Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes

ddenly-it was a year ago. I refused because I didn't care for him. I then saw nothing of him for some time. But after I entered your service here, he came across me again by accident. I did not kno

at else could he do? A man who wants to cultivate relati

alk like that, Miss Payne!' said

u may understand my position,' Camilla coldly re

g,' he urged, with

r agreed to meet him in some place where we could talk privately and at length, he should kill himself within a week. And he a

u decided

, and I called at his flat this afternoon alone. He was evidently astonished to see me

y,' sai

ople. After tea he left me for a few moments, in order, as he said, to give some orders to his servants. Up till then he had been extremely agitated, and when h

what?' de

t suddenly into a series of statements about himself, and about his future, and his intentions, and his feelings towards me. And these statements were so extraordinary an

ey-these statemen

and continued: '"Now," he said, "will

ugo, who observed that her

murmured Hug

greed to

se words she

should be so influenced by a man's-a man's acting, I woul

hese extraordinary statem

hoodwinked. If you have had no hand in this plot, don't ask me. I am to

o, smiling gravely.

uced this cloak and this hat, and so on, and said that they were for me! I was surprised, but I praised them and tried them on for a moment. You must remember that I was his affianced wife. I talked with Mrs. Dant, and prepared myself for dinner, and then

was a

t the end?' Hug

I was angry; I suspect you of some complicity. But I suspect you no longer, and I see now that the w

ou are wrong. Tru

a bit

she recommenced, 'and there I had my first shock, my

My det

rt, almost a novice in his vocation,

y bad waiter indee

ays in her room across the passage. Don't be alarmed, dearest." His tone reassured me. After coffee, he took my photograph by flashlight. He printed one copy at once, and then, after we had both been in the dark-room together, he returned there to get some more printing-paper. While he was absent I went into the housekeeper's room for a handkerchief which I ha

ise the men, th

he other, on the balcony, was your detective, I

plot was, Shawn

seemed very startled. I tried to appear unconcerned. "What is the matter?" he asked; he had gone quite pale. "Nothing," I said. "I only went to fetch a handkerchief." He laughed uneasily. "I was afraid you had thought better of it and run away from me," he said. And he kissed me; I was obliged to submit. All this time I was thinking hard what to do. I suggested we should go on to the roof garden for awhile. He objected, but finally he ga

ture,' Hugo murmured, loo

ut with a sort of artless

Hugo. 'How can I tell w

r continual effort to use ordinary words and ordinary tones like a garment to hide vivid sensations

hat occupied and charmed his mind was the exquisite fact that between him and her relations were now established. The story, her past danger, even her possible future danger-these things only interested him in so far as they formed the basis of an intimacy. He exulted in being near her, in the savour of her commanding presence. When he thought of her in his

ly, 'show me how you man

most window, and she stepped

figures of men and women who counted themselves the cream of London could dimly be seen walking about or sitting at tables; and the wild strain of the Tsigane musicians, as they swayed to and fro in their red coats on the bandstand, floated towards the dome through the heavy summer air. In the near distance the fantastic shapes of chimney-cowls raised themse

of the dome along by the roof-balustrade of the court of fountains-the route by which Camilla hersel

, I'm

t Shawn in a loud whisper, as he climbed breathles

behind a curtai

Hugo q

know where, unless she's got her

lumsily at that dinner, my boy. A bad disguise is worse than none. I must lend you G

was empty. The French window was open an inch or so, and I could hear a clock ticking as clear as a bell. Then Mr. Tudor toddled up, and I hid in the servants' doorway. Mr. Tudor went in by the other

rred behind

rom round the corner of a screen-a man much older than Mr. Tudor! And Mr. Tudor runs in again, an

ry came from Camil

go, turning to her

aw hiding behind the door. I fe

her hands

hear that name. What had she, wh

t you were in the plot

? W

you

is, and it was

see this affair to the end.' 'By the dagger' was a form of oath, meaningless yet terrible in sound, whi

the blessed window, sir. I couldn't

e flat instantly,' Hugo ordered

s,

he embrasure of the window

othed her. 'Stay here till I return

ightening herself; '

ter

with you,'

and so came to a second quadrangle, upon whose highest story the windows of Tudor's flat gave. Descending a stairway of forged iron to the balcony, they crept forward

te Empire chair had already been overturned. The dispute seemed to be interminable; each moment heralded a fight, but it is the watched pot that never boils. Suddenly Hugo became aware that Camilla was no longer at his elbow, and the next instant,

evolver,' Cami

he blind. And then the blind slipped down, and he could see no more. He heard a shot, and t

tative, came through the slit of the window and thrille

ed and a curtain drawn behind t

een her if she had tried the other.' And he ran to the small door, but it was shut fast. In vain he knocked and shook

he brea

a cat purring, and returned. The luscious music of the Tsigane band, one of the n

an footsteps on the balcony. T

and whizzed off in Mr. Tudor's el

men?' h

. She put this note in my