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The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories

H. G. Wells

"I thought I explained--" "Either you cheated or you did not cheat." "I said my motion was involuntary." "I am not a metaphysician, I am a servant of science--of fact. You were told not to move the slip. You did move the slip. If that is not cheating--" "If I was a cheat," said Hill, with the note of hysterics in his voice, "should I come here and tell you?" "Your repentance, of course, does you credit," said Professor Bindon, "but it does not alter the original facts." "No, sir," said Hill, giving in in utter self-abasement. "Even now you cause an enormous amount of trouble. The examination list will have to be revised." "I suppose so, sir." "Suppose so? Of course it must be revised. And I don't see how I can conscientiously pass you." "Not pass me?" said Hill. "Fail me?" "It's the rule in all examinations. Or where should we be? What else did you expect? You don't want to shirk the consequences of your own acts?" "I thought, perhaps----" said Hill. And then, "Fail me? I thought, as I told you, you would simply deduct the marks given for that slip." "Impossible!" said Bindon. "Besides, it would still leave you above Wedderburn. Deduct only the marks! Preposterous! The Departmental Regulations distinctly say----" "But it's my own admission, sir." "The Regulations say nothing whatever of the manner in which the matter comes to light. They simply provide----" "It will ruin me. If I fail this examination, they won't renew my scholarship." "You should have thought of that before." "But, sir, consider all my circumstances----" "I cannot consider anything. Professors in this College are machines. The Regulations will not even let us recommend our students for appointments. I am a machine, and you have worked me. I have to do----" "It's very hard, sir." "Possibly it is." "If I am to be failed this examination, I might as well go home at once." "That is as you think proper." Bindon's voice softened a little; he perceived he had been unjust, and, provided he did not contradict himself, he was disposed to amelioration. "As a private person," he said, "I think this confession of yours goes far to mitigate your offence. But you have set the machinery in motion, and now it must take its course. I--I am really sorry you gave way." A wave of emotion prevented Hill from answering. Suddenly, very vividly, he saw the heavily-lined face of the old Landport cobbler, his father. "Good God! What a fool I have been!" he said hotly and abruptly. "I hope," said Bindon, "that it will be a lesson to you." But, curiously enough, they were not thinking of quite the same indiscretion. There was a pause. "I would like a day to think, sir, and then I will let you know--about going home, I mean," said Hill, moving towards the door. * * * * * The next day Hill's place was vacant. The spectacled girl in green was, as usual, first with the news. Wedderburn and Miss Haysman were talking of a performance of _The Meistersingers_ when she came up to them. "Have you heard?" she said. "Heard what?" "There was cheating in the examination." "Cheating!" said Wedderburn, with his face suddenly hot. "How?" "That slide--" "Moved? Never!" "It was. That slide that we weren't to move--" "Nonsense!" said Wedderburn. "Why! How could they find out? Who do they say--?" "It was Mr. Hill." _Hill_!" "Mr. Hill!" "Not--surely not the immaculate Hill?" said Wedderburn, recovering. "I don't believe it," said Miss Haysman. "How do you know?" "I _didn't_," said the girl in spectacles. "But I know it now for a fact. Mr. Hill went and confessed to Professor Bindon himself." "By Jove!" said Wedderburn. "Hill of all people. But I am always inclined to distrust these philanthropists-on-principle--" "Are you quite sure?" said Miss Haysman, with a catch in her breath. "Quite. It's dreadful, isn't it? But, you know, what can you expect? His father is a cobbler." Then Miss Haysman astonished the girl in spectacles. "I don't care. I will not believe it," she said, flushing darkly under her warm-tinted skin. "I will not believe it until he has told me so himself-- face to face. I would scarcely believe it then," and abruptly she turned her back on the girl in spectacles, and walked to her own place. "It's true, all the same," said the girl in spectacles, peering and smiling at Wedderburn. But Wedderburn did not answer her. She was indeed one of those people who seemed destined to make unanswered remarks. XIX. THE CRYSTAL EGG. There was, until a year ago, a little and very grimy-looking shop near Seven Dials, over which, in weather-worn yellow lettering, the name of "C. Cave, Naturalist and Dealer in Antiquities," was inscribed. The contents of its window were curiously variegated. They comprised some elephant tusks and an imperfect set of chessmen, beads and weapons, a box of eyes, two skulls of tigers and one human, several moth-eaten stuffed monkeys (one holding a lamp), an old-fashioned cabinet, a fly-blown ostrich egg or so, some fishing-tackle, and an extraordinarily dirty, empty glass fish-tank. There was also, at the moment the story begins, a mass of crystal, worked into the shape of an egg and brilliantly polished. And at that two people who stood outside the window were looking, one of them a tall, thin clergyman, the other a black-bearded young man of dusky complexion and unobtrusive costume. The dusky young man spoke with eager gesticulation, and seemed anxious for his companion to purchase the article. While they were there, Mr. Cave came into his shop, his beard still wagging with the bread and butter of his tea. When he saw these men and the object of their regard, his countenance fell. He glanced guiltily over his shoulder, and softly shut the door. He was a little old man, with pale face and peculiar watery blue eyes; his hair was a dirty grey, and he wore a shabby blue frock-coat, an ancient silk hat, and carpet slippers very much down at heel. He remained watching the two men as they talked. The clergyman went deep into his trouser pocket, examined a handful of money, and showed his teeth in an agreeable smile. Mr. Cave seemed still more depressed when they came into the shop. The clergyman, without any ceremony, asked the price of the crystal egg. Mr. Cave glanced nervously towards the door leading into the parlour, and said five pounds. The clergyman protested that the price was high, to his companion as well as to Mr. Cave--it was, indeed, very much more than Mr. Cave had intended to ask when he had stocked the article--and an attempt at bargaining ensued. Mr. Cave stepped to the shop door, and held it open. "Five pounds is my price," he said, as though he wished to save himself the trouble of unprofitable discussion. As he did so, the upper portion of a woman's face appeared above the blind in the glass upper panel of the door leading into the parlour, and stared curiously at the two customers. "Five pounds is my price," said Mr. Cave, with a quiver in his voice. The swarthy young man had so far remained a spectator, watching Cave keenly. Now he spoke. "Give him five pounds," he said. The clergyman glanced at him to see if he were in earnest, and when he looked at Mr. Cave again, he saw that the latter's face was white. "It's a lot of money," said the clergyman, and, diving into his pocket, began counting his resources. He had little more than thirty shillings, and he appealed to his companion, with whom he seemed to be on terms of considerable intimacy. This gave Mr. Cave an opportunity of collecting his thoughts, and he began to explain in an agitated manner that the crystal was not, as a matter of fact, entirely free for sale. His two customers were naturally surprised at this, and inquired why he had not thought of that before he began to bargain. Mr. Cave became confused, but he stuck to his story, that the crystal was not in the market that afternoon, that a probable purchaser of it had already appeared. The two, treating this as an attempt to raise the price still further, made as if they would leave the shop. But at this point the parlour door opened, and the owner of the dark fringe and the little eyes appeared. She was a coarse-featured, corpulent woman, younger and very much larger than Mr. Cave; she walked heavily, and her face was flushed. "That crystal _is_ for sale," she said. "And five pounds is a good enough price for it. I can't think what you're about, Cave, not to take the gentleman's offer!" Mr. Cave, greatly perturbed by the irruption, looked angrily at her over the rims of his spectacles, and, without excessive assurance, asserted his right to manage his business in his own way. An altercation began. The two customers watched the scene with interest and some amusement, occasionally assisting Mrs. Cave with suggestions. Mr. Cave, hard driven, persisted in a confused and impossible story of an inquiry for the crystal that morning, and his agitation became painful. But he stuck to his point with extraordinary persistence. It was the young Oriental who ended this curious controversy. He proposed that they should call again in the course of two days--so as to give the alleged inquirer a fair chance. "And then we must insist," said the clergyman. "Five pounds." Mrs. Cave took it on herself to apologise for her husband, explaining that he was sometimes "a little odd," and as the two customers left, the couple prepared for a free discussion of the incident in all its bearings. Mrs. Cave talked to her husband with singular directness. The poor little man, quivering with emotion, muddled himself between his stories, maintaining on the one hand that he had another customer in view, and on the other asserting that the crystal was honestly worth ten guineas. "Why did you ask five pounds?" said his wife. "_Do_ let me manage my business my own way!" said Mr. Cave. Mr. Cave had living with him a step-daughter and a step-son, and at supper that night the transaction was re-discussed. None of them had a high opinion of Mr. Cave's business methods, and this action seemed a culminating folly. "It's my opinion he's refused that crystal before," said the step-son, a loose-limbed lout of eighteen. "But _Five Pounds_!" said the step-daughter, an argumentative young woman of six-and-twenty. Mr. Cave's answers were wretched; he could only mumble weak assertions that he knew his own business best. They drove him from his half-eaten supper into the shop, to close it for the night, his ears aflame and tears of vexation behind his spectacles. Why had he left the crystal in the window so long? The folly of it! That was the trouble closest in his mind. For a time he could see no way of evading sale. After supper his step-daughter and step-son smartened themselves up and went out and his wife retired upstairs to reflect upon the business aspects of the crystal, over a little sugar and lemon and so forth in hot water. Mr. Cave went into the shop, and stayed there until late, ostensibly to make ornamental rockeries for gold-fish cases, but really for a private purpose that will be better explained later. The next day Mrs. Cave found that the crystal had been removed from the window, and was lying behind some second-hand books on angling. She replaced it in a conspicuous position. But she did not argue further about it, as a nervous headache disinclined her from debate. Mr. Cave was always disinclined. The day passed disagreeably. Mr. Cave was, if anything, more absent-minded than usual, and uncommonly irritable withal. In the afternoon, when his wife was taking her customary sleep, he removed the crystal from the window again.