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Ebenezer's Casket - John Ulrich Giesy, Junius B. Smith · The Turn of the Screw

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Ebenezer's Casket. This is the LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: information to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Ebenezer's Casket by John Ulrich Easy and Junius B.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Smith. Chapter one.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It was a nice casket. Ebenezer Clay was sure of that.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: As he completed the finishing touches and surveyed the results
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of his work. He put out a hand and ran
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it over the satin pillow the lining of the narrow
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: oblong bed in an almost proprietary way. It ought to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: be nice, a perfectly satisfactory casket, because he had given
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: special care to make it exactly what it was, and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: it was the last he would make. He drew back
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  Speaker 1: his hand and sighed. The casket was gray, a soft
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: dove color he had liked always gray. Claire Markley's eyes
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: were gray. It was rather odd that he had been
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: thinking of them as he worked on this particular box
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  Speaker 1: in the Armistead Casket Company's plant the last few days.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: But then, inside those few days, Ebenezer had reviewed the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: major part of his life, recalling as best he might
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  Speaker 1: in chronological fashion the activities of his twenty seven years,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: so there was an iatis of course, between his birth
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  Speaker 1: and the time when he was between four and five.
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  Speaker 1: Now the casket was finished, Ebenezer had seen to that.
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  Speaker 1: He began removing his workman's apron, though according to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: clock there remained several hours yet to work. He put
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the apron away and donned his street vest and coat.
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  Speaker 1: One would have said that having finished the casket, Ebenezer
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: was going to quit right then and there, and as
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, he was with a final glance
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  Speaker 1: about the room where he had labored its similar tasks
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: for the past two year. He left it, made his
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: way to the office of the plant and asked for
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  Speaker 1: his time. Then he inquired if mister Armistead was in
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and asked for a personal interview. On learning that he was,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: he got it in view of the fact that he
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: was quitting without warning and was one of the best
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  Speaker 1: workmen the company.
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  Speaker 2: Had.
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  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, mister Armistead, said Ebenezer, standing in front of
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  Speaker 1: the proprietor of the Armistead Casket Company with his hat
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  Speaker 1: in his hand. I've just finished the last box that
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: come into my hands. I'd like to buy it, if
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  Speaker 1: you don't mind, Armistead stared. He seemed a bit surprised.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer's proposition was unusual, to say the least, He frowned.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: You want to buy it, yes, sir, for my personal use.
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  Speaker 1: All at once, a far away look crept into Ebenezer's eyes,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and I'd like it delivered to the Lynn Undertaking parlors.
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  Speaker 1: You're personal use. The proprietor of the Armistead Casket Company
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: took a deep and sudden breath and laid hold of
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  Speaker 1: the edge of his desk with both hands. He regarded
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the man before him in an actually startled fashion. See here, Clay,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: they told me you're leaving. What's wrong? Have you run
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: into some sort of trouble? No, sir, Ebenezer shook his
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  Speaker 1: head slowly. Leastways, it ain't anything except what comes to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: every man sometime. And I'm quitting now because I need
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: a few hours to get ready for it. You see, sir,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be ready for that box after eleven oh one pm.
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  Speaker 1: Now I got to see a lawyer and arrange things
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  Speaker 1: with Lynn.
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  Speaker 2: You good god.
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  Speaker 1: Armistead left his chair with a bound clay. You you
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: don't meet, Ebenezer nodded, yes, sir, I'm going to die.
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  Speaker 1: The only difference is that most men don't know, and
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  Speaker 1: that I have knowed it was coming for some time.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I took pains to make this box exactly
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  Speaker 1: what I wanted and sit down. Armistead directed, almost sharply, That.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't what I meant.
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  Speaker 1: I meant you you aren't going to do anything to yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Oh no, sir.
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  Speaker 1: Ebenezer's eyes widened swiftly. There ain't any reason why I should.
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  Speaker 1: His employer regained his chair. His manner was slightly ruffled.
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  Speaker 1: What's the crazy notion? Then? Are you sick? No, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and I ain't crazy. It's just that it's been given
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  Speaker 1: me to have definite knowledge of when I was going
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  Speaker 1: to die in advance. Some people can read the future,
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  Speaker 1: and I know my time. You know it, and you've
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: gone on working till the last day. Yes, sir, there
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  Speaker 1: wasn't anything else I wanted to do very much, and besides,
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to fix this box, so if you'll let
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  Speaker 1: me buy it hold on. Armistead's expression appeared to indicate
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  Speaker 1: that he was far from decided as to whether he
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  Speaker 1: to accept Ebenezer's assurance that he was saying or not.
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  Speaker 1: He leaned a little forward in his chair. Now, let's
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  Speaker 1: get this thing straight. You've got a hunch that you're
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: going to die at one minute after eleven tonight, but
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  Speaker 1: you aren't going to commit suicide or anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: You just want to buy this particular casket you've fixed
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  Speaker 1: up to suit yourself. No, sir, Yes, sir, Ebenezer nodded.
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  Speaker 1: Armistead got down to business all right. I hope when
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  Speaker 1: you wake up for breakfast tomorrow morning you'll be feeling better. Now,
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  Speaker 1: as to the casket, it's my business to sell them,
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  Speaker 1: though not at retail. You can have it if you
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  Speaker 1: want it at the market price, Yes, sir, Ebenezer said,
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  Speaker 1: ignoring the middle of his companion's remark and replying only
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  Speaker 1: to the man's first and last part. There was almost
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  Speaker 1: an air of condescension.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: About the way he said it, as.
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  Speaker 1: Though from the heights of his superior knowledge he could
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  Speaker 1: afford to overlook so trivial a thing as the other
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  Speaker 1: man's doubt. Now that he was so very, very close
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  Speaker 1: to the end of mundane things, he reached into a
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  Speaker 1: pocket and produced a roll of bills, began counting out
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  Speaker 1: the correct amount. I brought it with me this mornin',
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  Speaker 1: he explained, as he laid a number of bills on
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  Speaker 1: the end of Armisted's desk. And I'm sure you'll find
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  Speaker 1: that right if you'll have em deliver it to Len's
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  Speaker 1: first thing in the morning. Armistead nodded. For the moment
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  Speaker 1: he seemed incapable of words. There came a pause, and
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  Speaker 1: Ebeneze arose. So then I guess I'll be sayin good bye.
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  Speaker 1: The way he said it gave a strange, bizarre, almost
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  Speaker 1: weird finality to the word The situation was uncanny. Armistead exploded, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: forget it, get the fool notion out of your head,
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  Speaker 1: go see a doctor, and come back here any time
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  Speaker 1: you want a job. Thank you, sir, said Ebenezer, and
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  Speaker 1: passed out without further comment. Paused at the cashier's window
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  Speaker 1: long enough to collect the wages due him, thrust the
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  Speaker 1: amount into his pocket, and made his way for the
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  Speaker 1: last time through the casket company's doors. On a corner,
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  Speaker 1: he waited for a street car that would carry him
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  Speaker 1: through the business section of town. It was crowded when
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  Speaker 1: he stepped aboard, and he had to hang to a strap.
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  Speaker 1: He did so in almost automatic fashion, giving small attention
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  Speaker 1: to the crowded life about him. Already it seemed to
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  Speaker 1: Ebenezer that they had lost all interest for him. It
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  Speaker 1: was after two o'clock and he had less than nine
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  Speaker 1: hours to live. And what did any one or anything
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  Speaker 1: matter to a man who had come that close to
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  Speaker 1: the grave. That strange, detached feeling, amounting to an almost
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  Speaker 1: apathy at times, had been growing upon him for days.
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  Speaker 1: He smiled rather grimly, however, recalling Armistead's parting words, doctors,
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  Speaker 1: what did they know about it? A month ago, one
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  Speaker 1: of the very best physicians in town had told him
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  Speaker 1: he was in perfect health and could expect to live
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  Speaker 1: for years. Only even when the man had said it,
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  Speaker 1: Ebenezer had known he was mistaken, and the words had
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  Speaker 1: served merely to convince him that there were more things
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  Speaker 1: than life than were known to medical philosophy, and that
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  Speaker 1: had the doctor been examining him for life insurance, say,
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  Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been long till his company would have
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  Speaker 1: been accusing him of having made a rather lurid mistake.
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  Speaker 1: For Ebenezer knew that a whole lot less than a
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  Speaker 1: gear would see him stretched out in the classical six
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  Speaker 1: feet of earth, had known it with a definiteness of knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: The medical man's opinion was a nowise able to shake.
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  Speaker 1: There had been at the time, and almost morbid satisfaction
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  Speaker 1: in the knowledge, a sort of unreasoning marvel in his
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  Speaker 1: mind at how blind the future was, after all, at
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  Speaker 1: how its veil hung always between mankind and the procession
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  Speaker 1: of succeeding days. And now the last day was reached,
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  Speaker 1: so far as Ebenezer was concerned, the last day. He
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  Speaker 1: gazed dully out at the sunshine in the streets. After
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  Speaker 1: a while it was going to fade, and with its
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  Speaker 1: would come the last night.
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  Speaker 2: And after that.
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  Speaker 1: Unconsciously he tightened his grip on the swaying strap. After
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  Speaker 1: a time, he punched a signal button and left the car.
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  Speaker 1: At the corner of two streets, he dodged the traffic
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  Speaker 1: officer's warning shout for a single instant. He experienced a
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  Speaker 1: sensation of something like contempt at that cautionary warning. Let
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  Speaker 1: him yell, thought Ebenezer. Man died but once, and he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't due to die till one minute after eleven o'clock
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  Speaker 1: that night, So why bother about such trivial details as
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  Speaker 1: speeding motors and heavily lumbering trucks. He turned into the
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  Speaker 1: doors of an office structure and consulted the directory bulletin
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  Speaker 1: before he entered an upgoing elevator cage. He waited while
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  Speaker 1: the cage filled, eyeing the passengers as they bustled busily
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  Speaker 1: in through the fretted gate. The detached feeling came back
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  Speaker 1: upon him the thought that with them he no longer
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  Speaker 1: had a part, that in a very few hours now
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  Speaker 1: death the grim prompter would give the cue for his
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  Speaker 1: exit from the world.
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  Speaker 2: He had heard.
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  Speaker 1: Likened to a stage ten, he said to the boy
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  Speaker 1: at the switch, and leaned back against the metal framework.
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  Speaker 1: As the car slid up the shaft, he roused and
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  Speaker 1: got out. When the tenth floor was reached, he walked
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  Speaker 1: down the corridor, scanning the number on the doors. Presently
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  Speaker 1: he found the one he was seeking and passed through it.
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  Speaker 1: He made known his need of a lawyer to a
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  Speaker 1: young woman busily engaged in hammering out some typewritten manuscript.
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  Speaker 1: She took his name, rose and disappeared into an adjoining room,
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  Speaker 1: from which she returned in a moment, leaving the door open.
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  Speaker 1: Behind her as she announced that he should go right in.
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  Speaker 1: Ebenezer accepted the invitation and found himself facing a clean shaved,
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  Speaker 1: middle aged man who sat at a desk and regarded
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  Speaker 1: him out of expectant dark eyes. He put his hand
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: into the pockets of his coat and drew out a
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  Speaker 1: bit of folded paper. I would like you to make
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  Speaker 1: out a deed for property described in this to miss
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Claire Markley of Maslon, Ohio, he said.
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  Speaker 2: And laid it on the desk. Sit down.
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  Speaker 1: The lawyer took up the paper and glanced through it
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  Speaker 1: while Ebenezer waited for what consideration? He presently asked consideration?
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  Speaker 1: Ebenezer stammered, yes, what price? Oh, said Ebenezer, Why there
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  Speaker 1: isn't any price. I'm just leaving it to her. I
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  Speaker 1: won't she should have it after I'm dead. Oh, love
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  Speaker 1: and affection, said the lawyer. Ebenezer started love and affection.
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  Speaker 1: For a fleeting instant, he seemed to see Claire Markley's
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  Speaker 1: face floating before him with its clear gray eyes, just
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  Speaker 1: as he had seen it when he had been working
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  Speaker 1: on the casket, and then it faded and left him
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  Speaker 1: staring back at the attorney. He had forgotten to consider
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  Speaker 1: a consideration, but love and affection? What did it? You
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: could fix it up that way, could you, he inquired.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: The lawyer nodded, yes, I'll have it ready for you tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Will you call or shall I send it to you?
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I'll wait for it now, I guess, said Ebenezer. I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: want to mail it to her myself, and I can't
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  Speaker 1: if I'm dead. Well, the attorney glanced at his client
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: stalwart figure. There doesn't seem to be an immediate danger
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of your dying at present. There it was again, doubt, unbelief,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the acceptance of the mere surface seeming all at once.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: It filled Ebenezer with a sense of irritation. That's all
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  Speaker 1: you know about it, he returned, sharply. I'll be dead
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  Speaker 1: before at midnight, all right?
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  Speaker 2: End of chapter one.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter two of Ebenezer's Casket by John Loric Geazy and
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  Speaker 1: Junius B.
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  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Chapter two, you'll what The man at the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: desk closed his air of smiling composure all at once.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: His jaw seemed inclined to sag, and his eyes had
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the appearance of trying to pop out of their sockets.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to die, said Ebenezer, satisfied that he had
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: made an impression. At least, I'll be dead at one
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  Speaker 1: minute after eleven o'clock tonight. That's why I've got to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: have the deed before I leave here. It won't take
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: long to fix it if you get to work. But
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the lawyer began, then paused and apparently swallowed something before
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: he continued. You don't look sick, I'm not, said Ebenezer.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Shortly.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if you'll and all at once, the man of
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: law looked troubled.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Surely you aren't.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Thinking of well doing anything rash, Ebenezer Clay took an
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: exasperated breath. He was beginning to feel annoyed. First Armistead,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: and now this men seemed a lots more excited by
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: his approaching end than he was himself. Look here, he rejoined,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: in a tone of rising impatience. Is there any reason
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: why I've got to tell you what I'm thinking? Just
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: because I come up here to get you to draw
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a deed. You ain't the man that's going to die.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do that myself, and I want to
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: get that deed in the mail before I do it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: What businesses are yours. Just because I say I'm going
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: to die is no sign that I'm going to kill myself.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: But the lawyer was breathing deeply the time, man, you
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: said you'd be dead at one minute after eleven o'clock tonight.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer nodded, that's right, and I want to mail that
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: deed before then, if you'll get to work. I ain't
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: going to take poison or shoot myself for nothing. I
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: ain't too happy about it. But when a man knows
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: a thing, he knows it, and that's all there is
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  Speaker 1: to it, except that I know this is my last.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Day on earth.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Oh you mean you feel a premonition? All at once,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: the attorney's manner was one of relief. His expression altered
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: from one of intense attention, not unmixed with something like
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: startled horror. It became a thing of awakening understanding. After all,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: he possibly thought. There were all sorts of cranks on earth,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: men mildly unbalanced or swayed by some temporary influence of
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: one sort or another, People who predicted the end of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the world with an assurance little short of appalling, said Ebenezer,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: with weight on each word and speaking slowly, I mean,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I've got a definite date. Are you going to draw.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Up that deed?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course. The lawyer opened a drawer and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: produced some forms. He punched a buzzer, and the young
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: woman from the outer office appeared. He gave her the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: forms and Ebenezer's written memorandum, and instructed her to drop
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the deed at once, passing title in consideration of love
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and affection. She took the papers and went out. Ebenezer
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: watched her. At last, he had got things started. He
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: relaxed in his chair and began seeing pictures in his mind,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the old home place adjoining that of Claire Markley's father,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: where he had started life, where he had expected to
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: go on living, and would have in all likelihood if
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: he hadn't quarreled with Claire two years ago.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Last spring. He stared out of.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: The office window without seeing the jumble of buildings beyond it,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: because instead he was seeing the old house to which
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: he had expected some day to bring Claire home, the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: old house he was deating to her now in consideration
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: of love and affection. The attorney leaned back in his chair.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: With a squeaking of springs. He regarded Ebenezer with far
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: more calm than he had recently shown. He cleared his
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: throat in preliminary fashion. Have you had this or feeling long?
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer turned his eyes from the window. He had an
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: impulse to reply to the question with a contemptuous laugh
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: feeling this man characterized the steady march of the minutes
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: and hours toward a definite event as a feeling, no doubt,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: he rather patted himself on the back for his choice
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: of words. But mankind had always been like that. In
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the face of the unusual, the surprising, the unexpected, credulous,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: and many things, they were yet prone to exhibit incredulity
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: when faced by the truth. Ebenezer took that fact into
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: consideration as he answered, something over a month. Did it
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: come upon you suddenly or by degrees? Ebenezer eyed his companion.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: He wasn't a fool, and he understood the man thought
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: him the victim of a delusion, a sort of harmless nut.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: And there had always been men who regarded those to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: whom it was given to know the future as men
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: of unbalanced brains. Why, he said, I got wise to
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: it all at once. I didn't know a thing about it,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and then all at once. I was sure that you
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: were going to die to night. You knew all about
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: it even to the time. Yes, Ebenezer nodded. You're don't
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: carry any insurance, do you? There was a tolerance something
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: in the way. Ebenezer grinned. Suddenly. It seemed to him
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: that he saw very well what was going on in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the attorney's mind. Nope, he responded shortly, And I ain't
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: tryin to beat that game. I was to see a
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: doctor about a month ago after I knew what was
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: going to happen, and he said there wasn't anything the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: matter with me so far as he could see. Trouble
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: with him was he couldn't see as far into the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: future as I could.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: And since then, what have you been doing.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I've been working in Armstead Casket Company plant, same as
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I have for the last two years. Ebenezer's tone was resigned. Oh,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: you've been making coffins. Finishing him, Ebenezer explained. His manner
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: became one of a transitory animation. The last one I
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: fixed is the best I ever done. I bought it
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: off him this afternoon. Not the attorney stiffened, his eyes widened.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Not for tonight, he finished, Rather lamely sure, said Ebenezer.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I know it's a good piece of work. And did
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: you tell them why you wanted to buy it? Ebenezer
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: sighed this quizzing was getting to be something of a boar.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: He cast an eye toward the next room before he said,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: with a somewhat grim humor, Yep, it won't be a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: secret much longer. Armistead was surprised, though, I reckon, he thought,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I was just about as crazy as you do, just
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: because it's been given me to know how long I'm
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: going to live. His companion's appearance grew troubled as he
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: paused briefly. He too turned his eyes toward the outer room.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: But my dear man, have I said I thought you crazy? No,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you don't need to, said Ebenezer. Say wait a minute,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: can a crazy man make a deed? I er, the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: legal gentleman seemed disturbed by the lucid directness of the question.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: You can make one, of course, though in the event
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of his being proved of unsound mind, it would be
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: set aside. And suddenly, despite the nature of the whole occasion,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer laughed, without any sound of mirth. Then that's what's
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: eating you ain't it, He suggested, Well, don't you worry,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I reckon, You won't think I was crazy anymore when
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: you find out have died. Of course, of course, the
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: attorney nodded. He adopted a placative tone. But you must
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: admit that the circumstances are unusual. At least, nothing unusual
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: about it, said Ebenezer Clay. Dying is one of the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: commonest things in life. It's on an equal footing with birth.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: The only unusual thing in this business is that I've
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: happened to get wise to the thing in advance, instead
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of having it come on me as a surprise. You
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have thought it was unusual. All if I died
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: instead of coming to you first. Possibly not, The attorney
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: let out an audible breath. Still, your matter of fact
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: acceptance of so grave an issue is a bit well disconcerting.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I can't get away from it, Canna, Ebenezer questioned. Well, look,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I got it in that way, said his companion, and
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: apparently ran out of a supply of words. Then why
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: make a fuss. The door of the outer room opened,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: and the stenographer brought in the finished deed. Her employer
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: took it with an air of relief, ran it over,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: verified its correctness, and laid it on his desk. He
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: took up a pen and dipped it into an inkwell
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: and held it toward Ebenezer with one hand while he
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: indicated a line on the typed and printed page with
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a finger of the other. So I can hear please,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer signed. After he had read the document over and
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: assured himself of exactly what it said, he gave back
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the pen and spoke in attentive fashion. If you've an
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: envelope I could use? You can add its cost to
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: your charge. I want to mail this here as soon
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: as I leave, of course. The lawyer produced the article
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: required and slipped the deed inside. Ebenezer sealed it and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: took the pen again to scrawl Claire Markley's address. I'll
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: put a special delivery stamp on it too, that way
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: she'll be sure to get it. I guess well how
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: much The attorney named his price. Ebenezer paid it and
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: thrust the envelope into his pocket. Listen said he it's
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: given to some men see the future.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: That's all there is to this, And now.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I got to be goin good bye, good bye, mister
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Clee said the attorney, and watched his client stalk out
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: of the place. The whole thing's most unusual, no matter
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: what the man said about it. He formed a resolution
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: then in there to make a careful search of the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: morning papers to see if any unexpected death had taken place.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: End of chapter two.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter three of Ebenezer's Casket by John Ulrich Gheezy and
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Junius B.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Chapter three.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: As for Ebenezer, he knew exactly what he wanted to
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: do next. He posted the addressed envelope. First, he watched
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: it slide into the box after he had affixed a
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: special delivery stamp, with a mental query as to just
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: what Claire Markley would think when the deed was received.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: But it was only after it was mailed that he
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: found himself wondering whether she were Claire Markley yet or not,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: in view the fact that he had heard nothing from
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: her in a little more than two years she might
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: have married. Ebenezer paused in the act of turning away
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: from the box, and then he caught sight of a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: town clock that showed him the futility of such considerations.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: What did it matter if she were married or not
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: to a man in his position. He set his lips
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and started off along the street, or several turnings. He
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: came to what had been a residence once from its appearance,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: but was now converted to a very different usage, as
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: indicated by the foot high lettering over the doors. At
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the top of a flight of gray stone steps, Lynne
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: undertaking parlor's and mortuary chapel. Ebenezer turned from the pavement,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: mounted the steps to the door beneath the sign.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: And went in.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: He stood in an entrance hall to what had once
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: been a parlor, indeed, and was now employed as the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: chapel on one hand, in a smaller room palpably used
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: as an office.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: On the other.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: After a moment of hesitation, he turned toward the last.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, said an impersonally sympathetic masculine voice. Ebenezer regarded
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: a small, almost colorless man who sat in a swovel
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: chair in front of a roll top desk. Afternoon, he returned,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: you're the manager, I guess I'm mister Lynne, said the other,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and rubbed his bloodless palms together. What can I do
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: for you, mister Clay, said Ebenezer, if you're Lynn, why
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: all right? I come in to make arrangements with you
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to bury me and pay the bill. You can get
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the body anytime after eleven oh one tonight. I'll explain
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: that you're to have it and wait. The man in
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the swovel chair gasped. He stared, He gaped. He seemed
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: completely upset by the words of his prospective corpse. Won't
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: you sit down while we go into the matter more fully?
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer complied and drew a long, deep breath. This arranging
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: for one's own demise was a lot more troublesome than
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: he had suspected it would be before he tried it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: People didn't seem to be able to associate him with
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the idea of death. There isn't anything to go into,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: he remarked, except that I've picked on your firm to
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: do the job. I've already bought a casket and it'll
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: be delivered to you sometime tomorrow morning. It's a grave,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: a lower box lined with white satin sidebar type of
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: handles from the Armistead Casket Company shops. I'll pack a
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: suitcase of what I'm going to where, and you get
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: it when you go to the body.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Now, what say?
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Had I better be embalmed to judge by his manner
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and expression, Lynn didn't know what to say, even though
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the question was one to which he was accustomed to reply.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: For several seconds, he sat regarding Ebenezer with a baffled contemplation,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: which altered at last to awakening suspicion. Presently, he stiffened slightly.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: What is this, he inquired?
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: A joke?
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Joke, said Ebenezer in a tone of irritation, and paused.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He thrust a hand into his pocket and produced his
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: roll of bills. Well, if it is, it's a me.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk business. Do you want the job? If
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: you don't, I've got to find somebody. What does and telephone?
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Armisteads in that casket? Wait, undertaker, Lynne interposed for the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: second time. If you're really serious about this, I can
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: understand why my question should have made you feel annoyed,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But really, I cannot recall another instance where a man
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: came in to arrange the details of his interment in
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: advance of the er event. Maybe, Ebenezer sighed in almost
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: weary fashion. Even an undertaker, it would seem, could be
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: disturbed by talking to a man about death before that
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: man had died, And yet all men died as a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: matter of course, And he had known he was going
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to die for something over a month, and that was
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: it all at once he saw it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: He had grown.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Accustomed to the thought, and these others were startled by
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: his mention of it, even as he had been startled
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and shocked at first. How was the explanation, I see,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: he went on, But why shouldn't he if he ain't
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: got no folks and knows what's going to happen? And
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: how much for the funeral and the cemetery lot? With
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: me furnishing a casket in clothes, the quarry was businesslike
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: enough in all conscience, But Lynde didn't seem to be
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: able to get down to business even so. Indeed, he
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: seemed uncomfortable in the extreme. But my dear man, he said,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and his voice was husky, how can you know you've
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: named the time exactly? Surely you can't mean that I'm
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: going to kill myself, Ebenezer interrupted, almost roughly at this
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: third hint of self destruction.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: No, I don't.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: I just know what's going to happen, And I admit
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: that when I first got wise. It hit me a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: pretty hard jolt, but I got sort of used to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: it after a time, because there wasn't nothing to do
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: about it. Lynn nodded just so, he added, rather faintly.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: You mean you're resigned. I threw up my job, said Ebenezer,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and come down here to fix things up with you.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: And if you'll look at the clock, you'll see I
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: ain't got so awful much time. Now, name it price,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: and I'll pay it and go tend to a few
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: other things, and then I'm going over to the hospital.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Hospital.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Mister Lynn repeated quickly. You mean you're going to to
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: he appeared a trip over the end of his question.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I'm going to die there a one minute after eleven
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: o'clock tonight, said Ebenezer, in an actually brittle fashion. They'll
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: tell you when I'm ready. Now, let's get this here settled.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: It's a matter of life and death. And I can
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: go to bed a lot easier in my mind if
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: I know what's going to happen to my remains. There
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: ought to be a prayer and maybe some singing, and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: there's the rent of the hearse mister Lynne caught a
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: breath that was positively unsteady and flowers, he suggested. Ebenezer nodded, Sure,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: money ain't no good to me. Now I might as
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: well spend it. You get some posies, of course, Now
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: set your figure and I'll pay it and get out.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: I gotta go to my room and pack my grip. Why,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: mister Lynne wet his lips with his tongue. He rubbed
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: his hands together. He looked at Ebenezer and cast his
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: eyes about the room. Never in all his life had
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: he encountered such a situation. Mortician he might be, but
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: he had never had financial dealings with the subject. While
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: yet it was full of intelligent breath. Presently, he turned
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: to his desk in something like desperation, caught up a
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: scratch pad and began jotting down certain figures upon it,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: while Ebenezer watched. What lay back of the transaction. He
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: didn't know, but clearly it wasn't a joke, as he
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: had at first suspected, or if it was, it was
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: a joke of a most peculiar sort, even if it was.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: His caller ready to pay for it in cash, and
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: one of his mottos of life was never let a
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: dollar escape once he had it.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: In his grasp.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: As yet he didn't have it, but apparently he would
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: three hundred dollars.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: He gave an estimate.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: At last, his peculiar patron had said money was no
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: object to him any longer. Any felty might as well
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: get all he could. Ebenezer accepted by another nod. He
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: began stripping currency notes from his roll. Lynn watched him.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: The thing was past all precedents, but it was happening
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: before his eyes. This man was going to pay him
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: for a funeral in advance, and he was going to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: have a casket delivered at his door. The thing was crazy, crazy,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: of course, that explained the whole thing. The man was
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: mildly unbalanced.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: He was a bug.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: He eyed the motion of Ebenezer's lips, keeping time with
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the fingers, and computing the amount, And suddenly he recalled
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: his former remark. He cleared his throat. Unless he said,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: you wish to be embalmed, Ebenezer paused in his counting.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: He lifted his eyes. Do ye think I ought to
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: be or not? It's a matter of personal choice, said
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: mister Lynde, still eyeing the bills in Ebenezer's hand. If
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: it was my funeral, I would how much, said Ebenezer.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Fifty dollars, said Lynde, and caught his breath as his
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: collar resumed his counting added two twenties and a tend
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: to the sum already named, and laid the total on
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the corner of the desk. Lynde took it up and
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: verified the count and put it in a folder he
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: drew from an inside pocket. With the act, his spirit
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: appeared to lighten. He buttoned his coat across his narrow
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: chest and smiled quite correct. Mister Clay, thank you, he declared,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and once more rubbed his palms together. We'll give you
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: a very nice funeral. I assure you a very nice funeral. Indeed,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: well you ought to. Ebenezer picked up his hat and
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: rose with me, furnish in everything but the work. Ye're
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: hitting it stiff, I reckon, you might as well have
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it as any one else. I'll expect you to do
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: things up in pretty good shape, Lynne rose. Also, I
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: assure you that everything will be done in a fashion
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: that could you see it would satisfy you yourself. All right,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: that's all I'm asking, said Ebenezer. Well you'll see me later,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: that is, you'll see my remains.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: He put on his hat and walked out, And as
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: he went down the gray Stone steps, he was conscious
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: of a feeling of relief at having got so much
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of his final arrangements off his hands. He walked to
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the corner and waited for a car that would take
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: him within a block of his room. End of chapter three,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of Ebenezer's Casket by John Orkeasey and Junius B.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker, Chapter four. It was a small room in
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: a boarding house on a side street, But for two
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: years and a trifle over he had called at home.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer was the type who did not move around, quiet
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: in his habits, almost automatic in his routine. He had
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: come to be more or less of a fixture in
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the house maintained by the widow McCloskey and her daughter Irene.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: He met Irene as he came in, and she eyed
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: him with surprise. Never before since she had known him
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: had he come home in the afternoon. Why, mister Clay,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: she exclaimed, You ain't sick, are you? No? Miss ire,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: said Ebenezer, I just wanted to tend to some business.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: And I'll be going out pretty soon, going out. The
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: words rather sing themselves over in his brain as he
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: mounted the stairs and unlocked his door and let himself in,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Going out pretty soon, Yes, it wouldn't be long now,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: and till he was going out, indeed, like the gas
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: when you turned the button, or an electric light, or
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: a lamp or a candle, going out, never to return.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: He sighed as he crossed the room and opened his
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: trunk and got out some paper, in a bottle of ink,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: and a pin. The fact that he was actually going
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: out still held its sting.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: He had accepted it.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: When he had come to know it as an unavoidable thing.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: It even felt a strange wonder that to him, as
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: to so few of his fellows, the definite dates should
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: be shown. But he was young and perfectly healthy, so
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: far as his physical life was concerned. It was rather
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: hard to realize that inside a certain number of days
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: now dwindled to hours, the spark of his life was
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: going out, that the driving force of life would have
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: run down like a neglected clock. Before the morrow's sun.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: He carried pen and ink and paper to a little
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: table and sat down. He spread the paper before him
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and took up the pen. And then he sat, staring
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: straight before him Claire. Markly he was seeing her face
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: again in the old house. Sat down on the edge
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: of his ancestral acres, with its trees, its rose bushes,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the barn behind it. All the things he had left
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: when he came west to this city, where he now
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: sat in a rented room, The things he had left
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: when he had quarreled with Claire after the manner of
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: over jealous youth, The things he was giving to her
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: now in consideration of love and affection, Love and affection.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Oddly enough, he thought of Irene. She was going to
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: be married. All at once, Ebenezer's eyes lighted. He reached
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: into his pocket slowly and brought out his depleted roll
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: of bills. When one got married, one needed a lot
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: of things. And Irene had always been mighty friendly with him,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: So why not leave to Irene what was soon to
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: be of no possible.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Value to him?
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Mentally, he made an estimate of the cost of a
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: hospital room. He detacked her from the amount in his
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: possession and returned it to his pocket. The remainder he
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: put aside, and then he uncorked the bottle of ink.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Clear.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: No, he had meant to write her explaining about the deed,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: but there wasn't anything to say to her. Really, Let
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: the deed speak for itself and its terms of love
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and affection. All at once, he was glad the lawyer
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: had thought of that consideration. It saved him the effort
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: of trying to explain in labored fashion all those things.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: The three words so tersely said, love and affection. That's
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: all there was to it. Claire would have the old
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: place just the same as if she had been married
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: to him, and this thing had come upon him tonight,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: all unexpected. After all, then it was better. So it
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: was better that he should be meeting the thing alone,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: better that he was as he was, better that he
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: should be leaving the old place, declare because of love
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and affection and the balance of his money to Irene.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: He hitched himself into position at the table and began
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: to work with his pen. Dear missus mc closkey, I'm
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: writing this to explain quite a number of things. When
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: you get it, i'll be dead, and it'll be in
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: natural and regular fashion. I ain't killing myself, and I
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: ain't out in my head when I leave here. I'm
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: going to a hospital and get a room, and i'll
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: die there tonight at eleven o one. I've knowed this
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: was coming for some time, but I ain't said nothing
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: about it, because there ain't any use in a man's
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: kicking against his time when it comes. But I'm leaving
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: you my things. You can have my trunk and what
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: there is in it, and the money in this letter.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I want you to go to miss Irene. I know
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: she's going to be married, and i'd like her to
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: use the cash to get her some things. She's always
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: been mighty nice to me, and so have you. I
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: hope Irene and her husband get along fine. I'm going
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: to be buried from Lynz. If you call up, he'll
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: give you the time, and i'd like to have you
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: attend the funeral if you care to come. I've made
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: all the arrangements for it, and he says he'll do
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the right thing. I wish I could stay with you longer,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: but when the grim Reaper calls, all human power can
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: do is to stand up and be cut down. So far,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer wrote and paused. He regarded the last paragraph, frowning
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: some way. It didn't exactly seem right. Instinctively, perhaps he
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: felt the malappropriateness of likening himself to a flower, but
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: he could not seem to find other words to express what.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: He had in mind.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: In the end, he let it stand as it was,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: trusting that missus mc closkey would understand it, and went on,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: So this is good bye, yours very truly, eboneezer Clay.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: He rose and found an envelope in the trunk. He
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: put the written page and the money inside it, and
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: sealed it up and wrote upon it nor McCloskey addressed.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: He propped it up on the table against the bottle
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: of ink, where anyone coming.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: In would see it.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Turned away and found a suitcase and opened it on
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: the bed, pulling out the drawers of an old time dresser.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: He set to work, and to the suitcase he put
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: a clean suit of underclothing, a pair of fresh socks,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: and a shirt, a tie, a collar from a closet.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: He brought a suit of clothes, folded them neatly, and
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: added them to the rest. He sighed again as he
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: closed the case.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: And fastened the snaps.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: His eyes roamed about the room in a farewell glance.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: He was going to walk out of it, as he
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: had done so many times before, But this time he
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: wasn't coming back. Something like a lump rose in his throat.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: His eyes fell on the envelope propped up on the
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: table where missus mc closkey would find it. He would
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: have liked to say goodbye to her and Irene, but
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: it was too hard to make people understand. He took
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: up the suitcase and went out and down the stairs, softly,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: hoping he wouldn't meet Irene as he had when he
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: came in. He let himself out of the front door.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: He moved off along the street. At the corner, he
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: turned and looked back. After that, he walked a couple
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: of blocks and caught a car for the third time
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: that afternoon. Just why he was going to a hospital
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: he hardly knew, except that soon after he had learned
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: what was going to happen, the idea had occurred to
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: him and had taken hold of his mind. It had
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: seemed a better place to die in the widow mccloskey's house,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: wherefore he had made it the last step in his plan.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: When the car reached the corner nearest to it, he
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: got down it stood in a stretch of tree studded ground,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: and the shadows of the trees were growing long. He
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: noted the fact with an odd quiver starting into being,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: as it seemed from somewhere in his breast. He paused
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: and put down the suitcase and drew a long breath.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: That that strange thrill had probably been in his heart.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: It would have to be his heart or something of
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: that sort to take him off. So suddenly, after he
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: had spent twenty seven years feeling well, and it was
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: just beginning to make itself felt just as for twenty
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: seven years it had been fated that it should. That
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: was the way fate worked. There was no haste about it,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: but equally there was no mistake. He took up the
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: suitcase again and started up a tree shaded concrete walk,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: but at the head of a flight of steps in
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: front of the doors of the institution itself, he once
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: more stopped. He turned his glance to the grass, the shrubs,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the trees. He lifted it to the sky, where a
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: few clouds floated like balls of fleece, and a final look.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: It was the last time, thought Ebenezer, that he would
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: ever see anything of the sort, the last time life,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: save for the restricted element of the hospital itself, would
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: be behind him once he stepped inside its doors. And yet,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: and yet he couldn't stand.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: There on the steps.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: He set his lips a trifle grimly and made his
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: way inside. There was a door marked office. Ebenezer went in.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: He was breathing somewhat quickly, and there was a drawn
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: expression about his eyes, now that they had looked on
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the world for the last time. He sat down his
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: suit case and spoke to a woman, a white clad
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: woman who sat behind a classed in railing. I would
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: like to engage a room. She rose and came toward him,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: speaking through the grill of the window between them, very well.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: What price?
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer's mind went back to the amount he had deemed sufficient,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: and he named it. That will do for a deposit,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: said the woman. But we only rent rooms by the week.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: I I won't need it that long, said Ebenezer.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I expect to die to night. You for an instant.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: The face on the other side of the grille showed startled,
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: and then it smiled, you don't look as sick as
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: all that. I don't feel sick, ma'am. Really, Ebenezer told
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: her but you've never been to a hospital before, have you.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: No, ma'am? But what is your name?
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer told her, and watched her ride it down. She
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: laid aside her pin and slipped around the end of
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: the railing. If you'll come with me, she said, I'll
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: take you to her room. Ebenezer followed her down a
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: hall passed many doors, in and out of which flitted
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: other women in white. There was a peculiar odor to
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: the place, he noted. Now that made him feel a
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: trifle sick.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: He sniffed.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: They paused before an elevator cage and went in and
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: up a shaft. On the next floor, they got out,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: there was another corridor and more doors. His companion opened
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: one and last. Ebenezer stepped into a room with a
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: narrow white bed and a table and a set of
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: drawers and two doors.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: I'll send you a nurse, said.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: The woman, and went out. Ebenezer put down his suit
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: case inside just as a room. The place was very nice.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: He began taking off his coat and vest with the
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: garments in his hand.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: He stopped.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: The door had opened without warning, and a young woman
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: and white popped in. Oh, she exclaimed, are you going
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: to bed. Ring the bell when you're ready, and I'll
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: come in and take your temperature impulse. She withdrew, and
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer flushed. She had been a rather pretty girl, but
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: she hadn't even wrapped. He went over and found a
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: button on the door and turned it, sat down and
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: began untying his shoes. Having completed his disrobing, he turned
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: the button back the other way, pulled down the covers,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: and stretched himself out. She had told him to ring,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: but it really didn't matter whether she came back or not.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: He had laid his watch on the table beside the bed,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: and he glanced at his dial. It was nearly six o'clock.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: He turned his gaze out of the window. He could
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: see the top of a tree in the blue of
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: the evening sky. The door opened at his back. He
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: turned to face another nurse. She was older, he judged,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: than the first, and she had a bunch of papers
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: in her hand. She drew up a chair and sat
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: down by the side of the bed. Good evening. You're
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: mister Clay, aren't you, she inquired, Yes, ma'am, said Ebenezer.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Your age twenty seven born where masalh oh? How and
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: what is your complaint. I don't know, ma'am, said Ebenezer,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: watching as she wrote down his answers. But I think
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: it's my heart. I guess it doesn't matter though, really
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to die or not. Like the woman in
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: the office, this one too looked startled, and then like
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: the other, she smiled. You don't look like a heart
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: case exactly. She responded, who's your doctor? I haven't any,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: said Ebenezer. She nodded, I'll have one of the house
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: doctors come in to see you. Now, who would you
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: want to notify an event of your death? For a moment,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer stared he was conscious all at once of a
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: distinct sensation of relief. Here, at last was someone who
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: wasn't shocked into a state of mental collapse by the
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: mention of his impending demise. And of course he knew
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: nothing of hospital records or other forms of medical tape. Why,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: he said, in a tone approaching animation, I ain't got
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: no folks, so no one, I guess, or hold on.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: You can telephone lends undertaking parlors after I'm dead. My
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: funeral is all ranged. End of chapter four. Chapter five
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: of Ebenezer's Casket by John Ulrich Gheezy and Junius B.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Chapter five a ranged, the nurse's eyes went wide.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: She sat with her pencil poised above the paper on
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: her knee while she regarded Ebenezer in an almost horrified way.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Presently her bust rose and fell again. Slowly a contraction
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: ran up and down the rounded pillar of her throat.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Her lips parted.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: Really, mister Clay.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: She began in uncertain fashion, you see, Ebenezer interrupted. I
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: thought I might as well attend to it myself, and
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: then i'd be sure what was done with my remains,
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: instead of just lying down and leaving it to other folks.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: So I fixed it with Lynn this afternoon before I
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: come up here, and I told him he could come
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and get me any time after one minute past eleven
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: o'clock p m. I see the woman nodded just what
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: she saw. She didn't mention, but it seemed to be
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: something that threw her into a state of incipient panic.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Whatever it was.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: To Ebenezer, it seemed that she had grown a little
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: bit pale as she jumped up rather than rose.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: I'll send in one of the.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Doctors, she said, moving toward the door. You lie quiet
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: until you see him, won't you. Ebenezer bobbed his head.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Her actions filled him with a fresh disgust. Armistead wasn't
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: so bad or a lawyer, but undertakers, nurses, surely they
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: ought to be accustomed to the thought of death. So
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: he didn't even trouble to put his acquiescence into words.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: It thought her a sensible person at first, and now
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: it would seem that she simply hadn't understood. He closed
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: his eyes and relaxed upon the pillow. The door opened
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: and closed, and he knew she had disappeared, but he
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: didn't open his eyes. He simply lay there, letting the
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: minutes slip irretrievably away, dully conscious of the muffled sounds
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: of footfalls of tinkling bells that drifted in from the hall.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: And then his door opened again to admit the little
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: nurse who had entered before he was undressed. But she
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: came in quietly now, rather than bounced on tiptoe, as
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: it seemed, so silent was her progress. She approached the bed,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: encountering Ebenezer's watching glance, and paused.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: Then smiled.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: You're quite all right, aren't you, mister clay she inquired,
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, said Ebenezer. Miss Winslow sent me to stay
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: with you, the girl explained. She said, she said that
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: I was going to die to not all at once,
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: it came to Ebenezer that the little nurse was scared,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: that she was scared stiff of him. She nodded slightly, yes,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: at at one minute after eleven, Yes, mister clay Well,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: said Ebenezer, don't you care little girl? All at once,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: he felt he liked her. Folks are dying around here
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: right along, aren't they. She nodded again. Oh, yes, But
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: I think you upset Miss Winslow by mentioning the time
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: sit down, said Ebenezer. I upset her all right. I
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: guess she got out o here like we'd been talkin
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: about her funeral instead of mine. Once more, the door
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: opened and two men came in. They were young men,
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: clad in white trousers and coats, and they carried a
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: variety of things Ebenezer had never seen. Also, they carried
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: an air of importance as they gave their various burdens
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: into the little nurse's hands. Ebenezer eyed them. He felt annoyed.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: Just as he was about to have a visit with
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: the brown haired, blue eyed girl, they appeared. He had
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: thought he could come here and lie down and die
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: in peace, and thus far this hospital was the least
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: RESTful place he had ever known in his life. For
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: a moment, the two men spoke with the nurse in
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: lower tones, and then the more important appearing of the
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: two approached the bed and stood looking down at Ebenezer. Well, well,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: old man, he said, in brusquely friendly fashion, what's wrong?
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer tried to make the best of the situation. Miss
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Winslow had said she would send him a doctor, and
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: doubtless here were two of them. I don't know, doc,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: he accordingly shaped his answer. All I know is that
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: I ain't goin to last long. Well, what's the stuff
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: you were pulling about? Eleven o one p M. That's
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: my time, doc, said Ebenezer. If it is, said the intern, grinning,
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: you're cutting it mighty fine. He reached down and threw
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: back the covering from Ebenezer's chest, turned and took a
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: bit of hard rubber and small soft rubber hammer from
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: the nurse's hands, laying the bit of rubber on Ebenezer's breast.
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: He began tapping it with the hammer, very much as
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer himself was wont to tap finishing nails, except that
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: there were no nails employed in this operation, of course.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: But as the doctor hammered, he cocked his ear to
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: the resulting sounds. His companion came to the bedside and
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: listened also. Ebenezer found that he was listening too. After
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: a time, tap tap tap tap, over and over all
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: over his breast, and up and down his sides. And
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: then they turned him over and began hammering on his back.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: A sort of deeply muffled note resulted from the process.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: Tap tap, tap.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Tap, Say doc, ain't I about beat tender, Ebenezer questioned.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: After a time, the in turn removed his rubber disk
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: and let him turn upon his back.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: He faced his fellow Make anything out of it, he suggested.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: The other man shook his head.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Not a satan er hymn said. The senior, in turn
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: reached into his and produced a bell shaped device equipped
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: with rubber tubes, which he inserted into his ears before
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: he resumed his inquisitive attack on Ebenezer's chest. The junior
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: joined him with another instrument and began working on the
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: other side. Ebenezer watched them moving their little rubber bells
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: about for a time, then spoke again, I say, Doc,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: there ain't anything the matter with my lungs. The senior
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: looked at the junior. Find anything, he inquired, and the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: junior shook his head. Not a thing there ain't, said Ebenezer.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: I was to a doctor a month ago. Try the heart,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: suggested the senior, and bent again to his task. Presently
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: he straightened, insighed, strong as a horse. I think we'd
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: better take a sample of his blood. Ebenezer lifted his voice.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: The calm, almost impersonal manner of these white clad men
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: of science filled him with something like a sense of resentment.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: They treated him like a man of wood. They paid
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: attention to what he said. See here, he burst out.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: If my heart's all right, there ain't anything the matter
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: with me, I guess, Or if there is, you don't
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: seem to be able to find it. I come here
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: to die, and I'd like to do it in peace.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: You came here to die, did you, well? What are
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: you going to die of? The senior, in turn questioned,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: taking notice of what Ebenezer said. At last, I don't know.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: I ain't a doctor, Ebenezer flared, Then what's the notion?
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: The intern's intonation was rather crisp. How do you know
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: you're going to die? If there's nothing the matter with you?
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: When a man knows a thing, he knows it, don't
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: he said Ebenezer in somewhat weary fashion. The in turn nodded.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: He looked at his junior. A meaning glance passed between them.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: All right, miss Coombs, he said to the little nurse,
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: we'll take a little blood and make a test.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: Ebenezer sighed.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: This was going beyond anything of which he had ever dreamed,
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: but in a way dimly he knew.
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: It was useless to resist.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: He watched in helpless fashion while the little nurse produced
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: a number of things. He lay supine while the senior
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: in turn approached. He went slightly as he bent and
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: laid hold of the lobe of his ear and scratched it,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: and drew a drop of blood into a small glass pipette.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: And he smiled rather wandly as the little nurse dabbed
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: the scratch into his ear with a bit of cotton
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: and asked him softly if it hurt. He listened while
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: the two men spoke to her in lowered accents, and
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: when they went out of the room together, he drew
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: a sigh of relief, even though he had a premonition
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: that they would be back thereafter a number of things occurred.
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: The little nurse gave him a bath. He explained that
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: he didn't need it, but it did no good. She
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: explained that it was one of the rules. Ebenezer submitted.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: He began to.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: Feel that he would have been wise had he elected
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: to die almost anywhere else. He had thought of a
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: hospital as a place of peace and RESTful quiet. He
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: hadn't looked for all this fuss. Still, the little nurse
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: was very pleasant, and he would have enjoyed talking to
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: her if she hadn't kept looking at him in such
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: a peculiar fashion while she worked. You don't need to
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: think I'm crazy, he.
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Said at last.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: Of course, she assured him quickly and caught her breath.
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: Judging by the form of her words, she might have
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: meant that he was not or that he was, but
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer didn't trouble about it. She was a nice little thing,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: and he liked her all at once, he remembered that
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: he had a few dollars left aside from his vanished
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: roll of bills. See here, he said, Would you mind
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: getting me my pants?
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: What for?
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: She eyed him.
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: He shook his head.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: I ain't goin to try to get up. I just
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: want something in the pocket. She brought them to him
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: from the closet slowly and laid them on the bed.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: He thrust a hand into the pocket and dug out
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the loose change. Here, he said, and he held it
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: toward her. I won't need this any longer. Why, mister clay,
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: She drew back and eyed him. Take it, he insisted,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: I like you tain't much, but I want you to
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: have what there is I I She took it and
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: dropped it into a pocket on her apron. I'll keep
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: it for you, she stammered. We aren't allowed to. The
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: door opened and the two interns came in. The senior
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: reached the bed in astride and caught up the trousers.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: What did he take?
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: He turned on the little nurse in accusing fashion, with
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: the garments dangling from his hand.
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: Why why?
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: Suddenly Miss Coombe's expression was that of one aghast nothing,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: She gasped. He he said he wanted them and I
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: have brought them to him. The senior threw the trousers
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: from him and spoke to his companion. Beat it get
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: hold of a stomach too quick, Emonezer roused to the occasion,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: as the junior, in turn, darted from the room. Look here,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't take nothing. I wanted something in one of
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: my pockets, and I couldn't get it myself with her
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: in the room.
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: Shut up, said the houseman. Shortly.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: I knowed, darn well you did, and we'll find out
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: what it was when we get that tube. I began
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: to get wise to you, all right when I didn't
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: find anything wrong with your blood. You don't get away
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: with it this time, my man, Not while I'm on
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: the job. Miss Coombs, get a picture of water and
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: a glass. Ha got it, did you? He whirled to
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: the junior intern, who came bursting in with a length
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: of red rubber tubing in his hand. But I tell you,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: began Ebenezer. You don't need to, snarled the senior, turning
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: to him with the rubber tubing. Now open your mouth, Ebenezer,
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: eye the length of rubber.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: He asked a.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: Question, do you expect me to swallow that thing? You're
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: going to swallow it before we finished. The in turn,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: lifted the tip of the tube and held it before
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer's face. Come on, now, open your mouth. That tip
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: was at least three quarters an inch across. The idea
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: was sufficient. I can't, said Ebenezer, rather sickly. Ah, here,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: said the man with the tube to his companion. You
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: hold him now, see here, Clay, no more fooling. Ready,
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: miss coombs with the water. Now, Clay, take the tip
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: of this tube in your mouth and take a drink
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: and swallow. Come on, you might as well do it first.
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: As last, Ebenezer turned appealing eyes toward the little nurse
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: who stood with the pitcher and glass in her hand.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: He wasn't a bowel constrictor or any other sort of snake,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: and he knew that trying to swallow that yard of
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: red rubber was going to make him sick. But as
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: she met his glance, her soft lips parted. Please, mister Clay,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: she said, they think I'd let you take something, and
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: we've got to prove they've.
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: Made a mistake.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: The appeal of woman. Ebenezer set his jaws and then
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: relaxed them again. He sat up in bed. He'd he'd
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: do it for her sake. He'd got her into this
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: by trying to give her a little sign of his
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: personal appreciation. He had to get her out again, of course.
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: He grabbed the tube and thrust it into his mouth.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: He took the glass of water she held toward him
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: and tried to swallow the combination and choked and began coughing,
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: while the junior in turn pounded him on the back.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: After followed an interval of physical discomfort more acute than
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: any of which Ebenezer had ever before been able to think.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: He tried to swallow that massive bit of tubing.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: He choked and gagged.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: In the end, when the cold sweat of nausea dude
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: his forehead, the senior in turn grabbed the thing and
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: literally thrust it down his throat, and it stuck. No
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: matter how hard Ebenezer gagged, he couldn't get it out
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: because the junior in turn held his hands, and Miss
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Coombs was holding yet another glass of water before him
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: and begging him to drink. He took the water, he swallowed.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: The tube slid down with something like a whirling fascination.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer watched it disappearing the impossible was being accomplished. Pallid
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: and shaking, he sat dizzily on the bed with the
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: thing hanging out from between his jaws, but his brain
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: seemed swirling in the room, and all it held was
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: going round and round. And the senior, in turn, was
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: pouring more water into the funnel shaped outer end of
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: the tube, letting it run out again, was catching the
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: escaping fluid, and a basin Miss Coombs was holding in
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: her hands. He turned his blearing eyes upon her. He
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: thought she smiled in grateful fashion, but he couldn't be
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: certain about it. He couldn't be certain of anything. The
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: tube in his throat was choking him, slowly, but surely.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: He swallowed and swallowed again. Waves of deathly nausea assailed him.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: He felt strangely, appallingly weak, and then suddenly the tube
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: was sliding out from between his teeth.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: It was gone.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: He sank back on his pillow with a gasping breath.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: Half consciously, he watched the interns leave the room. Knew
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: that he and the little nurse were alone, but it
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: didn't matter. Nothing mattered any longer, except that strive as
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: he would to choke back the spasms of nausea that
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: engulfed him. They were strangling his breath. Exhaustion and the
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: languor of it laid hold upon him. His very eyelids
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: felt heavy. He let them droop and then force them
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: open again. What time is it, miss Comb's, he questioned faintly.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: Nearly eleven, said the little nearly eleven. All at once,
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer understood that was why he felt so terribly weak.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: How near he managed in a gasp of comprehension. Five
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: minutes too, mister Clay, try and get a little sleep.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry you're so sick. Five minutes too. Six minutes
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer stretched himself out in bed. It wasn't the tube
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: that had made him feel as he did.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: It was just fate.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: He closed his eyes. He drew up his hands and
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: crossed them over his breast. He began breathing deeply. End
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: of chapter five, Chapter six of Ebenezer's Casket by John
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: uleric Easy and Junius B.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Chapter six, mister Clay, are you awake? Ebenezer
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: opened his eyes. The little nurse was standing by his bed,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: and she held a tray in her hand, a tray
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: with dishes on it, a tree suggestive of food, and
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: there was sunshine streaming in through the window, and a
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: sound of passing footsteps in the hall. Ebenezer stared for
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: a startled second, and then he sat up in bed.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: What what time is it? He gasped, eight o'clock, and
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: I've brought you your breakfast. The little nurse smiled, but
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: said Ebenezer like one in a daze, and paused while
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: his cheeks went slowly red. The little nurse shook her head.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: You see, after the doctor's got done with that horrid tube,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: you were so tired out that you went to sleep.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: She said.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: Understanding came on Ebenezer in a flash. It was morning,
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: and he was alive. Something like an overwhelming sense of
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: chagrin descended upon him. He was alive, and he was
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: almost sorry. He stared at the little nurse in a
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: rather miserable fashion, and nodded without words. She set down
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: the tray on the bedside table, went to the closet
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: and brought back his clothes. Now you dress and eat
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: your breakfast, she suggested, And I'll go get that money
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: you gave me last night. You will not, said Ebenezer,
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: and his tone was almost fierce. When I give a thing,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: I give it, but but nothin I gave it to you,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: And I reckon that stomach tube. Shindy put the alibi
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: on everything else. Now I guess i'll dress. Miss Coombs
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: went out, and Ebenezer rose. He clenched his hands into
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: knotted fists and regarded them fixedly before he drew on
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: his shirt. There was something savage in the way he
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: pulled on his trousers. His mood was one of a
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: rapidly mounting rage. He finished dressing and put on his hat,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: and then he took it off and stared at the
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: tray on the table. He was facing a serious fact.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: If he had died according to schedule, everything would have
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: been all right. But instead of dying, he had slept
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: all night and waked up very much alive. And he
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: hadn't a scent on earth yesterday. He had given away
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: his every possession, his money, the old home place, even
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: the loose change in his pockets, And here on the
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: table before him was a perfectly good breakfast going to waste.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: He laid his hat on the bed, sat down, and
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: ate in a ruminative fashion. His brow contracted in thought.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: There had been a reason for all he had done,
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: of course, a reason why he had made a fool
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: of himself, as he undoubtedly had, And the upshot of
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: his thinking was that he decided to attend to that
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: reason first all at once. To Ebenezer, that duty became
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: a pressing need of the present, beyond which the future
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: could wait. The future, he had thought himself able to
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: know it. He finished the coffee in the little pot
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: on the tray at a gulp, and scowled. He reached
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: for his hat and rose. He found his suitcase in
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: the closet and led himself into the hall. He found
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the stairs and went down them with lowered eyes. He
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: didn't want to meet the glances of anyone he passed.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: He was dreadfully embarrassed. Last evening he had come here
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: boldly and announced that he was going to die at
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: one minute past eleven, and he hadn't kept the date. Instead,
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: he had gone to sleep. He literally sneaked out of
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: the front door, past the office and gained the street.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: He set off downtown with a suitcase in his hand,
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: and with every step he took his chagrined rage mounted
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: by turns, he felt cold and hot. He had made
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: a fool of himself. He had been a dupe, a sucker.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: He was broke.
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: He was walking downtown now because he had not the
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: price of a ride. He set his jaws and plodded
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: onward with a heavily purposeful stride. He reached the boarding
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: house district at last, and mounted a set of steps
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: to a pair of old fashioned double doors. One of
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: them was open, and Ebenezer went in and opened another,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: without troubling to knock. The room into which it opened
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: had probably been at one time the parlor of the house. Now, however,
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: it served a purpose of another sort, and its center
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: was a table supporting a sphere of glass on a
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: jet black cushion. Oriental hangings and various charts marked with
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: peculiar signs and symbols were distributed around the walls. Ebenezer
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: glanced about. The door of an adjoining room opened, and
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: a man appeared. He was dark, round faced, stout. He
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: was clad in a bath robe and pajamas. It was Perry,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: the Persian. Ebenezer knew him, even though in his present
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: garb untricked of his professional trappings. He seemed a lot
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: less Persian and very much more just ordinary soft fibered man.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: For a moment. He eyed Ebenezer and he advanced with
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: a tentative greeting, good morning.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: Have I not seen you before? My friend?
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: You have? Eben put down his suitcase, and now you
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: see me again. There was something ominous in his manner.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: Perry the person appeared to market even as he essayed
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: a further question, and what advice can I give you
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: on this occasion? Ebeneze aer glared as he answered the suggestion.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: You can't give me none. I've had enough already and
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: it's got me in dead wrong. The last time I
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: was here, you told me I was due to diet
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: one minute after eleven o'clock last night, and I guess
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: you can see I didn't dear me.
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 2: Is it possible?
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: Perry the Persian laid two chubby palms together and turned
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: his head slightly to one side. It is, said Ebenezer. Shortly.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, said Perry the Persian.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: Are you?
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer glared again. Well, you're going to be a lot
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: sorrier still unless you explain here. I took what you
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: said as gospel truth because you said the stars couldn't go,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: and I gave away all my things. I ain't got
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: a cent left or nothing but what I got in
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: a suit case and on my back, except a coffin
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: I bought to be buried in yesterday afternoon. Perry the
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: Persian drew back a pace. Dear me, he said, again,
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: it is most unfortunate. I am sure. I fear I
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: must have fallen into some slight error in considering your
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: horoscope figure. I know darn well you did, said Ebenezer.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: And you're falling into another if you think you can
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: get away with it without my taking it out of
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: your skin. Wait, said Parry the Persian, and held up
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: a flabby hand. Let us not be sweete by passion.
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: Let us remember the words of the sages to err
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: as human to forgive divine. Well, Ebenezer took a deep breath.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: There ain't anything divine about me this mornin. I ain't
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: dead yet. And wait, wait, Parry interrupted. Let me explain,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: my friend. All fallacy is human. The stars are true
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: in the verdict as always. You've said that before, and
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: I believed it. Ebenezer advanced astride. Perry the Persian retreated
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: to the table with the glass ball and sat down
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: in a chair beside it. And I say it again,
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: if ever there was that error was mine, I admitted deeply,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: as it grieves me to think you should have been
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: led into any unhappy action through any fault of mine.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: But he sighed deeply, I am only human. You say
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: you gave away all you had. Ebenezer nodded every darn thing. Huh,
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: said Perry, and bounced up. If you will sit down,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: I shall examine your charts again. He crossed the room
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: to a desk and began rummaging in a drawer. In
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: a moment he was back at the table with a
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: mass of papers.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: In his hand.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer watched as a cat might watch a mouse. Here
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: set the cause of all his troubles. The man, on
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: the strength of whose ability to read the destiny of man,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: as predicted by astral computations. He had done everything, had
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: resigned a lucrative position and stripped himself to the skin,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: and he didn't intend to let himself be played for
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: a sucker again. Of course, the man looked troubled. One
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: couldn't deny the fact. The face he bent over the
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: papers he was consulting was clouded Perry. The Persian seemed
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: considerably upset, and of course, as he said, he was
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: only human, anybody could make a mistake. But all at
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: once Ebenezer found himself staring straight into the other man's eyes,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: and the other man's expression had altered, grown into a
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: thing of sheer amaze. His lips opened, they gave forth words,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: this is a remarkable thing. After all, mister Clay, I
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: have never encountered anything like it in all my days.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: The error is mind wholly. You must not blame it
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: on the stars. Even in this instance they have proved
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: true harbingers of fate. Fate indeed has brought all that
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: has transpired about what has occurred was to befall through
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: an error. And the error, I admit it was mine,
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: And in making it I became the agent of the
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: destiny the stars predicted for you. I er I misread
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: a single sign. The corrected reading shows the true meeting
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: beyond any further possibility of mistake. You, rather than dying,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: my friend, as I erroneously told you, I should have
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: warned you instead that you were fated to become absolutely
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: bankrupt on a certain date, which date was yesterday, and
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: by your own admission. That is exactly what happened. But
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: what is Goldman as compared to life? Ebenezer gasped. His
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: brain was whirling. The stars had said he was going
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: bankrupt through an error, and Parry the Persian had made it,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: and he he was bankrupt according to schedule, and Parry
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: the Persian admitted his error. He confessed it like a man.
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: He didn't question or quibble about it. He said he
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: had been wrong and that he was sorry. And one
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: couldn't men handle a fellow being who frankly acknowledged a fault,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: especially when the stars had led him to it made
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: him one of the agents of fate. So what was
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: the use? He got up slowly and lifted his suitcase
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: and pulled.
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 2: Down his hat.
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: Well, looking at it that way, I reckon it was
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: due to happen, and there ain't anything to do about it.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: If he was wrong, you can't do nothing but admit it,
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: and you have so well, I'll be going. He made
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: his way outside and went down the flight of steps
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: to the street. He set off along it in a
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: rather aimless fashion. He hardly knew what to do next.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: Indo Chapter six Chapter seven of Ebenezer's Casket by John
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: Ulrich Keasey and Junius B.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker, Chapter seven, on the nearest corner, he paused.
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: Armistead had told him to come back if he wanted
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: a job, but the idea did not appeal to him
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: in his present mood. He shrank acutely from the thought
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: of returning to the place of his former employment and
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: admitting that he had not died. There was a sensitive
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: strain in Ebenezer, the same strain that had made him
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: susceptible to the words of Perry the Persian first and last,
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: that rebelled at the mental picture of any such action,
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: that lashed out at what he felt he would see
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: in Armistead's eyes when he appeared before him, even though
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: the man did not laugh, And too, he recalled his
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: former employer's expressed hope that he would feel different after breakfast.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer's cheeks began to tingle as he recalled his return
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: to conscious existence, the sight of the little nurse standing
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: beside his bed with his breakfast tray in her hand.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: No come, what would he wasn't going back and ask
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: Armistead for a job. He could go to missus mccloskey's,
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: of course, but from that step he also shrank. He
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: had written that note and left it wrapped about the
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: wedding present of a dying man to Irene. There would
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: be more or less embarrassing moments to be faced if
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: he returned. He he had even invited the widow and
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: her daughter to attend his funeral, even now they might
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: be telephoning Lynn Lynn. Ebanezer frowned. He had paid the
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: colorless little mortician three hundred and fifty dollars for a
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: funeral he wasn't going to furnish, and Armistead had delivered
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: the gray casket to the undertaking parlors, of course, and
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: that casket, since he wasn't going to use it, was his.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: He might not have a sent in his pocket, but
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: most certainly he had a perfectly sound and usable casket
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: on his hands. Lynn then was the answer to his
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: immediate conduct. He would go and see him and try
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: to arrange some sort of adjustment of the funeral that
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: wasn't coming off. He nodded to himself. He had go
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: see Lynn once more. He began to walk the suitcase
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: bumped his leg and he frowned. He was in a
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: mental state where little things annoyed him out of all proportion.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: Yesterday he had something over five hundred dollars in a farm,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: and now now he didn't have a thing except the
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: coffin the casket company should have delivered to Lynn. Hot, tired,
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: and in a more or less harassible mood, he finally
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: reached his destination, ascended the steps, and passed inside, turned
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: into the office, and once more confronted the colorless man
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: at the roll top desk. The mortician stared. There could
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: be no doubt, but he recognized Ebenezer. Mister Clay, Just
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: what is the meaning of this? He began, rather stiffly.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: As Ebenezer set down his suitcase. Ebenezer drew a handkerchief
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: and mopped at his face. He put the handkerchief away
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: and cleared his throat. It was all a mistake, he began,
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: in embarrassed fashion. Did they deliver that casket here this morning? Wait,
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: mister Lynne interrupted mister Clay, just what lies back of
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: your peculiar actions? Ebenezer explained, I had my fortune told,
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: and they said I was going to die, and I
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: believed it. I reckon I was a sucker, but that's
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: how it was. And I thought i'd come over and
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: see you and have a talk and see if we
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: couldn't fix things up. Mister Lynne laid the tips of
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: his bloodless fingers together. He studied Ebenezer or his tentative
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: proposition for some moments before he said, slowly, but my
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: dear man, what is there to fix?
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: Why? Ebenezer stammered. He opened his lips and closed them again,
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: very much like a landed fish. About that funeral, he managed.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: At last.
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: Mister Lynne nodded, Oh, yes, yes, what about it. I
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: won't need it, said Ebenezer. Mister Lynne nodded again, apparently
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: not just yet. Then Ebenezer paused, I stand ready to
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: fulfill my part of the contract at any time, said
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: mister Lynn. It is no earthly fault of mine if,
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: instead of dying last night, as you led me to
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: believe you would, he returned here to day alive. In fact,
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: I am of the opinion that in failing to keep
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: your part of the agreement, you have forfeited your rights.
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: But I would not be inclined to stand on any
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: such technical grounds since it seems you were the victim
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: of aern m misunderstanding. I waive the point in your favor.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: I am ready to give you the interment agreement upon
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: whenever you require it. But Ebenezer blinked. He took an
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: unsteady breath. He was very uncomfortable. Indeed, there was an
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: almost accusing something in the little mortician's eyes, as well
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: as a hint that Ebenezer had vitiated the terms of
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: their contract and his words. But I'm broke, he went
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: on at length. I was so sure of dying, Like
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: I said that, I I gave away everything I had.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: That's unfortunate, said mister Lynne, in an impersonally sympathetic fashion.
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: But it does not concern the terms of our agreement
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: in the least. Ebenezer stiffened. The man was a crook,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: that's what he was. He had paid him three hundred
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: and fifty dollars and he was going to.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 2: Keep it if you let him do it. His voice steadied,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 2: sank to a deeper timber.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: So you ain't goin to give any of it back,
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: he inquired. Mister Lynne shook his head in almost tolerant fashion.
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: He smiled very slightly. Really, my dear man, is there
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: any reason why I should you bought an page for
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: my services with the distinct understanding that they would be
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: needed within a certain definite time. What do you think
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: you ought to get? Ebenezer a rose, He towered above
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: the little man in his chair. He clinched a hen
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: from sudden emotion. His voice came a trifle thickly. I
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: think I ought to get the police. You're a skinner.
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: I paid you three hundred fifty dollars, and said mister
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: Lynde distinctly, did you get a receipt? Ebenezer gaped, His
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: jaw sagged. He sank back again in his chair and stared.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: The colorless little man was right. He had simply paid
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: over his money in cash, and if he should call
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: in the authorities as he had suggested, it would be
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: Lyne's word against his. In fact, it began to look
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: to Ebenezer as though mister Lynde held the whip hand
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: in view of the story he would have to tell
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: if he called in the police. Then, well, how about
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: that casket, he asked, in a throaty tone. I ain't
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: goin to use it an I bought it an paid
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: for it before it was sent up here, and I
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: can prove that much at least rather supper rising only.
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: Mister Lynn hesitated in his answer. Oh yes, the casket.
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: Of course it's yours. Do you want to take it
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: with you? It's here, then, is it? Said Ebenezer. I
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: ask you that before, and you didn't answer. All right,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: I don't need it, but I gotta have some money.
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: What say I sell it to you? You buy stuff
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: from the Armstead Casket Company, don't you how much? Mister
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: Lynn pursed his lips. He considered twenty dollars, he said
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: at last twenty Ebenezer began and paused. Something cold and
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: steely crept into his eyes. No you don't, he got
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: up again. Twenty dollars for that box? Why I paid
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: one hundred for it factory price? Where is it inside?
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: Said mister Lynn, rather vaguely. I'll give you thirty five.
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer shook his head. Mister Lyne's manner was one of
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: discomfort out of all proportion, and a man who had
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: just made three hundred and fifty dollars for doing nothing
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: and was now trying to get a bargain rate on
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: a brand new casket I don't reckon you will, he replied,
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: it's mine, and we'll go inside and see it. Fifty,
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: said mister Lynne. Ebenezer eyed him say, he remarked, you're
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: acting sort of funny about this.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: Now. I want to see that casket.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: Very well, very well, mister Lynne Rose, come this way
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: if you insist. He turned toward a door in the
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: rear of the office, and Ebenezer followed, treading close upon
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: his heels. He dogged him through a second room where
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: several caskets were ranged on trestles for display, and into
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: another and up to the side of a gray sidebar
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: handle coffin. It was an Armistead company product, as Ebenezer
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: knew at a glance, but he turned from it after
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: a single appraising look. There was accusing suspicion in the
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: gaze he directed on his companion, the Saint, the one
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: I bought. He began and paused as his eyes traveled
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: past mister Lynne and fell on a second casket. He
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: knew it, he had made it himself for a definite purpose,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: and a couple of strides he reached it, and then
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: he stopped, as abruptly as though he had run to
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: the end of a given length of rope and had
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: been jerked up. There was no doubt about it being
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: the casket he had made for his own use. A
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: dozen little individual touches identified it to him beyond all
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: chance of air. But there was the body of an
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: unknown man inside it. For a moment of clearing comprehension,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: he stood looking down on that unresponsive bit of clay,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: that interloping corpse, and then he swung about to face
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: the mortician. You danged little crook, he said, in a
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: voice that shook with emotion. So you was going to
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: sell my box and put me away in just.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 2: Anything at all?
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I reckon this puts you just about where I
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: want you. At last, end of chapter seven, Chapter eight
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: of Ebenezer's Casket by John Ulrich Geasey and Junius B.
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public do mean read
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: by Ben Tucker Chapter eight. But my dear mister Clay,
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: mister Lynde's appearance was even more bloodless than common. I
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: assure you you're mistaken. This casket I showed you at
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: first mistake. Ebenezer cut in roughly, say forget it. I
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: made this box myself. If there's any mistake, you made
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: it when you thought you could lead me in here
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: and fool me. I guess you wasn't as wise that
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: I've worked for the Armistead people for over two years. Now,
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: cut out the stalin and come across. He jerked his
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: hand at the casket behind him. What's the meanin of this?
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: Who's this party in my coffin? Fifty dollars? Well, I
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: reckon you'd give me fifty for it beIN as you
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: had it filled, don't you reckon you could let me
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: have a hundred, Seeing as I can prove whose it is,
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: I'll give you a hundred rather than have any unpleasantness,
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: mister Clay. Mister Lynne agreed in a rather small voice.
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: You see, the present occupant died rather suddenly, and his
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: people wished to ship the body east. I knew I
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: could duplicate the casket from the Armistead people. Of course,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: under the circumstances. If you'll return to the office, I'll
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: be glad to give you my check and consider the
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: matters settled. Hold on, said Ebenezer. A speculative light crept
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: into his eyes. The body in the casket he had
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: thought yesterday to occupy himself was going east east. Why
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: he'd like to go east himself east, back home where
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: yesterday he had sent the deed of his farm to
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: Claire Markley Claire. He seemed to see her gray eyes
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: looking into his. He took a long breath. I reckon,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: we won't sell things so fast. Yesterday I was sort
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: of pressed for time, But to day I ain't any hurry.
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 2: I'd like to go.
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: East too, after I've given you my check for one
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars, said mister Lynn. There is no reason why
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: you cannot go anywhere you please. Ebeneze are nodded all
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: at once. He grinned, I shouldn't wonder if you do
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: feel that way about it, But that ain't the point.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: I ain't aiming to spend one hundred. I don't need
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: that when I arrive. I reckon, you better give me
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: a ticket to Masalon, Ohio, and about two hundred in cash,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: and keep the coffin seeing that you got it sold.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: And you can add fifty to that, since I've decided
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: not to be embalmed, and maybe twenty for flowers. Wait,
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: said mister Lynn, cutting off the flow of words that
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: threatened to engulf all his unearned increment in their flood.
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: Did you say Masalon, Ohio, Abeneze are nodded again.
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: That's where I was born and raised. Then a light
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: of decision cross Mortician Lynne's face. I think this can
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: be ranged. This body is going to Canton, and it
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: must be accompanied by an attendant. Of course, if you
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: wouldn't mind going with it, he paused. Well, I'm darned,
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: said Ebenezer, and jerked a hand at the casket.
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 2: Is he a buckeye? Why?
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: His eyes widened. I can take him to Canton and
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: get over to Masalon in less than an hour. Hey,
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: that's funny, ain't it it is? Said mister Lynn in
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: a tone of relief. This entire affair is most peculiar.
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: But if it is agreeable to you, we'll go into
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: the office and I'll give you two hundred and fifty
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: dollars and arrange for you to accompany the body. Two
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy, said Ebenezer firmly. Two hundred and seventy,
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: said mister Lynn inside wensy going, Ebenezer questioned, glancing at
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: the body inside his coffin this evening all right, said Ebenezer,
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: but you might as well make it three hundred. That
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: will leave you a hundred and fifty profit after you've
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: collected for the box. I'll give you three hundred and
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: not a cent more, said mister Lynne, wet his lips
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: with his tongue. All right, said Ebenezer again, and smiled.
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: He was seeing Claire Markley's face with its gray eyes
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: again as he followed the colorless little mortician back to
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: the office. He was still seeing it in the rolling
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: hills of Ohio and the old farm place. As Lynne
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: produced his check book and filled in a blank and
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: tore it out and held it toward him, I'll arrange
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: your transportation by this afternoon. Shall I send it.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 2: To you or will you call?
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: He said, as Ebenezer's fingers closed on the bit of paper.
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: I'll go get this cashed and come back this afternoon.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: Ebenezer returned and rose about three. The body leaves at
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: four thirty, Lynde suggested. Ebenezer nodded, picked up his suit
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: case and walked out. He cashed the check, had some lunch,
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: and returned to the Lynn Undertaking Parlors and Mortuary chapel
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: promptly at three o'clock. Thus it came about that he
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: journeyed eastward that night as the attendant of the gray
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: casket containing the body of another than himself. That now,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: and then as the training ran eastward, he descended from
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: it when it stopped, and walked up to the baggage
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: car and inspected the box about the casket, and satisfied
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: himself that it was all right, and went back to
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: his seat and his thoughts, And mainly he thought that
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: he was going back back to Masllon, Ohio, in the
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: home place, and Claire Markley. Hour after hour he sat
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: looking out of the window at the speeding landscape, between
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: which and his introspective eyes swam the mental image of
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: her face. He was going back, and if if she
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: was still Claire Markely, the slow flush crept at such
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: times into his cheeks. Back there, no one would ever
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: know he had made a fool of himself, because he
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: had been easy enough to believe what Perry the Persian
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: told him about the stars. The stars they had said
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: he was going bankrupt, or Perry the Persian said so,
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: But they hadn't said he was going to stay bankrupt.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: And he he had dug something out of Lynn the
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: very next day, not much, but something a few dollars
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: in the ticket on which he was riding east as
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: the guardian of the casket he had thought himself fated
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: to use. So maybe the stars had been right about it.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: After all, they had said he was going bankrupt, and
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: he had. And surely this, going back to the old scenes,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: the old hopes that were warming his heart with each
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: swift mile that fell behind him, held in it something
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: of the quality of fate. Maybe Perry the Persian had
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: been an agent of fate after all, even as he
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: had declared. Maybe his error had been the means Fate
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: used to bring her ends about. Ebenezer didn't know, really,
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: and the nearer he got to his destination, the less
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: he cared. The past was past in the future. He
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't troubling anymore about the future, save as it held
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: Claire markly. The present, he felt, provided it could be
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: made to hold her, would be quite enough. He reached
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: Kenton one sunny afternoon. He delivered the body and took
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: a receipt. He was taking receipts now from the undertaking
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: firm to which it was consigned. An hour later, he
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: boarded a train and sat with his nose against the window,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: drinking in the flitting vista of rolling hill and plain
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: home home, singing the wheels beneath him. He was going
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: home at Masalon. He got down. He was going home,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: and he knew the road, and he went, with his
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: suit case bumping against his legs. He trudged straight through
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: the town and on out into the surrounding country for
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: some three dusty miles before he came to a house
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: set back amid trees some distance from the roadside, opened
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: a gate and a fence before it, and made his
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: way into the yard. He went toward the house as
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: one travels long accustomed ways, and suddenly he paused. A
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: woman came round the corner of the house. She caught
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: sight of Ebenezer and stopped for a moment of recognition.
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: She stared, and then her lips opened. Ebenezer Clay, she exclaimed,
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: and came swiftly toward him, her cheeks flushing. Why whatever
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: on earth? Ebenezer grinned, Hello, Claire, He said, I just
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: got a hankering to come home.
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 2: Did you get that deed?
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: Claire Markley nodded yes, yesterday. And I couldn't imagine why
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: you scent it. At first, her gray eyes widened darkened.
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: I thought maybe you were dead. Ebenezer winced in almost
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: imperceptible fashion at the word I. I reckon you read it,
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: didn't you?
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 2: He said? Yes.
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: Claire nodded again.
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: But there wasn't a single scrap to explain with it,
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: I I thought. Ebenezer looked up at an apple tree
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: beside him. I sort of figured it would explain itself
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: to you. Noticed what it said? Why? All at once,
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: Claire's color deepened to a crimson. It said, it said,
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: She glanced down and caught up a fold of her
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: dress in her fingers. It said, in consideration of love
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: and affection, didn't it?
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 2: Said Ebenezer.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: Well, that's all there is to it, except that Claire.
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: I I'd sort of like to go with the farm.
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: Claire Markley lifted her face. Her eyes were shining. They
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: were like stars. They hinted all manner of things for
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: the future. She drew very close to Ebenezer. Why, Ebenezer,
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: she said, in a voice between tears and laughter, wh
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: I don't mind, Claire. Ebenezer dropped his suitcase and took
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: her into his arms.
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 2: End of Chapter eight.
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: End of Ebenezer's casket, John Alert Easy and Junius B.
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 2: Smith