STRANGE STORY.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 345, 18 July 1885, Page 18

STRANGE STORY.

A MASOffIC SECRET.

Mb Samuel Timothy Jones, was a retired City; merchant, who lived with his wife in a comfortable villa somewhere in the direction of Brixton. He was a man of five-and-forty, or thereabouts, with a tendency to stoutness, an undecided manner, and a somewhat vacuous face, fringed with light sandy hair. Samuel Timothy had been in business with his two brothers in Mincing-lane ; but, as his timid and cautious nature did not agree with their more enterprising views, he had been bought out some years before, and was now without any definite occupation. He had been married for more than twenty years, but had no children; and time occasionally hung somewhat heavily on his hands. For his wife, Arabella, who, in spite of her protestations to the contrary, was generally understood to be his senior, was a woman of strong will and serious turn of , mind, who preferred to take her pleasures ' sadly, and in discreet moderation. Jones had long ago resigned all control, not only of his household, but of himself, into her hands. She had married him — so people said, and he never contradicted them — by main force, and she had ruled him ever since with a rod of iron. So long as Jones was in business he did not very much care. . He passed most of his days in the city, and, being a very easy-going individual, spent a good part of them in loafing about his friends' offices, in lunching liberally at various restaurants, and even in flirting, after an exceedingly mild fashion, with the lovely young ladies who adorn the city winebars. But when Samuel was compelled to stay for weeks and months together in his suburban solitude, with no relaxation beyond a walk to church, or a godly but desperately dull tea-fight, he grew morose and low-spirited ; and, on more than one ocasion, very nearly made uid his mind to defy his wife, and plunge into some wild dissipation by way of asserting his long-lost authority. One of Mrs Jones' most objectionable failings was her excessive and unreasonable jealousy. Her spouse was not a strikingly attractive man, but he could never eveu speak to a good-looking woman in her company without excitiug her wrath. Iv church, which Mrs Jones and her husband attended three times every Sunday and occasionally during the week, she always made him sit at the top end of the pew next to the wall, and stationed herself beside him, watching his every movement. If his eyes wandered, or the fervency of his responses abated even for a moment, Samuel was certain to be reminded of his delinquencies in an unpleasant fashion ar the earliest opportunity. So matters went on ; Mr Jones became daily more depressed, and his wife more autocratic, until the unhapjjy man began seriously to contemplate the comparative advantage of suicide or flight to America. It was at this interesting juncture that one morning when Jones was walking to the Post-office to buy his wife some stamps he suddenly came across a small, dapper man, about his own age, whose face seemed strangely familiar to him. Jones paused a moment, and stared ; the other did the same, and after a mutual scrutiny they shook hands with great fervour and energy. ' Sam Jones, as lam alive J ' cried the stranger. ' Why you are getting fat, and I must say you don't look extra cheerful. Not the man you were half-a-dozen years ago.' • You never were much of a hand at compliments, Newton,' replied Jones; -but I don't feel very brilliant. Now, you don't look any the worse for going to China. 1 ' Ah, "my boy, I never let anything worry me!' ' You would, if you were in my shoes.' ' What's the matter ? Been losing money ? Liver gone wrong? Wife bolted with a missionary? Let's hear all about it.' Samuel smiled grimly. 'Mrs J.s right enough, and I've left business. Fact is, old chaja, I'm bored to . death.' ' You don't say so ; come and have ..dinner with me, and we'll go and see a good ballet afterwards. You want waking up.' ; ' Can't,' said Jones, dismally; ' never dine out now,' and he jerked his head significantly in the direction of his home. 'Why, you don't mean to say you're kept as tight as that. Man alive, why do you "standit? I wouldn't.' 'Oh! yes, you would, if you were Arabella's husband. . But you dine with us to-morrow instead. It's precious slow, but I believe Mr Howler is coining to arrange some church business, so we shall be able to have a talk, and I'll tell you all about it.'. Mr Thomas Newton had in years gone by been one of Jones' most intimate . friends. . They had attended St. Paul's School ,toy. gether as boys, and at aboufc the same age had been started in life as clerks iv Mincing Lane. They had always stood up for each other in after-life, had backed each other's bills, and engaged in risky enterprises and mild dissipations together. Needless to say that in all their common pursuits Newton was the leader. His brain originated everything, and Jones followed blindly, trusting to his friend's unfailing tact to extricate him from difficulties. In fact, if Newton had stayed in London, Jones would most likely have still been a member of his old firm. But deprived of his Mentor's advice, poor Samuel was useless, and his brothers got rid of him at the !

earliest possible opportunity. Newtou had yet another, and a rarer, merit. Before he left for China he was the only acquaintance of her husband's whom Mrs Jones, could be persuaded to look upon with favour. Mr Newton duly came to dinner, was, as in clays gone by, exceedingly attentive to Mrs Jones, and even succeeded in winning the heart of the Rev. Nicodemus Howler, who made up the party. Such was his triumph that Mrs Jones, who kept the key of the cellar, produced. after dinner two bottles of a certain rare old port kept for the special consumption of the Rev. Nicodemus, and entirely ! forgot to notice whether or not her spouse exceeded his usual allowance of two glasses. It was after the first bottle that Newton ventured to make a proposition,- , the audacity of which fairly took his host's breath away. ' I've been abroad so long,' he said, ,' that 1 have quite lost sight of every one.. Tomorrow, however, I am going to attend a meeting of my lodge ; fortunately Freemasons never forget old friends. Eh, Mr Howler ?' The reverend gentleman smilingly assented. ' I've often wondered,' continued the undaunted Newton, ' why our friend here is not a Mason. Just the thing for him.'. 'Me a Mason?' asked Jones, feebly. ' Why not ? It's a capital thing. Every one ought to be a Mason now-a-days. One never can tell how useful it may be. I assure you, Mrs Joues, when I was in. China, I owed my life on two separate occasions to Freemasonry.' 'Goodness me!' said the lady, much interested, ' do tell me all aboufc it.' And Mr Newton unfolded a weird and awful tale to his hostess, while Jones and the Rev. Nicodemus dranli as much port as they could manage to swallow- during the narrative. ' It is certainly most useful,' said Mr Howler, who had reasons of his own for making up to his host. ' And the expense is very trifling, v chimed iv Newton, ' while one meets such charming people. The Prince of. Wales is a Mason — and, in fact, so is everyone "worth knowing.'" 'We really must think it over, Samuel,' said Mrs Jones, who was in a strangely tractable frame of mind, 'and now let us go upstairs and have some music' 'What are you driving at?' whispered Jones, as he followed Newton from the dining-room.- But that worthy only winked portentously, and Jones was content, for he knew he was* safe in his friend's hands. How Tom Newton and Mr Howler managed to secure his wife's consent Samuel could never exactly discover, but in a very few weeks' time he was duly elected a member of the Lucifer Lodge, No. 0201, and a date was fixed for his initiation into the mysteries of the craft. < Hope you don't feel nervous, old chap,' said Newton to Jones, on the afternoon of the fatal day, 'it doesivt hurt much.' At that moment Arabella appeared : ' I don't see why these ceremonies of yours should not be held at a sensible hour of the day, instead of in the evening,' she remarked, as if regretting her compliance. ' Darkness is absolutely essential for some of the rites,' said Newton, solemnly, ' and they take some time, which, of course, men are unable to spare in the daytime.' 'And you cannot be home to dinner. Samuel?' inquired his wife. ' I fear not, my dear,' he faltered, ' but I'll not be late.' So Jones departed under his friend's wingto the meeting-place of the lodge. He duly underwent the ordeal of initiation, and, in an hour or so, was enrolled as an apprentice of the mystic craft. '•We won't stay for dinner, Sam, '.whispered Newton in his ear ; ' it's mighty dull. I've a better game on than that.' ' What are you up to now ?' asked the other, as they left the chamber of torture. . ' I feel fit for anything. By Jove, Tom, yoxi're a perfect miracle !— I — I don't know how much I owe you !' |f^ * Never mind that, but come along and I'll show you a little life.'

'I assure you, my dear Arabella,' said Samuel to the wife of. his bosom that night, 'it was a most impressive ceremony. It is indeed an honour to belong to so ancient and distinguished a body.' 4 1 think you said that the ladies are never admitted?' she inquired suspiciously. ' Certainly not. And how did you manage to pass the evening V < Mr Howler, cattie, and we had al ong and most improving talk. He is a truly pious and eloquent man. By-the-bye, he' asked me what you would subscribe towards his mission. I said £100, which we. can well afford. And now let me hear about the Freemasons.' . , 'Well, I must not betray secrets; but I suppose there is no objection to my giving you a sort of general idea.' And he proceeded to give her a very general idea indeed, which had emanated from the fertile brain of Mr Thomas Newton. .

./How often does the lodge meet?' asked Mr Jones, about a fortnight later, of Mr Newton, who had taken a furnished house in Brixton. ' Once a month.' 'Shell never let me out as .often as that, sighed the Benedict. ' Well, I wouldn't pitch it too stro no . at first, if I were you,' replied his co un^ sellor. IWe can always have an extraordinary meeting if we have anything particularly good on.' And then Mr Newton talked ecclesiastical

millinery to Mrs Joues for at least half-an-hour, and left her more convinced than ever of his many admirable qualities. There was evidently something about Freemasonry which suited Mr Jones' constitution remarkably well. After every meeting of the Lucifer Lodge his spirits improved visibly, he walked with ft gay and jaunty step, not with downcast eyes and lagging feet as of old ; he occasionally hummed tunes — hymn tunes, he told Arabella, whose ear for music was somewhat defective ; he grew more particular about the fit of his coats and the glossiness of his hats, and altogether seemed to take a more cheerful view of life and its burdens. Moreover, he went to church oftener than ever, repeated the responses in a louder key, and j paid more attention to the fervid eloquence of the Rev Nicodemus Howler. When that 1 reverend gentleman suggested that he ought j to contribute more largely to various funds j for the regeneration of mankiud — of which the Reverend Nicodemus Avas the treasurer — lie never grumbled as of old, but always produced a cheque with the utmost alacrity. However closely Mrs Jones watched him, she failed to detect those wandering glances which Samuel used to bestow upon attractive young ladies in his peaceful suburb, and he never asked for a third glass of port. Indeed, so obvious were the softening and elevating influences of Freemasonry upon her husband's character, that the good lady often wished that she could become a Freemason herself, iv order to participate in her husband's happiness. Sometimes, too, Newton or Jones would bring to her house high dignitaries of the order — Past Masters, Knights Templai's, Knights of St. John, members of the Rose Croix, and gentlemen entitled to Avear all sorts of wonderful and gorgeous badges, ribbons, stars, aprons, and other mystical adornments, all of which, they told her, Samuel might hope to possess in course of time. They all agre ed in the exalted views of Masonry propounded by Mr Newton, and congratulated Mrs Jones on being the wife of a man who performed his Masonic duties as conscientiously as her husband. In fact, Mrs Jones at length began to think that that downtrodden man might really have something in him after all, and that he 1 ad found his true vocation at last. . * I assure you,' protested Tom Newton, when Jones had been a Freemason about a year, ' your husband is becoming quite invaluable, and 1 must beg of you, in the interests of the Lodge, not to object to "his attending all our meetings. 1 ' Once a month ?' inquired the lady, 'Yes, ordinary meetings once a month, and there is an occasional extraordinary Lodge. I am afraid, however, that he would find these a great bore ; so I thought I would ask you to use your influence, as a personal favour, Mrs Jones,' he added, in his most seductive tones. Arabella, was completely vanquished. She agreed to all Mr Newton's requirements, and that worthy man left her house vowing that he and his brother Masons owed her a debt of gratitude they could never repay. It was Lent, and the Rev Nicodemus Howler, being- a very advanced High Churchman, conducted services, not only daily, but almost hourly, during the season of mortification. He grew quite pale and thin, and frequently called at Mrs Jones' hosi^itable villa in a lamentable state of nervous exhaustion. On these occasions nothing soemed to revive him so much as a couple of glasses of the famous port, ' which, however, he could not be induced to drink without many pressing entreaties from his anxious hostess. Lent was also a busy time for the Lucifer Lodge, and Samuel's labours were so long and so arduous that he frequently did not return from an extraordinary meeting until as late as half -past eleven, and suffered severely from nervous headache the following morning. 'It is only right, my dear,' he would say, ' that I should do what I can for others. I fear my life has been terribly idle of late years, so I must try to make up for lost time. I really had no idea that so much good could be done by Freemasons.' One Friday morning 1 Samuel announced that he had received a specially important summons to attend his Lodge that evening, and assist in the transaction of certain very urgent business. - ' But surely, my dear, you had a meeting last week,' remonstrated his wife. 'Yes it's a terrible nuisance,' he answered. '' But I'm afraid I cannot help it. I shall be able, however, to leave early ; so if I can be of any service to you — ' - ' 1 am going with Mr Howler to an evening service at some church near Regent-street, where the Bishop of Quaciinbo is going to preach ; and afterwards I thought of going to see old Mrs Howler, in Margaret-street. I wanted you to come to church ; ' but if you are too late, you . must "call for me at Mrs Howler's.' . .; ' Certainly, my dear. -I'll find out the name of tjhe church from Howler, and will either meet'you there, or in. Margaret- street after service';' Evening, came. Jones departed to his Lodge, and Arabella to church, in company with the Rev. Nicodemus. The Bishop of Quackimbo preached a most enthralling sermon and gave so harrowing a description of the trouserless and handkerchiefless state of his black flock that Mrs Jones put a sovereign in the collection-bag. Feeling much edified, and in an exceedingly pious frame of mind, she betook herself to Margaret-stre et where she had supper with Mr Howler and . his mother, and enjoyed a long and iaa- i

proving" conversation, the chief topics \ of which Avere her own manifold virtues and the lamentable wickedness of other people. But the evening wore on, and Samuel Timothy came'not. ' I declare it's nearly ten o'clock ! ' cried Arabella. ' What can have happened to Mr Jones?' ' He must have been detained,' said Mr Howler, looking rather uncomfortable. ' Well, I must be going". He's sure not to call here now. Fortunately you will be able to see me home,' she answered snappishly. 1 What did the dear Bishop mean by asking us to seek out vice even in its most loathsome haunts, and try to convince its alaandoned votaries of the error of their ways ? ' asked Mrs Jones, as they neared Begent Circus. 'My dear madam,' protested Nicodenius, ' that arduous work is for us, not for ladies of culture and refinement, such as you. Your sensitive nature would recoil in horror ' i _ ' Nonsense ! ' snapped Arabella. ' What is a haunt of viee — a theatre ?' ' Well h — m, perhaps not. A music-hall, however, might be what the Bishop meant.' 'Mr Howler, 1 said Mrs Jones with sudden determination, ' take me to a music-hall ! ' ' I beg your pardon ? ' ' I want to go to a music-hall ! ' she insisted, with alarming firmness ; ' take me to one at once. I mean to see what sort of creatures these abandoned votaries of vice are ! ' And she "looked as if she meant to make things decidedly unpleasant for any stray votaries she might happen to meet. Argu-ment-was useless, so the Eev. Nicodemufc buttoned up his great-coat to conceal his clerical collar, and. walked resignedly along Oxford street at her side. The street was crowded^ and they threaded their way quickly along the pavement, jostled by masher shop boys and gaily-dressed shop girls, boisterous medical students, and loafers of every possible description, all of whom Mrs Jones regarded with unspeakable disgust and abhorrence. Presently they arrived ot a brilliantlylighted building, where Mr Howler stopped, and made a final appeal to Mrs Jones to defer her experiment. It was fruitless, however, so they entered without more ado. The light, noise, and tobacco smoke of the place rather bewildered Mrs Jones at first, but she. gathered a confused impression of a number of people of both sexes sitting about at tables, for the most part drinking, laughing, and talking; while on the\£age a very scantily- dressed young person sang, or rather shouted, a comic song, in the chorus of which many of the spectators joined, amid much, stamping of feet and jingling of glasses. Nearly all around the room were bars, at which various small knots of people were engaged in ■ imbibing all kinds of liquors. ' What a terrible x>lace ! ' gasped Arabella. But the Key. Nicodenius heard her not, for his attention was fixed on one of the aforesaid groups, then, suddenly giving a sort of shudder, he averted his eyes,, as if he had been unexpectedly subjected to a cold douche. 'Yes, as you were saying,' he stammered, *we had better go ; this is not a place I should care to be recognised in, and — ' But arrested the same fatal impulse, Arabella turned towards the group which so affected Mr Howler, and her eyes dilated with, horror and amazement." There she saw her husband in company with Mr Newton and two stylishly-dressed young ladies, to whom they were talking with great animation. ■ The magnetism of her gaze must have had some secret influence upon Samuel Timothy, for j hardly had it been fixed on him a minute I before he turned, as if startled, and confronted his indignant spouse. Newton, too, 1 saw her almost at the same moment, and, before Mr Jones could open his mouth, he stepped briskly forward and extended his hand in cordial greeting. 'My dear Mrs Jones,' he cried, ' this is really aii unexpected and fortunate meeting,! i I have for a long time been urging my friend here to ask for your assistance in the good j work he has been engaged upon, but he always refused, wishing, no doubt, to be able first to show some result of his labours. 1 ' (rood work ?' interrogated Arabella. ' Precisely my dear madam. The Lucifer Lodge has deputed us during this season of mortification to search out those who have i strayed among haunts of vice such as this, and to convince them of their errors. 1 ' Almost the words of the Bishop ! ' cried Mrs Jones. 'Mr Howler will, no doubt, inforrn^yon that this is one of the chief aims of /Freemasonry,' added Newton. 'It is even so,' answered Nicodemus, in a voice somewhat broken from emotion. 'This very evening,' continued Newton, I 'we have been enabled to convince these two young ladies of the danger and folly of frequenting such places as these.' | The girls smiled their assent; and Mrs j Jones, convinced of the infinite virtue of Freemasonry, hesitated no longer. 'My own noble Samuel !' she whispered, pressing his hand, 'in future we will carry on the good work together !'

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