The Ghost: A Modern Fantasy

ene of discreet and haughty excitement which it was wont to exhibit about nine o'clock every evening in those days. The weath

y to and fro amid piles of luggage and groups of loungers on the wind-swept platform beneath the flickering gas-lamps. But the porters, and the friends engaged in the ceremony of seeing-off, and the loung

ed portmanteau to Paris, a young woman put her head

diately after yours, and I have been trying to catc

, airy tone from a tiny, pert mouth wh

hamps!" I

observe. I haven't seen you since that night at Sullivan's recepti

attered in the extremity of my youthfulne

going to Paris-an

m, t

's go toge

why have you cho

they're paying me. The Diana company is touring in the provinces while the theatre is getting itself decorated. I hate the provinces. Leeds and Liverpoo

that I had had reason to t

r-very much elder, you now. But I think her worst point is that she's so frightfully mysterious. You can never tell what she's up to. Now, a man I met at supper last night told me he thought he had seen Car

hould endeavor to obtain from Marie Descham

the clock pointed almost to nine, and a porter rushed us-Marie and myself-into an empty compartment of a composite coach near to the engine. The compartment was first class, but

," said the lady. "I s

hat the morning steamer from Calais wasn't able to make either Dover or Folkes

er, what is that c

a jewel

a bi

to satisfy her charming curiosity, expose the interior of Rosa's jewel-case in a railway

she buried herself. She kept murmuring aloud extracts from the Gl

not g

goi

awful. These newspape

Casino

-morrow. Will you mind telling the guard to get my boxes out, there

minutes, and enjoyed the process. And it was I who meekly received the objurgations of

. Take care of your

own the platform. I ran to my carriage, and

witch called out, wavi

ing. She was a genial soul, and the i

ot into the compartment while I had been coursing about the platform on behalf of Marie, and that traveller was the mysterious and sinister creature whom I had met twice before-once in Oxford Street, and once again during the night watch in the cathed

ght and enveloped in a net of adverse circumstances, that I was the unconscious victim of a deep and terrible conspiracy which proceeded slowly forward to an inevitable catastrophe. On each of the previou

d away from this motionless and inscrutable companion. His eyes were constantly on my face, and do what I would I could not appear at ease. I tried to read the paper, I pretended to sleep, I hummed a tune

ce of the man must be broken. And so I gathered together my coura

ng. One would scarcely expe

e man ignored it absolutely. Only the corners of his lips drooped a

me a lit

he cathedral at Bruges?" I

d his laugh re

the compartment, and entered another one lower down. My new compartment was empty. The sensation of relief was infinitely soothing. Placing the jewel-case

them fairly, and turned them over, and viewed them from every side, and derived from them a rather thrilling joy. The fact is, I was beginning to be in love with Rosa. Nay, I was actually in love with her. Ever since our first meeting my meditations had been more or less busy with her

, with nothing to distinguish me from the ruck of young doctors. And she was-well, she was one of those

nd she had consulted me! She had allowed me to be of use to her! And, months ago in London, had she not permitted me to talk to her with an

t was a pr

of that matter. Had she loved him-really loved him? Or had his love for her merely flattered her into thinking that she l

did! And I lapsed into a reverie-a reverie in which everything went smoothly, everything was

ble grind of iron, a bump, a check, and my head was buried in the cushions of

claim. "They must have plumped

ne of those things that one reads of in the papers with so much calmness. I wondere

time to observe that both windows were smashed, and the floor of the compartment t

ied to open it, but the thing would n

st!" I cried to the door, kicking it

ved to tranquillize me: "I am a doctor, and

er that I was sane and collected. Now I could hear people tramping on the ground outside, and see the flash of lan

ur

if any one else

r by. Then he stood still, wondering what he should do nex

hat D

the siding just beyond the home signal, and it blocked the down line, and the driver of the

team issued from it, hissing above the roar of the wind. The tender was twisted like a patent hairpin in the middle. The first coach, a luggage-van, stood upright, and seemed scarcely damaged. The second coach, the small, old-f

o the sma

ch," said the guard, who, having been

sked. "Because I changed c

"There's only one, then-a tall, severe-lo

xed sorrow. On the contrary, I had a distinct feeling of elation at the thought that I was probably rid forever of this haunter of my peace, t

on. It is symptomatic of the extraordinary confusion which reigns in these affairs that till that moment the question of the fate of the men in charge of the train had not even entered my mind, though I had of course noticed that the engine was

ed like. I told him the signal wasn't off.

bit the breakdown gang had removed the whole of the centre part of the shattered carriage. I thru

ot out at Sittingbour

aid the

doom had closed inevitably over me. But if my thoughts had been legible and I had been asked to explain this attitude of mine towards a person who ha

kground of ruin lighted by the fitful gleams of lanterns and the

atch the Calais boat. Will

a grievance because not a soul there seemed to care whether I caught the Calais boat or not. That, under the unusual circumstances, the steamer would probably wait did not occur to me. Nor did I perceive

ught of th

anded vehemently from the gua

rned

ou're carrying

n I must have instinctively clutched it, and my grasp had not slackened. I ha

by the desire to catch the steamer. And abruptly I set off walking down the line.

collection of the details of my journey thither. I had no memory of having been accosted by any official of the railway, or even o

t the extremity of England, and on the verge of unguessed things. Now, I had traversed about half the length of the lonely pier, which seems to curve right out into the unknown, when I saw a woman approaching me in the opposite direction. My faculties were fatigued

bruptly. The voice was harsh, tre

answered wearily

ou not to g

. I searched her face, but she wore a thick veil, and in the gloom of the pier I could only make out

t to go to Paris

are

nd. Take

all I be

a new idea to her. "Yes," she said hur

know that I

I saw t

ke particular care not to be robbed. But m

robbing me, the particulars of which this w

red my q

"You are going to meet a l

st re

ove no further

t she held me by the sleeve

wed to sing in 'Carmen' at the O

"I believe you must b

l and toss of the head. I recalled what Marie Deschamps had said in the train about her stepsister, and also my suspicion that Rosa's maid was not entirel

ith Yvette, and that, ridden by the old jealousy which had been aroused through the announcement of Rosa's return to the Opéra Com

re motive, had travelled to London to discover me, and having succeeded, was determined by some means to prevent me from ge

al was indubitably comic. I would make a facetious narrative of the meeting for the amusement of Rosa at breakfast to-morrow in

surrounded by individuals who raked me fore and aft with questions. I could not endure it; my nervous energ

s imperious upon me; I had had too many experiences during the last few hours

soon?" I murmu

five minutes. Weathe

t day, there was a good number of voyagers on board, in spite of adverse conditions. I heard people talking,