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'— \ GRUESOME TALE;

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'— GRUESOME TALE; BY RICHARD DOWLING. itithor of A Baffling Quest," "The Mystery of Kiilard," The Crimson Chair," &c. Glastonbnry-street lies in that dull, depressing ^gi(in between Westminster Bridge-road and It is a poor street, but not poverty Itriken. At either end are a few struggling shops, Witch will neviT struggle into prosperity. Here *il-men sell Jug.ir, and milliners take weekly pay- ments, and confectioners keep toys, and green- roceis store coal in their parlours 'for sale. But is only at the two ends that business establish- ments are to be found. The great majority of houses have hall doors with knockers, and «iamo.l areas protected by rusty and dilapidated •filings. The street is reputable, and considered highly ^spectable bj those who live in it. Stolid Managers of third-class businesses, who married /oting and have largo families, dwell here and let fcdp-ings to innumerable clerks and assistant £ *anagers of third-rate businesses. The lodgers jipok neat and now and then even smart, not to l^ydressy and the householders wear frock-coats, ;*nich never seem either quite new or painfully Shabby. Although it is not considered quite correct for "Usewives to leave their front doors open while i?Xehanging visits "in their hair," a good deal of informal social intercourse takes place between Adies in the daytime. Each lady knows the affairs of ten or a rioz -n houses up and down on "lther hand and of a couple of dozen opposite. Of three hundred houses in the street, every fty form a section, and although no feeling of delusiveness prevails, the sphere of interest does 1. 4)t extend throughout the whule fltreet. The inhabitants are divided into communities by the Greets of intersection, and confine their active Jyin pat-hies to the dwellers in their own blocks. *l';e cross streets are of inferior social standing And do ]lot count it all. It will be seen that to live in a corner house is jo be shorn of half one's right to local observation, ft>r the denizens of Giastonburv-street can no Itlore carry their interest across one of the lesser 'hoiougiifaies than a witch can take her body ^er running water. The corner honse where Croyland-street cut Flastonbury-stree,t on the south was rented by Thomas Fennell, a mild, plain-looking little man, 'he accountant in a timber wharf in Beivedere- "oad. Unlike most of the other householders, he lad married late, was quite forty when he '^signed his liberty to Susie Bowden, barmaid the Reel Lion, and accounted the prettiest girl lb "Tiie Road," as Westminster Bridge-road is We respectfully and affectionately called. When the good-looking and sprightly young tirl of twenty married the silent, plain, middle- iged accountant you may be sure there was talk. Sonne said Fennell was a fool, others held that Su>iie was the fool and all agreed that no good bould come of the match. Many thought, though Perhaps they did not say it, that the Sooner the ttlevitabJe scandal arose the better for everyone. Months went by and brought no scandal. When the Fennells were a year married, a son *nd heir arrived. After this neighbours became a disconsolate way resigned. For, they con- sidered, if poor young Mrs Fennell did not rebel *ud brtak av.ay from the dulness and dreariness 4nd loneliness of that house when she was there 411 day by herself, it was not likely she would jjecome discontented when she had a dear little »»by to love and look after all day long. The Fennell household consisted of the husband, wife, child, and servant. Although it ^as believed Fennell had saved money in bis bachelorhood, the interest on it and his salary Vould not, Mrs Grant often said to Mrs Loftus, ^arrant the people at the corner in renting so large a house, unless they had lodgers in view, feut more than another year went by and Bobbie kad a little infant sister, Alice, and Mrs Fennell >?as looking, if possible, still more lovely than kver—and yet there was no lodger. .One winter morning, when Mrs FenneH's infant laughter was just beginning to,walk, Mrs Grant, Leavmfc her front door open, rushed into Mrs ^oftus's, breathless, and in a state of wild excite- ment. At last 1" cried Mrs Grant, when she recovered "featli. It's come at last. Look!" The visitor ^oftus's, breathless, and in a state of wild excite- ment. At last 1" cried Mrs Grant, when she recovered "featli. It's come at last. Look!" The visitor {tainted with a fat hand, which shook with excite- ment, at the corner house opposite. "Has the fire and brimstone fallen on it?" Nked Mrs Loftus, with the calmness of one who view what might be expected. (Mrs Loftus took interest in nothing but prophecies concerning Ithe end of the world). "Fire and rubbish," cried Mrs Grant, with Jcorn, She was tired of her friend's Last Day. 'It's a lodger. I knew they must give up in the 'fid. Their foolish pride won't pay the lent. Mrs Loftus rose, not m the very best humour, stood in her own parlour window. Sure enough a strange man could be seen in jjennell's first floor window through the bars of balcony. The lower part of that window-door **as of wood. v "Oh, what a handsome man," cried Mrs loftus. I declare I don't think I ever saw a handsomer man. How do you know he is a °dger ? How do you know he isn't a visitor v," Well," said Mrs Grant, "for one thing the fennells never have a visitor, and for another the man told me that the milkman saw Jhree great chests and a portmanteau carried .ltlto Fennell's this morning. Besides, don't you ?ee the man is reading his newspaper, quite at ^Oine ?" ¡ What is he ?" asked Mrs Loftus. I don't know. No one I spoke to did know, d I asked a good few. Not a soul saw him go Ilto the house. He did not arrive with the lug- age that came in a van. The milkman says the odger must have slipped in overnight, for he was tttiug in the window reading when the van drove p. Think of that. Fancy the nice kind of odger a man must make, who wants to sit in his window and read at half-past seven in the morn- ing It's awful, Mrs Grant. I'm sure I don't now what lodgers are coming to but it doesn't Matter for a while. I know what we are all Coining to—we're all coming to the end of every- thing." The day before the handsome lodger came to he cj; ner house the servant left it, so that the Qeigbbi'urs had no means of learning from her Anything about the newcomer. The very day the lodger came the neighbours ere scandalised to see that lovely young crea- ture," with her infant in her arms, talking for a. Qrjg tllle to the stranger in the drawing-room Window. This was very bad. So soon, too. It as a disgrace to the street and ought to be topped, for no one could suppose it would end in Anything but discredit to the district. There was another circumstance, too. which ade the neighbours angry—it was impossible to 0 clearly what was going on in that window- Mace, owing to the balconv, a bar or the pillars of *h ch afcvays came exasperatingiy in the way._ I When a week had gone by absolutely nothing Was known of the lodger except that his name \vas James Tonson, and this only by inference from the fact that lettars for James Tonson were delivered there. It got abroad that although there was now £ }ore work for a servant in the corner house the «ennell's were going to do without one. Of course, my dear," said Mrs Loftus to Mrs Want, they don't want a servant over the road. ■A- seivant would be in the way, my dear. A ser- vant would know too much of the goings on. Do fou notice that Mrs Fennell always has her in- [*nt in her arms when she is with him, never her Robbie is able to chatter now, and might tell ?*t poor old fool Tom F> nnell something But the child or someone else ought to tell ennell. I should not wonder if fire came down ^Pon that house, and it isn't safe for properly- ^fiducted people to live so close to it." "Did you notice how free :ind easy he is with ?" said Mrs Grant. "Now, he looks a gentlo- and stiil when she comes into the room he Jays down his book or paper, and never ''•fids up. Before I'd be treated like that in my house I'd walk him downstairs by the ear "d put him into the street." "And he never goes out," said Mrs Loftus. To my certain knowledge he has never been out of the house. There he sits all day long fading or talking to her. and the banisters of the ?*lcony for ever in the way. It isn't to be "or ne." j. "One of my lodgers that's at the brewery in said Mrs Grant, "told me he /?k"d Fennell if Tonson was an invalid, and Fennell said Tonson was ouo of the strongest in London, and could tear up a pack of 2j*da all together, just like the Emperor of ^Jssia." f « And I put up one of my young men that's at YV harf to say I knew where the very servant i?r them was now that they have a lodger, and ^e,»nell said they did not mean to keep a servant, if Mr Tonson would not like one. Just think of rj?*t. It is my belief that hussy opposite made fr.0t>son say that. What could vou expect from a J' who had been a barmaid in The Road V I Vou can reasonably expect nothing—but fires lj heaven," said Mrs Loftus, with a little confu- in her reasoning. man in London spoke less of his private ft'rs in his place of business tlian Thomas ■bvjjnell. He hardly ever referred to them at the One Saturday in August he mentioned V *he clerk who had offered to get a servant for that he was going to Ramsgate to engage jgings for the holidays. (v*talf an hour later Mrs Loftua called on Mrs fcFfit and said mysteriously, Mark my words, HjJJt we have so long expected will happen to- ti," said Mrs Graafe, who was quite worn out k with prophecy, it's the Last Day, my dear, how can It happen by night ?" It's not the Last Day I'm speaking of, it's the last of that shameless hus^y. Take my word for it, she'll be off with that Tunson this very night. Keep your eves open. You will see." Mrs Loftus was piqued by the way in which her friend had spoken of the End of the World. and would j say no more. Mrs Grant resolved to watch. She guessed Mrs Loftus had got information from the Wharf. !3he took up her position in the window of her own parlour. What she saw was this :— Between three and four Fennell came tothefront door with o black bag in his hand. His wife, carrying the baby in her arms, accompanied him toseehinwff. He had crossed the threshold when he turned round and stepped back, as though he had forgotten something. Instead of fetching anything out of the house, he merely put his arm round his wife and kissed her. He bent and kissed the infant lightly, as though afraid of waking it. Then he tripped down tha steps with an unbecoming affectation of youthfulness. He turned round and kissed his hand to his wife. Shfl kissed her hand to him and made a bold gesture as though she would embrace him. He raisad his hat and hurried away. The cat's gone out," thought Mrs Grant. Now for the mice." Mrs Fennell came forward a little and kept looking after her husband, as a sentimental fool might think, wishing to see the last of hm), or as j a middle-aged woman of experience would think, to be sure ho was really gone, leaving the coast ek'ar. He did not face about again, and when he had rounded the corner Mrs Fennell went into tlle home and shut the door. Five minutes later this brazen young woman was standing in the drawing-room window, with her sleeping baby in her arms, chattering to Tonson and smiling at him and nodding at him in a way to bring a blush into the cheek of any person with a well-regulated mind. Why all the corner houses, and only the corner houses, should have balconies, no one could tell. The balcony of the opposite house was really a great trial. Shortly before five the lovely young creature opposite left the window, no doubt to get the tea. Mr Tonson took up the book he had put down on her entrance, and resumed his reading. Mrs Grant went to get her own tea, and when she came back the lodger had left the window. It was dusk before any other movement re- warded Mrs Grant's vigil. Then she saw a light goo upstaIrs; Bobby 1'ennell was being put to bed. Later the drawing-room blinds were lowered, the curtains drawn, and the lamp lit. If mi elopement was to take place to-night, there was no need of a ladder of ropes from the balcony. The husband was away, and all the shameful pair need do was to open the front door. But the woman had put her boy to bed. Was the uunatural mother going to leave her child behind to die of fright and hunger ? That would be a hanging matter for both the criminals. At dark the front door opened and a figure appeared, only one figure, that of Mrs Fennell. She earned her baby in her arms. She closed the door after her and glanced up at the front of the house. Was this the look of final leave- taking ? Streamed a small basket in the hand that snpported baby that might be borne with the object of leading simple people to suppose she was going to market. Mrs Grant now went to supper. When she came back to her post at the window after an absence of half an hour, she was sur- prised to lind the street dim with a summer mist. She could see the house opposite well enough, but some of the details were lost. For instance, the balusters of the balcony were always clearly visible by night in the light of the street lamp at thp. corner, but now they were blurred. The lamp shone on the blind of the drawing- room. The lodger might have gone out and left it burning to deceive simple folk. She had noticed that Mrs Fennell had left the lamp burning in the hall (there was no gas in the house), but someoue must have turned it up since, for the glow on the fanlight was much brighter than half an hour ago—much brighter and much more unsteady. Stop. The glass in the fanlight had cracked and fallen with a, loud crash on the doorstep. Merciful heavens The house was on Sre Fire Fire Fire Could it be this guilty woman had set the house alight, before leaving tt, to hide her flight; and shame I could it be—oh, monstrous thought! that this woman had locked up her child with death in that house ? The man must have fled while the watcher was absent from this room Mrs Grant ran shrieking into the street. At the same instant Mrs Loftus flung open her door and jostled against Mrs Grant. It's the fire and brimstone," said the latter, exultingly. It's the paraffin lamp in the hall, said the other. Who's in the house?" asked Mrs Loftus. "I was at supper." "There's only the eldest child, if Tonson is gone. She put the boy to bed and took the infant óut with her." If the lodger is out!" cried Mrs Loftus scorn- fully. Do you think they'd set fire to the house till they were both clear ? If there was a man in the place he'd show himself. I wonder she didn't leave the infant too." At that moment Mrs Loftus was seized by the arm. A voice whispered into her ear. An arm pointed to the flaming door. My child 1 My boy Mrs Loftus turned and saw a face she will never forget to her dying day—a face of frantio agony. The speaker had her infant on her arm, and her little market basket hanging from the hand on which the sleepmg infant lay. My child My little boy My husband's dariing Is he out?" The two women were silenced and silent. Won't you tell me ?" wailed the mother. Tell me he is out." She tottered as she appealed to them for tidings of mercy. "Is the lodger in the house?" asked Mrs Grant, with tears of pity in her eyes. "Yes." Then he will save your boy. He will get him out in a minute. No one can get in. The hall is inflames." Oh, my God, Mr Tonson cannot save my child. He is With maternal instinct she dropped her infant into the arms of Mrs Loftus, ill falliusr unconscious to the ground. Take the poor thing into my house," said Mrs Loftns. I said the hardest things against the sweet young creature." The scene did not occupy two minutes. Meanwhile the flames were eating through the door and rushing in huge roiling tongues outward and upward through the fanlight. A man had dashed off in wild haste for the escape and engines. Minutes must go by before the firemen could arrive. Ingress from the street was im- possible, the door being barred by flames, and there being no area stairs. The crowd stood helpless, paralysed, horror-stricken. The flames reached the window on the landing over the door. Would the fire-escaps never come ? A few more seconds and t.he child and the lodger would be dead. Oh, heavens Were those people to die while a dozen men in the little crowd throbbed to risk their lives in rescue ? Rescue How? All at once the drawing-room window was burst open. People in the crowd groaned, believing flames had penetrated that room, and had obtained possession of the whole front of the building. But no flames issued through the window no stick or stone had been seen to account for the crash, and no figure blocked the open doorway on the balcony. Stay! What was that moving in the window near the nuor ? A dog ? Bigger than a dog—and yet no taller. Bulkier than a dog—clumsier in action. A bear 1 It must be a bear, for it wa.s crawling across the low sill of the window just as a bear would crawl over a low obstruction. First one paw, and then the other, and then a dragging motion. But there was neither dog nor bear in the house; that creature was too big for a dog and too short for a bear besides, what was that large white mass in front ?—a large white mas. a bundle of soma kind ? What sort of animal could this be ? The crowd drew back in fear. The creature might at any moment fling itself over the balcony tearing and rending those near whom it fell. The creature reached the balustrade of the balcony, with the bundle now behind it, and with incredible strength and speed was moving its paws along the top of the balustrade and working its short body along towards the corner away from the fire, away towards the end of the balcony in (Jrayland-street. From the front of the balcony to the flags of the area Was twenty feet. From the end of the balcony in Oroylond-street to the footpath was only mne. creature, now flat against the railing, looked like a huge vampire bat. It was broader than long. No higher than a man's hip, with enormously strong fore paws or arms, and a head huge out of all proportion to its bulk. How hideous How terrifying How odious Merciful powers, these were the arms and head and truuk of a man Nothing more than the head and trunk and arms—nothing more—and the large bundle—a sheet with something heavy in it—s'ung on the bask of this incredible figure. So much the crowd saw as the extraordinary creature approached the street lamp at the corner of Croyland Street. When full in the light a.nd they could see the face a shout arose Hurrah It's the Lodger The bunch on the back of the lawless man plunged wildly about. Steady, Bobbie." said the voice of the figure. Steady, child, and I'll do it yet I" He's got I'Vnnell's little boy in the bundle," shouted tho crowd. Hurrah hurrah hurrah Tonson! With amazing strength of hand and arm alone the monstrous figure wriggled along the rail of the balcony. He would not endure a servant in the secret of his deformity. Ho approached the windows under cover of the curtains. To save his own life he would not have exhibited his body to a score of the gaping crowd. For love of the little child of the woman who had been kind to him he braved the eyes of hundreds instead of awaiting in secret tho death whioh would come to him as a deliverance. When he reached the end of the balcony, onfce again exercising his prodigious strength of hand and arm, he raised his body on the rails, hooked himself on by the arm, swungr his body over the non work, and, holding the sheet in one hand and the rail of the balcony in the other, lowered the child and dropped himintothe eager, outstretched hands that rose above the sea of faces, shouting acclaim. Then by a superhuman effort of his strength he drew himself up with one hand to the top rail, once more, and flung his body on the floor of tho balcony in front of the windows, through which the flames were now flowing with heavy roar. Did he mean to die after all ? A shout of horror leaped from the throats of the crowd. Was this supreme hero going to fling his life away ? Fling his life away now that he bad won fame? He drew himself up to the front of the balcony and lifted himself by his hands until his face was over the rail; then, in a voico whose fierce strength and volumo seemed to drive the flames behind him back through the window, he cried— All the tune I was in her house she never seemed to know I was deformed. I have shown myself to you to save the life of her child. I would not lift my hand to save my own life. This death,' pointing back to the flaming window, "Iilas bet-n sent for me. It is mine. Noonohasanghtto come between me and it. I will not survive the laughter of your eyes and the jeering ot your tongues." No No We do not laugh We do not jeer Come down "Bah You like spectacles. Bah! to you! Yon like to see a fire, and you like to see a monster The fi-e-escape Hurrah Tho engine We'll have him down We'll carry him shoulder high." Bah! to you. Look at the fire 1 Look your last at the monster They are one and lD. divisible." With a fierce yell of triumph he unhooked his arm from the rail, dropped on the floor of the balcony, crowded to the window he had burst open, and disappeared for ever m the smoke and flame.

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