The Magic Shadow

by Arthur Quiller-Couch

　　Once upon a time there was born a man-child with a magic shadow.His case was so rare that a number of doctors have been disputingover it ever since and picking his parents' histories and genealogiesto bits, to find the cause. Their inquiries do not help us much.The father drove a cab; the mother was a charwoman and came of aconsumptive family. But these facts will not quite account for amagic shadow. The birth took place on the night of a new moon, downa narrow alley into which neither moon nor sun ever penetrated beyondthe third-storey windows--and that is why the parents were so long indiscovering their child's miraculous gift. The hospital-student whoattended merely remarked that the babe was small and sickly, andadvised the mother to drink sound port-wine while nursing him,--whichshe could not afford.Nevertheless, the boy struggled somehow through five years of life,and was put into smallclothes. Two weeks after this promotion hismother started off to scrub out a big house in the fashionablequarter, and took him with her: for the house possessed a widegarden, laid with turf and lined with espaliers, sunflowers, andhollyhocks, and as the month was August, and the family away inScotland, there seemed no harm in letting the child run about in thisparadise while she worked. A flight of steps descended from thedrawing-room to the garden, and as she knelt on her mat in the coolroom it was easy to keep an eye on him. Now and then she gazed outinto the sunshine and called; and the boy stopped running about andnodded back, or shouted the report of some fresh discovery.By-and-by a sulphur butterfly excited him so that he must run up thebroad stone steps with the news. The woman laughed, looking at hisflushed face, then down at his shoe-strings, which were untied: andthen she jumped up, crying out sharply--"Stand still, child--standstill a moment!"She might well stare. Her boy stood and smiled in the sun, and hisshadow lay on the whitened steps. Only the silhouette was not thatof a little breeched boy at all, but of a little girl in petticoats;and it wore long curls, whereas the charwoman's son wasclose-cropped.The woman stepped out on the terrace to look closer. She twirled herson round and walked him down into the garden, and backwards andforwards, and stood him in all manner of positions and attitudes, andrubbed her eyes. But there was no mistake: the shadow was that of alittle girl.She hurried over her charing, and took the boy home for his father tosee before sunset. As the matter seemed important, and she did notwish people in the street to notice anything strange, they rode backin an omnibus. They might have spared their haste, however, as thecab-driver did not reach home till supper-time, and then it was foundthat in the light of a candle, even when stuck inside acarriage-lamp, their son cast just an ordinary shadow. But nextmorning at sunrise they woke him up and carried him to the house-top,where the sunlight slanted between the chimney-stacks: and the shadowwas that of a little girl.The father scratched his head. "There's money in this, wife. We'llkeep the thing close; and in a year or two he'll be fit to go roundin a show and earn money to support our declining years."

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　　With that the poor little one's misfortunes began. For they shut himin his room, nor allowed him to play with the other children in thealley--there was no knowing what harm might come to his preciousshadow. On dark nights his father walked him out along the streets;and the boy saw many curious things under the gas-lamps, but neverthe little girl who inhabited his shadow. So that by degrees heforgot all about her. And his father kept silence.Yet all the while she grew side by side with him, keeping pace withhis years. And on his fifteenth birthday, when his parents took himout into the country and, in the sunshine there, revealed his secret,she was indeed a companion to be proud of--neat of figure, trim ofankle, with masses of waving hair; but whether blonde or brunettecould not be told; and, alas! she had no eyes to look into."My son," said they, "the world lies before you. Only do not forgetyour parents, who conferred on you this remarkable shadow."The youth promised, and went off to a showman. The showman gladlyhired him; for, of course, a magic shadow was a rarity, though not sowell paying as the Strong Man or the Fat Woman, for these were worthseeing every day, whereas for weeks at a time, in dull weather orfoggy, our hero had no shadow at all. But he earned enough to keephimself and help the parents at home; and was considered a success.One day, after five years of this, he sought the Strong Man, andsighed. For they had become close friends."I am in love," he confessed."With your shadow?""No.""Not with the Fat Woman!" the Strong Man exclaimed, with a start ofjealousy."No. I have seen her that I mean these three days in the Square, onher way to music lesson. She has dark brown eyes and wears yellowribbons. I love her.""You don't say so! She has never come to our performance, I hope.""It has been foggy ever since we came to this town.""Ah, to be sure. Then there's a chance: for, you see, she wouldnever look at you if she knew of--of that other. Take my advice--gointo society, always at night, when there is no danger; getintroduced; dance with her; sing serenades under her window; thenmarry her. Afterwards--well, that's your affair."So the youth went into society and met the girl he loved, and dancedwith her so vivaciously and sang serenades with such feeling beneathher window, that at last she felt he was all in all to her. Then theyouth asked to be allowed to see her father, who was a RetiredColonel; and professed himself a man of Substance. He said nothingof the Shadow: but it is true he had saved a certain amount."Then to all intents and purposes you are a gentleman," said theRetired Colonel; and the wedding-day was fixed.They were married in dull weather, and spent a delightful honeymoon.But when spring came and brighter days, the young wife began to feellonely; for her husband locked himself, all the day long, in hisstudy--to work, as he said. He seemed to be always at work; andwhenever he consented to a holiday, it was sure to fall on thebleakest and dismallest day in the week."You are never so gay now as you were last Autumn. I am jealous ofthat work of yours. At least," she pleaded, "let me sit with you andshare your affection with it."But he laughed and denied her: and next day she peered in through thekeyhole of his study.That same evening she ran away from him: having seen the shadow ofanother woman by his side.Then the poor man--for he had loved his wife--cursed the day of hisbirth and led an evil life. This lasted for ten years, and his wifedied in her father's house, unforgiving.On the day of her funeral, the man said to his shadow--"I see it all.We were made for each other, so let us marry. You have wrecked mylife and now must save it. Only it is rather hard to marry a wifewhom one can only see by sunlight and moonlight."So they were married; and spent all their life in the open air,looking on the naked world and learning its secrets. And his shadowbore him children, in stony ways and on the bare mountain-side.And for every child that was born the man felt the pangs of it.And at last he died and was judged: and being interrogated concerninghis good deeds, began--"We two--"--and looked around for his shadow. A great light shoneall about; but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, she had passedbefore him, and his children remained on earth, where men alreadywere heaping them with flowers and calling them divine.Then the man folded his arms and lifted his chin."I beg your pardon," he said, "I am simply a sinner."There are in this world certain men who create. The children of suchare poems, and the half of their soul is female. For it is writtenthat without woman no new thing shall come into the world.

　　THE END.