ceeded three times in eluding their observation and
spending several hours on end in private, and most
likely dangerous, affairs ? An amateur might have lost
47
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
him by accident, but if Rudolph and Jerome were thrown
off the scent, it must have been done on purpose, and
by a man who had a cogent reason and exceptional re-
sources."
"1 believe the question is now one between my
brother and myself," replied Geraldine, with a shade of
offence in his tone.
"I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine," returned
Prince Florizel. "Perhaps, for that very reason, you
should be all the more ready to accept my counsels.
But enough. That girl in yellow dances well."
And the talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris
ballroom in the Carnival.
Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour
was already near at hand when he ought to be upon the
scene of his assignation. The more he reflected the less
he liked the prospect, and as at that moment an eddy
in the crowd began to draw him in the direction of the
door, he suffered it to carry him away without resis-
tance. The eddy stranded him in a corner under the
gallery, where his ear was immediately struck with
the voice of Madame Zephyrine. She was speaking in
French with the young man of the blond locks who
had been pointed out by the strange Britisher not half
an hour before.
"I have a character at stake," she said, "or 1 would
put no other condition than my heart recommends. But
you have only to say so much to the porter, and he will
let you go by without a word."
' ' But why this talk of debt ? " objected her companion.
" Heavens! " said she, " do you think I do not under-
stand my own hotel ? "
48
THE SUICIDE CLUB
And she went by, clinging affectionately to her com-
panion's arm.
This put Silas in mind of his billet.
"Ten minutes hence," thought he, "and I maybe
walking with as beautiful a woman as that, and even
better dressed perhaps a real lady, possibly a woman
of title."
And then he remembered the spelling, and was a little
downcast.
"But it may have been written by her maid," he
imagined.
The clock was only a few minutes from the hour, and
this immediate proximity set his heart beating at a curi-
ous and rather disagreeable speed. He reflected with
relief that he was in no way bound to put in an appear-
ance. Virtue and cowardice were together, and he
made once more for the door, but this time of his own
accord, and battling against the stream of people which
was now moving in a contrary direction. Perhaps this
prolonged resistance wearied him, or perhaps he was in
that frame of mind when merely to continue in the same
determination for a certain number of minutes produces
a reaction and a different purpose. Certainly, at least,
he wheeled about for a third time, and did not stop until
he had found a place of concealment within a few yards
of the appointed place.
Here he went through an agony of spirit, in which
he several times prayed to God for help, for Silas had
been devoutly educated. He had now not the least in-
clination for the meeting; nothing kept him from flight
but a silly fear lest he should be thought unmanly ; but
this was so powerful that it kept head against all other
49
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
motives; and although it could not decide him to ad-
vance, prevented him from definitely running away. At
last the clock indicated ten minutes past the hour.
Young Scuddamore's spirit began to rise; he peered
round the corner and saw no one at the place of meet-
ing; doubtless his unknown correspondent had wearied
and gone away. He became as bold as he had formerly
been timid. It seemed to him that if he came at all to
the appointment, however late, he was clear from the
charge of cowardice. Nay, now he began to suspect a
hoax, and actually complimented himself on his shrewd-
ness in having suspected and out-manoeuvred his mys-
tifiers. So very idle a thing is a boy's mind!
Armed with these reflections, he advanced boldly
from his corner; but he had not taken above a couple of
steps before a hand was laid upon his arm. He turned
and beheld a lady cast in a very large mould and with
somewhat stately features, but bearing no mark of
severity in her looks.
" I see that you are a very self-confident lady-killer,"
said she; "for you make yourself expected. But I was
determined to meet you. When a woman has once so
far forgotten herself as to make the first advance, she
has long ago left behind her all considerations of petty
pride."
Silas was overwhelmed by the size and attractions
of his correspondent and the suddenness with which she
had fallen upon him. But she soon set him at his ease.
She was very towardly and lenient in her behaviour; she
led him on to make pleasantries, and then applauded
him to the echo; and in a very short time, between
blandishments and a liberal imbibition of warm brandy,
50
THE SUICIDE CLUB
she had not only induced him to fancy himself in love,
but to declare his passion with the greatest vehemence.
"Alas! " she said; " I do not know whether I ought
not to deplore this moment, great as is the pleasure you
give me by your words. Hitherto I was alone to suffer;
now, poor boy, there will be two. I am not my own
mistress. I dare not ask you to visit me at my own
house, for I am watched by jealous eyes. Let me see,"
she added; "I am older than you, although so much
weaker; and while I trust in your courage and deter-
mination, I must employ my own knowledge of the
world for our mutual benefit. Where do you live?"
He told her that he lodged in a furnished hotel, and
named the street and number.
She seemed to reflect for some minutes, with an effort
of mind.
" I see," she said at last. " You will be faithful and
obedient, will you not ? "
Silas assured her eagerly of his fidelity.
"To-morrow night, then," she continued, with an
encouraging smile, "you must remain at home all the
evening; and if any friends should visit you, dismiss
them at once on any pretext that most readily presents
itself. Your door is probably shut by ten ? " she asked.
" By eleven," answered Silas.
" At a quarter past eleven," pursued the lady, " leave
the house. Merely cry for the door to be opened, and
be sure you fall into no talk with the porter, as that
might ruin everything. Go straight to the corner
where the Luxembourg Gardens join the Boulevard;
there you will find me waiting you. I trust you to fol-
low my advice from point to point: and remember, if
51
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
you fail me in only one particular, you will bring the
sharpest trouble on a woman whose only fault is to
have seen and loved you."
" I cannot see the use of all these instructions," said
Silas.
"I believe you are already beginning to treat me as a
master," she cried, tapping him with her fan upon the
arm. "Patience, patience! that should come in time.
A woman loves to be obeyed at first, although after-
wards she finds her pleasure in obeying. Do as I ask
you, for Heaven's sake, or I will answer for nothing.
Indeed, now I think of it," she added, with the manner
of one who had just seen further into a difficulty, "I
find a better plan of keeping importunate visitors away.
Tell the porter to admit no one for you, except a per-
son who may come that night to claim a debt; and
speak with some feeling, as though you feared the in-
terview, so that he may take your words in earnest."
" I think you may trust me to protect myself against
intruders," he said, not without a little pique.
"That is how I should prefer the thing arranged,"
she answered, coldly. "I know you men; you think
nothing of a woman's reputation."
Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the
scheme he had in view had involved a little vain-glory-
ing before his acquaintances.
" Above all," she added, " do not speak to the porter
as you come out."
"And why?" said he. "Of all your instructions,
that seems to me the least important."
" You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the
others, which you now see to be very necessary," she
52
THE SUICIDE CLUB
replied. "Believe me, this also has its uses; in time
you will see them ; and what am I to think of your
affection, if you refuse me such trifles at our first inter-
view ? "
Silas confounded himself in explanations and apolo-
gies; in the middle of these she looked up at the clock
and clapped her hands together with a suppressed
scream.
" Heavens! " she cried, " is it so late ? I have not an
instant to lose. Alas, we poor women, what slaves we
are! What have I not risked for you already ?"
And after repeating her directions, which she artfully
combined with caresses and the most abandoned looks,
she bade him farewell and disappeared among the
crowd.
The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense
of great importance; he was now sure she was a coun-
tess ; and when evening came he minutely obeyed her
orders and was at the corner of the Luxembourg Gardens
by the hour appointed. No one was there. He waited
nearly half an hour, looking in the face of everyone who
passed or loitered near the spot; he even visited the
neighbouring corners of the Boulevard and made a com-
plete circuit of the garden railings; but there was no
beautiful countess to throw herself into his arms. At
last, and most reluctantly, he began to retrace his steps
towards his hotel. On the way he remembered the
words he had heard pass between Madame Zephyrine
and the blond young man, and they gave him an inde-
finite uneasiness,
"It appears," he reflected, "that everyone has to tell
lies to our porter."
53
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
He rang the bell, the door opened before him, and the
porter in his bed-clothes came to offer him a light
" Has he gone ? " inquired the porter.
"He? Whom do you mean?" asked Silas, some-
what sharply, for he was irritated by his disappoint-
ment.
"I did not notice him go out," continued the porter,
"but I trust you paid him. We do not care, in this
house, to have lodgers who cannot meet their liabili-
ties."
"What the devil do you mean?" demanded Silas,
rudely. " I cannot understand a word of this farrago."
"The short blond young man who came for his
debt," returned the other. "Him it is I mean. Who
else should it be, when I had your orders to admit no
one else?"
" Why, good God, of course he never came," retorted
Silas.
" I believe what I believe," retorted the porter, putting
his tongue into his cheek with a most roguish air.
" You are an insolent scoundrel," cried Silas, and, feel-
ing that he had made a ridiculous exhibition of asperity,
and at the same time bewildered by a dozen alarms, he
turned and began to run up stairs.
" Do you not want a light then ? " cried the porter.
But Silas only hurried the faster, and did not pause
until he had reached the seventh landing and stood in
front of his own door. There he waited a moment to
recover his breath, assailed by the worst forebodings and
almost dreading to enter the room.
When at last he did so he was relieved to find it dark,
and to all appearance untenanted. He drew a long
54
THE SUICIDE CLUB
breath. Here he was, home again in safety, and this
should be his last folly as certainly as it had been his
first. The matches stood on a little table by the bed, and
he began to grope his way in that direction. As he
moved, his apprehensions grew upon him once more,
and he was pleased, when his foot encountered an ob-
stacle, to find it nothing more alarming than a chair.
At last he touched curtains. From the position of the
window, which was faintly visible, he knew he must
be at the foot of the bed, and had only to feel his way
along it in order to reach the table in question.
He lowered his hand, but what he touched was not
simply a counterpane it was a counterpane with some-
thing underneath it like the outline of a human leg. Silas
withdrew his arm and stood a moment petrified.
"What, what," he thought, "can this betoken?"
He listened intently, but there was no sound of breath-
ing. Once more, with a great effort, he reached out
the end of his finger to the spot he had already touched ;
but this time he leaped back half a yard, and stood shiv-
ering and fixed with terror. There was something in
his bed. What it was he knew not, but there was
something there.
It was some seconds before he could move. Then,
guided by an instinct, he fell straight upon the matches,
and keeping his back toward the bed, lighted a candle.
As soon as the flame had kindled, he turned slowly round
and looked for what he feared to see. Sure enough,
there was the worst of his imaginations realized. The
coverlid was drawn carefully up over the pillow, but it
moulded the outline of a human body lying motionless;
and when he dashed forward and flung aside the sheets,
55
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
he beheld the blond young man whom he had seen in
the Bullier Ball the night before, his eyes open and with-
out speculation, his face swollen and blackened, and a
thin stream of blood trickling from his nostrils.
Silas uttered a long tremulous wail, dropped the can-
dle, and fell on his knees beside the bed.
Silas was awakened from the stupor into which his
terrible discovery had plunged him, by a prolonged but
discreet tapping at the door. It took him some seconds
to remember his position ; and when he hastened to pre-
vent anyone from entering it was already too late. Dr.
Noel, in a tall nightcap, carrying a lamp which lighted
up his long white countenance, sidling in his gait, and
peering and cocking his head like some sort of bird,
pushed the door slowly open, and advanced into the
middle of the room.
"I thought I heard a cry," began the Doctor, "and
fearing you might be unwell, I did not hesitate to offer
this intrusion."
Silas, with a flushed face and a fearful beating heart,
kept between the Doctor and the bed ; but he found no
voice to answer.
"You are in the dark," pursued the Doctor; "and
yet you have not even begun to prepare for rest. You
will not easily persuade me against my own eyesight;
and your face declares most eloquently that you require
either a friend or a physician which is it to be ? Let
me feel your pulse, for that is often a just reporter of the
heart."
He advanced to Silas, who still retreated before him
backwards, and sought to take him by the wrist ; but
the strain on the young American's nerves had become
56
THE SUICIDE CLUB
too great for endurance. He avoided the Doctor with
a febrile movement, and, throwing himself upon the
floor, burst into a flood of weeping.
As soon as Dr. Noel perceived the dead man in the
bed his face darkened ; and hurrying back to the door
which he had left ajar, he hastily closed and double-
locked it.
"Up!" he cried, addressing Silas in strident tones.
" This is no time for weeping. What have you done ?
How came this body in your room ? Speak freely to
one who may be helpful. Do you imagine I would
ruin you ? Do you think this piece of dead flesh on
your pillow can alter in any degree the sympathy with
which you have inspired me ? Credulous youth, the
horror with which blind and unjust law regards an ac-
tion never attaches to the doer in the eyes of those who
love him ; and if I saw the friend of my heart return to
me out of seas of blood he would be in no way changed
in my affection. Raise yourself," he said; "good and
ill are a chimera ; there is naught in life except destiny,
and however you may be circumstanced there is one
at your side who will help you to the last."
Thus encouraged, Silas gathered himself together,
and in a broken voice, and helped out by the Doctor's
interrogations, contrived at last to put him in pos-
session of the facts. But the conversation between
the Prince and Geraldine he altogether omitted, as he
had understood little of its purport, and had no idea
that it was in any way related to his own misadven-
ture.
"Alas!" cried Dr. Noel, "I am much abused, or
you have fallen innocently into the most dangerous
57
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
hands in Europe. Poor boy, what a pit has been dug
for your simplicity! into what a deadly peril have
your unwary feet been conducted ! This man," he
said, "this Englishman, whom you twice saw, and
whom I suspect to be the soul of the contrivance, can
you describe him? Was he young or old? tall or
short?"
But Silas, who, for all his curiosity, had not a see-
ing eye in his head, was able to supply nothing
but meagre generalities, which it was impossible to
recognise.
" I would have it a piece of education in all schools! "
cried the Doctor angrily. "Where is the use of eye-
sight and articulate speech if a man cannot observe and
recollect the features of his enemy ? I, who know all
the gangs of Europe, might have identified him, and
gained new weapons for your defence. Cultivate this
art in future, my poor boy ; you may find it of momen-
tous service."
' ' The future ! " repeated Silas. "What future is there
left for me except the gallows?"
"Youth is but a cowardly season," returned the
Doctor; "and a man's own troubles look blacker than
they are. I am old, and yet I never despair."
"Can I tell such a story to the police?" demanded
Silas.
"Assuredly not," replied the Doctor. " From what
I see already of the machination in which you have
been involved, your case is desperate upon that side;
and for the narrow eye of the authorities you are
infallibly the guilty person. And remember that we
only know a portion of the plot; and the same infa-
58
THE SUICIDE CLUB
mous contrivers have doubtless arranged many other
circumstances which would be elicited by a police in-
quiry, and help to fix the guilt more certainly upon your
innocence."
" I am then lost, indeed! " cried Silas.
"I have not said so," answered Dr. Noel, "for I am
a cautious man."
"But look at this!" objected Silas, pointing to the
body. "Here is this object in my bed: not to be ex-
plained, not to be disposed of, not to be regarded with-
out horror."
"Horror?" replied the Doctor. "No. When this
sort of clock has run down, it is no more to me than
an ingenious piece of mechanism, to be investigated
with the bistery. When blood is once cold and stag-
nant, it is no longer human blood; when flesh is once
dead, it is no longer that flesh which we desire in our
lovers and respect in our friends. The grace, the at-
traction, the terror, have all gone from it with the ani-
mating spirit. Accustom yourself to look upon it with
composure, for if my scheme is practicable you will have
to live in constant proximity to that which now so
greatly horrifies you."
"Your scheme ? " cried Silas. " What is that ? Tell
me speedily, Doctor; for I have scarcely courage enough
to continue to exist"
Without replying, Dr. Noel turned towards the bed,
and proceeded to examine the corpse.
"Quite dead," he murmured. "Yes, as I had sup-
posed, the pockets empty. Yes, and the name cut off
the shirt. Their work has been done thoroughly and
well. Fortunately he is of small stature."
59
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
Silas followed these words with an extreme anxiety.
At last the Doctor, his autopsy completed, took a chair
and addressed the young American with a smile.
"Since I came into your room," said he, "although
my ears and my tongue have been so busy, I have not
suffered my eyes to remain idle. I noted a little while
ago that you have there, in the corner, one of those
monstrous constructions which your fellow-country-
men carry with them into all quarters of the globe
in a word, a Saratoga trunk. Until this moment I have
never been able to conceive the utility of these erections;
but then I began to have a glimmer. Whether it was
for convenience in the slave trade, or to obviate the re-
sults of too ready an employment of the bowie-knife, I
cannot bring myself to decide. But one thing I see
plainly the object of such a box is to contain a hu-
man body."
"Surely," cried Silas, "surely this is not a time for
jesting."
"Although I may express myself with some degree
of pleasantry," replied the Doctor, "the purport of my
words is entirely serious. And the first thing we have
to do, my young friend, is to empty your coffer of all it
contains."
Silas, obeying the authority of Doctor Noel, put him-
self at his disposition. The Saratoga trunk was soon
gutted of its contents, which made a considerable litter
on the floor; and then Silas taking the heels and the
Doctor supporting the shoulders the body of the mur-
dered man was carried from the bed, and, after some
difficulty, doubled up and inserted whole into the empty
box. With an effort on the part of both, the lid was
60
THE SUICIDE CLUB
forced down upon this unusual baggage, and the trunk
was locked and corded by the Doctor's own hand, while
Silas disposed of what had been taken out between the
closet and a chest of drawers.
"Now," said the Doctor, "the first step has been
taken on the way to your deliverance. To-morrow or
rather to-day, it must be your task to allay the suspicions
of your porter, paying him all that you owe; while you
may trust me to make the arrangements necessary to a
safe conclusion. Meantime, follow me to my room,
where I shall give you a safe and powerful opiate ; for,
whatever you do, you must have rest."
The next day was the longest in Silas's memory;
it seemed as if it would never be done. He denied him-
self to his friends, and sat in a corner with his eyes
fixed upon the Saratoga trunk in dismal contemplation.
His own former indiscretions were now returned upon
him in kind ; for the observatory had been once more
opened, and he was conscious of an almost continual
study from Madame Zephyrine's apartment. So dis-
tressing did this become, that he was at last obliged to
block up the spy-hole from his own side; and when
he was thus secured from observation he spent a con-
siderable portion of his time in contrite tears and prayer.
Late in the evening Dr. Noel entered the room carry-
ing in his hand a pair of sealed envelopes without ad-
dress, one somewhat bulky, and the other so slim as
to seem without enclosure.
"Silas," he said, seating himself at the table, "the
time has now come for me to explain my plan for your
salvation. To-morrow morning, at an early hour, Prince
Florizel of Bohemia returns to London, after having
61
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
diverted himself for a few days with the Parisian Car-
nival. It was my fortune, a good while ago, to do
Colonel Geraldine, his Master of the Horse, one of those
services so common in my profession, which are never
forgotten upon either side. I have no need to explain
to you the nature of the obligation under which he was
laid ; suffice it to say that I knew him ready to serve me
in any practicable manner. Now, it was necessary for
you to gain London with your trunk unopened. To
this the Custom House seemed to oppose a fatal diffi-
culty ; but I bethought me that the baggage of so con-
siderable a person as the Prince, is, as a matter of cour-
tesy, passed without examination by the officers of
Custom. I applied to Colonel Geraldine, and succeeded
in obtaining a favourable answer. To-morrow, if you
go before six to the hotel where the Prince lodges, your
baggage will be passed over as a part of his, and you
yourself will make the journey as a member of his
suite."
' ' It seems to me, as you speak, that I have already
seen both the Prince and Colonel Geraldine ; I even over-
heard some of their conversation the other evening at the
BullierBall."
"It is probable enough; for the Prince loves to mix
with all societies," replied the Doctor. "Once arrived
in London," he pursued, "your task is nearly ended.
In this more bulky envelope I have given you a letter
which I dare not address; but in the other you will find
the designation of the house to which you must carry it
along with your box, which will there be taken from
you and not trouble you any more."
"Alas! " said Silas, " I have every wish to believe you;
62
THE SUICIDE CLUB
but how is it possible ? You open up to me a bright
prospect, but, I ask you, is my mind capable of receiv-
ing so unlikely a solution ? Be more generous, and let
me farther understand your meaning."
The Doctor seemed painfully impressed.
" Boy," he answered, "you do not know how hard
a thing you ask of me. But be it so. I am now inured
to humiliation ; and it would be strange if I refused you
this, after having granted you so much. Know, then,
that although I now make so quiet an appearance
frugal, solitary, addicted to study when I was younger,