Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. HUGO A FANTASIA ON MODERN THEMES BY ARNOLD BENNETT Transcriber's Notes: Mismatched quotes have been normalized. "L'eat, c'est moi." corrected to "L'etat, c'est moi." Recalicitant corrected to recalcitrant. Other oddities in spelling and punctuation have been left as in the original. BY THE SAME AUTHOR NOVELS. A MAN FROM THE NORTH. ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS. LEONORA. A GREAT MAN. SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE. FANTASIAS. THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL. THE GATES OF WRATH. TERESA OF WATLING STREET. THE LOOT OF CITIES SHORT STORIES. TALES OF THE FIVE TOWNS. BELLES LETTRES. JOURNALISM FOR WOMEN. FAME AND FICTION. HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR. THE TRUTH ABOUT AN AUTHOR. DRAMA. POLITE FARCES. HUGO A FANTASIA ON MODERN THEMES BY ARNOLD BENNETT AUTHOR OF 'THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL,' 'ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS,' 'A GREAT MAN,' ETC. [ILLUSTRATION] LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1906 CONTENTS PART I THE SEALED ROOMS CHAPTER I. THE DOME II. THE ESTABLISHMENT III. HUGO EXPLAINS HIMSELF IV. CAMILLA V. A STORY AND A DISAPPEARANCE VI. A LAPSE FROM AN IDEAL VII. POSSIBLE ESCAPE OF SECRETS VIII. ORANGE-BLOSSOM IX. 'WHICH?' X. THE COFFIN PART II THE PHONOGRAPH XI. SALE XII. SAFE DEPOSIT XIII. MR. GALPIN XIV. TEA XV. RAVENGAR IN CAPTIVITY XVI. BURGLARS XVII. POLYCARP AND HAWKE'S MAN XVIII. HUSBAND AND WIFE XIX. WHAT THE PHONOGRAPH SAID PART III THE TOMB XX. 'ARE YOU THERE?' XXI. SUICIDE XXII. DARCY XXIII. FIRST TRIUMPH OF SIMON XXIV. THE LODGING-HOUSE XXV. CHLOROFORM XXVI. SECOND TRIUMPH OF SIMON XXVII. THE CEMETERY XXVIII. BEAUTY PART I THE SEALED ROOMS HUGO CHAPTER I THE DOME He wakened from a charming dream, in which the hat had played a conspicuous part. 'I shouldn't mind having that hat,' he murmured. A darkness which no eye could penetrate surrounded him as he lay in bed. Absolute obscurity was essential to the repose of that singular brain, and he had perfected arrangements for supplying the deficiencies of Nature's night. He touched a switch, and in front of him at a distance of thirty feet the ivory dial of a clock became momentarily visible under the soft yellow of a shaded electric globe. It was fifteen minutes past six. At the same moment a bell sounded the quarter in delicate tones, which fell on the ear as lightly as dew. In the upper gloom could be discerned the contours of a vast dome, decorated in turquoise-blue and gold. He pressed a button near the switch. A portiere rustled, and a young man approached his bed--a short, thin, pale, fair young man, active and deferential. 'My tea, Shawn. Draw the curtains and open the windows.' 'Yes, sir,' said Simon Shawn.