Chapter 16

by William Somerset Maugham

　　Arthur would not leave the little village of Venning. Neither Susie northe doctor could get him to make any decision. None of them spoke of thenight which they had spent in the woods of Skene; but it coloured alltheir thoughts, and they were not free for a single moment from theghastly memory of it. They seemed still to hear the sound of thatpassionate weeping. Arthur was moody. When he was with them, he spokelittle; he opposed a stubborn resistance to their efforts at divertinghis mind. He spent long hours by himself, in the country, and they had noidea what he did. Susie was terribly anxious. He had lost his balance socompletely that she was prepared for any rashness. She divined that hishatred of Haddo was no longer within the bounds of reason. The desire forvengeance filled him entirely, so that he was capable of any violence.Several days went by.At last, in concert with Dr Porhoet, she determined to make one moreattempt. It was late at night, and they sat with open windows in thesitting-room of the inn. There was a singular oppressiveness in the airwhich suggested that a thunderstorm was at hand. Susie prayed for it; forshe ascribed to the peculiar heat of the last few days much of Arthur'ssullen irritability.'Arthur, you must tell us what you are going to do,' she said. 'Itis useless to stay here. We are all so ill and nervous that we cannotconsider anything rationally. We want you to come away with us tomorrow.''You can go if you choose,' he said. 'I shall remain till that man isdead.''It is madness to talk like that. You can do nothing. You are only makingyourself worse by staying here.''I have quite made up my mind.''The law can offer you no help, and what else can you do?'She asked the question, meaning if possible to get from him some hint ofhis intentions; but the grimness of his answer, though it only confirmedher vague suspicions, startled her.'If I can do nothing else, I shall shoot him like a dog.'She could think of nothing to say, and for a while they remained insilence. Then he got up.'I think I should prefer it if you went,' he said. 'You can only hamperme.''I shall stay here as long as you do.''Why?''Because if you do anything, I shall be compromised. I may be arrested. Ithink the fear of that may restrain you.'He looked at her steadily. She met his eyes with a calmness whichshowed that she meant exactly what she said, and he turned uneasilyaway. A silence even greater than before fell upon them. They did notmove. It was so still in the room that it might have been empty. Thebreathlessness of the air increased, so that it was horribly oppressive.Suddenly there was a loud rattle of thunder, and a flash of lightningtore across the heavy clouds. Susie thanked Heaven for the storm whichwould give presently a welcome freshness. She felt excessively ill atease, and it was a relief to ascribe her sensation to a state of theatmosphere. Again the thunder rolled. It was so loud that it seemed tobe immediately above their heads. And the wind rose suddenly and sweptwith a long moan through the trees that surrounded the house. It was asound so human that it might have come from the souls of dead mensuffering hopeless torments of regret.The lamp went out, so suddenly that Susie was vaguely frightened. It gaveone flicker, and they were in total darkness. It seemed as though someonehad leaned over the chimney and blown it out. The night was very black,and they could not see the window which opened on to the country. Thedarkness was so peculiar that for a moment no one stirred.Then Susie heard Dr Porhoet slip his hand across the table to findmatches, but it seemed that they were not there. Again a loud peal ofthunder startled them, but the rain would not fall. They panted for freshair. On a sudden Susie's heart gave a bound, and she sprang up.'There's someone in the room.'The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she heard Arthur flinghimself upon the intruder. She knew at once, with the certainty of anintuition, that it was Haddo. But how had he come in? What did he want?She tried to cry out, but no sound came from her throat. Dr Porhoetseemed bound to his chair. He did not move. He made no sound. She knewthat an awful struggle was proceeding. It was a struggle to the deathbetween two men who hated one another, but the most terrible part of itwas that nothing was heard. They were perfectly noiseless. She tried todo something, but she could not stir. And Arthur's heart exulted, for hisenemy was in his grasp, under his hands, and he would not let him gowhile life was in him. He clenched his teeth and tightened his strainingmuscles. Susie heard his laboured breathing, but she only heard thebreathing of one man. She wondered in abject terror what that could mean.They struggled silently, hand to hand, and Arthur knew that his strengthwas greater. He had made up his mind what to do and directed all hisenergy to a definite end. His enemy was extraordinarily powerful, butArthur appeared to create some strength from the sheer force of his will.It seemed for hours that they struggled. He could not bear him down.Suddenly, he knew that the other was frightened and sought to escape fromhim. Arthur tightened his grasp; for nothing in the world now would heever loosen his hold. He took a deep, quick breath, and then put out allhis strength in a tremendous effort. They swayed from side to side.Arthur felt as if his muscles were being torn from the bones, he couldnot continue for more than a moment longer; but the agony that flashedacross his mind at the thought of failure braced him to a sudden angryjerk. All at once Haddo collapsed, and they fell heavily to the ground.Arthur was breathing more quickly now. He thought that if he could keepon for one instant longer, he would be safe. He threw all his weight onthe form that rolled beneath him, and bore down furiously on the man'sarm. He twisted it sharply, with all his might, and felt it give way. Hegave a low cry of triumph; the arm was broken. And now his enemy wasseized with panic; he struggled madly, he wanted only to get away fromthose long hands that were killing him. They seemed to be of iron. Arthurseized the huge bullock throat and dug his fingers into it, and they sunkinto the heavy rolls of fat; and he flung the whole weight of his bodyinto them. He exulted, for he knew that his enemy was in his power atlast; he was strangling him, strangling the life out of him. He wantedlight so that he might see the horror of that vast face, and the deadlyfear, and the staring eyes. And still he pressed with those iron hands.And now the movements were strangely convulsive. His victim writhed inthe agony of death. His struggles were desperate, but the avenging handsheld him as in a vice. And then the movements grew spasmodic, and thenthey grew weaker. Still the hands pressed upon the gigantic throat, andArthur forgot everything. He was mad with rage and fury and hate andsorrow. He thought of Margaret's anguish and of her fiendish torture, andhe wished the man had ten lives so that he might take them one by one.And at last all was still, and that vast mass of flesh was motionless,and he knew that his enemy was dead. He loosened his grasp and slippedone hand over the heart. It would never beat again. The man was stonedead. Arthur got up and straightened himself. The darkness was intensestill, and he could see nothing. Susie heard him, and at length she wasable to speak.'Arthur what have you done?''I've killed him,' he said hoarsely.'O God, what shall we do?'Arthur began to laugh aloud, hysterically, and in the darkness hishilarity was terrifying.'For God's sake let us have some light.''I've found the matches,' said Dr Porhoet.He seemed to awake suddenly from his long stupor. He struck one, and itwould not light. He struck another, and Susie took off the globe and thechimney as he kindled the wick. Then he held up the lamp, and they sawArthur looking at them. His face was ghastly. The sweat ran off hisforehead in great beads, and his eyes were bloodshot. He trembled inevery limb. Then Dr Porhoet advanced with the lamp and held it forward.They looked down on the floor for the man who lay there dead. Susie gavea sudden cry of horror.There was no one there.Arthur stepped back in terrified surprise. There was no one in the room,living or dead, but the three friends. The ground sank under Susie'sfeet, she felt horribly ill, and she fainted. When she awoke, seemingdifficultly to emerge from an eternal night, Arthur was holding down herhead.'Bend down,' he said. 'Bend down.'All that had happened came back to her, and she burst into tears. Herself-control deserted her, and, clinging to him for protection, shesobbed as though her heart would break. She was shaking from head tofoot. The strangeness of this last horror had overcome her, and she couldhave shrieked with fright.'It's all right,' he said. 'You need not be afraid.''Oh, what does it mean?''You must pluck up courage. We're going now to Skene.'She sprang to her feet, as though to get away from him; her heart beatwildly.'No, I can't; I'm frightened.''We must see what it means. We have no time to lose, or the morning willbe upon us before we get back.'Then she sought to prevent him.'Oh, for God's sake, don't go, Arthur. Something awful may await youthere. Don't risk your life.''There is no danger. I tell you the man is dead.''If anything happened to you ...'She stopped, trying to restrain her sobs; she dared not go on. But heseemed to know what was in her mind.'I will take no risks, because of you. I know that whether I live or dieis not a--matter of indifference to you.'She looked up and saw that his eyes were fixed upon her gravely. Shereddened. A curious feeling came into her heart.'I will go with you wherever you choose,' she said humbly.'Come, then.'They stepped out into the night. And now, without rain, the storm hadpassed away, and the stars were shining. They walked quickly. Arthurwent in front of them. Dr Porhoet and Susie followed him, side by side,and they had to hasten their steps in order not to be left behind. Itseemed to them that the horror of the night was passed, and there wasa fragrancy in the air which was wonderfully refreshing. The sky wasbeautiful. And at last they came to Skene. Arthur led them again to theopening in the palisade, and he took Susie's hand. Presently they stoodin the place from which a few days before they had seen the house. Asthen, it stood in massive blackness against the night and, as then, theattic windows shone out with brilliant lights. Susie started, for shehad expected that the whole place would be in darkness.'There is no danger, I promise you,' said Arthur gently. 'We are going tofind out the meaning of all this mystery.'He began to walk towards the house.'Have you a weapon of some sort?' asked the doctor.Arthur handed him a revolver.'Take this. It will reassure you, but you will have no need of it. Ibought it the other day when--I had other plans.'Susie gave a little shudder. They reached the drive and walked to thegreat portico which adorned the facade of the house. Arthur tried thehandle, but it would not open.'Will you wait here?' he said. 'I can get through one of the windows, andI will let you in.'He left them. They stood quietly there, with anxious hearts; they couldnot guess what they would see. They were afraid that something wouldhappen to Arthur, and Susie regretted that she had not insisted on goingwith him. Suddenly she remembered that awful moment when the light of thelamp had been thrown where all expected to see a body, and there wasnothing.'What do you think it meant?' she cried suddenly. 'What is theexplanation?''Perhaps we shall see now,' answered the doctor.Arthur still lingered, and she could not imagine what had become of him.All sorts of horrible fancies passed through her mind, and she dreadedshe knew not what. At last they heard a footstep inside the house, andthe door was opened.'I was convinced that nobody slept here, but I was obliged to make sure.I had some difficulty in getting in.'Susie hesitated to enter. She did not know what horrors awaited her, andthe darkness was terrifying.'I cannot see,' she said.'I've brought a torch,' said Arthur.He pressed a button, and a narrow ray of bright light was cast upon thefloor. Dr Porhoet and Susie went in. Arthur carefully closed the door,and flashed the light of his torch all round them. They stood in a largehall, the floor of which was scattered with the skins of lions that Haddoon his celebrated expedition had killed in Africa. There were perhapsa dozen, and their number gave a wild, barbaric note. A great oakstaircase led to the upper floors.'We must go through all the rooms,' said Arthur.He did not expect to find Haddo till they came to the lighted attics, butit seemed needful nevertheless to pass right through the house on theirway. A flash of his torch had shown him that the walls of the hall weredecorated with all manner of armour, ancient swords of Eastern handiwork,barbaric weapons from central Africa, savage implements of medievalwarfare; and an idea came to him. He took down a huge battle-axe andswung it in his hand.'Now come.'Silently, holding their breath as though they feared to wake the dead,they went into the first room. They saw it difficultly with their scantlight, since the thin shaft of brilliancy, emphasising acutely thesurrounding darkness, revealed it only piece by piece. It was a largeroom, evidently unused, for the furniture was covered with holland, andthere was a mustiness about it which suggested that the windows wereseldom opened. As in many old houses, the rooms led not from a passagebut into one another, and they walked through many till they came backinto the hall. They had all a desolate, uninhabited air. Their sombrenesswas increased by the oak with which they were panelled. There waspanelling in the hall too, and on the stairs that led broadly to thetop of the house. As they ascended, Arthur stopped for one moment andpassed his hand over the polished wood.'It would burn like tinder,' he said.They went through the rooms on the first floor, and they were as emptyand as cheerless. Presently they came to that which had been Margaret's.In a bowl were dead flowers. Her brushes were still on the toilet table.But it was a gloomy chamber, with its dark oak, and, so comfortless thatSusie shuddered. Arthur stood for a time and looked at it, but he saidnothing. They found themselves again on the stairs and they went to thesecond storey. But here they seemed to be at the top of the house.'How does one get up to the attics?' said Arthur, looking about him withsurprise.He paused for a while to think. Then he nodded his head.'There must be some steps leading out of one of the rooms.'They went on. And now the ceilings were much lower, with heavy beams,and there was no furniture at all. The emptiness seemed to makeeverything more terrifying. They felt that they were on the thresholdof a great mystery, and Susie's heart began to beat fast. Arthurconducted his examination with the greatest method; he walked roundeach room carefully, looking for a door that might lead to a staircase;but there was no sign of one.'What will you do if you can't find the way up?' asked Susie.'I shall find the way up,' he answered.They came to the staircase once more and had discovered nothing. Theylooked at one another helplessly.'It's quite clear there is a way,' said Arthur, with impatience. 'Theremust be something in the nature of a hidden door somewhere or other.'He leaned against the balustrade and meditated. The light of his lanternthrew a narrow ray upon the opposite wall.'I feel certain it must be in one of the rooms at the end of the house.That seems the most natural place to put a means of ascent to theattics.'They went back, and again he examined the panelling of a small room thathad outside walls on three sides of it. It was the only room that did notlead into another.'It must be here,' he said.Presently he gave a little laugh, for he saw that a small door wasconcealed by the woodwork. He pressed it where he thought there might bea spring, and it flew open. Their torch showed them a narrow woodenstaircase. They walked up and found themselves in front of a door. Arthurtried it, but it was locked. He smiled grimly.'Will you get back a little,' he said.He lifted his axe and swung it down upon the latch. The handle wasshattered, but the lock did not yield. He shook his head. As he pausedfor a moment, an there was a complete silence, Susie distinctly heard aslight noise. She put her hand on Arthur's arm to call his attention toit, and with strained ears they listened. There was something alive onthe other side of the door. They heard its curious sound: it was not thatof a human voice, it was not the crying of an animal, it wasextraordinary.It was the sort of gibber, hoarse and rapid, and it filled them with anicy terror because it was so weird and so unnatural.'Come away, Arthur,' said Susie. 'Come away.''There's some living thing in there,' he answered.He did not know why the sound horrified him. The sweat broke out on hisforehead.'Something awful will happen to us,' whispered Susie, shaking withuncontrollable fear.'The only thing is to break the door down.'The horrid gibbering was drowned by the noise he made. Quickly, withoutpausing, he began to hack at the oak door with all his might. In rapidsuccession his heavy blows rained down, and the sound echoed through theempty house. There was a crash, and the door swung back. They had been solong in almost total darkness that they were blinded for an instant bythe dazzling light. And then instinctively they started back, for, as thedoor opened, a wave of heat came out upon them so that they could hardlybreathe. The place was like an oven.They entered. It was lit by enormous lamps, the light of which wasincreased by reflectors, and warmed by a great furnace. They could notunderstand why so intense a heat was necessary. The narrow windows wereclosed. Dr Porhoet caught sight of a thermometer and was astounded at thetemperature it indicated. The room was used evidently as a laboratory. Onbroad tables were test-tubes, basins and baths of white porcelain,measuring-glasses, and utensils of all sorts; but the surprising thingwas the great scale upon which everything was. Neither Arthur nor DrPorhoet had ever seen such gigantic measures nor such large test-tubes.There were rows of bottles, like those in the dispensary of a hospital,each containing great quantities of a different chemical. The threefriends stood in silence. The emptiness of the room contrasted so oddlywith its appearance of being in immediate use that it was uncanny. Susiefelt that he who worked there was in the midst of his labours, and mightreturn at any moment; he could have only gone for an instant into anotherchamber in order to see the progress of some experiment. It was quitesilent. Whatever had made those vague, unearthly noises was hushed bytheir approach.The door was closed between this room and the next. Arthur opened it, andthey found themselves in a long, low attic, ceiled with great rafters, asbrilliantly lit and as hot as the first. Here too were broad tables ladenwith retorts, instruments for heating, huge test-tubes, and all manner ofvessels. The furnace that warmed it gave a steady heat. Arthur's gazetravelled slowly from table to table, and he wondered what Haddo'sexperiments had really been. The air was heavy with an extraordinaryodour: it was not musty, like that of the closed rooms through which theyhad passed, but singularly pungent, disagreeable and sickly. He askedhimself what it could spring from. Then his eyes fell upon a hugereceptacle that stood on the table nearest to the furnace. It was coveredwith a white cloth. He took it off. The vessel was about four feet high,round, and shaped somewhat like a washing tub, but it was made of glassmore than an inch thick. In it a spherical mass, a little larger than afootball, of a peculiar, livid colour. The surface was smooth, but rathercoarsely grained, and over it ran a dense system of blood-vessels. Itreminded the two medical men of those huge tumours which are preserved inspirit in hospital museums. Susie looked at it with an incomprehensibledisgust. Suddenly she gave a cry.'Good God, it's moving!'Arthur put his hand on her arm quickly to quieten her and bent down withirresistible curiosity. They saw that it was a mass of flesh unlike thatof any human being; and it pulsated regularly. The movement was quitedistinct, up and down, like the delicate heaving of a woman's breast whenshe is asleep. Arthur touched the thing with one finger and it shrankslightly.'Its quite warm,' he said.He turned it over, and it remained in the position in which he had placedit, as if there were neither top nor bottom to it. But they could seenow, irregularly placed on one side, a few short hairs. They were justlike human hairs.'Is it alive?' whispered Susie, struck with horror and amazement.'Yes!'Arthur seemed fascinated. He could not take his eyes off the loathsomething. He watched it slowly heave with even motion.'What can it mean?' he asked.He looked at Dr Porhoet with pale startled face. A thought was coming tohim, but a thought so unnatural, extravagant, and terrible that he pushedit from him with a movement of both hands, as though it were a materialthing. Then all three turned around abruptly with a start, for they heardagain the wild gibbering which had first shocked their ears. In thewonder of this revolting object they had forgotten all the rest. Thesound seemed extraordinarily near, and Susie drew back instinctively, forit appeared to come from her very side.'There's nothing here,' said Arthur. 'It must be in the next room.''Oh, Arthur, let us go,' cried Susie. 'I'm afraid to see what may be instore for us. It is nothing to us; and what we see may poison our sleepfor ever.'She looked appealingly at Dr Porhoet. He was white and anxious. The heatof that place had made the sweat break out on his forehead.'I have seen enough. I want to see no more,' he said.'Then you may go, both of you,' answered Arthur. 'I do not wish to forceyou to see anything. But I shall go on. Whatever it is, I wish to findout.''But Haddo? Supposing he is there, waiting? Perhaps you are only walkinginto a trap that he has set for you.''I am convinced that Haddo is dead.'Again that unintelligible jargon, unhuman and shrill, fell upon theirears, and Arthur stepped forward. Susie did not hesitate. She wasprepared to follow him anywhere. He opened the door, and there was asudden quiet. Whatever made those sounds was there. It was a larger roomthan any on the others and much higher, for it ran along the whole frontof the house. The powerful lamps showed every corner of it at once, but,above, the beams of the open ceiling were dark with shadow. And here thenauseous odour, which had struck them before, was so overpowering thatfor a while they could not go in. It was indescribably foul. Even Arthurthought it would make him sick, and he looked at the windows to see if itwas possible to open them; but it seemed they were hermetically closed.The extreme warmth made the air more overpowering. There were fourfurnaces here, and they were all alight. In order to give out more heatand to burn slowly, the fronts of them were open, and one could see thatthey were filled with glowing coke.The room was furnished no differently from the others, but to the variousinstruments for chemical operations on a large scale were added allmanner of electrical appliances. Several books were lying about, and onehad been left open face downwards on the edge of a table. But whatimmediately attracted their attention was a row of those large glassvessels like that which they had seen in the adjoining room. Each wascovered with a white cloth. They hesitated a moment, for they knew thathere they were face to face with the great enigma. At last Arthur pulledaway the cloth from one. None of them spoke. They stared with astonishedeyes. For here, too, was a strange mass of flesh, almost as large as anew-born child, but there was in it the beginnings of something ghastlyhuman. It was shaped vaguely like an infant, but the legs were joinedtogether so that it looked like a mummy rolled up in its coverings.There were neither feet nor knees. The trunk was formless, but therewas a curious thickening on each side; it was as if a modeller had meantto make a figure with the arms loosely bent, but had left the workunfinished so that they were still one with the body. There was somethingthat resembled a human head, covered with long golden hair, but it washorrible; it was an uncouth mass, without eyes or nose or mouth. Thecolour was a kind of sickly pink, and it was almost transparent. Therewas a very slight movement in it, rhythmical and slow. It was living too.Then quickly Arthur removed the covering from all the other jars but one;and in a flash of the eyes they saw abominations so awful that Susie hadto clench her fists in order not to scream. There was one monstrous thingin which the limbs approached nearly to the human. It was extraordinarilyheaped up, with fat tiny arms, little bloated legs, and an absurd squatbody, so that it looked like a Chinese mandarin in porcelain. In anotherthe trunk was almost like that of a human child, except that it waspatched strangely with red and grey. But the terror of it was thatat the neck it branched hideously, and there were two distinct heads,monstrously large, but duly provided with all their features. Thefeatures were a caricature of humanity so shameful that one could hardlybear to look. And as the light fell on it, the eyes of each head openedslowly. They had no pigment in them, but were pink, like the eyes ofwhite rabbits; and they stared for a moment with an odd, unseeing glance.Then they were shut again, and what was curiously terrifying was that themovements were not quite simultaneous; the eyelids of one head fellslowly just before those of the other. And in another place was a ghastlymonster in which it seemed that two bodies had been dreadfully entangledwith one another. It was a creature of nightmare, with four arms and fourlegs, and this one actually moved. With a peculiar motion it crawledalong the bottom of the great receptacle in which it was kept, towardsthe three persons who looked at it. It seemed to wonder what they did.Susie started back with fright, as it raised itself on its four legs andtried to reach up to them.Susie turned away and hid her face. She could not look at those ghastlycounterfeits of humanity. She was terrified and ashamed.'Do you understand what this means?' said Dr Porhoet to Arthur, in anawed voice. 'It means that he has discovered the secret of life.''Was it for these vile monstrosities that Margaret was sacrificed in allher loveliness?'The two men looked at one another with sad, wondering eyes.'Don't you remember that he talked of the manufacture of human beings?It's these misshapen things that he's succeeding in producing,' said thedoctor.'There is one more that we haven't seen,' said Arthur.He pointed to the covering which still hid the largest of the vases. Hehad a feeling that it contained the most fearful of all these monsters;and it was not without an effort that he drew the cloth away. But nosooner had he done this than something sprang up, so that instinctivelyhe started back, and it began to gibber in piercing tones. These were theunearthly sounds that they had heard. It was not a voice, it was a kindof raucous crying, hoarse yet shrill, uneven like the barking of a dog,and appalling. The sounds came forth in rapid succession, angrily, asthough the being that uttered them sought to express itself in furiouswords. It was mad with passion and beat against the glass walls of itsprison with clenched fists. For the hands were human hands, and thebody, though much larger, was of the shape of a new-born child. Thecreature must have stood about four feet high. The head was horriblymisshapen. The skull was enormous, smooth and distended like that of ahydrocephalic, and the forehead protruded over the face hideously. Thefeatures were almost unformed, preternaturally small under the great,overhanging brow; and they had an expression of fiendish malignity.The tiny, misshapen countenance writhed with convulsive fury, and fromthe mouth poured out a foaming spume. It raised its voice higher andhigher, shrieking senseless gibberish in its rage. Then it began to hurlits whole body madly against the glass walls and to beat its head. Itappeared to have a sudden incomprehensible hatred for the threestrangers. It was trying to fly at them. The toothless gums movedspasmodically, and it threw its face into horrible grimaces. Thatnameless, loathsome abortion was the nearest that Oliver Haddo hadcome to the human form.'Come away,' said Arthur. 'We must not look at this.'He quickly flung the covering over the jar.'Yes, for God's sake let us go,' said Susie.'We haven't done yet,' answered Arthur. 'We haven't found the author ofall this.'He looked at the room in which they were, but there was no door exceptthat by which they had entered. Then he uttered a startled cry, andstepping forward fell on his knee.On the other side of the long tables heaped up with instruments, hiddenso that at first they had not seen him, Oliver Haddo lay on the floor,dead. His blue eyes were staring wide, and they seemed larger than theyhad ever been. They kept still the expression of terror which they hadworn in the moment of his agony, and his heavy face was distorted withdeadly fear. It was purple and dark, and the eyes were injected withblood.'He died of suffocation,' whispered Dr Porhoet.Arthur pointed to the neck. There could be seen on it distinctly themarks of the avenging fingers that had strangled the life out of him. Itwas impossible to hesitate.'I told you that I had killed him,' said Arthur.Then he remembered something more. He took hold of the right arm. He wasconvinced that it had been broken during that desperate struggle in thedarkness. He felt it carefully and listened. He heard plainly the twoparts of the bone rub against one another. The dead man's arm was brokenjust in the place where he had broken it. Arthur stood up. He took onelast look at his enemy. That vast mass of flesh lay heaped up on thefloor in horrible disorder.'Now that you have seen, will you come away?' said Susie, interruptinghim.The words seemed to bring him suddenly to himself.'Yes, we must go quickly.'They turned away and with hurried steps walked through those brightattics till they came to the stairs.'Now go down and wait for me at the door,' said Arthur. 'I will followyou immediately.''What are you going to do?' asked Susie.'Never mind. Do as I tell you. I have not finished here yet.'They went down the great oak staircase and waited in the hall. Theywondered what Arthur was about. Presently he came running down.'Be quick!' he cried. 'We have no time to lose.''What have you done, Arthur?'There's no time to tell you now.'He hurried them out and slammed the door behind him. He took Susie'shand.'Now we must run. Come.'She did not know what his haste signified, but her heart beat furiously.He dragged her along. Dr Porhoet hurried on behind them. Arthur plungedinto the wood. He would not leave them time to breathe.'You must be quick,' he said.At last they came to the opening in the fence, and he helped them to getthrough. Then he carefully replaced the wooden paling and, taking Susie'sarm began to walk rapidly towards their inn.'I'm frightfully tired,' she said. 'I simply can't go so fast.''You must. Presently you can rest as long as you like.'They walked very quickly for a while. Now and then Arthur looked back.The night was still quite dark, and the stars shone out in their myriads.At last he slackened their pace.'Now you can go more slowly,' he said.Susie saw the smiling glance that he gave her. His eyes were full oftenderness. He put his arm affectionately round her shoulders to supporther.'I'm afraid you're quite exhausted, poor thing,' he said. 'I'm sorry tohave had to hustle you so much.''It doesn't matter at all.'She leaned against him comfortably. With that protecting arm about her,she felt capable of any fatigue. Dr Porhoet stopped.'You must really let me roll myself a cigarette,' he said.'You may do whatever you like,' answered Arthur.There was a different ring in his voice now, and it was soft with agood-humour that they had not heard in it for many months. He appearedsingularly relieved. Susie was ready to forget the terrible past andgive herself over to the happiness that seemed at last in store for her.They began to saunter slowly on. And now they could take pleasure in theexquisite night. The air was very suave, odorous with the heather thatwas all about them, and there was an enchanting peace in that scene whichwonderfully soothed their weariness. It was dark still, but they knew thedawn was at hand, and Susie rejoiced in the approaching day. In the eastthe azure of the night began to thin away into pale amethyst, and thetrees seemed gradually to stand out from the darkness in a ghostlybeauty. Suddenly birds began to sing all around them in a splendidchorus. From their feet a lark sprang up with a rustle of wings and,mounting proudly upon the air, chanted blithe canticles to greet themorning. They stood upon a little hill.'Let us wait here and see the sun rise,' said Susie.'As you will.'They stood all three of them, and Susie took in deep, joyful breaths ofthe sweet air of dawn. The whole land, spread at her feet, was clothed inthe purple dimness that heralds day, and she exulted in its beauty. Butshe noticed that Arthur, unlike herself and Dr Porhoet, did not looktoward the east. His eyes were fixed steadily upon the place from whichthey had come. What did he look for in the darkness of the west? Sheturned round, and a cry broke from her lips, for the shadows there werelurid with a deep red glow.'It looks like a fire,' she said.'It is. Skene is burning like tinder.'And as he spoke it seemed that the roof fell in, for suddenly vast flamessprang up, rising high into the still night air; and they saw that thehouse they had just left was blazing furiously. It was a magnificentsight from the distant hill on which they stood to watch the fire as itsoared and sank, as it shot scarlet tongues along like strange Titanicmonsters, as it raged from room to room. Skene was burning. It was beyondthe reach of human help. In a little while there would be no trace of allthose crimes and all those horrors. Now it was one mass of flame. Itlooked like some primeval furnace, where the gods might work unheard-ofmiracles.'Arthur, what have you done?' asked Susie, in a tone that was hardlyaudible.He did not answer directly. He put his arm about her shoulder again, sothat she was obliged to turn round.'Look, the sun is rising.'In the east, a long ray of light climbed up the sky, and the sun, yellowand round, appeared upon the face of the earth.