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Two Supernatural Stories - Perceval Landon · Book of the Damned

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Speaker 1: Section one of two Supernatural Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information what a Volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Two
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Speaker 1: Supernatural Stories by Percival landon Railhead. This story was told
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Speaker 1: me in Rangoon by a man whose name I think
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Speaker 1: was Torrans, but I cannot remember very clearly if indeed
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Speaker 1: I ever knew. I hardly know anything about the man
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Speaker 1: who told it, except that he was obviously convinced of
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Speaker 1: its truth. He said that John Silbermeister told him the
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Speaker 1: story himself, and I have no doubt that he did,
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Speaker 1: so far as Torrence could recall. The man Silbermeister was
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Speaker 1: an ordinary lanky man, of a singular directness of speech,
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Speaker 1: and totally unable to see a joke, So, for that matter,
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Speaker 1: was Torreans. He said that he had so far verified
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Speaker 1: the story that at the date that Silbermeister mentioned, the
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Speaker 1: n P Railway would have reached Enderton. Nor is it
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Speaker 1: apparent what motive there could be for Silbermeister lying in
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Speaker 1: the matter. Torrence hadn't the imagination of a rickshaw waller,
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Speaker 1: so it isn't his lie either At any rate. I
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Speaker 1: give it for what it is worth. Torrens was a
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Speaker 1: little man who had taken up Christian Science somewhat earnestly,
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Speaker 1: a little beyond middle life. He was really a person
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Speaker 1: of some importance on the railway, and I believe one
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Speaker 1: of the company's most efficient servants. To listen to him,
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Speaker 1: sometimes one would hardly believe that an accident could possibly
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Speaker 1: occur on the railway, except as a mere delusion of
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Speaker 1: the senses. I believe he died about two years after
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Speaker 1: he told told me the story, and for his own sake,
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Speaker 1: I hoped that he was able to maintain his Christian
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Speaker 1: science doctrines to the end, for he had saw need
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Speaker 1: of them. He died of cholera at Barmeaux in nineteen
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Speaker 1: o four. He had shown me round the curiosity shops
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Speaker 1: of Rangoon, and with his help I had disentangled one
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Speaker 1: or two interesting pieces of work from the mass of
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Speaker 1: modern substitutes. It is unfair to call them forgeries, which
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Speaker 1: fill up the curio shelves of Rangoon dealers. One of
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Speaker 1: them was a little bronze serpent, which sat on its
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Speaker 1: rounded tail and blinked at me with ruby eyes as
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Speaker 1: he told the story In the billiard room of the strand,
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Speaker 1: and I remember that the Calcutta boat was coming in
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Speaker 1: from the Hasting Shoal at the time, and from time
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Speaker 1: to time wailed like a lost spirit up the river.
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Speaker 1: The heat was intense. They have not in Rangoon the
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Speaker 1: mist Tito antidotes, to which one is used in India.
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Speaker 1: One buzzing electric fan supplied the entire room, but its
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Speaker 1: sphere of influence was entirely monopolized by a pair of
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Speaker 1: German Jewish diamond merchants and their wives. Some years ago,
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Speaker 1: said Torrence, a man called Silbermeister came to me with
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Speaker 1: excellent references and asked if there was any chance of
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Speaker 1: his being employed on the new construction toward the Unhan Frontier.
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Speaker 1: That was before Cozen had put a stopper on the
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Speaker 1: whole project. I daresay Cousin was right. The railway to
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Speaker 1: the northeast, both on this side and on the other
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Speaker 1: side of the frontier, would have been extremely expensive and
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Speaker 1: possibly impracticable. There are deep ravines canyons, Silvermeister called them,
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Speaker 1: across which our line had to be thrown to zigzag
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Speaker 1: down to the bottom by reversing stations, and then up again.
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Speaker 1: Seemed to be the only possible means of crossing them,
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Speaker 1: and with such enormous initial expenditure, it was doubtful whether
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Speaker 1: the traffic would ever pay one percent upon the capital.
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Speaker 1: But we and Rangoon wanted to establish a definite connection
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Speaker 1: with China for political reasons, and if the Indian government
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Speaker 1: had been willing to guarantee half the cost, the Burma
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Speaker 1: Railway would have gone on with the business. Silbermeister, who
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Speaker 1: had had a good deal of pioneer railway experience, would
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Speaker 1: have been just the man for the job. While the
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Speaker 1: matter was being decided in Calcutta, he remained here and
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Speaker 1: I saw a good deal of him. One evening Silbermeister
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Speaker 1: told me this story, and so far as I can
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Speaker 1: judge the men at all, I should say that he
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Speaker 1: was telling me the truth. Some years ago, when the
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Speaker 1: big New York syndicate that among thirty thousand others employed,
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Speaker 1: Silbermeister was pushing forward the construction of the NP railway
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Speaker 1: in Nebraska, he was for about three months in charge
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Speaker 1: of the railhead station at Underton. This was merely a
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Speaker 1: solidly built wooden hut by the side of the line.
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Speaker 1: Trains ran up to it and nominally carried passengers, but
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Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, very few wanted to go
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Speaker 1: farther than Castleton, a raw pioneer clump of houses which
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Speaker 1: had already blossomed out into half a dozen stores, seven hotels,
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Speaker 1: an electric generating shed, and thirty or forty pretentiously named
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Speaker 1: wooden houses. Beyond Enderton, the railway was at this time
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Speaker 1: actually in course of construction. The navvies were chiefly Italian.
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Speaker 1: It was a difficult piece of work, and about eight
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Speaker 1: miles on matters had temporarily come to a standstill owing
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Speaker 1: to a persistent subsidence along the edge of a small
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Speaker 1: half traver. On one Thursday morning, a piece of the
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Speaker 1: embankment had given way and an Italian workman had been killed.
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Speaker 1: This was a matter of no great importance. All engineers
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Speaker 1: know that their lives must be sacrificed to carry out
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Speaker 1: any important work, and on the whole the loss of
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Speaker 1: life on this section of the NP line had been
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Speaker 1: less than might have been expected. There were the usual
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Speaker 1: police guards in the navi's camp, which contained between them
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Speaker 1: three to four hundred workmen. On a Friday evening between
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Speaker 1: six and seven o'clock, Silvermeister was sitting in his station
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Speaker 1: house at Enderton, running over the week's wages account when
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Speaker 1: a light engine ran up from Castleton. Silbermeister was expecting
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Speaker 1: the money with which to pay the navvi's weekly wages
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Speaker 1: on the following day, and a sub inspector got off
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Speaker 1: the foot plate carrying a canvas bag which contained the
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Speaker 1: money that was needed. It was the usual week end routine.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, a couple of railwaymen took off
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Speaker 1: the tender hall a dozen large packing cases containing materials
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Speaker 1: that had been requisitioned for the work, and put them
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Speaker 1: into the baggage room, which composed one half of the
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Speaker 1: station house. The inspector ran through Silvermeister's accounts, initial to
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Speaker 1: them as correct, and then took a receipt for the money,
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Speaker 1: which he brought with him. Silvermeister proceeded to lock the
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Speaker 1: money up in the safe in his own room, and
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Speaker 1: then checked the packing cases which had just been stored
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Speaker 1: in the baggage room. Among these cases was a somewhat
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Speaker 1: gruesome object, a coffin sent up by the company from
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Speaker 1: Castleton in order that the victim of the late accident
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Speaker 1: might be decently buried on Sunday. More, another receipt was
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Speaker 1: signed for the cases, and then the inspector told the
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Speaker 1: engine driver he was ready to return. Before doing so, however,
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Speaker 1: he turned to Silveremeister and said, do you feel quite
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Speaker 1: safe here with all that money? Shall I leave you
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Speaker 1: a man to spend the night here with you? Silbermeister
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Speaker 1: shrugged his shoulders and with a smile declined the offer.
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Speaker 1: He said that the police looked after the navvy's camp,
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Speaker 1: and that he and his negro servant had spent many
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Speaker 1: nights together at the station, and that he had no
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Speaker 1: fear of burglars. He had, he said, his revolver beside him,
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Speaker 1: and the money would not remain with him more than
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Speaker 1: that one night. The two men shook hands, and the
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Speaker 1: inspector departed as he had come. Silbermeister then rechecked the books,
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Speaker 1: recounted the money, saw that the doors were properly locked,
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Speaker 1: sent away his negro servant for the night. The man
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Speaker 1: had been getting the table ready for his supper while
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Speaker 1: he was escorting the inspector back to the engine, and
9:14
Speaker 1: after locking the door on to the platform, occupied himself
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Speaker 1: with some small duties. Now that his day's work was done,
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Speaker 1: there was no further possibility of being wrung up from Castleton,
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Speaker 1: so he took this opportunity of cleaning and readjusting the
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Speaker 1: telegraph instrument, which stood on a table by the wall
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Speaker 1: and had not been working quite satisfactorily that morning. For
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Speaker 1: this purpose he disconnected the instrument, and, being a fairly
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Speaker 1: skilled electrician, though of an old school, Torrens said, he
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Speaker 1: did nearly all that was needed in a few minutes.
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Speaker 1: Leaving the instrument as it was, he lit a pipe
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Speaker 1: and started to get ready his supper. By this time
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Speaker 1: the night had been gun to fall in earnest, and
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Speaker 1: he lighted the kerosene lamp on the table, more from
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Speaker 1: habit than from anything else, as he knew that he
10:09
Speaker 1: was not likely to knead it. He also lighted a
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Speaker 1: bull's eye lantern, which on most evenings in the week
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Speaker 1: he took with him on his final rounds. Silbermeister then
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Speaker 1: opened the cupboard and took down a loaf of bread,
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Speaker 1: a tin of canned meat, and a pot of marmalade.
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Speaker 1: His preparations for supper were simple. It was a cold
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Speaker 1: night and he meant to have some hot grog before
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Speaker 1: turning in, so he lighted the spirit lamp and filled
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Speaker 1: his kettle from a pitcher of water. While the water
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Speaker 1: was boiling, he opened the tin of meat, cut himself
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Speaker 1: a German slice of bread, and sat down to his meal.
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Speaker 1: By this time the sun had entirely set, and only
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Speaker 1: the last reflections from the dull western horizon still found
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Speaker 1: their way through the windows. For a moment, he looked
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Speaker 1: out through the windows across the platform and the wide
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Speaker 1: level waste beyond. There was not a living thing in sight,
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Speaker 1: not a tree, hardly a bush. Then he shut up
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Speaker 1: the house for the night and fastened the shutters. He
11:23
Speaker 1: sat down at the table for his meal, propped up
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Speaker 1: a book underneath the lamp, and made himself as comfortable
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Speaker 1: as he could. The bowy beef was not a very
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Speaker 1: appetizing dish, and it occurred to him that he had
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Speaker 1: a bottle of sauce put away in a box at
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Speaker 1: the side of the room. He got up, opened the box, and,
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Speaker 1: in order to find the sauce, turned out upon the floor,
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Speaker 1: with some noise, most of the contents of the trunk.
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Speaker 1: While doing so, he did not notice that the telegraph
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Speaker 1: instrument on the farther table ticked out a short and
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Speaker 1: sharp message. At least it was only the last few
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Speaker 1: strokes that attracted his attention. He turned from the box
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Speaker 1: before which he was kneeling to listen, but the message
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Speaker 1: had already stopped, leaving the sauce undiscovered. He rose to
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Speaker 1: his feet and muttered, I'm sure the thing was talking,
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Speaker 1: and went across to the table to ask for a
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Speaker 1: repetition from Castleton, only to discover, as he might have remembered,
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Speaker 1: that he had himself disconnected the instrument while cleaning it.
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Speaker 1: Dismissing the matter as an illusion, he returned to the
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Speaker 1: box where the sauce was, and, after a moment or two,
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Speaker 1: found what he wanted. He then resumed his seat at
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Speaker 1: the table, without thinking again of the telegraph instrument. He
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Speaker 1: began his reading and was in the middle of an
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Speaker 1: engrossing sentence when the telegraph instrument spoke again. This time
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Speaker 1: could be no mistake, Silbermeister. He knew that when he
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Speaker 1: had left the machine three minutes before, it was entirely disconnected.
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Speaker 1: Laid down his knife and fork and listened like a
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Speaker 1: man in a dream. There was no doubt about it.
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Speaker 1: E n t. The signal for Enderton's station had been
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Speaker 1: called up sharply, imperiously, unmistakably. He waited a moment, and then,
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Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that he had not acknowledged
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Speaker 1: the call, came the short message. He muttered the words
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Speaker 1: as they were ticked out. Watch the box. For one
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Speaker 1: full minute, Silbermeister sat immovable. There was no question of
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Speaker 1: the fact. Yet the man's common sense refused to believe
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Speaker 1: in what his ears had heard. The room was dead silent,
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Speaker 1: except for the hissing of the spirit lamp, which had
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Speaker 1: just begun to boil. Silbrimeister felt that he was the
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Speaker 1: victim of some nightmare. He would not believe his own senses,
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Speaker 1: and decided to test the thing once more. He rose
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Speaker 1: from the table, went across to the instrument, and brought
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Speaker 1: it bodily away from its position. He put it on
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Speaker 1: the table in front of him, next to the corned beef,
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Speaker 1: and then blowing out the spirit lamp in order that
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Speaker 1: the silence might be more intense, He resumed his seat
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Speaker 1: and waited, hanging over it with every sense on the alert.
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Speaker 1: The lamp lighted up his angular jaw and deep set eyes,
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Speaker 1: staring at the little contrivance of brass and wood. He
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Speaker 1: had not to wait long. The instrument, with its connecting
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Speaker 1: wires and plugs. Hanging over the side of his dinner table,
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Speaker 1: and still swinging to and fro beneath it, once again
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Speaker 1: called out his station E n T. The sweat leapt
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Speaker 1: to Silveremeister's forehead, but he made no sign. It went on.
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Speaker 1: It was the same message, short, clear, and beyond all doubt.
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Speaker 1: Watch the box. Silveremeister passed a hand over his face
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Speaker 1: and thought, whatever the origin of this message was, the
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Speaker 1: message itself was unmistakable. He reached for his bull's eye lantern,
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Speaker 1: saw it was burning well, turned out the lamp on
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Speaker 1: the table, and rose silently. He moved across to the
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Speaker 1: door that separated his living room from the baggage room,
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Speaker 1: very quietly opened the door and waited one minute, dragged
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Speaker 1: its slow length along, then two, then three, and still
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Speaker 1: Silverermeister stood in the darkness, as motionless as the jamb
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Speaker 1: of the door. There was no sound inside or outside
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Speaker 1: the station house. So still was the silence that, as
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Speaker 1: Silbermeister said, a man could hear his blood circulating round
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Speaker 1: the drum of his own ear. Rather a good expression,
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Speaker 1: Torrens thought. At last the tension was relieved. There was
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Speaker 1: a sound more like the sound of a gnawing mouse
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Speaker 1: than anything else, and Silbermeister sank silently to his knee
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Speaker 1: to listen more intently. A touch, which infinitesimal though it was,
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Speaker 1: could only have been made by iron upon iron, betrayed
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Speaker 1: the whole circumstance to him. There was a man in
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Speaker 1: the coffin, and the man had so contrived to the
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Speaker 1: lid that he could get out of the coffin without
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Speaker 1: attracting the notice of Silveremeister till it was too late.
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Speaker 1: There was, at the same moment the sound of a
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Speaker 1: cautiously planted footstep on the platform outside. Silbermeister acted at once.
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Speaker 1: Some of the cases of railway material that had been
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Speaker 1: sent up that evening contained steel rods, and they were
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Speaker 1: as much as two men could carry into the room.
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Speaker 1: Silveremeister was a strong man, but he hardly knew how
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Speaker 1: he managed unaided to drag down one of the packing
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Speaker 1: cases and set it on top of the coffin with
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Speaker 1: a crash that almost crushed it. In the moment he
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Speaker 1: had done so, all pretense was at an end, and
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Speaker 1: the man within it shouted to his accomplice outside. The
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Speaker 1: answer was a blow on the door like a battery
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Speaker 1: ram the packing case might hold down the man for
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Speaker 1: some time, yet, so Silvermeister leaped back into his living
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Speaker 1: room to meet the new danger, only to find the
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Speaker 1: door on to the platform being battered through just above
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Speaker 1: the bolt. He picked up his revolver, and, in order
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Speaker 1: to make sure there should be no attack from behind,
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Speaker 1: aimed at the coffin and pulled the trigger. There was
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Speaker 1: no response. It was clear that treachery had been at work.
18:30
Speaker 1: His black servant had seized the opportunity. While Silvermeister escorted
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Speaker 1: the inspector to the engine of opening and emptying it,
18:40
Speaker 1: an easy task as it was lying on the table,
18:44
Speaker 1: there was no time to turn back to the baggage room.
18:47
Speaker 1: Seizing a small crowbar, Silvermeister had only just time to
18:51
Speaker 1: dash to the door through the hole in which his
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Speaker 1: negro servant's arm was now thrusting itself. Feeling for the bolt,
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Speaker 1: he gripped the man's hand and pulled it into the
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Speaker 1: room until the negro's armpit was forced up against the
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Speaker 1: splintered hole in the door. He struck at it with
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Speaker 1: the crowbar, and the negro screamed like a hare. He
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Speaker 1: struck again and again and again. He hardly knows what
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Speaker 1: happened during that awful minute. He went on striking blindly
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Speaker 1: and mechanically at what had suddenly become a man's sleeve.
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Speaker 1: In the baggage room he had just left. The tremendous
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Speaker 1: exertions of the imprisoned man were making the room resound,
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Speaker 1: and the packing case on the top of the coffin
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Speaker 1: rocked to and fro. Sobermeister paid no attention. He lost
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Speaker 1: his head. Both lamps were now out, and all he
19:48
Speaker 1: could do in the darkness was to go on hitting
19:50
Speaker 1: at what he held. Suddenly there was the whistle of
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Speaker 1: an approaching engine. No train was due until the following morning,
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Speaker 1: but Silvermeister admitted that at that moment he hardly regarded
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Speaker 1: anything as unusual. A couple of armed men and the
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Speaker 1: inspector leaped down onto the platform, collared the negro servant,
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Speaker 1: who by that time was hanging half unconscious from the
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Speaker 1: hole in the door, and burst in just in time
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Speaker 1: to intercept the man in the baggage room, who had
20:25
Speaker 1: at last overturned the packing case above him and was
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Speaker 1: crushing his way out through the lid of the coffin.
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Speaker 1: It was an extraordinary scene. The inspector pulled the negro
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Speaker 1: servant with his arm one pulp of splintered bone and
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Speaker 1: blood into the room and thrust him roughly aside. He fell,
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Speaker 1: without a moan, into the corner. The two men then
20:50
Speaker 1: brought the burglar into the living room between them. Silvermeister
20:54
Speaker 1: went back to the table, sat down and put his
20:58
Speaker 1: head between his hands. The inspector looked at him for
21:02
Speaker 1: a moment in amazement as he raised his head and said,
21:06
Speaker 1: thank God. After a pause, he added, why did you come?
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Speaker 1: The inspector answered, your telegram caught us just before we
21:18
Speaker 1: left Castleton. Again, it was lucky, wasn't it, he added grimly.
21:25
Speaker 1: Silbermeister again raised his head from his hands, and, as
21:29
Speaker 1: if he heard nothing, said, but why did you come?
21:36
Speaker 1: The inspector, a trifle gravely, said, I told you. Your
21:41
Speaker 1: telegram just reached us in time. There was another pause
21:46
Speaker 1: of ten seconds, and then Silbermeister pointed to the disconnected
21:51
Speaker 1: instrument and said once more, why did you come? His
21:59
Speaker 1: eyes turned in his head. I sent now message, and
22:04
Speaker 1: then he fell on the floor in a dead faint.
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Speaker 1: That is all I know about it. That is the
22:13
Speaker 1: story that Torrens told me, and the story which undoubtedly
22:18
Speaker 1: Torrens believed end of Railhead, section two of two supernatural
22:34
Speaker 1: stories by Percival London. This LibriVox recording is in the
22:38
Speaker 1: public domain. Thurnley Abbey, Part one. Three years ago. I
22:46
Speaker 1: was on my way out to the East, and as
22:49
Speaker 1: an extra day in London was of some importance, I
22:52
Speaker 1: took the Friday evening mail train to Brindisey instead of
22:56
Speaker 1: a usual Thursday morning Marseilles Express. Many people shrink from
23:01
Speaker 1: the long forty eight hour train journey through Europe and
23:05
Speaker 1: the subsequent rush across the Mediterranean on the nineteen knot
23:08
Speaker 1: Isis or the Osiris, But there is really very little
23:13
Speaker 1: discomfort on either the train or the mail boat. And
23:16
Speaker 1: unless there is actually nothing for me to do, I
23:19
Speaker 1: always like to save the extra day and a half
23:22
Speaker 1: in London before I say good bye to her for
23:25
Speaker 1: one of my longer tramps. This time it was early
23:30
Speaker 1: I remember, in the shipping season, probably about the beginning
23:34
Speaker 1: of September. There were few passengers, and I had a
23:38
Speaker 1: compartment in the p and O Indian Express to myself
23:41
Speaker 1: all the way from Calais. All Sunday, I watched the
23:46
Speaker 1: blue waves dimpling the Adriatic and the pale rosemary along
23:50
Speaker 1: the cuttings, the plain white towns with their flat roofs
23:55
Speaker 1: and their bold duomos, and the gray green nar old
24:00
Speaker 1: olive orchards of Apulia. The journey was just like any other.
24:06
Speaker 1: We ate in the dining car as often and as
24:08
Speaker 1: long as we decently could. We slept after luncheon. We
24:12
Speaker 1: dawdled the afternoon away with yellow backed novels. Sometimes we
24:17
Speaker 1: exchanged platitudes in the smoking room, and it was there
24:20
Speaker 1: that I met Alistair Colvin. Colvin was a man of
24:25
Speaker 1: middle height, with a resolute, well cut jaw. His hair
24:29
Speaker 1: was turning gray, his mustache was sun whitened. Otherwise he
24:34
Speaker 1: was clean shaven, obviously a gentleman, and obviously also a
24:39
Speaker 1: preoccupied man. He had no great wit. When spoken to,
24:45
Speaker 1: he made the usual remarks in the right way, and
24:49
Speaker 1: I dare say he refrained from banalities only because he
24:53
Speaker 1: spoke less than the rest of us. Most of the time.
24:57
Speaker 1: He buried himself in the wagon lit company's timetable, but
25:00
Speaker 1: seemed unable to concentrate his attention on any one page
25:04
Speaker 1: of it. He found that I had been over the
25:07
Speaker 1: Siberian railway and for a quarter of an hour he
25:11
Speaker 1: discussed it with me, then he lost interest in it
25:14
Speaker 1: and rose to go to his compartment. That he came
25:17
Speaker 1: back again very soon and seemed glad to pick up
25:21
Speaker 1: the conversation again. Of course, this did not seem to
25:25
Speaker 1: me to be of any importance. Most travelers by train
25:29
Speaker 1: become a trifle in firm of purpose after thirty six
25:33
Speaker 1: hours rattling. But Colvin's restless way I noticed in somewhat
25:38
Speaker 1: marked contrast with the man's personal importance and dignity. Especially
25:43
Speaker 1: ill suited was it to his finely made, large hand,
25:47
Speaker 1: with strong, broad, regular nails and its few lines. As
25:52
Speaker 1: I looked at his hand, I noticed a long, deep
25:56
Speaker 1: and recent scar of ragged shape. However, it is absurd
26:01
Speaker 1: to pretend that I thought anything was unusual. I went
26:06
Speaker 1: off at five o'clock on Sunday afternoon to sleep away
26:09
Speaker 1: the hour or two that still had to be got
26:12
Speaker 1: through before we arrived at Brindisi. Once there, we few passengers,
26:17
Speaker 1: transhipped our hand baggage, verified our berths. There were only
26:22
Speaker 1: a score of us in all, and then after an
26:25
Speaker 1: aimless ramble of half an hour in Brindisi, we returned
26:29
Speaker 1: to dinner at the hotel n to nossionand not wholly
26:33
Speaker 1: surprised that the town had been the death of Virgil.
26:37
Speaker 1: If I remember rightly, there is a gaily painted hall
26:40
Speaker 1: at the antossionald. I do not wish to advertise anything,
26:45
Speaker 1: but there is no other place in Brindisi at which
26:48
Speaker 1: to await the coming of the mails. And after dinner
26:52
Speaker 1: I was looking with awe to trellis overgrown with blue vines,
26:56
Speaker 1: when Colvin moved across the room to my table. He
27:00
Speaker 1: picked up Ilseculau, but almost immediately gave up the pretense
27:04
Speaker 1: of reading it. He turned squarely to me and said,
27:09
Speaker 1: would you do me a favor? One doesn't do favors
27:13
Speaker 1: to stray acquaintances on continental expresses without knowing something more
27:19
Speaker 1: of them than I knew of Colvin. But I smiled
27:23
Speaker 1: in a non committal way and asked him what he wanted.
27:28
Speaker 1: I wasn't wrong in part of my estimate of him.
27:31
Speaker 1: He said, bluntly, will you let me sleep in your
27:34
Speaker 1: cabin on the Osiris? And he covered a little as
27:38
Speaker 1: he said it. Now, there is nothing more tiresome than
27:43
Speaker 1: having to put up with a stable companion at sea.
27:46
Speaker 1: And I asked him rather pointedly, surely there is room
27:50
Speaker 1: for all of us. I thought that perhaps he had
27:53
Speaker 1: been partnered off with some mangy levantine and wanted to
27:57
Speaker 1: escape from him at all hazards. Colvin, still somewhat confused,
28:02
Speaker 1: said yes, I am in a cabin by myself, but
28:06
Speaker 1: you would do me the greatest favor if you would
28:08
Speaker 1: allow me to share yours. This was all very well,
28:13
Speaker 1: but besides the fact that I always sleep better when alone,
28:18
Speaker 1: there had been some recent ferfts on board these boats,
28:22
Speaker 1: and I hesitated, frank and honest and self conscious, as
28:26
Speaker 1: Colvin was. Just then the mail train came in with
28:30
Speaker 1: a clatter and a rush of escaping steam, and I
28:34
Speaker 1: asked him to see me again about it on the
28:35
Speaker 1: boat when we started. He answered me curtly, I am
28:40
Speaker 1: a member of Whites and the Beefsteak. I smiled to
28:44
Speaker 1: myself as he said it, but I remembered in a
28:47
Speaker 1: moment that the man, if he were really what he
28:50
Speaker 1: claimed to be, and I make no doubt that he was,
28:54
Speaker 1: must have been sorely put to it before he urged
28:57
Speaker 1: the fact as a guarantee of his respect to a
29:01
Speaker 1: total stranger at a Brindisy hotel that evening as we
29:07
Speaker 1: cleared the red and green harbor lights of BRINDISEA Colvin
29:11
Speaker 1: explained this is his story in his own words. When
29:18
Speaker 1: I was traveling in India some years ago, I made
29:21
Speaker 1: the acquaintance of a Youngish man in the woods and forests.
29:25
Speaker 1: We camped out together for a week, and I found
29:27
Speaker 1: him a pleasant companion. John Broughton was a lighthearted soul
29:32
Speaker 1: when off duty, but a steady and capable man in
29:36
Speaker 1: any of the small emergencies that continually arise in that department.
29:42
Speaker 1: He was liked and trusted by the natives, and his
29:45
Speaker 1: future was well assured in government service. When a fair
29:48
Speaker 1: sized estate was unexpectedly left to him, and he joyfully
29:53
Speaker 1: shook the dust of the Indian plains from his feet
29:56
Speaker 1: and returned to England. For five years he drive did
30:00
Speaker 1: about London. I saw him now and then he dined
30:04
Speaker 1: together about every eighteen months, and I could trace pretty
30:09
Speaker 1: exactly the gradual sickening of Broughton with a merely idle life.
30:15
Speaker 1: He then set out on a couple of long voyages,
30:18
Speaker 1: returned as restless as before, and at last told me
30:23
Speaker 1: that he had decided to marry and settle down at
30:25
Speaker 1: his place, Fernley Abbey, which had long been empty. He
30:31
Speaker 1: spoke about looking after the property and standing for his
30:34
Speaker 1: constituency in the usual way. He was quite happy and
30:39
Speaker 1: full of information about his future. Among other things. I
30:44
Speaker 1: asked him about Fernley Abbey. He confessed that he hardly
30:48
Speaker 1: knew the place. The last tenant, a man called Clerk,
30:52
Speaker 1: had lived in one wing for fifteen years and seen
30:55
Speaker 1: no one. He had been a miser and a hermit.
31:00
Speaker 1: Was the rarest thing for a light to be seen
31:02
Speaker 1: at the abbey after dark. Only the barest necessities of
31:06
Speaker 1: life were ordered, and the tenant himself received them at
31:10
Speaker 1: the side door. His one half caste manservant, after a
31:15
Speaker 1: month's stay in the house, had abruptly left without warning
31:19
Speaker 1: and had returned to the Southern States. One thing Broughton
31:24
Speaker 1: complained bitterly about. Clerk had wilfully spread the rumor among
31:29
Speaker 1: the villagers that the abbey was haunted, and had even
31:33
Speaker 1: condescended to play childish tricks with spirit lamps and salt
31:37
Speaker 1: in order to scare trespassers away at night. He had
31:41
Speaker 1: been detected in the act of this tomfoolery, but the
31:45
Speaker 1: story spread and no one said Broughton would venture near
31:49
Speaker 1: the house except in broad daylight. The hauntedness of Thornley
31:54
Speaker 1: Abbey was now, he said, with a grin part of
31:58
Speaker 1: the Gospel of the countryside. But he and his young
32:01
Speaker 1: wife were going to change all that. Would I propose
32:04
Speaker 1: myself any time I liked, I of course said I would,
32:09
Speaker 1: and equally, of course intended to do nothing of the
32:13
Speaker 1: sort without a definite invitation. The house was put in
32:18
Speaker 1: thorough repair, though not a stick of the old furniture
32:21
Speaker 1: and tapestry were removed, floors and ceilings were relaid, the
32:27
Speaker 1: roof was made water tight again, and the dust of
32:30
Speaker 1: half a century was scoured out. He showed me some
32:34
Speaker 1: photographs of the place. It was called an abbey, though
32:37
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact it had been only the
32:40
Speaker 1: infirmary of the long vanished Abbey of Closter, some five
32:44
Speaker 1: miles away. The larger part of this building remained as
32:48
Speaker 1: it had been in pre Reformation days, but a wing
32:51
Speaker 1: had been added in Jacobean times, and that part of
32:55
Speaker 1: the house had been kept in something like repair by
32:57
Speaker 1: mister Clark. He had in both the ground and the
33:01
Speaker 1: first floors set to heavy timber dull strongly barred with
33:05
Speaker 1: iron in the passage between the earlier and the Jacobean
33:09
Speaker 1: parts of the house, and had entirely neglected the former.
33:14
Speaker 1: So there had been a good deal of work to
33:16
Speaker 1: be done. Broughton, whom I saw in London two or
33:21
Speaker 1: three times about this time, made a deal of fun
33:25
Speaker 1: over the positive refusal of the workmen to remain after sundown,
33:30
Speaker 1: even after the electric light had been put into every room.
33:34
Speaker 1: Nothing would induce them to remain, though, as Broughton observed,
33:39
Speaker 1: electric light was death on ghosts. The legend of the
33:43
Speaker 1: abbey's ghosts had gone far and wide, and the men
33:47
Speaker 1: would take no risks on the whole, though nothing of
33:52
Speaker 1: any sort or kind had been conjured up even by
33:56
Speaker 1: their heated imaginations during their five months work upon the abbey.
34:01
Speaker 1: The belief in the ghosts was rather strengthened than otherwise,
34:05
Speaker 1: infirmly because of the men's confessed nervousness, and the local
34:11
Speaker 1: tradition declared itself in favor of the ghost of an
34:15
Speaker 1: immured nun. Good old Nun, said Broughton. I asked him
34:21
Speaker 1: whether in general he believed in the possibility of ghosts,
34:25
Speaker 1: and rather to my surprise, he said that he couldn't
34:29
Speaker 1: say he entirely disbelieved in them. A man in India
34:33
Speaker 1: had told him one morning in camp that he believed
34:36
Speaker 1: that his mother was dead in England, as her vision
34:39
Speaker 1: had come to his tent the night before. He had
34:43
Speaker 1: not been alarmed, but had said nothing, and the figure
34:47
Speaker 1: vanished again. As a matter of fact, the next possible
34:52
Speaker 1: dock Waller brought a telegram announcing the mother's death. There
34:56
Speaker 1: the thing was, said Broughton, My own idea, said he
35:03
Speaker 1: is that if a ghost ever does come in one's way,
35:06
Speaker 1: one ought to speak to it. I agreed. Little as
35:11
Speaker 1: I knew of the ghost world in its conventions, I
35:13
Speaker 1: had already remembered that a spook was in honor bound
35:16
Speaker 1: to wait to be spoken to. It didn't seem much
35:20
Speaker 1: to do, and I felt that the sound of one's
35:23
Speaker 1: own voice would at any rate reassure one's self as
35:27
Speaker 1: to one's wakefulness. But there are few ghosts outside Europe,
35:33
Speaker 1: few that is, that a white man can see, and
35:37
Speaker 1: I had never been troubled with any. However, as I
35:40
Speaker 1: have said, I told Broughton that I agreed. So the
35:46
Speaker 1: wedding took place, and I went to it in a
35:48
Speaker 1: tall hat which I bought for the occasion, and the
35:51
Speaker 1: new Missus Broughton smiled very nicely at me afterwards. As
35:56
Speaker 1: it had to happen, I took the Orient Express that
35:59
Speaker 1: evening and was not in England again for nearly six months.
36:03
Speaker 1: Just before I came back, I got a letter from Broughton.
36:07
Speaker 1: He asked if I could see him in London or
36:10
Speaker 1: come to Thurnley, as he thought I should be better
36:12
Speaker 1: able to help him than any one else he knew.
36:16
Speaker 1: His wife sent a nice message to me at the end,
36:19
Speaker 1: so I was reassured about at least one thing. I
36:23
Speaker 1: wrote from Budapest that I would come and see him
36:25
Speaker 1: at Fernley two days after my arrival in London, and
36:29
Speaker 1: as I sauntered out of the Pannonia into the carapeesche
36:33
Speaker 1: Ute to post my letters, I wondered of what earthly
36:37
Speaker 1: service I could be to Broughton. I had been out
36:40
Speaker 1: with him after Tiger on Foot, and I could imagine
36:44
Speaker 1: few men better able at a pinch to manage their
36:47
Speaker 1: own business. However, I had nothing to do, so after
36:52
Speaker 1: dealing with some small accumulations of business during my absence,
36:56
Speaker 1: I packed a kit bag and departed to Euston. I
37:01
Speaker 1: was met by a trap at Thornley road station, and
37:04
Speaker 1: after a drive of nearly seven miles, we echoed through
37:08
Speaker 1: the sleepy streets of Thornley Village, into which the main
37:12
Speaker 1: gates of the park thrust themselves, splendid with pillars and
37:16
Speaker 1: spread eagles and Tomcat's rampant atop of them. From the gates,
37:21
Speaker 1: a quadruple avenue of beech trees led inwards for a
37:25
Speaker 1: quarter of a mile. Beneath them, a neat strip of
37:29
Speaker 1: fine turf edged the road and ran back until the
37:32
Speaker 1: poison of the dead beech leaves had killed it. Under
37:35
Speaker 1: the trees, there were many wheel tracks on the road,
37:40
Speaker 1: and a comfortable little pony trap jogged past me, laden
37:44
Speaker 1: with a country parson and his wife and daughter. Evidently
37:48
Speaker 1: there was some garden party going on at the abbey.
37:52
Speaker 1: The road dropped away to the right at the end
37:54
Speaker 1: of the avenue, and I could see the abbey across
37:58
Speaker 1: a wide pasturage and a broad lawn thickly dotted with guests.
38:04
Speaker 1: The end of the building was plain. It must have
38:08
Speaker 1: been almost mercilessly austere when it was first built, but
38:12
Speaker 1: time had crumbled the edges and toned the stone down
38:16
Speaker 1: to an orange lichened gray wherever it showed behind its
38:20
Speaker 1: curtain of magnolia, jasmine and ivy. Farther on was the
38:26
Speaker 1: three storied Jacobean house, plain and handsome. There had not
38:31
Speaker 1: been the slightest attempt to adapt the one to the other,
38:35
Speaker 1: but the kindly Ivy had glossed over the touching point.
38:39
Speaker 1: There was a tall flash in the middle of the building,
38:42
Speaker 1: surmounting a small bell tower. Behind the house there rose
38:46
Speaker 1: the mountainous verdure of Spanish chestnuts all the way up
38:50
Speaker 1: the hill. Broughton had seen me coming from afar and
38:54
Speaker 1: walked across from his other guests to welcome me, before
38:58
Speaker 1: turning me over to the butler's care. This man was
39:01
Speaker 1: sandy haired and rather inclined to be talkative. He could, however,
39:07
Speaker 1: answer hardly any questions about the house. He had, he said,
39:12
Speaker 1: only been there three weeks. Mindful of what Broughton had
39:17
Speaker 1: told me, I made no inquiries about ghosts, though the
39:20
Speaker 1: room into which I was shown might have justified anything.
39:25
Speaker 1: It was a very large, low room, with oak beams
39:28
Speaker 1: projecting from the white ceiling. Every inch of the walls,
39:33
Speaker 1: including the doors, was covered with tapestry and a remarkably
39:38
Speaker 1: fine Italian four post bed heavily draped. Added to the
39:42
Speaker 1: darkness and dignity of the place. All the furniture was old,
39:47
Speaker 1: well made, and dark. Under foot there was a plain
39:51
Speaker 1: green pile carpet, the only new thing about the room
39:55
Speaker 1: except the electric light fittings and the jugs and basins.
40:00
Speaker 1: Even the looking glass on the dressing table was an
40:03
Speaker 1: old pyramidal Venetian glass set in heavy ripuse frame of
40:07
Speaker 1: tarnished silver. After a few minutes cleaning up, I went
40:13
Speaker 1: downstairs and out upon the lawn, where I greeted my hostess.
40:18
Speaker 1: The people gathered there were of the usual country type,
40:22
Speaker 1: all anxious to be pleased, and roundly curious as to
40:25
Speaker 1: the new master of the abbey. Rather, to my surprise,
40:30
Speaker 1: and quite to my pleasure, I rediscovered glenarm whom I
40:34
Speaker 1: had known well in old days in Barozzyland. He lived
40:38
Speaker 1: quite close, as he remarked with a grin, I ought
40:42
Speaker 1: to have known, But he added, I don't live in
40:45
Speaker 1: a place like this. He swept his hand to the
40:50
Speaker 1: long low lines of the abbey in obvious admiration, and then,
40:56
Speaker 1: to my intense interest, muttered beneath his breath. Thank god,
41:02
Speaker 1: he saw that I had overheard him, and, turning to me,
41:05
Speaker 1: said decidedly. Yes, thank god, I said, And I meant
41:10
Speaker 1: I wouldn't live at the abbey for all Broughton's money.
41:14
Speaker 1: But surely I demurred. You know that old Clarke was
41:18
Speaker 1: discovered in the very act of setting light to his bugaboos.
41:23
Speaker 1: Glenarm shrugged his shoulders. Yes, I know about that, but
41:28
Speaker 1: there is something wrong with the place still. All I
41:32
Speaker 1: can say is that Broughton is a different man since
41:34
Speaker 1: he has lived here. I don't believe that he will
41:37
Speaker 1: remain much longer. But you're staying here, well, you'll hear
41:43
Speaker 1: all about it. To night. There's a big dinner, I understand.
41:48
Speaker 1: The conversation turned off to old reminiscences, and Glenarm soon
41:52
Speaker 1: after had to go. Before I went to dress. That evening,
41:57
Speaker 1: I had twenty minutes talk with Broughton in his library.
42:01
Speaker 1: There was no doubt that the man was altered, gravely altered.
42:06
Speaker 1: He was nervous, in fidgety, and I found him looking
42:09
Speaker 1: at me only when my eye was off him. I
42:13
Speaker 1: naturally asked him what he wanted of me. I told
42:16
Speaker 1: him I would do anything I could, but that I
42:19
Speaker 1: couldn't conceive what he lacked that I could provide. He said,
42:24
Speaker 1: with a lustreless smile, that there was, however, something, and
42:28
Speaker 1: that he would tell me the following morning. It struck
42:33
Speaker 1: me that he was somehow ashamed of himself, and perhaps
42:36
Speaker 1: ashamed of the party, was asking me to play. However,
42:41
Speaker 1: I dismissed the subject from my mind and went up
42:44
Speaker 1: to dress in my palatial room. As I shut the door,
42:49
Speaker 1: a draft blew out the Queen of Sheba from the wall,
42:53
Speaker 1: and I noticed that the tapestries were not fastened to
42:57
Speaker 1: the wall at the bottom. I have always held very
43:01
Speaker 1: practical views about spooks, and it has often seemed to
43:05
Speaker 1: me that the slow waving in firelight of loose tapestry
43:09
Speaker 1: upon a wall would account for ninety nine percent of
43:12
Speaker 1: the stories one hears. And certainly the dignified undulation of
43:17
Speaker 1: this lady with her attendants and huntsmen, one of whom
43:21
Speaker 1: was untidily cutting the throat of a fallow deer, upon
43:24
Speaker 1: the very steps on which King Solomon, a gray faced
43:28
Speaker 1: Flemish nobleman with the order of the Golden Fleece, awaited.
43:32
Speaker 1: His fair visitor gave color to my hypothesis. Nothing much
43:39
Speaker 1: happened at dinner. The people were very much like those
43:43
Speaker 1: of the garden party. After the ladies had gone, I
43:47
Speaker 1: found myself talking to the rural Dean. He was a thin,
43:51
Speaker 1: earnest man, who at once turned the conversation to Old
43:55
Speaker 1: Clark's buffooneries. But he said, mister Broughton had introduced such
44:02
Speaker 1: a new and cheerful spirit not only into the abbey,
44:06
Speaker 1: but he might say into the whole neighborhood that he
44:10
Speaker 1: had great hopes that the ignorant superstitions of the past
44:14
Speaker 1: were from henceforth destined to oblivion. Thereupon, his other neighbor,
44:21
Speaker 1: a portly gentleman of independent means and position, audibly remarked amen,
44:27
Speaker 1: which stamped the rural Dean, and we talked of Partridge's past,
44:32
Speaker 1: Partridges present, and pheasants to come. At the other end
44:38
Speaker 1: of the table, Broughton sat with a couple of his friends,
44:42
Speaker 1: red faced hunting men. Once I noticed that they were
44:46
Speaker 1: discussing me, but I paid no attention to it at
44:50
Speaker 1: the time. I remembered it a few hours later. End
44:57
Speaker 1: of section two, Section three of two Supernatural Stories by
45:09
Speaker 1: Perceval Landon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
45:15
Speaker 1: Fernley Abbey, Part two. By eleven, all the guests were gone,
45:23
Speaker 1: and Broughton, his wife, and I were alone together under
45:27
Speaker 1: the fine plaster ceiling of the Jacobean drawing room. Missus
45:31
Speaker 1: Broughton talked about one or two of the neighbors, and then,
45:35
Speaker 1: with a smile, said that she knew I would excuse her,
45:40
Speaker 1: shook hands with me, and went off to bed. I
45:44
Speaker 1: am not very good at analyzing things, but I felt
45:47
Speaker 1: that she talked a little uncomfortably, and with a suspicion
45:50
Speaker 1: of effort, smiled rather conventionally, and was obviously glad to go.
45:58
Speaker 1: These things seemed trifling in to repeat, but I had,
46:02
Speaker 1: throughout the faint feeling that everything was not square under
46:09
Speaker 1: the circumstances. This was enough to set me wondering what
46:13
Speaker 1: on earth the service could be that I was to render.
46:17
Speaker 1: Wondering also whether the whole business were not some ill
46:20
Speaker 1: advised jest in order to make me come down from
46:23
Speaker 1: London for a mere shooting party. Broughton said little after
46:29
Speaker 1: she had gone, but he was evidently laboring to bring
46:32
Speaker 1: the conversation round to the so called haunting of the abbey.
46:37
Speaker 1: As soon as I saw this, of course, I asked
46:40
Speaker 1: him directly about it. He then seemed at once to
46:44
Speaker 1: lose interest in the matter. There was no doubt about it.
46:49
Speaker 1: Broughton was somehow a changed man, and to my mind,
46:53
Speaker 1: he had changed in no way for the better. Missus
46:57
Speaker 1: Broughton seemed no sufficient cause. He was clearly very fond
47:02
Speaker 1: of her, and she of him. I reminded him that
47:06
Speaker 1: he was going to tell me what I could do
47:07
Speaker 1: for him in the morning, pleaded my journey, lighted a candle,
47:12
Speaker 1: and went upstairs with him. At the end of the
47:15
Speaker 1: passage leading into the old house. He grinned weakly and said, mind,
47:21
Speaker 1: if you do see a ghost, talk to it. You
47:23
Speaker 1: said you would. He stood irresolutely a moment, and then
47:28
Speaker 1: turned away. At the door of his dressing room, he
47:32
Speaker 1: paused a moment. I am here. He called out, if
47:36
Speaker 1: you should want anything, good night, and he shut his door.
47:43
Speaker 1: I went along the passage to my room undressed, switched
47:47
Speaker 1: on a lamp beside my bed, read a few pages
47:50
Speaker 1: of the Jungle Book, and then, more than ready for sleep,
47:54
Speaker 1: switched to the light off and went fast asleep. Three
47:59
Speaker 1: hours later I woke up there was not a breath
48:02
Speaker 1: of wind outside. It was so silent that my ears
48:07
Speaker 1: found employment in listening for the throbbing of the blood
48:10
Speaker 1: within them. There was not even a flicker of light
48:14
Speaker 1: from the fireplace. As I lay there. An ash tinkled
48:19
Speaker 1: slightly as it cooled, but there was hardly a gleam
48:23
Speaker 1: of the dullest red in the grate. An owl cried
48:27
Speaker 1: among the silent Spanish chestnuts on the slope outside. I
48:32
Speaker 1: idly reviewed the events of the day, hoping that I
48:36
Speaker 1: should fall off to sleep again before I reached dinner.
48:40
Speaker 1: But at the end I seemed as wakeful as ever.
48:44
Speaker 1: There was no help for it. I must read my
48:47
Speaker 1: jungle book again till I felt ready to go off.
48:51
Speaker 1: So I fumbled for the pair at the end of
48:53
Speaker 1: the cord that hung down inside the bed, and I
48:56
Speaker 1: switched on the bedside lamp. The sudden glow slory dazzled
49:00
Speaker 1: me for a moment. I felt under my pillow for
49:04
Speaker 1: my book with wolf shut eyes. Then, growing used to
49:09
Speaker 1: the light, I happened to look down to the foot
49:12
Speaker 1: of my bed. I can never tell you what really happened.
49:18
Speaker 1: Then nothing I could ever confess in the most abject
49:22
Speaker 1: words could even faintly picture to you what I felt.
49:28
Speaker 1: I know that my heart stopped dead, and my throat
49:32
Speaker 1: shut automatically. In one instinctive movement, I crouched back up
49:37
Speaker 1: against the head boards of the bed, staring at the horror.
49:42
Speaker 1: The movement set my heart going again, and the sweat
49:46
Speaker 1: dripped from every pore. I am not a particularly religious man,
49:52
Speaker 1: but I had always believed that God would never allow
49:55
Speaker 1: any supernatural appearance to present itself to man in such
50:00
Speaker 1: a guise and in such circumstances that harm, either bodily
50:06
Speaker 1: or mental, could result to him. I can only tell
50:11
Speaker 1: you that at that moment, both my life and my
50:15
Speaker 1: reason rocked unsteadily on their seats. The other Osiris passengers
50:24
Speaker 1: had gone to bed. Only he and I remained leaning
50:28
Speaker 1: over the starboard railing, which rattled uneasily now and then
50:33
Speaker 1: under the fierce vibration of the over engined mail boat.
50:37
Speaker 1: Far over, there were the lights of a few fishing
50:41
Speaker 1: smacks riding out the night, and a great rush of white,
50:44
Speaker 1: combing and seething water fell out and away from us overside.
50:50
Speaker 1: At last, Colvin went on leaning over the foot of
50:55
Speaker 1: my bed. Looking at me, was a figure sweat bathed
51:00
Speaker 1: in a rotten and tattered veiling. This shroud passed over
51:05
Speaker 1: the head, but left both eyes and the right side
51:09
Speaker 1: of the face bare. It then followed the line of
51:13
Speaker 1: the arm down to where the hand grasped the bed end.
51:17
Speaker 1: The face was not that entirely of a skull, though
51:20
Speaker 1: the eyes and the flesh of the face were totally gone.
51:25
Speaker 1: There was a thin, dry skin drawn tightly over the features,
51:29
Speaker 1: and there was some skin left on the hand. One
51:33
Speaker 1: wisp of hair crossed the forehead. It was perfectly still.
51:40
Speaker 1: I looked at it, and it looked at me, and
51:45
Speaker 1: my brains turned dry and hot in my head. I
51:50
Speaker 1: had still got the pair of the electric lamp in
51:52
Speaker 1: my hand, and I played idly with it. Only I
51:57
Speaker 1: dared not turn the light out again. I shut my eyes,
52:02
Speaker 1: only to open them in a hideous terror. The same second.
52:06
Speaker 1: The thing had not moved. My heart was flumping, and
52:11
Speaker 1: the sweat cooled me as it evaporated. Another cinder tinkled
52:16
Speaker 1: in the grate, and a panel creaked in the wall.
52:22
Speaker 1: My reason failed me. For twenty minutes or twenty seconds,
52:27
Speaker 1: I was able to think of nothing else but this
52:30
Speaker 1: awful figure, till there came hurtling through the empty channels
52:34
Speaker 1: of my senses. The remembrance that Broughton and his friends
52:38
Speaker 1: had discussed me furtively at dinner. The dim possibility of
52:43
Speaker 1: it being a hoax store gratefully into my unhappy mind,
52:49
Speaker 1: and once there, one's pluck came creeping back along a
52:52
Speaker 1: thousand tiny veins. My first sensation was one of blind,
52:58
Speaker 1: unreasoning thankfulness that my brain was going to stand the trial.
53:03
Speaker 1: I am not a timid man, but the best of
53:06
Speaker 1: us needs some human handle to steady him in time
53:09
Speaker 1: of extremity, and in this faint but growing hope that
53:14
Speaker 1: after all it might be only a brutal hoax, I
53:17
Speaker 1: found the fulcrum that I needed. At last, I moved.
53:23
Speaker 1: How I managed to do it, I cannot tell you,
53:26
Speaker 1: But with one spring towards the foot of the bed,
53:29
Speaker 1: I got within arm's length and struck out one fearful
53:33
Speaker 1: blow with my fist at the thing. It crumbled under
53:37
Speaker 1: and my hand was cut to the bone. With this
53:41
Speaker 1: sickening revulsion, after my terror, I dropped whole fainting across
53:45
Speaker 1: the end of the bed. So it was merely a
53:49
Speaker 1: foul trick after all, No doubt the trick had been
53:53
Speaker 1: played many a time before. No doubt Broughton and his
53:57
Speaker 1: friends had had some better mineung themselves as to what
54:01
Speaker 1: I should do. When I discovered the gruesome thing, from
54:06
Speaker 1: my state of abject terror, I found myself transported into
54:10
Speaker 1: an insensate anger. I shouted curses upon Broughton. I dived
54:17
Speaker 1: rather than climbed over the bed end on to the sofa.
54:21
Speaker 1: I tore at the robed skeleton. How well the thing
54:25
Speaker 1: had been carried out, I thought. I broke the skull
54:29
Speaker 1: against the floor and stamped upon its dry bones. I
54:33
Speaker 1: flung the head away under the bed and rant the
54:36
Speaker 1: brittle bones of the trunk in pieces. I snapped the
54:40
Speaker 1: thin thigh bones across my knee and flung them in
54:43
Speaker 1: different directions. The shin bones I set up against a
54:48
Speaker 1: stool and broke with my heel. I raged like a
54:52
Speaker 1: berserker against the loathly thing, and stripped the ribs from
54:56
Speaker 1: the backbone, and slung the breastbone against the cupboard. My
55:01
Speaker 1: fury increased as the work of destruction went on. I
55:06
Speaker 1: tore the frail, rotten veil into twenty pieces, and the
55:10
Speaker 1: dust went up over everything. Over the clean blotting paper
55:15
Speaker 1: and the silver inkstand. At last my work was done.
55:22
Speaker 1: There was but a raffle of broken bones and strips
55:25
Speaker 1: of parchment and crumbling wool. Then picking up a piece
55:30
Speaker 1: of the skull. It was the cheek and temple bone
55:34
Speaker 1: of the right side. I remember. I opened the door
55:38
Speaker 1: and went down the passage to Broughton's dressing room. I
55:42
Speaker 1: remember still how my sweating pajamas clung to me as
55:45
Speaker 1: I walked at the door, I kicked and entered. Broughton
55:50
Speaker 1: was in bed. He had already turned the light on,
55:54
Speaker 1: and seemed shrunken and horrified. For a moment he could
55:59
Speaker 1: hardly pull himself together. Then I spoke. I don't know
56:05
Speaker 1: what I said, only I know that from a heart
56:09
Speaker 1: full and overfull with hatred and contempt, spurred on by
56:13
Speaker 1: shame of my own recent cowardice, I let my tongue
56:17
Speaker 1: run on. He answered nothing. I was amazed at my
56:22
Speaker 1: own fluency. My hair still clung lankily to my wet temples.
56:28
Speaker 1: My hand was bleeding profusely, and I must have looked
56:32
Speaker 1: a strange sight. Broughton huddled himself up at the head
56:37
Speaker 1: of the bed, just as I had. Still, he made
56:40
Speaker 1: no answer, no defense. He seemed preoccupied with something besides
56:46
Speaker 1: my reproaches, and once or twice moistened his lips with
56:50
Speaker 1: his tongue. But he could say nothing, though he moved
56:54
Speaker 1: his hands now and then, just as a baby who
56:57
Speaker 1: cannot speak moves his hands. At last, the door into
57:02
Speaker 1: missus Broughton's room opened, and she came in, white and terrified.
57:07
Speaker 1: What is it? What is it? Oh, in God's name,
57:11
Speaker 1: what is it? She cried again and again, and then
57:15
Speaker 1: she went up to her husband and sat on the bed,
57:18
Speaker 1: and the two faced me in speechless terror. I told
57:23
Speaker 1: her what the matter was. I spared her husband not
57:27
Speaker 1: a word for her presence there. Yet he seemed hardly
57:31
Speaker 1: to understand. I told the pair that I had spoiled
57:35
Speaker 1: their cowardly joke for them. Broughton looked up. I have
57:40
Speaker 1: smashed the foul thing into a hundred pieces, I said.
57:46
Speaker 1: Broughton licked his lips again, and his mouth worked. By God,
57:51
Speaker 1: I shouted, it would serve you right if I thrashed
57:55
Speaker 1: you within an inch of your life. I will take
57:58
Speaker 1: care that not a decent man or woman of my
58:00
Speaker 1: acquaintance ever speaks to you again. And there I added,
58:07
Speaker 1: throwing the broken piece of the skull upon the floor
58:10
Speaker 1: beside his bed. There is a souvenir for you of
58:14
Speaker 1: your damned work. To night. Broughton saw the bone, and
58:21
Speaker 1: in a moment it was his turn to frighten me.
58:25
Speaker 1: He squealed like a hare caught in a trap. He
58:29
Speaker 1: screamed and screamed till missus Broughton, almost as terrified as
58:34
Speaker 1: I held on to him, and coaxed him like a
58:38
Speaker 1: child to be quiet. But Broughton, and as he moved,
58:43
Speaker 1: I thought that ten minutes ago I perhaps looked as
58:47
Speaker 1: terribly ill as he did, thrust her from him and
58:51
Speaker 1: scrambled out of the bed on to the floor, and,
58:55
Speaker 1: still screaming, put out his hand to the bone. It
58:59
Speaker 1: had blood on it from my hand. He paid no
59:02
Speaker 1: attention to me whatever. In truth I said nothing. This
59:08
Speaker 1: was a new turn, indeed to the horrors of the evening.
59:13
Speaker 1: He rose from the floor with the bone in his hand,
59:16
Speaker 1: and stood silent. He seemed to be listening time time perhaps,
59:25
Speaker 1: He muttered, and almost at the same moment fell at
59:29
Speaker 1: full length on the carpet, cutting his head against the thunder.
59:34
Speaker 1: The bone flew from his hand and came to rest
59:37
Speaker 1: near the door I picked brought an up, haggard and broken,
59:42
Speaker 1: with blood over his face. He whispered hoarsely and quickly
59:47
Speaker 1: lissen lessen. We listened. After ten seconds utter quiet. I
59:55
Speaker 1: seemed to hear something. I could not be sure, But
1:00:00
Speaker 1: at last there was no doubt. There was a quiet
1:00:05
Speaker 1: sound as of one moving along the passage. Little regular
1:00:10
Speaker 1: steps came towards us over the hard oak flooring. Broughton
1:00:16
Speaker 1: moved to where his wife sat, white and speechless on
1:00:20
Speaker 1: the bed, and pressed her face into his shoulder. Then
1:00:26
Speaker 1: the last thing that I could see, as he turned
1:00:28
Speaker 1: the light out, he fell forward with his own head
1:00:31
Speaker 1: pressed into the pillow of the bed. Something in their company,
1:00:37
Speaker 1: something in their cowardice, helped me and I faced the
1:00:41
Speaker 1: open doorway of the room, which was outlined fairly clearly
1:00:45
Speaker 1: against the dimly lighted passage. I put out one hand
1:00:50
Speaker 1: and touched Missus Broughton's shoulder in the darkness. But at
1:00:55
Speaker 1: the last moment, I too failed. I sank on my
1:00:59
Speaker 1: knees and put my face in the bed. Only we
1:01:03
Speaker 1: all heard the footsteps came to the door, and there
1:01:08
Speaker 1: they stopped. The piece of bone was lying a yard
1:01:12
Speaker 1: inside the door. There was a rustle of moving stuff,
1:01:17
Speaker 1: and the thing was in the room. Missus Broughton was silent.
1:01:23
Speaker 1: I could hear Broughton's voice praying, muffled in the pillow.
1:01:27
Speaker 1: I was cursing my own cowardice. Then the steps moved
1:01:32
Speaker 1: out again on the oak boards of the passage, and
1:01:35
Speaker 1: I heard the sounds dying away. In a flash of remorse,
1:01:40
Speaker 1: I went to the door and looked out. There at
1:01:43
Speaker 1: the end of the corridor was a small, bowed figure
1:01:46
Speaker 1: in a gray veil. I knew it only too well,
1:01:51
Speaker 1: but this time there was a pathos in the drooped
1:01:54
Speaker 1: head that left me standing with my forehead bowed in
1:01:58
Speaker 1: shame against the jam of the door. You can turn
1:02:03
Speaker 1: the light on, I said, and there was an answering flare.
1:02:08
Speaker 1: There was no bone at my feet. Missus Broughton had fainted.
1:02:14
Speaker 1: Broughton was almost useless, and it took me ten minutes
1:02:17
Speaker 1: to bring her to Broughton only said one thing worth remembering.
1:02:23
Speaker 1: For the most part, he went on muttering prayers, but
1:02:27
Speaker 1: I was glad afterwards to recollect that he had said
1:02:30
Speaker 1: that thing. He said, in a colorless voice, half as
1:02:35
Speaker 1: a question, half as a reproach. You didn't speak to her.
1:02:42
Speaker 1: We spent the remainder of the night together. Missus Broughton
1:02:47
Speaker 1: actually fell off into a kind of sleep before dawn,
1:02:50
Speaker 1: but she suffered so horribly in her dreams that I
1:02:53
Speaker 1: shook her into consciousness again. Never was dawn so long
1:02:58
Speaker 1: in coming. Or four times Broughton spoke to himself. Missus
1:03:04
Speaker 1: Broughton would then just tighten her hold on his arm,
1:03:08
Speaker 1: but she could say nothing. As for me, I can
1:03:12
Speaker 1: honestly say that I grew worse as the hours passed
1:03:15
Speaker 1: and the light strengthened. The two violent reactions had battered
1:03:20
Speaker 1: down my steadiness of view, and I felt that the
1:03:25
Speaker 1: foundations of my life had been built upon the sand.
1:03:29
Speaker 1: I said nothing, and after binding up my hand with
1:03:32
Speaker 1: a towel, I did not move. It was better, So
1:03:38
Speaker 1: they helped me, and I helped them, and we all
1:03:42
Speaker 1: three knew that our reason had gone very near to
1:03:44
Speaker 1: ruin that night. At last, when the light came in
1:03:49
Speaker 1: pretty strongly and the birds outside were chattering and singing,
1:03:55
Speaker 1: we felt that we must do something, Yet we never moved.
1:04:00
Speaker 1: You might have thought that we should particularly dislike being
1:04:04
Speaker 1: found as we were by the servants, Yet nothing of
1:04:07
Speaker 1: the kind mattered. A straw and an overpowering listlessness bound
1:04:12
Speaker 1: us as we sat until Chapman, Broughton's man, actually knocked
1:04:17
Speaker 1: and opened the door. None of us moved. Broughton, speaking
1:04:23
Speaker 1: hardly and stiffly, said Chapman, you can come back in
1:04:28
Speaker 1: five minutes. Chapman was a discreet man, but it would
1:04:33
Speaker 1: have made no difference if he had carried his news
1:04:35
Speaker 1: to the room at once. We looked at each other,
1:04:40
Speaker 1: and I said I must go back. I meant to
1:04:43
Speaker 1: wait outside till Chapman returned. I simply dared not re
1:04:48
Speaker 1: enter my bedroom alone. Broughton roused himself and said that
1:04:52
Speaker 1: he would come with me missus. Broughton agreed to remain
1:04:56
Speaker 1: in her own room for five minutes if the blind
1:05:00
Speaker 1: were drawn up and all the doors left open. So
1:05:04
Speaker 1: Broughton and I, leaning stiffly, one against the other, went
1:05:09
Speaker 1: down to my room. By the morning light that filtered
1:05:13
Speaker 1: past the blinds, we could see our way, and I
1:05:16
Speaker 1: released the blinds. There was nothing wrong in the room
1:05:20
Speaker 1: from end to end except smears of my own blood
1:05:24
Speaker 1: on the bed, on the sofa, and on the carpet
1:05:27
Speaker 1: where I had torn the thing to pieces. Colvin had
1:05:33
Speaker 1: finished his story. There was nothing to say. Seven bells
1:05:39
Speaker 1: stuttered out from the forecastle, and the answering cry wailed
1:05:43
Speaker 1: through the darkness. I took him downstairs. Of course I
1:05:49
Speaker 1: am much better now, but it is a kindness of
1:05:53
Speaker 1: you to let me sleep in your cabin. End of
1:05:58
Speaker 1: section three and end of two Supernatural Stories by Percival London.
1:06:07
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.