Mr Glowry took the key, searched every nook of the tower, and returned.
'You are a fox, Scythrop; you are an exceedingly cunning fox, with that demure visage of yours. What was that lumbering sound I heard before you opened the door?'
'Sound, sir?'
'Yes, sir, sound.'
'My dear sir, I am not aware of any sound, except my great table, which I moved on rising to let you in.'
'The table! — let me see that. No, sir; not a tenth part heavy enough, not a tenth part.'
'But, sir, you do not consider the laws of acoustics: a whisper becomes a peal of thunder in the focus of reverberation. Allow me to explain this: sounds striking on concave surfaces are reflected from them, and, after reflection, converge to points which are the foci of these surfaces. It follows, therefore, that the ear may be so placed in one, as that it shall hear a sound better than when situated nearer to the point of the first impulse: again, in the case of two concave surfaces placed opposite to each other-'
'Nonsense, sir. Don't tell me of foci. Pray, sir, will concave surfaces produce two voices when nobody speaks? I heard two voices, and one was feminine; feminine, sir: what say you to that?'
'Oh, sir, I perceive your mistake: I am writing a tragedy, and was acting over a scene to myself. To convince you, I will give you a specimen; but you must first understand the plot. It is a tragedy on the German model. The Great Mogul is in exile, and has taken lodgings at Kensington, with his only daughter, the Princess Rantrorina, who takes in needlework, and keeps a day school. The princess is discovered hemming a set of shirts for the parson of the parish: they are to be marked with a large R. Enter to her the Great Mogul. A pause, during which they look at each other expressively. The princess changes colour several times. The Mogul takes snuff in great agitation. Several grains are heard to fall on the stage. His heart is seen to beat through his upper benjamin.-THE MOGUL (with a mournful look at his left shoe). 'My shoe-string is broken.'-THE PRINCESS (after an interval of melancholy reflection). 'I know it.' THE MOGUL. 'My second shoe-string! The first broke when I lost my empire: the second has broken to-day. When will my poor heart break?'-THE PRINCESS. 'Shoe-strings, hearts, and empires! Mysterious sympathy!'
'Nonsense, sir,' interrupted Mr Glowry. 'That is not at all like the voice I heard.'
'But, sir,' said Scythrop, 'a key-hole may be so constructed as to act like an acoustic tube, and an acoustic tube, sir, will modify sound in a very remarkable manner. Consider the construction of the ear, and the nature and causes of sound. The external part of the ear is a cartilaginous funnel.'
'It wo'n't do, Scythrop. There is a girl concealed in this tower, and find her I will. There are such things as sliding panels and secret closets.'-He sounded round the room with his cane, but detected no hollowness.-'I have heard, sir,' he continued, 'that during my absence, two years ago, you had a dumb carpenter closeted with you day after day. I did not dream that you were laying contrivances for carrying on secret intrigues. Young men will have their way: I had my way when I was a young man: but, sir, when your cousin Marionetta-'
Scythrop now saw that the affair was growing serious. To have clapped his hand upon his father's mouth, to have entreated him to be silent, would, in the first place, not have made him so; and, in the second, would have shown a dread of being overheard by somebody. His only resource, therefore, was to try to drown Mr Glowry's voice; and, having no other subject, he continued his description of the ear, raising his voice continually as Mr Glowry raised his.
'When your cousin Marionetta,' said Mr Glowry, 'whom you profess to love-whom you profess to love, sir-'
'The internal canal of the ear,' said Scythrop, 'is partly bony and partly cartilaginous. This internal canal is-'
'Is actually in the house, sir; and, when you are so shortly to be-as I expect-'
'Closed at the further end by the membrana tympani-'
'Joined together in holy matrimony-'
'Under which is carried a branch of the fifth pair of nerves-'
'I say, sir, when you are so shortly to be married to your cousin Marionetta-'
'The cavitas tympani-'
A loud noise was heard behind the book-case, which, to the astonishment of Mr Glowry, opened in the middle, and the massy compartments, with all their weight of books, receding from each other in the manner of a theatrical scene, with a heavy rolling sound (which Mr Glowry immediately recognised to be the same which had excited his curiosity,) disclosed an interior apartment, in the entrance of which stood the beautiful Stella, who, stepping forward, exclaimed, 'Married! Is he going to be married? The profligate!'
'Really, madam,' said Mr Glowry, 'I do not know what he is going to do, or what I am going to do, or what any one is going to do; for all this is incomprehensible.'
'I can explain it all,' said Scythrop, 'in a most satisfactory manner, if you will but have the goodness to leave us alone.'
'Pray, sir, to which act of the tragedy of the Great Mogul does this incident belong?'
'I entreat you, my dear sir, leave us alone.'
Stella threw herself into a chair, and burst into a tempest of tears. Scythrop sat down by her, and took her hand. She snatched her hand away, and turned her back upon him. He rose, sat down on the other side, and took her other hand. She snatched it away, and turned from him again. Scythrop continued entreating Mr Glowry to leave them alone; but the old gentleman was obstinate, and would not go.
'I suppose, after all,' said Mr Glowry maliciously, 'it is only a ph?nomenon in acoustics, and this young lady is a reflection of sound from concave surfaces.'
Some one tapped at the door: Mr Glowry opened it, and Mr Hilary entered. He had been seeking Mr Glowry, and had traced him to Scythrop's tower. He stood a few moments in silent surprise, and then addressed himself to Mr Glowry for an explanation.
'The explanation,' said Mr Glowry, 'is very satisfactory. The Great Mogul has taken lodgings at Kensington, and the external part of the ear is a cartilaginous funnel.'
'Mr Glowry, that is no explanation.'
'Mr Hilary, it is all I know about the matter.'
'Sir, this pleasantry is very unseasonable. I perceive that my niece is sported with in a most unjustifiable manner, and I shall see if she will be more successful in obtaining an intelligible answer.' And he departed in search of Marionetta.
Scythrop was now in a hopeless predicament. Mr Hilary made a hue and cry in the abbey, and summoned his wife and Marionetta to Scythrop's apartment. The ladies, not knowing what was the matter, hastened in great consternation. Mr Toobad saw them sweeping along the corridor, and judging from their manner that the devil had manifested his wrath in some new shape, followed from pure curiosity.
Scythrop meanwhile vainly endeavoured to get rid of Mr Glowry and to pacify Stella. The latter attempted to escape from the tower, declaring she would leave the abbey immediately, and he should never see her or hear of her more. Scythrop held her hand and detained her by force, till Mr Hilary reappeared with Mrs Hilary and Marionetta. Marionetta, seeing Scythrop grasping the hand of a strange beauty, fainted away in the arms of her aunt. Scythrop flew to her assistance; and Stella with redoubled anger sprang towards the door, but was intercepted in her intended flight by being caught in the arms of Mr Toobad, who exclaimed-'Celinda!'
'Papa!' said the young lady disconsolately.
'The devil is come among you,' said Mr Toobad, 'how came my daughter here?'
'Your daughter!' exclaimed Mr Glowry.
'Your daughter!' exclaimed Scythrop, and Mr and Mrs Hilary.
'Yes,' said Mr Toobad, 'my daughter Celinda.'
Marionetta opened her eyes and fixed them on Celinda; Celinda in return fixed hers on Marionetta. They were at remote points of the apartment. Scythrop was equidistant from both of them, central and motionless, like Mahomet's coffin.
'Mr Glowry,' said Mr Toobad, 'can you tell by what means my daughter came here?'
'I know no more,' said Mr Glowry, 'than the Great Mogul.'
'Mr Scythrop,' said Mr Toobad, 'how came my daughter here?'
'I did not know, sir, that the lady was your daughter.'
'But how came she here?'
