,the ,man ,who ,was ,thursday ,a ,nightmare by ,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton ,contents ,a ,,wild1 ,,mad1 ,,hilarious ,,and ,,profoundly ,,moving ,,tale ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,two ,,poets ,,of ,,saffron ,,park ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,gabriel ,,syme ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,tale ,,of ,a ,,detective ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,fear ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,exposure ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,unaccountable ,,conduct ,,of ,,professor ,,de ,,worms ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,professor ,,explains ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,man ,,in ,,spectacles ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,duel ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,criminals ,,chase ,,the ,,police ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,earth ,,in ,,anarchy ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,pursuit ,,of ,,the ,,president ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,six ,,philosophers ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,the ,,accuser ,a ,,wild1 ,,mad1 ,,hilarious ,,and ,,profoundly ,,moving ,,tale ,it is very difficult to classify ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday4 ,it is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen2 but it was to be expected that the author of the ,father ,brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else4 ,on this level1 therefore1 ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday succeeds superbly2 if nothing else1 it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing4 ,however1 the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that4 ,carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by ,chesterton's wonderful high-spirited style1 he will soon see that he is being carried into much deeper waters than he had planned on2 and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove for the modern reader1 as it has for thousands of others since #aijh when the book was first published1 an inevitable and moving experience1 as the investigators finally discover who ,sunday is4 ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday ,a ,,nightmare ,to ,edmund ,clerihew ,bentley ,a cloud was on the mind of men1 and wailing went the weather1 ,yea1 a sick cloud upon the soul when we were boys together4 ,science announced nonentity and art admired decay2 ,the world was old and ended3 but you and ,i were gay2 ,round us in antic order their crippled vices came-- ,lust that had lost its laughter1 fear that had lost its shame4 ,like the white lock of ,whistler1 that lit our aimless gloom1 ,men showed their own white feather as proudly as a plume4 ,life was a fly that faded1 and death a drone that stung2 ,the world was very old indeed when you and ,i were young4 ,they twisted even decent sin to shapes not to be named3 ,men were ashamed of honour2 but we were not ashamed4 ,weak if we were and foolish1 not thus we failed1 not thus2 ,when that black ,baal blocked the heavens he had no hymns from us ,children we were--our forts of sand were even as weak as we1 ,high as they went we piled them up to break that bitter sea4 ,fools as we were in motley1 all jangling and absurd1 ,when all church bells were silent our cap and bells were heard4 ,not all unhelped we held the fort1 our tiny flags unfurled2 ,some giants laboured in that cloud to lift it from the world4 ,i find again the book we found1 ,i feel the hour that flings ,far out of fish-shaped ,paumanok some cry of cleaner things2 ,and the ,green ,carnation withered1 as in forest fires that pass1 ,roared in the wind of all the world ten million leaves of grass2 ,or sane and sweet and sudden as a bird sings in the rain-- ,truth out of ,tusitala spoke and pleasure out of pain4 ,yea1 cool and clear and sudden as a bird sings in the grey1 ,dunedin to ,samoa spoke1 and darkness unto day4 ,but we were young2 we lived to see ,god break their bitter charms4 ,god and the good ,republic come riding back in arms3 ,we have seen the ,city of ,mansoul1 even as it rocked1 relieved-- ,blessed are they who did not see1 but being blind1 believed4 ,this is a tale of those old fears1 even of those emptied hells1 ,and none but you shall understand the true thing that it tells-- ,of what colossal gods of shame could cow men and yet crash1 ,of what huge devils hid the stars1 yet fell at a pistol flash4 ,the doubts that were so plain to chase1 so dreadful to withstand-- ,oh1 who shall understand but you2 yea1 who shall understand8 ,the doubts that drove us through the night as we two talked amain1 ,and day had broken on the streets e'er it broke upon the brain4 ,between us1 by the peace of ,god1 such truth can now be told2 ,yea1 there is strength in striking root and good in growing old4 ,we have found common things at last and marriage and a creed1 ,and ,i may safely write it now1 and you may safely read4 ,g4 ,k4 ,c4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,two ,,poets ,,of ,,saffron ,,park ,the suburb of ,saffron ,park lay on the sunset side of ,london1 as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset4 ,it was built of a bright brick throughout2 its sky-line was fantastic1 and even its ground plan was wild4 ,it had been the outburst of a speculative builder1 faintly tinged with art1 who called its architecture sometimes ,elizabethan and sometimes ,queen ,anne1 apparently under the impression that the two sovereigns were identical4 ,it was described with some justice as an artistic colony1 though it never in any definable way produced any art4 ,but although its pretensions to be an intellectual centre were a little vague1 its pretensions to be a pleasant place were quite indisputable4 ,the stranger who looked for the first time at the quaint red houses could only think how very oddly shaped the people must be who could fit in to them4 ,nor when he met the people was he disappointed in this respect4 ,the place was not only pleasant1 but perfect1 if once he could regard it not as a deception but rather as a dream4 ,even if the people were not 8artists10 the whole was nevertheless artistic4 ,that young man with the long1 auburn hair and the impudent face--that young man was not really a poet2 but surely he was a poem4 ,that old gentleman with the wild1 white beard and the wild1 white hat--that venerable humbug was not really a philosopher2 but at least he was the cause of philosophy in others4 ,that scientific gentleman with the bald1 egg-like head and the bare1 bird-like neck had no real right to the airs of science that he assumed4 ,he had not discovered anything new in biology2 but what biological creature could he have discovered more singular than himself8 ,thus1 and thus only1 the whole place had properly to be regarded2 it had to be considered not so much as a workshop for artists1 but as a frail but finished work of art4 ,a man who stepped into its social atmosphere felt as if he had stepped into a written comedy4 ,more especially this attractive unreality fell upon it about nightfall1 when the extravagant roofs were dark against the afterglow and the whole insane village seemed as separate as a drifting cloud4 ,this again was more strongly true of the many nights of local festivity1 when the little gardens were often illuminated1 and the big ,chinese lanterns glowed in the dwarfish trees like some fierce and monstrous fruit4 ,and this was strongest of all on one particular evening1 still vaguely remembered in the locality1 of which the auburn-haired poet was the hero4 ,it was not by any means the only evening of which he was the hero4 ,on many nights those passing by his little back garden might hear his high1 didactic voice laying down the law to men and particularly to women4 ,the attitude of women in such cases was indeed one of the paradoxes of the place4 ,most of the women were of the kind vaguely called emancipated1 and professed some protest against male supremacy4 ,yet these new women would always pay to a man the extravagant compliment which no ordinary woman ever pays to him1 that of listening while he is talking4 ,and ,mr4 ,lucian ,gregory1 the red-haired poet1 was really 7in some sense7 a man worth listening to1 even if one only laughed at the end of it4 ,he put the old cant of the lawlessness of art and the art of lawlessness with a certain impudent freshness which gave at least a momentary pleasure4 ,he was helped in some degree by the arresting oddity of his appearance1 which he worked1 as the phrase goes1 for all it was worth4 ,his dark red hair parted in the middle was literally like a woman's1 and curved into the slow curls of a virgin in a pre-,raphaelite picture4 ,from within this almost saintly oval1 however1 his face projected suddenly broad and brutal1 the chin carried forward with a look of cockney contempt4 ,this combination at once tickled and terrified the nerves of a neurotic population4 ,he seemed like a walking blasphemy1 a blend of the angel and the ape4 ,this particular evening1 if it is remembered for nothing else1 will be remembered in that place for its strange sunset4 ,it looked like the end of the world4 ,all the heaven seemed covered with a quite vivid and palpable plumage2 you could only say that the sky was full of feathers1 and of feathers that almost brushed the face4 ,across the great part of the dome they were grey1 with the strangest tints of violet and mauve and an unnatural pink or pale green2 but towards the west the whole grew past description1 transparent and passionate1 and the last red-hot plumes of it covered up the sun like something too good to be seen4 ,the whole was so close about the earth1 as to express nothing but a violent secrecy4 ,the very empyrean seemed to be a secret4 ,it expressed that splendid smallness which is the soul of local patriotism4 ,the very sky seemed small4 ,i say that there are some inhabitants who may remember the evening if only by that oppressive sky4 ,there are others who may remember it because it marked the first appearance in the place of the second poet of ,saffron ,park4 ,for a long time the red-haired revolutionary had reigned without a rival2 it was upon the night of the sunset that his solitude suddenly ended4 ,the new poet1 who introduced himself by the name of ,gabriel ,syme was a very mild-looking mortal1 with a fair1 pointed beard and faint1 yellow hair4 ,but an impression grew that he was less meek than he looked4 ,he signalised his entrance by differing with the established poet1 ,gregory1 upon the whole nature of poetry4 ,he said that he 7,syme7 was poet of law1 a poet of order2 nay1 he said he was a poet of respectability4 ,so all the ,saffron ,parkers looked at him as if he had that moment fallen out of that impossible sky4 ,in fact1 ,mr4 ,lucian ,gregory1 the anarchic poet1 connected the two events4 8,it may well be10 he said1 in his sudden lyrical manner1 8it may well be on such a night of clouds and cruel colours that there is brought forth upon the earth such a portent as a respectable poet4 ,you say you are a poet of law2 ,i say you are a contradiction in terms4 ,i only wonder there were not comets and earthquakes on the night you appeared in this garden40 ,the man with the meek blue eyes and the pale1 pointed beard endured these thunders with a certain submissive solemnity4 ,the third party of the group1 ,gregory's sister ,rosamond1 who had her brother's braids of red hair1 but a kindlier face underneath them1 laughed with such mixture of admiration and disapproval as she gave commonly to the family oracle4 ,gregory resumed in high oratorical good humour4 8,an artist is identical with an anarchist10 he cried4 8,you might transpose the words anywhere4 ,an anarchist is an artist4 ,the man who throws a bomb is an artist1 because he prefers a great moment to everything4 ,he sees how much more valuable is one burst of blazing light1 one peal of perfect thunder1 than the mere common bodies of a few shapeless policemen4 ,an artist disregards all governments1 abolishes all conventions4 ,the poet delights in disorder only4 ,if it were not so1 the most poetical thing in the world would be the ,underground ,railway40 8,so it is10 said ,mr4 ,syme4 8,nonsense60 said ,gregory1 who was very rational when anyone else attempted paradox4 8,why do all the clerks and navvies in the railway trains look so sad and tired1 so very sad and tired8 ,i will tell you4 ,it is because they know that the train is going right4 ,it is because they know that whatever place they have taken a ticket for that place they will reach4 ,it is because after they have passed ,sloane ,square they know that the next station must be ,victoria1 and nothing but ,victoria4 ,oh1 their wild rapture6 oh1 their eyes like stars and their souls again in ,eden1 if the next station were unaccountably ,baker ,street60 8,it is you who are unpoetical10 replied the poet ,syme4 8,if what you say of clerks is true1 they can only be as prosaic as your poetry4 ,the rare1 strange thing is to hit the mark2 the gross1 obvious thing is to miss it4 ,we feel it is epical when man with one wild arrow strikes a distant bird4 ,is it not also epical when man with one wild engine strikes a distant station8 ,chaos is dull2 because in chaos the train might indeed go anywhere1 to ,baker ,street or to ,bagdad4 ,but man is a magician1 and his whole magic is in this1 that he does say ,victoria1 and lo6 it is ,victoria4 ,no1 take your books of mere poetry and prose2 let me read a time table1 with tears of pride4 ,take your ,byron1 who commemorates the defeats of man2 give me ,bradshaw1 who commemorates his victories4 ,give me ,bradshaw1 ,i say60 8,must you go80 inquired ,gregory sarcastically4 8,i tell you10 went on ,syme with passion1 8that every time a train comes in ,i feel that it has broken past batteries of besiegers1 and that man has won a battle against chaos4 ,you say contemptuously that when one has left ,sloane ,square one must come to ,victoria4 ,i say that one might do a thousand things instead1 and that whenever ,i really come there ,i have the sense of hairbreadth escape4 ,and when ,i hear the guard shout out the word #8,victoria1' it is not an unmeaning word4 ,it is to me the cry of a herald announcing conquest4 ,it is to me indeed #8,victoria'2 it is the victory of ,adam40 ,gregory wagged his heavy1 red head with a slow and sad smile4 8,and even then10 he said1 8we poets always ask the question1 #8,and what is ,victoria now that you have got there8' ,you think ,victoria is like the ,new ,jerusalem4 ,we know that the ,new ,jerusalem will only be like ,victoria4 ,yes1 the poet will be discontented even in the streets of heaven4 ,the poet is always in revolt40 8,there again10 said ,syme irritably1 8what is there poetical about being in revolt8 ,you might as well say that it is poetical to be sea-sick4 ,being sick is a revolt4 ,both being sick and being rebellious may be the wholesome thing on certain desperate occasions2 but ,i'm hanged if ,i can see why they are poetical4 ,revolt in the abstract is--revolting4 ,it's mere vomiting40 ,the girl winced for a flash at the unpleasant word1 but ,syme was too hot to heed her4 8,it is things going right10 he cried1 8that is poetical6 ,our digestions1 for instance1 going sacredly and silently right1 that is the foundation of all poetry4 ,yes1 the most poetical thing1 more poetical than the flowers1 more poetical than the stars--the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick40 8,really10 said ,gregory superciliously1 8the examples you choose--0 8,i beg your pardon10 said ,syme grimly1 8,i forgot we had abolished all conventions40 ,for the first time a red patch appeared on ,gregory's forehead4 8,you don't expect me10 he said1 8to revolutionise society on this lawn80 ,syme looked straight into his eyes and smiled sweetly4 8,no1 ,i don't10 he said2 8but ,i suppose that if you were serious about your anarchism1 that is exactly what you would do40 ,gregory's big bull's eyes blinked suddenly like those of an angry lion1 and one could almost fancy that his red mane rose4 8,don't you think1 then10 he said in a dangerous voice1 8that ,i am serious about my anarchism80 8,i beg your pardon80 said ,syme4 8,am ,i not serious about my anarchism80 cried ,gregory1 with knotted fists4 8,my dear fellow60 said ,syme1 and strolled away4 ,with surprise1 but with a curious pleasure1 he found ,rosamond ,gregory still in his company4 8,mr4 ,syme10 she said1 8do the people who talk like you and my brother often mean what they say8 ,do you mean what you say now80 ,syme smiled4 8,do you80 he asked4 8,what do you mean80 asked the girl1 with grave eyes4 8,my dear ,miss ,gregory10 said ,syme gently1 8there are many kinds of sincerity and insincerity4 ,when you say #8thank you' for the salt1 do you mean what you say8 ,no4 ,when you say #8the world is round1' do you mean what you say8 ,no4 ,it is true1 but you don't mean it4 ,now1 sometimes a man like your brother really finds a thing he does mean4 ,it may be only a half-truth1 quarter-truth1 tenth-truth2 but then he says more than he means--from sheer force of meaning it40 ,she was looking at him from under level brows2 her face was grave and open1 and there had fallen upon it the shadow of that unreasoning responsibility which is at the bottom of the most frivolous woman1 the maternal watch which is as old as the world4 8,is he really an anarchist1 then80 she asked4 8,only in that sense ,i speak of10 replied ,syme2 8or if you prefer it1 in that nonsense40 ,she drew her broad brows together and said abruptly-- 8,he wouldn't really use--bombs or that sort of thing80 ,syme broke into a great laugh1 that seemed too large for his slight and somewhat dandified figure4 8,good ,lord1 no60 he said1 8that has to be done anonymously40 ,and at that the corners of her own mouth broke into a smile1 and she thought with a simultaneous pleasure of ,gregory's absurdity and of his safety4 ,syme strolled with her to a seat in the corner of the garden1 and continued to pour out his opinions4 ,for he was a sincere man1 and in spite of his superficial airs and graces1 at root a humble one4 ,and it is always the humble man who talks too much2 the proud man watches himself too closely4 ,he defended respectability with violence and exaggeration4 ,he grew passionate in his praise of tidiness and propriety4 ,all the time there was a smell of lilac all round him4 ,once he heard very faintly in some distant street a barrel-organ begin to play1 and it seemed to him that his heroic words were moving to a tiny tune from under or beyond the world4 ,he stared and talked at the girl's red hair and amused face for what seemed to be a few minutes2 and then1 feeling that the groups in such a place should mix1 rose to his feet4 ,to his astonishment1 he discovered the whole garden empty4 ,everyone had gone long ago1 and he went himself with a rather hurried apology4 ,he left with a sense of champagne in his head1 which he could not afterwards explain4 ,in the wild events which were to follow this girl had no part at all2 he never saw her again until all his tale was over4 ,and yet1 in some indescribable way1 she kept recurring like a motive in music through all his mad adventures afterwards1 and the glory of her strange hair ran like a red thread through those dark and ill-drawn tapestries of the night4 ,for what followed was so improbable1 that it might well have been a dream4 ,when ,syme went out into the starlit street1 he found it for the moment empty4 ,then he realised 7in some odd way7 that the silence was rather a living silence than a dead one4 ,directly outside the door stood a street lamp1 whose gleam gilded the leaves of the tree that bent out over the fence behind him4 ,about a foot from the lamp-post stood a figure almost as rigid and motionless as the lamp-post itself4 ,the tall hat and long frock coat were black2 the face1 in an abrupt shadow1 was almost as dark4 ,only a fringe of fiery hair against the light1 and also something aggressive in the attitude1 proclaimed that it was the poet ,gregory4 ,he had something of the look of a masked bravo waiting sword in hand for his foe4 ,he made a sort of doubtful salute1 which ,syme somewhat more formally returned4 8,i was waiting for you10 said ,gregory4 8,might ,i have a moment's conversation80 8,certainly4 ,about what80 asked ,syme in a sort of weak wonder4 ,gregory struck out with his stick at the lamp-post1 and then at the tree4 8,about this and this10 he cried2 8about order and anarchy4 ,there is your precious order1 that lean1 iron lamp1 ugly and barren2 and there is anarchy1 rich1 living1 reproducing itself--there is anarchy1 splendid in green and gold40 8,all the same10 replied ,syme patiently1 8just at present you only see the tree by the light of the lamp4 ,i wonder when you would ever see the lamp by the light of the tree40 ,then after a pause he said1 8,but may ,i ask if you have been standing out here in the dark only to resume our little argument80 8,no10 cried out ,gregory1 in a voice that rang down the street1 8,i did not stand here to resume our argument1 but to end it for ever40 ,the silence fell again1 and ,syme1 though he understood nothing1 listened instinctively for something serious4 ,gregory began in a smooth voice and with a rather bewildering smile4 8,mr4 ,syme10 he said1 8this evening you succeeded in doing something rather remarkable4 ,you did something to me that no man born of woman has ever succeeded in doing before40 8,indeed60 8,now ,i remember10 resumed ,gregory reflectively1 8one other person succeeded in doing it4 ,the captain of a penny steamer 7if ,i remember correctly7 at ,southend4 ,you have irritated me40 8,i am very sorry10 replied ,syme with gravity4 8,i am afraid my fury and your insult are too shocking to be wiped out even with an apology10 said ,gregory very calmly4 8,no duel could wipe it out4 ,if ,i struck you dead ,i could not wipe it out4 ,there is only one way by which that insult can be erased1 and that way ,i choose4 ,i am going1 at the possible sacrifice of my life and honour1 to prove to you that you were wrong in what you said40 8,in what ,i said80 8,you said ,i was not serious about being an anarchist40 8,there are degrees of seriousness10 replied ,syme4 8,i have never doubted that you were perfectly sincere in this sense1 that you thought what you said well worth saying1 that you thought a paradox might wake men up to a neglected truth40 ,gregory stared at him steadily and painfully4 8,and in no other sense10 he asked1 8you think me serious8 ,you think me a flneur who lets fall occasional truths4 ,you do not think that in a deeper1 a more deadly sense1 ,i am serious40 ,syme struck his stick violently on the stones of the road4 8,serious60 he cried4 8,good ,lord6 is this street serious8 ,are these damned ,chinese lanterns serious8 ,is the whole caboodle serious8 ,one comes here and talks a pack of bosh1 and perhaps some sense as well1 but ,i should think very little of a man who didn't keep something in the background of his life that was more serious than all this talking--something more serious1 whether it was religion or only drink40 8,very well10 said ,gregory1 his face darkening1 8you shall see something more serious than either drink or religion40 ,syme stood waiting with his usual air of mildness until ,gregory again opened his lips4 8,you spoke just now of having a religion4 ,is it really true that you have one80 8,oh10 said ,syme with a beaming smile1 8we are all ,catholics now40 8,then may ,i ask you to swear by whatever gods or saints your religion involves that you will not reveal what ,i am now going to tell you to any son of ,adam1 and especially not to the police8 ,will you swear that6 ,if you will take upon yourself this awful abnegation if you will consent to burden your soul with a vow that you should never make and a knowledge you should never dream about1 ,i will promise you in return--0 8,you will promise me in return80 inquired ,syme1 as the other paused4 8,i will promise you a very entertaining evening40 ,syme suddenly took off his hat4 8,your offer10 he said1 8is far too idiotic to be declined4 ,you say that a poet is always an anarchist4 ,i disagree2 but ,i hope at least that he is always a sportsman4 ,permit me1 here and now1 to swear as a ,christian1 and promise as a good comrade and a fellow-artist1 that ,i will not report anything of this1 whatever it is1 to the police4 ,and now1 in the name of ,colney ,hatch1 what is it80 8,i think10 said ,gregory1 with placid irrelevancy1 8that we will call a cab40 ,he gave two long whistles1 and a hansom came rattling down the road4 ,the two got into it in silence4 ,gregory gave through the trap the address of an obscure public-house on the ,chiswick bank of the river4 ,the cab whisked itself away again1 and in it these two fantastics quitted their fantastic town4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,gabriel ,,syme ,the cab pulled up before a particularly dreary and greasy beershop1 into which ,gregory rapidly conducted his companion4 ,they seated themselves in a close and dim sort of bar-parlour1 at a stained wooden table with one wooden leg4 ,the room was so small and dark1 that very little could be seen of the attendant who was summoned1 beyond a vague and dark impression of something bulky and bearded4 8,will you take a little supper80 asked ,gregory politely4 8,the pt de foie gras is not good here1 but ,i can recommend the game40 ,syme received the remark with stolidity1 imagining it to be a joke4 ,accepting the vein of humour1 he said1 with a well-bred indifference-- 8,oh1 bring me some lobster mayonnaise40 ,to his indescribable astonishment1 the man only said 8,certainly1 sir60 and went away apparently to get it4 8,what will you drink80 resumed ,gregory1 with the same careless yet apologetic air4 8,i shall only have a crme de menthe myself2 ,i have dined4 ,but the champagne can really be trusted4 ,do let me start you with a half-bottle of ,pommery at least80 8,thank you60 said the motionless ,syme4 8,you are very good40 ,his further attempts at conversation1 somewhat disorganised in themselves1 were cut short finally as by a thunderbolt by the actual appearance of the lobster4 ,syme tasted it1 and found it particularly good4 ,then he suddenly began to eat with great rapidity and appetite4 8,excuse me if ,i enjoy myself rather obviously60 he said to ,gregory1 smiling4 8,i don't often have the luck to have a dream like this4 ,it is new to me for a nightmare to lead to a lobster4 ,it is commonly the other way40 8,you are not asleep1 ,i assure you10 said ,gregory4 8,you are1 on the contrary1 close to the most actual and rousing moment of your existence4 ,ah1 here comes your champagne6 ,i admit that there may be a slight disproportion1 let us say1 between the inner arrangements of this excellent hotel and its simple and unpretentious exterior4 ,but that is all our modesty4 ,we are the most modest men that ever lived on earth40 8,and who are we80 asked ,syme1 emptying his champagne glass4 8,it is quite simple10 replied ,gregory4 8,we are the serious anarchists1 in whom you do not believe40 8,oh60 said ,syme shortly4 8,you do yourselves well in drinks40 8,yes1 we are serious about everything10 answered ,gregory4 ,then after a pause he added-- 8,if in a few moments this table begins to turn round a little1 don't put it down to your inroads into the champagne4 ,i don't wish you to do yourself an injustice40 8,well1 if ,i am not drunk1 ,i am mad10 replied ,syme with perfect calm2 8but ,i trust ,i can behave like a gentleman in either condition4 ,may ,i smoke80 8,certainly60 said ,gregory1 producing a cigar-case4 8,try one of mine40 ,syme took the cigar1 clipped the end off with a cigar-cutter out of his waistcoat pocket1 put it in his mouth1 lit it slowly1 and let out a long cloud of smoke4 ,it is not a little to his credit that he performed these rites with so much composure1 for almost before he had begun them the table at which he sat had begun to revolve1 first slowly1 and then rapidly1 as if at an insane seance4 8,you must not mind it10 said ,gregory2 8it's a kind of screw40 8,quite so10 said ,syme placidly1 8a kind of screw4 ,how simple that is60 ,the next moment the smoke of his cigar1 which had been wavering across the room in snaky twists1 went straight up as if from a factory chimney1 and the two1 with their chairs and table1 shot down through the floor as if the earth had swallowed them4 ,they went rattling down a kind of roaring chimney as rapidly as a lift cut loose1 and they came with an abrupt bump to the bottom4 ,but when ,gregory threw open a pair of doors and let in a red subterranean light1 ,syme was still smoking with one leg thrown over the other1 and had not turned a yellow hair4 ,gregory led him down a low1 vaulted passage1 at the end of which was the red light4 ,it was an enormous crimson lantern1 nearly as big as a fireplace1 fixed over a small but heavy iron door4 ,in the door there was a sort of hatchway or grating1 and on this ,gregory struck five times4 ,a heavy voice with a foreign accent asked him who he was4 ,to this he gave the more or less unexpected reply1 8,mr4 ,joseph ,chamberlain40 ,the heavy hinges began to move2 it was obviously some kind of password4 ,inside the doorway the passage gleamed as if it were lined with a network of steel4 ,on a second glance1 ,syme saw that the glittering pattern was really made up of ranks and ranks of rifles and revolvers1 closely packed or interlocked4 8,i must ask you to forgive me all these formalities10 said ,gregory2 8we have to be very strict here40 8,oh1 don't apologise10 said ,syme4 8,i know your passion for law and order10 and he stepped into the passage lined with the steel weapons4 ,with his long1 fair hair and rather foppish frock-coat1 he looked a singularly frail and fanciful figure as he walked down that shining avenue of death4 ,they passed through several such passages1 and came out at last into a queer steel chamber with curved walls1 almost spherical in shape1 but presenting1 with its tiers of benches1 something of the appearance of a scientific lecture-theatre4 ,there were no rifles or pistols in this apartment1 but round the walls of it were hung more dubious and dreadful shapes1 things that looked like the bulbs of iron plants1 or the eggs of iron birds4 ,they were bombs1 and the very room itself seemed like the inside of a bomb4 ,syme knocked his cigar ash off against the wall1 and went in4 8,and now1 my dear ,mr4 ,syme10 said ,gregory1 throwing himself in an expansive manner on the bench under the largest bomb1 8now we are quite cosy1 so let us talk properly4 ,now no human words can give you any notion of why ,i brought you here4 ,it was one of those quite arbitrary emotions1 like jumping off a cliff or falling in love4 ,suffice it to say that you were an inexpressibly irritating fellow1 and1 to do you justice1 you are still4 ,i would break twenty oaths of secrecy for the pleasure of taking you down a peg4 ,that way you have of lighting a cigar would make a priest break the seal of confession4 ,well1 you said that you were quite certain ,i was not a serious anarchist4 ,does this place strike you as being serious80 8,it does seem to have a moral under all its gaiety10 assented ,syme2 8but may ,i ask you two questions8 ,you need not fear to give me information1 because1 as you remember1 you very wisely extorted from me a promise not to tell the police1 a promise ,i shall certainly keep4 ,so it is in mere curiosity that ,i make my queries4 ,first of all1 what is it really all about8 ,what is it you object to8 ,you want to abolish ,government80 8,to abolish ,god60 said ,gregory1 opening the eyes of a fanatic4 8,we do not only want to upset a few despotisms and police regulations2 that sort of anarchism does exist1 but it is a mere branch of the ,nonconformists4 ,we dig deeper and we blow you higher4 ,we wish to deny all those arbitrary distinctions of vice and virtue1 honour and treachery1 upon which mere rebels base themselves4 ,the silly sentimentalists of the ,french ,revolution talked of the ,rights of ,man6 ,we hate ,rights as we hate ,wrongs4 ,we have abolished ,right and ,wrong40 8,and ,right and ,left10 said ,syme with a simple eagerness1 8,i hope you will abolish them too4 ,they are much more troublesome to me40 8,you spoke of a second question10 snapped ,gregory4 8,with pleasure10 resumed ,syme4 8,in all your present acts and surroundings there is a scientific attempt at secrecy4 ,i have an aunt who lived over a shop1 but this is the first time ,i have found people living from preference under a public-house4 ,you have a heavy iron door4 ,you cannot pass it without submitting to the humiliation of calling yourself ,mr4 ,chamberlain4 ,you surround yourself with steel instruments which make the place1 if ,i may say so1 more impressive than homelike4 ,may ,i ask why1 after taking all this trouble to barricade yourselves in the bowels of the earth1 you then parade your whole secret by talking about anarchism to every silly woman in ,saffron ,park80 ,gregory smiled4 8,the answer is simple10 he said4 8,i told you ,i was a serious anarchist1 and you did not believe me4 ,nor do they believe me4 ,unless ,i took them into this infernal room they would not believe me40 ,syme smoked thoughtfully1 and looked at him with interest4 ,gregory went on4 8,the history of the thing might amuse you10 he said4 8,when first ,i became one of the ,new ,anarchists ,i tried all kinds of respectable disguises4 ,i dressed up as a bishop4 ,i read up all about bishops in our anarchist pamphlets1 in ,superstition the ,vampire and ,priests of ,prey4 ,i certainly understood from them that bishops are strange and terrible old men keeping a cruel secret from mankind4 ,i was misinformed4 ,when on my first appearing in episcopal gaiters in a drawing-room ,i cried out in a voice of thunder1 #8,down6 down6 presumptuous human reason6' they found out in some way that ,i was not a bishop at all4 ,i was nabbed at once4 ,then ,i made up as a millionaire2 but ,i defended ,capital with so much intelligence that a fool could see that ,i was quite poor4 ,then ,i tried being a major4 ,now ,i am a humanitarian myself1 but ,i have1 ,i hope1 enough intellectual breadth to understand the position of those who1 like ,nietzsche1 admire violence--the proud1 mad war of ,nature and all that1 you know4 ,i threw myself into the major4 ,i drew my sword and waved it constantly4 ,i called out #8,blood6' abstractedly1 like a man calling for wine4 ,i often said1 #8,let the weak perish2 it is the ,law4' ,well1 well1 it seems majors don't do this4 ,i was nabbed again4 ,at last ,i went in despair to the ,president of the ,central ,anarchist ,council1 who is the greatest man in ,europe40 8,what is his name80 asked ,syme4 8,you would not know it10 answered ,gregory4 8,that is his greatness4 ,caesar and ,napoleon put all their genius into being heard of1 and they were heard of4 ,he puts all his genius into not being heard of1 and he is not heard of4 ,but you cannot be for five minutes in the room with him without feeling that ,caesar and ,napoleon would have been children in his hands40 ,he was silent and even pale for a moment1 and then resumed-- 8,but whenever he gives advice it is always something as startling as an epigram1 and yet as practical as the ,bank of ,england4 ,i said to him1 #8,what disguise will hide me from the world8 ,what can ,i find more respectable than bishops and majors8' ,he looked at me with his large but indecipherable face4 #8,you want a safe disguise1 do you8 ,you want a dress which will guarantee you harmless2 a dress in which no one would ever look for a bomb8' ,i nodded4 ,he suddenly lifted his lion's voice4 #8,why1 then1 dress up as an anarchist1 you fool6' he roared so that the room shook4 #8,nobody will ever expect you to do anything dangerous then4' ,and he turned his broad back on me without another word4 ,i took his advice1 and have never regretted it4 ,i preached blood and murder to those women day and night1 and--by ,god6--they would let me wheel their perambulators40 ,syme sat watching him with some respect in his large1 blue eyes4 8,you took me in10 he said4 8,it is really a smart dodge40 ,then after a pause he added-- 8,what do you call this tremendous ,president of yours80 8,we generally call him ,sunday10 replied ,gregory with simplicity4 8,you see1 there are seven members of the ,central ,anarchist ,council1 and they are named after days of the week4 ,he is called ,sunday1 by some of his admirers ,bloody ,sunday4 ,it is curious you should mention the matter1 because the very night you have dropped in 7if ,i may so express it7 is the night on which our ,london branch1 which assembles in this room1 has to elect its own deputy to fill a vacancy in the ,council4 ,the gentleman who has for some time past played1 with propriety and general applause1 the difficult part of ,thursday1 has died quite suddenly4 ,consequently1 we have called a meeting this very evening to elect a successor40 ,he got to his feet and strolled across the room with a sort of smiling embarrassment4 8,i feel somehow as if you were my mother1 ,syme10 he continued casually4 8,i feel that ,i can confide anything to you1 as you have promised to tell nobody4 ,in fact1 ,i will confide to you something that ,i would not say in so many words to the anarchists who will be coming to the room in about ten minutes4 ,we shall1 of course1 go through a form of election2 but ,i don't mind telling you that it is practically certain what the result will be40 ,he looked down for a moment modestly4 8,it is almost a settled thing that ,i am to be ,thursday40 8,my dear fellow40 said ,syme heartily1 8,i congratulate you4 ,a great career60 ,gregory smiled in deprecation1 and walked across the room1 talking rapidly4 8,as a matter of fact1 everything is ready for me on this table10 he said1 8and the ceremony will probably be the shortest possible40 ,syme also strolled across to the table1 and found lying across it a walking-stick1 which turned out on examination to be a sword-stick1 a large ,colt's revolver1 a sandwich case1 and a formidable flask of brandy4 ,over the chair1 beside the table1 was thrown a heavy-looking cape or cloak4 8,i have only to get the form of election finished10 continued ,gregory with animation1 8then ,i snatch up this cloak and stick1 stuff these other things into my pocket1 step out of a door in this cavern1 which opens on the river1 where there is a steam-tug already waiting for me1 and then--then--oh1 the wild joy of being ,thursday60 ,and he clasped his hands4 ,syme1 who had sat down once more with his usual insolent languor1 got to his feet with an unusual air of hesitation4 8,why is it10 he asked vaguely1 8that ,i think you are quite a decent fellow8 ,why do ,i positively like you1 ,gregory80 ,he paused a moment1 and then added with a sort of fresh curiosity1 8,is it because you are such an ass80 ,there was a thoughtful silence again1 and then he cried out-- 8,well1 damn it all6 this is the funniest situation ,i have ever been in in my life1 and ,i am going to act accordingly4 ,gregory1 ,i gave you a promise before ,i came into this place4 ,that promise ,i would keep under red-hot pincers4 ,would you give me1 for my own safety1 a little promise of the same kind80 8,a promise80 asked ,gregory1 wondering4 8,yes10 said ,syme very seriously1 8a promise4 ,i swore before ,god that ,i would not tell your secret to the police4 ,will you swear by ,humanity1 or whatever beastly thing you believe in1 that you will not tell my secret to the anarchists80 8,your secret80 asked the staring ,gregory4 8,have you got a secret80 8,yes10 said ,syme1 8,i have a secret40 ,then after a pause1 8,will you swear80 ,gregory glared at him gravely for a few moments1 and then said abruptly-- 8,you must have bewitched me1 but ,i feel a furious curiosity about you4 ,yes1 ,i will swear not to tell the anarchists anything you tell me4 ,but look sharp1 for they will be here in a couple of minutes40 ,syme rose slowly to his feet and thrust his long1 white hands into his long1 grey trousers' pockets4 ,almost as he did so there came five knocks on the outer grating1 proclaiming the arrival of the first of the conspirators4 8,well10 said ,syme slowly1 8,i don't know how to tell you the truth more shortly than by saying that your expedient of dressing up as an aimless poet is not confined to you or your ,president4 ,we have known the dodge for some time at ,scotland ,yard40 ,gregory tried to spring up straight1 but he swayed thrice4 8,what do you say80 he asked in an inhuman voice4 8,yes10 said ,syme simply1 8,i am a police detective4 ,but ,i think ,i hear your friends coming40 ,from the doorway there came a murmur of 8,mr4 ,joseph ,chamberlain40 ,it was repeated twice and thrice1 and then thirty times1 and the crowd of ,joseph ,chamberlains 7a solemn thought7 could be heard trampling down the corridor4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,thursday ,before one of the fresh faces could appear at the doorway1 ,gregory's stunned surprise had fallen from him4 ,he was beside the table with a bound1 and a noise in his throat like a wild beast4 ,he caught up the ,colt's revolver and took aim at ,syme4 ,syme did not flinch1 but he put up a pale and polite hand4 8,don't be such a silly man10 he said1 with the effeminate dignity of a curate4 8,don't you see it's not necessary8 ,don't you see that we're both in the same boat8 ,yes1 and jolly sea-sick40 ,gregory could not speak1 but he could not fire either1 and he looked his question4 8,don't you see we've checkmated each other80 cried ,syme4 8,i can't tell the police you are an anarchist4 ,you can't tell the anarchists ,i'm a policeman4 ,i can only watch you1 knowing what you are2 you can only watch me1 knowing what ,i am4 ,in short1 it's a lonely1 intellectual duel1 my head against yours4 ,i'm a policeman deprived of the help of the police4 ,you1 my poor fellow1 are an anarchist deprived of the help of that law and organisation which is so essential to anarchy4 ,the one solitary difference is in your favour4 ,you are not surrounded by inquisitive policemen2 ,i am surrounded by inquisitive anarchists4 ,i cannot betray you1 but ,i might betray myself4 ,come1 come6 wait and see me betray myself4 ,i shall do it so nicely40 ,gregory put the pistol slowly down1 still staring at ,syme as if he were a sea-monster4 8,i don't believe in immortality10 he said at last1 8but if1 after all this1 you were to break your word1 ,god would make a hell only for you1 to howl in for ever40 8,i shall not break my word10 said ,syme sternly1 8nor will you break yours4 ,here are your friends40 ,the mass of the anarchists entered the room heavily1 with a slouching and somewhat weary gait2 but one little man1 with a black beard and glasses--a man somewhat of the type of ,mr4 ,tim ,healy--detached himself1 and bustled forward with some papers in his hand4 8,comrade ,gregory10 he said1 8,i suppose this man is a delegate80 ,gregory1 taken by surprise1 looked down and muttered the name of ,syme2 but ,syme replied almost pertly-- 8,i am glad to see that your gate is well enough guarded to make it hard for anyone to be here who was not a delegate40 ,the brow of the little man with the black beard was1 however1 still contracted with something like suspicion4 8,what branch do you represent80 he asked sharply4 8,i should hardly call it a branch10 said ,syme1 laughing2 8,i should call it at the very least a root40 8,what do you mean80 8,the fact is10 said ,syme serenely1 8the truth is ,i am a ,sabbatarian4 ,i have been specially sent here to see that you show a due observance of ,sunday40 ,the little man dropped one of his papers1 and a flicker of fear went over all the faces of the group4 ,evidently the awful ,president1 whose name was ,sunday1 did sometimes send down such irregular ambassadors to such branch meetings4 8,well1 comrade10 said the man with the papers after a pause1 8,i suppose we'd better give you a seat in the meeting80 8,if you ask my advice as a friend10 said ,syme with severe benevolence1 8,i think you'd better40 ,when ,gregory heard the dangerous dialogue end1 with a sudden safety for his rival1 he rose abruptly and paced the floor in painful thought4 ,he was1 indeed1 in an agony of diplomacy4 ,it was clear that ,syme's inspired impudence was likely to bring him out of all merely accidental dilemmas4 ,little was to be hoped from them4 ,he could not himself betray ,syme1 partly from honour1 but partly also because1 if he betrayed him and for some reason failed to destroy him1 the ,syme who escaped would be a ,syme freed from all obligation of secrecy1 a ,syme who would simply walk to the nearest police station4 ,after all1 it was only one night's discussion1 and only one detective who would know of it4 ,he would let out as little as possible of their plans that night1 and then let ,syme go1 and chance it4 ,he strode across to the group of anarchists1 which was already distributing itself along the benches4 8,i think it is time we began10 he said2 8the steam-tug is waiting on the river already4 ,i move that ,comrade ,buttons takes the chair40 ,this being approved by a show of hands1 the little man with the papers slipped into the presidential seat4 8,comrades10 he began1 as sharp as a pistol-shot1 8our meeting tonight is important1 though it need not be long4 ,this branch has always had the honour of electing ,thursdays for the ,central ,european ,council4 ,we have elected many and splendid ,thursdays4 ,we all lament the sad decease of the heroic worker who occupied the post until last week4 ,as you know1 his services to the cause were considerable4 ,he organised the great dynamite coup of ,brighton which1 under happier circumstances1 ought to have killed everybody on the pier4 ,as you also know1 his death was as self-denying as his life1 for he died through his faith in a hygienic mixture of chalk and water as a substitute for milk1 which beverage he regarded as barbaric1 and as involving cruelty to the cow4 ,cruelty1 or anything approaching to cruelty1 revolted him always4 ,but it is not to acclaim his virtues that we are met1 but for a harder task4 ,it is difficult properly to praise his qualities1 but it is more difficult to replace them4 ,upon you1 comrades1 it devolves this evening to choose out of the company present the man who shall be ,thursday4 ,if any comrade suggests a name ,i will put it to the vote4 ,if no comrade suggests a name1 ,i can only tell myself that that dear dynamiter1 who is gone from us1 has carried into the unknowable abysses the last secret of his virtue and his innocence40 ,there was a stir of almost inaudible applause1 such as is sometimes heard in church4 ,then a large old man1 with a long and venerable white beard1 perhaps the only real working-man present1 rose lumberingly and said-- 8,i move that ,comrade ,gregory be elected ,thursday10 and sat lumberingly down again4 8,does anyone second80 asked the chairman4 ,a little man with a velvet coat and pointed beard seconded4 8,before ,i put the matter to the vote10 said the chairman1 8,i will call on ,comrade ,gregory to make a statement40 ,gregory rose amid a great rumble of applause4 ,his face was deadly pale1 so that by contrast his queer red hair looked almost scarlet4 ,but he was smiling and altogether at ease4 ,he had made up his mind1 and he saw his best policy quite plain in front of him like a white road4 ,his best chance was to make a softened and ambiguous speech1 such as would leave on the detective's mind the impression that the anarchist brotherhood was a very mild affair after all4 ,he believed in his own literary power1 his capacity for suggesting fine shades and picking perfect words4 ,he thought that with care he could succeed1 in spite of all the people around him1 in conveying an impression of the institution1 subtly and delicately false4 ,syme had once thought that anarchists1 under all their bravado1 were only playing the fool4 ,could he not now1 in the hour of peril1 make ,syme think so again8 8,comrades10 began ,gregory1 in a low but penetrating voice1 8it is not necessary for me to tell you what is my policy1 for it is your policy also4 ,our belief has been slandered1 it has been disfigured1 it has been utterly confused and concealed1 but it has never been altered4 ,those who talk about anarchism and its dangers go everywhere and anywhere to get their information1 except to us1 except to the fountain head4 ,they learn about anarchists from sixpenny novels2 they learn about anarchists from tradesmen's newspapers2 they learn about anarchists from ,ally ,sloper's ,half-,holiday and the ,sporting ,times4 ,they never learn about anarchists from anarchists4 ,we have no chance of denying the mountainous slanders which are heaped upon our heads from one end of ,europe to another4 ,the man who has always heard that we are walking plagues has never heard our reply4 ,i know that he will not hear it tonight1 though my passion were to rend the roof4 ,for it is deep1 deep under the earth that the persecuted are permitted to assemble1 as the ,christians assembled in the ,catacombs4 ,but if1 by some incredible accident1 there were here tonight a man who all his life had thus immensely misunderstood us1 ,i would put this question to him3 #8,when those ,christians met in those ,catacombs1 what sort of moral reputation had they in the streets above8 ,what tales were told of their atrocities by one educated ,roman to another8 ,suppose' 7,i would say to him71 #8suppose that we are only repeating that still mysterious paradox of history4 ,suppose we seem as shocking as the ,christians because we are really as harmless as the ,christians4 ,suppose we seem as mad as the ,christians because we are really as meek40' ,the applause that had greeted the opening sentences had been gradually growing fainter1 and at the last word it stopped suddenly4 ,in the abrupt silence1 the man with the velvet jacket said1 in a high1 squeaky voice-- 8,i'm not meek60 8,comrade ,witherspoon tells us10 resumed ,gregory1 8that he is not meek4 ,ah1 how little he knows himself6 ,his words are1 indeed1 extravagant2 his appearance is ferocious1 and even 7to an ordinary taste7 unattractive4 ,but only the eye of a friendship as deep and delicate as mine can perceive the deep foundation of solid meekness which lies at the base of him1 too deep even for himself to see4 ,i repeat1 we are the true early ,christians1 only that we come too late4 ,we are simple1 as they revere simple--look at ,comrade ,witherspoon4 ,we are modest1 as they were modest--look at me4 ,we are merciful--0 8,no1 no60 called out ,mr4 ,witherspoon with the velvet jacket4 8,i say we are merciful10 repeated ,gregory furiously1 8as the early ,christians were merciful4 ,yet this did not prevent their being accused of eating human flesh4 ,we do not eat human flesh--0 8,shame60 cried ,witherspoon4 8,why not80 8,comrade ,witherspoon10 said ,gregory1 with a feverish gaiety1 8is anxious to know why nobody eats him 7laughter74 ,in our society1 at any rate1 which loves him sincerely1 which is founded upon love--0 8,no1 no60 said ,witherspoon1 8down with love40 8,which is founded upon love10 repeated ,gregory1 grinding his teeth1 8there will be no difficulty about the aims which we shall pursue as a body1 or which ,i should pursue were ,i chosen as the representative of that body4 ,superbly careless of the slanders that represent us as assassins and enemies of human society1 we shall pursue with moral courage and quiet intellectual pressure1 the permanent ideals of brotherhood and simplicity40 ,gregory resumed his seat and passed his hand across his forehead4 ,the silence was sudden and awkward1 but the chairman rose like an automaton1 and said in a colourless voice-- 8,does anyone oppose the election of ,comrade ,gregory80 ,the assembly seemed vague and sub-consciously disappointed1 and ,comrade ,witherspoon moved restlessly on his seat and muttered in his thick beard4 ,by the sheer rush of routine1 however1 the motion would have been put and carried4 ,but as the chairman was opening his mouth to put it1 ,syme sprang to his feet and said in a small and quiet voice-- 8,yes1 ,mr4 ,chairman1 ,i oppose40 ,the most effective fact in oratory is an unexpected change in the voice4 ,mr4 ,gabriel ,syme evidently understood oratory4 ,having said these first formal words in a moderated tone and with a brief simplicity1 he made his next word ring and volley in the vault as if one of the guns had gone off4 8,comrades60 he cried1 in a voice that made every man jump out of his boots1 8have we come here for this8 ,do we live underground like rats in order to listen to talk like this8 ,this is talk we might listen to while eating buns at a ,sunday ,school treat4 ,do we line these walls with weapons and bar that door with death lest anyone should come and hear ,comrade ,gregory saying to us1 #8,be good1 and you will be happy1' #8,honesty is the best policy1' and #8,virtue is its own reward'8 ,there was not a word in ,comrade ,gregory's address to which a curate could not have listened with pleasure 7hear1 hear74 ,but ,i am not a curate 7loud cheers71 and ,i did not listen to it with pleasure 7renewed cheers74 ,the man who is fitted to make a good curate is not fitted to make a resolute1 forcible1 and efficient ,thursday 7hear1 hear74 8,comrade ,gregory has told us1 in only too apologetic a tone1 that we are not the enemies of society4 ,but ,i say that we are the enemies of society1 and so much the worse for society4 ,we are the enemies of society1 for society is the enemy of humanity1 its oldest and its most pitiless enemy 7hear1 hear74 ,comrade ,gregory has told us 7apologetically again7 that we are not murderers4 ,there ,i agree4 ,we are not murderers1 we are executioners 7cheers740 ,ever since ,syme had risen ,gregory had sat staring at him1 his face idiotic with astonishment4 ,now in the pause his lips of clay parted1 and he said1 with an automatic and lifeless distinctness-- 8,you damnable hypocrite60 ,syme looked straight into those frightful eyes with his own pale blue ones1 and said with dignity-- 8,comrade ,gregory accuses me of hypocrisy4 ,he knows as well as ,i do that ,i am keeping all my engagements and doing nothing but my duty4 ,i do not mince words4 ,i do not pretend to4 ,i say that ,comrade ,gregory is unfit to be ,thursday for all his amiable qualities4 ,he is unfit to be ,thursday because of his amiable qualities4 ,we do not want the ,supreme ,council of ,anarchy infected with a maudlin mercy 7hear1 hear74 ,this is no time for ceremonial politeness1 neither is it a time for ceremonial modesty4 ,i set myself against ,comrade ,gregory as ,i would set myself against all the ,governments of ,europe1 because the anarchist who has given himself to anarchy has forgotten modesty as much as he has forgotten pride 7cheers74 ,i am not a man at all4 ,i am a cause 7renewed cheers74 ,i set myself against ,comrade ,gregory as impersonally and as calmly as ,i should choose one pistol rather than another out of that rack upon the wall2 and ,i say that rather than have ,gregory and his milk-and-water methods on the ,supreme ,council1 ,i would offer myself for election--0 ,his sentence was drowned in a deafening cataract of applause4 ,the faces1 that had grown fiercer and fiercer with approval as his tirade grew more and more uncompromising1 were now distorted with grins of anticipation or cloven with delighted cries4 ,at the moment when he announced himself as ready to stand for the post of ,thursday1 a roar of excitement and assent broke forth1 and became uncontrollable1 and at the same moment ,gregory sprang to his feet1 with foam upon his mouth1 and shouted against the shouting4 8,stop1 you blasted madmen60 he cried1 at the top of a voice that tore his throat4 8,stop1 you--0 ,but louder than ,gregory's shouting and louder than the roar of the room came the voice of ,syme1 still speaking in a peal of pitiless thunder-- 8,i do not go to the ,council to rebut that slander that calls us murderers2 ,i go to earn it 7loud and prolonged cheering74 ,to the priest who says these men are the enemies of religion1 to the judge who says these men are the enemies of law1 to the fat parliamentarian who says these men are the enemies of order and public decency1 to all these ,i will reply1 #8,you are false kings1 but you are true prophets4 ,i am come to destroy you1 and to fulfil your prophecies4'0 ,the heavy clamour gradually died away1 but before it had ceased ,witherspoon had jumped to his feet1 his hair and beard all on end1 and had said-- 8,i move1 as an amendment1 that ,comrade ,syme be appointed to the post40 8,stop all this1 ,i tell you60 cried ,gregory1 with frantic face and hands4 8,stop it1 it is all--0 ,the voice of the chairman clove his speech with a cold accent4 8,does anyone second this amendment80 he said4 ,a tall1 tired man1 with melancholy eyes and an ,american chin beard1 was observed on the back bench to be slowly rising to his feet4 ,gregory had been screaming for some time past2 now there was a change in his accent1 more shocking than any scream4 8,i end all this60 he said1 in a voice as heavy as stone4 8,this man cannot be elected4 ,he is a--0 8,yes10 said ,syme1 quite motionless1 8what is he80 ,gregory's mouth worked twice without sound2 then slowly the blood began to crawl back into his dead face4 8,he is a man quite inexperienced in our work10 he said1 and sat down abruptly4 ,before he had done so1 the long1 lean man with the ,american beard was again upon his feet1 and was repeating in a high ,american monotone-- 8,i beg to second the election of ,comrade ,syme40 8,the amendment will1 as usual1 be put first10 said ,mr4 ,buttons1 the chairman1 with mechanical rapidity4 8,the question is that ,comrade ,syme--0 ,gregory had again sprung to his feet1 panting and passionate4 8,comrades10 he cried out1 8,i am not a madman40 8,oh1 oh60 said ,mr4 ,witherspoon4 8,i am not a madman10 reiterated ,gregory1 with a frightful sincerity which for a moment staggered the room1 8but ,i give you a counsel which you can call mad if you like4 ,no1 ,i will not call it a counsel1 for ,i can give you no reason for it4 ,i will call it a command4 ,call it a mad command1 but act upon it4 ,strike1 but hear me6 ,kill me1 but obey me6 ,do not elect this man40 ,truth is so terrible1 even in fetters1 that for a moment ,syme's slender and insane victory swayed like a reed4 ,but you could not have guessed it from ,syme's bleak blue eyes4 ,he merely began-- 8,comrade ,gregory commands--0 ,then the spell was snapped1 and one anarchist called out to ,gregory-- 8,who are you8 ,you are not ,sunday20 and another anarchist added in a heavier voice1 8,and you are not ,thursday40 8,comrades10 cried ,gregory1 in a voice like that of a martyr who in an ecstacy of pain has passed beyond pain1 8it is nothing to me whether you detest me as a tyrant or detest me as a slave4 ,if you will not take my command1 accept my degradation4 ,i kneel to you4 ,i throw myself at your feet4 ,i implore you4 ,do not elect this man40 8,comrade ,gregory10 said the chairman after a painful pause1 8this is really not quite dignified40 ,for the first time in the proceedings there was for a few seconds a real silence4 ,then ,gregory fell back in his seat1 a pale wreck of a man1 and the chairman repeated1 like a piece of clock-work suddenly started again-- 8,the question is that ,comrade ,syme be elected to the post of ,thursday on the ,general ,council40 ,the roar rose like the sea1 the hands rose like a forest1 and three minutes afterwards ,mr4 ,gabriel ,syme1 of the ,secret ,police ,service1 was elected to the post of ,thursday on the ,general ,council of the ,anarchists of ,europe4 ,everyone in the room seemed to feel the tug waiting on the river1 the sword-stick and the revolver1 waiting on the table4 ,the instant the election was ended and irrevocable1 and ,syme had received the paper proving his election1 they all sprang to their feet1 and the fiery groups moved and mixed in the room4 ,syme found himself1 somehow or other1 face to face with ,gregory1 who still regarded him with a stare of stunned hatred4 ,they were silent for many minutes4 8,you are a devil60 said ,gregory at last4 8,and you are a gentleman10 said ,syme with gravity4 8,it was you that entrapped me10 began ,gregory1 shaking from head to foot1 8entrapped me into--0 8,talk sense10 said ,syme shortly4 8,into what sort of devils' parliament have you entrapped me1 if it comes to that8 ,you made me swear before ,i made you4 ,perhaps we are both doing what we think right4 ,but what we think right is so damned different that there can be nothing between us in the way of concession4 ,there is nothing possible between us but honour and death10 and he pulled the great cloak about his shoulders and picked up the flask from the table4 8,the boat is quite ready10 said ,mr4 ,buttons1 bustling up4 8,be good enough to step this way40 ,with a gesture that revealed the shop-walker1 he led ,syme down a short1 iron-bound passage1 the still agonised ,gregory following feverishly at their heels4 ,at the end of the passage was a door1 which ,buttons opened sharply1 showing a sudden blue and silver picture of the moonlit river1 that looked like a scene in a theatre4 ,close to the opening lay a dark1 dwarfish steam-launch1 like a baby dragon with one red eye4 ,almost in the act of stepping on board1 ,gabriel ,syme turned to the gaping ,gregory4 8,you have kept your word10 he said gently1 with his face in shadow4 8,you are a man of honour1 and ,i thank you4 ,you have kept it even down to a small particular4 ,there was one special thing you promised me at the beginning of the affair1 and which you have certainly given me by the end of it40 8,what do you mean80 cried the chaotic ,gregory4 8,what did ,i promise you80 8,a very entertaining evening10 said ,syme1 and he made a military salute with the sword-stick as the steamboat slid away4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,tale ,,of ,a ,,detective ,gabriel ,syme was not merely a detective who pretended to be a poet2 he was really a poet who had become a detective4 ,nor was his hatred of anarchy hypocritical4 ,he was one of those who are driven early in life into too conservative an attitude by the bewildering folly of most revolutionists4 ,he had not attained it by any tame tradition4 ,his respectability was spontaneous and sudden1 a rebellion against rebellion4 ,he came of a family of cranks1 in which all the oldest people had all the newest notions4 ,one of his uncles always walked about without a hat1 and another had made an unsuccessful attempt to walk about with a hat and nothing else4 ,his father cultivated art and self-realisation2 his mother went in for simplicity and hygiene4 ,hence the child1 during his tenderer years1 was wholly unacquainted with any drink between the extremes of absinth and cocoa1 of both of which he had a healthy dislike4 ,the more his mother preached a more than ,puritan abstinence the more did his father expand into a more than pagan latitude2 and by the time the former had come to enforcing vegetarianism1 the latter had pretty well reached the point of defending cannibalism4 ,being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy1 ,gabriel had to revolt into something1 so he revolted into the only thing left--sanity4 ,but there was just enough in him of the blood of these fanatics to make even his protest for common sense a little too fierce to be sensible4 ,his hatred of modern lawlessness had been crowned also by an accident4 ,it happened that he was walking in a side street at the instant of a dynamite outrage4 ,he had been blind and deaf for a moment1 and then seen1 the smoke clearing1 the broken windows and the bleeding faces4 ,after that he went about as usual--quiet1 courteous1 rather gentle2 but there was a spot on his mind that was not sane4 ,he did not regard anarchists1 as most of us do1 as a handful of morbid men1 combining ignorance with intellectualism4 ,he regarded them as a huge and pitiless peril1 like a ,chinese invasion4 ,he poured perpetually into newspapers and their waste-paper baskets a torrent of tales1 verses and violent articles1 warning men of this deluge of barbaric denial4 ,but he seemed to be getting no nearer his enemy1 and1 what was worse1 no nearer a living4 ,as he paced the ,thames embankment1 bitterly biting a cheap cigar and brooding on the advance of ,anarchy1 there was no anarchist with a bomb in his pocket so savage or so solitary as he4 ,indeed1 he always felt that ,government stood alone and desperate1 with its back to the wall4 ,he was too quixotic to have cared for it otherwise4 ,he walked on the ,embankment once under a dark red sunset4 ,the red river reflected the red sky1 and they both reflected his anger4 ,the sky1 indeed1 was so swarthy1 and the light on the river relatively so lurid1 that the water almost seemed of fiercer flame than the sunset it mirrored4 ,it looked like a stream of literal fire winding under the vast caverns of a subterranean country4 ,syme was shabby in those days4 ,he wore an old-fashioned black chimney-pot hat2 he was wrapped in a yet more old-fashioned cloak1 black and ragged2 and the combination gave him the look of the early villains in ,dickens and ,bulwer ,lytton4 ,also his yellow beard and hair were more unkempt and leonine than when they appeared long afterwards1 cut and pointed1 on the lawns of ,saffron ,park4 ,a long1 lean1 black cigar1 bought in ,soho for twopence1 stood out from between his tightened teeth1 and altogether he looked a very satisfactory specimen of the anarchists upon whom he had vowed a holy war4 ,perhaps this was why a policeman on the ,embankment spoke to him1 and said 8,good evening40 ,syme1 at a crisis of his morbid fears for humanity1 seemed stung by the mere stolidity of the automatic official1 a mere bulk of blue in the twilight4 8,a good evening is it80 he said sharply4 8,you fellows would call the end of the world a good evening4 ,look at that bloody red sun and that bloody river6 ,i tell you that if that were literally human blood1 spilt and shining1 you would still be standing here as solid as ever1 looking out for some poor harmless tramp whom you could move on4 ,you policemen are cruel to the poor1 but ,i could forgive you even your cruelty if it were not for your calm40 8,if we are calm10 replied the policeman1 8it is the calm of organised resistance40 8,eh80 said ,syme1 staring4 8,the soldier must be calm in the thick of the battle10 pursued the policeman4 8,the composure of an army is the anger of a nation40 8,good ,god1 the ,board ,schools60 said ,syme4 8,is this undenominational education80 8,no10 said the policeman sadly1 8,i never had any of those advantages4 ,the ,board ,schools came after my time4 ,what education ,i had was very rough and old-fashioned1 ,i am afraid40 8,where did you have it80 asked ,syme1 wondering4 8,oh1 at ,harrow10 said the policeman ,the class sympathies which1 false as they are1 are the truest things in so many men1 broke out of ,syme before he could control them4 8,but1 good ,lord1 man10 he said1 8you oughtn't to be a policeman60 ,the policeman sighed and shook his head4 8,i know10 he said solemnly1 8,i know ,i am not worthy40 8,but why did you join the police80 asked ,syme with rude curiosity4 8,for much the same reason that you abused the police10 replied the other4 8,i found that there was a special opening in the service for those whose fears for humanity were concerned rather with the aberrations of the scientific intellect than with the normal and excusable1 though excessive1 outbreaks of the human will4 ,i trust ,i make myself clear40 8,if you mean that you make your opinion clear10 said ,syme1 8,i suppose you do4 ,but as for making yourself clear1 it is the last thing you do4 ,how comes a man like you to be talking philosophy in a blue helmet on the ,thames embankment80 8,you have evidently not heard of the latest development in our police system10 replied the other4 8,i am not surprised at it4 ,we are keeping it rather dark from the educated class1 because that class contains most of our enemies4 ,but you seem to be exactly in the right frame of mind4 ,i think you might almost join us40 8,join you in what80 asked ,syme4 8,i will tell you10 said the policeman slowly4 8,this is the situation3 ,the head of one of our departments1 one of the most celebrated detectives in ,europe1 has long been of opinion that a purely intellectual conspiracy would soon threaten the very existence of civilisation4 ,he is certain that the scientific and artistic worlds are silently bound in a crusade against the ,family and the ,state4 ,he has1 therefore1 formed a special corps of policemen1 policemen who are also philosophers4 ,it is their business to watch the beginnings of this conspiracy1 not merely in a criminal but in a controversial sense4 ,i am a democrat myself1 and ,i am fully aware of the value of the ordinary man in matters of ordinary valour or virtue4 ,but it would obviously be undesirable to employ the common policeman in an investigation which is also a heresy hunt40 ,syme's eyes were bright with a sympathetic curiosity4 8,what do you do1 then80 he said4 8,the work of the philosophical policeman10 replied the man in blue1 8is at once bolder and more subtle than that of the ordinary detective4 ,the ordinary detective goes to pot-houses to arrest thieves2 we go to artistic tea-parties to detect pessimists4 ,the ordinary detective discovers from a ledger or a diary that a crime has been committed4 ,we discover from a book of sonnets that a crime will be committed4 ,we have to trace the origin of those dreadful thoughts that drive men on at last to intellectual fanaticism and intellectual crime4 ,we were only just in time to prevent the assassination at ,hartlepool1 and that was entirely due to the fact that our ,mr4 ,wilks 7a smart young fellow7 thoroughly understood a triolet40 8,do you mean10 asked ,syme1 8that there is really as much connection between crime and the modern intellect as all that80 8,you are not sufficiently democratic10 answered the policeman1 8but you were right when you said just now that our ordinary treatment of the poor criminal was a pretty brutal business4 ,i tell you ,i am sometimes sick of my trade when ,i see how perpetually it means merely a war upon the ignorant and the desperate4 ,but this new movement of ours is a very different affair4 ,we deny the snobbish ,english assumption that the uneducated are the dangerous criminals4 ,we remember the ,roman ,emperors4 ,we remember the great poisoning princes of the ,renaissance4 ,we say that the dangerous criminal is the educated criminal4 ,we say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher4 ,compared to him1 burglars and bigamists are essentially moral men2 my heart goes out to them4 ,they accept the essential ideal of man2 they merely seek it wrongly4 ,thieves respect property4 ,they merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it4 ,but philosophers dislike property as property2 they wish to destroy the very idea of personal possession4 ,bigamists respect marriage1 or they would not go through the highly ceremonial and even ritualistic formality of bigamy4 ,but philosophers despise marriage as marriage4 ,murderers respect human life2 they merely wish to attain a greater fulness of human life in themselves by the sacrifice of what seems to them to be lesser lives4 ,but philosophers hate life itself1 their own as much as other people's40 ,syme struck his hands together4 8,how true that is10 he cried4 8,i have felt it from my boyhood1 but never could state the verbal antithesis4 ,the common criminal is a bad man1 but at least he is1 as it were1 a conditional good man4 ,he says that if only a certain obstacle be removed--say a wealthy uncle--he is then prepared to accept the universe and to praise ,god4 ,he is a reformer1 but not an anarchist4 ,he wishes to cleanse the edifice1 but not to destroy it4 ,but the evil philosopher is not trying to alter things1 but to annihilate them4 ,yes1 the modern world has retained all those parts of police work which are really oppressive and ignominious1 the harrying of the poor1 the spying upon the unfortunate4 ,it has given up its more dignified work1 the punishment of powerful traitors in the ,state and powerful heresiarchs in the ,church4 ,the moderns say we must not punish heretics4 ,my only doubt is whether we have a right to punish anybody else40 8,but this is absurd60 cried the policeman1 clasping his hands with an excitement uncommon in persons of his figure and costume1 8but it is intolerable6 ,i don't know what you're doing1 but you're wasting your life4 ,you must1 you shall1 join our special army against anarchy4 ,their armies are on our frontiers4 ,their bolt is ready to fall4 ,a moment more1 and you may lose the glory of working with us1 perhaps the glory of dying with the last heroes of the world40 8,it is a chance not to be missed1 certainly10 assented ,syme1 8but still ,i do not quite understand4 ,i know as well as anybody that the modern world is full of lawless little men and mad little movements4 ,but1 beastly as they are1 they generally have the one merit of disagreeing with each other4 ,how can you talk of their leading one army or hurling one bolt4 ,what is this anarchy80 8,do not confuse it10 replied the constable1 8with those chance dynamite outbreaks from ,russia or from ,ireland1 which are really the outbreaks of oppressed1 if mistaken1 men4 ,this is a vast philosophic movement1 consisting of an outer and an inner ring4 ,you might even call the outer ring the laity and the inner ring the priesthood4 ,i prefer to call the outer ring the innocent section1 the inner ring the supremely guilty section4 ,the outer ring--the main mass of their supporters--are merely anarchists2 that is1 men who believe that rules and formulas have destroyed human happiness4 ,they believe that all the evil results of human crime are the results of the system that has called it crime4 ,they do not believe that the crime creates the punishment4 ,they believe that the punishment has created the crime4 ,they believe that if a man seduced seven women he would naturally walk away as blameless as the flowers of spring4 ,they believe that if a man picked a pocket he would naturally feel exquisitely good4 ,these ,i call the innocent section40 8,oh60 said ,syme4 8,naturally1 therefore1 these people talk about #8a happy time coming'2 #8the paradise of the future'2 #8mankind freed from the bondage of vice and the bondage of virtue1' and so on4 ,and so also the men of the inner circle speak--the sacred priesthood4 ,they also speak to applauding crowds of the happiness of the future1 and of mankind freed at last4 ,but in their mouths0--and the policeman lowered his voice--8in their mouths these happy phrases have a horrible meaning4 ,they are under no illusions2 they are too intellectual to think that man upon this earth can ever be quite free of original sin and the struggle4 ,and they mean death4 ,when they say that mankind shall be free at last1 they mean that mankind shall commit suicide4 ,when they talk of a paradise without right or wrong1 they mean the grave4 8,they have but two objects1 to destroy first humanity and then themselves4 ,that is why they throw bombs instead of firing pistols4 ,the innocent rank and file are disappointed because the bomb has not killed the king2 but the high-priesthood are happy because it has killed somebody40 8,how can ,i join you80 asked ,syme1 with a sort of passion4 8,i know for a fact that there is a vacancy at the moment10 said the policeman1 8as ,i have the honour to be somewhat in the confidence of the chief of whom ,i have spoken4 ,you should really come and see him4 ,or rather1 ,i should not say see him1 nobody ever sees him2 but you can talk to him if you like40 8,telephone80 inquired ,syme1 with interest4 8,no10 said the policeman placidly1 8he has a fancy for always sitting in a pitch-dark room4 ,he says it makes his thoughts brighter4 ,do come along40 ,somewhat dazed and considerably excited1 ,syme allowed himself to be led to a side-door in the long row of buildings of ,scotland ,yard4 ,almost before he knew what he was doing1 he had been passed through the hands of about four intermediate officials1 and was suddenly shown into a room1 the abrupt blackness of which startled him like a blaze of light4 ,it was not the ordinary darkness1 in which forms can be faintly traced2 it was like going suddenly stone-blind4 8,are you the new recruit80 asked a heavy voice4 ,and in some strange way1 though there was not the shadow of a shape in the gloom1 ,syme knew two things3 first1 that it came from a man of massive stature2 and second1 that the man had his back to him4 8,are you the new recruit80 said the invisible chief1 who seemed to have heard all about it4 8,all right4 ,you are engaged40 ,syme1 quite swept off his feet1 made a feeble fight against this irrevocable phrase4 8,i really have no experience10 he began4 8,no one has any experience10 said the other1 8of the ,battle of ,armageddon40 8,but ,i am really unfit--0 8,you are willing1 that is enough10 said the unknown4 8,well1 really10 said ,syme1 8,i don't know any profession of which mere willingness is the final test40 8,i do10 said the other--8martyrs4 ,i am condemning you to death4 ,good day40 ,thus it was that when ,gabriel ,syme came out again into the crimson light of evening1 in his shabby black hat and shabby1 lawless cloak1 he came out a member of the ,new ,detective ,corps for the frustration of the great conspiracy4 ,acting under the advice of his friend the policeman 7who was professionally inclined to neatness71 he trimmed his hair and beard1 bought a good hat1 clad himself in an exquisite summer suit of light blue-grey1 with a pale yellow flower in the button-hole1 and1 in short1 became that elegant and rather insupportable person whom ,gregory had first encountered in the little garden of ,saffron ,park4 ,before he finally left the police premises his friend provided him with a small blue card1 on which was written1 8,the ,last ,crusade10 and a number1 the sign of his official authority4 ,he put this carefully in his upper waistcoat pocket1 lit a cigarette1 and went forth to track and fight the enemy in all the drawing-rooms of ,london4 ,where his adventure ultimately led him we have already seen4 ,at about half-past one on a ,february night he found himself steaming in a small tug up the silent ,thames1 armed with swordstick and revolver1 the duly elected ,thursday of the ,central ,council of ,anarchists4 ,when ,syme stepped out on to the steam-tug he had a singular sensation of stepping out into something entirely new2 not merely into the landscape of a new land1 but even into the landscape of a new planet4 ,this was mainly due to the insane yet solid decision of that evening1 though partly also to an entire change in the weather and the sky since he entered the little tavern some two hours before4 ,every trace of the passionate plumage of the cloudy sunset had been swept away1 and a naked moon stood in a naked sky4 ,the moon was so strong and full that 7by a paradox often to be noticed7 it seemed like a weaker sun4 ,it gave1 not the sense of bright moonshine1 but rather of a dead daylight4 ,over the whole landscape lay a luminous and unnatural discoloration1 as of that disastrous twilight which ,milton spoke of as shed by the sun in eclipse2 so that ,syme fell easily into his first thought1 that he was actually on some other and emptier planet1 which circled round some sadder star4 ,but the more he felt this glittering desolation in the moonlit land1 the more his own chivalric folly glowed in the night like a great fire4 ,even the common things he carried with him--the food and the brandy and the loaded pistol--took on exactly that concrete and material poetry which a child feels when he takes a gun upon a journey or a bun with him to bed4 ,the sword-stick and the brandy-flask1 though in themselves only the tools of morbid conspirators1 became the expressions of his own more healthy romance4 ,the sword-stick became almost the sword of chivalry1 and the brandy the wine of the stirrup-cup4 ,for even the most dehumanised modern fantasies depend on some older and simpler figure2 the adventures may be mad1 but the adventurer must be sane4 ,the dragon without ,st4 ,george would not even be grotesque4 ,so this inhuman landscape was only imaginative by the presence of a man really human4 ,to ,syme's exaggerative mind the bright1 bleak houses and terraces by the ,thames looked as empty as the mountains of the moon4 ,but even the moon is only poetical because there is a man in the moon4 ,the tug was worked by two men1 and with much toil went comparatively slowly4 ,the clear moon that had lit up ,chiswick had gone down by the time that they passed ,battersea1 and when they came under the enormous bulk of ,westminster day had already begun to break4 ,it broke like the splitting of great bars of lead1 showing bars of silver2 and these had brightened like white fire when the tug1 changing its onward course1 turned inward to a large landing stage rather beyond ,charing ,cross4 ,the great stones of the ,embankment seemed equally dark and gigantic as ,syme looked up at them4 ,they were big and black against the huge white dawn4 ,they made him feel that he was landing on the colossal steps of some ,egyptian palace2 and1 indeed1 the thing suited his mood1 for he was1 in his own mind1 mounting to attack the solid thrones of horrible and heathen kings4 ,he leapt out of the boat on to one slimy step1 and stood1 a dark and slender figure1 amid the enormous masonry4 ,the two men in the tug put her off again and turned up stream4 ,they had never spoken a word4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,fear ,at first the large stone stair seemed to ,syme as deserted as a pyramid2 but before he reached the top he had realised that there was a man leaning over the parapet of the ,embankment and looking out across the river4 ,as a figure he was quite conventional1 clad in a silk hat and frock-coat of the more formal type of fashion2 he had a red flower in his buttonhole4 ,as ,syme drew nearer to him step by step1 he did not even move a hair2 and ,syme could come close enough to notice even in the dim1 pale morning light that his face was long1 pale and intellectual1 and ended in a small triangular tuft of dark beard at the very point of the chin1 all else being clean-shaven4 ,this scrap of hair almost seemed a mere oversight2 the rest of the face was of the type that is best shaven--clear-cut1 ascetic1 and in its way noble4 ,syme drew closer and closer1 noting all this1 and still the figure did not stir4 ,at first an instinct had told ,syme that this was the man whom he was meant to meet4 ,then1 seeing that the man made no sign1 he had concluded that he was not4 ,and now again he had come back to a certainty that the man had something to do with his mad adventure4 ,for the man remained more still than would have been natural if a stranger had come so close4 ,he was as motionless as a wax-work1 and got on the nerves somewhat in the same way4 ,syme looked again and again at the pale1 dignified and delicate face1 and the face still looked blankly across the river4 ,then he took out of his pocket the note from ,buttons proving his election1 and put it before that sad and beautiful face4 ,then the man smiled1 and his smile was a shock1 for it was all on one side1 going up in the right cheek and down in the left4 ,there was nothing1 rationally speaking1 to scare anyone about this4 ,many people have this nervous trick of a crooked smile1 and in many it is even attractive4 ,but in all ,syme's circumstances1 with the dark dawn and the deadly errand and the loneliness on the great dripping stones1 there was something unnerving in it4 ,there was the silent river and the silent man1 a man of even classic face4 ,and there was the last nightmare touch that his smile suddenly went wrong4 ,the spasm of smile was instantaneous1 and the man's face dropped at once into its harmonious melancholy4 ,he spoke without further explanation or inquiry1 like a man speaking to an old colleague4 8,if we walk up towards ,leicester ,square10 he said1 8we shall just be in time for breakfast4 ,sunday always insists on an early breakfast4 ,have you had any sleep80 8,no10 said ,syme4 8,nor have ,i10 answered the man in an ordinary tone4 8,i shall try to get to bed after breakfast40 ,he spoke with casual civility1 but in an utterly dead voice that contradicted the fanaticism of his face4 ,it seemed almost as if all friendly words were to him lifeless conveniences1 and that his only life was hate4 ,after a pause the man spoke again4 8,of course1 the ,secretary of the branch told you everything that can be told4 ,but the one thing that can never be told is the last notion of the ,president1 for his notions grow like a tropical forest4 ,so in case you don't know1 ,i'd better tell you that he is carrying out his notion of concealing ourselves by not concealing ourselves to the most extraordinary lengths just now4 ,originally1 of course1 we met in a cell underground1 just as your branch does4 ,then ,sunday made us take a private room at an ordinary restaurant4 ,he said that if you didn't seem to be hiding nobody hunted you out4 ,well1 he is the only man on earth1 ,i know2 but sometimes ,i really think that his huge brain is going a little mad in its old age4 ,for now we flaunt ourselves before the public4 ,we have our breakfast on a balcony--on a balcony1 if you please--overlooking ,leicester ,square40 8,and what do the people say80 asked ,syme4 8,it's quite simple what they say10 answered his guide4 8,they say we are a lot of jolly gentlemen who pretend they are anarchists40 8,it seems to me a very clever idea10 said ,syme4 8,clever6 ,god blast your impudence6 ,clever60 cried out the other in a sudden1 shrill voice which was as startling and discordant as his crooked smile4 8,when you've seen ,sunday for a split second you'll leave off calling him clever40 ,with this they emerged out of a narrow street1 and saw the early sunlight filling ,leicester ,square4 ,it will never be known1 ,i suppose1 why this square itself should look so alien and in some ways so continental4 ,it will never be known whether it was the foreign look that attracted the foreigners or the foreigners who gave it the foreign look4 ,but on this particular morning the effect seemed singularly bright and clear4 ,between the open square and the sunlit leaves and the statue and the ,saracenic outlines of the ,alhambra1 it looked the replica of some ,french or even ,spanish public place4 ,and this effect increased in ,syme the sensation1 which in many shapes he had had through the whole adventure1 the eerie sensation of having strayed into a new world4 ,as a fact1 he had bought bad cigars round ,leicester ,square ever since he was a boy4 ,but as he turned that corner1 and saw the trees and the ,moorish cupolas1 he could have sworn that he was turning into an unknown ,place de something or other in some foreign town4 ,at one corner of the square there projected a kind of angle of a prosperous but quiet hotel1 the bulk of which belonged to a street behind4 ,in the wall there was one large ,french window1 probably the window of a large coffee-room2 and outside this window1 almost literally overhanging the square1 was a formidably buttressed balcony1 big enough to contain a dining-table4 ,in fact1 it did contain a dining-table1 or more strictly a breakfast-table2 and round the breakfast-table1 glowing in the sunlight and evident to the street1 were a group of noisy and talkative men1 all dressed in the insolence of fashion1 with white waistcoats and expensive button-holes4 ,some of their jokes could almost be heard across the square4 ,then the grave ,secretary gave his unnatural smile1 and ,syme knew that this boisterous breakfast party was the secret conclave of the ,european ,dynamiters4 ,then1 as ,syme continued to stare at them1 he saw something that he had not seen before4 ,he had not seen it literally because it was too large to see4 ,at the nearest end of the balcony1 blocking up a great part of the perspective1 was the back of a great mountain of a man4 ,when ,syme had seen him1 his first thought was that the weight of him must break down the balcony of stone4 ,his vastness did not lie only in the fact that he was abnormally tall and quite incredibly fat4 ,this man was planned enormously in his original proportions1 like a statue carved deliberately as colossal4 ,his head1 crowned with white hair1 as seen from behind looked bigger than a head ought to be4 ,the ears that stood out from it looked larger than human ears4 ,he was enlarged terribly to scale2 and this sense of size was so staggering1 that when ,syme saw him all the other figures seemed quite suddenly to dwindle and become dwarfish4 ,they were still sitting there as before with their flowers and frock-coats1 but now it looked as if the big man was entertaining five children to tea4 ,as ,syme and the guide approached the side door of the hotel1 a waiter came out smiling with every tooth in his head4 8,the gentlemen are up there1 sare10 he said4 8,they do talk and they do laugh at what they talk4 ,they do say they will throw bombs at ze king40 ,and the waiter hurried away with a napkin over his arm1 much pleased with the singular frivolity of the gentlemen upstairs4 ,the two men mounted the stairs in silence4 ,syme had never thought of asking whether the monstrous man who almost filled and broke the balcony was the great ,president of whom the others stood in awe4 ,he knew it was so1 with an unaccountable but instantaneous certainty4 ,syme1 indeed1 was one of those men who are open to all the more nameless psychological influences in a degree a little dangerous to mental health4 ,utterly devoid of fear in physical dangers1 he was a great deal too sensitive to the smell of spiritual evil4 ,twice already that night little unmeaning things had peeped out at him almost pruriently1 and given him a sense of drawing nearer and nearer to the head-quarters of hell4 ,and this sense became overpowering as he drew nearer to the great ,president4 ,the form it took was a childish and yet hateful fancy4 ,as he walked across the inner room towards the balcony1 the large face of ,sunday grew larger and larger2 and ,syme was gripped with a fear that when he was quite close the face would be too big to be possible1 and that he would scream aloud4 ,he remembered that as a child he would not look at the mask of ,memnon in the ,british ,museum1 because it was a face1 and so large4 ,by an effort1 braver than that of leaping over a cliff1 he went to an empty seat at the breakfast-table and sat down4 ,the men greeted him with good-humoured raillery as if they had always known him4 ,he sobered himself a little by looking at their conventional coats and solid1 shining coffee-pot2 then he looked again at ,sunday4 ,his face was very large1 but it was still possible to humanity4 ,in the presence of the ,president the whole company looked sufficiently commonplace2 nothing about them caught the eye at first1 except that by the ,president's caprice they had been dressed up with a festive respectability1 which gave the meal the look of a wedding breakfast4 ,one man indeed stood out at even a superficial glance4 ,he at least was the common or garden ,dynamiter4 ,he wore1 indeed1 the high white collar and satin tie that were the uniform of the occasion2 but out of this collar there sprang a head quite unmanageable and quite unmistakable1 a bewildering bush of brown hair and beard that almost obscured the eyes like those of a ,skye terrier4 ,but the eyes did look out of the tangle1 and they were the sad eyes of some ,russian serf4 ,the effect of this figure was not terrible like that of the ,president1 but it had every diablerie that can come from the utterly grotesque4 ,if out of that stiff tie and collar there had come abruptly the head of a cat or a dog1 it could not have been a more idiotic contrast4 ,the man's name1 it seemed1 was ,gogol2 he was a ,pole1 and in this circle of days he was called ,tuesday4 ,his soul and speech were incurably tragic2 he could not force himself to play the prosperous and frivolous part demanded of him by ,president ,sunday4 ,and1 indeed1 when ,syme came in the ,president1 with that daring disregard of public suspicion which was his policy1 was actually chaffing ,gogol upon his inability to assume conventional graces4 8,our friend ,tuesday10 said the ,president in a deep voice at once of quietude and volume1 8our friend ,tuesday doesn't seem to grasp the idea4 ,he dresses up like a gentleman1 but he seems to be too great a soul to behave like one4 ,he insists on the ways of the stage conspirator4 ,now if a gentleman goes about ,london in a top hat and a frock-coat1 no one need know that he is an anarchist4 ,but if a gentleman puts on a top hat and a frock-coat1 and then goes about on his hands and knees--well1 he may attract attention4 ,that's what ,brother ,gogol does4 ,he goes about on his hands and knees with such inexhaustible diplomacy1 that by this time he finds it quite difficult to walk upright40 8,i am not good at concealment10 said ,gogol sulkily1 with a thick foreign accent2 8,i am not ashamed of the cause40 8,yes you are1 my boy1 and so is the cause of you10 said the ,president good-naturedly4 8,you hide as much as anybody2 but you can't do it1 you see1 you're such an ass6 ,you try to combine two inconsistent methods4 ,when a householder finds a man under his bed1 he will probably pause to note the circumstance4 ,but if he finds a man under his bed in a top hat1 you will agree with me1 my dear ,tuesday1 that he is not likely even to forget it4 ,now when you were found under ,admiral ,biffin's bed--0 8,i am not good at deception10 said ,tuesday gloomily1 flushing4 8,right1 my boy1 right10 said the ,president with a ponderous heartiness1 8you aren't good at anything40 ,while this stream of conversation continued1 ,syme was looking more steadily at the men around him4 ,as he did so1 he gradually felt all his sense of something spiritually queer return4 ,he had thought at first that they were all of common stature and costume1 with the evident exception of the hairy ,gogol4 ,but as he looked at the others1 he began to see in each of them exactly what he had seen in the man by the river1 a demoniac detail somewhere4 ,that lop-sided laugh1 which would suddenly disfigure the fine face of his original guide1 was typical of all these types4 ,each man had something about him1 perceived perhaps at the tenth or twentieth glance1 which was not normal1 and which seemed hardly human4 ,the only metaphor he could think of was this1 that they all looked as men of fashion and presence would look1 with the additional twist given in a false and curved mirror4 ,only the individual examples will express this half-concealed eccentricity4 ,syme's original cicerone bore the title of ,monday2 he was the ,secretary of the ,council1 and his twisted smile was regarded with more terror than anything1 except the ,president's horrible1 happy laughter4 ,but now that ,syme had more space and light to observe him1 there were other touches4 ,his fine face was so emaciated1 that ,syme thought it must be wasted with some disease2 yet somehow the very distress of his dark eyes denied this4 ,it was no physical ill that troubled him4 ,his eyes were alive with intellectual torture1 as if pure thought was pain4 ,he was typical of each of the tribe2 each man was subtly and differently wrong4 ,next to him sat ,tuesday1 the tousle-headed ,gogol1 a man more obviously mad4 ,next was ,wednesday1 a certain ,marquis de ,st4 ,eustache1 a sufficiently characteristic figure4 ,the first few glances found nothing unusual about him1 except that he was the only man at table who wore the fashionable clothes as if they were really his own4 ,he had a black ,french beard cut square and a black ,english frock-coat cut even squarer4 ,but ,syme1 sensitive to such things1 felt somehow that the man carried a rich atmosphere with him1 a rich atmosphere that suffocated4 ,it reminded one irrationally of drowsy odours and of dying lamps in the darker poems of ,byron and ,poe4 ,with this went a sense of his being clad1 not in lighter colours1 but in softer materials2 his black seemed richer and warmer than the black shades about him1 as if it were compounded of profound colour4 ,his black coat looked as if it were only black by being too dense a purple4 ,his black beard looked as if it were only black by being too deep a blue4 ,and in the gloom and thickness of the beard his dark red mouth showed sensual and scornful4 ,whatever he was he was not a ,frenchman2 he might be a ,jew2 he might be something deeper yet in the dark heart of the ,east4 ,in the bright coloured ,persian tiles and pictures showing tyrants hunting1 you may see just those almond eyes1 those blue-black beards1 those cruel1 crimson lips4 ,then came ,syme1 and next a very old man1 ,professor de ,worms1 who still kept the chair of ,friday1 though every day it was expected that his death would leave it empty4 ,save for his intellect1 he was in the last dissolution of senile decay4 ,his face was as grey as his long grey beard1 his forehead was lifted and fixed finally in a furrow of mild despair4 ,in no other case1 not even that of ,gogol1 did the bridegroom brilliancy of the morning dress express a more painful contrast4 ,for the red flower in his button-hole showed up against a face that was literally discoloured like lead2 the whole hideous effect was as if some drunken dandies had put their clothes upon a corpse4 ,when he rose or sat down1 which was with long labour and peril1 something worse was expressed than mere weakness1 something indefinably connected with the horror of the whole scene4 ,it did not express decrepitude merely1 but corruption4 ,another hateful fancy crossed ,syme's quivering mind4 ,he could not help thinking that whenever the man moved a leg or arm might fall off4 ,right at the end sat the man called ,saturday1 the simplest and the most baffling of all4 ,he was a short1 square man with a dark1 square face clean-shaven1 a medical practitioner going by the name of ,bull4 ,he had that combination of savoir-faire with a sort of well-groomed coarseness which is not uncommon in young doctors4 ,he carried his fine clothes with confidence rather than ease1 and he mostly wore a set smile4 ,there was nothing whatever odd about him1 except that he wore a pair of dark1 almost opaque spectacles4 ,it may have been merely a crescendo of nervous fancy that had gone before1 but those black discs were dreadful to ,syme2 they reminded him of half-remembered ugly tales1 of some story about pennies being put on the eyes of the dead4 ,syme's eye always caught the black glasses and the blind grin4 ,had the dying ,professor worn them1 or even the pale ,secretary1 they would have been appropriate4 ,but on the younger and grosser man they seemed only an enigma4 ,they took away the key of the face4 ,you could not tell what his smile or his gravity meant4 ,partly from this1 and partly because he had a vulgar virility wanting in most of the others it seemed to ,syme that he might be the wickedest of all those wicked men4 ,syme even had the thought that his eyes might be covered up because they were too frightful to see4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,exposure ,such were the six men who had sworn to destroy the world4 ,again and again ,syme strove to pull together his common sense in their presence4 ,sometimes he saw for an instant that these notions were subjective1 that he was only looking at ordinary men1 one of whom was old1 another nervous1 another short-sighted4 ,the sense of an unnatural symbolism always settled back on him again4 ,each figure seemed to be1 somehow1 on the borderland of things1 just as their theory was on the borderland of thought4 ,he knew that each one of these men stood at the extreme end1 so to speak1 of some wild road of reasoning4 ,he could only fancy1 as in some old-world fable1 that if a man went westward to the end of the world he would find something--say a tree--that was more or less than a tree1 a tree possessed by a spirit2 and that if he went east to the end of the world he would find something else that was not wholly itself--a tower1 perhaps1 of which the very shape was wicked4 ,so these figures seemed to stand up1 violent and unaccountable1 against an ultimate horizon1 visions from the verge4 ,the ends of the earth were closing in4 ,talk had been going on steadily as he took in the scene2 and not the least of the contrasts of that bewildering breakfast-table was the contrast between the easy and unobtrusive tone of talk and its terrible purport4 ,they were deep in the discussion of an actual and immediate plot4 ,the waiter downstairs had spoken quite correctly when he said that they were talking about bombs and kings4 ,only three days afterwards the ,czar was to meet the ,president of the ,french ,republic in ,paris1 and over their bacon and eggs upon their sunny balcony these beaming gentlemen had decided how both should die4 ,even the instrument was chosen2 the black-bearded ,marquis1 it appeared1 was to carry the bomb4 ,ordinarily speaking1 the proximity of this positive and objective crime would have sobered ,syme1 and cured him of all his merely mystical tremors4 ,he would have thought of nothing but the need of saving at least two human bodies from being ripped in pieces with iron and roaring gas4 ,but the truth was that by this time he had begun to feel a third kind of fear1 more piercing and practical than either his moral revulsion or his social responsibility4 ,very simply1 he had no fear to spare for the ,french ,president or the ,czar2 he had begun to fear for himself4 ,most of the talkers took little heed of him1 debating now with their faces closer together1 and almost uniformly grave1 save when for an instant the smile of the ,secretary ran aslant across his face as the jagged lightning runs aslant across the sky4 ,but there was one persistent thing which first troubled ,syme and at last terrified him4 ,the ,president was always looking at him1 steadily1 and with a great and baffling interest4 ,the enormous man was quite quiet1 but his blue eyes stood out of his head4 ,and they were always fixed on ,syme4 ,syme felt moved to spring up and leap over the balcony4 ,when the ,president's eyes were on him he felt as if he were made of glass4 ,he had hardly the shred of a doubt that in some silent and extraordinary way ,sunday had found out that he was a spy4 ,he looked over the edge of the balcony1 and saw a policeman1 standing abstractedly just beneath1 staring at the bright railings and the sunlit trees4 ,then there fell upon him the great temptation that was to torment him for many days4 ,in the presence of these powerful and repulsive men1 who were the princes of anarchy1 he had almost forgotten the frail and fanciful figure of the poet ,gregory1 the mere aesthete of anarchism4 ,he even thought of him now with an old kindness1 as if they had played together when children4 ,but he remembered that he was still tied to ,gregory by a great promise4 ,he had promised never to do the very thing that he now felt himself almost in the act of doing4 ,he had promised not to jump over that balcony and speak to that policeman4 ,he took his cold hand off the cold stone balustrade4 ,his soul swayed in a vertigo of moral indecision4 ,he had only to snap the thread of a rash vow made to a villainous society1 and all his life could be as open and sunny as the square beneath him4 ,he had1 on the other hand1 only to keep his antiquated honour1 and be delivered inch by inch into the power of this great enemy of mankind1 whose very intellect was a torture-chamber4 ,whenever he looked down into the square he saw the comfortable policeman1 a pillar of common sense and common order4 ,whenever he looked back at the breakfast-table he saw the ,president still quietly studying him with big1 unbearable eyes4 ,in all the torrent of his thought there were two thoughts that never crossed his mind4 ,first1 it never occurred to him to doubt that the ,president and his ,council could crush him if he continued to stand alone4 ,the place might be public1 the project might seem impossible4 ,but ,sunday was not the man who would carry himself thus easily without having1 somehow or somewhere1 set open his iron trap4 ,either by anonymous poison or sudden street accident1 by hypnotism or by fire from hell1 ,sunday could certainly strike him4 ,if he defied the man he was probably dead1 either struck stiff there in his chair or long afterwards as by an innocent ailment4 ,if he called in the police promptly1 arrested everyone1 told all1 and set against them the whole energy of ,england1 he would probably escape2 certainly not otherwise4 ,they were a balconyful of gentlemen overlooking a bright and busy square2 but he felt no more safe with them than if they had been a boatful of armed pirates overlooking an empty sea4 ,there was a second thought that never came to him4 ,it never occurred to him to be spiritually won over to the enemy4 ,many moderns1 inured to a weak worship of intellect and force1 might have wavered in their allegiance under this oppression of a great personality4 ,they might have called ,sunday the super-man4 ,if any such creature be conceivable1 he looked1 indeed1 somewhat like it1 with his earth-shaking abstraction1 as of a stone statue walking4 ,he might have been called something above man1 with his large plans1 which were too obvious to be detected1 with his large face1 which was too frank to be understood4 ,but this was a kind of modern meanness to which ,syme could not sink even in his extreme morbidity4 ,like any man1 he was coward enough to fear great force2 but he was not quite coward enough to admire it4 ,the men were eating as they talked1 and even in this they were typical4 ,dr4 ,bull and the ,marquis ate casually and conventionally of the best things on the table--cold pheasant or ,strasbourg pie4 ,but the ,secretary was a vegetarian1 and he spoke earnestly of the projected murder over half a raw tomato and three quarters of a glass of tepid water4 ,the old ,professor had such slops as suggested a sickening second childhood4 ,and even in this ,president ,sunday preserved his curious predominance of mere mass4 ,for he ate like twenty men2 he ate incredibly1 with a frightful freshness of appetite1 so that it was like watching a sausage factory4 ,yet continually1 when he had swallowed a dozen crumpets or drunk a quart of coffee1 he would be found with his great head on one side staring at ,syme4 8,i have often wondered10 said the ,marquis1 taking a great bite out of a slice of bread and jam1 8whether it wouldn't be better for me to do it with a knife4 ,most of the best things have been brought off with a knife4 ,and it would be a new emotion to get a knife into a ,french ,president and wriggle it round40 8,you are wrong10 said the ,secretary1 drawing his black brows together4 8,the knife was merely the expression of the old personal quarrel with a personal tyrant4 ,dynamite is not only our best tool1 but our best symbol4 ,it is as perfect a symbol of us as is incense of the prayers of the ,christians4 ,it expands2 it only destroys because it broadens2 even so1 thought only destroys because it broadens4 ,a man's brain is a bomb10 he cried out1 loosening suddenly his strange passion and striking his own skull with violence4 8,my brain feels like a bomb1 night and day4 ,it must expand6 ,it must expand6 ,a man's brain must expand1 if it breaks up the universe40 8,i don't want the universe broken up just yet10 drawled the ,marquis4 8,i want to do a lot of beastly things before ,i die4 ,i thought of one yesterday in bed40 8,no1 if the only end of the thing is nothing10 said ,dr4 ,bull with his sphinx-like smile1 8it hardly seems worth doing40 ,the old ,professor was staring at the ceiling with dull eyes4 8,every man knows in his heart10 he said1 8that nothing is worth doing40 ,there was a singular silence1 and then the ,secretary said-- 8,we are wandering1 however1 from the point4 ,the only question is how ,wednesday is to strike the blow4 ,i take it we should all agree with the original notion of a bomb4 ,as to the actual arrangements1 ,i should suggest that tomorrow morning he should go first of all to--0 ,the speech was broken off short under a vast shadow4 ,president ,sunday had risen to his feet1 seeming to fill the sky above them4 8,before we discuss that10 he said in a small1 quiet voice1 8let us go into a private room4 ,i have something very particular to say40 ,syme stood up before any of the others4 ,the instant of choice had come at last1 the pistol was at his head4 ,on the pavement before he could hear the policeman idly stir and stamp1 for the morning1 though bright1 was cold4 ,a barrel-organ in the street suddenly sprang with a jerk into a jovial tune4 ,syme stood up taut1 as if it had been a bugle before the battle4 ,he found himself filled with a supernatural courage that came from nowhere4 ,that jingling music seemed full of the vivacity1 the vulgarity1 and the irrational valour of the poor1 who in all those unclean streets were all clinging to the decencies and the charities of ,christendom4 ,his youthful prank of being a policeman had faded from his mind2 he did not think of himself as the representative of the corps of gentlemen turned into fancy constables1 or of the old eccentric who lived in the dark room4 ,but he did feel himself as the ambassador of all these common and kindly people in the street1 who every day marched into battle to the music of the barrel-organ4 ,and this high pride in being human had lifted him unaccountably to an infinite height above the monstrous men around him4 ,for an instant1 at least1 he looked down upon all their sprawling eccentricities from the starry pinnacle of the commonplace4 ,he felt towards them all that unconscious and elementary superiority that a brave man feels over powerful beasts or a wise man over powerful errors4 ,he knew that he had neither the intellectual nor the physical strength of ,president ,sunday2 but in that moment he minded it no more than the fact that he had not the muscles of a tiger or a horn on his nose like a rhinoceros4 ,all was swallowed up in an ultimate certainty that the ,president was wrong and that the barrel-organ was right4 ,there clanged in his mind that unanswerable and terrible truism in the song of ,roland-- 8,paens ont tort et ,chrtiens ont droit10 which in the old nasal ,french has the clang and groan of great iron4 ,this liberation of his spirit from the load of his weakness went with a quite clear decision to embrace death4 ,if the people of the barrel-organ could keep their old-world obligations1 so could he4 ,this very pride in keeping his word was that he was keeping it to miscreants4 ,it was his last triumph over these lunatics to go down into their dark room and die for something that they could not even understand4 ,the barrel-organ seemed to give the marching tune with the energy and the mingled noises of a whole orchestra2 and he could hear deep and rolling1 under all the trumpets of the pride of life1 the drums of the pride of death4 ,the conspirators were already filing through the open window and into the rooms behind4 ,syme went last1 outwardly calm1 but with all his brain and body throbbing with romantic rhythm4 ,the ,president led them down an irregular side stair1 such as might be used by servants1 and into a dim1 cold1 empty room1 with a table and benches1 like an abandoned boardroom4 ,when they were all in1 he closed and locked the door4 ,the first to speak was ,gogol1 the irreconcilable1 who seemed bursting with inarticulate grievance4 8,zso6 ,zso60 he cried1 with an obscure excitement1 his heavy ,polish accent becoming almost impenetrable4 8,you zay you nod 'ide4 ,you zay you show himselves4 ,it is all nuzzinks4 ,ven you vant talk importance you run yourselves in a dark box60 ,the ,president seemed to take the foreigner's incoherent satire with entire good humour4 8,you can't get hold of it yet1 ,gogol10 he said in a fatherly way4 8,when once they have heard us talking nonsense on that balcony they will not care where we go afterwards4 ,if we had come here first1 we should have had the whole staff at the keyhole4 ,you don't seem to know anything about mankind40 8,i die for zem10 cried the ,pole in thick excitement1 8and ,i slay zare oppressors4 ,i care not for these games of gonzealment4 ,i would zmite ze tyrant in ze open square40 8,i see1 ,i see10 said the ,president1 nodding kindly as he seated himself at the top of a long table4 8,you die for mankind first1 and then you get up and smite their oppressors4 ,so that's all right4 ,and now may ,i ask you to control your beautiful sentiments1 and sit down with the other gentlemen at this table4 ,for the first time this morning something intelligent is going to be said40 ,syme1 with the perturbed promptitude he had shown since the original summons1 sat down first4 ,gogol sat down last1 grumbling in his brown beard about gombromise4 ,no one except ,syme seemed to have any notion of the blow that was about to fall4 ,as for him1 he had merely the feeling of a man mounting the scaffold with the intention1 at any rate1 of making a good speech4 8,comrades10 said the ,president1 suddenly rising1 8we have spun out this farce long enough4 ,i have called you down here to tell you something so simple and shocking that even the waiters upstairs 7long inured to our levities7 might hear some new seriousness in my voice4 ,comrades1 we were discussing plans and naming places4 ,i propose1 before saying anything else1 that those plans and places should not be voted by this meeting1 but should be left wholly in the control of some one reliable member4 ,i suggest ,comrade ,saturday1 ,dr4 ,bull40 ,they all stared at him2 then they all started in their seats1 for the next words1 though not loud1 had a living and sensational emphasis4 ,sunday struck the table4 8,not one word more about the plans and places must be said at this meeting4 ,not one tiny detail more about what we mean to do must be mentioned in this company40 ,sunday had spent his life in astonishing his followers2 but it seemed as if he had never really astonished them until now4 ,they all moved feverishly in their seats1 except ,syme4 ,he sat stiff in his1 with his hand in his pocket1 and on the handle of his loaded revolver4 ,when the attack on him came he would sell his life dear4 ,he would find out at least if the ,president was mortal4 ,sunday went on smoothly-- 8,you will probably understand that there is only one possible motive for forbidding free speech at this festival of freedom4 ,strangers overhearing us matters nothing4 ,they assume that we are joking4 ,but what would matter1 even unto death1 is this1 that there should be one actually among us who is not of us1 who knows our grave purpose1 but does not share it1 who--0 ,the ,secretary screamed out suddenly like a woman4 8,it can't be60 he cried1 leaping4 8,there can't--0 ,the ,president flapped his large flat hand on the table like the fin of some huge fish4 8,yes10 he said slowly1 8there is a spy in this room4 ,there is a traitor at this table4 ,i will waste no more words4 ,his name--0 ,syme half rose from his seat1 his finger firm on the trigger4 8,his name is ,gogol10 said the ,president4 8,he is that hairy humbug over there who pretends to be a ,pole40 ,gogol sprang to his feet1 a pistol in each hand4 ,with the same flash three men sprang at his throat4 ,even the ,professor made an effort to rise4 ,but ,syme saw little of the scene1 for he was blinded with a beneficent darkness2 he had sunk down into his seat shuddering1 in a palsy of passionate relief4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,unaccountable ,,conduct ,,of ,,professor ,,de ,,worms 8,sit down60 said ,sunday in a voice that he used once or twice in his life1 a voice that made men drop drawn swords4 ,the three who had risen fell away from ,gogol1 and that equivocal person himself resumed his seat4 8,well1 my man10 said the ,president briskly1 addressing him as one addresses a total stranger1 8will you oblige me by putting your hand in your upper waistcoat pocket and showing me what you have there80 ,the alleged ,pole was a little pale under his tangle of dark hair1 but he put two fingers into the pocket with apparent coolness and pulled out a blue strip of card4 ,when ,syme saw it lying on the table1 he woke up again to the world outside him4 ,for although the card lay at the other extreme of the table1 and he could read nothing of the inscription on it1 it bore a startling resemblance to the blue card in his own pocket1 the card which had been given to him when he joined the anti-anarchist constabulary4 8,pathetic ,slav10 said the ,president1 8tragic child of ,poland1 are you prepared in the presence of that card to deny that you are in this company--shall we say de trop80 8,right oh60 said the late ,gogol4 ,it made everyone jump to hear a clear1 commercial and somewhat cockney voice coming out of that forest of foreign hair4 ,it was irrational1 as if a ,chinaman had suddenly spoken with a ,scotch accent4 8,i gather that you fully understand your position10 said ,sunday4 8,you bet10 answered the ,pole4 8,i see it's a fair cop4 ,all ,i say is1 ,i don't believe any ,pole could have imitated my accent like ,i did his40 8,i concede the point10 said ,sunday4 8,i believe your own accent to be inimitable1 though ,i shall practise it in my bath4 ,do you mind leaving your beard with your card80 8,not a bit10 answered ,gogol2 and with one finger he ripped off the whole of his shaggy head-covering1 emerging with thin red hair and a pale1 pert face4 8,it was hot10 he added4 8,i will do you the justice to say10 said ,sunday1 not without a sort of brutal admiration1 8that you seem to have kept pretty cool under it4 ,now listen to me4 ,i like you4 ,the consequence is that it would annoy me for just about two and a half minutes if ,i heard that you had died in torments4 ,well1 if you ever tell the police or any human soul about us1 ,i shall have that two and a half minutes of discomfort4 ,on your discomfort ,i will not dwell4 ,good day4 ,mind the step40 ,the red-haired detective who had masqueraded as ,gogol rose to his feet without a word1 and walked out of the room with an air of perfect nonchalance4 ,yet the astonished ,syme was able to realise that this ease was suddenly assumed2 for there was a slight stumble outside the door1 which showed that the departing detective had not minded the step4 8,time is flying10 said the ,president in his gayest manner1 after glancing at his watch1 which like everything about him seemed bigger than it ought to be4 8,i must go off at once2 ,i have to take the chair at a ,humanitarian meeting40 ,the ,secretary turned to him with working eyebrows4 8,would it not be better10 he said a little sharply1 8to discuss further the details of our project1 now that the spy has left us80 8,no1 ,i think not10 said the ,president with a yawn like an unobtrusive earthquake4 8,leave it as it is4 ,let ,saturday settle it4 ,i must be off4 ,breakfast here next ,sunday40 ,but the late loud scenes had whipped up the almost naked nerves of the ,secretary4 ,he was one of those men who are conscientious even in crime4 8,i must protest1 ,president1 that the thing is irregular10 he said4 8,it is a fundamental rule of our society that all plans shall be debated in full council4 ,of course1 ,i fully appreciate your forethought when in the actual presence of a traitor--0 8,secretary10 said the ,president seriously1 8if you'd take your head home and boil it for a turnip it might be useful4 ,i can't say4 ,but it might40 ,the ,secretary reared back in a kind of equine anger4 8,i really fail to understand--0 he began in high offense4 8,that's it1 that's it10 said the ,president1 nodding a great many times4 8,that's where you fail right enough4 ,you fail to understand4 ,why1 you dancing donkey10 he roared1 rising1 8you didn't want to be overheard by a spy1 didn't you8 ,how do you know you aren't overheard now80 ,and with these words he shouldered his way out of the room1 shaking with incomprehensible scorn4 ,four of the men left behind gaped after him without any apparent glimmering of his meaning4 ,syme alone had even a glimmering1 and such as it was it froze him to the bone4 ,if the last words of the ,president meant anything1 they meant that he had not after all passed unsuspected4 ,they meant that while ,sunday could not denounce him like ,gogol1 he still could not trust him like the others4 ,the other four got to their feet grumbling more or less1 and betook themselves elsewhere to find lunch1 for it was already well past midday4 ,the ,professor went last1 very slowly and painfully4 ,syme sat long after the rest had gone1 revolving his strange position4 ,he had escaped a thunderbolt1 but he was still under a cloud4 ,at last he rose and made his way out of the hotel into ,leicester ,square4 ,the bright1 cold day had grown increasingly colder1 and when he came out into the street he was surprised by a few flakes of snow4 ,while he still carried the sword-stick and the rest of ,gregory's portable luggage1 he had thrown the cloak down and left it somewhere1 perhaps on the steam-tug1 perhaps on the balcony4 ,hoping1 therefore1 that the snow-shower might be slight1 he stepped back out of the street for a moment and stood up under the doorway of a small and greasy hair-dresser's shop1 the front window of which was empty1 except for a sickly wax lady in evening dress4 ,snow1 however1 began to thicken and fall fast2 and ,syme1 having found one glance at the wax lady quite sufficient to depress his spirits1 stared out instead into the white and empty street4 ,he was considerably astonished to see1 standing quite still outside the shop and staring into the window1 a man4 ,his top hat was loaded with snow like the hat of ,father ,christmas1 the white drift was rising round his boots and ankles2 but it seemed as if nothing could tear him away from the contemplation of the colourless wax doll in dirty evening dress4 ,that any human being should stand in such weather looking into such a shop was a matter of sufficient wonder to ,syme2 but his idle wonder turned suddenly into a personal shock2 for he realised that the man standing there was the paralytic old ,professor de ,worms4 ,it scarcely seemed the place for a person of his years and infirmities4 ,syme was ready to believe anything about the perversions of this dehumanized brotherhood2 but even he could not believe that the ,professor had fallen in love with that particular wax lady4 ,he could only suppose that the man's malady 7whatever it was7 involved some momentary fits of rigidity or trance4 ,he was not inclined1 however1 to feel in this case any very compassionate concern4 ,on the contrary1 he rather congratulated himself that the ,professor's stroke and his elaborate and limping walk would make it easy to escape from him and leave him miles behind4 ,for ,syme thirsted first and last to get clear of the whole poisonous atmosphere1 if only for an hour4 ,then he could collect his thoughts1 formulate his policy1 and decide finally whether he should or should not keep faith with ,gregory4 ,he strolled away through the dancing snow1 turned up two or three streets1 down through two or three others1 and entered a small ,soho restaurant for lunch4 ,he partook reflectively of four small and quaint courses1 drank half a bottle of red wine1 and ended up over black coffee and a black cigar1 still thinking4 ,he had taken his seat in the upper room of the restaurant1 which was full of the chink of knives and the chatter of foreigners4 ,he remembered that in old days he had imagined that all these harmless and kindly aliens were anarchists4 ,he shuddered1 remembering the real thing4 ,but even the shudder had the delightful shame of escape4 ,the wine1 the common food1 the familiar place1 the faces of natural and talkative men1 made him almost feel as if the ,council of the ,seven ,days had been a bad dream2 and although he knew it was nevertheless an objective reality1 it was at least a distant one4 ,tall houses and populous streets lay between him and his last sight of the shameful seven2 he was free in free ,london1 and drinking wine among the free4 ,with a somewhat easier action1 he took his hat and stick and strolled down the stair into the shop below4 ,when he entered that lower room he stood stricken and rooted to the spot4 ,at a small table1 close up to the blank window and the white street of snow1 sat the old anarchist ,professor over a glass of milk1 with his lifted livid face and pendent eyelids4 ,for an instant ,syme stood as rigid as the stick he leant upon4 ,then with a gesture as of blind hurry1 he brushed past the ,professor1 dashing open the door and slamming it behind him1 and stood outside in the snow4 8,can that old corpse be following me80 he asked himself1 biting his yellow moustache4 8,i stopped too long up in that room1 so that even such leaden feet could catch me up4 ,one comfort is1 with a little brisk walking ,i can put a man like that as far away as ,timbuctoo4 ,or am ,i too fanciful8 ,was he really following me8 ,surely ,sunday would not be such a fool as to send a lame man80 ,he set off at a smart pace1 twisting and whirling his stick1 in the direction of ,covent ,garden4 ,as he crossed the great market the snow increased1 growing blinding and bewildering as the afternoon began to darken4 ,the snow-flakes tormented him like a swarm of silver bees4 ,getting into his eyes and beard1 they added their unremitting futility to his already irritated nerves2 and by the time that he had come at a swinging pace to the beginning of ,fleet ,street1 he lost patience1 and finding a ,sunday teashop1 turned into it to take shelter4 ,he ordered another cup of black coffee as an excuse4 ,scarcely had he done so1 when ,professor de ,worms hobbled heavily into the shop1 sat down with difficulty and ordered a glass of milk4 ,syme's walking-stick had fallen from his hand with a great clang1 which confessed the concealed steel4 ,but the ,professor did not look round4 ,syme1 who was commonly a cool character1 was literally gaping as a rustic gapes at a conjuring trick4 ,he had seen no cab following2 he had heard no wheels outside the shop2 to all mortal appearances the man had come on foot4 ,but the old man could only walk like a snail1 and ,syme had walked like the wind4 ,he started up and snatched his stick1 half crazy with the contradiction in mere arithmetic1 and swung out of the swinging doors1 leaving his coffee untasted4 ,an omnibus going to the ,bank went rattling by with an unusual rapidity4 ,he had a violent run of a hundred yards to reach it2 but he managed to spring1 swaying upon the splash-board and1 pausing for an instant to pant1 he climbed on to the top4 ,when he had been seated for about half a minute1 he heard behind him a sort of heavy and asthmatic breathing4 ,turning sharply1 he saw rising gradually higher and higher up the omnibus steps a top hat soiled and dripping with snow1 and under the shadow of its brim the short-sighted face and shaky shoulders of ,professor de ,worms4 ,he let himself into a seat with characteristic care1 and wrapped himself up to the chin in the mackintosh rug4 ,every movement of the old man's tottering figure and vague hands1 every uncertain gesture and panic-stricken pause1 seemed to put it beyond question that he was helpless1 that he was in the last imbecility of the body4 ,he moved by inches1 he let himself down with little gasps of caution4 ,and yet1 unless the philosophical entities called time and space have no vestige even of a practical existence1 it appeared quite unquestionable that he had run after the omnibus4 ,syme sprang erect upon the rocking car1 and after staring wildly at the wintry sky1 that grew gloomier every moment1 he ran down the steps4 ,he had repressed an elemental impulse to leap over the side4 ,too bewildered to look back or to reason1 he rushed into one of the little courts at the side of ,fleet ,street as a rabbit rushes into a hole4 ,he had a vague idea1 if this incomprehensible old ,jack-in-the-box was really pursuing him1 that in that labyrinth of little streets he could soon throw him off the scent4 ,he dived in and out of those crooked lanes1 which were more like cracks than thoroughfares2 and by the time that he had completed about twenty alternate angles and described an unthinkable polygon1 he paused to listen for any sound of pursuit4 ,there was none2 there could not in any case have been much1 for the little streets were thick with the soundless snow4 ,somewhere behind ,red ,lion ,court1 however1 he noticed a place where some energetic citizen had cleared away the snow for a space of about twenty yards1 leaving the wet1 glistening cobble-stones4 ,he thought little of this as he passed it1 only plunging into yet another arm of the maze4 ,but when a few hundred yards farther on he stood still again to listen1 his heart stood still also1 for he heard from that space of rugged stones the clinking crutch and labouring feet of the infernal cripple4 ,the sky above was loaded with the clouds of snow1 leaving ,london in a darkness and oppression premature for that hour of the evening4 ,on each side of ,syme the walls of the alley were blind and featureless2 there was no little window or any kind of eve4 ,he felt a new impulse to break out of this hive of houses1 and to get once more into the open and lamp-lit street4 ,yet he rambled and dodged for a long time before he struck the main thoroughfare4 ,when he did so1 he struck it much farther up than he had fancied4 ,he came out into what seemed the vast and void of ,ludgate ,circus1 and saw ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral sitting in the sky4 ,at first he was startled to find these great roads so empty1 as if a pestilence had swept through the city4 ,then he told himself that some degree of emptiness was natural2 first because the snow-storm was even dangerously deep1 and secondly because it was ,sunday4 ,and at the very word ,sunday he bit his lip2 the word was henceforth for hire like some indecent pun4 ,under the white fog of snow high up in the heaven the whole atmosphere of the city was turned to a very queer kind of green twilight1 as of men under the sea4 ,the sealed and sullen sunset behind the dark dome of ,st4 ,paul's had in it smoky and sinister colours--colours of sickly green1 dead red or decaying bronze1 that were just bright enough to emphasise the solid whiteness of the snow4 ,but right up against these dreary colours rose the black bulk of the cathedral2 and upon the top of the cathedral was a random splash and great stain of snow1 still clinging as to an ,alpine peak4 ,it had fallen accidentally1 but just so fallen as to half drape the dome from its very topmost point1 and to pick out in perfect silver the great orb and the cross4 ,when ,syme saw it he suddenly straightened himself1 and made with his sword-stick an involuntary salute4 ,he knew that that evil figure1 his shadow1 was creeping quickly or slowly behind him1 and he did not care4 ,it seemed a symbol of human faith and valour that while the skies were darkening that high place of the earth was bright4 ,the devils might have captured heaven1 but they had not yet captured the cross4 ,he had a new impulse to tear out the secret of this dancing1 jumping and pursuing paralytic2 and at the entrance of the court as it opened upon the ,circus he turned1 stick in hand1 to face his pursuer4 ,professor de ,worms came slowly round the corner of the irregular alley behind him1 his unnatural form outlined against a lonely gas-lamp1 irresistibly recalling that very imaginative figure in the nursery rhymes1 8the crooked man who went a crooked mile40 ,he really looked as if he had been twisted out of shape by the tortuous streets he had been threading4 ,he came nearer and nearer1 the lamplight shining on his lifted spectacles1 his lifted1 patient face4 ,syme waited for him as ,st4 ,george waited for the dragon1 as a man waits for a final explanation or for death4 ,and the old ,professor came right up to him and passed him like a total stranger1 without even a blink of his mournful eyelids4 ,there was something in this silent and unexpected innocence that left ,syme in a final fury4 ,the man's colourless face and manner seemed to assert that the whole following had been an accident4 ,syme was galvanised with an energy that was something between bitterness and a burst of boyish derision4 ,he made a wild gesture as if to knock the old man's hat off1 called out something like 8,catch me if you can10 and went racing away across the white1 open ,circus4 ,concealment was impossible now2 and looking back over his shoulder1 he could see the black figure of the old gentleman coming after him with long1 swinging strides like a man winning a mile race4 ,but the head upon that bounding body was still pale1 grave and professional1 like the head of a lecturer upon the body of a harlequin4 ,this outrageous chase sped across ,ludgate ,circus1 up ,ludgate ,hill1 round ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 along ,cheapside1 ,syme remembering all the nightmares he had ever known4 ,then ,syme broke away towards the river1 and ended almost down by the docks4 ,he saw the yellow panes of a low1 lighted public-house1 flung himself into it and ordered beer4 ,it was a foul tavern1 sprinkled with foreign sailors1 a place where opium might be smoked or knives drawn4 ,a moment later ,professor de ,worms entered the place1 sat down carefully1 and asked for a glass of milk4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,professor ,,explains ,when ,gabriel ,syme found himself finally established in a chair1 and opposite to him1 fixed and final also1 the lifted eyebrows and leaden eyelids of the ,professor1 his fears fully returned4 ,this incomprehensible man from the fierce council1 after all1 had certainly pursued him4 ,if the man had one character as a paralytic and another character as a pursuer1 the antithesis might make him more interesting1 but scarcely more soothing4 ,it would be a very small comfort that he could not find the ,professor out1 if by some serious accident the ,professor should find him out4 ,he emptied a whole pewter pot of ale before the professor had touched his milk4 ,one possibility1 however1 kept him hopeful and yet helpless4 ,it was just possible that this escapade signified something other than even a slight suspicion of him4 ,perhaps it was some regular form or sign4 ,perhaps the foolish scamper was some sort of friendly signal that he ought to have understood4 ,perhaps it was a ritual4 ,perhaps the new ,thursday was always chased along ,cheapside1 as the new ,lord ,mayor is always escorted along it4 ,he was just selecting a tentative inquiry1 when the old ,professor opposite suddenly and simply cut him short4 ,before ,syme could ask the first diplomatic question1 the old anarchist had asked suddenly1 without any sort of preparation-- 8,are you a policeman80 ,whatever else ,syme had expected1 he had never expected anything so brutal and actual as this4 ,even his great presence of mind could only manage a reply with an air of rather blundering jocularity4 8,a policeman80 he said1 laughing vaguely4 8,whatever made you think of a policeman in connection with me80 8,the process was simple enough10 answered the ,professor patiently4 8,i thought you looked like a policeman4 ,i think so now40 8,did ,i take a policeman's hat by mistake out of the restaurant80 asked ,syme1 smiling wildly4 8,have ,i by any chance got a number stuck on to me somewhere8 ,have my boots got that watchful look8 ,why must ,i be a policeman8 ,do1 do let me be a postman40 ,the old ,professor shook his head with a gravity that gave no hope1 but ,syme ran on with a feverish irony4 8,but perhaps ,i misunderstood the delicacies of your ,german philosophy4 ,perhaps policeman is a relative term4 ,in an evolutionary sense1 sir1 the ape fades so gradually into the policeman1 that ,i myself can never detect the shade4 ,the monkey is only the policeman that may be4 ,perhaps a maiden lady on ,clapham ,common is only the policeman that might have been4 ,i don't mind being the policeman that might have been4 ,i don't mind being anything in ,german thought40 8,are you in the police service80 said the old man1 ignoring all ,syme's improvised and desperate raillery4 8,are you a detective80 ,syme's heart turned to stone1 but his face never changed4 8,your suggestion is ridiculous10 he began4 8,why on earth--0 ,the old man struck his palsied hand passionately on the rickety table1 nearly breaking it4 8,did you hear me ask a plain question1 you pattering spy80 he shrieked in a high1 crazy voice4 8,are you1 or are you not1 a police detective80 8,no60 answered ,syme1 like a man standing on the hangman's drop4 8,you swear it10 said the old man1 leaning across to him1 his dead face becoming as it were loathsomely alive4 8,you swear it6 ,you swear it6 ,if you swear falsely1 will you be damned8 ,will you be sure that the devil dances at your funeral8 ,will you see that the nightmare sits on your grave8 ,will there really be no mistake8 ,you are an anarchist1 you are a dynamiter6 ,above all1 you are not in any sense a detective8 ,you are not in the ,british police80 ,he leant his angular elbow far across the table1 and put up his large loose hand like a flap to his ear4 8,i am not in the ,british police10 said ,syme with insane calm4 ,professor de ,worms fell back in his chair with a curious air of kindly collapse4 8,that's a pity10 he said1 8because ,i am40 ,syme sprang up straight1 sending back the bench behind him with a crash4 8,because you are what80 he said thickly4 8,you are what80 8,i am a policeman10 said the ,professor with his first broad smile1 and beaming through his spectacles4 8,but as you think policeman only a relative term1 of course ,i have nothing to do with you4 ,i am in the ,british police force2 but as you tell me you are not in the ,british police force1 ,i can only say that ,i met you in a dynamiters' club4 ,i suppose ,i ought to arrest you40 ,and with these words he laid on the table before ,syme an exact facsimile of the blue card which ,syme had in his own waistcoat pocket1 the symbol of his power from the police4 ,syme had for a flash the sensation that the cosmos had turned exactly upside down1 that all trees were growing downwards and that all stars were under his feet4 ,then came slowly the opposite conviction4 ,for the last twenty-four hours the cosmos had really been upside down1 but now the capsized universe had come right side up again4 ,this devil from whom he had been fleeing all day was only an elder brother of his own house1 who on the other side of the table lay back and laughed at him4 ,he did not for the moment ask any questions of detail2 he only knew the happy and silly fact that this shadow1 which had pursued him with an intolerable oppression of peril1 was only the shadow of a friend trying to catch him up4 ,he knew simultaneously that he was a fool and a free man4 ,for with any recovery from morbidity there must go a certain healthy humiliation4 ,there comes a certain point in such conditions when only three things are possible3 first a perpetuation of ,satanic pride1 secondly tears1 and third laughter4 ,syme's egotism held hard to the first course for a few seconds1 and then suddenly adopted the third4 ,taking his own blue police ticket from his own waist coat pocket1 he tossed it on to the table2 then he flung his head back until his spike of yellow beard almost pointed at the ceiling1 and shouted with a barbaric laughter4 ,even in that close den1 perpetually filled with the din of knives1 plates1 cans1 clamorous voices1 sudden struggles and stampedes1 there was something ,homeric in ,syme's mirth which made many half-drunken men look round4 8,what yer laughing at1 guv'nor80 asked one wondering labourer from the docks4 8,at myself10 answered ,syme1 and went off again into the agony of his ecstatic reaction4 8,pull yourself together10 said the ,professor1 8or you'll get hysterical4 ,have some more beer4 ,i'll join you40 8,you haven't drunk your milk10 said ,syme4 8,my milk60 said the other1 in tones of withering and unfathomable contempt1 8my milk6 ,do you think ,i'd look at the beastly stuff when ,i'm out of sight of the bloody anarchists8 ,we're all ,christians in this room1 though perhaps10 he added1 glancing around at the reeling crowd1 8not strict ones4 ,finish my milk8 ,great blazes6 yes1 ,i'll finish it right enough60 and he knocked the tumbler off the table1 making a crash of glass and a splash of silver fluid4 ,syme was staring at him with a happy curiosity4 8,i understand now10 he cried2 8of course1 you're not an old man at all40 8,i can't take my face off here10 replied ,professor de ,worms4 8,it's rather an elaborate make-up4 ,as to whether ,i'm an old man1 that's not for me to say4 ,i was thirty-eight last birthday40 8,yes1 but ,i mean10 said ,syme impatiently1 8there's nothing the matter with you40 8,yes10 answered the other dispassionately4 8,i am subject to colds40 ,syme's laughter at all this had about it a wild weakness of relief4 ,he laughed at the idea of the paralytic ,professor being really a young actor dressed up as if for the foot-lights4 ,but he felt that he would have laughed as loudly if a pepperpot had fallen over4 ,the false ,professor drank and wiped his false beard4 8,did you know10 he asked1 8that that man ,gogol was one of us80 8,i8 ,no1 ,i didn't know it10 answered ,syme in some surprise4 8,but didn't you80 8,i knew no more than the dead10 replied the man who called himself de ,worms4 8,i thought the ,president was talking about me1 and ,i rattled in my boots40 8,and ,i thought he was talking about me10 said ,syme1 with his rather reckless laughter4 8,i had my hand on my revolver all the time40 8,so had ,i10 said the ,professor grimly2 8so had ,gogol evidently40 ,syme struck the table with an exclamation4 8,why1 there were three of us there60 he cried4 8,three out of seven is a fighting number4 ,if we had only known that we were three60 ,the face of ,professor de ,worms darkened1 and he did not look up4 8,we were three10 he said4 8,if we had been three hundred we could still have done nothing40 8,not if we were three hundred against four80 asked ,syme1 jeering rather boisterously4 8,no10 said the ,professor with sobriety1 8not if we were three hundred against ,sunday40 ,and the mere name struck ,syme cold and serious2 his laughter had died in his heart before it could die on his lips4 ,the face of the unforgettable ,president sprang into his mind as startling as a coloured photograph1 and he remarked this difference between ,sunday and all his satellites1 that their faces1 however fierce or sinister1 became gradually blurred by memory like other human faces1 whereas ,sunday's seemed almost to grow more actual during absence1 as if a man's painted portrait should slowly come alive4 ,they were both silent for a measure of moments1 and then ,syme's speech came with a rush1 like the sudden foaming of champagne4 8,professor10 he cried1 8it is intolerable4 ,are you afraid of this man80 ,the ,professor lifted his heavy lids1 and gazed at ,syme with large1 wide-open1 blue eyes of an almost ethereal honesty4 8,yes1 ,i am10 he said mildly4 8,so are you40 ,syme was dumb for an instant4 ,then he rose to his feet erect1 like an insulted man1 and thrust the chair away from him4 8,yes10 he said in a voice indescribable1 8you are right4 ,i am afraid of him4 ,therefore ,i swear by ,god that ,i will seek out this man whom ,i fear until ,i find him1 and strike him on the mouth4 ,if heaven were his throne and the earth his footstool1 ,i swear that ,i would pull him down40 8,how80 asked the staring ,professor4 8,why80 8,because ,i am afraid of him10 said ,syme2 8and no man should leave in the universe anything of which he is afraid40 ,de ,worms blinked at him with a sort of blind wonder4 ,he made an effort to speak1 but ,syme went on in a low voice1 but with an undercurrent of inhuman exaltation-- 8,who would condescend to strike down the mere things that he does not fear8 ,who would debase himself to be merely brave1 like any common prizefighter8 ,who would stoop to be fearless--like a tree8 ,fight the thing that you fear4 ,you remember the old tale of the ,english clergyman who gave the last rites to the brigand of ,sicily1 and how on his death-bed the great robber said1 #8,i can give you no money1 but ,i can give you advice for a lifetime3 your thumb on the blade1 and strike upwards4' ,so ,i say to you1 strike upwards1 if you strike at the stars40 ,the other looked at the ceiling1 one of the tricks of his pose4 8,sunday is a fixed star10 he said4 8,you shall see him a falling star10 said ,syme1 and put on his hat4 ,the decision of his gesture drew the ,professor vaguely to his feet4 8,have you any idea10 he asked1 with a sort of benevolent bewilderment1 8exactly where you are going80 8,yes10 replied ,syme shortly1 8,i am going to prevent this bomb being thrown in ,paris40 8,have you any conception how80 inquired the other4 8,no10 said ,syme with equal decision4 8,you remember1 of course10 resumed the soi-disant de ,worms1 pulling his beard and looking out of the window1 8that when we broke up rather hurriedly the whole arrangements for the atrocity were left in the private hands of the ,marquis and ,dr4 ,bull4 ,the ,marquis is by this time probably crossing the ,channel4 ,but where he will go and what he will do it is doubtful whether even the ,president knows2 certainly we don't know4 ,the only man who does know is ,dr4 ,bull40 8,confound it60 cried ,syme4 8,and we don't know where he is40 8,yes10 said the other in his curious1 absent-minded way1 8,i know where he is myself40 8,will you tell me80 asked ,syme with eager eyes4 8,i will take you there10 said the ,professor1 and took down his own hat from a peg4 ,syme stood looking at him with a sort of rigid excitement4 8,what do you mean80 he asked sharply4 8,will you join me8 ,will you take the risk80 8,young man10 said the ,professor pleasantly1 8,i am amused to observe that you think ,i am a coward4 ,as to that ,i will say only one word1 and that shall be entirely in the manner of your own philosophical rhetoric4 ,you think that it is possible to pull down the ,president4 ,i know that it is impossible1 and ,i am going to try it10 and opening the tavern door1 which let in a blast of bitter air1 they went out together into the dark streets by the docks4 ,most of the snow was melted or trampled to mud1 but here and there a clot of it still showed grey rather than white in the gloom4 ,the small streets were sloppy and full of pools1 which reflected the flaming lamps irregularly1 and by accident1 like fragments of some other and fallen world4 ,syme felt almost dazed as he stepped through this growing confusion of lights and shadows2 but his companion walked on with a certain briskness1 towards where1 at the end of the street1 an inch or two of the lamplit river looked like a bar of flame4 8,where are you going80 ,syme inquired4 8,just now10 answered the ,professor1 8,i am going just round the corner to see whether ,dr4 ,bull has gone to bed4 ,he is hygienic1 and retires early40 8,dr4 ,bull60 exclaimed ,syme4 8,does he live round the corner80 8,no10 answered his friend4 8,as a matter of fact he lives some way off1 on the other side of the river1 but we can tell from here whether he has gone to bed40 ,turning the corner as he spoke1 and facing the dim river1 flecked with flame1 he pointed with his stick to the other bank4 ,on the ,surrey side at this point there ran out into the ,thames1 seeming almost to overhang it1 a bulk and cluster of those tall tenements1 dotted with lighted windows1 and rising like factory chimneys to an almost insane height4 ,their special poise and position made one block of buildings especially look like a ,tower of ,babel with a hundred eyes4 ,syme had never seen any of the sky-scraping buildings in ,america1 so he could only think of the buildings in a dream4 ,even as he stared1 the highest light in this innumerably lighted turret abruptly went out1 as if this black ,argus had winked at him with one of his innumerable eyes4 ,professor de ,worms swung round on his heel1 and struck his stick against his boot4 8,we are too late10 he said1 8the hygienic ,doctor has gone to bed40 8,what do you mean80 asked ,syme4 8,does he live over there1 then80 8,yes10 said de ,worms1 8behind that particular window which you can't see4 ,come along and get some dinner4 ,we must call on him tomorrow morning40 ,without further parley1 he led the way through several by-ways until they came out into the flare and clamour of the ,east ,india ,dock ,road4 ,the ,professor1 who seemed to know his way about the neighbourhood1 proceeded to a place where the line of lighted shops fell back into a sort of abrupt twilight and quiet1 in which an old white inn1 all out of repair1 stood back some twenty feet from the road4 8,you can find good ,english inns left by accident everywhere1 like fossils10 explained the ,professor4 8,i once found a decent place in the ,west ,end40 8,i suppose10 said ,syme1 smiling1 8that this is the corresponding decent place in the ,east ,end80 8,it is10 said the ,professor reverently1 and went in4 ,in that place they dined and slept1 both very thoroughly4 ,the beans and bacon1 which these unaccountable people cooked well1 the astonishing emergence of ,burgundy from their cellars1 crowned ,syme's sense of a new comradeship and comfort4 ,through all this ordeal his root horror had been isolation1 and there are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally4 ,it may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two4 ,but two is not twice one2 two is two thousand times one4 ,that is why1 in spite of a hundred disadvantages1 the world will always return to monogamy4 ,syme was able to pour out for the first time the whole of his outrageous tale1 from the time when ,gregory had taken him to the little tavern by the river4 ,he did it idly and amply1 in a luxuriant monologue1 as a man speaks with very old friends4 ,on his side1 also1 the man who had impersonated ,professor de ,worms was not less communicative4 ,his own story was almost as silly as ,syme's4 8,that's a good get-up of yours10 said ,syme1 draining a glass of ,macon2 8a lot better than old ,gogol's4 ,even at the start ,i thought he was a bit too hairy40 8,a difference of artistic theory10 replied the ,professor pensively4 8,gogol was an idealist4 ,he made up as the abstract or platonic ideal of an anarchist4 ,but ,i am a realist4 ,i am a portrait painter4 ,but1 indeed1 to say that ,i am a portrait painter is an inadequate expression4 ,i am a portrait40 8,i don't understand you10 said ,syme4 8,i am a portrait10 repeated the ,professor4 8,i am a portrait of the celebrated ,professor de ,worms1 who is1 ,i believe1 in ,naples40 8,you mean you are made up like him10 said ,syme4 8,but doesn't he know that you are taking his nose in vain80 8,he knows it right enough10 replied his friend cheerfully4 8,then why doesn't he denounce you80 8,i have denounced him10 answered the ,professor4 8,do explain yourself10 said ,syme4 8,with pleasure1 if you don't mind hearing my story10 replied the eminent foreign philosopher4 8,i am by profession an actor1 and my name is ,wilks4 ,when ,i was on the stage ,i mixed with all sorts of ,bohemian and blackguard company4 ,sometimes ,i touched the edge of the turf1 sometimes the riff-raff of the arts1 and occasionally the political refugee4 ,in some den of exiled dreamers ,i was introduced to the great ,german ,nihilist philosopher1 ,professor de ,worms4 ,i did not gather much about him beyond his appearance1 which was very disgusting1 and which ,i studied carefully4 ,i understood that he had proved that the destructive principle in the universe was ,god2 hence he insisted on the need for a furious and incessant energy1 rending all things in pieces4 ,energy1 he said1 was the ,all4 ,he was lame1 shortsighted1 and partially paralytic4 ,when ,i met him ,i was in a frivolous mood1 and ,i disliked him so much that ,i resolved to imitate him4 ,if ,i had been a draughtsman ,i would have drawn a caricature4 ,i was only an actor1 ,i could only act a caricature4 ,i made myself up into what was meant for a wild exaggeration of the old ,professor's dirty old self4 ,when ,i went into the room full of his supporters ,i expected to be received with a roar of laughter1 or 7if they were too far gone7 with a roar of indignation at the insult4 ,i cannot describe the surprise ,i felt when my entrance was received with a respectful silence1 followed 7when ,i had first opened my lips7 with a murmur of admiration4 ,the curse of the perfect artist had fallen upon me4 ,i had been too subtle1 ,i had been too true4 ,they thought ,i really was the great ,nihilist ,professor4 ,i was a healthy-minded young man at the time1 and ,i confess that it was a blow4 ,before ,i could fully recover1 however1 two or three of these admirers ran up to me radiating indignation1 and told me that a public insult had been put upon me in the next room4 ,i inquired its nature4 ,it seemed that an impertinent fellow had dressed himself up as a preposterous parody of myself4 ,i had drunk more champagne than was good for me1 and in a flash of folly ,i decided to see the situation through4 ,consequently it was to meet the glare of the company and my own lifted eyebrows and freezing eyes that the real ,professor came into the room4 8,i need hardly say there was a collision4 ,the pessimists all round me looked anxiously from one ,professor to the other ,professor to see which was really the more feeble4 ,but ,i won4 ,an old man in poor health1 like my rival1 could not be expected to be so impressively feeble as a young actor in the prime of life4 ,you see1 he really had paralysis1 and working within this definite limitation1 he couldn't be so jolly paralytic as ,i was4 ,then he tried to blast my claims intellectually4 ,i countered that by a very simple dodge4 ,whenever he said something that nobody but he could understand1 ,i replied with something which ,i could not even understand myself4 #8,i don't fancy1' he said1 #8that you could have worked out the principle that evolution is only negation1 since there inheres in it the introduction of lacuna1 which are an essential of differentiation4' ,i replied quite scornfully1 #8,you read all that up in ,pinckwerts2 the notion that involution functioned eugenically was exposed long ago by ,glumpe4' ,it is unnecessary for me to say that there never were such people as ,pinckwerts and ,glumpe4 ,but the people all round 7rather to my surprise7 seemed to remember them quite well1 and the ,professor1 finding that the learned and mysterious method left him rather at the mercy of an enemy slightly deficient in scruples1 fell back upon a more popular form of wit4 #8,i see1' he sneered1 #8you prevail like the false pig in sop4' #8,and you fail1' ,i answered1 smiling1 #8like the hedgehog in ,montaigne4' ,need ,i say that there is no hedgehog in ,montaigne8 #8,your claptrap comes off1' he said2 #8so would your beard4' ,i had no intelligent answer to this1 which was quite true and rather witty4 ,but ,i laughed heartily1 answered1 #8,like the ,pantheist's boots1' at random1 and turned on my heel with all the honours of victory4 ,the real ,professor was thrown out1 but not with violence1 though one man tried very patiently to pull off his nose4 ,he is now1 ,i believe1 received everywhere in ,europe as a delightful impostor4 ,his apparent earnestness and anger1 you see1 make him all the more entertaining40 8,well10 said ,syme1 8,i can understand your putting on his dirty old beard for a night's practical joke1 but ,i don't understand your never taking it off again40 8,that is the rest of the story10 said the impersonator4 8,when ,i myself left the company1 followed by reverent applause1 ,i went limping down the dark street1 hoping that ,i should soon be far enough away to be able to walk like a human being4 ,to my astonishment1 as ,i was turning the corner1 ,i felt a touch on the shoulder1 and turning1 found myself under the shadow of an enormous policeman4 ,he told me ,i was wanted4 ,i struck a sort of paralytic attitude1 and cried in a high ,german accent1 #8,yes1 ,i am wanted--by the oppressed of the world4 ,you are arresting me on the charge of being the great anarchist1 ,professor de ,worms4' ,the policeman impassively consulted a paper in his hand1 #8,no1 sir1' he said civilly1 #8at least1 not exactly1 sir4 ,i am arresting you on the charge of not being the celebrated anarchist1 ,professor de ,worms4' ,this charge1 if it was criminal at all1 was certainly the lighter of the two1 and ,i went along with the man1 doubtful1 but not greatly dismayed4 ,i was shown into a number of rooms1 and eventually into the presence of a police officer1 who explained that a serious campaign had been opened against the centres of anarchy1 and that this1 my successful masquerade1 might be of considerable value to the public safety4 ,he offered me a good salary and this little blue card4 ,though our conversation was short1 he struck me as a man of very massive common sense and humour2 but ,i cannot tell you much about him personally1 because--0 ,syme laid down his knife and fork4 8,i know10 he said1 8because you talked to him in a dark room40 ,professor de ,worms nodded and drained his glass4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,man ,,in ,,spectacles 8,burgundy is a jolly thing10 said the ,professor sadly1 as he set his glass down4 8,you don't look as if it were10 said ,syme2 8you drink it as if it were medicine40 8,you must excuse my manner10 said the ,professor dismally1 8my position is rather a curious one4 ,inside ,i am really bursting with boyish merriment2 but ,i acted the paralytic ,professor so well1 that now ,i can't leave off4 ,so that when ,i am among friends1 and have no need at all to disguise myself1 ,i still can't help speaking slow and wrinkling my forehead--just as if it were my forehead4 ,i can be quite happy1 you understand1 but only in a paralytic sort of way4 ,the most buoyant exclamations leap up in my heart1 but they come out of my mouth quite different4 ,you should hear me say1 #8,buck up1 old cock6' ,it would bring tears to your eyes40 8,it does10 said ,syme2 8but ,i cannot help thinking that apart from all that you are really a bit worried40 ,the ,professor started a little and looked at him steadily4 8,you are a very clever fellow10 he said1 8it is a pleasure to work with you4 ,yes1 ,i have rather a heavy cloud in my head4 ,there is a great problem to face10 and he sank his bald brow in his two hands4 ,then he said in a low voice-- 8,can you play the piano80 8,yes10 said ,syme in simple wonder1 8,i'm supposed to have a good touch40 ,then1 as the other did not speak1 he added-- 8,i trust the great cloud is lifted40 ,after a long silence1 the ,professor said out of the cavernous shadow of his hands-- 8,it would have done just as well if you could work a typewriter40 8,thank you10 said ,syme1 8you flatter me40 8,listen to me10 said the other1 8and remember whom we have to see tomorrow4 ,you and ,i are going tomorrow to attempt something which is very much more dangerous than trying to steal the ,crown ,jewels out of the ,tower4 ,we are trying to steal a secret from a very sharp1 very strong1 and very wicked man4 ,i believe there is no man1 except the ,president1 of course1 who is so seriously startling and formidable as that little grinning fellow in goggles4 ,he has not perhaps the white-hot enthusiasm unto death1 the mad martyrdom for anarchy1 which marks the ,secretary4 ,but then that very fanaticism in the ,secretary has a human pathos1 and is almost a redeeming trait4 ,but the little ,doctor has a brutal sanity that is more shocking than the ,secretary's disease4 ,don't you notice his detestable virility and vitality4 ,he bounces like an india-rubber ball4 ,depend on it1 ,sunday was not asleep 7,i wonder if he ever sleeps87 when he locked up all the plans of this outrage in the round1 black head of ,dr4 ,bull40 8,and you think10 said ,syme1 8that this unique monster will be soothed if ,i play the piano to him80 8,don't be an ass10 said his mentor4 8,i mentioned the piano because it gives one quick and independent fingers4 ,syme1 if we are to go through this interview and come out sane or alive1 we must have some code of signals between us that this brute will not see4 ,i have made a rough alphabetical cypher corresponding to the five fingers--like this1 see10 and he rippled with his fingers on the wooden table--8,b ,a ,d1 bad1 a word we may frequently require40 ,syme poured himself out another glass of wine1 and began to study the scheme4 ,he was abnormally quick with his brains at puzzles1 and with his hands at conjuring1 and it did not take him long to learn how he might convey simple messages by what would seem to be idle taps upon a table or knee4 ,but wine and companionship had always the effect of inspiring him to a farcical ingenuity1 and the ,professor soon found himself struggling with the too vast energy of the new language1 as it passed through the heated brain of ,syme4 8,we must have several word-signs10 said ,syme seriously--8words that we are likely to want1 fine shades of meaning4 ,my favourite word is #8coeval'4 ,what's yours80 8,do stop playing the goat10 said the ,professor plaintively4 8,you don't know how serious this is40 8#8,lush' too10 said ,syme1 shaking his head sagaciously1 8we must have #8lush'--word applied to grass1 don't you know80 8,do you imagine10 asked the ,professor furiously1 8that we are going to talk to ,dr4 ,bull about grass80 8,there are several ways in which the subject could be approached10 said ,syme reflectively1 8and the word introduced without appearing forced4 ,we might say1 #8,dr4 ,bull1 as a revolutionist1 you remember that a tyrant once advised us to eat grass2 and indeed many of us1 looking on the fresh lush grass of summer444'0 8,do you understand10 said the other1 8that this is a tragedy80 8,perfectly10 replied ,syme2 8always be comic in a tragedy4 ,what the deuce else can you do8 ,i wish this language of yours had a wider scope4 ,i suppose we could not extend it from the fingers to the toes8 ,that would involve pulling off our boots and socks during the conversation1 which however unobtrusively performed--0 8,syme10 said his friend with a stern simplicity1 8go to bed60 ,syme1 however1 sat up in bed for a considerable time mastering the new code4 ,he was awakened next morning while the east was still sealed with darkness1 and found his grey-bearded ally standing like a ghost beside his bed4 ,syme sat up in bed blinking2 then slowly collected his thoughts1 threw off the bed-clothes1 and stood up4 ,it seemed to him in some curious way that all the safety and sociability of the night before fell with the bedclothes off him1 and he stood up in an air of cold danger4 ,he still felt an entire trust and loyalty towards his companion2 but it was the trust between two men going to the scaffold4 8,well10 said ,syme with a forced cheerfulness as he pulled on his trousers1 8,i dreamt of that alphabet of yours4 ,did it take you long to make it up80 ,the ,professor made no answer1 but gazed in front of him with eyes the colour of a wintry sea2 so ,syme repeated his question4 8,i say1 did it take you long to invent all this8 ,i'm considered good at these things1 and it was a good hour's grind4 ,did you learn it all on the spot80 ,the ,professor was silent2 his eyes were wide open1 and he wore a fixed but very small smile4 8,how long did it take you80 ,the ,professor did not move4 8,confound you1 can't you answer80 called out ,syme1 in a sudden anger that had something like fear underneath4 ,whether or no the ,professor could answer1 he did not4 ,syme stood staring back at the stiff face like parchment and the blank1 blue eyes4 ,his first thought was that the ,professor had gone mad1 but his second thought was more frightful4 ,after all1 what did he know about this queer creature whom he had heedlessly accepted as a friend8 ,what did he know1 except that the man had been at the anarchist breakfast and had told him a ridiculous tale8 ,how improbable it was that there should be another friend there beside ,gogol6 ,was this man's silence a sensational way of declaring war8 ,was this adamantine stare after all only the awful sneer of some threefold traitor1 who had turned for the last time8 ,he stood and strained his ears in this heartless silence4 ,he almost fancied he could hear dynamiters come to capture him shifting softly in the corridor outside4 ,then his eye strayed downwards1 and he burst out laughing4 ,though the ,professor himself stood there as voiceless as a statue1 his five dumb fingers were dancing alive upon the dead table4 ,syme watched the twinkling movements of the talking hand1 and read clearly the message-- 8,i will only talk like this4 ,we must get used to it40 ,he rapped out the answer with the impatience of relief-- 8,all right4 ,let's get out to breakfast40 ,they took their hats and sticks in silence2 but as ,syme took his sword-stick1 he held it hard4 ,they paused for a few minutes only to stuff down coffee and coarse thick sandwiches at a coffee stall1 and then made their way across the river1 which under the grey and growing light looked as desolate as ,acheron4 ,they reached the bottom of the huge block of buildings which they had seen from across the river1 and began in silence to mount the naked and numberless stone steps1 only pausing now and then to make short remarks on the rail of the banisters4 ,at about every other flight they passed a window2 each window showed them a pale and tragic dawn lifting itself laboriously over ,london4 ,from each the innumerable roofs of slate looked like the leaden surges of a grey1 troubled sea after rain4 ,syme was increasingly conscious that his new adventure had somehow a quality of cold sanity worse than the wild adventures of the past4 ,last night1 for instance1 the tall tenements had seemed to him like a tower in a dream4 ,as he now went up the weary and perpetual steps1 he was daunted and bewildered by their almost infinite series4 ,but it was not the hot horror of a dream or of anything that might be exaggeration or delusion4 ,their infinity was more like the empty infinity of arithmetic1 something unthinkable1 yet necessary to thought4 ,or it was like the stunning statements of astronomy about the distance of the fixed stars4 ,he was ascending the house of reason1 a thing more hideous than unreason itself4 ,by the time they reached ,dr4 ,bull's landing1 a last window showed them a harsh1 white dawn edged with banks of a kind of coarse red1 more like red clay than red cloud4 ,and when they entered ,dr4 ,bull's bare garret it was full of light4 ,syme had been haunted by a half historic memory in connection with these empty rooms and that austere daybreak4 ,the moment he saw the garret and ,dr4 ,bull sitting writing at a table1 he remembered what the memory was--the ,french ,revolution4 ,there should have been the black outline of a guillotine against that heavy red and white of the morning4 ,dr4 ,bull was in his white shirt and black breeches only2 his cropped1 dark head might well have just come out of its wig2 he might have been ,marat or a more slipshod ,robespierre4 ,yet when he was seen properly1 the ,french fancy fell away4 ,the ,jacobins were idealists2 there was about this man a murderous materialism4 ,his position gave him a somewhat new appearance4 ,the strong1 white light of morning coming from one side creating sharp shadows1 made him seem both more pale and more angular than he had looked at the breakfast on the balcony4 ,thus the two black glasses that encased his eyes might really have been black cavities in his skull1 making him look like a death's-head4 ,and1 indeed1 if ever ,death himself sat writing at a wooden table1 it might have been he4 ,he looked up and smiled brightly enough as the men came in1 and rose with the resilient rapidity of which the ,professor had spoken4 ,he set chairs for both of them1 and going to a peg behind the door1 proceeded to put on a coat and waistcoat of rough1 dark tweed2 he buttoned it up neatly1 and came back to sit down at his table4 ,the quiet good humour of his manner left his two opponents helpless4 ,it was with some momentary difficulty that the ,professor broke silence and began1 8,i'm sorry to disturb you so early1 comrade10 said he1 with a careful resumption of the slow de ,worms manner4 8,you have no doubt made all the arrangements for the ,paris affair80 ,then he added with infinite slowness1 8,we have information which renders intolerable anything in the nature of a moment's delay40 ,dr4 ,bull smiled again1 but continued to gaze on them without speaking4 ,the ,professor resumed1 a pause before each weary word-- 8,please do not think me excessively abrupt2 but ,i advise you to alter those plans1 or if it is too late for that1 to follow your agent with all the support you can get for him4 ,comrade ,syme and ,i have had an experience which it would take more time to recount than we can afford1 if we are to act on it4 ,i will1 however1 relate the occurrence in detail1 even at the risk of losing time1 if you really feel that it is essential to the understanding of the problem we have to discuss40 ,he was spinning out his sentences1 making them intolerably long and lingering1 in the hope of maddening the practical little ,doctor into an explosion of impatience which might show his hand4 ,but the little ,doctor continued only to stare and smile1 and the monologue was uphill work4 ,syme began to feel a new sickness and despair4 ,the ,doctor's smile and silence were not at all like the cataleptic stare and horrible silence which he had confronted in the ,professor half an hour before4 ,about the ,professor's makeup and all his antics there was always something merely grotesque1 like a gollywog4 ,syme remembered those wild woes of yesterday as one remembers being afraid of ,bogy in childhood4 ,but here was daylight2 here was a healthy1 square-shouldered man in tweeds1 not odd save for the accident of his ugly spectacles1 not glaring or grinning at all1 but smiling steadily and not saying a word4 ,the whole had a sense of unbearable reality4 ,under the increasing sunlight the colours of the ,doctor's complexion1 the pattern of his tweeds1 grew and expanded outrageously1 as such things grow too important in a realistic novel4 ,but his smile was quite slight1 the pose of his head polite2 the only uncanny thing was his silence4 8,as ,i say10 resumed the ,professor1 like a man toiling through heavy sand1 8the incident that has occurred to us and has led us to ask for information about the ,marquis1 is one which you may think it better to have narrated2 but as it came in the way of ,comrade ,syme rather than me--0 ,his words he seemed to be dragging out like words in an anthem2 but ,syme1 who was watching1 saw his long fingers rattle quickly on the edge of the crazy table4 ,he read the message1 8,you must go on4 ,this devil has sucked me dry60 ,syme plunged into the breach with that bravado of improvisation which always came to him when he was alarmed4 8,yes1 the thing really happened to me10 he said hastily4 8,i had the good fortune to fall into conversation with a detective who took me1 thanks to my hat1 for a respectable person4 ,wishing to clinch my reputation for respectability1 ,i took him and made him very drunk at the ,savoy4 ,under this influence he became friendly1 and told me in so many words that within a day or two they hope to arrest the ,marquis in ,france4 8,so unless you or ,i can get on his track--0 ,the ,doctor was still smiling in the most friendly way1 and his protected eyes were still impenetrable4 ,the ,professor signalled to ,syme that he would resume his explanation1 and he began again with the same elaborate calm4 8,syme immediately brought this information to me1 and we came here together to see what use you would be inclined to make of it4 ,it seems to me unquestionably urgent that--0 ,all this time ,syme had been staring at the ,doctor almost as steadily as the ,doctor stared at the ,professor1 but quite without the smile4 ,the nerves of both comrades-in-arms were near snapping under that strain of motionless amiability1 when ,syme suddenly leant forward and idly tapped the edge of the table4 ,his message to his ally ran1 8,i have an intuition40 ,the ,professor1 with scarcely a pause in his monologue1 signalled back1 8,then sit on it40 ,syme telegraphed1 8,it is quite extraordinary40 ,the other answered1 8,extraordinary rot60 ,syme said1 8,i am a poet40 ,the other retorted1 8,you are a dead man40 ,syme had gone quite red up to his yellow hair1 and his eyes were burning feverishly4 ,as he said he had an intuition1 and it had risen to a sort of lightheaded certainty4 ,resuming his symbolic taps1 he signalled to his friend1 8,you scarcely realise how poetic my intuition is4 ,it has that sudden quality we sometimes feel in the coming of spring40 ,he then studied the answer on his friend's fingers4 ,the answer was1 8,go to hell60 ,the ,professor then resumed his merely verbal monologue addressed to the ,doctor4 8,perhaps ,i should rather say10 said ,syme on his fingers1 8that it resembles that sudden smell of the sea which may be found in the heart of lush woods40 ,his companion disdained to reply4 8,or yet again10 tapped ,syme1 8it is positive1 as is the passionate red hair of a beautiful woman40 ,the ,professor was continuing his speech1 but in the middle of it ,syme decided to act4 ,he leant across the table1 and said in a voice that could not be neglected-- 8,dr4 ,bull60 ,the ,doctor's sleek and smiling head did not move1 but they could have sworn that under his dark glasses his eyes darted towards ,syme4 8,dr4 ,bull10 said ,syme1 in a voice peculiarly precise and courteous1 8would you do me a small favour8 ,would you be so kind as to take off your spectacles80 ,the ,professor swung round on his seat1 and stared at ,syme with a sort of frozen fury of astonishment4 ,syme1 like a man who has thrown his life and fortune on the table1 leaned forward with a fiery face4 ,the ,doctor did not move4 ,for a few seconds there was a silence in which one could hear a pin drop1 split once by the single hoot of a distant steamer on the ,thames4 ,then ,dr4 ,bull rose slowly1 still smiling1 and took off his spectacles4 ,syme sprang to his feet1 stepping backwards a little1 like a chemical lecturer from a successful explosion4 ,his eyes were like stars1 and for an instant he could only point without speaking4 ,the ,professor had also started to his feet1 forgetful of his supposed paralysis4 ,he leant on the back of the chair and stared doubtfully at ,dr4 ,bull1 as if the ,doctor had been turned into a toad before his eyes4 ,and indeed it was almost as great a transformation scene4 ,the two detectives saw sitting in the chair before them a very boyish-looking young man1 with very frank and happy hazel eyes1 an open expression1 cockney clothes like those of a city clerk1 and an unquestionable breath about him of being very good and rather commonplace4 ,the smile was still there1 but it might have been the first smile of a baby4 8,i knew ,i was a poet10 cried ,syme in a sort of ecstasy4 8,i knew my intuition was as infallible as the ,pope4 ,it was the spectacles that did it6 ,it was all the spectacles4 ,given those beastly black eyes1 and all the rest of him his health and his jolly looks1 made him a live devil among dead ones40 8,it certainly does make a queer difference10 said the ,professor shakily4 8,but as regards the project of ,dr4 ,bull--0 8,project be damned60 roared ,syme1 beside himself4 8,look at him6 ,look at his face1 look at his collar1 look at his blessed boots6 ,you don't suppose1 do you1 that that thing's an anarchist80 8,syme60 cried the other in an apprehensive agony4 8,why1 by ,god10 said ,syme1 8,i'll take the risk of that myself6 ,dr4 ,bull1 ,i am a police officer4 ,there's my card10 and he flung down the blue card upon the table4 ,the ,professor still feared that all was lost2 but he was loyal4 ,he pulled out his own official card and put it beside his friend's4 ,then the third man burst out laughing1 and for the first time that morning they heard his voice4 8,i'm awfully glad you chaps have come so early10 he said1 with a sort of schoolboy flippancy1 8for we can all start for ,france together4 ,yes1 ,i'm in the force right enough10 and he flicked a blue card towards them lightly as a matter of form4 ,clapping a brisk bowler on his head and resuming his goblin glasses1 the ,doctor moved so quickly towards the door1 that the others instinctively followed him4 ,syme seemed a little distrait1 and as he passed under the doorway he suddenly struck his stick on the stone passage so that it rang4 8,but ,lord ,god ,almighty10 he cried out1 8if this is all right1 there were more damned detectives than there were damned dynamiters at the damned ,council60 8,we might have fought easily10 said ,bull2 8we were four against three40 ,the ,professor was descending the stairs1 but his voice came up from below4 8,no10 said the voice1 8we were not four against three--we were not so lucky4 ,we were four against ,one40 ,the others went down the stairs in silence4 ,the young man called ,bull1 with an innocent courtesy characteristic of him1 insisted on going last until they reached the street2 but there his own robust rapidity asserted itself unconsciously1 and he walked quickly on ahead towards a railway inquiry office1 talking to the others over his shoulder4 8,it is jolly to get some pals10 he said4 8,i've been half dead with the jumps1 being quite alone4 ,i nearly flung my arms round ,gogol and embraced him1 which would have been imprudent4 ,i hope you won't despise me for having been in a blue funk40 8,all the blue devils in blue hell10 said ,syme1 8contributed to my blue funk6 ,but the worst devil was you and your infernal goggles40 ,the young man laughed delightedly4 8,wasn't it a rag80 he said4 8,such a simple idea--not my own4 ,i haven't got the brains4 ,you see1 ,i wanted to go into the detective service1 especially the anti-dynamite business4 ,but for that purpose they wanted someone to dress up as a dynamiter2 and they all swore by blazes that ,i could never look like a dynamiter4 ,they said my very walk was respectable1 and that seen from behind ,i looked like the ,british ,constitution4 ,they said ,i looked too healthy and too optimistic1 and too reliable and benevolent2 they called me all sorts of names at ,scotland ,yard4 ,they said that if ,i had been a criminal1 ,i might have made my fortune by looking so like an honest man2 but as ,i had the misfortune to be an honest man1 there was not even the remotest chance of my assisting them by ever looking like a criminal4 ,but at last ,i was brought before some old josser who was high up in the force1 and who seemed to have no end of a head on his shoulders4 ,and there the others all talked hopelessly4 ,one asked whether a bushy beard would hide my nice smile2 another said that if they blacked my face ,i might look like a negro anarchist2 but this old chap chipped in with a most extraordinary remark4 #8,a pair of smoked spectacles will do it1' he said positively4 #8,look at him now2 he looks like an angelic office boy4 ,put him on a pair of smoked spectacles1 and children will scream at the sight of him4' ,and so it was1 by ,george6 ,when once my eyes were covered1 all the rest1 smile and big shoulders and short hair1 made me look a perfect little devil4 ,as ,i say1 it was simple enough when it was done1 like miracles2 but that wasn't the really miraculous part of it4 ,there was one really staggering thing about the business1 and my head still turns at it40 8,what was that80 asked ,syme4 8,i'll tell you10 answered the man in spectacles4 8,this big pot in the police who sized me up so that he knew how the goggles would go with my hair and socks--by ,god1 he never saw me at all60 ,syme's eyes suddenly flashed on him4 8,how was that80 he asked4 8,i thought you talked to him40 8,so ,i did10 said ,bull brightly2 8but we talked in a pitch-dark room like a coalcellar4 ,there1 you would never have guessed that40 8,i could not have conceived it10 said ,syme gravely4 8,it is indeed a new idea10 said the ,professor4 ,their new ally was in practical matters a whirlwind4 ,at the inquiry office he asked with businesslike brevity about the trains for ,dover4 ,having got his information1 he bundled the company into a cab1 and put them and himself inside a railway carriage before they had properly realised the breathless process4 ,they were already on the ,calais boat before conversation flowed freely4 8,i had already arranged10 he explained1 8to go to ,france for my lunch2 but ,i am delighted to have someone to lunch with me4 ,you see1 ,i had to send that beast1 the ,marquis1 over with his bomb1 because the ,president had his eye on me1 though ,god knows how4 ,i'll tell you the story some day4 ,it was perfectly choking4 ,whenever ,i tried to slip out of it ,i saw the ,president somewhere1 smiling out of the bow-window of a club1 or taking off his hat to me from the top of an omnibus4 ,i tell you1 you can say what you like1 that fellow sold himself to the devil2 he can be in six places at once40 8,so you sent the ,marquis off1 ,i understand10 asked the ,professor4 8,was it long ago8 ,shall we be in time to catch him80 8,yes10 answered the new guide1 8,i've timed it all4 ,he'll still be at ,calais when we arrive40 8,but when we do catch him at ,calais10 said the ,professor1 8what are we going to do80 ,at this question the countenance of ,dr4 ,bull fell for the first time4 ,he reflected a little1 and then said-- 8,theoretically1 ,i suppose1 we ought to call the police40 8,not ,i10 said ,syme4 8,theoretically ,i ought to drown myself first4 ,i promised a poor fellow1 who was a real modern pessimist1 on my word of honour not to tell the police4 ,i'm no hand at casuistry1 but ,i can't break my word to a modern pessimist4 ,it's like breaking one's word to a child40 8,i'm in the same boat10 said the ,professor4 8,i tried to tell the police and ,i couldn't1 because of some silly oath ,i took4 ,you see1 when ,i was an actor ,i was a sort of all-round beast4 ,perjury or treason is the only crime ,i haven't committed4 ,if ,i did that ,i shouldn't know the difference between right and wrong40 8,i've been through all that10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 8and ,i've made up my mind4 ,i gave my promise to the ,secretary--you know him1 man who smiles upside down4 ,my friends1 that man is the most utterly unhappy man that was ever human4 ,it may be his digestion1 or his conscience1 or his nerves1 or his philosophy of the universe1 but he's damned1 he's in hell6 ,well1 ,i can't turn on a man like that1 and hunt him down4 ,it's like whipping a leper4 ,i may be mad1 but that's how ,i feel2 and there's jolly well the end of it40 8,i don't think you're mad10 said ,syme4 8,i knew you would decide like that when first you--0 8,eh80 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,when first you took off your spectacles40 ,dr4 ,bull smiled a little1 and strolled across the deck to look at the sunlit sea4 ,then he strolled back again1 kicking his heels carelessly1 and a companionable silence fell between the three men4 8,well10 said ,syme1 8it seems that we have all the same kind of morality or immorality1 so we had better face the fact that comes of it40 8,yes10 assented the ,professor1 8you're quite right2 and we must hurry up1 for ,i can see the ,grey ,nose standing out from ,france40 8,the fact that comes of it10 said ,syme seriously1 8is this1 that we three are alone on this planet4 ,gogol has gone1 ,god knows where2 perhaps the ,president has smashed him like a fly4 ,on the ,council we are three men against three1 like the ,romans who held the bridge4 ,but we are worse off than that1 first because they can appeal to their organization and we cannot appeal to ours1 and second because--0 8,because one of those other three men10 said the ,professor1 8is not a man40 ,syme nodded and was silent for a second or two1 then he said-- 8,my idea is this4 ,we must do something to keep the ,marquis in ,calais till tomorrow midday4 ,i have turned over twenty schemes in my head4 ,we cannot denounce him as a dynamiter2 that is agreed4 ,we cannot get him detained on some trivial charge1 for we should have to appear2 he knows us1 and he would smell a rat4 ,we cannot pretend to keep him on anarchist business2 he might swallow much in that way1 but not the notion of stopping in ,calais while the ,czar went safely through ,paris4 ,we might try to kidnap him1 and lock him up ourselves2 but he is a well-known man here4 ,he has a whole bodyguard of friends2 he is very strong and brave1 and the event is doubtful4 ,the only thing ,i can see to do is actually to take advantage of the very things that are in the ,marquis's favour4 ,i am going to profit by the fact that he is a highly respected nobleman4 ,i am going to profit by the fact that he has many friends and moves in the best society40 8,what the devil are you talking about80 asked the ,professor4 8,the ,symes are first mentioned in the fourteenth century10 said ,syme2 8but there is a tradition that one of them rode behind ,bruce at ,bannockburn4 ,since #acej the tree is quite clear40 8,he's gone off his head10 said the little ,doctor1 staring4 8,our bearings10 continued ,syme calmly1 8are #8argent a chevron gules charged with three cross crosslets of the field4' ,the motto varies40 ,the ,professor seized ,syme roughly by the waistcoat4 8,we are just inshore10 he said4 8,are you seasick or joking in the wrong place80 8,my remarks are almost painfully practical10 answered ,syme1 in an unhurried manner4 8,the house of ,st4 ,eustache also is very ancient4 ,the ,marquis cannot deny that he is a gentleman4 ,he cannot deny that ,i am a gentleman4 ,and in order to put the matter of my social position quite beyond a doubt1 ,i propose at the earliest opportunity to knock his hat off4 ,but here we are in the harbour40 ,they went on shore under the strong sun in a sort of daze4 ,syme1 who had now taken the lead as ,bull had taken it in ,london1 led them along a kind of marine parade until he came to some cafs1 embowered in a bulk of greenery and overlooking the sea4 ,as he went before them his step was slightly swaggering1 and he swung his stick like a sword4 ,he was making apparently for the extreme end of the line of cafs1 but he stopped abruptly4 ,with a sharp gesture he motioned them to silence1 but he pointed with one gloved finger to a caf table under a bank of flowering foliage at which sat the ,marquis de ,st4 ,eustache1 his teeth shining in his thick1 black beard1 and his bold1 brown face shadowed by a light yellow straw hat and outlined against the violet sea4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,duel ,syme sat down at a caf table with his companions1 his blue eyes sparkling like the bright sea below1 and ordered a bottle of ,saumur with a pleased impatience4 ,he was for some reason in a condition of curious hilarity4 ,his spirits were already unnaturally high2 they rose as the ,saumur sank1 and in half an hour his talk was a torrent of nonsense4 ,he professed to be making out a plan of the conversation which was going to ensue between himself and the deadly ,marquis4 ,he jotted it down wildly with a pencil4 ,it was arranged like a printed catechism1 with questions and answers1 and was delivered with an extraordinary rapidity of utterance4 8,i shall approach4 ,before taking off his hat1 ,i shall take off my own4 ,i shall say1 #8,the ,marquis de ,saint ,eustache1 ,i believe4' ,he will say1 #8,the celebrated ,mr4 ,syme1 ,i presume4' ,he will say in the most exquisite ,french1 #8,how are you8' ,i shall reply in the most exquisite ,cockney1 #8,oh1 just the ,syme--'0 8,oh1 shut it10 said the man in spectacles4 8,pull yourself together1 and chuck away that bit of paper4 ,what are you really going to do80 8,but it was a lovely catechism10 said ,syme pathetically4 8,do let me read it you4 ,it has only forty-three questions and answers1 and some of the ,marquis's answers are wonderfully witty4 ,i like to be just to my enemy40 8,but what's the good of it all80 asked ,dr4 ,bull in exasperation4 8,it leads up to my challenge1 don't you see10 said ,syme1 beaming4 8,when the ,marquis has given the thirty-ninth reply1 which runs--0 8,has it by any chance occurred to you10 asked the ,professor1 with a ponderous simplicity1 8that the ,marquis may not say all the forty-three things you have put down for him8 ,in that case1 ,i understand1 your own epigrams may appear somewhat more forced40 ,syme struck the table with a radiant face4 8,why1 how true that is10 he said1 8and ,i never thought of it4 ,sir1 you have an intellect beyond the common4 ,you will make a name40 8,oh1 you're as drunk as an owl60 said the ,doctor4 8,it only remains10 continued ,syme quite unperturbed1 8to adopt some other method of breaking the ice 7if ,i may so express it7 between myself and the man ,i wish to kill4 ,and since the course of a dialogue cannot be predicted by one of its parties alone 7as you have pointed out with such recondite acumen71 the only thing to be done1 ,i suppose1 is for the one party1 as far as possible1 to do all the dialogue by himself4 ,and so ,i will1 by ,george60 ,and he stood up suddenly1 his yellow hair blowing in the slight sea breeze4 ,a band was playing in a caf chantant hidden somewhere among the trees1 and a woman had just stopped singing4 ,on ,syme's heated head the bray of the brass band seemed like the jar and jingle of that barrel-organ in ,leicester ,square1 to the tune of which he had once stood up to die4 ,he looked across to the little table where the ,marquis sat4 ,the man had two companions now1 solemn ,frenchmen in frock-coats and silk hats1 one of them with the red rosette of the ,legion of ,honour1 evidently people of a solid social position4 ,besides these black1 cylindrical costumes1 the ,marquis1 in his loose straw hat and light spring clothes1 looked ,bohemian and even barbaric2 but he looked the ,marquis4 ,indeed1 one might say that he looked the king1 with his animal elegance1 his scornful eyes1 and his proud head lifted against the purple sea4 ,but he was no ,christian king1 at any rate2 he was1 rather1 some swarthy despot1 half ,greek1 half ,asiatic1 who in the days when slavery seemed natural looked down on the ,mediterranean1 on his galley and his groaning slaves4 ,just so1 ,syme thought1 would the brown-gold face of such a tyrant have shown against the dark green olives and the burning blue4 8,are you going to address the meeting80 asked the ,professor peevishly1 seeing that ,syme still stood up without moving4 ,syme drained his last glass of sparkling wine4 8,i am10 he said1 pointing across to the ,marquis and his companions1 8that meeting4 ,that meeting displeases me4 ,i am going to pull that meeting's great ugly1 mahogany-coloured nose40 ,he stepped across swiftly1 if not quite steadily4 ,the ,marquis1 seeing him1 arched his black ,assyrian eyebrows in surprise1 but smiled politely4 8,you are ,mr4 ,syme1 ,i think10 he said4 ,syme bowed4 8,and you are the ,marquis de ,saint ,eustache10 he said gracefully4 8,permit me to pull your nose40 ,he leant over to do so1 but the ,marquis started backwards1 upsetting his chair1 and the two men in top hats held ,syme back by the shoulders4 8,this man has insulted me60 said ,syme1 with gestures of explanation4 8,insulted you80 cried the gentleman with the red rosette1 8when80 8,oh1 just now10 said ,syme recklessly4 8,he insulted my mother40 8,insulted your mother60 exclaimed the gentleman incredulously4 8,well1 anyhow10 said ,syme1 conceding a point1 8my aunt40 8,but how can the ,marquis have insulted your aunt just now80 said the second gentleman with some legitimate wonder4 8,he has been sitting here all the time40 8,ah1 it was what he said60 said ,syme darkly4 8,i said nothing at all10 said the ,marquis1 8except something about the band4 ,i only said that ,i liked ,wagner played well40 8,it was an allusion to my family10 said ,syme firmly4 8,my aunt played ,wagner badly4 ,it was a painful subject4 ,we are always being insulted about it40 8,this seems most extraordinary10 said the gentleman who was dcor1 looking doubtfully at the ,marquis4 8,oh1 ,i assure you10 said ,syme earnestly1 8the whole of your conversation was simply packed with sinister allusions to my aunt's weaknesses40 8,this is nonsense60 said the second gentleman4 8,i for one have said nothing for half an hour except that ,i liked the singing of that girl with black hair40 8,well1 there you are again60 said ,syme indignantly4 8,my aunt's was red40 8,it seems to me10 said the other1 8that you are simply seeking a pretext to insult the ,marquis40 8,by ,george60 said ,syme1 facing round and looking at him1 8what a clever chap you are60 ,the ,marquis started up with eyes flaming like a tiger's4 8,seeking a quarrel with me60 he cried4 8,seeking a fight with me6 ,by ,god6 there was never a man who had to seek long4 ,these gentlemen will perhaps act for me4 ,there are still four hours of daylight4 ,let us fight this evening40 ,syme bowed with a quite beautiful graciousness4 8,marquis10 he said1 8your action is worthy of your fame and blood4 ,permit me to consult for a moment with the gentlemen in whose hands ,i shall place myself40 ,in three long strides he rejoined his companions1 and they1 who had seen his champagne-inspired attack and listened to his idiotic explanations1 were quite startled at the look of him4 ,for now that he came back to them he was quite sober1 a little pale1 and he spoke in a low voice of passionate practicality4 8,i have done it10 he said hoarsely4 8,i have fixed a fight on the beast4 ,but look here1 and listen carefully4 ,there is no time for talk4 ,you are my seconds1 and everything must come from you4 ,now you must insist1 and insist absolutely1 on the duel coming off after seven tomorrow1 so as to give me the chance of preventing him from catching the #g4de for ,paris4 ,if he misses that he misses his crime4 ,he can't refuse to meet you on such a small point of time and place4 ,but this is what he will do4 ,he will choose a field somewhere near a wayside station1 where he can pick up the train4 ,he is a very good swordsman1 and he will trust to killing me in time to catch it4 ,but ,i can fence well too1 and ,i think ,i can keep him in play1 at any rate1 until the train is lost4 ,then perhaps he may kill me to console his feelings4 ,you understand8 ,very well then1 let me introduce you to some charming friends of mine10 and leading them quickly across the parade1 he presented them to the ,marquis's seconds by two very aristocratic names of which they had not previously heard4 ,syme was subject to spasms of singular common sense1 not otherwise a part of his character4 ,they were 7as he said of his impulse about the spectacles7 poetic intuitions1 and they sometimes rose to the exaltation of prophecy4 ,he had correctly calculated in this case the policy of his opponent4 ,when the ,marquis was informed by his seconds that ,syme could only fight in the morning1 he must fully have realised that an obstacle had suddenly arisen between him and his bomb-throwing business in the capital4 ,naturally he could not explain this objection to his friends1 so he chose the course which ,syme had predicted4 ,he induced his seconds to settle on a small meadow not far from the railway1 and he trusted to the fatality of the first engagement4 ,when he came down very coolly to the field of honour1 no one could have guessed that he had any anxiety about a journey2 his hands were in his pockets1 his straw hat on the back of his head1 his handsome face brazen in the sun4 ,but it might have struck a stranger as odd that there appeared in his train1 not only his seconds carrying the sword-case1 but two of his servants carrying a portmanteau and a luncheon basket4 ,early as was the hour1 the sun soaked everything in warmth1 and ,syme was vaguely surprised to see so many spring flowers burning gold and silver in the tall grass in which the whole company stood almost knee-deep4 ,with the exception of the ,marquis1 all the men were in sombre and solemn morning-dress1 with hats like black chimney-pots2 the little ,doctor especially1 with the addition of his black spectacles1 looked like an undertaker in a farce4 ,syme could not help feeling a comic contrast between this funereal church parade of apparel and the rich and glistening meadow1 growing wild flowers everywhere4 ,but1 indeed1 this comic contrast between the yellow blossoms and the black hats was but a symbol of the tragic contrast between the yellow blossoms and the black business4 ,on his right was a little wood2 far away to his left lay the long curve of the railway line1 which he was1 so to speak1 guarding from the ,marquis1 whose goal and escape it was4 ,in front of him1 behind the black group of his opponents1 he could see1 like a tinted cloud1 a small almond bush in flower against the faint line of the sea4 ,the member of the ,legion of ,honour1 whose name it seemed was ,colonel ,ducroix1 approached the ,professor and ,dr4 ,bull with great politeness1 and suggested that the play should terminate with the first considerable hurt4 ,dr4 ,bull1 however1 having been carefully coached by ,syme upon this point of policy1 insisted1 with great dignity and in very bad ,french1 that it should continue until one of the combatants was disabled4 ,syme had made up his mind that he could avoid disabling the ,marquis and prevent the ,marquis from disabling him for at least twenty minutes4 ,in twenty minutes the ,paris train would have gone by4 8,to a man of the well-known skill and valour of ,monsieur de ,st4 ,eustache10 said the ,professor solemnly1 8it must be a matter of indifference which method is adopted1 and our principal has strong reasons for demanding the longer encounter1 reasons the delicacy of which prevent me from being explicit1 but for the just and honourable nature of which ,i can--0 8,peste60 broke from the ,marquis behind1 whose face had suddenly darkened1 8let us stop talking and begin10 and he slashed off the head of a tall flower with his stick4 ,syme understood his rude impatience and instinctively looked over his shoulder to see whether the train was coming in sight4 ,but there was no smoke on the horizon4 ,colonel ,ducroix knelt down and unlocked the case1 taking out a pair of twin swords1 which took the sunlight and turned to two streaks of white fire4 ,he offered one to the ,marquis1 who snatched it without ceremony1 and another to ,syme1 who took it1 bent it1 and poised it with as much delay as was consistent with dignity4 ,then the ,colonel took out another pair of blades1 and taking one himself and giving another to ,dr4 ,bull1 proceeded to place the men4 ,both combatants had thrown off their coats and waistcoats1 and stood sword in hand4 ,the seconds stood on each side of the line of fight with drawn swords also1 but still sombre in their dark frock-coats and hats4 ,the principals saluted4 ,the ,colonel said quietly1 8,engage60 and the two blades touched and tingled4 ,when the jar of the joined iron ran up ,syme's arm1 all the fantastic fears that have been the subject of this story fell from him like dreams from a man waking up in bed4 ,he remembered them clearly and in order as mere delusions of the nerves--how the fear of the ,professor had been the fear of the tyrannic accidents of nightmare1 and how the fear of the ,doctor had been the fear of the airless vacuum of science4 ,the first was the old fear that any miracle might happen1 the second the more hopeless modern fear that no miracle can ever happen4 ,but he saw that these fears were fancies1 for he found himself in the presence of the great fact of the fear of death1 with its coarse and pitiless common sense4 ,he felt like a man who had dreamed all night of falling over precipices1 and had woke up on the morning when he was to be hanged4 ,for as soon as he had seen the sunlight run down the channel of his foe's foreshortened blade1 and as soon as he had felt the two tongues of steel touch1 vibrating like two living things1 he knew that his enemy was a terrible fighter1 and that probably his last hour had come4 ,he felt a strange and vivid value in all the earth around him1 in the grass under his feet2 he felt the love of life in all living things4 ,he could almost fancy that he heard the grass growing2 he could almost fancy that even as he stood fresh flowers were springing up and breaking into blossom in the meadow--flowers blood red and burning gold and blue1 fulfilling the whole pageant of the spring4 ,and whenever his eyes strayed for a flash from the calm1 staring1 hypnotic eyes of the ,marquis1 they saw the little tuft of almond tree against the sky-line4 ,he had the feeling that if by some miracle he escaped he would be ready to sit for ever before that almond tree1 desiring nothing else in the world4 ,but while earth and sky and everything had the living beauty of a thing lost1 the other half of his head was as clear as glass1 and he was parrying his enemy's point with a kind of clockwork skill of which he had hardly supposed himself capable4 ,once his enemy's point ran along his wrist1 leaving a slight streak of blood1 but it either was not noticed or was tacitly ignored4 ,every now and then he riposted1 and once or twice he could almost fancy that he felt his point go home1 but as there was no blood on blade or shirt he supposed he was mistaken4 ,then came an interruption and a change4 ,at the risk of losing all1 the ,marquis1 interrupting his quiet stare1 flashed one glance over his shoulder at the line of railway on his right4 ,then he turned on ,syme a face transfigured to that of a fiend1 and began to fight as if with twenty weapons4 ,the attack came so fast and furious1 that the one shining sword seemed a shower of shining arrows4 ,syme had no chance to look at the railway2 but also he had no need4 ,he could guess the reason of the ,marquis's sudden madness of battle--the ,paris train was in sight4 ,but the ,marquis's morbid energy over-reached itself4 ,twice ,syme1 parrying1 knocked his opponent's point far out of the fighting circle2 and the third time his riposte was so rapid1 that there was no doubt about the hit this time4 ,syme's sword actually bent under the weight of the ,marquis's body1 which it had pierced4 ,syme was as certain that he had stuck his blade into his enemy as a gardener that he has stuck his spade into the ground4 ,yet the ,marquis sprang back from the stroke without a stagger1 and ,syme stood staring at his own sword-point like an idiot4 ,there was no blood on it at all4 ,there was an instant of rigid silence1 and then ,syme in his turn fell furiously on the other1 filled with a flaming curiosity4 ,the ,marquis was probably1 in a general sense1 a better fencer than he1 as he had surmised at the beginning1 but at the moment the ,marquis seemed distraught and at a disadvantage4 ,he fought wildly and even weakly1 and he constantly looked away at the railway line1 almost as if he feared the train more than the pointed steel4 ,syme1 on the other hand1 fought fiercely but still carefully1 in an intellectual fury1 eager to solve the riddle of his own bloodless sword4 ,for this purpose1 he aimed less at the ,marquis's body1 and more at his throat and head4 ,a minute and a half afterwards he felt his point enter the man's neck below the jaw4 ,it came out clean4 ,half mad1 he thrust again1 and made what should have been a bloody scar on the ,marquis's cheek4 ,but there was no scar4 ,for one moment the heaven of ,syme again grew black with supernatural terrors4 ,surely the man had a charmed life4 ,but this new spiritual dread was a more awful thing than had been the mere spiritual topsy-turvydom symbolised by the paralytic who pursued him4 ,the ,professor was only a goblin2 this man was a devil--perhaps he was the ,devil6 ,anyhow1 this was certain1 that three times had a human sword been driven into him and made no mark4 ,when ,syme had that thought he drew himself up1 and all that was good in him sang high up in the air as a high wind sings in the trees4 ,he thought of all the human things in his story--of the ,chinese lanterns in ,saffron ,park1 of the girl's red hair in the garden1 of the honest1 beer-swilling sailors down by the dock1 of his loyal companions standing by4 ,perhaps he had been chosen as a champion of all these fresh and kindly things to cross swords with the enemy of all creation4 8,after all10 he said to himself1 8,i am more than a devil2 ,i am a man4 ,i can do the one thing which ,satan himself cannot do--,i can die10 and as the word went through his head1 he heard a faint and far-off hoot1 which would soon be the roar of the ,paris train4 ,he fell to fighting again with a supernatural levity1 like a ,mohammedan panting for ,paradise4 ,as the train came nearer and nearer he fancied he could see people putting up the floral arches in ,paris2 he joined in the growing noise and the glory of the great ,republic whose gate he was guarding against ,hell4 ,his thoughts rose higher and higher with the rising roar of the train1 which ended1 as if proudly1 in a long and piercing whistle4 ,the train stopped4 ,suddenly1 to the astonishment of everyone the ,marquis sprang back quite out of sword reach and threw down his sword4 ,the leap was wonderful1 and not the less wonderful because ,syme had plunged his sword a moment before into the man's thigh4 8,stop60 said the ,marquis in a voice that compelled a momentary obedience4 8,i want to say something40 8,what is the matter80 asked ,colonel ,ducroix1 staring4 8,has there been foul play80 8,there has been foul play somewhere10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 who was a little pale4 8,our principal has wounded the ,marquis four times at least1 and he is none the worse40 ,the ,marquis put up his hand with a curious air of ghastly patience4 8,please let me speak10 he said4 8,it is rather important4 ,mr4 ,syme10 he continued1 turning to his opponent1 8we are fighting today1 if ,i remember right1 because you expressed a wish 7which ,i thought irrational7 to pull my nose4 ,would you oblige me by pulling my nose now as quickly as possible8 ,i have to catch a train40 8,i protest that this is most irregular10 said ,dr4 ,bull indignantly4 8,it is certainly somewhat opposed to precedent10 said ,colonel ,ducroix1 looking wistfully at his principal4 8,there is1 ,i think1 one case on record 7,captain ,bellegarde and the ,baron ,zumpt7 in which the weapons were changed in the middle of the encounter at the request of one of the combatants4 ,but one can hardly call one's nose a weapon40 8,will you or will you not pull my nose80 said the ,marquis in exasperation4 8,come1 come1 ,mr4 ,syme6 ,you wanted to do it1 do it6 ,you can have no conception of how important it is to me4 ,don't be so selfish6 ,pull my nose at once1 when ,i ask you60 and he bent slightly forward with a fascinating smile4 ,the ,paris train1 panting and groaning1 had grated into a little station behind the neighbouring hill4 ,syme had the feeling he had more than once had in these adventures--the sense that a horrible and sublime wave lifted to heaven was just toppling over4 ,walking in a world he half understood1 he took two paces forward and seized the ,roman nose of this remarkable nobleman4 ,he pulled it hard1 and it came off in his hand4 ,he stood for some seconds with a foolish solemnity1 with the pasteboard proboscis still between his fingers1 looking at it1 while the sun and the clouds and the wooded hills looked down upon this imbecile scene4 ,the ,marquis broke the silence in a loud and cheerful voice4 8,if anyone has any use for my left eyebrow10 he said1 8he can have it4 ,colonel ,ducroix1 do accept my left eyebrow6 ,it's the kind of thing that might come in useful any day10 and he gravely tore off one of his swarthy ,assyrian brows1 bringing about half his brown forehead with it1 and politely offered it to the ,colonel1 who stood crimson and speechless with rage4 8,if ,i had known10 he spluttered1 8that ,i was acting for a poltroon who pads himself to fight--0 8,oh1 ,i know1 ,i know60 said the ,marquis1 recklessly throwing various parts of himself right and left about the field4 8,you are making a mistake2 but it can't be explained just now4 ,i tell you the train has come into the station60 8,yes10 said ,dr4 ,bull fiercely1 8and the train shall go out of the station4 ,it shall go out without you4 ,we know well enough for what devil's work--0 ,the mysterious ,marquis lifted his hands with a desperate gesture4 ,he was a strange scarecrow standing there in the sun with half his old face peeled off1 and half another face glaring and grinning from underneath4 8,will you drive me mad80 he cried4 8,the train--0 8,you shall not go by the train10 said ,syme firmly1 and grasped his sword4 ,the wild figure turned towards ,syme1 and seemed to be gathering itself for a sublime effort before speaking4 8,you great fat1 blasted1 blear-eyed1 blundering1 thundering1 brainless1 ,godforsaken1 doddering1 damned fool60 he said without taking breath4 8,you great silly1 pink-faced1 towheaded turnip6 ,you--0 8,you shall not go by this train10 repeated ,syme4 8,and why the infernal blazes10 roared the other1 8should ,i want to go by the train80 8,we know all10 said the ,professor sternly4 8,you are going to ,paris to throw a bomb60 8,going to ,jericho to throw a ,jabberwock60 cried the other1 tearing his hair1 which came off easily4 8,have you all got softening of the brain1 that you don't realise what ,i am8 ,did you really think ,i wanted to catch that train8 ,twenty ,paris trains might go by for me4 ,damn ,paris trains60 8,then what did you care about80 began the ,professor4 8,what did ,i care about8 ,i didn't care about catching the train2 ,i cared about whether the train caught me1 and now1 by ,god6 it has caught me40 8,i regret to inform you10 said ,syme with restraint1 8that your remarks convey no impression to my mind4 ,perhaps if you were to remove the remains of your original forehead and some portion of what was once your chin1 your meaning would become clearer4 ,mental lucidity fulfils itself in many ways4 ,what do you mean by saying that the train has caught you8 ,it may be my literary fancy1 but somehow ,i feel that it ought to mean something40 8,it means everything10 said the other1 8and the end of everything4 ,sunday has us now in the hollow of his hand40 8,us60 repeated the ,professor1 as if stupefied4 8,what do you mean by #8us'80 8,the police1 of course60 said the ,marquis1 and tore off his scalp and half his face4 ,the head which emerged was the blonde1 well brushed1 smooth-haired head which is common in the ,english constabulary1 but the face was terribly pale4 8,i am ,inspector ,ratcliffe10 he said1 with a sort of haste that verged on harshness4 8,my name is pretty well known to the police1 and ,i can see well enough that you belong to them4 ,but if there is any doubt about my position1 ,i have a card10 and he began to pull a blue card from his pocket4 ,the ,professor gave a tired gesture4 8,oh1 don't show it us10 he said wearily2 8we've got enough of them to equip a paper-chase40 ,the little man named ,bull1 had1 like many men who seem to be of a mere vivacious vulgarity1 sudden movements of good taste4 ,here he certainly saved the situation4 ,in the midst of this staggering transformation scene he stepped forward with all the gravity and responsibility of a second1 and addressed the two seconds of the ,marquis4 8,gentlemen10 he said1 8we all owe you a serious apology2 but ,i assure you that you have not been made the victims of such a low joke as you imagine1 or indeed of anything undignified in a man of honour4 ,you have not wasted your time2 you have helped to save the world4 ,we are not buffoons1 but very desperate men at war with a vast conspiracy4 ,a secret society of anarchists is hunting us like hares2 not such unfortunate madmen as may here or there throw a bomb through starvation or ,german philosophy1 but a rich and powerful and fanatical church1 a church of eastern pessimism1 which holds it holy to destroy mankind like vermin4 ,how hard they hunt us you can gather from the fact that we are driven to such disguises as those for which ,i apologise1 and to such pranks as this one by which you suffer40 ,the younger second of the ,marquis1 a short man with a black moustache1 bowed politely1 and said-- 8,of course1 ,i accept the apology2 but you will in your turn forgive me if ,i decline to follow you further into your difficulties1 and permit myself to say good morning6 ,the sight of an acquaintance and distinguished fellow-townsman coming to pieces in the open air is unusual1 and1 upon the whole1 sufficient for one day4 ,colonel ,ducroix1 ,i would in no way influence your actions1 but if you feel with me that our present society is a little abnormal1 ,i am now going to walk back to the town40 ,colonel ,ducroix moved mechanically1 but then tugged abruptly at his white moustache and broke out-- 8,no1 by ,george6 ,i won't4 ,if these gentlemen are really in a mess with a lot of low wreckers like that1 ,i'll see them through it4 ,i have fought for ,france1 and it is hard if ,i can't fight for civilization40 ,dr4 ,bull took off his hat and waved it1 cheering as at a public meeting4 8,don't make too much noise10 said ,inspector ,ratcliffe1 8,sunday may hear you40 8,sunday60 cried ,bull1 and dropped his hat4 8,yes10 retorted ,ratcliffe1 8he may be with them40 8,with whom80 asked ,syme4 8,with the people out of that train10 said the other4 8,what you say seems utterly wild10 began ,syme4 8,why1 as a matter of fact--,but1 my ,god10 he cried out suddenly1 like a man who sees an explosion a long way off1 8by ,god6 if this is true the whole bally lot of us on the ,anarchist ,council were against anarchy6 ,every born man was a detective except the ,president and his personal secretary4 ,what can it mean80 8,mean60 said the new policeman with incredible violence4 8,it means that we are struck dead6 ,don't you know ,sunday8 ,don't you know that his jokes are always so big and simple that one has never thought of them8 ,can you think of anything more like ,sunday than this1 that he should put all his powerful enemies on the ,supreme ,council1 and then take care that it was not supreme8 ,i tell you he has bought every trust1 he has captured every cable1 he has control of every railway line--especially of that railway line60 and he pointed a shaking finger towards the small wayside station4 8,the whole movement was controlled by him2 half the world was ready to rise for him4 ,but there were just five people1 perhaps1 who would have resisted him444 and the old devil put them on the ,supreme ,council1 to waste their time in watching each other4 ,idiots that we are1 he planned the whole of our idiocies6 ,sunday knew that the ,professor would chase ,syme through ,london1 and that ,syme would fight me in ,france4 ,and he was combining great masses of capital1 and seizing great lines of telegraphy1 while we five idiots were running after each other like a lot of confounded babies playing blind man's buff40 8,well80 asked ,syme with a sort of steadiness4 8,well10 replied the other with sudden serenity1 8he has found us playing blind man's buff today in a field of great rustic beauty and extreme solitude4 ,he has probably captured the world2 it only remains to him to capture this field and all the fools in it4 ,and since you really want to know what was my objection to the arrival of that train1 ,i will tell you4 ,my objection was that ,sunday or his ,secretary has just this moment got out of it40 ,syme uttered an involuntary cry1 and they all turned their eyes towards the far-off station4 ,it was quite true that a considerable bulk of people seemed to be moving in their direction4 ,but they were too distant to be distinguished in any way4 8,it was a habit of the late ,marquis de ,st4 ,eustache10 said the new policeman1 producing a leather case1 8always to carry a pair of opera glasses4 ,either the ,president or the ,secretary is coming after us with that mob4 ,they have caught us in a nice quiet place where we are under no temptations to break our oaths by calling the police4 ,dr4 ,bull1 ,i have a suspicion that you will see better through these than through your own highly decorative spectacles40 ,he handed the field-glasses to the ,doctor1 who immediately took off his spectacles and put the apparatus to his eyes4 8,it cannot be as bad as you say10 said the ,professor1 somewhat shaken4 8,there are a good number of them certainly1 but they may easily be ordinary tourists40 8,do ordinary tourists10 asked ,bull1 with the fieldglasses to his eyes1 8wear black masks half-way down the face80 ,syme almost tore the glasses out of his hand1 and looked through them4 ,most men in the advancing mob really looked ordinary enough2 but it was quite true that two or three of the leaders in front wore black half-masks almost down to their mouths4 ,this disguise is very complete1 especially at such a distance1 and ,syme found it impossible to conclude anything from the clean-shaven jaws and chins of the men talking in the front4 ,but presently as they talked they all smiled and one of them smiled on one side4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,criminals ,,chase ,,the ,,police ,syme put the field-glasses from his eyes with an almost ghastly relief4 8,the ,president is not with them1 anyhow10 he said1 and wiped his forehead4 8,but surely they are right away on the horizon10 said the bewildered ,colonel1 blinking and but half recovered from ,bull's hasty though polite explanation4 8,could you possibly know your ,president among all those people80 8,could ,i know a white elephant among all those people60 answered ,syme somewhat irritably4 8,as you very truly say1 they are on the horizon2 but if he were walking with them444 by ,god6 ,i believe this ground would shake40 ,after an instant's pause the new man called ,ratcliffe said with gloomy decision-- 8,of course the ,president isn't with them4 ,i wish to ,gemini he were4 ,much more likely the ,president is riding in triumph through ,paris1 or sitting on the ruins of ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral40 8,this is absurd60 said ,syme4 8,something may have happened in our absence2 but he cannot have carried the world with a rush like that4 ,it is quite true10 he added1 frowning dubiously at the distant fields that lay towards the little station1 8it is certainly true that there seems to be a crowd coming this way2 but they are not all the army that you make out40 8,oh1 they10 said the new detective contemptuously2 8no1 they are not a very valuable force4 ,but let me tell you frankly that they are precisely calculated to our value--we are not much1 my boy1 in ,sunday's universe4 ,he has got hold of all the cables and telegraphs himself4 ,but to kill the ,supreme ,council he regards as a trivial matter1 like a post card2 it may be left to his private secretary10 and he spat on the grass4 ,then he turned to the others and said somewhat austerely-- 8,there is a great deal to be said for death2 but if anyone has any preference for the other alternative1 ,i strongly advise him to walk after me40 ,with these words1 he turned his broad back and strode with silent energy towards the wood4 ,the others gave one glance over their shoulders1 and saw that the dark cloud of men had detached itself from the station and was moving with a mysterious discipline across the plain4 ,they saw already1 even with the naked eye1 black blots on the foremost faces1 which marked the masks they wore4 ,they turned and followed their leader1 who had already struck the wood1 and disappeared among the twinkling trees4 ,the sun on the grass was dry and hot4 ,so in plunging into the wood they had a cool shock of shadow1 as of divers who plunge into a dim pool4 ,the inside of the wood was full of shattered sunlight and shaken shadows4 ,they made a sort of shuddering veil1 almost recalling the dizziness of a cinematograph4 ,even the solid figures walking with him ,syme could hardly see for the patterns of sun and shade that danced upon them4 ,now a man's head was lit as with a light of ,rembrandt1 leaving all else obliterated2 now again he had strong and staring white hands with the face of a negro4 ,the ex-,marquis had pulled the old straw hat over his eyes1 and the black shade of the brim cut his face so squarely in two that it seemed to be wearing one of the black half-masks of their pursuers4 ,the fancy tinted ,syme's overwhelming sense of wonder4 ,was he wearing a mask8 ,was anyone wearing a mask8 ,was anyone anything8 ,this wood of witchery1 in which men's faces turned black and white by turns1 in which their figures first swelled into sunlight and then faded into formless night1 this mere chaos of chiaroscuro 7after the clear daylight outside71 seemed to ,syme a perfect symbol of the world in which he had been moving for three days1 this world where men took off their beards and their spectacles and their noses1 and turned into other people4 ,that tragic self-confidence which he had felt when he believed that the ,marquis was a devil had strangely disappeared now that he knew that the ,marquis was a friend4 ,he felt almost inclined to ask after all these bewilderments what was a friend and what an enemy4 ,was there anything that was apart from what it seemed8 ,the ,marquis had taken off his nose and turned out to be a detective4 ,might he not just as well take off his head and turn out to be a hobgoblin8 ,was not everything1 after all1 like this bewildering woodland1 this dance of dark and light8 ,everything only a glimpse1 the glimpse always unforeseen1 and always forgotten4 ,for ,gabriel ,syme had found in the heart of that sun-splashed wood what many modern painters had found there4 ,he had found the thing which the modern people call ,impressionism1 which is another name for that final scepticism which can find no floor to the universe4 ,as a man in an evil dream strains himself to scream and wake1 ,syme strove with a sudden effort to fling off this last and worst of his fancies4 ,with two impatient strides he overtook the man in the ,marquis's straw hat1 the man whom he had come to address as ,ratcliffe4 ,in a voice exaggeratively loud and cheerful1 he broke the bottomless silence and made conversation4 8,may ,i ask10 he said1 8where on earth we are all going to80 ,so genuine had been the doubts of his soul1 that he was quite glad to hear his companion speak in an easy1 human voice4 8,we must get down through the town of ,lancy to the sea10 he said4 8,i think that part of the country is least likely to be with them40 8,what can you mean by all this80 cried ,syme4 8,they can't be running the real world in that way4 ,surely not many working men are anarchists1 and surely if they were1 mere mobs could not beat modern armies and police40 8,mere mobs60 repeated his new friend with a snort of scorn4 8,so you talk about mobs and the working classes as if they were the question4 ,you've got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor4 ,why should it8 ,the poor have been rebels1 but they have never been anarchists2 they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government4 ,the poor man really has a stake in the country4 ,the rich man hasn't2 he can go away to ,new ,guinea in a yacht4 ,the poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly2 the rich have always objected to being governed at all4 ,aristocrats were always anarchists1 as you can see from the barons' wars40 8,as a lecture on ,english history for the little ones10 said ,syme1 8this is all very nice2 but ,i have not yet grasped its application40 8,its application is10 said his informant1 8that most of old ,sunday's right-hand men are ,south ,african and ,american millionaires4 ,that is why he has got hold of all the communications2 and that is why the last four champions of the anti-anarchist police force are running through a wood like rabbits40 8,millionaires ,i can understand10 said ,syme thoughtfully1 8they are nearly all mad4 ,but getting hold of a few wicked old gentlemen with hobbies is one thing2 getting hold of great ,christian nations is another4 ,i would bet the nose off my face 7forgive the allusion7 that ,sunday would stand perfectly helpless before the task of converting any ordinary healthy person anywhere40 8,well10 said the other1 8it rather depends what sort of person you mean40 8,well1 for instance10 said ,syme1 8he could never convert that person10 and he pointed straight in front of him4 ,they had come to an open space of sunlight1 which seemed to express to ,syme the final return of his own good sense2 and in the middle of this forest clearing was a figure that might well stand for that common sense in an almost awful actuality4 ,burnt by the sun and stained with perspiration1 and grave with the bottomless gravity of small necessary toils1 a heavy ,french peasant was cutting wood with a hatchet4 ,his cart stood a few yards off1 already half full of timber2 and the horse that cropped the grass was1 like his master1 valorous but not desperate2 like his master1 he was even prosperous1 but yet was almost sad4 ,the man was a ,norman1 taller than the average of the ,french and very angular2 and his swarthy figure stood dark against a square of sunlight1 almost like some allegoric figure of labour frescoed on a ground of gold4 8,mr4 ,syme is saying10 called out ,ratcliffe to the ,french ,colonel1 8that this man1 at least1 will never be an anarchist40 8,mr4 ,syme is right enough there10 answered ,colonel ,ducroix1 laughing1 8if only for the reason that he has plenty of property to defend4 ,but ,i forgot that in your country you are not used to peasants being wealthy40 8,he looks poor10 said ,dr4 ,bull doubtfully4 8,quite so10 said the ,colonel2 8that is why he is rich40 8,i have an idea10 called out ,dr4 ,bull suddenly2 8how much would he take to give us a lift in his cart8 ,those dogs are all on foot1 and we could soon leave them behind40 8,oh1 give him anything60 said ,syme eagerly4 8,i have piles of money on me40 8,that will never do10 said the ,colonel2 8he will never have any respect for you unless you drive a bargain40 8,oh1 if he haggles60 began ,bull impatiently4 8,he haggles because he is a free man10 said the other4 8,you do not understand2 he would not see the meaning of generosity4 ,he is not being tipped40 ,and even while they seemed to hear the heavy feet of their strange pursuers behind them1 they had to stand and stamp while the ,french ,colonel talked to the ,french wood-cutter with all the leisurely badinage and bickering of market-day4 ,at the end of the four minutes1 however1 they saw that the ,colonel was right1 for the wood-cutter entered into their plans1 not with the vague servility of a tout too-well paid1 but with the seriousness of a solicitor who had been paid the proper fee4 ,he told them that the best thing they could do was to make their way down to the little inn on the hills above ,lancy1 where the innkeeper1 an old soldier who had become dvot in his latter years1 would be certain to sympathise with them1 and even to take risks in their support4 ,the whole company1 therefore1 piled themselves on top of the stacks of wood1 and went rocking in the rude cart down the other and steeper side of the woodland4 ,heavy and ramshackle as was the vehicle1 it was driven quickly enough1 and they soon had the exhilarating impression of distancing altogether those1 whoever they were1 who were hunting them4 ,for1 after all1 the riddle as to where the anarchists had got all these followers was still unsolved4 ,one man's presence had sufficed for them2 they had fled at the first sight of the deformed smile of the ,secretary4 ,syme every now and then looked back over his shoulder at the army on their track4 ,as the wood grew first thinner and then smaller with distance1 he could see the sunlit slopes beyond it and above it2 and across these was still moving the square black mob like one monstrous beetle4 ,in the very strong sunlight and with his own very strong eyes1 which were almost telescopic1 ,syme could see this mass of men quite plainly4 ,he could see them as separate human figures2 but he was increasingly surprised by the way in which they moved as one man4 ,they seemed to be dressed in dark clothes and plain hats1 like any common crowd out of the streets2 but they did not spread and sprawl and trail by various lines to the attack1 as would be natural in an ordinary mob4 ,they moved with a sort of dreadful and wicked woodenness1 like a staring army of automatons4 ,syme pointed this out to ,ratcliffe4 8,yes10 replied the policeman1 8that's discipline4 ,that's ,sunday4 ,he is perhaps five hundred miles off1 but the fear of him is on all of them1 like the finger of ,god4 ,yes1 they are walking regularly2 and you bet your boots that they are talking regularly1 yes1 and thinking regularly4 ,but the one important thing for us is that they are disappearing regularly40 ,syme nodded4 ,it was true that the black patch of the pursuing men was growing smaller and smaller as the peasant belaboured his horse4 ,the level of the sunlit landscape1 though flat as a whole1 fell away on the farther side of the wood in billows of heavy slope towards the sea1 in a way not unlike the lower slopes of the ,sussex downs4 ,the only difference was that in ,sussex the road would have been broken and angular like a little brook1 but here the white ,french road fell sheer in front of them like a waterfall4 ,down this direct descent the cart clattered at a considerable angle1 and in a few minutes1 the road growing yet steeper1 they saw below them the little harbour of ,lancy and a great blue arc of the sea4 ,the travelling cloud of their enemies had wholly disappeared from the horizon4 ,the horse and cart took a sharp turn round a clump of elms1 and the horse's nose nearly struck the face of an old gentleman who was sitting on the benches outside the little caf of 8,le ,soleil d',or40 ,the peasant grunted an apology1 and got down from his seat4 ,the others also descended one by one1 and spoke to the old gentleman with fragmentary phrases of courtesy1 for it was quite evident from his expansive manner that he was the owner of the little tavern4 ,he was a white-haired1 apple-faced old boy1 with sleepy eyes and a grey moustache2 stout1 sedentary1 and very innocent1 of a type that may often be found in ,france1 but is still commoner in ,catholic ,germany4 ,everything about him1 his pipe1 his pot of beer1 his flowers1 and his beehive1 suggested an ancestral peace2 only when his visitors looked up as they entered the inn-parlour1 they saw the sword upon the wall4 ,the ,colonel1 who greeted the innkeeper as an old friend1 passed rapidly into the inn-parlour1 and sat down ordering some ritual refreshment4 ,the military decision of his action interested ,syme1 who sat next to him1 and he took the opportunity when the old innkeeper had gone out of satisfying his curiosity4 8,may ,i ask you1 ,colonel10 he said in a low voice1 8why we have come here80 ,colonel ,ducroix smiled behind his bristly white moustache4 8,for two reasons1 sir10 he said2 8and ,i will give first1 not the most important1 but the most utilitarian4 ,we came here because this is the only place within twenty miles in which we can get horses40 8,horses60 repeated ,syme1 looking up quickly4 8,yes10 replied the other2 8if you people are really to distance your enemies it is horses or nothing for you1 unless of course you have bicycles and motor-cars in your pocket40 8,and where do you advise us to make for80 asked ,syme doubtfully4 8,beyond question10 replied the ,colonel1 8you had better make all haste to the police station beyond the town4 ,my friend1 whom ,i seconded under somewhat deceptive circumstances1 seems to me to exaggerate very much the possibilities of a general rising2 but even he would hardly maintain1 ,i suppose1 that you were not safe with the gendarmes40 ,syme nodded gravely2 then he said abruptly-- 8,and your other reason for coming here80 8,my other reason for coming here10 said ,ducroix soberly1 8is that it is just as well to see a good man or two when one is possibly near to death40 ,syme looked up at the wall1 and saw a crudely-painted and pathetic religious picture4 ,then he said-- 8,you are right10 and then almost immediately afterwards1 8,has anyone seen about the horses80 8,yes10 answered ,ducroix1 8you may be quite certain that ,i gave orders the moment ,i came in4 ,those enemies of yours gave no impression of hurry1 but they were really moving wonderfully fast1 like a well-trained army4 ,i had no idea that the anarchists had so much discipline4 ,you have not a moment to waste40 ,almost as he spoke1 the old innkeeper with the blue eyes and white hair came ambling into the room1 and announced that six horses were saddled outside4 ,by ,ducroix's advice the five others equipped themselves with some portable form of food and wine1 and keeping their duelling swords as the only weapons available1 they clattered away down the steep1 white road4 ,the two servants1 who had carried the ,marquis's luggage when he was a marquis1 were left behind to drink at the caf by common consent1 and not at all against their own inclination4 ,by this time the afternoon sun was slanting westward1 and by its rays ,syme could see the sturdy figure of the old innkeeper growing smaller and smaller1 but still standing and looking after them quite silently1 the sunshine in his silver hair4 ,syme had a fixed1 superstitious fancy1 left in his mind by the chance phrase of the ,colonel1 that this was indeed1 perhaps1 the last honest stranger whom he should ever see upon the earth4 ,he was still looking at this dwindling figure1 which stood as a mere grey blot touched with a white flame against the great green wall of the steep down behind him4 ,and as he stared over the top of the down behind the innkeeper1 there appeared an army of black-clad and marching men4 ,they seemed to hang above the good man and his house like a black cloud of locusts4 ,the horses had been saddled none too soon4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,earth ,,in ,,anarchy ,urging the horses to a gallop1 without respect to the rather rugged descent of the road1 the horsemen soon regained their advantage over the men on the march1 and at last the bulk of the first buildings of ,lancy cut off the sight of their pursuers4 ,nevertheless1 the ride had been a long one1 and by the time they reached the real town the west was warming with the colour and quality of sunset4 ,the ,colonel suggested that1 before making finally for the police station1 they should make the effort1 in passing1 to attach to themselves one more individual who might be useful4 8,four out of the five rich men in this town10 he said1 8are common swindlers4 ,i suppose the proportion is pretty equal all over the world4 ,the fifth is a friend of mine1 and a very fine fellow2 and what is even more important from our point of view1 he owns a motor-car40 8,i am afraid10 said the ,professor in his mirthful way1 looking back along the white road on which the black1 crawling patch might appear at any moment1 8,i am afraid we have hardly time for afternoon calls40 8,doctor ,renard's house is only three minutes off10 said the ,colonel4 8,our danger10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 8is not two minutes off40 8,yes10 said ,syme1 8if we ride on fast we must leave them behind1 for they are on foot40 8,he has a motor-car10 said the ,colonel4 8,but we may not get it10 said ,bull4 8,yes1 he is quite on your side40 8,but he might be out40 8,hold your tongue10 said ,syme suddenly4 8,what is that noise80 ,for a second they all sat as still as equestrian statues1 and for a second--for two or three or four seconds--heaven and earth seemed equally still4 ,then all their ears1 in an agony of attention1 heard along the road that indescribable thrill and throb that means only one thing--horses6 ,the ,colonel's face had an instantaneous change1 as if lightning had struck it1 and yet left it scatheless4 8,they have done us10 he said1 with brief military irony4 8,prepare to receive cavalry60 8,where can they have got the horses80 asked ,syme1 as he mechanically urged his steed to a canter4 ,the ,colonel was silent for a little1 then he said in a strained voice-- 8,i was speaking with strict accuracy when ,i said that the #8,soleil d',or' was the only place where one can get horses within twenty miles40 8,no60 said ,syme violently1 8,i don't believe he'd do it4 ,not with all that white hair40 8,he may have been forced10 said the ,colonel gently4 8,they must be at least a hundred strong1 for which reason we are all going to see my friend ,renard1 who has a motor-car40 ,with these words he swung his horse suddenly round a street corner1 and went down the street with such thundering speed1 that the others1 though already well at the gallop1 had difficulty in following the flying tail of his horse4 ,dr4 ,renard inhabited a high and comfortable house at the top of a steep street1 so that when the riders alighted at his door they could once more see the solid green ridge of the hill1 with the white road across it1 standing up above all the roofs of the town4 ,they breathed again to see that the road as yet was clear1 and they rang the bell4 ,dr4 ,renard was a beaming1 brown-bearded man1 a good example of that silent but very busy professional class which ,france has preserved even more perfectly than ,england4 ,when the matter was explained to him he pooh-poohed the panic of the ex-,marquis altogether2 he said1 with the solid ,french scepticism1 that there was no conceivable probability of a general anarchist rising4 8,anarchy10 he said1 shrugging his shoulders1 8it is childishness60 8,et a10 cried out the ,colonel suddenly1 pointing over the other's shoulder1 8and that is childishness1 isn't it80 ,they all looked round1 and saw a curve of black cavalry come sweeping over the top of the hill with all the energy of ,attila4 ,swiftly as they rode1 however1 the whole rank still kept well together1 and they could see the black vizards of the first line as level as a line of uniforms4 ,but although the main black square was the same1 though travelling faster1 there was now one sensational difference which they could see clearly upon the slope of the hill1 as if upon a slanted map4 ,the bulk of the riders were in one block2 but one rider flew far ahead of the column1 and with frantic movements of hand and heel urged his horse faster and faster1 so that one might have fancied that he was not the pursuer but the pursued4 ,but even at that great distance they could see something so fanatical1 so unquestionable in his figure1 that they knew it was the ,secretary himself4 8,i am sorry to cut short a cultured discussion10 said the ,colonel1 8but can you lend me your motor-car now1 in two minutes80 8,i have a suspicion that you are all mad10 said ,dr4 ,renard1 smiling sociably2 8but ,god forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship4 ,let us go round to the garage40 ,dr4 ,renard was a mild man with monstrous wealth2 his rooms were like the ,muse de ,cluny1 and he had three motor-cars4 ,these1 however1 he seemed to use very sparingly1 having the simple tastes of the ,french middle class1 and when his impatient friends came to examine them1 it took them some time to assure themselves that one of them even could be made to work4 ,this with some difficulty they brought round into the street before the ,doctor's house4 ,when they came out of the dim garage they were startled to find that twilight had already fallen with the abruptness of night in the tropics4 ,either they had been longer in the place than they imagined1 or some unusual canopy of cloud had gathered over the town4 ,they looked down the steep streets1 and seemed to see a slight mist coming up from the sea4 8,it is now or never10 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,i hear horses40 8,no10 corrected the ,professor1 8a horse40 ,and as they listened1 it was evident that the noise1 rapidly coming nearer on the rattling stones1 was not the noise of the whole cavalcade but that of the one horseman1 who had left it far behind--the insane ,secretary4 ,syme's family1 like most of those who end in the simple life1 had once owned a motor1 and he knew all about them4 ,he had leapt at once into the chauffeur's seat1 and with flushed face was wrenching and tugging at the disused machinery4 ,he bent his strength upon one handle1 and then said quite quietly-- 8,i am afraid it's no go40 ,as he spoke1 there swept round the corner a man rigid on his rushing horse1 with the rush and rigidity of an arrow4 ,he had a smile that thrust out his chin as if it were dislocated4 ,he swept alongside of the stationary car1 into which its company had crowded1 and laid his hand on the front4 ,it was the ,secretary1 and his mouth went quite straight in the solemnity of triumph4 ,syme was leaning hard upon the steering wheel1 and there was no sound but the rumble of the other pursuers riding into the town4 ,then there came quite suddenly a scream of scraping iron1 and the car leapt forward4 ,it plucked the ,secretary clean out of his saddle1 as a knife is whipped out of its sheath1 trailed him kicking terribly for twenty yards1 and left him flung flat upon the road far in front of his frightened horse4 ,as the car took the corner of the street with a splendid curve1 they could just see the other anarchists filling the street and raising their fallen leader4 8,i can't understand why it has grown so dark10 said the ,professor at last in a low voice4 8,going to be a storm1 ,i think10 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,i say1 it's a pity we haven't got a light on this car1 if only to see by40 8,we have10 said the ,colonel1 and from the floor of the car he fished up a heavy1 old-fashioned1 carved iron lantern with a light inside it4 ,it was obviously an antique1 and it would seem as if its original use had been in some way semi-religious1 for there was a rude moulding of a cross upon one of its sides4 8,where on earth did you get that80 asked the ,professor4 8,i got it where ,i got the car10 answered the ,colonel1 chuckling1 8from my best friend4 ,while our friend here was fighting with the steering wheel1 ,i ran up the front steps of the house and spoke to ,renard1 who was standing in his own porch1 you will remember4 #8,i suppose1' ,i said1 #8there's no time to get a lamp4' ,he looked up1 blinking amiably at the beautiful arched ceiling of his own front hall4 ,from this was suspended1 by chains of exquisite ironwork1 this lantern1 one of the hundred treasures of his treasure house4 ,by sheer force he tore the lamp out of his own ceiling1 shattering the painted panels1 and bringing down two blue vases with his violence4 ,then he handed me the iron lantern1 and ,i put it in the car4 ,was ,i not right when ,i said that ,dr4 ,renard was worth knowing80 8,you were10 said ,syme seriously1 and hung the heavy lantern over the front4 ,there was a certain allegory of their whole position in the contrast between the modern automobile and its strange ecclesiastical lamp4 ,hitherto they had passed through the quietest part of the town1 meeting at most one or two pedestrians1 who could give them no hint of the peace or the hostility of the place4 ,now1 however1 the windows in the houses began one by one to be lit up1 giving a greater sense of habitation and humanity4 ,dr4 ,bull turned to the new detective who had led their flight1 and permitted himself one of his natural and friendly smiles4 8,these lights make one feel more cheerful40 ,inspector ,ratcliffe drew his brows together4 8,there is only one set of lights that make me more cheerful10 he said1 8and they are those lights of the police station which ,i can see beyond the town4 ,please ,god we may be there in ten minutes40 ,then all ,bull's boiling good sense and optimism broke suddenly out of him4 8,oh1 this is all raving nonsense60 he cried4 8,if you really think that ordinary people in ordinary houses are anarchists1 you must be madder than an anarchist yourself4 ,if we turned and fought these fellows1 the whole town would fight for us40 8,no10 said the other with an immovable simplicity1 8the whole town would fight for them4 ,we shall see40 ,while they were speaking the ,professor had leant forward with sudden excitement4 8,what is that noise80 he said4 8,oh1 the horses behind us1 ,i suppose10 said the ,colonel4 8,i thought we had got clear of them40 8,the horses behind us6 ,no10 said the ,professor1 8it is not horses1 and it is not behind us40 ,almost as he spoke1 across the end of the street before them two shining and rattling shapes shot past4 ,they were gone almost in a flash1 but everyone could see that they were motor-cars1 and the ,professor stood up with a pale face and swore that they were the other two motor-cars from ,dr4 ,renard's garage4 8,i tell you they were his10 he repeated1 with wild eyes1 8and they were full of men in masks60 8,absurd60 said the ,colonel angrily4 8,dr4 ,renard would never give them his cars40 8,he may have been forced10 said ,ratcliffe quietly4 8,the whole town is on their side40 8,you still believe that10 asked the ,colonel incredulously4 8,you will all believe it soon10 said the other with a hopeless calm4 ,there was a puzzled pause for some little time1 and then the ,colonel began again abruptly-- 8,no1 ,i can't believe it4 ,the thing is nonsense4 ,the plain people of a peaceable ,french town--0 ,he was cut short by a bang and a blaze of light1 which seemed close to his eyes4 ,as the car sped on it left a floating patch of white smoke behind it1 and ,syme had heard a shot shriek past his ear4 8,my ,god60 said the ,colonel1 8someone has shot at us40 8,it need not interrupt conversation10 said the gloomy ,ratcliffe4 8,pray resume your remarks1 ,colonel4 ,you were talking1 ,i think1 about the plain people of a peaceable ,french town40 ,the staring ,colonel was long past minding satire4 ,he rolled his eyes all round the street4 8,it is extraordinary10 he said1 8most extraordinary40 8,a fastidious person10 said ,syme1 8might even call it unpleasant4 ,however1 ,i suppose those lights out in the field beyond this street are the ,gendarmerie4 ,we shall soon get there40 8,no10 said ,inspector ,ratcliffe1 8we shall never get there40 ,he had been standing up and looking keenly ahead of him4 ,now he sat down and smoothed his sleek hair with a weary gesture4 8,what do you mean80 asked ,bull sharply4 8,i mean that we shall never get there10 said the pessimist placidly4 8,they have two rows of armed men across the road already2 ,i can see them from here4 ,the town is in arms1 as ,i said it was4 ,i can only wallow in the exquisite comfort of my own exactitude40 ,and ,ratcliffe sat down comfortably in the car and lit a cigarette1 but the others rose excitedly and stared down the road4 ,syme had slowed down the car as their plans became doubtful1 and he brought it finally to a standstill just at the corner of a side street that ran down very steeply to the sea4 ,the town was mostly in shadow1 but the sun had not sunk2 wherever its level light could break through1 it painted everything a burning gold4 ,up this side street the last sunset light shone as sharp and narrow as the shaft of artificial light at the theatre4 ,it struck the car of the five friends1 and lit it like a burning chariot4 ,but the rest of the street1 especially the two ends of it1 was in the deepest twilight1 and for some seconds they could see nothing4 ,then ,syme1 whose eyes were the keenest1 broke into a little bitter whistle1 and said1 8,it is quite true4 ,there is a crowd or an army or some such thing across the end of that street40 8,well1 if there is10 said ,bull impatiently1 8it must be something else--a sham fight or the mayor's birthday or something4 ,i cannot and will not believe that plain1 jolly people in a place like this walk about with dynamite in their pockets4 ,get on a bit1 ,syme1 and let us look at them40 ,the car crawled about a hundred yards farther1 and then they were all startled by ,dr4 ,bull breaking into a high crow of laughter4 8,why1 you silly mugs60 he cried1 8what did ,i tell you4 ,that crowd's as law-abiding as a cow1 and if it weren't1 it's on our side40 8,how do you know80 asked the professor1 staring4 8,you blind bat10 cried ,bull1 8don't you see who is leading them80 ,they peered again1 and then the ,colonel1 with a catch in his voice1 cried out-- 8,why1 it's ,renard60 ,there was1 indeed1 a rank of dim figures running across the road1 and they could not be clearly seen2 but far enough in front to catch the accident of the evening light was stalking up and down the unmistakable ,dr4 ,renard1 in a white hat1 stroking his long brown beard1 and holding a revolver in his left hand4 8,what a fool ,i've been60 exclaimed the ,colonel4 8,of course1 the dear old boy has turned out to help us40 ,dr4 ,bull was bubbling over with laughter1 swinging the sword in his hand as carelessly as a cane4 ,he jumped out of the car and ran across the intervening space1 calling out-- 8,dr4 ,renard6 ,dr4 ,renard60 ,an instant after ,syme thought his own eyes had gone mad in his head4 ,for the philanthropic ,dr4 ,renard had deliberately raised his revolver and fired twice at ,bull1 so that the shots rang down the road4 ,almost at the same second as the puff of white cloud went up from this atrocious explosion a long puff of white cloud went up also from the cigarette of the cynical ,ratcliffe4 ,like all the rest he turned a little pale1 but he smiled4 ,dr4 ,bull1 at whom the bullets had been fired1 just missing his scalp1 stood quite still in the middle of the road without a sign of fear1 and then turned very slowly and crawled back to the car1 and climbed in with two holes through his hat4 8,well10 said the cigarette smoker slowly1 8what do you think now80 8,i think10 said ,dr4 ,bull with precision1 8that ,i am lying in bed at ,no4 #bag ,peabody ,buildings1 and that ,i shall soon wake up with a jump2 or1 if that's not it1 ,i think that ,i am sitting in a small cushioned cell in ,hanwell1 and that the doctor can't make much of my case4 ,but if you want to know what ,i don't think1 ,i'll tell you4 ,i don't think what you think4 ,i don't think1 and ,i never shall think1 that the mass of ordinary men are a pack of dirty modern thinkers4 ,no1 sir1 ,i'm a democrat1 and ,i still don't believe that ,sunday could convert one average navvy or counter-jumper4 ,no1 ,i may be mad1 but humanity isn't40 ,syme turned his bright blue eyes on ,bull with an earnestness which he did not commonly make clear4 8,you are a very fine fellow10 he said4 8,you can believe in a sanity which is not merely your sanity4 ,and you're right enough about humanity1 about peasants and people like that jolly old innkeeper4 ,but you're not right about ,renard4 ,i suspected him from the first4 ,he's rationalistic1 and1 what's worse1 he's rich4 ,when duty and religion are really destroyed1 it will be by the rich40 8,they are really destroyed now10 said the man with a cigarette1 and rose with his hands in his pockets4 8,the devils are coming on60 ,the men in the motor-car looked anxiously in the direction of his dreamy gaze1 and they saw that the whole regiment at the end of the road was advancing upon them1 ,dr4 ,renard marching furiously in front1 his beard flying in the breeze4 ,the ,colonel sprang out of the car with an intolerant exclamation4 8,gentlemen10 he cried1 8the thing is incredible4 ,it must be a practical joke4 ,if you knew ,renard as ,i do--it's like calling ,queen ,victoria a dynamiter4 ,if you had got the man's character into your head--0 8,dr4 ,bull10 said ,syme sardonically1 8has at least got it into his hat40 8,i tell you it can't be60 cried the ,colonel1 stamping4 8,renard shall explain it4 ,he shall explain it to me10 and he strode forward4 8,don't be in such a hurry10 drawled the smoker4 8,he will very soon explain it to all of us40 ,but the impatient ,colonel was already out of earshot1 advancing towards the advancing enemy4 ,the excited ,dr4 ,renard lifted his pistol again1 but perceiving his opponent1 hesitated1 and the ,colonel came face to face with him with frantic gestures of remonstrance4 8,it is no good10 said ,syme4 8,he will never get anything out of that old heathen4 ,i vote we drive bang through the thick of them1 bang as the bullets went through ,bull's hat4 ,we may all be killed1 but we must kill a tidy number of them40 8,i won't 'ave it10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 growing more vulgar in the sincerity of his virtue4 8,the poor chaps may be making a mistake4 ,give the ,colonel a chance40 8,shall we go back1 then80 asked the ,professor4 8,no10 said ,ratcliffe in a cold voice1 8the street behind us is held too4 ,in fact1 ,i seem to see there another friend of yours1 ,syme40 ,syme spun round smartly1 and stared backwards at the track which they had travelled4 ,he saw an irregular body of horsemen gathering and galloping towards them in the gloom4 ,he saw above the foremost saddle the silver gleam of a sword1 and then as it grew nearer the silver gleam of an old man's hair4 ,the next moment1 with shattering violence1 he had swung the motor round and sent it dashing down the steep side street to the sea1 like a man that desired only to die4 8,what the devil is up80 cried the ,professor1 seizing his arm4 8,the morning star has fallen60 said ,syme1 as his own car went down the darkness like a falling star4 ,the others did not understand his words1 but when they looked back at the street above they saw the hostile cavalry coming round the corner and down the slopes after them2 and foremost of all rode the good innkeeper1 flushed with the fiery innocence of the evening light4 8,the world is insane60 said the ,professor1 and buried his face in his hands4 8,no10 said ,dr4 ,bull in adamantine humility1 8it is ,i40 8,what are we going to do80 asked the ,professor4 8,at this moment10 said ,syme1 with a scientific detachment1 8,i think we are going to smash into a lamppost40 ,the next instant the automobile had come with a catastrophic jar against an iron object4 ,the instant after that four men had crawled out from under a chaos of metal1 and a tall lean lamp-post that had stood up straight on the edge of the marine parade stood out1 bent and twisted1 like the branch of a broken tree4 8,well1 we smashed something10 said the ,professor1 with a faint smile4 8,that's some comfort40 8,you're becoming an anarchist10 said ,syme1 dusting his clothes with his instinct of daintiness4 8,everyone is10 said ,ratcliffe4 ,as they spoke1 the white-haired horseman and his followers came thundering from above1 and almost at the same moment a dark string of men ran shouting along the sea-front4 ,syme snatched a sword1 and took it in his teeth2 he stuck two others under his arm-pits1 took a fourth in his left hand and the lantern in his right1 and leapt off the high parade on to the beach below4 ,the others leapt after him1 with a common acceptance of such decisive action1 leaving the debris and the gathering mob above them4 8,we have one more chance10 said ,syme1 taking the steel out of his mouth4 8,whatever all this pandemonium means1 ,i suppose the police station will help us4 ,we can't get there1 for they hold the way4 ,but there's a pier or breakwater runs out into the sea just here1 which we could defend longer than anything else1 like ,horatius and his bridge4 ,we must defend it till the ,gendarmerie turn out4 ,keep after me40 ,they followed him as he went crunching down the beach1 and in a second or two their boots broke not on the sea gravel1 but on broad1 flat stones4 ,they marched down a long1 low jetty1 running out in one arm into the dim1 boiling sea1 and when they came to the end of it they felt that they had come to the end of their story4 ,they turned and faced the town4 ,that town was transfigured with uproar4 ,all along the high parade from which they had just descended was a dark and roaring stream of humanity1 with tossing arms and fiery faces1 groping and glaring towards them4 ,the long dark line was dotted with torches and lanterns2 but even where no flame lit up a furious face1 they could see in the farthest figure1 in the most shadowy gesture1 an organised hate4 ,it was clear that they were the accursed of all men1 and they knew not why4 ,two or three men1 looking little and black like monkeys1 leapt over the edge as they had done and dropped on to the beach4 ,these came ploughing down the deep sand1 shouting horribly1 and strove to wade into the sea at random4 ,the example was followed1 and the whole black mass of men began to run and drip over the edge like black treacle4 ,foremost among the men on the beach ,syme saw the peasant who had driven their cart4 ,he splashed into the surf on a huge cart-horse1 and shook his axe at them4 8,the peasant60 cried ,syme4 8,they have not risen since the ,middle ,ages40 8,even if the police do come now10 said the ,professor mournfully1 8they can do nothing with this mob40 8,nonsense60 said ,bull desperately2 8there must be some people left in the town who are human40 8,no10 said the hopeless ,inspector1 8the human being will soon be extinct4 ,we are the last of mankind40 8,it may be10 said the ,professor absently4 ,then he added in his dreamy voice1 8,what is all that at the end of the #8,dunciad'8 #8,nor public flame2 nor private1 dares to shine2 ,nor human light is left1 nor glimpse divine6 ,lo6 thy dread ,empire1 ,chaos1 is restored2 ,light dies before thine uncreating word3 ,thy hand1 great ,anarch1 lets the curtain fall2 ,and universal darkness buries all4'0 8,stop60 cried ,bull suddenly1 8the gendarmes are out40 ,the low lights of the police station were indeed blotted and broken with hurrying figures1 and they heard through the darkness the clash and jingle of a disciplined cavalry4 8,they are charging the mob60 cried ,bull in ecstacy or alarm4 8,no10 said ,syme1 8they are formed along the parade40 8,they have unslung their carbines10 cried ,bull dancing with excitement4 8,yes10 said ,ratcliffe1 8and they are going to fire on us40 ,as he spoke there came a long crackle of musketry1 and bullets seemed to hop like hailstones on the stones in front of them4 8,the gendarmes have joined them60 cried the ,professor1 and struck his forehead4 8,i am in the padded cell10 said ,bull solidly4 ,there was a long silence1 and then ,ratcliffe said1 looking out over the swollen sea1 all a sort of grey purple-- 8,what does it matter who is mad or who is sane8 ,we shall all be dead soon40 ,syme turned to him and said-- 8,you are quite hopeless1 then80 ,mr4 ,ratcliffe kept a stony silence2 then at last he said quietly-- 8,no2 oddly enough ,i am not quite hopeless4 ,there is one insane little hope that ,i cannot get out of my mind4 ,the power of this whole planet is against us1 yet ,i cannot help wondering whether this one silly little hope is hopeless yet40 8,in what or whom is your hope80 asked ,syme with curiosity4 8,in a man ,i never saw10 said the other1 looking at the leaden sea4 8,i know what you mean10 said ,syme in a low voice1 8the man in the dark room4 ,but ,sunday must have killed him by now40 8,perhaps10 said the other steadily2 8but if so1 he was the only man whom ,sunday found it hard to kill40 8,i heard what you said10 said the ,professor1 with his back turned4 8,i also am holding hard on to the thing ,i never saw40 ,all of a sudden ,syme1 who was standing as if blind with introspective thought1 swung round and cried out1 like a man waking from sleep-- 8,where is the ,colonel8 ,i thought he was with us60 8,the ,colonel6 ,yes10 cried ,bull1 8where on earth is the ,colonel80 8,he went to speak to ,renard10 said the ,professor4 8,we cannot leave him among all those beasts10 cried ,syme4 8,let us die like gentlemen if--0 8,do not pity the ,colonel10 said ,ratcliffe1 with a pale sneer4 8,he is extremely comfortable4 ,he is--0 8,no6 no6 no60 cried ,syme in a kind of frenzy1 8not the ,colonel too6 ,i will never believe it60 8,will you believe your eyes80 asked the other1 and pointed to the beach4 ,many of their pursuers had waded into the water shaking their fists1 but the sea was rough1 and they could not reach the pier4 ,two or three figures1 however1 stood on the beginning of the stone footway1 and seemed to be cautiously advancing down it4 ,the glare of a chance lantern lit up the faces of the two foremost4 ,one face wore a black half-mask1 and under it the mouth was twisting about in such a madness of nerves that the black tuft of beard wriggled round and round like a restless1 living thing4 ,the other was the red face and white moustache of ,colonel ,ducroix4 ,they were in earnest consultation4 8,yes1 he is gone too10 said the ,professor1 and sat down on a stone4 8,everything's gone4 ,i'm gone6 ,i can't trust my own bodily machinery4 ,i feel as if my own hand might fly up and strike me40 8,when my hand flies up10 said ,syme1 8it will strike somebody else10 and he strode along the pier towards the ,colonel1 the sword in one hand and the lantern in the other4 ,as if to destroy the last hope or doubt1 the ,colonel1 who saw him coming1 pointed his revolver at him and fired4 ,the shot missed ,syme1 but struck his sword1 breaking it short at the hilt4 ,syme rushed on1 and swung the iron lantern above his head4 8,judas before ,herod60 he said1 and struck the ,colonel down upon the stones4 ,then he turned to the ,secretary1 whose frightful mouth was almost foaming now1 and held the lamp high with so rigid and arresting a gesture1 that the man was1 as it were1 frozen for a moment1 and forced to hear4 8,do you see this lantern80 cried ,syme in a terrible voice4 8,do you see the cross carved on it1 and the flame inside8 ,you did not make it4 ,you did not light it4 ,better men than you1 men who could believe and obey1 twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire4 ,there is not a street you walk on1 there is not a thread you wear1 that was not made as this lantern was1 by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats4 ,you can make nothing4 ,you can only destroy4 ,you will destroy mankind2 you will destroy the world4 ,let that suffice you4 ,yet this one old ,christian lantern you shall not destroy4 ,it shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it40 ,he struck the ,secretary once with the lantern so that he staggered2 and then1 whirling it twice round his head1 sent it flying far out to sea1 where it flared like a roaring rocket and fell4 8,swords60 shouted ,syme1 turning his flaming face to the three behind him4 8,let us charge these dogs1 for our time has come to die40 ,his three companions came after him sword in hand4 ,syme's sword was broken1 but he rent a bludgeon from the fist of a fisherman1 flinging him down4 ,in a moment they would have flung themselves upon the face of the mob and perished1 when an interruption came4 ,the ,secretary1 ever since ,syme's speech1 had stood with his hand to his stricken head as if dazed2 now he suddenly pulled off his black mask4 ,the pale face thus peeled in the lamplight revealed not so much rage as astonishment4 ,he put up his hand with an anxious authority4 8,there is some mistake10 he said4 8,mr4 ,syme1 ,i hardly think you understand your position4 ,i arrest you in the name of the law40 8,of the law80 said ,syme1 and dropped his stick4 8,certainly60 said the ,secretary4 8,i am a detective from ,scotland ,yard10 and he took a small blue card from his pocket4 8,and what do you suppose we are80 asked the ,professor1 and threw up his arms4 8,you10 said the ,secretary stiffly1 8are1 as ,i know for a fact1 members of the ,supreme ,anarchist ,council4 ,disguised as one of you1 ,i--0 ,dr4 ,bull tossed his sword into the sea4 8,there never was any ,supreme ,anarchist ,council10 he said4 8,we were all a lot of silly policemen looking at each other4 ,and all these nice people who have been peppering us with shot thought we were the dynamiters4 ,i knew ,i couldn't be wrong about the mob10 he said1 beaming over the enormous multitude1 which stretched away to the distance on both sides4 8,vulgar people are never mad4 ,i'm vulgar myself1 and ,i know4 ,i am now going on shore to stand a drink to everybody here40 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,pursuit ,,of ,,the ,,president ,next morning five bewildered but hilarious people took the boat for ,dover4 ,the poor old ,colonel might have had some cause to complain1 having been first forced to fight for two factions that didn't exist1 and then knocked down with an iron lantern4 ,but he was a magnanimous old gentleman1 and being much relieved that neither party had anything to do with dynamite1 he saw them off on the pier with great geniality4 ,the five reconciled detectives had a hundred details to explain to each other4 ,the ,secretary had to tell ,syme how they had come to wear masks originally in order to approach the supposed enemy as fellow-conspirators4 ,syme had to explain how they had fled with such swiftness through a civilised country4 ,but above all these matters of detail which could be explained1 rose the central mountain of the matter that they could not explain4 ,what did it all mean8 ,if they were all harmless officers1 what was ,sunday8 ,if he had not seized the world1 what on earth had he been up to8 ,inspector ,ratcliffe was still gloomy about this4 8,i can't make head or tail of old ,sunday's little game any more than you can10 he said4 8,but whatever else ,sunday is1 he isn't a blameless citizen4 ,damn it6 do you remember his face80 8,i grant you10 answered ,syme1 8that ,i have never been able to forget it40 8,well10 said the ,secretary1 8,i suppose we can find out soon1 for tomorrow we have our next general meeting4 ,you will excuse me10 he said1 with a rather ghastly smile1 8for being well acquainted with my secretarial duties40 8,i suppose you are right10 said the ,professor reflectively4 8,i suppose we might find it out from him2 but ,i confess that ,i should feel a bit afraid of asking ,sunday who he really is40 8,why10 asked the ,secretary1 8for fear of bombs80 8,no10 said the ,professor1 8for fear he might tell me40 8,let us have some drinks10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 after a silence4 ,throughout their whole journey by boat and train they were highly convivial1 but they instinctively kept together4 ,dr4 ,bull1 who had always been the optimist of the party1 endeavoured to persuade the other four that the whole company could take the same hansom cab from ,victoria2 but this was overruled1 and they went in a four-wheeler1 with ,dr4 ,bull on the box1 singing4 ,they finished their journey at an hotel in ,piccadilly ,circus1 so as to be close to the early breakfast next morning in ,leicester ,square4 ,yet even then the adventures of the day were not entirely over4 ,dr4 ,bull1 discontented with the general proposal to go to bed1 had strolled out of the hotel at about eleven to see and taste some of the beauties of ,london4 ,twenty minutes afterwards1 however1 he came back and made quite a clamour in the hall4 ,syme1 who tried at first to soothe him1 was forced at last to listen to his communication with quite new attention4 8,i tell you ,i've seen him60 said ,dr4 ,bull1 with thick emphasis4 8,whom80 asked ,syme quickly4 8,not the ,president80 8,not so bad as that10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 with unnecessary laughter1 8not so bad as that4 ,i've got him here40 8,got whom here80 asked ,syme impatiently4 8,hairy man10 said the other lucidly1 8man that used to be hairy man--,gogol4 ,here he is10 and he pulled forward by a reluctant elbow the identical young man who five days before had marched out of the ,council with thin red hair and a pale face1 the first of all the sham anarchists who had been exposed4 8,why do you worry with me80 he cried4 8,you have expelled me as a spy40 8,we are all spies60 whispered ,syme4 8,we're all spies60 shouted ,dr4 ,bull4 8,come and have a drink40 ,next morning the battalion of the reunited six marched stolidly towards the hotel in ,leicester ,square4 8,this is more cheerful10 said ,dr4 ,bull2 8we are six men going to ask one man what he means40 8,i think it is a bit queerer than that10 said ,syme4 8,i think it is six men going to ask one man what they mean40 ,they turned in silence into the ,square1 and though the hotel was in the opposite corner1 they saw at once the little balcony and a figure that looked too big for it4 ,he was sitting alone with bent head1 poring over a newspaper4 ,but all his councillors1 who had come to vote him down1 crossed that ,square as if they were watched out of heaven by a hundred eyes4 ,they had disputed much upon their policy1 about whether they should leave the unmasked ,gogol without and begin diplomatically1 or whether they should bring him in and blow up the gunpowder at once4 ,the influence of ,syme and ,bull prevailed for the latter course1 though the ,secretary to the last asked them why they attacked ,sunday so rashly4 8,my reason is quite simple10 said ,syme4 8,i attack him rashly because ,i am afraid of him40 ,they followed ,syme up the dark stair in silence1 and they all came out simultaneously into the broad sunlight of the morning and the broad sunlight of ,sunday's smile4 8,delightful60 he said4 8,so pleased to see you all4 ,what an exquisite day it is4 ,is the ,czar dead80 ,the ,secretary1 who happened to be foremost1 drew himself together for a dignified outburst4 8,no1 sir10 he said sternly 8there has been no massacre4 ,i bring you news of no such disgusting spectacles40 8,disgusting spectacles80 repeated the ,president1 with a bright1 inquiring smile4 8,you mean ,dr4 ,bull's spectacles80 ,the ,secretary choked for a moment1 and the ,president went on with a sort of smooth appeal-- 8,of course1 we all have our opinions and even our eyes1 but really to call them disgusting before the man himself--0 ,dr4 ,bull tore off his spectacles and broke them on the table4 8,my spectacles are blackguardly10 he said1 8but ,i'm not4 ,look at my face40 8,i dare say it's the sort of face that grows on one10 said the ,president1 8in fact1 it grows on you2 and who am ,i to quarrel with the wild fruits upon the ,tree of ,life8 ,i dare say it will grow on me some day40 8,we have no time for tomfoolery10 said the ,secretary1 breaking in savagely4 8,we have come to know what all this means4 ,who are you8 ,what are you8 ,why did you get us all here8 ,do you know who and what we are8 ,are you a half-witted man playing the conspirator1 or are you a clever man playing the fool8 ,answer me1 ,i tell you40 8,candidates10 murmured ,sunday1 8are only required to answer eight out of the seventeen questions on the paper4 ,as far as ,i can make out1 you want me to tell you what ,i am1 and what you are1 and what this table is1 and what this ,council is1 and what this world is for all ,i know4 ,well1 ,i will go so far as to rend the veil of one mystery4 ,if you want to know what you are1 you are a set of highly well-intentioned young jackasses40 8,and you10 said ,syme1 leaning forward1 8what are you80 8,i8 ,what am ,i80 roared the ,president1 and he rose slowly to an incredible height1 like some enormous wave about to arch above them and break4 8,you want to know what ,i am1 do you8 ,bull1 you are a man of science4 ,grub in the roots of those trees and find out the truth about them4 ,syme1 you are a poet4 ,stare at those morning clouds4 ,but ,i tell you this1 that you will have found out the truth of the last tree and the top-most cloud before the truth about me4 ,you will understand the sea1 and ,i shall be still a riddle2 you shall know what the stars are1 and not know what ,i am4 ,since the beginning of the world all men have hunted me like a wolf--kings and sages1 and poets and lawgivers1 all the churches1 and all the philosophies4 ,but ,i have never been caught yet1 and the skies will fall in the time ,i turn to bay4 ,i have given them a good run for their money1 and ,i will now40 ,before one of them could move1 the monstrous man had swung himself like some huge ourang-outang over the balustrade of the balcony4 ,yet before he dropped he pulled himself up again as on a horizontal bar1 and thrusting his great chin over the edge of the balcony1 said solemnly-- 8,there's one thing ,i'll tell you though about who ,i am4 ,i am the man in the dark room1 who made you all policemen40 ,with that he fell from the balcony1 bouncing on the stones below like a great ball of india-rubber1 and went bounding off towards the corner of the ,alhambra1 where he hailed a hansom-cab and sprang inside it4 ,the six detectives had been standing thunderstruck and livid in the light of his last assertion2 but when he disappeared into the cab1 ,syme's practical senses returned to him1 and leaping over the balcony so recklessly as almost to break his legs1 he called another cab4 ,he and ,bull sprang into the cab together1 the ,professor and the ,inspector into another1 while the ,secretary and the late ,gogol scrambled into a third just in time to pursue the flying ,syme1 who was pursuing the flying ,president4 ,sunday led them a wild chase towards the north-west1 his cabman1 evidently under the influence of more than common inducements1 urging the horse at breakneck speed4 ,but ,syme was in no mood for delicacies1 and he stood up in his own cab shouting1 8,stop thief60 until crowds ran along beside his cab1 and policemen began to stop and ask questions4 ,all this had its influence upon the ,president's cabman1 who began to look dubious1 and to slow down to a trot4 ,he opened the trap to talk reasonably to his fare1 and in so doing let the long whip droop over the front of the cab4 ,sunday leant forward1 seized it1 and jerked it violently out of the man's hand4 ,then standing up in front of the cab himself1 he lashed the horse and roared aloud1 so that they went down the streets like a flying storm4 ,through street after street and square after square went whirling this preposterous vehicle1 in which the fare was urging the horse and the driver trying desperately to stop it4 ,the other three cabs came after it 7if the phrase be permissible of a cab7 like panting hounds4 ,shops and streets shot by like rattling arrows4 ,at the highest ecstacy of speed1 ,sunday turned round on the splashboard where he stood1 and sticking his great grinning head out of the cab1 with white hair whistling in the wind1 he made a horrible face at his pursuers1 like some colossal urchin4 ,then raising his right hand swiftly1 he flung a ball of paper in ,syme's face and vanished4 ,syme caught the thing while instinctively warding it off1 and discovered that it consisted of two crumpled papers4 ,one was addressed to himself1 and the other to ,dr4 ,bull1 with a very long1 and it is to be feared partly ironical1 string of letters after his name4 ,dr4 ,bull's address was1 at any rate1 considerably longer than his communication1 for the communication consisted entirely of the words3-- 8,what about ,martin ,tupper now80 8,what does the old maniac mean80 asked ,bull1 staring at the words4 8,what does yours say1 ,syme80 ,syme's message was1 at any rate1 longer1 and ran as follows3-- 8,no one would regret anything in the nature of an interference by the ,archdeacon more than ,i4 ,i trust it will not come to that4 ,but1 for the last time1 where are your goloshes8 ,the thing is too bad1 especially after what uncle said40 ,the ,president's cabman seemed to be regaining some control over his horse1 and the pursuers gained a little as they swept round into the ,edgware ,road4 ,and here there occurred what seemed to the allies a providential stoppage4 ,traffic of every kind was swerving to right or left or stopping1 for down the long road was coming the unmistakable roar announcing the fire-engine1 which in a few seconds went by like a brazen thunderbolt4 ,but quick as it went by1 ,sunday had bounded out of his cab1 sprung at the fire-engine1 caught it1 slung himself on to it1 and was seen as he disappeared in the noisy distance talking to the astonished fireman with explanatory gestures4 8,after him60 howled ,syme4 8,he can't go astray now4 ,there's no mistaking a fire-engine40 ,the three cabmen1 who had been stunned for a moment1 whipped up their horses and slightly decreased the distance between themselves and their disappearing prey4 ,the ,president acknowledged this proximity by coming to the back of the car1 bowing repeatedly1 kissing his hand1 and finally flinging a neatly-folded note into the bosom of ,inspector ,ratcliffe4 ,when that gentleman opened it1 not without impatience1 he found it contained the words3-- 8,fly at once4 ,the truth about your trouser-stretchers is known4--,a ,,friend40 ,the fire-engine had struck still farther to the north1 into a region that they did not recognise2 and as it ran by a line of high railings shadowed with trees1 the six friends were startled1 but somewhat relieved1 to see the ,president leap from the fire-engine1 though whether through another whim or the increasing protest of his entertainers they could not see4 ,before the three cabs1 however1 could reach up to the spot1 he had gone up the high railings like a huge grey cat1 tossed himself over1 and vanished in a darkness of leaves4 ,syme with a furious gesture stopped his cab1 jumped out1 and sprang also to the escalade4 ,when he had one leg over the fence and his friends were following1 he turned a face on them which shone quite pale in the shadow4 8,what place can this be80 he asked4 8,can it be the old devil's house8 ,i've heard he has a house in ,north ,london40 8,all the better10 said the ,secretary grimly1 planting a foot in a foothold1 8we shall find him at home40 8,no1 but it isn't that10 said ,syme1 knitting his brows4 8,i hear the most horrible noises1 like devils laughing and sneezing and blowing their devilish noses60 8,his dogs barking1 of course10 said the ,secretary4 8,why not say his black-beetles barking60 said ,syme furiously1 8snails barking6 geraniums barking6 ,did you ever hear a dog bark like that80 ,he held up his hand1 and there came out of the thicket a long growling roar that seemed to get under the skin and freeze the flesh--a low thrilling roar that made a throbbing in the air all about them4 8,the dogs of ,sunday would be no ordinary dogs10 said ,gogol1 and shuddered4 ,syme had jumped down on the other side1 but he still stood listening impatiently4 8,well1 listen to that10 he said1 8is that a dog--anybody's dog80 ,there broke upon their ear a hoarse screaming as of things protesting and clamouring in sudden pain2 and then1 far off like an echo1 what sounded like a long nasal trumpet4 8,well1 his house ought to be hell60 said the ,secretary2 8and if it is hell1 ,i'm going in60 and he sprang over the tall railings almost with one swing4 ,the others followed4 ,they broke through a tangle of plants and shrubs1 and came out on an open path4 ,nothing was in sight1 but ,dr4 ,bull suddenly struck his hands together4 8,why1 you asses10 he cried1 8it's the ,zoo60 ,as they were looking round wildly for any trace of their wild quarry1 a keeper in uniform came running along the path with a man in plain clothes4 8,has it come this way80 gasped the keeper4 8,has what80 asked ,syme4 8,the elephant60 cried the keeper4 8,an elephant has gone mad and run away60 8,he has run away with an old gentleman10 said the other stranger breathlessly1 8a poor old gentleman with white hair60 8,what sort of old gentleman80 asked ,syme1 with great curiosity4 8,a very large and fat old gentleman in light grey clothes10 said the keeper eagerly4 8,well10 said ,syme1 8if he's that particular kind of old gentleman1 if you're quite sure that he's a large and fat old gentleman in grey clothes1 you may take my word for it that the elephant has not run away with him4 ,he has run away with the elephant4 ,the elephant is not made by ,god that could run away with him if he did not consent to the elopement4 ,and1 by thunder1 there he is60 ,there was no doubt about it this time4 ,clean across the space of grass1 about two hundred yards away1 with a crowd screaming and scampering vainly at his heels1 went a huge grey elephant at an awful stride1 with his trunk thrown out as rigid as a ship's bowsprit1 and trumpeting like the trumpet of doom4 ,on the back of the bellowing and plunging animal sat ,president ,sunday with all the placidity of a sultan1 but goading the animal to a furious speed with some sharp object in his hand4 8,stop him60 screamed the populace4 8,he'll be out of the gate60 8,stop a landslide60 said the keeper4 8,he is out of the gate60 ,and even as he spoke1 a final crash and roar of terror announced that the great grey elephant had broken out of the gates of the ,zoological ,gardens1 and was careening down ,albany ,street like a new and swift sort of omnibus4 8,great ,lord60 cried ,bull1 8,i never knew an elephant could go so fast4 ,well1 it must be hansom-cabs again if we are to keep him in sight40 ,as they raced along to the gate out of which the elephant had vanished1 ,syme felt a glaring panorama of the strange animals in the cages which they passed4 ,afterwards he thought it queer that he should have seen them so clearly4 ,he remembered especially seeing pelicans1 with their preposterous1 pendant throats4 ,he wondered why the pelican was the symbol of charity1 except it was that it wanted a good deal of charity to admire a pelican4 ,he remembered a hornbill1 which was simply a huge yellow beak with a small bird tied on behind it4 ,the whole gave him a sensation1 the vividness of which he could not explain1 that ,nature was always making quite mysterious jokes4 ,sunday had told them that they would understand him when they had understood the stars4 ,he wondered whether even the archangels understood the hornbill4 ,the six unhappy detectives flung themselves into cabs and followed the elephant sharing the terror which he spread through the long stretch of the streets4 ,this time ,sunday did not turn round1 but offered them the solid stretch of his unconscious back1 which maddened them1 if possible1 more than his previous mockeries4 ,just before they came to ,baker ,street1 however1 he was seen to throw something far up into the air1 as a boy does a ball meaning to catch it again4 ,but at their rate of racing it fell far behind1 just by the cab containing ,gogol2 and in faint hope of a clue or for some impulse unexplainable1 he stopped his cab so as to pick it up4 ,it was addressed to himself1 and was quite a bulky parcel4 ,on examination1 however1 its bulk was found to consist of thirty-three pieces of paper of no value wrapped one round the other4 ,when the last covering was torn away it reduced itself to a small slip of paper1 on which was written3-- 8,the word1 ,i fancy1 should be #8pink'40 ,the man once known as ,gogol said nothing1 but the movements of his hands and feet were like those of a man urging a horse to renewed efforts4 ,through street after street1 through district after district1 went the prodigy of the flying elephant1 calling crowds to every window1 and driving the traffic left and right4 ,and still through all this insane publicity the three cabs toiled after it1 until they came to be regarded as part of a procession1 and perhaps the advertisement of a circus4 ,they went at such a rate that distances were shortened beyond belief1 and ,syme saw the ,albert ,hall in ,kensington when he thought that he was still in ,paddington4 ,the animal's pace was even more fast and free through the empty1 aristocratic streets of ,south ,kensington1 and he finally headed towards that part of the sky-line where the enormous ,wheel of ,earl's ,court stood up in the sky4 ,the wheel grew larger and larger1 till it filled heaven like the wheel of stars4 ,the beast outstripped the cabs4 ,they lost him round several corners1 and when they came to one of the gates of the ,earl's ,court ,exhibition they found themselves finally blocked4 ,in front of them was an enormous crowd2 in the midst of it was an enormous elephant1 heaving and shuddering as such shapeless creatures do4 ,but the ,president had disappeared4 8,where has he gone to80 asked ,syme1 slipping to the ground4 8,gentleman rushed into the ,exhibition1 sir60 said an official in a dazed manner4 ,then he added in an injured voice3 8,funny gentleman1 sir4 ,asked me to hold his horse1 and gave me this40 ,he held out with distaste a piece of folded paper1 addressed3 8,to the ,secretary of the ,central ,anarchist ,council40 ,the ,secretary1 raging1 rent it open1 and found written inside it3-- 8,when the herring runs a mile1 ,let the ,secretary smile2 ,when the herring tries to fly1 ,let the ,secretary die4 ,rustic ,proverb40 8,why the eternal crikey10 began the ,secretary1 8did you let the man in8 ,do people commonly come to your ,exhibition riding on mad elephants8 ,do--0 8,look60 shouted ,syme suddenly4 8,look over there60 8,look at what80 asked the ,secretary savagely4 8,look at the captive balloon60 said ,syme1 and pointed in a frenzy4 8,why the blazes should ,i look at a captive balloon80 demanded the ,secretary4 8,what is there queer about a captive balloon80 8,nothing10 said ,syme1 8except that it isn't captive60 ,they all turned their eyes to where the balloon swung and swelled above the ,exhibition on a string1 like a child's balloon4 ,a second afterwards the string came in two just under the car1 and the balloon1 broken loose1 floated away with the freedom of a soap bubble4 8,ten thousand devils60 shrieked the ,secretary4 8,he's got into it60 and he shook his fists at the sky4 ,the balloon1 borne by some chance wind1 came right above them1 and they could see the great white head of the ,president peering over the side and looking benevolently down on them4 8,god bless my soul60 said the ,professor with the elderly manner that he could never disconnect from his bleached beard and parchment face4 8,god bless my soul6 ,i seemed to fancy that something fell on the top of my hat60 ,he put up a trembling hand and took from that shelf a piece of twisted paper1 which he opened absently only to find it inscribed with a true lover's knot and1 the words3-- 8,your beauty has not left me indifferent4--,from ,,little ,,snowdrop40 ,there was a short silence1 and then ,syme said1 biting his beard-- 8,i'm not beaten yet4 ,the blasted thing must come down somewhere4 ,let's follow it60 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,six ,,philosophers ,across green fields1 and breaking through blooming hedges1 toiled six draggled detectives1 about five miles out of ,london4 ,the optimist of the party had at first proposed that they should follow the balloon across ,south ,england in hansom-cabs4 ,but he was ultimately convinced of the persistent refusal of the balloon to follow the roads1 and the still more persistent refusal of the cabmen to follow the balloon4 ,consequently the tireless though exasperated travellers broke through black thickets and ploughed through ploughed fields till each was turned into a figure too outrageous to be mistaken for a tramp4 ,those green hills of ,surrey saw the final collapse and tragedy of the admirable light grey suit in which ,syme had set out from ,saffron ,park4 ,his silk hat was broken over his nose by a swinging bough1 his coat-tails were torn to the shoulder by arresting thorns1 the clay of ,england was splashed up to his collar2 but he still carried his yellow beard forward with a silent and furious determination1 and his eyes were still fixed on that floating ball of gas1 which in the full flush of sunset seemed coloured like a sunset cloud4 8,after all10 he said1 8it is very beautiful60 8,it is singularly and strangely beautiful60 said the ,professor4 8,i wish the beastly gas-bag would burst60 8,no10 said ,dr4 ,bull1 8,i hope it won't4 ,it might hurt the old boy40 8,hurt him60 said the vindictive ,professor1 8hurt him6 ,not as much as ,i'd hurt him if ,i could get up with him4 ,little ,snowdrop60 8,i don't want him hurt1 somehow10 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,what60 cried the ,secretary bitterly4 8,do you believe all that tale about his being our man in the dark room8 ,sunday would say he was anybody40 8,i don't know whether ,i believe it or not10 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,but it isn't that that ,i mean4 ,i can't wish old ,sunday's balloon to burst because--0 8,well10 said ,syme impatiently1 8because80 8,well1 because he's so jolly like a balloon himself10 said ,dr4 ,bull desperately4 8,i don't understand a word of all that idea of his being the same man who gave us all our blue cards4 ,it seems to make everything nonsense4 ,but ,i don't care who knows it1 ,i always had a sympathy for old ,sunday himself1 wicked as he was4 ,just as if he was a great bouncing baby4 ,how can ,i explain what my queer sympathy was8 ,it didn't prevent my fighting him like hell6 ,shall ,i make it clear if ,i say that ,i liked him because he was so fat80 8,you will not10 said the ,secretary4 8,i've got it now10 cried ,bull1 8it was because he was so fat and so light4 ,just like a balloon4 ,we always think of fat people as heavy1 but he could have danced against a sylph4 ,i see now what ,i mean4 ,moderate strength is shown in violence1 supreme strength is shown in levity4 ,it was like the old speculations--what would happen if an elephant could leap up in the sky like a grasshopper80 8,our elephant10 said ,syme1 looking upwards1 8has leapt into the sky like a grasshopper40 8,and somehow10 concluded ,bull1 8that's why ,i can't help liking old ,sunday4 ,no1 it's not an admiration of force1 or any silly thing like that4 ,there is a kind of gaiety in the thing1 as if he were bursting with some good news4 ,haven't you sometimes felt it on a spring day8 ,you know ,nature plays tricks1 but somehow that day proves they are good-natured tricks4 ,i never read the ,bible myself1 but that part they laugh at is literal truth1 #8,why leap ye1 ye high hills8' ,the hills do leap--at least1 they try to4444 ,why do ,i like ,sunday8444 how can ,i tell you8444 because he's such a ,bounder40 ,there was a long silence1 and then the ,secretary said in a curious1 strained voice-- 8,you do not know ,sunday at all4 ,perhaps it is because you are better than ,i1 and do not know hell4 ,i was a fierce fellow1 and a trifle morbid from the first4 ,the man who sits in darkness1 and who chose us all1 chose me because ,i had all the crazy look of a conspirator--because my smile went crooked1 and my eyes were gloomy1 even when ,i smiled4 ,but there must have been something in me that answered to the nerves in all these anarchic men4 ,for when ,i first saw ,sunday he expressed to me1 not your airy vitality1 but something both gross and sad in the ,nature of ,things4 ,i found him smoking in a twilight room1 a room with brown blind down1 infinitely more depressing than the genial darkness in which our master lives4 ,he sat there on a bench1 a huge heap of a man1 dark and out of shape4 ,he listened to all my words without speaking or even stirring4 ,i poured out my most passionate appeals1 and asked my most eloquent questions4 ,then1 after a long silence1 the ,thing began to shake1 and ,i thought it was shaken by some secret malady4 ,it shook like a loathsome and living jelly4 ,it reminded me of everything ,i had ever read about the base bodies that are the origin of life--the deep sea lumps and protoplasm4 ,it seemed like the final form of matter1 the most shapeless and the most shameful4 ,i could only tell myself1 from its shudderings1 that it was something at least that such a monster could be miserable4 ,and then it broke upon me that the bestial mountain was shaking with a lonely laughter1 and the laughter was at me4 ,do you ask me to forgive him that8 ,it is no small thing to be laughed at by something at once lower and stronger than oneself40 8,surely you fellows are exaggerating wildly10 cut in the clear voice of ,inspector ,ratcliffe4 8,president ,sunday is a terrible fellow for one's intellect1 but he is not such a ,barnum's freak physically as you make out4 ,he received me in an ordinary office1 in a grey check coat1 in broad daylight4 ,he talked to me in an ordinary way4 ,but ,i'll tell you what is a trifle creepy about ,sunday4 ,his room is neat1 his clothes are neat1 everything seems in order2 but he's absent-minded4 ,sometimes his great bright eyes go quite blind4 ,for hours he forgets that you are there4 ,now absent-mindedness is just a bit too awful in a bad man4 ,we think of a wicked man as vigilant4 ,we can't think of a wicked man who is honestly and sincerely dreamy1 because we daren't think of a wicked man alone with himself4 ,an absentminded man means a good-natured man4 ,it means a man who1 if he happens to see you1 will apologise4 ,but how will you bear an absentminded man who1 if he happens to see you1 will kill you8 ,that is what tries the nerves1 abstraction combined with cruelty4 ,men have felt it sometimes when they went through wild forests1 and felt that the animals there were at once innocent and pitiless4 ,they might ignore or slay4 ,how would you like to pass ten mortal hours in a parlour with an absent-minded tiger80 8,and what do you think of ,sunday1 ,gogol80 asked ,syme4 8,i don't think of ,sunday on principle10 said ,gogol simply1 8any more than ,i stare at the sun at noonday40 8,well1 that is a point of view10 said ,syme thoughtfully4 8,what do you say1 ,professor80 ,the ,professor was walking with bent head and trailing stick1 and he did not answer at all4 8,wake up1 ,professor60 said ,syme genially4 8,tell us what you think of ,sunday40 ,the ,professor spoke at last very slowly4 8,i think something10 he said1 8that ,i cannot say clearly4 ,or1 rather1 ,i think something that ,i cannot even think clearly4 ,but it is something like this4 ,my early life1 as you know1 was a bit too large and loose4 8,well1 when ,i saw ,sunday's face ,i thought it was too large--everybody does1 but ,i also thought it was too loose4 ,the face was so big1 that one couldn't focus it or make it a face at all4 ,the eye was so far away from the nose1 that it wasn't an eye4 ,the mouth was so much by itself1 that one had to think of it by itself4 ,the whole thing is too hard to explain40 ,he paused for a little1 still trailing his stick1 and then went on-- 8,but put it this way4 ,walking up a road at night1 ,i have seen a lamp and a lighted window and a cloud make together a most complete and unmistakable face4 ,if anyone in heaven has that face ,i shall know him again4 ,yet when ,i walked a little farther ,i found that there was no face1 that the window was ten yards away1 the lamp ten hundred yards1 the cloud beyond the world4 ,well1 ,sunday's face escaped me2 it ran away to right and left1 as such chance pictures run away4 ,and so his face has made me1 somehow1 doubt whether there are any faces4 ,i don't know whether your face1 ,bull1 is a face or a combination in perspective4 ,perhaps one black disc of your beastly glasses is quite close and another fifty miles away4 ,oh1 the doubts of a materialist are not worth a dump4 ,sunday has taught me the last and the worst doubts1 the doubts of a spiritualist4 ,i am a ,buddhist1 ,i suppose2 and ,buddhism is not a creed1 it is a doubt4 ,my poor dear ,bull1 ,i do not believe that you really have a face4 ,i have not faith enough to believe in matter40 ,syme's eyes were still fixed upon the errant orb1 which1 reddened in the evening light1 looked like some rosier and more innocent world4 8,have you noticed an odd thing10 he said1 8about all your descriptions8 ,each man of you finds ,sunday quite different1 yet each man of you can only find one thing to compare him to--the universe itself4 ,bull finds him like the earth in spring1 ,gogol like the sun at noonday4 ,the ,secretary is reminded of the shapeless protoplasm1 and the ,inspector of the carelessness of virgin forests4 ,the ,professor says he is like a changing landscape4 ,this is queer1 but it is queerer still that ,i also have had my odd notion about the ,president1 and ,i also find that ,i think of ,sunday as ,i think of the whole world40 8,get on a little faster1 ,syme10 said ,bull2 8never mind the balloon40 8,when ,i first saw ,sunday10 said ,syme slowly1 8,i only saw his back2 and when ,i saw his back1 ,i knew he was the worst man in the world4 ,his neck and shoulders were brutal1 like those of some apish god4 ,his head had a stoop that was hardly human1 like the stoop of an ox4 ,in fact1 ,i had at once the revolting fancy that this was not a man at all1 but a beast dressed up in men's clothes40 8,get on10 said ,dr4 ,bull4 8,and then the queer thing happened4 ,i had seen his back from the street1 as he sat in the balcony4 ,then ,i entered the hotel1 and coming round the other side of him1 saw his face in the sunlight4 ,his face frightened me1 as it did everyone2 but not because it was brutal1 not because it was evil4 ,on the contrary1 it frightened me because it was so beautiful1 because it was so good40 8,syme10 exclaimed the ,secretary1 8are you ill80 8,it was like the face of some ancient archangel1 judging justly after heroic wars4 ,there was laughter in the eyes1 and in the mouth honour and sorrow4 ,there was the same white hair1 the same great1 grey-clad shoulders that ,i had seen from behind4 ,but when ,i saw him from behind ,i was certain he was an animal1 and when ,i saw him in front ,i knew he was a god40 8,pan10 said the ,professor dreamily1 8was a god and an animal40 8,then1 and again and always10 went on ,syme like a man talking to himself1 8that has been for me the mystery of ,sunday1 and it is also the mystery of the world4 ,when ,i see the horrible back1 ,i am sure the noble face is but a mask4 ,when ,i see the face but for an instant1 ,i know the back is only a jest4 ,bad is so bad1 that we cannot but think good an accident2 good is so good1 that we feel certain that evil could be explained4 ,but the whole came to a kind of crest yesterday when ,i raced ,sunday for the cab1 and was just behind him all the way40 8,had you time for thinking then80 asked ,ratcliffe4 8,time10 replied ,syme1 8for one outrageous thought4 ,i was suddenly possessed with the idea that the blind1 blank back of his head really was his face--an awful1 eyeless face staring at me6 ,and ,i fancied that the figure running in front of me was really a figure running backwards1 and dancing as he ran40 8,horrible60 said ,dr4 ,bull1 and shuddered4 8,horrible is not the word10 said ,syme4 8,it was exactly the worst instant of my life4 ,and yet ten minutes afterwards1 when he put his head out of the cab and made a grimace like a gargoyle1 ,i knew that he was only like a father playing hide-and-seek with his children40 8,it is a long game10 said the ,secretary1 and frowned at his broken boots4 8,listen to me10 cried ,syme with extraordinary emphasis4 8,shall ,i tell you the secret of the whole world8 ,it is that we have only known the back of the world4 ,we see everything from behind1 and it looks brutal4 ,that is not a tree1 but the back of a tree4 ,that is not a cloud1 but the back of a cloud4 ,cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face8 ,if we could only get round in front--0 8,look60 cried out ,bull clamorously1 8the balloon is coming down60 ,there was no need to cry out to ,syme1 who had never taken his eyes off it4 ,he saw the great luminous globe suddenly stagger in the sky1 right itself1 and then sink slowly behind the trees like a setting sun4 ,the man called ,gogol1 who had hardly spoken through all their weary travels1 suddenly threw up his hands like a lost spirit4 8,he is dead60 he cried4 8,and now ,i know he was my friend--my friend in the dark60 8,dead60 snorted the ,secretary4 8,you will not find him dead easily4 ,if he has been tipped out of the car1 we shall find him rolling as a colt rolls in a field1 kicking his legs for fun40 8,clashing his hoofs10 said the ,professor4 8,the colts do1 and so did ,pan40 8,pan again60 said ,dr4 ,bull irritably4 8,you seem to think ,pan is everything40 8,so he is10 said the ,professor1 8in ,greek4 ,he means everything40 8,don't forget10 said the ,secretary1 looking down1 8that he also means ,panic40 ,syme had stood without hearing any of the exclamations4 8,it fell over there10 he said shortly4 8,let us follow it60 ,then he added with an indescribable gesture-- 8,oh1 if he has cheated us all by getting killed6 ,it would be like one of his larks40 ,he strode off towards the distant trees with a new energy1 his rags and ribbons fluttering in the wind4 ,the others followed him in a more footsore and dubious manner4 ,and almost at the same moment all six men realised that they were not alone in the little field4 ,across the square of turf a tall man was advancing towards them1 leaning on a strange long staff like a sceptre4 ,he was clad in a fine but old-fashioned suit with knee-breeches2 its colour was that shade between blue1 violet and grey which can be seen in certain shadows of the woodland4 ,his hair was whitish grey1 and at the first glance1 taken along with his knee-breeches1 looked as if it was powdered4 ,his advance was very quiet2 but for the silver frost upon his head1 he might have been one to the shadows of the wood4 8,gentlemen10 he said1 8my master has a carriage waiting for you in the road just by40 8,who is your master80 asked ,syme1 standing quite still4 8,i was told you knew his name10 said the man respectfully4 ,there was a silence1 and then the ,secretary said-- 8,where is this carriage80 8,it has been waiting only a few moments10 said the stranger4 8,my master has only just come home40 ,syme looked left and right upon the patch of green field in which he found himself4 ,the hedges were ordinary hedges1 the trees seemed ordinary trees2 yet he felt like a man entrapped in fairyland4 ,he looked the mysterious ambassador up and down1 but he could discover nothing except that the man's coat was the exact colour of the purple shadows1 and that the man's face was the exact colour of the red and brown and golden sky4 8,show us the place10 ,syme said briefly1 and without a word the man in the violet coat turned his back and walked towards a gap in the hedge1 which let in suddenly the light of a white road4 ,as the six wanderers broke out upon this thoroughfare1 they saw the white road blocked by what looked like a long row of carriages1 such a row of carriages as might close the approach to some house in ,park ,lane4 ,along the side of these carriages stood a rank of splendid servants1 all dressed in the grey-blue uniform1 and all having a certain quality of stateliness and freedom which would not commonly belong to the servants of a gentleman1 but rather to the officials and ambassadors of a great king4 ,there were no less than six carriages waiting1 one for each of the tattered and miserable band4 ,all the attendants 7as if in court-dress7 wore swords1 and as each man crawled into his carriage they drew them1 and saluted with a sudden blaze of steel4 8,what can it all mean80 asked ,bull of ,syme as they separated4 8,is this another joke of ,sunday's80 8,i don't know10 said ,syme as he sank wearily back in the cushions of his carriage2 8but if it is1 it's one of the jokes you talk about4 ,it's a good-natured one40 ,the six adventurers had passed through many adventures1 but not one had carried them so utterly off their feet as this last adventure of comfort4 ,they had all become inured to things going roughly2 but things suddenly going smoothly swamped them4 ,they could not even feebly imagine what the carriages were2 it was enough for them to know that they were carriages1 and carriages with cushions4 ,they could not conceive who the old man was who had led them2 but it was quite enough that he had certainly led them to the carriages4 ,syme drove through a drifting darkness of trees in utter abandonment4 ,it was typical of him that while he had carried his bearded chin forward fiercely so long as anything could be done1 when the whole business was taken out of his hands he fell back on the cushions in a frank collapse4 ,very gradually and very vaguely he realised into what rich roads the carriage was carrying him4 ,he saw that they passed the stone gates of what might have been a park1 that they began gradually to climb a hill which1 while wooded on both sides1 was somewhat more orderly than a forest4 ,then there began to grow upon him1 as upon a man slowly waking from a healthy sleep1 a pleasure in everything4 ,he felt that the hedges were what hedges should be1 living walls2 that a hedge is like a human army1 disciplined1 but all the more alive4 ,he saw high elms behind the hedges1 and vaguely thought how happy boys would be climbing there4 ,then his carriage took a turn of the path1 and he saw suddenly and quietly1 like a long1 low1 sunset cloud1 a long1 low house1 mellow in the mild light of sunset4 ,all the six friends compared notes afterwards and quarrelled2 but they all agreed that in some unaccountable way the place reminded them of their boyhood4 ,it was either this elm-top or that crooked path1 it was either this scrap of orchard or that shape of a window2 but each man of them declared that he could remember this place before he could remember his mother4 ,when the carriages eventually rolled up to a large1 low1 cavernous gateway1 another man in the same uniform1 but wearing a silver star on the grey breast of his coat1 came out to meet them4 ,this impressive person said to the bewildered ,syme-- 8,refreshments are provided for you in your room40 ,syme1 under the influence of the same mesmeric sleep of amazement1 went up the large oaken stairs after the respectful attendant4 ,he entered a splendid suite of apartments that seemed to be designed specially for him4 ,he walked up to a long mirror with the ordinary instinct of his class1 to pull his tie straight or to smooth his hair2 and there he saw the frightful figure that he was--blood running down his face from where the bough had struck him1 his hair standing out like yellow rags of rank grass1 his clothes torn into long1 wavering tatters4 ,at once the whole enigma sprang up1 simply as the question of how he had got there1 and how he was to get out again4 ,exactly at the same moment a man in blue1 who had been appointed as his valet1 said very solemnly-- 8,i have put out your clothes1 sir40 8,clothes60 said ,syme sardonically4 8,i have no clothes except these10 and he lifted two long strips of his frock-coat in fascinating festoons1 and made a movement as if to twirl like a ballet girl4 8,my master asks me to say10 said the attendant1 8that there is a fancy dress ball tonight1 and that he desires you to put on the costume that ,i have laid out4 ,meanwhile1 sir1 there is a bottle of ,burgundy and some cold pheasant1 which he hopes you will not refuse1 as it is some hours before supper40 8,cold pheasant is a good thing10 said ,syme reflectively1 8and ,burgundy is a spanking good thing4 ,but really ,i do not want either of them so much as ,i want to know what the devil all this means1 and what sort of costume you have got laid out for me4 ,where is it80 ,the servant lifted off a kind of ottoman a long peacock-blue drapery1 rather of the nature of a domino1 on the front of which was emblazoned a large golden sun1 and which was splashed here and there with flaming stars and crescents4 8,you're to be dressed as ,thursday1 sir10 said the valet somewhat affably4 8,dressed as ,thursday60 said ,syme in meditation4 8,it doesn't sound a warm costume40 8,oh1 yes1 sir10 said the other eagerly1 8the ,thursday costume is quite warm1 sir4 ,it fastens up to the chin40 8,well1 ,i don't understand anything10 said ,syme1 sighing4 8,i have been used so long to uncomfortable adventures that comfortable adventures knock me out4 ,still1 ,i may be allowed to ask why ,i should be particularly like ,thursday in a green frock spotted all over with the sun and moon4 ,those orbs1 ,i think1 shine on other days4 ,i once saw the moon on ,tuesday1 ,i remember40 8,beg pardon1 sir10 said the valet1 8,bible also provided for you10 and with a respectful and rigid finger he pointed out a passage in the first chapter of ,genesis4 ,syme read it wondering4 ,it was that in which the fourth day of the week is associated with the creation of the sun and moon4 ,here1 however1 they reckoned from a ,christian ,sunday4 8,this is getting wilder and wilder10 said ,syme1 as he sat down in a chair4 8,who are these people who provide cold pheasant and ,burgundy1 and green clothes and ,bibles8 ,do they provide everything80 8,yes1 sir1 everything10 said the attendant gravely4 8,shall ,i help you on with your costume80 8,oh1 hitch the bally thing on60 said ,syme impatiently4 ,but though he affected to despise the mummery1 he felt a curious freedom and naturalness in his movements as the blue and gold garment fell about him2 and when he found that he had to wear a sword1 it stirred a boyish dream4 ,as he passed out of the room he flung the folds across his shoulder with a gesture1 his sword stood out at an angle1 and he had all the swagger of a troubadour4 ,for these disguises did not disguise1 but reveal4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,the ,,accuser ,as ,syme strode along the corridor he saw the ,secretary standing at the top of a great flight of stairs4 ,the man had never looked so noble4 ,he was draped in a long robe of starless black1 down the centre of which fell a band or broad stripe of pure white1 like a single shaft of light4 ,the whole looked like some very severe ecclesiastical vestment4 ,there was no need for ,syme to search his memory or the ,bible in order to remember that the first day of creation marked the mere creation of light out of darkness4 ,the vestment itself would alone have suggested the symbol2 and ,syme felt also how perfectly this pattern of pure white and black expressed the soul of the pale and austere ,secretary1 with his inhuman veracity and his cold frenzy1 which made him so easily make war on the anarchists1 and yet so easily pass for one of them4 ,syme was scarcely surprised to notice that1 amid all the ease and hospitality of their new surroundings1 this man's eyes were still stern4 ,no smell of ale or orchards could make the ,secretary cease to ask a reasonable question4 ,if ,syme had been able to see himself1 he would have realised that he1 too1 seemed to be for the first time himself and no one else4 ,for if the ,secretary stood for that philosopher who loves the original and formless light1 ,syme was a type of the poet who seeks always to make the light in special shapes1 to split it up into sun and star4 ,the philosopher may sometimes love the infinite2 the poet always loves the finite4 ,for him the great moment is not the creation of light1 but the creation of the sun and moon4 ,as they descended the broad stairs together they overtook ,ratcliffe1 who was clad in spring green like a huntsman1 and the pattern upon whose garment was a green tangle of trees4 ,for he stood for that third day on which the earth and green things were made1 and his square1 sensible face1 with its not unfriendly cynicism1 seemed appropriate enough to it4 ,they were led out of another broad and low gateway into a very large old ,english garden1 full of torches and bonfires1 by the broken light of which a vast carnival of people were dancing in motley dress4 ,syme seemed to see every shape in ,nature imitated in some crazy costume4 ,there was a man dressed as a windmill with enormous sails1 a man dressed as an elephant1 a man dressed as a balloon2 the two last1 together1 seemed to keep the thread of their farcical adventures4 ,syme even saw1 with a queer thrill1 one dancer dressed like an enormous hornbill1 with a beak twice as big as himself--the queer bird which had fixed itself on his fancy like a living question while he was rushing down the long road at the ,zoological ,gardens4 ,there were a thousand other such objects1 however4 ,there was a dancing lamp-post1 a dancing apple tree1 a dancing ship4 ,one would have thought that the untamable tune of some mad musician had set all the common objects of field and street dancing an eternal jig4 ,and long afterwards1 when ,syme was middle-aged and at rest1 he could never see one of those particular objects--a lamppost1 or an apple tree1 or a windmill--without thinking that it was a strayed reveller from that revel of masquerade4 ,on one side of this lawn1 alive with dancers1 was a sort of green bank1 like the terrace in such old-fashioned gardens4 ,along this1 in a kind of crescent1 stood seven great chairs1 the thrones of the seven days4 ,gogol and ,dr4 ,bull were already in their seats2 the ,professor was just mounting to his4 ,gogol1 or ,tuesday1 had his simplicity well symbolised by a dress designed upon the division of the waters1 a dress that separated upon his forehead and fell to his feet1 grey and silver1 like a sheet of rain4 ,the ,professor1 whose day was that on which the birds and fishes--the ruder forms of life--were created1 had a dress of dim purple1 over which sprawled goggle-eyed fishes and outrageous tropical birds1 the union in him of unfathomable fancy and of doubt4 ,dr4 ,bull1 the last day of ,creation1 wore a coat covered with heraldic animals in red and gold1 and on his crest a man rampant4 ,he lay back in his chair with a broad smile1 the picture of an optimist in his element4 ,one by one the wanderers ascended the bank and sat in their strange seats4 ,as each of them sat down a roar of enthusiasm rose from the carnival1 such as that with which crowds receive kings4 ,cups were clashed and torches shaken1 and feathered hats flung in the air4 ,the men for whom these thrones were reserved were men crowned with some extraordinary laurels4 ,but the central chair was empty4 ,syme was on the left hand of it and the ,secretary on the right4 ,the ,secretary looked across the empty throne at ,syme1 and said1 compressing his lips-- 8,we do not know yet that he is not dead in a field40 ,almost as ,syme heard the words1 he saw on the sea of human faces in front of him a frightful and beautiful alteration1 as if heaven had opened behind his head4 ,but ,sunday had only passed silently along the front like a shadow1 and had sat in the central seat4 ,he was draped plainly1 in a pure and terrible white1 and his hair was like a silver flame on his forehead4 ,for a long time--it seemed for hours--that huge masquerade of mankind swayed and stamped in front of them to marching and exultant music4 ,every couple dancing seemed a separate romance2 it might be a fairy dancing with a pillar-box1 or a peasant girl dancing with the moon2 but in each case it was1 somehow1 as absurd as ,alice in ,wonderland1 yet as grave and kind as a love story4 ,at last1 however1 the thick crowd began to thin itself4 ,couples strolled away into the garden-walks1 or began to drift towards that end of the building where stood smoking1 in huge pots like fish-kettles1 some hot and scented mixtures of old ale or wine4 ,above all these1 upon a sort of black framework on the roof of the house1 roared in its iron basket a gigantic bonfire1 which lit up the land for miles4 ,it flung the homely effect of firelight over the face of vast forests of grey or brown1 and it seemed to fill with warmth even the emptiness of upper night4 ,yet this also1 after a time1 was allowed to grow fainter2 the dim groups gathered more and more round the great cauldrons1 or passed1 laughing and clattering1 into the inner passages of that ancient house4 ,soon there were only some ten loiterers in the garden2 soon only four4 ,finally the last stray merry-maker ran into the house whooping to his companions4 ,the fire faded1 and the slow1 strong stars came out4 ,and the seven strange men were left alone1 like seven stone statues on their chairs of stone4 ,not one of them had spoken a word4 ,they seemed in no haste to do so1 but heard in silence the hum of insects and the distant song of one bird4 ,then ,sunday spoke1 but so dreamily that he might have been continuing a conversation rather than beginning one4 8,we will eat and drink later10 he said4 8,let us remain together a little1 we who have loved each other so sadly1 and have fought so long4 ,i seem to remember only centuries of heroic war1 in which you were always heroes--epic on epic1 iliad on iliad1 and you always brothers in arms4 ,whether it was but recently 7for time is nothing71 or at the beginning of the world1 ,i sent you out to war4 ,i sat in the darkness1 where there is not any created thing1 and to you ,i was only a voice commanding valour and an unnatural virtue4 ,you heard the voice in the dark1 and you never heard it again4 ,the sun in heaven denied it1 the earth and sky denied it1 all human wisdom denied it4 ,and when ,i met you in the daylight ,i denied it myself40 ,syme stirred sharply in his seat1 but otherwise there was silence1 and the incomprehensible went on4 8,but you were men4 ,you did not forget your secret honour1 though the whole cosmos turned an engine of torture to tear it out of you4 ,i knew how near you were to hell4 ,i know how you1 ,thursday1 crossed swords with ,king ,satan1 and how you1 ,wednesday1 named me in the hour without hope40 ,there was complete silence in the starlit garden1 and then the black-browed ,secretary1 implacable1 turned in his chair towards ,sunday1 and said in a harsh voice-- 8,who and what are you80 8,i am the ,sabbath10 said the other without moving4 8,i am the peace of ,god40 ,the ,secretary started up1 and stood crushing his costly robe in his hand4 8,i know what you mean10 he cried1 8and it is exactly that that ,i cannot forgive you4 ,i know you are contentment1 optimism1 what do they call the thing1 an ultimate reconciliation4 ,well1 ,i am not reconciled4 ,if you were the man in the dark room1 why were you also ,sunday1 an offense to the sunlight8 ,if you were from the first our father and our friend1 why were you also our greatest enemy8 ,we wept1 we fled in terror2 the iron entered into our souls--and you are the peace of ,god6 ,oh1 ,i can forgive ,god ,his anger1 though it destroyed nations2 but ,i cannot forgive ,him ,his peace40 ,sunday answered not a word1 but very slowly he turned his face of stone upon ,syme as if asking a question4 8,no10 said ,syme1 8,i do not feel fierce like that4 ,i am grateful to you1 not only for wine and hospitality here1 but for many a fine scamper and free fight4 ,but ,i should like to know4 ,my soul and heart are as happy and quiet here as this old garden1 but my reason is still crying out4 ,i should like to know40 ,sunday looked at ,ratcliffe1 whose clear voice said-- 8,it seems so silly that you should have been on both sides and fought yourself40 ,bull said-- 8,i understand nothing1 but ,i am happy4 ,in fact1 ,i am going to sleep40 8,i am not happy10 said the ,professor with his head in his hands1 8because ,i do not understand4 ,you let me stray a little too near to hell40 ,and then ,gogol said1 with the absolute simplicity of a child-- 8,i wish ,i knew why ,i was hurt so much40 ,still ,sunday said nothing1 but only sat with his mighty chin upon his hand1 and gazed at the distance4 ,then at last he said-- 8,i have heard your complaints in order4 ,and here1 ,i think1 comes another to complain1 and we will hear him also40 ,the falling fire in the great cresset threw a last long gleam1 like a bar of burning gold1 across the dim grass4 ,against this fiery band was outlined in utter black the advancing legs of a black-clad figure4 ,he seemed to have a fine close suit with knee-breeches such as that which was worn by the servants of the house1 only that it was not blue1 but of this absolute sable4 ,he had1 like the servants1 a kind of sword by his side4 ,it was only when he had come quite close to the crescent of the seven and flung up his face to look at them1 that ,syme saw1 with thunder-struck clearness1 that the face was the broad1 almost ape-like face of his old friend ,gregory1 with its rank red hair and its insulting smile4 8,gregory60 gasped ,syme1 half-rising from his seat4 8,why1 this is the real anarchist60 8,yes10 said ,gregory1 with a great and dangerous restraint1 8,i am the real anarchist40 8#8,now there was a day1'0 murmured ,bull1 who seemed really to have fallen asleep1 8#8when the sons of ,god came to present themselves before the ,lord1 and ,satan came also among them4'0 8,you are right10 said ,gregory1 and gazed all round4 8,i am a destroyer4 ,i would destroy the world if ,i could40 ,a sense of a pathos far under the earth stirred up in ,syme1 and he spoke brokenly and without sequence4 8,oh1 most unhappy man10 he cried1 8try to be happy6 ,you have red hair like your sister40 8,my red hair1 like red flames1 shall burn up the world10 said ,gregory4 8,i thought ,i hated everything more than common men can hate anything2 but ,i find that ,i do not hate everything so much as ,i hate you60 8,i never hated you10 said ,syme very sadly4 ,then out of this unintelligible creature the last thunders broke4 8,you60 he cried4 8,you never hated because you never lived4 ,i know what you are all of you1 from first to last--you are the people in power6 ,you are the police--the great fat1 smiling men in blue and buttons6 ,you are the ,law1 and you have never been broken4 ,but is there a free soul alive that does not long to break you1 only because you have never been broken8 ,we in revolt talk all kind of nonsense doubtless about this crime or that crime of the ,government4 ,it is all folly6 ,the only crime of the ,government is that it governs4 ,the unpardonable sin of the supreme power is that it is supreme4 ,i do not curse you for being cruel4 ,i do not curse you 7though ,i might7 for being kind4 ,i curse you for being safe6 ,you sit in your chairs of stone1 and have never come down from them4 ,you are the seven angels of heaven1 and you have had no troubles4 ,oh1 ,i could forgive you everything1 you that rule all mankind1 if ,i could feel for once that you had suffered for one hour a real agony such as ,i--0 ,syme sprang to his feet1 shaking from head to foot4 8,i see everything10 he cried1 8everything that there is4 ,why does each thing on the earth war against each other thing8 ,why does each small thing in the world have to fight against the world itself8 ,why does a fly have to fight the whole universe8 ,why does a dandelion have to fight the whole universe8 ,for the same reason that ,i had to be alone in the dreadful ,council of the ,days4 ,so that each thing that obeys law may have the glory and isolation of the anarchist4 ,so that each man fighting for order may be as brave and good a man as the dynamiter4 ,so that the real lie of ,satan may be flung back in the face of this blasphemer1 so that by tears and torture we may earn the right to say to this man1 #8,you lie6' ,no agonies can be too great to buy the right to say to this accuser1 #8,we also have suffered4' 8,it is not true that we have never been broken4 ,we have been broken upon the wheel4 ,it is not true that we have never descended from these thrones4 ,we have descended into hell4 ,we were complaining of unforgettable miseries even at the very moment when this man entered insolently to accuse us of happiness4 ,i repel the slander2 we have not been happy4 ,i can answer for every one of the great guards of ,law whom he has accused4 ,at least--0 ,he had turned his eyes so as to see suddenly the great face of ,sunday1 which wore a strange smile4 8,have you10 he cried in a dreadful voice1 8have you ever suffered80 ,as he gazed1 the great face grew to an awful size1 grew larger than the colossal mask of ,memnon1 which had made him scream as a child4 ,it grew larger and larger1 filling the whole sky2 then everything went black4 ,only in the blackness before it entirely destroyed his brain he seemed to hear a distant voice saying a commonplace text that he had heard somewhere1 8,can ye drink of the cup that ,i drink of80 ,when men in books awake from a vision1 they commonly find themselves in some place in which they might have fallen asleep2 they yawn in a chair1 or lift themselves with bruised limbs from a field4 ,syme's experience was something much more psychologically strange if there was indeed anything unreal1 in the earthly sense1 about the things he had gone through4 ,for while he could always remember afterwards that he had swooned before the face of ,sunday1 he could not remember having ever come to at all4 ,he could only remember that gradually and naturally he knew that he was and had been walking along a country lane with an easy and conversational companion4 ,that companion had been a part of his recent drama2 it was the red-haired poet ,gregory4 ,they were walking like old friends1 and were in the middle of a conversation about some triviality4 ,but ,syme could only feel an unnatural buoyancy in his body and a crystal simplicity in his mind that seemed to be superior to everything that he said or did4 ,he felt he was in possession of some impossible good news1 which made every other thing a triviality1 but an adorable triviality4 ,dawn was breaking over everything in colours at once clear and timid2 as if ,nature made a first attempt at yellow and a first attempt at rose4 ,a breeze blew so clean and sweet1 that one could not think that it blew from the sky2 it blew rather through some hole in the sky4 ,syme felt a simple surprise when he saw rising all round him on both sides of the road the red1 irregular buildings of ,saffron ,park4 ,he had no idea that he had walked so near ,london4 ,he walked by instinct along one white road1 on which early birds hopped and sang1 and found himself outside a fenced garden4 ,there he saw the sister of ,gregory1 the girl with the gold-red hair1 cutting lilac before breakfast1 with the great unconscious gravity of a girl4