0:07

Everybody dies, don't. Have

0:10

sorted out that. Isn't

0:13

that so you try to get into the

0:15

long road to they didn't? You can how

0:17

to the they'd come back on. What's

0:20

the secret? Who? Knows by

0:23

De de Maupassant, First

0:25

published in eighteen ninety. My.

0:29

God is in my God. I'm going to

0:31

write down at last what has happened to

0:33

me. But. How can I?

0:36

How dare I? The

0:38

thing is so bizarre,

0:40

so inexplicably so incomprehensible.

0:43

So silly. If

0:45

I were not perfectly sure of what I've

0:47

seen, Sure that there

0:49

was not in my reasoning, any

0:52

defects, any error in my declarations,

0:54

any lacuna in the inflexible sequence

0:56

of my observations. I should believe

0:58

myself to be the do have

1:01

a simple hallucination, the sport of

1:03

a singular vision. After

1:05

all, who knows, Yesterday.

1:08

I was in a private asylum, but

1:11

I went there voluntarily out of prudence

1:13

and fear. Only. One

1:15

single human being those my history

1:17

and that is the doctor if

1:19

the said asylum. I'm. Going to

1:21

write to him. I. Really do not

1:24

know why. To this embarrass

1:26

myself. Yes, I feel

1:28

as though weighed down by an

1:30

intolerable nightmare. Let. Me

1:33

explain. I have

1:35

always been a recluse, a

1:37

dreamer, a kind of isolated

1:39

philosopher, easy going, content with,

1:41

but little. Harboring ill

1:44

feeling against know man and without

1:46

even a grudge against heaven, I

1:48

have constantly lived alone. Consequently, a

1:51

kind of torture takes hold of

1:53

me when I find myself in

1:55

the presence of others. How is

1:58

this to be explained? I

2:00

do not know. I am not

2:02

averse to going out into the

2:04

world, to conversation, to dining with

2:06

friends. But when they

2:08

are near me for any length of time, even

2:11

the most intimate of them, they

2:13

bore me, fatigue me, enervate

2:16

me, and I experience

2:18

an overwhelming, torturing desire to see

2:20

them get up and go, to

2:23

take themselves away, and to

2:25

leave me by myself. That

2:27

desire is more than a craving,

2:29

it is an irresistible necessity. And

2:32

if the presence of people with whom I

2:35

find myself were to be continued, if I

2:37

were compelled not only to listen,

2:40

but also to follow for any

2:42

length of time their conversation, a

2:44

serious accident would assuredly take place.

2:47

What kind of accident? Ah,

2:49

who knows? Perhaps a

2:52

slight paralytic stroke? Probably.

2:55

I like solitude so much that I

2:57

cannot even endure the visinage of other

3:00

beings sleeping under the same roof. I

3:03

cannot live in Paris, because there I

3:05

suffer the most acute agony. I

3:08

lead a moral life, and

3:10

am therefore tortured in body and

3:12

in nerves by that immense crowd

3:14

which swarms and lives even when

3:16

it sleeps. Ah,

3:19

the sleeping of others is more

3:21

painful still than their conversation, and

3:23

I can never find repose when I

3:26

know and feel that on the other

3:28

side of a wall several existences are

3:30

undergoing these regular eclipses of reason. Why

3:33

am I thus? Who knows? The

3:36

cause of it is very simple, perhaps. I

3:39

get tired very soon of everything that does

3:41

not emanate from me, and there

3:44

are many people in similar case. We

3:47

are, on earth, two distinct races,

3:50

those who have need of others,

3:53

whom others amuse, engage, soothe, whom

3:56

solitude harasses, pains,

3:58

stupefies, like the... movement

4:00

of a terrible glacier or the

4:02

traversing of the desert, and

4:05

those, on the contrary, whom

4:07

others weary, tired, bore, silently

4:09

torture, whom isolation calms and

4:11

bathes in the repose of

4:14

independency and plunges into the

4:16

humours of their own thoughts.

4:19

In fine there is here

4:21

a normal physical phenomenon. Some

4:24

are constituted to live a life

4:26

outside of themselves, others to

4:28

live a life within themselves. As

4:31

for me, my exterior associations

4:34

are abruptly and painfully short-lived,

4:37

and as they reach their limits, I

4:39

experience in my whole body

4:41

and in my whole intelligence

4:43

an intolerable uneasiness. As

4:46

a result of this, I became

4:48

attached, or rather had become much

4:51

attached, to inanimate objects which have

4:53

for me the importance of beings,

4:56

and my house has or had become a

4:58

world in which I lived an active and

5:01

solitary life surrounded by all manner of things,

5:03

furniture, familiar knick-knacks,

5:06

as sympathetic in my eyes

5:08

as the visages of human

5:10

beings. I had filled my

5:12

mansion with them, little by little. I

5:15

adorned it with them, and I felt

5:17

an inward content and satisfaction was more

5:19

happy than if I had been in

5:22

the arms of a beloved girl whose

5:24

womp-tit caresses had become a soothing and

5:26

delightful necessity. I

5:29

had had this house constructed in the

5:31

centre of a beautiful garden which hid

5:33

it from the public highways, and which

5:35

was near the entrance to a city

5:37

where I could find, on occasion, the

5:39

resources of society, for which at moments

5:41

I had a longing. All

5:43

my domestics slept in a separate building,

5:46

which was situated at some considerable distance

5:48

from my house, at the far end

5:50

of the kitchen garden, which in turn

5:52

was surrounded by a high wall. The

5:55

obscure envelopment of night in

5:58

the silence of my conceals. habitation, buried

6:01

under the leaves of great

6:03

trees, were so reposeful

6:05

and so delicious, that

6:08

before retiring to my couch, I

6:10

lingered every evening several hours in

6:12

order to enjoy the solitude a

6:14

little longer. One

6:16

day, Signad had been playing at one

6:18

of the city theatres. It

6:20

was the first time that I had listened

6:22

to that beautiful musical and fairy-like drama, and

6:25

I had derived from it the liveliest

6:27

pleasures. I returned home

6:29

on foot with a light step,

6:32

my head full of sonorous phrases,

6:34

and my mind haunted by delightful

6:36

visions. It was night, the

6:38

dead of night, and so dark

6:40

that I could hardly distinguish the broad

6:43

highway, and consequently I stumbled

6:45

into the ditch all at once. From

6:48

the custom house at the barriers to

6:50

my house was about a mile, perhaps

6:52

a little more, a leisurely

6:54

walk of about twenty minutes. It

6:57

was one o'clock in the morning, one o'clock,

6:59

or maybe half past one. The

7:01

sky had by this time cleared somewhat,

7:03

and the crescent appeared, the gloomy

7:05

crescent of the last quarter of the moon. The

7:09

crescent of the first quarter is that which

7:11

rises about five or six o'clock in the

7:13

evening, and is clear, gay, and fretted with

7:15

silver. But the one which

7:18

rises after midnight is reddish, absurd,

7:20

and desolating. It is

7:22

the true silver present. Every

7:25

prowl of my night is made the same

7:27

observation. The first,

7:29

though slender as a

7:31

thread, throws a

7:33

faint joyous light which rejoices the

7:35

heart and lines the ground with

7:37

distinct shadows. The last

7:40

sheds hardly a dying glimmer, and

7:42

is so one that it occasions

7:44

hardly any shadows. In

7:47

the distance I perceived the

7:49

somber mass of my garden, and

7:51

I know not why, was seized

7:54

with a feeling of uneasiness at the

7:56

idea of going inside. I

7:59

slackened my pace. and walked

8:01

very simply, the thick

8:03

cluster of trees having the appearance of a

8:05

tomb in which my house was

8:07

buried. I opened

8:09

my outer gate and entered

8:11

the long avenue of sycamores which ran

8:14

in the direction of the house, arranged

8:17

vault-wise like a high

8:19

tunnel traversing of make-masses,

8:21

and winding round the turf lawns

8:24

on which baskets of flowers in

8:26

the pale darkness could be indistinctly

8:29

discerned. While approaching

8:31

the house, I was seized

8:33

by a strange feeling. I

8:35

could hear nothing. I stood still. Through

8:38

the trees there wasn't even a breath

8:41

of air stirring. What's the

8:43

matter with me? I said to myself. For

8:46

ten years I had entered and

8:48

re-entered in the same way without

8:50

ever experiencing the least in quietude.

8:53

I never had any fear at night. A

8:56

sight of a man, a marauder, or a thief

8:58

would have thrown me into a fit of anger,

9:01

and I would have rushed at him without any

9:03

hesitation. Moreover I was armed.

9:05

I had my revolver. But

9:07

I didn't touch it, for I was anxious

9:09

to resist that feeling of dread with which

9:12

I was seized. What

9:14

was it? Was it

9:16

a presentiment, that mysterious presentiment which

9:18

takes hold of the senses of

9:20

men who have witnessed something which,

9:23

to them, is

9:25

inexplicable? Perhaps.

9:28

Who knows? In

9:30

proportion, as I advanced, I felt my

9:32

skin quiver more and more, and

9:35

when I was close to the wall near

9:37

the outhouses of my large residence, I

9:40

felt that it would be necessary for me

9:42

to wait a few minutes before opening the

9:44

door and going inside. I

9:47

sat down then, on a bench, under

9:49

the windows of my drawing-room. I

9:52

rested there, a little disturbed, with my

9:54

head leaning against the wall, my eyes

9:56

wide open, under the shade of the

9:58

foliage. For the first few

10:00

minutes I didn't observe anything

10:03

unusual around me. I

10:05

had a humming noise in my ears, but that has

10:07

happened often to me. Sometimes

10:09

it seemed to me that I heard trains passing,

10:12

and I heard clocks striking, that

10:15

I heard a multitude on the march. Very

10:18

soon those humming noises became

10:21

more distinct, more

10:23

concentrated, more determinable.

10:26

I was deceiving myself. It

10:28

was not the ordinary tingling of

10:30

my arteries which transmitted to my

10:33

ears these rumbling sounds, but

10:35

it was a very distinct,

10:37

though confused, voice which

10:39

came without any doubt whatever from

10:42

the interior of my house. Through

10:45

the walls I distinguished this continued

10:47

noise. I should rather

10:50

say agitation than noise, an

10:52

indistinct moving about of a pile

10:54

of things, as if

10:56

people were tossing about, displacing and

10:58

carrying away surreptitiously on my furniture.

11:01

I doubted, however, for some considerable

11:03

time yet the evidence of my

11:05

ears, but having placed

11:08

my ear against one of the altitudes,

11:10

the better to discover what that strange

11:12

disturbance was inside my house, I

11:15

became convinced, certain,

11:18

that something was taking place in my

11:20

residence which was altogether

11:22

abnormal and incomprehensible.

11:26

I had no fear, but I was,

11:28

how shall I express it, paralyzed

11:31

by astonishment. I

11:33

didn't draw my revolver knowing very well that there

11:36

was no need of my doing so. I

11:39

listened a long time, but could come

11:41

to no resolution, my mind being

11:43

quite cleaner, though in myself I

11:45

was naturally anxious. I

11:47

got up and waited, listening

11:50

always to the noise which gradually

11:52

increased and at intervals

11:55

grew very loud, and which

11:57

seemed to become an impatient, angry

11:59

disturbance. A mysterious

12:01

commotion. Then

12:04

suddenly ashamed at my

12:06

timidity, I seized

12:08

my bunch of keys. I selected the

12:10

one I wanted, guided it into the

12:13

lock, turned it twice, and

12:16

pushing the door with all my might

12:18

sent it bringing against the partition. The

12:21

collision sounded like the report of

12:23

a gun, and I responded to

12:25

that explosive noise from roof to

12:27

basement of my residence, a formidable

12:29

tumult. It was so

12:31

sudden, so terrible, so deafening, that I recoiled

12:33

a few steps, and though I knew it

12:36

to be wholly useless, I pulled my revolver

12:38

out of its case. I

12:41

continued to listen for some time longer.

12:44

I could distinguish now an extraordinary

12:46

pattering upon the steps of my

12:48

grand staircase, on the waxed floors,

12:51

on the carpets, not

12:53

of boots or of

12:55

naked feet, but

12:57

of iron and wooden crutches

12:59

which resounded like symbols. Then

13:03

I suddenly discerned, on the threshold

13:05

of my door, an

13:07

armchair, my large reading

13:10

easy chair, which set off

13:12

waddling. It went away

13:14

through my garden. Others followed

13:17

it. Those are my drawing room.

13:19

Then my sofas dragging themselves along

13:21

like crocodiles on their short paws.

13:23

Then all my chairs bounding like

13:25

goats, and the little footstools

13:28

hopping like rabbits. Oh, what

13:30

a sensation! I

13:32

slunk back into a clump of

13:35

bushes, where I remained crouched up,

13:37

watching meanwhile, my furniture defiled past,

13:39

for everything walked away, the one

13:41

behind the other, briskly or slowly,

13:43

according to its weight or size.

13:46

My piano, my grand piano, bounded past

13:48

with the gallop of a horse and

13:51

the murmur of music in its sides.

13:53

The smaller articles slid along the gravel,

13:55

and the rest of my furniture, which

13:58

followed it, began to march over. over

14:00

me, tramping on my legs and injuring them.

14:03

When I loosed my hold, other articles had

14:05

passed over my body, just as a

14:07

charge of cavalry does over the body

14:09

of a dismounted soldier. Seized

14:12

at last with terror, I

14:14

succeeded in dragging myself out of

14:16

the main avenue and in concealing

14:18

myself again among the shrubbery, so

14:21

as to watch the disappearance of

14:23

the most cherished objects, the smallest,

14:26

the least striking, the least unknown,

14:28

which had once belonged to me.

14:31

I then heard in the distance noises

14:34

which came from my apartments, which sounded

14:36

now as if the house were empty,

14:38

a loud noise of shutting of doors,

14:40

that they were being slammed from top

14:43

to bottom of my dwelling, even

14:45

the door which I had just opened

14:47

myself unconsciously and which had closed of

14:49

itself, when the last thing had

14:51

taken its departure. I

14:54

took flight also, running toward

14:56

the city, and only regaining my

14:58

self-composure on reaching the boulevards where

15:01

I met belated people. I

15:03

rang the bell of a hotel where I was known. I

15:06

had knocked the dust off my clothes with my hands,

15:09

and I told the porter that I

15:11

had lost my bunch of keys, which

15:13

included also that of the kitchen garden,

15:15

where my servants slept in a house

15:17

standing by itself, on the other side

15:19

of the wall of the enclosure which

15:21

protected my fruits and vegetables from the

15:23

raids of marauders. I

15:25

covered myself up to the eyes in the

15:27

bed which was assigned to me. I

15:30

could not sleep, and I waited

15:32

for the dawn listening to the throbbing of

15:34

my heart. I had given

15:36

orders that my servants were to be summoned

15:38

to the hotel at daybreak, and that my

15:40

valet de chambre knocked at my door at

15:42

seven o'clock in the morning. His

15:45

countenance bore a woeful look. A

15:48

great misfortune has happened during the night, M.

15:50

said he. What is

15:52

it? Somebody has

15:54

stolen the hold of M.'s furniture, all

15:57

everything, even to the smallest

15:59

articles. This news pleased

16:01

me. Why? Who

16:03

knows? I was

16:05

complete master of myself, bent

16:07

on dissimulating, on telling

16:09

no one of anything I'd seen,

16:11

determined on concealing and in burying

16:14

in my heart of hearts a

16:16

terrible secret. I responded, they

16:19

must be the same people who've stolen

16:21

my keys. The police must

16:23

be informed immediately. I'm going to get up and

16:25

I'll join you in a few moments. The

16:28

investigation into the circumstances under which

16:30

the robbery might have been committed

16:32

lasted for five months. Nothing

16:35

was found, not even the smallest

16:37

of my knickknacks, nor the

16:39

least trace of the thieves. Good

16:41

gracious! If I had only told them

16:44

what I knew, if I had said

16:46

I should have been locked up, I, not

16:49

the thieves, for I was the

16:51

only person who had seen everything from the first.

16:54

Yes, but I know how to keep

16:56

silence. I shall never

16:58

refurnish my house. That

17:00

were indeed useless. The same thing would

17:02

happen again. I had no

17:05

desire even to re-enter the house, and

17:07

I did not re-enter it. I

17:09

never visited it again. I moved

17:11

to Paris to the hotel and consulted

17:13

doctors in regard to the condition of

17:15

my nerves, which had disquieted me a

17:18

good deal ever since that awful night.

17:20

They advised me to travel, and

17:23

I followed their counsel. I

17:25

began by making an excursion into Italy.

17:27

The sunshine did me good. For

17:30

six months I wandered about from Genoa

17:32

to Venice, from Venice to Florence, from

17:34

Florence to Rome, from Rome to Naples.

17:37

Then I travelled over Sicily, a country

17:40

celebrated for its scenery and its monuments.

17:43

Relics left by the Greeks and the Normans. Passing

17:46

over into Africa, I traversed at

17:49

my ease that immense desert, yellow

17:51

and tranquil, in which

17:53

camels, gazelles, and Arab vagabonds

17:55

roam about, where, in the

17:57

rare and transparent atmosphere, their hovers and

18:00

no vague hauntings, where there

18:02

is never any night but

18:04

always day. A

18:06

return to France by Marseille, and

18:09

in spite of all its promençal gaiety,

18:11

the diminished clearness of the sky made

18:13

me sad. I experienced,

18:15

in returning to the continent, the

18:18

peculiar sensation of an illness

18:20

which I had believed cured,

18:23

and a dull pain which predicted

18:25

that the seeds of the disease

18:27

had not been eradicated.

18:31

I then returned to Paris. At

18:33

the end of a month I was very dejected. It

18:36

was in the autumn, and I

18:38

determined to make, before winter came,

18:40

an excursion through Normandy, a country

18:42

with which I was unacquainted. I

18:45

began my journey in the best of spirits at

18:47

Rouen, and for eight

18:49

days I wandered about, passive,

18:51

rouvished and enthusiastic, in

18:53

that ancient city, that

18:55

astonishing museum of extra-ordinary

18:58

Gothic monuments. But

19:01

one afternoon, about four o'clock,

19:04

as I was sauntering slowly through

19:06

a seemingly unattractive street, by

19:09

which there ran a stream as black

19:11

as the ink called Ode-Gobéc, my

19:14

attention fixed for the moment on the quaint

19:16

antique appearance of some of the houses, was

19:19

suddenly attracted by the view of

19:21

a series of second-hand furniture shops,

19:24

which followed one another door after door.

19:27

Ah, they had carefully chosen

19:30

their locality, these sordid traffickers

19:32

and antiques, in that

19:34

quaint little street overlooking the sinister

19:36

stream of water, under

19:38

those tile and flake-pointed roofs on

19:40

which still grinned the veins of

19:43

bygone days. At

19:45

the end of these grim

19:47

storehouses you saw piled-up sculptured

19:49

chests, Rouen, Sevres,

19:52

and Mustier's pottery, painted

19:54

statues, others evoked, Christ's

19:57

virgins, saints, church ornaments,

20:00

Chasupals, capes, even sacred vases,

20:02

and an old gilded wooden

20:05

tabernacle, where a god had

20:07

hidden himself away. What

20:10

singular caverns there are in

20:12

these lofty houses, crowded with

20:14

objects of every description, where

20:16

the existence of things seems to be ended,

20:19

things which have survived their

20:22

original possessors, their century, their

20:24

times, their fashions, in

20:26

order to be bought as curiosities

20:29

by new generations. My

20:31

affection for antiques was awakened in

20:33

that city of antiquaries. I

20:36

went from shop to shop, crossing

20:38

in two strides the rotten four-plank

20:40

bridges thrown over the nauseous current

20:43

of the old hobbick. Heaven

20:46

protect me! What a shock! At

20:49

the end of a vault, which was crowded

20:51

with articles of every description, and which seemed

20:54

to the entrance to the catacombs of a

20:56

cemetery of ancient furniture, I

20:58

suddenly described one of my

21:00

most beautiful wardrobes. I

21:03

approached it, trembling in every limb, trembling

21:05

to such an extent that I dared

21:07

not touch it. I put forth

21:09

my hand. I hesitated.

21:12

Nevertheless it was indeed my wardrobe,

21:15

a unique wardrobe of the time of

21:17

Louis XIII, recognisable by

21:19

anyone who'd seen it only once. Using

21:23

my eyes suddenly a little farther toward

21:25

the more sombre depths of the gallery,

21:28

I perceived three of my

21:30

clapestry-covered chairs, and farther

21:32

on still my two Henry

21:34

II tables, such rare treasures that people

21:37

came all the way from Paris to

21:39

see them. Think!

21:42

Only think in what state of mind I

21:44

now was! I

21:46

advanced, haltingly, quivering

21:49

with emotion, but I

21:51

advanced, for I am brave. I advanced

21:53

like a knight of the Dark Ages.

21:57

Every step I found something to belong to

21:59

me. my brushes, my books,

22:01

my tables, my silks, my arms,

22:03

everything except the bureau

22:06

full of my letters, and that

22:08

I could not discover. I

22:11

walked on, descending to the dark galleries,

22:13

in order to ascend next to the

22:15

floors above. I was

22:17

alone. I called out. Nobody

22:19

answered. I was alone. There was

22:21

no one in that house, a

22:24

house as vast and torturous as

22:26

a labyrinth. Light came

22:28

on, and I was compelled

22:30

to sit down in the darkness on one

22:32

of my own chairs, for I had no

22:34

desire to go away. From

22:37

time to time I shouted,

22:39

hello, hello, somebody. I

22:42

had sat there certainly for more than an

22:44

hour when I heard steps, steps

22:46

soft and slow. I

22:49

didn't know from where I was unable

22:51

to locate them, but bracing

22:53

myself up, I called out anew.

22:56

Whereupon I perceived a glimmer

22:58

of light in the next chamber. Who

23:01

is there? said a voice. A

23:04

buyer, I responded. It's

23:06

too late to enter thus into a shop.

23:09

I have been waiting for you for more

23:11

than an hour, I answered. You

23:14

can come back tomorrow. Tomorrow

23:16

I must quit Rouen. I

23:18

dared not advance, and he did not come

23:20

to me. I saw

23:22

always the glimmer of his light which

23:24

was shining on a tapestry, on which

23:26

were two angels flying over the dead

23:28

on a field of battle. It

23:31

belonged to me also. I said,

23:33

well, come here. I

23:35

am at your service, he answered. I

23:38

got up and went toward him. Standing

23:41

in the centre of a large room was

23:44

a little man, very short and very fat,

23:46

but phenomenally fat, a

23:48

hideous phenomenon. He

23:50

had a singular, straggling beard, white

23:53

and yellow, and not a hair

23:55

on his head, not a hair. As

23:58

he held his candle aloft, I was in a very small room.

24:00

at arm's length in order to see me, his

24:03

cranium appeared to me to resemble

24:05

a little moon in that vast

24:07

chamber encumbered with old furniture. His

24:11

features were wrinkled and brown, and his

24:13

eyes couldn't be seen. I bought

24:16

three chairs which belonged to myself and paid

24:18

at once a large sum for them, giving

24:20

him merely the number of my room at

24:22

the hotel they were to be livid the

24:24

next day before nine o'clock. I

24:27

then started off. He conducted me

24:29

with much politeness as far as

24:31

the door. I

24:33

immediately repaired to the commissaire's office

24:36

at the Central Police Depot and

24:39

told the commissaire of the robbery which had

24:41

been perpetrated and of the discovery

24:43

I'd just made. He required

24:45

time to communicate by telegraph with

24:47

the authorities who had originally charged

24:50

the case for information, and

24:52

he begged me to wait in his office until an

24:54

answer came back. An hour

24:56

later an answer did come back,

24:58

which was in accord with my

25:00

statements. "'I am going

25:03

to arrest and interrogate this man at once,'

25:05

he said to me, for he may have

25:07

conceived some sort of suspicion and smuggled away

25:09

out of sight what belongs to you. Will

25:12

you go and dine in return in two

25:14

hours? I shall then have the

25:16

man here, and I shall subject him

25:18

to a fresh interrogation in your presence.

25:21

Most gladly, Monsieur, I thank you with

25:23

my whole heart." I

25:25

went to dine at my hotel, and I ate

25:28

rather better than I could have believed. I

25:30

was quite happy now, thinking that the man was in

25:32

the hands of the police. Two

25:34

hours later I returned to the office of

25:37

the police functionary who was waiting for me.

25:40

"'Well, Monsieur,' he said, on perceiving

25:43

me, "'we haven't been able to

25:45

find your man. My agents can't

25:47

put their hands on him.' "'Ah,'

25:50

I felt my heart sinking. "'But you

25:53

have at least found his house.' "'Yes,

25:56

certainly, and what is more, it's

25:59

now being watched,' I said. and guarded until his

26:01

return, as for him

26:03

he's disappeared. Disappeared?

26:06

Yes, disappeared. He

26:09

ordinarily passes his evenings at the house

26:11

of a female neighbour who's also a

26:13

furniture broker, a queer sort

26:16

of sorceress at a widow bidon. She

26:19

hasn't seen him this evening and can't give any

26:21

information in regard to him. We

26:23

must wait until tomorrow. I

26:26

went away. Ah, how

26:28

sinister the streets of Rouen seem to

26:30

me, now troubled and haunted. I

26:33

slept so badly that I had a fit of nightmare

26:35

every time I went off to sleep. As

26:38

I didn't wish to appear too restless or eager,

26:40

I waited till ten o'clock

26:42

the next day before reporting myself to

26:45

the police. The merchant

26:47

hadn't reappeared, his shop remained

26:49

closed. The commissary said to me,

26:52

I've taken all the necessary steps, the court's

26:54

been made acquainted with the affair. We shall

26:56

go together to that shop and have it

26:58

opened, and you shall point out to me

27:00

all that belongs to you. We

27:02

drove there in a cab. Police

27:05

agents were stationed round the building. There

27:08

was a locksmith, too, and the door

27:10

of the shop was soon opened. On

27:13

entering, I couldn't discover my

27:15

wardrobes, my chairs, my tables. I

27:18

saw nothing, nothing, of that which had

27:20

furnished my house. No, nothing.

27:23

Although on the previous evening I

27:26

could not take a step without encountering

27:28

something that belonged to me. The

27:31

chief commissary, much astonished, regarded me

27:33

at first with suspicion. My

27:35

God, Monsieur, said I to him, the

27:38

disappearance of these articles of furniture

27:40

coincides strangely with that of the

27:42

merchant. He laughed. That

27:45

is true. You did wrong in buying

27:47

and paying for the articles which were

27:49

your own property yesterday. It

27:51

was that which gave him the cue. What

27:54

seems to me incomprehensible, I replied, is

27:56

that all the places that were occupied

27:58

by my furniture... and now filled

28:00

with other furniture." Oh,

28:03

responded the commissary, he's had all night,

28:05

and has no doubt been assisted by

28:07

accomplices. This house must

28:09

communicate with its neighbours, but have

28:11

no fear, Monsieur, I'll have the

28:13

affair promptly and thoroughly investigated. The

28:16

brigand shall not escape us for long, seeing that

28:18

we are in charge of the den. Ah,

28:21

my heart, my heart, my poor

28:23

heart! How it beats!" I

28:27

remained a fortnight at Rouen, the man

28:29

didn't return. Heavens, good heavens! That

28:32

man! What was

28:34

it that could have frightened and surprised him?

28:38

But on the sixteenth day, early

28:40

in the morning, I received

28:42

from my gardener, now the

28:44

keeper of my empty and pillaged house, the

28:47

following strange letter. Monsieur,

28:51

I have the honour to inform

28:53

Monsieur that something happened the evening

28:56

before last which nobody can understand,

28:59

and the police are no more than the rest of us. The

29:02

whole of the furniture has been returned. Not

29:05

one piece is missing, everything is in

29:07

its place, up to the very smallest

29:09

articles. The house is now

29:11

the same in every respect as it was before

29:13

the robbery took place. It's

29:15

enough to make one lose one's head. The

29:18

thing took place during the night, Friday to

29:20

Saturday. The roads are dug up,

29:22

as though the whole fence had been dragged from

29:24

its place up to the door. The

29:27

same thing was observed the day after the

29:29

disappearance of the furniture. We

29:31

are anxiously expecting, Monsieur, whose

29:33

very humble and obedient servant

29:35

I am, Philippe Rodin.

29:39

Ah, no, no, ah, never,

29:43

never, ah, no, I

29:45

shall never return there. I

29:48

took the letter to the commissary of police. It's

29:51

a very clever restitution, said he. Let's

29:54

bury the hatchet. We shall nip

29:56

the man one of these days. But

29:59

he has never been. nipped. No, they have

30:01

not nipped him. And I

30:03

am afraid of him now, as if

30:05

of some ferocious animal that has been

30:08

let loose behind me. Inexplicable!

30:10

It's inexplicable! This chimera

30:13

of a moonstruck skull!

30:16

We shall never solve or comprehend it.

30:19

I shall not return to my former residence. What

30:21

does it matter to me? I

30:24

am afraid of encountering that man again, and

30:26

I shall not run the risk. And

30:28

even if he returns, if he takes possession

30:31

of his shop, who is to prove that

30:33

my furniture was on his premises? There

30:35

is only my testimony against him, and

30:38

I feel that that is not above suspicion. I know

30:42

this kind of existence has become

30:44

unendurable. I have

30:46

not been able to guard the secret of what I have seen.

30:48

I couldn't continue to live

30:50

like the rest of the world with the

30:53

great fear upon me that those scenes might

30:55

be reenacted. So I have

30:57

come to consult the doctor who directs

30:59

this lunatic asylum, and I have

31:01

told him everything. After

31:03

questioning me for a long time, he said to

31:05

me, Will you consent,

31:08

Monsieur, to remain here for some

31:10

time? Most willingly, Monsieur?

31:13

You have some means? Yes,

31:15

Monsieur. Will you have

31:17

isolated apartments? Yes, Monsieur.

31:20

Would you care to receive any

31:22

friends? No, Monsieur. No.

31:25

Nobody. The man from Rua

31:27

might take it into his head to pursue me

31:30

here, to be revenged on me.

31:33

I have been alone, alone, all,

31:35

all alone for three

31:37

months. I am

31:39

growing tranquil by degrees. I

31:42

have no longer any fears. If

31:45

the antiquary should go mad,

31:48

and if he should be brought into

31:51

this asylum, even

31:53

prisons themselves are not

31:55

places of security. So

32:05

that was Who Knows by

32:07

Guido Maupassant and it

32:11

was requested by my patron

32:13

Finn Narthek. So

32:28

thanks very much for Finn for suggesting that one. I

32:31

found it on the internet. Of course I've

32:33

got a book of Guido Maupassant's

32:35

stories but I didn't even think of looking through that

32:37

because I found a link to this one so it

32:39

was easy to read it from the screen. During

32:43

the recent discussion that's been about whether I

32:45

should comment after the stories, I'm going to

32:47

do it actually, I'm going to keep doing

32:49

it but a good idea came up and

32:51

it was suggested by at least two people

32:54

and that was when I time stamped the

32:56

discussion and apparently the purpose of this is

32:58

so that people can look at

33:00

a story and they know how long it

33:02

takes them to fall asleep or something and

33:05

they can look and go, ìAh, the whole

33:08

episode is one hour ten minutes.

33:10

However, the story is only 40

33:12

minutes.î So they may then make a calculation

33:14

that they need so many minutes to fall

33:16

asleep and if the length of

33:19

the story isn't long enough then

33:22

they would seek something elsewhere. I suppose that's what

33:24

it is. Anyway, it doesn't seem like a bad

33:27

idea and it's relatively easy for me to implement

33:29

so if I remember

33:31

so I will do that. Let's say

33:33

something about the story now. Remember, if

33:36

you've listened this far and you don't want

33:38

to listen, please stop. I've

33:42

got compilations for hours and

33:44

audio books. I've got the Phantom of the

33:46

Opera, no commentary. I've got Frankenstein, I've got

33:48

Dracula, I've got all of those. Go and

33:51

turn of the screw. Don't look

33:53

now. I've got a lot of our

33:55

many hour long works

33:58

that don't have any of my

34:00

credit. commentary so please enjoy those

34:02

and don't listen to

34:04

me if you don't want to. Okay,

34:06

who knows by Guy de Maupassant. So

34:09

Guy de Maupassant, born in 1850, died in 1893, was

34:14

a French writer who made significant contributions

34:16

to the development of the short story

34:18

genre during the latter half of the

34:20

19th century. He was born in Tourville-sur-Arques,

34:23

France. Maupassant was influenced by the

34:25

literary circle of Gustave Flaubert who

34:27

became his mentor. He published

34:29

a famous short story, Bouda

34:32

Suif, meaning the dumpling. And he,

34:34

a lot of his, that was 1880, a lot

34:37

of his stories initially

34:39

dealt with the kind of

34:42

situation around the Franco-Prussian War.

34:45

He wrote 300 short stories, goodness

34:48

me, six novels and three travel books and

34:50

a volume of poetry. Two

34:52

stories which we need to kind of reference out

34:54

this one, Quisé, who knows from

34:57

1890 and the Haller, orla, 1887, which apparently

35:03

it's not a French word

35:05

orla but it's thought to

35:07

be or meaning outside,

35:09

la, out there, it means something

35:12

like out there. And I've

35:14

done it so I'm going to put a link if I remember but if

35:16

not please go and look for it in the history.

35:20

And it

35:23

is like this about a man who

35:25

may be insane because a lot of

35:27

paranoid weird stuff with a real paranoid

35:29

flavor, and I'm going

35:32

to probably mention that later, comes

35:34

up in the story and

35:37

like in both the stories, right? So

35:39

he explores things of madness, the supernatural

35:41

and the darker aspects of human nature.

35:44

Maupassant's life was cut short by the

35:46

effects of syphilis which he contracted in

35:48

his youth. After a suicide attempt in

35:51

1892, he was committed to a mental asylum

35:53

in Paris where he died in 1893 at the age

35:55

of 43, 42. Let me just check. I

36:00

thought he killed himself. No,

36:02

he didn't kill himself. It was an attempted suicide

36:04

and then he was

36:06

institutionalized and he died then probably of

36:09

the syphilis. So it's worth saying something

36:11

about syphilis. I remember when I was

36:13

doing my training, it had died out

36:16

because we'd treated it with

36:18

antibiotics but before it was

36:20

a terribly common

36:23

disease. In the late

36:25

19th and early 20th syphilis was a

36:27

major cause of insanity and the

36:29

neurosyphilis which is the third stage

36:31

I think, the disease which is

36:34

caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum

36:37

was widespread and untreatable until

36:39

antibiotics and it would go through

36:41

several stages. So first of all,

36:43

I remember you get a sore, it

36:46

goes away for quite a long time,

36:48

it comes back and then you have

36:50

physical symptoms in the final stages, it

36:52

gets into your brain so that the

36:54

brain and the spinal cord causing a

36:56

range of neurological and psychiatric symptoms including

36:58

delusions, hallucinations, memory loss, personality change and

37:01

in fact, the asylums

37:03

were crowded with syphilis related insanity

37:06

which they used to call general

37:08

paralysis of the insane and

37:11

it was really common. And

37:15

I remember when I worked

37:17

in Cycliaison in a general

37:19

hospital for a number of years

37:21

actually and sometimes it wouldn't

37:24

be clear that somebody was in fact

37:26

psychotic and it wouldn't

37:30

be clear why, it wasn't a delirium

37:34

and it wasn't clearly any kind of

37:36

any functional disorders such as it didn't

37:38

look like bipolar

37:41

affective disorder or schizophrenia

37:44

but there was psychotic and we

37:46

would kind of test them and

37:48

almost like we would as a

37:52

act of desperation, we would go

37:54

like we don't know. So I'll tell you what,

37:56

let's check for syphilis, we'd check for HIV, we'd

37:58

check for syphilis and it never went away. was

38:00

syphilis never in all those years we never had

38:02

a patient. I remember one guy who was like

38:04

he'd been a sailor around the world and in

38:06

the merchant navy when he was younger, an older

38:09

man and we're like oh

38:11

yeah, yeah maybe, maybe it's because we

38:13

couldn't come up with any other reason

38:16

why he might, he was so, I mean

38:19

okay there are lots and lots of

38:21

things you know so and the other one was like viral

38:24

encephalitis we would, somebody

38:26

who's been sane suddenly

38:28

becomes really almost and

38:30

sometimes violently psychotic you

38:32

know. Anyway, so he

38:35

had it so towards the end

38:37

of his life given the progression of his

38:39

syphilis and its known effects on the brain,

38:41

it's possible that he was having, this is

38:43

my theory, probably somebody cleverer than me has

38:46

come up with this but that he was

38:48

having some symptoms of

38:50

paranoia and delusional thinking

38:53

potentially even hallucinations that

38:56

you know and this story what is that

38:58

isn't it? So like

39:01

the orla, it's

39:03

the same thing we

39:05

don't know and I think this story is very

39:08

clever because it is called who knows

39:10

and ultimately neither we nor the

39:13

protagonist have a clue as

39:17

to what's really going on. So I

39:19

think obviously and people do this

39:21

with turn of the screw as well which

39:23

came out just after who knows

39:26

so it's unlikely that well he wouldn't

39:28

have read it beforehand let me check

39:30

that again. Yes turn of the screws

39:32

1898 so he definitely wouldn't have read

39:34

it but

39:36

of course I only mention that

39:38

because that's said to be the

39:41

first psychological horror story or ghost

39:43

story where psychology plays a major

39:45

part and we wonder whether the

39:48

protagonist is actually insane or

39:50

paranoid having paranoid delusions and

39:53

hallucinations rather than it being

39:55

a street. I think

39:57

the author is kind of precedes

40:00

that. Maybe we're saying it was in

40:02

English, turn of the screw, but

40:05

it seems to me that that's what we're looking at

40:07

here. So let's look at the evidence just for fun.

40:10

As I say in the

40:12

notes, I've probably been reading too

40:14

many detective stories recently that I'm like, yeah,

40:16

let's look at the evidence. So

40:18

let's look at the evidence. So the

40:20

fact that it suggests it's

40:22

maybe insanity is

40:25

he himself wonders what's happening

40:27

and he expresses

40:30

how strange and odd and silly and

40:32

but yet worrying it is and that

40:34

is because people who

40:40

suffer from mental disease

40:42

disorders often have

40:45

a feeling of

40:47

dread and then knowing that something's not right

40:49

but they don't know just what and they

40:52

wonder about themselves, obviously it's very common. So

40:57

there's that, that he's the

40:59

only one who sees this antiquarian

41:02

is the fact that he checks himself

41:04

into a mental institute. Why would you

41:06

do that if you had no doubts

41:08

about what you'd seen? He clearly does

41:10

have doubts about his own sanity and

41:13

he checks into a mental asylum and

41:15

the doctor, a doctor who doesn't say, oh, go

41:18

on, get out of here. Now, of course, we might

41:20

be cynical and say, well, the doctor is getting paid

41:22

for this. So but that would be very, very cynical

41:24

and we would never have a psychiatrist just

41:29

giving someone a diagnosis because that person comes to

41:31

him and says, you know what, I think I've

41:33

got this and he goes, oh, yeah, give me

41:35

your fee, give me the fee and I'll give

41:37

you the diagnosis. It would never, never, never

41:40

happen with any

41:42

conditions that we're having at

41:44

the moment in our society like

41:47

exploding mental health conditions, not

41:49

not a mental health condition that makes you

41:51

explode, but you know, there is, you

41:54

know, a real increase

41:57

in certain conditions being diagnosed.

42:00

And I very said,

42:03

you know, if I sent my grandmother, they

42:05

would diagnose her and she's dead. So

42:08

anyway, that's just me interjecting.

42:12

This is why you're here, I guess. But

42:14

those are just my own thoughts. So there

42:18

we have it. Yeah, insane mental

42:20

asylum. Nobody sees the

42:22

antiquary. What?

42:25

What about the argument? So we go, yeah, he's

42:27

just, he's just, he's just hallucination. I mean, come

42:29

on, furniture doesn't move apart from in Beauty

42:32

and the Beast, it does. In Fantasia,

42:34

I want to say, does it, does it

42:36

do it there? Anyway, apart from in cartoons

42:39

and children's stories, does furniture move?

42:41

No, it doesn't generally on its own. So

42:45

that is to suggest it's insanity.

42:47

However, let's look at it from the other point of

42:49

view. The furniture

42:51

really did go. Yeah,

42:53

somebody. So if you're saying it's

42:56

not insanity, somebody came and stole all his furniture,

42:59

moved it to a shop in Rome, then

43:02

took it away from the shop when

43:05

they, no, they didn't because that

43:07

could have been an hallucination. But the fact is, his

43:09

furniture did move. And then it

43:11

moves back overnight. Somebody moves the

43:13

fences, Gardner is a witness to this. The fact

43:15

that the police take him seriously. So he goes

43:17

and say, I mean, can you imagine, can

43:20

you imagine the, I'm being really cynical that

43:22

the police being interested in a burglary. Hausberg,

43:24

hold on, they could not

43:27

care less. And in fact,

43:29

I don't remember me going on

43:31

about when my car had the

43:33

catalyzed converter stolen. And that

43:35

was a real pain. Again,

43:37

police were very pleasant, but no

43:40

intention of investigating it. So

43:44

yeah, again, so but the police in this case take

43:46

him seriously. So that suggests

43:48

it is true. It's

43:51

supernatural because you're not seeing the explanation.

43:54

A comment that I, because Guidermopperson

43:57

wasn't stupid. And so

43:59

the comment. by the

44:01

police commissary who

44:04

says, I've just done the Phantom of the

44:06

Opera so I'm used to French police at

44:08

the moment. I'm probably going

44:10

to do a Mais-Cray detective story so I'm

44:12

going to be totally immersed in the

44:15

friendship police system soon but if

44:18

I'm not already. But where

44:21

was I? The police officer

44:23

says, he says, it's all gone.

44:25

He says, oh yeah, he

44:27

had all night to do it and he

44:29

could have had some accomplices. Well, if we

44:31

rule out the accomplices, what the police officer

44:33

is suggesting is that moving all that furniture

44:36

overnight, he didn't see the amount

44:38

of it to be fair but is Mokus actually

44:40

saying, do you know what, a man could do

44:42

it overnight. Is he saying that? I think he

44:44

might be saying that and that is another undermining

44:49

of our heroes

44:54

argument that it's supernatural. So but

44:58

on the whole and then of course

45:00

in the end, the thing that suggests that he is insane

45:02

jumping back to the insanity is he

45:05

says at the end about the place,

45:07

the asylum not being a safe place

45:09

because the antiquary might come and revenge

45:12

himself on me. What for? You haven't

45:14

done anything to the antiquary. So again,

45:16

this is a flavour of paranoia when

45:19

you begin to suspect people are out to get you and they're

45:21

not. So

45:25

I think what is

45:27

good about the story is that it is

45:29

who knows. I don't

45:32

love the title, but it's a good title.

45:34

If you can have both things, I think

45:36

aesthetically, I don't love it. But I think

45:38

it encapsulates the story. Who knows? We don't

45:41

know. And whichever way we

45:43

go from the evidence we have, I don't

45:45

think we can come firmly down on either

45:47

side. So we end up with who knows.

45:50

I mean, we may have a preference. Each

45:52

of us, each of you who's heard it

45:54

will have a preference. Some of you will

45:57

think oh yes, obviously an insanity or

46:00

others would feel, no, no, it's definitely supernatural.

46:02

May I tend to go for the supernatural,

46:04

but then that is what I am.

46:08

The last, you know, that's what I'm into, you know,

46:11

the last lines, you know, even prisons

46:13

themselves are not places of security. So

46:15

literally we take it as the antiquary

46:17

could come and get him. Yeah,

46:20

fine. How? How could he

46:22

break in? And then the other thing on

46:24

a metaphorical level, the prison

46:27

can be seen as a symbol for the narrator's

46:29

own mind and his inability to

46:31

find peace and security. Even

46:33

within the walls of the asylum mirrors

46:35

his psychological turmoil. But

46:37

in the end, who knows?