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Three Supernatural Stories - Wilhelmina FitzClarence · An Essay on Demonology, Ghosts and Apparitions, and Popular Superstitions

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  Speaker 1: Section one of three supernatural stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Three
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  Speaker 1: supernatural Stories by Wilhelmina FitzClarence. The Tyburn Ghost. Some years
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  Speaker 1: ago a lady and her three daughters, who generally resided
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  Speaker 1: in the country, had reason to visit the metropolis after
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  Speaker 1: some trouble in the way of house hunting. They settled
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  Speaker 1: in a lodging located in a small street in close
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  Speaker 1: proximity to the Marble Arch Hyde Park. It was summer time,
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  Speaker 1: about the middle of July, and the heat being intense.
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  Speaker 1: The atmosphere, or the want of it in a small
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  Speaker 1: lodging house, was very oppressed. Missus Dale, however, was not
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  Speaker 1: very sensitive to stuffiness. Besides which, had she been so,
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  Speaker 1: she was not well off enough to afford a more
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  Speaker 1: spacious dwelling. Indeed, had it not been for the landlady's
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  Speaker 1: obliging disposition and readiness to accede to some alterations suggested
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  Speaker 1: by missus Dale in the arrangement of the apartment, the
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  Speaker 1: latter lady would have been forced to seek a Pierre
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  Speaker 1: de Taire, in a still less fashionable locality than even
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  Speaker 1: Dash Street. But to make our story clear we must
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  Speaker 1: describe the relative positions of the rooms in Dash Street,
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  Speaker 1: as well as what were the slight alterations suggested by
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  Speaker 1: missus Dale and carried out by the obliging missus Parsons, who,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that the season was more than half over, felt
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  Speaker 1: it was better to put herself out a little than
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  Speaker 1: not to let her rooms at all. The five Dash
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  Speaker 1: Street was a tenement of the most conventional furnished apartment type,
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  Speaker 1: and the rooms heard by missus Dale consisted of two
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  Speaker 1: small sitting rooms on the drawing room floor, with folding
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  Speaker 1: doors between them, and one tolerably good sized bedroom on
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  Speaker 1: the upper story, situated exactly above the front sitting room.
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  Speaker 1: There was a large four poster in this upper bedroom
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  Speaker 1: in which the two elder young ladies agreed to repose together,
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  Speaker 1: and missus Dale persuaded the landlady to allow another four
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  Speaker 1: poster to be placed in the back sitting room for
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  Speaker 1: her convenience and that of her youngest daughter, they also
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  Speaker 1: electing to sleep therein together. This was an economical arrangement,
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  Speaker 1: necessitating the use of only two beds instead of four
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  Speaker 1: or at least of three, and as lodging housekeeper's charge
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  Speaker 1: according to the number of the beds used. The arrangement
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  Speaker 1: was a satisfactory one for missus Dale. Upon the appointed day,
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  Speaker 1: rather late in the evening, the Dale family arrived in
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  Speaker 1: Dash Street. Missus Dale had had some business to transact
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  Speaker 1: in the city, so after a frugal supper, they began
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  Speaker 1: to think of retiring for the night. Missus Parson's, being
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  Speaker 1: a busy, hard working woman, was nothing loth and soon
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  Speaker 1: brought in the extra bed, toilet table, et cetera, and,
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  Speaker 1: after bidding her lodgers a hearty good night, left them
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  Speaker 1: to themselves. Missus Dale had already thrown herself into the
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  Speaker 1: expectant arms of an inviting for toy, intent upon enjoying
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  Speaker 1: a free and easy yawn, when she suddenly noticed for
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  Speaker 1: the first time that there was a balcony outside the
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  Speaker 1: window which ran along the whole row of the Dash
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  Speaker 1: Street houses. Not being of an imaginative temperament, however, the
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  Speaker 1: only nocturnal danger which presented itself to the lady's innocently
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  Speaker 1: conventional mind was cats. Thereupon, the following colloquy took place
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  Speaker 1: between her and her daughter, Minnie, who was to be
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  Speaker 1: her bed fellow, Minnie, mind you shut that window by
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  Speaker 1: all means, mother, and mind you lock it too, for
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  Speaker 1: I am terrified at cat's Minnie was a very dutiful daughter,
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  Speaker 1: but all the same she could not but think in
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  Speaker 1: her inner consciousness that if the window were shut, it
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  Speaker 1: would take a very uncommon cat to open it, even
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  Speaker 1: if it were not locked. She, however, silently and humbly
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  Speaker 1: obeyed orders, and after much straining and struggling, managed to
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  Speaker 1: shut and lock the window, thus imprisoning within the stuffy
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  Speaker 1: little room the pleasing odor of the evening meal, which
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  Speaker 1: had consisted of pickled summon and Welsh rarebit, and also
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  Speaker 1: effectually preventing the entrance of the least breath of fresh air.
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  Speaker 1: And now that we are comfortable, said missus Dale, whose
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  Speaker 1: complexion was shining from a combination of heat and heat,
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  Speaker 1: we may as well go to bed accordingly. Having kissed
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  Speaker 1: and dismissed her two daughters, who were to sleep upstairs,
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  Speaker 1: she and Minnie commenced disrobing themselves in the back sitting room.
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  Speaker 1: I think, said missus Dale, after pondering a little, that
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  Speaker 1: if we lock both the doors which open into the
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  Speaker 1: drawing rooms from the staircase. We might safely sleep with
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  Speaker 1: the folding doors open between the two rooms, and so
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  Speaker 1: be cooler, and we shall get more air that is
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  Speaker 1: the atmosphere of the pickled salmon, et cetera. Don't you
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  Speaker 1: think we will do so? Said the obedient Minnie, flinging
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  Speaker 1: open the folding doors. She then kissed her mother affectionately
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  Speaker 1: and got into bed. Now the room was small, and
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  Speaker 1: the four poster was large, so it had been found
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  Speaker 1: necessary to place the latter almost in the center of
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  Speaker 1: the former. There was just room for one chair between
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  Speaker 1: the bed and the wall on Minnie's side, and only
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  Speaker 1: a little larger space accompanied by an ottoman and a
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  Speaker 1: small table upon missus Dale's side. By this time, Minnie,
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  Speaker 1: who was the most active and efficient sister of the
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  Speaker 1: three and upon whom the principal responsibilities of the family
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  Speaker 1: were laid, was very tired, and soon, very soon after
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  Speaker 1: she had felt her mother lie down by her side,
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  Speaker 1: she fell fast asleep. The ladies were lying back to back,
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  Speaker 1: Minnie's face being turned to the wall, and her mother's
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  Speaker 1: towards the ottoman on the other side of the room. Suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: Minnie was awakened by a sharp exclamation of seeming terror
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  Speaker 1: from her mother, and turning round, she beheld the old
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  Speaker 1: lady sitting bolt upright in the bed. Her teeth were chattering,
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  Speaker 1: her nightcap was awry, and she was shaking in every limb.
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  Speaker 1: What's the matter, mother, I've I've seen something, she gasped.
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  Speaker 1: But what what? An old hag with a villainous face
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  Speaker 1: and hanging lips. Oh, mother, don't you think it's fancy?
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  Speaker 1: You know you never sleep well in a strange bed.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't fancy, answered the terrified woman. She passed along there,
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  Speaker 1: pointing with a shaking hand along the wall, and when
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  Speaker 1: she turned and saw me looking at her, she came
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  Speaker 1: close to me in a threatening way and put her horrid,
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  Speaker 1: putrid looking face close into mine. Faugh, I smelt death.
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  Speaker 1: She also nodded viciously and laughed at my fright, showing black,
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  Speaker 1: slimy teeth. Then she pointed jeeringly with her brown skeleton
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  Speaker 1: finger close to my face and curtseyed very low, and
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  Speaker 1: the perspiration poured off the poor old lady's face. At
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  Speaker 1: the recollection, dearest mother said Minnie tenderly, you are overtired
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  Speaker 1: and nervous, Come and sleep this side of the bed,
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  Speaker 1: for no one can get at you here between the
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  Speaker 1: bed and the wall. And the good daughter hoped her
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  Speaker 1: mother over into her place. While she lay down in
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  Speaker 1: her mother's feeling convinced that the older lady was suffering
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  Speaker 1: from the effects of pickled salmon, Minnie slept peacefully for
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  Speaker 1: some time when suddenly she awoke, feeling curiously uneasy, and
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  Speaker 1: for some reason she dreaded to open her eyes. Then,
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  Speaker 1: after a second or two, she began to realize that something,
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  Speaker 1: some one was very close to her, that, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: a face was almost touching hers, for she smelt a
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  Speaker 1: fetid breath like to what she fancied must be the
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  Speaker 1: odor of the grave. With an effort, she opened her
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  Speaker 1: eyes and beheld the figure of an old woman, who,
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  Speaker 1: as the terrified girl started into a sitting posture, retreated
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  Speaker 1: to the foot of the bed, seemingly prepared, however, to
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  Speaker 1: spring upon its occupant, for she clung to both the
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  Speaker 1: bed posts with her brown claw like hands, both arms distended,
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  Speaker 1: and her head bent slightly forward, her small, lithe body
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  Speaker 1: meanwhile swaying to and fro as though to give it
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  Speaker 1: the necessary impetus. The hag's face was the wickedest Minnie
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  Speaker 1: had ever seen, and was mottled and brown in color,
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  Speaker 1: as though in a state of decomposition. She wore an
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  Speaker 1: old fashioned mob cap trimmed with a wreath of roses,
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  Speaker 1: an incongruous head dress for so ghastly a head, and
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  Speaker 1: a malicious grin parted the charred and blackened lips. She
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  Speaker 1: was dressed in a brown silk sack embroidered all over
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  Speaker 1: with pink roses, and Minnie fancied. She heard the tapping
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  Speaker 1: of high heeled shoes as the detestable apparition, seemingly changing
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  Speaker 1: its intention, relinquished the bed posts and once more began
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  Speaker 1: to approach her, curtseying ironically as though enjoying the girl's terror.
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  Speaker 1: But Minnie, being religiously courageous, pulled herself together, and the
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  Speaker 1: sacred words seemed to spring solemnly to her lips. In
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
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  Speaker 1: I bid thee be gone. A mingled expression of fear
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  Speaker 1: and malignant hatred appeared in the evil Hag's face as
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  Speaker 1: Minnie slowly uttered these words. Then the figure shrank, crouched
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  Speaker 1: against the wall and finally disappeared. Minnie knew now that
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  Speaker 1: she had seen an evil spirit, and was also convinced
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  Speaker 1: that her adjuration had had effect, and that she should
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  Speaker 1: never be troubled again in the same way those sacred
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  Speaker 1: words would always she felt have power, complete power over
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  Speaker 1: the devil and his angels. So in peace she lay
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  Speaker 1: down and slept till morning. She deemed it best to
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  Speaker 1: say nothing to her mother of what she had seen,
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  Speaker 1: and when the old lady, while dressing the next morning,
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  Speaker 1: reiterated her assertion that what she had seen was not
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  Speaker 1: a dream, nor had it been nightmare, all that Minnie
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  Speaker 1: answered was she hoped her mother would not relate her
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  Speaker 1: experiences to the two sisters who slept upstairs, as it
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  Speaker 1: was no use to frighten them. To this, missus Dale agreed.
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  Speaker 1: The old lady felt nervous all the same for a
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  Speaker 1: night or two after the strange occurrence, but being troubled
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  Speaker 1: no more by the unpleasant nocturnal visitor, she became quite
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  Speaker 1: bold and began to think that, after all, it might
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  Speaker 1: have been the fault of the pickled salmon, and that
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  Speaker 1: the Welsh rabbit might also have had something to do
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  Speaker 1: with it, having also a great deal of business to
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  Speaker 1: transact in the city, and the rooms being convenient, she
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  Speaker 1: decided to stay a fortnight longer in Dash Street. One day,
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  Speaker 1: the second sister, Janet, asked for a private word with
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  Speaker 1: Minnie and told her that she, Janet, felt very ill,
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  Speaker 1: and that both she and the other sister, Marry by name,
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  Speaker 1: fancied there must be something unwholesome in the bedroom in
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  Speaker 1: which they slept, as they had neither of them felt
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  Speaker 1: well since their seizure In Dash Street. Minnie looked anxiously
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  Speaker 1: at her sisters and could not but acknowledge to herself
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  Speaker 1: that they they both looked ill, and reproached herself for
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  Speaker 1: not having noticed it before. The fortnight was, however, nearly over,
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  Speaker 1: so she spoke to her mother, and it was settled
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  Speaker 1: that they should leave the very next day, but that
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  Speaker 1: they must send for the landlady and tell her so,
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  Speaker 1: as she was expecting them to stay a day or
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  Speaker 1: two longer. Missus Parsons was much put out at the news,
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  Speaker 1: and asked the reason of so sudden a departure. Was
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  Speaker 1: there anything she could do, or had she left anything undone.
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  Speaker 1: As she spoke, she looked in a strangely suspicious manner
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  Speaker 1: at missus Dale and murmured. She hoped if there was
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  Speaker 1: any reason of complaint that the ladies would tell her.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, missus Parsons answered missus Dale, we have been
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  Speaker 1: most comfortable, but my daughters fancy there is a smell
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  Speaker 1: in their bedroom upstairs, and that consequently it is not
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  Speaker 1: quite wholesome. Can you account for this? I hope the
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  Speaker 1: young ladies will tell me exactly from what they suffer.
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything else besides the smell? Minnie turned to Janet,
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  Speaker 1: who looked as though she could barely stand, and gasped out, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I will tell the truth, and Mary come here and
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  Speaker 1: corroborate what I say, for I can bear it no longer,
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  Speaker 1: missus Parsons. Every night for the last week or more,
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  Speaker 1: between the hours of one and three, my sister and
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  Speaker 1: I are visited by a villainous old hag, and at
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  Speaker 1: the remembrance of what she had gone through a distress
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  Speaker 1: and terror. Janet so nearly swooned that after a few
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  Speaker 1: minutes Mary was compelled to become spokeswoman. Yes, she said,
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  Speaker 1: what Janet says is true. But we kept silence, knowing
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  Speaker 1: it was an object to mother to remain here. The
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  Speaker 1: old hag Mary continued shuddering. Looks like a devil, and
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  Speaker 1: as though she had moldered for years in her grave.
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  Speaker 1: Her lips look as though they were falling off. Horrible,
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  Speaker 1: horrible enough, said missus Parsons, holding up her hand. I
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  Speaker 1: know it all, and this ghost house has been my ruin.
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  Speaker 1: I ought never to have stayed here, but what can
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  Speaker 1: a poor widow do. I got it cheap as it
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  Speaker 1: had a bad name, and now see. She then related
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  Speaker 1: that the house had been sold to her cheap by
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  Speaker 1: a relative who had warned her it was haunted by
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  Speaker 1: the old woman whom the Dale family had seen. She
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  Speaker 1: had never seen the ghost herself and would not believe
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  Speaker 1: in it, but upon making anxious researches, she had discovered
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  Speaker 1: that the house was built on the very site of Tyburn,
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  Speaker 1: and once, when for sanitary purpose excavations had been made,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of charred bones had been unearthed, thereby attesting
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  Speaker 1: to the truth of what she had been told. After
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  Speaker 1: hearing her story, Missus Dale felt sorry for the woman,
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  Speaker 1: and before leaving, made her a small present in money,
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  Speaker 1: at the same time impressing upon her that it was
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  Speaker 1: scarcely fair or honorable for her under the circumstances to
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  Speaker 1: receive lodgers. She also offered to help her always in
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  Speaker 1: any small way she could, and she felt glad afterwards
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  Speaker 1: to think she had done so. For not many months
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  Speaker 1: later she read in the papers that number five Dash
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  Speaker 1: Street had been burnt to the ground, and that the
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  Speaker 1: poor landlady's body had been found among the ruins, bearing
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  Speaker 1: incontestable signs of the unfortunate woman having mercifully been suffocated.
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  Speaker 1: Years later, as some workmen were digging on the same
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  Speaker 1: spot for fresh foundations, an old coffin was unearthed, and
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  Speaker 1: upon its being opened, it was found to contain fragments
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  Speaker 1: of a female skeleton, a brown silk gown in wonderful preservation,
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  Speaker 1: some human teeth, and a wreath of artificial roses. End
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  Speaker 1: of the Tyburn Ghost, Section two of three supernatural stories
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  Speaker 1: by Wilhelmina FitzClarence. This the Brivox recording, is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. The Bruges Ghost. This story was written down
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  Speaker 1: for me by the Seo herself, and I repeated to
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  Speaker 1: herbatim as she wrote it. Number twenty is one of
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  Speaker 1: the oldest houses in the ancient and beautiful town of Bruges.
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  Speaker 1: The building consists of the basement, the ground floor, and
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  Speaker 1: two sets of apartments above, which we call flats, which
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  Speaker 1: are generally occupied by English families. At the time of
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  Speaker 1: which I am speaking, an English lady and her two
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  Speaker 1: daughters lived on the first floor, while my mother and
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  Speaker 1: my two sisters and I were on the second. One night,
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  Speaker 1: I went to bed as usual, taking with me my
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  Speaker 1: small dog, which was always my bed fellow. I had
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  Speaker 1: been reading, and just as I turned round to blow
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  Speaker 1: out my candle preparatory to settling myself to sleep, my
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  Speaker 1: eye was caught by the appearance of an extraordinary and
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: alarming figure, which stood motionless at the foot of the bed,
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  Speaker 1: watching me intently. I was very much frightened, and started
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  Speaker 1: into a sitting posture to gaze at the entry. I said,
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  Speaker 1: the figure was motionless, but that is scarcely true, for
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the eyes, which had the violest expression I ever saw,
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  Speaker 1: moved ceaselessly and followed every motion I made. Although the
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  Speaker 1: head and body were stationary, the figure was a curious one,
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  Speaker 1: and the garment so strange that I could not make
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  Speaker 1: out whether the apparition were that of a woman or
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of a very young man. The hair was jet black,
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  Speaker 1: the blackest I ever saw, worn in a kind of fringe.
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  Speaker 1: Low down on the forehead. Above each ear was a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of swarthy curls. The eyebrows were tremendously thick and bushy,
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  Speaker 1: and shining below them with a small, beady, glittering eyes,
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  Speaker 1: the most sinister in expression, which never left my face.
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  Speaker 1: The nose and mouth were small and pinched, and the
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  Speaker 1: complexion deadly pale. It was altogether a villainous face, and
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  Speaker 1: even now a shudder at the horrid memory of those
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: eyes fixed unswervingly on me and on my every movement.
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  Speaker 1: The apparition's garment, too, was singular round. The head was
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: wound a sort of hood, caught under the chin and
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: falling thence straight down like an enveloping toga. But I
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  Speaker 1: could only see as far as the waist, for my
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: bed was one of the foreign wooden ones with a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: carved foot board. It takes long to describe the apparition
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  Speaker 1: and its peculiarities, but I took it in very quickly,
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  Speaker 1: and for a moment wondered whether some one might not
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: be playing me a trick. So when the figure disappeared,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: which it did, suddenly, I, being wide awake and uncertain
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  Speaker 1: as to whether I were frightened or angry, jumped out
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  Speaker 1: of bed and rummaged about behind curtains, under tables, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: But I found nothing, no one. I was obliged now
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  Speaker 1: to turn my attention to my poor little dog, for
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  Speaker 1: it seemed painfully distressed, cowering in the bedclothes and whining
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  Speaker 1: and straining its neck to look at the spot where
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  Speaker 1: the figure had stood. If I had required any proof
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  Speaker 1: of the truth of my unpleasant experience, the dog's agony
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  Speaker 1: of terror would have supplied it. I tried to comfort
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  Speaker 1: to the poor little beast, Then, catching it up in
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  Speaker 1: my arms, I hurried with it into my sister's room.
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  Speaker 1: I sat there for a few minutes, and, after relating
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  Speaker 1: the adventure, deemed it wiser to return to the haunted apartment.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: But the dog refused to go back. He trembled in
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  Speaker 1: every limb, and I, fearful lest the poor little beast
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  Speaker 1: should have a fit, left him with one of my sisters,
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  Speaker 1: the other kindly returning with me to my uncanny room.
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  Speaker 1: Strange to say, we both fell asleep and had a
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  Speaker 1: quiet night. But from that moment I never could get
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  Speaker 1: the dog to enter that room. It would cry, whine
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  Speaker 1: and struggle if ever I tried to make it accompany
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  Speaker 1: me there to bed, so I had to give it
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  Speaker 1: up and leave him downstairs. The next day I had
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to go to my dressmaker, who had lived at Bruges
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  Speaker 1: almost all her life and was well known in the town.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: After fitting and trying on, she casually asked my present address,
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  Speaker 1: and upon my giving it, she seemed surprised and said,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle has changed her residence. I answered, we had been
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: only a few days in our present apartments, but her
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: manner was so strange that, prompted by a curiosity, I inquired,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: did she ask the questions for any especial reason? She
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: answered yes, as she had heard that since the death
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of the landlord's son, who she added was jeunand tre Mischamp,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: no one had stayed in the house much as it
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was reported to be haunted, especially the bedroom in which
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: he had slept and died. What did he die of,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I asked, Oh, from consumption, so they said, and from
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the effects of the wickedest life that ever had been lived.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: And the dressmaker shuddered, But why does Mademoiselle ask has
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: she seen him? I have seen something, I hesitated. Can
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: you describe to me what he the young man was
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: like tra Jean tre markre pinc comme le mont le
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: cheuvegn noit bucleudu su dessuree leisu trepetti tre menas comte
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: lessus noy pet. That is exactly as I saw him,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I exclaimed, and a shudder went all over me. The
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: young man was a Catholic, the dressmaker added, and they
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: do say that when those who can't rest in their
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: graves appear thus, especially to the young and innocent, it
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: is that they want their prayers. I returned home, but
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: on my way I visited a good priest with whom
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I was acquainted, and begged a mass might be said
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: at my expense for the poor restless soul, and I
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: pray God it may be counted to him for righteousness.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: As for myself. I never saw the young man's ghost again,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and we soon laughed. Bruges. Not, however, before, in my
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: work at the hospital there, for I was qualifying for
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: a nurse, I saw a corpse draped for burial after
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the Catholic fashion, and straightway I recognized the peculiar garment
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: worn by the apparition in the Bruges Bedroom and of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the Bruges Ghost, section three of three Supernatural stories by
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Wilhelmina FitzClarence. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: A mysterious visitor, a young officer quartered in an English
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: country town, had been very ill. What his illness had
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: been I do not know. All I do know is
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: that it had been serious. Now, however, he was getting
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: quite well, and his confinement to his bed was purely
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a precautionary measure which was to last only a few
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: days longer. He had been well cared for, for he
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: had been nursed all through his illness by a soldier's
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: servant who had lived with him ever since he joined.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: And besides, he was a very popular character with his
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: brother officers, who were constantly looking in upon him at
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: all hours. Sometimes three or four of them would come
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: in together, or sometimes one at a time, but they
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: never left him alone for long, and they invariably visited
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: him on their way down to mes dinner in the evening,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: taking care to tell him any news that might have
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: been going forward during the day, and inventing a good
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: deal that wasn't. On this particular evening of our story.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Three or four of the young men had been sitting
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: with him for some time, but now they had just
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: gone down to dinner, and their cheery voices were still
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to be heard reverberating up the stone staircase as they
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: larked with one another like so many schoolboys on their
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: way to the dining room. Our young convalescent lay smiling
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to himself at the sounds and wishing he were one
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of the rollicking party, when he suddenly looked up and
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: was aware of a gentleman attired in evening clothes who
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: was standing framed as it were, in the doorway and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: intently watching him. After his first surprise at so unexpected
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: an intrusion, what especially struck our young officer was the
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: newcomer's extraordinary manly beauty. His height alone was very unusual
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: and gave wonderful dignity to the well knit, distinguished looking figure.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Then the gentleman's complexion was strangely foreign in its successive
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: while the large, gloomy eyes and drooping mustaches were the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: blackest he had ever seen. So impressed, in short, was
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: our convalescent by the unexpected visitor's dignified appearance and lordly
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: bearing that he felt sure had he ever seen him before,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: he could not have forgotten it. The stranger stood for
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: some moments in the doorway, looking earnestly at the young
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: man little more than a boy in the bed, then
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: bowing courteously, as though in answer to the latter's inquiring gaze,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: he approached, sat down on the chair at the bedside,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and at once began an unembarrassed conversation. First he asked
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: sympathizingly after his involuntary host's health, the cause of his
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: late illness, et cetera. And thence he proceeded to talk
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: freely and familiarly on all sorts of topics, how convalescent,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: meanwhile becoming every moment more and more fascinated by his
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: new acquaintance's charming voice and pleasant manner. At last, the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: mystified young officer summoned up courage enough to say that
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: delightful as this unexpected visit had been to him personally,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: he could not but fear lest he should be defrauding
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: some other person of the pleasure, especially as he knew
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: that a youngster that had just joined was also ill
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: in bed. Had the gentleman perchance come to see the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: other invalid, I am afraid, the young man continued, that
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: you must be taking me for some one else. I
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: certainly never have had the advantage of seeing you before,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: or I could not have forgotten it. The stranger looked
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: calmly at the boy as he spoke, but said nothing.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I should take it as a great favor, the officer continued,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: feeling rather surprised at the strange gentleman's silence. If you
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: would give me your name and address, so that I
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: may look forward to the pleasure of calling on you
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: when I get out again, which will be in a
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: few days now. The stranger still remained silent in spite
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: of the young man's request, and then in a few
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: minutes went on quietly talking on other subjects, as though
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: he had not taken in what he meant. I wonder
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: who on earth he is, the officer thought, some swell,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: I'll swear beastly kind of him to come and see
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: me anyhow, And yet he felt rather uneasy After a while,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: when the stranger had brought forward and discussed all sorts
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: of interesting subjects, Our Invalid could no longer restrain his
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: curiosity or his determination to discover his new and fascinating
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: friend's name. You really must tell me who you are,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the young man said. It will be such a real
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: pleasure to me to go and see you. Then, he added,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: still believing the gentleman was taking him for some one else,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: such a friendship is very pleasant, although it may have
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: begun accidentally by mistake. Oh no, answered the stranger in
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: his curiously musical voice. I have made no mistake. Your
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: name is Reginald B. And I came a long way
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to see you. How very good of you, said Reginald,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: gratefully and coloring with pleasure. And now pray add to
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: your kindness by telling me to whom I am in
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: debted for so jolly an evening. The stranger looked musingly
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: at Reginald and answered quietly, do you really wish to
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: know my name? Yes, indeed, said Reginald heartily. Then I
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: will tell you. My name is Satan. Come come, answered Reginald, decidedly, startled.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I can't be expected to believe that, and he began
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: to suspect his fascinating companion of being an escaped lunatic.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: The dark man, who had been watching the young soldier
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: intently seemed to divine at once the unspoken fault. No,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: he said, I am not mad, and I quite understand
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: your difficulty in crediting my words. I am prepared, however,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to prove that truth, how asked Reginald. Well, ask me
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: any difficult question you like, Ask me anything past or
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: present that you wish to know. Ask me any secret
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: you alone know, and I will tell you all about it.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Or if you prefer it, ask me, in short, any
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: secret you wish to know, and by my answer and
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: supernatural knowledge, I will prove to you that I am
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: what I say I am. That is the devil. A
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: creeping sense of uneasiness had now come over the young soldier, who,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: although no coward, was after all weak from recent illness
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and felt small blame to him most men would have
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: done the same. That a visit while he lay helpless
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: in bed from either a lunatic or from the devil
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: was by no means a pleasant contingency. But a lunatic,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: he may be argued, poor Reginald. But the devil pah nonsense.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Turning to his uncanny companion, therefore, he said, with a
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: force to laugh, Well, there is a secret in my family,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: which I have wished to discover for long. And if
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: you can unravel that mystery, then I will really believe
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: that you are well not human. The stranger bowed gravely.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: After the interview, Reginald remembered the dark man had never
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: once smiled, and once more repeated, ask me what you like,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: and I will answer and tell you all you wish
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to know. Then, who goes? Exclaimed Reginald, who meanwhile experienced
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: an uneasy sensation, as though he were pandering too and
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: tampering with something evil. I had an elder brother who
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: died quite a baby, whom I never saw, and strangely enough,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: my mother would never allow me to mention his death
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: or indeed that he had ever lived. Now I want
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: to know about him, how he died, and also the
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: reason of my mother's extraordinary reticence upon the subject. Can
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you tell me this? Oh, that's easy enough, the strange
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: visitor said, listen, and I will tell you the story.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Years ago, before you were born, your parents went to
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: sea voyage in a sailing vessel. They took with him
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: their first born son, then a very young child. About
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: a week after they had sailed, your mother was on
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: deck playing with her little son, of whom she was
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: very proud. Your father and the captain of the vessel
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: both stood by and watched her as she tossed the
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: baby up in the air as mother's will, and caught
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: it again. Other eyes, not human ones, were also watching
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: this dangerous play. Suddenly, just as your mother was tossing
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: her little son up in the air, the ship gave
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: a lurch. She failed to catch the laughing, crowing, kicking baby.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: It fell overboard, and in one moment, under their very eyes,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: it was swallowed by a shark that had been noticed
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: following and dogging the vessel for days. No one witnessed
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the tragedy except your parents and the captain, and the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: wretched mother was in such a distracted state, foolishly and unreasoningly,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: fearing lest she should be blamed, accused that to quiet
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the frantic woman, the two men weakly and at her
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: urgent prayer, took a solemn oath then in there never
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: to divulge the secret of the child's death, thus foolishly
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and quite unnecessarily saddling themselves all their lives along with
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: a bugbear in the form of a haunting mystery. Your
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: father once or twice endeavored to convince your mother of
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the folly of concealment, but whenever he broached the subject,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: her painful excitement and agitation warned him it was better
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: to leave things as they were, and more especially as
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: no one seemed ever to have heard anything about it.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: There continued the stranger. That is the whole mystery, which
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: in fact need have been no mystery at all, had
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: your mother not chosen to make it one. After relating
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: this extraordinary and rather unlike story, the dark gentleman rose
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: abruptly from the chair, said he could stay no longer
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: that time, bid his astonished host good night, walked to
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the center of the room, and vanished went out, as
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: it were, like the flame of a match, while the
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: young soldier gazed at him, unable to utter a word.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the soldier's servant entered the room
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: and said, I came in twice before, sir, with your physic,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: but you seemed so occupied with the strange gentleman, that
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I did not like to disturb you. Will you take
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: it now? So his servant. The young man said to himself,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: had seen the uncanny visitor too. Therefore people would be
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: unable to say, as they would if they could, that
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: he had been either drunk or dreaming when he related
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: to them his extraordinary experience. Directly, our hero was alone,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: he wrote to his mother and asked her was the
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: story true. In a few days he received an answer,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: written by that lady in a most excited state. She asked, firstly,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: how could he possibly have heard the circumstance? And secondly,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: from whom could he have heard it? It had happened,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: she said, so many years ago, and as the only
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: two witnesses besides herself had been his father and the captain,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: and as they were both now dead, from whom could
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: he have heard it? She was, however, bound to confess
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: that what he had heard was true to the latter.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: But how had he heard it? Your dear father, she wrote,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: died as a young man soon after you were born,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: and the captain died the same year. He was drowned.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: On the day your father died, he strongly urged me
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: to tell the terrible story to you, but I never
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: could summon up the courage. Now you know it, But
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: how it only remains for me to add that Reginald's
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: brother officers declared positively that he was neither delirious, nor drunk,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: nor even excited. When, on that same evening, the mess
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: dinner being over, and they came to bid him good night,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: he told them, calmly and deliberately, all about his mysterious visitor.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Reginald has never seen the dark gentleman again, and he
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: hopes he never, but he dislikes very much being left
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: along alone. He came for some object, he says, and
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: that object not having been yet obtained. He is not
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: the one to give up without another try. But God
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: defend the right end of a Mysterious Visitor and end
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of three supernatural stories by Wilhelmina FitzClarence. Thank you for listening.