Publish with Us Home > Romance > The Broad Highway > Book One - Chapter 17 How I Talked With a Madman in a Wood by Moonlight
Bookmark and Share
Text Size: A A A A

Page 1 of 6

Book One - Chapter 17 How I Talked With a Madman in a Wood by Moonlight

"Good evening, sir!" he said, in a strange, hurried sort of way,
"the moon, you will perceive, is very nearly at the full to-night."
And his voice, immediately, struck me as being at odds with his
clothes.

"Why do you stand and peer at me?" said I sharply.

"Peer at you, sir?"

"Yes, from behind the tree, yonder." As I spoke, he craned his
head towards me, and I saw his pale lips twitch suddenly. "And
why have you dogged me; why have you followed me all the way from
Tonbridge?"

"Why, sir, surely there is nothing so strange in that. I am a
shadow."

"What do you mean by 'a shadow'?"

"Sir, I am a shadow cast by neither sun, nor moon, nor star, that
moves on unceasingly in dark as in light. Sir, it is my fate
(in common with my kind), to be ever upon the move--a stranger
everywhere without friends or kindred. I have been, during the
past year, all over England, east, and west, and north, and
south; within the past week, for instance, I have travelled from
London to Epsom, from Epsom to Brighton, from Brighton back again
to London, and from London here. And I peer at you, sir, because
I wished to make certain what manner of man you were before I
spoke, and though the moon is bright, yet your hat-brim left your
face in shade."

Page 1 of 6