VII
The Great Paul Lessingham
He was in evening dress. He carried a small portfolio in his left hand. If the discovery of my presence startled him, as it could scarcely have failed to do, he allowed no sign of surprise to escape him. Paul Lessingham’s inpenetrability is proverbial. Whether on platforms addressing excited crowds, or in the midst of heated discussion in the House of Commons, all the world knows that his coolness remains unruffled. It is generally understood that he owes his success in the political arena in no slight measure to the adroitness which is born of his invulnerable presence of mind. He gave me a taste of its quality then. Standing in the attitude which has been familiarised to us by caricaturists, his feet apart, his broad shoulders well set back, his handsome head a little advanced, his keen blue eyes having in them something suggestive of a bird of prey considering just when, where, and how to pounce, he regarded me for some seconds in perfect silence, whether outwardly I flinched I cannot say; inwardly I know I did. When he spoke, it was without moving from where he stood, and in the calm, airy tones in which he might have addressed an acquaintance who had just dropped in.
‘May I ask, sir, to what I am indebted for the pleasure of your company?’
He paused, as if waiting for my answer. When none came, he put his question in another form.
‘Pray, sir, who are you, and on whose invitation do I find you here?’
As I still stood speechless, motionless, meeting his glance without a twitching of an eyebrow, nor a tremor of the hand, I imagine that he began to consider me with an even closer intentness than before. And that the to say the least of it peculiarity of my appearance, caused him to suspect that he was face to face with an adventure of a peculiar kind. Whether he took me for a lunatic I cannot certainly say; but, from his manner, I think it possible he did. He began to move towards me from across the room, addressing me with the utmost suavity and courtesy.
‘Be so good as to give me the revolver, and the papers you are holding in your hand.’
As he came on, something entered into me, and forced itself from between my lips, so that I said, in a low, hissing voice, which I vow was never mine,
‘THE BEETLE!’
Whether it was, or was not, owing, in some degree, to a trick of my imagination, I cannot determine, but, as the words were spoken, it seemed to me that the lights went low, so that the place was all in darkness, and I again was filled with the nauseous consciousness of the presence of something evil in the room. But if, in that matter, my abnormally strained imagination played me a trick, there could be no doubt whatever as to the effect which the words had on Mr Lessingham. When the mist of the blackness real or supposititious had passed from before my eyes, I found that he had retreated to the extremest limits of the room, and was crouching, his back against the bookshelves, clutching at them, in the attitude of a man who has received a staggering blow, from which, as yet, he has had no opportunity of recovering. A most extraordinary change had taken place in the expression of his face; in his countenance amazement, fear, and horror seemed struggling for the mastery. I was filled with a most discomforting qualm, as I gazed at the frightened figure in front of me, and realised that it was that of the great Paul Lessingham, the god of my political idolatry.
‘Who are you? In God’s name, who are you?’
His very voice seemed changed; his frenzied, choking accents would hardly have been recognised by either friend or foe.
‘Who are you? Do you hear me ask, who are you? In the name of God, I bid you say!’
As he perceived that I was still, he began to show a species of excitement which it was unpleasant to witness, especially as he continued to crouch against the bookshelf, as if he was afraid to stand up straight. So far from exhibiting the impassivity for which he was renowned, all the muscles in his face and all the limbs in his body seemed to be in motion at once; he was like a man afflicted with the shivering ague, his very fingers were twitching aimlessly, as they were stretched out on either side of him, as if seeking for support from the shelves against which he leaned.
‘Where have you come from? what do you want? who sent you here? what concern have you with me? is it necessary that you should come and play these childish tricks with me? why? why?’
The questions came from him with astonishing rapidity. When he saw that I continued silent, they came still faster, mingled with what sounded to me like a stream of inchoate abuse.
‘Why do you stand there in that extraordinary garment, it’s worse than nakedness, yes, worse than nakedness! For that alone I could have you punished, and I will! and try to play the fool? Do you think I am a boy to be bamboozled by every bogey a blunderer may try to conjure up? If so, you’re wrong, as whoever sent you might have had sense enough to let you know. If you tell me who you are, and who sent you here, and what it is you want, I will be merciful; if not, the police shall be sent for, and the law shall take its course, to the bitter end! I warn you. Do you hear? You fool! tell me who you are?’
The last words came from him in what was very like a burst of childish fury. He himself seemed conscious, the moment after, that his passion was sadly lacking in dignity, and to be ashamed of it. He drew himself straight up. With a pocket-handkerchief which he took from an inner pocket of his coat, he wiped his lips. Then, clutching it tightly in his hand, he eyed me with a fixedness which, under any other circumstances, I should have found unbearable.
‘Well, sir, is your continued silence part of the business of the role you have set yourself to play?’
His tone was firmer, and his bearing more in keeping with his character.
‘If it be so, I presume that I, at least have liberty to speak. When I find a gentleman, even one gifted with your eloquence of silence, playing the part of burglar, I think you will grant that a few words on my part cannot justly be considered to be out of place.’
Again he paused. I could not but feel that he was employing the vehicle of somewhat cumbrous sarcasm to gain time, and to give himself the opportunity of recovering, if the thing was possible, his pristine courage. That, for some cause wholly hidden from me, the mysterious utterance had shaken his nature to its deepest foundations, was made plainer by his endeavour to treat the whole business with a sort of cynical levity.
‘To commence with, may I ask if you have come through London, or through any portion of it, in that costume, or, rather, in that want of costume? It would seem out of place in a Cairene street, would it not? even in the Rue de Rabagas, was it not the Rue de Rabagas?’
He asked the question with an emphasis the meaning of which was wholly lost on me. What he referred to either then, or in what immediately followed, I, of course, knew no more than the man in the moon, though I should probably have found great difficulty in convincing him of my ignorance.
‘I take it that you are a reminiscence of the Rue de Rabagas, that, of course; is it not of course? The little house with the blue-grey Venetians, and the piano with the F sharp missing? Is there still the piano? with the tinny treble, indeed, the whole atmosphere, was it not tinny? You agree with me? I have not forgotten. I am not even afraid to remember, you perceive it?’
A new idea seemed to strike him, born, perhaps, of my continued silence.
‘You look English, is it possible that you are not English? What are you then French? We shall see!’
He addressed me in a tongue which I recognised as French, but with which I was not sufficiently acquainted to understand. Although, I flatter myself that, as the present narrative should show I have not made an ill-use of the opportunities which I have had to improve my, originally, modest education, I regret that I have never had so much as a ghost of a chance to acquire an even rudimentary knowledge of any language except my own.
Recognising, I suppose, from my looks, that he was addressing me in a tongue to which I was a stranger, after a time he stopped, added something with a smile, and then began to talk to me in a lingo to which, in a manner of speaking, I was even stranger, for this time I had not the faintest notion what it was, it might have been gibberish for all that I could tell. Quickly perceiving that he had succeeded no better than before, he returned to English.
‘You do not know French? nor the patois of the Rue de Rabagas? Very good, then what is it that you do know? Are you under a vow of silence, or are you dumb, except upon occasion? Your face is English, what can be seen of it, and I will take it, therefore, that English spoken words convey some meaning to your brain. So listen, sir, to what I have to say, do me the favour to listen carefully.’
He was becoming more and more his former self. In his clear, modulated tones there was a ring of something like a threat, a something which went very far beyond his words.
‘You know something of a period which I choose to have forgotten, that is plain; you come from a person who, probably, knows still more. Go back to that person and say that what I have forgotten I have forgotten; nothing will be gained by anyone by an endeavour to induce me to remember, be very sure upon that point, say that nothing will be gained by anyone. That time was one of mirage, of delusion, of disease. I was in a condition, mentally and bodily, in which pranks could have been played upon me by any trickster. Such pranks were played. I know that now quite well. I do not pretend to be proficient in the modus operandi of the hankeypankey man, but I know that he has a method, all the same, one susceptible, too, of facile explanation. Go back to your friend, and tell him that I am not again likely to be made the butt of his old method, nor of his new one either. You hear me, sir?’
I remained motionless and silent, an attitude which, plainly, he resented.
‘Are you deaf and dumb? You certainly are not dumb, for you spoke to me just now. Be advised by me, and do not compel me to resort to measures which will be the cause to you of serious discomfort. You hear me, sir?’
Still, from me, not a sign of comprehension, to his increased annoyance.
‘So be it. Keep your own counsel, if you choose. Yours will be the bitterness, not mine. You may play the lunatic, and play it excellently well, but that you do understand what is said to you is clear. Come to business, sir. Give me that revolver, and the packet of letters which you have stolen from my desk.’
He had been speaking with the air of one who desired to convince himself as much as me, and about his last words there was almost a flavour of braggadocio. I remained unheeding.
‘Are you going to do as I require, or are you insane enough to refuse? in which case I shall summon assistance, and there will quickly be an end of it. Pray do not imagine that you can trick me into supposing that you do not grasp the situation. I know better. Once more, are you going to give me that revolver and those letters?’
Yet no reply. His anger was growing momentarily greater, and his agitation too. On my first introduction to Paul Lessingham I was not destined to discover in him any one of those qualities of which the world held him to be the undisputed possessor. He showed himself to be as unlike the statesman I had conceived, and esteemed, as he easily could have done.
‘Do you think I stand in awe of you? you! of such a thing as you! Do as I tell you, or I myself will make you, and, at the same time, teach you a much-needed lesson.’
He raised his voice. In his bearing there was a would-be defiance. He might not have been aware of it, but the repetitions of the threats were, in themselves, confessions of weakness. He came a step or two forward, then, stopping short, began to tremble. The perspiration broke out upon his brow; he made spasmodic little dabs at it with his crumpled-up handkerchief. His eyes wandered hither and thither, as if searching for something which they feared to see yet were constrained to seek. He began to talk to himself, out loud, in odd disconnected sentences, apparently ignoring me entirely.
‘What was that? It was nothing. It was my imagination. My nerves are out of order. I have been working too hard. I am not well WHAT’S THAT?’
This last inquiry came from him in a half-stifled shriek, as the door opened to admit the head and body of an elderly man in a state of considerable undress. He had the tousled appearance of one who had been unexpectedly roused out of slumber, and unwillingly dragged from bed. Mr Lessingham stared at him as if he had been a ghost, while he stared back at Mr Lessingham as if he found a difficulty in crediting the evidence of his own eyes. It was he who broke the silence, stutteringly.
‘I am sure I beg your pardon, sir, but one of the maids thought that she heard the sound of a shot, and we came down to see if there was anything the matter, I had no idea, sir, that you were here.’ His eyes travelled from Mr Lessingham towards me, suddenly increasing, when they saw me, to about twice their previous size. ‘God save us! who is that?’
The man’s self-evident cowardice possibly impressed Mr Lessingham with the conviction that he himself was not cutting the most dignified of figures. At any rate, he made a notable effort to, once more, assume a bearing of greater determination.
‘You are quite right, Matthews, quite right. I am obliged by your watchfulness. At present you may leave the room I propose to deal with this fellow myself, only remain with the other men upon the landing, so that, if I call, you may come to my assistance.’
Matthews did as he was told, he left the room, with, I fancy, more rapidity than he had entered it. Mr Lessingham returned to me, his manner distinctly more determined, as if he found his resolution reinforced by the near neighbourhood of his retainers,
‘Now, my man, you see how the case stands, at a word from me you will be overpowered and doomed to undergo a long period of imprisonment. Yet I am still willing to listen to the dictates of mercy. Put down that revolver, give me those letters, you will not find me disposed to treat you hardly.’
For all the attention I paid him, I might have been a graven image. He misunderstood, or pretended to misunderstand, the cause of my silence.
‘Come, I see that you suppose my intentions to be harsher than they really are, do not let us have a scandal, and a scene, be sensible! give me those letters!’
Again he moved in my direction; again, after he had taken a step or two, to stumble and stop, and look about him with frightened eyes; again to begin to mumble to himself aloud.
‘It’s a conjurer’s trick! Of course! Nothing more, What else could it be? I’m not to be fooled. I’m older than I was. I’ve been overdoing it, that’s all.’
Suddenly he broke into cries.
‘Matthews! Matthews! Help! help!’
Matthews entered the room, followed by three other men, younger than himself. Evidently all had slipped into the first articles of clothing they could lay their hands upon, and each carried a stick, or some similar rudimentary weapon.
Their master spurred them on.
‘Strike the revolver out of his hand, Matthews! knock him down! take the letters from him! don’t be afraid! I’m not afraid!’
In proof of it, he rushed at me, as it seemed half blindly. As he did so I was constrained to shout out, in tones which I should not have recognised as mine,
‘THE BEETLE!’
And that moment the room was all in darkness, and there were screams as of someone in an agony of terror or of pain. I felt that something had come into the room, I knew not whence nor how, something of horror. And the next action of which I was conscious was, that under cover of the darkness, I was flying from the room, propelled by I knew not what.