HE NOVELISE

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 49, 20 August 1881, Page 568

HE NOVELISE

BY WILKIE COLLINS,

THE DEMON SPECTACLES: A Romance,

Author of "The Moonstone," "The Woman in. White," ct-c. CHAPTER I. MEMOIRS OF AN ARCTIC VOYAGER. 'He says, sir, he thinks lie's nigh to his latter end, and he would like, if convenient, to see yon before he goes.' 'Do you mean before he dies ?' ' That's about it, sir.' I was in no humor (for reasons to be hereafter mentioned) for seeing anybody, under disastrous circumstances of any sort ; but the person who had sent word that he was ' nigh to Ids latter end ' had special claims on my consideration. He was an old sailor, who had first seen blue "water under the protection of my father, then a post-captain in the navy. Bom on our estate, and the only male survivor of our head gamekeeper's family of seven children, he had received a good education through my father's kindness, and he ought to have got on well in the world ; but he was one of those born vagabonds who set education at defiance. His term of service having expired, he disappeared for many years. During part of the time he was supposed to have been employed in the merchant navy. At the end of tliat long interval he turned up one day at our country house, an invalided man, without a penny in his pocket. My good father, then Hearing the end of his life, was invalided, too. Whether he had a fellowfeeling for the helpless creature whom he had once befriended, or whether he only took counsel of his own generous nature, it is now needless to enquire. He aj)pointed Septimus Notman to be lodge-keeper at the second of our two park gates, and he recommended Septimus to my personal care on his death-bed. ' I'm afraid he's an old scoundrel,' my father confessed, 'but somebody must look after him while he lasts, and if you don't take his part, Alfred, nobody else will.' After this Septimus kept his place at the gate while we were in the country. When we returned to our London house, the second gate was closed. The old sailor was lodged (by a strong exertion of my influence) in a room over a disused stable, which our coachman had proposed to turn into a hayloft. Everybody disliked Septimus Notman. He was said to be mad ; to be a liar, a hypocrite, a vicious wretch, and a disagreeable brute. There were people who even reported that he had been a pirate during the time we lost sight of him, and who declared, when they were asked for their proof, that his crimes were written in his face. He was not in the least affected by the opinions of his neighbors ; he chewed his tobacco and drank his grog, and, in the words of the old song, 'He cared for nobody, no not he !' Well had my poor father said that if I didn't take his part nobody else would. And shall I tell you a secret ? Though I strictly carried out my father's wishes, and though Septimus was disposed in his rough way to be grateful to me, Ididn't like him either. So I went to the room over the stables (we were in London then) with dry eyes, and I sat down by his bed and cut up a cake of tobacco for him, and said, ' Well what is the matter ?' as coolly as if he had sent me word that he thought he had caught a cold in the head. ' I'm called away ' Septimus answered ; ' and before I go I've a confession to make and something useful to otter you. It's reported among the servants, Mr Alfred, that your're in trouble just now between two ladies. You may see your way clear in that matter, sir, if death spare me long enough to say a few last Avoids.' ' Never mind me, Septimus. Has a docter seen you f ' The docter knows no more about me than I know of myself. The docter be ' ' Have you any last wishes that I can attend to?' 'None, sir.' ' Shall I send for a clergyman ?' Septimus Notman looked at me as directly as he conk'— he was afflicted with a terrible squint. Otherwise he was a fine, stoutly-built man, with a ruddy face profusely encircled by white hair and whiskers, a hoarse, heavy voice, and the biggest hands I ever saw. He put one of these enormus hands under his pillow before he answered me. 'If you think,' he said, 'that a clergyman will come to a man who has got the Demon Spectacles here* under his pillow, and who has only to put those Spectacles on to see through that clergyman's clothes, flesh, and what not, and read every thing that's written in his secret mind as plain as print, fetch him, Master Alfred— fetch him !' I thought the clergyman might not like this, and withdrew my suggestion accordingly. The least I could do, as a matter of common politeness, after giving up the clergyman, was to ask if I might look at the Demon Spectacles. ' Hear how I came by them first !' said Septimus. ! WilHt take long?' I asked. 'It Avill take long, and it will make your flesh creep.' I remembered my promise to my father, and placed myself and my flesh at the mercy of Septimus Notman. lJut lie was not ready to begin yet. ' Do you see that white jug ?' he said pointing to the washhand-stand. ' Yes. Do you want water ?' ' I want grog. There's grog in the white jug. And there's a pewter mug on the chim-ney-piece. I must be strung up, Master Alfred — I must be strung up.' The white jug contained at least half a gallon of rum and water, roughly calculated. I strun»him up. In the case of any other dying person I might have hesitated. But the man who possessed the Demon Spectacles was surely an exception to ordinary rules, and might finish his grog^ at one and the same time. 'Now I'm ready,' he said. 'What do you

think I was up to the time you lost sight of me ? The latter part of that time 1 mean ?' ' They say you Avere a pirate,' I replied. ' Worse than that. Guess again.' I tried to persuade myself that there might be such a human anomaly as a merciful pirate, and guessed once more. ' A murderer, ' I suggested. ' Worse than that. Guess again.' I declined to guess again. _ ' Tell me yourself what you have been,' 1 He answered without the least appearance of discomposure, ' I have been a Cannibal.' Perhaps it was weak of me— but I did certainly start to my feet and make for the door. 'Hear the circumstances,' said Septimus. You know the proverb, sir? Circumstances alter cases.' There was no disputing the proverb. I sat down again. I Avas a young and tender man, which, in my present position, was certainly against me. But I had very little flesh on my bones, and that Avas in my favor. 'It happened when I Avent out Avith the Arctic expedition.' Septimus proceeded. 'IVe forgotten all my learning, and lost my memory for dates. The year escapes me, and the latitude and longitude escape me. But I can tell you the rest of it. We Avere an exploring party with sledges. It was getting close to the end of the .summer months in those parts, and we were nighcr than any of them have got since to the North Pole. We should have found our way there — don't you doubt it — but for three of our best men who fell sick Avith the scurvy. The second lieutenant who Avas in command, called a halt, as the soldiers say. ' With this loss of strength,' says he, ' it's my duty to take you back to the ships. We must let the North Pole be, and pray God Aye may have no more invalided men to cany. I give you half an hour's rest before avo turn back.' The carpenter was one of our sound men. He spoke next. He reported one of the two sledges not fit for service. ' How long Avill you be making it fit : says the lieutenant. 'In a decent climate,' says the carpenter, ' I should say two or three hours, sir. Here, double that time, at least.' You may say, why not do without the sledge ? I'll tell you why. On account of the sick men to be carried. 'Be as quick about it as you can,' says the lieutenant ; ' time means life in in our predicament.' Most of the men were glad enough to rest. Only two of us mumured at not going on. One Avas a boatswain's mate ; t'other was me. 'Do you think the North Pole's the other side of that rising ground there ?' says the lieutenant. .The boatswain's mate Avas young and self-conceited. ' I should like to try, sir,' he says, ' if any other man lias pluck enough to go along Avith me.' He looked at me when he said that. I wasn't going to have my courage called into question publicly by a slip of a lad ; and, moreover, I had a fancy to try for the North Pole, too. I volunteered to go along with him. Our notion, you Avill understand, was to take a compass and some grub with us ; to try Avhat Aye could find in a couple of hours' march forward ; and to get back in good time for our duty on the return journey. The lieutenant wouldn't hear of it. 'I'm responsible for every man in my charge,' says h<\ ' Your're a couple of fools. Stay Avhere you are. ' We loerc a couple of fools. We watched our opportunity, while they were all unloading the broken-down sledge, and sliped oil' to try our luck, and get the reward for discovering the North Pole.' There he stopped, and pointed to the grog. ' Dry work, talking, ' he said. ' Give us a drop more.' I filled the pewter mug again. And again Septimus Notman emptied it. ' We set our course north-west by north,' he went on ; ' and after awhile (seeing the ground favored us) avc altered it again to due north. 1 can't tell you how long avc walked (we neither of us had watches) — but this I'll swear to. Just as the last of the faint daylight was dying out, Aye got to the top of a hillock, and there Aye saw the glimmer of the open Polar Sea ! No ! not the Sound that enters Kennedy's Channel, which has been mistaken for it, I know — but the real thing, the still and lonesome Polar Sea ! What would you have done in our place ? I'll tell you Avhat Aye did. We sat down on some nice dry snow, and took out our biscuits and grog. "Freezing work do you say ? You'll find it in books, if you don't believe me — the further north you get in those parts, the less cold there is, and the more open water you find. Ask Captain M'Clure what sort of a bed he slept upon the night of October 30th, '51. Well, and Avhat do you think avc did when avc had eaten and drunk ? Lit our pipes. And what next ? Fell fast asleep, after our long walk, on our nice dry snow. And Avhat sort of prospect met us Avlien Aye Avoke ? Darkness, and drizzle, and mist. I had the compass, and tried to set our course on the way back. I could no more .see the compass than if I had been blind. We had no means of striking a light, except my match-box. I had left it on the snow by my side Avhen 1 fell asleep. Not a match would light. As for help of any sort, it was not to be thought of. We couldn't have been less than five miles distant from the place Avhere Aye had left our messmates. So there Aye were, the boatswain's mate and me, alone in the desert, lost at the North Pole.' I began to feel interested. ' You tried to get back, I suppose, dark as it was?' 1 said. 'We walked till avc dropped, ' Septimus answered : ' and then Aye yelled and shouted till avc had no A r oices left, and then Aye hollowed out a hole in the suoav and waited for daylight." 'What did you expect when daylight came.' '/expected nothing, Master Alfred. The boatswain's mate (beginning to get lightheaded, you know) expected the lieutenant to send in search of us, or to Avait till Aye returned. A likely thing for an officer in charge to do, Avith the lives'of the sledging party depending on his getting them back to the ships, and only two men missing, who had broken orders and deserted their duty. A good riddance to bad rubbish — that's Avhat he said of us when Aye were reported missing, I'll be bound. When the light came Aye tried to get back ; and Aye did set our course cleverly enough, But, bless you, avc had nothing left to eat or drink ! When the light failed us again Aye were done up. We dropped on the snow, under the lee of

a rock, and gave out. The boatswain's mate said his prayers, and I said amen. Not the least use 1 On the contrary, as the night advanced it got colder and colder. We were both close together, to keep each other warm. I don't know how long it was, I only know it Avas still pitch dark, Avhen I heard the boatswain's mate give a little flutter of a sigh, and no more. I opened his clothes, and put my hand on his heart. Dead, of cold and exhaustion, and no mistake. I shouldn't have been long after him but for my own presence of mind.' ' Your presence of mind ? What did you do ?' 1 Stripped every rag of clothes off' him, and put them all on myself. What are you shivering about ? He couldn't feel it, could he ? I tell you he'd have been frozen stiff" before the next day's light came— but for my presence of mind again. As well as my failing strength would let me, I buried him under the snow. Virtue, they say, Master Alfred, is its own reward. That good action proved to be the saving of my life.' ' What do you mean ?' ' Didn't I tell you I buried him ?' ' Well ?' ' Well, in that freezing air, the burying of him kept him eatable. Don't you see. ?' ' You wretch !' 'Put yourself in my place and don't call names. I held out till I was mad -with hunger. And then I did open my knife with my teeth. And I did burrow it down in the snow till I felt him ' I could hear no more of it. ' Get on to the end !' I said. ' Why didn't you die at the .North Pole?' ' Because somebody helped me to get away.' ' Who helped you ?' 'Tli e Devil.' He showed his yellow old teeth in a horrible grin. I could draw but one conclusion — his mind was failing him before death. Anything that spared me his hideous confession of cannibalism was welcome. I asked how the supernatural rescue happened. 'More grog first,' he said. 'The horrors come on me when I think of it.' He was evidently sinking. Without grog I doixbt if he could have said imich more. ' I can't tell you how many days passed,' he went on ; 'I only know that the time was nigh when it was all dark and no light. The darker it got, the deeper I scooped the sort of cavern I'd made for myself under the snow. Whether it was night or day I know no more than you do. On a sudden, in the awful silence and solitude, I heard a voice, high up, as it were, on the rock behind me. It was a cheering and a pleasant voice ; it cried out Septimus Notman. I asked in a fright, " who the ?" The voice stopped me before I could say the rest. "You've hit it," says the voice, " I'm that person ; and it's about time the Devil helped you out of this. " " No, " says I, "I'd rather perish by cold than fire, any day." " Make your mind easy," says he, taking the point, "I don't want you at my place yet. I expect you to do a deal more in the way of degrading your humanity before you come to me, and I offer you a safe jiassage back to the nearest settlement. Friend Septimus, you're a man after my own heart.' 'As how, sir?" says I. " Because you're such a complete beast," says he. "A human being who elevates himself, and rises higher and higher to his immortal destiny, is a creature I hate. He gets above me, even in his earthly lifetime. But you have dropped — you dear good fellow — to the level of a famished wolf. Do you think I'll leave such a prime specimen of the Animal Man as you are, deserted at the North Pole ? No, no ; I grant you a free pass by my railway; darkness and distance are no obstacles to Me. Are you ready ?" You may not believe me ; but I felt myself being lifted up, as it were, against my own will. "Give us a light," I says; "I can't travel in the dark." "Take my Spectacles," says he, "they'll help you to see more than you bargain for. Look through them at your fellow mortals, and you'll see the inmost thoughts of their hearts as plain as I do, and, considering your nature, Septimus, that will drop you even below the level of a wolf." "Suppose I don't want to look, " says I, ' ' may I throw the spectacles away ?" "They'll come back to you," says he. "May I smash them up?" " They'll' put themselves together again." " What am Ito do with them ?" " Give them to another man. Now, then ! One, two, three — and away !" You may not believe me again; I lost my senses, Master Alfred. Hold me uj> ; I'm losing them now. More grog — that's right — more grog. I came to myself at Upernavik, with the Demon Spectacles in my pocket. Take them, sir, and read those two ladies' hearts, and act accordingly. Hush ! I hear him speaking to me again. Behind my pillow. Just as he spoke on the rock. Most polite and cheering. Calling to me, as it were, " Come, Cannibal ! — come !" Like a song, isn't it ? ' • Come, Cannibal — come !" ' He sang the last words faintly, and died with a smile on his face. Delirium or lies ! With the Spectacles actually in my hands, I was inclined to think lies. They were of the oldfashioned sort, with big, circular glasses and stout tortoise-shell frames ; they smelt must}'-, but not sulphurous. I possess a sense of humour, lam happy to say. When they were thoroughly cleaned, I determined to try the Demon Spectacles on the two ladies and submit to the consequences, whatever they might be ?

CHAPTER 11. MEMOIRS OF MYSELF. Who -were the two ladies? They were Loth young and unmarried. As a matter of delicacy, I ask permission to mention them by their Christian names only — Zilla, aged seventeen ; Cecilia, aged two-and-twenty. And what was my position between them ? I was of the same age as Cecilia. She was my mother's companion and reader ; handsome, well-born, and poor. I had made her a proposal, and had been accepted. There were no money difficulties in the way of our marriage, in spite of my sweetheart's empty purse. I was an only child, and I had inherited, excepting my mother's jointure, the whole of the large property that my father left at his death. In social rank Cecilia was more than my equal ; we were therefore not ill-matched from the

worldly point of view. Nevertheless there was an obstacle to our \mion, and a person interested in making the most of it. The obstacle was Zilla. The peison interested was my mother. Zilla was her niece — her elder brother's daughter. The girl's parents had died in India, and she had been sent to school in England, under the care of her uncle and guardian. I had never seen her, and had hardly even heard of her, until there was a question of her spending the Christmas holidays (in the year when Septimus Notman died) at our house. 'Her uncle has no objection,' my mother said, ' and I shall be more than glad to see her. A most interesting creature, as I hear. So lovely and so good that they call her The Angel at school. I say nothing about her nice little fortune or the high military rank that her father possessed. You don't care for these things. But oh, Alfred, it would make me so happy if you fell in love with Zilla and married her !' Three days before, I had made my proposal to Cecilia, and had been accepted — subject to my mother's approval. I thought this a good opportunity of stating my case plainly, and I spoke out. Never before had I seen my mother so enraged and so disappointed — enraged with Cecilia, disappointed in me. ' A woman without a farthing of dowry ; a woman who was as old as I was ; a woman who had taken advantage of her position in the house to mislead and delude me !' and so on, and so on. Cecilia would certainly have been sent away if I had not declared that I should feely it my duty, in that event, to marry her immediately. My mother knew my temper, and refrained from giving Cecilia any cause of offence. Cecilia, on her side, showed what is called a proper pride ; she declined to become my wife until my mother approved of her. She considered herself to be a martyr, and I considered myself to be an abominably ill-treated man. Between us, I am afraid, we made my good mothei 's life uuendurable — she was obliged to be the first who gave way. It was understood that we were to be married in the spring. It was also understood that Zilla was bitterly disappointed at having her holiday visit put off. ' She was so anxious to see you, poor child,' my mother said to me ; ' but I really daren't ask her here under present circumstances. She is so fresh, so innocent, so infinitely superior in personal attractions to Cecilia, that I don't know what might happen if you saw her now. You are the soul of honour, Alfred ; but you and Zilla had better remain strangers to each other — you might repent your rash engagement.' After this, it is needless to say that I was dying to see Zilla ; while, at the same time, I never for an instant swerved from my fidelity to Cecilia. Such was my position on the memorable day when Septimus Notman died, leaving me possessor of the Demon Spectacles. (To be continued.)