‘there are many reasons why i chose your rooms for the meeting in preference to my own. chiefly, perhaps because i thought the man would be more at his ease on neutral ground.’
‘i confess, dyson,’ said phillipps, ‘that i feel both impatient and uneasy. you know my standpoint: hard matter of fact, materialism if you like, in its crudest form. but there is something about all this affair of vivian that makes me a little restless. and how did you induce the man to come?’
‘he has an exaggerated opinion of my powers. you remember what i said about the doctrine of improbability? when it does work out, it gives results which seem very amazing to a person who is not in the secret. that is eight striking, isn’t it? and there goes the bell.’
they heard footsteps on the stair, and presently the door opened, and a middle-aged man, with a bowed head, bearded, and with a good deal of grizzling hair about his ears, came into the room. phillipps glanced at his features, and recognised the lineaments of terror.
‘come in, mr. selby,’ said dyson. ‘this is mr. phillipps, my intimate friend and our host for this evening. will you take anything? then perhaps we had better hear your story — a very singular one, i am sure.’
the man spoke in a voice hollow and a little quavering, and a fixed stare that never left his eyes seemed directed to something awful that was to remain before him by day and night for the rest of his life.
‘you will, i am sure, excuse preliminaries,’ he began; ‘what i have to tell is best told quickly. i will say, then, that i was born in a remote part of the west of england, where the very outlines of the woods and hills, and the winding of the streams in the valleys, are apt to suggest the mystical to any one strongly gifted with imagination. when i was quite a boy there were certain huge and rounded hills, certain depths of hanging wood, and secret valleys bastioned round on every side that filled me with fancies beyond the bourne of rational expression, and as i grew older and began to dip into my father’s books, i went by instinct, like the bee, to all that would nourish fantasy. thus, from a course of obsolete and occult reading, and from listening to certain wild legends in which the older people still secretly believed, i grew firmly convinced of the existence of treasure, the hoard of a race extinct for ages, still hidden beneath the hills, and my every thought was directed to the discovery of the golden heaps that lay, as i fancied within a few feet of the green turf. to one spot, in especial, i was drawn as if by enchantment; it was a tumulus, the domed memorial of some forgotten people, crowning the crest of a vast mountain range; and i have often lingered there on summer evenings, sitting on the great block of limestone at the summit, and looking out far over the yellow sea towards the devonshire coast. one day as i dug heedlessly with the ferrule of my stick at the mosses and lichens which grew rank over the stone, my eye was caught by what seemed a pattern beneath the growth of green; there was a curving line, and marks that did not look altogether the work of nature. at first i thought i had bared some rarer fossil, and i took out my knife and scraped away at the moss till a square foot was uncovered. then i saw two signs which startled me; first, a closed hand, pointing downwards, the thumb protruding between the fingers, and beneath the hand a whorl or spiral, traced with exquisite accuracy in the hard surface of the rock. here i persuaded myself, was an index to the great secret, but i chilled at the recollection of the fact that some antiquarians had tunnelled the tumulus through and through, and had been a good deal surprised at not finding so much as an arrowhead within. clearly, then, the signs on the limestone had no local significance; and i made up my mind that i must search abroad. by sheer accident i was in a measure successful in my quest. strolling by a cottage, i saw some children playing by the roadside; one was holding up some object in his hand, and the rest were going through one of the many forms of elaborate pretence which make up a great part of the mystery of a child’s life. something in the object held by the little boy attracted me, and i asked him to let me see it. the plaything of these children consisted of an oblong tablet of black stone; and on it was inscribed the hand pointing downwards, just as i had seen it on the rock, while beneath, spaced over the tablet, were a number of whorls and spirals, cut, as it seemed to me, with the utmost care and nicety. i bought the toy for a couple of shillings; the woman of the house told me it had been lying about for years; she thought her husband had found it one day in the brook which ran in front of the cottage: it was a very hot summer, and the stream was almost dry, and he saw it amongst the stones. that day i tracked the brook to a well of water gushing up cold and clear at the head of a lonely glen in the mountain. that was twenty years ago, and i only succeeded in deciphering the mysterious inscription last august. i must not trouble you with irrelevant details of my life; it is enough for me to say that i was forced, like many another man, to leave my old home and come to london. of money i had very little, and i was glad to find a cheap room in a squalid street off the gray’s inn road. the late sir thomas vivian, then far poorer and more wretched than myself, had a garret in the same house, and before many months we became intimate friends, and i had confided to him the object of my life. i had at first great difficulty in persuading him that i was not giving my days and my nights to an inquiry altogether hopeless and chimerical; but when he was convinced he grew keener than myself, and glowed at the thought of the riches which were to be the prize of some ingenuity and patience. i liked the man intensely, and pitied his case; he had a strong desire to enter the medical profession, but he lacked the means to pay the smallest fees, and indeed he was, not once or twice, but often reduced to the very verge of starvation. i freely and solemnly promised, that under whatever chances, he should share in my heaped fortune when it came, and this promise to one who had always been poor, and yet thirsted for wealth and pleasure in a manner unknown to me, was the strongest incentive. he threw himself into the task with eager interest, and applied a very acute intellect and unwearied patience to the solution of the characters on the tablet. i, like other ingenious young men, was curious in the matter of handwriting, and i had invented or adapted a fantastic script which i used occasionally, and which took vivian so strongly that he was at the pains to imitate it. it was arranged between us that if we were ever parted, and had occasion to write on the affair that was so close to our hearts, this queer hand of my invention was to be used, and we also contrived a semi-cypher for the same purpose. meanwhile we exhausted ourselves in efforts to get at the heart of the mystery, and after a couple of years had gone by i could see that vivian begall to sicken a little of the adventure, and one night he told me with some emotion that he feared both our lives were being passed away in idle and hopeless endeavour. not many months afterwards he was so happy as to receive a considerable legacy from an aged and distant relative whose very existence had been almost forgotten by him; and with money at the bank, he became at once a stranger to me. he had passed his preliminary examination many years before, and forthwith decided to enter at st. thomas’s hospital, and he told me that he must look out for a more convenient lodging. as we said good-bye, i reminded him of the promise i had given, and solemnly renewed it; but vivian laughed with something between pity and contempt in his voice and expression as he thanked me. i need not dwell on the long struggle and misery of my existence, now doubly lonely; i never wearied or despaired of final success, and every day saw me at work, the tablet before me, and only at dusk would i go out and take my daily walk along oxford street, which attracted me, i think, by the noise and motion and glitter of lamps.
‘this walk grew with me to a habit; every night, and in all weathers, i crossed the gray’s inn road and struck westward, sometimes choosing a northern track, by the euston road and tottenham court road, sometimes i went by holborn, and i sometimes by way of great russell street. every night i walked for an hour to and fro on the northern pavement of oxford street, and the tale of de quincey and his name for the street, ‘stony-hearted step mother’, often recurred to my memory. then i would return to my grimy den and spend hours more in endless analysis of the riddle before me.
‘the answer came to me one night a few weeks; ago; it flashed into my brain in a moment, and i read the inscription, and saw that after all i had not wasted my days. ‘the place of the treasure-house of them that dwell below,’ were the first words i read, and then followed minute indications of the spot in my own country where the great works of gold were to be kept for ever. such a track was to be followed, such a pitfall avoided; here the way narrowed almost to a fox’s hole, and there it broadened, and so at last the chamber would be reached. i determined to lose no time in verifying my discovery — not that i doubted at that great moment, but i would not risk even the smallest chance of disappointing my old friend vivian, now a rich and prosperous man. i took the train for the west, and one night, with chart in hand, traced out the passage of the hills, and went so far that i saw the gleam of gold before me. i would not go on; i resolved that vivian must be with me; and i only brought away a strange knife of flint which lay on the path, as confirmation of what i had to tell. i returned to london, and was a good deal vexed to find the stone tablet had disappeared from my rooms. my landlady, an inveterate drunkard, denied all knowledge of the fact, but i have little doubt she had stolen the thing for the sake of the glass of whisky it might fetch. however, i knew what was written on the tablet by heart, and i had also made an exact facsimile of the characters, so the loss was not severe. only one thing annoyed me: when i first came into possession of the stone, i had pasted a piece of paper on the back and had written down the date and place of finding, and later on i had scribbled a word or two, a trivial sentiment, the name of my street, and such-like idle pencillings on the paper; and these memories of days that had seemed so hopeless were dear to me: i had thought they would help to remind me in the future of the hours when i had hoped against despair. however, i wrote at once to sir thomas vivian, using the handwriting i have mentioned and also the quasi-cypher. i told him of my success, and after mentioning the loss of the tablet and the fact that i had a copy of the inscription, i reminded him once more of my promise, and asked him either to write or call. he replied that he would see me in a certain obscure passage in clerkenwell well known to us both in the old days, and at seven o’clock one evening i went to meet him. at the corner of this by way, as i was walking to and fro, i noticed the blurred pictures of some street artist, and i picked up a piece of chalk he had left behind him, not much thinking what i was doing. i paced up and down the passage, wondering a good deal, as you may imagine, as to what manner of man i was to meet after so many years of parting, and the thoughts of the buried time coming thick upon me, i walked mechanically without raising my eyes from the ground. i was startled out of my reverie by an angry voice and a rough inquiry why i didn’t keep to the right side of the pavement, and looking up i found i had confronted a prosperous and important gentleman, who eyed my poor appearance with a look of great dislike and contempt. i knew directly it was my old comrade, and when i recalled myself to him, he apologized with some show of regret, and began to thank me for my kindness, doubtfully, as if he hesitated to commit himself, and, as i could see, with the hint of a suspicion as to my sanity. i would have engaged him at first in reminiscences of our friendship, but i found sir thomas viewed those days with a good deal of distaste, and replying politely to my remarks, continually edged in “business matters”, as he called them. i changed my topics, and told him in greater detail what i have told you. then i saw his manner suddenly change; as i pulled out the flint knife to prove my journey “to the other side of the moon”, as we called it in our jargon, there came over him a kind of choking eagerness, his features were somewhat discomposed, and i thought i detected a shuddering horror, a clenched resolution, and the effort to keep quiet succeed one another in a manner that puzzled me. i had occasion to be a little precise in my particulars, and it being still light enough, i remembered the red chalk in my pocket, and drew the hand on the wall. “here, you see, is the hand”, i said, as i explained its true meaning, “note where the thumb issues from between the first and second fingers”, and i would have gone on, and had applied the chalk to the wall to continue my diagram, when he struck my hand down much to my surprise. “no, no,” he said, “i do not want all that. and this place is not retired enough; let us walk on, and do you explain everything to me minutely.” i complied readily enough, and he led me away choosing the most unfrequented by-ways, while i drove in the plan of the hidden house word by word. once or twice as i raised my eyes i caught vivian looking strangely about him; he seemed to give a quick glint up and down, and glance at the houses; and there was a furtive and anxious air about him that displeased me. “let us walk on to the north,” he said at length, “we shall come to some pleasant lanes where we can discuss these matters, quietly; my night’s rest is at your service.” i declined, on the pretext that i could not dispense with my visit to oxford street, and went on till he understood every turning and winding and the minutest detail as well as myself. we had returned on our footsteps, and stood again in the dark passage, just where i had drawn the red hand on the wall, for i recognized the vague shape of the trees whose branches hung above us. “we have come back to our starting-point,” i said; “i almost think i could put my finger on the wall where i drew the hand. and i am sure you could put your finger on the mystic hand in the hills as well as i. remember between stream and stone.”
‘i was bending down, peering at what i thought must be my drawing, when i heard a sharp hiss of breath, and started up, and saw vivian with his arm uplifted and a bare blade in his hand, and death threatening in his eyes. in sheer self-defence i caught at the flint weapon in my pocket, and dashed at him in blind fear of my life, and the next instant he lay dead upon the stones.
‘i think that is all,’ mr. selby continued after a pause, ‘and it only remains for me to say to you, mr. dyson, that i cannot conceive what means enabled you to run me down.’
‘i followed many indications,’ said dyson, ‘and i am bound to disclaim all credit for acuteness, as i have made several gross blunders. your celestial cypher did not, i confess, give me much trouble; i saw at once that terms of astronomy were substituted for common words and phrases. you had lost something black, or something black had been stolen from you; a celestial globe is a copy of the heavens, so i knew you meant you had a copy of what you had lost. obviously, then, i came to the conclusion that you had lost a black object with characters or symbols written or inscribed on it, since the object in question certainly contained valuable information and all information must be written or pictured. “our old orbit remains unchanged”; evidently our old course or arrangement. “the number of my sign” must mean the number of my house, the allusion being to the signs of the zodiac. i need not say that “the other side of the moon” can stand for nothing but some place where no one else has been; and “some other house” is some other place of meeting, the “house” being the old term “house of the heavens.” then my next step was to find the “black heaven” that had been stolen, and by a process of exhaustion i did so.’
‘you have got the tablet?’
‘certainly. and on the back of it, on the slip of paper you have mentioned, i read ‘inroad,’ which puzzled me a good deal, till i thought of grey’s inn road; you forgot the second n. “stony-hearted step ——” immediately suggested the phrase of de quincey you have alluded to; and i made the wild but correct shot, that you were a man who lived in or near the gray’s inn road, and had the habit of walking in oxford street, for you remember how the opium-eater dwells on his wearying promenades along that thoroughfare. on the theory of improbability, which i have explained to my friend here, i concluded that occasionally, at all events, you would choose the way by guildford street, russell square, and great russell street, and i knew that if i watched long enough i should see you. but how was i to recognize my man? i noticed the screever opposite my rooms, and got him to draw every day a large hand, in the gesture so familiar to us all, upon the wall behind him. i thought that when the unknown person did pass he would certainly betray some emotion at the sudden vision of the sign, to him the most terrible of symbols. you know the rest. ah, as to catching you an hour later, that was, i confess, a refinement. from the fact of your having occupied the same rooms for so many years, in a neighbourhood moreover where lodgers are migratory to excess, i drew the conclusion that you were a man of fixed habit, and i was sure that after you had got over your fright you would return for the walk down oxford street. you did, by way of new oxford street, and i was waiting at the corner.’
‘your conclusions are admirable,’ said mr. selby. ‘i may tell you that i had my stroll down oxford street the night sir thomas vivian died. and i think that is all i have to say.’
‘scarcely,’ said dyson. ‘how about the treasure?’
‘i had rather we did not speak of that,’ said mr. selby, with a whitening of the skin about the temples.
‘oh, nonsense, sir, we are not blackmailers. besides, you know you are in our power.’
‘then, as you put it like that, mr. dyson, i must tell you i returned to the place. i went on a little farther than before.’
the man stopped short; his mouth began to twitch, his lips moved apart, and he drew in quick breaths, sobbing.
‘well, well,’ said dyson, ‘i dare say you have done comfortably.’
‘comfortably,’ selby went on, constraining himself with an effort, ‘yes, so comfortably that hell burns hot within me for ever. i only brought one thing away from that awful house within the hills; it was lying just beyond the spot where i found the flint knife.’
‘why did you not bring more?’
the whole bodily frame of the wretched man visibly shrank and wasted; his face grew yellow as tallow, and the sweat dropped from his brows. the spectacle was both revolting and terrible, and when the voice came it sounded like the hissing of a snake.
‘because the keepers are still there, and i saw them, and because of this,’ and he pulled out a small piece of curious gold-work and held it up.
‘there,’ he said, ‘that is the pain of the goat.’
phillipps and dyson cried out together in horror at the revolting obscenity of the thing.
‘put it away, man; hide it, for heaven’s sake, hide it!’
‘i brought that with me; that is all,’ he said. ‘you do not wonder that i did not stay long in a place where those who live are a little higher than the beasts, and where what you have seen is surpassed a thousandfold?’
‘take this,’ said dyson, ‘i brought it with me in case it might be useful ‘; and he drew out the black tablet, and handed it to the shaking, horrible man.
‘and now,’ said dyson, ‘will you go out?’
the two friends sat silent a little while, facing one another with restless eyes and lips that quivered.
‘i wish to say that i believe him,’ said phillipps.
‘my dear phillipps,’ said dyson as he threw the windows wide open, ‘i do not know that, after all, my blunders in this queer case were so very absurd.’
