Latest / Weird Fiction Audiobooks: Cosmic Horror, Strange Realities & Uncanny Tales / 🟡 Black Drama (Full Audiobook) | Manly Wade Wellman

Transcript

🟡 Black Drama (Full Audiobook) | Manly Wade Wellman · Weird Fiction Audiobooks: Cosmic Horror, Strange Realities & Uncanny Tales

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: FORWARD OF THE BLACK DRAMA by Manly Wade Wellman This
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker Powers, passions, all I see in
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: other beings Have been to me as rain unto the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: sands Since that all-nameless hour. Lord Byron Manfred FORWARD Unlike
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: most actors, I do not consider my memoirs worth the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: attention of the public. Even if I did so consider them,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I have no desire to carry my innermost dear secrets
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to market. Often and often I have flung aside the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: autobiography of some famous man or woman, crying aloud, surely
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: this is the very nonpareil of bad taste. Yet my descendants,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and after certain despairful years, again I have hope of descendants,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: will want to know something about me. I write this
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: record of utterly strange happenings while it is yet new
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and clear in my mind, and I shall seal it
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and leave it among my important possessions, to be found
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and dealt with at such time as I may die.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: It is not my wish that the paper be published
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: or otherwise brought to the notice of any outside my
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: immediate family and circle of close friends. Indeed, if I
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: thought that such a thing would happen, I might write
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: less frankly. Please believe me, you who will read. I
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: know that part of the narrative will strain any credulity,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: yet I am ready with the now threadbare retort of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Lord Byron, of whose works more below. Truth is stranger
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: than fiction. I have, too, three witnesses who have agreed
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to vouch for the truth of what I have set down.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Their only criticism is that I have spoken too kindly
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of them. If anything, I have not spoken kindly enough.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Like Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, I have
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: rid my prologue like a rough colt. Perhaps, like Duke Theseus, you,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: my readers, will be assured thereby of my sincerity. Signed,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Gilbert Conant, New York City, August 1st, 1938. We, the undersigned,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: having read the appended statement of Gilbert Conant, do hereby
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: declare it to be true in substance. Signed, Sigrid Holgar,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Keith Hillary Percivant, Jacob A. Switz. End of Foreword CHAPTER I.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: DRAFTED The counterman in the little hamburger stand below Times
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Square gazed at me searchingly.' Haven' t I seen you somewhere?'
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: he asked, and when I shook my head he made
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: a gesture as of inspiration.' I got it, buddy. There
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: was a guy in a movie like you. Tall, thin.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Black mustache and eyes.' I'm not in pictures, I told him,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: quite truthfully, as concerned the moment. Make me a double hamburger.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And coffee? Yes. Then I remembered that I had but
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: fifteen cents, and that double hamburgers cost a dime. I
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: might want a second sandwich. Make it a single instead. No,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a double, piped somebody at my elbow, and a short,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: plump figure climbed upon the next stool. Two doubles for
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: me and my friend here, and I'm paying. Gilbert Cornett,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: at half past the eleventh hour, I run on to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: you by the luck of the Switzes. I am glad
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to see you, like an old father to see his
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: wandering boy. I had known that voice of old in Hollywood. Turning,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I surveyed the fat, blob-nosed face, the crossed eyes behind
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: shell-rimmed glasses, the thick, curly hair, the ingratiating smile. Hello, Jake.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I greeted him without enthusiasm. Jake Switz waved at the counterman.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Two coffees for those hamburgers. His strange, oblique gaze shifted
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: back to me. Gibb, to me you are more welcome
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: than a wine at a wedding. In an uptown hotel,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: who do you think is wondering about you with tears
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in her eyes as big as electric light bulbs? He
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: shrugged and extended his palms as if pleased at being
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: able to answer his own question. Sigrid Holgar! I made
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: no reply, but drew a frayed shirt cuff back into
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the worn sleeve of my jacket. Jake Switz continued. I've
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: been wondering where to get hold of you, Gibb. How
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: would you like again to play leading man for Sigrid, huh?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: It is hard to look fully and to cross eyes,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: but I managed it. Go back to her, I bait him,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: and tell her I'm not taking charity from somebody who
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: threw me down. Jake caught my arm and shook it earnestly.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: But that ain't true, Gib. It's only that she's been
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: so successful she makes you look like a loser. Gib,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: you know as well as you know your own name
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: that it was you that threw her down. So hard
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: she ran like a silver dollar. I won't argue, I said,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and I won't have charity. I meant that. It hurt
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to think of Sigrid and myself as we had been
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: five years ago. She an inspired but unsure newcomer from Europe.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I the biggest star on the biggest lot in the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: motion picture industry. We made a film together. Another. Became
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Filmdom's favorite lovers on and off screen. Then the quarrel.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Jake was wrong. It was Sigrid's fault. Or was it? Anyway,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: she was at the head of the class now, and
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I had been kicked away from the foot. The counterman
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: set our sandwiches before us. I took a hungry bite
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and listened to Jake's pleadings.' It would be doing her
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and me a favor, Gib. Listen this one time, please,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: to give Jake Switz a break.' His voice quavered earnestly.'
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: You know that Sigrid is going to do a stage play?''
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I' ve read about it in Variety,' I nodded.' Horror stuff,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: isn't it? Like Dracula, I suppose, with women fainting and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: nurses dragging them out of the theater?' Nurses, repeated Jake
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Switz scornfully. Doctors we'll need. At our show, Jake Dempsey
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: himself would faint dead away on the floor. It's so horrible.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: He subsided and began to beg once more. But you
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: know how Sigrid is. Quiet and restrained. A genius. She
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: wouldn't warm up, no matter what leading man we suggested. Varduk,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the producer, mentioned you. Get Gilbert Conant, he said to me.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: She made a success with him once, maybe she will again.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And right away Sigrid said yes. I went on eating,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: then swallowed a mouthful of scalding coffee. Jake did the same,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: but without relish. Finally, he exploded into a last desperate argument.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Give for my life! I can't see how you can
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: afford to pass it up! Here you are, living on hamburgers!
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I whirled upon him so fiercely that the rest of
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the speech died on his open lips. Rising, I tossed
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: my fifteen cents on the counter and started for the door.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But Jake yelled in protest, caught my shoulder, and fairly
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: wrestled me back. No, no! He was wailing. Varduk would
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: cut my heart out and feed it to the sparrows
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: if I found you and lost you again. Gib, I
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: didn't mean bad manners. I don't know nothing about manners, Gib,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: but have I ever treated you wrong? I had to smile. No, Jake,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: you're a creature of instincts, and the instincts are rather
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: better than the reasonings of most people. I think you're
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: intrinsically loyal. I thought of the years he had slaved
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: for Sigrid as press agent, business representative, confidential advisor, contract manager,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and breaker. and faithful hound, generally. I'm sorry myself, Jake,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to lose my temper. Let's forget it. He insisted on
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: buying me another double cheeseburger, and while I ate it
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: with unblunted appetite, he talked more about the play Sigrid
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: was to present. Horror stuff is due for a combat, Gib,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and this will be the start. A lovely Gib. High class.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Only Sigrid could do it. Old-fashioned, I grant you, but
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: not a grain of corny stuff, innit? It was written
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: by that English guy, Lord Barnum. No, Byron, that's it.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Lord Byron. I thought, said I, that there was some
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: question about the real authorship. So the papers say, but
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: they holler phony at their own grandmothers. Varduk is pretty sure.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: He knows a thing or two, that Varduk. You know
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: what he's going to do? He's getting a big expert
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to read the play and make a report. Jake, who
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: was more press agent than any other one thing, licked
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: his good-humored lips. What a bust in the papers that
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: will be! Varduk. I had heard that name. That single
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: name whereby a new, brilliant, and mysteriously picturesque giant of
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the theatrical world was known. Nobody knew where he had
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: come from. Yet, hadn't Belasco been a riddle? And Siegfried?
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Of course, they never courted the shadows like Varduk. Had
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: never refused to see interviewers or admirers. I meditated that
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I probably would not like Varduk. Send me a pass
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: when your show opens. I requested. But you'll be in it, Gib.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Passes of your own you'll be putting out. Listen to
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: this once while I try to do you good in
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: spite of yourself, my friend. You can't walk out after
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: eating up the hamburgers I bought. He had me there.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I could not muster the price of that second sandwich,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and somehow the shrewd little fellow had surmised as much.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: He chuckled in triumph as I shrugged in token of surrender.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I knew you would, Gib. Now, here, he wrote on
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a card. This is Varduk's hotel and room number. Be
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: there at eight o'clock tonight to read the play and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: talk terms. And here. His second proffer was a wad
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of money. Get some clothes, Gib. With a new suit
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and tie, you'll look like a million dollars come home
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: to roost. No, no, take the dough and don't worry.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Ain't we friends? If you never pay me back, it'll
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: be plenty soon enough. He beamed my thanks away. Leaving
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the hamburger stand, we went in opposite directions. End of
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: chapter one. Chapter 2 of The Black Drama by Manly
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Wade Wellman This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Chapter 2 Byron's Lost Play I did not follow Jake's
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: suggestion exactly. Instead of buying new garments throughout, I went
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to the pawn shop where I had of late raised
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: money on the remnants of a once splendid wardrobe. Here
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I redeemed a blue suit that would become me best
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and a pair of handmade Oxfords. Across the street I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: bought a fresh shirt and necktie. These I donned in
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: my coffin-sized room on the top floor of a cheap hotel.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: After washing, shaving, and powdering, I did not look so bad.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I might even have been recognized as the Gilbert Conant
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: who made history in the lavish film version of Lavengro,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: that classic of gypsiedom. in which a newcomer named Sigrid
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Holgar had also risen to fame. I liked to be prompt,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and it was eight o'clock on the stroke when I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: tapped at the door of Varduk's suite. There was a
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: movement inside, and then a cheerful voice.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Who' s there?'' Gilbert Connett,' I replied. The lock scraped and
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the door opened. I looked into the handsome, ruddy face
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: of a heavy, towering man who was perhaps a year
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: younger than I, and in much better physical condition. His
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: was the wide, good-humored mouth, the short, straight nose of
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: the Norman Scot. His blonde hair was beginning to grow thin,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: and his blue eyes seemed anxious.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Come in, Mr. Conant, he invited me, holding out his
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: broad hand. My name's Davidson, Elmo Davidson. And as I entered,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: this is Mr. Varduke. He might have been calling my
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: attention to a prince royal. I'd come into a parlor,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: somberly decorated and softly lighted. Opposite me, in a shadowed portion,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: gazed a pallid face. It seemed to hang like a
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: mask upon the dark tapestry that draped the wall. I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: was aware first of a certain light-giving quality within or
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: upon that face, as though it were bathed in phosphorescent oil.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: It would have been visible, plain even, in a room
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: utterly dark. For the rest, there were huge, deep eyes
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: of a color hard to make sure of, a nose
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: somewhat thick but finely shaped, a mouth that might have
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: been soft once but now drew tight as if against pain,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and a strong chin with a dimple.' How do you do, Mr. Connett?'
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: said a soft, low voice. and the mask inclined politely.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: A moment later, elbows came forward upon a desk, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I saw the rest of the man, Varduk, start out
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: of his protective shadows. His dark double-breasted jacket and the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: black scarf at his throat had blended into the gloom
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: of the tapestry, so had his chestnut-brown curls. As I
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: came toward him, Varduk rose. He was of middle height,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: but looked taller by reason of his slimness, and offered
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: me a slender white hand that gripped like a smith's tongs.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I am glad that you are joining us, he announced cordially,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: in the tone of a host welcoming a guest to dinner.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Miss Holgar needs old friends about her, for her new
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: stage adventure is an important item in her splendid career.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: And this, he dropped his hand to a sheaf of
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: papers on the desk, is a most important play. Another
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: knock sounded at the door, and Elmo Davidson admitted a
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: young woman, short and steady-eyed. She was Martha Vining, the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: character actress who was also being considered for a role
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: in the play. Only Miss Holgar to come, Davidson said
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to me with a smile that seemed to ask for friendship.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: We've only a small cast, you know. Five. I am
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: expecting one more after Miss Holgar, amended Varduk, and Davidson
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: made haste to add. That's right, an expert antiquary, Judge
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Keith Percivant. He's going to look at our manuscript and
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: say definitely if it is genuine. Not until then did
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Varduk invite me to sit down, waving me to a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: comfortable chair at one end of his desk. I groped
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: in my pockets for a cigarette, but he pressed upon
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: me a very long and very good cigar. I admire
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: tobacco and its naked beauty, he observed with the wraith
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of a smile, and himself struck a match for me.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Again I admired the whiteness of his hand, its pointed
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: fingers and strong sensitivity of outline. Such hands generally betoken nervousness,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: but Varduk was serene. Even the fall of his fringed
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: lids over those plumless eyes seemed a deliberate motion, not
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: an unthought wink. Yet again a knock at the door,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a brief colloquy, and an ushering in by Elmo Davidson.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: This time it was Sigrid. I got to my feet,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: as unsteady as a half-grown boy at his first school dance.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Desperately I prayed not to look so moved as I felt.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: As for Sigrid, she paused and met my gaze frankly,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: with perhaps a shade's lightening of her gently tanned cheeks.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: She was a trifle thinner than when I had last
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: seen her five years ago, and wore, as usual, a
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: belted brown coat like an army officer's. Her hair, the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: blondest unbleached hair I have ever known, fell to her
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: shoulders and curled at its ends like a full-bottomed wig
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: in the portrait of some old cavalier. There was a
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: green flash in it, as in a field of ripened grain.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Framed in its two glistening cascades, her face was as
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I had known it, tapering from brow to chin over
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: valiant cheek-bones. and set with eyes as large as Varduk's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and bluer than Davidson's. She wore no make-up, save a
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: touch of rouge upon her short mouth, cleft above and
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: full below, like a red heart. Even with low-heeled shoes,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: she was only two inches shorter than I.' Am I late?'
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: she asked Varduk, in that deep, shy voice of hers.'
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Not a bit,' he assured her. Then he saw my
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: awkward expectation, and added, with monumental tact for which I
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: blessed him fervently,' I think you know Mr. Gilbert Conant,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Again she turned to me. Of course, she replied. Of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: course I know him. How do you do, Gib? I
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: took the hand she extended, and, greatly daring, bent to
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: kiss it. Her fingers fluttered against mine, but did not
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: draw away. I drew her forward and seated her in
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: my chair, then found a backless settee beside her. She
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: smiled at once, sidewise, and took from my package the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: cigarette I had forsaken for Varduk's cigar. A hearty clap
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: on my shoulder and a cry of greeting told me
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: for the first time that, Little Jake Switz had entered
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: with her. Varduk's brief but penetrating glance subdued the exuberant Jake.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: We turned toward the desk and waited. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: began Varduk seriously but not heavily, a newfound piece of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Lord Byron's work is bound to be a literary sensation.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: We hope also to make a theatrical sensation, for our
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: newfound piece is a play. A study of Lord Byron
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: evokes varied impressions and appeals. Carlyle thought him a mere dandy,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Lacking Mr. Brummel's finesse and good humor, while Gotha insisted
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that he stood second only to Shakespeare among England's poets.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: His mistress, the Countess, Guccioli, held him literally to be
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: an angel. On the other hand, both Lamartine and Southey
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: called him Satan's incarnation. Even on minor matters, his skill
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: at boxing and swimming, his depth of scholarship, his sincerity
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: in early amours, and final espousal of the Greek rebels,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: the great authorities differed. The only point of agreement is
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: that he had color and individuality. He paused and picked
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: up some of the papers from his desk. We have
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: here his last play, Ruthven. Students know that Dr. John
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Polidori wrote a lurid novel of horror called The Vampire,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and that he got his idea, or inspiration, or both,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: from Byron. Polidori's tale has in turn inspired the plays
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: of Naudière in Dumas in French, and of Plancher in
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Bouchicol in French. in English. Gilbert and Sullivan joked with
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: the story in Rudigor, and Brom Stoker read it carefully
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: before attempting Dracula. This manuscript, again he lifted it, is
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Byron's original. It is, as I have said, a drama.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: His expressive eyes, bending upon the page in the dimness,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: seemed to shed a light of their own. I think
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: that neither Mr. Conant nor Miss Vining has seen the play.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Will you permit me to read? He took our consent
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: for granted and began. Scene. Malvina's garden. Time. Late afternoon. Aubrey,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: sitting at Malvina's feet, tells his adventures. Since Ruthven is
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: yet unpublished, I take the liberty of outlining it, as
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I then heard it for the first time. Varduk's voice
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: was expressive and his sense of drama good. We listened,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: intrigued and then fascinated, to the opening dialogue in which
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: young Aubrey tells his sweetheart of the recent adventures in
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: wildest Greece. The blank verse struck me, at least, as
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: being impressive and not too stiff, though better judges than
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: I have called Byron unsure in that medium. Varduk changed
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: voice and character for each role, with a skill almost ventriloquial,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: to create for us the illusion of an actual drama.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I found quite moving Aubrey's story of how bandits were
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: beaten off single-handed by his chance acquaintance, Lord Ruthven, at
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the point where Aubrey expresses the belief that Ruthven could
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: not have survived the battle. I fled, but he remained.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: How could one man— Even one so godly gallant faced
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: so many. He followed not. I knew that he was slain.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: At that point, I say, the first surprise comes with
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the servant's announcement that Ruthven himself has followed his traveling
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: companion from Greece and waits, whole and sound, for permission
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to present himself. No stage directions or other visualization, but
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: immediate dialogue defines the title role as courtly and sinister,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: fascinating and forbidding. Left alone with the maidservant, Bridgette, He
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: makes unashamed and highly successful advances. When he lifts the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: cap from her head and lets her hair fall down,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: it reminds one that Byron himself had thus ordered it
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: among the maids on his own estate. Byron had made
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: love to them, too. Perhaps some of Ruthven's speeches in
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: this passage, at least, came wholemeal from those youthful conquests.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Yet the seduction is not a gay one, and smacks
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of bird and snake. When Ruthven says to Bridget,' You
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: move and live but at my will. Dost hear?' And
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: she answers dully, I hear and do submit. Awareness rises
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: of a darkling and menacing power. Again, as Aubrey mentions
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the fight with the bandits, Ruthven dismisses the subject with
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the careless, I faced them, and who seeks my face
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: seeks death. One feels that he fears and spares an
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: enemy no more than a fly, and suddenly he turned
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: his attentions to Malvina. Yes, I am evil, and my
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: wickedness draws to your blister and your purity. Now shall
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: you light no darkness but mine own, an oriental pearl
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: swathed in a midnight pall. Oscar, husband of the betrayed Bridget,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: rushes in at this point to denounce Ruthven and draw
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: away his bemused mistress. At a touch from the visitor's finger,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Oscar falls dead. Aubrey, arming himself with a club of
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: white thorn, a sovereign weapon against demons, strikes Ruthven down. Dying,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the enchanter persuades Aubrey and Malvina to drag him into
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the open and so leave him. As the moon rises
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: upon his body, he moves and stands up. Luda, my mother,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: fountain of my life! Once more thy rays restore me
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: with their kiss. Grave, I reject thy shelter. Death, stand back. Curtain,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: said Varduk suddenly, and smiled around us. So ends our
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: first act, he continued in his natural voice. No date,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: nor yet are we obliged to date it. For purposes
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: of our dramatic production, however, I intend to lay it
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: early in the past century, in the time of Lord
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Byron himself. Act Two and he picked up another section
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: of the manuscript. Begins a century later. We shall set
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: it in modern times. No blank verse now. Byron cleverly
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: identifies his two epics by offering his later dialogue in
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: natural prose. That was the newest of new tricks in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: his day. Again he read to us. The setting was
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the same garden, with Mary Aubrey and her cousin Swithin,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: descendants of the Aubrey and Malvina of the first act,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: alternating between light words of love and attentions to the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: aged crone, Bridget. The survivor of a century and more
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: croaks out the fearsome tale of Ruthven's visit and what followed.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Her grandson, Oscar, Mary's brother, announces a caller. The newcomer
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: explains that he has inherited the estate of Ruthven, ancient
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: foe of the Aubreys, and that he wishes to make peace,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: but Bridget, left alone with him, recognizes in him her
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: old tempter, surviving ageless and pitiless. Oscar, too, hears the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: secret and is told that this is his grandfather. Bit
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: by bit, the significance of a dead man, restless after
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: a century, grows in the play and upon the servants.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: They swear slavishly to help him. He seeks a double
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and sinister goal. Swithin, image of his great-grandfather Aubrey, must
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: die for that ancestor's former triumph over Ruthven. Mary, the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: later incarnation of Malvina, excites Ruthven's passion, as did her ancestress.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Then the climax. Malvina, trapped by Ruthven, defies him, then
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: offers herself as payment for Swithin's life. Swithin, refusing the sacrifice,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: thrusts Ruthven through with a sword, but to no avail.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Oscar overpowers him, and the demoniac lord pronounces the beginning
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of a terrible curse. But Mary steps forward, as if
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to accept her lover's punishment. Ruthven revokes his words, blesses her.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: As the Almighty's name issues from his lips, he falls
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: dead and decaying. End of the play, said Varduk. I
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: dare say you have surmised what roles I plan for you.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Miss Holgar and Mr. Connett are my choices for Malvina
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and Aubrey in the first act, and Mary and Swithin
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: in the second. Miss Vining will create the role of Bridget,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and Davidson will undertake the two Oscars. And Ruthven? I prompted,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: feeling unaccountably presumptuous and speaking uninvited. Varduk smiled and lowered
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: his fringed lids. The part is not too difficult, he murmured.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Ruthven is offstage more than on, an influence rather than
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: a flesh-and-blood character. I shall honor myself with this title role. Switz,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: sitting near me, produced a watch. We had been listening
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to the play for a full two hours and a half.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Again a knock sounded at the door. Davidson started to rise,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: but Varduk's slender hand waved him down. That will be
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant. I shall admit him myself. Keep your seats all.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: He got up and crossed the floor, walking stiffly as
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: though he wore tight boots— I observed with interest that,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: in profile, his nose seemed finer and sharper, and that
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: his ears had no lobes. Come in, Judge Percivant, he
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: said cordially at the door. Come in, sir. End of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: chapter 2 Chapter 3 Of the Black Drama by Manly
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Wade Wellman This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Chapter 3 Enter Judge Percivant. Keith Hillary Percivant, the occultist
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: and antiquary, was as arresting as Varduk himself, though never
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: were two men more different in appearance and manner. Our
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: first impression was of a huge tweed-clad body, a pink
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: face with a heavy tawny mustache, twinkling pale eyes, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a shock of gold-brown hair. Under one arm he half-crushed
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: a wide black hat, while the other hand trailed a
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: heavy stick of mottled malacca, banded with silvers. There was
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: about him the same atmosphere of mature sturdiness as invests
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Edward Arnold and Victor McLoughlin, and withal a friendly gaiety.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Without being elegant or dashing, he caught and held the regard.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Men like someone like that, and so, I believe, do
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: women who respect something beyond sleek hair and brash repartee.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Varduk introduced him all around. The judge bowed to Sigrid,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: smiled at Miss Vining, and shook hands with the rest
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: of us. Then he took a seat at the desk
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: beside Varduk. Pardon my trembling over a chance to see
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: something that may have been written by Lord Byron to
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: lie purdue for generations, he said pleasantly. He and his
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: works have long been enthusiasms of mine. I have just
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: published a modest note on certain aspects of his. Yes,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I know, nodded Varduk, who was the only man I
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: ever knew who could interrupt without seeming rude. A defense
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: of the wickedest poet, understanding and sympathetic, and well worth
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the praise and popularity it is earning. May I also
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: congratulate you on your two volumes of Demonology, Vampiricon, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: The Unknown That Terrifies? Thank you, responded Percivant with a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: bow of his shaggy head. And now the manuscript of
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the play. Is here, Varduk pushed it across the desk
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: toward the expert. Percivant bent for a close study. After
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: a moment he drew a floor lamp close to cast
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: a bright light and donned a pair of pince-nezs. The
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: words by Lord Byron set down here under the title
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: are either genuine or a very good forgery, he said
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: at once. I call your attention, Mr. Varduk, to the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: open capital B, the unlooped downstroke of the Y, and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the careless scrambling of the O and N. He fumbled
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: in an inside pocket and produced a handful of folded slips.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: These are enlarged photostats of several notes by Lord Byron.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: With your permission, Mr. Varduk, I shall use them for comparison.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: He did so, holding the cards to the manuscript, moving
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: them here and there as if to match words. Then
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: he held a sheet of the play close to the light. Again,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I must say, he announced at last, that this is
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: either the true handwriting of Byron, or else a very
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: remarkable forgery. Yet— Barduk had opened a drawer of the desk,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: and once more he interrupted. Here is a magnifying glass,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant. Small, but quite powerful. He handed it over.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Perhaps with its help you can decide with more accuracy.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Percivant bent for a closer and more painstaking scrutiny.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: For minutes he turned over page after page, squinting through
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the glass Varduk had lent him. Finally he looked up again.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: No forgery here. Every stroke of the pen is a
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: clean one. A forger draws pictures, so to speak, of
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the handwriting he copies, and with a lens like this
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: one can plainly see the jagged, deliberate sketchwork. He handed
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: back the magnifying glass and doffed his spectacles, then let
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: his thoughtful eyes travel from one of us to the others.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: I'll stake my legal and scholastic reputation that Byron himself
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: wrote these pages. Your stakes are entirely safe, sir. Barduk
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: assured him with a smile. Now that you have agreed,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and I trust that you will allow us to inform
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the newspapers of your opinion, that Ruthven is Byron's work,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I am prepared to tell you how the play came
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: into my possession. I was bequeathed it by the author himself.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: We all looked up at that, highly interested. Varduk smiled
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: upon us as if pleased with the sensation he had created.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: The germ of Ruthven came into being one night at
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the home of the poet Shelley, on the shores of
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Lake Geneva. The company was being kept indoors by rain
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: and wind, and had occupied itself with reading German ghost stories,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and then tried their own skill at gothic tales. one
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: of those impromptu stories we know, Mary Godwin's masterpiece, Frankenstein.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Lord Byron told the strange adventures of Ruthven, and Polidori
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: appropriated them. That we all know. But later that night,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: alone in his room, Byron wrote the play we have here.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: In one sitting, asked Martha Vining. In one sitting, replied Varduk.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: He was a swift and brilliant worker. In his sixteen
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: years of active creative writing, he produced nearly eighty thousand
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: lines of published verse. John Drinkwater reckons an average of
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: fourteen lines, or the equivalent of a complete sonnet, for
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: every day. This prodigious volume of poetry he completed between
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: times of making love, fighting scandal, traveling, quarreling, philosophizing, organizing
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the Greek Revolution. An impressive record of work, both in
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: size and in its proportion of excellence. Sigrid leaned forward.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: But you said that Lord Byron himself bequeathed the play
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: to you. Again Varduk's tight, brief smile. It sounds fantastic,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: but it happened. Byron gave the manuscript to Clare Claremont,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: his mistress and the mother of two of his children.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: He wanted it kept a secret. He had been called—
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Fiend incarnate too often. So he charged her that she
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and the children after her keep the play in trust,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: to be given the world a hundred years from the
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: date of his death. Percivant cleared his throat. I was
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: under the impression that Byron had only one child by
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Clare Claremont, Mr. Varduke. Allegra, who died so tragically at
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the age of six. He had two, was Varduke's decisive reply.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: A son survived and had issue. Wasn't Clare's son by Shelley?
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: asked Percivant. Varduk shook his curly head. No, by Lord Byron.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: He paused and drew a gentle breath, as if to
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: give emphasis to what he was going to add. Then,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I am descended from that son, ladies and gentlemen. I
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: am the great-grandson of Lord Byron. He sank back into
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: his shadows once more and let his luminous face seem
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: again like a disembodied mask against the dark tapestry. He
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: let us be dazzled by his announcement for some seconds.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Then he spoke again. However, to return to our play,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: summer is at hand, and the opening will take place
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: at the Lake Josgud Theatre in July, later to come
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to town with the autumn. All agreed? Ready to discuss contracts?
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: He looked around the circle, picking up our affirmative nods
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: with his intensely understanding eyes. Very good. Call again tomorrow. Mr. Davidson,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: my assistant, will have the documents and all further information.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Jake Switz was the first to leave, hurrying to telephone
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: announcements to all the morning newspapers. Sigrid, rising, smiled at
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: me with real warmth. So nice to see you again, Gib.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Do not bother to leave with me. My suite is
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: here in this hotel. She bade Varduk good-night, nodded to
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the others, and left quickly. I watched her departure with
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: what must have been very apparent and foolish ruefulness on
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: my face. It was the voice of Judge Percivant that
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: recalled me to my surroundings. I've seen and admired your
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: motion pictures, Mr. Connett, he said graciously. Shall we go
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: out together? Perhaps I can persuade you to join me
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: in another of my enthusiasms. Late food and drink. We
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: made our ado and departed. In the bar of the
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: hotel we found a quiet table, where my companion scanned
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the liquor list narrowly and ordered samples of three scotch whiskeys.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: The waiter brought them. The judge sniffed each experimentally and
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: finally made his choice. Two of those, and soda. No ice,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: he directed. Something to eat, Mr. Conant? No? Waiter, bring
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: me some of the cold tongue with potato salad. Smiling,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: he turned back to me. Good living is my greatest pursuit.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Greater than scholarship? He nodded readily. However, I don't mean
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: that tonight's visit with Mr. Varduk was not something to
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: rouse any man's interest. It was full of good meat
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: for any antiquary's appetite. By the way, were you surprised
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: when he said that he was descended from Lord Byron?
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Now that you mention it, I wasn't, I replied. He's
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: the most Byronic individual I have ever met. Right. Of course,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the physical resemblances might be accidental, the manner of pose,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: but in any case, he's highly picturesque, and from what
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: little I can learn about him, he's eminently capable as well.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: You feel lucky in being with him in this venture?
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I felt like confiding in this friendly, tawny man, Judge Percivant,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: I said honestly, any job is a godsend to me
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: just now. Then let me congratulate you and warn you.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Warn me? Here's your whiskey, he said suddenly, and was
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: silent while he himself mixed the spirit with the soda.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Handing me a glass, he lifted the other in a
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: silent toasting gesture. We drank, and then I repeated. Warn me,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: you were saying, sir? Yes. He tightened his wide, intelligent
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: mouth under the feline mustache. It's this plague. Ruthven. What
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: about it? His plate of tongue and salad was set
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: before him at this juncture. He lifted a morsel on
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: his fork and tasted it. This is very good, Mr. Conant.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: You should have tried some. Where were we? Oh, yes,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: about Ruthven. I was quite unreserved in my opinion, wasn't I?
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: So it seemed when you offered to stake your reputation
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: on the manuscript being genuine. So I did, he agreed,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: cutting a slice of tongue into mouthfuls. And I meant
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: just that. What I saw of the play was Byronic
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: in content, albeit creepy enough to touch even an occultist
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: with a shiver. The handwriting, too, was undoubtedly Byron's, yet
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: I felt like sticking my reputation on something else. He paused,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: and we each had a sip of whiskey. His recourse
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: to the liquor seemed to give him words for what
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: he wished to say. It's a paradox, Mr. Connett, and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: I am by no means so fond of paradoxes as
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: was my friend the late Gilbert Chesterton. But— While Byron
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: most certainly wrote Ruthven, he wrote it on paper that
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: was watermarked less than ten years ago. End of chapter three.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Into the Country. The judge would not enlarge upon his
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: perplexing statement, but he would and did play the most
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: genial host I had ever known since the extravagant days
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: of Hollywood. We had a number of drinks, and he
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: complimented me on my steadiness of hand and head. When
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: we parted, I slept well in my little room that
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: already seemed more cheerful. Before noon the following day, I
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: returned to Varduk's hotel. Only Davidson was there, and he
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: was far more crisp and to the point than he
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: had been when his chief was present. I accepted the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: salary figure already set down on my contract form, signed
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: my name, received a copy of the play, and left.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: After my frugal lunch, I was still living on the
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: money Jake Switz had lent me, I walked to the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: library and searched out a copy of Contemporary Americans. Barduch's
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: name I did not find and wondered at that until
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the thought occurred that he, a descendant of Byron, was
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: undoubtedly a British subject. Before giving up the volume, I
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: turned to the peas. This time my search bore fruit. Percivant,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: Keith Hillary. Born 1891, Richmond, Virginia. Only son of Hillary Percivant.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Born 1840, Percivant Landing, Kentucky. Colonel and Major General, Virginia
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Volunteer Infantry. 1861-65. Attorney and journalist. Death, 1898. And Anne
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Keith Percivant. Born 1864, Edinburgh. Died 1891. Educated, Richmond
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Public School, Lawrenceville and Yale. A.B. Male, 1908-1909. Phi Beta Kappa,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: skulls and bones, football, forensics, LLB, Columbia, 1911, Ph.D., Oxford, 1922.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Admitted to Virginia Bar, 1912. Elected, 1914. Judge District Court, Richmond. Resigned, 1917,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: to inter-army. Major, Intelligence Division, USA, 1917-19. DSC, Congressional Medal
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: of Honor. Légionnaire d'Honneur, French. Retired, legal practice, 1919. Author,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: The Unknown That Terrifies, Cannibalism in America, Vampiricon, An Indictment
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: of Logic, etc. Clubs, Lambs, Inkhorn, Gastronomics, Sabre. Hobbies, Food, Antiquaries, Demonology, Fencing. Protestant, Independent, Unmarried. Address,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Low Haven, RFD, No. 1, Buckland, West Virginia. Thus the
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: clean-picked skeleton of a life history. Yet it was no
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: hard task to restore some of its tissues, even coax
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: it to life. son of a southern aristocrat who was
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: a soldier while young and a lawyer and writer when mature,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: orphaned of his Scotch mother in the first year of
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: his existence, as she died in giving him life. Keith
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Percivant was born, it seemed, to distinction. To graduate from
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Yale in 1908, he must have been one of the
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: youngest men in his class, if not the youngest. Yet
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: at 17, he was an honor student, an athlete, member
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: of an exclusive senior society, and an orator. After that,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: law school, practice, and election to the bench of his
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: native community at the unheard-of age of twenty-three. Then the
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: World War, that sunderer of career chains and remolder of men.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: The elder Percivant had been a colonel at twenty-one, a
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: major general before twenty-five. Keith, his son, deserting his brilliant
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: legal career, was a major at twenty-six, but in the
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Corps of Brain Soldiers that matched wits with an empire.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: That he came off well in the contest was witnessed
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: by his decorations— earnest of valor and resource. Retired legal practice, 1919.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: So he did not remain in his early profession, even
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: though it promised so well. What then? Turn back for
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: the answer. Ph.D., Oxford, 1922. His new love was scholarship.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: He became an author and philosopher. His interests included the trencher.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I'd seen him eat and drink with hearty pleasure. The
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: study hall, the steel blade. What else? Protestant. Religion was his,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: but not narrowly so, or he would have been specific
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: about a single sect. Independent. His political adventures had not
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: bound him to any party. Unmarried. He had lived too
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: busily for love? Or had he known it and lost? I, too,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: was unmarried, and I was well past thirty. Address, Lowhaven.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: A country home, apparently pretentious enough to bear a name
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: like a manor house. Probably convicts. withdrawn, full of sturdy
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: furniture and good books, with a well-stocked pantry and cellar.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I felt that I had learned something about the man,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: and I was desirous of learning more. On the evening
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: mail I received an envelope addressed in Jake Switz's jagged handwriting.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Inside were half a dozen five-dollar bills and a railway ticket,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: on the back of which was scribbled in pencil, Take
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: the 9 a.m. train at Grand Central. I'll meet you
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: at the Dillard Falls Junction with a car, J. Switz.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I blessed the friendly heart of Sigrid's little serf and
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: went home to pack. The room clerk seemed surprised and
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: relieved when I checked out in the morning, paying him
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: in full. I reached the station early and got on
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the train, securing a good seat in the smoking car.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Many were boarding the car, but none looked at me,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: not even the big fellow who seated himself into position
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: at my side. Six years before I had been mobbed
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: as I stepped off the 20th Century Limited in this
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: very station, a hundred women had rent away my coat
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: and shirt and rags for souvenirs.' Would you let me
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: have a match, Mr. Conant?' asked a voice I had
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: heard before. My companion's pale blue eyes were turned upon me,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: and he was tucking a trusty-looking pipe beneath his blonde mustache.'
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant,' I cried, with a pleasure I did not
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: try to disguise.' You here. It's like one of those
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: grand hotel plays.' Not so much coincidence as that, he smiled,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: taking the match I'd found. You see, I'm still intrigued
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: by the paradox we discussed the other night. I mean,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: the riddle of how and when Ruthven was set down.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: It so happens that an old friend of mine has
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: a cabin near the Lake Jodsgid Theatre, and I need
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: a vacation. He drew a cloud of comforting smoke. Judiciously,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I accepted his invitation to stay there. You and I
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: shall be neighbors. Good ones, I hope. was my warm rejoinder,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: as I lighted a cigarette from the match he still held.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: By the time our train clanked out of the subterranean
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: caverns of Grand Central Station, we were deep in pleasant talk.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: At my earnest plea, the judge discussed Lord Byron.' A
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: point in favor of the genuineness of the document,' he began,'
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: is that Byron was exactly the sort of man who
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: would conceive and write a play like Ruffin.'' With the
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: semi-vampire plot?' I asked. I always thought that England of
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: his time had just about forgotten about vampires.' Yes, but
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Byron fetched them back into the national mind. Remember, he
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: traveled in Greece as a young man, and the belief
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: was strong in that part of the world. In a
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: footnote to the Jaur, you'll find his footnotes in any
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: standard edition of his works, he discusses vampires. Barduk spoke
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: of those who fancied Byron to be the devil, I remembered.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: They may have had more than fancy to father the thought.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Not that I do not admire Byron for his talents
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: and his achievements, but something of a diabolic curse hangs
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: over him. Why, and Percivant warmed instantly to the discussion,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: his very family history reads like a gothic novel. His
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: father was Mad Jack Byron, the most sinful man of
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: his generation. His grandfather was Admiral Foulweather Jack Byron, about
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: whose ill luck at sea is more than a suggestion
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: of divine displeasure. The title descended to Byron from his
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: great uncle, the Wicked Lord, who was a murderer, a libertine,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: a believer in evil spirits, and perhaps a practicing diabolist.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: The family seat in Newstead Abbey had been the retreat
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: of medieval monks, and when those monks were driven from it,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: they may have cursed their dispossessors. But in any case,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: it had ghosts and a devil's wood. Byron was just
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: the man for that heritage, I observed. He certainly was.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: As a child, he carried pistols in his pockets and
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: longed to kill someone. As a youth, he chained a
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: bear and a wolf at his door, drank wine from
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: a human skull, and mocked religion by wearing a monk's
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: habit to orgies. His unearthly beauty, his mocking tongue, fitted
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: in with his wickedness and his limp to make him
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: seem an incarnation of the hoofed Satan. As for his sins,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the judge broke off in contemplation of them. Nobody knows
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: them all, I reminded. Perhaps he repented, mused my companion.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: At least he seems to have forgotten his light loves
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: and dark pleasures, turned to good works and the effort
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: to liberate the Greeks from their Turkish oppressors. If he
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: began life like an imp, he finished like a hero.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I hope that he was sincere in that change, and
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: not too late. I expressed the desire to study Byron's
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: life and writings, and Percivant opened his suitcase on the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: spot to lend me Drinkwater's and Marois's biographies, a copy
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: of the collected poems, and his own work, a defense
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: of the wickedest poet. We ate lunch together in the
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: dining car, Percivant pondering his choice from the menu as
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: once he must have pondered his decision in a case
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: at court. When he made his selection, he devoured it
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: with the same gusto I'd observed before. Food may be
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: a necessity, quoth he between bites, but the enjoyment of
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: it is a blessing. You have other enjoyments, I reminded him. Study, fencing.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: That brought on a discussion of the sword as weapon
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: and symbol. My own swordsmanship is no better or worse
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: than that of most actors, and Percivant was frank in
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: condemning most stage fencers. I disliked to see a clumsy
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: lout posturing through the duel scenes. of Cyrano de Bergerac
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: or Hamlet, he growled. No offense, Mr. Conant, I confess
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: that you and your motion-picture interpretation of the role of
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Don Cesar de Bazan achieved some very convincing cut and thrust.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: From what I saw, you have an understanding of the sport.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you and I can have a bout or so
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: between your rehearsals. I said that I would be honored,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: and then we had to collect our luggage and change trains.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: An hour or more passed on the new road before
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: we reached our junctions. Jake Switz was there, as he
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: had promised to be, at the wheel of a sturdy
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: repainted car. He greeted us with a triumphant story of
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: his astuteness in helping Elmo Davidson to bargain for the vehicle,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: broke off to invite Percivant to ride with us to
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: his cabin, and then launched into a hymn of praise
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: for Sigrid's early rehearsals of her role.' Nobody in America
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: seems to think she ever made anything but movies,' he
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: pointed out.' At home in Sweden, though, she did deep stuff.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Ibsen and them guys. And her only a kid, then.'
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: You wait, Gib, she'll knock from the theater public their
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: eyes out with her class. The road from the junction
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: was deep-set between hills and darkly hedged with high trees.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: This makes the theater hard to get at, Jake pointed
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: out as he drove. People have to make a regular
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: pilgrimage to see Holgar play in Ruthven, and they'll like
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: it twice as well because of all the trouble they took.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: Percivant left us at the head of a little path,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: with a small structure of log showing through the trees beyond.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: We waved goodbye to him, and Jake trod on his
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: starter once more. As we rolled away, he glanced sidewise
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: at me. His crossed eyes behind their thick lenses had
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: grown suddenly serious. Only one night's cigarette and I've been here, Gibb,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: he said somewhat darkly. And I don't like it. Don't
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: tell me you're haunted, I rallied him, laughing. That's good
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: press agentry for a horror play, but I'm one of
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: the actors. I won't be buying tickets. He did not
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: laugh in return. I won't say haunted, Gibb. That means
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: ordinary ghosts. And whatever is here at the theater is
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: worse than ghosts. Listen what happened. End of chapter four.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Chapter five. Of the Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Jake's story. Sigrid, with Jake in attendance as usual, had
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: left New York on the morning after Varduk's reading of Ruthven.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: They had drifted in the car Jake had helped Davidson
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: to buy, and thus they avoided the usual throngs of
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Sigrid's souvenir-demanding public, which would have complicated their departure by train.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: At Dillard Falls Junction, Varduk himself awaited them, having come
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: up on a night train. Jake took time to mail
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: me a ticket and money, then they drove the long
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: shadowy way to the theater. Lake Josgud, as most rural
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: New Yorkers know, is set rather low among wooded hills
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and bluffs. The unevenness of the country and the poverty
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: of the soil have discouraged cultivation so that farms and
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: villages are few. As the party drove, Varduk suggested an
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: advantage in this remoteness, which suggestion Jake later passed on
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: to Judge Percivant and me. Where a less brilliant or
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: more accessible star might be ignored in such far quarters,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Sigrid would find Lake Josgud to her advantage. The world
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: would beat a path to her box office, and treasure
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of her the more because that glimpse had
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: been difficult of attainment. The theater building itself had been
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: a great two-story lodge, made of heavy logs and hand-hewn planks.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: Some sporting club, now defunct, had owned it, then abandoned
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: it when fish grew scarce in the lake. Varduk had
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: leased it cheaply, knocked out all partitions on the ground floor,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: and set up a stage, a lobby, and pew-like benches everywhere.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: The upper rooms would serve as lodgings for himself and
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: his associate Davidson, while small outbuildings had been fitted up
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: to accommodate the rest of us. Around this group of
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: structures clung a thick mass of timber. Sigrid, who had
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: spent her girlhood among Sweden's forests, pointed out that it
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: was mostly virgin, and inquired why a lumber company had
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: never cut logs here. Barduk replied that the property had
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: been private for many years, then changed the subject by
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: the welcome suggestion that they have dinner. They had brought
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: a supply of provisions, and Jake, who is something of
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: a cook in addition to his many other professions, prepared
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: a meal. Both Sigrid and Jake ate heartily, but Varduk
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: seemed only to take occasional morsels for politeness' sake. In
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: the evening, a full moon began to rise across the lake.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Sitting together in Varduk's upstairs parlor, the three saw the
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: great soaring distance. of pale light, and Sigrid cried out
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: joyfully that she wanted to go out and see better.'
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Take a lantern if you go out at night,' counseled
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Varduk over his cigar.' A lantern?' Sigrid repeated.' But that
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: would spoil the effect of the moonlight.' Her new director
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: blew a smooth ring of smoke and stared into its center.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: as though a message lay there. Then he turned his
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: brilliant eyes to her. If you are wise, you will
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: do as I say, he made answer. Men like Varduk
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: are masterful and used to being obeyed. Sometimes they lose
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: sight of the fact that women like Sigrid are not
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: used to being given arbitrary commands without explanation. She fell
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: silent and a little frigid for half an hour. Often
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: I had seen her just as Jake was describing her.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: Then she rose and excused herself, saying that she was
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: tired from the morning's long drive. and would go to
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: bed early. Varduk rose and courteously bowed her to the stairs.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Since her sleeping quarters, a cleverly rebuilt woodshed, were hardly
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: a dozen steps from the rear of the lodge building itself,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: neither man thought it necessary to accompany her. Left alone,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Varduk and Jake carried on an idle conversation, mostly about
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: publicity plans. Jake, who in the show business had done
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: successfully almost everything but acting, found in his companion a
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: rather penetrating and accurate commentator, on this particular aspect of production. Indeed,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Varduk debated him into a new attitude, one of restraint
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: and dignity, instead of novel and insistent extravagance. You're right,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Jake announced at length. I'm going to get the releases
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: that go out in tomorrow's mail. I'll cut out every
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: stupendous and colossal I wrote in them. Good night, Mr. Varduk.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: He too trotted downstairs and left the main building for
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: his own sleeping room, which was the loft of an
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: old boathouse. As he turned toward the water, he saw
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: a figure walking slowly and dreamily along its edge. Sigrid,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: her hands tucked into the pockets of the light-belted coat
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: she had donned against possible night chills, her head flung
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: back as though she sought all the moonlight upon her
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: wrapped face. Although she had wandered out to the brink
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: of the sandy beach, and so stood in the open brightness,
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: clumps of bushes and young trees grew out almost to
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: the lake. One tufty belt of scrub willow extended from
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: the denser timber to a point within a dozen feet
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: of Sigrid. It made a screen of gloom between Jake's
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: viewpoint and the moon's spray of silver. Yet he could see.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: Light was apparently soaking through its close-set leaves, a streak
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: of soft radiance that was so filtered as to look murky, greenish,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: like the glow from rotting salmon. Even as Jake noticed
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: this flecky glimmer, it seemed to open up like a
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: fan or a parasol. Instead of a streak, it was
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: a blot. This extended further, lazily but noticeably. Jake scowled
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: and this moved lakeward without leaving any of itself at
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: the starting point. With its greatening came somewhat of a brightening,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: which revealed that the phenomenon had some sort of shape,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: or perhaps the shape was defining itself as it moved.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: The blot's edges grew unevenly, receding in places to swell
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: in others. Jake saw that these swellings sprouted into pseudopodal extensions,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: to quote him, they jellied out, that stirred as though
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: groping or reaching. and at the top was a squat roundness,
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: like an undeveloped cranium. The lower rays of light became limbs,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: striking at the ground as though to walk. The thing
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: counterfeited life, motion, and attention. It was moving toward the water,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: and toward Sigrid. Jake did not know what it was,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: and he says that he was suddenly and extremely frightened.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: Yet he does not seem to have acted like one
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: who is stricken with fear. What he did, and did
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: at once, was to ball out a warning to Sigrid,
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: then charge at the mystery. It had stolen into the moonlight,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: and Jake encountered it there. As he charged, he tried
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: to make out the details, but what little it had
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: had of details in the darkness now went misty as
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: its glow was conquered in the brighter flood of moonglow.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Yet it was there, and moving toward Sigrid, she had
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: turned from looking across the water and now shrank back
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: with a tremulous cry, stumbling and recovering herself ankle-deep in
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the shallows. Jake, meanwhile, had flung himself between her and
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: what was coming out of the thicket, He did not
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: wait or even set himself for conflict, but changed direction
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: to face and spring upon the threatening presence. Though past
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: his first youth, he fancied himself as in fairly tough condition,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: and more than once he had won such impromptu fistfights
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: as spring up among the too temperamental folk of the theatre.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: He attacked as he would against a human adversary, sinking
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: his head between his shoulders and flinging his fists in
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: quick succession. He got home solidly, against something tangible but
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: sickeningly loose beneath its smooth skin or rind. It was
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: like buffeting a sack half full of meal. Though the
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: substance sank in beneath his knuckles, there was no reeling
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: or retreat. A squashy returned slap almost enveloped his face,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: and his spectacles came away as though by suction. At
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: the same time, he felt a cable-like embrace, such as
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: he had imagined a python might exert. He smelled putrescence,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: was close to being sick. and heard, just behind him,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: the louder screaming of Sigrid. The fresh knowledge of her
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: danger and terror made him strong again. One arm was
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: free and he battered gamely with his fist. He found
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: his mark, twice, maybe three times. Then his sickness became
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: faintness when he realized that his knuckles had become slimy wet.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: A new force dragged at him behind. Another enemy. Then
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: a terrible voice of command. The voice of Varduk.' Let
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: go at once!' The grasp and the filthy bulk fell
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: away from Jake. He felt his knees waver like shreds
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: of paper. His eyes, blurred without their thick spectacles, could
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: barely discern not one but several lumpy forms drawing back.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: And near him stood Varduk, his facial phosphorescence outgleaming the
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: rotten light of the creatures, his form drawn up sternly
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: in a posture of command. Get out! cried Varduk again.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: By what power do you come for your victim now?
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: The uncouth shapes shrank out of sight. Jake could not
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: be sure whether they found shelter behind bushes and trees
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: or not. Perhaps they actually faded into invisibility. Sigrid had
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: come close, stepping gingerly in her wet shoes and stooped
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: to retrieve Jake's fallen glasses.' We owe you our lives,'
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: she said to Varduk.' What were those—'' Never mind,' he
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: cut her off.' They will threaten you no more tonight.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Go to your beds and be more careful in the future.'
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: This was the story that Jake told me as we
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: drove the final miles to Lake Josgud Theater. He admitted
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: that it had all been a desperate and indistinct scramble
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: to him, and that explanation he had offered next morning
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: when Varduk laughed and accused him of dreaming. But maybe
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a dream, Jake said as he finished. Even
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: if it was, I don't want any more dreams like it.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: End of chapter 5 CHAPTER VI. THE THEATRE IN THE
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: FOREST Jake's narrative did not give me cheerful expectations of
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: the Lake Josgud Theatre. It was just as well, for
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: my first glimpse of the place convinced me that it
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: was the exact setting for a play of morbid unreality.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: The road beyond Percivant's cabin was narrow but not too bad, Jake,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: driving nimbly over its sanded surface, told me that we
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: might thank the public works program for its good condition.
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: In one or two places, as I think I have
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: said already, the way was cut deeply between knolls or bluffs,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: and here it was gloomy and almost sunless. Two, the
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: woods thickened to right and left, with taller and taller
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: ranks of trees at the roadside. Springtime's leafage made the
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: trees seem vigorous, but not exactly cheerful. I fancied that
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: they were endowed with intelligence and the power of motion.
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: and that they awaited only our passing before they moved
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: out to block the open way behind us. From this
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: sand-surfaced road there branched eventually a second, and even narrower
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: and darker, that dipped down a thickly timbered slope. We
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: took a rather difficult curve at the bottom and came
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: out almost upon the shore of the lake, with the
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: old lodge and its outbuildings in plain view. These structures
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: were in the best of repair, but appeared intensely dark
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: and weathered, as though the afternoon sky shed a brownish
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: light upon them, The lodge that was now the theater
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: stood clear in the center of the sizable cleared space,
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: although lush-looking clumps and belts of evergreen scrub grew almost
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: against the sheds in the boathouse. I was enough of
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: an observer to be aware that the deep roofs were
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: of stout axe-cut shingles, and that the heavy timbers of
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: the walls were undoubtedly seasoned for an age. The windows
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: were large but deep-set in their sturdy frames. Those who
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: call windows the eyes of a house would have thought
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: that these eyes were large enough but well able to
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: conceal the secrets and feelings within. As we emerged from
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: the car, I felt, rather than saw, an onlooker. Varduk
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: stood in the wide front door of the lodge building.
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: Neither Jake nor I could agree later whether he had
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: opened the door himself and appeared, whether he'd stepped into
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: view with the door already open, or whether he had
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: been standing there all the time. His slender, elegant figure
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: was dressed in dark jacket and trousers, with a black
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: silk scarf draped ascot fashion at his throat. just as
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: he had worn at his hotel in New York. When
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: he saw that we were aware of him, he lifted
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: a white hand in greeting and descended two steps to
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: meet us coming toward him. I offered him my hand,
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: and he gave it a quick, sharp pressure, as though
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: he were investigating the texture of my flesh and bone.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: I am glad to see you here so soon. soon, Mr. Connett,'
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: he said cordially.' Now we need wait only for Miss Vining,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: who should arrive before dark. Miss Holgar came yesterday and
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: Davidson this morning.'' There will be only the six of us, then?'
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: I asked. He nodded his chestnut curls. A caretaker will
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: come here each day to prepare lunch and dinner, and
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: to clean. He lives several miles up the road and
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: will spend his nights at home. But we of the
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: play itself will be in residence, and we are alone,
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: a condition fully in character, I feel, with the attitude
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of mystery and reserve we have assumed toward our interesting production.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: For breakfast, Davidson will be able to look after us. Ha!
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: grunted Jake. That Davidson can act, manage, stagehand, cook. He
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: does everything. Almost everything, said Varduk dryly, and his eyes
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: turned long and expressionlessly upon my friend, who immediately subsided.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: In the daylight I saw that Varduk's eyes were hazel.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: On the night I had met him at his hotel
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: they had seemed thunder-dark. You two are considered useful at
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: many things around the theatre, Switz, Varduk continued. I took
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: that into consideration when Miss Holgar, though she left her
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: maid behind, insisted on including you in the company. I
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: dare say we can depend on you to help Davidson
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: with the staging and so on.'' Oh, yes, sure,' Jake
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: made reply.' Certainly Miss Holgar, she wants me to do that.''
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: Very good,' Bardock turned on the heel of his well-polished boot.' Suppose,'
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: he added over his shoulder,' that you take Mr. Conant
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: up to the loft of the boathouse. Mr. Conant, do
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: you mind putting up a switz?'' Not in the least,'
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: I assured him readily. and took up two of my bags.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: Jake had already lifted the third and heaviest. We nodded
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: to Varduk and skirted the side of the lodge, walked
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: down to the water, then entered the boathouse. It was
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: a simple affair of well-chinked logs. Two leaky-looking canoes still
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: occupied the lower part of it, but we picked our
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: way past them and ascended a sturdy staircase to a
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: loft under the peaked roof. This had been finished with
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: wallboard and boasted a window at each end. Two cots,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: a rug, a washstand, a table, and several chairs made
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: it an acceptable sleeping apartment. This theater is halfway to
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: the Never Never Land, I commented as I began to unpack.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: I should live so. I never saw the like of it,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: Jake said earnestly. How are people going to find their
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: way here? Yesterday I began to talk about signs by
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: the side of the road. Right off at once, Varduk
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: said no. I begged like a poor relation left out
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: of his uncle's will. Finally, he said yes, but the
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: signs must be small and dignified, and put up only
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: a day before the show begins. I wanted to ask
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: a question about his adventure of the previous night, but
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: Jake shook his head in refusal to discuss it. Not here,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: he said. Geb, who knows who may be listening? He
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: dropped his voice. Or even what might be listening? I
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: lapsed into silence and got our old canvas sneakers, flannel slacks,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: and a Norfolk jacket, and changed into them. Dressed in
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: this easy manner, I left the boathouse and stood beside
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: the lake. At once a voice hailed me. Sigrid was
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: walking along the water's edge, smiling in apparent delight. We
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: came face to face. I bent to kiss her hand,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: as once before it fluttered under my lips, but when
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: I straightened again I saw nothing of distaste or unsteadiness
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: in her expression. Gib, how nice that you're here, she cried.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: Do you like the place? I haven't seen very much
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: of it yet, I told her. I want to see
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: the inside of the theater. She took her hand away
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: from me and thrust it into the pocket of the
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: old white sweater she wore. I think that I love
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: it here, she said with an air of gay confession.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: Not all of the hermit stories about mere lies. I
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: could grow truly fat. God save the mark on quiet
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: and serenity. Vardik pleases you, too, I suggested. He has
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: more understanding than any other theatrical executive in my experience,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: she responded emphatically. He fills me with a wish to work.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: I'm like a starry-eyed beginner again. What would you say
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: if I told you that I was sweeping my own
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: room and making my own bed? I would say that
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: you were the most charming housemaid in the world. Her
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: laughter was full of delight. You sound as if you
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: mean it, Gib. It's nice to know you as a
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: friend again. It seemed to me that she emphasized the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: word friend a trifle, as though to warn me that
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: our relationship would never more become closer than that. Changing
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: the subject, I asked her if she had swum in
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: the lake. She had and found it cold. How about
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: seeing the theatre? Together we walked toward the lodge and
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: entered at a side door. The auditorium was as Jake
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: had described it to me, and I saw that Varduk
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: lacked a dark tone. He had stained the panelling, the benches,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: and the beams a dark brown. Brown, too, was the
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: heavy curtain that hid the stage.' We' ll be there to-night,'
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: said Sigrid, nodding stageward.' Varduk is called the first rehearsal
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: for immediately after dinner. We together, of course, in a
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: big room upstairs.' May I sit next to you when
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: we eat? I asked, and she laughed yet again. She
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: was being as cheerful as I had ever known her
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to be. You sound like the student hero in a
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: light opera, Gib. I don't know about the seating arrangement.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: Last night I was at the head of the table,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: and Varduk at the foot. Jake and Mr. Davidson were
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: at either side of me. I shall certainly arrive before
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: one or the other of them, I bowed solemnly. Varduk
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: had drifted in as we talked, and he chuckled at
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: my announcement. A gallant note, Mr. Connett. and one that
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: I hope you can capture as pleasantly for the romantic
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: passages of our Ruthven. By the by, our first rehearsal
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: will take place this evening.'' So Miss Holgar has told me,'
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: I nodded.' I have studied the play rather prayerfully since
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: Davidson gave me a copy. I hope I am not
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: a disappointment in it.'' I am sure that you will
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: not be,' he said kindly.' I did not choose disappointing
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: people for my cast.' Davidson entered from the front to
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: say that Martha Vining had arrived.' Varduk moved away, stiff
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: in his walk as I had observed before. Sigrid and
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: I went through the side door and back into the open.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: That evening I kept my promise to find a place
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: by Sigrid at the table. Davidson, entering just behind me,
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: looked a trifle chagrined but sat at my other side,
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: with Martha Vining opposite. The dinner was good, with roast mutton, salad,
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: and apple tart. I thought of Judge Percivant's healthy appetite
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: as I ate. After the coffee, Varduk nodded to the
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: old man who served as caretaker, cook, and waiter, as
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: in dismissal. Then the producer's hazel eyes turned to Sigrid,
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: who took her cue and rose. We did likewise. Shall
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: we go down to the stage? Varduk said to us.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: It's time for our first effort with Ruthven. End of
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: chapter six. Chapter seven of The Black Drama by Manly
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: Wade Wellman. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: CHAPTER VII REHEARSAL We went down a back stairway that
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: brought us to the empty stage. A light was already burning,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: and I remember well that my first impression was of
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: the stage's narrowness and considerable depth. Its back was of
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: plaster over the outer timbers, but at either side partitions
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: of paneling had been erected to enclose the cell-like dressing rooms.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: One of the doors bore a star of white paint,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: evidently for Sigrid. Against the back wall leaned several open
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: frames of wood, with rolls of canvas lying ready to
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: be tacked on and painted into scenery. Varduk had led
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: the way down the stairs, and at the foot he
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: paused to call upward to Davidson, who remained at the
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: rear of the procession. Fetch some chairs, he ordered, and
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: the tall subordinate paused to gather them. He carried down
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: six at once, his long, strong arms threaded through their
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: open backs. Varduk showed him with silent gestures where to
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: arrange them, and himself led Sigrid to the midmost of them,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: upstage center. Sit down, all, he said to the rest
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: of us. Curtin Davidson? He waited while the heavy pall
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: rolled ponderously upward against the top of the arch. Have
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: you got your scripts, ladies and gentlemen? We all had,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: but his hands were empty. I started to offer him
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: my copy, but he waved it away with thanks. I
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: know the thing by heart, he informed me, though with
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: no air of boasting. Remaining still upon his feet, he
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: looked around our seated array, capturing every eye and attention.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: The first part of Ruthven is, as we know already,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: in iambic pentameter, the heroic verse that was customary and
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: even expected in dramas of Byron's day. However, he employs
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: here his usual trick of breaking the earlier lines up
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: into short, situation-building speeches, no long and involved declamations, as
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: in so many creaky tragedies of his fellows. He wrote
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: the same sort of opening scenes for his plays the
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: world has already seen performed— Werner, the two of Foscari,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: Marino Fagliaro, and The Deformed Transformed. Martha Vining cleared her throat.'
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: Doesn' t Manfred begin with a long-measured soliloquy by the central character?''
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: It does,' nodded Varduk.' I am grateful, Miss Vining, to
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: observe that you have been studying something of Byron's work.'
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: He paused, and she bridled in satisfaction.' However—' he continued
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: somewhat maliciously, you would be well advised to study farther,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: and learn that Byron stated definitely that Manfred was not
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: written for the theatre. But, returning to Ruthven, with which
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: work we are primarily concerned, the short, lively exchanges at
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: the beginning are Aubrey's and Malvina's. He quoted from memory,' Seen,
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: Malvina's garden, time late afternoon. Aubrey, sitting at Malvina's feet,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: tells his adventures.' Very good, Mr. Connett, take your place
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: at Miss Holger's feet.' I did so, and she smiled
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: in comradely fashion, while waiting for the others to drag
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: their chairs away. Glancing at our scripts, we began.' I' m
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: no Othello, darling,' Yet I am your Desdemona. Tell me
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: of your travels. Of Anthropophagi? And men whose heads do
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: grow beneath? I saw no such, not in all wildest
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: Greece and Macedon. Saw you no spirits? None, Malvina, none.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Not even the vampire, he who quaffs the blood of
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: life that he may live in death? Not I. How
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: do you know that tale? I've read in old romances.' Capital, capital,'
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: interrupted Varduk pleasantly.' I know that the play is written
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: in a specific meter, yet you need not speak as
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: though it were. If anything, make the lines less rhythmic
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: and more matter-of-fact. Remember you are young lovers, half-bantering as
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: you woo. Let your audience relax with you. Let it
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: feel the verse form without actually hearing.' We continued to
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: the line where Aubrey tells of his travel acquaintance Ruthven.
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: Here the speech became definite verse. He is a friend
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: who charms but does not cheer, one who commands but
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: comforts not the world. I do not doubt but women
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: find him handsome, yet hearts must be uneasy at his glance.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: Malvina asks, His glance, is it so piercing when it strikes?
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: And Aubrey, It does not pierce. Indeed, it rather weighs
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: like lead upon the face where it is fixed. followed
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: the story which I have outlined elsewhere of the encounter
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: with bandits and Ruthven's apparent sacrifice of himself to cover
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: Aubrey's retreat. Then Martha Vining, as the maid Bridget, spoke
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: to announce Ruthven's coming, and upon the heels of her speech,
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: Varduk moved stiffly toward us.' Aubrey!' he cried in a
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: rich ringing voice such as fills theatres, and not at
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: all like his ordinary gentle voice. I made my due response.'
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Have you lived, Ruthven?' but the horde of outlaw warriors
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: compassed you and struck. In the role of Ruthven, Barduk's
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: interruption was as natural and decisive as when, in ordinary conversation,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: he neatly cut another speech in two with a remark
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: of his own. I have already quoted this reply of Ruthven's.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: I faced them, and who seeks my face seeks death.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: He was speaking the line, of course, without script, and
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: his eyes held mine. Despite myself, I almost staggered under
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: the weight of his glance. It was like that which
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: Aubrey actually credits to Ruthven. Lead-heavy, instead of piercing, difficult
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: to support. The rehearsal went on with Ruthven's seduction of Bridget,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: and his court to the nervous but fascinated Malvina. In
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: the end, as I have synopsized earlier, came his secret
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: and miraculous revival from seeming death. Varduk delivered the final,
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: rather terrifying speech magnificently, and then abruptly doffed his Ruthven
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: manner to smile congratulations all around. It's more than a
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: month to our opening date in July, he said, and
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: yet I would be willing to present this play as
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: a finished play no later than this day week. Miss Holgar,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: may I voice my special appreciation? Mr. Conant, your confessed
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: fear of your own inadequacy is proven groundless. Bravo, Miss Vining,
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: and you, Davidson. His final tag of praise to his
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: subordinate seemed almost grudging. Now for the second act of
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: the thing. No verse this time, my friends. Finish the
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: rehearsal as well as you have begun. Wait, I said.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: How about properties? I simulated the club stroke in the
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: first act, but this time I need a sword. For
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: the sake of feeling the action better. Yes, of course,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: granted Varduk. There's one in the corner dressing room, he pointed.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: Go fetch it, Davidson. Davidson complied. The sword was a
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: crosshilt affair, old but keen and bright. This isn't a
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: prop at all, I half objected. It's the real thing.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: Won't it be dangerous? Oh, I think we can risk it,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: Varduk replied carelessly. Let's get on with the rehearsal a
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: hundred years later in the same garden. Swithin and Mary,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: descendants of Aubrey and Malvina, on stage. We continued. The
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: opening again with Sigrid and myself a-wooing was lively and
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: even brilliant. Martha Vining, in her role of the centenarian Bridget,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: skillfully cracked her voice and infused a witch-like quality into
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: her telling of the Aubrey-Ruthven tale. Again the entrance of Ruthven,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: his suavity and apparent friendliness, his manner changing as he
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: is revealed as the resurrected fiend of another age, finally
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: the clash with me as Swithin. I spoke my line.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: My ancestor killed you once, Ruthven. I can do the
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: same today. Then I poked at him with the sword.
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: Barduk smiled and interjected. Rather a languid thrust, that, Mr. Conant.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: Do you think it will seem serious from the viewpoint
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: of our audience? I'm Sorry, I said. I was afraid
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: I might hurt you. Fear nothing, Mr. Conant. Take the
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: speech and the swordplay again. I did so, but he
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: laughed almost in scorn. You still put no life into
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: the thrust. He spread his hands as if to offer
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: himself as a target. Once more, don't be an old woman.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: Losing a bit of my temper, I made a genuine lunge.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: My right foot glided forward and my weight shifted to
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: follow my point. But in mid-motion I knew myself for
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: a danger-dealing fool, tried to recover, failed, and slipped. I
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: almost fell at full length. Would have fallen had Varduk
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: not been standing in my way. My sword point, completely
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: out of control, drove at the center of his breast.
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: I felt it tear through cloth, through flesh. A moment
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: later his slender hands had caught my floundering body and
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: pushed it back upon his feet. My sword, wedged in something,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: snatched its hilt from my hand. Sick and horrified, I
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: saw it protruding from the midst of Varduk's body. Behind
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: me I heard the choked squeal of Martha Vining, and
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: an oath from Jake Switz. I swayed, my vision seemed
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: to swim in smoky liquid, and I suppose I was
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: well on the way to an unmasculine swoon. But a
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: light chuckle in Varduk's familiar manner saved me from collapsing.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: That is exactly the way to do it, Mr. Connett,
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: he said in a tone of well-bred applause. He drew
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: the steel free. I think he had to wrench rather hard.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: and then stepped forward to extend the hilt. There's blood
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: on it, I mumbled sickly. Oh, that. He glanced down
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: at the blade. Just a deceit for the sake of realism.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: You arranged the false blood device splendidly, Davidson. He pushed
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: the hilt into my slack grasp. Look, the imitation gore
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: is already evaporating. So it was, like dew on a
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: hot stone. Already the blade shone bright and clean. Very good.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: said Varduk. Climax now. Miss Holgar, I think it is
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: your line. She too had been horrified by the seeming catastrophe,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: but she came gamely up to the bit where Mary
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: pleads for Swithin's life, offering herself as the price. Half
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: a dozen exchanges between Ruthven and Mary thus. You give
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: yourself up, then? I do. You renounce your former manners, hopes,
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: and wishes? I do. I do. You will swear so
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: upon the book yonder. Here Ruthven points to a Bible
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: open on the garden seat. I do. Mary touches the Bible.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: You submit to the powers I represent. I know only
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: the power to which I pray. Our Father which wert
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: in heaven. Sigrid, as I say, had done well up
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: to now, but here she broke off. It isn't correct there,
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: she pointed out. The prayer should read art in heaven.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the script was copied wrongly. No, said Martha Bining.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: It's word in heaven on mine, too. And on mine,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: I added. Barduk had frowned a moment, as if perplexed,
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: but he spoke decisively. As a matter of fact, it's
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: in the original. Byron undoubtedly meant it to be so,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: to show Mary's agitation. Sigurd had been reading ahead. Farther
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: down in the same prayer, it says almost the same thing.
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: Thy will be done on earth as it was in heaven.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: It should be is in heaven. I had found the
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: same deviation in my own copy. Byron hardly meant Mary's
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: agitation to extend so far, I argued. Since when, Mr. Connatt,
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: inquired Varduk silkily, did you become an authority on what
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: Byron meant, here or elsewhere in his writings, your being
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: not only a critic but a clairvoyant? I felt my
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: cheeks glowing, and I met his heavy, mocking gaze as
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: levelly as I could. I don't like sacrilegious mistakes, I said,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: and I don't like being snubbed, sir. Davidson stepped to
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: Varduk's side. You can't talk to him like that, Connett,
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: he warned me. Davidson was a good four inches taller
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: than I, and more muscular, but at the moment I
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: welcomed the idea of fighting him. I moved a step forward. Mr. Davidson,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: I said to him, I don't welcome dictation from you,
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: not on anything I choose to do or say. Sigrid
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: cried out in protest, and Varduk lifted up a hand.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: He smiled, too, in a dazzling manner. I think, he
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: said in sudden good humor, that we are all tired
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: and shaken. Perhaps it's due to the unintentional realism of
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: that incident with the sword. I saw several faces grow pale.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: Suppose we say that the rehearsals won't include so dangerous-looking
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: an attack hereafter. We'll save the trick for the public
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: performance itself. And we'll stop work now. In any case,
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: it's supposed to be unlucky to speak the last line
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: of a play in rehearsal. Shall we all go and
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: get some rest? He turned to Sigrid and offered his arm.
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: She took it, and they walked side by side out
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: of the stage door and away. Martha Vining followed at
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: their heels while Davidson lingered to turn out the lights.
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: Jake and I left together for our own boathouse loft.
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: The moon was up, and I jumped when leaves shimmered
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: in its light. I remembered Jake's story about the amorphous
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: lurkers in the thickets. But nothing challenged us, and we
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: went silently to bed. though I, at least, lay wakeful
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: for hours. When finally I slept it was to dream
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: in strange unrelated flashes. The clearest impression of all was
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: that Sigrid and Judge Percivant came to lead me deep
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: into the dark woods beyond the lodge. They seemed to
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: know their way through pathless thickets, and finally beckoned me
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: to follow into a deep, shadowed cleft between banks of earth.
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: We descended for miles, I judged in my dream, until
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: we came to a bare, hard floor at the bottom.
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: Here was a wide, round hatchway of metal, like a
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: very large sewer lid. Bidding me watch, Sigrid and the
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: Judge bent and tugged the lid up and away. Gazing
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: down the exposed shaft, it was as if I saw
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: the heavens beneath my feet, the fathomlessness of the night sky,
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: like velvet all sprinkled with crumbs of starfire. I did
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: not know whether to be joyful or to fear. Then
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: I had awakened, and it was bright morning. The air
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: was warmer than it had been the day before, and
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: I donned bathing trunks and went downstairs, treading softly to
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: let Jake snore blissfully on. Almost at the door of
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: the boathouse, I came face to face with Davidson, who
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: smiled disarmingly and held out his hand. He urged me
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: to forget the brief hostility that had come over us
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: at rehearsal. He was quite unforced and cheerful about it,
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: yet I surmised that Varduk had bade him make peace
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: with me. However, I agreed that we had both been
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: tired and upset, and we shook hands cordially. Then I
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: turned toward the water and saw Sigrid lazily crawling out
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: into the deep stretches with long, smooth strokes. I called
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: her name. ran in waist deep, and swam as swiftly
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: as I could, soon catching up. She smiled in welcome
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: and turned on her side to say good morning. In
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: her brief bathing suit, she did not look so gaunt
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: and fragile. Her body was no more than healthily slim
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: and quite firm and strong-looking. As we swam easily, I
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: was impelled to speak of my dream, and she smiled again.
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: I think that was rather beautiful. I mean about the
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: heavens below your feet, she said. Symbolism might have something
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: to do about it. In a way the vision was prophetic.
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant has sent word that he will call on us.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the rest was prophetic, too, I ventured boldly. You
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: and I together, Sigrid, and heaven at our feet. I've
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: been in long enough, she announced suddenly, and breakfast must
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: be ready. Come on, Gib, race me back to the shore.
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: She was off like a trout, and I churned after her.
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: We finished neck and neck, separated, and went away to dress.
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: At breakfast, which Davidson prepared simply but well of porridge, toast,
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: and eggs, I did not get to sit next to Sigrid.
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: Davidson and Jake had found places at her left and
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: right hands. I paid what attentions I could devise to
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: Martha Vining, but if Sigrid was piqued by my courtliness
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: in another direction, she gave no sign. The meal over,
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: I returned to my room, secured my copy of Ruthven,
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: and carried it outdoors to study. I chose a sun-drenched
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: spot near the lodge, set my back to a tree,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: and leaped through the play, underlining difficult passages here and there.
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: I remembered Vardick's announcement that we would never speak the
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: play's last line in rehearsal, lest bad luck fall. He
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: was superstitious for all his apparent wisdom and culture. Yet,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: according to the books Judge Percivant had lent me, so
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: was Lord Byron, from whom Vardick claimed dissent. What was
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: the ill-omened last line, by the way? I turned to
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: the last page of the script. The final line, as
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: typewritten by Davidson, contained only a few words. My eyes
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: found it. Ruthven placing his hand on Mary's head. And
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: no more than that. There was place for a speech
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: after the stage direction, apparently the monster's involuntary cry for
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: blessing upon the brave girl, but Davidson had not set
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: down such a speech. Amazed, and in some unaccountable way uneasy,
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: I walked around the corner of the lodge to where
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: Martha Vining, seated on the doorstep, also studied her lines.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: Before I had finished my first question, she nodded violently.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: It's the same way on my script, she informed me.
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: You mean the last speech missing? I noticed last night
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: and mentioned it before breakfast to Miss Holger. She has
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: no last line either. A soft chuckle drifted down upon us.
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: Varduk had come to the open door. Davidson must have
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: made a careless omission, he said. Of course, there is
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: only one typescript of the play with carbon copies. Well,
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: if the last line is missing, isn't it a definite
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: sign that we should not speak it in rehearsal? He
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: rested his heavy gaze upon me, then upon Martha Vining,
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: smiled to conclude the discussion, and drew back into the
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: hallway and beyond our sight. Perhaps I may be excused
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: for not feeling completely at rest on the subject. Judge
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Percivant arrived for lunch, dressed comfortably in flannels and a
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: tweed jacket, and his performance at table was in healthy
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: contrast to Varduk, who, as usual, ate hardly anything. In
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: the early afternoon I induced the judge to come for
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: a stroll up the slope and along the main road.
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: As soon as we were well away from the lodge,
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: I told him of Jake's adventure, the outcome of the
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: sword accident at rehearsal, and the air of mystery that
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: deepened around the omitted final speech of the play.' Perhaps
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: I'm being nervous and illusion-ridden,' I began to apologize in conclusion,
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: but he shook his great head.' You' re being nothing of
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: the sort, Connett. Apparently my semi-psychic intuition was good as gold.
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: I did perfectly right in following this drama and its
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: company out here into the wilderness.' You came deliberately? I asked,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: and he nodded. My friend's cabin in the neighborhood was
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: a stroke of good luck, and I more than half
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: courted the invitation to occupy it. I'll be frank on it,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: and say that from the outset I've felt a definite
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: and occult challenge from Varduk and his activities. He chopped
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: at a weed with his big malacca stick, pondered a moment,
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: then continued. Your Mr. Varduk is a mysterious fellow. I
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: need not enlarge on that, though I might remind you
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: of the excellent reason for his strange character and behavior.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: Byron's blood? Exactly. And Byron's curse. I stopped in mid-stride
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: and turned to face the judge. He smiled somewhat apologetically.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: I know, Connett, he said, that modern men and women
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: think such things impossible. They think it equally impossible that
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: anyone of good education and normal mind should take occultism seriously.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: But I disprove the latter impossibility at least. I hold
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: degrees from three world-famous universities, and my behavior at least
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: shows that I am neither morbid nor shallow. Certainly not,
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: I assented, thinking of his hearty appetite, his record of
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: achievement in many fields, his manifest kindness and sincerity. Then
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: consent to hear my evidence out. He resumed his walk,
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: and I fell into step with him. It's only circumstantial evidence,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: I fear, and such as must not be entirely conclusive.
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: Yet here it is. Byron was the ideal target for
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: a curse, not only personally, but racially. His forebears occupied
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: themselves with revolution, dueling, sacrilege, and lesser sins. They were
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: the sort who attract and merit disaster. As for his
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: immediate parents, it would be difficult to choose a more
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: depraved father than Captain Mad Jack Byron, or a more
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: unnatural mother than Catherine Gordon of Gite. Brimstone was bred
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: into the child's very soul by those two, follow his
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: career and what is there. Pride, violence, orgy, disgrace. Over
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: his married life hangs a shocking cloud, an unmentionable accusation.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: Right or not, we cannot say. As for his associates,
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: they withered at his touch. His children, lawful and natural,
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: died untimely and unhappy. His friends found ruin or death.
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: Even Dr. Polidori, plagiarist of the Ruthven story, committed suicide.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: Byron himself, when barely past his first youth, perished alone
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: and far from home and friends. Today his bright fame
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: is blurred and tarnished by a wealth of legend that
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: can be called nothing less than diabolic. Yet he wasn't
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: all unlucky, I sought to remind my companion. His beauty
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: and brilliance, his success as a poet, all part of
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: the curse. When could he be thankful for a face
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: that drew the love of Lady Carolyn Lamb and precipitated
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: one of London's most fearful scandals? As for his poetry,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: did it not mark him for envy, spite, and eventually
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: a concerted attack? I dare say Byron would have been
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: happier as a plain-faced mechanic or grocer. I felt inclined
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: to agree, and said as much. If a curse exists,
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: I added, would it affect Varduk as a disciple? of Byron?
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: I think that it would, and that his recent actions
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: prove at once the existence of a curse and the
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: truth of his claim to dissent. A shadow lies on
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: that man, Connett. The rest of the similarity holds, I responded,
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: the charm and the genius. I have wondered why Miss
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: Holger agrees to this play, It is archaic, in some
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: degree melodramatic, and her part is by no means dominant,
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: yet she seems delighted with the role and the production
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: in general. I have considered the same apparent lapse in
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: her judgment, said Percival, and came to the conclusion that
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: you are about to suggest that Varduk has gained some
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: sort of influence over Miss Holgar. Perhaps, then, you feel
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: that such an influence would be dangerous to her and
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: to others? Exactly. What to do, then? Do nothing, gentlemen,
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: said someone directly behind us. We both whirled in sudden surprise.
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: It was Elmo Davidson. End of chapter eight. Chapter nine
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman. This LibriVox
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Chapter nine. Davidson gives
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: a warning. I scowled at Davidson in surprised protest at
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: his intrusion. Judge Percivant did not scowl, but I saw
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: him lift his walking stick with his left hand, place
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: his right upon the curved handle, and gave it a
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: little twist and jerk, as though preparing to draw a
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: cork from a bottle. Davidson grinned placatingly. Please, gentlemen, I
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: didn't mean to eavesdrop or to do anything else sneaking.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: It was only that I went for a walk, too,
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: saw the pair of you ahead, and hurried to catch up.
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: I couldn't help but hear the final words you were saying,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: and I couldn't help but warn you.' We relaxed, but
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant repeated,' Warn,' in a tone deeply frigid.' May
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: I amplify, first of all, Varduk certainly does not intend
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: to harm either of you. Second, he isn't the sort
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: of man to be crossed in anything.'' I suppose not,'
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: I rejoined, trying to be casual.' You must be pretty sure, Davidson,
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: of his capabilities and character.' He nodded. We've been together
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: since college. Percivant leaned on his stick and produced his
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: well-seasoned briar pipe. It's comforting to hear you say that.
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: I mean that Mr. Varduk was once a college boy.
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: I was beginning to wonder if he wasn't thousands of
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: years old. Davidson shook his head slowly. See here, why
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: don't we sit down on the bank and talk? Maybe
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you a story. Very good, agreed Percivant, and
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: sat down. I did likewise, and we both gazed expectantly
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: at Davidson. He remained standing with hands in pockets until
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: Percivant had kindled his pipe and I my cigarette. Then,
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to frighten you, and I won't give
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: away any real secrets about my employer. It's just that
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: you may understand better after you learn how I met him.
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: It was more than ten years ago. Varduk came to
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: Revere College as a freshman when I was a junior.
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: He was much the same then as he is now. Slender, quiet, self-contained, enigmatic.
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: I got to know him better than anyone in school,
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: and I can't say truly that I know him, not
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: even now. Revere, in case you never heard of the place,
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: is a small school with a big reputation for grounding
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: its students hock-deep in the classics. Persephone nodded and emitted
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: a cloud of smoke. I knew your Professor Dahlberg of Revere.
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: He interjected, He's one of the great minds of the
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: age on Greek literature and history. Davidson continued, The buildings
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: at Revere are old and, you might say, swaddled in
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: the ivy planted by a hundred graduating classes. The traditions
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: are consistently mellow, and none of the faculty members come
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: in for much respect until they are past seventy. Yet
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: the students are very much like any others when class
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: is over. In my day, at least, we gave more
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: of a hoot for one touchdown than for 7,000 odes
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: of Horace. He smiled a little, as though in mild
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: relish of memories he had evoked within himself. The football
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: team wasn't very good, but it wasn't very bad either.
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: It meant something to be on the first team, and
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: I turned out to be a fairish tackle. At the
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: start of my junior year, the year I'm talking about,
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: a man by the name of Schaefer was captain. A
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: good fullback, though not brilliant, and the recognized leader of
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: the campus. Varduk didn't go in for athletics or for
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: anything else except a good stiff course of study, mostly
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: in the humanities. He took a room at the end
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: of the hall on the third floor of the men's
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: dormitory and kept to himself. You know how a college
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: dorm loves that, you men. Six days after the term started,
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: the yellow dogs had him on their list. Who were
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: the yellow dogs, I asked. Oh, there was a bunch
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: like it in every school, spiritual descendants of the Mohawks
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: that flourished in Queen Anne's reign. Rough and rowdy undergraduates,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: out for Halloween pranks every night. And any student, particularly
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: any frosh that stood on his dignity. He paused and
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: let our imagination finish the potentialities of such a situation. So,
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: one noon after lunch at the training table, Schaefer winked
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: at me and a couple of other choice spirits. We
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: went to our rooms and got our favorite paddles, carved
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: from barrel staves and lettered over with fraternity emblems and wisecracks.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: Then we tramped up to the third floor and knocked
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: loudly at Varduk's door. He didn't answer. We tried the knob.
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: The lock was on, so Schaefer dug his big shoulder
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: into the panel and smashed his way in. Davidson stopped
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: and drew a long breath, as if with it he
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: could win a better ability to describe the things he
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: was telling. Varduk lifted those big, deep eyes of his
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: as we appeared among the ruins of his door. No fear,
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: not even surprise. Just a long look, traveling from one
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: of us to another. When he brought his gaze to me,
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: I felt as if something was pointing two guns at me,
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: two guns loaded to their muzzles. I listened, felt like
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: saying I knew how he had felt, but I did
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: not interrupt. He was sitting comfortably in an armchair, went
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: on Davidson, rocking on his feet as though nervous with
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: the memory. And in his slender hands, he held a
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: big dark book. His forefinger marked a place between the leaves.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: Get up, Frosh, Schaefer said, and salute your superiors. Varduk
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: did not move or speak. He looked, and Schaefer bellowed
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: louder against a sudden and considerable uneasiness. What are you
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: reading there? he demanded of Varduk in his toughest voice.
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: A very interesting work, Varduk replied gently. It teaches people
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: how to rule people. Uh-huh, Schaefer sneered at him. Let's
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: have a look at it. I doubt if you would
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: like it, Varduk said, but Schaefer made a grab. The
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: book came open in his hands. He bent as if
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: to study it. Then he took a blind, lumbering step backward.
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: He smacked into the rest of us, all bunched behind him,
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: and without us, I think he might have fallen down.
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: I couldn't see his face, but the back of his
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: big bull neck had turned as white as plaster. He
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: made two efforts to speak before he managed it. Then
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: all he could splutter out was, What? Davidson achieved rather
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: well the manner of a strong, simple man gone suddenly
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: shaky with fright. I told you that you probably wouldn't
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: like it. Bardock said, like an adult reminding a child.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: Then he got up out of his armchair and took
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: the book from Schaefer's hands. He began to talk again. Schaefer,
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: I want to see you here in this room after
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: you finish your football practice this afternoon. Schaefer didn't make
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: any answer. All of us edged backwards and got out
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: of there. Davidson paused, so long that Percival asked, Is
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: that all? No, it isn't. In a way, it's just
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: the beginning. Schaefer made an awful fool of himself five
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: or six times on the field that day, He dropped
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: every one of his passes from center when we ran signals,
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: and five or six times he muffed the ball at
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: dropkick practice. The coach told him in front of everybody
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: that he acted like a high school yokel. When we
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: finished and took our showers, he hung back until I
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: came out so as to walk to the dormitory with me.
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: He tagged along like a frightened kid brother, and when
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: we got to the front door, he started upstairs like
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: an old man. He wanted to turn toward his own
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: room on the second floor, but Varduk's voice spoke his name,
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: and we both looked up, startled. On the stairs to
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: the third flight stood Varduk, holding that black book open
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: against his chest. He spoke to Schaefer. I told you
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: that I wanted to see you. Schaefer tried to swear
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: at him. After all, he was a frail, pale little
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: frosh who didn't seem to have an ounce of muscle
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: on his bones giving orders to a big football husky
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: who weighed more than 200 pounds. But the swear words
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: sort of strangled in his throat. Varduk laughed. Neither of
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: you have ever heard a sound so soft or merciless.
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you'd like me to come to your room after you,
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: Varduk suggested. Schaefer turned and came slowly to the stairs
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: and upped them. When he got level with Varduk, I
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: didn't much like watching the rest. As I moved away
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: toward my room, I saw Varduk slip his slender arm
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: through Schaefer's big thick one and fall into step with him,
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: just as if they were going to have the nicest
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: schoolboy chat you can imagine. Davidson shuddered violently, and so,
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: despite the warm June air, did I. Percivant seemed a
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: shade less pink. I've talked too much, Davidson said with
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: an air of embarrassment. Probably it's because I've wanted to
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: tell this story over the space of years. No point
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: in holding back the end, but I'd greatly appreciate your promise.
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: Both your promises that you'll not pass the tale on.
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: We both gave our words and urged him to continue.
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: He did so. I barely got to my own digs
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: when there was a frightful row outside. Shouts and scamperings
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: and screamings. Yes, screamings. Of young men scared out of
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: their wits. I jumped up and hurried downstairs and out.
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: There lay Schaefer on the pavement in front of the dormitory.
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: He was dead. with the brightest red blood all over him.
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: About twenty witnesses, more or less, had seen him as
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: he jumped out of Varduk's window. The faculty and the
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: police came, and Varduk spent hours with them being questioned.
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: But he told them something satisfactory, for he was let
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: go and never charged with any responsibility. Late that night,
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: as I sat alone at my desk trying to drive
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: from my mind's eye the bright, bright red of Schaefer's blood,
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: a gentle knock sounded at my door. I got up
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: and opened it. There stood Varduk, and he held in
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: his hands that black volume. I saw the dark red
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: edging on its pages, the color of blood three hours old.
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: I wondered, he said in his soft voice, if you'd
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: like to see the thing in my book that made
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: your friend Schaefer so anxious to leave my room. I
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: assured him that I did not. He smiled and came in,
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: all uninvited. Then he spoke, briefly but clearly, about certain
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: things he hoped to do and about how he needed
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: a helper. He said that I might be that helper.
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: I made no reply, but he knew that I would
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: not refuse. He ordered me to kneel, and I did.
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: Then he showed me how to put my hands together
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: and set them between his palms. The oath I took
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: was the medieval oath of vassalage, and I've kept my
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: oath from that day to this. Davidson abruptly strode back
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: along the way to the lodge. He stopped at half
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: a dozen paces distance. Maybe I'd better get along, he suggested.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: You two may want to think and talk about what
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: I've said, and my advice not to get in Varduk's way.
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: With that, he resumed his departure and went out of
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: sight without once looking back again. End of chapter 9
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: Chapter 10 of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 10
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: That Evening Judge Percivant and I remained sitting on the
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: roadside bank until Davidson had completely vanished around a tree-clustered
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: bend of the way. Then my companion lifted a heavy
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: walking boot and tapped the dottle from his pipe against
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: the thick sole. How did that cheerful little story impress you?
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: he inquired. I shook my head dubiously. My mustache prickled
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: on my upper lip, like the mane of a nervous dog.
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: If it was true, I said slowly, how did Davidson
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: dare tell it? Probably because he was ordered to. I
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: must have stared foolishly. You think that... Percivant nodded. My
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: knowledge of Underworld Arkad is rather limited, but I believe
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: that the correct phrase is lay off. We're being told
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: to do that, and in a highly interesting manner. As
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: to whether or not the story is true, I'm greatly
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: inclined to believe that it is. I drew another cigarette
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: from my package, and my hand trembled despite myself. Then,
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: the man is dangerous. Varduk, I mean. What is he
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: trying to do to Sigrid? That is what perplexes me. Once,
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: according to your little friend Jake Switz, he defended her
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: from some mysterious but dangerous beings. His behavior argues that
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: he isn't the only power to consider. The judge held
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: a match for my cigarette. His hand was steady, and
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: its steadiness comforted me. Now then, I said, to prevent
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: whatever is being done. That's what we'd better talk about.
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: Percivant took his stick and rose to his feet. Let's
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: get on with our walk and make sure this time
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: that nobody overhears us. We began to saunter while he
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: continued slowly and soberly. You feel that it is Miss
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: Holger who is threatened. That's no more than guesswork on
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: your part, supplemented by the natural anxiety of a devoted admirer,
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: if you'll pardon my mentioning that. But you are probably right.
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: Varduk seems to have exerted all his ingenuity and charm
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: to induce her to take a part in this play,
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: and at this place. The rest of you he had
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: gathered more carelessly. It is reasonably safe to say that
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: whatever happens will happen to Miss Holgar. But what will happen?
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: I urged, feeling very depressed. That we do not know
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: as yet. I began to speak again, but he lifted
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: a hand. Please let me finish. Perhaps you think that
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: we should do what we can to call off the play,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: get Miss Holger out of here. But I reply, having
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: given the matter deep thought, that such a thing is
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: not desirable. Not desirable? I echoed, my voice rising in
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: startled surprise. You mean she must stay here? In heaven's name, why? Why?
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: Because evil is bound to occur. To spirit her away
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: will be only a retreat. The situation must be allowed
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: to develop. Then we can achieve victory. Why, Connett, he
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: went on warmly, can you not see that the whole
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: atmosphere is charged with active and supernormal perils? Don't you
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: know that such a chance for meeting and defeating the
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: power of wickedness seldom arises? What can you think of
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: when you want to run away? I'm not thinking of myself, sir,
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: I told him. It's Sigrid, Miss Holgar. Handsomely put, all
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: right then. When you go back to the lodge, tell
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: her what we've said and suggest that she leave. I
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: shook my head more hopelessly than before. You know that
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: she wouldn't take me seriously? Just so. Nobody will take
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: seriously the things we are beginning to understand, you and I.
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: We have to fight alone, but we'll win. He began
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: to speak more brightly.' When is the play supposed to
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: have its first performance?'' Sometime after the middle of July.
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: I've heard Vardyck say as much several times, though he
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: did not give the exact date.' Percivant grew actually cheerful.' Well,
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: that means we have three weeks or so. Something will
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: happen around that time, presumably on opening night. If time
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: was not in element, he would not have defended her
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: on her first night here.' I felt somewhat reassured, and
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: we returned from our stroll in fairly good spirits. Bardock
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: again spoke cordially to Percivant and invited him to stay
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: to dinner. I must ask that you leave shortly afterward,
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: he concluded the invitation. Our rehearsals have something of secrecy
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: about them. You won't be offended if— Of course not,
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: Percivant assured him readily, but later the judge found a
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: moment to speak with me. Keep your eyes open, he
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: said earnestly. He feels that I, in some degree familiar
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: with occult matters, might— Suspect or even discover something wrong
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: about the play. We'll talk later about the things you see.
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: The evening meal was the more pleasant for Judge Percivant's
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: high-humored presence. He was gallant to the ladies, deferential to Varduk,
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: and witty to all of us. Even the pale, haunted
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: face of our producer relaxed in a smile once or twice,
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: and when the meal was over and Percivant was ready
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: to go, Varduk accompanied him to the door, speaking graciously
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: the while. He will pardon me if I see you
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: safely to the row. It is no more than evening,
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: yet I have a feeling. And I have the same feeling,
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: said Percivant, not at all heavily. I appreciate your offer
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: of protection. Varduk evidently suspected a note of mockery. He paused.
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: There are things, Judge Percivant, he said, against which ordinary
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: protection would not suffice. You have born arms, I believe,
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: yet you know that they will not always avail. They
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: had come to the head of the front stairs, leading
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: down to the lobby of the theater. The others at
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: table were chattering over a second cup of coffee, but
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: I was straining my ears to hear what the judge
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: and Varduk were saying. Arms, yes, I've borne them, Percivant admitted.
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: Oddly enough, I'm armed now, should you care to see.
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: He lifted his Malacca walking stick in both hands, grasped
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: its shank in the handle. A twist and a jerk,
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: and it came apart, revealing a few inches of metal.
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: Percivant drew forth, as from a sheath, a thin, gleaming blade.' Sword- cane!'
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Varduk admiringly. He bent for a closer look.' And
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: a singularly interesting one,' elaborated Percivant.' Quite old, as you
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: can see for yourself.'' Ah, so it is,' agreed Varduk.'
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: I fancy you had it put into the cane?'' I did.
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: Look at the inscription.' Varduk peered.' Yes, I can make
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: it out, though it seems worn.' He pursed his lips,
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: then read aloud very slowly. Secperient omnis inimici tui domine.
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: It sounds like scripture. That's what it is, Mr. Varduk,
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: Percivant was saying blandly. The King James Version has it.
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord. It is
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: from Deborah's song, Fifth Chapter of Judges. Varduk was plainly intrigued.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: A warlike text, I must say. What knight of the
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: church chose it for his battle cry? Many have chosen it,
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: responded the judge. Shall we go on? They walked down
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: the stairs side by side, and so out of my
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: sight and hearing. When Varduk returned, he called us at
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: once to rehearsal. He was as alert as he had
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: been the night before, but much harder to please. Indeed,
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: he criticized speeches and bits of stage business that had
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: won his high praise at the earlier rehearsal, and several
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: times he called for repetitions and new interpretations. He also
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: announced that, at the third rehearsal due the next day,
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: he would take away our scripts.' You are all accomplished actors,'
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: he amplified. You need nothing to refresh good memories. I'd
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: like to keep my book, begged Martha Vining, but Varduk
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: smiled and shook his head. You'll be better without, he
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: said definitely. When we approached the climactic scene, with Swithin's
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: attempt to kill Ruthven and Mary's attempted sacrifice, Varduk did
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: not insist on stage business. In fact, he asked us
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: flatly to speak our lines without so much as moving
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: from our places. If this was to calm us after
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: the frightening events of the night before— It did not succeed.
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: Everyone there remembered the accidental sword thrust, and Varduk's seeming invulnerability.
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: It was as though their thoughts were doleful spoken words.
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: Rehearsal over, again without the final line by Ruthven, Varduk
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: bade us a courteous good night, and, as before, walked
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: out first with Sigrid and Martha Vining. I followed with Jake,
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: but at the threshold I touched his arm. Come with me,
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: I muttered, and turned toward the front of the lodge.
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: Bardock and the two women had gone out of sight
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: around the rear of the building. Nobody challenged us as
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: we walked silently in the direction of the road, but
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: I had a sense as of horrors all around me,
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: inadequately bound back with strands that might snap at any moment.
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: What's it about, Gibb? asked Jake at once, but at
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: that moment I saw what I had somehow expected and
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: feared to see. A silent figure lay at the foot
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: of the upward-sloping driveway to the road. We both ran forward,
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: coming up on either side of that figure. The moon
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: showed through broken clouds. By its light we recognized Judge Percivant,
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: limp and apparently lifeless. Beside him lay the empty shank
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: of his walking stick. His right fist still clenched around
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: the handle and the slender blade set therein was driven
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: deeply into the loam. I did not know what to do,
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: but Jake did. He knelt, scooped the judge's head up
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: and set it against his knee, then slapped the flaccid
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: cheeks with his open palm. Percivant's eyelids and mustache fluttered.
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: Jake snorted approvingly and lifted his own crossed eyes to mine.
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: I guess he's all right, Gib. Just passed out is all.
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: Maybe you'd better go to Vardik and ask for some Brent.
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: He broke off suddenly. He was staring at something behind me.
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: I turned, my heart quivering inside my chest. Shapes. Monstrous, pallid,
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: unclean shapes were closing in upon us. End of chapter
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: 10 Chapter 11 CHAPTER XI. BATTLE AND RETREAT I doubt
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: if any writer, however accomplished, has ever done full justice
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: to the emotion of terror. To mention the icy chill
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: at the backbone, the sudden, sinueless trembling of the knees,
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: the withering dryness of throat and tongue, is to be commonplace,
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: and terror is not commonplace. perhaps to remember terrors to
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: know again the helplessness and faintness it brings. Therefore it
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: must suffice to say that, as I turned and saw
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: the closing in of those pale glowing blots of menace,
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 1: I wanted to scream and could not, to run and
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: could not, to take my gaze away and could not.
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: If I do not describe the oncoming creatures, if creatures
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: indeed they were, it is because they defied clear vision then,
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 1: and defy clear recollection now, Something quasi-human must have hung
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: about them, something suggestive of man's outline and manner, as
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: in a rough image molded by children of snow. But
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: they were not solid like snow. They shifted and swirled
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: like wreaths of thick mist, without dispersing in air. They
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: gave a dim, rotten light of their own, and they
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: moved absolutely without sound. It's them, gulped Jake Switz beside me.
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: He too was frightened, but not as frightened as I.
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: He could speak and move, too. He had dropped Percivant's
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: head and was rising to his feet. I could hear
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: him suck in a lungful of air as though to
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: brace himself for action. His remembered presence, perhaps the mere
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: fact of his companionship before the unreasoned awfulness of the
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: glow-shadowy pack that advanced to hem us in, gave me
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: back my own power of thought and motion. It gave me, too,
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: the impulse to arm myself. I stooped to earth, groped swiftly,
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: found and drew forth from its bed the sword-cane of
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant. The non-shapes, that paradoxical idea is the best
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: I can give of them, drifted around me, free and
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: weightless in the night air like luminous sea-things in still
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: dark water. I made a thrust at the biggest and
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: nearest of them. I missed. Or did I? The target was,
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: on a sudden, there no longer. Perhaps I had pierced it,
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: and it had burst like a flimsy bladder. Thus I
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: argued within my desperate inner mind, even as I faced
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: about and made a stab at another. In the same
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: instant it had gone too, but the throng did not
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: seem diminished. I made a sweeping slash with my point
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: from side to side, and the things shrank back before it,
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: as though they dared not pass the line I drew.
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: Give them the work, Skid, Jake was gritting out. They
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: can be hurt all right. I laughed like an impudent child.
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: I felt inadequate and disappointed as when in dreams a
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: terrible adversary wilts before a blow I am ashamed of.
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 1: Come on, I challenged the undefinable enemy. in a feeble
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: attempt at swagger. Let me have a real poke at...
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: Hold hard, said a new voice. Judge Percivant, apparently wakened
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: by this commotion all around him, was struggling erect. Here, Connett,
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: give me my sword. He fairly wrung it from my
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: hand and drove back the misty horde with great fan-wise sweeps.
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 1: Drop back now, not toward the lodge, up the driveway
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 1: to the road. We made the retreat somehow and were
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: not followed. My clothing was drenched with sweat as though
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: I had swum in some filthy pool. Jake, whom I
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: remember as helping me up the slope when I might
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: have fallen, talked incessantly without finishing a single sentence. The
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: nearest he came to rationality was, What did... what did...
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: can they... Percivant, however, seemed well recovered. He kicked together
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 1: some bits of kindling at the roadside. Then he asked
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: me for a match, perhaps to make me rally my
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: sagging senses as I explored my pockets, and a moment
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: later he had kindled a comforting fire. Now, he said,
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: we're probably safe from any more attention of that bunch.
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: and our fire can't be seen from the lodge. Sit
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 1: down and talk it over. Jake was mopping a face
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: as white as tallow. His spectacles mirrored the firelight and
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: nervous shimmers. I guess I didn't dream the other night
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: after all, he jabbered. Wait till I tell Mr. Varduk
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: about this. Please tell him nothing, counseled Judge Percivant at once. Eh?
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: I mumbled astonished. When the non-shapes... Varduk probably knows all
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: about these things, more than we shall ever know, replied
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: the judge. I rather think he cut short his walk
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: across the front yard so that they would attack me.
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: At any rate, they seemed to ooze out of the
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: timber the moment he and I separated. He told us
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: briefly of how the non-shapes, he liked and adopted my paradox,
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: were upon him before he knew. Like Jake two nights before,
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: he felt an overwhelming disgust and faintness when they touched him,
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: began to faint. His last voluntary act was to draw
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: the blade in his cane and drive it into the
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: ground as an anchor against being dragged away. They would
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: never touch that point, he said confidently. You found that out, Conant.
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: And I'm still amazed, more about that fact than anything else.
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: How would such things fear even the finest steel? It
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: isn't steel. Squatting close to the fire, Percivant again cleared
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: the bright, sharp bodkin. Look at it, gentlemen. Silver. It
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: was two feet long or more, rounded instead of flat,
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: rather like a large needle. Though the metal was bright
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: and worn with much polishing, the inscription over which Percivant
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 1: and Varduk had poured was plainly decipherable by the firelight.
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: Sic parient omnis inimici tui domine. I murmured it aloud
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: as though it were a protective charm. As you may know,
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: elaborated Judge Percivant, silver is a specific against all evil creatures.
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: That's so, interjected Jake. I heard my grandfather tell a
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: yarn about the old country, how somebody killed a witch
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: with a silver bullet.' And this is an extraordinary object
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: even among silver swords,' Percivant went on.' A priest gave
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: it to me with his blessing when I did a
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: certain thing to help him in his parish' against an
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: enemy not recognized by the common law of today.' He
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: assured me that the blade was fashioned by St. Dunstan himself.''
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: A saint make a silver weapon?' I ejaculated incredulously.' Percivant smiled,
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 1: exactly as though we had not lately feared and fought
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: for our lives and souls.' His manner was that of
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: a kindly teacher with a dull but willing pupil. St.
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: Dunstan is not as legendary or as feeble as his
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: name sounds. As a matter of fact, he flourished heartily
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: in the 10th century, not long before the very real
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: Norman conquest. He was the stout son of a Saxon noble,
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: studied magic and metalworking, and was a political power in
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 1: England as well as a spiritual one. Didn't he tweak
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: Satan's nose? I inquired. So the old poem tells us,
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: and so the famous painting illustrates. agreed Percivant, his smile
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: growing broader. Dunstan was, in short, exactly the kind of
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: holy man who would make a sword to serve against demons.
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: Do you blame me for being confident in his work?
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: Look here, Judge, said Jake. What were those things that
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: jumped us up? That takes answering. Percivant had fished a
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 1: handkerchief from a side pocket and was carefully wiping the
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: silver skewer. In the first place, they are extraterrestrial, supernatural.
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: And in the second, they are noisomely evil. We need
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: no more evidence on those points. As for the rest,
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: I have a theory of a sort, based on wide studies.
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: What is it, sir? I seconded Jake. Once again, the
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: solid assurance of the judge was comforting me tremendously. He
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: pursed his lips. I've given the subject plenty of thought
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: ever since you, Connett, told me the experience of your
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: friend here. There are several accounts and considerations of similar phenomena.
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: Among ancient occultists was talk of elementary spirits. things supernormal
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: and sometimes invisible, of subhuman intelligence and personality, and not
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: to be confused with spirits of the dead. A more
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: modern word is elemental, used by several cults. The things
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: are supposed to exert influences of various kinds upon various
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: localities and people. Again, we have the poltergeist, a phenomenon
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: that is coming in for lively investigation by various psychical
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: scholars of today. I can refer you to the definitions
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 1: of Carrington, Podmore, and Lewis Spence. Their books are in
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: nearly every large library. But you'll find that the definitions
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: and possible explanations vary. The most familiar manifestation of this
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: strange but undeniable power is in the seeming mischief that
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: it performs in various houses. The knocking over of furniture,
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: the smashing of mirrors, the setting of mysterious fires. I
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: know about that thing, said Jake excitedly. There was a
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: house over in Brooklyn that had mysterious fires and stuff.
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 1: And I've read Charles Fort's books, Wild Talents and the rest,
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: I supplemented. He tells about such happenings. But see here,
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: isn't the thing generally traced to some child who was
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: playing tricks? Percivant, still refurbishing his silver blade, shook his head. Mr.
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 1: Herward Carrington, the head of the American Psychical Institute, has
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: made a list of more than 300 notable cases. Only
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: 20 or so were proven fraudulent, and another 20 doubtful.
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: That leaves approximately seven-eighths unexplained. unless you consider supernormal agency
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: as an explanation. It is true that children are often
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: in the vicinity of the phenomena, and some investigators explain
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: this by saying that the poltergeist is attracted or set
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: in motion by some spiritual current from the growing personality
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: of the child. Where is the child around here? demanded Jake.
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: He must be a mighty bad boy. Better someone should
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: take a stick to him. There is no child, answered
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: the judge. The summoning power is neither immature nor unconscious,
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: but old, wicked, and deliberate. Have you ever heard of
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: witches' familiars? I have, I said. Black cats and toads
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 1: with demon spirits? Yes, also grotesque or amorphous shapes, similar
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 1: perhaps to what we have encountered tonight. Or disembodied voices
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: and hands. Now we are getting down to our own case.
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: The non-shapes, thanks again Connacht for that expression, are here
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: as part of a great evil. Perhaps they came of themselves,
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: spiritual vultures or jackals, waiting to share in the prey.
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 1: Or they may be recognized servants of a vast and
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: dreadful activity for wrong. In any case, they are here,
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: definite and dangerous. Again, I felt my nerve deserting me.
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant, I pleaded, we must go get Miss Holger
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 1: out of here. No, you and I talked that out
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: this afternoon. The problem cannot be solved except at its climax.
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: He rose to his feet. The fire was dying. I
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: suggest that you go to your quarters. Apparently you're safe indoors,
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 1: and just now the moon's out from behind the clouds.
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: Keep your eyes open and stay in the clear. The
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: things won't venture into the moonlight unless they feel sure
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: of you. Anyway, I think they're waiting for something else.
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 1: How about you? I asked. Oh, I'll do splendidly. He
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: held up the sword of St. Dunstan. I'll carry this
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: naked in my hand as I go. We said goodnight
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: all round, rather casually, like late sitters leaving their club.
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: Perseverant turned and walked along the road. Jake and I
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 1: descended gingerly to the yard of the lodge, hurried across it,
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: and gained our boathouse safely. End of chapter eleven Chapter
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: twelve of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman This
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twelve RETURN
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: ENGAGEMENT One of the most extraordinary features of the entire
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 1: happening was that it had so little immediate consequence. Judge
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: Percivant reached his cabin safely and came to visit us
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: again and again, but never remained after dark. If Varduk
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: knew of the attack by the non-shapes, and if he
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: felt surprise or chagrin that Percivant had escaped, he did
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: not betray it. By silent and common consent, Jake and
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: I forbore to discuss the matter between ourselves, even when
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: we knew that we were alone. Meanwhile, the moon waned
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: and waxed again while we rehearsed our play, and between rehearsals, swam, tramped,
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: and bathed in the sun. Not one of us but
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: seemed to profit by the exercise and fresh air. Sigrid's
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: step grew freer, her face browner, and her green-gold hair
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: paler by contrast. I acquired some weight, but in the
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: proper places, and felt as strong and healthy as I
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: had been when first I went from the Broadway stage
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: to Hollywood eight years before. Even Jake Switz, whose natural
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: habitat lay among theatrical offices and stage doors, became something
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 1: of a hill climber, canoeist, and fisherman. Only Varduk did
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: not tan, though he spent much time out of doors,
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 1: strolling with Davidson or by himself. Despite his apparent fragility
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 1: and his stiffness of gait, he was a tireless walker.
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 1: One thing Jake and I did for our protection, that
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 1: was to buy, on one of our infrequent trips to
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: the junction, an electric flashlight apiece, as well as one
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: for Sigrid, These we carried, lighted, when walking about at night,
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: and not once in the month that followed our first
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: encounter with the non-shapes did we have any misadventure. The
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: middle of July brought the full moon again, and with
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: it the approach of our opening night. The theatrical sections
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 1: of the papers, Varduk had them delivered daily, gave us
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: whole square yards of publicity. Jake had fabricated most of
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: this on his typewriter in our boathouse loft, though his
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 1: most glamorous inventions included nothing of the grisly wonders we
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: had actually experienced. Several publishers added to the general interest
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: in the matter by sending to Varduk attractive offers for
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 1: the manuscript of Ruthven, and receiving blunt refusals. One feature writer,
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: something of a scholar of early 19th century English literature,
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: cast a doubt upon the authenticity of the piece. In
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: reply to this, Judge Percivant sent an elaboration of his
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: earlier statement, that Ruthven was undoubtedly genuine. The newspaper kindly
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: gave this rejoinder considerable notice, illustrating it with photographs of
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: the judge, Varduk, and Sigrid. On July 20th, two days
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: before opening, Jake went out to nail signs along the
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 1: main road to guide motor parties to our theater. He
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 1: was cheerfully busy most of the morning, and Sigrid deigned
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: to let me walk with her. We did not seek
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: the road, but turned our steps along the brink of
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: the water. An ancient but discernible trail, made perhaps by deer,
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: ran there.' Happy, Sigrid?' I asked her.' I couldn't be otherwise,'
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: she cried at once.' Our play is to startle the world,
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 1: first here, then on Broadway.'' Sigrid!' I said, what is
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: there about this play that has such a charm for you?
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: I know that it's a notable literary discovery, and that
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: it's pretty powerful stuff in spots, but in the final analysis,
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 1: it's only melodrama with a clever supernatural twist. You're not
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: the melodramatic type. Indeed, she flung back. Am I a type, then?
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 1: I saw that I'd been impolitic and made haste to
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: offer apology, but she waved it aside. What you said
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: might well be asked by many people. The pictures have
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 1: put me into a certain narrow field, with poor Jake
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: Switz wearing out the thesaurus to find synonyms for glamorous.
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 1: Yet as a beginner in Sweden, I did Hedda Gabler,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: The Wild Duck, yes, and Bernard Shaw, too. I was
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: the slum girl in Pygmalion. After that, a German picture,
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 1: Cyrano de Bergerac, with me as Roxanne. It was luck, perhaps,
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: and a momentary wish by producers for a new young
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: foreign face that got me into American movies. But have
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: I done so poorly? Cigarette. Nobody ever did so nobly.
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: And at the first, did I do always the same thing?
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 1: What was my first chance? The French war bride in
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: that farce comedy. Then what? Something by Somerset Maugham, where
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: I wore a black wig and played a savage girl
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 1: of the tropics. Then what? A starring role, or rather
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: a co-starring role, opposite you. She gave me a smile
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: as though the memory were pleasant. Opposite me, I repeated,
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: and a thrill crept through me. Lavengrove. The costume piece.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: Our costumes, incidentally, were rather like what we will wear
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: in the first part of Ruthven. I was thinking the
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: same thing. And speaking of melodrama, what about Lavengro? You
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: with romantic, curly sideburns stripped to the waist and fighting
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: like mad with Noah Beery. Firelight gleaming on your wet
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: skin and me mopping your face with a sponge and
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 1: telling you to use your right hand instead of your left.
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: By heaven, there have been lots of worse shows, I cried,
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 1: and we both laughed. My spirits had risen as we
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: strolled away from the lodge grounds, and I had quite
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: forgotten my half-formed resolve to speak a warning. We came
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: to a stretch of sand with a great half-rotted pink
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: trunk lying across it. Here we sat side by side,
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: smoking and scrawling in the fine sand with twigs. There's
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 1: another reason why I've been happy during this month of rehearsal.
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: said Sigrid shyly. Yes, I prompted her, and my heart
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: began suddenly to beat swiftly. It's been so nice to
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: be near you and with you. I felt at once
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: strong and shivery, rather like the adolescent hero of an
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: old-fashioned novel. What I said, somewhat ruefully, was, If you
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: think so, why have you been so hard to see?
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: This is the first time we have walked or been
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: alone together. She smiled, and in her own individual way,
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: that made her cheeks crease and her eyes turn a slant.
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 1: We saw a lot of each other once, Gib. I
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: finished up being sorry. I don't want to be sorry again.
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: That's why I've gone slowly. See here, Sigrid. I blurted suddenly.
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to beat around the bush, or try
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: to lead up diplomatically or dramatically, but... Oh, hang it. Savagely,
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 1: I broke a twig in my hands. I loved you once,
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: and in spite of the fact that we quarreled and separated,
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: I've never stopped. I love you right this instant. She
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 1: caught me in strong, fierce arms and kissed me so
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: soundly that her teeth rang together between lips crushed open.
• 2:09:07
  Speaker 1: Thus for a second of white-hot surprise. Then she let
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 1: go with equal suddenness. Her face had gone pale under
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 1: its tan, no acting there, and her eyes were full
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: of panicky wonder. I didn't do that, she protested slowly. She, too,
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 1: was plainly stunned. I didn't, but... Well, I did, didn't I?
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 1: You certainly did. I don't know why, and if you
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 1: say so, I won't ask. But you did, and it'll
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 1: be hard to retire from the position again. After that,
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 1: we had a lot more to say to each other.
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: I admitted very humbly that I had been responsible for
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: our estrangement five years before, and that the reason was
• 2:09:46
  Speaker 1: the very unmanly one that I... Losing popularity was jealous
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: of her rise. For her part, she confessed that not
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 1: once had she forgotten me, nor given up the hope
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 1: of reconciliation. I'm not worth it, I assured her. I'm
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: a sorry failure, and we both know it. Whenever I
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: see you, she replied irrelevantly. Bells began to ring in
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: my ears. Loud alarm bells, as if fires had broken
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: out all around me. We're triple idiots to think of love,
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 1: I went on. You're the top. and I'm the muck
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: under the bottom. You'll be the sensation of your life
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: when Ruthven comes to Broadway, rejoined Sigrid confidently. And the
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: movie magnets will fight duels over the chance to ask
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 1: for your name on contract. To hell with the show business.
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 1: Let's run away tonight and live on a farm, I suggested.
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 1: In her genuine delight at the thought, she clutched my shoulders,
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: digging in her long, muscular fingers. Let's! She almost whooped
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: like a little girl promising a treat. We'll have a
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 1: garden and keep pigs! No, there's a show. And the show,
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: I summed up, must go on. On that doleful commonplace,
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: we rose from the tree trunk and walked back. Climbing
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 1: to the road, we sought out Jake, who, with a
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: hammer and a mouthful of nails, was fastening his last
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 1: sign to a tree. We swore him to secrecy with
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: terrible oaths, then told him we intended to marry as
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: soon as we returned to New York. He half swallowed
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: a nail, choked dangerously, and had to be thumped on
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 1: the back by both of us. I should live so!
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 1: I knew this would happen, he managed to gurgle at last.
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: Among all the men you know, Sigrid Holgar, you got
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 1: to pick this schlemiel. We both threatened to pummel him,
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 1: and he apologized profusely, mourning the while that his vow
• 2:11:31
  Speaker 1: kept him from announcing our decision in all the New
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 1: York papers. With that romance breaking now, we would have
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 1: every able-bodied man, woman, and child east of the Mississippi
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: trying to get into our show, he said earnestly. With
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: the club, we'd have to beat them away from the
• 2:11:44
  Speaker 1: ticket window. Standing room would sell for a dollar an inch.
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 1: It's a success as it is, I comforted him. Ruffin,
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 1: I mean. The house is a sellout, Davidson says. That night,
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 1: at dinner, Sigrid sat, not at the head of the table,
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: but on one side next to me. Once or twice
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: we squeezed hands, and Jake, noticing this, was shocked and
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: burned his mouth with hot coffee. Vardik, too, gazed at
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: us as though he knew our secret, and finally was
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 1: impelled to quote something from Byron, a satiric couplet on
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 1: love and its shortness of life. But we were too
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: happy to take offense. or even to recognize that the
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 1: quotation was leveled at us. CHAPTER XIII. THE BLACK BOOK
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: Our final rehearsal on the night of the 21st of
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: July was fairly accurate as regards the speeches and attention
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 1: to cues, but it lacked fire and assurance. Varduk, however,
• 2:12:54
  Speaker 1: was not disappointed. It has often been said, and often
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 1: proven as well, that a bad last rehearsal means a
• 2:13:01
  Speaker 1: splendid first performance, he reminded us. To bed, all of you,
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 1: and try to get at least nine hours of sleep.
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 1: Then he seemed to remember something. Miss Holgar. Yes? Come
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: here with me. He led her to the exact center
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 1: of the stage. At this spot, you know, you are
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 1: to stand when the final incident of the play and
• 2:13:25
  Speaker 1: our dialogue together unfolds. I know, she agreed. Yet, are
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: you sure? Had we not better be sure? Bardock turned
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: toward the auditorium as though to gauge their position from
• 2:13:39
  Speaker 1: the point of view of the audience. Perhaps I am
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 1: being too exact yet. He snapped his fingers in the
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: direction of Davidson, who seemed to have expected some sort
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 1: of request signal. The big assistant reached into the pocket
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 1: of his jacket and brought out a piece of white chalk.
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Davidson. Bardock accepted the proffered fragment. Stand a
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 1: little closer center, Miss Holgar. Yes, like that. Kneeling, he drew,
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 1: with a quick sweep of his arm, a small white
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 1: circle around her feet. That, he informed her, standing up again,
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 1: is the spot where I want you to stand. at
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: the moment when you and I have our final conflict
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 1: of words, the swearing on the Bible and my involuntary
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 1: blessing upon your head. Sigrid took a step backward out
• 2:14:24
  Speaker 1: of the circle. I, standing behind her, could see that
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: she had drawn herself up in outraged protest. Varduk saw, too,
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: and half smiled as if to disarm her.' Forgive me
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: if I seem foolish,' he pleaded gently.' I must say,'
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 1: she pronounced in a slow, measured manner as though she
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 1: had difficulty in controlling her voice— that I do not
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 1: feel that this little diagram will help me in the least.
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: Vardik let his smile grow warmer, softer. Oh, probably it
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 1: will not, Miss Holgar, but I am sure it will
• 2:14:55
  Speaker 1: help me. Won't you do as I ask? She could
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 1: not refuse, and by the time she had returned across
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 1: the stage to me, she had relaxed into cheerfulness again.
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 1: I escorted her to the door of her cabin, and
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 1: her goodnight smile warmed me all the way to my
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: own quarters. Judge Percivant appeared at noon the next day,
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: and Varduk, hailing him cordially, invited him to lunch.' I wonder,'
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: ventured Varduk as we all sat down together,' if you,
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: Judge Percivant, would not speak a few words in our
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 1: favor before the curtain tonight?'' I?' the judge stared, then laughed.'
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: But I'm not part of the management.'' The management, which
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 1: means myself, will be busy getting in the costume for
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 1: the first act. You are a scholar?' a man whose
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: recent book on Byron has attracted notice, it is fitting
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: that you do what you can to help our opening. Oh,
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 1: said Percivant, if you put it like that. But what
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: shall I tell the audience? Make it as short as
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 1: you like, but impressive. You might announce that all present
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: are subpoenaed as witnesses to a classic moment. Percivant smiled.
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 1: That's rather good, Mr. Varduk, and quite true as well.
• 2:16:07
  Speaker 1: Very good. Count on me. but after lunch he drew
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 1: me almost forcibly away from the others, talking affably about
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: the merits of various wines until we were well out
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 1: of earshot. Then his tone changed abruptly. I think we
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: know now that the thing, whatever it is, will happen
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: at the play, and we also know why. Why, then,
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 1: I asked at once. I am to tell the audience
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: that they are subpoenaed as witnesses. In other words, their
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: attention is directed. They must be part of a certain ceremony.
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 1: I too am need Varduk is making me the clerk,
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: so to speak, of his court, or his cult. That
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 1: shows that he will preside. It begins to mean something,
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 1: I admitted, yet I am still at a loss. Percivant's
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 1: own pale lips were full of perplexity. I wish that
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: we could know more before the actual beginning, yet I,
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 1: who once prepared and judged legal cases, may be able
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: to sum up in part. Something is to happen to
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: Miss Holgar. The entire fabric of theatrical activity This play,
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: the successful effort to interest her in it, the remote theater,
• 2:17:13
  Speaker 1: her particular role, everything, is to perform upon her a
• 2:17:17
  Speaker 1: certain effect. That effect, we may be sure, is devastating.
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 1: We may believe that a part, at least, of the
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: success depends on the last line of the play, a
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 1: mystery as yet to all of us. Except to Varduk,
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 1: I reminded. Except to Varduk. But a new thought struck me,
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 1: and for a moment I found it comforting. Wait, the ceremony,
• 2:17:41
  Speaker 1: as you call it, can't be all evil, I said.
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: After all, he asked her to swear on a Bible.
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: So he does, Percival nodded. What? kind of a Bible?
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: I tried to remember. To tell the truth, I don't know.
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 1: We haven't used props of any kind in rehearsals, not
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: even the sword after that first time. No? Look here,
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: that's apt to be significant. We'll have to look at
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 1: the properties. We explored the auditorium and the stage with
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: a fine show of casual interest, Davidson and Switz were
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 1: putting final touches on the scenery, a dark blue backdrop
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 1: for evening sky, a wall painted to resemble vine-hung granite,
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: benches and an arbor, but no properties lay on the
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 1: table backstage. You know this is a Friday, Gibb, demanded Jake,
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: looking up from where he was mending the cable of
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 1: a floodlight. Bad luck. Open our play on a Friday?
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 1: Not a bit, laughed Percivant. What's begun on a Friday
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 1: never comes to an end, therefore. Oy! crowed Jake. That
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: means we'll have a record-breaking run, huh? He jumped up
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: and shook my hand violently. You'll be working in this
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: show till you step on your beard. We wandered out again,
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: and Sigrid joined us. She was in high spirits. I feel,
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: she said excitedly, just as I felt on the eve
• 2:18:56
  Speaker 1: of my first professional appearance, as though the world would
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 1: end tonight. God forbid, I said at once. And God forbid,
• 2:19:05
  Speaker 1: echoed Judge Percivant. Sigrid laughed merrily at our sudden expressions
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: of concern. Oh, it won't end that way, she made
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 1: haste to add, in the tone one reserves for children
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 1: who need comfort. I mean, the world will begin tonight
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: with success and happiness. She put out a hand, and
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: I squeezed it tenderly. After a moment, she departed to
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 1: inspect her costume. I haven't a maid or a dresser,
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: she called over her shoulder. Everything has to be in
• 2:19:32
  Speaker 1: perfect order, and I myself must see to it. We
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: watched her as she hurried away, both of us sober.
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: I think I know why you fret so about her safety,
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 1: Percivant said to me. You felt, too, that the thing
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: she said might be a bad omen. Then may her
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 1: second word be a good omen, I returned. Amen to that,
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: he said heartily. Dinner time came, and Percivant and I
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 1: made a quick meal of it. We excused ourselves before
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: the others. Sigrid looked up in mild astonishment that I
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 1: should want to leave her side, and went quickly downstairs
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 1: to the stage. On the property table lay the cudgel
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: I was to use in the first act, the sword
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 1: I was to strike with in the second, the feather
• 2:20:12
  Speaker 1: duster to be wielded by Martha Vining as Bridget, a
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 1: tray with a wine service to be borne by Davidson
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: as Oscar. There was also a great book, bound in
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 1: red cloth with red edging. That is the Bible, said
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 1: Percivant at once. I must have a look at it.
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: I still can't see, I muttered half to myself, how
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: this sword, a good piece of steel and as sharp
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 1: as a razor, failed to kill Varduk when I Never
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: mind that sword, interrupted Judge Percival. Look at this book,
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: this Bible, which they've refused to produce up to now.
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not surprised to find out that... Well, have a
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: look for yourself. On the ancient black cloth, I saw
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: rather spidery capitals filled with red coloring matter. Grand Albert.
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't look inside if I were you, warned the judge.
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 1: This is in all probability the book that Varduk owned
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 1: when Davidson met him at Revere College. Remember what happened
• 2:21:05
  Speaker 1: to one normal young man, ungrounded in occultism, who peeped
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 1: into it. What can it be? I asked. A notorious
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 1: gospel for witches, Percivant informed me. I've heard of it. Descrepe,
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: the French occultist, edited it in 1885. Most editions are
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 1: modified and harmless, but this, at first glance, appears to
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 1: be the complete and infamous 18th century version. He opened it.
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: The first phrase of his description had stuck in my mind.
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 1: A gospel for witches. And that is the book on
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 1: which Sigrid must swear an oath of renunciation at the
• 2:21:40
  Speaker 1: end of the play. Percivant was scowling at the fly-leaf.
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: He groped for his pince-nez, put them on. We'll carry
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 1: on it, he said. I crowded close to his elbow,
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: and together we read what had been written long ago
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 1: in ink now faded to a dirty brown. George Gordon Byron,
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: his book. At one hour before midnight on 22nd July, 1788,
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 1: given him. he was brought to Coven by Toddlin, he
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: the said George G. to be bound to us for
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: 150 years, and serve for our glory he to gain
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: his title and have all he desires at end of
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: 150 years to give accounting and not be released save
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: by delivering another as worthy our coven. Signed, for Coven, Tarragon,
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: for George Gordon, Byron, Toddlin. And look at this too,
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: commanded Judge Percivant. He laid his great forefinger at the
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 1: bottom of the page, there written in fresh blue ink
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 1: and in a hand somehow familiar. This 22nd of July, 1938,
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 1: I tender this book and quit this service unto Sigrid Holgar.
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: George Gordon, Lord Byron. End of chapter 13 Chapter 14
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 1: of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman This LibriVox
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Chapter 14 Zero Hour
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: Percivant closed the book with a loud snap, laid it
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 1: down on the table, and caught me by the arm.
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 1: Come away from here, he said in a tense voice. Outside,
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 1: where nobody will hear. He almost dragged me out through
• 2:23:23
  Speaker 1: the stage door. Come along, down by the water. It's
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 1: fairly open. We'll be alone. When we reached the edge
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 1: of the lake, we faced each other. The sun was
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 1: almost set. Back of us, in front of the lodge,
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 1: we could hear the noise of early arrivals for the theater.
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the men who would have charge of automobile parking,
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: the ushers, the cashier. How much of what you read
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 1: was intelligible to you? asked Percivant. I had a sense
• 2:23:48
  Speaker 1: that it was rotten, I said. Beyond that, I'm completely
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: at sea. I'm not. His teeth came strongly together behind
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: the words. There, on the flyleaf of a book, sacred
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: to witches and utterly abhorrent to honest folk, was written
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 1: an instrument pledging the body and soul of a baby
• 2:24:06
  Speaker 1: to a coven, that is, a congregation of evil sorcerers,
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: for one hundred and fifty years. George Gordon, the Lord
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 1: Byron that was to be, had just completed his sixth
• 2:24:16
  Speaker 1: month of life. How could a baby be pledged like that?
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 1: I asked. By some sponsor, one signing the name Toddlin.
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 1: That was undoubtedly a coven name, such as we know
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: all witches took. Tarragon was another such cognomen. All we
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: can say of Toddlin is that the signature is apparently
• 2:24:34
  Speaker 1: a woman's, perhaps that of the child's eccentric nurse, Mistress Grey.
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: This is beastly, I interposed, my voice beginning to tremble.
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: Can't we do something besides talk? Percivant clapped me strongly
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 1: on the back. Steady, he said. Let's talk it out
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: while that writing is fresh in our minds. We know, then,
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 1: that the infant was pledged to an unnaturally long life
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: of evil. Promises made were kept. He became the heir
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 1: to the estates and title of his granduncle, Wicked Byron,
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: after his cousins died strangely. And surely he had devil-given
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 1: talents and attractions. Wait, I cut in suddenly. I've been
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 1: thinking about that final line or so of writing, signed
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 1: with Byron's name. Surely I've seen the hand before. You have.
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 1: The same hand wrote Ruthven, and you've seen the manuscript.
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 1: Percivant drew a long breath. Now we know how Ruthven
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 1: could be written on paper only ten years old. Byron
• 2:25:32
  Speaker 1: lives and signs his name today. I felt almost sick
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 1: and heartily helpless inside. But Byron died in Greece, I
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: said as though reciting a lesson. His body was brought
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: to England and buried at Hucknall Torquard, close to ancestral home. Exactly,
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 1: it all fits in. Perseverance's manifest apprehension was becoming modified
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 1: by something of grim triumph. Must he not have repented,
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: tried to expiate his curse and his sins by an
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 1: unselfish sacrifice for Grecian liberty? You and I have been
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: over this ground before. We know how he suffered and
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: labored almost like a saint. Death would seem welcome. His
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 1: bondage would end in thirty-six years instead of a hundred
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 1: and fifty. What about his wish to be burned? Burning
• 2:26:19
  Speaker 1: would destroy his body, I said. No chance for it
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: to come alive again. But the body was not burned.
• 2:26:25
  Speaker 1: and it has come alive again. Connett, do you know
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 1: who the living dead Byron is? Of course I do.
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 1: And I also know that he intends to pass something
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: into the hands of Sigrid. He does. She is the
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: new prospect for bondage, the other as worthy. She is
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 1: not a free agent in the matter, but neither was
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: Byron at the age of six months. The sun's lower
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 1: rim had touched the lake. Perseverance's pink face was growing dusky,
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 1: and he leaned on the walking stick that housed a
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 1: silver blade. Byron's hundred and fifty years will end at
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 1: eleven o'clock tonight, he said, gazing shrewdly around for possible eavesdroppers. Now,
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: let me draw some parallels. Varduk. We know who Varduk
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: truly is. Well, in the character of Ruthven, ask Miss Holgar,
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: who plays Mary, a number of questions. Those questions and
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 1: her answers, as set down for her to repeat, make
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 1: up a pattern. Think of them not as lines in
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 1: a play, but an actual interchange between an adept of
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 1: evil and a neophyte. It's true, I agreed. He asked
• 2:27:27
  Speaker 1: her if she will give herself up, renounce former manners,
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 1: and to swear so upon the book we saw she
• 2:27:34
  Speaker 1: does so. Then the prayer, which perplexes you by its form,
• 2:27:39
  Speaker 1: the wordless. in heaven bit, becomes obvious now, eh? How
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 1: about the angel that fell from grace and attempted to
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 1: build up his own power to oppose? Satan! I almost shouted.
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 1: A prayer to the force of evil! Not so loud, Connett.
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: And then while Miss Holger stands inside a circle, that
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 1: also is part of the witch ceremony, He touches her
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 1: head and speaks words we do not know, but we
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 1: can guess. He struck his stick hard against the sandy earth.'
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 1: What then?' I urged him on.' It' s in an old
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: Scottish trial of witches,' said Percivant.' Modern works. J. W.
• 2:28:17
  Speaker 1: Wickwar's book, and I think Margaret Alice Murray's, quote it.'
• 2:28:20
  Speaker 1: The master of the coven touched the head of the
• 2:28:23
  Speaker 1: neophyte' and said that all beneath his hand now belonged
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: to the powers of darkness.'' No, no!' I cried in
• 2:28:31
  Speaker 1: a voice that wanted to break.' No hysterics, please!' snapped Percivant.' Connett,
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 1: let me give you one stark thought.' It will cool you,
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 1: strengthen you for what you must help me achieve.' Think
• 2:28:43
  Speaker 1: what will follow if we let Miss Holgar take this oath.'
• 2:28:45
  Speaker 1: Accept this initiation, however unwittingly.' At once she will assume
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 1: the curse that Varduk, Byron, lays down.' Life after death, perhaps.'
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 1: the faculty of wreaking devastation at a word or touch,
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 1: gifts beyond human will or comprehension, all of them a
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: burden to her, and who can know the end? There
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 1: shall not be a beginning, I vowed huskily. I will
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 1: kill Varduk. Softly, softly, you know that weapons, ordinary weapons,
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 1: do not even scratch him. The twilight was deepening into dusk.
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 1: Percevant turned back toward the lodge. where windows had begun
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 1: to glow warmly and muffled motor noises bespoke the parking
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 1: of automobiles. There were other flecks of light, too. For myself,
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: I felt beaten and weary, as though I had fought
• 2:29:35
  Speaker 1: to the verge of losing against a stronger, wiser enemy.
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 1: Look around you, Connett. At the clumps of bush, the thickets,
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: what do they hide? I knew what he meant. I felt, though,
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 1: I saw only dimly the presence of an evil host
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 1: and ambuscade all around us. They're waiting to claim her, Connett.
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 1: There's only one thing to do. Then let's do it,
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 1: at once. Not yet. The moment must be his moment.
• 2:30:02
  Speaker 1: One hour before midnight. Escape, as I once said, will
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 1: not be enough. We must conquer. I waited for him
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 1: to instruct me. As you know, Connett, I will make
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 1: a speech before the curtain. After that, I'll come backstage
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 1: and stay in your dressing room. What you must do
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 1: is get the sword that you use in the second act.
• 2:30:22
  Speaker 1: Bring it there and keep it there. I've told you
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 1: and told you that the sword meant nothing against him.
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 1: Bring it anyway, he insisted. I heard Sigrid's clear voice
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 1: calling me to the stage door. Percivant and I shook
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 1: hands quickly and warmly like teammates just before a hard game,
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: and we went together to the lodge. Entering, I made
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 1: my way at once to the property table. The sword
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 1: still lay there, and I put out my hand for it.
• 2:30:49
  Speaker 1: What do you want? asked Elmo Davidson behind me. I
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 1: thought I'd take the sword into my dressing room. It's
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: a prop, Connett. Leave it right where it is. I
• 2:30:58
  Speaker 1: turned and looked at him. I'd rather have it with me,
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 1: I said doggedly. You're being foolish, he told me sharply,
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: and there is hardly any doubt but that I sounded
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 1: so to him. What if I told Varduk about this?
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 1: Go and tell him if you like. Tell him also
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 1: that I won't go on tonight if you're going to
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 1: order me around. I said this as if I meant it,
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: and he relaxed his commanding pose. Go ahead And for
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: heaven's sake, calm your nerves. I took the weapon and
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 1: bore it away. In my room, I found my costume
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: for the first act already laid out on two chairs.
• 2:31:32
  Speaker 1: Either Davidson or Jake had done that for me. Quickly,
• 2:31:35
  Speaker 1: I rubbed color into my cheeks, lined my brows and eyelids,
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 1: affixed fluffy side whiskers to my jaws. The mirror showed
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 1: me a set pale face, and I put on rather
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 1: more makeup than I generally use. My hands trembled as
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 1: I donned gleaming slippers of patent leather. fawn-colored trousers that
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 1: strapped under the insteps, a frilled shirt and flowing necktie,
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 1: a flowered waistcoat and a bottle-green frock coat with velvet
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 1: facings and silver buttons. My hair was long enough to
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 1: be combed into a wavy sweep back from my brow.' Places, everybody!'
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 1: the voice of Davidson was calling outside. I emerged. Jake
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: Switz was at my door, and he grinned his good wishes.
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: I went quickly on stage, where Sigrid already waited. She
• 2:32:18
  Speaker 1: looked ravishing in her simple yet striking gown of soft
• 2:32:21
  Speaker 1: light blue, with billows of skirt, little puffs of sleeves,
• 2:32:25
  Speaker 1: a tight low bodice. Her gleaming hair was caught back
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 1: into a Grecian-looking coiffure, with a ribbon and a white
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 1: flower at the side. The normal tan of her skin
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 1: lay hidden beneath the pallor of her makeup. At sight
• 2:32:38
  Speaker 1: of me, she smiled and put out a hand. I
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: kissed it lightly, taking care that the red paint on
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 1: my lips did not smear. She took her seat on
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 1: the bench against the artificial bushes, and I, as gracefully
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 1: as possible, dropped at her feet. Applause sounded beyond the curtain,
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 1: then died away. The voice of Judge Percivant became audible.'
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, I have been asked by the management
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 1: to speak briefly. You are seeing for the first time
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 1: before any audience the lost play of Lord Byron, Ruthven.
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 1: My presence here is not as a figure of the theatre,
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: but as a modest scholar of some persistence.' whose privilege
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 1: it has been to examine the manuscript and perceive its genuineness.
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 1: Consider yourselves all subpoenaed as witnesses to a classic moment.
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 1: His voice rang as he pronounced the phrase required by Varduk.
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: I wonder if this night will not make spectacular history
• 2:33:34
  Speaker 1: for the genius who did not die in Greece a
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 1: century and more ago. I say he did not die,
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: for when does genius die? We are here to assist
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 1: at and to share in a performance that will bring
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 1: him his proper desserts. Ladies and gentlemen, I feel, and
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 1: perhaps you feel as well, the presence of the great
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 1: poet with us in this remote hall. I wish you
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 1: joy of what you shall observe. And now, have I
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 1: your leave to withdraw and let the play begin? Another
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: burst of applause, in the midst of which sounded three raps.
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 1: Then up went the curtain, and all fell silent. I,
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 1: as Aubrey, spoke the first line of the play. I'm
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 1: no Othello, darling. End of chapter 14 Chapter 15 of
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 1: The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman This LibriVox recording
• 2:34:33
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter 15 Whither I dread
• 2:34:39
  Speaker 1: to think Sigrid and I struck on the instant the
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 1: proper note of affectionate gaiety, and I could feel in
• 2:34:47
  Speaker 1: the air that peculiar audience rhythm by which an actor
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 1: knows that his effort to capture mood is successful. For
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 1: the moment it was the best of all possible worlds,
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 1: to be exchanging thus the happy and brilliant lines with
• 2:34:59
  Speaker 1: the woman I adored, while an intelligent and sympathetic houseful
• 2:35:03
  Speaker 1: of spectators shared our happy mood. But if I had
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 1: forgotten Varduk, he was the more imposing when he entered.
• 2:35:11
  Speaker 1: His luminous pallor needed no heightening to seize the attention.
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 1: His face was set off like some gleaming white gem
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 1: by the dark coat, stock, cape, books, pantaloons. He spoke
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 1: his entrance line as a king might speak in accepting
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 1: the crown and homage of a nation. On the other
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 1: side of the footlights the audience grew tense with heightened interest.
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: He overpowered us both, as I might have known he
• 2:35:36
  Speaker 1: would with his personality and his address. We might have
• 2:35:40
  Speaker 1: been awkward amateurs, wilting into nothingness when a master took
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 1: the stage. I was eclipsed completely, exactly as Aubrey should
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 1: be at the entrance of Ruthven, and I greatly doubt
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 1: if a single pair of eyes followed me at my
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: first exit, for at the center of the stage, Varduk
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 1: had begun to make love to Sigrid. I returned to
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: my dressing room. Percivant sat astride a chair, his sturdy
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 1: forearms crossed upon its back. How does it go? he asked.
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 1: Like a producer's dream, I replied. seizing a powder puff
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 1: with which to freshen my make-up. Except for the things
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: we know about, I would pray for no better show.
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: I gave you a message in my speech before the curtain.
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 1: Did you hear what I said? I meant honestly to
• 2:36:22
  Speaker 1: praise Byron at the same time to defy him. You
• 2:36:25
  Speaker 1: and I, with God's help, will give Ruthven an ending
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 1: he does not expect. It was nearly time for me
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 1: to make a new entrance, and I left the dressing-room
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 1: mystified but comforted by Percivant's manner. The play went on,
• 2:36:38
  Speaker 1: gathering speed and impressiveness. We were all acting inspiredly, maugre
• 2:36:42
  Speaker 1: the bizarre nature of the rehearsals and other preparations, the
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 1: dark atmosphere that had surrounded the piece from its first
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: introduction to us. The end of the act approached, and
• 2:36:52
  Speaker 1: with it my exit. Sigrid and I dragged the limp
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 1: Varduk to the center of the stage and retired, leaving
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 1: him alone to perform the sinister resurrection scene with which
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: the first act closes. I loitered in the wings to watch,
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: but Jake Switz tugged at my sleeve. Come, he whispered.
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 1: I want to show you something. We went to the
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 1: stage door. Jake opened it an inch. The space behind
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 1: the lodge was full of uncertain, half-formed lights that moved
• 2:37:19
  Speaker 1: and lived. For a moment, we peered. Then the soft,
• 2:37:22
  Speaker 1: larval radiances flowed toward us. Jake slammed the door. They're waiting,
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 1: he said. From the direction of the stage came Varduk's
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 1: final line. Grave, I reject thy shelter. Death, stand back!
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 1: Then Davidson dragged down the curtain, while the house shook
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 1: with applause. I turned again. Varduk backstage was speaking softly
• 2:37:45
  Speaker 1: but clearly, urging us to hurry with our costume changes.
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 1: Into my dressing room, I hastened, my feet numb and
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: my eyes blurred. I'll help you dress, came Perseverance's calm voice.
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 1: Did Jake show you what waits outside? I nodded and
• 2:38:00
  Speaker 1: licked my parched, painted lips. Don't fear. Their eagerness is premature.
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 1: He pulled off my coat and shirt. Grown calm again
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: before his assurance, I got into my clothes for Act II,
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: a modern dinner suit. With alcohol, I removed the clinging
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: side whiskers, repaired my makeup, and brushed my hair into
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: modern fashion once more. Within seconds, it seemed, Davidson was
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 1: calling us to our places. The curtain rose on Cigarette
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 1: and me, as Mary and Swithin, hearing the ancestral tale
• 2:38:30
  Speaker 1: of horror from old Bridget. As before, the audience listened raptly,
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 1: and as before it rose to the dramatic entrance of Varduk.
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: He wore his first act costume, and his manner was
• 2:38:41
  Speaker 1: even more compelling. Again, I felt myself thrust into the
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 1: background of the drama. As for Cigarette, great actress though
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: she is, She prospered only at his sufferance. Offstage, on again,
• 2:38:53
  Speaker 1: off once more. The play was Varduk's, and Sigrid's personality
• 2:38:57
  Speaker 1: was being eclipsed. Yet she betrayed no anger or dislike
• 2:39:01
  Speaker 1: of the situation. It was as though Varduk mastered her,
• 2:39:04
  Speaker 1: even while his character of Ruthven overpowered her character of Mary.
• 2:39:08
  Speaker 1: I felt utterly helpless. In the wings I saw the
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 1: climax approach. Varduk flanked by Davidson as the obedient Oscar
• 2:39:17
  Speaker 1: was declaring Ruthven's intention to gain revenge and love. Get
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 1: your sword, muttered Jake, who had taken Davidson's place at
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 1: the curtain ropes. You're on again in a moment. I
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 1: ran to my dressing room. Percivant opened the door, thrust
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 1: something into my hand. It's the silver sword, he told
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 1: me quickly. The one from my cane. Trust in it, Connett.
• 2:39:37
  Speaker 1: Almost eleven o'clock. Go, and God stiffen your arm. It
• 2:39:41
  Speaker 1: seemed a mile from the door to the wings. I
• 2:39:44
  Speaker 1: reached it just in time for my entrance cue. Sigrid's
• 2:39:47
  Speaker 1: cry of,' Swithin will not allow this!'' Let him try
• 2:39:51
  Speaker 1: to prevent it!' grumbled Davidson, fierce and grizzled as the
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 1: devil converted Oscar.' I' m here for that purpose,' I said clearly,
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 1: and strode into view. The sword from Persevent's cane I
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: carried low, hoping that Varduk would not notice at once.
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 1: He stood with folded arms, a mocking smile just touching
• 2:40:09
  Speaker 1: his white face.' So brave!' he chuckled.' So foolish!' My
• 2:40:16
  Speaker 1: ancestor killed you once, Ruthven, I said with more meaning
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 1: than I had ever employed before. I can do so again.
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 1: I leaped forward, past Sigrid and at him. The smile vanished.
• 2:40:28
  Speaker 1: His mouth fell open. Wait, that sword! He hurled himself
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 1: as though to snatch it from my hand, but I
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 1: lifted the point and lunged, extending myself almost to the
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 1: boards of the stage. As once before, I felt the
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 1: flesh tear before my blade. The slender spike of metal
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 1: went in, in, until the hilt thudded against his breastbone.
• 2:40:48
  Speaker 1: No sound from audience or actors. No motion. We made
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 1: a tableau, myself stretched out at lunge, Varduk transfixed, the
• 2:40:56
  Speaker 1: other two gazing in sudden, aghast wonder. For one long
• 2:41:00
  Speaker 1: breath's space my victim stood like a figure of black stone,
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: with only his white face betraying anything of life and feeling.
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: His deep eyes, gone dark as a winter night, dug
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 1: themselves into mine. I felt once again the intolerable weight
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 1: of his stare. Yet, it was not threatening, not angry even.
• 2:41:20
  Speaker 1: The surprise ebbed from it, and the eyes and the
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 1: sad mouth softened into a smile. Was he forgiving me?
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 1: Thanking me? Sigrid found her voice again and screamed tremulously.
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 1: I released the cane hilt and stepped backward automatically. Varduk
• 2:41:36
  Speaker 1: fell limply upon his face. The silver blade standing out
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: between his shoulders gleamed red with blood. Next moment, the
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 1: red had turned dull black as though the gore was
• 2:41:46
  Speaker 1: a millennium old. Marduk's body sagged. It shrank within its rich,
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 1: gloomy garments. It crumbled. The curtain had fallen. I had
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 1: not heard its rumble of descent, nor had Sigrid, nor
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 1: the stupefied Davidson. From beyond the folds came only choking silence. Then,
• 2:42:03
  Speaker 1: Perseverance's ready voice. Ladies and gentlemen, a sad accident has
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 1: ended the play unexpectedly. Tragically. Through the fault of nobody,
• 2:42:12
  Speaker 1: one of the players has been fatally... I heard no more.
• 2:42:16
  Speaker 1: Holding Sigrid in my arms, I told her briefly and
• 2:42:18
  Speaker 1: brokenly the true story of Ruthven and its author. She, weeping,
• 2:42:22
  Speaker 1: gazed fearfully at the motionless black heap. The poor soul,
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 1: she sobbed. The poor, poor soul. Jake, leaving his post
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 1: by the curtain ropes, had walked on and was leading
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 1: away the stunned, stumbling Davidson. I still held Sigrid close.
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: To my lips, as if at the bidding of another
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 1: mind and memory, came the final lines of Manfred. He's gone.
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: His soul hath taken its earthless flight. Whither? I dread
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 1: to think. But he is gone. End of Chapter 15
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 1: And End of The Black Drama by Manly Wade Wellman
• 2:43:04
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker