, 1889-08-08
PERILS OF PETER DUFF.

a theatrical trap worked through the
carpeted floor.
There was my writing table, Uttered
with books. The limit of my horizon
used to be a garden, seen through the
window; now the figure Of a great lank,
o~minously faced man blocked the light.
How did he get there? He did not
glare at me. but yelled his eyes, concen-
trating their fell powers under half
closed lids. Clad in a seedy black coat,
he stood motionless. like TO n rusty feath-
cred crow, and said. in n croak that was
startling enough, at least for me, "You
are Peter Duff"
There was no infection of an interrog-
atory character in those dread words. |
have n well trained ear, sensitive to an
intonation. / should have detected
hesitancy had he raised the pitch of his
squawk the fraction of a note. He made
no gesture; there was no facial move
ment. He simply had that ~concentra-
tion of vocal expression n man employs
when he announces an i~rrevocable, un-
disputabie fact.
i might have ~1oundered in vain ex-
postulations, empty explanations, that l
was not Peter Duff, but l knew such
efforts would be useless. Ifelt no %inclina-
ton TO wrangle over my identity. There
crept over me the certainty of some
former condition. What l was positive
about vas that l had been discovered.
Found out at last-at lastl' was the
despairing refrain that kept repeating
itself in my mind. Yes, there arose some
slight distress, but only that OF n bafiled
curiosity. What was the particular
specific culpability of Peter Duff What
had he done? For what was no to be
brought to book
/ felt intense hatred toward the man
who had trailed me-that rage which
makes n cornered rat turn and try to bite
his pursuer-but as l looked Mt the great,
gaunt, big boned man who lowered over
me. l knew at once how unequal would
have been the combat.
| rapidly ran over the words the man
had uttered, and l came to this fixed
conclusion: l was the villain who, de-
spite DISCUSSES, the avenger Ia at last
unearthed. But why had he not put n
heavy hand oil my shrinking shoulder,
and said, Justice claims her own?' Or
TO his sepulchral, You are Peter Duff"
why not ave added the de rigueur ex-
clamatory, Hal har'
looked Mt him in a furtive way. Was
the bulge in his side pocket caused by
the stock of a pistol? His long black
coat hung down so straight that / felt
sure il was weighted at the skirts with a
pair of handouts.
The man looked remorseless. Had he
blinked, l might have hoped for a chance.
Had he changed in the least tho form of
those words, You are Peter Duff" /
would have grappled with him. But he
never weakened. He was as if of bronze,
as If a statue, that, for ever and ever as
serting n thing, never budges from its
pedestal.
l vas speechless. Silence meant con-
sent. l ran back quickly, during a few
painful seconds, over all the facts which
might account for his presence.
If there had been n clang of the belll
Then, perhaps, the servant would have
told him that Peter Duff did not live
there. / never, as far as / remembered,
had been confidential with either my
wife or Bella as to my antecedents. Still,
in an u~nguarded ONE 1 might have
been, for men will babble in their dreams.
Had-had they any inkling of that doubly
dyed villain the N woman called hus-
band, the other master?
hht" ho NaS OOllt hOOltI VI lhltT.
1t was inevitable, preordained, and how
futile, l thought, were all my deeply
laid schemesi OF what avail twistings
and d~oublings' Who was it, to use the
common slang of the day-who was it
who had given me away? Who among
my former pals had peached? Had / or
had l not been n fairly honorable scoun-
drel? When had l chuckled? That was
years on years ago, when the last man
Jack of them was hanged on secret evil
dence 1 had sent the state prosecutor.
Then, of course, l had reformed. How
came l to be suspected, after alp
How silly it was of me in such a mo-
ment, when the cold sweat was oozing
out of every pore of my body, to keep
repeating an old Turkish proverb, THE
sword of the sultan grows and grows,
and circles and sweeps and sweeps and
circles, until it cuts off the head of the
offenderi"
All these thoughts trooped through my
brain and jostled one another, but no
question as to the denying of my indenti-
ty presented itself. / was positive now
that that fiendish man had my exact de
scription. There would be witnesses who
would come into the obscurest of police
courts, and at once, unhesitatingly, point
finger at me among n crowd of other
men, and scream at me, THAT is Peter
Duff"
ESCAPED thought out a feeble plan.
There was a Japanese paper knife on the
table, but of so soft an alloy that it would
double in the cutting of a thick leaf.
How would the killing of him have
helped me nov?
If the man would only say something
morei Fortunately be did, or 1 would
ave one mad.
Mr.. Duff, we will proceed to bust
ness"
The construction of that brief but
guarded sentence brought some slight re-
lief. Tn tension was momentarily loos-
ened. lie had Mustered and mastered
me- 1t was the mock courtesy adopted
by the emisSaries Of justice, that ~cruelest
of all small vii. Is it not recorded that
Vidocq. whtu he struck down his quarry