The Dedalus Book of Decadence: (Moral Ruins) (24 page)

The “other side” is harmless now – charred ashes only; but none dares to cross but Gabriel alone – for once a year for nine days a strange madness comes over him.

**********

1
“I will go unto the altar of God”

2
“Who denies me the joy of my youth”

3
“Behold, now I am ripe for death”

4
“Woe unto me, for I am hedged in”

5
“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee”

6
“Deliver me from the gates of hell”

NON SUM QUALIS ERAM BONAE
SUB REGNO CYNARAE

by Ernest Dowson

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine

There fell thy shadow, Cynara!
thy breath was shed

Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;

And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,

  Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head:

I have been faithful to thee, Cynara!
in my fashion.

All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat,

Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay;

Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;

But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,

  When I awoke and found the dawn was gray:

I have been faithful to thee, Cynara!
in my fashion.

I have forgot much, Cynara!
gone with the wind,

Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,

Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind;

But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,

  Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:

I have been faithful to thee, Cynara!
in my fashion.

I cried for madder music and for stronger wine,

But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire,

Then falls thy shadow, Cynara!
the night is thine;

And I am desolate and sick of an old passion,

  Yea hungry for the lips of my desire:

I have been faithful to thee, Cynara!
in my fashion.

A SOMEWHAT SURPRISING CHAPTER

by John Davidson

(From
The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender
)

The cabman was having a hot altercation with a policeman when Earl Lavender and his companions left the Café Benvenuto.
An oft-renewed altercation it had been, for the cabman had repeatedly taken his stand opposite the door; whenever, indeed, the approach to the restaurant was unoccupied by arrivals or departures: only to be warned away by the watchful constable.
Both his patience and the policeman’s were exhausted, and the latter was declaring that he believed the cabman had no engagement at all at the very moment his fare reappeared.

“Here; take my number,” cried the cabman triumphantly to his tormentor; “Fifteen million three hundred and thirty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-two and a half.
I got no fare, haven’t I?
Oh, no; I’m one o’ these wealthy private cabs that sneaks a livin’ from the miserable toffs wot runs the ’ansoms.
D’ye see my armorial bearin’s, stoopid?
Can’t yer read Latin?
Vidget incendiary Virtus
and a Venux above a B.
This yer’s Lord Basinghoume’s cab, and pretty sweetly I pay for it, I can tell you.”

The policeman grinned but made no reply.

“Where to, sir?”
asked the cabman.

The Veiled Lady, who sat between Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm, replied, –

“Trallidge’s Hotel.”

“Move on there,” shouted the policeman, adding in
an aside to the Soudanese commissionaire, “incendiary vegetable or whatever you call yourself.”

Rookwood Square, one side of which is occupied by Trallidge’s is not far from Piccadilly Circus, and in less than five minutes the party arrived.
The lady paid the fare, and the three entered the hotel.

In the hall Lord Brumm rebelled.
He had heard of Trallidge’s, and so, indeed, for the matter of that, had Earl Lavender.
It had a very dubious reputation.
No specific charge was ever brought against it, but ordinary people looked mighty knowing when it was mentioned.

“I’m not going to stay here,” said Lord Brumm; “I have still some character to lose if you haven’t.”

“What’s the matter?”
said Earl Lavender.

“How do I know?”
retorted Lord Brumm; “but you surely can’t be ignorant of the ill-name this place has.
We may all be arrested in the night and appear in tomorrow’s evening papers among a herd of German Jews and Jewesses, needy swells and commercial travellers – “Raid on a West-end Night-house,” or something of that kind.”

The Lady of the Veil, who had vanished on entering the hotel, now reappeared from the clerk’s office.
She overheard the last of Lord Brumm’s remarks, and, raising one hand to stay Earl Lavender’s answer, beckoned a stalwart porter with the other.
She then led the way to a stair which went down to the kitchen department.
Earl Lavender followed closely, and so did Lord Brumm, for behind him came the stalwart porter smiling sardonically.
Pursuing a passage in the sunk flat, the Lady of the Veil brought them to a second stair, very broad and well lit, at the foot of which they found themselves in a large room floored with cedar, hung with tapestry, and furnished with rugs, couches and cushions.
A small fountain gurgled and lisped in a marble basin, and several doors admitted
muffled sounds of music and conversation.
Four men and four women, stately in figure, and with grave, pleasant faces, were the inmates of this room; they were dressed in loose flowing robes, and from the books in their hands, or laid open on the couches, it was plain that they had been reading before the new arrivals disturbed their studies.
Too amazed to speak or think, Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm stared about them, while the Veiled Lady, having dismissed the porter, conversed in whispers with the occupants of the room.
Shortly the four men approached Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm, and led them towards one of the doors.
Earl Lavender, submitting to the Evolutionary will, remained passive in the hands of the pair who had laid hold on him; but Lord Brumm was at first inclined to resent interference with his liberty.
However, the powerful grasp which his captors laid upon him at his first struggle taught him to abandon all attempts at resistance.

They were conducted along a lofty carpeted passage to a room much larger than that they had left, which was also hung with tapestry and furnished with rugs, cushions and couches.
In it a performance was going on which froze Lord Brumm with terror, and excited a very lively interest in the mind of Earl Lavender.

On the couches sat several middle-aged men and women, whose countenances, like those of the inmates of the first room, wore an agreeable expression of thoughtful gravity.
These were superintending the operations of men and women of almost all ages, who entered sometimes in pairs and sometimes in groups.
There were three couples present when Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm were led in; and two of the men and one of the women were being soundly flogged by the other three.
The chastisers counted the lashes aloud, and in each case twelve were administered.
As soon as the punishment
had been inflicted, the seeming culprits gathered their robes about them, received the whips, which were of knotted cords, from the hands of those who had wielded them, and the punishers became the punished.
Then the couples, having been thus reciprocally lashed, laid their whips on one of the couches, and tripped out of the room, dancing to a measure which was clearly heard, and evidently proceeded from a band of music in a neighbouring apartment.

Having tarried in this room for a minute or two, their captors led Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm along another passage to the toilet department of the Underground City.
Here they were laved in warm water, then plunged into snow artifically prepared, and finally drenched in a shower bath of attar of roses.
Robes similar to those worn by the other dwellers in the Underground World were given them, and they were taken back to the Whipping Room.
Four couples were engaged in the extraordinary ceremony of this apartment when they re-entered it.
As there could be no mistake about the actuality and severity of the chastisement, Lord Brumm, at the sight of two tall young women armed with whips, who rose from a couch to greet him and Earl Lavender, cried, –

“No, no!
I won’t have it, I –”

He got no further with his protest, for he was instantly gagged, his hands and feet tied, and his robe thrown from his shoulders.
Then one of the young women, an athletic girl of about twenty, with a laughing face and a roguish eye, laid twelve lashes on his broad back with the heartiest goodwill.

In the meantime Earl Lavender, without waiting for instructions, bared his shoulders as he had seen the others do, clasped his hands on his breast and stood stock-still.
The second woman, who possessed great
beauty, and seemed to be about twenty-five years of age, at once inflicted with sufficient vigour a dozen lashes and one to the bargain.
Earl Lavender winced at the first and second lash, and at the third he moved a step forward, but he took the rest of his punishment without a motion.
His fair chastiser approved of his conduct with a charming smile, and having handed him the whip, exposed her own back.
Lightly Earl Lavender brought down the scourge.
How could he score the soft white shoulders of this beautiful woman!
But she turned to him with a mortified look, and said, –

“You are unworthy of my friendship if you spare me.
Put forth your strength, or I will leave you.”

Convinced of the lady’s sincerity, Earl Lavender then laid on lustily, and was astonished to find, when he gave himself to it, what enjoyable work it was.

Although, while in his company before, the Veiled Lady had not uncovered her face for an instant, Earl Lavender had no difficulty in recognising her as the robed beauty with whom he had just exchanged whippings.
It was the individuality of her carriage, along with her unusual height, which betrayed her.
All her motions were rapid, graceful and full of precision without being precise; and when she was at rest her stillness was like that of a statue – of Galatea wakening into life.
Had any doubt remained in Earl Lavender’s mind as to her identity the sound of the harp-like voice in which she had bidden him put forth his strength would have dispelled it.

“Come,” she said, when she had covered her shoulders.

He took the hand she offered, and they left the Whipping Room, moving in time to the music, which sounded from the apartment they were about to enter.
On the threshold he looked back to see how it fared with
Lord Brumm.
His henchman had been unbound, and was just beginning to repay his chastiser, the roguish-looking girl, who had thrashed him mercilessly; and Earl Lavender, catching his eye, bowed and smiled to signify his approbation.

In the apartment from which the music came, a vast hall with pillars supporting a lofty roof, no light burned, but floods of the richest colour streamed in from lamps without through many Gothic windows filled with stained glass.
The musicians, a hundred men and women, old and young, sat in a minstrels’ gallery of carved oak, playing on all kinds of stringed instruments, on wind instruments of wood, with triangles, drums and cymbals.
On the shining marble floor, dyed by the lamp-beams, a multitude of all ages moved to the slow measure, dancing in groups or couples; and every now and again a few of the musicians would leave the gallery, their places being taken by some of the dancers.
An expression of radiant seriousness, as far removed from solemnity as from ordinary mirth, sat on the faces of all the dancers.
Earl Lavender glanced quickly at his companion, and beheld in her the same high look.
He touched her waist, and they joined the dance.
For more than an hour, steeped in colour and sound, they circled among the pillars of the vast hall, unwearied, silent, without need to speak a word.
Then the lady led the way to an ante-room where many couples reclined on couches conversing in undertones.

“Let us rest and talk a little,” she said.

“Lady,” said Earl Lavender, reclining opposite his companions, for the couches were arranged in pairs facing each other, with a little space between.
“Lady,” he said, “since I became aware that I am the fittest of men, and knew that it is incumbent on me to find and wed the fittest woman, my imagination has figured many ideals,
but not my most exquisite dream approached the reality.
Most beautiful, most graceful, most lofty-spirited and fittest of women, let us go at once to the proper authority and be married according to the form of this subterranean land – if there be any form that is to say.”

The Lady of the Veil gave him a piercing glance, and said coldly, –

“There is no marriage, nor giving in marriage here.”

“Then let us return to the upper world,” rejoined Earl Lavender, “for it becomes us to be married immediately.”

“I shall never marry,” said the lady.
“But why do you keep up this foolish fantasy with me?”

“Foolish fantasy!”
cried Earl Lavender, starting to his feet.
“Foolish fantasy!
Ah,” he continued more quietly, resuming his couch, “you naturally wish to try me; I may have to pass through many ordeals before Evolution will permit our union.
Your indifference is only apparent I am sure.
Being the fittest of women, you must love me as I love you.
And thus I pass at once the first ordeal.
Lady, nothing you can do or say will persuade me that you do not love me, and are not as eager for our union as I am.
Think what it means – the union of the fittest man and the fittest woman.
Think of the ecstasy and glory of it – the need of it; the world waits for this event – has waited since its creation.
The haste which Evolution has shown in bringing us together on the very first day of the new era points to the propriety of a speedy consummation.
If we may not marry here, let us fly at once.
Come, lady.”

The lady surveyed him long before she spoke, gradually hiding with the deep fringe of her eyelashes the look of pity that dawned out of the blank amazement in her eyes.

“You do not ask,” she said at length, making no
reference to his appeal and wishing to occupy his thoughts with something else, “for any explanation of the manners and customs of the underground world.”

“I am no longer interested,” he said.
“I was at first astonished, but I am now absorbed entirely by my love for you, and my desire to fulfil at once the intention of Evolution.
If there be another ordeal, submit me to it without further delay, oh, fittest among women!”

“I am not the fittest among women,” rejoined the lady, with some resentment.
“There are present here tonight many lovelier, handsomer, stronger, warmer-hearted, better-educated women than I am.
Although you are mad, I beg you not to be foolish.”