210 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[Sept. 12, 1884. 



would certainly have felt had Drood been really dead. 

 There is not a word implying that she thinks Drood is dead. 

 And this is so much the stranger that Dickens draws so 

 close, again and again, to occasions for speaking of Rosa's 

 sorrow for Drood. She speaks of Drood to Jasper in the 

 past tense ; but that of course she would be bound to do. 

 We hear of her sorrow for Drood in connection with her 

 growing love for Tartar, — and this would be natural 

 whether she thought Drood dead or alive, (but much more 

 natural if, supposing Drood alive, she was sad at the 

 thought that he might still love her though their engage- 

 ment had been broken off.) — T. F. 



But now for what seems to me most obviously to be the 

 course of the story up to the time when its author's pen fell 

 from his hand, and (in general outline only, of course) its 

 intended course thereafter. 



Before the attempted murder, the points to be specially 

 noted are these : — 



First, the way in which Jasper has arranged for the dis- 

 posal of Drood's body after the murder. We see him 

 arranging a meeting with .Japsea and Durdles, in such a 

 way that all he may do in the way of using Durdles' 

 knowledge may seem to have been suggested by Japsea. 

 (The three wineglasses, and what is said of them, should 

 be specially noticed.) At this meeting again Jasper cleverly 

 uses his musical knowledge to obtain a means of identify- 

 ing the various keys carried by Durdles, — a means which 

 neither Durdles nor Japsea would suspect, but Durdles 

 notes (without at the time understanding) what he is 

 doing. He repeats his tone-test soon after, in company 

 with Durdles only. Later, in the " surely unaccountable 

 expedition," we see how Jasper applies the knowledge thus 

 obtained. He drugs the wine which he knows Durdles 

 will drain to the last drop, and when Durdles sinks to 

 sleep, he takes the keys, clinks them again, and in the long 

 hours at his disposal (for the " murmur of the tide of life " 

 is still heard when they enter the Precincts, and it is two 

 o'clock when Durdles at length wakes) he takes impressions 

 of the keys, collects quicklime within the Japsea tomb, and 

 prepares generally for the crime he has planned. That he 

 has been outside is shown, after the author's manner, by 

 his wrath with the Deputy (wrath so fierce that " he seemed 

 like a devil ") because " he followed us here to-night " and 

 " has been prowling near us ever since, " which would not 

 have mattered had Jasper remained inside the crypt while 

 Durdles slept. 



Secondly, we are to note the sadness felt by Drood after 

 his parting with Rosa. Much of the significance of 

 Datchery's conduct later is lost if we overlook this feeling 

 on Drood's part. That it had an important beaiing on the 

 later progress of the story, and was meant to be most care- 

 fully noted by the more thoughtful and understanding 

 readers, is obvious to all who know Dickens's manner. 

 Follow what Dickens says here, noting that his first words 

 about Drood in the chapter most significantly headed 

 When will these three meet again? (showing clearly 

 that Neville, Drood, and Jasper tvere to meet again) : 

 " Edwin Drood passed a solitary day. Something of 

 deeper moment than he had thought, has gone out of his 

 life ; and in the silence of his own chamber he wept for it 

 last night . . . the pretty little affectionate creature, so 

 much firmer and wiser than he had s\ipposed occupies the 

 stronghold of his mind. It is with some misgiving of his 

 own unworthiness that he thinks of her, and of what they 

 might have been to one another, if he had been more in 

 earnest some time ago ; if he had set a higher value on 

 her ; if instead of accepting his lot in life as an in- 

 heritance of course, he had studied the right way to its 



appreciation and enhancement." .... Then later, — " He 

 strolls about and about, to i)a8S the time It some- 

 how happens that Cloisterham seems reproachful to him 

 to-day ; has fault to find with him, as if he had not used it 

 well ; but is far more pensive with him than angry. His 

 wonted carelessness is replaced by a wii-tful looking at and 

 dwelling upon, all the old landmarks. He will soon be far 

 away, and may never see them again, he thinks. Poor youth ! 

 Poor youth ! " — Later yet, — " Always kindly, but moved to 

 be unusually kind this evening, and having bestowed kind 

 words on most of the children and aged people he has met, 

 he bends down " to the old opium eater, and speaks to her. 

 The conversation should be most carefully followed and 

 compared with the later conversation between the same old 

 woman and Datchery. I could as readily doubt that the 

 same person speaks to her on both these occasions, as I 

 could doubt whether the IMoonlight Sonata and the Sonata 

 Pathetique came from the same composer. Apart, how- 

 ever, from the words and manner of Drood and Datchery, 

 consider what is said about them. Compare the words 

 quoted above with these : — " Mr. Datchery pauses as if he 

 were falling into a brown study and couldn't bear to part 

 with" — something — "but he bestows" his gift on the 

 old woman (who is then so dull as to imagine that it is of 

 this he is thinking'!), "as if he were abstracting his mind 



from the sacrifice John Jasper's lamp is kindled, 



and his lighthouse is shining when Mr. Datchery returns 

 alone towards it. As mariners, on a dangerous voyage, 

 approaching an iron-bound coast, may look along the beams 

 of the warning light to the haven lying beyond it that may 

 never be reached, so Mr. Datchery's wistful gaze is directed 

 to this beacon, and beyond." Compare the two following 

 few words alone, if the music of each full passage is not 

 easily caught : — 



Of Drood, we read, — " His wonted carelessness is replaced 

 hy a vmtful looking at and dwelling upon all the old land- 

 mai-ks : he. irill soon be Jar away, and inay never see tftem 

 again, he thinks." 



Of Datchery, — "As mariners look along the beams of the 

 warning light to the haven lyinr/ beyond it that may never br 

 reached, his wistful gaze is directed to this beacon and 

 beyond." 



That this resemblance, or rather this oneness of tone 

 should have escaped notice I can understand ; but that 

 any one whose attention has once been directed to it can fail 

 to see that Drood and Datchery are one, seems to me scarce 

 conceivable. I certainly cannot imagine how any one 

 could suppose the later words applied to a detective 

 employed by Grewgious, or to the stupid and selfish 

 Buzzard. 



(To be continued.) 



THE ENTOMOLOGY OF A POND. 



By E. a. Butler. 



THE BOTTOM (continued). 



THE water scorpions are aquatic during the whole of 

 their lives, but the insects we have now to consider 

 pass only their earlier stages in the water, being inhabi- 

 tants of the air when they have reached the perfect, or 

 imago, form ; indeed, the bottom of the pond is, as a rule, 

 much more the theatre of larval than of imaginal life. 

 As we have before intimated, beetles and bugs are almost 

 the only kinds of insects that are strictly aquatic when 

 adult. 



We will first take the larva> of the dragon-flies. The 

 perfect insects, which are sometimes also called horse- 



