The Weapons of Mystery
By Joseph Hocking
I need to make no special mention of most of them. Some young ladies simpered, others were frank, some were pretty good-looking, while others were otherwise, and that is about all that could be said. None had sufficient individuality to make a distinct impression on me. The young men were about on a par with the young ladies. Some lisped and were affected, some were natural and manly, and I began to think that the Christmas gathering would be a somewhat tame affair as far as the people were concerned.
This thought had scarcely entered my mind when two men entered the room, who were indeed not of the ordinary type and would need a few words of description, for both were destined, as my story will show, to have considerable influence over my life. I will try to describe the more striking of the two first. He was a young man. Not more than thirty-five. He was pretty tall and well-built, and he enjoyed the education and advantages of a man of wealth. His hair was black like the raven’s wings, and he was brushed in a heavy mass horizontally across his forehead.
His eyes were of a colour that did not match his black hair and swarthy complexion. They were highly light grey and tinted with a kind of green. They were placed very close together, and, the bridge of the nose being narrow, they appeared sometimes as if only one eye looked upon you. The mouth was well cut, the lips relatively thin, and they often parted, revealing pearly white teeth.
There was something positively fascinating about the mouth, yet it betrayed malignity—cruelty. He was perfectly self-possessed, stood straight, and had a soldier-like bearing. I instinctively felt that this was a man of power who would endeavour to make his will law. His movements were perfectly graceful, and from the flutter among the young ladies when he entered, I judged he had already spent some little time with them and made no slight impression.
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Joseph Hocking
Joseph Hocking (7 November 1860 – 4 March 1937) was a Cornish novelist and United Methodist Free Church minister.
Biography.
Hocking was born at St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall, to James Hocking, part-owner of a tin mine, and his wife Elizabeth (Kitto) Hocking. In 1884, he was ordained as a Methodist minister. Working in different parts of England over the next few years, he wrote his first novel, Harry Penhale – The Trial of his Faith, in London in 1887. He regarded fiction as a highly effective medium for conveying his Christian message to the public.
He combined his writing with his church duties until ill health forced him to resign from the ministry in 1909. His last pastoral charge was the large and important United Free Church at Woodford, Essex, which he was instrumental in having rebuilt by the advanced arts and crafts architect Charles Harrison Townsend. During his recovery, he found himself a much sought-after preacher across Britain and travelled extensively in the Middle East. He continued to write, and throughout his career, he was the author of nearly 100 books. Although largely forgotten now, he was tremendously popular in his day.
He died in St Ives, Cornwall, and was survived by his wife, Annie, whom he had married in 1887, and four daughters, three of whom become published novelists in their own right (Anne Hocking, Elizabeth Nisot, and Joan Shill). A son, Cuthbert, was killed in World War I. Through his mother, he was related to the biblical scholar John Kitto. His brother was Silas Hocking (1850–1935), a novelist and Methodist minister, and his sister, Salome Hocking (1859–1927), was also a novelist. Hocking is one of the main characters in the 2009 play Surfing Tommies by Cornish playwright Alan M. Kent. Joseph Hocking’s ashes were buried in the churchyard of St Stephen-in-Brannel.
Joseph Hocking
