The Mystery of Cloomber

e sake of effect. If, however, I have told my story with any approach to realism, the reader will understand me when I say that by this time th

tch of this tenant's bothy or the sails of that one's boat, when my mind was taken up by th

s, and beneath that tower this ill-fated family were watching and waiting, waiting and watching-and for wha

but when the woman whom I loved a thousandfold better than I did myself proved to be so deeply interested in the

ing to Scotland for some time. This was satisfactory to all of us, for my father had found Branksome such an excellent place for study that it would have been a sore trial to

nting my intrusion, but he had ended by taking me into a sort of half-confidence, and even by asking my assistance, so I felt that I stood upon a different footing with him than I had done formerly, and that

rting glances to the right and the left. I hoped that his daughter was right in naming the fifth of October as the turning point of his complaint,

lock up our former trysting-place, and though I prowled round the whole long line o

whom I supposed to be Israel Stakes, the coachman. There was no sign, however, of Gabriel or of Mordaunt, and their absence alarmed me. I was convinced that, unless they were under

all, hoping that I might be fortunate enough to learn some news of my da

emed to have come from a distance. He had a great hunch of bread on his knee and a clasp-knife in his hand, but he had

w that destitution makes men desperate and that the chain that glittered on my waistcoat might be too great a temptation to him

n ease which I by no means felt, "w

no means improved his appearance. His hair was grizzled, but his figure was stalwart, and his fur cap was cocked on one side so as to give him a rak

r some time in silence with sullen, yellow-shot e

own, but by the living thunder if another of them lays a hand on me I'll make him remember Corporal Rufus Smith! It's a darned

ldier so reduced," said I. "

one in it! Here I am nigh sixty years of age, with a beggarly pensi

nd ten a year would have been a nice he

neer, pushing his weather-beaten face for

where the trail of the gun went across it. What's that worth, eh? And a liver like a sponge, and ague whenever the wind co

the country," I answered. "You wou

have a shilling in my pocket I like to spend it as a shilling should be spent. I've fought for my country and my country has done darned little for me. I'll go to the Rooshians,

old soldier speak so, eve

f the bunch, but he's been snuffed out. However, that's neither here nor there. What I want to ask you is whether you've ever heard anything in this qua

to Cloomber Tower. "You'll find the avenue gate a little wa

ral Rufus Smith; for the instant that I pointe

ight foot to the ground once in every half-dozen strides, while he worked so hard and attai

come from a meeting between a man of such blunt speech and the choleric, hot-headed general. I therefore followed him as he hopped along like some

nodding his head in the direction of the Hall. "He's a dee

o keep a more civil tongue in your head if you intend to sp

hard nut to crack. But isn't t

racted by our voices, was hurrying down towards us. As he advanced he would stop from time to time and p

s afraid-and I know what he's afraid of. He won't be caught in a trap if

d waving his hand through the bars of the

ant! Come on! The coast's cl

neral, for he came right for us, though I could tell by h

eye fell upon me. "What is it you want, an

ible for the presence of the disreputable-looking vagabond beside me. "I found him on the road he

hen?" the general asked ster

trangely with the previous rough independence of his bearing, "I'm an old gunner in the Queen's service, sir, and knowing your name by he

ything for you, my man," the ol

dicant. "You won't see an old comrade go to the bad for the sake of a few rupees? I

keenly at the supplicant,

n gunshot of us. You ask me about it, and you'll see whether I'm lying or not. We went through all this when we were young, an

. "If you had been a good soldier you would never ne

amp, for the other was turning awa

round as if the words

'ye mean?" h

ass, sir, and I knew a man

undertone, and a malicious grin o

from the gateway, and his yellow countenance blanched to a livid, mottle

ho are you who k

tramp, "your sight is not as k

mpt wanderer in front of him, and as he gazed I s

he cried. "Why, it's

g it would be before you knew me. And, first of all, just unlock this gate, will you? It's

ling fingers. The recognition of Corporal Rufus Smith had, I fancied, been a relief to him, and ye

en wondered whether you were dead or alive, but I never expec

y money I lay it out in liquor, and as long as that lasts I get some peace in life. When I'm cleaned out I

round at me, for I was beginning to move away. "Don't leave us. You know something of th

looked round at me

s?" he said. "Howev

dly sinking his voice. "He is a neighbour of mine, and he

f anything, to increase th

he exclaimed, contemplating me with admira

l Smith," said the tenant of Cloomb

er me, and clothes to wear, and food t

k here, Smith, we must have discipline. I'm the general and you are the corporal; I a

height and raised his right hand with

ow I have got. As to brandy, you shall have an allowan

ndy, or nothing yourself, sir

the general

er now at your winning that Cross in the Mutiny. If I was to go on listening night after night to

nd up, as though afraid that hi

humble, to go to the bad, and if I did not acknowledge his claim more readily it was simply because I had my doubts as to whe

d the bones, but the obstinate fool would not let the doctors take it off. I remember him now as a smart young soldier in Afghanistan. He and I were associated in some

ord," I

ht perhaps he might have said something of old times. Well, I must go and look after

ected addition to his household, while I strolled on round the high, black paling, peering throug

the coming of Corporal Rufus Smith, which

y our intense interest in that family, and I have briefly touched upon the circumstances which brought my sister and myself into a closer and more personal relationship with them. I think that there

posite to his name. The good clergyman has, I fancy, put some slight polish upon the narrator's story, which I rather regret, as it might have been more interesting, if less intelligible, when re