Pharos the Egyptian | Page 6

the
neighbourhood of Leicester Square, and followed the dinner up with a
visit to a theatre. As ill-luck would have it, I was in the minority in the
choice of a place of entertainment. The result was disastrous. Instead of
ridding myself of my melancholy, as I had hoped to do, I intensified it,
and when, at the end of the evening, I bade you farewell in the Strand,
my spirits had reached a lower level than they had attained all day. I
remember distinctly standing beneath a gas-lamp at the corner of
Villiers Street, as the clocks were striking midnight, feeling disinclined
to return to my abode and go to bed, and yet equally at a loss to know
in what manner I should employ myself until there was some likelihood
of slumber visiting my eyelids. To help me make up my mind I lit a
fresh cigar and strolled down towards the river. On the pavement, at the
foot of the steps leading to Hungerford Bridge, a poor tattered creature,
yet still possessing some pretensions to gentlemanly address, came
from beneath the archway and begged of me, assuring me most
solemnly that, as far as he was concerned, the game was played out,
and if I did not comply with his request, he would forthwith end his
troubles in the river. I gave him something--I cannot now remember
what--and then, crossing the road, made my way along the
Embankment towards Cleopatra's Needle. The rain had ceased for the
moment, and in the north a few stars were shining. The myriad lights of

the Embankment were reflected in the river like lines of dancing fire,
and I remember that behind me a train was rolling across the bridge
from Charing Cross with a noise like distant thunder. I suppose I must
have been thinking of my picture, and of the land and period which had
given me the idea. At any rate, I know that on this occasion the ancient
monument, in front of which I soon found myself, affected me as it had
never done before. I thought of the centuries that had passed since those
hieroglyphics were carved upon the stone, of the changes the world had
seen since that giant monolith first saw the light of day. Leaning my
elbows on the parapet, I was so absorbed in my own thoughts that when
a sudden cry of "Help, help!" rang out from the river it was with a
sensible shock that I returned to the commonplace and found myself
standing where I was. A moment later I was all action. The cry had
come from the other side of the Needle. I accordingly hastened to the
steps farthest from me, shouting, as I went, in my excitement, that a
man was drowning. It might have all been part of some evil dream : the
long line of silent Embankment on either side, the swiftly-flowing river,
and that despairing appeal for help coming so suddenly out of the black
darkness. Then I became aware that I was not alone on the steps. There
was another man there, and he stood motionless, peering out into the
dark stream, scarcely a dozen paces from me.
I had reached the top of the steps and was about to descend them in
order to accost him, when something occurred which stopped me and
held me spell-bound. The moon had emerged from its pall of cloud and
was now shining clear and bright across the river. Thirty seconds must
have elapsed since we had heard the cry for assistance, and now, as I
looked, the drowning man was washed in at the foot of the steps upon
which we stood. It would have needed but the least movement on the
part of the man below me to have caught him as he swept by and to
have saved him from a watery death. To my amazement, however--and
even now, after this lapse of time, my gorge rises at the very thought of
it--the other did not offer to help, but drew himself back. Before I could
return my eyes, the wretched suicide had passed out of sight and had
vanished into the darkness again. As he did so a pronounced chuckle of
enjoyment reached me from the man below--a burst of merriment so
out of place and so detestable that I could scarcely believe I heard

aright. I cannot hope to make you understand how it affected me. A
second later a fit of blind fury overtook me, and, under the influence of
it, I ran down the steps and seized the murderer--for such I shall always
consider him--by the arm.
"Are you a man or a fiend," I cried in jerks, "that you could so allow
another to perish when you might have