Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes

two impulses, the battle is lost and won before it is fought, and the fight is nothing but a sham fight. He wandered about the roofs; he went as far as the restaurant garden

aid he would go to bed again at once, well knowing that he would not go to bed again at once. He swore that he would conquer the overmastering

, and nothing of the interior was revealed save the fact that a light burned within. In the entire quadrangle, round which, tier above tier, hundreds of people were silent in sleep or in vigil, this was the sole illumination. Hugo leaned over the balcony, and tried to pierce the depths of the vast pit below, and those thoughts came to him which come to watchers by night in the presence of sleeping armies, or o

om beyond the drawing-room. It continued monotonously for a long time, with little breaks at rare intervals; it was rather like a parson reading a sermon in an empty church. Then it ceased. And there were footsteps, which approached the window, and retired. He noticed that the light within the room was being moved, but it cast no human shadow on the blind. The light came finally to a standstill, and then there followed sounds which Hugo could not diagnose-short, regul

nst the blind, he could enter and

hed the window. 'Why have I done this?' he asked hims

ed the silk-covered cord lying across the mantelpiece and disappearing over the further edge; by the side of the lamp was a screwdriver. Exactly in front of the lamp, on a couple of trestles such as undertakers use, lay an elm coffin, its head towards the mantelpiece. At

ther window, was a door-the door by which Camilla had entered that night a month ago; it was shut. His glance searched among the rich confusion of furniture-fauteuils, occasional tables, sofas, statuary, vases, cab

t to its massive and sinister presence, and the bright

f in the mirror, and again he murmured a question: 'Why am I here?' Then he listened attentively, fearfully. No sound. His hands travel

it. I must,

of them were difficult to start, but in due course he had removed them all, and they stood in a row on their heads on the mantelpiece. He listened yet again. No sound. He had only to push the lid of the coffin to the left or to th

e had known always tha

e who had been coveted by three men and won by one-for a few brief days' possession. Here lay the repository of Ravengar's secrets, the grave of Hugo's happiness, the dead mate of Tudor's desire. Here lay the eternal woman, symbol of all beauty and all charm, victimized by

ous of no sensation save a numbed and desolate awe. He had not begun to feel. Ledging the lid crossways on the coffin, he placed his hand gently upon Camilla's brow. I

spered, staring spe

falling on the shroud. They were his tears,

before experienced, he turned to leave the apartment as he had entered it, like a thief. But the mystery of the heavy velvet portière invincibly attracted him. His steps wavered towards it. He fancied he saw so

kneeling to examine t

looked up, and saw a sallow-featured man of about thirty-five in

ed the stranger eve

onies, as I do sometimes at night, and I heard strange sounds here, and as the

turn, and after examin

has no fr

an he i

ithin the last quart

hing can

n be done w

u are a docto

replied. 'Besides being Tudor'

de very quickly that your friend and patient is dead. I have always understood that to sa

g his short, bright, silky beard. 'The

tha

the inquest will show whether

have to be

es would give his certificate without a post-mortem, and

nthus

diagnosed. It is a disease of which there are no symptoms, in which the patient generally suffers no pain, and for which there is no treatment. Nevertheless, in my enthusiasm, I have diagnosed in this case

p!' Hugo

ed so young, artl

oldly. 'Is not a sudden death the best? Would y

hen one is dead one is d

u say little, you are no ordinary man. Can it be possible that you have lived so long and so fully and are yet capable of pitying the d

d find nothing else to say. 'I s

. She has been through sufficient to-day. Morning will be time enough for the futile formalities which civil

k best,' Hug

tuary chamber, 'will you oblige me by coming into the study for a while? I am not in the mood for sleep, and perhaps you are not. And I will admit frankly that I should prefer n

rom the relics of humanity, he began to roll cigarett

almost glacial calm the man concealed a

in?' said Darcy at length, when they h

atter what cost to his feelings, he would no

ach other, and each ble

die of?' Hugo

are, then,

lly, I

f typhoid fever

new

en more rife than usual lately. Tudor called me in at once. I am qualified both in England and France, but I practise in Paris. It was a fairly ordinary case, except that she suffered from severe and persistent headaches at t

unnatural voice, 'that typhoid mar

Oh no; but why

t I hope her face

hope her face was not marked

so Tudor brought the body o

nd he insisted on my coming

ne! Tell me, was he exp

ted anothe

ceiling. 'Who can say what premoni

from the balcony,' said Hugo abruptly. 'It

, writing.' He pointed to some papers on

ou hea

oming to find out what Tudo

I heard talking, and

king to himself. Did

I heard o

y emotional condition all day.... It is all very sad. Only a month ago, and Tudor was-but what am I saying?

her? In your quality of phil

istent,' said the philoso

and approa

n named Louis Ravengar?' he d

r scanned

mention the name, bu

believe you,' cried

theles

Hugo's strange outbur

. The first heralds of the dawn were in the eastern sky, and the moon overhead was paling. 'It wil

drawing-room, where the electric lamp was still ke

?' Darcy qu

een in love?' Hu

said

will understand. I must t

tly, and hurried out of the

or Polycarp called on Hu

he command of his own soul, and to adopt some definite attitude towards the army of suspicions which naturally had assailed him. Could he believe Darcy? He decided that he could, and that he must. Darcy had inspired him with confidence, and there was no doubt that the man had

gun by regarding the threats as idle, and that it was only later, in presence of Camilla's corpse, that he had thought otherwise of them. So

that Polyc

r his marriage, and before starting for Paris, and it contains a peculiar clause. Mr. Tudor had the flat on a three

to get rid of the tenancy at once

he flat shall be sealed up exactly as it stands for twelve months after his death, and that the estate shall be held by me, as executor and trustee, for t

ut

he flat-doors, windows,

rp, this is

all. It

the r

out the terms of the will. I thought that you, as landlor

go, 'I object. And I s

hat g

rd the right to enter at reasonable times in order to inspect the

hen? No court will give you leave to force an entrance. An Englishman's furnished flat

are so anxious to kee

I ask why you are so anxious to get in? Why do

to remain for a whole year in the

' Polycarp sua

curious that Polycarp should be acting for both Ravengar and Tudor?... Darcy? Were there not very strange features in the behaviour of this English

, guarding in some recess he knew not what dreadful secret,

d Polycarp; 'I may co

' Hugo replied

RT

PHON