g
with agitation; but as I turned to shut the door, I noticed that it was
my own figure that was reflected in the glass. The Chinaman had vanished
in an instant.

"It now became evident that my letter had not served its purpose, and I
was plunged in despair; the more so since, on this day, I felt again the
dreadful impulse to go and look at the pegs on the walls of the closet.
There was no mistaking the meaning of that impulse, and each time that I
went, I dragged myself away reluctantly, though shivering with horror.
One circumstance, indeed, encouraged me a little; the mandarin had not,
on either occasion, beckoned to me as he had done to the sailors, so
that perhaps some way of escape yet lay open to me.

"During the next few days I considered very earnestly what measures I
could take to avert the doom that seemed to be hanging over me. The
simplest plan, that of passing the pearl on to some other person, was
out of the question; it would be nothing short of murder. On the other
hand, I could not wait for an answer to my letter; for even if I
remained alive, I felt that my reason would have given way long before
the reply reached me. But while I was debating what I should do, the
mandarin appeared to me again; and then, after an interval of only two
days, he came to me once more. That was last night. I remained gazing at
him, fascinated, with my flesh creeping, as he stood, lantern in hand,
looking steadily in my face. At last he held out his hand to me, as if
asking me to give him the pearl; then the mirror darkened, and he
vanished in a flash; and in the place where he had stood there was my
own reflection looking at me out of the glass.

"That last visitation decided me. When I left home this morning the
pearl was in my pocket, and as I came over Waterloo Bridge, I leaned
over the parapet and flung the thing into the water. After that I felt
quite relieved for a time; I had shaken the accursed thing off without
involving anyone in the curse that it carried. But presently I began to
feel fresh misgivings, and the conviction has been growing upon me all
day that I have done the wrong thing. I have only placed it for ever
beyond the reach of its owner, whereas I ought to have burnt it, after
the Chinese fashion, so that its non-material essence could have joined
the spiritual body of him to whom it had belonged when both were clothed
with material substance.

"But it can't be altered now. For good or for evil, th