The Horror Of Christmas. Джером К. Джером

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      I tried to finish in a little sketch I had made in my notebook when I was in my room, but my hand shook, and I was constrained to lay my pencil aside. Then I took up an Egyptian grammar, but could not fix my mind on study. The hotel was very still. Everyone had gone to bed at an early hour that night, disinclined for conversation. No one was moving. There was a lamp in the passage; it was partly turned down. Jameson's room was next to mine. I heard him stir as he undressed, and talk to himself. Then he was quiet. I wound up my watch, and emptying my pocket, put my purse under the pillow. I was not in the least heavy with sleep. If I did go to bed I should not be able to close my eyes. But then—if I sat up I could do nothing.

      I was about leisurely to undress, when I heard a sharp cry, or exclamation of mingled pain and alarm, from the adjoining room. In another moment there was a rap at my door. I opened, and Jameson came in. He was in his night-shirt, and looking agitated and frightened.

      "Look here, old fellow," said he in a shaking voice, "there is Musty in my room. He has been hiding there, and just as I dropped asleep he ran that knife of yours into my throat."

      "My knife?"

      "Yes—that pruning-knife you gave him, you know. Look here—I must have the place sewn up. Do go for a doctor, there's a good chap."

      "Where is the place?"

      "Here on my right gill."

      Jameson turned his head to the left, and I raised the lamp. There was no wound of any sort there.

      I told him so.

      "Oh, yes! That's fine—I tell you I felt his knife go in."

      "Nonsense, you were dreaming."

      "Dreaming! Not I. I saw Musty as distinctly as I now see you."

      "This is a delusion, Jameson," I replied. "The poor fellow is dead."

      "Oh, that's very fine," said Jameson. "It is not the first of April, and I don't believe the yarns that you've been spinning. You tried to make believe he was dead, but I know he is not. He has got into my room, and he made a dig at my throat with your pruning-knife."

      "I'll go into your room with you."

      "Do so. But he's gone by this time. Trust him to cut and run."

      I followed Jameson, and looked about. There was no trace of anyone beside himself having been in the room. Moreover, there was no place but the nut-wood wardrobe in the bedroom in which anyone could have secreted himself. I opened this and showed that it was empty.

      After a while I pacified Jameson, and induced him to go to bed again, and then I left his room. I did not now attempt to court sleep. I wrote letters with a hand not the steadiest, and did my accounts.

      As the hour approached midnight I was again startled by a cry from the adjoining room, and in another moment Jameson was at my door.

      "That blooming fellow Musty is in my room still," said he. "He has been at my throat again."

      "Nonsense," I said. "You are labouring under hallucinations. You locked your door."

      "Oh, by Jove, yes—of course I did; but, hang it, in this hole, neither doors nor windows fit, and the locks are no good, and the bolts nowhere. He got in again somehow, and if I had not started up the moment I felt the knife, he'd have done for me. He would, by George. I wish I had a revolver."

      I went into Jameson's room. Again he insisted on my looking at his throat.

      "It's very good of you to say there is no wound," said he. "But you won't gull me with words. I felt his knife in my windpipe, and if I had not jumped out of bed——"

      "You locked your door. No one could enter. Look in the glass, there is not even a scratch. This is pure imagination."

      "I'll tell you what, old fellow, I won't sleep in that room again. Change with me, there's a charitable buffer. If you don't believe in Musty, Musty won't hurt you, maybe—anyhow you can try if he's solid or a phantom. Blow me if the knife felt like a phantom."

      "I do not quite see my way to changing rooms," I replied; "but this I will do for you. If you like to go to bed again in your own apartment, I will sit up with you till morning."

      "All right," answered Jameson. "And if Musty comes in again, let out at him and do not spare him. Swear that."

      I accompanied Jameson once more to his bedroom, Little as I liked the man, I could not deny him my presence and assistance at this time. It was obvious that his nerves were shaken by what had occurred, and he felt his relation to Mustapha much more than he cared to show. The thought that he had been the cause of the poor fellow's death preyed on his mind, never strong, and now it was upset with imaginary terrors.

      I gave up letter writing, and brought my Baedeker's Upper Egypt into Jameson's room, one of the best of all guide-books, and one crammed with information. I seated myself near the light, and with my back to the bed, on which the young man had once more flung himself.

      "I say," said Jameson, raising his head, "is it too late for a brandy-and-soda?"

      "Everyone is in bed."

      "What lazy dogs they are. One never can get anything one wants here."

      "Well, try to go to sleep."

      He tossed from side to side for some time, but after a while, either he was quiet, or I was engrossed in my Baedeker, and I heard nothing till a clock struck twelve. At the last stroke I heard a snort and then a gasp and a cry from the bed. I started up, and looked round. Jameson was slipping out with his feet onto the floor.

      "Confound you!" said he angrily, "you are a fine watch, you are, to let Mustapha steal in on tiptoe whilst you are cartouching and all that sort of rubbish. He was at me again, and if I had not been sharp he'd have cut my throat. I won't go to bed any more!"

      "Well, sit up. But I assure you no one has been here."

      "That's fine. How can you tell? You had your back to me, and these devils of fellows steal about like cats. You can't hear them till they are at you."

      It was of no use arguing with Jameson, so I let him have his way.

      "I can feel all the three places in my throat where he ran the knife in," said he. "And—don't you notice?—I speak with difficulty."

      So we sat up together the rest of the night. He became more reasonable as dawn came on, and inclined to admit that he had been a prey to fancies.

      The day passed very much as did others—Jameson was dull and sulky. After déjeuner he sat on at table when the ladies had risen and retired, and the gentlemen had formed in knots at the window, discussing what was to be done in the afternoon.

      Suddenly Jameson, whose head had begun to nod, started up with an oath and threw down his chair.

      "You fellows!" he said, "you are all in league against me. You let that Mustapha come in without a word, and try to stick his knife into me."

      "He has not been here."

      "It's a plant. You are combined to bully me and drive me away. You don't like me. You СКАЧАТЬ