Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION. 109
He went forth, and dined in the Criterion : a dinner
in consonance, not so much with his purse, as with the
admirable wine he had discussed. ^Yhat with one thing
and another, it was long past midnight when he returned
home. A cab was at the door ; and entering the hal),
Somerset found himself face to face with one of the most
regular of the few who visited Mr. Jones : a man of
powerful figure, strong lineaments, and a chin-beard in
the American fashion. This person was carrying on one
shoulder a black portmanteau, seemingly of considerable
weio^ht. That he should find a visitor removinof basfffaefe
in the dead of night, recalled some odd stories to the
young man's memory ; he had heard of lodgers who thus
gradually drained away, not only their own effects, but
the very furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered
them ; and now, in a mood between pleasantry and sus-
picion, and aping the manner of a drunkard, he roughly
bumped against the man with the chin-beard and knocked
the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor. With
a face struck suddenly as white as paper, the man with
the chin-beard called lamentably on the name of his
maker, and fell in a mere heap on the mat at the foot of
the stairs. At the same time, though only for a single
instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish nurse
popped out like rabbits over the banisters of the first
floor ; and on both the same scare and pallor were
apparent.
The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset
to stone, and he continued speechless, while the man
gathered himself together, and, with the help of the
handrail and audibly thanking God, scrambled once
more upon his feet.
' What in Heaven's name ails you ?' gasped the young
man as soon as he could find words and utterance. ^
' Have you a drop of brandy 1 ' returned the other.
' I am sick.'
Somerset administered two drams, one after the other,
to the man with the chin-beard ; who then, somewhat
restored, began to confound himself in apologies for what
he called his miserable nervousness, the result, he said,