there was a quaint character in cloisterham named durdles. he was a stone-mason whose specialty was the chiseling of tombstones. he was an old bachelor and was both a very skilful workman and a very great sot. he had keys to all the cathedral vaults and was fond of prowling about the old pile and its dismal crypt, for ever tap-tapping, with[pg 450] a little hammer he carried, on its stones and walls, hunting for forgotten cavities, in which, perhaps, centuries before, persons had been buried. he wore a coarse flannel suit with horn buttons and a yellow handkerchief with draggled ends, and it was a daily sight to see him perched on a tombstone eating his dinner out of a bundle. when he was not feeling well he used to say he had a touch of "tomb-atism," instead of rheumatism.

durdles was drunk so much that he was never certain about getting home at night, so he had hired, at a penny a day, a hideous small boy, known as "the deputy" to throw stones at him whenever he found him out of doors after ten o'clock, and drive him home to his little hole of an unfurnished stone house.

the deputy used to watch for durdles after this hour, and when he saw him he would dance up and sing:

"widdy, widdy, wen! i ketches—him—out—arter ten! widdy, widdy wy! when he—don't—go—then—i shy! widdy, widdy, wake-cock-warning!"

it was a part of the bargain that he must give this warning before he began to throw the stones, and when durdles heard this yell he knew what was coming.

before the christmas eve dinner jasper picked[pg 451] a friendship with durdles, and, pretending he wanted to make a trip by moonlight with him among the vaults, he persuaded him one night to be his guide. while they were in the crypt of the cathedral jasper plied him with liquor which he had brought, to such purpose that durdles went fast asleep and the key of the crypt fell from his hand. he had a dim idea that jasper picked up the key and went away with it, and was a long time gone, but when he awoke he could not tell whether this had really happened or not. and this, when the deputy stoned him home that night, was all he could remember of the expedition.

but what jasper had really done while durdles was asleep—whether he had taken away the key to make a copy of it so as to make one like it for some evil purpose of his own, or whether he wanted to be able to unlock that dark underground place and hide something in it sometime when no one would be with him—this only jasper himself knew!

the christmas season arrived, and edwin drood, according to his promise, came to cloisterham to his uncle's dinner, at which he was to meet neville.

before leaving, however, he called upon mr. grewgious, rosebud's guardian, who had sent for him with a particular purpose. this purpose was to give into his hands a ring set with diamonds and rubies that had belonged to rosebud's mother. it[pg 452] had been left in trust to mr. grewgious to give to the man who married her, that he might himself put it on her finger. and in accordance with the trust, the lawyer charged drood if anything should be amiss or if anything happened between him and rosebud, to bring back the ring.

mr. grewgious gave him this keepsake with such wise and friendly advice on the seriousness of marriage that all the way to cloisterham with the ring in his pocket, edwin drood was very thoughtful. he asked himself whether he really loved rosebud as a man should love his wife, whether he had not drifted into this betrothal rather as a result of their parents' wish and wills than from any deeper feeling. and he began to wonder if by marrying her thus he would not be doing her a vast injustice. he decided, therefore, to tell her all that was in his mind and be guided by her judgment.

rosebud, meanwhile, in the silence of the christmas vacation, with only helena for her companion, had been thinking of the same matter, and her wise little head had reached almost the same conclusion. when drood came they walked out together under the trees by the cathedral. their talk was not so difficult after all as each had feared it would be, and both felt relieved when they decided they could be far happier to remain as brother and sister, and not become husband and wife. so they agreed without pain on either side.[pg 453]

drood's only anxiety was for his uncle. he thought jasper had looked forward to his marriage to rosebud so long that he would be pained and disappointed to learn it was not to be. so he concluded he would not tell him as yet. poor rosebud! she was greatly agitated. she felt the falseness of jasper, and knew that he loved her himself, but she realized the impossibility of telling this to the nephew who believed in him. so she was silent. drood, for his part, since the betrothal was ended, said nothing to her of the ring grewgious had given to him, intending to return it to the lawyer.

they kissed each other when they parted. the wicked choir master, who happened to be walking near, saw the embrace and thought it the kiss of lovers soon to be wed. drood left rosebud then, to pass the time till the hour of the dinner in jasper's rooms.

neville that day had determined, the dinner over, to start at dawn next morning on a walking tour, to be absent a fortnight. he bought a knapsack and a heavy steel-shod stick in preparation for this expedition, and bade his sister helena and mr. crisparkle good-by before he went to the appointed meeting at the choir master's.

jasper himself, it was noticed, had never seemed in better spirits than on that day, nor had he ever sung more sweetly than in the afternoon service before the dinner which he gave to the two young[pg 454] men. if he was contemplating a terrible crime, no one would have guessed it from his serene face and his agreeable manner.

edwin drood had one warning just before he went up the postern stair that led to his uncle jasper's. the old hag who mixed the opium in the london garret where the choir master smoked the drug, had more than once tried to find out who her strange, gentlemanly visitor was. she had listened to his mutterings in his drunken slumber, and at length that day had followed him from london to cloisterham, only to lose track of him there. as drood strolled, waiting for the dinner hour to strike from the cathedral chimes, he passed her and she begged money from him.

he gave it to her and she asked him his name and whether he had a sweetheart. he answered edwin, and that he had none. "be thankful your name's not ned," she said, "for it's a bad name and a threatened name!"

"ned" was the name jasper always called him by, but drood did not think seriously of the old woman's words. he could not have guessed that the threats she spoke of against the ned who had a sweetheart had been murmured in his drugged slumber by his own uncle against himself. and yet something at just that moment made him shudder.

so the chimes struck, and edwin drood went on to jasper's rooms to meet his uncle and neville[pg 455] landless—went to his doom! for from that time no one who loved him ever saw him again in this world!