The Twickenham Peerage — Richard Marsh

The Twickenham Peerage by Richard Marsh, author of: The Beetle: A Mystery; Marvels and Mysteries; The Seen and the Unseen; Both Sides of the Veil; The Joss: A Reversion; The Adventures of Augustus Short; The Goddess: A Demon; Amusement Only; Frivolities; and The Chase of the Ruby Copyright 1902 Book 1 “The Sleeping Man” by Hon. Douglas Howarth: Side Show; Lady Desmond Gives Dinner Party; Cross Questions & Crooked Answers; Mr. Montagu Babbacombe Awakes; At York Hotel; Message from Marquis; Mr. Foster Interrupts; Dying; Dead; And BuriedBook 2 Lost Husband: Story is Continued by Mrs. James Merrett: Encounter in Piccadilly; Mrs. Merrett Is Over-Persuaded; Who’s Calling?; Helping Make Pudding; New Peer: His Mother; Mr. Fitzhoward Opens Door; Marchioness in Spite of Herself; Mr. Howarth against World; In Telepathic Communication; Opening of CoffinBook 3 Gentleman with Nine Lives: Adventures of Gentleman in Search of Fortune, by Himself; Peer in Embryo; Marquis in Fact; Surprises; An Idyll; Reversion from Idyllic; Scales of Justice; Whipping Boy; Going: And ComingBook 4 Sinner: Author Throws Light upon Interesting Situation; Back to World; One Man--And the Other; Interior; Last Journey to Twickenham House; Twinkle in Father’s Eyes; Penitent CH1. A Side Show‘You and I can never marry.’Edith’s words had been in my thoughts ever since she had uttered them. All night; all the morning; now that in the afternoon I had come out to take the air. I was strolling from the club to George Douglas’s rooms in Ashley Gardens. More for the sake of the exercise than in the desire of seeing him. As I was passing the Abbey I glanced at the Aquarium on my right. My eye was caught by the words on a board which ran right across the front of the building, ‘At No Place In The World Can So Many Sights Be Seen.’ I hesitated. It was years since I had been in the place. One might as well spend half an hour beneath its roof as with George Douglas. I crossed the road and entered…There were numerous side shows. There was a Harem; a Giant Lady; a Miraculous Dwarf; a Working Gold Mine; a Palace of Mirrors; the old familiar things. On the extreme left a huge placard was displayed:THE MARVELLOUS SLEEPING MAN.THIS IS THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF MONTAGU BABBACOMBE’S THIRTY-DAYS’ SLEEP, WITHOUT EATING OR DRINKING.COME AND SEE THE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHT IN THE WORLD.I am not consciously attracted by such spectacles, even granting their genuineness--which is to grant a good deal. But, at the moment, I had nothing to do, and the idea of a man being able to forget, at will, for thirty consecutive days, the worries and troubles of life appealed to me with singular force. I went to see the sleeping man.In the centre of a good-sized apartment stood a table. It was entirely covered by a large glass case. Under the case was a mattress. On the mattress lay a man. He had no pillows or bolster; no bedclothes with which to cover himself; and the fact that he was clad, so far as one could see, only in a suit of white linen pyjamas lent him, as one first caught sight of him on coming in, an appearance of peculiar uncanniness. One’s first impression was that under the glass case was an effigy, not a man.If it was a trick, it was certainly well done. He lay on his back, his legs stretched out, his arms gathered to his sides. In his attitude there was a starkness, a rigidity, which suggested death. It seemed incredible that a man could lie like that for twenty-eight days and be alive. This was borne in upon me so soon as I saw the peculiar position of his body. Then I saw his face.It was Twickenham!The shock…(continued)