The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 18, 1906, Page 8

when it windows t where it g wa g ge. So m ¢ tried to with my es ' mastiff; s glad enough sta jo find { the o carpet’ thic went at every step hid the brute's creak did T rattied it for a rod and heart thep set it going in double- pped my and e stood- still, with a hand the rail. were now on & level with the the landing, out of which branch- ed two passages—one by my right hand, e otber to the left, st the foot of the night placed e length of A &0 that T was gazing gram it knows that ence that can d s is only to be great house a: midnigh I are that for a r rod yc Upon this silence, min- e, broke a light s clink of & decanter on the r glass It came from the roomr where the light was In the.doorway I haited. The room was 1 lined for the most part with books n what they call “divinity calf,” nd littered with papers Ike table on assize day. Before where a few coals bufned -sulk rn elbow chair, and beside sorner of a writing table, were set an unlit candle and a pile of manu- & At the opposite end of the room a curtained door led (I guessed) to the chamber th d first seen illuminated ALt with the tail of my ey while t in frant, where, in the m reat square of carpet betwee d the windows, was a table with a red upon it. On this cloth were a co of wax candles, lit, in silver stands, a tray and a decanter three parts full of brandy. And between me ard the table stood & man He we ble lifting a wine glass from the at the moment when I appeared trembled now in his right hand. I ard a spilt drop or two fall on the carpet, and this was all the evidence he showed of discomposure. z the glass back, he felt In his pocket for a handke ief, failed one, and rubbed his hands together the liquor off his fingers he said in a matter- ct tone, turning his eyes upon me as fted his glass again and emptied it. to ge “You startied me,” “How did you find the way in?" “By the front door.” sald I, wondering at his unconcern. He nodded his head owly Ah, yes; T forgot to lock it. You came to.steal, I suppose’ “I came because I lost my way. been traveling this God-forsaken since dusk—" I've moor B st -~ - & —y g “With your doots In your hand?’ he put in quietly. “I took theih off out of respect to the yellow dog you keep.” “He lies In & very natural attitude, eh?” “You don’t tell me he was stuffed!” The old man's eyes beamed a contemptu- ous pity. “You are indifferently sharp, my dear sir, for a housebreaker. Come in. Set down those convicting boots, and don't drip pools of water in the doorway, of all places. If I must entertain a burglar I prefer him tidy He walked to the fire, picked up a poker and knocked the coals into a blaze. This done, he turned round on me. with the poker still in his hand. The serenest grav- ity sat on his large, pale features. “Why have I done this?” he asked. “I suppose to get possegsiofl of the poker.” “Quite right. May I inquire your next move?” “Why,” said 1, feeling In my tail pocket, I carry a pistol.” “Which 1 suppose to be damp.” “By no means. I carry it, as you see, in an oflcloth case.” He stopped and laid the poker carefully in the fender. “That is a stronger card than I pos- gees. 1 might urge that by pulling the trigger you would certainly alarm the house and the neighborhood, and put a halter around your neck. I say, I might urge this, and assume you te be an intel- ligent auditor. But it strikes me as gafer to assume you capable of using a pistol with effect at three paces. With what might happen subsequently I wil not pretend to be concerned. It is suf- clent that I dislike the notion of being perforated, The fate of your neck—"" He waved a hand. *“Well, I have known you for just five minutes, and feel but moderate interest in your neck. As for the inmates of this house it will refresh you to hear that there are none. I haye lived here two years with a butler and & female cook, both of whom I dismissed vesterday at a moment's notice for con- duct which T will not shock your ears by explicitly naming. Suffice it to say, I car- ried them off yesterday to my parish church, two miles away, married them, and dismissed them in the vestry without characters. I wish you had known that butler—but excuse me; with the informa- tion I have supplied, you ought to find no difficulty in-fixing the price you will take to clear out of my house instanter.” “‘8ir,” 1 answered, “I have held a pistol at one or two heads in my time; but never at one stuffed with a nobler dis- cretibn. - Your chivalry does not, indeed, disarm me, but prompts me to desire more of your-acquaintance. I have found a gentleman, and must sup with him be- fore I make terms.” X The address seemed to please him. He shuffied across the room to a sideboard and produced a plate of biscuits, another of almonds and dried raisins, a glass and two decanters, “Sherry and Madeira,” he said. *‘There is also a cold ple in the larder, if you care for it.” ‘A biscuit will serve,” I replied. “To tell the truth, I'm more for the bucket than the manger, as the grooms say; and, by your leave, the brandy you were testing just now is more to my mind than wine.” “There is no water handy.’” “There was plenty out of-doors ta last “ Wity ’sa1D [FERLING N I8 POCKEZS “] carry A ZBTCL. me with this bottle. “I was talking just now of my late butler,” he began, with a sip at his brandy. “Has it struck you that when confronted with moral delinquency I am likely to let my indignation get the better of me Vot at all,” I answered heartily, re- flling my glass. It appeared that another reply would ve nleaged him better, “H'm! #I 'was hoping 'that perhaps I had visited his offense too strongly. As a clergyman, you see, I was bound to be severe; but, upon my word, sir, since he wenrt I'have felt like a man who has lost a limb.” He drummed with his fingers on the cloth'for a few moments, and went on: “One has a natural disposition to for- glve butlers—Pharaoh, for {instance, felt it. There hovers around butlers that peculiar atmosphere which Shakes- peare noticed as encircling kings, an atmosphere in which common ethics lose their pertinence. But mine was a rare bird—a black swan among but- lers. He was more than a butler; he was a quick and brightly gifted man. Of the accuracy of his taste and the unusual scope. of his endeavor you will be able to form some opinion when I assure you he modeled himself upon me.” I bowed over my brandy. am a scholar; yet I employed him to read aloud to me and derived pleas- ure from his intonation. I talk as a scholar; yet he learned to answer me in language as precise as my own. My cast-off garments fitted him not more irreproachably than did my amenities of manner. Divest'him of his tray, and you would find his mode of entéring a room hardly distinguishable from my own—the same urbanity, the same alertness of carriage, the same super- fine deference toward the weaker sex. All—all my idiosyncrasies I saw re- flected in this, my wirror; and can you doubt that I was gratified? He was my alter ego—which, by the way, malkes it the more extraordinary that it should have been necessary to marry him to the cook.” R “Look here,” I broke in, “you want a butle: “Oh, you really grasp that fact, do you?”’ he retorted, 3 “And you wish to get rid of me as soon as may b he “I hope there Is ne rmpoliteness in complimenting you on your discern- ment. “Your two wishes,” sald I, “may be reconciled. Let me cease to be your burglar and let me continue here as your butler.” “Believe me,” 1 went on, “you might do worse. 1 have been a demy of Mag- dalen College, Oxford, in my time, and retain some Greek and Latin, I'll un- dertake to read the fathers with an ac- cent that shall not offend you. My knowledge of wine is none the worse for having been cultivated in other men’s cellars. Moreover, you shall en- “ gage the ugliest cook in Christendom, so long as I'm your butler. I've taken a liking to you—that's flat—and I ap- ply for the post. “I give £40 a year,” he said. “And I'm cheap at that price.” “We are too impuistve, I think,” was his answer after a minute's silence. “And your speech smacks of the ama- teur. You say, ‘Let me cease to be your burglar and let me be your but- fer! The mere aspiration is respectable; but a man might as well say, ‘Let me cease to write poems: let me paint plc- tures’ And truly, sir, you impressed me as no expert in your present trade, but a journeyman housebreaker, if I may say so.” “On the other hand,” I argued, ‘con- slder the moderation of my demands; that alone should convince you of my desire to turn over a new leaf. T ask for a month's trial; if, at the end of that time I don't suit, you.shall say so, and I'll march from your door with nothing in my pocket but my month's wages. Be hanged, sir! but when I re- flect on the’ amount you'll have to pay fo get ‘me to face tonight's storm again, you seem to be getting off dirt chea; cried I, slapping my palm en the table. “Ah, it you had only known Adol- phus!” he. exclaimed. Now the third glass of clean spirits has always a deplorable effect on me. It turns me from bright to black, from lightness of spirits to extreme sulki- ness. I have done more wickedness over this third tumbler than in all the other states of comparative inebriety within my experfence. So now I glow- ered at my companion and rapped out a curse. “Look here, I don’t want to hear any more of Adolphus, and I've a pretty clear notion of the game you're play- ing. You want to ma me drunk, and you're ready to sit prattling there till I drop under the table.” “Do me the favor to remember that you came and are staying at your own invitation. As for the brandy, I would remind you that I suggested a milder drink. Try some Madeira.” He handed me the decanter as he spoke and I poured out a glass. ] Madetra!” sald I, taking a gulp. *Ugh! It's the commonest Marsala!” I had no sooner said the words than he rose up and stretched a hand gravely #eross to me. “I hope you'll shake it,” he sald; “though as a man who afjer three glasses of neat spirit can distinguish between Madeira and Marsala, you have every right to refuse me. Ten minutes ago you offered to become my butler, and I demurred. I now beg you to repeat that offer. Say the word and I employ you gladly; you shall even have the second decanter (which contains genuine”Madeira) to take to bed with you. Picking up my boots, I followed him along the passage and down the silent staircase. In the hall he paused to stand on tiptoe and turn up the lamp, which was burning low As he did so I found time to fling a glance at my old ememy, the mastiff. He lay as I had first seen h!m—a stuffed dog. if ever there was one. “One moment,” I said this is all very pretty, but how am I to knc you're not sending me to bed while you fetch in all the countryside to lay by the heels?” “¥Fm afraid,” answer, “you must be content ny word as a gentleman that never, ight or after, will T breathe yllabl t the circumStances of r visit. How- ever, if you choose, we will return up stal “No: I'll you,” said 1, al e opened the door Tt_led inte a broad passage pa with slats, upon which three or rooms opened. He paused b ond, and ushered me chamber, which, tpoush narrow comfortable enough—a vast impro ment, at any rate, on the m lodgings I had been used to for montias past. “Yo can undress e 52 *The sheets are aired, 1w & moment I'll fetch a drt—e of my own. Sir, you heap coals of fire on me “ELelleve me that for ninety-nine of your qualities I do not care a tinker's curge; hut as a man who, after three tumblers of neat brandy, can tell Mar- sala from Madeira you.are 1o be taken care of.” Now, it might be supposed that I was only too glad tu toss off my clothes and climb into the bed I had 80 unex- pectedly acquired a right to. But, as & matter of fact, I diG nothing of the kind. Instead, I'drew on my boots and sat on the bed's edge, blinking at my candle till it died down in its sock and afterward at the purple square of window as it slowly changed to gray with the coming dawn. I was cold to the heart, and my teeth chattered with an ague. Ogrtainly I never suspected my host's wdrd: but was evem occu- pied in framing good resolutions and shaping out an excellent future, when I heard the front door gently pulled to, and a man's footsteps moving quietly to the gal The treachery knocked me in a heap for the moment. Then leaping up and flinging my door wide, I stumbled through the uncertain light of the pas- sage into the front hall There was a fan-shaped light over the door and the place was very still and gray. A quick thought, or, rather, a sudden prophetic guess at the truth, made me turn teo the figure of the mas- tiff curled under the hall table. I laid my hand on the sgfuff of his neck. He was quite imp, and my fin- Zers sank into the flesh on either side of the vertebrae. Digsing them deaper, 1 dragged him out into the middle of the hall and pulled the front door open to see the better. His throat was gashed from ear to ear. How many seconds passed after I dropped the senseless lump on the flo and before I made another movement, it would puzzle me to say. Twice I stirred a foot, as if to run out at the door. Then, changing my mind, I stepped over the mastf and ran up the staircase. The light no longer shone out into the left- hand .passage; but, groping down it, I found the study door open, as before, and passed in. 1 pushed the curtain aside, paused for a moment and listened to the violent beat of my heart, then feit for the door handle and turned it. < All T could see at first was that the chamber was small; next, that the light patch in a liné with the window was the white coverlet of a bed, and, next, that somebody or something lay on the bed. I listened again. There was no sound in the room; no heart beating but my own. I reached gut a hand to pull up the blind, and drew it back again. I dared not. The daylight grew minute by minute, on the dull parallelogram of the blind, and minute by minute that horrible thing on the bed'took something of distinctness. The strain beat me at last. [ fetched a veritable yell to give myseif courage, and, reaching for the cord, pulled up the blind as fast as it would ge The face on the pillow was that of an 0ld man—a face waxen and peacefui, with quiet lines about the mouth and eyes, and long lines of gray hair falling baek from the temples. The body was turned s lit- tle on one side. and one hand lay outside the bedclothes in a very nasural manmer. But there-were two dark spots on the coverlet. Then 1 knew I was face to face with the Feal householder: and it flashed' on me that I had been indiscreet in taking serv- ice as his butler. and that I knew the face his ex-butler wore. And being by this time awake to the esponsibllities of the post, T quitted it three steps at a time, not once looking behind me. Outside the house the storm had died. and white sunlight broke over the sodden moors. But my bones were cold, and I ran faster and faster, Copyright, 1906, by S. S. McCluse Co.