'FAREWELL, NIKOLA'
CHAPTER I
We were in Venice; Venice the and mysterious; the one European city of which I tire. My wife had not good health for some months past, and for this we had been in Southern Italy. After that we had come slowly north, a month in Florence, and a in Rome en route, until we ourselves in Venice, a of at Galaghetti's famous hotel the Grand Canal. Our party was a small one; it of my wife, her friend, Gertrude Trevor, and myself, Richard Hatteras, once of the South Sea Islands, but now of the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It may account for our of Venice when I say that four years previous we had the part of our there. Whatever[Pg 8] the may have been, however, there be no of that the old city, with its and churches, its to long-forgotten centuries, and its waterways, a great for us. We were of it, something to us in the most out-of-the-way corners. In Miss Trevor we a companion, a necessity, as you will admit, when people travel together. She was an girl in more than one; a girl, so it to me, England alone is able to produce. She not be as a girl, but then the word "pretty" is one that sometimes comes near with it; one not speak of Venus de Medici as pretty, would one the Apollo Belvedere as very nice-looking. That Miss Trevor was would, I fancy, be admitted. At any she would attention she might go, and that is an which of us possess. Should a more of her be necessary, I might add that she was tall and dark, with black and large that one, and were of a southern ancestor. She was the daughter, and the only child, of the well-known Dean of Bedminster, and this was the time she had[Pg 9] visited Italy, or that she had been abroad. The of the Art Country were all new to her, and in our were one long of delight. Every day added some new to her experiences, while each night saw a life gratified.
In my opinion, to Italy properly one should not to visit her until after the of has departed, and then only when one has prepared to properly her many beauties. Venice, above all others, is a city that must be taken seriously. To come at a proper of the place one must be in a mood. Cheap and Cockney are as to the place, where Falieri his life, as a would be in Nice at time. On the of the particular day from which I date my story, we had been to the of Murano to pay a visit to the famous of which it is the home. By the time we Venice once more it was nearly sunset. Having something like an hour to we our way, at my wife's suggestion, to the Florian café on the of Saint Mark in order to watch the people. As the place was crowded, and at it looked as if we should be unable to chairs. Fortune us, however, and when we had seated ourselves[Pg 10] and I had ordered coffee, we gave ourselves up to the of what is one of the most in Venice. To a mind the Great Square must at all times be an object of interest. I have it at every hour, and under almost every aspect: at of day, when one has it to and is able to its undisturbed; at midday, when the shop-keepers to one into entering their doors (by of the therein); at sunset, when the cafés are crowded, the plays, and all is merriment; and last, but not least, at midnight, when the moon is above Saint Mark's, the square is full of shadows, and the only to be is the of a on the lagoon, or the "Sa Premi" of some gondolier.
"This is the moment to which I have looked all my life," said Miss Trevor, as she sat in her chair and the her. "Look at that little boy with the him. What a picture he would make if one only had a camera."
"If you to have a of him one can easily be obtained," I remarked. "Any one of these would be only too pleased to take one for you for a centissimi. I to say that many of our have a for being taken in that way."[Pg 11]
"Fancy Septimus Brown, of Tooting," my wife remarked, "a English paterfamilias, with a green veil, spectacles, and white umbrella, to ask the sun to record his image with the of St. Mark's about his head. Can't you picture the of that gentleman's family when they produce the on Sunday afternoons and it to their friends? 'This is pa,' the girl will remark, 'when he was in Venice' (as if Venice were a country in which one must be moving on), 'and that's how the came to him to be fed. Isn't it of him?' Papa, who has Brighton beach before, will be a person of from that moment."
"You one circumstance, however," Miss Trevor replied, who an argument, and for this my wife on principle, "that in himself to be taken at all, Brown of Tooting has a step. For the moment he to off his insularity, as the picture at which you are laughing is testimony. Do you think he would to be in a fashion in his own market-place, his shop-door with his him from the counter? I am sure he would not!"
"A very excellent argument," I answered.[Pg 12] "Unfortunately, however, it with it its own refutation. The that Brown takes the photograph home to to his friends goes a long way that he is still as as when he set out. If he did not himself of to out a of Saint Mark's with his personality, he would not have the at all, in which case we are no than before."
These little sparring-matches were a of great to us. The Cockney was Miss Trevor's bête noir. And upon this my wife and I loved to her. On the whole I she liked being by us.
We had our coffee and were still the people about us when I noticed that my wife had a little pale. I was about to upon it, when she an as if something had her.
"Good gracious! Dick," she cried, "surely it is not possible. It must be a mistake."
"What is it cannot be possible?" I inquired. "What do you think you see?"
I in the direction she indicated, but no one with I was acquainted. An English and his were near the entrance to the café, and[Pg 13] some officers in were on the other of them again, but still my wife was looking in the same direction and with an face. I my hand upon her arm. It was a long time since I had her so agitated.
"Come, darling," I said, "tell me what it is that you."
"Look," she answered, "can you see the table a little to the right of that at which those officers are seated?"
I was about to reply in the affirmative, but the I me of speech. The person to my wife had from his chair, and was in the act of walking us. I looked at him, looked away, and then looked again. No! there was no room for doubt; the was unmistakable. I should have him anywhere. He was Doctor Nikola; the man who had played such an part in our life's drama. Five years had since I had last him, but in that time he was at all. It was the same tall, thin figure; the same sallow, clean-shaven face; the same black eyes. As he nearer I noticed that his was a little more grey, that he looked older; otherwise he was unchanged. But why was he to us? Surely he did not to speak to us? After the manner in which he had us in by-gone[Pg 14] days I how to him. He on his side, however, was self-possessed. Raising his with that easy that always him, he and out his hand to my wife.
"My dear Lady Hatteras," he in his most tone, "I sure you would me. Observing that you had not me, I took the of to pay my respects to you."
Then my wife reply he had to me and was out his hand. For a moment I had not to take it, but when his looked into mine I my mind and hands with him more than I should have it possible for me to do. Having thus the ice, and as we had to all and purposes permitted him to the that we were prepared to the Past, nothing for us but to him to Miss Trevor. From the moment that he had approached us she had been him covertly, and that he had produced a upon her was easily seen. For the time since we had her she, so and unimpressionable, was and at ease. The she a little, and to be in a party of[Pg 15] our fellow-countrymen who had taken their places at a table a from us. For my part I do not mind that I was by no means comfortable. I my of Nikola in days gone by. I that terrible house in Port Said, and of the night on the when I had my wife from his clutches. In my then he had been a of the dye, and yet here he was me as and collected, and as in the résumé of our in Italy that my wife was him, as if we had been friends our lives. In any one else it would have been a piece of effrontery; in Nikola's case, however, it did not one in the same light. As I have so often remarked, he of acting like any other being. His a to his actions, and for them an attention they would have had he been less endowed.
"Have you been long in Venice?" my wife when she had the record of our doings, that she must say something.
"I for very long," he answered, with one of his smiles. "I come and go like a Will-o'-the-wisp; I am here to-day and gone to-morrow."[Pg 16]
It may have been an remark, but I not help it.
"For instance, you are in London to-day," I said, "in Port Said next week, and in the South Sea Islands a of months later."
He was not in the least disconcerted.
"Ah! I see you have not our South Sea adventure," he cheerfully. "How long ago it seems, it not? To me it is like a chapter out of another life." Then, to Miss Trevor, who of had the of our with him often to be of it, he added, "I you are not to think of me. Perhaps some day you will be able to Lady Hatteras to me, that is to say if she has not already done so. Yet I do not know why I should for pardon, that I am from being in a mood. As a of I am very much that, should the arise, I should be to act as I did then."
"Then let us pray most that the may arise," I answered. "I for one do not a very of that time."
I spoke so that my wife looked up at me. Fearing, I suppose, that I might myself, she added quickly—
"I trust it may not. For I can you,[Pg 17] Doctor Nikola, that my much nearer Bond Street than the South Sea Islands."
All this time Miss Trevor said nothing, but I tell from the upon her that Nikola her more than she would have been to admit.
"Is it permissible to ask where you are staying?" he inquired, the and speaking as if it were a point upon which he was most to be assured.
"At Galaghetti's," I answered. "While in Venice we always make it our home."
"Ah! the good Galaghetti," said Nikola softly. "It is a long time since I last had the of him. I fancy, however, he would me. I was able to do him a service some time ago, and I have always that he a memory."
Then, that he had long enough, he rose and prepared to take of us.
"Perhaps, Lady Hatteras, you will permit me to do myself the of calling upon you?" he said.
"We shall be very pleased to see you," my wife replied, though with no cordiality.
He then to Miss Trevor, and hands with myself.
"Good-bye, Hatteras," he continued. "I shall[Pg 18] soon to see you again. I we have of news for each other, and you will be to learn the history and of that little which you so much anxiety, and myself so much trouble, five years ago. My address is the Palace Revecce, in the Rio Consiglio, where, needless to say, I shall be to see you if you to pay me a visit."
I thanked him for his invitation, and promised that I would call upon him.
Then with a he took his departure, him a of something missing, something that not be replaced. To and continue the where he had into it was out of the question. We rose, and after I had the bill, across the the lagoon. Observing that Miss Trevor was still very silent, I the cause.
"If you want me to tell you, I can only account for it by saying that your friend, Doctor Nikola, has it," she answered. "I don't know why it should be so, but that man has a upon me."
"He to affect every one in a different manner," I said, and for some no upon her speech.[Pg 19]
When we had called a gondola, and were on our way to our hotel, she to the again.
"I think I ought to tell you that it is not the time I have Doctor Nikola," she said. "You may that yesterday, while Phyllis was down, I out to do some shopping. I cannot which direction I took, save that I the Rialto. It is that in the end I a chemist's shop. It was only a small place, and very dark, so dark that I did not see that it another until I was inside. Then I noticed a tall man in with the shopman. He was against some he had purchased there on the previous day, and that for the they should be of quality, otherwise he would be to take his elsewhere. In the middle of this he round, and I was permitted an opportunity of his face. He was none other than your friend, Doctor Nikola."
"But, my dear Gertrude," said Phyllis, "with all respect to your narrative, I do not see that the of your having met Doctor Nikola in a chemist's shop yesterday, and your having been to him to-day, should have you so much concern."[Pg 20]
"I do not know why it should," she answered, "but it is a fact, nevertheless. Ever since I saw him yesterday, his face, with its terrible eyes, has me. I of it last night. All day long I have had it me, and now, as if to add to the of the coincidence, he proves to be the man of you have so often told me—your demoniacal, Nikola. You must admit that it is very strange."
"A coincidence, a coincidence, that is all," I replied. "Nikola an face, and it must have itself more upon you than the is happy to do."
Whether my satisfied her or not, she said no more upon the subject. But that our meeting with Nikola had had an upon her was observable. As a she was as and a as one wish to have; on this particular evening, however, she was not herself at all. It was the more for the that I was that she should on this occasion, as I was an old friend, who was going to a days with us in Venice. That friend was none other than the Duke of Glenbarth, who previous to his to the Dukedom had been known[Pg 21] as the Marquis of Beckenham, and who, as the readers of the history of my with Doctor Nikola may remember, as a very in that affair. Ever since the day when I had the good to him a service in the of a south-coast watering-place, and from the time that he had my to join us in Venice, I had looked to his with the possible eagerness. As it it was well-nigh seven o'clock by the time we our hotel. Without in the than to the letter-rack, we to our rooms on the above. My wife and Miss Trevor had gone to their apartments, and I was about to their example as soon as I had something from the sitting-room.
"A of host, a very host," said a laughing voice as I entered. "He me to with him, and is not at home to me welcome. My dear old Dick, how are you?"
"My dear fellow," I cried, to him, "I must your ten thousand times. I had not the least idea that you would be here so early. We have been on the piazza, and did not home."
"You needn't apologize," he answered. "For once an Italian train was its time. And[Pg 22] now tell me about yourself. How is your wife, how are you, and what of are you having?"
I answered his questions to the best of my ability, my most item as a for him.
"And now," I said, "it is time to dress for dinner. But you do so, I have some news for you. Who do you think is in Venice?"
Needless to say he mentioned every one but the right person.
"You had give it up, you will guess," I said. "Who is the most person you would to see in Venice at the present moment?"
"Old Macpherson, my solicitor," he promptly. "The would no more think of the Channel than he would on his in the middle of the Strand. It must be Macpherson."
"Nonsense," I cried. "I don't know Macpherson in the place, and I if he would me in the second. No! no! this man is neither a Scotchman a lawyer. He is an the name of Nikola."
I had to him, but I looked for such an of astonishment.[Pg 23]
"What?" he cried, in amazement. "You must be joking. You don't to say that you have Nikola again?"
"I not only that I have him," I replied, "but I will go than that, and say that he was on the with us not more than half-an-hour ago. What do you think his in Venice means?"
"I don't know what to think," he replied, with an of almost upon his face. "It impossible, and yet you don't look as if you were joking."
"I tell you the news in all earnestness," I answered, my tone. "It is a that Nikola is in Venice, and, what is more, that he has me his address. He has me to call upon him, and if you like we will go together. What do you say?"
"I shall have to take time to think about it," Glenbarth seriously. "I don't for a moment he has any of me again; nevertheless, I am not going to give him the opportunity. By Jove, how that fellow's comes to me. It me!"
"Miss Trevor has been of the same thing," I said.
"Miss Trevor?" the Duke repeated. "And pray who may Miss Trevor be?"
"A friend of my wife's," I answered. "She[Pg 24] has been with us for the last months. I think you will like her. And now come along with me and I'll you your room. I your man has it by this time?"
"Stevens would it if this hotel were on the same as the at Hampton Court," he answered. "He has the of persistence, and when he wants to a thing he the person who would be the most likely to tell him, and to him until his has been gratified."
It out as he had predicted, and three-quarters of an hour later our sat to dinner. My wife and Glenbarth, by of an old friendship, well, while Miss Trevor, now from her Nikola indisposition, was more like her old self. It was a night, and after dinner it was proposed, seconded, and unanimously, that we should a and go for a upon the canal. On our the gondolier, by some chance, into the Rio Consiglio.
"Perhaps you can tell me which is the Palace Revecce?" I said to the man.
He pointed to a we were in the act of approaching.
"There it is, signor," he said. "At one time[Pg 25] it was a very great but now—" here he his to us to that its had from it. Not another word was said upon the subject, but I noticed that all our in the direction of the building. With the of one window it was in total darkness. As I looked at the I Nikola were in the room, and if so, what he was doing? Was he over some of his books, trying some new in chemistry, or to the test some such as I had him at work upon in that house in Port Said? A minutes later we had left the Rio Consiglio us, had to the right, and were making our way by another the Grand Canal.
"Thanks to your we have had a evening," Miss Trevor said, as we paused to say good-night at the of the a of an hour or so later. "I have myself immensely."
"You should not tell him that, dear," said my wife. "You know how he is already. He will take all the credit, and be for days afterwards." Then to me, she added, "You are going to smoke, I suppose?"
"I had of doing so," I replied; and then added with humility, "If you do[Pg 26] not wish it of I will not do so. I was only going to keep Glenbarth company."
They laughed and us good-night, and when we had them in the direction of their rooms we our and passed into the outside.
At this hour of the night the Grand Canal looked very still and beautiful, and we in the for confidences.
"Do you know, Hatteras," said Glenbarth, after the moments' pause that our in the open air, "that Nikola's up in Venice at this particular to me a little of the uncanny. What his mission may be, of I cannot tell, but that it is some thing or another I haven't a doubt."
"One thing is certain," I answered, "he would be here without an object, and, after our with him in the past, I am prepared to admit that I don't trust him any more than you do."
"And now that he has asked you to call upon him what are you going to do?"
I paused I replied. The question than were at apparent. Knowing Nikola so well, I had not the least or to be into any of the plots or he was so of against other people.[Pg 27] I must confess, nevertheless, that I not help a large amount of as to the history of that little stick, to obtain which he had so much money, and had so many lives.
"Yes, I think I shall call upon him," I said reflectively, as if I had not up my mind. "Surely to see him once more do no harm? Good heavens! what an he is! Fancy you or I being of any other man as we are of him, for mind you, I know that you as much in of him as I do. Why, do you know when my upon him this I a return of the old his presence used to in me five years ago! The he had upon Miss Trevor was also very singular, when you come to think of it."
"By the way, Hatteras, talking of Miss Trevor, what an girl she is. I don't know when I have met a nicer. Who is she?"
"She is the of the Dean of Bedminster," I answered; "a old fellow."
"I like his daughter," the Duke remarked. "Yes, I must say that I like her very much."
I was to this, for I had my own little dreams, and my wife, who, by the way, is a matchmaker, had long ago come to a conclusion.[Pg 28]
"She is a very girl," I replied, "and what is more, she is as good as she is nice." Then I continued, "He will be a lucky man who Gertrude Trevor for his wife. And now, since our are finished, what do you say to bed? It is late, and I you are after your journey."
"I am ready," he answered. "I shall sleep like a top. I only and pray that I shall not of Nikola."
