The Man Who Lost HimselfStacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
General
The Man Who Lost Himself
Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
Mistaken identity -- Fiction
Then, in a flash came comfort and understanding. He was in Rochester's
house. Rochester must have sent him here last night. That apparition was
Rochester's man servant. The vision of Rochester turned from an evil
spirit to an angel, and filled with a warm sensation of friendliness
towards the said Rochester he was in the act of pouring out a cup of
tea, when the words he had heard spoken in the passage outside came back
to him.
"Took all his money, and sent him home in another chap's clothes."
What did that mean?
He finished pouring out the tea and drank it; there was thin bread and
butter on a plate but he disregarded it. Whose money had been taken,
and who had been sent home in another chap's clothes?
Did those words apply to him or to Rochester? Had Rochester been robbed?
Might he, Jones, be held accountable?
A deep uneasiness and a passionate desire for his garments begotten of
these queries, brought him out of bed and on to the floor. He came to
the nearer window and looked out. The window gave upon the Green Park, a
cheerful view beneath the sky of a perfect summer's morning. He turned
from the window, and crossing the room opened the door through which the
apparition had vanished. A thickly carpeted corridor lay outside, a
corridor silent as the hypogeum of the Apis, secretive, gorgeous, with
tasseled silk curtains and hanging lamps. Jones judged these lamps to be
of silver and worth a thousand dollars apiece. He had read the Arabian
Nights when a boy, and like a waft now from the garden of Aladdin came a
vague something stirring his senses and disturbing his practical nature.
He wanted his clothes. This silent gorgeousness had raised the desire
for his garments to a passion. He wanted to get into his boots and face
the world and face the worst. Swinging lamps of silver, soft carpets,
silken curtains, only served to heighten his sensitiveness as to his
apparel and whole position.
He came back into the room. His anger was beginning to rise, the nervous
anger of a man who has made a fool of himself, upon whom a jest is being
played, and who finds himself in a false position.
Seeing an electric button by the fire place he went to it and pressed it
twice, hard, then he opened the second door of the room and found a bath
room.
A Pompeian bath room with tassellated floor, marble walls and marble
ceiling. The bath was sunk in the floor. Across hot water pipes, plated
with silver, hung towels of huck-a-back, white towels with cardinal red
fringes. Here too, most un-Pompeian stood a wonderful dressing table,
one solid slab of glass, with razors set out, manicure instruments,
brushes, powder pots, scent bottles.
Jones came into this place, walked round it like a cat in a strange
larder, gauged the depth of the bath, glanced at the things on the
table, and was in the act of picking up one of the manicure implements,
when a sound from the bed room drew his attention.
Someone was moving about there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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