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

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Speaker 1: Story three of a Thin Ghost and Others by Montague
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Speaker 1: Rhodes James. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Story three an episode of cathedral history. There was once
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Speaker 1: a learned gentleman who was deputed to examine and report
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Speaker 1: upon the archive of the Cathedral of Southminster. The examination
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Speaker 1: of these records demanded a very considerable expenditure of time.
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Speaker 1: Hence it became advisable for him to engage lodgings in
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Speaker 1: the city, For though the cathedral body were profuse in
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Speaker 1: their offers of hospitality, mister Lake felt that he would
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Speaker 1: prefer to be master of his day. This was recognized
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Speaker 1: as reasonable. The Dean eventually wrote, advising mister Lake if
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Speaker 1: he were not already suited to communicate with mister Warby,
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Speaker 1: the principal verger, who occupied a house convenient to the church,
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Speaker 1: and was prepared to take in a quiet lodger for
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Speaker 1: three or four weeks. Such an arrangement was precisely what
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Speaker 1: mister Lake desired. Terms were easily agreed upon, and early
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Speaker 1: in December, like another mister Thatchery, as he remarked to himself,
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Speaker 1: the investigator found himself in the occupation of a very
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Speaker 1: comfortable room in an ancient and cathedrally house. One so
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Speaker 1: familiar with the customs of cathedral churches, and treated with
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Speaker 1: such obvious consideration by the Dean and chapter of this
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Speaker 1: cathedral in particular, could not fail to command the respect
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Speaker 1: of the head verger. Mister Warby even acquiesced in certain
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Speaker 1: modifications of statements he had been accustomed to offer for
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Speaker 1: years two parties of visitors. Mister Lake, on his part,
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Speaker 1: found the verger a very cheery companion, and took advantage
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Speaker 1: of any occasion that presented itself for enjoying his conversation.
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Speaker 1: When the day's work was over one evening, about nine o'clock,
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Speaker 1: mister Warby knocked at his lodger's door. I've occasion, he said,
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Speaker 1: to go across to the cathedral, mister Lake, and I
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Speaker 1: think I made your promise when I did so. Next,
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Speaker 1: I would give you the opportunity to see what it
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Speaker 1: looks like at night time. It is quite fine and
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Speaker 1: dry outside if you care to come. To be sure,
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Speaker 1: I will very much obliged to you, mister Warby, for
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Speaker 1: thinking of it. But let me get my coat here
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Speaker 1: it is, sir, and I've another lantern here that you'll
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Speaker 1: find advisable for the steps, as there's no moon. Any
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Speaker 1: one might think we were jasper and girdles over again, mightn't,
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Speaker 1: they said Lake as they crossed the close, for he
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Speaker 1: had ascertained that the verger had read Edwin Drood. Well,
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Speaker 1: so they might, said mister Warby with a short laugh.
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Speaker 1: Though I don't know whether we ought to take it
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Speaker 1: as a compliment. Oddways, I often think they had at
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Speaker 1: that cathedral, don't it seem so to you, sir full
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Speaker 1: Coral Matten's at seven o'clock in the morning all the
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Speaker 1: year round. Wouldn't suit our boy's voice nowadays? And I
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Speaker 1: think there's one or two of the men would be
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Speaker 1: applying for a rise if the chapter was to bring
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Speaker 1: it in, particularly the altos. They were now at the
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Speaker 1: southwest corner. As mister Warby was unlocking it, Lake said,
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Speaker 1: did you ever find anybody locked in here by accident? Twice?
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Speaker 1: I did. One was a drunk sailor. However he got
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Speaker 1: in I don't know. I suppose he went to sleep
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Speaker 1: in the service, but by the time I got to
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Speaker 1: him he was praying fit to bring the roof in
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Speaker 1: lor What a noise that man did make? Said it
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Speaker 1: was the first time he'd been inside a church for
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Speaker 1: ten years, and blessed if ever he'd try it again.
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Speaker 1: And another was an old sheep. Them boys it was
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Speaker 1: up to their games. That was the last time they
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Speaker 1: tried it on. Though there, sir, now you see what
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Speaker 1: we look like. Our late Dean used now and again
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Speaker 1: to bring parties in, but he preferred a moonlit night.
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Speaker 1: And there was a piece of verse he'd coke to
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Speaker 1: relating to a Scotch cathedral. I understand, but I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I almost think the effects better when it's all dark like,
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Speaker 1: seems to add to the size and height. Now, if
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Speaker 1: you won't mind stopping somewhere in the nave while I
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Speaker 1: go up into the choir where my business lays, you'll
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Speaker 1: see what I mean. Accordingly, Lake waited, leaning against a
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Speaker 1: pillar and watched the light wavering along the length of
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Speaker 1: the church and up the steps into the choir, until
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Speaker 1: it was intercepted by some screen or other furniture, which
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Speaker 1: only allowed the reflection to be seen on the piers
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Speaker 1: and roof. Not many minutes had passed before Warby reappeared
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Speaker 1: at the door of the choir, and, by waving his lantern,
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Speaker 1: signaled to Lake to rejoin him. I suppose it is
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Speaker 1: Warby and not a substitute, thought Lake to himself as
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Speaker 1: he walked up the nave. There was, in fact nothing untoward.
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Speaker 1: Warby showed him the papers which he had come to
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Speaker 1: fetch out of the dean's and asked him what he
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Speaker 1: thought of the spectacle. Lake agreed that it was well
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Speaker 1: worth seeing. I suppose, he said, as they walked towards
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Speaker 1: the altar steps together, that you're too much used to
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Speaker 1: going about here at night to feel nervous. But you
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Speaker 1: must get a start every now and then, don't you
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Speaker 1: When a book falls down or a door swings to
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Speaker 1: no mister Lake, I can't say I think much about noises,
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Speaker 1: not nowadays. I'm much more afraid of finding an escape
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Speaker 1: of gas or a burst in the stove pipes than
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Speaker 1: anything else. Still, there have been times years ago. Did
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Speaker 1: you notice that plain altar tomb there? Fifteenth century? We
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Speaker 1: say it is. I don't know if you agree to that. Well,
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Speaker 1: if you didn't look at it, just come back and
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Speaker 1: give it a glance, if you'd be so good. It
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Speaker 1: was on the north side of the choir, and rather
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Speaker 1: awkwardly placed, only about three feet from the enclosing stone screen,
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Speaker 1: quite plain, as the verger had said, but for some
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Speaker 1: ordinary stone path a metal cross of some size on
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Speaker 1: the north side, that next to the screen was the
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Speaker 1: solitary feature of any interest. Lake agreed that it was
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Speaker 1: not earlier than the Perpendicular period, but he said, unless
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Speaker 1: it's the tomb of some remarkable person, you'll forgive me
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Speaker 1: for saying that I don't think it's particularly noteworthy. Well,
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Speaker 1: I can't say it is a tomb of anybody noted
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Speaker 1: in history, said Warby, who had a dry smile on
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Speaker 1: his face. For we don't own any record whatsoever of
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Speaker 1: who it was put up to. For all that, if
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Speaker 1: you've half an hour to spare, sir, when we get
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Speaker 1: back to the house, mister Lake, I could tell you
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Speaker 1: a tale about that tomb. I won't begin on it now,
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Speaker 1: it strikes cold here and we don't want to be
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Speaker 1: dawdling about all night. Of course I should like to
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Speaker 1: hear it immensely very well, sir, You shall now if
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Speaker 1: I might put a question to you, He went on,
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Speaker 1: as they passed down the isle. In our little local guide,
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Speaker 1: and not only there, but in the little book on
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Speaker 1: our cathedral in the series, you'll find it stated that
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Speaker 1: this portion of the building was erected previous to the
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Speaker 1: twelfth century. Now, of course I should be glad enough
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Speaker 1: to take that view. But mind the step, sir. But
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Speaker 1: I put it to you. Does the lay of the
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Speaker 1: stone ear and this portion of the wall which he
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Speaker 1: tapped with his key, does it not, to your eye
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Speaker 1: carry the flavor of what you might call Saxon masonry? No,
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Speaker 1: I thought not. No more it does to me now,
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Speaker 1: if you'll believe me, I've said as much to those men.
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Speaker 1: One's the librarian of our free library here, and the
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Speaker 1: other came down from London on purpose fifty times if
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Speaker 1: I have once. But I might just as well have
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Speaker 1: talked to that bit of stone work. But there it is.
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Speaker 1: I suppose every one's got their opinion. The discussion of
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Speaker 1: this peculiar trait of human nature occupied mister Warby almost
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Speaker 1: up to the moment when he and Lake re entered
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Speaker 1: the farmer's house. The condition of the fire in Lake's
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Speaker 1: sitting room led to a suggestion from mister Warby that
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Speaker 1: they should finish the evening in his own parlor. We
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Speaker 1: find them accordingly settled there some short time afterwards, mister
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Speaker 1: Warby made his story a long one, and I will
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Speaker 1: not undertake to tell it wholly in his own words
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Speaker 1: or in his own order. Lake committed the substance of
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Speaker 1: it to paper immediately after hearing it, together with some
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Speaker 1: few passages of the narrative, which had fixed themselves verbatim
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Speaker 1: in his mind. I shall probably find it expedient to
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Speaker 1: condense Lake's record to some extent. Mister Warby was born,
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Speaker 1: it appeared about the year eighteen twenty eight. His father
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Speaker 1: before him had been connected with the cathedral, and likewise
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Speaker 1: his grandfather one or both had been choristers, and in
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Speaker 1: later life both had done work as mason and carpenter,
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Speaker 1: respectively about the fabric. Warby himself, though possessed, as he
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Speaker 1: frankly acknowledged, of an indifferent voice, had been drafted into
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Speaker 1: the choir at about ten years of age. It was
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Speaker 1: in eighteen forty that the wave of the Gothic Revival
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Speaker 1: smote the Cathedral of Southminster. There was a lot of
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Speaker 1: lovely stuff went then, Sir, said Warby, with a sigh.
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Speaker 1: My father couldn't hardly believe it. When he got his
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Speaker 1: orders to clear out the choir. There was a new
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Speaker 1: Dean just come in Dean Borscoe it was. And my
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Speaker 1: father had been prenticed to a good firm of joiners
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Speaker 1: in the city, and knew what good work was when
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Speaker 1: he saw it. Cruel it was. He used to say,
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Speaker 1: All that beautiful wainscot oak, as good as the day
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Speaker 1: it was put up, and garlands like of foliage and fruit,
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Speaker 1: and lovely old gilding work on the coats of arms,
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Speaker 1: and the organ pipes all went to the timber yard,
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Speaker 1: every bit except some little pieces worked up in the
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Speaker 1: Lady chapel. An ear in this Overmantle Well, I may
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Speaker 1: be mistook, but I say our choir never looked as well.
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Speaker 1: Since still there was a lot found out about the
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Speaker 1: history of the church, and no doubt but what it
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Speaker 1: did stand in need of repair. There were very few
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Speaker 1: winters past, but what we'd lose a pinnacle. Mister Lake
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Speaker 1: expressed his concurrence with Warby's views of restoration, but owns
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Speaker 1: to a fear about this point, lest the story proper
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Speaker 1: should never be reached. Possibly this was perceptible in his manner.
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Speaker 1: Warby hastened to reassure him not. But what I could
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Speaker 1: carry on about that topic for hours at a time,
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Speaker 1: and do do when I see my opportunity. But deem Burscoe,
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Speaker 1: he was very set on the Gothic period and nothing
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Speaker 1: would serve him, but everything must be made agreeable to that.
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Speaker 1: And one morning after service he appointed for my father
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Speaker 1: to meet him in the choir and he came back
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Speaker 1: after he'd taken off his robes in the vestry, and
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Speaker 1: he'd got a roll of paper with him and the
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Speaker 1: vergure that was then brought in a table and they
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Speaker 1: begun spreading it out on the table with prayer books
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Speaker 1: to keep it down. And my father helped him and
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Speaker 1: he saw it was a picture of the inside of
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Speaker 1: a choir in a cathedral. And the Dean, he was
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Speaker 1: a quick spoken gentleman. He says, well, Warby, what do
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Speaker 1: you think of that? Why? Says my father, I don't
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Speaker 1: think I have the pleasure of knowing that view? Would
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Speaker 1: that be air for cathedral, mister dean? No, Warby said
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Speaker 1: the Dean that Southminster Cathedral, as we hope to see
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Speaker 1: it before many years. Indeed, sir, says my father. And
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Speaker 1: that was all he did say, leastwise to the dean.
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Speaker 1: But he used to tell me he felt really faint
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Speaker 1: in himself when he looked round our choir as I
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Speaker 1: can remember it, all comfortable and furnished like. And then
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Speaker 1: see this nasty little dry picture, as he called it,
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Speaker 1: drawn out by some London architect. Well there I am again,
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Speaker 1: but you'll see what I mean if you look at
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Speaker 1: this old view. Warby reached down a framed print from
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Speaker 1: the wall. Well, the long and short of it was
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Speaker 1: that the Dean he handed over to my father a
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Speaker 1: copy of an order of the chapter that he was
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Speaker 1: to clear out every bit of the choir make a
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Speaker 1: clean sweep ready for the new work that was being
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Speaker 1: designed up in town, and he was to put it
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Speaker 1: in hand as soon as ever he could get the
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Speaker 1: breakers together. Now, then, sir, if you look at that view,
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Speaker 1: you'll see where the pulpit used to stand. That's what
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Speaker 1: I want you to notice, if you please, It was
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Speaker 1: indeed easily seen an unusually large structure of timber with
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Speaker 1: a domed sounding board standing at the east end of
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Speaker 1: the stalls, on the north side of the choir, facing
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Speaker 1: the bishop's throne. Warby proceeded to explain that during the alterations,
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Speaker 1: services were held in the nave, the members of the
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Speaker 1: choir being thereby disappointed of an anticipated holiday, and the
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Speaker 1: organist in particular incurring the suspicion of having wilfully damaged
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Speaker 1: the mechanism of the temporary organ that was hired at
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Speaker 1: considerable expense from London. The work of demolition began with
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Speaker 1: the choir's screen and organloft, and proceeded gradually eastwards, disclosing,
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Speaker 1: as Warby said, many interesting features of older work. While
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Speaker 1: this was going on, the members of the chapter were
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Speaker 1: naturally in and about the choir a great deal, and
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Speaker 1: it soon became apparent to the elder Warby, who could
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Speaker 1: not help overhearing some of their talk, that on the
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Speaker 1: part of the senior canons especially, there must have been
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Speaker 1: a good deal of disagreement before the policy now being
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Speaker 1: carried out had been adopted. Some were of opinion that
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Speaker 1: they should catch their deaths of cold in the return stalls,
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Speaker 1: unprotected by a screen from the drafts in the nave.
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Speaker 1: Others objected to being exposed to the view of persons
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Speaker 1: in the choir, especially they said during the sermons, when
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Speaker 1: they found it helpful to listen in a posture which
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Speaker 1: was liable to misconstruction. The strongest opposition, however, came from
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Speaker 1: the oldest of the body, who up to the last
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Speaker 1: moment objected to the removal of the pulpit. You ought
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Speaker 1: not to touch it, mister Dean, he said with great
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Speaker 1: emphasis one morning, when the two were standing before it.
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Speaker 1: You don't know what mischief you may do. Mischief. It's
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Speaker 1: not a work of any particular merit. Cannon. Don't call
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Speaker 1: me cannon, said the old man with great asperity. That is,
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Speaker 1: for thirty years I've been known as doctor Eloff, and
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Speaker 1: I would be obliged, mister Dean, if you would kindly
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Speaker 1: humor me in that matter. And as to the pulpit,
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Speaker 1: which I've preached from for thirty years, though I don't
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Speaker 1: insist on that. All I'll say is I know you're
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Speaker 1: doing wrong in moving it. But what sense could there be,
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Speaker 1: my dear doctor, in leaving it where it is when
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Speaker 1: we're fitting up the rest of the choir in a
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Speaker 1: totally different style? What reason could be given apart from
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Speaker 1: the look of the thing? Reason? Reason, said old doctor
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Speaker 1: ailof If you, young men, if I may say so,
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Speaker 1: without any disrespect, mister Dean, if you'd only listen to
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Speaker 1: reason a little and not be always asking for it,
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Speaker 1: we should get on better. But there I've said my say.
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Speaker 1: The old gentleman hobbled off, and as it proved, never
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Speaker 1: entered the cathedral again the season it was a hot
15:31
Speaker 1: summer turned sickly on a sudden. Doctor Ailov was one
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Speaker 1: of the first to go, with some affection of the
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Speaker 1: muscles of the thorax, which took him painfully at night,
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Speaker 1: and at many services. The number of choirmen and boys
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Speaker 1: was very thin. Meanwhile, the pulpit had been done away with.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the sounding board, part of which still exists
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Speaker 1: as a table in a summer house in the Palace garden,
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Speaker 1: was taken down within an hour or two of doctor
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Speaker 1: Aloff's protest. The removal of the base not effected without
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Speaker 1: considerable trouble, disclosed to view greatly to the exaltation of
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Speaker 1: the restoring party an altar tomb, the tomb, of course,
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Speaker 1: to which Warby had attracted Lake's attention that same evening.
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Speaker 1: Much fruitless research was expended in attempts to identify the occupant.
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Speaker 1: From that day to this he has never had a
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Speaker 1: name put to him. The structure had been most carefully
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Speaker 1: boxed in under the pulpit base, so that such slight
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Speaker 1: ornament as it possessed, was not defaced. Only on the
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Speaker 1: north side of it there was what looked like an injury,
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Speaker 1: a gap between two of the slabs composing the side.
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Speaker 1: It might be two or three inches across. Palmer the
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Speaker 1: mason was directed to fill it up in a week's
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Speaker 1: time when he came to do some other small jobs
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Speaker 1: near that part of the choir. The season was undoubtedly
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Speaker 1: a very trying one, whether the church was built on
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Speaker 1: a site that had once been a marsh, as was suggested,
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Speaker 1: or for whatever reason the residence in its immediate neighborhood
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Speaker 1: had many of them, but little enjoyment of the exquisite
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Speaker 1: sunny days and the calm nights of August and September.
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Speaker 1: To several of the older people, doctor Eiloff among others,
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Speaker 1: as we have seen, the summer proved downright fatal. But
17:24
Speaker 1: even among the younger few escaped either a sojourn in
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Speaker 1: bed for a matter of weeks, or at the least
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Speaker 1: a brooding sense of oppression accompanied by hateful nightmares. Gradually,
17:37
Speaker 1: there formulated itself a suspicion which grew into a conviction
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Speaker 1: that the alterations in the cathedral had something to say
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Speaker 1: in the matter the widow of a former old Verger,
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Speaker 1: a pensioner of the Chapter of Southminster, was visited by dreams,
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Speaker 1: which she retailed to her friends, of a shape that
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Speaker 1: slipped out of the little door of the south transept
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Speaker 1: as the dark fell in and flitted, taking a fresh
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Speaker 1: direction every night about the close, disappearing for a while
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Speaker 1: in house after house, and finally emerging again when the
18:12
Speaker 1: night sky was paling. She could see nothing of it,
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Speaker 1: she said, but that it was a moving form. Only
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Speaker 1: she had an impression that when it returned to the church,
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Speaker 1: as it seemed to do in the end of the dream,
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Speaker 1: it turned its head, and then she could not tell why,
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Speaker 1: but she thought it had red eyes. Warby remembered hearing
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Speaker 1: the old lady tell this dream at a tea party
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Speaker 1: in the house of the Chapter Clark. Its recurrence might, perhaps,
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Speaker 1: he said, be taken as a symptom of approaching illness.
18:45
Speaker 1: At any rate, before the end of September, the old
18:48
Speaker 1: lady was in her grave. The interest excited by the
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Speaker 1: restoration of this great church was not confined to its
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Speaker 1: own county. One day that summer, an f s a
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Speaker 1: of some celebrity, visited the place. His business was to
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Speaker 1: write an account of the discoveries that had been made
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Speaker 1: for the Society of Antiquaries, and his wife, who accompanied him,
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Speaker 1: was to make a series of illustrative drawings for his report.
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Speaker 1: In the morning, she employed herself in making a general
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Speaker 1: sketch of the choir. In the afternoon she devoted herself
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Speaker 1: to details. She first drew the newly exposed altar toomb,
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Speaker 1: and when that was finished, she called her husband's attention
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Speaker 1: to a beautiful piece of diaper ornament on the screen
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Speaker 1: just behind it, which had, like the tomb itself, been
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Speaker 1: completely concealed by the pulpit. Of course, he said, an
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Speaker 1: illustration of that must be made. So she seated herself
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Speaker 1: on the tomb and began a careful drawing, which occupied
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Speaker 1: her till dusk. Her husband had by this time finished
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Speaker 1: his work of measuring and description, and they agreed that
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Speaker 1: it was time to be getting back to their hotel.
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Speaker 1: You may as well brush my skirt, Frank, said the lady.
20:03
Speaker 1: It must have got covered with dust. I'm sure. He
20:06
Speaker 1: obeyed dutifully, but after a moment he said, don't know
20:10
Speaker 1: whether you value this dress particularly, my dear, but I'm
20:13
Speaker 1: inclined to think it's seen its best days. There's a
20:16
Speaker 1: great bit of it gone gone where, said she. I
20:21
Speaker 1: don't know where it's gone, but it's off at the
20:24
Speaker 1: bottom edge behind here. She pulled it hastily into sight,
20:28
Speaker 1: and was horrified to find a jagged tear extending some
20:32
Speaker 1: way into the substance of the stuff. Very much, she said,
20:36
Speaker 1: as if a dog had rented away. The dress was,
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Speaker 1: in any case, hopelessly spoilt. To her great vexation, and
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Speaker 1: though they looked everywhere, the missing piece could not be found.
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Speaker 1: There were many ways, they concluded, in which the injury
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Speaker 1: might have come about, for the choir was full of
20:54
Speaker 1: old bits of wood work with nails sticking out of them. Finally,
20:58
Speaker 1: they could only suppose that one of these had caused
21:01
Speaker 1: the mischief, and that the workmen who had been about
21:04
Speaker 1: all day had carried off the particular piece, with the
21:07
Speaker 1: fragment of dress still attached to it. It was about
21:11
Speaker 1: this time Worley thought that his little dog began to
21:14
Speaker 1: wear an anxious expression when the hour for it to
21:18
Speaker 1: be put into the shed in the back yard approached,
21:21
Speaker 1: for his mother had ordained that it must not sleep
21:24
Speaker 1: in the house one evening, he said, when he was
21:27
Speaker 1: just going to pick it up and carry it out.
21:30
Speaker 1: It looked at him like a Christian and waved its
21:33
Speaker 1: head as I was going to say, well, you know
21:37
Speaker 1: how they do carry on sometimes, And the end of
21:39
Speaker 1: it was, I put it under my coat and huddled
21:42
Speaker 1: it upstairs, and I'm afraid I as good as deceived
21:45
Speaker 1: my poor mother on the subject. After that, the dog
21:49
Speaker 1: acted very artful with iiding itself under the bed for
21:52
Speaker 1: half an hour or more before bedtime came, and we
21:56
Speaker 1: worked it so as my mother never found out what
21:59
Speaker 1: we'd done. Of course, Warby was glad of its company anyhow,
22:04
Speaker 1: but more particularly when the nuisance that is still remembered
22:07
Speaker 1: in Southminster, as the crying set in night after night,
22:13
Speaker 1: said Warby, that dog seemed to know it was coming.
22:16
Speaker 1: He'd creep out, he would and snuggle into the bed
22:19
Speaker 1: and cuddle right up to me, shivering, And when the
22:22
Speaker 1: crying come, he'd be like a wild thing, shoving his
22:26
Speaker 1: head under my arm, and I was fully near as bad.
22:30
Speaker 1: Six or seven times we'd hear it, not more, and
22:33
Speaker 1: when he'd draw out his head again, I'd know it
22:37
Speaker 1: was over for that night. What was it like, sir, Well,
22:41
Speaker 1: I never heard, but one thing that seemed to hit
22:44
Speaker 1: it off. I happened to be playing about in the close,
22:48
Speaker 1: and there was two of the cannons met and said
22:51
Speaker 1: good morning, one to another. Sleep well last night, says one.
22:56
Speaker 1: It was mister Henslow that one, and mister Lyle was
22:59
Speaker 1: the other. Can't say I did, said mister Lyle. Rather
23:02
Speaker 1: too much of Isaiah thirty four fourteen for me thirty
23:06
Speaker 1: four fourteen, says mister Henslow. What's that you call yourself
23:11
Speaker 1: a Bible reader, says mister Lyle. Mister Henslow, you must
23:15
Speaker 1: know he was one of what used to be termed zimeon'slot,
23:18
Speaker 1: pretty much what we would call the evangelical party. You
23:22
Speaker 1: go and look it up. I wanted to know what
23:25
Speaker 1: he was getting at myself, and so off I ran
23:28
Speaker 1: home and got out my own Bible, and there it
23:31
Speaker 1: was the Satyr shall cry to his Fellow. Well, I thought,
23:36
Speaker 1: is that what we've been listening to these past nights?
23:40
Speaker 1: And I tell you it made me look over my
23:42
Speaker 1: shoulder a time or two. Of course, I'd ask my
23:45
Speaker 1: father and mother about what it could be before that,
23:48
Speaker 1: but they both said it was most likely Cat's But
23:51
Speaker 1: they spoke very short and I could see they was troubled.
23:55
Speaker 1: My word, that was a noise, hungry, like as if
23:59
Speaker 1: it was calling after someone that wouldn't come. If ever
24:03
Speaker 1: you felt you wanted company, it would be when you
24:05
Speaker 1: was waiting for it to begin again. I believe two
24:09
Speaker 1: or three nights there was men put on to watch
24:11
Speaker 1: in different parts of the clothes, but they all used
24:14
Speaker 1: to get together in one corner the nearest they could
24:17
Speaker 1: to the high street, and nothing came of it. Well,
24:21
Speaker 1: the next thing was this me and another of the boys.
24:24
Speaker 1: He's in business in the city now as a grocer,
24:27
Speaker 1: like his father before him. We'd gone up in the
24:30
Speaker 1: close after morning service was over, and we heard old Palmer,
24:34
Speaker 1: the mason, bellowing to some of his men. So we
24:37
Speaker 1: went up nearer because we knew he was a rusty
24:41
Speaker 1: old chap and there might be some fun going. It
24:44
Speaker 1: appears Palmer had told his men to stop up the
24:47
Speaker 1: chinks in that old tomb. Well, there was this old
24:50
Speaker 1: man keeping on saying he'd done it the best he could,
24:53
Speaker 1: And there was Palmer carrying on like all possessed about it.
24:58
Speaker 1: Call that making a job of it. He said, as
25:00
Speaker 1: if you had your rights, you'd get the sack for this.
25:03
Speaker 1: What do you suppose I'd pay you your wages for?
25:06
Speaker 1: What do you suppose I'm going to say to the
25:08
Speaker 1: Dean and Chapter when they come around, as come they
25:11
Speaker 1: may do any time. And see where you've been bungling about,
25:15
Speaker 1: covering the old place with mess and plaster. And lord
25:18
Speaker 1: knowes what, well, master, I'd done the best I could,
25:22
Speaker 1: says the man. I don't know no more than what
25:26
Speaker 1: you do. How it come to fall out this way?
25:29
Speaker 1: I tamped it right in, all, he says. And now
25:32
Speaker 1: it's fell out, he says. I never see fell out,
25:36
Speaker 1: says old Palmer. Why it's nowhere near the place? Blowed out?
25:40
Speaker 1: You mean? And he picked up a piece of plaster,
25:43
Speaker 1: and so did I that was laying up against the screen,
25:46
Speaker 1: three or four feet off and not dry yet. And
25:50
Speaker 1: Old Palmer he looked at it curious like, and then
25:53
Speaker 1: he turned round to me, and he says, now, then,
25:56
Speaker 1: you boys, have you been up to some of your
25:58
Speaker 1: games here? No, I says I haven't, mister Palmer. There's
26:03
Speaker 1: none of us been about here till just this minute.
26:07
Speaker 1: And while I was talking the other boy, Evans, he
26:10
Speaker 1: got looking in through the chink, and I heard him
26:13
Speaker 1: draw in his breath, and he came away sharp and
26:16
Speaker 1: up to us and says, he, I believe there's something
26:19
Speaker 1: in there. I saw something shiny? What I dare say?
26:23
Speaker 1: Says old Palmer. Well, I ain't got time to stop
26:27
Speaker 1: about there. You William, You go off and get some
26:30
Speaker 1: more stuff and make a job of it this time.
26:32
Speaker 1: If not, there'll be trouble in my yard, he says.
26:36
Speaker 1: So the man went off, and Palmer too, and us
26:39
Speaker 1: boys stopped behind, and I says to Evans, did you
26:42
Speaker 1: really see something in there? Yes, he says I did, indeed.
26:46
Speaker 1: So then I says, let's shove something in and stir
26:49
Speaker 1: it up. And we tried several of the bits of
26:52
Speaker 1: wood that was laying about, but they were all too big.
26:56
Speaker 1: Then Evans he had a sheet of music he brought
26:59
Speaker 1: with him, an anthem or a service I forget which
27:02
Speaker 1: it was now, and he rolled it up small and
27:05
Speaker 1: shoved it in the chink. Two or three times he
27:08
Speaker 1: did it, and nothing happened. Give it me, boy, I said,
27:12
Speaker 1: And I had a try. No, nothing happened. Then. I
27:16
Speaker 1: don't know why I thought of it, I'm sure, but
27:18
Speaker 1: I stooped down just opposite the chink and put my
27:21
Speaker 1: two fingers in my mouth and whistled, you know the way.
27:25
Speaker 1: And at that I seemed to think I heard something stirring,
27:29
Speaker 1: and I says to Evans, come away, I says, I
27:31
Speaker 1: don't like this, oh rot. He says, give me that roll,
27:35
Speaker 1: and he took it and shoved it in. And I
27:38
Speaker 1: don't think ever I see anyone go so pale as
27:41
Speaker 1: he did. I say, warby. He says, it's caught or
27:45
Speaker 1: some one's got hold of it. Pull it out or
27:48
Speaker 1: leave it. I says, come and let's get off. So
27:51
Speaker 1: he gave a good pull and it came away leastways
27:55
Speaker 1: most of it did, but the end was gone, torn
27:58
Speaker 1: off it was, and Ever looked at it for a second,
28:01
Speaker 1: and then he gave a sort of croak and let
28:04
Speaker 1: it drop, and we both made off out of there
28:07
Speaker 1: as quick as ever we could. When we got outside,
28:11
Speaker 1: Evans says to me, did you see the end of
28:13
Speaker 1: that paper? No? I says, only it was torn. Yes
28:17
Speaker 1: it was, he says, but it was wet too, and
28:20
Speaker 1: black well, partly because of the fright we had, and
28:24
Speaker 1: partly because that music was wanted in a day or two,
28:28
Speaker 1: and we knew there'd be a set out about it
28:30
Speaker 1: with the organist. We didn't say nothing to anyone else,
28:34
Speaker 1: and I suppose the workmen they swept up the bit
28:37
Speaker 1: that was left along with the rest of the rubbish.
28:40
Speaker 1: But Evans, if you were to ask him this very
28:42
Speaker 1: day about it, he'd stick to it. He saw that
28:45
Speaker 1: paper wet and black at the end where it was torn.
28:49
Speaker 1: After that, the boys gave the choir a wide berth,
28:52
Speaker 1: so that Warby was not sure what was the result
28:55
Speaker 1: of the mason's renewed mending of the tomb. Only he
28:59
Speaker 1: made out from fragments of conversation dropped by the workmen
29:03
Speaker 1: passing through the choir that some difficulty had been met with,
29:07
Speaker 1: and that the governor, mister Palmer to wit, had tried
29:11
Speaker 1: his own hand at the job. A little later he
29:14
Speaker 1: happened to see mister Palmer himself knocking at the door
29:17
Speaker 1: of the deanery and being admitted by the butler. A
29:21
Speaker 1: day or so after that, he gathered from a remark
29:23
Speaker 1: his father let fall at breakfast that something a little
29:27
Speaker 1: out of the common was to be done in the
29:29
Speaker 1: cathedral after morning service on the morrow. And I just
29:33
Speaker 1: as soon it was to day his father added, I
29:35
Speaker 1: don't see the use of running risks. Father, I says,
29:39
Speaker 1: what are you going to do in the cathedral tomorrow?
29:42
Speaker 1: And he turned on me as savage as ever I
29:45
Speaker 1: see him. He was a wonderful, good tempered man. As
29:48
Speaker 1: a general thing, My poor father was my lad. He said,
29:52
Speaker 1: I'll trouble you not to go picking up your elders
29:55
Speaker 1: and betters talk. It's not manners, and it's not straight.
29:59
Speaker 1: What I'm going to do you are not going to
30:01
Speaker 1: do in the cathedral tomorrow is none of your business.
30:04
Speaker 1: And if I catch sight of you hanging about the
30:06
Speaker 1: place tomorrow after your work's done, I'll send you home
30:09
Speaker 1: with a flea in your ear. Now you mind that?
30:13
Speaker 1: Of course I said, I was very sorry in that,
30:16
Speaker 1: and equally, of course I went off and laid my
30:18
Speaker 1: plans with Evans. We knew there was a stair up
30:21
Speaker 1: in the corner of the transept which you can get
30:24
Speaker 1: up to the triforium, and in them days the door
30:28
Speaker 1: to it was pretty well always open, and even if
30:30
Speaker 1: it wasn't, we knew the key usually laid under a
30:33
Speaker 1: bit of matting hard by. So we made up our
30:36
Speaker 1: minds we'd be putting away music, and that next morning
30:40
Speaker 1: while the rest of the boys was clearing off, and
30:42
Speaker 1: then slip up the stairs and watch from the triforium
30:45
Speaker 1: if there was any signs of work going on. Well,
30:50
Speaker 1: that same night I dropped off asleep as sound as
30:52
Speaker 1: a boy does, and all of a sudden the dog
30:55
Speaker 1: woke me up, coming into the bed, and thought, I
30:58
Speaker 1: now we're going to get sharp, for he seemed more
31:02
Speaker 1: frightened than usual. After about five minutes, sure enough came
31:06
Speaker 1: this cry. I can't give you no idea what it
31:09
Speaker 1: was like, and so near, too nearer than I'd heard
31:13
Speaker 1: it yet. And a funny thing, mister Lake, you know
31:16
Speaker 1: what a place this close is for an echo, and
31:19
Speaker 1: particular if you stand this side of it. Well, this
31:22
Speaker 1: crying never made no sign of an echo at all,
31:26
Speaker 1: But as I said, it was dreadful near this night,
31:29
Speaker 1: and on the top of the start I got with
31:32
Speaker 1: hearing it, I got another fright for I heard something
31:35
Speaker 1: rustling outside in the passage. Now to be sure, I
31:40
Speaker 1: thought I was done, but I noticed the dog seemed
31:43
Speaker 1: to perk up a bit, and next there was some
31:45
Speaker 1: one whispered outside the door, and I very near laughed
31:50
Speaker 1: out loud for I knew it was my father and
31:52
Speaker 1: mother that had got out of bed with the noise.
31:55
Speaker 1: Whatever is it, says my mother. Hush, I don't know,
31:59
Speaker 1: said as my father excited, like, don't disturb the boy.
32:03
Speaker 1: I hope he didn't hear nothing. So me, knowing they
32:07
Speaker 1: were just outside, it made me bolder, and I slipped
32:10
Speaker 1: out of bed across to my little window, giving on
32:14
Speaker 1: the close. But the dog he bored right down to
32:17
Speaker 1: the bottom of the bed and I looked out first
32:20
Speaker 1: go off, I couldn't see anything. Then right down in
32:24
Speaker 1: the shadow under a buttress, I made out what I
32:26
Speaker 1: shall always say was two spots of red, a dull red.
32:30
Speaker 1: It was nothing like a lamp or a fire, but
32:34
Speaker 1: just so as you could pick em out of the
32:37
Speaker 1: black shadow. I hadn't, but just sighted them when it
32:41
Speaker 1: seemed we wasn't the only people that had been disturbed,
32:44
Speaker 1: because I see a window in a house on the
32:46
Speaker 1: left hand side become lighted up and the light moving.
32:51
Speaker 1: I just turned my head to make sure of it,
32:53
Speaker 1: and then looked back into the shadow for those two
32:56
Speaker 1: red things, and they were gone. And for all I
32:59
Speaker 1: peered about and stared, there was not a sign more
33:02
Speaker 1: of them. Then come my last fright. That night, something
33:06
Speaker 1: come against my bare leg, But that was all right.
33:09
Speaker 1: That was my little dog had come out of bed
33:12
Speaker 1: and prancing about, making a great to do, only holding
33:15
Speaker 1: his tongue, and me, seeing he was quite in spirits again,
33:19
Speaker 1: I took him back to bed and we slept the
33:22
Speaker 1: night out. Next morning I made out to tell my
33:25
Speaker 1: mother I'd had the dog in my room, and I
33:28
Speaker 1: was surprised, after all she'd said about it before. How
33:32
Speaker 1: quiet she took it? Did you? She asked, Well, by
33:36
Speaker 1: good rights, you ought to go without your breakfast for
33:39
Speaker 1: doing such a thing behind my back. But I don't
33:42
Speaker 1: know as there's any great harm done. Only another time
33:46
Speaker 1: you asked my permission. Do you hear? A bit after that,
33:49
Speaker 1: I said something to my father about having heard the
33:52
Speaker 1: cats again. Cats, he says, And he looked over at
33:56
Speaker 1: my poor mother, and she coughed, and he says, ah, yeah, cats.
34:01
Speaker 1: I believe I heard him myself. That was a funny
34:04
Speaker 1: morning altogether. Nothing seemed to go right. The organist he
34:08
Speaker 1: stopped in bed, and the minor cannon he forgot it
34:11
Speaker 1: was the nineteenth day and waited for the VENETI and
34:14
Speaker 1: after a bit the deputy. He set off playing the
34:17
Speaker 1: chant for evensong, which was a miner, and then the
34:22
Speaker 1: decanny boys were laughing so much they couldn't sing, And
34:25
Speaker 1: when it came to the anthem, the solo boy he
34:28
Speaker 1: got took with the giggles and made out his nose
34:31
Speaker 1: was bleeding, and shoved the book at me. What hadn't
34:34
Speaker 1: practiced the verse and wasn't much of a singer if
34:36
Speaker 1: I had known it. Well, things was rougher, you see,
34:40
Speaker 1: fifty years ago, and I got a nip from the
34:42
Speaker 1: counter tiner behind me that I remembered. So we got
34:47
Speaker 1: through somehow, and neither the men nor the boys weren't
34:50
Speaker 1: by way of waiting to see whether the cannon in residence,
34:54
Speaker 1: mister Henslaw it was, would come to the vestries and
34:57
Speaker 1: find them. But I don't believe he did. For one thing.
35:01
Speaker 1: I fancy he'd read the wrong lesson for the first
35:03
Speaker 1: time in its life and knew it. Anyhow, Evans and
35:07
Speaker 1: me didn't find no difficulty in slipping up the stairs,
35:10
Speaker 1: as I told you, And when we got up, we
35:12
Speaker 1: laid ourselves down flat on our stomachs, where we could
35:15
Speaker 1: just stretch our heads out over the old tomb and
35:19
Speaker 1: we hadn't, but just done so when we heard the verger.
35:22
Speaker 1: That was then first shutting the iron porch gates and
35:26
Speaker 1: locking the southwest door, and then the transept door, so
35:30
Speaker 1: we knew there was something up, and they meant to
35:32
Speaker 1: keep the public out for a bit. Next thing was
35:36
Speaker 1: the Dean and the cannon come in by their door
35:39
Speaker 1: on the north and then I see my father, an
35:41
Speaker 1: old Palmer, and a couple of their best men, and
35:45
Speaker 1: Palmer stood a talking for a bit with the Dean
35:47
Speaker 1: in the middle of the choir. He had a coil
35:50
Speaker 1: of rope, and the men had crows. All of em
35:54
Speaker 1: looked a bit nervous. So there they stood talking, and
35:57
Speaker 1: at last I heard the Dean say, well, well, I've
36:00
Speaker 1: no time to waste, Palmer. If you think this will
36:02
Speaker 1: satisfy south mister Peeble, i'll permit it to be done.
36:06
Speaker 1: But I must say this that never in the whole
36:09
Speaker 1: course of my life have I heard such arrant nonsense
36:13
Speaker 1: from a practical man as I have from you. Don't
36:16
Speaker 1: you agree with me? Heinslow? As far as I could hear,
36:20
Speaker 1: mister Henslow said something like, oh, well we're told, aren't we.
36:24
Speaker 1: Mister Dean not to judge others, and the dean he
36:27
Speaker 1: gave a kind of sniff and walked straight up to
36:30
Speaker 1: the tomb and took his stand behind it with his
36:32
Speaker 1: back to the screen, and the others they come edging
36:36
Speaker 1: up rather gingerly. Henslow he stopped on the south side
36:40
Speaker 1: and scratched on his chin. He did. Then the Dean
36:43
Speaker 1: spoke up, Palmer. He says, which can you do easiest
36:47
Speaker 1: to get the slab off the top or shift one
36:50
Speaker 1: of the side slabs? Old Palmer and his men they
36:54
Speaker 1: pottered about a bit, looking round the edge of the
36:57
Speaker 1: top slab and sounding the sides on the south and
37:01
Speaker 1: east and west and everywhere but the north. Henslow said
37:05
Speaker 1: something about it being better to have a try at
37:07
Speaker 1: the south side because there was more light and more
37:10
Speaker 1: room to move about in. Then my father, who'd been
37:13
Speaker 1: watching of them, went round to the north side and
37:16
Speaker 1: knelt down and fell to the slab by the chink.
37:19
Speaker 1: And he got up and dusted his knees and says
37:22
Speaker 1: to the dean, beg, pardon, mister dean, but I think
37:25
Speaker 1: if mister Palmer tried this here' slab, he'll find it'll
37:28
Speaker 1: come out easy enough. Seems to me one of the
37:31
Speaker 1: men could prise it out with his crow by means
37:33
Speaker 1: of this chink ah. Thank you, Warby, says the dean.
37:37
Speaker 1: That's a good suggestion, Palmer. Let one of your men
37:40
Speaker 1: do that, will you. So the man came round and
37:44
Speaker 1: put his bar in and bore on it. And just
37:47
Speaker 1: that minute, when they were all bending over and we
37:50
Speaker 1: boys got our heads well out over the edge of
37:52
Speaker 1: the triforium, there come a most fearful crash down at
37:56
Speaker 1: the west end of the choir, as if a whole
37:59
Speaker 1: stack of big timber had fallen down a flight of stairs. Well,
38:03
Speaker 1: you can't expect me to tell you everything that happened.
38:06
Speaker 1: All in a minute, of course, there was a terrible commotion.
38:10
Speaker 1: I heard the slab fall out and the crowbar on
38:13
Speaker 1: the floor, and I heard the dean say good God.
38:18
Speaker 1: When I looked down again, I saw the dean tumbled
38:20
Speaker 1: over on the floor. The men was making off down
38:23
Speaker 1: the choir. Heinslow was just going to help the dean up.
38:27
Speaker 1: Palmer was going to stop the men, as he said afterwards.
38:30
Speaker 1: And my father was sitting on the altar step with
38:33
Speaker 1: his face in his hands. The dean, he was very cross.
38:38
Speaker 1: I wish to goodness, you'd look where you're coming to, Heinslow.
38:41
Speaker 1: He says, why you should all take to your heels
38:44
Speaker 1: when a stick of wood tumbles down? I cannot imagine.
38:47
Speaker 1: And all Hinslow could do, explaining he was right away
38:51
Speaker 1: on the other side of the tomb, would not satisfy him.
38:55
Speaker 1: Then Palmer came back and reported there was nothing to
38:59
Speaker 1: account for this noise, and nothing seemingly fallen down. And
39:03
Speaker 1: when the Dean finished feeling of himself, they gathered round
39:07
Speaker 1: except my father. He sat where he was, and someone
39:11
Speaker 1: lighted up a bit of candle and they looked into
39:14
Speaker 1: the tomb. Nothing there, says the Dean. What did I
39:17
Speaker 1: tell you? Stay? Here's something? What's this? A bit of
39:21
Speaker 1: music paper and a piece of torn stuff part of
39:25
Speaker 1: a dress. It looks like both quite modern. No interest whatever,
39:30
Speaker 1: Another time, perhaps you'll take the advice of an educated
39:33
Speaker 1: man or something like that. And off he went, limping
39:37
Speaker 1: a bit and out through the north door. Only as
39:41
Speaker 1: he went he called back, angry to Palmer for leaving
39:44
Speaker 1: the door standing open. Palmer called out, very sorry, sir,
39:49
Speaker 1: but he shrugged his shoulders and Hinslow says, I fancy, mister,
39:53
Speaker 1: Dean's mistaken. I closed the door behind me, but he's
39:57
Speaker 1: a little upset. Then Palmer says, why where's Warby? And
40:02
Speaker 1: they saw him sitting on the step and went up
40:04
Speaker 1: to him. He was recovering himself, it seemed, and wiping
40:09
Speaker 1: his forehead, and Palmer helped him up on to his legs.
40:13
Speaker 1: As I was glad to see, they were too far
40:16
Speaker 1: off for me to hear what they said, but my
40:18
Speaker 1: father pointed to the north door in the aisle, and
40:21
Speaker 1: Palmer and Henslow, both of them looked very surprised and scared.
40:26
Speaker 1: After a bit, my father and Henslow went out of
40:29
Speaker 1: the church, and the others made what haste they could
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Speaker 1: to put the slab back and plaster it in, And
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Speaker 1: about as the clock struck twelve, the cathedral was opened again,
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Speaker 1: and us poys made the best of our way home.
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Speaker 1: I was in a great taking to know what it
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Speaker 1: was had given my poor father such a turn, And
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Speaker 1: when I got in and found him sitting in his
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Speaker 1: chair taking a glass of spirits, and my mother standing
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Speaker 1: looking anxious at him, I couldn't keep from bursting out
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Speaker 1: and making confession where I'd been. But he didn't seem
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Speaker 1: to take on not in the way of losing his temper.
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Speaker 1: You was there, was you? Well? Did you see it?
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Speaker 1: I see everything, father, I said, except when the noise came.
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Speaker 1: Did you see what it was? Knocked the dean over?
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Speaker 1: He says that what came out of that monument? You didn't? Well,
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Speaker 1: that's a mercy. Why what was it? Father? I said, Come,
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Speaker 1: you must have seen it, he says, didn't you see
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Speaker 1: a thing like a man all over hair and two
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Speaker 1: great eyes to it? Well? That was all I could
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Speaker 1: get out of him that time, And later on he
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Speaker 1: seemed as if he was ashamed of being so frightened,
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Speaker 1: and he used to put me off when I asked
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Speaker 1: him about it. But years after, when I was got
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Speaker 1: to be a grown man, we had more talk now
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Speaker 1: and again on the matter, and he always said the
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Speaker 1: same thing. Black it was, he'd say, and a mass
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Speaker 1: of hair and two legs, and a light caught on
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Speaker 1: its eyes. Well that's the tail of that tomb, mister Lake.
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Speaker 1: It's one we won't tell to our visitors. And I
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Speaker 1: should be obliged to you not to make any use
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Speaker 1: of it till I'm out of the way. I doubt
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Speaker 1: mister Evans will feel the same as I do if
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Speaker 1: you ask him. This proved to be the case. But
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Speaker 1: over twenty years have passed by and the grass is
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Speaker 1: growing over both Warby and Evans. So mister Lake felt
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Speaker 1: no difficulty about communicating his notes taken in eighteen ninety
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Speaker 1: to me. He accompanied them with a sketch of the
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Speaker 1: tomb and a copy of the short inscription on the
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Speaker 1: mettle cross, which was affixed at the expense of doctor
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Speaker 1: Lyle to the center of the north gate. It was
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Speaker 1: from the vulgate of Isaiah thirty four and consisted merely
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Speaker 1: of the three words iby kubavet leimia end of Story three.