The Man Who Couldn't Sleep

solicitous-eyed Benson, covertly watc

sly detached retort,

sir, if you would care

gestion did not escape me. And it

prickle of irritation. My patient-eyed old butler averted his

ent on, "I intend to discharge tha

son softly yet

ympathy from my hired help. And when I swung the door shut

enson's commiserative eyes, and have space about me, and cool ai

l pointed to an hour past midnight. So I veered about that delta of idleness, where the noontide turbule

ght. She seems, under the stars, both medievalized and spiritualized. She speaks then in an intimate whisper foreign to her by day, veiling her earthlier loquacity in a dreaming wonder, softening and sweetening like a woman awaiting her lover. The great steel shafts enclosed in their white marble become turrets crow

as passively as a policeman on his beat, asking of the quietness

lf. The very smugness of those veiled and self-satisfied house-fronts began to get on my nerves. The very taciturnity of the great silent hostelries irritated

seemed something repugnant in its autumnal solitudes. That vague agoraphobia peculiar to the neurasthenic made me long for the contiguity of my own kind, ho

gray, as though, indeed, the whole district were a quarry checker-boarded by eroding cross-currents out of the self-same rock. Each tier of windows seemed backed by the same blinds, each street-step barricaded by the same door. I stopped and looked up

idently on, when one of the most unexpected things

or movement of warning, there sudde

as a tomb. The street was as empty as a church. Had the thing been a meteor out of a s

it was, it had fallen with amazingly little noise. There was no open window to explain its source. There had been no wind to blow it from an upper-story sill. There was no movement to show that its los

ent which, if not above the commonplace, was equally related to common sense. I stepped in through the railing and picked up the par

leap. It was completely wrapped in what I took to be a Russian-squ

seemed to be Irish point lace. Inside this again were other fragments of lacework. Through these I thru

tone necklace, plainly of antique Roman workmanship. Next came a black and white Egyptian scarab, and then, of all things, a snuff-box. It was oval and of gold, enameled en plein with a pastoral scene swarming with plump pink Cupids. Even in that uncertain light it required no second glance t

t I had stumbled on something as disturbing as it was unexpected. The only explanation of an otherwise inexplic

romance, no suggestion of old and great adventures, of stately ways and noble idlers, of intrigues and unremembered loves and hates, of silence and gloom touched with the deeper eloquence of unrecorded history. It was nothing more than a new and narrow and extremely modern house, in the very heart of a modern New York, simple in line and as

pped it from a quietly opened window, to be gathered as quickly up, once he had effected his escape to the street. The sudden afterthought that it might have been dropped for a confederate

me, the almost unconscious habit of turning a knob when one finds oneself confronted by a door that is closed. The thing tha

ge of the door. There was no evidence that it had been jimmied open, just as there was nothing to show that the lock its

dy said, no man is wholly sane after midnight. Subliminal faculties, ancestral perversions, dormant and wayward tendencies, all come to the surface, emerging li

ee o'clock in the morning. That novelty takes on a razor-edge when you have fairly good

nary sixth sense told me the place was not unoccupied. Yet the darkness that surrounded me was absolute. Not a so

nd pawing about before I came to it. One flicker of a match, I knew, would have revealed the whole thing to me. But to strike a light, under the circumstances, wou

the completeness of the quiet which encompassed me. I directe

omplete was the silence, so opaque was the blackness. Yet

This, I noticed, was both narrower and steeper than the first. I was also not unconscious of the fact that it w

to a sudden stop. Some nocturnal adeptness of instinct warned me of

was the soft frou-frou of a skirt, a skirt of silk or satin, faintly rustling as a woman walked the full length of the hall. I had just made a mental register of the deduction that this woman was dress

ietly opened and as quietly closed again. The room into which that door led must have been fa

d then as I advanced. Once I reached the floor level I kept close t

side of that door, without opening it. I knew what risks I ran in

an, as a rule, be done noiselessly. I felt quite sure there was not one distinguishable sound as

to sidle in through the aperture; that would have been needlessly reckless. I stood there waiting, an

nough to convince me that the room was a bedroom. I could also make out that it was large, and from th

ed, arrived, and passed. Audaciousness reconquered me, and I actually advanced a little into the room. Steadying myself with one

r writing-table. It left the rest of the room in little more than twilight. But after the utter

de a second door at the farther end of the room was a woman dressed in black. On her head was a black hat, round which a veil was tightly wound, the front of it a

the white half-oval of her intent face as she stood there. Something about her suggested not the spying intruder so much as the secret listener. Her atten

ehension. I directed my glance once more at the woman. Something almost penitential in her attitude brought the sudden thought to my mind that she had committed a crime at the mere memory of which she was already morally stricken. Unexpected discovery, I began to suspect, had driven her to an extreme which she was already beginning to regret. There was,

an illicit intrusion and that my own presence, if impertinent, might at least be easily explained. I saw h

ck yet quietly restless movements, and from this table caught up what seemed to be a metal paper-knife. She moved on to an ivory and mother-of-pearl desk, which, apparently, she already k

with quick and dextrous fingers she rummaged through the desk. Just what she swept from one of the drawers into her open hand-bag I could not distinguish. But I plainly saw the package of letters which she took up in her hand

ng for that expression to change. I knew that it must change, for it would be but a moment or two before she caught sight of me. But I had seen enough. I felt sure of my position-in fact, I found a wayward relish in it, an almost enjoyable

cream, as I thought she was about to do when I saw one terrified hand go up to her partly open lips. Beyond that single hand-movement

od morning!" I said, with al

urtained door, as though behind it lay a sleeper m

emed floating in space. The faint light of the room swallowed up the lines of her black-clad figure, enisling

of delicacy. The eyes themselves had a spacious clarity which warned me my enemy would not be without a capable enough mind, once she regained po

liance in her illicit pursuits. And even while I decided this, I was forced to admit that it was not precisely terror I was beholding on her face. It seemed to merge into something more like a sense of sham

; in it was the quaver of the frightened wo

st going to answer for me," w

onting me from the same spot. I remembered the bundl

ou can," I replied, with a slight hea

head to foot, each sartorial detail and accessory of clothing, hat, gloves, a

u want?" sh

leave that ques

do?" she demanded, once

he first, that she was going to be an extraordinarily adept and circuitous person

ing for some betraying word to put me on firmer ground. I

his house," she had the

retorted. She was sile

as she would like to ha

ze what your presence here implies, jus

she a

o understand that I'm here for motives s

emanded, letting her c

d, "can wait until you'

thing to

ss. I could see that the calmness with which I pretended to

lain," was my equa

se was one

We have nothing whateve

e. And I'm goin

ow

n end to this

nds like

meant

have you to

the chair that stood beside the ravaged writing-desk. It was all

ing," I told her. An answering lo

ence here," she had th

I'm rather interfering wi

swered in a fluttering dig

kept them your own affairs. When you drop a bundle of swag out of a win

ecise imitation of wonder that I could plainly

explained. "The stuff you dropped down beside

wh

And it was r

tested, with a fine pretense

tly off a front windo

le for me to open a window," she protested

this house pretty

s my own," was

epeated, amazed at t

own," she

the bathroom, a second opening into the hallway, and a third to the rear, which plainly o

rossed to the hall door, and, after locking it, pocketed the key

?" she asked, onc

rd the curtained door beside her, "ju

th her back against the door, as though to keep me from opening i

room," I proclaimed, unmoved by the a

a little above a whisper, "it will do no good. It

de it my duty

into something where you can do

room!" And I tore the portière fro

panting close beside me. "I'll tell you

hment brought me up short. It was my turn to be

us movement of the hand as she advanced into the room

sked, with only too obvious equivocation

hat way," I cried. "Say what y

resignation in the face of brutalities which I should never have subjected her

t's true. This was once my roo

use which was plainly giving her a

t away. I was angry. I-I- There's n

lain what it was a

He lied about me. I had been foolish, indiscreet, anything you care to call it. But the lie he told was awful, unbelievable. That my husband should ask me to

ak link was sure to present itself i

toward the c

om asleep," she

leep you came to clean ou

for an interlocutory decree I knew I could never come back o

did you get in

ff the latch after midnight, to leave the door u

hings, these things you came after? Without all this fooli

drooped

id not explain. I had to admit to myself that it was very good acting. But

" I calmly declared. "But just how a

her impassive answer. "I'm only te

s-but how am

with a movement of l

will see my photograph in a silver frame next to

ime for some attempted escape. But I felt, on second thought, that I was master enough of the situati

rogative finger down into its haphazard clutter of knick-knacks, apparently thrown together by a hurried and careless hand, when from the other end of th

that darted out through the suddenl

of blue cheviot. But it was not his clothes that especially interested me. What caught and held my attention was the ugly, short-barreled revolver which was gripped in the fingers of his ri

he commanded. "Then throw up

band in the next room. And all the while she was guarding this unsavory-looking confederate who, ten to one, had be

me the impotent and undignified attitude of a man supplicating the unanswering heavens. The w

ried, "how did

he retorted ove

house?" she repeated, with a

u, all right, all right,"

watch from its pocket and with one quick jerk tore

lated, for that watch was rather a dece

hat it would be nothing short of suicidal to try to have it out with him then and there. I had to submit to that odious pawing and prodding about my

ot to the bone, as that insolent han

e. He looked up with a quick and bird-like side-movement of the head. It

her hand and tried to open this door. But as I had already locked it, and still carried the key in my pocket, her effort was a useless one. Just why it should enrage her confederate was more than I could understand. He ignored me for

me through it and brought the door closed after me. There was, I found, a key in the lock. Another second of time s

ran back for the key of the first door, tried it, and found it useless. At any moment, I knew, a shot might come splintering through those thin panels. An

d wood between the frame and the jam of the second door. I was about to pry with all my force, when the sound of yet another voice came fro

immonds?" deman

eant fresh danger. The mysteries were now more than I could decipher. I no longer gave thought to them. The first thing I wanted was

a floor, the click of a light-switch, and then the rattle of

er, I threw my weight on the rod and forced the lock. I still kept the metal ro

fact that his pajamas were a rather foolish tint of baby-blue. We stood there, for a second or two, staring at each othe

d," he gasped, wide

ied, "is this

etreating as I advanced. He suddenly side-s

your servants here qu

hem? What's wr

burglars locke

rgl

ice haul if they get away.

open a drawer. I saw that

nded, crossing the room to the

ulled on a brown blanket dressing-gown,

"Give me the gun, and throw on the lights as you g

ou do?" he

wung-to the door after me, and locked it from the outside. "Quick, the gun," I said.

you? An

time for an

answer, as I caught the pistol from hi

horrible, echoed out of the room where I had the two confederates trapped. It was

eyes, facing the locked door of the secon

inst the paneled wood like a battering-ram. Under the weight of that huge body the entire fr

room would suddenly erupt its two prisoners. Then,

d extraordinary and altogether brutal occupation of trying to beat in his confederate's head with the butt of his heavy revolver. He must have struck her more th

in the same high-armed fauteuil which I myself had occupied a half-hour before. I made a leap for her companion's fallen revolver, before she could get it, though I noti

on the floor, for neither man was any longer on his feet, and it wavered from one side of the room to the other, leaving a swath of destruction where it went. A table went over, a fragile-limbed chair was crushed, the grea

dressing-gown was more than I could understand. The madness of his onslaught seemed incomprehensible. This, I felt, was the way a tigress might fight for her b

In her eyes I seemed to see uneasiness and solicitude and desolation, but above them all slowly flowered a newer look, a look of va

f this, for the man enveloped in the sha

d. "Take the curtain-c

is tone prompted me to ask, as I strug

s Ho

at, but wh

d a month ago," was

know the woman?"

nd desolate face. It took me a moment or two to finish my task of trussing the wrists of the su

cried. "She's got a lo

puzzle him. There was no a

a comatose state, leaving him pale and helpless, as though her eye had the gift of some hypnotic power. It angered me to think that some mere accidental outward

"See what she's got u

though resenting my determination to dog

he asked her, without

r silence for

t last answered, scar

ey doing the

hem," was a

nt my letters?" wa

the dressing-gown turned and poi

him? How did

hen the door was unlocked. Or he may have come

the door

mmo

hy

he could

had its effect on the other man. He stared at the woman with sudden altered mien, with a foolish drop of t

" he cried, like a blind ma

the bound and helpl

the living God, I'll kil

t?" tempor

know

g his best to shrink back

y fault!" he

you l

rt figure fall away from his grasp. He turned, in a daze, back to the waiting and watching woman, the white-faced w

ch other. Before I could understand quite what it all meant

!" I heard her wail. And I coul

othing to be proud of, that I had been an idiot from the

ssian-squirrel bundle which I had placed there with my own hands. It was not until I reached the street that I realized, with a gulp of relief, how yet