Latest / The Best Ghost Stories / Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book by M. R. James

Transcript

Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book by M. R. James · The Best Ghost Stories

0:01
Speaker 1: Section three of The Best Ghost Stories. This is a
0:04
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
0:08
Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
0:12
Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker The Best Ghost Stories Canon Alberic's
0:17
Speaker 1: scrap Book by m R James. Saint Bertrand de Comminges
0:23
Speaker 1: is a decayed town on the spurs of the Pyrenees,
0:26
Speaker 1: not very far from Toulouse and still nearer to Bagneres
0:30
Speaker 1: de Luchamp. It was the site of a bishopric until
0:33
Speaker 1: the Revolution, had a cathedral which is visited by a
0:36
Speaker 1: certain number of tourists. In the spring of eighteen eighty three,
0:40
Speaker 1: an Englishman arrived at this old world place. I can
0:43
Speaker 1: hardly dignify it with the name of city, for there
0:45
Speaker 1: are not a thousand inhabitants. He was a Cambridge man
0:49
Speaker 1: who had come specially from Toulouse to see Saint Bertrand's church,
0:52
Speaker 1: and had left two friends, who were less keen archaeologists
0:55
Speaker 1: than himself in their hotel at Toulouse, under promise to
0:59
Speaker 1: join him on the following morning half an hour the
1:02
Speaker 1: church would satisfy them, and all three could then pursue
1:05
Speaker 1: their journey in the direction of Ulsche. But our Englishman
1:09
Speaker 1: had come early on the day in question, and proposed
1:11
Speaker 1: to himself to fill a note book and to use
1:13
Speaker 1: several dozens of plates in the process of describing and
1:16
Speaker 1: photographing every corner of the wonderful church that dominates the
1:20
Speaker 1: little hill of Commange. In order to carry out this
1:23
Speaker 1: design satisfactorily, it was necessary to monopolize the versure of
1:27
Speaker 1: the church for the day. The versure or a sacristan
1:31
Speaker 1: I prefer the latter appellation, inaccurate as it may be,
1:35
Speaker 1: was accordingly sent for by this somewhat brusque lady who
1:37
Speaker 1: keeps the inn of the Chapeau Rouge, And when he
1:40
Speaker 1: came the Englishman found him an unexpectedly interesting object of study.
1:45
Speaker 1: It was not in the personal appearance of the little, dry,
1:48
Speaker 1: wizened old man that the interest lay, for he was
1:51
Speaker 1: precisely like dozens of other church guardians in France. But
1:55
Speaker 1: in a curious, furtive, or rather hunted and oppressed air
1:59
Speaker 1: which he had, he was perpetually half glancing behind him.
2:03
Speaker 1: The muscles of his back and shoulders seemed to be
2:06
Speaker 1: hunched in a continual nervous contraction as if he were
2:10
Speaker 1: expecting every moment to find himself in the clutch of
2:13
Speaker 1: an enemy. The Englishman hardly knew whether to put him
2:17
Speaker 1: down as a man haunted by a fixed delusion, or
2:20
Speaker 1: as one oppressed by a guilty conscience, or as an
2:23
Speaker 1: unbearably hindpecked husband. The probabilities, when reckoned up, certainly pointed
2:28
Speaker 1: to the last idea, but still the impression conveyed was
2:31
Speaker 1: that of a more formidable persecutor even than a termagant wife. However,
2:36
Speaker 1: the Englishman, let us call him Denistown, was soon too
2:40
Speaker 1: deep in the note book and too busy with his
2:42
Speaker 1: camera to give more than an occasional glance to the Sacristan.
2:45
Speaker 1: Whenever he did look at him, he found him at
2:47
Speaker 1: no great distance, either huddling himself back against the wall
2:51
Speaker 1: or crouching in one of the gorgeous stalls. Denistown became
2:54
Speaker 1: rather fidgety after a time, mingled suspicions that he was
2:58
Speaker 1: keeping the old man from his dejahnet, that he was
3:00
Speaker 1: regarded as likely to make away with Saint Bertrand's ivory crozier,
3:04
Speaker 1: or with the dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs over the
3:07
Speaker 1: font began to torment him. Won't you go home? He
3:12
Speaker 1: said at last, I am quite well able to finish
3:14
Speaker 1: my notes alone. You can lock me in if you like.
3:17
Speaker 1: I shall want at least two hours more here, and
3:19
Speaker 1: it must be cold for you. Isn't it good? Heavens?
3:23
Speaker 1: Said the little man, whom the suggestion seemed to throw
3:26
Speaker 1: into a state of unaccountable terror. Such a thing cannot
3:30
Speaker 1: be thought of for a moment. Leave, monsieur, I learn
3:33
Speaker 1: in the church. No, No, two hours, three hours. All
3:36
Speaker 1: will be decent to me. I have breakfasted, I am
3:39
Speaker 1: not at all cold, with many things to monsieur. Very well,
3:44
Speaker 1: my little man, quoth Dennistown to himself. You have been warned,
3:47
Speaker 1: and you must take the consequences. Before the expiration of
3:51
Speaker 1: the two hours. The stalls, the enormous dilapidated organ, the
3:56
Speaker 1: quiet screen of Bishop John Demolion, the remnants of glass
4:00
Speaker 1: and tapestry, and the objects in the treasure chamber had
4:03
Speaker 1: been well and truly examined. The sacristan still keeping at
4:07
Speaker 1: Denistown's hills, and every now and then whipping round as
4:10
Speaker 1: if he had been stung, when one or other of
4:13
Speaker 1: the strange noises that troubled a large empty building fell
4:15
Speaker 1: on his ear. Curious noises they were sometimes. Once, Denistown
4:21
Speaker 1: said to me, I could have sworn I heard a
4:23
Speaker 1: thin metallic voice, laughing high up in the tower. I
4:27
Speaker 1: darted an inquiring glance at my sacristan. He was white
4:30
Speaker 1: to the lips. It is he that is. It is
4:35
Speaker 1: no one Zidora is locked, was all he said, And
4:38
Speaker 1: we looked at each other for a full minute. Another
4:41
Speaker 1: little incident puzzled Denistown a good deal. He was examining
4:45
Speaker 1: a large, dark picture that hangs behind the altar, one
4:48
Speaker 1: of his series illustrating the miracles of Saint Bertrand. The
4:51
Speaker 1: composition of the picture is well nigh indecipherable, but there
4:55
Speaker 1: is a Latin legend below which runs thus, qualiter s
4:58
Speaker 1: bertrandis libervie hominem quem diabolis dieu volebat strangulaire how Saint
5:05
Speaker 1: Bertrand delivered a man whom the devil long sought to strangle.
5:09
Speaker 1: Denistown was turning to the Sacristan with a smile and
5:11
Speaker 1: a jocular remark of some sort on his lips, But
5:14
Speaker 1: he was confounded to see the old man on his knees,
5:17
Speaker 1: gazing at the picture with the eye of a suppliant
5:19
Speaker 1: and agony, his hands tightly clasped and a rain of
5:22
Speaker 1: tears on his cheeks. Denistown naturally pretended to have noticed nothing,
5:27
Speaker 1: but the question would not away from him. Why should
5:30
Speaker 1: a daub of this kind affect any one so strongly?
5:34
Speaker 1: He seemed to himself to be getting some sort of
5:36
Speaker 1: clue to the reason of the strange look that had
5:38
Speaker 1: been puzzling him all day. The man must be monomaniac,
5:43
Speaker 1: But what was his monomania? It was nearly five o'clock,
5:46
Speaker 1: The short day was drawing in, and the church began
5:49
Speaker 1: to feel with shadows, while the curious noises, the muffled
5:53
Speaker 1: footfalls and distant talking voices that had been perceptible all
5:56
Speaker 1: day seemed no doubt. Because of the fading light and
6:00
Speaker 1: the consequently quickened sense of hearing to become more frequent
6:04
Speaker 1: and insistent, the sacristan began for the first time to
6:07
Speaker 1: show signs of hurry and impatience. He heaved a sigh
6:10
Speaker 1: of relief when camera and note book were finally packed
6:14
Speaker 1: up and stowed away, and hurriedly beckoned Denistown to the
6:17
Speaker 1: western door. Of the church under the tower. It was
6:20
Speaker 1: time to ring the Angelus. A few pulls at the
6:23
Speaker 1: reluctant rope, and the great bell bertrand high in the
6:26
Speaker 1: tower began to speak and swung her voice up among
6:29
Speaker 1: the pines and down to the valleys, loud with mountain streams,
6:32
Speaker 1: calling the dwellers on those lonely hills to remember and
6:36
Speaker 1: repeat the salutation of the Angel to her, whom he
6:39
Speaker 1: called blessed among women. With that, a profound quiet seemed
6:43
Speaker 1: to fall for the first time that day upon the
6:45
Speaker 1: little town and Denistown, and the sacristan went out of
6:49
Speaker 1: the church. On the doorstep, they fell into conversation. Monsieur
6:54
Speaker 1: seemed to interest himself in the el quire books in
6:58
Speaker 1: the sacristy. Undoubtedly, I was going to ask you if
7:01
Speaker 1: there was a library in the town. No, Messieur, Perhaps
7:05
Speaker 1: there used to be one belonging to this chapter, but
7:08
Speaker 1: it is now such a small place. Here came a
7:11
Speaker 1: strange pause of irresolution, as it seemed. Then with a
7:15
Speaker 1: sort of plunge, he went on, But if monsieur is
7:20
Speaker 1: a Monsieur de ville Evre, I have it done some
7:23
Speaker 1: things that might interest him. It is not a hundred
7:26
Speaker 1: yards at once. All Denistone's cherished dreams of finding priceless
7:32
Speaker 1: manuscripts and untrodden corners of France flashed up to die
7:36
Speaker 1: down again the next moment. There was probably a stupid
7:40
Speaker 1: missile of Planton's printing about fifteen eighty where was the
7:44
Speaker 1: likelihood that a place so near to lose would not
7:46
Speaker 1: have been ransacked long ago by collectors? However, it would
7:50
Speaker 1: be foolish not to go. He would reproach himself forever
7:52
Speaker 1: after if he refused. So they set off on the way.
7:56
Speaker 1: The curious irresolution and sudden determination of the Sacristan recurred
8:00
Speaker 1: to Denistown, and he wondered in a shamefaced way whether
8:03
Speaker 1: he was being decoyed into some purlieu to be made
8:06
Speaker 1: away with as a supposed rich Englishman. He contrived, therefore,
8:11
Speaker 1: to begin talking with his guide, and to drag in,
8:14
Speaker 1: in a rather clumsy fashion, the fact that he expected
8:16
Speaker 1: two friends to join him early the next morning. To
8:20
Speaker 1: his surprise, the announcement seemed to relieve the Sacristane at
8:24
Speaker 1: once of some of the anxiety that oppressed him. That
8:28
Speaker 1: is well, he said, brightly, that is very well. Monsieur
8:32
Speaker 1: will travel in company with his friends, they will be
8:35
Speaker 1: always near him. It is a good thing to travel
8:38
Speaker 1: thus in company. Sometimes the last word appeared to be
8:42
Speaker 1: added as an afterthought, and to bring with it a
8:44
Speaker 1: relapse into gloom for the poor little man. They were
8:48
Speaker 1: soon at the house, which was one rather larger than
8:50
Speaker 1: its neighbors, stone built with a shield carved over the door,
8:54
Speaker 1: the shield of Alboque de Morlion, a collateral descendant. Denistown
8:59
Speaker 1: tells me of Bishop John del Mallion. This Alboerch was
9:04
Speaker 1: a canon of Commiinges from sixteen eighty to seventeen o one.
9:08
Speaker 1: The upper windows of the mansion were boarded up, and
9:10
Speaker 1: the whole place bore, as does the rest of Comminges.
9:13
Speaker 1: The aspect of decaying age arrived on his doorstep. The
9:18
Speaker 1: sacristan paused a moment. Perhaps, he said, perhaps after monsieur
9:24
Speaker 1: has not the time, not at all, lots of time,
9:28
Speaker 1: nothing to do till tomorrow. Let us see what it
9:30
Speaker 1: is you've got. The door was opened at this point,
9:34
Speaker 1: and a face looked out, a face far younger than
9:36
Speaker 1: the sacristan's, but bearing something of the same distressing look.
9:40
Speaker 1: Only here it seemed to be the mark not so
9:42
Speaker 1: much of a fear for personal safety, as of acute
9:45
Speaker 1: anxiety on behalf of another. Plainly, the owner of the
9:48
Speaker 1: face was the Sacristan's daughter, and but for the expression
9:52
Speaker 1: I have described, she was a handsome girl enough. She
9:54
Speaker 1: brightened up considerably on seeing her father accompanied by an
9:57
Speaker 1: able bodied stranger. A few remarks passed between father and daughter,
10:01
Speaker 1: of which Denistown only caught these words said by the Sacristan.
10:05
Speaker 1: He was laughing in the arch, words which were answered
10:09
Speaker 1: only by a look of terror from the girl. But
10:12
Speaker 1: in another minute they were in the sitting room of
10:14
Speaker 1: the house, a small high chamber with a stone floor
10:17
Speaker 1: full of moving shadows, cast by a wood fire that
10:19
Speaker 1: flickered on a great hearth, something of the character of
10:23
Speaker 1: an oratory was imparted to it by a tall crucifix,
10:26
Speaker 1: which reached almost to the ceiling. On one side, the
10:29
Speaker 1: figure was painted of the natural colors, the cross was black.
10:33
Speaker 1: Under this stood a chest of some age and solidity,
10:36
Speaker 1: And when a lamp had been brought in chairs set,
10:38
Speaker 1: the sacristan went to this chest and produced therefrom with
10:41
Speaker 1: growing excitement and nervousness, as Deniston thought, a large book
10:45
Speaker 1: wrapped in a white cloth on which cloth a cross
10:48
Speaker 1: was rudely embroidered and red thread. Even before the wrapping
10:52
Speaker 1: had been removed, denistown began to be interested by the
10:55
Speaker 1: size and shape of the volume. Too large for a missile,
10:59
Speaker 1: he thought, and not the schiph an Antifona. Perhaps it
11:03
Speaker 1: may be something good after all. The next moment the
11:06
Speaker 1: book was opened, and Denistoone felt that he had at
11:08
Speaker 1: last lit upon something better than good. Before him lay
11:12
Speaker 1: a large folio, bound perhaps late in the seventeenth century,
11:15
Speaker 1: with the arms of Cannon Alberic de Molion stamped in
11:19
Speaker 1: gold on the sides. There may have been one hundred
11:22
Speaker 1: and fifty leaves of paper in the book, and on
11:25
Speaker 1: almost every one of them was fastened a leaf from
11:27
Speaker 1: an illuminated manuscript. Such a collection Denistowne had hardly dreamed
11:32
Speaker 1: of in his wildest moments. Here were ten leaves from
11:35
Speaker 1: a copy of Genesis, illustrated with pictures which could not
11:38
Speaker 1: be later than seven hundred a d. Further on was
11:41
Speaker 1: a complete set of pictures from assalter of English execution
11:45
Speaker 1: of the very finest kind that the thirteenth century could produce.
11:48
Speaker 1: And perhaps best of all, there were twenty leaves of
11:52
Speaker 1: unsealed writing in Latin, which, as a few words seen
11:56
Speaker 1: here and there told him at once, must belong to
11:58
Speaker 1: some very early unknown Patristic treatise. Could it possibly be
12:03
Speaker 1: a fragment of the copy of Papaya's on the Words
12:05
Speaker 1: of Our Lord, which was known to have existed as
12:08
Speaker 1: late as the twelfth century at Neimes. In any case,
12:11
Speaker 1: his mind was made up that book must return to
12:14
Speaker 1: Cambridge with him, even if it had to draw the
12:16
Speaker 1: whole of his balance from the bank and stay at
12:18
Speaker 1: Saint Bertrand till the money came. He glanced up at
12:21
Speaker 1: the sacristan to see if his face yielded any hint
12:24
Speaker 1: that the book was for sale. The sacristan was pale,
12:27
Speaker 1: and his lips were working. If Monsieur written up to
12:31
Speaker 1: the end, he said so. Monsieur turned on, meeting new
12:36
Speaker 1: treasures at every rise of a leaf, and at the
12:39
Speaker 1: end of the book he came upon two sheets of
12:41
Speaker 1: paper of much more recent date than anything he had
12:44
Speaker 1: yet seen, which puzzled him considerably. They must be contemporary,
12:49
Speaker 1: he decided. With the unprincipled canon Alberic, who had doubtless
12:52
Speaker 1: plundered the chapter library of Saint Bertrand, to form this
12:55
Speaker 1: priceless scrap book. On the first of the paper sheets
12:59
Speaker 1: was a plan carefully drawn and instantly recognizable by a
13:02
Speaker 1: person who knew the ground of the south aisle and
13:05
Speaker 1: cloisters of Saint Bertrand's. There were curious signs looking like
13:08
Speaker 1: planetary symbols, and a few Hebrew words. In the corners,
13:12
Speaker 1: and in the northwest angle of the cloister was a
13:14
Speaker 1: cross drawn in gold paint. Below the plan were some
13:18
Speaker 1: lines of writing in Latin, which ran thus response twelvemilli
13:22
Speaker 1: December sixteen ninety four into rogatum est and viniomne responsum
13:30
Speaker 1: est and venius fiomne, divis FIIs vivomne invidendus vivs moriarne
13:37
Speaker 1: in lecto meo ita answers of the twelfth of December
13:42
Speaker 1: sixteen ninety four, It was asked, shall I find it?
13:45
Speaker 1: Answer thou shalt? Shall I become rich thou wilt? Shall
13:50
Speaker 1: I live an object of envy? Thou wilt? Shall I
13:54
Speaker 1: die in my bed? Thou wilt? A good specimen of
13:58
Speaker 1: the treasure Hunter's wrecked quite reminds me of mister Mina
14:02
Speaker 1: cannon Quatermain in Old Saint Paul's was Denistown's comment, and
14:07
Speaker 1: he turned the leaf. What he then saw impressed him,
14:10
Speaker 1: as he has often told me, more than he could
14:12
Speaker 1: have conceived any drawing or picture capable of impressing him.
14:16
Speaker 1: And though the drawing he saw is no longer in existence,
14:19
Speaker 1: there is a photograph of it which I possess, which
14:22
Speaker 1: fully bears out that statement. The picture in question was
14:25
Speaker 1: a Sepia drawing at the end of the seventeenth century,
14:28
Speaker 1: representing one would say, at first sight, a biblical scene.
14:32
Speaker 1: For the architecture, the picture represented an interior, and the
14:35
Speaker 1: figures had that semi classical flavor about them which the
14:38
Speaker 1: artists of two hundred years ago thought appropriate to illustrations
14:41
Speaker 1: of the Bible. On the right was a king on
14:44
Speaker 1: his throne, the throne elevated on twelve steps, a canopy overhead,
14:49
Speaker 1: soldiers on either side, evidently King Solomon. He was bending
14:53
Speaker 1: forward with outstretched scepter in attitude of command. His face
14:57
Speaker 1: expressed horror and disgust. Yet there was in it also
15:00
Speaker 1: the mark of imperious command and confident power. The left
15:04
Speaker 1: half of the picture was the strangest, however, the interest
15:07
Speaker 1: plainly centered there on the pavement before the throne were
15:11
Speaker 1: grouped four soldiers surrounding a crouching figure, which must be
15:14
Speaker 1: described in a moment. A fifth soldier lay dead on
15:18
Speaker 1: the pavement, his neck distorted and his eyeballs starting from
15:21
Speaker 1: his head. The four surrounding guards were looking at the
15:25
Speaker 1: king in their faces. The sentiment of horror was intensified.
15:29
Speaker 1: They seemed, in fact, only restrained from flight by their
15:32
Speaker 1: implicit trust in their master. All this terror was plainly
15:36
Speaker 1: excited by the being that crouched in their mist I
15:39
Speaker 1: entirely despair of conveying, by any words, the impression which
15:42
Speaker 1: this figure makes upon any one who looks at it,
15:46
Speaker 1: I recollect, once showing the photograph of the drawing to
15:49
Speaker 1: a lecturer on morphology, a person of I was going
15:52
Speaker 1: to say, abnormally sane and unimaginative habits of mind. He
15:56
Speaker 1: absolutely refused to be alone for the rest of that evening,
16:00
Speaker 1: and he told me afterwards that for many nights he
16:02
Speaker 1: had not dared to put out his light before going
16:04
Speaker 1: to sleep. However, the main traits of the figure I
16:08
Speaker 1: can at least indicate. At first, you saw only a
16:12
Speaker 1: mass of coarse, matted black hair. Presently it was seen
16:15
Speaker 1: that this covered a body of fearful thinness, almost a skeleton,
16:19
Speaker 1: but with the muscles standing out like wires. The hands
16:23
Speaker 1: were of a dusky pallor, covered like the body, with long,
16:26
Speaker 1: coarse hairs and hideously taloned. The eyes, touched in with
16:30
Speaker 1: a burning yellow, had intensely black pupils, and were fixed
16:35
Speaker 1: upon the throned king with a look of beastlike hate.
16:39
Speaker 1: Imagine one of the awful bird catching spiders of South
16:42
Speaker 1: America translated into human form and endowed with intelligence just
16:46
Speaker 1: less than human, and you will have some faint conception
16:49
Speaker 1: of the terror inspired by the appalling effigy. One remark
16:54
Speaker 1: is universally made by those to whom I have shown
16:56
Speaker 1: the picture. It was drawn from the life as soon
17:01
Speaker 1: as the first shock of his irresistible fright had subsided
17:05
Speaker 1: Denistown stole a look at his hosts. The sacristan's hands
17:09
Speaker 1: were pressed upon his eyes. His daughter, looking up at
17:12
Speaker 1: the cross on the wall, was telling her beads feverishly.
17:15
Speaker 1: At last, the question was asked, is this book for sale?
17:21
Speaker 1: There was the same hesitation, the same plunge of determination
17:24
Speaker 1: that he had noticed before, and then came the welcome answer.
17:29
Speaker 1: If a monsieur pleases, how much do you want for it?
17:33
Speaker 1: I will take two huntre de and fifty francs. This
17:37
Speaker 1: was confounding. Even a collector's conscience is sometimes stirred, and
17:41
Speaker 1: Denistown's conscience was tenderer than a collector's. My good man,
17:45
Speaker 1: he said again and again, your book is worth far
17:48
Speaker 1: more than two hundred and fifty francs. I assure you
17:52
Speaker 1: far more. But the answer did not vary. I will
17:55
Speaker 1: take two entred and fifty francs, not more. There was
18:00
Speaker 1: really no possibility of refusing such a chance. The money
18:03
Speaker 1: was paid, the receipt signed, a glass of wine drunk
18:06
Speaker 1: over the transaction, and then the sacristan seemed to become
18:10
Speaker 1: a new man. He stood upright. He ceased to throw
18:13
Speaker 1: those suspicious glances behind him. He actually laughed, or tried
18:17
Speaker 1: to laugh. Denistown rose to go. I shall have the
18:21
Speaker 1: honor of accompanying Monsieur to his hotel, said the sacristan, Ah, no, thanks,
18:27
Speaker 1: it isn't a hundred yards. I know the way perfectly,
18:29
Speaker 1: and there is a moon. The offer was pressed three
18:32
Speaker 1: or four times and refused as often zin Monsieur will
18:36
Speaker 1: summon me if if he finds occajion, he will keep
18:40
Speaker 1: middle of Zevro, that the sides are so rough. Certainly, certainly,
18:46
Speaker 1: said Denistown, who was impatient to examine his prize by himself,
18:49
Speaker 1: and he stepped out into the passage with his book
18:51
Speaker 1: under his arm. Here he was met by the daughter.
18:54
Speaker 1: She had appeared was anxious to do a little business
18:57
Speaker 1: on her own account, perhaps like Gahazi, to take somewhat
19:00
Speaker 1: from the foreigner whom her father had spared a silver
19:04
Speaker 1: crucifix and schene for the neck. Monsieur would perhaps be
19:08
Speaker 1: good enough to accept it. Well. Really, Denistown hadn't much
19:12
Speaker 1: use for these things. What did mademoiselle want for it? Nothing?
19:16
Speaker 1: Nothing in the world. Monsieur is more than welcome to it.
19:21
Speaker 1: The tone in which this and much more was said
19:23
Speaker 1: was unmistakably genuine, so that Denistown was reduced to profuse
19:27
Speaker 1: thanks and submitted to have the chain put round his neck.
19:31
Speaker 1: It really seemed as if he had rendered the father
19:33
Speaker 1: and daughter some service which they hardly knew how to repay.
19:36
Speaker 1: As he set off with his book, they stood at
19:38
Speaker 1: the door looking after him, and they were still looking
19:41
Speaker 1: when he waived them a last good night from the steps.
19:43
Speaker 1: Of the Chapeau Rouge. Dinner was over, and Denistown was
19:48
Speaker 1: in his bedroom, shut up alone with his acquisition. The
19:52
Speaker 1: landlady had manifested a particular interest in him, since he
19:55
Speaker 1: had told her that he had paid a visit to
19:57
Speaker 1: the sacristan and bought an old book from him. He thought, too,
20:00
Speaker 1: that he had heard a hurried dialog between her and
20:02
Speaker 1: the said sacristan, and the passage outside the salil Monsieur
20:06
Speaker 1: some words to the effect that Pierre and Bertrand would
20:09
Speaker 1: be sleeping in the house had closed the conversation. At
20:12
Speaker 1: this time, a growing feeling of discomfort had been creeping
20:15
Speaker 1: over him, nervous reaction perhaps after the delight of his discovery.
20:20
Speaker 1: Whatever it was, It resulted in a conviction that there
20:23
Speaker 1: was some one behind him, and that he was far
20:26
Speaker 1: more comfortable with his back to the wall. All this,
20:29
Speaker 1: of course, weighed light in the balance as against the
20:31
Speaker 1: obvious value of the collection he had acquired. And now,
20:35
Speaker 1: as I said, he was alone in his bedroom taking
20:38
Speaker 1: stock of Canon Alberck's treasures, in which every moment revealed
20:41
Speaker 1: something more charming. Bless Canon Alberic, said Denistown, who had
20:47
Speaker 1: an inveterate habit of talking to himself. I wonder where
20:50
Speaker 1: he is now, Dear me, I wish that landlady would
20:54
Speaker 1: learn to laugh in a more cheering manner. It makes
20:56
Speaker 1: one feel as if there was some one dead in
20:58
Speaker 1: the house. Half a point more? Did you say? I
21:01
Speaker 1: think perhaps you are right. I wonder what that crucifix
21:03
Speaker 1: is that the young woman insisted on giving me last century.
21:07
Speaker 1: I suppose yes, Probably it is rather a nuisance of
21:10
Speaker 1: a thing to have round one's neck, just too heavy.
21:14
Speaker 1: Most likely a father had been wearing it for years.
21:16
Speaker 1: I think I might give it a clean up before
21:18
Speaker 1: I put it away. He had taken the crucifix off
21:21
Speaker 1: and laid it on the table when his attention was
21:24
Speaker 1: caught by an object lying on the red cloth just
21:26
Speaker 1: by his left elbow. Two or three ideas of what
21:29
Speaker 1: it might be flitted through his brain with their own
21:31
Speaker 1: incalculable quickness. A pin wiper, no, no such thing in
21:36
Speaker 1: the house. A rat now too black, A large spider
21:40
Speaker 1: I trust, a goodness, not no good God. A hand
21:44
Speaker 1: like the hand in that picture. In another infinitesimal flash,
21:48
Speaker 1: he had taken it in pale, dusky skin, covering nothing
21:52
Speaker 1: but bones and tendons of appalling strength, coarse black hairs
21:56
Speaker 1: longer than ever grew on a human hand, nail rising
22:00
Speaker 1: from the ends of the fingers and curving sharply down
22:03
Speaker 1: and forward, gray, horny and wrinkled. He flew out of
22:07
Speaker 1: his chair with deadly, inconceivable terror clutching in his heart.
22:10
Speaker 1: The shape whose left hand rested on the table was
22:13
Speaker 1: rising to a standing posture behind his seat, its right
22:17
Speaker 1: hand crooked above his scalp. There was black and tattered
22:21
Speaker 1: drapery about it. The coarse hair covered it as in
22:24
Speaker 1: the drawing. The lower jaw was thin, what can I
22:28
Speaker 1: call it? Shallow like a beast's teeth showed behind the
22:32
Speaker 1: black lips. There was no nose. The eyes of a
22:36
Speaker 1: fiery yellow against which the pupils showed black and intense,
22:40
Speaker 1: And the exulting hate and thirst to destroy life which
22:43
Speaker 1: shone there were the most horrifying feature in the whole vision.
22:48
Speaker 1: There was the intelligence of a kind in them, intelligence
22:51
Speaker 1: beyond that of a beast, below that of a man.
22:55
Speaker 1: The feelings which this horror stirred in Denis Town were
22:58
Speaker 1: the intensest physical fear, in the most profound mental loathing.
23:03
Speaker 1: What did he do what could he do. He had
23:07
Speaker 1: never been quite certain what words he said, but he
23:10
Speaker 1: knows that he spoke, that he grasped blindly at the
23:14
Speaker 1: silver crucifix, that he was conscious of a movement towards
23:17
Speaker 1: him on the part of the damon, and that he
23:20
Speaker 1: screamed with the voice of an animal in hideous pain.
23:23
Speaker 1: Pierre and Bertrand, the two sturdy little serving men who
23:27
Speaker 1: rushed in, saw nothing, but felt themselves thrust aside by
23:31
Speaker 1: something that passed out between them, and found Denistone in
23:34
Speaker 1: a swoon. They sat up with him that night, and
23:37
Speaker 1: his two friends were at Saint Bertrand by nine o'clock
23:39
Speaker 1: next morning. He himself, though still shaken and nervous, was
23:44
Speaker 1: almost himself by that time, and his story found credence
23:47
Speaker 1: with them, though not until they had seen the drawing
23:49
Speaker 1: and talked with the sacristan almost at dawn. The little
23:53
Speaker 1: man had come to the inn on some pretense and
23:55
Speaker 1: had listened with the deepest interest to the story retail
23:58
Speaker 1: by the landlady. He showed no surprise. It is he,
24:02
Speaker 1: It is he, I have seen him myself, was his
24:07
Speaker 1: only comment, and to all questionings but one reply was
24:11
Speaker 1: vouchsafed de foie gelaeviu millfourgelat centi. He would tell them
24:18
Speaker 1: nothing of the provenance of the book, nor any details
24:20
Speaker 1: of his experiences. I shall soon sleep and my vest
24:24
Speaker 1: will be sweeter. Why should you trouble me, he said,
24:28
Speaker 1: We shall never know what he or Canon Alberic de
24:30
Speaker 1: Moolio suffered. At the back of that fateful drawing were
24:33
Speaker 1: some lines of writing which may be supposed to throw
24:36
Speaker 1: light on the situation. Contradictio salomonis com demonio nocturno Albericus
24:44
Speaker 1: de molion de lineavit vi deus in audiatorium piece qui
24:49
Speaker 1: habitat sank de bertrand demonorium e fugatore intercid pro mi
24:54
Speaker 1: misirimo primum uidi nocte to emelie de timber sixteen ninety four.
25:02
Speaker 1: UIs de beau max o timum pecaui epassus son pleura
25:06
Speaker 1: atuc Passerus, December twenty ninth, seventeen O one. I have
25:11
Speaker 1: never quite understood what was Denistoun's view of the events
25:14
Speaker 1: I have narrated, he quoted to me once a test
25:17
Speaker 1: from Ecclesiasticus. Some spirits there be that are created for vengeance,
25:22
Speaker 1: and in their fury lay on sore Strucks. On another occasion,
25:27
Speaker 1: he said Isaiah was a very sensible man. Doesn't he
25:31
Speaker 1: say something about night monsters living in the ruins of Babylon.
25:35
Speaker 1: These things are runther beyond us at present. Another confidence
25:39
Speaker 1: of his impressed me rather, and I sympathized with it.
25:43
Speaker 1: We had been last year to Comminges to see Canon
25:45
Speaker 1: Alberic's tomb. It is a great marble erection, with an
25:49
Speaker 1: effigy of the cannon and a large whig ins Sutaine,
25:52
Speaker 1: and an elaborate eulogy of his learning. Below. I saw
25:55
Speaker 1: Denistown talking for some time with the vicar of Saint Bertrand's,
25:59
Speaker 1: and as we drove a way, he said to me,
26:01
Speaker 1: I hope it isn't wrong. You know, I am a Presbyterian,
26:05
Speaker 1: but I I believe there will be a sighing of
26:08
Speaker 1: mass and singing of dirges for Albert de Morlion's rest.
26:13
Speaker 1: Then he added, with a touch of the Northern British
26:16
Speaker 1: in his tone, I had no notion they came so dear.
26:21
Speaker 1: The book is in the Wentworth collection at Cambridge. The
26:24
Speaker 1: drawing was photographed and then burnt by Denistown on the
26:27
Speaker 1: day when he left Comminges on the occasion of his
26:30
Speaker 1: first visit. End of Section three.