows. They say that a union of opposites
Speaker 1: make the happiest marriage. And perhaps it is on the
Speaker 1: same principle that men who jump together are always so
Speaker 1: oddly assorted. You shall find a man of letters sharing
Speaker 1: diggings with an auctioneer, and a medical student pigging a
Speaker 1: stockbroker's clerk. Perhaps each thus escapes the temptation to talk
Speaker 1: shop in his hours of leisure, while he supplements his
Speaker 1: own experiences of life by his companions. There could not
Speaker 1: be an odd order couple than Tom Peters and Everett G. Rockstill.
Speaker 1: The contrast began with their names and ran through the
Speaker 1: entire chapter. They had a bedroom and a sitting room
Speaker 1: in common, but it would not be easy to find
Speaker 1: what else to his landlady worthy missus seekin. Tom Peters's
Speaker 1: profession was little wig, But everybody knew that Rockstille was
Speaker 1: the manager of the City and Suburban bank, and it
Speaker 1: puzzled her to think why a bank manager should live
Speaker 1: with such a seedy looking person who smoked clay pipes
Speaker 1: and sipped whisky and water all evening when he was
Speaker 1: at home. For Rockstill was as spruce and erect as
Speaker 1: his fellow Lodger was round shouldered and shabby. He never smoked,
Speaker 1: and he confined himself to a small class of claret
Speaker 1: at dinner. It is possible to live with a man
Speaker 1: and see very little of him. Where each of the
Speaker 1: partners lives his own life in his own way, with
Speaker 1: his own circle of friends and external amusements, days may
Speaker 1: go by without the men having five minutes together. Perhaps
Speaker 1: this explains why these partnerships jog along so much more
Speaker 1: peacefully than marriages, where the chain is drawn so much
Speaker 1: tighter and galls the partners rather than links them diverse. However,
Speaker 1: as were the hours and habits of the chums, they
Speaker 1: often breakfasted together, and they agreed in one thing. They
Speaker 1: never stayed out at night for the rest. Peters sought
Speaker 1: his diversions in the company of journalists and frequented debating rooms,
Speaker 1: where he propounded the more iconoclastic views, while rockstill had
Speaker 1: highly respectable houses open to him in the suburbs, and
Speaker 1: was in fact engaged to be married to Clara Nowell,
Speaker 1: the charming daughter of a retired corn merchant. A widower
Speaker 1: with no other child, Clara naturally took up a good
Speaker 1: deal of Roxtelle's time, and he often dressed to go
Speaker 1: to the play with her, while Peters stayed at home
Speaker 1: in a faded dressing gown and loose slippers. Missus Seekin
Speaker 1: liked to see gentlemen about the house and evening dress,
Speaker 1: and made comparisons not favorable to Peters, and this in
Speaker 1: spite of the fact that he gave her infinitely less
Speaker 1: trouble than the younger man. It was Peters who first
Speaker 1: took the apartments, and it was characteristic of his easy
Speaker 1: going temperament that he was so openly and naively delighted
Speaker 1: with a view of the Thames obtainable from the bedroom
Speaker 1: window that Missus Seekin was emboldened to ask twenty five
Speaker 1: cent more than she had intended. She soon returned to
Speaker 1: her normal terms. However, when his friend Rockstoe called the
Speaker 1: next day to inspect the rooms and overwhelmed her with
Speaker 1: a demonstration of their numerous shortcomings. He pointed out that
Speaker 1: their being on the ground floor was not an advantage
Speaker 1: but a disadvantage, since they were nearer to the noises
Speaker 1: of the street. In fact, the house being a corner
Speaker 1: one the noises of two streets. Rockstal continued to exhibit
Speaker 1: the same finicking temperament in the petty details of the
Speaker 1: minaj His shirt fronts was never sufficiently starched, nor his
Speaker 1: boots sufficiently polished. Tom Peters, having no regard for rigid linen,
Speaker 1: was always good tempered and satisfied, and never acquired the
Speaker 1: respect of his landlady. He wore blue check shirts and
Speaker 1: loose ties. Even on Sundays. It is true he did
Speaker 1: not go to church, but slept on till Rockstal returning
Speaker 1: from the morning service, and even then it was difficult
Speaker 1: to get him out of bed or to make him
Speaker 1: hurry up his toilet operations. Often the midday meal would
Speaker 1: be smoking on the table while Peters would smoke in
Speaker 1: the bed, and rockstill with his head thrust through the
Speaker 1: fold doors that separated the bedroom from the sitting room,
Speaker 1: would be adjuring the sluggard to our eyes and shake
Speaker 1: off his slumbers, and threatening to sit down without him
Speaker 1: lest the dinner be spoilt. In revenge, Tom was usually
Speaker 1: up first on week days, sometimes at such unearthly hours
Speaker 1: that Polly had not yet removed the boots from the
Speaker 1: outside the bedroom door, and would bawl down to the
Speaker 1: kitchen for a shaving water for Tom. Lazy and indolent,
Speaker 1: as he was shaved with an unfailing regularity of a
Speaker 1: man to whom shaving had become an instinct. If he
Speaker 1: had not kept fairly regular hours, Missus Seekin would have
Speaker 1: set him down as an actor. So clean shaven was he,
Speaker 1: Rockstill did not shave. He wore a full beard, and,
Speaker 1: being a fine figure of a man to boot, no
Speaker 1: uneasy investor could look upon him without being reassured as
Speaker 1: to the stability of the bank he managed so successfully,
Speaker 1: and thus the two men lived in an economical comradeship,
Speaker 1: all the firmer, perhaps for their mutual incongruities. It was
Speaker 1: on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of October, ten
Speaker 1: days after Rockstill had settled in his new rooms, that
Speaker 1: Clara Nowell paid her first visit to him. There, she
Speaker 1: enjoyed a good deal of liberty and did not mind
Speaker 1: accepting his invitation to tea. The corn merchant, himself indifferently educated,
Speaker 1: had an exaggerated sense of the value of culture, and
Speaker 1: so Clara, who had artistic tastes, thought much actual talent
Speaker 1: had gone in for painting and might be seen in
Speaker 1: pretty toilettes copying pictures in the museum. At one time
Speaker 1: it looked as if she might be reduced to working
Speaker 1: seriously at her art. For Satan, who finds mischief still
Speaker 1: for idle hands to do, had persuaded her father to
Speaker 1: embark the fruits of years of toil in bubble companies. However,
Speaker 1: things turned out not so bad as they might have been.
Speaker 1: A little was saved from the wreck, and the appearance
Speaker 1: of a suitor in the person of Everett J. Rockstall,
Speaker 1: ensured her a future of competence, if not of the
Speaker 1: luxury she had been entitled to expect. She had a
Speaker 1: good deal of affection for Everett, who was unmistakably a
Speaker 1: clever man as well as a good looking one. The
Speaker 1: prospect seemed fair and cloudless. Nothing presaged the terrible storm
Speaker 1: that was about to break over these two lives. Nothing
Speaker 1: had ever, for a moment come to vex their mutual
Speaker 1: contentment till this Sunday afternoon. The October sky, blue and
Speaker 1: sunny with an Indian summer sultriness, seemed an exact image
Speaker 1: of a life with its aftermath, of a happiness that
Speaker 1: had once seemed blighted. Everard had always been so attentive,
Speaker 1: so solicious that she was much surprised as chagrined to
Speaker 1: find that he had apparently forgotten the appointment. Hearing her
Speaker 1: astonished interrogation of Pollyine the passage, Tom shambled from the
Speaker 1: sitting room in his loose slippers and his blue check shirt,
Speaker 1: with his eternal clay pipe in his mouth, and informed
Speaker 1: her that Rockstall had gone out suddenly earlier in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: Gone out, stammered poor Clara, all confused. But he asked
Speaker 1: me to come to tea. Oh you, miss Noel, I suppose,
Speaker 1: said Tom. Yes, I am Miss Noell. He has told
Speaker 1: me a great deal about you. But I wasn't able
Speaker 1: honestly to congratulate him on his choice till now. Clara
Speaker 1: blushed uneasily under the compliment and under the ardor of
Speaker 1: his admiring gaze. Instinctively she distrusted the man. The very
Speaker 1: first tone of his deep bass voice gave her a
Speaker 1: peculiar shudder, and then his impoliteness in smoking that wild
Speaker 1: clay was so gratuous. Oh then you must be mister Peters,
Speaker 1: she said. In return. He has often spoken to me
Speaker 1: of you, ah, said Tom, laughingly. I suppose he told
Speaker 1: you all my wisest her had accounts for. You are
Speaker 1: not being surprised at my Sunday attire. She smiled a little,
Speaker 1: showing a row of pearly teeth. Everett ascribes to you
Speaker 1: all the virtues, she said. Now that's what I call
Speaker 1: a friend. He cried ecstatically. But won't you come He
Speaker 1: must be back in a moment. He surely would not
Speaker 1: break an appointment with you. The admiration latent in the
Speaker 1: accentuation of the last pronoun was almost offensive. She shook
Speaker 1: her head. She had a just grievance against Everard and
Speaker 1: would punish him by going away indignantly. Do let me
Speaker 1: give you a cup of tea, Tom pleaded. You must
Speaker 1: be awfully thirsty this sultry weather. There. I'll make a
Speaker 1: bargain with you if you will come in now. I
Speaker 1: promise to clear out the moment Everard returns, and not
Speaker 1: spoil your tete a tete. But Clara was obstinate. She
Speaker 1: did not at all relish this man's society, and besides,
Speaker 1: she was not going to throw away her grievance against Everard.
Speaker 1: I know Everard will slang me dreadfully when he comes in.
Speaker 1: If I let you go, Tom urged, tell me at
Speaker 1: least where he can find you. I'm going to take
Speaker 1: the bus at Charing Cross and I'm going straight home,
Speaker 1: Clara announced determinedly. She put up a parasol in a
Speaker 1: pet and went up the street into the strand. A
Speaker 1: cold shadow seemed to have fallen over all things. But
Speaker 1: just as she was getting into the bus, a handsome
Speaker 1: dashed down Trafalgar Square, and a well known voice hailed her.
Speaker 1: The hansom stopped, and Everett got out and held out
Speaker 1: his hand. I'm so glad you're a bit late, he said,
Speaker 1: I was called out unexpectedly, and having been trying to
Speaker 1: rush back in time. You wouldn't have found me if
Speaker 1: you had been punctual. But I thought, he added, laughingly,
Speaker 1: now I could rely on you as a woman. I
Speaker 1: was punctual, Clara said angrily. I was not getting out
Speaker 1: of this puss, as you seemed to imagine, but into it,
Speaker 1: and was going home, my darling, He cried remorsefully a
Speaker 1: thousand apologies. The regret on his handsome face soothed her.
Speaker 1: He took the rose he was wearing in the buttonhole
Speaker 1: of his fashionably cut coat and gave it to her.
Speaker 1: Why were you so cruel? He murmured, as she nestled
Speaker 1: against him in the hansom, Think of my despair. If
Speaker 1: I had come home to hear you had come and gone,
Speaker 1: Why didn't you wait? A moment a shudder traversed her fame.
Speaker 1: Not with that man Peters, she murmured, Not with that
Speaker 1: man Peters, he echoed, sharply, What is the matter with Peters?
Speaker 1: I don't know, she said. I don't like him, Clara,
Speaker 1: he said, half sternly, half cajolingly. I thought you were
Speaker 1: above these feminine weaknesses. You are punctual, strive also to
Speaker 1: be reasonable. Tom is my best friend from boyhood. We
Speaker 1: have been always together. There is nothing Tom would not
Speaker 1: do for me or I for Tom. You must like him, Clara,
Speaker 1: You must, if only for my sake, I'll try, Clara promised,
Speaker 1: and then he kissed her in gratitude and broad daylight.
Speaker 1: You'll be very nice to him at tea, won't you?
Speaker 1: He said, anxiously. I shouldn't like you two to be
Speaker 1: bad friends. I don't want to be bad friends, Clara protested.
Speaker 1: Only the moment I saw him, a strange repulsion and
Speaker 1: mistrust came over me. You're quite wrong about him, quite wrong,
Speaker 1: he shut her. When you know him better, you'll find
Speaker 1: him the best of fellows. Oh I know, he said suddenly,
Speaker 1: I suppose he was very untidy A you women goes
Speaker 1: so much by appearances, not at all, Clara retorted, it's
Speaker 1: you men who go by appearances. Yes, you do. That's
Speaker 1: why you care for me, he said, smiling. She assured
Speaker 1: him it wasn't, and she didn't care for him so
Speaker 1: much as he plumed himself. But he smiled on his
Speaker 1: smile died away. However, when he entered his rooms and
Speaker 1: found Tom nowhere, I dare say you've made him run
Speaker 1: about hunting for me, he grumbled. Perhaps he knew I'd
Speaker 1: come back and went away to leave us together, she answered,
Speaker 1: He said he would when you came. And yet you
Speaker 1: say you don't like him, She smiled reassuringly. Inwardly, however,
Speaker 1: she felt pleased at the men's man's absence. If Clara
Speaker 1: Novell could have seen Tom Peters carrying on with Polly
Speaker 1: in the passage, she might have felt justified in her
Speaker 1: prejudice against him. It must be confessed, though, that Everard
Speaker 1: also carried on with Polly. Alas it is to be
Speaker 1: feared that men are much of a muchness where women
Speaker 1: are concerned shabby men and smart men, bank managers and journalists,
Speaker 1: bachelors and semi detached to bachelors. Perhaps it was a mistake,
Speaker 1: after all to say that the chums had nothing patently
Speaker 1: in common. Everard, I'm afraid, kissed Polly rather more often
Speaker 1: than Clara, and although it was because he respected her less,
Speaker 1: the reason would perhaps not have been sufficiently consoling to
Speaker 1: his affianced wife. For Polly was pretty, especially on alternate
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoons, and when at ten pm she returned from
Speaker 1: her routings, she was generally met in the passage by
Speaker 1: one or other of the men. Polly liked to receive
Speaker 1: homage of real gentlemen, and said a white cap at
Speaker 1: all indifferently. Thus, just before Clara knocked on the memorable
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, Polly, was being confined to the house by
Speaker 1: unwritten code regulating the lives of servants, was amusing herself
Speaker 1: by flirting with Peters. You are fond of me a
Speaker 1: little bit, the graceless Tom whispered, aren't you you know
Speaker 1: I am? Sir? Polly replied, you don't care for anyone
Speaker 1: else in the house, Oh no, sir, and never let
Speaker 1: anyone kiss me but you. I wonder how it is, sir,
Speaker 1: Polly replied, ingenuously, Give me another. Tom answered, She gave
Speaker 1: him another, and tripped to the door to answer Clara's knock,
Speaker 1: And that very evening, when Clara was gone and Tom
Speaker 1: still out, Polly turned, without the faintest atom of scrupulosity
Speaker 1: or even jealousy, to the more fascinating rock star and
Speaker 1: accepted his amorous advances. If it would seem at first
Speaker 1: sight that Everett had less excuse for such frivility than
Speaker 1: his friend, perhaps the seriousness he showed in this interview
Speaker 1: may throw a different light upon the complex character of
Speaker 1: the man. You're quite sure you don't care for anyone
Speaker 1: but me, he asked, earnestly. Of course not, sir, Polly replied, indignantly.
Speaker 1: How could I but you care for that soldier I
Speaker 1: saw you out with last Sunday. Oh no, sir, he's
Speaker 1: only my young man, she said, apologetically. Would you give
Speaker 1: him up? He hearsed. Suddenly, Polly's pretty face took a
Speaker 1: look of terror. I couldn't, sir, He'll kill me. He's
Speaker 1: such a jealous brute, you've no idea. Yes, but suppose
Speaker 1: I took you away from here, he whispered, eagerly, somewhere
Speaker 1: he couldn't find you. South America, Africa, somewhere thousands of
Speaker 1: miles across the sea. Oh, sir, you've frightened me, whispered Polly,
Speaker 1: cowering before his ardent eyes, which shone in the dimly
Speaker 1: lit passage. Would you come with me, he hissed. She
Speaker 1: did not answer. She shook herself free and ran into
Speaker 1: the kitchen, trembling with a vague fear. One morning earlier
Speaker 1: than his earliest hour of demanding a shaving water, Tom
Speaker 1: rang the bell violently and asked the alarmed Polly what
Speaker 1: had become of mister Rockstill, how should I know, sir?
Speaker 1: She gasped. Ain't he been in? Sir? Apparently not? Tom
Speaker 1: answered anxiously, He never remains out. We have been here
Speaker 1: for three weeks now, and I can't recall a single night.
Speaker 1: He hadn't been home before twelve. I can't make it out.
Speaker 1: All inquiries proved futile. Missus Seekin reminded him of the
Speaker 1: thick fog that had come on suddenly the night before.
Speaker 1: What fog asked Tom, lord, didn't you notice it, sir? No.
Speaker 1: I came in early, smout read and went to bed
Speaker 1: about eleven. I never thought of looking out the window.
Speaker 1: It began about ten, said missus, seekin and got thicker
Speaker 1: and thicker. I couldn't see the lights of the river
Speaker 1: from my bedroom. The poor gentleman has been and gone
Speaker 1: and walked into the water. She began to whimper. Nonsense, nonsense,
Speaker 1: said Tom, though his expression bellied his words. At the worst,
Speaker 1: I should think he couldn't find his way home and
Speaker 1: couldn't get a cab, so put up for the night
Speaker 1: at some hotel. I dare say it'll be all right.
Speaker 1: He began to whistle, as if in restored cheerfulness. At
Speaker 1: eight o'clock there came a letter from rockstill marked immediate,
Speaker 1: But as he did not turn up for breakfast, Tom
Speaker 1: went round personally to the City in Suburban Bank. He
Speaker 1: waited half an hour there, but the manager did not
Speaker 1: make his appearance. Then he left the letter with the
Speaker 1: cashier and went away with anxious countenance. That afternoon it
Speaker 1: was all over London that the manager of the City
Speaker 1: in Suburban had disappeared, and that many thousands pounds of
Speaker 1: gold and notes had disappeared with him. Scotland. Gayard opened
Speaker 1: the letter marked immediate, and noted that there had been
Speaker 1: a delay in its delivery, for the address had been
Speaker 1: obscure and an official alteration had been made. It was
Speaker 1: written in feminine hand and said, on second thoughts, I
Speaker 1: cannot accompany you. Do not try to see me again,
Speaker 1: forget me. I shall never forget you. There was no signature.
Speaker 1: Clara Novelle distracted, disclaimed all knowledge of this letter. Polly deposed,
Speaker 1: and the fugitive had proposed a flight to her, and
Speaker 1: the routes to Africa and South America were especially watched.
Speaker 1: Some months passed without result. Tom Peters went about, overwhelmed
Speaker 1: with grief and astonishment. The police took possession of all
Speaker 1: the missing man's effects. Gradually the hue and cry dwindled, died.
Speaker 1: At last, we meet, cried Tom Peters, with his face
Speaker 1: lit up in joy. How are you, dear Miss novel
Speaker 1: Clara greeted him coldly. Her face had an abiding pallor.
Speaker 1: Now her lover's flight and the shame had prostrated her
Speaker 1: for weeks. Her soul was the arena of contending instincts,
Speaker 1: alone of all the world. She still believed in Everett's innocence,
Speaker 1: felt that there was something more than met the eye divined,
Speaker 1: some devilish mystery behind it all. And yet that damning
Speaker 1: letter from the anonymous lady shook her sadly. Then, too,
Speaker 1: there was the deposition of Polly. When she heard Peter's
Speaker 1: voice accosting her, all her old repugnance researched. It flashed
Speaker 1: upon her that this man Roxstall's boon companion must know
Speaker 1: far more than he had told to the police. She remembered, however,
Speaker 1: it had spoken of him with what affection and confidence?
Speaker 1: Was it likely he was utterly ignorant of Everett's movements.
Speaker 1: Mastering her repugnance, she held out her hand. It might
Speaker 1: be well to keep in touch with him. He was
Speaker 1: possibly the clue to the mystery. She noticed that he
Speaker 1: was dressed a shade more trimly and was smoking a meercham.
Speaker 1: He walked alongside her and made no offer to put
Speaker 1: his pipe out. Have you not heard from Everard, he asked?
Speaker 1: She flushed. Do you think I am an accessory? After
Speaker 1: the fact, she cried no, No, he said, soothingly, pardon me.
Speaker 1: I was thinking he might have written, giving no exact address.
Speaker 1: Of course men do sometimes dare to write to touch
Speaker 1: to woman. But of course he knows you too well.
Speaker 1: You would have put the police on his tracks, certainly,
Speaker 1: she exclaimed indignantly. Even if he is innocent, he must
Speaker 1: face the charge. Do you still entertain the possibility of
Speaker 1: his innocence? I do, she said boldly, and looked him
Speaker 1: full in the face. His eyelids drooped with a quiver.
Speaker 1: Don't you I have hoped against hope, he replied, in
Speaker 1: a voice faltering with emotion, poor old Everard. But I'm
Speaker 1: afraid there is no room for doubt. Oh, this wicked
Speaker 1: curse of money tempting the noblest and the best of us.
Speaker 1: The weeks rolled on, Gradually she found herself seeing more
Speaker 1: and more of Tom Peter's and gradually, strange to say,
Speaker 1: he grew less repulsive from the talks they had together.
Speaker 1: She began to see there was really no reason to
Speaker 1: put faith in Everard. His criminality, his faithlessness were too flagrant.
Speaker 1: Gradually she grew ashamed of her early mistrust of Peter's
Speaker 1: remorse bred esteem, and esteem ultimately ripened into feelings so
Speaker 1: warm that Tom gave Frere went to the love that
Speaker 1: had been visible to Clara from the first, she did
Speaker 1: not repulse him. It is only in books that love
Speaker 1: lives for ever. Clara, so her father thought, showed herself
Speaker 1: a sensible girl in plucking out an unworthy affection and
Speaker 1: casting it from her heart. He invited the new lover
Speaker 1: to his house and took to him at once. Rockstill's
Speaker 1: somewhat supercilous manner had always charged jarred upon the unsophisticated
Speaker 1: corn merchant. With Tom, the old man got on much better.
Speaker 1: While evidently quite as well informed and cultured as his
Speaker 1: Wilhelm friend, Tom knew how to impart his superior knowledge,
Speaker 1: with the accent on the knowledge rather than on the superiority,
Speaker 1: while he had the air of gaining much information in return,
Speaker 1: those who were most conscious of defects of earn early
Speaker 1: education are most resentful of other people sharing their consciousness. Moreover,
Speaker 1: Tom's bonhamy was far more to the old fellow's liking
Speaker 1: than the studied politeness of his predecessor, so that on
Speaker 1: the whole Tom met more of a conquest of the
Speaker 1: father than of the daughter. Nevertheless, Clara was by no
Speaker 1: means unresponsive to Tom's affection and when after one of
Speaker 1: his visits to the house, the old man kissed her
Speaker 1: fondly and spoke of the happy turn of things had taken,
Speaker 1: and how for the second time in their lives things
Speaker 1: had mended when they seemed at their blackest. Her heart
Speaker 1: swelled with a gush of gratitude and joy and tenderness,
Speaker 1: and she felt sobbing into her father's arms. Tom calculated
Speaker 1: that he had made a clear five hundred a year
Speaker 1: by occasional journalism, besides possessing some profitable investments which he
Speaker 1: had inherited from his mother, so that there was no
Speaker 1: reason for delaying the marriage. It was fixed for May day,
Speaker 1: and the honeymoon was to be spent in Italy. But
Speaker 1: Clara was not destined to happiness. For the moment she
Speaker 1: had promised herself, her first love's old memories began to
Speaker 1: rise up and reproach her. Strange thoughts stirred in the
Speaker 1: depths of her soul, and in the silent watches of
Speaker 1: the night she seemed to hear Evrett's accents, charred with
Speaker 1: grief and upbraiding. Her uneasiness increased as her wedding day
Speaker 1: drew nearer. One night, after a pleasant afternoon spent in
Speaker 1: being rowed by Tom among the upper reaches of the Thames.
Speaker 1: She retired to rest, full of vague forebodings, and she
Speaker 1: dreamt a terrible drain. The dripping form of Everard stood
Speaker 1: by her bedside, staring at her with ghastly eyes. Had
Speaker 1: he been drowned on the passage to his land of exile?
Speaker 1: Frozen with horror, she put the question, I have never
Speaker 1: left England. The vision answered her, tongue clove to the
Speaker 1: roof of her mouth. Never left England, she repeated, in
Speaker 1: tones which did not seem to be hers. The great,
Speaker 1: stony eyes stared on her, but there was silence. Where
Speaker 1: have you been? Then, she asked in her dream? Very
Speaker 1: near you came the answer, there has been foul play.
Speaker 1: Then she shrieked. The phantom shook its head in doleful ascent.
Speaker 1: I knew it, she shrieked, Tom Peters, Tom Peters had
Speaker 1: done away with you? Is it not he speak? Yes,
Speaker 1: it is he Tom Peters, whom I loved more than
Speaker 1: all the world. Even in the terrible oppression of the dream,
Speaker 1: she could not resist saying, woman like, did I not
Speaker 1: warn you against him? The phantom stared on silently and
Speaker 1: made no reply. But what was his motive? She asked
Speaker 1: at length, love of gold and you and you are
Speaker 1: giving yourself to him? It said sternly, No, no, Everett,
Speaker 1: I will not, I will not. I swear it, forgive me.
Speaker 1: The spirit shook its head skeptically. You love him? Women
Speaker 1: are false as false as men. She trove, strove to
Speaker 1: protest again, but her tongue refused its office. If you
Speaker 1: marry him, I shall always be with you. Where the
Speaker 1: dripping figure vanished as suddenly as it came, and Clara
Speaker 1: awoke in cold perspiration. Oh, it was horrible. The man
Speaker 1: she had learnt to do love, the murderer of the
Speaker 1: man she had learned to forget. How her original prejudice
Speaker 1: had been justified. Distracted shaken to her debts, she would
Speaker 1: not take counsel, even of her father, but informed the
Speaker 1: police of her suspicion. A raid was made on Tom's
Speaker 1: rooms and lo the stolen notes were discovered in a
Speaker 1: huge bundle. It was found that he had several banking accounts,
Speaker 1: with a large recently paid amount in each bank. Tom
Speaker 1: was arrested. Attention was now concentrated on the corpses washed
Speaker 1: up by the river. It was not long before the
Speaker 1: body of Rockstill came to shore, the face distorted almost
Speaker 1: beyond recognition by long immersion by the clothes patently his
Speaker 1: and a pocket book in the breast pocket, removing the
Speaker 1: last doubt. Missus Seekin and Polly and Clara Novell all
Speaker 1: identified the body. Both juries returned a verdict of murder
Speaker 1: against Tom Peters, the recital of Clara's dream producing a
Speaker 1: unique impression in the court and throughout the country. The
Speaker 1: theory of the prosecution was that Rockstall had brought home money,
Speaker 1: whether to fly alone or to divide it, or whether
Speaker 1: even for some innocent purpose, as Clara believed was immaterial,
Speaker 1: that Peters determined to have it all, and that he
Speaker 1: had gone out for a walk with the deceased, and,
Speaker 1: taking advantage of the fog, had pushed him into the river,
Speaker 1: and that he was further impelled to the crime by
Speaker 1: love for Clara Novelle, as was evident from his subsequent
Speaker 1: relations with her. The judge put on the black cap.
Speaker 1: Tom Peters was duly hung by the neck till he
Speaker 1: was dead. Brief resume of the culprit's confession. When you
Speaker 1: all read this, I shall be dead and laughing at you.
Speaker 1: I have been hung for my own murder. I am
Speaker 1: evere G Rockstill I am also Tom Peters. We two
Speaker 1: were one. When I was a young man. My mustache
Speaker 1: and beard wouldn't come. I bought false ones to improve
Speaker 1: my appearance. One day, after I had become manager of
Speaker 1: the city in the suburban Bank, I took off my
Speaker 1: beard in mustache at home, and then the thought crossed
Speaker 1: my mind that nobody would know me without them, I
Speaker 1: was another man. Instantly it flashed upon me that if
Speaker 1: I ran away from the bank, that the other man
Speaker 1: could be left in London while the police were scoring
Speaker 1: the world for a non existent fugitive. But this was
Speaker 1: only the crude germ of the idea. Slowly I matured
Speaker 1: my plan. The man who was going to be left
Speaker 1: in London must be known to a circle of acquaintance beforehand.
Speaker 1: It would be easy enough to masquerade in the evenings
Speaker 1: in my beardless condition, with the other disguise of dress
Speaker 1: and voice. But this was not brilliant enough. I conceived
Speaker 1: the idea of living with him. It was box and
Speaker 1: Cox reversed. We shared the rooms at missus Seekin's. It
Speaker 1: was a great strain, but it was only for a
Speaker 1: few weeks. I had trick clothes in my bedroom, like
Speaker 1: those of quick change artists. In a moment, I could
Speaker 1: pass from Rockstill to Peters, and from Peter's to Rockstill.
Speaker 1: Polly had to clean two pairs of boots a morning,
Speaker 1: cook two dinners, et cetera, et cetera. She and missus
Speaker 1: Seekin saw one or other of us every moment. It
Speaker 1: never dawned upon them. They never saw us both together.
Speaker 1: At meals, I would not be interrupted, ate off two
Speaker 1: plates and conversed with my friends in loud tones. At
Speaker 1: other times we dined at different hours. On Sundays, he
Speaker 1: was supposed to be asleep when I was in church.
Speaker 1: There is no landlady in the world to whom the
Speaker 1: idea would have occurred that one man was troubling himself
Speaker 1: to be two and to pay for two, including washing.
Speaker 1: I worked up the idea of Rockstall's flight, asked Polly
Speaker 1: to go with me, manufactured that feminine letter that arrived
Speaker 1: in the morning of my disappearance. As Tom Peters, I
Speaker 1: mixed with the journalistic set. I had another room where
Speaker 1: I kept the golden notes till I mistakenly thought the
Speaker 1: thing had blown over. Unfortunately, returning from here on the
Speaker 1: night of my disappearance with Rockstill's clothes in a bundle,
Speaker 1: I intended to drop into the river. It was stolen
Speaker 1: from me in the fog, and the man into whose
Speaker 1: possession it ultimately came appears to have committed suicide. What
Speaker 1: perhaps ruined me was my desire to keep Clara's love
Speaker 1: and to transfer it to the survivor. Everett told her
Speaker 1: I was the best of fellows. Once married to her,
Speaker 1: I would not have had much fear even if she
Speaker 1: had discovered the trick. Our wife cannot give evidence against
Speaker 1: her husband, and often does not want to. I made
Speaker 1: none of the usual slips, but no man can guard
Speaker 1: against a girl's nightmare. After a day up the river
Speaker 1: and a supper at the Star and Garter, I might
Speaker 1: have told the judge he was an ass but then
Speaker 1: I should have had penal servitude for bank robbery, and
Speaker 1: that is worse than death. The only thing that puzzles me, though,
Speaker 1: is whether the law has committed murder or I suicide.
Speaker 1: The end of cheating the gallows