Speaker 1: Hunted down. Most of us see romances in life. In
Speaker 1: my capacity of a chief manager of a life insurance office,
Speaker 1: I think I have, within the last thirty years seen
Speaker 1: more romances than the generality of men. However unpromising the
Speaker 1: opportunity may at first I have seen. As I have
Speaker 1: retired and live at my ease, I possess the means
Speaker 1: that I used to want of considering what I have
Speaker 1: seen at leisure. My experiences have a more remarkable aspect
Speaker 1: so reviewed than they had when they were in progress.
Speaker 1: I have come home from the plain now and can
Speaker 1: recall the scenes of the drama upon which curtain has fallen,
Speaker 1: free from the glare, bewilderment, and bustle of the theater.
Speaker 1: Let me recall one of these romances of the real world.
Speaker 1: There is nothing truer than the physiognomy taken in connection
Speaker 1: with manner. The art of reading that book of which
Speaker 1: eternal wisdom obliges every human creature to present his or
Speaker 1: her own page with individual character written on it is
Speaker 1: a difficult one, perhaps, and is little studied. It may
Speaker 1: require some natural aptitude, and it must require, for everything
Speaker 1: does some patience, and some pains. That these are not
Speaker 1: usually given to it. The number of people except a
Speaker 1: few stock commonplace expressions of the face as the whole
Speaker 1: list of characteristics, and neither seek nor know the refinements
Speaker 1: that are truest. That you, for instance, give a great
Speaker 1: deal of time and attention to the reading of music Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Hebrew,
Speaker 1: if you please, and do not qualify yourself to read
Speaker 1: the face of the master or mistress looking over your
Speaker 1: shoulder teaching it to you, I assume to be five
Speaker 1: hundred times more probable than improbable. Perhaps so little self
Speaker 1: sufficiency may be at the bottom of this facial expression
Speaker 1: requires no study from you. You think it comes by
Speaker 1: nature to you to know enough about it, and you
Speaker 1: are not to be taken in. I confess for my
Speaker 1: part that I have been taken in over and over again.
Speaker 1: I have been taken in by acquaintances, and I have
Speaker 1: been taken in, of course by friends, far oftener by
Speaker 1: friends than by any other class of persons. How can
Speaker 1: I be so deceived? Had I quite misread their faces? No,
Speaker 1: believe me, My first impression of those people, founded on
Speaker 1: face and the manner alone, was invariably true. My mistake
Speaker 1: was in suffering them to come nearer to me and
Speaker 1: explain themselves away. The partition which separated by own office
Speaker 1: from our general outer office in the city was of
Speaker 1: thick plate glass. Through it what passed in the outer office,
Speaker 1: without hearing a word. I had it put in place
Speaker 1: of a wall that had been there for years, ever
Speaker 1: since the house was built. It is no matter whether
Speaker 1: I did or did not make the change in order
Speaker 1: that I might derive my first impression of strangers who
Speaker 1: came to us on business from their faces alone, without
Speaker 1: being influenced by anything. They said enough to mention that
Speaker 1: I turned my glass partition to that account, and that
Speaker 1: a life assurance office is all times exposed to be
Speaker 1: practiced upon by the most crafty and cruel of the
Speaker 1: human grace. It was through my glass partition that I
Speaker 1: first saw the gentleman whose story I am going to tell.
Speaker 1: He had come in without my observing it, and had
Speaker 1: put his hat and his umbrella on the broad counter,
Speaker 1: and was bending over to take some papers from one
Speaker 1: of the clerks. He was about forty or so, dark,
Speaker 1: exceedingly well dressed in black, being in mourning, and the
Speaker 1: hand he extended with a polite air had a particularly
Speaker 1: well fitting black kipped glove upon it. His hair was
Speaker 1: elaborately brushed and oiled, was sparted straight up the middle.
Speaker 1: And he presented this parting to the clerk exactly to
Speaker 1: my thinking, as if he had said, in so many words,
Speaker 1: you must take me, if you please, my friend, just
Speaker 1: as I show myself. Come straight up here, follow the
Speaker 1: gravel path, keep up the grass. I allow no trespassing.
Speaker 1: I conceived a very great aversion to that man the
Speaker 1: moment I thus saw him. He had asked for some
Speaker 1: of her printed forms, and the clerk was giving them
Speaker 1: to him and explaining them, and her obliged and agreeable
Speaker 1: smile was on his face, and his eyes met those
Speaker 1: of the clerk with a sprightly look. I have known
Speaker 1: a vast quantity of nonsense being talked about, bad men
Speaker 1: not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea.
Speaker 1: Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in
Speaker 1: the week, if there is anything to be cut by it.
Speaker 1: I saw in the corner of his eyelash that he
Speaker 1: became aware of my looking at him. Immediately he turned
Speaker 1: the parting in his head towards the glass partition as
Speaker 1: if he said to me, with a sweet smile, straight
Speaker 1: up here, if you please off the grass. In a
Speaker 1: few moments he had put on his hat and taken
Speaker 1: up his umbrella, and was gone. I beckoned the clerk
Speaker 1: into my room and asked who was there. He had
Speaker 1: a gentleman's card in his hand, mister Julius Slington, Middle Temple,
Speaker 1: A barrister, mister Adams. I think not, sir. I should
Speaker 1: have thought him a clergyman, but for his having no
Speaker 1: reverend here, said I, probably from his appearance. Mister Adams replied,
Speaker 1: he is reading for orders. I had mentioned that he
Speaker 1: wore a dainty white cravat and a dainty linen altogether.
Speaker 1: What did he want, mister Adams, merely a form of proposal, sir,
Speaker 1: and a form of reference recommended here? Did he say? Yes?
Speaker 1: He said he was recommended here by a friend of yours.
Speaker 1: He noticed you, but said that as he had not
Speaker 1: the pleasure of your personal acquaintance, he would not trouble you.
Speaker 1: Did you know my name? Oh, yes, sir, he said,
Speaker 1: there is mister Sampson. I see a well spoken gentleman,
Speaker 1: apparently remarkably so, sir. Insinuating manners apparently very much so. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Sir Hah said, I, I were nothing at present, mister Adams.
Speaker 1: Within a fortnight of that day, I went to dine
Speaker 1: with a friend of mine, a merchant, a man of
Speaker 1: taste who buys pictures and books, And the first man
Speaker 1: I saw among the company was mister Julius Slington. There
Speaker 1: he was standing before the fire, with good large eyes
Speaker 1: and an open expression of face. But still I thought,
Speaker 1: requiring everybody to come at him by the prepared way
Speaker 1: he offered, and by no other I noticed him. Ask
Speaker 1: my friend to introduce him to mister Samson, and my
Speaker 1: friend did so. Mister Slington was very happy to see me,
Speaker 1: not too happy, there was no overdoing of the matter,
Speaker 1: happy in a thoroughly well bred, perfectly unmeaning way. I
Speaker 1: thought you had met our host, observed, No, said mister Slington.
Speaker 1: I did look in at mister Sampson's office on your recommendation,
Speaker 1: but I really did not feel justified in troubling mister
Speaker 1: Sampson himself on a point in the everyday routine of
Speaker 1: an ordinary clerk. I said, I should have been glad
Speaker 1: to show him any attention on our friend's introduction. I
Speaker 1: am sure of that, said he, and I am much obliged.
Speaker 1: At another time, perhaps I may be less delicate, only, however,
Speaker 1: if I had real business. For I know, mister Sampson,
Speaker 1: how precious your business time is, and what a vast
Speaker 1: number of impertinent people there are in the world. I
Speaker 1: acknowledge this consideration with a slight bow. You were thinking,
Speaker 1: said I, of affecting a policy on your life. Oh dear, no,
Speaker 1: I am afraid I am not so prudent as you
Speaker 1: pay me the compliment of supposing me to be. Mister Samson.
Speaker 1: I merely inquired for a friend, But you know what
Speaker 1: friends are. In such matters, nothing may ever come of it.
Speaker 1: I have the great reluctance to trouble men of business
Speaker 1: with inquiries for friends, knowing the probabilities to be a
Speaker 1: thousand to one that the friends will never follow them up.
Speaker 1: People are so facal, so selfish, so inconsiderate. Don't you
Speaker 1: in your business find them? So, mister Samson. I was
Speaker 1: going to give a qualified answer, but he turned his
Speaker 1: smooth white parting on me with its straight up here
Speaker 1: if you please, and I answered, yes, I hear, mister Sampson.
Speaker 1: He resumed presently for our friend had a new cook,
Speaker 1: and dinner was not so punctual as usual. That your
Speaker 1: profession has recently suffered a great loss in money, said I.
Speaker 1: He laughed at my ready association of loss with money,
Speaker 1: and replied no, in talent and vigor. Not at once,
Speaker 1: following out his illusion, I considered for a moment, has
Speaker 1: it sustained the loss of that kind? Said I? I
Speaker 1: was not aware of it. Understand me, mister Samson. I
Speaker 1: don't imagine that you have retired. It's not so bad
Speaker 1: as that. But mister Meltham, oh to be sure, said I. Yes,
Speaker 1: mister Meltham, the young actuary of the inestimable. Just so,
Speaker 1: he returned in a concerning way. He's a great loss.
Speaker 1: He was at once the most profound, the most original,
Speaker 1: and the most energetic man I have ever known, connected
Speaker 1: with life assurance. I spoke strongly, for I had a
Speaker 1: high esteem and admiration for Malcolm, and my gentleman had
Speaker 1: indefinitely conveyed to me some suspicion that he wanted to
Speaker 1: sneer at him. He recalled me to my guard by
Speaker 1: presenting that trim pathway up his head with its infernal
Speaker 1: not on the grass. If you pleased to gravel. You
Speaker 1: knew mister Slington only by reputation. To have known him
Speaker 1: as an acquaintance or as a friend is an honor
Speaker 1: I should have sought if he had remained in society,
Speaker 1: though I might never have had the good fortune to
Speaker 1: attain it. Be a man of far inferior mark. He
Speaker 1: was scarcely about thirty. I suppose about thirty. Ah, he
Speaker 1: signed in his former consoling way, What creatures we are
Speaker 1: to break up, mister Samson and become incapable of business
Speaker 1: at that time of life? Any reason assigned for the
Speaker 1: melancholy fact? Humph, thought I as I looked at him.
Speaker 1: But I won't go up the track, and I will
Speaker 1: go on the grass. What reason have you heard assigned
Speaker 1: mister Slington, I asked, point blank, Most likely a false one.
Speaker 1: You know what roomor raised, mister Samson. I never repeat
Speaker 1: what I hear. It is the only way of bearing
Speaker 1: the nails and shaving the head of rumor. But when
Speaker 1: you ask me what reason I have heard assigned for
Speaker 1: mister Meltham's passing away from among men, it is another
Speaker 1: thing I am not gratifying idle gossip. Then I was
Speaker 1: told mister Samson, that mister Meltham had relinquished all his
Speaker 1: advocations and all its prospects. Dicourse, he was in fact
Speaker 1: broken hearted, a disappointed attachment I heard, though it hardly
Speaker 1: seems probable in the case of a man so distinguished
Speaker 1: and so attractive, attractions and distinctions are no armor against death,
Speaker 1: said I, Oh, she died, pray, pardon me. I did
Speaker 1: not hear that. That indeed makes me very very sad,
Speaker 1: poor mister Malcolm. She died, Ah, dear me, lamentable, lamentable.
Speaker 1: I still thought his pity was not quite genuine, and
Speaker 1: I still suspected an unaccountable sneer under all this, until
Speaker 1: he said, as we were parted like the other knots
Speaker 1: of talkers by the announcement of dinner, Mister Samson, you
Speaker 1: are surprised to see me so moved on behalf of
Speaker 1: a man whom I have never known. I am not
Speaker 1: so disinterested as you may suppose. I have suffered, and
Speaker 1: recently too, from death myself. I have lost one of
Speaker 1: my two charming nieces who were my constant companions. She
Speaker 1: died young, barely three and twenty, and even her remaining
Speaker 1: sister is far from strong. The world is grave. He
Speaker 1: said this with deep feeling, and I feel reproached for
Speaker 1: the coldness of my manner. Coldness and distrust have been
Speaker 1: engendered in me. I knew from my bad experiences they
Speaker 1: were not natural to me, and I often thought how
Speaker 1: much I had lost in life losing trustfulness, and how
Speaker 1: little I have gained gaining hard caution, the state of
Speaker 1: mind being habitual to me. I troubled myself more about
Speaker 1: this conversation than I might have troubled myself about a
Speaker 1: greater matter. I listened to his talk at dinner and
Speaker 1: observed how readily other men responded to it, and with
Speaker 1: what graceful instinct he adapted his subjects to the knowledge
Speaker 1: and habits of those he talked with, as in talking
Speaker 1: with me, he had easily started the subject I might
Speaker 1: have supposed to understand best and to be the most
Speaker 1: interested in. So in talking with others he guided himself
Speaker 1: by the same rule. The company was of varied character,
Speaker 1: but he was not at fault that I could discover
Speaker 1: with any member of it. He knew just as much
Speaker 1: of each man's pursuit as made him agreeable to that
Speaker 1: man in reference to it, and just as little as
Speaker 1: made it natural in him to seek the modesty for
Speaker 1: information when the theme was approached. As he talked and talked,
Speaker 1: but really not too much for the rest of us,
Speaker 1: seemed to force it upon him. I became quite angry
Speaker 1: with myself. I took his face to pieces in my
Speaker 1: mind like a watch, and examined it in detail. I
Speaker 1: could not say much against any of his features separately,
Speaker 1: I could say even less against them when they were
Speaker 1: put together. Then is it not monstrous? I asked myself
Speaker 1: that because a man happens to part his hair straight
Speaker 1: up the middle of his head, I should permit myself
Speaker 1: to suspect and even to detest him. I may stop
Speaker 1: to remark that this was no proof of my sense.
Speaker 1: An observer of men, who finds himself steadily repelled by
Speaker 1: some apparent trifling thing in a stranger is right to
Speaker 1: give it great weight. It may be the clue to
Speaker 1: the whole mystery. A hair or two will show where
Speaker 1: the lion is hidden, and a very little key will
Speaker 1: open a very heavy door. I took part in the
Speaker 1: conversation with him after a time, and be got on
Speaker 1: remarkably well. In the drawing room, I asked the host
Speaker 1: how long he had known mister Slington. He answered not
Speaker 1: many months. He had met him at the house of
Speaker 1: a celebrated painter then present, who had known him Bell
Speaker 1: when he was traveling with his nieces in Italy for
Speaker 1: their help, his plans in life being broken by the
Speaker 1: death of one of them. He was reading with the
Speaker 1: intention of going back to college as a matter of form,
Speaker 1: taking his degree and going into orders. I could not
Speaker 1: but argue with myself that here was a true explanation
Speaker 1: of his interest in poor Meltholm, and that I had
Speaker 1: been almost brutal in my distrust on that simple head.
Speaker 1: On the very next day, but one, I was sitting
Speaker 1: behind my glass partition as before, when he came into
Speaker 1: the outer office as before, the moment I saw him
Speaker 1: again without hearing him, I hated him worse than ever.
Speaker 1: It was only for a moment that I had this opportunity,
Speaker 1: for he waved his tight fitting black glove the instant
Speaker 1: I looked at him and came straight in. Mister Samson good,
Speaker 1: I presume you see upon your kind permission to intrude
Speaker 1: upon you. I don't keep my word in being justified
Speaker 1: by business. For my business here, if I may so abuse.
Speaker 1: The word is of the slightest nature, I asked. Was
Speaker 1: it anything I could assist him in? I thank you. No.
Speaker 1: I merely called to inquire outside whether my dilatory friend
Speaker 1: had been so false to himself as to be practical
Speaker 1: and sensible. But of course he has done nothing. I
Speaker 1: gave him your papers with my own hand, and he
Speaker 1: was hot upon the intention. But of course he has
Speaker 1: done nothing, apart from the general human disinincination to do
Speaker 1: anything that ought to be done. I dare say that
Speaker 1: is a speciality about assuring one's life. You find it
Speaker 1: like will making people are so superstitious and take it
Speaker 1: for granted that they will die soon afterwards. Up Here,
Speaker 1: if you please, straight up here, mister Samson, neither to
Speaker 1: the right nor to the left. I almost fancied I
Speaker 1: could hear him breathe those words, as he sat smiling
Speaker 1: at me, with that intolerable parting exactly opposite the bridge
Speaker 1: of my nose. There is such a feeling sometimes, no doubt,
Speaker 1: I replied, But I don't think it obtains to any
Speaker 1: great extent. Well, he said, with a shrug and a smile.
Speaker 1: I wish some good angel would influence my friend in
Speaker 1: the right direction. I rashly promised his mother and sister
Speaker 1: in Norfolk to see it done, and he promised them
Speaker 1: that he would do it. But I suppose he never will.
Speaker 1: He spoke for a minute or two in different topics,
Speaker 1: and went away. I had scarcely unlocked the drawers of
Speaker 1: my writing table. Next morning when he reappeared, I noticed
Speaker 1: he came straight to the door in the glass partition
Speaker 1: and did not pause a single moment outside. Can you
Speaker 1: spare me two minutes, my dear mister Sampson, by all
Speaker 1: means much obliged, laying his hat an umbrella on the table.
Speaker 1: I came early not to interrupt you. The fact is
Speaker 1: I am taken by surprise in the reference to this
Speaker 1: proposal my friend has made. Has he made one? Said I? Yes,
Speaker 1: he answered, deliberately, looking at me, and then a bright
Speaker 1: idea seemed to strike him. Or he only tells me
Speaker 1: he has. Perhaps that may be a new way of
Speaker 1: evading the matter. By Jupiter, I never thought of that.
Speaker 1: Mister Adam was opening the morning's letters in the outer office.
Speaker 1: What is his name, mister Slington, I asked, What is
Speaker 1: the name, mister Slington, I asked Beck with. I looked
Speaker 1: out at the door and requested mister Adams if there
Speaker 1: were a proposal in that name to bring it in.
Speaker 1: He had already laid it out of his hand on counter.
Speaker 1: It was easily selected from the rest, and he gave
Speaker 1: it to me. Alfred beckwith proposal to effect the policy
Speaker 1: with us for two thousand pounds, dated yesterday from Middle Temple.
Speaker 1: I see missus Slington. Yes, he lives in the same
Speaker 1: staircas with me. His door is opposite. I never thought
Speaker 1: he would make me his reference, though it seems natural
Speaker 1: enough that he would. It seems natural enough that he should,
Speaker 1: quite so, mister Sampson, But I never thought of it.
Speaker 1: Let me see. He took the printed paper from his pocket.
Speaker 1: How am I to answer all these questions according to
Speaker 1: the truth, of course? Said I? Oh, of course, he answered,
Speaker 1: looking up from the paper with a smile. I meant
Speaker 1: there were so many. But you do right to be particular.
Speaker 1: It stands to reason that you must be particular. Will
Speaker 1: allow me to use your pen and ink certainly, and
Speaker 1: your desk certainly. He had been hovering about between his
Speaker 1: hat and his umbrella for a place to write. He
Speaker 1: now sat down in my chair at my blotting paper,
Speaker 1: and instand with a long walk up his head in
Speaker 1: an accurate perspective before me, as I stood with my
Speaker 1: back to the fire. Before answering each question, he ran
Speaker 1: it over aloud and discussed it. How long had he
Speaker 1: known mister Alfred Beckwith that he had decalculate by years
Speaker 1: upon his fingers, what were his habits? Not difficulty about them?
Speaker 1: Temperate in the last degree, and took a little too
Speaker 1: much exercise, if any All the answers were satisfactory. When
Speaker 1: he had written them all, he looked them over and
Speaker 1: finally signed them in a very pretty hand. He supposed
Speaker 1: he had now done with the business. I told him
Speaker 1: he was not likely to be troubled any further. Should
Speaker 1: he lead the papers there if he pleased, much obliged
Speaker 1: good morning. I had had one other visitor before him,
Speaker 1: not at the office, but at my own home. That
Speaker 1: visitor had come to my bedside when it was not
Speaker 1: yet daylight, and had been seen by no one else
Speaker 1: but my faithful confidential servant. A second reference paper, for
Speaker 1: we required always two was sent down into Norfolk and
Speaker 1: was duly received back by post. This likewise was satisfactorily answered.
Speaker 1: In every respect, our firms were all complied with. We
Speaker 1: accepted the proposal, and the premium for one year was paid.
Speaker 1: For six or seven months, I saw no more of
Speaker 1: mister Slington. He called once at my house when I
Speaker 1: was not at home, and he once asked me to
Speaker 1: dine with him in the temple, but I was engaged.
Speaker 1: His friend's assurance was suffected. In March, late in September
Speaker 1: or early in October, I was down at Scarborough for
Speaker 1: a breadth of sea air, where I met him on
Speaker 1: the beach. It was a hot evening. He came toward
Speaker 1: me with his hat in his hand, and there was
Speaker 1: a walk I felt so strongly disinclined to take in
Speaker 1: perfect order again exactly in front of the bridge of
Speaker 1: my nose. He was not alone, but had a young
Speaker 1: lady on his arm. She was dressed in moaning and
Speaker 1: I looked at her with great interest. She had the
Speaker 1: appearance of being extremely delicate, and her face was remarkably
Speaker 1: pale and melancholy, but she was very pretty. He introduced
Speaker 1: her as his niece, Miss Nina. Are you strolling, mister Samson?
Speaker 1: Is it possible you can be idle it? Was possible,
Speaker 1: and I was strolling. Shall we stroll together with pleasure?
Speaker 1: The young lady walked between us, and we walked on
Speaker 1: the cools he sand in the direction of Philly. There
Speaker 1: have been wheels here, said mister Slington. And now I
Speaker 1: look again, the wheels up a hand carriage. Margaret, my love,
Speaker 1: your shadow, without doubt, miss Niner's shadow, I repeated, looking
Speaker 1: down on the sand, Not that one. Mister Slington returned, laughing, Maha,
Speaker 1: gareat my dear tell mister Sampson. Indeed, said the young lady,
Speaker 1: turning to me, there is nothing to tell except that
Speaker 1: I constantly see the same invalid old gentleman at all
Speaker 1: times wherever I go. I have mentioned it to my uncle,
Speaker 1: and he calls the gentleman my shadow. Does he live
Speaker 1: in Scarborough? I asked, He is staying here? Do you
Speaker 1: live in Scarborough? No, I'm staying here. My uncle has
Speaker 1: placed me with a family here for my help, and
Speaker 1: your shadow, said I smiling. My shadow, she answered, smiling too,
Speaker 1: is like myself, not very robust. I fear for I
Speaker 1: lose my shadow sometimes as my shadow loses me at
Speaker 1: other times. You both seemed liable to confinement to the house.
Speaker 1: I have not seen my shadow for days and days,
Speaker 1: but it does oddly happen occasionally that wherever I go
Speaker 1: for many days together, this gentleman goes. We have come
Speaker 1: together on the most unfrequented nooks on this shore. Is this,
Speaker 1: he said I, pointing before us the wheels had swept
Speaker 1: down the water's edge, and describing a great loop on
Speaker 1: the sand, and turning, bringing the hoop back towards us,
Speaker 1: and spinning it out. As it came. Was a hand
Speaker 1: carriage drawn by a man. Yes, said miss Nina. This
Speaker 1: really is my shadow uncle. As the carriage approached us,
Speaker 1: and we approached the carriage, I saw within it an
Speaker 1: old man whose head was sunk on his breast, and
Speaker 1: who was enveloped in a variety of wrappers. He was
Speaker 1: drawn by a very quiet, but very keen looking man
Speaker 1: with iron gray hair, and who was slightly lame. They
Speaker 1: had passed us when the scarriage stopped, and the old
Speaker 1: gentleman within, putting out his arm, called to me by
Speaker 1: my name. I went back and was absent from mister
Speaker 1: Slington and his niece for about five minutes. When I
Speaker 1: rejoined them, missus Slington was the first to speak indeed,
Speaker 1: he said to me in a raised voice, before I
Speaker 1: came up with him. It is well you have not
Speaker 1: been longer, or my niece might have died of curiosity
Speaker 1: to know who her shadow is. Mister Samson, an old
Speaker 1: East India director, said, I an intimate friend of our
Speaker 1: friends at whose I first had the pleasure of meeting you,
Speaker 1: A certain major banks. You have heard of him. Never
Speaker 1: very rich, miss Diner, but very old and very crippled,
Speaker 1: an amiable man, sensible, much interested in you. He has
Speaker 1: just been expatiating on the affection that he has observed
Speaker 1: to exist between you and your uncle. Mister Slington was
Speaker 1: holding his hat again, and he passed his hand up
Speaker 1: the street walk as he himself went up it serenely
Speaker 1: after me. Mister Samson, he said, tenderly pressing his niece's
Speaker 1: arm in his Our affection was always a strong one,
Speaker 1: for we have had but few near ties. We have
Speaker 1: still fewer now we have associations to bring us together
Speaker 1: that are not of this world, Margaret. Dear uncle murmured
Speaker 1: the young lady and turned her face aside to hide
Speaker 1: her tears. My niece and I had such remembrances and
Speaker 1: regrets in common, mister Samson. He feelingly pursued that it
Speaker 1: would be strange, indeed, if the relations between us were
Speaker 1: cold or indifferent. If I remember a conversation we have
Speaker 1: had together, you will understand the reference I make. Cheer up,
Speaker 1: dear Margaret, don't droop. Don't droop, my Margaret. I cannot
Speaker 1: bear to see you droop. The poor young lady was
Speaker 1: very much affected, but controlled herself. His feelings, too, were
Speaker 1: very acute. In a word, he found himself under such
Speaker 1: a great need of a restorative that he presently went
Speaker 1: away to take a bath of sea water, leaving the
Speaker 1: young lady and me sitting by a point of rock,
Speaker 1: and probably presuming, but that you will say was a
Speaker 1: pardonable indulgence in her luxury, that she would praise him
Speaker 1: with all her heart. She did poor thing, with all
Speaker 1: her confiding heart. She praised him to me for his
Speaker 1: care of her dead sister, and for his untiding devotion
Speaker 1: in her last illness. The sister had wasted away very slowly,
Speaker 1: and wild and terrible fantasies had come over her toward
Speaker 1: the end. But he had never been impatient with her
Speaker 1: or at a loss, had always been gentle, watchful, and
Speaker 1: self possessed. The sister had known him as she had
Speaker 1: known him, to the best of men, the kindest of men,
Speaker 1: and yet a man of such admirable strength of character
Speaker 1: as to be a very tower for the support of
Speaker 1: their weak natures while their poor lives endured. I shall
Speaker 1: leave him, mister Samson, very soon, said the young lady.
Speaker 1: I know my life is drawing to an end, and
Speaker 1: when I am gone, I hope he will marry and
Speaker 1: be happy. I am sure he has lived single so
Speaker 1: long only for my sake and for my poor, poor sisters.
Speaker 1: The little hand carriage had made another great loop on
Speaker 1: the damp sand and was coming back again, gradually, spinning
Speaker 1: out a slim figure of eight half a mile long.
Speaker 1: Young lady said, I, looking round, laying my hand upon
Speaker 1: her arm, and speaking in a low voice. Time presses
Speaker 1: you hear the gentle murmur of that sea. She looked
Speaker 1: at me with utmost wonder and alarm, saying, yes, and
Speaker 1: you know what a voice is in it when the
Speaker 1: storm comes. Yes, you see how quiet and peaceful it
Speaker 1: lies before us. And you know what an awful side
Speaker 1: of power without pity it might be this very night. Yes,
Speaker 1: But if you have never heard or seen it, or
Speaker 1: heard of it in its cruelty? Could you believe that
Speaker 1: it beats every inanimate thing in its way to pieces
Speaker 1: without mercy, and destroys life without remorse. You terrify me
Speaker 1: so by these questions. To save you, young lady, To
Speaker 1: save you for God's sake, Collect your strength and collect
Speaker 1: your firmness. If you were here alone and hinden by
Speaker 1: the rising tide on the floor of fifty feet above
Speaker 1: your head, you could not be in greater danger than
Speaker 1: the danger you are now to be saved from. The
Speaker 1: figure in the sand was spun out and straggled off
Speaker 1: into a crooked little jerk that ended the cliff very
Speaker 1: near us. As I am before Heaven and the judge
Speaker 1: of all mankind, your friend and your dear sister's friend,
Speaker 1: I solemnly entreat you, miss Nina, without one moment's loss
Speaker 1: of time, to come to this gentleman with me. If
Speaker 1: the little carriage had been less near to us, I
Speaker 1: doubt if I could have got her way. But it
Speaker 1: was so near that we were there before she had
Speaker 1: recovered the hurry of being urged from the rock. I
Speaker 1: had not remained there with her two minutes certainly within five.
Speaker 1: I had the inexpressible satisfaction of seeing her from the
Speaker 1: point we had sat on, to which I had returned,
Speaker 1: half supported and half carried up some rude steps notched
Speaker 1: in the cliff by the figure of an active man.
Speaker 1: With that figure beside her, I knew she was safe anywhere.
Speaker 1: I sat alone in the rock awaiting mister Slington's return.
Speaker 1: The twilight was deepening and the shadows were heavy when
Speaker 1: he came round the point with his hat hanging at
Speaker 1: his button hole, smoothing his wet hair with one of
Speaker 1: his hands and picking up the old path with the
Speaker 1: other and a pocket comb. My niece not here, mister Sampson,
Speaker 1: he said, looking round. Miss Nina seemed to feel a
Speaker 1: little chill in the air after the sun was down,
Speaker 1: and has gone home. He looked surprised, as though she
Speaker 1: were not accustomed to do anything without him, even to
Speaker 1: originate so slight a proceeding. I persuaded Miss Niner, I explained, ah,
Speaker 1: said he. She is easily persuaded for her good Thank you,
Speaker 1: mister Samson. She is better within doors. The bathing place
Speaker 1: was further than I thought to say. The truth, Missnner
Speaker 1: is very delicate, I observed. He shook his head drew
Speaker 1: a deep sigh, very very very You may recollect me
Speaker 1: saying so the time that has since intervened has not
Speaker 1: strengthened her. The gloomy shadow that fell upon her sister
Speaker 1: so early in life seems, in my anxious eyes to
Speaker 1: gather over her ever darker, ever darker. Dear Margaret, dear Margaret.
Speaker 1: But we must hope. The hand carriage was spinning away
Speaker 1: before us at most indecorous space for an invalid vehicle,
Speaker 1: and was making most irregular curves upon the sand. Missus Slington,
Speaker 1: noticing it after he had put his handkerchief to his eyes, said,
Speaker 1: if I may judge from appearances, your friend will be upset.
Speaker 1: Mister Samson, it looks probable, certainly, said I. The servant
Speaker 1: must be drunk. The servants of old gentlemen will get
Speaker 1: drunk sometimes, said I. The major draws very light, mister Samson.
Speaker 1: The Major does draw light, said I. By this time
Speaker 1: the carriage, much to my relief, was lost in the darkness.
Speaker 1: He walked on for a little side by side over
Speaker 1: the sand in silence. After a short while, he said,
Speaker 1: in a voice still affected by the emotion, that his
Speaker 1: niece's state of health had awakened him. Do you stay
Speaker 1: here long, mister Samson? Why I know I am going
Speaker 1: away to night so soon? But business always holds you
Speaker 1: in request. Men like mister Samson are too important to
Speaker 1: others to be spared to their own need of relaxation
Speaker 1: and enjoyment. I dun't know about that, said I. However,
Speaker 1: I am going back to London. To London, I shall
Speaker 1: be there too soon after you. I knew that as
Speaker 1: well as he did, but I did not tell him
Speaker 1: so any more than I told him what defensive weapon
Speaker 1: my right hand rested on in my pocket as I
Speaker 1: walked by his side, any more than I told him
Speaker 1: why I did not walk on the sea side of him.
Speaker 1: With the night closing in, we left the beach, and
Speaker 1: our ways diverged. We exchanged good night and had parted. Indeed,
Speaker 1: when he said, returning, mister Samson, May I ask poor Melton,
Speaker 1: whom we spoke of, dead yet not when I last
Speaker 1: heard of him, but too broken a man to live
Speaker 1: long and hopelessly lost to his old calling. Dear, dear, dear,
Speaker 1: said he, with great feeling. Sad, sad, sad. The world
Speaker 1: is grave and so went his way. It was not
Speaker 1: his fault if the world were not a grave. But
Speaker 1: I did not call that observation after him any more
Speaker 1: than that I had mentioned those other things just now enumerated.
Speaker 1: He went his way, and I went mine with all expedition.
Speaker 1: This happened, as I have said, either at the end
Speaker 1: of September or beginning of October. The next I saw him,
Speaker 1: and the last time was late in November. I had
Speaker 1: a very particular engagement to breakfast in the temple. It
Speaker 1: was a bitter northeasterly morning, and the sleet and slush
Speaker 1: lay inches deep in the streets. I could get no conveyance,
Speaker 1: and was soon wet to the knee. But I should
Speaker 1: have been true to that appointment, though I had to
Speaker 1: wade to it up to my neck in the same impediments.
Speaker 1: The appointment took me to the chambers in the temple.
Speaker 1: They were at the top of the lonely corner house,
Speaker 1: overlooking the river. The name mister Alfred Beckwith was painted
Speaker 1: on the outer door. On the door opposite on the
Speaker 1: same landing the name mister Julius Slington. The doors of
Speaker 1: both sets of chambers stood open, so that anything said
Speaker 1: aloud in one set, could be heard in the other.
Speaker 1: I had never been in those chambers before. They were dismal, close, unwholesome,
Speaker 1: and oppressive. The furniture, originally good and not yet old,
Speaker 1: was faded and dirty. The rooms were in great disorder.
Speaker 1: There was a strong prevailing smell of opium, brandy and tobacco.
Speaker 1: The great and fire irons were flashed all over with
Speaker 1: unsightly blotches of rust. And on a sofa by the
Speaker 1: fire in the room where breakfast had been prepared, lay
Speaker 1: the host, mister beckwith a man with all appearances of
Speaker 1: the worst kind of drunkard, very far advanced upon his
Speaker 1: shameful way to death. Slington is not come yet, said
Speaker 1: this creature, staggering up when I went in. I'll call
Speaker 1: him Hulloa, Julius Caesar, Come and drink. As he hoarsely
Speaker 1: roared this out, he beat the poker and tongs together
Speaker 1: in a mad way, as if that were his usual
Speaker 1: manner of summoning his associate. The voice mister Slington was
Speaker 1: heard through the clatter from the opposite side of the staircase,
Speaker 1: and he came in. He had not expected the pleasure
Speaker 1: of meeting me I have seen several artful men brought
Speaker 1: to a stag, but I never saw a man so
Speaker 1: aghast as he was when his eyes rested on mine.
Speaker 1: Julius Caesar cried, beck With staggering between us, Miss Samson,
Speaker 1: missed Samson, Julius Caesar, Julius, mister Samson is a friend
Speaker 1: of my soul. Julius keeps me piled with liquor morning,
Speaker 1: noon and night. Julius is a real benefactor. Julius threw
Speaker 1: the tea and coffee out of the window when I
Speaker 1: used to have any. Julius empties all the water jugs
Speaker 1: of their content and fills them with spirits. Julius winds
Speaker 1: me up and keeps me going. Boil the brandy, Julius.
Speaker 1: There was a rusty and fury saucepan in the ashes.
Speaker 1: The ashes looked like the accumulation of weeks. And beck
Speaker 1: With rolling and staggering between us as he were going
Speaker 1: to plunge headlong into the fire, got the saucepan out
Speaker 1: and tried to force it into Stington's hand. Boil the brandy,
Speaker 1: Julius Caesar, come do you usual office? Boil the brandy.
Speaker 1: He became so fierce in his gesticulation with the sauceman
Speaker 1: that I expected to see him lay open Slington's head
Speaker 1: with it. I therefore put out my hand to check him.
Speaker 1: He reeled back to the sofa, sat there, panting, shaking,
Speaker 1: and red eyed in his rags of a dressing gown,
Speaker 1: looking at hers both. I noticed then that there was
Speaker 1: nothing to drink on the table but brandy, and nothing
Speaker 1: to eat but salted herrings and a heart sickly highly
Speaker 1: peppered stew At all events, mister Sampson, said Slington, offering
Speaker 1: me the smooth gravel path for the last time. I
Speaker 1: thank you for interfering between me and this unfortunate man's violence.
Speaker 1: However you came here, mister Sampson, or with whatever motive
Speaker 1: you came here, at least, I thank you for that boil.
Speaker 1: The brandy, muttered Beckward, without gratifying his to know how
Speaker 1: I came there, I said, quietly, how is your niece,
Speaker 1: mister Slington. He looked hard at me, and I looked
Speaker 1: hard at him. I am sorry to say, mister Sampson,
Speaker 1: that my niece has proved treacherous and ungrateful to her
Speaker 1: best friend. She left me without a word of notice
Speaker 1: or explanation. She was misled, no doubt by some designing rascal.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you may have heard of it. I did hear
Speaker 1: that she was misled by a designing rascal. In fact,
Speaker 1: I have proof of it. Are you sure of that?
Speaker 1: Said he quite boil The brandy muttered, beckwith company to breakfast, Julius, Caesar,
Speaker 1: do your usual office, provide the usual breakfast, dinner, tea
Speaker 1: and supper, boil the brandy. The eyes of Slington looked
Speaker 1: from him to me, and he said, after a moment's consideration,
Speaker 1: mister Samson, you're a man of the world, and so
Speaker 1: am I. I will be plain with you. Oh no,
Speaker 1: you won't, said I, shaking my head. I tell you, sir,
Speaker 1: I will be plain with you, and I tell you
Speaker 1: you will not, said I. I know all about you.
Speaker 1: You plain with any one. Nonsense, nonsense, I plainly tell you,
Speaker 1: mister Samson. He went on, with a manner almost composed,
Speaker 1: that I understand your object. You want to save your
Speaker 1: funds and escape from your liabilities. These are old tricks
Speaker 1: of the trade. With you off this, gentleman. But you
Speaker 1: will not do it, sir, You will not succeed. You
Speaker 1: have not an easy adversary to play against. When you
Speaker 1: play against me, we shall have to inquire in due
Speaker 1: time when and how mister Beckwith fell into his present habits.
Speaker 1: With that remark, Sir, I put this poor creature and
Speaker 1: his incoherent wanderings of speech aside, and vish you a
Speaker 1: good morning and a better case next time. When he
Speaker 1: was saying this, Beckwith filled a half pine glass with brandy.
Speaker 1: At this moment he threw the brandy at his face
Speaker 1: and threw the glass after it. Slington put up his hands,
Speaker 1: half blinded with the spirit, and cut with the glass
Speaker 1: across the forehead. At the sound of the breakage, a
Speaker 1: fourth person came into the room, closing the door and
Speaker 1: stood at it. He was a very quiet, but very
Speaker 1: keen looking man, with iron gray hair and slightly lame.
Speaker 1: Slington pulled out his handkerchief, assuaged the pain in his
Speaker 1: sparting eyes, and dabbled the blood on his forehead. He
Speaker 1: was a long time about it, and I saw that
Speaker 1: in doing of it a tremendous change over him, occasioned
Speaker 1: by the change in Beckwith, who ceased to pant and tremble,
Speaker 1: sat upright and never took his eyes off him I
Speaker 1: never in my life saw a face in which aberance
Speaker 1: and determination was so forcibly painted as in Beckwit's. Then
Speaker 1: look at me, you villain, said Beckwith, and see me
Speaker 1: as I really am. I took these rooms to make
Speaker 1: them a trap for you. I came into them as
Speaker 1: a drunkard, to date the trap for you. You fell
Speaker 1: into the trap, and you will never leave it alive.
Speaker 1: On the morning when you last went to see mister
Speaker 1: Sampson's office, I had seen him first. Your plot had
Speaker 1: been known to both of us all along, and you
Speaker 1: have been counterplotted all along. What have you been cajoled
Speaker 1: into putting the prize of two thousand pounds in your power?
Speaker 1: I was to be done to death with brain, and
Speaker 1: Randy not proving quick enough with something quicker. Have I
Speaker 1: never seen you when you thought my senses gone, pouring
Speaker 1: your little bottle into my glass? Why you, murderer and forger,
Speaker 1: Alone here with you in the dead of night, as
Speaker 1: I have so often been, I have had my hand
Speaker 1: upon the trigger of a pistol twenty times to blow
Speaker 1: your brains out. This sudden starting up the thing that
Speaker 1: he had supposed to be his imbecile victim into a
Speaker 1: determined man with a subtled resolution to hunt him down
Speaker 1: and be the death of him, mercilessly expressed from head
Speaker 1: to foot, was in the first shock too much for him.
Speaker 1: Without any figure of speech, he staggered under it. But
Speaker 1: there is no greater mistake than to suppose that a
Speaker 1: man who is a calculating criminal is in any phase
Speaker 1: of his guilt otherwise than true to himself and perfectly
Speaker 1: consistent with his whole character. Such a man commits murder,
Speaker 1: and murder is the natural culmination of his course. Such
Speaker 1: a man has to outface murder, and will do it
Speaker 1: with hardihood and effrontery. It is a sort of fashion
Speaker 1: to express surprise that any notorious criminal, having such a
Speaker 1: crime upon his conscience can so brave it out. Do
Speaker 1: you think that he had it in his conscience at all,
Speaker 1: or had a conscience to have it upon he would
Speaker 1: ever have committed the crime perfectly consistent with himself, as
Speaker 1: I believe all such monsters to be. The Slington recovered
Speaker 1: himself and showed a defiance that was sufficiently cold and quiet.
Speaker 1: He was white, he was haggard, and he was changed,
Speaker 1: but only as a sharper who had played for a
Speaker 1: great stake, and had been outwitted and had lost the game.
Speaker 1: Listen to me, you villain, said Beckwith, And let every
Speaker 1: word you hear me say be a stab in your
Speaker 1: wicked heart. When I took these rooms to throw myself
Speaker 1: in your way and lead you on the scheme that
Speaker 1: I knew my appearance and supposed character and habits would
Speaker 1: suggest to such a devil. How did I know that?
Speaker 1: Because you were no stranger to me, I knew you
Speaker 1: to be the cruel wretch who, for so much money,
Speaker 1: had killed one innocent girl while she trusted him implicitly,
Speaker 1: and who was by inches killing another Slington took out
Speaker 1: a snuff box, took a pinch of snuff and laughed.
Speaker 1: But see here, said Beckwith, never looking away, never raising
Speaker 1: his voice, never relaxing his face, never unclenching his hand.
Speaker 1: See what a dull wolf you have been, after all,
Speaker 1: the infatuated drunkard who never drank a fiftieth part of
Speaker 1: liquor you plied him with, but poured it away here, there, everywhere,
Speaker 1: almost before your eyes, who brought over the fellow you
Speaker 1: said to watch him and to ply him by outbidding
Speaker 1: you in his bribe before he had been at his
Speaker 1: work three days, with whom you have observed no caution yet,
Speaker 1: who was so bent on bridding the earth of you
Speaker 1: as a wild beast, that he would have defeated you
Speaker 1: if you had been ever so prudent. That drunkard, whom
Speaker 1: you have many a time left on the floor of
Speaker 1: this room, and who has even let you go out
Speaker 1: of it alive and undeceived, when you had turned him
Speaker 1: over with your foot, has almost as often on the
Speaker 1: same night, within an hour, within a few minutes, watched
Speaker 1: you awake, had his hand in at your pillow when
Speaker 1: you were asleep, turned over your papers, taken samples from
Speaker 1: your bottles and packets of powder, changed their contents, rifled
Speaker 1: every secret in your life life. He had had another
Speaker 1: pinch of snuff in his hand, but had gradually let
Speaker 1: a drop from between his fingers to the floor, where
Speaker 1: he now smoothed it out with his foot, looking down
Speaker 1: at it. The while that drunkard said beckwith, who had
Speaker 1: free access to your rooms at all times, that he
Speaker 1: might drink the strong drinks that you left in his way,
Speaker 1: and be sooner ended holding no more terms with you
Speaker 1: that he would hold with a tiger has had his
Speaker 1: master key for all your locks, his tests for all
Speaker 1: your poisons, his clue to your cipher writing. He can
Speaker 1: tell you, as well as you can tell him, how
Speaker 1: long it took to complete the deed, What doses there were,
Speaker 1: what intervals, What signs of gradual decay upon mind and body?
Speaker 1: What distempered fancies were produced, what observable changes, what physical pain?
Speaker 1: He can tell you as well as you can tell
Speaker 1: tell him. That all this was recorded day by day
Speaker 1: as a lesson of experience for future service. He can
Speaker 1: tell you better than you can tell him where that
Speaker 1: journal is. At this moment, Slington stopped the action of
Speaker 1: his foot and looked at Beckwith. No, said the latter,
Speaker 1: as if answering a question from him. Not in the
Speaker 1: drawer of the writing desk that opens with the spring,
Speaker 1: it is not there, and it never will be there again.
Speaker 1: Then you are a thief, said Slington, without any change
Speaker 1: whatever in the inflexible purpose which it was quite terrific
Speaker 1: even to me to contemplate, and from the power of
Speaker 1: which I had always felt convinced it was impossible for
Speaker 1: this wretch to escape. Beckwith returned, and I am your
Speaker 1: niece's shadow too. With an imprecation. Slington put his hand
Speaker 1: to his head, tore out some hair, and flung it
Speaker 1: to the ground. It was the end of the smooth walk.
Speaker 1: He destroyed it in the action, and will soon be
Speaker 1: seen that his use for it was past. Beckworth went
Speaker 1: on whenever you left here, I left here, although I
Speaker 1: understood that you found it necessary to pause in the
Speaker 1: completion of that purpose to avert suspicion. Still, I watched
Speaker 1: you close with that poor confiding girl. When I had
Speaker 1: the diary and I could read it word by word.
Speaker 1: It is only about the night before your last visit
Speaker 1: to Scarborough. You remember the night you slept with a
Speaker 1: small flat while tied to your wrist. I sent to
Speaker 1: mister Samson, who was kept out of view. This is
Speaker 1: mister Samson's trusty servants standing by the door. We three
Speaker 1: saved your niece among us. Slington looked at us all,
Speaker 1: took an uncertain step or two from the place where
Speaker 1: he had stood, returned to it, and glanced about him
Speaker 1: in a very curious way, as one of the meaner
Speaker 1: reptiles might looking for a hole to hide in. I
Speaker 1: noticed at the same time that a singular change took
Speaker 1: place in the figure of the man as if it
Speaker 1: collapsed within his clothes, and they consequently became ill, shapen
Speaker 1: and ill fitting. You shall know, said Beckwid, for I
Speaker 1: hope the knowledge will be bitter and terrible to you.
Speaker 1: Why you have been pursued by one man, and why
Speaker 1: when the whole interest that mister Sampson represents would have
Speaker 1: expended any money in hunting you down, you have been
Speaker 1: tracked to death at a single individual's charge. I hear
Speaker 1: you have had the name of Melthem on your lips.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I saw, in addition to those other changes, a
Speaker 1: sudden stoppage came upon his breathing. When you send the
Speaker 1: sweet girl whom you murdered, you know with what artfully
Speaker 1: made out surroundings and probabilities you sent her to Meltham's
Speaker 1: office before taking her abroad to originate the transaction that
Speaker 1: doomed her to the grave. It fell to Meltham's lot
Speaker 1: to see her and to speak with her. It did
Speaker 1: not fall to his lot to save her. Though I
Speaker 1: knew he would freely give up his own life to
Speaker 1: have done it. He admired her. I would say he
Speaker 1: loved her deeply. If I thought it possible that you
Speaker 1: could understand the word. When she was sacrificed, he was
Speaker 1: thoroughly assured of your guilt. Having lost her, he had
Speaker 1: but one object left in life, and that was to
Speaker 1: avenge her and destroy you. I saw the villain's nostril
Speaker 1: rise and fall convulsively, but I saw no moving at
Speaker 1: his mouth. That man meltham Beck, with steadily pursued, was
Speaker 1: as absolutely certain that you could never him in this
Speaker 1: world if he devoted himself to a destruction with his
Speaker 1: utmost fidelity and earnestness, and if he divided the sacred
Speaker 1: duty with no other duty in life, as he was
Speaker 1: certain that in achieving it he would be a poor
Speaker 1: instrument in the hand of Providence, and would do well
Speaker 1: before Heaven in striking you out from among living men.
Speaker 1: I am that man, and I thank God that I
Speaker 1: have done my work. If Slington had been running for
Speaker 1: his life from swift footed savages a dozen miles, he
Speaker 1: could not have shown more empathetic signs of being oppressed
Speaker 1: at heart and laboring for breath than he showed now
Speaker 1: when he looked at the pursuer who had so relentlessly
Speaker 1: hunted him down. You never saw me under my right
Speaker 1: name before you see me under my right name. Now
Speaker 1: you shall see me once again in the body, when
Speaker 1: you are tried for your life. You shall see me
Speaker 1: once again in the spirit, when the cord is around
Speaker 1: your neck and the crowds are crying against you. When
Speaker 1: Maltam had spoken these last words, the miscreen suddenly turned
Speaker 1: his face away and seemed to strike his mouth with
Speaker 1: his open hand. At the same instant, the room was
Speaker 1: filled with a new and powerful odor, and almost at
Speaker 1: the same time he broke into a crooked run, leap start.
Speaker 1: I have no name for the spasm, and fell with
Speaker 1: a dull weight that shook the heavy old doors and
Speaker 1: windows in their frames. That was a fitting end of him.
Speaker 1: When we saw that he was dead, we drew away
Speaker 1: from the room, and Melton, giving me his hands, said
Speaker 1: with a weary air, I have no more work on earth,
Speaker 1: my friend, but I shall see her again elsewhere. It
Speaker 1: was in vain that I tried to rally him. He
Speaker 1: might have saved her. He said he had not saved her,
Speaker 1: and he reproached himself. He had lost her, and he
Speaker 1: was broken hearted. The purpose that has sustained me over Samson,
Speaker 1: and there is nothing now to hold to life. I
Speaker 1: am not fit for life. I am weak and spiritless.
Speaker 1: I have no hope and no object. My day is done.
Speaker 1: In truth, I could hardly have believed that a broken
Speaker 1: man who then spoke to me was the man who
Speaker 1: had so strongly and so differently impressed me when his
Speaker 1: purpose was before him. I used such entries with him
Speaker 1: as I could, But he still said, and always said,
Speaker 1: in a patient, undemonstrative way, nothing could avail him. He
Speaker 1: was broken hearted. He died early in the next spring.
Speaker 1: He was buried by the side of the poor young
Speaker 1: lady for whom he had cherished those tender and unhappy regrets,
Speaker 1: and he left all he had to his sister. She
Speaker 1: lived to be a happy wife and mother. She married
Speaker 1: my sister's son, who succeeded poor Malcolm. She is living now,
Speaker 1: and her children ride about the garden on my walking
Speaker 1: stick when I go to see her and off. Hunted
Speaker 1: down by Charles Dickens