Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde. Part 5.
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Chapter 5 | By the River Thames
Two days after his second visit to Mr Winckelkopf, Lord Arthur’s mother, the Duchess, showed him a letter.
‘You must read this,’ she said.
Lord Arthur took the letter and read it.
*****
The Dean’s House, Chichester
17th May
My Dearest Aunt,
Thank you for your last letter. We have had a fine time this week with a clock, which someone sent to father last Thursday. It came in a, box from London, and father is sure that the person who sent it knows his work, because not very long ago he spoke about Liberty in church and he later wrote it all down in a book called ‘Is Liberty too free?’ and this clock had a woman dressed as Liberty on the top. I didn’t think she looked very nice, but father said that the clock was a French Revolutionary piece and that, for her time, little Miss Liberty was all right.
Well, our servant Parker took the clock out of its box, and father put it in the library. Then, on Friday at twelve o’clock, we were all sitting in the library when the clock whirred and exploded, some smoke came out from under Miss Liberty and she fell off and broke her nose on the floor. Maria cried, but it was very funny and James and I laughed, and father laughed too.
When we looked inside the clock we saw that it was an alarm clock. You can turn it to any time, put some gunpowder in, and it explodes when you want. Father said that it couldn’t stay in the Library because it was too noisy, so James took it into the schoolroom, and he now does nothing but make it whirr and explode all day long. Do you think that Arthur would like one of these clocks for his wedding present? Perhaps they are in all the shops in London these days. Father is sure that they will sell well, for they show that Liberty can’t be on top for ever and must fall down.
Reggie has just made the clock explode again and father says that the boys must take it outside. I don’t think he likes it very much now. But he is happy that people read his books, and the clock is very cleverly made.
Father sends his love, and James, Reggie and Maria send their love too.
Lots of Love, dear aunt, from your niece,
Jane Percy
******
Lord Arthur looked sad after reading the letter and his mother laughed. ‘My dear Arthur,’ she said. ‘I shall never show you a young lady’s letter again! But what do you think of these alarm clocks? They sound wonderful.’
‘I don’t think they’re so wonderful,’ said Lord Arthur, with a sad smile, and he left the room. Upstairs he lay down on his bed, his eyes full of tears.
‘I’ve tried twice, but I still haven’t murdered anybody. I must tell Sybil that I can’t marry her,’ he thought.
He knew that it would hurt her, but with time she would forget him. For himself all he wanted was to die.
At half past seven he dressed and went to his club. His brother was there with a group of other young men and he had to have dinner with them. He listened to their stories and conversation without interest, and after coffee he left the club. When he walked past the front desk on his way out they gave him a letter. It was from Mr Winckelkopf and it asked him to come to Bayle’s Court the next day.
He promised to show him an umbrella bomb that exploded when you opened it — the latest thing from Geneva. Lord Arthur threw the letter away. He really didn’t trust bombs now, and he didn’t want to murder anybody.
He walked down to the River Thames and sat by a bridge looking out at the dark waters of the Thames below him for hours. The clock at Westminster sounded midnight and still Lord Arthur watched the river.
At two o’clock he got up and began to walk east. Everything looked strange in the moonlight, a picture of black and silver. Then suddenly he saw a man in front of him looking over the wall down into the river. The man looked up and Lord Arthur saw his face under the streetlight. It was Mr Podgers the palmist!
A clever idea came to Lord Arthur. He walked silently up behind Mr Podgers, took him by the legs, and pushed him over the wall and down into the Thames. There was a cry, the noise of something falling into the river, and then nothing but the palmist’s tall hat moving round and round on the water. Then that too went down.
‘Lost something?’ came a voice. It was a policeman. ’No,’ said Lord Arthur. ‘Nothing important.’ Two days later he read the news in the evening newspaper.
FAMOUS PALMIST DIES IN THAMES
Yesterday morning at seven o’clock a guest from the Ship Hotel found the body of Septimus Podgers (the famous palmist) by the River Thames. The palmist’s friends feel sure that he killed himself because he was working too hard.
Lord Arthur ran out of his club with the paper in his hand and went to Sybil’s house. ‘My dearest, let’s have our wedding tomorrow!’ he cried.
‘But, Arthur, my dress isn’t ready yet!’ she laughed.
Three weeks later the Dean of Chichester married them in St Peter’s church, and the best people came to the wedding.
Years later, when they had two children. Lady Windermere went to visit them at their country home and she talked to Lady Sybil out in the garden.
Do you remember Mr Podgers?’ she said. ‘I was very disappointed when he died. Didn’t he see that coming to him? I don’t think much of palmists these days.’
‘Oh. Lady Windermere, don’t say anything against palmists in front of Arthur,’ said Lady Sybil.
‘Why not?’
‘Because,’ said Lord Arthur, coming round the corner of the house, ‘a palmist brought us together.’
And he looked lovingly into his wife’s dark eyes.
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