After the excitement of the past few days, and her terrible experience
in Hamburg, to say nothing of the fact that she had landed from a
steamer under peculiar circumstances, and had been tramping the country
half the night, it is not to be wondered at that by the time we reached
Park Lane Valerie was completely knocked up. Pharos had accordingly
insisted that she should at once retire to her room and endeavour to
obtain the rest of which she stood so much in need.
"For the next few weeks--that is to say, until the end of the Season--I
intend that you shall both enjoy yourselves," he said with the utmost
affability, when we were alone together, "to the top of your bent. And
that reminds me of something, Forrester. Your betrothal must be
announced as speedily as possible. It is due to Valerie that this should
be done. I presume you do not wish the engagement to be a long one?"
"Indeed I do not," I answered, not, however, without a slight feeling of
surprise that he should speak so openly and so soon upon the subject.
"As you may suppose, it cannot be too short to please me. And our
marriage?"
"Your marriage can take place as soon after the Season as you please,"
he continued with the same extraordinary geniality. "You will not find
me placing any obstacles in your way."
"But you have never asked me as to my means, or my power to support
her," I said, putting his last remark aside as if I had not heard it.
"I have not," he answered. "There is no need for me to do so. Your means
are well known to me; besides, it has always been my intention to make
provision for Valerie myself. Provided you behave yourselves, and do not
play me any more tricks such as I had to complain of in Hamburg, you
will find that she will bring you a handsome little nest-egg that will
make it quite unnecessary for you ever to feel any anxiety on the score
of money. But we will discuss all that more fully later on. See, here
are a number of invitations that have arrived for us. It looks as if we
are not likely to be dull during our stay in London."
So saying, he placed upwards of fifty envelopes before me, many of which
I was surprised to find were addressed to myself. These I opened with
the first feeling of a return to my old social life that I had
experienced since I had re-entered London. The invitations hailed, for
the most part, from old friends. Some were for dinners, others for
musical "at homes," while at least a dozen were for dances, one of the
last-named being from the Duchess of Amersham.
"I have taken the liberty of accepting that on your behalf," said
Pharos, picking the card up. "The Duchess of Amersham and I are old
friends, and I think it will brighten Valerie and yourself up a little
if we look in at her ball for an hour or so to-night."
"But surely," I said, "we have only just reached London, and----" Here I
paused, not knowing quite how to proceed.
"What objection have you to raise?" he asked, with a sudden flash of the
old angry look in his eyes.
"My only objection was that I thought it a little dangerous," I said.
"On your own confession, it was the plague from which Valerie was
suffering in Hamburg."
Pharos laughed a short, harsh laugh, that grated upon the ear.
"You must really forgive me, Forrester, for having deceived you," he
said, "but I had to do it. It was necessary for me to use any means I
could think of for getting you to England. As you have reason to know,
Valerie is possessed of a peculiarly sensitive temperament. She is
easily influenced, particularly by myself, and the effect can be
achieved at any distance. If I were in London and she in Vienna, I
could, by merely exercising my will, not only induce her to do anything
I might wish, but could make her bodily health exactly what I pleased.
You will therefore see that it would be an easy task for me to cause her
to be taken ill in Hamburg. Her second self--that portion of her mind
which is so susceptible to my influence, as you saw for
yourself--witnessed my arrival in Prague and at the hotel. As soon as I
entered the room in which she was waiting for me, the attraction
culminated in a species of fainting fit. I despatched you post haste to
a chemist with a prescription which I thought would be extremely
difficult, if not impossible, for you to get made up. At any rate it
would, I knew, serve my purpose if it kept you some time away."
"Then you mean that while I was hurrying from place to place like a
madman, suffering untold agonies of fear, and believing that Valerie's
life depended upon my speed, you were in reality deceiving me?"
"If I am to be truthful, I must confess that I was," he replied; "but I
give you my word the motive was a good one. Had I not done so, who knows
what would have happened? The plague was raging on the Continent, and
you were both bent on getting away from me again on the first
opportunity. What was the result? Working on your fears for her, I
managed to overcome the difficulties and got you safely into England.
Valerie has not been so ill as you supposed. I have sanctioned your
engagement, and, as I said just now, if you will let me, will provide
for you both for life, and will assist in lifting you to the highest
pinnacle of fame. After this explanation, surely you are not going to be
ungenerous enough to still feel vindictive against me?"
"It was a cruel trick to play me," I answered; "but since the result has
not been so serious as I supposed, and you desire me to believe you did
it all with a good object, I will endeavour to think no more about it."
"You have decided sensibly," he said. "And now let us arrange what we
shall do this evening. My proposal is that we rest this afternoon, that
you dine with me at my club, the Antiquarian, in the evening, and that
afterwards I show you London as I see it in my character of Pharos the
Egyptian. I think you will find the programme both interesting and
instructive. During the evening we might return here, pick Valerie up,
and go on to the Duchess of Amersham's ball. Does that meet with your
approval?"
I was so relieved at finding that Valerie had not really been attacked
by the plague, that, however much I should have liked to spend the
evening alone with her, I could see no reason for declining Pharos's
invitation. I accordingly stated that I should be very glad to do as he
wished.
We followed out his plan to the letter. After lunch we retired to our
respective apartments and rested until it was time to prepare for the
evening. At the hour appointed I descended to the drawing-room, where I
found Pharos awaiting me. He was dressed as I had seen him at Lady
Medenham's well-remembered "at home"--that is to say, he wore his velvet
jacket and black skull cap, and, as usual, carried his gold-topped
walking-stick in his hand.
"The carriage is at the door, I think," he said as I entered, "so if you
are ready we will set off."
A neat brougham was drawn up beside the pavement; we took our places in
it, and ten minutes later had reached the Antiquarian Club, of all the
establishments of the kind in London perhaps the most magnificent. Wide
and lofty, and yet boasting the most harmonious proportions, the
dining-room at the Antiquarian Club always remains in my mind the most
stately of the many stately banqueting halls in London. Pharos's
preference, I found, was for a table in one of the large windows
overlooking the Embankment and the river, and this had accordingly been
prepared for him.
"If you will sit there," said Pharos, motioning with his hand to a chair
on the right, "I will take this one opposite you."
I accordingly seated myself in the place he indicated.
The dinner was perfect in every respect. My host himself, however, dined
after his own fashion, in the manner I have elsewhere described.
Nevertheless, he did the honours of the table with the most perfect
grace, and had any stranger been watching us, he would have found it
difficult to believe that the relationship existing between us was not
of the most cordial nature possible.
By eight o'clock the room was crowded, and with as fine a collection of
well-born, well-dressed, and well-mannered men as could be found in
London. The decorations, the portraits upon the walls, the liveried
servants, the snowy drapery and sparkling silver, all helped to make up
a picture that, after the sordidness of the Margrave of Brandenburg, was
like a glimpse of a new life.
"This is the first side of that London life I am desirous of presenting
to you," said Pharos, in his capacity of showman, after I had finished
my dessert and had enjoyed a couple of glasses of the famous Antiquarian
port--"one side of that luxury and extravagance which is fast drawing
this great city to its doom. Now, if you have quite finished, we might
move on."
I acquiesced, and we accordingly descended to the hall and donned our
coats.
"If you would care to smoke, permit me to offer you one of the same
brand of cigarettes of which you expressed your approval in Naples,"
said Pharos, producing from his pocket a silver case, which he handed to
me. I took one of the delicacies it contained and lit it. Then we passed
out of the hall to Pharos's own carriage, which was waiting in the
street for us. "We will now return to pick up Valerie, after which we
will drive to Amersham House, where I have no doubt we shall meet many
of those whom we have seen here to-night."
We found Valerie awaiting us in the drawing-room. She was dressed for
the ball, and, superb as I thought she looked on the evening she had
been presented to the Emperor in Prague, I had to confess to myself that
she was even more beautiful now. Her face was flushed with excitement,
and her lovely eyes sparkled like twin stars. I hastened to congratulate
her on her altered appearance, and had scarcely done so before the
butler announced that the carriage was at the door, whereupon we
departed for Carlton House Terrace.
On the subject of the ball itself it is not my intention to say very
much; let it suffice that, possibly by reason of what followed later, it
is talked of to this day. The arrangements were of the most sumptuous
and extravagant description; princes of the blood and their wives were
present, Cabinet Ministers jostled burly country squires upon the
staircase, fair but haughty aristocrats rubbed shoulders with the
daughters of American millionaires, whose money had been made goodness
knows where or how; half the celebrities of England nodded to the other
half; but in all that distinguished company there was no woman to
eclipse Valerie in beauty, and, as another side of the picture, no man
who could equal Pharos in ugliness. Much to my astonishment the latter
seemed to have no lack of acquaintances, and I noticed also that
everyone with whom he talked, though they paid the most servile
attention to his remarks while he was with them, invariably heaved a
sigh of relief when he took his departure.
At two o'clock Valerie was tired, and we accordingly decided to leave.
But I soon found that it was not to return home. Having placed my
darling in her carriage, Pharos directed the coachman to drive to Park
Lane, declaring that we preferred to walk.
It was a beautiful night, cool and fresh, with a few clouds in the
southwest, but brilliant starlight overhead. Leaving Carlton House
Terrace, we passed into Waterloo Place, ascended it as far as
Piccadilly, and then hailed a cab.
"Our evening is not completed yet," said Pharos. "I have still some
places to show you. It is necessary that you should see them, in order
that you may appreciate what is to follow. The first will be a fancy
dress ball at Covent Garden, where yet another side of London life is to
be found."
If such a thing could possibly have had any effect, I should have
objected; but so completely did his will dominate mine, that I had no
option but to consent to anything he proposed. We accordingly stepped
into the cab and were driven off to the place indicated. From the sounds
which issued from the great building as we entered it, it was plain that
the ball was proceeding with its accustomed vigour, a surmise on our
part which proved to be correct when we reached the box Pharos had
bespoken. A floor had been laid over the stalls and pit, and upon this
upwards of fifteen hundred dancers, in every style of fancy dress the
ingenuity of man could contrive, were slowly revolving to the music of a
military band. It was a curious sight, and at any other time would have
caused me considerable amusement. Now, however, with the fiendish face
of Pharos continually at my elbow, and his carping criticisms sounding
without ceasing in my ear, mocking at the people below us, finding evil
in everything, and hinting always at the doom which was hanging over
London, it reminded me more of Dante's Inferno than anything else to
which I could liken it. For upwards of an hour we remained spectators of
it. Then, with a final sneer, Pharos gave the signal for departure.
"We have seen the finest club in Europe," he said, as we emerged into
the cool air of Bow Street, "the most fashionable social event of the
season, and a fancy dress ball at Covent Garden. We must now descend a
grade lower, and, if you have no objection, we will go in search of it
on foot?"
I had nothing to urge against this suggestion, so, turning into Long
Acre, we passed through a number of squalid streets, with all of which
Pharos seemed to be as intimately acquainted as he was in the West-end,
and finally approached the region of Seven Dials--that delectable
neighbourhood bordered on the one side by Shaftesbury Avenue, and on
the other by Drury Lane. Here, though it was by this time close upon
three o'clock, no one seemed to have begun to think of bed. In one
narrow alley through which we were compelled to pass at least thirty
people were assembled, more than half of which number were intoxicated.
A woman was screaming for assistance from a house across the way, and a
couple of men were fighting at the further end of an adjoining court. In
this particular locality the police seemed as extinct as the dodo. At
any other time, and in any other company, I should have felt some doubt
as to the wisdom of being in such a place at such an hour. But with my
present companion beside me I felt no fear.
We had walked some distance before we reached the house Pharos desired
to visit. From its outward appearance it might have been a small
drinking-shop in the daytime; now, however, every window was closely
shuttered, and not a ray of light showed through chink or cranny.
Approaching the door he knocked four times upon it, whereupon it was
opened on a chain for a few inches. A face looked through the aperture
thus created, and Pharos, moving a little closer, said something in a
whisper to it.
"Beg pardon, sir," said the woman, for a woman I soon discovered it was.
"I didn't know as it was you. I'll undo the chain. Is the gentleman with
you safe?"
"Quite safe," Pharos replied. "You need have no fear of him. He is my
friend."
"In you come, then," said the woman to me, my character being thus
vouched for, and accordingly in I stepped.
Dirty as were the streets outside, the house in which we now stood more
than equalled them. The home of Captain Wisemann in Hamburg, which I had
up to that time thought the filthiest I had ever seen, was nothing to
it. Taking the candle in her hand, the old woman led us along the
passage toward another door. Before this she paused and rang a bell, the
handle of which was cleverly concealed in the woodwork. Almost instantly
it was opened, and we entered a room the like of which I had never seen
or dreamt of before. Its length was fully thirty feet, its width
possibly fifteen. On the wall above the fireplace was a gas bracket,
from the burner of which a large flame was issuing with a hissing noise.
In the center of the room was a table, and seated round it were at least
twenty men and women, who, at the moment of our entering, were engaged
upon a game the elements of which I did not understand. On seeing us the
players sprang to their feet with one accord, and a scramble ensued for
the money upon the table. A scene of general excitement followed, which
might very well have ended in the gas being turned out and our finding
ourselves upon the floor with knives between our ribs, had not the old
woman who had introduced us called out that there was no need for alarm,
and added, with an oath--what might in Pharos's case possibly have been
true, but in mine was certainly not--that we had been there hundreds of
times before, and were proper sort o' gents. Thereupon Pharos
contributed a sovereign to be spent in liquid refreshment, and when our
healths had been drunk with a variety of toasts intended to be
complimentary, our presence was forgotten, and the game once more
proceeded. One thing was self-evident: there was no lack of money among
those present, and when a member of the company had not the wherewithal
to continue the gamble, he in most cases produced a gold watch, a ring,
or some other valuable from his pocket, and handed it to a burly ruffian
at the head of the table, who advanced him an amount upon it which nine
times out of ten failed to meet with his approval.
"Seeing you have not been here before," said Pharos, "I might explain
that this is the most typical thieves' gambling hell in London. There is
not a man or woman in this room at the present moment who is not a
hardened criminal in every sense of the word. The fellow at the end
narrowly escaped the gallows, the man on his right has but lately
emerged from seven years' penal servitude for burglary. The three
sitting together next the banker are at the present moment badly wanted
by the police, while the old woman who admitted us, and who was once not
only a celebrated variety actress, but an exceedingly beautiful woman,
is the mother of that sickly youth drinking gin beside the fireplace,
who assisted in the murder of an old man in Shaftesbury Avenue a
fortnight or so ago, and will certainly be captured and brought within
measurable distance of the gallows before many more weeks have passed
over his head. Have you seen enough of this to satisfy you?"
"More than enough," I answered truthfully.
"Then let us leave. It will soon be daylight, and there are still many
places for us to visit before we return home."
We accordingly bade the occupants of the room good-night, and, when we
had been escorted to the door by the old woman who had admitted us, left
the house.
From the neighbourhood of Seven Dials Pharos carried me off to other
equally sad and disreputable quarters of the city. We visited Salvation
Army Shelters, the cheapest of cheap lodging-houses, doss-houses in
comparison to which a workhouse would be a palace; dark railway arches,
where we found homeless men, women, and children endeavouring to snatch
intervals of rest between the visits of patrolling policemen; the public
parks, where the grass was dotted with recumbent forms, and every seat
was occupied; and then, turning homewards, reached Park Lane just as the
clocks were striking seven, as far as I was concerned sick to the heart,
not only of the sorrow and the sin of London, but of the callous
indifference to it displayed by Pharos.