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003 - The Cruel Painter Part 3 · Six Stories

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Speaker 1: Section three of six stories by George mac Donald. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information are to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bruce Peirie. Six Stories by
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Speaker 1: George mac Donald, Section three, The Cruel Painter, Part three.
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Speaker 1: When Karl had reached his room and was dressing himself,
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Speaker 1: the thought struck him that something might be made of
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Speaker 1: the report of the extreme weight of the body of
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Speaker 1: old Coons to favor the continuance of the delusion of Teufelsbuerst.
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Speaker 1: Although he hardly knew yet to what use he could
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Speaker 1: turn this delusion, he was convinced that he would have
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Speaker 1: made no progress, however long he might have remained in
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Speaker 1: his house, and that he would have more chance of
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Speaker 1: favor with Lilith if he were to meet her in
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Speaker 1: any other circumstances whatever than those in which he invariably
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Speaker 1: saw her, namely surrounded by her father's influences and watched
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Speaker 1: by her father's cold blue eyes. As soon as he
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Speaker 1: was dressed, he crept down to the studio, which was
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Speaker 1: now quiet enough, the storm being over and the moon
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Speaker 1: filling it with her steady shine in the corner lay
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Speaker 1: in all directions the fragments of the mold which his
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Speaker 1: own body had formed and filled. The bag of plaster
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Speaker 1: and the bucket of water which the painter had been
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Speaker 1: using stood beside. Lutkin gathered all the pieces together, and,
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Speaker 1: then making his way to an outhouse where he had
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Speaker 1: seen various odds and ends of rubbish lying, chose from
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Speaker 1: the heap as many pieces of old iron and other
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Speaker 1: metal as he could find. To these, he added a
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Speaker 1: few large stones from the garden. When he had got
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Speaker 1: all into the studio, he locked the door and proceeded
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Speaker 1: to fit together the parts of the mold, filling up
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Speaker 1: the hollow as he went on with the heaviest things
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Speaker 1: he could get into it, and solidifying the hole by
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Speaker 1: pouring in plaster, till having at length completed it and
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Speaker 1: obliterated as much as possible the marks of joining, he
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Speaker 1: left it to harden, with the conviction that now it
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Speaker 1: would make a considerable impression on Teufelsbuerst's imagination as well
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Speaker 1: as on his muscular sense. He then left everything else
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Speaker 1: as nearly undisturbed as he could, and, knowing all the
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Speaker 1: ways of the house, was soon in the street, without
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Speaker 1: leaving any signs of his exit. Karl soon found himself
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Speaker 1: before the house in which his friend Hullenrachen resided. Knowing
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Speaker 1: his studious habits, he had hoped to see his light
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Speaker 1: still burning. Nor was he disappointed. He contrived to bring
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Speaker 1: him to his window, and a moment after the door
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Speaker 1: was cautiously opened. Why Lotkin, where do you come from
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Speaker 1: from the grave? Heinrich? Or next door to it? Come
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Speaker 1: in and tell me all about it. We thought the
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Speaker 1: old painter had made a model of you and tortured
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Speaker 1: you to death. Perhaps you are not far wrong, but
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Speaker 1: keept me a horn of ale, for even a vampire
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Speaker 1: is thirsty, you know, a vampire, exclaimed Heinrich, retreating a
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Speaker 1: pace and involuntarily putting himself upon his guard. Karl laughed,
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Speaker 1: My hand was warm, was it not, old fellow? He said?
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Speaker 1: Vampires are cold all but the blood. What a fool
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Speaker 1: I am, rejoined Heinrich. But you know we have been
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Speaker 1: hearing such horrors lately that a fellow may be excused
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Speaker 1: for shuddering a little when a pale faced apparition tells
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Speaker 1: him at two o'clock in the morning that he is
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Speaker 1: a vampire and thirsty too. Karl told him the whole story,
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Speaker 1: and the mental process of regarding it for the sake
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Speaker 1: of telling it revealed to him pretty clearly some of
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Speaker 1: the treatment of which he had been unconscious at the time.
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Speaker 1: Heinrich was quite sure that his suspicions were correct, and
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Speaker 1: now the question was what was to be done next.
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Speaker 1: At all events, said Heinrich, we must keep you out
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Speaker 1: of the way for some time. I will represent to
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Speaker 1: my landlady that you are in hiding from enemies, and
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Speaker 1: her heart will rule her tongue. She can let you
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Speaker 1: have a garret room, I know, and I will do
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Speaker 1: as well as I can to bear you company. We
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Speaker 1: shall have time then to invent some plan of operation
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Speaker 1: to this proposal. Karl agreed with hearty thanks, and soon
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Speaker 1: all was arranged. The only conclusion they could yet arrive
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Speaker 1: at was that somehow or other, the old demon painter
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Speaker 1: must be tamed. Meantime, how fared it with Lilith, She
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Speaker 1: too had no doubt that she had seen the body
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Speaker 1: ghost of poor Karl, and that the vampire had, according
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Speaker 1: to rule, paid her the first visit because he loved
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Speaker 1: her best. This was horrible enough. If the vampire were
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Speaker 1: not really the person he represented, but if in any
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Speaker 1: sense it were Karl himself, at least it gave some
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Speaker 1: expectation of a more prolonged existence than her father had
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Speaker 1: taught her to look for. And if love anything like
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Speaker 1: her mother's still lasted even along with the habits of
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Speaker 1: a vampire, there was something to hope for in the future.
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Speaker 1: And then, though he had visited her, he had not,
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Speaker 1: as far as she was aware, deprived her of a
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Speaker 1: drop of blood. She could not be certain that he
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Speaker 1: had not bitten her, for she had been in such
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Speaker 1: a strange condition of mind that she might not have
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Speaker 1: felt it. But she believed that he had restrained the
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Speaker 1: impulses of his vampire nature and had left her lest
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Speaker 1: he should yield to them. She fell fast asleep, and
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Speaker 1: when morning came, there was, not, as far as she
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Speaker 1: could judge, one of those triangular, leech like perforations to
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Speaker 1: be found upon her whole body. Will it be believed
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Speaker 1: that the moment she was satisfied of this, she was
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Speaker 1: seized by a terrible jealousy lest Karl should have gone
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Speaker 1: and bitten someone else. Most people will wonder that she
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Speaker 1: should not have gone out of her senses at once.
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Speaker 1: But there was all the difference between a visit from
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Speaker 1: a real vampire and a visit from a man she
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Speaker 1: had begun to love, even although she took him for
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Speaker 1: a vampire. All the difference does not lie in a name.
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Speaker 1: They were very different causes and the effects must be
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Speaker 1: very different. When Teufelsburst came down in the morning, he
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Speaker 1: crept into the studio like a murderer. There lay the
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Speaker 1: awful white block, seeming to his eyes just the same
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Speaker 1: as he had left it. What was to be done
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Speaker 1: with it? He dared not open it. Mold and model
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Speaker 1: must go together. But whither if inquiries should be made
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Speaker 1: after vulcn Licht and this were discovered anywhere on his premises,
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Speaker 1: would it not be enough to bring him at once
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Speaker 1: to the Gapo. Therefore, it would be dangerous to bury
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Speaker 1: it in the garden or in the cellar. Besides, thought
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Speaker 1: he with a shudder, that would be to fix the
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Speaker 1: vampire as a guest forever, And the horrors of the
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Speaker 1: past night rushed back upon his imagination with renewed intensity.
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Speaker 1: What would it be to have the dead Karl crawling
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Speaker 1: about his house forever? Now inside, now out, now sitting
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Speaker 1: on the stairs, now staring in at the windows, he
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Speaker 1: would have dragged it to the bottom of his garden,
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Speaker 1: past which the moldau flowed, and plunged it into the stream.
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Speaker 1: But then, should the specter continue to prove troublesome, it
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Speaker 1: would be almost impossible to reach the body so as
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Speaker 1: to destroy it by fire, besides which he could not
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Speaker 1: do it without assistance and the probability of discovery. If, however,
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Speaker 1: the apparition should turn out to be no vampire, but
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Speaker 1: only a respectable ghost, they might manage to endure sure
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Speaker 1: its presence till it should be weary of haunting them.
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Speaker 1: He resolved at last to convey the body for the
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Speaker 1: meantime into a concealed cellar in the house, seeing something
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Speaker 1: must be done before his daughter came down, proceeding to
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Speaker 1: remove it. His consternation as greatly increased when he discovered
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Speaker 1: how the body had grown in weight since he had
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Speaker 1: thus disposed of it, leaving on his mind scarcely a
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Speaker 1: hope that it could turn out not to be a vampire.
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Speaker 1: After all, he could scarcely stir it, and there was
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Speaker 1: but one whom he could call to his assistance, the
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Speaker 1: old woman, who acted as his housekeeper and servant. He
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Speaker 1: went to her room, roused her, and told her the
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Speaker 1: whole story. Devoted to her master for many years, and
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Speaker 1: not quite so sensitive to fearful influences as when less
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Speaker 1: experienced in horrors, she showed immediate readiness to render him assistance.
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Speaker 1: Utterly Unable, however, to lift the mass between them, they
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Speaker 1: could only drag and push it along. And such a
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Speaker 1: slow toil was it that there was no time to
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Speaker 1: remove the traces of its track. Before Lilith came down
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Speaker 1: and saw a broad white line leading from the door
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Speaker 1: of the studio down the cellar stairs. She knew in
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Speaker 1: a moment what it meant, but not a word was
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Speaker 1: uttered about the matter, and the name of Karl Falkenlicht
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Speaker 1: seemed to be entirely forgotten. But how could the affairs
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Speaker 1: of a house go on all the same when every
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Speaker 1: one of the household knew that a dead body lay
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Speaker 1: in the cellar, nay more, that although it lay still
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Speaker 1: and dead enough all day, it would come half alive
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Speaker 1: at nightfall, and turning the whole house into a sepulcher
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Speaker 1: by its presence, go creeping about like a cat all
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Speaker 1: over it in the dark. Perhaps with phosphorescent eyes. So
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Speaker 1: it was not surprise that the painter abandoned his studio early,
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Speaker 1: and that the three found themselves together in the gorgeous
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Speaker 1: room formerly described as soon as twilight began to fall.
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Speaker 1: Already Teufelsburst had begun to experience a kind of shrinking
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Speaker 1: from the horrid faces in his own pictures, and to
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Speaker 1: feel disgusted at the abortions of his own mind. But
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Speaker 1: all that he and the old woman now felt was
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Speaker 1: an increasing fear as the night drew on, a kind
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Speaker 1: of sickening and paralyzing terror. The thing down there would
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Speaker 1: not lie quiet, at least, its phantom in the cellars
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Speaker 1: of their imagination would not. As much as possible, However,
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Speaker 1: they avoided alarming Lilith, who, knowing all they knew, was
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Speaker 1: as silent as they. But her mind was in a
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Speaker 1: strange state of excitement, partly from the presence of a
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Speaker 1: new sense of love, the pleasure of which all the
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Speaker 1: atmosphere of grief into which it grew could not totally quench.
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Speaker 1: It comforted her somehow, as a child may comfort when
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Speaker 1: his father is away. Bedtime came and no one made
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Speaker 1: a move to go, without a word spoken on the subject.
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Speaker 1: The three remained together all night, the elders nodding and
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Speaker 1: slumbering occasionally, and Lilith getting some share of repose on
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Speaker 1: a couch. All night. The shape of death might be
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Speaker 1: somewhere about the house, but it did not disturb them.
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Speaker 1: They heard no sound, saw no sight, and when the
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Speaker 1: morning dawned, they separated, chilled and stupid, and for the
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Speaker 1: time beyond fear to seek repose in their private chambers.
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Speaker 1: There they remained equally undisturbed. But when the painter approached
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Speaker 1: his easel a few hours after, looking more pale and
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Speaker 1: haggard still than he was wont from the fears of
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Speaker 1: the night, a new bewilderment took possession of him. He
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Speaker 1: had been busy with a fresh embodiment of his favorite subject,
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Speaker 1: into which he had sketched the form of the student
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Speaker 1: as the sufferer. He had represented poor Volcanlicht as just
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Speaker 1: beginning to recover from a trance, while a group of surgeons,
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Speaker 1: unaware of the signs of returning life, were absorbed in
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Speaker 1: a minute dissection of one of the limbs at an
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Speaker 1: open door. He had painted Lilith passing with her face
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Speaker 1: buried in a bunch of sweet peas. But when he
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Speaker 1: came to the picture, he found, to his astonishment and terror,
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Speaker 1: that the face of one of the group was now
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Speaker 1: turned towards that of the victim, regarding his revival with
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Speaker 1: demoniac satisfaction, and taking pains to prevent the others from
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Speaker 1: discovering it. The face of this prince of torturers was
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Speaker 1: that of Teufelsburst himself. Lilith had altogether vanished, and in
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Speaker 1: her place stood the dim vampire reiteration of the body
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Speaker 1: that lay extended on the table, staring greedily at the
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Speaker 1: assembled company. With trembling hands, the painter removed the picture
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Speaker 1: from the easel and turned its face to the wall.
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Speaker 1: Of course, this was the work of Lutkin. When he
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Speaker 1: left the house, he took with him the key of
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Speaker 1: a small private door, which was so seldom used that
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Speaker 1: while it remained closed, the key would not be missed.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps for many months watching the windows, he had chosen
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Speaker 1: the safe time to enter, and had been hard at
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Speaker 1: work all night on these alterations. Teufelsburst attributed them to
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Speaker 1: the vampire, and left the picture as he found it,
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Speaker 1: not daring to put brush to it again. The next
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Speaker 1: night was past me much after the same fashion. But
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Speaker 1: the fear had begun to die away a little in
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Speaker 1: the hearts of the women, who did not know what
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Speaker 1: had taken place in the studio on the previous night.
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Speaker 1: It burrowed, however, with gathered force in the vitals of Teufelsbuerst.
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Speaker 1: But this night likewise passed in peace, and before it
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Speaker 1: was over, the old woman had taken to speculating in
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Speaker 1: her own mind as to the best way of disposing
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Speaker 1: of the body, seeing it was not at all likely
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Speaker 1: to be troublesome. But when the painter entered his studio
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Speaker 1: in trepidation the next morning, he found that the form
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Speaker 1: of the lovely Lilith was painted out of every picture
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Speaker 1: in the room. This could not be concealed, and Lilith
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Speaker 1: and the servant became aware that the studio was the
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Speaker 1: portion of the house in haunting which the vampire left.
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Speaker 1: The rest in peace, Carl recounted all the tricks he
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Speaker 1: had played to his friend Heinrich, who begged to be
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Speaker 1: allowed to bare him company the following night. To this,
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Speaker 1: Karl consented, thinking it would be considerably more agreeable to
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Speaker 1: have a companion, So they took a couple of bottles
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Speaker 1: of wine and some provisions with them, and before midnight
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Speaker 1: found themselves snug in the studio. They sat very quiet
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Speaker 1: for some time, for they knew that if they were seen,
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Speaker 1: two vampires would not be so terrible as one, and
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Speaker 1: might occasion discovery. But at length Heinrich could bear it
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Speaker 1: no longer. I say, latyin, let's go and look for
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Speaker 1: your dead body. What has the old beggar done with it?
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Speaker 1: I think I know. Stop, let me peep out, all right?
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Speaker 1: Come along. With a lamp in his hand, he led
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Speaker 1: the way to the cellars, and after searching about a little,
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Speaker 1: they discovered it. It looks horrid enough, said Heinrich, But
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Speaker 1: think a drop or two of wine would brighten it
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Speaker 1: up a little. So he took a bottle from his pocket,
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Speaker 1: and after they had had a glass apiece, he dropped
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Speaker 1: a third in blots all over the plaster. Being red wine,
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Speaker 1: it had the effect Hullenrachen desired. When they visit it next,
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Speaker 1: they will know that the vampire can find the food
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Speaker 1: he prefers, said he. In a corner close by the plaster,
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Speaker 1: they found the clothes Karl had worn. Hillo, said Heinrich.
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Speaker 1: We'll make something of this fine, so he carried them
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Speaker 1: with him to the studio. There he got hold of
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Speaker 1: the lay figure. What are you about, Heinrich, going to
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Speaker 1: make a scarecrow to keep the ravens off old teufels pictures,
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Speaker 1: answered Heinrich, as he went on dressing the lay figure
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Speaker 1: in Karl's clothes. He next seated the creature at an easel,
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Speaker 1: with its back to the door, so that it should
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Speaker 1: be the first thing the painter should see when he entered.
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Speaker 1: Karl meant to remove this before he went, for it
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Speaker 1: was too comical to fall in with the rest of
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Speaker 1: his proceedings. But the two sat down to their supper,
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Speaker 1: and by the time they had finished the wine, they
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Speaker 1: thought they should like to go to bed, so they
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Speaker 1: got up and went home, and Karl forgot the lay figure,
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Speaker 1: leaving it in busy motionlessness all night before the easel.
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Speaker 1: When Teufelsburst saw it, he turned and fled with a
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Speaker 1: cry that brought his daughter to his help. He rushed
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Speaker 1: past her, able only to articulate the vampire. The vampire
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Speaker 1: painting far more courageous than he, because her conscience was
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Speaker 1: more peaceful. Lilith passed on to the studio. She too
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Speaker 1: recoiled a step or two when she saw the figure,
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Speaker 1: But with the sight of the back of Karl, as
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Speaker 1: she supposed it to be, came the longing to see
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Speaker 1: the face that was on the other side. So she
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Speaker 1: crept round and round by the wall as far off
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Speaker 1: as she could. The figure remained motionless. It was the strange,
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Speaker 1: kindest shock that she experienced when she saw the face,
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Speaker 1: disgusting from its inanity. The absurdity next struck her, and
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Speaker 1: with the absurdity flashed into her mind the conviction that
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Speaker 1: this was not the doing of a vampire, for of
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Speaker 1: all creatures under the moon, he could not be expected
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Speaker 1: to be a humorist. A wild hope sprang up in
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Speaker 1: her mind that Karl was not dead. Of this, she
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Speaker 1: soon resolved to make herself sure. She closed the door
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Speaker 1: of the studio in the strength of her new hope,
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Speaker 1: undressed the figure, put it in its place, concealed the garments,
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Speaker 1: all the work of a few minutes, and then, finding
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Speaker 1: her father, just recovering from the worst of his fear,
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Speaker 1: told him there was nothing in the studio but what
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Speaker 1: ought to be there, and persuaded him to go and see.
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Speaker 1: He not only saw raw, no one but found that
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Speaker 1: no further liberties had been taken. With his pictures reassured,
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Speaker 1: he soon persuaded himself that the specter in this case
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Speaker 1: had been the offspring of his own terror haunted brain.
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Speaker 1: But he had no spirit for painting. Now he wandered
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Speaker 1: about the house himself, haunting it like a reathless ghost.
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Speaker 1: When night came, Lilith retired to her own room. The
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Speaker 1: waters of fear had begun to subside in the house,
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Speaker 1: but the painter and his old attendant did not yet
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Speaker 1: follow her example. As soon, however, as the house was
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Speaker 1: quite still, Lilith glided noiselessly down the stairs, went into
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Speaker 1: the studio, where as yet assuredly, there was no vampire,
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Speaker 1: and concealed herself in a corner. As it would not
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Speaker 1: do for an earnest student like Heinrich to be away
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Speaker 1: from his work very often, he had not asked to
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Speaker 1: accompany Zotken this time, and indeed Karl himself, a little
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Speaker 1: anxious about the result of the scarecrow, greatly preferred going
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Speaker 1: alone while she was waiting for what might happen. The
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Speaker 1: conviction grew upon Lilith as she reviewed all the past
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Speaker 1: of the story that these phenomena were the work of
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Speaker 1: the real Karl and of no vampire. In a few moments,
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Speaker 1: she was still more sure of this. Behind the screen
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Speaker 1: where she had taken refuge hung one of the pictures
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Speaker 1: out of which her portrait had been painted the night
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Speaker 1: before last. She had taken a lamp with her into
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Speaker 1: the studio with the intention of extinguishing it the moment
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Speaker 1: she heard any sign of approach. But as the vampire lingered,
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Speaker 1: she began to occupy herself with examining the picture beside her.
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Speaker 1: She had not looked at it long before she wetted
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Speaker 1: the tip of her forefinger and began to rub away.
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Speaker 1: At the obliteration, her suspicions were instantly confirmed. The substance
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Speaker 1: employed was only a gummy wash over the paint. The
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Speaker 1: delight she experienced at the discovery threw her into a
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Speaker 1: mischievous humor. I will see, she said to herself, whether
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Speaker 1: I cannot match Karl Volcanlicht at this game. In a
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Speaker 1: closet in the room hung a number of costumes which
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Speaker 1: Lilith had at different times worn for her father. Among
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Speaker 1: them was a large white drapery, which she easily disposed
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Speaker 1: as a shroud with the help of some chalk, she
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Speaker 1: soon made herself ghastly enough, and then placing her lamp
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Speaker 1: on the floor behind the screen and setting a chair
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Speaker 1: over it so that it should throw no light in
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Speaker 1: any direction, she waited once more for the vampire. Nor
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Speaker 1: had she much longer to wait. She soon heard a
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Speaker 1: door move, the sound of which she hardly knew, and
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Speaker 1: then the studio door opened. Her heart beat dreadfully, not
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Speaker 1: with fear lest it should be a vampire after all,
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Speaker 1: but with hope that it was Karl. To see him
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Speaker 1: once more was too great joy. Would she not make
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Speaker 1: up to him for all her coldness, But would he
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Speaker 1: care for her now? Perhaps he had been quite cured
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Speaker 1: of his longing for a hard heart like hers. She peeped.
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Speaker 1: It was he, sure enough, looking as handsome as ever.
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Speaker 1: He was holding his light to look at her last work,
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Speaker 1: and the expression of his face, even in regarding her handiwork,
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Speaker 1: was enough to let her know that he loved her. Still.
22:39
Speaker 1: If she had not seen this, she dared not have
22:42
Speaker 1: shown herself from her hiding place. Taking the lamp in
22:46
Speaker 1: her hand, she got upon the chair and looked over
22:48
Speaker 1: the screen, letting the light shine from below upon her face.
22:53
Speaker 1: She then made a slight noise to attract Karl's attention.
22:57
Speaker 1: He looked up, evidently rather startled, and saw the face
23:01
Speaker 1: of Lilith in the air. He gave a stifled cry,
23:04
Speaker 1: threw himself on his knees with his arms stretched towards her,
23:07
Speaker 1: and moaned, I have killed her, I have killed her.
23:13
Speaker 1: Lilith descended and approached him noiselessly. He did not move.
23:18
Speaker 1: She came close to him and said, are you Karl
23:21
Speaker 1: thal conlict. His lips moved, but no sound came. If
23:26
Speaker 1: you are a vampire and I am a ghost, she said,
23:30
Speaker 1: but a low, happy laugh alone concluded the sentence. Karl
23:35
Speaker 1: sprang to his feet. Lilith's laugh changed into a burst
23:39
Speaker 1: of sobbing and weeping, and in another moment, the ghost
23:42
Speaker 1: was in the arms of the vampire. Lilith had no
23:47
Speaker 1: idea how far her father had wronged Karl, and though
23:51
Speaker 1: from thinking over the past, he had no doubt that
23:54
Speaker 1: the painter had drugged him, he did not wish to
23:57
Speaker 1: pain her by imparting this conviction. But Lilith was afraid
24:02
Speaker 1: of a reaction of rage and hatred in her father.
24:05
Speaker 1: After the terror was removed and Karl saw that he
24:09
Speaker 1: might thus be deprived of all further intercourse with Lilith
24:12
Speaker 1: and all chance of softening the old man's heart towards him,
24:16
Speaker 1: while Lilith would not hear of forsaking him, who had
24:20
Speaker 1: banished all the human race but herself. They managed at
24:23
Speaker 1: length to agree upon a plan of operation. The first
24:28
Speaker 1: thing they did was to go to the cellar where
24:30
Speaker 1: the plaster Mauth lay, Karl carrying with him a great
24:33
Speaker 1: axe used for cleaving wood. Lilith shuddered when she saw it,
24:38
Speaker 1: stained as it was with the wine Heinrich had spilt
24:41
Speaker 1: over it, and almost believed herself the midnight companion of
24:45
Speaker 1: a vampire, after all visiting with him the terrible corpse
24:49
Speaker 1: in which he lived all day. But Karl soon reassured her,
24:53
Speaker 1: and a few good blows of the axe revealed a
24:56
Speaker 1: very different core to that which Teufelsburst supposed to be
25:00
Speaker 1: in it. Karl broke it into pieces, and, with Lilith's help,
25:04
Speaker 1: who insisted on carrying her share, the whole was soon
25:08
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the Moldau, and every trace of
25:11
Speaker 1: its ever having existed removed. Before morning too, the form
25:16
Speaker 1: of Lilith had donned anew in every picture. There was
25:20
Speaker 1: no time to restore to its former condition the one
25:23
Speaker 1: Karl had first altered, for in it the changes were
25:26
Speaker 1: all that they seemed, nor indeed was he capable of
25:29
Speaker 1: restoring it in the master style. But they put it
25:32
Speaker 1: quite out of the way and hoped that sufficient time
25:36
Speaker 1: might elapse before the painter thought of it again. When
25:40
Speaker 1: they had done, and Lilith, for all his entreaties, would
25:43
Speaker 1: remain with him no longer, Karl took his former clothes
25:47
Speaker 1: with him, and, having spent the rest of the night
25:50
Speaker 1: in his old room, dressed in them in the morning.
25:54
Speaker 1: When Teufelsburst entered his studio next day, there sat Karl,
26:00
Speaker 1: if nothing had happened, finishing the drawing on which he
26:03
Speaker 1: had been at work. When the fit of insensibility came
26:05
Speaker 1: upon him. The painter started, stared, rubbed his eyes, thought
26:10
Speaker 1: it was another spectral illusion, and was on the point
26:13
Speaker 1: of yielding to his terror when Karl rose and approached
26:17
Speaker 1: him with a smile. The healthy, sunshiny countenance of Karl
26:21
Speaker 1: let him be ghost or goblin, could not fail to
26:24
Speaker 1: produce somewhat of a tranquilizing effect on Teufelsburst. He took
26:29
Speaker 1: his offered hand mechanically, his countenance utterly vacant with idiotic bewilderment.
26:36
Speaker 1: Karl said, I was not well and thought it better
26:39
Speaker 1: to pay a visit to a friend for a few days.
26:41
Speaker 1: But I shall soon make up for lost time, for
26:44
Speaker 1: I am all right now. He sat down at once,
26:48
Speaker 1: taking no notice of his master's behavior, and went on
26:51
Speaker 1: with his drawing. Teufelsburst stood staring at him for some
26:56
Speaker 1: minutes without moving, then suddenly turned and left the room.
27:01
Speaker 1: Karl heard him hurrying down the cellar stairs. In a
27:05
Speaker 1: few moments he came up again. Karl stole a glance
27:08
Speaker 1: at him. There he stood in the same spot, no
27:11
Speaker 1: doubt more full of bewilderment than ever, but it was
27:15
Speaker 1: not possible that his face should express more. At last,
27:19
Speaker 1: he went to his easel and sat down with a
27:22
Speaker 1: long drawn sigh, as if of relief. But though he
27:27
Speaker 1: sat at his easel, he painted none that day, and
27:31
Speaker 1: as often as Karl ventured a glance, he saw him
27:34
Speaker 1: still staring at him. The discovery that his pictures were
27:38
Speaker 1: restored to their former condition aided no doubt in leading
27:42
Speaker 1: him to the same conclusion as the other facts. Whatever
27:46
Speaker 1: that conclusion might be probably that he had been the
27:49
Speaker 1: sport of some evil power, and had been for the
27:52
Speaker 1: greater part of a week utterly bewitched. Lilith had taken
27:57
Speaker 1: care to instruct the old woman, with whom she was
28:00
Speaker 1: all powerful, And as neither of them showed the smallest
28:04
Speaker 1: traces of the astonishment which seemed to be slowly vitrifying
28:08
Speaker 1: his own brain, he was at last perfectly satisfied that
28:12
Speaker 1: things had been going on all right everywhere but in
28:15
Speaker 1: his inner man. And in this conclusion he certainly was
28:19
Speaker 1: not far wrong in more senses than one. But when
28:24
Speaker 1: all was restored again to the old routine, it became
28:27
Speaker 1: evident that the peculiar direction of his art in which
28:30
Speaker 1: he had hitherto indulged had ceased to interest him. The
28:35
Speaker 1: shock had acted chiefly upon that part of his mental
28:38
Speaker 1: being which had been so absorbed he would sit for
28:42
Speaker 1: hours without doing anything, apparently plunged in meditation. Several weeks
28:49
Speaker 1: elapsed without any change, and both Lilith and Karl were
28:53
Speaker 1: getting dreadfully anxious about him. Karl paid him every attention,
28:57
Speaker 1: and the old man, for he now looked much older
29:01
Speaker 1: than before, submitted to receive his services as well as
29:05
Speaker 1: those of Lilith. At length, one morning he said, in
29:09
Speaker 1: a slow, thoughtful tone, carlvill connect I should like to
29:14
Speaker 1: paint you, certainly, sir, answered Karl, jumping up, where would
29:19
Speaker 1: you like me to sit? So the ice of silence
29:23
Speaker 1: and inactivity was broken, and the painter drew and painted,
29:27
Speaker 1: and the spring of his art flowed once more, and
29:31
Speaker 1: he made a beautiful portrait of Karl, a portrait without
29:35
Speaker 1: evil or suffering. And as soon as he had finished Karl,
29:39
Speaker 1: he began once more to paint Lilith. And when he
29:42
Speaker 1: had painted her, he composed a picture for the very
29:45
Speaker 1: purpose of introducing them together. And in this picture there
29:50
Speaker 1: was neither ugliness nor torture, but human feeling and human
29:54
Speaker 1: hope instead. Then Karl knew that he might speak to
29:59
Speaker 1: him of Lilith, and he spoke and was heard with
30:02
Speaker 1: a smile. But he did not dare to tell him
30:06
Speaker 1: the truth of the vampire story till one day that
30:09
Speaker 1: Teufelsbuerst was lying on the floor of a room in
30:13
Speaker 1: Karl's ancestral castle, half smothered in grandchildren, when the only
30:19
Speaker 1: answer it drew from the old man was a kind
30:22
Speaker 1: of shuddering laugh, and the words don't speak of it.
30:26
Speaker 1: Karl my Boy, end of section three,