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🟡 Thin Ghost and Others (Alternative Reading) (Full Audiobook) | M. R. James · Weird Fiction Audiobooks: Cosmic Horror, Strange Realities & Uncanny Tales

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter 1 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.org. Read
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: by Peter Yearsley A Thin Ghost and Others by M. R.
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  Speaker 1: James The Residence at Whitminster Dr. Ashton, Thomas Ashton, Doctor
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of Divinity, sat in his study, habited in a dressing-gown,
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  Speaker 1: and with a silk cap on his shaven head, his
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: wig being for the time taken off and placed on
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  Speaker 1: its block on a side-table. He was a man of
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: some fifty-five years, strongly made of a sanguine complexion, an
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: angry eye, and a long upper lip. Face and eye
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: were lighted up, at the moment when I picture him,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: by the level ray of an afternoon sun that shone
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in upon him through a tall sash window giving on
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the west. The room into which it shone was also tall,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: lined with bookcases, and where the wall showed between them, panelled.
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  Speaker 1: On the table near the doctor's elbow was a green cloth,
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  Speaker 1: and upon it what he would have called a silver standish,
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  Speaker 1: a tray with inkstands, quill pens, a calf-bound book or two,
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  Speaker 1: some papers, a churchwarden pipe and brass tobacco-box, a flask
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  Speaker 1: cased in plaited straw, and a liqueur-glass. The year was seventeen-thirty.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the month, December, the hour, somewhat past three in the afternoon.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I have described in these lines pretty much all that
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: a superficial observer would have noted when he looked into
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  Speaker 1: the room. What met Dr. Ashton's eye when he looked
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: out of it, sitting in his leather armchair? Little more
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: than the tops of the shrubs and fruit trees of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: his garden could be seen from that point, but the
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  Speaker 1: red brick wall of it was visible in almost all
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the length of its western side, In the middle of
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that was a gate, a double gate of rather elaborate
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: iron scroll-work, which allowed something of a view beyond. Through
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: it he could see that the ground sloped away almost
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: at once to a bottom along which a stream must run,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and rose steeply from it on the other side, up
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  Speaker 1: to a field that was park-like in character, and thickly
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: studded with oaks, now, of course, leafless. They did not
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: stand so thick together but that, Some glimpse of sky
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and horizon could be seen between their stems. The sky
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: was now golden, and the horizon— a horizon of distant woods,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: it seemed— was purple. But all that Dr. Ashton could find
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to say, after contemplating this prospect for many minutes, was abominable.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: A listener would have been aware immediately upon this of
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the sound of footsteps coming somewhat hurriedly in the direction
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of the study. By the resonance he could have told
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: that they were traversing a much larger room. Dr. Ashton
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: turned round in his chair as the door opened, and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: looked expectant. The incomer was a lady, a stout lady
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: in the dress of the time. Though I have made
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: some attempt at indicating the doctor's costume, I will not
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: enterprise that of his wife, for it was Mrs. Ashton
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: who now entered. She had an anxious, even a sorely distracted, look,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and it was in a very disturbed voice that she
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: almost whispered to Dr. Ashton, putting her head close to his.'
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: He' s in a very sad way, love. Worse, I'm afraid.''
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Is he really?' And he leaned back and looked in
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: her face. She nodded. Two solemn bells, high up and
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: not far away, rang out the half-hour at this moment. Mrs.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Ashton started.' Oh!' Do you think you can give order
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: that the minster clock be stopped chiming to-night? It is
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: just over his chamber, and will keep him from sleeping,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and to sleep is the only chance for him. That's certain. Why,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to be sure, if there were need, real need, it
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: could be done, but not on any light occasion. This Frank, now,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: do you assure me that his recovery stands upon it?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: said Dr. Ashton. His voice was loud and rather hard.
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  Speaker 1: I do verily believe it, said his wife. Then, if
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: it must be, bid Molly run across to Simpkins, and say,
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  Speaker 1: on my authority, that he is to stop the clock
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  Speaker 1: chimes at sunset, and, yes, she is after that to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: say to my Lord Saul that I wish to see
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: him presently in this room. Mrs. Ashton hurried off. Before
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: any other visitor enters, it will be well to explain
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the situation. Dr. Ashton was the holder, among other preferments,
• 4:45
  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
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a hundred years after the time of which I write.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: The great church, the residences of the dean and the
• 5:05
  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
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred, had been a great builder and had erected
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a spacious quadrangle of red brick adjoining the church for
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the residence of the officials some of these persons were
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: no longer required their offices had dwindled down to mere
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: titles born by clergy or lawyers in the town and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: neighbourhood and so the houses that had been meant to
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: accommodate eight or ten people were now shared among three
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the dean and the two prebendaries Dr. Ashton's included what
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: had been the common parlour and the dining-hall of the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: whole body. It occupied a whole side of the court,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and at one end had a private door into the minster.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The other end, as we have seen, looked out over
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the country. So much for the house. As for the inmates, Dr.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Ashton was a wealthy man and childless, and he had adopted,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: or rather undertaken to bring up, the orphan son of
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: his wife's sister, Frank Siddle was the lad's name. He
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: had been a good many months in the house. Then
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: one day came a letter from an Irish peer, the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Earl of Kildonan, who had known Dr. Ashton at college,
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  Speaker 1: putting it to the doctor whether he would consider taking
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: into his family the Viscount Saul, the Earl's heir, and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: acting in some sort as his tutor. Lord Kildonan was
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: shortly to take up a post in the Lisbon Embassy,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: and the boy was unfit to make the voyage.' Not
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: that he is sickly,' the earl wrote.' So you'll find
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: him whimsical. Or of late I've thought him so. And
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to confirm this, t'was only to-day his old nurse came
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: expressly to tell me he was possessed. But let that pass.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I'll warrant you can find a spell to make all straight.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Your arm was stout enough in old days, and I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: give you plenary authority to use it as you see fit.'
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: The truth is, he has here no boys of his
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  Speaker 1: age or quality to consort with, and is given to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: moping about in our raths and graveyards, and he brings
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: home romances that fright my servants out of their wits.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So there are you and your lady forewarned. It was, perhaps,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: with half an eye open to the possibility of an
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Irish bishopric, at which another sentence in the Earl's letter
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: seemed to hint, that Dr. Ashton accepted the charge of
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: my Lord Viscount Saul, and of the two hundred guineas
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: a year that were to come with him. So he came,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: one night in September. When he got out of the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: chaise that brought him, he went first and spoke to
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the post-boy, and gave him some money, and patted the
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: neck of his horse. Whether he made some movement that
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: scared it or not, there was very nearly a nasty accident.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: for the beast started violently, and the postillion, being unready,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: was thrown, and lost his fee, as he found afterwards,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and the chaise lost some paint on the gate-posts, and
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the wheel went over the man's foot, who was taking
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: out the baggage. When Lord Saul came up the steps,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: into the light of the lamp in the porch, to
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: be greeted by Dr. Ashton, he was seen to be
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: a thin youth of, say, sixteen years old, with straight
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  Speaker 1: black hair and the pale colouring that is common to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: such a figure. He took the accident and commotion calmly enough,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and expressed a proper anxiety for the people who had been,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: or might have been, hurt. His voice was smooth and pleasant,
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  Speaker 1: and without any trace, curiously, of an Irish brogue. Frank
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  Speaker 1: Siddle was a younger boy, perhaps of eleven or twelve,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: but Lord Saul did not, for that, reject his company.
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  Speaker 1: Frank was able to teach him various games he had
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  Speaker 1: not known in Ireland, and he was apt at learning them,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: apt too at his books, though he had had little
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  Speaker 1: or no regular teaching at home. It was not long
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: before he was making a shift to puzzle out the
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: inscriptions on the tombs in the Minster, and he would
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: often put a question to the doctor about the old
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: books in the library that required some thought to answer.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: It is to be supposed that he made himself very
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: agreeable to the servants— for within ten days of his
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: coming they were almost falling over each other in their
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: efforts to oblige him. At the same time Mrs. Ashton
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: was rather put to it to find new maid-servants, for
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: there were several changes, and some of the families in
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the town from which she had been accustomed to draw
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: seemed to have no one available. She was forced to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: go further afield than was usual. These generalities I gather
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: from the doctor's notes in his diary and from letters.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: They are generalities, and we should like, in view of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: what has to be told, something sharper and more detailed.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: We get it in entries which begin late in the year, and,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I think, were posted up all together after the final incident,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: but they cover so few days in all that there
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: is no need to doubt that the writer could remember
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the course of things accurately. On a Friday morning it
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: was that a fox, or perhaps a cat, made away
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: with Mrs. Ashton's most prized black cockerel, a bird without
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a single white feather on its body. Her husband had
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: told her often enough that it would make a suitable
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: sacrifice to Aesculapius. That had discomforted her much, and now
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: she would hardly be consoled. The boys looked everywhere for
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: traces of it. Lord Saul brought in a few feathers,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: which seemed to have been partially burnt on the garden
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: rubbish heap. It was on the same day that Dr. Ashton,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: looking out of an upper window, saw the two boys
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: playing in the corner of the garden at a game
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: he did not understand. Frank was looking earnestly at something
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: in the palm of his hand. Saul stood behind him,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and seemed to be listening. After some minutes he very
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: gently laid his hand on Frank's head, and almost instantly
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: thereupon Frank suddenly dropped whatever it was he was holding,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: clapped his hands to his eyes, and sank down on
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the grass. Saul, whose face expressed great anger, hastily picked
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the object up, of which it could only be seen
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: that it was glittering, put it in his pocket, and
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: turned away, leaving Frank huddled up on the grass. Dr.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Ashton rapped on the window to attract their attention, and
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Saul looked up as if in alarm, and then, springing
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to Frank, pulled him up by the arm and led
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: him away. When they came in to dinner, Saul explained
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that they had been acting a part of the tragedy
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: of Radamistus, in which the heroine reads the future fate
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of her father's kingdom by means of a glass ball
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: held in her hand, and is overcome by the terrible
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: events she has seen. During this explanation, Frank said nothing,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: only looked rather bewilderedly at Saul. He must, Mrs. Ashton thought.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: have contracted a chill from the wet of the grass,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: for that evening he was certainly feverish and disordered, and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: the disorder was of the mind as well as the body,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: for he seemed to have something he wished to say
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to Mrs. Ashton. Only a press of household affairs prevented
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: her from paying attention to him, and when she went,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: according to her habit, to see that the light in
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the boys' chamber had been taken away, and to bid
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: them good-night, He seemed to be sleeping, though his face
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: was unnaturally flushed to her thinking. Lord Saul, however, was
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: pale and quiet, and smiling in his slumber. Next morning
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: it happened that Dr. Ashton was occupied in church and
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: other business, and unable to take the boys' lessons. He
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: therefore set them tasks to be written and brought to him.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Three times, if not oftener, Frank knocked at the study door,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and each time the doctor chanced to be engaged with
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: some visitor, and sent the boy off rather roughly, which
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: he later regretted. Two clergymen were at dinner this day,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: and both remarked, being fathers of families, that the lad
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: seemed sickening for a fever, in which they were too
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: near the truth, and it had been better if he
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: had been put to bed forthwith, for a couple of
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: hours later in the afternoon he came running into the house,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: crying out in a way that was really terrifying, and,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: rushing to Mrs. Ashton, clung about her, begging her to
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: protect him, and saying, Keep them off! Keep them off!
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: without intermission. And it was now evident that some sickness
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: had taken strong hold of him. He was therefore got
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: to bed in another chamber from that in which he
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: commonly lay, and the physician brought to him, who pronounced
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: the disorder to be grave and affecting the lad's brain,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and prognosticated a fatal end to it, if strict quiet
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: were not observed. and those sedative remedies used which he
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: should prescribe. We are now come, by another way, to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the point we had reached before. The Minster clock has
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: been stopped from striking, and Lord Saul is on the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: threshold of the study. What account can you give of
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: this poor lad's state? was Dr. Ashton's first question. Why, sir,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: little more than you know already, I fancy. I must
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: blame myself, though. for giving him a fright yesterday when
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: we were acting that foolish play you saw. I fear
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I made him take it more to heart than I meant.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: How so? Well, by telling him foolish tales I had
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: picked up in Ireland of what we called the second sight.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Second sight? What kind of sight might that be? Why,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you know how our ignorant people pretend that some are
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: able to foresee what is to come, sometimes in a glass,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: or in the air maybe, and at Kildonan we had
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: an old woman that pretended to such a power, and
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I dare say I coloured the matter more highly than
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I should, but I never dreamed Frank would take it
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: so near as he did. You were wrong, my lord,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: very wrong, in meddling with such superstitious matters at all,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and you should have considered whose house you were in,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and how little becoming such actions are, to my character
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and person, or to your own. But, pray, how came
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: it that you, acting, as you say, a play, should
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: fall upon anything that could so alarm Frank? That is
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: what I can hardly tell, sir. He passed all in
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: a moment from rant about battles and lovers and Cleodora
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: and Antigenes to something I could not follow at all,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: and then dropped down as you saw. Yes, was that
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: at the moment when you laid your hand on the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: top of his head? Lord Saul gave a quick look
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: at his questioner, quick and spiteful, and for the first
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: time seemed unready with an answer.' About that time it
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: may have been,' he said.' I have tried to recollect myself,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: but I am not sure. There was, at any rate,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: no significance in what I did then.'' Ah,' said Dr. Ashton,' well,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: my lord, I should do wrong were I not to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: tell you that this fright of my poor nephew may
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: have very ill consequences to him. The doctor speaks very
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: despondingly of his state.' Lord Saul pressed his hands together
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and looked earnestly upon Dr. Ashton.' I am willing to
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: believe that you had no bad intention, as assuredly you
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: could have no reason to bear the poor boy malice,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: but I cannot wholly free you from blame in the affair.'
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: As he spoke, the hurrying steps were heard again, and Mrs.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Ashton came quickly into the room, carrying a candle, for
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the evening had by this time closed in. She was
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: greatly agitated. Oh, come, she cried. Come directly. I'm sure
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: he is going. Going? Frank, is it possible? Already? With
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: some such incoherent words, the doctor caught up a book
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: of prayers from the table and ran out after his wife.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Lord Saul stopped for a moment where he was. Molly,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the maid, saw him bend over and put both hands
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to his face. If it were the last words she
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: had to speak, she said afterwards. He was striving to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: keep back a fit of laughing. Then he went out softly,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: following the others. Mrs. Ashton was sadly right in her forecast.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I have no inclination to imagine the last scene in detail.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: What Dr. Ashton records is, or may be taken to be,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: important to the story. They asked Frank if he would
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: like to see his companion, Lord Saul, once again. The
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: boy was quite collected, it appears, in these moments.' No,'
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: he said.' I do not want to see him, but
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: you should tell him I am afraid he will be
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: very cold.'' What do you mean, my dear?' said Mrs. Ashton.'
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Only that,' said Frank.' But say to him, besides, that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I am free of them now, but he should take care.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: And I am sorry about your black cockerel, Aunt Ashton.'
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: but he said we must use it so if we
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: were to see all that could be seen. Not many
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: minutes after he was gone. Both the Ashtons were grieved,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: she naturally most, but the doctor, though not an emotional man,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: felt the pathos of the early death, and besides there
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: was the growing suspicion that all had not been told
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: him by Saul, and that there was something here which
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: was out of his beaten track. When he left the
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: chamber of death, It was to walk across the quadrangle
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of the residence to the sexton's house. A passing bell,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the greatest of the Minster bells, must be rung. A
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: grave must be dug in the Minster yard, and there
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: was now no need to silence the chiming of the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Minster clock. As he came slowly back in the dark,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: he thought he must see Lord Saul again. That matter
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: of the black cockerel, trifling as it might seem, would
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: have to be cleared up. It might be merely a
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: fancy of the sick boy, but if not, was there
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: not a witch-trial he had read, in which some grim
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: little rite of sacrifice had played a part? Yes, he
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: must see Saul. I rather guess these thoughts of his
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: than find written authority for them. That there was another
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: interview is certain, certain also that Saul would, or, as
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: he said, could, throw no light on Frank's words, though
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the message, or some part of it, appeared to affect
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: him horribly. But there is no record of the talk
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: in detail. It is only said that Saul sat all
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that evening in the study and when he bid good-night,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: which he did most reluctantly, asked for the doctor's prayers.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: The month of January was near its end when Lord Kildonan,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: in the embassy at Lisbon, received a letter that, for once,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: gravely disturbed that vain man and neglectful father. Saul was dead.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: The scene at Frank's burial had been very distressing. The
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: day was awful in blackness and wind. The bearers, staggering
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: blindly along under the flapping black pall, found it a
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: hard job, when they emerged from the porch of the minster,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to make their way to the grave. Mrs. Ashton was
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: in her room. Women did not then go to their
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: kinfolk's funerals. But Saul was there, draped in the mourning
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: cloak of the times. and his face was white and
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: fixed as that of one dead, except when, as was
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: noticed three or four times, he suddenly turned his head
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: to the left and looked over his shoulder. It was
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: then alive with a terrible expression of listening fear. No
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: one saw him go away, and no one could find
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: him that evening. All night the gale buffeted the high
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: windows of the church and howled over the upland and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: roared through the woodland. It was useless to search in
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the open. No voice of shouting or cry for help
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: could possibly be heard. All that Dr. Ashton could do
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: was to warn the people about the college and the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: town constables, and to sit up on the alert for
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: any news, and this he did. News came early next morning,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: brought by the sexton, whose business it was to open
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the church for early prayers at seven. and who sent
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the maid rushing upstairs with wild eyes and flying hair
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to summon her master. The two men dashed across to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the south door of the Minster, there to find Lord
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Saul clinging desperately to the great ring of the door,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: his head sunk between his shoulders, his stockings in rags,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: his shoes gone, his legs torn and bloody. This was
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: what had to be told to Lord Kildonnan, and this
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: really ends the first part of the story. The tomb
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of Frank Siddle and of the Lord Viscount Saul, only
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: child and heir to William Earl of Kildonan, is one,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: a stone altar tomb in Whitminster Churchyard. Dr. Ashton lived
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: on for over thirty years in his prebendal house. I
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: do not know how quietly, but without visible disturbance. His
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: successor preferred a house he already owned in the town,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and left that of the senior prebendary vacant between them
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: these two men saw the eighteenth century out and the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: nineteenth in for mr hinds the successor of ashton became
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: prebendary at nine and twenty and died at nine and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: eighty so that it was not till eighteen twenty three
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: or eighteen twenty four that any one succeeded to the
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: post who intended to make the house his home the
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: man who did was dr henry whose name may be
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: known to some of my readers as that of the
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: author of a row of volumes labelled Aldice's Works, which
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: occupy a place that must be honoured since it is
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: so rarely touched upon the shelves of many a substantial library. Dr. Aldice,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: his niece, and his servants took some months to transfer
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: furniture and books from his Dorsetshire parsonage to the quadrangle
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of Whitminster, and to get everything into place. but eventually
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the work was done, and the house, which, though untenanted,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: had always been kept sound and weather-tight, woke up, and,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: like Monte Cristo's mansion at Otei, lived, sang, and bloomed
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: once more. On a certain morning in June it looked
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: especially fair, as Dr. Aldous strolled in his garden before breakfast,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and gazed over the red roof at the Minster Tower
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: with its four gold veins, backed by a very blue
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: sky and very white little clouds.' Mary,' he said, as
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: he seated himself at the breakfast-table, and laid down something
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: hard and shiny on the cloth.' Here' s a find which
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the boy made just now. You'll be sharper than I
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: if you can guess what it's meant for.' It was
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: a round and perfectly smooth tablet, as much as an
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: inch thick, of what seemed clear glass.' It is rather
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: attractive at all events,' said Mary. She was a fair woman,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: with light hair and large eyes, rather a devotee of literature.' Yes,'
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: said her uncle.' I thought you'd be pleased with it.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I presume it came from the house. It turned up
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: in the rubbish heap in the corner.'' I' m not sure
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: that I do like it, after all,' said Mary, some
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: minutes later.' Why in the world not, my dear?'' I
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: don't know, I'm sure. Perhaps it's only fancy.'' Yes.' Only
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: fancy and romance, of course. What's that book now? The
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: name of that book, I mean. That you had your
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: head in all yesterday. The Talisman, Uncle. Oh, if this
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: should turn out to be a talisman, how enchanting it
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: would be! Yes, the Talisman. Ah, well, you're welcome to it,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. I must be off about my business.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Is all well in the house? Does it suit you?
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Any complaints from the servants all? No, indeed. Nothing could
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: be more charming. The only soupçon of a complaint, besides
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the lock of the linen closet which I told you of,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: is that Mrs. Maple says she cannot get rid of
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the sawflies out of that room you pass through at
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the other end of the hall. By the way, are
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: you sure you like your bedroom? It is a long
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: way off from anyone else, you know.' Like it? To
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: be sure I do. The further off from you, my dear,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the better. There, don't think it necessary to beat me,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: except my apologies.' but what are saw-flies will they eat
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: my coats if not they may have the room to
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: themselves for what i care we are not likely to
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: be using it no of course not well what she
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: calls saw-flies are those reddish things like a daddy longlegs
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: but smaller and there are a great many of them
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: perching about that room certainly i don't like them but
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: i don't fancy they are mischievous apparently the ichneumon fly
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Ophion Obscurum, and not the true saw-fly, is meant. End footnote.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: There seem to be several things you don't like this
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: fine morning, said her uncle as he closed the door.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Miss Aldiss remained in her chair looking at the tablet
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: which she was holding in the palm of her hand.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: The smile that had been on her face faded slowly
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: from it, and gave place to an expression of curiosity
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and almost strained attention. Her reverie was broken by the
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: entrance of Mrs. Maple, and her invariable opening. Oh, Miss,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: could I speak to you a minute? A letter from
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Miss Aldous to a friend in Litchfield, begun a day
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: or two before, is the next source for this story.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: It is not devoid of traces of the influence of
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: that leader of female thought in her day, Miss Anna Seward.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: known to some as the Swan of Lichfield. My sweetest
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Emily will be rejoiced to hear that we are at length,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: my beloved uncle and myself, settled in the house that
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: now calls us master, nay, master and mistress, as in
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: past ages it has called so many others. Here we
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: taste a mingling of modern elegance and hoary antiquity, such
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: as has never, ere now, graced life for either of us.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: The town, small as it is, affords us some reflection,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: pale indeed, but veritable, of the sweets of polite intercourse.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: The adjacent country numbers amid the occupants of its scattered mansions,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: some whose polish is annually refreshed by contact with metropolitan splendour,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and others whose robust and homely geniality is, at times,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and by way of contrast, not less cheering and acceptable.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Tired of the parlours and drawing-rooms of our friends, We
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: have ready to hand a refuge from the clash of wits,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Or the small talk of the day, Amid the solemn
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: beauties of our venerable Minster, Whose sylvan chimes daily knoll
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: us to prayer, And in the shady walks of whose
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: tranquil graveyard We muse with softened heart, And ever and anon,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: with moistened eye, Upon the memorials of the young, the beautiful,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: The aged, the wise, and the good, Here there is
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: an abrupt break, both in the writing and the style. But,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: my dearest Emily, I can no longer write with the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: care which you deserve, and in which we both take pleasure.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: What I have to tell you is wholly foreign to
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: what has gone before. This morning my uncle brought in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: to breakfast an object which had been found in the garden.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: It was a glass or crystal tablet of this shape.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: A little sketch is given. which he handed to me,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and which, after he left the room, remained on the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: table by me. I gazed at it— I know not why— for
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: some minutes, till called away by the day's duties, and
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you will smile incredulously when I say that I seemed
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: to myself to begin to describe, reflected in it, objects
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and scenes which were not in the room where I was.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: You will not, however, be surprised that, after such an experience,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I took the first opportunity to seclude myself in my
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: room with what I now half believed to be a
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: talisman of mickle-might. I was not disappointed. I assure you, Emily,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: by that memory which is dearest to both of us,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: that what I went through this afternoon transcends the limits
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: of what I had before deemed credible. In brief, what
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: I saw seated in my bedroom in the broad daylight
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: of summer, and looking into the crystal depth of that
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: small round tablet, was this. First, a prospect strange to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: me of an enclosure of rough and hillocky grass, with
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: a grey stone ruin in the midst, and a wall
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: of rough stones about it. In this stood an old
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and very ugly woman, in a red cloak and ragged skirt,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: talking to a boy dressed in the fashion of maybe
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: a hundred years ago. She put something which glittered into
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: his hand, and he something into hers, which I saw
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: to be money, for a single coin fell from her
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: trembling hand into the grass. The scene passed. I— should
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: have remarked, by the way, that on the rough walls
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: of the enclosure I could distinguish bones, and even a skull,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: lying in a disorderly fashion. Next I was looking upon
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: two boys, one the figure of the former vision, the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: other younger. They were in a plot of garden, walled round,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and this garden, in spite of the difference in arrangement
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: and the small size of the trees, I could clearly
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: recognise as being that upon which I now look from
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: my window. The boys were engaged in some curious play,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: it seemed. Something was smouldering on the ground. The elder
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: placed his hands upon it and then raised them in
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: what I took to be an attitude of prayer, and
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I saw and started at seeing that on them were
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: deep stains of blood. The sky above was overcast. The
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: same boy now turned his face towards the wall of
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: the garden and beckoned with both his raised hands, and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: as he did so, I was conscious that some moving
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: objects were becoming visible over the top of the wall.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Whether heads or other parts of some animal or human forms,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: I could not tell. Upon the instant, the elder boy
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: turned sharply, seized the arm of the younger, who all
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: this time had been poring over what lay on the ground,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: and both hurried off. I then saw blood upon the grass,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: a little pile of bricks— and what I thought were
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: black feathers scattered about. That scene closed, and the next
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: was so dark that perhaps the full meaning of it
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: escaped me, but what I seemed to see was a form,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: at first crouching low among trees or bushes that were
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: being threshed by a violent wind, then running very swiftly
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: and constantly turning a pale face to look behind him,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: as if he feared a pursuer, and indeed Pursuers were
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: following hard after him. The shapes were but dimly seen.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Their number— three or four, perhaps— only guessed. I suppose they were,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: on the whole, more like dogs than anything else, but
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: dogs such as we have seen, they assuredly were not.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Could I have closed my eyes to this horror, I
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: would have done so at once, but I was helpless.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: The last I saw— was the victim darting beneath an
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: arch and clutching at some object to which he clung,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: and those that were pursuing him overtook him, and I
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: seemed to hear the echo of a cry of despair.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: It may be that I became unconscious. Certainly I had
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the sensation of awaking to the light of day after
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: an interval of darkness. Such, in literal truth, Emily, was
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: my vision— I can call it by no other name— of this afternoon.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Tell me, Have I not been the unwilling witness of
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: some episode of a tragedy connected with this very house?
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: The letter is continued next day. The tale of yesterday
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: was not completed when I laid down my pen. I
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: said nothing of my experiences to my uncle. You know
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: yourself how little his robust common sense would be prepared
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: to allow of them, and how in his eyes the
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: specific remedy would be a black draught or a glass
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: of port. After a silent evening, then, silent, not sullen,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: I retired to rest. Judge of my terror, when, not
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: yet in bed, I heard what I can only describe
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: as a distant bellow, and knew it for my uncle's voice,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: though never in my hearing so exerted before. His sleeping-room
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: is at the further extremity of this large house, and
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: to gain access to it one must traverse an antique
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: hall some eighty feet long, and a lofty panelled chamber,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and two unoccupied bedrooms. In the second of these, a
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: room almost devoid of furniture, I found him, in the dark,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: his candle lying smashed on the floor. As I ran in,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: bearing a light, he clasped me in arms that trembled
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: for the first time since I have known him, thanked God,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: and hurried me out of the room. He would say
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: nothing of what had alarmed him. Tomorrow, tomorrow was all
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I could get from him. A bed was hastily improvised
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: for him in the room next to my own. I
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: doubt if his night was more restful than mine. I
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: could only get to sleep in the small hours when
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: daylight was already strong, and then my dreams were of
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: the grimmest, particularly one which stamped itself on my brain,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: and which I must set down on the chance of
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: dispersing the impression it has made. It was that I
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: came up to my room with a heavy foreboding of
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: evil oppressing me, and went with a hesitation and reluctance
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: I could not explain, to my chest of drawers. I
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: opened the top drawer, in which was nothing but ribbons
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: and handkerchiefs, and then the second, where there was as
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: little to alarm, and then, oh heavens, the third and last,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: and there was a mass of linen neatly folded, upon which,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: as I looked with curiosity that began to be tinged
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: with horror, I perceived a movement in it, and a
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: pink hand was thrust out of the folds, and began
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: to grope feebly in the air. I could bear it
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: no more, and rushed from the room, clapping the door
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: after me, and strove with all my force to lock it,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: but the key would not turn in the wards, and
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: from within the room came a sound of rustling and bumping,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: drawing nearer and nearer to the door. Why I did
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: not flee down the stairs I know not. I continued
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: grasping the handle, and, mercifully— As the door was plucked
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: from my hand with an irresistible force, I awoke. You
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: may not think this very alarming, but I assure you
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: it was so to me. At breakfast to-day my uncle
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: was very uncommunicative, and, I think, ashamed of the fright
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: he had given us, but afterwards he inquired of me
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: whether Mr. Spearman was still in town, adding that he
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: thought that was a young man who had some sense
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: left in his head. I think you know, my dear Emily,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: that I am not inclined to disagree with him there,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: and also that I was not unlikely to be able
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: to answer his question. To Mr. Spearman he accordingly went,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: and I have not seen him since. I must send
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: this strange budget of news to you now, or it
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: may have to wait over more than one post. The
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: reader will not be far out if he guesses that
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Miss Mary and Mr. Spearman— made a match of it
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: not very long after this month of June. Mr. Spearman
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: was a young spark, who had a good property in
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: the neighbourhood of Whitminster, and not unfrequently, about this time,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: spent a few days at the King's Head, ostensibly on business.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: But he must have had some leisure, for his diary
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: is copious, especially for the days of which I am
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: telling the story. It is probable to me that he
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: wrote this episode as fully as he could, at the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: bidding of Miss Mary. Uncle Aldous, how I hope I
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: may have the right to call him so before long,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: called this morning. After throwing out a good many short
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: remarks on indifferent topics, he said, I wish, Spearman, you'd
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: listen to an odd story and keep a close tongue
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: about it, just for a bit, till I get more
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: light on it. To be sure, said I, you may
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: count on me. I don't know what to make of it,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: he said. You know my bedroom, It is well away
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: from everyone else's, and I pass through the great hall
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: and two or three other rooms to get to it.'
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Is it at the end next to the minister, then?'
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I ask.' Yes, it is. Well, now, yesterday morning my
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Mary told me that the room next before it was
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: infested with some sort of fly that the housekeeper couldn't
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: get rid of. That may be the explanation, or it
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: may not. What do you think?'' Why?' said I.' You' ve
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: not yet told me what has to be explained.' true enough.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I don't believe I have. But, by the by, what
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: are these sawflies? What's the size of them?' I began
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: to wonder if he was touched in the head.' What
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: I call a sawfly,' I said very patiently,' is a
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: red animal like a daddy longlegs, but not so big,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: perhaps an inch long, perhaps less. It is very hard
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: in the body, and to me—' was going to say
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: particularly offensive, but he broke in— come, come, an inch or less,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: that won't do. I can only tell you, I said,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: what I know. Would it not be better if you
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: told me from first to last what it is that
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: has puzzled you, and then I may be able to
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: give you some kind of an opinion? He gazed at
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: me meditatively. Perhaps it would, he said. I told Mary
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: only to-day that I thought you had some vestiges of
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: sense in your head. I bowed my acknowledgments. The thing is,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I've an odd kind of shyness about talking of it.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Nothing of the sort has happened to me before. Well,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: about eleven o'clock last night, or after, I took my
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: candle and set out for my room. I had a
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: book in my other hand. I always read something for
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: a few minutes before I drop off to sleep. A
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: dangerous habit, I don't recommend it, but I know how
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: to manage my light and my bed-curtains. Now then, first,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: as I stepped out of my study into the great
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: hall that's next to it, and shut the door, my
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: candle went out. I supposed I had clapped the door
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: behind me too quick, and made a draught, and I
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: was annoyed, for I'd no tinder-box nearer than my bedroom.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: But I knew my way well enough, and went on.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: The next thing was that my book was struck out
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: of my hand in the dark. If I said twitched
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: out of my hand it would better express the sensation.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: It fell on the floor. I picked it up and
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: went on, more annoyed than before, and a little startled. But,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: as you know, that hall has many windows without curtains,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: and in summer night like these it is easy to
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: see not only where the furniture is, but whether there's
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: anyone or anything moving. And there was no one, nothing
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of the kind. So on I went through the hall
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: and through the audit chamber next to it, which also
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: has big windows, and then into the bedrooms which lead
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: to my own, where the curtains were drawn, and I
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: had to go slower because of steps here and there.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: It was in the second of those rooms that I
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: nearly got my quietus. The moment I opened the door
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: of it I felt there was something wrong. I thought twice,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: I confess, whether I shouldn't turn back and find another
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: way there is to my room, rather than go through
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: that one. Then I was ashamed of myself, and thought
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: what people call better of it, though I don't know
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: about better in this case. If I was to describe
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: my experience exactly, I should say this. There was a dry, light,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: rustling sound all over the room as I went in,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: and then, you remember, it was perfectly dark. Something seemed
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: to rush at me, and there was— I don't know how
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: to put it— a sensation of long thin arms, or legs,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: or feelers all about my face and neck and body.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Very little strength in them there seemed to be, but, Spearman,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think I was ever more horrified or disgusted
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: in all my life that I remember, and it does
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: take something to put me out. I roared out as
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: loud as I could, and flung away my candle at random,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: and Knowing I was near the window, I tore at
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: the curtain, and somehow let in enough light to be
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: able to see something waving, which I knew was an
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: insect's leg by the shape of it. But, Lord, what
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: a size! Why, the beast must have been as tall
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: as I am, and now you tell me saw-flies are
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: an inch long or less. What do you make of it, Spearman?
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: For goodness' sake, finish your story first, I said. I
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: never heard anything like it. Oh, said he, there's no
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: more to tell. Mary ran in with the light, and
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: there was nothing there. I didn't tell her what was
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the matter. I changed my room for last night, and
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I expect for good.' Have you searched this odd room
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: of yours?' I said.' What do you keep in it?''
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: We don't use it,' he answered.' There' s an old press there,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and some little other furniture.'' And in the press?' said I.'
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I never saw it opened. But I
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: do know that it's locked.'' Well, I should have it
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: looked into.' and if you had time I owned to
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: having some curiosity to see the place myself. I didn't
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: exactly like to ask you, but that's rather what I
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: hoped you'd say. Name your time and I'll take you there.''
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: No time like the present,' I said at once, for
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: I saw he would never settle down to anything while
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: this affair was in suspense. He got up with great
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: alacrity and looked at me, I am tempted to think,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: with marked approval.' Come along,' was all he said, however,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and was pretty silent all the way to his house.'
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: My Mary, as he calls her in public and I
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: in private, was summoned, and we proceeded to the room.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: The doctor had gone so far as to tell her
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: that he had had something of a fright there last night,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: of what nature he had not yet divulged, but now
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: he pointed out and described very briefly the incidence of
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: his progress. When we were near the important spot, he
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: pulled up and allowed me to pass on. There's the room,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: he said. Killian Spearman. and tell us what you find.'
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Whatever I might have felt at midnight, noonday, I was sure,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: would keep back anything sinister, and I flung the door
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: open with an air and stepped in. It was a
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: well-lighted room, with its large window on the right, though not,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I thought, a very airy one. The principal piece of
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: furniture was the gaunt old press of dark wood. There was, too,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: a four-post bedstead, a mere skeleton, which could hide nothing,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: and there was a chest of drawers.' On the windowsill
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: and the floor near it were the dead bodies of
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: many hundred sawflies, and one torpid one which I had
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: some satisfaction in killing. I tried the door of the press,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: but could not open it. The drawers, too, were locked. Somewhere,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: I was conscious, there was a faint rustling sound, but
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: I could not locate it, and when I made my
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: report to those outside I said nothing of it. But,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: I said, clearly the next thing was to see what
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: was in those locked receptacles. Uncle Aldous turned to Mary.' Mrs. Maple,'
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: he said, and Mary ran off— no one, I am sure,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: stepped like her— and soon came back at a soberer pace,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: with an elderly lady of discreet aspect.' Have you the
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: keys of these things, Mrs. Maple?' said Uncle Aldous. His
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: simple words let loose a torrent— not violent, but copious— of speech.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: Had she been a shade or two higher in the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: social scale, Mrs. Maple might have stood as the model
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: for Miss Bates.' Oh, doctor, and miss, and you too, sir,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: she said, acknowledging my presence with a bend. Them keys!
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Who was that again that come when first we took
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: over things in this house? A gentleman in business it was,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: and I gave him his luncheon in the small parlour
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: on account of us not having everything as we should
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: like to see it in the large one— chicken and apple-pie
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: and a glass of Madeira. Dear, dear, you'll say I'm
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: running on, Miss Mary, but I only mention it to
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: bring back my recollection, and there it comes— Gardener! just the
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: same as it did last week, with the artichokes and
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: the text of the sermon. Now that Mr. Gardiner, every
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: key I got from him were labelled to itself, and
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: each and every one was a key of some door
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: or another in this house, and sometimes two. And when
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I say door, my meaning is door of a room,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: not like such a press as this is. Yes, Miss Mary,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: I know full well, and I'm just making it clear
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: to your uncle and you too, sir, but now there
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: was a box which this same gentleman he give over
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: into my charge, and thinking no harm after he was gone,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: I took the liberty, knowing it was your uncle's property,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: to rattle it, and unless I'm most surprisingly deceived, in
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that box there was keys, but what keys, that doctor
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: is known elsewhere, for open the box, no, that I
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: would not do. I wondered that Uncle Oldys remained as
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: quiet as he did under this address. Mary, I knew,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: was amused by it, and he probably had been taught
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: by experience that it was useless to break in upon it.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: At any rate he did not, but merely said at
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: the end, Have you that box handy, Mrs. Maple? If so,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: you might bring it here. Mrs. Maple pointed her finger
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: at him, either in accusation or in gloomy triumph. There,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: she said, was I to choose out the very words
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: out of your mouth, doctor, them would be the ones,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: and if I've took it to my own rebuke one
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: half a dozen times it's been nearer fifty. Laid awake
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I have in my bed, Sat down in my chair
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: I have. The same you and Miss Mary gave me
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: the day I was twenty years in your service, and
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: no person could desire a better. Yes, Miss Mary, but
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: it is the truth, and well we know who it
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: is would have it different if he could. All very well,
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: said I to myself, but pray, when the doctor calls
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: you to account for that box, what are you going
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: to say? No, doctor, if you were some masters I've
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: heard of, and I was some servants I could name,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: I should have an easy task before me, but things being,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: humanly speaking, what they are, The one course open to
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: me is just to say to you that without Miss
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Mary comes to my room and helps me to my recollection,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: which her wits may manage what's slipped beyond mine, no
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: such box as that, small though it be, will cross
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: your eyes this many a day to come. Why, dear
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Miss Maple, why didn't you tell me before that you
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: wanted me to help you to find it? said my Mary. No,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: never mind telling me why it was. Let us come
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: at once and look for it. They hastened off together.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: I could hear Miss Maple beginning an explanation which, I
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: doubt not, lasted into the furthest recesses of the housekeeper's department.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: Uncle Aldous and I were left alone. A valuable servant,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: he said, nodding towards the door. Nothing goes wrong under her.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: The speeches are seldom over three minutes. How will Miss
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Aldous manage to make her remember about the box? I asked. Mary, oh,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: she'll make her sit down and ask her about her
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: aunt's last illness. or who gave her the china dog
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: on the mantelpiece— something quite off the point. Then, as Maple says,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: one thing brings up another, and the right one will
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: come round sooner than you could suppose. There, I believe
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I hear them coming back already. It was indeed so,
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: and Mrs. Maple was hurrying on ahead of Mary, with
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: the box in her outstretched hand, and a beaming face.'
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: What was it?' she cried, as she drew near.' What
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: was it, as I said? Before ever I come out
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: of Dorset she had to this place. Not that I'm
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: a Dorset woman myself, nor I had need to be.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: Safe find, safe find. And there it was, in the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: place where I'd put it. What, two months back, I
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: dare say.' She handed it to Uncle Oldys, and he
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and I examined it with some interest. so that I
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: ceased to pay attention to Mrs. Anne Maple for the moment,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: though I know that she went on to expound exactly
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: where the box had been, and in what way Mary
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: had helped to refresh her memory on the subject. It
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: was an oldish box, tied with pink tape and sealed,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and on the lid was pasted a label inscribed in
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: old ink, The Senior Prebendary's House, Whitminster. On being opened
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: it was found to contain two keys of moderate size,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: and a paper on which, in the same hand as
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: the label, was keys of the press and box of
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: drawers standing in the disused chamber. Also this. The effects
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: in this press and box are held by me, and
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: to be held by my successors in the residence, in
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: trust for the noble family of Kildonan, if claim be
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: made by any survivor of it. I, having made all
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: the inquiry possible to myself, am of the opinion that
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: the noble house is wholly extinct, the last Earl having been,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: as is notorious, cast away at sea, and his only
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: child and heir deceased in my house. The papers as
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: to which melancholy casualty were, by me, reposed in the
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: same press in this year of Our Lord, 1753, 21st
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: of March. I am further of opinion that unless grave
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: discomfort arise, such persons not being of the family of Kildonan,
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: as shall become possessed of these keys, will be well
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: advised to leave matters as they are. Which opinion I
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: do not express without weighty and sufficient reason, and am
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: happy to have my judgment confirmed by the other members
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: of this College and Church who are conversant with the
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: events referred to in this paper. Thomas Ashton, S.T.P., Prebendary Sr.,
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Will Blake, S.T.P., DeCarnus, Henry Goodman, S.T.B., Prebendary Jr.,' Ah,'
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: said Uncle Oldys.' Grave discomfort.' So he thought there might
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: be something.' I suspect it was that young man,' he
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: went on,' pointing with the key to the line about
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: the only child and heir.' Eh, Mary?' The Viscountee of
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: Kildonnan was Saul.'' How do you know that, Uncle?' said Mary.' Oh,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: why not?' It' s all in de Brett.' Two little fat books.'
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: But I meant the tomb by the lime-walk.' He' s there.'
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: What' s the story, I wonder?' Do you know it, Mrs. Maple? And,
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: by the way, look at your saw-flies by the window there. Mrs. Maple,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: thus confronted with two subjects at once, was a little
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: put to it to do justice to both. It was
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: no doubt rash in Uncle Oldys to give her the opportunity.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: I could only guess that he had some slight hesitation
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: about using the key he held in his hand. Oh,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: them flies! How bad they was, Doctor and Miss! This
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: three or four days, and you too, sir, You wouldn't guess,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: none of you. And how they come, too. First we
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: took the room in hand. The shutters was up, and
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: had been, I dare say, years upon years, and not
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: a fly to be seen. Then we got the shutter-bars down,
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: with a deal of trouble, and left it so for
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: the day, and next day I sent Susan in with
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: the broom to sweep about, and not two minutes hadn't
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: passed when out she came into the hall like a
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: blind thing, and we had regular to beat them off her. Why,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: her cap and her hair! You couldn't see the colour
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: of it, I do assure you, and all clustering round
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: her eyes, too. Fortunate enough she's not a girl with fancies, else,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: if it had been me, why, only the tickling of
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: the nasty things would have drove me out of my wits.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: And now there they lay, like so many dead things. Well,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: there was lively enough on the Monday, and now here's Thursday,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: is it, or no, Friday, only to come near the door,
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: and you'd hear them pattering up against it. And once
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: you opened it, dash at you they would, as if
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: they'd eat you. I couldn't help thinking to myself, If
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: you was bats, where should we be this night? Nor
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: you can't crash them, not like a usual kind of fly. Well,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: there's something to be thankful for, if we could but
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: learn by it. And then this tomb, too, she said,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: hastening on to her second point, to elude any chance
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: of interruption. Of them two poor young lads! I say poor,
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: and yet, when I recollect myself, I was at tea
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: with Mrs. Simpkins, the sexton's wife. Before you come, Doctor
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: and Miss Mary, and that's a family that's been in
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: the place, what, I dare say a hundred years in
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: that very house, and could put their hand on any
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: tomb or yet grave in all the yard, and give
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: you name and age. And his account of that young man— Mr. Simpkins's,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: I mean to say— well, she compressed her lips and nodded
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: several times.' Tell us, Mrs. Maple,' said Mary.' Go on,'
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: said Uncle Oldys.' What about him?' said I.' Never was
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: such a thing seen in this place, not since Queen
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Mary's times and the Pope and all,' said Mrs. Maple.' Why,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: do you know, he lived in this very house, him
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: and them that was with him, and, for all I
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: can tell, in this identical room.' She shifted her feet
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: uneasily on the floor.' Who was with him? Do you
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: mean the people of the house?' said Uncle Oldys suspiciously.'
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: Not to call people, Doctor, dear no,' was the answer.'
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: More what he brought with him from Ireland, I believe
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: it was.' No, the people in the house.' was the
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: last to hear anything of his goings-on, but in the town,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: not a family, but knew how he stopped out at night,
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: and them that was with him, why, they were such
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: as would strip the skin from the child in its grave,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: and a withered heart makes an ugly thin ghost, says Mr. Simpkins.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: But they turned on him at the last, he says,
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: and there's the mark still to be seen on the
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: minster door, where they run him down, and that's no
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: more than the truth, for I got him to show
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: it to myself, and that's what he said. A lord
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: he was, with a Bible name of a wicked king,
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: whatever his godfathers could have been thinking of.' Saul was
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: the name,' said Uncle Aldous.' To be sure it was Saul, Doctor,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: and thank you. And now isn't it King Saul that
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: we read of raising up the dead ghost that was
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: slumbering in its tomb till he disturbed it? And isn't
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: that a strange thing, this young lord to have such
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: a name? And Mr. Simpkins, his grandfather, to see him
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: out of his window of a dark night!' going about
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: from one grave to another in the yard with a candle,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: and them that was with him following through the grass
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: at his heels, and one night him to come right
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: up to old Mr. Simpkins's window that gives on the yard,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: and press his face up against it, to find out
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: if there was anyone in the room that could see him,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: and only just time there was for old Mr. Simpkins
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: to drop down like quiet just under the window and
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: hold his breath, and not stir till he heard him
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: stepping away again, and this rustling like in the grass
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: after him as he went, and then WHEN HE LOOKED
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: OUT OF HIS WINDOW IN THE MORNING THERE WAS TREADINGS
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: IN THE GRASS, AND A DEAD MAN'S BONE. OH, HE
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: WAS A CRUEL CHILD FOR CERTAIN, BUT HE HAD TO
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: PAY IN THE END, AND AFTER. AFTER, SAID UNCLE OLDLESS
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: WITH A FROWN. OH, YES, DOCTOR, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT IN
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: OLD MR. SIMPKINS'S TIME, AND HIS SON, THAT'S OUR MR.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: SIMPKINS'S FATHER, YES, AND OUR OWN MR. SIMPKINS TOO. up
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: against that same window, particular when they had a fire
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: of a chilly evening, with his face right on the panes,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: and his hands fluttering out, and his mouth open and shut,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: open and shut, for a minute or more, and then
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: gone off in the dark yard. But open the window
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: at such times, no, that they dare not do, though
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: they could find it in their heart to pity the
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: poor thing, that pinched up with the cold, and seemingly
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: fading away to a nothing, as the years passed on. Well, indeed,
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: I believe it is no more than the truth what
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: our Mr. Simpkins says on his own grandfather's word. A
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: wizard heart makes an ugly thin ghost. I dare say,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: said Uncle Oldys suddenly, so suddenly that Mrs. Maple stopped short.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Come away, all of you. Why, Uncle, said Mary,
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: are you not going to open the press after all?
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Uncle Oldys blushed, actually blushed.' My dear,' he said,' you
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: are at liberty to call me a coward, or applaud
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: me as a prudent man, whichever you please, but I
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: am neither going to open that press, nor that chest
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: of drawers, myself, nor am I going to hand over
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: the keys to you or to any other person. Mrs. Maple,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: will you kindly see about getting a man or two
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: to move those pieces of furniture into the garret?' And
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: when they do it, Mrs. Maple, said Mary, who seemed
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: to me, I did not then know why, more relieved
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: than disappointed by her uncle's decision, I have something that
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: I want put with the rest, only quite a small packet.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: We left that curious room, not unwillingly, I think. Uncle
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Aldous's orders were carried out that same day. And so,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: concludes Mr. Spearman, Whitminster has a bluebeard's chamber, and— I
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: am rather inclined to suspect a jack-in-the-box, awaiting some future
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: occupant of the residence of the senior prebendary. The Diary
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: of Mr. Pointer The sale room of an old and
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: famous firm of book auctioneers in London is, of course,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: a great meeting place for collectors, librarians, dealers, not only
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: when an auction is in progress, but perhaps even more
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: notably when books that are coming on for sale are
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: upon view. It was in such a sale-room that the
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: remarkable series of events began, which were detailed to me,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: not many months ago, by the person whom they principally affected, namely, Mr.
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: James Denton, M.A., F.S.A., etc., etc., sometime of Trinity Hall,
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: now or lately, of Rendcombe Manor, in the county of Warwick.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: He— on a certain spring day not many years since,
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: was in London for a few days upon business, connected
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: principally with the furnishing of the house which he had
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: just finished building at Rendcombe. It may be a disappointment
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: to you to learn that Rendcombe Manor was new. That
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: I cannot help. There had, no doubt, been an old house,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: but it was not remarkable for beauty or interest. Even
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: had it been, neither beauty nor interest would have enabled
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: it to resist the disastrous fire which, about a couple
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: of years before the date of my story, had raised
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: it to the ground. I am glad to say that
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: all that was most valuable in it had been saved,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: and that it was fully insured, so that it was
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: with a comparatively light heart that Mr. Denton was able
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: to face the task of building a new and considerably
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: more convenient dwelling for himself and his aunt, who constituted
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: his whole ménage. Being in London with time on his hands,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: and not far from the sale-room at which I have
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: obscurely hinted, Mr. Denton thought that he would spend an
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: hour there upon the chance of finding among that portion
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: of the famous Thomas collection of manuscripts— which he knew
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: to be then on view, something bearing upon the history
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: or topography of his part of Warwickshire. He turned in accordingly,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: purchased a catalogue, and ascended to the sale-room, where, as usual,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: the books were disposed in cases, and some laid out
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: upon the long tables. At the shelves, or sitting about
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: among the tables, were figures, many of whom were familiar
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: to him. He exchanged nods and greetings with several. and
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: then settled down to examine his catalogue and note likely items.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: He had made good progress through about two hundred of
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the five hundred lots. Every now and then, rising to
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: take a volume from the shelf and give it a
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: cursory glance, when a hand was laid on his shoulder
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: and he looked up, his interrupter was one of those
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: intelligent men with a pointed beard and a flannel shirt,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: of whom the last quarter of the nineteenth century was,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: it seems to me, very prolific. It is no part
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: of my plan to repeat the whole conversation which ensued
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: between the two. I must content myself with stating that
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: it largely referred to common acquaintances, e.g. to the nephew
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: of Mr. Denton's friend, who had recently married and settled
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: in Chelsea, to the sister-in-law of Mr. Denton's friend, who
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: had been seriously indisposed, but was now better, and to
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: a piece of China, which Mr. Denton's friend had purchased
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: some months before, at a price much below its true value,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: from which you will rightly infer that the conversation was
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: rather in the nature of a monologue. In due time, however,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: the friend bethought himself that Mr. Denton was there for
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: a purpose, and said he,' What are you looking out
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: for in particular? I don't think there's much in this lot.'' Why,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I thought there might be some Warwickshire collections,' but I
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: don't see anything under Warwick in the catalogue. No, apparently not,
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: said the friend. All the same, I believe I noticed
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: something like a Warwickshire diary. What was the name again? Drayton? Potter? Painter?
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: Either a P or a D, I feel sure. He
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: turned over the leaves quickly. Yes, here it is. Pointer.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: Lot 486. That might interest you. There are the books,
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: I think, out on the table. Someone has been looking
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: at them.' Well, I must be getting on. Goodbye, you'll
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: look us up, won't you? Couldn't you come this afternoon?
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: We've got a little music about four. Well, then, when
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: you're next in town—' He went off. Mr. Denton looked
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: at his watch, and found, to his confusion, that he
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: could spare no more than a moment before retrieving his
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: luggage and going for the train. The moment was just
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: enough to show him that there were four largish volumes
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: of the diary, that it concerned the years about 1710—
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: and that there seemed to be a good many insertions
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: in it of various kinds. It seemed quite worthwhile to
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: leave a commission of five-and-twenty pounds for it, and this
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: he was able to do, for his usual agent entered
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the room as he was on the point of leaving it.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: That evening he rejoined his aunt at their temporary abode,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: which was a small dower-house not many hundred yards from
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: the manor. On the following morning the two resumed a discussion,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: that had now lasted for some weeks, as to the
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: equipment of the new house. Mr. Denton laid before his
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: relative a statement of the results of his visit to town,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: particulars of carpets, of chairs, of wardrobes, and of bedroom china.' Yes, dear,'
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: said his aunt.' But I don't see any chintzes here.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: Did you go to—' Mr. Denton stamped on the floor.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: Where else, indeed, could he have stamped?' Oh, dear, oh, dear,'
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: he said. The one thing I missed, I am sorry.
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: The fact is I was on my way there, and
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: I happened to be passing Robins's. His aunt threw up
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: her hands. Robins's! Then the next thing will be another
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: parcel of horrible old books at some outrageous price. I
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: do think, James, when I am taking all this trouble
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: for you, you might contrive to remember the one or
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: two things which I specially begged you to see after.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: It's not as if I was asking it for myself.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know whether you think I get any pleasure
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: out of it. but if so, I can assure you
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: it's very much the reverse. The thought and worry and
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: trouble I have over it you have no idea of,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: and you have simply to go to the shops and
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: order the things.' Mr. Denton interposed a moan of penitence.' Oh, aunt!'' Yes,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: it's all very well, dear, and I don't want to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: speak sharply, but you must know how very annoying it is,
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: particularly as it delays the whole of our business, for
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: I can't tell how long Here is Wednesday. The Simpsons
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: come tomorrow, and you can't leave them. Then on Saturday
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: we have friends, as you know, coming for tennis. Yes, indeed,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: you spoke of asking them yourself. But, of course, I
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: had to write the notes, and it is ridiculous, James,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: to look like that. We must occasionally be civil to
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: our neighbours. You wouldn't like to have it said we
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: were perfect bears. What was I saying? Well, anyhow, it
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: comes to this, that it must be Thursday in next
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: week at least, before you can go to town again,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: and until we have decided upon the chintzes it is
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: impossible to settle upon one single other thing. Mr. Denton
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: ventured to suggest that, as the paint and wallpapers had
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: been dealt with, this was too severe a view, but
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: this his aunt was not prepared to admit at the moment, nor, indeed,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: was there any proposition he could have advanced which she
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: would have found herself able to accept. However, As the
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: day went on, she receded a little from this position,
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: examined with lessening disfavour the samples and price-lists submitted by
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: her nephew, and even in some cases gave a qualified
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: approval to his choice. As for him, he was naturally
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: somewhat dashed by the consciousness of duty unfulfilled, but more
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: so by the prospect of a lawn-tennis party which, though
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: an inevitable evil in August— He had thought there was
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: no occasion to fear in May, but he was to
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: some extent cheered by the arrival on the Friday morning
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: of an intimation that he had secured at the price
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: of £ 12. 10 the four volumes of Pointer's manuscript diary, and
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: still more by the arrival on the next morning of
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: the diary itself. The necessity of taking Mr. and Mrs.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Simpson for a drive in the car on Saturday morning
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: and of attending to his neighbours and guests that afternoon,
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: prevented him from doing more than open the parcel, until
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: the party had retired to bed on the Saturday night.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: It was then that he made certain of the fact,
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: which he had before only suspected, that he had indeed
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: acquired the diary of Mr. William Pointer, Squire of Accrington,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: about four miles from his own parish. That same Pointer—
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: who was for a time a member of the Circle
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: of Oxford Antiquaries, the centre of which was Thomas Hearn,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: and with whom Hearn seemed ultimately to have quarrelled, a
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: not uncommon episode in the career of that excellent man.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: As is the case with Hearn's own collections, the diary
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: of Pointer contained a good many notes from printed books,
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: descriptions of coins and other antiquities that had been brought
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: to his notice, and drafts of letters on these subjects.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: besides the chronicle of everyday events. The description in the
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: sale catalogue had given Mr. Denton no idea of the
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: amount of interest which seemed to lie in the book,
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: and he set up reading in the first of the
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: four volumes until a reprehensibly late hour. On the Sunday morning,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: after church, his aunt came into the study and— was
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: diverted from what she had been going to say to him,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: by the sight of the four brown leather quartos on
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: the table.' What are these?' she said suspiciously.' New, aren't they? Oh,
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: are these the things that made you forget my chintzes?
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: I thought so. Disgusting!' What did you give for them,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: I should like to know? Over ten pounds? James, it
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: is really sinful. Well, if you have money to throw
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: away on this kind of thing, there can be no
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: reason why you should not subscribe, and subscribe handsomely, to
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: my anti-vivisection league. There is not, indeed, James, and I
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: shall be very seriously annoyed if— Who did you say
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: wrote them? Old Mr. Pointer of Accrington? Well, of course,
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: there is some interest in getting together old papers about
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: this neighbourhood, but ten pounds— She picked up one of
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: the volumes, not that which her nephew had been reading,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: and opened it at random, dashing it to the floor
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: the next instant with a cry of disgust as an
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: earwig fell from between the pages. Mr. Denton picked it
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: up with a smothered expletive and said, Poor book! I
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: think you're rather hard on Mr. Pointer. Was I, my dear?
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: I beg his pardon, but you know I cannot abide
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: those horrid creatures. Let me see if I've done any mischief.' No,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: I think all's well, but look here what you've opened
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: him on.'' Dear me, yes, to be sure. How very interesting!
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: Do unpin it, James, and let me look at it.'
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: It was a piece of patterned stuff, about the size
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: of the quarto page, to which it was fastened by
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: an old-fashioned pin. James detached it, and handed it to
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: his aunt, carefully replacing the pin in the paper.' Now,
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: I do not know exactly what the fabric was.' but
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: it had a design printed upon it which completely fascinated
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: Miss Denton. She went into raptures over it, held it
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: against the wall, made James do the same, that she
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: might retire to contemplate it from a distance, then poured
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: over it at close quarters, and ended her examination by
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: expressing in the warmest terms her appreciation of the taste
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: of the ancient Mr. Pointer, who had had the happy
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: idea of preserving this sample in his diary. It is
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: a most charming pattern, she said, and remarkable too. Look, James,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: how delightfully the lines ripple. It reminds one of hair
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: very much, doesn't it? And then these knots of ribbon
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: at intervals, they give just the relief of colour that
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: is wanted. I wonder— I was going to say, said James,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: with deference, I wonder if it would cost much to
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: have it copied for our curtains. Copied? How could you
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: have it copied, James? Well,' I don't know the details,
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: but I suppose that it is a printed pattern, and
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: that you could have a block cut from it in
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: wood or metal.'' Now, really, that is a capital idea, James.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: I am almost inclined to be glad that you were
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: so— that you forgot the chintzes on Monday. At any rate,
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: I'll promise to forgive and forget if you get this
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: lovely old thing copied. No one will have anything in
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: the least like it, and, mind, James, we won't allow
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: it to be sold.' Now I must go, and I've
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: totally forgotten what it was I came in to say.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Never mind, it'll keep.' After his aunt had gone, James
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: Denton devoted a few minutes to examining the pattern more
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: closely than he had yet had a chance of doing.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: He was puzzled to think why it should have struck
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Miss Denton so forcibly. It seemed to him not specially
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: remarkable or pretty. No doubt it was suitable enough for
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: a curtain pattern. It ran in vertical bands— and there
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: was some indication that these were intended to converge at
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the top. She was right, too, in thinking that these
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: main bands resembled rippling, almost curling, tresses of hair. Well,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: the main thing was to find out, by means of
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: trade directories or otherwise, what firm would undertake the reproduction
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: of an old pattern of this kind. Not to delay
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: the reader over this portion of the story, a list
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: of likely names was made out and Mr. Denton fixed
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: a day for calling on them, or some of them,
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: with his sample. The first two visits which he paid
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: were unsuccessful, but there is luck in odd numbers. The
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: firm in Bermondsey which was third on his list was
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: accustomed to handling this line. The evidence they were able
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: to produce justified their being entrusted with the job. Our Mr.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: Cattell took a fervent personal interest in it.' It' s heart-rending,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: isn't it, sir?' he said. to picture the quantity of
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: really lovely medieval stuff of this kind that lays well-nigh
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: unnoticed in many of our residential country houses, much of
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: it imperil, I take it, of being cast aside as
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: so much rubbish. What is it, Shakespeare says? Unconsidered trifles. Ah,
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: I often say he has a word for us all, sir,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: I say Shakespeare, but I'm well aware all don't hold
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: with me there. I had something of an upset the
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: other day when a gentleman came in, a titled man, too,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: he was, and I think he told me he'd wrote
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: on the topic, and I happened to cite out something
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: about Hercules and the painted cloth. Dear me, you never
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: see such a bother. But as to this, what you've
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: kindly confided to us is a piece of work which
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: will take a real enthusiasm in achieving it out to
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: the very best of our ability. What man has done,
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: as I was observing only a few weeks back to
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: another esteemed client, man can do, and in three to
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: four weeks' time, all being well, we shall hope to
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: lay before you evidence to that effect, sir. Take the address, Mr. Riggins,
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: if you please. Such was the general drift of Mr.
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: Cattell's observations on the occasion of his first interview with Mr. Denton.
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: About a month later, being advised that some samples were
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: ready for his inspection, Mr. Denton met him again, and had,
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: it seems, reason to be satisfied with the faithfulness of
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: the reproduction of the design. It had been finished off
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: at the top, in accordance with the indication I mentioned,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: so that the vertical bands joined— but something still needed
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: to be done in the way of matching the colour
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: of the original. Mr. Cattell had suggestions of a technical
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: kind to offer, with which I need not trouble you.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: He had also views as to the general desirability of
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: the pattern, which were vaguely adverse.' You say you don't
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: wish this to be supplied, excepting to personal friends equipped
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: with the authorisation from yourself, sir?'' It shall be done.''
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: I quite understand you wish to keep it exclusive.' Lends
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: a catch it, does it not, to the sweep. What's
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: every man's, it's been said, is no man's. Do you
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: think it would be popular if it were generally obtainable?
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: asked Mr. Denton. I hardly think it, sir, said Cattell,
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: pensively clasping his beard. I hardly think it. Not popular.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: It wasn't popular with the man that cut the block,
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: was it, Mr. Riggins? Did he find it a difficult job?
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: He'd no call to do so, sir. But the fact
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: is that the artistic temperament— and our men are artists, sir,
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: every man of them, true artists, as much as many
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: that the world styles by that term, it's apt to
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: take some strange, oddly accountable likes or dislikes. And here
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: was an example, the twice or thrice that I went
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: to inspect his progress. Language, I could understand, for that's
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: habitual to him, but real distaste for what I should
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: call a dainty enough thing I did not, nor am
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: I now able to fathom. It seemed— said Mr. Cattell,
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: looking narrowly upon Mr. Denton, as if the man scented
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: something almost evil in the design. Indeed? Did he tell you, sir?
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: I can't say I see anything sinister in it myself.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: Neither can I, sir. In fact, I said as much. Come, Gatwick,
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: I said. What's to do here? What's the reason of
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: your prejudice? For I can call it no more than that.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: But no, no explanation was forthcoming, and I was merely reduced,
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: as I am now, to a shrug of the shoulders,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: and a qui bono. However, here it is. And with
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: that the technical side of the question came to the
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: front again. The matching of the colours for the background,
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: the hem, and the knots of ribbon was by far
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: the longest part of the business, and necessitated many sendings
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: to and fro of the original pattern and of new samples.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: During part of August and September, too, the Dentons were
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: away from the manor. so that it was not until
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: October was well in that a sufficient quantity of the
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: stuff had been manufactured to furnish curtains for the three
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: or four bedrooms which were to be fitted up with it.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: On the feast of Simon and Jude, the aunt and
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: nephew returned from a short visit to find all completed,
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: and their satisfaction at the general effect was great. The
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: new curtains, in particular, agreed, to admiration, with their surroundings.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: When Mr. Denton was dressing for dinner, and took stock
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: of his room, in which there was a large amount
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: of the chintz displayed, he congratulated himself over and over
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: again on the luck which had first made him forget
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: his aunt's commission, and had then put into his hands
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: this extremely effective means of remedying his mistake. The pattern was,
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: as he said at dinner, so restful, and yet so
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: far from being dull, and Miss Denton, who, by the way,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: had none of the stuff in her own room, was
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: much disposed to agree with him. At breakfast next morning
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: he was induced to qualify his satisfaction to some extent,
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: but very slightly.' There is one thing I rather regret,'
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: he said,' that we allowed them to join up the
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: vertical bands of the pattern at the top. I think
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: it would have been better to leave that alone.'' Oh?'
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: said his aunt interrogatively. Yes, as I was reading in
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: bed last night, they kept catching my eye, rather. That is,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: I found myself looking across at them every now and then.
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: There was an effect as if someone kept peeping out
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: between the curtains in one place or another, where there
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: was no edge, and I think that was due to
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: the joining up of the bands at the top. The
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: only other thing that troubled me was the wind. Why,
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: I thought it was a perfectly still night. Perhaps it
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: was only on my side of the house, but there
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: was enough to sway my curtains and rustle them more
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: than I wanted. That night a bachelor friend of James
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: Denton's came to stay, and was lodged in a room
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: on the same floor as his host, but at the
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: end of a long passage, halfway down which was a
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: red-baize door, put there to cut off the draught and
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: intercept noise. the party of three had separated, Miss Denton
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: a good first, the two men at about eleven. James Denton,
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: not yet inclined for bed, sat him down in an arm-chair,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: and read for a time. Then he dozed, and then
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: he woke, and bethought himself that his brown spaniel, which
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: ordinarily slept in his room, had not come upstairs with him.
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: Then he thought he was mistaken, for, happening to move
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: his hand, which hung down over the arm of the chair,
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: within a few inches of the floor, He felt on
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: the back of it just the slightest touch of a
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: surface of hair, and stretching it out in that direction,
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: he stroked and patted, a rounded something. But the feel
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: of it, and still more the fact that, instead of
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: a responsive movement, absolute stillness greeted his touch, made him
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: look over the arm. What he had been touching rose
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: to meet him. It was in the attitude of one
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: that had crept along the floor on its belly— and
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: it was, so far as could be collected, a human figure,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: but of the face which was now rising to within
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: a few inches of his own, no feature was discernible,
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: only hair. Shapeless as it was, there was about it
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: so horrible an air of menace, that as he bounded
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: from his chair and rushed from the room, he heard
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: himself moaning with fear, and doubtless he did right to fly.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: As he dashed into the baize door that cut the
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: passage in two, and, Forgetting that it opened towards him,
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: beat against it with all the force in him, he
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: felt a soft, ineffectual tearing at his back, which all
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: the same seemed to be growing in power, as if
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: the hand, or whatever worse than a hand was there,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: were becoming more material as the pursuer's rage was more concentrated.
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: Then he remembered the trick of the door, he got
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: it open, he shut it behind him, he gained his
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: friend's room, and that is all we need know. It
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: seems curious that during all the time that had elapsed
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: since the purchase of Poynter's diary, James Denton should not
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: have sought an explanation of the presence of the pattern
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: that had been pinned into it. Well, he had read
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: the diary through without finding it mentioned, and had concluded
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: that there was nothing to be said. But on leaving
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: Rendcombe Manor— he did not know whether for good— as he
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: naturally insisted upon doing on the day after experiencing the
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: horror I have tried to put into words, he took
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: the diary with him, and at his seaside lodgings he
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: examined more narrowly the portion whence the pattern had been taken.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: What he remembered having suspected about it turned out to
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: be correct. Two or three leaves were pasted together, but
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: written upon, as was patent when they were held up
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: to the light. They yielded easily to steaming, for the
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: paste had lost much of its strength, and they contained
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: something relevant to the pattern. The entry was made in 1707.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: Old Mr. Casbury of Accrington told me this day much
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: of young Sir Everard Charlette, whom he remembered, commoner of
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: University College, and thought was of the same family as Dr.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: Arthur Charlette, now master of the College. This charlotte was
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: a personable young gentleman, but a loose atheistical companion, and
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: a great lifter, as they then called the hard drinkers,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: and for what I know do so now. He was
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: noted and subject to several censures at different times for
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: his extravagancies, and if the full history of his debaucheries
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: had been known, no doubt would have been expelled the college,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: supposing that no interest had been employed on his behalf.
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: of which Mr. Casbury had some suspicion. He was a
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: very beautiful person, and constantly wore his own hair, which
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: was very abundant, from which, and his loose way of living,
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: the cant name for him was Absalom. And he was
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: accustomed to say that, indeed, he believed he had shortened
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: old David's days, meaning his father, Sir Job Charlotte, an
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: old worthy cavalier. Note that Mr. Casbury said that He
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: remembers not the year of Sir Everard Charlotte's death, but
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: it was 1692 or three. He died suddenly in October.
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: Several lines describing his unpleasant habits and reputed delinquencies are omitted.
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: Having seen him in such topping spirits the night before, Mr.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: Casbury was amazed when he learned the death. He was
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: found in the town ditch. His hair was said plucked
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: clean off his head. Most bells in Oxford rung out
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: for him, being a nobleman, and he was buried next
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: night in St. Peter's in the East. But two years after,
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: being to be moved to his country estate by his successor,
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: it was said the coffin, breaking by mischance, proved quite
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: full of hair, which sounds fabulous, but yet I believe
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: precedents are upon record, as in Dr. Plott's History of Staffordshire.
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: his chambers being afterwards stripped, Mr. Casbury came by part
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: of the hangings of it, which, t'was said, this charlet
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: had designed expressly for a memorial of his hair, giving
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: the fellow that drew it a lock to work by,
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: and the piece which I have fastened in here was
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: parcel of the same, which Mr. Casbury gave to me.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: He said he believed there was a subtlety in the drawing,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: but had never discovered it himself, nor much liked to
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: pour upon it, The money spent upon the curtains might
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: as well have been thrown into the fire, as they were. Mr.
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: Cattell's comment upon what he heard of the story took
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: the form of a quotation from Shakespeare. You may guess
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: it without difficulty. It began with the words, There are
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: more things. End of chapter 2 CHAPTER III. AN EPISODE
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY There was once a learned gentleman who
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: was deputed to examine and report upon the archives of
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: the Cathedral of Southminster. The examination of these records demanded
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: a very considerable expenditure of time, Hence it became advisable
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: for him to engage lodgings in the city, for, though
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: the cathedral body were profuse in their offers of hospitality, Mr.
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: Lake felt that he would prefer to be master of
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: his day. This was recognised as reasonable. The dean eventually wrote,
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: advising Mr. Lake, if he were not already suited, to
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: communicate with Mr. Werby, the principal verger, who occupied a
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: house convenient to the church. and was prepared to take
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: in a quiet lodger for three or four weeks. Such
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: an arrangement was precisely what Mr. Lake desired. Terms were
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: easily agreed upon, and early in December, like another Mr. Datchery,
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: as he remarked to himself, the investigator found himself in
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: the occupation of a very comfortable room in an ancient
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: and cathedral-y house. One so familiar with the customs of
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: cathedral churches, and treated with such obvious consideration by the
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: dean and chapter of this cathedral in particular, could not
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: fail to command the respect of the head verger. Mr.
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: Werby even acquiesced, in certain modifications of statements he had
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: been accustomed to offer for years, to parties of visitors. Mr. Lake,
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: on his part, found the verger a very cheery companion,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: and took advantage of any occasion that presented itself for
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: enjoying his conversation when the day's work was over. One evening,
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: about nine o'clock, Mr. Werby knocked at his lodger's door.'
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: I' ve occasion,' he said,' to go across to the cathedral, Mr. Lake,
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: and I think I made you a promise. When I
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: did so next, I would give you the opportunity to
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: see what it looks like at night-time. It is quite
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: fine and dry outside if you care to come.' To
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: be sure I will. Very much obliged to you, Mr. Werby,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: for thinking of it. But let me get my coat.
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: Here it is, sir, and I've another lantern here, that
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: you'll find advisable for the steps, as there's no moon.''
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: Anyone might think we were jasper and turtles over again,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: mightn't they?' said Lake, as they crossed the close, for
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: he had ascertained that the verger had read Edwin Drood.' Well,
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: so they might,' said Mr. Werby, with a short laugh.
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: though I don't know whether we ought to take it
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: as a compliment. Odd ways, I often think, they had
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: at that cathedral.' Don' t it seem so to you, sir?'
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: Full choral matins at seven o'clock in the morning,' all
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: the year round.' Wouldn' t suit our boys' voices nowadays,' and
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: I think there's one or two of the men' would
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: be applying for a rise,' if the chapter was to
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: bring it in,' particularly the altos.'' They were now at
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: the south-west door,' As Mr. Werby was unlocking it, Lake said,'
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: Did you ever find anyone locked in here by accident?''
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: Twice I did. Once was a drunk sailor. However, he
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: got in I don't know. I suppose he went to
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: sleep in the service, but by the time I got
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: to him he was praying fit to bring the roof in. Lord,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: what a noise that man did make! Said it was
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: the first time he'd been inside a church for ten years,
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: and blessed if ever he'd try it again. The other
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: was an old sheep. Them boys it was up to
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: their games.' That was the last time they tried it on, though. There, sir,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: now you see what we look like. Our late dean
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: used now and again to bring parties in, but he
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: preferred a moonlight night, and there was a piece of
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: versied coat to him, relating to a Scotch cathedral, I understand,
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. I almost think the effect's better
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: when it's all dark-like. Seems to add to the size
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: and height. Now, If you won't mind stopping somewhere in
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: the nave while I go up into the choir, where
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: my business lays, you'll see what I mean.' Accordingly Lake waited,
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: leaning against a pillar, and watched the light wavering along
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: the length of the church and up the steps into
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: the choir, until it was intercepted by some screen or
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: other furniture, which only allowed the reflection to be seen
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: on the piers and roof. Not many minutes had passed
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: before Werby reappeared at the door of the choir, and,
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: by waving his lantern, signalled to Lake to rejoin him.
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: I suppose it is Werby, and not a substitute, thought
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: Lake to himself as he walked up the nave. There was,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: in fact, nothing untoward. Werby showed him the papers which
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: he had come to fetch out of the dean's stall,
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: and asked him what he thought of the spectacle. Lake
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: agreed that it was well worth seeing. I suppose, he said,
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: as they walked towards the altar steps together, about here
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: at night to feel nervous, but you must get a
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: start every now and then, don't you, when a book
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: falls down or a door swings to? No, Mr Lake,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: I can't say I think much about noises, not nowadays.
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: I'm much more afraid of finding an escape of gas
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: or a burst in the stovepipes than anything else. Still,
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: there have been times years ago— Did you notice that
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: plain altar tomb there? Fifteenth century, we say it is.
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you agree to that.' Well, if
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: you didn't look at it, just come back and give
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: it a glance, if you'd be so good.' It was
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: on the north side of the choir, and rather awkwardly placed,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: only about three feet from the enclosing stone screen. Quite plain,
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: as the verger had said, but for some ordinary stone panelling.
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: A metal cross of some size on the northern side— that,
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: next to the screen, was the solitary feature of any
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: interest— Lake agreed that it was not earlier than the
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: perpendicular period. But, he said, unless it's the tomb of
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: some remarkable person, you'll forgive me for saying that I
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: don't think it's particularly noteworthy. Well, I can't say, as
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: it is the tomb of anybody noted in history, said Werby,
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: who had a dry smile on his face, for we
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: don't own any record whatsoever of who it was put
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: up to. For all that, if you've half an hour
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: to spare, sir, when we get back to the house, Mr. Lake,
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: I should tell you a tale about that, too. I
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: won't begin on it now. It strikes cold here, and
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: we don't want to be dawdling about all night. Of course,
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: I should like to hear it immensely. Very well, sir,
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: you shall. Now, if I might put a question to you,
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: he went on, as they passed down the choir aisle,
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: in our little local guide, and not only there, but
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: in the little book on our cathedral in the series,
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: you'll find it stated that this portion of the building
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: was erected previous to the twelfth century. Now, of course,
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: I should be glad enough to take that view, but— minder step, sir— but,
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: I put it to you, does the layout of the stone,
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: here in this portion of the wall, which he tapped
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: with his key, does it, to your eye, carry the
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: flavour of what you might call Saxon masonry? No, I
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: thought not. No more it does to me. Now, if
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: you'll believe me, I've said as much to those men.
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: One's the librarian of our free library here, and the
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: other came down from London on purpose. fifty times if
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: I have once, but I might just as well have
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: talked to that bit of stonework. But there it is,
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: I suppose everyone's got their opinions. The discussion of this
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: peculiar trait of human nature occupied Mr. Werby almost up
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: to the moment when he and Lake re-entered the former's house.
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: The condition of the fire in Lake's sitting-room led to
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: a suggestion from Mr. Werby that they should finish the
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: evening in his own parlour. We find them, accordingly, settled
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: there some short time afterwards. Mr. Werby made his story
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: a long one, and I will not undertake to tell
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: it wholly in his own words or in his own order.
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: Lake committed the substance of it to paper immediately after
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: hearing it, together with some few passages of the narrative
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: which had fixed themselves verbatim in his mind. I shall
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: probably find it expedient to condense Lake's record to some extent. Mr.
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: Werby was born, it appeared, about the year 1828. His
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: father before him had been connected with the cathedral, and
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: likewise his grandfather. One or both had been choristers, and
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: in later life both had done work as mason and carpenter, respectively,
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: about the fabric. Werby himself, though possessed, as he frankly acknowledged,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: of an indifferent voice, had been drafted into the choir
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: at about ten years of age. It was in 1840
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: that the wave of the Gothic revival smoked the cathedral
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: of Southminster. There was a lot of lovely stuff went then, sir,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: said Werby with a sigh. My father couldn't hardly believe
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: it when he got his orders to clear out the choir.
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: There was a new dean just come in, Dean Burskuff
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: it was, and my father had been apprenticed to a
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: good firm of joiners in the city, and knew what
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: good work was when he saw it. Cruel it was,
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: he used to say, all that beautiful wainscot oak. as
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: good as the day it was put up, and garlands
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: like of foliage and fruit, and lovely old gilding-work on
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: the coats of arms and the organ-pipes, all went to
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: the timber-yard, every bit, except some little pieces worked up
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: in the lady-chapel, and here in this over-mantel. Well, I
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: may be mistook, but I say our choir never looked
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: as well since. Still, there was a lot found out
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: about the history of the church, and no doubt but
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: what it did stand in need of repair. There was
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: very few winters past, but what we'd lose a pinnacle. Mr.
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: Lake expressed his concurrence with Werby's views of restoration, but
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: owns to a fear about this point, lest the story
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: proper should never be reached. Possibly this was perceptible in
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: his manner. Werby hastened to reassure him, not but what
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: I could carry on about that topic for hours at
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: a time, and do do when I see my opportunity.
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: But Dean Burscuff, He was very set on the Gothic period,
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: and nothing would serve him, but everything must be made
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: agreeable to that. And one morning after service he appointed
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: for my father to meet him in the choir, and
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: he came back after he'd taken off his robes in
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: the vestry, and he'd got a roll of paper with him,
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: and the verger that was then brought in a table,
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: and they begun spreading it out on the table with
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: prayer-books to keep it down, and my father helped him,
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: and he saw it was a picture of the inside
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: of a choir in a cathedral, And the Dean, he
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: was a quick-spoken gentleman, he says, Well, Werby, what did
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: you think of that? Why, says my father, I don't
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: think I have the pleasure of knowing that view. Would
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: that be Hereford Cathedral, Mr. Dean? No, Werby, says the Dean.
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: That's Southminster Cathedral, as we hoped to see it before
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: many years. Indeed, sir, says my father. And that was
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: all he did say, leastways to the Dean. But he
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: used to tell me he felt really faint in himself,
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: when he looked round our choir, as I can remember it,
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: all comfortable and furnished-like, and then see this nasty little
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: dry picture, as he called it, drawn out by some
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: London architect. Well, there I am again, but you'll see
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: what I mean if you look at this old view.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: Werby reached down a framed print from the wall. Well,
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: the long and the short of it was that the dean,
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: he handed over to my father a copy of an
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: order of the chapter that he was to clear out
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: every bit of the choir, make a clean sweep, ready
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: for the new work that was being designed up in town,
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: and he was to put it in hand as soon
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: as ever he could get the breakers together. Now then, sir,
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: if you look at that view, you'll see where the
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: pulpit used to stand. That's what I want you to notice,
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: if you please. It was indeed easily seen, an unusually
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: large structure of timber with a domed sounding-board, standing at
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: the east end of the stalls on the north side
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: of the choir, facing the bishop's throne, Werby proceeded to
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: explain that, during the alterations, services were held in the nave,
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: the members of the choir being thereby disappointed of an
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: anticipated holiday, and the organist in particular, incurring the suspicion
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: of having willfully damaged the mechanism of the temporary organ
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: that was hired at considerable expense from London. The work
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: of demolition began with the choir screen and organ loft,
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: and proceeded gradually eastwards, disclosing, as Werby said, many interesting
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: features of older work. While this was going on, the
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: members of the chapter were, naturally, in and about the
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: choir a great deal and it soon became apparent to
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: the elder Werby, who could not help overhearing some of
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: their talk, that, on the part of the senior cannons especially,
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: there must have been a good deal of disagreement before
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: the policy now being carried out had been adopted. Some
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: were of opinion that they should catch their deaths of
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: cold in the return stalls, unprotected by a screen from
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: the draughts in the nave. Others objected to being exposed
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: to the view of persons in the choir aisles, especially,
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: they said, during the sermons, when they found it helpful
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: to listen in a posture which was liable to misconstruction.
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: The strongest opposition, however, came from the oldest of the body, who,
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: up to the last moment, objected to the removal of
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: the pulpit.' You ought not to touch it, Mr. Dean,'
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: he said, with great emphasis, one morning, when the two
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: were standing before it.' You don't know what mischief you
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: may do.' Miss Drift, it's not a work of any
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: particular merit, Cannon. Don't call me Cannon, said the old
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: man with great asperity. That is, for thirty years I've
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: been known as Dr. Alof, and I shall be obliged, Mr. Dean,
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: if you would kindly humour me in that matter. And
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: as to the pulpit, which I've preached from for thirty years,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: though I don't insist on that, all I'll say is
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: I know you're doing wrong in moving it. But what
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: sense could there be, my dear doctor, in leaving it
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: where it is, when we're fitting up the rest of
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: the choir in a totally different style? What reason could
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: be given, apart from the look of the thing? Reason? Reason?
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: said old Dr. Alof. If you young men, if I
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: may say so without any disrespect, Mr. Dean, if you'd
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: only listen to reason a little, and not be always
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: asking for it, we should get on better. But there
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: I've said my say. The old gentleman hobbled off, and,
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: as it proved, never entered the cathedral again. The season,
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: it was a hot summer, turned sickly on a sudden. Dr.
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: Alof was one of the first to go, with some
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: affection of the muscles of the thorax, which took him
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: painfully at night, and, at many services, the number of
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: choirmen and boys was very thin. Meanwhile, the pulpit had
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: been done away with, In fact, the sounding-board, part of
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: which still exists as a table in a summer-house in
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: the Palace Garden, was taken down within an hour or
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: two of Dr. Alof's protest. The removal of the base,
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: not effected without considerable trouble, disclosed to view, greatly to
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: the exaltation of the restoring party, an altar-tomb, the tomb,
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: of course, to which Werby had attracted Lake's attention that
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: same evening. Much fruitless research was expended in attempts to
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: identify the occupant. From that day to this, he has
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: never had a name put to him. The structure had
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: been most carefully boxed in under the pulpit base, so
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: that such slight ornament as it possessed was not defaced.
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: Only on the north side of it there was what
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: looked like an injury, a gap between two of the
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: slabs composing the side. It might be two or three
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: inches across. Palmer the mason, was directed to fill it
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: up in a week's time, when he came to do
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: some other small jobs near that part of the choir.
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: The season was undoubtedly a very trying one. Whether the
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: church was built on a site that had once been
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: a marsh, as was suggested, or for whatever reason, the
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: residents in its immediate neighbourhood had, many of them, but
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: little enjoyment of the exquisite sunny days and the calm
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: nights of August and September, To several of the older people, Dr.
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: Alof among others, as we have seen, the summer proved
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: downright fatal. But even among the younger, few escaped either
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: a sojourn in bed for a matter of weeks, or
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: at the least a brooding sense of oppression, accompanied by
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: hateful nightmares. Gradually there formulated itself a suspicion, which grew
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: into a conviction, that the alterations in the cathedral had
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: something to say in the matter. The widow of a
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: former old verger, a pensioner of the chapter of Southminster,
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: was visited by dreams, which she retailed to her friends,
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: of a shape that slipped out of the little door
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: of the south transept as the dark fell in, and flitted,
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: taking a fresh direction every night, about the close, disappearing
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: for a while in house after house, and finally emerging
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: again when the night sky was paling. She could see
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: nothing of it, she said, but that it was a
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: moving form. Only she had an impression that when it
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: returned to the church, as it seemed to do in
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: the end of the dream, it turned its head, and
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: then she could not tell why, but she thought it
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: had red eyes. Werby remembered hearing the old lady tell
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: this dream at a tea-party in the house of the
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: chapter clerk. Its recurrence might, perhaps, he said, be taken
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: as a symptom of approaching illness. At any rate, before
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: the end of September, the old lady was in her grave.
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: The interest excited by the restoration of this great church
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: was not confined to its own county. One day that summer,
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: an FSA of some celebrity visited the place. His business
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: was to write an account of the discoveries that had
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: been made for the Society of Antiquaries, and his wife,
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: who accompanied him, was to make a series of illustrative
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: drawings for his report. In the morning she employed herself
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: in making a general sketch of the choir. In the
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: afternoon she devoted herself to details. She first drew the
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: newly exposed altar tomb, and when that was finished she
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: called her husband's attention to a beautiful piece of diaper
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: ornament on the screen just behind it, which had, like
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: the tomb itself, been completely concealed by the pulpit. Of course,
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: he said, An illustration of that must be made. So
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: she seated herself on the tomb, and began a careful drawing,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: which occupied her till dusk. Her husband had by this
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: time finished his work of measuring and description, and they
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: agreed that it was time to be getting back to
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: their hotel.' You may as well brush my skirt, Frank,'
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: said the lady.' It must have got covered with dust,
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: I'm sure.' He obeyed dutifully. but after a moment he said,
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know whether you value this dress particularly, my dear,
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: but I'm inclined to think it's seen its best days.
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: There's a great bit of it gone. Gone? Where? said she.
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know where it's gone, but it's off at
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: the bottom edge behind here. She pulled it hastily into sight,
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: and was horrified to find a jagged tear extending some
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: way into the substance of the stuff. Very much, she said,
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: as if a dog had rented away. The dress was,
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: in any case, hopelessly spoilt, to her great vexation, and
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: though they looked everywhere the missing piece could not be found.
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: There were many ways, they concluded, in which the injury
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: might have come about, for the choir was full of
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: old bits of woodwork with nails sticking out of them.
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: Finally they could only suppose that one of these had
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: caused the mischief, and that the workman, who had been
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: about all day, had carried off the particular piece, with
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 1: the fragment of dress still attached to it. It was
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: about this time, Werby thought, that his little dog began
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: to wear an anxious expression when the hour for it
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: to be put into the shed in the back yard approached,
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: for his mother had ordained that it must not sleep
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: in the house. One evening, he said, when he was
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: just going to pick it up and carry it out,
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: it looked at him like a Christian, and waved its hand,
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: I was going to say. Well, You know how they
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: do carry on sometimes. And the end of it was
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: I put it under my coat and huddled it upstairs,
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: and I'm afraid I as good as deceived my poor
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: mother on the subject. After that the dog acted very artful,
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: with hiding itself under the bed for half an hour
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: or more before bedtime came, and we worked it so
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: as my mother never found out what we'd done. Of course,
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: Werby was glad of its company anyhow, but more particularly—
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: when the nuisance that is still remembered in Southminster as
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: the crying set in. Night after night, said Werby, that
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: dog seemed to know it was coming. He'd creep out,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: he would, and snuggle into the bed and cuddle right
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: up to me, shivering. And when the crying come, he'd
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: be like a wild thing, shoving his head under my arm,
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: and I was fully near as bad. Six or seven
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: times we'd hear it, not more. And when he'd draw
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: out his head again, I'd know it was over for
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: that night, What was it like, sir? Well, I never
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: heard but one thing that seemed to hit it off.
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: I happened to be playing about in the close, and
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: there was two of the canons met and said good
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: morning one to another. Sleep well last night, says one.
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 1: It was Mr. Henslow, that one, and Mr. Lyle was
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: the other. Can't say I did, says Mr. Lyle. Rather
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: too much of Isaiah 3414 for me. 3414, says Mr. Henslow.
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: What's that? You call yourself a Bible reader, says Mr. Lyle. Mr. Henslow,
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: you must know, he was one of what used to
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: be termed Simeon's Lot, pretty much what we should call
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: the Evangelical Party. You go and look it up. I
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: wanted to know what he was getting at myself, and
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: so off I ran home and got out my own Bible,
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: and there it was. The satyr shall cry to his fellow. Well,
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: I thought, is that what we've been listening to these
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: past nights? And I tell you, it made me look
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: over my shoulder a time or two. Of course, I'd
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: asked my father and mother about what it could be
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: before that, but they both said it was most likely cats.
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 1: But they spoke very short, and I could see they
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: was troubled. My word, that was a noise! hungry-like, as
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: if it was calling after someone that wouldn't come. If
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: ever you felt you wanted company, it would be when
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: you was waiting for it to begin again. I believe
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: two or three nights there was men put on to
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: watch in different parts of the close, but they all
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: used to get together in one corner, the nearest they
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: could to the high street, and nothing came of it. Well,
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: the next thing was this. Me and another of the boys,
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: he's in business in the city now as a grocer,
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: like his father before him, We'd gone up in the
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: close after morning service was over, and we heard old
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: Palmer the mason bellowing to some of his men. So
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: we went up nearer, because we knew he was a
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: rusty old chap, and there might be some fun going.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: It appears Palmer'd told this man to stop up the
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: chink in that old tomb. Well, there was this man,
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: keeping on saying he'd done it the best he could,
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: and there was Palmer carrying on like all possessed about it.'
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: Call that making a job of it,' he says.' If
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: you had your rights, you'd get the sack for this.
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: What do you suppose I pay you your wages for?
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: What do you suppose I'm going to say to the
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: dean and chapter when they come round? As come they
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: may do at any time. And see where you've been
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: bungling about, covering the old place with mess and plaster,
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: and Lord knows what. Well, master, I've done the best
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: I could, says the man. I don't know no more
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: than what you do, having come to fall out this way.
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: I tamped it right in the hole, he says. And
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: how it's fell out, he says, I never see. Fell out,
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: says old Palmer. Why, it's nowhere near the place. Glowed out,
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: you mean. And he picked up a piece of plaster,
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: and so did I, that was laying up against the screen,
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: three or four feet off, and not dry yet. And
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: old Palmer, he looked at it curious-like, and then he
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: turned round on me, and he says, Now then, you boys,
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: have you been up to some of your games here? No,
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: I says. I haven't, Mr. Palmer. There's none of us
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: been about here till just this minute. And while I
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: was talking, the other boy, Evans, he got looking in
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: through the chink. and I heard him draw in his breath,
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: and he came away sharp and up to us, and,
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: says he, I believe there's something in there, I saw
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: something shiny. What? I dare say, says old Palmer. Well,
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: I ain't got time to stop about there. You, William,
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: you go off and get some more stuff and make
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: a job of it this time. If not, there'll be
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: trouble in my yard, he says. So the man, he
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: went off, and Palmer too, and us boys stopped behind,
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: and I says to Evans, Did you really see anything
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: in there? Yes, he says, I did indeed. So then
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: I says, Let's shove something in and stir it up.
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: And we tried several of the bits of wood that
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: was laying about, but they were all too big. Then Evans,
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: he had a sheet of music he'd brought with him,
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: an anthem or a service, I forget which it was now,
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: and he rolled it up small and shoved it in
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: the chink. Two or three times he did it, and
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: nothing happened. Give it me, boy, I said, and I
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: had a try. No, nothing happened. Then I don't know
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: why I thought of it, I'm sure, but I stooped
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: down just opposite the chink, and put my two fingers
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: into my mouth and whistled, you know the way, and
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: at that I seemed to think I heard something stirring,
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: and I says to Evans, Come away, I says, I
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: don't like this. Oh, rot, he says, give me that roll,
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: and he took it and shoved it in, and I
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: don't think I ever see anyone go so pale as
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: he did. I say, Werby, he says, it's caught, or
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: else someone's got hold of it. Pull it out or
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: leave it, I says, Come, and let's get off. So
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: he gave a good pull, and it came away, at
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: least most of it did, but the end was gone.
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: Torn off it was, and Evans looked at it for
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: a second, and then he gave a sort of a croak,
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: and let it drop, and we both made off out
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: of there as quick as ever we could. When we
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: got outside, Evans says to me, Did you see the
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: end of that paper? No, I says, only it was torn. Yes,
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: it was, he says, but it was wet, too, and black. Oh,
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: partly because of the fright we had, and partly because
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: that music was wanted in a day or two and
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 1: we knew there'd be a set-up about it with the
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: organist we didn't say nothing to anyone else and i
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: suppose the workmen they swept up the bit that was
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: left along with the rest of the rubbish but evans
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: if you was to ask him this very day about
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: it he'd stick to it he saw that paper wet
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: and black at the end where it was torn after
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: that the boys gave the choir a wide berth so
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: that werby was not sure What was the result of
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: the mason's renewed mending of the tomb? Only he made out,
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: from fragments of conversation dropped by the workmen passing through
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: the choir, that some difficulty had been met with, and
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: that the governor, Mr. Palmer, to wit, had tried his
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: own hand at the job. A little later he happened
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: to see Mr. Palmer himself knocking at the door of
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: the deanery and being admitted by the butler. A day
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: or so after that, he gathered from a remark his
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: father let fall at breakfast, that something a little out
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: of the common was to be done in the cathedral
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 1: after morning service on the morrow. And I'd just as
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: soon it was to-day, his father added. I don't see
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: the use of running risks. Father, I said, what are
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: you going to do in the cathedral to-morrow? And he
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: turned on me, as savage as I ever see him.
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 1: He was a wonderful, good-tempered man, as a general thing
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: my poor father was. My lad, he says, I'll trouble
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: you not to go picking up your elders and betters' talk.
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: It's not manners, and it's not straight. What I'm going
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: to do, or not going to do, in the cathedral
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: to-morrow is none of your business. And if I catch
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: sight of you hanging about the place to-morrow, after your
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: work's done, I'll send you home with a flea in
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 1: your ear. Now you mind that. Of course I said
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: I was very sorry, and that, and equally, of course,
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: I went off and laid my plans with Evans. We
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: knew there was a stair up in the corner of
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: the transept, which you can get up to the triforium.
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: and in them days the door to it was pretty
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: well always open, and even if it wasn't, we knew
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: the key usually laid under a bit of matting hard by,
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: so we made up our minds we'd be putting away
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 1: music and that next morning while the rest of the
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: boys was clearing off, and then slip up the stairs
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: and watch from the triforium if there was any signs
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: of work going on. Well, that same night I dropped
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: off asleep as sound as a boy does, and all
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: of a sudden the dog woke me up, coming into
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: the bed, and thought I, now we're going to get
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: it sharp, for he seemed more frightened than usual. After
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: about five minutes, sure enough, came this cry, I can't
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: give you no idea what it was like, and so
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: near too, nearer than I'd heard it yet. And a
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: funny thing, Mr. Lake, you know what a place this
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: close is for an echo, and particular if you stand
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: this side of it. Well, this crying never made no
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: sign of an echo at all, but as I said
• 1:55:47
  Speaker 1: it was dreadful near this night, and on the top
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: of the start I got with hearing it I got
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: another fright, for I heard something rustling outside in the passage. Now,
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: to be sure, I thought I was done, but I
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: noticed the dog seemed to perk up a bit, and
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 1: next there was someone whispered outside the door, and I
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: very near laughed out loud, for I knew it was
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 1: my father and mother that had got out of bed
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: with the noise. Whatever is it? says my mother. Hush,
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know, says my father, excited like. Don't disturb
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: the boy. I hope he didn't hear nothing. So me,
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: knowing they was just outside, it made me bolder, and
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: I slipped out of my bed across to my little window,
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: giving on the close. But the dog, he bored right
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 1: down to the bottom of the bed, and I looked out.
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: First go off, I couldn't see anything, then right down
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: in the shadow, under a buttress, I made out what
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: I shall always say was two spots of red, a
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: dull red it was, nothing like a lamp or a fire,
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: but just so as you could pick them out of
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: the black shadow. I hadn't but just sighted them, when
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: it seemed we wasn't the only people that had been disturbed,
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: because I see a window in a house on the
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: left-hand side become lighted up, and the light moving. I
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: just turned my head to make sure of it, and
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 1: then looked back into the shadow for those two red things,
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: and they was gone, and for all I peered about
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: and stared, there was not a sign more of them. Then,
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: come my last fright that night, something come against my
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: bare leg, put That was all right, that was my
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: little dog that had come out of bed, and prancing about,
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: making a great to-do, only holding his tongue, and me,
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: seeing he was quite in spirits again, I took him
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: back to bed, and we slept the night out. Next
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: morning I made out to tell my mother I'd had
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: the dog in my room, and I was surprised, after
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: all she'd said about it before, how quiet she took it.'
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: Did you?' she says.' Well, by good rights. You ought
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: to go without your breakfast for doing such a thing
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: behind my back.' but I don't know if there's any
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: great harm done. Only another time you ask my permission,
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 1: do you hear?' A bit after that I said something
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: to my father about having heard the cats again.' Cats?'
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: he says, and he looked over at my poor mother.
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: She coughed, and he says,' Oh, yes, cats, I believe
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: I heard them myself.' That was a funny morning altogether.
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: Nothing seemed to go right. The organist, he stopped in bed,
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: and the minor, Cannon, he forgot it was the nineteenth day,
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: and waited for the Venite, and after a bit, the deputy,
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 1: he set off playing the chant for Evensong, which was
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: a minor, and then the Dicani boys were laughing so
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: much they couldn't sing, and when it came to the anthem,
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: the solo boy, He got took with the giggles, and
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: made out his nose was bleeding, and shoved the book
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: at me, what hadn't practised the verse, and wasn't much
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: of a singer, if I had known it. Well, things
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 1: was rougher, you see, fifty years ago, and I got
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: a nip from the counter-tenor behind me that I remembered.
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: So we got through somehow, and neither the men nor
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: the boys weren't by way of waiting to see whether
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: the canon in residence, Mr. Henslow it was, would come
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: to the vestries and fine him, but I don't believe
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: he did. For one thing, I fancy he'd read the
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: wrong lesson for the first time in his life, and
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: knew it. Anyhow, Evans and me didn't find no difficulty
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: in slipping up the stairs, as I told you, and
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: when we got up, we laid ourselves down flat on
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: our stomachs, where we could just stretch our heads out
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: over the old tomb, and we hadn't but just done
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: so when we heard the verger that was then, first
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: shutting the iron porch gates, and locking the south-west door,
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: and then the transept door, so we knew there was
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: something up and they meant to keep the public out
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: for a bit. Next thing was, the dean and the
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: canon come in by their door on the north, and
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: then I see my father, and old Palmer, and a
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: couple of their best men, and Palmer stood a-talking for
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: a bit with the dean in the middle of the choir.
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: He had a coil of rope, and the men had crows.
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: All of them looked a bit nervous. So there they
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: stood talking, and at last I heard the dean say, Well,
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: I've no time to waste, Palmer. If you think this
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: will satisfy Southminster people, I'll permit it to be done.
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 1: But I must say this, that never in the whole
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: course of my life have I heard such arrant nonsense
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: from a practical man as I have from you. Don't
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: you agree with me, Henslow? As far as I could hear, Mr.
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: Henslow said something like, Oh, well, we're told, aren't we, Mr. Dean,
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: not to judge others? And the Dean, he gave a
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: kind of sniff, and walked straight up to the tomb,
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 1: and took his stand behind it, with his back to
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: the screen. and the others they came edging up rather gingerly. Henslow,
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: he stopped on the south side and scratched on his chin,
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: he did. Then the dean spoke up. Palmer, he says,
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: which can you do easiest, get the slab off the
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 1: top or shift one of the side slabs? Old Palmer
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: and his men, they potted about a bit, looking round
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: the edge of the top slab and sounding the sides
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: on the south and east and west, and everywhere but
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: the north. Henslow said something about it being better to
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: have a try at the south side, because there was
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: more light and more room to move about in. Then
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: my father, who'd been watching of them, went round to
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: the north side, and knelt down and felt at the
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: slab by the chink, and he got up and dusted
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 1: his knees, and says to the dean, Beg pardon, Mr. Dean,
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: but I think if Mr. Palmer'll try this here slab,
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: he'll find it'll come out easy enough. Seems to me
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: one of the men could prize it out with his
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: crow by means of this chink. Ah, thank you, Werby,
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: says the dean. That's a good suggestion. Palmer, let one
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 1: of your men do that, will you? So the man
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: come round and put his bar in and bore on it,
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 1: and just that minute when they were all bending over,
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: and we boys got our heads well out over the
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: edge of the triforium, there come a most fearful crash
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: down at the west end of the choir, as if
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 1: a whole stack of big timber had fallen down a
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: flight of stairs. Well, you can't expect me to tell
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: you everything that happened all in a minute. Of course
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: there was a terrible commotion. I heard the slab fall
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: out and the crowbar on the floor, and I heard
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: the dean say, Good God! When I looked down again,
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: I saw the dean tumble over on the floor. The
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: men was making off down the choir. Henslow was just
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: going to help the dean up. Palmer was going to
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: stop the men, as he said afterwards, and my father
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: was sitting on the altar step with his face in
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 1: his hands. The dean, he was very cross. I wish
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: to goodness you'd look where you're coming to, Henslow, he says.
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: Why you should all take to your heels when a
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: stick of wood tumbles down, I cannot imagine. And all
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: Henslow could do' explaining he was right away on the
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: other side of the tomb,' would not satisfy him.' Then
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: Palmer came back, and reported' there was nothing to account
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: for this noise,' and nothing seemingly fallen down.' And when
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: the dean finished feeling of himself,' they gathered round, except
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 1: my father.' He sat where he was.' And someone lighted
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: up a bit of candle,' and they looked into the tomb.'
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 1: Nothing there,' says the dean.' What did I tell you?' Say,
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 1: here's something.' What' s this?' a bit of music-paper, and a
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: piece of torn stuff, part of a dress, it looks like,
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: both quite modern, no interest whatever. Another time perhaps you'll
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: take the advice of an educated man, or something like that.
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 1: And off he went, limping a bit, and out through
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: the north door. Only, as he went, he called back
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: angry to Palmer for leaving the door standing open. Palmer
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: called out, Very sorry, sir, but he shrugged his shoulders,
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 1: and Henslow says, I fancy Mr. Dean's mistaken. I closed
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: the door behind me, but he's a little upset. Then
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: Palmer says, Why, where's Werby? And they saw him sitting
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: on the step, and went up to him. He was
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: recovering himself, it seemed, and wiping his forehead, and Palmer
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: helped him up onto his legs, as I was glad
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: to see. They were too far off for me to
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: hear what they said, but my father pointed to the
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: north door in the aisle, and Palmer and Henslow, both
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: of them looked very surprised and scared. After a bit,
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: My father and Hensler went out of the church, and
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: the others made what haste they could to put the
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: slab back and plaster it in. And about as the
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 1: clock struck twelve, the cathedral was opened again, and us
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: boys made the best of our way home. I was
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: in a great taking to know what it was had
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 1: given my poor father such a turn, and when I
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: got in and found him sitting in his chair, taking
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: a glass of spirits, and my mother standing looking anxious
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: at him, I couldn't keep from bursting out and making
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: confession where I'd been. But— He didn't seem to take on,
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: not in the way of losing his temper. You was there,
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: was you? Well, did you see it? I seed everything, father,
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: I said, except where the noise came. Did you see
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: what it was knocked the dean over, he says, that
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: what come out of the monument? You didn't? Well, that's
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: a mercy. Why, what was it, father, I said? Come,
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: you must have seen it, he says. Didn't you see?
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: A thing like a man, all over hair, and two
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: great eyes to it. Well, that was all I could
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: get out of him that time, and later on he
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 1: seemed as if he was ashamed of being so frightened,
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: and he used to put me off when I asked
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: him about it. But years after, when I was got
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: to be a grown man, we had more talk now
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: and again on the matter, and he always said the
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: same thing, black it was, he'd say, and a mass
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: of hair and two legs, and the light caught on
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: its eyes. Well, that's the tale of that tomb, Mr. Lake.
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: It's one we don't tell to our visitors, and I
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 1: should be obliged to you, not to make any use
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: of it till I'm out of the way. I doubt Mr.
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 1: Evans will feel the same as I do, if you
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 1: ask him. This proved to be the case, but over
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: twenty years have passed by, and the grass is growing
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: over both Werby and Evans, so Mr. Lake felt no
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: difficulty about communicating his notes, taken in 1890, to me.
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: He accompanied them with a sketch of the tomb and
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: a copy of the short inscription on the metal cross
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: which was affixed, at the expense of Dr. Lyall, to
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: the centre of the northern side. It was from the
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: Vulgate of Isaiah, verse 34, and consisted merely of the
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 1: three words, Ibi, Cubavit, Lamia. End of chapter 3 CHAPTER
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: FOUR OF A THIN GHOST AND OTHERS by M. R. JAMES.
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: Peter Yearsley. THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: The letters which I now publish were sent to me
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: recently by a person who knows me to be interested
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: in ghost stories. There is no doubt about their authenticity.
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: The paper on which they are written, the ink, and
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 1: the whole external aspect put their date beyond the reach
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 1: of question. The only point which they do not make
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: clear is the identity of the writer. He signs with
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: initials only, and, as none of the envelopes of the
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: letters are preserved, the surname of his correspondent, obviously a
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: married brother, is as obscure as his own. No further
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 1: preliminary explanation is needed, I think. Luckily— the first letter
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: supplies all that could be expected. Letter 1. Great Chris Hall,
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: December 22nd, 1837. My dear Robert, it is with great
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: regret for the enjoyment I am losing, and for a
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: reason which you will deplore equally with myself, that I
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: write to inform you that I am unable to join
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: your circle for this Christmas. But you will agree with
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: me that it is unavoidable when I say that I
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: have within these few hours, received a letter from Mrs.
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: Hunt at B blank, to the effect that our Uncle
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: Henry has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and begging me to
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: go down there immediately and join the search that is
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: being made for him. Little as I, or you either,
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: I think, have ever seen of Uncle, I naturally feel
• 2:07:51
  Speaker 1: that this is not a request that can be regarded lightly,
• 2:07:54
  Speaker 1: and accordingly I propose to go to B. by this
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 1: afternoon's mail, reaching it late in the evening. I shall
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 1: not go to the rectory, but put up at the
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: King's Head, and to which you may address letters. I
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: enclose a small draft, which you will please make use of,
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: for the benefit of the young people. I shall write
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: to you daily, supposing me to be detained more than
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: a single day. What goes on? and you may be sure,
• 2:08:21
  Speaker 1: should the business be cleared up in time to permit
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: of my coming to the manor after all, I shall
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: present myself. I have but a few minutes at disposal.
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 1: With cordial greetings to you all, and many regrets, believe me,
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 1: your affectionate brother, W.R. Letter 2. King's Head, December 23rd, 37.
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: My dear Robert, in the first place there is as
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: yet no news of Uncle H., and I think you
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 1: may finally dismiss any idea— I won't say hope— that I might,
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: after all, turn up for Christmas. However, my thoughts will
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 1: be with you, and you have my best wishes for
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 1: a really festive day. Mind that none of my nephews
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: or nieces expend any fraction of their guineas on presents
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: for me. Since I got here, I have been blaming
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: myself for taking this affair of Uncle H. too easily—
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: From what people here say, I gather that there is
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: very little hope that he can still be alive. But
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: whether it is accident or design that carried him off,
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 1: I cannot judge. The facts are these. On Friday the 19th,
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 1: he went as usual, shortly before five o'clock, to read
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: evening prayers at the church, and when they were over,
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: the clerk brought him a message, in response to which
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: he set off to pay a visit to a sick
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: person at an outlying cottage, the better part of two
• 2:09:46
  Speaker 1: miles away. He paid the visit, and started on his
• 2:09:49
  Speaker 1: return journey at about half-past six. This is the last
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: that is known of him. The people here are very
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: much grieved at his loss. He had been here many years,
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 1: as you know, and though, as you also know, he
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: was not the most genial of men, and had more
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: than a little of the Martinet in his composition, he
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 1: seems— to have been active in good works and unsparing
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: of trouble to himself. Poor Mrs. Hunt, who has been
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: his housekeeper ever since she left Woodley, is quite overcome.
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 1: It seems like the end of the world to her.
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: I am glad that I did not entertain the idea
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: of taking quarters at the rectory, and I have declined
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 1: several kindly offers of hospitality from people in the place,
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 1: preferring as I do to be independent, and finding myself
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 1: very comfortable here, You will, of course, wish to know
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 1: what has been done in the way of inquiry and search. First,
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: nothing was to be expected from investigation at the rectory, and,
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: to be brief, nothing has transpired. I asked Mrs. Hunt,
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: as others had done before, whether there was either any
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 1: unfavourable symptom in her master, such as might portend a
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 1: sudden stroke or attack of illness, or whether he had
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: ever had reason to apprehend any such thing. but both
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 1: she and also his medical man were clear that this
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 1: was not the case. He was quite in his usual health.
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: In the second place, naturally, ponds and streams have been dragged,
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: and fields in the neighbourhood which he is known to
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: have visited last have been surged without result. I have
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: myself talked to the parish clerk, and, more important, have
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 1: been to the house where he paid his visit, There
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 1: can be no question of any foul play on these
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: people's part. The one man in the house is ill
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: in bed and very weak. The wife and the children,
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 1: of course, could do nothing themselves, nor is there the
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 1: shadow of a probability that they or any of them
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 1: should have agreed to decoy poor Uncle H. out in
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 1: order that he might be attacked on the way back.
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 1: They had told what they knew to several other inquirers already,
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: but the woman repeated it to me. The rector was
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 1: looking just as usual. He wasn't very long with the
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 1: sick man. He ain't, she said, like some what has
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 1: a gift in prayer, but there if we was all
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: that way, however would the chapel people get their living.
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 1: He left some money when he went away, and one
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 1: of the children saw him cross the stile into the
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 1: next field. He was dressed as he always was, wore
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 1: his bands. I gather he is nearly the last man
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 1: remaining who does so, at any rate, in this district.
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 1: You see, I am putting down everything. The fact is
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: that I have nothing else to do, having brought no
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 1: business papers with me, and, moreover, it serves to clear
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 1: my own mind, and may suggest points which have been overlooked.
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 1: So I shall continue to write all that passes, even
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: to conversations, if need be. You may read or not,
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 1: as you please, but pray keep the letters. I have
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: another reason for writing so fully, but it is not
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: a very tangible one. you may ask if I have
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 1: myself made any search in the fields near the cottage.
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 1: Something— a good deal— has been done by others, as I mentioned,
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: but I hope to go over the ground to-morrow. Bow
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 1: Street has now been informed, and will send down by
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: to-night's coach, but I do not think they will make
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: much of the job. There is no snow, which might
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: have helped us. The fields are all grass. Of course,
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: I was on the quiveve, for— any indication to-day both
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: going and returning, but there was a thick mist on
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: the way back, and I was not in trim for
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: wandering about unknown pastures, especially on an evening when bushes
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: looked like men, and a cow lowing in the distance
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 1: might have been the last trump. I assure you, if
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 1: Uncle Henry had stepped out from among the trees in
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: a little copse which borders the path at one place—
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 1: carrying his head under his arm, I should have been
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 1: very little more uncomfortable than I was. To tell you
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 1: the truth, I was rather expecting something of the kind.
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 1: But I must drop my pen for the moment. Mr. Lucas,
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: the curate, is announced. Later. Mr. Lucas has been and gone,
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 1: and there is not much beyond the decencies of ordinary
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: sentiment to be got from him. I can see that
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 1: he has given up any idea that the rector can
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 1: be alive.' and that, so far as he can be,
• 2:14:31
  Speaker 1: he is truly sorry. I can also discern that, even
• 2:14:36
  Speaker 1: in a more emotional person than Mr. Lucas, Uncle Henry
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: was not likely to inspire strong attachment. Besides Mr. Lucas,
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: I have had another visitor in the shape of my
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 1: bonny face, mine host of the king's head, who came
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 1: to see whether I had everything I wished, and who
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: really requires the pen of a boz to do him justice.
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: He was very solemn and weighty at first.' Well, sir,'
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 1: he said,' I suppose we must bow our head beneath
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: the blow,' as my poor wife had used to say.
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: So far as I can gather there's been neither hide
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 1: nor yet hair of our late respected incumbent sent it
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 1: out as yet. Not that he was what the Scripture
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 1: terms a hairy man in any sense of the word.
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 1: I said as well as I could that I supposed not,
• 2:15:23
  Speaker 1: but could not help adding that I had heard he
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 1: was sometimes a little difficult to deal with. Mr. Bowman
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 1: looked at me sharply for a moment, and then passed
• 2:15:32
  Speaker 1: in a flash from solemn sympathy to impassioned declamation.' When
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 1: I think,' he said,' of the language that man see
• 2:15:39
  Speaker 1: fit to employ to me in this here parlour over
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 1: no more a matter than a cask of beer, such
• 2:15:45
  Speaker 1: a thing as I told him might happen any day
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: of the week to a man with a family,' though,
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 1: as it turned out, he was quite under a mistake,
• 2:15:51
  Speaker 1: and that I knew at the time, only I was
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: that shocked to hear him. I couldn't lay my tongue
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: to the right expression. He stopped abruptly and eyed me
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 1: with some embarrassment. I only said, Dear me, I'm sorry
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: to hear you had any little differences. I suppose my
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 1: uncle will be a good deal missed in the parish? Mr.
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 1: Bowman drew a long breath. Ah, yes, he said. Your uncle!
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: You'll understand me when I say that for the moment
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 1: it has slipped my remembrance that he was a relative.
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: and natural enough, I must say, as it should, for
• 2:16:21
  Speaker 1: as to you bearing any resemblance to— to him— the notion of
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 1: any such a thing is clean ridiculous. All the same,
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: and I have bore it in my mind, you'll be
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: among the first to feel, I'm sure, as I should
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 1: have abstained my lips, or rather I should not have
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 1: abstained my lips with no such reflections. I assured him
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: that I quite understood, and was going to have asked
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 1: him some further questions, but he was called away to
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 1: see after some business. By the way, you need not
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 1: take it into your head that he has anything to
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 1: fear from the inquiry into poor Uncle Henry's disappearance, though,
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 1: no doubt, in the watches of the night it will
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 1: occur to him that I think he has, and I
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 1: may expect explanations to-morrow. I must close this letter. It
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 1: has to go by the late coach. Letter 3 December 25,
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: 1937 My dear Robert— This is a curious letter to
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: be writing on Christmas Day, and yet, after all, there
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 1: is nothing much in it. Or there may be. You
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: shall be the judge. At least, nothing decisive. The Bow
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: Street men practically say that they have no clue. The
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 1: length of time and the weather conditions have made all
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 1: tracks so faint as to be quite useless. Nothing that
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: belonged to the dead man— I' m afraid no other word will
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 1: do— has been picked up. As I expected, Mr. Bowman was
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 1: uneasy in his mind this morning. Quite early I heard
• 2:17:49
  Speaker 1: him holding forth in a very distinct voice— purposely, so I
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: thought— to the Bow Street officers in the bar, as to
• 2:17:57
  Speaker 1: the loss that the town had sustained in their rector,
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: and as to the necessity of leaving no stone unturned— he
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: was very great on this phrase— in order to covet the
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: truth— and I suspect him of being an orator of repute
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: at convivial meetings. When I was at breakfast he came
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 1: to wait on me, and took an opportunity, when handing
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: a muffin, to say in a low tone, I hope, sir,
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: you recognise as my feelings towards your relative is not
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 1: actuated by any taint of what you may call malignity.
• 2:18:30
  Speaker 1: You can leave the room, Eliza, or I will see
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 1: the gentleman as all he requires with my own hands.
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 1: I ask your pardon, sir, but you must be well
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: aware a man is not always master of himself. and
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 1: when that man has been hurt in his mind by
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: the application of expressions which I will go so far
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: as to say had not ought to have been made
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: use of— His voice was rising all this time, and
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: his face growing redder. No, sir, and here, if you
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 1: will permit of it, I should like to explain to
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 1: you in a very few words the exact state of
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: the bone of contention. This cask— I might more truly call
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: it a firkin of beer— I felt it was time
• 2:19:05
  Speaker 1: to interpose, and said that I did not see that
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: it would help us very much. to go into that
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 1: matter in detail. Mr. Bowman acquiesced, and resumed more calmly.' Well, sir,
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: I bow to your ruling, and, as you say, be
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: that here or be it there, it don't contribute a
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: great deal, perhaps, to the present question. All I wish
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 1: you to understand is that I am prepared, as you
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 1: are yourself, to lend every hand to the business we
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: have afore us, and, as I took the opportunity to
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 1: say as much to the officers not three-quarters of an
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: hour ago, to leave no stone unturned as may throw
• 2:19:38
  Speaker 1: even a spark of light on this painful matter. In fact, Mr.
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 1: Bowman did accompany us on our exploration, but though I
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: am sure his genuine wish was to be helpful, I
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 1: am afraid he did not contribute to the serious side
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: of it. He appeared to be under the impression that
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 1: we were likely to meet either Uncle Henry or the
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: person responsible for his disappearance, walking about the fields— and
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 1: did a great deal of shading his eyes with his hand,
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 1: and calling our attention, by pointing with his stick, to
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 1: distant cattle and labourers. He held several long conversations with
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 1: old women whom we met, and was very strict and
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 1: severe in his manner, but on each occasion returned to
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: our party, saying,' Well, I find she don't seem to
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 1: have no connection with this sad affair. I think you
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: may take it from me, sir, as there's little or
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: no light to be looked for from that quarter.' not
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 1: without she's keeping something back intentional. We gained no appreciable result,
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: as I told you at starting. The Bow Street men
• 2:20:41
  Speaker 1: have left the town, whether for London or not, I
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 1: am not sure. This evening I had company in the
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 1: shape of a bagman, a smartish fellow. He knew what
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 1: was going forward, but, though he has been on the
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 1: roads for some days about here, he had nothing to
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 1: tell of suspicious characters, tramps, wandering sailors, or gypsies. He
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 1: was very full of a capital Punch and Judy show
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 1: he had seen this same day at W— blank, and asked
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 1: if it had been here yet, and advised me by
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 1: no means to miss it if it does come. The
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 1: best Punch and the best Toby Dog, he said, he
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 1: had ever come across. Toby Dogs, you know, are the
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 1: last new thing in the shows. I have only seen
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: one myself, but before long all the men will have them. Now, Why,
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 1: you will want to know, do I trouble to write
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 1: all this to you? I am obliged to do it,
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: because it has something to do with another absurd trifle,
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 1: as you will inevitably say, which, in my present state
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: of rather unquiet fancy— nothing more, perhaps— I have to put down.
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 1: It is a dream, sir, which I am going to record,
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: and I must say it is one of the oddest
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 1: I have had. Is there anything in it beyond what
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 1: the bagman's talk and Uncle Henry's disappearance could have suggested? You,
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 1: I repeat, shall judge. I am not in a sufficiently
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 1: cool and judicial frame to do so. It began with
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: what I can only describe as a pulling aside of curtains,
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 1: and I found myself seated in a place, I don't
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: know whether indoors or out. There were people, only a few,
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: on either side of me, but I did not recognise them,
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: or indeed think much about them. They never spoke, but,
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 1: so far as I remember, were all grave and pale-faced,
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 1: and looked fixedly before them. Facing me there was a
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: Punch and Judy show, perhaps rather larger than the ordinary ones,
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 1: painted with black figures on a reddish-yellow ground. Behind it,
• 2:22:50
  Speaker 1: and on each side, was only darkness, but in front
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: there was a sufficiency of light. I was strung up
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 1: to a high degree of expectation, and listened every moment
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: to hear the pan-pipes and the rooted-to-do-it. Instead of that,
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: there came suddenly an enormous— I can use no other word— an
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: enormous single toll of a bell, I don't know from
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 1: how far off, somewhere behind. The little curtain flew up,
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: and the drama began. I believe someone once tried to
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 1: rewrite Punch as a serious tragedy. But whoever he may
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: have been, this performance would have suited him exactly. There
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 1: was something satanic about the hero. He varied his methods
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 1: of attack. For some of his victims he lay in wait,
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: and to see his horrible face— it was yellowish-white, I may
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 1: remark— peering round the wings, made me think of the vampire
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 1: in Fuseli's foul sketch. To others he was polite and carneying,
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 1: particularly to the unfortunate alien who can only say shalabala,
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: though what punch said I never could catch. But with
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 1: all of them I came to dread the moment of death.
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 1: The crack of the stick on their skulls, which in
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: the ordinary way delights me, had here a crushing sound,
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: as if the bone was giving way, and the victims
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: quivered and kicked as they lay. The baby, it sounds
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: more ridiculous as I go on, The baby, I am sure,
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 1: was alive. Punch wrung its neck, and if the choke
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 1: or squeak which it gave were not real, I know
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: nothing of reality. The stage got perceptibly darker as each
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: crime was consummated, and at last there was one murder
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: which was done quite in the dark, so that I
• 2:24:42
  Speaker 1: could see nothing of the victim, and took some time
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 1: to effect. It was accompanied by hard breathing and horrible
• 2:24:50
  Speaker 1: muffled sounds, and after it Punch came and SAT ON
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 1: THE FOOTBOARD, AND FANNED HIMSELF, AND LOOKED AT HIS SHOES,
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: WHICH WERE BLOODY, HAD HUNG HIS HEAD ON ONE SIDE,
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: AND SNIGGERED IN SO DEADLY A FASHION THAT I SAW
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: SOME OF THOSE BESIDE ME COVER THEIR FACES, AND I
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 1: WOULD GLADLY HAVE DONE THE SAME. BUT IN THE MEANTIME
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 1: THE SCENE BEHIND PUNCH WAS CLEARING, AND SHOWED NOT THE
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 1: USUAL HOUSE FRONT, BUT SOMETHING MORE AMBITIOUS, A GROVE OF
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: TREES AND THE GENTLE SLOPE OF A HILL, with a
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 1: very natural, in fact I should say a real, moon
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 1: shining on it. Over this there rose slowly an object
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: which I soon perceived to be a human figure with
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: something peculiar about the head, what I was unable at
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 1: first to see. It did not stand on its feet,
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: but began creeping or dragging itself across the middle distance
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 1: towards Punch, who still sat back to it. and by
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: this time, I may remark, though it did not occur
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: to me at the moment, that all pretense of this
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 1: being a puppet show had vanished. Punch was still Punch,
• 2:25:59
  Speaker 1: it is true, but, like the others, was, in some sense,
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: a live creature, and both moved themselves at their own will.
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: When I next glanced at him, he was sitting in
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 1: malignant reflection, but in another instant something seemed to attract
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 1: his attention. and he first sat up sharply and then
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: turned round, and evidently caught sight of the person that
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: was approaching him, and was in fact now very near. Then, indeed,
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: did he show unmistakable signs of terror. Catching up his stick,
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 1: he rushed towards the wood, only just eluding the arm
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: of his pursuer, which was suddenly flung out to intercept him.
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 1: It was with a revulsion which I cannot easily express,
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 1: that I now saw, more or less clearly, what this
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: pursuer was like. He was a sturdy figure, clad in black, and,
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 1: as I thought, wearing bands. His head was covered with
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 1: a whitish bag. The chase which now began lasted I
• 2:26:59
  Speaker 1: do not know how long, now among the trees, now
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: along the slope of the field, sometimes both figures disappearing
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: wholly for a few seconds— and only some uncertain sounds
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: letting one know that they were still afoot. At length
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 1: there came a moment when Punch, evidently exhausted, staggered in
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 1: from the left and threw himself down among the trees.
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 1: His pursuer was not long after him and came looking
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 1: uncertainly from side to side. Then, catching sight of the
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 1: figure on the ground, he too threw himself down, his
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 1: back was turned to the audience, and with a swift
• 2:27:34
  Speaker 1: motion twitched the covering from his head and thrust his
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 1: face into that of punch. Everything on the instant grew dark.
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 1: There was one long, loud, shuddering scream, and I awoke
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: to find myself looking straight into the face of— what in
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 1: all the world do you think but a large owl,
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: which was seated on my windowsill, immediately opposite my bed-foot,
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 1: holding up its wings like two shrouded arms. I caught
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 1: the fierce glance of its yellow eyes, and then it
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 1: was gone. I heard the single enormous bell again, very likely,
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: as you are saying to yourself, the church clock, but
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 1: I do not think so. And then I was broad awake.
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 1: All this, I may say, happened within the last half hour.
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 1: There was no probability of my getting to sleep again,
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 1: so I got up, put on clothes enough to keep
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: me warm, and am writing this rigmarole in the first
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 1: hours of Christmas Day. Have I left out anything? Yes,
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: there was no Toby Dog, and the names over the
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: front of the Punch and Judy booth were Kidman and Gallop,
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 1: which were certainly not what the bagman told me to
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 1: look out for. By this time I feel little more
• 2:28:53
  Speaker 1: as if I could sleep, so this shall be sealed
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 1: and wafered. Letter 4 December 26, 1937 My dear Robert,
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 1: All is over. The body has been found. I do
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 1: not make excuses for not having sent off my news
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 1: by last night's mail, for the simple reason that I
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 1: was incapable of putting pen to paper. The events that
• 2:29:18
  Speaker 1: attended the discovery bewildered me so completely that I needed
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 1: what I could get of a night's rest to enable
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 1: me to face the situation at all. Now I can
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: give you my journal of the day, certainly the strangest
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 1: Christmas day that ever I spent, or am likely to spend.
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 1: The first incident was not very serious. Mr. Bowman had,
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: I think, been keeping Christmas Eve, and was a little
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: inclined to be captious. At least, he was not on
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 1: foot very early, and, to judge from what I could hear,
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 1: neither men nor maids could do anything to please him.
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: the latter were certainly reduced to tears, nor am I
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 1: sure that Mr. Bowman succeeded in preserving a manly composure.
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: At any rate, when I came downstairs, it was in
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 1: a broken voice that he wished me the compliments of
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 1: the season, and a little later on, when he paid
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 1: his visit of ceremony at breakfast, he was far from cheerful,
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: even ironic, I might almost say, in his outlook on life.'
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know,' he said,' if you think with me, sir,
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 1: but Every Christmas that comes round the world seems a
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 1: hollerer thing to me. Why, take an example now from
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 1: what lays under my own eye. There's my servant Eliza,
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 1: been with me now for going on fifteen years. I
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 1: thought I could have placed my confidence in Eliza, and
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: yet this very morning— Christmas morning, too, of all the blessed
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 1: days in the year, with the bells a-ringing and all
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 1: like that— I say, this very morning, had it not been
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 1: for Providence watching over us all, that girl would have
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 1: put Indeed, I may go so far as to say
• 2:30:56
  Speaker 1: I'd put the cheese on your breakfast-table. He saw I
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 1: was about to speak, and waved his hand at me.
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 1: It's all very well for you to say, Yes, Mr. Bowman,
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: but you took away the cheese and locked it up
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 1: in the cupboard, which I did, and have the key here,
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: or if not the actual key, one very much about
• 2:31:13
  Speaker 1: the same size. That's true enough, sir, but what do
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 1: you think is the effect of that action on me? Why,
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: it's no exaggeration for me to say that the ground
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 1: is cut from under my feet, and yet When I
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 1: said as much to Eliza, not nasty, mind you, but
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: just firm like, what was my return? Oh, she says, well,
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 1: she says, there wasn't no bones broke, I suppose. Well, sir,
• 2:31:33
  Speaker 1: it hurt me, that's all I can say, it hurt me,
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: and I don't like to think of it now. There
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 1: was an ominous pause here, in which I ventured to
• 2:31:41
  Speaker 1: say something like, yes, very trying, and then asked at
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 1: what hour the church service was to be. Eleven o'clock, Mr.
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 1: Bowman said with a heavy sigh. Ah, you won't have
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 1: no such discourse from poor Mr. Lucas as what you
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: would have done from our late Rector. Him and me
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 1: may have had our little differences, and did do more's
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 1: the pity. I could see that a powerful effort was
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 1: needed to keep him off the vexed question of the
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 1: cask of beer, but he made it. But I will
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 1: say this, that a better preacher, nor yet one to
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: stand faster by his rights, or what he considered to
• 2:32:14
  Speaker 1: be his rights— however, that's not the question now— I for one
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 1: never sit under. Some might say, was he an eloquent man?
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: And to that my answer would be, well, there you've
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 1: a better right, perhaps, to speak of your own uncle
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 1: than what I have. Others might ask, did he keep
• 2:32:30
  Speaker 1: a hold of his congregation? And there again I should reply,
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 1: that depends. But as I say, yes, Eliza, my girl,
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 1: I'm coming. Eleven o'clock, sir, and you inquire for the
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: king's head pew. I believe Eliza had been very near
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 1: the door, and shall consider it in my vale. The
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 1: next episode was church. I felt Mr. Lucas had a
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 1: difficult task in doing justice to Christmas sentiments, and also
• 2:32:57
  Speaker 1: to the feeling of disquiet and regret, which, whatever Mr.
• 2:33:01
  Speaker 1: Bowman might say, was clearly prevalent. I do not think
• 2:33:04
  Speaker 1: he rose to the occasion. I was uncomfortable. The organ
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 1: wolved— you know what I mean— the wind died, twice in the
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: Christmas hymn, and the tenor bell— I suppose owing to
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 1: some negligence on the part of the ringers, kept sounding
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 1: faintly about once in a minute during the sermon. The
• 2:33:24
  Speaker 1: clerk sent up a man to see to it, but
• 2:33:26
  Speaker 1: he seemed unable to do much. I was glad when
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 1: it was over. There was an odd incident, too, before
• 2:33:33
  Speaker 1: the service. I went in rather early, and came upon
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 1: two men carrying the parish beer back to its place
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: under the tower. From what I overheard them saying, it
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 1: appeared— that it had been put out by mistake by
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 1: someone who was not there. I also saw the clerk
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 1: busy folding up a moth-eaten velvet pall, not a sight
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 1: for Christmas Day. I dined soon after this, and then,
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 1: feeling disinclined to go out, took my seat by the
• 2:34:02
  Speaker 1: fire in the parlour, with the last number of pickwick,
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 1: which I had been saving up for some days. I
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 1: thought I could be sure of keeping awake over this,
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 1: but I turned out as bad as our friend Smith—
• 2:34:14
  Speaker 1: I suppose it was half-past two when I was roused
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 1: by a piercing whistle and laughing and talking voices outside
• 2:34:22
  Speaker 1: in the marketplace. It was a punch and judy. I
• 2:34:26
  Speaker 1: had no doubt the one that my bagman had seen
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 1: at W-blank. I was half-delighted, half-not, the latter because my
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 1: unpleasant dream came back to me so vividly. But anyhow
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 1: I determined to see it through. and I sent Eliza
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 1: out with a crown-piece to the performers, and a request
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 1: that they would face my window if they could manage it.
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: The show was a very smart new one. The names
• 2:34:51
  Speaker 1: of the proprietors, I need hardly tell you, were Italian, Foresta,
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 1: and Calpigi. The Toby-dog was there, as I had been
• 2:34:59
  Speaker 1: led to expect. All B-blank turned out, but did not
• 2:35:03
  Speaker 1: obstruct my view, for I was at the large first-floor window,
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 1: and not ten yards away. The play began on the
• 2:35:11
  Speaker 1: stroke of a quarter to three by the church clock.
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 1: Certainly it was very good, and I was soon relieved
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 1: to find that the disgust my dream had given me
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 1: for Punch's onslaught on his ill-starred visitors was only transient.
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 1: I laughed at the demise of the turncock, the foreigner,
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 1: the beadle, and even the baby. The only drawback was
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: the Toby dogs developing a tendency to howl in the
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 1: wrong place. Something had occurred, I suppose, to upset him,
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 1: and something considerable, for— I forget exactly at what point— he gave
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 1: a most lamentable cry, leapt off the footboard, and shot
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 1: away across the marketplace and down a side street. There
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: was a stage wait, but only a brief one. I
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 1: suppose the men decided that it was no good going
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: after him, and that he was likely to turn up
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: again at night. We went on. Punch dealt faithfully with
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: Judy— and in fact with all comers. And then came
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 1: the moment when the gallows was erected, and the great
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 1: scene with Mr. Ketch was to be enacted. It was
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 1: now that something happened, of which I can certainly not
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 1: yet see the import fully. You have witnessed that execution,
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 1: and know what the criminal's head looks like with the
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 1: cap on. If you are like me, you never wish
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 1: to think of it again, and I do not willingly
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 1: remind you of it. It was just such a head
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 1: as that that I, from my somewhat higher post, saw
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 1: in the inside of the show-box. But at first the
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 1: audience did not see it. I expected it to emerge
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: into their view, but instead of that there slowly rose
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 1: for a few seconds an uncovered face, with an expression
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 1: of terror upon it, of which I have never imagined
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 1: the like. It seemed as if the man, whoever he was,
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: was being forcibly lifted, with his arms somehow pinioned or
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: held back, towards the little gibbet on the stage. I
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 1: could just see the night-capped head behind him. Then there
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 1: was a cry and a crash. The whole show-box fell
• 2:37:15
  Speaker 1: over backwards. Kicking legs were seen among the ruins, and
• 2:37:19
  Speaker 1: then two figures, as some said— I can only answer for
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 1: one— were visible running at top speed across the square, and
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 1: disappearing in a lane which leads to the fields. Of course,
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 1: everybody gave chase. I followed, but the pace was killing,
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 1: and very few were in, literally, at the death. It
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 1: happened in a chalk-pit. The man went over the edge,
• 2:37:42
  Speaker 1: quite blindly, and broke his neck. They searched everywhere for
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 1: the other, until it occurred to me to ask whether
• 2:37:49
  Speaker 1: he had ever left the marketplace. At first everyone was
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 1: sure that he had, but when we came to look
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 1: he was there, under the show-box, dead too. But in
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: the chalk-pit it was that poor Uncle Henry's body was found,
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 1: with a sack over the head, the throat horribly mangled.
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 1: It was a peaked corner of the sack sticking out
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: of the soil that attracted attention. I cannot bring myself
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 1: to write in greater detail. I forgot to say the
• 2:38:22
  Speaker 1: men's real names were Kidman and Gallop. I feel sure
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 1: I have heard them, but no one here seems to
• 2:38:30
  Speaker 1: know anything about them. I am coming to you as
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 1: soon as I can after the funeral. I must tell
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 1: you when we meet what I think of it all.
• 2:38:41
  Speaker 1: End of chapter 4 Chapter 5 of A Thin Ghost
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 1: and Others by M. R. James This LibriVox recording is
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Read by Peter Yearsley Two Doctors
• 2:39:01
  Speaker 1: It is a very common thing in my experience to
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 1: find papers shut up in old books, but one of
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 1: the rarest things to come across any such that are
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 1: at all interesting. Still it does happen, and one should
• 2:39:14
  Speaker 1: never destroy them unlooked at. Now, it was a practice
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 1: of mine before the war, occasionally to buy old ledgers
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 1: of which the paper was good, and which possessed a
• 2:39:25
  Speaker 1: good many blank leaves, and to extract these and use
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 1: them for my own notes and writings. One such I
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 1: purchased for a small sum in 1911. It was tightly clasped,
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: and its boards were warped by having for years been
• 2:39:41
  Speaker 1: obliged to embrace a number of extraneous sheets. Three-quarters of
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 1: this inserted matter had lost all vestige of importance for
• 2:39:49
  Speaker 1: any living human being. One bundle had not. That it
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 1: belonged to a lawyer is certain, for it is endorsed,
• 2:39:57
  Speaker 1: The strangest case I have yet met, and bears initials,
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 1: and an address in Gray's Inn. It is only materials
• 2:40:04
  Speaker 1: for a case, and consists of statements by possible witnesses.
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 1: The man who would have been the defendant or prisoner
• 2:40:11
  Speaker 1: seems never to have appeared. The dossier is not complete,
• 2:40:16
  Speaker 1: but such as it is, it furnishes a riddle in
• 2:40:18
  Speaker 1: which the supernatural appears to play a part. You must
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 1: see what you can make of it. The following is
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 1: the setting and the tale as I elicit it. Dr.
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 1: Abel was walking in his garden one afternoon, waiting for
• 2:40:33
  Speaker 1: his horse to be brought round, that he might set
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 1: out on his visits for the day. As the place
• 2:40:38
  Speaker 1: was Islington, the month June, and the year 1718, we
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 1: conceived the surroundings as being countrified and pleasant. To him
• 2:40:48
  Speaker 1: entered his confidential servant, Luke Jennet, who had been with
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 1: him twenty years. I said I wished to speak to him,
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 1: and what I had to say might take some quarter
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 1: of an hour. He accordingly bade me go into his study,
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 1: which was a room opening on the terrace path where
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: he was walking, and came in himself and sat down.
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: I told him that, much against my will, I must
• 2:41:09
  Speaker 1: look out for another place. He inquired what was my reason,
• 2:41:13
  Speaker 1: in consideration I had been so long with him. I said,
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 1: if he would excuse me, he would do me a
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 1: great kindness, because— this appears to have been common form even
• 2:41:24
  Speaker 1: in 1718—I was one that always liked to have everything
• 2:41:28
  Speaker 1: pleasant about me. As well as I can remember, he
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 1: said that was his case likewise. but he would wish
• 2:41:34
  Speaker 1: to know why I should change my mind after so
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 1: many years. And, says he, you know there can be
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: no talk of a remembrance of you in my will
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 1: if you leave my service now. I said I had
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 1: made my reckoning of that. Then, says he, you must
• 2:41:48
  Speaker 1: have some complaint to make, and if I could I
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 1: would willingly set it right. And at that I told him,
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 1: not seeing how I could keep it back, the matter
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 1: of my former affidavit and of the bed-stuff in the dispensing-room.
• 2:42:02
  Speaker 1: and said that a house where such things happened was
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 1: no place for me, at which he, looking very black
• 2:42:08
  Speaker 1: upon me, said no more, but called me fool, and
• 2:42:11
  Speaker 1: said he would pay what was owing me in the morning,
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 1: and so, his horse being waiting, went out. So for
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 1: that night I lodged with my sister's husband near Battle Bridge,
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: and came early next morning to my late master, who
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 1: then made a great matter that I had not lain
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 1: in his house, and stopped the crown out of my
• 2:42:29
  Speaker 1: wages owing. After that, I took service here and there,
• 2:42:34
  Speaker 1: not for long at a time, and saw no more
• 2:42:36
  Speaker 1: of him till I came to be Dr. Quinn's man
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 1: at Dodds Hall in Islington. There is one very obscure
• 2:42:43
  Speaker 1: part in this statement, namely the reference to the former
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: affidavit and the matter of the bed-staff. The former affidavit
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 1: is not in the bundle of papers. It is to
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: be feared that it was taken out to be read
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 1: because of its special oddity, and not put back. Of
• 2:43:01
  Speaker 1: what nature the story was may be guessed later, but
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 1: as yet no clue has been put into our hands.
• 2:43:09
  Speaker 1: The Rector of Islington, Jonathan Pratt, is the next to
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 1: step forward. He furnishes particulars of the standing and reputation
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 1: of Dr. Abel and Dr. Quinn, both of whom lived
• 2:43:20
  Speaker 1: and practised in his parish. It is not to be supposed,
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 1: he says, that A physician should be a regular attendant
• 2:43:28
  Speaker 1: at morning and evening prayers, or at the Wednesday lectures,
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 1: but within the measure of their ability I would say
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 1: that both these persons fulfilled their obligations as loyal members
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 1: of the Church of England. At the same time, as
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 1: you desire my private mind, I must say in the
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 1: language of the schools, distinguo. Dr. A was to me
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 1: a source of perplexity, Dr. Q, to my eye, a plain,
• 2:43:53
  Speaker 1: honest believer. not inquiring over closely into points of belief,
• 2:43:58
  Speaker 1: but squaring his practice to what lights he had. The
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 1: other interested himself in questions to which Providence, as I hold,
• 2:44:07
  Speaker 1: designs no answer to be given us in this state.
• 2:44:11
  Speaker 1: He would ask me, for example, what place I believed
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 1: those beings now to hold in the scheme of creation,
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 1: which by some are thought neither to have stood fast
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 1: when the rebel angels fell, nor— to have joined with
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 1: them to the full pitch of their transgression. As was suitable,
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 1: my first answer to him was a question. What warrant
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 1: he had for supposing any such beings to exist? For
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 1: that there was none in Scripture, I took it he
• 2:44:39
  Speaker 1: was aware. It appeared, for, as I am on the
• 2:44:43
  Speaker 1: subject the whole tale may be given, that he grounded
• 2:44:47
  Speaker 1: himself on such passages as that of the satire which
• 2:44:50
  Speaker 1: Jerome tells us conversed with Antony. but thought too that
• 2:44:54
  Speaker 1: some parts of Scripture might be cited in support. And besides,
• 2:44:59
  Speaker 1: says he, you know it is the universal belief among
• 2:45:02
  Speaker 1: those that spend their days and nights abroad, and I
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 1: would add that if your calling took you so continuously
• 2:45:08
  Speaker 1: as it does me about the country lanes by night,
• 2:45:11
  Speaker 1: you might not be so surprised as I see you
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 1: to be by my suggestion. You are then of John
• 2:45:18
  Speaker 1: Milton's mind, I said, and hold that— millions of spiritual
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 1: creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake and
• 2:45:27
  Speaker 1: when we sleep. I do not know, he said, why
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: Milton should take upon himself to say unseen, though to
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 1: be sure he was blind when he wrote that, but
• 2:45:37
  Speaker 1: for the rest, why, yes, I think he was in
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 1: the right. Well, I said, though not so often as you,
• 2:45:43
  Speaker 1: I am not seldom called abroad pretty late, but I
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 1: have no mind of meeting a satyr in our Islington
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 1: lanes in all the years I have been here, and
• 2:45:53
  Speaker 1: if you have had the better luck I am sure
• 2:45:56
  Speaker 1: the Royal Society would be glad to know of it.
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 1: I am reminded of these trifling expressions because Dr. A
• 2:46:03
  Speaker 1: took them so ill, stamping out of the room in
• 2:46:06
  Speaker 1: a huff, with some such word as that these high
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: and dry Parsons had no eyes but for a prayer-book
• 2:46:12
  Speaker 1: or a pint of wine. But— This was not the
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 1: only time that our conversation took a remarkable turn. There
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 1: was an evening when he came in, at first seeming
• 2:46:23
  Speaker 1: gay and in good spirits, but afterwards, as he sat
• 2:46:26
  Speaker 1: and smoked by the fire, falling into a musing way,
• 2:46:31
  Speaker 1: out of which to rouse him, I said pleasantly that
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 1: I supposed he had had no meetings of late with
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: his odd friends. a question which did effectually arouse him,
• 2:46:41
  Speaker 1: for he looked most wildly and as if scared upon me,
• 2:46:45
  Speaker 1: and said,' You were never there? I did not see you.
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 1: Who brought you?' and then in a more collected tone,'
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 1: What was this about a meeting? I believe I must
• 2:46:54
  Speaker 1: have been in a doze,' to which I answered that
• 2:46:57
  Speaker 1: I was thinking of fauns and centaurs in the dark lane,
• 2:47:01
  Speaker 1: and not of a witch's sabbath, but it seemed he
• 2:47:04
  Speaker 1: took it differently.' Well,' said he, I can plead guilty
• 2:47:08
  Speaker 1: to neither, but I find you very much more of
• 2:47:11
  Speaker 1: a sceptic than becomes your cloth. If you care to
• 2:47:14
  Speaker 1: know about the dark lane, you might do worse than
• 2:47:17
  Speaker 1: ask my housekeeper that lived at the other end of
• 2:47:20
  Speaker 1: it when she was a child.'' Yes,' said I,' and
• 2:47:24
  Speaker 1: the old women in the alms-house, and the children in
• 2:47:27
  Speaker 1: the kennel. If I were you, I would send to
• 2:47:29
  Speaker 1: your brother Quinn for a bolus to clear your brain.'' Damn, Quinn,'
• 2:47:33
  Speaker 1: says he,' talk no more of him. He has embezzled
• 2:47:36
  Speaker 1: four of my best patients this month.' I believe it
• 2:47:39
  Speaker 1: is that cursed man of his, Jennet, that used to
• 2:47:42
  Speaker 1: be with me. His tongue is never still. It should
• 2:47:45
  Speaker 1: be nailed to the pillory if he had his deserts. This,
• 2:47:49
  Speaker 1: I may say, was the only time of his showing
• 2:47:52
  Speaker 1: me that he had any grudge against either Dr. Quinn
• 2:47:55
  Speaker 1: or Jennet, and, as was my business, I did my
• 2:47:59
  Speaker 1: best to persuade him he was mistaken in them. Yet
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 1: it could not be denied that some respectable families in
• 2:48:06
  Speaker 1: the parish— had given him the cold shoulder, and for
• 2:48:10
  Speaker 1: no reason that they were willing to allege. The end
• 2:48:14
  Speaker 1: was that he said he had not done so ill
• 2:48:17
  Speaker 1: at Islington, but that he could afford to live at
• 2:48:19
  Speaker 1: ease elsewhere when he chose, and anyhow he bore Dr.
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 1: Quinn no malice. I think I now remember what observation
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 1: of mine drew him into the train of thought which
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 1: he next pursued. It was, I believe— by mentioning some
• 2:48:35
  Speaker 1: juggling tricks which my brother in the East Indies had
• 2:48:39
  Speaker 1: seen at the court of the Raja of Mysore. A
• 2:48:42
  Speaker 1: convenient thing enough, said Dr. Abel to me, if, by
• 2:48:46
  Speaker 1: some arrangement, a man could get the power of communicating
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 1: motion and energy to inanimate objects. As if the axe
• 2:48:54
  Speaker 1: should move itself against him that lifts it, something of
• 2:48:57
  Speaker 1: that kind. Well, I don't know that that was in
• 2:49:01
  Speaker 1: my mind so much, but— if you could summon such
• 2:49:04
  Speaker 1: a volume from your shelf, or even order it to
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 1: open at the right page. He was sitting by the fire.
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 1: It was a cold evening, and stretched out his hand
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 1: that way, and just then the fire-irons, or at least
• 2:49:18
  Speaker 1: the poker, fell over towards him with a great clatter,
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 1: and I did not hear what else he said. But
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 1: I told him that I could not easily conceive of
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 1: an arrangement, as he called it, of such a kind
• 2:49:31
  Speaker 1: that would not include as one of its conditions a
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 1: heavier payment than any Christian would care to make, to
• 2:49:39
  Speaker 1: which he assented. But, he said, I have no doubt
• 2:49:42
  Speaker 1: these bargains can be made very tempting, very persuasive. Still,
• 2:49:47
  Speaker 1: you would not favour them, eh, Doctor? No, I suppose not.
• 2:49:51
  Speaker 1: This is as much as I know of Dr. Abel's
• 2:49:54
  Speaker 1: mind and the feeling between these men. Dr. Quinn, as
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 1: I said— was a plain honest creature, and a man
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 1: to whom I would have gone. Indeed, I have before
• 2:50:04
  Speaker 1: now gone to him for advice on matters of business.
• 2:50:08
  Speaker 1: He was, however, every now and again, and particularly of late,
• 2:50:13
  Speaker 1: not exempt from troublesome fancies. There was certainly a time
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 1: when he was so much harassed by his dreams that
• 2:50:20
  Speaker 1: he could not keep them to himself, but would tell
• 2:50:23
  Speaker 1: them to his acquaintances, and among them to me, I
• 2:50:27
  Speaker 1: was at supper at his house, and he was not
• 2:50:29
  Speaker 1: inclined to let me leave him at my usual time.'
• 2:50:32
  Speaker 1: If you go,' he said,' there will be nothing for it,
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 1: but I must go to bed and dream of the chrysalis.''
• 2:50:39
  Speaker 1: You might be worse off,' said I.' I do not
• 2:50:42
  Speaker 1: think it,' he said, and he shook himself like a
• 2:50:45
  Speaker 1: man who is displeased with the complexion of his thoughts.'
• 2:50:48
  Speaker 1: I only meant,' said I,' that a chrysalis is an
• 2:50:52
  Speaker 1: innocent thing.'' This one is not,' he said. and I
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 1: do not care to think of it. However, sooner than
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 1: lose my company, he was fain to tell me, for
• 2:51:02
  Speaker 1: I pressed him, that this was a dream which had
• 2:51:05
  Speaker 1: come to him several times of late, and even more
• 2:51:09
  Speaker 1: than once in a night. It was to this effect
• 2:51:13
  Speaker 1: that he seemed to himself to wake under an extreme
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 1: compulsion to rise and go out of doors, so he
• 2:51:20
  Speaker 1: would dress himself and go down to his garden door.
• 2:51:23
  Speaker 1: By the door there stood a spade, which he must take,
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 1: and go out into the garden, and at a particular
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 1: place in the shrubbery, somewhat clear, and upon which the
• 2:51:33
  Speaker 1: moon shone, for there was always in his dream a
• 2:51:36
  Speaker 1: full moon, he would feel himself forced to dig, and
• 2:51:40
  Speaker 1: after some time the spade would uncover something light-coloured, which
• 2:51:43
  Speaker 1: he would perceive to be a stuff, linen or woolen,
• 2:51:47
  Speaker 1: and this he must clear with his hands. It was
• 2:51:50
  Speaker 1: always the same, of the size of a man, and
• 2:51:53
  Speaker 1: shaped like the chrysalis of a moth, with the folds
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 1: showing a promise of an opening at one end. He
• 2:51:59
  Speaker 1: could not describe how gladly he would have left all
• 2:52:03
  Speaker 1: at this stage and run to the house, but he
• 2:52:07
  Speaker 1: must not escape so easily. So with many groans and
• 2:52:11
  Speaker 1: knowing only too well what to expect, he parted these
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 1: folds of stuff, or as it sometimes seemed to be, membrane,
• 2:52:20
  Speaker 1: and disclosed a head covered with a smooth pink skin,
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 1: which breaking as the creature stirred, showed him his own
• 2:52:28
  Speaker 1: face in a state of death. The telling of this
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 1: so much disturbed him that I was forced out of
• 2:52:35
  Speaker 1: mere compassion to sit with him the greater part of
• 2:52:38
  Speaker 1: the night and talk with him upon indifferent subjects. He
• 2:52:42
  Speaker 1: said that upon every recurrence of this dream he woke
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 1: and found himself, as it were, fighting for his breath.
• 2:52:50
  Speaker 1: Another extract from Luke Jennet's long, continuous statement, comes in
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 1: at this point. I never told tales of my master Dr.
• 2:52:59
  Speaker 1: Abel to anybody in the neighbourhood. When I was in
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 1: another service I remember to have spoken to my fellow
• 2:53:04
  Speaker 1: servants about the matter of the bedstaff, but I am
• 2:53:07
  Speaker 1: sure I never said either I or he were the
• 2:53:09
  Speaker 1: persons concerned, and it met with so little credit that
• 2:53:13
  Speaker 1: I was affronted, and thought best to keep it to myself.
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 1: And when I came back to Islington and found Dr.
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 1: Abel still there, who I was told had left the
• 2:53:22
  Speaker 1: parish— I was clear that it behoved me to use
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 1: great discretion, for indeed I was afraid of the man,
• 2:53:29
  Speaker 1: and it is certain I was no party to spreading
• 2:53:32
  Speaker 1: any ill report of him. My master, Dr. Quinn, was
• 2:53:35
  Speaker 1: a very just, honest man, and no maker of mischief.
• 2:53:39
  Speaker 1: I am sure he never stirred a finger, nor said
• 2:53:41
  Speaker 1: a word by way of inducement to a soul to
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 1: make them leave going to Dr. Abel and come to him. Nay,
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: he would hardly be persuaded to attend them that came.
• 2:53:52
  Speaker 1: until he was convinced that if he did not they
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 1: would send into the town for a physician, rather than
• 2:53:57
  Speaker 1: do as they had hitherto done. I believe it may
• 2:54:01
  Speaker 1: be proved that Dr. Abel came into my master's house
• 2:54:04
  Speaker 1: more than once. We had a new chambermaid out of Hertfordshire,
• 2:54:08
  Speaker 1: and she asked me who was the gentleman that was
• 2:54:11
  Speaker 1: looking after the master, that is, Dr. Quinn, when he
• 2:54:15
  Speaker 1: was out, and seemed so disappointed that he was out.
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 1: She said whoever he was he knew the way of
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 1: the house well, running at once into the study and
• 2:54:23
  Speaker 1: then into the dispensing room, and last into the bedchamber.
• 2:54:26
  Speaker 1: I made her tell me what he was like, and
• 2:54:28
  Speaker 1: what she said was suitable enough to Dr. Abel, but besides,
• 2:54:33
  Speaker 1: she told me she saw the same man at church,
• 2:54:35
  Speaker 1: and someone told her that was the doctor. It was
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 1: just after this that my master began to have his
• 2:54:42
  Speaker 1: bad nights, and complained to me and other persons, and
• 2:54:45
  Speaker 1: in particular what discomfort he suffered, from his pillow and bedclothes.
• 2:54:50
  Speaker 1: He said he must buy some to suit him, and
• 2:54:52
  Speaker 1: should do his own marketing, and accordingly brought home a
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 1: parcel which he said was of the right quality, but
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 1: where he bought it we had then no knowledge, only
• 2:55:02
  Speaker 1: they were marked in thread with a coronet and a bird.
• 2:55:05
  Speaker 1: The women said they were of a sort not commonly
• 2:55:08
  Speaker 1: met with and very fine, and my master said they
• 2:55:11
  Speaker 1: were the comfortablest he ever used, and he slept now
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 1: both soft and deep. Also the feather pillows were the
• 2:55:18
  Speaker 1: best sorted, and his head would sink into them as
• 2:55:21
  Speaker 1: if they were a cloud, which I have myself remarked
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 1: several times when I came to wake him of a morning,
• 2:55:26
  Speaker 1: his face being almost hid by the pillow closing over it.
• 2:55:30
  Speaker 1: I had never had any communication with Dr. Abel after
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 1: I came back to Islington, but one day, when he
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 1: passed me in the street and asked me whether I
• 2:55:38
  Speaker 1: was not looking for another service, to which I answered
• 2:55:42
  Speaker 1: I was very well suited where I was. but he
• 2:55:44
  Speaker 1: said I was a fickle-minded fellow, and he doubted not
• 2:55:47
  Speaker 1: he should soon hear I was on the world again,
• 2:55:50
  Speaker 1: which indeed proved true. Dr. Pratt is next taken up
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 1: where he left off. On the 16th I was called
• 2:55:58
  Speaker 1: up out of my bed, soon after it was light,
• 2:56:01
  Speaker 1: that is, about five, with a message that Dr. Quinn
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 1: was dead or dying. Making my way to his house,
• 2:56:09
  Speaker 1: I found there was no doubt which was the truth—
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 1: All the persons in the house, except the one that
• 2:56:15
  Speaker 1: let me in, were already in his chamber and standing
• 2:56:19
  Speaker 1: about his bed, but none touching him. He was stretched
• 2:56:23
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the bed, on his back, without
• 2:56:26
  Speaker 1: any disorder, and indeed had the appearance of one ready
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 1: laid out for burial. His hands, I think, were even
• 2:56:33
  Speaker 1: crossed on his breast. The only thing not usual was
• 2:56:36
  Speaker 1: that nothing was to be seen of his face. the
• 2:56:39
  Speaker 1: two ends of the pillow or bolster appearing to be
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 1: closed quite over it. These I immediately pulled apart, at
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 1: the same time rebuking those present, and especially the man,
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: for not at once coming to the assistance of his master. He, however,
• 2:56:56
  Speaker 1: only looked at me and shook his head, having evidently
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 1: no more hope than myself that there was anything but
• 2:57:02
  Speaker 1: a corpse before us. Indeed, it was plain to any
• 2:57:06
  Speaker 1: one possessed of the least experience that he was not
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 1: only dead, but had died of suffocation. Nor could it
• 2:57:13
  Speaker 1: be conceived that his death was accidentally caused by the
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 1: mere folding of the pillow over his face. How should
• 2:57:20
  Speaker 1: he not, feeling the oppression, have lifted his hands to
• 2:57:24
  Speaker 1: put it away? whereas not a fold of the sheet
• 2:57:27
  Speaker 1: which was closely gathered about him, as I now observed,
• 2:57:31
  Speaker 1: was disordered. The next thing was to procure a physician.
• 2:57:35
  Speaker 1: I had bethought me of this on leaving my house,
• 2:57:38
  Speaker 1: and sent on the messenger who had come to me
• 2:57:41
  Speaker 1: to Dr. Abel, but I now heard that he was
• 2:57:44
  Speaker 1: away from home, and the nearest surgeon was got, who, however,
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 1: could tell no more, at least without opening the body,
• 2:57:52
  Speaker 1: than we already knew. As to any person entering the
• 2:57:56
  Speaker 1: room with evil purpose, which was the next point to
• 2:57:59
  Speaker 1: be cleared, it was visible that the bolts of the
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 1: door were burst from their stanchions, and the stanchions broken
• 2:58:06
  Speaker 1: away from the door-post by main force, and there was
• 2:58:09
  Speaker 1: a sufficient body of witness, the smith among them, to
• 2:58:13
  Speaker 1: testify that this had been done but a few minutes
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 1: before I came, the chamber being moreover at the top
• 2:58:19
  Speaker 1: of the house. The window was neither easy of access,
• 2:58:23
  Speaker 1: nor did it show any sign of an exit made
• 2:58:26
  Speaker 1: that way, either by marks upon the sill or footprints below,
• 2:58:30
  Speaker 1: upon soft mould. The surgeon's evidence forms, of course, part
• 2:58:35
  Speaker 1: of the report of the inquest, but since it has
• 2:58:38
  Speaker 1: nothing but remarks upon the healthy state of the larger organs,
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 1: and the coagulation of blood in various parts of the body,
• 2:58:45
  Speaker 1: it need not be reproduced. The verdict was death by
• 2:58:49
  Speaker 1: the visitation of God, Annexed to the other papers is
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 1: one which I was at first inclined to suppose had
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 1: made its way among them by mistake. Upon further consideration,
• 2:59:01
  Speaker 1: I think I can divine a reason for its presence.
• 2:59:05
  Speaker 1: It relates to the rifling of a mausoleum in Middlesex,
• 2:59:09
  Speaker 1: which stood in a park, now broken up, the property
• 2:59:13
  Speaker 1: of a noble family, which I will not name. The
• 2:59:17
  Speaker 1: outrage was not that of an ordinary resurrection man, The object,
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 1: it seemed likely, was theft. The account is blunt and terrible.
• 2:59:25
  Speaker 1: I shall not quote it. A dealer in the north
• 2:59:28
  Speaker 1: of London suffered heavy penalties as a receiver of stolen
• 2:59:32
  Speaker 1: goods in connection with the affair.