The Beetle: A Mystery

pected. It startled me, causing a moment's check,

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tural, though whether it was a man speaking I could not have positively said; but I had no doubt it was a foreigner. It was the most disagreeable voice I had

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se than undignified, it was galling; I knew that well. I resented it wi

r seen. It caught me full in the eyes, having on me such a blinding effect that for some seconds I could see nothing. Throughout the whole of that strange interview I cannot affirm t

nly his head was visible. He lay on his left side, his head resting on his left hand; motionless, eyeing me as if he sought to read my inmost soul. And, in very truth, I believe he read it. His age I could not guess; such a look of age I had never imagined. Had he asserted that he had been living through the ages, I should have be

so extravagant were its dimensions, and so peculiar its shape, it resembled the beak of some bird of prey. A characteristic of the face-and an uncomfortable one!-was that, practically, it stopped short at the mouth. The mouth, with its blubber lips, came immediately underneath the nose, and chin,

ome internal radiance, for they shone out like lamps in a lighthouse tower. Escape them I could not, while, as I endeavoured to meet them, it was as if I shrivelled into nothingness. Never before had I realised what was meant by the power of the eye.

oke the silence.

down the blind.' I obeyed. 'Turn round again

but in response to his. It was not I who willed that I should speak; it was he. What he willed that I should say, I said. Just that, and no

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a flame of scorn in his voice which scorched

t of a s

gain the scorn. 'Are you the sort of clerk who

not a

still,-he putting no constraint on me to sp

e it wa

come through a wi

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y throug

et-and cold-and

he had dragged them one by

you no

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on

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ien

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ort of a cle

rary engagement; the occasion which required my services passed, and I with it. After another, and a longer interval, I again found temporary employment, the pay for which was but a pittance. When that was over I could find nothing. That was nine months ago, and since then I had not earned a penny. It is so easy to grow shabby, when you are on the everlasting tramp, and are living on your stoc

was,-it is conceivable. His eyes had powers of penet

dre

nd. I obeyed, letting my sodden, shabby clothes fall anyhow upon the floor. A look came on his face, as I stood naked in front

n as white as that,-ah yes!' He paused, devouring me with his glances;

ich might have formed the stock-in-trade of a costumier whose speciality was providing costumes for masquerades. A long dark c

will find meat, and bread

s of what tasted like rye bread, and some thin, sour wine, in a straw-covered flask. But I was in no mood to criticise; I crammed myself, I believe, like some famished w

ack what is left.' I put it back,-which seemed an unnecessar

grew larger and larger, till they seemed to fill all space-till I became lost in their immensity. He moved his hand, doing something to me, I know not what,

light