Latest / Thin Ghost And Others / 04 - Thin Ghost And Others by M. R. James

Transcript

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

0:00
Speaker 1: Story four of a Thin Ghost and Others by Montague
0:05
Speaker 1: Rhodes James. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
0:09
Speaker 1: Story four, the Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance.
0:15
Speaker 1: The letters which I now publish were sent to me
0:17
Speaker 1: recently by a person who knows me to be interested
0:20
Speaker 1: in ghost stories. There is no doubt about their authenticity.
0:24
Speaker 1: The paper on which they are written, the ink, and
0:27
Speaker 1: the whole external aspect put their date beyond the reach
0:31
Speaker 1: of question. The only point which they do not make
0:34
Speaker 1: clear is the identity of the writer. He signs with
0:38
Speaker 1: initials only, and as none of the envelopes of the
0:41
Speaker 1: letters are preserved, the surname of his correspondent, obviously a
0:46
Speaker 1: married brother, is as obscure as his own. No further
0:50
Speaker 1: preliminary explanation is needed. I think luckily the first letter
0:55
Speaker 1: supplies all that could be expected. Letter one Great December
1:01
Speaker 1: twenty two, eighteen thirty seven, My dear Robert. It is
1:05
Speaker 1: with great regret for the enjoyment I am losing, and
1:09
Speaker 1: for a reason which you will deplore equally with myself,
1:13
Speaker 1: that I write to inform you that I am unable
1:16
Speaker 1: to join your circle for this Christmas. But you will
1:19
Speaker 1: agree with me that it is unavoidable when I say
1:23
Speaker 1: that I have, within these few hours received a letter
1:26
Speaker 1: from Missus Hunt at b to the effect that our
1:30
Speaker 1: uncle Henry has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and begging me
1:35
Speaker 1: to go down there immediately and join the search that
1:38
Speaker 1: is being made for him. Little as I or you,
1:41
Speaker 1: either I think, have ever seen of uncle, I naturally
1:46
Speaker 1: feel that this is not a request that can be
1:48
Speaker 1: regarded lightly. And accordingly I propose to go to be
1:52
Speaker 1: by this afternoon's mail, reaching it late in the evening,
1:56
Speaker 1: I shall not go to the Rectory, but put up
1:59
Speaker 1: at the King's Head, and to which you may address letters.
2:03
Speaker 1: I enclose a small draft, which you will please make
2:06
Speaker 1: use of for the benefit of the young people. I
2:09
Speaker 1: shall write you daily, supposing me to be detained more
2:12
Speaker 1: than a single day, what goes on, and you may
2:16
Speaker 1: be sure should the business be cleared up in time
2:19
Speaker 1: to permit of my coming to the manner after all,
2:22
Speaker 1: I shall present myself. I have but a few minutes
2:25
Speaker 1: at disposal, with cordial greetings to you all, and many regrets,
2:29
Speaker 1: believe me, your affectionate brother W. R. Letter two, King's Head,
2:37
Speaker 1: December twenty three thirty seven, My dear Robert. In the
2:41
Speaker 1: first place, there is as yet no news of Uncle H,
2:45
Speaker 1: and I think you may finally dismiss any idea. I
2:49
Speaker 1: won't say hope that I might after all turn up
2:52
Speaker 1: for exmus. However, my thoughts will be with you, and
2:56
Speaker 1: you have my best wishes for a really festive day.
3:00
Speaker 1: Mind that none of my nephews or nieces expend any
3:03
Speaker 1: fraction of their guineas on presents for me. Since I
3:07
Speaker 1: got here, I have been blaming myself for taking this
3:10
Speaker 1: affair of Uncle H too easily. From what people here say,
3:15
Speaker 1: I gather that there is very little hope that he
3:17
Speaker 1: can still be alive. But whether it is accident or
3:21
Speaker 1: designed that carried him off I cannot judge. The facts
3:25
Speaker 1: are these. On Friday the nineteenth, he went as usual,
3:28
Speaker 1: shortly before five o'clock to read evening prayers at the church,
3:33
Speaker 1: and when they were over, the clerk brought him a
3:36
Speaker 1: message in response to which he set off to pay
3:38
Speaker 1: a visit to a sick person at an outlying cottage
3:42
Speaker 1: the better part of two miles away. He paid the
3:45
Speaker 1: visit and started on his return journey at about half
3:48
Speaker 1: past six this is the last that is known of him.
3:52
Speaker 1: The people here are very much grieved at his loss.
3:56
Speaker 1: He had been here many years, as you know, and
3:58
Speaker 1: though as you also know, he was not the most
4:01
Speaker 1: genial of men and had more than a little of
4:04
Speaker 1: the martinet in his composition, he seems to have been
4:08
Speaker 1: active in good works and unsparing of trouble to himself.
4:12
Speaker 1: Poor missus Hunt, who has been his housekeeper ever since
4:16
Speaker 1: she left Woodley, is quite overcome. It seems like the
4:20
Speaker 1: end of the world to her. I am glad that
4:22
Speaker 1: I did not entertain the idea of taking quarters at
4:25
Speaker 1: the Rectory, and I have declined several kindly offers of
4:29
Speaker 1: hospitality from people in the place, preferring as I do,
4:32
Speaker 1: to be independent and finding myself very comfortable here. You will,
4:37
Speaker 1: of course, wish to know what has been done in
4:40
Speaker 1: the way of inquiry and search. First, nothing was to
4:43
Speaker 1: be expected from investigation at the Rectory, and to be brief,
4:48
Speaker 1: nothing has transpired. I asked missus Hunt, as others had
4:52
Speaker 1: done before, whether there was either any unfavorable symptom in
4:56
Speaker 1: her master, such as might portend a sudden stroke or
5:01
Speaker 1: attack of illness, or whether he had ever had reason
5:04
Speaker 1: to apprehend any such thing. But both she and also
5:08
Speaker 1: his medical man were clear that this was not the case.
5:12
Speaker 1: He was quite in his usual health. In the second place, naturally,
5:17
Speaker 1: ponds and streams have been dragged, and fields in the
5:20
Speaker 1: neighborhood which he is known to have visited last have
5:23
Speaker 1: been searched without result. I have myself talked to the
5:27
Speaker 1: parish clerk, and more important, have been to the house
5:31
Speaker 1: where he paid his visit. There can be no question
5:35
Speaker 1: of any foul play on these people's part. The one
5:38
Speaker 1: man in the house is ill in bed and very weak.
5:42
Speaker 1: The wife and the children, of course, could do nothing themselves.
5:46
Speaker 1: Nor is there the shadow of a probability that they,
5:49
Speaker 1: or any of them, should have agreed to decoy poor
5:53
Speaker 1: uncle h Out in order that he might be attacked
5:56
Speaker 1: on the way back. They had told what they knew
5:59
Speaker 1: to several others inquirers already, but the woman repeated it
6:03
Speaker 1: to me. The rector was looking just as usual. He
6:06
Speaker 1: wasn't very long with the sick man he at, He said,
6:10
Speaker 1: like somewhat has a gift in prayer. But there if
6:13
Speaker 1: we was all that way, however would the chapel people
6:16
Speaker 1: get their living? He left some money when he went away,
6:20
Speaker 1: and one of the children saw him cross the style
6:22
Speaker 1: into the next field. He was dressed as he always was,
6:26
Speaker 1: wore his bands. I gather he is nearly the last
6:29
Speaker 1: man remaining who does so at any rate in this district.
6:34
Speaker 1: You see, I am putting down everything. The fact is
6:37
Speaker 1: that I have nothing else to do, having brought no
6:40
Speaker 1: business papers with me, and moreover, it serves to clear
6:44
Speaker 1: my own mind and may suggest points which have been overlooked.
6:48
Speaker 1: So I shall continue to write all that passes, even
6:51
Speaker 1: to conversations. If need be. You may read or not
6:55
Speaker 1: as you please, but pray keep the letters. I have
6:58
Speaker 1: another reason for write so fully, but it is not
7:02
Speaker 1: a very tangible one. You may ask if I have
7:06
Speaker 1: myself made any search in the fields near the cottage.
7:09
Speaker 1: Something A good deal has been done by others, as
7:13
Speaker 1: I mentioned, But I hope to go over the ground tomorrow.
7:17
Speaker 1: Bow Street has now been informed and will send down
7:20
Speaker 1: by tonight's coach, but I do not think they will
7:23
Speaker 1: make much of the job. There is no snow which
7:27
Speaker 1: might have helped us. The fields are all grass. Of course,
7:31
Speaker 1: I was on the kiviva for any indication to day,
7:34
Speaker 1: both going and returning, But there was a thick mist
7:38
Speaker 1: on the way back, and I was not in trim
7:40
Speaker 1: for wandering about unknown pastures, especially on an evening when
7:45
Speaker 1: bushes looked like men and a cow lowing in the
7:49
Speaker 1: distance might have been the last trump. I assure you,
7:53
Speaker 1: if Uncle Henry had stepped out from among the trees
7:56
Speaker 1: in a little copse which borders the path at one place,
8:00
Speaker 1: carrying his head under his arm, I should have been
8:03
Speaker 1: very little more uncomfortable than I was, to tell you
8:07
Speaker 1: the truth. I was rather expecting something of the kind.
8:10
Speaker 1: But I must drop my pen for the moment mister
8:14
Speaker 1: Lucas the curate is announced. Later, mister Lucas has been
8:19
Speaker 1: and gone, and there is not much beyond the decencies
8:23
Speaker 1: of ordinary sentiment to be got from him. I can
8:27
Speaker 1: see that he has given up any idea that the
8:29
Speaker 1: Rector can be alive, and that so far as he
8:32
Speaker 1: can be, he is truly sorry. I can also discern that,
8:36
Speaker 1: even in the more emotional person than mister Lucas, Uncle
8:40
Speaker 1: Henry was not likely to inspire strong attachment. Besides mister Lucas,
8:46
Speaker 1: I have had another visitor in the shape of my Boniface,
8:49
Speaker 1: mine host of the king's head who came to see
8:52
Speaker 1: whether I had everything I wished, and who really requires
8:56
Speaker 1: the pen of a bouse to do him justice. He
8:59
Speaker 1: was very solid and waity at first. Well, sir, he said,
9:03
Speaker 1: I suppose we must bow a ebb beneath the blow,
9:06
Speaker 1: as my poor wife had used to say. So far
9:09
Speaker 1: as I can gather, there's been neither hide nor hair
9:12
Speaker 1: yet of our late respected incumbent sent it out as yet,
9:17
Speaker 1: not that he was what the scripture terms a hairy
9:19
Speaker 1: man in any sense of the word. I said as
9:23
Speaker 1: well as I could that I supposed not, but could
9:26
Speaker 1: not help, adding that I had heard he was sometimes
9:29
Speaker 1: a little difficult to deal with. Mister Bowman looked at
9:32
Speaker 1: me sharply for a moment, and then passed in a
9:35
Speaker 1: flash from solemn sympathy to impassioned declaration. When I think
9:41
Speaker 1: he said, of the language that man see fit to
9:44
Speaker 1: employ to me in this here parlor over no more
9:47
Speaker 1: a matter than a cask of beer. Such a thing,
9:50
Speaker 1: as I told him, might happen any day of the
9:53
Speaker 1: week to a man with the family, though as it
9:55
Speaker 1: turned out, he was quite under a mistake, and that
10:00
Speaker 1: I knew at the time only I was that shocked
10:03
Speaker 1: to hear him, I couldn't lay my tongue to the
10:05
Speaker 1: right expression. He stopped abruptly and eyed me with some embarrassment.
10:11
Speaker 1: I only said, dear me, I'm sorry to hear you
10:14
Speaker 1: had any little differences. I suppose my uncle will be
10:18
Speaker 1: a good deal missed in the parish. Mister Bowman drew
10:21
Speaker 1: a long breath. Ah, yes, he said, your uncle. You'll
10:25
Speaker 1: understand me when I say that, for a moment it
10:28
Speaker 1: had slipped my remembrance that he was a relative and
10:32
Speaker 1: natural enough. I must say as it should, for as
10:36
Speaker 1: to you bearing any resemblance to do him, The notion
10:41
Speaker 1: of any such thing is clean, ridiculous all the same,
10:45
Speaker 1: and I have bore it to my mind. You'll be
10:47
Speaker 1: among the first to feel, I'm sure, as I should
10:50
Speaker 1: have abstained my lips, or rather I should not have
10:53
Speaker 1: abstained my lips. With so much reflections, I assured him
10:57
Speaker 1: that I quite understood, and was going to have asked
11:00
Speaker 1: him some further questions, but he was called away to
11:03
Speaker 1: see after some business. By the way, you need not
11:07
Speaker 1: take it into your head that he has anything to
11:09
Speaker 1: fear from the inquiry into poor uncle Henrey's disappearance. Though
11:13
Speaker 1: no doubt in the watches of the night it will
11:16
Speaker 1: occur to him that I think he has, and I
11:19
Speaker 1: may expect explanations tomorrow. I must close this letter. It
11:23
Speaker 1: has to go by the late Coach letter three December
11:28
Speaker 1: twenty five thirty seven. My dear Robert, this is a
11:32
Speaker 1: curious letter to be writing on Christmas Day, and yet
11:36
Speaker 1: after all, there is nothing much in it, or there
11:38
Speaker 1: may be. You shall be the judge at least nothing decisive.
11:43
Speaker 1: The bow Street men practically say that they have no clue.
11:47
Speaker 1: The length of time and the weather conditions have made
11:50
Speaker 1: all tracts so faint as to be quite useless. Nothing
11:54
Speaker 1: that belonged to the dead man, I'm afraid no other
11:57
Speaker 1: word will do, has been picked up. As I expected.
12:01
Speaker 1: Mister Bowman was uneasy in his mind this morning. Quite
12:05
Speaker 1: early I heard him holding forth in a very distinct voice.
12:09
Speaker 1: Purposely so, I thought to the bow Street officers in
12:13
Speaker 1: the bar as to the loss that the town has
12:15
Speaker 1: sustained in their rector, and as to the necessity of
12:18
Speaker 1: leaving no stone unturned. He was very great on this phrase,
12:23
Speaker 1: in order to come at the truth. I suspect him
12:26
Speaker 1: of being an orator of repute at convivial meetings. When
12:31
Speaker 1: I was at breakfast, he came to wait on me
12:34
Speaker 1: and took an opportunity, when handing a muffin, to say,
12:37
Speaker 1: in a low tone, oh, sir, you recognize as my
12:41
Speaker 1: feelings towards your relative is not actuated by any aint
12:44
Speaker 1: of what you might call ma dignity. You can leave
12:48
Speaker 1: the room, Eliza. I will see the gentleman as all
12:51
Speaker 1: he requires with my own hands. I ask a pardon, sir,
12:55
Speaker 1: But you must be well aware a man is not
12:57
Speaker 1: always master of himself. And when that man has been
13:01
Speaker 1: ert in his mind by the application of expressions which
13:04
Speaker 1: I will go so far as to say at not
13:07
Speaker 1: ought to have been made use of, his voice was
13:10
Speaker 1: rising all this time, and his face growing redder. No, sir,
13:15
Speaker 1: and here, if you will permit it, I should like
13:18
Speaker 1: to explain to you, in a very few words, the
13:20
Speaker 1: exact state of the bona contention this cask, I might
13:24
Speaker 1: more truly call it a firkin of beer. I felt
13:28
Speaker 1: it was time to interpose, and said that I did
13:31
Speaker 1: not see that it would help us very much to
13:33
Speaker 1: go into that matter in detail. Mister Bowman acquiesced and
13:37
Speaker 1: resumed more calmly well, sir, I bow to your ruling,
13:42
Speaker 1: and as you say, be that here or be it there,
13:46
Speaker 1: it don't contribute a great deal perhaps to the present question.
13:50
Speaker 1: All I wish you to understand is that I am prepared,
13:53
Speaker 1: as you are yourself, to lend every hand through the
13:56
Speaker 1: business we have before us, and as I took the
13:59
Speaker 1: opportunity to say as much to the officers not three
14:03
Speaker 1: quarters of an hour ago, to leave no stone unturned
14:06
Speaker 1: as may throw even a spark of light on this
14:08
Speaker 1: painful matter. In fact, mister Bowman did accompany us on
14:13
Speaker 1: our exploration, but though I am sure his genuine wish
14:17
Speaker 1: was to be helpful, I am afraid he did not
14:20
Speaker 1: contribute to the serious side of it. He appeared to
14:23
Speaker 1: be under the impression that we were likely to meet
14:26
Speaker 1: either Uncle Henry or the person responsible for his disappearance,
14:30
Speaker 1: walking about the fields, and did a great deal of
14:34
Speaker 1: shading his eyes with his hand and calling our attention
14:38
Speaker 1: by pointing with his stick to distant cattle and laborers.
14:42
Speaker 1: He held several long conversations with old women whom we met,
14:47
Speaker 1: and was very strict and severe in his manner, but
14:50
Speaker 1: on each occasion returned to our party, saying, well, I
14:54
Speaker 1: find you don't seem to have no connection with this
14:57
Speaker 1: sad affair. I think you may take it from me,
15:00
Speaker 1: as there's a little or no light to be looked
15:03
Speaker 1: for from that quarter, not without she's keeping something back intentional.
15:08
Speaker 1: We gained no appreciable result. As I told you at starting,
15:12
Speaker 1: the Beau Street men have left the town. Whether for
15:15
Speaker 1: London or not, I am not sure. This evening I
15:20
Speaker 1: had company in the shape of a bagman, a smartish fellow.
15:24
Speaker 1: He knew what was going forward, but though he has
15:27
Speaker 1: been on the road for several days about here, he
15:30
Speaker 1: had nothing to tell of suspicious characters, tramps, wandering sailors
15:35
Speaker 1: or gypsies. He was very full of a Capitol Punch
15:38
Speaker 1: and Judy show he had seen the same day at
15:41
Speaker 1: w and asked if it had been here yet, and
15:45
Speaker 1: advised me by no means to miss it. If it
15:47
Speaker 1: does come the best punch and the best Toby dog,
15:51
Speaker 1: he said he had ever come across. Toby dogs, you know,
15:54
Speaker 1: are the last new thing in the shows. I have
15:57
Speaker 1: only seen one myself, but before long all the men
16:01
Speaker 1: will have them. Now why you will want to know?
16:05
Speaker 1: Do I trouble to write all this to you. I
16:08
Speaker 1: am obliged to do it because it has something to
16:11
Speaker 1: do with another absurd trifle, as you will inevitably say, which,
16:16
Speaker 1: in my present state of rather unquiet fancy nothing more,
16:20
Speaker 1: perhaps I have to put down. It is a dream, sir,
16:24
Speaker 1: which I am going to record, and I must say
16:27
Speaker 1: it is one of the oddest I have had. Is
16:29
Speaker 1: there anything in it beyond what the bagman's talk in
16:32
Speaker 1: Uncle Henry's disappearance could have suggested you? I repeat, shall judge,
16:38
Speaker 1: I am not in a sufficiently cool and judicial frame
16:41
Speaker 1: to do so. It began with what I can only
16:45
Speaker 1: describe as a pulling aside of curtains, and I found
16:48
Speaker 1: myself seated in a place I don't know whether indoors
16:52
Speaker 1: or out. There were people, only a few on either
16:56
Speaker 1: side of me, but I did not recognize them, or
16:59
Speaker 1: indeed think much about them. They never spoke, but so
17:03
Speaker 1: far as I remember, were all grave and pale faced,
17:07
Speaker 1: and looked fixedly before them. Facing me, there was a
17:10
Speaker 1: punch and judy show, perhaps rather larger than the ordinary ones,
17:15
Speaker 1: painted with black figures on a reddish yellow ground. Behind it,
17:19
Speaker 1: and on each side it was only darkness, but in
17:23
Speaker 1: front there was a sufficiency of light. I was strung
17:26
Speaker 1: up to a high degree of expectation and listened every
17:30
Speaker 1: moment to hear the pan pipe and the rutu to it.
17:34
Speaker 1: Instead of that, there came suddenly and enormous, I can
17:38
Speaker 1: use no other word, an enormous, single toll of a bell.
17:42
Speaker 1: I don't know how far off somewhere behind the little
17:47
Speaker 1: curtain flew up and the drama began. I believe someone
17:52
Speaker 1: once tried to rewrite Punch as a serious tragedy. But
17:56
Speaker 1: whoever he may have been, this performance would have suited
17:59
Speaker 1: him again exactly. There was something satanic about the hero.
18:04
Speaker 1: He buried his methods of attack. For some of his victims.
18:07
Speaker 1: He lay in wait, and to see his horrible face,
18:11
Speaker 1: it was yellowish white, I may remark, peering round the
18:15
Speaker 1: wings made me think of the vampire in Fusile's foul Sketch.
18:20
Speaker 1: To others, he was polite and carnying, particularly to the
18:24
Speaker 1: unfortunate alien, who can only say shillallaballah. Though what Punch
18:29
Speaker 1: said I could never catch. But with all of them
18:33
Speaker 1: I came to dread the moment of death, the crack
18:36
Speaker 1: of the stick on their skulls, which in the ordinary
18:39
Speaker 1: way delights me. Had here a crushing sound, as if
18:43
Speaker 1: the bone was giving away, and the victims quivered and
18:46
Speaker 1: kicked as they lay the baby. It sounds more ridiculous
18:51
Speaker 1: as I go on. The baby, I am sure was alive.
18:55
Speaker 1: Punch wrung its neck, and if the choke or squeak
18:58
Speaker 1: which it gave were not real, I know nothing of reality.
19:03
Speaker 1: The stage got perceptibly darker as each crime was consummated,
19:08
Speaker 1: and at last there was one murder, which was done
19:11
Speaker 1: quite in the dark, so that I could see nothing
19:14
Speaker 1: of the victim, and took some time to effect. It
19:18
Speaker 1: was accompanied by hard breathing and horrid muffled sounds. And
19:23
Speaker 1: after it Punch came and sat on the foot board
19:26
Speaker 1: and fanned himself and looked at his shoes, which were bloody,
19:31
Speaker 1: and hung his head on one side and sniggered in
19:34
Speaker 1: so deadly a fashion that I saw some of those
19:37
Speaker 1: beside me cover their faces, and I would gladly have
19:41
Speaker 1: done the same. But in the meantime the scene behind
19:44
Speaker 1: Punch was clearing and showed not the usual house front
19:49
Speaker 1: but something more ambitious, a grove of trees and the
19:52
Speaker 1: gentle slope of a hill with a very natural in fact,
19:56
Speaker 1: I should say, a real moon shining on it. Over
20:00
Speaker 1: this there rose slowly an object, which I soon perceived
20:04
Speaker 1: to be a human figure, with something peculiar about the
20:08
Speaker 1: head what I was unable at first to see. It
20:12
Speaker 1: did not stand on its feet, but began creeping or
20:15
Speaker 1: dragging itself across the middle distance towards Punch, who still
20:20
Speaker 1: sat back to it. And by this time, I may remark,
20:24
Speaker 1: though it did not occur to me at the moment
20:27
Speaker 1: that all pretense of this being a puppet show had vanished.
20:31
Speaker 1: Punch was still Punch, it is true, but like the others,
20:35
Speaker 1: was in some sense a live creature, and both moved
20:38
Speaker 1: themselves at their own will. When I next glanced at him,
20:43
Speaker 1: he was sitting in malignant reflection. But in another instant
20:47
Speaker 1: something seemed to attract his attention, and he at first
20:52
Speaker 1: sat up sharply, and then turned round and evidently caught
20:56
Speaker 1: sight of the person that was approaching him, and was
20:59
Speaker 1: in fact very near. Then, indeed, did he show unmistakable
21:04
Speaker 1: signs of terror. Catching up his stick, he rushed towards
21:08
Speaker 1: the wood, only just eluding the arm of his pursuer,
21:12
Speaker 1: which was suddenly flung out to intercept him. It was
21:15
Speaker 1: with a revulsion which I cannot easily express, that I
21:19
Speaker 1: now saw more or less clearly what this pursuer was like.
21:23
Speaker 1: He was a sturdy figure, clad in black, and, as
21:26
Speaker 1: I thought, wearing bands. His head was covered with a
21:30
Speaker 1: whitish bag. The chase which now began lasted I do
21:35
Speaker 1: not know how long now among the trees now along
21:39
Speaker 1: the slope of the field, sometimes both figures disappearing wholly
21:43
Speaker 1: for a few seconds, and only some uncertain sounds letting
21:46
Speaker 1: one know that they were still afoot At length, there
21:50
Speaker 1: came a moment when Punch, evidently exhausted, staggered in from
21:54
Speaker 1: the left and threw himself down among the trees. His
21:58
Speaker 1: pursuer was not long at after him, and came looking
22:01
Speaker 1: uncertainly from side to side. Then, catching sight of the
22:05
Speaker 1: figure on the ground, he too threw himself down. His
22:09
Speaker 1: back was turned to the audience, with a swift motion,
22:13
Speaker 1: twitched the covering from his head, and thrust his face
22:16
Speaker 1: into that of Punch. Everything on the instant grew dark.
22:21
Speaker 1: There was one long, loud, shuddering scream, and I awoke
22:25
Speaker 1: to find myself looking straight into the face of what
22:28
Speaker 1: in the world, do you think but a large owl
22:31
Speaker 1: which was seated on my window sill immediately opposite my
22:35
Speaker 1: bed foot, holding up its wings like two shrouded arms.
22:39
Speaker 1: I caught the fierce glance of its yellow eyes, and
22:43
Speaker 1: then it was gone. I heard this single enormous bell again,
22:47
Speaker 1: very likely, as you are saying to yourself, the church clock,
22:51
Speaker 1: but I do not think so. And then I was
22:55
Speaker 1: broad awake. All this, I may say, happened within the
22:59
Speaker 1: last half hour. There was no probability of my getting
23:03
Speaker 1: to sleep again. So I got up, put on clothes
23:06
Speaker 1: enough to keep me warm, and am writing this rigamarole
23:09
Speaker 1: in the first hours of Christmas Day. Have I left
23:13
Speaker 1: out anything? Yes? There was no Toby Dog, and the
23:17
Speaker 1: names over the front of the Punch and Judy booth
23:20
Speaker 1: were Kidman and Gallop, which were certainly not what the
23:23
Speaker 1: bagmen told me to look out for. By this time
23:27
Speaker 1: I feel a little more as if I could sleep.
23:30
Speaker 1: So this shall be sealed and wafered. Letter four December
23:35
Speaker 1: twenty six thirty seven, My dear Robert, all is over.
23:41
Speaker 1: The body has been found. I do not make excuses
23:45
Speaker 1: for not having sent off my news by last night's mail.
23:48
Speaker 1: For the simple reason that I was incapable of putting
23:51
Speaker 1: pen to paper. The events that attended the discovery bewildered
23:56
Speaker 1: me so completely that I needed what I could get
23:59
Speaker 1: of a night's rest to enable me to face the
24:01
Speaker 1: situation at all. Now I can give you my journal
24:05
Speaker 1: of the day, certainly the strangest Christmas Day that ever
24:09
Speaker 1: I spent, or am likely to spend. The first incident
24:14
Speaker 1: was not very serious. Mister Bowman had I think, been
24:18
Speaker 1: keeping Christmas Eve and was a little inclined to be captious.
24:23
Speaker 1: At least he was not on foot very early, and
24:26
Speaker 1: to judge from what I could hear, neither men or
24:29
Speaker 1: maids could do anything to please him. The latter were
24:33
Speaker 1: certainly reduced to tears. Nor am I sure that mister
24:36
Speaker 1: Bowman succeeded in preserving a manly composure at any rate.
24:41
Speaker 1: When I came downstairs, it was in a broken voice
24:44
Speaker 1: that he wished me the compliments of the season. And
24:47
Speaker 1: a little later on when he paid his visit of
24:50
Speaker 1: ceremony at breakfast, he was far from cheerful, even by ronic,
24:55
Speaker 1: I might almost say, in his outlook on life. I
24:59
Speaker 1: don't know, he say, if you think with me, sir,
25:02
Speaker 1: But every Christmas as comes round the world seems a
25:05
Speaker 1: hollerer thing to me. Why take an example now from
25:09
Speaker 1: what lays under my own eye. There's my servant, Eliza,
25:12
Speaker 1: been with me now for going on fifteen years. I
25:15
Speaker 1: thought I could have placed my confidence in Eliza. And
25:19
Speaker 1: yet this very morning, Christmas morning too, of all the
25:22
Speaker 1: blessed days in the year, with the bells are ringing
25:25
Speaker 1: and all like that. I say, this very morning, had
25:30
Speaker 1: it not been for Providence watching over us, all that
25:34
Speaker 1: girl would have put. Indeed, I may go so far
25:36
Speaker 1: as to say I'd put the cheese on your breakfast table.
25:41
Speaker 1: He saw I was about to speak, and waved his
25:43
Speaker 1: hand at me. It's all very well for you to say, yes,
25:47
Speaker 1: mister Bowman, but you took away the cheese and locked
25:50
Speaker 1: it up in the cupboard, which I did, and have
25:53
Speaker 1: the key here, or if not the actual key, one
25:56
Speaker 1: very much about the same size. That's true enough, sir.
26:00
Speaker 1: What do you think is the effect of that action
26:02
Speaker 1: on me? Why it's no exaggeration for me to say
26:05
Speaker 1: that the ground is cut from under my feet. And
26:07
Speaker 1: yet when I said as much to Eliza, not nasty,
26:11
Speaker 1: mind you, but just firm, like what was my return. Oh,
26:15
Speaker 1: she says, well, she says, there wasn't no bone broke.
26:19
Speaker 1: I suppose, well, sir, it hurt me, that's all I
26:22
Speaker 1: can say. It hurt me, and I don't like to
26:24
Speaker 1: think of it now. There was an ominous pause here
26:29
Speaker 1: in which I ventured to say something like, h yes,
26:33
Speaker 1: very trying, and then asked at what hour the church
26:36
Speaker 1: service was to be eleven o'clock. Mister Bowman said, with
26:40
Speaker 1: a heavy sigh, Ah, you won't have no such discourse
26:44
Speaker 1: from poor mister Lucas as what you would have done
26:46
Speaker 1: from our late rector. Him and me may have had
26:49
Speaker 1: our little differences and did so. More's the pity. I
26:54
Speaker 1: could see that a powerful effort was needed to keep
26:57
Speaker 1: him off the vexed question of the cask of beer.
27:00
Speaker 1: But he made it. But I will say this that
27:03
Speaker 1: a better preacher, nor yet one to stand faster by
27:06
Speaker 1: his rights, or what he considered to be his rights. However,
27:10
Speaker 1: that's not the question now, I, for one, never said under.
27:14
Speaker 1: Some might say was he eloquent man? And to that
27:18
Speaker 1: my answer would be, well, there, you've got a better right,
27:21
Speaker 1: perhaps to speak of your own uncle than what I have.
27:25
Speaker 1: Others might ask did he keep a hold of his congregation,
27:29
Speaker 1: And there again I should reply, that depends. But as
27:34
Speaker 1: I say, yes, Eliza, my girl, I'm coming eleven o'clock, sir,
27:39
Speaker 1: and you inquire for the King's head pew, I believe
27:42
Speaker 1: Eliza had been very near the door, and shall consider
27:46
Speaker 1: it in my veil. The next episode was church. I
27:50
Speaker 1: felt mister Lucas had a difficult task in doing justice
27:54
Speaker 1: to Christmas sentiments and also to the feeling of disquiet
27:57
Speaker 1: and regret, which, whatever mister Bowman might say, was clearly prevalent.
28:03
Speaker 1: I do not think he rose to the occasion. I
28:06
Speaker 1: was uncomfortable. The organ wolved, you know what I mean.
28:11
Speaker 1: The wind died twice in the Christmas Hymn, and the
28:14
Speaker 1: tenor bell, I suppose, owing to some negligence on the
28:18
Speaker 1: part of the ringers, kept sounding faintly about once in
28:22
Speaker 1: a minute during the sermon. The clerk sent up a
28:25
Speaker 1: man to see to it, but he seemed unable to
28:27
Speaker 1: do much. I was glad when it was over. There
28:31
Speaker 1: was an odd incident too, before the service. I went
28:35
Speaker 1: in rather early and came upon two men carrying the
28:39
Speaker 1: parish beer back to its place under the tower. From
28:43
Speaker 1: what I overheard them saying it appeared that it had
28:46
Speaker 1: been put out by mistake, by someone who was not there.
28:50
Speaker 1: I also saw the clerk busy folding up a moth
28:53
Speaker 1: eaten velvet Paul, not a sight for Christmas Day. I
28:58
Speaker 1: dined soon after this, and a feeling disinclined to go out,
29:02
Speaker 1: took my seat by the fire in the parlor with
29:05
Speaker 1: the last number of pickwick, which I had been saving
29:08
Speaker 1: up for some days. I thought I could be sure
29:11
Speaker 1: of keeping awake over this, but I turned out as
29:14
Speaker 1: bad as our friend Smith. I suppose. It was half
29:17
Speaker 1: past two when I was aroused by a piercing whistle
29:21
Speaker 1: and laughing and talking voice outside in the market place.
29:25
Speaker 1: It was a punch and Judy, I had no doubt
29:28
Speaker 1: the one that my bagman had seen at w I
29:32
Speaker 1: was half delighted, half not the latter, because my unpleasant
29:36
Speaker 1: dream came back to me so vividly. But anyhow, I
29:39
Speaker 1: determined to see it through, and I sent Eliza out
29:43
Speaker 1: with a crowned piece to the performers and a request
29:46
Speaker 1: that they would face my window if they could manage it.
29:50
Speaker 1: The show was a very smart new one. The names
29:53
Speaker 1: of the proprietors I need hardly tell you were Italian
29:57
Speaker 1: Parasta and Cowpegi. The Toby dog was there, as I
30:02
Speaker 1: had been led to expect. All b turned out, but
30:05
Speaker 1: did not obstruct my view, for I was at the
30:09
Speaker 1: large first floor window and not ten yards away. The
30:13
Speaker 1: play began at the stroke of a quarter to three
30:16
Speaker 1: by the church clock. Certainly it was very good, and
30:20
Speaker 1: I was soon relieved to find that the disgust my
30:22
Speaker 1: dream had given me for punches onslaught on his ill
30:26
Speaker 1: starred visitors was only transient. I laughed at the demise
30:30
Speaker 1: of the turncock, the foreigner, the beadle, and even the baby.
30:35
Speaker 1: The only drawback was the Toby Dog's developing a tendency
30:38
Speaker 1: to howl in the wrong place. Something had occurred, I
30:42
Speaker 1: supposed to upset him, and something considerable, for I forget
30:47
Speaker 1: exactly at what point he gave a most lamentable cry,
30:51
Speaker 1: leapt off the foot board, and shot away across the
30:54
Speaker 1: market place and down a side street. There was a
30:58
Speaker 1: stage wait, but only a one, I suppose. The men
31:02
Speaker 1: decided that it was no good going after him, and
31:05
Speaker 1: that he was likely to turn up again at night.
31:08
Speaker 1: We went on. Punch dealt faithfully with Judy, and in
31:12
Speaker 1: fact with all comers. And then came the moment when
31:16
Speaker 1: the gallows was erected and the great scene with mister
31:19
Speaker 1: Ketch was to be enacted. It was now that something
31:23
Speaker 1: happened of which I can certainly not yet see the
31:25
Speaker 1: import Fully, you have witnessed an execution and know what
31:30
Speaker 1: the criminal's head looks like with the cap on. If
31:33
Speaker 1: you are like me, you never wish to think of
31:36
Speaker 1: it again, and I do not willingly remind you of it.
31:39
Speaker 1: It was just such a head as that that I,
31:42
Speaker 1: from my somewhat higher post, saw in the inside of
31:47
Speaker 1: the show box, but at first the audience did not
31:50
Speaker 1: see it. I expected it to emerge into their view.
31:54
Speaker 1: But instead of that, there slowly rose for a few
31:57
Speaker 1: seconds an uncovered face within a expression of terror upon
32:01
Speaker 1: it of which I have never imagined the like. It
32:05
Speaker 1: seemed as if the man, whoever he was, was being
32:09
Speaker 1: forcibly lifted with his arms somehow pinioned or held back
32:14
Speaker 1: towards the little gibbet on the stage. I could just
32:18
Speaker 1: see the nightcap head behind him. Then there was a
32:22
Speaker 1: cry and a crash. The whole show box fell over backwards.
32:26
Speaker 1: Kicking legs were seen among the ruins, and then two figures,
32:31
Speaker 1: as some said, I can only answer for one, were visible,
32:35
Speaker 1: running at top speed across the square and disappearing in
32:39
Speaker 1: a lane which leads to the fields. Of course, everybody
32:43
Speaker 1: gave chase. I followed, but the pace was killing, and
32:48
Speaker 1: very few were in Literally at the death. It happened
32:52
Speaker 1: in a chalk pit. The man went over the edge
32:56
Speaker 1: quite blindly and broke his neck. They searched everywhere for
32:59
Speaker 1: the other until it occurred to me to ask whether
33:02
Speaker 1: he had ever left the market place. At first every
33:05
Speaker 1: one was sure that he had, but when we came
33:08
Speaker 1: to look, he was there under the show box, dead too.
33:13
Speaker 1: But in the chalk bit it was that poor Uncle
33:16
Speaker 1: Henry's body was found with a sack over the head
33:20
Speaker 1: and the throat horribly mangled. It was a peaked corner
33:24
Speaker 1: of the sack sticking out of the soil that attracted attention.
33:28
Speaker 1: I cannot bring myself to write in greater detail. I
33:32
Speaker 1: forgot to say. The men's real names were Kidman and Gallop.
33:36
Speaker 1: I feel sure I have heard them, but no one
33:38
Speaker 1: here seems to know anything about them. I am coming
33:42
Speaker 1: to you as soon as I can after the funeral,
33:45
Speaker 1: I must tell you when we meet what I think
33:47
Speaker 1: of it all. End of story four.