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0:37

Everybody dies, don't they? Let

0:40

Sony come back, then. Isn't

0:42

that Sony? You tried

0:44

to get into the lock drawer today, didn't you?

0:47

How do the date come back, mother? What's

0:50

the secret? Casting

0:53

the Runes by M.

0:55

R. James. April

0:57

15th, 1900. Dear

1:00

sir, I am requested by the

1:02

Council of the Association to return

1:04

to you the draft of a

1:06

paper on the Truth of Alchemy,

1:08

which you have been good enough

1:10

to offer to read at our

1:12

forthcoming meeting, and to

1:14

inform you that the Council do not

1:16

see their way to including it in

1:19

the programme. I am yours

1:21

faithfully, Secretary. April

1:25

18th. Dear

1:27

sir, I am sorry to say that

1:29

my engagements do not permit of my

1:31

affording you an interview on the subject

1:33

of your proposed paper. Nor

1:36

do our laws allow of your discussing

1:38

the matter with the committee of our

1:40

Council, as you suggest. Please

1:42

allow me to assure you that the

1:45

fullest consideration was given to the draft which you submitted,

1:48

and that it was not declined

1:50

without having been referred to the

1:52

judgment of a most competent authority.

1:55

No personal question, it can hardly be

1:57

necessary for me to add, can have

2:00

had the slightest influence on the

2:02

decision of the Council. Believe

2:04

me, Ut-Sukra. April

2:07

20th. The

2:10

Secretary of the Association begs respectfully

2:12

to inform Mr. Carswell that it

2:14

is impossible for him to communicate

2:17

the name of any person or

2:19

persons to whom the draft of

2:21

Mr. Carswell's paper may have been

2:24

submitted, and further

2:26

desires to intimate that he

2:28

cannot undertake to reply to

2:30

any further letters on this

2:32

subject. And

2:34

who is Mr. Carswell? inquired

2:37

the Secretary's wife. She

2:39

had called it his office, and perhaps

2:41

unwarrantedly had picked up the last of

2:44

these three letters which the typist had

2:46

just brought in. Why,

2:49

my dear, just at present, Mr.

2:51

Carswell is a very angry man.

2:54

But I don't know much about him otherwise, except

2:57

that he is a person of wealth. His

2:59

address is Lufford Abbey, Warwickshire, and

3:02

he's an alchemist, apparently, and wants

3:04

to tell us all about it,

3:06

and that's about all. Except

3:09

that I don't want to meet him for the next week

3:11

or two. Now if you're ready

3:14

to leave this place, I am. What

3:16

have you been doing to make him angry?

3:18

asked Mrs. Secretary. A usual

3:21

thing, my dear, the usual thing. He

3:23

sent in the draft of a paper he

3:25

wanted to read at the next meeting, and

3:27

we referred it to Edward Dunning, almost the

3:29

only man in England who knows about these

3:32

things. And he said it

3:34

was perfectly hopeless, so we declined it.

3:37

So Carswell has been pelting me with

3:39

letters ever since. The

3:41

last thing he wanted was the name of the

3:44

man we referred his nonsense to. You saw my

3:46

answer to that. But don't

3:48

you say anything about it, for goodness

3:50

sake. I should think not indeed.

3:53

Did I ever do such a thing? I

3:55

do hope, though, he won't get to know that

3:57

it was poor Mr. Dunning. I

4:01

don't know why you call him that. He's a

4:03

very happy man, he's dunning. Lots

4:05

of hobbies, and a comfortable home, and all

4:07

his time to himself. I

4:10

only meant I should be sorry for him if this man

4:12

got hold of his name and came and bothered him." Oh,

4:15

ah, yes, I dare say he

4:17

would be poor Mr. Dunning then."

4:22

The secretary and his wife were lunching out,

4:24

and the friends to whose house they were

4:26

bound were Warwickshire people. So

4:28

Mrs. Secretary had already settled it

4:31

in her own mind that she

4:33

would question them judiciously about Mr.

4:35

Carswell. But she was saved

4:37

the trouble of leading up to the subject, for

4:39

the hostess said to the host, before many minutes

4:42

had passed, "'I saw the Abbott of

4:44

Lufford this morning." The host

4:46

whistled, "'Did you? What

4:48

in the world brings him up to town? Goodness

4:51

knows. He was coming out for the British

4:53

Museum gate as I drove past." It

4:56

was not unnatural that Mrs. Secretary should

4:58

inquire whether this was a real Abbott

5:01

who was being spoken of. "'Oh,

5:03

no, my dear, only a neighbor of ours

5:06

in the country who bought Lufford Abbey a

5:08

few years ago. His real

5:10

name is Carswell.' "'Is

5:12

he a friend of yours?' asked Mr. Secretary,

5:14

with a private wink to his wife. The

5:18

question let loose a torrent of

5:20

declamation. There was really nothing

5:22

to be said for Mr. Carswell. He

5:25

knew what he did with himself. His

5:27

servants were a horrible set of people. He

5:30

had invented a new religion for himself,

5:32

and practice no one could tell what

5:34

appalling rights. He was

5:37

very easily offended, and never forgave

5:39

anybody. He had a

5:41

dreadful face, so the lady insisted,

5:43

a husband somewhat demuring. He

5:45

never did a kind action, and

5:48

whatever influence he did exert was

5:50

mischievous. Do the

5:52

poor man justice, dear?" the husband

5:54

interrupted. "'You forget the treat he

5:57

gave the schoolchildren.' "'forget It,

5:59

indeed. Glad you mentioned. It because

6:01

it gives an idea of the man

6:03

now florence. Listen to this. The first

6:05

winter he was at La said this

6:07

of delightful neighbor of ours wrote to

6:09

the clergyman if he perished he's not

6:11

ours but we know him very well

6:13

and offered to show the school children

6:16

some magic lantern size. He said

6:18

he had some new kinds of which he thought

6:20

would interest them. Well. The

6:22

clergyman was rather surprised because Mr. Cause

6:24

Well had shown himself inclined to be

6:27

unpleasant to the children. Complaining.

6:29

Of that trespassing or something of the

6:31

sort. Of course he accepted.

6:34

And. The evenings fixed. And. Our

6:36

friend went himself to see that everything

6:38

went right. He. Said he

6:40

had never been so thankful for anything

6:42

as that his own children were all

6:44

prevented from being there. They

6:46

were to children's parties. Our house is a matter

6:48

of fact, Because. This Mr.

6:50

Carswell had evidently sat out with the

6:53

intention of frightening these poor village children

6:55

out of their wits, and I do

6:57

believe it he had been allowed to

6:59

go on. he would actually have done

7:01

so. He began with

7:03

some comparatively mild things red Riding

7:06

Hood was one, and even then

7:08

Mr. Farage said the wolf was

7:10

so dreadful that several of the

7:13

smaller children had to be taken

7:15

out. And he said.

7:17

Mr. Carswell began the stories by producing

7:19

a noise like a wolf howling in

7:22

the distance, which was the most gruesome

7:24

saying he had ever heard. On.

7:27

The sly see showed Mr. Farage

7:29

said we're most clever and they

7:32

were absolutely realistic. And where

7:34

he had got them or how he

7:36

work to me he couldn't imagine. Well

7:38

the show went on and the stories

7:41

kept on becoming a little more terrifying.

7:43

Each time of the children were mesmerized

7:45

into complete silence. At

7:47

last he produced series which represented

7:50

a little boys passing through his

7:52

own pocket and lafitte. I mean

7:54

in the evening. Every.

7:56

Child in the room could recognize the place

7:59

from the pictures. And. His

8:01

poor boy was followed ended

8:03

last, pursued and overtaken. And

8:06

either tune in pieces or somehow

8:08

made away with by a horrible

8:10

hopping creature in flight which you

8:13

saw first dodging about among the

8:15

trees. and gradually it appeared more

8:17

and more plainly. Mr.

8:19

Farage said it gave him one of the

8:21

worst nightmares he ever remembered. And what it

8:24

must have meant to the children doesn't bear

8:26

thinking of. Of. Course this was

8:28

too much and he spent very sharply indeed

8:30

to mister cause well and said it couldn't

8:32

go on. Oh he said

8:34

was. A You think it's time

8:37

to bring our little share to an end

8:39

and send them to their beds? Very

8:42

well. And then as

8:44

you please, he switched on another

8:46

slide which showed a great mass

8:48

of snakes, centipedes, and disgusting creatures

8:50

with wings and somehow or other

8:52

He made it seem as if

8:54

they were climbing out of the

8:56

pictures and getting in amongst the

8:58

audience and this was accompanied by

9:00

as a sort of cry rustling

9:02

noise which send the children nearly

9:04

mad. As course they stampeded. A

9:07

good many of them are rather hurt in getting out of

9:09

the room. And I don't suppose one of

9:11

them closed in I that night. There.

9:13

Was the most dreadful troubled in

9:15

the village afterwards. Of

9:17

course, the mothers through a good part of

9:20

the blame on poor Mister Farah. and if

9:22

they could have got past the gates, I

9:24

believe the father's would have broken every window

9:26

in the abbey. Well, now

9:28

that's Mr. Carswell. that's the abbot

9:30

of luck with my dear, and

9:32

you can imagine how we covered

9:34

his society. Yes,

9:37

I saying he has all the possibilities

9:39

of a distinguished criminal has caused well

9:41

said the host. I should be

9:43

sorry for anyone who got into his bad

9:45

books. Is. He the

9:47

man, who am I mixing him up with

9:49

someone else asked the secretary, who for some

9:52

minutes had been wearing the frown of a

9:54

man who was trying to recollect something. Is

9:56

he the man who brought out a

9:59

history of witchcraft? Some time back,

10:01

or ten years or more. That's.

10:03

The Man Edu remember the reviews of

10:05

it. certainly I do. And what's equally

10:08

to the point? I knew the author

10:10

of the most Incisive of the Lot

10:12

that it so did you. You must

10:14

remember John Harrington. He was a John's

10:16

in our time. Oh

10:18

very well indeed is though I don't think

10:21

I saw or heard anything of him between

10:23

the time I went down and the day

10:25

I read the A counted the inquest on

10:27

him. Inquest said one of

10:29

the ladies. What? Has happened to him.

10:32

Why? What happened was that he

10:34

fell out of the tree and broke his neck.

10:37

But. The puzzle was, who could have induced

10:39

to get up there. A

10:42

was a mysterious business I must say

10:44

he was. this man is not an

10:46

anesthetic seller was hit and with no

10:49

eccentric twist about in that was ever

10:51

noticed. Walking home along the country road

10:53

late in the evening know trump's about

10:56

well known and liked in the place

10:58

and suddenly begins to run like mad.

11:01

Loses. His hat and stick and finally

11:03

sins up a tree. Quite a difficult

11:05

tree. growing in the hedgerow, a dead

11:07

branch gives way and he comes down

11:09

with it and bases neck. And.

11:11

They found next morning with the most

11:14

dreadful face of fear on him that

11:16

could be imagine. It was

11:18

pretty evident of course that he didn't chased

11:20

by something. And people talked

11:22

of savage dogs and beast escaped

11:24

out of menagerie with nothing to

11:26

be made. That.

11:28

Was in eighty nine and I believe

11:31

his brother Henry who I remember as

11:33

well at Cambridge but you probably don't

11:35

has been trying to get on the

11:37

track of an explanation ever since. He

11:40

of course insist that was malice it

11:42

but. I. Don't know. It's.

11:45

Difficult to see how it could have come in. After

11:48

time the talk reverted to the

11:50

history of witchcraft. Did. You

11:52

ever look into it as the host? Is

11:55

I did said the secretary. I went so far

11:57

as to read it. was

11:59

it is As bad as it was made out to be? Oh,

12:02

in point of style and form, quite

12:04

hopeless. It deserved all the pulverizing it

12:06

got. Of his side, Dad,

12:09

it was an evil book. The

12:11

man believed every word of what he was saying,

12:14

and I am very much mistaken if

12:16

he hadn't tried the greater part of

12:18

his receipts. Well,

12:21

I only remember Harrington's review of it, and

12:23

I must say, if I had been the

12:25

author, it would have quenched my literary ambition

12:27

for good. I should never

12:29

have held up my head again. It

12:32

hasn't had that effect on the present case,

12:34

but come, it's half past three. I

12:36

must be off. On

12:38

the way home the secretary's wife said,

12:41

I do hope that horrible man won't find

12:43

out that Mr. Dunning had anything to do

12:46

with the rejection of his paper. I

12:49

don't think there's much chance of that, said the

12:51

secretary. Dunning won't mention it

12:53

himself, for these matters are confidential, and

12:56

none of us will for the same reason. Carswell

12:59

won't know his name, for Dunning hasn't published

13:01

anything on the same subject yet. The

13:04

only danger is that Carswell might

13:06

find out if he was to

13:08

ask the British Museum people who

13:10

was in the habit of consulting

13:12

alchemical manuscripts. I can't very

13:15

well tell them not to mention Dunning, can I?

13:17

It would set them talking at once. Let's

13:20

hope it won't occur to him. However,

13:23

Mr. Carswell was

13:25

an astute man. This

13:28

much is in the way of prologue. On

13:31

an evening rather later in the same week,

13:34

Mr. Edward Dunning was returning from

13:36

the British Museum, where he had

13:38

been engaged in research, to

13:41

the comfortable house in the suburb where

13:43

he lived alone, tended by two excellent

13:45

women who had long been with him.

13:48

There is nothing to be added by way of description

13:50

of him to what we have heard already. Let

13:53

us follow him as he

13:55

takes his sober course homewards. A

13:59

train took off. him to within a mile

14:01

or two of his house, and an

14:03

electric tram a stage farther. The

14:06

line ended at the point some three hundred

14:08

yards from his front door. He

14:10

had had enough of reading when he got into the

14:13

car, and indeed the light was not

14:15

such as to allow him to do more

14:17

than study the advertisements on the panes of

14:19

glass that faced him as he sat. As

14:23

was not unnatural, the advertisements

14:25

in this particular line of

14:27

cars were objects of his

14:29

frequent contemplation, and, with

14:32

the possible exception of the brilliant

14:34

and convincing dialogue between Mr. Lampler

14:36

and an eminent Cayce on the

14:38

subject of pyretic saline, none

14:41

of them afforded much scope to

14:43

his imagination. I

14:46

am wrong. There

14:48

was one at the corner

14:50

of the car farthest from him which

14:53

did not seem familiar. It

14:55

was in blue letters on a yellow ground,

14:58

and all that he could read of it was a

15:00

name, John Harrington,

15:03

and something like a date. It

15:06

could be of no interest to him to know

15:08

more, but for all that, as

15:10

the car emptied, he was

15:13

just curious enough to move along the

15:15

seat until he could read it well. He

15:18

felt, to a slight extent, repaid

15:20

for his trouble. The

15:23

advertisement was not of the

15:25

usual type. It ran thus.

15:28

In memory of John Harrington,

15:30

FSA, of the Laurel's Ashbrook,

15:33

died September 18, 1889. Three

15:38

months were allowed. The

15:40

car stopped. Mr. Dunning,

15:43

still contemplating the blue letters on the

15:45

yellow ground, had to be stimulated to

15:47

rise by a word from the conductor.

15:50

"'I beg your pardon,' he said. I

15:53

was looking at that advertisement. It's

15:55

a very odd one, isn't it?" The

15:57

Conductor Read it slowly. Well

16:00

my word he said. I.

16:02

Never seen that one before. We're.

16:04

Lazy to rain at. Someone.

16:06

Been up to their jokes. Zero should think.

16:09

He got out of dust and applied it

16:12

not without saliva to the pain. And.

16:14

Then to the outside. Now.

16:16

He said returning diner transfer.

16:19

Seems. To me is this. It will

16:21

regular in the glass. It will. I mean

16:23

in the substance. That as you may say,

16:26

That you think so, sir, Mister.

16:29

Dunning examined it and rubbed it with

16:31

his glove. And agreed. Who

16:34

looks after these advertisements and gives leave for

16:36

them to be put up. I

16:39

wish you would inquire. I

16:41

will just taken note of the words. At

16:44

this moment they came a call

16:46

from the driver look Alive George

16:48

Times op. Or I or

16:50

I is something else what's up at? They

16:52

send you come a look at a see

16:55

a class. Was. Go with a

16:57

glass said the driver approaching. Well.

16:59

As a new their it and it was the

17:01

sole A bad. As. This

17:03

asking who was responsible for putting the

17:06

advertisements up and your paws and saying

17:08

it would be as well to make

17:10

some inquiry about this one. Well

17:13

sir, that's all done. That accompanies

17:15

office at work is dishonest. The

17:17

teams are believe looks into that.

17:19

When. We put up ten. I'll leave word

17:21

and prep. Salbi ever tell you to morass

17:23

is yet to become in this way. This

17:27

was all the past that evening. Mister.

17:29

Dunning did to just go to the

17:31

trouble of looking up Ashbrook and found

17:33

that it was in Warrick Chef. And.

17:36

Next day he went to town again. The.

17:38

Car it was the same car was to

17:41

fool in the morning to allow if he's

17:43

getting a word with the conductor. He.

17:46

Could only be sure that the curious

17:48

advertisement had been made away with. The.

17:51

Close of the day brought a further

17:53

element of mystery into the transaction. he

17:56

had missed the tram or else preferred

17:58

walking home but at a

18:00

rather late hour, while he was

18:02

at work in his study, one

18:04

of the maids came to say that two

18:07

men from the tramways were very anxious to

18:09

speak to him. This

18:11

was a reminder of the advertisement, which

18:13

he had, he says, nearly forgotten. He

18:16

had the men in. They were the conductor

18:18

and driver of the car, and when the

18:20

matter of refreshment had been attended to, asked

18:23

what Mr. Timms had had to say about

18:25

the advertisement. Well, sir,

18:27

that's what we took the liberty to step

18:30

round about, said the conductor. Mr.

18:32

Timms, he give William ere the rough

18:34

side of his tongue about that. According

18:37

to him, there weren't no advertisements of

18:39

that description sent in, nor ordered, nor

18:41

paid for, nor put up, nor nothing,

18:43

let alone not being there, and we

18:45

was playing the fool taking up his

18:47

time. Well, I says, if that's

18:49

the case, all I ask of you, Mr. Timms,

18:52

I says, is to take a look at it

18:54

for yourself, I says. Of course,

18:56

if it ain't there, I says, you may

18:58

take and call me what you like. Right,

19:01

he says, I will. We went

19:03

straight off. Now, I leave it

19:06

to you, sir, if that ad, as

19:08

we term them, with Arrington on it,

19:10

weren't as plain as ever you see

19:13

anything. Blue letters on yellow glass, and

19:15

as I say's at the time, and

19:17

you bore me out, regular in the

19:20

glass. Because if you remember, you recollect

19:22

me swabbing it with my duster, to

19:25

be sure I do, quite clearly. Well,

19:28

you may say, well, I don't think,

19:31

Mr. Timms, he get into the car

19:33

with a light. Now, he tell

19:35

William to hold the light outside. Now,

19:37

he says, where's your precious

19:39

ad, what we've heard so much about.

19:43

Here it is, I says, Mr. Timms,

19:45

and laid my hand on it. The

19:48

conductor paused. Well, said

19:50

Mr. Dunning, it was gone, I suppose.

19:54

Broken. Broke, not here. There

19:56

weren't, if you believe me, no

19:58

more trace of them letters. letters, blue

20:01

letters as they was, on that piece

20:03

of glass, then well it's no good

20:05

me talking, I never seen such

20:07

a thing. I leave it to William

20:09

here if, but there as I

20:11

says, what's the benefit in me going on

20:13

about it? And what did

20:15

Mr Timms say? What he

20:18

did, what I give him leave to, he

20:20

called us pretty much anything he liked and

20:22

I don't know as I blame him so

20:24

much neither. But what we thought

20:26

William and me did was, as

20:28

we seen you take down a

20:30

bit of that note about that

20:32

lettering, I certainly did that

20:34

and I have it now. Do you wish me

20:36

to speak to Mr Timms myself and show it

20:38

to him? Was that what you came in about?

20:41

There, didn't I say as much, said William.

20:43

Deal with a gent if you can get

20:45

on the track of one, that's my word.

20:48

Now perhaps George, you'll allow us I ain't

20:50

took you very far wrong tonight. Very

20:52

well William, very well, no need for you

20:54

to go on as if you had had

20:56

to frog march me here. I come quite

20:59

didn't I? All the same for that, we

21:01

had not to take up your time this way sir.

21:04

But if it so happened you

21:06

could find time to step round to

21:08

the company's office in the morning and

21:10

tell Mr Timms what you've seen for yourself,

21:13

we should lay under a very high obligation

21:15

to you for the trouble. You see,

21:17

it ain't been called, well one

21:19

thing and another as we mind, but if

21:21

they got it into their head at the

21:23

office as we seen things as weren't there,

21:26

why? One thing leads to another and

21:28

where should we be in the twelve

21:31

months since? Well, you can understand

21:33

what I mean. Amid

21:35

further elucidations of the proposition,

21:37

George, conducted by William, left

21:39

the room. The incredulity

21:42

of Mr Timms, who had a nodding

21:44

acquaintance with Mr Dunning, was greatly modified

21:46

on the following day by what the

21:48

latter could tell and show him, and

21:51

any bad mark that might have been attached

21:53

to the names of William and George, was

21:56

not suffered to remain on the company's

21:58

books. explanation,

22:01

there was none. Mr.

22:03

Dunning's interest in the matter was kept

22:05

alive by an incident of the following

22:08

afternoon. He was walking from

22:10

his club to the train, and

22:12

he noticed somewhere ahead a man

22:14

with a handful of leaflets, such

22:16

as are distributed to passers-by by

22:19

agents of enterprising firms. This

22:21

agent had not chosen a very crowded

22:24

street for his operations. In

22:26

fact, Mr. Dunning did not see him

22:28

get rid of a single leaflet before

22:30

he himself reached the spot. One

22:33

was thrust into his hand as he passed. The

22:36

hand that gave it touched his, and

22:38

he experienced the sort of little shock as it

22:40

did so. It seemed

22:43

unnaturally rough and hot. He

22:45

looked in passing at the giver,

22:47

but the impression he got was

22:49

so unclear that however much he

22:51

tried to reckon it up subsequently,

22:53

nothing would come. He

22:56

was walking quickly, and as he went on

22:58

glanced at the paper. It

23:00

was a blue one. The name

23:02

of Harrington in large capitals caught his

23:04

eye. He stopped, startled,

23:07

and fell to his glasses. The

23:09

next instant the leaflet was twitched out

23:12

of his hand by a man who

23:14

hurried past and was irrevocably gone. He

23:17

ran back a few paces, but where

23:19

was the passer-by, and where

23:22

the distributor? It

23:25

was in a somewhat pensive frame of

23:27

mind that Mr. Dunning passed on the

23:30

following day into the select manuscript room

23:32

of the British Museum and filled up

23:34

tickets for Harley 3586 and

23:37

some other volumes. After

23:40

a few minutes they were brought to him, and

23:42

he was settling the one he wanted first upon

23:44

the desk, when he thought

23:46

he heard his own name whispered behind

23:49

him. He turned round

23:51

hastily, and in doing so brushed

23:53

his little portfolio of loose papers onto

23:55

the floor. He saw no

23:57

one he recognized except one of the staff.

24:00

in charge of the room, who nodded to him,

24:02

and he proceeded to pick up his papers. He

24:05

thought he had them all, and was

24:07

turning to begin work, when a stout

24:09

gentleman at the table behind him, who

24:11

was just rising to leave and had

24:13

collected his own belongings, touched him

24:16

on the shoulder, saying, May I give

24:18

you this? I think it should be yours, and

24:21

handed him a missing choir. It

24:23

is mine, thank you, Sir Mr. Dunning. In

24:26

another moment the man had left the room. Upon

24:29

finishing his work for the afternoon, Mr.

24:31

Dunning had some conversation with the assistant

24:33

in charge, and took occasion to ask

24:36

who the stout gentleman was. Oh,

24:38

he is a man named Carswell, said the

24:40

assistant. He was asking me a

24:43

week ago, who were the great authorities on Alcamere.

24:45

Of course I told him you were the only

24:47

one in the country. I'll see if

24:49

I can't catch him. He'd like to meet you, I'm

24:51

sure. For heaven's sake, don't

24:53

dream of it, said Mr. Dunning. I am

24:56

particularly anxious to avoid him. Oh,

24:58

very well, said the assistant. He

25:01

doesn't come here often. I dare say you

25:03

won't meet him. More

25:05

than once on the way home that

25:07

day Mr. Dunning confessed to himself that

25:09

he did not look forward with his

25:12

usual cheerfulness to a solitary evening. It

25:15

seemed to him that something ill-defined

25:17

and impalpable had stepped in between

25:19

him and his fellow men, had

25:21

taken him in charge as it were. He

25:24

wanted to sit close up to his neighbours in

25:26

the train and in the tram, but

25:29

as luck would have it, both

25:31

train and car were markedly empty.

25:34

The conductor, George, was thoughtful and

25:36

appeared to be absorbed in calculations

25:38

as to the number of passengers.

25:41

On arriving at his house he found

25:43

Dr. Watson, his medical man, on his

25:45

doorstep. I have had

25:48

to upset your household arrangements. I am

25:50

sorry to say, Dunning, both your servants

25:52

are aure du combo. In fact,

25:54

I have had to send them both to the nursing home.

25:57

Good Heavens, what's the matter? My

26:00

kids ptomaine poisoning. I should. Seeing kid

26:02

you not suffered yourself I can say

26:04

oh who wouldn't be walking about. I

26:07

think they'll pull through. All right. To.

26:09

A tear add you any idea what brought

26:12

his own? Well they tell me they bought

26:14

some sell see some a hawker at that

26:16

dinner time. He. Saw that

26:18

I'd made inquiries, but I can't find it.

26:20

Any hawkers been to other houses in the

26:22

street. I couldn't send words you.

26:25

they won't be back for bit. You

26:27

coming down with me tonight anyhow, and we

26:29

can make arrangements. were going on eight o'clock

26:32

the don't be too anxious. The.

26:34

Solitary evenings thus obviated at the

26:36

expense of some distress and inconvenience.

26:39

It is true. Mr.

26:41

Doing spent time pleasantly enough with

26:43

the doctor about of recent set.

26:46

And returned. He's lonely home about

26:49

eleven thirty. The

26:51

nights he passed is not one on

26:53

which he looks back with any satisfaction.

26:56

He. Was in bed in the light was out, He

26:59

was wondering is to charwoman would come early

27:01

enough to getting hot water next morning. When.

27:04

He heard. The unmistakable

27:06

sound. Of the study

27:08

door opening. Know.

27:10

Step followed his from the passage floor.

27:13

But. The sound must mean mischief.

27:16

For. He knew that he had shut the

27:18

door that evening after putting his papers away

27:20

in his desk. It. Was

27:23

rather shame. The encourage that induced him

27:25

to slip out into the passage and

27:27

lean over the banister in his nightgown.

27:30

Listening. No.

27:32

Lights was visible. No.

27:35

Further sound came. Only

27:37

a dust and warm or even

27:39

hot air played for an instant

27:42

around his sins. He

27:44

went back and decided to lock himself

27:46

into his room. There.

27:48

Was more unpleasantness. However,

27:52

I. The an economical suburban company

27:54

had decided that than light would

27:56

not be required in the small

27:58

hours and had stopped. Working.

28:01

Who else Something was wrong with the meta?

28:04

The. Effect was in any case that

28:06

the electric light was of. The

28:09

obvious cause was to find a match

28:11

and also to consult his watch. He

28:14

might as well know how many hours of

28:16

discomfort await is him. So.

28:18

He put his hand into the well known

28:20

nook under the pillow. Only.

28:23

It did not get so far. What?

28:28

He touched was according to

28:30

his account. A

28:32

mouse. With. Teeth. And

28:35

with hair about it and he declares.

28:39

Not the mouth of a human being. I

28:42

do not think it is any use

28:45

the guess what he said or did.

28:47

But he was in a spare room

28:49

with the door locked and his ear

28:51

to with before he was clearly conscious

28:54

again. And there he

28:56

spends the rest of a most miserable

28:58

night. Looking every moment for

29:00

some fumbling at the door. And

29:03

think. The

29:06

venturing back to his own room

29:08

in the morning was attended with

29:10

many listening and quivering. The.

29:12

Door stood open fortunately.

29:15

And the blinds were up. The servants

29:17

had been out of the house before the out

29:19

of drawing them down. There was

29:21

to be short. No.

29:23

Trace of an inhabitant. To.

29:26

Watch to was in it's usual place.

29:29

Nothing was disturbed. Only

29:32

the wardrobe door had swung open

29:34

me in accordance with it's confirmed

29:36

habit. A ring at

29:38

the back door now announced the char

29:41

woman who had been ordered the night

29:43

before and nerve to Mr. Dunning after

29:45

letting her in to continue his search

29:47

in other parts of the house. It

29:50

was equally fruitless. The

29:53

day thus began went on

29:55

dismally enough. He dared not

29:57

go to the museum in spite of what

29:59

the assistance. had said, Carswell

30:01

might turn up there, and

30:03

Dunning felt he could not cope with

30:06

a probably hostile stranger. His

30:08

own house was odious. He hated

30:10

sponging on the doctor. He

30:12

spent some little time in the call at

30:15

the nursing-home, where he was slightly cheered by

30:17

a good report of his housekeeper and maid.

30:20

Towards lunchtime he betook himself to

30:22

his club, again experiencing a gleam

30:25

of satisfaction at seeing the secretary

30:27

of the association. At

30:30

luncheon Dunning told his friend the more

30:32

material of his woes, but

30:34

could not bring himself to speak of

30:36

those that weighed most heavily on his

30:39

spirits. "'My poor dear

30:41

man,' said the secretary, "'what an

30:43

upset! Look here! We're

30:45

alone at home, absolutely. You must

30:48

put up with this. Yes, no

30:50

excuse. Send your things in

30:52

this afternoon.' Dunning

30:55

was unable to stand out. He was,

30:57

in truth, becoming acutely anxious as the

30:59

hours went on, as to

31:01

what that night might have waiting for him.

31:04

He was almost happy as he hurried home to

31:06

pack up. His friends,

31:09

when they had time to take stock

31:11

of him, were rather shocked at his

31:13

lawn appearance, and did their

31:15

best to keep him up to the

31:17

mark, not altogether without success. But

31:20

when the two men were smoking

31:22

alone together, Dunning became dull again.

31:25

Suddenly he said, "'Gaton, I

31:27

believe that alchemist man knows it was I

31:30

who got his paper rejected.' Gaton

31:32

whistled. "'What makes you think that?' he

31:35

said. Dunning told

31:37

of his conversation with the museum assistant,

31:39

and Gaton could only agree that the

31:41

guests seemed likely to be correct. "'Not

31:44

that I care much,' Dunning went on. Only

31:46

it might be a nuisance if we were to

31:48

meet. He's a bad-tempered

31:50

party, I imagine.' Conversation

31:53

dropped again. Dunning then

31:56

became more and more strongly impressed

31:58

with the desolateness that came over

32:00

Dunning. face and bearing, and finally,

32:02

though with a considerable effort, asked

32:05

him point-blank whether something serious

32:07

was not bothering him. Dunning

32:10

gave an exclamation of relief. I

32:13

was perishing to get it off my mind, he said.

32:16

Do you know anything about a man named

32:18

John Harrington? Gayton

32:20

was thoroughly startled, and at

32:22

the moment could only ask why. Then

32:25

the complete story of Dunning's experiences

32:27

came out. What had

32:29

happened in the tram-car, in his own house,

32:32

and in the street, the

32:34

troubling of spirit that had crept over

32:36

him, and still held him, and

32:38

he ended with the question he had begun with. Gayton

32:42

was at a loss how to answer him. Tell

32:44

the story of Harrington's end would perhaps be

32:46

right. Only Dunning was

32:49

in a nervous state. The

32:51

story was a grim one, and

32:53

he could not help asking himself

32:55

whether there were not a connecting

32:57

link between these two cases in

32:59

the person of Carswell. It

33:02

was a difficult concession for a scientific man,

33:05

but it could be eased by the

33:07

phrase, hypnotic suggestion. In

33:09

the end he decided that his answer

33:11

tonight should be guarded. He

33:13

would talk the situation over with his wife. So

33:17

he said that he had known Harrington

33:19

at Cambridge, and believed he had died

33:21

suddenly in 1889, adding

33:23

a few details about the man and his

33:25

published work. He did

33:27

talk over the matter with Mrs. Gayton,

33:30

and, as he had anticipated, she

33:32

leapt at once to the conclusion which had

33:35

been hovering before him. It

33:37

was she who reminded him of

33:39

the surviving brother, Henry Harrington, and

33:42

she also who suggested that he might be

33:44

got hold of by means of their hosts

33:46

of the day before. He

33:49

might be a hopeless crank, objected Gayton.

33:52

That could be ascertained from the Bennets and

33:54

knew him, Mrs. Gayton retorted, And

33:56

she undertook to see the Bennets the very next

33:58

day. It

34:00

is not necessary to tell in

34:03

further detail the steps by which

34:05

Henry Harrington and Dunning were brought

34:07

together. The. Next

34:09

scene is it does require to been

34:11

a rated is a conversation with the

34:14

took place between the two. Donning

34:16

had told Harrington of the strange

34:18

ways in which the dead man's

34:20

name had been brought before him,

34:22

and had said something besides of

34:24

his own subsequent experiences. Then.

34:27

He had asked if Harrington was

34:29

disposed in return to recall any

34:32

of the circumstances connected with his

34:34

brothers. Harrington.

34:36

Surprise it was He has can be

34:38

imagined. On his reply was

34:41

readily given. John. He

34:43

said was in a very odd state

34:45

of the undeniably from time to time

34:48

during some weeks before though not immediately

34:50

before the catastrophe. And were

34:52

several things in. The principal notion he had

34:54

was that he thought he was being followed.

34:57

No doubt he was an impressionable man,

34:59

but he never had had such fancies.

35:01

Is this before? I cannot

35:03

get out of my mind that there was

35:06

ill, will it work and at what you

35:08

tell me about yourself reminds me very much

35:10

of my brother. A Can you

35:12

think of any possible connecting linked? This

35:16

just one that has been taking shape

35:18

vaguely in my mind. I've

35:20

been told that your brother reviewed a book

35:22

very severely not long before he died and

35:25

just lately I have happened to cross the

35:27

path of the man who wrote that book.

35:29

In a way me would resent. Don't.

35:32

Tell me that the man was called cause

35:34

well. Why not? That is exactly

35:36

his name. Henry Harrington

35:39

leapt back. That. His final

35:41

to my mind. Now. I

35:43

must explain further. From. Something

35:45

he said. I feel sure that my brother

35:47

John was beginning to believe that have very

35:50

much against his will say that cause wealth

35:52

was at the bottom of his trouble. I

35:55

want to tell you what seems to me to

35:57

have a bearing on the situation. My.

36:00

Brother was a great musician and used to

36:02

run up to concerts in town. He

36:04

came back three months before he died from

36:06

one of these and gave me his program

36:09

to look at an analytical program He always

36:11

kept him. I nearly missed this

36:13

one he said i suppose I must have dropped

36:15

it any house I was looking for it and

36:17

the my seat and in my pockets and so

36:20

on. A my neighbor offered me his said mighty

36:22

give it to me as he had no further

36:24

use for it. And. He went away

36:26

just afterwards. I don't know

36:28

who he was. a stout, clean shaven

36:31

man. I should have been sorry

36:33

to Mrs. Of course I could have bought

36:35

another That this costs me nothing. At

36:38

another time, he told me that

36:40

he had been very uncomfortable both

36:42

on the way to his hotel

36:44

and during the night. I

36:47

piece things together now in thinking it

36:50

over then not very long after he

36:52

was going over these programs, putting them

36:54

in order to have them bound up

36:56

and in this particular ones which by

36:59

the way, I had hardly glanced at.

37:01

He sound quite near the beginning. A strip

37:04

of paper with some very odd writing on

37:06

his in red and blue. Most.

37:08

Carefully done. It. Looked

37:10

to me more like rune next letters

37:13

than anything else. Why he

37:15

said this must belong to my fat neighbor,

37:17

It looks as if it might be worth

37:19

returning to him. It may be a copy

37:22

of something. Evidently someone has taken trouble over

37:24

it. How can I find his

37:26

address? We. Talked it over for

37:28

a little and agreed that it wasn't worth

37:31

advertising about and my brother better look out

37:33

for a man at the next consists to

37:35

which he was going very soon. The.

37:38

Paper was lying on the book and we

37:40

were both by the fire. It

37:43

was a cold, windy summer evening. I

37:45

suppose the door blew open though I

37:47

didn't notice it. At any rate, a

37:49

gust. A warm dusty was.

37:52

Came quite suddenly between us. took

37:54

the paper. And blew it straight

37:56

into the fire. It. was light

37:59

sin paper and flared, and went

38:01

up the chimney in a single ash. Well,

38:03

I said, you can't give it back now." He

38:06

said nothing for a minute, then rather crossly.

38:09

No, I can't. But why you should keep on

38:11

saying so? I don't know. I

38:14

remarked that I didn't say it more than once.

38:16

Not more than four times, you mean, was all

38:18

he said. I remember all

38:20

that very clearly, without any good reason.

38:23

And now to come to the point. I

38:26

don't know if you looked at that book

38:28

of Carswell's, which my unfortunate brother reviewed. It's

38:31

not likely that you should. But

38:33

I did, both before his death and

38:35

after it. The first time we

38:37

made a game of it. It was

38:39

written in no style at all, split

38:42

infinitives, and every sort of thing that

38:44

makes an Oxford gorge rise. Then

38:46

there was nothing that the man didn't

38:49

swallow, mixing up classical myths and stories

38:51

out of the golden legend with reports

38:53

of savage customs of today, all

38:55

very proper, no doubt, if you know how to

38:58

use them. But he didn't. He

39:00

seemed to put the golden legend and

39:02

the golden bow exactly on a par,

39:04

and to believe both. A pitiable

39:07

exhibition, in short. Well,

39:09

after the misfortune, I looked over the

39:12

book again. It was no better

39:14

than before. But the impression

39:16

which it left this time on my mind

39:18

was different. I suspected,

39:20

as I told you, that Carswell

39:22

had borne ill-will to my brother,

39:25

even that he was in some way responsible for

39:27

what had happened. And

39:29

now his book seemed to me to be

39:32

a very sinister performance indeed. One

39:35

chapter in particular struck me, in

39:37

which he spoke of casting the runes

39:39

on people, either for the

39:41

purpose of gaining their affection or of getting

39:44

them out of the way, perhaps

39:46

more especially the latter. He

39:49

spoke of all this in a way that

39:51

really seemed to me to imply actual knowledge.

39:54

I have not time to go into details, but

39:57

the upshot is that I am pretty

39:59

sure from information received that the

40:01

civil man at the concert was

40:03

Carswell. I suspect—I

40:06

more than suspect—that

40:08

the paper was of importance, and

40:11

I do believe that if my brother had been able

40:13

to give it back, he might have

40:15

been alive now. Therefore,

40:17

it occurs to me to ask you whether

40:19

you have anything to put beside what I

40:22

have told you. By

40:24

way of answer, Dunning had the episode

40:26

in the manuscript room at the British

40:28

Museum to relate. Then

40:30

he did actually hand you some papers. Have

40:33

you examined them? No, because

40:36

we must, if you'll allow it, look

40:39

at them once and very carefully. They

40:42

went to the still empty house, empty, for

40:44

the two servants were not yet able to

40:46

return to work. Dunning's

40:48

portfolio of papers was gathering dust on

40:50

the writing table. In it

40:53

were the choirs of small-sized scribbling

40:55

paper which he used for his

40:57

transcripts, and from one of these,

40:59

as he took it up, there slipped

41:01

and fluttered out into the room

41:03

with uncanny quickness a strip of

41:05

thin, light paper. The

41:07

window was open, but Harrington slammed

41:10

it too just in time to intercept

41:12

the paper, which he caught. I

41:15

thought so, he said. It

41:17

might be the identical thing that was given to

41:19

my brother. You'll have to look

41:22

out, Dunning. This may mean

41:24

something quite serious for you. A

41:27

long consultation took place. The

41:29

paper was narrowly examined. As

41:32

Harrington had said, the characters on it were

41:34

more like runes than anything else, but

41:36

not decipherable by either man, and

41:39

both hesitated to copy them for

41:41

fear as they confessed of perpetuating

41:44

what evil purpose they might conceal.

41:47

So it has remained impossible, if

41:49

I may anticipate a little, to

41:52

ascertain what was conveyed in this

41:54

curious message or commission. Both

41:57

Dunning and Harrington were convinced

41:59

that the convinced that it had the

42:02

effect of bringing its possessors

42:04

into very undesirable company, that

42:06

it must be returned to the source whence

42:08

it came, they were agreed, and

42:10

further that the only safe and

42:12

certain way was that of personal

42:14

service, and here contrivance would

42:17

be necessary, for Dunning was

42:19

known by sight to Carswell. He

42:22

must for one thing alter his appearance by

42:24

shaving his beard, but then

42:26

might not the blow fall first. Brinton

42:30

thought they could time it. He

42:32

knew the date of the concert at which the black

42:34

spot had been put on his brother. It

42:36

was June 18th. The death

42:38

had followed on September 18th. Dunning

42:41

reminded him that three months had been mentioned

42:44

on the inscription on the car window. Perhaps,

42:47

he added, with a cheerless laugh, mine

42:49

may be a bill at three months too. I

42:52

believe I can fix it by my

42:55

diary. Yes, April 23rd was the

42:57

day at the museum. That brings us

42:59

to July 23rd. Now, do

43:01

you know it becomes extremely important to me

43:04

to know anything you will tell me about

43:06

the progress of your brother's trouble, if

43:08

it is possible for you to speak of it? Of

43:11

course. Well, the sense of being

43:13

watched whenever he was alone was the most

43:15

distressing thing to him. After

43:17

a time, I took to sleeping in his room,

43:20

and he was better for that. Still,

43:22

he talked a great deal in his sleep.

43:25

What about? Is it

43:27

wise to dwell on that, at least before

43:29

things are straightened out? I

43:32

think not. But I can tell you

43:34

this. Two things came

43:36

for him by post during those weeks,

43:38

both with a London postmark and addressed

43:40

in a commercial hand. One

43:43

was a woodcut of Buick's, roughly torn

43:45

out of the page, on

43:47

which shows a moonlit road and a

43:49

man walking along it, followed by an

43:52

awful demon creature. After

43:54

It were written the lines out of

43:56

the ancient mariner, which I suppose the

43:59

cut illustrates. About one who

44:01

having once looked round. Walks.

44:03

On. And turns no more.

44:05

his head. Because.

44:07

He knows a frightful seemed.

44:10

Death. Close behind him tread.

44:14

The. Other was a calendar such as

44:16

Tradesman often send. My brother paid no

44:18

attention to this, but I looked at

44:20

it after his death. I.

44:22

Found that everything after September the

44:25

eighteenth had been torn out. You

44:27

may be surprised that he's having gone out alone

44:30

the evening he was killed. But

44:32

the fact is that during the last ten

44:34

days or so of his life, he had

44:36

been quite free from the sense of being

44:38

followed. A watched. The.

44:40

End of the consultation was this. Harrington

44:43

to new and neighbor of Cause Wells

44:45

thought he saw a way of keeping

44:47

a watch on his movements. He

44:50

would be dunning spot to be in

44:52

readiness to try to cross cause was

44:54

path at any moment to keep the

44:57

paper says and in a place of

44:59

ready access. They. Parted

45:01

the next week's will, no doubt

45:03

a severe strain upon Dominguez nerves.

45:06

The. Intangible barrier which it seem to rise about

45:08

him On the day when he received a

45:10

paper. Gradually. Developed into

45:12

a brooding blackness that cut him off

45:14

from the means of escape to which

45:17

one might have thought he might result.

45:20

No one was at hand who was likely

45:22

to suggest and to him. And. He

45:24

seemed robbed of all initiative. He

45:27

waited with inexpressible anxiety.

45:29

As May, June and early

45:32

July passed on from mandate

45:34

from Harrington. But. All

45:36

this time cause well remained

45:38

immovable atlas it. At.

45:41

Last. In less than

45:43

a week before the date he had

45:45

come to look upon as the end

45:48

of his earthly activities came a telegram.

45:50

Leaves Victoria by boat train

45:52

Thursday night and do not

45:54

miss. I come to you

45:56

tonight Harrington. He

45:59

arrived accordingly. And they concocted

46:01

tunes. The. Train left in

46:03

Victoria nine and it's last stop

46:05

before Dover was Croydon West. Harrington

46:08

good marked down costs while it Victoria

46:11

and look out for Dunning at Croydon.

46:13

Calling to him his need were by

46:15

a name agreed upon. Dunning

46:17

disguised as far as might base was

46:19

the have no label or initials or

46:22

any hand luggage and must at all

46:24

costs have the paper with him. Dunning

46:27

suspense as he waited on the

46:29

Croydon platform. I need not attempt

46:32

to describe. A sense

46:34

of danger during the last days

46:36

had only been sharpened by the

46:38

fact that the cloud about him

46:40

at deceptively been lighter. Release.

46:44

Was. An ominous symptom. And

46:47

if cars will eluded him

46:49

now, hope. Was. Gone.

46:52

And. There were so many chances of.

46:56

The. Room of the Journey might be

46:58

itself. A device. The.

47:00

Twenty minutes in which he pays a

47:02

platform and persecuted every porter with inquiries

47:05

as to the boat train whereas bitter

47:07

as any he had spent. Still,

47:10

The train came. And. Harrington was at

47:12

the window. It was important,

47:14

of course, that there should be no recognition.

47:17

So dunning got in at the saw the

47:19

end of the corridor carriage. And. Only

47:21

gradually made his way to the compartments

47:24

were Harrington and Cause We're We're. He.

47:26

Was pleased on the whole to see

47:28

that the trains far from full. Cause.

47:31

Well was on the alerts but gave

47:33

no sign of recognition. Donning

47:36

took the seat not immediately facing

47:38

him and attempted vainly at first.

47:41

Then with increasing commanded his

47:43

faculties to reckon the possibilities

47:45

of making the desired transfer.

47:48

Opposite the Carswell and next to Dunning was

47:51

a heap of cause was coats on the

47:53

seat. It. would be of no

47:55

use to slip the paper into these he

47:57

would not be safe or would not feel

47:59

so unless in some way it could be

48:01

proffered by him and accepted by the other. There

48:04

was a handbag open and with papers in it.

48:08

Could he manage to conceal this, so

48:10

that perhaps Carswell might leave the carriage

48:12

without it, and then find and give

48:14

it to him? This

48:16

was the plan that suggested itself. If

48:19

he could only have counseled with Harrington. But

48:22

that could not be. The minutes

48:24

went on. More

48:26

than once Carswell rose and went out

48:28

into the corridor. The second

48:30

time Dunning was on the point of attempting to make

48:33

the bag fall off the seat, but

48:35

he caught Harrington's eye and read in it

48:37

a warning. Carswell, from the

48:39

corridor, was watching, probably

48:41

to see if the two men recognized each

48:43

other. He returned, but

48:46

was evidently restless. And

48:48

when he rose the third time, hope

48:50

dawned, for something did slip off his

48:53

seat and fall with hardly a sound

48:55

onto the floor. Carswell

48:57

went out once more and passed out of range

49:00

of the corridor window. Dunning

49:02

picked up what had fallen and saw that

49:04

the key was in his hands in the

49:06

form of one of Cook's ticket cases with

49:08

tickets in it. These cases

49:11

have a pocket in the cover, and within

49:13

a very few seconds the paper, of which

49:15

we have heard, was in the pocket of

49:17

this one. To make

49:19

the operation more secure, Harrington stood in

49:21

the doorway of the compartment and fiddled

49:24

with the blind. It was

49:26

done and done at the

49:28

right time, for the train was now

49:30

slowing down towards Dover. In

49:33

a moment more Carswell re-entered the

49:35

compartment. As he did

49:37

so, Dunning, managing he knew not how

49:39

to suppress the tremble in his voice,

49:42

handed him the ticket case, saying, May

49:44

I give you this, sir? I believe it's

49:47

yours? After a

49:49

brief glance at the ticket inside

49:51

Carswell uttered the hopeful response, Yes,

49:54

it is. Much

49:56

obliged, yes, sir, and

49:58

he placed it in his breast-p pocket. Even

50:02

in the few moments that remained,

50:04

moments of tense anxiety, for they

50:06

knew not to what a premature

50:08

finding of the paper might lead,

50:11

both men noticed that the carriage

50:13

seemed to darken about them, and

50:15

to grow warmer, that Carswell

50:18

was fidgety and depressed, that

50:20

he drew the heap of loose coats near to

50:22

him, and cast it back as if it repelled

50:24

him, and that he then

50:27

sat upright and glanced anxiously at both.

50:30

They, with sickening anxiety, busied themselves

50:32

in collecting their belongings, but they

50:34

both thought that Carswell was on

50:36

the point of speaking when the

50:39

train stopped at Dover Town. It

50:42

was natural that in the short space between

50:44

Town and Pier they should both go into

50:46

the corridor. At

50:49

the pier they got out, but

50:51

so empty was the train that they were

50:53

forced to linger on the platform until Carswell

50:55

should have passed ahead of them with his

50:57

porter on the way to the boat, and

51:00

only then was it safe for

51:02

them to exchange a pressure of

51:04

the hand and a word of

51:06

concentrated congratulation. The effect

51:08

upon Dunning was to make him almost

51:10

faint. Harrington

51:12

made him lean up against the wall, while

51:14

he himself went forward a few yards within

51:16

sight of the gangway to the boat, at

51:19

which Carswell had now arrived. The

51:22

man at the head of it examined his

51:24

ticket, and laden with coats he passed down

51:26

into the boat. Suddenly

51:29

the official called after him. "'You,

51:31

sir, beg pardon, did the other gentleman show

51:33

his ticket?'" "'What the devil

51:35

do you mean by the other

51:37

gentleman?" Carswell's snarling voice

51:40

called back from the deck. The

51:42

man bent over and looked at him. "'The

51:44

devil? Well, I don't know how sure,'

51:47

Harrington heard him say to himself, and

51:49

then aloud, "'My mistake, sir, must have

51:51

been your rugs. Ask your

51:53

pardon,' and then to a

51:56

subordinate near him. Had he

51:58

got a dog with him, or what?" Funny

52:00

thing, I could have swore he wasn't alone.

52:03

Well, whatever it was, they'll have to see

52:05

it aboard. She's off now. Now

52:07

have a week and we shall be getting the

52:09

holiday customers." In five

52:11

minutes more there was nothing but the lessening

52:14

lights of the boat, the long

52:16

line of the Dover lamps, the night

52:18

breeze, and the moon. Long

52:21

and long the two sat in their room at

52:23

the Lord Warden. In spite

52:25

of the removal of their greatest anxiety,

52:27

they were oppressed with a doubt, not

52:30

of the lightest. Had

52:32

they been justified in sending a man to

52:34

his death as they believed they had? Ought

52:37

they not to warn him at least? No,

52:40

said Harrington. If he is

52:42

the murderer, I think him. We have done

52:45

no more than is just. Still, if you

52:47

think it better—but how and where can you

52:49

warn him? He was booked

52:51

to Abbeville only, said Dunning. I saw that.

52:54

If I wire to the hotels

52:56

there in Jones' guide, examine your

52:58

ticket case, Dunning. I shall

53:00

feel happier. This is the twenty-first.

53:03

He'll have a day. But

53:05

I am afraid he has gone into the dark. So

53:08

telegrams were left at the hotel office.

53:12

It is not clear whether these

53:14

reached their destination, or whether,

53:16

if they did, they were understood. All

53:19

that is known is that

53:21

on the afternoon of the twenty-third, an

53:24

English traveller examining the front

53:26

of St. Wolfram's Church at

53:28

Abbeville, then under extensive repair,

53:32

was struck on the head and instantly

53:34

killed by a stone falling from

53:36

the scaffold erected round the north-western

53:38

tower, their being, as was

53:41

clearly proved, no workman on the

53:43

scaffold at that moment, and

53:45

the traveller's papers identified him.

53:49

As Mr. Carswell. Only

53:52

one detail shall be added. At

53:56

Carswell's sale, A set

53:58

of Buick sold with orphanage. It's

54:00

was acquired by Harrington. The.

54:02

Page with the would cost of

54:04

the traveler and the demon was

54:06

as he had expected. Mutilated.

54:10

Also. After a judicious

54:12

interval. Harrington repeated to Dunning

54:14

something of what he had heard his

54:17

brother say in his sleep. But

54:19

it was not long before Donning

54:21

stopped him. Hello!

54:44

It's just Tony Walker here. I'm

54:47

sure that you like me

54:49

to not enjoy having your

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stories interrupted by advertisement. However,

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They are a necessary evil

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Patreon which is W W

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not wanting your stories

56:07

interrupted by ads. So

56:12

that was casting the

56:14

runes or casting the runes by

56:16

M.R. James. We've

56:18

done a few M.R. James in the past but

56:20

it's worth just giving a little background to him.

56:23

So M.R. James, born 1862, died

56:26

1936, was

56:28

an English author, medievalist scholar and

56:30

provost of King's College Cambridge and

56:32

Eton, of course later, came

56:35

from Eton when the Cambridge went back to Eton. Best

56:37

known for his ghost stories which are

56:39

widely regarded amongst the finest in

56:42

the English language of

56:45

the genre as well, James redefined

56:47

the traditional ghost story by abandoning

56:49

many of the formal Gothic cliches

56:51

of his predecessors and using more

56:53

realistic contemporary settings. So they're not

56:55

quite as hysterical as being insane

56:59

monks in burning monasteries

57:02

in Transylvania. They're

57:05

kind of very Englishy. He's kind of

57:07

England of course, in his

57:09

Victorian, he was very much a

57:11

Victorian and even though he

57:13

wrote some of these stories in

57:16

the Edwardian period and later he

57:18

is in essence a

57:21

Victorian. I read a book of his letters, he

57:23

comes across as a really nice bloke actually and

57:26

funny but he was, you know, he lived in

57:28

a certain circumspect. He didn't have much to do

57:31

with women. He didn't have tons to

57:33

do with people who weren't rich

57:36

or, you know, common

57:38

people I was trying not to say. Okay,

57:41

but within his world, you

57:43

know, he writes about his world, academic,

57:46

the protagonist being a scholar or

57:48

an antiquarian as in this case.

57:51

Casting the runes is a short story first

57:53

published in 1911 as part of

57:56

his collection More Ghost Stories. The

57:58

story tells a tale as you know. of

58:00

Edward Dunning who crosses Carswell

58:03

who gets cursed. You

58:06

know this with a slip of paper,

58:08

there's no spoiler because presumably you're not

58:10

listening to this first. The story

58:12

has been adapted several times for television and

58:14

film most notably as a 1957 film Night

58:16

of the Demon released in the US as Curse of the Demon

58:22

directed by Jacques Ternour and starring

58:24

Dana Andrews and Neil McGinnis. Of

58:26

course that film has lived on.

58:29

Kate Bush famously samples it, it's

58:31

coming, it's in the trees, it's in the trees, it's coming

58:35

and I

58:37

read an interesting article about that. So

58:40

the structure of the story

58:43

though struck me as being,

58:45

I hate to say this, I

58:48

did an Agatha Christie the other day and

58:50

I was like well Agatha, you know, Agatha's

58:52

was pretty good but there were a couple of things. So

58:55

if you look at the story it starts off with a

58:58

couple of letters, fair enough, and they,

59:00

that segues into a discussion

59:02

between the secretary of this association

59:04

that Carswell, once his paper and

59:06

alchemy read out at, talking

59:09

to his wife, fair enough,

59:11

then they go for

59:13

lunch and Carswell's talked about again and we

59:16

get a bit of background about Carswell. We

59:18

get a very Jamesian scene

59:20

of this white thing hopping that scares

59:22

the kids that Carswell

59:25

puts on the Magic Lantern show for

59:27

them. That seems very, that's very mexotint

59:29

to me, a very Jamesian type of

59:31

monster kind of amorphous, weird,

59:35

you know, not necessarily

59:37

where it should be, hard to

59:39

understand and of course very classic

59:41

for James, unexplained. This isn't

59:43

the real monster in the story, in fact

59:46

there is no real ghost in the story.

59:48

That's as close as it gets that, gets that

59:50

monster. But a very Jamesian thing,

59:52

you know, James didn't didn't explain

59:54

his stories, why should he? And because of that

59:57

I think they they keep

59:59

that unkind. Well

1:00:02

we have to be very careful

1:00:04

because there are technical definitions of

1:00:06

weird, uncanny and eerie given

1:00:09

to us by Ziegmund Freud for the

1:00:11

uncanny and of course Mark Fisher who

1:00:14

defines the weird and the eerie

1:00:16

particularly. You

1:00:18

think Cam is more weird

1:00:20

really which is interesting because of course M.R.

1:00:22

James was very much admired by H.P.

1:00:25

Lovecraft that mainstream

1:00:28

of weird fiction. Anyway let's

1:00:31

talk about the structure. So we have

1:00:33

the letter, we have the discussion about

1:00:35

who this Carswell is and we go

1:00:37

to lunch which fortuitously is with a

1:00:39

couple who are near neighbours of Carswell.

1:00:41

That's kind of fortuitous isn't it? But

1:00:44

there are no such thing as, it's

1:00:46

a synchronicity of course, there are no such

1:00:49

things as coincidences so it is a meaningful

1:00:51

meeting. I know it's a fiction but there

1:00:53

we are. And then we

1:00:55

go to Dunning and then we follow Dunning.

1:00:58

We've already heard about how Harrington was killed.

1:01:01

That's probably essential to foreshadow or else we

1:01:03

wouldn't have been as worried

1:01:05

about what was happening to Dunning. We've already

1:01:08

been primed because of the…

1:01:10

But there was an awful lot of words

1:01:12

before we get to Dunning and I think

1:01:14

if you were to write

1:01:16

that as a story these days or screenplay, they

1:01:20

wouldn't like it. The

1:01:22

Victorians did a famous thing, the

1:01:24

framing story. Think of the

1:01:27

turn of the screw, lots of them, lots

1:01:29

of them. And usually it starts off

1:01:31

with people discussing

1:01:34

the story and then the story is

1:01:36

presented and then at the end we

1:01:39

get back to the initial scene in

1:01:41

the gentleman's club or

1:01:44

the library or around

1:01:46

the table at Christmas telling ghost stories. But

1:01:48

he doesn't complete the frame. He has the

1:01:50

beginning and he doesn't complete the frame. When

1:01:52

we meet the secretary again as we do,

1:01:55

it's not symmetrical,

1:01:57

it's not equivalent. He

1:01:59

is just a character. character, a minor character really,

1:02:01

because we have Dunning, we have the re-emergence

1:02:03

of the secretary in a minor way who's

1:02:06

concerned about him. And then he's forgotten about,

1:02:08

you know, and we have Henry Harrington, he

1:02:10

pops up, we had no mention of Henry

1:02:12

Harrington before, he pops up as the brother,

1:02:15

we didn't know that the old

1:02:17

Harrington who died had a brother until that point,

1:02:19

unless I missed it. And then

1:02:21

he becomes, and then the last part of it

1:02:24

becomes a bit of a boy's own adventure. It's

1:02:26

something that, I want

1:02:28

to say, Graham Greene might have written,

1:02:30

you know, it's almost a spy adventure

1:02:32

trying to surreptitiously pass something. And then

1:02:34

the final comment I have to make

1:02:36

really is about how Dunning is, has

1:02:38

a save the cat moment, you know,

1:02:40

because it could be that cursing

1:02:43

somebody to death is considered a bad act.

1:02:46

The view that he gets all he

1:02:48

deserves comes from Henry Harrington.

1:02:50

But our man Dunning has a bit of a

1:02:53

crisis of conscience and so he does

1:02:55

his best to save him. And

1:02:57

I think the purpose of that is to show that he's

1:02:59

not a bad bloke. So it's to

1:03:01

kind of generate some sympathy for our protagonist.

1:03:03

So this is

1:03:05

one of James's best liked stories. And I

1:03:07

need to say at this point, I did

1:03:09

enjoy it. It was like a

1:03:12

Call of Cthulhu story. You know, if

1:03:14

you play the game, the role playing

1:03:16

game Call of Cthulhu, this could be

1:03:18

a scenario from it. This is very

1:03:20

much like a Call of Cthulhu plot.

1:03:22

I understand that James story came quite

1:03:24

a while before Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu

1:03:26

stories. But it is, it's a boy's

1:03:28

own adventure almost, you know, it's not

1:03:30

necessarily a, I didn't find it particularly

1:03:32

scary at all. And yet it

1:03:34

is consistently regarded as one of James's best

1:03:37

stories. It was

1:03:39

entertaining. I enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong. But

1:03:43

I think he manages

1:03:45

to pull it off in

1:03:47

a story structure that felt clumsy

1:03:49

to me, to be honest. And

1:03:52

who are you to say that Tony? Well, it's just my

1:03:54

opinion. Everybody has an opinion and

1:03:56

many people's opinions are wrong, which mine could be.

1:03:58

That's just what I think. And

1:04:01

so, and the final thing to say, I suppose, about

1:04:03

it is, oh yeah,

1:04:05

this idea of cursing somebody by giving them a

1:04:07

piece of paper. It's interesting. Think

1:04:09

of Treasure Island and the Black Spot.

1:04:12

You know, this is what the Pirates did. This has got

1:04:14

runes on it, but it might as well have had a

1:04:16

black spot because the runes are MacGuffin, really. They're not really

1:04:18

explained what they, it is a MacGuffin, in fact. It's

1:04:21

not really explained, so that is a plot

1:04:23

device in a movie. I think Alfred Hitchcock

1:04:25

came up with that phrase. It doesn't really

1:04:27

matter what it is. It's like the Falcon

1:04:29

in the Maltese Falcon. It doesn't really matter

1:04:31

that it's a Falcon or some of the

1:04:33

Harry Potter stuff, you know. It doesn't matter

1:04:35

what it is. It's just a thing that

1:04:37

they all, that is significant in the plot,

1:04:40

a plot token, if you like. So

1:04:43

yeah, the Black Spot. And

1:04:46

also very interestingly, in

1:04:48

ancient Rome, cursed tablets. So

1:04:50

they would write them on lead and

1:04:53

throw them into divine

1:04:55

shrines, asking the God to

1:04:58

punish the wrongdoer, you know, or the person that

1:05:00

they've named on the little red. And

1:05:02

lots of these have been from Bath

1:05:07

in the south of England, southwest of

1:05:09

England, in the Roman Baths there, which

1:05:11

was a shrine to Aquasulis, I think,

1:05:13

the waters of Sulis. So Sulis is

1:05:15

the sun god. Sulis Minerva. So Sulis

1:05:18

was equated with the Roman goddess of

1:05:20

wisdom Minerva, who may actually be an

1:05:22

Etruscan goddess originally, borrowed by the Romans,

1:05:25

whose goddess day was my birthday on the 19th

1:05:27

of March, and

1:05:29

her symbol was the owl. This is a totally

1:05:32

free digression on Minerva. It has nothing to do

1:05:34

with the story, casting the runes,

1:05:36

apart from to say the shrine that

1:05:38

she shared with the British god,

1:05:43

Solus Sulis, genitive

1:05:46

Sulis, sun,

1:05:48

hyal in Welsh. In

1:05:52

Gaelic the sun is grean because

1:05:55

the original word, probably

1:05:57

Sol, was taboo. Yeah,

1:06:00

so you couldn't say it so you had to refer to it as

1:06:02

the bright one and they do that with

1:06:04

hairs as well Anyway, you can't

1:06:06

call a hair a hair so Let's

1:06:09

not get into this in Welsh It's known as

1:06:11

squatter nog the the one with big ears because

1:06:13

you couldn't say that help the hair's name the

1:06:15

wolf in Irish She's known as Mac Mac and

1:06:17

the cheater Which is the

1:06:19

son of the land because you couldn't say wolf So

1:06:23

if the thing has a taboo you can't say it's

1:06:25

name you have to use a certain lukeution I Would

1:06:29

not cut to do with anything. I don't know. Yeah

1:06:31

the words son which in in Irish is Clearly

1:06:34

a taboo but not in British because

1:06:36

it survived the equivalent of sol

1:06:39

solus survived Heil

1:06:41

in in hell in atone

1:06:43

I think and Okay,

1:06:46

so there we are. So Alastair

1:06:49

Crowley we said anything about him? Okay,

1:06:51

we need to say so we said about the curse tablets

1:06:54

And the idea of cursing somebody the final thing to

1:06:56

say about this story is it has

1:06:58

been said that the model for this

1:07:01

overbearing narcissistic Magician

1:07:05

a cultist is the

1:07:08

great beast Alastair Crowley. Okay in 1911.

1:07:10

He was not quite at the

1:07:12

height of his infamy Maybe he was actually as

1:07:15

the wickedest man in the world and

1:07:18

so Crowley was

1:07:20

at Cambridge at the same time when

1:07:22

James was there and it

1:07:24

may be that the two bumped into each other I don't think

1:07:26

there were friends at all. I mean anything James

1:07:30

isn't is a pleasant affable

1:07:33

man Retiring

1:07:35

almost bookish Crowley was

1:07:37

a peacock a

1:07:41

narcissist and Thoroughly

1:07:44

unpleasant in lots of ways. I've got

1:07:47

a number of his books I think

1:07:49

when he talks about magic, he's a

1:07:51

genius, you know But

1:07:53

he was overbearing. I mean he was terrible to

1:07:55

lots of the people who Worshipped him

1:07:58

of hero worship and particularly think of some like Victor

1:08:00

Neubergh who drove

1:08:03

to a nervous breakdown, who

1:08:05

is his secretary. And

1:08:07

he would write these poems and publish them

1:08:09

himself because he was the heir to a

1:08:11

huge fortune from brewing in Leamington Spa. This

1:08:13

is Crowley now, not James. And

1:08:16

so Crowley goes and he has tons and tons and tons of

1:08:18

money. He manages to blow it all on

1:08:21

his crazy schemes, never worked a day in his life and

1:08:24

ends up dying a pauper pretty

1:08:26

much. So

1:08:28

the big question is if money works, if

1:08:31

magic works rather, then why

1:08:33

would you be a pauper? So maybe that

1:08:36

suggests magic doesn't work. Anyway

1:08:39

so it has been disputed

1:08:41

that Crowley is Carswell,

1:08:43

the model for Carswell. But

1:08:46

I kind of think he might have been. He

1:08:48

would have been well known to James because he

1:08:50

was in the papers and James. You can imagine

1:08:52

them saying, oh did you ever know Crowley

1:08:55

from the ultimate Cambridge? And

1:08:58

they would have got areas, a dreadful, dreadful chap. And

1:09:01

so I think he probably is. People

1:09:04

have probably got reasons for saying no he isn't. And

1:09:07

somebody who knows tons of stuff will probably

1:09:09

write a comment on the YouTube channel and

1:09:11

put me in my place. And that's fair enough. Sometimes

1:09:14

that needs to happen. Okay

1:09:18

so is that all we want

1:09:20

to say about it? Oh

1:09:22

yeah, the sin. See

1:09:26

horror stories and monster stories have

1:09:29

a sin. So there is something

1:09:31

that the protagonist does that

1:09:34

allows the monster in. This

1:09:36

is not quite a horror

1:09:38

story. It's more

1:09:40

an adventure story. As much an

1:09:42

adventure story as a horror story. But

1:09:45

the sin here I suppose is not

1:09:47

really Dunning's sin. Dunning's

1:09:49

been pretty straight and honest and

1:09:51

reasonable and decent. Not from maybe

1:09:53

his criticism was a bit harsh.

1:09:55

This maybe opens another door of

1:09:58

thought here. But let's just. And

1:10:00

I'm trying to keep on track before I get too

1:10:02

excited about what I've just thought about. So

1:10:06

the sin is he

1:10:08

offends a narcissist.

1:10:11

In many of James's stories,

1:10:13

the sin is they're too curious.

1:10:16

And that is kind of like hubris,

1:10:18

isn't it really? It's the hubris of

1:10:20

the modern academic who thinks he can

1:10:22

explain everything through his

1:10:24

academic techniques. Whereas of course, as we

1:10:27

know, there are more things in heaven

1:10:29

and earth than our thought of in

1:10:31

thy philosophy, Horatio, somebody will correct that

1:10:33

as well. So there we

1:10:36

are, that's the sin.

1:10:41

And you may say it's no sin to offend a

1:10:44

narcissist, but perhaps, and this is the door that opened

1:10:46

in my thought then. I

1:10:48

don't know if you've, I don't know if, there

1:10:50

may be a jump here, but I don't know if you're fans

1:10:52

of the Welsh band Stereophonics.

1:10:56

Well anyway, Kelly Jones wrote

1:10:58

a song called Mr. Writer. And

1:11:01

I stick up for Kelly Jones every

1:11:03

now and again in this podcast. Because

1:11:06

I really, I think he's a great songwriter actually.

1:11:08

He writes, he's not pretentious. He writes pop

1:11:11

anthems, rock anthems, and they're very

1:11:13

catchy. He doesn't

1:11:15

want to do anything else. He's not saying he's Shostakovich

1:11:18

or Schoenberg, you know. So

1:11:24

he wrote a song called Mr. Writer

1:11:26

because he'd been in receipt of some

1:11:29

vicious critic. And

1:11:31

my thought

1:11:33

was, you know, maybe

1:11:36

James was

1:11:39

also, I don't think he was, his

1:11:41

work wasn't criticized. But writers and musicians

1:11:44

and any kind of artist, anybody who

1:11:46

puts a creative work out there will

1:11:49

receive a dollop

1:11:52

of overcritical comment.

1:11:55

And in some cases, I mean, I've

1:11:57

just criticized M.R. James' story structure. That

1:12:00

doesn't mean I don't think he was great and

1:12:04

the story is a good story. But

1:12:06

I was just going, oh well, if you were going to do

1:12:08

it, would you do it? And that's just my opinion. But hopefully

1:12:10

I'm humble enough, somebody

1:12:13

just looked around at me then, to

1:12:16

realise that

1:12:19

my opinion is merely my opinion.

1:12:22

It may be founded on things I've learned,

1:12:24

but it's still my opinion. And

1:12:27

often people who are critics take on the

1:12:29

view that they are some

1:12:32

real authority, that they really know their

1:12:35

arbiters of taste, this is the way it should

1:12:37

be rather than this is the way I like

1:12:39

it. And

1:12:41

so Dunning perhaps was

1:12:46

over, I mean Harrington's review

1:12:50

of Carswell's first work

1:12:52

that led to Harrington's death

1:12:54

was admittedly savage and people

1:12:56

say I would justifiably so. But

1:12:59

is there any need for that? Is there any

1:13:01

need for that? Maybe he got his just dessert.

1:13:04

And so as a writer who

1:13:06

has been criticised, perhaps correctly,

1:13:09

as saying all humility, but

1:13:13

remember those words are just performative. That's

1:13:16

a whole other discussion. Performative

1:13:19

words are when, I may have said this in

1:13:21

another commentary recently because it's much on my mind,

1:13:23

we say things that we don't mean, they're just

1:13:25

perform. So how are you today?

1:13:27

We don't care. That's harsh. But we don't

1:13:30

really want somebody to tell us, well,

1:13:32

do you know what? I'm feeling a bit down today. Oh,

1:13:35

right, okay, I've got to catch my bus. And

1:13:38

so many things, and yes, I tell you what

1:13:40

it was. I did the Agatha Christie story, Song

1:13:42

of Sixpence on the Detective Story channel and

1:13:45

it turns on a man

1:13:47

making a promise. If there's anything I

1:13:49

can do, and we say that, don't

1:13:52

we, and we don't really

1:13:54

mean it, and Agatha Christie, who

1:13:57

is very witty in this, makes

1:13:59

a comment. Yeah, you know, it's performative.

1:14:02

We say many many things that

1:14:04

don't we don't mean what they

1:14:06

say that they're decorative They perform

1:14:08

a social lubricant function.

1:14:11

They're not intended to be taken literally

1:14:15

Well, how did I get on to that something

1:14:17

about critics? Yeah,

1:14:20

anyway, so Yeah,

1:14:23

and I'm now baffled myself. I've

1:14:25

completely lost where I am So

1:14:27

let us just finish by

1:14:30

saying I hope you enjoyed the mr. James story I

1:14:33

think it's always good to revisit other

1:14:35

people do mr. James not me and I'm always

1:14:37

conscious of you Don't know this story has been

1:14:40

done before but I

1:14:42

hope you liked it I hope you didn't mind

1:14:44

me redoing it and please keep

1:14:46

listening spread the word Share

1:14:49

it. Okay. Thank you You