Throughout the whole of this long prelection Dr Phippeny Piecraft had
scarcely moved a muscle, listening with ever deeper attention as the
story went on. Once only had he interrupted the reader.
"You are coming now," he had said, "to the deleted passage about Dual
Personality. Don't forget to read it."
"Pardon me," said the young man, "I passed that point some minutes
since. The writer had pencilled against the passage, '_Omit, spoils the
unity_.' So, from respect to his wishes, I left it out."
"It was well done," Piecraft had answered. "Unity is all-important.
Proceed."
And now, the reading being over, the two men sat for several minutes
facing one another in silence. Presently the reader said:
"Well, have you identified the author?"
"I have," said Piecraft. "The tale is a reminiscence of some old
speculations of mine. I wrote every word of it myself, and I finished it
last night."
"How came you to think that it was written by somebody else?"
"That is what puzzles me. But I can give a partial explanation.
Last night, after finishing the tale, I had a dream, which was
extremely vivid, though I find it impossible now to recall the details.
I dreamt that I was writing a story under the title of _Dual
Personality_--something about a gamekeeper and two young lords who
interchanged their characters. It was a sort of nightmare, partly
accounted for by the fact that my health, until to-day, has been
indifferent. When you came in this morning the influence of the dream
lingered in sufficient strength to make me think I had actually written
the story dreamed about, and not the one you have just read out. It was
an illusion."
"Illusion is an integral part of reality," said the young man.
"Is that an original remark?" asked Piecraft. "Somehow I seem to
remember having heard it before."
"It is a quotation," answered the other. "I am in the habit of using it
for the enlightenment of new-comers."
"New-comers!" exclaimed Piecraft. "My dear fellow, do you know that my
brass plate has been on this house for over ten years. It is you who are
the new-comer, not I."
The young man smiled. "It has been on this house much longer than that,
but you are a new-comer all the same," said he.
"I don't catch your drift," said Piecraft. "What do you mean?"
"It takes time to answer that," said the other. "Be content to learn
gradually."
"There's something strange about all this," said Piecraft, "which I
should like to clear up at once. I don't seem to know exactly where I
am. Do you mind shaking me? For I'm half inclined to think that I'm fast
asleep and dreaming--like Abdulla, in the story."
"You were never so wide-awake in your life. But if you wish for an
immediate enlightenment, I can take you to a house in the next street,
when the whole position will be cleared up at once."
"Come along," said Piecraft. "I feel like a man who is in for a big
adventure. There's something interesting in this."
As they passed down the street, Piecraft said: "Would you mind telling
me as we walk along what you think of the story you read just now? It's
not in my usual style; in fact, it's quite a new departure, and I'm very
anxious, before publishing, to know what impression it makes on good
judges."
"The story is not bad for a first attempt," said the young man. "You'll
learn to express yourself better later on. It was a bold thing on your
part to tackle that subject right away. To handle it properly requires
much more experience than you have had. There are one or two points
which you have presented in a false light, and you have mixed some
things up which ought to have been kept separate. But, on the whole, you
have no reason to be discouraged."
"I'm surprised at what you say," returned Piecraft. "As to my being a
beginner, I had a notion that I was a novelist of standing, as well as a
Gold Medallist in Cerebral Pathology. But just now I'm not going to
dogmatise about that or anything else. It's just possible that I'm still
under the illusion produced by the dream of last night. Meanwhile, I'm
really anxious to know what has happened. The things about me are
familiar--and yet somehow not the same as I remember them. They look as
though the old dirt had been washed out of them."
"You are getting on remarkably well," said his companion. "The whole
world has been spring-cleaned since you saw it last."
"You have an original way of expressing yourself," said Piecraft. "Your
style reminds me of a young half-brother of mine. He was lost in a
steamer whose name I can't remember--when was it? His conversation was
always picturesque. And, by the way, that suggests another thing. The
young girl who waited on me, this morning--who is she?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because she's so uncommonly like a girl I used to run after in the old
days--a student at the Slade School of Art. And a wonderfully good, nice
girl she was. Her father, who was said to be a scoundrel, got ten years
for alleged embezzlement; and the girl gave me up because I wouldn't
take his side. How she stuck to him through thick and thin! I tell you,
my boy, she was a loyal soul! I wonder if she is still alive."
"Such souls are hard to kill," said the other.
* * * * *
By this time the pair had arrived at the house indicated by the
messenger. On the door of it was an enormous knocker of brass.
"Knock, and it shall be opened," said the young man.
Dr Piecraft had lifted the knocker and was about to let it fall when he
heard his name called loudly down the street and saw a man running
towards him with a piece of paper in his hand. The man approached and
Piecraft, taking the paper, read as follows:
"_Dr Phippeny Piecraft is needed at once for a matter of life and
death._"
"I must be off immediately," he said to his companion; "I am called to
an urgent case. It's a matter of life and death. Duty first, my boy, and
the clearing-up of mysteries afterwards! Remember what the sergeant said
to Abdulla when he plucked him by the sleeve. Besides--who knows?--this
may mean that the practice is going to revive."
"That is precisely what it does mean," said the young man. "Matters of
life and death are extremely common just now, and you are the very man
to deal with them."
"How do you know that?" said Piecraft with some astonishment; and, as he
spoke the words, without thinking he released the lifted knocker from
his hand.
The knocker fell, and the instant it struck the door Dr Phippeny
Piecraft knew where he was.
"_It's wonderfully like the old home_," he said.
A familiar laugh sounded behind him.
He turned round; and the man who grasped his hand was Jim.