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The Beetle: A Mystery

The Beetle: A Mystery

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Chapter 1 OUTSIDE

Word Count: 2122    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

om!-Fu

the door i

the fin

n,-that was bad. But, sick at heart, depressed in mind and in body, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, to have been compelled to pocket any little pride I might have left, and soli

rdly expected to figure as a tramp; but, supposing it conceivable that I could become a tramp, that I should be refused admission to

uld do, a man slouched towards

'e let

ys it'

ay at Fulham,-they always says it's fu

orward; his hands were in his trouser pocket

ull when it isn't,-that they won'

-bloke's a-

oom, aren't they b

limey, if I was you I'd

o a volley o

at am I

rouser-let 'em know a

open, and the grizzled pauper, who had previously responded to my summons, stood in the open doorway. Ha

game? Think I've nothing better to d

to be ad

won't be

ee someone i

ein' someone

ne besides you,-I wa

won't see

a manoeuvre, I thrust my foot sufficiently inside t

e that the w

wo hour

at am I

ow what you

e next neare

sing

thrust me backwards. Before I could recover the door was closed. The

loke, a

ers,-has he any right to a

icers,-a long sight wuss! They thinks they owns the '

ow it was commencing to fall in a fine but soaking drizzle. It only needed that to fil

ou got n

a far

of this sor

a casual ward,-and it doesn't se

if you was a bit fresh.-W

s it to Ke

mile;-but, if I was yo

e's t

ey do you well there, and it's always full as soon as th

ind, feeling as little disposed to try the one

'Ammersmith, I says,-and now I'm as fur off from it as ever! This is a--fine country, this is,-I wish every--soul in it was swe

to manage it,-have

I sound as though I 'ad too! I ain't 'ad no brads,

going to ge

he one in his left he flung at the glass which was over the door of the casual ward. I

zzled pauper reappeared. He shouted,

done

ike, you can see me do the other.

hand through another pane. I felt that it was time for me to go. He was earning

rection, left little to be desired. I slunk away unnoticed. But had not gone far before I had almost decided that I might as well have thrown in my fortu

little distance in any direction. The neighbourhood was badly lighted. It was one in which I was a stranger, I had come to Hammersmith as a last resource. It had seemed to me that I had tried to find

the locality which I was entering appeared unfinished. I seemed to be leaving civilisation behind me. The path was unpaved; the road rough and uneven, as if it had never been prop

ould strike some part of Walham Green. How long I should have to keep on I could only guess. Not a c

en air, without food, when the morning came I should be broken up, and fit for nothing, that I sought a night's free board and lodging. It was really hunger which drove me to the workhouse door. That was Wednesday. Since the Sunday night preceding nothing had passed my lips save water from the public fountains,-with the exception of a crust of bread which a

. And within there was that frightful craving, which was as though it shrieked aloud. I leant against some palings, dazed and giddy. If only death

ad. Once, like a drunken man, I lurched forward, and fell upon my knees. Such was my backboneless state that for some seconds I remained where I was, half disposed to

giddiness which, I take it, was born of my agony of hunger. I staggered, helplessly, against a low wall which, just there, was at the side of the path. Without it I should have fallen in a heap. The att

f bread what

es all round London, and which are let at rentals of from twenty-five to forty pounds a year. It was detached. So far as I could see, in the imperfect light, there was not another building within twenty or thirty

e touched either of the windows on the lower floor. There were two of them. One of them wa

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1 Chapter 1 OUTSIDE2 Chapter 2 INSIDE3 Chapter 3 THE MAN IN THE BED4 Chapter 4 A LONELY VIGIL5 Chapter 5 AN INSTRUCTION TO COMMIT BURGLARY6 Chapter 6 A SINGULAR FELONY7 Chapter 7 THE GREAT PAUL LESSINGHAM8 Chapter 8 THE MAN IN THE STREET9 Chapter 9 THE CONTENTS OF THE PACKET10 Chapter 10 REJECTED11 Chapter 11 A MIDNIGHT EPISODE12 Chapter 12 A MORNING VISITOR13 Chapter 13 THE PICTURE14 Chapter 14 THE DUCHESS' BALL15 Chapter 15 MR LESSINGHAM SPEAKS16 Chapter 16 ATHERTON'S MAGIC VAPOUR17 Chapter 17 MAGIC -OR MIRACLE 18 Chapter 18 THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE BEETLE19 Chapter 19 THE LADY RAGES20 Chapter 20 A HEAVY FATHER21 Chapter 21 THE TERROR IN THE NIGHT22 Chapter 22 THE HAUNTED MAN23 Chapter 23 THE WAY HE TOLD HER24 Chapter 24 THE MAN IN THE STREET 2425 Chapter 25 A FATHER'S NO26 Chapter 26 THE TERROR BY NIGHT27 Chapter 27 THE STRANGE STORY OF THE MAN IN THE STREET28 Chapter 28 THE HOUSE ON THE ROAD FROM THE WORKHOUSE29 Chapter 29 THE SINGULAR BEHAVIOUR OF MR HOLT30 Chapter 30 THE TERROR BY DAY31 Chapter 31 A NEW CLIENT32 Chapter 32 WHAT CAME OF LOOKING THROUGH A LATTICE33 Chapter 33 AFTER TWENTY YEARS34 Chapter 34 A BRINGER OF TIDINGS35 Chapter 35 WHAT THE TIDINGS WERE36 Chapter 36 WHAT WAS HIDDEN UNDER THE FLOOR37 Chapter 37 THE REST OF THE FIND38 Chapter 38 MISS LOUISA COLEMAN39 Chapter 39 WHAT MISS COLEMAN SAW THROUGH THE WINDOW40 Chapter 40 THE CONSTABLE,-HIS CLUE,-AND THE CAB41 Chapter 41 THE QUARRY DOUBLES42 Chapter 42 THE MURDER AT MRS 'ENDERSON'S43 Chapter 43 THE MAN WHO WAS MURDERED44 Chapter 44 ALL THAT MRS 'ENDERSON KNEW45 Chapter 45 THE SUDDEN STOPPING46 Chapter 46 THE CONTENTS OF THE THIRD-CLASS CARRIAGE47 Chapter 47 THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER