“I have lost my kingdom, my power and my glory.”
“The devil took them,” answered Nicholas Bly.
“I wish I had,” replied the stranger.
IV: THE DARK GENTLEMAN’S STORY
Nicholas Bly fetched a screech loud enough to wake a whole parish. The dark gentleman pounced on him firmly and gagged him with his hand, and his fingers burnt into the newsagent’s cheek.
“Be silent,” said the dark gentleman, “you’ll have them coming and taking you away from me. Will you be silent?”
Nicholas Bly nodded to say he would be silent. Then he said:
“If you didn’t take them, who did?”
“Jah!” said the devil, for the dark gentleman was no other. “Jah took them. Jah does everything now, at least I am forced to the conclusion that he does, since I find everything going on much the same. I knew how it would be. I knew he would find it dull only dealing with virtuous people. It was very sudden. I was deposed without any notice just in the middle of the busiest time I’d had for centuries. I have had a horrible time. No one believed in me. For years now I have only been used to frighten children, and have occasionally been allowed to slip into their dreams. You must agree that it is galling for one who has lived on the fat of human faith—for in the good old days I had far more souls than Jah. I haven’t been in a grown man’s mind for years until I found yours open to me.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Nicholas Bly. “I want my wife. I want my two children. I want my work.”