The Lust of Hate by Guy Newell Boothby (ebook reader for pc .txt) đź“–
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on the ground, could scarcely be imagined. I watched until the man I
had followed returned with an ambulance stretcher, and then
accompanied the mournful cortege a hundred yards or so on its
way to the hospital. Then, being tired of the matter, I branched off
the track, and prepared to make my way back to my hotel as fast as my
legs would take me.
My thoughts were oppressed with what I had seen. There was a grim
fascination about the recollection of the incident that haunted me
continually, and which I could not dispel, try how I would. I
pictured Bartrand lying in the snow exactly as I had seen the other,
and fancied myself coming up and finding him. At that moment I was
passing Charing Cross Railway Station. With the exception of a
policeman sauntering slowly along on the other side of the street, a
drunken man staggering in the road, and a hansom cab approaching us
from Trafalgar Square, I had the street to myself. London slept while
the snow fell, and murder was being done in her public thoroughfares.
The hansom came closer, and for some inscrutable reason I found
myself beginning to take a personal interest in it. This interest
became even greater when, with a spluttering and sliding of feet, the
horse came to a sudden standstill alongside the footpath where I
stood. Next moment a man attired in a thick cloak threw open the
apron and sprang out.
“Mr. Pennethorne, I believe?” he said, stopping me, and at the
same time raising his hat.
“That is my name,” I answered shortly, wondering how he knew me
and what on earth he wanted. “What can I do for you?”
He signed to his driver to go, and then, turning to me, said, at
the same time placing his gloved hand upon my arm in a confidential
way:
“I am charmed to make your acquaintance. May I have the pleasure
of walking a little way with you? I should be glad of your society,
and I can then tell you my business.”
His voice was soft and musical, and he spoke with a peculiar
languor that was not without its charm. But as I could not understand
what he wanted with me, I put the question to him as plainly as I
could without being absolutely rude, and awaited his answer. He gave
utterance to a queer little laugh before he replied:
“I want the pleasure of your company at supper for one thing,” he
said. “And I want to be allowed to help you in a certain matter in
which you are vitally interested, for another. The two taken together
should, I think, induce you to give me your attention.”
“But I don’t know you,” I blurted out. “To the best of my belief I
have never set eyes on you before. What business, therefore, can you
have with me?”
“You shall know all in good time,” he answered. “In the meantime
let me introduce myself. My name is Nikola. I am a doctor by
profession, a scientist by choice. I have few friends in London, but
those I have are the best that a man could desire. I spend my life in
the way that pleases me most; that is to say, in the study of human
nature. I have been watching you since you arrived in England, and
have come to the conclusion that you are a man after my own heart. If
you will sup with me as I propose, I don’t doubt but that we shall
agree admirably, and what is more to the point, perhaps, we shall be
able to do each other services of inestimable value. I may say
candidly that it lies in your power to furnish me with something I am
in search of. I, on my part, will, in all probability, be able to put
in your way what you most desire in the world.”
I stopped in my walk and faced him. Owing to the broad brim of his
hat, and the high collar of his cape, I could scarcely see his face.
But his eyes rivetted my attention at once.
“And that is?” I said.
“Revenge,” he answered, simply. “Believe me, my dear Mr.
Pennethorne, I am perfectly acquainted with your story. You have been
wronged; you desire to avenge yourself upon your enemy. It is a very
natural wish, and if you will sup with me as I propose, I don’t doubt
but that I can put the power you seek into your hands. Do you
agree?”
All my scruples vanished before that magic word revenge,
and, strange as it my seem, without more ado I consented to his
proposal. He walked into the road and, taking a whistle from his
pocket, blew three staccato notes upon it. A moment later the
hansom from which he had jumped to accost me appeared round a corner
and came rapidly towards us. When it pulled up at the kerb, and the
apron had been opened, this peculiar individual invited me to take my
place in it, which I immediately did. He followed my example, and sat
down beside me, and then, without any direction to the driver, we set
off up the street.
For upwards of half-an-hour we drove on without stopping, but in
which direction we were proceeding I could not for the life of me
discover. The wheels were rubber-tyred and made no noise upon the
snow-strewn road; my companion scarcely spoke, and the only sound to
be heard was the peculiar bumping noise made by the springs, the soft
pad-pad of the horse’s hoofs, and an occasional grunt of
encouragement from the driver. At last it became evident that we were
approaching our destination. The horse’s pace slackened; I detected
the sharp ring of his shoes on a paved crossing, and presently we
passed under an archway and came to a standstill.
“Here we are at last, Mr. Pennethorne,” said my mysterious
conductor. “Allow me to lift the glass and open the apron.”
He did so, and then we alighted. To my surprise we stood in a
square courtyard, surrounded on all sides by lofty buildings. Behind
the cab was a large archway, and at the further end of it the gate
through which we had evidently entered. The houses were in total
darkness, but the light of the cab lamps was sufficient to show me a
door standing open on my left hand.
“I’m afraid you must be very cold, Mr. Pennethorne,” said Nikola,
for by that name I shall henceforth call him, as he alighted, “but if
you will follow me I think I can promise that you shall soon be as
warm as toast.”
As he spoke he led the way across the courtyard towards the door I
have just mentioned. When he reached it he struck a match and
advanced into the building. The passage was a narrow one, and from
its appearance, and that of the place generally, I surmised that the
building had once been used as a factory of some kind. Half-way down
the passage a narrow wooden staircase led up to the second floor, and
in Indian file we ascended it. On reaching the first landing my guide
opened a door which stood opposite him, and immediately a bright
light illumined the passage.
“Enter, Mr. Pennethorne, and let me make you welcome to my poor
abode,” said Nikola, placing his hand upon my shoulder and gently
pushing me before him.
I complied with his request, half expecting to find the room
poorly furnished. To my surprise, however, it was as luxuriously
appointed as any I had ever seen. At least a dozen valuable
pictures—I presume they must have been valuable, though personally I
know but little about such things—decorated the walls; a large and
quaintly-carved cabinet stood in one corner and held a multitude of
china vases, bowls, plates, and other knick-knacks; a massive oak
sideboard occupied a space along one wall and supported a quantity of
silver plate; while the corresponding space upon the opposite wall
was filled by a bookcase reaching to within a few inches of the
ceiling, and crammed with works of every sort and description. A
heavy pile carpet, so soft that our movements made no sound upon it,
covered the floor; luxurious chairs and couches were scattered about
here and there, while in an alcove at the farther end was an
ingenious apparatus for conducting chemical researches. Supper was
laid on the table in the centre, and when we had warmed ourselves at
the fire that glowed in the grate, we sat down to it. As if to add
still further to my surprise, when the silver covers of the dishes
were lifted, everything was found to be smoking hot. How this had
been managed I could not tell, for our arrival at that particular
moment could not have been foretold with any chance of certainty, and
I had seen no servant enter the room. But I was very hungry,
and as the supper before me was the best I had sat down to for
years, you may suppose I was but little inclined to waste time on a
matter of such trivial importance.
When we had finished and I had imbibed the better part of two
bottles of Heidseck, which my host had assiduously pressed upon me,
we left the table and ensconced ourselves in chairs on either side of
the hearth. Then, for the first time, I was able to take thorough
stock of my companion. He was a man of perhaps a little above middle
height, broad shouldered, but slimly built. His elegant proportions,
however, gave but a small idea of the enormous strength I afterwards
discovered him to possess. His hair and eyes were black as night, his
complexion was a dark olive hue, confirming that suspicion of foreign
extraction which his name suggested, but of which his speech afforded
no trace. He was attired in faultless evening dress, the dark colour
of which heightened the extraordinary pallor of his complexion.
“You have a queer home here, Dr. Nikola!” I said, as I accepted
the cheroot he offered me.
“Perhaps it is a little out of the common,” he answered, with one
of his queer smiles; “but then that is easily accounted for. Unlike
the general run of human beings, I am not gregarious. In other words,
I am very much averse to what is called the society of my fellow man;
I prefer, under most circumstances, to live alone. At times, of
course, that is not possible. But the idea of living in a flat, shall
we say, with perhaps a couple of families above me, as many on either
side, and the same number below; or in an hotel or a boarding-house,
in which I am compelled to eat my meals in company with
half-a-hundred total strangers, is absolutely repulsive to me. I
cannot bear it, and therefore I choose my abode elsewhere. A private
dwelling-house I might, of course, take, but that would necessitate
servants and other incumbrances; this building suits my purposes
admirably. As you may have noticed, it was once a boot and shoe
factory; but after the proprietor committed suicide by cutting his
throat—which, by the way, he did in this very room—the business
failed; and until I fell across it, it was supposed to be haunted,
and, in consequence, has remained untenanted.”
“But do you mean to say you live here alone?” I enquired,
surprised at the queerness of the idea.
“In a certain sense, yes—in another, no. That is, I have a deaf
and dumb Chinese servant who attends to my simple wants, and a cat
who for years has never left me.”
“You surprise me
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