All four of us rushed hastily down the three flights of steps to the
bottom, and came below upon a crushed and mangled mass on the spattered
pavement. He was quite dead. Even the policeman was shocked and
horrified at the dreadful way in which the body had been crushed and
mutilated in its fall, and at the suddenness and unexpectedness of the
tragedy. We took him up and laid him out in my room; and from that room
he was interred after the inquest, with all the respect which I should
have paid to an undoubted relative. On his grave in Kensal Green
Cemetery I have placed a stone bearing the simple inscription, "Jonathan
Spottiswood. Died 1881." The hint I had received from the keeper
prevented me from saying anything as to my belief in his story, but I
asked for leave to undertake the duty of his interment on the ground
that he bore my own surname, and that no other person was forthcoming to
assume the task. The parochial authorities were glad enough to rid the
ratepayers of the expense.
At the inquest I gave my evidence simply and briefly, dwelling mainly
upon the accidental nature of our meeting, and the facts as to his fatal
leap. I said nothing about the known disappearance of Jonathan
Spottiswood in 1781, nor the other points which gave credibility to his
strange tale. But from this day forward I give myself up to proving the
truth of his story, and realizing the splendid chemical discovery which
promises so much benefit to mankind. For the first purpose, I have
offered a large reward for the discovery of a trap-door in a coal-cellar
at Hampstead, leading into a subterranean passage and laboratory; since,
unfortunately, my unhappy visitor did not happen to mention the position
of his house. For the second purpose, I have begun a series of
experiments upon the properties of the essential oil of alchemilla, and
the possibility of successfully treating it with carbonic anhydride;
since, unfortunately, he was equally vague as to the nature of his
process and the proportions of either constituent. Many people will
conclude at once, no doubt, that I myself have become infected with the
monomania of my miserable namesake, but I am determined at any rate not
to allow so extraordinary an anaesthetic to go unacknowledged, if there
be even a remote chance of actually proving its useful nature.
Meanwhile, I say nothing even to my dearest friends with regard to the
researches upon which I am engaged.
_THE EMPRESS OF ANDORRA._
All the troubles in Andorra arose from the fact that the town clerk had
views of his own respecting the Holy Roman Empire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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