Conrad Joseph
The Secret Agent A Simple Tale
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Joseph Conrad
The Secret Agent
A Simple Tale
To H G Wells
the chronicler of Mr Lewishams love the biographer of Kipps and the
historian of the ages to come this simple tale of the XIX century is
affectionately offered
Authors Note
The origin of »The Secret Agent« subject treatment artistic purpose and every
other motive that may induce an author to take up his pen can I believe be
traced to a period of mental and emotional reaction
The actual facts are that I began this book impulsively and wrote it
continuously When in due course it was bound and delivered to the public gaze I
found myself reproved for having produced it at all Some of the admonitions
were severe others had a sorrowful note I have not got them textually before
me but I remember perfectly the general argument which was very simple and
also my surprise at its nature All this sounds a very old story now And yet it
is not such a long time ago I must conclude that I had still preserved much of
my pristine innocence in the year 1907 It seems to me now that even an artless
person might have foreseen that some criticisms would be based on the ground of
sordid surroundings and the moral squalor of the tale
That of course is a serious objection It was not universal In fact it
seems ungracious to remember so little reproof amongst so much intelligent and
sympathetic appreciation and I trust that the readers of this Preface will not
hasten to put it down to wounded vanity or a natural disposition to ingratitude
I suggest that a charitable heart could very well ascribe my choice to natural
modesty Yet it isnt exactly modesty that makes me select reproof for the
illustration of my case No it isnt exactly modesty I am not at all certain
that I am modest but those who have read so far through my work will credit me
with enough decency tact savoir faire what you will to prevent me from
making a song for my own glory out of the words of other people No The true
motive of my selection lies in quite a different trait I have always had a
propensity to justify my action Not to defend To justify Not to insist that I
was right but simply to explain that there was no perverse intention no secret
scorn for the natural sensibilities of mankind at the bottom of my impulses
That kind of weakness is dangerous only so far that it exposes one to the
risk of becoming a bore for the world generally is not interested in the
motives of any overt act but in its consequences Man may smile and smile but he
is not an investigating animal He loves the obvious He shrinks from
explanations Yet I will go on with mine Its obvious that I need not have
written that book I was under no necessity to deal with that subject using the
word subject both in the sense of the tale itself and in the larger one of a
special manifestation in the life of mankind This I fully admit But the
thought of elaborating mere ugliness in order to shock or even simply to
surprise my readers by a change of front has never entered my head In making
this statement I expect to be believed not only on the evidence of my general
character but also for the reason which anybody can see that the whole
treatment of the tale its inspiring indignation and underlying pity and
contempt prove my detachment from the squalor and sordidness which lie simply
in the outward circumstances of the setting
The inception of »The Secret Agent« followed immediately on a two years
period of intense absorption in the task of writing that remote novel
»Nostromo« with its far off LatinAmerican atmosphere and the profoundly
personal »Mirror of the Sea« The first an intense creative effort on what I
suppose will always remain my largest canvas the second an unreserved attempt
to unveil for a moment the profounder intimacies of the sea and the formative
influences of nearly half my lifetime It was a period too in which my sense
of the truth of things was attended by a very intense imaginative and emotional
readiness which all genuine and faithful to facts as it was yet made me feel
the task once done as if I were left behind aimless amongst mere husks of
sensations and lost in a world of other of inferior values
I dont know whether I really felt that I wanted a change change in my
imagination in my vision and in my mental attitude I rather think that a
change in the fundamental mood had already stolen over me unawares I dont
remember anything definite happening With »The Mirror of the Sea« finished in
the full consciousness that I had dealt honestly with myself and my readers in
every line of that book I gave myself up to a not unhappy pause Then while I
was yet standing still as it were and certainly not thinking of going out of
my way to look for anything ugly the subject of »The Secret Agent« I mean the
tale came to me in the shape of a few words uttered by a friend in a casual
conversation about anarchists or rather anarchist activities how brought about
I dont remember now
I remember however remarking on the criminal futility of the whole thing
doctrine action mentality and on the contemptible aspect of the halfcrazy
pose as of a brazen cheat exploiting the poignant miseries and passionate
credulities of a mankind always so tragically eager for selfdestruction That
was what made for me its philosophical pretences so unpardonable Presently
passing to particular instances we recalled the already old story of the
attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory a bloodstained inanity of so
fatuous a kind that it was impossible to fathom its origin by any reasonable or
even unreasonable process of thought For perverse unreason has its own logical
processes But that outrage could not be laid hold of mentally in any sort of
way so that one remained faced by the fact of a man blown to bits for nothing
even most remotely resembling an idea anarchistic or other As to the outer
wall of the Observatory it did not show as much as the faintest crack
I pointed all this out to my friend who remained silent for a while and then
remarked in his characteristically casual and omniscient manner »Oh that
fellow was half an idiot His sister committed suicide afterwards« These were
absolutely the only words that passed between us for extreme surprise at this
unexpected piece of information kept me dumb for a moment and he began at once
to talk of something else It never occurred to me later to ask how he arrived
at his knowledge I am sure that if he had seen once in his life the back of an
anarchist that must have been the whole extent of his connection with the
underworld He was however a man who liked to talk with all sorts of people
and he may have gathered those illuminating facts at second or third hand from
a crossingsweeper from a retired police officer from some vague man in his
club or even perhaps from a Minister of State met at some public or private
reception
Of the illuminating quality there could be no doubt whatever One felt like
walking out of a forest on to a plain there was not much to see but one had
plenty of light No there was not much to see and frankly for a considerable
time I didnt even attempt to perceive anything It was only the illuminating
impression that remained It remained satisfactory but in a passive way Then
about a week later I came upon a book which as far as I know had never attained
any prominence the rather summary recollections of an Assistant Commissioner of
Police an obviously able man with a strong religious strain in his character
who was appointed to his post at the time of the dynamite outrages in London
away back in the eighties The book was fairly interesting very discreet of
course and I have by now forgotten the bulk of its contents It contained no
revelations it ran over the surface agreeably and that was all I wont even
try to explain why I should have been arrested by a little passage of about
seven lines in which the author I believe his name was Anderson reproduced a
short dialogue held in the Lobby of the House of Commons after some unexpected
anarchist outrage with the Home Secretary I think it was Sir William Harcourt
then He was very much irritated and the official was very apologetic The
phrase amongst the three which passed between them that struck me most was Sir
W Harcourts angry sally »All thats very well But your idea of secrecy over
there seems to consist of keeping the Home Secretary in the dark«
Characteristic enough of Sir W Harcourts temper but not much in itself There
must have been however some sort of atmosphere in the whole incident because
all of a sudden I felt myself stimulated And then ensued in my mind what a
student of chemistry would best understand from the analogy of the addition of
the tiniest little drop of the right kind precipitating the process of
crystallization in a test tube containing some colourless solution
It was at first for me a mental change disturbing a quieteddown
imagination in which strange forms sharp in outline but imperfectly
apprehended appeared and claimed attention as crystals will do by their bizarre
and unexpected shapes One fell to musing before the phenomenon even of the
past of South America a continent of crude sunshine and brutal revolutions of
the sea the vast expanse of salt waters the mirror of heavens frowns and
smiles the reflector of the worlds light Then the vision of an enormous town
presented itself of a monstrous town more populous than some continents and in
its manmade might as if indifferent to heavens frowns and smiles a cruel
devourer of the worlds light There was room enough there to place any story
depth enough there for any passion variety enough there for any setting
darkness enough to bury five millions of lives
Irresistibly the town became the background for the ensuing period of deep
and tentative meditations Endless vistas opened before me in various
directions It would take years to find the right way It seemed to take years
Slowly the dawning conviction of Mrs Verlocs maternal passion grew up to a
flame between me and that background tingeing it with its secret ardour and
receiving from it in exchange some of its own sombre colouring At last the
story of Winnie Verloc stood out complete from the days of her childhood to the
end unproportioned as yet with everything still on the first plan as it were
but ready now to be dealt with It was a matter of about three days
This book is that story reduced to manageable proportions its whole course
suggested and centred round the absurd cruelty of the Greenwich Park explosion
I had there a task I will not say arduous but of the most absorbing difficulty
But it had to be done It was a necessity The figures grouped about Mrs Verloc
and related directly or indirectly to her tragic suspicion that life doesnt
stand much looking into are the outcome of that very necessity Personally I
have never had any doubt of the reality of Mrs Verlocs story but it had to be
disengaged from its obscurity in that immense town it had to be made credible
I dont mean so much as to her soul but as to her surroundings not so much as
to her psychology but as to her humanity For the surroundings hints were not
lacking I had to fight hard to keep at armslength the memories of my solitary
and nocturnal walks all over London in my early days lest they should rush in
and overwhelm each page of the story as these emerged one after another from a
mood as serious in feeling and thought as any in which I ever wrote a line In
that respect I really think that »The Secret Agent« is a perfectly genuine piece
of work Even the purely artistic purpose that of applying an ironic method to
a subject of that kind was formulated with deliberation and in the earnest
belief that ironic treatment alone would enable me to say all I felt I would
have to say in scorn as well as in pity It is one of the minor satisfactions of
my writing life that having taken that resolve I did manage it seems to me to
carry it right through to the end As to the personages whom the absolute
necessity of the case Mrs Verlocs case brings out in front of the London
background from them too I obtained those little satisfactions which really
count for so much against the mass of oppressive doubts that haunt so
persistently every attempt at creative work For instance of Mr Vladimir
himself who was fair game for a caricatural presentation I was gratified to
hear that an experienced man of the world had said »that Conrad must have been
in touch with that sphere or else has an excellent intuition of things« because
Mr Vladimir was »not only possible in detail but quite right in essentials«
Then a visitor from America informed me that all sorts of revolutionary refugees
in New York would have it that the book was written by somebody who knew a lot
about them This seemed to me a very high compliment considering that as a
matter of hard fact I had seen even less of their kind than the omniscient
friend who gave me the first suggestion for the novel I have no doubt however
that there had been moments during the writing of the book when I was an extreme
revolutionist I wont say more convinced than they but certainly cherishing a
more concentrated purpose than any of them had ever done in the whole course of
his life I dont say this to boast I was simply attending to my business In
the matter of all my books I have always attended to my business I have
attended to it with complete selfsurrender And this statement too is not a
boast I could not have done otherwise It would have bored me too much to
makebelieve
The suggestions for certain personages of the tale both lawabiding and
lawless came from various sources which perhaps here and there some reader
may have recognized They are not very recondite But I am not concerned here to
legitimize any of those people and even as to my general view of the moral
reactions as between the criminal and the police all I will venture to say is
that it seems to me to be at least arguable
The twelve years that have elapsed since the publication of the book have
not changed my attitude I do not regret having written it Lately
circumstances which have nothing to do with the general tenor of this preface
have compelled me to strip this tale of the literary robe of indignant scorn it
has cost me so much to fit on it decently years ago I have been forced so to
speak to look upon its bare bones I confess that it makes a grisly skeleton
But still I will submit that telling Winnie Verlocs story to its anarchistic
end of utter desolation madness and despair and telling it as I have told it
here I have not intended to commit a gratuitous outrage on the feelings of
mankind
J C
1920
I
Mr Verloc going out in the morning left his shop nominally in charge of his
brotherinlaw It could be done because there was very little business at any
time and practically none at all before the evening Mr Verloc cared but
little about his ostensible business And moreover his wife was in charge of
his brotherinlaw
The shop was small and so was the house It was one of those grimy brick
houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned
upon London The shop was a square box of a place with the front glazed in
small panes In the daytime the door remained closed in the evening it stood
discreetly but suspiciously ajar
The window contained photographs of more or less undressed dancing girls
nondescript packages in wrappers like patent medicines closed yellow paper
envelopes very flimsy and marked twoandsix in heavy black figures a few
numbers of ancient French comic publications hung across a string as if to dry
a dingy blue china bowl a casket of black wood bottles of marking ink and
rubber stamps a few books with titles hinting at impropriety a few apparently
old copies of obscure newspapers badly printed with titles like The Torch The
Gong rousing titles And the two gasjets inside the panes were always turned
low either for economys sake or for the sake of the customers
These customers were either very young men who hung about the window for a
time before slipping in suddenly or men of a more mature age but looking
generally as if they were not in funds Some of that last kind had the collars
of their overcoats turned right up to their moustaches and traces of mud on the
bottom of their nether garments which had the appearance of being much worn and
not very valuable And the legs inside them did not as a general rule seem of
much account either With their hands plunged deep in the side pockets of their
coats they dodged in sideways one shoulder first as if afraid to start the
bell going
The bell hung on the door by means of a curved ribbon of steel was
difficult to circumvent It was hopelessly cracked but of an evening at the
slightest provocation it clattered behind the customer with impudent virulence
It clattered and at that signal through the dusty glass door behind the
painted deal counter Mr Verloc would issue hastily from the parlour at the
back His eyes were naturally heavy he had an air of having wallowed fully
dressed all day on an unmade bed Another man would have felt such an
appearance a distinct disadvantage In a commercial transaction of the retail
order much depends on the sellers engaging and amiable aspect But Mr Verloc
knew his business and remained undisturbed by any sort of æsthetic doubt about
his appearance With a firm steadyeyed impudence which seemed to hold back
the threat of some abominable menace he would proceed to sell over the counter
some object looking obviously and scandalously not worth the money which passed
in the transaction a small cardboard box with apparently nothing inside for
instance or one of those carefully closed yellow flimsy envelopes or a soiled
volume in paper covers with a promising title Now and then it happened that one
of the faded yellow dancing girls would get sold to an amateur as though she
had been alive and young
Sometimes it was Mrs Verloc who would appear at the call of the cracked
bell Winnie Verloc was a young woman with a full bust in a tight bodice and
with broad hips Her hair was very tidy Steadyeyed like her husband she
preserved an air of unfathomable indifference behind the rampart of the counter
Then the customer of comparatively tender years would get suddenly disconcerted
at having to deal with a woman and with rage in his heart would proffer a
request for a bottle of marking ink retail value sixpence price in Verlocs
shop oneandsixpence which once outside he would drop stealthily into the
gutter
The evening visitors the men with collars turned up and soft hats rammed
down nodded familiarly to Mrs Verloc and with a muttered greeting lifted up
the flap at the end of the counter in order to pass into the back parlour which
gave access to a passage and to a steep flight of stairs The door of the shop
was the only means of entrance to the house in which Mr Verloc carried on his
business of a seller of shady wares exercised his vocation of a protector of
society and cultivated his domestic virtues These last were pronounced He was
thoroughly domesticated Neither his spiritual nor his mental nor his physical
needs were of the kind to take him much abroad He found at home the ease of his
body and the peace of his conscience together with Mrs Verlocs wifely
attentions and Mrs Verlocs mothers deferential regard
Winnies mother was a stout wheezy woman with a large brown face She wore
a black wig under a white cap Her swollen legs rendered her inactive She
considered herself to be of French descent which might have been true and
after a good many years of married life with a licensed victualler of the more
common sort she provided for the years of widowhood by letting furnished
apartments for gentlemen near Vauxhall Bridge Road in a square once of some
splendour and still included in the district of Belgravia This topographical
fact was of some advantage in advertising her rooms but the patrons of the
worthy widow were not exactly of the fashionable kind Such as they were her
daughter Winnie helped to look after them Traces of the French descent which
the widow boasted of were apparent in Winnie too They were apparent in the
extremely neat and artistic arrangement of her glossy dark hair Winnie had also
other charms her youth her full rounded form her clear complexion the
provocation of her unfathomable reserve which never went so far as to prevent
conversation carried on on the lodgers part with animation and on hers with
an equable amiability It must be that Mr Verloc was susceptible to these
fascinations Mr Verloc was an intermittent patron He came and went without
any very apparent reason He generally arrived in London like the influenza
from the Continent only he arrived unheralded by the Press and his visitations
set in with great severity He breakfasted in bed and remained wallowing there
with an air of quiet enjoyment till noon every day and sometimes even to a
later hour But when he went out he seemed to experience a great difficulty in
finding his way back to his temporary home in the Belgravian square He left it
late and returned to it early as early as three or four in the morning and
on waking up at ten addressed Winnie bringing in the breakfast tray with
jocular exhausted civility in the hoarse failing tones of a man who had been
talking vehemently for many hours together His prominent heavylidded eyes
rolled sideways amorously and languidly the bedclothes were pulled up to his
chin and his dark smooth moustache covered his thick lips capable of much
honeyed banter
In Winnies mothers opinion Mr Verloc was a very nice gentleman From her
lifes experience gathered in various business houses the good woman had taken
into her retirement an ideal of gentlemanliness as exhibited by the patrons of
privatesaloon bars Mr Verloc approached that ideal he attained it in fact
»Of course well take over your furniture mother« Winnie had remarked
The lodginghouse was to be given up It seems it would not answer to carry
it on It would have been too much trouble for Mr Verloc It would not have
been convenient for his other business What his business was he did not say
but after his engagement to Winnie he took the trouble to get up before noon
and descending the basement stairs make himself pleasant to Winnies mother in
the breakfastroom downstairs where she had her motionless being He stroked the
cat poked the fire had his lunch served to him there He left its slightly
stuffy cosiness with evident reluctance but all the same remained out till
the night was far advanced He never offered to take Winnie to theatres as such
a nice gentleman ought to have done His evenings were occupied His work was in
a way political he told Winnie once She would have he warned her to be very
nice to his political friends And with her straight unfathomable glance she
answered that she would be so of course
How much more he told her as to his occupation it was impossible for
Winnies mother to discover The married couple took her over with the
furniture The mean aspect of the shop surprised her The change from the
Belgravian square to the narrow street in Soho affected her legs adversely They
became of an enormous size On the other hand she experienced a complete relief
from material cares Her soninlaws heavy good nature inspired her with a
sense of absolute safety Her daughters future was obviously assured and even
as to her son Stevie she need have no anxiety She had not been able to conceal
from herself that he was a terrible encumbrance that poor Stevie But in view
of Winnies fondness for her delicate brother and of Mr Verlocs kind and
generous disposition she felt that the poor boy was pretty safe in this rough
world And in her heart of hearts she was not perhaps displeased that the
Verlocs had no children As that circumstance seemed perfectly indifferent to
Mr Verloc and as Winnie found an object of quasimaternal affection in her
brother perhaps this was just as well for poor Stevie
For he was difficult to dispose of that boy He was delicate and in a
frail way goodlooking too except for the vacant droop of his lower lip
Under our excellent system of compulsory education he had learned to read and
write notwithstanding the unfavourable aspect of the lower lip But as
errandboy he did not turn out a great success He forgot his messages he was
easily diverted from the straight path of duty by the attractions of stray cats
and dogs which he followed down narrow alleys into unsavoury courts by the
comedies of the streets which he contemplated openmouthed to the detriment of
his employers interests or by the dramas of fallen horses whose pathos and
violence induced him sometimes to shriek piercingly in a crowd which disliked
to be disturbed by sounds of distress in its quiet enjoyment of the national
spectacle When led away by a grave and protecting policeman it would often
become apparent that poor Stevie had forgotten his address at least for a
time A brusque question caused him to stutter to the point of suffocation When
startled by anything perplexing he used to squint horribly However he never
had any fits which was encouraging and before the natural outbursts of
impatience on the part of his father he could always in his childhoods days
run for protection behind the short skirts of his sister Winnie On the other
hand he might have been suspected of hiding a fund of reckless naughtiness
When he had reached the age of fourteen a friend of his late father an agent
for a foreign preserved milk firm having given him an opening as officeboy he
was discovered one foggy afternoon in his chiefs absence busy letting off
fireworks on the staircase He touched off in quick succession a set of fierce
rockets angry catherine wheels loudly exploding squibs and the matter might
have turned out very serious An awful panic spread through the whole building
Wildeyed choking clerks stampeded through the passages full of smoke silk
hats and elderly business men could be seen rolling independently down the
stairs Stevie did not seem to derive any personal gratification from what he
had done His motives for this stroke of originality were difficult to discover
It was only later on that Winnie obtained from him a misty and confused
confession It seems that two other officeboys in the building had worked upon
his feelings by tales of injustice and oppression till they had wrought his
compassion to the pitch of that frenzy But his fathers friend of course
dismissed him summarily as likely to ruin his business After that altruistic
exploit Stevie was put to help wash the dishes in the basement kitchen and to
black the boots of the gentlemen patronizing the Belgravian mansion There was
obviously no future in such work The gentlemen tipped him a shilling now and
then Mr Verloc showed himself the most generous of lodgers But altogether all
that did not amount to much either in the way of gain or prospects so that when
Winnie announced her engagement to Mr Verloc her mother could not help
wondering with a sigh and a glance towards the scullery what would become of
poor Stephen now
It appeared that Mr Verloc was ready to take him over together with his
wifes mother and with the furniture which was the whole visible fortune of the
family Mr Verloc gathered everything as it came to his broad goodnatured
breast The furniture was disposed to the best advantage all over the house but
Mrs Verlocs mother was confined to two back rooms on the first floor The
luckless Stevie slept in one of them By this time a growth of thin fluffy hair
had come to blur like a golden mist the sharp line of his small lower jaw He
helped his sister with blind love and docility in her household duties Mr
Verloc thought that some occupation would be good for him His spare time he
occupied by drawing circles with compass and pencil on a piece of paper He
applied himself to that pastime with great industry with his elbows spread out
and bowed low over the kitchen table Through the open door of the parlour at
the back of the shop Winnie his sister glanced at him from time to time with
maternal vigilance
II
Such was the house the household and the business Mr Verloc left behind him
on his way westward at the hour of halfpast ten in the morning It was
unusually early for him his whole person exhaled the charm of almost dewy
freshness he wore his blue cloth overcoat unbuttoned his boots were shiny his
cheeks freshly shaven had a sort of gloss and even his heavylidded eyes
refreshed by a night of peaceful slumber sent out glances of comparative
alertness Through the park railings these glances beheld men and women riding
in the Row couples cantering past harmoniously others advancing sedately at a
walk loitering groups of three or four solitary horsemen looking unsociable
and solitary women followed at a long distance by a groom with a cockade to his
hat and a leather belt over his tightfitting coat Carriages went bowling by
mostly twohorse broughams with here and there a victoria with the skin of some
wild beast inside and a womans face and hat emerging above the folded hood And
a peculiarly London sun against which nothing could be said except that it
looked bloodshot glorified all this by its stare It hung at a moderate
elevation above Hyde Park Corner with an air of punctual and benign vigilance
The very pavement under Mr Verlocs feet had an oldgold tinge in that diffused
light in which neither wall nor tree nor beast nor man cast a shadow Mr
Verloc was going westward through a town without shadows in an atmosphere of
powdered old gold There were red coppery gleams on the roofs of houses on the
corners of walls on the panels of carriages on the very coats of the horses
and on the broad back of Mr Verlocs overcoat where they produced a dull
effect of rustiness But Mr Verloc was not in the least conscious of having got
rusty He surveyed through the park railings the evidences of the towns
opulence and luxury with an approving eye All these people had to be protected
Protection is the first necessity of opulence and luxury They had to be
protected and their horses carriages houses servants had to be protected
and the source of their wealth had to be protected in the heart of the city and
the heart of the country the whole social order favourable to their hygienic
idleness had to be protected against the shallow enviousness of unhygienic
labour It had to and Mr Verloc would have rubbed his hands with satisfaction
had he not been constitutionally averse from every superfluous exertion His
idleness was not hygienic but it suited him very well He was in a manner
devoted to it with a sort of inert fanaticism or perhaps rather with a
fanatical inertness Born of industrious parents for a life of toil he had
embraced indolence from an impulse as profound as inexplicable and as imperious
as the impulse which directs a mans preference for one particular woman in a
given thousand He was too lazy even for a mere demagogue for a workman orator
for a leader of labour It was too much trouble He required a more perfect form
of ease or it might have been that he was the victim of a philosophical
unbelief in the effectiveness of every human effort Such a form of indolence
requires implies a certain amount of intelligence Mr Verloc was not devoid
of intelligence and at the notion of a menaced social order he would perhaps
have winked to himself if there had not been an effort to make in that sign of
scepticism His big prominent eyes were not well adapted to winking They were
rather of the sort that closes solemnly in slumber with majestic effect
Undemonstrative and burly in a fatpig style Mr Verloc without either
rubbing his hands with satisfaction or winking sceptically at his thoughts
proceeded on his way He trod the pavement heavily with his shiny boots and his
general getup was that of a welltodo mechanic in business for himself He
might have been anything from a pictureframe maker to a locksmith an employer
of labour in a small way But there was also about him an indescribable air
which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however
dishonestly exercised the air common to men who live on the vices the follies
or the baser fears of mankind the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of
gambling hells and disorderly houses to private detectives and inquiry agents
to drink sellers and I should say to the sellers of invigorating electric
belts and to the inventors of patent medicines But of that last I am not sure
not having carried my investigations so far into the depths For all I know the
expression of these last may be perfectly diabolic I shouldnt be surprised
What I want to affirm is that Mr Verlocs expression was by no means diabolic
Before reaching Knightsbridge Mr Verloc took a turn to the left out of the
busy main thoroughfare uproarious with the traffic of swaying omnibuses and
trotting vans in the almost silent swift flow of hansoms Under his hat worn
with a slight backward tilt his hair had been carefully brushed into respectful
sleekness for his business was with an Embassy And Mr Verloc steady like a
rock a soft kind of rock marched now along a street which could with every
propriety be described as private In its breadth emptiness and extent it had
the majesty of inorganic nature of matter that never dies The only reminder of
mortality was a doctors brougham arrested in august solitude close to the
curbstone The polished knockers of the doors gleamed as far as the eye could
reach the clean windows shone with a dark opaque lustre And all was still But
a milk cart rattled noisily across the distant perspective a butcher boy
driving with the noble recklessness of a charioteer at Olympic Games dashed
round the corner sitting high above a pair of red wheels A guiltylooking cat
issuing from under the stones ran for a while in front of Mr Verloc then dived
into another basement and a thick police constable looking a stranger to every
emotion as if he too were part of inorganic nature surging apparently out of
a lamppost took not the slightest notice of Mr Verloc With a turn to the
left Mr Verloc pursued his way along a narrow street by the side of a yellow
wall which for some inscrutable reason had No 1 Chesham Square written on it
in black letters Chesham Square was at least sixty yards away and Mr Verloc
cosmopolitan enough not to be deceived by Londons topographical mysteries held
on steadily without a sign of surprise or indignation At last with
businesslike persistency he reached the Square and made diagonally for the
number 10 This belonged to an imposing carriage gate in a high clean wall
between two houses of which one rationally enough bore the number 9 and the
other was numbered 37 but the fact that this last belonged to Porthill Street
a street well known in the neighbourhood was proclaimed by an inscription
placed above the groundfloor windows by whatever highly efficient authority is
charged with the duty of keeping track of Londons strayed houses Why powers
are not asked of Parliament a short act would do for compelling those edifices
to return where they belong is one of the mysteries of municipal administration
Mr Verloc did not trouble his head about it his mission in life being the
protection of the social mechanism not its perfectionment or even its
criticism
It was so early that the porter of the Embassy issued hurriedly out of his
lodge still struggling with the left sleeve of his livery coat His waistcoat
was red and he wore kneebreeches but his aspect was flustered Mr Verloc
aware of the rush on his flank drove it off by simply holding out an envelope
stamped with the arms of the Embassy and passed on He produced the same
talisman also to the footman who opened the door and stood back to let him
enter the hall
A clear fire burned in a tall fireplace and an elderly man standing with
his back to it in evening dress and with a chain round his neck glanced up
from the newspaper he was holding spread out in both hands before his calm and
severe face He didnt move but another lackey in brown trousers and
clawhammer coat edged with thin yellow cord approaching Mr Verloc listened to
the murmur of his name and turning round on his heel in silence began to walk
without looking back once Mr Verloc thus led along a groundfloor passage to
the left of the great carpeted staircase was suddenly motioned to enter a quite
small room furnished with a heavy writingtable and a few chairs The servant
shut the door and Mr Verloc remained alone He did not take a seat With his
hat and stick held in one hand he glanced about passing his other podgy hand
over his uncovered sleek head
Another door opened noiselessly and Mr Verloc immobilizing his glance in
that direction saw at first only black clothes the bald top of a head and a
drooping dark grey whisker on each side of a pair of wrinkled hands The person
who had entered was holding a batch of papers before his eyes and walked up to
the table with a rather mincing step turning the papers over the while Privy
Councillor Wurmt Chancelier dAmbassade was rather shortsighted This
meritorious official laying the papers on the table disclosed a face of pasty
complexion and of melancholy ugliness surrounded by a lot of fine long dark
grey hairs barred heavily by thick and bushy eyebrows He put on a blackframed
pincenez upon a blunt and shapeless nose and seemed struck by Mr Verlocs
appearance Under the enormous eyebrows his weak eyes blinked pathetically
through the glasses
He made no sign of greeting neither did Mr Verloc who certainly knew his
place but a subtle change about the general outlines of his shoulders and back
suggested a slight bending of Mr Verlocs spine under the vast surface of his
overcoat The effect was of unobtrusive deference
»I have here some of your reports« said the bureaucrat in an unexpectedly
soft and weary voice and pressing the tip of his forefinger on the papers with
force He paused and Mr Verloc who had recognized his own handwriting very
well waited in an almost breathless silence »We are not very satisfied with
the attitude of the police here« the other continued with every appearance of
mental fatigue
The shoulders of Mr Verloc without actually moving suggested a shrug And
for the first time since he left his home that morning his lips opened
»Every country has its police« he said philosophically But as the
official of the Embassy went on blinking at him steadily he felt constrained to
add »Allow me to observe that I have no means of action upon the police here«
»What is desired« said the man of papers »is the occurrence of something
definite which should stimulate their vigilance That is within your province
is it not so«
Mr Verloc made no answer except by a sigh which escaped him involuntarily
for instantly he tried to give his face a cheerful expression The official
blinked doubtfully as if affected by the dim light of the room He repeated
vaguely
»The vigilance of the police and the severity of the magistrates The
general leniency of the judicial procedure here and the utter absence of all
repressive measures are a scandal to Europe What is wished for just now is the
accentuation of the unrest of the fermentation which undoubtedly exists «
»Undoubtedly undoubtedly« broke in Mr Verloc in a deep deferential bass
of an oratorical quality so utterly different from the tone in which he had
spoken before that his interlocutor remained profoundly surprised »It exists to
a dangerous degree My reports for the last twelve months make it sufficiently
clear«
»Your reports for the last twelve months« State Councillor Wurmt began in
his gentle and dispassionate tone »have been read by me I failed to discover
why you wrote them at all«
A sad silence reigned for a time Mr Verloc seemed to have swallowed his
tongue and the other gazed at the papers on the table fixedly At last he gave
them a slight push
»The state of affairs you expose there is assumed to exist as the first
condition of your employment What is required at present is not writing but
the bringing to light of a distinct significant fact I would almost say of an
alarming fact«
»I need not say that all my endeavours shall be directed to that end« Mr
Verloc said with convinced modulations in his conversational husky tone But
the sense of being blinked at watchfully behind the blind glitter of these
eyeglasses on the other side of the table disconcerted him He stopped short
with a gesture of absolute devotion The useful hardworking if obscure member
of the Embassy had an air of being impressed by some newlyborn thought
»You are very corpulent« he said
This observation really of a psychological nature and advanced with the
modest hesitation of an officeman more familiar with ink and paper than with
the requirements of active life stung Mr Verloc in the manner of a rude
personal remark He stepped back a pace
»Eh What were you pleased to say« he exclaimed with husky resentment
The Chancelier dAmbassade entrusted with the conduct of this interview
seemed to find it too much for him
»I think« he said »that you had better see Mr Vladimir Yes decidedly I
think you ought to see Mr Vladimir Be good enough to wait here« he added and
went out with mincing steps
At once Mr Verloc passed his hand over his hair A slight perspiration had
broken out on his forehead He let the air escape from his pursedup lips like a
man blowing at a spoonful of hot soup But when the servant in brown appeared at
the door silently Mr Verloc had not moved an inch from the place he had
occupied throughout the interview He had remained motionless as if feeling
himself surrounded by pitfalls
He walked along a passage lighted by a lonely gasjet then up a flight of
winding stairs and through a glazed and cheerful corridor on the first floor
The footman threw open a door and stood aside The feet of Mr Verloc felt a
thick carpet The room was large with three windows and a young man with a
shaven big face sitting in a roomy armchair before a vast mahogany
writingtable said in French to the Chancelier dAmbassade who was going out
with the papers in his hand
»You are quite right mon cher Hes fat the animal«
Mr Vladimir First Secretary had a drawingroom reputation as an agreeable
and entertaining man He was something of a favourite in society His wit
consisted in discovering droll connections between incongruous ideas and when
talking in that strain he sat well forward on his seat with his left hand
raised as if exhibiting his funny demonstrations between the thumb and
forefinger while his round and cleanshaven face wore an expression of merry
perplexity
But there was no trace of merriment or perplexity in the way he looked at
Mr Verloc Lying far back in the deep armchair with squarely spread elbows
and throwing one leg over a thick knee he had with his smooth and rosy
countenance the air of a preternaturally thriving baby that will not stand
nonsense from anybody
»You understand French I suppose« he said
Mr Verloc stated huskily that he did His whole vast bulk had a forward
inclination He stood on the carpet in the middle of the room clutching his hat
and stick in one hand the other hung lifelessly by his side He muttered
unobtrusively somewhere deep down in his throat something about having done his
military service in the French artillery At once with contemptuous perversity
Mr Vladimir changed the language and began to speak idiomatic English without
the slightest trace of a foreign accent
»Ah Yes Of course Lets see How much did you get for obtaining the
design of the improved breechblock of their new fieldgun«
»Five years rigorous confinement in a fortress« Mr Verloc answered
unexpectedly but without any sign of feeling
»You got off easily« was Mr Vladimirs comment »And anyhow it served
you right for letting yourself get caught What made you go in for that sort of
thing eh«
Mr Verlocs husky conversational voice was heard speaking of youth of a
fatal infatuation for an unworthy
»Aha Cherchez la femme« Mr Vladimir deigned to interrupt unbending but
without affability there was on the contrary a touch of grimness in his
condescension »How long have you been employed by the Embassy here« he asked
»Ever since the time of the late Baron Stott Wartenheim« Mr Verloc
answered in subdued tones and protruding his lips sadly in sign of sorrow for
the deceased diplomat The First Secretary observed this play of physiognomy
steadily
»Ah ever since Well What have you got to say for yourself« he asked
sharply
Mr Verloc answered with some surprise that he was not aware of having
anything special to say He had been summoned by a letter And he plunged his
hand busily into the side pocket of his overcoat but before the mocking
cynical watchfulness of Mr Vladimir concluded to leave it there
»Bah« said the latter »What do you mean by getting out of condition like
this You havent got even the physique of your profession You a member of a
starving proletariat never You a desperate socialist or anarchist which
is it«
»Anarchist« stated Mr Verloc in a deadened tone
»Bosh« went on Mr Vladimir without raising his voice »You startled old
Wurmt himself You wouldnt deceive an idiot They all are that bytheby but
you seem to me simply impossible So you began your connection with us by
stealing the French gun designs And you got yourself caught That must have
been very disagreeable to our Government You dont seem to be very smart«
Mr Verloc tried to exculpate himself huskily
»As Ive had occasion to observe before a fatal infatuation for an unworthy
«
Mr Vladimir raised a large white plump hand
»Ah yes The unlucky attachment of your youth She got hold of the money
and then sold you to the police eh«
The doleful change in Mr Verlocs physiognomy the momentary drooping of
his whole person confessed that such was the regrettable case Mr Vladimirs
hand clasped the ankle reposing on his knee The sock was of dark blue silk
»You see that was not very clever of you Perhaps you are too susceptible«
Mr Verloc intimated in a throaty veiled murmur that he was no longer
young
»Oh Thats a failing which age does not cure« Mr Vladimir remarked with
sinister familiarity »But no You are too fat for that You could not have come
to look like this if you had been at all susceptible Ill tell you what I think
is the matter you are a lazy fellow How long have you been drawing pay from
this Embassy«
»Eleven years« was the answer after a moment of sulky hesitation »Ive
been charged with several missions to London while His Excellency Baron
StottWartenheim was still Ambassador in Paris Then by his Excellencys
instructions I settled down in London I am English«
»You are Are you Eh«
»A naturalborn British subject« Mr Verloc said stolidly »But my father
was French and so «
»Never mind explaining« interrupted the other »I daresay you could have
been legally a Marshal of France and a Member of Parliament in England and
then indeed you would have been of some use to our Embassy«
This flight of fancy provoked something like a faint smile on Mr Verlocs
face Mr Vladimir retained an imperturbable gravity
»But as Ive said you are a lazy fellow you dont use your opportunities
In the time of Baron StottWartenheim we had a lot of softheaded people running
this Embassy They caused fellows of your sort to form a false conception of the
nature of a secret service fund It is my business to correct this
misapprehension by telling you what the secret service is not It is not a
philanthropic institution Ive had you called here on purpose to tell you
this«
Mr Vladimir observed the forced expression of bewilderment on Verlocs
face and smiled sarcastically
»I see that you understand me perfectly I daresay you are intelligent
enough for your work What we want now is activity activity«
On repeating this last word Mr Vladimir laid a long white forefinger on the
edge of the desk Every trace of huskiness disappeared from Verlocs voice The
nape of his gross neck became crimson above the velvet collar of his overcoat
His lips quivered before they came widely open
»If youll only be good enough to look up my record« he boomed out in his
great clear oratorical bass »youll see I gave a warning only three months
ago on the occasion of the Grand Duke Romualds visit to Paris which was
telegraphed from here to the French police and «
»Tut tut« broke out Mr Vladimir with a frowning grimace »The French
police had no use for your warning Dont roar like this What the devil do you
mean«
With a note of proud humility Mr Verloc apologized for forgetting himself
His voice famous for years at openair meetings and at workmens assemblies in
large halls had contributed he said to his reputation of a good and
trustworthy comrade It was therefore a part of his usefulness It had
inspired confidence in his principles »I was always put up to speak by the
leaders at a critical moment« Mr Verloc declared with obvious satisfaction
There was no uproar above which he could not make himself heard he added and
suddenly he made a demonstration
»Allow me« he said With lowered forehead without looking up swiftly and
ponderously he crossed the room to one of the French windows As if giving way
to an uncontrollable impulse he opened it a little Mr Vladimir jumping up
amazed from the depths of the armchair looked over his shoulder and below
across the courtyard of the Embassy well beyond the open gate could be seen
the broad back of a policeman watching idly the gorgeous perambulator of a
wealthy baby being wheeled in state across the Square
»Constable« said Mr Verloc with no more effort than if he were
whispering and Mr Vladimir burst into a laugh on seeing the policeman spin
round as if prodded by a sharp instrument Mr Verloc shut the window quietly
and returned to the middle of the room
»With a voice like that« he said putting on the husky conversational
pedal »I was naturally trusted And I knew what to say too«
Mr Vladimir arranging his cravat observed him in the glass over the
mantelpiece
»I daresay you have the social revolutionary jargon by heart well enough«
he said contemptuously »Vox et You havent ever studied Latin have
you«
»No« growled Mr Verloc »You did not expect me to know it I belong to the
million Who knows Latin Only a few hundred imbeciles who arent fit to take
care of themselves«
For some thirty seconds longer Mr Vladimir studied in the mirror the fleshy
profile the gross bulk of the man behind him And at the same time he had the
advantage of seeing his own face cleanshaved and round rosy about the gills
and with the thin sensitive lips formed exactly for the utterance of those
delicate witticisms which had made him such a favourite in the very highest
society Then he turned and advanced into the room with such determination that
the very ends of his quaintly oldfashioned bow necktie seemed to bristle with
unspeakable menaces The movement was so swift and fierce that Mr Verloc
casting an oblique glance quailed inwardly
»Aha You dare be impudent« Mr Vladimir began with an amazingly guttural
intonation not only utterly unEnglish but absolutely unEuropean and
startling even to Mr Verlocs experience of cosmopolitan slums »You dare
Well I am going to speak plain English to you Voice wont do We have no use
for your voice We dont want a voice We want facts startling facts damn
you« he added with a sort of ferocious discretion right into Mr Verlocs
face
»Dont you try to come over me with your Hyperborean manners« Mr Verloc
defended himself huskily looking at the carpet At this his interlocutor
smiling mockingly above the bristling bow of his necktie switched the
conversation into French
»You give yourself for an agent provocateur The proper business of an agent
provocateur is to provoke As far as I can judge from your record kept here you
have done nothing to earn your money for the last three years«
»Nothing« exclaimed Verloc stirring not a limb and not raising his eyes
but with the note of sincere feeling in his tone »I have several times
prevented what might have been «
»There is a proverb in this country which says prevention is better than
cure« interrupted Mr Vladimir throwing himself into the armchair »It is
stupid in a general way There is no end to prevention But it is
characteristic They dislike finality in this country Dont you be too English
And in this particular instance dont be absurd The evil is already here We
dont want prevention we want cure«
He paused turned to the desk and turning over some papers lying there
spoke in a changed businesslike tone without looking at Mr Verloc
»You know of course of the International Conference assembled in Milan«
Mr Verloc intimated hoarsely that he was in the habit of reading the daily
papers To a further question his answer was that of course he understood what
he read At this Mr Vladimir smiling faintly at the documents he was still
scanning one after another murmured »As long as it is not written in Latin I
suppose«
»Or Chinese« added Mr Verloc stolidly
»Hm Some of your revolutionary friends effusions are written in a
charabia every bit as incomprehensible as Chinese « Mr Vladimir let fall
disdainfully a grey sheet of printed matter »What are all these leaflets headed
F P with a hammer pen and torch crossed What does it mean this F P«
Mr Verloc approached the imposing writingtable
»The Future of the Proletariat Its a society« he explained standing
ponderously by the side of the armchair »not anarchist in principle but open
to all shades of revolutionary opinion«
»Are you in it«
»One of the VicePresidents« Mr Verloc breathed out heavily and the First
Secretary of the Embassy raised his head to look at him
»Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself« he said incisively »Isnt your
society capable of anything else but printing this prophetic bosh in blunt type
on this filthy paper eh Why dont you do something Look here Ive this
matter in hand now and I tell you plainly that you will have to earn your
money The good old StottWartenheim times are over No work no pay«
Mr Verloc felt a queer sensation of faintness in his stout legs He stepped
back one pace and blew his nose loudly
He was in truth startled and alarmed The rusty London sunshine struggling
clear of the London mist shed a lukewarm brightness into the First Secretarys
private room and in the silence Mr Verloc heard against a windowpane the
faint buzzing of a fly his first fly of the year heralding better than any
number of swallows the approach of spring The useless fussing of that tiny
energetic organism affected unpleasantly this big man threatened in his
indolence
In the pause Vladimir formulated in his mind a series of disparaging remarks
concerning Mr Verlocs face and figure The fellow was unexpectedly vulgar
heavy and impudently unintelligent He looked uncommonly like a master plumber
come to present his bill The First Secretary of the Embassy from his
occasional excursions into the field of American humour had formed a special
notion of that class of mechanic as the embodiment of fraudulent laziness and
incompetency
This was then the famous and trusty secret agent so secret that he was
never designated otherwise but by the symbol D in the late Baron
StottWartenheims official semiofficial and confidential correspondence the
celebrated agent D whose warnings had the power to change the schemes and the
dates of royal imperial grandducal journeys and sometimes cause them to be
put off altogether This fellow And Mr Vladimir indulged mentally in an
enormous and derisive fit of merriment partly at his own astonishment which he
judged naïve but mostly at the expense of the universally regretted Baron
StottWartenheim His late Excellency whom the august favour of his Imperial
master had imposed as Ambassador upon several reluctant Ministers of Foreign
Affairs had enjoyed in his lifetime a fame for an owlish pessimistic
gullibility His Excellency had the social revolution on the brain He imagined
himself to be a diplomatist set apart by a special dispensation to watch the end
of diplomacy and pretty nearly the end of the world in a horrid democratic
upheaval His prophetic and doleful despatches had been for years the joke of
Foreign Offices He was said to have exclaimed on his deathbed visited by his
Imperial friend and master »Unhappy Europe Thou shalt perish by the moral
insanity of thy children« He was fated to be the victim of the first humbugging
rascal that came along thought Mr Vladimir smiling vaguely at Mr Verloc
»You ought to venerate the memory of Baron StottWartenheim« he exclaimed
suddenly
The lowered physiognomy of Mr Verloc expressed a sombre and weary
annoyance
»Permit me to observe to you« he said »that I came here because I was
summoned by a peremptory letter I have been here only twice before in the last
eleven years and certainly never at eleven in the morning It isnt very wise
to call me up like this There is just a chance of being seen And that would be
no joke for me«
Mr Vladimir shrugged his shoulders
»It would destroy my usefulness« continued the other hotly
»Thats your affair« murmured Mr Vladimir with soft brutality »When you
cease to be useful you shall cease to be employed Yes Right off Cut short
You shall « Mr Vladimir frowning paused at a loss for a sufficiently
idiomatic expression and instantly brightened up with a grin of beautifully
white teeth »You shall be chucked« he brought out ferociously
Once more Mr Verloc had to react with all the force of his will against
that sensation of faintness running down ones legs which once upon a time had
inspired some poor devil with the felicitous expression »My heart went down
into my boots« Mr Verloc aware of the sensation raised his head bravely
Mr Vladimir bore the look of heavy inquiry with perfect serenity
»What we want is to administer a tonic to the Conference in Milan« he said
airily »Its deliberations upon international action for the suppression of
political crime dont seem to get anywhere England lags This country is absurd
with its sentimental regard for individual liberty Its intolerable to think
that all your friends have got only to come over to «
»In that way I have them all under my eye« Mr Verloc interrupted huskily
»It would be much more to the point to have them all under lock and key
England must be brought into line The imbecile bourgeoisie of this country make
themselves the accomplices of the very people whose aim is to drive them out of
their houses to starve in ditches And they have the political power still if
they only had the sense to use it for their preservation I suppose you agree
that the middle classes are stupid«
Mr Verloc agreed hoarsely
»They are«
»They have no imagination They are blinded by an idiotic vanity What they
want just now is a jolly good scare This is the psychological moment to set
your friends to work I have had you called here to develop to you my idea«
And Mr Vladimir developed his idea from on high with scorn and
condescension displaying at the same time an amount of ignorance as to the real
aims thoughts and methods of the revolutionary world which filled the silent
Mr Verloc with inward consternation He confounded causes with effects more
than was excusable the most distinguished propagandists with impulsive bomb
throwers assumed organization where in the nature of things it could not exist
spoke of the social revolutionary party one moment as of a perfectly disciplined
army where the word of chiefs was supreme and at another as if it had been the
loosest association of desperate brigands that ever camped in a mountain gorge
Once Mr Verloc had opened his mouth for a protest but the raising of a
shapely large white hand arrested him Very soon he became too appalled to even
try to protest He listened in a stillness of dread which resembled the
immobility of profound attention
»A series of outrages« Mr Vladimir continued calmly »executed here in
this country not only planned here that would not do they would not mind
Your friends could set half the Continent on fire without influencing the public
opinion here in favour of a universal repressive legislation They will not look
outside their backyard here«
Mr Verloc cleared his throat but his heart failed him and he said
nothing
»These outrages need not be especially sanguinary« Mr Vladimir went on as
if delivering a scientific lecture »but they must be sufficiently startling
effective Let them be directed against buildings for instance What is the
fetish of the hour that all the bourgeoisie recognize eh Mr Verloc«
Mr Verloc opened his hands and shrugged his shoulders slightly
»You are too lazy to think« was Mr Vladimirs comment upon that gesture
»Pay attention to what I say The fetish of today is neither royalty nor
religion Therefore the palace and the church should be left alone You
understand what I mean Mr Verloc«
The dismay and the scorn of Mr Verloc found vent in an attempt at levity
»Perfectly But what of the Embassies A series of attacks on the various
Embassies« he began but he could not withstand the cold watchful stare of the
First Secretary
»You can be facetious I see« the latter observed carelessly »Thats all
right It may enliven your oratory at socialistic congresses But this room is
no place for it It would be infinitely safer for you to follow carefully what I
am saying As you are being called upon to furnish facts instead of
cockandbull stories you had better try to make your profit off what I am
taking the trouble to explain to you The sacrosanct fetish of today is
science Why dont you get some of your friends to go for that woodenfaced
panjandrum eh Is it not part of these institutions which must be swept away
before the F P comes along«
Mr Verloc said nothing He was afraid to open his lips lest a groan should
escape him
»This is what you should try for An attempt upon a crowned head or on a
president is sensational enough in a way but not so much as it used to be It
has entered into the general conception of the existence of all chiefs of state
Its almost conventional especially since so many presidents have been
assassinated Now let us take an outrage upon say a church Horrible enough at
first sight no doubt and yet not so effective as a person of an ordinary mind
might think No matter how revolutionary and anarchist in inception there would
be fools enough to give such an outrage the character of a religious
manifestation And that would detract from the especial alarming significance we
wish to give to the act A murderous attempt on a restaurant or a theatre would
suffer in the same way from the suggestion of nonpolitical passion the
exasperation of a hungry man an act of social revenge All this is used up it
is no longer instructive as an object lesson in revolutionary anarchism Every
newspaper has readymade phrases to explain such manifestations away I am about
to give you the philosophy of bomb throwing from my point of view from the
point of view you pretend to have been serving for the last eleven years I will
try not to talk above your head The sensibilities of the class you are
attacking are soon blunted Property seems to them an indestructible thing You
cant count upon their emotions either of pity or fear for very long A bomb
outrage to have any influence on public opinion now must go beyond the intention
of vengeance or terrorism It must be purely destructive It must be that and
only that beyond the faintest suspicion of any other object You anarchists
should make it clear that you are perfectly determined to make a clean sweep of
the whole social creation But how to get that appallingly absurd notion into
the heads of the middle classes so that there should be no mistake Thats the
question By directing your blows at something outside the ordinary passions of
humanity is the answer Of course there is art A bomb in the National Gallery
would make some noise But it would not be serious enough Art has never been
their fetish Its like breaking a few back windows in a mans house whereas
if you want to make him really sit up you must try at least to raise the roof
There would be some screaming of course but from whom Artists art critics
and such like people of no account Nobody minds what they say But there is
learning science Any imbecile that has got an income believes in that He
does not know why but he believes it matters somehow It is the sacrosanct
fetish All the damned professors are radicals at heart Let them know that
their great panjandrum has got to go too to make room for the Future of the
Proletariat A howl from all these intellectual idiots is bound to help forward
the labours of the Milan Conference They will be writing to the papers Their
indignation would be above suspicion no material interests being openly at
stake and it will alarm every selfishness of the class which should be
impressed They believe that in some mysterious way science is at the source of
their material prosperity They do And the absurd ferocity of such a
demonstration will affect them more profoundly than the mangling of a whole
street or theatre full of their own kind To that last they can always say
Oh its mere class hate But what is one to say to an act of destructive
ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible inexplicable almost unthinkable
in fact mad Madness alone is truly terrifying inasmuch as you cannot placate
it either by threats persuasion or bribes Moreover I am a civilized man I
would never dream of directing you to organize a mere butchery even if I
expected the best results from it But I wouldnt expect from a butchery the
result I want Murder is always with us It is almost an institution The
demonstration must be against learning science But not every science will do
The attack must have all the shocking senselessness of gratuitous blasphemy
Since bombs are your means of expression it would be really telling if one
could throw a bomb into pure mathematics But that is impossible I have been
trying to educate you I have expounded to you the higher philosophy of your
usefulness and suggested to you some serviceable arguments The practical
application of my teaching interests you mostly But from the moment I have
undertaken to interview you I have also given some attention to the practical
aspect of the question What do you think of having a go at astronomy«
For sometime already Mr Verlocs immobility by the side of the armchair
resembled a state of collapsed coma a sort of passive insensibility
interrupted by slight convulsive starts such as may be observed in the domestic
dog having a nightmare on the hearthrug And it was in an uneasy doglike growl
that he repeated the word
»Astronomy«
He had not recovered thoroughly as yet from the state of bewilderment
brought about by the effort to follow Mr Vladimirs rapid incisive utterance
It had overcome his power of assimilation It had made him angry This anger was
complicated by incredulity And suddenly it dawned upon him that all this was an
elaborate joke Mr Vladimir exhibited his white teeth in a smile with dimples
on his round full face posed with a complacent inclination above the bristling
bow of his necktie The favourite of intelligent society women had assumed his
drawingroom attitude accompanying the delivery of delicate witticisms Sitting
well forward his white hand upraised he seemed to hold delicately between his
thumb and forefinger the subtlety of his suggestion
»There could be nothing better Such an outrage combines the greatest
possible regard for humanity with the most alarming display of ferocious
imbecility I defy the ingenuity of journalists to persuade their public that
any given member of the proletariat can have a personal grievance against
astronomy Starvation itself could hardly be dragged in there eh And there
are other advantages The whole civilized world has heard of Greenwich The very
bootblacks in the basement of Charing Cross Station know something of it See«
The features of Mr Vladimir so well known in the best society by their
humorous urbanity beamed with cynical selfsatisfaction which would have
astonished the intelligent women his wit entertained so exquisitely »Yes« he
continued with a contemptuous smile »the blowing up of the first meridian is
bound to raise a howl of execration«
»A difficult business« Mr Verloc mumbled feeling that this was the only
safe thing to say
»What is the matter Havent you the whole gang under your hand The very
pick of the basket That old terrorist Yundt is here I see him walking about
Piccadilly in his green havelock almost every day And Michaelis the
ticketofleave apostle you dont mean to say you dont know where he is
Because if you dont I can tell you« Mr Vladimir went on menacingly »If you
imagine that you are the only one on the secret fund list you are mistaken«
This perfectly gratuitous suggestion caused Mr Verloc to shuffle his feet
slightly
»And the whole Lausanne lot eh Havent they been flocking over here at
the first hint of the Milan Conference This is an absurd country«
»It will cost money« Mr Verloc said by a sort of instinct
»That cock wont fight« Mr Vladimir retorted with an amazingly genuine
English accent »Youll get your screw every month and no more till something
happens And if nothing happens very soon you wont get even that Whats your
ostensible occupation What are you supposed to live by«
»I keep a shop« answered Mr Verloc
»A shop What sort of shop«
»Stationery newspapers My wife «
»Your what« interrupted Mr Vladimir in his guttural Central Asian tones
»My wife« Mr Verloc raised his husky voice slightly »I am married«
»That be damned for a yarn« exclaimed the other in unfeigned astonishment
»Married And you a professed anarchist too What is this confounded nonsense
But I suppose its merely a manner of speaking Anarchists dont marry Its
well known They cant It would be apostasy«
»My wife isnt one« Mr Verloc mumbled sulkily »Moreover its no concern
of yours«
»Oh yes it is« snapped Mr Vladimir »I am beginning to be convinced that
you are not at all the man for the work youve been employed on Why you must
have discredited yourself completely in your own world by your marriage
Couldnt you have managed without This is your virtuous attachment eh What
with one sort of attachment and another you are doing away with your
usefulness«
Mr Verloc puffing out his cheeks let the air escape violently and that
was all He had armed himself with patience It was not to be tried much longer
The First Secretary became suddenly very curt detached final
»You may go now« he said »A dynamite outrage must be provoked I give you
a month The sittings of the Conference are suspended Before it reassembles
again something must have happened here or your connection with us ceases«
He changed the note once more with an unprincipled versatility
»Think over my philosophy Mr Mr Verloc« he said with a sort of
chaffing condescension waving his hand towards the door »Go for the first
meridian You dont know the middle classes as well as I do Their sensibilities
are jaded The first meridian Nothing better and nothing easier I should
think«
He had got up and with his thin sensitive lips twitching humorously
watched in the glass over the mantelpiece Mr Verloc backing out of the room
heavily hat and stick in hand The door closed
The footman in trousers appearing suddenly in the corridor let Mr Verloc
another way out and through a small door in the corner of the courtyard The
porter standing at the gate ignored his exit completely and Mr Verloc retraced
the path of his mornings pilgrimage as if in a dream an angry dream This
detachment from the material world was so complete that though the mortal
envelope of Mr Verloc had not hastened unduly along the streets that part of
him to which it would be unwarrantably rude to refuse immortality found itself
at the shop door all at once as borne from west to east on the wings of a great
wind He walked straight behind the counter and sat down on a wooden chair that
stood there No one appeared to disturb his solitude Stevie put into a green
baize apron was now sweeping and dusting upstairs intent and conscientious as
though he were playing at it and Mrs Verloc warned in the kitchen by the
clatter of the cracked bell had merely come to the glazed door of the parlour
and putting the curtain aside a little had peered into the dim shop Seeing her
husband sitting there shadowy and bulky with his hat tilted far back on his
head she had at once returned to her stove An hour or more later she took the
green baize apron off her brother Stevie and instructed him to wash his hands
and face in the peremptory tone she had used in that connection for fifteen
years or so ever since she had in fact ceased to attend to the boys hands
and face herself She spared presently a glance away from her dishingup for the
inspection of that face and those hands which Stevie approaching the kitchen
table offered for her approval with an air of selfassurance hiding a perpetual
residue of anxiety Formerly the anger of the father was the supremely effective
sanction of these rites but Mr Verlocs placidity in domestic life would have
made all mention of anger incredible even to poor Stevies nervousness The
theory was that Mr Verloc would have been inexpressibly pained and shocked by
any deficiency of cleanliness at meal times Winnie after the death of her
father found considerable consolation in the feeling that she need no longer
tremble for poor Stevie She could not bear to see the boy hurt It maddened
her As a little girl she had often faced with blazing eyes the irascible
licensed victualler in defence of her brother Nothing now in Mrs Verlocs
appearance could lead one to suppose that she was capable of a passionate
demonstration
She finished her dishingup The table was laid in the parlour Going to the
foot of the stairs she screamed out »Mother« Then opening the glazed door
leading to the shop she said quietly »Adolf« Mr Verloc had not changed his
position he had not apparently stirred a limb for an hour and a half He got up
heavily and came to his dinner in his overcoat and with his hat on without
uttering a word His silence in itself had nothing startlingly unusual in this
household hidden in the shades of the sordid street seldom touched by the sun
behind the dim shop with its wares of disreputable rubbish Only that day Mr
Verlocs taciturnity was so obviously thoughtful that the two women were
impressed by it They sat silent themselves keeping a watchful eye on poor
Stevie lest he should break out into one of his fits of loquacity He faced Mr
Verloc across the table and remained very good and quiet staring vacantly The
endeavour to keep him from making himself objectionable in any way to the master
of the house put no inconsiderable anxiety into these two womens lives That
boy as they alluded to him softly between themselves had been a source of that
sort of anxiety almost from the very day of his birth The late licensed
victuallers humiliation at having such a very peculiar boy for a son manifested
itself by a propensity to brutal treatment for he was a person of fine
sensibilities and his sufferings as a man and a father were perfectly genuine
Afterwards Stevie had to be kept from making himself a nuisance to the single
gentlemen lodgers who are themselves a queer lot and are easily aggrieved And
there was always the anxiety of his mere existence to face Visions of a
workhouse infirmary for her child had haunted the old woman in the basement
breakfastroom of the decayed Belgravian house »If you had not found such a
good husband my dear« she used to say to her daughter »I dont know what
would have become of that poor boy«
Mr Verloc extended as much recognition to Stevie as a man not particularly
fond of animals may give to his wifes beloved cat and this recognition
benevolent and perfunctory was essentially of the same quality Both women
admitted to themselves that not much more could be reasonably expected It was
enough to earn for Mr Verloc the old womans reverential gratitude In the
early days made sceptical by the trials of friendless life she used sometimes
to ask anxiously »You dont think my dear that Mr Verloc is getting tired of
seeing Stevie about« To this Winnie replied habitually by a slight toss of her
head Once however she retorted with a rather grim pertness »Hell have to
get tired of me first« A long silence ensued The mother with her feet propped
up on a stool seemed to be trying to get to the bottom of that answer whose
feminine profundity had struck her all of a heap She had never really
understood why Winnie had married Mr Verloc It was very sensible of her and
evidently had turned out for the best but her girl might have naturally hoped
to find somebody of a more suitable age There had been a steady young fellow
only son of a butcher in the next street helping his father in business with
whom Winnie had been walking out with obvious gusto He was dependent on his
father it is true but the business was good and his prospects excellent He
took her girl to the theatre on several evenings Then just as she began to
dread to hear of their engagement for what could she have done with that big
house alone with Stevie on her hands that romance came to an abrupt end and
Winnie went about looking very dull But Mr Verloc turning up providentially
to occupy the firstfloor front bedroom there had been no more question of the
young butcher It was clearly providential
III
» All idealization makes life poorer To beautify it is to take away its
character of complexity it is to destroy it Leave that to the moralists my
boy History is made by men but they do not make it in their heads The ideas
that are born in their consciousness play an insignificant part in the march of
events History is dominated and determined by the tool and the production by
the force of economic conditions Capitalism has made socialism and the laws
made by the capitalism for the protection of property are responsible for
anarchism No one can tell what form the social organization may take in the
future Then why indulge in prophetic phantasies At best they can only
interpret the mind of the prophet and can have no objective value Leave that
pastime to the moralists my boy«
Michaelis the ticketofleave apostle was speaking in an even voice a
voice that wheezed as if deadened and oppressed by the layer of fat on his
chest He had come out of a highly hygienic prison round like a tub with an
enormous stomach and distended cheeks of a pale semitransparent complexion as
though for fifteen years the servants of an outraged society had made a point of
stuffing him with fattening foods in a damp and lightless cellar And ever since
he had never managed to get his weight down as much as an ounce
It was said that for three seasons running a very wealthy old lady had sent
him for a cure to Marienbad where he was about to share the public curiosity
once with a crowned head but the police on that occasion ordered him to leave
within twelve hours His martyrdom was continued by forbidding him all access to
the healing waters But he was resigned now
With his elbow presenting no appearance of a joint but more like a bend in
a dummys limb thrown over the back of a chair he leaned forward slightly over
his short and enormous thighs to spit into the grate
»Yes I had the time to think things out a little« he added without
emphasis »Society has given me plenty of time for meditation«
On the other side of the fireplace in the horsehair armchair where Mrs
Verlocs mother was generally privileged to sit Karl Yundt giggled grimly with
a faint black grimace of a toothless mouth The terrorist as he called himself
was old and bald with a narrow snowwhite wisp of a goatee hanging limply from
his chin An extraordinary expression of underhand malevolence survived in his
extinguished eyes When he rose painfully the thrusting forward of a skinny
groping hand deformed by gouty swellings suggested the effort of a moribund
murderer summoning all his remaining strength for a last stab He leaned on a
thick stick which trembled under his other hand
»I have always dreamed« he mouthed fiercely »of a band of men absolute in
their resolve to discard all scruples in the choice of means strong enough to
give themselves frankly the name of destroyers and free from the taint of that
resigned pessimism which rots the world No pity for anything on earth
including themselves and death enlisted for good and all in the service of
humanity thats what I would have liked to see«
His little bald head quivered imparting a comical vibration to the wisp of
white goatee His enunciation would have been almost totally unintelligible to a
stranger His wornout passion resembling in its impotent fierceness the
excitement of a senile sensualist was badly served by a dried throat and
toothless gums which seemed to catch the tip of his tongue Mr Verloc
established in the corner of the sofa at the other end of the room emitted two
hearty grunts of assent
The old terrorist turned slowly his head on his skinny neck from side to
side
»And I could never get as many as three such men together So much for your
rotten pessimism« he snarled at Michaelis who uncrossed his thick legs similar
to bolsters and slid his feet abruptly under his chair in sign of exasperation
He a pessimist Preposterous He cried out that the charge was outrageous
He was so far from pessimism that he saw already the end of all private property
coming along logically unavoidably by the mere development of its inherent
viciousness The possessors of property had not only to face the awakened
proletariat but they had also to fight amongst themselves Yes Struggle
warfare was the condition of private ownership It was fatal Ah he did not
depend upon emotional excitement to keep up his belief no declamations no
anger no visions of bloodred flags waving or metaphorical lurid suns of
vengeance rising above the horizon of a doomed society Not he Cold reason he
boasted was the basis of his optimism Yes optimism
His laborious wheezing stopped then after a gasp or two he added
»Dont you think that if I had not been the optimist I am I could not have
found in fifteen years some means to cut my throat And in the last instance
there were always the walls of my cell to dash my head against«
The shortness of breath took all fire all animation out of his voice his
great pale cheeks hung like filled pouches motionless without a quiver but
in his blue eyes narrowed as if peering there was the same look of confident
shrewdness a little crazy in its fixity they must have had while the
indomitable optimist sat thinking at night in his cell Before him Karl Yundt
remained standing one wing of his faded greenish havelock thrown back
cavalierly over his shoulder Seated in front of the fireplace Comrade Ossipon
exmedical student the principal writer of the F P leaflets stretched out
his robust legs keeping the soles of his boots turned up to the glow in the
grate A bush of crinkly yellow hair topped his red freckled face with a
flattened nose and prominent mouth cast in the rough mould of the negro type
His almondshaped eyes leered languidly over the high cheekbones He wore a
grey flannel shirt the loose ends of a black silk tie hung down the buttoned
breast of his serge coat and his head resting on the back of his chair his
throat largely exposed he raised to his lips a cigarette in a long wooden tube
puffing jets of smoke straight up at the ceiling
Michaelis pursued his idea the idea of his solitary reclusion the
thought vouchsafed to his captivity and growing like a faith revealed in
visions He talked to himself indifferent to the sympathy or hostility of his
hearers indifferent indeed to their presence from the habit he had acquired of
thinking aloud hopefully in the solitude of the four whitewashed walls of his
cell in the sepulchral silence of the great blind pile of bricks near a river
sinister and ugly like a colossal mortuary for the socially drowned
He was no good in discussion not because any amount of argument could shake
his faith but because the mere fact of hearing another voice disconcerted him
painfully confusing his thoughts at once these thoughts that for so many
years in a mental solitude more barren than a waterless desert no living voice
had ever combatted commented or approved
No one interrupted him now and he made again the confession of his faith
mastering him irresistible and complete like an act of grace the secret of fate
discovered in the material side of life the economic condition of the world
responsible for the past and shaping the future the source of all history of
all ideas guiding the mental development of mankind and the very impulses of
their passion
A harsh laugh from Comrade Ossipon cut the tirade dead short in a sudden
faltering of the tongue and a bewildered unsteadiness of the apostles mildly
exalted eyes He closed them slowly for a moment as if to collect his routed
thoughts A silence fell but what with the two gasjets over the table and the
glowing grate the little parlour behind Mr Verlocs shop had become frightfully
hot Mr Verloc getting off the sofa with ponderous reluctance opened the door
leading into the kitchen to get more air and thus disclosed the innocent
Stevie seated very good and quiet at a deal table drawing circles circles
circles innumerable circles concentric eccentric a coruscating whirl of
circles that by their tangled multitude of repeated curves uniformity of form
and confusion of intersecting lines suggested a rendering of cosmic chaos the
symbolism of a mad art attempting the inconceivable The artist never turned his
head and in all his souls application to the task his back quivered his thin
neck sunk into a deep hollow at the base of the skull seemed ready to snap
Mr Verloc after a grunt of disapproving surprise returned to the sofa
Alexander Ossipon got up tall in his threadbare blue serge suit under the low
ceiling shook off the stiffness of long immobility and strolled away into the
kitchen down two steps to look over Stevies shoulder He came back
pronouncing oracularly »Very good Very characteristic perfectly typical«
»Whats very good« grunted inquiringly Mr Verloc settled again in the
corner of the sofa The other explained his meaning negligently with a shade of
condescension and a toss of his head towards the kitchen
»Typical of this form of degeneracy these drawings I mean«
»You would call that lad a degenerate would you« mumbled Mr Verloc
Comrade Alexander Ossipon nicknamed the Doctor exmedical student without
a degree afterwards wandering lecturer to workingmens associations upon the
socialistic aspects of hygiene author of a popular quasimedical study in the
form of a cheap pamphlet seized promptly by the police entitled »The Corroding
Vices of the Middle Classes« special delegate of the more or less mysterious
Red Committee together with Karl Yundt and Michaelis for the work of literary
propaganda turned upon the obscure familiar of at least two Embassies that
glance of insufferable hopelessly dense sufficiency which nothing but the
frequentation of science can give to the dulness of common mortals
»Thats what he may be called scientifically Very good type too
altogether of that sort of degenerate Its enough to glance at the lobes of
his ears If you read Lombroso «
Mr Verloc moody and spread largely on the sofa continued to look down the
row of his waistcoat buttons but his cheeks became tinged by a faint blush Of
late even the merest derivative of the word science a term in itself
inoffensive and of indefinite meaning had the curious power of evoking a
definitely offensive mental vision of Mr Vladimir in his body as he lived
with an almost supernatural clearness And this phenomenon deserving justly to
be classed amongst the marvels of science induced in Mr Verloc an emotional
state of dread and exasperation tending to express itself in violent swearing
But he said nothing It was Karl Yundt who was heard implacable to his last
breath
»Lombroso is an ass«
Comrade Ossipon met the shock of this blasphemy by an awful vacant stare
And the other his extinguished eyes without gleams blackening the deep shadows
under the great bony forehead mumbled catching the tip of his tongue between
his lips at every second word as though he were chewing it angrily
»Did you ever see such an idiot For him the criminal is the prisoner
Simple is it not What about those who shut him up there forced him in there
Exactly Forced him in there And what is crime Does he know that this
imbecile who has made his way in this world of gorged fools by looking at the
ears and teeth of a lot of poor luckless devils Teeth and ears mark the
criminal Do they And what about the law that marks him still better the
pretty branding instrument invented by the overfed to protect themselves against
the hungry Redhot applications on their vile skins hey Cant you smell and
hear from here the thick hide of the people burn and sizzle Thats how
criminals are made for your Lombrosos to write their silly stuff about«
The knob of his stick and his legs shook together with passion whilst the
trunk draped in the wings of the havelock preserved his historic attitude of
defiance He seemed to sniff the tainted air of social cruelty to strain his
ear for its atrocious sounds There was an extraordinary force of suggestion in
this posturing The all but moribund veteran of dynamite wars had been a great
actor in his time actor on platforms in secret assemblies in private
interviews The famous terrorist had never in his life raised personally as much
as his little finger against the social edifice He was no man of action he was
not even an orator of torrential eloquence sweeping the masses along in the
rushing noise and foam of a great enthusiasm With a more subtle intention he
took the part of an insolent and venomous evoker of sinister impulses which lurk
in the blind envy and exasperated vanity of ignorance in the suffering and
misery of poverty in all the hopeful and noble illusions of righteous anger
pity and revolt The shadow of his evil gift clung to him yet like the smell of
a deadly drug in an old vial of poison emptied now useless ready to be thrown
away upon the rubbishheap of things that had served their time
Michaelis the ticketofleave apostle smiled vaguely with his glued lips
his pasty moon face drooped under the weight of melancholy assent He had been a
prisoner himself His own skin had sizzled under the redhot brand he murmured
softly But Comrade Ossipon nicknamed the Doctor had got over the shock by
that time
»You dont understand« he began disdainfully but stopped short
intimidated by the dead blackness of the cavernous eyes in the face turned
slowly towards him with a blind stare as if guided only by the sound He gave
the discussion up with a slight shrug of the shoulders
Stevie accustomed to move about disregarded had got up from the kitchen
table carrying off his drawing to bed with him He had reached the parlour door
in time to receive in full the shock of Karl Yundts eloquent imagery The sheet
of paper covered with circles dropped out of his fingers and he remained
staring at the old terrorist as if rooted suddenly to the spot by his morbid
horror and dread of physical pain Stevie knew very well that hot iron applied
to ones skin hurt very much His scared eyes blazed with indignation it would
hurt terribly His mouth dropped open
Michaelis by staring unwinkingly at the fire had regained that sentiment of
isolation necessary for the continuity of his thought His optimism had begun to
flow from his lips He saw Capitalism doomed in its cradle born with the poison
of the principle of competition in its system The great capitalists devouring
the little capitalists concentrating the power and the tools of production in
great masses perfecting industrial processes and in the madness of
selfaggrandizement only preparing organizing enriching making ready the
lawful inheritance of the suffering proletariat Michaelis pronounced the great
word Patience and his clear blue glance raised to the low ceiling of Mr
Verlocs parlour had a character of seraphic trustfulness In the doorway
Stevie calmed seemed sunk in hebetude
Comrade Ossipons face twitched with exasperation
»Then its no use doing anything no use whatever«
»I dont say that« protested Michaelis gently His vision of truth had
grown so intense that the sound of a strange voice failed to rout it this time
He continued to look down at the red coals Preparation for the future was
necessary and he was willing to admit that the great change would perhaps come
in the upheaval of a revolution But he argued that revolutionary propaganda was
a delicate work of high conscience It was the education of the masters of the
world It should be as careful as the education given to kings He would have it
advance its tenets cautiously even timidly in our ignorance of the effect that
may be produced by any given economic change upon the happiness the morals the
intellect the history of mankind For history is made with tools not with
ideas and everything is changed by economic conditions art philosophy love
virtue truth itself
The coals in the grate settled down with a slight crash and Michaelis the
hermit of visions in the desert of a penitentiary got up impetuously Round
like a distended balloon he opened his short thick arms as if in a
pathetically hopeless attempt to embrace and hug to his breast a
selfregenerated universe He gasped with ardour
»The future is as certain as the past slavery feudalism individualism
collectivism This is the statement of a law not an empty prophecy«
The disdainful pout of Comrade Ossipons thick lips accentuated the negro
type of his face
»Nonsense« he said calmly enough »There is no law and no certainty The
teaching propaganda be hanged What the people knows does not matter were its
knowledge ever so accurate The only thing that matters to us is the emotional
state of the masses Without emotion there is no action«
He paused then added with modest firmness
»I am speaking now to you scientifically scientifically Eh What did you
say Verloc«
»Nothing« growled from the sofa Mr Verloc who provoked by the abhorrent
sound had merely muttered a »Damn«
The venomous spluttering of the old terrorist without teeth was heard
»Do you know how I would call the nature of the present economic conditions
I would call it cannibalistic Thats what it is They are nourishing their
greed on the quivering flesh and the warm blood of the people nothing else«
Stevie swallowed the terrifying statement with an audible gulp and at once
as though it had been swift poison sank limply in a sitting posture on the
steps of the kitchen door
Michaelis gave no signs of having heard anything His lips seemed glued
together for good not a quiver passed over his heavy cheeks With troubled eyes
he looked for his round hard hat and put it on his round head His round and
obese body seemed to float low between the chairs under the sharp elbow of Karl
Yundt The old terrorist raising an uncertain and clawlike hand gave a
swaggering tilt to a black felt sombrero shading the hollows and ridges of his
wasted face He got in motion slowly striking the floor with his stick at every
step It was rather an affair to get him out of the house because now and then
he would stop as if to think and did not offer to move again till impelled
forward by Michaelis The gentle apostle grasped his arm with brotherly care
and behind them his hands in his pockets the robust Ossipon yawned vaguely A
blue cap with a patent leather peak set well at the back of his yellow bush of
hair gave him the aspect of a Norwegian sailor bored with the world after a
thundering spree Mr Verloc saw his guests off the premises attending them
bareheaded his heavy overcoat hanging open his eyes on the ground
He closed the door behind their backs with restrained violence turned the
key shot the bolt He was not satisfied with his friends In the light of Mr
Vladimirs philosophy of bomb throwing they appeared hopelessly futile The part
of Mr Verloc in revolutionary politics having been to observe he could not all
at once either in his own home or in larger assemblies take the initiative of
action He had to be cautious Moved by the just indignation of a man well over
forty menaced in what is dearest to him his repose and his security he
asked himself scornfully what else could have been expected from such a lot
this Karl Yundt this Michaelis this Ossipon
Pausing in his intention to turn off the gas burning in the middle of the
shop Mr Verloc descended into the abyss of moral reflections With the insight
of a kindred temperament he pronounced his verdict A lazy lot this Karl
Yundt nursed by a bleareyed old woman a woman he had years ago enticed away
from a friend and afterwards had tried more than once to shake off into the
gutter Jolly lucky for Yundt that she had persisted in coming up time after
time or else there would have been no one now to help him out of the bus by
the Green Park railings where that spectre took its constitutional crawl every
fine morning When that indomitable snarling old witch died the swaggering
spectre would have to vanish too there would be an end to fiery Karl Yundt
And Mr Verlocs morality was offended also by the optimism of Michaelis
annexed by his wealthy old lady who had taken lately to sending him to a
cottage she had in the country The exprisoner could moon about the shady lanes
for days together in a delicious and humanitarian idleness As to Ossipon that
beggar was sure to want for nothing as long as there were silly girls with
savingsbank books in the world And Mr Verloc temperamentally identical with
his associates drew fine distinctions in his mind on the strength of
insignificant differences He drew them with a certain complacency because the
instinct of conventional respectability was strong within him being only
overcome by his dislike of all kinds of recognized labour a temperamental
defect which he shared with a large proportion of revolutionary reformers of a
given social state For obviously one does not revolt against the advantages and
opportunities of that state but against the price which must be paid for the
same in the coin of accepted morality selfrestraint and toil The majority of
revolutionists are the enemies of discipline and fatigue mostly There are
natures too to whose sense of justice the price exacted looms up monstrously
enormous odious oppressive worrying humiliating extortionate intolerable
Those are the fanatics The remaining portion of social rebels is accounted for
by vanity the mother of all noble and vile illusions the companion of poets
reformers charlatans prophets and incendiaries
Lost for a whole minute in the abyss of meditation Mr Verloc did not reach
the depth of these abstract considerations Perhaps he was not able In any case
he had not the time He was pulled up painfully by the sudden recollection of
Mr Vladimir another of his associates whom in virtue of subtle moral
affinities he was capable of judging correctly He considered him as dangerous
A shade of envy crept into his thoughts Loafing was all very well for these
fellows who knew not Mr Vladimir and had women to fall back upon whereas he
had a woman to provide for
At this point by a simple association of ideas Mr Verloc was brought face
to face with the necessity of going to bed some time or other that evening Then
why not go now at once He sighed The necessity was not so normally
pleasurable as it ought to have been for a man of his age and temperament He
dreaded the demon of sleeplessness which he felt had marked him for its own He
raised his arm and turned off the flaring gasjet above his head
A bright band of light fell through the parlour door into the part of the
shop behind the counter It enabled Mr Verloc to ascertain at a glance the
number of silver coins in the till These were but few and for the first time
since he opened his shop he took a commercial survey of its value This survey
was unfavourable He had gone into trade for no commercial reasons He had been
guided in the selection of this peculiar line of business by an instinctive
leaning towards shady transactions where money is picked up easily Moreover
it did not take him out of his own sphere the sphere which is watched by the
police On the contrary it gave him a publicly confessed standing in that
sphere and as Mr Verloc had unconfessed relations which made him familiar with
yet careless of the police there was a distinct advantage in such a situation
But as a means of livelihood it was by itself insufficient
He took the cashbox out of the drawer and turning to leave the shop
became aware that Stevie was still downstairs
What on earth is he doing there Mr Verloc asked himself Whats the
meaning of these antics He looked dubiously at his brotherinlaw but he did
not ask him for information Mr Verlocs intercourse with Stevie was limited to
the casual mutter of a morning after breakfast »My boots« and even that was
more a communication at large of a need than a direct order or request Mr
Verloc perceived with some surprise that he did not know really what to say to
Stevie He stood still in the middle of the parlour and looked into the kitchen
in silence Nor yet did he know what would happen if he did say anything And
this appeared very queer to Mr Verloc in view of the fact borne upon him
suddenly that he had to provide for this fellow too He had never given a
moments thought till then to that aspect of Stevies existence
Positively he did not know how to speak to the lad He watched him
gesticulating and murmuring in the kitchen Stevie prowled round the table like
an excited animal in a cage A tentative »Hadnt you better go to bed now«
produced no effect whatever and Mr Verloc abandoning the stony contemplation
of his brotherinlaws behaviour crossed the parlour wearily cashbox in
hand The cause of the general lassitude he felt while climbing the stairs being
purely mental he became alarmed by its inexplicable character He hoped he was
not sickening for anything He stopped on the dark landing to examine his
sensations But a slight and continuous sound of snoring pervading the obscurity
interfered with their clearness The sound came from his motherinlaws room
Another one to provide for he thought and on this thought walked into the
bedroom
Mrs Verloc had fallen asleep with the lamp no gas was laid upstairs
turned up full on the table by the side of the bed The light thrown down by the
shade fell dazzlingly on the white pillow sunk by the weight of her head
reposing with closed eyes and dark hair done up in several plaits for the night
She woke up with the sound of her name in her ears and saw her husband standing
over her
»Winnie Winnie«
At first she did not stir lying very quiet and looking at the cashbox in
Mr Verlocs hand But when she understood that her brother was capering all
over the place downstairs she swung out in one sudden movement on to the edge of
the bed Her bare feet as if poked through the bottom of an unadorned sleeved
calico sack buttoned tightly at neck and wrists felt over the rug for the
slippers while she looked upward into her husbands face
»I dont know how to manage him« Mr Verloc explained peevishly »Wont do
to leave him downstairs alone with the lights«
She said nothing glided across the room swiftly and the door closed upon
her white form
Mr Verloc deposited the cashbox on the night table and began the
operation of undressing by flinging his overcoat on to a distant chair His coat
and waistcoat followed He walked about the room in his stockinged feet and his
burly figure with the hands worrying nervously at his throat passed and
repassed across the long strip of lookingglass in the door of his wifes
wardrobe Then after slipping his braces off his shoulders he pulled up
violently the venetian blind and leaned his forehead against the cold
windowpane a fragile film of glass stretched between him and the enormity of
cold black wet muddy inhospitable accumulation of bricks slates and
stones things in themselves unlovely and unfriendly to man
Mr Verloc felt the latent unfriendliness of all out of doors with a force
approaching to positive bodily anguish There is no occupation that fails a man
more completely than that of a secret agent of police Its like your horse
suddenly falling dead under you in the midst of an uninhabited and thirsty
plain The comparison occurred to Mr Verloc because he had sat astride various
army horses in his time and had now the sensation of an incipient fall The
prospect was as black as the windowpane against which he was leaning his
forehead And suddenly the face of Mr Vladimir cleanshaved and witty
appeared enhaloed in the glow of its rosy complexion like a sort of pink seal
impressed on the fatal darkness
This luminous and mutilated vision was so ghastly physically that Mr Verloc
started away from the window letting down the venetian blind with a great
rattle Discomposed and speechless with the apprehension of more such visions
he beheld his wife reenter the room and get into bed in a calm businesslike
manner which made him feel hopelessly lonely in the world Mrs Verloc expressed
her surprise at seeing him up yet
»I dont feel very well« he muttered passing his hands over his moist
brow
»Giddiness«
»Yes Not at all well«
Mrs Verloc with all the placidity of an experienced wife expressed a
confident opinion as to the cause and suggested the usual remedies but her
husband rooted in the middle of the room shook his lowered head sadly
»Youll catch cold standing there« she observed
Mr Verloc made an effort finished undressing and got into bed Down below
in the quiet narrow street measured footsteps approached the house then died
away unhurried and firm as if the passerby had started to pace out all
eternity from gaslamp to gaslamp in a night without end and the drowsy
ticking of the old clock on the landing became distinctly audible in the
bedroom
Mrs Verloc on her back and staring at the ceiling made a remark
»Takings very small today«
Mr Verloc in the same position cleared his throat as if for an important
statement but merely inquired
»Did you turn off the gas downstairs«
»Yes I did« answered Mrs Verloc conscientiously »That poor boy is in a
very excited state tonight« she murmured after a pause which lasted for three
ticks of the clock
Mr Verloc cared nothing for Stevies excitement but he felt horribly
wakeful and dreaded facing the darkness and silence that would follow the
extinguishing of the lamp This dread led him to make the remark that Stevie had
disregarded his suggestion to go to bed Mrs Verloc falling into the trap
started to demonstrate at length to her husband that this was not impudence of
any sort but simply excitement There was no young man of his age in London
more willing and docile than Stephen she affirmed none more affectionate and
ready to please and even useful as long as people did not upset his poor head
Mrs Verloc turning towards her recumbent husband raised herself on her elbow
and hung over him in her anxiety that he should believe Stevie to be a useful
member of the family That ardour of protecting compassion exalted morbidly in
her childhood by the misery of another child tinged her sallow cheeks with a
faint dusky blush made her big eyes gleam under the dark lids Mrs Verloc then
looked younger she looked as young as Winnie used to look and much more
animated than the Winnie of the Belgravian mansion days had ever allowed herself
to appear to gentlemen lodgers Mr Verlocs anxieties had prevented him from
attaching any sense to what his wife was saying It was as if her voice was
talking on the other side of a very thick wall It was her aspect that recalled
him to himself
He appreciated this woman and the sentiment of this appreciation stirred
by a display of something resembling emotion only added another pang to his
mental anguish When her voice ceased he moved uneasily and said
»I havent been feeling well for the last few days«
He might have meant this as an opening to a complete confidence but Mrs
Verloc laid her head on the pillow again and staring upward went on
»That boy hears too much of what is talked about here If I had known they
were coming tonight I would have seen to it that he went to bed at the same
time I did He was out of his mind with something he overheard about eating
peoples flesh and drinking blood Whats the good of talking like that«
There was a note of indignant scorn in her voice Mr Verloc was fully
responsive now
»Ask Karl Yundt« he growled savagely
Mrs Verloc with great decision pronounced Karl Yundt »a disgusting old
man« She declared openly her affection for Michaelis Of the robust Ossipon in
whose presence she always felt uneasy behind an attitude of stony reserve she
said nothing whatever And continuing to talk of that brother who had been for
so many years an object of care and fears
»He isnt fit to hear whats said here He believes its all true He knows
no better He gets into his passions over it«
Mr Verloc made no comment
»He glared at me as if he didnt know who I was when I went downstairs
His heart was going like a hammer He cant help being excitable I woke mother
up and asked her to sit with him till he went to sleep It isnt his fault
Hes no trouble when hes left alone«
Mr Verloc made no comment
»I wish he had never been to school« Mrs Verloc began again brusquely
»Hes always taking away those newspapers from the window to read He gets a red
face poring over them We dont get rid of a dozen numbers in a month They only
take up room in the front window And Mr Ossipon brings every week a pile of
these F P tracts to sell at a halfpenny each I wouldnt give a halfpenny for
the whole lot Its silly reading thats what it is Theres no sale for it
The other day Stevie got hold of one and there was a story in it of a German
soldier officer tearing halfoff the ear of a recruit and nothing was done to
him for it The brute I couldnt do anything with Stevie that afternoon The
story was enough too to make ones blood boil But whats the use of printing
things like that We arent German slaves here thank God Its not our business
is it«
Mr Verloc made no reply
»I had to take the carving knife from the boy« Mrs Verloc continued a
little sleepily now »He was shouting and stamping and sobbing He cant stand
the notion of any cruelty He would have stuck that officer like a pig if he had
seen him then Its true too Some people dont deserve much mercy« Mrs
Verlocs voice ceased and the expression of her motionless eyes became more and
more contemplative and veiled during the long pause »Comfortable dear« she
asked in a faint faraway voice »Shall I put out the light now«
The dreary conviction that there was no sleep for him held Mr Verloc mute
and hopelessly inert in his fear of darkness He made a great effort
»Yes Put it out« he said at last in a hollow tone
IV
Most of the thirty or so little tables covered by red cloths with a white design
stood ranged at right angles to the deep brown wainscoting of the underground
hall Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low slightly
vaulted ceiling and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls
without windows representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in
mediæval costumes Varlets in green jerkins brandished hunting knives and raised
on high tankards of foaming beer
»Unless I am very much mistaken you are the man who would know the inside
of this confounded affair« said the robust Ossipon leaning over his elbows
far out on the table and his feet tucked back completely under his chair His
eyes stared with wild eagerness
An upright semigrand piano near the door flanked by two palms in pots
executed suddenly all by itself a valse tune with aggressive virtuosity The din
it raised was deafening When it ceased as abruptly as it had started the
bespectacled dingy little man who faced Ossipon behind a heavy glass mug full
of beer emitted calmly what had the sound of a general proposition
»In principle what one of us may or may not know as to any given fact cant
be a matter for inquiry to the others«
»Certainly not« Comrade Ossipon agreed in a quiet undertone »In
principle«
With his big florid face held between his hands he continued to stare hard
while the dingy little man in spectacles coolly took a drink of beer and stood
the glass mug back on the table His flat large ears departed widely from the
sides of his skull which looked frail enough for Ossipon to crush between thumb
and forefinger the dome of the forehead seemed to rest on the rim of the
spectacles the flat cheeks of a greasy unhealthy complexion were merely
smudged by the miserable poverty of a thin dark whisker The lamentable
inferiority of the whole physique was made ludicrous by the supremely
selfconfident bearing of the individual His speech was curt and he had a
particularly impressive manner of keeping silent
Ossipon spoke again from between his hands in a mutter
»Have you been out much today«
»No I stayed in bed all the morning« answered the other »Why«
»Oh Nothing« said Ossipon gazing earnestly and quivering inwardly with
the desire to find out something but obviously intimidated by the little mans
overwhelming air of unconcern When talking with this comrade which happened
but rarely the big Ossipon suffered from a sense of moral and even physical
insignificance However he ventured another question »Did you walk down here«
»No omnibus« the little man answered readily enough He lived far away in
Islington in a small house down a shabby street littered with straw and dirty
paper where out of school hours a troop of assorted children ran and squabbled
with a shrill joyless rowdy clamour His single back room remarkable for
having an extremely large cupboard he rented furnished from two elderly
spinsters dressmakers in a humble way with a clientele of servant girls mostly
He had a heavy padlock put on the cupboard but otherwise he was a model lodger
giving no trouble and requiring practically no attendance His oddities were
that he insisted on being present when his room was being swept and that when
he went out he locked his door and took the key away with him
Ossipon had a vision of these round blackrimmed spectacles progressing
along the streets on the top of an omnibus their selfconfident glitter falling
here and there on the walls of houses or lowered upon the heads of the
unconscious stream of people on the pavements The ghost of a sickly smile
altered the set of Ossipons thick lips at the thought of the walls nodding of
people running for life at the sight of those spectacles If they had only
known What a panic He murmured interrogatively »Been sitting long here«
»An hour or more« answered the other negligently and took a pull at the
dark beer All his movements the way he grasped the mug the act of drinking
the way he set the heavy glass down and folded his arms had a firmness an
assured precision which made the big and muscular Ossipon leaning forward with
staring eyes and protruding lips look the picture of eager indecision
»An hour« he said »Then it may be you havent heard yet the news Ive
heard just now in the street Have you«
The little man shook his head negatively the least bit But as he gave no
indication of curiosity Ossipon ventured to add that he had heard it just
outside the place A newspaper boy had yelled the thing under his very nose and
not being prepared for anything of that sort he was very much startled and
upset He had to come in there with a dry mouth »I never thought of finding you
here« he added murmuring steadily with his elbows planted on the table
»I come here sometimes« said the other preserving his provoking coolness
of demeanour
»Its wonderful that you of all people should have heard nothing of it« the
big Ossipon continued His eyelids snapped nervously upon the shining eyes »You
of all people« he repeated tentatively This obvious restraint argued an
incredible and inexplicable timidity of the big fellow before the calm little
man who again lifted the glass mug drank and put it down with brusque and
assured movements And that was all
Ossipon after waiting for something word or sign that did not come made
an effort to assume a sort of indifference
»Do you« he said deadening his voice still more »give your stuff to
anybody whos up to asking you for it«
»My absolute rule is never to refuse anybody as long as I have a pinch by
me« answered the little man with decision
»Thats a principle« commented Ossipon
»Its a principle«
»And you think its sound«
The large round spectacles which gave a look of staring selfconfidence to
the sallow face confronted Ossipon like sleepless unwinking orbs flashing a
cold fire
»Perfectly Always Under every circumstance What could stop me Why should
I not Why should I think twice about it«
Ossipon gasped as it were discreetly
»Do you mean to say you would hand it over to a tec if one came to ask you
for your wares«
The other smiled faintly
»Let them come and try it on and you will see« he said »They know me but
I know also every one of them They wont come near me not they«
His thin livid lips snapped together firmly Ossipon began to argue
»But they could send someone rig a plant on you Dont you see Get the
stuff from you in that way and then arrest you with the proof in their hands«
»Proof of what Dealing in explosives without a licence perhaps« This was
meant for a contemptuous jeer though the expression of the thin sickly face
remained unchanged and the utterance was negligent »I dont think theres one
of them anxious to make that arrest I dont think they could get one of them to
apply for a warrant I mean one of the best Not one«
»Why« Ossipon asked
»Because they know very well I take care never to part with the last handful
of my wares Ive it always by me« He touched the breast of his coat lightly
»In a thick glass flask« he added
»So I have been told« said Ossipon with a shade of wonder in his voice
»But I didnt know if «
»They know« interrupted the little man crisply leaning against the
straight chair back which rose higher than his fragile head »I shall never be
arrested The game isnt good enough for any policeman of them all To deal with
a man like me you require sheer naked inglorious heroism«
Again his lips closed with a selfconfident snap Ossipon repressed a
movement of impatience
»Or recklessness or simply ignorance« he retorted »Theyve only to get
somebody for the job who does not know you carry enough stuff in your pocket to
blow yourself and everything within sixty yards of you to pieces«
»I never affirmed I could not be eliminated« rejoined the other »But that
wouldnt be an arrest Moreover its not so easy as it looks«
»Bah« Ossipon contradicted »Dont be too sure of that Whats to prevent
halfadozen of them jumping upon you from behind in the street With your arms
pinned to your sides you could do nothing could you«
»Yes I could I am seldom out in the streets after dark« said the little
man impassively »and never very late I walk always with my right hand closed
round the indiarubber ball which I have in my trouser pocket The pressing of
this ball actuates a detonator inside the flask I carry in my pocket Its the
principle of the pneumatic instantaneous shutter for a camera lens The tube
leads up «
With a swift disclosing gesture he gave Ossipon a glimpse of an
indiarubber tube resembling a slender brown worm issuing from the armhole of
his waistcoat and plunging into the inner breast pocket of his jacket His
clothes of a nondescript brown mixture were threadbare and marked with stains
dusty in the folds with ragged buttonholes »The detonator is partly
mechanical partly chemical« he explained with casual condescension
»It is instantaneous of course« murmured Ossipon with a slight shudder
»Far from it« confessed the other with a reluctance which seemed to twist
his mouth dolorously »A full twenty seconds must elapse from the moment I press
the ball till the explosion takes place«
»Phew« whistled Ossipon completely appalled
»Twenty seconds Horrors You mean to say that you could face that I should
go crazy «
»Wouldnt matter if you did Of course its the weak point of this special
system which is only for my own use The worst is that the manner of exploding
is always the weak point with us I am trying to invent a detonator that would
adjust itself to all conditions of action and even to unexpected changes of
conditions A variable and yet perfectly precise mechanism A really intelligent
detonator«
»Twenty seconds« muttered Ossipon again »Ough And then «
With a slight turn of the head the glitter of the spectacles seemed to gauge
the size of the beer saloon in the basement of the renowned Silenus Restaurant
»Nobody in this room could hope to escape« was the verdict of that survey
»Nor yet this couple going up the stairs now«
The piano at the foot of the staircase clanged through a mazurka with brazen
impetuosity as though a vulgar and impudent ghost were showing off The keys
sank and rose mysteriously Then all became still For a moment Ossipon imagined
the overlighted place changed into a dreadful black hole belching horrible fumes
choked with ghastly rubbish of smashed brickwork and mutilated corpses He had
such a distinct perception of ruin and death that he shuddered again The other
observed with an air of calm sufficiency
»In the last instance it is character alone that makes for ones safety
There are very few people in the world whose character is as well established as
mine«
»I wonder how you managed it« growled Ossipon
»Force of personality« said the other without raising his voice and
coming from the mouth of that obviously miserable organism the assertion caused
the robust Ossipon to bite his lower lip »Force of personality« he repeated
with ostentatious calm
»I have the means to make myself deadly but that by itself you understand
is absolutely nothing in the way of protection What is effective is the belief
those people have in my will to use the means Thats their impression It is
absolute Therefore I am deadly«
»There are individuals of character amongst that lot too« muttered Ossipon
ominously
»Possibly But it is a matter of degree obviously since for instance I am
not impressed by them Therefore they are inferior They cannot be otherwise
Their character is built upon conventional morality It leans on the social
order Mine stands free from everything artificial They are bound in all sorts
of conventions They depend on life which in this connection is a historical
fact surrounded by all sorts of restraints and considerations a complex
organized fact open to attack at every point whereas I depend on death which
knows no restraint and cannot be attacked My superiority is evident«
»This is a transcendental way of putting it« said Ossipon watching the
cold glitter of the round spectacles »Ive heard Karl Yundt say much the same
thing not very long ago«
»Karl Yundt« mumbled the other contemptuously »the delegate of the
International Red Committee has been a posturing shadow all his life There are
three of you delegates arent there I wont define the other two as you are
one of them But what you say means nothing You are the worthy delegates for
revolutionary propaganda but the trouble is not only that you are as unable to
think independently as any respectable grocer or journalist of them all but
that you have no character whatever«
Ossipon could not restrain a start of indignation
»But what do you want from us« he exclaimed in a deadened voice »What is
it you are after yourself«
»A perfect detonator« was the peremptory answer »What are you making that
face for You see you cant even bear the mention of something conclusive«
»I am not making a face« growled the annoyed Ossipon bearishly
»You revolutionists« the other continued with leisurely selfconfidence
»are the slaves of the social convention which is afraid of you slaves of it
as much as the very police that stands up in the defence of that convention
Clearly you are since you want to revolutionize it It governs your thought of
course and your action too and thus neither your thought nor your action can
ever be conclusive« He paused tranquil with that air of close endless
silence then almost immediately went on »You are not a bit better than the
forces arrayed against you than the police for instance The other day I came
suddenly upon Chief Inspector Heat at the corner of Tottenham Court Road He
looked at me very steadily But I did not look at him Why should I give him
more than a glance He was thinking of many things of his superiors of his
reputation of the law courts of his salary of newspapers of a hundred
things But I was thinking of my perfect detonator only He meant nothing to me
He was as insignificant as I cant call to mind anything insignificant enough
to compare him with except Karl Yundt perhaps Like to like The terrorist and
the policeman both come from the same basket Revolution legality counter
moves in the same game forms of idleness at bottom identical He plays his
little game so do you propagandists But I dont play I work fourteen hours a
day and go hungry sometimes My experiments cost money now and again and then
I must do without food for a day or two Youre looking at my beer Yes I have
had two glasses already and shall have another presently This is a little
holiday and I celebrate it alone Why not Ive the grit to work alone quite
alone absolutely alone Ive worked alone for years«
Ossipons face had turned dusky red
»At the perfect detonator eh« he sneered very low
»Yes« retorted the other »It is a good definition You couldnt find
anything half so precise to define the nature of your activity with all your
committees and delegations It is I who am the true propagandist«
»We wont discuss that point« said Ossipon with an air of rising above
personal considerations »I am afraid Ill have to spoil your holiday for you
though Theres a man blown up in Greenwich Park this morning«
»How do you know«
»They have been yelling the news in the streets since two oclock I bought
the paper and just ran in here Then I saw you sitting at this table Ive got
it in my pocket now«
He pulled the newspaper out It was a goodsized rosy sheet as if flushed
by the warmth of its own convictions which were optimistic He scanned the
pages rapidly
»Ah Here it is Bomb in Greenwich Park There isnt much so far Halfpast
eleven Foggy morning Effects of explosion felt as far as Romney Road and Park
Place Enormous hole in the ground under a tree filled with smashed roots and
broken branches All round fragments of a mans body blown to pieces Thats
all The rests mere newspaper gup No doubt a wicked attempt to blow up the
Observatory they say Hm Thats hardly credible«
He looked at the paper for a while longer in silence then passed it to the
other who after gazing abstractedly at the print laid it down without comment
It was Ossipon who spoke first still resentful
»The fragments of only one man you note Ergo blew himself up That spoils
your day off for you dont it Were you expecting that sort of move I hadnt
the slightest idea not the ghost of a notion of anything of the sort being
planned to come off here in this country Under the present circumstances its
nothing short of criminal«
The little man lifted his thin black eyebrows with dispassionate scorn
»Criminal What is that What is crime What can be the meaning of such an
assertion«
»How am I to express myself One must use the current words« said Ossipon
impatiently »The meaning of this assertion is that this business may affect our
position very adversely in this country Isnt that crime enough for you I am
convinced you have been giving away some of your stuff lately«
Ossipon stared hard The other without flinching lowered and raised his
head slowly
»You have« burst out the editor of the F P leaflets in an intense
whisper »No And are you really handing it over at large like this for the
asking to the first fool that comes along«
»Just so The condemned social order has not been built up on paper and ink
and I dont fancy that a combination of paper and ink will ever put an end to
it whatever you may think Yes I would give the stuff with both hands to every
man woman or fool that likes to come along I know what you are thinking
about But I am not taking my cue from the Red Committee I would see you all
hounded out of here or arrested or beheaded for that matter without turning
a hair What happens to us as individuals is not of the least consequence«
He spoke carelessly without heat almost without feeling and Ossipon
secretly much affected tried to copy this detachment
»If the police here knew their business they would shoot you full of holes
with revolvers or else try to sandbag you from behind in broad daylight«
The little man seemed already to have considered that point of view in his
dispassionate selfconfident manner
»Yes« he assented with the utmost readiness »But for that they would have
to face their own institutions Do you see That requires uncommon grit Grit of
a special kind«
Ossipon blinked
»I fancy thats exactly what would happen to you if you were to set up your
laboratory in the States They dont stand on ceremony with their institutions
there«
»I am not likely to go and see Otherwise your remark is just« admitted the
other »They have more character over there and their character is essentially
anarchistic Fertile ground for us the States very good ground The great
Republic has the root of the destructive matter in her The collective
temperament is lawless Excellent They may shoot us down but «
»You are too transcendental for me« growled Ossipon with moody concern
»Logical« protested the other »There are several kinds of logic This is
the enlightened kind America is all right It is this country that is
dangerous with her idealistic conception of legality The social spirit of this
people is wrapped up in scrupulous prejudices and that is fatal to our work
You talk of England being our only refuge So much the worse Capua What do we
want with refuges Here you talk print plot and do nothing I daresay its
very convenient for such Karl Yundts«
He shrugged his shoulders slightly then added with the same leisurely
assurance »To break up the superstition and worship of legality should be our
aim Nothing would please me more than to see Inspector Heat and his likes take
to shooting us down in broad daylight with the approval of the public Half our
battle would be won then the disintegration of the old morality would have set
in in its very temple That is what you ought to aim at But you revolutionists
will never understand that You plan the future you lose yourselves in reveries
of economical systems derived from what is whereas whats wanted is a clean
sweep and a clear start for a new conception of life That sort of future will
take care of itself if you will only make room for it Therefore I would shovel
my stuff in heaps at the corners of the streets if I had enough for that and as
I havent I do my best by perfecting a really dependable detonator«
Ossipon who had been mentally swimming in deep waters seized upon the last
word as if it were a saving plank
»Yes Your detonators I shouldnt wonder if it werent one of your
detonators that made a clean sweep of the man in the park«
A shade of vexation darkened the determined sallow face confronting
Ossipon
»My difficulty consists precisely in experimenting practically with the
various kinds They must be tried after all Besides «
Ossipon interrupted
»Who could that fellow be I assure you that we in London had no knowledge
Couldnt you describe the person you gave the stuff to«
The other turned his spectacles upon Ossipon like a pair of searchlights
»Describe him« he repeated slowly »I dont think there can be the
slightest objection now I will describe him to you in one word Verloc«
Ossipon whom curiosity had lifted a few inches off his seat dropped back
as if hit in the face
»Verloc Impossible«
The selfpossessed little man nodded slightly once
»Yes Hes the person You cant say that in this case I was giving my stuff
to the first fool that came along He was a prominent member of the group as far
as I understand«
»Yes« said Ossipon »Prominent No not exactly He was the centre for
general intelligence and usually received comrades coming over here More
useful than important Man of no ideas Years ago he used to speak at meetings
in France I believe Not very well though He was trusted by such men as
Latorre Moser and all that old lot The only talent he showed really was his
ability to elude the attentions of the police somehow Here for instance he
did not seem to be looked after very closely He was regularly married you
know I suppose its with her money that he started that shop Seemed to make it
pay too«
Ossipon paused abruptly muttered to himself »I wonder what that woman will
do now« and fell into thought
The other waited with ostentatious indifference His parentage was obscure
and he was generally known only by his nickname of Professor His title to that
designation consisted in his having been once assistant demonstrator in
chemistry at some technical institute He quarrelled with the authorities upon a
question of unfair treatment Afterwards he obtained a post in the laboratory of
a manufactory of dyes There too he had been treated with revolting injustice
His struggles his privations his hard work to raise himself in the social
scale had filled him with such an exalted conviction of his merits that it was
extremely difficult for the world to treat him with justice the standard of
that notion depending so much upon the patience of the individual The Professor
had genius but lacked the great social virtue of resignation
»Intellectually a nonentity« Ossipon pronounced aloud abandoning suddenly
the inward contemplation of Mrs Verlocs bereaved person and business »Quite
an ordinary personality You are wrong in not keeping more in touch with the
comrades Professor« he added in a reproving tone »Did he say anything to you
give you some idea of his intentions I hadnt seen him for a month It seems
impossible that he should be gone«
»He told me it was going to be a demonstration against a building« said the
Professor »I had to know that much to prepare the missile I pointed out to him
that I had hardly a sufficient quantity for a completely destructive result but
he pressed me very earnestly to do my best As he wanted something that could be
carried openly in the hand I proposed to make use of an old onegallon copal
varnish can I happened to have by me He was pleased at the idea It gave me
some trouble because I had to cut out the bottom first and solder it on again
afterwards When prepared for use the can enclosed a widemouthed wellcorked
jar of thick glass packed around with some wet clay and containing sixteen
ounces of X2 green powder The detonator was connected with the screw top of the
can It was ingenious a combination of time and shock I explained the system
to him It was a thin tube of tin enclosing a «
Ossipons attention had wandered
»What do you think has happened« he interrupted
»Cant tell Screwed the top on tight which would make the connection and
then forgot the time It was set for twenty minutes On the other hand the time
contact being made a sharp shock would bring about the explosion at once He
either ran the time too close or simply let the thing fall The contact was
made all right thats clear to me at any rate The systems worked perfectly
And yet you would think that a common fool in a hurry would be much more likely
to forget to make the contact altogether I was worrying myself about that sort
of failure mostly But there are more kinds of fools than one can guard against
You cant expect a detonator to be absolutely foolproof«
He beckoned to a waiter Ossipon sat rigid with the abstracted gaze of
mental travail After the man had gone away with the money he roused himself
with an air of profound dissatisfaction
»Its extremely unpleasant for me« he mused »Karl has been in bed with
bronchitis for a week Theres an even chance that he will never get up again
Michaelis is luxuriating in the country somewhere A fashionable publisher has
offered him five hundred pounds for a book It will be a ghastly failure He has
lost the habit of consecutive thinking in prison you know«
The Professor on his feet now buttoning his coat looked about him with
perfect indifference
»What are you going to do« asked Ossipon wearily He dreaded the blame of
the Central Red Committee a body which had no permanent place of abode and of
whose membership he was not exactly informed If this affair eventuated in the
stoppage of the modest subsidy allotted to the publication of the F P
pamphlets then indeed he would have to regret Verlocs inexplicable folly
»Solidarity with the extremest form of action is one thing and silly
recklessness is another« he said with a sort of moody brutality »I dont know
what came to Verloc Theres some mystery there However hes gone You may
take it as you like but under the circumstances the only policy for the
militant revolutionary group is to disclaim all connection with this damned
freak of yours How to make the disclaimer convincing enough is what bothers
me«
The little man on his feet buttoned up and ready to go was no taller than
the seated Ossipon He levelled his spectacles at the latters face pointblank
»You might ask the police for a testimonial of good conduct They know where
every one of you slept last night Perhaps if you asked them they would consent
to publish some sort of official statement«
»No doubt they are aware well enough that we had nothing to do with this«
mumbled Ossipon bitterly »What they will say is another thing« He remained
thoughtful disregarding the short owlish shabby figure standing by his side
»I must lay hands on Michaelis at once and get him to speak from his heart at
one of our gatherings The public has a sort of sentimental regard for that
fellow His name is known And I am in touch with a few reporters on the big
dailies What he would say would be utter bosh but he has a turn of talk that
makes it go down all the same«
»Like treacle« interjected the Professor rather low keeping an impassive
expression
The perplexed Ossipon went on communing with himself half audibly after the
manner of a man reflecting in perfect solitude
»Confounded ass To leave such an imbecile business on my hands And I dont
even know if «
He sat with compressed lips The idea of going for news straight to the shop
lacked charm His notion was that Verlocs shop might have been turned already
into a police trap They will be bound to make some arrests he thought with
something resembling virtuous indignation for the even tenor of his
revolutionary life was menaced by no fault of his And yet unless he went there
he ran the risk of remaining in ignorance of what perhaps it would be very
material for him to know Then he reflected that if the man in the park had
been so very much blown to pieces as the evening papers said he could not have
been identified And if so the police could have no special reason for watching
Verlocs shop more closely than any other place known to be frequented by marked
anarchists no more reason in fact than for watching the doors of the
Silenus There would be a lot of watching all round no matter where he went
Still
»I wonder what I had better do now« he muttered taking counsel with
himself
A rasping voice at his elbow said with sedate scorn »Fasten yourself upon
the woman for all shes worth«
After uttering these words the Professor walked away from the table
Ossipon whom that piece of insight had taken unawares gave one ineffectual
start and remained still with a helpless gaze as though nailed fast to the
seat of his chair The lonely piano without as much as a music stool to help
it struck a few chords courageously and beginning a selection of national
airs played him out at last to the tune of Blue Bells of Scotland The
painfully detached notes grew faint behind his back while he went slowly
upstairs across the hall and into the street
In front of the great doorway a dismal row of newspaper sellers standing
clear of the pavement dealt out their wares from the gutter It was a raw
gloomy day of the early spring and the grimy sky the mud of the streets the
rags of the dirty men harmonized excellently with the eruption of the damp
rubbishy sheets of paper soiled with printers ink The posters maculated with
filth garnished like tapestry the sweep of the curbstone The trade in
afternoon papers was brisk yet in comparison with the swift constant march of
foot traffic the effect was of indifference of a disregarded distribution
Ossipon looked hurriedly both ways before stepping out into the crosscurrents
but the Professor was already out of sight
V
The Professor had turned into a street to the left and walked along with his
head carried rigidly erect in a crowd whose every individual almost overtopped
his stunted stature It was vain to pretend to himself that he was not
disappointed But that was mere feeling the stoicism of his thought could not
be disturbed by this or any other failure Next time or the time after next a
telling stroke would be delivered something really startling a blow fit to
open the first crack in the imposing front of the great edifice of legal
conceptions sheltering the atrocious injustice of society Of humble origin and
with an appearance really so mean as to stand in the way of his considerable
natural abilities his imagination had been fired early by the tales of men
rising from the depths of poverty to positions of authority and affluence The
extreme almost ascetic purity of his thought combined with an astounding
ignorance of worldly conditions had set before him a goal of power and prestige
to be attained without the medium of arts graces tact wealth by sheer
weight of merit alone On that view he considered himself entitled to undisputed
success His father a delicate dark enthusiast with a sloping forehead had
been an itinerant and rousing preacher of some obscure but rigid Christian sect
a man supremely confident in the privileges of his righteousness In the son
individualist by temperament once the science of colleges had replaced
thoroughly the faith of conventicles this moral attitude translated itself into
a frenzied puritanism of ambition He nursed it as something secularly holy To
see it thwarted opened his eyes to the true nature of the world whose morality
was artificial corrupt and blasphemous The way of even the most justifiable
revolutions is prepared by personal impulses disguised into creeds The
Professors indignation found in itself a final cause that absolved him from the
sin of turning to destruction as the agent of his ambition To destroy public
faith in legality was the imperfect formula of his pedantic fanaticism but the
subconscious conviction that the framework of an established social order cannot
be effectually shattered except by some form of collective or individual
violence was precise and correct He was a moral agent that was settled in his
mind By exercising his agency with ruthless defiance he procured for himself
the appearances of power and personal prestige That was undeniable to his
vengeful bitterness It pacified its unrest and in their own way the most
ardent of revolutionaries are perhaps doing no more but seeking for peace in
common with the rest of mankind the peace of soothed vanity of satisfied
appetities or perhaps of appeased conscience
Lost in the crowd miserable and undersized he meditated confidently on his
power keeping his hand in the left pocket of his trousers grasping lightly the
indiarubber ball the supreme guarantee of his sinister freedom but after a
while he became disagreeably affected by the sight of the roadway thronged with
vehicles and of the pavement crowded with men and women He was in a long
straight street peopled by a mere fraction of an immense multitude but all
round him on and on even to the limits of the horizon hidden by the enormous
piles of bricks he felt the mass of mankind mighty in its numbers They swarmed
numerous like locusts industrious like ants thoughtless like a natural force
pushing on blind and orderly and absorbed impervious to sentiment to logic to
terror too perhaps
That was the form of doubt he feared most Impervious to fear Often while
walking abroad when he happened also to come out of himself he had such
moments of dreadful and sane mistrust of mankind What if nothing could move
them Such moments come to all men whose ambition aims at a direct grasp upon
humanity to artists politicians thinkers reformers or saints A despicable
emotional state this against which solitude fortifies a superior character and
with severe exultation the Professor thought of the refuge of his room with its
padlocked cupboard lost in a wilderness of poor houses the hermitage of the
perfect anarchist In order to reach sooner the point where he could take his
omnibus he turned brusquely out of the populous street into a narrow and dusky
alley paved with flagstones On one side the low brick houses had in their dusty
windows the sightless moribund look of incurable decay empty shells awaiting
demolition From the other side life had not departed wholly as yet Facing the
only gaslamp yawned the cavern of a secondhand furniture dealer where deep
in the gloom of a sort of narrow avenue winding through a bizarre forest of
wardrobes with an undergrowth tangle of table legs a tall pierglass glimmered
like a pool of water in a wood An unhappy homeless couch accompanied by two
unrelated chairs stood in the open The only human being making use of the
alley besides the Professor coming stalwart and erect from the opposite
direction checked his swinging pace suddenly
»Hallo« he said and stood a little on one side watchfully
The Professor had already stopped with a ready half turn which brought his
shoulders very near the other wall His right hand fell lightly on the back of
the outcast couch the left remained purposefully plunged deep in the trousers
pocket and the roundness of the heavy rimmed spectacles imparted an owlish
character to his moody unperturbed face
It was like a meeting in a side corridor of a mansion full of life The
stalwart man was buttoned up in a dark overcoat and carried an umbrella His
hat tilted back uncovered a good deal of forehead which appeared very white
in the dusk In the dark patches of the orbits the eyeballs glimmered
piercingly Long drooping moustaches the colour of ripe corn framed with
their points the square block of his shaved chin
»I am not looking for you« he said curtly
The Professor did not stir an inch The blended noises of the enormous town
sank down to an inarticulate low murmur Chief Inspector Heat of the Special
Crime Department changed his tone
»Not in a hurry to get home« he asked with mocking simplicity
The unwholesomelooking little moral agent of destruction exulted silently
in the possession of personal prestige keeping in check this man armed with the
defensive mandate of a menaced society More fortunate than Caligula who wished
that the Roman Senate had only one head for the better satisfaction of his cruel
lust he beheld in that one man all the forces he had set at defiance the force
of law property oppression and injustice He beheld all his enemies and
fearlessly confronted them all in a supreme satisfaction of his vanity They
stood perplexed before him as if before a dreadful portent He gloated inwardly
over the chance of this meeting affirming his superiority over all the multitude
of mankind
It was in reality a chance meeting Chief Inspector Heat had had a
disagreeably busy day since his department received the first telegram from
Greenwich a little before eleven in the morning First of all the fact of the
outrage being attempted less than a week after he had assured a high official
that no outbreak of anarchist activity was to be apprehended was sufficiently
annoying If he ever thought himself safe in making a statement it was then He
had made that statement with infinite satisfaction to himself because it was
clear that the high official desired greatly to hear that very thing He had
affirmed that nothing of the sort could even be thought of without the
department being aware of it within twentyfour hours and he had spoken thus in
his consciousness of being the great expert of his department He had gone even
so far as to utter words which true wisdom would have kept back But Chief
Inspector Heat was not very wise at least not truly so True wisdom which is
not certain of anything in this world of contradictions would have prevented
him from attaining his present position It would have alarmed his superiors
and done away with his chances of promotion His promotion had been very rapid
»There isnt one of them sir that we couldnt lay our hands on at any time
of night and day We know what each of them is doing hour by hour« he had
declared And the high official had deigned to smile This was so obviously the
right thing to say for an officer of Chief Inspector Heats reputation that it
was perfectly delightful The high official believed the declaration which
chimed in with his idea of the fitness of things His wisdom was of an official
kind or else he might have reflected upon a matter not of theory but of
experience that in the closewoven stuff of relations between conspirator and
police there occur unexpected solutions of continuity sudden holes in space and
time A given anarchist may be watched inch by inch and minute by minute but a
moment always comes when somehow all sight and touch of him are lost for a few
hours during which something generally an explosion more or less deplorable
does happen But the high official carried away by his sense of the fitness of
things had smiled and now the recollection of that smile was very annoying to
Chief Inspector Heat principal expert in anarchist procedure
This was not the only circumstance whose recollection depressed the usual
serenity of the eminent specialist There was another dating back only to that
very morning The thought that when called urgently to his Assistant
Commissioners private room he had been unable to conceal his astonishment was
distinctly vexing His instinct of a successful man had taught him long ago
that as a general rule a reputation is built on manner as much as on
achievement And he felt that his manner when confronted with the telegram had
not been impressive He had opened his eyes widely and had exclaimed
»Impossible« exposing himself thereby to the unanswerable retort of a
fingertip laid forcibly on the telegram which the Assistant Commissioner after
reading it aloud had flung on the desk To be crushed as it were under the
tip of a forefinger was an unpleasant experience Very damaging too
Furthermore Chief Inspector Heat was conscious of not having mended matters by
allowing himself to express a conviction
»One thing I can tell you at once none of our lot had anything to do with
this«
He was strong in his integrity of a good detective but he saw now that an
impenetrably attentive reserve towards this incident would have served his
reputation better On the other hand he admitted to himself that it was
difficult to preserve ones reputation if rank outsiders were going to take a
hand in the business Outsiders are the bane of the police as of other
professions The tone of the Assistant Commissioners remarks had been sour
enough to set ones teeth on edge
And since breakfast Chief Inspector Heat had not managed to get anything to
eat
Starting immediately to begin his investigation on the spot he had
swallowed a good deal of raw unwholesome fog in the park Then he had walked
over to the hospital and when the investigation in Greenwich was concluded at
last he had lost his inclination for food Not accustomed as the doctors are
to examine closely the mangled remains of human beings he had been shocked by
the sight disclosed to his view when a waterproof sheet had been lifted off a
table in a certain apartment of the hospital
Another waterproof sheet was spread over that table in the manner of a
tablecloth with the corners turned up over a sort of mound a heap of rags
scorched and bloodstained half concealing what might have been an accumulation
of raw material for a cannibal feast It required considerable firmness of mind
not to recoil before that sight Chief Inspector Heat an efficient officer of
his department stood his ground but for a whole minute he did not advance A
local constable in uniform cast a sidelong glance and said with stolid
simplicity
»Hes all there Every bit of him It was a job«
He had been the first man on the spot after the explosion He mentioned the
fact again He had seen something like a heavy flash of lightning in the fog At
that time he was standing at the door of the King William Street Lodge talking
to the keeper The concussion made him tingle all over He ran between the trees
towards the Observatory »As fast as my legs would carry me« he repeated twice
Chief Inspector Heat bending forward over the table in a gingerly and
horrified manner let him run on The hospital porter and another man turned
down the corners of the cloth and stepped aside The Chief Inspectors eyes
searched the gruesome detail of that heap of mixed things which seemed to have
been collected in shambles and rag shops
»You used a shovel« he remarked observing a sprinkling of small gravel
tiny brown bits of bark and particles of splintered wood as fine as needles
»Had to in one place« said the stolid constable »I sent a keeper to fetch
a spade When he heard me scraping the ground with it he leaned his forehead
against a tree and was as sick as a dog«
The Chief Inspector stooping guardedly over the table fought down the
unpleasant sensation in his throat The shattering violence of destruction which
had made of that body a heap of nameless fragments affected his feelings with a
sense of ruthless cruelty though his reason told him the effect must have been
as swift as a flash of lightning The man whoever he was had died
instantaneously and yet it seemed impossible to believe that a human body could
have reached that state of disintegration without passing through the pangs of
inconceivable agony No physiologist and still less of a metaphysician Chief
Inspector Heat rose by the force of sympathy which is a form of fear above the
vulgar conception of time Instantaneous He remembered all he had ever read in
popular publications of long and terrifying dreams dreamed in the instant of
waking of the whole past life lived with frightful intensity by a drowning man
as his doomed head bobs up streaming for the last time The inexplicable
mysteries of conscious existence beset Chief Inspector Heat till he evolved a
horrible notion that ages of atrocious pain and mental torture could be
contained between two successive winks of an eye And meantime the Chief
Inspector went on peering at the table with a calm face and the slightly anxious
attention of an indigent customer bending over what may be called the
byproducts of a butchers shop with a view to an inexpensive Sunday dinner All
the time his trained faculties of an excellent investigator who scorns no
chance of information followed the selfsatisfied disjointed loquacity of the
constable
»A fairhaired fellow« the last observed in a placid tone and paused »The
old woman who spoke to the sergeant noticed a fairhaired fellow coming out of
Maze Hill Station« He paused »And he was a fairhaired fellow She noticed two
men coming out of the station after the uptrain had gone on« he continued
slowly »She couldnt tell if they were together She took no particular notice
of the big one but the other was a fair slight chap carrying a tin varnish
can in one hand« The constable ceased
»Know the woman« muttered the Chief Inspector with his eyes fixed on the
table and a vague notion in his mind of an inquest to be held presently upon a
person likely to remain for ever unknown
»Yes Shes housekeeper to a retired publican and attends the chapel in
Park Place sometimes« the constable uttered weightily and paused with another
oblique glance at the table Then suddenly »Well here he is all of him I
could see Fair Slight slight enough Look at that foot there I picked up
the legs first one after another He was that scattered you didnt know where
to begin«
The constable paused the least flicker of an innocent selflaudatory smile
invested his round face with an infantile expression
»Stumbled« he announced positively »I stumbled once myself and pitched
on my head too while running up Them roots do stick out all about the place
Stumbled against the root of a tree and fell and that thing he was carrying
must have gone off right under his chest I expect«
The echo of the words Person unknown repeating itself in his inner
consciousness bothered the Chief Inspector considerably He would have liked to
trace this affair back to its mysterious origin for his own information He was
professionally curious Before the public he would have liked to vindicate the
efficiency of his department by establishing the identity of that man He was a
loyal servant That however appeared impossible The first term of the problem
was unreadable lacked all suggestion but that of atrocious cruelty
Overcoming his physical repugnance Chief Inspector Heat stretched out his
hand without conviction for the salving of his conscience and took up the least
soiled of the rags It was a narrow strip of velvet with a larger triangular
piece of dark blue cloth hanging from it He held it up to his eyes and the
police constable spoke
»Velvet collar Funny the old woman should have noticed the velvet collar
Dark blue overcoat with a velvet collar she has told us He was the chap she
saw and no mistake And here he is all complete velvet collar and all I dont
think I missed a single piece as big as a postage stamp«
At this point the trained faculties of the Chief Inspector ceased to hear
the voice of the constable He moved to one of the windows for better light His
face averted from the room expressed a startled intense interest while he
examined closely the triangular piece of broadcloth By a sudden jerk he
detached it and only after stuffing it into his pocket turned round to the
room and flung the velvet collar back on the table
»Cover up« he directed the attendants curtly without another look and
saluted by the constable carried off his spoil hastily
A convenient train whirled him up to town alone and pondering deeply in a
thirdclass compartment That singed piece of cloth was incredibly valuable and
he could not defend himself from astonishment at the casual manner it had come
into his possession It was as if Fate had thrust that clue into his hands And
after the manner of the average man whose ambition is to command events he
began to mistrust such a gratuitous and accidental success just because it
seemed forced upon him The practical value of success depends not a little on
the way you look at it But Fate looks at nothing It has no discretion He no
longer considered it eminently desirable all round to establish publicly the
identity of the man who had blown himself up that morning with such horrible
completeness But he was not certain of the view his department would take A
department is to those it employs a complex personality with ideas and even fads
of its own It depends on the loyal devotion of its servants and the devoted
loyalty of trusted servants is associated with a certain amount of affectionate
contempt which keeps it sweet as it were By a benevolent provision of Nature
no man is a hero to his valet or else the heroes would have to brush their own
clothes Likewise no department appears perfectly wise to the intimacy of its
workers A department does not know so much as some of its servants Being a
dispassionate organism it can never be perfectly informed It would not be good
for its efficiency to know too much Chief Inspector Heat got out of the train
in a state of thoughtfulness entirely untainted with disloyalty but not quite
free of that jealous mistrust which so often springs on the ground of perfect
devotion whether to women or to institutions
It was in this mental disposition physically very empty but still
nauseated by what he had seen that he had come upon the Professor Under these
conditions which make for irascibility in a sound normal man this meeting was
specially unwelcome to Chief Inspector Heat He had not been thinking of the
Professor he had not been thinking of any individual anarchist at all The
complexion of that case had somehow forced upon him the general idea of the
absurdity of things human which in the abstract is sufficiently annoying to an
unphilosophical temperament and in concrete instances becomes exasperating
beyond endurance At the beginning of his career Chief Inspector Heat had been
concerned with the more energetic forms of thieving He had gained his spurs in
that sphere and naturally enough had kept for it after his promotion to
another department a feeling not very far removed from affection Thieving was
not a sheer absurdity It was a form of human industry perverse indeed but
still an industry exercised in an industrious world it was work undertaken for
the same reason as the work in potteries in coal mines in fields in
toolgrinding shops It was labour whose practical difference from the other
forms of labour consisted in the nature of its risk which did not lie in
ankylosis or lead poisoning or firedamp or gritty dust but in what may be
briefly defined in its own special phraseology as Seven years hard Chief
Inspector Heat was of course not insensible to the gravity of moral
differences But neither were the thieves he had been looking after They
submitted to the severe sanctions of a morality familiar to Chief Inspector Heat
with a certain resignation They were his fellowcitizens gone wrong because of
imperfect education Chief Inspector Heat believed but allowing for that
difference he could understand the mind of a burglar because as a matter of
fact the mind and the instincts of a burglar are of the same kind as the mind
and the instincts of a police officer Both recognize the same conventions and
have a working knowledge of each others methods and of the routine of their
respective trades They understand each other which is advantageous to both
and establishes a sort of amenity in their relations Products of the same
machine one classed as useful and the other as noxious they take the machine
for granted in different ways but with a seriousness essentially the same The
mind of Chief Inspector Heat was inaccessible to ideas of revolt But his
thieves were not rebels His bodily vigour his cool inflexible manner his
courage and his fairness had secured for him much respect and some adulation
in the sphere of his early successes He had felt himself revered and admired
And Chief Inspector Heat arrested within six paces of the anarchist nicknamed
the Professor gave a thought of regret to the world of thieves sane without
morbid ideals working by routine respectful of constituted authorities free
from all taint of hate and despair
After paying this tribute to what is normal in the constitution of society
for the idea of thieving appeared to his instinct as normal as the idea of
property Chief Inspector Heat felt very angry with himself for having stopped
for having spoken for having taken that way at all on the ground of it being a
short cut from the station to the headquarters And he spoke again in his big
authoritative voice which being moderated had a threatening character
»You are not wanted I tell you« he repeated
The anarchist did not stir An inward laugh of derision uncovered not only
his teeth but his gums as well shook him all over without the slightest sound
Chief Inspector Heat was led to add against his better judgment
»Not yet When I want you I will know where to find you«
Those were perfectly proper words within the tradition and suitable to his
character of a police officer addressing one of his special flock But the
reception they got departed from tradition and propriety It was outrageous The
stunted weakly figure before him spoke at last
»Ive no doubt the papers would give you an obituary notice then You know
best what that would be worth to you I should think you can imagine easily the
sort of stuff that would be printed But you may be exposed to the
unpleasantness of being buried together with me though I suppose your friends
would make an effort to sort us out as much as possible«
With all his healthy contempt for the spirit dictating such speeches the
atrocious allusiveness of the words had its effect on Chief Inspector Heat He
had too much insight and too much exact information as well to dismiss them as
rot The dusk of this narrow lane took on a sinister tint from the dark frail
little figure its back to the wall and speaking with a weak selfconfident
voice To the vigorous tenacious vitality of the Chief Inspector the physical
wretchedness of that being so obviously not fit to live was ominous for it
seemed to him that if he had the misfortune to be such a miserable object he
would not have cared how soon he died Life had such a strong hold upon him that
a fresh wave of nausea broke out in slight perspiration upon his brow The
murmur of town life the subdued rumble of wheels in the two invisible streets
to the right and left came through the curve of the sordid lane to his ears
with a precious familiarity and an appealing sweetness He was human But Chief
Inspector Heat was also a man and he could not let such words pass
»All this is good to frighten children with« he said »Ill have you yet«
It was very well said without scorn with an almost austere quietness
»Doubtless« was the answer »but theres no time like the present believe
me For a man of real convictions this is a fine opportunity of selfsacrifice
You may not find another so favourable so humane There isnt even a cat near
us and these condemned old houses would make a good heap of bricks where you
stand Youll never get me at so little cost to life and property which you are
paid to protect«
»You dont know who youre speaking to« said Chief Inspector Heat firmly
»If I were to lay my hands on you now I would be no better than yourself«
»Ah The game«
»You may be sure our side will win in the end It may yet be necessary to
make people believe that some of you ought to be shot at sight like mad dogs
Then that will be the game But Ill be damned if I know what yours is I dont
believe you know yourselves Youll never get anything by it«
»Meantime its you who get something from it so far And you get it
easily too I wont speak of your salary but havent you made your name simply
by not understanding what we are after«
»What are you after then« asked Chief Inspector Heat with scornful haste
like a man in a hurry who perceives he is wasting his time
The perfect anarchist answered by a smile which did not part his thin
colourless lips and the celebrated Chief Inspector felt a sense of superiority
which induced him to raise a warning finger
»Give it up whatever it is« he said in an admonishing tone but not so
kindly as if he were condescending to give good advice to a cracksman of repute
»Give it up Youll find we are too many for you«
The fixed smile on the Professors lips wavered as if the mocking spirit
within had lost its assurance Chief Inspector Heat went on
»Dont you believe me eh Well youve only got to look about you We are
And anyway youre not doing it well Youre always making a mess of it Why if
the thieves didnt know their work better they would starve«
The hint of an invincible multitude behind that mans back roused a sombre
indignation in the breast of the Professor He smiled no longer his enigmatic
and mocking smile The resisting power of numbers the unattackable stolidity of
a great multitude was the haunting fear of his sinister loneliness His lips
trembled for some time before he managed to say in a strangled voice
»I am doing my work better than youre doing yours«
»Thatll do now« interrupted Chief Inspector Heat hurriedly and the
Professor laughed right out this time While still laughing he moved on but he
did not laugh long It was a sadfaced miserable little man who emerged from
the narrow passage into the bustle of the broad thoroughfare He walked with the
nerveless gait of a tramp going on still going on indifferent to rain or sun
in a sinister detachment from the aspects of sky and earth Chief Inspector
Heat on the other hand after watching him for a while stepped out with the
purposeful briskness of a man disregarding indeed the inclemencies of the
weather but conscious of having an authorized mission on this earth and the
moral support of his kind All the inhabitants of the immense town the
population of the whole country and even the teeming millions struggling upon
the planet were with him down to the very thieves and mendicants Yes the
thieves themselves were sure to be with him in his present work The
consciousness of universal support in his general activity heartened him to
grapple with the particular problem
The problem immediately before the Chief Inspector was that of managing the
Assistant Commissioner of his department his immediate superior This is the
perennial problem of trusty and loyal servants anarchism gave it its particular
complexion but nothing more Truth to say Chief Inspector Heat thought but
little of anarchism He did not attach undue importance to it and could never
bring himself to consider it seriously It had more the character of disorderly
conduct disorderly without the human excuse of drunkenness which at any rate
implies good feeling and an amiable leaning towards festivity As criminals
anarchists were distinctly no class no class at all And recalling the
Professor Chief Inspector Heat without checking his swinging pace muttered
through his teeth
»Lunatic«
Catching thieves was another matter altogether It had that quality of
seriousness belonging to every form of open sport where the best man wins under
perfectly comprehensible rules There were no rules for dealing with anarchists
And that was distasteful to the Chief Inspector It was all foolishness but
that foolishness excited the public mind affected persons in high places and
touched upon international relations A hard merciless contempt settled rigidly
on the Chief Inspectors face as he walked on His mind ran over all the
anarchists of his flock Not one of them had half the spunk of this or that
burglar he had known Not half not one tenth
At headquarters the Chief Inspector was admitted at once to the Assistant
Commissioners private room He found him pen in hand bent over a great table
bestrewn with papers as if worshipping an enormous double inkstand of bronze
and crystal Speaking tubes resembling snakes were tied by the heads to the back
of the Assistant Commissioners wooden armchair and their gaping mouths seemed
ready to bite his elbows And in this attitude he raised only his eyes whose
lids were darker than his face and very much creased The reports had come in
every anarchist had been exactly accounted for
After saying this he lowered his eyes signed rapidly two single sheets of
paper and only then laid down his pen and sat well back directing an
inquiring gaze at his renowned subordinate The Chief Inspector stood it well
deferential but inscrutable
»I daresay you were right« said the Assistant Commissioner »in telling me
at first that the London anarchists had nothing to do with this I quite
appreciate the excellent watch kept on them by your men On the other hand
this for the public does not amount to more than a confession of ignorance«
The Assistant Commissioners delivery was leisurely as it were cautious
His thought seemed to rest poised on a word before passing to another as though
words had been the steppingstones for his intellect picking its way across the
waters of error »Unless you have brought something useful from Greenwich« he
added
The Chief Inspector began at once the account of his investigation in a
clear matteroffact manner His superior turning his chair a little and
crossing his thin legs leaned sideways on his elbow with one hand shading his
eyes His listening attitude had a sort of angular and sorrowful grace Gleams
as of highly burnished silver played on the sides of his ebony black head when
he inclined it slowly at the end
Chief Inspector Heat waited with the appearance of turning over in his mind
all he had just said but as a matter of fact considering the advisability of
saying something more The Assistant Commissioner cut his hesitation short
»You believe there were two men« he asked without uncovering his eyes
The Chief Inspector thought it more than probable In his opinion the two
men had parted from each other within a hundred yards from the Observatory
walls He explained also how the other man could have got out of the park
speedily without being observed The fog though not very dense was in his
favour He seemed to have escorted the other to the spot and then to have left
him there to do the job singlehanded Taking the time those two were seen
coming out of Maze Hill Station by the old woman and the time when the
explosion was heard the Chief Inspector thought that the other man might have
been actually at the Greenwich Park Station ready to catch the next train up
at the moment his comrade was destroying himself so thoroughly
»Very thoroughly eh« murmured the Assistant Commissioner from under the
shadow of his hand
The Chief Inspector in a few vigorous words described the aspect of the
remains »The coroners jury will have a treat« he added grimly
The Assistant Commissioner uncovered his eyes
»We shall have nothing to tell them« he remarked languidly
He looked up and for a time watched the markedly noncommittal attitude of
his Chief Inspector His nature was one that is not easily accessible to
illusions He knew that a department is at the mercy of its subordinate
officers who have their own conceptions of loyalty His career had begun in a
tropical colony He had liked his work there It was police work He had been
very successful in tracking and breaking up certain nefarious secret societies
amongst the natives Then he took his long leave and got married rather
impulsively It was a good match from a worldly point of view but his wife
formed an unfavourable opinion of the colonial climate on hearsay evidence On
the other hand she had influential connections It was an excellent match But
he did not like the work he had to do now He felt himself dependent on too many
subordinates and too many masters The near presence of that strange emotional
phenomenon called public opinion weighed upon his spirits and alarmed him by
its irrational nature No doubt that from ignorance he exaggerated to himself
its power for good and evil especially for evil and the rough east winds of
the English spring which agreed with his wife augmented his general mistrust
of mens motives and of the efficiency of their organization The futility of
office work especially appalled him on those days so trying to his sensitive
liver
He got up unfolding himself to his full height and with a heaviness of
step remarkable in so slender a man moved across the room to the window The
panes streamed with rain and the short street he looked down into lay wet and
empty as if swept clear suddenly by a great flood It was a very trying day
choked in raw fog to begin with and now drowned in cold rain The flickering
blurred flames of gaslamps seemed to be dissolving in a watery atmosphere And
the lofty pretensions of a mankind oppressed by the miserable indignities of the
weather appeared as a colossal and hopeless vanity deserving of scorn wonder
and compassion
»Horrible horrible« thought the Assistant Commissioner to himself with
his face near the windowpane »We have been having this sort of thing now for
ten days no a fortnight a fortnight« He ceased to think completely for a
time That utter stillness of his brain lasted about three seconds Then he
said perfunctorily »You have set inquiries on foot for tracing that other man
up and down the line«
He had no doubt that everything needful had been done Chief Inspector Heat
knew of course thoroughly the business of manhunting And these were the
routine steps too that would be taken as a matter of course by the merest
beginner A few inquiries amongst the ticket collectors and the porters of the
two small railway stations would give additional details as to the appearance of
the two men the inspection of the collected tickets would show at once where
they came from that morning It was elementary and could not have been
neglected Accordingly the Chief Inspector answered that all this had been done
directly the old woman had come forward with her deposition And he mentioned
the name of a station »Thats where they came from sir« he went on »The
porter who took the tickets at Maze Hill remembers two chaps answering to the
description passing the barrier They seemed to him two respectable workingmen
of a superior sort sign painters or house decorators The big man got out of a
thirdclass compartment backward with a bright tin can in his hand On the
platform he gave it to carry to the fair young fellow who followed him All this
agrees exactly with what the old woman told the police sergeant in Greenwich«
The Assistant Commissioner still with his face turned to the window
expressed his doubt as to these two men having had anything to do with the
outrage All this theory rested upon the utterances of an old charwoman who had
been nearly knocked down by a man in a hurry Not a very substantial authority
indeed unless on the ground of sudden inspiration which was hardly tenable
»Frankly now could she have been really inspired« he queried with grave
irony keeping his back to the room as if entranced by the contemplation of the
towns colossal forms half lost in the night He did not even look round when he
heard the mutter of the word Providential from the principal subordinate of his
department whose name printed sometimes in the papers was familiar to the
great public as that of one of its zealous and hardworking protectors Chief
Inspector Heat raised his voice a little
»Strips and bits of bright tin were quite visible to me« he said »Thats a
pretty good corroboration«
»And these men came from that little country station« the Assistant
Commissioner mused aloud wondering He was told that such was the name on two
tickets out of three given up out of that train at Maze Hill The third person
who got out was a hawker from Gravesend well known to the porters The Chief
Inspector imparted that information in a tone of finality with some ill humour
as loyal servants will do in the consciousness of their fidelity and with the
sense of the value of their loyal exertions And still the Assistant
Commissioner did not turn away from the darkness outside as vast as a sea
»Two foreign anarchists coming from that place« he said apparently to the
windowpane »Its rather unaccountable«
»Yes sir But it would be still more unaccountable if that Michaelis
werent staying in a cottage in the neighbourhood«
At the sound of that name falling unexpectedly into this annoying affair
the Assistant Commissioner dismissed brusquely the vague remembrance of his
daily whist party at his club It was the most comforting habit of his life in
a mainly successful display of his skill without the assistance of any
subordinate He entered his club to play from five to seven before going home
to dinner forgetting for those two hours whatever was distasteful in his life
as though the game were a beneficent drug for allaying the pangs of moral
discontent His partners were the gloomily humorous editor of a celebrated
magazine a silent elderly barrister with malicious little eyes and a highly
martial simpleminded old Colonel with nervous brown hands They were his club
acquaintances merely He never met them elsewhere except at the cardtable But
they all seemed to approach the game in the spirit of cosufferers as if it
were indeed a drug against the secret ills of existence and every day as the
sun declined over the countless roofs of the town a mellow pleasurable
impatience resembling the impulse of a sure and profound friendship lightened
his professional labours And now this pleasurable sensation went out of him
with something resembling a physical shock and was replaced by a special kind
of interest in his work of social protection an improper sort of interest
which may be defined best as a sudden and alert mistrust of the weapon in his
hand
VI
The lady patroness of Michaelis the ticketofleave apostle of humanitarian
hopes was one of the most influential and distinguished connections of the
Assistant Commissioners wife whom she called Annie and treated still rather
as a not very wise and utterly inexperienced young girl But she had consented
to accept him on a friendly footing which was by no means the case with all of
his wifes influential connections Married young and splendidly at some remote
epoch of the past she had had for a time a close view of great affairs and even
of some great men She herself was a great lady Old now in the number of her
years she had that sort of exceptional temperament which defies time with
scornful disregard as if it were a rather vulgar convention submitted to by the
mass of inferior mankind Many other conventions easier to set aside alas
failed to obtain her recognition also on temperamental grounds either because
they bored her or else because they stood in the way of her scorns and
sympathies Admiration was a sentiment unknown to her it was one of the secret
griefs of her most noble husband against her first as always more or less
tainted with mediocrity and next as being in a way an admission of inferiority
And both were frankly inconceivable to her nature To be fearlessly outspoken in
her opinions came easily to her since she judged solely from the standpoint of
her social position She was equally untrammelled in her actions and as her
tactfulness proceeded from genuine humanity her bodily vigour remained
remarkable and her superiority was serene and cordial three generations had
admired her infinitely and the last she was likely to see had pronounced her a
wonderful woman Meantime intelligent with a sort of lofty simplicity and
curious at heart but not like many women merely of social gossip she amused
her age by attracting within her ken through the power of her great almost
historical social prestige everything that rose above the dead level of
mankind lawfully or unlawfully by position wit audacity fortune or
misfortune Royal Highnesses artists men of science young statesmen and
charlatans of all ages and conditions who unsubstantial and light bobbing up
like corks show best the direction of the surface currents had been welcomed
in that house listened to penetrated understood appraised for her own
edification In her own words she liked to watch what the world was coming to
And as she had a practical mind her judgment of men and things though based on
special prejudices was seldom totally wrong and almost never wrongheaded Her
drawingroom was probably the only place in the wide world where an Assistant
Commissioner of Police could meet a convict liberated on a ticketofleave on
other than professional and official ground Who had brought Michaelis there one
afternoon the Assistant Commissioner did not remember very well He had a notion
it must have been a certain Member of Parliament of illustrious parentage and
unconventional sympathies which were the standing joke of the comic papers The
notabilities and even the simple notorieties of the day brought each other
freely to that temple of an old womans not ignoble curiosity You never could
guess whom you were likely to come upon being received in semiprivacy within
the faded blue silk and gilt frame screen making a cosy nook for a couch and a
few armchairs in the great drawingroom with its hum of voices and the groups
of people seated or standing in the light of six tall windows
Michaelis had been the object of a revulsion of popular sentiment the same
sentiment which years ago had applauded the ferocity of the life sentence passed
upon him for complicity in a rather mad attempt to rescue some prisoners from a
police van The plan of the conspirators had been to shoot down the horses and
overpower the escort Unfortunately one of the police constables got shot too
He left a wife and three small children and the death of that man aroused
through the length and breadth of a realm for whose defence welfare and glory
men die every day as matter of duty an outburst of furious indignation of a
raging implacable pity for the victim Three ringleaders got hanged
Michaelis young and slim locksmith by trade and great frequenter of evening
schools did not even know that anybody had been killed his part with a few
others being to force open the door at the back of the special conveyance When
arrested he had a bunch of skeleton keys in one pocket a heavy chisel in
another and a short crowbar in his hand neither more nor less than a burglar
But no burglar would have received such a heavy sentence The death of the
constable had made him miserable at heart but the failure of the plot also He
did not conceal either of these sentiments from his empanelled countrymen and
that sort of compunction appeared shockingly imperfect to the crammed court The
judge on passing sentence commented feelingly upon the depravity and callousness
of the young prisoner
That made the groundless fame of his condemnation the fame of his release
was made for him on no better grounds by people who wished to exploit the
sentimental aspect of his imprisonment either for purposes of their own or for
no intelligible purpose He let them do so in the innocence of his heart and the
simplicity of his mind Nothing that happened to him individually had any
importance He was like those saintly men whose personality is lost in the
contemplation of their faith His ideas were not in the nature of convictions
They were inaccessible to reasoning They formed in all their contradictions and
obscurities an invincible and humanitarian creed which he confessed rather than
preached with an obstinate gentleness a smile of pacific assurance on his
lips and his candid blue eyes cast down because the sight of faces troubled his
inspiration developed in solitude In that characteristic attitude pathetic in
his grotesque and incurable obesity which he had to drag like a galley slaves
bullet to the end of his days the Assistant Commissioner of Police beheld the
ticketofleave apostle filling a privileged armchair within the screen He sat
there by the head of the old ladys couch mildvoiced and quiet with no more
selfconsciousness than a very small child and with something of a childs
charm the appealing charm of trustfulness Confident of the future whose
secret ways had been revealed to him within the four walls of a wellknown
penitentiary he had no reason to look with suspicion upon anybody If he could
not give the great and curious lady a very definite idea as to what the world
was coming to he had managed without effort to impress her by his unembittered
faith by the sterling quality of his optimism
A certain simplicity of thought is common to serene souls at both ends of
the social scale The great lady was simple in her own way His views and
beliefs had nothing in them to shock or startle her since she judged them from
the standpoint of her lofty position Indeed her sympathies were easily
accessible to a man of that sort She was not an exploiting capitalist herself
she was as it were above the play of economic conditions And she had a great
capacity of pity for the more obvious forms of common human miseries precisely
because she was such a complete stranger to them that she had to translate her
conception into terms of mental suffering before she could grasp the notion of
their cruelty The Assistant Commissioner remembered very well the conversation
between these two He had listened in silence It was something as exciting in a
way and even touching in its foredoomed futility as the efforts at moral
intercourse between the inhabitants of remote planets But this grotesque
incarnation of humanitarian passion appealed somehow to ones imagination At
last Michaelis rose and taking the great ladys extended hand shook it
retained it for a moment in his great cushioned palm with unembarrassed
friendliness and turned upon the semiprivate nook of the drawing his back
vast and square and as if distended under the short tweed jacket Glancing
about in serene benevolence he waddled along to the distant door between the
knots of other visitors The murmur of conversations paused on his passage He
smiled innocently at a tall brilliant girl whose eyes met his accidentally
and went out unconscious of the glances following him across the room
Michaelis first appearance in the world was a success a success of esteem
unmarred by a single murmur of derision The interrupted conversations were
resumed in their proper tone grave or light Only a wellsetup longlimbed
activelooking man of forty talking with two ladies near a window remarked
aloud with an unexpected depth of feeling »Eighteen stone I should say and
not five foot six Poor fellow Its terrible terrible«
The lady of the house gazing absently at the Assistant Commissioner left
alone with her on the private side of the screen seemed to be rearranging her
mental impressions behind her thoughtful immobility of a handsome old face Men
with grey moustaches and full healthy vaguely smiling countenances approached
circling round the screen two mature women with a matronly air of gracious
resolution a cleanshaved individual with sunken cheeks and dangling a
goldmounted eyeglass on a broad black ribbon with an oldworld dandified
effect A silence deferential but full of reserves reigned for a moment and
then the great lady exclaimed not with resentment but with a sort of
protesting indignation
»And that officially is supposed to be a revolutionist What nonsense« She
looked hard at the Assistant Commissioner who murmured apologetically
»Not a dangerous one perhaps«
»Not dangerous I should think not indeed He is a mere believer Its the
temperament of a saint« declared the great lady in a firm tone »And they kept
him shut up for twenty years One shudders at the stupidity of it And now they
have let him out everybody belonging to him is gone away somewhere or dead His
parents are dead the girl he was to marry has died while he was in prison he
has lost the skill necessary for his manual occupation He told me all this
himself with the sweetest patience but then he said he had had plenty of time
to think out things for himself A pretty compensation If thats the stuff
revolutionists are made of some of us may well go on their knees to them« she
continued in a slightly bantering voice while the banal society smiles hardened
on the worldly faces turned towards her with conventional deference »The poor
creature is obviously no longer in a position to take care of himself Somebody
will have to look after him a little«
»He should be recommended to follow a treatment of some sort« the soldierly
voice of the activelooking man was heard advising earnestly from a distance He
was in the pink of condition for his age and even the texture of his long frock
coat had a character of elastic soundness as if it were a living tissue »The
man is virtually a cripple« he added with unmistakable feeling
Other voices as if glad of the opening murmured hasty compassion »Quite
startling« »Monstrous« »Most painful to see« The lank man with the eyeglass
on a broad ribbon pronounced mincingly the word »Grotesque« whose justness was
appreciated by those standing near him They smiled at each other
The Assistant Commissioner had expressed no opinion either then or later
his position making it impossible for him to ventilate any independent view of a
ticketofleave convict But in truth he shared the view of his wifes friend
and patron that Michaelis was a humanitarian sentimentalist a little mad but
upon the whole incapable of hurting a fly intentionally So when that name
cropped up suddenly in this vexing bomb affair he realized all the danger of it
for the ticketofleave apostle and his mind reverted at once to the old ladys
wellestablished infatuation Her arbitrary kindness would not brook patiently
any interference with Michaelis freedom It was a deep calm convinced
infatuation She had not only felt him to be inoffensive but she had said so
which last by a confusion of her absolutist mind became a sort of
incontrovertible demonstration It was as if the monstrosity of the man with
his candid infants eyes and a fat angelic smile had fascinated her She had
come to believe almost his theory of the future since it was not repugnant to
her prejudices She disliked the new element of plutocracy in the social
compound and industrialism as a method of human development appeared to her
singularly repulsive in its mechanical and unfeeling character The humanitarian
hopes of the mild Michaelis tended not towards utter destruction but merely
towards the complete economic ruin of the system And she did not really see
where was the moral harm of it It would do away with all the multitude of the
parvenus whom she disliked and mistrusted not because they had arrived
anywhere she denied that but because of their profound unintelligence of the
world which was the primary cause of the crudity of their perceptions and the
aridity of their hearts With the annihilation of all capital they would vanish
too but universal ruin providing it was universal as it was revealed to
Michaelis would leave the social values untouched The disappearance of the
last piece of money could not affect people of position She could not conceive
how it could affect her position for instance She had developed these
discoveries to the Assistant Commissioner with all the serene fearlessness of an
old woman who had escaped the blight of indifference He had made for himself
the rule to receive everything of that sort in a silence which he took care from
policy and inclination not to make offensive He had an affection for the aged
disciple of Michaelis a complex sentiment depending a little on her prestige
on her personality but most of all on the instinct of flattered gratitude He
felt himself really liked in her house She was kindness personified And she
was practically wise too after the manner of experienced women She made his
married life much easier than it would have been without her generously full
recognition of his rights as Annies husband Her influence upon his wife a
woman devoured by all sorts of small selfishnesses small envies small
jealousies was excellent Unfortunately both her kindness and her wisdom were
of unreasonable complexion distinctly feminine and difficult to deal with She
remained a perfect woman all along her full tale of years and not as some of
them do become a sort of slippery pestilential old man in petticoats And it
was as of a woman that he thought of her the specially choice incarnation of
the feminine wherein is recruited the tender ingenuous and fierce bodyguard
for all sorts of men who talk under the influence of an emotion true or
fraudulent for preachers seers prophets or reformers
Appreciating the distinguished and good friend of his wife and himself in
that way the Assistant Commissioner became alarmed at the convict Michaelis
possible fate Once arrested on suspicion of being in some way however remote
a party to this outrage the man could hardly escape being sent back to finish
his sentence at least And that would kill him he would never come out alive
The Assistant Commissioner made a reflection extremely unbecoming his official
position without being really creditable to his humanity
»If the fellow is laid hold of again« he thought »she will never forgive
me«
The frankness of such a secretly outspoken thought could not go without some
derisive selfcriticism No man engaged in a work he does not like can preserve
many saving illusions about himself The distaste the absence of glamour
extend from the occupation to the personality It is only when our appointed
activities seem by a lucky accident to obey the particular earnestness of our
temperament that we can taste the comfort of complete selfdeception The
Assistant Commissioner did not like his work at home The police work he had
been engaged on in a distant part of the globe had the saving character of an
irregular sort of warfare or at least the risk and excitement of openair sport
His real abilities which were mainly of an administrative order were combined
with an adventurous disposition Chained to a desk in the thick of four millions
of men he considered himself the victim of an ironic fate the same no doubt
which had brought about his marriage with a woman exceptionally sensitive in the
matter of colonial climate besides other limitations testifying to the delicacy
of her nature and her tastes Though he judged his alarm sardonically he did
not dismiss the improper thought from his mind The instinct of
selfpreservation was strong within him On the contrary he repeated it
mentally with profane emphasis and a fuller precision »Damn it If that
infernal Heat has his way the fellowll die in prison smothered in his fat and
shell never forgive me«
His black narrow figure with the white band of the collar under the
silvery gleams on the closecropped hair at the back of the head remained
motionless The silence had lasted such a long time that Chief Inspector Heat
ventured to clear his throat This noise produced its effect The zealous and
intelligent officer was asked by his superior whose back remained turned to him
immovably
»You connect Michaelis with this affair«
Chief Inspector Heat was very positive but cautious
»Well sir« he said »we have enough to go upon A man like that has no
business to be at large anyhow«
»You will want some conclusive evidence« came the observation in a murmur
Chief Inspector Heat raised his eyebrows at the black narrow back which
remained obstinately presented to his intelligence and his zeal
»There will be no difficulty in getting up sufficient evidence against him«
he said with virtuous complacency »You may trust me for that sir« he added
quite unnecessarily out of the fullness of his heart for it seemed to him an
excellent thing to have that man in hand to be thrown down to the public should
it think fit to roar with any special indignation in this case It was
impossible to say yet whether it would roar or not That in the last instance
depended of course on the newspaper press But in any case Chief Inspector
Heat purveyor of prisons by trade and a man of legal instincts did logically
believe that incarceration was the proper fate for every declared enemy of the
law In the strength of that conviction he committed a fault of tact He allowed
himself a little conceited laugh and repeated
»Trust me for that sir«
This was too much for the forced calmness under which the Assistant
Commissioner had for upwards of eighteen months concealed his irritation with
the system and the subordinates of his office A square peg forced into a round
hole he had felt like a daily outrage that longestablished smooth roundness
into which a man of less sharply angular shape would have fitted himself with
voluptuous acquiescence after a shrug or two What he resented most was just
the necessity of taking so much on trust At the little laugh of Chief Inspector
Heats he spun swiftly on his heels as if whirled away from the windowpane by
an electric shock He caught on the latters face not only the complacency
proper to the occasion lurking under the moustache but the vestiges of
experimental watchfulness in the round eyes which had been no doubt fastened
on his back and now met his glance for a second before the intent character of
their stare had the time to change to a merely startled appearance
The Assistant Commissioner of Police had really some qualifications for his
post Suddenly his suspicion was awakened It is but fair to say that his
suspicions of the police methods unless the police happened to be a
semimilitary body organized by himself was not difficult to arouse If it ever
slumbered from sheer weariness it was but lightly and his appreciation of
Chief Inspector Heats zeal and ability moderate in itself excluded all notion
of moral confidence »Hes up to something« he exclaimed mentally and at once
became angry Crossing over to his desk with headlong strides he sat down
violently »Here I am stuck in a litter of paper« he reflected with
unreasonable resentment »supposed to hold all the threads in my hands and yet
I can but hold what is put in my hand and nothing else And they can fasten the
other ends of the threads where they please«
He raised his head and turned towards his subordinate a long meagre face
with the accentuated features of an energetic Don Quixote
»Now what is it youve got up your sleeve«
The other stared He stared without winking in a perfect immobility of his
round eyes as he was used to stare at the various members of the criminal class
when after being duly cautioned they made their statements in the tones of
injured innocence or false simplicity or sullen resignation But behind that
professional and stony fixity there was some surprise too for in such a tone
combining nicely the note of contempt and impatience Chief Inspector Heat the
righthand man of the department was not used to be addressed He began in a
procrastinating manner like a man taken unawares by a new and unexpected
experience
»What Ive got against that man Michaelis you mean sir«
The Assistant Commissioner watched the bullet head the points of that Norse
rovers moustache falling below the line of the heavy jaw the whole full and
pale physiognomy whose determined character was marred by too much flesh at
the cunning wrinkles radiating from the outer corners of the eyes and in that
purposeful contemplation of the valuable and trusted officer he drew a
conviction so sudden that it moved him like an inspiration
»I have reason to think that when you came into this room« he said in
measured tones »it was not Michaelis who was in your mind not principally
perhaps not at all«
»You have reason to think sir« muttered Chief Inspector Heat with every
appearance of astonishment which up to a certain point was genuine enough He
had discovered in this affair a delicate and perplexing side forcing upon the
discoverer a certain amount of insincerity that sort of insincerity which
under the names of skill prudence discretion turns up at one point or another
in most human affairs He felt at the moment like a tightrope artist might feel
if suddenly in the middle of the performance the manager of the Music Hall
were to rush out of the proper managerial seclusion and begin to shake the rope
Indignation the sense of moral insecurity engendered by such a treacherous
proceeding joined to the immediate apprehension of a broken neck would in the
colloquial phrase put him in a state And there would be also some scandalized
concern for his art too since a man must identify himself with something more
tangible than his own personality and establish his pride somewhere either in
his social position or in the quality of the work he is obliged to do or
simply in the superiority of the idleness he may be fortunate enough to enjoy
»Yes« said the Assistant Commissioner »I have I do not mean to say that
you have not thought of Michaelis at all But you are giving the fact youve
mentioned a prominence which strikes me as not quite candid Inspector Heat If
that is really the track of discovery why havent you followed it up at once
either personally or by sending one of your men to that village«
»Do you think sir I have failed in my duty there« the Chief Inspector
asked in a tone which he sought to make simply reflective Forced unexpectedly
to concentrate his faculties upon the task of preserving his balance he had
seized upon that point and exposed himself to a rebuke for the Assistant
Commissioner frowning slightly observed that this was a very improper remark
to make
»But since youve made it« he continued coldly »Ill tell you that this
is not my meaning«
He paused with a straight glance of his sunken eyes which was a full
equivalent of the unspoken termination and you know it The head of the
socalled Special Crimes Department debarred by his position from going out of
doors personally in quest of secrets locked up in guilty breasts had a
propensity to exercise his considerable gifts for the detection of incriminating
truth upon his own subordinates That peculiar instinct could hardly be called a
weakness It was natural He was a born detective It had unconsciously governed
his choice of a career and if it ever failed him in life it was perhaps in the
one exceptional circumstance of his marriage which was also natural It fed
since it could not roam abroad upon the human material which was brought to it
in its official seclusion We can never cease to be ourselves
His elbow on the desk his thin legs crossed and nursing his cheek in the
palm of his meagre hand the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Special
Crimes branch was getting hold of the case with growing interest His Chief
Inspector if not an absolutely worthy foeman of his penetration was at any
rate the most worthy of all within his reach A mistrust of established
reputations was strictly in character with the Assistant Commissioners ability
as detector His memory evoked a certain old fat and wealthy native chief in the
distant colony whom it was a tradition for the successive Colonial Governors to
trust and make much of as a firm friend and supporter of the order and legality
established by white men whereas when examined sceptically he was found out
to be principally his own good friend and nobody elses Not precisely a
traitor but still a man of many dangerous reservations in his fidelity caused
by a due regard for his own advantage comfort and safety A fellow of some
innocence in his naive duplicity but none the less dangerous He took some
finding out He was physically a big man too and allowing for the difference
of colour of course Chief Inspector Heats appearance recalled him to the
memory of his superior It was not the eyes nor yet the lips exactly It was
bizarre But does not Alfred Wallace relate in his famous book on the Malay
Archipelago how amongst the Aru Islanders he discovered in an old and naked
savage with a sooty skin a peculiar resemblance to a dear friend at home
For the first time since he took up his appointment the Assistant
Commissioner felt as if he were going to do some real work for his salary And
that was a pleasurable sensation »Ill turn him inside out like an old glove«
thought the Assistant Commissioner with his eyes resting pensively upon Chief
Inspector Heat
»No that was not my thought« he began again »There is no doubt about you
knowing your business no doubt at all and thats precisely why I « He
stopped short and changing his tone »What could you bring up against Michaelis
of a definite nature I mean apart from the fact that the two men under
suspicion youre certain there were two of them came last from a railway
station within three miles of the village where Michaelis is living now«
»This by itself is enough for us to go upon sir with that sort of man«
said the Chief Inspector with returning composure The slight approving
movement of the Assistant Commissioners head went far to pacify the resentful
astonishment of the renowned officer For Chief Inspector Heat was a kind man
an excellent husband a devoted father and the public and departmental
confidence he enjoyed acting favourably upon an amiable nature disposed him to
feel friendly towards the successive Assistant Commissioners he had seen pass
through that very room There had been three in his time The first one a
soldierly abrupt redfaced person with white eyebrows and an explosive
temper could be managed with a silken thread He left on reaching the age
limit The second a perfect gentleman knowing his own and everybody elses
place to a nicety on resigning to take up a higher appointment cut of England
got decorated for really Inspector Heats services To work with him had been
a pride and a pleasure The third a bit of a dark horse from the first was at
the end of eighteen months something of a dark horse still to the department
Upon the whole Chief Inspector Heat believed him to be in the main harmless
oddlooking but harmless He was speaking now and the Chief Inspector listened
with outward deference which means nothing being a matter of duty and
inwardly with benevolent toleration
»Michaelis reported himself before leaving London for the country«
»Yes sir He did«
»And what may he be doing there« continued the Assistant Commissioner who
was perfectly informed on that point Fitted with painful tightness into an old
wooden armchair before a wormeaten oak table in an upstairs room of a
fourroomed cottage with a roof of mossgrown tiles Michaelis was writing night
and day in a shaky slanting hand that »Autobiography of a Prisoner« which was
to be like a book of Revelation in the history of mankind The conditions of
confined space seclusion and solitude in a small fourroomed cottage were
favourable to his inspiration It was like being in prison except that one was
never disturbed for the odious purpose of taking exercise according to the
tyrannical regulations of his old home in the penitentiary He could not tell
whether the sun still shone on the earth or not The perspiration of the
literary labour dropped from his brow A delightful enthusiasm urged him on It
was the liberation of his inner life the letting out of his soul into the wide
world And the zeal of his guileless vanity first awakened by the offer of five
hundred pounds from a publisher seemed something predestined and holy
»It would be of course most desirable to be informed exactly« insisted
the Assistant Commissioner uncandidly
Chief Inspector Heat conscious of renewed irritation at this display of
scrupulousness said that the county police had been notified from the first of
Michaelis arrival and that a full report could be obtained in a few hours A
wire to the superintendent
Thus he spoke rather slowly while his mind seemed already to be weighing
the consequences A slight knitting of the brow was the outward sign of this
But he was interrupted by a question
»Youve sent that wire already«
»No sir« he answered as if surprised
The Assistant Commissioner uncrossed his legs suddenly The briskness of
that movement contrasted with the casual way in which he threw out a suggestion
»Would you think that Michaelis had anything to do with the preparation of
that bomb for instance«
The Chief Inspector assumed a reflective manner
»I wouldnt say so Theres no necessity to say anything at present He
associates with men who are classed as dangerous He was made a delegate of the
Red Committee less than a year after his release on licence A sort of
compliment I suppose«
And the Chief Inspector laughed a little angrily a little scornfully With
a man of that sort scrupulousness was a misplaced and even an illegal sentiment
The celebrity bestowed upon Michaelis on his release two years ago by some
emotional journalists in want of special copy had rankled ever since in his
breast It was perfectly legal to arrest that man on the barest suspicion It
was legal and expedient on the face of it His two former chiefs would have seen
the point at once whereas this one without saying either yes or no sat there
as if lost in a dream Moreover besides being legal and expedient the arrest
of Michaelis solved a little personal difficulty which worried Chief Inspector
Heat somewhat This difficulty had its bearing upon his reputation upon his
comfort and even upon the efficient performance of his duties For if
Michaelis no doubt knew something about this outrage the Chief Inspector was
fairly certain that he did not know too much This was just as well He knew
much less the Chief Inspector was positive than certain other individuals he
had in his mind but whose arrest seemed to him inexpedient besides being a
more complicated matter on account of the rules of the game The rules of the
game did not protect so much Michaelis who was an exconvict It would be
stupid not to take advantage of legal facilities and the journalists who had
written him up with emotional gush would be ready to write him down with
emotional indignation
This prospect viewed with confidence had the attraction of a personal
triumph for Chief Inspector Heat And deep down in his blameless bosom of an
average married citizen almost unconscious but potent nevertheless the dislike
of being compelled by events to meddle with the desperate ferocity of the
Professor had its say This dislike had been strengthened by the chance meeting
in the lane The encounter did not leave behind with Chief Inspector Heat that
satisfactory sense of superiority the members of the police force get from the
unofficial but intimate side of their intercourse with the criminal classes by
which the vanity of power is soothed and the vulgar love of domination over our
fellowcreatures is flattered as worthily as it deserves
The perfect anarchist was not recognized as a fellowcreature by Chief
Inspector Heat He was impossible a mad dog to be left alone Not that the
Chief Inspector was afraid of him on the contrary he meant to have him some
day But not yet he meant to get hold of him in his own time properly and
effectively according to the rules of the game The present was not the right
time for attempting that feat not the right time for many reasons personal and
of public service This being the strong feeling of Inspector Heat it appeared
to him just and proper that this affair should be shunted off its obscure and
inconvenient track leading goodness knows where into a quiet and lawful
siding called Michaelis And he repeated as if reconsidering the suggestion
conscientiously
»The bomb No I would not say that exactly We may never find that out But
its clear that he is connected with this in some way which we can find out
without much trouble«
His countenance had that look of grave overbearing indifference once well
known and much dreaded by the better sort of thieves Chief Inspector Heat
though what is called a man was not a smiling animal But his inward state was
that of satisfaction at the passively receptive attitude of the Assistant
Commissioner who murmured gently
»And you really think that the investigation should be made in that
direction«
»I do sir«
»Quite convinced«
»I am sir Thats the true line for us to take«
The Assistant Commissioner withdrew the support of his hand from his
reclining head with a suddenness that considering his languid attitude seemed
to menace his whole person with collapse But on the contrary he sat up
extremely alert behind the great writingtable on which his hand had fallen
with the sound of a sharp blow
»What I want to know is what put it out of your head till now«
»Put it out of my head« repeated the Chief Inspector very slowly
»Yes Till you were called into this room you know«
The Chief Inspector felt as if the air between his clothing and his skin had
become unpleasantly hot It was the sensation of an unprecedented and incredible
experience
»Of course« he said exaggerating the deliberation of his utterance to the
utmost limits of possibility »if there is a reason of which I know nothing
for not interfering with the convict Michaelis perhaps its just as well I
didnt start the county police after him«
This took such a long time to say that the unflagging attention of the
Assistant Commissioner seemed a wonderful feat of endurance His retort came
without delay
»No reason whatever that I know of Come Chief Inspector this finessing
with me is highly improper on your part highly improper And its also unfair
you know You shouldnt leave me to puzzle things out for myself like this
Really I am surprised«
He paused then added smoothly »I need scarcely tell you that this
conversation is altogether unofficial«
These words were far from pacifying the Chief Inspector The indignation of
a betrayed tightrope performer was strong within him In his pride of a trusted
servant he was affected by the assurance that the rope was not shaken for the
purpose of breaking his neck as by an exhibition of impudence As if anybody
were afraid Assistant Commissioners come and go but a valuable Chief Inspector
is not an ephemeral office phenomenon He was not afraid of getting a broken
neck To have his performance spoiled was more than enough to account for the
glow of honest indignation And as thought is no respecter of persons the
thought of Chief Inspector Heat took a threatening and prophetic shape »You my
boy« he said to himself keeping his round and habitually roving eyes fastened
upon the Assistant Commissioners face »you my boy you dont know your
place and your place wont know you very long either I bet«
As if in provoking answer to that thought something like the ghost of an
amiable smile passed on the lips of the Assistant Commissioner His manner was
easy and businesslike while he persisted in administering another shake to the
tight rope
»Let us come now to what you have discovered on the spot Chief Inspector«
he said
»A fool and his job are soon parted« went on the train of prophetic thought
in Chief Inspector Heats head But it was immediately followed by the
reflection that a higher official even when fired out this was the precise
image has still the time as he flies through the door to launch a nasty kick
at the shinbones of a subordinate Without softening very much the basilisk
nature of his stare he said impassively
»We are coming to that part of my investigation sir«
»Thats right Well what have you brought away from it«
The Chief Inspector who had made up his mind to jump off the rope came to
the ground with gloomy frankness
»Ive brought away an address« he said pulling out of his pocket without
haste a singed rag of dark blue cloth »This belongs to the overcoat the fellow
who got himself blown to pieces was wearing Of course the overcoat may not
have been his and may even have been stolen But thats not at all probable if
you look at this«
The Chief Inspector stepping up to the table smoothed out carefully the
rag of blue cloth He had picked it up from the repulsive heap in the mortuary
because a tailors name is found sometimes under the collar It is not often of
much use but still He only half expected to find anything useful but
certainly he did not expect to find not under the collar at all but stitched
carefully on the under side of the lapel a square piece of calico with an
address written on it in marking ink
The Chief Inspector removed his smoothing hand
»I carried it off with me without anybody taking notice« he said »I
thought it best It can always be produced if required«
The Assistant Commissioner rising a little in his chair pulled the cloth
over to his side of the table He sat looking at it in silence Only the number
32 and the name of Brett Street were written in marking ink on a piece of calico
slightly larger than an ordinary cigarette paper He was genuinely surprised
»Cant understand why he should have gone about labelled like this« he
said looking up at Chief Inspector Heat »Its a most extraordinary thing«
»I met once in the smokingroom of a hotel an old gentleman who went about
with his name and address sewn on in all his coats in case of an accident or
sudden illness« said the Chief Inspector »He professed to be eightyfour years
old but he didnt look his age He told me he was also afraid of losing his
memory suddenly like those people he had been reading of in the papers«
A question from the Assistant Commissioner who wanted to know what was No
32 Brett Street interrupted that reminiscence abruptly The Chief Inspector
driven down to the ground by unfair artifices had elected to walk the path of
unreserved openness If he believed firmly that to know too much was not good
for the department the judicious holding back of knowledge was as far as his
loyalty dared to go for the good of the service If the Assistant Commissioner
wanted to mismanage this affair nothing of course could prevent him But on
his own part he now saw no reason for a display of alacrity So he answered
concisely
»Its a shop sir«
The Assistant Commissioner with his eyes lowered on the rag of blue cloth
waited for more information As that did not come he proceeded to obtain it by a
series of questions propounded with gentle patience Thus he acquired an idea of
the nature of Mr Verlocs commerce of his personal appearance and heard at
last his name In a pause the Assistant Commissioner raised his eyes and
discovered some animation on the Chief Inspectors face They looked at each
other in silence
»Of course« said the latter »the department has no record of that man«
»Did any of my predecessors have any knowledge of what you have told me
now« asked the Assistant Commissioner putting his elbows on the table and
raising his joined hands before his face as if about to offer prayer only that
his eyes had not a pious expression
»No sir certainly not What would have been the object That sort of man
could never be produced publicly to any good purpose It was sufficient for me
to know who he was and to make use of him in a way that could be used
publicly«
»And do you think that sort of private knowledge consistent with the
official position you occupy«
»Perfectly sir I think its quite proper I will take the liberty to tell
you sir that it makes me what I am and I am looked upon as a man who knows
his work Its a private affair of my own A personal friend of mine in the
French police gave me the hint that the fellow was an Embassy spy Private
friendship private information private use of it thats how I look upon it«
The Assistant Commissioner after remarking to himself that the mental state
of the renowned Chief Inspector seemed to affect the outline of his lower jaw
as if the lively sense of his high professional distinction had been located in
that part of his anatomy dismissed the point for the moment with a calm I see
Then leaning his cheek on his joined hands
»Well then speaking privately if you like how long have you been in
private touch with this Embassy spy«
To this inquiry the private answer of the Chief Inspector so private that
it was never shaped into audible words was
»Long before you were even thought of for your place here«
The sotospeak public utterance was much more precise
»I saw him for the first time in my life a little more than seven years ago
when two Imperial Highnesses and the Imperial Chancellor were on a visit here I
was put in charge of all the arrangements for looking after them Baron
StottWartenheim was Ambassador then He was a very nervous old gentleman One
evening three days before the Guildhall Banquet he sent word that he wanted to
see me for a moment I was downstairs and the carriages were at the door to
take the Imperial Highnesses and the Chancellor to the opera I went up at once
I found the Baron walking up and down his bedroom in a pitiable state of
distress squeezing his hands together He assured me he had the fullest
confidence in our police and in my abilities but he had there a man just come
over from Paris whose information could be trusted implicitly He wanted me to
hear what that man had to say He took me at once into a dressingroom next
door where I saw a big fellow in a heavy overcoat sitting all alone on a chair
and holding his hat and stick in one hand The Baron said to him in French
Speak my friend The light in that room was not very good I talked with him
for some five minutes perhaps He certainly gave me a piece of very startling
news Then the Baron took me aside nervously to praise him up to me and when I
turned round again I discovered that the fellow had vanished like a ghost Got
up and sneaked out down some back stairs I suppose There was no time to run
after him as I had to hurry off after the Ambassador down the great staircase
and see the party started safe for the opera However I acted upon the
information that very night Whether it was perfectly correct or not it did
look serious enough Very likely it saved us from an ugly trouble on the day of
the Imperial visit to the City
Some time later a month or so after my promotion to Chief Inspector my
attention was attracted to a big burly man I thought I had seen somewhere
before coming out in a hurry from a jewellers shop in the Strand I went after
him as it was on my way towards Charing Cross and there seeing one of our
detectives across the road I beckoned him over and pointed out the fellow to
him with instructions to watch his movements for a couple of days and then
report to me No later than next afternoon my man turned up to tell me that the
fellow had married his landladys daughter at a registrars office that very day
at 1130 AM and had gone off with her to Margate for a week Our man had seen
the luggage being put on the cab There were some old Paris labels on one of the
bags Somehow I couldnt get the fellow out of my head and the very next time I
had to go to Paris on service I spoke about him to that friend of mine in the
Paris police My friend said From what you tell me I think you must mean a
rather wellknown hangeron and emissary of the Revolutionary Red Committee He
says he is an Englishman by birth We have an idea that he has been for a good
few years now a secret agent of one of the foreign Embassies in London This
woke up my memory completely He was the vanishing fellow I saw sitting on a
chair in Baron StottWartenheims bathroom I told my friend that he was quite
right The fellow was a secret agent to my certain knowledge Afterwards my
friend took the trouble to ferret out the complete record of that man for me I
thought I had better know all there was to know but I dont suppose you want to
hear his history now sir«
The Assistant Commissioner shook his supported head »The history of your
relations with that useful personage is the only thing that matters just now«
he said closing slowly his weary deepset eyes and then opening them swiftly
with a greatly refreshed glance
»Theres nothing official about them« said the Chief Inspector bitterly
»I went into his shop one evening told him who I was and reminded him of our
first meeting He didnt as much as twitch an eyebrow He said that he was
married and settled now and that all he wanted was not to be interfered in his
little business I took it upon myself to promise him that as long as he didnt
go in for anything obviously outrageous he would be left alone by the police
That was worth something to him because a word from us to the CustomHouse
people would have been enough to get some of these packages he gets from Paris
and Brussels opened in Dover with confiscation to follow for certain and
perhaps a prosecution as well at the end of it«
»Thats a very precarious trade« murmured the Assistant Commissioner »Why
did he go in for that«
The Chief Inspector raised scornful eyebrows dispassionately
»Most likely got a connection friends on the Continent amongst people
who deal in such wares They would be just the sort he would consort with Hes
a lazy dog too like the rest of them«
»What do you get from him in exchange for your protection«
The Chief Inspector was not inclined to enlarge on the value of Mr Verlocs
services
»He would not be much good to anybody but myself One has got to know a good
deal beforehand to make use of a man like that I can understand the sort of
hint he can give And when I want a hint he can generally furnish it to me«
The Chief Inspector lost himself suddenly in a discreet reflective mood and
the Assistant Commissioner repressed a smile at the fleeting thought that the
reputation of Chief Inspector Heat might possibly have been made in a great part
by the Secret Agent Verloc
»In a more general way of being of use all our men of the Special Crimes
section on duty at Charing Cross and Victoria have orders to take careful notice
of anybody they may see with him He meets the new arrivals frequently and
afterwards keeps track of them He seems to have been told off for that sort of
duty When I want an address in a hurry I can always get it from him Of
course I know how to manage our relations I havent seen him to speak to three
times in the last two years I drop him a line unsigned and he answers me in
the same way at my private address«
From time to time the Assistant Commissioner gave an almost imperceptible
nod The Chief Inspector added that he did not suppose Mr Verloc to be deep in
the confidence of the prominent members of the Revolutionary International
Council but that he was generally trusted of that there could be no doubt
»Whenever Ive had reason to think there was something in the wind« he
concluded »Ive always found he could tell me something worth knowing«
The Assistant Commissioner made a significant remark
»He failed you this time«
»Neither had I wind of anything in any other way« retorted Chief Inspector
Heat »I asked him nothing so he could tell me nothing He isnt one of our men
It isnt as if he were in our pay«
»No« muttered the Assistant Commissioner »Hes a spy in the pay of a
foreign government We could never confess to him«
»I must do my work in my own way« declared the Chief Inspector »When it
comes to that I would deal with the devil himself and take the consequences
There are things not fit for everybody to know«
»Your idea of secrecy seems to consist in keeping the chief of your
department in the dark Thats stretching it perhaps a little too far isnt it
He lives over his shop«
»Who Verloc Oh yes He lives over his shop The wifes mother I fancy
lives with them«
»Is the house watched«
»Oh dear no It wouldnt do Certain people who come there are watched My
opinion is that he knows nothing of this affair«
»How do you account for this« The Assistant Commissioner nodded at the
cloth rag lying before him on the table
»I dont account for it at all sir Its simply unaccountable It cant be
explained by what I know« The Chief Inspector made those admissions with the
frankness of a man whose reputation is established as if on a rock »At any rate
not at this present moment I think that the man who had most to do with it will
turn out to be Michaelis«
»You do«
»Yes sir because I can answer for all the others«
»What about that other man supposed to have escaped from the park«
»I should think hes far away by this time« opined the Chief Inspector
The Assistant Commissioner looked hard at him and rose suddenly as though
having made up his mind to some course of action As a matter of fact he had
that very moment succumbed to a fascinating temptation The Chief Inspector
heard himself dismissed with instructions to meet his superior early next
morning for further consultation upon the case He listened with an impenetrable
face and walked out of the room with measured steps
Whatever might have been the plans of the Assistant Commissioner they had
nothing to do with that desk work which was the bane of his existence because
of its confined nature and apparent lack of reality It could not have had or
else the general air of alacrity that came upon the Assistant Commissioner would
have been inexplicable As soon as he was left alone he looked for his hat
impulsively and put it on his head Having done that he sat down again to
reconsider the whole matter But as his mind was already made up this did not
take long And before Chief Inspector Heat had gone very far on the way home he
also left the building
VII
The Assistant Commissioner walked along a short and narrow street like a wet
muddy trench then crossing a very broad thoroughfare entered a public edifice
and sought speech with a young private secretary unpaid of a great personage
This fair smoothfaced young man whose symmetrically arranged hair gave
him the air of a large and neat schoolboy met the Assistant Commissioners
request with a doubtful look and spoke with bated breath
»Would he see you I dont know about that He has walked over from the
House an hour ago to talk with the permanent UnderSecretary and now hes ready
to walk back again He might have sent for him but he does it for the sake of a
little exercise I suppose Its all the exercise he can find time for while
this session lasts I dont complain I rather enjoy these little strolls He
leans on my arm and doesnt open his lips But I say hes very tired and
well not in the sweetest of tempers just now«
»Its in connection with that Greenwich affair«
»Oh I say Hes very bitter against you people But I will go and see if
you insist«
»Do Thats a good fellow« said the Assistant Commissioner
The unpaid secretary admired this pluck Composing for himself an innocent
face he opened a door and went in with the assurance of a nice and privileged
child And presently he reappeared with a nod to the Assistant Commissioner
who passing through the same door left open for him found himself with the
great personage in a large room
Vast in bulk and stature with a long white face which broadened at the
base by a big double chin appeared eggshaped in the fringe of thin greyish
whisker the great personage seemed an expanding man Unfortunate from a
tailoring point of view the crossfolds in the middle of a buttoned black coat
added to the impression as if the fastenings of the garment were tried to the
utmost From the head set upward on a thick neck the eyes with puffy lower
lids stared with a haughty droop on each side of a hooked aggressive nose
nobly salient in the vast pale circumference of the face A shiny silk hat and a
pair of worn gloves lying ready on the end of a long table looked expanded too
enormous
He stood on the hearthrug in big roomy boots and uttered no word of
greeting
»I would like to know if this is the beginning of another dynamite
campaign« he asked at once in a deep very smooth voice »Dont go into
details I have no time for that«
The Assistant Commissioners figure before this big and rustic Presence had
the frail slenderness of a reed addressing an oak And indeed the unbroken
record of that mans descent surpassed in the number of centuries the age of the
oldest oak in the country
»No As far as one can be positive about anything I can assure you that it
is not«
»Yes But your idea of assurances over there« said the great man with a
contemptuous wave of his hand towards a window giving on the broad thoroughfare
»seems to consist mainly in making the Secretary of State look a fool I have
been told positively in this very room less than a month ago that nothing of the
sort was even possible«
The Assistant Commissioner glanced in the direction of the window calmly
»You will allow me to remark Sir Ethelred that so far I have had no
opportunity to give you assurances of any kind«
The haughty droop of the eyes was focussed now upon the Assistant
Commissioner
»True« confessed the deep smooth voice »I sent for Heat You are still
rather a novice in your new berth And how are you getting on over there«
»I believe I am learning something every day«
»Of course of course I hope you will get on«
»Thank you Sir Ethelred Ive learned something today and even within the
last hour or so There is much in this affair of a kind that does not meet the
eye in a usual anarchist outrage even if one looked into it as deep as can be
Thats why I am here«
The great man put his arms akimbo the backs of his big hands resting on his
hips
»Very well Go on Only no details pray Spare me the details«
»You shall not be troubled with them Sir Ethelred« the Assistant
Commissioner began with a calm and untroubled assurance While he was speaking
the hands on the face of the clock behind the great mans back a heavy
glistening affair of massive scrolls in the same dark marble as the mantelpiece
and with a ghostly evanescent tick had moved through the space of seven
minutes He spoke with a studious fidelity to a parenthetical manner into which
every little fact that is every detail fitted with delightful ease Not a
murmur nor even a movement hinted at interruption The great Personage might
have been the statue of one of his own princely ancestors stripped of a
crusaders war harness and put into an illfitting frock coat The Assistant
Commissioner felt as though he were at liberty to talk for an hour But he kept
his head and at the end of the time mentioned above he broke off with a sudden
conclusion which reproducing the opening statement pleasantly surprised Sir
Ethelred by its apparent swiftness and force
»The kind of thing which meets us under the surface of this affair
otherwise without gravity is unusual in this precise form at least and
requires special treatment«
The tone of Sir Ethelred was deepened full of conviction
»I should think so involving the Ambassador of a foreign power«
»Oh The Ambassador« protested the other erect and slender allowing
himself a mere half smile »It would be stupid of me to advance anything of the
kind And it is absolutely unnecessary because if I am right in my surmises
whether ambassador or hall porter its a mere detail«
Sir Ethelred opened a wide mouth like a cavern into which the hooked nose
seemed anxious to peer there came from it a subdued rolling sound as from a
distant organ with the scornful indignation stop
»No These people are too impossible What do they mean by importing their
methods of CrimTartary here A Turk would have more decency«
»You forget Sir Ethelred that strictly speaking we know nothing positively
as yet«
»No But how would you define it Shortly«
»Barefaced audacity amounting to childishness of a peculiar sort«
»We cant put up with the innocence of nasty little children« said the
great and expanded personage expanding a little more as it were The haughty
drooping glance struck crushingly the carpet at the Assistant Commissioners
feet »Theyll have to get a hard rap on the knuckles over this affair We must
be in a position to What is your general idea stated shortly No need to go
into details«
»No Sir Ethelred In principle I should lay it down that the existence of
secret agents should not be tolerated as tending to augment the positive
dangers of the evil against which they are used That the spy will fabricate his
information is a mere commonplace But in the sphere of political and
revolutionary action relying partly on violence the professional spy has every
facility to fabricate the very facts themselves and will spread the double evil
of emulation in one direction and of panic hasty legislation unreflecting
hate on the other However this is an imperfect world «
The deepvoiced Presence on the hearthrug motionless with big elbows stuck
out said hastily
»Be lucid please«
»Yes Sir Ethelred An imperfect world Therefore directly the character
of this affair suggested itself to me I thought it should be dealt with with
special secrecy and ventured to come over here«
»Thats right« approved the great Personage glancing down complacently
over his double chin »I am glad theres somebody over at your shop who thinks
that the Secretary of State may be trusted now and then«
The Assistant Commissioner had an amused smile
»I was really thinking that it might be better at this stage for Heat to be
replaced by «
»What Heat An ass eh« exclaimed the great man with distinct animosity
»Not at all Pray Sir Ethelred dont put that unjust interpretation on my
remarks«
»Then what Too clever by half«
»Neither at least not as a rule All the grounds of my surmises I have
from him The only thing Ive discovered by myself is that he has been making
use of that man privately Who could blame him Hes an old police hand He told
me virtually that he must have tools to work with It occurred to me that this
tool should be surrendered to the Special Crimes division as a whole instead of
remaining the private property of Chief Inspector Heat I extended my conception
of our departmental duties to the suppression of the secret agent But Chief
Inspector Heat is an old departmental hand He would accuse me of perverting its
morality and attacking its efficiency He would define it bitterly as protection
extended to the criminal class of revolutionists It would mean just that to
him«
»Yes But what do you mean«
»I mean to say first that theres but poor comfort in being able to
declare that any given act of violence damaging property or destroying life
is not the work of anarchism at all but of something else altogether some
species of authorized scoundrelism This I fancy is much more frequent than we
suppose Next its obvious that the existence of these people in the pay of
foreign governments destroys in a measure the efficiency of our supervision A
spy of that sort can afford to be more reckless than the most reckless of
conspirators His occupation is free from all restraint Hes without as much
faith as is necessary for complete negation and without that much law as is
implied in lawlessness Thirdly the existence of these spies amongst the
revolutionary groups which we are reproached for harbouring here does away
with all certitude You have received a reassuring statement from Chief
Inspector Heat some time ago It was by no means groundless and yet this
episode happens I call it an episode because this affair I make bold to say
is episodic it is no part of any general scheme however wild The very
peculiarities which surprise and perplex Chief Inspector Heat establish its
character in my eyes I am keeping clear of details Sir Ethelred«
The Personage on the hearthrug had been listening with profound attention
»Just so Be as concise as you can«
The Assistant Commissioner intimated by an earnest deferential gesture that
he was anxious to be concise
»There is a peculiar stupidity and feebleness in the conduct of this affair
which gives me excellent hopes of getting behind it and finding there something
else than an individual freak of fanaticism For it is a planned thing
undoubtedly The actual perpetrator seems to have been led by the hand to the
spot and then abandoned hurriedly to his own devices The inference is that he
was imported from abroad for the purpose of committing this outrage At the same
time one is forced to the conclusion that he did not know enough English to ask
his way unless one were to accept the fantastic theory that he was a deaf mute
I wonder now But this is idle He has destroyed himself by an accident
obviously Not an extraordinary accident But an extraordinary little fact
remains the address on his clothing discovered by the merest accident too It
is an incredible little fact so incredible that the explanation which will
account for it is bound to touch the bottom of this affair Instead of
instructing Heat to go on with this case my intention is to seek this
explanation personally by myself I mean where it may be picked up That is
in a certain shop in Brett Street and on the lips of a certain secret agent
once upon a time the confidential and trusted spy of the late Baron
StottWartenheim Ambassador of a Great Power to the Court of St James«
The Assistant Commissioner paused then added »Those fellows are a perfect
pest« In order to raise his drooping glance to the speakers face the
Personage on the hearthrug had gradually tilted his head farther back which
gave him an aspect of extraordinary haughtiness
»Why not leave it to Heat«
»Because he is an old departmental hand They have their own morality My
line of inquiry would appear to him an awful perversion of duty For him the
plain duty is to fasten the guilt upon as many prominent anarchists as he can on
some slight indications he had picked up in the course of his investigation on
the spot whereas I he would say am bent upon vindicating their innocence I
am trying to be as lucid as I can in presenting this obscure matter to you
without details«
»He would would he« muttered the proud head of Sir Ethelred from its lofty
elevation
»I am afraid so with an indignation and disgust of which you or I can have
no idea Hes an excellent servant We must not put an undue strain on his
loyalty Thats always a mistake Besides I want a free hand a freer hand
than it would be perhaps advisable to give Chief Inspector Heat I havent the
slightest wish to spare this man Verloc He will I imagine be extremely
startled to find his connection with this affair whatever it may be brought
home to him so quickly Frightening him will not be very difficult But our true
objective lies behind him somewhere I want your authority to give him such
assurances of personal safety as I may think proper«
»Certainly« said the Personage on the hearthrug »Find out as much as you
can find it out in your own way«
»I must set about it without loss of time this very evening« said the
Assistant Commissioner
Sir Ethelred shifted one hand under his coat tails and tilting back his
head looked at him steadily
»Well have a late sitting tonight« he said »Come to the House with your
discoveries if we are not gone home Ill warn Toodles to look out for you
Hell take you into my room«
The numerous family and the wide connections of the youthfullooking Private
Secretary cherished for him the hope of an austere and exalted destiny
Meantime the social sphere he adorned in his hours of idleness chose to pet him
under the above nickname And Sir Ethelred hearing it on the lips of his wife
and girls every day mostly at breakfasttime had conferred upon it the
dignity of unsmiling adoption
The Assistant Commissioner was surprised and gratified extremely
»I shall certainly bring my discoveries to the House on the chance of you
having the time to «
»I wont have the time« interrupted the great Personage »But I will see
you I havent the time now And you are going yourself«
»Yes Sir Ethelred I think it the best way«
The Personage had tilted his head so far back that in order to keep the
Assistant Commissioner under his observation he had to nearly close his eyes
»Hm Ha And how do you propose Will you assume a disguise«
»Hardly a disguise Ill change my clothes of course«
»Of course« repeated the great man with a sort of absentminded loftiness
He turned his big head slowly and over his shoulder gave a haughty oblique
stare to the ponderous marble timepiece with the sly feeble tick The gilt
hands had taken the opportunity to steal through no less than five and twenty
minutes behind his back
The Assistant Commissioner who could not see them grew a little nervous in
the interval But the great man presented to him a calm and undismayed face
»Very well« he said and paused as if in deliberate contempt of the
official clock »But what first put you in motion in this direction«
»I have been always of opinion« began the Assistant Commissioner
»Ah Yes Opinion Thats of course But the immediate motive«
»What shall I say Sir Ethelred A new mans antagonism to old methods A
desire to know something at first hand Some impatience Its my old work but
the harness is different It has been chafing me a little in one or two tender
places«
»I hope youll get on over there« said the great man kindly extending his
hand soft to the touch but broad and powerful like the hand of a glorified
farmer The Assistant Commissioner shook it and withdrew
In the outer room Toodles who had been waiting perched on the edge of a
table advanced to meet him subduing his natural buoyancy
»Well Satisfactory« he asked with airy importance
»Perfectly Youve earned my undying gratitude« answered the Assistant
Commissioner whose long face looked wooden in contrast with the peculiar
character of the others gravity which seemed perpetually ready to break into
ripples and chuckles
»Thats all right But seriously you cant imagine how irritated he is by
the attacks on his Bill for the Nationalization of Fisheries They call it the
beginning of social revolution Of course it is a revolutionary measure But
these fellows have no decency The personal attacks «
»I read the papers« remarked the Assistant Commissioner
»Odious Eh And you have no notion what a mass of work he has got to get
through every day He does it all himself Seems unable to trust any one with
these Fisheries«
»And yet hes given a whole half hour to the consideration of my very small
sprat« interjected the Assistant Commissioner
»Small Is it Im glad to hear that But its a pity you didnt keep away
then This fight takes it out of him frightfully The mans getting exhausted I
feel it by the way he leans on my arm as we walk over And I say is he safe in
the streets Mullins has been marching his men up here this afternoon Theres a
constable stuck by every lamppost and every second person we meet between this
and Palace Yard is an obvious tec It will get on his nerves presently I say
these foreign scoundrels arent likely to throw something at him are they It
would be a national calamity The country cant spare him«
»Not to mention yourself He leans on your arm« suggested the Assistant
Commissioner soberly »You would both go«
»It would be an easy way for a young man to go down into history Not so
many British Ministers have been assassinated as to make it a minor incident
But seriously now «
»I am afraid that if you want to go down into history youll have to do
something for it Seriously theres no danger whatever for both of you but from
overwork«
The sympathetic Toodles welcomed this opening for a chuckle
»The Fisheries wont kill me I am used to late hours« he declared with
ingenuous levity But feeling an instant compunction he began to assume an air
of statesmanlike moodiness as one draws on a glove »His massive intellect will
stand any amount of work Its his nerves that I am afraid of The reactionary
gang with that abusive brute Cheeseman at their head insult him every night«
»If he will insist on beginning a revolution« murmured the Assistant
Commissioner
»The time has come and he is the only man great enough for the work«
protested the revolutionary Toodles flaring up under the calm speculative gaze
of the Assistant Commissioner Somewhere in a corridor a distant bell tinkled
urgently and with devoted vigilance the young man pricked up his ears at the
sound »Hes ready to go now« he exclaimed in a whisper snatched up his hat
and vanished from the room
The Assistant Commissioner went out by another door in a less elastic
manner Again he crossed the wide thoroughfare walked along a narrow street
and reentered hastily his own departmental buildings He kept up this
accelerated pace to the door of his private room Before he had closed it fairly
his eyes sought his desk He stood still for a moment then walked up looked
all round on the floor sat down in his chair rang a bell and waited
»Chief Inspector Heat gone yet«
»Yes sir Went away halfanhour ago«
He nodded That will do And sitting still with his hat pushed off his
forehead he thought that it was just like Heats confounded cheek to carry off
quietly the only piece of material evidence But he thought this without
animosity Old and valued servants will take liberties The piece of overcoat
with the address sewn on was certainly not a thing to leave about Dismissing
from his mind this manifestation of Chief Inspector Heats mistrust he wrote
and despatched a note to his wife charging her to make his apologies to
Michaelis great lady with whom they were engaged to dine that evening
The short jacket and the low round hat he assumed in a sort of curtained
alcove containing a washstand a row of wooden pegs and a shelf brought out
wonderfully the length of his grave brown face He stepped back into the full
light of the room looking like the vision of a cool reflective Don Quixote
with the sunken eyes of a dark enthusiast and a very deliberate manner He left
the scene of his daily labours quickly like an unobtrusive shadow His descent
into the street was like the descent into a slimy aquarium from which the water
had been run off A murky gloomy dampness enveloped him The walls of the
houses were wet the mud of the roadway glistened with an effect of
phosphorescence and when he emerged into the Strand out of a narrow street by
the side of Charing Cross Station the genius of the locality assimilated him He
might have been but one more of the queer foreign fish that can be seen of an
evening about there flitting round the dark corners
He came to a stand on the very edge of the pavement and waited His
exercised eyes had made out in the confused movements of lights and shadows
thronging the roadway the crawling approach of a hansom He gave no sign but
when the low step gliding along the curbstone came to his feet he dodged in
skilfully in front of the big turning wheel and spoke up through the little
trap door almost before the man gazing supinely ahead from his perch was aware
of having been boarded by a fare
It was not a long drive It ended by signal abruptly nowhere in particular
between two lampposts before a large drapery establishment a long range of
shops already lapped up in sheets of corrugated iron for the night Tendering a
coin through the trap door the fare slipped out and away leaving an effect of
uncanny eccentric ghostliness upon the drivers mind But the size of the coin
was satisfactory to his touch and his education not being literary he remained
untroubled by the fear of finding it presently turned to a dead leaf in his
pocket Raised above the world of fares by the nature of his calling he
contemplated their action with a limited interest The sharp pulling of his
horse right round expressed his philosophy
Meantime the Assistant Commissioner was already giving his order to a
waiter in a little Italian restaurant round the corner one of those traps for
the hungry long and narrow baited with a perspective of mirrors and white
napery without air but with an atmosphere of their own an atmosphere of
fraudulent cookery mocking an abject mankind in the most pressing of its
miserable necessities In this immoral atmosphere the Assistant Commissioner
reflecting upon his enterprise seemed to lose some more of his identity He had
a sense of loneliness of evil freedom It was rather pleasant When after
paying for his short meal he stood up and waited for his change he saw himself
in the sheet of glass and was struck by his foreign appearance He contemplated
his own image with a melancholy and inquisitive gaze then by sudden inspiration
raised the collar of his jacket This arrangement appeared to him commendable
and he completed it by giving an upward twist to the ends of his black
moustache He was satisfied by the subtle modification of his personal aspect
caused by these small changes »Thatll do very well« he thought »Ill get a
little wet a little splashed «
He became aware of the waiter at his elbow and of a small pile of silver
coins on the edge of the table before him The waiter kept one eye on it while
his other eye followed the long back of a tall not very young girl who passed
up to a distant table looking perfectly sightless and altogether unapproachable
She seemed to be an habitual customer
On going out the Assistant Commissioner made to himself the observation that
the patrons of the place had lost in the frequentation of fraudulent cookery all
their national and private characteristics And this was strange since the
Italian restaurant is such a peculiarly British institution But these people
were as denationalized as the dishes set before them with every circumstance of
unstamped respectability Neither was their personality stamped in any way
professionally socially or racially They seemed created for the Italian
restaurant unless the Italian restaurant had been perchance created for them
But that last hypothesis was unthinkable since one could not place them
anywhere outside those special establishments One never met these enigmatical
persons elsewhere It was impossible to form a precise idea what occupations
they followed by day and where they went to bed at night And he himself had
become unplaced It would have been impossible for anybody to guess his
occupation As to going to bed there was a doubt even in his own mind Not
indeed in regard to his domicile itself but very much so in respect of the time
when he would be able to return there A pleasurable feeling of independence
possessed him when he heard the glass doors swing to behind his back with a sort
of imperfect baffled thud He advanced at once into an immensity of greasy slime
and damp plaster interspersed with lamps and enveloped oppressed penetrated
choked and suffocated by the blackness of a wet London night which is composed
of soot and drops of water
Brett Street was not very far away It branched off narrow from the side
of an open triangular space surrounded by dark and mysterious houses temples of
petty commerce emptied of traders for the night Only a fruiterers stall at the
corner made a violent blaze of light and colour Beyond all was black and the
few people passing in that direction vanished at one stride beyond the glowing
heaps of oranges and lemons No footsteps echoed They would never be heard of
again The adventurous head of the Special Crimes Department watched these
disappearances from a distance with an interested eye He felt lighthearted as
though he had been ambushed all alone in a jungle many thousands of miles away
from departmental desks and official inkstands This joyousness and dispersion
of thought before a task of some importance seems to prove that this world of
ours is not such a very serious affair after all For the Assistant Commissioner
was not constitutionally inclined to levity
The policeman on the beat projected his sombre and moving form against the
luminous glory of oranges and lemons and entered Brett Street without haste
The Assistant Commissioner as though he were a member of the criminal classes
lingered out of sight awaiting his return But this constable seemed to be lost
for ever to the force He never returned must have gone out at the other end of
Brett Street
The Assistant Commissioner reaching this conclusion entered the street in
his turn and came upon a large van arrested in front of the dimly lit
windowpanes of a carters eatinghouse The man was refreshing himself inside
and the horses their big heads lowered to the ground fed out of nosebags
steadily Farther on on the opposite side of the street another suspect patch
of dim light issued from Mr Verlocs shop front hung with papers heaving with
vague piles of cardboard boxes and the shapes of books The Assistant
Commissioner stood observing it across the roadway There could be no mistake
By the side of the front window encumbered by the shadows of nondescript
things the door standing ajar let escape on the pavement a narrow clear
streak of gaslight within
Behind the Assistant Commissioner the van and horses merged into one mass
seemed something alive a squarebacked black monster blocking half the street
with sudden ironshod stampings fierce jingles and heavy blowing sighs The
harshly festive illomened glare of a large and prosperous publichouse faced
the other end of Brett Street across a wide road This barrier of blazing
lights opposing the shadows gathered about the humble abode of Mr Verlocs
domestic happiness seemed to drive the obscurity of the street back upon
itself make it more sullen brooding and sinister
VIII
Having infused by persistent importunities some sort of heat into the chilly
interest of several licensed victuallers the acquaintances once upon a time of
her late unlucky husband Mrs Verlocs mother had at last secured her
admission to certain almshouses founded by a wealthy innkeeper for the destitute
widows of the trade
This end conceived in the astuteness of her uneasy heart the old woman had
pursued with secrecy and determination That was the time when her daughter
Winnie could not help passing a remark to Mr Verloc that »mother has been
spending halfcrowns and five shillings almost every day this last week in cab
fares« But the remark was not made grudgingly Winnie respected her mothers
infirmities She was only a little surprised at this sudden mania for
locomotion Mr Verloc who was sufficiently magnificent in his way had grunted
the remark impatiently aside as interfering with his meditations These were
frequent deep and prolonged they bore upon a matter more important than five
shillings Distinctly more important and beyond all comparison more difficult
to consider in all its aspects with philosophical serenity
Her object attained in astute secrecy the heroic old woman had made a clean
breast of it to Mrs Verloc Her soul was triumphant and her heart tremulous
Inwardly she quaked because she dreaded and admired the calm selfcontained
character of her daughter Winnie whose displeasure was made redoubtable by a
diversity of dreadful silences But she did not allow her inward apprehensions
to rob her of the advantage of venerable placidity conferred upon her outward
person by her triple chin the floating ampleness of her ancient form and the
impotent condition of her legs
The shock of the information was so unexpected that Mrs Verloc against her
usual practice when addressed interrupted the domestic occupation she was
engaged upon It was the dusting of the furniture in the parlour behind the
shop She turned her head towards her mother
»Whatever did you want to do that for« she exclaimed in scandalized
astonishment
The shock must have been severe to make her depart from that distant and
uninquiring acceptance of facts which was her force and her safeguard in life
»Werent you made comfortable enough here«
She had lapsed into these inquiries but next moment she saved the
consistency of her conduct by resuming her dusting while the old woman sat
scared and dumb under her dingy white cap and lustreless dark wig
Winnie finished the chair and ran the duster along the mahogany at the back
of the horsehair sofa on which Mr Verloc loved to take his ease in hat and
overcoat She was intent on her work but presently she permitted herself
another question
»How in the world did you manage it mother«
As not affecting the inwardness of things which it was Mrs Verlocs
principle to ignore this curiosity was excusable It bore merely on the
methods The old woman welcomed it eagerly as bringing forward something that
could be talked about with much sincerity
She favoured her daughter by an exhaustive answer full of names and enriched
by side comments upon the ravages of time as observed in the alteration of human
countenances The names were principally the names of licensed victuallers
poor daddys friends my dear She enlarged with special appreciation on the
kindness and condescension of a large brewer a Baronet and an M P the
Chairman of the Governors of the Charity She expressed herself thus warmly
because she had been allowed to interview by appointment his Private Secretary
»a very polite gentleman all in black with a gentle sad voice but so very
very thin and quiet He was like a shadow my dear«
Winnie prolonging her dusting operations till the tale was told to the end
walked out of the parlour into the kitchen down two steps in her usual manner
without the slightest comment
Shedding a few tears in sign of rejoicing at her daughters mansuetude in
this terrible affair Mrs Verlocs mother gave play to her astuteness in the
direction of her furniture because it was her own and sometimes she wished it
hadnt been Heroism is all very well but there are circumstances when the
disposal of a few tables and chairs brass bedsteads and so on may be big with
remote and disastrous consequences She required a few pieces herself the
Foundation which after many importunities had gathered her to its charitable
breast giving nothing but bare planks and cheaply papered bricks to the objects
of its solicitude The delicacy guiding her choice to the least valuable and
most dilapidated articles passed unacknowledged because Winnies philosophy
consisted in not taking notice of the inside of facts she assumed that mother
took what suited her best As to Mr Verloc his intense meditation like a sort
of Chinese wall isolated him completely from the phenomena of this world of
vain effort and illusory appearances
Her selection made the disposal of the rest became a perplexing question in
a particular way She was leaving it in Brett Street of course But she had two
children Winnie was provided for by her sensible union with that excellent
husband Mr Verloc Stevie was destitute and a little peculiar His position
had to be considered before the claims of legal justice and even the promptings
of partiality The possession of the furniture would not be in any sense a
provision He ought to have it the poor boy But to give it to him would be
like tampering with his position of complete dependence It was a sort of claim
which she feared to weaken Moreover the susceptibilities of Mr Verloc would
perhaps not brook being beholden to his brotherinlaw for the chairs he sat on
In a long experience of gentlemen lodgers Mrs Verlocs mother had acquired a
dismal but resigned notion of the fantastic side of human nature What if Mr
Verloc suddenly took it into his head to tell Stevie to take his blessed sticks
somewhere out of that A division on the other hand however carefully made
might give some cause of offence to Winnie No Stevie must remain destitute and
dependent And at the moment of leaving Brett Street she had said to her
daughter »No use waiting till I am dead is there Everything I leave here is
altogether your own now my dear«
Winnie with her hat on silent behind her mothers back went on arranging
the collar of the old womans cloak She got her handbag an umbrella with an
impassive face The time had come for the expenditure of the sum of
threeandsixpence on what might well be supposed the last cab drive of Mrs
Verlocs mothers life They went out at the shop door
The conveyance awaiting them would have illustrated the proverb that »truth
can be more cruel than caricature« if such a proverb existed Crawling behind
an infirm horse a metropolitan hackney carriage drew up on wobbly wheels and
with a maimed driver on the box This last peculiarity caused some
embarrassment Catching sight of a hooked iron contrivance protruding from the
left sleeve of the mans coat Mrs Verlocs mother lost suddenly the heroic
courage of these days She really couldnt trust herself »What do you think
Winnie« She hung back The passionate expostulations of the bigfaced cabman
seemed to be squeezed out of a blocked throat Leaning over from his box he
whispered with mysterious indignation What was the matter now Was it possible
to treat a man so His enormous and unwashed countenance flamed red in the muddy
stretch of the street Was it likely they would have given him a licence he
inquired desperately if
The police constable of the locality quieted him by a friendly glance then
addressing himself to the two women without marked consideration said
»Hes been driving a cab for twenty years I never knew him to have an
accident«
»Accident« shouted the driver in a scornful whisper
The policemans testimony settled it The modest assemblage of seven people
mostly under age dispersed Winnie followed her mother into the cab Stevie
climbed on the box His vacant mouth and distressed eyes depicted the state of
his mind in regard to the transactions which were taking place In the narrow
streets the progress of the journey was made sensible to those within by the
near fronts of the houses gliding past slowly and shakily with a great rattle
and jingling of glass as if about to collapse behind the cab and the infirm
horse with the harness hung over his sharp backbone flapping very loose about
his thighs appeared to be dancing mincingly on his toes with infinite patience
Later on in the wider space of Whitehall all visual evidences of motion became
imperceptible The rattle and jingle of glass went on indefinitely in front of
the long Treasury building and time itself seemed to stand still
At last Winnie observed »This isnt a very good horse«
Her eyes gleamed in the shadow of the cab straight ahead immovable On the
box Stevie shut his vacant mouth first in order to ejaculate earnestly
»Dont«
The driver holding high the reins twisted around the hook took no notice
Perhaps he had not heard Stevies breast heaved
»Dont whip«
The man turned slowly his bloated and sodden face of many colours bristling
with white hairs His little red eyes glistened with moisture His big lips had
a violet tint They remained closed With the dirty back of his whiphand he
rubbed the stubble sprouting on his enormous chin
»You mustnt« stammered out Stevie violently »it hurts«
»Mustnt whip« queried the other in a thoughtful whisper and immediately
whipped He did this not because his soul was cruel and his heart evil but
because he had to earn his fare And for a time the walls of St Stephens with
its towers and pinnacles contemplated in immobility and silence a cab that
jingled It rolled too however But on the bridge there was a commotion
Stevie suddenly proceeded to get down from the box There were shouts on the
pavement people ran forward the driver pulled up whispering curses of
indignation and astonishment Winnie lowered the window and put her head out
white as a ghost In the depths of the cab her mother was exclaiming in tones
of anguish »Is that boy hurt Is that boy hurt«
Stevie was not hurt he had not even fallen but excitement as usual had
robbed him of the power of connected speech He could do no more than stammer at
the window »Too heavy Too heavy« Winnie put out her hand on to his shoulder
»Stevie Get up on the box directly and dont try to get down again«
»No No Walk Must walk«
In trying to state the nature of that necessity he stammered himself into
utter incoherence No physical impossibility stood in the way of his whim
Stevie could have managed easily to keep pace with the infirm dancing horse
without getting out of breath But his sister withheld her consent decisively
»The idea Who ever heard of such a thing Run after a cab« Her mother
frightened and helpless in the depths of the conveyance entreated
»Oh dont let him Winnie Hell get lost Dont let him«
»Certainly not What next Mr Verloc will be sorry to hear of this
nonsense Stevie I can tell you He wont be happy at all«
The idea of Mr Verlocs grief and unhappiness acting as usual powerfully
upon Stevies fundamentally docile disposition he abandoned all resistance and
climbed up again on the box with a face of despair
The cabby turned at him his enormous and inflamed countenance truculently
»Dont you go for trying this silly game again young fellow«
After delivering himself thus in a stern whisper strained almost to
extinction he drove on ruminating solemnly To his mind the incident remained
somewhat obscure But his intellect though it had lost its pristine vivacity in
the benumbing years of sedentary exposure to the weather lacked not
independence or sanity Gravely he dismissed the hypothesis of Stevie being a
drunken young nipper
Inside the cab the spell of silence in which the two women had endured
shoulder to shoulder the jolting rattling and jingling of the journey had
been broken by Stevies outbreak Winnie raised her voice
»Youve done what you wanted mother Youll have only yourself to thank for
it if you arent happy afterwards And I dont think youll be That I dont
Werent you comfortable enough in the house Whatever peoplell think of us
you throwing yourself like this on a Charity«
»My dear« screamed the old woman earnestly above the noise »youve been
the best of daughters to me As to Mr Verloc there «
Words failing her on the subject of Mr Verlocs excellence she turned her
old tearful eyes to the roof of the cab Then she averted her head on the
pretence of looking out of the window as if to judge of their progress It was
insignificant and went on close to the curbstone Night the early dirty night
the sinister noisy hopeless and rowdy night of South London had overtaken
her on her last cab drive In the gaslight of the lowfronted shops her big
cheeks glowed with an orange hue under a black and mauve bonnet
Mrs Verlocs mothers complexion had become yellow by the effect of age and
from a natural predisposition to biliousness favoured by the trials of a
difficult and worried existence first as wife then as widow It was a
complexion that under the influence of a blush would take on an orange tint And
this woman modest indeed but hardened in the fires of adversity of an age
moreover when blushes are not expected had positively blushed before her
daughter In the privacy of a fourwheeler on her way to a charity cottage one
of a row which by the exiguity of its dimensions and the simplicity of its
accommodation might well have been devised in kindness as a place of training
for the still more straitened circumstances of the grave she was forced to hide
from her own child a blush of remorse and shame
Whatever people will think She knew very well what they did think the
people Winnie had in her mind the old friends of her husband and others too
whose interest she had solicited with such flattering success She had not known
before what a good beggar she could be But she guessed very well what inference
was drawn from her application On account of that shrinking delicacy which
exists side by side with aggressive brutality in masculine nature the inquiries
into her circumstances had not been pushed very far She had checked them by a
visible compression of the lips and some display of an emotion determined to be
eloquently silent And the men would become suddenly incurious after the manner
of their kind She congratulated herself more than once on having nothing to do
with women who being naturally more callous and avid of details would have
been anxious to be exactly informed by what sort of unkind conduct her daughter
and soninlaw had driven her to that sad extremity It was only before the
Secretary of the great brewer M P and Chairman of the Charity who acting for
his principal felt bound to be conscientiously inquisitive as to the real
circumstances of the applicant that she had burst into tears outright and
aloud as a cornered woman will weep The thin and polite gentleman after
contemplating her with an air of being struck all of a heap abandoned his
position under the cover of soothing remarks She must not distress herself The
deed of the Charity did not absolutely specify childless widows In fact it did
not by any means disqualify her But the discretion of the Committee must be an
informed discretion One could understand very well her unwillingness to be a
burden etc etc Thereupon to his profound disappointment Mrs Verlocs
mother wept some more with an augmented vehemence
The tears of that large female in a dark dusty wig and ancient silk dress
festooned with dingy white cotton lace were the tears of genuine distress She
had wept because she was heroic and unscrupulous and full of love for both her
children Girls frequently get sacrificed to the welfare of the boys In this
case she was sacrificing Winnie By the suppression of truth she was slandering
her Of course Winnie was independent and need not care for the opinion of
people that she would never see and who would never see her whereas poor Stevie
had nothing in the world he could call his own except his mothers heroism and
unscrupulousness
The first sense of security following on Winnies marriage wore off in time
for nothing lasts and Mrs Verlocs mother in the seclusion of the back
bedroom had recalled the teaching of that experience which the world impresses
upon a widowed woman But she had recalled it without vain bitterness her store
of resignation amounted almost to dignity She reflected stoically that
everything decays wears out in this world that the way of kindness should be
made easy to the well disposed that her daughter Winnie was a most devoted
sister and a very selfconfident wife indeed As regards Winnies sisterly
devotion her stoicism flinched She excepted that sentiment from the rule of
decay affecting all things human and some things divine She could not help it
not to do so would have frightened her too much But in considering the
conditions of her daughters married state she rejected firmly all flattering
illusions She took the cold and reasonable view that the less strain put on Mr
Verlocs kindness the longer its effects were likely to last That excellent man
loved his wife of course but he would no doubt prefer to keep as few of her
relations as was consistent with the proper display of that sentiment It would
be better if its whole effect were concentrated on poor Stevie And the heroic
old woman resolved on going away from her children as an act of devotion and as
a move of deep policy
The virtue of this policy consisted in this Mrs Verlocs mother was subtle
in her way that Stevies moral claim would be strengthened The poor boy a
good useful boy if a little peculiar had not a sufficient standing He had
been taken over with his mother somewhat in the same way as the furniture of
the Belgravian mansion had been taken over as if on the ground of belonging to
her exclusively What will happen she asked herself for Mrs Verlocs mother
was in a measure imaginative when I die And when she asked herself that
question it was with dread It was also terrible to think that she would not
then have the means of knowing what happened to the poor boy But by making him
over to his sister by going thus away she gave him the advantage of a directly
dependent position This was the more subtle sanction of Mrs Verlocs mothers
heroism and unscrupulousness Her act of abandonment was really an arrangement
for settling her son permanently in life Other people made material sacrifices
for such an object she in that way It was the only way Moreover she would be
able to see how it worked Ill or well she would avoid the horrible incertitude
on the deathbed But it was hard hard cruelly hard
The cab rattled jingled jolted in fact the last was quite extraordinary
By its disproportionate violence and magnitude it obliterated every sensation of
onward movement and the effect was of being shaken in a stationary apparatus
like a mediæval device for the punishment of crime or some very newfangled
invention for the cure of a sluggish liver It was extremely distressing and
the raising of Mrs Verlocs mothers voice sounded like a wail of pain
»I know my dear youll come to see me as often as you can spare the time
Wont you«
»Of course« answered Winnie shortly staring straight before her
And the cab jolted in front of a steamy greasy shop in a blaze of gas and
in the smell of fried fish
The old woman raised a wail again
»And my dear I must see that poor boy every Sunday He wont mind spending
the day with his old mother «
Winnie screamed out stolidly
»Mind I should think not That poor boy will miss you something cruel I
wish you had thought a little of that mother«
Not think of it The heroic woman swallowed a playful and inconvenient
object like a billiard ball which had tried to jump out of her throat Winnie
sat mute for a while pouting at the front of the cab then snapped out which
was an unusual tone with her
»I expect Ill have a job with him at first hell be that restless «
»Whatever you do dont let him worry your husband my dear«
Thus they discussed on familiar lines the bearings of a new situation And
the cab jolted Mrs Verlocs mother expressed some misgivings Could Stevie be
trusted to come all that way alone Winnie maintained that he was much less
absentminded now They agreed as to that It could not be denied Much less
hardly at all They shouted at each other in the jingle with comparative
cheerfulness But suddenly the maternal anxiety broke out afresh There were two
omnibuses to take and a short walk between It was too difficult The old woman
gave way to grief and consternation
Winnie stared forward
»Dont you upset yourself like this mother You must see him of course«
»No my dear Ill try not to«
She mopped her streaming eyes
»But you cant spare the time to come with him and if he should forget
himself and lose his way and somebody spoke to him sharply his name and address
may slip his memory and hell remain lost for days and days «
The vision of a workhouse infirmary for poor Stevie if only during
inquiries wrung her heart For she was a proud woman Winnies stare had grown
hard intent inventive
»I cant bring him to you myself every week« she cried »But dont you
worry mother Ill see to it that he dont get lost for long«
They felt a peculiar bump a vision of brick pillars lingered before the
rattling windows of the cab a sudden cessation of atrocious jolting and
uproarious jingling dazed the two women What had happened They sat motionless
and scared in the profound stillness till the door came open and a rough
strained whispering was heard
»Ere you are«
A range of gabled little houses each with one dim yellow window on the
ground floor surrounded the dark open space of a grass plot planted with shrubs
and railed off from the patchwork of lights and shadows in the wide road
resounding with the dull rumble of traffic Before the door of one of these tiny
houses one without a light in the little downstairs window the cab had come
to a standstill Mrs Verlocs mother got out first backwards with a key in
her hand Winnie lingered on the flagstone path to pay the cabman Stevie after
helping to carry inside a lot of small parcels came out and stood under the
light of a gaslamp belonging to the Charity The cabman looked at the pieces of
silver which appearing very minute in his big grimy palm symbolized the
insignificant results which reward the ambitious courage and toil of a mankind
whose day is short on this earth of evil
He had been paid decently four oneshilling pieces and he contemplated
them in perfect stillness as if they had been the surprising terms of a
melancholy problem The slow transfer of that treasure to an inner pocket
demanded much laborious groping in the depths of decayed clothing His form was
squat and without flexibility Stevie slender his shoulders a little up and
his hands thrust deep in the side pockets of his warm overcoat stood at the
edge of the path pouting
The cabman pausing in his deliberate movements seemed struck by some misty
recollection
»Oh Ere you are young fellow« he whispered »Youll know him again
wont you«
Stevie was staring at the horse whose hind quarters appeared unduly
elevated by the effect of emancipation The little stiff tail seemed to have
been fitted in for a heartless joke and at the other end the thin flat neck
like a plank covered with old horsehide drooped to the ground under the weight
of an enormous bony head The ears hung at different angles negligently and
the macabre figure of that mute dweller on the earth steamed straight up from
ribs and backbone in the muggy stillness of the air
The cabman struck lightly Stevies breast with the iron hook protruding from
a ragged greasy sleeve
»Look ere young feller Owd you like to sit behind this oss up to two
oclock in the morning praps«
Stevie looked vacantly into the fierce little eyes with rededged lids
»He aint lame« pursued the other whispering with energy »He aint got no
sore places on im Ere he is Ow would you like «
His strained extinct voice invested his utterance with a character of
vehement secrecy Stevies vacant gaze was changing slowly into dread
»You may well look Till three and four oclock in the morning Cold and
ungry Looking for fares Drunks«
His jovial purple cheeks bristled with white hairs and like Virgils
Silenus who his face smeared with the juice of berries discoursed of Olympian
Gods to the innocent shepherds of Sicily he talked to Stevie of domestic
matters and the affairs of men whose sufferings are great and immortality by no
means assured
»I am a night cabby I am« he whispered with a sort of boastful
exasperation »Ive got to take out what they will blooming well give me at the
yard Ive got my missus and four kids at ome«
The monstrous nature of that declaration of paternity seemed to strike the
world dumb A silence reigned during which the flanks of the old horse the
steed of apocalyptic misery smoked upwards in the light of the charitable
gaslamp
The cabman grunted then added in his mysterious whisper
»This aint an easy world«
Stevies face had been twitching for some time and at last his feelings
burst out in their usual concise form
»Bad Bad«
His gaze remained fixed on the ribs of the horse selfconscious and sombre
as though he were afraid to look about him at the badness of the world And his
slenderness his rosy lips and pale clear complexion gave him the aspect of a
delicate boy notwithstanding the fluffy growth of golden hair on his cheeks He
pouted in a scared way like a child The cabman short and broad eyed him with
his fierce little eyes that seemed to smart in a clear and corroding liquid
»Ard on osses but dam sight arder on poor chaps like me« he wheezed
just audibly
»Poor Poor« stammered out Stevie pushing his hands deeper into his pocket
with convulsive sympathy He could say nothing for the tenderness to all pain
and all misery the desire to make the horse happy and the cabman happy had
reached the point of a bizarre longing to take them to bed with him And that
he knew was impossible For Stevie was not mad It was as it were a symbolic
longing and at the same time it was very distinct because springing from
experience the mother of wisdom Thus when as a child he cowered in a dark
corner scared wretched sore and miserable with the black black misery of the
soul his sister Winnie used to come along and carry him off to bed with her
as into a heaven of consoling peace Stevie though apt to forget mere facts
such as his name and address for instance had a faithful memory of sensations
To be taken into a bed of compassion was the supreme remedy with the only one
disadvantage of being difficult of application on a large scale And looking at
the cabman Stevie perceived this clearly because he was reasonable
The cabman went on with his leisurely preparations as if Stevie had not
existed He made as if to hoist himself on the box but at the last moment from
some obscure motive perhaps merely from disgust with carriage exercise
desisted He approached instead the motionless partner of his labours and
stooping to seize the bridle lifted up the big weary head to the height of his
shoulder with one effort of his right arm like a feat of strength
»Come on« he whispered secretly
Limping he led the cab away There was an air of austerity in this
departure the scrunched gravel of the drive crying out under the slowly turning
wheels the horses lean thighs moving with ascetic deliberation away from the
light into the obscurity of the open space bordered dimly by the pointed roofs
and the feebly shining windows of the little almshouses The plaint of the
gravel travelled slowly all round the drive Between the lamps of the charitable
gateway the slow cortège reappeared lighted up for a moment the short thick
man limping busily with the horses head held aloft in his fist the lank
animal walking in stiff and forlorn dignity the dark low box on wheels rolling
behind comically with an air of waddling They turned to the left There was a
pub down the street within fifty yards of the gate
Stevie left alone beside the private lamppost of the Charity his hands
thrust deep into his pockets glared with vacant sulkiness At the bottom of his
pockets his incapable weak hands were clinched hard into a pair of angry fists
In the face of anything which affected directly or indirectly his morbid dread
of pain Stevie ended by turning vicious A magnanimous indignation swelled his
frail chest to bursting and caused his candid eyes to squint Supremely wise in
knowing his own powerlessness Stevie was not wise enough to restrain his
passions The tenderness of his universal charity had two phases as indissolubly
joined and connected as the reverse and obverse sides of a medal The anguish of
immoderate compassion was succeeded by the pain of an innocent but pitiless
rage Those two states expressing themselves outwardly by the same signs of
futile bodily agitation his sister Winnie soothed his excitement without ever
fathoming its twofold character Mrs Verloc wasted no portion of this transient
life in seeking for fundamental information This is a sort of economy having
all the appearances and some of the advantages of prudence Obviously it may be
good for one not to know too much And such a view accords very well with
constitutional indolence
On that evening on which it may be said that Mrs Verlocs mother having
parted for good from her children had also departed this life Winnie Verloc did
not investigate her bothers psychology The poor boy was excited of course
After once more assuring the old woman on the threshold that she would know how
to guard against the risk of Stevie losing himself for very long on his
pilgrimages of filial piety she took her brothers arm to walk away Stevie did
not even mutter to himself but with the special sense of sisterly devotion
developed in her earliest infancy she felt that the boy was very much excited
indeed Holding tight to his arm under the appearance of leaning on it she
thought of some words suitable to the occasion
»Now Stevie you must look well after me at the crossings and get first
into the bus like a good brother«
This appeal to manly protection was received by Stevie with his usual
docility It flattered him He raised his head and threw out his chest
»Dont be nervous Winnie Mustnt be nervous Bus all right« he answered
in a brusque slurring stammer partaking of the timorousness of a child and the
resolution of a man He advanced fearlessly with the woman on his arm but his
lower lip dropped Nevertheless on the pavement of the squalid and wide
thoroughfare whose poverty in all the amenities of life stood foolishly exposed
by a mad profusion of gaslights their resemblance to each other was so
pronounced as to strike the casual passersby
Before the doors of the publichouse at the corner where the profusion of
gaslight reached the height of positive wickedness a fourwheeled cab standing
by the curbstone with no one on the box seemed cast out into the gutter on
account of irremediable decay Mrs Verloc recognized the conveyance Its aspect
was so profoundly lamentable with such a perfection of grotesque misery and
weirdness of macabre detail as if it were the Cab of Death itself that Mrs
Verloc with that ready compassion of a woman for a horse when she is not
sitting behind him exclaimed vaguely
»Poor brute«
Hanging back suddenly Stevie inflicted an arresting jerk upon his sister
»Poor Poor« he ejaculated appreciatively »Cabman poor too He told me
himself«
The contemplation of the infirm and lonely steed overcame him Jostled but
obstinate he would remain there trying to express the view newly opened to his
sympathies of the human and equine misery in close association But it was very
difficult »Poor brute poor people« was all he could repeat It did not seem
forcible enough and he came to a stop with an angry splutter »Shame« Stevie
was no master of phrases and perhaps for that very reason his thoughts lacked
clearness and precision But he felt with greater completeness and some
profundity That little word contained all his sense of indignation and horror
at one sort of wretchedness having to feed upon the anguish of the other at
the poor cabman beating the poor horse in the name as it were of his poor kids
at home And Stevie knew what it was to be beaten He knew it from experience
It was a bad world Bad Bad
Mrs Verloc his only sister guardian and protector could not pretend to
such depths of insight Moreover she had not experienced the magic of the
cabmans eloquence She was in the dark as to the inwardness of the word Shame
And she said placidly
»Come along Stevie You cant help that«
The docile Stevie went along but now he went along without pride
shamblingly and muttering half words and even words that would have been whole
if they had not been made up of halves that did not belong to each other It was
as though he had been trying to fit all the words he could remember to his
sentiments in order to get some sort of corresponding idea And as a matter of
fact he got it at last He hung back to utter it at once
»Bad world for poor people«
Directly he had expressed that thought he became aware that it was familiar
to him already in all its consequences This circumstance strengthened his
conviction immensely but also augmented his indignation Somebody he felt
ought to be punished for it punished with great severity Being no sceptic
but a moral creature he was in a manner at the mercy of his righteous passions
»Beastly« he added concisely
It was clear to Mrs Verloc that he was greatly excited
»Nobody can help that« she said »Do come along Is that the way youre
taking care of me«
Stevie mended his pace obediently He prided himself on being a good
brother His morality which was very complete demanded that from him Yet he
was pained at the information imparted by his sister Winnie who was good
Nobody could help that He came along gloomily but presently he brightened up
Like the rest of mankind perplexed by the mystery of the universe he had his
moments of consoling trust in the organized powers of the earth
»Police« he suggested confidently
»The police arent for that« observed Mrs Verloc cursorily hurrying on
her way
Stevies face lengthened considerably He was thinking The more intense his
thinking the slacker was the droop of his lower jaw And it was with an aspect
of hopeless vacancy that he gave up his intelectual enterprise
»Not for that« he mumbled resigned but surprised »Not for that« He had
formed for himself an ideal conception of the metropolitan police as a sort of
benevolent institution for the suppression of evil The notion of benevolence
especially was very closely associated with his sense of the power of the men in
blue He had liked all police constables tenderly with a guileless
trustfulness And he was pained He was irritated too by a suspicion of
duplicity in the members of the force For Stevie was frank and as open as the
day himself What did they mean by pretending then Unlike his sister who put
her trust in face values he wished to go to the bottom of the matter He
carried on his inquiry by means of an angry challenge
»What are they for then Winn What are they for Tell me«
Winnie disliked controversy But fearing most a fit of black depression
consequent on Stevie missing his mother very much at first she did not
altogether decline the discussion Guiltless of all irony she answered yet in a
form which was not perhaps unnatural in the wife of Mr Verloc Delegate of the
Central Red Committee personal friend of certain anarchists and a votary of
social revolution
»Dont you know what the police are for Stevie They are there so that them
as have nothing shouldnt take anything away from them who have«
She avoided using the verb to steal because it always made her brother
uncomfortable For Stevie was delicately honest Certain simple principles had
been instilled into him so anxiously on account of his queerness that the mere
names of certain transgressions filled him with horror He had been always
easily impressed by speeches He was impressed and startled now and his
intelligence was very alert
»What« he asked at once anxiously »Not even if they were hungry Mustnt
they«
The two had paused in their walk
»Not if they were ever so« said Mrs Verloc with the equanimity of a
person untroubled by the problem of the distribution of wealth and exploring
the perspective of the roadway for an omnibus of the right colour »Certainly
not But whats the use of talking about all that You arent ever hungry«
She cast a swift glance at the boy like a young man by her side She saw
him amiable attractive affectionate and only a little a very little
peculiar And she could not see him otherwise for he was connected with what
there was of the salt of passion in her tasteless life the passion of
indignation of courage of pity and even of selfsacrifice She did not add
»And you arent likely ever to be as long as I live« But she might very well
have done so since she had taken effectual steps to that end Mr Verloc was a
very good husband It was her honest impression that nobody could help liking
the boy She cried out suddenly
»Quick Stevie Stop that green bus«
And Stevie tremulous and important with his sister Winnie on his arm flung
up the other high above his head at the approaching bus with complete success
An hour afterwards Mr Verloc raised his eyes from a newspaper he was
reading or at any rate looking at behind the counter and in the expiring
clatter of the doorbell beheld Winnie his wife enter and cross the shop on
her way upstairs followed by Stevie his brotherinlaw The sight of his wife
was agreeable to Mr Verloc It was his idiosyncrasy The figure of his
brotherinlaw remained imperceptible to him because of the morose
thoughtfulness that lately had fallen like a veil between Mr Verloc and the
appearances of the world of senses He looked after his wife fixedly without a
word as though she had been a phantom His voice for home use was husky and
placid but now it was heard not at all It was not heard at supper to which he
was called by his wife in the usual brief manner Adolf He sat down to consume
it without conviction wearing his hat pushed far back on his head It was not
devotion to an outdoor life but the frequentation of foreign cafés which was
responsible for that habit investing with a character of unceremonious
impermanency Mr Verlocs steady fidelity to his own fireside Twice at the
clatter of the cracked bell he arose without a word disappeared into the shop
and came back silently During these absences Mrs Verloc becoming acutely
aware of the vacant place at her right hand missed her mother very much and
stared stonily while Stevie from the same reason kept on shuffling his feet
as though the floor under the table were uncomfortably hot When Mr Verloc
returned to sit in his place like the very embodiment of silence the character
of Mrs Verlocs stare underwent a subtle change and Stevie ceased to fidget
with his feet because of his great and awed regard for his sisters husband He
directed at him glances of respectful compassion Mr Verloc was sorry His
sister Winnie had impressed upon him in the omnibus that Mr Verloc would be
found at home in a state of sorrow and must not be worried His fathers anger
the irritability of gentlemen lodgers and Mr Verlocs predisposition to
immoderate grief had been the main sanctions of Stevies selfrestraint Of
these sentiments all easily provoked but not always easy to understand the
last had the greatest moral efficiency because Mr Verloc was good His mother
and his sister had established that ethical fact on an unshakable foundation
They had established erected consecrated it behind Mr Verlocs back for
reasons that had nothing to do with abstract morality And Mr Verloc was not
aware of it It is but bare justice to him to say that he had no notion of
appearing good to Stevie Yet so it was He was even the only man so qualified
in Stevies knowledge because the gentlemen lodgers had been too transient and
too remote to have anything very distinct about them but perhaps their boots
and as regards the disciplinary measures of his father the desolation of his
mother and sister shrank from setting up a theory of goodness before the victim
It would have been too cruel And it was even possible that Stevie would not
have believed them As far as Mr Verloc was concerned nothing could stand in
the way of Stevies belief Mr Verloc was obviously yet mysteriously good And
the grief of a good man is august
Stevie gave glances of reverential compassion to his brotherinlaw Mr
Verloc was sorry The brother of Winnie had never before felt himself in such
close communion with the mystery of that mans goodness It was an
understandable sorrow And Stevie himself was sorry He was very sorry The same
sort of sorrow And his attention being drawn to this unpleasant state Stevie
shuffled his feet His feelings were habitually manifested by the agitation of
his limbs
»Keep your feet quiet dear« said Mrs Verloc with authority and
tenderness then turning towards her husband in an indifferent voice the
masterly achievement of instinctive tact »Are you going out tonight« she
asked
The mere suggestion seemed repugnant to Mr Verloc He shook his head
moodily and then sat still with downcast eyes looking at the piece of cheese
on his plate for a whole minute At the end of that time he got up and went out
went right out in the clatter of the shopdoor bell He acted thus
inconsistently not from any desire to make himself unpleasant but because of
an unconquerable restlessness It was no earthly good going out He could not
find anywhere in London what he wanted But he went out He led a cortège of
dismal thoughts along dark streets through lighted streets in and out of two
flash bars as if in a halfhearted attempt to make a night of it and finally
back again to his menaced home where he sat down fatigued behind the counter
and they crowded urgently round him like a pack of hungry black hounds After
locking up the house and putting out the gas he took them upstairs with him a
dreadful escort for a man going to bed His wife had preceded him some time
before and with her ample form defined vaguely under the counterpane her head
on the pillow and a hand under the cheek offered to his distraction the view
of early drowsiness arguing the possession of an equable soul Her big eyes
stared wide open inert and dark against the snowy whiteness of the linen She
did not move
She had an equable soul She felt profoundly that things do not stand much
looking into She made her force and her wisdom of that instinct But the
taciturnity of Mr Verloc had been lying heavily upon her for a good many days
It was as a matter of fact affecting her nerves Recumbent and motionless she
said placidly
»Youll catch cold walking about in your socks like this«
This speech becoming the solicitude of the wife and the prudence of the
woman took Mr Verloc unawares He had left his boots downstairs but he had
forgotten to put on his slippers and he had been turning about the bedroom on
noiseless pads like a bear in a cage At the sound of his wifes voice he
stopped and stared at her with a somnambulistic expressionless gaze so long
that Mrs Verloc moved her limbs slightly under the bedclothes But she did not
move her black head sunk in the white pillow one hand under her cheek and the
big dark unwinking eyes
Under her husbands expressionless stare and remembering her mothers empty
room across the landing she felt an acute pang of loneliness She had never
been parted from her mother before They had stood by each other She felt that
they had and she said to herself that now mother was gone gone for good Mrs
Verloc had no illusions Stevie remained however And she said
»Mothers done what she wanted to do Theres no sense in it that I can see
Im sure she couldnt have thought you had enough of her Its perfectly wicked
leaving us like that«
Mr Verloc was not a wellread person his range of allusive phrases was
limited but there was a peculiar aptness in circumstances which made him think
of rats leaving a doomed ship He very nearly said so He had grown suspicious
and embittered Could it be that the old woman had such an excellent nose But
the unreasonableness of such a suspicion was patent and Mr Verloc held his
tongue Not altogether however He muttered heavily
»Perhaps its just as well«
He began to undress Mrs Verloc kept very still perfectly still with her
eyes fixed in a dreamy quiet stare And her heart for the fraction of a second
seemed to stand still too That night she was not quite herself as the saying
is and it was borne upon her with some force that a simple sentence may hold
several diverse meanings mostly disagreeable How was it just as well And
why But she did not allow herself to fall into the idleness of barren
speculation She was rather confirmed in her belief that things did not stand
being looked into Practical and subtle in her way she brought Stevie to the
front without loss of time because in her the singleness of purpose had the
unerring nature and the force of an instinct
»What I am going to do to cheer up that boy for the first few days Im sure
I dont know Hell be worrying himself from morning till night before he gets
used to mother being away And hes such a good boy I couldnt do without him«
Mr Verloc went on divesting himself of his clothing with the unnoticing
inward concentration of a man undressing in the solitude of a vast and hopeless
desert For thus inhospitably did this fair earth our common inheritance
present itself to the mental vision of Mr Verloc All was so still without and
within that the lonely ticking of the clock on the landing stole into the room
as if for the sake of company
Mr Verloc getting into bed on his own side remained prone and mute behind
Mrs Verlocs back His thick arms rested abandoned on the outside of the
counterpane like dropped weapons like discarded tools At that moment he was
within a hairs breadth of making a clean breast of it all to his wife The
moment seemed propitious Looking out of the corners of his eyes he saw her
ample shoulders draped in white the back of her head with the hair done for
the night in three plaits tied up with black tapes at the ends And he forbore
Mr Verloc loved his wife as a wife should be loved that is maritally with
the regard one has for ones chief possession This head arranged for the night
those ample shoulders had an aspect of familiar sacredness the sacredness of
domestic peace She moved not massive and shapeless like a recumbent statue in
the rough he remembered her wideopen eyes looking into the empty room She was
mysterious with the mysteriousness of living beings The farfamed secret agent
D of the late Baron StottWartenheims alarmist despatches was not the man to
break into such mysteries He was easily intimidated And he was also indolent
with the indolence which is so often the secret of good nature He forbore
touching that mystery out of love timidity and indolence There would be
always time enough For several minutes he bore his sufferings silently in the
drowsy silence of the room And then he disturbed it by a resolute declaration
»I am going on the Continent tomorrow«
His wife might have fallen asleep already He could not tell As a matter of
fact Mrs Verloc had heard him Her eyes remained very wide open and she lay
very still confirmed in her instinctive conviction that things dont bear
looking into very much And yet it was nothing very unusual for Mr Verloc to
take such a trip He renewed his stock from Paris and Brussels Often he went
over to make his purchases personally A little select connection of amateurs
was forming around the shop in Brett Street a secret connection eminently
proper for any business undertaken by Mr Verloc who by a mystic accord of
temperament and necessity had been set apart to be a secret agent all his life
He waited for a while then added »Ill be away a week or perhaps a
fortnight Get Mrs Neale to come for the day«
Mrs Neale was the charwoman of Brett Street Victim of her marriage with a
debauched joiner she was oppressed by the needs of many infant children
Redarmed and aproned in coarse sacking up to the armpits she exhaled the
anguish of the poor in a breath of soapsuds and rum in the uproar of
scrubbing in the clatter of tin pails
Mrs Verloc full of deep purpose spoke in the tone of the shallowest
indifference
»There is no need to have the woman here all day I shall do very well with
Stevie«
She let the lonely clock on the landing count off fifteen ticks into the
abyss of eternity and asked
»Shall I put the light out«
Mr Verloc snapped at his wife huskily
»Put it out«
IX
Mr Verloc returning from the Continent at the end of ten days brought back a
mind evidently unrefreshed by the wonders of foreign travel and a countenance
unlighted by the joys of homecoming He entered in the clatter of the shopbell
with an air of sombre and vexed exhaustion His bag in hand his head lowered
he strode straight behind the counter and let himself fall into the chair as
though he had tramped all the way from Dover It was early morning Stevie
dusting various objects displayed in the front windows turned to gape at him
with reverence and awe
»Here« said Mr Verloc giving a slight kick to the gladstone bag on the
floor and Stevie flung himself upon it seized it bore it off with triumphant
devotion He was so prompt that Mr Verloc was distinctly surprised
Already at the clatter of the shopbell Mrs Neale blackleading the parlour
grate had looked through the door and rising from her knees had gone aproned
and grimy with everlasting toil to tell Mrs Verloc in the kitchen that there
was the master come back
Winnie came no farther than the inner shop door
»Youll want some breakfast« she said from a distance
Mr Verloc moved his hands slightly as if overcome by an impossible
suggestion But once enticed into the parlour he did not reject the food set
before him He ate as if in a public place his hat pushed off his forehead the
skirts of his heavy overcoat hanging in a triangle on each side of the chair
And across the length of the table covered with brown oilcloth Winnie his wife
talked evenly at him the wifely talk as artfully adapted no doubt to the
circumstances of this return as the talk of Penelope to the return of the
wandering Odysseus Mrs Verloc however had done no weaving during her
husbands absence But she had had all the upstairs room cleaned thoroughly had
sold some wares had seen Mr Michaelis several times He had told her the last
time that he was going away to live in a cottage in the country somewhere on
the London Chatham and Dover line Karl Yundt had come too once led under
the arm by that wicked old housekeeper of his He was a disgusting old man Of
Comrade Ossipon whom she had received curtly entrenched behind the counter
with a stony face and a faraway gaze she said nothing her mental reference to
the robust anarchist being marked by a short pause with the faintest possible
blush And bringing in her brother Stevie as soon as she could into the current
of domestic events she mentioned that the boy had moped a good deal
»Its all along of mother leaving us like this«
Mr Verloc neither said »Damn« nor yet »Stevie be hanged« And Mrs Verloc
not let into the secret of his thoughts failed to appreciate the generosity of
this restraint
»It isnt that he doesnt work as well as ever« she continued »Hes been
making himself very useful Youd think he couldnt do enough for us«
Mr Verloc directed a casual and somnolent glance at Stevie who sat on his
right delicate palefaced his rosy mouth open vacantly It was not a critical
glance It had no intention And if Mr Verloc thought for a moment that his
wifes brother looked uncommonly useless it was only a dull and fleeting
thought devoid of that force and durability which enables sometimes a thought
to move the world Leaning back Mr Verloc uncovered his head Before his
extended arm could put down the hat Stevie pounced upon it and bore if off
reverently into the kitchen And again Mr Verloc was surprised
»You could do anything with that boy Adolf« Mrs Verloc said with her
best air of inflexible calmness »He would go through fire for you He «
She paused attentive her ear turned towards the door of the kitchen
There Mrs Neale was scrubbing the floor At Stevies appearance she groaned
lamentably having observed that he could be induced easily to bestow for the
benefit of her infant children the shilling his sister Winnie presented him with
from time to time On all fours amongst the puddles wet and begrimed like a
sort of amphibious and domestic animal living in ashbins and dirty water she
uttered the usual exordium
»Its all very well for you kept doing nothing like a gentleman« And she
followed it with the everlasting plaint of the poor pathetically mendacious
miserably authenticated by the horrible breath of cheap rum and soapsuds She
scrubbed hard snuffling all the time and talking volubly And she was sincere
And on each side of her thin red nose her bleared misty eyes swam in tears
because she felt really the want of some sort of stimulant in the morning
In the parlour Mrs Verloc observed with knowledge
»Theres Mrs Neale at it again with her harrowing tales about her little
children They cant be all so little as she makes them out Some of them must
be big enough by now to try to do something for themselves It only makes Stevie
angry«
These words were confirmed by a thud as of a fist striking the kitchen
table In the normal evolution of his sympathy Stevie had become angry on
discovering that he had no shilling in his pocket In his inability to relieve
at once Mrs Neales little uns privations he felt that somebody should be
made to suffer for it Mrs Verloc rose and went into the kitchen to stop that
nonsense And she did it firmly but gently She was well aware that directly
Mrs Neale received her money she went round the corner to drink ardent spirits
in a mean and musty publichouse the unavoidable station on the via dolorosa
of her life Mrs Verlocs comment upon this practice had an unexpected
profundity as coming from a person disinclined to look under the surface of
things »Of course what is she to do to keep up If I were like Mrs Neale I
expect I wouldnt act any different«
In the afternoon of the same day as Mr Verloc coming with a start out of
the last of a long series of dozes before the parlour fire declared his
intention of going out for a walk Winnie said from the shop
»I wish you would take that boy out with you Adolf«
For the third time that day Mr Verloc was surprised He stared stupidly at
his wife She continued in her steady manner The boy whenever he was not doing
anything moped in the house It made her uneasy it made her nervous she
confessed And that from the calm Winnie sounded like exaggeration But in
truth Stevie moped in the striking fashion of an unhappy domestic animal He
would go up on the dark landing to sit on the floor at the foot of the tall
clock with his knees drawn up and his head in his hands To come upon his
pallid face with its big eyes gleaming in the dusk was discomposing to think
of him up there was uncomfortable
Mr Verloc got used to the startling novelty of the idea He was fond of his
wife as a man should be that is generously But a weighty objection presented
itself to his mind and he formulated it
»Hell lose sight of me perhaps and get lost in the street« he said
Mrs Verloc shook her head competently
»He wont You dont know him That boy just worships you But if you should
miss him «
Mrs Verloc paused for a moment but only for a moment
»You just go on and have your walk out Dont worry Hell be all right
Hes sure to turn up safe here before very long«
This optimism procured for Mr Verloc his fourth surprise of the day
»Is he« he grunted doubtfully But perhaps his brotherinlaw was not such
an idiot as he looked His wife would know best He turned away his heavy eyes
saying huskily »Well let him come along then« and relapsed into the clutches
of black care that perhaps prefers to sit behind a horseman but knows also how
to tread close on the heels of people not sufficiently well off to keep horses
like Mr Verloc for instance
Winnie at the shop door did not see this fatal attendant upon Mr Verlocs
walks She watched the two figures down the squalid street one tall and burly
the other slight and short with a thin neck and the peaked shoulders raised
slightly under the large semitransparent ears The material of their overcoats
was the same their hats were black and round in shape Inspired by the
similarity of wearing apparel Mrs Verloc gave rein to her fancy
»Might be father and son« she said to herself She thought also that Mr
Verloc was as much of a father as poor Stevie ever had in his life She was
aware also that it was her work And with peaceful pride she congratulated
herself on a certain resolution she had taken a few years before It had cost
her some effort and even a few tears
She congratulated herself still more on observing in the course of days that
Mr Verloc seemed to be taking kindly to Stevies companionship Now when ready
to go out for his walk Mr Verloc called aloud to the boy in the spirit no
doubt in which a man invites the attendance of the household dog though of
course in a different manner In the house Mr Verloc could be detected staring
curiously at Stevie a good deal His own demeanour had changed Taciturn still
he was not so listless Mrs Verloc thought that he was rather jumpy at times
It might have been regarded as an improvement As to Stevie he moped no longer
at the foot of the clock but muttered to himself in corners instead in a
threatening tone When asked »What is it youre saying Stevie« he merely
opened his mouth and squinted at his sister At odd times he clenched his fists
without apparent cause and when discovered in solitude would be scowling at the
wall with the sheet of paper and the pencil given him for drawing circles lying
blank and idle on the kitchen table This was a change but it was no
improvement Mrs Verloc including all these vagaries under the general
definition of excitement began to fear that Stevie was hearing more than was
good for him of her husbands conversations with his friends During his walks
Mr Verloc of course met and conversed with various persons It could hardly
be otherwise His walks were an integral part of his outdoor activities which
his wife had never looked deeply into Mrs Verloc felt that the position was
delicate but she faced it with the same impenetrable calmness which impressed
and even astonished the customers of the shop and made the other visitors keep
their distance a little wonderingly No She feared that there were things not
good for Stevie to hear of she told her husband It only excited the poor boy
because he could not help them being so Nobody could
It was in the shop Mr Verloc made no comment He made no retort and yet
the retort was obvious But he refrained from pointing out to his wife that the
idea of making Stevie the companion of his walks was her own and nobody elses
At that moment to an impartial observer Mr Verloc would have appeared more
than human in his magnanimity He took down a small cardboard box from a shelf
peeped in to see that the contents were all right and put it down gently on the
counter Not till that was done did he break the silence to the effect that
most likely Stevie would profit greatly by being sent out of town for a while
only he supposed his wife could not get on without him
»Could not get on without him« repeated Mrs Verloc slowly »I couldnt
get on without him if it were for his good The idea Of course I can get on
without him But theres nowhere for him to go«
Mr Verloc got out some brown paper and a ball of string and meanwhile he
muttered that Michaelis was living in a little cottage in the country Michaelis
wouldnt mind giving Stevie a room to sleep in There were no visitors and no
talk there Michaelis was writing a book
Mrs Verloc declared her affection for Michaelis mentioned her abhorrence
of Karl Yundt nasty old man and of Ossipon she said nothing As to Stevie he
could be no other than very pleased Mr Michaelis was always so nice and kind
to him He seemed to like the boy Well the boy was a good boy
»You too seem to have grown quite fond of him of late« she added after a
pause with her inflexible assurance
Mr Verloc tying up the cardboard box into a parcel for the post broke the
string by an injudicious jerk and muttered several swear words confidentially
to himself Then raising his tone to the usual husky mutter he announced his
willingness to take Stevie into the country himself and leave him all safe with
Michaelis
He carried out this scheme on the very next day Stevie offered no
objection He seemed rather eager in a bewildered sort of way He turned his
candid gaze inquisitively to Mr Verlocs heavy countenance at frequent
intervals especially when his sister was not looking at him His expression was
proud apprehensive and concentrated like that of a small child entrusted for
the first time with a box of matches and the permission to strike a light But
Mrs Verloc gratified by her brothers docility recommended him not to dirty
his clothes unduly in the country At this Stevie gave his sister guardian and
protector a look which for the first time in his life seemed to lack the
quality of perfect childlike trustfulness It was haughtily gloomy Mrs Verloc
smiled
»Goodness me You neednt be offended You know you do get yourself very
untidy when you get a chance Stevie«
Mr Verloc was already gone some way down the street
Thus in consequence of her mothers heroic proceedings and of her brothers
absence on this villegiature Mrs Verloc found herself oftener than usual all
alone not only in the shop but in the house For Mr Verloc had to take his
walks She was alone longer than usual on the day of the attempted bomb outrage
in Greenwich Park because Mr Verloc went out very early that morning and did
not come back till nearly dusk She did not mind being alone She had no desire
to go out The weather was too bad and the shop was cosier than the streets
Sitting behind the counter with some sewing she did not raise her eyes from her
work when Mr Verloc entered in the aggressive clatter of the bell She had
recognized his step on the pavement outside
She did not raise her eyes but as Mr Verloc silent and with his hat
rammed down upon his forehead made straight for the parlour door she said
serenely
»What a wretched day Youve been perhaps to see Stevie«
»No I havent« said Mr Verloc softly and slammed the glazed parlour
door behind him with unexpected energy
For some time Mrs Verloc remained quiescent with her work dropped in her
lap before she put it away under the counter and got up to light the gas This
done she went into the parlour on her way to the kitchen Mr Verloc would want
his tea presently Confident of the power of her charms Winnie did not expect
from her husband in the daily intercourse of their married life a ceremonious
amenity of address and courtliness of manner vain and antiquated forms at best
probably never very exactly observed discarded nowadays even in the highest
spheres and always foreign to the standards of her class She did not look for
courtesies from him But he was a good husband and she had a loyal respect for
his rights
Mrs Verloc would have gone through the parlour and on to her domestic
duties in the kitchen with the perfect serenity of a woman sure of the power of
her charms But a slight very slight and rapid rattling sound grew upon her
hearing Bizarre and incomprehensible it arrested Mrs Verlocs attention Then
as its character became plain to the ear she stopped short amazed and
concerned Striking a match on the box she held in her hand she turned on and
lighted above the parlour table one of the two gasburners which being
defective first whistled as if astonished and then went on purring comfortably
like a cat
Mr Verloc against his usual practice had thrown off his overcoat It was
lying on the sofa His hat which he must also have thrown off rested
overturned under the edge of the sofa He had dragged a chair in front of the
fireplace and his feet planted inside the fender his head held between his
hands he was hanging low over the glowing grate His teeth rattled with an
ungovernable violence causing his whole enormous back to tremble at the same
rate Mrs Verloc was startled
»Youve been getting wet« she said
»Not very« Mr Verloc managed to falter out in a profound shudder By a
great effort he suppressed the rattling of his teeth
»Ill have you laid up on my hands« she said with genuine uneasiness
»I dont think so« remarked Mr Verloc snuffling huskily
He had certainly contrived somehow to catch an abominable cold between seven
in the morning and five in the afternoon Mrs Verloc looked at his bowed back
»Where have you been today« she asked
»Nowhere« answered Mr Verloc in a low choked nasal tone His attitude
suggested aggrieved sulks or a severe headache The unsufficiency and
uncandidness of his answer became painfully apparent in the dead silence of the
room He snuffled apologetically and added »Ive been to the bank«
Mrs Verloc became attentive
»You have« she said dispassionately »What for«
Mr Verloc mumbled with his nose over the grate and with marked
unwillingness
»Draw the money out«
»What do you mean All of it«
»Yes All of it«
Mrs Verloc spread out with care the scanty tablecloth got two knives and
two forks out of the table drawer and suddenly stopped in her methodical
proceedings
»What did you do that for«
»May want it soon« snuffled vaguely Mr Verloc who was coming to the end
of his calculated indiscretions
»I dont know what you mean« remarked his wife in a tone perfectly casual
but standing stock still between the table and the cupboard
»You know you can trust me« Mr Verloc remarked to the grate with hoarse
feeling
Mrs Verloc turned slowly towards the cupboard saying with deliberation
»Oh yes I can trust you«
And she went on with her methodical proceedings She laid two plates got
the bread the butter going to and fro quietly between the table and the
cupboard in the peace and silence of her home On the point of taking out the
jam she reflected practically »He will be feeling hungry having been away all
day« and she returned to the cupboard once more to get the cold beef She set
it under the purring gasjet and with a passing glance at her motionless
husband hugging the fire she went down two steps into the kitchen It was
only when coming back carving knife and fork in hand that she spoke again
»If I hadnt trusted you I wouldnt have married you«
Bowed under the overmantel Mr Verloc holding his head in both hands
seemed to have gone to sleep Winnie made the tea and called out in an
undertone
»Adolf«
Mr Verloc got up at once and staggered a little before he sat down at the
table His wife examining the sharp edge of the carving knife placed it on the
dish and called his attention to the cold beef He remained insensible to the
suggestion with his chin on his breast
»You should feed your cold« Mrs Verloc said dogmatically
He looked up and shook his head His eyes were bloodshot and his face red
His fingers had ruffled his hair into a dissipated untidiness Altogether he had
a disreputable aspect expressive of the discomfort the irritation and the
gloom following a heavy debauch But Mr Verloc was not a debauched man In his
conduct he was respectable His appearance might have been the effect of a
feverish cold He drank three cups of tea but abstained from food entirely He
recoiled from it with sombre aversion when urged by Mrs Verloc who said at
last
»Arent your feet wet You had better put on your slippers You arent going
out any more this evening«
Mr Verloc intimated by morose grunts and signs that his feet were not wet
and that anyhow he did not care The proposal as to slippers was disregarded as
beneath his notice But the question of going out in the evening received an
unexpected development It was not of going out in the evening that Mr Verloc
was thinking His thoughts embraced a vaster scheme From moody and incomplete
phrases it became apparent that Mr Verloc had been considering the expediency
of emigrating It was not very clear whether he had in his mind France or
California
The utter unexpectedness improbability and inconceivableness of such an
event robbed this vague declaration of all its effect Mrs Verloc as placidly
as if her husband had been threatening her with the end of the world said
»The idea«
Mr Verloc declared himself sick and tired of everything and besides She
interrupted him
»Youve a bad cold«
It was indeed obvious that Mr Verloc was not in his usual state physically
and even mentally A sombre irresolution held him silent for a while Then he
murmured a few ominous generalities on the theme of necessity
»Will have to« repeated Winnie sitting calmly back with folded arms
opposite her husband »I should like to know whos to make you You aint a
slave No one need be a slave in this country and dont you make yourself
one« She paused and with invincible and steady candour »The business isnt so
bad« she went on »Youve a comfortable home«
She glanced all round the parlour from the corner cupboard to the good fire
in the grate Ensconced cosily behind the shop of doubtful wares with the
mysteriously dim window and its door suspiciously ajar in the obscure and
narrow street it was in all essentials of domestic propriety and domestic
comfort a respectable home Her devoted affection missed out of it her brother
Stevie now enjoying a damp villegiature in the Kentish lanes under the care of
Mr Michaelis She missed him poignantly with all the force of her protecting
passion This was the boys home too the roof the cupboard the stoked
grate On this thought Mrs Verloc rose and walking to the other end of the
table said in the fulness of her heart
»And you are not tired of me«
Mr Verloc made no sound Winnie leaned on his shoulder from behind and
pressed her lips to his forehead Thus she lingered Not a whisper reached them
from the outside world The sound of footsteps on the pavement died out in the
discreet dimness of the shop Only the gasjet above the table went on purring
equably in the brooding silence of the parlour
During the contact of that unexpected and lingering kiss Mr Verloc
gripping with both hands the edges of his chair preserved a hieratic
immobility When the pressure was removed he let go the chair rose and went to
stand before the fireplace He turned no longer his back to the room With his
features swollen and an air of being drugged he followed his wifes movements
with his eyes
Mrs Verloc went about serenely clearing up the table Her tranquil voice
commented on the idea thrown out in a reasonable and domestic tone It wouldnt
stand examination She condemned it from every point of view But her only real
concern was Stevies welfare He appeared to her thought in that connection as
sufficiently peculiar not to be taken rashly abroad And that was all But
talking round that vital point she approached absolute vehemence in her
delivery Meanwhile with brusque movements she arrayed herself in an apron for
the washing up of cups And as if excited by the sound of her uncontradicted
voice she went so far as to say in a tone almost tart
»If you go abroad youll have to go without me«
»You know I wouldnt« said Mr Verloc huskily and the unresonant voice of
his private life trembled with an enigmatical emotion
Already Mrs Verloc was regretting her words They had sounded more unkind
than she meant them to be They had also the unwisdom of unnecessary things In
fact she had not meant them at all It was a sort of phrase that is suggested
by the demon of perverse inspiration But she knew a way to make it as if it had
not been
She turned her head over her shoulder and gave that man planted heavily in
front of the fireplace a glance half arch half cruel out of her large eyes
a glance of which the Winnie of the Belgravian mansion days would have been
incapable because of her respectability and her ignorance But the man was her
husband now and she was no longer ignorant She kept it on him for a whole
second with her grave face motionless like a mask while she said playfully
»You couldnt You would miss me too much«
Mr Verloc started forward
»Exactly« he said in a louder tone throwing his arms out and making a step
towards her Something wild and doubtful in his expression made it appear
uncertain whether he meant to strangle or to embrace his wife But Mrs Verlocs
attention was called away from that manifestation by the clatter of the
shopbell
»Shop Adolf You go«
He stopped his arms came down slowly
»You go« repeated Mrs Verloc »Ive got my apron on«
Mr Verloc obeyed woodenly stonyeyed and like an automaton whose face had
been painted red And this resemblance to a mechanical figure went so far that
he had an automatons absurd air of being aware of the machinery inside of him
He closed the parlour door and Mrs Verloc moving briskly carried the
tray into the kitchen She washed the cups and some other things before she
stopped in her work to listen No sound reached her The customer was a long
time in the shop It was a customer because if he had not been Mr Verloc would
have taken him inside Undoing the strings of her apron with a jerk she threw
it on a chair and walked back to the parlour slowly
At that precise moment Mr Verloc entered from the shop
He had gone in red He came out a strange papery white His face losing its
drugged feverish stupor had in that short time acquired a bewildered and
harassed expression He walked straight to the sofa and stood looking down at
his overcoat lying there as though he were afraid to touch it
»Whats the matter« asked Mrs Verloc in a subdued voice Through the door
left ajar she could see that the customer was not gone yet
»I find Ill have to go out this evening« said Mr Verloc He did not
attempt to pick up his outer garment
Without a word Winnie made for the shop and shutting the door after her
walked in behind the counter She did not look overtly at the customer till she
had established herself comfortably on the chair But by that time she had noted
that he was tall and thin and wore his moustaches twisted up In fact he gave
the sharp points a twist just then His long bony face rose out of a turnedup
collar He was a little splashed a little wet A dark man with the ridge of
the cheekbone well defined under the slightly hollow temple A complete
stranger Not a customer either
Mrs Verloc looked at him placidly
»You came over from the Continent« she said after a time
The long thin stranger without exactly looking at Mrs Verloc answered
only by a faint and peculiar smile
Mrs Verlocs steady incurious gaze rested on him
»You understand English dont you«
»Oh yes I understand English«
There was nothing foreign in his accent except that he seemed in his slow
enunciation to be taking pains with it And Mrs Verloc in her varied
experience had come to the conclusion that some foreigners could speak better
English than the natives She said looking at the door of the parlour fixedly
»You dont think perhaps of staying in England for good«
The stranger gave her again a silent smile He had a kindly mouth and
probing eyes And he shook his head a little sadly it seemed
»My husband will see you through all right Meantime for a few days you
couldnt do better than take lodgings with Mr Guigliani Continental Hotel its
called Private Its quiet My husband will take you there«
»A good idea« said the thin dark man whose glance had hardened suddenly
»You knew Mr Verloc before didnt you Perhaps in France«
»I have heard of him« admitted the visitor in his slow painstaking tone
which yet had a certain curtness of intention
There was a pause Then he spoke again in a far less elaborate manner
»Your husband has not gone out to wait for me in the street by chance«
»In the street« repeated Mrs Verloc surprised »He couldnt Theres no
other door to the house«
For a moment she sat impassive then left her seat to go and peep through
the glazed door Suddenly she opened it and disappeared into the parlour
Mr Verloc had done no more than put on his overcoat But why he should
remain afterwards leaning over the table propped up on his two arms as though he
were feeling giddy or sick she could not understand »Adolf« she called out
half aloud and when he had raised himself
»Do you know that man« she asked rapidly
»Ive heard of him« whispered uneasily Mr Verloc darting a wild glance at
the door
Mrs Verlocs fine incurious eyes lighted up with a flash of abhorrence
»One of Karl Yundts friends beastly old man«
»No No« protested Mr Verloc busy fishing for his hat But when he got it
from under the sofa he held it as if he did not know the use of a hat
»Well hes waiting for you« said Mrs Verloc at last »I say Adolf he
aint one of them Embassy people you have been bothered with of late«
»Bothered with Embassy people« repeated Mr Verloc with a heavy start of
surprise and fear »Whos been talking to you of the Embassy people«
»Yourself«
»I I Talked of the Embassy to you«
Mr Verloc seemed scared and bewildered beyond measure His wife explained
»Youve been talking a little in your sleep of late Adolf«
»What what did I say What do you know«
»Nothing much It seemed mostly nonsense Enough to let me guess that
something worried you«
Mr Verloc rammed his hat on his head A crimson flood of anger ran over his
face
»Nonsense eh The Embassy people I would cut their hearts out one after
another But let them look out Ive got a tongue in my head«
He fumed pacing up and down between the table and the sofa his open
overcoat catching against the angles The red flood of anger ebbed out and left
his face all white with quivering nostrils Mrs Verloc for the purposes of
practical existence put down these appearances to the cold
»Well« she said »get rid of the man whoever he is as soon as you can and
come back home to me You want looking after for a day or two«
Mr Verloc calmed down and with resolution imprinted on his pale face had
already opened the door when his wife called him back in a whisper
»Adolf Adolf« He came back startled »What about that money you drew
out« she asked »Youve got it in your pocket Hadnt you better «
Mr Verloc gazed stupidly into the palm of his wifes extended hand for some
time before he slapped his brow
»Money Yes Yes I didnt know what you meant«
He drew out of his breast pocket a new pigskin pocketbook Mrs Verloc
received it without another word and stood still till the bell clattering
after Mr Verloc and Mr Verlocs visitor had quieted down Only then she
peeped in at the amount drawing the notes out for the purpose After this
inspection she looked round thoughtfully with an air of mistrust in the silence
and solitude of the house This abode of her married life appeared to her as
lonely and unsafe as though it had been situated in the midst of a forest No
receptacle she could think of amongst the solid heavy furniture seemed other
but flimsy and particularly tempting to her conception of a housebreaker It
was an ideal conception endowed with sublime faculties and a miraculous
insight The till was not to be thought of It was the first spot a thief would
make for Mrs Verloc unfastening hastily a couple of hooks slipped the
pocketbook under the bodice of her dress Having thus disposed of her husbands
capital she was rather glad to hear the clatter of the doorbell announcing an
arrival Assuming the fixed unabashed stare and the stony expression reserved
for the casual customer she walked in behind the counter
A man standing in the middle of the shop was inspecting it with a swift
cool allround glance His eyes ran over the walls took in the ceiling noted
the floor all in a moment The points of a long fair moustache fell below the
line of the jaw He smiled the smile of an old if distant acquaintance and Mrs
Verloc remembered having seen him before Not a customer She softened her
customer stare to mere indifference and faced him across the counter
He approached on his side confidentially but not too markedly so
»Husband at home Mrs Verloc« he asked in an easy full tone
»No Hes gone out«
»I am sorry for that Ive called to get from him a little private
information«
This was the exact truth Chief Inspector Heat had been all the way home and
had even gone so far as to think of getting into his slippers since practically
he was he told himself chucked out of that case He indulged in some scornful
and in a few angry thoughts and found the occupation so unsatisfactory that he
resolved to seek relief out of doors Nothing prevented him paying a friendly
call on Mr Verloc casually as it were It was in the character of a private
citizen that walking out privately he made use of his customary conveyances
Their general direction was towards Mr Verlocs home Chief Inspector Heat
respected his own private character so consistently that he took especial pains
to avoid all the police constables on point and patrol duty in the vicinity of
Brett Street This precaution was much more necessary for a man of his standing
than for an obscure Assistant Commissioner Private Citizen Heat entered the
street manoeuvring in a way which in a member of the criminal classes would
have been stigmatized as slinking The piece of cloth picked up in Greenwich was
in his pocket Not that he had the slightest intention of producing it in his
private capacity On the contrary he wanted to know just what Mr Verloc would
be disposed to say voluntarily He hoped Mr Verlocs talk would be of a nature
to incriminate Michaelis It was a conscientiously professional hope in the
main but not without its moral value For Chief Inspector Heat was a servant of
justice Finding Mr Verloc from home he felt disappointed
»I would wait for him a little if I were sure he wouldnt be long« he said
Mrs Verloc volunteered no assurance of any kind
»The information I need is quite private« he repeated »You understand what
I mean I wonder if you could give me a notion where hes gone to«
Mrs Verloc shook her head
»Cant say«
She turned away to range some boxes on the shelves behind the counter Chief
Inspector Heat looked at her thoughtfully for a time
»I suppose you know who I am« he said
Mrs Verloc glanced over her shoulder Chief Inspector Heat was amazed at
her coolness
»Come You know I am in the police« he said sharply
»I dont trouble my head much about it« Mrs Verloc remarked returning to
the ranging of her boxes
»My name is Heat Chief Inspector Heat of the Special Crimes section«
Mrs Verloc adjusted nicely in its place a small cardboard box and turning
round faced him again heavyeyed with idle hands hanging down A silence
reigned for a time
»So your husband went out a quarter of an hour ago And he didnt say when
he would be back«
»He didnt go out alone« Mrs Verloc let fall negligently
»A friend«
Mrs Verloc touched the back of her hair It was in perfect order
»A stranger who called«
»I see What sort of man was that stranger Would you mind telling me«
Mrs Verloc did not mind And when Chief Inspector Heat heard of a man dark
thin with a long face and turnedup moustaches he gave signs of perturbation
and exclaimed
»Dash me if I didnt think so He hasnt lost any time«
He was intensely disgusted in the secrecy of his heart at the unofficial
conduct of his immediate chief But he was not quixotic He lost all desire to
await Mr Verlocs return What they had gone out for he did not know but he
imagined it possible that they would return together The case is not followed
properly its being tampered with he thought bitterly
»I am afraid I havent time to wait for your husband« he said
Mrs Verloc received this declaration listlessly Her detachment had
impressed Chief Inspector Heat all along At this precise moment it whetted his
curiosity Chief Inspector Heat hung in the wind swayed by his passions like
the most private of citizens
»I think« he said looking at her steadily »that you could give me a
pretty good notion of whats going on if you liked«
Forcing her fine inert eyes to return his gaze Mrs Verloc murmured
»Going on What is going on«
»Why the affair I came to talk about a little with your husband«
That day Mrs Verloc had glanced at a morning paper as usual But she had
not stirred out of doors The newsboys never invaded Brett Street It was not a
street for their business And the echo of their cries drifting along the
populous thoroughfares expired between the dirty brick walls without reaching
the threshold of the shop Her husband had not brought an evening paper home At
any rate she had not seen it Mrs Verloc knew nothing whatever of any affair
And she said so with a genuine note of wonder in her quiet voice
Chief Inspector Heat did not believe for a moment in so much ignorance
Curtly without amiability he stated the bare fact
Mrs Verloc turned away her eyes
»I call it silly« she pronounced slowly She paused »We aint downtrodden
slaves here«
The Chief Inspector waited watchfully Nothing more came
»And your husband didnt mention anything to you when he came home«
Mrs Verloc simply turned her face from right to left in sign of negation A
languid baffling silence reigned in the shop Chief Inspector Heat felt
provoked beyond endurance
»There was another small matter« he began in a detached tone »which I
wanted to speak to your husband about There came into our hands a a what we
believe is a stolen overcoat«
Mrs Verloc with her mind specially aware of thieves that evening touched
lightly the bosom of her dress
»We have lost no overcoat« she said calmly
»Thats funny« continued Private Citizen Heat »I see you keep a lot of
marking ink here «
He took up a small bottle and looked at it against the gasjet in the
middle of the shop
»Purple isnt it« he remarked setting it down again »As I said its
strange Because the overcoat has got a label sewn on the inside with your
address written in marking ink«
Mrs Verloc leaned over the counter with a low exclamation
»Thats my brothers then«
»Wheres your brother Can I see him« asked the Chief Inspector briskly
Mrs Verloc leaned a little more over the counter
»No He isnt here I wrote that label myself«
»Wheres your brother now«
»Hes been away living with a friend in the country«
»The overcoat comes from the country And whats the name of the friend«
»Michaelis« confessed Mrs Verloc in an awed whisper
The Chief Inspector let out a whistle His eyes snapped
»Just so Capital And your brother now whats he like a sturdy darkish
chap eh«
»Oh no« exclaimed Mrs Verloc fervently »That must be the thief
Stevies slight and fair«
»Good« said the Chief Inspector in an approving tone And while Mrs
Verloc wavering between alarm and wonder stared at him he sought for
information Why have the address sewn like this inside the coat And he heard
that the mangled remains he had inspected that morning with extreme repugnance
were those of a youth nervous absentminded peculiar and also that the woman
who was speaking to him had had the charge of that boy since he was a baby
»Easily excitable« he suggested
»Oh yes He is But how did he come to lose his coat «
Chief Inspector Heat suddenly pulled out a pink newspaper he had bought less
than halfanhour ago He was interested in horses Forced by his calling into
an attitude of doubt and suspicion towards his fellowcitizens Chief Inspector
Heat relieved the instinct of credulity implanted in the human breast by putting
unbounded faith in the sporting prophets of that particular evening publication
Dropping the extra special on to the counter he plunged his hand again into his
pocket and pulling out the piece of cloth fate had presented him with out of a
heap of things that seemed to have been collected in shambles and rag shops he
offered it to Mrs Verloc for inspection
»I suppose you recognize this«
She took it mechanically in both her hands Her eyes seemed to grow bigger
as she looked
»Yes« she whispered then raised her head and staggered backward a little
»Whatever for is it torn out like this«
The Chief Inspector snatched across the counter the cloth out of her hands
and she sat heavily on the chair He thought identifications perfect And in
that moment he had a glimpse into the whole amazing truth Verloc was the other
man
»Mrs Verloc« he said »it strikes me that you know more of this bomb
affair than even you yourself are aware of«
Mrs Verloc sat still amazed lost in boundless astonishment What was the
connection And she became so rigid all over that she was not able to turn her
head at the clatter of the bell which caused the private investigator Heat to
spin round on his heel Mr Verloc had shut the door and for a moment the two
men looked at each other
Mr Verloc without looking at his wife walked up to the Chief Inspector
who was relieved to see him return alone
»You here« muttered Mr Verloc heavily »Who are you after«
»No one« said Chief Inspector Heat in a low tone »Look here I would like
a word or two with you«
Mr Verloc still pale had brought an air of resolution with him Still he
didnt look at his wife He said
»Come in here then« And he led the way into the parlour
The door was hardly shut when Mrs Verloc jumping up from the chair ran to
it as if to fling it open but instead of doing so fell on her knees with her
ear to the keyhole The two men must have stopped directly they were through
because she heard plainly the Chief Inspectors voice though she could not see
his finger pressed against her husbands breast emphatically
»You are the other man Verloc Two men were seen entering the park«
And the voice of Mr Verloc said
»Well take me now Whats to prevent you You have the right«
»Oh no I know too well who you have been giving yourself away to Hell
have to manage this little affair all by himself But dont you make a mistake
its I who found you out«
Then she heard only muttering Inspector Heat must have been showing to Mr
Verloc the piece of Stevies overcoat because Stevies sister guardian and
protector heard her husband a little louder
»I never noticed that she had hit upon that dodge«
Again for a time Mrs Verloc heard nothing but murmurs whose mysteriousness
was less nightmarish to her brain than the horrible suggestions of shaped words
Then Chief Inspector Heat on the other side of the door raised his voice
»You must have been mad«
And Mr Verlocs voice answered with a sort of gloomy fury
»I have been mad for a month or more but I am not mad now Its all over
It shall all come out of my head and hang the consequences«
There was a silence and then Private Citizen Heat murmured
»Whats coming out«
»Everything« exclaimed the voice of Mr Verloc and then sank very low
After a while it rose again
»You have known me for several years now and youve found me useful too
You know I was a straight man Yes straight«
This appeal to old acquaintance must have been extremely distasteful to the
Chief Inspector
His voice took on a warning note
»Dont you trust so much to what you have been promised If I were you I
would clear out I dont think we will run after you«
Mr Verloc was heard to laugh a little
»Oh yes you hope the others will get rid of me for you dont you No
no you dont shake me off now I have been a straight man to those people too
long and now everything must come out«
»Let it come out then« the indifferent voice of Chief Inspector Heat
assented »But tell me now how did you get away«
»I was making for Chesterfield Walk« Mrs Verloc heard her husbands voice
»when I heard the bang I started running then Fog I saw no one till I was
past the end of George Street Dont think I met any one till then«
»So easy as that« marvelled the voice of Chief Inspector Heat »The bang
startled you eh«
»Yes it came too soon« confessed the gloomy husky voice of Mr Verloc
Mrs Verloc pressed her ear to the keyhole her lips were blue her hands
cold as ice and her pale face in which the two eyes seemed like two black
holes felt to her as if it were enveloped in flames
On the other side of the door the voices sank very low She caught words now
and then sometimes in her husbands voice sometimes in the smooth tones of the
Chief Inspector She heard this last say
»We believe he stumbled against the root of a tree«
There was a husky voluble murmur which lasted for some time and then the
Chief Inspector as if answering some inquiry spoke emphatically
»Of course Blown to small bits limbs gravel clothing bones splinters
all mixed up together I tell you they had to fetch a shovel to gather him up
with«
Mrs Verloc sprang up suddenly from her crouching position and stopping her
ears reeled to and fro between the counter and the shelves on the wall towards
the chair Her crazed eyes noted the sporting sheet left by the Chief Inspector
and as she knocked herself against the counter she snatched it up fell into the
chair tore the optimistic rosy sheet right across in trying to open it then
flung it on the floor On the other side of the door Chief Inspector Heat was
saying to Mr Verloc the secret agent
»So your defence will be practically a full confession«
»It will I am going to tell the whole story«
»You wont be believed as much as you fancy you will«
And the Chief Inspector remained thoughtful The turn this affair was taking
meant the disclosure of many things the laying waste of fields of knowledge
which cultivated by a capable man had a distinct value for the individual and
for the society It was sorry sorry meddling It would leave Michaelis
unscathed it would drag to light the Professors home industry disorganize the
whole system of supervision make no end of a row in the papers which from
that point of view appeared to him by a sudden illumination as invariably
written by fools for the reading of imbeciles Mentally he agreed with the words
Mr Verloc let fall at last in answer to his last remark
»Perhaps not But it will upset many things I have been a straight man and
I shall keep straight in this «
»If they let you« said the Chief Inspector cynically »You will be
preached to no doubt before they put you into the dock And in the end you may
yet get let in for a sentence that will surprise you I wouldnt trust too much
the gentleman whos been talking to you«
Mr Verloc listened frowning
»My advice to you is to clear out while you may I have no instructions
There are some of them« continued Chief Inspector Heat laying a peculiar
stress on the word them »who think you are already out of the world«
»Indeed« Mr Verloc was moved to say Though since his return from
Greenwich he had spent most of his time sitting in the taproom of an obscure
little publichouse he could hardly have hoped for such favourable news
»Thats the impression about you« The Chief Inspector nodded at him
»Vanish Clear out«
»Where to« snarled Mr Verloc He raised his head and gazing at the closed
door of the parlour muttered feelingly »I only wish you would take me away
tonight I would go quietly«
»I daresay« assented sardonically the Chief Inspector following the
direction of his glance
The brow of Mr Verloc broke into slight moisture He lowered his husky
voice confidentially before the unmoved Chief Inspector
»The lad was halfwitted irresponsible Any court would have seen that at
once Only fit for the asylum And that was the worst that wouldve happened to
him if «
The Chief Inspector his hand on the door handle whispered into Mr
Verlocs face
»He mayve been halfwitted but you must have been crazy What drove you
off your head like this«
Mr Verloc thinking of Mr Vladimir did not hesitate in the choice of
words
»A Hyperborean swine« he hissed forcibly »A what you might call a a
gentleman«
The Chief Inspector steadyeyed nodded briefly his comprehension and
opened the door Mrs Verloc behind the counter might have heard but did not
see his departure pursued by the aggressive clatter of the bell She sat at her
post of duty behind the counter She sat rigidly erect in the chair with two
dirty pink pieces of paper lying spread out at her feet The palms of her hands
were pressed convulsively to her face with the tips of the fingers contracted
against the forehead as though the skin had been a mask which she was ready to
tear off violently The perfect immobility of her pose expressed the agitation
of rage and despair all the potential violence of tragic passions better than
any shallow display of shrieks with the beating of a distracted head against
the walls could have done Chief Inspector Heat crossing the shop at his busy
swinging pace gave her only a cursory glance And when the cracked bell ceased
to tremble on its curved ribbon of steel nothing stirred near Mrs Verloc as if
her attitude had the locking power of a spell Even the butterflyshaped gas
flames posed on the ends of the suspended Tbracket burned without a quiver In
that shop of shady wares fitted with deal shelves painted a dull brown which
seemed to devour the sheen of the light the gold circlet of the wedding ring on
Mrs Verlocs left hand glittered exceedingly with the untarnished glory of a
piece from some splendid treasure of jewels dropped in a dustbin
X
The Assistant Commissioner driven rapidly in a hansom from the neighbourhood of
Soho in the direction of Westminster got out at the very centre of the Empire
on which the sun never sets Some stalwart constables who did not seem
particularly impressed by the duty of watching the august spot saluted him
Penetrating through a portal by no means lofty into the precincts of the House
which is the House par excellence in the minds of many millions of men he was
met at last by the volatile and revolutionary Toodles
That neat and nice young man concealed his astonishment at the early
appearance of the Assistant Commissioner whom he had been told to look out for
some time about midnight His turning up so early he concluded to be the sign
that things whatever they were had gone wrong With an extremely ready
sympathy which in nice youngsters goes often with a joyous temperament he felt
sorry for the great Presence he called »The Chief« and also for the Assistant
Commissioner whose face appeared to him more ominously wooden than ever before
and quite wonderfully long »What a queer foreignlooking chap he is« he
thought to himself smiling from a distance with friendly buoyancy And directly
they came together he began to talk with the kind intention of burying the
awkwardness of failure under a heap of words It looked as if the great assault
threatened for that night were going to fizzle out An inferior henchman of that
brute Cheeseman was up boring mercilessly a very thin House with some
shamelessly cooked statistics He Toodles hoped he would bore them into a
count out every minute But then he might be only marking time to let that
guzzling Cheeseman dine at his leisure Anyway the Chief could not be persuaded
to go home
»He will see you at once I think Hes sitting all alone in his room
thinking of all the fishes of the sea« concluded Toodles airily »Come along«
Notwithstanding the kindness of his disposition the young private secretary
unpaid was accessible to the common failings of humanity He did not wish to
harrow the feelings of the Assistant Commissioner who looked to him uncommonly
like a man who has made a mess of his job But his curiosity was too strong to
be restrained by mere compassion He could not help as they went along to
throw over his shoulder lightly
»And your sprat«
»Got him« answered the Assistant Commissioner with a concision which did
not mean to be repellent in the least
»Good Youve no idea how these great men dislike to be disappointed in
small things«
After this profound observation the experienced Toodles seemed to reflect
At any rate he said nothing for quite two seconds Then
»Im glad But I say is it really such a very small thing as you make it
out«
»Do you know what may be done with a sprat« the Assistant Commissioner
asked in his turn
»Hes sometimes put into a sardine box« chuckled Toodles whose erudition
on the subject of the fishing industry was fresh and in comparison with his
ignorance of all other industrial matters immense »There are sardine canneries
on the Spanish coast which «
The Assistant Commissioner interrupted the apprentice statesman
»Yes Yes But a sprat is also thrown away sometimes in order to catch a
whale«
»A whale Phew« exclaimed Toodles with bated breath »Youre after a
whale then«
»Not exactly What I am after is more like a dogfish You dont know
perhaps what a dogfish is like«
»Yes I do Were buried in special books up to our necks whole shelves
full of them with plates Its a noxious rascallylooking altogether
detestable beast with a sort of smooth face and moustaches«
»Described to a T« commended the Assistant Commissioner »Only mine is
cleanshaven altogether Youve seen him Its a witty fish«
»I have seen him« said Toodles incredulously »I cant conceive where I
could have seen him«
»At the Explorers I should say« dropped the Assistant Commissioner
calmly At the name of that extremely exclusive club Toodles looked scared and
stopped short
»Nonsense« he protested but in an awestruck tone »What do you mean A
member«
»Honorary« muttered the Assistant Commissioner through his teeth
»Heavens«
Toodles looked so thunderstruck that the Assistant Commissioner smiled
faintly
»Thats between ourselves strictly« he said
»Thats the beastliest thing Ive ever heard in my life« declared Toodles
feebly as if astonishment had robbed him of all his buoyant strength in a
second
The Assistant Commissioner gave him an unsmiling glance Till they came to
the door of the great mans room Toodles preserved a scandalized and solemn
silence as though he were offended with the Assistant Commissioner for exposing
such an unsavoury and disturbing fact It revolutionized his idea of the
Explorers Clubs extreme selectness of its social purity Toodles was
revolutionary only in politics his social beliefs and personal feelings he
wished to preserve unchanged through all the years allotted to him on this earth
which upon the whole he believed to be a nice place to live on
He stood aside
»Go in without knocking« he said
Shades of green silk fitted low over all the lights imparted to the room
something of a forests deep gloom The haughty eyes were physically the great
mans weak point This point was wrapped up in secrecy When an opportunity
offered he rested them conscientiously The Assistant Commissioner entering saw
at first only a big pale hand supporting a big head and concealing the upper
part of a big pale face An open despatchbox stood on the writingtable near a
few oblong sheets of paper and a scattered handful of quill pens There was
absolutely nothing else on the large flat surface except a little bronze
statuette draped in a toga mysteriously watchful in its shadowy immobility The
Assistant Commissioner invited to take a chair sat down In the dim light the
salient points of his personality the long face the black hair his lankness
made him look more foreign than ever
The great man manifested no surprise no eagerness no sentiment whatever
The attitude in which he rested his menaced eyes was profoundly meditative He
did not alter it the least bit But his tone was not dreamy
»Well What is it that youve found out already You came upon something
unexpected on the first step«
»Not exactly unexpected Sir Ethelred What I mainly came upon was a
psychological state«
The Great Presence made a slight movement
»You must be lucid please«
»Yes Sir Ethelred You know no doubt that most criminals at some time or
other feel an irresistible need of confessing of making a clean breast of it
to somebody to anybody And they do it often to the police In that Verloc
whom Heat wished so much to screen Ive found a man in that particular
psychological state The man figuratively speaking flung himself on my breast
It was enough on my part to whisper to him who I was and to add I know that you
are at the bottom of this affair It must have seemed miraculous to him that we
should know already but he took it all in the stride The wonderfulness of it
never checked him for a moment There remained for me only to put to him the two
questions Who put you up to it and Who was the man who did it He answered the
first with remarkable emphasis As to the second question I gather that the
fellow with the bomb was his brotherinlaw quite a lad a weakminded
creature It is rather a curious affair too long perhaps to state fully
just now«
»What then have you learned« asked the great man
»First Ive learned that the exconvict Michaelis had nothing to do with
it though indeed the lad had been living with him temporarily in the country up
to eight oclock this morning It is more than likely that Michaelis knows
nothing of it to this moment«
»You are positive as to that« asked the great man
»Quite certain Sir Ethelred This fellow Verloc went there this morning
and took away the lad on the pretence of going out for a walk in the lanes As
it was not the first time that he did this Michaelis could not have the
slightest suspicion of anything unusual For the rest Sir Ethelred the
indignation of this man Verloc had left nothing in doubt nothing whatever He
had been driven out of his mind almost by an extraordinary performance which
for you or me it would be difficult to take as seriously meant but which
produced a great impression obviously on him«
The Assistant Commissioner then imparted briefly to the great man who sat
still resting his eyes under the screen of his hand Mr Verlocs appreciation
of Mr Vladimirs proceedings and character The Assistant Commissioner did not
seem to refuse it a certain amount of competency But the great personage
remarked
»All this seems very fantastic«
»Doesnt it One would think a ferocious joke But our man took it
seriously it appears He felt himself threatened Formerly you know he was in
direct communication with old StottWartenheim himself and had come to regard
his services as indispensable It was an extremely rude awakening I imagine
that he lost his head He became angry and frightened Upon my word my
impression is that he thought these Embassy people quite capable not only to
throw him out but to give him away too in some manner or other «
»How long were you with him« interrupted the Presence from behind his big
hand
»Some forty minutes Sir Ethelred in a house of bad repute called
Continental Hotel closeted in a room which bytheby I took for the night I
found him under the influence of that reaction which follows the effort of
crime The man cannot be defined as a hardened criminal It is obvious that he
did not plan the death of that wretched lad his brotherinlaw That was a
shock to him I could see that Perhaps he is a man of strong sensibilities
Perhaps he was even fond of the lad who knows He might have hoped that the
fellow would get clear away in which case it would have been almost impossible
to bring this thing home to any one At any rate he risked consciously nothing
more but arrest for him«
The Assistant Commissioner paused in his speculations to reflect for a
moment
»Though how in that last case he could hope to have his own share in the
business concealed is more than I can tell« he continued in his ignorance of
poor Stevies devotion to Mr Verloc who was good and of his truly peculiar
dumbness which in the old affair of fireworks on the stairs had for many years
resisted entreaties coaxing anger and other means of investigation used by
his beloved sister For Stevie was loyal »No I cant imagine Its
possible that he never thought of that at all It sounds an extravagant way of
putting it Sir Ethelred but his state of dismay suggested to me an impulsive
man who after committing suicide with the notion that it would end all his
troubles had discovered that it did nothing of the kind«
The Assistant Commissioner gave this definition in an apologetic voice But
in truth there is a sort of lucidity proper to extravagant language and the
great man was not offended A slight jerky movement of the big body half lost in
the gloom of the green silk shades of the big head leaning on the big hand
accompanied an intermittent stifled but powerful sound The great man had
laughed
»What have you done with him«
The Assistant Commissioner answered very readily
»As he seemed very anxious to get back to his wife in the shop I let him go
Sir Ethelred«
»You did But the fellow will disappear«
»Pardon me I dont think so Where could he go to Moreover you must
remember that he has got to think of the danger from his comrades too Hes
there at his post How could he explain leaving it But even if there were no
obstacles to his freedom of action he would do nothing At present he hasnt
enough moral energy to take a resolution of any sort Permit me also to point
out that if I had detained him we would have been committed to a course of
action on which I wished to know your precise intentions first«
The great personage rose heavily an imposing shadowy form in the greenish
gloom of the room
»Ill see the AttorneyGeneral tonight and will send for you tomorrow
morning Is there anything more youd wish to tell me now«
The Assistant Commissioner had stood up also slender and flexible
»I think not Sir Ethelred unless I were to enter into details which «
»No No details please«
The great shadowy form seemed to shrink away as if in physical dread of
details then came forward expanded enormous and weighty offering a large
hand »And you say that this man has got a wife«
»Yes Sir Ethelred« said the Assistant Commissioner pressing deferentially
the extended hand »A genuine wife and a genuinely respectably marital
relation He told me that after his interview at the Embassy he would have
thrown everything up would have tried to sell his shop and leave the country
only he felt certain that his wife would not even hear of going abroad Nothing
could be more characteristic of the respectable bond than that« went on with a
touch of grimness the Assistant Commissioner whose own wife too had refused
to hear of going abroad »Yes a genuine wife And the victim was a genuine
brotherinlaw From a certain point of view we are here in the presence of a
domestic drama«
The Assistant Commissioner laughed a little but the great mans thoughts
seemed to have wandered far away perhaps to the questions of his countrys
domestic policy the battleground of his crusading valour against the paynim
Cheeseman The Assistant Commissioner withdrew quietly unnoticed as if already
forgotten
He had his own crusading instincts This affair which in one way or
another disgusted Chief Inspector Heat seemed to him a providentially given
startingpoint for a crusade He had it much at heart to begin He walked slowly
home meditating that enterprise on the way and thinking over Mr Verlocs
psychology in a composite mood of repugnance and satisfaction He walked all the
way home Finding the drawingroom dark he went upstairs and spent some time
between the bedroom and the dressingroom changing his clothes going to and
fro with the air of a thoughtful somnambulist But he shook it off before going
out again to join his wife at the house of the great lady patroness of
Michaelis
He knew he would be welcomed there On entering the smaller of the two
drawingrooms he saw his wife in a small group near the piano A youngish
composer in pass of becoming famous was discoursing from a music stool to two
thick men whose backs looked old and three slender women whose backs looked
young Behind the screen the great lady had only two persons with her a man and
a woman who sat side by side on armchairs at the foot of her couch She
extended her hand to the Assistant Commissioner
»I never hoped to see you here tonight Annie told me «
»Yes I had no idea myself that my work would be over so soon«
The Assistant Commissioner added in a low tone »I am glad to tell you that
Michaelis is altogether clear of this «
The patroness of the exconvict received this assurance indignantly
»Why Were your people stupid enough to connect him with «
»Not stupid« interrupted the Assistant Commissioner contradicting
deferentially »Clever enough quite clever enough for that«
A silence fell The man at the foot of the couch had stopped speaking to the
lady and looked on with a faint smile
»I dont know whether you ever met before« said the great lady
Mr Vladimir and the Assistant Commissioner introduced acknowledged each
others existence with punctilious and guarded courtesy
»Hes been frightening me« declared suddenly the lady who sat by the side
of Mr Vladimir with an inclination of the head towards that gentleman The
Assistant Commissioner knew the lady
»You do not look frightened« he pronounced after surveying her
conscientiously with his tired and equable gaze He was thinking meantime to
himself that in this house one met everybody sooner or later Mr Vladimirs
rosy countenance was wreathed in smiles because he was witty but his eyes
remained serious like the eyes of convinced man
»Well he tried to at least« amended the lady
»Force of habit perhaps« said the Assistant Commissioner moved by an
irresistible inspiration
»He has been threatening society with all sorts of horrors« continued the
lady whose enunciation was caressing and slow »apropos of this explosion in
Greenwich Park It appears we all ought to quake in our shoes at whats coming
if those people are not suppressed all over the world I had no idea this was
such a grave affair«
Mr Vladimir affecting not to listen leaned towards the couch talking
amiably in subdued tones but he heard the Assistant Commissioner say
»Ive no doubt that Mr Vladimir has a very precise notion of the true
importance of this affair«
Mr Vladimir asked himself what that confounded and intrusive policeman was
driving at Descended from generations victimized by the instruments of an
arbitrary power he was racially nationally and individually afraid of the
police It was an inherited weakness altogether independent of his judgment of
his reason of his experience He was born to it But that sentiment which
resembled the irrational horror some people have of cats did not stand in the
way of his immense contempt for the English police He finished the sentence
addressed to the great lady and turned slightly in his chair
»You mean that we have a great experience of these people Yes indeed we
suffer greatly from their activity while you« Mr Vladimir hesitated for a
moment in smiling perplexity »While you suffer their presence gladly in your
midst« he finished displaying a dimple in each cleanshaven cheek Then he
added more gravely »I may even say because you do«
When Mr Vladimir ceased speaking the Assistant Commissioner lowered his
glance and the conversation dropped Almost immediately afterwards Mr Vladimir
took leave Directly his back was turned on the couch the Assistant Commissioner
rose too
»I thought you were going to stay and take Annie home« said the lady
patroness of Michaelis
»I find that Ive yet a little work to do tonight«
»In connection «
»Well yes in a way«
»Tell me what is it really this horror«
»Its difficult to say what it is but it may yet be a cause célèbre« said
the Assistant Commissioner
He left the drawingroom hurriedly and found Mr Vladimir still in the
hall wrapping up his throat carefully in a large silk handkerchief Behind him
a footman waited holding his overcoat Another stood ready to open the door
The Assistant Commissioner was duly helped into his coat and let out at once
After descending the front steps he stopped as if to consider the way he should
take On seeing this through the door held open Mr Vladimir lingered in the
hall to get out a cigar and asked for a light It was furnished to him by an
elderly man out of livery with an air of calm solicitude But the match went
out the footman then closed the door and Mr Vladimir lighted his large Havana
with leisurely care When at last he got out of the house he saw with disgust
the confounded policeman still standing on the pavement
»Can he be waiting for me« thought Mr Vladimir looking up and down for
some signs of a hansom He saw none A couple of carriages waited by the
curbstone their lamps blazing steadily the horses standing perfectly still as
if carved in stone the coachmen sitting motionless under the big fur capes
without as much as a quiver stirring the white thongs of their big whips Mr
Vladimir walked on and the confounded policeman fell into step at his elbow He
said nothing At the end of the fourth stride Mr Vladimir felt infuriated and
uneasy This could not last
»Rotten weather« he growled savagely
»Mild« said the Assistant Commissioner without passion He remained silent
for a little while »Weve got hold of a man called Verloc« he announced
casually
Mr Vladimir did not stumble did not stagger back did not change his
stride But he could not prevent himself from exclaiming »What« The Assistant
Commissioner did not repeat his statement »You know him« he went on in the
same tone
Mr Vladimir stopped and became guttural
»What makes you say that«
»I dont Its Verloc who says that«
»A lying dog of some sort« said Mr Vladimir in somewhat Oriental
phraseology But in his heart he was almost awed by the miraculous cleverness of
the English police The change of his opinion on the subject was so violent that
it made him for a moment feel slightly sick He threw away his cigar and moved
on
»What pleased me most in this affair« the Assistant went on talking
slowly »is that it makes such an excellent startingpoint for a piece of work
which Ive felt must be taken in hand that is the clearing out of this
country of all the foreign political spies police and that sort of of
dogs In my opinion they are a ghastly nuisance also an element of danger But
we cant very well seek them out individually The only way is to make their
employment unpleasant to their employers The things becoming indecent And
dangerous too for us here«
Mr Vladimir stopped again for a moment
»What do you mean«
»The prosecution of this Verloc will demonstrate to the public both the
danger and the indecency«
»Nobody will believe what a man of that sort says« said Mr Vladimir
contemptuously
»The wealth and precision of detail will carry conviction to the great mass
of the public« advanced the Assistant Commissioner gently
»So that is seriously what you mean to do«
»Weve got the man we have no choice«
»You will be only feeding up the lying spirit of these revolutionary
scoundrels« Mr Vladimir protested »What do you want to make a scandal for
from morality or what«
Mr Vladimirs anxiety was obvious The Assistant Commissioner having
ascertained in this way that there must be some truth in the summary statements
of Mr Verloc said indifferently
»Theres a practical side too We have really enough to do to look after
the genuine article You cant say we are not effective But we dont intend to
let ourselves be bothered by shams under any pretext whatever«
Mr Vladimirs tone became lofty
»For my part I cant share your view It is selfish My sentiments for my
own country cannot be doubted but Ive always felt that we ought to be good
Europeans besides I mean governments and men«
»Yes« said the Assistant Commissioner simply »Only you look at Europe from
its other end But« he went on in a goodnatured tone »the foreign governments
cannot complain of the inefficiency of our police Look at this outrage a case
specially difficult to trace inasmuch as it was a sham In less than twelve
hours we have established the identity of a man literally blown to shreds have
found the organizer of the attempt and have had a glimpse of the inciter behind
him And we could have gone further only we stopped at the limits of our
territory«
»So this instructive crime was planned abroad« Mr Vladimir said quickly
»You admit it was planned abroad«
»Theoretically Theoretically only on foreign territory abroad only by a
fiction« said the Assistant Commissioner alluding to the character of
Embassies which are supposed to be part and parcel of the country to which they
belong »But thats a detail I talked to you of this business because its your
government that grumbles most at our police You see that we are not so bad I
wanted particularly to tell you of our success«
»Im sure Im very grateful« muttered Mr Vladimir through his teeth
»We can put our finger on every anarchist here« went on the Assistant
Commissioner as though he were quoting Chief Inspector Heat »All thats wanted
now is to do away with the agent provocateur to make everything safe«
Mr Vladimir held up his hand to a passing hansom
»Youre not going in here« remarked the Assistant Commissioner looking at
a building of noble proportions and hospitable aspect with the light of a great
hall falling through its glass doors on a broad flight of steps
But Mr Vladimir sitting stonyeyed inside the hansom drove off without
a word
The Assistant Commissioner himself did not turn into the noble building It
was the Explorers Club The thought passed through his mind that Mr Vladimir
honorary member would not be seen very often there in the future He looked at
his watch It was only halfpast ten He had had a very full evening
XI
After Chief Inspector Heat had left him Mr Verloc moved about the parlour From
time to time he eyed his wife through the open door »She knows all about it
now« he thought to himself with commiseration for her sorrow and with some
satisfaction as regarded himself Mr Verlocs soul if lacking greatness
perhaps was capable of tender sentiments The prospect of having to break the
news to her had put him into a fever Chief Inspector Heat had relieved him of
the task That was good as far as it went It remained for him now to face her
grief
Mr Verloc had never expected to have to face it on account of death whose
catastrophic character cannot be argued away by sophisticated reasoning or
persuasive eloquence Mr Verloc never meant Stevie to perish with such abrupt
violence He did not mean him to perish at all Stevie dead was a much greater
nuisance than ever he had been when alive Mr Verloc had augured a favourable
issue to his enterprise basing himself not on Stevies intelligence which
sometimes plays queer tricks with a man but on the blind docility and on the
blind devotion of the boy Though not much of a psychologist Mr Verloc had
gauged the depth of Stevies fanaticism He dared cherish the hope of Stevie
walking away from the walls of the Observatory as he had been instructed to do
taking the way shown to him several times previously and rejoining his
brotherinlaw the wise and good Mr Verloc outside the precincts of the park
Fifteen minutes ought to have been enough for the veriest fool to deposit the
engine and walk away And the Professor had guaranteed more than fifteen
minutes But Stevie had stumbled within five minutes of being left to himself
And Mr Verloc was shaken morally to pieces He had foreseen everything but
that He had foreseen Stevie distracted and lost sought for found in some
police station or provincial workhouse in the end He had foreseen Stevie
arrested and was not afraid because Mr Verloc had a great opinion of Stevies
loyalty which had been carefully indoctrinated with the necessity of silence in
the course of many walks Like a peripatetic philosopher Mr Verloc strolling
along the streets of London had modified Stevies view of the police by
conversations full of subtle reasonings Never had a sage a more attentive and
admiring disciple The submission and worship were so apparent that Mr Verloc
had come to feel something like a liking for the boy In any case he had not
foreseen the swift bringing home of his connection That his wife should hit
upon the precaution of sewing the boys address inside his overcoat was the last
thing Mr Verloc would have thought of One cant think of everything That was
what she meant when she said that he need not worry if he lost Stevie during
their walks She had assured him that the boy would turn up all right Well he
had turned up with a vengeance
»Well well« muttered Mr Verloc in his wonder What did she mean by it
Spare him the trouble of keeping an anxious eye on Stevie Most likely she had
meant well Only she ought to have told him of the precaution she had taken
Mr Verloc walked behind the counter of the shop His intention was not to
overwhelm his wife with bitter reproaches Mr Verloc felt no bitterness The
unexpected march of events had converted him to the doctrine of fatalism
Nothing could be helped now He said
»I didnt mean any harm to come to the boy«
Mrs Verloc shuddered at the sound of her husbands voice She did not
uncover her face The trusted secret agent of the late Baron StottWartenheim
looked at her for a time with a heavy persistent undiscerning glance The torn
evening paper was lying at her feet It could not have told her much Mr Verloc
felt the need of talking to his wife
»Its that damned Heat eh« he said »He upset you Hes a brute blurting
it out like this to a woman I made myself ill thinking how to break it to you
I sat for hours in the little parlour of Cheshire Cheese thinking over the best
way You understand I never meant any harm to come to that boy«
Mr Verloc the Secret Agent was speaking the truth It was his marital
affection that had received the greatest shock from the premature explosion He
added
»I didnt feel particularly gay sitting there and thinking of you«
He observed another slight shudder of his wife which affected his
sensibility As she persisted in hiding her face in her hands he thought he had
better leave her alone for a while On this delicate impulse Mr Verloc withdrew
into the parlour again where the gasjet purred like a contented cat Mrs
Verlocs wifely forethought had left the cold beef on the table with carving
knife and fork and half a loaf of bread for Mr Verlocs supper He noticed all
these things now for the first time and cutting himself a piece of bread and
meat began to eat
His appetite did not proceed from callousness Mr Verloc had not eaten any
breakfast that day He had left his home fasting Not being an energetic man he
found his resolution in nervous excitement which seemed to hold him mainly by
the throat He could not have swallowed anything solid Michaelis cottage was
as destitute of provisions as the cell of a prisoner The ticketofleave
apostle lived on a little milk and crusts of stale bread Moreover when Mr
Verloc arrived he had already gone upstairs after his frugal meal Absorbed in
the toil and delight of literary composition he had not even answered Mr
Verlocs shout up the little staircase
»I am taking this young fellow home for a day or two«
And in truth Mr Verloc did not wait for an answer but had marched out of
the cottage at once followed by the obedient Stevie
Now that all action was over and his fate taken out of his hands with
unexpected swiftness Mr Verloc felt terribly empty physically He carved the
meat cut the bread and devoured his supper standing by the table and now and
then casting a glance towards his wife Her prolonged immobility disturbed the
comfort of his refection He walked again into the shop and came up very close
to her This sorrow with a veiled face made Mr Verloc uneasy He expected of
course his wife to be very much upset but he wanted her to pull herself
together He needed all her assistance and all her loyalty in these new
conjunctures his fatalism had already accepted
»Cant be helped« he said in a tone of gloomy sympathy »Come Winnie
weve got to think of to Youll want all your wits about you after I am taken
away«
He paused Mrs Verlocs breast heaved convulsively This was not reassuring
to Mr Verloc in whose view the newly created situation required from the two
people most concerned in it calmness decision and other qualities incompatible
with the mental disorder of passionate sorrow Mr Verloc was a humane man he
had come home prepared to allow every latitude to his wifes affection for her
brother Only he did not understand either the nature or the whole extent of
that sentiment And in this he was excusable since it was impossible for him to
understand it without ceasing to be himself He was startled and disappointed
and his speech conveyed it by a certain roughness of tone
»You might look at a fellow« he observed after waiting a while
As if forced through the hands covering Mrs Verlocs face the answer came
deadened almost pitiful
»I dont want to look at you as long as I live«
»Eh What« Mr Verloc was merely startled by the superficial and literal
meaning of this declaration It was obviously unreasonable the mere cry of
exaggerated grief He threw over it the mantle of his marital indulgence The
mind of Mr Verloc lacked profundity Under the mistaken impression that the
value of individuals consists in what they are in themselves he could not
possibly comprehend the value of Stevie in the eyes of Mrs Verloc She was
taking it confoundedly hard he thought to himself It was all the fault of that
damned Heat What did he want to upset the woman for But she mustnt be
allowed for her own good to carry on so till she got quite beside herself
»Look here You cant sit like this in the shop« he said with affected
severity in which there was some real annoyance for urgent practical matters
must be talked over if they had to sit up all night »Somebody might come in at
any minute« he added and waited again No effect was produced and the idea of
the finality of death occurred to Mr Verloc during the pause He changed his
tone »Come This wont bring him back« he said gently feeling ready to take
her in his arms and press her to his breast where impatience and compassion
dwelt side by side But except for a short shudder Mrs Verloc remained
apparently unaffected by the force of that terrible truism It was Mr Verloc
himself who was moved He was moved in his simplicity to urge moderation by
asserting the claims of his own personality
»Do be reasonable Winnie What would it have been if you had lost me«
He had vaguely expected to hear her cry out But she did not budge She
leaned back a little quieted down to a complete unreadable stillness Mr
Verlocs heart began to beat faster with exasperation and something resembling
alarm He laid his hand on her shoulder saying
»Dont be a fool Winnie«
She gave no sign It was impossible to talk to any purpose with a woman
whose face one cannot see Mr Verloc caught hold of his wifes wrists But her
hands seemed glued fast She swayed forward bodily to his tug and nearly went
off the chair Startled to feel her so helplessly limp he was trying to put her
back on the chair when she stiffened suddenly all over tore herself out of his
hands ran out of the shop across the parlour and into the kitchen This was
very swift He had just a glimpse of her face and that much of her eyes that he
knew she had not looked at him
It all had the appearance of a struggle for the possession of a chair
because Mr Verloc instantly took his wifes place in it Mr Verloc did not
cover his face with his hands but a sombre thoughtfulness veiled his features
A term of imprisonment could not be avoided He did not wish now to avoid it A
prison was a place as safe from certain unlawful vengeances as the grave with
this advantage that in a prison there is room for hope What he saw before him
was a term of imprisonment an early release and then life abroad somewhere
such as he had contemplated already in case of failure Well it was a failure
if not exactly the sort of failure he had feared It had been so near success
that he could have positively terrified Mr Vladimir out of his ferocious
scoffing with this proof of occult efficiency So at least it seemed now to Mr
Verloc His prestige with the Embassy would have been immense if if his wife
had not had the unlucky notion of sewing on the address inside Stevies
overcoat Mr Verloc who was no fool had soon perceived the extraordinary
character of the influence he had over Stevie though he did not understand
exactly its origin the doctrine of his supreme wisdom and goodness inculcated
by two anxious women In all the eventualities he had foreseen Mr Verloc had
calculated with correct insight on Stevies instinctive loyalty and blind
discretion The eventuality he had not foreseen had appalled him as a humane man
and a fond husband From every other point of view it was rather advantageous
Nothing can equal the everlasting discretion of death Mr Verloc sitting
perplexed and frightened in the small parlour of the Cheshire Cheese could not
help acknowledging that to himself because his sensibility did not stand in the
way of his judgment Stevies violent disintegration however disturbing to
think about only assured the success for of course the knocking down of a
wall was not the aim of Mr Vladimirs menaces but the production of a moral
effect With much trouble and distress on Mr Verlocs part the effect might be
said to have been produced When however most unexpectedly it came home to
roost in Brett Street Mr Verloc who had been struggling like a man in a
nightmare for the preservation of his position accepted the blow in the spirit
of a convinced fatalist The position was gone through no ones fault really A
small tiny fact had done it It was like slipping on a bit of orange peel in
the dark and breaking your leg
Mr Verloc drew a weary breath He nourished no resentment against his wife
He thought She will have to look after the shop while they keep me locked up
And thinking also how cruelly she would miss Stevie at first he felt greatly
concerned about her health and spirits How would she stand her solitude
absolutely alone in that house It would not do for her to break down while he
was locked up What would become of the shop then The shop was an asset Though
Mr Verlocs fatalism accepted his undoing as a secret agent he had no mind to
be utterly ruined mostly it must be owned from regard for his wife
Silent and out of his line of sight in the kitchen she frightened him If
only she had her mother with her But that silly old woman An angry dismay
possessed Mr Verloc He must talk with his wife He could tell her certainly
that a man does get desperate under certain circumstances But he did not go
incontinently to impart to her that information First of all it was clear to
him that this evening was no time for business He got up to close the street
door and put the gas out in the shop
Having thus assured a solitude around his hearthstone Mr Verloc walked
into the parlour and glanced down into the kitchen Mrs Verloc was sitting in
the place where poor Stevie usually established himself of an evening with paper
and pencil for the pastime of drawing these coruscations of innumerable circles
suggesting chaos and eternity Her arms were folded on the table and her head
was lying on her arms Mr Verloc contemplated her back and the arrangement of
her hair for a time then walked away from the kitchen door Mrs Verlocs
philosophical almost disdainful incuriosity the foundation of their accord in
domestic life made it extremely difficult to get into contact with her now this
tragic necessity had arisen Mr Verloc felt this difficulty acutely He turned
around the table in the parlour with his usual air of a large animal in a cage
Curiosity being one of the forms of selfrevelation a systematically
incurious person remains always partly mysterious Every time he passed near the
door Mr Verloc glanced at his wife uneasily It was not that he was afraid of
her Mr Verloc imagined himself loved by that woman But she had not accustomed
him to make confidences And the confidence he had to make was of a profound
psychological order How with his want of practice could he tell her what he
himself felt but vaguely that there are conspiracies of fatal destiny that a
notion grows in a mind sometimes till it acquires an outward existence an
independent power of its own and even a suggestive voice He could not inform
her that a man may be haunted by a fat witty cleanshaved face till the
wildest expedient to get rid of it appears a child of wisdom
On this mental reference to a First Secretary of a great Embassy Mr Verloc
stopped in the doorway and looking down into the kitchen with an angry face and
clenched fists addressed his wife
»You dont know what a brute I had to deal with«
He started off to make another perambulation of the table then when he had
come to the door again he stopped glaring in from the height of two steps
»A silly jeering dangerous brute with no more sense than After all
these years A man like me And I have been playing my head at that game You
didnt know Quite right too What was the good of telling you that I stood the
risk of having a knife stuck into me any time these seven years weve been
married I am not a chap to worry a woman thats fond of me You had no business
to know«
Mr Verloc took another turn round the parlour fuming
»A venomous beast« he began again from the doorway »Drive me out into a
ditch to starve for a joke I could see he thought it was a damned good joke A
man like me Look here Some of the highest in the world got to thank me for
walking on their two legs to this day Thats the man youve got married to my
girl«
He perceived that his wife had sat up Mrs Verlocs arms remained lying
stretched on the table Mr Verloc watched her back as if he could read there
the effect of his words
»There isnt a murdering plot for the last eleven years that I hadnt my
finger in at the risk of my life Theres scores of these revolutionists Ive
sent off with their bombs in their blamed pockets to get themselves caught on
the frontier The old Baron knew what I was worth to his country And here
suddenly a swine comes along an ignorant overbearing swine«
Mr Verloc stepping slowly down two steps entered the kitchen took a
tumbler off the dresser and holding it in his hand approached the sink
without looking at his wife
»It wasnt the old Baron who would have had the wicked folly of getting me
to call on him at eleven in the morning There are two or three in this town
that if they had seen me going in would have made no bones about knocking me
on the head sooner or later It was a silly murderous trick to expose for
nothing a man like me«
Mr Verloc turning on the tap above the sink poured three glasses of
water one after another down his throat to quench the fires of his
indignation Mr Vladimirs conduct was like a hot brand which set his internal
economy in a blaze He could not get over the disloyalty of it This man who
would not work at the usual hard tasks which society sets to its humbler
members had exercised his secret industry with an indefatigable devotion There
was in Mr Verloc a fund of loyalty He had been loyal to his employers to the
cause of social stability and to his affections too as became apparent
when after standing the tumbler in the sink he turned about saying
»If I hadnt thought of you I would have taken the bullying brute by the
throat and rammed his head into the fireplace Id have been more than a match
for that pinkfaced smoothshaved «
Mr Verloc neglected to finish the sentence as if there could be no doubt
of the terminal word For the first time in his life he was taking that
incurious woman into his confidence The singularity of the event the force and
importance of the personal feelings aroused in the course of this confession
drove Stevies fate clean out of Mr Verlocs mind The boys stuttering
existence of fears and indignations together with the violence of his end had
passed out of Mr Verlocs mental sight for a time For that reason when he
looked up he was startled by the inappropriate character of his wifes stare It
was not a wild stare and it was not inattentive but its attention was peculiar
and not satisfactory inasmuch that it seemed concentrated upon some point
beyond Mr Verlocs person The impression was so strong that Mr Verloc glanced
over his shoulder There was nothing behind him there was just the whitewashed
wall The excellent husband of Winnie Verloc saw no writing on the wall He
turned to his wife again repeating with some emphasis
»I would have taken him by the throat As true as I stand here if I hadnt
thought of you then I would have half choked the life out of the brute before I
let him get up And dont you think he would have been anxious to call the
police either He wouldnt have dared You understand why dont you«
He blinked at his wife knowingly
»No« said Mrs Verloc in an unresonant voice and without looking at him at
all »What are you talking about«
A great discouragement the result of fatigue came upon Mr Verloc He had
had a very full day and his nerves had been tried to the utmost After a month
of maddening worry ending in an unexpected catastrophe the stormtossed spirit
of Mr Verloc longed for repose His career as a secret agent had come to an end
in a way no one could have foreseen only now perhaps he could manage to get a
nights sleep at last But looking at his wife he doubted it She was taking it
very hard not at all like herself he thought He made an effort to speak
»Youll have to pull yourself together my girl« he said sympathetically
»Whats done cant be undone«
Mrs Verloc gave a slight start though not a muscle of her white face moved
in the least Mr Verloc who was not looking at her continued ponderously
»You go to bed now What you want is a good cry«
This opinion had nothing to recommend it but the general consent of mankind
It is universally understood that as if it were nothing more substantial than
vapour floating in the sky every emotion of a woman is bound to end in a
shower And it is very probable that had Stevie died in his bed under her
despairing gaze in her protecting arms Mrs Verlocs grief would have found
relief in a flood of bitter and pure tears Mrs Verloc in common with other
human beings was provided with a fund of unconscious resignation sufficient to
meet the normal manifestation of human destiny Without »troubling her head
about it« she was aware that it »did not stand looking into very much« But the
lamentable circumstances of Stevies end which to Mr Verlocs mind had only an
episodic character as part of a greater disaster dried her tears at their very
source It was the effect of a whitehot iron drawn across her eyes at the same
time her heart hardened and chilled into a lump of ice kept her body in an
inward shudder set her features into a frozen contemplative immobility
addressed to a whitewashed wall with no writing on it The exigencies of Mrs
Verlocs temperament which when stripped of its philosophical reserve was
maternal and violent forced her to roll a series of thoughts in her motionless
head These thoughts were rather imagined than expressed Mrs Verloc was a
woman of singularly few words either for public or private use With the rage
and dismay of a betrayed woman she reviewed the tenor of her life in visions
concerned mostly with Stevies difficult existence from its earliest days It
was a life of single purpose and of a noble unity of inspiration like those
rare lives that have left their mark on the thoughts and feelings of mankind
But the visions of Mrs Verloc lacked nobility and magnificence She saw herself
putting the boy to bed by the light of a single candle on the deserted top floor
of a business house dark under the roof and scintillating exceedingly with
lights and cut glass at the level of the street like a fairy palace That
meretricious splendour was the only one to be met in Mrs Verlocs visions She
remembered brushing the boys hair and tying his pinafores herself in a
pinafore still the consolations administered to a small and badly scared
creature by another creature nearly as small but not quite so badly scared she
had the vision of the blows intercepted often with her own head of a door
held desperately shut against a mans rage not for very long of a poker flung
once not very far which stilled that particular storm into the dumb and awful
silence which follows a thunderclap And all these scenes of violence came and
went accompanied by the unrefined noise of deep vociferations proceeding from a
man wounded in his paternal pride declaring himself obviously accursed since
one of his kids was a slobbering idjut and the other a wicked shedevil It was
of her that this had been said many years ago
Mrs Verloc heard the words again in a ghostly fashion and then the dreary
shadow of the Belgravian mansion descended upon her shoulders It was a crushing
memory an exhausting vision of countless breakfast trays carried up and down
innumerable stairs of endless haggling over pence of the endless drudgery of
sweeping dusting cleaning from basement to attics while the impotent mother
staggering on swollen legs cooked in a grimy kitchen and poor Stevie the
unconscious presiding genius of all their toil blacked the gentlemens boots in
the scullery But this vision had a breath of a hot London summer in it and for
a central figure a young man wearing his Sunday best with a straw hat on his
dark head and a wooden pipe in his mouth Affectionate and jolly he was a
fascinating companion for a voyage down the sparkling stream of life only his
boat was very small There was room in it for a girlpartner at the oar but no
accommodation for passengers He was allowed to drift away from the threshold of
the Belgravian mansion while Winnie averted her tearful eyes He was not a
lodger The lodger was Mr Verloc indolent and keeping late hours sleepily
jocular of a morning from under his bedclothes but with gleams of infatuation
in his heavylidded eyes and always with some money in his pockets There was
no sparkle of any kind on the lazy stream of his life It flowed through secret
places But his barque seemed a roomy craft and his taciturn magnanimity
accepted as a matter of course the presence of passengers
Mrs Verloc pursued the visions of seven years security for Stevie loyally
paid for on her part of security growing into confidence into a domestic
feeling stagnant and deep like a placid pool whose guarded surface hardly
shuddered on the occasional passage of Comrade Ossipon the robust anarchist
with shamelessly inviting eyes whose glance had a corrupt clearness sufficient
to enlighten any woman not absolutely imbecile
A few seconds only had elapsed since the last word had been uttered aloud in
the kitchen and Mrs Verloc was staring already at the vision of an episode not
more than a fortnight old With eyes whose pupils were extremely dilated she
stared at the vision of her husband and poor Stevie walking up Brett Street side
by side away from the shop It was the last scene of an existence created by
Mrs Verlocs genius an existence foreign to all grace and charm without
beauty and almost without decency but admirable in the continuity of feeling
and tenacity of purpose And this last vision had such plastic relief such
nearness of form such a fidelity of suggestive detail that it wrung from Mrs
Verloc an anguished and faint murmur reproducing the supreme illusion of her
life an appalled murmur that died out on her blanched lips
»Might have been father and son«
Mr Verloc stopped and raised a careworn face »Eh What did you say« he
asked Receiving no reply he resumed his sinister tramping Then with a
menacing flourish of a thick fleshy fist he burst out
»Yes The Embassy people A pretty lot aint they Before a weeks out Ill
make some of them wish themselves twenty feet under ground Eh What«
He glanced sideways with his head down Mrs Verloc gazed at the
whitewashed wall A blank wall perfectly blank A blankness to run at and dash
your head against Mrs Verloc remained immovably seated She kept still as the
population of half the globe would keep still in astonishment and despair were
the sun suddenly put out in the summer sky by the perfidy of a trusted
providence
»The Embassy« Mr Verloc began again after a preliminary grimace which
bared his teeth wolfishly »I wish I could get loose in there with a cudgel for
halfanhour I would keep on hitting till there wasnt a single unbroken bone
left amongst the whole lot But never mind Ill teach them yet what it means
trying to throw out a man like me to rot in the streets Ive a tongue in my
head All the world shall know what Ive done for them I am not afraid I dont
care Everythingll come out Every damned thing Let them look out«
In these terms did Mr Verloc declare his thirst for revenge It was a very
appropriate revenge It was in harmony with the promptings of Mr Verlocs
genius It had also the advantage of being within the range of his powers and of
adjusting itself easily to the practice of his life which had consisted
precisely in betraying the secret and unlawful proceedings of his fellowmen
Anarchists or diplomats were all one to him Mr Verloc was temperamentally no
respecter of persons His scorn was equally distributed over the whole field of
his operations But as a member of a revolutionary proletariat which he
undoubtedly was he nourished a rather inimical sentiment against social
distinction
»Nothing on earth can stop me now« he added and paused looking fixedly at
his wife who was looking fixedly at a blank wall
The silence in the kitchen was prolonged and Mr Verloc felt disappointed
He had expected his wife to say something But Mrs Verlocs lips composed in
their usual form preserved a statuesque immobility like the rest of her face
And Mr Verloc was disappointed Yet the occasion did not he recognized demand
speech from her She was a woman of very few words For reasons involved in the
very foundation of his psychology Mr Verloc was inclined to put his trust in
any woman who had given herself to him Therefore he trusted his wife Their
accord was perfect but it was not precise It was a tacit accord congenial to
Mrs Verlocs incuriosity and to Mr Verlocs habits of mind which were
indolent and secret They refrained from going to the bottom of facts and
motives
This reserve expressing in a way their profound confidence in each other
introduced at the same time a certain element of vagueness into their intimacy
No system of conjugal relations is perfect Mr Verloc presumed that his wife
had understood him but he would have been glad to hear her say what she thought
at the moment It would have been a comfort
There were several reasons why this comfort was denied him There was a
physical obstacle Mrs Verloc had not sufficient command over her voice She
did not see any alternative between screaming and silence and instinctively she
chose the silence Winnie Verloc was temperamentally a silent person And there
was the paralyzing atrocity of the thought which occupied her Her cheeks were
blanched her lips ashy her immobility amazing And she thought without looking
at Mr Verloc »This man took the boy away to murder him He took the boy away
from his home to murder him He took the boy away from me to murder him«
Mrs Verlocs whole being was racked by that inconclusive and maddening
thought It was in her veins in her bones in the roots of her hair Mentally
she assumed the biblical attitude of mourning the covered face the rent
garments the sound of wailing and lamentation filled her head But her teeth
were violently clenched and her tearless eyes were hot with rage because she
was not a submissive creature The protection she had extended over her brother
had been in its origin of a fierce and indignant complexion She had to love him
with a militant love She had battled for him even against herself His loss
had the bitterness of defeat with the anguish of a baffled passion It was not
an ordinary stroke of death Moreover it was not death that took Stevie from
her It was Mr Verloc who took him away She had seen him She had watched him
without raising a hand take the boy away And she had let him go like like a
fool a blind fool Then after he had murdered the boy he came home to her
Just came home like any other man would come home to his wife
Through her set teeth Mrs Verloc muttered at the wall
»And I thought he had caught a cold«
Mr Verloc heard these words and appropriated them
»It was nothing« he said moodily »I was upset I was upset on your
account«
Mrs Verloc turning her head slowly transferred her stare from the wall to
her husbands person Mr Verloc with the tips of his fingers between his lips
was looking on the ground
»Cant be helped« he mumbled letting his hand fall »You must pull
yourself together Youll want all your wits about you It is you who brought
the police about our ears Never mind I wont say anything more about it«
continued Mr Verloc magnanimously »You couldnt know«
»I couldnt« breathed out Mrs Verloc It was as if a corpse had spoken
Mr Verloc took up the thread of his discourse
»I dont blame you Ill make them sit up Once under lock and key it will
be safe enough for me to talk you understand You must reckon on me being two
years away from you« he continued in a tone of sincere concern »It will be
easier for you than for me Youll have something to do while I Look here
Winnie what you must do is to keep this business going for two years You know
enough for that Youve a good head on you Ill send you word when its time to
go about trying to sell Youll have to be extra careful The comrades will be
keeping an eye on you all the time Youll have to be as artful as you know how
and as close as the grave No one must know what you are going to do I have no
mind to get a knock on the head or a stab in the back directly I am let out«
Thus spoke Mr Verloc applying his mind with ingenuity and forethought to
the problems of the future His voice was sombre because he had a correct
sentiment of the situation Everything which he did not wish to pass had come to
pass The future had become precarious His judgment perhaps had been
momentarily obscured by his dread of Mr Vladimirs truculent folly A man
somewhat over forty may be excusably thrown into considerable disorder by the
prospect of losing his employment especially if the man is a secret agent of
political police dwelling secure in the consciousness of his high value and in
the esteem of high personages He was excusable
Now the thing had ended in a crash Mr Verloc was cool but he was not
cheerful A secret agent who throws his secrecy to the winds from desire of
vengeance and flaunts his achievements before the public eye becomes the mark
for desperate and bloodthirsty indignations Without unduly exaggerating the
danger Mr Verloc tried to bring it clearly before his wifes mind He repeated
that he had no intention of letting the revolutionists do away with him
He looked straight into his wifes eyes The enlarged pupils of the woman
received his stare into their unfathomable depths
»I am too fond of you for that« he said with a little nervous laugh
A faint flush coloured Mrs Verlocs ghastly and motionless face Having
done with the visions of the past she had not only heard but had also
understood the words uttered by her husband By their extreme disaccord with her
mental condition these words produced on her a slightly suffocating effect Mrs
Verlocs mental condition had the merit of simplicity but it was not sound It
was governed too much by a fixed idea Every nook and cranny of her brain was
filled with the thought that this man with whom she had lived without distaste
for seven years had taken the poor boy away from her in order to kill him the
man to whom she had grown accustomed in body and mind the man whom she had
trusted took the boy away to kill him In its form in its substance in its
effect which was universal altering even the aspect of inanimate things it
was a thought to sit still and marvel at for ever and ever Mrs Verloc sat
still And across that thought not across the kitchen the form of Mr Verloc
went to and fro familiarly in hat and overcoat stamping with his boots upon
her brain He was probably talking too but Mrs Verlocs thought for the most
part covered the voice
Now and then however the voice would make itself heard Several connected
words emerged at times Their purport was generally hopeful On each of these
occasions Mrs Verlocs dilated pupils losing their faroff fixity followed
her husbands movements with the effect of black care and impenetrable
attention Well informed upon all matters relating to his secret calling Mr
Verloc augured well for the success of his plans and combinations He really
believed that it would be upon the whole easy for him to escape the knife of
infuriated revolutionists He had exaggerated the strength of their fury and the
length of their arm for professional purposes too often to have many illusions
one way or the other For to exaggerate with judgment one must begin by
measuring with nicety He knew also how much virtue and how much infamy is
forgotten in two years two long years His first really confidential discourse
to his wife was optimistic from conviction He also thought it good policy to
display all the assurance he could muster It would put heart into the poor
woman On his liberation which harmonizing with the whole tenor of his life
would be secret of course they would vanish together without loss of time As
to covering up the tracks he begged his wife to trust him for that He knew how
it was to be done so that the devil himself
He waved his hand He seemed to boast He wished only to put heart into her
It was a benevolent intention but Mr Verloc had the misfortune not to be in
accord with his audience
The selfconfident tone grew upon Mrs Verlocs ear which let most of the
words go by for what were words to her now What could words do to her for good
or evil in the face of her fixed idea Her black glance followed that man who
was asserting his impunity the man who had taken poor Stevie from home to kill
him somewhere Mrs Verloc could not remember exactly where but her heart began
to beat very perceptibly
Mr Verloc in a soft and conjugal tone was now expressing his firm belief
that there were yet a good few years of quiet life before them both He did not
go into the question of means A quiet life it must be and as it were nestling
in the shade concealed among men whose flesh is grass modest like the life of
violets The words used by Mr Verloc were »Lie low for a bit« And far from
England of course It was not clear whether Mr Verloc had in his mind Spain or
South America but at any rate somewhere abroad
This last word falling into Mrs Verlocs ear produced a definite
impression This man was talking of going abroad The impression was completely
disconnected and such is the force of mental habit that Mrs Verloc at once and
automatically asked herself »And what of Stevie«
It was a sort of forgetfulness but instantly she became aware that there
was no longer any occasion for anxiety on that score There would never be any
occasion any more The poor boy had been taken out and killed The poor boy was
dead
This shaking piece of forgetfulness stimulated Mrs Verlocs intelligence
She began to perceive certain consequences which would have surprised Mr
Verloc There was no need for her now to stay there in that kitchen in that
house with that man since the boy was gone for ever No need whatever And on
that Mrs Verloc rose as if raised by a spring But neither could she see what
there was to keep her in the world at all And this inability arrested her Mr
Verloc watched her with marital solicitude
»Youre looking more like yourself« he said uneasily Something peculiar
in the blackness of his wifes eyes disturbed his optimism At that precise
moment Mrs Verloc began to look upon herself as released from all earthly ties
She had her freedom Her contract with existence as represented by that man
standing over there was at an end She was a free woman Had this view become
in some way perceptible to Mr Verloc he would have been extremely shocked In
his affairs of the heart Mr Verloc had been always carelessly generous yet
always with no other idea than that of being loved for himself Upon this
matter his ethical notions being in agreement with his vanity he was
completely incorrigible That this should be so in the case of his virtuous and
legal connection he was perfectly certain He had grown older fatter heavier
in the belief that he lacked no fascination for being loved for his own sake
When he saw Mrs Verloc starting to walk out of the kitchen without a word he
was disappointed
»Where are you going to« he called out rather sharply »Upstairs«
Mrs Verloc in the doorway turned at the voice An instinct of prudence born
of fear the excessive fear of being approached and touched by that man induced
her to nod at him slightly from the height of two steps with a stir of the
lips which the conjugal optimism of Mr Verloc took for a wan and uncertain
smile
»Thats right« he encouraged her gruffly »Rest and quiets what you want
Go on It wont be long before I am with you«
Mrs Verloc the free woman who had had really no idea where she was going
to obeyed the suggestion with rigid steadiness
Mr Verloc watched her She disappeared up the stairs He was disappointed
There was that within him which would have been more satisfied if she had been
moved to throw herself upon his breast But he was generous and indulgent
Winnie was always undemonstrative and silent Neither was Mr Verloc himself
prodigal of endearments and words as a rule But this was not an ordinary
evening It was an occasion when a man wants to be fortified and strengthened by
open proofs of sympathy and affection Mr Verloc sighed and put out the gas in
the kitchen Mr Verlocs sympathy with his wife was genuine and intense It
almost brought tears into his eyes as he stood in the parlour reflecting on the
loneliness hanging over her head In this mood Mr Verloc missed Stevie very
much out of a difficult world He thought mournfully of his end If only that
lad had not stupidly destroyed himself
The sensation of unappeasable hunger not unknown after the strain of a
hazardous enterprise to adventurers of tougher fibre than Mr Verloc overcame
him again The piece of roast beef laid out in the likeness of funereal baked
meats for Stevies obsequies offered itself largely to his notice And Mr
Verloc again partook He partook ravenously without restraint and decency
cutting thick slices with the sharp carving knife and swallowing them without
bread In the course of that refection it occurred to Mr Verloc that he was not
hearing his wife move about the bedroom as he should have done The thought of
finding her perhaps sitting on the bed in the dark not only cut Mr Verlocs
appetite but also took from him the inclination to follow her upstairs just
yet Laying down the carving knife Mr Verloc listened with careworn attention
He was comforted by hearing her move at last She walked suddenly across the
room and threw the window up After a period of stillness up there during
which he figured her to himself with her head out he heard the sash being
lowered slowly Then she made a few steps and sat down Every resonance of his
house was familiar to Mr Verloc who was thoroughly domesticated When next he
heard his wifes footsteps overheard he knew as well as if he had seen her
doing it that she had been putting on her walking shoes Mr Verloc wriggled
his shoulders slightly at this ominous symptom and moving away from the table
stood with his back to the fireplace his head on one side and gnawing
perplexedly at the tips of his fingers He kept track of her movements by the
sound She walked here and there violently with abrupt stoppages now before
the chest of drawers then in front of the wardrobe An immense load of
weariness the harvest of a day of shocks and surprises weighed Mr Verlocs
energies to the ground
He did not raise his eyes till he heard his wife descending the stairs It
was as he had guessed she was dressed for going out
Mrs Verloc was a free woman She had thrown open the window of the bedroom
either with the intention of screaming Murder Help or of throwing herself out
For she did not exactly know what use to make of her freedom Her personality
seemed to have been torn into two pieces whose mental operations did not adjust
themselves very well to each other The street silent and deserted from end to
end repelled her by taking sides with that man who was so certain of his
impunity She was afraid to shout lest no one should come Obviously no one
would come Her instinct of selfpreservation recoiled from the depth of the
fall into that sort of slimy deep trench Mrs Verloc closed the window and
dressed herself to go out into the street by another way She was a free woman
She had dressed herself thoroughly down to the tying of a black veil over her
face As she appeared before him in the light of the parlour Mr Verloc
observed that she had even her little handbag hanging from her left wrist
Flying off to her mother of course
The thought that women were wearisome creatures after all presented itself
to his fatigued brain But he was too generous to harbour it for more than an
instant This man hurt cruelly in his vanity remained magnanimous in his
conduct allowing himself no satisfaction of a bitter smile or of a contemptuous
gesture With true greatness of soul he only glanced at the wooden clock on the
wall and said in a perfectly calm but forcible manner
»Five and twenty minutes past eight Winnie Theres no sense in going over
there so late You will never manage to get back tonight«
Before his extended hand Mrs Verloc had stopped short He added heavily
»Your mother will be gone to bed before you get there This is the sort of news
that can wait«
Nothing was further from Mrs Verlocs thoughts than going to her mother
She recoiled at the mere idea and feeling a chair behind her she obeyed the
suggestion of the touch and sat down Her intention had been simply to get
outside the door for ever And if this feeling was correct its mental form took
an unrefined shape corresponding to her origin and station »I would rather walk
the streets all the days of my life« she thought But this creature whose
moral nature had been subjected to a shock of which in the physical order the
most violent earthquake of history could only be a faint and languid rendering
was at the mercy of mere trifles of casual contacts She sat down With her hat
and veil she had the air of a visitor of having looked in on Mr Verloc for a
moment Her instant docility encouraged him whilst her aspect of only temporary
and silent acquiescence provoked him a little
»Let me tell you Winnie« he said with authority »that your place is here
this evening Hang it all you brought the damned police high and low about my
ears I dont blame you but its your doing all the same Youd better take
this confounded hat off I cant let you go out old girl« he added in a
softened voice
Mrs Verlocs mind got hold of that declaration with morbid tenacity The
man who had taken Stevie out from under her very eyes to murder him in a
locality whose name was at the moment not present to her memory would not allow
her to go out Of course he wouldnt Now he had murdered Stevie he would never
let her go He would want to keep her for nothing And on this characteristic
reasoning having all the force of insane logic Mrs Verlocs disconnected wits
went to work practically She could slip by him open the door run out But he
would dash out after her seize her round the body drag her back into the shop
She could scratch kick and bite and stab too but for stabbing she wanted a
knife Mrs Verloc sat still under her black veil in her own house like a
masked and mysterious visitor of impenetrable intentions
Mr Verlocs magnanimity was not more than human She had exasperated him at
last
»Cant you say something You have your own dodges for vexing a man Oh
yes I know your deafanddumb trick Ive seen you at it before today But
just now it wont do And to begin with take this damned thing off One cant
tell whether one is talking to a dummy or to a live woman«
He advanced and stretching out his hand dragged the veil off unmasking a
still unreadable face against which his nervous exasperation was shattered like
a glass bubble flung against a rock »Thats better« he said to cover his
momentary uneasiness and retreated back to his old station by the mantelpiece
It never entered his head that his wife could give him up He felt a little
ashamed of himself for he was fond and generous What could he do Everything
had been said already He protested vehemently
»By heavens You know that I hunted high and low I ran the risk of giving
myself away to find somebody for that accursed job And I tell you again I
couldnt find any one crazy enough or hungry enough What do you take me for a
murderer or what The boy is gone Do you think I wanted him to blow himself
up Hes gone His troubles are over Ours are just going to begin I tell you
precisely because he did blow himself up I dont blame you But just try to
understand that it was a pure accident as much an accident as if he had been
run over by a bus while crossing the street«
His generosity was not infinite because he was a human being and not a
monster as Mrs Verloc believed him to be He paused and a snarl lifting his
moustaches above a gleam of white teeth gave him the expression of a reflective
beast not very dangerous a slow beast with a sleek head gloomier than a
seal and with a husky voice
»And when it comes to that its as much your doing as mine Thats so You
may glare as much as you like I know what you can do in that way Strike me
dead if I ever would have thought of the lad for that purpose It was you who
kept on shoving him in my way when I was half distracted with the worry of
keeping the lot of us out of trouble What the devil made you One would think
you were doing it on purpose And I am damned if I know that you didnt Theres
no saying how much of whats going on you have got hold of on the sly with your
infernal dont way of looking nowhere in particular and saying nothing at all
«
His husky domestic voice ceased for a while Mrs Verloc made no reply
Before that silence he felt ashamed of what he had said But as often happens to
peaceful men in domestic tiffs being ashamed he pushed another point
»You have a devilish way of holding your tongue sometimes« he began again
without raising his voice »Enough to make some men go mad Its lucky for you
that I am not so easily put out as some of them would be by your deafanddumb
sulks I am fond of you But dont you go too far This isnt the time for it
We ought to be thinking of what weve got to do And I cant let you go out
tonight galloping off to your mother with some crazy tale or other about me I
wont have it Dont you make any mistake about it if you will have it that I
killed the boy then youve killed him as much as I«
In sincerity of feeling and openness of statement these words went far
beyond anything that had ever been said in this home kept up on the wages of a
secret industry eked out by the sale of more or less secret wares the poor
expedients devised by a mediocre mankind for preserving an imperfect society
from the dangers of moral and physical corruption both secret too of their
kind They were spoken because Mr Verloc had felt himself really outraged but
the reticent decencies of this home life nestling in a shady street behind a
shop where the sun never shone remained apparently undisturbed Mrs Verloc
heard him out with perfect propriety and then rose from her chair in her hat
and jacket like a visitor at the end of a call She advanced towards her
husband one arm extended as if for a silent leavetaking Her net veil dangling
down by one end on the left side of her face gave an air of disorderly formality
to her restrained movements But when she arrived as far as the hearthrug Mr
Verloc was no longer standing there He had moved off in the direction of the
sofa without raising his eyes to watch the effect of his tirade He was tired
resigned in a truly marital spirit But he felt hurt in the tender spot of his
secret weakness If she would go on sulking in that dreadful overcharged silence
why then she must She was a master in that domestic art Mr Verloc flung
himself heavily upon the sofa disregarding as usual the fate of his hat which
as if accustomed to take care of itself made for a safe shelter under the
table
He was tired The last particle of his nervous force had been expended in
the wonders and agonies of this day full of surprising failures coming at the
end of a harassing month of scheming and insomnia He was tired A man isnt
made of stone Hang everything Mr Verloc reposed characteristically clad in
his outdoor garments One side of his open overcoat was lying partly on the
ground Mr Verloc wallowed on his back But he longed for a more perfect rest
for sleep for a few hours of delicious forgetfulness That would come later
Provisionally he rested And he thought »I wish she would give over this damned
nonsense Its exasperating«
There must have been something imperfect in Mrs Verlocs sentiment of
regained freedom Instead of taking the way of the door she leaned back with
her shoulders against the tablet of the mantelpiece as a wayfarer rests against
a fence A tinge of wildness in her aspect was derived from the black veil
hanging like a rag against her cheek and from the fixity of her black gaze
where the light of the room was absorbed and lost without the trace of a single
gleam This woman capable of a bargain the mere suspicion of which would have
been infinitely shocking to Mr Verlocs idea of love remained irresolute as
if scrupulously aware of something wanting on her part for the formal closing of
the transaction
On the sofa Mr Verloc wriggled his shoulders into perfect comfort and from
the fulness of his heart emitted a wish which was certainly as pious as anything
likely to come from such a source
»I wish to goodness« he growled huskily »I had never seen Greenwich Park
or anything belonging to it«
The veiled sound filled the small room with its moderate volume well
adapted to the modest nature of the wish The waves of air of the proper length
propagated in accordance with correct mathematical formulas flowed around all
the inanimate things in the room lapped against Mrs Verlocs head as if it had
been a head of stone And incredible as it may appear the eyes of Mrs Verloc
seemed to grow still larger The audible wish of Mr Verlocs overflowing heart
flowed into an empty place in his wifes memory Greenwich Park A park Thats
where the boy was killed A park smashed branches torn leaves gravel bits
of brotherly flesh and bone all spouting up together in the manner of a
firework She remembered now what she had heard and she remembered it
pictorially They had to gather him up with the shovel Trembling all over with
irrepressible shudders she saw before her the very implement with its ghastly
load scraped up from the ground Mrs Verloc closed her eyes desperately
throwing upon that vision the night of her eyelids where after a rainlike fall
of mangled limbs the decapitated head of Stevie lingered suspended alone and
fading out slowly like the last star of a pyrotechnic display Mrs Verloc
opened her eyes
Her face was no longer stony Anybody could have noted the subtle change on
her features in the stare of her eyes giving her a new and startling
expression an expression seldom observed by competent persons under the
conditions of leisure and security demanded for thorough analysis but whose
meaning could not he mistaken at a glance Mrs Verlocs doubts as to the end of
the bargain no longer existed her wits no longer disconnected were working
under the control of her will But Mr Verloc observed nothing He was reposing
in that pathetic condition of optimism induced by excess of fatigue He did not
want any more trouble with his wife too of all people in the world He had
been unanswerable in his vindication He was loved for himself The present
phase of her silence he interpreted favourably This was the time to make it up
with her The silence had lasted long enough He broke it by calling to her in
an undertone
»Winnie«
»Yes« answered obediently Mrs Verloc the free woman She commanded her
wits now her vocal organs she felt herself to be in an almost preternaturally
perfect control of every fibre of her body It was all her own because the
bargain was at an end She was clear sighted She had become cunning She chose
to answer him so readily for a purpose She did not wish that man to change his
position on the sofa which was very suitable to the circumstances She
succeeded The man did not stir But after answering him she remained leaning
negligently against the mantelpiece in the attitude of a resting wayfarer She
was unhurried Her brow was smooth The head and shoulders of Mr Verloc were
hidden from her by the high side of the sofa She kept her eyes fixed on his
feet
She remained thus mysteriously still and suddenly collected till Mr Verloc
was heard with an accent of marital authority and moving slightly to make room
for her to sit on the edge of the sofa
»Come here« he said in a peculiar tone which might have been the tone of
brutality but was intimately known to Mrs Verloc as the note of wooing
She started forward at once as if she were still a loyal woman bound to
that man by an unbroken contract Her right hand skimmed slightly the end of the
table and when she had passed on towards the sofa the carving knife had
vanished without the slightest sound from the side of the dish Mr Verloc heard
the creaky plank in the floor and was content He waited Mrs Verloc was
coming As if the homeless soul of Stevie had flown for shelter straight to the
breast of his sister guardian and protector the resemblance of her face with
that of her brother grew at every step even to the droop of the lower lip even
to the slight divergence of the eyes But Mr Verloc did not see that He was
lying on his back and staring upwards He saw partly on the ceiling and partly
on the wall the moving shadow of an arm with a clenched hand holding a carving
knife It flickered up and down Its movements were leisurely They were
leisurely enough for Mr Verloc to recognize the limb and the weapon
They were leisurely enough for him to take in the full meaning of the
portent and to taste the flavour of death rising in his gorge His wife had
gone raving mad murdering mad They were leisurely enough for the first
paralyzing effect of this discovery to pass away before a resolute determination
to come out victorious from the ghastly struggle with that armed lunatic They
were leisurely enough for Mr Verloc to elaborate a plan of defence involving a
dash behind the table and the felling of the woman to the ground with a heavy
wooden chair But they were not leisurely enough to allow Mr Verloc the time to
move either hand or foot The knife was already planted in his breast It met no
resistance on its way Hazard has such accuracies Into that plunging blow
delivered over the side of the couch Mrs Verloc had put all the inheritance of
her immemorial and obscure descent the simple ferocity of the age of caverns
and the unbalanced nervous fury of the age of barrooms Mr Verloc the Secret
Agent turning slightly on his side with the force of the blow expired without
stirring a limb in the muttered sound of the word Dont by way of protest
Mrs Verloc had let go the knife and her extraordinary resemblance to her
late brother had faded had become very ordinary now She drew a deep breath
the first easy breath since Chief Inspector Heat had exhibited to her the
labelled piece of Stevies overcoat She leaned forward on her folded arms over
the side of the sofa She adopted that easy attitude not in order to watch or
gloat over the body of Mr Verloc but because of the undulatory and swinging
movements of the parlour which for some time behaved as though it were at sea
in a tempest She was giddy but calm She had become a free woman with a
perfection of freedom which left her nothing to desire and absolutely nothing to
do since Stevies urgent claim on her devotion no longer existed Mrs Verloc
who thought in images was not troubled now by visions because she did not
think at all And she did not move She was a woman enjoying her complete
irresponsibility and endless leisure almost in the manner of a corpse She did
not move she did not think Neither did the mortal envelope of the late Mr
Verloc reposing on the sofa Except for the fact that Mrs Verloc breathed these
two would have been perfectly in accord that accord of prudent reserve without
superfluous words and sparing of signs which had been the foundation of their
respectable home life For it had been respectable covering by a decent
reticence the problems that may arise in the practice of a secret profession and
the commerce of shady wares To the last its decorum had remained undisturbed by
unseemly shrieks and other misplaced sincerities of conduct And after the
striking of the blow this respectability was continued in immobility and
silence
Nothing moved in the parlour till Mrs Verloc raised her head slowly and
looked at the clock with inquiring mistrust She had become aware of a ticking
sound in the room It grew upon her ear while she remembered clearly that the
clock on the wall was silent had no audible tick What did it mean by beginning
to tick so loudly all of a sudden Its face indicated ten minutes to nine Mrs
Verloc cared nothing for time and the ticking went on She concluded it could
not be the clock and her sullen gaze moved along the walls wavered and became
vague while she strained her hearing to locate the sound Tic tic tic
After listening for some time Mrs Verloc lowered her gaze deliberately on
her husbands body Its attitude of repose was so homelike and familiar that she
could do so without feeling embarrassed by any pronounced novelty in the
phenomena of her home life Mr Verloc was taking his habitual ease He looked
comfortable
By the position of the body the face of Mr Verloc was not visible to Mrs
Verloc his widow Her fine sleepy eyes travelling downward on the track of
the sound became contemplative on meeting a flat object of bone which protruded
a little beyond the edge of the sofa It was the handle of the domestic carving
knife with nothing strange about it but its position at right angles to Mr
Verlocs waistcoat and the fact that something dripped from it Dark drops fell
on the floorcloth one after another with a sound of ticking growing fast and
furious like the pulse of an insane clock At its highest speed this ticking
changed into a continuous sound of trickling Mrs Verloc watched that
transformation with shadows of anxiety coming and going on her face It was a
trickle dark swift thin Blood
At this unforeseen circumstance Mrs Verloc abandoned her pose of idleness
and irresponsibility
With a sudden snatch at her skirts and a faint shriek she ran to the door
as if the trickle had been the first sign of a destroying flood Finding the
table in her way she gave it a push with both hands as though it had been alive
with such force that it went for some distance on its four legs making a loud
scraping racket whilst the big dish with the joint crashed heavily on the
floor
Then all became still Mrs Verloc on reaching the door had stopped A round
hat disclosed in the middle of the floor by the moving of the table rocked
slightly on its crown in the wind of her flight
XII
Winnie Verloc the widow of Mr Verloc the sister of the late faithful Stevie
blown to fragments in a state of innocence and in the conviction of being
engaged in a humanitarian enterprise did not run beyond the door of the
parlour She had indeed run away so far from a mere trickle of blood but that
was a movement of instinctive repulsion And there she had paused with staring
eyes and lowered head As though she had run through long years in her flight
across the small parlour Mrs Verloc by the door was quite a different person
from the woman who had been leaning over the sofa a little swimmy in her head
but otherwise free to enjoy the profound calm of idleness and irresponsibility
Mrs Verloc was no longer giddy Her head was steady On the other hand she was
no longer calm She was afraid
If she avoided looking in the direction of her reposing husband it was not
because she was afraid of him Mr Verloc was not frightful to behold He looked
comfortable Moreover he was dead Mrs Verloc entertained no vain delusions on
the subject of the dead Nothing brings them back neither love nor hate They
can do nothing to you They are as nothing Her mental state was tinged by a
sort of austere contempt for that man who had let himself be killed so easily
He had been the master of a house the husband of a woman and the murderer of
her Stevie And now he was of no account in every respect He was of less
practical account than the clothing on his body than his overcoat than his
boots than that hat lying on the floor He was nothing He was not worth
looking at He was even no longer the murderer of poor Stevie The only murderer
that would be found in the room when people came to look for Mr Verloc would be
herself
Her hands shook so that she failed twice in the task of refastening her
veil Mrs Verloc was no longer a person of leisure and irresponsibility She
was afraid The stabbing of Mr Verloc had been only a blow It had relieved the
pentup agony of shrieks strangled in her throat of tears dried up in her hot
eyes of the maddening and indignant rage at the atrocious part played by that
man who was less than nothing now in robbing her of the boy It had been an
obscurely prompted blow The blood trickling on the floor off the handle of the
knife had turned it into an extremely plain case of murder Mrs Verloc who
always refrained from looking deep into things was compelled to look into the
very bottom of this thing She saw there no haunting face no reproachful shade
no vision of remorse no sort of ideal conception She saw there an object That
object was the gallows Mrs Verloc was afraid of the gallows
She was terrified of them ideally Having never set eyes on that last
argument of mens justice except in illustrative woodcuts to a certain type of
tales she first saw them erect against a black and stormy background festooned
with chains and human bones circled about by birds that peck at dead mens
eyes This was frightful enough but Mrs Verloc though not a wellinformed
woman had a sufficient knowledge of the institutions of her country to know
that gallows are no longer erected romantically on the banks of dismal rivers or
on windswept headlands but in the yards of jails There within four high
walls as if into a pit at dawn of day the murderer was brought out to be
executed with a horrible quietness and as the reports in the newspapers always
said »in the presence of the authorities« With her eyes staring on the floor
her nostrils quivering with anguish and shame she imagined herself all alone
amongst a lot of strange gentlemen in silk hats who were calmly proceeding about
the business of hanging her by the neck That never Never And how was it
done The impossibility of imagining the details of such quiet execution added
something maddening to her abstract terror The newspapers never gave any
details except one but that one with some affectation was always there at the
end of a meagre report Mrs Verloc remembered its nature It came with a cruel
burning pain into her head as if the words »The drop given was fourteen feet«
had been scratched on her brain with a hot needle »The drop given was fourteen
feet«
These words affected her physically too Her throat became convulsed in
waves to resist strangulation and the apprehension of the jerk was so vivid
that she seized her head in both hands as if to save it from being torn off her
shoulders »The drop given was fourteen feet« No that must never be She could
not stand that The thought of it even was not bearable She could not stand
thinking of it Therefore Mrs Verloc formed the resolution to go at once and
throw herself into the river off one of the bridges
This time she managed to refasten her veil With her face as if masked all
black from head to foot except for some flowers in her hat she looked up
mechanically at the clock She thought it must have stopped She could not
believe that only two minutes had passed since she had looked at it last Of
course not It had been stopped all the time As a matter of fact only three
minutes had elapsed from the moment she had drawn the first deep easy breath
after the blow to this moment when Mrs Verloc formed the resolution to drown
herself in the Thames But Mrs Verloc could not believe that She seemed to
have heard or read that clocks and watches always stopped at the moment of
murder for the undoing of the murderer She did not care »To the bridge and
over I go« But her movements were slow
She dragged herself painfully across the shop and had to hold on to the
handle of the door before she found the necessary fortitude to open it The
street frightened her since it led either to the gallows or to the river She
floundered over the doorstep head forward arms thrown out like a person
falling over the parapet of a bridge This entrance into the open air had a
foretaste of drowning a slimy dampness enveloped her entered her nostrils
clung to her hair It was not actually raining but each gas lamp had a rusty
little halo of mist The van and horses were gone and in the black street the
curtained window of the carters eatinghouse made a square patch of soiled
bloodred light glowing faintly very near the level of the pavement Mrs
Verloc dragging herself slowly towards it thought that she was a very
friendless woman It was true It was so true that in a sudden longing to see
some friendly face she could think of no one else but of Mrs Neale the
charwoman She had no acquaintances of her own Nobody would miss her in a
social way It must not be imagined that the Widow Verloc had forgotten her
mother This was not so Winnie had been a good daughter because she had been a
devoted sister Her mother had always leaned on her for support No consolation
or advice could be expected there Now that Stevie was dead the bond seemed to
be broken She could not face the old woman with the horrible tale Moreover it
was too far The river was her present destination Mrs Verloc tried to forget
her mother
Each step cost her an effort of will which seemed the last possible Mrs
Verloc had dragged herself past the red glow of the eatinghouse window »To the
bridge and over I go« she repeated to herself with fierce obstinacy She put
out her hand just in time to steady herself against a lamppost »Ill never get
there before morning« she thought The fear of death paralyzed her efforts to
escape the gallows It seemed to her she had been staggering in that street for
hours »Ill never get there« she thought »Theyll find me knocking about the
streets Its too far« She held on panting under her black veil
»The drop given was fourteen feet«
She pushed the lamppost away from her violently and found herself walking
But another wave of faintness overtook her like a great sea washing away her
heart clean out of her breast »I will never get there« she muttered suddenly
arrested swaying lightly where she stood »Never«
And perceiving the utter impossibility of walking as far as the nearest
bridge Mrs Verloc thought of a flight abroad
It came to her suddenly Murderers escaped They escaped abroad Spain or
California Mere names The vast world created for the glory of man was only a
vast blank to Mrs Verloc She did not know which way to turn Murderers had
friends relations helpers they had knowledge She had nothing She was the
most lonely of murderers that ever struck a mortal blow She was alone in
London and the whole town of marvels and mud with its maze of streets and its
mass of lights was sunk in a hopeless night rested at the bottom of a black
abyss from which no unaided woman could hope to scramble out
She swayed forward and made a fresh start blindly with an awful dread of
falling down but at the end of a few steps unexpectedly she found a sensation
of support of security Raising her head she saw a mans face peering closely
at her veil Comrade Ossipon was not afraid of strange women and no feeling of
false delicacy could prevent him from striking an acquaintance with a woman
apparently very much intoxicated Comrade Ossipon was interested in women He
held up this one between his two large palms peering at her in a businesslike
way till he heard her say faintly »Mr Ossipon« and then he very nearly let her
drop to the ground
»Mrs Verloc« he exclaimed »You here«
It seemed impossible to him that she should have been drinking But one
never knows He did not go into that question but attentive not to discourage
kind fate surrendering to him the widow of Comrade Verloc he tried to draw her
to his breast To his astonishment she came quite easily and even rested on his
arm for a moment before she attempted to disengage herself Comrade Ossipon
would not be brusque with kind fate He withdrew his arm in a natural way
»You recognized me« she faltered out standing before him fairly steady on
her legs
»Of course I did« said Ossipon with perfect readiness »I was afraid you
were going to fall Ive thought of you too often lately not to recognize you
anywhere at any time Ive always thought of you ever since I first set eyes
on you«
Mrs Verloc seemed not to hear »You were coming to the shop« she said
nervously
»Yes at once« answered Ossipon »Directly I read the paper«
In fact Comrade Ossipon had been skulking for a good two hours in the
neighbourhood of Brett Street unable to make up his mind for a bold move The
robust anarchist was not exactly a bold conqueror He remembered that Mrs
Verloc had never responded to his glances by the slightest sign of
encouragement Besides he thought the shop might be watched by the police and
Comrade Ossipon did not wish the police to form an exaggerated notion of his
revolutionary sympathies Even now he did not know precisely what to do In
comparison with his usual amatory speculations this was a big and serious
undertaking He ignored how much there was in it and how far he would have to go
in order to get hold of what there was to get supposing there was a chance at
all These perplexities checking his elation imparted to his tone a soberness
well in keeping with the circumstances
»May I ask you where you were going« he inquired in a subdued voice
»Dont ask me« cried Mrs Verloc with a shuddering repressed violence All
her strong vitality recoiled from the idea of death »Never mind where I was
going «
Ossipon concluded that she was very much excited but perfectly sober She
remained silent by his side for a moment then all at once she did something
which he did not expect She slipped her hand under his arm He was startled by
the act itself certainly and quite as much too by the palpably resolute
character of this movement But this being a delicate affair Comrade Ossipon
behaved with delicacy He contented himself by pressing the hand slightly
against his robust ribs At the same time he felt himself being impelled
forward and yielded to the impulse At the end of Brett Street he became aware
of being directed to the left He submitted
The fruiterer at the corner had put out the blazing glory of his oranges and
lemons and Brett Place was all darkness interspersed with the misty halos of
the few lamps defining its triangular shape with a cluster of three lights on
one stand in the middle The dark forms of the man and woman glided slowly arm
in arm along the walls with a loverlike and homeless aspect in the miserable
night
»What would you say if I were to tell you that I was going to find you«
Mrs Verloc asked gripping his arm with force
»I would say that you couldnt find any one more ready to help you in your
trouble« answered Ossipon with a notion of making tremendous headway In fact
the progress of this delicate affair was almost taking his breath away
»In my trouble« Mrs Verloc repeated slowly
»Yes«
»And do you know what my trouble is« she whispered with strange intensity
»Ten minutes after seeing the evening paper« explained Ossipon with ardour
»I met a fellow whom you may have seen once or twice at the shop perhaps and I
had a talk with him which left no doubt whatever in my mind Then I started for
here wondering whether you Ive been fond of you beyond words ever since I
set eyes on your face« he cried as if unable to command his feelings
Comrade Ossipon assumed correctly that no woman was capable of wholly
disbelieving such a statement But he did not know that Mrs Verloc accepted it
with all the fierceness the instinct of selfpreservation imparts to the grip of
a drowning person To the widow of Mr Verloc the robust anarchist was like a
radiant messenger of life
They walked slowly in step »I thought so« Mrs Verloc murmured faintly
»Youve read it in my eyes« suggested Ossipon with great assurance
»Yes« she breathed out into his inclined ear
»A love like mine could not be concealed from a woman like you« he went on
trying to detach his mind from material considerations such as the business
value of the shop and the amount of money Mr Verloc might have left in the
bank He applied himself to the sentimental side of the affair In his heart of
hearts he was a little shocked at his success Verloc had been a good fellow
and certainly a very decent husband as far as one could see However Comrade
Ossipon was not going to quarrel with his luck for the sake of a dead man
Resolutely he suppressed his sympathy for the ghost of Comrade Verloc and went
on
»I could not conceal it I was too full of you I daresay you could not help
seeing it in my eyes But I could not guess it You were always so distant «
»What else did you expect« burst out Mrs Verloc »I was a respectable
woman «
She paused then added as if speaking to herself in sinister resentment
»Till he made me what I am«
Ossipon let that pass and took up his running
»He never did seem to me to be quite worthy of you« be began throwing
loyalty to the winds »You were worthy of a better fate«
Mrs Verloc interrupted bitterly
»Better fate He cheated me out of seven years of life«
»You seemed to live so happily with him« Ossipon tried to exculpate the
lukewarmness of his past conduct »Its that whats made me timid You seemed to
love him I was surprised and jealous« he added
»Love him« Mrs Verloc cried out in a whisper full of scorn and rage »Love
him I was a good wife to him I am a respectable woman You thought I loved
him You did Look here Tom «
The sound of this name thrilled Comrade Ossipon with pride For his name was
Alexander and he was called Tom by arrangement with the most familiar of his
intimates It was a name of friendship of moments of expansion He had no idea
that she had ever heard it used by anybody It was apparent that she had not
only caught it but had treasured it in her memory perhaps in her heart
»Look here Tom I was a young girl I was done up I was tired I had two
people depending on what I could do and it did seem as if I couldnt do any
more Two people mother and the boy He was much more mine than mothers I
sat up nights and nights with him on my lap all alone upstairs when I wasnt
more than eight years old myself And then He was mine I tell you You
cant understand that No man can understand it What was I to do There was a
young fellow «
The memory of the early romance with the young butcher survived tenacious
like the image of a glimpsed ideal in that heart quailing before the fear of the
gallows and full of revolt against death
»That was the man I loved then« went on the widow of Mr Verloc »I suppose
he could see it in my eyes too Five and twenty shillings a week and his
father threatened to kick him out of the business if he made such a fool of
himself as to marry a girl with a crippled mother and a crazy idiot of a boy on
her hands But he would hang about me till one evening I found the courage to
slam the door in his face I had to do it I loved him dearly Five and twenty
shillings a week There was that other man a good lodger What is a girl to
do Could Ive gone on the streets He seemed kind He wanted me anyhow What
was I to do with mother and that poor boy Eh I said yes He seemed
goodnatured he was freehanded he had money he never said anything Seven
years seven years a good wife to him the kind the good the generous the
And he loved me Oh yes He loved me till I sometimes wished myself Seven
years Seven years a wife to him And do you know what he was that dear friend
of yours Do you know what he was He was a devil«
The superhuman vehemence of that whispered statement completely stunned
Comrade Ossipon Winnie Verloc turning about held him by both arms facing him
under the falling mist in the darkness and solitude of Brett Place in which all
sounds of life seemed lost as if in a triangular well of asphalt and bricks of
blind houses and unfeeling stones
»No I didnt know« he declared with a sort of flabby stupidity whose
comical aspect was lost upon a woman haunted by the fear of the gallows »but I
do now I I understand« he floundered on his mind speculating as to what
sort of atrocities Verloc could have practised under the sleepy placid
appearances of his married estate It was positively awful »I understand« he
repeated and then by a sudden inspiration uttered an »Unhappy woman« of lofty
commiseration instead of the more familiar »Poor darling« of his usual
practice This was no usual case He felt conscious of something abnormal going
on while he never lost sight of the greatness of the stake »Unhappy brave
woman«
He was glad to have discovered that variation but he could discover nothing
else »Ah but he is dead now« was the best he could do And he put a
remarkable amount of animosity into his guarded exclamation Mrs Verloc caught
at his arm with a sort of frenzy »You guessed then he was dead« she murmured
as if beside herself »You You guessed what I had to do Had to«
There were suggestions of triumph relief gratitude in the indefinable tone
of these words It engrossed the whole attention of Ossipon to the detriment of
mere literal sense He wondered what was up with her why she had worked herself
into this state of wild excitement He even began to wonder whether the hidden
causes of that Greenwich Park affair did not lie deep in the unhappy
circumstances of the Verlocs married life He went so far as to suspect Mr
Verloc of having selected that extraordinary manner of committing suicide By
Jove that would account for the utter inanity and wrongheadedness of the
thing No anarchist manifestation was required by the circumstances Quite the
contrary and Verloc was as well aware of that as any other revolutionist of his
standing What an immense joke if Verloc had simply made fools of the whole of
Europe of the revolutionary world of the police of the press and of the
cocksure Professor as well Indeed thought Ossipon in astonishment it seemed
almost certain that he did Poor beggar It struck him as very possible that of
that household of two it wasnt precisely the man who was the devil
Alexander Ossipon nicknamed the Doctor was naturally inclined to think
indulgently of his men friends He eyed Mrs Verloc hanging on his arm Of his
women friends he thought in a specially practical way Why Mrs Verloc should
exclaim at his knowledge of Mr Verlocs death which was no guess at all did
not disturb him beyond measure Women often talked like lunatics But he was
curious to know how she had been informed The papers could tell her nothing
beyond the mere fact the man blown to pieces in Greenwich Park not having been
identified It was inconceivable on any theory that Verloc should have given her
an inkling of his intention whatever it was This problem interested Comrade
Ossipon immensely He stopped short They had gone then along the three sides of
Brett Place and were near the end of Brett Street again
»How did you first come to hear of it« he asked in a tone he tried to
render appropriate to the character of the revelations which had been made to
him by the woman at his side
She shook violently for a while before she answered in a listless voice
»From the police A chief inspector came Chief Inspector Heat he said he
was He showed me «
Mrs Verloc choked »Oh Tom they had to gather him up with a shovel«
Her breast heaved with dry sobs In a moment Ossipon found his tongue
»The police Do you mean to say the police came already That Chief
Inspector Heat himself actually came to tell you«
»Yes« she confirmed in the same listless tone »He came Just like this He
came I didnt know He showed me a piece of overcoat and Just like that Do
you know this he says«
»Heat Heat And what did he do«
Mrs Verlocs head dropped »Nothing He did nothing He went away The
police were on that mans side« she murmured tragically »Another one came
too«
»Another another inspector do you mean« asked Ossipon in great
excitement and very much in the tone of a scared child
»I dont know He came He looked like a foreigner He may have been one of
them Embassy people«
Comrade Ossipon nearly collapsed under this new shock
»Embassy Are you aware what you are saying What Embassy What on earth do
you mean by Embassy«
»Its that place in Chesham Square The people he cursed so I dont know
What does it matter«
»And that fellow what did he do or say to you«
»I dont remember Nothing I dont care Dont ask me« she pleaded
in a weary voice
»All right I wont« assented Ossipon tenderly And he meant it too not
because he was touched by the pathos of the pleading voice but because he felt
himself losing his footing in the depths of this tenebrous affair Police
Embassy Phew For fear of adventuring his intelligence into ways where its
natural lights might fail to guide it safely he dismissed resolutely all
suppositions surmises and theories out of his mind He had the woman there
absolutely flinging herself at him and that was the principal consideration
But after what he had heard nothing could astonish him any more And when Mrs
Verloc as if startled suddenly out of a dream of safety began to urge upon him
wildly the necessity of an immediate flight on the Continent he did not exclaim
in the least He simply said with unaffected regret that there was no train till
the morning and stood looking thoughtfully at her face veiled in black net in
the light of a gaslamp veiled in a gauze of mist
Near him her black form merged in the night like a figure half chiselled
out of a block of black stone It was impossible to say what she knew how deep
she was involved with policemen and Embassies But if she wanted to get away it
was not for him to object He was anxious to be off himself He felt that the
business the shop so strangely familiar to chief inspectors and members of
foreign Embassies was not the place for him That must be dropped But there
was the rest These savings The money
»You must hide me till the morning somewhere« she said in a dismayed voice
»Fact is my dear I cant take you where I live I share the room with a
friend«
He was somewhat dismayed himself In the morning the blessed tecs will be
out in all the stations no doubt And if they once got hold of her for one
reason or another she would be lost to him indeed
»But you must Dont you care for me at all at all What are you thinking
of«
She said this violently but she let her clasped hands fall in
discouragement There was a silence while the mist fell and darkness reigned
undisturbed over Brett Place Not a soul not even the vagabond lawless and
amorous soul of a cat came near the man and the woman facing each other
»It would be possible perhaps to find a safe lodging somewhere« Ossipon
spoke at last »But the truth is my dear I have not enough money to go and try
with only a few pence We revolutionists are not rich«
He had fifteen shillings in his pocket He added
»And theres the journey before us too first thing in the morning at
that«
She did not move made no sound and Comrade Ossipons heart sank a little
Apparently she had no suggestion to offer Suddenly she clutched at her breast
as if she had felt a sharp pain there
»But I have« she gasped »I have the money I have enough money Tom Let
us go from here«
»How much have you got« he inquired without stirring to her tug for he
was a cautious man
»I have the money I tell you All the money«
»What do you mean by it All the money there was in the bank or what« he
asked incredulously but ready not to be surprised at anything in the way of
luck
»Yes yes« she said nervously »All there was Ive it all«
»How on earth did you manage to get hold of it already« he marvelled
»He gave it to me« she murmured suddenly subdued and trembling Comrade
Ossipon put down his rising surprise with a firm hand
»Why then we are saved« he uttered slowly
She leaned forward and sank against his breast He welcomed her there She
had all the money Her hat was in the way of very marked effusion her veil
too He was adequate in his manifestations but no more She received them
without resistance and without abandonment passively as if only halfsensible
She freed herself from his lax embrace without difficulty
»You will save me Tom« she broke out recoiling but still keeping her
hold on him by the two lapels of his damp coat »Save me Hide me Dont let
them have me You must kill me first I couldnt do it myself I couldnt I
couldnt not even for what I am afraid of«
She was confoundedly bizarre he thought She was beginning to inspire him
with an indefinite uneasiness He said surlily for he was busy with important
thoughts
»What the devil are you afraid of«
»Havent you guessed what I was driven to do« cried the woman Distracted
by the vividness of her dreadful apprehensions her head ringing with forceful
words that kept the horror of her position before her mind she had imagined
her incoherence to be clearness itself She had no conscience of how little she
had audibly said in the disjointed phrases completed only in her thought She
had felt the relief of a full confession and she gave a special meaning to
every sentence spoken by Comrade Ossipon whose knowledge did not in the least
resemble her own »Havent you guessed what I was driven to do« Her voice fell
»You neednt be long in guessing then what I am afraid of« she continued in a
bitter and sombre murmur »I wont have it I wont I wont I wont You must
promise to kill me first« She shook the lapels of his coat »It must never be«
He assured her curtly that no promises on his part were necessary but he
took good care not to contradict her in set terms because he had had much to do
with excited women and he was inclined in general to let his experience guide
his conduct in preference to applying his sagacity to each special case His
sagacity in this case was busy in other directions Womens words fell into
water but the shortcomings of timetables remained The insular nature of Great
Britain obtruded itself upon his notice in an odious form »Might just as well
be put under lock and key every night« he thought irritably as nonplussed as
though he had a wall to scale with the woman on his back Suddenly he slapped
his forehead He had by dint of cudgelling his brains just thought of the
SouthamptonSt Malo service The boat left about midnight There was a train at
1030 He became cheery and ready to act
»From Waterloo Plenty of time We are all right after all Whats the
matter now This isnt the way« he protested
Mrs Verloc having hooked her arm into his was trying to drag him into
Brett Street again
»Ive forgotten to shut the shop door as I went out« she whispered
terribly agitated
The shop and all that was in it had ceased to interest Comrade Ossipon He
knew how to limit his desires He was on the point of saying »What of that Let
it be« but he refrained He disliked argument about trifles He even mended his
pace considerably on the thought that she might have left the money in the
drawer But his willingness lagged behind her feverish impatience
The shop seemed to be quite dark at first The door stood ajar Mrs Verloc
leaning against the front grasped out
»Nobody has been in Look The light the light in the parlour«
Ossipon stretching his head forward saw a faint gleam in the darkness of
the shop
»There is« he said
»I forgot it« Mrs Verlocs voice came from behind her veil faintly And as
he stood waiting for her to enter first she said louder »Go in and put it out
or Ill go mad«
He made no immediate objection to this proposal so strangely motived
»Wheres all that money« he asked
»On me Go Tom Quick Put it out Go in« she cried seizing him by
both shoulders from behind
Not prepared for a display of physical force Comrade Ossipon stumbled far
into the shop before her push He was astonished at the strength of the woman
and scandalized by her proceedings But he did not retrace his steps in order to
remonstrate with her severely in the street He was beginning to be disagreeably
impressed by her fantastic behaviour Moreover this or never was the time to
humour the woman Comrade Ossipon avoided easily the end of the counter and
approached calmly the glazed door of the parlour The curtain over the panes
being drawn back a little he by a very natural impulse looked in just as he
made ready to turn the handle He looked in without a thought without
intention without curiosity of any sort He looked in because he could not help
looking in He looked in and discovered Mr Verloc reposing quietly on the
sofa
A yell coming from the innermost depths of his chest died out unheard and
transformed into a sort of greasy sickly taste on his lips At the same time
the mental personality of Comrade Ossipon executed a frantic leap backwards But
his body left thus without intellectual guidance held on to the door handle
with the unthinking force of an instinct The robust anarchist did not even
totter And he stared his face close to the glass his eyes protruding out of
his head He would have given anything to get away but his returning reason
informed him that it would not do to let go the door handle What was it
madness a nightmare or a trap into which he had been decoyed with fiendish
artfulness Why what for He did not know Without any sense of guilt in his
breast in the full peace of his conscience as far as these people were
concerned the idea that he would be murdered for mysterious reasons by the
couple Verloc passed not so much across his mind as across the pit of his
stomach and went out leaving behind a trail of sickly faintness an
indisposition Comrade Ossipon did not feel very well in a very special way for
a moment a long moment And he stared Mr Verloc lay very still meanwhile
simulating sleep for reasons of his own while that savage woman of his was
guarding the door invisible and silent in the dark and deserted street Was
all this some sort of terrifying arrangement invented by the police for his
especial benefit His modesty shrank from that explanation
But the true sense of the scene he was beholding came to Ossipon through the
contemplation of the hat It seemed an extraordinary thing an ominous object a
sign Black and rim upward it lay on the floor before the couch as if prepared
to receive the contributions of pence from people who would come presently to
behold Mr Verloc in the fullness of his domestic ease reposing on a sofa From
the hat the eyes of the robust anarchist wandered to the displaced table gazed
at the broken dish for a time received a kind of optical shock from observing a
white gleam under the imperfectly closed eyelids of the man on the couch Mr
Verloc did not seem so much asleep now as lying down with a bent head and
looking insistently at his left breast And when Comrade Ossipon had made out
the handle of the knife he turned away from the glazed door and retched
violently
The crash of the street door flung to made his very soul leap in a panic
This house with its harmless tenant could still be made a trap of a trap of a
terrible kind Comrade Ossipon had no settled conception now of what was
happening to him Catching his thigh against the end of the counter he spun
round staggered with a cry of pain felt in the distracting clatter of the bell
his arms pinned to his side by a convulsive hug while the cold lips of a woman
moved creepily on his very ear to form the words
»Policeman He has seen me«
He ceased to struggle she never let him go Her hands had locked themselves
with an inseparable twist of fingers on his robust back While the footsteps
approached they breathed quickly breast to breast with hard laboured
breaths as if theirs had been the attitude of a deadly struggle while in
fact it was the attitude of deadly fear And the time was long
The constable on the beat had in truth seen something of Mrs Verloc only
coming from the lighted thoroughfare at the other end of Brett Street she had
been no more to him than a flutter in the darkness And he was not even quite
sure that there had been a flutter He had no reason to hurry up On coming
abreast of the shop he observed that it had been closed early There was nothing
very unusual in that The men on duty had special instructions about that shop
what went on about there was not to be meddled with unless absolutely
disorderly but any observations made were to be reported There were no
observations to make but from a sense of duty and for the peace of his
conscience owing also to that doubtful flutter of the darkness the constable
crossed the road and tried the door The spring latch whose key was reposing
for ever off duty in the late Mr Verlocs waistcoat pocket held as well as
usual While the conscientious officer was shaking the handle Ossipon felt the
cold lips of the woman stirring again creepily against his very ear
»If he comes in kill me kill me Tom«
The constable moved away flashing as he passed the light of his dark
lantern merely for forms sake at the shop window For a moment longer the man
and the woman inside stood motionless panting breast to breast then her
fingers came unlocked her arms fell by her side slowly Ossipon leaned against
the counter The robust anarchist wanted support badly This was awful He was
almost too disgusted for speech Yet he managed to utter a plaintive thought
showing at least that he realized his position
»Only a couple of minutes later and youd have made me blunder against the
fellow poking about here with his damned dark lantern«
The widow of Mr Verloc motionless in the middle of the shop said
insistently
»Go in and put that light out Tom It will drive me crazy«
She saw vaguely his vehement gesture of refusal Nothing in the world would
have induced Ossipon to go into the parlour He was not superstitious but there
was too much blood on the floor a beastly pool of it all round the hat He
judged he had been already too near that corpse for his peace of mind for the
safety of his neck perhaps
»At the meter then There Look In that corner«
The robust form of Comrade Ossipon striding brusque and shadowy across the
shop squatted in a corner obediently but this obedience was without grace He
fumbled nervously and suddenly in the sound of a muttered curse the light
behind the glazed door flicked out to a gasping hysterical sigh of a woman
Night the inevitable reward of mens faithful labours on this earth night had
fallen on Mr Verloc the tried revolutionist one of the old lot the humble
guardian of society the invaluable Secret Agent D of Baron StottWartenheims
despatches a servant of law and order faithful trusted accurate admirable
with perhaps one single amiable weakness the idealistic belief in being loved
for himself
Ossipon groped his way back through the stuffy atmosphere as black as ink
now to the counter The voice of Mrs Verloc standing in the middle of the
shop vibrated after him in that blackness with a desperate protest
»I will not be hanged Tom I will not «
She broke off Ossipon from the counter issued a warning »Dont shout like
this« then seemed to reflect profoundly »You did this thing quite by
yourself« he inquired in a hollow voice but with an appearance of masterful
calmness which filled Mrs Verlocs heart with grateful confidence in his
protecting strength
»Yes« she whispered invisible
»I wouldnt have believed it possible« he muttered »Nobody would« She
heard him move about and the snapping of a lock in the parlour door Comrade
Ossipon had turned the key on Mr Verlocs repose and this he did not from
reverence for its eternal nature or any other obscurely sentimental
consideration but for the precise reason that he was not at all sure that there
was not someone else hiding somewhere in the house He did not believe the
woman or rather he was incapable by now of judging what could be true
possible or even probable on this astounding universe He was terrified out of
all capacity for belief or disbelief in regard to this extraordinary affair
which began with police inspectors and Embassies and would end goodness knows
where on the scaffold for someone He was terrified at the thought that he
could not prove the use he made of his time ever since seven oclock for he had
been skulking about Brett Street He was terrified at this savage woman who had
brought him in there and would probably saddle him with complicity at least if
he were not careful He was terrified at the rapidity with which he had been
involved in such danger decoyed into it It was some twenty minutes since he
had met her not more
The voice of Mrs Verloc rose subdued pleading piteously »Dont let them
hang me Tom Take me out of the country Ill work for you Ill slave for you
Ill love you Ive no one in the world Who would look at me if you dont«
She ceased for a moment then in the depths of the loneliness made round her by
an insignificant thread of blood trickling off the handle of a knife she found
a dreadful inspiration to her who had been the respectable girl of the
Belgravian mansion the loyal respectable wife of Mr Verloc »I wont ask you
to marry me« she breathed out in shamefaced accents
She moved a step forward in the darkness He was terrified at her He would
not have been surprised if she had suddenly produced another knife destined for
his breast He certainly would have made no resistance He had really not enough
fortitude in him just then to tell her to keep back But he inquired in a
cavernous strange tone »Was he asleep«
»No« she cried and went on rapidly »He wasnt Not he He had been
telling me that nothing could touch him After taking the boy away from under my
very eyes to kill him the loving innocent harmless lad My own I tell you
He was lying on the couch quite easy after killing the boy my boy I would
have gone on the streets to get out of his sight And he says to me like this
Come here after telling me I had helped to kill the boy You hear Tom He says
like this Come here after taking my very heart out of me along with the boy to
smash in the dirt«
She ceased then dreamily repeated twice »Blood and dirt Blood and dirt«
A great light broke upon Comrade Ossipon It was that halfwitted lad then who
had perished in the park And the fooling of everybody all round appeared more
complete than ever colossal He exclaimed scientifically in the extremity of
his astonishment »The degenerate by heavens«
»Come here« The voice of Mrs Verloc rose again »What did he think I was
made of Tell me Tom Come here Me Like this I had been looking at the
knife and I thought I would come then if he wanted me so much Oh yes I came
for the last time With the knife«
He was excessively terrified at her the sister of the degenerate a
degenerate herself of a murdering type or else of the lying type Comrade
Ossipon might have been said to be terrified scientifically in addition to all
other kinds of fear It was an immeasurable and composite funk which from its
very excess gave him in the dark a false appearance of calm and thoughtful
deliberation For he moved and spoke with difficulty being as if half frozen in
his will and mind and no one could see his ghastly face He felt half dead
He leaped a foot high Unexpectedly Mrs Verloc had desecrated the unbroken
reserved decency of her home by a shrill and terrible shriek
»Help Tom Save me I wont be hanged«
He rushed forward groping for her mouth with a silencing hand and the
shriek died out But in his rush he had knocked her over He felt her now
clinging round his legs and his terror reached its culminating point became a
sort of intoxication entertained delusions acquired the characteristics of
delirium tremens He positively saw snakes now He saw the woman twined round
him like a snake not to be shaken off She was not deadly She was death itself
the companion of life
Mrs Verloc as if relieved by the outburst was very far from behaving
noisily now She was pitiful
»Tom you cant throw me off now« she murmured from the floor »Not unless
you crush my head under your heel I wont leave you«
»Get up« said Ossipon
His face was so pale as to be quite visible in the profound black darkness
of the shop while Mrs Verloc veiled had no face almost no discernible form
The trembling of something small and white a flower in her hat marked her
place her movements
It rose in the blackness She had got up from the floor and Ossipon
regretted not having run out at once into the street But he perceived easily
that it would not do It would not do She would run after him She would pursue
him shrieking till she sent every policeman within hearing in chase And then
goodness only knew what she would say of him He was so frightened that for a
moment the insane notion of strangling her in the dark passed through his mind
And he became more frightened than ever She had him He saw himself living in
abject terror in some obscure hamlet in Spain or Italy till some fine morning
they found him dead too with a knife in his breast like Mr Verloc He
sighed deeply He dared not move And Mrs Verloc waited in silence the good
pleasure of her saviour deriving comfort from his reflective silence
Suddenly he spoke up in an almost natural voice His reflections had come to
an end
»Lets get out or we will lose the train«
»Where are we going to Tom« she asked timidly Mrs Verloc was no longer
a free woman
»Lets get to Paris first the best way we can Go out first and see if
the ways clear«
She obeyed Her voice came subdued through the cautiously opened door
»Its all right«
Ossipon came out Notwithstanding his endeavours to be gentle the cracked
bell clattered behind the closed door in the empty shop as if trying in vain to
warn the reposing Mr Verloc of the final departure of his wife accompanied by
his friend
In the hansom they presently picked up the robust anarchist became
explanatory He was still awfully pale with eyes that seemed to have sunk a
whole halfinch into his tense face But he seemed to have thought of everything
with extraordinary method
»When we arrive« he discoursed in a queer monotonous tone »you must go
into the station ahead of me as if we did not know each other I will take the
tickets and slip yours into your hand as I pass you Then you will go into the
firstclass ladies waitingroom and sit there till ten minutes before the
train starts Then you come out I will be outside You go in first on the
platform as if you did not know me There may be eyes watching there that know
whats what Alone you are only a woman going off by train I am known With me
you may be guessed at as Mrs Verloc running away Do you understand my dear«
he added with an effort
»Yes« said Mrs Verloc sitting there against him in the hansom all rigid
with the dread of the gallows and the fear of death »Yes Tom« And she added
to herself like an awful refrain »The drop given was fourteen feet«
Ossipon not looking at her and with a face like a fresh plaster cast of
himself after a wasting illness said »Bytheby I ought to have the money for
the tickets now«
Mrs Verloc undoing some hooks of her bodice while she went on staring
ahead beyond the splashboard handed over to him the new pigskin pocketbook He
received it without a word and seemed to plunge it deep somewhere into his very
breast Then he slapped his coat on the outside
All this was done without the exchange of a single glance they were like
two people looking out for the first sight of a desired goal It was not till
the hansom swung round a corner and towards the bridge that Ossipon opened his
lips again
»Do you know how much money there is in that thing« he asked as if
addressing slowly some hobgoblin sitting between the ears of the horse
»No« said Mrs Verloc »He gave it to me I didnt count I thought nothing
of it at the time Afterwards «
She moved her right hand a little It was so expressive that little movement
of that right hand which had struck the deadly blow into a mans heart less than
an hour before that Ossipon could not repress a shudder He exaggerated it then
purposely and muttered
»I am cold I got chilled through«
Mrs Verloc looked straight ahead at the perspective of her escape Now and
then like a sable streamer blown across a road the words »The drop given was
fourteen feet« got in the way of her tense stare Through her black veil the
whites of her big eyes gleamed lustrously like the eyes of a masked woman
Ossipons rigidity had something businesslike a queer official expression
He was heard again all of a sudden as though he had released a catch in order
to speak
»Look here Do you know whether your whether he kept his account at the
bank in his own name or in some other name«
Mrs Verloc turned upon him her masked face and the big white gleam of her
eyes
»Other name« she said thoughtfully
»Be exact in what you say« Ossipon lectured in the swift motion of the
hansom »Its extremely important I will explain to you The bank has the
numbers of these notes If they were paid to him in his own name then when his
his death becomes known the notes may serve to track us since we have no
other money You have no other money on you«
She shook her head negatively
»None whatever« he insisted
»A few coppers«
»It would be dangerous in that case The money would have then to be dealt
specially with Very specially Wed have perhaps to lose more than half the
amount in order to get these notes changed in a certain safe place I know of in
Paris In the other case I mean if he had his account and got paid out under
some other name say Smith for instance the money is perfectly safe to use
You understand The bank has no means of knowing that Mr Verloc and say Smith
are one and the same person Do you see how important it is that you should make
no mistake in answering me Can you answer that query at all Perhaps not Eh«
She said composedly
»I remember now He didnt bank in his own name He told me once that it was
on deposit in the name of Prozor«
»You are sure«
»Certain«
»You dont think the bank had any knowledge of his real name Or anybody in
the bank or «
She shrugged her shoulders
»How can I know Is it likely Tom«
»No I suppose its not likely It would have been more comfortable to know
Here we are Get out first and walk straight in Move smartly«
He remained behind and paid the cabman out of his own loose silver The
programme traced by his minute foresight was carried out When Mrs Verloc with
her ticket for St Malo in her hand entered the ladies waitingroom Comrade
Ossipon walked into the bar and in seven minutes absorbed three goes of hot
brandy and water
»Trying to drive out a cold« he explained to the barmaid with a friendly
nod and a grimacing smile Then he came out bringing out from that festive
interlude the face of a man who had drunk at the very Fountain of Sorrow He
raised his eyes to the clock It was time He waited
Punctual Mrs Verloc came out with her veil down and all black black as
commonplace death itself crowned with a few cheap and pale flowers She passed
close to a little group of men who were laughing but whose laughter could have
been struck dead by a single word Her walk was indolent but her back was
straight and Comrade Ossipon looked after it in terror before making a start
himself
The train was drawn up with hardly anybody about its row of open doors
Owing to the time of the year and to the abominable weather there were but few
passengers Mrs Verloc walked slowly along the line of empty compartments till
Ossipon touched her elbow from behind
»In here«
She got in and he remained on the platform looking about She bent forward
and in a whisper
»What is it Tom Is there any danger«
»Wait a moment Theres the guard«
She saw him accost the man in uniform They talked for a while She heard
the guard say »Very well sir« and saw him touch his cap Then Ossipon came
back saying »I told him not to let anybody get into our compartment«
She was leaning forward on her seat »You think of everything Youll
get me off Tom« she asked in a gust of anguish lifting her veil brusquely to
look at her saviour
She had uncovered a face like adamant And out of this face the eyes looked
on big dry enlarged lightless burnt out like two black holes in the white
shining globes
»There is no danger« he said gazing into them with an earnestness almost
rapt which to Mrs Verloc flying from the gallows seemed to be full of force
and tenderness This devotion deeply moved her and the adamantine face lost
the stern rigidity of its terror Comrade Ossipon gazed at it as no lover ever
gazed at his mistresss face Alexander Ossipon anarchist nicknamed the
Doctor author of a medical and improper pamphlet late lecturer on the social
aspects of hygiene to working mens clubs was free from the trammels of
conventional morality but he submitted to the rule of science He was
scientific and he gazed scientifically at that woman the sister of a
degenerate a degenerate herself of a murdering type He gazed at her and
invoked Lombroso as an Italian peasant recommends himself to his favourite
saint He gazed scientifically He gazed at her cheeks at her nose at her
eyes at her ears Bad Fatal Mrs Verlocs pale lips parting slightly
relaxed under his passionately attentive gaze he gazed also at her teeth
Not a doubt remained a murdering type If Comrade Ossipon did not
recommend his terrified soul to Lombroso it was only because on scientific
grounds he could not believe that he carried about him such a thing as a soul
But he had in him the scientific spirit which moved him to testify on the
platform of a railway station in nervous jerky phrases
»He was an extraordinary lad that brother of yours Most interesting to
study A perfect type in a way Perfect«
He spoke scientifically in his secret fear And Mrs Verloc hearing these
words of commendation vouchsafed to her beloved dead swayed forward with a
flicker of light in her sombre eyes like a ray of sunshine heralding a tempest
of rain
»He was that indeed« she whispered softly with quivering lips »You took
a lot of notice of him Tom I loved you for it«
»Its almost incredible the resemblance there was between you two« pursued
Ossipon giving a voice to his abiding dread and trying to conceal his nervous
sickening impatience for the train to start »Yes he resembled you«
These words were not especially touching or sympathetic But the fact of
that resemblance insisted upon was enough in itself to act upon her emotions
powerfully With a little faint cry and throwing her arms out Mrs Verloc
burst into tears at last
Ossipon entered the carriage hastily closed the door and looked out to see
the time by the station clock Eight minutes more For the first three of these
Mrs Verloc wept violently and helplessly without pause or interruption Then
she recovered somewhat and sobbed gently in an abundant fall of tears She
tried to talk to her saviour to the man who was the messenger of life
»Oh Tom How could I fear to die after he was taken away from me so
cruelly How could I How could I be such a coward«
She lamented aloud her love of life that life without grace or charm and
almost without decency but of an exalted faithfulness of purpose even unto
murder And as often happens in the lament of poor humanity rich in suffering
but indigent in words the truth the very cry of truth was found in a worn
and artificial shape picked up somewhere among the phrases of sham sentiment
»How could I be so afraid of death Tom I tried But I am afraid I tried
to do away with myself And I couldnt Am I hard I suppose the cup of horrors
was not full enough for such as me Then when you came «
She paused Then in a gust of confidence and gratitude »I will live all my
days for you Tom« she sobbed out
»Go over into the other corner of the carriage away from the platform«
said Ossipon solicitously She let her saviour settle her comfortably and he
watched the coming on of another crisis of weeping still more violent than the
first He watched the symptoms with a sort of medical air as if counting
seconds He heard the guards whistle at last An involuntary contraction of the
upper lip bared his teeth with all the aspect of savage resolution as he felt
the train beginning to move Mrs Verloc heard and felt nothing and Ossipon
her saviour stood still He felt the train roll quicker rumbling heavily to
the sound of the womans loud sobs and then crossing the carriage in two long
strides he opened the door deliberately and leaped out
He had leaped out at the very end of the platform and such was his
determination in sticking to his desperate plan that he managed by a sort of
miracle performed almost in the air to slam to the door of the carriage Only
then did he find himself rolling head over heels like a shot rabbit He was
bruised shaken pale as death and out of breath when he got up But he was
calm and perfectly able to meet the excited crowd of railway men who had
gathered round him in a moment He explained in gentle and convincing tones
that his wife had started at a moments notice for Brittany to her dying mother
that of course she was greatly upset and he considerably concerned at her
state that he was trying to cheer her up and had absolutely failed to notice
at first that the train was moving out To the general exclamation »Why didnt
you go on to Southampton then sir« he objected the inexperience of a young
sisterinlaw left alone in the house with three small children and her alarm
at his absence the telegraph offices being closed He had acted on impulse
»But I dont think Ill ever try that again« he concluded smiled all round
distributed some small change and marched without a limp out of the station
Outside Comrade Ossipon flush of safe banknotes as never before in his
life refused the offer of a cab
»I can walk« he said with a little friendly laugh to the civil driver
He could walk He walked He crossed the bridge Later on the towers of the
Abbey saw in their massive immobility the yellow bush of his hair passing under
the lamps The lights of Victoria saw him too and Sloane Square and the
railings of the park And Comrade Ossipon once more found himself on a bridge
The river a sinister marvel of still shadows and flowing gleams mingling below
in a black silence arrested his attention He stood looking over the parapet
for a long time The clock tower boomed a brazen blast above his drooping head
He looked up at the dial Halfpast twelve of a wild night in the Channel
And again Comrade Ossipon walked His robust form was seen that night in
distant parts of the enormous town slumbering monstrously on a carpet of mud
under a veil of raw mist It was seen crossing the streets without life and
sound or diminishing in the interminable straight perspectives of shadowy
houses bordering empty roadways lined by strings of gaslamps He walked through
Squares Places Ovals Commons through monotonous streets with unknown names
where the dust of humanity settles inert and hopeless out of the stream of life
He walked And suddenly turning into a strip of a front garden with a mangy
grass plot he let himself into a small grimy house with a latchkey he took out
of his pocket
He threw himself down on his bed all dressed and lay still for a whole
quarter of an hour Then he sat up suddenly drawing up his knees and clasping
his legs The first dawn found him openeyed in that same posture This man who
could walk so long so far so aimlessly without showing a sign of fatigue
could also remain sitting still for hours without stirring a limb or an eyelid
But when the late sun sent its rays into the room he unclasped his hands and
fell back on the pillow His eyes stared at the ceiling And suddenly they
closed Comrade Ossipon slept in the sunlight
XIII
The enormous iron padlock on the doors of the wall cupboard was the only object
in the room on which the eye could rest without becoming afflicted by the
miserable unloveliness of forms and the poverty of material Unsaleable in the
ordinary course of business on account of its noble proportions it had been
ceded to the Professor for a few pence by a marine dealer in the east of London
The room was large clean respectable and poor with that poverty suggesting
the starvation of every human need except mere bread There was nothing on the
walls but the paper an expanse of arsenical green soiled with indelible
smudges here and there and with stains resembling faded maps of uninhabited
continents
At a deal table near a window sat Comrade Ossipon holding his head between
his fists The Professor dressed in his only suit of shoddy tweeds but
flapping to and fro on the bare boards a pair of incredibly dilapidated
slippers had thrust his hands deep into the overstrained pockets of his jacket
He was relating to his robust guest a visit he had lately been paying to the
Apostle Michaelis The Perfect Anarchist had even been unbending a little
»The fellow didnt know anything of Verlocs death Of course He never
looks at the newspapers They make him too sad he says But never mind I
walked into his cottage Not a soul anywhere I had to shout halfadozen times
before he answered me I thought he was fast asleep yet in bed But not at all
He had been writing his book for four hours already He sat in that tiny cage in
a litter of manuscript There was a halfeaten raw carrot on the table near him
His breakfast He lives on a diet of raw carrots and a little milk now«
»How does he look on it« asked Comrade Ossipon listlessly
»Angelic I picked up a handful of his pages from the floor The poverty
of reasoning is astonishing He has no logic He cant think consecutively But
thats nothing He has divided his biography into three parts entitled Faith
Hope Charity He is elaborating now the idea of a world planned out like an
immense and nice hospital with gardens and flowers in which the strong are to
devote themselves to the nursing of the weak«
The Professor paused
»Conceive you this folly Ossipon The weak The source of all evil on this
earth« he continued with his grim assurance »I told him that I dreamt of a
world like shambles where the weak would be taken in hand for utter
extermination
Do you understand Ossipon The source of all evil They are our sinister
masters the weak the flabby the silly the cowardly the faint of heart and
the slavish of mind They have power They are the multitude Theirs is the
kingdom of the earth Exterminate exterminate That is the only way of
progress It is Follow me Ossipon First the great multitude of the weak must
go then the only relatively strong You see First the blind then the deaf and
the dumb then the halt and the lame and so on Every taint every vice every
prejudice every convention must meet its doom«
»And what remains« asked Ossipon in a stifled voice
»I remain if I am strong enough« asserted the sallow little Professor
whose large ears thin like membranes and standing far out from the sides of
his frail skull took on suddenly a deep red tint
»Havent I suffered enough from this oppression of the weak« he continued
forcibly Then tapping the breastpocket of his jacket »And yet I am the
force« he went on »But the time The time Give me time Ah that multitude
too stupid to feel either pity or fear Sometimes I think they have everything
on their side Everything even death my own weapon«
»Come and drink some beer with me at the Silenus« said the robust Ossipon
after an interval of silence pervaded by the rapid flap flap of the slippers on
the feet of the Perfect Anarchist This last accepted He was jovial that day in
his own peculiar way He slapped Ossipons shoulder
»Beer So be it Let us drink and be merry for we are strong and tomorrow
we die«
He busied himself with putting on his boots and talked meanwhile in his
curt resolute tones
»Whats the matter with you Ossipon You look glum and seek even my
company I hear that you are seen constantly in places where men utter foolish
things over glasses of liquor Why Have you abandoned your collection of women
They are the weak who feed the strong eh«
He stamped one foot and picked up his other laced boot heavy thicksoled
unblacked mended many times He smiled to himself grimly
»Tell me Ossipon terrible man has ever one of your victims killed herself
for you or are your triumphs so far incomplete for blood alone puts a seal
on greatness Blood Death Look at history«
»You be damned« said Ossipon without turning his head
»Why Let that be the hope of the weak whose theology has invented hell for
the strong Ossipon my feeling for you is amicable contempt You couldnt kill
a fly«
But rolling to the feast on the top of the omnibus the Professor lost his
high spirits The contemplation of the multitudes thronging the pavements
extinguished his assurance under a load of doubt and uneasiness which he could
shake off after a period of seclusion in the room with the large cupboard closed
by an enormous padlock
»And so« said over his shoulder Comrade Ossipon who sat on the seat
behind »And so Michaelis dreams of a world like a beautiful and cheery
hospital«
»Just so An immense charity for the healing of the weak« assented the
Professor sardonically
»Thats silly« admitted Ossipon »You cant heal weakness But after all
Michaelis may not be so far wrong In two hundred years doctors will rule the
world Science reigns already It reigns in the shade maybe but it reigns And
all science must culminate at last in the science of healing not the weak but
the strong Mankind wants to live to live«
»Mankind« asserted the Professor with a selfconfident glitter of his
ironrimmed spectacles »does not know what it wants«
»But you do« growled Ossipon »Just now youve been crying for time time
Well the doctors will serve you out your time if you are good You profess
yourself to be one of the strong because you carry in your pocket enough stuff
to send yourself and say twenty other people into eternity But eternity is a
damned hole Its time that you need You if you met a man who could give you
for certain ten years of time you would call him your master«
»My device is No God No master« said the Professor sententiously as he
rose to get off the bus
Ossipon followed »Wait till you are lying flat on your back at the end of
your time« he retorted jumping off the footboard after the other »Your
scurvy shabby mangy little bit of time« he continued across the street and
hopping on to the curbstone
»Ossipon I think that you are a humbug« the Professor said opening
masterfully the doors of the renowned Silenus And when they had established
themselves at a little table he developed further this gracious thought »You
are not even a doctor But you are funny Your notion of a humanity universally
putting out the tongue and taking the pill from pole to pole at the bidding of a
few solemn jokers is worthy of the prophet Prophecy Whats the good of
thinking of what will be« He raised his glass »To the destruction of what is«
he said calmly
He drank and relapsed into his peculiarly close manner of silence The
thought of a mankind as numerous as the sands of the seashore as
indestructible as difficult to handle oppressed him The sound of exploding
bombs was lost in their immensity of passive grains without an echo For
instance this Verloc affair Who thought of it now
Ossipon as if suddenly compelled by some mysterious force pulled a
muchfolded newspaper out of his pocket The Professor raised his head at the
rustle
»Whats that paper Anything in it« he asked
Ossipon started like a scared somnambulist
»Nothing Nothing whatever The things ten days old I forgot it in my
pocket I suppose«
But he did not throw the old thing away Before returning it to his pocket
he stole a glance at the last lines of a paragraph They ran thus »An
impenetrable mystery seems destined to hang for ever over this act of madness or
despair«
Such were the end words of an item of news headed
»Suicide of Lady Passenger from a crossChannel Boat« Comrade Ossipon was
familiar with the beauties of its journalistic style »An impenetrable mystery
seems destined to hang for ever « He knew every word by heart »An
impenetrable mystery « And the robust anarchist hanging his head on his
breast fell into a long reverie
He was menaced by this thing in the very sources of his existence He could
not issue forth to meet his various conquests those that he courted on benches
in Kensington Gardens and those he met near area railings without the dread of
beginning to talk to them of an impenetrable mystery destined He was
becoming scientifically afraid of insanity lying in wait for him amongst these
lines »To hang for ever over« It was an obsession a torture He had lately
failed to keep several of these appointments whose note used to be an unbounded
trustfulness in the language of sentiment and manly tenderness The confiding
disposition of various classes of women satisfied the needs of his selflove
and put some material means into his hand He needed it to live It was there
But if he could no longer make use of it he ran the risk of starving his ideals
and his body »This act of madness or despair«
An impenetrable mystery was sure to hang for ever as far as all mankind was
concerned But what of that if he alone of all men could never get rid of the
cursed knowledge And Comrade Ossipons knowledge was as precise as the
newspaper man could make it up to the very threshold of the »mystery destined
to hang for ever «
Comrade Ossipon was well informed He knew what the gangway man of the
steamer had seen »A lady in a black dress and a black veil wandering at
midnight alongside on the quay Are you going by the boat maam he had asked
her encouragingly This way She seemed not to know what to do He helped her
on board She seemed weak«
And Ossipon knew also what the stewardess had seen A lady in black with a
white face standing in the middle of the empty ladies cabin The stewardess
induced her to lie down there The lady seemed quite unwilling to speak and as
if she were in some awful trouble The next the stewardess knew she was gone
from the ladies cabin The stewardess then went on deck to look for her and
Comrade Ossipon was informed that the good woman found the unhappy lady lying
down in one of the hooded seats Her eyes were open but she would not answer
anything that was said to her She seemed very ill The stewardess fetched the
chief steward and those two people stood by the side of the hooded seat
consulting over their extraordinary and tragic passenger They talked in audible
whispers for she seemed past hearing of St Malo and the Consul there of
communicating with her people in England Then they went away to arrange for her
removal down below for indeed by what they could see of her face she seemed to
them to be dying But Comrade Ossipon knew that behind that white mask of
despair there was struggling against terror and despair a vigour of vitality a
love of life that could resist the furious anguish which drives to murder and
the fear the blind mad fear of the gallows He knew But the stewardess and
the chief steward knew nothing except that when they came back for her in less
than five minutes the lady in black was no longer in the hooded seat She was
nowhere She was gone It was then five oclock in the morning and it was no
accident either An hour afterwards one of the steamers hands found a wedding
ring left lying on the seat It had stuck to the wood in a bit of wet and its
glitter caught the mans eye There was a date 24th June 1879 engraved
inside »An impenetrable mystery is destined to hang for ever «
And Comrade Ossipon raised his bowed head beloved of various humble women
of these isles Apollolike in the sunniness of its bush of hair
The Professor had grown restless meantime He rose
»Stay« said Ossipon hurriedly »Here what do you know of madness and
despair«
The Professor passed the tip of his tongue on his dry thin lips and said
doctorally
»There are no such things All passion is lost now The world is mediocre
limp without force And madness and despair are a force And force is a crime
in the eyes of the fools the weak and the silly who rule the roost You are
mediocre Verloc whose affair the police has managed to smother so nicely was
mediocre And the police murdered him He was mediocre Everybody is mediocre
Madness and despair Give me that for a lever and Ill move the world Ossipon
you have my cordial scorn You are incapable of conceiving even what the fatfed
citizen would call a crime You have no force« He paused smiling sardonically
under the fierce glitter of his thick glasses
»And let me tell you that this little legacy they say youve come into has
not improved your intelligence You sit at your beer like a dummy Goodbye«
»Will you have it« said Ossipon looking up with an idiotic grin
»Have what«
»The legacy All of it«
The incorruptible Professor only smiled His clothes were all but falling
off him his boots shapeless with repairs heavy like lead let water in at
every step He said
»I will send you byandby a small bill for certain chemicals which I shall
order tomorrow I need them badly Understood eh«
Ossipon lowered his head slowly He was alone »An impenetrable mystery
« It seemed to him that suspended in the air before him he saw his own brain
pulsating to the rhythm of an impenetrable mystery It was diseased clearly
»This act of madness or despair«
The mechanical piano near the door played through a valse cheekily then
fell silent all at once as if gone grumpy
Comrade Ossipon nicknamed the Doctor went out of the Silenus beerhall At
the door he hesitated blinking at a not too splendid sunlight and the paper
with the report of the suicide of a lady was in his pocket His heart was
beating against it The suicide of a lady this act of madness or despair
He walked along the street without looking where he put his feet and he
walked in a direction which would not bring him to the place of appointment with
another lady an elderly nursery governess putting her trust in an Apollolike
ambrosial head He was walking away from it He could face no woman It was
ruin He could neither think work sleep nor eat But he was beginning to
drink with pleasure with anticipation with hope It was ruin His
revolutionary career sustained by the sentiment and trustfulness of many women
was menaced by an impenetrable mystery the mystery of a human brain pulsating
wrongfully to the rhythm of journalistic phrases » Will hang for ever over
this act It was inclining towards the gutter of madness or despair
«
»I am seriously ill« he muttered to himself with scientific insight
Already his robust form with an Embassys secretservice money inherited from
Mr Verloc in his pockets was marching in the gutter as if in training for the
task of an inevitable future Already he bowed his broad shoulders his head of
ambrosial locks as if ready to receive the leather yoke of the sandwich board
As on that night more than a week ago Comrade Ossipon walked without looking
where he put his feet feeling no fatigue feeling nothing seeing nothing
hearing not a sound »An impenetrable mystery « He walked disregarded »
This act of madness or despair«
And the incorruptible Professor walked too averting his eyes from the
odious multitude of mankind He had no future He disdained it He was a force
His thoughts caressed the images of ruin and destruction He walked frail
insignificant shabby miserable and terrible in the simplicity of his idea
calling madness and despair to the regeneration of the world Nobody looked at
him He passed on unsuspected and deadly like a pest in the street full of men