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01 - Thin Ghost And Others by M. R. James · Thin Ghost And Others

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Speaker 1: Story one of A Thin Ghost and Others. This is
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Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. A Thin Ghost and Others by
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Speaker 1: Montague Rhodes James. Story one the residence at Whitminster Doctor
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Speaker 1: Ashton Thomas Ashton, doctor of Divinity, sat in his study,
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Speaker 1: habited in a dressing gown and with a silk cap
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Speaker 1: on his shaven head, his wig being for the time
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Speaker 1: taken off and placed on its block on a side table.
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Speaker 1: He was a man of some fifty five years, strongly
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Speaker 1: made of a sanguine complexion, an angry eye and a
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Speaker 1: long upper lip. Face and eye were lighted up at
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Speaker 1: the moment when I picture him, by the level ray
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Speaker 1: of an afternoon's sun that shone in upon him through
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Speaker 1: a tall sash window giving on the west. The room
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Speaker 1: into which it shone was also tall, lined with bookcases,
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Speaker 1: and where the wall showed between them. Paneled on the
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Speaker 1: table near the doctor's elbow was a green cloth, and
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Speaker 1: upon it what he would have called a silver standish,
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Speaker 1: a tray with ink stands, quill, pins, a calf bound
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Speaker 1: book or two some papers, a churchwarden pipe and a
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Speaker 1: brass tobacco box, a flask cased in plated straw, and
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Speaker 1: a liqueur glass. The year was seventeen thirty, the month December.
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Speaker 1: The hour somewhat passed three in the afternoon. I have
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Speaker 1: described in these lines pretty much all that a superficial
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Speaker 1: observer would have noted when he looked into the room.
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Speaker 1: What met doctor Ashton's eye when he looked out of it,
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Speaker 1: sitting in his leather arm chair. Little more than the
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Speaker 1: tops of the shrubs and fruit trees of his garden
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Speaker 1: could be seen from that point, but the red brick
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Speaker 1: wall of it was visible in almost all the length
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Speaker 1: of its western side. In the middle of that was
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Speaker 1: a gate, a double gate of rather elaborate iron scrollwork,
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Speaker 1: which allowed something of a view beyond. Through it. He
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Speaker 1: could see that the ground sloped away almost at once
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Speaker 1: to a bottom along which a stream must run, and
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Speaker 1: rose steeply from it on the other side, up to
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Speaker 1: a field that was park like in character and thickly
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Speaker 1: studded with oaks, Now, of course leafless, they did not
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Speaker 1: stand so thick together, but that some glimpse of sky
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Speaker 1: and horizon could be seen between their stems. The sky
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Speaker 1: was now golden, and the horizon a horizon of distant woods,
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Speaker 1: it seemed was purple. But all that Doctor Ashton could
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Speaker 1: find to say, after contemplating this prospect for many minutes,
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Speaker 1: was abominable. A listener would have been aware immediately upon
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Speaker 1: this of the sound of footsteps coming somewhat hurriedly in
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Speaker 1: the direction of the study. By the resonance, he could
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Speaker 1: have told that they were traversing a much larger room.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Ashton turned round in his chair as the door opened,
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Speaker 1: and looked expectant. The incomer was a lady, a stout
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Speaker 1: lady in the dress of the time. Though I have
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Speaker 1: made some attempt at indicating the doctor's costume, I will
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Speaker 1: not enterprise that of his wife, for it was missus
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Speaker 1: Ashton who now entered. She had an anxious, even a
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Speaker 1: sorely distracted look, and it was in a very disturbed
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Speaker 1: voice that she almost whispered to Doctor Ashton, putting her
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Speaker 1: head close to his, He's in a very sad way,
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Speaker 1: love worse. I'm afraid, utatat is he really? And he
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Speaker 1: leaned back and looked in her face. She nodded. Two
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Speaker 1: solemn bells, high up and not far away, rang out
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Speaker 1: the half hour. At this moment, Missus Ashton started, Oh,
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Speaker 1: do you think you can give order that the Minster
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Speaker 1: clock be stopped chiming tonight tis just over his chamber,
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Speaker 1: and it will keep him from sleeping, And to sleep
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Speaker 1: is the only chance for him, that's certain. Why to
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Speaker 1: be sure, if there were need, real need, it could
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Speaker 1: be done, but not upon any light occasion this, frank, Now,
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Speaker 1: do you assure me that his recovery stands upon it?
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Speaker 1: Said doctor Ashton. His voice was loud and rather hard.
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Speaker 1: I do verily believe it, said his wife. Then if
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Speaker 1: it must be bid, Molly run across to Simpkins and
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Speaker 1: say on my authority that he is to stop the
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Speaker 1: clock gimes at sunset. And yes she is after that
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Speaker 1: to say to my Lord Saul that I wish to
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Speaker 1: see him presently in this room. Missus Ashton hurried off
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Speaker 1: before any other visitor enters. It will be well to
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Speaker 1: explain the situation. Doctor Ashton was the holder, among other preferments,
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Speaker 1: of a prebend in the rich Collegiate Church of Whitminster,
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Speaker 1: one of the foundations which, though not a cathedral survived
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Speaker 1: dissolution and Reformation, and retained its constitution and endowments for
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Speaker 1: one hundred years after the time of which I write.
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Speaker 1: The great Church, the residences of the dean and the
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Speaker 1: two prebendaries, the choir, and its appurtenances were all intact
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Speaker 1: and in working order. A dean who flourished soon after
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Speaker 1: fifteen hundred had been a great builder, and had erected
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Speaker 1: a spacious quadrangle of red brick adjoining the church for
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Speaker 1: the residence of the officials. Some of these persons were
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Speaker 1: no longer required. Their offices had dwindled down to mere
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Speaker 1: titles borne by clergy or lawyers in the town a neighborhood,
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Speaker 1: and so the houses that had been meant to accommodate
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Speaker 1: eight or ten people were now shared among three, the
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Speaker 1: dean and the two prebendaries. Doctor Ashton's included what had
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Speaker 1: been the common parlor and the dining hall of the
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Speaker 1: whole body. It occupied a whole side of the court,
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Speaker 1: and at one end had a private door into the minster.
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Speaker 1: The other end, as we have seen, looked out over
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Speaker 1: the country. So much for the house as for the inmates.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Ashton was a wealthy man and childless, and he
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Speaker 1: had adopted, or rather undertaken, to bring up the orphaned
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Speaker 1: son of his wife's sister. Frank Siddel was the lad's name.
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Speaker 1: He had been a good many months in the house.
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Speaker 1: Then one day came a letter from an Irish peer,
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Speaker 1: the Earl of Kildonan, who had known Doctor Ashton in college,
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Speaker 1: putting it to the doctor whether he would consider taking
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Speaker 1: into his family. The Viscount Saul, the Earl's heir, and
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Speaker 1: acting in some sort as his tutor. Lord Kildonan was
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Speaker 1: shortly to take up a post in the Lisbon Embassy,
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Speaker 1: and the boy was unfit to make the voyage. Not
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Speaker 1: that he is sickly, the Earl wrote, though you'll find
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Speaker 1: him whimsical or of late, I've thought him so, and
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Speaker 1: to confirm this twas only to day his old nurse
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Speaker 1: came expressly to tell me he was possessed. But let
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Speaker 1: that pass. I'll warrant you can find a spell to
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Speaker 1: make it straight. Your arm was stout enough in old days,
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Speaker 1: and I give you plenary authority to use it as
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Speaker 1: you see fit. The truth is he has here no
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Speaker 1: boys of his age or quality to consort with, and
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Speaker 1: is given to moping about in our wraths and graveyards,
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Speaker 1: and he brings home romances that fright my servants out
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Speaker 1: of their wits. So there are you and your lady forewarned.
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Speaker 1: It was perhaps with half an eye open to the
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Speaker 1: possibility of an Irish bishopric, at which another sentence in
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Speaker 1: the Earl's letter seemed to hint that doctor Ashton accepted
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Speaker 1: the charge of my Lord Viscount's soul and of the
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Speaker 1: two hundred guineas a year that were to come with him.
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Speaker 1: So he came one night in September. When he got
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Speaker 1: out of the chaise that brought him, he went first
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Speaker 1: and spoke to the postboy and gave him some money,
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Speaker 1: and padded the neck of his horse. Whether he made
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Speaker 1: some movement that scared it or not, there was very
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Speaker 1: nearly a nasty accident, for the beast started violently, and
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Speaker 1: the postilion, being unready, was thrown and lost his fee,
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Speaker 1: as he found afterwards, and the chaise lost some pain
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Speaker 1: on the gate posts, and the wheel went over the
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Speaker 1: man's foot who was taking out the baggage. When Lord
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Speaker 1: Saul came up the steps into the light of the
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Speaker 1: lamp in the porch to be greeted by Doctor Ashton.
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Speaker 1: He was seen to be a thin youth of say
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Speaker 1: sixteen years old, with straight black hair and the pale
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Speaker 1: coloring that is common to such a figure. He took
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Speaker 1: the accident and commotion calmly enough, and expressed a proper
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Speaker 1: anxiety for the people who had been or might have
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Speaker 1: been hurt. His voice was smooth and pleasant, and without
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Speaker 1: any trace curiously of an Irish progue. Frank Sittel was
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Speaker 1: a younger boy, perhaps of eleven or twelve, but Lord
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Speaker 1: Saul did not, for that reject his company. Frank was
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Speaker 1: able to teach him various games he had not known
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Speaker 1: in Ireland, and he was apt at learning them, apt
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Speaker 1: too at his books, though he had had little or
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Speaker 1: no regular teaching at home. It was not long before
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Speaker 1: he was making a shift to puzzle out the inscriptions
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Speaker 1: on the tombs in the Minster, and he would often
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Speaker 1: put a question to the Doctor about the old books
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Speaker 1: in the library that required some thought to answer. It
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Speaker 1: is to be supposed that he made himself very agreeable
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Speaker 1: to the servants, for within ten days of his coming
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Speaker 1: they were almost falling over each other in their efforts
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Speaker 1: to oblige him. At the same time, Missus Ashton was
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Speaker 1: rather put to it to find new maid servants, for
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Speaker 1: there were several changes, and some of the families in
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Speaker 1: the town from which she had been accustomed to draw
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Speaker 1: seemed to have no one available. She was forced to
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Speaker 1: go further afield than was usual. These generalities I gather
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Speaker 1: from the doctor's notes in his diary and from letters.
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Speaker 1: They are generalities, and we should like, in view of
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Speaker 1: what has to be told, something sharper and more detailed.
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Speaker 1: We get it in entries which began late in the year,
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Speaker 1: and I think were posted up altogether after the final incident.
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Speaker 1: But they cover so few days in all that there
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Speaker 1: is no need to doubt that the writer could remember
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Speaker 1: the course of things accurately. On a Friday morning, it
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Speaker 1: was that a fox, or perhaps a cat, made away
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Speaker 1: with Missus Ashton's most prized black cockerel, a bird without
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Speaker 1: a single white feather on its body. Her husband had
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Speaker 1: told her often enough that it would make a suitable
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Speaker 1: sacrifice to Esculapius. That had discomfited her much, and now
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Speaker 1: she would hardly be consoled. The boys looked everywhere for
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Speaker 1: traces of it. Lord Saul brought in a few feathers,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to have been partially burnt on the garden
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Speaker 1: rubbish heap. It was on the same day that doctor Ashton,
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Speaker 1: looking out of an upper window, saw the two boys
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Speaker 1: playing in the corner of the garden at a game
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Speaker 1: he did not understand. Frank was looking earnestly at something
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Speaker 1: in the palm of his hand. Saul stood behind him
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Speaker 1: and seemed to be listening. After some minutes, he very
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Speaker 1: gently laid his hand on Frank's head, and almost instantly thereupon,
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Speaker 1: Frank suddenly dropped whatever it was that he was holding,
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Speaker 1: clapped his hands to his eyes, and sank down on
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Speaker 1: the grass. Saul, whose face expressed great anger, hastily picked
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Speaker 1: the object up, of which it could only be seen
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Speaker 1: that it was glittering, put it in his pocket, and
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Speaker 1: turned away, leaving Frank huddled up on the grass. Doctor
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Speaker 1: Ashton rapped on the window to attract their attention, and
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Speaker 1: Saul looked up as if in alarm, and then, springing
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Speaker 1: to Frank, pulled him up by the arm and led
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Speaker 1: him away. When they came in to dinner, Saul explained
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Speaker 1: that they had been acting a part of the tragedy
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Speaker 1: of Rhadamistus, in which the heroine reached the future fate
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Speaker 1: of her father's kingdom by means of a glass ball
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Speaker 1: held in her hand, and is overcome by the terrible
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Speaker 1: events she had seen. During this explanation, Frank said nothing,
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Speaker 1: only looked rather bewilderedly at Saul. He must Missus Ashton
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Speaker 1: thought have contracted a chill from the wet of the grass.
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Speaker 1: For that evening he was certainly feverish and disordered, and
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Speaker 1: the disorder was of the mind as well as the body,
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Speaker 1: for he seemed to have something he wished to say
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Speaker 1: to Missus Ashton. Only a press of household affairs prevented
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Speaker 1: her from paying attention to him. And when she went,
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Speaker 1: according to her habit to see that the light in
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Speaker 1: the boy's chamber had been taken away and to bid
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Speaker 1: them good night, he seemed to be sleeping, though his
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Speaker 1: face was unnaturally flushed to her thinking, Lord Saul, however,
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Speaker 1: was pale and quiet and smiling in his slumber. Next morning,
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Speaker 1: it happened that Doctor Ashton was occupied in church and
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Speaker 1: other business, and unable to take the boy's lessons. He
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Speaker 1: therefore set them tasks to be written and brought to
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Speaker 1: him three times, if not oftener Frank knocked at the
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Speaker 1: study door, and each time the doctor chanced to be
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Speaker 1: engaged with some visitor and sent the boy off rather roughly,
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Speaker 1: which he later regretted. Two clergymen were at dinner this day,
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Speaker 1: and both remarked, being fathers of families, that the lad
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Speaker 1: seemed sickening for a fever in which they were too
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Speaker 1: near the truth, and it had been better if he
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Speaker 1: had been put to bed forthwith for a couple of hours.
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Speaker 1: Later in the afternoon he came running into the house,
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Speaker 1: crying out in a way that was really terrifying, and
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Speaker 1: rushing to missus. Ashton clung about her, begging her to
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Speaker 1: protect him, and saying, keep them off, keep them off
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Speaker 1: without intermission. And it was now evident that some sickness
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Speaker 1: had taken stronghold of him. He was therefore got to
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Speaker 1: bed in another chamber from that in which he commonly lay,
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Speaker 1: and the physician brought to him, who pronounced the disorder
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Speaker 1: to be grave and affecting the Lad's brain, and prognosticated
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Speaker 1: a fatal end to it if strict quiet were not
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Speaker 1: observed and those sedative remedies used which he should prescribe.
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Speaker 1: We are now come by another way to the point
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Speaker 1: we had reached before the Minster clock had been stopped
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Speaker 1: from striking, And Lord Saul is on the threshold of
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Speaker 1: the study. What account can you give of this poor
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Speaker 1: lad state? Was Doctor Ashton's first question. Why, sir, little
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Speaker 1: more than you know already. I fancy I must blame myself, though,
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Speaker 1: for giving him a fright yesterday when we were acting
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Speaker 1: that foolish play you saw. I fear I made him
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Speaker 1: take it more to heart than I meant. How so
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Speaker 1: well by telling him foolish tales I had picked up
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Speaker 1: in Ireland of what we call the second sight. Second sight,
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Speaker 1: what kind of sight might that be? Well, you know,
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Speaker 1: our ignorant people pretend that some are able to foresee
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Speaker 1: what is to come, sometimes in a glass or in
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Speaker 1: the air maybe, And at Kildonan we had an old
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Speaker 1: woman that pretended to such a power. And I dare
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Speaker 1: say I colored the matter more highly than I should,
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Speaker 1: But I never dreamed Frank would take it so near
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Speaker 1: as he did. You were wrong, my lord, very wrong,
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Speaker 1: in meddling with such superstitious matters at all. And you
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Speaker 1: should have considered whose house you were in, and how
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Speaker 1: little becoming such actions are to my character and proofson,
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Speaker 1: or to your own. But pray, how came it that you,
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Speaker 1: acting as you say a play, should fall upon anything
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Speaker 1: that could so alarm Frank? That is what I can
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Speaker 1: hardly tell, sir. He passed all in a moment from
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Speaker 1: rant about battles and lovers and Cleodora and antigonies to
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Speaker 1: something I could not follow at all, and then dropped
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Speaker 1: down as you saw. Yes, was that at the moment
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Speaker 1: when you laid your hand on the top of his head.
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Speaker 1: Lord Saul gave a quick look at his questioner, quick
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Speaker 1: and spiteful, and for the first time seemed unready with
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Speaker 1: an answer. About that time it may have been, he said,
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Speaker 1: I have tried to recollect myself, but I am not
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Speaker 1: sure there was at any rate no significance in what
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Speaker 1: I did. Then, Ah, said Doctor Ashton. Well, my Lord,
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Speaker 1: I should do wrong were I not to tell you
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Speaker 1: that this fright of my poor nephew may have very
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Speaker 1: ill consequences to him. The doctor speaks very despondingly of
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Speaker 1: his state. Lord Sall pressed his hands together and looked
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Speaker 1: earnestly upon Doctor Ashton. I am willing to believe you
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Speaker 1: had no bad intention, as assuredly, you could have no
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Speaker 1: reason to bear the poor boy malice. But I cannot
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Speaker 1: wholly free you from blame in the affair. As he spoke,
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Speaker 1: the hurrying steps were heard again, and Missus Ashton came
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Speaker 1: quickly into the room, carrying a candle, for the evening
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Speaker 1: had by this time closed in. She was greatly agitated. Oh, come,
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Speaker 1: she cried, come directly. I'm sure he is going going, Frank,
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Speaker 1: is it possible already with some such incoherent words. The
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Speaker 1: doctor caught up a book of prayers from the table
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Speaker 1: and ran out after his wife. Lord Sall stopped for
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Speaker 1: a moment where he was Molly. The maid saw him
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Speaker 1: bend over and put both hands to his face. If
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Speaker 1: it were the last word she had to speak, she
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Speaker 1: said afterwards, he was striving to keep back a fit
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Speaker 1: of laughing. Then he went out softly, following the others.
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Speaker 1: Missus Ashton was sadly right in her forecast. I have
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Speaker 1: no inclination to imagine the last scene in detail. What
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Speaker 1: Doctor Ashton records is or may be taken to be
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Speaker 1: important to the story. They asked Frank if he would
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Speaker 1: like to see his companion, Lord Saul. Once again. The
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Speaker 1: boy was quite collected, it seems in these moments. No,
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Speaker 1: he said, I do not want to see him, but
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Speaker 1: you should tell him. I am afraid he will be
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Speaker 1: very cold. What do you mean, my dear, said missus Ashton.
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Speaker 1: Only that, said Frank. But say to him. Besides that,
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Speaker 1: I am free of them now. But he should take care.
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Speaker 1: And I am sorry about your black cockrel Aunt Ashton.
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Speaker 1: But he said we must use it so if we
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Speaker 1: were to see all that could be seen, not many men.
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Speaker 1: After he was gone. Both the Ashtons were grieved, she
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Speaker 1: naturally most, but the doctor, though not an emotional man,
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Speaker 1: felt the pathos of the early death. And besides, there
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Speaker 1: was the growing suspicion that all had not been told
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Speaker 1: him by Saul, and that there was something here which
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Speaker 1: was out of his beaten track. When he left the
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Speaker 1: Chamber of Death, it was to walk across the quadrangle
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Speaker 1: of the residence to the sexton's house. A passing bell,
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Speaker 1: the greatest of the Minster bells, must be rung, a
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Speaker 1: grave must be dug in the minstry yard, and there
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Speaker 1: was now no need to silence the chiming of the
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Speaker 1: Minster clock. As he came slowly back in the dark.
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Speaker 1: He thought he must see Lord Saul again. The matter
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Speaker 1: of the black cockerel, trifling as it might seem, would
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Speaker 1: have to be cleared up. It might be merely a
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Speaker 1: fancy of the sick boy. But if not, was there
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Speaker 1: not a witch trial he had read in which some
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Speaker 1: grim little right of sacrifice had played a part? Yes,
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Speaker 1: he must see Saul. I rather guess these thoughts of
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Speaker 1: his than find written authority for them. That there was
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Speaker 1: another interview is certain. Certain also that Saul would, or
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Speaker 1: as he said, could, throw no light on Frank's words,
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Speaker 1: though the message or some part of it appeared to
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Speaker 1: affect him horribly. But there is no record of the
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Speaker 1: talk in detail. It is only said that Saul sat
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Speaker 1: all that evening in the study, and when he bid
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Speaker 1: good night, which he did most reluctantly, asked for the
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Speaker 1: doctor's prayers. The month of January was near its end
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Speaker 1: when Lord Kildonan in the embassy at Lisbon, received a
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Speaker 1: letter that for once gravely disturbed that vane man and
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Speaker 1: neglectful father Saul was dead. The scene at Frank's burial
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Speaker 1: had been very distressing. The day was awful in blackness,
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Speaker 1: and wind. The bearers, staggering blindly along under the flapping
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Speaker 1: black pall, found it a hard job. When they emerged
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Speaker 1: from the porch of the minster to make their way
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Speaker 1: to the grave, Missus Ashton was in her room. Women
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Speaker 1: did not then go to their kinsfolk's funerals. But Saul
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Speaker 1: was there, draped in the morning cloak of the time,
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Speaker 1: and his face was white and fixed as that of
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Speaker 1: one dead, except when, as was noticed three or four times,
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Speaker 1: he suddenly turned his head to the left and looked
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Speaker 1: over his shoulder. It was then alive, with a terrible
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Speaker 1: expression of listening fear. No one saw him go away,
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Speaker 1: and no one could find him that evening. All night
21:42
Speaker 1: the gale buffeted the high windows of the church, and
21:45
Speaker 1: howled over the upland and roared through the woodland. It
21:49
Speaker 1: was useless to search in the open. No voice of
21:52
Speaker 1: shouting or cry of help could possibly be heard. All
21:56
Speaker 1: that doctor Ashton could do was to warn the people
21:59
Speaker 1: about the call and the town constables, and to sit
22:03
Speaker 1: up on the alert for any news, and this he did.
22:07
Speaker 1: News came early next morning, brought by the sexton, whose
22:10
Speaker 1: business it was to open the church for early prayers
22:13
Speaker 1: at seven, and who sent the maid rushing upstairs with
22:17
Speaker 1: wild eyes and flying air to summon her master. The
22:21
Speaker 1: two men dashed across to the south door of the Minster,
22:25
Speaker 1: there to find Lord Saul clinging desperately to the great
22:28
Speaker 1: ring of the door, his head sunk between his shoulders,
22:32
Speaker 1: his stockings in rags, his shoes gone, his legs torn
22:37
Speaker 1: and bloody. This was what had to be told to
22:41
Speaker 1: Lord Kildonan, and this really ends the first part of
22:44
Speaker 1: the story. The tomb of Frank Siddel and of the
22:47
Speaker 1: Lord Viscount Saul, only child and heir to William, Earl
22:51
Speaker 1: of Kildonan, is one a stone altar tomb in Whitminster Churchyard.
22:59
Speaker 1: Doctor Ashehton lived on for over thirty years in his
23:02
Speaker 1: prebendal house, I do not know how quietly but without
23:07
Speaker 1: visible disturbance. His successor preferred a house he already owned
23:11
Speaker 1: in the town, and left that of the senior prebendary vacant.
23:15
Speaker 1: Between them. These two men saw the eighteenth century out
23:19
Speaker 1: and the nineteenth inn for mister Hines, the successor of Ashton,
23:23
Speaker 1: became prebendary at nine and twenty and died at nine
23:27
Speaker 1: and eighty so that it was not until eighteen twenty
23:31
Speaker 1: three or twenty four that anyone succeeded to the post
23:34
Speaker 1: who intended to make the house his home. The man
23:37
Speaker 1: who did was doctor Henry Oldess, whose name may be
23:41
Speaker 1: known to some of my readers as that of the
23:43
Speaker 1: author of a row of volumes labeled Oldess's Works, which
23:47
Speaker 1: occupy a place that must be honored, since it is
23:50
Speaker 1: so rarely touched upon the shelves of many a substantial library.
23:55
Speaker 1: Doctor Oldys, his niece, and his servants took some months
23:59
Speaker 1: to transfer furniture and books from his Dorset shirt parsonage
24:03
Speaker 1: to the quadrangle of Whitminster, and to get everything into place.
24:07
Speaker 1: But eventually the work was done, and the house, which
24:11
Speaker 1: though untenanted, had always been kept sound and weather tight,
24:15
Speaker 1: woke up, and, like Monte Cristo's mansion at O Twill lived,
24:20
Speaker 1: sang and bloomed once more. On a certain morning in June,
24:25
Speaker 1: it looked especially fair as Doctor Oldest strolled in his
24:28
Speaker 1: garden before breakfast and gazed over the red roof at
24:32
Speaker 1: the Minster Tower, with its four gold veins, packed by
24:35
Speaker 1: a very blue sky and very white little clouds. Mary,
24:40
Speaker 1: he said as he seated himself at the breakfast table
24:43
Speaker 1: and laid down something hard and shiny on the cloth.
24:47
Speaker 1: Here's a find which the boy made just now. You'll
24:50
Speaker 1: be sharper than I if you can guess what it's
24:52
Speaker 1: meant for. It was a round and perfectly smooth tablet,
24:56
Speaker 1: as much as an inch thick of what seemed clear glass.
25:01
Speaker 1: It is rather attractive at all events, said Mary. She
25:04
Speaker 1: was a fair woman with light hair and large eyes,
25:08
Speaker 1: rather a devotee of literature. Yes, said her uncle. I
25:12
Speaker 1: thought you'd be pleased with it. I presume it came
25:15
Speaker 1: from the house. It turned up in the rubbish heap
25:17
Speaker 1: in the corner. I'm not sure that I do like it,
25:21
Speaker 1: after all, said Mary some minutes later. Why in the world, not,
25:25
Speaker 1: my dear, I don't know. I'm sure. Perhaps it's only fancy, Yes,
25:31
Speaker 1: only fancy and romance. Of course. What's that book? Now?
25:35
Speaker 1: The name of that book? I mean that you had
25:37
Speaker 1: your head in all yesterday. The talisman, uncle, Oh, if
25:42
Speaker 1: this should turn out to be a talisman, how enchanting
25:45
Speaker 1: it would be, yes, the talisman? Ah, well, you're welcome
25:49
Speaker 1: to it, whatever it is. I must be off about.
25:51
Speaker 1: My business is all well in the house. Does it
25:54
Speaker 1: suit you any complaint from the servants hall? No, indeed,
25:59
Speaker 1: nothing could be more charming. The only soup song of
26:02
Speaker 1: a complaint besides the lock of the linen closet, which
26:05
Speaker 1: I told you of, is that missus Maple says she
26:08
Speaker 1: cannot get rid of the sawflies out of that room
26:11
Speaker 1: you passed through at the other end of the hall.
26:14
Speaker 1: By the way, are you sure you like your bedroom?
26:17
Speaker 1: It is a long way off from anyone else you
26:20
Speaker 1: know like it. To be sure, I do. The further
26:24
Speaker 1: off from you, my dear, the better. There. Don't think
26:27
Speaker 1: it necessary to beat me, except my apologies. But what
26:31
Speaker 1: are sawflies? Will they eat my coats? If not, they
26:35
Speaker 1: may have the room to themselves, for what I care.
26:38
Speaker 1: We are not likely to be using it. No, of
26:41
Speaker 1: course not well. What she calls sawflies are those reddish
26:45
Speaker 1: things like daddy long legs, but smaller, and there are
26:49
Speaker 1: a great many of them perching about that room. Certainly
26:52
Speaker 1: I don't like them, but I don't fancy they are mischievous.
26:56
Speaker 1: There seems to be several things you don't like this
26:59
Speaker 1: fine morning, said her uncle as he closed the door.
27:02
Speaker 1: Miss Oldess remained in her chair, looking at the tablet,
27:06
Speaker 1: which she was holding in the palm of her hand.
27:09
Speaker 1: The smile that had been on her face faded slowly
27:12
Speaker 1: from it and gave place to an expression of curiosity
27:15
Speaker 1: and almost strained attention. Her reverie was broken by the
27:21
Speaker 1: entrance of missus Maple and her invariable opening, Oh, miss
27:25
Speaker 1: could I speak to you a minute? A letter from
27:28
Speaker 1: miss Oldest to a friend in Lichfield, begun a day
27:31
Speaker 1: or two before, is the next source for this story.
27:35
Speaker 1: It is not devoid of traces of the influence of
27:38
Speaker 1: that leader of female thought in her day, miss Anna Seward,
27:42
Speaker 1: known to some as the Swan of Lichfield. My sweetest
27:47
Speaker 1: Emily will be rejoiced to hear that we are at length,
27:50
Speaker 1: my beloved uncle and myself settled in the house that
27:54
Speaker 1: now calls us master, nay master and mistress, as in
27:58
Speaker 1: past ages it has called so many others. Here we
28:02
Speaker 1: taste a mingling of modern elegance and orientiquity such as
28:06
Speaker 1: has never air now graced life for either of us.
28:10
Speaker 1: The town, small as it is, affords us some reflection
28:14
Speaker 1: pale indeed, but veritable of the sweets of polite intercourse.
28:19
Speaker 1: The adjacent country numbers amid the occupants of its scattered mansions,
28:24
Speaker 1: some whose polish is annually refreshed by contact with metropolitan splendor,
28:29
Speaker 1: and others whose robust and homely geniality is at times,
28:33
Speaker 1: and by way of contrast, not less cheering and acceptable.
28:39
Speaker 1: Tired of the parlors and drawing rooms of our friends,
28:42
Speaker 1: we have ready to hand a refuge from the clash
28:45
Speaker 1: of wits or the small talk of the day, amid
28:48
Speaker 1: the solemn beauties of our venerable Minster, whose silver and
28:52
Speaker 1: chimes daily knowl us to prayer, and in the shady
28:56
Speaker 1: walks of whose tranquil graveyard we muse with software and
29:00
Speaker 1: heart and ever and anon, with moistened eye upon the
29:04
Speaker 1: memorials of the young, the beautiful, the aged, the wise
29:08
Speaker 1: and the good. Here there is an abrupt break, both
29:12
Speaker 1: in the writing and the style. But my dearest Emily,
29:16
Speaker 1: I can no longer write with the care which you
29:19
Speaker 1: deserve and in which we both take pleasure. What I
29:22
Speaker 1: have to tell you is wholly foreign to what has
29:24
Speaker 1: gone before. This morning, my uncle brought in to breakfast
29:28
Speaker 1: an object which had been found in the garden. It
29:31
Speaker 1: was a glass or crystal tablet of this shape, a
29:35
Speaker 1: little sketches given, which he handed to me, and which
29:39
Speaker 1: after he left the room, remained on the table by me.
29:43
Speaker 1: I gazed at it. I know not why for some
29:46
Speaker 1: minutes till called away by the day's duties. And you
29:49
Speaker 1: will smile incredulously when I say that I seemed to
29:53
Speaker 1: myself to begin to descry reflected in it objects and
29:58
Speaker 1: scenes which were not in the room room where I was.
30:01
Speaker 1: You will, not, however, be surprised that, after such an experience,
30:05
Speaker 1: I took the first opportunity to seclude myself in my
30:09
Speaker 1: room with what I now half believed to be a
30:12
Speaker 1: talisman of mickel might. I was not disappointed. I assure you, Emily,
30:17
Speaker 1: by that memory which is dearest to both of us,
30:21
Speaker 1: that what I went through this afternoon transcends the limits
30:24
Speaker 1: of what I had before deemed credible in brief. What
30:29
Speaker 1: I saw, seated in my bedroom in the broad daylight
30:32
Speaker 1: of summer, and looking into the crystal depth of that
30:35
Speaker 1: small round tablet was this first a prospect strange to me,
30:41
Speaker 1: of an enclosure of rough and hillocky grass, with a
30:45
Speaker 1: gray stone ruin in the midst and a wall of
30:49
Speaker 1: rough stones about it. In this stood an old and
30:52
Speaker 1: very ugly woman in a red cloak and ragged skirt,
30:56
Speaker 1: talking to a boy dressed in a fashion of maybe
30:59
Speaker 1: one hundred years ago. She put something which glittered into
31:03
Speaker 1: his hand, and he something into hers, which I saw
31:07
Speaker 1: to be money. For a single coin fell from her
31:10
Speaker 1: trembling hand into the grass. The scene passed. I should
31:14
Speaker 1: have remarked by the way that on the rough walls
31:17
Speaker 1: of the enclosure I could distinguish bones and even a
31:21
Speaker 1: skull lying in a disorderly fashion. Next, I was looking
31:26
Speaker 1: upon two boys, one the figure of the former vision,
31:30
Speaker 1: the other younger. They were in a plot of garden
31:33
Speaker 1: walled round, and this garden, in spite of the difference
31:37
Speaker 1: in arrangement and the small size of the trees, I
31:40
Speaker 1: could clearly recognize as being that upon which I now
31:44
Speaker 1: looked from my window. The boys were engaged in some
31:47
Speaker 1: curious play. It seemed something was smoldering on the ground.
31:52
Speaker 1: The elder placed his hands upon it, and then raised
31:55
Speaker 1: them what I took to be an attitude of prayer,
31:58
Speaker 1: and I saw and start at seeing that on them
32:02
Speaker 1: were deep stains of blood. The sky above was overcast.
32:06
Speaker 1: The same boy now turned his face towards the wall,
32:10
Speaker 1: of the garden and beckoned with both his raised hands,
32:13
Speaker 1: And as he did so, I was conscious that some
32:17
Speaker 1: moving objects were becoming visible over the top of the wall,
32:20
Speaker 1: whether heads or other parts of some animal or human forms,
32:25
Speaker 1: I could not tell. Upon the instant, the elder boy
32:28
Speaker 1: turned sharply, seized the arm of the younger, who all
32:32
Speaker 1: this time had been pouring over what lay on the ground,
32:36
Speaker 1: and both hurried off. I then saw blood upon the grass,
32:40
Speaker 1: a little pile of bricks, and what I thought were
32:43
Speaker 1: black feathers scattered about. That scene closed, and the next
32:48
Speaker 1: was so dark that perhaps the full meaning of it
32:51
Speaker 1: escaped me. But what I seemed to see was a form,
32:55
Speaker 1: at first crouching low among trees or bushes that were
32:58
Speaker 1: being freshed by a violent wind, then running very swiftly
33:03
Speaker 1: and constantly turning a pale face to look behind him,
33:07
Speaker 1: as if he feared a pursuer, And indeed pursuers were
33:11
Speaker 1: following hard after him. Their shapes were but dimly seen.
33:16
Speaker 1: Their number three or four perhaps only guest. I suppose
33:21
Speaker 1: they were on the whole more like dogs than anything else.
33:24
Speaker 1: But dogs, such as we have seen, they assuredly were not.
33:29
Speaker 1: Could I have closed my eyes to this horror. I
33:31
Speaker 1: would have done so at once, but I was helpless.
33:35
Speaker 1: The last I saw was the victim darting beneath an
33:38
Speaker 1: arch and clutching at some object to which he clung,
33:42
Speaker 1: and those that were pursuing him overtook him, and I
33:46
Speaker 1: seemed to hear the echo of a cry of despair.
33:49
Speaker 1: It may be that I became unconscious. Certainly I had
33:53
Speaker 1: the sensation of awaking to the light of day after
33:57
Speaker 1: an interval of darkness. Such in literal truth, emily was
34:01
Speaker 1: my vision. I can call it by no other name.
34:05
Speaker 1: Of this afternoon, Tell me have I not been the
34:09
Speaker 1: unwilling witness of some episode of a tragedy connected with
34:13
Speaker 1: this very house? The letter is continued next day. The
34:18
Speaker 1: tale of yesterday was not completed. When I laid down
34:21
Speaker 1: my pen, I said nothing of my experiences to my uncle.
34:26
Speaker 1: You know yourself, how little his robust common sense would
34:29
Speaker 1: be prepared to allow of them, and how in his
34:32
Speaker 1: eyes the specific remedy would be a black draft or
34:36
Speaker 1: a glass of port. After a silent evening, then silent,
34:41
Speaker 1: not sullen, I retired to rest, judge of my terror. Then,
34:45
Speaker 1: when not yet in bed, I heard what I can
34:48
Speaker 1: only describe as a distant bellow, and knew it for
34:52
Speaker 1: my uncle's voice, though never in my hearing so exerted before.
34:57
Speaker 1: His sleeping room is at the further extremity of this
35:00
Speaker 1: large house, and to gain access to it one must
35:03
Speaker 1: traverse an antique hall some eighty feet long, and a
35:08
Speaker 1: lofty paneled chamber, and two unoccupied bedrooms. In the second
35:13
Speaker 1: of these, a room almost avoid of furniture, I found
35:17
Speaker 1: him in the dark, his candle lying smashed on the floor.
35:21
Speaker 1: As I ran in bearing a light, he clasped me
35:25
Speaker 1: in arms that trembled for the first time since I
35:28
Speaker 1: have known him, thanked God and hurried me out of
35:31
Speaker 1: the room. He would say nothing of what had alarmed him. Tomorrow.
35:36
Speaker 1: Tomorrow was all I could get from him. A bed
35:39
Speaker 1: was hastily improvised for him in the room next to
35:42
Speaker 1: my own. I doubt if his night was more RESTful
35:46
Speaker 1: than mine. I could only get to sleep in the
35:48
Speaker 1: small hours, when daylight was already strong. And then my
35:52
Speaker 1: dreams were of the grimmest, particularly one which stamped itself
35:57
Speaker 1: on my brain, and which I must set down on
35:59
Speaker 1: the chance of dispersing the impression it has made. It
36:04
Speaker 1: was that I came up to my room with a
36:06
Speaker 1: heavy foreboding of evil oppressing me, and went with a
36:09
Speaker 1: hesitation and reluctance I could not explain to my chest
36:13
Speaker 1: of drawers. I opened the top drawer, in which was
36:18
Speaker 1: nothing but ribbons and handkerchiefs, and then the second, which
36:22
Speaker 1: was as little to alarm, and then, oh heavens, the
36:26
Speaker 1: third and last, and there was a mass of linen
36:29
Speaker 1: neatly folded, upon which, as I looked with curiosity, that
36:33
Speaker 1: began to be tinged with horror. I perceived a movement
36:37
Speaker 1: in it, and a pink hand was thrust out of
36:40
Speaker 1: the folds and began to grope feebly in the air.
36:44
Speaker 1: I could bear it no more and rushed from the room,
36:47
Speaker 1: clapping the door after me, and strove with all my
36:50
Speaker 1: force to lock it. But the key would not turn
36:53
Speaker 1: in the wards, and from within the room came a
36:56
Speaker 1: sound of rustling and bumping, drawing nearer and nearer to
37:00
Speaker 1: the door. Why I did not flee down the stairs,
37:04
Speaker 1: I know not, But I continued grasping the handle, and mercifully,
37:09
Speaker 1: as the door was plucked from my hand with an
37:11
Speaker 1: irresistible force, I awoke. You may not think this very alarming,
37:16
Speaker 1: but I assure you it was so to me. At
37:20
Speaker 1: breakfast to day, my uncle was very uncommunicative, and I
37:25
Speaker 1: think ashamed of the fright he had given us. But
37:28
Speaker 1: afterwards he inquired of me whether mister Spearman was still
37:31
Speaker 1: in town, adding that he thought that was a young
37:35
Speaker 1: man who had some sense left in his head. I
37:38
Speaker 1: think you know, my dear Emily, that I am not
37:41
Speaker 1: inclined to disagree with him there, and also that I
37:44
Speaker 1: was not unlikely to be able to answer his question.
37:48
Speaker 1: To mister Spearman, he accordingly went, and I have not
37:51
Speaker 1: seen him since. I must send this strange budget of
37:55
Speaker 1: news to you now, or it may have to wait
37:58
Speaker 1: over more than one posts. The reader will not be
38:02
Speaker 1: far out if he guesses that Miss Mary and mister
38:05
Speaker 1: Spearman made a match of it not very long after
38:09
Speaker 1: this month of June. Mister Spearman was a young spark
38:12
Speaker 1: who had a good property in the neighborhood of Whitminster,
38:16
Speaker 1: and not unfrequently about this time spent a few days
38:20
Speaker 1: at the King's Head, ostensibly on business, but he must
38:24
Speaker 1: have had some leisure for his diary escopious, especially for
38:29
Speaker 1: the days of which I am telling the story. It
38:32
Speaker 1: is probable to me that he wrote this episode as
38:34
Speaker 1: fully as he could at the bidding of miss Mary,
38:39
Speaker 1: Uncle oldest. How I hope I may have the right
38:42
Speaker 1: to call him so before long called this morning, after
38:46
Speaker 1: throwing out a good many short remarks on indifferent topics,
38:50
Speaker 1: he said, I wish, spearman, you'd listen to an odd
38:54
Speaker 1: story and keep a close tongue about it, just for
38:57
Speaker 1: a bit till I get more light on it, to
39:00
Speaker 1: be sure, said I, you may count on me. I
39:04
Speaker 1: don't know what to make of it, He said, you
39:06
Speaker 1: know my bedroom It is well away from every one else's,
39:09
Speaker 1: and I passed through the great Hall and two or
39:12
Speaker 1: three other rooms to get to it. Is it at
39:15
Speaker 1: the end next the minster? Then, I asked, yes, it
39:18
Speaker 1: is well now. Yesterday morning my Mary told me that
39:22
Speaker 1: the room next before it was infested with some sort
39:25
Speaker 1: of fly that the housekeeper couldn't get rid of. That
39:29
Speaker 1: may be the explanation, or it may not. What do
39:32
Speaker 1: you think, why, said I? You've not yet told me
39:35
Speaker 1: what has to be explained. True enough, I don't believe
39:39
Speaker 1: I have. But by the bye, what are these saw flies?
39:43
Speaker 1: What's the size? Of them. I begin to wonder if
39:46
Speaker 1: he was touched in the head. What I call a
39:49
Speaker 1: saw fly, I said, very patiently, is a red animal
39:53
Speaker 1: like a daddy. Long legs, but not so big, perhaps
39:56
Speaker 1: an inch long, perhaps less. It is very hard in
40:00
Speaker 1: the body, and to me, I was going to say,
40:03
Speaker 1: particularly offensive, but he broke in, come, come an inch
40:08
Speaker 1: or less. That won't do. I can only tell you,
40:11
Speaker 1: I said, what I know. Would it not be better
40:14
Speaker 1: if you told me, from first to last, what it
40:16
Speaker 1: is that has puzzled you, and then I may be
40:19
Speaker 1: able to give you some kind of an opinion. He
40:22
Speaker 1: gazed at me meditatively. Perhaps it would, he said. I
40:26
Speaker 1: told Mary only today that I thought you had some
40:29
Speaker 1: vestige of sense in your head. I bowed my acknowledgments.
40:34
Speaker 1: The thing is, I've had an odd kind of shyness
40:37
Speaker 1: about talking of it. Nothing of the sort has happened
40:41
Speaker 1: to me before well about eleven o'clock last night, or
40:45
Speaker 1: after I took my candle and set out for my room.
40:48
Speaker 1: I had a book in my other hand. I always
40:51
Speaker 1: read something for a few minutes before I drop off
40:54
Speaker 1: to sleep, A dangerous habit. I don't recommend it, but
40:58
Speaker 1: I know how to manage my life and my bed
41:00
Speaker 1: curtains now. Then, First, as I stepped out of my
41:04
Speaker 1: study into the great half that's next to it and
41:07
Speaker 1: shut the door, my candle went out. I supposed I
41:11
Speaker 1: had clapped the door behind me too quickly and made
41:14
Speaker 1: a draft. And I was annoyed, for i'd no tinder
41:18
Speaker 1: box nearer than my bedroom. But I knew my way
41:21
Speaker 1: well enough and went on. The next thing was that
41:25
Speaker 1: my book was struck out of my hand in the dark.
41:28
Speaker 1: If I said twitched out of my hand, it would
41:31
Speaker 1: better express the sensation. It fell on the floor. I
41:35
Speaker 1: picked it up and went on, more annoyed than before,
41:38
Speaker 1: and a little startled. But as you know, that hall
41:42
Speaker 1: has many windows without curtains, and in summer nights like these,
41:46
Speaker 1: it is easy to see not only where the furniture is,
41:50
Speaker 1: but whether there's any one or anything moving. And there
41:53
Speaker 1: was no one, nothing of the kind. So on I
41:58
Speaker 1: went through the hall and through the audit chamber next
42:02
Speaker 1: to it, which also has big windows, and then into
42:05
Speaker 1: the bedrooms which lead to my own, where the curtains
42:09
Speaker 1: were drawn, and I had to go slower because of
42:12
Speaker 1: steps here and there. It was in the second of
42:15
Speaker 1: those rooms that I nearly got my kwaitis the moment
42:19
Speaker 1: I opened the door of it. I felt there was
42:21
Speaker 1: something wrong. I thought twice I confess whether I shouldn't
42:26
Speaker 1: turn back and find another way there is to my
42:29
Speaker 1: room rather than go through that one. Then I was
42:32
Speaker 1: ashamed of myself and thought what people call better of it,
42:36
Speaker 1: though I don't know about better in this case. If
42:39
Speaker 1: I was to describe my experience exactly, I should say this.
42:43
Speaker 1: There was a dry light, rustling sound all over the
42:46
Speaker 1: room as I went in, and then you remember, it
42:50
Speaker 1: was perfectly dark. Something seemed to rush at me, and
42:53
Speaker 1: there was I don't know how to put it, a
42:56
Speaker 1: sensation of long, thin arms or legs, feelers all about
43:01
Speaker 1: my face and neck and body, very little strengthen them.
43:05
Speaker 1: There seemed to be but spearman. I don't think I
43:09
Speaker 1: was ever more horrified or disgusted in all my life
43:13
Speaker 1: that I remember, and it does take something to put
43:17
Speaker 1: me out. I roared out as loud as I could
43:20
Speaker 1: and flung away my candle at random, and knowing I
43:24
Speaker 1: was near the window, I tore at the curtain and
43:27
Speaker 1: somehow led in enough light to be able to see
43:29
Speaker 1: something waving, which I knew was an insect's leg by
43:33
Speaker 1: the shape of it. But lord, what a size? Why
43:37
Speaker 1: the beast must have been as tall as I am.
43:40
Speaker 1: And now you tell me softlies are an inch long
43:43
Speaker 1: or less? What do you make of it? Spearman, for
43:47
Speaker 1: goodness sake, finish your story first, I said, I never
43:50
Speaker 1: heard anything like it. Oh, he said, there's no more
43:54
Speaker 1: to tell. Mary ran in with a light and there
43:57
Speaker 1: was nothing there. I didn't tell her what was the matter.
44:01
Speaker 1: I changed my room for last night, and I expect
44:04
Speaker 1: for good have you searched this odd room of yours?
44:08
Speaker 1: I said, what do you keep in it? We don't
44:11
Speaker 1: use it? He answered, there's an old press there and
44:14
Speaker 1: some little other furniture and in the press, said I.
44:19
Speaker 1: I don't know. I never saw it open, but I
44:21
Speaker 1: do know that it's locked. Well, I should have it
44:24
Speaker 1: looked into, and if you had time. I owned to
44:27
Speaker 1: having some curiosity to see the place myself. I didn't
44:32
Speaker 1: exactly like to ask you, but that's rather what I hoped.
44:35
Speaker 1: You'd say, name your time and I'll take you there.
44:39
Speaker 1: No time like the present, I said at once, for
44:42
Speaker 1: I saw he would never settle down to anything. While
44:45
Speaker 1: this affair was in suspense. He got up with great
44:49
Speaker 1: alacrity and looked at me. I am tempted to think
44:52
Speaker 1: with marked approval. Come along, was all he said, however,
44:57
Speaker 1: and was pretty silent all the way to his house.
45:00
Speaker 1: My Mary, as he calls her in public and I
45:03
Speaker 1: in private, was summoned and we proceeded to the room.
45:08
Speaker 1: The doctor had gone so far as to tell her
45:10
Speaker 1: that he had had something of a fright there last night,
45:13
Speaker 1: of what nature he had not yet divulged. But now
45:17
Speaker 1: he pointed out and described very briefly the incidents of
45:21
Speaker 1: his progress. When we were near the important spot, he
45:24
Speaker 1: pulled up and allowed me to pass on. There's the room,
45:28
Speaker 1: he said, Go in, spearman, and tell us what you find.
45:32
Speaker 1: Whatever I might have felt at midnight noonday, I was
45:35
Speaker 1: sure would keep back anything sinister, and I flung the
45:39
Speaker 1: door open with an air and stepped in. It was
45:42
Speaker 1: a well lighted room, with its large window on the right,
45:45
Speaker 1: though not I thought a very airy one. The principal
45:49
Speaker 1: piece of furniture was the gaunt old press of dark wood.
45:53
Speaker 1: There was too a four post bedstead, a mere glatin
45:57
Speaker 1: which could hide nothing, and there was a chest of
46:00
Speaker 1: drawers on the window sill and the floor near it
46:03
Speaker 1: were the dead bodies of many hundred saw flies, and
46:07
Speaker 1: one torpid, one which I had some satisfaction in killing.
46:11
Speaker 1: I tried the door of the press, but could not
46:14
Speaker 1: open it. The drawers, too were locked. Somewhere I was
46:18
Speaker 1: conscious there was a faint rustling sound, but I could
46:21
Speaker 1: not locate it. And when I made my report to
46:24
Speaker 1: those outside, I said nothing of it, but I said
46:28
Speaker 1: clearly the next thing was to see what was in
46:30
Speaker 1: those locked receptacles. Uncle Oldas turned to Mary, missus Maple,
46:35
Speaker 1: he said, and Mary ran off. No one. I am
46:39
Speaker 1: sure steps like her, and soon came back at a
46:42
Speaker 1: soberer pace with an elderly lady of discreet aspect. Have
46:48
Speaker 1: you the keys of these things, missus Maple, said Uncle
46:51
Speaker 1: Oldas his simple words, let loose a torrent, not violent,
46:55
Speaker 1: but copious of speech. Had she been a shade or
46:59
Speaker 1: two higher in the social scale, Missus Maple might have
47:02
Speaker 1: stood as the model for Miss Bates. Oh, doctor, and
47:06
Speaker 1: miss and you too, sir, she said, acknowledging my presence
47:10
Speaker 1: with the bend them keys. Who was that again? That come?
47:14
Speaker 1: When first we took over things in this house? A
47:17
Speaker 1: gentleman in business it was, and I gave him his
47:20
Speaker 1: luncheon in the small parlor on account of us not
47:23
Speaker 1: having everything as we should like to see it in
47:25
Speaker 1: the large one chicken and apple pie and a glass
47:28
Speaker 1: of madeira. Dear, dear, you'll say I'm running on, miss Mary,
47:32
Speaker 1: but I only mention it to bring back my recollection.
47:35
Speaker 1: And there it comes Gardener, just the same as it
47:39
Speaker 1: did last week with the artichoke and the text of
47:42
Speaker 1: the sermon. Now that mister Gardner, every key I got
47:46
Speaker 1: from him were labeled to itself, and each and every
47:49
Speaker 1: one was a key of some door or another in
47:51
Speaker 1: this house, and sometimes too. And when I say door,
47:56
Speaker 1: my meaning is a door of a room, and not
47:58
Speaker 1: such a press as this is. Yes, miss Mary, I
48:02
Speaker 1: know full well, and I'm just making it clear to
48:04
Speaker 1: your uncle and you too, sir. But now there was
48:08
Speaker 1: a box which this same gentleman he gave over into
48:11
Speaker 1: my charge, and thinking no harm, after he was gone,
48:15
Speaker 1: I took the liberty, knowing it was your uncle's property,
48:18
Speaker 1: to rattle it. And unless I'm most surprisingly deceived, in
48:22
Speaker 1: that box there was keys. But what keys that doctor
48:26
Speaker 1: is known elsewhere for open the box? Know that I
48:30
Speaker 1: would not do. I wondered that Uncle Oldas remained as
48:35
Speaker 1: quiet as he did under this address. Mary, I knew,
48:39
Speaker 1: was amused by it, and he probably had been taught
48:41
Speaker 1: by experience that it was useless to break in upon it.
48:45
Speaker 1: At any rate, He did not, but merely said, at
48:48
Speaker 1: the end, have you that box handy, Missus Maple, If
48:52
Speaker 1: so you might bring it here. Missus Maple pointed her
48:55
Speaker 1: finger at him, either in accusation or in gloomy triumph.
49:00
Speaker 1: There she said, was I to choose out the very
49:02
Speaker 1: words out of your mouth? Doctor, them would be the ones.
49:06
Speaker 1: And if I've took it to my own rebuke one
49:08
Speaker 1: half a dozen times, it's been nearer fifty laid awake,
49:12
Speaker 1: I have in my bed and sat down in my chair,
49:15
Speaker 1: I have the same you and miss Mary gave me
49:18
Speaker 1: the day I was twenty year in your service. And
49:21
Speaker 1: no person could desire a better Yes, miss Mary, but
49:24
Speaker 1: it is the truth, and well we know who it
49:27
Speaker 1: is would have it different if he could. All very well,
49:31
Speaker 1: says I to myself. But pray, when the doctor calls
49:34
Speaker 1: you to account for that box, what are you going
49:36
Speaker 1: to say? No, doctor, if you was some masters, I've
49:40
Speaker 1: heard of, and I was some servants I could name.
49:43
Speaker 1: I should have an easy task before me, But things
49:46
Speaker 1: being humanly speaking, what they are, the one course open
49:50
Speaker 1: to me is just to say to you that without
49:53
Speaker 1: miss Mary comes to my room and helps me to
49:55
Speaker 1: my recollection, which her wits may manage what's slipped beyond
50:00
Speaker 1: and mine. No such box as that, small though it be,
50:04
Speaker 1: will cross your eyes this many a day to come. Why,
50:08
Speaker 1: dear missus Maple, why didn't you tell me before that
50:11
Speaker 1: you wanted me to help you to find it? Said
50:13
Speaker 1: my Mary. No, never mind telling me why it was.
50:17
Speaker 1: Let us come at once and look for it. They
50:19
Speaker 1: hastened off together. I could hear Missus Maple be getting
50:23
Speaker 1: an explanation which I doubt not lasted into the furthest
50:27
Speaker 1: recesses of the housekeeper's department. Uncle Oldace and I were
50:31
Speaker 1: left alone. A valuable servant, he said, nodding towards the door.
50:36
Speaker 1: Nothing goes wrong under her. The speeches are seldom over
50:40
Speaker 1: three minutes. How will miss Oldys manage to make her
50:44
Speaker 1: remember about the box? I asked Mary. Oh, she'll make
50:48
Speaker 1: her sit down and ask her about her aunt's last illness,
50:51
Speaker 1: or who gave her the China dog on the mantelpiece.
50:54
Speaker 1: Something quite off the point then, as miss Maple says,
50:58
Speaker 1: one thing brings up another, and the right one will
51:01
Speaker 1: come round sooner than you could suppose. There I believe
51:04
Speaker 1: I hear them coming back already. It was, indeed so,
51:08
Speaker 1: and missus Maple was hurrying on ahead of Mary with
51:12
Speaker 1: the box in her outstretched hand and a beaming face.
51:16
Speaker 1: What was it? She cried as she drew near. What
51:19
Speaker 1: was it? As I said before ever, I come out
51:22
Speaker 1: of Dorsetshire to this place, not that I'm a Dorset
51:25
Speaker 1: woman myself, nor had need to be safe, bind, safe, find.
51:30
Speaker 1: And there it was, in the place where I put it,
51:33
Speaker 1: what oh two months back? I dare say. She handed
51:37
Speaker 1: it to Uncle Oldas, and he and I examined it
51:39
Speaker 1: with some interest, so that I ceased to pay attention
51:42
Speaker 1: to missus Ann Maple for the moment, though I know
51:46
Speaker 1: that she went on to expound exactly where the box
51:49
Speaker 1: had been and in what way Mary had helped to
51:52
Speaker 1: refresh her memory on the subject. It was an old
51:55
Speaker 1: dish box, tied with pink tape and sealed, and on
51:59
Speaker 1: the lid was paid did a label inscribed in old ink,
52:02
Speaker 1: thus senior Prebendary's House, Whitminster. On being opened, it was
52:07
Speaker 1: found to contain two keys of moderate size, and a
52:11
Speaker 1: paper on which, in the same hand as the label
52:14
Speaker 1: was keys of the press and box of drawers standing
52:17
Speaker 1: in the disused chamber. Also this, the effects in this
52:22
Speaker 1: press and box are held by me, and to be
52:25
Speaker 1: held by my successors in the residence, in trust for
52:29
Speaker 1: the noble family of Kildonan, if claim be made by
52:32
Speaker 1: any survivor of it. I, having made all the inquiry
52:36
Speaker 1: possible to myself, am of the opinion that the noble
52:40
Speaker 1: house is wholly extinct, the last Earl having been, as
52:44
Speaker 1: is notorious, cast away at sea, and his only child
52:48
Speaker 1: and heir deceased in my house. The papers as to
52:51
Speaker 1: which melancholy casualty were by me reposed in the same press,
52:56
Speaker 1: and this year of our Lord seventeen fifty three twenty one.
53:01
Speaker 1: I am further of opinion that unless grave discomfort arise,
53:05
Speaker 1: such persons, not being of the family of Kildonan As
53:09
Speaker 1: shall become possessed of these keys, will be well advised
53:12
Speaker 1: to leave matters as they are, which opinion I do
53:15
Speaker 1: not express without weighty and sufficient reason, and I am
53:19
Speaker 1: happy to have my judgment confirmed by the other members
53:23
Speaker 1: of this college and church who are conversant with the
53:26
Speaker 1: events referred to in this paper. Thomas Ashton, STP. Prebendary Senior,
53:32
Speaker 1: Will Blake St P. Decanus Henry Goodman, STB. Prebendary Junior.
53:38
Speaker 1: AH said Uncle Oldace grave discomfort, so he thought there
53:43
Speaker 1: might be something. I suspect it was that young man.
53:46
Speaker 1: He went on, pointing with the key to the line
53:49
Speaker 1: about the only child, and heir m Mary, the Viscounty
53:53
Speaker 1: of Kildonan was Saul. How do you know that? Uncle
53:56
Speaker 1: said Mary? Oh, why not? It's all into bred, two
54:00
Speaker 1: little fat books. But I meant the tomb by the
54:03
Speaker 1: lime walk he's there. What's the story? I wonder? Do
54:08
Speaker 1: you know it? Missus Maple? And by the way, look
54:10
Speaker 1: at your saw flies by the window there. Missus Maple, thus,
54:15
Speaker 1: confronted with two subjects at once, was a little put
54:18
Speaker 1: to it to do justice to both. It was no
54:21
Speaker 1: doubt rash and Uncle Oldest to give her the opportunity.
54:25
Speaker 1: I could only guess that he had some slight hesitation
54:28
Speaker 1: about using the key he held in his hand. Oh
54:32
Speaker 1: them flies, how bad they was doctor, and this this
54:36
Speaker 1: three or four days, and you too, sir, You wouldn't guess,
54:39
Speaker 1: none of you. And how they come too. First we
54:42
Speaker 1: took the room in hand. The shutters was up and
54:45
Speaker 1: had been I dare say, years upon years, and not
54:49
Speaker 1: a fly to be seen. Then we got the shutter
54:52
Speaker 1: bars down with a deal of trouble and left it
54:54
Speaker 1: so for the day. And next day I sent Susan
54:57
Speaker 1: in with the broom to sweep about. And not two
55:00
Speaker 1: minutes hadn't passed when out she come into the hall
55:03
Speaker 1: like a blind thing, and we had regular to beat
55:05
Speaker 1: them off her. Why her cap and her hair, you
55:08
Speaker 1: couldn't see the color of it, I do assure you,
55:11
Speaker 1: and all clustering round her eyes. Too. Fortunate enough she's
55:15
Speaker 1: not a girl with fancies. Else if it had been me,
55:18
Speaker 1: why only the tickling of the nasty things would have
55:21
Speaker 1: drove me out of my wits. And now there they
55:24
Speaker 1: lay like so many dead things. Well, they was lively
55:27
Speaker 1: enough on the Monday, and now here it's Thursday, is it?
55:31
Speaker 1: Or no Friday? Only to come near the door, and
55:34
Speaker 1: you'd hear them pattering up against it, and when she
55:37
Speaker 1: opened it dash at you. They would as if they'd
55:39
Speaker 1: eat you. I couldn't help thinking to myself, if you
55:43
Speaker 1: was bats, where would we be this night? Nor you
55:47
Speaker 1: can't crush them, not like the usual kind of a fly. Well,
55:51
Speaker 1: there's something to be thankful for, if we could but
55:53
Speaker 1: learn by it. And then this tomb too, she said,
55:57
Speaker 1: hastening on to her second point, to elude in any
56:00
Speaker 1: chance of interruption of them two poor young lads, I say, poor.
56:04
Speaker 1: And yet when I recollect myself, I was at tea
56:07
Speaker 1: with Missus Simpkins, the sexton's wife, before you come, doctor,
56:11
Speaker 1: and miss Mary. And that's a family has been in
56:13
Speaker 1: the place, what I dare say, a hundred years in
56:16
Speaker 1: that very house, and could put their hand on any
56:19
Speaker 1: tomb or yet grave in all the yard, and give
56:22
Speaker 1: you name and age and his account of that young man,
56:26
Speaker 1: Mister Simpkins, I mean to say. Well, She compressed her
56:31
Speaker 1: lips and nodded several times. Tell us, missus Maple, said Mary,
56:36
Speaker 1: go on, said uncle Oldys, what about him? Said? I
56:40
Speaker 1: Never was such a thing seen in this place, not
56:43
Speaker 1: since Queen Mary's time, and a pope and all, said
56:46
Speaker 1: missus Maple, Why do you know how he lived in
56:49
Speaker 1: this very house? Him, and them that was with him,
56:53
Speaker 1: and for all I can tell in this identical room,
56:56
Speaker 1: she shifted her feet uneasily on the floor. Who with him?
57:00
Speaker 1: Do you mean the people of the house, said Uncle
57:03
Speaker 1: olda suspiciously. Not to call people, doctor, dear, No was
57:08
Speaker 1: the answer, more what he brought with him from Ireland.
57:11
Speaker 1: I believe it was. No. The people in the house
57:14
Speaker 1: was the last to hear anything of his goings on.
57:17
Speaker 1: But in the town, not a family, but knew how
57:20
Speaker 1: he stopped out at night, and them that was with him.
57:23
Speaker 1: Why they were such as would strip the skin from
57:26
Speaker 1: the child in its grave, And a withered heart makes
57:29
Speaker 1: an ugly thin ghost, says mister Simpkins. But they turned
57:32
Speaker 1: on him at the last, he says, And there's the
57:35
Speaker 1: mark still to be seen on the minster door where
57:38
Speaker 1: they run him down. And that's no more than the truth,
57:41
Speaker 1: for I got him to show it to myself, And
57:44
Speaker 1: that's what he said. A lord he was with the
57:47
Speaker 1: Bible name of a wicked king. Whatever his godfathers could
57:51
Speaker 1: have been thinking of, Saul was the name, said Uncle
57:54
Speaker 1: oldas to be sure it was Saul, doctor, And thank you?
57:58
Speaker 1: And now isn't it king? Saw that we read of
58:02
Speaker 1: raising up the dead ghost that was slumbering in its
58:04
Speaker 1: tomb till he disturbed it. And isn't that a strange thing,
58:09
Speaker 1: this young lord to have such a name, And mister
58:12
Speaker 1: Simpkins's grandfather to see him out of his window of
58:15
Speaker 1: a dark night, going about from one grave to another
58:19
Speaker 1: in the yard with a candle, and them that was
58:22
Speaker 1: with him, following through the grass at his heels, and
58:26
Speaker 1: one night him to come right up to old mister
58:28
Speaker 1: simpkins window that gives on the yard and press his
58:32
Speaker 1: face up against it to find out if there was
58:34
Speaker 1: anyone in the room that could see him. And only
58:37
Speaker 1: just in time there was for old mister Simpkins to
58:40
Speaker 1: drop down like quiet, just under the window and hold
58:46
Speaker 1: his breath and not stir till he heard him stepping
58:49
Speaker 1: away again, and this rustling like in the grass after
58:52
Speaker 1: him as he went. And then when he looked out
58:55
Speaker 1: of his window in the morning, there was treadings in
58:58
Speaker 1: the grass and dead man's bone. Oh, he was a
59:02
Speaker 1: cruel child, for certain, but he had to pay in
59:05
Speaker 1: the end. And after after, said uncle Oldace with a frown, Oh, yes, doctor,
59:12
Speaker 1: Night after night in old mister Simpkins's time, and his son,
59:16
Speaker 1: that's our mister Simpkins's father. Yes, and our own mister
59:19
Speaker 1: Simpkins too, up against that same window, particular when they've
59:24
Speaker 1: had a fire of a chilly evening, with his face
59:27
Speaker 1: right on the panes, and his hands fluttering out, and
59:30
Speaker 1: his mouth open and shut, open and shut for a
59:34
Speaker 1: minute or more, and then gone off in the dark yard.
59:37
Speaker 1: But opened the window at such time. Know that they
59:41
Speaker 1: dare not do, though they could find it in their
59:44
Speaker 1: heart to pity the poor thing that pinched up with
59:47
Speaker 1: the cold and seemingly fading away to a nothing as
59:51
Speaker 1: the years passed. Well, indeed, I believe it is no
59:55
Speaker 1: more than the truth what our mister Simpkins says on
59:58
Speaker 1: his own grandfather's word. A withered heart makes an ugly
1:00:02
Speaker 1: thin ghost, I dare say, said Uncle Oldace, suddenly, so
1:00:06
Speaker 1: suddenly that missus Maple stopped short. Thank you, come away,
1:00:10
Speaker 1: all of you? Why, uncle said Mary, are you not
1:00:14
Speaker 1: going to open the press after all? Uncle Oldas blushed,
1:00:18
Speaker 1: actually blushed, my dear. He said, you are at liberty
1:00:22
Speaker 1: to call me a coward or applaud me as a
1:00:25
Speaker 1: prudent man, whichever you please. But I am neither going
1:00:29
Speaker 1: to open that press, nor that chest of doors myself,
1:00:32
Speaker 1: Nor am I going to hand over the keys to
1:00:34
Speaker 1: you or to any other person. Missus Maple, will you
1:00:38
Speaker 1: kindly see about getting a man or two to move
1:00:41
Speaker 1: those pieces of furniture into the garret? And when they
1:00:45
Speaker 1: do it, Missus Maple, said Mary, who seemed to me
1:00:48
Speaker 1: I did not then know why, more relieved than disappointed
1:00:52
Speaker 1: by her uncle's decision, I have something that I want
1:00:56
Speaker 1: put with the rest, only quite a small packet. We
1:01:00
Speaker 1: left that curious room, not unwillingly. I think Uncle Oldace's
1:01:05
Speaker 1: orders were carried out that same day. And so concludes
1:01:09
Speaker 1: mister Spearman, Whitminster has a bluebeard's chamber, and I am
1:01:14
Speaker 1: rather inclined to suspect a jack in the box awaiting
1:01:17
Speaker 1: some future occupant of the residence of the senior prebendary.
1:01:23
Speaker 1: End of story one,