“Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

And all of them closed their books and fixed their eyes upon me.

—­London, April 9, 1877

IV.  The City of Blood

I dreamed that I was wandering along a narrow street of vast length, upon either hand of which was an unbroken line of high straight houses, their walls and doors resembling those of a prison.  The atmosphere was dense and obscure, and the time seemed that of twilight; in the narrow line of sky visible far overhead between the two rows of house-roofs, I could not discern sun, moon, or stars, or color of any kind.  All was grey, impenetrable, and dim.  Underfoot, between the paving-stones of the street, grass was springing.  Nowhere was the least sign of life:  the place seemed utterly deserted.  I stood alone in the midst of profound silence and desolation.  Silence?  No!  As I listened, there came to my ears from all sides, dully at first and almost imperceptibly, a low creeping sound like subdued moaning; a sound that never ceased, and that was so native to the place, I had at first been unaware of it.  But now I clearly gathered in the sound and recognised it as expressive of the intensest physical suffering.  Looking steadfastly towards one of the houses from which the most distinct of these sounds issued, I perceived a stream of blood slowly oozing out from beneath the door and trickling down into the street, staining the tufts of grass red here and there, as it wound its way towards me.  I glanced up and saw that the glass in the closed and barred windows of the house was flecked and splashed with the same horrible dye.

“Some one has been murdered in this place!” I cried, and flew towards the door.  Then, for the first time, I perceived that the door had neither lock nor handle on the outside, but could be opened only from within.  It had, indeed, the form and appearance of a door, but in every other respect it was solid and impassable as the walls themselves.  In vain I searched for bell or knocker, or for some means of making entry into the house.  I found only a scroll fastened with nails upon a crossbeam over the door, and upon it I read the words:—­“This is the Laboratory of a Vivisector.”  As I read, the wailing sound redoubled in intensity, and a noise as of struggling made itself audible within, as though some new victim had been added to the first.  I beat madly against the door with my hands and shrieked for help; but in vain.  My dress was reddened with the blood upon the door step.  In horror I looked down upon it, then turned and fled.  As I passed along the street, the sounds around me grew and gathered volume, formulating themselves into distinct cries and bursts of frenzied sobbing.  Upon the door of every house some scroll was attached, similar to that I had already seen.  Upon one was inscribed:—­“Here is a husband murdering his wife:”  upon another:—­“Here is a mother beating her child to death:”  upon a third:  “This is a slaughter-house.”