Toppleton's Client; Or, A Spirit in Exile

ully made up his mind that he was gone for good, and was about taking steps to remove his effects from Number 17, and gain an honest pen

ment to Mr. Stubbs, but he rose to the occasion when the long

ack. Didn't know what had become of you or shoul

id Topplet

d with you,-you've a fi

tural. I've been to Norway. The sun's bee

was all right with the room, sir?" t

" said Hopkins; "did you suspec

ked-er-so that in case there was anything you wanted, you know, it might be attended to

glad there's nothing the matter. It will take a very small per

" said Mr. Stubbs,

pener, and running it deftly through the flap of a comm

informed of your singular act on the Satur

ingular things on Saturdays, but what-Oh, yes! Ha, ha! That Coney Island dinner. Oh, bosh!-what nonsense! as if my giving the boys a feast were g

ay, "Come in!" Somebody had knocked, h

!" he cr

t, Toppleton discovered that his ears had deceived him. There was n

ted to practice in any court or country, that would be an embarrassment to say the least. It's queer though, about that knock. I certainly heard one. Maybe there is some telepathic i

riors, we have nothing to say. That is a matter entirely beyond our jurisdiction, but when you commit the

out of my own pocket, and never charged the firm a cent, even though it does indirectly reap all th

d which, in describing it afterwards, he likened

on't believe Morley feels badly enough about my behaviour for one of his sighs to cross the ocean and greet my ears, but I'm hanged if I know how else

s are mortal-made these days, and I'm not afraid of them. If there were anything supernatural about them, why didn't the air get blue, and

turned to

nations-that you cannot consent to be a mere figure-head, and that you considered it your duty to impress upon our clerks the fact that you are not what they might suspect under the circumstances, but a vital, moving force in the concern; but you may as well spare yourself the trouble of making any such explanation, since it will not be satisfactory either to myself or to the other members of the firm, with the possible exception of our friend Mawson, who, with his customary about-town manners, is disposed t

, a sound which was frozen in transitu, for the lips were no sooner pursed th

upon end. His blood seemed to congeal in his veins, and his heart for a moment ceased to beat, and then, as if desirous of making up for lost time, began to thump again

rug beneath Hopkins' table. The new sensation-the sensation of fear-had taken possession of his whole being, and, for an instant, he was as

ad enough to have an office-boy who whistles, but when you get the whistle

the bell and sum

peared, and then, returning to his desk, he sat down and mechan

paper into a ball and throwing it across the room

just as the agent entered, and s

you. Everything here seems to be bewitched this mo

sir, I assure you," ret

rring more to the journal than to the untoward act of the paper ball. "But I say, Mr. Stubbs, I

ly. The moment he

to b-be the m-mum-matt

n't wonder you stammer. You'd stammer worse if you had been here

surprise at this point

, sir?"

ent something or other that not only sighs and knocks on the door

s; "but I never heard any one complain

led an office-boy in this apartment, for whistling?"

ng of the kind ever happened," ret

tisfied with your assurance. But, Stubbs, to what d

ed Mr. Stubbs. "I fancy you must have

k and the sigh?" de

in the room above you must have dropped something on the floor, w

n the chimney, eh, Stubbs?"

rowing red where he had been whit

is no wind to sough through key-holes," retorted

leton had cornered him in a flimsy pretext, and

oceeded a smothered laugh-a sound which curdled his blood and left him so limp that

wo men gazed at each other in silence for a moment, the one e

o the conduct-as to the-er-the conduct of your room? It sounds ridiculous to say that, but there is no other w

sir, that nothing was further from my thoughts than mir

now not unmixed with awe. "You laughed as plainly as it is possible f

ering fearsomely over toward the mysterious corner where all was still and innocent-looking. "

bbs by the arm with a grip that made the

corner, followed by the mysterious whistle and heartren

ar, ran from the room, and scurried down the stairs out into the court as fast

ned the bolt, so that Toppleton was to all intents and purposes a prisoner-Hopkins exerted what little nerve force he had left, and pulled himself together again as best h

ng up his glance with one of the hand fire grenades that hung in a wire basket on the wall, which he hurled with all his force into the offending void. To this ebullition of hero

red bit of cloisonné standing upon the mantel, within which it had been Hopkins' custom, in his apartments at home, to keep the faded leaves of the roses given to him by his friends o

well that you are safe from violence there; but if you'll get out of that and

e top of the jar. "At last, after years of weary waiti

ankly at the jar, "for heaven's sake speak and explain yourself, if you do not wish

's pause, and then

ile-harmless and unhappy, whose unh

d Hopkins

e to intrust my aff

u a

" returned

s, clutched wildly at his heart, and

d fai