LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 793, 5 January 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

MY MURDER. [A Confession.] Chapter I. Though I am willing to record fully how and why I committed it, I decline to do more than indicate the place of the deed. Those who can recognise it by the clue I give are at liberty to put two and two together. Most people who have been to Switzerland will understand where the hotel Les Trois Sages is situated. They will know that it is the chief hostelry of the large town at which the majority of tourists entering and returning from the region of the Alps usually halt, at least for a night, as from it diverge the main channels leading to the choicest scenery of the little republic. They will recollect that the inn is charmingly placed on the banks of the B hine, and that its balconies and windows look out upon and absolutely overhang the rushing river, not a hundred miles from its falls at Schaffhausen. Enough, then, as to the locality ; now, as to my coming there, and what happened. _ The superfluous energy of a Briton six and twenty yeai’s of age, six feet two in height, and strong in proportion, finds no better outlet than scrambling over peaks, passes, and glaciers ; and I had been doing this, on the occasion of which I write, to my heart’s content, for five or six weeks. It was not my first experience of the Alps by many ; blit it had, on the whole, been the least enjoyable : the companion who was going with me disappointed me at the eleventh hour, and I started alone, the limited time for,my outing not brooking delay; and though at times I fell in with pleasant people, I was bored by my solitude. My temper too, always a peppery one at the best, was con siderably ruffled by the loss, towards the end of my journey, of my remaining circular notes. I most stupidly flicked the little case containing them out of my breast pocket with my handkerchief, as I was leaning over the side of the steamer coming down from Fiueln to Lucerne, and I had the mortification of seeing it sink into the blue lake before my very eyes. My remaining cash was only just sufficient to carry me to —well say, Les Trois Sages; so immediately on reaching Lucerne I had to write home for more money, directing that it should await me at the aforesaid well-known hotel. I therefore timed my arrival there accordingly: and it was not an hour too soou, for I could only just avoid over staying my leave by starting for Paris by the first train the next day. Hence it was with no little anxiety that on reaching my inn I demanded of the concierge whether there was any letter for me, and my satisfaction was so great when that majestic functionary handed me one, that I . tore it open then and there, displaying the | nature of its contents to the throng of waiters, porters, and idlers usually hanging | about hotel halls. It being late I was soon shown to my ; room—a luxurious one, for an alcove, where [ stood the bed, was divided from the salon * by a heavy portiere, thus making two apart- j monts. I took little heed, however, of these 5 vanities at the time. I was to he off early | the next morning, and ere long I was in bed | and my light out. The loss of the money t tended to make me now unusually careful of ; that which I had just received ; so, though I left my watch, &c, on the table in the salon I laid the packet of notes on the little marble J stand at the bed-head; and it was lucky | I did so. * * * * * Sound asleep ! Sound is not the word for it. Dead asleep would he nearer the mark : that sort of sleep which comes to a strong man in perfect health and training, after a fatiguing day’s journey. What it was that aroused me from it I shall never clearly understand; but my belief is that it was an instinct rather than a noise which caused me, without altogether returning to consciousness, to open my eyes. My face was turned away from the wall against which one side of the bed stood, so that I looked straight across the little alcove, and through the half-drawn portiere into the salon. The moon must have risen, for there was a much stronger light in the rooms than when I put out the caudle, and a deep shadow was cast across the open between them. Her rays thus flooded both apartments by the single window in each. Now I was in that curious state that although I knew I was awake I thought I was dreaming ; in fact, I was just on that mysterious frontier land between the two states, which is not the least perplexing amongst the phenomena of a mortal existence—that is to say, I thought I was dreaming—when I saw, on first opening my eyes, the figure of a man on all-fours, crawling out of the stream of moonlight in the salon into the shadow cast, as I have said, by the arch and heavy folds of the portiere. But I knew I was awake when, losing sight of him for a minute there, I saw him again emerging into the rays of light which fell across the floor of the alcove where I lay. I knew, I say, that I was awake now, for could I not distinguish plainly, as he came very slowly and steathily tow irds the bed, that his face was hidden by a sort of crape mask ? And yet still, for a moment more I thought I must be dreaming. I had never moved or raised my head from the

pillow ; I had simply opened my eyes, and I still abstained from movement whilst endeavouring to realise in what condition I was. Suddenly, however, all doubt disappeared. I took in on the instant the fact that this was an attempt at robbery, perhaps vrorse ; for, approaching the little table at the bedhead, the figure, without rising from the floor, lifted one of its hands, as if to reach the marble top. The man was within arm’s length of me now, and, without giving him the slightest warning by any preliminary movement, I endeavoured to spring out of bed straight upon him. For a second I had him by the collar; but not being able to clear altogether f r.ini (he bed clothes I was checked, and he slipped out of my grasp like an eel, and disappeared in the shadow. Instantly, however, I was on my feet; but thinking that the fellow probably would be armed I did not attempt to grope for him, but made straight through to the door of the salon opening on to the landing, intending to raise an alarm and prevent an escape, but before I could draw the bolt I saw him at the window opening on the balcony. His figure came dark between me and the moonlight, and judging that, as the casement was open, he must have entered that way, and ■was now endeavouring to get out by it, I once more sprang towards him, and had him in my arms just as he stepped on to the balcony, and was in the act of climbing over it. He struggled for a moment or two desperately of course ; but my hot temper was up now, and thinking of nothing but the insolent audacity of the intrusion and the attempted robbery, I tore him away with great violence -for he was but like a child in his strength as compared to me—and saying in my fury, ‘ Ho, ho, you scoundrel! you want to get out this way, do you ? then, by George, you shall go I ’ I flung him, as if he had been a truss of straw, over the balcony into—good God ! [the rushing river below! * * * * * Then, and then only, for the first time, as my hands quitted hold of him, did I remember the situation of my rooms. I had been sleeping in different ones almost every night for the last six weeks, and in the suddenness and rapidity with which the whole of the incidents had happened I entirely forgot that below the balcony rushed the impetuous Rhine. Lightning docs not express the swift keenness of the agony which shot through my brain as, glaring after the wretched man, I caught a faint glimpse of his falling figure, and heard the faintest cry and splash rise for a second above the rush of the torrent.

Not being skilled in describing sensations I abstain entirely from attemptingto express what mine were now. I pulled myself together in a minute or two, endeavoring to collect my thoughts, and to settle what I ought to do. I walked to the table where I had left my watch—it was gone; to the little stand at the bed-head—my packet of notes was safe, but the hand which I had arrested, only just in time, as it rose towards them belonged to someone who knew that they were there, that was evident. Then my eyes fell upon a black object lying on the floor in a streak of moonlight; it was a piece of folded crape with an elastic band attached. In the first encounter he thief’s disguise had fallen off—here it was ! —and I remembered that fora second on the balcony I had met the rascal’s large dark eyes as they seemed starting from his head with terror. The balcony ! As I put my hand on the side of the balustrade, in the act of lacking •aver, it touched the top of a light ladder, the other end of which on examination I could now faintly discern, in the moonlight, rested not a dozen feet down on a long but less projecting balcony than mine, far my rooms were over a low pitched entrehol, to which this lower balcony belonged. Cleary, then, it was some one engaged about the house—a waiter probably—who had attempted to rob me ; one of those who had seen me open my letter and examine the notes. I bethought me also then that my movements in my room must have been watched, or that stealthy hand would, never have been raised with such fore-knowledge towards the spot where I had placed my money. A long acquaintance with foreign habits had taught me that an amiable custom prevailed amongst this rascally scum of waiters of boring glmblet-holes in the corners of the door pamiels, through which they might become acquainted with the private proceedings of the occupants of the rooms, male or female. I was not surprised, therefore, on rekindling my candle and examining the door, to find several of these trousjudas, as they are playfully called.; one particularly so large and so directed, that anybody in the outer passage could easily observe all that went on within the room. My impulse now was to raise an alarm ; 1 nit an instant’s reflection showed me that i f 1 did 1 must bid good-bye to all thoughts of reaching Paris by the early train, and of saving the limit of my leave. And was it worth my while to do this ? I decided in a moment—most certainly not. Was Ito expose myself to vast personal inconvenience and possible professional ruin, through not meeting my engagements, simply for the sake of explaining to the cumbersome law of the land what had happened, and to run the risk of not being able to do so to its satisfaction, and consequently perhaps of being incarcerated as a murderer ? Not a bit of it! I would see the law of Switzerland at Jericho first! As it was, I had lost my watch, and my temper leapt up in rebellion at the thought, and easily persuaded me for the time that I should be little better than a fool ts risk the prospects of my life by any act so quixotic. If the rascal were drowned, it was his own fault, and there should be an end of it, as far as I was concerned. So, at least, I thought then. No ; 1 would be off as I proposed; and with this determination I began deliberately to dress and pack my knapsack, for sleep was gone for that night. Only one doubt perplexed me. Should I leave the ladder standing where it was, and let the hotel authorities think what they liked, or (for otherwise it would lead to inquiries and difficulties) should I fling it into the river after the man? Right or wrong, with very little hesitation I adopted the latter course. Not a sign of life was visible as I looked once more out upon the broad river; and as I gently raised the ladder, and consigned it to its depths, I thought it was not the first secret by a good many that its impetuous current had carried away into oblivion. An hour or two later I had quietly paid my bill at the bureau, and was on my way to Paris, and by the following night was once more in my chambers in the Temple, (Jo he continued.)