Toppleton's Client; Or, A Spirit in Exile

les, brought him to his senses, I cannot say. Suffice it to relate that his stupor lasted hardly more than a minute. When he opened his eyes and gaze

reature, but as imperceptible to the eye as that which has never existed. The presence, or whatever else it was that had entered

half dozen times and given an occasional nervous whistle. "I don't deserve all that your glance

at the vase. "It appears to me that I am the object of sympathy this time. What the deuce are you, anyhow? How

be an apparition without appearing. I suppose you might call me a limited

nd a small boy, I suppose; is that it?" queried

ings which should be heard and not seen, I fancy your surmise approximates correctness. For my

nce as regards me and my office here; for, to tell you the truth, I am addicted more or less to heart disease, and

e large rocking chair in the corner by the window, which began at once to sway to and fro, to the undisguise

ng with you for heaven's sake trot it out. I can't ruin my eyes on you as you are now. Have you no office hou

ing familiar. "If you are, I beg that you will stop. What is

y true observation, as is borne out by the large percen

without my body is against me, I know, but that is a circumstance over which I have absolutely no control. My body has been stolen from me, and I am a

are an individual, ought to be able to find comfort anywhere. The avidity with which you have seized upon that chair, and the extraordinary vitality you seem to have imparted to its rockers, indicate to my mind that the world has about everything for you that any rea

never went there, and being a loyal British Presence, I should h

rm-chair, and he should happen to come in and sit on you, for I presume you are no more visible to Royalty than you are to Republican simpl

pained astonishment at the young lawyer, who was leaning gracefully against the mantelpiece. Then on a sudden the chair's attitude was relaxed and it ro

"is there anything too sacred for you Ameri

r feelings by joking about the Prince, I apologize. Though unasked, you are still my guest, and I should be very sorry

replied the spirit. "Livi

's what I can't understand. I have heard of men

u," said the spirit, weari

to the thieves? Do y

is round-shouldered, flabby and generally consumptive-looking. When I occupied it, the face was clean-shaven and ruddy. The hair was of a rich auburn, the hands milk white. The carriage was graceful, and about my lips there played a smile that fasc

Hopkins, his voice slightly tremulous with the sympathy he w

has gradually dropped away and left a hairless scalp of an insignificant pinkish hue which would disgrace a shrimp. My once happy smile has subsided into something like a toothless sneer; for my daz

cognized yoursel

rance scruples, to see myself given over to intemperate drams. I never used profane language. Last Friday I heard my own lips condemn a poor unoffending fly to everlasting punishment. But I want to tell you how this outrageous thing came to pass. I want to tell you how it was that in the very bud of my existence I was robbed of a suitable case in which to go through life, and I want you, with your extraordinary knowledge of the law, as I understand it to be, to devise some scheme for my reli

kins. "Do you mean to say that the present occupant of

ame person, and, stars above us, how he has ab

he took your name too?" pu

d thing I had except my consciousness, and he thrust that out into a cold, unsympathetic world, to float ar

amous," said Toppleton. "You giv

me infamous in the eyes of those I hold most dear; and the bea

isery bare to me, why can't you lay it before those

emember, it was not until you asked me who the devil I was, or some equally choice question of like import, that I began to hold converse wi

opkins. "So I can't see why you can't goa

e a bee line for the door, and raised such a hullabaloo about the 'supernatural visitation,' as they termed my efforts, that I couldn't do a thing with them. They've everyone of them, from

u can probably guess yourself how very unpleasant it is to be disturbed in your work by a whistle that emana

nd to be as candid with you as you have been with me, I will say that it was just

opkins, nervously. "But tell me how

re I was a pronounced Tory he has made me vote with the Liberals. Notwithstanding the fact that I was brought up in the Church of England, he joined first the dissenters and is now a thorough agnostic, and signs my name to the most outrageous views o

nswered. "It seems to me I'd commit suicide und

irit; "but the question

hoot yourself!

self? How? I haven't a pistol. If I had a pistol I couldn't fire it, because I've nothing to pull the trigger with. If I had someth

hird method?" qu

If I could get under water, I'd bubble right up again, so you see it's useless. Be

dear sir, I don't see how I can render you any assistance, so we might as well consider the interview at an end. Now that I am better acquainted with you I wi

by its horrible details that you would devise some plan for my relief. You would be less than a man i

remote. On the other hand he could not but reflect that, aside from the purely humane aspect of the matter, a successful issue would redound to the everlasting glory of himself and his partners over the sea-that is, it would if anybody could be made to believe in the existence of such a case. He realized that the emergency was one which must be met by himself alone, because he was thoroughly convinced that th

dispelled by a sigh from his unseen guest. It was the most hea

y you will unstring my nerves unless you get yourself a shape of some kind or other

I can get a shape,"

ook your shape do with hi

fore I met him," r

he added, addressing the spirit, "we'll run over to the Lowther Arcade and buy a form. If we can't find anything better we'll get a wooden Indi

ed he had him unfasten the door from the outside; then he and the

er in animated conversation with his invisible client. "E's' talkin' away like hall possessed, h

o which the spirit was able to enter, and from which it told its tale of woe, sitting, bodily and visibly, in the rocking-chair,

terwards, "and I was able to listen without losing my equan