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SELECTIVE MUTISM
RESOURCE MANUAL
SECOND EDITION
MAGGIE JOHNSON AND ALISON WINTGENS
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.
Mark Twain (1835–1910)
Notes on the text
• Please note that, throughout this manual, the abbreviation ‘SM’ is used to refer to ‘selective mutism’.
• We often specify which age group we are talking about (early years, younger children, adolescents or teenagers) but ‘child’ or ‘children’ is used where it is intended to be fairly general.
• ‘Parent’ refers to parent or guardian.
• ‘Practitioner’ refers to any therapist, psychologist or clinician working with the child and their family.
Dedications
To my Little Wurrit, who turned out to be the bravest of us all.
To Peter for his support, encouragement and patience.
First published in 2016 by Speechmark Publishing Ltd
Published 2017 by Routledge
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 90930 133 7 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Foreword by Hanne Kristensen
Authors’ acknowledgements
List of tables
List of figures
List of boxes
List of online resources
Part 1 Understanding Selective Mutism
Chapter 1 Frequently asked questions about selective mutism
Chapter 2 A holistic view of selective mutism
Part 2 Guidelines for Identification and Assessment
Chapter 3 Making a diagnosis: what we need to know and why
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
and involving the child or young person
extended assessment: further information gathering
Chapter 7 Moving from assessment to management
Part 3 Management
Chapter 8 Ensuring an anxiety-free environment: the starting point for home and school
Chapter 9 Facing fears at home and in the community
Chapter 10 Facing fears in educational settings
Chapter 11 Making successful transitions
Part 4 Reflective Practice: Learning from Experience
Chapter 12 Troubleshooting: why isn’t it working?
Chapter 13 When it is more than selective mutism
Part 5 Online Resource Library
Appendix
Appendix C Examples of programme targets, recording systems and individual education plans
Appendix D Legal, professional and educational support
Appendix E Evidence base and references for The Selective Mutism Resource Manual (second edition)
Appendix F Resources and useful contacts
References (research references – see Appendix E; resource references – see Appendix F)
FOREWORD
Twenty years ago, I met the first child with selective mutism (SM) in my clinical practice. I still remember the unpleasant feeling of incompetence and the literature gave few answers. This triggered me to start researching SM for the next two decades.
In 2016, the literature and knowledge about SM have improved considerably, and there is greater agreement among clinicians on how to understand and treat the condition. Maybe the most important progress has been to categorise SM as an anxiety disorder. Nevertheless, it is still a challenge to offer adequate help for these children.
This excellent resource manual presents updated information on important aspects of SM and – above all – practical and detailed information on how to deal with the problem that is relevant for clinicians, teachers, children and adolescents with SM and their family members. It also provides lots of useful handouts. The case stories are representative, illustrate the variation of symptoms in SM and emphasise the importance of tailoring interventions for each child.
The two authors have an extensive and unique experience with children and adolescents who have SM, and their deep respect for each individual is reflected in all of the chapters. They also address muteness in all relevant arenas and the impact on important people in each child’s life. This is essential for treatment success and is a clear message to our colleagues not to restrict their intervention to clinical settings.
This book contains a wealth of knowledge!
Hanne Kristensen, MD, PhD
Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Southern and Eastern Norway (March 2016)
PREFACE
Despite more parent organisations, training, books, research and media coverage in the last 15 years, selective mutism (SM) continues to be a misunderstood condition. However, its importance is as great as ever for several reasons. Children who have SM are at a significant disadvantage both personally and socially. SM is a great barrier to learning and, if neglected or mismanaged, it may continue into adulthood with devastating effects. Yet SM is hidden and easily overlooked – ‘the quiet child is the forgotten child’ – and more attention and resources are directed towards children who are disruptive. Different disciplines may not agree on who should take responsibility for it; and many professionals do not have adequate training or see enough children who have SM to build up much experience.
SM has a significant and powerful effect on other people around the child, especially parents and teachers. The very nature of SM disrupts the normal process of interaction; and it is unnerving and even threatening when attempts to draw out a child are apparently rejected. It is our experience that people encountering SM for the first time rarely have sufficient information to feel confident about how to manage the child or put a treatment programme into practice, even when they are familiar with the principles involved. Furthermore, parents and professionals are sometimes afraid to intervene, in case they make the situation worse.
The earlier the situation can be addressed, the better for everyone involved.
When we met, both speaking about SM at an international conference in York in 1999, we decided to pool our experiences and perspectives as two speech and language therapists working in two different services: child and adolescent mental health and community health. We wanted to set out practical assessment and treatment, advice and information on how to identify and manage SM that was accessible for parents and a range of professionals. The result was the first edition of The Selective Mutism Resource Manual, published in 2001. Now, 15 years later, we have a total of over 60 years of working alongside several hundred children and young people with SM, directly and through supervision, acting as advisers, running parent groups, and teaching both in the UK and overseas.
Our ideas have inevitably developed but our approach has not changed fundamentally. This second edition of the manual is again based on the importance of having a good understanding of the nature of SM to create the right environment to manage it wisely; and the behavioural principles for building graded exposure programmes within a broader model of confident talking.
Part 1 starts with an expanded ‘frequently asked questions’ chapter which signposts you to other sections in the manual; the second chapter explains the rationale and framework for our methods in the light of research findings and our clinical experience. Parts 2 and 3 again give detailed ideas on assessment and management, respectively. You will see more emphasis on how parents can help their children; informal approaches for round-the-clock support; a fuller look at understanding and managing anxiety; new handouts, forms and checklists for you to access and print; and additional materials for older children and young people. We focus on home, community and educational settings, rather than clinical settings. This is because we believe that these are the environments where clinicians need to focus their involvement, either through direct work with the child or by supporting the child’s family and school.
Part 4 begins with troubleshooting – practices that prevent or hinder progress. There is a chapter on identifying and managing coexisting conditions alongside SM; and a chapter with examples of interventions with various children and young people. The manual ends with insights and reflections from adults who have experienced SM in the past. We recognise that attention now needs to turn to adults who still have SM.
Please don’t be put off by the size of this manual – you don’t have to read it all! It remains a resource manual, written for a wide range of people, including teachers, clinical and educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, child psychiatrists and importantly parents, and young people and adults who have SM. It contains a lot of material which you can dip into, whichever part suits and helps you best. For example, you might start with Chapter 1 ‘Frequently asked questions’ or head for Part 2 on assessment. The parental interview forms are more suitable for clinicians, whereas the advice in ‘Ensuring an anxiety-free environment’ and ‘Facing fears at home and in the community’ has a much wider application.
We recommend that you access and print any online resources that are relevant to your situation and the age of your child or young person. Schools or teams managing a caseload may prefer to print out all of the resources and keep them in an accompanying file for ease of access. With different readers in mind, we have aimed for a style that is appropriate for everyone. Whoever you are, we hope that this manual gives you a better understanding of SM and the confidence and tools to help alleviate it.
Maggie Johnson and Alison Wintgens (March 2016)
AUTHORS’ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been written without all the children, young people and parents with whom we have had the privilege to work. We have learned so much through them and are sure they will recognise their contributions throughout this manual. We are also most grateful to the adults who have shared their experience of SM with us and generously provided feedback as we wrote the manual or allowed their stories to be published here.
We have also benefited from the shared knowledge and practice of good colleagues and professionals we have worked alongside or been fortunate to meet. Although there are too many to name individually, after so many years in the field, we would like to especially mention Una Freeston and Peter Hill, to whom we dedicated the first edition, ‘for their wisdom and the ability to communicate it’. Their inspiration lives on!
Last but not least, we would also like to thank our immediate and wider families and close friends for encouraging, supporting and bearing with us while we were writing this second edition.
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF BOXES
LIST OF ONLINE RESOURCES
PART 1 UNDERSTANDING SELECTIVE MUTISM
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SELECTIVE MUTISM
Introduction
Despite a significant increase in awareness and professional interest since the first edition of this manual, there is still much misunderstanding and disagreement about the nature of selective mutism (SM). In order to treat any condition effectively, it is important to know what we are dealing with and to dispel some of the myths. This chapter begins by listing the frequently asked questions about SM. The answers that follow will direct you to various sections of the manual or the online resource library for further reading.
Frequently asked questions
1 Does my child have SM?
2 Some children are just shy. How can I tell the difference?
3 Can’t speak or won’t speak?
4 Won’t they just grow out of it?
5 What causes SM?
6 No child of mine would behave like that – why do parents put up with it?
7 Isn’t this child just being stubborn?
8 The child was smirking at me – what’s that about?
9 Is SM about having control?
10 Have children who have SM been traumatised or abused?
11 My child can talk at school so I was told it can’t be SM. Is that right?
12 My child has stopped talking at playgroup. Is it SM?
13 My child does not talk at all. Does that rule out SM?
14 Why has my child stopped talking to the family too?
15 My child is getting increasingly resistant to everything, not just talking. What can I do?
16 Is it advisable to separate twins so that the one who has SM can’t lean on the other?
17 My child found school much too stressful. Am I right to consider home-schooling?
18 Why does my child talk to strangers but not people he knows well?
19 My child is making progress but doesn’t talk if I’m around, Why is that?
20 Should we be more protective of children who have SM?
21 How common is it?
22 At what age does it start?
23 Do I need an official diagnosis?
24 If I need an official diagnosis, who would do it?
25 My child was referred to speech and language therapy. Isn’t SM a psychological problem?
26 At what point should action be taken?
27 Why is early intervention so important?
28 Is it too late to help teenagers and adults who have SM?
29 Nothing has worked so far. Why should it be different this time?
30 What form will intervention take?
31 What about medication?
32 Who should be involved in intervention? Do we need an expert in SM?
33 How long will intervention take?
1 Does my child have SM?
The essential feature of SM is that, in certain situations, the child speaks little or not at all while, in other situations, they are uninhibited and talk freely. The pattern is predictable and has persisted for at least a month (two months in a new setting such as school). Beyond this, no two children who have SM are exactly alike.
After many years of misunderstanding, SM is now recognised as an anxiety disorder. This does not mean that your child is anxious all the time; it’s at specific times when they sense an expectation to speak that their anxiety levels shoot up. For example, it may be easy to talk to parents in a large, noisy, impersonal supermarket but impossible in the corner shop where every word can be heard. Suddenly their body and face stiffen and their communication becomes non-existent or reduced to whispers, single words, short phrases or simple gestures. Similarly, a child may talk happily to their friends in the playground but clam up as soon as a teacher approaches. Everyone involved becomes expert at predicting what will happen in each situation the child is exposed to. This is very different from the ‘mood-dependent’ communication of emotionally disturbed children and typical teenagers which can vary on a daily basis.
Nothing characterises SM more than the sudden swings from relaxed and chatty, to wary and reticent as the child becomes aware of another person’s presence. But only people in the child’s comfort zone will see these swings; others only see a quiet child and may not even realise that the child speaks at all. If your child does not present these marked changes, or talks on some days but not others in identical circumstances, they are unlikely to have SM.
Below are a few final points to consider.
★ SM may exist alongside other diagnoses or considerations.
★ SM may be confused with other diagnoses.
★ The presentation of SM changes over time, and a child may also stop talking at home.
★ Short-lived or isolated episodes of silence do not satisfy the criteria for SM.
★ SM does not only affect speech. Children can become so anxious about talking that extreme muscular tension can interfere with their ability to point, handle objects, walk or run.
Chapter 1 ‘Why has my child stopped talking to the family too? (page 15)
Chapter 1 ‘Do I need an official diagnosis?’ (page 21)
Chapter 2 A holistic view of selective mutism
Chapter 3 ‘Making a diagnosis’ (page 53)
Chapter 13 When it is more than selective mutism
Online: Handout 2 ‘What is selective mutism?’
2 Some children are just shy. How can I tell the difference?
Children who have SM appear to be shy in many situations but are not necessarily shy by nature, as their families will confirm. They may appear very confident when there is no need to talk. But they become immediately tense and unresponsive when questioned by people outside their comfort zone, which does not abate until the pressure to talk has been removed.
Shy children may be worried about speaking; children who have SM are terrified.
Shy children are generally unsure of themselves, slow to warm-up and slow to come forward, but they do not display the extreme aversion to speaking that characterises SM. Their facial expressions and body language convey uncertainty and hesitation rather than an unyielding stare and stiffness. With gentle support and encouragement, they gradually get used to new situations and new people, and talking comes as a natural part of gaining confidence and getting involved in activities. Having settled into school or nursery (this can take up to a month), shy children may still find it difficult to initiate interaction, but they are able and usually glad to respond if someone else makes the first move. Their expressive language will be no different from how they speak at home.
It is important to note that shy children may develop SM if they are subjected to ridicule or pushed into speaking before they are ready. Therefore all shy children and reluctant speakers need support and reassurance to settle in and participate at their own pace.
Chapter 1 ‘My child can talk at school so I was told it can’t be SM’ (page 13)
Online: Handout 3 ‘Quiet child or selective mutism?’
Handout 9 ‘Helping young children to speak at school’
3 Can’t speak or won’t speak?
Children who have SM speak happily to some people but clam up as soon as others enter the room. The stony look on their face can give the impression that their silence is deliberate, even defiant, and that the child is refusing to speak to certain people. This leads to remarks such as ‘He’ll speak when he wants to’ and ‘If she can’t be bothered to talk to me, why should I talk to her?’
Understanding that selective mutism is a phobia is an important first step to providing sympathetic and appropriate support
emma’s teacher was frustrated: ‘she’s taking us all for a ride. she loves her daily session with the classroom assistant, but will only draw pictures or play. as soon as any speech is required, she digs in her heels and refuses.’
Everyone can withhold speech out of choice, but it is generally short-lived and feels nothing like being unable to speak. Children who have SM want to speak but have an irrational fear or dread – a phobia – of speaking aloud in certain situations: when expected to speak, they inwardly panic, become physically frozen and cannot utter a sound (similar to stage fright). The panic sensation is so distressing that they will go to great lengths to avoid it, including trying to prevent certain people finding out that they can speak. It’s not that they ‘won’t’ speak; they simply can’t face what happens to them when they try. Other forms of avoidance may include the use of alternative forms of communication such as gesturing, whispering, writing or using a modified voice – if these are accepted in the long term, they can become ‘safe’ habits which arouse no anxiety.
It is essential to regard and respond to SM as a phobia, rather than a choice to be silent.
Chapter 2 A holistic view of selective mutism
Chapter 14 Examples of interventions (Daniel – whispering)
Online: Handout 5 ‘Selective mutism is a phobia’
4 Won’t they just grow out of it?
Do children outgrow their fear of the dark? It may seem like this but, in fact, it is sympathetic handling and appropriate support that allows them to work through it. If they were repeatedly shut in a dark room despite their fear, they would grow up with a deep dread of darkness and losing control.
So it is with SM. Some children are lucky enough to get the right support and the SM is resolved. However, as SM is generally not well understood, many children are repeatedly put in situations where they are encouraged to talk, followed by disappointment or disapproval when they do not. Their dread of talking increases and their self-esteem, confidence, school work and friendships are all at risk. Left untreated for many years, some will become adults with SM. The disorder may progress until the young person no longer
speaks to anyone, not even close friends or family. However, a good number work through their fears without formal intervention but inevitably experience much unhappiness along the way.
Since there is no way to identify which children will receive appropriate support or discover their own ways to face their fears, there is no guarantee that children will overcome SM. Therefore, all cases of SM should be taken seriously. Timely intervention will result in positive changes almost immediately.
Chapter 1 ‘At what point should action be taken?’ (page 22)
Chapter 2 ‘The importance of early intervention’ (page 44)
no one had heard of selective mutism when i was little. all i remember is feeling really afraid whenever someone came to our house and hiding behind the dressing table in my mother’s room. i knew my behaviour was upsetting her but i didn’t know how to change.
‘luckily, i had a really understanding teacher. she visited me at home and spent extra time with me at school. she didn’t push me to do anything i couldn’t manage and gradually i started joining in. By the time i was six or seven, i was coping pretty well but there were still times i froze completely. it wasn’t until i was a teenager that i realised something had lifted and my anxiety about talking had gone.
Online: Booklet for teenagers and adults ‘When the words won’t come out’
5 What causes SM?
When children who have SM do not speak, one of two things is happening: either the prospect of speaking in certain situations fills them with such dread that they are physically unable to speak; or they spare themselves this intensely distressing experience by avoiding the need to speak. The more they experience either of these scenarios, the more their fear of speaking is reinforced.
As with other phobias, there is no single cause of SM but there are three elements that contribute to the process of ‘fear conditioning’: the child develops an irrational fear of talking that is triggered by specific people and the expectation to talk.
1 A sensitive personality – a combination of genetic (inherited) and psychological factors make individuals particularly vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders.
2 Life events establish a link between the need to talk and intense anxiety.
3 Maintenance behaviour – the reactions of other people reinforce and strengthen the child’s belief that speaking is difficult, stressful and best avoided.
These three sets of contributing factors provide important clues to subsequent management of the condition. However, while it is essential to identify and address maintenance behaviour, it is not always necessary to pinpoint how or when the SM first started. Even more importantly, there is no need or value in feeling responsible or attributing blame. SM can develop despite the best intentions to provide a safe, loving and enriching environment.
6
Chapter 2 A holistic view of selective mutism
Table 8.2 ‘Possible maintaining factors with alternative management strategies’ (page 134)
Online: Form 4 ‘Checklist of possible maintaining factors’
Form 10 ‘Reactions of family/friends/staff’
No child of mine would behave like that. Why do parents put up with it?
SM is not caused by absent, ineffective or overindulgent parenting. Parents try their hardest to get their child to talk but nothing works. Gentle encouragement, pleading, cajoling, insistence, threats, bribes, rewards and punishments all make the child more afraid of speaking. SM is the result of a subconsciously learned fear. The only way to overcome it is to unlearn this fear.
We don’t reprimand children who are afraid of the dark or force them to sleep in a dark room.
To help understand, consider another common childhood anxiety – fear of the dark. Few children grow up with a phobia of darkness because it does not require a course in parenting to handle the situation appropriately. We recognise that offering a reward to endure a night without a light on is pointless; the incentive offered could never outweigh the child’s genuine fear. We do not increase their anxiety by punishing them, telling them off, or insisting that they stay in a dark room for hours with no escape. If we did, we would soon see an increase in bed-wetting and insecurity during the day and have a fight on our hands when it came to putting the child to bed every night. Instead we leave a light on. We provide a sympathetic ear and talk openly about the child’s fears. We tell them we are not far away. We find appropriate story books and tell them they won’t always be scared. And, rather than keeping things as they are, we naturally implement a psychological technique called graded exposure. We progress from the landing light to a glow-plug and close the door a fraction, all at the child’s pace, until eventually they get used to being on their own in the dark. Exactly the same techniques work for SM.
Chapter 8 Ensuring an anxiety-free environment
Chapter 9 Facing fears at home and in the community
Online: Handout 5 ‘Selective mutism is a phobia’
Handout 7 ‘Helping children to cope with anxiety’
7 Isn’t this child just being stubborn?
People frequently make comments such as ‘How does she manage to keep quiet for so long? She must have incredible willpower!’ However, once SM is recognised as a phobia, such comments become as
nonsensical as ‘How on earth does she resist picking up spiders?’ and ‘What incredible willpower to avoid flying!’ Phobic individuals do not stubbornly refuse to do the things they fear; they cannot face their fears, and cope through avoidance and more comfortable alternatives. Similarly, children who have SM may remain silent but that is not the same as ‘choosing’ to be silent or ‘refusing’ to speak. If they had any choice in the matter, they would choose not to have SM.
ian’s father commented: ‘i don’t know why he won’t give in. i’ve promised him the bike he wants when he talks to his teacher, but he simply won’t do it. He’s so stubborn.’
If children can find a way to avoid anxiety, naturally they will take it. If successful, they will not be anxious; just as adults with a phobia of flying are not anxious when they are not on an airplane. Consequently, children with more strong-willed personalities may be adamant that they are not going to repeat an experience which previously triggered a panic reaction, while those with more compliant personalities may dawdle or beg their parents to be excused.
When sensing the genuine distress at the root of such demands, it is tempting to allow children to opt out of activities completely. However, this is not helpful in the long term and only increases avoidance and fear of speaking. It is essential to find ways for the children to participate in non-stressful ways.
Chapter 8 Ensuring an anxiety-free environment
Chapter 9 Facing fears at home and in the community
Online: Handout 5 ‘Selective mutism is a phobia’
Handout 7 ‘Helping children to cope with anxiety’
8 The child was smirking at me. What’s that about?
Just as children who have SM may be described as glaring, sullen or grumpy, they are often perceived by their teachers and other people to be smirking. These children are simply caught in a tense, frozen moment when they can neither smile nor grimace. Who knows what they are feeling? They could be trying to smile to show willing; they could be feeling panicked; they could be experiencing relief as the spotlight moves from them to another child. It is impossible to tell simply by looking …
None of us is as good at reading facial expressions as we like to think. Luckily, we usually have numerous clues: we witness the full range of facial movement from start to finish; and match this to what the individual is saying and how they are saying it in the context of a two-way conversation. However, these clues are not available when observing a silent child who has a fixed expression. Coupled with a lack of information and common misassumptions about SM, conclusions may be drawn which are detrimental to the child. Ultimately, these conclusions could make or break the quality of that child’s experience of school or other social settings, as they are bound to affect the adult’s attitude towards the child.
For a demonstration of how difficult it is to read facial expressions, go to http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ ei_quiz/ and try the Body Language Quiz. Even people who achieve an above-average score are likely to
make several mistakes. The quiz shows how easy it is to get facial expressions wrong and how subtle the differences are between certain expressions when there are no other contextual clues.
Chapter 5 Meeting and involving the child or young person
Chapter 8 ‘Sharing emotions’ (page 126)
Chapter 10 ‘Talking about feelings’ (page 220)
9 Is SM about having control?
Children who have SM are often said to be ‘very controlling’. Control and anxiety are closely linked, as anyone with a ‘control-freak’ friend will know!
However, there is a difference between the control we need over our environment to keep anxiety at bay and control that is driven by power-seeking. The former is part of our basic human need to feel safe and secure. For example, we check that doors are locked, we prepare for an interview, we are reluctant to delegate if we think that mistakes will be made.
Children who have SM need control in order to keep their anxiety at bay.
When she was little, Charlotte had complete control over our whole family. she wouldn’t speak to anyone other than us [her parents] and her brother, so i couldn’t leave her with any of my friends. she stuck to me like a limpet and it was such a relief to find a teacher who was prepared to build a relationship with her in our own home.
In exactly the same way, children who have SM take steps to manage their anxiety about speaking. Remembering their panic in situations where they were expected to speak and the subsequent disappointment, embarrassment or humiliation when they could not, it is natural to seek damage limitation. They do this in three ways:
1 Through avoidance, as discussed in question 7.
2 By finding out every detail of what is about to happen, so that there are no surprises.
3 By stipulating changes that make the situation more manageable.
This is not manipulation or a need to dominate; it is how most people cope with anxiety. We need to give children who have SM more control by involving them in agreeing appropriate modifications as we work towards their full participation.
Chapter 8 Ensuring an anxiety-free environment
Chapter 9 Facing fears at home and in the community
Chapter 10 Facing fears in educational settings
Online: Handout 7 ‘Helping children to cope with anxiety’
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CHAPTER III
THE “DAILY RECORD” TO THE RESCUE
Three days after the explosion, the “Daily Record,” which had from the first given exceptional prominence to everything connected with the outrages, issued a special supplement, in which, in a letter to the people of England, the editor said that in view of the infamous conspiracy which had been formed against the welfare of the British Empire, and against the lives of British citizens, the proprietors of the “Daily Record” had some months ago decided to bring all their resources, capital, and energy to bear upon the discovery of the promoters of the conspiracy. In the carrying out of this investigation, the services of the very ablest English and foreign detectives had been engaged, their instructions being that, so long as absolute secrecy was observed and ultimate success attained, the question of expense was to remain entirely unconsidered. As a result, he was now able to supply the names and, in three cases, personal descriptions and portraits of seven men who were beyond all question the leaders of the movement, and one of whom—though which he regretted he was at present unable to say—the notorious Captain Shannon himself. The proprietors of the “Record” had not intended, he said, to make known their discoveries until the investigation had reached a more forward and satisfactory stage, but in view of what had recently occurred they had decided that it would not be right to withhold any information which might assist in bringing the perpetrators of the diabolical outrage to justice. In conclusion, he announced that the proprietors of the “Daily Record” were prepared to offer the following rewards:—
First, they would pay to any person, by means of whose information the capture had been effected, a reward of £3,000 per head for the arrest of any of the seven men whose names appeared on the list.
Secondly, to any person who would give such information as would lead to the arrest of Captain Shannon, and at the same time furnish proof of his identity, they would pay a reward of £20,000.
And in offering these rewards they made no exception in regard to the persons who were eligible to claim them. So long as the person claiming the reward or rewards had supplied the information which led to the arrest or arrests of the individuals indicated, the money should be faithfully paid without question or reservation.
Needless to say the publication of this letter, with the names, and in three cases with portraits, of the men who were asserted to be the leaders of the conspiracy, and the offer of such large rewards, created a profound sensation not only in England and Ireland, but in America and on the Continent.
One or two of the “Daily Record’s” contemporaries did not hesitate to censure the action which had been taken as an advertising dodge, and a well-known Conservative organ declared that such a direct insult to the authorities was calculated seriously to injure the national prestige of England; that the Government had made every possible effort to protect society and to bring the perpetrators of the recent outrages to book, and that the result of the “Record’s” rash and illadvised procedures would be to stultify the action of the police and to defeat the ends of justice.
On the other hand, the public generally—especially in view of the fact that the “Record” had succeeded in discovering who were the leaders of the conspiracy (which the police had apparently failed to do)—was inclined to give the editor and the proprietors credit for the patriotism they claimed, and it was confidently believed that the offer of so large a reward would tempt some one to turn informer and to give up his confederates to justice.
What the “Daily Record” did for England the “Dublin News”—which had been consistently loyal throughout, and the most fearlessly outspoken of all the Irish Press in its denunciation of Captain Shannon—did for Ireland. It hailed the proprietors and editor of the “Record” as patriots, declaring that, in view of the inefficiency which the Government had displayed in their efforts to protect the public, it
was high time that the public should bestir itself and take the matter into its own hand. It reprinted—by the permission of the “Record”— the descriptions and portraits of the “suspects,” and distributed them broadcast over the country, and it announced that it would add to the amount which was offered by the “Daily Record” for information which would lead to the arrest of Captain Shannon the sum of £5,000.
CHAPTER IV
THE MURDER IN FLEET
STREET
Ten is a comparatively quiet hour in Fleet Street. The sale of morning papers has practically dropped, and as the second edition of those afternoon journals, of which no one ever sees a first, has not yet been served out to the clamouring and hustling mob at the distributing centres, no vociferating newsboys, aproned with placards of “Sun,” “News,” “Echo” or “Star,” have as yet taken possession of the street corners and pavement kerbs.
On the morning of which I am writing, the newspaper world was sadly in want of a sensation. A royal personage had, it is true, put off the crown corruptible for one which would press less heavily on his brow; but he had, as a pressman phrased it, “given away the entire situation” by allowing himself for a fortnight to be announced as “dying.” This, Fleet Street resented as unartistic, and partaking of the nature of an anti-climax. Better things, it considered, might have been expected from so eminent an individual; and as such a way of making an end was not to be encouraged, the Press had, as a warning to other royal personages, passed by the event as comparatively unimportant.
It was true, too, that the Heir Apparent had on the previous evening entered a carriage on the Underground Railway as it was on the point of starting, and that the placards of the “special” editions had in consequence announced an “Alarming Accident to the Prince of Wales,” which, when H. R. H. had contemptuously remarked that there never had been an approach to danger, was changed in the “extra specials” to “The Prince describes his Narrow Escape.”
The incident had, however, been severely commented on as “sensation-mongering” by the morning papers (badly in want of a sensation themselves), and was now practically closed, so that the
alliterative artist of the “Morning Advertiser’s” placards had nothing better upon which to exercise his ingenuity than a “Conflict among County Councillors,” and the “Daily Chronicle’s” most exciting contents were a poem by Mr. Richard le Gallienne and a letter from Mr. Bernard Shaw. Nor was anything doing in the aristocratic world. Not a single duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron was appearing as respondent or co-respondent in a divorce case, or as actor in any turf or society scandal, and there was a widespread feeling that the aristocracy, as a whole, was not doing its duty to the country.
As a matter of fact, one among many results of the sudden cessation, three months since, of every sort of Anarchistic outrage, had been that the daily papers could not seem other than flat reading to a public which had previously opened these same prints each morning with apprehension and anxiety. Though the vigorous action taken by the editor of the “Daily Record,” in London, and of the “Dublin News,” in Dublin, had not, as had been expected, led to the arrest of Captain Shannon or his colleagues, it had apparently so alarmed the conspirators as to cause them to abandon their plan of campaign. The general opinion was that Captain Shannon, finding so much was known, and that, though his own identity had not been fixed, the personality of the leaders of the conspiracy was no longer a secret, had deemed it advisable to flee the country, lest the offer of so large a reward as £25,000 should tempt the cupidity of some of his colleagues. And as it always had been believed that he was the prime source and author of the whole diabolical conspiracy, the cessation of the outrages was regarded as a natural consequence of his defalcation.
I was thinking of Captain Shannon and of the suddenness with which he had dropped out of public notice while I walked up Fleet Street on this particular morning. As I passed the “Daily Chronicle” buildings and glanced at the placards displayed in the window I could not help contrasting in my mind the unimportant occurrences which were there in small type set forth, with the news of the terrible outrage which had leapt to meet the eye from the same window three months since. Just as I approached the office of the “Daily Record” I heard the sound of the sudden and hurried flinging open of
a door, and the next moment a man, wild-eyed, white-faced, and hatless, rushed out into the road shouting, “Murder! murder! police! murder!” at the top of his voice.
In an instant the restless, hurrying human streams that ebb and flow ceaselessly in the narrow channel of Fleet Street—like contending rivers running between lofty banks—had surged up in a huge wave around him. In the next a policeman, pushing back the crowd with his right hand and his left, had forced a way to the man’s side, inquiring gruffly, “Now then, what’s up? And where?”
“Murder! The editor’s just been stabbed in his room by Captain Shannon or one of his agents. Don’t let any one out. The assassin may not have had time to get away,” was the rejoinder.
There are no police officers more efficient and prompt to act than those of the City of London, and on this occasion they acquitted themselves admirably. Other constables had now hurried up, and at once proceeded to clear a space in front of the “Record” office, forming a cordon on each side of the road, and allowing no one to pass in or out.
A messenger was despatched in haste for the nearest doctor, and when guards had been set at every entrance to, and possible exit from, the “Record” office, two policemen passed within the building to pursue inquiries, and the doors were shut and locked. Among the crowd outside the wildest rumours and speculations were rife.
“The editor of the ‘Record’ had been murdered by Captain Shannon himself, who had come on purpose to wreak vengeance for the attitude the paper had taken up in regard to the conspiracy.”
“The murderer had been caught red-handed and was now in custody of the police.”
“The murderer was concealed somewhere on the premises, and had in his possession an infernal machine with which it would be possible to wreck half Fleet Street.”
(This last report had the effect of causing a temporary diversion in favour of the side streets.)
“The murderers had got clean away and the whole staff of the ‘Record’ had been arrested on suspicion.” These and many other rumours were passed from mouth to mouth and repeated with astonishing variations until the arrival of the doctor, who was by various well-informed persons promptly recognised as, and authoritatively pronounced to be, Captain Shaw, the Chief Commissioner of Police, the Lord Mayor, and Sir Augustus Harris.
Every door, window, and letter-box became an object of fearsome curiosity. People were half inclined to wonder how they could so many times have passed the “Record” office without recognising something of impending tragedy about the building—something of historic interest in the shape of the very window-panes and keyholes. One man among the crowd attained enviable celebrity by announcing that he “see the editor go up that passage and through that door—the very door where he’d gone through that morning afore he was murdered—scores of times, and didn’t think nothink of it,” which last admission seemed to impress the crowd with the fact that here at least was a fellow whose praiseworthy modesty deserved encouragement.
Meanwhile no sign of anything having transpired was to be seen within the building, and people were beginning to get impatient when, from somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Thames Embankment, came that sound so familiar to Cockney ears—a sound which no true Londoner can hear with indifference—the hoarse vociferation of the newsvendors proclaiming some sensational news. At first it was nothing but a distant babel, like the husky barking of dogs, but as it drew nearer the shouts became more distinguishable, and I caught the words, “’Ere yer are, sir! ‘Sun,’ sir! Murder of a heditor this mornin’! ’Ere yer are, sir!”
“That’s smart, that is!” said a fellow who was standing next to me in the crowd. “T. P. O’Connor don’t let no grass grow under his feet, ’e don’t. Why, the murdered man ain’t ’ardly cold, and ’ere it is all in the ‘Sun!’”
“Shut yer jaw,” said a woman near him. “’Tain’t this murder at all— can’t yer ’ear?” And then as the moving babel, like a slowly travelling
storm-cloud, drew nearer and nearer and finally burst upon Fleet Street, we could make out what the newsvendors were hoarsely vociferating.
“’Ere yer are, sir! ‘Sun,’ sir! Murder o’ the heditor o’ the ‘Dublin News’ this mornin’. Capture o’ the hassassin, who turns hinformer. Captain Shannon’s name and hidentity disclosed. The ’ole ’ideous plot laid bare. ’Ere yer are, sir!”
Elbowing my way as best I could through the crowd, I succeeded at last in getting within a yard or two of a newsboy, and, by offering him a shilling and telling him not to mind the change, possessed myself of a “Sun.” This is what I read at the top of the centre page:—
“The editor of the ‘Dublin News’ was stabbed in the street at an early hour this morning. The murderer was captured and has now turned informer The police refuse to give any information in regard to what has been divulged, but there is no doubt that Captain Shannon’s name and identity have at last been disclosed, and that the whole hideous conspiracy is now laid bare. Further particulars in our next edition.”
CHAPTER V THE IDENTITY OF CAPTAIN SHANNON
DISCLOSED AT LAST
The news that the captured conspirator had turned informer and divulged the name and identity of Captain Shannon created, as may be supposed, the wildest excitement. Contrary to general expectation, the authorities seemed willing to accord information instead of withholding it, though whether this was not as much due to gratification at finding themselves in the novel position of having any information to accord, as to their desire to allay public anxiety, may be questioned.
The editor of the “Dublin News” had, it seemed, been speaking at a public dinner and was returning between twelve and one o’clock from the gathering. As it was a close night and the room had been hot, he mentioned to a friend that he thought he should walk home instead of driving. This he had apparently done, for a police constable who was standing in the shadow of a doorway near the editor’s residence saw him turn the corner of the street closely followed by another man who was presumably begging. The editor stopped and put his hand in his pocket as if to search for a coin, and as he did so the supposed beggar struck at him, apparently with a knife. The unfortunate gentleman fell without a cry, and the assassin then stooped over him to repeat the blow, after which he started to run at full speed in the direction of the constable, who drew back within the doorway until the runner was almost upon him, when he promptly tripped his man up and held him down until assistance arrived. When taken to the station the prisoner at first denied, with much bluster, all knowledge of the crime; but when he learned, with evident dismay, that the murder had been witnessed, and saw the damning evidence of guilt in the shape of blood-spattering upon his right sleeve, his bluster gave place to the most grovelling terror, and
though he refused to give any account of himself he was removed to a cell in a state of complete collapse.
The next morning his condition was even more abject. The result of his self-communings had apparently been to convince him that the hangman’s hand was already upon him, and that his only chance of saving his neck lay in turning informer and throwing himself upon the mercy of the authorities. The wretched creature implored the police to believe that he was no assassin by his own choice, and that the murder would never have been committed had he not gone in fear of his life from the spies and agents of Captain Shannon, whose instructions he dared not disobey. He expressed his readiness to reveal all he knew of the conspiracy, and declared that he was not only aware who Captain Shannon was, but actually had a portrait of the arch-conspirator which he was prepared to hand over to the police. He then went on to say that the murder of the editor of the “Dublin News” was to be companioned in London by the murder of the editor of the “Daily Record.”
On hearing this last startling piece of news the Dublin police wired immediately to New Scotland Yard and to the London office of the “Daily Record,” but the warning arrived at the latter place a few minutes too late, for when the telegram was taken to the editor’s room he was found lying stabbed through the heart.
An alarm was raised as already described, the doors locked, and every one within the building subjected to the severest examination, but all that could be discovered was that a well-groomed and younglooking man, dressed and speaking like a gentleman, had called some ten minutes before, saying that he had an appointment with the editor. He had sent up the name of Mr. Hyram B. Todd, of Boston, and the editor’s reply had been, “Show the gentleman in.” Why this unknown stranger was allowed access to an editor who is generally supposed to be entirely inaccessible to outsiders, there was not a particle of evidence to show. All that was known was that a minute or two before the murder had been discovered, the supposed Mr. Todd came out from the editor’s room, turning back to nod “Good-morning; and thank you very much” at the door, after closing which he left the building. No cry or noise of scuffling had been
heard, but, from the fact that the editor was lying face downwards over a table upon which papers were generally kept, it was supposed that he had risen from his chair and walked across the room to this table to look for a manuscript or memorandum. To do so he must have turned his back upon the visitor, who had apparently seized the opportunity to stab his victim to the heart, and had then left the office just in time to escape detection.
The importance of the arrest which had been made was fully realized when, two days after its occurrence, the name, personal description, and portrait of Captain Shannon were posted up on every police-station in the kingdom, with the announcement that the Government would pay a reward of £5,000 for information which should lead to his arrest.
He was, it seemed, the fourth man on the “Daily Record’s” list, his name being James Mullen, an Irish-American, and was described as between forty and fifty years of age, short, and slightly lame. In complexion he was stated to be dark, with brown hair and bushy beard, but his most distinguishable feature was said to be his eyes, which were described as particularly full and fine, with heavy lids.
Then came the portrait, which, the instant I looked at it, startled me strangely The face as I saw it there was unknown to me; but that somewhere and sometime in my life I had seen the face—not of some one resembling this man, but of the very man himself—I was positive, though under what circumstances I could not, for the life of me, remember. I have as a rule an excellent memory, and I attribute this very largely to the fact that I never allow myself to forget. Memory, like the lamp which came into the possession of Aladdin, can summon magicians to aid us at call. But memory is a lamp which must be kept bright by constant usage, or it ceases to retain its power The slave-sprites serve mortals none too willingly, and if, when you rub the lamp, the attendant sprite come not readily to your call, and you, through indolence, allow him to slip back into the blue, be sure that when next you seek his offices he will again be mutinous. And if on that occasion you compel him not, he will become more and ever more slack in his service, and finally will shake off his allegiance and cease to do your bidding at all.
Hence, as I have said, I never allow myself to forget, though when I stumble upon a stubborn matter I go like a dog with a thorn in his foot till the thing be found. Such a matter was it to remember where and when I had seen the face that so reminded me of Captain Shannon. Day after day went by, and yet, cudgel my brains as I would, I could get no nearer to tracing the connection, and but for sheer obstinacy had pitched the whole concern out of my mind and gone about my business. Sometimes I was nigh persuaded that the thing I sought was sentient and alive, and was dodging me of pure devilry and set purpose. Once it tweaked me, as it were, by the ear, as if to whisper therein the words I was wanting, but when I turned to attend it, lo! it was gone at a bound and was making mouths at me round a corner. It seemed as if—as sportsmen tell us of the fox—the creature rather enjoyed being hunted than otherwise, and entered into the sport with as much zest as the sportsman. Sometimes it cast in my way a colour, a sound, or an odour (I noticed that when I smelt tobacco I seemed, as the children say, to be getting “warmer”) which set me off again in wild pursuit and with some promise of success. And then when I had for the fiftieth time abandoned the profitless chase, and, so to speak, returned home and shut myself up within my own walls, it doubled back to give a runaway knock at my door, only to mock me when I rushed out by the flutter of a garment in the act of vanishing.
But I was resolved that not all its freaks should avail it ultimately to escape me, for though I had to hunt it through every by-way and convolution of my brain, I was determined to give myself no rest till I had laid it by the heels,—and lay it by the heels I eventually did, as you shall shortly hear.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes is of opinion that “Memory, imagination, old sentiments and associations, are more readily reached through the sense of smell than by almost any other channel.” The probable reason for this strange connection between the sense of smell and the mind is, he tells us, “because the olfactory nerve is the only one directly connected with the hemispheres of the brain—the part in which we have every reason to believe the intellectual processes are carried on. To speak more truly,” he continues, “the olfactory nerve is
not a nerve at all, but a part of the brain in intimate connection with its anterior lobes. Contrast the sense of taste as a source of suggestive impressions with that of smell. Now the nerve of taste has no immediate connection with the brain proper, but only with the prolongation of the spinal cord.”
Curiously enough, it was in connection with a scent that I ultimately succeeded in recalling where and under what circumstances I had seen the face of which I was in search, and but for the fact of my having smelt a particular odour in a particular place this narrative would never have been written.
I have said that when I smelt tobacco I felt that I was, as the children say, “getting warmer.” But, unfortunately, tobacco in the shape of pipe, cigar, or cigarette is in my mouth whenever I have an excuse for the indulgence, and often when I have none. Hence, though the face I sought seemed more than once to loom out at me through tobacco smoke, I had watched too many faces through that pleasing mist to be able to recall the particular circumstances under which I had seen the one in question. Nevertheless, it was tobacco which ultimately gave me my clue.
The morning was very windy, and I had three times unsuccessfully essayed to light my cigar with an ordinary match. In despair—for in a general way I hate fusees like poison—I bought a box of vesuvians which an observant and enterprising match-vendor promptly thrust under my nose. As I struck the vile thing and the pestilent smell assailed my nostrils, the scene I was seeking to recall came back to me. I was sitting in a third-class smoking carriage on the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway, and opposite to me was a little talkative man who had previously lit his pipe with a fusee. I saw him take out the box evidently with the intention of striking another, and then I heard a voice say, “For heaven’s sake, sir, don’t stink the carriage out again with that filthy thing! Pray allow me to give you a match.”
The speaker was sitting directly in front of me, and as I recalled his face while I stood there in the street with the still unlighted cigar between my lips, the open box in one hand and the now burnt-out
fusee arrested half-way toward the cigar-tip in the other, I knew that his face was the face of Captain Shannon.
CHAPTER VI
I MAKE UP MY MIND TO FIND
CAPTAIN SHANNON
The striking of that fusee was a critical moment in my life, for before the thing had hissed itself into a black and crackling cinder I had decided to follow up the clue which had been so strangely thrown in my way. My principal reason for so deciding was that I wanted a rest —the rest of a change of occupation, not the rest of inaction. I am by profession what George Borrow would have called “one of the writing fellows.” But, much as I love my craft, and generous and largehearted as I have always found literary men—at all events, largebrained literary men—to be, I cannot profess much admiration for the fussy folk who seem to imagine that God made our world and the infinite worlds around it, life and death, and the human heart, with its joys and sorrows and hope of immortality, for no other reason than that they should have something to write about.
Instead of recognising that it is only life and the unintelligible mystery of life which make literature of any consequence, they seem to fancy that literature is the chief concern and end of man’s being. As a matter of fact, literature is to life what a dog’s tail is to his body —a very valuable appendage; but the dog must wag the tail, not the tail the dog, as some of these gentry would have us to believe. The dog could, at a pinch, make shift to do without the tail, but the tail could under no circumstances do without the dog.
You may screw a pencil into one end of a pair of compasses and draw as many circles of different sizes as you please, but it is from the other end that you must take your centres, and what the pivot end is to the pencil, life must be to literature.
Hence it is my habit every now and then to put away from me all that is connected with books and the making of books, and to seek
only to live my life, and to possess my own soul and this wonderful world about us.
At the particular date of which I am writing, the restlessness which is so often associated with the literary temperament was upon me. I craved change, excitement, and adventures, and these the following up of the clue which I held to the identity of Captain Shannon promised in abundance.
As everything depended upon the assumption that James Mullen was, as was stated, Captain Shannon, the first question which I felt it necessary seriously to consider was whether the informer’s evidence was to be credited; and I did not lose sight of the fact that his confessions, so far from being entitled to be regarded as bona fide evidence, were to be received with very grave suspicion. At the best they might be nothing more than the invention of one who had no information to give, but who hoped by means of them either to prevent, or at least to stave off for a time, the otherwise inevitable death sentence which was hanging over his head.
At the worst it was possible that the pretended Queen’s evidence had been carefully prepared beforehand by Captain Shannon, and communicated by him to his agents, to be used in the event of any of them falling into the hands of the police. In that case the statements which might thus be put forward, so far from being of assistance to the authorities, would be deliberately constructed with a view to confuse and mislead.
The one thing which I found it utterly impossible to reconcile with the theories I had previously formed about Captain Shannon was that the informer should have in his possession a portrait of his chief.
Was it likely, I asked myself, that so cunning a criminal would, by allowing his portrait to get into the possession of his agents, place himself at the mercy of any scoundrel who, for the sake of an offered reward, would be ready to betray his leader, or of some coward who, on falling into the hands of the police, might offer to turn Queen’s evidence? Was it not far more likely, on the contrary, that the explanation of Captain Shannon’s having so successfully eluded the police and kept the authorities in ignorance of his very identity was
that he had carefully concealed that identity even from his own colleagues?
The more I thought about it the more assured I became that so crafty a man—a man who was not only an artist but a genius in crime—would trust absolutely no one with a secret that concerned his own safety. On the few occasions when he would have to come into personal relation with his confederates, it seemed more than probable to me that he would assume some definite and consistent disguise which would mislead even them in regard to his appearance and individuality.
On being asked how the portrait got into his possession, and whether it was a good likeness, the informer had replied that he had only seen Captain Shannon on a single occasion, when he met him one night by appointment at Euston Station. The portrait had been sent home to him beforehand, so that he might have no difficulty in recognizing the person to whom he was to deliver a certain package, and he added that, so far as he could see, it was an excellent likeness.
Some such explanation as this was just what I had expected, for if the portrait were intended, as I supposed, to mislead the police, I was sure that Captain Shannon would invent some plausible story to account for its being in the possession of one of his colleagues. Otherwise the fact of a man, for whose arrest a large reward had been offered, having, for no apparent reason, presented his photograph to a fellow-conspirator, might arouse suspicion of the portrait’s genuineness.
That the portrait represented not the real but the disguised Captain Shannon, I was equally confident. I thought it more than possible that the man I had to find would be the exact opposite of the man who was there portrayed, and of the informer’s description. For instance, as the pictured Captain Shannon was evidently dark, and was said to be dark by the informer, the real Captain Shannon would probably be fair, as the more dissimilar was the real Captain Shannon from the Captain Shannon for whom the police were searching, the less likely would they be to find him.
Then, again, it had been particularly stated by the informer that James Mullen was slightly lame, and to this the police attached the greatest importance. The fact that the man they wanted had an infirmity so easily recognised and so difficult to conceal was considered to narrow down the field of their investigations to the smallest compass and to render the fugitive’s ultimate capture nothing less than a certainty.
For myself, I was not at all sure that this supposed lameness was not part and parcel of Captain Shannon’s disguise. A sound man could easily simulate lameness, but a lame man could not so simulate soundness of limb, and I could not help thinking that if Captain Shannon were, as had been asserted, lame, he would have taken care to conceal the fact from his confederates.
If the police could be induced to believe that the man they wanted was lame, they would not, in all probability, be inconveniently suspicious about the movements of a stranger evidently of sound and equal limb, who might otherwise be called on to give an account of himself.
Being curious to know what course they were pursuing, I made it my business within the next few days to scrape an acquaintance with one of the ticket-collectors at Euston. After propitiating him in the usual way by a judicious application of “palm-oil,” I ventured to put the question whether he had at any time noticed a short, dark, lame man on the platform where the Irish mail started.
A broad grin came over the fellow’s face in reply.
“What, are they on that lay still!” he said, derisively. “I knew you was after something, but I shouldn’t have took you for a detective.”
I assured him that I was not a detective, and asked him to explain, whereupon he told me that immediately after the publication of the portrait of Captain Shannon, instructions had been sent to all railway stations that a keen look-out was to be kept for a short, dark, lame man, whether clean-shaven or bearded, and that if a person in any way resembling James Mullen (whose portrait was placed in the
hands of every ticket-collector), was noticed, the police should instantly be communicated with.
“Why, if you was to know, sir,” said the collector, “’ow many short, dark, respectable gents, what ’appens to be lame, have been took up lately on suspicion, you’d larf, you would. It’s bad enough to be lame at hany time, but when you’re going to be harrested for a hanarchist as well, it makes your life a perfect misery, it do.”
CHAPTER VII
MY FIRST MEETING WITH JAMES MULLEN
And now it is high time that I told the reader something more about the circumstances under which I had seen James Mullen, and why I was so positive that he and the man in whose company I had travelled down to Southend were one and the same person.
Firstly, it must be remembered that I sat opposite to my travelling companion for more than an hour, during which time I had watched him narrowly; and secondly, that there are some faces which, once seen, one never forgets. Such a face was the face of the man I had seen on that eventful journey. His eyes were bright, prominent, and had heavy lids. His complexion was clear and pale, and his nose was well shaped, though a little too pronouncedly aquiline. The nostrils were very unusual, being thin and pinched, but arching upward so curiously that one might almost fancy a part of the dilatable cuticle on each side had been cut away. The finely-moulded chin was like the upper lip and cheek, clean-shaven, and the lips were full and voluptuous. Thick but fine and straight, straw-coloured hair was carefully brushed over a well-formed forehead, and the face, taken altogether, was decidedly distinguished, if not aristocratic, in the firmness of outline and the shaping of the features.
After the train had started, Mullen sank back into his seat and appeared to be thinking intently. I noticed that his eyes were never still a moment, but darted restlessly from object to object in a way which seemed to indicate great brain excitability. That he was excitable was clear from his vehement outburst about the fusee; but almost the next minute he had, so to speak, made amends for his apparent rudeness by explaining that he was peculiarly sensitive to smell, and had an especial dislike to fusees.
