The Dweller on the Threshold

y all alone air delicious feel rather solitary glad o

riday afternoon. The sender had paid an answer. The telegraph-boy was waiting

take four twenty train at

mpathy, he needed help. That was certain. But whether he could help him was more than doubtful, Malling thought. Perhaps, really, a doctor and the wonderful air from the mud fl

to Westminster, and ask

" said the fair S

r l

as gone into Kent, on res

professor had come upon her originally when making investigations into "second sight," a

ng. "Do you know w

is the Tankerton Ho

le-on-Se

Agnes," sa

omewhere Birchington way

ieve,

to himself, unscientifically, a

st joyously alert frame of mind that he bought a first-class t

ition did not satisfy him. But perhaps Mr. Harding meant to help him. Perhaps Mr. Harding intended to be explicit. The difficu

rters were calling. Only about twenty minut

t sight of the towering authoritative figure. Was it his fancy which mad

earty voice, but also with a genuine accent of pleasur

alling, as the

for a thing, one does n

nto a cove

t this bag. Capital! I have a fly

ended, Malli

friend staying here. Ha

ody-that is, no acqu

ept

ere!" exclaimed Mr. H

e. He's come down to ma

n't see

reet of Whitstable toward the outlying houses of Tankert

rved Malling, drinking it in almost li

e good. Don't

unded anxious t

every one good,

is M

den surrounded by a wooden fence, with the downs undulating about it. Not far off, but behind it, was the se

e the professor must be

presently and

e bag, please, Jennings. The room on

ain he seemed to be on the verge of some remark, perhaps of some outburst of speech, and to check himself only when the words were almost visibly trembling on his lips. In his eyes Malling saw plainly his longing for utterance, his hesitation; reserve and a desire to liberate his soul, the one fighting against the other. And at moments the whole man seemed to be wrappe

arding asked Malling if he

ll help us to s

r," said Malling. "Haven't y

e had better t

it met the brown land. In the distance, on the right, shone the lights of Herne Bay, with its pier stretching far out into the shallows. Away to the left was the lonely island of Sheppey, a dull shadow beyond the harbor, where the oyster-boats lay at rest. There were very fe

intly sighing sea, of the almost sharply pure air, of the distant lights gleaming patiently, or whether an influence came out from the man beside him and moved him, Malling did not know; but he resolve

regard to Henry Chichester?" he said abrup

? Yes-yes.

ight, that I think there is an extraordina

aid Mr. Harding. "And

sort of despai

kes you

cannot be oth

pau

d Malling;

t impossible w

indiscretion, as

leave St. Joseph's,

would not b

is. Chichester wil

ng the curate's remark in Horton Street, that perha

is head and fixed h

ked, suddenly raising his voice, as if under the i

e that such a man may

ld not

rolled back. It was now growing dark. Their faces wer

e," at length dr

you not

ester's departure from

if possible, the rector to speak, t

Harding almost murmu

e here that you migh

true.

he

helter. There is no one in

into a shelter, with

arding. "I am in great trouble, Mr. Malling, in great trouble. B

should say-tell me plain

s a curate to St. Joseph's. I was then a very different man from the man you see now. Often I feel really as if I were n

dy noticed seemed again to be stealing over

tion of health," said

e how i

n of power and ambition. I was a man who cou

e he spoke, as if frankness were t

ing to do with that,-I saw all the gates opening before me. I made a great effect in London. I may say with truth that no clergyman was more successful than I was-at one time. My wife spurred me on. She was immensely ambitious for me. I must tell you that in marrying me she had gone against all her family. They thought me quite unwort

ly," sai

She worshiped me for my immediate success at St. Joseph's. You may think it very ridiculous, considering that I am merely the rector of a fashionable London church, but there was a time when I felt almost

id Malling, quiet

n more his manner, see

rd

at that time,-in Oxford,-made some experiments with my college friends, chiefly in connection with will power. My influence seemed to be specially strong. But I need not go into all that. After leaving Oxford and taking orders, for a long time I gave such matters up. I feared, if I showed my strong interest in psychical research, es

ords with a sort of

e, yielding m

th that man, make of him just what I choose, use him just as I please.' And I turned my eyes toward the choir where Chichester sat in the last stall, hanging on my words. At that instant I can only suppose that what people sometimes call the maladie de grandeur-the mania f

gitim

ot legitimate. I know that now. And h

ench on which they were sitting, then, making a stron

He never dreamed of criticizing me. In his view, I was altogether above criticism. And if I approached him with any sort of intimacy he was in the greatest joy. You know, perhaps, Mr. Malli

ealed. By nature I suppose I had rather an incredulous mind. Not that I was a skeptic, but I was sometimes a doubter. Rather than faith, I should have much preferred to have knowledge, exact knowledge. Often I even felt ironical when confronted with the simple faith we clergymen should surely encourage, sustain, and humbly glory in, whereas with skepticism, even when openly expressed, I always felt some part of myself to be in secret sympathy. I continued to study works, both English and foreign, on psychical research. I followed the experiments of Lodge, William J

n of science-such men as Professor Stepton, for instance-to get at the truth Christians are expected to take on trust, as it were. I said I respected such men. Chichester agreed,-when did he not agree with

suade him to my secret purpose,-no other than the effort, to be made with him, to comm

ce. I gave him two or three curious works that I possessed on this subject. In one of them, a pamphlet written by a Hindu who had been partly educated at Oxford, and whom I had personally known when I was an undergraduate, there was a course of will-exercises, much as in certain books on body-building there are courses of physical exercises. I related to Chichester some of the extraordinary and deeply int

with me a series of secret sittings, in which I proposed to try to impart to him, to infuse into him, as it were, some of my u

unreasonably-that he must be entirely subject to my will in a sitting, and that if I willed him to be entranced, it was certain that he would become so. But my own entirely selfish desires I concealed under the c

artled, of course eventually fell in with my vie

spoken of my maladie de grandeur as if it were a reason why I wished to sit with Henry Chich

Malling, "and purposed la

at moments almost to an intoxication, and a desire for knowledge. I reveled in my power when preaching, but was haunted by genuine doubts as to truth. My egoism longed to make an utter slave of Chichester (I nearly always lusted to push my influence to its limit). But my desire to know made me conceive the pushing of it in a direction, in this

st End. I had no difficulty with her. She thought my many activities would bring me ever more and more into the public eye, and she encouraged them. The people in the

that it was right to approach such mysteries; but, as usual, I dominated him si

oped, he was immersed in reverie. Malling did not interrupt him. At last, w

are. Who can say? But though my great desire was frustrated in our sittings, the desire of Chichester, so different, perhaps so much more admirable than mine, and, at any rate, not masked by any deceit, began, so it seemed, to be strangely gratified. He declared almost from the first that, when sitting with me, he felt his will power strengthened. 'You are doing me good,' he said. Now, as my professed object in contriving the sittings had been to lift up Chichester toward my lev

different. Chichester was aware of all this. At the first sitting nothing happened, and I feared Chichester would wish to give the matter up. But, no! When we rose from our chairs late in the night he acknowledged that he had never known two hours to pass so quickly before. At following sittings there were slight manifestations such as, I suppose, are seldom absent from such affair

beneficent alteration in himself. I did not believe him, though I did believe he was absolutely sincere in his supposition. It seemed to me that he was 'suggestioned,' partly perhaps by his implicit trust in me, partly by his own desire that something curious should happen. However, still playing a part in pursuance of my resolve

t anger within me, I violently, at last almost furio

exactly the sensation that gradually overspread me; but it used always to seem to me, when I self-consciously exerted my will, as if I held within me some weapon almost irresistible, as if I forced it forward,

assert that he felt stronger,

inct, I suppose, became uneasy. I heard a warning voice which sa

happened, that perhaps he and I were not really en rapport, and that it seemed to me useless to continue them. I suppose I expected Chichester to acquiesce. I say I s

pocket, lifted the brim of his hat, and passed the

roposal, and that I found myself obliged to comply wit

s almost terrible in its sadness-"this was the beginning of what you have been witness of, my uns

ng for a minute or two, expectin

to comply with Chichester's will. Can yo

oral ground that I was benefiting him enormously through our sittings. As I had s

tain

stance, and troubled itself not at all with argument. Till then what I wished to do I did, and there was an end. I now for the first time found myself obliged to accept a moral bond

ime. And the strange, to me inexpli

adually but surely, till my former strength was his. But that was not all. With the growth of his

k out his handkerchi

ry, let us say, bad temper, hatred, fear, inducing trickery, perhaps, that other is turned toward just such evil manifestations in connection with that man. If some one with psychic force thinks all you do

ence, of my belief in myself. Often I felt as if an eye were upon me, seeing too much, far too much, coldly, inexorably, persistently. This critical observation became hateful to me. I suffered under it. I suffered terribly. Mr. Malling, if I am to tell you all

l. All self-confidence departed from me; but I endeavored, of course, to conceal this from the world, and especially from Chichester. With the world for a time no doubt I succeeded. But with Chichester-did I ever succeed? Could I ever succeed with such an one as he had become? It seemed to me, it seems to me far more terribly now, that nothing I did, or was, escaped him. He attended mentally, spiritually even,

from Mr. Harding's l

id you continue

spoke, and he just to

long

from them when I

inster Br

ceased fro

ted as if in ph

ashamed. "He constrains me to them. And is that goodness, righteousness? I

d not long ago, asked himself whether

er what grave distress he is

r, never!

y n

up between us. I could neve

criticize you in words? Does he never expres

er it is said or d

es

am in the midst of some speech. It is intolerable. Why do I bear it? But I have to bear it. Sometimes I exert myself a

notic

yields in some slight matter it makes no difference in our

do you

exclamatio

n that house, as if Chichester were the man regarding my life in hiding. Why you-you yourself put my feeling into words! You

. He got up

"I cannot sit here. Th

went forth from the shel

change in her. She is beginning to observe me through Chichester's eyes. Till quite recently she worshiped me. She noticed the alteration in me, of course,-every one did,-but she hated Chichester for his

your nervou

es

ind, or did you merely invent it as an excuse

er from time to time physically. But physical suffering i

thing should be taken carefully into considerat

owerfully concentrated. The feverish excitement he had b

ou that it was only by making a terrible effort that I was able to get away from Chichester's companionship and to come down here? If I had not said that I meant to do so while you were in the room, I doubt if I should ever have had the courage. T

should resign his curacy and go enti

go! Even down here, away from him for a day or two, I sometimes feel released. And yet-" h

th profound

e to go back, and I sha

chester may be as anxious as yourself to break away from

Mr. Harding-"have you

ever contempl

n, and the rector was

he said, evading the po

be induced to go

ever have the strength t

hest

lse might t

ied out M

n with a

ecclesiastica

inking of a man like, s

gently in the darkness; a short man, with hanging arms, a head poked forward, as if in sharp in

ofessor!" said Mall