Master of His Fate

ion and a

sphere drowsily vibrate with the volume of the strokes. The reverberation of the last had scarcely died away when a light, measured footfall made him sit up. It came nearer and nearer, and then, after a moment's hesitation, sounded on his own doorstep. With that there came the tap of a cane on the window. With thought and expectation resolutely suspended, Lefevre swung o

me in, Lefevre?

nge and distant, and bore an accent as of death. Lefevre was involved in a wild turmoil and horror of surmise, too appalling to be exactly stated to himself; for he shrank with all his ene

you, because I know you are a true-hearted friend, and because I t

is mystical and magical writers, that men gifted with certain powers could project to a distance eidola or phantasms of varying likeness to themselves: might not this be such a mocking phan

efevre, do you look so amazed and overcome? I

at length finding utterance, with measured emphasis,

ulius C

m of grief. It wrung the doctor's heart, as if in the person that sat opposite him

not endure to look again. "I am dying-I have been dying for a dozen years, and for a dozen years I have resisted and overcome death; now I surrender. I have

he doctor, still without looking at him, "though I am

make of you is small, but it may seem extraordinary,-be my companion for twelve hours. I cannot talk to you here, enclosed and oppressed with streets of houses. Come with me for a few hours on the water; I h

th. Then he glanced in spite of himself in his face, and was moved and melted to unreserved co

an't I do something for you fir

vre," said Julius, shaking his head. "You wi

touched with misgiving. He thought of Lady Mary-he thought of his mother and sister. Ought he not to leave some hint behind him of the strange ad

ou can easily get back here by noon to-morrow. There is a south-west wind b

irly embarked upon his adventure. It was only with an effort that he could realise he was in the company of one who had been a familiar friend. They walked towards Regent Street without speaking. At the corner of Savile Row they came

som be quicker?

count," said Julius, "th

re going forward while Julius sat down at the tiller. The waterman pulled out. The tide was ebbing, and they slipped swiftly down the dark river, with broken reflections of lamps and lanterns on either bank streaming deep into the water like molten gold as they passed, and with tall buil

clear that all had been prearranged for Julius's arrival; for as soon as they were on board, the yacht

ward," said Courtney.

incident gave a curious shock to Lefevre: it made him think of the mysterious stranger who had sat down opposite the young officer in the Brighton train, and it s

inting to a low folding-chair for Lefevre, threw himself on a heap of cordage. He looked around and above him, at

st and deadest-seeming things are vibrating, palpitating with the very madness of

speak cheerfully; "and you will take delight in it

trenuous tones. "I regret it deeply, bitterly, mad

found little to say: I can scarcely believe that you are in very deed the J

you, Le

this crisis, which I but dimly understand. Tell

derstand me; I am not going to state a case for diagnosis. Put

r physician as well as your friend. As lo

f I could retrace my steps to the beginning of this, taking my knowledge with me, then--! B

s; and I believe even that kind of outward conscience called Honour had scarcely existed for some of them. I had from my earliest recollection the nature of these ancestors: they, though dead, desired, acted, lived in me,-with something of a difference, due to I know not what. Let me try to state the fact as it appears to me looking back: I was for myself the one consciousness, the one person in the world, all else-trees, beasts, men and women, and what not-being the medium in which, and on which, I lived. I conceived of nothing around me but as existing to please, to amuse, to delight me, and if

Lefevre, "what you were like w

rowed for days alone in a skiff; I associated with simple peasants, and with all kinds of animals; I delighted in air and water, and grass and trees: to me they were as much alive as beasts are. Oh, what an exquisite, abounding, unclouded pleasure life was! When I was hungry I ate; when I was thirsty I drank; when I was tired I slept; and when I woke I stretched myself like a giant refreshed. It was a pure joy to me in those days to close my fingers into a fist and see the beauty and firmness of my muscles. When solemn, civilised people spoke to me of duty and work, I listened like

peakably the highest and most enthralling expression of life in all Nature. That discovery happened to me when I was in Morocco with my father, who died there-no matter how-among those whom he liked t

w that all activity, all the pleasant palpitation and titillation in the life of Nature and of Man, merely means that one living thing is feeding upon or is feeding another. I began to perceive that all th

pleasure is always more exquisite an

s quickly replenished my loss. I had revelled for some time in this deeper life of give and take before I discovered that this faculty of recuperation also was curiously and wonderf

"how did you get into

alchemists and sages of Spain, which my father had left me. It came upon me in a clear flood of evidence that Nature and man are one and indivisible, being animated by one identical Energy or Spirit of Life, however various may be the material forms; and that all things, all creatures, according to the activity of their life, have the power of communicating, of giving or taking, this invisible force of life. It furthermore became clear to me that, though the force resides in all parts of a body, floating in every corpuscle of blood, yet its proper channels of circulation and communication are the nerves, so that as soon as a nerve in any one shape of life touches a nerve in any other, there is an instant tendency to

re. "I have arrived in a different way

ith it. I am growing very tired," said he, abruptly. "I must be quick, Lefevre," he continued

ut of the half-drowsiness which the soft night induced. He was held

t the shallowest ebb. Just for one minute help me. Of your free-will

ter an instant's hesita

yes, which in the mysterious twilight that suffused the midsummer night burned wit

ur hand," s

a gulf of unconsciousness, from which he presently emerged with something like a gasp and with a tremulous sensation about his heart. What had happened to

that at the last I have troubled much the current of your life! Wil

fevre. "I am well enough

us, "but it will not last;

discovery. I saw before me a prospect of enjoyment of all the delights of life, deeper and more constant than most men ever know,-if I could only ensure to myself with absolute certa

fevre, turning away with

rly did not guess that no creature, no being in the universe-god, or man, or beast-can indulge in arrogant, full, magnificent enjoyment without gathering and living in himself, squandering through himself, the lives of others, to their eternal loss and his own final ruin! But, as I said, I did not think, and it was not evident until recently, that I injured any one. I had for a long time been aware that I had an unusual mesmeric or magnetic influence-call it what you will-over ot

xclaimed Lefevre. "I am a

are a doctor. But let me finish. I lived that life of compl

get weary of it

course, mere youth can never have,-an amazingly rich experience. I revelled in the full lap of life. I passed through many lands, civilised and barbaric; but it was my especial deli

ded; when they instantly cried, 'What is the matter with you? Have you been poisoned?' I rose and went and looked in a mirror; I saw, with ghastly horror, what I was like, and I knew then that I was doomed. I fled from that company for ever. I saw that, when the alien life on which I flourished was gone out of me, I was a worn old man-that the Fire of Life which usually burned in my body, making me look bright and young, was now none of it my own; a few hot ashes only were mine, which Death sat cowering by! I could not but sit and gaze at the reflection of the seared ghastliness of

f my body were becoming little better than a fine sieve. The last stage of all was this that you are familiar with, when my subjects began to be so utterly exhausted as to attract public notice. Yet that is not what has given me pause, and made me resolve to bring the whole weary, selfish business to an end. Could I not have gone elsewhere-anywhere,

-with your awful life-life which, as you say, was not your own, and your extraordinary secret-why did y

an myself, a person of supreme beauty and intelligence and faculty. She became to me all that Nature had been, and more. She expressed for me all that I had sought to find diffused through Nature, and at the same time she stood forth to me as an equal of my own kind, with as great a capacity for life. At first I had a vision of our living and reigning together, so to say, though the word may seem to you absurd; but I soon discovered that there was a gulf fixed between us,-the gulf of the life I had lived; she stood pure where I had stood a dozen years ago. So, gradually, she subverted my whole scheme of

uld only appear fit company for her if I refreshed and strengthened myself as I had been wont; but my new disgust of myself, and pity for my victims, made me shudder at the thought. What then? Here I am, and the

t. He sat convulsed with heartrending

s, "I must not take your

ve it you freely, for I wish you to live. You shall not die. By heaven! you shall not die. O Julius, Jul

science can do nothing for me: science has not yet sufficient knowledge of the principle on which I lived. Would you have me, then, live on,-pa

hall come home with me. I shall feed your life-there are dozens besides myself who will

d Julius. "I have steadily sinned

your sin, but I can find it in me to say, in the name of humanity, 'I forgive you all! Now, rise up and liv

force of Nature, which we have both studied, is not so great as mine. Let me tell you

life shall

life shall s

t death, which (who knows?) m

fevre, sitting down again with his head in h

I have beheld and known Nature's sole and perfect chrysolite. But I must be quick, my friend; the dawn will soon be upon us. There is but one other thing for me to speak of-my method of taking to myself the

great. Your perfect secret would be too much for me. I might be tempted t

rgument." Then his face assumed the white sickness of death, and his

itual secret as the world has not known for thousands of years? A secret that would enable yo

d-for myself, of transmitting nervous force or ether for curative purposes. Th

not altogether mine: it is an old oriental secret-that now I would hand it over to you for the good of mankind, that at the last I might say t

ct-as I believe it must be from what I have seen-I dare not

ple keep you from

er untoward it may be, ever keep a man from making his own? I

promptly; "and I daresay it is not so perfect

with it, Julius; you must

elf on his bed of cordage, "then th

ossible in mid-channel to descry either coast. The glorious rose of dawn was just beginning to flame in the eastern sky. Lefevre looked about him, and strove to shake off the sensation, which would c

eir shrill screams strangely softened in the morning air. At the sound of them Julius roused himself, and raised himself on his elbow to watch their beautiful evolution

all creatures full of beauty and delight, and then condemns them to live upon each other! Nature is the sphinx: she appears soft and gentle and more lovely than heart can bear, but if you look closer, you see she is

hus for some time, with one foot on the low bulwark of the vessel, till the su

have drawn into his flaming self, and consumed during the ?ons of his existence? It is ever and everywhere the same: death in company with life! And swift, st

s if wrapt in ecstasy. Then, before Lefevre could conceive his intention, his

er the world; moments grew to minutes, and minutes swelled to hopeless hours under the doctor's weary eyes, till it seemed to them as if the universe were only a swirling, greedy ocean;-but no sign appeared of his night's companion: his life was quenched in the depths of the restless waters, as a flaming meteor is quenched in night. At length L

on the publication in the papers of the news of Courtney's death by drowning, a solicitor called in Savile Row with a will which he had drawn up two days before, and by which all Julius Courtney's property

ed over his hands-"he must have known best when to put o