walkingplagues
has
never
heard
our
reply
.
I
know
that
he
will
not
hear
it
to­night
,
though
my
passion
were
to
rend
the
roof
.
For
it
is
deep
,
deep
under
the
earth
that
the
persecuted
are
permitted
to
assemble
,
as
the
Christians
assembled
in
the
Catacombs
.
But
if
,
by
some
incredible
accident
,
there
were
here
to‑night
a
man
who
all
his
life
had
thus
immensely
misunderstood
us
,
I
would
put
this
question
to
him
:
‘When
those
Christians
met
in
those
Catacombs
,
what
sort
of
moral
reputation
had
they
in
the
streets
above
?
What
tales
were
told
of
their
atrocities
by
one
educated
Roman
to
another
?
Suppose’
(
I
would
say
to
him
)
,
‘suppose
that
we
are
only
repeating
that
still
mysterious
paradox
of
history
.
Suppose
we
seem
as
shocking
as
the
Christians
because
we
are
really
as
harmless
as
the
Christians
.
Suppose
we
seem
as
mad
as
the
Christians
because
we
are
really
as
meek
.
”
’
The
applause
that
had
greeted
the
opening
sentences
had
been
gradually
growing
fainter
,
and
at
the
last
word
it
stopped
suddenly
.
In
the
abrupt
silence
,
the
man
with
the
velvet
jacket
said
,
in
a
high
,
squeaky
voice
—
“
I’m
not
meek
!
”
“
Comrade
Witherspoon
tells
us
,
”
resumed
Gregory
,
“
that
he
is
not
meek
.
Ah
,
how
little
he
knows
himself
!
His
words
are
,
indeed
,
extravagant
;
his
appearance
is
ferocious
,
and
even
(
to
an
ordinary
taste
)
unattractive
.
But
only
the
eye
of
a
friendship
as
deep
and
delicate
as
mine
can
perceive
the
deep
foundation
of
solid
meekness
which
lies
at
the
base
of
him
,
too
deep
even
for
himself
to
see
.
I
repeat
,
we
are
the
true
early
Christians
,
only
that
we
come
too
late
.
We
are
simple
,
as
they
revere
simple
—
look
at
Comrade
Witherspoon
.
We
are
modest
,
as
they
were
modest
—
look
at
me
.
We
are
merciful
—
”
“
No
,
no
!
”
called
out
Mr.
Witherspoon
with
the
velvet
jacket
.
“
I
say
we
are
merciful
,
”
repeated
Gregory
furiously
,
“
as
the
early
Christians
were
merciful
.
Yet
this
did
not
prevent
their
being
accused
of
eating
human
flesh
.
We
do
not
eat
human
flesh
—
”
“
Shame
!
”
cried
Witherspoon
.
“
Why
not
?
”
“
Comrade
Witherspoon
,
”
said
Gregory
,
with
a
feverish
gaiety
,
“
is
anxious
to
know
why
nobody
eats
him
(
laughter
)
.
In
our
society
,
at
any
rate
,
which
loves
him
sincerely
,
which
is
founded
upon
love
—
”
“
No
,
no
!
”
said
Witherspoon
,
“
down
with
love
.
”
“
Which
is
founded
upon
love
,
”
repeated
Gregory
,
grinding
his
teeth
,
“
there
will
be
no
difficulty
about
the
aims
which
we
shall
pursue
as
a
body
,
or
which
I
should
pursue
were
I
chosen
as
the
representative
of
that
body
.
Superbly
careless
of
the
slanders
that
represent
us
as
assassins
and
enemies
of
human
society
,
we
shall
pursue
with
moral
courage
and
quiet
intellectual
pressure
,
the
permanent
ideals
of
brotherhood
and
simplicity
.
”
Gregory
resumed
his
seat
and
passed
his
hand
across
his
forehead
.
The
silence
was
sudden
and
awkward
,
but
the
chairman
rose
like
an
automaton
,
and
said
in
a
colourless
voice
—
“
Does
anyone
oppose
the
election
of
Comrade
Gregory
?
”
The
assembly
seemed
vague
and
sub‑consciously
disappointed
,
and
Comrade
Witherspoon
moved
restlessly
on
his
seat
and
muttered
in
his
thick
beard
.
By
the
sheer
rush
of
routine
,
however
,
the
motion
would
have
been
put
and
carried
.
But
as
the
chairman
was
opening
his
mouth
to
put
it
,
Syme
sprang
to
his
feet
and
said
in
a
small
and
quiet
voice
—
“
Yes
,
Mr.
Chairman
,
I
oppose
.
”
The
most
effective
fact
in
oratory
is
an
unexpected
change
in
the
voice
.
Mr.
Gabriel
Syme
evidently
understood
oratory
.
Having
said
these
first
formal
words
in
a
moderated
tone
and
with
a
brief
simplicity
,
he
made
his
next
word
ring
and
volley
in
the
vault
as
if
one
of
the
guns
had
gone
off
.
“
Comrades
!
”
he
cried
,
in
a
voice
that
made
every
man
jump
out
of
his
boots
,
“
have
we
come
here
for
this
?
Do
we
live
underground
like
rats
in
order
to
listen
to
talk
like
this
?
This
is
talk
we
might
listen
to
while
eating
buns
at
a
Sunday
School
treat
.
Do
we
line
these
walls
with
weapons
and
bar
that
door
with
death
lest
anyone
should
come
and
hear
Comrade
Gregory
saying
to
us
,
‘Be
good
,
and
you
will
be
happy
,
’
‘Honesty
is
the
best
policy
,
’
and
‘Virtue
is
its
own
reward’
?
There
was
not
a
word
in
Comrade
Gregory’s
address
to
which
a
curate
could
not
have
listened
with
pleasure
(
hear
,
hear
)
.
But
I
am
not
a
curate
(
loud
cheers
)
,
and
I
did
not
listen
to
it
with
pleasure
(
renewed
cheers
)
.
The
man
who
is
fitted
to
make
a
good
curate
is
not
fitted
to
make
a
resolute
,
forcible
,
and
efficient
Thursday
(
hear
,
hear
)
.
”
“
Comrade
Gregory
has
told
us
,
in
only
too
apologetic
a
tone
,
that
we
are
not
the
enemies
of
society
.
But
I
say
that
we
are
the
enemies
of
society
,
and
so
much
the
worse
for
society
.
We
are
the
enemies
of
society
,
for
society
is
the
enemy
of
humanity
,
its
oldest
and
its
most
pitiless
enemy
(
hear
,
hear
)
.
Comrade
Gregory
has
told
us
(
apologetically
again
)
that
we
are
not
murderers
.
There
I
agree
.
We
are
not
murderers
,
we
are
executioners
(
cheers
)
.
”
Ever
since
Syme
had
risen
Gregory
had
sat
staring
at
him
,
his
face
idiotic
with
astonishment
.
Now
in
the
pause
his
lips
of
clay
parted
,
and
he
said
,
with
an
automatic
and
lifeless
distinctness
—
“
You
damnable
hypocrite
!
”
Syme
looked
straight
into
those
frightful
eyes
with
his
own
pale
blue
ones
,
and
said
with
dignity
—
“
Comrade
Gregory
accuses
me
of
hypocrisy
.
He
knows
as
well
as
I
do
that
I
am
keeping
all
my
engagements
and
doing
nothing
but
my
duty
.
I
do
not
mince
words
.
I
do
not
pretend
to
.
I
say
that
Comrade
Gregory
is
unfit
to
be
Thursday
for
all
his
amiable
qualities
.
He
is
unfit
to
be
Thursday
because
of
his
amiable
qualities
.
We
do
not
want
the
Supreme
Council
of
Anarchy
in­fected
with
a
maudlin
mercy
(
hear
,
hear
)
.
This
is
no
time
for
ceremonial
politeness
,
neither
is
it
a
time
for
ceremonial
modesty
.
I
set
myself
against
Comrade
Gregory
as
I
would
set
myself
against
all
the
Governments
of
Europe
,
because
the
anarchist
who
has
given
himself
to
anarchy
has
forgotten
modesty
as
much
as
he
has
forgotten
pride
(
cheers
)
.
I
am
not
a
man
at
all
.
I
am
a
cause
(
renewed
cheers
)
.
I
set
myself
against
Comrade
Gregory
as
impersonally
and
as
calmly
as
I
should
choose
one
pistol
rather
than
another
out
of
that
rack
upon
the
wall
;
and
I
say
that
rather
than
have
Gregory
and
his
milk‑and‑water
methods
on
the
Supreme
Council
,
I
would
offer
myself
for
election
—
”
His
sentence
was
drowned
in
a
deafening
cataract
of
applause
.
The
faces
,
that
had
grown
fiercer
and
fiercer
with
approval
as
his
tirade
grew
more
and
more
uncompromising
,
were
now
distorted
with
grins
of
anticipa­tion
or
cloven
with
delighted
cries
.
At
the
moment
when
he
announced
himself
as
ready
to
stand
for
the
post
of
Thursday
,
a
roar
of
excitement
and
assent
broke
forth
,
and
became
uncontrollable
,
and
at
the
same
moment
Gregory
sprang
to
his
feet
,
with
foam
upon
his
mouth
,
and
shouted
against
the
shouting
.
“
Stop
,
you
blasted
madmen
!
”
he
cried
,
at
the
top
of
a
voice
that
tore
his
throat
.
“
Stop
,
you
—
”
But
louder
than
Gregory’s
shouting
and
louder
than
the
roar
of
the
room
came
the
voice
of
Syme
,
still
speaking
in
a
peal
of
pitiless
thunder
—
“
I
do
not
go
to
the
Council
to
rebut
that
slander
that
calls
us
murderers
;
I
go
to
earn
it
(
loud
and
prolonged
cheering
)
.
To
the
priest
who
says
these
men
are
the
enemies
of
religion
,
to
the
judge
who
says
these
men
are
the
enemies
of
law
,
to
the
fat
parliamentarian
who
says
these
men
are
the
enemies
of
order
and
public
decency
,
to
all
these
I
will
reply
,
‘You
are
false
kings
,
but
you
are
true
prophets
.
I
am
come
to
destroy
you
,
and
to
fulfil
your
prophecies.’
”
The
heavy
clamour
gradually
died
away
,
but
before
it
had
ceased
Witherspoon
had
jumped
to
his
feet
,
his
hair
and
beard
all
on
end
,
and
had
said
—
“
I
move
,
as
an
amendment
,
that
Comrade
Syme
be
appointed
to
the
post
.
”
“
Stop
all
this
,
I
tell
you
!
”
cried
Gregory
,
with
frantic
face
and
hands
.
“
Stop
it
,
it
is
all
—
”
The
voice
of
the
chairman
clove
his
speech
with
a
cold
accent
.
“
Does
anyone
second
this
amendment
?
”
he
said
.
A
tall
,
tired
man
,
with
melancholy
eyes
and
an
American
chin
beard
,
was
observed
on
the
back
bench
to
be
slowly
rising
to
his
feet
.
Gregory
had
been
screaming
for
some
time
past
;
now
there
was
a
change
in
his
accent
,
more
shocking
than
any
scream
.
“
I
end
all
this
!
”
he
said
,
in
a
voice
as
heavy
as
stone
.
“
This
man
cannot
be
elected
.
He
is
a
—
”
“
Yes
,
”
said
Syme
,
quite
motionless
,
“
what
is
he
?
”
Gregory’s
mouth
worked
twice
without
sound
;
then
slowly
the
blood
began
to
crawl
back
into
his
dead
face
.
“
He
is
a
man
quite
inexperienced
in
our
work
,
”
he
said
,
and
sat
down
abruptly
.
Before
he
had
done
so
,
the
long
,
lean
man
with
the
American
beard
was
again
upon
his
feet
,
and
was
repeating
in
a
high
American
monotone
—
“
I
beg
to
second
the
election
of
Comrade
Syme
.
”
“
The
amendment
will
,
as
usual
,
be
put
first
,
”
said
Mr.
Buttons
,
the
chairman
,
with
mechanical
rapidity
.
“
The
question
is
that
Comrade
Syme
—
”
Gregory
had
again
sprung
to
his
feet
,
panting
and
passionate
.
“
Comrades
,
”
he
cried
out
,
“
I
am
not
a
madman
.
”
“
Oh
,
oh
!
”
said
Mr.
Witherspoon
.
“
I
am
not
a
madman
,
”
reiterated
Gregory
,
with
a
frightful
sincerity
which
for
a
moment
staggered
the
room
,
“
but
I
give
you
a
counsel
which
you
can
call
mad
if
you
like
.
No
,
I
will
not
call
it
a
counsel
,
for
I
can
give
you
no
reason
for
it
.
I
will
call
it
a
command
.
Call
it
a
mad
command
,
but
act
upon
it
.
Strike
,
but
hear
me
!
Kill
me
,
but
obey
me
!
Do
not
elect
this
man
.
”
Truth
is
so
terrible
,
even
in
fetters
,
that
for
a
moment
Syme’s
slender
and
insane
victory
swayed
like
a
reed
.
But
you
could
not
have
guessed
it
from
Syme’s
bleak
blue
eyes
.
He
merely
began
—
“
Comrade
Gregory
commands
—
”
Then
the
spell
was
snapped
,
and
one
anarchist
called
out
to
Gregory
—
“
Who
are
you
?
You
are
not
Sunday
”
;
and
another
anarchist
added
in
a
heavier
voice
,
“
And
you
are
not
Thursday
.
”
“
Comrades
,
”
cried
Gregory
,
in
a
voice
like
that
of
a
martyr
who
in
an
ecstacy
of
pain
has
passed
beyond
pain
,
“
it
is
nothing
to
me
whether
you
detest
me
as
a
tyrant
or
detest
me
as
a
slave
.
If
you
will
not
take
my
command
,
accept
my
degradation
.
I
kneel
to
you
.
I
throw
myself
at
your
feet
.
I
implore
you
.
Do
not
elect
this
man
.
”
“
Comrade
Gregory
,
”
said
the
chairman
after
a
painful
pause
,
“
this
is
really
not
quite
dignified
.
”
For
the
first
time
in
the
proceedings
there
was
for
a
few
seconds
a
real
silence
.
Then
Gregory
fell
back
in
his
seat
,
a
pale
wreck
of
a
man
,
and
the
chairman
repeated
,
like
a
piece
of
clock‑work
suddenly
started
again
—
“
The
question
is
that
Comrade
Syme
be
elected
to
the
post
of
Thursday
on
the
General
Council
.
”
The
roar
rose
like
the
sea
,
the
hands
rose
like
a
forest
,
and
three
minutes
afterwards
Mr.
Gabriel
Syme
,
of
the
Secret
Police
Service
,
was
elected
to
the
post
of
Thursday
on
the
General
Council
of
the
Anarchists
of
Europe
.
Everyone
in
the
room
seemed
to
feel
the
tug
waiting
on
the
river
,
the
sword‑stick
and
the
revolver
,
waiting
on
the
table
.
The
instant
the
election
was
ended
and
irrevocable
,
and
Syme
had
received
the
paper
proving
his
election
,
they
all
sprang
to
their
feet
,
and
the
fiery
groups
moved
and
mixed
in
the
room
.
Syme
found
himself
,
somehow
or
other
,
face
to
face
with
Gregory
,
who
still
regarded
him
with
a
stare
of
stunned
hatred
.
They
were
silent
for
many
minutes
.
“
You
are
a
devil
!
”
said
Gregory
at
last
.
“
And
you
are
a
gentleman
,
”
said
Syme
with
gravity
.
“
It
was
you
that
entrapped
me
,
”
began
Gregory
,
shaking
from
head
to
foot
,
“
entrapped
me
into
—
”
“
Talk
sense
,
”
said
Syme
shortly
.
“
Into
what
sort
of
devils’
parliament
have
you
entrapped
me
,
if
it
comes
to
that
?
You
made
me
swear
before
I
made
you
.
Perhaps
we
are
both
doing
what
we
think
right
.
But
what
we
think
right
is
so
damned
different
that
there
can
be
nothing
between
us
in
the
way
of
concession
.
There
is
nothing
possible
between
us
but
honour
and
death
,
”
and
he
pulled
the
great
cloak
about
his
shoulders
and
picked
up
the
flask
from
the
table
.
“
The
boat
is
quite
ready
,
”
said
Mr.
Buttons
,
bustling
up
.
“
Be
good
enough
to
step
this
way
.
”
With
a
gesture
that
revealed
the
shop-walker
,
he
led
Syme
down
a
short
,
iron‑bound
passage
,
the
still
agonised
Gregory
following
feverishly
at
their
heels
.
At
the
end
of
the
passage
was
a
door
,
which
Buttons
opened
sharply
,
showing
a
sudden
blue
and
silver
picture
of
the
moonlit
river
,
that
looked
like
a
scene
in
a
theatre
.
Close
to
the
opening
lay
a
dark
,
dwarfish
steam-launch
,
like
a
baby
dragon
with
one
red
eye
.
Almost
in
the
act
of
stepping
on
board
,
Gabriel
Syme
turned
to
the
gaping
Gregory
.
“
You
have
kept
your
word
,
”
he
said
gently
,
with
his
face
in
shadow
.
“
You
are
a
man
of
honour
,
and
I
thank
you
.
You
have
kept
it
even
down
to
a
small
particular
.
There
was
one
special
thing
you
promised
me
at
the
beginning
of
the
affair
,
and
which
you
have
certainly
given
me
by
the
end
of
it
.
”
“
What
do
you
mean
?
”
cried
the
chaotic
Gregory
.
“
What
did
I
promise
you
?
”
“
A
very
entertaining
evening
,
”
said
Syme
,
and
he
made
a
military
salute
with
the
sword‑stick
as
the
steamboat
slid
away
.
CHAPTER
IV
THE
TALE
OF
A
DETECTIVE
GABRIEL
SYME
was
not
merely
a
detective
who
pretended
to
be
a
poet
;
he
was
really
a
poet
who
had
become
a
detective
.
Nor
was
his
hatred
of
anarchy
hypocritical
.
He
was
one
of
those
who
are
driven
early
in
life
into
too
conservative
an
attitude
by
the
bewildering
folly
of
most
revolutionists
.
He
had
not
attained
it
by
any
tame
tradition
.
His
respectability
was
spontaneous
and
sudden
,
a
rebellion
against
rebellion
.
He
came
of
a
family
of
cranks
,
in
which
all
the
oldest
people
had
all
the
newest
notions
.
One
of
his
uncles
always
walked
about
without
a
hat
,
and
another
had
made
an
unsuccessful
attempt
to
walk
about
with
a
hat
and
nothing
else
.
His
father
cultivated
art
and
self‑realisation
;
his
mother
went
in
for
simplicity
and
hygiene
.
Hence
the
child
,
during
his
tenderer
years
,
was
wholly
unacquainted
with
any
drink
between
the
extremes
of
absinth
and
cocoa
,
of
both
of
which
he
had
a
healthy
dislike
.
The
more
his
mother
preached
a
more
than
Puritan
abstinence
the
more
did
his
father
expand
into
a
more
than
pagan
latitude
;
and
by
the
time
the
former
had
come
to
enforcing
vegetarianism
,
the
latter
had
pretty
well
reached
the
point
of
defending
cannibalism
.
Being
surrounded
with
every
conceivable
kind
of
revolt
from
infancy
,
Gabriel
had
to
revolt
into
something
,
so
he
revolted
into
the
only
thing
left
—
sanity
.
But
there
was
just
enough
in
him
of
the
blood
of
these
fanatics
to
make
even
his
protest
for
common
sense
a
little
too
fierce
to
be
sensible
.
His
hatred
of
modern
lawlessness
had
been
crowned
also
by
an
accident
.
It
happened
that
he
was
walking
in
a
side
street
at
the
instant
of
a
dynamite
outrage
.
He
had
been
blind
and
deaf
for
a
moment
,
and
then
seen
,
the
smoke
clearing
,
the
broken
windows
and
the
bleeding
faces
.
After
that
he
went
about
as
usual
—
quiet
,
courteous
,
rather
gentle
;
but
there
was
a
spot
on
his
mind
that
was
not
sane
.
He
did
not
regard
anarchists
,
as
most
of
us
do
,
as
a
handful
of
morbid
men
,
combining
ignorance
with
intellectualism
.
He
regarded
them
as
a
huge
and
pitiless
peril
,
like
a
Chinese
invasion
.
He
poured
perpetually
into
newspapers
and
their
waste‑paper
baskets
a
torrent
of
tales
,
verses
and
violent
articles
,
warning
men
of
this
deluge
of
barbaric
denial
.
But
he
seemed
to
be
getting
no
nearer
his
enemy
,
and
,
what
was
worse
,
no
nearer
a
living
.
As
he
paced
the
Thames
embankment
,
bitterly
biting
a
cheap
cigar
and
brooding
on
the
advance
of
Anarchy
,
there
was
no
anarchist
with
a
bomb
in
his
pocket
so
savage
or
so
solitary
as
he
.
Indeed
,
he
always
felt
that
Government
stood
alone
and
desperate
,
with
its
back
to
the
wall
.
He
was
too
quixotic
to
have
cared
for
it
otherwise
.
He
walked
on
the
Embankment
once
under
a
dark
red
sunset
.
The
red
river
reflected
the
red
sky
,
and
they
both
reflected
his
anger
.
The
sky
,
indeed
,
was
so
swarthy
,
and
the
light
on
the
river
relatively
so
lurid
,
that
the
water
almost
seemed
of
fiercer
flame
than
the
sunset
it
mirrored
.
It
looked
like
a
stream
of
literal
fire
winding
under
the
vast
caverns
of
a
subterranean
country
.
Syme
was
shabby
in
those
days
.
He
wore
an
old-fashioned
black
chimney‑pot
hat
;
he
was
wrapped
in
a
yet
more
old‑fashioned
cloak
,
black
and
ragged
;
and
the
combination
gave
him
the
look
of
the
early
villains
in
Dickens
and
Bulwer
Lytton
.
Also
his
yellow
beard
and
hair
were
more
unkempt
and
leonine
than
when
they
appeared
long
afterwards
,
cut
and
pointed
,
on
the
lawns
of
Saffron
Park
.
A
long
,
lean
,
black
cigar
,
bought
in
Soho
for
twopence
,
stood
out
from
between
his
tightened
teeth
,
and
altogether
he
looked
a
very
satisfactory
specimen
of
the
anarchists
upon
whom
he
had
vowed
a
holy
war
.
Perhaps
this
was
why
a
policeman
on
the
Embankment
spoke
to
him
,
and
said
“
Good
evening
.
”
Syme
,
at
a
crisis
of
his
morbid
fears
for
humanity
,
seemed
stung
by
the
mere
stolidity
of
the
automatic
official
,
a
mere
bulk
of
blue
in
the
twilight
.
“
A
good
evening
is
it
?
”
he
said
sharply
.
“
You
fellows
would
call
the
end
of
the
world
a
good
evening
.
Look
at
that
bloody
red
sun
and
that
bloody
river
!
I
tell
you
that
if
that
were
literally
human
blood
,
spilt
and
shining
,
you
would
still
be
standing
here
as
solid
as
ever
,
looking
out
for
some
poor
harmless
tramp
whom
you
could
move
on
.
You
policemen
are
cruel
to
the
poor
,
but
I
could
forgive
you
even
your
cruelty
if
it
were
not
for
your
calm
.
”
“
If
we
are
calm
,
”
replied
the
policeman
,
“
it
is
the
calm
of
organised
resistance
.
”
“
Eh
?
”
said
Syme
,
staring
.
“
The
soldier
must
be
calm
in
the
thick
of
the
battle
,
”
pursued
the
policeman
.
“
The
composure
of
an
army
is
the
anger
of
a
nation
.
”
“
Good
God
,
the
Board
Schools
!
”
said
Syme
.
“
Is
this
undenominational
education
?
”
“
No
,
”
said
the
policeman
sadly
,
“
I
never
had
any
of
those
advantages
.
The
Board
Schools
came
after
my
time
.
What
education
I
had
was
very
rough
and
old-fashioned
,
I
am
afraid
.
”
“
Where
did
you
have
it
?
”
asked
Syme
,
wondering
.
“
Oh
,
at
Harrow
,
”
said
the
policeman
The
class
sympathies
which
,
false
as
they
are
,
are
the
truest
things
in
so
many
men
,
broke
out
of
Syme
before
he
could
control
them
.
“
But
,
good
Lord
,
man
,
”
he
said
,
“
you
oughtn’t
to
be
a
policeman
!
”
The
policeman
sighed
and
shook
his
head
.
“
I
know
,
”
he
said
solemnly
,
“
I
know
I
am
not
worthy
.
”
“
But
why
did
you
join
the
police
?
”
asked
Syme
with
rude
curiosity
.
“
For
much
the
same
reason
that
you
abused
the
police
,
”
replied
the
other
.
“
I
found
that
there
was
a
special
opening
in
the
service
for
those
whose
fears
for
humanity
were
concerned
rather
with
the
aberrations
of
the
scientific
intellect
than
with
the
normal
and
excusable
,
though
excessive
,
outbreaks
of
the
human
will
.
I
trust
I
make
myself
clear
.
”
“
If
you
mean
that
you
make
your
opinion
clear
,
”
said
Syme
,
“
I
suppose
you
do
.
But
as
for
making
yourself
clear
,
it
is
the
last
thing
you
do
.
How
comes
a
man
like
you
to
be
talking
philosophy
in
a
blue
helmet
on
the
Thames
embankment
?
“
You
have
evidently
not
heard
of
the
latest
develop­ment
in
our
police
system
,
”
replied
the
other
.
“
I
am
not
surprised
at
it
.
We
are
keeping
it
rather
dark
from
the
educated
class
,
because
that
class
contains
most
of
our
enemies
.
But
you
seem
to
be
exactly
in
the
right
frame
of
mind
.
I
think
you
might
almost
join
us
.
”
“
Join
you
in
what
?
”
asked
Syme
.
“
I
will
tell
you
,
”
said
the
policeman
slowly
.
“
This
is
the
situation
:
The
head
of
one
of
our
departments
,
one
of
the
most
celebrated
detectives
in
Europe
,
has
long
been
of
opinion
that
a
purely
intellectual
conspiracy
would
soon
threaten
the
very
existence
of
civilisation
.
He
is
certain
that
the
scientific
and
artistic
worlds
are
silently
bound
in
a
crusade
against
the
Family
and
the
State
.
He
has
,
therefore
,
formed
a
special
corps
of
policemen
,
policemen
who
are
also
philosophers
.
It
is
their
business
to
watch
the
beginnings
of
this
conspiracy
,
not
merely
in
a
criminal
but
in
a
controversial
sense
.
I
am
a
democrat
myself
,
and
I
am
fully
aware
of
the
value
of
the
ordinary
man
in
matters
of
ordinary
valour
or
virtue
.
But
it
would
obviously
be
undesirable
to
employ
the
common
policeman
in
an
investigation
which
is
also
a
heresy
hunt
.
”
Syme’s
eyes
were
bright
with
a
sympathetic
curiosity
.
“
What
do
you
do
,
then
?
”
he
said
.
“
The
work
of
the
philosophical
policeman
,
”
replied
the
man
in
blue
,
“
is
at
once
bolder
and
more
subtle
than
that
of
the
ordinary
detective
.
The
ordinary
detective
goes
to
pot‑houses
to
arrest
thieves
;
we
go
to
artistic
tea‑parties
to
detect
pessimists
.
The
ordinary
detective
discovers
from
a
ledger
or
a
diary
that
a
crime
has
been
committed
.
We
discover
from
a
book
of
sonnets
that
a
crime
will
be
committed
.
We
have
to
trace
the
origin
of
those
dreadful
thoughts
that
drive
men
on
at
last
to
intellectual
fanaticism
and
intellectual
crime
.
We
were
only
just
in
time
to
prevent
the
assassination
at
Hartle
pool
,
and
that
was
entirely
due
to
the
fact
that
our
Mr.
Wilks
(
a
smart
young
fellow
)
thoroughly
understood
a
triolet
.
”
“
Do
you
mean
,
”
asked
Syme
,
“
that
there
is
really
as
much
connection
between
crime
and
the
modern
intellect
as
all
that
?
”
“
You
are
not
sufficiently
democratic
,
”
answered
the
policeman
,
“
but
you
were
right
when
you
said
just
now
that
our
ordinary
treatment
of
the
poor
criminal
was
a
pretty
brutal
business
.
I
tell
you
I
am
sometimes
sick
of
my
trade
when
I
see
how
perpetually
it
means
merely
a
war
upon
the
ignorant
and
the
desperate
.
But
this
new
movement
of
ours
is
a
very
different
affair
.
We
deny
the
snobbish
English
assumption
that
the
uneducated
are
the
dangerous
criminals
.
We
remember
the
Roman
Emperors
.
We
remember
the
great
poisoning
princes
of
the
Renaissance
.
We
say
that
the
dangerous
criminal
is
the
educated
criminal
.
We
say
that
the
most
dangerous
criminal
now
is
the
entirely
lawless
modern
philosopher
.
Compared
to
him
,
burglars
and
bigamists
are
essentially
moral
men
;
my
heart
goes
out
to
them
.
They
accept
the
essential
ideal
of
man
;
they
merely
seek
it
wrongly
.
Thieves
respect
property
.
They
merely
wish
the
property
to
become
their
property
that
they
may
more
perfectly
respect
it
.
But
philosophers
dislike
property
as
property
;
they
wish
to
destroy
the
very
idea
of
personal
possession
.
Bigamists
respect
marriage
,
or
they
would
not
go
through
the
highly
ceremonial
and
even
ritualistic
formality
of
bigamy
.
But
philosophers
despise
marriage
as
marriage
.
Murderers
respect
human
life
;
they
merely
wish
to
attain
a
greater
fulness
of
human
life
in
themselves
by
the
sacrifice
of
what
seems
to
them
to
be
lesser
lives
.
But
philosophers
hate
life
itself
,
their
own
as
much
as
other
people’s
.
”
Syme
struck
his
hands
together
.
“
How
true
that
is
,
”
he
cried
.
“
I
have
felt
it
from
my
boyhood
,
but
never
could
state
the
verbal
antithesis
.
The
common
criminal
is
a
bad
man
,
but
at
least
he
is
,
as
it
were
,
a
conditional
good
man
.
He
says
that
if
only
a
certain
obstacle
be
removed
—
say
a
wealthy
uncle
—
he
is
then
prepared
to
accept
the
universe
and
to
praise
God
.
He
is
a
reformer
,
but
not
an
anarchist
.
He
wishes
to
cleanse
the
edifice
,
but
not
to
destroy
it
.
But
the
evil
philosopher
is
not
trying
to
alter
things
,
but
to
annihilate
them
.
Yes
,
the
modern
world
has
retained
all
those
parts
of
police
work
which
are
really
oppressive
and
ignominious
,
the
harrying
of
the
poor
,
the
spying
upon
the
unfortunate
.
It
has
given
up
its
more
dignified
work
,
the
punishment
of
powerful
traitors
the
in
the
State
and
powerful
heresiarchs
in
the
Church
.
The
moderns
say
we
must
not
punish
heretics
.
My
only
doubt
is
whether
we
have
a
right
to
punish
anybody
else
.
”
“
But
this
is
absurd
!
”
cried
the
policeman
,
clasping
his
hands
with
an
excitement
uncommon
in
persons
of
his
figure
and
costume
,
“
but
it
is
intolerable
!
I
don’t
know
what
you’re
doing
,
but
you’re
wasting
your
life
.
You
must
,
you
shall
,
join
our
special
army
against
anarchy
.
Their
armies
are
on
our
frontiers
.
Their
bolt
is
ready
to
fall
.
A
moment
more
,
and
you
may
lose
the
glory
of
working
with
us
,
perhaps
the
glory
of
dying
with
the
last
heroes
of
the
world
.
”
“
It
is
a
chance
not
to
be
missed
,
certainly
,
”
assented
Syme
,
“
but
still
I
do
not
quite
understand
.
I
know
as
well
as
anybody
that
the
modern
world
is
full
of
lawless
little
men
and
mad
little
movements
.
But
,
beastly
as
they
are
,
they
generally
have
the
one
merit
of
disagreeing
with
each
other
.
How
can
you
talk
of
their
leading
one
army
or
hurling
one
bolt
.
What
is
this
anarchy
?
”
“
Do
not
confuse
it
,
”
replied
the
constable
,
“
with
those
chance
dynamite
outbreaks
from
Russia
or
from
Ireland
,
which
are
really
the
outbreaks
of
oppressed
,
if
mistaken
,
men
.
This
is
a
vast
philosophic
movement
,
consisting
of
an
outer
and
an
inner
ring
.
You
might
even
call
the
outer
ring
the
laity
and
the
inner
ring
the
priesthood
.
I
prefer
to
call
the
outer
ring
the
innocent
section
,
the
inner
ring
the
supremely
guilty
section
.
The
outer
ring
—
the
main
mass
of
their
supporters
—
are
merely
anarchists
;
that
is
,
men
who
believe
that
rules
and
formulas
have
destroyed
human
happiness
.
They
believe
that
all
the
evil
results
of
human
crime
are
the
results
of
the
system
that
has
called
it
crime
.
They
do
not
believe
that
the
crime
creates
the
punishment
.
They
believe
that
the
punishment
has
created
the
crime
.
They
believe
that
if
a
man
seduced
seven
women
he
would
naturally
walk
away
as
blameless
as
the
flowers
of
spring
.
They
believe
that
if
a
man
picked
a
pocket
he
would
naturally
feel
exquisitely
good
.
These
I
call
the
innocent
section
.
”
“
Oh
!
”
said
Syme
.
“
Naturally
,
therefore
,
these
people
talk
about
‘a
happy
time
coming’
;
‘the
paradise
of
the
future’
;
‘mankind
freed
from
the
bondage
of
vice
and
the
bondage
of
virtue
,
’
and
so
on
.
And
so
also
the
men
of
the
inner
circle
speak
—
the
sacred
priesthood
.
They
also
speak
to
applauding
crowds
of
the
happiness
of
the
future
,
and
of
mankind
freed
at
last
.
But
in
their
mouths
”
—
and
the
policeman
lowered
his
voice
—
“
in
their
mouths
these
happy
phrases
have
a
horrible
meaning
.
They
are
under
no
illusions
;
they
are
too
intellectual
to
think
that
man
upon
this
earth
can
ever
be
quite
free
of
original
sin
and
the
struggle
.
And
they
mean
death
.
When
they
say
that
mankind
shall
be
free
at
last
,
they
mean
that
mankind
shall
commit
suicide
.
When
they
talk
of
a
paradise
without
right
or
wrong
,
they
mean
the
grave
.
They
have
but
two
objects
,
to
destroy
first
humanity
and
then
themselves
.
That
is
why
they
throw
bombs
instead
of
firing
pistols
.
The
innocent
rank
and
file
are
disappointed
because
the
bomb
has
not
killed
the
king
;
but
the
high-priesthood
are
happy
because
it
has
killed
somebody
.
”
“
How
can
I
join
you
?
”
asked
Syme
,
with
a
sort
of
passion
.
“
I
know
for
a
fact
that
there
is
a
vacancy
at
the
moment
,
”
said
the
policeman
,
“
as
I
have
the
honour
to
be
somewhat
in
the
confidence
of
the
chief
of
whom
I
have
spoken
.
You
should
really
come
and
see
him
.
Or
rather
,
I
should
not
say
see
him
,
nobody
ever
sees
him
;
but
you
can
talk
to
him
if
you
like
.
”
“
Telephone
?
”
inquired
Syme
,
with
interest
.
“
No
,
”
said
the
policeman
placidly
,
“
he
has
a
fancy
for
always
sitting
in
a
pitch-dark
room
.
He
says
it
makes
his
thoughts
brighter
.
Do
come
along
.
”
Somewhat
dazed
and
considerably
excited
,
Syme
allowed
himself
to
be
led
to
a
side‑door
in
the
long
row
of
buildings
of
Scotland
Yard
.
Almost
before
he
knew
what
he
was
doing
,
he
had
been
passed
through
the
hands
of
about
four
intermediate
officials
,
and
was
suddenly
shown
into
a
room
,
the
abrupt
blackness
of
which
startled
him
like
a
blaze
of
light
.
It
was
not
the
ordinary
darkness
,
in
which
forms
can
be
faintly
traced
;
it
was
like
going
suddenly
stone‑blind
.
“
Are
you
the
new
recruit
?
”
asked
a
heavy
voice
.
And
in
some
strange
way
,
though
there
was
not
the
shadow
of
a
shape
in
the
gloom
,
Syme
knew
two
things
:
first
,
that
it
came
from
a
man
of
massive
stature
;
and
second
,
that
the
man
had
his
back
to
him
.
“
Are
you
the
new
recruit
?
”
said
the
invisible
chief
,
who
seemed
to
have
heard
all
about
it
.
“
All
right
.
You
are
engaged
.
”
Syme
,
quite
swept
off
his
feet
,
made
a
feeble
fight
against
this
irrevocable
phrase
.
“
I
really
have
no
experience
,
”
he
began
.
“
No
one
has
any
experience
,
”
said
the
other
,
“
of
the
Battle
of
Armageddon
.
”
“
But
I
am
really
unfit
—
”
“
You
are
willing
,
that
is
enough
,
”
said
the
unknown
.
“
Well
,
really
,
”
said
Syme
,
“
I
don’t
know
any
profession
of
which
mere
willingness
is
the
final
test
.
”
“
I
do
,
”
said
the
other
—
“
martyrs
.
I
am
condemning
you
to
death
.
Good
day
.
”
Thus
it
was
that
when
Gabriel
Syme
came
out
again
into
the
crimson
light
of
evening
,
in
his
shabby
black
hat
and
shabby
,
lawless
cloak
,
he
came
out
a
member
of
the
New
Detective
Corps
for
the
frustration
of
the
great
conspiracy
.
Acting
under
the
advice
of
his
friend
the
policeman
(
who
was
professionally
inclined
to
neatness
)
,
he
trimmed
his
hair
and
beard
,
bought
a
good
hat
,
clad
himself
in
an
exquisite
summer
suit
of
light
blue-grey
,
with
a
pale
yellow
flower
in
the
button‑hole
,
and
,
in
short
,
became
that
elegant
and
rather
insupportable
person
whom
Gregory
had
first
encountered
in
the
little
garden
of
Saffron
Park
.
Before
he
finally
left
the
police
premises
his
friend
provided
him
with
a
small
blue
card
,
on
which
was
written
,
“
The
Last
Crusade
,
”
and
a
number
,
the
sign
of
his
official
authority
.
He
put
this
carefully
in
his
upper
waistcoat
pocket
,
lit
a
cigarette
,
and
went
forth
to
track
and
fight
the
enemy
in
all
the
drawing‑rooms
of
London
.
Where
his
adventure
ultimately
led
him
we
have
already
seen
.
At
about
half-past
one
on
a
February
night
he
found
himself
steaming
in
a
small
tug
up
the
silent
Thames
,
armed
with
swordstick
and
revolver
,
the
duly
elected
Thursday
of
the
Central
Council
of
Anarchists
.
When
Syme
stepped
out
on
to
the
steam‑tug
he
had
a
singular
sensation
of
stepping
out
into
something
entirely
new
;
not
merely
into
the
landscape
of
a
new
land
,
but
even
into
the
landscape
of
a
new
planet
.
This
was
mainly
due
to
the
insane
yet
solid
decision
of
that
evening
,
though
partly
also
to
an
entire
change
in
the
weather
and
the
sky
since
he
entered
the
little
tavern
some
two
hours
before
.
Every
trace
of
the
passionate
plumage
of
the
cloudy
sunset
had
been
swept
away
,
and
a
naked
moon
stood
in
a
naked
sky
.
The
moon
was
so
strong
and
full
that
(
by
a
paradox
often
to
be
noticed
)
it
seemed
like
a
weaker
sun
.
It
gave
,
not
the
sense
of
bright
moonshine
,
but
rather
of
a
dead
daylight
.
Over
the
whole
landscape
lay
a
luminous
and
unnatural
discoloration
,
as
of
that
disastrous
twilight
which
Milton
spoke
of
as
shed
by
the
sun
in
eclipse
;
so
that
Syme
fell
easily
into
his
first
thought
,
that
he
was
actually
on
some
other
and
emptier
planet
,
which
circled
round
some
sadder
star
.
But
the
more
he
felt
this
glittering
desolation
in
the
moonlit
land
,
the
more
his
own
chivalric
folly
glowed
in
the
night
like
a
great
fire
.
Even
the
common
things
he
carried
with
him
—
the
food
and
the
brandy
and
the
loaded
pistol
—
took
on
exactly
that
concrete
and
material
poetry
which
a
child
feels
when
he
takes
a
gun
upon
a
journey
or
a
bun
with
him
to
bed
.
The
sword‑stick
and
the
brandy‑flask
,
though
in
themselves
only
the
tools
of
morbid
conspirators
,
became
the
expressions
of
his
own
more
healthy
romance
.
The
sword‑stick
became
almost
the
sword
of
chivalry
,
and
the
brandy
the
wine
of
the
stirrup-cup
.
For
even
the
most
dehumanised
modern
fantasies
depend
on
some
older
and
simpler
figure
;
the
adventures
may
be
mad
,
but
the
adventurer
must
be
sane
.
The
dragon
without
St.
George
would
not
even
be
grotesque
.
So
this
inhuman
landscape
was
only
imaginative
by
the
presence
of
a
man
really
human
.
To
Syme’s
exaggerative
mind
the
bright
,
bleak
houses
and
terraces
by
the
Thames
looked
as
empty
as
the
mountains
of
the
moon
.
But
even
the
moon
is
only
poetical
because
there
is
a
man
in
the
moon
.
The
tug
was
worked
by
two
men
,
and
with
much
toil
went
comparatively
slowly
.
The
clear
moon
that
had
lit
up
Chiswick
had
gone
down
by
the
time
that
they
passed
Battersea
,
and
when
they
came
under
the
enormous
bulk
of
Westminster
day
had
already
begun
to
break
.
It
broke
like
the
splitting
of
great
bars
of
lead
,
showing
bars
of
silver
;
and
these
had
brightened
like
white
fire
when
the
tug
,
changing
its
onward
course
,
turned
inward
to
a
large
landing
stage
rather
beyond
Charing
Cross
.
The
great
stones
of
the
Embankment
seemed
equally
dark
and
gigantic
as
Syme
looked
up
at
them
.
They
were
big
and
black
against
the
huge
white
dawn
.
They
made
him
feel
that
he
was
landing
on
the
colossal
steps
of
some
Egyptian
palace
;
and
,
indeed
,
the
thing
suited
his
mood
,
for
he
was
,
in
his
own
mind
,
mounting
to
attack
the
solid
thrones
of
horrible
and
heathen
kings
.
He
leapt
out
of
the
boat
on
to
one
slimy
step
,
and
stood
,
a
dark
and
slender
figure
,
amid
the
enormous
masonry
.
The
two
men
in
the
tug
put
her
off
again
and
turned
up
stream
.
They
had
never
spoken
a
word
.
CHAPTER
V
THE
FEAST
OF
FEAR
AT
first
the
large
stone
stair
seemed
to
Syme
as
deserted
as
a
pyramid
;
but
before
he
reached
the
top
he
had
realised
that
there
was
a
man
leaning
over
the
parapet
of
the
Embankment
and
looking
out
across
the
river
.
As
a
figure
he
was
quite
conventional
,
clad
in
a
silk
hat
and
frock‑coat
of
the
more
formal
type
of
fashion
;
he
had
a
red
flower
in
his
buttonhole
.
As
Syme
drew
nearer
to
him
step
by
step
,
he
did
not
even
move
a
hair
;
and
Syme
could
come
close
enough
to
notice
even
in
the
dim
,
pale
morning
light
that
his
face
was
long
,
pale
and
intellectual
,
and
ended
in
a
small
triangular
tuft
of
dark
beard
at
the
very
point
of
the
chin
,
all
else
being
clean-shaven
.
This
scrap
of
hair
almost
seemed
a
mere
oversight
;
the
rest
of
the
face
was
of
the
type
that
is
best
shaven
—
clear‑cut
,
ascetic
,
and
in
its
way
noble
.
Syme
drew
closer
and
closer
,
noting
all
this
,
and
still
the
figure
did
not
stir
.
At
first
an
instinct
had
told
Syme
that
this
was
the
man
whom
he
was
meant
to
meet
.
Then
,
seeing
that
the
man
made
no
sign
,
he
had
concluded
that
he
was
not
.
And
now
again
he
had
come
back
to
a
certainty
that
the
man
had
something
to
do
with
his
mad
adventure
.
For
the
man
remained
more
still
than
would
have
been
natural
if
a
stranger
had
come
so
close
.
He
was
as
motionless
as
a
wax‑work
,
and
got
on
the
nerves
somewhat
in
the
same
way
.
Syme
looked
again
and
again
at
the
pale
,
dignified
and
delicate
face
,
and
the
face
still
looked
blankly
across
the
river
.
Then
he
took
out
of
his
pocket
the
note
from
Buttons
proving
his
election
,
and
put
it
before
that
sad
and
beautiful
face
.
Then
the
man
smiled
,
and
his
smile
was
a
shock
,
for
it
was
all
on
one
side
,
going
up
in
the
right
cheek
and
down
in
the
left
.
There
was
nothing
,
rationally
speaking
,
to
scare
anyone
about
this
.
Many
people
have
this
nervous
trick
of
a
crooked
smile
,
and
in
many
it
is
even
attractive
.
But
in
all
Syme’s
circumstances
,
with
the
dark
dawn
and
the
deadly
errand
and
the
loneliness
on
the
great
drip­ping
stones
,
there
was
something
unnerving
in
it
.
There
was
the
silent
river
and
the
silent
man
,
a
man
of
even
classic
face
.
And
there
was
the
last
nightmare
touch
that
his
smile
suddenly
went
wrong
.
The
spasm
of
smile
was
instantaneous
,
and
the
man’s
face
dropped
at
once
into
its
harmonious
melancholy
.
He
spoke
without
further
explanation
or
inquiry
,
like
a
man
speaking
to
an
old
colleague
.
“
If
we
walk
up
towards
Leicester
Square
,
”
he
said
,
“
we
shall
just
be
in
time
for
breakfast
.
Sunday
always
insists
on
an
early
breakfast
.
Have
you
had
any
sleep
?
”
“
No
,
”
said
Syme
.
“
Nor
have
I
,
”
answered
the
man
in
an
ordinary
tone
.
“
I
shall
try
to
get
to
bed
after
breakfast
.
”
He
spoke
with
casual
civility
,
but
in
an
utterly
dead
voice
that
contradicted
the
fanaticism
of
his
face
.
It
seemed
almost
as
if
all
friendly
words
were
to
him
lifeless
conveniences
,
and
that
his
only
life
was
hate
.
After
a
pause
the
man
spoke
again
.
“
Of
course
,
the
Secretary
of
the
branch
told
you
everything
that
can
be
told
.
But
the
one
thing
that
can
never
be
told
is
the
last
notion
of
the
President
,
for
his
notions
grow
like
a
tropical
forest
.
So
in
case
you
don’t
know
,
I’d
better
tell
you
that
he
is
carrying
out
his
notion
of
concealing
ourselves
by
not
concealing
ourselves
to
the
most
extraordinary
lengths
just
now
.
Originally
,
of
course
,
we
met
in
a
cell
underground
,
just
as
your
branch
does
.
Then
Sunday
made
us
take
a
private
room
at
an
ordinary
restaurant
.
He
said
that
if
you
didn’t
seem
to
be
hiding
nobody
hunted
you
out
.
Well
,
he
is
the
only
man
on
earth
,
I
know
;
but
sometimes
I
really
think
that
his
huge
brain
is
going
a
little
mad
in
its
old
age
.
For
now
we
flaunt
ourselves
before
the
public
.
We
have
our
breakfast
on
a
balcony
—
on
a
balcony
,
if
you
please
—
overlooking
Leicester
Square
.
”
“
And
what
do
the
people
say
?
”
asked
Syme
.
“
It’s
quite
simple
what
they
say
,
”
answered
his
guide
.
“
They
say
we
are
a
lot
of
jolly
gentlemen
who
pretend
they
are
anarchists
.
”
“
It
seems
to
me
a
very
clever
idea
,
”
said
Syme
.
“
Clever
!
God
blast
your
impudence
!
Clever
!
”
cried
out
the
other
in
a
sudden
,
shrill
voice
which
was
as
startling
and
discordant
as
his
crooked
smile
.
“
When
you’ve
seen
Sunday
for
a
split
second
you’ll
leave
off
calling
him
clever
.
”
With
this
they
emerged
out
of
a
narrow
street
,
and
saw
the
early
sunlight
filling
Leicester
Square
.
It
will
never
be
known
,
I
suppose
,
why
this
square
itself
should
look
so
alien
and
in
some
ways
so
continental
.
It
will
never
be
known
whether
it
was
the
foreign
look
that
attracted
the
foreigners
or
the
foreigners
who
gave
it
the
foreign
look
.
But
on
this
particular
morning
the
effect
seemed
singularly
bright
and
clear
.
Between
the
open
square
and
the
sunlit
leaves
and
the
statue
and
the
Saracenic
outlines
of
the
Alhambra
,
it
looked
the
replica
of
some
French
or
even
Spanish
public
place
.
And
this
effect
increased
in
Syme
the
sensation
,
which
in
many
shapes
he
had
had
through
the
whole
adventure
,
the
eerie
sensation
of
having
strayed
into
a
new
world
.
As
a
fact
,
he
had
bought
bad
cigars
round
Leicester
Square
ever
since
he
was
a
boy
.
But
as
he
turned
that
corner
,
and
saw
the
trees
and
the
Moorish
cupolas
,
he
could
have
sworn
that
he
was
turning
into
an
unknown
Place
de
something
or
other
in
some
foreign
town
.
At
one
corner
of
the
square
there
projected
a
kind
of
angle
of
a
prosperous
but
quiet
hotel
,
the
bulk
of
which
belonged
to
a
street
behind
.
In
the
wall
there
was
one
large
French
window
,
probably
the
window
of
a
large
coffee‑room
;
and
outside
this
window
,
almost
literally
overhanging
the
square
,
was
a
formidably
buttressed
balcony
,
big
enough
to
contain
a
dining‑table
.
In
fact
,
it
did
contain
a
dining‑table
,
or
more
strictly
a
breakfast‑table
;
and
round
the
breakfast‑table
,
glowing
in
the
sunlight
and
evident
to
the
street
,
were
a
group
of
noisy
and
talkative
men
,
all
dressed
in
the
insolence
of
fashion
,
with
white
waistcoats
and
expensive
button‑holes
.
Some
of
their
jokes
could
almost
be
heard
across
the
square
.
Then
the
grave
Secretary
gave
his
unnatural
smile
,
and
Syme
knew
that
this
boisterous
breakfast
party
was
the
secret
conclave
of
the
European
Dynamiters
.
Then
,
as
Syme
continued
to
stare
at
them
,
he
saw
something
that
he
had
not
seen
before
.
He
had
not
seen
it
literally
because
it
was
too
large
to
see
.
At
the
nearest
end
of
the
balcony
,
blocking
up
a
great
part
of
the
perspective
,
was
the
back
of
a
great
mountain
of
a
man
.
When
Syme
had
seen
him
,
his
first
thought
was
that
the
weight
of
him
must
break
down
the
balcony
of
stone
.
His
vastness
did
not
lie
only
in
the
fact
that
he
was
abnormally
tall
and
quite
incredibly
fat
.
This
man
was
planned
enormously
in
his
original
proportions
,
like
a
statue
carved
deliberately
as
colossal
.
His
head
,
crowned
with
white
hair
,
as
seen
from
behind
looked
bigger
than
a
head
ought
to
be
.
The
ears
that
stood
out
from
it
looked
larger
than
human
ears
.
He
was
enlarged
terribly
to
scale
;
and
this
sense
of
size
was
so
staggering
,
that
when
Syme
saw
him
all
the
other
figures
seemed
quite
suddenly
to
dwindle
and
become
dwarfish
.
They
were
still
sitting
there
as
before
with
their
flowers
and
frock‑coats
,
but
now
it
looked
as
if
the
big
man
was
entertaining
five
children
to
tea
.
As
Syme
and
the
guide
approached
the
side
door
of
the
hotel
,
a
waiter
came
out
smiling
with
every
tooth
in
his
head
.
“
The
gentlemen
are
up
there
,
sare
,
”
he
said
.
“
They
do
talk
and
they
do
laugh
at
what
they
talk
.
They
do
say
they
will
throw
bombs
at
ze
king
.
”
And
the
waiter
hurried
away
with
a
napkin
over
his
arm
,
much
pleased
with
the
singular
frivolity
of
the
gentlemen
upstairs
.
The
two
men
mounted
the
stairs
in
silence
.
Syme
had
never
thought
of
asking
whether
the
monstrous
man
who
almost
filled
and
broke
the
balcony
was
the
great
President
of
whom
the
others
stood
in
awe
.
He
knew
it
was
so
,
with
an
unaccountable
but
instantaneous
certainty
.
Syme
,
indeed
,
was
one
of
those
men
who
are
open
to
all
the
more
nameless
psychological
influences
in
a
degree
a
little
dangerous
to
mental
health
.
Utterly
devoid
of
fear
in
physical
dangers
,
he
was
a
great
deal
too
sensitive
to
the
smell
of
spiritual
evil
.
Twice
already
that
night
little
unmeaning
things
had
peeped
out
at
him
almost
pruriently
,
and
given
him
a
sense
of
drawing
nearer
and
nearer
to
the
head‑quarters
of
hell
.
And
this
sense
became
overpowering
as
he
drew
nearer
to
the
great
President
.
The
form
it
took
was
a
childish
and
yet
hateful
fancy
.
As
he
walked
across
the
inner
room
towards
the
balcony
,
the
large
face
of
Sunday
grew
larger
and
larger
;
and
Syme
was
gripped
with
a
fear
that
when
he
was
quite
close
the
face
would
be
too
big
to
be
possible
,
and
that
he
would
scream
aloud
.
He
remembered
that
as
a
child
he
would
not
look
at
the
mask
of
Memnon
in
the
British
Museum
,
because
it
was
a
face
,
and
so
large
.
By
an
effort
,
braver
than
that
of
leaping
over
a
cliff
,
he
went
to
an
empty
seat
at
the
breakfast‑table
and
sat
down
.
The
men
greeted
him
with
good-humoured
raillery
as
if
they
had
always
known
him
.
He
sobered
himself
a
little
by
looking
at
their
conventional
coats
and
solid
,
shining
coffee‑pot
;
then
he
looked
again
at
Sunday
.
His
face
was
very
large
,
but
it
was
still
possible
to
humanity
.
In
the
presence
of
the
President
the
whole
company
looked
sufficiently
commonplace
;
nothing
about
them
caught
the
eye
at
first
,
except
that
by
the
President’s
caprice
they
had
been
dressed
up
with
a
festive
respectability
,
which
gave
the
meal
the
look
of
a
wedding
breakfast
.
One
man
indeed
stood
out
at
even
a
superficial
glance
.
He
at
least
was
the
common
or
garden
Dynamiter
.
He
wore
,
indeed
,
the
high
white
collar
and
satin
tie
that
were
the
uniform
of
the
occasion
;
but
out
of
this
collar
there
sprang
a
head
quite
unmanageable
and
quite
unmistakable
,
a
bewildering
bush
of
brown
hair
and
beard
that
almost
obscured
the
eyes
like
those
of
a
Skye
terrier
.
But
the
eyes
did
look
out
of
the
tangle
,
and
they
were
the
sad
eyes
of
some
Russian
serf
.
The
effect
of
this
figure
was
not
terrible
like
that
of
the
President
,
but
it
had
every
diablerie
that
can
come
from
the
utterly
grotesque
.
If
out
of
that
stiff
tie
and
collar
there
had
come
abruptly
the
head
of
a
cat
or
a
dog
,
it
could
not
have
been
a
more
idiotic
contrast
.
The
man’s
name
,
it
seemed
,
was
Gogol
;
he
was
a
Pole
,
and
in
this
circle
of
days
he
was
called
Tuesday
.
His
soul
and
speech
were
incurably
tragic
;
he
could
not
force
himself
to
play
the
prosperous
and
frivolous
part
demanded
of
him
by
President
Sunday
.
And
,
indeed
,
when
Syme
came
in
the
President
,
with
that
daring
disregard
of
public
suspicion
which
was
his
policy
,
was
actually
chaffing
Gogol
upon
his
inability
to
assume
conventional
graces
.
“
Our
friend
Tuesday
,
”
said
the
President
in
a
deep
voice
at
once
of
quietude
and
volume
,
“
our
friend
Tuesday
doesn’t
seem
to
grasp
the
idea
.
He
dresses
up
like
a
gentleman
,
but
he
seems
to
be
too
great
a
soul
to
behave
like
one
.
He
insists
on
the
ways
of
the
stage
conspirator
.
Now
if
a
gentleman
goes
about
London
in
a
top
hat
and
a
frock‑coat
,
no
one
need
know
that
he
is
an
anarchist
.
But
if
a
gentleman
puts
on
a
top
hat
and
a
frock‑coat
,
and
then
goes
about
on
his
hands
and
knees
—
well
,
he
may
attract
attention
.
That’s
what
Brother
Gogol
does
.
He
goes
about
on
his
hands
and
knees
with
such
inexhaustible
diplomacy
,
that
by
this
time
he
finds
it
quite
difficult
to
walk
upright
.
”
“
I
am
not
good
at
goncealment
,
”
said
Gogol
sulkily
,
with
a
thick
foreign
accent
;
“
I
am
not
ashamed
of
the
cause
.
”
“
Yes
you
are
,
my
boy
,
and
so
is
the
cause
of
you
,
”
said
the
President
good-naturedly
.
“
You
hide
as
much
as
anybody
;
but
you
can’t
do
it
,
you
see
,
you’re
such
an
ass
!
You
try
to
combine
two
inconsistent
methods
.
When
a
householder
finds
a
man
under
his
bed
,
he
will
probably
pause
to
note
the
circumstance
.
But
if
he
finds
a
man
under
his
bed
in
a
top
hat
,
you
will
agree
with
me
,
my
dear
Tuesday
,
that
he
is
not
likely
even
to
forget
it
.
Now
when
you
were
found
under
Admiral
Biffin’s
bed
—
”
“
I
am
not
good
at
deception
,
”
said
Tuesday
gloomily
,
flushing
.
“
Right
,
my
boy
,
right
,
”
said
the
President
with
a
ponderous
heartiness
,
“
you
aren’t
good
at
anything
.
”
While
this
stream
of
conversation
continued
,
Syme
was
looking
more
steadily
at
the
men
around
him
.
As
he
did
so
,
he
gradually
felt
all
his
sense
of
something
spiritually
queer
return
.
He
had
thought
at
first
that
they
were
all
of
common
stature
and
costume
,
with
the
evident
exception
of
the
hairy
Gogol
.
But
as
he
looked
at
the
others
,
he
began
to
see
in
each
of
them
exactly
what
he
had
seen
in
the
man
by
the
river
,
a
demoniac
detail
somewhere
.
That
lop‑sided
laugh
,
which
would
suddenly
disfigure
the
fine
face
of
his
original
guide
,
was
typical
of
all
these
types
.
Each
man
had
something
about
him
,
perceived
perhaps
at
the
tenth
or
twentieth
glance
,
which
was
not
normal
,
and
which
seemed
hardly
human
.
The
only
metaphor
he
could
think
of
was
this
,
that
they
all
looked
as
men
of
fashion
and
presence
would
look
,
with
the
additional
twist
given
in
a
false
and
curved
mirror
.
Only
the
individual
examples
will
express
this
half-concealed
eccentricity
.
Syme’s
original
cicerone
bore
the
title
of
Monday
;
he
was
the
Secretary
of
the
Council
,
and
his
twisted
smile
was
regarded
with
more
terror
than
anything
,
except
the
President’s
horrible
,
happy
laughter
.
But
now
that
Syme
had
more
space
and
light
to
observe
him
,
there
were
other
touches
.
His
fine
face
was
so
emaciated
,
that
Syme
thought
it
must
be
wasted
with
some
disease
;
yet
somehow
the
very
distress
of
his
dark
eyes
denied
this
.
It
was
no
physical
ill
that
troubled
him
.
His
eyes
were
alive
with
intellectual
torture
,
as
if
pure
thought
was
pain
.
He
was
typical
of
each
of
the
tribe
;
each
man
was
subtly
and
differently
wrong
.
Next
to
him
sat
Tuesday
,
the
tousle‑headed
Gogol
,
a
man
more
obviously
mad
.
Next
was
Wednesday
,
a
certain
Marquis
de
St.
Eustache
,
a
sufficiently
characteristic
figure
.
The
first
few
glances
found
nothing
unusual
about
him
,
except
that
he
was
the
only
man
at
table
who
wore
the
fashionable
clothes
as
if
they
were
really
his
own
.
He
had
a
black
French
beard
cut
square
and
a
black
English
frock‑coat
cut
even
squarer
.
But
Syme
,
sensitive
to
such
things
,
felt
somehow
that
the
man
carried
a
rich
atmosphere
with
him
,
a
rich
atmosphere
that
suffocated
.
It
reminded
one
irrationally
of
drowsy
odours
and
of
dying
lamps
in
the
darker
poems
of
Byron
and
Poe
.
With
this
went
a
sense
of
his
being
clad
,
not
in
lighter
colours
,
but
in
softer
materials
;
his
black
seemed
richer
and
warmer
than
the
black
shades
about
him
,
as
if
it
were
compounded
of
profound
colour
.
His
black
coat
looked
as
if
it
were
only
black
by
being
too
dense
a
purple
.
His
black
beard
looked
as
if
it
were
only
black
by
being
too
deep
a
blue
.
And
in
the
gloom
and
thickness
of
the
beard
his
dark
red
mouth
showed
sensual
and
scornful
.
Whatever
he
was
he
was
not
a
Frenchman
;
he
might
be
a
Jew
;
he
might
be
something
deeper
yet
in
the
dark
heart
of
the
East
.
In
the
bright
coloured
Persian
tiles
and
pictures
