June 10, 2025 • 17 mins
Dive into the mystery of missing diamonds, an untouched safe, two blood-streaked thumb prints, and the enigmatic Mr X. As these elements converge, the brilliant Dr. Thorndyke steps onto the scene. Will he crack the case? The Red Thumb Mark marks the thrilling debut of Freeman’s popular Thorndyke series. (Summary by Diana Majlinger)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twelve of The Red Thumb Mark. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Marianne The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman,
Chapter twelve. It might have been. It was now only
(00:21):
a week from the date on which the trial was
to open. In eight days, the mystery would almost certainly
be solved if it was capable of solution, for the
trial promised to be quite a short one, and then
Reuben Hornby would either be a convicted felon or a
freeman clear of the stigma of the crime. For several
days past, Thorndyke had been in almost constant possession of
(00:44):
the laboratory, while his own small room, devoted ordinarily to
bacteriology and microscopical work, was kept continually locked, a state
of things that reduced Polton to a condition of the
most extreme nervous irritation, especially when, as he told me indignantly,
he met mister Anstey emerging from the Holy of Holies,
(01:04):
grinning and rubbing his hands and giving utterance to genial
but unparliamentary expressions of amused satisfaction. I had met Anstey
on several occasions lately, and each time liked him better
than the last, for his whimsical, facetious manner covered in
nature as it often does, that was serious and thoughtful,
and I found him not only a man of considerable learning,
(01:28):
but when also of a lofty standard of conduct. His
admiration for Thorndyke was unbounded, and I could see that
the two men collaborated with the utmost sympathy and mutual satisfaction.
But although I regarded mister Annsty with feelings of the
liveliest friendship, I was far from gratified when, on the
morning of which I am writing, I observed him from
(01:49):
our sitting room window, crossing the graveled space from Crown
Office Row, and evidently bearing down on our chambers. For
the fact is that I was awaiting the arrival of Juliet,
and should greatly have preferred to be alone at the moment,
seeing that Thorndyke had already gone out. It is true
that my fare in Slaver was not due for nearly
half an hour, but then who could say how long
(02:11):
Anstey would stay, or what embarrassments might arise from my
efforts to escape, by all of which it may be
perceived that my disease had reached a very advanced stage,
and that I was unequal to those tactics of concealment
that are commonly attributed to the ostrich. A sharp rap
of the knocker announced the arrival of the disturber of
(02:31):
my peace. And when I opened the door, Anstey walked
in with the air of a man to whom an
hour more or less is of no consequence whatsoever. He
shook my hand with mock solemnity, and, seating himself upon
the edge of the table, proceeded to roll a cigarette
with exasperating deliberation. I infer said he that our learned
(02:52):
brother is practicing parlor magic upstairs, or peradventure, he has
gone on a journey. He has a consultation this morning,
I answered, Was he expecting you? Evidently not, or he
would have been here now. I just looked in to
ask a question about the case of your friend Hornby.
You know it comes on for trial next week. Yes,
(03:13):
Thorndyke told me, what do you think of Hornby's prospects?
Is he going to be convicted or will he get
an acquittal. He will be entirely passive, replied Anstey. But
we here, he slapped his chest impressively, are going to
secure an acquittal. You will be highly entertained, my learned friend,
and mister the enemy will be excessively surprised. He inspected
(03:36):
the newly made cigarette with a critical air and chuckled softly.
You seem pretty confident, I remarked, I am, he answered,
though Thorndyke considers failure possible, which, of course it is,
if the jury box should chance to be filled with
microsophalic idiots and the judge should prove incapable of understanding
simple technical evidence. But we hope that neither of these
(03:57):
things will happen, and if they do not, we feel
pretty safe. By the way, I hope I am not
divulging your principal secrets. Well, I replied, with a smile.
You have been more explicit than Thorndyke ever has, have I,
he exclaimed with mock anxiety. Then I must swear you
to secrecy. Thorndyke is so very close, and he is
quite right too. I never cease admiring his tactics of
(04:19):
allowing the enemy to fortify and barricade the entrance that
he does not mean to attack. But I see you
are wishing me at the devil. So give me a
cigar and I will go, though not to that particular destination.
Will you have one of Thorndyke's special brand, I asked, malignantly,
what those foul trichina poleys not? While brown papers to
(04:41):
be obtained at every stationer's, I'd sooner smoke my own wig.
I tendered my own case, from which he selected a
cigar with anxious care and much sniffing. Then he bade
me a ceremonious adieu and departed down the stairs, blithely
humming a melody from the latest comic opera. He had
not left more than five minutes when a soft and
elaborate rat tat from the little brass knocker brought my
(05:04):
heart into my mouth. I ran to the door and
flung it open, revealing Juliet standing on the threshold. May
I come in, she asked, I want to have a
few words with you before we start. I looked at
her with some anxiety, for she was manifestly agitated, and
the hand that she held out to me trembled. I'm
greatly upset, Doctor Jervis, she said, ignoring the chair that
(05:26):
I had placed for her. Mister Lawley has been giving
us his views of poor Reuben's case, and his attitude
fills me with dismay. Hang, mister Lawley, I muttered, and
then apologized hastily. What made you go to him, Miss Gibson.
I didn't go to him. He came to us. He
dined with us last night, he and Walter, and his
(05:47):
manner was gloomy in the extreme. After dinner, Walter took
him apart with me and asked him what he really
thought of the case. He was most pessimistic. My dear sir,
he said. The only advice I can give you is
that you prepare yourself to contemplate disaster as philosophically as
you can. In my opinion, your cousin is almost certainly
to be convicted. But said Walter, what about his defense?
(06:10):
I understood that there was at least a plausible case.
Mister Lawley shrugged his shoulders. I have a sort of
alibi that will go for nothing. But I have no
evidence to offer an answer to that of the prosecution,
and no case. And I may say, speaking in confidence,
that I do not believe there is any case. I
do not see how there can be any case. And
(06:30):
I have heard nothing from doctor Thorndyke to lead me
to suppose that he has really done anything in the matter.
Is this true, doctor Jervis, Oh, do tell me the
real truth about it. I have been so miserable and
terrified since I heard this, and I was so full
of hope before. Tell me, is it true? Will Reuben
be sent to prison? After all? In her agitation, she
(06:52):
laid her hands upon my arm and looked up into
my face, with her gray eyes swimming with tears, and
was so piteous, so trustful, and withal so bewitching, that
my reserve melted like snow before a July sun. It
is not true, I answered, taking her hands in mine
and speaking perforce in a low tone, that I might
not betray my emotion. If it were, it would mean
(07:14):
that I have wilfully deceived you, that I have been
false to our friendship, and how much that friendship has
been to me. No one but myself will ever know.
She crept a little closer to me with a manner
at once penitent and wielding. You are not going to
be angry with me, are you. It was foolish of
me to listen to mister Lawley, after all you have
told me, and it did look like a want of
(07:36):
trust in you, I know. But you, who are so
strong and wise, must make allowance for a woman who
is neither. It is all so terrible that I am
quite unstrong. But say you are not really displeased with me,
for that would hurt me most of all. Oh Delilah,
That concluding stroke of the shears severed the very last
lock and left me morally speaking as bald as a
(07:59):
billiard ball. Henceforth, I was at her mercy and would
have divulged without a scruple the uttermost secrets of my principle.
But that that astute gentleman had placed me beyond the
reach of temptation. As to being angry with you, I answered,
I am not like Thorndyke one to essay the impossible,
and if I could be angry, it would hurt me
(08:19):
more than it would you. But in fact you are
not to blame at all, and I am an egotistical brute.
Of course, you were alarmed and distressed. Nothing could be
more natural. So now let me try to chase away
your fears and restore your confidence. I have told you
what Thorndyke said to Reuben, that he has good hopes
of making his innocence clear to everybody. That alone should
(08:41):
have been enough. I know it should, murmured Juliet remorsefully.
Please forgive me for my want of faith. But I continued,
I can quote you the words of one to whose
opinions you will attach more weight. Mister Anstey was here
less than a half hour ago. Do you mean Reuben's counsel. Yes?
(09:01):
And what did he say? Oh? Do tell me what
he said? He said, in brief that he was quite
confident of obtaining an acquittal, and that the prosecution would
receive a great surprise. He seemed highly pleased with his brief,
and spoke with great admiration of Thorndyke. Did he really
say that that he was confident of an acquittal? Her
voice was breathless and unsteady, and she was clearly, as
(09:24):
she had said, quite unstrung. What a relief it is,
she murmured incoherently, and so very very kind of you.
She wiped her eyes and laughed a queer, shaky little laugh.
Then quite suddenly she burst into a passion of sobbing.
Hardly conscious of what I did, I drew her gently
towards me and rested her head on my shoulder, whilst
(09:45):
I whispered into her ear. I know not what words
of consolation, but I am sure that I called her
dear Juliet, and probably used other expressions equally improper and reprehensible. Presently,
she recovered herself, and, having dried her eyes, regarded me
somewhat shamefacedly, blushing hotly, but smiling very sweetly. Nevertheless, I
(10:05):
am ashamed of myself, she said, coming here and weeping
on your bosom like a great baby. It is to
be hoped that your other clients do not behave in
this way. Whereat we both laughed heartily, and our emotional
equilibrium being thus restored, we began to think of the
object of our meeting. I am afraid I have wasted
a great deal of time, said Juliet, looking at her watch.
(10:28):
Shall we be too late, do you think? I hope not,
I replied, for Reuben will be looking for us. But
we must hurry. I caught up my hat and we
went forth closing the oak behind us, and took our
way up King's bench, walk in silence, but with a
new and delightful sense of intimate comradeship. I glanced from
time to time at my companion and noted that her
(10:51):
cheek still bore a rosy flush, and when she looked
at me, there was a sparkle in her eye and
a smiling softness in her glance that stirred my heart,
until I trembled with the intensity of the passion that
I must needs conceal. And even while I was feeling
that I must tell her all and have done with it,
tell her that I was her abject slave, and she
my goddess, my queen, that in the face of such
(11:13):
a love as mine, no man could have any claim
upon her. Even then there rose the still small voice
that began to call me an unfaithful steward, and to
remind me of a duty and trust that were sacred
even beyond love. In Fleet Street, I hailed a cab,
and as I took my seat beside my fair companion,
the voice began to wax and speak in bolder and
(11:34):
sterner accents. Christopher Jervis, it said, what is this that
you are doing. Are you a man of honor or
not but a mean, pitiful black guard? You the trusted
agent of this poor, misused gentleman. Are you not planning
in your black heart how you shall rob him of
that which, if he is a man at all, must
(11:55):
be more to him than his liberty or even his honor.
Shame on you, for am miserable weakling. Have done with
these philanderings, and keep your covenants like a gentleman, or
at least an honest man. At this point in my meditations,
Juliet turned towards me with a coaxing smile. My legal
adviser seems to be revolving some deep and weighty matter,
(12:17):
she said. I pulled myself together and looked at her,
and her sparkling eyes and rosy dimpling cheeks, so winsome
and lovely and lovable. Come. I thought, I must put
an end to this at once, or I am lost.
But it cost me a very agony of effort to
do it, which agony I trust may be duly set
to my account by those who may sit in judgment
(12:38):
on me, your legal adviser, Miss Gibson, I said, And
at that, Miss Gibson, I thought. She looked at me
a little queerly has been reflecting that he has acted
considerably beyond his jurisdiction in what respect she asked in
passing on to you information which was given to him
in very strict confidence, and in fact with an implied
(13:00):
promise of secrecy on his part. But the information was
not of a very secret character, was it more so
than it appeared? You see, Thorndyke thinks it so important
not to let the prosecution suspect that he has anything
up his sleeve, that he has kept even mister Lawley
in the dark, and has never said as much to
me as Annsty did this morning. Now you are sorry
(13:23):
you told me You think I have led you into
a breach of trust? Is it not? So? She spoke
without a trace of petulance, and her tone of dignified
self accusation made me a veritable worm. My dear miss Gibson,
I expostulated, you entirely misunderstand me. I am not in
the least sorry that I told you. How could I
have done otherwise under the circumstances. But I want you
(13:46):
to understand that I have taken the responsibility of communicating
to you what is really a professional secret, and that
you are to consider it as such. That is how
I understood it, replied Juliet, and you may rely upon
me not to utter a syllable on the subject to
any one. I thanked her for this promise, and then,
by way of making conversation, gave her an account in
(14:07):
detail of Anstey's visit, not even omitting the incident of
the cigar. And our doctor Thorndyke's cigar so extraordinarily bad,
She asked, not at all, I replied, Only they are
not to every man's taste. The trichino polly chee root
is Thorndyke's one dissipation, and I must say he takes
it very temperately. Under ordinary circumstances he smokes a pipe,
(14:31):
But after a specially heavy day's work, or on any
occasion of festivity or rejoicing, he indulges in a tried
Chino polly, and he smokes the very best that can
be got. So even the greatest men have their weaknesses,
Juliet moralized, But I wish I had known doctor Thorndyke's sooner,
for mister Hornby had a large box of trichinopoly chee
roots given to him, and I believe they were exceptionally
(14:54):
fine ones. However, he tried one and didn't like it,
so he transferred the whole consignment to Walter, who smokes
all sorts and conditions of cigars. So we talked on
from one commonplace to another, and each more conventional than
the last. In my nervousness, I overdid my part, and,
having broken the eyes, proceeded to smash it to impalpable fragments.
(15:14):
Endeavoring merely to be unemotional and to avoid undue intimacy
of manner, I swung to the opposite extreme and became
almost stiff, and perhaps the more so since I was
writhing with the agony of repression. Meanwhile, a corresponding change
took place in my companion. At first her manner seemed
doubtful and bewildered. Then she too grew more distant and polite,
(15:35):
and less disposed for conversation. Perhaps her conscience began to
rebuke her, or it may be that my coolness suggested
to her that her conduct had been not quite of
the kind that would have commended itself to Reuben. But
however that may have been, we continued to draw farther
and farther apart, and in that short half hour we
retraced the steps of our growing friendship to such purpose
(15:56):
that when we descended from the cab at the prison gate,
we seemed more like strangers than on the first day
that we met. It was a miserable ending to all
our delightful comradeship. And yet what other end could one
expect in this world of cross purposes and things that
might have been In the extremity of my wretchedness, I
could have wept on the bosom of the portly warder
(16:16):
who opened the wicket, even as Juliet had wept upon mine.
And it was almost a relief to me when our
brief visit was over to find that we should not
return together to King's Cross, as was our wont but
that Juliet would go back by omnibus, that she might
do some shopping in Oxford Street, leaving me to walk
home alone. I saw her to the omnibus and stood
(16:37):
on the pavement, looking wistfully at the lumbering vehicle as
it dwindled in the distance. At last, with a sigh
of deepest despondency, I turned my face homeward, and, walking
like one in a dream, retraced the route over which
I had journeyed so often of late, and with such
different sensations. End of Chapter twelve.
Chapter twelve of The Red Thumb Mark. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Marianne The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman,
Chapter twelve. It might have been. It was now only
(00:21):
a week from the date on which the trial was
to open. In eight days, the mystery would almost certainly
be solved if it was capable of solution, for the
trial promised to be quite a short one, and then
Reuben Hornby would either be a convicted felon or a
freeman clear of the stigma of the crime. For several
days past, Thorndyke had been in almost constant possession of
(00:44):
the laboratory, while his own small room, devoted ordinarily to
bacteriology and microscopical work, was kept continually locked, a state
of things that reduced Polton to a condition of the
most extreme nervous irritation, especially when, as he told me indignantly,
he met mister Anstey emerging from the Holy of Holies,
(01:04):
grinning and rubbing his hands and giving utterance to genial
but unparliamentary expressions of amused satisfaction. I had met Anstey
on several occasions lately, and each time liked him better
than the last, for his whimsical, facetious manner covered in
nature as it often does, that was serious and thoughtful,
and I found him not only a man of considerable learning,
(01:28):
but when also of a lofty standard of conduct. His
admiration for Thorndyke was unbounded, and I could see that
the two men collaborated with the utmost sympathy and mutual satisfaction.
But although I regarded mister Annsty with feelings of the
liveliest friendship, I was far from gratified when, on the
morning of which I am writing, I observed him from
(01:49):
our sitting room window, crossing the graveled space from Crown
Office Row, and evidently bearing down on our chambers. For
the fact is that I was awaiting the arrival of Juliet,
and should greatly have preferred to be alone at the moment,
seeing that Thorndyke had already gone out. It is true
that my fare in Slaver was not due for nearly
half an hour, but then who could say how long
(02:11):
Anstey would stay, or what embarrassments might arise from my
efforts to escape, by all of which it may be
perceived that my disease had reached a very advanced stage,
and that I was unequal to those tactics of concealment
that are commonly attributed to the ostrich. A sharp rap
of the knocker announced the arrival of the disturber of
(02:31):
my peace. And when I opened the door, Anstey walked
in with the air of a man to whom an
hour more or less is of no consequence whatsoever. He
shook my hand with mock solemnity, and, seating himself upon
the edge of the table, proceeded to roll a cigarette
with exasperating deliberation. I infer said he that our learned
(02:52):
brother is practicing parlor magic upstairs, or peradventure, he has
gone on a journey. He has a consultation this morning,
I answered, Was he expecting you? Evidently not, or he
would have been here now. I just looked in to
ask a question about the case of your friend Hornby.
You know it comes on for trial next week. Yes,
(03:13):
Thorndyke told me, what do you think of Hornby's prospects?
Is he going to be convicted or will he get
an acquittal. He will be entirely passive, replied Anstey. But
we here, he slapped his chest impressively, are going to
secure an acquittal. You will be highly entertained, my learned friend,
and mister the enemy will be excessively surprised. He inspected
(03:36):
the newly made cigarette with a critical air and chuckled softly.
You seem pretty confident, I remarked, I am, he answered,
though Thorndyke considers failure possible, which, of course it is,
if the jury box should chance to be filled with
microsophalic idiots and the judge should prove incapable of understanding
simple technical evidence. But we hope that neither of these
(03:57):
things will happen, and if they do not, we feel
pretty safe. By the way, I hope I am not
divulging your principal secrets. Well, I replied, with a smile.
You have been more explicit than Thorndyke ever has, have I,
he exclaimed with mock anxiety. Then I must swear you
to secrecy. Thorndyke is so very close, and he is
quite right too. I never cease admiring his tactics of
(04:19):
allowing the enemy to fortify and barricade the entrance that
he does not mean to attack. But I see you
are wishing me at the devil. So give me a
cigar and I will go, though not to that particular destination.
Will you have one of Thorndyke's special brand, I asked, malignantly,
what those foul trichina poleys not? While brown papers to
(04:41):
be obtained at every stationer's, I'd sooner smoke my own wig.
I tendered my own case, from which he selected a
cigar with anxious care and much sniffing. Then he bade
me a ceremonious adieu and departed down the stairs, blithely
humming a melody from the latest comic opera. He had
not left more than five minutes when a soft and
elaborate rat tat from the little brass knocker brought my
(05:04):
heart into my mouth. I ran to the door and
flung it open, revealing Juliet standing on the threshold. May
I come in, she asked, I want to have a
few words with you before we start. I looked at
her with some anxiety, for she was manifestly agitated, and
the hand that she held out to me trembled. I'm
greatly upset, Doctor Jervis, she said, ignoring the chair that
(05:26):
I had placed for her. Mister Lawley has been giving
us his views of poor Reuben's case, and his attitude
fills me with dismay. Hang, mister Lawley, I muttered, and
then apologized hastily. What made you go to him, Miss Gibson.
I didn't go to him. He came to us. He
dined with us last night, he and Walter, and his
(05:47):
manner was gloomy in the extreme. After dinner, Walter took
him apart with me and asked him what he really
thought of the case. He was most pessimistic. My dear sir,
he said. The only advice I can give you is
that you prepare yourself to contemplate disaster as philosophically as
you can. In my opinion, your cousin is almost certainly
to be convicted. But said Walter, what about his defense?
(06:10):
I understood that there was at least a plausible case.
Mister Lawley shrugged his shoulders. I have a sort of
alibi that will go for nothing. But I have no
evidence to offer an answer to that of the prosecution,
and no case. And I may say, speaking in confidence,
that I do not believe there is any case. I
do not see how there can be any case. And
(06:30):
I have heard nothing from doctor Thorndyke to lead me
to suppose that he has really done anything in the matter.
Is this true, doctor Jervis, Oh, do tell me the
real truth about it. I have been so miserable and
terrified since I heard this, and I was so full
of hope before. Tell me, is it true? Will Reuben
be sent to prison? After all? In her agitation, she
(06:52):
laid her hands upon my arm and looked up into
my face, with her gray eyes swimming with tears, and
was so piteous, so trustful, and withal so bewitching, that
my reserve melted like snow before a July sun. It
is not true, I answered, taking her hands in mine
and speaking perforce in a low tone, that I might
not betray my emotion. If it were, it would mean
(07:14):
that I have wilfully deceived you, that I have been
false to our friendship, and how much that friendship has
been to me. No one but myself will ever know.
She crept a little closer to me with a manner
at once penitent and wielding. You are not going to
be angry with me, are you. It was foolish of
me to listen to mister Lawley, after all you have
told me, and it did look like a want of
(07:36):
trust in you, I know. But you, who are so
strong and wise, must make allowance for a woman who
is neither. It is all so terrible that I am
quite unstrong. But say you are not really displeased with me,
for that would hurt me most of all. Oh Delilah,
That concluding stroke of the shears severed the very last
lock and left me morally speaking as bald as a
(07:59):
billiard ball. Henceforth, I was at her mercy and would
have divulged without a scruple the uttermost secrets of my principle.
But that that astute gentleman had placed me beyond the
reach of temptation. As to being angry with you, I answered,
I am not like Thorndyke one to essay the impossible,
and if I could be angry, it would hurt me
(08:19):
more than it would you. But in fact you are
not to blame at all, and I am an egotistical brute.
Of course, you were alarmed and distressed. Nothing could be
more natural. So now let me try to chase away
your fears and restore your confidence. I have told you
what Thorndyke said to Reuben, that he has good hopes
of making his innocence clear to everybody. That alone should
(08:41):
have been enough. I know it should, murmured Juliet remorsefully.
Please forgive me for my want of faith. But I continued,
I can quote you the words of one to whose
opinions you will attach more weight. Mister Anstey was here
less than a half hour ago. Do you mean Reuben's counsel. Yes?
(09:01):
And what did he say? Oh? Do tell me what
he said? He said, in brief that he was quite
confident of obtaining an acquittal, and that the prosecution would
receive a great surprise. He seemed highly pleased with his brief,
and spoke with great admiration of Thorndyke. Did he really
say that that he was confident of an acquittal? Her
voice was breathless and unsteady, and she was clearly, as
(09:24):
she had said, quite unstrung. What a relief it is,
she murmured incoherently, and so very very kind of you.
She wiped her eyes and laughed a queer, shaky little laugh.
Then quite suddenly she burst into a passion of sobbing.
Hardly conscious of what I did, I drew her gently
towards me and rested her head on my shoulder, whilst
(09:45):
I whispered into her ear. I know not what words
of consolation, but I am sure that I called her
dear Juliet, and probably used other expressions equally improper and reprehensible. Presently,
she recovered herself, and, having dried her eyes, regarded me
somewhat shamefacedly, blushing hotly, but smiling very sweetly. Nevertheless, I
(10:05):
am ashamed of myself, she said, coming here and weeping
on your bosom like a great baby. It is to
be hoped that your other clients do not behave in
this way. Whereat we both laughed heartily, and our emotional
equilibrium being thus restored, we began to think of the
object of our meeting. I am afraid I have wasted
a great deal of time, said Juliet, looking at her watch.
(10:28):
Shall we be too late, do you think? I hope not,
I replied, for Reuben will be looking for us. But
we must hurry. I caught up my hat and we
went forth closing the oak behind us, and took our
way up King's bench, walk in silence, but with a
new and delightful sense of intimate comradeship. I glanced from
time to time at my companion and noted that her
(10:51):
cheek still bore a rosy flush, and when she looked
at me, there was a sparkle in her eye and
a smiling softness in her glance that stirred my heart,
until I trembled with the intensity of the passion that
I must needs conceal. And even while I was feeling
that I must tell her all and have done with it,
tell her that I was her abject slave, and she
my goddess, my queen, that in the face of such
(11:13):
a love as mine, no man could have any claim
upon her. Even then there rose the still small voice
that began to call me an unfaithful steward, and to
remind me of a duty and trust that were sacred
even beyond love. In Fleet Street, I hailed a cab,
and as I took my seat beside my fair companion,
the voice began to wax and speak in bolder and
(11:34):
sterner accents. Christopher Jervis, it said, what is this that
you are doing. Are you a man of honor or
not but a mean, pitiful black guard? You the trusted
agent of this poor, misused gentleman. Are you not planning
in your black heart how you shall rob him of
that which, if he is a man at all, must
(11:55):
be more to him than his liberty or even his honor.
Shame on you, for am miserable weakling. Have done with
these philanderings, and keep your covenants like a gentleman, or
at least an honest man. At this point in my meditations,
Juliet turned towards me with a coaxing smile. My legal
adviser seems to be revolving some deep and weighty matter,
(12:17):
she said. I pulled myself together and looked at her,
and her sparkling eyes and rosy dimpling cheeks, so winsome
and lovely and lovable. Come. I thought, I must put
an end to this at once, or I am lost.
But it cost me a very agony of effort to
do it, which agony I trust may be duly set
to my account by those who may sit in judgment
(12:38):
on me, your legal adviser, Miss Gibson, I said, And
at that, Miss Gibson, I thought. She looked at me
a little queerly has been reflecting that he has acted
considerably beyond his jurisdiction in what respect she asked in
passing on to you information which was given to him
in very strict confidence, and in fact with an implied
(13:00):
promise of secrecy on his part. But the information was
not of a very secret character, was it more so
than it appeared? You see, Thorndyke thinks it so important
not to let the prosecution suspect that he has anything
up his sleeve, that he has kept even mister Lawley
in the dark, and has never said as much to
me as Annsty did this morning. Now you are sorry
(13:23):
you told me You think I have led you into
a breach of trust? Is it not? So? She spoke
without a trace of petulance, and her tone of dignified
self accusation made me a veritable worm. My dear miss Gibson,
I expostulated, you entirely misunderstand me. I am not in
the least sorry that I told you. How could I
have done otherwise under the circumstances. But I want you
(13:46):
to understand that I have taken the responsibility of communicating
to you what is really a professional secret, and that
you are to consider it as such. That is how
I understood it, replied Juliet, and you may rely upon
me not to utter a syllable on the subject to
any one. I thanked her for this promise, and then,
by way of making conversation, gave her an account in
(14:07):
detail of Anstey's visit, not even omitting the incident of
the cigar. And our doctor Thorndyke's cigar so extraordinarily bad,
She asked, not at all, I replied, Only they are
not to every man's taste. The trichino polly chee root
is Thorndyke's one dissipation, and I must say he takes
it very temperately. Under ordinary circumstances he smokes a pipe,
(14:31):
But after a specially heavy day's work, or on any
occasion of festivity or rejoicing, he indulges in a tried
Chino polly, and he smokes the very best that can
be got. So even the greatest men have their weaknesses,
Juliet moralized, But I wish I had known doctor Thorndyke's sooner,
for mister Hornby had a large box of trichinopoly chee
roots given to him, and I believe they were exceptionally
(14:54):
fine ones. However, he tried one and didn't like it,
so he transferred the whole consignment to Walter, who smokes
all sorts and conditions of cigars. So we talked on
from one commonplace to another, and each more conventional than
the last. In my nervousness, I overdid my part, and,
having broken the eyes, proceeded to smash it to impalpable fragments.
(15:14):
Endeavoring merely to be unemotional and to avoid undue intimacy
of manner, I swung to the opposite extreme and became
almost stiff, and perhaps the more so since I was
writhing with the agony of repression. Meanwhile, a corresponding change
took place in my companion. At first her manner seemed
doubtful and bewildered. Then she too grew more distant and polite,
(15:35):
and less disposed for conversation. Perhaps her conscience began to
rebuke her, or it may be that my coolness suggested
to her that her conduct had been not quite of
the kind that would have commended itself to Reuben. But
however that may have been, we continued to draw farther
and farther apart, and in that short half hour we
retraced the steps of our growing friendship to such purpose
(15:56):
that when we descended from the cab at the prison gate,
we seemed more like strangers than on the first day
that we met. It was a miserable ending to all
our delightful comradeship. And yet what other end could one
expect in this world of cross purposes and things that
might have been In the extremity of my wretchedness, I
could have wept on the bosom of the portly warder
(16:16):
who opened the wicket, even as Juliet had wept upon mine.
And it was almost a relief to me when our
brief visit was over to find that we should not
return together to King's Cross, as was our wont but
that Juliet would go back by omnibus, that she might
do some shopping in Oxford Street, leaving me to walk
home alone. I saw her to the omnibus and stood
(16:37):
on the pavement, looking wistfully at the lumbering vehicle as
it dwindled in the distance. At last, with a sigh
of deepest despondency, I turned my face homeward, and, walking
like one in a dream, retraced the route over which
I had journeyed so often of late, and with such
different sensations. End of Chapter twelve.
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