“You must know that my grandfather had two sons—myuncle Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a small factoryat Coventry, which he enlarged at the time of the invention ofbicycling. He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire,and his business met with such success that he was able to sell itand to retire upon a handsome competence.
“My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young manand became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to havedone very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson’s army,and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. WhenLee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation,where he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, nearHorsham. He had made a very considerable fortune in theStates, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to thenegroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extendingthe franchise to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quicktempered,very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a mostretiring disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham,I doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two orthree fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise,though very often for weeks on end he would never leave hisroom. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily,but he would see no society and did not want any friends, not evenhis own brother.
“He didn’t mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at thetime when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. Thiswould be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine yearsin England. He begged my father to let me live with him and hewas very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to befond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he wouldmake me his representative both with the servants and with thetradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quitemaster of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I likedand do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in his privacy.
There was one singular exception, however, for he had a singleroom, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was invariablylocked, and which he would never permit either me or anyone elseto enter. With a boy’s curiosity I have peeped through the keyhole,but I was never able to see more than such a collection of oldtrunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.
“One day—it was in March, 1883—a letter with a foreign stamplay upon the table in front of the colonel’s plate. It was not acommon thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paidin ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. ‘From India!’
said he as he took it up, ‘Pondicherry postmark! What can thisbe?’ Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried orangepips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to laugh atthis, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face.
His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the colourof putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in histrembling hand, ‘K. K. K.!’ he shrieked, and then, ‘My God, myGod, my sins have overtaken me!’
“ ‘What is it, uncle?’ I cried.
“ ‘Death,’ said he, and rising from the table he retired to hisroom, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelopeand saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above thegum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothingelse save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of hisoverpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I ascendedthe stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, whichmust have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small brassbox, like a cashbox, in the other.
“ ‘They may do what they like, but I’ll checkmate them still,’
said he with an oath. ‘tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my roomto-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.’
“I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was askedto step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in thegrate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper,while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I glancedat the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed thetreble K which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
“ ‘I wish you, John,’ said my uncle, ‘to witness my will. I leavemy estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to mybrother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. Ifyou can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot,take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I amsorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can’t say what turnthings are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordhamshows you.’
“I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away withhim. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepestimpression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it everyway in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet Icould not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left behind,though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed andnothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I couldsee a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, andhe was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his time hewould spend in his room, with the door locked upon the inside,but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy andwould burst out of the house and tear about the garden with arevolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man,and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by manor devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would rushtumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, like aman who can brazen it out no longer against the terror which liesat the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen his face, evenon a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it were new raisedfrom a basin.
