Hugo

Hugo, by Arnold Bennett

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Title: Hugo A Fantasia on Modern Themes
Author: Arnold Bennett
Release Date: April 26, 2005 [EBook #15712]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HUGO
A FANTASIA ON MODERN THEMES
BY ARNOLD BENNETT

Transcriber's Notes: Mismatched quotes have been normalized. "L'éat,
c'est moi." corrected to "L'état, c'est moi." Recalicitant corrected to
recalcitrant. Other oddities in spelling and punctuation have been left as
in the original.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
NOVELS.
A MAN FROM THE NORTH. ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS.
LEONORA. A GREAT MAN. SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE.
FANTASIAS.
THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL. THE GATES OF WRATH.
TERESA OF WATLING STREET. THE LOOT OF CITIES
SHORT STORIES.
TALES OF THE FIVE TOWNS.
BELLES LETTRES.
JOURNALISM FOR WOMEN. FAME AND FICTION. HOW TO
BECOME AN AUTHOR. THE TRUTH ABOUT AN AUTHOR.
DRAMA.
POLITE FARCES.

HUGO
A FANTASIA ON MODERN THEMES
BY ARNOLD BENNETT

AUTHOR OF 'THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL,' 'ANNA OF THE
FIVE TOWNS,' 'A GREAT MAN,' ETC.
[ILLUSTRATION]
LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1906

CONTENTS

PART I THE SEALED ROOMS

CHAPTER I.
THE DOME II. THE ESTABLISHMENT III. HUGO EXPLAINS
HIMSELF IV. CAMILLA V. A STORY AND A DISAPPEARANCE
VI. A LAPSE FROM AN IDEAL VII. POSSIBLE ESCAPE OF
SECRETS VIII. ORANGE-BLOSSOM IX. 'WHICH?' X. THE
COFFIN

PART II THE PHONOGRAPH
XI. SALE XII. SAFE DEPOSIT XIII. MR. GALPIN XIV. TEA XV.
RAVENGAR IN CAPTIVITY XVI. BURGLARS XVII. POLYCARP
AND HAWKE'S MAN XVIII. HUSBAND AND WIFE XIX. WHAT
THE PHONOGRAPH SAID

PART III THE TOMB

XX. 'ARE YOU THERE?' XXI. SUICIDE XXII. DARCY XXIII.
FIRST TRIUMPH OF SIMON XXIV. THE LODGING-HOUSE XXV.
CHLOROFORM XXVI. SECOND TRIUMPH OF SIMON XXVII.
THE CEMETERY XXVIII. BEAUTY


PART I THE SEALED ROOMS

HUGO
CHAPTER I
THE DOME
He wakened from a charming dream, in which the hat had played a
conspicuous part.
'I shouldn't mind having that hat,' he murmured.
A darkness which no eye could penetrate surrounded him as he lay in
bed. Absolute obscurity was essential to the repose of that singular
brain, and he had perfected arrangements for supplying the deficiencies
of Nature's night.
He touched a switch, and in front of him at a distance of thirty feet the
ivory dial of a clock became momentarily visible under the soft yellow
of a shaded electric globe. It was fifteen minutes past six. At the same
moment a bell sounded the quarter in delicate tones, which fell on the
ear as lightly as dew. In the upper gloom could be discerned the
contours of a vast dome, decorated in turquoise-blue and gold.
He pressed a button near the switch. A portière rustled, and a young
man approached his bed--a short, thin, pale, fair young man, active and
deferential.

'My tea, Shawn. Draw the curtains and open the windows.'
'Yes, sir,' said Simon Shawn.
In an instant the room was brilliantly revealed as a great circular
apartment, magnificently furnished, with twelve windows running
round the circumference beneath the dome. The virginal zephyrs of a
July morning wandered in. The sun, although fierce, slanted his rays
through the six eastern windows, printing a new pattern on the Tripoli
carpets. Between the windows were bookcases, full of precious and
extraordinary volumes, and over the bookcases hung pictures of the
Barbizon school. These books and these pictures were the elegant
monument of hobbies which their owner had outlived. His present
hobby happened to be music. A Steinway grand-piano was prominent
in the chamber, and before the ebony instrument stood a mechanical
pianoforte-player.
'I must have that hat.'
He paused reflectively, leaning on one elbow, as he made the tea which
Simon Shawn had brought and left on the night-table. And again, at the
third cup, he repeated to himself that he must possess the hat.
He had a passion for tea. His servants had received the strictest orders
to supply him at early morn with materials sufficient only for two cups.
Nevertheless, they were always a little generous, and, by cheating
himself slightly in the first and the second cup, the votary could often,
to his intense joy, conjure a third out of the pot.
After glancing through the newspaper which accompanied the tea, he
jumped vivaciously out of bed, veiled the splendour of his pyjamas
beneath a quilted toga, and disappeared into a dressing-room, whistling.
'Shawn!' he