, 1886-04-02
THE CURIOSITY SHOP.


walk out Of my shop"
True, true said Markheim. Enough
foollng To business. Show me- some
thing else"
The dealer stopped once more, this time
to replace a glass upon the shelf, his thin
blonde hair falling over his eyes AS he did
30. Markheim moved a little nearer. with
one hand In the pocket Of his grcatcoat.
he drew himself up and filed his lungs; at
the same time many different emotions
were depleted together on his face-terror,
horror, and resolve, fascination and a
physical repulsion; and through a hAggard
lift OF his upper lip his teeth looked out
"This. perhaps, may suit observed the
dealer; aud then. rs he began 10 r~e-arise,
Markheim bounded from behind upon his
victim. The long, skewer-like dagger
flashed and fell. The dealer struggled like
a hen, striking his temple on the shelf. and
then tumbled on the floor In a heap.
Time had some score Of small voices in
that shop. some stately md slow ms was
becoming "a their great age; others garru-
lous and hurried. All these told out the
seconds In an intricate chorus Of tickings.
Then the passage Of a lads feet, heavily
running on the pavement, broke In upon
these smaller voices and startled Mark
helm into the consciousness Of his sur
roundings. He looked about h~im1wfully.
The candle stood on the counter, its flame
solemnly wagging in a draught; and, by
that inconsiderable movement, the whole
room was filled with noiseless hustle, and
kept heaving like a sea; the tall shadows
nodding. the gross blots of darkness swell
ing and dwindling.a as with respiration, the
faces Of the portraits and the him gods
changing and wavering like images in
water. The inner door stood ajar, and
peered into that Lacquer Of shadows with
a long slit Of daylight like n pointing
finger.
From these fear-stricken rovings, Mark
helms eyes returned TO the body OF his
victim, where Il lay both bumped and
sprawling. incredibly small, and strangely
meane than in life. In these poor, mi
serly clothes, In that ungainy attitude, the
dealer lay like 80 much sawdust. Mark
helm had feared to see IL, and, loi it was
nothing. And yet, as he gazed, ibis
bundle Of old clothes and pool Of blood be-
gan to ind eloquent voices. There it
must lie; there was none to work the Gun
ming hinges or direct the miracle 81 loco
motlon-there It must lie till it was found.
Foundi ny, and them
The thought was yet in his mind, when,
first one and then another, with every va
riety Of pace and voice-one deep MS the
bell from a cathedral turret, another ring
ing on its treble notes the prelude of a
waltz-the clocks began 10 strike the hour
Of 3 in the afternoon.
The sudden outbreak OF so many
tongues In that dumb chamber staggered
him. lie began TO bestir himself, going
TO and fro with the candle, beleaguered by
the moving shadows, and startled to the
soul by chance reflections. In many rich
mirrors, some Of home design, some from
Venice or Amsterdam, he saw his face
repeated and repeated, us II were an army
OF spies; his own eyes met and detected
him; and the sound OF his own steps,
lightly us they fell, vexed the surrounding
quiet.
Suddenly, from the street outside, a
very jovial gentleman began to beat with
a staf on the shop door, accompanying his
blows with shouts and railleries, in which
the dealer was continually called upon by
name. Markheirn, smitten into ice,
glanced ut the lead man. But mol he lay
quite still; he was fled away far beyond
earshot OF these blows and ~shoutings; he
was sunk beneath seas OF silence; and his
name, which would once ave caught his
notice above the bowling OF a storm, had
become an empty sound. And presently
the jovial gentleman desisted from his
knocking and departed.
Here was "A broad hint to hurry what re-
manned to be done, to get forth from this
accusing neighborhood to plunge into a
bath OF London multitudes, and 10 reach,
on the other side Of day, that haven Of
safety and apparent innocence-his bed.
One visitor had come; at any moment an
other might follow, and be moro obstinate.
To have lone the deed, md yet not to REAP
the profit, would be too abhorrent n fail
ure. The money-that WINS now Mark
HEINZ concern.
He found the keys and advanced toward
the inner door OF the shop. Outside, It had
begun TO rain smartly, and the sound OF
the shower upon the roof banished silence.
Like some dripping cavern, the chambers
Of the house were haunted by a faint in
cessant echoing, which filed the ear, and
mingled with the ticking Of the clocks.
Aud, as Markheim approached the door,
he seemed to hear in answer TO his own
cautious tread, the steps OF another foot
Withdrawing NJ the stairs. The shadow
still palpitated loosely on the threshold. He
threw n toms weight OF resolve upon his
muscles, and drew back the door.
The faint, foggy daylight glimmered
dimly on the bare floor and stairs; on the
bright suit Of armor posted, halbert in
hand, upon the landing, and on the dark
w~ood-carvings and framed pictures that
hung against the yellow panels Of the
wainscot. So loud was the beating Of the
rain through all the house that, in Mark
helms ears, II began TO be distinguished
into many different sounds, Footsteps aud
sights, the tread OF regiments marching in
distance, the cink OF money in the count
ing, and the creaking OF doors held
stealthily ajar, appeared to mingle with
the patter OF the drops upon the cupola
and the gushing Of the water In the pipes,
The sense that he WAS not alone grew
upon him TO the verge OF madness, On
every side he was haunted and begirt by
presences. lie heard them moving
stenlthily In the upper ch0mbers, from the
shop he heard the dead man getting 20 his
legs. and. rs he began with a great effort
to mount the stairs, feet fed quietly be
fore him and followed gradually behind.
II he were but deaf, he thought. how
TRANQUILITY he would possess his souli
The four-and.twenty steps to the first
floor were our-and-twenty agonies. On
tina first story the doors stood ajar, three
Of them like three ambushcs, shaking his
nerves like the throRts OF cannon. He
could never again. he felt, be sufficiently
immured and fortified from mems ohserv-
ing eyes, the sole JOY Tor Nhlch ne lon9ud
was to be- home, girt in by walls. buried
among bed clothes. and Invisible 10 all bus
God And then, again, with a swift ans
ition Of his %terrors, the very silence OF the
house appeared a source OF peril. and q
thing to strike and freeze the passer by.
and no would step more boldly, and bus
tie aloud among the contents ~ The shop,
and Initiate, win elaborate hravado, the
movements 4 a busy maj ai ease in hi
own house.
Never give Up.
If you are suffering with low and de-
pressed shirts. los nf annetitc GENERAL