A Crystal Age

Chapter 7

The moment of retiring, to which I had been looking forward with

considerable interest as one likely to bring fresh surprises, arrived at

last: it brought only extreme discomfort. I was conducted (without a

flat candlestick) along an obscure passage; then, at right angles with

the first, a second broader, lighter passage, leading past a great many

doors placed near together. These, I ascertained later, were the

dormitories, or sleeping-cells, and were placed side by side in a row

opening on the terrace at the back of the house. Having reached the door

of my box, my conductor pushed back the sliding-panel, and when I had

groped my way to the dark interior, closed it again behind me. There was

no light for me except the light of the stars; for directly opposite the

door by which I had entered stood another, open wide to the night, which

was apparently not intended ever to be closed. The prospect was the one

I had already seen--the wilderness sloping to the river, and the glassy

surface of the broad water, reflecting the stars, and the black masses

of large trees. There was no sound save the hooting of an owl in the

distance, and the wailing note of some mournful-minded water-fowl. The

night air blew in cold and moist, which made my bones ache, though they

were not broken; and feeling very sleepy and miserable, I groped about

until I Was rewarded by discovering a narrow bed, or cot of

trellis-work, on which was a hard straw pallet and a small straw pillow;

also, folded small, a kind of woolen sleeping garment. Too tired to keep

out of even such an uninviting bed, I flung off my clothes, and with my

moldy tweeds for only covering I laid me down, but not to sleep. The

misery of it! for although my body was warm--too warm, in fact--the wind

blew on my face and bare feet and legs, and made it impossible to sleep.

About midnight, I was just falling into a doze when a sound as of a

person coming with a series of jumps into the room disturbed me; and

starting up I was horrified to see, sitting on the floor, a great beast

much too big for a dog, with large, erect ears. He was intently watching

me, his round eyes shining like a pair of green phosphorescent globes.

Having no weapon, I was at the brute's mercy, and was about to utter a

loud shout to summon assistance, but as he sat so still I refrained, and

began even to hope that he would go quietly away. Then he stood up, went

back to the door and sniffed audibly at it; and thinking that he was

about to relieve me of his unwelcome presence, I dropped my head on the

pillow and lay perfectly still. Then he turned and glared at me again,

and finally, advancing deliberately to my side, sniffed at my face. It

was all over with me now, I thought, and closing my eyes, and feeling my

forehead growing remarkably moist in spite of the cold, I murmured a

little prayer. When I looked again the brute had vanished, to my

inexpressible relief.

It seemed very astonishing that an animal like a wolf should come into

the house; but I soon remembered that I had seen no dogs about, so that

all kinds of savage, prowling beasts could come in with impunity. It was

getting beyond a joke: but then all this seemed only a fit ending to the

perfectly absurd arrangement into which I had been induced to enter.

"Goodness gracious!" I exclaimed, sitting bolt upright on my straw bed,

"am I a rational being or an inebriated donkey, or what, to have

consented to such a proposal? It is clear that I was not quite in my

right mind when I made the agreement, and I am therefore not morally

bound to observe it. What! be a field laborer, a hewer of wood and

drawer of water, and sleep on a miserable straw mat in an open porch,

with wolves for visitors at all hours of the night, and all for a few

barbarous rags! I don't know much about plowing and that sort of thing,

but I suppose any able-bodied man can earn a pound a week, and that

would be fifty-two pounds for a suit of clothes. Who ever heard of such

a thing! Wolves and all thrown in for nothing! I daresay I shall have a

tiger dropping in presently just to have a look round. No, no, my

venerable friend, that was all excellent acting about my extraordinary

delusions, and the rest of it, but I am not going to be carried so far

by them as to adhere to such an outrageously one-sided bargain."

Presently I remembered two things--divine Yoletta was the first; and the

second was that thought of the rare pleasure it would be to array myself

in those same "barbarous rags," as I had blasphemously called them.

These things had entered into my soul, and had become a part of

me--especially--well, both. Those strange garments had looked so

refreshingly picturesque, and I had conceived such an intense longing to

wear them! Was it a very contemptible ambition on my part? Is it sinful

to wish for any adornments other than wisdom and sobriety, a meek and

loving spirit, good works, and other things of the kind? Straight into

my brain flashed the words of a sentence I had recently read--that is to

say, just before my accident--in a biological work, and it comforted me

as much as if an angel with shining face and rainbow-colored wings had

paid me a visit in my dusky cell: "Unto Adam also, and his wife, did the

Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. This has become, as every

one knows, a custom among the race of men, and shows at present no sign

of becoming obsolete. Moreover, that first correlation, namely,

milk-glands and a hairy covering, appears to have entered the very soul

of creatures of this class, and to have become psychical as well as

physical, for in that type, which is only _for a while_ inferior to

the angels, the fondness for this kind of outer covering is a strong,

ineradicable passion!" Most true and noble words, O biologist of the

fiery soul! It was a delight to remember them. A "strong and

ineradicable passion," not merely to clothe the body, but to clothe it

appropriately, that is to say, beautifully, and by so doing please God

and ourselves. This being so, must we go on for ever scraping our faces

with a sharp iron, until they are blue and spotty with manifold

scrapings; and cropping our hair short to give ourselves an artificial

resemblance to old dogs and monkeys--creatures lower than us in the

scale of being--and array our bodies, like mutes at a funeral, in

repulsive black--we, "Eutheria of the Eutheria, the noble of the noble?"

And all for what, since it pleases not heaven nor accords with our own

desires? For the sake of respectability, perhaps, whatever that may

mean. Oh, then, a million curses take it--respectability, I mean; may it

sink into the bottomless pit, and the smoke of its torment ascend for

ever and ever! And having thus, by taking thought, brought my mind into

this temper, I once more finally determined to have the clothes, and

religiously to observe the compact.

It made me quite happy to end it in this way. The hard bed, the cold

night wind blowing on me, my wolfish visitor, were all forgotten. Once

more I gave loose to my imagination, and saw myself (clothed and in my

right mind) sitting at Yoletta's feet, learning the mystery of that

sweet, tranquil life from her precious lips. A whole year was mine in

which to love her and win her gentle heart. But her hand--ah, that was

another matter. What had I to give in return for such a boon as that?

Only that strength concerning which my venerable host had spoken

somewhat encouragingly. He had also been so good as to mention my skill;

but I could scarcely trade on that. And if a whole year's labor was only

sufficient to pay for a suit of clothing, how many years of toil would

be required to win Yoletta's hand?

Naturally, at this juncture, I began to draw a parallel between my case

and that of an ancient historical personage, whose name is familiar to

most. History repeats itself--with variations. Jacob--namely,

Smith--cometh to the well of Haran. He taketh acquaintance of Rachel,

here called Yoletta. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice

and wept. That is a touch of nature I can thoroughly appreciate--the

kissing, I mean; but why he wept I cannot tell, unless it be because he

was not an Englishman. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's

brother. I am glad to have no such startling piece of information to

give to the object of my affections: we are not even distant relations,

and her age being, say, fifteen, and mine twenty-one, we are so far well

suited to each other, according to my notions. Smith covenanted! for

Yoletta, and said: "I will serve thee seven years for Yoletta, thy

younger daughter"; and the old gentleman answered: "Abide with me, for I

would rather you should have her than some other person." Now I wonder

whether the matter will be complicated with Leah--that is, Edra? Leah

was considerably older than Rachel, and, like Edra, tender-eyed. I do

not aspire or desire to marry both, especially if I should, like Jacob,

have to begin with the wrong one, however tender-eyed: but for divine

Yoletta I could serve seven years; yea, and fourteen, if it comes to it.

Thus I mused, and thus I questioned, tossing and turning on my

inhospitable hard bed, until merciful sleep laid her quieting hands on

the strings of my brain, and hushed their weary jangling.