The Nether World

by the graveyard of St. James's Church stood for a moment looking about him. His age could not be far from seventy, but, despite the stoop of his shoulders, he gave little sign of fa

the cheapest kind of undyed felt, its form exactly that of the old petasus. To say that his aspect was Venerable would serve to present him in a measure, yet would not be wholly accurate, for there was too much of past struggle and present anxiety in his countenance to permit full expression of the natural dignity of the features. It was a fine face and might have been disti

p soil made them black), and certain cats and dogs were prowling or sporting among the graves. At this corner the east wind blew with malice such as it never puts forth save where there are poorly clad people to be pierced; it swept before it thin clouds of unsavoury dust, mingled with the light refuse of the streets. Above the shapeless houses night was signalling a murky ap

f facing a high grey-brick wall, wherein, at this point, was an arched gateway closed with black doors. He looked at the gateway, then fixed his gaze on something that stood just above - something which the dusk half concealed, and by so doing made more impressive. It was the sculptured counterfeit of a human face, that of a man di

trembled like those of one in anger, and his eyes had a stern resentful gleaming. He w

tesy which owes nothing to refined intercourse, 'but do yo

he appearance of the questioner, and, with the vulgar in

,' she added, as the man was moving away.

aid his search. He thanked them, paused for a moment with his eyes do

perhaps thirteen years old; she carried a jug, and at the bar asked for 'a pint of old six.' The

led Snowdon about 'ere

ingly at odds with mankind. He replied contemptuously with a w

ppeared to excite keen interest in her. She forgot all about the beer-jug that was wait

een asking for

he barman answered,

wdon, sir - J

r a long time utterly untended; the wind, on her run hither, had tossed it into much disorder. Signs there were of some kind of clothing beneath the short, dirty, worn dress, but it was evidently of the scantiest description. The freely exposed neck was very thin, but, like the outline of her face, spoke less of a feeble habit of body than of the present pinch of sheer hunger. She did not, indeed, look like one of those ch

late. P'r'aps it's a fortune a-runnin' after you. He was a rum old party as inquired. Never mind; it's all in a

s swore wi

k her jug of beer a

n. 'Where's the money, J

on the counter. Thereupon the man asked her where she li

r live

ook he

the

't got o

as you live

eckover

joker as arsted for the name of Snowdon. Sh

d man, to which the girl listened closely. Then s

e of which the front-door stood open; it looked black and cavernous within; but she advanced with the step of familiarity, and went downstairs to a front-kitchen. Through the half-open door came a strong

e if we don't. Mother told me as she owed you a lickin', and I'll pay it off, with a little on my own account too. Only wait till I

pleaded the child, whose face of dread proved both natu

you always was, an' alwa

it vigorous. Her dress was that of a work-girl, unsubstantial, ill-fitting, but of ambitious cut; her hair was very abundant, and rose upon the back of her

r the domestic slave, Jane Snowdon - that is to say, would indulge to the uttermost her instincts of cruelty in tormenting a defenceless creature. Finally - a cause of happiness antecedent to the others, but less vivid in her mind at this moment - in the next room lay awaiting burial the corpse of Mrs. Peckover's mother-inl

n't expect me back 'ome at this time, did you? You thought as you was goin' to have the kitchen to yourself when mother went. Ha ha! ho ho! - These sausages is done; now you clean that fryin'-pan; and if I can find a speck of dirt in it as big a

flicted, put her at once on a par with the noble savage running wild in woods. Civilisation could bring no charge against this young woman; it and she had no common criterion. Who knows but this lust of hers for sanguinary domination was

sitting down and squaring her comely frame to work, the first thing Clem did was to take a long draught out of the beer-jug; refreshed thus, she poured the remaining liquor into a glass. Ready at hand was mustard, made in a tea-cup; having taken a certain quantity of this condiment on to her knife, she proceeded to spread each sausage with it from end to end, patting them in a friendly way as

n there came into the girl's mind a yet more delightful thought. I have mentioned that in the back-kitchen lay the body of a dead woman; it was already encoffined, and waited for interment on the morrow, when Mrs. Peckover would arrive with a certain female relative from St. Albans. Now the proximity of this corpse was a ceaseless occasion of dread and misery to Jane Snowdon; the poor ch

the matches off of the mantel-piece. I shall want to go upst

m her knees at once, and reached a

mouth full. 'You've no need of a light to

ctly where the coffin was; she knew that to avoid touching it in the diminutive room was all but impossible. And touch it she did. Her anguish uttered itself, not in a mere sound of terror, but in a broken word or two of a prayer she knew by heart, including a name which sounded like a charm against evil. Sh

ying that Clem was handsome; at sixteen she had all her charms in apparent maturity, and they were of the coarsely magnificent order. Her forehead was low and of great width; her nose was well shapen, and had large sensual apertures; her cruel lips may be seen on certain fine antique busts; the neck that supported her heavy head was splendidly rounded. In laughing,

day?' she asked of her victim, after suffi

ireplace, an' fetched fourteen of

d she gi

ve it to Mrs. Peckov

rs belongs to me, an' not to mother. It's a new arrangement, understand. An' if you dare to g

uld have liked dealing with some one who showed fight - some one with whom she could try savage issue in real tooth-and-claw conflict. She had in mind a really exquisite piece of cruelty, but it was a joy necessarily postponed to a late hour of the night. In the meantime, it would perhaps be as

herself with an umbrella from the bitter sleet which the wind was now d

and, impertinent tone wherewith she always sig

of a door in the upper part of the house, she too ascended, going on tip-toe, with a noiselessness which indicated another side of her character. Having reached the room which the visitor had entered, she brought her ea

e latter when she had reac

ked Clem, seeming to c

to Mrs. Hewett for a hinstant?' said the wom

will just now,

whereupon Clem at once ran upstairs. In

to go an' wait at the door till he comes out, and then you're to tell him to come to Mrs. Hewett at wunst. Understand? - Why

een a girl's hat. This Jane at once snatched up and put on her head.