LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 117, 15 October 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE INVISIBLE EYE. Chapter 11. ( Continued.) ‘ At last I’ve got you! ’ I cried to myself ; ‘ you cannot escape me now! From here I shall see everything—the goings and comings, the habits of the weazel in her hole! You will not suspect this invisible eye—this eye that will surprise the crime at the moment of its inception! Oh, Justice! it moves slowly, but it comes! ’ Nothing more sinister than this den could be looked on—a large yard, paved with mossgrown flagstones; a well in one corner, the stagnant water of which was frightful to behold; a wooden staircase leading up to a railed gallery, from the balustrade of which hung the tick of an old mattress; to the left, on the first floor, a drain stone indicated the kitchen; to the right, the upper windows of the house looked into the street. All was dark, decaying, and dank-looking. The sun penetrated only for an hour or two during the day the depths of this dismal sty; then the shadows again spread over it—the light fell in lozenge shapes upon the crumbling walls, on the mouldy balcony, on the dull windows. Clouds of motes danced in the golden rays that not a motion of the air came to disturb.

Oh, the whole place was worthy of its mistress!

I had hardly made these reflections when the old woman entered the yard on her return from market. First, I heard her heavy door grate on its hinges, then I ledermausse, with her basket, appeared. She seemed fatigued—out of breath. The border of her bonnet hung down upon her nose as, clutching the wooden rail with one hand, she mounted the stairs. The heat was suffocating. It was exactly one of those days when insects of everykind —the crickets, the spiders, and the mosquitoes—fill old buildings with their grating noises and subterranean borings. Flcdermausse crossed the gallery slowly, like a ferret that feels itself at home. For more than a quarter of an hour she remained in the kitchen, then came out and turned her mattress-tick, swept the stones a little, on which a few straws had been scattered ; at last she raised her head, and with her green eyes carefully scrutinised every portion of tiie roof from which I was observing her.

By what strange intuition did she suspect anything ? I know not; but I gently lowered the uplifted slate into its place, and gave over watching for the rest of that day. The following day Fledermausse appeared to be reassured. A jagged ray of light fell into the gallery; passing this, she caught a fly, and delicately presented it to a spider established in an angle of the roof. The spider was so large that, in spite of the distance, I saw it descend round by round of its ladder, then, gliding along one thread, like a drop of venom, seize its prey from the fingers of the dreadful old woman, and remount rapidly. Fledermausse watched it attentively ; then her eyes half-closed, she sneezed, and cried to herself in a jocular tone :

* Bless you, beauty!—bless you! ’ For six weeks I could discover nothing as to the power of Fledermausse: sometimes I saw her peeling potatoes, sometimes spreading her linen on the balustrade. Sometimes I saw her spin; but she never sang, as old women usually do, their quivering voices going so well with the humming of their spinning-wheel. Silence reigned about her. She had no cat—the favorite company of old maids; not a sparrow ever flew down into her yard; in passing over which the pigeons seemed to hurry their flight. It was as if everything was afraid of her look. The spider alone took pleasure in her society. I now look back with wonder at my patience during those long hours of observation; nothing escaped my attention, nothing was indifferent to me; at the least sound I lifted my slate. Mine was a boundless curiosity stimulated by an indefinable fear. Toubec complained. ‘ What the devil are you doing with your time, Master Christian?’ he would say to me. * Formerly, you had something ready for me every week; now, hardly once in a month. Oh, you painters ! people may well say, ‘ Idle as a painter !’ As soon as they have a few kreutzer before them, they put their ' hands in their pockets and go to sleep !’ I myself was beginning to lose courage. With all my watching and spying, I had discovered nothing extraordinary. I was inclining to think that the old woman might not be so dangerous after all —that I had been wrong, perhaps, to suspect her. In short, I tried to find excuses for her. But one fine evening while, witly my eye to the opening in the roof, I was giving myself up to these charitable reflections, the scene abruptly changed. Fledermausse passed along her gallery with the swiftness of a flash of light. She was no longer herself ; she was erect, her jaws knit, her look fixed, her neck extended; she moved with long strides, her grey hair streaming behind her. ‘ Oli, oh !’ I said to myself, ‘ something is going on—attention !’ But the shadows of night descended on the big house, the noises of the town died out, and all became silent. I was about to seek my bed when, happening to look out of my skylight, I saw a light in the window of the green chamber of the Bomf-gms- —a traveller was occupying that terrible room ! All my fears were instantly revived. The old woman’s excitement explained itself she scented another victim ! I could not sleep at all that night. The rustling of the straw of my mattress, the nibbling of a mouse under the floor, sent a chill through me. I rose and looked out of my window —I listened. The light I had seen was no longer visible in the green chamber. . Durum one of these moments of poignant anxiety— whether the result of illusion or of reality—l fancied I could discern the figure of the old witch, likewise watching and listening. The night passed, the dawn showed grey against my window-panes, and, slowly increasing, the sounds and movements of the re-awakened town arose. Harrassed with fatigue and emotion, I at last fell asleep; but my repose was of short duration, and by eight o’clock I was again at my post of observation. It appeared that Fledermausse had passed a night no less stormy than mine had been ; for, when she opened the door of the gallery 1 saw that a livid pallor was upon her cheeks and skinny neck. She had nothing on but her chemise and a flannel petticoat ; a few

locks of rusty grey hair fell upon her shoulders. She looked up musingly towards my garret; but she saw nothing—she was thinking of something else. Suddenly she descended into the yard, leaving her shoes at the top of the stairs. Doubtless her object was to assure herself that the outer door was securely fastened. She then hurried up the stairs, taking three or four steps at a time. It was frightful to see ! She rushed into one of the side rooms, and I heard the sound of a heavy box-lid fall. Then Flcdermausse reappeared in the gallery, dragging with her a layfigure the size of life—and this figure was dressed like the unfortunate student of Heidelberg ! With surprising dexterity the old woman suspended this hideous object to a beam of the over-hanging roof, then went down into the yard, to contemplate it from that point of view. A peal of grating laughter broke from her lips —she hurried up the stairs, and rushed down again, like a maniac; and every time she did this she burst into new fits of laughter. A sound was heard by the outer door ; the old woman sprang to the figure, snatched it from its fastening, and carried it into the house ; then she reappeared and leant over the balcony, with outstretched neck, glittering eyes, and eagerly-listening ears. The sound passed away—the muscles of her face relaxed, she drew a long breath. The passing of a vehicle had alarmed the old witch.

She then, once more, went back into her chamber, and I heard the lid of the box close heavily. This strange scene utterly confounded all my ideas. What could that lay-figure mean ?

I became more watchful and attentive than ever. Fledermausse went out with her basket, and I watched her to the top of the street; she had resumed her air of tottering agedness, walking with short steps, and from time to time half-turning her head, so as to enable herself to look behind out of the corner of her eyes. For five long hours she remained abroad, while I went and came from my spying-place incessantly—meditating all the while—the sun heating the slates above my head, till my brain was almost scorched.

I saw at his window the traveller who occupied the green chamber at the Bceufijras ; he was a peasant of Nassau, wearing a three-corned hat, a scarlet waistcoat, and having a broad laughing countedance. He was tranquilly smoking his Ulm pipe, and unsuspecting anything. I felt impelled to call out to him, “My good fellow, be on your guard ! Don’t let yourself be fascinated by the old woman !—dont trust yourself !” But be could not have under-stood a word of what I had said to him, even if he had heard me.

About two o’clock Fledermausse came back. The sound of her door opening echoed to the end of the passage. Presently she appeared alone, quite alone, in the yard, and seated herself onthelowest step of the gallerystairs. She placed her • basket at her feet and drew from it, first several bunches of herbs, then some vegetables —then a threecornered hat, a scarlet velvet waistcoat, a pair of plush breeches, and a pair of thick worsted stockings—the complete costume of a peasant of Nassau ! I reeled with giddiness —flames passed before my eyes. I remembered those precipices that drew one towards them with irresistible powerwells that have had to be filled up because of persons throwing themselves into them trees that have had to be cut down because of people hanging themselves upon them — the contagion of suicide and theft and murder, which at various times has taken possession of people’s minds, by means well understood; that strange inducement, for example, which makes people yawn because they see others yawn —kill themselves because others kill themselves. My hair rose upon my head with horror! But how could this Fledermausse —a creature so mean and wretched —have made discovery of so profound a law of nature? How had she found the means of turning it to the use of her sanguinary instincts? This I could neither understand nor imagine. Without more reflection, however, I resolved to turn the fatal law against her, and by its power to drag her into her own snare. So many innocent victims called for vengeance! I began at once. I hurried to all the old clothes-dealers in Nuremberg; and by the evening I arrived at the Bceuf-gvcis, with an enormous parcel under my arm. Nikel Schmidt had long known me. I had painted the portrait of his wife, a fat and comely dame. ‘ What! —Master Christian ! ’ he cried, shaking me by the hand, ‘to what happy circumstances do I owe the pleasure of this visit? ’

‘My dear Mr Schmidt, I feel a very strong desire to pass the night in that room of yours up yonder.’ Wh were on the doorstep of the aubevge, and I pointed up to the green chamber. The good fellow looked suspiciously at me. ‘Oh! don’t be afraid,’ I said, ‘l’ve no desire to hang myself.’ ‘ I’m glad of it! I’m glad of it! for, frankly, I should be sorry—an artist of your talent. When do you want the room, Master Christian? ’

‘ To-night. ’ , ‘ That’s impossible—it’s occupied. ‘ The gentleman can have it at once, if he likes, ’ said a voice behind us; I shan t stay in it.’

We turned in surprise. It was the peasant of Nassau; his large three-cornered hat pressed down upon the back of his neck, and his bundle at the end of his travelling stick. He had learned the story of the three travellers who had hung themselves, ‘Such chambers!’ he cried, stammering with terror; ‘ it’s—it’s murdering people to put them into such!—you—you deserve to be sent to the galleys!’ ‘ Come, come, calm yourself,’ said the landlord; ‘ you slept there comfortably enough last night. ’ To be continued.