Tales of Terror and Mystery
leaning. I had almost given the fight up and resigned myself to being
a medical drudge for life, when the turning-point of my struggles came
in a very extraordinary way.
One morning I had picked up the Standard and was glancing over its
contents. There was a complete absence of news, and I was about to
toss the paper down again, when my eyes were caught by an advertisement
at the head of the personal column. It was worded in this way:
"Wanted for one or more days the services of a medical man. It is
essential that he should be a man of strong physique, of steady nerves,
and of a resolute nature. Must be an entomologist--coleopterist
preferred. Apply, in person, at 77B, Brook Street. Application must be
made before twelve o'clock today."
Now, I have already said that I was devoted to zoology. Of all
branches of zoology, the study of insects was the most attractive to
me, and of all insects beetles were the species with which I was most
familiar. Butterfly collectors are numerous, but beetles are far more
varied, and more accessible in these islands than are butterflies. It
was this fact which had attracted my attention to them, and I had
myself made a collection which numbered some hundred varieties. As to
the other requisites of the advertisement, I knew that my nerves could
be depended upon, and I had won the weight-throwing competition at the
inter-hospital sports. Clearly, I was the very man for the vacancy.
Within five minutes of my having read the advertisement I was in a cab
and on my was to Brook Street.
As I drove, I kept turning the matter over in my head and trying to
make a guess as to what sort of employment it could be which needed
such curious qualifications. A strong physique, a resolute nature, a
medical training, and a knowledge of beetles--what connection could
there be between these various requisites? And then there was the
disheartening fact that the situation was not a permanent one, but
terminable from day to day, according to the terms of the
advertisement. The more I pondered over it the more unintelligible did
it become; but at the end of my meditations I always came back to the
ground fact that, come what might, I had nothing to lose, that I was
completely at the end of my resources, and that I was ready for any
adventure, however desperate, which would put a few honest sovereigns
into my pocket. The man fears to fail who has to pay for his failure,
but there was no penalty which Fortune could exact from me. I was like
the gambler with empty pockets, who is still allowed to try his luck
with the others.
No. 77B, Brook Street, was one of those dingy and yet imposing houses,
dun-coloured and flat-faced, with the intensely respectable and solid
air which marks the Georgian builder. As I alighted from the cab, a
young man came out of the door and walked swiftly down the street. In
passing me, I noticed that he cast an inquisitive and somewhat
malevolent glance at me, and I took the incident as a good omen, for
his appearance was that of a rejected candidate, and if he resented my
application it meant that the vacancy was not yet filled up. Full of
hope, I ascended the broad steps and rapped with the heavy knocker.
A footman in powder and livery opened the door. Clearly I was in touch
with the people of wealth and fashion.
"Yes, sir?" said the footman.
"I came in answer to----"
"Quite so, sir," said the footman. "Lord Linchmere will see you at
once in the library."
Lord Linchmere! I had vaguely heard the name, but could not for the
instant recall anything about him. Following the footman, I was shown
into a large, book-lined room in which there was seated behind a
writing-desk a small man with a pleasant, clean-shaven, mobile face,
and long hair shot with grey, brushed back from his forehead. He
looked me up and down with a very shrewd, penetrating glance, holding
the card which the footman had given him in his right hand. Then he
smiled pleasantly, and I felt that externally at any rate I possessed
the qualifications which he desired.
"You have come in answer to my advertisement, Dr. Hamilton?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Do you fulfil the conditions which are there laid down?"
"I believe that I do."
"You are a powerful man, or so I should judge from your appearance.
"I think that I am fairly strong."
"And resolute?"
"I believe so."
"Have you ever known what it was to be exposed to imminent danger?"
"No, I don't know that I ever have."
"But you think you would be prompt and cool at such a time?"
"I hope so."
"Well, I believe that you would. I have the more confidence in you
because you do not pretend to be certain as to what you would do in a
position that was new to you. My impression is that, so far as
personal qualities go, you are the very man of whom I am in search.
That being settled, we may pass on to the next point."
"Which is?"
"To talk to me about beetles."
I looked across to see if he was joking, but, on the contrary, he was
leaning eagerly forward across his desk, and there was an expression of
something like anxiety in his eyes.
"I am afraid that you do not know about beetles," he cried.
"On the contrary, sir, it is the one scientific subject about which I
feel that I really do know something."
"I am overjoyed to hear it. Please talk to me about beetles."
I talked. I do not profess to have said anything original upon the
subject, but I gave a short sketch of the characteristics of the
beetle, and ran over the more common species, with some allusions to
the specimens in my own little collection and to the article upon
"Burying Beetles" which I had contributed to the Journal of
Entomological Science.
"What! not a collector?" cried Lord Linchmere. "You don't mean that
you are yourself a collector?" His eyes danced with pleasure at the
thought.
"You are certainly the very man in London for my purpose. I thought
that among five millions of people there must be such a man, but the
difficulty is to lay one's hands upon him. I have been extraordinarily
fortunate in finding you."
He rang a gong upon the table, and the footman entered.
"Ask Lady Rossiter to have the goodness to step this way," said his
lordship, and a few moments later the lady was ushered into the room.
She was a small, middle-aged woman, very like Lord Linchmere in
appearance, with the same quick, alert features and grey-black hair.
The expression of anxiety, however, which I had observed upon his face
was very much more marked upon hers. Some great grief seemed to have
cast its shadow over her features. As Lord Linchmere presented me she
turned her face full upon me, and I was shocked to observe a
half-healed scar extending for two inches over her right eyebrow. It
was partly concealed by plaster, but none the less I could see that it
had been a serious wound and not long inflicted.
"Dr. Hamilton is the very man for our purpose, Evelyn," said Lord
Linchmere. "He is actually a collector of beetles, and he has written
articles upon the subject."
"Really!" said Lady Rossiter. "Then you must have heard of my husband.
Everyone who knows anything about beetles must have heard of Sir Thomas
Rossiter."
For the first time a thin little ray of light began to break into the
obscure business. Here, at last, was a connection between these people
and beetles. Sir Thomas Rossiter--he was the greatest authority upon
the subject in the world. He had made it his lifelong study, and had
written a most exhaustive work upon it. I hastened to assure her that
I had read and appreciated it.
"Have you met my husband?" she asked.
"No, I have not."
"But you shall," said Lord Linchmere, with decision.
The lady was standing beside the desk, and she put her hand upon his
shoulder. It was obvious to me as I saw their faces together that they
were brother and sister.
"Are you really prepared for this, Charles? It is noble of you, but
you fill me with fears." Her voice quavered with apprehension, and he
appeared to me to be equally moved, though he was making strong efforts
to conceal his agitation.
"Yes, yes, dear; it is all settled, it is all decided; in fact, there
is no other possible way, that I can see."
"There is one obvious way."
"No, no, Evelyn, I shall never abandon you--never. It will come
right--depend upon it; it will come right, and surely it looks like the
interference of Providence that so perfect an instrument should be put
into our hands."
My position was embarrassing, for I felt that for the instant they had
forgotten my presence. But Lord Linchmere came back suddenly to me and
to my engagement.
"The business for which I want you, Dr. Hamilton, is that you should
put yourself absolutely at my disposal. I wish you to come for a short
journey with me, to remain always at my side, and to promise to do
without question whatever I may ask you, however unreasonable it may
appear to you to be."
"That is a good deal to ask," said I.
"Unfortunately I cannot put it more plainly, for I do not myself know
what turn matters may take. You may be sure, however, that you will
not be asked to do anything which your conscience does not approve; and
I promise you that, when all is over, you will be proud to have been
concerned in so good a work."
"If it ends happily," said the lady.
"Exactly; if it ends happily," his lordship repeated.
"And terms?" I asked.
"Twenty pounds a day."
I was amazed at the sum, and must have showed my surprise upon my
features.
"It is a rare combination of qualities, as must have struck you when
you first read the advertisement," said Lord Linchmere; "such varied
gifts may well command a high return, and I do not conceal from you
that your duties might be arduous or even dangerous. Besides, it is
possible that one or two days may bring the matter to an end."
"Please God!" sighed his sister.
"So now, Dr. Hamilton, may I rely upon your aid?"
"Most undoubtedly," said I. "You have only to tell me what my duties
are."
"Your first duty will be to return to your home. You will pack up
whatever you may need for a short visit to the country. We start
together from Paddington Station at 3:40 this afternoon."
"Do we go far?"
"As far as Pangbourne. Meet me at the bookstall at 3:30. I shall have
the tickets. Goodbye, Dr. Hamilton! And, by the way, there are two
things which I should be very glad if you would bring with you, in case
you have them. One is your case for collecting beetles, and the other
is a stick, and the thicker and heavier the better."
You may imagine that I had plenty to think of from the time that I left
Brook Street until I set out to meet Lord Linchmere at Paddington. The
whole fantastic business kept arranging and rearranging itself in
kaleidoscopic forms inside my brain, until I had thought out a dozen
explanations, each of them more grotesquely improbable than the last.
And yet I felt that the truth must be something grotesquely improbable
also. At last I gave up all attempts at finding a solution, and
contented myself with exactly carrying out the instructions which I had
received. With a hand valise, specimen-case, and a loaded cane, I was
waiting at the Paddington bookstall when Lord Linchmere arrived. He
was an even smaller man than I had thought--frail and peaky, with a
manner which was more nervous than it had been in the morning. He wore
a long, thick travelling ulster, and I observed that he carried a heavy
blackthorn cudgel in his hand.
"I have the tickets," said he, leading the way up the platform.
"This is our train. I have engaged a carriage, for I am particularly
anxious to impress one or two things upon you while we travel down."