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460
looked about him with a scrutinizing glance: fl Thus
much I know,” -he murrniired, 3.,‘ I have never’ been here
since that night, and never. was here before that night,
but .tl1us much I recognize. " Itwonderiwhich .way, did
we take when we came out of that sliop. VVe turned to
tlie"right‘as' Ihaveiturned, butegglr can recall no more.
Did we go by this alley? . Lorvdovvn that little lanai”:
He tried both, but both confused him equally; and he
came straying back-to the same spot.‘ , ‘,‘ Lremeiiiher
I there were poles pushed out of‘ upper windows on which
clothes were drying, ‘and I remember a low public-house,
and the sound flowing down a narrowpassage belonging
to it, of the scraping of a fiddle and the shuffling of feet.
But here are allvthese things in theilane, and here “are all
thesegthings in .,the alley. gAnd,I have nothing else in
my mindgbut a wall, a dark doorway, a llighteof stairs,
;;11(1a1-00111,”. .j('..‘, ..,i L, .
He tried a new. direction,.but made ‘nothing of it ;
walls, darkdoorways, flights of, stairs, and.rooms, were
too abundant. . And, like mostvpeople so puzzled, he again
‘ and again described a circle, and. found himself at the
point from which he hadgbegun. ‘.f,This is like what Ihave
read in narratives of escape from prison,” said he,’ ‘f where
the little track of ,the fugitives, in the. night always
seems to take -the ,shape of? the greatround world, on
which they wander; as if it were a secret law.” . , . .- . 1
Here he ceased to be the oakumheaded, oalriiin-vvliisl
kered man on whom Miss Pleasant Riderhood had looked,
and, ‘allowing for his being‘ still wrapped in a nautical
overcoatgbecame as like that same lost wanted Mr. Julius
Handford, as never man was like an'other'in'tliis world.
Inuthe breast of the [coat . he stowedthe‘ bristling 7hair
and whisker, in aiinoment,‘ as theifavouring wind went
Wltl1‘lllln;fl0$‘$l'I1 a solitary.pla;ce. that it had swepticlear
of passengers. ‘Yet in that samelmomentfhe waslthe
. Secretary also’, .Mr. Bolfin’s Secretary. For'John'Roke.
smith, too, was as like that same lost wanted Mr. Julius
' Handford as never man was like another. in this world.
“ I have no clue to the scene of’ my“ death,” said’ he.
".Not that.it'matters now. .. But having risked’ discov-
ery by venturinghere atyall, ‘I should liavebeen glad to
track some part of . the way.” . VVith wliichsingular
words he abandonedihis search, came ,up out of Lime-
house.lIole, and took.‘ the way past“Limelio‘use Church.
At the great iron gate of the, churchyard he stopped and
looked in. . He ‘looked up at the high toiver.specna1]y
resisting the wind,.and he looked round at the white
tombstones, likeenough to the dead in their windiij
sheets, and he counted thenine tolls of the clockibell g
' “ It is‘ a sensation not experienced by many mortals ’;
said-he,..“to bedookingizinto at churchyard on-a ‘wild
windy night, and to feel thatil no‘ino're'hold':a lace
among the living than these dead do. and even to gnaw
that I lie buried somewhere else, as thevlie buried h ' "
Nothing uses me to it.=. A spirit .t1mt has on“ E ere"
could hardly feel stranger‘ or lonelier goinu umlenmu
nizedsamelngimankind, than lfeel. .. " " , ' Fog"
ut t is is the fanciful side of th’ ' - ‘ ' '
a real side, so diflicult that, though IetSllitii11lz<l:tl((i’fJ.itI:V‘1d:s
day,'I never thoroughly think it out. Now let me dgtef-Y
mine to think it out as I walkhome. I1m2,(v 1 “id -t-
as many men-perhapslmost men;.(]0 ’emde ‘hi ,0.‘ '
their way. through. their greatest pe;-plexity. I ‘vilifltng
to pin myself to mine.-,.Don’t evadeit, John Ilarmog
don’t evade it; think it out! l . . ’
i.“ VVhen'I came back to England, attracted t h if I V
try with which I had none but most miserabi:h;:33,2I
tions, by the accounts of mv fine inheritance that f (1
me abroad, I came back, shi-inking from my ffl.llleI"So$l -
ney, shrinking from my fathers memory, niistrustful 3;
being forced on a -mercenary wife, ’mistrustfu1 f
father’s intention in thrusting that marria e 00 my
niistrustful that I was already growing avarigiousn Hie’
trustful that I was slackening in gratitude to the ti ’ ilms.
noble honest friends who had made the only sunli 1:9 ‘ ear
childish . life or that of . my heartbroken sisterg 11m my
back, timid, divided mmy mind, afraid of . m‘ ;,.1fc“'““
3‘7e1'Yb0'-13' here. k!10“'in8‘ ‘Of D5thiDg.but xV'reldhed and
that my father’s wealth had ever brought about ' Vness
stop, and so far think it out, John Harmon . Ig.thL ow’
That is exactly so. = ‘ . ' in so?
OHARLES ‘DICKENS’ WORKS.
. “ On board serving as ‘third mate was George Radfoot:
I knew nothing of him. llisyname first became knowii
to ‘me about ii week before we sailed, through my being
accosted by one of the ship-agent’s clerks as ‘Mr. Rad-
foot. "- I It was one day when l'hnd gone aboard tolookto‘
my preparations,.nnd the clerk, comingubehind me as It
. stood on deckhtapped me on the shoulder‘, and said, ‘Mr.
Radfoot, look here,’ referring to some . papers that he‘
hadinbhis hand. ,Ari(l my.name first became known to
Radfoot, through another clerk within a day or two, and
while the ship was yetgin port.,,coniing up behind him,
tapping him on-the shoulder and beginning, ‘ I beg your
pardon,‘ Mr. Harmon-.’ - I believe we were alike in bulk
and stature but not'otherwis'e, and ‘that we were not
strikingly. alike, evenin tlioso respects, when we were
together and could be compared- - V: . .. '
“ However, a sociable word or two on these mistakes
become an easy introduction between us, and the weather
was hot, and he helped me to a’ cool.-cabin on deck along
side his own, and his first school. had been at Brussels as
mine: had,-been, and he had learnt .French as I had
learnt it, and he had a little history ofthimself torelate
-God only knows how much of it true, and how much
of it false-‘that had its likeness to mine.“ I had been a
seaman too. .So we got to be confidentialtogether, and‘
the more easily yet, because he and every one on board
had known by general riiinour what I was making the
voyage to England for. . By such degrees and means, he
came to the knowledge of. myuineasiness of mind,‘ and
of. its ‘setting at that time in the direction of desiring
to. see‘ and, form somenjiidgment. of,niy,al1otted wife.
before she could possibly.know me forniyself :. also to try
Mrs. Boflin and give’ her a glad surprise, So the plot
was made out ofpur getting common sailors’ dressesias
he was able to guide’ me about London),<and tlirowing
ourselves in Bella lYilfer’s neighbourhood, and tryingto
put ourselves in her way,‘a'nd doing whatever chance
might favour on the spot, and seeing ‘what came of it.
n.0.t.11ing,came of ,it,' I should be no worse off, and there
would merely be a short delay in my presenting myself
to Lightwood. I have all . these facts Wright? 195-
They. are all accurately righ . . . - ', < V I
r “ His advantage in‘ all this was,-that for xi time I W115
to be lost. , Itimight be fora day or for two days. but I
must be lost sight of on landing, orithere would be rec’
ogiiition, anticipation, and failure. Tlierefore, I disem-
barked with my valise in .my handsas Potterson the
steward and Mr. Jacob Kibblemv fellow-passenger aft“-
wards renieinbered-and waiteddfori him in the dark by
that very'Lim,ehouse Church which is nowbehind me-
. As Iphad always shunned the port of: L0nd0D. I only
knew the church through his pointing out its spire from
on board. Perhaps I might recall, ifnit were any 3
to try, the wayiby which I went to itlalone from “'9
river ; but how we two wcntfrom it to Ri<lerhood’s shop:
I don't know-any more than I know what turns W9t00l‘
1111,11 doubles we made,‘ afterwe left it; The ‘WY was
purposely confused, no doubt. I ,- . e ‘ , .d
.- F‘ But .let pine go on tliinkin r the facts out, “Dd “‘ wk
confusing them with my specu ations. ‘ Vwhetliei-l.1e t00
merhy a straight way or It crooked way, what is W1
to the purpose now? Steady, John Hiirinon. t
- .‘.‘ VVlien we stopped at Riderhood’s, and he asked Illa’
scoundrel. aquestion or two, purporting to refer only to
i"l10]0dg‘in.iz-houses in which there was accominodfmon, ;"
us, had I the least suspicion of him? ,.N one. Celjiam 7
none untilgafterwards when I held he clue. v I think ll‘;
must have got from Riderliood inn paper, “I0 d’“g’,O;
Wliateverit 'was,' that afterwards gstupefied rI11erb“imv
am far; from sure: ‘All kl. felt safe in clinrgillg 0" F n
to-night, was old companionship: in i'i1111nY ‘ hemee
them. ;,Their lundisguised intimacy, and the cliaractef
now know Riderhood tobear, made that not at 11“ ‘,“1‘fn,,'.
turous. But I am not clear about the drug.’ Tim.‘ .m"
out the circumstances on which I-found my Suspmmii
they are Only two. One : >1 remember his changing :1 sm e
folded paper from one pocket to" another, after we C31“ ‘
Out. Which he had-not touched before. 'T“"’ 5‘ for
know Riderhood to have been previously-.taken “P
being concerned in the robbery’ of an unlucky e i
to W cm some such poison had been givenu
“It is my conviction that we cannot have Ewe “ mm’
. xx gi
v