 Act 3, Scene 1 of No Thorefair, Act 3, Scene 1 in the Valley. It was about the middle of the month of February when Vendale and Obenriser set forth on their expedition. The winter being a hard one, the time was bad for travellers. So bad was it that these two travellers, coming to Strasbourg, found its great inns almost empty. And even the few people they did encounter in that city, who had started from England or from Paris on business journeys towards the interior of Switzerland, were turning back. Many of the railroads in Switzerland that tourists pass easily enough now were almost or quite impracticable then. Some were not begun, more were not completed. On such as were open there were still large gaps of old road where communication in the winter season was often stopped. On others there were weak points where the new work was not safe, either under conditions of severe frost or of rapid thaw. The running of trains on this last class was not to be counted on in the worst time of the year, was contingent upon weather, or was wholly abandoned through the months considered the most dangerous. At Strasbourg there were more traveller's stories afloat respecting the difficulties of the way further on than there were travellers to relate to them. Most of these tales were as wild as usual. But the more modestly marvellous did derive some colour from the circumstance that people were indisputably turning back. However, as the road to Baal was open, Vendale's resolution to push on was in no wise disturbed. Obenreise's resolution was necessarily Vendale's, seeing that he stood at bay thus desperately. He must be ruined, or he must destroy the evidence that Vendale carried about him, even if he destroyed Vendale with it. The state of mind of each of these two fellow travellers towards each other was this. Obenreise encircled by impending ruin through Vendale's quickness of action, and seeing the circle narrowed every hour by Vendale's energy, hated him with the animosity of a fierce, cunning, lower animal. He had always had instinctive movements in his breast against him, perhaps because of that old sore of gentleman and peasant, perhaps because of the openness of his nature, perhaps because of his better looks, perhaps because of his success with Marguerite. Perhaps on all these grounds the two last not the least, and now he saw in him besides the hunter who was tracking him down. Vendale, on the other hand, always contending generously against his first vague mistrust, now felt bound to contend against it more than ever, reminding himself, he is Marguerite's guardian. We are on perfectly friendly terms. He is my companion of his own proposal, and can have no interested motive in sharing this undesirable journey. To which, please, in behalf of Obenreise, Chance added one consideration more when they came to Baal after a journey of more than twice the average duration. They had had a late dinner, and were alone in an in-room there overhanging the Rhine, at that place rapid and deep, swollen and loud. Vendale lounged upon a couch, and Obenreise walked to and fro, now stopping at the window looking at the crooked reflection of the town lights in the dark water, and, peradventure thinking, if I could fling him into it, now resuming his walk with his eyes upon the floor. Where shall I rob him if I can? Where shall I murder him if I must? So, as he paced the room, ran the river, ran the river, ran the river. The burden seemed to him at last to be growing so plain that he stopped, thinking it as well to suggest another burden to his companion. The Rhine sounds to-night, he said with a smile, like the old waterfall at home. That waterfall which my mother showed to travellers, I told you of it once. The sound of it changed with the weather, as does the sound of all falling waters and flowing waters. When I was pupil of the watchmaker, I remembered it as sometimes saying to me for whole days, Who are you, my little wretch? Who are you, my little wretch? I remembered it as saying other times when its sound was hollow, and storm was coming up the pass. Boom, boom, boom! Beat him, beat him, beat him, like my mother enraged. If she was my mother, if she was, said Vendale, gradually changing his attitude to a sitting one, if she was, why do you say if? What do I know? replied the other negligently, throwing up his hands and letting them fall as they would. What would you have? I am so obscurely born that how can I say? I was very young, and all the rest of the family were men and women, and my so-called parents were old. Anything is possible in a case like that. Did you ever doubt? I told you once. I doubt the marriage of those two, he replied, throwing up his hands again as if he was throwing the unprofitable subject away. But here I am in creation. I come of no fine family. What does it matter? At least you are Swiss, said Vendale, after following him with his eyes to and fro. How do I know? he retorted abruptly, and stopping to look back over his shoulder. I say to you, at least you are English. How do you know? By what I have been told from infancy. Ah! I know of myself that way. And, added Vendale, pursuing the thought that he could not drive back, by my earliest recollections. I also, I know of myself that way, if that way satisfies. Does it not satisfy you? It must. There is nothing like it must in this little world. It must. Two short words, though, but stronger than long proof or reasoning. You and poor Wilding were born in the same year. You were nearly of an age, said Vendale again, thoughtfully looking after him as he resumed his pacing up and down. Yes, very nearly. Could Obenriser be the missing man? In the unknown association of things, was there a subtler meaning than he himself thought, in the theory so often on his lips about the smallness of the world? Had the Swiss letter presenting him followed so close on Mrs. Goldstraw's revelation concerning the infant who had been taken away to Switzerland, because he was that infant grown a man? In a world where so many depths lie unsounded, it might be. The chances, or the laws, call them either, that had wrought out the revival of Vendale's own acquaintance with Obenriser, and had ripened it into intimacy, and had brought them here together this present winter night, were hardly less curious, while read by such a light they were seen to cohere towards the furtherance of a continuous and an intelligible purpose. Vendale's awakened thoughts ran high, while his eyes musingly followed Obenriser pacing up and down the room, the river ever running to the tune, When shall I rob him, if I can? When shall I murder him, if I must? The secret of his dead friend was in no hazard from Vendale's lips, but just as his friend had died of its weight, so did he in his lighter succession feel the burden of the trust, and the obligation to follow any cue, however obscure. He rapidly asked himself, would he like this man to be the real Wilding? No. Argued down his mistrust as he might, he was unwilling to put such a substitute in the place of the late guileless, outspoken, childlike partner. He rapidly asked himself, would he like this man to be rich? No. He had more power than enough over Marguerite as it was, and wealth might invest him with more. Would he like this man to be Marguerite's guardian, and yet prove to stand in no degree of relationship towards her, however disconnected and distant? No. But these were not considerations to come between him and Fidelity to the dead. Let him see to it that they had passed him with no other notice than the knowledge that they had passed him, and left him bent on the discharge of a solemn duty. And he did see to it, so soon that he followed his companion with ungrudging eyes while he still paced the room, that companion whom he supposed to be moodily reflecting on his own birth, and not on another man's least-of-all-what-man's violent death. The road in advance from Bar to Neuchâtel was better than had been represented. The latest weather had done it good. Drivers both of Horses and Mules had come in that evening after dark, and had reported nothing more difficult to be overcome than trials of patience, harness, wheels, axles, and whip-cord. A bargain was soon struck for a carriage and horses to take them on in the morning, and to start before daylight. Do you lock your door at night when travelling? asked Open-Riser, standing warming his hands by the wood-fire in Vendale's chamber before going into his own. Not I, I sleep too soundly. You are so sound asleep, he retorted, with an admiring look. What a blessing! Anything but a blessing to the rest of the house, rejoined Vendale, if I had to be knocked up in the morning from the outside of my bedroom door. I too, said Open-Riser, leave open my room, but let me advise you as a Swiss who knows always when you travel in my country, put your papers, and of course your money, under your pillow, always in the same place. You are not complementary to your own countrymen, laughed Vendale. My countrymen, said Open-Riser, with that light touch of his friend's elbows by way of good-night and benediction, I suppose I'll like the majority of men, and the majority of men will take what they can. Adieu, at four in the morning. Adieu, at four. Left to himself, Vendale raked the logs together, sprinkled over them the white wood-ashes lying on the hearth, and sat down to compose his thoughts. But they still ran high on their latest theme, and the running of the river tended to agitate them rather than quiet them. As he sat thinking, what little disposition he had had to sleep departed. He felt it hopeless to lie down yet, and sat dressed by the fire. Marguerite, wilding, Open-Riser, the business he was then upon, and a thousand hopes and doubts that had nothing to do with it, occupied his mind at once. Everything seemed to have power over him but slumber. The departed disposition to sleep kept far away. He had sat for a long time thinking on the hearth when his candle burned down and its light went out. It was a little moment. There was light enough in the fire. He changed his attitude and leaning his arm on the chair-back, and his chin upon that hand sat thinking still. But he sat between the fire and the bed, and as the fire flickered in the play of air from the fast-flowing river, his enlarged shadow fluttered on the white wall by the bedside. His attitude gave it an air, half of mourning and half of bending over the bed imploring. His eyes were observant of it, when he became troubled by the disagreeable fancy that it was like wilding shadow and not his own. A slight change of place would cause it to disappear. He made the change, and the apparition of his disturbed fancy vanished. He now sat in the shade of a little nook beside the fire, and the door of the room was before him. It had a long, cummerous iron latch. He saw the latch slowly and softly rise. The door opened a very little, and came to again as though only the air had moved it. But he saw that the latch was out of the hasp. The door opened again very slowly, until it opened wide enough to admit someone. It afterwards remained still for a while, as though cautiously held open on the other side. The figure of a man then entered, with its face turned towards the bed, and stood quiet just inside the door. Until it said, in a low half-whisper, and at the same time taking one step forward, Vendale? What now? he answered, springing from his seat. Who is it? It was open-riser, and he uttered a cry of surprise as Vendale came upon him from that unexpected direction. Not in bed, he said, catching him by both shoulders with an instinctive tendency to a struggle. Then something is wrong. What do you mean? said Vendale, releasing himself. First tell me, are you not ill? Ill? No. I had a bad dream about you. How is it that I see you up and rest? My good fellow, I may as well ask how it is that I see you up and rest. I have told you why. I had a bad dream about you. I tried to rest afterwards, but it was impossible. I could not make up my mind to stay where I was without knowing you were safe. And yet I could not make up my mind to come in here. I have been minutes hesitating at the door. It is so easy to laugh at a dream that you have not dreamed. Where is your candle? Burnt out. I have a whole one in my room, shall I fetch it? Do so. His room was very near, and he was absent for but a few seconds. Coming back with the candle in his hand, he kneeled down on the hearth and lighted it. As he blew with his breath a charred billet into flame for the purpose, Vendale, looking down at him, saw that his lips were white and not easy of control. Yes, said Obenriser, setting the lighted candle on the table. It was a bad dream. Only look at me. His feet were bare, his red flannel shirt was thrown back at the throat, and its sleeves were rolled above the elbows. His only other garment, a pair of under pantaloons or drawers, reaching to the ankles, fitted him close and tight. A certain lie than savage appearance was on his figure, and his eyes were very bright. If there had been a wrestle with a robber as I dreamed, said Obenriser, you see, I was stripped for it. And armed, too, said Vendale, glancing at his girdle. A traveller's dagger that I always carry on the road, he answered carelessly, half-drawing it from its sheath with his left hand, and putting it back again. Do you carry no such thing? Nothing of the kind. No pistols, said Obenriser, glancing at the table, and from it to the untouched pillow. Nothing of the sort. You Englishmen are so confident. You wish to sleep? I have wished to sleep this long time, but I can't do it. I neither, after the bad dream. My fire has gone the way of your candle. May I come and sit by yours? Two o'clock. It will soon be four, that it is not worth the trouble to go to bed again. I shall not take the trouble to go to bed at all now, said Vendale. Sit here and keep me company and welcome. Going back to his room to arrange his dress, Obenriser soon returned in a loose cloak and slippers, and they sat down on opposite sides of the hearth. In the interval Vendale had replenished the fire from the wood-basket in his room, and Obenriser had put upon the table a flask and cup from his. Common cabaret, Brandy, I'm afraid, he said, pouring out, bought upon the road, and not like yours from Cripple Corner. But yours is exhausted so much the worst. A cold night, a cold time of night, a cold country, and a cold house. This may be better than nothing. Try it. Vendale took the cup and did so. How did you find it? It has a course-after-flavour, said Vendale, giving back the cup with a slight shudder. And I don't like it. You are right, said Obenriser, tasting and smacking his lips. It has a course-after-flavour, and I don't like it. It burns, though. He had flung what remained in the cup upon the fire. Each of them leaned an elbow on the table, reclined his head upon his hand, and sat looking at the flaring logs. Obenriser remained watchful and still, but Vendale, after certain nervous twitches and starts, in one of which he rose to his feet and looked wildly about him, fell into the strangest confusion of dreams. He carried his papers in a leather case or pocket-book, in an inner-bressed pocket of his buttoned travelling-coat, and whatever he dreamed of in the lethargy that got possession of him, something importunate in those papers called him out of that dream, though he could not wake from it. He was berated on the steps of Russia, some shadowy person gave that name to the place, with margarite, and yet the sensation of a hand at his breast, softly feeling the outline of the pocket-book as he lay asleep before the fire, was present to him. He was shipwrecked in an open boat at sea, and having lost his clothes had no other covering than an old sail, and yet a creeping hand tracing outside all of the other pockets of the dress he actually wore for papers, and finding none answer its touch, warned him to rouse himself. He was in the ancient vault at Cripple Corner, to which was transferred the very bed substantial and present in that very room at Baal, and wilding, not dead as he had supposed, and yet he did not wonder much, shook him and whispered, Look at that man! Don't you see he has risen and is turning the pillow! Why should he turn the pillow if not to seek those papers that are in your breast? Awake! And yet he slept, and wandered off into other dreams. Watchful and still with his elbow on the table, and his head upon that hand, his companion at length said, Vendale we are called, past four! Then opening his eyes he saw turned sideways on him, the filmy face of Obenriser. You have been in a heavy sleep, he said, the fatigue of constant travelling and the cold. I am broad awake now, cried Vendale, springing up, but with an unsteady footing. Haven't you slept at all? I may have dozed, but I seem to have been patiently looking at the fire. Whether or no we must wash and breakfast and turn out. Past four, Vendale, past four! It was said in a tone to rouse him, for already he was half asleep again. In his preparation for the day too, and at his breakfast he was often virtually asleep in a mechanical action. It was not until the cold dark day was closing in that he had any distincter impressions of the ride than jingling bells, bitter weather, slipping horses, frowning hillsides, bleak woods, and a stoppage at some wayside house of entertainment where they had passed through a cow-house to reach the traveller's room above. He had been conscious of little more, except of Obenriser sitting thoughtful at his side all day and eyeing him much. But when he shook off his stupor, Obenriser was not at his side. The carriage was stopping to bait at another wayside house, and a line of long narrow carts laid in with casks of wine and drawn by horses with a quantity of blue collar and headgear were baiting too. These came from the direction in which the travellers were going, and Obenriser, not thoughtful now but cheerful and alert, was talking with the foremost driver. As Vendale stretched his limbs, circulated his blood, and cleared off the leaves of his lethargy with a sharp run to and fro in the bracing air, the line of carts moved on, the drivers all saluting Obenriser as they passed him. "'Whose are those?' asked Vendale. "'Those are our carriers, the Fresnier and Company's,' replied Obenriser. "'Those are our casks of wine!' He was singing to himself and lighting a guitar. "'I have been dreadful dull company today,' said Vendale. "'I don't know what has been the matter with me. "'You had no sleep last night and a kind of brain-congestion-frequency and a kind of brain-congestion-frequency comes at first of such cold,' said Obenriser. "'I have seen it often. After all, we shall have our journey for nothing, it seems.' "'How for nothing?' "'The house is at Milan. "'You know, we are a wine-house at Neuchâtel and a silk-house at Milan. "'Well, silk happening to press over sudden, "'more than wine, the Fresnier was summoned to Milan. "'Rollen, the other partner, has been taken ill "'since his departure and the doctors will allow him to see no one. "'A letter awaits you at Neuchâtel to tell you so. "'I have it from our chief carrier "'whom you saw me talking with. "'He was surprised to see me "'and said he had that word for you if he met you. "'What do you do? Go back?' "'Go on,' said Vendale. "'On?' "'Yes, across the Alps and down to Milan.' Obenriser stopped in his smoking to look at Vendale and then smoked heavily, looked up the road, looked down the road, looked down at the stones in the road at his feet. "'I have a very serious matter in charge,' said Vendale. "'More of these missing forms may be turned "'to as bad a count or worse. "'I am urged to lose no time "'in helping the house to take the thief "'and nothing shall turn me back.' "'No!' cried Obenriser, "'taking out his cigar to smile "'and giving his hand to his fellow traveller. "'Then nothing shall turn me back! "'Oh, driver dispatch, quick there! Let us push on!' They travelled through the night. There had been snow and there was a partial thaw, and they mostly travelled at a foot-pace and always with many stoppages to breathe the splashed and floundering horses. After an hour's broad daylight they drew rain at the indoor at Neuchâtel, having been some eight and twenty hours in conquering some eighty English miles. When they had hurriedly refreshed and changed they went together to the house of business of de Fresnir and Company. There they found the letter which the wine-carrier had described in closing the tests and comparisons of handwriting essential to the discovery of the forger. Vendale's determination to press forward without resting being already taken, the only question to delay them was by what pass could they cross the Alps? By setting the state of the two passes of the Saint-Gothard and the Simplon the guides and mule-drivers differed greatly and both passes were still far enough off to prevent the travellers from having the benefit of any recent experience of either. Besides which they well knew that a fall of snow might altogether change the described conditions in a single hour even if they were correctly stated. But on the whole the Simplon appearing to be the hopeful root, Vendale decided to take it. Obenreise bore little or no part in the discussion and scarcely spoke. To Geneva, to Lucerne, along the level margin of the lake to Vive, so into the winding valley between the spurs of the mountains and into the valley of the Rhône, the sound of the carriage-wheels as they rattled on through the day, through the night became as the wheels of a great clock recording the hours. No change of weather varied the journey after it had hardened into a sullen frost. In a somber yellow sky they saw the Alpine ranges and they saw enough of snow on nearer and much lower hill-tops and hillsides to sully by contrast the purity of lake, torrent and waterfall and make the villages a reality. But no snow fell, nor was there any snow drift on the road. The stalking along the valley of more or less of white mist, changing on their hair and dress into icicles, was the only variety between them and the gloomy sky and still by day and still by night the wheels and still they rolled in the hearing of one of them to the burden of the Rhône. The time is gone for robbing him alive and I must murder him. They came at length to the poor little town of Breege at the foot of the Simplion. They came there after dark, but yet could see how dwarfed men's works and men became with the immense mountain towering over them. Here they must lie for the night and here was warmth of fire and lamp and wine and after-conference resounding with guides and drivers. No human creature had come across the pass for four days. The snow above the snow-line was too soft for wheeled carriage and not hard enough for sledge. There was snow in the sky. There had been snow in the sky for days past and the marvel was that it had not fallen and the certainty was that it must fall. The journey might be tried on mules or it might be tried on foot, but the best guides must be paid danger price in either case and that too, whether they succeeded in taking the two travelers across or turned for safety and brought them back. In this discussion, Hope and Reiser bore no part whatever. He sat silently smoking by the fire until the room was cleared and Vendale referred to him. I am weary with these poor devils and their trade, he said in reply, always the same story. It is the story of their trade today as it was the story of their trade when I was a ragged boy. What do you and I want? We want a knapsack each and a mountain staff each. We want no guide. We should guide him. He would not guide us. We leave our path and we cross together. We have been on the mountains together before now and I am mountain-born and I know this pass, pass, rather high road, by heart. We will leave these poor devils too pity to trade with others, but they must not delay us to make a pretence of earning money, which is all they mean. Vendale glad to be quit of the dispute and to cut the knot, active, adventurous, bent on getting forward and therefore very susceptible to the last hint, readily assented. Within two hours they had purchased what they wanted for the expedition, had packed their knapsacks and laid down to sleep. At break of day they found half the town collected in the narrow street to see them depart. The people talked together in groups, the guides and drivers whispered apart and looked up at the sky. No one wished them a good journey. As they began the ascent a gleam of sun shone from the otherwise unaltered sky and for a moment turned the tin spires of the town to silver. A good omen said Vendale, though it died out while he spoke. Perhaps our example will open the pass on this side. No, we shall not be followed. Returned open riser looking up at the sky and back at the valley. We shall be alone up yonder. End of Act 3, Scene 1. Recording by Alan Chant of Tumbridge, Kent, England www.7oaksprep.kent.sch.uk 3, Scene 2 of No Therafair This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Alan Chant No Therafair by Charles Dickens Act 3, Scene 2. On the Mountain The road was fair enough for stout-walkers and the air grew lighter and easier to breathe as the tour scented, but the settled gloom remained as it had remained for days back. Nature seemed to have come to a pause. The sense of hearing no less than the sense of sight was troubled by having to wait so long for the change whatever it might be that impended. The silence was as palpable and heavy in clouds, or rather cloud, for there seemed to be but one in all the sky and that one covering the whole of it. Although the light was thus dismally shrouded the prospect was not obscured. Down in the valley of the Rhone behind them the stream could be traced through all its many windings oppressively somber and solemn in its one leaden hue a colourless waste. Far and high above them glaciers and suspended avalanches overhung the spots where they must pass by and by. Deep and dark below them on their right were awful precipice and roaring torrent tremendous mountains arose in every vista. The gigantic landscape un-cheered by a touch of changing light or a solitary ray of sun was yet terribly distinct in its ferocity. The hearts of two lonely men might shrink a little if they had to win their way for miles and hours among a legion of silent and motionless men mere men like themselves all looking at them with fixed and frowning front but how much more when the legion is of nature's mightiest works and the frown may turn to fury in an instant. As they ascended the road became gradually more rugged and difficult but the spirits of Vendale rose as they mounted higher leaving so much more of the road behind them conquered. Obenreiser spoke little and held on with a determined purpose both in respect of agility and endurance were well qualified for the expedition. Whatever the born mountaineer read in the weather tokens that was illegible to the other shall we get across today? asked Vendale. No, replied the other you'll see how much deeper the snow lies here than it lay half a league lower the higher we mount the deeper the snow will lie walking is half wading even now and the days are so short if we get as high as the fifth refuge and lie to night at the hospice we shall do well. Is there no danger of the weather rising in the night asked Vendale anxiously and snowing us up? There is danger enough about us said Obenreiser with a cautious glance onward and upward to render silence our best policy. You have heard of the bridge of the Gantha? I have crossed it once in the summer yes in the travelling season yes but it is another thing at this season with a sneer as though he were out of temper this is not a time of year or a state of things on an alpine pass that you gentlemen holiday travellers know much about. You are my guide said Vendale good-humidly I trust to you I am your guide said Obenreiser and I will guide you to your journey's end there is the bridge before us they had made a turn into a desolate and dismal ravine where the snow lay deep below them deep above them deep on every side while speaking Obenreiser stood pointing at the bridge and observing Vendale's face with a very singular expression on his own if I as guide had sent you over there in advance and encourage you to give a shout or two you might have brought down upon yourself tons and tons and tons of snow that would not only have struck you dead but buried you deep at a blow no doubt said Vendale no doubt but that is not what I have to do as guide so pass silently or going as we go our indiscretion might else crush and bury me let us go on there was a great accumulation of snow on the bridge and such enormous accumulations of snow overhung them from protecting masses of rocks that they might have been making their way through a stormy sky of white clouds using his staff skillfully sounding as he went and looking upward with bent shoulders as it were to resist the mere idea of a fall from above Obenriser softly led Vendale closely followed they were yet in the midst of their dangerous way when there came a mighty rush followed by a sound as of thunder Obenriser clapped his hand on Vendale's mouth and pointed to the track behind them its aspect had been wholly changed in a moment an avalanche had swept over it and plunged into the torrent at the bottom of the gulf below their appearance at the solitary inn not far beyond the terrible bridge elicited many expressions of astonishment from the people shut up in the house we stay but to rest said Obenriser shaking the snow from his dress at the fire this gentleman has very pressing occasion to get across tell them Vendale assuredly I have very pressing occasion I must cross you're here all of you my friend has very pressing occasion to get across and we want no advice and no help I am as good a guide my fellow countrymen as any of you now give us to eat and drink in exactly the same way and in nearly the same words when it was coming on dark and they had struggled through the greatly increased difficulties of the road and had at last reached their destination for the night Obenriser said to the astonished people at the hospice gathering about them at the fire while they were yet in the act of getting their wet clothes off and shaking the snow from their clothes it is well to understand one another friends all this gentleman has said Vendale readily taking him up with a smile very pressing occasion to get across must cross you hear he has very pressing occasion to get across must cross we want no advice and no help I am mountain born and act as guide do not worry us by talking about it but let us have supper and wine and bed all through the intense cold of the night the same awful stillness again at sunrise no sunny tinge to gild or redden the snow the same impenetrable waist of deathly white the same immovable air the same monotonous gloom in the sky travellers a friendly voice called to them from the door after they were afoot knapsack on back and staff in hand as yesterday recollect there are five places of shelter near together on the dangerous road before you and there is the wooden cross and there is the next hospice do not stray from the track if the tour more comes on take shelter instantly the trade of these poor devils said Obam Riser to his friend with a contemptuous backward wave of his hand towards the voice how they stick to their trade Hugh Englishman say we smiths our mercenary truly it does look like it they had divided between the two knapsacks such refreshments as they had been able to obtain that morning and as they deemed it prudent to take Obam Riser carried the wine as his share of the burden Vendale the bread and meat and cheese and the flask of brandy they had for some time laboured upward through the snow which was now above their knees in the track and of unknown depth elsewhere and they were still labouring upward and onward through the most frightful part of that tremendous desolation when snow began to fall at first but a few flakes descended slowly and steadily after a little while the fall grew much denser and suddenly it began without apparent cause to whirl itself into spiral shapes and instantly ensuing upon this last change an icy blast came roaring at them and every sound and force imprisoned until now was let loose one of the dismal galleries through which the road is carried at that perilous point a cave eaked out by arches of great strength was near at hand they struggled into it and the storm raged wildly the noise of the wind the noise of the water the down of displaced masses of rock and snow the awful voices with which not only that gorge but every gorge in the whole mountainous range seemed to be suddenly endowed the darkness as of night the violent revolving of the snow which beat and broke it into spray and blinded them the madness of everything around insatiate for destruction the rapid substitution of furious violence for unnatural calm the voice of appalling sounds for silence these were things on the edge of a deeper bis to chill the blood though the fierce wind made actually solid by ice and snow had failed to chill it open riser walking to and fro in the gallery without ceasing signed to vendale to help him unbuckle his knapsack they could see each other but they could not have heard each other speak vendale complying the wind produced his bottle of wine and poured some out motioning vendale to take that for warmth's sake and not brandy vendale again complying open riser seemed to drink after him and the two walked backwards and forwards side by side both well knowing that to rest or sleep would be to die the snow came driving heavily into the gallery by the upper end and later dangers lay on the road behind them than before the snow soon began to choke the arch an hour more and it lay so high as to block out half the returning daylight but it froze hard now as it fell and could be clambered through or over the violence of the mountain storm was gradually yielding to steady snowfall the wind still raged at intervals incessantly and when it paused the snow fell in heavy flakes they might have been two hours in their frightful prison when open riser now crunching into the mound now creeping over it with his head bowed down and his body touching the top of the arch made his way out vendale followed close upon him but followed without clear motive or calculation for the lethargy of Baal was creeping over him again and mastering his senses how far he had followed out of the gallery or with what obstacles he had since contended he knew not he became roused to the knowledge that open riser had set upon him and that they were struggling desperately in the snow he became roused to the remembrance of what his assailant carried in a girdle he felt for it, drew it, struck at him, struggled again struck at him again, cast him off and stood face to face with him I promise to guide you to your journey's end said open riser and I have kept my promise the journey of your life ends here nothing can prolong it you are sleeping as you stand you are a villain what have you done to me you are a fool, I have drugged you you are doubly a fool for I drugged you once before upon the journey to try you you are trebly a fool for I am the thief and forger and in a few moments I shall take those proofs against the thief and forger from your insensible body the entrapped man tried to throw off the lethargy but its fatal hold upon him was so sure that even while he heard those words he stupidly wondered which of them had been wounded and whose blood it was that he saw sprinkled on the snow what have I done to you he asked heavily and thickly that you should be so base a murderer done to me you would have destroyed me but that you have come to your journey's end your cursed activity interposed between me and the time I had counted on in which I might have replaced the money done to me you have come in my way not once, not twice but again and again and again did I try to shake you off in the beginning or no you were not to be shaken off therefore you die here Vendale tried to think coherently tried to speak coherently tried to pick up the iron-shot staff he had let fall failing to touch it tried to stagger on without its aid all in vain all in vain he stumbled and fell heavily forward on the brink of the deep chasm stupefied, dozing, unable to stand upon his feet a veil before his eyes, his sense of hearing deadened he made such a vigorous rally that supporting himself on his hands he saw his enemies standing calmly over him and heard him speak you call me murderer said open riser with a grim laugh the name matters very little but at least I have set my life against yours for I am surrounded by dangers and may never make my way out of this place the turmoil is rising again the snow is on the wind I must have the papers now every moment has my life in it stop cried Vendale in a terrible voice staggering up with a last flash of fire breaking out of him and clutching the thievish hands at his breast in both of his stop stand away from me God bless my margarite happily she will never know how I died stand off from me and let me look at your murderous face let it remind me of something left to say the sight of him fighting so hard for his senses and the doubt whether he might not for the instant be possessed by the strength of a dozen men kept his opponent still wildly glaring at him Vendale faltered out the broken words it shall not be the trust of the dead betrayed by me inherited parents inherited fortune see to it as his head dropped on his breast and he stumbled on the brink of the chasm as before the thievish hands went once more quick and busy to his breast he made a convulsive attempt to cry no desperately rolled himself over into the gulf and sank away from his enemy's touch like a phantom in a dreadful dream the mountain storm raged again and passed away the awful mountain voices died away the moon rose and the soft and silent snow fell two men and two large dogs came out at the door of the hospice the men looked carefully around them and up at the sky the dogs rolled in the snow and took it into their mouths and cast it up with their paws one of the men said to the other we may venture now we may find them in one of the five refuges each fastened on his back a basket each took in his hand a strong spiked pole each girded under his arms a looped end of a stout rope so that they were tied together suddenly the dogs desisted in their gambles in the snow stood looking down the ascent, put their noses up, put their noses down became greatly excited and broke into a deep loud bay together the two men looked in the faces of the two dogs the two dogs looked with at least equal intelligence in the faces of the two men us it go then help to the rescue cried the two men the two dogs with a glad deep generous bark bounded away two more mad ones said the men stricken motionless and looking away in the moonlight is it possible in such weather and one of them is a woman each of the dogs had the corner of a woman's dress in its mouth and drew her along she fondled their heads as she came up and she came up through the snow with an accustomed tread not so the large man with her who was spent and winded dear guides, dear friends of travellers I am of your country we seek to gentlemen crossing the pass who should have reached the hospice this evening they have reached it Mamzell or thank heaven or thank heaven but unhappily they have gone on again we are setting forth to seek them even now we had to wait until the tourment passed it has been fearful up here dear guides, dear friends of travellers let me go with you let me go with you for the love of God one of those gentlemen is to be my husband I love him oh so dearly oh so dearly you see I am not faint you see I am not tired I am born a peasant girl I will show you that I know well how to fasten myself to your ropes I will do it with my own hands I will swear to be brave and good but let me go with you let me go with you if any mischance should have befallen him my love would find him when nothing else could on my knees dear friends of travellers by the love your dear mother's had for your fathers the good rough fellows were moved after all they murmured to one another she speaks but the truth she knows the way of the mountains see how marvellously she has come here but as to Mizzure there Mamzell dear Mr Joey said Marguerite addressing him in his own tongue you will remain at the house and wait for me will you not if I had a node which you too recommended it growled Joey ladle eyeing the two men with great indignation I'd fight you for sixpence and give you up a crown towards your expenses no miss I'll stick by you as long as there's any sticking left in me and I'll die for you when I can't do better the state of the moon rendering it highly important that no time should be lost and the dog showing signs of great uneasiness the two men quickly took their resolution the rope that yoked them together was exchanged for a longer one the party were secured Marguerite second and the sellerman last and they set out for the refuges the actual distance of those places was nothing the whole five and the next hospice to boot being within two miles but the ghastly way was whited out and sheeted over they made no miss in reaching the gallery where the two had taken shelter the second storm of wind and snow had so wildly swept over it since that their tracks were gone but the dogs went to and fro with their noses down the party stopping however at the further arch where the second storm had been especially furious and where the drift was deep the dogs became troubled and went about and about in quest of a lost purpose the great abyss being known to lie on the right they wandered too much to the left and had to regain the way with infinite labour through a deep field of snow the leader of the line had stopped it and was taking note of the landmarks when one of the dogs fell to tearing up the snow a little before them advancing and stooping to look at it thinking that someone might be overwhelmed there they saw that it was stained and that the stain was red the other dog was now seen to look over the brink of the gulf with his foreleg straightened out lest he should fall into it and to tremble in every limb then the dog who had found the stained snow joined him and then they ran to and fro distressed and whining finally they both stopped on the brink together and setting up their heads howled dolefully there is someone lying below said Marguerite I think so said the foremost man stand well inward you last two and let us look over the last man kindled two torches from his basket and handed them forward the leader taking one and Marguerite the other they looked down now shading the torches now moving them to right or left now raising them now depressing them as moonlight far below contended with black shadows a piercing cry from Marguerite broke along silence my god on the projecting point where a wool of ice stretches forward over the torrent I see a human form where Mamzell where? over there on the shelf at vice below the dogs the leader with a second aspect drew inward and they were all silent but they were not all inactive for Marguerite with swift and skillful fingers had detached both herself and him from the rope in a few seconds show me the baskets these two are the only ropes the only ropes here Mamzell but at the hospice if he is alive I know it is my lover he will be dead before you can return dear guides blessed friends of travellers look at me watch my hands if they falter or go wrong make me your prisoner by force if they are steady and go right help me to save him she girded herself with a cord under the breast and arms and formed it into a kind of jacket she drew it into knots she laid its end side by side with the end of the other cord she twisted and twined the two together she knotted them together she set her foot upon the knots she strained them she held them for the two men to strain at she is inspired they said to one another by the Almighty's mercy she exclaimed you both know that I am by far the lightest here give me the brandy and the wine and lower me down to him then go for assistance and a stronger rope you'll see that when it is lowered to me look at this about me now I can make it fast and safe to his body alive or dead I can bring him up or die with him I love him passionately can I say more they turned to her companion but he was lying senseless on the snow lower me down to him she said taking two little kegs they had brought and hanging them about her or I will dash myself to pieces I'm a peasant and I know no giddiness or fear and this is nothing to me and I passionately love him lower me down Mamzel Mamzel he must be dying or dead dying or dead my husband's head shall lie upon my breast or I will dash myself to pieces they yielded overborn with such precautions as their skill and the circumstances admitted they let her slip from the summit guiding herself down the precipitous icy wall with her hand and they lowered down and they lowered down and lowered down until the cry came up enough enough is it really he and is he dead they called down looking over the cry came up he is insensible but his heart beats it beats against mine it's against mine how does he lie the cry came up upon a ledge of ice it has thawed beneath him and it will thaw beneath me hasten if we die I am content I am content one of the two men hurried off with the dogs at such topmost speed as he could make the other set up the lighted torches in the snow and applied himself to recovering the Englishman much snow chafing and some brandy got him on his legs but delirious and quite unconscious where he was the watch remained upon the brink and his cry went down continually courage they will soon be here how goes it and the cry came up his heart still beats against mine I warm him in my arms I have cast off the rope for the ice melts under us and the rope would separate me from him but I am not afraid the moon went down behind the mountain tops and all the abyss lay in darkness the cry went down how goes it the cry came up we are sinking lower but his heart still beats against mine beats against mine at length the eager barking of the dogs and a flare of light upon the snow proclaimed that help was coming on twenty or thirty men lamps, torches, litters, ropes, blankets wood to kindle a great fire and stimulants came in fast the dogs ran from one man to another and from this thing to that and ran to the edge of the abyss dumbly and treating speed, speed, speed the cry went down thanks to God all is ready how goes it the cry came up we are sinking still and we are deadly cold his heart no longer beats against mine let no one come down to add to our weight lower the rope only the fire was kindled high a great glare of torches lighted the sides of the precipice lamps were lowered a strong rope was lowered she could be seen passing it round him and making it secure the cry came up in a deathly silence raise softly they could see her diminished figure shrink as he was swung into the air they gave no shout when some of them laid him on a litter and others lowered another strong rope the cry again came up into a deathly silence raise softly but when they caught her at the brink then they wept then they gave thanks to heaven then they kissed her feet and they kissed her dress then the dogs caressed her, licked her icy hands and with their honest faces warmed her frozen bosom she broke from them all and sank over him on his litter with both her loving hands upon the heart that stood still end of act three scene two and end of act three recording by Alan Chant of Tumbridge Kent, England www.7oaksprep.kent.sch.uk act four scene one of no thoroughfare this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Alan Chant no thoroughfare by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins act four scene one the clock lock the pleasant scene was Neuchâtel the pleasant month was April the pleasant place was a notary's office the pleasant person in it was the notary a rosy, hearty, handsome old man chief notary of Neuchâtel known far and wide in the canton as Mathrévoit professionally and personally the notary was a popular citizen his innumerable kindnesses and his innumerable oddities had for years made him one of the recognised public characters of the pleasant Swiss town his long brown frockcoat and his black skullcap were among the institutions of the place and he carried a snuff-box which in point of size was popularly believed to be without a parallel in Europe there was another person in the notary's office not so pleasant as the notary this was Obenreiser an oddly pastoral kind of office it was and one that would never have answered in England it stood in a neat backyard fenced off from a pretty flower garden goats browsed in the doorway and a cow was within half a dozen feet of keeping company with the clerk Mathrévoit's room was a bright and varnished little room with panelled walls like a toy chamber according to the seasons of the year roses, sunflowers, hollyhocks peeped in at the windows Mathrévoit's bees hummed through the office all the summer in at this window and out at that taking it frequently in their day's work as if honey were to be made from Mathrévoit's sweet disposition a large musical box on the chimney-piece often trilled away to the overture to Fra Diavolo or a selection from William Tell with a chirruping liveliness that had to be stopped by force on the entrance of a client and irrepressibly broke out again the moment his back was turned courage, courage my good fellow said Mathrévoit patting Obenreiser on the knee in a fatherly and comforting way you will begin a new life tomorrow morning in my office here Obenreiser dressed in morning and subdued in manner lifted his hand with a white handkerchief in it to the region of his heart the gratitude is here he said but the words to express it are not here ta ta ta don't talk to me about gratitude said Mathrévoit I hate to see a man oppressed I see you oppressed and I hold out my hand to you by instinct besides I am not too old yet to remember my young days your father sent me my first client it was on a question of half an acre of vineyard that seldom bore any grapes do I own nothing to your father's son I owe him a debt of friendly obligation and I pay it to you that's rather neatly expressed I think and it made Thrévoit in high good humour with himself permit me to reward my own merit with a pinch of snuff Obenreiser dropped his eyes to the ground as though he were not even worthy to see the notary take snuff do me one last favour sir he said when he raised his eyes do not act on impulse thus far you have only a general knowledge of my position here the case for and against me in its details before you take me into your office let my claim on your benevolence be recognised by your sound reason as well as by your excellent heart in that case I may hold up my head against the bitterest of my enemies and build myself a new reputation on the ruins of the character I have lost as you will said Mathrévoit you'll speak well my son you will be a fine lawyer one of these days the details are not many my troubles begin with the accidental death of my late travelling companion my dear lost friend Mr. Vendale Mr. Vendale repeated the notary just so I have heard and read of the name several times within these two months the name of the unfortunate English gentleman who was killed on the Simplon when you got that scar upon your cheek and neck from my own knife said open riser touching what must have been an ugly gash at the time of its inflection from your own knife assented the rotary and in trying to save him good, good, good that was very good Vendale, yes I have several times lately thought it droll that I should once have had a client of that name but the world sir returned open riser it's so small nevertheless he made a mental note that the notary had once had a client of that name as I was saying sir the death of that dear travelling comrade begins my troubles what follows? I save myself I go down to Milan I am received with coldness by Defresnia and company shortly afterwards I am discharged by Defresnia and company why? they give no reason why I ask do they assail my honour? no answer I ask what is the imputation against me? no answer I ask where are their proofs against me? no answer I ask what am I to think? the reply is miss your open riser is free to think what he will what miss your open riser thinks is of no importance to Defresnia and company and that is all perfectly that is all asserted the notary taking a large pinch of snuff but is that enough sir? that is not enough said maitre voigt the house of Defresnia are my fellow townsmen much respected, much esteemed but the house of Defresnia must not silently destroy a man's character you can rebut assertion but how can you rebut silence? your sense of justice, my dear patron answered open riser states in a word the cruelty of the case does it stop there? no for what follows upon that? true my poor boy said the notary with a comforting nod or two your ward rebells upon you your ward rebells upon that rebells is too soft a word retorted open riser my ward revolts from me with horror my ward defies me my ward withdraws herself from my authority and takes shelter madame door with her in the house of that English lawyer Mr. Bintree who replies to your summons to her to submit herself to my authority that she will not do so and who afterwards writes said the notary moving his large snuff box to look among the papers underneath it for the letter that he is coming to confer with me indeed replied open riser rather checked well sir, have I no legal rights? assuredly my poor boy returned the notary all but felons have their legal rights and who calls me felon? said open riser fiercely no one be calm under your wrongs if the house of Defresnia would call you felon indeed we should know how to deal with them while saying these words he had handed Bintree's very short letter to open riser who now read it and gave it back in saying observed open riser with recovered composure that he is coming to confer with you this English lawyer means that he is coming to deny my authority over my ward you think so? I am sure of it I know him he is obstinate and contentious you will tell me my dear sir whether my authority is unassailable until my ward is of age absolutely unassailable I will enforce it I will make her submit to it for, said open riser changing his angry tone to one of grateful submission I owe it to you sir to you who have so confidingly taken an injured man under your protection and into your employment make your mind easy said mate Trevot no more of this now and no thanks be here tomorrow morning before the other clock comes between seven and eight you will find me in this room and I will initiate you in your work go away go away I have letters to write I won't hear a word more dismissed with this generous abruptness and satisfied with the favourable impression he had left on the old man's mind open riser was at leisure to revert to the mental note he had made that mate Trevot once had a client whose name was Vendale I ought to know England well enough by this time so his meditations ran as he sat on a bench in the yard and it is not a name I ever encountered there except he looked involuntarily over his shoulder as his name is the world so small that I cannot get away from him even now when he is dead he confessed at the last that he had betrayed the trust of the dead and misinherited a fortune and I was to see to it and I was to stand off that my face might remind him of it why my face unless it concerned me I am sure of his words for they have been in my ears ever since can there be anything bearing on them in the keeping of this old idiot anything to repair my fortunes and blacken his memory he dwelt upon my earliest remembrances that night at Baal why unless he had a purpose in it Medtreevox, two largest he-goats were butting at him to but him out of the place as if for that disrespectful mention of their master so he got up and left the place but he walked alone for a long time on the border of the lake with his head drooped in deep thought between seven and eight next morning he presented himself again at the office he found the notary ready for him at work on some papers which had come in on the previous evening in a few clear words Medtreevox explained the routine of the office and the duties open riser would be expected to perform it still wanted five minutes to wait when the preliminary instructions were declared to be complete I will show you over the house and the offices said Medtreevox but I must put away these papers first they come from the municipal authorities and they must be taken special care of open riser saw his chance here of finding out the repository in which his employers private papers were kept can't I save you the trouble sir? he asked can't I put these documents away under your directions Medtreevox laughed softly to himself closed the portfolio in which the papers had been sent to him handed it to open riser suppose you try he said all my papers of importance are kept yonder he pointed to a heavy oaken door thickly studied with nails at the lower end of the room approaching the door with the portfolio open riser discovered to his astonishment that there were no means whatever of opening it from the outside there was no handle, no bolt, no key and climax of passive obstruction no keyhole there is a second door to this room said open riser appealing to the notary no said Medtreevox guess again there is a window? nothing of the sort the window has been bricked up the only way in is the way by that door and do you give it up? cried Medtreevox in high triumph listen my good fellow and tell me if you hear nothing inside open riser listened for a moment and started back from the door I know he exclaimed I heard of this when I was apprentice here at the watchmakers Perrin brothers have finished their famous clock-lock at last and you have got it Bravo said Medtreevox the clock-lock it is there my son there you have one more of what the good people of this town call Daddyvox Follies with all my heart let those laugh who win no thief can steal my keys no burglar can pick my lock no power on earth short of a battering ram or a barrel of gunpowder can move that door till my little sentinel inside my worthy friend who goes chick chick as I tell him says open the big door obeys the little tick tick and the little tick tick obeys me that cried Daddyvox slapping his fingers for all the thieves in Christendom may I see it in action asked open riser pardon my curiosity dear sir you know that I was once a tolerable worker in the clock trade certainly you shall see it in action said Medtreevox what is the time now or one minute to eight watch and in one minute you will see the door open of itself in one minute smoothly and slowly and silently as if invisible hands had set it free the heavy door opened inward and disclosed a dark chamber beyond on three sides shelves filled the wall from floor to ceiling arranged on the shelves where rows upon rows of boxes made in the pretty inlaid woodwork of Switzerland and bearing inscribed on their fronts for the most part in fanciful coloured letters the names of the notaries clients Medtreevox lighted a taper and led the way into the room you shall see the clock he said proudly I possess the greatest curiosity in Europe it is only a privilege few whose eyes can look at it I give the privilege to your good father's son you shall be one of the favourite few who enter the room with me see here it is on the right hand wall at the side of the door an ordinary clock exclaimed open riser no not an ordinary clock it has only one hand aha said Medtreevox not an ordinary clock my friend no no that one hand goes round the dial as I put it so it regulates the hour at which the door shall open see the hand points to eight at eight the door opened as you saw for yourself does it open more than once in the four and twenty hours asked open riser more than once repeated the notary with great scorn you don't know my good friend tick tick he will open the door as often as I ask him all he wants is his directions and he gets them here look below the dial here is a half circle of steel let into the wall and here is a hand called the regulator that travels round it just as my hand chooses notice if you please that there are figures to guide me on the half circle of steel figure one means open once in the four and twenty hours figure two means open twice and so on to the end I set the regulator every morning after I have read my letters and when I know what my day's work is to be would you like to see me set it now what is today Wednesday good this is the day of our rifle club there is little business to do I grant a half holiday no work here today after three o'clock let us first put away this portfolio of municipal papers there no need to trouble tick tick to open the door until eight tomorrow good I leave the dial hand at eight I put the regulator to one I close the door and closed the door remains past all opening by anybody till tomorrow morning at eight open rises quickness instantly saw the means by which he might make the clock lock betray its master's confidence and place its master's papers at his disposal stop sir he cried at the moment when the notary was closing the door don't I see something moving among the boxes on the floor there metrivox turned his back for a moment to look in that moment open rises ready hand put the regulator on from the figure one to the figure two unless the notary looked again at the half circle of steel the door would open at eight that evening as well as a date next morning and nobody but open riser would know it there is nothing said metrivox your troubles have shaken your nerves my son some shadow thrown by my taper or some poor little beetle who lives among the old lawyer's secrets running away from the light huck I hear your fellow clerk in the room to work to work and build today the first step that leads to your new fortunes he could humbly pushed open riser out before him extinguished the taper with a last fond glance at his clock which passed harmlessly over the regulator beneath and closed the oaken door at three the office was shut up the notary and everybody in the notary's employment with one exception went to see the rifle shooting open riser had pleaded that he was not in spirits for a public festival nobody knew what had become of him it was believed that he had slipped away for a solitary walk the house and offices had been closed but a few minutes when the door of a shining wardrobe in the notary's shining room opened and open riser stepped out he walked to a window unclosed the shutters satisfied himself that he could escape unseen by way of the garden turned back into the room and took his place in the notary's easy chair he was locked up in the house and there were five hours to wait before eight o'clock came he wore his way through the five hours sometimes reading the books and newspapers that lay on the table sometimes thinking sometimes walking to and fro sunset came on he closed the window shutters before he kindled a light the candle lighted and the time drawing nearer and nearer he sat, watch in hand with his eyes on the open door at eight smoothly and softly and silently the door opened one after another he read the names on the outer rows of boxes no such name as Vendale he removed the outer row and looked at the row behind these were older boxes and shabbier boxes the four firsts that he examined were inscribed with French and German names the fifth borough name which was almost illegible he brought it out into the room and examined it closely there, covered thickly with time stains and dust was the name Vendale the key hung to the box by a string he unlocked the box took out four loose papers that were in it spread them open on the table and began to read them he had not so occupied a minute when his face fell from its expression of eagerness and avidity to one of haggard astonishment and disappointment but after a little consideration he copied the papers he then replaced the papers, replaced the box closed the door, extinguished the candle and stole away as his murderous and thievish footfall passed out of the garden the steps of the notary and someone accompanying him stopped at the front door of the house the lamps were lighted in the little street and the notary had his door key in his hand pray, do not pass my house, Mr. Bintree he said, do me the honour to come in this is one of our town half-holidays our dear, but my people will be back directly it is droll that you should ask your way to the hotel of me let us eat and drink before you go there thank you, not to-night, said Bintree shall I come to you at ten, to-morrow I shall be enchanted, sir, to take so early an opportunity for redressing the wrongs of my injured client returned the good notary yes, retorted Bintree your injured client is all very well, but a word in your ear he whispered to the notary and walked off when the notary's housekeeper came home she found him standing at his door motionless with the key still in his hand the door unopened End of Act 4, Scene 1 Recording by Alan Chant of Tumbridge, Kent, England www.7oaksprep.kent.sh.uk Act 4, Scene 2 of No-Thour Affair This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Alan Chant No-Thour Affair by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins Act 4, Scene 2 Open Rises Victory The scene shifts again to the foot of the simplon on the Swiss side In one of the dreary rooms of the dreary little inn at Brieg Mr. Bintree and Maître Vox sat together at a professional council of two Mr. Bintree was searching in his dispatch box Maître Vox was looking towards a closed door painted brown to imitate mahogany and communicating with an inner room Isn't it time he was here? asked the notary, shifting his position and glancing at a second door at the other end of the room painted yellow to imitate deal Me is here! answered Bintree after listening for a moment The yellow door was opened by a waiter and Open Riser walked in After greeting Maître Vox with a cordiality which appeared to cause the notary no little embarrassment Open Riser bowed with grave and distant politeness to Bintree For what reason have I been brought from Neuchâtel to the foot of the mountain? he inquired, taking the seat which the English lawyer had indicated to him You shall be quite satisfied on that head before our interview is over returned Bintree For the present permit me to suggest proceeding at once to business There has been a correspondence Mr. Open Riser between you and your niece I am here to represent your niece In other words, you, a lawyer, are here to represent an infraction of the law admirably put, said Bintree If all the people I have to deal with were only like you what an easy profession mine would be I am here to represent an infraction of the law That is your point of view I am here to make a compromise between you and your niece That is my point of view There must be two parties to a compromise rejoined Open Riser I decline in this case to be one of them The law gives me authority to control my niece's actions until she comes of age She is not yet of age and I claim my authority At this point Maitre attempted to speak Bintree silenced him with a compassionate indulgence of tone and manner as if he were silencing a favourite child Oh, my worthy friend, not a word Don't excite yourself unnecessarily Leave it to me He turned and addressed himself again to Open Riser I can think of nothing comparable to you, Mr. Open Riser but granite and even that wears out in the course of time In the interest of peace and quietness for the sake of your own dignity relax a little If you will only delegate your authority to another person whom I know of that person may be trusted However to lose sight of your niece night or day You are wasting your time and mine, returned Open Riser If my niece is not rendered up to my authority with one week from this day I invoke the law If you resist the law I take her by force He rose to his feet as he said the last word Maitre Vok looked round again towards the brown door which led to the inner room Have some pity on the poor girl pleaded Bintrie Remember how lately she lost her lover by a dreadful death Will nothing move you? Nothing Bintrie in his turn rose to his feet and looked at Maitre Vok Maitre Vok's hand resting on the table began to tremble Maitre Vok's eyes remained fixed as if by irresistible fascination on the brown door Open Riser suspiciously observing him looked that way too There is somebody listening in there he exclaimed with a sharp backward glance at Bintrie There are two people listening answered Bintrie Who are they? You shall see With this answer he raised his voice and spoke the next words the two common words which are on everybody's lips at every hour of the day Come in The brown door opened supported on Marguerite's arm his son burnt colour gone his right arm bandaged and slung over his breast Vendale stood before the murderer a man risen from the dead In the moment of silence that followed the singing of a caged bird in the courtyard outside was the one sound stirring in the room Maitre Vok touched Bintrie and pointed to Open Riser Look at him said the notary in a whisper The shock had paralysed every movement in the villain's body but the movement of the blood his face was like the face of a corpse the one vestige of colour left in it was a livid purple streak which marked the course of the scar where his victim had wounded him on the cheek and neck Speechless, breathless, motionless alike in eye and limb it seemed as if at the sight of Vendale the death to which he had doomed Vendale had struck him where he stood Someone ought to speak to him said Maitre Vok, shall I? Even at that moment Bintrie persisted in silencing the notary and in keeping the lead in the proceedings to himself checking Maitre Voks by a gesture he dismissed Marguerite and Vendale in these words The object of your appearance here is answered, he said If you will withdraw for the present it may help Mr. Obenriser to recover himself It did help him As the two passed through the door and closed it behind them he drew a deep breath of relief he looked round the room for the chair from which he had risen and dropped into it Give him time! pleaded Maitre Vok No, said Bintrie I don't know what use he may make of it if I do He turned once more to Obenriser and went on I owe it to myself, he said I don't admit, mind, that I owe it to you to account for my appearance in these proceedings and to state what has been done under my advice and on my sole responsibility Can you listen to me? I can listen to you? Recall the time when you started for Switzerland with Mr. Vendale, Bintrie began You had not left England for and twenty hours before your niece committed an act of imprudence which not even your penetration could foresee She followed her promised husband on his journey without asking anybody's advice or permission and without any better companion to protect her than a sellerman in Mr. Vendale's employment Why did she follow me on the journey and how came the sellerman to be the person who accompanied her? She followed you on the journey, answered Bintrie because she suspected that there had been some serious collision between you and Mr. Vendale and had been kept secret from her and because she rightly believed you to be capable of serving your interests or of satisfying your enmity at the price of a crime As for the sellerman he was one among the people in Mr. Vendale's establishment to whom she had applied the moment your back was turned to if anything had happened between their master and you The sellerman alone had something to tell her A senseless superstition and a common accident which had happened to his master in his master's cellar had connected Mr. Vendale in this man's mind with the idea of danger by murder Your niece surprised him into a confession which aggravated tenfold the terrors that possessed her Aroused by a sense of the mischief he had done the man of his own accord made the one atonement in his power If my master is in danger, miss, he said it's my duty to follow him too and it's more than my duty to take care of you The two set forth together and for once a superstition has had its use It decided your niece on taking the journey and it led the way to saving a man's life Do you understand me so far? I understand you so far The first knowledge of the crime that you had committed came to me in the form of a letter from your niece All you need to know is that her love and her courage recovered the body of your victim and aided the after-efforts which brought him back to life While he lay helpless and brieged under her care she wrote to me to come out to him Before starting I informed Madame Douhe that I knew Miss Obenriser to be safe and knew where she was Madame Douhe informed me in return that a letter had come from your niece which she knew to be in your handwriting I took possession of it and arranged for the forwarding of any other letters which might follow Arrived at Briege I found Mr. Vendale out of danger and at once devoted myself to hastening the day of reckoning with you Defresnia and Cumbany turned you off on suspicion acting on information privately supplied by me Having stripped you of your false character the next thing to do was to strip you of your authority over your niece To reach this end I not only had no scruple in digging the pitfall under your feet in the dark I felt a certain professional pleasure in fighting you with your own weapons By my advice the truth has been carefully concealed from you up to this day By my advice the trap into which you have walked was set for you You know why now as well as I do in this place There was but one certain way of shaking the devilish self-control which has hitherto made you a formidable man That way has been tried and look at me as you may That way has succeeded The last thing that remains to be done concluded Bintry producing two little slips of manuscript from his dispatch box is to set your niece free You have attempted murder and you have committed forgery and theft We have the evidence ready against you in both cases If you are convicted as a felon you know as well as I do what becomes of your authority over your niece Personally I should have preferred taking that way out But considerations are pressed on me which I am not able to resist and this interview must end as I have told you already in a compromise Sign those lines Resigning all authority over Miss Obenriser and pledging yourself never to be seen in England or in Switzerland again and I will sign an indemnity which secures you against further proceedings on our part Obenriser took the pen in silence and signed his niece's release On receiving the indemnity in return he rose but made no movement to leave the room He stood looking at Maitre Vok with a strange smile gathering at his lips and a strange light flashing in his filmy eyes What are you waiting for? asked Bintry Obenriser pointed to the brown door Call them back? he answered I have something to say in their presence before I go Say it in my presence retorted Bintry I declined to call them back Obenriser turned to Maitre Vok Do you remember telling me that you once had an English client named Vendale? he asked Well, answered the notary, and what of that? Maitre Vok, your clock-lock has betrayed you What do you mean? I have read the letters and certificates in your client's box I have taken copies of them I have got the copies here Is there or is there not a reason for calling them back? For a moment the notary looked to and fro between Obenriser and Bintry in helpless astonishment Recovering himself, he drew his brother-lawyer aside and hurriedly spoke a few words close at his ear The face of Bintry, after first faithfully reflecting the astonishment on the face of Maitre Vok suddenly altered its expression He sprang with the activity of a young man to the door of the inner room entered it, remained inside for a minute, and returned, followed by Marguerite and Vendale Now, Mr Obenriser, said Bintry, the last move in the game is yours Play it Before I resign my position as that young lady's guardian, said Obenriser I have a secret to reveal in which she is interested In making my disclosure, I am not claiming her attention for a narrative which she or any other person present is expected to take on trust I am possessed of written proofs, copies of originals the authenticity of which Maitre Vok himself can attest Bear that in mind and permit me to refer you at starting to a date long past the month of February in the year 1836 Mark the date, Mr Vendale, said Bintry My first proof, said Obenriser, taking a paper from his pocketbook copy of a letter written by an English lady married to her sister, a widow the name of the person writing the letter I shall keep suppressed until I have done the name of the person to whom the letter is written I am willing to reveal it is addressed to Mrs Jane Ann Miller of Groombridge Wells, England Vendale started and opened his lips to speak Bintry instantly stopped him as he had stopped Maitre Vok No, said the pertinacious lawyer, leave it to me Obenriser went on It is needless to trouble you with the first half of the letter, he said I can give the substance of it in two words the writer's position at this time is this she has been long living in Switzerland with her husband obliged to live there for the sake of her husband's health they are about to move to a new residence in the lake of Neuchâtel in a week and they will be ready to receive Mrs Miller as a visitor in a fortnight from that time this said the writer next enters into an important domestic detail she has been childless for years she and her husband have now no hope of children they are lonely they want an interest in life they have decided on adopting a child here the important part of the letter begins and here therefore I read it to you word for word he folded back the first page of the letter and read as follows will you help us my dear sister to realize our new project as English people we wish to adopt an English child this may be done I believe at the Foundling my husband's lawyers in London will tell you how I leave the choice to you with only these conditions attached to it that the child is to be an infant under a year old and is to be a boy will you pardon the trouble I am giving you for my sake and will you bring our adopted child to us with your own children when you come to Neuchâtel I must add a word as to my husband's wishes in this matter he is resolved to spare the child whom we make our own any future mortification and loss of self-esteem which might be caused by a discovery of his true origin he will bear my husband's name and he will be brought up in the belief that he is really our son his inheritance of what we have to leave will be secured to him not only according to the laws of England in such cases but according to the laws of Switzerland also for we have lived so long in this country that there is a doubt whether we may not be considered as domiciled in Switzerland the one precaution left to take is to prevent any after-discovery at the foundling now our name is a very uncommon one and if we appear on the register of the institution as the person's adopting the child there is just a chance that something might result from it your name my dear is the name of thousands of other people and if you will consent to appear on the register there need be no fear of any discoveries in that quarter we are moving by the doctor's orders to a part of Switzerland in which our circumstances are quite unknown and you as I understand are about to engage a new nurse for the journey when you come to see us under these circumstances the child may appear as my child brought back to me under my sister's care the only servant we take with us from our old home is my own maid who can be safely trusted as for the lawyers in England and in Switzerland it is their profession to keep secrets and we may feel quite easy in that direction so there you have our harmless little conspiracy write by return of post my love and tell me you will join it do you still conceal the name of the writer of that letter asked Wendale I keep the name of the writer till the last answered open riser and I proceed to my second proof a mere slip of paper this time as you see memorandum given to the Swiss lawyer who drew the documents referred to in the letter I have just read expressed as follows adopted from the Foundling Hospital of England 3rd of March 1836 a male infant called in the institution Walter Wilding person appearing on the register as adopting the child Mrs Jane Anne Miller Widow acting in this matter for her married sister domiciled in Switzerland patience resumed open riser as Wendale breaking loose from bintry started to his feet I shall not keep the name concealed much longer two more little slips of paper and I have done 3rd proof certificate of Dr. Gantz still living in practice at Noschertel dated July 1838 the doctor certifies you shall read it for yourselves directly first that he attended the adopted child in his infant maladies second that three months after the date of the certificate the gentleman adopting the child as his son died third that on the date of the certificate the widow and her maid taking the adopted child with them left Noschertel on their return to England one more link now added to this and my chain of evidence is complete the maid remained with her mistress till her mistress's death only a few years since the maid can swear to the identity of the adopted infant from his childhood to his youth from his youth to his manhood as he is now there is her address in England and there Mr. Wendale is the fourth and final proof why do you address yourself to me said Wendale as open riser threw the written address on the table open riser turned on him in a sudden frenzy of triumph because you are the man if my niece marries you she marries a bastard brought up by public charity if my niece marries you she marries an imposter without name or lineage disguised in the character of a gentleman of rank and family Bravo! cried Bintry admirably put Mr. Obenriser it only wants one word more to complete it she marries thanks entirely to your exertions a man who inherits a handsome fortune and a man whose origin will make him prouder than ever of his peasant wife George Wendale as brother executors let us congratulate each other our dear dead friend's last wish on earth is accomplished we have found the lost Walter Wilding as Mr. Obenriser just said now you are the man the words passed by Wendale unheeded for the moment he was conscious of but one sensation he heard but one voice Marguerite's hand was clasping his Marguerite's voice was whispering to him I never loved you George as I love you now end of act 4 scene 2 recording by Alan Chant of Tumbridge Kent, England www.7oaksprep.kent.sh.uk