Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

ZEROS TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE UOMU. 123
case is but a tiea-bite to that of him >vho should be linked,
like poor M'Guire, to an explosive bomb.
A thought struck him in Green Street, like a dart
through his liver : suppose it were the hour already. He
stopped as though he had been shot, and plucked his
watch out. There was a howling in his ears, as loud as a
winter tempest ; his sight was now obscured as if by a
cloud, now, as by a lightning flash, would show him the
very dust upon the street. But so brief were these inter-
vals of ^'ision, and so violently did the watch vibrate in
his hands, that it was impossible to distinguish the numbers
on the dial. He covered his eyes for a few seconds ; and
in that space, it seemed to him that he had fallen to be a
man of ninety. When he looked again, the watch-plate
had grown legible : he had twenty minutes. Twenty
minutes, and no plan !
Green Street, at that time, was very empty ; and he
now observed a little girl of about six drawing near to
him and, as she came, kicking in front of her, as children
will, a piece of wood. She sang, too ; and something in
her accent recalling him to the past, produced a sudden
clearness in liis mind. Here was a God-sent oppor-
tunity !
' My dear,' said he, ' would you like a present of a
pretty bag ? '
The child cried aloud with joy and put out her hands
to take it. She had looked first at the bag, like a true
child ; but most unfortunately, before she had yet re-
ceived the fatal gift, her eyes fell directly on M'Guire ;
and no sooner had she seen the poor gentleman's face,
than she screamed out and leaped backward, as though
she had seen the devil. Almost at the same moment, a
woman appeared upon the threshold of a neighbouring-
shop, and called upon the child in anger. ' Come here,
colleen,' she said, ' and don't be plaguing the poor old
gentleman ! ' With that she re-entered the house, and the
child followed her, sobbing aloud.
With the loss of this hope M'Guire 's reason swooned
within him. When next he aw^oke to consciousness, he
was standing before St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, wavering