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Ghost Hunters-Allen Upward · Lights Out

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of The Ghost Hunters. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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  Speaker 1: Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward, Chapter one, the Story of
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  Speaker 1: the Greenhouse, Wallington. In undertaking to relate some of my
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  Speaker 1: experiences in connection with the purchase and sale of haunted houses,
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  Speaker 1: I desire to make it clear that I have no
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  Speaker 1: theories to put forward on the subject of what is
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  Speaker 1: called the occult. I was successful in this class of business,
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  Speaker 1: but some of the adventures I went through were of
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  Speaker 1: such a character that I dared not continue. My nerves
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  Speaker 1: are fairly strong, but there are some things which I
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  Speaker 1: never wished to face again. I was first tempted to
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  Speaker 1: dabble in this unlucky class of business by the Greenhouse, Wallington.
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  Speaker 1: My partner, mister Mortimer our Firmans Mortimer and Hargreave's, mentioned
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  Speaker 1: to me one day that he had had a client
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  Speaker 1: in to see him who is very anxious to obtain
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  Speaker 1: an immediate offer at almost any price for a house
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  Speaker 1: situated in what was then the rural district of Wallington.
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  Speaker 1: He says he cannot sell the house because people think
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  Speaker 1: it is haunted. It is all nonsense, of course, but
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  Speaker 1: the people in the neighborhood have got the idea firmly
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  Speaker 1: into their heads, and now if any tenants come, they
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  Speaker 1: are sure to hear of it directly and get frightened.
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  Speaker 1: The result is that he has lost tenant after tenant,
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  Speaker 1: and now the reputation of the house is so bad
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  Speaker 1: that he cannot sell it. What sort of a house
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  Speaker 1: is it? I asked, and what will he take for it?
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  Speaker 1: He says he will take anything five hundred pounds if
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  Speaker 1: he can't get more, though the house cost one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred pounds to build. You had better see the
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  Speaker 1: man yourself. I therefore dropped a line to mister gilt Strap,
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  Speaker 1: the owner of the green House, requesting him to go
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  Speaker 1: down with me to see the property. On the way
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  Speaker 1: to Wallington, I put some questions about the house to
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  Speaker 1: guilt Strap, whose manner was rather reserved. He assured me
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  Speaker 1: it was in thorough repair, but he seemed really reluctant
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  Speaker 1: to answer when I asked him about the ghost. Is
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  Speaker 1: there any story about the house, anything to account for
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  Speaker 1: its being haunted? No? No, what story should there be.
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  Speaker 1: It's a modern house, hardly been built ten years and
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  Speaker 1: how long has it been your property? I bought it
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  Speaker 1: as soon as it was put up, and how long
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  Speaker 1: has it been haunted? Mister guilt Strap frowned as though
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  Speaker 1: he disliked to hear this word. The house has been
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  Speaker 1: talked about for some years now, four or five. His
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  Speaker 1: disinclination to speak was so evident that I did not
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  Speaker 1: care to pursue the subject. We got out at Wallington Station,
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  Speaker 1: and as we passed a house agent's on the road,
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  Speaker 1: Guilt's Strap said abruptly, I must step in here and
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  Speaker 1: get the keys. Wait a moment. As a house agent myself,
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  Speaker 1: I could understand that he did not wish to introduce
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  Speaker 1: me to the local man, lest it should lead to
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  Speaker 1: any dispute about commission. But my curiosity about the greenhouse
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  Speaker 1: was so strong that I could not resist the temptation
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  Speaker 1: to walk in after him. I was just in time
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  Speaker 1: to hear the owners say, Curtly, I have called for
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  Speaker 1: the keys of the greenhouse, if you please. The local
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  Speaker 1: agent was evidently a man in a small way, for
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  Speaker 1: we found him seated at a desk in the outer
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  Speaker 1: office in his shirt sleeves. He gave a cross look
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  Speaker 1: at Gilt's Strap and a suspicious one at me, and
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  Speaker 1: then rose and reached down the keys from a nail.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't been able to find a caretaker yet, he said,
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  Speaker 1: with a touch of malice. They say you must pay
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  Speaker 1: them for living in such a house. Guilt's Strap reddened
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  Speaker 1: at this speech, which was calculated to put off an
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  Speaker 1: intending purchaser. He glared first at the agent and then
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  Speaker 1: at me, snatched the keys without a word, and hurried out.
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  Speaker 1: The Greenhouse was a modern red brick one, standing in
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  Speaker 1: a road with several others, and certainly not looking at
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  Speaker 1: all the kind of place to have a supernatural legend
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  Speaker 1: attached to it. As soon as we got inside, I
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  Speaker 1: saw that the house was partly furnished. Gilt Strap explained
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  Speaker 1: he had been trying to get someone to come and
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  Speaker 1: occupy it rent free for a time, in order to
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  Speaker 1: live down its reputation. I asked if there was any
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  Speaker 1: room particularly connected with the ghostly rumors. After what struck
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  Speaker 1: me as a momentary hesitation, he led me upstairs into
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  Speaker 1: what was clearly the principal bedroom, overlooking the front garden
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  Speaker 1: and the road outside. Is this where the ghost walks,
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  Speaker 1: I asked, as I glanced round the empty room. The
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  Speaker 1: paper on the walls was in good condition, and the
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  Speaker 1: ceiling had been newly whitewashed. The owner of the green
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  Speaker 1: house was plainly annoyed by my insistence. There is no ghost,
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  Speaker 1: and it does not walk anywhere, he said, irritably. With
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  Speaker 1: the people who sleep in this room complain? What do
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  Speaker 1: they complain of? He fidgeted, and again showed some reluctance
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  Speaker 1: in answering, Oh, nothing except some nonsense or other. They
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  Speaker 1: say they do not sleep well, and they dream of things, fancies,
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  Speaker 1: you know, fancies. Well, what sort of fancies? I persisted,
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  Speaker 1: If they dreamed, they must dream of something. Guilt Strap
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  Speaker 1: glanced up at the ceiling and swiftly withdrew his eyes
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  Speaker 1: with a nervous tremor. I was now firmly persuaded that
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  Speaker 1: he himself had been the victim of some spectral horror,
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  Speaker 1: though he was anxious to conceal it for fear of
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  Speaker 1: frightening me off. Perhaps I had better not tell you anything,
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  Speaker 1: he said, after considering a moment. There is a great
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  Speaker 1: deal in the influence of suggestion, so it is said,
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  Speaker 1: If I were to tell you what the people who
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  Speaker 1: have slept in this room have seen or dreamt. They
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  Speaker 1: have seen that might be enough to make you dream
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  Speaker 1: the same. Whereas if a sensible man without any notions
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  Speaker 1: came and slept here, he would most likely never be disturbed.
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  Speaker 1: I thought there was something in what he said, and
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  Speaker 1: did not press him further. There was a staircase outside
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  Speaker 1: leading to a socket floor, and I moved towards it. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: do you want to see the other rooms? Gilt Strap
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  Speaker 1: snapped as he prepared to follow. I want to see everything,
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  Speaker 1: I said, Decidedly. Upstairs, I found another room which had
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  Speaker 1: been left unfurnished. The prospect from the window showed me
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  Speaker 1: that it was situated over the haunted chamber. Is there
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  Speaker 1: something wrong with this room as well? I demanded. The
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  Speaker 1: servants don't like sleeping in it was the grudging admission.
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  Speaker 1: It does very well as a box room. I saw
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  Speaker 1: that it was useless to try and extract any more
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  Speaker 1: information from guilt Strap. After a thorough inspection, I decided
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  Speaker 1: that the house would be well worth one thousand, two
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  Speaker 1: hundred pounds apart from its evil reputation. I went back
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  Speaker 1: to town with the owner and bargained with him on
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  Speaker 1: the way. I was very anxious to secure an option
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  Speaker 1: to purchase the greenhouse at the end of a month,
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  Speaker 1: during which time I was to occupy it. But this
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  Speaker 1: proposal of the owner obstinately refused. I want to sell
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  Speaker 1: it outright or not at all. If you live in
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  Speaker 1: it a month and have no trouble, I shall then
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  Speaker 1: be able to ask a reasonable price. Anxious to secure
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  Speaker 1: a bargain, I gave way and got out at Victoria
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  Speaker 1: the owner of the greenhouse, at the price of five
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  Speaker 1: hundred pounds. When I told my partner the next day
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  Speaker 1: what I had done, he declined to commit himself. I
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  Speaker 1: shall know whether it is a good bargain or not
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  Speaker 1: when I hear what you have sold it for, he
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  Speaker 1: observed grimly. My next step was to secure some at
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  Speaker 1: and to send down some furniture for the two empty
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  Speaker 1: rooms round which the mystery appeared to cling. In the
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  Speaker 1: course of the negotiations I had occasion for the services
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  Speaker 1: of my lady secretary. I was accustomed to discuss business
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  Speaker 1: matters with her, and as soon as she learned the
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  Speaker 1: character of the present transaction, she surprised me by displaying
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  Speaker 1: an unusual interest in it. She even volunteered her assistance.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you would mind my going to see
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  Speaker 1: the greenhouse, mister Hargreaves. I am very much interested in
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  Speaker 1: psychical research. Do you mean that you really believe there
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  Speaker 1: was something in it? I exclaimed in dismay. I had
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  Speaker 1: grown to look on Miss Sergeant as a young lady
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  Speaker 1: of great intelligence, and I was not very well pleased
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  Speaker 1: at the idea of taking the ghosts seriously. I know
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  Speaker 1: that there are things in nature which ordinary rules do
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  Speaker 1: not explain, was the grave answer. I have seen things
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  Speaker 1: myself which could not be accounted for by natural means.
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  Speaker 1: This was rather alarming. I recalled the strange, uneasy manner
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  Speaker 1: of the late owner of the greenhouse and asked myself
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  Speaker 1: whether he had not been a secret believer in some
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  Speaker 1: occult happenings. I am what is called a sensitive. Miss
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant proceeded to explain, I have a peculiar faculty for
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  Speaker 1: seeing any abnormal manifestations. A thought struck me. Would it
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  Speaker 1: be possible for you to go and pass a night
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  Speaker 1: or two there? I inquired. I don't mind telling you
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  Speaker 1: that if the apparition, or whatever it is, can be exercised,
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  Speaker 1: I hope to sell the house at a considerable profit,
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  Speaker 1: and I should be glad to pay a small commission.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Sergeant appeared to welcome the suggestion. She was a
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  Speaker 1: good girl, the chief support of a widowed mother and
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  Speaker 1: three little sisters, and I knew she would like to
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  Speaker 1: earn something for them. The question was referred to her mother,
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  Speaker 1: who arranged to come with her. It being understood that
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  Speaker 1: I should form one of the party. I engaged a
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  Speaker 1: respectable woman to come in by the day, and on
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  Speaker 1: the evening agreed upon, we went together to take possession
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  Speaker 1: of the haunted house. Miss Sergeant and her mother were
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  Speaker 1: installed in the haunted room when I decided to occupy
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  Speaker 1: the attic overhead. After a pleasant supper, the two ladies
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  Speaker 1: retired at about eleven o'clock. I sat up a little later,
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  Speaker 1: smoking a cigar and contrasting the cheerful evening I had
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  Speaker 1: just passed with the lonely ones I was accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: in my West End chambers. Towards twelve, I went upstairs
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  Speaker 1: intending to go to bed. But whether it was a
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  Speaker 1: sensation of being in a strange house under such circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: or a secret apprehension of which I was hardly conscious
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  Speaker 1: no sooner did I find myself in the room I
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  Speaker 1: had chosen than I was seized with an overmastering reluctance
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  Speaker 1: to get into the bed. I took off my coat,
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  Speaker 1: merely rolled myself well up in the blankets, and tried
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  Speaker 1: to go to sleep. I am an old traveler, and
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  Speaker 1: have never experienced any difficulty in sleeping in my clothes
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  Speaker 1: in trains or under similar circumstances. But on this occasion
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  Speaker 1: the attempt was hopeless. I lay on the bed, literally shivering,
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  Speaker 1: and not from cold. I neither saw nor heard anything.
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  Speaker 1: I was not alarmed in the ordinary sense. And yet
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  Speaker 1: if I had known there was a murderer lurking in
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  Speaker 1: the room, ready to spring on me and stab me,
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  Speaker 1: the moment I closed my eyes, I could not have
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  Speaker 1: felt more wretchedly afraid. Suddenly I heard a low moan,
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  Speaker 1: the moan of a creature in mortal terror, drawn out
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  Speaker 1: till it became a muffled scream. I flung off the blankets,
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  Speaker 1: raised my head and listened with a beating heart. The
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  Speaker 1: moan was repeated, coming distinctly from underneath me. In an
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  Speaker 1: instant I had grasped the truth. It came from the
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  Speaker 1: room below I sprang from the bed, and without stopping
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  Speaker 1: to put on my coat, lit the candle I had
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  Speaker 1: brought up with me, and flew downstairs. As I reached
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  Speaker 1: the first floor landing, the moan was repeated in a
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  Speaker 1: more terrible key, the key of horror instead of terror.
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  Speaker 1: At the same moment, the door of the haunted room
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  Speaker 1: was thrown open, and Missus Sargent appeared on the threshold,
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  Speaker 1: with a cloak thrown over her shoulders and a look
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  Speaker 1: of fear and distress on her face. What is it,
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  Speaker 1: I gasped, It is all? When she cried in answer,
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  Speaker 1: she is seeing something horrible in her sleep, and I
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  Speaker 1: can't wake her. Without stopping to consider questions of etiquette,
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  Speaker 1: I dashed into the room. The gas had been turned
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  Speaker 1: full on, and by its light I could see the
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  Speaker 1: girl lying stretched on a couch at the foot of
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  Speaker 1: the bed, her features frozen into the expression of one
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  Speaker 1: who looks upon some horrid sight, while from her parted
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  Speaker 1: lips there issued those appalling sounds, which wounded like the
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  Speaker 1: stabs of a knife. I caught her by the shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and shook her, without making the slightest change in her
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  Speaker 1: swoon like condition. Water, I called to the brother, who
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  Speaker 1: stood wringing her hands. Two days to act, the water
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  Speaker 1: was brought and I dashed half a glass full in
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  Speaker 1: the face of the sufferer. At first it had no
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  Speaker 1: more effect than if she had been dead. Then came
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  Speaker 1: a startling change. The moans suddenly ceased. The victim opened
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  Speaker 1: her eyes, which showed the dull, glassy stare of a somnambulist,
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  Speaker 1: and sitting half up, she commenced muttering so quickly and
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  Speaker 1: indistinctly that it was difficult to catch the words the blood,
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  Speaker 1: the blood, the blood, the blood dripping dripping from the
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  Speaker 1: red leak in the ceiling, the red leak, the red
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  Speaker 1: leak in the ceiling, and the ceiling dripping on me,
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  Speaker 1: dripping on me, dripping on me. The words rose unto
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  Speaker 1: a wild shriek, as her blank eyes were turned full
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  Speaker 1: on the ceiling overhead, the ceiling between her room and mine.
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  Speaker 1: Involuntarily I looked up. The ceiling did not show the
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  Speaker 1: slightest mark as I had noticed when I went over
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  Speaker 1: the house with gilt strap. It was newly whitewashed. I thought,
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  Speaker 1: I now knew why, But the moment was not for
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  Speaker 1: a reflection. Help me to carry her out of this
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  Speaker 1: quick I called out to the mother. Between us, we
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  Speaker 1: lifted up the unconscious girl and carried her out of
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  Speaker 1: the accursed room and into one adjoining, where we laid
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  Speaker 1: her on the bed. Hardly had she passed the doorway
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  Speaker 1: of the haunted chamber when the dreadful ejaculations began to
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  Speaker 1: die away, and the rigidity of the features to relax.
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  Speaker 1: In a short time, the trance condition passed away into
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  Speaker 1: a deep sleep, and I was able to leave Miss
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant to her mother's care. When she woke in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: her mother told me she remembered nothing whatever of what
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  Speaker 1: had passed in the night. She was barely conscious of
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  Speaker 1: having had a bad dream. At her own request, I
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  Speaker 1: described to her at breakfast what had occurred as minutely
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  Speaker 1: as possible. She was profoundly impressed. I am certain. She
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  Speaker 1: declared with conviction that what I saw represents something that
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  Speaker 1: actually happened in this house. Dreadful as it sounds, I
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  Speaker 1: firmly believe that somebody has been murdered in an attic
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  Speaker 1: in which you sleep, and that his blood did drip
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  Speaker 1: through the ceiling of the room below. As I saw
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  Speaker 1: it last night. Reluctant as I was for many reasons
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  Speaker 1: to entertain such a suggestion. I dared not neglect it altogether.
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  Speaker 1: I determined at all events to do whatever could be
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  Speaker 1: done to solve the mystery. As soon as miss Sergeant
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  Speaker 1: and her mother had left the house, in which the
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  Speaker 1: elder lady would not hear of their passing another night,
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  Speaker 1: though her daughter did not seem in the least afraid,
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  Speaker 1: I went straight to the builders in the neighborhood and
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  Speaker 1: engaged him to send some men to examine the flooring
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  Speaker 1: between the two haunted rooms. The builder received my order
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  Speaker 1: with marked interest. I knew there was something the matter
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  Speaker 1: with that house. He observed, it ain't likely that tenant
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  Speaker 1: after tenant would come away scared without somethin was wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you know, sir, in the last five years
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  Speaker 1: since mister Giltstrap gave it up, I've whitewashed one ceiled
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  Speaker 1: in that house nine times. Then mister Guildtstrap once lived
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  Speaker 1: in that himself. Did he? I exclaimed, Seeing that I
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  Speaker 1: built it for him, I can say he did, was
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  Speaker 1: the answer. And why did he leave it? I demanded
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  Speaker 1: fairly roused, But the builder could not or would not
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  Speaker 1: satisfy my curiosity. On that head. Mister Giltstrap was a
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  Speaker 1: good customer of mine. He always paid me regular, and
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  Speaker 1: I ain't got nothin to say against him. The builder's
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  Speaker 1: interest led him to accompany his men, a carpenter and
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  Speaker 1: a plasterer, to the scene of action. I pointed out
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  Speaker 1: the place on the ceiling as nearly as I could
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  Speaker 1: judge it, from which the ghostly dew had appeared to fall.
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  Speaker 1: The men took measurements, and then proceeded to the attic
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: above located a spot under the bed in which I
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  Speaker 1: had tried to sleep. The bed was quickly removed, the
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  Speaker 1: flooring stripped off, and in the space between the joints
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  Speaker 1: there was exposed a mass of lime. Both the men
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  Speaker 1: as well as their master were quick to declare that
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  Speaker 1: the lime could not have been left there when the
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  Speaker 1: house was completed. That lime has been put there for
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  Speaker 1: no good, the builder asserted. If you want some things
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  Speaker 1: hidden away and destroyed, there's nothing better than what lime is.
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  Speaker 1: When it's fresh, it burns as well as fire, an
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  Speaker 1: makes no smoke. You mean a dead body, I said, shuddering.
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  Speaker 1: I don't say nothing about that, the builder answered, pulling
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  Speaker 1: himself up. It ain't for me to say, what that
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  Speaker 1: lime's been used for. All I know is it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: me that left it there, nor yet my men. The
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  Speaker 1: two men began clearing the stuff away. The volatile element
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: had evidently evaporated long ago. As they struck downward with
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  Speaker 1: their tools. One of them went through the plaster the
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  Speaker 1: ceiling below, and a shaft of light came up. An
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  Speaker 1: exclamation from one of the men followed. I bent down
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  Speaker 1: and peered into the cavity on a large beam which
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  Speaker 1: here crossed the floor. I saw a deep black stain,
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  Speaker 1: the stain of long dried blodud. A moment after the
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  Speaker 1: carpenter stooped, suddenly groped about with one hand amid the woodwork,
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  Speaker 1: and drew forth to the light a small sharp stiletto
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  Speaker 1: rusted with the same dismal stain. Nothing more was found.
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  Speaker 1: I gave the builder an order to entirely renew the
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  Speaker 1: flooring between the two haunted rooms, and from the time
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  Speaker 1: that was done, there has never again been the slightest
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  Speaker 1: complaint from any occupier of the property. I let the
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  Speaker 1: greenhouse almost immediately to a respectable tenant, a retired schoolmaster,
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  Speaker 1: who changed its name, and before a year was out
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  Speaker 1: I was able to dispose of it to a purchaser
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  Speaker 1: at the price of one thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds,
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  Speaker 1: a sum which enabled me to compensate Miss Sergeant for
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  Speaker 1: her try and experience. The most extraordinary part of the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: story remains to be told the report of what had
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: taken place. Having got abroad in Wallington, the local police
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: came to me to obtain the stiletto, which I had
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  Speaker 1: been careful to preserve. By its means, they were able
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to unearth a crime which had gone unsuspected till that hour,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and to extort a confession from the murderer. Into the
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: details of this terrible case, I do not mean to enter.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: It is sufficient to say that the victim had perished
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: while asleep in the attic, and that his blood had
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: actually soaked through the ceiling into the room below, which
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: was that of his murderer. Guilt Strap end of chapter one,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Chapter two of The Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward. This
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter two, the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: tapping on the wainscot. The mysterious incident which I am
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: going to narrate is one which seems to have a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: particular interest for those who study a cult phenomenon. According
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to some who have discussed it with me, it throws
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: an important light on the conditions which prevail in the
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: world of spirits and the limitations to their action. However,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I do not care to say anything on the subject myself.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: My object is simply to set down the facts and
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: leave others to draw their own conclusions. It was about
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: year after the affair of the Greenhouse Wallington already related,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: when our firm received instructions from the solicitors of Sir
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Henry Wheatman to dispose by auction of his family mansion,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Halesbury Manor Sussex. I was told that Sir Henry was
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a distant relation who had recently come into the title
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and estate on the death of the last baronet, and
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: preferred to live abroad. The furniture and effects had been
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: sold already by a firm of auctioneers well known for
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: their sales of that kind, and the house and estate
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: were to follow. I went down with a clerk to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: view the place and found it to be a very
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: handsome old Jacobean mansion, with valuable oak wainscott in all
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the principal rooms. The caretaker, who showed us over. It
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: was a dear old lady who had been housekeeper to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: the last baronet, and was evidently heartbroken at the prospect
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: of the old family seat passing into the possession of strangers.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Sir Christopher, that's my late masters would turn in his
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: grave if he knew what was being done with the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: old place, she lamented, And I shouldn't wonder if he
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: did know. I was busy directing the clerk and taking
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: measurements of the more important rooms, and did not pay
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: much heed to this obscure intimation. In due course we
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: reached the first floor, and the housekeeper conducted us into
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: a great square room with a huge fireplace and two
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: windows commanding a view over the park. I was surprised
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: to find that this room had not been stripped so
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: completely as the ones downstairs. It still contained a magnificently
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: carved oak bedstead, a four poster equal in size to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the bedroom of a modern flat. This is the room
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Sir Christopher died in, The old lady said impressively. He
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: died in that bed. King Charles the First once slept
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: in it, and why hasn't it been removed like the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: rest of the furniture, I naturally asked, it is fixed
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to the floor for one thing, was the answer. And
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Sir Henry thought it would fetch more by leaving it
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: where it is. But I believe he would have it
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: taken away now if he knew what I know. Missus Musgrave,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: as the old housekeeper was named, nodded her head and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: pursed up her lips, after the manner of old ladies
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: when they have a secret which they are longing to tell,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: but which they think it due to their dignity, only
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: to part with under pressure. Why what is it you know?
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I asked, with an interest by no means feigned. Perhaps
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I ought not to speak of it. The housekeeper returned
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: with a glance at my clerk. I sent the young
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: man into the other room and repeated my question. Well, sir,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: it may be that I ought not to be the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: first to mention it. But it's being talked of in
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the village, and if you didn't hear of it from me,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: you'd hear it from somebody else, most likely. Missus Musgrave
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: lowered her voice. This house is haunted, sir. Remembering my
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: late grisly experience, I did not reply as lightly as
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I might have done once to such a statement. Haunted
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: how in what way you may believe me or you
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: may not, sir, Missus Musgrave said, with deliberation, evidently in
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: no hurry to come to the point. There are some
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: who can hear it and some who can't. Some say
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: it's only fancy, and others that it's the spirit of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Sir Christopher. But all I can say is I wouldn't
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: pass a night in this room again, not if you
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: were to offer me fifty pounds. This was not a
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: very pleasant hearing. If a report of this kind were
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: current in the village, it would be pretty sure to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: reach the ears of any intending purchaser and perhaps choke
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: him off. An old family ghost, or the tradition of one,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: is sometimes considered an attraction to a venerable country seat,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: But any really unpleasant phenomena, particularly if of quite recent date,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: would be a very decided drawback in most people's eyes.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me exactly what you did here? I asked.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It is a tapping, sir, a tapping on the wainscot
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: just over there. She pointed to the wall opposite the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: foot of the bed. I was lying asleep in the bed, Sir,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: For when the house was stripped in so Henry went away.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I thought there would be no harm in my sleeping here,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to say I had slept in the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: same bed as King Charles. But it's my belief that
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Sir Henry must have heard the tapping himself and seen
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: something as well that frightened him, and that's why he
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: was so anxious to clear everything out of the house
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and leave it. I listened, hardly knowing what question to
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: put next. At last, I inquired, do you suggest is
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: there any reason to suppose that there was anything wrong
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: about Sir Christopher Weatman's death. The question took Missus Musgrave
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: by surprise. Wrong, Sir, what should there be wrong? I'm
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: sure the poor gentleman couldn't have died more peacefully. Miss
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Alice and I were with him the whole time. Who
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: is miss Alice his daughter, at least his adopted daughter.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: She had lived with him since she was a baby,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and he made no difference between her and his own
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: flesh and blood. Missus Musgrave's voice changed again as she added,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and in my belief, it's on her account that Sir
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Christopher walks. Why Because when Sir Henry came down, he
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: turned her out of the house with nothing but the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: clothes she stood in. Sir Christopher hadn't made a will,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and he came into everything as the air miss Alice
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: had to go to London and take a situation as
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a waitress. I mused in silence. Could there be anything
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and that strange suggestion? Was it not more likely that
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the old housekeeper's indignation at her new master's conduct had
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: made her fancy that the ordinary noises of an old
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: mansion by night was a protest on the part of
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the dead. And have you heard the tapping? Since I asked?
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I hear it every night? Was the startling answer. I
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: have shifted my bed to half the rooms in the house,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: but it makes no difference. Wherever I am The taps come,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: and then they move along the wall and buy the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: staircases in the corridors till they reached this room and
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: stopped there. Have you followed them, I exclaimed, astonished, I
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: did the first time. Now I daren't, the housekeeper answered,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: but I got Jim Bateman from the lodge to come
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: up one night, and he heard them and followed them,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and they led him to the same place and now
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: he would no more cross the threshold of the house
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: after dark than he would fly. It was clear to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: me by this time that, whether fact or fancy, the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: story called for investigation. I am not naturally nervous, and
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: in spite of the disagreeable memories of the last haunted
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: house I had spent at night in I determined to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: face whatever there was to face in Halesbury manner. Accordingly,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I arranged with missus Musgrave to make up a bed
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: for me the next night, but one not in the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: haunted room itself that I did not feel disposed to risk,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: but so as to enable me to be at hand
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: when the mysterious tapping began. I was careful to say
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: nothing in the office meanwhile, and above all to keep
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the matter from the ears of my Lady Secretary. Miss
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Sergeant had solved the mystery of the Greenhouse for me,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: but she had done so at the cost of an
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: experience to which I could not think of exposing her
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a second time. On the appointed evening, I returned to
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Halesbury with a small dressing bag, prepared to stay the night.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: The housekeeper had prepared a bedroom for me on one
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: of the upper floors, not far from her own. But
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: as she told me that the ghostly tapping usually began
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: about midnight, I decided to sit up for it and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: persuaded her to do the same. We had supper together
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: in a room downstairs, the old lady getting it ready herself.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Not a girl in the village, it appeared, could be
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: induced to remain in the house after sunset. After supper,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: missus Musgrave knotted off to sleep in a rocking chair
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: before the fire, while I lit a cigar and waited
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: in some excitement for what was to come. The room
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: in which we sat was wayne scotted, like all those
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: on the ground floor. Every time a coal dropped from
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the fire or a window fraen rattled. I fancied the
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: mysterious summons had come, and started nervously in my chair.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I believe it is not merely fancy which causes us
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: to hear so many more small noises in a house
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: at night than in the daytime, but that there is
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: some scientific reason for it. Be that as it, everyone
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: must admit that the sense of hearing is more acute
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: in the darkness than in the light. As twelve o'clock approached,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I deliberately turned the lamp out, keeping a candle on
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: some matches by my side. Hardly had I done this
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: when I received a shock which nearly made me jump
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: out of my chair. It was a tap, loud, sharp
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and imperative, on the door of the room, and my agitation,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the habitual phrase come in rose to my lips, and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I uttered it. At the same moment my companion woke
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: with a start and stared about her wildly in the
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: dim firelight. Did you hear it? She asked in an
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: awe struck whisper. Yes, did you? As she nodded in answer,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the tap sounded a second time, seeming fainter and further off.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I rose to my feet and lit the candle. Are
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you going to follow it? The old woman breathed, yes,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Will you come? She shook her head. I dare not
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: give me the matches. Don't go till I have lit
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the lamp. For my sake, I lingered, my own nerves,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: becoming effected in sympathy with hers, while the frightened woman
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: clutched the box from my hand and struck a match,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: which she applied to the wick of the lamp. At
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the same moment, I heard the tap for the third time,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: low and fading away in the distance. I strode to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the door of the room, opened it, and passed out
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: into the passage, leaving the door ajar. The ghostly tap
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: sounded again, far away in front of me, at the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: foot of the great staircase. I strode after it with
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: quickening steps and throbbing pulses, carefully screening the candle flame
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: with one hand. It moved on up the stairs, seeming
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to fly before me, and I almost raced to catch
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: up that beckoning sound along the main corridor overhead. I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: was drawn straight to the door of the death chamber.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: As I crossed the threshold and the huge four poster
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: loomed up in the shadow, the character of the ghostly
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: sound underwent a change. Instead of a single tap traveling
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: with the speed of a terrified man fleeing from pursuit,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: it became a hurried knocking, moving round the room behind
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the wing scott, as if in search of something. I
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: could have sworn that someone or something was feeling its
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: way along. The daunting sounds arrived at the middle of
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: the wall, opposite the foot of the great bed, and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: became stationary. Once twice thrice, that awful tap broke the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: silence louder and more menacing each time, and then all
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: at once the flame of the candle turned blue and
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: went out, leaving me in the stillness, in the darkness,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: with the feeling that I was not alone. How I
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: got downstairs again I can hardly remember, but I am
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: not ashamed to say that never was a sight more
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: welcome than the lamplight streaming through the open door on
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to the passage. As I rushed towards it, Missus Musgrave
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: gave me a glance and screamed, you have seen it. No, no,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I said, but the light went out and I had
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: no matches. I related my experience in a few words,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and then made a confession. I cannot sleep in this
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: house tonight, Missus Musgrave. I must go to the village
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: and try to get into the inn. To my relief,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: she offered no opposition. I fancy I was not the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: first person who had left her at the same hour
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: for the same reason. Not even in the morning did
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I feel inclined to return to the haunted house. I
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: went up to London by the first train, and going
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: straight to the office, asked Miss Sargeant to come into
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: my room and told her everything She listened with intense interest,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: not interrupting by so much as a movement till I
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: had come to the end. Then she said, with grave decision,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you must let me go down and spend a night
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: in that room. Mister Hargreaves, don't think of such a thing,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: I exclaimed. I should never permit you to run the
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: risk of such a shock as I had last night.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: It is a matter of necessity. Miss Sergeant replied firmly,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: it is a matter of duty. I cannot doubt that
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the tapping on the wainscot has a meaning. It is
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: a message from the dead, a message I don't understand.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I don't profess to understand it myself at present, but
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I do belie belief that it is an ordinary case
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: of what is called haunting, where a spirit appears to
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: be bound in some way to a particular spot. Neither
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: do I believe that the object of this manifestation has
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: been to drive the new owner of the house away
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: or to render it uninhabitable. Then what do you suggest?
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: I feel sure there is a reason for the taps
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: always coming back to one particular place on the wall
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of that one room. A light seemed to break on
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: her mind as she spoke, and she added quickly, I
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: should not wonder if there were something hiding behind the wainscot,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: perhaps a will or a paper of some kind. I
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: recalled what the housekeeper had told me about the adopted
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: child of the dead man, turned adrift so heartlessly by
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the heir to his wealth. Pray, Heaven, you are right,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I ejaculated fervently. I will go down again and have
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the wings got removed. But mind, this must be kept
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a strict secret. If Sir Henry Wheatman or his solicitors
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: heard what I was doing, I might get into serious trouble.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Out of gratitude for Miss Sergeant's suggestion, I invited her
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: to be present at the opening of the wainscott. I
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: had confided my hopes and intentions to missus Musgrave, who
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: was intensely excited at the prospect of justice being done
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: to her beloved young mistress. To think that I should
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: never have guessed what it meant, she cried, And I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: thought I understood it better than any one else too.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Did you think there was any reason for the tapping
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: on that particular spot, then Miss Sergeant asked to be
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: sure I did. That is just where Miss Alice's picture
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: used to hang so that Sir Christopher could see it
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: every morning when he woke. Sir Henry had the picture
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: sold with all the others, and I thought that was
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: why Sir Christopher couldn't rest in his grave. I saw
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: a look of disappointment steal over Miss Sergeant's face. It
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: may be that missus Musgrave is right, she said thoughtfully.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Very often this spirit seemed to have very little motive,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: or what seems very little to us. For what they do, well,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: we shall see, I responded, not willing to give up
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: my hope on the poor orphan's behalf, I had brought
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: down an expert cabinet maker from London, and he went
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: to work quickly and neatly. A great space of the
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: wall was stripped of its wainscot, and we searched anxiously
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: for any sign of a hiding place behind. We searched vainly,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: to the bitter disappointment of all three of us, there
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: was not even a vestige, not so much of a
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: scratch on the wall to indicate that anything had ever
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: been concealed there. To complete our discomfiture, the cabinet maker
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: gave it as his opinion that the wainscott had never
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: been disturbed since it was put up in the reign
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of James the first I was right, you see, miss
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: said good missus musgrave sorrowly, it's the thought of Miss
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Alice's picture that keeps Sir Christopher out of his grave.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: She spoke as though the deceased baronet were an invalid
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: suffering from sleeplessness at night. Miss Sergeant shook her head
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: but said nothing. She seemed to be reflecting deeply. We
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: left the cabinet maker with strict instructions to replace the
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: wainscot so as to leave no trace of his operations,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and went downstairs. Half an hour later, as we were
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: sitting at lunch, Miss Sergeant suddenly spoke, you must let
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: me sleep in that bed, mister Hargreaves. I am a
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: clairvoyant and sleep as you know, and I may see
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: something which will explain the mystery. We both returned to
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: town in the afternoon to make our arrangements. The following day,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: we came down again, prepared to spend the night. None
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of us intended to go to bed. The four poster
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: in the haunted room had been furnished with blankets and
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: pillows to serve as a bed for the clairvoyant. Missus
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Musgrave was to install herself on a sofa before the fireplace,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: in which a fire had been lit, and I was
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to sit up in the next room, ready to come
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: at the first call. Miss Sergeant, who fortunately possessed the
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: power of falling asleep at will, retired to her strange
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: couch a little before elevin, accompanied by the housekeeper, whose
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: excitement promised to keep her awake. As for myself, I
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: cherished no wish to sleep. I had provided myself with lights, cigars,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: and a book to read, but I am bound to
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: confess that I found it impossible to get interested in it.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: An hour later I heard a low tapping on the
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: door of my own room. Not a little startled, I
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: sprang up, only to find that the sound, this time
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: was free from any element of mystery. The old housekeeper
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: had come to summon me. Will you come and see
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the young lady? She said, I think something is the matter.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I felt myself turning cold. What do you mean has
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: the tapping begun? The answer surprised me. No, that is
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: what frightens me. This is the first night I have
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: not heard it for four months. But I think miss
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Sergeant sees something. I led the way into the haunted room.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: There was not a sound to be heard, and the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: lights had been put out by the clairvoyant's desire. But
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: she was sitting half up in bed, her eyes fast closed,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and yet appearing to stare with the most deadly fear
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: at the opposite wall. Suddenly a sharp cry broke from her,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: followed immediately by the same frantic rush of half articulated
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: syllables which had so alarmed me on the night in
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the green house. Leave it alone, leave it alone, leave
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: it alone, put it back, put it back, put it back. Ah,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: he's taken it. With these last words, uttered loudly in
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: distinct tones, the sleeper's eye suddenly opened, and she gave
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: a fearful shudder. Tap tap tap. If ever I have
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: heard any sounds of my life, I heard those knocks
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: by an unseen hand on the wingscot at which we
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: all gazed, unable to stir till the knocks ceased. It
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: was too much for the nerves of any of us
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to bear. I caught the half fainting girl in my
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: arms as she threw herself from the great four poster,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and the three of us did not breathe again till
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: we were safe and the housekeeper's little sitting room downstairs.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: There After she had rested and taken a soothing draft
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: prescribed by the housekeeper. Miss Sergeant related her vision. I
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: saw a picture hanging on the wall. The man approached
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the picture and raised his hands to take it down.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: One of the auctioneer's men, my dear, was missus Musgrave's
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: murmured comet. At that instant, I saw suddenly appearing from
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: nowhere in front of the picture a corpse. A corpse.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: We both ejaculated in horror. Yes, a dead man in
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: a winding sheet, with his head swathed in white bandages.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: The corpse seemed to try to thrust back the living man.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: He went on without noticing it, and took down the picture.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: I can hardly describe how, but just as though the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: corpse were not there, the dead man seemed to try
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: to detain him, but he walked off with it. Then
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I awoke a cry burst from the poor old housekeeper.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: It was my poor master, she moaned, trying to save
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Miss Alice's nice picture. The other said nothing but bent
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: her brows, as though profoundly dissatisfied. With the seemingly puerile
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: interpretation of the mystery. I watched her with expectation. I
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: had come to look on Alwin's Sergeant as a woman
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: of more than ordinary powers of mine, apart altogether from
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: her extraordinary occult faculty, and I confidently anticipated that she
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: would not let the matter rest there. The picture must
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: be replaced, she said, after a long interval of meditation.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: We cannot leave things as they are at all costs.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: The picture must be found and hung up there again,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: if only for one night. I should think that could
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: be managed, I said, though I did not much relish
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: the idea. I saw that miss Sergeant wanted to make
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: fresh trial of her clairvoyant powers with a picture in
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: its place, and I dreaded the injury which these agitating
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: experiences seemed likely to do her. However, I shared her
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: feeling that the mystery must be probed to the bottom.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: The very next day I called on the auctioneers who
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: had charged of the sale at Hailesbury Manor and asked
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: them to let me go through their books. I told
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: them nothing except that I had been asked to recover
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: a family portrait included in the sale by oversight they
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: were very obliging, and with their assistance I found that
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: a picture cataloged as portrait of a girl had been
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: sold for twelve pounds to a gentleman living at Sydenham.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I went out there the same evening and saw the purchaser,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: who was a common councilman of the City of London
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: and evidently given to speculating in pictures with which the
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: house was crowded. He saw his advantage. It drove a
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: rather hard bargain with me, but in the end he
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: agreed to let me have the picture to show to
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: the client, whom I pretended to have in the background,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: on my pay in a deposit. Then he led me
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: upstairs to a small smoking room, where I saw the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: picture hanging in an obscure corner. With hands trembling with excitement,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I took hold of the frame to lift it off
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: the nail. As I did so, the nail itself gave way,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: and the precious portrait crashed to the ground, the frame
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: coming in pieces. I fell on my knees with a
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: cry of dismay, when I was astonished to see among
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: the broken portions of the frame a blue foolscap envelope
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: endorsed and shaky handwriting will of Sir c Wheatman bart
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: The will gave the whole of his property to his
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: adopted daughter, Alice Wheatman. Human nature is a curious thing.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: As soon as I had made out the contents of
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: the document thus miraculously discovered, and he knew that the
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: picture was that of a young lady who had come
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: into a great fortune, the owner insisted on my accepting
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: it as a free gift for the fortunate heiress. It
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: now hangs in its carefully restored frame, in its old
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: place at the foot of the historic bed, and the
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: tapping on the Wainscott and Hailesbury manor has been heard
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: no more. End of Chapter two read by Elsie Selwyn,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Section three of The Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward. This
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter three, The
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Secret of Horner's Court. I have by this time acquired
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: quite a reputation in business circles as a buyer and
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: investigator of houses reputed to be haunted. The transactions I
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: made were usually very profitable, since as the agents were
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: unable to either let or sell the ghost ridden property
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: which they desired me to purchase, I was able to
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: secure unfavorable terms. Miss Sergeant by Lady Secretary, who possessed
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: the gift of clairvoyance, was of great assistance in probing
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: mysteries connected with haunted mansions. Not long after the fortunate
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: ending of the adventure at Halesbury Manor, I was approached
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: by one of the leading firms of house agents in
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the West End with reference to another haunted house. Horner's Court,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: as this place was called, had been on the books
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: of the firm for many years, but they had been
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: unable to find either a tenant or a purchaser for
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: it on account of its reputation. The partner who called
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: on me described it as a well built eighteenth century
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: house situated in a northern county on the outskirts of
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: a famous forest. Two dukes lived in the immediate neighborhood,
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: so that the house ought to have fetched almost a
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: fancy price from one of that numerous class who appreciate
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: high society. But for some reason or other, no one
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: seemed willing to take the place. I listened to all
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: mister rose Viere had to say, and asked if he
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: could tell me anything definite about the prejudice or superstition
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: which affected the house. He shook his head. I can
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: tell you nothing. It was placed in our hands by
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: the trustees of the estate. I don't even remember whether
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: they are acting for a miner, or how the property stands,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: nor who occupied the house last. I suppose a widow.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: I believe, a woman of rank ladies something or other.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: She gave it up on her marriage to a second husband.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Perhaps it is haunted by the ghost of the first,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Mister rose vi added jocularly. I smiled out of politeness,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: though I had ceased to look upon these subjects as
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: a matter for jest. A business discussion followed, and it ended,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: by my security an option to buy the property on
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: such nominal terms that if I could rid it of
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: its disagreeable character, I stood to make a very substantial sum. Indeed,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: as soon as the understanding was reached, I called in
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: miss Sergeant and dictated its terms for her to type.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Mister rose Vie was evidently struck by her name. May
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: I venture to ask if this is the young lady
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: who discovered the secret of the greenhouse, He asked, respectfully.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: I introduced him formally, not very well pleased with his presumption. Naturally,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: I did not wish the most valuable assistant in our
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: office to be too friendly with a rival firm. What
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: a perfectly charming girl, was his exclamation, as Miss Sergeant
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: quietly withdrew to make her transcript. I quite envy you,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: my dear sir. We find miss Sergeant competent and loyal
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: to her employers, and we do not look beyond I returned, intensely. Annoyed.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: Mister Roseviere said nothing in reply, but he smiled in
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: a way which I found it hard as a business
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: man to bear. Well, I will send you round a
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: copy of the agreement as soon as it is ready
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: for signature, I said, as a broad hint for him
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: to go. I was determined not to give him another
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: chance of annoying my secretary. I am afraid you will
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: not send it by miss Sergeant, he retorted, rather vulgarly
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: and maliciously, as he put on his hat and departed.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: As I foresaw would be the case, Miss Sergeant lost
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: no time in applying for permission to aid me in
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: investigating the mystery of Horner's Court. The happy issue of
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: our last adventure of the kind made it difficult for
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: me to raise any objection I had come to see. Moreover, that,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: however great the strain upon her, in her clairvoyant state,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: her experiences seemed to have no after effects of an
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: injurious kind. Accordingly, I arranged with her that if, on
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: arriving at the scene of action, I found that there
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: was any suggestion of an occult influence at work, I
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: would summon her at once. I went down two days later,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: the agreement with rose Vir and Grimston having been signed. Meanwhile,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: not without some further remarks by mister Rosevier, which it
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: would be childish on my part to record. I arrived
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: at a wayside station towards dusk on an autumn day,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: and was driven for miles along a misty road strewn
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: with yellowing leaves, till I saw in front a great
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: iron gate, thrown back and rusting on its hinges. Through
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: this opening, the dog cart drove and brought me along
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: an avenue of black and naked trees to a gaunt
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: house that stood and frowned at its own reflection in
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: a dreary, reed grown pool. I caught my breath at
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: the sight. I could not tell why, and when I
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: dismounted from the dog cart, I stood on the weather
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: stained steps in front of the door, and felt a
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: sense of reluctance at the thought of pulling that great
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: iron bell handle and passing under that forbidding doorway. With
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: a shiver, I mounted the steps and rang. The door
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: was opened by a man, a man of a lowering,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: distrustful countenance, which told me at first glance that it
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: would not be his fault if a tenant were ever
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: found for Horner's Court. It seemed to me that I
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: should learn more from this man if I concealed the
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: true character in which I came, and let him suppose
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: that I was acting for another. Handing him my bag,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: I let him take me through the dark and dreary hall,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: lit only by a solitary candle, into a vast dining room,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: almost equally dark and cheerless had been heaped in the grate,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: and as we came in, a woman was putting a
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: match to the small twigs underneath. She looked up at
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: me with a nervous glance of dread, and in that
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: look I read that she knew the secret of Horner's Court,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: and that she would never dare to tell it to me.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Very few words passed between us, and those chiefly about supper.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: I bade the man show me my bedroom, and he
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: took me up to a room on the floor above,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: a room whose windows looked directly on the dismal pool.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Is this the haunted room? I asked, with an affectation
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: of levity, which I was very far from feeling. The
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: man raised his head and stared at me, No, sir,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: it ain't. That Room's the other side of the house,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: and if you take my advice, you won't go near
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: it except by daylight for that night. At all events,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: I was glad to accept his warning. At dinner, if
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the rough mules set before me could be so cold,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: I was waited on by the forbidding retainer, whose manner
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: checked any attempts to draw him into conversation. I could
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: only glean that he had come to Horner's court as
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: a caretaker on the departure of Lady Maria Krukshank, As
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: the last tenant was named by him. No doubt the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: berth was an easy one, and he would resent having
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: to make way for a new occupier. Inwardly, I made
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: up my mind to dismiss him as soon as possible.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: He was obscure intentionally obscure, I thought, on the subject
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: of the supernatural visitinges. I never see nothing myself, so
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: I can't say he intimated darkly. But I seen the
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: faces of them. Who has seen something? And that was
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: enough for me? And your wife? Has she seen anything?
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: I asked, don't get speaking to missus Stokes about it?
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: He broke out abruptly. She's half crazy already, and it
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: wouldn't take much more to drive her clean off her head.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: I sipped my glass of port and silence. Stokes had
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: brought up an old cobwebbed bottle from the cellar, where
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: a few yet lingered from former times. I filled another
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: glass and gave it to the man. Drink that and
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: tell me what your wife has seen if you don't
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: want me to question her. Fixing suspicious eyes on me,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: he lifted the glass and slowly drained it to the
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: last drop. She says, well, she says, is how she
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: have seen a child? A child I least weighs the
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: spirit of one. I reckon, She means happen. You don't
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: believe in they spirits? Sir, His curious eyes sought to
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: read mine. I shook my head. Is there any tradition
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: connected with this house. Any rumor of a crime or tragedy.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: A sudden flush, I thought, rose on his countenance. It
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: might have been the wine crime. Did you say crime, sir? No,
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: there ain't never been no crime committed in Horner's court.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Lady Maria Frere and her like aren't the sort what
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: commits crimes? Are they? He spoke with a certain rude insolence,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: which somehow seemed to put on deliberately. Just now you
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: called her lady Krukshank, I said, thoughtfully, casting my eyes down.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: As though I disdained to question him, his secret fears
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: came uppermost and got the better of his rudeness. She
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: married Colonel Krukshank when she left here, he said, fawning
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: at once. How long was she here before that? I
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: don't know. It was a lie, of course, and like
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: most of the lies told by ignorant cunning, a useless one.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: Ladies of high rank, and the style of this one
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: showed that she could not be less than an earl's
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: daughter are easily traced. A night spent in the haunted
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: house told me nothing more. Surely, this shivering miasma of
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the stagnant pool beneath my window was the evil influence
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: that wrought against the place. When I rose in the
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: early morning and saw the wreaths of dank mist and
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: folding the walls like a white shroud, I asked myself
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: if any other ghost were needed. So at breakfast, I said,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: aloud and half unconsciously, I will have the pool drained.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: The gloomy man overheard me, and a look of anger
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: came into his eyes. No doubt he feared that his
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: reign was near its end. There's not wrong with the mirror,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: he muttered. I looked him in the face. I shall
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: return here in three days time. Send your wife to
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: me I have in order to give her. He looked
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: at me as if he would have lef to disobey,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: but dared not, and shuffled out of the room. When
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: the woman appeared, she was trembling and her eyes were
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: steadily turned to the ground. I rose to my feet.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Take me to the haunted room, I said, briefly, I
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: would not trust the husband with my intention. The woman,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: thus taken unprepared, shuddered, but made no protest. She led
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: the way upstairs to a remote wing overlooking a small garden.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: The room was rather sad in its neglect, but not depressing.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: On the walls. I saw some colored prints, such as
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: are sold at Christmas time with the illustrated papers. Who
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: used this room in Lady Maria's time? I asked, stealing
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: a glance at the distressed creature. I don't know. It
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: was the husband's answer, no doubt, repeated by his order.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: The house is haunted by a child's ghost. This looks
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: as if it might have been a nursery, I prompted.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: The woman turned very pale, but made no motion. Had
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: she a child? And did he die here in this room?
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: And were there any circumstances dark and dreadful sir ccumstances?
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: I was proceeding earnestly, when all at once the woman
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: threw up her hands, and, uttering low moans, tottered out
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: of the room. I passed her in the corridor and
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: stopped to whisper in her ear, for I knew not
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: where her husband might lurk. I shall return here with
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the lady who can read the secrets of the dead.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: Have this room ready for her to pass the night in,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and prepare the adjoining room for me. I thought she
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: would have taken my words as a threat, but she
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: lifted her eyes to mine imploringly, and I just heard
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: her breathe, Thank Heaven. When I went down to Horner's
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: Court with Alwyn's sergeant, we did not go alone. An
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: experienced nurse accompanied her, and I brought down, in the
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: disguise of a valet, one of the shrewdest and most
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: determined officers of Scotland. Yard a peerage had disclosed that
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Lady Maria Crukshenk was sister to the Earl of gaze Thorpe,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: and that her present residence was in Florence, Siddeley. Private
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: inquiries added the information that she was the mother of
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: one son by her former husband. The boy was now
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: seventeen and traveling with a tutor. When we arrived at
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: Horner's Court, the caretaker received us with the same discourtious air.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: His wife, he told us, was unwell, but a woman
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: had come up from the neighboring farm to attend to us.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: The police officer, by virtue of his supposed position, assumed
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: the right of penetrating into the servants quarters of the mansion.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: I followed miss sergeant and the nurse upstairs, whither the
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: woman led them. The first glance round the room prepared
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: for their reception showed me that it was not the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: one which I had formerly explored. Yet it was like it,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: even the very picture seemed the same. Only when I
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: passed into the next room and saw it artfully heaped
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: up with lumber, did I feel sure that this substitution
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: was intentional. I questioned the woman, who told me truthfully enough,
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: I have no doubt that she knew nothing of the
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: interior arrangements of the house. I considered what it was
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: best for me to do, and came to the conclusion
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: that it would not be wise to let the man
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Stokes know that I had detected his deceit. He might
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: have other tricks in reserve, for it was evidently his
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: object to throw every obstacle in the way of our
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: discovering the mystery of Horner's Court. I let the woman
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: believe that I was satisfied, but as soon as I
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: found myself alone with the other two, I told them
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: how things stood. We arranged that when the time came
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: to retire, a bed of some kind should be rigged
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: up for miss Sergeant in the true haunted room. The
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: nurse did not intend to go to sleep, but to
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: keep watch over the clairvoyant. The detective, whom we had
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: left downstairs, was informed of my discovery and concurred in
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: what had been arranged. His manner showed him to be
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: skeptical of Miss Sergeant's powers, but he had come already
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: to the conclusion that Stokes was hiding some secret of
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: a highly doubtful character. He agreed, with some apparent hesitation,
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: to share our watch. The caretaker seemed to hover uneasily
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: through our part of the mansion as long as he dared.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: As we sat in the dining room, we heard him
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: locking and bolting the great hall door with infinite precaution.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: That man is certainly afraid of something. The police officer,
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: Sir remarked, whether he really thinks the house is haunted
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: or not he dreads some accidental discovery. After this search,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: we all went upstairs. Miss Sergeant's couch was made up
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: for her, and the room half choked with lumber. The
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: nurse carried in an arm chair for herself to sit
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: beside the sleeping girl. The detective and I took seats
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: into the corridor, ready in case the man we both
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: suspected should come prowling along in the night. The detective
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Mayhew declares that he saw nothing, was aware of nothing
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: strange or uncanny happening that night, But he says that
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: he saw me shiver and turn pale without visible cause.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: All at once I heard a sound from the other side.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: Before I could gather what it was, I felt my
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: hair stir and rise, And at the same moment the
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: door was softly opened. Alwin's sergeant stood on the threshold,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: her face drawn with wonder and dismay, and her eyes
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: fixed in the unseeing gaze I had learnt to know
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: and dread. Behind her, I discerned the figure of the nurse,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: with finger uplifted. Do not wake her, for your life,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: she warned me. The shock might endanger her. Reason we
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: must follow where she goes. By this time Mayhew had
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: risen to his feet, in expression of amazement on his face.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: The Somnambula stepped out into the corridor and moved slowly
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: down in the direction from which my fear had seemed
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: to come. The three of us stole after her on tiptoe,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: scarcely daring to breathe. She led the way without hesitating,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: downstairs into the hall. There she halted for a moment,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: as though uncertain which way to turn, but her hesitation
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: was quickly over. She turned away from the main door
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: and made her way first into a drawing room, and
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: thence into a conservatory with a glass door at the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: end leading into the grounds. There was barely light enough
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: for us to follow her without stumbling against the furniture
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: and the wooden shelves in the glass house, but the
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: sleeper moved on surely without mistake. She reached the glass
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: door some way in advance of us, and we heard
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: her turn the handle. Then there was a low, desolate cry,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: and she shook fiercely at the unyielding door. May Hugh
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: and I darted forward. The door was locked, and the
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: key had been taken away. This is some of that
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: rascal's work, The detective muttered, May I break the lock?
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: By this time, whatever skepticism he may have felt, how
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: evaporated in the excitement of the quest, and he was
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: as eager as myself to see the end. Yes, break it,
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: I said. He dashed his foot against the flimsy door,
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: and it burst away from its fastenings. The shock produced
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: no effect on the somnambulist, but she put out her
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: hands and groped, as though to ascertain if the obstacle
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: had been removed. Then she heaved a sigh of relief
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: and passed out on to the lawn. Turning to the right,
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: she followed a winding path which led down to the
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: edge of the stagnant pool. I quickened my steps to
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: come up with her, determined at all cause to prevent
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: her falling into the water. As if conscious of my intention,
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: she hastened on till her walk became a run. I
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: sprang forward and was just in time to throw my
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: arms round her as she reached the brink, and threw
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: out her hands in a gesture of supplication or despair. Then,
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: even as I held her rigid form, I did not hear,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: but I knew of a splash far out in the
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: middle of the water, and a deep, silent ripple that
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: slowly passed across the surface of the pool. Neither of
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: our companions saw or heard anything. After an instant's agonized struggle,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the somnambulist awoke in my arms, crying hysterically. The nurse
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: advanced hastily and took her from me, soothing her and
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: turning her steps back towards the house. As we neared
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: the conservatory door, the police officer uttered an exclamation and
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: darted forward. He told me afterwards he was certain he
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: had seen the face of Stokes peering out with a
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: look of no common fear, but the man was not
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: to be found. I will have the mirror dragged the
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: first thing tomorrow, I declared. I remembered now the aversion
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: shown by Stokes at my former proposal to drain the
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: dismal pool. The rest of the night passed off without incident,
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: but in the moment the woman who had been waiting
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: upon us came and made the surprising announcement that the
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: caretaker was nowhere to be found. Both he and his
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: wife had fled from the house and from the neighborhood
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: without a word of explanation, and neither of them has
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: ever been heard of since. Was only possible to suppose
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: that the man had been drawing a secret allowance so
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: as long as the mystery of Horner's Court remained undiscovered,
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: and that what he had seen on this night had
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: convinced him that the game was up, and that he
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: would be safer out of the way as soon as
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: the necessary appliances could be obtained. The pool was dragged
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: opposite the spot where the somnambulist had stood. Horrible to relate,
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: the drag brought up the skeleton of a child of
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: about seven years of age. As soon as the detective
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Mayhew saw this tragic evidence, he made up his mind
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: that a serious crime had been committed. The subsequent investigation
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: was conducted by him, and I need only tell briefly
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: its result. Inquiries in the neighborhood brought out that Lady
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: Maria Frere was the mother of a boy of seven
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: or eight at the time of her engagement to Colonel Crooks.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: The colonel seemed to dislike the boy and his mother,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: who was a heartless society woman, left him entirely to
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: the care of servants, while she gave herself up to
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: hunting and other amusements and the company of her future husband.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: On her second marriage, she had quitted Horner's Court for
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: the honeymoon, not to return. The little boy did not
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: appear at the wedding, and was given out that he
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: had been sent on in the charge of a governess
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: to the place which his parents had chosen as their
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: future residence. Armed with this information, the detective called on
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: the trustees of the late mister Frere, whose heir the
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: boy was. From them, he learnt the important fact that,
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: under the provisions of the will, the whole income of
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: the estate during the boy's minority was payable to the widow.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: On the boy's coming of age or death. During infancy,
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: her income was reduced to the widow's third Lady Maria,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: was regularly receiving the full income from the trustees, who
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: had not the faintest suspicion of anything being wrong. Mayhew,
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: who felt pretty sure that the story of the lad
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: of seventeen and the Traveling Tutor was a myth, obtained
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: a letter from the trustees to Lady Maria Cruchschenk, calling
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: for the immediate production of the air, and went to
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Florence to deliver it in person. The wicked mother, thus
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: taken unawares, showed more fear than remorse. She made a
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: confession which the detective was content to accept is probably
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: near the truth. The boy had died in the room
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: at Horner's Court, and if his death had not been
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: wholly due to neglect, at least his life might have
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: been prolonged by the care and devotion of a mother
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: who really loved her child. Unwilling to lose the greater
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: part of her income, to which she owed the prospect
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: of a second husband, the heartless woman had concealed the
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: state of her son's health from everyone but the two Stokes,
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: and when the poor child died, she had paid Stokes
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: to dispose of the body in the pool in front
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of the house. Her plan was to draw the income
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: of the estate up to the last moment and then
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: send a certificate of her son's death from some foreign
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: place where a doctor could easily be bribed. The trustees
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: forbore to prosecute, But I am glad to say that
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: they fir only refused to pay another penny to Colonel
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: Krukshank's wife till the whole of the sums she had
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: fraudulently obtained had been stopped out of her lawful dower,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: and when last heard of, the pair were living in
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: abject poverty. Horner's Court has become the residence of the
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: High Sheriff of Umshire. End of section three read by
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn. Chapter four of The Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: The two Roses. It would give needless pain to members
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: of the family who are still living in the neighborhood.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: If I were to go into the circumstances in which
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: the ancient seat of the Hedges of Essex came into
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: the market, it is only necessary to say that the
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: solicitors from whom my firm received instructions to find a
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: purchaser for the estate, were not acquainted with the family history,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: and could tell us nothing definite on the subject of
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: the intidence, real or imaginary, which had given an evil
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: reputation to Bewley Hall. They were only able to inform
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: us that one entire wing of the building, constituting the
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: most ancient and characteristic portion, had been shut up for
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: a great length of time, so long indeed, that no
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: one seemed able to remember when it had last been inhabited.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: I discussed the matter with Miss Alwin's sergeant, the young
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: lady employed in our office, who had already given me
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: such valuable assistance on similar occasions. She possessed the gift
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: of clairvoyance, and had proved of incalculable assistance in explaining
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: away mysteries connected with several residences. There were, notably the Greenhouse, Wallington,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: Halesbury Manor, and Horner's Court. I had already become well
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: known as a dealer in haunted property, and made a
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: satisfactory profit on my transactions, buying the premises cheap and
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: selling out a profit. When the mysteries were cleared up,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: I was reluctant to expose her to the risk of
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: another nervous shock. Although she herself was quite eager to
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: take her usual part in our joint investigations. I thought, however,
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: it could do no harm for her to come down
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: with me to make some preliminary inquiries. None of the
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: furniture and effects had yet been removed from the mansion,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: and there was a farm bailiff occupying rooms with his
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: family in the servants quarter, so that it was easy
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: to arrange for a visit. The rather senseless difficulty of
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: a chaperone for my lady Clerk was disposed of by
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: my sister Jane, who surprised me by requesting that she
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: might make one of the party. Jane had not previously
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: met Miss Sergeant, but she had heard me speak of
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: her once or twice, and appeared anxious for some reason
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: to make her acquaintance. I was a little disappointed to
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: find that Alwyn did not seem equally eager to meet
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: my sister. In fact, she went so far as to
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: say that she felt nervous at the prospect. I could
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: only assure her that my sister Jane was a most
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: unassuming ordinary person, quiet, shrewd and observant, and moreover devoted
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: to me. But this information did not allay Miss Sergeant's apprehensions,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: which seemed to increase as the moment for our departure
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: drew near. The ceremony of introduction took place on the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: platform at Liverpool Street. Both ladies, I thought, were more
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: carefully dressed than seemed necessary for a purely business journey
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: on which we were to meet no one of any consequence.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: I caught a look of surprise on my sister's face
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: as Alwen came up, and she took the first opportunity
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: to whisper to me, almost in a tone of reproach. Jack,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: you never told us she was a beauty. Miss Sergeant
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: is a valued member of our clerical staff, I replied severely.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: Her looks are no concern of ours, so long as
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: they do not interfere with her faithful discharge of her
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: duties in the office. Jane looked dissatisfied, but she did
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: not venture on any further remark. During the journey down,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: she watched the poor girl as closely as a cat
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: watches a canary bird through the bars of its cage. Fortunately,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: Miss Sergeant soon got over her first nervousness and exerted
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: herself to conciliate my sister with such good effect that
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: by the time we reached saffron Walden we were all
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: chatting like old friends. Jane rather embarrassed me by forgetting
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: the business relationship between Miss Sergeant and myself, and referring
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: to me repeatedly by my Christian names, so that I
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: was rather glad that my partner Mortimer was not present.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: We found Beauley Hall to be an ancient manor house
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: of the Elizabethan type, built of red brick, which was
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: mellowed by age and overgrown in many places with ivy
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: and climbing plants. The principal feature was a large and
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: lofty hall on much the same design as the London
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: guild Hall, but on a smaller scale. It was stone
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: paved and was paneled half way up the walls with
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: very valuable old oak the hall, I must explain, separated
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: the two wings or halves composing the mansion. The modern portion,
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: which had been in constant use up to the death
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: of the late owner, had been built on to the
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: great Hall. At its lower end, the haunted wing, if
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: it should be so called, was connected with the upper end.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: Here there was a dais, also paved with stone, stretching
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: from side to side of the hall. The door into
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: the ancient wing opened off one side of the dais,
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: and on the opposite side was another smaller door like
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: a post turn, which we found led into a little
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: rose garden behind the house. The only other feature that
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: I need dwell on was a gallery which the bailiff's
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: wife who showed us over the place, called the Musicians Gallery.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: It overlooked the dais facing the door into the rose garden,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: and when we went upstairs we found it was approached
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: by a corridor that traversed the whole length of the
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: Haunted Wing. The woman who acted as our guide was
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: very uncommunicative, partly, I believe because she really had her
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: very little, and partly because she fancied that she would
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: lower herself in our eyes by betraying any interest in
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: the lore of superstition. When I asked her if she
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: could tell us anything about the ghost, she tossed her
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: head in disdain. I don't know of any ghost, she declared,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: and I don't hold with any talk about such things.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: It's only the laborers that believes in them hereabouts. The
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: social cleavage thus indicated forbade further inquiry. The bailiff's wife
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: informed us, however, that the disused part of the mansion
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: had been shut up long before she was born, and
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: she made a great deal of difficulty about letting us
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: spend the night in it. It's all dust and cobwebs,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: she explained to me. Everything there as exactly as it
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: was left a hundred years ago, and more, I should say,
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: your ladies couldn't possibly put up with the dirt in
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: the damp. We explored the wing under her guidance, and
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: its appearance served to confirm her account. The old hangings
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: clung moldering to the walls, ancient weapons grown rusty with neglect,
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: were suspended along the sides of the corridor, and the
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: bedroom's old four poster beds were covered with the embroidered
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: quilts of another age, and the robes and brocades of
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: a past generation still filled the closets. Even my staid
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: and demure sister could not resist the temptation to rummage
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: in some of the cupboards and examined the decayed fineries
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: they contained. While I felt no less strongly attracted by
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: the flying specimens of seventeenth and eighteenth century arms, I
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: found that one superbly mounted pistol, which I took down
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: from its place, actually had the left barrel still loaded,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: though the priming had long since disappeared. A one approached
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: me as I was examining the pistol, and I showed
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: her the flint still in the hammers. She regarded the
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: weapon with peculiar attention, taking it in her hand with
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: a meditative musing look, I wonder how the other barrel
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: came to be discharged? She said, So far we had
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: been able to glean nothing from the impenetrable obstinacy of
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: our guide. After selecting our rooms, which the woman reluctantly
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: promised to provide with some bedding from the other part
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: of the house, we came back into the great hall.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: I have already mentioned the dais, which occupied one end,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: with the two doors opening off it across the dais
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: there extended an ancient table, long and narrow, made of
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: a single beam of oak. Someone throughout the suggestion that
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: we three should dine on this seineurial board in imitation
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: of the olden time. When I requested the bailiff's wife
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: to make the necessary arrangements, she exhibited some slight dismay.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Of course, it's for you to do as you wish, sir,
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: she said, But perhaps your ladies don't know that this
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: table has the blood stain on it. We seized eagerly
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: upon this illusion. What blood stain? Where? We demanded, crowding
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: round the black and venerable board. The woman pointed to
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: the end of the table, nearest to the door and
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: to the rose garden. Surely enough, the woods seemed to
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: have a darker tinge. At one particular spot, the mark
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: was about the size of a man's hand. Is there
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: a story about this stain? I asked, hoping to get
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: upon the track of the ghostly legend of the hall.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: But the woman could not or would not be drawn.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: It's an old secret in the family. I've heard how
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: the stain got there. I don't rightly call to mind
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: what it was but I do think there was a
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: murder in the hall. Some say it was a hundred
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: years ago and some two hundred, and the murderer was
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: Sir William Hedges. But anyway, the table hasn't been used
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: from that day to this, and the family never would
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: have it touched. Miss Sergeant showed herself intensely interested in
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: this account, scanty as it was. Who knows that there
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: may not be some sympathetic force concentrated in this particular spot,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: She said reflectively, I think that instead of our dining
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: here and possibly disturbing the magnetism of the table, it
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: will be better for us to try to hold asaeans
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: here at night. Although my recent experiences had cured me
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: of a good deal of skepticism with regard to the occult,
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: I still draw the line at ordinary spirit wrapping. I
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: hinted as much to Alwin. That is not exactly what
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: I meant, she explained. I am not a medium in
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: that sense. I merely believe it is possible that if
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: I can establish a magnetic rapport with this table, I
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: may feel some direction given to me which will help us.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: My sister, I could see, was a good deal. Puzzled
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: by this mystic language. In the end, however, Miss Sergeant
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: had her way. We dined and spent the first part
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: of the evening in the modern side of the building,
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: and then adjourned about ten o'clock to the dark and
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: echoing hall. We placed ourselves around the end of the table,
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: which bore the faded mark of blood, and extinguish the
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: candles we had brought with us. It was a bright
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: moonlight night, and the white rays that streamed in on
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: us through a huge mullioned window filled the hall with
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: shadows that were startling in their distinctness. Whether because of
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: this brightness or from any other cause, our sitting had
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: no immediate results. If Miss Sergeant were susceptible to any influence,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: magnetic or otherwise, this was evidently not the right occasion
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: for it. After a quarter of an hour passed in silence,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: she rose suddenly from the table with a sigh, and
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: announced her intention of retiring to sleep. It is only
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: when I am asleep that I seem to be sensitive,
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: she remarked. I do not know how it is this
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: spot fascinates me, and yet if I sat here all night,
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: I don't believe anything what happened, I allowed the two
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: ladies to go upstairs by themselves. The old hall fascinated
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: me by its emptiness and silence, and I paced up
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: and down on the paved floor, smoking a cigar and
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: pondering a certain question which my sister's attitude toward Alwin
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: had forced me to look in the face. How long
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: was I going going to allow all Owe Sergeant to
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: hazard her nerves and possibly her brain in these uncanny experiments.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: I asked myself the question no longer as it concerned
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: the clerk in our office, on whom I depended, but
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: as it concerned the girl, who stubborn, old bachelor as
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: I was, had actually made me think it possible that
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: I might do worse than part with my freedom. I
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: wish it to be distinctly understood that there was no
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: foolish nonsense in my mind. When I thought of Alwin,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: I judged her calmly in the light of reason. She
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: appeared to me a good daughter, a good sister, and
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: a thoroughly agreeable companion, in short, an ideal wife for
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: a sensible business man. I took out of my pocket
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: a rose which she had accidentally dropped in the garden,
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: and which I had picked up and forgotten to return
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: to her. I was in the act of raising it
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: to my face when suddenly I heard a sigh. I
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: turned round quickly. I was standing just below the dais
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: at the time, and saw the door the haunted wings
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: slowly swing open to the width of a couple feet,
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: as though it were being opened just enough to let
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: someone through. At the same moment, I was conscious of
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: a subtle change in my surroundings, which I can hardly
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: describe except by seeing that. I felt as though I
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: had fallen asleep and awakened in a different life. The
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: general aspect of the ancient hall remained the same, and
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: yet somehow everything in it looked slightly less distinct, as
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: though the faintest possible veil had been drawn between me
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: and the objects at which I looked. The moon was
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: not less bright, and the shadows that threw were not
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: less black than before, but nevertheless both light and shadow
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: had become less real, so to speak. At the same time,
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: I was conscious that the change was as much in
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: myself as in the objects round me. I seemed to
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: breathe less vigorously, and to be deprived for a time
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: of the power, or rather of the will to move
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: or take any part of what was about to happen.
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: The door opened as far as I have said, and
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: then stopped. I gazed with the most intense curiosity to
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: see who was coming in, But no one appeared. Only
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: I could have sworn that someone or something had slipped
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: through that open space and was gliding softly across the
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: dais towards the end to the table which bore the
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: faded stain. I turned my eyes, following the course of
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: the unseen visitant till it had reached the fatal spot.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: And then, to my astonishment and horror, I did see something.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: I saw a rose, a rose of the palest yellow
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: or white, lying as if it had just been laid
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: down by an invisible hand, on the exact spot marked
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: by the stain of blood. I stood still for a
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: few moments, expecting something to follow. Then as I again
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: turned my eyes in the direction of the door, I
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: saw it close again, as gently as it had opened,
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: and without any visible agency. How long I stood in
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: a manner, enchanted, gazing from the closed door to the
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: white rose lying on the board, I cannot say it
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: seemed half a minute. It may have been half an hour.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: Then I was aroused by a sound which clearly belonged
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: to the world of reality. It reached me from above,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: and on looking up, I saw a figure that had
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: appeared in the musician's gallery, which I have described as
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: over looking the Dais. At first sight, I could have
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: imagined that this figure was only a phantom of the brain,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: and keeping with the extraordinary illusion which I had just experienced.
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: But as it moved forward to the front of the gallery,
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: I recognized that it was all when herself. She appeared
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: to have come out of her sleeping room, unnoticed by
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: my sister, and to have found her way into the
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: gallery while in that somnambulistic state which I had witnessed
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: on previous occasions. On the way, she had assumed a
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: curious disguise and the shape of a heavy writing cloak,
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: which she must have found among the ancient relics scattered
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: about the old wing. Clad in this garment, she reached
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: the balustrade of the gallery and peered down at the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: mysterious rose. She stood like that, in an attitude of
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: the most intent watchfulness for some minutes. Then I saw
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: her drop suddenly down on the floor of the gallery,
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: concealing herself behind the balustrade and shrouding all but her
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: face beneath the folds of the cloak. Unable to understand
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: the cause of this singular maneuver, I gazed round the
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: hall for some change that might account for it. The
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: face of the somnambulist was turned in the direction of
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: the door into the garden. I watched this door steadily,
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: half expecting to see it open, as the other door
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: had appeared to do so. But this time the spell
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: which had governed my faculties ceased to operate, and I
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: neither saw nor heard anything happen below in the hall.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: It was different with the figure crossed in the gallery above.
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: After an interval of time which must have corresponded closely
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: with that required for someone to enter from the rose
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: garden and make his way to where the rose had
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: been lying, I saw Alwin rise slowly to her full height,
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: past aside the thick cloak, and extend her hand in
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: the direction of the fatal spot. The next instant there
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: was a click, followed by a spark, as the flint
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: of the pistol which she had been grasping, struck against
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: the rusty pan. At the same moment her hand loosed
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: the weapon, which fell crashing on the pavement below. It
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: was the very pistol which I had idly examined in
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: the course of the afternoon. The noise, or the accomplishment
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: of her purpose put an end to the sleepwalker's trance.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: She made a natural movement of surprise, looking all about her,
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: and caught sight of me. Where am I? What has happened?
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: She called out breathlessly. I told her in a few
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: words what I had seen. You came out into the
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: gallery wearing that cloak and hid yourself behind the balustrade,
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: after looking at the white rose on the table. Then
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: at the end of a few minutes, she stood up
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: and fired in that direction. You have just dropped the
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: pistol on the floor of the hall. I was startled
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: by Alwen's response. But that rose, the rose on the table,
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: is not white, It's red. I looked, and, as surely
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: as I am writing these lines, the rose which I
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: had seen lying there white in the moonlight, had changed
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: to the color of blood red. Certain by this time
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: that my senses were deceiving me, I made two steps
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: of it to the spot the rose had gone. I
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: swept my hand over the place where I had lain.
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: As I cried out to Alwen, there is nothing here
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: I can see it still, she replied, come down, for
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: Heaven's sake, or let me come to you and get
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: a light. I shouted back, thoroughly unnerved. She moved back
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: slowly from the gallery, first, casting the cloak once more
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: about her shoulders. I went and opened the door of
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: the wing, and presently she came in sight, descending the
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: stairs with a lighted lamp. She passed her hand across
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: her forehead as she observed, I am afraid the strain
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: of these experiences is beginning to tell on me. Even
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: now I am hardly sure whether I am awake or asleep.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: I led her out on to the dais. This time
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: there was no room for doubt. Neither white Rose nor
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: Red was any longer there to tease the fancy. The
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: old oak board lay in the moonlight, black and smooth
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: as when we had seen it first. Late as it was,
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: we could not forbear questioning each other as to the
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: experiences of the past half hour. I described to all
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: one what I had seen or imagined, and pressed her
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: to explain her own part in the strange episode. Unfortunately,
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: she could remember nothing of what had happened in her
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: somnambulistic state, could only guess that she must have been
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: impersonating in a dream the principal actor in that groom
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: tragedy which the Old Hall had witnessed a century or
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: more ago. We were interrupted by the appearance of my
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: sister Jane, whom the sound of the falling pistol had roused.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: Something in the expression of my sister's face induced me
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: to whisper hastily in Alwan's ear. May I tell her
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: you have made me a promise, and you will keep it.
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: With the nature of that promise in its subsequent fulfillment,
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: the reader has no concern there, as far as we knew,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: ended the story of Bewley Hall. But in due time
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: I found a purchaser for the estate, for whom the
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: romantic associations of the Old Hall were the principal attraction.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: He exerted himself to trace the history of Sir William Hedges,
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: and succeeded in getting into communication with a member of
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: the family, a rather remote descendant, who was induced to
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: supply the following particulars late in life, that is to say,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: after he had passed his sixtieth year, Sir William took
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: an old man's fancy for the daughter of his parish clergyman,
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: a girl scarcely seventeen. Rosamond, as she was named, showed
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: the greatest reluctance to marry the knight, for no reason
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: that she was willing to assign except his great age.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: Her father and mother, dazzled by Sir William's wealth and
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: his promises on behalf of their daughter, forced her into
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: the match, and in due course she went to live
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: in the hall at Sir William's wife. But unknown to
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: her parents and of course to her new husband, Rosamond
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: had secretly given her heart to a penniless young gentleman
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: of the Greville family living some twenty miles away. Unable
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: to bear the prospect of losing each other altogether, the
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: lovers agreed upon a method of communication, which they meant
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: should be wholly innocent. Once and every month, when the
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: moon was at the full, young Greville was to ride
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: across to Beauley Hall by night and obtain entrance through
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: the door of the Rose Garden, of which Rosamond provided
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: him with the key. Rosamond, on her part, was to
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: descend into the hall after her lord had fallen asleep,
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: and place the white rose upon the table as a
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: token that all was well well and that she still
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: preserved her fidelity to her first love. On entering the
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: hall and finding the white rose there, Greville was to
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: take it away with him, leaving a red rose in
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: its place as an answering pledge. For some months the
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: lovers kept up their romantic tryst without discovery. But at
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: last there came a night when it had rained hard
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: during the day, and unwittingly the lover brought in some
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: of the mud of the rose garden on his boots
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: and left it on the stones of the hall. As
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: ill luck would have it, Sir William woke that morning
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: early and came down before his household was astir. He
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: noticed the mud stains and the red rose upon the table,
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: and following up the scent, discovered the hoof prints of
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: Greville's horse outside. Firmly believing the worst, the Knight swore
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: to be revenged upon his unknown rival, and from that
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: time he set himself to watch night after night for
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: an opportunity of surprising him. When the appointed Knight came
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: round again, Sir William, who was as usual watching while
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: feigning to be asleep, saw his wife rise from his side,
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: take a white rose in her hand, and go down
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: to the hall, leaving the bed chamber directly after her.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: The Knight armed himself with a loaded pistol and went
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: and hid himself in the musician's gallery to see what
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: would follow. He failed to see his wife, who was
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: already returning upstairs again. But before Rosamond had made the
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: discovery of her husband's vigilance, the door of the rose
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: garden was opened, and young Greville stole in with a
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: red rose in his hat band. He was in the
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: act of stretching out his fingers to pick up the
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: rose left by his sweetheart when Sir William fired The
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: ball pierced the lover's heart, and he fell forward, his
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: blood gushing over the white flower, which it died to
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: the color of that one he had been going to
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: replace it with. Immediately, Lady Hedges, who had that moment
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: found her husband's place vacant, ran shrieking out into the
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: gallery and flung herself headlong down beside her lover's corpse,
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: breaking her neck against the ground. This awful catastrophe served
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: to unsettle the reason of its author, whom the law
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: refrained from punishing. He caused the hall to be shut up,
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: and when he died many years after, he so ordered
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: it by his will that none should reopen the ancient building,
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: nor profane the scene of the tragedy with any sort
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: of pleasure or diversion, as long as the hall should
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: remain in the hands of his descendants. The above in narrative,
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: I need not remark, exactly fits in with the experiences
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: I have just related, in which the reader is at
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: liberty to accept or reject as he may please. End
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: of Chapter four read by Elsie Selwyn. Chapter five of
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: The Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter five, The Haunted Woman. A
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: month after the romantic adventure of Beauley Hall, I received
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: the most extraordinary letter I have ever had in my life.
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: It was from a lady and the envelope was marked private.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: This is what I read the Abbey Abbotsbury. Dear Sir,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: I have seen in the Journal of this Psychical Research Society,
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: an account of some extraordinary discoveries made by you and
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: a young lady named Sergeant in connection with occult phenomena
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: in old family mansions, and I am writing to ask
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: you in confidence if you or she would be willing
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: to come down here and see if you could do
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: anything to put an end to a manifestation which has
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: been going on for a considerable time. I ought to
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: explain that I am the only person in the house
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: who has seen anything, and I have not mentioned it
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: to any one but my own maid, who can be trusted.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: I am most anxious that my son, Captain Throgmorton, should
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: not hear anything about the matter, and therefore it is
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: essential that no one should know why you are coming down.
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: Some excuse will have to be thought of to account
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: for your visit. My son is a widower and has
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: never recovered from the shock of losing his wife, and
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: therefore you will understand that I must make it a
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: point that on no account is he to be troubled.
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: I write to you in the greatest anxiety and distress
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: of mind, and shall be prepared to pay liberally for
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: your services and those of Miss Sergeant, for which I
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: shall be most grateful, Trusting you will treat this matter
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: as one strictly between ourselves. I remain yours truly, Lady
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: Maria Throgmorton p s. In replying, please do not use
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: an envelope bearing the name of your firm, as the
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: letter bag is opened by Captain Throgmorton. Had I listened
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: to my first impulse, I should have written back firmly
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: declining to have anything to do with the matter which
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: called for concealment, and especially when I was asked to
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: visit a house under a false character. Unfortunately, before replying,
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: I showed the letter to Alwyn, whose curiosity was immediately
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: aroused to the highest degree. I am certain there is
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: more in this than meets the eyes, she declared. From
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: the way this lady writes, it is evident that she
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: thinks there is some connection between what she has seen
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: and her son, something which she is afraid to tell us.
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: We must go down and find out, at all events
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: what the situation is, even if we go no further.
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: The moment I heard her talk like that, I bitterly
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: regretted having shown her Lady Throgmorton's letter. I knew Alwin's
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: courage too well by this time to have any hope
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: of frightening her off from an adventure, because it threatened
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: to have some risk. The only argument I could think
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: of was an appeal to the conventions. I could not
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: think of letting you enter the house of a people
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: we know nothing about under a false name or in
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: some concealed character, I said determinedly. I might consent to
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: do such a thing, but my wife is different. I'm
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: not your wife yet, you tyrant Alwin retorted with a
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: sly smile. If you show the cloven hoof like that,
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: I shall look out for some kind, good natured husband
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: who will not trample on me. But there is no
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: need that I should take a false name or do
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: anything else that you don't like. Why shouldn't this lady
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: advertise for a companion in the Standard? And I answered
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: the advertisement and go down on trial? I felt that
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: I was no match for Alwin's ready wit. She found
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: a way out of every difficulty as soon as I
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: stated it, well, at all events, I shall insist on
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: going to first in finding out something more about these people,
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: I said, how do you suggest that I should manage?
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: Owen considered for a minute. There is no reason why
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: you should not go down in your own name too,
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: she said at length, unless Captain Throgmorton has heard of you,
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: you might find out that from Lady Throgmorton. I should
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: think that the simplest plan would be for her to
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: send for you to advise her about some alteration in
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: the house. Those old places are always wanting repairs, unless
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: she can persuade her son to let it. He seems
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: to be the master. You had better ask her for
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: more information. First. The upshot was that I answered Lady
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: Throgmorton's letter as Alwan wished, at the same time I
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: looked up the family in the Landed Gentry. The first
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: result of these inquiries was the discovery that Lady Throgmorton
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: was merely the Captain's stepmother. She was the widow of
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: one of our ministers abroad who had received the g
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: c B, and Captain Throgmorton was his son by a
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: former wife. Apparently, however, the stepmother and stepson had always
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: been on the best of terms, and the widow of
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: Sir Nicholas had remained on in the abbey as its
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: mistress until the Captain's marriage, which had taken place about
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: a year ago. I could not learn anything about the
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: wife's death, but it was clear that Lady Throgmorton had
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: now resumed her old position at all events. She wrote
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: back to me saying that there was no need for
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: me to drop my right name in accepting the suggestion
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: as to letting the house. In due course I received
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: a letter in her handwriting, but signed Arthur Throgmorton, in
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: which I was formerly invited to come down and see
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: the property. It was with very much more excitement than
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: I usually feel on such occasions that I drove up
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: to the main entrance of the abbey through an avenue
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: whose yellowing leaves seemed ominous of some catastrophe. I was
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: first taking up to a comfortable bed room on the
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: second floor and given some TEA. Half an hour later,
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: the footman who attended to me came back and asked
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: me to follow him down to her ladyship's room. I
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: could see from his manner that Lady Throgmorton had given
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: orders that I was to be treated with all possible consideration.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: The room into which he conducted me was one of
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: a suite on the first floor, evidently appropriated to the
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: mistress of the house. The furniture was almost new, and
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: I hardly required to be told that the rooms had
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: been prepared to receive the bride of Captain Throbborton. They
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: now seemed to have been relegated to his stepmother. The
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: appearance of my client startled me. She was a woman
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: of fifty, still strikingly handsome, but disfigured by a too
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: lavish use of cosmetics. She had assumed an artificial pose
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: on a couch, beside which stood a table covered with
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: smelling bottles and such articles. As I entered, she raised
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: a gold and tortoiseshell lorn yet to her eyes, and
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: gave me almost a hostile scrutiny. Behind her stood her maid,
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: a tall, thin woman with pinched lips and half shut eyes,
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: who never moved nor spoke, except to answer some question
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: from her mistress, or to hand her some cent or drug.
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: The sight of this rouged and laced up figure, with
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: its blackened eyelids and prominent nose, and the silent shadow
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: in the background, made me feel as if I had
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: stepped into the atmosphere of some place like Homburg or
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: Ostend instead of an English country house. Sit down, if
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: you please, mister Hargreaves, and speak softly, if you will
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: be so good. My nerves are absolutely destroyed, Madeline. The
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: essence the silent maid chose one of the bottles and
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: began dabbing her mistress's forehead, taking care not to disturb
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: the powder. The experience I have gone through has been
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: most frightful, Lady Throgmorton continued. Every night it has been
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: the same. I cannot sleep without taking enough chloral to
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: kill anyone unaccustomed to it. And when I do go off,
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: I dream. She gave a shudder and raised a bottle
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: of salts to her nostrils. Even where I sat, I
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: could detect the odor. In fact, the air of the
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: room was thick with sense. I waited for her to
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: explain the nature of her experiences. Every night since I
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: have been back in these rooms, it has come to me,
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: she went on. She seemed to have a difficulty in
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: speaking out plainly. It is an apparition, or seems to
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: be one, the apparition of my son's wife. I thought
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: it time to ask a question or two. Will you
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: tell me a little more about the circumstances, I said,
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: When did missus Throgmorton die? And how she darted a
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: fierce glance at me as I put the concluding question.
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: She died six weeks ago of pneumonia in the room
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: I am now occupying. After her death, my son could
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: not bear to sleep in it, and I thought it
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: best to return to these rooms, which had always been mine.
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: But if this apparition disturbed you there, why not try
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: the effect of sleeping in some other part of the house,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: Because it would be impossible to give any reason for
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: changing again. So soon the servants would be inquisitive, and
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: my son might suspect something. She hesitated, before adding, some
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: one else might take my place and see what I
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: have seen. I suppose you are afraid that if Captain
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: Throgmorton heard of this, it might distress him again. She
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: fixed me with a threatening glance. Captain Throgmorton must never
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: hear of it, she responded, The shock would kill him.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: She he looked round at the man for a moment.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: We are afraid that he has not been quite right
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: in his mind since his wife's death. I could not
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: conceal my consternation at this intelligence. I began to feel
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: thankful that Alwin had not come with me to such
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: a house. Lady Throgmorton saw that she must tell me
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: something more. He would not believe that she was really dead.
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: For a long time. Then he had a special coffin
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: made for her in the hope that she might come
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: to life again. And he has told me that Eleanor
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: would have appeared to him if she really were dead,
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: to assure him that she still remembered him in the
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: other world. I consider these extraordinary statements in my mind
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: before replying, And are you sure that it would not
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: be the wisest course to let him know what has
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: happened and give him the chance of seeing whatever you
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: have seen? Lady Throgmorton turned to the woman behind her
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: and made her administer a dose of some restorative before
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: she answered this question. I dare not run the risk
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: if he saw what I see every night, it might
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: unhinge his mind altogether. The apparition is she paused and
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: seemed to pick her words is not a natural one.
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: It is strange and horrible. A convulsion passed across her
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: face as she made this declaration. The ruse cracked on
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: her cheeks, and the pearl powder went in flakes. The
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: maid interfered, suddenly addressing herself to me. I think you
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: had better leave her ladyship now, sir. It will be
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: bad for her to talk any more. I rose, murmuring
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: some polite expression of regret, and got out of the
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: room as best I could. It seemed to me that
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: I had got entangled in some very alarming mystery, and
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: that the only prudent thing for me to do would
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: be to quit the abbey as soon as possible and
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: not return. I passed the time before dinner and strolling
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: through the grounds as if in discharge of my commission
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: to inspect the premises. At the meal, I met the
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: master of the house for the first time. He was
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: not a very young man, some age between thirty five
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: and forty, and his manner was subdued, but he appeared
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: quite able to perform the duties of a host, and
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: talked to me in a reasonable and businesslike spirit about
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: the arrangements for letting the abbey. Neither Lady Throgmorton nor
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: myself find it a very cheerful place just at present,
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: he said. In fact, I am seriously uneasy about my
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: mother's state of health. She has been accustomed to the
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: bright society of foreign capitals, and the quiet, lonely life
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: we lead here has got upon her nerves. I ought
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: to take her to Paris. I expect or the Riviera.
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: I did not venture to make any direct reference to
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: his dead wife, nor did he make any nearer allusion
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: to the subject. The only other thing of importance he
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: had to tell me was that lady Throgmorton would give
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: me all necessary instructions. She has always managed everything here,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: he explained, and I think it is a distraction for
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: her just now to have the reins in her hands again.
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: As for the shooting, it is not up to much,
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: and the steward could tell you more about it than
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: I can. Nothing that I saw of Captain Throgmorton was
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: inconsistent with his being in full possession of his reason.
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: But there are such people as monomaniacs, able to take
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: their part in the world without giving any indication of
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: eccentricity apart from their particular craze, And of course I
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: could only suppose that my host was one of them.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: But for the fact that the letting of the abbey
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: promised to be a piece of genuine business, I think
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: I should have declined to have anything more to do
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: with this family. As it was, I did not like
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: to break with a client, and on my return to
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: town I found all when so keenly interested and so
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: determined to prode the batter to the very bottom that
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: I unwillingly gave way. She went as she had proposed
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: in the character of her prospective companion. I found it
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: impossible to go with her, and could only urge her
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: to wire me in case she felt the slightest uneasiness,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: and to come away instantly if things took an unpleasant turn.
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: I waited with the greatest anxiety for her report, which
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: reached me on the second morning after her departure. I
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: need only extract the important passages. I arrived safely and
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: had what I suppose I must call a friendly reception
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: from Lady Throgmorton. I did not see the Captain, as
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: Lady Throgmorton's meals were served in her own boudoirs, and
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: I took mine with her. I felt a great dislike
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: for the maid Madeleine, who seemed to me to resent
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: my coming. I fancy that she was playing on the
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: fears of her mistress for some purpose of her own,
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: and did not relish the idea of my doing anything
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: to relieve them. In fact, I thought it quite possible
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: at first that the apparition was the result of some
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: trickery on her part. I wish I could think so. Still,
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: I wish I had never seen what I saw last night,
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: and what I am afraid I shall never be able
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: to forget. When I say that I have seen it,
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: I do not mean to be positive that it was
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: an objective manifestation. My experience may have been purely subjective.
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: That is to say, I may have been in sympathetic
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: rapport with Lady Throgmorton, so that her vision was communicated
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: to me. That seems all the more probable because the
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: maid who has slept with Lady Throgmorton since these experiences began,
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: declares that she has never seen anything. Whichever it was.
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: Nothing would have induced me to face such a manifestation
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: had I been warned of its character. But as you know,
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: I always consider it necessary that I should be told
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: nothing in advance in order to avoid the possibility of suggestion.
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: Lady Throgmorton struck me at the outset as a hysterical subject,
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: just the sort of woman to be the victim of
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: a nervous delusion, and therefore I did not much expect
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: to find any reality in her experiences. A bedroom had
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: been prepared for me, adjoining her own, but it was
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: arranged that I should actually pass the night in a
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: bed in her room, which was usually occupied by the maid.
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: Madeleine was to take the bed in my room in exchange.
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: I will not dwell upon the figure presented by Lady
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: Throgmorton at night without the paint and powder which disguised
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: her in day. She had a table beside her bed
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: for her sleeping drafts and salts, and I noticed that
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: she lay huddled on the very edge of the bed,
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: as though to have her medicines within easier reach. I
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: wanted to have all the lights extinguished, but she insisted
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: passionately on having a night light, and as she assured
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: me that she had one burning every time the apparition
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: visited her, I could not very well object. Nothing happened
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: till we had both been in bed for more than
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: an hour. Lady Throgmorton seemed unable to sleep and kept
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: fidgeting with the bottles beside her, while I lay with
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: my eyes half shut, watching the shadows on the ceiling
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: and listening to the restless movements of my unseen companion.
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: I was just dozing off when suddenly I heard an
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: agonized gasp, almost a shriek, from the other bed. In
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: an instant, I was wide awake and sitting up to
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: look round. The first thing that met my eyes in
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: the dim light was Lady Throgmorton, stretched out stiffly in
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: her place, with her head thrown back on the pillow,
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: and her eyes fixed in a glassy stare, like a
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: person undergoing a cataleptic seizure. I followed the direction of
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: her eyes without seeing anything more for the first few moments.
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: Then as I withdrew my eyes from wandering about the
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: room to return to where she lay, breathing convulsively, I
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: saw the cause of her terror. There was another person
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: in the bed beside her, I have said in but
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: I ought to have said on. The figure which met
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: my sight was that of a woman prepared for burial.
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: She lay stretched out in the rigid attitude of the dead,
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: her face and form wrap tightly with white linen grave clothes.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: My heart nearly stopped beating at this silent invasion of
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: the bed of the living by the dead. But the
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: worst was still to come. While I watched, an awful
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: change came over the spectral corpse. The linen wrappings appeared
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: to decay by swift stages and finally to fall away
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: and hang in shreds from the appalling thing, for all
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: humanity had left it which they had concealed. What I
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: then saw I could hardly bear to think of much
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: less described. And imagine this horror seen lying side by
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: side with the living woman who seemed to know it
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: was there, and to feel the dreadful pollution of its touch.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: I hardly know what I should have done if the
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: sight had lasted a moment longer. But with the full
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: revelation of its unutterable loathsomeness, the thing vanished, vanished from
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: its place without any apparent movement, leaving me with the
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: sickening dread of seeing it as suddenly return. Common feeling
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: compelled me to go to the assistance of Lady Throgmorton.
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: I had hardly set foot on the floor when she
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: began trembling all over and calling out the name of
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: her maid. The woman, who had evidently been expecting to summons,
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: opened the door immediately and came in. She darted in
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: an inquisitive look at me, a look of distrust and
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: even of alarm. I fancied it as she passed to
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: the side of her mistress, to whom she began giving
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: things out of the bottles. I busied myself in lighting
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: a pair of candles on the mantel shelf. As soon
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: as Lady Thorpemorton was able to speak, I heard her
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: demand anxiously, has she seen it? Did you see anything?
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: I turned towards the bed and found mistress and maid
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: waiting for my reply with apprehension. Yes, Lady Throgmorton, at
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: least I have seen something, which I expect is what
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: you have seen. A dead body lying beside you on
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: the bed. She uttered a groan as she nodded her
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: head in confirmation. And and did anything happen to it?
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: She asked in a whisper. I could not suppress a
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: shudder as I answered it assumed an appearance of decay.
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: Mistress and maid exchanged glances of intelligence. I was right,
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: you see, Madeline, the lady said, And then she added,
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: to my intense surprise, it has grown worse night after night.
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: The first time I saw it, the shroud remained intact.
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: Since then, the change has gone on regularly. There was
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: only one thing to say, and I said it, In
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: my opinion, you ought not to pass another night in
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: that bed, nor in this room whatever be the real
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: nature of this experience, it is clear that the only
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: chance of its ceasing is for you to leave off
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: sleeping here. In Lady Throgmorton's pitiable condition, I hardly like
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: to question her on the subject of the specter, but
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: the idea had already presented itself to my own mind
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: that the ghastly figure which was haunting her could only
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: be that of her son's late wife, and the horrible
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: changes it had undergone seemed to correspond with the decay
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: of the actual corpse. Having been assured that there was
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: no chance of anything more occurring that night, I went
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: back into my own room, leaving the maid to take
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: my place. This morning, I have had a long talk
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: with Lady throg Morton in the absence of her maid.
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: She has told me, quite frankly, that she considers the
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: apparition to be that of the late Missus Throgmorton. She
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: intends leaving for London to day on her way to Paris,
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: and the captain goes with her. She has pressed me
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: very strongly to remain behind and to pass at least
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: one more night in the haunted room. And as I
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: wished to ascertain whether my own experience of last night
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: was subjective or subjective. I think I shall consent, but
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: I dare not make the experiment alone. And as Lady
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: Throgmorton has strongly opposed to any of the servants being
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: made acquainted with the mystery, I have promised to ask
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: you to join me here for the purpose. Please wire.
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: I need not remark on the courage of this brave
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: girl in consenting to remain alone in a house where
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: she had had such a frightful experience. I wired immediately
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: to say I should arrive by the next train, and
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: I was as good as my word. I found Alwin,
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: installed as Lady Throgmorton's deputy in charge of the house,
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: and servants, who were all under notice to leave. We
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: decided to sit up till the hour at which this
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: separal cool figure would appear. If it appeared at all
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: and good time, we moved into Lady Throgmorton's room, extinguished
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: all the lights except the solitary night light, and sat
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: watching for what might happen. A surprise awaited us. We
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: were ignorant of the exact minute at which the previous
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: manifestation had occurred, but midnight came and passed without the
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: slightest sign of anything uncanny, I was just saying to Alwin.
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: Then I thought it was useless to wait any longer,
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: when the silence of the night was broken by footsteps
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: advancing suddenly along the corridor. In a moment, the door
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: was burst open, and we beheld on the threshold Captain Throgmorton,
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: with a lighted lantern in one hand and a revolver
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: in the other. Explain the meaning of all this, he
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: demanded sternly, as we sprang to our feet. I was
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: at a loss what answer to make to him, but
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: all one was quick to assert herself. We are here
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: in pursuance of instructions from Lady Throgmorton, she said, with dignity.
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you will explain how it is that, after leaving
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: the abbey in my charge, you have returned to this
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: manner and adopted such a tone towards me. The captain
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: was evidently not prepared for this retort, which at once
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: subdued him. I will apologize, of course, if I am
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: in the right, he said, speaking more quietly. I came
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: down here because my stepmother's action in leaving you here
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: seemed to me eccentric. I felt more and more uneasy
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: as I got further from the house, and finally, after
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: seeing her off to Paris, I decided to run down
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: here again and make sure that all was right. I
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: have only just walked over from the station and seen
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: the light in this room. I suspected something wrong. He
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: glanced round the room as he spoke, with a mixture
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: of curiosity and emotion. I thought it was now time
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: for me to speak. I trust my name and the
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: reputation of my firm will be a sufficient guarantee that
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: everything that has passed in your absence has been entirely
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: in accordance with our instructions from Lady Throgmorton, to whom
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: you may recollect you referred me. If you will now
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: come with me into another room, I will tell you
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: what those instructions were. Captain Throgmorton took us downstairs into
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: his library, and there I told him the entire story
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: as I have told it here, only omitting for his
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: own sake the hideous detail of the change which had
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: followed the first appearance of the spectral corpse to night
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: we have seen nothing, I said in conclusion, I think,
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: therefore you may rest assured that the whole thing is
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: a diseased imagination in the part of Lady Throgmorton due
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: to the state of her nerves. The Captain listens with
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: the closest attention when seen more than once at the
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: references I had made to his dead wife. At the close,
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: he said, I am infinitely obliged to you for telling
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: me this. It is true that I had a special
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: coffin constructed for my late wife, but it was a
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: discharge of a solemn promise to her, as she entertained
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: a morbid dread of being prematurely buried. I may add
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: that I engaged a medical man to visit the vault
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: every day for a week, when he reported to me
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: that changes had taken place which rendered it utterly impossible
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: to doubt the reality of the death. The reluctance with
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: which he had made this statement showed me that he
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: knew what the doctor had seen. The changes were those
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: which Alwen had seen in the vision of Lady Throgmorton.
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: Do you think there is any possibility that Lady Throgmorton
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: may have heard of these visits? It was Alwin who
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: put the question. The Captain shook his head. I think not,
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: miss Sergeant naturally, I did not wish such a thing
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: to be known, and I pledged the doctor to secrecy.
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: He found, as he added, it is a very serious thing.
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: If my stepmother has been representing that my intellect is disordered,
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: as you say, I must consider what is my best course.
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: But I think I shall have to follow her abroad,
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: and perhaps take the doctor with me. We separated for
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: the night with mutual expressions of regret. In the morning,
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: Captain Throgmorton, opening the letter bag as usual, found in
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: it a telegram addressed to Alwynn. It proved to be
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: from Lady Throgmorton, who was staying at a hotel in
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: the Avenue, Friedland, and contained these words, I have seen
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: it here come. Immediately on reading this extraordinary dispatch, not
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: one of us any longer doubted that the sender's mind
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: was unhinged. Captain Throgmorton at once sent a groom for
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: the doctor, who arrived in the course of an hour.
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: When the doctor had been placed in possession of the
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: whole of the facts, and this time I did not
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: think it right to suppress anything. His manner became exceeding grave.
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: I will say nothing till I have seen Lady Throgmorton,
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: he declared, But I agree with you, Captain, that we
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: ought both to go to Paris by tonight's boat. Before leaving,
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: Captain Throgmorton and I exchanged promises, one of strict secrecy
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: on my part and on his own, to communicate to
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: me the final outcome of the affair. That promise was
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: never kept. A brief note, so brief as to be
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: almost discourteous informed me that Lady Throgmorton had been confined
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: with her own consent, in a private asylum in the
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: department of Sennaywas and that is the last I have
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: ever heard from the Throgmorton family. The truth was revealed
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: to me in a singular manner some years after by
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: the last person from whom I ever expected to learn it,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: Lady Throgmorton's maid. Having learned that this woman had presumed
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: to give my name as a reference, I found her
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: out and threatened her with proceedings. By way of excuse,
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: she pleaded that the death of her mistress had thrown
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: her on the world without friends. Captain Throgmorton, having refused
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: to assist her because he suspected her of complicity in
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: his wife's death. That death, she now assured me, was
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: the work of Lady Throgmorton, who was unable to endure
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: the loss of her position as mistress of the abbey
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: and of certain family jewels which went with the estate.
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: It had been brought about, or at least hastened, by
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: means of a drug which subsequently arrested the decomposition of
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: the corpse. The doctor, it appears, had already been struck
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: by some unusual symptoms in the case, and again by
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: certain unexpected signs in the decay of the body. On
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: being informed of Lady Throgmorton's visions or hallucinations, his suspicions
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: were given definite shape, and a full confession was extracted
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: from the wretched woman before her reason finally gave way.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: Shortly after the somewhat abrupt conclusion of this adventure, a
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: quiet wedding took place, and Alwen's sergeant became Alwen Hargreaves.
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: I do not think any explanation of my conduct in
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: marrying my secretarys do for me. As a businessman. Alwen
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: had materially assisted me to attain the prosperity I now enjoyed,
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: and it was only right that she should share it.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: Our continental honeymoon helped to restore her health, which had
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: been considerably impaired by the shocks to which she had
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: been so frequently exposed. I have now given up dealing
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: and haunted property, and my wife will never, in the future,
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: I trust, be called upon to exercise her extraordinary gift
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: of clairvoyance. End of Chapter five read by Elsie Selwyn
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: and of the Ghost Hunters by Alan Upward.