On the BorderlandAustin, F. Britten (Frederick Britten)
Science
On the Borderland
Austin, F. Britten (Frederick Britten)
English fiction -- 20th century; Paranormal fiction; Short stories, English
He woke and looked around him. He was in a dark room. That was strange.
He knew he had left the light on. He was standing up. He held something
in his hand--a book. Puzzled, he put out his hand to where the switch
of the electric light should be. It was not there. In a new terror
that surged up, obliterating the older horrors of the night, he groped
along the wall for the switch, and found it. The place sprang into
light. He was in the dining-room! In his hand he held the report of his
grandfather’s trial. The truth flashed on him.
He was a somnambulist.
With a wild cry he sank down in a swoon.
When he returned to consciousness, the electric lamps were yellow
patches in the sunlight which filled the room. He struggled to his feet
and switched them off. He stood for some moments unsteadily, trying
to adjust his mind to these unfamiliar surroundings, to remember--to
remember something. Then his ghastly situation rushed on his mind,
vivid with a new light. He was a criminal! He risked discovery, ruin!
He heard people moving about--servants. They must not suspect him
of any abnormality. Haggard, trembling, giddy, an old, old man, he
tottered up the stairs to his own bedroom.
Escape--escape from the consequences of his involuntary crime was
his master impulse. He was no longer the benevolent Mr. Todmorden,
successful, respected, the eminent solicitor; he was a hunted criminal,
happed by Furies. He must not be found out. He sobbed in self-pity and
strove for the control of his faculties. He must think--must think. The
brooch must be got rid of. He would drop it over London Bridge. Yes,
that was the way. The brooch gone beyond all possibility of recovery,
who would suspect him? He had not suspected himself. He breathed more
freely, feeling himself already safe. He would triple that reward.
That would avert suspicion. Yes. Yes. He repeated the monosyllable to
himself as he walked up and down the room.
But suppose there was some trace of the crime on him? He must make
sure. The inspector’s story of the light-suited fugitive came into
his mind--his pyjamas! That fugitive must have been himself in his
pyjamas. He had again that flashed memory of running, running silently.
He doubted no longer, but examined the pyjamas on his body, searching
for a spot of blood, for any sign that might betray him. Yes! There
on the trouser-leg was a smear of stone-coloured paint--the paint on
Miss Hartley’s window-sill. He must get those pyjamas away, destroy
them--somehow. He thought of half a dozen plans and rejected all.
Everything he thought of seemed to proclaim his guilt. The problem
was still unsolved when another danger occurred to him. His revolver
contained a discharged cartridge. He must reload it. Feverishly he did
so. As he clicked the chambers into place there was a knock at the
door. He put down the revolver and listened in sudden panic. The knock
was repeated. He tried to speak and could not. At last words came:
“What is it?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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