1 8. THE. GHOST. GIRL. "The dentist. I told him to have his teeth out, every one of
them." "And then robbed him!" I enviouslyexclaimed. "Lord! If instead of a.
X I
V / r
Edg ar Saltu s
BON I ’
AND
L IV
E R IG H T
NEW YOR K
r/ Pu é l zI z e r:
L IB R A R Y UN IV E R S IT Y O F C A L IF O R N IA ’
DA V IS
T H E G H O ST
GIR L
I ’
T H E v ivi d clima x to N elly Chilton s wedding s tar But tl e d a metropolis long since used to the startling the spectacular terminati on o f the b e auty s marri age wa s commonplace by comp ari son to incidents that s u .
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ne d e r e v p
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In B il Sayers no v el The Ha lls o f Eblis many o f these in c idents are told The telling i s the a dmi rable work o f an admi r able wri te r Events are se t forth not as they did occur but as they should have oc c urred which i s the only way to tell a story In the p resent document th at p rocess h as been reversed Among those who sto o d w itness to the e v ents were Jim B radish and your se rv ant He and I ha d b een classmates at Harvard fellow students in foreign uni comp anions i n the pr o sceni a and side s c enes v e rs i t i e s of li fe We had tr a velled feasted and star v ed to gether I may say I knew him that i s i f o n e human being e v er does know another While i n Jap an a cable caught us His father was dead Bradish was a very ri c h man At the t ime I had or thought I h ad enough to go around a bundle o f bonds wi th which the trustee was di v erting himself When B radish and I re ache d N ew York he was a plutocrat and I was a p aup er I ha t e the alliterati on M ore h ate ful still was the fac t I have b e en a b out a bit and I know of no pl a ce ’
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T H E GHOST GI RL
8
where pover t y is agree able o r any place anywhere where it i s less agree able than in N ew York Along the gli ttering precinct i n whi ch my p eople had moved I was like the man who fell from the b alloon simply But not i rremedi ably Br adish did the o u t o f it obvi ous thing He did not ask he i nsisted o n b eing my b anker I t would I dare say seem very fine o f me i f I ha d b alked I di d nothing o f the kind I drew o n him f o r what little I actually required In t wo ye ars I was afl oat A ye ar later he was rep ai d I was wha t i s termed a best seller N othing to boast o f qui te the contra ry M eanwhile the glittering p recin ct wa s closed t o ' B ra dish also though ne cessarily not as it was to me I lacked th e money to walk in He lacked the courage In looking b ack at i t all now I realise w ha t I di d not recognis e then In a p revi ous li fe h e must h ave done something ve ry e v il What he had done only the keep ers o f the doors that clos e behind o ur birth could tell But whatever i t may h a ve b een he p aid f o r i t I have se en and what i s worse I have seen him see p eople shrink b ack op en mouthed from b e for e him Karma ha d plastered hi s face with a birthmark shap ed and coloured like a gre at scarlet spi der In spite o f which he ha d the gentleness o f a gi ant Afte r the lovable fashion o f a sundi al it wa s only serene ho urs o f which he took count In unphilosophic N ew York that i s always a feat I t is o n e though whi ch presently he ce ased to p erform M eanwhile I had pitched my tent in tha t loveliness that Harlem i s The tent was on the t o p fl oor o f wha t i s agree ably known as a walkup B radish hated i t ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
9
But he came there I told him not to come I told him I di d n o t want him I told him I did not want anybody I dle te ars Up the interminable stairs he stalked and pounded and pounded thre atening to b reak the door down When cursing the interruption I threw i t op en in he would tumble followed as o ften a s not by M ike o n e o f his m any servants a m e chan i ci an usually b owed to the ground with a hamp er o f aspi c and game wine and strong waters I n thos e days I was so o ut o f i t that I knew nothing except what I invente d But in B rad i s h s great white staring house ther e were always men to dinner t o supper to bre ak f ast f o r all I know to the contrary and the talk o f these men who knew wh at was going on and a lot that wa s not he retailed to me and i t wa s all so much fresh ai r Again and again i t supplied a si tuati on the s lang of the day the prompt retort I can se e him now si tting back drinking hi s ciga r d ri nking too hi s strong waters and i n th e orange light that spi der b arely visible Usually o f my low lamp a d ull brick i t wa s only in moments o f excitement that it reddened I t seemed then a living thing There ha v e be en times when I could h ave sworn I saw i t extending and contracting its antenn ae There h ave been others when i t se emed about to sp ring That though was later — One night i t wa s in the third yea r a fter o ur return — to thi s country and o n a night when i t was snowing like the very devil I he ard the usual upro ar It was the only way that he o r anyone else f o r that matter could get at me There was no telephone I ha d had the accursed thing removed M oreover i t was idle to r i ng l n addition to b eing ha z ardous Touch the but .
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THE GHOST GI RL
10
and y o u get a shock I had had a b atte ry put in for th at purpose To lead a p rofitable li fe o f crime requires silence soli t ude and a na t ural gi ft for vi llainy By this time that gi ft and those fortifications ai ding I was a flo at all sales flying i f I may b e p ermi t ted a stupid j est o n e whi ch together with everything else concerning myself I throw in t o b e rid o f This is not a bi ography he aven forbi d I t is the account o f a door closed and b arred and not mine either On this night f o r the first time I approached it It was wide op en s o wi de that all I saw were the vistas b eyond I t was not until later that I realised that t her e wa s a door there a door that was to shut itself shut tighter than a wall The night was vile There was a wind to blow your head o ff and I thanked fortune that I had ha d the forethought which I o ften lacked to larder up b e fore hand when I he ard Bradish hammering and revili ng me outsi de Sup erbly b e furred in a coat whi c h even a tenor might have deni e d himself but the coat apart dresse d a s h e usually was with that app ear ance o f the thre ad b are which i n a man o f large means i s always sup eri o r ly c orrect he stamped in ki cking and throwing the snow o fl on me a nd once in my worksh o p removing the coat which h e dropp ed o n the fl oor Then p u fli n g a bit he gre eted me ” “ Y o u li v e like a b andit On one o f my few chairs I sat down and looked at him ” “ What do you want ? “ M ore th a n I c an get M ore than I deserve i f I ” c ould get it to n
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THE “
Here
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I said
“ ,
GHOST GI RL
II
don t run in t o excesses
The liquor
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Y o u rememb er the ships c r o wded He waved a t me ” in Aulis like white birds ? “ I took i t i n and hande d it b ack But not the face that crowded them there I never s aw the lady and I doubt that a nyone else did I t all happ ened a long time ago and p rob ably never happ ened at all Any way be auty since then h as dep arted Succe s s w e l y women became handsome good looking pret ty N ow ” t hey think i t smart to b e plain It wa s a long speech and I lit a cigarette “ He fi dg e t e d about and li t o n e also You would not ” have said th at thi s a fternoon Informatively b e con “ t i n u e d : Aphrodi te never exi sted “ Good Lord ! I thought i t wa s Helen you were talk ” ing o f ” “ But she exi sts today “ Well I am sure Swinburne would be glad to kn ow ” it What i s her present sty le and title ? “ ” N e gl i g e n t ly h e strewe d the ashes M iss Chilton “ ” Oh ! I s a i d longly for even in my Harlem fast “ ness the rumour o f her b eauty ha d reached me H ow ” did you swi m into her galley ? “ ” B re v o o rt br ou ght her to see some etchings “ ” What di d she say ? “ ” N o thing “ Ve ry w ell bre d o f her Se e here ! The o r iginal Chilton was a p atroon was he not ? Or no he could n o t h ave bee n A lord of the manor that s it There is a Chilton M anor somewhere up the Hudson Didn t ” she say anything ? .
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THE GHOST GI RL
12 “
I t was her mo ther who di d the talking I asked ” them to dinner tomorrow You have got to c om e Well why n o t ? I thought for the turpi t ude o n “ which I h a d been engaged was done and I s aid : Send ” a car for me To my knowle dge he h ad six ca r s which i s only re a sonable and he may have had more which is not None the less he rebuked me ” “ Y o u act like a p rima don n a But he sent the car and I went The drawing room huge high ceiled frescoed fi t ted i n yell ow and black w as unusually b are to the foot t hat i s and I wondered a t it At o n e end fr onting w indows that gave on upp er Fi fth Avenu e were two rows of chairs At them also I wondered “ ” A camp meeti ng ? I sai d to M rs T re f us i s born a B radish who was there wi th her daughter The lat ter a prim d ébutante who could th row a car t wheel without displaying much o f her subs ur face garments Additio na lly were B re v o o rt a gay sort o f ass ! his sister Hilari a Va ux who was gayer ! other topnotchers — and Cally a physici an whom we called C agli ostro a pleasantry which secretely he lik e d and op enly re sented The best o f us have o ur we aknesses But a s yet not th e Chiltons Finally they came “ ” B radish introduced me Thi s i s Chandos Poole Mrs Chilton gave me her hand A tall woman a dmirably sent out she had an e asy way which I fan ci e d could be ve ry rep ellent and eyes fl at as a snake s Those e yes darted “ ” I knew your mother She t urned t o he r daughte r .
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T H E GHO ST
GI RL
13
“
D ar ling yo u have he ard me sp eak o f de ar Mrs ” Poole ? Prob a b ly the girl never had though w hat she re pli ed and whe th er she repli ed I have forg o tten I was thinking o f the sh ips crowded a t Aulis o n e o f which instantly fl oated me to Paphos where I stood b e fore Aphrodite when young and a girl Nelly C hilton had th e low Greek brow the i n e fl abl e Greek nose lip s li fted a t the c orne rs by the up turned comm a o f the Atheni an mouth buttercup h air an appl e b lossom skin and co rn flo we r eyes She seemed to h ave gems a b out her not that she needed them o r had them but thei r glow was there and with i t a charm tha t was overwhe lming M any a man wo uld have p ai d through the nose to be allowed j ust to stand and loo k at her ty is dodged i t and said Ari stotle asked what b e au ” “ A q uesti on for the blind I am not blind and I kn ew that I stood b e fore i t I t i s a rare sensati on Only once had I exp eri enced i t quite so amply and that — — w as when c o nsi de r ing t hrough fi e l dgl as s e s a land scape o f lilies and tigers But a t once we went on and in t o wh at I thought a v ery ordina ry dinner a sor t o f p o t o u f e u wi th wings to i t The wings were ortolans though wh ere and how the cai t i fl o f a ch ef had obtained them I a fte r ward forgot t o as k The room a sort o f b aroni al h all extended up Mi dway i t was cir cled by a gal through two storeys lery from which other roo ms a butted and from whi ch arrased tapes tr i es hung I neve r cared f o r i t b ut I pre fe rre d i t to the dinner whi ch in a d d i t i on t o b e i ng o r d i na ry was dull I f i t had ,
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TH E GHO ST GI RL
14
not b een for C ally i t would have b een deadly Occa s i o n al l y B re v o o rt fl a red a little and then like a damp pinwheel went out On one side I had the T re f u s i s gi rl “ Primly she remarked : Must b e j olly to write and do wh at you like to the heroines D on t you find it ” ni ce and e a s y ? “ I threw one o f my own cartwheels We ll hardly Thi s morn i ng I wrote a line This a fternoon I ” s c r at ch ed i t out I a m quite exh austed Up a bit o n the opposi t e side was Mi ss Chilton I s aw her laughing a t something C ally had said Any emoti on i s unb ecoming T ru e b e au t y i s austere Yet her laughter heightene d hers I t di d n o t de form it humanised I t li f ted her from mythology and set her down b e fore you an unsp oiled unaff ected girl From her I l ooked at her m o the r who was ta lk ing to Bradi sh no a t him After the manne r o f a woma n of her mo nd e and her ye ars she was c onsiderably m ade up B ehind the p aint and the slight contr a c tions at her eyes and mo uth I could se e her also a soul d i s i ll u — i a soul c ommon e hungry fa t igued indomitable s on d enough the soul o f a woman a t odds wi th fate and determined to ou twit it “ Voicelessly I s aid to my neighb our Is Mrs Chilton ” a wid o w ? “ He t o ok his h at and umbrella and no one h a s seen ” him since Sensible man I reflect ed At the moment from a cr oss the table B re v o o rt called a t Miss Chilton “ I f y o u w e r e not yours e l f , Who w o uld yo u d isli ke to b e ,
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T H E GHOST GI RL
1
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5
But that i s j ust i t she answered We aren t any o f us ourselve s We are all o f us masked and it is th a t I di slike I don t want a disguise I want t o be ” Me She spoke with little p auses in a husky M ayfair voice that was singularly fetching At the time that was all I noticed except th at B radi sh who had b een liter ally hanging on her words looked as though he could j ump straight down the thro at from which they came That i s all I noticed But there i s a Russi an s aying to the e ff e c t th a t li fe i s a dark room i n whi ch we are — shut in wi th an enemy the et e rnal enemy t hat we have w i thin us and from whom we h ave to fight fre e Afterward I r e called tha t saying and wonde r ed whether she knew it and ha d be en tr a nslating i t f o r us Yet how dark th at dar k room o f hers was t o b ecome s he co uld n ot h av e known N one o f us knew Bu t even then its shadows were gr o ping for her At the glit tering table in the gre at ligh t ed hall more p ar t i cularly n erhaps in the brilli a c e o f her incredible be au t y no p one could see them Yet steal thy ominous relentle s s , they were re a c hing for her re aching too for Bradi sh stretching out to cover them b oth to shroud them to hide them away Then at once eve rybody wa s getti ng up N o w though in the d r awing room th e cha irs t hat fronted the windows were oc c upi ed b y p eople ve ry su m p tuous a ll o f them and all convulsed by some p ri v ate j oke Fo r all I knew t hey migh t h ave b een the pic k o f th e so c i al b as k et Ye t suddenly pushing b a ck the chairs there they we r e cl appin g and singing k i ck ing up b e for e ,
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THE G H OST GI RL
I6
and behind while one o f them a r avi shing little animal tip toed out on the b are floor and danced Th e singing sank At the pi ano wa s a f at lady Still the girl danced not acrob atically a s I b eli eve t he fashi on wa s then but with wh at I ima gined might b e the fable d art o f Taglioni Presently with a b a ck ward gesture at her sp angled ski rt she stopp ed and bowed On her forehead one drop o f p erspi rati on glistened I did not s ee her again f o r a little and me anwhile a man with a l o t o f hai r and an afl abl e manner as k ed me for my hat hope d I h ad not b een careless enough to lose i t borrowed B re v o o rt s h andk erchi e f a squ are o f folded linen from which he shook out a shower o f orchids that dre nched M iss Chilton Then a t once the oth er sump tuous p eople tre ated us t o a farce o f which the fun was so good and s o quick that some o f us r o ared and M i ss Chilt o n laughed I could see her at i t and I th ought she should never do anything else excep t smile Fo r a while there a fte r smile she did no doubt and o f ten I da r e say i f only for the mere civility o f it but when th a t li tt le w hi le had p assed I never s aw he r smile again Pres ently there wa s a frisk and a f t erward ther e was su pp er Duri ng the frisk I delighted myself and I hop e the fat lady by two stepping with her B radish orang o ut an g o e d wi th the little ballerina But good chap that he was he put me b eside he r a t supp er a real old fashioned orgy a t whi ch we a ll drank too much e x cept the Chiltons and the T re f us i s who lo ng since h ad gone the prim d ebut ant e showi ng o ff to the delighted Ri al t i an s a tip to p car twheel as she went How youn g we were th eu i H o w yo ung and how mad ! ,
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THE G H OS T GI RL
I7
II B E FO R E me the next evening were the galleys o f my latest c rime However iniquitous the copy the proo fs were worse They were larded with microscopic feloni es which required the eyes o f a bug and the p a t i e n ce o f a philosopher t o detect yes and with the cer — tainty o f de fe at in the end yet I was attempting to correct them All a t once the ink shook all over i t An e ar thqua k e ha d j arred my elbow There was B radi sh again When I opened the re was C ally also “ With my usual courtesy I greeted them E n tre z ,
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can ai l l e s
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In mitigation B r adish gestured H e picke d me ” up in the street ” “ Mi s fortunes never come singly I resignedly t e “ ” pli ed They come single file and ask for a drink ” “ “ For t wo of em sai d C ally I ha v e be en dining ” at Duncan s After dinner he danced a p a: s e ul ,
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Fo r y o u ?
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We were then in the workshop where I got out spir its which I knew water would dampen C ally helped himself abundantly “ Some time since Duncan called me in He could not walk He could shu ffl e a bit and even tha t hurt Why he di d n o t know N 0 o n e knew He had ha d the indicated tests which indicated nothing He told me ‘ all about it told i t endlessly I sai d : D O a s I tell and in six months you will dance Tonight t he o u y six months were up He danced He danced o n the ” dinner table and broke i t down Pass th e bottle “ Wh at di d you prescribe C agliostro .
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THE GHOST GI RL
8 “
The denti st I told him to have his te eth out ” eve ry o n e o f them ” “ And then robbed him ! I envi ously exclaimed “ Lord ! I f instea d o f a hackm an I were only a physi ci an i It i s true I h ave b ankrupted a lot O f p eople and I hop e to bankrupt more But I do i t i n cold ink Y o u ” do i t in cold blood “ Y o u are having a good time aren t C ally nodded “ ” you ? Philosophically he added Well we all had ” one last night “ H e turned to B radish In sp ite o f the charm o f I have held and still hold that o n e o f your gu ests ” b e auty i s a survival “ Blandly he turned to me Where i s your tele pho ne ? “ Down stairs a round the corner t wo st re ets up ” a cross the way at the undertaker s “ B radish lit another cigarette Did you ever he ar ” o f such a chap ? ” “ Genius i s always eccentric C ally quite as blandly repli ed He was bland With a pointed be ard eyebrows tha t were a bi t upturned and a be ak o f a nose he had all the blandness o f M ephistopheles At th at be a rd he plucked Th en putting on his hat o u t he went The door had not c losed b e fore B radi sh was at me “ The Chiltons are c oming to supp er They are at the op era now with Mrs Amsterdam I told them to fetch her and that I would fetch you Y o u will like M rs Amsterdam Or rather she will like yo u She i s ” v ery ke en on good looking young bloods “ “ ” G o to the devi l ! I retorted Good Lord ! Mrs ,
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THE GH OST GI RL
20 “
H ome ,
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B radi sh told him
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and
n
ever mind
the
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sp eed law Whether or not M ike minded the law i s p erhaps unimportant but j ust a s we were appro aching th at home a fi re engine burst o n the avenue like a typhoon Incidentally a taxi was dodging i t and against that taxi another car b anged Already M ike had hopp ed O ff Adj acently gre at doors ha d opened Two servants o n e with the face o f a wooden mask and the other with the tre a d o f a ca t hurri ed down From the first taxi two women alighted ! from the second a man T he typhoon had fl own a far c hased by a nothe r But now we were all on the sidewalk B radish and I M ike the s ervan t s t he women the man and two highly abusive mechani ci ans H o w they p acifi ed them selves i s not a p art o f thi s document The women furred to the eyes wer e unrecognis able ! to me that is but n o t to B radish n o r ye t to the other man whose fa c e appeared to b e cut B radi sh meanwhile wa s doing the honours o f the p avement to th e women whom also the inj ured man addressed and I saw one o f them give him he r hand while the o the r a ff e c te d t o b e unaware that h e was a b ou t “ B radish called a t the wooden mask Peters show “ ” the ladi es in He called at the cat man Gedney “ ” se e t o thei r wraps He turned to the wounded You must not blee d to death Come i n with me and we will apply first aid My name i s B radish I s ee you know ” my gues t s “ ” They are relatives o f mine lightly the wounded .
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THE GHOST GI RL
21
“
man answered My name i s Austen But I have ” only a scratch Just as m any thanks to you though As he spoke he held his ha t on wi t h one hand and w ith the other p atted his fa ce Wi thout lingering to he ar more I went on and up the steps b eyond w hich events were lurking as they do lurk until they are re ady for us though without waiting until we a re re ady for them which only the sage ever i s Yet a s I look b a c k now I can see that even then they were gathering prep ared to pounce In the yellow and black room I found the Chiltons found too that I was in no immedi ate danger Mrs Amsterdam was not there ” “ Is he c oming in ? M i ss Chilton asked Without knowing to whom she re ferred I told her o f course he was ” “ “ It is strange the b eau ty continued I am fated to b e i n an accident I t i s in my horoscop e But i t is v ery wrong t o b eli eve in tha t The Church forbids i t It i s among the secret things and secret things ” the Bible te aches belong only to the Lord I n sp eaking she crossed herself I was profoundly as t o n i s he d but I hop e I did not show i t ” “ “ None the less she continued when I s a w that gre at mad th ing rushing a t us I “ ” The typhoon you mean ? I put in “ ” Typho o n ! What typhoon ? Mrs Chilton surp r is e d l y called at me But B radish was e ff ecting his entran c e and she turned to him “ Sorry about Laur a Amsterdam She th r ew us ” over .
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THE GHOST GI RL
22
”
“
The point i s Bradish with some gallantry repli ed “ ” tha t you are here and shortly your relative will b e ” “ Relative ! Mrs Chilton in the s ame surpri sed “ ” manner exclaimed What relative ? “ Bradish moti oned A M r Austen who i s slowly ” recovering from a wound that might have been mortal M rs Chilton motione d also The gesture though slight contrive d to b e emphati c It reduced any re l at i o n s hi p to nothingness “ Nonsense ! Some o f o ur p eople were related ages ago I f i t comes to that eve rybody is related to every ,
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b o dy f
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Now though in the wide doorway he too appe ared The sp aciousness framed him disclosing the portrait o f a man young tall virile abominably good looking with an air curiously and attractively insolent From hi s face the blood had gone A strip o f court plaster replaced it “ ” Aunt M ary he leisurely remarked at Mrs Chil “ ton I f that brute o f a taximan o f mine j arred you ” ever so little yo u know I regret it What a crammer I thought Fo r i t was not regret tha t his face expressed i t was impudence I t was a s “ though he were telling her : See here now I am and ” shall b e one t o o many f o r y o u But as I am n o t writing fiction I may admit tha t that interpretation came to me not then but later when I thought i t over Yet though I still think the inter re a t i o correct I k ow he was wrong He was not t n n p one too many for her She was o n e too many for him Yes and fate wa s too many f o r both M e anwhile we had all gone in to supp er B radish had Mrs Chilton a t his r ight and a t hi s le f t th e ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
23
beauty next to whom Aust en suc c eeded in seating him self I sa t next to M rs Chilton who thoughtfully and generally remarked : “ I t is too b ad about Laura Amsterdam She would ” have made the table even But she me an t that it was too b ad about Austen Without him the table would have been evener I took that in with some pheasant that had been cooked with oranges and almonds in madeira and te a and though that o f course is the only way that a phe as ant could b e cooked yet I felt tha t the caiti ff below stai rs was improving While I was savouring i t I glanced over a t the beauty who was talking to Austen At the moment she again suggeste d Aphrodite and I m arvelled at this p aradox in fle sh and blood who looked like a p agan goddess and talked like a medi e val s aint Yet though the mythologica l qu ali ty persi sted i t seemed s ub l i mated then by something else by j ust what I could not immedi ately determine bu t in a moment I did In her eyes there was a glow in her voice a caress and it seemed to me that the be auty was in love pro foundly in love I imagined and I wondered with whom When finally I nailed the lucky devi l i t was without any applause for my o wn acumen “ ” You do nothing but eat B radish threw a t me “ ” “ Yes I threw b ack But I think when I e at and just n o w I was thinking o f an ideal repast which we once enj oyed and which was composed o f Chrys an t he ” mum soup and the maxims o f Confucius “ ” “ And dolphin too Bradish put in D on t forget ” the dolphin ! ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
24 “
”
I neve r heard o f such a thing Mrs Chilton re “ exclaimed A dol s um i n g her surpris ed m anner ” phin ! How wa s i t cooked ? “ ” With vari ous sauces and condiments I told her “ — Y o u know the adage Sweet are the j ui ces of diver .
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s i ty ?
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No she determinedly replied I do not know the a dage and now that I h ave heard i t I dislike i t ex ,
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Yes sai d B radish I t is very p ainful But I did n o t prop ose to b e snubb ed and I took it up again “ Everything th at has to do with eating i s p ain ful E ating takes away your app etite I h ave always loved ‘ the bishop who s ai d : God bless o u r home and damn o u r cook ” “ But not Mr B rad i s h s cook Mrs C hil t om wi t h “ the same determinati on retorted Last night th e dinner was p erfect and tonight the supper is p l us q ue ” r a t ! D arling a i p f She looked at her daughter and turned to B radish “ ” We must b e going She added something which I di d not he ar Then ” “ she rep eated i t D arling ! Presently when they were again furred to the eyes and we were putting them in B rad i s h s car I could not se e Mrs Chilton s face though I would have given a dolla r for the privilege U n re bufl ab l y Austen o in with them t g I t was some time b e fore I s aw him again o r the Chil tons ei ther When I di d see them a door was closing and b eyond was a Sphinx ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
25
III
I T must have be en a fter two when again in Harlem I went up the interminable stai rs On the way I was thinking O f that girl and he r undre amed o f b eauty As I began at the fi fth I saw what I took to b e an old w oman huddled o n the landing opposi te my door Bu t as I a dvanced she stood up I saw then she was n o t old but young and immedi a t ely as I approached her I could not help i t I started and ne arly slipped Then I raise d my hat I t was Nelly Chilton ! Why was she there ? How ha d she come ? What did she want ? And where had she got a hat and where had she changed her furs ? Where for that matter had she changed her expressi on ? At supp er it ha d been alluring N ow i t was reserved My b ewilderment must h ave be en very mani fest In any event a t once s he spoke Wi th an intonation slightly foreign she said something I he ard but I did not hea r understandingly That also she must have seen She spoke again “ ” Could you without inconvenience loan me a chai r ? I did get that and inanely I p arroted it “ ” A chair ? “ She indi cated an adj oining door I have lost my ” key Until morning I am a vagrant And an exotic I thought for alre ady I had recog n i s e d my mistake “ ” You are qui te right Th at i s what she sai d and I started again “ “ ” Ab out wha t ? But rallying I resumed ! I h ave fi v e chairs I have even six but the sixth i s broken ” Y o u shall have whatever disple ases you le ast ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
26
I opened my door switched the light in the hall and t urned to her She entered and followe d me in t o the workshop whe re I again swi tched a light As I looked a t her then she sniff ed much as a ter ri er will and catalogu ed me ” “ You are a litera ry man “ N o I write for the maga zines There i s nothing ” less li terary than that Wi ll you try this chai r ? As I sp oke I looked again In fe ature in colouring her resemblance to N elly Chilton was c uri ous There it stopp ed Similarly dressed and seen across a room one could not h ave told them ap art A ne arer vi ew di ff erenti ated Nelly Chilton looked like a goddess and talked like a saint Thi s young woman looked like a p rincess and as I presently discovered talked like a sibyl Th e other gi rl s b eau ty was p agan Thi s girl s Otherwis e except in height and figure n o t was no b le a pin to choose b e tween them “ We are not the s ame are we ? I n the hall I saw ” you mistook me for her In p rivate li fe i t was a bit wei rd “ Immedi ately she added : Mi ss Chilton and I move in di fferent spheres but re cently I came in contact with her We both noticed the resemblance I t seemed ” to amuse her “ ” “ Well I ll b e sho t ! I exclaimed C ertainly you ” a re very gi fted “ ” “ Un fortuna tely gi fted she corrected Telep athy ” ha s its disadvantages ” “ And its comp ens ati ons “ Occasionally a s in the p resent instance I know ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
28
”
“
term i s used and ha d seen S l n CC she was a child when it p erplexed and annoyed her p arents She had a b rother who di ed Afterward she played with him Once when he was in a chair her fathe r sat o n him She scre amed and hit her father and h e puni shed her Afte r that the talent was hid in a bushel for it “ ” Since then i t h ad dimini shed But she could still see at le a st a little So she expla ine d and I asked what she s aw in M iss Chilton “ I n her ? I t would b e h ard to say But about her ” I s aw darkness thick darkness and a light beyond “ How did you see that ? I me an how does anything ” o f the kind come to y o u ? “ Very much a s though I were lo o king through th e ” wrong end o f the op era glass ” “ And ho w do you interp ret darkness ? ” “ I t s a symb ol I t means illness mis fortune de ath “ I s at b ack Yes and with the light b eyond the ‘ symb ol i s cle a r Li fe i s death in a land o f darkness D e ath i s li fe in a land o f light “ ” “ Very be auti ful she s aid and prob ably tru e ” Whose i s i t ? “ I t i s from the song o f the singer going o ut from ” Amenti “ ” Amenti ? “ The Egyp ti an purgatory There the disemb odie d wer e j udged I f they ha d h armed no he art i f they had made no o n e weep i f they had n o t talked abun da u tly i f they ha d not b een anxi ous harpers took up the song they were fre e From the land o f darkness ” they p assed to the land o f light From my re c i tal o f antiqu e sins she turned I ,
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
29
could see her looking about noting the absence o f arti cles o f virtu e Presently she sai d and I thought ap provingly : ” “ Y o u a re clockless “ Yes and watchles s also Br ain workers should b e Watches and clocks presuppose things to b e done ap amusements to b e endured e n t s to b e kept n t i m o p They presuppose punctu ality which is the thi e f o f ” time She was good enough to agree with me From time we p assed to sp ace We talked o f every thing i n the universe except Einstein s theory o f i t w hich would h ave been p remature Altogether we talked for five hours N ever but once be fore had I talked so long to a woman and o n that occasi on I kept saying the s ame thing over and ove r again Ulti mately the sun leered in I t leered groggily a s though i t had been making a night o f i t and asking her p er mission I le ft the room went o ut and around the cor ner ferreted about unear thed a locksmith brought him b ack set him to work and with the key th at he made returned to he r Her arms were on the table her hea d was in them her ha t on a chair Sleep had sunk her i n its deep lagoons In the street I had become a b ea st of burden lad ened with cre scents uns alted butter fruit cre am — These I took to the kitchenette horrible word where I made co ff ee While the pot was boiling I arranged a tray T o emb ellish the tray I t ook from the b ack corner o f the cupboard s top shelf a S evres cup that had come down to me wrapp ed in tissue p ap er Other things th a t h ad c ome wi t h i t h a d gone w i th th e diverted b onds ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
0 3
On that e arly morning with the tray and i n evening clothes I must have looked like a waiter when rising from those lagoons she looked up The exp erience o f awaking in the rooms o f a stran ger must I thought b e a novelty t o her and I wondered how she would act Whatever she di d would b e so much copy But there she routed me I ha d put tha t cup b e for e he r She took it held i t her he a d went b ack She seemed to b e considering the ce iling But presently “ A large room A man with a white b eard A li ttle boy in blue The o l d m an i s drinking from a cup The little b oy i s sh o wing him a wooden horse p ainted yellow From the c eiling her eyes turned to me “ ” This is the cup Who are the pe ople ? Dumb founded I stared Wh at else could I do ? For a s I told her the o l d man was my grandfather and I the li ttle boy But thi s i n t imate demonstrati on o f psychometry which i s the r arest and most curi ous o f gi fts o n e tha t enables the gi fted to tell from an O bj ect where the O bj ect has been and what occurre d there this miracle astounded me and I told her tha t also She too k i t lightly with a light smile Then at once she presiding we fell to The promenade around the corner and b ack had converted me into a hyena I a te enormously growling a little as I suppose hyenas do yet only at my o wn forgetfulness I had omitted to fetch flowers But then praise God it was n o t eve r y day that I breakfa sted with a b e auti ful sibyl I t would h ave b een too dis tur b ing ” “ You live alone ? I a s ke d ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
3
1
A f ew hours b e fore I had thought her face noble and reserved Over the co ff ee pot i t proj ected an i n t e ri o r radi ance a glow clear and define d as mothe r o f pearl “ ” “ N o not alone she answered I h a ve a fr i end ” Signor M atouchi Some op era singer I thought ” “ He ha s the most ferocious whiskers you ever saw “ she adde d and he will b e sure to bite me i f I do not ” hurry ” “ Oh ! I s aid inanely relieved for wha t business “ was i t o f mine ? Well give him my love and p erhap s ” you wi ll let me add a saucer o f cre am She thanked me ga thered her h at and cloak to o k the key thanked me again I s aw her to the door where I gave her the cre am and where I heard Signor M atouchi meow After which I went to bed slept pr o digiously and woke from dre ams o f a mime I h ad wanted i f p os Fo r days he had haunted me sible to produce something less ordinary than ordinary fiction and I had thought o f doing a p antomime and o f calling i t T he C ha t t e rb o x though as I look back now I think the title came first and the ide a o f a p antomime c ame late r Wha t better title I youthfully reflected could a dumb s ho w have ? The galleys o f my last iniqui ty o ut o f the way I got at i t Ex c ep t to the amateur the getting at anything o f the kind is a form O f labour hard as a bricklayer s much more engrossing and fa r less use ful I t held me with invi sible thre ads that were firmer than rope They b ound and gagged me rendering me as the -
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3
GHOST GI RL
T HE
2
op i ates o f cre ative dre ams do rende r one unfit f o r human comp ani onship I did not forget the sibyl Twice in the h a zards o f h all and stairway I saw and saluted her but though indulgently she a sked me I did not return her vi si t I di d not forget B radi sh but I ha d other fish to fry There were e arthquakes Hermetically I ignored them Q ue di a hl e ! When I am not at home I am out Only a volcano could h ave erupted me M e anwhile I dress ed T he C hat t e rb o x M arch went Apri l came There were skies O f silk all the surp rises and surr enders o f spring b e fore I got up from i t ,
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IV T H A T day with a do z en v i olets in the lapel o f a coat that still sai d S avile Row I went j unketing not on Fi fth Avenue where the ornate used to stroll and where they stroll no longer but to the e ast o f upper M adi son wondering whether I might not happen on some fl a t less leprous than the walkup Yet as I look b ack now I am sure the j unket lacked conviction M ov ing the French say is a little death But in that sense all N ew Yorkers h ave the ir minor decea se s and it wa s in trying t o incline my he art that I wandered through thick streets thi n streets streets o f gloating windows streets o f O bvi ous disqui et streets o f unaccountable beings until finally entering o n e that se emed pregnant with obscure calamiti es I happ ened o n a house that ha d a Le ah like ai r o f desertion On i t a sign informe d me that an ap artment with all conveni ences was to let and I was c onj ecturing thes e ,
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
con v eniences when e re a p
d
33
from the entran c e Austen ,
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Instantly he ama zed me ” “ I was just thinking O f you I stood and looked a t him Soberly and admirably dressed he was the p ortrait o f Aramis i n modern c lothes ” “ Are you busy ? he a sked ‘ B rummel s retort slid from me Ants and p eople in trade are busy N e v e r a sk a gentleman that H e took it with grea t good nature “ ” Come in and let me o fl e r you a sherry and b itters I di d not want hi s sherry and b itters I t was the sign and the c onj ectural c onveni ences tha t tempted m e a nd I followed him up two flights t o a landing where t hrough the op en door o f an emp ty fl at I b eheld a scrubwoman Le ah I t old mysel f Adj acent was a p ar allel fl at i nto which he showed me and then into a room tha t h ad an air careless and insolent a room tha t resembled him excep t that i t wa s less well dressed There was a sidebo ard a table co v ered with a drooping green cloth the usu al cha irs a bookcase a green sofa and a cupboard wide op en in which coats were hanging fur co ats motor co ats ra in coats top co ats coats for every season and it may be O f every colour H e closed the door o n them rang and at once as though sprung from a trap a civil faced gnome app eared “ Shall i t b e a cocktail ? Or would yo u pre fer “ ” A drop o f Polly i f you have it I told him “ ” A bottle o f Apollinari s h e sai d t o the gnome who seemed to p roduce i t at on c e .
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THE GHOST GI RL
34
”
“
Look here Poole he continued as the servant di s “ app eared I h ave b een wanting to call o n you but I could not di scover where you live You are a memb er o f the Buck a ren t you ? I stopp ed i n there yeste r day and asked the doorkeep er Of cours e he would not tell me but I thought i n asking that I might find ” you there ” “ Th e fl at next door i s to let i s i t n o t ? I app ro l i t e enquired a r p y “ Yes o r rather no I t was to let but a man I know ” has taken it H ave a cigarette ? We were se ated at th e table across which he sho v ed a case I help ed mys elf and he got b ack at me “ ” Wh at I wanted to se e y o u about i s Bradish ” “ “ Hello ! I exclaimed How i s he ? I h ave not ” seen him in a hundred ye ars Wh at s w rong wi th h i m “ ” He is t o o con foundedly rich ” “ “ ” Yes I sai d i t i s dis gusting “ He ought not to b e ro aming a round loose I want ” him to keep o ff the grass Wh at grass he me ant I did n o t know but the e f f ro n t e ry o f it was b e auti ful and I s ai d as much “ ” Then why don t you tell him s o ? “ There yo u a re ! I f I did h e would b e i n a positi on t o tell me t o go t o the devil and I would h ave to swallow ” i t Y o u know M rs Chilton ? “ I drank the Polly Well enough to b o w i f she ” bowed first “ Here i t is then She wants to make a match b e tween him and her daughter and “ ” I don t s ee that that i s any business o f ours “ I t i s my busin ess at any r ate and a s a fri end o f ” hi s I think i t is yours ,
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T HE
6 3
GHOST GI RL
“
You mi sunderstand me H e i s no t the man for Mi ss Chilton I don t mean b ecause o f his u n f o rtu nate appe aran c e I f he were Ph oebus Ap ollo i t would b e qui te the s ame He does not app e al to her not in the le ast But her mother i s so j ockeying her that she may run her into i t In that cas e what sort o f an ” existence can he expect to le ad ” “ He h asn t told me “ I sn t i t obvi ous though ? I may b e in e rror but ” I ll wager he i s as m ateri al as they m ake em “ ” S o am I “ ” Grace fully he yi elded it I fe ar I am also ” “ Well then ? “ But M iss Chilton i s jus t the opp osite M iss Chil ” ton i s a s spi ritual as he i s the reverse Fo r a cite d b e au t y a b eauty o f her typ e and b eadi ness that ordinarily would h ave b een a bit thick Yet I knew i t to b e true In her face were raptures There were lili es in her thoughts But that did not help matters Even otherwise the ma t ter di d not co n c ern me and I got up t o g o He too got up “ Put i n a word Poole Y o u will b e d o ing him a ” good turn You mean I will b e doing you one I thought for I saw through i t then But he laughed or a ffected to laugh and added : “ I don t pretend t o know B radish but I do k now ” M rs Chi l t on and tha t i s enough H e s ai d i t a s h e went with me to the door where he thanked me and s aw me out On the landing Leah stood a p ail in one hand a mop in the other .
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
37
As I went down the stair I little dre amed in what curi ous and tragic ci rcumstances I was to recall having seen her there Wh at occup ie d me was my lucky sque ak By n o t more than a hair I had missed having Austen for a neighbour He would have been way laying and buttonholing me till I di ed Ye t as I a fterward recognised it was fate ful f o r him and n o t only for him but for all concerned that he had buttonholed me at all I made straight for B rad i s h s house ,
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S I N C E then in looking b ack there h ave b ee n mo ments when i t seemed to me that tha t moment was pivotal that o f all that a fterward happened I was then the di rect agent There h ave been othe r moments when it seemed to me t ha t i t must all h ave happened anyway The latte r vi ew i s the more reasonable the former more ambitious As yet I have made no choice Even wh en the servant told me that Bradish was not at home even then i f I ha d gone away the cours e o f events must h ave swerved though i t i s p rob able that sooner or later they would have reassemble d in their designed combination The o l d ide a o f the spi dero n s fates that sit and spi n i s picturesque as any allegory should b e But b ehind the curtain forces which we ourselves have created play o n us and o n our lives The fates that sit and spin are o u r own fingers The sp ell they cast i s destiny self made These v i ew s certainly sup erfici al came to me long later At t he moment I h ad turned to go B efore me on the p avement a man p assed and nodded T hat ,
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
8 3
was the p ivotal moment The tr ivi al incident arreste d me and telling the servant I would wai t I went on and in to the libr ary Former B rad i s he s h ad been intensely resp ectable and equally dull They were what I beli eve wa s called strict Presbyteri ans Up stairs in the rooms that ex tended from the gallery some o f their remains were covered with hors ehai r In thi s room o ther r emains survived — a cal v an i s t i c table stern a severe c arp et bookshelve s str aitlaced chairs I n a corner was the ugli est pi ece o f statuary I ever saw On the table was the biggest and ugli est inkpot ever made Fr o m a wall B rad i s h s father looked down ve ry much I supp ose a s he ha d looked at these things when they all lived with him in Wa shington Squa re M ore over i n an adj oining room that gave o n the s t re e t y we re other felici ti es The adj oining room through which o n e ha d to p ass to reach the libra ry wa s the r e al cham b er o f horrors There B radish received ti resome p eople lawyers agents and the like Why with all hi s we alth he re ceived them at all ! why h e s tuck to the damning evidence O f ancestral taste these were mys t e ri e s from which I shra n k But i t was not all horror On this day in that libra ry I found an o l d fri end who always h a d something new to s ay in which h e di ff ered vastly from other p eo ple of my acquaintance Hi s name is Hugo s S hake s The p age s turn to the sound of trump ets to e a re p the long p ara de o f genius The book i s j ust wha t a b ook should b e p er fectly imp ossible and equally exalt .
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A moment and the p age antry took me I wa s fl o a ting from height t o height fr o m p rophet to seer hovering .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
39
a lost soul be fore thrones in the i deal p assing from Isai ah and ZE s chyl us up through the ages to Hugo himself Then abruptly a ti tan reached and hurled me Shot through sp ace I was o n e arth again i n a highly uncomfortable chai r facing the insults that fell ” “ What a b east you are l I shied the b ook B radish caught i t and s at down be fore me — With the di spositi on o f a sundi al ove r which clouds will p ass— the spider at that moment made him a s in moments o f exci tement i t O ften did make him u n af Famili ari ty breeds many things f e ct e d ly hideous Usually I did not noti ce I could not help noticing it t hen It seeme d ab out to spring ‘ “ He moti oned I h ave gone to you I hav e s e n t The j anitor Sai d you were dead What sort o f a chap ” are you ? ” “ A mere pilgrim What s wrong ? ” “ I am in hell ” “ Look o u t I told him and fa r better than I knew “ There i s always a de eper o n e How did you get ” there ? He put t he Hugo on the table ” “ It s Miss Chilton “ “ ” See here I said An hour ago Austen had the ” cheek to say you must ke ep O ff the grass ” “ B radish stared He has b een a t you h as he ? “ He got me i n hi s rooms and used me as a sewer ” I t appe ars tha t i f you don t look out you ll get let in ” “ He starte d I will eh ? By whom then ? “ Her mother He said she would j ockey you into a co rn e rf ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
40 “
Gammon ! She i s i n a corner herself and a p ret ty ” tight one The woman h asn t a p enny “ ” There s the Chilton place “ M ortgaged B lank eted up t o the roo f e v en to the ” v ault there “ ” Vault ? Wh a t v ault ? “ In coloni a l days every manor ha d its o wn ceme t er y ” The Chiltons h ave theirs He was becoming historical wandering away from it and glad o f i t I let him run on but he di d not run fa r In a moment he was b ack again “ ” Her mother i s a fr ai d they ll bolt I hop ed they would I omitted to s ay so however I nstead I b ecame symp athetic “ Jim i f thi s were a novel o f mine I would make the — — hero you a re the hero show himself i n such fine ” colours that the la dy would j ump down his thro at “ ” Yes y o u would b e sure to write j ust such rubb ish Pausing he smoothed the table which was entirely ’
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I have I supp ose a dollar o r two I have also I supp os e a ye a r or two ahe a d o f me I would give them all everything I can claim in thi s world everything I may hop e f o r in the next i f He b roke i t O ff but I followed i t and I thought i sn t i t wonder ful how the illusion o f happiness which the ide a o f union wi th another can cre ate will p ack a sane man s he ad with ins aniti es He thinks himself wholly i n love with thi s girl and wha t he loves is not the girl but his ide a o f h er Any girl that resembled her would do a s well At which up be fore me surged tha t sibyl N elly Chilton and Aly B olton were alike ‘ as tW O l O S C S ,
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GHO ST GI RL
T HE
4 “
1 ”
Meanwhile p ainfully he was a t it I t s my face ” “ Nonsense I told him and I meant i t Fo r a woman must be loved though i t b e by a monster p er haps p articularly by a monster provided that what it is conventi onal to call her a ffections are not otherwise involved ” “ Hasn t Austen anything ? I asked ” “ Enough to p ay hi s tailor There h ad been an hour when even that p otenti ali t y had seem ed chimerical to me and I might h ave sai d as much but at the moment Pe t ers announced that lunch eon was served “ ” B radish got up C o m e o n s ki I too got up and p receding him went through the chamber o f horrors and crossed the hall where Peters wa s op ening the front door I p assed o n and had e n t e re d the drawing room when I he ard a man spe aking rapidly in English but wi th the unmistakable accent of France “ Mr Bradi sh ? I am fortunate to find yo u Is thi s ” yours ? I turned The man s b ac k was to the light I could not see hi s face but I could see Jim s He was looking at a strip o f p ap er which the man held o u t to him — and held o n to also and in looking hi s face had grown vicious Usually very civil to everyone but already o u t o f temper and angered by the abrup t i n t ru sion not only his expression was vi cious hi s voice was also “ N ever s aw i t b e fore or you either Peters put ” him o ut “ ” Ah flut e al o rs e t bi e n me rci l The man wheeled he went the door closed a nd I ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
42
p assed on through the bl a ck and yellow room and then through the p orti eres that hung b etween i t and the pseudo b aroni al hall B radish was at my heels and as I seated mys el f I put i t to him “ ” Who i s your fri end ? “ Vici ous still h e b arked H o w do I know ? H e ha d a ch e que drawn to som eb ody o r other wi t h what ” purp orted to b e my signa ture “ ” A forgery ? “ He flung o ut hi s napkin Wha t else ? They wi l l ” sp ot it quick enough at the b ank “ ” Wha t wa s the tune ? “ ” Four thousand and odd “ But look here Are y o u sure it is not some cheque ” o f yours that h as b een raised ? “ ” Even so i t would n o t matter He was wrong in that and I told him so He washe d a clam down with Chabli s and exploded “ a H a ! to whi ch he added : Ever noti ce the little ” j oker o n a B ank o f England note ? ” “ Wha t little j oker ? “ On the le ft side o f the second letter o f the word that tells the amount ther e is a microscopi c white speck Unless y o u knew o f i t never in the world would ” you se e i t was there “ ” What O f it ? “ B e fore the second lette r o f my name on my cheques ” I put a little p en pri ck The tellers look for it fi rst ” “ Such originality i s stup endous ” “ He put i t from him It wa s my father s ide a And what an o l d smarty he must have b een I “ thought But I s aid Well i f you slip up on this -
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THE
44
GHOST GI RL ”
“
How c an I tell y o u ? But she must h ave kn own for “ immedi ately she added I am in the hands o f Her voice had lowered I could not hear her I he ard him though “ ” A blackm ailer 1 At her age ! I tho ught Agai n her voi ce h ad sunk to inaudible levels Yet resently a word swam up a word o f good omen I t p wa s B onheur which means happiness I b elieve though hardly when it rhymes with Chanteur for tha t me ans bla ckmailer in French a t any rate Then be for e I could put them together a question rang fr a nk a s a sword thrust ” “ Why don t you marry her ? From b e fore i t he must h ave b acked “ Why don t I ? Good heavens she “ Take her by storm ! G0 at her hammer and tongs ! C arry h er o ff her fe et ! Go d i f I were a man “ H e must h ave g o t hi s wind I t i sn t tha t I would pick her up and run t o the moon with he r There i s nothing I wouldn t do nothing ! Bu “ ‘ “ ” I know I he ard her cry I know God h elp ‘ me she told me m e her mother i t is either Fred o r a convent A convent ! Wi th her looks ! I shall go ” mad She se emed to te a r the words they came from her in tatters and I could fan cy her li fting her hands wring ing them crossing and r ecrossing the room and I ” “ feared Bradi sh would s ay C alm yoursel f But a t once she wa s a t him from another angle “ Thi s p ainted b e ast what am I t o do with him ? Only don t tell me I am a b e ast myself I am a b e ast I know i t Bu t w h at i s the a mount to you ? B esides ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
45
I thought you would neve r notice o r a t least th a t I could make i t good b e fore you did N ow ” “ B radi sh boomed Y o u might better have asked me “ Y o u could h ave had i t and welcome in As i t is ” I ll take it up I can t d o less “ But the re y o u are He s ays only Nelly her self Again her voi ce s an k and again his swam up ” “ I ll b e at him to j elly first She made some sound a sor t o f r asping laugh “ Much good i t would do f o r u s b oth to b e i n Sing ” — Sing s o ne ar the manor too At tha t fine levity some plan must have oc curred to him I n any event he suggested one “ Go there Go there now today as fast a s you can ” She does not know does she ? ” “ N ot yet ” “ Don t tell her then I ll settle him somehow “ But o f course I shall tell her She can t re fuse ” you then ” “ No n o I t wouldn t b e fai r ” “ Le ave i t to me I he ard her s ay and abruptly f or the fi rst time I re alised that I should not have he ard her a t all I felt a s one may who ha s been listening at a keyhole The feeling gave me a twist in th e head I go t up and went to one o f the windows from which in the garden b elow I s aw a fat man all in white a white linen b aretta on hi s he ad t ormenting a dove coloured p e acock M omentarily the p i c ture distracted me But snatches from the duo kep t returning They were like lines in a melodrama In p arti cular one ” “ s t ood o ut : I t is either Fred o r a convent Fred I assumed was Austen ,
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THE
6 4
G H OST GI RL
The fat man who wore a third empire imperi a l pulled a t i t and looked up I moved away and as I turned Br adish came in ” “ H as she gone ? I asked ” “ The Lord b e prai sed “ Look here Jim B e a t me i f you like L o ve rhe ard ” a lot of i t He sat down help ed himself to a glass o f b randy and looked over at me “ Tha t ch ap wi th the chequ e was B onheur e t C i e ” Ever h ear o f him ? “ Yes and o f Chanteur e t Ci e and so have you You migh t h ave known b etter than to b e so quic k wi th ” him I must say you b otched i t famously ” “ That s right Put me in the wrong ” “ Y o u put yourself there “ But ho w was I to know ? He shoved t he d amne d cheque a t me and aske d i f i t were mine What els e ” wa s there f o r me to do except send him to the devi l ? ” “ Well now you can go a fter him “ ” I can can I ? Then yo u didn t he ar hi s terms ” “ He didn t menti on any “ N o t here But from here he went st r aight t o Mrs ” Chilton What do they give you ? “ ” For blackmail ? “ ” Forgery “ Thre e o r fou r ye ars I fancy I t dep ends on how polite yo u are to the j udge But tha t i s all nonsens e You have only t o s ay the cheque i s yours and that i s ” the end o f it “ I would h ave to s ay i t in court Besides ther e ” would b e exp erts “ ” Your testimony would prevail ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
47
“
But think o f the p apers ! Think o f the mess ! He says I disowned i t i n the presence o f witnesses and that either M rs Chilton can go to j ail o r else her ” daughter can come and see him Those are his terms I t wa s like a p age from B alzac I t revolted me and I rounded o n him “ What di d you me an then by s aying yo u would settle ” him ? ” “ I me ant I would lay him o u t I supp ose But t ha t seemed very imbecile and to show no doubt — t o o that I could b e an imbecile which I was I said wh a t a fterward I could h ave bitten my tongue o ff for ” “ Supp os e yo u let me take a hand ” “ I f yo u only could but how can yo u ? “ I he ard you tell M rs Chilton to take her daughter ” and go t o the manor Did she say she would ? “ ” Yes today thi s a fternoon “ ” Follow them then and stand guard The strategy wa s amateur and wha t i s worse catastrophic But he j umped at it I could see him picturing himself with outstretched hands hands that dripp ed with money protecting t wo women o n e who was certainly no b etter than she ought t o be and the other too good perhap s for mortal man ” “ “ M eanwhile I added I will hold the blackm ailer .
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I can t s a y I don t know But I wi ll At a ll ” events I ll try It was then I put my foot in it At the time the door was open wi de open I t was I that gave i t the first shove That I me ant well has nothing to do with ’
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T HE
8 4
GHOST GI RL
i t o r r ather i t has Well me aning p eople do the most ha r m ” “ “ There i s an i nn there h e was s aying I ll put up a t i t Perhap s He broke o ff He looked away At what ? I do not know But almost a t once “ he took i t up again Well you never can tell When ” I am o u t there with them sh e may reconsider i t “ Again h e looke d away then at me I f I wi re you ” you will j oin me won t you ? “ I stood up I f you wire I ll ne v er get i t Tele phone h ere Il l b e i n tomorrow I t may b e that by that time thi s creature will have changed his tu ne I f not “ ” He n o dded a t me I n that case I ll a sk her again I di d not fo llow him and I told him so “ I f N elly marri es me the cheque whe t he r go o d o r ” b ad w on t make a wrinkle “ I suppose s aid But I was thinking o f some “ thing else and I added : Whom wi ll yo u take w ith ” you ? “ ” M ike “ Hold o n S end a line to the b ank Say you gu arantee the signature And I may nee d Peters Tell him so While you a re at i t tell him to p ack your things Then ” hurry o ut ther e as fast a s you can He saw m e to the door As I went down the step s a motor p assed I n i t wa s a man with a dyed mus t ache I did not know him from Adam but the mus tache reminded me o f anothe r whose owner a fri end of mine I had b een O f some slight s ervice to the ye ar b e fore Among N ew Yorkers grati tu de i s phenom enal My f r i end was a Dublin man and a t the time -
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THE
GHOST GI RL
49
— the poor devil ha s since p asse d over he
chi e f e d
i t at
Police Headquarters A taxi took me there On the way I evolved a seri es o f schemes that had in vi ew the rout and ruin of B onheu r e t Ci e I have forgotten them all now and I r egret i t T hey would have fitted any novel however p oor At Headqu arters then in Mulberry Street I found my fri end i n the front room whi ch resemble d a real estate o fli ce and where although he p resented t he forbidding appe arance o f an aucti oneer he greeted me with an aff ability that was p ainful ” “ M e b oy you will j ust put your fist to this He had le aned over fished from somewhere a copy of my last turpi tude and p roduced a fountain pen I t made me feel like Ainswor th who contrived to b e the author o f a hundred novels and a thousand crimes As i t happened he kn ew nothing o f B onheur and he sent f o r a vul t ure eyed man with a b att e red be ak w ho knew less M eanwhile without mentioning names I had gi v en him the facts “ And a Frenchman i s he me boy ? Sure as you live i f he i s that kind o f a bullfrog he s wanted over there and that s why he s here I ll send o n e o f the lads to give him the look over Drop in tomorrow I ” may have him in chains I took it o f course a t i ts face value None the less i t gave me an idea .
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T HE
50
GHOST GI RL VI
T H E next forenoon I r ang at B rad i s h s door Ged ney op ened but as usu al Peters was in the hall ” “ Has M r B radish telephoned ? I asked him “ Yes si r Just now I s ai d you were not here sir ” M r B radish s aid h e would call up again in an hour ” “ Where i s your hat ? ” “ My at sir ? “ C all a cab pleas e Peters and come with me I w on t keep y o u long and I may not need you at all I am going to a shop o n the avenue When we get there ” y o u stand by the door “ Yes sir B eg p ardon sir M ay I a sk what i t is ” about ? “ A crook who is trying to get the better o f M r ” B radi sh Pete r s wa s a s straight and prob a b ly as strong a s a grenadi er But a pro fessi onal man he wore the pro I t was wooden None the less a f e s s i o n al mask corner o f his lip had li fted very much a s a dog s does when about to bite “ ” Thank y o u sir I ll h ave the cab in a moment The M ai son B onheur wa s o n the ground fl oor I t has gone since but at the time a small groom stood at the door ! a tall commissi onaire on the curb The w indow very sp acious delicately hung e x posed noth ing so c ommerci al as anything for sale As I entered a young p erson in black arched her eyebrows a t me The room behind which extended a suite o f other rooms wa s fitted with mirrors with brocaded chairs with a table tha t shone At the moment a woman whom I judged a topnotcher wa s ’
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THE
2
G H OST GI RL
been ch arged in that Pari s court he knew I di d not know But he thought I knew and the stones were e ff e c tive Through mere chance at the very start I had him The rest was e asy But I threw a few more “ Your n ame i s not B onheur I t is Chanteur Yes ” t e rd ay I cabled your descrip tion to Paris I t was not very pretty o f m e to li e like that But a chap who won t li e for a woman may b e a Christi an he i s also a du ff er “ He ha d extended his h ands Mai s ! Mai s ! C o m ,
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Yes you do Y o u have a cheque tha t M r B radish ” signed Y o u are trying to b lackmail a client with i t He smile d I t i s r are to see such a smile Enti rely mus c ular i t revealed the teeth and le ft the cra f ty eyes unaltered “ 1 e v o i s bi e n mai n t e nan t It i s a m i s un d e rSt and i ng ” I h ave no chequ e signe d by M r B radish “ Y o u h a v e a che que t hat yo u brough t to hi s house ” That chequ e I s aw him sign “ An o the r cheque yes Bu t not t hi s cheque I n th e ” p r e sen c e o f a domesti c h e disowned i t I turned I n the d o orway b eside the little g r o o m Pe ters stood I m o ti oned a t him In he came “ ” Ever s een thi s man b efore ? “ ” Yes sir Yesterday “ ” Where wa s that ? “ ” In the h all a t M r B radi s h s si r “ ” D id you see a cheque or hear any thing ab out one ? “ ” No sir I did n ot “ The dressmaker shri eked i t 1 1 me n t C es t ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
53
“
Peters edged ne arer B eg p ardon si r M ay I ” ask what h e said ? “ I smiled at him He complimented yo u on the e as e ” wi th which he s ays you li e Peters had removed his hat He put i t o n I n put ting i t on he removed his mask The pro fessi onal man had gone Peters ha d emerged into p rivate li fe “ For t upp ence I d knock your he ad O ff C a l l me a ” li ar and I ll knock i t for nothing ” “ I motioned at him Th at will do Peters At once the pro fessi onal man re turned The mask w as resumed “ ” Thank y o u sir “ I looked a t the dre ssmaker M r Bradish has gone from town Two ladies who were misguided enough to come here h ave gone also But I remain and I ll tell you o n e thing I ll tell yo u two o f them Y o u can present that cheque or you can pre serve it But i f I he ar o f so mu c h a s a p eep from you about i t I wi l l ” first lay you out and then hand you over to the police I stood up and p assed on As I went I saw him in a mirror He was wiping hi s face Alarmed the top notcher must h ave fl ed But I could see the p re mi ére and the young p erson considering him with slanting eyes ,
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VII AT the Bu ck Club , j ust a round th e corner , I had a t rufll e d omelette , a cutlet in curlp apers , admirable service , the d ay ahe ad o f me , but a s ye t no word On vacating the M aison M a l heur which , I fe ar I v acated r a th er m agnificently , bu t at t he time I was .
THE GHOST GI RL
54
rather young I told Pe ters to go b ack to the house and when the telephone asked for me to have me called at thi s club where I then instructed the op er ator t o take down any message and send i t to the dining room on the fl oor above Va in oblations though ho w di sastrously va in I di d not realis e unti l later M e anwhile the di shes gone I sat and smoked exchanged the time o f day wi th a man I did not know from Adam and was wondering vaguely why I b othere d to talk to him a t all when the mess age came a few words from Peters to the e ff ect that M r B radi sh ha d not telephoned that he h ad hurri ed in got the upshot O f things and had hurri ed away le aving word tha t I wa s t o b e at the Chilton place o n the morrow by noon The upshot o f t hings ? I uncom fortably medi t a ted as I went down and kicked my heels in the main room what the dickens did Peters imagine was th e upshot ? The stones I had thrown ha d b een thrown i n French and although he ha d se en some O f them flying he might have misjudged thei r e ff ect Fo r o n e mad moment I thought o f telephoning to him the next instant sani ty returned I knew I could not Even the sight o f a telephone horripilates me and in my trade one ha s to avoi d anything o f the sort Horrip ilati on a rrests the imagination and disrupts your work Afterward in sackcloth and a shes I regretted it regretted r ather th at i f the telephone was o n e too many f o r me I ha d not s ent f o r Peters dug i t o ut o f him and then fl own up th e Hudson as I would ha v e flown i f I ha d known But I di d not know How c ould I ? I t i s true I had an intuiti on that a screw was loose ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
55
message was queer Why should he want me to be at the manor at noon ? In an e ff ort to solve the riddle I thought of this that and the other O f everything in fact excep t that he had botched the whole thing In view o f what occurred I have to say and although L hate emphasi s I cannot s ay i t emphatically enough tha t wh at he did he did innocently ignorantly hon thinking it all e s t l y without knowledge o f the facts for the b est best for himself I admit but best also f o r he r poor girl a s in the inscrutable wi sdom o f the powers tha t rule o ur lives perhaps i t was M eanwhile I looked up a time table made a mental note o f a tra in and s at b ack among matters personal The Pila r M orin troup e had been giving p antomime and while I hoped they might ris e t o mine I was u n ce r tain whether to dangle i t be fore them p ersonally o r have the dangling done by an agent Yet as either course had its disadvantages I postponed any imme diate decision yawned my he ad O ff lounged o ut lounged in dined wi th t wo polo men and a fterward read all the evening p apers in o n e o f which I d i s co v ered that the Pilar Morins had gone When have I loved a de ar ga zelle that it did n o t sicken yes and di e ? It wa s too much and I went home The next morning I was up at what I think I have seen described as betimes In spite of which o r p er haps preci sely o n that account I missed the train It may se em f an t as t i c t o say it now and yet I cannot but beli eve that i f I had not missed it what a fterward occurred would n o t have occurred at all When ultimately a village trap dropped me at the manor B radi sh ran o ut and cursed me I expected B rad i s h
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GHOS T GI RL
T HE
6 5
nothing els e Through the mys t eri ous laws o f li fe any kindness i s rep ai d i n p ain I t wa s then a trifl e a fte r o n e and the day wa s o f the Vero n es e school a day made o f light o f colour o f co b alt apple green and ochre I n the ai r was the smell o f lilacs Beyond was the Hudson and b efore me the house ugly comfortable the mortgaged wi n dows candid and op en I n the days o f the landed gentry in the days o f big bugs bigwigs chari ots postillions red coats loud oa t hs and tenant tilled est ate s the manor h ad I dar e s ay b een as good a s the rest o f them sup eri o r p erhaps but o n that Verones e high noon i t seemed down at the heel a s such places do s eem when the odour o f gentry has gone and that of the b aili ffs has come I t was like some o f the places in England where the draw bridge has crumbled and the moat i s choked M ore over originally mile after mile in extent running fa r up fro m t he river and re aching nobly to the north and south time and creditors had dwindled and curtailed i t O f the gre at esta te that had b een only the house and the immedi a te grounds survived o nly these and two buildings o n e O f wood the other o f stone ! one the family stable the other the family vault But B radish ceasing to revile me was talking hur ri e d ly enough ab out m atters that I did not qui t e grasp but mainly that they were j ust sitting down to it that owing t o the ha ste o f i t all t her e was only M rs Chilton M rs T re f u s i s Austen the cler gyman and the bride “ ” I looked a t him The bri de ? “ — My de a r chap I am or will b e i t is a bi t awkwa rd f or the moment—but I sh a ll b e the happi est m an i n .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
57
worl d and I o w e a lot o f i t to yo u Now come on in You are too l a te to act for me at the wedding as I hop ed you would ! yo u are in time though to drink ” o ur health “ But I found but that “ He misunderstood it B onheur b e blowed I t is o f no consequence now what he s ays o r does She is ” mine ! His eyes li fted Hi s face had cle a red The spi der wa s de ad He se emed t rans fi gu re d N ever had I seen him like that be fore N ever di d I s ee him like tha t again I t was hi s one moment O f h appiness Already the door wa s closing on him He was a t the threshold o f the E b l i an halls At the time I knew nothing O f that door n o t hi ii g O f thos e h alls I kn ew only that Pet e rs ha d botched i t tha t B ra di sh wa s unaware that B onheur had b een squelched and a sudd e n picture surged— Mrs Chilton tellin g her daughter the pretty tale o f a blackmailer le aving i t to her darling to de ci de whether she would suff er her mother to be j ailed pointing to B radish as their s aviour constr aining her to accept him and I felt for th e poor devi l a p ity tha t was infini te For when that girl kn ew a s she would know a s everything i s known nothing could convince her that he had n o t been a p arty to i t Neve r f o r a second would she b elieve that she ha d not first b een rooked and then b ought and sold Rather i dle to tell him that then Rather idle to mar with now sup erfluous informati on a day not merely perfect but which to him wa s ideal I could do nothing except what I di d do I followed him in I had seen Nelly Chilton—Mrs James B radish as t he
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
8 5
— she then was but twice
On e ach occasi on her beauty had b een incredible Where was it then ? She was standing behind a table B eside her wa s Austen N e arby M rs Chilton was directing a waiter In a window a cler gyman was talking to Mrs T re f us i s Through another window I could see M ike From the walls Chiltons with vermillion coats and lace j ab ots others wi th p owdered hai r and pointed bodices looked on In the ai r was a scent O f lilacs The table wa s spre ad There were di shes wines fl owers all o f which the waiter included must have come from Fi fth Avenue ordered by B radish ch arged to hi s account These details unimportant in themselves con tributed to the atmosphere o f thi s room that wa s sti rred by tha t girl s vibrations Th e clergyman held hi s he a d a tri fl e to o n e side a s though appr ec i ati ng something sai d by M rs T re f u s i s who was quite inca a l s aying anything a preci able and who was b e o f p p looking not at him but at the others at Mrs Chilton p ainted and flushed ! a t Austen black from the black tumult within him and at that girl Hatted dressed i n a cos t ume o f light cloth that was dark wh at h ad been done to her ? Paphos ha d crum bled Venus had gone Inste ad was Hades and Pros erpine drawn into i t Exquisite still as Pros erpine must h ave b een she ha d lost her fl agrant b e auty White a s a sheet her lip s quivered There were no tears in her eyes I n thei r purple p ools there wa s worse a look tha t thos e have who a re haunted Austen wa s sp eaking to her She did not reply She was ga zing straight ahead a t wha t ? I cannot s ay At things vi sible only to herself p erhaps but more .
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THE GHOST GI RL
60
have said farewell was white and tense his face was black and vi olent I t was poignant An Ol d ai r quaint and sugared an ari a from the S o mna mbul a the O p e rche n o n p o s s o o d i ar t e b e at time in my he ad I t was p recisely as though they were j oini ng in wondering why i n so much love h ate could not enter Wi th th at sure t y that bre eding i s Bradish app e ared unconsci ous o f i t The spider had leap ed into li fe again but any v enom i t may h ave b een distilli ng he splendidly concealed rattling on at M rs Chilton turn ing from her to the clergym an from him to Mrs T re f u s i s and b ack a g ain to hi s sudden mother i n — law Th a t woman with her p ainted face and ai r O f intolerable secrets had a look f ri ghtened and re l i e v ed Th e fright was retrosp ective I t had gone But fright even in going leaves its mark The mark w a s o n her yet mitig ated by a n immense relie f E v ery body was dished C rce s u s was her son i n law None th e less b ene ath h er summoned smiles p erhap s she shuddere d Yet with the s ame surety that B ra dish displayed she talke d and laughed turning now to Mrs T re f u s i s again to her daughter turning away forced to seem a s unconsci ous o f her as B radi sh app e ared F o i e g ras i s fi t only for the cultivated taste o f a drayman S up reme d e p o ul e t R e g e n ce i s a mockery to a hungry man At high noon c hamp agne turns one s s tomach I would have given a dolla r two dollars five for a cut o f b ee f a b aked p otato a mug o f ale I n that extravagant mood a rdently I wi shed myself elsewhere The bre akfast ap art i t was di stressing to look at the bride I t se emed to me p ainful to stare a t Proserpine descending into Ha des though c ould I ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
61
ha v e foreseen the deep er depths in which she wa s to pass inste ad o f staring I would have scre amed Then to my relie f Bra dish sai d something to Mrs Chilton She stood up We all stood up except the waiter who wa s alre ady standing I n spite o f the odour of food and wine faintly the scent o f lilacs lingered Throug h a window from which I ha d p re I s aw him again grooming a car v i o u s l y seen Mike in which were b ags and a hatbox From the window I looked a t the b ride She wa s talking then talking inaudibly to Austen s aying p erhaps the tender things that hurt and hurt the words that bring te ars swi ftest From them I looked at B radish “ ” I called and a s I spoke I went over and t ook i m ! “ his hand I don t know where you are bound b ut w herever i t may b e my b es t wishes all o f th em every ” o n e go with you He did not reply H e j us t n o dded and shoo k my hand He was I r ealised strung up t o the b re aking point O f human emoti on But he did not b e t ray i t I t wa s the spi der th at did Glowing wi th a c rimson and b ale ful li fe o f its own I could almos t see the antenn ae contr a ct “ “ ” God bless you I told him The things I leave ” unsaid to your wi fe s ay to he r for me Still h e s ai d n othing He nodded a s b e fore and shoo k my hand with a grasp tha t was mighty Why did I n o t hold o n to him as mightily ? Why di d I le ave him for wha t h e was going o n t o me e t ? I t was there I t wa s just beyond I t w as a t t he turn o f the road Eyes clea rer than mine could h ave seen i t Hands firmer than mine w o uld ha v e held him A voi c e ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
62 '
more gi fte d would have told him not to le ave that room In looking b ac k a t i t now when i t i s all ove r and done f o r i t se ems to me as i t must se em to many another th at when we a re a bi t more evolved we will look ahead a s re adily as we n o w look b ack ! that the immedi ate future will b e as cle ar a s the immedi ate p ast Or mor e correctly p erhaps we will reali se that there i s no future n o p ast merely a continuous p resent in which events occu r Thos e events we will se e a s the traveller o n a highway sees me adows o r bogs abysses o r p e aks fri ends o r foes o r p erhaps merely court yards curtained with cashmeres where chimeras and hippogri ff s crouch Consci ously h e goes o n to meet them o r a s c onsciously turns away All that and stupi d enough it i s and by the same token suffi ci ently unconsolatory came to me later M eanwhile I must have taken some sort o f co ng é I s ay I mus t have b ecause while I would h ave taken French le ave as they call i t i n England and Engli sh le ave a s they ca l l i t i n Fr ance some forms I di d o b serve But I remembe r nothing about it All I do r ecall i s a diligent smile that I got f rom Mrs Chilton and a look ab solutely haunted that came to me from tha t girl That look from that girl who was b arely a bri de a ccomp ani ed me to the village where I went wi th the clergyman and with the waite r t agging b ehind I di d not then know the clergyman s name A few moments later I learned tha t it was Renwick a g o od name a s he I am sure wa s a good man On the way down a ca r sho t b y In i t was M rs T re f u s i s A ca r followed a car long narrow grey .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
63
one which I h ad alre ady seen at t he manor In it I had a glimpse o f Austen flying on ignoring us lost to eve rything lost in the black tumult o f his soul M e anwhile the clergyman had b een quoting Thomas a Kempi s Intereste d in what he wa s s aying I forgot the haunted eyes By thi s time we had reached the village and as he was reciting a p assage it came a bolt a s the phrase i s from the blue Mentally it took me a moment to adj ust myself M e anwhile I was staring at the man who had p re ci p i t at e d it Seated in a waggon he wa s yelling at the clergyman calling him by name which I then le arned was Renwick It was not hot on that Veronese d a y yet he wa s persp iring yelling and wiping hi s face a t the same time urging D r Renwick to get in and : “ ” Y o u too young feller i f you kn ow em “ He sp a t and shouted I t was up yonder They re al l de ad all thre e o f em I m he aded for D r Curti s ” But the re s room for all Get in In his cultivated voice I hea rd D r Renwick s ay : “ M r B elcher I am sorry I h ave not understood what ” you were telling me Who i s de ad ? “ Again the C omanche shouted : M iss Chilton and ” two men We all know we are to di e and few o f us believe i t and naturally p erhaps since there i s no such thing as death But de ath even in its li teral meaning lacked coherence then I could n o t believe i t My mind had not yet adj usted i tsel f to what my e ars h ad heard But I was aware that D r Renwick was hurri edly questi on ing and I was aware too o f hurri ed and shouted replies I was aware also o f a gathering group sprung from nowhere from a saloon opposite from the side .
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THE
64
G H OST GI RL
wa lk from a grocery nearby from the station b eyond from the sky ! a group th at ha d dropp ed or arisen ab out us and i t was dully from sounds th a t seemed to p roce ed from a fa r that I a b sorb ed and re assembled the purp ort o f i t a ll and O f which the substance w a s that B rad i s h s ca r flung out like a m e teor ha d thr o w n a wheel re ared reversed turned o v er and th a t t hose within were de ad Then a t once from the momentary and mental swoon I swam up and I thought what does this Yahoo know about i t ? They may not b e dead ! knocked out p e r hap s p erhap s unconscious b ut not dead Even then I denied myself the tru th T h at w as she er primi tiveness the instinct O f self preservation f o r truth some truths at lea st can drive one mad ,
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VI II W H E N I re ached the m anor they were there Any thing being pre ferable to the yelling Yahoo i t h ad b een a relie f to se e him take D r Renwick and go O f the reli ef that they were in search I had my doub ts and also my certainti es A country p ractitioner what could he d o ? At once C ally and his wi z ardri es hopp ed in my mind Alre ady the door the enigmatic door was closing I did not know that I k new o f no door Ye t a s I later di scovered in that door I turned the key M eanwhile entering the station I wrote a telegram Si n ce then I t o C ally which I incorrectly address ed have o ften wondered wh at might h a v e occurred i f I had addressed i t correctly But a s often I h ave c on cluded that C ally was p revented fro m receiving the ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
65
telegr am n o t p rimarily b ecause o f an error o f mine but b e c ause i t wa s not intended that i t should reach him The progressions of li fe and o f de ath it is not When they do alter them or f o r mortals to alter app ear to what i s done was in accordance with higher designs Th at i s the occult vi e w to whi ch sometimes though not always I adhere The wi re itsel f i t took me quite a li ttle while to send t he operator h app ening to b e re freshing himself else where It was there fo r e some time a fter the C o manche h ad gone that I re ached the manor and as I have s aid when I did re ach it they were there The door o f the house wa s op en Op en and empty In the ro o m where we had bre ak t o o wa s the hall fa s t ed there were but the brave and bodiced C hilf o n s looking o n from thei r frames o n the walls only these half emptied b ottles dishes unremoved the remains of a wedding fe ast at which D e ath too had looked on As I entered the hall I heard voices that came from the fl oor above There in a room hung with faded chintz furni shed with rickety Sheratons o n a satin wood fourposter lay that girl Over her a little man bent He was shaking his he ad I t seemed very empty But the moti on distracted me I looked a t the others at M rs Chilton at a woman I had never seen and at D r Renwick who holding a book from which he must h ave re ad the marri age service was concluding s ome p rayer “ ” He art failure su p erinduced by shock the little man by way o f Amen pronounced and I looked again at that girl Her eyes tha t ha d seemed so haunted then were closed and her face tha t ha d b een so drawn and tense ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
66
had recovered its forme r b eau ty I t was as death in taking her li fe had given b ack her loveliness The j ewels which imaginatively I h ad strung about her and whi ch she had neve r needed had gone as th e haunted look had gone I n thei r stead was p ea c e the peace tha t i s p erh aps b eyond all knowledge yet attenuated I thought by j ust the quiver o f a p assing smile a smile tha t j ust showed itself and w e nt The e ff ect highly curi ous was as though her ri an te charm ha d made an e ff ort to re turn and de ath had pulled i t b ack “ ” “ Yes D e ath seemed to say in my a rms you may ” b e lovely but smiles I cannot brook Tha t t o o wa s imaginati on I s aw i t was I n the upturned commas o f her perfect mouth there wa s no suggestion O f any smile at all D eath had kissed he r smiles away ! ki ssed from her desp ai r happ iness s o r row kissed her into p e ace ” “ S O far as I can determine the little man was say “ ” ing not a single lesion Just the he art ” “ And B radi sh ? I asked and che cked myself for the girl s mother was sobbing I t was her fault At that moment she knew i t At that moment she knew wha t the Halls o f Ebli s are the horrible halls O f the horrible hell into which the foster sisters Regret and Remorse can fl ing yo u A hand c overed her eyes from whi ch tears possibly scorching certainly unredeeming ran down into the p aint b ene ath What could I do ? Wha t could any A p oe t said he could symp athis e wi th any o n e do ? thing excep t su ff ering I had no symp athy for hers but app arently D r Renwick felt di ff erently ” “ My de ar M rs Chilton ! My de ar M rs C hi l t o n l .
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THE GHOS T GI RL
68
The next vi sit was to poor M ike who like that girl was dea d ! though unlike her his neck was broken M rs Chilton me anwhile ha d disapp eared and I went down to the hall where I found D r Renwick He was j ust leaving The funeral he s aid wa s to b e at noon in forty eight hours and since I was return ing to town would I insert the usual notices and add i t was Mrs Chilton s wish he explained that t he funeral w as p rivate “ ” “ Ye s I told him b ut there is a lot else : B radish cannot b e move d H e will have to have nurses Th e nurs es will have to b e fed I know nothing o f the domesti c a rr angements here but app arently they are not p ro fuse I f Mrs Chilton does n o t O bj ect and I ” hop e she will not I shall send some o f his servants “ Va guely he motioned Pray do so M rs : Chilton was to have gone from here today Now she will go immedi ately a fter the funeral o f that poor c hild ” w hom I loved like a daughter ” “ Where i s he r fathe r ? I a sked He ra ised his eyes shook his he ad I s aw that he did not know s aw too that the question distressed him “ I put on my hat M ay I acc omp any you C ourteously he c onsented and as we went down the road which twi c e tha t day I ha d ascended and o n which o n e a ch occasion the D aughters o f Ha z ard o f w hom ZE s chyl u s tells had lain in w ait he stopp ed and gave me hi s hand He was going he said to the undertaker ” “ An underta k er here ! In t hi s little place ! I exclaimed ” “ D eath v isi t s t he h a mle t a s w ell as t he me t r o p o lis he replie d ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
69
A cross road took him and I went o n to the station alone more alone I thi nk than I h ad ever b een b e fore I could n o t comfortably contemplate a future from which B radish was eliminated and i f he recovered i f he did I felt th at i t would b e harder still for him to reconcile himself to the long rain o f days from which she ha d gone To have got her p artook o f the mar v e l l o us but to h ave got he r o n e moment and to have lost her the next might be c ome to him a retrosp ective torture tha t would inhabit hi s thoughts until the accus toming hands o f time c almed him and lulled him and let him forget So I thought I t hought i t would p ass as a ll things p ass Yes I thought t hat I c ould not foresee that there was to b e no forgetfulness nothing but the fideli ty o f torture that was to take him and play o n him and strike from him e v er y note in the whole gamut o f p ain -
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IX
A N O T H E R day a fter Veronese As the train flung itself along the river I told myself ' I had done all I could T O the surpris e O f a clerk in a cage I h ad shoved at him a marri age noti ce and a death notice o f even date both concerning the s ame person He did not like it and who would ? I had to establish my identi ty b e fore he would accept them M eanwhile I had shipp ed t o the manor whatever an unconscious man needs the le ast I had gone to the great white s t aring hous e and s ent Peters with the che f and two other servants to the stati on I had gone to Mike s wid ow I h ad done other things w hich I ha v e .
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T HE
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GHOST GI RL
since forgotten I had done all I could But in the train that was taking me t o the funeral I had a sens e the s ense o f some p ara o f subconscious discomfort mount thing overlooked Then j ust b e fore the train wa s stopping o u t i t hopped C ally ! In the hurry o f all I had ha d to do I had neglected to g o to hi s o ffi ce But I consolingly refl ected what di d i t matter ? That i t did matter and monumentally I was not to lea rn until later and yet why at the time it should h ave pri cked me I doub t i f Freud could h ave told Wha t did i t matter ? I refl ected I had not been t o his O ffi ce and would n o t have found him i f I had f o r he must have gone to the manor where p rob ably he ha d remained Th e i de a that my telegram was an estray n ever entered my head In the tra in were small detachments o f silent and sombre pe ople relatives I fanci ed and I was convinced o f i t when they all got out a t the stati on where con v e y an ce s f o r them which the undertaker must h ave seen to and suppli ed yet p erhap s inadequately ! in a ny event there was none f o r m e unless I intrude d o n mourners whom I did n o t know and while cap able o f a good deal but not O f that I started o ff o n foot di sconsolately noting that the day O f the wedding and the day O f the funeral were twins There were the same colours the same myrrh and cassi a in the ai r that was n o t o f spring o r o f summer but o f both a sea s o n not f o r death but for li fe a time to love love not to bury i t “ ” Will you get in ? someone was saying I had he ard a ca r but I h ad not looked Then I .
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THE
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1 7
did look I t was the long grey car I had s een a fter the wedding and in which had been Austen hurrying on in that e ff ort which is the most desp erate O f all the a ttempt to escape from oneself He was in the car then and as I looked I thought his face blacker even than be fore a face that expressed not the sorrow that he must have felt but reb ellion at li fe at death at all there is at all ther e shall be ! the fa ce o f a soul in hell ” “ Will you get i n ? he repeated and when I did he asked about B radish I told him wha t I could He a sked nothing els e He said nothing more I fanci ed that he knew as mu ch as I did In the p apers o f the day b e fore there had b een ac counts headlined fe a tured graphic inexact The tragic wedding O f the last o f the Chiltons to the play mate O f her childhood The beauty o f the b ride The wealth o f the bridegroom The de ath o f the one The mortal inj uri es o f the other The manor Coloni a l New York The mourning o f what wa s termed the four hundred These accounts Austen h ad certainly seen and I wondered whether he ha d already run up to the village I did not a sk nor did I ever le arn that he had though a fterward from circumstances that devel o p ed I real ised that he must have At the time however during the brie f drive he s aid nothing more n o r did I he ar him utter anothe r syllable Yet then on e does not go to a funeral to talk and necessarily this was more than a funeral to him much more though how I a rrived at that extrava gant conj ecture i s beyond me even now The bri e f procession from the train had entered the house when we reached it and together we p assed o n ,
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THE
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and in to the room of the candid and mortgaged win dows through which a breath O f lilacs came Into that bre ath there filtered the subtler fragrance o f lili es that b anked an open co ffi n in which the de a d gi rl lay B ehind the co fli n his b ack to the wall from which the b rave and bodiced Chiltons looked was D r R enwick B e fore the co ffi n were the mourners among whom I ha d a glimps e O f a man who though he stood with bowed head had a n ai r o f extreme distincti on I h ad a glimps e also o f a stricken woman Rouge i s not mourning Her face was unp ainted But that ai r o f e ase O f potenti al arrogance o f i n t o l e rab l e secrets the impression wholly atmospheri c w hi ch p revi ously Mrs Chilton had suggested the i m p ression o f a soul at b ay that ha d gone She looked what she was a woman consci ous tha t the blo w tha t ha d struck her her o wn h and had de alt Unobtrusively I hop e in any event a s qui etly a s I could I edged ne arer to where the de ad girl lay Forty eight hours e arli er I h ad s een tha t D eath in kissing her had brought her b e auty b a ck heightening it even ren dering i t calm unaware O f emoti on a s tru e b eauty ever is divesting it o f angui sh divesting i t too o f j oy In D eath s arms she had b een a t p e ace But a t this time a s i n edging ne ar er the co ffi n I s aw her again her exp ressi on seemed to have changed He r lips h alf p arted showed the nacre o f her teeth and in and about them in and about the downcast eyes there was a look di ff erent from that whi ch D eath h ad b rought di fferent also from that which D e ath h ad kissed away In those days I was less famili ar with the phenomena o f death than I h ave since b ecome I knew then tha t those whom the gods love di e young I ,
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THE GHOS T GI RL
73
know that the gods in sending death to those love send with i t some vi sion o f the supe rnal It wa s there In those upturned lips and down c as t eyes there was wonder ” “ I am the Resurrection and the Li fe ! The sonorous and exalting words the most exalting that I know shook me From the de ad I looked at the living I looked at the c lergyman at the mourners a t the lover D eath the de ath rather and the sight o f i t may have wrought its miracles on him In hi s car on the way to the hous e he had looked defi ant r eb ellious a soul at odds with God and man But now in some way through some speci al grace through one o f the mi racles that Death a chi eves p e ace h ad or appe ared to have descended upon him What his face displayed was n o t resignation which may b e and O ften i s but a form o f mental suicide but relie f the relie f that comes when hop e fear uncertainty all the vultu res o f the mind have fl ed when the worst that c an be has b een done At the time i t wa s i n tha t manner tha t I vi ewed i t Afterward i n re assembling impressi ons anothe r expl anation less laboured and more obvious occurred to me The change i n Austen i f change there really were I attributed to the simple process o f t hanks gi v ing He had lost the girl he loved yet the loss had been strangely mi tigated An unb earable knowledge had b een li fted from him He could not h ave her but nei ther could anyone else She had b een taken but not to another s arms What he had l o st no one had w on I t w a s in recognition o f t hat I thought that t he ot
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T HE
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GHOST GI RL
thanksgiving had come and I thought also that the thanksgiving was very human Th at the girl of girls shall not be won murder a fter murder has been com mi t t e d That too i s human H uman and tolerably primitive M eanwhile the se rvi ce had ended A stout man fussy but silent the undertaker a ttended t o the co ffi n s removal to the hall where I followed and where neatly swi ftly almost noiselessly he clos ed i t To me it was like a ki ck i n the stomach I looked away On the adj acent stai r wa s Peters Without spe aking I motioned The moti on I knew su ffi ced I knew he would know that p resently I would re tu rn As I moti oned I thought o f C ally Where was he ? But a t once the co ffi n s j ourney b egan again and we all went o n and o u t to the grounds and the vault a structure roomy and chill where perhap s t he shades o f dep arted Chiltons greeted the spirit o f thei r kins woman who forty eight hours earli er during that other ceremony had I am sure despairfully wi shed for the pe ace tha t was theirs had wi shed also and fa r more despera tely that B radish wer e Austen As the co ffin p assed into the cryp t back from i t came the O dou r o f tuberoses the scent sweet and de adly o f wre aths put upon i t I have never forgotten i t D r Renwick was then reci ting the last words o f the final rites and these ended I turned b ack to the house In the hall was Peters ” “ How i s h e ? I asked “ The nurse s ays “ ” But D r C ally ? What does h e say ? “ D r C ally si r ? I h aven t seen him Dr Curti s ,
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THE
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GHOST GI RL
tha t that a fternoon both had driven away But h ad I known th at tha t was to b e my last meeting with M rs Chilton mentally I would h ave wi shed her well I t i s very p o n t i fi cal to j udge anyb ody Then immedi ately I found myself judging the man who had come in with them He had an arid air the dry self s uffi ci e n t look o f the super rich and a mouth like a buttonhole Prob ably a b anker I thought : probably t o o the husb and o f the woman who had j ust gone up the stai r I di d n ot envy either o f them and suddenly I felt ve ry hostile He was there fiddling wi th hi s hat a ffecting to re gard me as p art O f the furni ture I t was n o t that that angered m e What angered was that Mrs Chilton i nste ad O f messing t hings with that blackmaile r o f a dressmaker could not h ave gone to him and could n o t go becaus e while mani festly the man was a relative she knew him to be p oor unwilling to a id Fo r it is unwillingness to aid that constitutes p overty and th a t is the p overty not o f the p oor but o f the rich Then a t once the idea p assed b anished by another the possibili ty that the p ainted blackmailer and the p ainted mother i n law were in leagu e together and I cursed myself that I had not thought o f it b e fore Any j ackass could have se en that ordinarily B onheur would never have gone to B radi sh with the cheque Ordi And marily he would h ave put it through hi s b ank for ho w much wa s i t a fter all ? Bradish had sai d four thousand but h e had b arely glanced at i t I t might have b een forty thous and and I could picture M rs Chilton waving i t a t the dressmaker staking him wi th i t in retu rn for services tha t would enable her to force her daughter s hand .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
77
Momentarily the picture occupie d me B e fore I could elaborate it there was Peters on the stai r ” “ Well ? “ D r C ally s compliments si r and i f you are to wait y o u will pleas e not wait f o r him No sir Dr C ally ” is to b e here for some time “ But what else did he say ? Wha t did he s ay a b ou t M r B radish “ Nothing si r Nothing t o me But I don t think ” he i s e asy in his mind about him si r For that matter I was not ea sy in my mind either Nor had I be en not for a moment since the Yahoo yelled Consequently I did want something to go on and I s aid : “ ” Look here Peters You say I want to see him “ Yes si r I will has ce rt ai n But he has the door closed and he said he wouldn t let anyone in not even M r B rad i s h s o wn mo ther i f she came here from t he “
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Well that at le ast wa s definite and I went out on the grounds where f o r a moment I stood and looked at the v ault Th at door too was c losed ,
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X
P E A C E i s never the b edfellow o f the anx i ous and anxi ous I was the next day a s I sat in my o wn work shop Fa r more so than three ye ars be fore when I found myself dished A man may los e a fortune and recover an d d o ubl e it He c annot replace a fri end At the time I had no other fri end than B radish The events o f the last few days needed t alk ing o ver ,
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THE
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I wanted to talk them over Few can b e convers a But with whom ? That also came to me t i o n al alone In the course O f the evening I r ang at Aly B olton s door “ ” Who i s i t ? she a sked from wi thin I told her and she op ened The narrow hall a hall identical in constructi on wi t h my own was hung with Indi a shawls and the living room though also identical with my o wn app e ared much larger and so appe ared b ecause the centre was uncluttered M oreover at eithe r end wa s a mi rror Then also the e tag ere the chairs the table placed b ack against the walls were none o f them in the way while on the walls were p rints dark and old from which the walls seemed to recede I used to think that a man s distinction r e sided in the di stincti on o f his surroundings an d though I think so no longer none the less it would have b een O bvi ous to anyone not courageously vulgar that the occup ant o f the little fl at wa s an arti stic young woman A gi fted young woman too a s I had already discovered “ ” I h ave felt for you she s ai d a s we sat a t that “ t a ble The p a p ers told me And now you a re ” troubled “ ” “ I t i s about B radish I repli ed He and I are p als I don t know whether he will pull through By the way Occasi onally he must have disturbed you ” He used t o come here and rai se the dead “ She exclaimed at i t I thought i t wa s he ! I s aw him once a t your door but he did not see me He was too busy trying to get a t you I liked hi s face I t is ” very beauti ful Won d eringly I l o ok e d a t her .
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THE
GHOS T GI RL
79
Yes the face o f a b eaut i ful nature “ I nodded Yes he has th at But I am sure you are right in s aying he did not see you I f he had he would have stood and mused and a fterward told me ” O f it ” “ N o he did not see me She sp oke si mply a s the complex do sp eak On the table between us was a service o f D anish ware I think and she a sked would I h ave te a She got up to prep are i t and again I looked about The mirror at the farther end o f the room wa s framed i n lacquered b amboo Adj acent were shelves o f polished w ood o n which were books Facing them was the pi ano I t was all very ordinary I t wa s t he at I have been in ornate ap art m o s p he re that cha rmed ments where the vibrations j arred ! in opulent homes where they were so malign I could not remain In this tw o by four fl at there were none or i f there were any they were restful I t was an atmosphere i n whi c h there was nothing discordant ! not the atmosphere o f the cloister for that is choked ! n o t the atmosphere O f bohemi ani sm f o r th at i s pretenti ous It was the at mo s p he re that i s cre ated only by thos e whos e ways are pleasant by the gentle and by gentle folk Returning with the samova r she poured me a cup She made no O ff e r o f cre am o f sugar nor yet o f lemon I t was te a she gave me j ust tea a s te a should be drunk when it is te a and this was tea the real thing te a tha t ne eded only a honeysuckle o r two to make it celesti al te a O f a vari ety and o f a quality that could be O btained but in the Chinese quarter and there at o n e shop only I knew that te a It awed me For I kn ew too ”
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T HE
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what i t c os t a nd vaguely I w ondered where she got the money “ “ ” Tha t nigh t she was s aying You rememb er ? You talked o f antique sins An x i ety was o n e o f them I think y o u need n o t sin that way I may b e in error ” but I think y o ur fri end will r ecover I t wa s e asy enough to s ay but merely b ecause i t was e asy she seemed hardly the o n e t o s ay it I n sp e aking she h a d r aised a cup and I ha d b een looking a t her She wore a blouse embroidered in the Rumanian man ner As always her exp ression was noble and re served N elly Chilton had b een sent out a s p erhap s only a b l ac kmailing f ai s e ur can s end out a young w o man Ap art from tha t ap art too from her ri an t e look ap art also from her M ayfair intonation i n fe a ture in colouring there she s at ” “ I t i s startling I told her “ ” Tha t time she missed i t But I may b e wrong “ ” I shook my he ad I t i s the r es emblance “ The cup which she still held she put down From wha t I re a d ab out her i t wa s insta ntaneous That i s terrible I t would h ave been s o inexp ressibly better f o r her i f she could have lingered a little and realised ” that she must di e ‘ I took i t up From b attle murder and sudden death Good Lord deliver us “ Yes and how pro found tha t i s The shock o f sud den de ath confuses The dead do n o t know they are dead They think they ar e still here Well p erhaps they are Perhap s they are the ghosts o f who m one ” hears and neve r s ees From her lip s i t spr a ng out a t me the cen t r a l sit ,
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THE GH OS T GI RL
8I
a tion f o r a no v el a nd commer ci ally I excl a imed ” “ That s i t ! There again she must h a ve mi ssed i t She loo k ed but she did no t sp eak “ ” “ Shop I told her To a chap in my trade no thing comes amiss We make copy o ut o f our own disasters She laughed and i n laughing her resemblance to Nelly Chilton b ecame not startling merely but exact “ Wi thout mentioning it I s at ba ck Yes b ut th e elsewhere or rather i t i s here I h ave been I n l o t s p threshing about for a plot A momen t ago b e fore you sat th e needy kni fe grinder N ow he i s needy no ” longer Y o u have suggested a story An d hello ! “ I interr up ted myself to exclaim here comes the ti tle The b ourne from which “ Noi selessly she c lapp ed her fingers A ghost story ! ' There never has b een a good one T he chan ce is yours Take it The titl e itsel f should inspire The b ourne from which “ She p aused and added I w o nder though i f e v e ry reader can fi l l out the rest O f i t Yet even incorrectly ‘ given The b ourne from which no traveller returns is ” t o o long “ ” “ Well I said when it a pp e ars i f i t ever does ap ” pear you must let me bring you a copy “ ” Thank you Y o u will find i t easi er to mail it “ ” Y o u are not le aving here are you ? ” “ Next week I go to Paris As she spoke she went to t he pi ano ripp le d the keys and hummed r ather than s ang the v al s e chan tan t e 0 Pari s g ai s éj o ur / “ Desisting she turned Th e hous e where I am i s ” sending me You shall ha v e the address n
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THE GHOST GI RL
82 “
I congratulate you But the story will keep until you return B esides it would clash with th at gai e t y I f I can I w ant to make the reader shri ek wi th fright ” tear his ha ir o ut and hide under th e bed “ ” She laughed The shiver at last ! On that high note I would have gone but from s omewhere Signor M atouchi appeared and yawned at me I tickled him in the stomach Ostentatiously he purred T hen k i ssing her hand I le ft .
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XI
A WE E K later I would have burned an incense wand only I di d n o t happ en to have o n e A message ha d reached me I f I had di ctated i t myself it could not have b een more t o my taste I t was a mess age which either clairvoyantly o r symp athetically Aly B olton had divined B radish would recover That was all There are breviti es tha t are enormous I t was at the ampli tude o f this b revi ty tha t I would h ave burned an incense wand The message was from C ally I t had come from his Th at day I looked in there I found him at O fli ce a vast table on which wa s a riding crop and a b o x o f c igars N othing else excep t over the table his i n f e rn al blandness two fingers and a moment s talk The fingers withdrawn he pointed o n e at me ” “ What h ave yo u b ehind the forehe ad ? -
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In th at pulp the O bj ec t ive changes o f the external w orld a re converted into the subj ective changes o f co n s c iousnes s Bu t in w h a t m a nner t he c o nversion .
T HE GHOS T GI RL
84
we went down the street p acked as a t that hour i t always was with envy greed and othe r things tha t do n o t look nice in print yet to which she seemed i n d i ff e r ent o r els e unconscious She said nothing and her silence was ve ry co n fi d e n ti al I t wa s a s though she were saying to me We talk the same tongu e and in that tongu e there is no need for sp eech Silence h as its li censes and I am sur e she h ad no intention o f a ccording me any The trick o f eye o f look o f way the arts rehearsed b e fore a mi rror the little sp ells a girl may cast i f only for practise she disdained o r els e ignored Her silence may o r may not have b e en confidenti al I t was not p rovocative In the gastronomi c El D orado which p resently we entered her attitude changed necess arily Yet i t wa s I who spoke first and not t o he r but to the wai ter When he had gone she s aid with t ha t i rrelevance w hich i s always so ap ropos : “ ” And the ghost sto ry ? Ten minutes earli er C ally had shaken the keys o f D estiny a t me I was yet to le arn that th e Urim and Thummim were then in her hands from which she was shedding the glo v es The glo v es were white her cos tume was dar k ad m i rab ly made equally simple I lac k t he hux t e r s eye but I kn ew i t wa s not a b argain and suddenly I re cap tured a sens ati on which I had not exp erienced for years th at o f intimate a sso c i ation wi th a charmi ng and b eauti ful girl A t once and with the s ame i rrelevan c e I b ega n a b out a hous e in which I had lived “ The house was b a ck from th e ro ad Th e door ,
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
85
way extended up to and through the se c ond story B e fore the house was a high wall o f grey stone Abo v e Under the hous e wa s a cellar whi c h was a grey sky is the usu al place f o r a c ellar but bene ath it was an other c ellar In the second cellar were b arrels I n ” the barrels wa s gold ” “ Yours ? “ I do not know I do no t know where the hous e is I do not know how long ago I lived there As a child the memory o f i t was vivid I t seemed as neighbourly as the day b e fore Perhaps i t was Time i s very relative I t may b e that there i s no such t hing Kant said that Kant sai d that time i s a category of the intellect As a child I did not know i t As a child it seemed to me that I had j ust come from that house of which my p eople knew nothing Since then I h ave realised that I lived there in a previous existence But I have always felt that I shall find the house aga i n and just no w I felt that when I do find i t I shall find in i t ” a girl who will look like you “ A compliment should be bri e f T h at i s the mo s t ” elaborate compliment I ever heard She smiled a s she s aid it but she smiled as mu ch a t the waiter a s a t me Th e wa iter was showing her not the plovers eggs tha t c arelessly I h a d promised but a salmi Sard an ap al e “ When he had served it she sai d : That is the gre a t advantage O f being a novelist A novelist c an imagine things that never happened that neve r could happ en ” bu t which are re al to him Wi thout transi tion as though wanting to get away “ from it she added : This s almi must have b e en ” cooked in a j ewelled p an .
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THE GHOST GI RL
86
“
Lei surely I drew her b ack You a re enti rely right but so too am I Epictetus advised us to cheat o u r selves and dre am But d o we che at ourselves when we recall what we di d in a p revi ous li fe ? From the maj ori ty any and all memory o f i t i s withheld Th at is very merci ful I f p eople rememb ered what they di d when they were here be fore a hundred and o n e out o f ” nine ty nine would go mad Whether i t were that last word that prompted o r whether i t were due to unconscious telep athy I do not know and I do no t b eli eve she knew e ither but dis missing the su b j ect she said : “ How i s M r B radish “ I wa s j ust coming from his physici an when I met o r e He sai d that B radish has a lesion that may u y s ult in cerebral d e gl ut i n i s at i o n That s a bi t sti ff U m ti l latterly B radish wa s the s anest man I knew But latterly he went qui te mad o v er N elly Chilton and while I do not blame him f o r tha t—how c an I when you are — her living image ? yet a ssuming tha t he recovers then when h e learns she i s gone and gone too just when ” he had her i t might topple him completely She nodded understandingly and stood up She was going she had much to do she s aid as she thanked me and I s aw he r to the door to the e ager sunshine to the crowd tha t took her and hid her away B ehind me from an or c hestra in the restaurant came a strain sweet and slow I had never he ard it be fore I heard it a fterwa rd I heard i t every time I thought o f her until I s aw her again whi c h then wa s a long way o ff ,
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THE
G H OST GI RL
s7
XII
S I N C E then in l o oking b ack i t has seemed t o me that the D aughte rs o f H a z ard that threw N elly Chil ton into a stone vault s ank B radish into depths where Death alone could f ollow and then because there are other depths d epths which only the living can enter because he had not su ff ered enough be c ause he must su ff er more re c alled him that he might k now what pain i s Then i t was that i n the v oids where he lay an artery reached and drew him His scattered sense s sati sfi ed with their temporary decentrali sati on resisted During the subtle struggle fought in a dim corridor of the brain a memory sti rred and spoke Along the corridor t wo syllables sounded remotely They were as taps o n a damp drum beaten obscu rely behind the shelves O f thought They awoke no echo evoked no image Dri fted by the currents o f unconsciousness they p assed But the cu rrents barred by assembling ideas broke to their murmur A memory tha t had gone looked back The taps o n the drum sounded less dumbly From behind the shelves of thought a face peered o ut On the lips o f the sleeper there formed a name “ ” Nelly ! Hi s eyes op ened B e fore him wa s a woman plain strange dressed a fter the manner o f the B elle Cho c o l at i ére His eye s closed p artially they reop ened and quite as though he were b ack in e arlier Parisi an days he said and distinctly enough : ,
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A b o i re l “ ” B ravo !
”
I said when I heard o f i t
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THE GHOST GI RL
88
Su b s equently C ally h ad him remo v ed t o the great w hi te staring house whe re a t last I went and where I found him c onvalescent collected entirely r a ti onal app arently a s sane as b e fore At the time he was in the libra ry a nd as I entered he got up and limped toward m e L o osely his clothes hung about him The spider reduced ha d p aled Then be fore I could attempt to condole for the at tempt at condolence is all o ne can make he surpri singly eluded i t “ The se chairs are b eastly There is not a chai r in the whole house tha t i s fit to si t in Formerly I did not noti ce One chai r was as good as anothe r But since I h ave be en up I find I want well what we all want what I lack I must send Pe ters around to pick up ” somethin g decent “ I lit a cigarette See here o l d chap you will b e having a birthday soon Sensible people have birth ” days all the time I ll give you o n e ” “ What ? A birthday ? “ ” A chai r “ Y o u a re b ecoming sin gularly generous But I want ” t o ask y o u How did she look ? “ ” I hesi tated and he added I asked C ally “ He wasn t there I rather b otched a mess age t o ” him He di d not re ach the manor until a fterward ” “ So he told me How did she look ? “ Fi shing I found the p i c ture As though sur ” rounded by the ine ff able “ He held it up I could see him vi sualising i t Yes ” that would b e N elly “ Still holding it he continued I don t b eli eve a word ” of it ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
89
”
“
I sta red O f what ? ” “ O f her death I can t beli eve i t “ That seemed na tural and I told him so Of course not I f th e ci r c umstances were reversed I could n o t ” either Then at on c e anxious t o get him away from it I “ tri ed a tw ist C ally s ays what you need now i s a ” change He said Pari s ” “ Pari s would not help me I have supped o n her “ Yes but the supp er was ye ars ago Now i t i s din ner time B e fore all thi s happ ened I wrote a p anto mime I can t place i t here Recently a showman an odiously famili ar brute clapp ed me on the b ack and ‘ said Produce the stu ff in Pari s and I ll import the troup e “ B radish shi fted I know Chose o f the N e uv e l l e s ” and i f M achin h as not forgotten me I know him t o o “ At all events Emile has not forgotten yo u or me either I gave him twenty loui s the last time I was ” there “ ” Emile ? “ Don t yo u rememb er swe et Alice B en B olt ? Don t you remember ho w he used to rub his hands and ask ‘ And what will ces messi eurs be good enough to b e w illing to desire ? “ The man a t the C a f é Anglais “ Precisely We can h ave Chose and M a c hin there and with the champ agne at thei r throats o n e o r the other will disgorge a contract Then on the firs t night when they call f o r the autho r you can appe ar ” and I ll shy a bouquet a t you “ ” I don t know that I would like tha t “ Of course you will That will b e in the autumn .
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THE
0 9
GHOST GI RL
and me anwhile there i s Sp ain and the bul l fi ght e rs and the gip si es and the ciga rreras and the highwaymen and under the stars thei r little dramas o f love and hate tha t sp end themselves not in a scene but in a ” murder “ ” Th at s Gr anada I s aw he was getting in t erested and I was about to strum another air when Peters app eared We went in to luncheon during which I kept talking o f th e Andalusi a I knew and loved sending hi s thoughts skimming a fa r ! p romenading him along the crocus and pink D elici as ! se ating him b e fore the castagnette s and gui tars ! showing him the fl amenco ! the slim twi sting waists the eyes burning above butter fly f ans ! scenting i t all with the odour o f almonds the smell o f grape “ ” He looked up When could y o u go ? “ ” This minute C all a cab “ Y o u se em to h ave a Golconda o f enthusi asm ! ” What do you s ay to a shot at next week ? ” “ Ol e tu mad re / Hurrah f o r your mothe r ! B ehind the hurrah a halleluj ah followed There he s at white gaunt shaken sane S ave f o r the re mark tha t he did not b elieve the dea d was dead a re mark qualifi ed by the supplement that he could n o t beli eve i t he had sai d nothing tha t was not humdrum commonplace normal Previously I had thought that wi th time in which everything breaks wears itself o u t p asses away resignation would come and forgetful ness with it But though he still rememb ered and though too the memory must have been poignant alr e ady h e wa s resigned So I thought That opinion I shortly and enti rely altered ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
2 9
“
”
I too s at down Seen whom ? “ ” N elly Until then I had n o t noticed the spider I t w as so violently re d t hat I wondered i f he h ad b ee n drinki ng and I tri ed to humour him “ ” Yes O f course Occasionally I s e e her also “ ” I tell you I actu ally s aw her “ I thought o f Aly B olton a nd I s aid Look here O l d ” chap you h ave seen someone who resembles her H e g o t up took a cigarette fr o m the floor lit i t s at down again “ N obody resembles her I n all the world she i s ” unique “ Well you a re wrong I thought but I s aid : There i s no such thing as mystery there i s only ignorance ” and with that I am abundantly supp li ed Ye t a s I s ai d that I told myself th at whomever he h ad seen could not b e Aly B olton She ha d gone “ Gloomily he flicked hi s a shes : I suppos e yo u think ” me cra zy “ I smiled a t him I would think you abnormal i f o o u were n t I n open court here Spitzka testi fying y a s an exp ert s ai d t hat all men a re insane In Fran c e Janet sai d the s ame thing D O you obj ect to the evi ” dence ? “ ” He laughed fi ercely N ot i f i t includes you “ Glad th at h e laughed I laughed also Well then the comp any I am in is nothing to boast o f But seri ously now y o u know a s well as I do and p rob ably b etter that alcohol o r morphine can produce hallu c ina ti ons which though actually seen represent merely the ” o b serv er s mental condi tion “ He shook th e cigarette You are tal k ing ru bb ish ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
93
I don t drink at le ast n o t t o excess and I don t take morphine though I have had enough to drive me t o ” it “ Yes I know But I know too that any strong emotion can have the s ame result Why good Lord ! eve ryb ody knows that the a ttendants a t morgues have to b e on thei r gu ard against the false i dentification o f the dead People go there di stracted by gri e f at the loss of a relative and with the image o f that relative so glued to the retina that they identi fy the first body ” they see “ He gave a sort o f gr o an I did n o t come h ere t o ” e x change stupiditi es my mind i s cle ar as a bell “ And so y o u will admit was B alzac s B al za c i n tended to give Gauti e r a hOrs e He forg o t to but he t alked s o much ab out i t that he b eli eved he had given i t and used to ask Gautier how the horse behaved From that yo u can re alise what the imagination i s You imagine y o u have seen the de ad whereas you know ” that that i s impossible ” “ “ Impossible ? h e angrily repeated Time and again I h ave he ard you s ay that the word ought to b e ” kicked out O f the dictionary “ Well ex c ept in connecti on with pure mathematics so i t should b e I f a s Hux ley s aid we understood all that i s impli ed i n s o common an instance a s an Ob j ce t th a t falls we would not doubt the possibili t y o f any o cc urrence however incredible At the s a me time “ See here I am not drunk o r dop ed or a novelist I don t c ar e what Hux ley s aid what you s ay what ” anyone s ays I s aw her Argument weakens all things I yielded ’
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T HE
94
GHOST GI RL
“
Very good then where wa s it ? “ ” I n the Park “ ” In the Park ! How in the Par k ? “ He fumbled and p roduced some p apers I had been to the French line They hadn t much but I got the captain s cabin the fi rst O ffi cer s cabin Her e they a re On the way up the car took the Park N e ar the ca rousal I s aw her She was alone She was on foot I g o t out There wer e p eople j ust ahe ad o f her As I got o ut sh e p assed b eyond them For a moment I lost sight o f her There a re steps there They le ad to a lake I thought she must b e o n them From the t o p y o u can s ee all around and I looked everywhere ” N o t a sign o f her She had vanished Like that ! “ Hold o n ! Did you se e anyone yo u might h ave ” mistaken f o r her ? “ I could not mistake children f o r her could I ? Or old women or nursem aids o r b abi es o r a b oy in a boat o n the lake ? N O I mistook n o one for her ” B eli eve me o r not i t was she I too help ed myself t o a cigare tt e from the flo o r As I lighted it I nodded a t him “ — But I want to believe you only and for heaven s — s ake don t think I am j esting only you would have made i t 'a bit ea si er i f you had s ai d you had seen her a t n i ght i n the O ld fashioned way at the foot O f your ” b ed sticking her tongu e a t you “ He shook hi s he ad I t was not her ghost i f that s wha t you mean It was she alive N elly Chilton in ” fl esh and blood When he s a i d tha t I wa s less e ager to have that poor vagrant o f a word kicked out of the dictiona ry Wha t he sai d wa s impossi b le and yet a s I ha d to r ec o gnise ’
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THE
GHOST GI RL
95
for the impossibili ty o f i t there was a good measur e o f excuse The sum total o f all he knew about her de ath was he arsay He h ad b een flying along with her in the op en and wi thout transiti on he was in b ed a strange woman looking at him O f intervening events he had no knowledge whatever There were not only no intervening events there was not even an inter The last instant b efore he lost con v e n i n g blankness s ci o u s n e s s and the first instant when he recovered i t met and fused M erci fully he had felt nothing he ard nothing seen nothing Since then he ha d felt and acutely He had he ard and crushingly But o f the anterior moments and hours and days and weeks and all that had been p acked into them he ha d but t he evidence of hi s o wn inj uri es and such information as others suppli ed Supported by the inj uri es the information was credible But human nature does not always accept the merely credible Tha t which in ne arly killing him had thoroughly ki lled her c onsti tuted a shock so over whelming that he ha d not assimilated it I n any catas t ro p he the re is always a sense o f unre ality and the seeming unre ali ty o f the girl s de ath must have been with him until j ust then a little before when in the Park the sight o f someone had accentuated the un re ality and convinced him at any r ate for the time being that she was n o t dead but alive After all he had not seen her as I had in her co fli n and o f those who had seen her I was his only witness “ Where i s Mrs Chilton ? I asked “ Somewhere in France My l awye rs have the ad ” dress Why do y o u a sk ? “ And Mrs T re f us i s .
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THE
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GHOS T GI RL
“
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N ewp ort I fancy Wha t do you want o f he r ? “ I f Mrs Chilton were in town I would ask you t o s ee her As she i s n o t and as M rs T re f u s i s i s away I do wi sh you would see Austen o r R enwi c k o r some body ? “ ” What good would i t do ? “ Jim look here At presen t I am the only one you h ave talked to who was a t the funeral I wish you would talk to some o f the others Th ey could only substanti ate wh at I h ave told yo u but wha t I have told you ha s not b een enough Wha t you would he ar from them would b e cumulative and convincing You would know fr o m i t tha t you a re mistaken ab out w ha t e o s aw o r t hought you s aw in t h Park B esides I u y ” dare s ay C ally could explain i t “ I dare s ay he could But he and the se v en s ages ” in active collabor ation could not explain i t away “ I am not so sure C ally told me you h ad a lesion o f the occipital cortex At the time h e di d not kn ow how i t might result My o r pro fessed not to know o wn ignor ance b eing unfathomable I looked it up and I found that in case s such a s yours there may b e a n ” imp ai rment o f vi sion “ Ye s that s tru e At first I could not distinguish obj ects very cle arly but th at has gone I can see now ” a s well a s eve r “ N o dou b t y o u think so Lo t s o f p eople are colour ” blind and have not the slightest suspici on o f i t “ Yes and l o ts O f people are stupi d and don t susp e ct it either But their stupi d i ty does not a ff ect me I s aw her There i s not the p er adventure o f a d o ub t ” about i t M entally a t that I threw up my hands I di d not ,
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GHOS T GI RL
T HE
97
know wh at t o say and b e fore I c o uld determine h e was at i t from another angle ” “ I want you to help me Theoretically i t i s a privilege to help anyone Actually it i s the guano o f ingratitude Yet we ak as wa ter I nodde d at him “ Well then since she wa s i n t he Par k tod ay she may b e there tomorrow I t w a s about noon when I saw her and tomorrow a t eleven I shall station myself a t the top o f the step s and I want you t o b e at the ” bottom Will you ? I t wa s she er insani t y but though ins anity has always appe aled to me I di d not at once agre e “ Assuming not f o r argument s sake but jus t t o avoi d o n e th at i t was your wi fe you s aw i t i s not cricket to t rap her I f i t was a ghost your attitude ” should b e equ ally correct ” “ But i t i s she who i s not r unning str aigh t ” “ All the more reason then why yo u should He got up li t another cigarette and began limping about I t seemed to me th at I had tangled him and wi th my usu al weakness I switched “ I ll go you I f I se e her I will s alute her I f you see her you will O f course d o the same But i f I were you and mind you I am not but i f I were I would stop there T O attempt in any way t o detain o r a ddress ” her unless she invi tes i t would b e an evil act “ He turned o n me I can t see where the e v i l ” would b e “ Yes you do yo u see p er fe ctly Y o u know i t w ould show a to t al lack o f consideration for her p ersonal independence I f Renwick had n o t mumbled a do z en phrases over you both you w ould never dre am o f i t ,
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THE
8 9
GHOST GI RL
B ecause he did that d o es not make her your thing But all this i s utter nonsense Y o u di d not see her and what you did n o t see you will n o t see again None the less I ll go you I ll go y o u b ecause I hate the ” humdrum and love the insane “ I broke o ff and added : C an you loan me Peters ” f o r a minute or two ? “ Pe ters ? Ye s C ert a inly What do yo u want him ,
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You may not kn ow i t but he is a genius He can ” p ack I t is more th an I can d o “ ” Pack ! Pack for what ? “ Se v illa ! Granada ! C adi z ! There are the ti ck ets I ll toss y o u now Wh a t did you p ay ? I ll toss you ” and give y o u a cheque for the one I lose “ ” “ Oh ! h e sai d longingly You a re still going are ” you ? “ ” Of c ourse I am and s o a re you “ ” N o t n o w not until I find Nelly I could not budge him I tri ed but not v ery hard I knew th e harder I tri ed the more mulish he would become but I knew too that i f I said little or nothing soone r o r late r he would veer suggest whateve r I ha d and beli eve the suggestion hi s o wn Not a very or i g i nal process p erhap s but I have found i t the only way in which o n e c an live in com fort wi t h un or iginal p eople “ C onsequently I threw up the sp onge All r ight Granada will keep But you re mad mad as a hatter ” mad as two hatters mad as Lincoln and B ennett ” “ Then you wi ll b e t here at eleven tomorrow ? ” “ I will b e there a t ten fi f ty nine He limp ed along I s aw him o u t he ard him lumb er ,
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T H E G H OST GI RL
1 00
his cock and b ull story I knew tha t he ha d b een telling not the truth certainly but what was truth to him I g o t up from the table to which I had re turned f rom the frowsy lady and kicked my clothes ab out But good Lord ! I mentally exclaimed What p on d e rab l e re ason have I f o r s aying that i t is not the tru th ? The fact th at there h as been no authori tatively established ghos t does not pr ove th at ther e cannot b e o ne Di ssa t isfi ed with the r educti o I ki ck ed agai n and t ri ed to loo k at the matte r from the angle o f ins anity C ally ha d waved tha t fl ag Ye t ap art from the deter mina t ion with which B radish had clung to th e i de a th at he h ad s een Nelly Chilton he seemed normal a s you ple ase to me a t least but while I knew preci ous li t tle about ins ani ty I did know that the presence o f an i dea fi x ed and erroneous i s the s urest proo f o f dementi a The ide a might there f o re show tha t h e was m a d unless O f course it were not err o neous But tha t is nons ense I deci ded H e did not see th e the de ad he did not se e a ghos t I f h e s aw anyb ody i t wa s Aly B olton an d yet h o w c ould he ? She i s n o t here Bu t I am here I disgustedly r efl ected and what i s worse I argu e with myself I don t wonder the f rowsy lady mistook me for a gasman Then b ack to me from over the way the p ossibili ty trotted It might b e Aly B olton App arently she had gone On th e other hand she might not have She ha d sai d she wa s going and though c le arly she had vacated the walkup i t did not follow tha t she had vacated N ew York Then suddenly I realised that I knew nothin g Wh at e v e r ab out her re alise d also a nd -
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THE GHOST GI RL
101
for the first time that while s e e m l n gly frank as an op en newsp ap er actu ally she might be secretive as a sealed book Exceedingly lovely clothed in riddles in her two by four fl at she had been o u t o f place as a piano in a pantry Her natural atmosphere was the sp aciousness o f some sp acious domain What she had was the That in i tself was s tu ffi n e s s o f a furniture shop incongruous Yet a p a rt from it where did she go ? w hat di d she do ? Fo r all I knew to the contrary p r ivately she might b e a B orgi a and publicly a b ac chante She suggested none o f the se things What she di d suggest wa s a soul singularly evolved But ‘ even though she were not even though she were no better than the law allows her charm p revailed Th at charm ha d inundated me B ecause o f it I knew what ever she might b e that a lways b e fo r e her my h at w ould sweep the ground When a man does not feel that way he has no feel ing at all One might s ay he i s callous N one the less myste ry surrounded her and I won dered i f I ha d the right to prob e i t She had been living there across the hall be auti ful and solita ry a t night looking like a princess and dressed f o r the ré l e and by day associ ated wi th a furni tu re shop I t was not only inc o ngruous i t was curious I t suggested th a t complexi t y which du al p ersonali ty i s and yet whi c h all problem a tic na tures possess I n considering the ma tter i t occurre d t o me that while I had no right to li ft any o f her veils to even touch them for purposes of my o wn yet for B radi s h s sake perhaps I should I f I could le ad him up to her the sh o ck he would get would b e a s pronoun c ed as the ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
102
one at my doorb ell and far more e ff ective for definitely i t would lay that ghost I reached for my h at took a p ai r o f glo v es stuck a stick under my arm and went down the stair On the main floor was the den o f the j ani tor a dir t y wild he arted little man with a hostile and drooping eye Long since I had tamed him A dollar here a ciga r there and he had b ecome a wa tch dog b arking that I had moved that I was dead gu arding me from inter ,
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Tell me p ret t y maiden I sai d when I go t at him “ ” What i s Mi ss B olton s address ? He di d not know But he knew her place o f b usi ness I t wa s a furni ture st o re o n Forti eth Street ne a r Fi fth Avenu e In an hour I found the shop which h a d the ai r o f a Franco Chinese b a z a a r Among other curios was a chai r that stretche d its a rms to me Pending the att en t i ons o f a clerk with shiny hai r a nd a shiny moustache I accep ted the chai r s embrace s At the moment the clerk wa s talking to a woman a topnotcher I thought Mrs Amsterdam f o r all I knew to the contrary but p re sently h e bowed he r out and I a sked f o r M i ss B olton s address ” “ M iss B olton ? N ever he ard o f he r “ Here is her picture then A b eauti ful y o ung woman b eauti fully dressed who speaks with a foreign intonation She i s conne c ted with your firm Whe r e ” i s she ? “ — — e r Oh ye s ! I recognise the pi cture But she ” was with us under another name “ I shi fted This i s a decent chai r Se nd i t to M r ” B ra di sh ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 04
mind bo arded a bus and got o u t at B rad i s h s corner In the hall wa s Peters and I aske d him to get me a sandwich ” “ An d a glass o f M adei ra si r Alre ady Gedney ha d told me that Bradish w as in th e recepti on room and a t once a s I entered th at ch a mb er o f horrors I dis c overed him a t the window standing there looking o u t a thing which a gentleman neve r does “ H e t urned and explained it I am on the watch ” now y o u know ” “ Well you need not b e I h ave got i t We went o n i n to the library and seating myself I “ added : Also I h ave a chai r f o r y o u I thought it v ery comfortable I thought i t more than comfort a b le It was what you might call a varsity chai r I t ” w a s highly instructive ” “ You h ave he ard something “ R ather a long story too But p erhap s i t won t bo re yo u There i s a young woman here abouts who ’
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He h ad i t away from me be fore I could get it out “ Nelly s twin She i s employed a t D e l at o ur s N elly told me about her I f tha t is your story wha t ” is t rue in i t i s n o t new “ But look here “ Oh I m looking and I propose to keep a t i t Here a re your s andwi ches I hope they will s eem more app c D id yo u think t i s i n g to you than tha t story has to me ” I would swallow it ? Peters ha d put a tray b e for e me and gone The s andwiches went qui te as qui ck ly “ Smoking he watched m e and pu ff ed N elly s a id .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 05
the resemblance wa s c onfined to the profile and colour ing She s aid the D e l at o u r girl was more fragile and ‘ slimmer I r emember j ust the way she put it She s me etherealised “ ” “ In duodecimo I threw o ut Ye s that s true None the less “ You thought I could mista k e o n e for the other ” Never I pushed at the tray and he s at down and shoved a box at me ” “ Have a cigar You will b e there tomorrow ? “ Yes and the day a fte r As often as yo u like But I think you a re wrong I thi nk i t was the D e l at o u r girl as yo u call her I w o ul d hav e s aid so this morn ” ing only I thought her in Paris “ ” And thought me insane “ Look here Jim ei ther you are cracked or else you ” saw a ghost There are no two ways about it But yo u are ridiculous with your ghost I never ” he ard such rot “ ‘ Eve r heard o f C arlyle then ? Ghosts the o l d ‘ du ff er said nigh a thousand million o f them walk the e arth at noon “ C arlyle was cap able o f anything excep t decent English He never saw o n e o f his ghosts or you ” either “ I t i s a pretty question I n England almost every o l d family has a ghost A ducal family has two ghosts ” Y o u know about the C rookes m énage don t you ? “ ” Who the deuce is Cro o kes ? “ An ordin ary p erson who discovered thallium i n ” v ented the radiometer and foretold the x ray “ ” The c hemist ? .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 06 “
From wh at I hea r h e i s p assi onless a s algebra ‘ Now he said I do not s ay such things may be I say such things are “ ” He did n o t say i t about ghos t s then “ Y o u are quite right He s aid i t about a spiri t ma t eri ali sed by a medium a very p ret ty sp iri t a spirit that calle d herself Kati e King gave him her photo graph a lock o f her hai r and sa t in hi s lap s at in i t not once but a hundred times I am not making this ” up i t i s all down somewhe re “ ” I don t b eli eve i t “ Of cours e you don t Y o u believe in the re a li ty o f things You b eli eve there i s he a t you beli eve there i s cold There is neither he at nor cold The r e i s merely vibration and the brain to transl ate i t You b eli eve there is light you b eli eve there is colour There is no light there are no colours There i s only matter and motion and the optic ne rve On the other hand you don t beli eve in illusi ons O f all illusions the re al i s ” the grea test “ Here ! Help yourself to the M adeira but sp are me ” your Fi chte and brandy “ Very good then conside r the lili es O f the fi eld They toil not neither do they spin and you have seen them in their i de al conditi on But you have not he ar d them grow into i t That i s b ecause your e ars are not a ttuned t o the i r vibrati ons I f they were you would precious soon di scover the nois e they make B ecause you a re not de a f you don t b elieve it B ecause you a re not blind y o u b eli eve there can b e nothing that is ” not O bvi ous I t i s the obvious alone that i s illusory “ In the Park today N elly was perfectly Ob vious ” w ith noth ing illusory a b out her ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 08
I n a moment when th e man had gone he tu rned again to me “ Ve ry nice o f you I m sure Was i t from tha t girl ” you got i t ? “ ” Lord n o I didn t see her “ ” How di d yo u know th en about th e resemblance ? “ ” She ha d a fl at across the way from mine “ At your confounded walk up “ Wh e r e else ? I am not maintaining two establish ments But she s aw yo u there once and said you h ad a be auti ful na ture She was entirely wrong None the ” less you might cultiva te o n e “ I think I am cultivating one I h ave ac c epte d your ch ai r wi th grati t ude and your remarks with ch a ri ty ” What more would you h ave ? “ Ab andon thi s whole thin g I f yo u are n o t c r ack ed ” alre ady i t will drive yo u cra zy ” “ B eg p ardon sir There was Gedney again this time wi th a c ard on a s alver B r a dish looked at the card looke d at me ” “ A man with some lease s They won t t ake long H e got up and limp ed into the chamb er o f horrors On the table b eside m e was T he D awn a no v el by Bil S ayers which the j unior memb er o f the house tha t publi shed my rubbi sh told me h ad sold to the tune o f six t y thousand c o pi es Idly I O p ened i t Instantly the room dissolved I was w a ndering a fa r in a fan c y b all o f the imaginati on one in whi c h I felt unworthy to ti e the latchets o f the wri ter s shoes The b all he gave suggested a B aude l ari an masquerade conducted by Gauti er ! the dual sur p rises th a t only a magi c i an of letters can cre ate ! the ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 09
words
glued t o the i de a and the ide a a winged thi ng With the name o f a pri ze fighter Bil Sayers had the pen o f a witch But the room re assembled i ts atoms Bradish re ap e r a e d Yet i t may b e he had lingered too long in the p chamber o f horrors I t may b e that some o f i ts atmosphere had perme ated him He startled me with the fi rst thing he said “ What did you mean b y s aying t he de a d can be ” raised ? “ ” M erely that and nothing m o re “ ” How is i t done ? “ Only the ini ti ate know But I understand that among the requisites are incantations chemicals and ” b u ck ets o f blood “ ” And the de ad rise f rom the b uck ets ? ' “ With the b loo d and other sub s ta n c es the sp i r i t ” materi ali ses He had b een standing He s at down i n the ch a i r I had given him re ached for the b oo k I ha d put on the t a b le fi dge t e d with i t and shoved it b ack ” “ And you say it h a s b een done ? “ Re ad your fE s chyl us In the Pe rs i ans there i s an account reasonably circumstanti al and toler ably terrific Since then ther e h ave been a numb er o f instances Only the other day I s aw an a ccoun t o f o n e in the London I t told o f a s é ance at the Winter Palace T i me s where a Thib etan lama evoked for the tsa r t he spiri t ” o f Alexande r II “ Hi s grandfather ? The chap who was b omb ed ? ” I don t beli eve i t “ How a dmi rable yo u a r e t oday Y o u as k for i n f o r .
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THE GHOS T GI RL
1 10
mati on The prettiest girl i n all the world can o nly ” give you what she s g o t But ther e was Gedn ey again Someone else h a d come and I re a ched for my ha t “ ” Tomorrow a t eleven ? he sai d when he s aw I was going “ ” On the dot .
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XV T HE
next morn i ng I wen t to the roo f Abou t me w ere fastidious tokens the subsurface garments o f my neighbours I n the stre et were hurrying insects Above indi ff erent to the i diot agitati ons o f man serenely the sun looked down I t reminded me o f B rahma who knows the nothingness o f all But the sun that is a divine lecture r i s also a he avenly clock The hour o f my rende zvous wi th the quick p erhaps also with the dead was approa c hing I threw myself down the stai rs and ultimately re a c hed the Park where I found B radish ga zing as Janus ga z ed two ways at once “ ” Ami cably he greeted me You a re always la t e “ ” I nimically I answered him You look like a god B olstered by a stone p illar h e stood a t the top o f a flight o f step s B ene ath was a p ath tha t gi rdled a mi asmati c lake The p ath was punctu ated wi t h the ex c lamati on p oints o f trees b etween whi c h at sp aced intervals wer e arbours vine covered filled with mosqui toes At the foot o f the steps thre e children shouted a s only Ameri can children do shout Al o ng the p a t h a man s t r olled hi s han d s b ehind his b a ck .
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THE GHOST GI RL
112
Dumb f ounded I ga sp ed but I ralli ed droppe d my cigare tte r aised my ha t At that instant she was mid way o u t he step s above me Wheth e r or not she s aw me I could not tell She ignore d me a s only an entirely well bred woman c an ignore a man whom she does not wish to noti c e I stared She was ne arer then than the instan t before and i n staring I was conscious o f thre e distinct and practically simultaneous imp ressions Fi rst that she w a s not N elly Chilton but Aly B olton ! second that she was neither th e o n e n o r the other ! third that who e v er she might b e she w as livid Confused by the conflicting impressions I looked up a t B radish looked without c onsciously s eeing him looked a g ain a t he r for he r rathe r She was no longer there During the shi ft o f my eyes she h a d vani shed The t o urists then were di rectly in front o f me One o f them a man wa s asking me something I flung him a si de flung myself through the others flung myself beyond a nd looked N o t a trace ! On the o ther side o f the pa th were bushes N o o n e ! N e arby was an a rbou r Emp ty ! I turned B radish red as a tomato was limping along the p ath B ehind him the tourists bunched to gether were r asping angrily a t me I was sorry to ha v e app e ared uncivil but I was not in the humour to say so I ha d my hands full wi th B radi sh Without hi s ha t p assing and r ep assing a hand on his head his mouth w orking that spider venomously active b e fore me h e stood unable to sp eak co ng e s t i o n e d b y emoti o n ” “ Come here ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 13
I g o t him in the ar b our go t him seated killed a few mo s quitoes and asked i f hi s car was waiting I do He was stuttering something n o t think he heard what I could not make o u t something to the e ff ect that my Nelly was dead I neve r had a N elly Otherwise i t wa s cu r i ous Bradi s h six fee t tall ordinarily nerveless a s a stone wall was shaking like a frightened girl In those remote days brandy was to b e had in the Park and ve ry b ad brandy i t was But there are times and se asons when b ad brandy i s bette r than none This was o ne o f them I thought My kingdom for a pony ! Hi s house though was very neighbourly ‘ Rather than the haz ard s o f sylvan b ars i t seemed to me s a fer to get him there “ ” “ See he re I said I f you came o n foot we ll find ” a cab “ Again he p assed a hand over hi s hea d Where is ” my h at ? ” “ Pro b ably o n the step s He g o t up I put a hand under his elbow H e shook it o ff and limped along The tourists th en had gone The children I had hoped were de ad ha d returned dirtie r noi si er not sick but sticky They were h aving a rough and tumble o n the steps from the top o f which Fletcher who ha d succeeded M ike was looking down By this time B radish had himself in hand I n the car he said nothing but a t his house he dis t ributed va r ious order s ” “ Except to D r C ally I am not at home ” “ Yes sir Thank y o u sir ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 14 “
Something t o e at and drink in the libra ry Any ” thing ” “ B randy I threw in “ ” And cura coa B radish a dded B randy and cur a co a make very good medicine I applauded t he prescr iption Ap art from which I h ave often wondered how it was that in questioning hi s s ani ty I did not questi on my own Fo r p resently a fter hi s servants had c ome and gone and we had b o th dosed ourselves and he went b a c k into i t I followed hi s lead n o t he ad over heels perhap s but with rela tive confidenc e Th e le ad h e gave was a t first merely an indi cation “ ” Well what do y o u make o f i t ? “ I don t know what t o make o f it except tha t who ever the lady o f the step s may h ave b een neithe r o f ” us ever saw her b e fore He li t a ciga r pu ff ed a t i t li t it again “ Y o u are right N either o f u s has seen a ghost Yesterday when yo u sp oke o f o n e I thought it ri d i cu lous I did n o t beli eve i t p ossible I do n o w though N o I still do n o t b eli eve it p ossible and yet I h ave ” to believe i t My eyes deny what my e ars afli rm “ I exclaimed a t him Your ears ! What have your ” e ars to do with i t ? He wa s relighting hi s cigar and I doubled o n him “ Look here ! Wha t in the world did you go and ” tumble over f o r ? “ ” I t was her doing “ How her d o ing ? Y o u don t mean she knocked ” you down ? “ I n th at be astly hole where we s at I told you about ” i t You seemed more interested in the mosquitoes .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 16
and I s aw wa s not a ghost Ghosts may or may not app ear but a ssuming they do appe a r they don t talk ” They cannot The physical organs are lacking I could see him turning it over Then he too had i t or thought he ha d i t and he gave i t to me “ Hold on ! You told me that the spiri t tha t s at in Crookes lap said her name was Kati e King She ” must h ave ta lked to tell i t “ Yes and f o r that matter I have had a sp irit talk to me In B oston at a s éan c e a spiri t b obb ed up right i n fron t o f me As she wa s young and p retty or a t le ast se emed s o in the darkened room I put an arm ‘ a round her and she ble ated Don t don t and cuddled closer While I was hugging he r th e medium b arked ‘ like a bulldog Young m an ! D on t y o u t ake lib erti es with B right Eyes Then Mi ss B right Eyes slipp ed ” from my arms and di saggregated through the floor I laughed as I s ai d it a s one does in telling a thing o f that sort but it did not amuse B radish Gloomily he smoked and I gave the story i ts prop er persp ective “ But look here B right Eye s and Kati e King and a ny other m e di umi s t i cal ly materi ali se d spiri t i s not a gh o st A sp i rit i s a physi c al exteri oris ation o f the medium s p sychism Ap a r t from the medium i t has no existence whatever On the o t her hand a ghost the old fashi oned ghost had its own enti ty i ts own voliti on Like the wind i t came and went a s i t listed ” Bu t except in novels i t never talked How coul d i t ? B radish got up and stamp ed about An old tri ck o f his i t ha d always annoyed me But on t hi s day occupi ed a s I was with wha t a German would call th e bei ng and the non being no thi ng m attered except th e k ey t o the riddl e Whi Qh had compli cated its elf by .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 1
7
b e c oming a problem with an enigma added The lady Was she o r was o f the step s consti tuted the problem she not a ghost ? In either case who was she ? In the latter query was the enigma The practically simultaneous impressi ons that I had derived from her vividly confusing as they we re at the moment had since b ecome less distinct O f them all the third being the last was the strongest and I tol d myself that while the app arition might imp ossibly be Nelli e Chilton might possibly h ave been Aly B olton more prob ably i t was a fai r unknown Yet in that event why had she said that N elly was dea d ? H o w for that m atter had she come to s ay i t ? Above all why the d e hau t e n has attitude ? Assuming it were N elly Chilton a ssuming i t were Aly Bolton a ssuming i t were a third and unknown quanti t y what had B radish done t o b e sp oken to wi th such lo ftiness ? He was a good sor t and hi s atti tude to the dep arted had been imp eccable Why then the ai r o f saying Vil Iain unhand me ? A t tha t quite like the mosquitoes o n the lake an ide a hummed and bi t I looked up a t B radish “ Jim would yo u mind continuing your promenade ” si tting down ? I have something to ask yo u ” “ He t urned to me Well what ? “ Y o u rememb er the ladylike dressmaker wi th the cheque What di d you tell them a t the manor about ” him ? I t w as a bit f a r a w ay I t took him a m o ment t o get there In the proces s he sa t down “ I don t se e why you want to g o b ack into that Bu t i f i t i s any benefit to y o u I got Mrs Chilton alone .
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1 1
THE GHOST GI RL
8
and put the matter b efore her She took i t to N elly ” When she returned she s aid N elly would marry me “ So I assumed But j ust what did you tell M rs ” Chilton ? “ What Peters told me that he had gone with you ” to B onheur and tha t the scoundrel would not budge At that I too g o t up and sta mped ab ou t I stamped the harder b ecause I did n o t know what to say Truth should be agre eable o r else withheld To have told him that N elly Chilton h ad agre ed to marry him s o lely be c ause o f circumstances which she was distressingly unaware no longer existed or which i f they had ever exi sted exi sted only in her mother s imaginati on to h ave told him that would have b een tantamount to hi tti ng him over the hea d ” “ Well why do you a sk ? I he ard him s ay “ ” I stopp ed and turned Oh nothing “ Nothing eh ? Then you have a migh ty queer w a y ” o f a ski ng mighty que er questi ons about i t “ I ha d turned away I turned again The whole thing i s queer I am trying to get the rights o f i t From the manner i n which the lady o f the steps spo k e t o you it s eems to me th a t she must have felt hersel f ” aggri eved “ ” About what in God s name ? “ She may have got the i de a that the B onheur story ” wa s too b a d to b e tru e “ ” But where could she have got such an ide a ? “ ” Ah where ! That s it “ ” And from whom ? “ ” From whom a s you s ay “ ” Well t hen ? “ I d o not kn ow whe r e she got i t how she g ot i t or .
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T HE GHOST GI RL
1 20
XVI I N the workshop that night I tri ed to solve the riddle Th e enigma p assed and rep assed I t gallop ed like Flaub ert s sphinx .
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In meditating tha t picture a message rea ched m e Prob ably the result o f wha t p eople who like fine w ords call unconscious cereb ration or o f wha t p eople who like finer ones call inspir ation none the less the mes s age s eemed to originate not from within but from without I t seemed as though an i nvi sible p resence had conveyed i t Even n o w though ye ars h ave gone by since then I am unable to s ay that i t was n o t due to an external agency The s up e rj e ct i v e always p oten ti al in us t hough in most o f us usu ally dormant may have transmitted i t from o n e o f the unseen help ers t hat we all h ave and who are most active in o u r b ehalf when we are striving not for ourselves but for others I n any event and however the imp a ct m ay have originated eventu ally i t suppli ed the key to the riddle op ened tha t door and changed thre e lives The com plex result was not immedi ate and in time much i f not all o f i t would in any ca se have be en achi eved Sooner o r later all doors op en all lives change But I beli eve now that the key was hidden i n the message whi ch simple enough o n the surface told me to do what I had then n o intenti on whatever o f doing and that was to visi t the Park the next day Ch ateaubri and who knew what p oetry i s sai d there a re ap p aritions tha t v i sit the he ar t o f man They ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
121
come as thi eves and angels do and like them dep art An app arition had visited me I t instructed and I obeyed On the morrow at eleven thir ty I was again in the Park at the foot o f those steps I had no plan o f any kind which o ften i s the b est — — plan o f all I had thought that when and i f the la dy app eared I would le t ci rcumstances guide me But though I had not planned what I would do I had planned what I would not do The day be fore she had cut me dead Ghost or not I did not propose to have her c ut me living I f graciously she were so inclined and bowed my hat would sweep the steps and i f by look o r motion she intimated that I might addres s her then while I ha d no phra ses rehe ars ed I d i d t hi nk I might b ecome quite talkative and not about the weather e ither M e anwhile on the third step from t he b o t t o m I sa t down The de ar children o f the day b e for e may have sickened a t l ast The touri sts may have thought the Park a haunt o f thugs The talkative man who talked to himself must have b een talking elsewhere Save for the mosquitoes I was alone B eyond on the mi a smatic lake a b oat fl oated Above was a tender turquoise and the indi ff erent sun O f the lady n o t a sign I lit a cigarette As I tossed the match my hand stung From it fell a p ebble I looked up At the top o f the steps B radish was looking down Then a t once as though he had no time to waste he t urned his b ack a very fine b ack drap ed beauti fully in b eauti ful flan ne l s ” “ I called at him Au l arg e can ai l l e ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 22
Still that b ack and I fan c i ed he was ga zing Janus e s q u e l y a s he h a d ga zed the day b efore Up the steps like a chamoi s o n Chamonix I fl ew “ Se e here confound i t y o u will only make a mess o f things as you did yesterday where as I “ ” You will do wonders “ At all events I won t lose my head and my ha t and tumble over b ac kward I f she sees y o u she ll b o lt godlike that yo u are But me now she may not notice and I can tip toe along and s ee what b ecomes o f her I t i s not suppos able that she w ill demateri alise a s little Bright Eyes di d when her ch aperon caught m e ” hugging her “ Y o u neve r can tell She demateri alise d yesterday ” She demateri alised the day be fore “ But neither o f us s aw her a t it Now I s aw B right Eyes p er form her little act She sank from my arms ” thr ough the fl oor di saggregating a s she went “ ” She wa s a fool not to have dis aggregated sooner “ I dare s ay But tha t s not the p oint I f y o u are to ” stop here I ll g o I f y o u go I ll hold the fort “ B radi sh grabb ed me by the arm There she is ” now ! In that taxi ! I n the cab almost in front o f us then I could see her s ee t o o that she wa s bowing n o t at b oth o f us not at B radi sh that b ow was f o r me and rai sing my stick i n signal at the mechanici an I bounded B e for e I could rea ch her she too may have signalled A yard a gloved hand was o r t wo b eyond the cab stopp ed held o ut to me and my eyes were e ating her face “ “ ” Well ! I exclaimed Of all p eople ! Y o u are ” not the ghost o f yourself a re you ? .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 24
in the upp er Eighties As she told me I saw tra v elling bags a t h er fe et She gave me her hand I told the driver and fell b ack B radish his h at i n his hand his tail b etween hi s legs w as ambling away “ I caught up with him Well sir I hop e you are ” s ati sfi ed Th at ghost i s lai d “ With l atent ferocity he turned on me Was th at the D e l at o ur girl ? She doesn t re semble N e l ly in the ” least “ She doesn t eh ? After your telling her you saw ” her here yesterday and the day b e fore ! I like that ! “ I don t know that I p articularly care what y o u like o r wha t you don t like At a distance there is a resem blance I admi t th at But the voice is different. Thi s gi rl has a foreign intonation a foreign look Vi e nnes e I should say I did not notice tha t until she spoke Then a t once the slight resemblance faded I t was ‘ n o t she who s ai d to me yesterday Your N elly i s de ad “ I t wa s not you either I suppose who gra b b ed me ‘ by the arm and said Th ere she i s ! There she i s “ I made a mistake tha t s all there i s to i t You needn t rub i t i n Come o n to the house and have ” luncheon M entally again I threw up the s p onge In trying to unravel i t the night b e fore I found tha t I did not beli eve tha t the lady on the steps had spoken to him I beli eved that self s ugg e s ti o n e d he had imagine d th a t she h ad Other p eople h ave ha d a uditory h allucina tions and why n o t he ? Why n o t he p articularly ? H e was j ust in a condi tion for them In any even t one thing now was ce rtain and in a matter such as t his ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
1 25
one wa s a great many The lady of the steps was not Aly B olton D efinitely she was eliminated I was f re e t o pick and choose b etween a de ad girl and a d ame i nco nnue and o f the two I infinitely preferred the latter At the same time i t struck me that in a town a s b eauty lorn as M anhattan the coincidence o f thre e young women identical in b e au ty was fabulous Of the three The wonder remained o n e h ad now dropp ed out The subtraction diminished i t b y not more than a j ot “ ” I looked a t B radish Wha t did C ally s ay ? ” “ Ab out what ? ” “ The condition o f a ff airs in Pe ru “ ” He scowled You a re always trying to b e funny “ I laughed How splendi d i t i s f o r y o u n o t even to have t o try ! Come now ou t with i t What did ” he say ? “ He di d no t s ay anything He had no c hance I did not tell him I f I had he would have wanted to ” have me committed As he said that he nodded a t me and I nodded b ac k “ I am not so sure but tha t we both o f us ought to be Here we have been two days running hunting a ghost at high noon and in this be astly Park o f all places N ot C ally alone but anyone else would think ” we were cracked “ Speak for yourself What C ally did say i s th a t ” I ought to get out o f here “ I ran up the fl ag G r anad a Se vill a C adi z ! C an t o hear the castagnettes the clinking heels the u y guitars and the shouts ? C an t y o u sme l l the orange trees and th e blood ? C an t yo u see the fl ash o f the rapier the bull o n hi s kn ees and the wh o le pla za yell .
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12
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THE GHOST GI RL
ing like mad ? The Lord have mercy up on us ! There p eople spend thei r copp ers and live Here they grub ” for them and di e “ He turned o n me All that i s copy You know you don t care a rap f o r any o f i t and you know too ” and j olly well that I don t ei ther We had re ached the avenue Just b eyond a man was scaling a bus I did not know him but h e re minded me o f Austen I thought o f th e stree t o f obscure calami ti es in which he had buttonholed me As I rememb ered i t i t was somewhere o ff there to the e ast and I asked B radish i f he knew where he lived “ B radi sh ge stured vagu ely He le ft a card f o r me ” Very civil o f him I thought We lunched like imitati on b arons in the p seudo b a roni al hall Bu t B radish played wi th the fo o d He had a headache he s aid and I never he a rd him say such a thing be fore A f terward in the libra ry I c a ught him ga z ing at m e with p ensive malignan cy “ Wha t di d you have in your he a d yeste r d a y when ” you brought up that B onheur business ? At the moment I had forgo t ten j ust wha t had sug gested it and I told him so “ I will re fresh y o ur memory then Y o u intimated tha t Nelly might ha v e mi s c onstrued i t Wha t the ” devil di d you mean ? “ ” Oh nothing in p articular I wa s wriggling He s aw i t and p inned me d o wn “ ” I wi sh yo u would tell me A good straight honest li e has s aved many a si tu a ti on But a t t he momen t my imagina t ion w a s in di .
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T H E GHOST GI RL
128
or what I did find seeme d very futile Yet wh at i s there in li fe that is not futile ? As f o r this thing I knew that by day he could rid himself o f i t Through mere determination o n e can by day rid the mind o f anything But at night I knew i t w o uld t ake him unawares pull a t his sle eve wake him si t there and s tare “ She has got to k n o w She has got t o b e told tha t I ” k new no t hing o f it He had stopped limping about and was standing in f ront o f me the spider pulsating as I had never s een i t pulsa te be fore In standing he sort o f shook a s o n e does with the ague “ I don t know how I can get her to know I n th e Park i f I se e her again she may re fuse to listen I “ He b roke o ff s a t down and g o t up agai n I ll ” import a lam a hang me i f I don t I could not make hea d or tail o f i t Perhap s he s aw that I could not f o r he waved and added : “ Y o u told me o f a T hibetan lama that raised the dead ! ” “ “ L o rd o f Eternity ! I helplessly exclaime d No doub t I did I am cap a b le o f retailing any ins ani t y But a lama is not a pri ze pig You co ul d n t i mp o rt B esides one ” “ “ he cut in that t here had b een any Y o u s aid numb er o f instances Other means failing there ” shall b e o n e here I sat b ack I t seemed phanta smagori c But what else had the episode o n the step s b een ? Perhaps where all is abnormal the abnormal ce ases Yet the ah normal need n o t b e the illicit and I s aid a s much .
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T H E G H OS T G I RL
1 29
”
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That w ay le ads to B edlam He laughed His laughter w as that which a poet c atalogued as he ard in hell fa r down “ Where else have I b een since I woke up at the manor and saw tha t woman looking at me ? As soon as I knew about N elly I wished I had gone with her ” I have wished it a hundred times I wish i t now “ He sat down I supp ose i t i s indecent o f me to say so It i s always indecent to s ay how o n e feels ” — 4 But unless I find a way o ut o f thi s “ ” “ Well you will I interr upted I have told you that Y o u are standing b e fore a door that is closed bolted b arred se aled and walled There are j ust two ” — things than c an e ff ace i t time and silen c e “ Sotto vo c e I added : And some one to beguile them ” both “ Angrily he p rotested Save that f o r your novels Ten years hence time and silence might help and would help n o w I suppose i f all thi s had happened t en years ag o But toda y tomorrow the day a fter ! N o t f o r an instant “ See here i f y o u don t mind I ll ask some o f your ” p eop l e to fetch me a drink I did n o t want i t To fuddle in the daytime h as always se emed t o me the a ct o f a b arb ari an o r else o f a fool But liquor which excites most men was a sedative t o Bradish and I thought that under its i n flu ence his mood m i ght chan g e veer and p ass He was o n e too many for me “ Stop o n here and get as squi ff y as you li k e My ” head aches to split I am o ff to bed He was going but he stopp ed turned poin t ed “ — That door you know the door bolted b arred ” sealed walled—I ll bre ak i t down .
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THE
1 30
GHOST GI RL XVII
I T seemed very unna t ural o f B ra dish t o have a head ache Unnatura l too wa s hi s i rritabili ty In my i gn o rance the combination s eemed to me symptomati c o f appro aching derangement and so weighed on me that that night I awoke calli ng for help I ha d ha d a frightful dream about Switz erland I t p assed a s such things do p ass and that a fternoon I went to the addre ss which Aly B olton ha d suppli ed By comp ari son with the walkup the house was noble A li ft exalted me and presently a moonfaced maid conducted me to a sitting room tha t was charming ” “ R ather a change from Harlem I s ai d when the mai d s mistress app e ared She had come into a little money she told me I n telling i t she gave me her hand and indicating an oblong silver box tha t sat on a table o ff ered me a cigarette But though she smiled a s I think she alone could smi le she ha d the langu i d ai r o f those who are a bi t overworked ” “ And n o w tell me about yourself she a dded I was admiring her frock I t was delicious and she w as deli cious in i t Th e combined delights sang ab out me ” “ You may p erhap s rememb er my ghost story ” “ You h ave b een writing i t ? “ I h ave b een living i t In the se c ond chap ter you ” w alked in She wa s looking a t me reading me I thought b ut even f o r her cle ar eyes I felt that that s econd chapte r ' wa s t o o involved and I shook i t o ut for her a fter sum m ari s i n g the first .
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T HE G H OST GI RL
132
de eply blue a t lands that would b e divine w er e i t no t for man A pi cture returned and I displayed it ‘ I saw the sphi nx in flight H e gallop ed lik e a j ackal Leisure ly she redescended to e ar th and t o me ” “ Y o u h ave a solution ? “ I t directed me t o the N o but I had an imp act Park Yesterday I s aw you there Then I knew why I was s ent I was sen t t o meet yo u for you alone can ” help us ” “ Tell me how “ I will tell yo u more B radish b eli eve s tha t the v isi on has m i s mt e rp re t e d an enti rely inno c ent ac t o f his That i s impossible D ea th took her t o o suddenly I t is true she might have a cqu i red an erroneo us a c c o un t o f i t where she is and that I think i s hi s ide a Ye t how could she ? One does n o t gossip in the a stral At le ast i t i s not supposable But he won t look a t i t in th at way I n th e shee r lu xu ry o f his gri e f h e w a nts ” to get a t h er “ Orpheus and Eurydice “ ’ A mode r n v ersi on O rp heus whose lyre c ha rmed all natu r e all hell a s well tried with i t to recover his de a r dep arted B radish thinks a cheque book equally coercive I was i di ot enough to tell him o f a Thib etan lama who had evoked a dea d emp eror Yesterday h e spoke o f importing one quite a s th ough ” he had only to cable and hang the expens e “ Your p oor M r B radish might k now tha t every lama i s not a magician and als o t ha t magi c i s n ot ” c o nfi ned t o Thi b et “ I took an o the r ci garet t e T here a re s atan is ts ,
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T HE
GHOST GI RL
1
33 ”
everyw here I dar e s ay there are a few here “ She moved a match b ox to me I know o f o n e by repute Prob ably there are others The atmosphere o f New York c h arged as i t i s wi th grossness i s highly favoura b le for them Ye t I doubt tha t any o r all o f them c ould help your fri end in the le ast I doubt that a congress of black magici ans could su mmon N elly ” C hilton ” “ She i s too w hite you ‘me an ? “ That would h ave i t s e ff e ct But there is another reason o n e o f a di ff erent order I She hesita ted p aused broke i t o ff “ ” I picked i t up Well ? “ She pushed i t away It i s all so o ut o f the common tha t so o ner or later I shall b e reading it with your name o n the cover You have been living it as you ” said Y o u know all the characters all the facts “ Not all the fa c ts there s the rub Even otherwise i t entirely exceeds my absence o f talent F o r that mat ter I can think o f but one writer who could do it j ustice and that i s B il Sayers Have you read T he .
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D a wn ?
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Yes D o you like i t ? “ Enormously The boo k i s v ery able So i s he H e keeps his name out o f t he p ap ers and nowadays i t ” takes genius to do that For a moment she appe ared to turn i t over The n “ she said : I t may be he feels that a wri ter should s o arrange his li fe t hat posteri ty can find no evidence o f ” his having lived at all “ I laughed There are writers tha t survive only because de ath ha s ignored them But all this i s shop ” talk What did C anada s ay ? .
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T HE GHOST GI RL
134 “
Where I was i t did not talk it whi sp ered I went for that whi sp er At times N ew York de a fens ” me then i t su ff ocate s and I have to get away “ While y o u were away I took the liberty o f e n qui r ing for y o u a t D e l at o u r s At the time I d i d not know ” but that yo u might b e the lady o f the steps “ ” They undeceived y o u I hop e “ A shiny young man wa s reasonably vagu e I le ft w i th the impression that somewhere i n C anada there wa s a y oung gentlew o m a n with two names and no a ddress “ The shiny young man knew me only a s an e xp ert My individuali t y and my o wn name I keep f o r my ” friends And among your fri ends i s a so rc e r er W o uld y o u ” care t o visi t hi s cavern tonight ? “ ” D ear M r D elmonico ? I should love to “ I stood up You r e a b ric k I wi ll stop by for you then a t s ay “ ” She help ed me At seven thirty Pr esently the li ft w a s redescending me to e arth ,
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XVI II T H AT night when the philter s had b een removed the den o f the necromance r was void o f the b ewit c hed The disenthralled were a fa r a t the sea i n the moun tains Thos e still under the sp ell had gone to roof rdens or else to j oys less se v ere I n a corner t wo a g phantoms were tenderly telling how they hate d e ach other Occasi onally a goblin moved a s moves a form i n a d r eam At th e entrance occasi onally a fa c e a p pe ar e d and vanished O therwise we were alone ,
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THE
136
G H OS T GI RL
i t coming and consci ous that i t a woke no echo she w aved it away The heights are not for every mortal They were not to b e mine tha t night “ ” We a re here o n business she was s aying and look “ ing as she sa id it as unbusinesslike a s you ple ase If I am to he lp there are one or two things I should ” know Whom had she that was ne ar to her ? “ ” “ Well I said she had a t le ast o n e distant rela tive Th at wa s her mother Mrs Chilton had a D a r ling for her always I think though i t came from the lip s At he art I think she looked o n the girl a s a ” golden egg o r do I me an the hen that lays i t ? “ ” And her father was he a distant relative also ? “ A foreign one I should s ay At some time o r other he folded hi s tent He may b e now in Pa ris o r he may be in San Francisco When a N ew Yorke r concludes to disa pp e ar he makes for the coast o r else for the Seine What determines the choice must dep end on memory or such informati o n a s a c lub window sup ” plie s “ A man o f p osition was he “ I do not know I do no t know what a man o f positi on i s But I fa ncy he was rea sonably aware that he came o f good stock I f he ha d come of better stock ” he might have omitted to b e awa re o f i t at all “ Sh e rais ed a slender finger I f I am to help you to help M r B radish please do n o t talk like a soci e t y ” play I rai sed my hand in s alute The slender finger sank “ The golden egg you mention sp ells Mr B radi sh ” I suppose From the s pelling am I to infer the wolf ? “ The whole p ack They c hased Mrs Chilton ,
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THE
G H OST GI RL
137
throug h the doors o f B radi s h s b ank where she dodged in and out and ran into a fine fellow who promised her the peni tenti ary unless she permitted him to make up to her daughter Or so at least she confided to ” Bradish ” “ Y o u m e an she invented it ? “ At any r ate B radish s w allowed it And here the plot thickens Previ ously and I fancy by prearr ange ment the fine fellow had show n Bradish a forged cheque which naturally he disowned and a s i t hap pened in the presence o f witne sses At the moment the poor chap never for an instant imagined that Jim the Penman was Mrs Chilton An hour later she swam in owned up and the next day wit h an imagi nary penitenti ary staring her in the face f ri ghtEfi e d her daughter into taking him Fo r a moment only Since then B radis h has learned the truth He thinks S he has also and thinks she beli eves he knew o f i t a t ” the time and got her under false pretences Aly B olton dropping her cigarette in a fi n g e rb o wl watched it drown and looked up a t me ” “ There was a ne arer o n e yet ? “ Much nearer A chap named Austen She was dead in love with him and i s still for that matter D ead in love is a ridiculous expression when appli ed ” to the living but i t fits a ghost “ Up again went that slender finger I asked y o u not to talk like a soci ety play and n o w you are trying ” t o talk like a l o w comedi an “ I wish I might so talk that She had taken her gloves She was re aching b ack f o r the wr ap I saw tha t the nature o f my conversa t i o n al ambitions she divined a nd dismissed ’
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THE GHOST GI RL
138
Summoning a goblin I p aid and o ff we went and into a cab where I did not attempt to take her hand I knew i t would b e withdrawn I knew she was not the gi rl to give a man the lesser mystery o f a hand to hold unless the gre a ter mysteri es were to follow I knew she would never graduate the degrees to the the temple I knew she might never give anything but I knew also that i f she ever di d the gi ft however slight would b e the token o f everything else I not only knew th at I knew that she knew exactly what I was thin king The exp eri ence o f making up to her without the necessi ty o f s aying a word delighted me I t suppli ed all the enticements o f love without any o f its disillusi ons But a t once I was consci ous that even the immateri al was deni e d me We were seated together a fold of her wrap j ust touching me and i t was through the fold that she may h ave got the current of my thoughts that were p erfumed with her imagined kisses In any event without moving an inch s he drew the fold from me The moti on she made wa s so slight that had I b een less consci ous o f her I would not have noticed i t But I did notice it I knew i t wa s a rebuke o ne as unspoken a s everything else had been and turning to her I raised my hat “ ” Forgive me Readily she might have asked for what ? Re adily she might have pretended ignoran c e Ther e was no p retence about Aly B olton ” “ “ ” Yes she s ai d I will She p aused and added : “ We h ave to se e M r B radish through and for that ” we must b e fri ends Friends ! De a r me ho w long ago t ha t i s ! ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 40
v ert ed your handk er c hie f into a conservatory R e ” member i t ? “ Shook it out the b eggar did over M iss Chilton ” Should s ay I do remember “ At his emp ty glass he nod d ed Tell you wh a t ” When I read about her i t knocked me silly “ C auti ously he looke d at the other window I s ay ! ” You don t beli eve in ghosts do you ? “ ” “ N o I don t I told him Bu t I am dre adfully ” a frai d o f them Ye t as I uttered that antique stupidi t y I gasp ed “ The gay a ss now was solemn Six days ago n o hold o n five i t w a s on the eighte en th I know b ecause I had an appointment wi th my dentist I was o n my way to him when I r an smack into her Y o u don t beli eve me o f course not Would not b eli eve my own mother i f she told me Couldn t b eli eve it myself Ye t there was N elly Chilton and I o ff with my h at N ever noticed m e Passed straight o n I t ell you a fe ather would h ave done for me What bucke d me the Lord only knows but I doubled and followed her Followed her straight i nto a shop and found i t w as ” she and yet that i t was n t “ ” I snarled at him Wha t do you me an ? “ Search me Looked exactly like hersel f and yet ” she di dn t “ I sna rled again That se c ond M artini tha t you ” haven t had ha s not gone to your he ad has i t ? “ I don t wonder yo u a sk But I tell yo u there was ” something damn quee r about i t ” “ Y o u know she is dead don t y o u ? “ O f cours e I know i t I f th e noti c e i n the p ap er ‘ had n o t s aid Funer a l pri v ate I d ha v e gone Sent .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
141 ”
flowers though Knew her when she was knee high “ ” He touched a bell and ordered Two M artinis “ ” I rounded o n him I n the shop how did she look ? “ ” Ghastly “ ” Shop lighted ? “ ” They all are ” “ C alcium ? ” “ D on t rememb er Why ? “ That might account for i t B esides ” “ B esides what ? “ I f you knew her sin c e she was a child you must ” have known her people Had she any cousins ? “ ” He r father is the last o f the Chiltons ” “ I s her mother equally unique ? “ Her mothe r was a F e l l o we s a nd by George ! now I c ome to think o f it ” “ Well w hat ? “ She had a brother Cranston F e ll o we s H e s dead Got drunk on a yacht and fell overbo ard They fished him out Too much f o r him though Pneumoni a prob ably That was b e fore my time Heard of i t o ften though My gove rnor knew him S aid he and Mrs Chilton were the living image o f each other Now he had a daughter N ever s aw her D on t k now any body tha t ever did When she was f o urt e e n she b olted ” w ith a chau ff eur “ ” A chauff eur ! I exclaimed “ Gaily the gay ass laughed : Hey why not ? E v e ry ” body c an t b e a b est seller The cocktails had come While he w a s drink ing his it naturally occurred to me tha t the lady o f the steps a nd the lady i n the shop must be the same and con c e iv ab ly the chaufle ur s inam o r at a -
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THE GHOST GI RL
142
“
I rai sed my glass Wha t di d she do in the s hOp “ That s it ! A flo o rw al ke r asked what I wanted I ‘ looked at him a s much a s to s ay sp e ak when you re spoken to just looked from her at him and b ack again ” and begad she d gone ! The coinciden c e wa s so striking that unta sted I put th e cocktail down and tentatively played out a rop e ” “ The usual se a o f millinery had engulfed her “ D evili sh high the se a must h ave b een to ca rry her ” o ff like that “ Still pl aying out the rop e I laughed N ot a b i t o f it The trouble with you is you are too fascinating A woman has eyes in the b ack o f her he ad This woman knew you were following he r She fe ared for ” herself and entered a shop to lose yo u I f y o u can c huckle gravely the gay ass di d Yet a t once a ssuming a false modesty he waved the pi c ture away “ Oh for all o f m e “ Again I rounded o n him Loo k here ! Y o u go about telling other p eople what you have told me and before you can s ay Jack Robinson they ll c lap you in B loomingdale I sn t i t obvious tha t the lady in the ” shop i s your chau ff eur s girl ? “ He isn t my c hau ff eur Wha t s more I fan cy she i s no longe r his But p erh a ps you are right I t may ” have b een she I didn t think o f it b e fore “ ” Think o f i t now then We were s eated as i n a club men o ften are at a w indow Through i t for a little sin c e I h ad been aware o f an en c ro aching blue The ravishing rain had c eased Wes tw a r d the sky h a d c le ared A t the houses .
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THE G H OST G I RL
1 44
he r a long and making he r g o through her tri ck s f o r the b enefi t o f B radish and hi s pe ace o f mind Yet a s I a fterward re alised nothing e arthly could have benefited him B a ck o f the doors that close b e hind our birth i t must have be en all p re arranged Long ago on inaccessible sphere s for some sin anteri or and forgotten all that had happened to him and all tha t was ye t to happ en must have been written in his p rogressi on M en who denounce the inj ustice o f fa te do not re ali se that thei r destiny i s self made that as they sow they reap though the re aping b e p ostponed until thei r nominal de ath ha s intervened and they re turn here for the h arvest These esotericisms di d not occur t o me when I was throwing th e chau ff eur s girl in the street They came with other things in their train ye ars later At the time innocently in my ignorance I thought that o ne may outwi t fate Innocently and ignorantly I thought I might help B radish I know I tri ed and in hi s hor rible j ourney t o nowhere and b ack i t i s p ossible that my e ff orts were o f aid But the j ourney its elf the long road hedged with ha za rds no o n e but he could take no one could save him from i t I n the secret chamb ers o f his soul he followed it He had to follow i t Ineluctable a s such j ourneys ever are that j ourney was hi s destiny s elf made But I can s ay for him that though h e fell as again and again he did fall he saw i t t hrough and not at the end there was no end there never i s an end but somewhere mi dway b etwe en nothing and nowhere o n tha t ha z ard strewn ro ad he found p e ace How h e found it and where he found i t wi ll b e related later on Yet now that I think o f it Swinb urne to ld i t b e t ter than I c an b etter than .
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THE
GHOST G I RL
1 45
“
anyone could Even the we ari est rive r w inds s o me ” where sa fe to se a .
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I D O N T like i t sir Peters was telling me I t wa s in my workshop I am not the Po pe and I had asked him to si t down I do not thi nk he l iked tha t eithe r In any event an e xpert in hi s vocation h e kn ew the niceties o f its etiquette too well to accep t Civi lly but firmly he had r e fused ” “ “ Well Peters I told him you know I c annot listen to you What M r Br adi sh does i s his own a ff ai r I f he cares to tell me that is an o the r kettle o f fish ” but yo u ought n o t to ” “ Then who can I tell si r ? That was it B radish ha d relatives whom he s tudi o u s l y avoi ded There was no o n e to stand i n loco parentis To produce another legal phrase I was hi s neares t fri end Fo r a moment I turne d i t o v er An ide a c rossed i t and I said : “ ” Anyway say nothing to D r C ally “ No sir I c ertainly will not si r But that now is another thing that has made me hanx i o us I asked M r B radish i f he would wi sh me to have D r C ally in Mr B ra di sh has always been most the gentleman to us servants But he cursed me something dreadful He looke d frightful si r I was a fraid he d h ave a fi t But i f I m ay t ake the liberty o f saying it the p eople that come there and Pe ters rai sed a h a nd in mor “ ti fi cat i o n— they “ I interrupted him I can t listen to that I wi ll ’
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T HE GHOST GI RL
146
stop by and i f M r B radish cares to tell me anything I may know what to say In that b o x over the re you will ” find some cigars Help yourself A week had gone since I threw the chauff eur s girl overboard I n the interim my o l d drab o f a muse had re t urned more in love wi th me than be fore Poor taste o n her p art but th ere she was and I h ad been wringing from her a tale of the west As at the time I had not b een farthe r west than Hoboken local colour stood about in j ars I had only to help myself — o f Within r ange my gun which I could pull by a slight — o f wrist too quick for the eye to detect were prai ri es cattle saloons faro b anks cowboys b ad men b ad lands and The Gi rl a flower fl eet a s a mustang and pure as p raye r I ha d gone a t the accursed thing b ecaus e I could not go at the ghost story and I could n o t go at that b ecause I was living i t Y o u never can p rop erly begin a novel until i t i s finished All th at by the way I enter i t i n these p ap ers o nly that I may make i t cle ar how i t was that since the r avishing day when I pitched M iss F e l l o we s in the mud I ha d n o t seen B radish o r Aly Bolton e ither Fo r that matter I ha d not even revisited the Park But a t the time I felt that the lady of the steps would descend them no more I t seemed to me that when B radi sh fi rs t s aw her there she had not seen him I t seemed to me also tha t when she did see him she may have fe ared that i f she went there again some e ff ort might b e made to detain he r I have i t i s true no facts to support my opini on but I b eli eve that the second time she wa s seen o n thos e step s was the last time she returned there I n any event neither B rad .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
148
‘ wo uld have telephoned wi r ed or sent but no one can ,
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get a t yo u Here I am o n the edge o f i t and I have had to come mysel f What is more a ble ar eyed scoundrel below told me y o u had marri ed and moved to B rooklyn What a devil o f a way to live We were on the stai r while he was singing tha t song and presently we were in his car “ There he improvised another Th at door i s not ” as tight a s y o u think I have g o t the locksmith As he s ai d that I could see Peters hi s hand li fted i n m o rt i fi cat i o n a t the p eople B radish received ” “ “ Wher e di d you find him ? I asked In the gu t ” t er ? “ ” I t was a b ookshop “ A bookshop I ama z edly rep eated “ A cellar Run by a lousy old p ar t y who sells que er tr ash Sells i t no has i t on tap and sits there looking at i t twirling hi s thumb s waiting f o r customers th at never c ome He ha d the e ff rontery to tell me he was ” b usy ye s and fearle ss “ H o w did you “ How di d I find him ? Through another bookseller When I got in the cellar I asked f o r occult litera ture and an instru ctor I t wa s then he told me he wa s b usy I p ai d him f o r hi s time p romi sed him more money and gave him my address He ha s b een send ing instructors ever since O f the l o t I selected one He i s the locksmith He s ays he can make the door op en o f itself I f he does I beli eve I shall di e o f ” j oy a fter having ne arly di ed o f gri e f We were flying through the Park I was looking at the stars a t the myri ad worlds an d a very convincing l sp ec t acle th ey are when yo u h ave e rro n e o us i de as o f ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 49
your own importance In the light of suns that rea ch us ze o n s a fter the suns themselves have ceased to be it occurred to me that B radish had an ide a perhap s exaggerated o f the importance o f mundane j oys and sorrows What he had sai d about the door op ening I do no t o f itself se emed to me equally exaggerated beli eve in miracles although in vi ew o f my literary crimes it must have required a pro c ession of them to keep me out o f Sing Sing The flight o f the car diminished into a so apy slide We were at the hous e where as usual Peters wa s in the h all His face a s wooden as ever was an expres There s i o n l e s s mask from w hich his eyes looked at me was no recognition i n them but there was I thought anx ie t y B radi sh meanwhile ha d said a word to him “ ” When the magu s comes we will b e in the library The magus ! I chewed the title The ta ste was rotten But in the library where already Gedney had pre ceded u s there were in addi tion to authors less inter esting a set o f the works o f the monks of Chartreuse opera s from C ognac and a son ata p ale yellow t hat had been composed in Rotterdam B radish began re a ding one o f them a nd I though t v ery fluently Patting his mouth with hi s handker c hie f he s at down at the table where alre ady I h ad se ated my s elf and to which he drew another chai r ” “ For the magus he told me ” “ I smiled H ave you found him e xp ensive ? “ ” Well he repli ed drinking quite a s fluently again no He w aved th e glass indicating t he r o om t he .
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THE GHOST GI RL
0 5
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sp aci ousness o f the great white staring house In vi ew o f this I suppose he put p rices up a p eg or two But that i s neither here nor there At any figu re the key will be cheap By the way I wi sh yo u would ask for a look at i t I know nothing o f these things and ,
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I s at b ack Good he avens ! What I know could find a playground on the head o f a pin A few odds and ends I may have picked up but that i s all that can b e picked up by anyone not an initi ate and the ” initi ate tell nothing Or i f they do they are killed “ B radish put down the glass How killed ? What ” do y o u mean ? “ In France a man named D e l o rm e l who was an ini — t i at e published a book L a P e r i o d e S o l a i re What was i n i t I do n o t know but I do know that i n twen t y four hours not o n e single copy o f tha t b ook was any ” where obtainable and D e l o rm e l was de ad ” “ The magus ! It wa s Gedney announcing the locksmith who at the entrance folded hi s arms and bowed A ff ectati ons h ave never app e aled to me and that a ff ectati on o f ori entali sm angered To give him such credit as may h ave b een his due he s aw my hostility a t once and saw i t too though my exp ressi on h ad not altered But such credit a s may have b een his due he must have b een unable to obtain elsewhere Thin and by comp ari son with B radi sh and myself undersi zed he wore a long frock co at stained and shabby On one hand he ha d a glove from which a finger had promi He had a high frayed collar a dingy n e n t l y gone black stock but no cu ff s none a t lea st that I could .
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1
5
THE
2
GHOST GI RL
c aused three o f i ts hi erophants to lay sym boli c homages a t the cra dle o f you r Lord That wisdom the Magh dim cre ated the gigantic civili sati ons whose ruins still support the weight o f sixty cycles In your ignorance you disdain the Maghd i m whi ch i n your mouth is magi c and magic a conj urer s device Sir magi c i s w ill I t wa s by the magi c o f hi s o wn will tha t B rahma cre ated wha tever i s By will man may al s o cre ate he may acquir e p rerogatives app arently superhuman and i f he b e an adept even as I he can wil l to his ” w ill all the forces and p owers o f na ture “ Y o u are enti rel y right I nodded a t him I am an ignorant brute Ignorant and cynical But I have he ard tha t magi c i s o f tw o classes the white and the black ! that the one works through p an t acl e s and p rayer the other by s acrilege and S atanism Yours I assume is the latter Jim p ass the bottle Give the magu s ” a drink “ I do no t consume liquor si r a nd i f I m ay further instruct y o u Satan i s the name that the p erve rs ely ” ignorant give to Elim S ab aot “ ” Who i s that ? B radish a sked ” “ Elim Sab aot i s the Bei ng whom y o u call God “ Ah yes I exclaimed Illiterately I a dded : “ Elim S ab a ot is the incommuni cable name o f which the mention was forbidden and which i s employed n o w only in magical mantras by vulgar thaumaturges D o you ” count yourself among them M agus ? “ Sir I am a pri es t o f the Maghd i m and i f that b e vulgar and bla c k then black and vulgar wa s the p ower wi th which Swedenborg summoned the dead Black a nd v ulgar also was the p owe r which Spiri don a b ishop w hom th e Church made a saint evoked the sp irit o f his .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
53
daughter Spi ridon and Swedenb org wer e priests o f ” the Maghd i m even as I “ “ ” Good Lord ! I di sgu stedly exclaimed I f it ” comes to that then so was C agli ostro “ Permit me again to correct you si r C agliostro though h e summoned the dead and had them p arade be fore hi s guests at supper p ossess e d but an imperfect knowledge o f the s a cre d science and was surrendered ” by the t ru e magi to the Roman Inqui siti on Physically the crea t ure wa s revolting Morally h e naus eated me I felt I could stand i t n o longer and I started to go but be forehand I gave him one more “ I t i s wonderful to meet anyone as i nvari ably right a s yo u are At the same time the honour o f b eing addre sse d by C agl i o s t ro s sup eri or i s too overwhelm ” ing Jim I ll borrow your ca r and go home The b east had risen He turned to B radish “ Since your f r i end intends to counsel you against my o fli ce s : nay by hi s manner has so counselled yo u ” alre ady i t i s for me to go He ba cked to the entr ance There folding hi s arms he bowed a s h e had bowed be fore Bradish followed him o u t For a moment I could he ar them talking th e ir voi ces diminishing a s they went the key j ingling in the wake I was sorry then I had n o t asked to look a t i t and then flung i t in the vermin s fa c e For assuming the key assuming also that i t had even a minor value it would have op ened o n e door at le ast the doo r o f some bo x i n which the re wa s coi n Yet I suddenly had to ask mysel f w as i t n o t alre ady in the lo ck o f the cheque book tha t B radi sh signed ? The .
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THE G H OST GI RL
54
fact tha t B ra dish wa s a fool and this cre a ture a kn ave did not lessen the magi c of that But the re was another angle far more important Any key o f a door t o the dead drips with perils I fe ared them for B radish who at the moment came limping in “ M alignantly he surveyed me Rathe r h ad you eh ? Served you right for b eing so damned uncivil N eve r s aw yo u show up worse damned i f I have and I wanted y o u t o sit in wi th us Now he won t h ave .
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o u y
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But that cup o f co ff e e was a tri fl e too strong In no ci rcumstances would I have approached the door and there i t went slamming in my face The e as e with which the tri ck had b een turned made me laugh “ What the devil are you grinning a t ? D o you think ” he can t do i t ? “ ” D o wh at ? ” “ B re ak through B e fore answering I help ed myself to the Rotte r dam sonata Then I looked up a t him “ Given the S atanism the occult knowledge together with the ability to employ i t and everything being possible perhaps he can But the p erils o f the threshold ” “ D amn the perils ! “ Yes but then they may damn you In the last at tempt at anything o f the kind that I know o f o n e o f the p arti cip ants wa s strangled to de ath and another went ” raving mad ” “ What became o f the third ? “ Surprised at the question I a sked one How do ” you know there was a third ? .
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1
GHOST GI RL
T HE
6 5
th e
face from forehe ad to chin I t was a s t hough he were wiping o r trying to wip e some o f the evi l away But the a cti on may h ave b een entirely unconscious N one the less and though the horrible expressi on t e mained it had diminished and in a moment when h e again spoke i t seemed t o leave him sp onged away by an e ff ort o f his o wn v oliti on “ The old cock told me to s ay to you from him ” Silence and Fa rewell “ I looked at my glass and from i t at him Ve ry consi derate I t i s the occultist leave taking I do wish ” he would s ay i t to you As I s ai d th a t I could h ave sworn that i n spi te o f his eff orts tha t revolting look the look of another e ntity glared o ut from him a t me He turned o n hi s heel an d t urned b ack ” “ The car i s waiting So too was th at look I di d n o t laugh then I went o n and out As I went the look followed In the ca r there i t was I t was like a look sho t through th e keyhole o f s ome door b elow .
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XXI
I N times o f stress and this wa s one o f th em a culti v ated indi ff erence ha s i ts value but i t i s p erhaps le ss conducive to s ereni t y than the op i a tes o f work Resolutely o n the morrow I p rep are d to give my p en a skirt dance a round th a t garb age fl ower of the west yet such was the stress that i t w as not until evening that I ha d i t s ufli ci e n tl y groomed for the grand éc art But what p en however poor can b e s al t i tu d i n o us on a n emp ty stomach ? Wi th a vi ew to various v ilenesse s ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
57
at a cookshop nea rby but accompani ed b y c owpunchers b ad men and that p rairi e p e arl I was somnambuli sti c ally vacating the rookery when the j anitor s drooping eye popped up and a note fluttered a t me Anything o f the kind was distinctly forbidden and I was about to give him fits but inadvertently I ha d looked at the sup erscription N ever be fore had I s een that writing Ye t i ts character oddly cobwebby and equ ally clear wa s as service able as a photograph “ ” I though t a s ho w the di rty li ttle man was s aying “ se ei ng it was her “ ” And thou hast done well my p ret t y maiden Here I fed a dollar into hi s di r t y p aw and re ad Would I come and dine ? Would I ? The b ad men could shoot themselves throu gh shoot eve ry cowpuncher I never s aw For all I cared the freckled lily could bolt for good b olt for had A faire r flower was b eckon i ng then “ ” Will come with j oy and le ave with regret I s e rib b led wi th her a ddress o n a card “ ” And here I s aid feeding o u t another dollar “ Run around to th e telegraph shop and send thi s at ” once She i s a good sort I presently remarked a t my mir ro r a s I t i ed my whi t e ti e Now in loo k ing b a ck I rememb er that the dinner w as detestable But though the dinner was vile Aly was deli ci ous Not a philistine trace of preoccup ati on no bourge ois attempt a t excuse The atti tude cha rmed me M oreove r as I h ave lived as li zards live on sunshine and dust the quality of the dinner di d not a ff ect me i n the least I t could not have b een worse t hough i f i t had been what could ,
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T HE
8 5
GHOS T GI RL
i t have mattered since she was the re ? Later I learned that she had le ft it all to the maid . Thri ce happy maid who while not the rose yet lived nearby Presently co ffe e came The cloth was removed and she played a little ! an ai r from L o ui s e the D e p ui s l e j o ur! then more p er fumery Salom e s song in H é ro d i ad e After which turning on the bench she looked at me “ ” I thi nk the lady o f the step s i s a M iss Fellowes “ ” Hello ! I exclaimed surpri sed enough at the sud den entrance o f the young woman I had p itched in the street “ From the b ench she moved n earer Y o u know o f ” a Miss Fellowes ? “ Why when was it ? The day a fter I brought y o u b ack here I looked in at a club where a gay sort Of ass a chap named B re v o o rt told me o f a Miss Fellowes ” who r an o ff with a chauff eur “ ” The gay young man told you something else “ He certainly did H e s aid she wa s a cousin o f ” N elly Chilton ” “ And looked like her ? ” “ He thought her her ghost “ ” Aly laughed H e must b e a de ar ” “ “ But I asked why do you think she i s the lady ” o f the steps ? “ I happ ened to se e her and the prob a b ili ty occurred ” t o me “ I t occurred to me tha t the lady o f the steps was you and i f I ha d not known that a t the time you were in C anada i t would h ave occurred to me that you were B re v o o rt s ghost ! or no n o t hi s ghost the ghos t he ” thought he s a w .
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
60
more convers ati onal Then also and however t he chau ffeur m ay h ave disconnecte d her none th e less she is o n e o f the family and i f she r ead the p ap ers she would have known that her cousi n had marri ed and ” di ed “ ” Wh ere did yo u see her ? I suddenly rememb ered to as k ” In the street “ How di d y o u know she wa s M iss Fellowes “ I did not know I ha d never he ard o f Mi ss Fel ‘ lowes But when I s aw her I stopp ed and said Thi s i s M rs B radish is i t not ? and she s aid no she was ” M iss Fellowes “ Like that ! Without showing surpri se o r any t hing ? ” Forgive me I don t get the a tmosphere “ I t was today I wa s p assing t he cathedral ? She wa s coming o u t I stopp ed and spoke She seemed annoyed i f anything Then I s aw s he had a man with her I f I had known she wa s not alone I would not ” have sp oken a t all ” “ Th e chau ff eur p erhaps ? “ I can t tell y o u I had but a glimpse o f him I should s ay he was fi f t y and p rob ably English He di d not look like a chau ff eur Thi s m an looked like a ” He h a d the grand ai r V iceroy “ We can bury the chau ff eur then But a fte r she ” spoke did she vanish ? ” “ Yes in a cab “ And b e fore that How di d she lo o k ? B re v o o rt ” sai d she was gha stly “ H er skin was the co l o u f o f lard I could f eel th a t she ha d su ff ere d and su ff ered acutely Yet then an impressi on o f that kind I o ften get Perhap s p eople ,
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THE GHOST G I RL
1
61
are n o t always as deb onai r a s they seem But I ha d still anothe r impression that she was p reoccupied a bout something Wh at I cannot say I might have picked her mind but that excep t when the picking i s i nv o lun tary I never do Yet there i s something that she is keeping to herself Of that I am sure I am sure t o o some day i t will b e known Unfortunately for us ” all sooner or later any secret we may h ave i s b ared Then for a while we discussed it she maintaining that B radish should be told I m aintaining that i t would not matter n o w and relating the incidents o f the night be fore “ ” I know the magus by repute she s ai d at last “ Hi s rags are a masquerade I f h e i s p ai d to op en that door h e will What he finds b ehind i t i s another ” matte r “ Y o u tell me that sooner o r later all I stood up secrets will b e b ared She must have se en i t coming for she called to he r ostentati ous cat But I di d not propose to have Signor M atouchi inter fere and I put i t to he r ” “ When will mine b e b ared ? “ ” Sagely she repli ed : When i ts hour comes “ That i s not very com forting I always picture the future as a greenroom o f which the stage manager i s Time The hours he moti ons to beset our lives ar e sad enough b ut s adder still a re those tha t are yet to ” come “ D o you n o t think tha t Q uickly she looked a t me that depends o n ourselves ? I t is not the hours that are ” sad it i s we that s adden them .
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
62
“
As quickly I looked at her Bil Sayers s aid that ” It i s in The D aw n “ She gave me her hand Yes I was q u o t l ng from ” i t Perhap s i t i s not very pro found ” “ “ Less p ro found than your eyes I replied When ” u quote to me quote to me wi th them o y Tolerably b anal I resumed to myself when I was a t last in the stree t Why is i t when a man i s in love he ta lks like a fool ? .
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XXI I W H ET H E R the western garb age lily bolted o r n o t i s certainly immateri al In any event s o many ama zing incidents intervened that it was some time b e fore my pen could pirouette be fore her The quick lari a t o f her slang the a stoni shing gra ce with whi c h she le ap ed on a horse from behind the aura o f puri ty th at c arri ed her o n a pi eb ald mustang unsp otted through the ma chi n at i o n s o f the worst men in the b ad lands f o r these V i rginal acrob ati cs my publishers ha d to wai t Anothe r young woman the girl I had pitched in the street primarily detained me Pi ctured by Aly she di ff ered from the ghost that B re v o o rt had pursued and although the night b e fore when she so surprisingly app e ared I could n o t take he r seri ously yet such are the clari fying processes o f sleep tha t i t seemed to me B radi sh should b e shown the composite vi ew It seemed to me that she must be the lady o f the steps It seemed to me also that since she had a name she must have also a loca l habitati on Ap art from whi ch I was curi ous about him The evi l look in his eyes the ugly twi st to his mouth the -
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1
THE GHOS T GI RL
64
Yet at o nce he must h ave thought b ette r o f i t i n co m r e h e n ib l b etter for he b acked into a n rea invisible s a y p from the upp er windows where he e ff ected a dumb show that would h ave b e en good business in my p anto mime His face ordinarily wooden was a s full o f e xp ression as a Chinese mask and that phenomenal a s i t i s in an Engli sh servant deci ded me I marched in to wher e he was “ Pardon me si r but Mr B rad i s h s orders are tha t no o n e i s to b e admitted and M r Bradish p articularly ” menti oned you sir I looked at him and pulled at my nose At that h e clapped a hand t o hi s mouth Immedi ately several things oc c urred to me I real i sed that the grand Satanic s éance was b eing held and that a m an straight a s a grenadi er and p erhap s equ ally strong was a frai d o f something which he di d not under stand At the same time I re alised also t hat while courage i s o ften the result o f an e nti re ab sence o f imagination quite a s o ften ignorance i s the most p otent fa ctor o f fea r Yet a s I doub ted tha t Peters h ad eve r hea rd o f the demoni a c p olk a and as I was sure i t would b e t o o much f o r him i f he had I invented a p a lp able explanati on but b e fore p roducing i t I thought that f o r once h e ought to h ave his s ay and I gave him the cu e “ ” Wha t t he devil is all this ? I could se e him jumping a t i t His hand dropped “ I don t know sir As God i s my witnes s I don t But have you noticed the windows si r ? All darkened everyone in t he ous e even to those a t the b ack and here i n the b asement Th at i sn t all ! no si r The furniture ta k en out o f the dr awing room every s t ick o f ,
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TH E
GHOST GI RL
1
65
it and a fi re burning there a fir e all night and M r B radish in there wi th two men Yesterday a man came in a close d carri age he is o n e o f em Th at m an as was here the night yo u we re si r he s b een in the ouse ever since and he s ano t her and there are two lamb s The man as came in the carri age he fetched ” them and a copp er p ot big enough t o boil em both The witches cauldron I thought and I thought too whoever wrote Macb e t h kn ew what he was wri ting about “ And no o n e allowed in since th en si r and none of us allowed out Gedney he s a t the side door I am he re and Fletcher i s at the b ack M r B radish h asn t e aten anything not o n e o f em ha s not a crust and we are none o f us allowed ab ove the b asement floor and what they are doing the r e with th at p o t and thos e ” lambs and i n the dark God elp me sir I don t know ” “ “ I t i s very simple I said Just a li ttle ceremony in commemorati on o f the landing here o f t he fi rst c argo o f schnapps All good Knickerbockers piously obs erve i t No t hing t o concern yourself about N o ” ticed any wind ye t ? “ Wind si r ? I n the ouse ? With t he w indo w s a ll ,
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“
Well i f you do p ay no attention I t will b e o ve r ” shortly I t ll stop by tomorrow Whereupon with something to think o f I turne d on my heel and in p assing glanced up at the house which with the w indows closed and the blinds so drawn that not a ray o f light could enter looked both sepulchra l and hermetic But only to me A p a sser who thought o f i t at all would have thought merely that the owner wa s away ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
66
And yet would he ? N o t i f he were the le ast psychic Fo r about the gre a t white staring house there was a sensation o f chill a s avour o f things damned an i m pre ssion o f sp ace o f shap es o f sin o f monstrous cr i mes of s acrilege and sorce ry — r e And yet I e fl ct e d and refl ected too very erro — i f an ordinary p asse r had succeeded in looking n e o u s ly in he could h ave witnessed nothing more than the mummeri es o f thre e men i n a darkened room where s et in a circle marked by cab ali sti c designs s tood a trip od topp ed by a p ot full o f blood b e fore which one o f the men turning and bending to the north and south wa s invoking enigmatic b eings calling to them in words rhythmic and unprintable But nothing els e nothing whatever except wh at the normal eye could not detect a crew o f elementals swarming in a wind that swept through the di smantle d room and tore along the hall ways o f the emp ty hous e Th at would b e all unless the p asser lingered in which case he might behold a vap our ri sing from the cauldron a vap our that wavered ascended descended exp anded and gradually solidi fying assumed a human shap e ! the form o f a gi rl translucently b e auti ful i m mortally p ale I f a fter that he di d not shri ek a nd run away i t would b e b ecause he wa s a brave man and lacked imagination C erta inly I too lacked i t There wa s far more for that imbecile to see th an I s aw f o r him There were rites curi ously r evolting a ri tual o f p erverted horror all the tu rpitudes o f the black mass accentu ated by the infamies o f bla ck magi c O f that I di d not lea rn until later At the time in picturing pi c tures for my Imag i na ry .
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THE GHOST GI RL
68
she di d not want me I f she ha d wanted me and I could have kept my he ad I might have s aid Re fuse me eve rything Then along the p ath b e fore me came M argue ri te o f N avarre She nodded stopp ed smiled tappe d me “ w i t h her fan and s aid : S i v o us v o ul e z ce s s e r d ai me r ,
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mé e i t ? Like
c ho s e ai
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Or did I dream the squirrel she h ad gone and I wa s b ack a t those h alls at th e window t here looking i n at the unh oly horrors that they held and agai n I wondered Yet there wa s nothing e arthly I could do except p rime C ally who never needed priming I might a dventure that way I thought submit a hypothetical cas e and get my b earings On I went At hi s hous e a servant told me i t w a s not the docto r s offi ce hour “ ” So much the b etter then Take my ha t and stick “ ” Th e negro b acke d but h e r alli ed He isn t i n I tu rne d o n my heel and was going up the stre et when I saw C ally a ff ecting to hide b ehind a lampp ost I stood and looke d at him “ ” Well he said p retending to pretend th at he had “ not b een there I s aw the li terary light a t my door ” H ighly eff ulgent I ve re a d your last b ook “ Y o u mus t have b een ve ry idle See here I have a conundrum f o r y o u Wh at would you do i f a p ati ent ” went ma d ? R o b him ? “ I would cure him first Thinking o f Bradish eh ? The re i s not a p ossibili ty o f it He s Y o u ne ed n o t not a genius I f he were like you now “ ” Or you “ Always the retort courteous Poole you are the most engaging man I kn ow Come on in and smoke ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
1
69
a sma ll cigar I won t o ff er you a big o n e I haven t ” the time At hi s o ffi ce he ab a ndoned me in a dismal den where as I kicked my heels I reflected tha t since he was as confident about B radish a s all that not only i t was idle to b other but it would b e b eastly o f me to tell tales o ut o f s chool These meditations wer e interrupted C ally returned cigarless He had no cigars he told me and took o n e As he o f mine which hang him he seemed to enj oy pulled at it a remark h e ha d m ade the last time I saw him occurred to me and wi th an eye t o copy I prod ded him ” “ What about that interesting case ? “ ” Which one ? “ Y o u s ai d George Eliot had written about some ” thing similar “ When I mentioned i t I Y aas I remember now ha d jus t come from the g p I t was a case o f catalepsy ” Could y o u use that ? “ ' H ardly T o o much o f an ho rs d ce u vre The publi c w ants roast b eef and boiled potatoes But though I ” can t feed o u t catalepsy I ll take a bite o f it mys elf “ Sorry Imp ossible to serve i t today It will ke ep though Let me see I f yo u are still hungry look in o n Sunday ? But a man cap able o f that cigar trick was cap able and I shi ed little thinking how soon and o f anything how desp erately I was t o rush to him for aid ’
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1
T H E GHOST GI RL
0 7
XXIII
I FE L T qui te the lo a fe r when a fter leaving tricky little C ally I entered the club where other chaps looked as I felt M ainly polo men they were healthy inno cent minded young animals to whom a purveyor o f che ap fi cti on was o n e o f the li terati a b eing to b e tre a ted with resp ect and avoide d with care None the less a t the window where they sat they made room for me swapp ed stori es wi th e ach other stori es a s innocent a s themselves and yet told with such a fl ourish o f By George ! and I tell you ! with such shri eks o f laughter and such unfathomable good fellowship that I will b e shot i f I di d not b egin to feel as i nnocent a s t he y and went wi th them o n and up to dinner a noisy catch as catch can sort o f an a ff ai r at which som e o f them became a bit s up e rhil ari o u s but where I kep t my he ad I can truth fully testi fy to that because of subsequent events which even n o w I vividly recall The polo chaps were all to b e o ff o n the morrow f o r a match some where o r other at Point Judith I think but for the evening they had planned t o g o to a roof and a s i n the i nterim I h ad talked n o t shop but horses thei r resp ect for the literati had so me asurably diminished that they were for having me chip in I agreed o f course and then managed to lose them a fter which I went o n and up t o the temp orary temple of B eelz ebub B eelzebub o r more exactly B a al Z ebub a Syri an demon wa s lord o f fli es and I remember thinking a t the time possibly lord o f firefli es also For the temple revi ously dark was bright Through curtains a t the p windows came the gle am o f electri c bulbs and it o c ,
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
2 7
an ali en and obsessing entity that he had exhaled these maligniti es h ad gone Even the spider had diminished I t was no longer crimson but dull li feless as i n th e old days i t used to be Re assured as to that but vastly p erplexed I let fly “ I wa s here at noon and could not get in Y o u were ” closeted wi th th at r at I supp os e Where i s he ? “ H e half r aised a hand I don t know I don t ” care But I can tell you this he did i t N o w though Gedney wi th hi s catlike tre ad was coming in I n my b ewilderment not at him but at wha t B radish ha d s ai d I fl opp ed in a chai r “ I t cost m e a p retty penny I can tell you that also ” but I can tell yo u too it was uncommonly che ap Gedney had gone and I reached for o n e o f the sere nades he ha d brought “ ” Then the door was op ened ? ” “ “ Well he su r p risingly repli ed that dep ends on ” how you look a t i t ” “ “ But as yet I angrily p rotested I don t know how to look o r what to look at Either th e Satanism ” succeeded or i t di d n o t Whi c h wa s it ? “ ” I t did both At that and f eeling p erh ap s that only spiri t f o r c es could sustain me I empti ed my glass He was still standing but coming to the table he p oure d o ut a little gin watered it discreetly Sat down and sipp ed He sipp ed with the com for t able air o f an old w oman drink ing te a I do no t know why that should have angered me fur ther but he seemed so enti rely at his e ase t hat I b arked ” “ See here I hate rows unless I make t hem mys elf ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
“
73
”
He l o oked o v e r hi s glass at me Yes ? “ I no d ded a t him I can p romise you this there ” w ill b e o n e unless you stop b eating ab out the bush “ ” There was a bush but i t s gone She s alive ” “ Alive ! Wha t are you talking about ? “ He put down the glass About Nelly o f course and I always knew it From the start I knew it From the moment I woke up and saw that nurse looking a t me I di d n o t b eli eve that anything had happened at all A fterward I re ali sed that I had be en hurt and that Mike was dead and I was sorry eno ugh ab ou t th at But as for Nelly I neve r b eli eved i t All gam mon and spinach that s wh at I thought i t I have told ” you so time and again I had it a t last Long since overstrained th e Satan i sm had unhinged him The man was demented there fore to b e humoured and I nodded again this time “ plea santly enough and soothingly answered Of ” cours e o f cours e “ He sipped again Yes today the magus co nfi rmed i t He and I and an occultist tha t h e had in engaged in an enterp rise that wa s fran kly revolting I n th at room a c ross the hall things were done tha t made my fl esh c reep There were o t hers that nause a te d me There was a s ort o f double s hufll e the cr a pulous and the sanguina ry heel and toeing wi th the i nvi sible I throw a v eil over i t and all th e more readily b ecause I swore I would Ap art from that there were influences about influences that had come o r been loosed there What they were i s b eyond me I could not se e them but I felt them I t was as though a lot o f b at s were swarming about me in the dark I t was ignoble and i t was horrible But t here was nothing more o r .
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1
T HE
74
GHOST GI RL
rather there was nothing else The fa ct that there was nothing more threw the o l d cock in a fury H e spluttered at me like a hellcat I g o t i t out o f him the n N elly di d not app ear because she could not app e a r and ” could not appe ar b ecaus e she i s alive I smiled and s ai d no thing What was there to s ay ? But in smiling I revis ed my inexp ert di agnosis B r ad i sh was n o t mad ! he wa s far worse he was silly ” “ “ Yes he resumed how could she materi alise when she wa s materi al alre ady ? But the old cock did not stop there He cursed and swore that I h ad inveigled him into attemp t ing to evoke a sp iri t that was not a spi ri t that I knew was not a spiri t and I ha d done i t out o f vulgar c uri osi ty t o see wha t could b e evoked an act he said tha t might have been mor t ally disas trous to all concerned Hi s a dj utant was a s spluttery ” a s he And tha t was the way h e w riggled o u t o f it I “ thought But I s aid I don t supp ose they fell on ” you tooth and nail As B radish could have knocked thei r he ads together knocked the he ads Of a doz en like them the supp osition w as extravagant He took it gravely “ They were vip erish enough for anything and th ough I p ai d them wh at I ha d promi sed they reviled me i n terms that at least had the meri t o f b eing new I na turally p rotested tha t ” “ “ I dare say y o u did I interrupted But not that h ad b een rooked You were plucke d like a pigeon o u y Those r ats knew be forehand that there would b e no materi ali sati on and worked on your creduli ty a fter ” planning to put the failur e and th e burden o f i t on you “ N 0 n o t a t all Their r age was no t f eigned Rats .
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
6 7 “
He was drunk She has n o t b een i n thi s country ” for ye ars “ ” She might h ave returned “ When she was quite young she r an away wi th a gre en grocer o r was it a groom ? I have forgotten Anyway she ran away from him ran over to Europ e where she has b een runn ing ever since Mrs Chilton ” told me ” “ Di d she say she looked like her daughter ? ” “ Like N elly ? N o Why do you ask ? “ ” I thought she might b e the lady o f the steps ” “ Tha f wa s N ell y herself “ I w on t argue over i t But hadn t she any oth er ” cousins ? There must b e other Fellowes here abouts “ A lot o f bores also I f you have anything up your sleeve o ut with i t but don t sit there asking stupi d ” que stions Y o u m ake me nervous I gave i t t o him then about Aly s little adven t ure “ about her Thi s i s M rs B r adish and o f the vexed ” “ No I am M i ss Fellowes I could se e him taking i t in see him t urning i t over and I c app ed it “ You m ay b e sure that some Mis s Fellowes or other ” i s the lady o f the steps But in turning i t he must h ave seen something else He t hrew i t b a ck at me ” “ N o a ll tha t i s sheer nonsense H e li fted hi s glass and I looke d i n mine I n it fl o ated the e arli er surpri ses the ama zement I had ex e r i e n ce when o n entering the house I had b een met d p not by the sound o f shaken b ells the mu ffled rio t o f a Satanic or gy and th e sp ectacle o f the sp ectre bride but by the numbing fingers o f the comm o nplace .
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GHOST GI RL
T HE
1
77
From the infernal to the b anal how bri e f the bridge ! At that plati tude the memory o f a v erse from the one Ameri can wri ter who could have adequately pi ctured the episode recurred to me and I misquot ed i t ,
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s al l
B ut
a
w e f e e l o r thi n k o r s e e m , dre am W i t hi n a d re am ”
“
Wh at are you mumbling ? he as k ed But I had had enough I le ft him to his morrow little suspe c ting that there also Poe would have been of use .
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XX I V I N and out o f the hall when on tha t morrow I returned there were wi ry aproned men whom Peters di recte d in the task o f re establi shing the bla c k and yel low room a s i t had been b e fore the p arlour game o f hide and go seek M r Br adish he told me wa s motoring and would I wait si r ? O f his exp eri ences and p resuma b le emo ti ons s ince he unburdened himself in the are a not a word A n automaton was b e fore me The man had gone I t wa s a fter six then and in the libr a ry I renewed my acquaintance with Hugo s Ori e n t al e s i n which to the hum o f mandolins the poet le ads you through the Andalusi a th at he knew and sang “ Yes sir M r Poole i s in the libra ry Thank you ,
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In the silent house deserted now by those aproned men Granada had b een b e fore me I s aw the Pla z a de Toros he ard th e shouts Then s ud de n ly t he A l ,
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1
T HE
8 7
GHOST GI RL
hambra faded the bullring crumbled the shouts were stilled “ She is n o t there B radi sh a cap o n took i t o ff dropp ed it rem o ved hi s gloves “ ” Just a s I told you Astonishment i s dumb I s ai d nothing I could not say any t hing Then it occurred to me that I had n o t he ard him aright ” “ What s all that ? “ The c o ffi n i s op en and emp ty Emp ty ! And there ” is nothing empti er than an empty co fli n He had sat down o n tha t chai r from D e l at o u r and wa s folding and re folding hi s glove s which presently he put o n the table “ ” I t i s j ust a s I told you The rep etition o f any remark we akens i t B esides he had told me nothing o f the kind In additi on and although I hate the word I knew i t was impossible A corp se cannot rise from a co ffi n I doubt i f even a live Hercule s could op en o n e from within Then I had it “ Look here ! Y o u p romised those r ats a fortune ” N o doubt you gave them something on account “ He leaned over took a cigarette What I p ai d has ” nothing to do wi th i t “ Everything To gu ard against any Stop thi e f o n your p art they arranged matters b e fore the te a p arty wa s given then when i t fi z zled a s they knew i t would fi z zle they cri ed Che at at you Y o u protested At tha t they told yo u to go and l o ok Well you have looked Y o u found n o thing b ecause what there was ” ha d b een removed “ He twi rled the cigarette The grass b efore the ,
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
80
the o ff e r and say he dump ed them in the river I admi t he i s a queer fi sh But he is n o t a crook He does not need to be o n e The man i s a conj urer and he knows hi s trade The other night a fter you had gone I ha d him in here again He s at at thi s end o f the table At the farther end wa s that inkstand I t must weigh five pounds He b eckoned s ai d something I don t know what and the inkstand slid o f itself the length o f the ” t ab le to him “ So you thin k I t di d n o t slide o f i tself I t was moved by elementals Th at night I could have sworn they wer e crawling all over him I h ave thought since then that some o f them must have crawled on you ‘ I don t mean t o co mp l i me nt you but Y o u looked i t ” o looked like a fi end u y At that or at something else a memory p erhaps he shi fted une asily I thought turned away and then to m e “ ” We ar e wandering all over the grounds ” “ Yes we would b e much better o ff in Sp ain “ Le ave me in t he lurch then I am going to find ” Nelly The fai th that moved mountains ! Instea d o f my i ncreduli ty we a k ening him his confidence was we aken ing me Tha t confidence i rrational illogical utterly i nsane had b een sup erb When he he ard the girl was dead he did not b eli eve i t Th at di sb elie f the sigh t When o f some damsel in the Park h ad confirmed the young p erson rei tera ted wh at others h ad asserted he had trie d sorcery to get the girl b ack That failing he h ad looked f o r her i n h er co ffi n In its emptiness hi s confidence was renewed N ow he wa s going to find her ! Am ong th e living he was going to hunt for .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
81
the dead ! What could y o u do what could anyone do wi t h a chap like th a t ? I s aw but o n e course and I took it ” “ Jim y o u ar e sublime ! He must have thought I wa s guying him He shook his head “ I can see i t all from your angle I do not blame because o cannot see it from mine I t would b e o u u y y phenomenal i f you could It is not a thing I can ana lyse I t i s not an i de a i t is a sensation like j oy or like dre ad which o n e exp eri ences and c annot describe ” no nor share I dressed i t a bit and gave it b ack “ I t i s the inner voi ce the voice that makes the ” hero makes the martyr ” “ “ And the fool he put in I m ay be o n e You think so and C ally would I f C ally knew what yo u know he would want to lo ck me up But a fool may b e wi se in hi s folly and time alone can show whether ” I am an imbecile in mine He was taking i t then so sagely that a recompense was due and lightly I p roduce d i t “ ” Sp ain can go hang I ll se e yo u through I made the promi se a s o n e p romises the moon His quick and rapid fire i n de fence o f the E b li an r at had confus ed it ha d no t conve rted me The girl was de ad Tha t her tomb had opened and her remains had flown were matters temp orarily inexplicable but eter nally subordinate The gi rl was dea d Yet that fact w hich was the cardinal fac t B radi sh could not and would not accep t Re adily I might promise to se e ” him throug h But s ee him through to what ? “ ” ” “ And there I am he was s aying I am up a t r ee ,
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
82
Th at tre e how well I knew i t ! I was as high up in it as he and my p erch wa s more rickety He had faith t o sustain him and I had none Wha t I did have wa s a range o f vision sup eri or to his because imp erson a l and along it I looked The hori zon wa s dark Not a sign of help N ot the hop e o f a ladder ” “ Dinner is served si r In the old days o f the grand manner b e fore the b attle b egan the young offi cer put o n his gloves He put o n the whi te gloves that tradition required In the great cri ses o f li fe o n e should always dress for dinner Evening clothes h ave a stea dying e ffect At the an n o un ce m e n t I regretted I was in fl an n e l s At table I forgot them Very thoughtfully Peters h ad p rovided a cru from the Ga ronne whi c h while not summery had an amplitude that was maj esti c In its red ki sses were a rt literature the hum o f lutes and all o f them enchanting t he p alate caressing i t with combine d enthrallments The sorceri es o f the red magic brightened the hori zon Afar was a gleam that looked like a sail o r more serviceably a ladder Yet not b eing Archimedes I omitte d to cry Eure k a ! “ Instea d I said and casually enough : How di d you ” e t in ? g The red necromanci es may have lowered B r a di sh from tha t tre e They may have li fted him higher In any event he was not at the moment where he ha d been Va guely he looked at me Ordinarily the fact that Peters and Gedney were pr es ent would ha v e prevented any intimate conversa ti o n But a s they knew about the v i sit to th e tomb I re c onstructed i t ” “ The va ult was locked wa s i t not ? ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
I8 4
In lookin g b ack a t i t now I reali se what I should ha v e rea li sed then th at ther e are myster i es It i s Wi ser to ignore th an to elucidate I n th e gre enroom o f the fu ture wher e the hours fall in line there are many that wound there are some that console Time that stages the hours which inform our lives had sent B radish many cha rged with darts and might h ave sent him others t ha t would h ave dulle d their p ain The gr a ve of all things ha s i ts vi olet Yet for that lessened mourning to replace the blacker tr appings o f one s w o e a grave there must b e T o the ineluctable t he strong est yi eld It i s susp ense that daunts us all In looking b a ck now I see that clearly enough ye t more cle arly still I se e tha t inste a d o f help ing I harmed Th e f act that my intenti ons were good only aggravates the o ff ence The b est intenti oned pe ople “ ” a re the most insupportable Pas d e z él e sai d Talley rand Why did I need t o show any ? But though now with rip er ye ars I ask mys elf these things I know th at whatever ha p pens happ ens b ecause it ha d to h app en and b ecause it could not happen other w i se There i s consolation i n that there always i s in philosophy and o n e can find consolation nowhere else e xc ept a s a p oet said in the dictiona ry “ ” Yes si r M oonfaced a little maid was looking a t me How long she had b een looking i t i s awkward to conj ecture After reaching the door the possibiliti es o f the ladder ha d swarme d ab out me In consi dering them I ha d forgotten I h ad knocked I h a d not se en the door op en or the moonfaced mai d I wa s i n th e condition o f a chess player who answers a question minutes a fter it h a s be en put ,
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THE
G H OST GI RL
1
85
But even a s the absen t player a w a k es so did I awake and i n awakening I smiled Was Mi ss B olton visible ? Then presently I was tic kling a gentleman who re sented i t so little that he scaled me p er c hed on my shoulder and was purring ostentatiously when gr a ci o u s ly a s she di d every t hing the lady o f the ladder app eared “ Then I also purred I love your cat I love your fl at I love—lalage D ul ce ri d e n t e m d ul ce l o q ue n t e m L ul e y e h ama b o Horace said that or something like i t Lalage was a young woman who charmed his leisures I am sure y o u are much b etter l o oking But sweetly y o u smile as she smiled Swe etly you talk a s she talked I f s w eetly you do n o t blush as sweetly she must have blushed i t i s b ecause I headed myself o ff in time Yes thank yo u I will si t down and thank you ” yes I will smoke “ Y o u are thinking o f something els e than that i m ” prop er young woman B efore I answered I to ok and lighted a cigarette Even then I c o uld not go at i t like tha t all o f a sudden The art o f li fe as o f literature consists in e asy transi tions and I fell b ac k o n B il Sayers “ Yes The D a wn Recently I was looking i t over ” again A ve ry a dmirable p erformance “ I coughed and resumed : Bil S ayers writes his books as the Moslems built thei r mosques mixing musk with ” morta r tha t the whole structure should be p er fumed I did not improvi se that o r rather i t was my usual improvis ati on o n e tha t I had played many a time and o f t to the t une o f o ther works other poems But though she ha d not blushed b efore she flushed a li ttle .
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1
TH E
86
GHOST GI RL
then and I kn ew my hackneyed p er formance had the meri t o f ple asing her as the p ictu resque always does please the a rtist “ She shook a tap ering finger at me That is not ” w ha t you have in mind How lovely she looked ! Adorably constructed and constructed too to b e adored as she s at there her fair f ace slightly flushed one b ar e arm o n the table the other supporting her he ad I wished I were Greu ze “ ” What i s i t ? she asked “ Well you see you know a fter I le ft here the other evening a problem occurred to me Why is it ” when a man i s in love he talk s like a fool ? “ ” Th at i s not i t either she s aid and I thought the flush deep ened Tha t annoyed me She knew p erfectly wiell that I wa nted her There was no news in that But i t was vexatious o f her to accept my o wn e stimate o f myself I t wa s an estimate which she should h ave returned to me corrected and revi sed But tha t was n o t Aly s way and in my annoyance I let go “ Why do you ask wha t I am thinking when yo u kn ow without being told ? I am thinking o f you and ” a ladde r I am up a tre e and I want to climb down “ ” I s the tre e o n the Hudson ? “ Then as I nodded she added : You brought i t in with you But whether i t is an o ak o r an asp en the tre e o f knowledge o r the tree o f the golden fruit you must tell b e fore I can s ay whether anything I may do ” will b e o f use I put the whole thing b e fore her ! the d ans e macabre the rat s ass ertion that the girl was alive the visit to ,
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1
T H E GHOST GI RL
88
livi ng bre athing miracle a miracle o f b eauty in a ” mi racle o f fle sh “ Also there i s a M r Chandos Poole who i s a ” highly lyrical young man “ “ ” Yes I told her and a tri fl e vatic to boot For h e can tell yo u one thing which y o u cannot foresee He intends to b e fa r more lyri c than he is He intends to b e so lyri c that se raphs will take up the burden o f his ” lay and strum i t a t y o u from thei r golden h arps That was an improvis ation and p oor a s every i m i i s that has not b een practised and r ehe arsed ro s a t i o n v p in advance C onsci ous o f which I coughed agai n and t o ok another cigaret te With an indi ff erence so vivi dly incandescent th at I could h ave caught and kissed her unti l she swooned and di ed she stoo d up le ft the room followed by her ostenta tious cat Then almost at once she re t urned with a wicker covered gourd o f glass which she said and which I did n o t b e li eve she had given herself and ' — which contains the liqui d s o l be m o l that mortals m o r — tals who know call mandarin liqueur She gave me a thimble I lapped i t poured a drop on my forefinge r and o ff ere d i t to Signor M atou c hi He sni ff ed and bi t m e Any kindness i s rep aid in p ain Aly who ha d h a d half a thimble put down her little gla ss ” “ Who was a t the manor the night o f the funeral ? “ Nursing th e b ite I told her B radish who was unconscious a nurse who was dumb a servant who ” wa s de a f and a mechanici an who was de ad For a moment she considere d the pi c ture Then she tri ed to frame i t ” “ I t would fit in y o ur ghost s t o ry ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
89
I shook my head “ Y o u do not She smiled and smoothed her hai r think so n o w Y o u will later At p resent you are too ne a r i t I t lacks p erspective for you But let me a sk ” Why not make a scen a ri o o f it ? ” “ Fo r whom ? ‘ ” “ Well s he s ai d still smiling still smoothing her “ hai r There is B il S ayers Y o u seem to like his ” w o rk The manner in which i t a fterwa rd cam e about has nothing to do wi th the present documen t but later a novel o f Bi ! Sayers appe ared wh ich I h ave alre ady c ited Entitled T he H alls o f E bl i s it presents many o f the incidents tha t are given here O t he rwIS e It is sup e ri o rl y dramatic t he d énouement b eing totally di ff erent from what actu ally occurre d That is a s i t should be T h e climaxes o f fiction are logi c al those of li fe are not I n fi ction matters turn o ut a s they ought to I n li fe i t i s j ust the re v ers e I throw tha t in now to get ri d o f i t At the time I was not thi nking o f ficti on b ut o f a corpse that had a ssumed a fi cti onal aspect o f li fe I wanted to b e ri d o f that also I wanted i t s a fely re b uried M e anwhile nursing the ungrate ful bi te I loo k ed over a t Aly She seemed to b e nursing the sce n a r i o whi ch she had sug gested “ I brought her b ack I ha v e show n yo u the tre e ” Will you supply the ladder ? “ She looke d up A descent i s always p ossi b le but ” is it wi se ? “ ” Why do you s ay that ? D o yo u see any thing ? “ No I am in the tree wi th you But you want to ” c limb down an d I d o n ot .
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THE G H OST GI RL
1 90
“
”
Surpri sedly I stared Why don t you want to ? “ ” I might disturb things ” “ “ ” Things ! I ama zedly repe ated What things ? “ The things at the b ottom They a re so qui et I t is wrong to disturb them I t i s always wrong to stir the silent things tha t do n o t spe ak The world i s o f noi se and sin The s ilent things only wish silence It i s wicked to go down and h arm them wher e ” they hide ” ” “ “ But I protested you move me to te ars I sai d i t j estingly but at once I could have sai d i t in e arnest Her eyes h a d filled I s aw her te ars N one I t was very curious She wa s t he less she smiled both smiling and crying cry ing b ecause she could not help i t and smiling that I might not b e distressed It wa s not only curi ous i t was a ff ecting I leaned toward her ” “ — ? Wh at was i t that you saw down there “ She brushed her eyes Nothing I have not ” looked I t i s what I fe a r to see ” “ And what is that ? ” “ I d o not know I only know I dre ad it ” “ But yo u want to help Y o u s ai d so ” “ Y es I s ai d t hat ” “ Then will you ? ” “ I will help but I will not h arm “ Aly B olton li sten t o me You will harm i f you do ” no t help ” “ H o w will I harm ? “ B anali t y kills Susp ens e is more tre ach erous I t ” may drive Br adish insane At that she m ade a li ttl e p athetic mot i on and I ” “ a dded : Will you go t he r e w i th me t omo rr ow ? ’
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 92
down d ry my h air and change my clothes I t was high noon and Aly waited The flight through the suburb s the shoot up the Hudson p ictures tha t I did not s e e i ncidents tha t did not occur the antiquari an will se t forth in Bil Sayers novel He i s the p oet o f thi s matter o f whic h I am but the clerk For the dull as ditchwater e ff ect o f the p resent account I o ff er there fore n o apologi es On the contrary The e ff ect ha s its value Every s crup u lous cri ti c knows that no hi story can b e r eli able unless i t is p acked with yawns Among the simple plans o f the night b e fore lunch e o n at the village inn ha d b een included Since then Aly h a d otherwise ordered When the exquisite girl got with me in the car ther e got with us a b asket in which were sand w iches and a thermos b o t t l é o f Eo ff e e and w ater and a very good drink I have always found — though to take the taste from my mouth o f one it or two o f the surpri ses that awa ited us I would h ave said Thank y o u to a glass o f br andy M e anwhile a s Aly entered the c ar I looked in her eye s Th e rain h ad dri ed them They were blue as the sky and bluer On he r face the slight flush o f the night b e for e p ersi sted maintained there p erhap s by the consci ousness o f th e ladder But a s the ca r fl ew o n thes e delica ci es lost themselves behind a motor veil and it was n o t until we re ache d the manor tha t I could fe ast again up on them The hous e which had had an ugly comfortable ai r exhaled then the mor e p enetrating atmosphere o f emptiness and desertion The front door was walled th e candid windows were b arred and the grounds whi ch on the funeral day ha d seemed none t o o smart ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
93
w ere the unkempt Desolation brooded there Only the vault was unaltered In the days o f the landed gentry the Chiltons had b een a high handed high headed lot Wha t remained o f them that vault co n f ained We had le ft Fletcher the car the b asket and the veil on the road b eyond and as we approached the vault I he ard her say perhaps to me p erhaps to her self : ” “ There i t i s exactly as I saw i t There t o o was the long grass o f which B radish had told a b i t trampled sin c e his own e x cursion an d in the p adlock was the key concerning which Gedney ha d informed him Whethe r the downpour o f the morning had alre ady rusted it i s n o w immateri al but i t would n o t turn As a t the time I could crack a hickory nut with my fi ngers I knew that where I failed Fletcher would do no better and I was for sending him f o r the man o f the day b e fore when Aly tri ed i t The key turned the hasp loosened the padlock fell and through the then op ened door the chill bre ath o f the de ad came a t u s From be fore i t Aly retre ated The flush then had gone but though at the moment she was p ale S he must have been resolute for she r alli ed and entered The back o f the vault wa s dark the north side was dim but o n the south side on the lower slab where I had se en the co fli n put light entered wi th her and I s aw again that bi er But n o t a s I had s e en i t when I f o l lowed i t ther e I t was op en i t was empty and b ack to me swam the remark that Bradish had made : ” “ There i s nothing empti er than an emp ty co ffi n Aly who need e d no guidance n o p ro mp ting no .
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THE GHOST GI RL
1 94 .
word from me removed a glove put her b are hand on the co ffi n and looked away looked up At wha t ? Wh at did she see ? He r lips moved but they may have gone dry She moistened them and so absent was her expre ssion tha t I am sure she did i t unconsciously He r upp er teeth were pressed o n her lower lip I could se e the edges se e too the faci al muscle s con tracting the corners o f her mouth Still she looked up but through eyelids tha t ha d closed Hers was the rapt look I h ad re ad o f and never seen Then presently with an intake o f the breath her eyes op ened she turned le ft the vault but stood by me while I recovered the p adlo c k and fastened i t again Finishing wi th i t I turned to her She was putting on her glove and she fini shed with tha t b e fore she spoke p reluding wha t she did say with a little m of i o n a gesture slight p erhaps involunta ry as though either exp ressing regret f o r wh at she wa s about to tell o r els e disclaiming resp onsibili t y f o r i t a little gesture that I could interp ret as I ple ased “ There is a man tall slim handsome with the brave ai r o f a young prince marching p a st li fted swords ” Who is he ? o ut from a tap estry o f the renai ssance ” “ Go o n “ He went to the coffi n swep t he aped fl owers from i t raised the t o p He li fted it so re adily i t could not have b een closed She lay there white motionless dea d He bent over her b ent c loser ki ssed her straightened moved aside moved b ack b ent to her again put his arms about her li fted her from the co ffi n carried her o ut carri ed her into the night I ” saw no more Who is he ? “ ” Austen ,
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1
THE GHOST GI RL
6 9
was trying to clari fy my own idea s and I cannot I ll ” be shot i f I can “ She got away from i t Don t you think we might give tha t p oor man a s andwich or two ? He drove so ” well In exp loding the questi ons I had b een too full o f them to notice but I s aw then that she looked com l e l e t fagged as one must I sup ose a fter su c h an y p p expenditure o f nervous force “ We might have a few ourselves I know I would say Thank you for a glass o f brandy But I would ” s ay i t for yo u you look utterly done N one the less and however e xhaus t ed she saw to i t that Fletcher ha d hi s sandwiches and with them a glass o f co ff ee and water Then for a while the b asket b etween us we sat on the step s o f the house where she tormented a bit o f bre ad She wa s not hungry she said except for cigar e t t e s and a s she s at and smoked I s aw about her that ai r o f languor I had n o ti c ed the first time I w a s a t he r fl at and whe r e she m a y ha v e b een p s ycho me t ri s i ng also In watching her I s tu ff ed and a t the same time r evi ewed t he pi c ture seri es reve aled by her latest t o ur Charged wi th surmis es with hypothes es d e f o rce with interrogati ons the pictures p a ssed b e fore me For my o wn e di fi cat i o n I tri ed to imagine wha t had o c curred b e fore they were taken and what h ad hap pene d a fterward C onsidered in th e ensemble they we re illustrations for an unwritten tale of Ho ff man etchings f o r some story lost o r strayed from the port fo l i o o f Vi lli ers de l Is l e Adam v ignettes for an un published manus c rip t o f Poe ’
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THE GHOST GI RL
1
97
From them I turned t o her “ Last night I dreamed o f dancing devils and crouch ing ghouls I don t wonder n o w Austen cannot b e plural but he is certainly singular Singular ! He is epic The imagination re els from b efore him For what lethe an farewells f o r what plutoni a n embraces for what l e muri an i s m s did he go to the vault th at night ? Wh at drew him there and what having drawn him ther e Induced him to take her away ? B arring th e old tales o f me d i ze v al monasteri es there is nothin g like i t anywhere Austen i s n o t epic merely he i s uniqu e I should like t o h ave a word with him ” B ra d ish certainly will “ The sibyl sighed Poo r man hi s p ath h as b een hard and i s to b e harder yet Heretofore i t has b een a p ath a ve ry uncertain p a th but still a p ath o n which ” there was ligh t Now i t is a blind alley “ She p aused sighed aga in and stood up How wrong i t i s to stir the silent things that do not wish to ,
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s p e akf
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Through the long gre en a fternoon b ack to the sordid ci ty b ack from sepulchral visions t o the trivi ali ti es o f the everyday o n we fl ew We flew whirlingly noisily and yet silent a s the things that should not sti r Aly could not talk One o f the rare beings that neve r complain and always console her he ad must have be en spli tting but she said nothing o f it Only she could n o t talk a nd at her house I thought her hand trembled when she reached i t to tell me goodbye The white staring house came next In the libra ry t here B radi sh resembled a gre at caged b east o f the jungle a wounded lion with nothing for his mind to chew on nothing excep t th e marvel of the emp ty b i er ,
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1
THE
8 9
GHOST GI RL
”
“
“
”
Well ? he threw at me Find anything ? “ Everything But be fore you can gr a sp it I must t ell you that M iss B olton “ D amn M iss B olton What do you mean by eve ry ” thing ? For that damn ordinarily I would h ave damne d him but on the top branch o f the tree w here he prowled he ne ede d indulgence I let it go there fore and gave i t to him “ ” Austen took her Op en mouthe d he fell b ack and clutched fi rst at a chai r then a t the table all the hate all the virulence all the murderous j e alousy o f the male mounting and fl aming i n that sp ider o n hi s face Instantly hideous he shook Yet then o n e ha s to recogni se that in be asts i n men in women j ealousy the most primitive At that mo o f emotions i s the most blinding o f all ment B radish mentally wa s trampling Austen bene ath hi s heels gouging his eyes o u t with them trampling him to death That sweet surcease not b eing p r acticable a t all events not then he gave a sort o f yelp looked a t me I dare say without seeing me and disdaining the b ell called mightily “ Hey ! Peters Gedney From the hall beyond both hastened Gedney with his catlike tread Peters with his ma sk o f wood Pointing a finger like a pistol at the latte r “ ” “ E r e r he stuttered a M r Austen he called here ” le ft a card Find it “ “ ” ” Yes si r s ai d the mask Thank you sir “ ” “ And Gedney he called at the e atman Fletcher ” waiting ? Tell him to w ait .
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THE GHO ST GI RL
2 00 “
”
that i s more like it I said as the m an with “ ” drew and I ll go with y o u “ He turned again No you w on t H e would think I h ad b rought a husky along I ll show him I ll ” settle this business myself ” “ “ But see here I said sp arring for wind You k now nothing about i t Hadn t you better h ave a few ” facts to go o n fi rst ? ” “ Y o u said he took her Did he o r di d he n o t ? “ Ye s but “ ” That s all I need “ ” Excep t a gun Th e shot confused him Ardently I wished that with chloro form I could dull the confusi on into inacti on Yet the chloroform I lacked Peters s ervi ceably i f metaphori cally produced “ ” The gentleman is n o t a t home sir “ ” Then find o ut when he will b e “ Yes si r I a sked sir M r Aust e n s man sa i d tha t ” M r Austen wa s exp ected a t s even B radish s at down and tapped at his teeth The chloro form wa s a cting and i n a moment when the an e sthetist had gone I took his place “ I t seems unfortunate but you never can tell I f all o f a sudden he marched in here what could y o u do ‘ wh at could you s ay ? Y o u could only shout Where s ‘ my wi fe ? and have him shout What d o yo u mean ? There you would b e Y o u couldn t tell him Y o u don t k now D on t y o u h ave any te a in the house ? I have b een a t i t for you all night and all day I am sta rving and you lack the decency to o ff er me a c rust Wh at a ” curs e i t i s to have a fri end like you He mu t tered and moved An e s thesi a wa s no t c o m N
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THE GHOST GI RL
20 1
p i e te But confusi on wa s dep arting The ass assin Presently the normal b eing would w as slinking away return Even then he was showing his head “ He touched a bell Tea When presently i t came he drank two cups wi th a drop o f brandy in them I was glad to see him at i t Tea clarifies brandy strengthens and force though not too much o f it and sense though not too much o f that either was what h e needed most ” “ He put down the cup Suppose you tell me At that I outlined Aly s grand act o n the triple psychi c t rap e s e omitting only the Stygi an kiss which she had beheld there The rest I gave him The fe at itself the p alpitant gyrations may or may not have surprised him He s aid nothing on the subj ect n o r in regard to the abduction did he say—and I thought — it singularly heroi c o f him that he had always sus ed it e c t uite the contrary Hi s first comment was Q p that he had thought o f eve rything but that His second comment seemed to me less commend able “ N elly was the lady o f the step s I t was she whom B re v o o rt s aw and to whom Mi ss B olton spoke She ” has taken her mother s name “ But see h ere I began “ He checked me D o drop all that I t i s the o l d song I am sick o f i t sick and tired o f it and the vari ations Y o u we re ab out to tell me she is de ad She is not de ad She i s alive I knew i t from the start ! “ ” But see here I again b egan renewing to him the obj ections to any such p ossibility which I had advanced to Aly at the manor .
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THE GHOST GI RL
20 2
“
He tre ated them like cobweb s That i s not point The po i nt i s where did he hide her ? has he been hiding her ever s i n Ce “ You will have to ask him But I doubt that she i s hidden The lady o f the step s wa s not hidden B re vo o rt s lady o f the shop could come and go and Miss Fellowes had the freedom o f the city Then also M iss F e l l o we s had a man i n tow an o l d man I f Austen had her hidden she would not b e about nor would she b e ro a ming the streets with any man young o r o ld B esides this M iss Fellowes is p robably alive where as “ Imp atiently B radish shoved at hi s cup There you ” go again But no matter I ll know tonight “ Yes but so ftly does i t The stupidest thing you ” can d o is to make a row “ Ah there a t last y o u are right ! When I first heard o f the abduction there might h ave b een o n e there would h ave been o n e there could not have b een any thing else But there will b e none now All the same ” I ll make him disgorge That wa s re asonable enough An e sthesi a had had i ts p rop er eff ect I could s a fely le ave him and as I had troubles o f my o wn I g o t up to go “ He moti oned at me I don t know but that I t broke o ff In a moment h e put i t together again “ Se e here I don t c a re a tinker s curse what Austen thinks This i s a ticklish business I may ne ed a ” Witness I s at down again “ All right Here he i s I ll go you I wanted to ” from the star t .
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T HE GHOST GI RL
2 04 “
”
Hello ! Wa s i t you th at telephoned ? Tha t was his greeting o ff hand as you please B ut even a s he sp oke B radi sh wa s spe aking to him “ ” I want a word with you “ Austen stood aside How de do Poole ? C ome ” in That room there i f y o u don t mind B r adish went on As I followed I saw a head p oked suddenly through a doorway farther down the hall I t wa s Austen s gnome I thought B u t now we we re all in t he si tting room wher e I h ad been be fore Ap r e n l a t nothing had happ ened to it I t h ad the same p y c areless air On the sideboard were decanters On the table was the droopi ng green cover As b e fore the cupb oard door stood op en Austen closed i t He ha d entered with us and a fter closing th e cup b o ard indica ted the d ecanters ” “ Have a dri nk ? B radish took o ff his hat ” “ Austen where i s my wi fe ? Austen moti oned ” “ D o sit down I did B radish remained st a nding He stood on Austen at the other On the o n e si de o f the table table was an ivory p ap er cutter Austen reach ed for i t and sai d : ” “ I don t know why yo u ask me that “ B radish pulled at his gloves You know p er fe c tly ” and I will thank you to tell me Austen looked at the ivory kni fe then a t me Fro m me he lo o ked a t B radish ” “ Your wi fe is dead ' H e st r uck the t ab le B rad i s h had r emoved a glo v e with i t ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
205
“
See here I have re ason to beli eve tha t a fter the ” funeral you entered the vault and abducted her Austen threw down the kni fe and turned again to “ me I t was a s though he were s aying : Y o u he ar ” that ! He s cra zy B radi sh may have so interpreted i t Resting one hand o n the table he le aned forward “ I propose to get a t the b ottom o f this I don t me an t o be more disagree ab le than I c an help but “ Y o u needn t apologis e Austen interrupted Be sides the only place I know where you can get the i n ” forma ti on you ask is the bureau o f vital s t atisti c s Imp ati ently Bradish straightened “ ” That has nothing to do with i t “ Austen smiled o r a ff ected to smile Come now Y o u ought to see that i t has everything to do with i t I f you take a look you will find there ente r ed an d ” filed the certificate o f your wi fe s decease B radish fl ushed I could see he was trying to hold ‘ in and I could see too he w as hav i n g a j ob o f i t “ I don t want that What I w ant is to know what ” b ecame o f her a f ter you abducted her Austen took up the p ap er cutter again I though t he wa s stumped but he wasn t ” “ Whom do y o u me an by her ? he surpri singly asked For the first time B radish rai sed his voice “ Here ! Don t quibble Y o u know I mean my ” w i fe Austen made a p ass with the kni fe ” “ It i s hardly a quibble to rep eat tha t she is de ad B radish was looking him straight in the eyes he wa s l oo king straight at B r a di sh and he add e d : ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
206
”
“
I can tell you nothing els e “ At that B radish sort of nodded Very go o d then I f you won t answer me as man to man you will an ” swer me as de fendant to plainti ff Austen raised hi s eyebrows Perhap s he di d not understan d I am sure that 1 did not “ ” “ Y o u may not know i t B radish continued but I have le ased the manor The vault i s my p roperty and ” you e ff ected a felonious entry into i t I t was a false move A threat i s always that B e si des how was any action p ossible ? The j ury were yet to b e born that wou l d accept Aly s story At once I started to interrupt but b e fore I could Austen shrugging his shoulders “ The so o ner I have your complaint the sooner you ” w i ll have my answe r “ ” B ra dish put on his hat Is tha t y o ur last word ? Austen turned to me “ C an t yo u help a bit Poole ? You were a t the funeral Y o u s aw M rs B radish in her co ffi n “ ” “ Yes I answered but I have seen her sin ce or lea st I was about to quali fy i t and say i f I ha d not seen her I had seen her ghost inste ad o f which I scre amed I s aw something els e and a t what I saw i t may b e tha t my hai r stood on end for I could feel my fl esh creep Ther e b e f ore me b efore B radi sh b ut not be fore Austen whose b ack was turned was Nelly Chilton I say N elly Chilton I t was she o r h er ghost The door o f the cupbo ard had op ened and there she stood A second only Clo t hed sep ulchrally in whi s t an t l y she vanished .
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T H E G H OS T GI RL
20 8
was s till on my knees and b e fore I could ri s é door not o f the c upboard but of the room op ened Austen s m an came in ” “ I am taking a walk I told him ” “ Exactly sir He spoke a s though crawling about o n all fours perfectly natural and I stood up “ I was looking for M r Austen I will thank ” to tell him I am still here C ivilly he considered me “ I will se e si r but I thi nk M r Austen j u s t w ” out “ ” Out ! I rep e ated But he t o o ha d gone I s a t d o wn and tri ed to pull myself toge t her spite o f the ea se with which I had invented a pr nade I was unstrung nervous a s a wi tch dri wi th p erspirati on and a s I ra ised my hand to my face i t di d wh a t no hand o f mine had ever it shook I got up went t o the sidebo ard helped mysel f a decanter spilling a little o f the contents and hea the glass click against my te eth Thi s w o n t d o I re fle c ted T o ste ady my nerves I evolved a few platitudes among o t hers that i f I had seen a ghost I ought to applaud my luck inste ad o f being alarmed by i t The c omfort o f that was mediocre For adm i tt i the ghost what had b ecome o f B radish ? Hi s materi alis ati on wa s a phenomenon for which noth in occultism had p rep ared me I was n e a s everyone els e i s th at by virtu e o f ti es an adep t c an disentangle himself ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
2 09
and swim into t he a stral but even so he has to le ave hi s body behind and so far as I could discover Bradish h ad not le ft so much as his h at On the othe r hand there a re o r there used to be stori es o f p eople that had the gi ft of becoming invi sible But th e precedent help ed me no more than the p aper cutter B radish had no such gi ft I pee red a t the cupboard For all I kn ew to the contra ry there might be som e power there a p ower o f which I had never heard some f o rce unimaginable and inexpli c able that ha d whiske d him away But whiske d him where ? I t would have to land him some where It could n o t gobble him up These platitudes however long in the telling Game at me in fl ashes They oc c upi ed but a moment and i n p eering a t the cupboard I app ro ached i t and reache d in a tentative han d b rac1ng myself to snatch it b a c k at any snatching forward Then conscious presently th at i t was unmolested tha t there wa s no attemp t to whisk me I put a foot in Except for such light as came from the window behind me it wa s dark and I lit a match I could see then that o n either side were wooden b ars from whi ch on hangers the coats hung At the b a ck there were hooks and more coats As for the floor I Could feel i t I t wa s unyielding as rock I looked up The ceiling obvi ous l y there was o u t o f reach Then the match burned my fingers I dropped it and felt b ehind t he coats not to find Bradish I knew he was n o t there but with some imbecile ide a of testi fying a fterward that I had done so By this time I was relatively collected reasonably cool yet con s ci ous o f an o d d feeling in my he ad I t ,
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T H E G H OST GI RL
2 10
was a s though a little top we r e spinning there Wi t h tha t c onsciousness memory raised a latch I was b ack in M ayfai r where a woman wa s telling me o f some fri end a t yp ical Englishman who for a b et h ad p assed the night i n a house s ai d to b e haunted and who the next morning was taken from i t raving mad Then a t once logic r a ised another latch I re alised t hat f o r that Englishman to go mad he must have b een confronte d by some unimaginable horror C onfront ing me were co ats The deduction followed Nothing very horri fying there On th e other hand there wa s something s o b afll i n g tha t i t amounted ne arly to the same thing and in vi ew o f tha t top I wondered i f my bra in w as about to t ip B e fore i t could I j umped I j umpe d a s a cat does a t the unexp ected I had he ard — — somebody o r something and in j umping I whe e 1e d Another awkward m o ment There again was tha t gnome “ ” I w as looking for M r B radish I told him “ ” Exactly si r On thi s o c casion he sp oke a s though his master s fri ends invari ably played hide and s eek wheneve r they came to se e him “ ” Where is he ? I added “ Resp ectfully he c onsidered me Where is who si r “ M r B radish “ ” I don t think I know the gentleman sir “ You were in the hall when I came in here wi th M r ” Austen weren t y o u ? “ ” In th e h all yes sir “ There was nother man with us That was M r ” B radish H ave y o u a ny i de a wher e he is ? .
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THE GHOST GI RL
212
The hall took him Once more I wa s alone in thi s room i n which a vi sion had app eare d and a mortal ha d disintegrated a room from which i n fear o f me a gnome h ad fl ed I sa t down That top must have doubled itself I t seemed to m e tha t two o f them were spinning just bene ath the pine al gland Joined t o that was the s ens a ti on which o n e has a fter a white night the sens ati on th a t the br ai n w on t a ct I told mysel f that I i f could put my hea d under a shower i t would help But I did not want to go ferreting about f o r the b athroom I knew the gnome would find m e at it and however a ccustomed he might b e to the vagari e s o f Austen s guests few o f them I imagined could come there to b athe N one the less I rathe r fanci ed that i f when stripp ed and i n the tub I had told him I was exp ecting ” “ my grandmother hi s Exactly si r wou l d b e as promp t and as civil as b e fore At the picture nervously I laughed I h ad laughed a t nothing and wha t b etter r eason can o n e have ? Then again I laughed this time a t the little gnome f o r run ning away He must have thought me cracked that i s i f he thought a t all B ut p erhap s I am I immedi ately refl ected Perhap s everything tha t has occurred ha s only s eemed to occu r Even so I told myself p eople are n o t mad b e cause they se e things that do not exist they are only ma d i f they beli eve i n them and I won t Yet how vain tha t resolution was ! I could not make myself b eli eve tha t B radish had n o t come wi th me I could n o t pretend that I h ad not s een him disappe a r The visi on that had evaporate d wi th him might b e a phantom and I was willing to let i t go a t that But .
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T H E GHOST GI RL
2 13
here was nothing phan t a smal about Bradish N one the less the gnome had no t seen him at all ! Bu t that i s impossible I told myself Either he li ed or Austen coached him or My mind shot b a ck I reconstru c ted our entry Bradish lordly as usual had marched in first I h ad followed I n following I ha d seen the servant s head poked from a doorway farther down th e hall Prob a b ly a moment e arli er he had s een hi s master about Then hearing voices he had looked o u t t o le ave again but not until Br adi sh ha d entered this room Thi s i s i t I reflecte d but I had t o a sk myself What did i t matter ? The comple x p roblem remained How and where had B radish gone ? Cle arly he wa s not under the table or s ecreted in the cupb oa rd and I wondered whether he could have levi tated himsel f through the ceiling There was a — — medium whom B rowning threw rhymes at who could p er form that little trick o r at all events some thing similar But I ha d to re alise B radish was no more cap able o f anything o f the kind than he was o f composing a b allet Even otherwise wha t obj ect could he have had ? He had come with me to this shop solely that he might bully Austen I n that he had failed o r been about to fail when he flung him self o ver the table and jump ed into the fourth d i me n S l on Wha t kind o f b ehavi or was that ? Patently i t h ad am az ed Austen as well i t might and the memory o f it so angered me that i f at that moment B radish had popp ed back I would have up and struck him N o such luck however and for the time being a t any rate n o possibility of i t t
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THE GHOST GI RL
214
As tha t conclusion re ached me a query followed I f there were no chance o f hi s popping then when would he p o p and would he ever ? Ha d he definitely deserted this world ? “ ” But th a t i s ma dness ! I ex c laimed aloud At once to put an accent o n it i f o n e wer e needed I s aw tha t gnome p eering i n at me from the door A moment only The door closed M ore frightened p erh ap s than be fore again the harmless wretch had fl ed I could not blame him Firs t h e ha d found me on all fours ! a fterward in the cupb o ard On the first occasion I told him I wa s taking a walk On the se c o n d I had insisted he had seen what he had not se en a nd I h ad enquired about a ghost N ow a moment since he h ad heard me talk ing to myself talking o f the madness which he must h ave susp ected Instantly I could hear the clanging ambulance fe el the strait j acket se e the p sychop athic ward ! Unstrung a s I was i t alarmed me I sprang up grab b ed my ha t and stick and with the i de a o f doing something o f going somewhere o f enli sting some body s aid I hurri ed on and o u t and down the stair to the stree t where com fortably Fletcher waited I ha d forgotten him utterly and s ai d a s much “ Th ank he aven y o u are here ! Have you s een Mr B r adish “ He touched his cap Why no sir N ot sin c e he ” went in with y o u ” “ Y o u are sure he hasn t come o ut ? ” “ Positive si r ” “ Fletcher look here He h as disappe ared ” “ Hi s eyes bulged M r B radish h as ? ,
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21
THE G H OS T GI RL
6
C onfident then that unless C ally h ad also e v ap o r ated he would shortly materi alise I fl ew d o wn the step s hopp ed in the car and told Fletcher to drive to t he club wh e r e when presently I entered i t I ra n a r o und like a chicken with its head o ff In th e main room I saw n o o n e to whom I could turn and le aving i t I did wha t I ra rely do I looked i n my letter bo x There wa s a chance slim enough i n all consci en c e yet still a chan c e that from some rec o n d i t e regi on B radish might b e tryi ng to communica te with me The b ox was toler ably s t u ff ed but mainly with cir cul ars from among which I si fted tw o letters o ne o f which contained a reque st f o r my autograph I dropp ed i t Immedi ately a boy in a slashed waistcoat spr ang from nowhere p icked i t up and gave i t b ack to me I dropp ed it again and put my foot o n it The other lette r was from my publishers who said that five thous and wa s o ff ered for the picture rights o f my last iniqui ty and would I s e e them about it ? M er e starvati on wages I thought and th ought no more a b out i t for th e time b eing that is and hurri ed o n through the billi ard r oom to the b ar where there were two men whos e names I might have r emembered but whose faces wer e blanks One o f them had the agree able a ir o f having just stepp ed f rom a b and b ox He in v ited me to dri n k I ordered V ichy The othe r man who r eeke d o f polo a ddr essed me in a thro a ty voice “ What che r up to now Poole ? Wri ti n s o me t hi n ” noo ? “ I b a r k ed a t him Writing something ? I am li v i ng ,
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THE
GHOST GI RL
217
something something that would bowl yo u over bore holes in you and stu ff you full o f nightmare D o yo u ” know Bradi sh ? ” “ The spider chap ? Wha t o f him ? “ I gulp ed the V ichy He was with me o n e moment ” and vanished the next I s B re v o o rt here ? Lightly with a forefinger the other man motioned “ ” There s a b oy trying to speak to you I look ed ab out The slashed waist co at had ap ,
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D r Kelly si r H e s in the h all Without o n e o f the ameni ti es o f li fe I ab andoned those men and hurried on and out to where C ally stood “ He plu cked a t his b e ard You v e b een corrupting ” my servant He says yo u gave him thir t y doll ars “ See here ! B radish has disapp e ared Y o u and I ” h a ve got to find him “ H e adj usted his glasses Disappe ar a nces are de ” ce p t i v e H o w did i t hap p en ? “ I went with him to call o n a m an and while the re a ghost appe ared and B radish j umped into the fourth ” dimension ” “ Where did these commonplace incidents occur ? “ ” At Austen s ” “ Was B radish a c qu ainted with the ghost ? ” “ I t was N elly Chilton s Me p hi s t o p he li anly he eyed me not as though he w ere questioning my sanity but rather as though he had always thought me demented “ ” You s aw i t t o o th e n ? Where did it co me from ? “ A cup b oard and loo k here no so o ner did i t ap ’
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2 1
THE GHOS T GI RL
8
p ear than i t dis app e are d and B radish di sappe ared ” a lso “ In the c upb oard “ D idn t you he ar me ? I dashed in there the ne x t instant There was nobody th ere nobody nothing ” co ats only He lit o n e o f his vile ciga rs “ Poole always I have a dmired you But never b e fore h ave you b een a s brilli ant Personally fool that I am I h ave regarded the fourth dimension as an example o f m at he m at hi cal hysteri cs But to y o u i t i s a cup b oard full o f o l d clothes That i s wh at I call originality N ow “ I grabb ed him by the a rm Stow all tha t We have g o t t o get b ack there an “ He shook m e o ff I f you take my advi c e you ” w ill leave things a s they are I could h ave torn my hair torn his Again I .
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I don t want your a dvi ce I f I ha d elephanti asis ” I wouldn t take it I want your help ” “ Why don t y o u knock me down ? He s aid i t with a h ate ful a ff ecti on o f p ati ence the resigned p ati ence o f the long suff ering and i t i n f u ri at e d me ” “ I ll b e shot i f I don t i f you won t c ome along “ ” A lamb le d by a lion I he ard him p rotest at the doorke ep er who regarded us b oth with professi onal stolidi t y But a t la st I ha d him in the car and a fter directing Fletcher I went ove r i t again bu t thi s time in full “ ” “ What do yo u m ake of i t ? I c o n c luded To me ” it i s a ni ghtmare ’
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THE GHOST GI RL
2 20
I stared I t was my turn I di d not beli eve him I t was incredible that a ll that h ad happ ened could have been compri sed into an hour s sp ace “ ” See ing more ghosts ? he obligingly enquired But now we were on th e landing ab ove I t wa s darke r than be fore yet without app arent eff ort h e found the button Th e gnome op ened C ally s aid some thing a sking for Austen I think and I went o n with him i nto the sit ti ng room wher e the evaporation h ad occurred Previ ously i t ha d not b een lighted I t was then and C a l ly indicated the cu pb oard o f which the door had b een closed “ ” I s th a t your fourth di mensi on ? Suddenly I felt very tired Joined to the fatigu e w as a s ens e o f helplessness I felt that C a l ly would b e o f n o use whatever a nd I cursed myself f o r not h avi ng thought to subvention Aly She could have e r e the cupbo ard a nd told me wha t h ap c h o m t i s d s p y p ened when B radish di s app e ared From the chai r o n whi ch I ha d dropped I l o oked about C ally had op ened the cupbo ard and I s aw him go in Then I lost sight o f him and I wondered though with tha t i ndi fference which la ssitude brings whether he too ha d been whisked away Ye t almost a t once he showed himsel f and beckoned I g o t up and went to him Preceding me h e re entere d the cupb oard and pushed a t the b ack Silently i t p arted An unimagined do o r had opened I was loo k ing into another room A foot o r two b eyond wa s a tru n k and beside i t a hat I s aw th at s aw too something else Across the ro o m wa s anothe r door As I loo k ed i t also op ened .
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THE GHOST GI RL
22 1
From behind it a face ageless and s exless peered and I heard a sexless and ageless voice ” “ In Chri stian charity will you go ? But the voi ce however une ar thly was hum a n The room into which I looked was re al Then at once I was in darkness C ally had withdr awn hi s hand In s t an t l y the cupboard s b ack exit had closed and I real i sed how it was that when B radi sh dashed in there I had missed him by not more than a hair “ There i s your fourth dimension Take a j ump in yourself I f you d on t find B radish it is because he ha s gone I am going t o o Some folks have thei r ” living to make I t was C ally o f course I had no answer f o r him nor any surp rise at his famili ari ty with the lay o f the land I took i t tha t he had stumble d o n it by accident as I might have i f I had b een less rattled when B radish disapp eared Then at once wi th a push o f my o wn I p ass ed through At th e right was a so fa b ehind i t a window Oppo site the sofa a yard o r two away was a table On i t w as a book and above i t a light Ne arby were two chairs S ave for a small rug that trunk and the hat the fl oor was b are These things I absorb ed a t a glance What alone among them detained me was the so fa Ther e sat B radish H e was holding his leg a s though it were a guitar The attitude exasp erated me I f a last straw were needed there i t was and I yelped ” “ What are y o u doing ? “ He motioned at the opposite wall N elly is in there I would have h ad her I ne arly had he r she ,
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THE G H OS T GI RL
222
wa s j ust ahea d o f me making f o r tha t door when I ” tripp ed and fell I t was t o o much and I let g o “ Y o u are always tumbling over yourself and al w ays at the wrong moment I t i s a p i ty you di d n o t bre ak ” your neck “ He grimaced I ne arly did I fell over that tru nk and t wisted my b a d ankle The p ain must h ave ” knocked me When I came to I wa s on the fl oor I gave i t to him again “ I thought you were dead confound y o u When I saw what y o u saw I sprang i n the a ir and scre ame d like an octop us but y o u dashe d i n here and fainted ” from sheer bravado Come along o u t o f t his ” “ No t till I s e e Nelly “ Y o u intend to stay here f o r th e rest o f your b orn ” days ? “ I intend to get at N elly i f I h ave to bre ak down ” e v e ry door i n the place ” “ N ice b lackgu ardly program “ H e threw o u t his chin Ki d gloves eh ? I ha v e ” worn them too long As he spoke he lowered hi s leg g o t to hi s feet winced vi sibly and a s vi sibly stared not a t me a t something o r someone b ehind me I turned I n the doorway through which that un e arthly face h ad p eered stood a man whom I remem bered having seen a t the funer al Obvi ously a man o f the world and not o f its neighb ourhood a s some worldly men a re he ha d tha t air o f extreme distinction which certa in N ew Yorkers used to possess and which now is gone foreve r Another lost art “ He bowed to B radish My name i s Chilton H e ,
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THE G H OS T GI RL
2 24
The spider t hen seemed to b e digging into B radis h s face “ ” I t c annot b e th a t you p r o pose to stand o n th at ? “ ” The o l d m an t urned t o me I stand on nothing “ He turned to B radish N one the less “ Wh at “ ” I ask you to relinquish her B radish glared Th e expression i s c heap I can think o f none other tha t i s as adequ ate “ ” N o t t o her lover ! The five syllables h e tore from hi s mouth and flung them s o v i o lently that the spider seemed ab out to fling i tself wi th them N o r had he don e With the same violence he gestured a t “ the cupbo ard In tha t room in there I surprised her ” going t o him But th e violence served only to heighten f hat aIr o f distinction “ M r B radish no man sh o uld spe ak a s you h ave spoken to a girl s fa t her Ye t I do not ven t ure to reprove yo u Presently y o u will r ep rove yourself M eanwhile y o u will allow me t o correct you When you surpri sed my daughter in the adj oining room it w a s i n search o f me she was goi ng Since Austen first took thi s ap artment f o r me very o ften I ha v e s at there usu ally with him bu t also wi th D r C ally who ” h a s been attending her And that I reflected i s h o w tri cky li t tle C ally knew the lay o f the land “ As D r C ally is aware though you a r e not she i s dying Th e dying M r Br adish do not act in the ” manner whi ch you h ave asserted Again the wounded lion roared ’
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THE “
Dying !
GHOS T G IRL
I t i s imp ossible
225
Only a while ago
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she “ Protestingly the o l d m a n had motioned I must ask you to he ar me For some time I wa s abroad I t was only a few days b efore my daughter s marri age that I r eturned to thi s country She was then inter e s t e d in Austen a s she always had been T o my knowl edge she had never looked as the phrase i s at another man Her marri age to you was there fore a surpri se to me She has since told me that her mother so rep resented matters with whi c h you are famili ar that she had no other r ecourse M r P oo le will you care to ” smoke ? In spe aking he produ c ed a c ig ar ette c a s e w hi ch he o ff ere d to me o ff ered to B ra dish w h o shook his head I th anked hi m and t o ok one He also took one and resumed “ You w ill appreci a te in a moment w hy I en t er into circumstances whi ch w i thout refl ecting in any w ay o n you a re p ainful to us bo th But then the whole m a tte r i s p ainful far more s o t ha n you know Have y o u a ” match M r Poole ? I st r uck one which I gave him H e t hanked me light ed his c igarette and motioned a t B radi sh “ I love N elly She i s the one human being I do love A sacrifice f o r her would not b e a sacrifi c e i t would b e a jo y I can make none There i s none to be made You ask i f I proposed to stand on the de ath certifi c ate I can only stand and l oo k o n stand a nd ” wring my hands The glo v es which he held he dropp ed b ent o v e r and re c o v e red them “ M r B radi sh yo u ma r ri ed a g i rl wh o m yo u h av e .
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THE GHOST GI RL
226
lost th r ough no fault o f yours through n o fault o f hers B e good enough to keep that in mind But you h ave lost her a s I h ave as we all have for we have ” lost her forever Then again the wounded lion ro ared “ ” I t is prep osterous ! I don t b eli eve i t ! The atmosphere was stifling Charged with gri e f w ith anger with susp ense i t ha d us all by the throat I was ab out to go and thro w open the w indow but the old man wa s sp e aking “ Civilly she i s de a d and nominal ! He br o ke o ff For a moment resolutely he cl o se d hi s mouth Then a t once with a gesture o f excuse he l o oked at B r a dish “ ” I again a sk you to r elinquish her “ Again B radi sh flung it a t him And I rep eat I ” w ill not relinquish my wi fe to he r lover M r Chilton l o oked at m e and though ye ars have gone by since then that l oo k seems to me sti ll the most desp ai r ful th at I e v er s aw But p recisely as he had mastered himself a moment earli er he mastered himself th en The a ir of extreme distincti on re t urned and i t was a ctu ally with a smile the smile o f a man o f the world to whom nothing is important t ha t he turned anew to B ra di sh “ I fear you will h ave to reli nquish he r to her lover ” for her love r i s Chri st E v en then I did n o t ge t it N or di d B radish He bla z ed ” “ Either you are ins ane sir or I am ” “ No no t th at th e o l d man still with that smile “ repli ed But you are wretched and angry and I am w re tched and s a d Let me tell you During the ,
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T H E GHOST GI RL
228
daughter was r eceived in the C atholic Church Shortly so fa r a s the world i s concerned she will b e buri ed from us all Will you s ay for your saying i t may give her a n added p e ace w ill you s ay you relinquish her now b e fore she begins the novi ti ate that ends with ” the vei l ? I t was too su ff ocating On the table at my elbow wa s a b ook a brevi ary a s I then di s c overed But the lines were blur r ed I could not see them What I di d se e wa s that girl the cited be auty bidding farewell to lo v e to li fe ! taking the bla ck veil which is a white shroud The p icture wa s the most desolate I ha d ever s een Yet a t once b ene ath it those words whi ch are so curiously radi ant shimme red like thin fl ames : “ ” B ehold I make a ll things new ! For he r yes ! n o t i n thi s li fe certainly but i n the next and prob ably i n h e r l ives to follo w all things b roken would b e made complete and she would find again things vanished But for B radish what could li fe hold e xc ept the tan tali an to r tu re of knowing her alive and yet de ad t o him ? Again I wondered what sin enigmatic anterior u nknown could h ave thrust him in thos e ha l ls w here expi ati on would wa lk ever a t his side si t with him when he s at and in sleep li e with him when sleep h e could I t urned to look a t him H e wa s no longer where he h ad b een H e ha d gone to the window where he stood hi s b a c k turned looking o ut but at wha t ? What di d he s ee there ? It must h ave been some t hing v ery p ene t rant for i n a moment when he turned th e spi der th at ha d b een digging and te aring a t his face had yell owed and the face i tself was drawn a nd g r ey ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
2 29
From the night age may have reached and touched him Yet also anothe r presence may ha v e tou c hed not him alone but his soul So I thought I wa s entirely i n error At the moment I di d not re ali se that only that he was s aying something saying i t i n a voice that rang “ ” All righ t I will and I am gl a d o f the chan c e What o n e arth di d he me an I wondered In the interim I h ad lost the co nne c ti o n I think the o t hers had also They were l o o k ing at him as I was in vagu e surmise But a t once and to my di s gust he b ecame sen t enti ous ” “ The world is ve ry narrow M artin Tupper I t hought “ Immedi ately he re t rieved himsel f Let the World ” b e her conven t Where di d he get that ? I as k ed mysel f I t i s too good f o r him ” “ ” “ I shall ask he was adding tha t we b e divorced ” “ “ Y o u will a s k in vai n then I called a t him Yes as I understood from Mr Chilton M rs t e rd ay B radi sh j oined the Church The Church does not ” recognise divor c e “ Imp ati ently he ges tured The Church can grant ” an annulment “ Austen sprang up Bradi sh “ ” We h ave been man and wi fe in name only h e “ uninterruptedly continued In the exis t ing circum stances tha t might not be enough But t here are ante ” cedent circumstances that w ill b e “ B radish Austen again b egan “ ” I marri ed her under false pretences “ ” Jim ! I protested ,
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THE GHOST GI RL
23 0 “
Not intenti onally I wa s unaware they were false But the fact remains tha t she became my wi fe b ecause o f conditions which she was unaware had ceased to exist ! that i s i f they ever existed I f only f o r tha t I ca nnot do otherwi se than release her But there i s another r e ason a p ersonal r eason which when M r Chilton entered here I meant to state but which i s sup erfluous now As i t i s she can have the marri age annulle d and return not t o de ath but to li fe I wish ” her j oy “ ” B radish Austen b egan anew and thi s time suc ” “ i t i s what I e xp ected o f you ce e d e d in s aying i t He might I thought h ave s ai d less But I thought too he could not have sa id more B radish made no reply He did not even look a t him He i gnored him completely and tha t atti tude — — o l i t seemed to me and h w erroneously was induced neithe r by j e alousy n o r callousness but by that deta ch ment which i s p ar t o f the higher faith and a line less radi ant than th at other but mor e b e auti ful came b ack “ to me : N e ar to renunci ation ve ry ne ar dwelle t h ” eternal p e ace ” “ N ow I ll go he abrup tly a dded M r Chilton had stood up ” “ Goodnigh t he rather c avali erly concluded I had gone o n to the trunk where I got hi s h at which I gave him and M r Chilton p re ceding us we went on to the door o f thi s fl a t where th e o l d man a s he op ened i t b owed gravely In the car B r adi sh turned to me “ ” I will go to Sp ain wi th you next wee k “ Y o u will go a s a grande e th en You have done a ” noble act .
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THE G HOS T GI RL
23 2
multipli ed i tself els ewher e b egan a fte r the manner o f gre at events in a commonplace fashi on I was o n my way to sign the p icture contract at my publishers when I r an into Aly As I had all that had occurred t o tell her I asked h er to come with me and go a fterward to the sorcerer s for his b rews But though good sort that she was she consented she did n o t s ee her dea r Mr D elmoni co tha t day while I b eheld what i s far rare r than any sor c erer the c omple x phenomenon o f du al p ersonali t y M e anwhile we had entered the junior p artner s o ffi ce At the moment he was elsewhere But Miss Judson hi s se cre t a ry was t here and there also was a lanky young m an the portrai t on foot o f a gr eenhorn Then as Aly and I waited he addressed me a sking whether B roadway were uptown o r down and I was informing him when the junior member ente r ed b ehind “ ” me with a H a ! “ ” I se e you know Bil Sayers T o which h e a dded The dep t h o f the s anctu a ry i s the place f o r id o ls I n v i si b le se c re ted from vulgar eyes there they should remain The s ame may b e true o f au thors Ye t w hile I do not r ecall th at I ha d evolved any p ar t i c ular image o f B il S ayers I am sure I neve r imagined he w ould resemb le a lout I glanced a t Aly She also seemed p erple x ed There goes her i dol too I thought w hen another incident occurred The junior memb er wa s old and s t out The senior memb er was young and slim At that moment his h a t o n a c ig a r in hi s m o uth i n he ma rch ed In a ll the vani shing a c t s th at pre stidigitateurs p erform I have seen no thing mor e instantaneous th an t he manner in whi ch th a t cigar di sa pp eared N o dancing master ,
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THE
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GHOS T GI RL
I ever heard o f co ul d ha v e be en qui cker with hi s h at I t was not for me o f course nor even for the lanky genius that these immedi ate fe ats o f hau t e é co l e were per formed He was n o t looking a t either o f us H e wa s looking at Aly and a prop er tribute to her b e auty i t was But M iss Judson had c o me to me wi th t he con tr acts and I went forward to a desk where with the j uni or memb er facing me I s at down “ Our London house has p articul arly requested the autograph I t i s f o r the Q ueen I wi ll h ave a D awn ” in at once Mi ss Judson ! I t was the s eni or memb er s voice and Ho ! I thought how tickled the Q u een would b e i f she c ould s e e the lovely lad Then Aly s voi ce re ache d me though occu pied a s I a t once be c ame with a tortuous clause o f the contra ct what she sai d I did not he ar and sub consciously I — fanci ed she mus t b e e x pressing yet ho w fa r mo r e graciously l—precisely what I thought Then I signed and the old j unior memb e r tol d me the cheque would b e ma iled th at night The entire transacti on h a d not taken mo r e th an a moment or so but when I got up the young senior memb er had disappeared as hi s c igar had gone I to o k i t for the book I n the window the genius stood on o n e foot picking his t eeth I thought the a tti tude ex cessive and Aly mus t h ave though t so also She was pink Nodding a t the j unior mem b er I p ass ed o ut with her to the hall whe re while waiting for the li ft I condoled “ So r ry I s aw him aren t you .
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TH E
23 4
GHOS T GI RL
At tha t moment Mi ss Judson fle w up “ ” Shall I mail i t to yo u mem ? O f all the gentle p eople I ever met Aly B olton i s I think the gentlest Yet instantly f o r some undi v i n ab l e re ason she assumed the exp ression o f a tigress But a descending cage has stopp ed and into i t we got while M i ss Judson calle d : “ ” I t s for the Q u e en mem did they tell yo u ? The steel door s lamm ed D own we s ank “ ” What the dickens do y o u care ? I muttered a t her Pi nk be fore she was pink er the n N o r could she have heard me for as we re ached the stre et she s aid a nd said i t t o o with fl ashing eyes : “ I t i s o utr ageou s They promised no o n e should ” know Imb e c ile tha t I was not unti l tha t moment ha d it da wned up on me But in tha t moment dawn came dawn went I t was d ay With its full light in my eyes I bli nked Then I laughed ” “ You r e a sneaky little thing A vagabond cab was p assing and I rais ed my sti ck But no Sh e did not want to drive She did not want elixi rs As for the o l d junior memb er and the young senior never would she put her foot in thei r shop again while a s f o r the Q ueen we l l I was glad B ro adway wa s not Pa l l M all N eve r had I seen her angry b e fore N ever ha v e I se en her angry since Vex ed yes ! annoyed also b ut angry no and I have reg r etted i t An exquisite girl — i n a temp est wh at more app e t ising sight would y o u h ave ? ” “ And I am not a sne aky li ttl e thing she snapped a t ” “ me And i t i s n o ne o f your b usiness anyway .
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and di ed for her in the Alps T from the swe ep and loneliness o f renunci ati on did n o t bring him there There at la st he was fr thos e h alls hung with enigm as 1 b e fore which the sphinx i n flight .
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EN D
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