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Dead Alive - Wilkie Collins · The Rehearsal

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of The Dead Alive. 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 or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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  Speaker 1: Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter one. The sick man
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  Speaker 1: hard all right, said the doctor lungs all right, No
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  Speaker 1: organic disease that I can discover, Philipp Lafrank, don't alarm yourself.
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  Speaker 1: You are not going to die yet. The disease you
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  Speaker 1: are suffering from is overwork. The remedy in your case
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  Speaker 1: is rest. So the doctor spoke in my chambers in
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  Speaker 1: the Temple, London, having been sent for to see me
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  Speaker 1: about half an hour after I had alarmed my clerk
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  Speaker 1: by fainting at my desk. I have no wish to
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  Speaker 1: intrude myself needlessly on the reader's attention, but it may
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  Speaker 1: be necessary to add, in the way of explanation that
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  Speaker 1: I am a junior barrister in good practice. I come
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  Speaker 1: from the Channel Island of Jersey. The French spanning of
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  Speaker 1: my name, le Fran, was anglicized generations since in the
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  Speaker 1: days when the letter K was still used in England
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  Speaker 1: at the end of words which now terminate in sea.
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  Speaker 1: We hold our heads high nevertheless as a Jersey family.
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  Speaker 1: It is to this day a trial to my father
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  Speaker 1: to hear his son described as a member of the
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  Speaker 1: English bar rest, I repeated, when my medical adviser had done,
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  Speaker 1: my good friend, are you aware that it is term time?
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  Speaker 1: The courts are sitting. Look at the briefs waiting for
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  Speaker 1: me on the table. Rest means ruin in my case,
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  Speaker 1: and work, added the doctor quietly means death. I started.
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  Speaker 1: He was not trying to frighten me. He was plainly
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  Speaker 1: in earnest. It is merely a question of time, he
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  Speaker 1: went on. You have a fine constitution. You are a
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  Speaker 1: young man, but you cannot deliberately overwork your brain and
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  Speaker 1: derange your nervous system much longer. Go away at once.
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  Speaker 1: If you are a good sailor, take a sea voyage.
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  Speaker 1: The ocean air is the best of all air to
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  Speaker 1: build you up again. No, I don't want to write
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  Speaker 1: a prescription, I declined to physic you. I have no
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  Speaker 1: more to say with these words. My medical friend left
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  Speaker 1: the room. I was obstinate. I went into court the
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  Speaker 1: same day, the Senior Council in the case of which
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  Speaker 1: I was engaged applied to me for some information which
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  Speaker 1: it was my duty to give him. To my horror
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  Speaker 1: and amazement, I was perfectly unable to collect my ideas,
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  Speaker 1: facts and dates, all mingled together confusedly in my mind.
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  Speaker 1: I was led out of court thoroughly terrified about myself.
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  Speaker 1: The next day, my briefs went back to the attorneys,
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  Speaker 1: and I followed my doctor's advice by taking my passage
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  Speaker 1: for America in the first steamer that sailed for New York.
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  Speaker 1: I had chosen the voyage to America in preference to
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  Speaker 1: any other trip by sea, with a special object in view.
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  Speaker 1: A relative of my mother's had emigrated to the United
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  Speaker 1: States many years since, and had thriven there as a farmer.
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  Speaker 1: He had given me a general invitation to visit him
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  Speaker 1: if I ever crossed the Atlantic. The long period of
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  Speaker 1: inaction under the name of rest to which the doctor's
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  Speaker 1: decision had condemned me could hardly be more pleasantly occupied,
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  Speaker 1: as I thought, than by paying a visit to my
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  Speaker 1: relation and seeing what I could of America in that way.
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  Speaker 1: After a brief sojourn at New York, I started by
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  Speaker 1: railway for the residence of my host, mister Isaac Meadowcraft
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  Speaker 1: of Morwick Farm. There are some of the grandest natural
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  Speaker 1: prospects on the face of creation. In America. There is
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  Speaker 1: also to be found, in certain states of the Union
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  Speaker 1: by way of wholesome contrast, scenery as flat, as monotonous,
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  Speaker 1: and as uninteresting to the traveler as any that the
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  Speaker 1: earth can show. The part of the country in which
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  Speaker 1: mister Meadowcroft's farm was situated fell within his latter category.
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  Speaker 1: I looked round me when I stepped out of the
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  Speaker 1: railway carriage on the platform at Morwick station, and I
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  Speaker 1: said to myself, if to be cured means in my case,
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  Speaker 1: to be dull, I have accurately picked up the very
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  Speaker 1: place for the purpose. I look back at those words
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  Speaker 1: by the light of later events, and I pronounced them
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  Speaker 1: as you will soon pronounce them, to be the words
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  Speaker 1: of an essentially rash man whose hasty judgment never stopped
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  Speaker 1: to consider what surprises time and chance together might have
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  Speaker 1: in stall for him. Mister Meadowcroft's eldest son, Ambruce, was
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  Speaker 1: waiting at the station to drive me to the farm.
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  Speaker 1: There was no fore warning in the appearance of Emperor's
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  Speaker 1: Meadowcraft of the strange and terrible events that were to
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  Speaker 1: follow my arrival at Morwick. A healthy, handsome young fellow,
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  Speaker 1: one of thousands of other healthy handsome young fellows, said,
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  Speaker 1: how dy do miss letle Frank glad to see you, sir,
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  Speaker 1: jump into the buggy. The man will look after Portmanteau.
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  Speaker 1: With equally conventional politeness, I answered, thank you, How are
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  Speaker 1: you all at home? So we started on the way
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  Speaker 1: to the farm. Our conversation on the drive began with
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  Speaker 1: the subjects of agriculture and breeding. I displayed my tall
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  Speaker 1: ignorance of crops and cattle before we had traveled ten
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  Speaker 1: yards on our journey Ambrose meatocraft. Cast about for another
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  Speaker 1: topic and failed to find it. Upon this, I cast
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  Speaker 1: about on my side and asked at a venture if
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  Speaker 1: I had chosen a convenient time for my visit. The
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  Speaker 1: young farmer's turli brown face instantly brightened. I had evidently
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  Speaker 1: hit haphazard on an interesting subject. You couldn't have chosen
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  Speaker 1: a better time, he said. Our house has never been
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  Speaker 1: so cheerful as it is now. Have you any visitors
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  Speaker 1: staying with you? It's not exactly a visitor. It's a
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  Speaker 1: new member of the family who has come to live
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  Speaker 1: with us. A new member of the family. May I
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  Speaker 1: ask who it is? Ambrose Ridocraft considered before he replied,
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  Speaker 1: touched his horse with the whip, looked at me with
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  Speaker 1: a certain sheepish hesitation, and suddenly burst out with the
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  Speaker 1: truth in the plainest possible words. It's just the nicest girl, sir,
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  Speaker 1: you ever saw in your life.
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  Speaker 2: Aye.
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  Speaker 1: Aye, A friend of your sister's. I suppose a friend.
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  Speaker 1: Bless your heart. It's our little American cousin, Naomi Kolbrook.
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  Speaker 1: I vaguely remembered that a younger sister of mister Meadocraft's
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  Speaker 1: had married an American merchant in the remote past, and
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  Speaker 1: had died many years since, leaving an only child. I
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  Speaker 1: was now further informed that the father also was dead.
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  Speaker 1: In his last moments, he had committed his helpless daughter
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  Speaker 1: to the compassionate care of his wife's relations at Morwick.
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  Speaker 1: He was always a speculating man, and brose went on
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  Speaker 1: tried one thing after another and failed in all. Died, sir,
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  Speaker 1: leaving barely enough to bury him. My father was a
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  Speaker 1: little doubtful before she came here how his American niece
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  Speaker 1: would turn out. We are English, you know, and though
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  Speaker 1: we do live in the United States, we stake fast
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  Speaker 1: to our English ways and habits. We don't much like
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  Speaker 1: American women in general, I can tell you, but when
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  Speaker 1: Naomi made her appearance, she conquered us all. Such a
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  Speaker 1: girl took her place as one of the family, directly
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  Speaker 1: learned to make herself useful in the dairy in a
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  Speaker 1: week's time. I tell you this. She hasn't been with
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  Speaker 1: us quite two months yet, and we wonder already how
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  Speaker 1: we ever got on without her. Once started on the
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  Speaker 1: subject of Naomi Kolbrook, Ambrose held to that one topic
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  Speaker 1: and talked on it without intermission. It required no great
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  Speaker 1: gift of penetration to discover the impression which the American
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  Speaker 1: cousin had produced. In this case, the young fellow's enthusiasm
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  Speaker 1: communicated itself in a certain tepid degree. To me, I
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  Speaker 1: really felt a mild flutter of anticipation at the prospect
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  Speaker 1: of seeing Naomi when we grew up toward the close
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  Speaker 1: of evening at the gates of Moulwick Farm.
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  Speaker 3: End of Chapter on one, Chapter two of The Dead Alive.
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  Speaker 3: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 3: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer. Please
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  Speaker 3: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Mary Baler Johansson. The
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  Speaker 3: Dead of Life by Wilkie Collins, Chapter two, The New Faces.
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  Speaker 3: Immediately on my arrival, I was presented to mister Metacroft,
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  Speaker 3: the father. The old man had become a confirmed invalid,
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  Speaker 3: confined by chronic rheumatism to his chair. He received me
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  Speaker 3: kindly and a little wearily as well. His only unmarried daughter,
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  Speaker 3: he had long since been a widower, was in the
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  Speaker 3: room in attendance on her father. She was a melancholy,
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  Speaker 3: middle aged woman, without visible attractions of any sort, one
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  Speaker 3: of those persons who appeared to accept the obligation of
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  Speaker 3: living under protest as a burden which they would never
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  Speaker 3: have con sent it to bear if they had only
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  Speaker 3: been consulted. First, we three had a dreary little interview
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  Speaker 3: in a parlor of bare walls, and then I was
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  Speaker 3: permitted to go upstairs and unpack my portmanteau in my
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  Speaker 3: own room. Supper will be at nine o'clock, sir, said
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  Speaker 3: missus Medocroff. She pronounced those words as if supper was
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  Speaker 3: a form of domestic offense habitually committed by the men
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  Speaker 3: and endured by the women. I followed the groom up
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  Speaker 3: to my room, not over well, pleased with my first
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  Speaker 3: experience of the farm. No Naomi and no romance. Thus far,
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  Speaker 3: my room was clean, oppressively clean. I quite longed to
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  Speaker 3: see a little dust somewhere. My library was limited to
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  Speaker 3: the Bible and the prayer Book. My view from the
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  Speaker 3: window showed me a dead flat in a partial state
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  Speaker 3: of cultivation, fading sadly from view in the waning light.
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  Speaker 3: Above the head of my spruce white bed hung a
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  Speaker 3: scroll bearing a damnatory quotation from scripture and emblazoned letters
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  Speaker 3: of red and black. The dismal presence of Miss Metacroft
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  Speaker 3: had passed over my bedroom and had blighted it. My
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  Speaker 3: spirits sank as I looked round me. Supper time was
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  Speaker 3: still an event in the fu. I lighted the candles
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  Speaker 3: and took from my portmanteau what I firmly believed to
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  Speaker 3: have been the first French novel ever produced at Morwick Farm.
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  Speaker 3: It was one of the masterly and charming stories of
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  Speaker 3: Dumau the Elder. In five minutes, I was in a
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  Speaker 3: new world, and my melancholy room was full of the
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  Speaker 3: liveliest French company. The sound of an imperative and uncompromising
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  Speaker 3: bell recalled me in due time to the regions of reality.
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  Speaker 3: I looked at my watch. Nine o'clock. Ambrose met me
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  Speaker 3: at the bottom of the stairs and showed me the
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  Speaker 3: way to the supper room. Mister Meadowcroft's invalid chair had
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  Speaker 3: been wheeled to the head of the table. On his
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  Speaker 3: right hand side sat his sad and silent daughter. She
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  Speaker 3: signed to me with a ghostly solemnity, to take the
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  Speaker 3: vacant place on the left of her father. Silas Mettacroft
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  Speaker 3: came in at the same moment and was presented to
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  Speaker 3: me by his brother. There was a strong family likeness
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  Speaker 3: between them, Ambrose being the taller and a handsomer man
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  Speaker 3: of the two, but there was no marked character in
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  Speaker 3: either face. I set them down as men with undeveloped qualities,
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  Speaker 3: waiting the good and evil qualities alike, for time and
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  Speaker 3: circumstances to bring them to their full growth. The door
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  Speaker 3: opened again while I was still studying the two brothers
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  Speaker 3: without I honestly confessed being very favorably impressed by either
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  Speaker 3: of them. A new member of the family circle who
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  Speaker 3: instantly attracted my attention entered the room. He was short, spare,
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  Speaker 3: and wiry, singularly pale for a person whose life was
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  Speaker 3: passed in the country. The face was, in other respects
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  Speaker 3: besides this, a striking face to see. As to the
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  Speaker 3: lower part, it was covered with a thick black beard
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  Speaker 3: and mustache at a time when shaving was the rule,
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  Speaker 3: and beards the rare exception in America. As to the
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  Speaker 3: upper part of the face, it was irradiated by a
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  Speaker 3: pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the expression of which
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  Speaker 3: suggested to me that there was something not quite right
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  Speaker 3: with the man's mental balance. A perfectly sane person in
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  Speaker 3: all his sayings and doings, so far as I could see,
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  Speaker 3: there was still something in those wild brown eyes which
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  Speaker 3: suggested to me that, under exceptionally trying circumstances, he might
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  Speaker 3: surprise his oldest friends by acting in some exceptionally violent
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  Speaker 3: or foolish way. A little cracked that in the popular phrase,
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  Speaker 3: was my impression of the stranger who now made his
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  Speaker 3: appear chearance in the supper room. Mister Meadocroft, the elder,
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  Speaker 3: having not spoken one word thus far himself, introduced the
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  Speaker 3: newcomer to me with a side glance at his son's
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  Speaker 3: which had something like defiance in it, a glance which,
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  Speaker 3: as I was sorry to notice, was returned with the
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  Speaker 3: defiance on their side by the two young men. Philip Lefrank,
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  Speaker 3: this is my overlooker, mister Yago, said the old man,
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  Speaker 3: formally presenting us. Mister Yago, this is my young relative
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  Speaker 3: by marriage, mister Lefrank. He is not well. He has
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  Speaker 3: come over the ocean for rest and change his scene.
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  Speaker 3: Mister Yago is an American, Philip, I hope you have
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  Speaker 3: no prejudice against Americans. Make acquaintance with Misteriago. Sit together.
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  Speaker 3: He cast another dark look at his sons, and the
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  Speaker 3: sons again returned it. They pointedly drew back from John
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  Speaker 3: Yago as he approached the empty chair next to me
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  Speaker 3: and moved round to the opposite side of the table.
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  Speaker 3: It was plain that the man with the beard stood
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  Speaker 3: high in the father's favor, and that he was cordially
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  Speaker 3: disliked for that or some other reason by the sons.
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  Speaker 3: The door opened once more. A young lady quietly joined
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  Speaker 3: the party. At the supper table. Was the young lady
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  Speaker 3: Naomi Colebrook. I looked at Ambrose and saw the answer
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  Speaker 3: in his face. Naomi Colebrooke at last a pretty girl, and,
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  Speaker 3: so far as I could judge by appearances, a good
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  Speaker 3: girl too. Describing her generally, I may say that she
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  Speaker 3: had a small head, well carried and well set on
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  Speaker 3: her shoulders, bright gray eyes that looked at you honestly
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  Speaker 3: and meant what they looked. A trim, slight little figure,
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  Speaker 3: too slight for our English notions of beauty, a strong
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  Speaker 3: American accent and a rare thing in America. A pleasantly
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  Speaker 3: toned voice, which made the accent agreeable to English years.
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  Speaker 3: Our first impressions of people are in nine cases out
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  Speaker 3: of ten, the right impressions. I like Naomi Colbrook at
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  Speaker 3: first sight. Liked her pleasant smile, liked her hearty shake
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  Speaker 3: of the hand when we were presented to each other.
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  Speaker 3: If I get on well with nobody else in this house,
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  Speaker 3: I thought to myself, I shall certainly get on well
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  Speaker 3: with you. For once in a way I proved a
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  Speaker 3: true prophet. In the atmosphere of smoldering enmities at Morwick Farm,
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  Speaker 3: the pretty American girl and I remained firm and true
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  Speaker 3: friends from first to last. Ambrose made room for Naomi
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  Speaker 3: to sit between his brother and himself. She changed color
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  Speaker 3: for a moment and looked at him with a pretty
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  Speaker 3: reluctant tenderness as she took her chair. I strongly suspected
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  Speaker 3: the young farmer of squeezing her hand privately under the
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  Speaker 3: cover of the tablecloth. The supper was not a merry one.
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  Speaker 3: The only cheerful conversation was the conversation across the table
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  Speaker 3: between Naomi and me. For some incomprehensible reason, John Yago
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  Speaker 3: seemed to be ill at ease in the presence of
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  Speaker 3: his young country woman. He looked up at Naomi doubtingly
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  Speaker 3: from his plate, and looked down again slowly with a frown.
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  Speaker 3: When I addressed him, he answered constrainedly. Even when he
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  Speaker 3: spoke to mister Meadowcroft, he was still on his guard,
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  Speaker 3: on his guard against the two young men, as I
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  Speaker 3: fancied by the direction which his eyes took on these occasions.
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  Speaker 3: When we began our meal, I had noticed for the
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  Speaker 3: first time that Silas Mettacroft's left hand was strapped up
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  Speaker 3: with surgical plaster, And I now further observed that John
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  Speaker 3: Yago's wandering brown eyes, furtively looking at everybody round the table.
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  Speaker 3: In turn, looked with a curious cynical scrutiny at the
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  Speaker 3: young man's injured hand. By way of making my first
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  Speaker 3: evening at the farm all the more embarrassing to me
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: as a stranger, I discovered before long that the father
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  Speaker 3: and sons were talking indirectly at each other through mister
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  Speaker 3: Yago and through me. When old mister Mettocroft spoke disparagingly
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  Speaker 3: to his overlooker of some past mistake made in the
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: cultivation of the arable land of the farm, old mister
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Mettocroff's eyes pointed the application of his hostile criticism straight
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  Speaker 3: in the direction of his two sons. When the two
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  Speaker 3: sons seized a stray remark of mine about animals in
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  Speaker 3: general and applied it satirically to the mismanagement of sheep
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: and oxen in particular, they looked at John Yago while
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  Speaker 3: they talked to me. On occasions of this sort, and
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  Speaker 3: they happened frequently, Naomi struck in resolutely on the right
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  Speaker 3: moment and turned the talk to some harmless topic every
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  Speaker 3: time she took a prominent part in this way, and
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  Speaker 3: keeping the peace melancholy, Miss Mettocroft looked slowly round at
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  Speaker 3: her in stern and silent disparagement of her interference a
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  Speaker 3: more dreary and more disunited family party. I never sat
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  Speaker 3: at the table with envy, hatred, mau tell us and
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  Speaker 3: uncharitableness are never so essentially detestable to my mind as
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  Speaker 3: when they are animated by the sense of propriety and
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  Speaker 3: work under the surface. But for my interest in Naomi,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: and my other interest in the little love looks which
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  Speaker 3: I now and then surprised passing between her and Ambrose,
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  Speaker 3: I should never have sat through that supper. I should
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  Speaker 3: certainly have taken refuge in my French novel and my
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  Speaker 3: own room. At last, the unendurably long meal, served with
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  Speaker 3: ostentious profusion was at an end. Miss Medocroft rose to
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  Speaker 3: her ghostly solemnity and granted me my dismissal in these words,
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  Speaker 3: we are early people at the farm. Mister le Frank,
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  Speaker 3: I wish you good night. She laid her bony hands
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  Speaker 3: on the back of mister Mettacroft's invalid chair, cut him
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  Speaker 3: short in his farewell salutation to me, and wheeled him
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  Speaker 3: out to his bed, as if she were wheeling him
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  Speaker 3: out to his grave. Do you go to your room immediately, sir,
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  Speaker 3: if not, may I offer you a cigar, provided the
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  Speaker 3: young gentleman will permit it, so, picking his words with
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  Speaker 3: painful deliberation, and pointing his reference to the young gentleman
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  Speaker 3: with one sardonic side. Look at them, mister John Iago
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  Speaker 3: performed the duties of hospitality on his side. I excused
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  Speaker 3: myself from accepting the cigar with studied politeness. The man
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  Speaker 3: of the glittering brown eyes wished me good night's rest
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  Speaker 3: and left the room. Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably,
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  Speaker 3: with their open cigar cases in their hands. You were
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  Speaker 3: quite right to say no, Ambrose began. Never smoke with
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  Speaker 3: John Iago. His cigars will poison you, and never believe
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  Speaker 3: a word John Yago says to you, added Silas, he
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  Speaker 3: is the greatest liar in America. Let the other be
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: whom he may Naomi shook her forefinger reproachfully at them,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: as if the two sturdy young farmers had been two children.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: What will mister le Frank think? She said, you talk
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: in that way of a person whom your father respects
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: and trusts. Go and smoke. I am ashamed of both
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: of you. Silas slunk away, without a word of protest.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Ambrose stood his ground, evidently bent on making his piece.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: When Naomi before he left her, seeing that I was
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: in the way, I walked aside toward a glass door
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: at the lower end of the room. The door opened
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: on the trim little farm garden bathed at that moment
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: in lovely moonlight. I stepped out to enjoy the scene,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: and found my way to a seat under an elm tree.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: The grand repose of nature had never looked so unutterably
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: solemn and beautiful as it now appeared. After what I
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: had seen and heard inside the house, I understood, or
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: thought I understood the sad despair of humanity which led
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: men into monasteries in the old times. The misanthropical side
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: of my nature, where is the sick man who is
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: not conscious of that side of him, was fast getting
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: the upper hand of me. When I felt a light
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: touch laid on my shoulder, found myself reconciled to my
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: species once more. By Naomi Colbrook, end of chapter two.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Chapter three of The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins. This
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, Please go
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: to LibriVox dot org. Read by Dennis Smith. The Dead
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter three, The moonlight Meeting. I
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: want to speak with you, Naomi began. You don't think
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: ill of me for following you out here. We are
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: not accustomed to stand much on ceremony in America. You
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: are quite right in America. Pray sit down. She seated
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: herself by my side, looking at me frankly and fearlessly
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: in the light of the moon. You are related to
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: the family here, she resumed. And I am related too.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: I guess I may say to you what I couldn't
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: say to a stranger. I am right glad you've come here,
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: mister le frank and for a reason, sir, which you
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: don't suspect. Thank you for the compliment you pay me,
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Miss Colebrook. Whatever the reason may be. She took no
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: notice of my reply. She steadily pursued her own train
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: of thought. I guess you may do some good, sir,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: in this wretched house, the girl went on, with her
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: eyes still earnestly fixed on my face. There is no love,
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: no trust, no peace at Morwick Farm. They want somebody
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: here except Ambrose. Don't think ill of Ambrose. He is
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: only thoughtless. I say. The rest of them want somebody
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: here to make them ashamed of their hard hearts and
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: their horrid, false, envious ways. You were a gentleman. You
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: know more than they know. They can't help themselves. They
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: must look up to you. Try, mister le Frank, when
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: you have the opportunity, pray, Try, sir, to make peace
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: among them. You heard what went on at supper time,
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: and you were disgusted with it. Oh yes you were.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I saw you frown to yourself, and I know what
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: that means in you Englishman. There was no choice but
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: to speak one's mind plainly. To Naomi, I acknowledged the
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: impression which had been produced on me at supper time,
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: just as plainly as I have acknowledged it in these pages.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Naomi nodded her head in undisguised approval of my candor.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: That will do. That's speaking out, she said. But oh my,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: you put it a deal too mildly, sir, When you
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: say the men don't seem to be on friendly terms
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: together here, they hate each other. That's the word, mister
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: le Frank. Hate, bitter bitter hate. She clenched her little fists.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: She shook them vehemently by way of adding emphasis to
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: her last words, and then she suddenly remembered Ambrose. Except Ambrose,
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: she added, opening her hand again and laying it very
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: earnestly on my arm. Don't go and misjudge Ambrose, sir.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: There is no harm in poor Ambrose. The girl's innocent
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: frankness was really irresistible. Should I be altogether wrong? I asked?
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: If I guessed that you are a little partial to Ambrose,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: an englishwoman would have felt, or at least have assumed
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: some little hesitation at replying to my question. Naomi did
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: not hesitate for an instant. You are quite right, sir,
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: she said, with the most perfect composure. If things go well,
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: I mean to marry Ambrose. If things go well, I repeated,
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: What does that mean money? She shook her head. It
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: means a fear that I have in my own mind,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: she answered, A fear, mister Lefrank, of matters taking a
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: bad turn among the men here, the wicked, hard hearted,
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: unfeeling men. I don't mean Ambrose, sir, I mean his
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: brother Silas and John Yago. Did you notice Silas's hand?
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: John Yago did that, sir, with a knife by accident?
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: I asked, on purpose? She answered, in return for a blow.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: This plain revelation of the state of things at Morwick
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Farm rather staggered me. Blows and knives under the rich
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: and respectable roof tree of old mister Meadowcroft, blows and
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: knives not among the laborers, but among the masters. My
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: first impression was like your first impression, no doubt. I
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: could hardly believe it. Are you sure of what you say?
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: I inquired? I have it from Ambrose. Ambrose would never
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: deceive me. Ambrose knows all about it. My curiosity was
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: powerfully excited to what sort of household had I rashly
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: voyaged across the ocean in search of rest and quiet.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: May I know all about it too? I asked, Well,
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: I will try and tell you what Ambrose told me,
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: but you must promise me one thing first, sir, promise
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: you won't go away and leave us when you know
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: the whole truth. Shake hands on it, mister le frank, Come,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: shake hands on it. There was no resisting her fearless frankness.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: I shook hands on it. Naomi entered on her narrative.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: The moment I had given her my pledge without wasting
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: a word. By way of preface. When you are shown
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: over the farm here, she began, you will see that
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: it is really two farms in one on this side
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: of it. As we look from under this tree, they
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: raise crops on the other side, on much the larger
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: half of the land. Mind, they raised cattle. When mister
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: Meadacroft got too old and too sick to look after
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: his farm himself, the boys, I mean, Ambrose and Silas
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: divided the work between them. Ambrose looked after the crops,
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: and Silas after the cattle. Things didn't go well somehow
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: under their management. I can't tell you why. I'm only
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: sure Ambrose was not in fault. The old man got
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: more and more dissatisfied, especially about his beasts. His pride
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: is in his beasts. Without saying a word to the boys,
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: he looked about privately. I think he was wrong in that, sir,
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: don't you He looked about privately for help, and in
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: an evil hour he heard of John Yago. Do you
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: like John Yago, mister le Frank So far no, I
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: don't like him, just my sentiments, sir, But I don't know.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: It's likely we may be wrong. There's nothing against John
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Yago except that he is so odd in his ways.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: They do say he wears all that nasty hair on
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: his face. I hate hair on a man's face on
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: account of a vow he made when he lost his wife,
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: don't you think, mister Lefrank a man must be a
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: little mad when he shows his grief at losing his
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: wife by vowing that he will never shave himself again. Well,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: that's what they do say, John Yago vowed. Perhaps it's
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: a lie. People are such liars here. Anyway, it's truth.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: The boys themselves confess that when John came to the farm,
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: he came with a first rate character. The old father
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: here isn't easy to please, and he pleased the old father. Yes,
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: that's so, mister Meadowcroft. Don't like my countrymen in general.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: He's like his son's English, bitter English to the marrow
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: of his bones. Somehow, in spite of that, John Yago
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: got round him. Maybe because as John does certainly know
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: his business. Oh yes, cattle and crops. John knows his business.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Since he's been overlooker, things have prospered as they didn't
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: prosper in the time of the boys. Ambrose owned as
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: much to me himself. Still, Sir, It's hard to be
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: set aside for a stranger, isn't it. John gives the orders.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Now the boys do their work, but they have no
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: voice in it. When John and the old men put
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: their heads together over the business of the farm. I've
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: been long in telling you of it, sir, but now
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: you know how the envy and the hatred grew among
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: the men before my time. Since I've been here, things
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: seem to get worse and worse. There's hardly a day
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: goes by that hard words don't pass between the boys
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: and John, or the boys and their father. The old
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: man has an aggravating way, mister Lefrank, a nasty way,
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: as we do call it, of taking John Yago's part.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Do speak to him about it when you get the chance.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: The main blame of the quarrel between Silas and John
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: the other day lies at his door. I think I
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: don't want to excuse Silas either. It was brutal of him,
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: though he is ambrose brother, to strike John, who is
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: the smaller and weaker man of the two. But it
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: was worse than brutal, and John, Sir, to out with
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: his knife and try to stab Silas. Oh he did it.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: If Silas had not caught the knife in his hand,
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: his hands awfully cut. I can tell you I dressed
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: it myself. It might have ended, for anything I know,
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: in murder. She stopped as the word passed her lips,
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: looked back over her shoulder, and started violently. I looked
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: where my companion was looking. The dark figure of a
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: man was standing watching us in the shadow of the
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: elm tree. I rose directly to approach him. Naomi recovered
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: her self possession and checked me before I could interfere.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Who are you, she asked, turning sharply toward the stranger.
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: What do you want there? The man stepped out from
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: the sh shadow into the moonlight and stood, revealed to
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: us as John Yago. I hope I am not intruding,
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: he said, looking hard at me. What do you want?
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Naomi repeated, I don't wish to disturb you, or to
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: disturb this gentleman. He proceeded, When you were quite at leisure,
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: miss Naomi, you would be doing me a favor if
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: you would permit me to say a few words to
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: you in private. He spoke with the most scrupulous politeness,
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: trying and trying vainly to conceal some strong agitation which
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: was in possession of him. His wild brown eyes, wilder
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: than ever in the moonlight, rested entreatingly with a strange
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: underlying expression of despair on Naomi's face. His hands clasped
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: tightly in front of him trembled incessantly. Little as I
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: liked the man, he did really impress me as a
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: pitiable object at that moment. Do you mean that you
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: want to speak to me tonight? Naomi asked in undisguised yes, Miss,
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: if you please, at your leisure and at mister le Frank's.
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: Naomi hesitated. Won't it keep till tomorrow? She said, I
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: shall be away on farm business tomorrow, Miss, for the
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: whole day. Please to give me a few minutes this evening.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: He advanced a step toward her. His voice faltered and
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: dropped timidly to a whisper. I really have something to
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: say to you, Miss Naomi. It would be a kindness
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: on your part, a very very great kindness, if you
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: will let me say it before I rest to night.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: I rose again to resign my place to him. Once more,
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: Naomi checked me. No, she said, don't stir She addressed
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: John Iago very reluctantly. If you are so much in
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: earnest about it, mister John, I suppose it must be.
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: I can't guess what you can possibly have to say
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: to me which cannot be said before a third person. However,
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: it wouldn't be civil. I suppose to say no. In
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: my place. You know it's my business to wind up
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: the hall clock at ten every night. If you choose
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: to come and help me, the chances are we shall
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: have the hall to ourselves. Will that do not in
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: the hall, miss, if you will excuse me, not in
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: the hall, and not in the house either, If I
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: may make so bold, What do you mean? She turned
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: impatiently and appealed to me. Do you understand him? John
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: Yago signed to me, imploringly to let him answer for himself.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: Bear with me, Miss Naomi, he said, I think I
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: can make you understand me. There are eyes on the
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: watch and ears on the watch in the house, and
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: there are some footsteps I won't say, whose so soft
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: that no person can hear them. The last illusion evidently
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: made itself understood. Naomi stopped him before he could say more, Well,
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: where is it to be? She asked resignedly, will the garden,
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: mister John, thank you kindly, miss the garden. Will do
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: He pointed to a gravel walk behind us, bathed in
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: the full flood of the moonlight. There, he said, where
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: we can see all around us and be sure that
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: nobody is listening. At ten o'clock, he paused and addressed
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: himself to me. I beg to apologize, sir, for intruding
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: myself on your conversation. Please to excuse me. His eyes
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: rested with a last anxious, pleading look on Naomi's face.
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: He bowed to us and melted away into the shadow
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: of the tree. The distant sound of a door closed
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: softly came to us through the stillness of the night.
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: John Yago had re entered the house. Now that he
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly.
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: Don't suppose Sir I have any secrets with him, she said,
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: I know no more than you do what he wants
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: with me. I have half a mind not to keep
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: the appointment when ten o'clock comes. What would you do
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: in my place? Having made the appointment? I answered, it
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: seems to be due to yourself to keep it. If
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: you feel the slightest alarm. I will wait in another
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: part of the garden so that I can hear if
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: you call me. She received my proposal with a saucy
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: toss of the head and a smile of pity for
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: my ignorance. You are a stranger, mister Lefrank, or you
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: would never talk to me in that way. In America,
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: we don't do the men the honor of letting them
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: alarm us. In America, the women take care of themselves.
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: He has got my promise to meet him as you say,
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: and I must keep my promise. Only think, she added,
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: speaking more to herself than to me. Of John Yago
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: finding out Miss Meadowcroft's nasty, sly underhand ways in the house,
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: most men would never have noticed her. I was completely
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: taken by surprise, sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft a listener
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: and a spy. What next at Morwick Farm? Was that
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: hint at the watchful eyes and ears and the soft
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: footsteps really an allusion to mister Meadercroft's daughter, I asked,
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: Of course it was. Ah. She has imposed on you
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: as she imposes on everybody else, the false wretch. She
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: is secretly at the bottom of half the bad feeling
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: among the men. I am certain of it. She keeps
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: mister Meadercroft's mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is,
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: mister le Frank, and ugly as she is, she wouldn't
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: object if she could only make him ask her to
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: be John Yago's second wife. No, sir, and she wouldn't
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: break her heart if the boys were not left a
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: stick or stone on the farm when the father dies.
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: I have watched her, and I know it. Ah. I
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: could tell you such things, but there's no time. Now
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: it's close on ten o'clock. We must say good night.
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: I'm right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: say again at parting what I have said already. Use
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: your influence, pray, use your influence to soften them and
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: to make them ashamed of themselves in this wicked house.
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: We will have more talk about what you can do tomorrow.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: When you were shown over the farm. Say good bye
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: for now. Hark there is ten striking, and look there
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: is John Yago stealing out again in the shadow of
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: the tree. Good Night, friend, lefranc and pleasant dreams. With
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: one hand, she took mine and pressed it cordially. With
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: the other. She pushed me away without ceremony, in the
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: direction of the house. A charming girl, an irresistible girl.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: I was nearly as bad as the boys, I declare,
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: I almost hated Jianyago too. As we crossed each other
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: in the shadow of the tree, arrived at the glass door,
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: I stopped and looked back at the gravel walk they
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: backward and forward in the moonlight, the woman a little
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: in advance of the man. What was he saying to her?
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: Why was he so anxious that not a word of
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: it should be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: rare cases, the faithful prophecy of the future, A vague
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: distrust of that moonlight meeting stealthily took a hold on
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: my mind. Will mischief come of it? I asked myself,
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: as I closed the door and entered the house. Mischief
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: did come of it? You shall hear now? End of
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: chapter three of The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, read
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: by Dennis Smith. Chapter four of The Dead Alive by
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: Wilkie Collins. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: please go to LibriVox dot org. Read by Dennis Smith,
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter four The beech and Stick.
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: Persons of sensitive nervous temperament, sleeping for the first time
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: in a strange house and in a bed that is
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: new to them, must make up their minds to pass
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: a wakeful night. My first night at Warwick Farm was
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: no exception to this rule. The little sleep I had
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: was broken and disturbed by dreams. Towards six o'clock in
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: the morning, my bed became unendurable to me. The sun
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: was shining in brightly at the window. I determined to
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: try the reviving influence of a stroll in the fresh
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: morning air. Just as I got out of bed, I
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: heard footsteps and voices under my window. The footsteps stopped
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: and the voices became recognizable. I had passed the night
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: with my window open. I was able, without exciting notice
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: from below to look out. The persons beneath me were
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: Silas s meadows Croft, John Yago, and three strangers, whose
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that they were laborers
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: on the farm. Silas was swinging a stout beech and
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: stick in his hand, and was speaking to Yago coarsely
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: and insolently enough of his moonlight meeting with Naomi on
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: the previous night. Next time you go courting a young
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: lady in secret, said Silas, make sure that the moon
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: goes down first, or wait for a cloudy sky. You
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: were seen in the garden, Master Yago, and you may
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: as well tell us the truth, for once in a way.
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: Did you find her open to persuasion? Sir? Did she
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: say yes? John Yago kept his temper. If you must
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: have your joke, mister Silas, he said, quietly and firmly,
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: be pleased to joke on some other subject. You are
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: quite wrong, sir, in what you suppose to have passed
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: between the young lady and me. Silas turned about and
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: addressed himself ironically to the three laborers. You hear him, boys,
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: he can't I tell the truth? Try him as you may.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: He wasn't making love to Naomi in the garden last night,
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Oh dear, No, he has had one wife already, and
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: he knows better than to take the yoke on his
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: shoulders for the second time. Greatly, to my surprise, John
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: Yago met this clumsy jesting with a formal and serious reply.
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: You are quite right, sir, he said, I have no
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: intention of marrying for the second time. What I was
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: saying to miss Naomi doesn't matter to you. It was
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: not at all what you choose to suppose. It was
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: something of quite another kind with which you have no concern.
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: Be pleased to understand once and for all, mister Silas,
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: that not so much as the thought of making love
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: to the young lady has ever entered my mind. I
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: respect her, I admire her good qualities. But if she
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: was the only woman left in the world, and if
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: I was a much younger man than I am, I
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: should never think of asking her to be my wife.
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: He burst out suddenly into a harsh uns laugh. No, no,
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: not my style, mister Silas, not my style. Something in
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: those words, or in his manner of speaking them, appeared
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: to exasperate Silas. He dropped his clumsy irony and addressed
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: himself directly to John Yago in a tone of savage contempt.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: Not your style, he repeated, upon my soul, that's a
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: cool way of putting it for a man in your place.
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: What do you mean by calling her not your style?
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: You impudent beggar. Naomi Colbrok is meat for your master.
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: John Yago's temper began to give way. At last he
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: approached defiantly a step or two nearer to Silas Meadowcroft.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: Who is my master? He asked. Ambrose will show you
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: if you go to him, answered the other Naomi is
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: his sweetheart, not mine. Keep out of his way if
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: you want to keep a whole skin on your bones.
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: John Yago cast one of his sardonic side, looks at
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: the farmer's wounded left hand. Don't forget your own skin, Silas,
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: when you threatened mine, I have set my mark on
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: you once, sir, Let me buy on my business, or
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: I may mark you for a second time. Silas lifted
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: his beech and stick. The laborers roused to some rude
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: sense of the serious turn which the quarrel was taking,
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: got between the two men and parted them. I had
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: been hurriedly dressing myself while the altercation was proceeding, and
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: I now ran downstairs to try what my influence could
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: do toward keeping the peace at Morwick Farm. The war
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: of angry words was still going on when I joined
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: the men outside. Be off with you, on your business,
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: you cowardly hound. I heard Silas say, be off with
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: you to the town, and take care you don't meet
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: Ambrose on the way. Take care you don't feel my
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: knife again before I go, cried the other man. Silas
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: made a desperate effort to break away from the laborers
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: who were holding him. Last time you only felt my fist,
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: he shouted. Next time you shall feel this. He lifted
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: the stick as he spoke. I stepped up and snatched
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: it out of his hand. Mister Silas, I said, I
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: am an invalid and I am going out for a walk.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: Your stick will be useful to me. I beg leave
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: to borrow it. The laborers burst out laughing. Silas fixed
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: his eyes on me with a stare of angry surprise.
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: John Yago, immediately recovering his self possession, took off his
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: hat and made me a deferential bow. I had no idea,
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: mister le Frank, that we were disturbing you, he said.
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: I am very much ashamed of myself, Sir, I beg
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: to apologize. I accept your apology, mister Yago, I answered,
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: on the understanding that you, as the older man, will
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: set the example of forbearance. If your temper is tried
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: on any future occasion as it has been tried to day,
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: and I have further to request, I added, addressing myself
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: to Silas, that you will do me a favor as
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: your father's guest. The next time your good spirits lead
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: you into making jokes at mister Yago's expense, don't carry
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: them quite so far. I am sure you meant no harm,
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: mister Silas. Will you gratify me by saying so yourself.
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: I want to see you and mister Yogo shake hands.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: John Yago instantly held out his hand with an assumption
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: of good feeling, which was a little overacted to my thinking.
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: Silas Meadowcroft made no advance of the same friendly sort
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: on his side. Let him go about his business, said Silas.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: I won't waste any more words on him, mister le
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: Frank to please you, but saving your presence, I'm damned
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: if I take his hand. Further persuasion was plainly useless.
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: Addressed to such a man as this, Silas gave me
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: no further opportunity of remonstrating with him, even if I
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: had been inclined to do so. He turned about in
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: sulky silence and retracing his steps along the path, disappeared
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: around the corner of the house. He turned about in
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: sulky silence, and retracing his steps along the path, disappeared
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: round the corner of the house. The laborers withdrew next
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: in different directions to begin the day's work. John Yago
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: and I were alone. I left it to the man
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: of the wild brown eyes to speak first. In half
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: an hour's time, Sir, he said, I shall be going
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: on business to Narrabee, our market town here. Can I
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: take any letters to the post for you? Or is
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: there anything else that I can do in the town?
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: I thanked him and declined both proposals. He made me
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: another deferential bow, and withdrew into the house. I mechanically
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: followed the path in the direction that Silas had taken
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: before me, turning the corner of the house and walking
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: on for a little way. I found myself at the
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: entrance to the stables, and face to face with Silas
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: Meadacroft once more. He had his elbows on the gate
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: of the yard, swinging it slowly backward and forward, and
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: turning and twisting a straw between his teeth. When he
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: saw me approaching him. He advanced a step from the
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: gate and made an effort to excuse himself with a
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: very ill grace. No offense, miss, Ask me what you
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: will besides, and I'll do it for you. But don't
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: ask me to shake hands with John Yago. I hate
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: him too badly for that. If I touched him with
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: one hand, Sir, I tell you this, I should throttle
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: him with the other. That's your feeling toward the man,
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: mister Silas, is it? That's my feeling, mister le Frank,
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: And I'm not ashamed of it either. Is there any
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: such place as a church in your neighborhood, mister Silas,
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: Of course there is, And do you ever go to it?
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: Of course I do at long intervals, mister Silas, every Sunday, Sir,
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: without fail. Some third person behind me burst out laughing.
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: Some third person had been listening to our talk. I
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: turned round and discovered Ambrose Meadowcroft. I understand the drift
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: of your catechism, sir, though my brother doesn't, he said,
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: don't be hard on Silas, Sir. He isn't the only
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: Christian who leaves his Christianity in the pew when he
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: goes out of church. You will never make us friends
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: with John Yago, Try as you may. Why what have
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: you got there, mister Lefrank? May I die if it
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: isn't my stick? I've been looking for it everywhere. The
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: thick beech and stick had been feeling uncomfortably heavy in
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: my invalid hand for some time past. There was no
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: sort of need for my keeping it any longer, and
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: Silas Medacroff's savage temper was subdued to a sulky repose.
• 45:20
  Speaker 4: I handed the stick back to Ambrose. He laughed as
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: he took it from me. You can't think how strange
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: it feels, mister le Frank, to be out without one stick,
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: he said. A man gets used to his stick, sir,
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: doesn't he? Are you ready for your breakfast? Not just yet.
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: I thought of taking a little walk first, All right, sir.
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: I wish I could go with you, but I have
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: got my work to do this morning, and Silas has
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: his work too. If you go back by the way
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: you came, you'll find yourself in the garden. If you
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: want to go further, the wicket gate at the end
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: will lead you into the lane. Through sheer thoughtlessness, I
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: did a very foolish thing I turned back as I
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: was told, and left the brothers together at the gate
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: of the stable yard. End of chapter four of The
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, read by Dennis Smith.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: Chapter five of The Dead Alive. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: by Tige Hinds The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter five.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: The news from Narrabee arrived at the garden. A thought
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: struck me. The cheerful speech and easy manner of Ambrose
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: plainly indicated that he was ignorant. Thus far of the
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: quarrel which had taken place under my window, Silas might
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: confess to having taken his brother's stick, and might make
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: whose head he had threatened with it. It was not
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: only useless, but undesirable that Ambrose should know of the quarrel.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: I retraced my steps to the stable yard. Nobody was
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: at the gate. I called alternately to Silas and Ambrose.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: Nobody answered. The brothers had gone away to their work.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Returning to the garden, I heard a pleasant voice wishing
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: me good morning. I looked round. Naomi Colbrook was standing
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: at one end of the lower windows of the farm.
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: She had a working apron on, and she was industriously
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: brightening the knives for the breakfast table on an old
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: fashioned board. A sleek black cat balanced himself on her shoulder,
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: watching the flashing motion of the knife as she passed
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: it rapidly to and fro on the leather covered surface
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: of the board. Come here, she said, I want to
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: speak to you. I noticed as I approached that her
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: pretty face was clouded and anxious. She pushed the cat
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: irritably off her shoulder. She welcomed me with only the
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: faint reflection of her bright customary smile. I have seen
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: John Yago, she said. He has been hinting at something
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: which he says happened under your bedroom window this morning.
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: When I begged him to explain himself, he only answered,
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: ask mister le Frank, I must be off to narrowby.
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: What does it mean? Tell me if i'll waste sir.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: I'm out of temper and I can't wait, except that
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: I made the best instead of the worst of it.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: I told her what had happened under my window as
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: plainly as I have told it here. She put down
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: the knife that she was cleaning and folded her hands
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: before her, thinking, I wish I had never given John
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: Yago that meeting. She said, when a man asks anything
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: of a woman, the woman I find mostly repented if
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: she says yes. She made that quaint reflection with a
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: very troubled brow. The moonlight meeting had left some unwelcome
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: remembrances in her mind. I saw that as plainly as
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: I saw Naomi herself what John Yago said to her.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: Put the question with all needful delicacy, making my apologies beforehand,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: I should like to tell you, she began, with strong
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: emphasis on the last word. There she stopped. She turned pale,
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: and then suddenly flushed again to the deepest dread. She
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: took up the knife once more and went on cleaning
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: it as industriously as ever. I mustn't tell you, she resumed,
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: with a head down over the knife. I have promised
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: not to tell anybody. That's the truth. Forget all about it, sir,
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: as soon as you can hush. Here's the spy you
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: saw us last night on the walk, and who told
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: Sallas dreary. Miss Meadowcroft opened the kitchen door. She carried
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: an ostentatiously large prayer book, and she looked at Naomi
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: as only a jealous middle aged woman can look at
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: a younger and prettier woman than herself. Prayers, Miss Colbrook,
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: she said in her sourest manner. She paused and noticed
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: me standing under the window and prayers, mister le Frank, She,
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: with a look of devout pity, directed exclusively to my address.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: We will follow you directly, Miss Meadowcroft, said Naomi, I
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: have no desire to intrude on your secrets. Miss Colebrook.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: With that acrid answer, our priestess took herself and her
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: prayer book out of the kitchen. I joined Naomi, entering
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: the room by the garden door. She met me eagerly.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: I am not quite easy about something, she said. Did
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: you tell me that you left Ambrose and Silas together? Yes,
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: suppose Silas tells Ambrose of what happened this morning. The
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: same idea as I have already mentioned had occurred to
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: my mind. I did my best to reassure Naomi. Mister
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: Yagle is out of the way, I replied, you and
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: I can easily put things right. In his absence, she
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: took my arm come into prayers, she said, Ambrose will
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: be there and I shall find an opportunity of speaking
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: to him. Either Ambrose orselves was in the breakfast room
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: when we entered it. After waiting vainly for ten minutes,
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: mister Meadowcroft told his daughter to read the prayers. Miss
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: Meadowcroft read thereupon in the tone of an injured woman
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: taking the throne of mercy by storm and insisting on
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: her rights. A breakfast followed, and still the brothers were absent.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: Miss Meadowcroft looked at her father and said, from bad
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: to worser, what did I tell you? Naomi instantly applied
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: the antidote. The boys are no doubt detained over their work. Uncle.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: She turned to me, you want to see the farm,
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: mister la Frank, come and help me to find the boys.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: For more than an hour we visited one part of
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: the farm after another without discovering the missing men. We
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: found them at last near the outskirts of a small wood,
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: sitting together talking on the trunk of a felled tree.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: Silence rose as we approached, and walked away without a
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: word of greeting or apology, into the wood. As he
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: got on his feet, I noticed that his brother whispered
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: something in his ear, and I heard him answer, all right, Ambrose,
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: Does that mean you have something to keep a secret
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: from us? Asked Naomi, approaching her lover with a smile.
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: Is Silas ordered to hold his tongue? Ambrose kicked sulkily
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: at the loose stones lying about him. I noticed with
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: a certain surprise that his favorite stick was not in
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: his hand and was not lying near him. Business, he said,
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: in answer to Naomi, not very graciously. Business between Silas
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: and me. That's what it means, if you must know.
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: Naomi went on womanlike with her questioning, heedless of the
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: reception which they might meet with from an irritated man.
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: Why were you both away at prayers and at breakfast time?
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: She asked? Next, We had much to do, Ambrose gruffly replied,
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: and we were too far from the house. Very odd,
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: said Naomi. This has never happened before since I have
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: been at the farm we live and learn it has
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: happened now. The tone in which he spoke would have
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: warned any man to let him alone. But warnings which
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: speak by implication are only thrown away on women. The
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: woman having still something in her mind to say, said it,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: Have you seen anything of John Yago this morning? The
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: smoldering ill temper of Ambrose burst suddenly. Why it was
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: impossible to guess into a flame. How many more questions
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: am I to answer? He broke out violently. Now you
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: the person putting me through my catechism, I have seen
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: nothing of John Yago, and I have got my work
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: to go on with. Will that do for you? He
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: turned with a note and followed his brother into the wood.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: Naomi's bright eyes looked up at me, flashing with indignation.
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: What does he mean, mister le Frank by speaking to
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: me in that way? Rude brute? How dare he do it?
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: She paused? Her voice looked and manner suddenly changed. This
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: has never happened before, sir, has anything gone wrong? I declare?
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't know? Ambers again he is so changed? Say
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: how does he strike you? I still made the best
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: of a bad case. Something as upset as temper, I said,
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: the merest trifle, Miss Colbrook, upsets a man's temper. Sometimes
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: I speak as a man, and I know it. Give
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: him time and he will make his excuses and all
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: will be well again. My presentation of the case entirely
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: failed to reassure my pretty companion. We went back to
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: the house. Dinner time came and the brothers appeared. Their
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: father spoke to them of their absence from morning prayers
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: with needless severity, as I thought. They resented the reproof
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: with needless indignation on their side, and left the room.
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: A sour smile of satisfaction showed itself on Miss Meadowcroft's
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: thin lips. She looked at her father, then raised her
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: eyes sadly to the ceiling and said, we can only
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: pray for them. Sir Naomi disappeared after dinner. When I
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: saw her again, she had some news for me. I
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: have been with Ambrose, she said, and he has begged
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: my pardon. We've made it up. Mister le Frank still
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: still still what, Miss Naomi? He is not like himself, Sir.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: He denies it, but I cannot help thinking he is
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: hiding something from me. The day wore. On the evening came,
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: I returned to my French novel, but not even Doumas
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: himself could keep my attention to the story. What else
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: I was thinking of? I cannot say why I was
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: out of spirits. I am unable to explain, I wished
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: myself back in England. I took a blind, unreasoning hatred
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: to Morwick Farm. Nine o'clock struck and we all assembled
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: again at supper, with the exception of John Yago. He
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: was expected back to supper, and we waited for him
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: a quarter of an hour. By mister Meadowcroft's own directions,
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: John Yago never appeared. The night wore on, and still
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: the absent man failed to return. Miss Meadowcroft volunteered to
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: sit up from Naomi, either a little maliciously almost own.
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: As the two women parted for the night, I withdrew
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: to my room, and again I was unable to sleep.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: When sunrise came, I went out as before to breathe
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: the morning air. On the staircase I met Miss Meadowcroft
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: ascending to her own room. Not a curl of her
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: stiff gray hair was disarranged. Nothing about the impenetrable woman
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: betrayed that she had been watching through the night. Has
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: mister Yagon not returned, I asked. Miss Meadowcroft slowly shook
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: her head and frowned at me. We are in the
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: hands of providence, mister le Frank. Mister Yagle must have
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: been detained for the night at Narrowby the daily routine
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: of the meals resumed its unalterable course. Breakfast time came,
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: and dinner time came, and no John Yago darkened the
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: doors of Mowick Farm. Mister Meadowcroft and his daughter con
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: together and determined to send in search of the missing man.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: One of the more intelligent of the laborers was despatched
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: to Narrowby to make inquiries. This man returned late in
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: the evening, bringing startling news to the farm. He had
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: visited all the inns and all the places of business
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: resort in Narrowby. He had made endless inquiries in every direction.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: With this result, no one had set eyes on John Yago.
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: Everybody declared that John Yago had not entered the town.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: We all looked at each other, excepting the two brothers,
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: who were seated together in a dark corner of the room.
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: The conclusion appeared to be inevitable. John Yago was a
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: lost man. End of chapter five, Chapter six of The
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: Dead Alive. This is a LibriVox recording. All libervox recordings
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Taig Hindes The
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter six, The Lime Kiln.
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: Mister Meadowcroft was the first to speak. Somebody must find John,
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: he said, without losing a moment, added his daughter. Ambrose
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: suddenly stepped out of the dark corner of the room.
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: And I will inquire, he said. Silas followed him. I'll
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: go with you, he added. Mister Meadowcroft interposed his authority.
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: One of you will be enough for the present. At
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: least you go, Ambrose. Your brother may be wanted later.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: If any accident has happened, which God forbid, we may
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: have to inquire in more than one direction. And Silas,
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: you will stay at the farm. The brothers withdrew together,
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: Ambrose to prepare for his journey, Silas to saddle one
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: of the horses for him. Naomi slipped out after them,
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: left in company with mister Meadowcroft and his daughter, both
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: devoured by anxiety about the missing man, and both trying
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: to conceal it under an assumption of devout resignation to circumstances.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: I need hardly add that I too, retired as soon
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: as it was politely possible for me to leave the room.
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: Ascending the stairs on my way to my own quarters,
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: I discovered Naomi, half hidden by the recess formed by
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: an old fashioned window seat. On the first landing. My
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: bright little friend was in sore trouble. Her apron was
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: over her face, and she was crying bitterly. Ambrose had
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: not taken his leave as tenderly as usual. She was
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: more firmly persuaded than ever that Ambrose was hiding something
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: from her. We all waited anxiously for the next day.
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: The next day made the mystery deeper than ever. The
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: horse which had taken Ambrose to Narrowby was ridden back
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: to the farm by a groom from the hotel. He
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: delivered a written message from Ambrose, which startled us. Further
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: inquiries had positively proved that the missing man had never
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: been near Narrowby. The only attainable tidings of his whereabouts
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: were tidings derived from vague report. It was said that
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: a man like John Yago had been seen the previous
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: day in a railway car traveling on the line to
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: New York. Acting on this imperfect information, Ambrose had decided
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: on verifying the truth of the report by extending his
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: inquiries to New York. This extraordinary proceeding forced the suspicion
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: on me that something had really gone wrong. I kept
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: my doubts to myself, but I was prepared from that
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: moment to see the disappearance of John Yago followed by
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: very grave results. The same day, the results declared themselves.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Time enough had now elapsed for report to spread through
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: the district the news of what had happened at the farm.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: Already aware of the bad feeling existing between the men,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: the neighbors had been now informed, no doubt by the
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: laborers present, of the deplorable scene that had taken place
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: under my bedroom window. A public opinion declares itself in
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: America without the slightest reserve or the slightest careful consequences.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: Public opinion declared on this occasion that the lost man
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: was a victim of foul play and held one or
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: both of the brother's meadowcroft responsible for his disappearance. Later
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: in the day, the reasonableness of this serious view of
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: the case was confirmed in the popular mind by a
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: startling discovery. It was announced that a Methodist preacher lately
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: settled at Morrick and greatly respected throughout the district, had
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: dreamed of John Yago in the character of a murdered
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: man whose bones were hidden at Morrick Farm before night.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: The cry was general for a verification of the preacher's dream,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: not only in the immediate district, but in the town
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: of Narrowbee itself. The public voice insisted on the necessity
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: of a search for the mortal remains of John Yago
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: at Morrick Farm. In the terrible turn which matters had
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: now taken, mister Meadowcroft, the elder, displayed a spirit and
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: energy for which I was not prepared. My sons have
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: their faults, he said, serious faults, and nobody knows it
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: better than I do. My sons have behaved badly and
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: ungratefully towards John Iago. I don't deny that either, But
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: Ambrose and Silas are not murderers. Make your search. I
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: ask for it, no, I insist on it, after what
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: has been said in justice to my family and my name.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: The neighbors took him at his word. The morec section
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: of the American nation organized itself on the spot. The
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: sovereign people met in committee, made speeches, elected competent persons
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: to represent the public interests, and began to search. The
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: next day. The whole proceeding, ridiculously informal from a legal
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: point of view, was carried on by these extraordinary people
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: with as stern and strict a sense of duty as
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: if it had been sanctioned by the highest tribunal in
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: the land. Naomi met the calamity that had fallen on
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: the household as resolutely as our uncle himself. The girl's
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: courage rose with the call which was made on it.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: How when I anxiety was for Ambrose, he ought to
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: be here, she said to me. The wretches in this
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: neighborhood are wicked enough to say that his absence is
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: a confession of his guilt. She was right. In the
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: present temper of the popular mind, the absence of Ambrose
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: was a suspicious circumstance in itself. We might send a
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: telegraph to New York, I suggested, if you only knew
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: where the message would be likely to find him. I
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: know the hotel which the Meadowcrafts use at New York,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: she replied. I was sent there after my father's death
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: to wait till this Meadowcroft could take me to Morrick.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: We decided on telegraphing the hotel. I was writing the
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: message and Naomi was looking over my shoulder when we
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: were startled by a strange voice speaking close behind us.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: Oh that's his address, is it? Said the voice. We
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: wanted his address rather badly. The speaker was a stranger
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: to me. Naomi recognized him as one of the neighbors.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: What do you want as address for, she asked, sharply.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: I guess we have found the mortal remains of John Yagle. Miss.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: The man replied, We've got Silas already, and we want
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: Ambrose too, on suspicion of murder. It's a lie, cried
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: Naomi furiously, a wicked lie. The man turned to me.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: Take her into the next room, mister, he said, and
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: let her see for ourself. We went together into the
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: next room. In one corner, sitting by her father and
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: holding his hand, we saw stern and stony Miss Meadowcroft
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: weeping silently. Opposite to them, crouched on the window seat,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: his eyes wandering, his hands hanging helpless. We next discovered
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: Silas Meadowcroft, plainly self betrayed as a panic stricken man.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: A few of the persons who had been engaged in
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: the search were seated near watching him. The mass of
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 2: the strangers present stood congregated round the table in the
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: middle of the room. They drew aside as they approached
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: with Naomi, and allowed us to have a clear view
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: certain objects placed on the table. The central object at
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: the collection was a little heap of charred bones. Round
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: this were arranged a knife, two metal buttons, and the
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: stick partially burned. The knife was recognized by the laborers
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: at the weapon. John Yago habitually carried about with them
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: the weapon with which he had wounded Silas Meadowcroft's hand.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: The buttons Naomi herself declared to have a peculiar pattern
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: on them, which had formerly attracted her attention to John
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: Yago's coat. As for the stick, burned as it was,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: I had no difficulty in identifying the quality hand carved
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: knob at the top. It was the heavy beech and
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: stick which I had snatched out of Silas's hand, and
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: which I had restored to Ambrose on his claiming it
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: as his own. In reply to my inquiries, I was
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: informed that the bones, the knife, the buttons and the
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: stick had all been found together in a lime kiln,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: then in use on the farm. Is it serious, Naomi
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: whispered to me as we drew back from the table.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: It would have been sheer cruelty to deceive her. Now, yes,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: I whispered back, it is serious. The search Committee conducted
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: its proceedings with the strictest regularity. The proper applications were
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: made forthwith to a Justice of the peace, and the
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: justice issued his warrant. That night's silence was committed to prison,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: and an officer was despatched to arrest Ambrose in New York.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: For my part, I did a little I could to
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: make myself useful with the silent sanction of mister Meadowcroft
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: and his daughter. I went to Narrowbee and secured the
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: best legal assistance for the defense which the town could
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: place at my disposal. This done, there was no choice
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: but to wait for news of Ambrose and for the
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: examination before the magistrate which was to follow. I shall
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: pass over the misery in the house during the interval
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: of expectation. No useful purpose could be served by describing it. Now.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: Let me only say that Naomi's conduct strengthened me in
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: the conviction that she possessed a noble nature. I was
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: unconscious of this state of my own feelings at the time,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: but I am now disposed to think that this was
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: the epoch at which I began to envy Ambrose the
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: wife whom he had won. The telegraph brought us our
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: first news of Ambrose. He had been arrested at the hotel,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: and he was on his way to Morick. The next
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: day he arrived and followed his brother to prison. The
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: two were confined in separate cells and were forbidden all
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: communication with each other. Two days later the preliminary examination
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: took place. Ambrose and Silas Meadowcraft were charged before the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: magistrate with the wilful murder of John Iago. I was
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: cited to appear as one of the witnesses, and that
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: Naomi's own request. I took the poor girl into court
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 2: and sat by her during the proceedings. My host also
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: was present, in his invalid chair, with his daughter by
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: his side. Such was the result of my voyage across
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: the ocean in search of rest and quiet, And thus
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: did time and chance fulfill my first hasty foreboding of
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: the dull life I was to lead at Morrick Farm.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: End of chapter six Chapter seven of The Dead Alive.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Tige Hinds, The Dead
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter seven, the materials in the defense.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: On our way to the chairs allotted to us in
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 2: the magistrate's court, we passed the platform on which the
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: prisoners were standing together. Silas took no notice of us.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: Ambrose made a friendly sign of recognition, and then rested
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: his hand on the bar in front of him. As
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: she passed beneath him, Naomi was just tall enough to
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: reach his hand on tip toe. She took it. I
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: know you are innocent, she whispered, and gave him one
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: look of loving and cur urridgement as she followed me
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: to our place. Ambrose never lost his self control. I
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: may have been wrong, but I thought this a bad sign.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: The case, as stated for the prosecution, told strongly against
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: the suspected men. Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft were charged with
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: the murder of John Yago by means of the stick
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: or by use of some other weapon, and with the
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: deliberate destruction of the body by throwing it into the quicklime.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: In proof of this latter assertion, the knife which the
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: deceased habitually carried about with them, and the metal buttons
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: which were known to belong to his coat were produced.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: It was argued that these indestructible substances, and some fragments
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: of the larger bones, had alone escaped the action of
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: the burning lime. Having produced medical witnesses to support this
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: theory by declaring the bones to be human, and having
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 2: thus circumstantially asserted the discovery of the remains in the kiln,
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: the prosecution next proceeded to prove that the missing man
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: had been murdered by the two and had been by
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 2: them thrown into the quicklime as a means of concealing
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 2: their guilt. Witness after witness deposed to the inveterate enmity
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 2: against the deceased displaced by Ambrose and silas the threatening
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 2: language they habitually used towards them, their violent quarrels with him,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 2: which had become a public scandal throughout the neighborhood, and
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: which had ended on one occasion at least in a blow.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: The disgraceful scene which had taken place under my window,
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: and the restoration to Ambrose on the morning of the
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 2: fatal quarrel of the very stick which had been found
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 2: among the remains of the dead man. These facts and events,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: and a host of minor circumstances, besides sworn to by
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: witnesses whose credit was unimpeachable, pointed with terrible directness to
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: a conclusion at which the prosecution had arrived. I looked
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: at the brothers, as the weight of the evidence pressed
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: more and more heavily against them. In to outward view,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: at least Ambrose still maintained his self possession. It was
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: far otherwise silas abject terror showed itself in his ghastly face,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 2: in his great knotty hands, clinging convulsively to the bar
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 2: at which he stood, in his staring eyes fixed in
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: vacant terror, on each witness who appeared public feeling judged
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: him on the spot. There he stood self betrayed already
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 2: in the popular opinion as a guilty man. The one
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: point gained in cross examination by the defense related to
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: the charred bones. Pressed on this point, a majority of
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: the medical witnesses admitted that their examination had been a
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: hurried one, and that it was just possible that the
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 2: bones might yet prove to be the remains of an
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: animal and not of a man. The presiding magistrate decided
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: upon this that a second examination should be made, and
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: that the member of the medical experts should be increased.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 2: Here the preliminary proceedings ended. The prisoners were remanded for
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: three days. The prostration of Silas at the close of
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 2: the inquiry was so complete that it was found necessary
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 2: to have two men to support them. On his leaving
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: the court, Ambrose leaned over the bar to speak to
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: Naomi before he followed the jailer out. Wait, he whispered, confidently,
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 2: till they hear what I have to say. Naomi kissed
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 2: her hand to him affectionately and turned to me with
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: the bright tears in her eyes. Why don't they hear
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 2: what he has to say? At once? She asked, anybody
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: can see that Ambrose is innocent. It's a grand shame, sir,
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: to send them back to prison. Don't you think so yourself?
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 2: If I had confessed what I really thought, I should
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: have said that Ambrose proved nothing to my mind except
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: that he possessed rare powers of self control. It was
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: impossible to acknowledge this to my little friend. I diverted
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 2: her mind from the question of our lover's innocence by
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 2: proposing that we should get the necessary order and visit
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 2: him in his prison on the next day. Naomi dried
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 2: her tears and gave me a little grateful squeeze of
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 2: the hand. Oh my, what a good fellow you are,
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 2: cried the outspoken American girl. When your time comes to
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 2: be married, sir, I guess the woman won't repent saying
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: yes to you. Mister Meadowcroft preserved unbroken silence as we
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 2: walked back to the farm, on either side of his
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 2: invalid chair. His last reserves of resolution seemed to have
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 2: given way under the overwhelming strain laid on them by
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: the proceedings in court. His daughter, in stern indulgence to Naomi,
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: mercifully permitted her opinion to glimmer on us only through
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: the medium of quotation from scripture texts. If the texts
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 2: meant anything, they meant that she had foreseen all that
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 2: had happened, and that the one sad aspect of the
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: case to her mind was the death of John Iago.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: Unprepared to meet his end, I obtained the order of
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: admission to the prison. The next morning we found Ambrose,
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 2: still confident of the favorable result for his brother, and
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 2: for himself of the inquiry before the magistrate. He seemed
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: to be almost as eager to tell as Naomi was
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: to hear the true story of what had happened that
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 2: the lime killed. The authorities of the prison present, of
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 2: course at the interview, warned him to remember that what
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 2: he said might be taken down in writing and produced
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: against him in court. Take it down, gentlemen, and welcome,
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: Ambrose replied, I have nothing to fear. I am only
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 2: telling the truth. With that, he turned to Naomi and
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 2: began his narrative. As nearly as I can remember in
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: these words, I may as well make a clean beast
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: of it. At starting, my girl. After mister le Frank
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 2: left us that morning, I asked Silas how he came
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 2: by my stick. In telling me how, Silas also told
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: me of the words that had passed between him and
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: John Iago under mister le Frank's window. I was angry
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: and jealous, and I own it freely, Naomi. I thought
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: the worst that could be taught about you and John here.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 2: Naomi stopped him without ceremony. Was that what made you
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 2: speak to me as you spoke when we found you
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 2: at the woods, She asked, Yes, and that what made
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: you leave me when you went away to narrow me
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 2: without giving me a kiss. At parting, it was beg
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 2: my pardon for it before you say a wood more,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 2: I beg your pardon. Say you are ashamed of yourself,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 2: and I am ashamed of myself, Ambrose answered penitently. Now
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 2: you may go on, said Naomi. Now I am satisfied.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: Ambrose went on. We were on our way to the
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: clearing at the other side of the wood while Silas
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: was talking to me, and as ill luck would have it,
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 2: we took the path that led by the lime kiln.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 2: Turning the corner, we met John Yago on his way
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: to Narrowbye. I was too angry. I tell you to
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: let him pass quietly. I gave him a bit of
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 2: my mind. His blood was up too, I suppose, and
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: he spoke out on his side as freely as I did.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 2: I own I threatened him with a stick, but I'll
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: swear to it I meant him no harm. You know,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 2: after dressing Silas's hand that John Yago is ready with
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: his knife. He comes from out west, where they are
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: always ready with one weapon or another handy in their pockets.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 2: It's likely enough he didn't mean to harm me either,
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: but how could I be sure of that? When he
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 2: stepped up to me and showed his weapon, I dropped
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: the stick and closed with him. With one hand I
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: wrenched the knife away from him, and with the other
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 2: I caught him by the collar of his rotten old
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 2: coat and gave him a shaking that made his bones
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 2: rattle in his skin. A big piece of the cloth
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 2: came away in my hand. I shied it into the
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 2: quicklime close by us, and I pitched the knife after
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 2: the cloth. And if Silas hadn't stopped me, I think
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 2: it's likely I might have shied John Yago himself into
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 2: the lime next. And as it was, Silas kept wold
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: of me. Silas shouted out to him, be off at you,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: and don't come back again if you don't want to
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 2: be burned in the kiln. He stood looking at us
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 2: for a minute, fetching his breath and holding his torn
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 2: coat round him. Then he spoke, with a deadly quiet
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: voice and a deadly quiet look. Many A true word, mister, Silas,
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: he says, is spoken in jest. I shall not come
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 2: back again. He turned about and left us. We stood
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 2: staring at each other like a couple of fools. You
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 2: don't think he means it, I says, Hush, said Silas,
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 2: he's too sweet, and Naomi not to come back. What's
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: the matter now, Naomi, I had noticed it too. She
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 2: started and turned pale when Ambrose repeated to her what
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: Silas had said to him. Nothing is the matter, Naomi answered,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: Your brother has no right to take liberties with my name.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 2: Go on. Did Silas say any more while he was
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 2: about it? Yes? He looked into the kiln, and he says,
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: what made you throw away the knife? Ambrose? How does
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: a man know why he does anything? I says when
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: he does it in a passion. It's a ripping good knife,
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 2: said Silas. In your place, I should have kept it.
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 2: I picked up the stick off the ground. Who says
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 2: I have lost it yet? I answered him? And with
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 2: that I got up on the side of the kiln
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 2: and began sounding for the knife. To bring it, you know,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 2: by means of the stick, with an easy reach of
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 2: a shovel or some such thing. Give us your hand,
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 2: I says to Silas. Let me stretch out a bit
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 2: and I'll have it in no time. Instead of finding
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 2: the knife, I came nigh to falling myself into the
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 2: burning lime. The vapor overpowered me. I suppose all I
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 2: know is I turned giddy and dropped the stick in
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 2: the kiln. I should have followed the stick to a
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: dead certainty, but for Silas pulling me back by the
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 2: hand let. It be said, Silas, if I hadn't told
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 2: of you, John Yago's knife would have been the death
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 2: of you. After all. He led me away by the arm,
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 2: and we went on together on the road to the wood.
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 2: We stopped where you found us and sat down on
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 2: the fell tree. We had a little more talk about
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 2: John Yago. It ended in our agreeing to wait and
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 2: see what happened, and to keep our own counsel. In
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 2: the meantime, you and mister le Frank came upon us, Naomi,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 2: while we were still talking, and you guessed right when
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 2: you guessed that we had a secret from you. You
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 2: know the secret. Now there he stopped. I put a
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 2: question to him, the first that I had asked. Yet,
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 2: had you or your brother any fear at the time
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: of the charge which had since been brought against you?
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 2: I said, no such thought entered our heads. Sir Ambrose answered,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 2: how could we foresee that the neighbors would search to
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: kill and say what they have said of us. All
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 2: we feared was that the old man might hear of
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 2: the quarrel and be bitterer against us than ever. I
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 2: was the more anxious of the two to keep things secret,
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 2: because I had Naomi to consider as well as the
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 2: old man. Put yourself in my place, and you will own, sir,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 2: that the prospect at home is not a pleasant one
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 2: for me. If John Yago really kept away from the farm,
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 2: and if it came out that it was all my doing,
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 2: this is certainly an explanation of his conduct, but it
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 2: is not satisfactory to my mind. As you believe, then
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 2: I went on. John Yago has carried out his threat
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 2: of not returning to the farm. According to he is
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: now alive and in hiding somewhere. Certainly, said Ambrose. Certainly
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: repeated Naomi. Do you believe the report that he was
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 2: seen traveling on the railway to New York. I believe
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 2: it firmly, sir, And what is more, I believe I
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 2: was on his track. I was only too anxious to
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 2: find them, and I say I would have found them
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 2: if they would have let me stay in New York.
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 2: I looked at Naomi. I believe it too, she said,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 2: John Yago is keeping away. Do you suppose he's afraid
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 2: of Ambrose and Silas she hesitated. He may be afraid
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 2: of them, she replied, with his strong emphasis on the
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 2: word may. But you don't think it likely. She hesitated again.
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 2: I pressed her again, Do you think there is any
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: other motive for his absence? Her eyes dropped to the floor.
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 2: She answered obstinately, almost doggedly. I can't say. I addressed
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 2: myself to Ambrose. Have you anything more to tell us?
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 2: I asked, no, He said, I have told you all
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 2: I know about it. I rose to speak to the
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 2: lawyer whose services I had retained. He had helped us
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 2: to get the order of admission, and he had accompanied
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 2: us to the prison. Seated the party, he had kept
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 2: silence throughout, attentatively watching the effect of Ambrose meadow Croft's
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 2: narrative on the officers of the prison and on me.
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 2: Is this the defense? I inquired in a whisper. This
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 2: is the defense, mister le Frank. What do you think
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 2: between ourselves? Between ourselves? I think the magistrate will commit
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 2: them for trial on the charge of murder. Yes, on
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 2: the charge of murder. End of chapter.
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 5: Seven Chapter eight of The dud Alive. This is a
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 5: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 5: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 5: Recording by Pamuscato. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter eight.
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 5: The confession. My replies to the lawyer accurately expressed the
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 5: conviction in my mind. The narrative related by Ambrose had
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 5: all the appearance in my eyes of a fabricated story.
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 5: Got up and clumsily got up to pervert the plain
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 5: meaning of the circumstantial evidence produced by the prosecution. I
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 5: reached this conclusion reluctantly and regretfully. For Naomi's sake, I
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 5: said all I could say to shake the absolute confidence
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 5: which she felt in the discharge of the prisoners at
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 5: the next examination. The day of the adjourned inquiry arrived,
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 5: Naomi and I attended the court together. Mister Meadowcroft was
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 5: unable on this occasion to leave the house. His daughter
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 5: was present, walking to the court by herself and occupying
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 5: a seat by herself. On his second appearance at the bar,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 5: Silas was more composed, and more like his brother, no
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 5: new witnesses were called by the prosecution. We began the
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 5: battle over the medical evidence relating to the charred bones,
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 5: and to some extent we won the victory. In other words,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 5: we forced the doctors to acknowledge that they differed widely
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 5: in their opinions. Three confessed that they were not certain.
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 5: Two went still further and declared that the bones were
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 5: the bones of an animal, not of a man. We
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 5: made the most of this, and then we entered upon
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 5: the defense founded on Ambrose Meadowcroft's story. Necessarily, no witnesses
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 5: could be called on our side. Whether this circumstance discouraged him,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 5: or whether he privately shared my opinion of his client's statement,
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 5: I cannot say. It is only certain that the lawyer
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 5: spoke mechanically, doing his best, no doubt, but doing it
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 5: without genuine conviction or earnestness on his own part. Naomi
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 5: cast an anxious glance at me as he sat down.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 5: The girl's hand as I took it, turned cold in mine.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 5: She saw plain signs of the failure of the defense
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 5: in the look and manner of the Council for the prosecution.
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 5: But she waited resolutely until the presiding magistrate announced his decision.
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 5: I had only too clearly foreseen what he would feel
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 5: it to be his duty to do. Naomi's head dropped
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 5: on my shoulder as he said the terrible words which
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 5: committed Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft to take their trial on
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 5: the charge of murder. I led her out of the
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 5: court into the air. As I passed the bar, I
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 5: saw Ambrose, deadly pale, looking after us as we left him.
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 5: The magistrate's decision had evidently daunted him. His brother Silas
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 5: had dropped in abject terror on the jailer's chair. The
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 5: miserable wretch shook and shuddered dumbly like a cowed dog.
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 5: Miss Meadowcroft returned with us to the farm, preserving unbroken silence.
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 5: On the way back, I could detect nothing in her
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 5: bearing which suggested any compassionate feeling for the prisoners in
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 5: her stern and secret nature. On Naomi's withdrawal to her
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 5: own room, we were left together for a few minutes,
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 5: and then, to my astonishment, the outwardly merciless woman showed
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 5: me that she too was one of Eve's daughters and
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 5: could feel and suffer in her own hard way like
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 5: the rest of us. She suddenly stepped close up to
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 5: me and laid her hand on my arm. You are
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 5: a lawyer, ain't you, she asked?
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 5: Have you had any experience in your profession? Ten years? Experience?
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 5: Do you think? She stopped abruptly, her hard face softened,
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 5: her eyes dropped to the ground. Never mind, she said, confusedly.
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 5: I'm upset by all this misery, though I may not
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 5: look like it. Don't notice me. She turned away. I waited,
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 5: in the firm persuasion that the unspoken question in her
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 5: mind would sooner or later force its way to utterance
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 5: by her lips. I was right. She came back to
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 5: me unwillingly, like a woman acting under some influence which
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 5: the utmost exertion of her will was powerless to resist.
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 5: Do you believe John Jago is still a living man?
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 5: She put the question vehemently, desperately, as if the words
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 5: rushed out of her mouth in spite of her I
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 5: do not believe it, I answered, Remember what John Jago
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 5: has suffered at the hands of my brother, She persisted,
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 5: Is it not in your experience that he should take
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 5: a sudden resolution to leave the farm? I replied, as
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 5: plainly as before, it is not in my experience. She
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 5: stood looking at me for a moment with a face
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 5: of blank despair, then bowed her gray head in silence
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 5: and left me. As she crossed the room to the door,
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 5: I saw her look upward, and I heard her say
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 5: to herself softly between her teeth, Vengeance's mine. I will
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 5: repay saith the Lord. It was the requiem of John Jago,
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 5: pronounced by the woman who loved him. When I next
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 5: saw her, her mask was on once more. Miss Meadowcroft
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 5: was herself again. Miss Meadowcroft could sit by impenetrably calm
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 5: while the lawyers discussed the terrible position of her brother's
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 5: with the scaffold in view as one of the possibilities
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 5: of the case. Left by by myself, I began to
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 5: feel uneasy about Naomi. I went upstairs, and, knocking softly
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 5: at her door, made my inquiries from outside. The clear
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 5: young voice answered me sadly, I am trying to bear it.
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 5: I won't distress you when we meet again. I descended
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 5: the stairs, feeling my first suspicion of the true nature
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 5: of my interest in the American girl. Why had her
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 5: answer brought the tears into my eyes. I went out,
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 5: walking alone to think undisturbedly. Why did the tones of
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 5: her voice dwell on my ear all the way? Why
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 5: did my hand still feel the last, cold, faint pressure
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 5: of her fingers when I led her out of court,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 5: I took a sudden resolution to go back to England.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 5: When I returned to the farm, it was evening. The
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 5: lamp was not yet lighted in the hall. Pausing to
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 5: accustom my eyes to the obscurity indoors, I heard the
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 5: voice of the lawyer whom we had employed for the defense,
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 5: speaking to some one very earnestly. I'm not to blame,
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 5: said the voice. She snatched the paper out of my
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 5: hand before I was aware of her. Do you want
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 5: it back, asked the voice of Miss Meadlcroft. No, it's
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 5: only copy. If keeping it will help to quiet her,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 5: let her keep it by all means. Good evening. Saying
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 5: these last words, the lawyer approached me on his way
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 5: out of the house. I stopped him without ceremony. I
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 5: felt an ungovernable curiosity to know more. Who snatched the
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 5: paper out of your hand? I asked bluntly. The lawyer started.
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 5: I had taken him by surprise. The instinct of professional
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 5: reticence made him pause before he answered me. In the
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 5: brief interval of silence, Miss Meadolcroft replied to my question
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 5: from the other end of the hall, Naomi Colbruk snatched
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 5: the paper out of his hand. What paper? A door
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 5: opened softly behind me. Naomi herself appeared on the threshold.
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 5: Naomi herself answered my question. I will tell you. She whispered,
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 5: come in here. One candle only was burning in the room.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 5: I looked at her by the dim light. My resolution
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 5: to return to England instantly became one of the lost
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 5: ideas of my life. Good God, I exclaimed, what has
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 5: happened now? She handed me the paper which she had
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 5: taken from the lawyer's hand. The copy to which he
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 5: had referred was a copy of the written confession of
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 5: Silas Meadlecroft. On his return to prison, he accused his
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 5: brother Ambrose of the murder of John Jago. He declared
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 5: on his oath that he had seen his brother Ambrose
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 5: commit the crime in the popular phrase, I could hardly
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 5: believe my own eyes. I read the last sentences of
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 5: the confession for the second time. I heard their voices
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 5: at the Lime kiln. They were having words about cousin Naomi.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 5: I ran to the place to part them. I was
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 5: not in time. I saw Ambrose strike the deceased a
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 5: terrible blow on the head with his Ambrose's heavy stick.
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 5: The deceased dropped without a cry. I put my hand
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 5: on his heart. He was dead. I was horribly frightened.
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 5: Ambrose threatened to kill me next if I said a
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 5: word to any living soul. He took up the body
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 5: and cast it into the quicklime, and threw the stick
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 5: in after it. We went on together to the wood.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 5: We sat down on a felled tree. Outside the wood.
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 5: Ambrose made up the story that we were to tell
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 5: if what he had done was found out. He made
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 5: me repeat it after him, like a lesson. We were
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 5: still at it when cousin Naomi and mister Lefrank came
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 5: up to us. They know the rest. This on my
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 5: oath is a true confession. I make it of my
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 5: own free will, repenting me sincerely that I did not
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 5: make it before, signed Silas Meadowcroft. I laid down the
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 5: paper and looked at Naomi once more. She spoke to
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 5: me with a strange composure. Immovable determination was in her eye.
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 5: Immovable determination was in her voice. Silas has lied away
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 5: his brother's life to save himself. She said, I see
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 5: cowardly falsehood and cowardly cruelty in every line on that paper.
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 5: Ambrose is innocent, and the time has come to prove it.
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 5: You forget, I said that we have just failed to
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 5: prove it. John Jago is alive, in hiding from us
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 5: and from all who know him. She went on, help
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 5: me friend le Frank to advertise for him in the newspapers.
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 5: I drew back from her in speechless distress. I own
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 5: I believed that the new misery which had fallen on
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 5: her had affected her brain. You don't believe it, she said,
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 5: shut the door. I obeyed her. She seated herself and
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 5: pointed to a chair near her sit down. She proceeded,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 5: I am going to do a wrong thing, but there
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 5: is no help for it. I am going to break
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 5: a sacred promise. You remember that moonlight night when I
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 5: met him on the garden walk, John Jago. Yes, now listen,
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 5: I am going to tell you what passed between John
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 5: Jago and me. End of chapter eight. Recording by Pam Moscato.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 5: Chapter nine of the Dead Alive, This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 5: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 5: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 5: by Pam Moscato. The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter nine,
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 5: the advertisement. I waited in silence for the disclosure that
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 5: was now to come. Naomi began by asking me a question.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 5: You remember when we went to see Ambrose in the prison,
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 5: She said, perfectly. Ambrose told us of something which his
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 5: villain of a brother said of John Jago and me.
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 5: Do you remember what it was? I remembered perfectly. Silas
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 5: had said, John Jago is too sweet on Naomi not
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 5: to come back. That's so, Naomi remarked. When I had
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 5: repeated the words. I couldn't help starting when I heard
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 5: that Silas had said, and I thought you noticed me.
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 5: I did notice you. Did you wonder what it meant? Yes,
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you it meant.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 2: This.
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 5: What Silas Meadowcroft said to his brother of John Jago
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 5: was what I myself was thinking of John Jago at
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 5: that very moment. It startled me to find my own
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 5: thought in a man's mind spoken for me by a man.
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 5: I am the person, sir, who has driven John Jago
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 5: away from Warwick Farm, and I am the person who
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 5: can and will bring him back again. There was something
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 5: in her manner, more than in her words, which let
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 5: the light in suddenly on my mind. You have told
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 5: me the secret, I said, John Jago is in love
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 5: with you. Mad about me, she rejoined, dropping her voice
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 5: to a whisper. Stark starring mad, that's the only word
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 5: for him. After we had taken a few turns on
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 5: the gravel walk, he suddenly broke out, like a man
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 5: beside himself. He fell down on his knees. He kissed
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 5: my gown, He kissed my feet. He sobbed, and he
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 5: cried for love of me. I'm not badly off or curd, sir,
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 5: considering I am a woman. No man that I can
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 5: call to mind ever really scared me before, But I
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 5: own John Jago frightened me. Oh my, he did frighten me.
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 5: My heart was in my mouth, and my knees shook
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 5: under me. I begged and prayed of him to get
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 5: up and go away.
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 2: No.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 5: There he knelt and held by the skirt of my gown.
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 5: The words poured out from him like well, like nothing.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 5: I can think of but water from a pump, his
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 5: happiness and his life, and his hopes, and earth and heaven,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 5: and Lord only knows what besides all depended, he said
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 5: on a word from me. I've plucked up my spirit
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 5: enough at that to remind him that I was promised
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 5: to Ambrose. I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 5: I said to own that you're wicked enough to love
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 5: me when you know I am promised to another man.
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 5: When I spoke to him, he took a new turn.
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 5: He began abusing Ambrose. That straightened me up. I snatched
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 5: my gown out of his hand, and I gave him
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 5: my whole mind. I hate you, I said, Even if
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 5: I wasn't promised Ambrose, I wouldn't marry you, No, not
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 5: if there wasn't another man left in the world to
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 5: ask me. I hate you, mister Yago, I hate you.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 5: He saw I was in earthness. At last he got
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 5: up from my feet, and he settled down quiet again.
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 5: All on a sudden, You have said enough, That was
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 5: how he answered me. You have broken my life. I
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 5: have no hopes and no prospects.
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 5: I had a pride in the farm miss and a
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 5: pride in my work. I bore with your brutish cousin's
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 5: hatred of me. I was faithful to mister Meadowcroft's interests.
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 5: All for your sake, Naomi Colbrook, All for your sake,
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 5: I have done with it. Now I have done with
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 5: my life at the farm. You will never be troubled
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 5: with me again. I am going away, as the dumb
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 5: creatures go when they are sick, to hide myself in
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 5: a corner and die. Do me one last favor. Don't
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 5: make me the laughing stock of the whole neighborhood. I
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 5: can't bear that. It maddens me only to think of it.
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 5: Give me your promise never to tell any living soul
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 5: what I have said to you to night, your sacred
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 5: promise to the man whose life you have broken. I
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 5: did as he bade me. I gave him my sacred
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 5: promise with the tears in my eyes. Yes, that is so.
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 5: After telling him, I hated him, and I did hate him.
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 5: I cried over his misery. I did mercy, what fools
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 5: woman are? What is the horrid perversity, sir, which makes
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 5: us always ready to pity the men? He held out
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 5: his hand to me, and he said good bye forever,
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 5: and I pitied him. I said, I'll shake hands with
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 5: you if you will give me your promise in exchange
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 5: for mine. I beg of you not to leave the farm.
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 5: What will my uncle do if you go away? Stay
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 5: here and be friends with me, and forget and forgive.
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 5: Mister John, he gave me his promise. He can refuse
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 5: me nothing. And he gave it again when I saw
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 5: him again the next morning. Yes, I'll do him justice.
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 5: Though I do hate him, I believe he honestly meant
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 5: to keep his word as long as my eye was
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 5: on him. It was only when he was left to
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 5: himself that the devil tempted him to break his promise
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 5: and leave the farm. I was brought up to believe
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 5: in the devil, mister le Frank, and I find it
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 5: explains many things. It explains John Jeh. Only let me
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 5: find out where he has gone, and I'll engage. He
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 5: shall come back in clear Ambrose of the suspicion which
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 5: his vile brother has cast on him. Here is the
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 5: pen all ready for you. Advertise for him, friend Lefrank,
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 5: and do it right away. For my sake, I let
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 5: her run on without attempting to dispute her conclusions until
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 5: she could say no more. When she put the pen
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 5: into my hand, I began the composition of the advertisement
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 5: as obediently as if I too believed that John Jago
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 5: was a living man. In the case of any one else,
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 5: I should have openly acknowledged that my own convictions remained unshaken.
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 5: If no quarrel had taken place at the Lime Kiln,
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 5: I should have been quite ready, as I viewed the case,
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 5: to believe that John Jago's disappearance was referable to the
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 5: terrible disappointment which Naomi inflicted on him. The same morbid
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 5: dread of ridicule which had led him to assert that
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 5: he cared nothing for Naomi when he and Silas had
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 5: quarreled under my bedroom window, might also have impelled him
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 5: to withdraw himself secretly and suddenly from the scene of
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 5: his discomfiture. But to ask me to believe, after what
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 5: had happened at the Lime Kiln, that he was still
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 5: living was to ask me to take Ambrose Meadowcroft's statement
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 5: for granted as a true statement of facts. I had
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 5: refused to do this from the first and I still
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 5: persisted in taking that course. If I had been called
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 5: upon to decide the balance of probability between the narrative
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 5: related by Ambrose in his defense and the narrative related
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 5: by Silas in his confession. I must have owned, no
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 5: matter how unwillingly, that the confession was, to my mind,
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 5: the least incredible story of the two. Could I say
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 5: this to Naomi, I would have written fifty advertisements inquiring
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 5: for John Jago rather than say it. And you would
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 5: have done the same if you had been as fond
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 5: of her as I was. I drew out the advertisement
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 5: for her insertion in the Morowick Mercury. In these terms,
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 5: murder printers of newspapers throughout the United States are desired
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 5: to publish that Ambrose Meadowcroft and Silas Meadowcroft, of Morowick Farm,
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 5: Morowick County, are committed for trial on the charge of
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 5: murdering John Jago, now missing from the farm and from
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 5: the neighborhood. Any person who can give information of the
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 5: existence of said Yago may save the lives of two
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 5: wrongly accused men by making immediate communication. Jago is about
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 5: five feet four inches high. He is spare and wiry.
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 5: His complexion is extremely pale. His eyes are dark and
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 5: very bright and restless. The lower part of his face
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 5: is concealed by a thick black beard and mustache. The
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 5: whole appearance of the man is wild and flighty. I
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 5: added the date and the address. That evening, a servant
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 5: was sent on horseback to Narrabee to procure the insertion
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 5: of the advertisement in the next issue of the newspaper.
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 5: When we parted that night, Naomi looked almost like her
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 5: brighter and happier self, now that the advertisement was on
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 5: its way to the printing office. She was more than sanguine.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 5: She was certain of the result. You don't know how
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 5: you have comforted me, she said in her frank, warm
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 5: hearted way. When we parted for the night. All the
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 5: newspapers will copy it, and we shall hear of John
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 5: Jago before the week is out. She turned to go
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 5: and came back again to me. I will never forgive
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 5: Silas for writing that confession, she whispered in my ear.
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 5: If he ever lives under the same roof with Ambrose again,
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 5: I well, I believe I wouldn't marry Ambrose if he did.
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 5: There she left me. Through the wakeful hours of the night,
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 5: my mind dwelt on her last words that she should
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 5: contemplate under any circumstances, even the bare possibility of not
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 5: marrying Ambrose was I am ashamed to say a direct
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 5: encouragement to certain hopes which I had already begun to
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 5: form in secret. The next day's mail brought me a
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 5: letter on business. My clerk wrote to inquire if there
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 5: was any chance of my returning to England in time
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 5: to appear in court at the opening of next law term.
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 5: I answered, without hesitation, it is still impossible for me
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 5: to fix the date of my return. Naomi was in
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 5: the room while I was writing. How would she have answered?
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 5: I wonder if I had told her the truth and said,
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 5: you are responsible for this letter. End of chapter nine.
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 5: Recording by Pam Mouscato, Chapter ten of The Dead Alive.
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 5: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 5: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 5: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Pam Muscato. The Dead
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 5: Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter ten. The Sheriff and the Governor.
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 5: The question of time was now a serious question at
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 5: Morwick Farm. In six weeks the Court for the Trial
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 5: of criminal cases was to be opened at Narrabee. During
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 5: this interval, no new event of any importance occurred. Many
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 5: idle letters reached us relating to the advertisement for John Jago,
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 5: but no positive information was received. Not the slightest trace
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 5: of the lost man turned up. Not the shadow of
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 5: a doubt was cast on the assertion of the prosecution
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 5: that his body had been destroyed in the kiln. Silas
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 5: Meadowcroft held firmly to the horrible confession that he had made.
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 5: His brother. Ambrose, with equal resolution, asserted his innocence and
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 5: reiterated the statement which he had already advanced at regular periods.
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 5: I accompanied Naomi to visit him in the prison.
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 2: As the day.
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 5: Appointed for the opening of the court approached, he seemed
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 5: to falter a little in his resolution. His manner became restless,
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 5: and he grew irritably suspicious about the merest trifles. This
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 5: change did not necessarily imply the consciousness of guilt. It
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 5: might merely have indicated natural nervous at day, as the
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 5: time for the trial drew near, Naomi noticed the alteration
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 5: in her lover. It greatly increased her anxiety, though it
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 5: never shook her confidence in Ambrose. Except at meal times.
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 5: I was left during the period of which I am
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 5: now writing, almost certainly alone with the charming American girl.
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 5: Miss Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings of the living
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 5: John Jago. In the privacy of her own room, Mister
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 5: Meadowcroft would see nobody but his daughter and his doctor,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 5: and occasionally one or two old friends. I have since
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 5: had reason to believe that Naomi, in these days of
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 5: our intimate association, discovered the true nature of the feeling
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 5: with which she had inspired me. But she kept her secret.
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 5: Her manner toward me steadily remained the manner of a sister.
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 5: She never overstepped by a hair breadth the safe limits
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 5: of the character that she had assumed. The sittings of
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 5: the court began. After hearing the evidence and examining the
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 5: confession of Silas Meadowcroft. The grand jury found a true
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 5: bill against both the prisoners. The day appointed for their
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 5: trial was the first day in the new week. I
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 5: had carefully prepared Naomi's mind for the decision of the
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 5: grand jury. She bore the new blow bravely. If you
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 5: are not tired of it, she said, come with me
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 5: to the prison tomorrow, Ambrose will need a little comfort.
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 5: By that time. She paused and looked at the day's
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 5: letters lying on the table. Still not a word about
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 5: John Jago, she said, and all the papers have copied
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 5: the advertisement. I felt so sure we should hear of
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 5: him long before this. Do you still feel sure that
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 5: he is living, I ventured to ask. I am as
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 5: certain of it as ever, she replied firmly. He is
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 5: somewhere in hiding. Perhaps he is in disguise. Suppose we
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 5: know no more of him than we know now when
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 5: the trial begins. Suppose the jury, she stopped, shuddering, death,
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 5: shameful death on the scaffold, might be the terrible result
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 5: of the consultation of the jury. We have waited for
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 5: news to come to us long enough, Naomi resumed. We
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 5: must find the tracks of John Jago for ourselves. There
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 5: is a week yet before the trial begins. Who will
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 5: help me to make inquiries? Will you be the man?
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 5: Friend le Frank. It is needless to add, though I
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 5: knew nothing would come of it, that I consented to
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 5: be the man. We arranged to apply that day for
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 5: the order of admission to the prison, and having seen
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 5: Ambrose to devote ourselves immediately to the contemplated search. How
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 5: that search was to be conducted was more than I
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 5: could tell, and more than Naomi could tell. We were
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 5: to begin by applying to the police to help us
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 5: to find John Jago, and we were then to be
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 5: guided by circumstances. Was there ever a more hopeless program
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 5: than this? Circumstances declared themselves against us at the starting.
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 5: I applied as usual for the order of admission to
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 5: the prison, and the order was for the first time refused,
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 5: no reason being assigned by the persons in authority for
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 5: taking this course. Inquire as I might, the only answer
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 5: given was not today. At Naomi's suggestion, we went to
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 5: the prison to seek the explanation, which was refused to
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 5: us at the office. The jailer on duty at the
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 5: outer gate was one of Naomi's many admirers. He solved
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 5: the mystery cautiously in a whisper. The sheriff and the
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 5: governor of the prison were then speaking privately with Ambrose
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 5: Metolcroft in his cell. They had expressly directed that no
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 5: persons should be admitted to see the prisoner that day,
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 5: but themselves what did it mean? We returned wandering to
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 5: the farm. There, Naomi, speaking by chance to one of
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 5: the female servants, made certain discoveries. Early that morning, the
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 5: sheriff had been brought to Morwick by an old friend
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 5: of the Meadowcrofts. A long interview had been held between
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 5: mister Meadowcroft and his daughter and the official personage introduced
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 5: by the friend. Leaving the farm, the sheriff had gone
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 5: straight to the prison and had proceeded with the Governor
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 5: to visit Ambrose in his cell. Was some potent influence
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 5: being brought privately to bear on ambrose appearances certainly suggested
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 5: that inquiry. Supposing the influence to have been really exerted.
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 5: The next question followed, what was the object in view?
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 5: We could only wait and see. Our patience was not
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 5: severely tried. The event of the next day enlightened us
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 5: in a very unexpected manner. Before noon the neighbors brought
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 5: startling news from the prison to the farm. Ambrose Meadowcroft
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 5: had confessed himself to be the murderer of John Jago.
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 5: He had signed the confession in the presence of the
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 5: Sheriff and the Governor. On that very day I saw
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 5: the document. It is needless to reproduce it here in substance,
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 5: Ambrose confessed what Silas had confessed, claiming, however, to have
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 5: only struck Jago under intolerable provocation so as to reduce
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 5: the nature of his offense against the law for murder
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 5: to manslaughter. Was the confession really the true statement of
• 1:47:43
  Speaker 5: what had taken place? Or had the sheriff and the Governor,
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 5: acting in the interests of the family name, persuaded Ambrose
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 5: to try this desperate means of escaping the ignominy of
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 5: death on the scaffold. The sheriff and the governor preserved
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 5: impenetrable silence until the pressure put on them judicially at
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 5: the trial obliged them to speak. Who was to tell
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 5: Naomi of this last and saddest of all the calamities
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 5: which had fallen on her? Knowing how I loved her
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 5: in sacred I felt an invincible reluctance to be the
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 5: person who revealed Ambrose Meadowcroft's degradation to his betrothed wife.
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 5: Had any other member of the family told her what
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 5: had happened, the lawyer was able to answer me. Miss
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 5: Meadowcroft had told her. I was shocked when I heard it.
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 5: Miss Meadowcroft was the last person in the house to
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 5: spare the poor girl. Miss Meadowcroft would make the hard
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 5: tidings doubly terrible to bear in the telling. I tried
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 5: to find Naomi without success. She had been always accessible
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 5: at other times. Was she hiding herself from me? Now?
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 5: The idea occurred to me as I was descending the
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 5: stairs after vainly knocking at the door of her room.
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 5: I was determined to see her. I waited a few
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 5: minutes and then ascended the stairs again. Suddenly, on the
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 5: landing I met her just leaving her room. She tried
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 5: to run back. I caught her by the arm and
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 5: detained her her with her free hand. She held her
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 5: handkerchief over her face so as to hide it from me.
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 5: You once told me I had comforted you. I said
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 5: to her gently, Won't you let me comfort you now?
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 5: She still struggled to get away, and still kept her
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 5: head turned from me. Don't you see that I am
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 5: ashamed to look you in the face. She said, in low,
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 5: broken tones, Let me go. I still persisted in trying
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 5: to soothe her. I drew her to the window seat.
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 5: I said I would wait until she was able to
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 5: speak to me. She dropped on the seat and wrung
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 5: her hands in her lap, Her downcast eyes still obstinately
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 5: avoided meeting mine. Oh, she said to herself, what madness
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 5: possessed me? Is it possible that I ever disgraced myself
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 5: by loving Ambrose Meadowcroft? She shuddered as the idea found
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 5: its weight to expression on her lips. The tears rolled
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 5: slowly over her cheeks. Don't despise me, mister le Frank,
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 5: she said faintly. I tried, honestly, tried to put the
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 5: confession before her in its least unfavorable light. His resolution
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 5: has given way, I said. He has done this despairing
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 5: of proving his innocence in terror of the scaffold. She
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 5: rose with an angry stamp of her foot. She turned
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 5: her face on me, with a deep red flush of
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 5: shame in it, and the big tears glistening in her eyes.
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 5: No more of him, she said, sternly. If he is
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 5: not a murderer, what else is he? A liar and
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 5: a coward? In which of his characters does he disgrace me? Most?
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 5: I have done with him forever. I will never speak
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 5: to him again. She pushed me furiously, away from her,
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 5: advanced a few steps toward her own door, stopped, and
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 5: came back to me. The generous nature of the girl
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 5: spoke in her next words, I am not ungrateful to you, friend, Lefrank.
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 5: A woman in my place is only a woman, and
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 5: when she is shamed as I am, she feels it
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 5: very bitterly. Give me your hand, God bless you. She
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 5: put my hand to her lips before I was aware
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 5: of her, and kissed it, and ran back to her room.
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 5: I sat down on the place which she had occupied.
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 5: She had looked at me for one moment when she
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 5: kissed my hand. I forgot Ambrose and his confession. I
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 5: forgot the coming trial. I forgot my professional duties and
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 5: my English friends. There I sat in a fool's elyssium
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 5: of my own making, with absolutely nothing in my mind
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 5: but the picture of Naomi's face at the moment when
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 5: she had last looked at me. I have already mentioned
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 5: that I was in love with her. I merely add
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 5: this to satisfy you that I tell the truth. End
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 5: of chapter ten. Recording by Pam Muscato. Chapter eleven of
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 5: the Dead Alive. This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 5: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 5: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Pam Muscato,
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 5: The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter eleven, The Pebble
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 5: and the Window. Miss Meadowcroft and I were the only
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 5: representatives of a family at the farm who attended the trial.
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 5: We went separately to niribi. Miss Meadowcroft had not said
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 5: one word to me since the time when I had
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 5: told her that I did not believe John Jago to
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 5: be a living man. I have purposely abstained from encumbering
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 5: my narrative with legal details. I now proposed to state
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 5: the nature of the defense in the briefest outline only.
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 5: We insisted on making both the prisoners plead not guilty.
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 5: This done, we took an objection to the legality of
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 5: the proceedings. At starting. We appealed to the old English
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 5: law that there should be no conviction for murder until
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 5: the body of the murdered person was found or proof
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 5: of its destruction obtained beyond a doubt. We denied that
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 5: sufficient proof had been obtained in the case now before
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 5: the court. The judges consulted and decided that the trials
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 5: should go on. We took our next objection. When the
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 5: confessions were produced in evidence, we declared that they had
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 5: been extorted by terror or by undue influence, and we
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 5: pointed out certain minor particulars in which the two confessions
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 5: failed to corroborate each other. For the rest our defense
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 5: on this occasion was, as to essentials, what our defense
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 5: had been at the inquiry before the magistrate. Once more
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 5: the judges consulted, and once more they over ruled our objection.
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 5: The confessions were admitted in evidence. On their side, the
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 5: prosecution produced one new witness in support of their case.
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 5: It is needless to waste time in recapitulating his evidence.
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 5: He contradicted himself gravely on cross examination, we showed plainly,
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 5: and after investigation proved that he was not to be believed.
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 5: On his oath, the Chief Justice summed up. He charged,
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 5: in relation to the confessions that no weight should be
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 5: attached to a confession incited by hope or fear, and
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 5: he left it to the jury to determine whether the
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 5: confessions in this case had been so influenced. In the
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 5: course of the trial, it had been shown for the
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 5: defense that the sheriff and the governor of the prison
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 5: had told Ambrose, with his father's knowledge and sanction, that
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 5: the case was clearly against him, that the only chance
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 5: of sparing his family the disgrace of his death by
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 5: public execution lay in making a confession, and that they
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 5: would do their best if he did confess, to have
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 5: his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. As for Silas,
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 5: he was proved to have been beside himself with terror
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 5: when he made his abominable charge against his brother. We
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 5: had vainly trusted to the evidence on these two points
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 5: to induce the court to reject the confessions, and we
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 5: were destined to be once more disappointed in anticipating that
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 5: the same evidence would influence the verdict of the jury
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 5: on the side of mercy. After an absence of an hour,
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 5: they returned into court with a verdict of guilty against
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 5: both the prisoners. Being asked in due form if they
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 5: had anything to say in mitigation of their sentence, Ambrose
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 5: and Silas solemnly declared their innocence and publicly acknowledged that
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 5: their respective confessions had been wrung from them by the
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 5: hope of escape. Taping the hangman's hands. This statement was
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 5: not noticed by the bench. The prisoners were both sentenced
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 5: to death. On my return to the farm, I did
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 5: not see Naomi. Miss Meadowcroft informed her of the result
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 5: of the trial. Half an hour later, one of the
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 5: woman's servants handed to me an envelope bearing my name
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 5: on it in Naomi's handwriting. The envelope enclosed a letter
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 5: and with it a slip of paper on which Naomi
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 5: had hurriedly written these words. For God's sake, read the
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 5: letter I send to you, and do something about it. Immediately.
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 5: I looked at the letter. It assumed to be written
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 5: by a gentleman in New York. Only the day before
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 5: he had, by the merest accident, seen the advertisement for
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 5: John Jago, cut out of a newspaper and pasted into
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 5: a book of curiosities kept by a friend. Upon this
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 5: he wrote to Morwick Farm to say that he had
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 5: seen a man exactly answering to the description of John Jago,
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 5: but bearing another name, working as a clerk in a
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 5: merchant's office in Jersey City. Having time to spare before
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 5: the mail went out, he had returned to the office
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 5: to take another look at the man. Before he posted
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 5: this letter to his surprise, he was informed that the
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 5: clerk had not appeared at his desk that day. His
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 5: employer had sent to his lodgings and had been informed
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 5: that he had suddenly packed up his hand bag after
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 5: reading the newspaper at breakfast, had paid his rent honestly,
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 5: and had gone away. Nobody knew where. It was late
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 5: in the evening when I read these lines, I had
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 5: time for reflection before it would be necessary for me
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 5: to act. Assuming the letter to be genuine, and adopting
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 5: Naomi's explanation of the motive which had led John Jogo
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 5: to absent himself secretly from the firm, I reached the
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 5: conclusion that the search for him might be usefully limited
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 5: to Narrabee and to the surrounding neighborhood. The newspaper at
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 5: his breakfast had no doubt given him his first information
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 5: of the finding of the grand jury and of the
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 5: trial to follow. Was in my experience of human nature
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 5: that he should venture back to Narrabie under these circumstances,
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 5: and under the influence of his infatuation for Naomi. More
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 5: than this, it was again in my experience, I am
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 5: sorry to say that he should attempt to make the
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 5: critical position of Ambrose a means of extorting Naomi's consent
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 5: to listen favorably to his suit. Cruel indifference to the
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 5: injury and the suffering which his sudden absence might inflict
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 5: on others was plainly implied in his secret withdrawal from
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 5: the farm. The same cruel indifference, pushed to a further extreme,
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 5: might well lead him to press his proposals privately on Naomi,
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 5: and to fix her acceptance of them as the price
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 5: to be paid for saving her cousin's life. To these conclusions,
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 5: I arrived after much thinking. I had determined, on Naomi's
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 5: account to clear the matter up. But it is only
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 5: candid to add that my doubts of John Jago's existence
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 5: remained unshaken by the life. I believed it to be
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 5: nothing more nor less than a heartless and stupid hoax.
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 5: The striking of the hall clock roused me from my meditations.
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 5: I counted the strokes. Midnight, I rose to go up
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 5: to my room. Everybody else in the farm had retired
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 5: to bed as usual, more than an hour since the
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 5: stillness in the house was breathless. I walked softly by
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 5: instinct as I crossed the room to look out at
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 5: the night. A lovely moonlight met my view. It was
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 5: like the moonlight on the fatal evening when Naomi had
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 5: met John Jago on the garden walk. My bedroom candle
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 5: was on the side table. I had just lighted it.
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 5: I was just leaving the room when the door suddenly opened,
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 5: and Naomi herself stood before me, recovering the first shook
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 5: of her sudden appearance. I saw instantly in her eager eyes,
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 5: in her deadly pale cheeks, that something serious had happened.
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 5: A large cloak was thrown over her, A white handkerchief
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 5: was tied over her head. Her hair was disorder. She
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 5: had evidently just risen in fear and in haste from
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 5: her bed. What is it? I asked, advancing to meet her.
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 5: She clung, trembling with agitation to my arm. John Jacko,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 5: she whispered, you will think my obstinacy invincible. I could
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 5: hardly believe it even then. Where I asked in the
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 5: back yard, she replied, under my bedroom window. The emergency
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 5: was far too serious to allow of any consideration for
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 5: the small proprieties of every day life. Let me see him,
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 5: I said, I am here to fetch you, she answered,
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 5: in her frank and fearless way, Come upstairs with me.
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 5: Her room was on the first floor of the house
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 5: and was the only bedroom which looked out on the
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 5: back yard. On our way up the stairs, she told
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 5: me what had happened. I was in bed, she said,
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 5: but not asleep when I heard a pebble strike against
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 5: the window pane. I waited, wondering what it meant. Another
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 5: pebble was thrown against the glass. So far I was surprised,
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 5: but not frightened. I got up and ran to the
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 5: window to look out. There was John Jago looking up
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 5: at me in the moonlight. Did he see you? Yes?
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 5: He said, come down and speak to me. I have
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 5: something serious to say to you. Did you answer him?
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 5: As soon as I could catch my breath, I said,
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 5: wait a little and ran downstairs to you. What shall
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 5: I do? Let me see him and I will tell you.
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 5: We entered her room, keeping cautiously behind the window curtain.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 5: I looked out. There he was. His beard and mustache
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 5: were shaved off, his hair was close cut, but there
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 5: was no disguising his wild brown eyes or the peculiar
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 5: movement of his spare, wiry figure. As he walked slowly
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 5: to and fro in the moonlight, waiting for Naomi for
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 5: the moment, my agitation almost overpowered me. I had so
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 5: firmly disbelieved that John Jago was a living man. What
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 5: shall I do, Naomi repeated, Yes, the door of the
• 2:00:52
  Speaker 5: dairy open. I asked, no, But the door of the
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 5: tool house round the corner is not locked. Very good,
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 5: show yourself the window and say to him, I am
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 5: coming directly. The brave girl obeyed me without a moment's hesitation.
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 5: There had been no doubt about his eyes and his gait.
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 5: There was no doubt now about his voice, as he
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 5: answered softly from below. All right, keep him talking to
• 2:01:15
  Speaker 5: you where he is now, I said to Naomi, until
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 5: I have time to get round by the other way
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 5: to the tool house. Then pretend to be fearful of
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 5: discovery in the dairy and bring him round the corner
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 5: so that I can hear him behind the door. We
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 5: left the house together and separated silently. Naomi followed my
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 5: instructions with a woman's quick intelligence where stratagems are concerned.
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 5: I had hardly been a minute in the tool house
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 5: before I heard him speaking to Naomi. On the other
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 5: side of the door. The first words which I caught
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 5: distinctly related to his motive for secretly leaving the farm.
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 5: Mortified Pride, doubly mortified by Naomi's contemptuous refusal and by
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 5: the personal indignity offered to him by Ambrose, was at
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 5: the bottom of his conduct. In absenting himself from Warwick.
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 5: He owned that he had seen the advertisement, and that
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 5: it had actually encouraged him to keep in hiding. After
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 5: being laughed at and insulted and denied, I was glad,
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 5: said the miserable Wrench, to see that some of you
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 5: had serious reason to wish me back again. It rests
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 5: with you, miss Naomi, to keep me here and to
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 5: persuade me to save Ambrose by showing myself and owning
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 5: to my name. What do you mean, I heard Naomi
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 5: ask sternly. He lowered his voice, but I could still
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 5: hear him. Promise you will marry me, he said, And
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 5: I will go before the magistrate tomorrow and show him
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 5: that I am a living man. Suppose I refuse, in
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 5: that case, you will lose me again, and none of
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 5: you will find me till Ambrose is hanged. You are
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 5: villain enough John Jago. To mean what you say, asked
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 5: the girl, raising her voice. If you attempt to give
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 5: the alarm, he answered, as true as God's above us.
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 5: You will feel my hand on your throat. It's my
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 5: turn now, miss, and I am not to be trifled with.
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 5: Will you have me for your husband? Yes? Or no? No,
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 5: she answered loudly and firmly. I burst open the door
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 5: and seized him as he lifted his hand on her.
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 5: He had not suffered from the nervous derangement which had
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 5: weakened me, and he was the stronger man of the two.
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 5: Naomi saved my life. She struck up his pistol as
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 5: he pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand,
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 5: and presented it at my head. The bullet was fired
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 5: into the air. I tripped up his heels at the
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 5: same moment. The report of the pistol had alarmed the house.
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 5: We two together kept him on the ground until help arrived.
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 5: End of chapter eleven. Recording by Pam Moscato.
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 6: Chapter twelve of The Dead Alive. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 6: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 2:03:53
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  Speaker 6: by Lucy Parwri The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins, Chapter twelve,
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  Speaker 6: The End of It. John Jago was brought before the
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  Speaker 6: magistrate and John Jago was identified the next day. The
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  Speaker 6: lives of Ambrose and Silas were of course no longer
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  Speaker 6: in peril so far as human justice was concerned, but
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  Speaker 6: there were legal delays to be encountered and legal formalities
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  Speaker 6: to be observed before the brothers could be released from prison.
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  Speaker 6: In the characters of Innocent Men. During the interval which
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  Speaker 6: thus elapsed, certain events happened which may be briefly mentioned
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  Speaker 6: here Before I close my narrative. Mister Meadowcroft, the elder,
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  Speaker 6: broken by the suffering which he had gone through, died
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  Speaker 6: suddenly of a rheumatic affection of the heart. A condicil
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  Speaker 6: attached to his will abundantly justified what Naomi had told
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  Speaker 6: me of Miss Meadowcroft's influence over her father and of
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  Speaker 6: the end she had in view in exercising it. A
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  Speaker 6: life income only was left to mister Meadowcroft's sons. The
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  Speaker 6: freehold of the farm was bequeathed to his daughter, with
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  Speaker 6: the testatus recommendation added that she should marry his best
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  Speaker 6: and dearest friend, mister John Jago. Armed with the power
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  Speaker 6: of the will, the heiress of Morrick sent an insolent
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  Speaker 6: message to Naomi, requesting her no longer to consider herself
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  Speaker 6: one of the inmates at the farm, Miss Meadowcroft. It
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  Speaker 6: should be here, added positively, refused to believe that John
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  Speaker 6: Jago had ever asked Naomi to be his wife, or
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  Speaker 6: had ever threatened her, as I had heard him threaten
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  Speaker 6: her if she refused. She accused me as she accused
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  Speaker 6: Naomi of trying meanly to injure John Jago in her estimation,
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  Speaker 6: out of hatred toward that much injured man. And she
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  Speaker 6: sent to me, as she had sent to Naomi, a
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  Speaker 6: formal notice to leave the house. We two pannished ones
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  Speaker 6: met the same day in the hall with our traveling
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  Speaker 6: bags in our hands. We are turned out together, friendly Frank,
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  Speaker 6: said Naomi, with her quaintly comical smile. You will go
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  Speaker 6: back to England, I guess, And I must make my
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  Speaker 6: own living in my own country. Women can get employment
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  Speaker 6: in the States if they have a friend to speak
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  Speaker 6: for them. Where shall I find somebody who can give
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  Speaker 6: me a place? I saw my way to saying the
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  Speaker 6: right word at the right moment. I have got a
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  Speaker 6: place to offer you, I replied. She suspected nothing so far.
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  Speaker 6: That's lucky, sir, was all she said. Is it in
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  Speaker 6: a telegraph office or in a dry goods store? I
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  Speaker 6: astonished my little American friend by taking her then and
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  Speaker 6: there in my arms and giving her my first kiss.
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  Speaker 6: The office is by my fireside, I said. The salary
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  Speaker 6: is anything in reason you like to ask me for,
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  Speaker 6: and the place, Naomi, if you have no objection to it,
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  Speaker 6: is the place of my wife. I have no more
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  Speaker 6: to say except that years have passed since I spoke
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  Speaker 6: those words, and that I am as fond of Naomi
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  Speaker 6: as ever. Some months after our marriage, missus Lee Frank
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  Speaker 6: wrote to a friend at Narraby for news of what
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  Speaker 6: was going on at the farm. The answer informed us
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  Speaker 6: that Ambrose and Silas had emigrated to New Zealand, and
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  Speaker 6: that Miss Meadowcroft was alone at Morrick Farm. John Jago
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  Speaker 6: had refused to marry her. John Jago had disappeared again,
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  Speaker 6: nobody knew where, noting conclusion. The first idea of this
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  Speaker 6: little story was suggested to the author by a printed
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  Speaker 6: account of a trial which actually took place early in
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  Speaker 6: the present century in the United States. The published narrative
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  Speaker 6: of this strange case is entitled The Trial, Confessions and
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  Speaker 6: Conviction of Jesse and Stephen Bourne for the Murder of
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  Speaker 6: Russell Colvin and the Return of the Man supposed to
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  Speaker 6: have been murdered by Honorable Leonard Sergeant, ex Lieutenant Governor
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  Speaker 6: of Vermont, Manchester, Vermont Journal, Book and Job Office, eighteen
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  Speaker 6: seventy three. Not be amiss to add, for the benefit
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  Speaker 6: of incredulous readers, that all the improbable events in the
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  Speaker 6: story are matters of fact taken from the printed narrative.
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  Speaker 6: Anything which looks like truth is in nine cases out
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  Speaker 6: of ten the invention of the author WC. End of
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  Speaker 6: Chapter twelve, recording by Lucy Perry in Bath on July third,
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  Speaker 6: twenty ten. End of the Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins