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The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood.
Certain houses, like certain persons, manage

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somehow to proclaim at once their character
for evil. In the case of the

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latter, no particular feature need betray
them. They may boast an open countenance

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and an ingenious smile, and yet
a little of their company leaves the unalterable

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conviction that there is something radically amiss
with their being, that they are evil.

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Willy nilly. They seem to communicate
an atmosphere of secret and wicked thoughts,

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which makes those in their immediate neighborhood
shrink from them, as from a

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thing diseased. Perhaps with houses,
the same principle as operative. And it

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is the aroma of evil deeds committed
under a particular roof, long after the

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actual doers have passed away, that
makes the goose flesh come and the hair

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rise. Something of the original passion
of the evil doer, and of the

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horror felt by his victim, enters
the heart of the innocent watcher, and

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he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves, creeping skin, and a chilling of

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the blood. He is terror stricken
without apparent cause. There was manifestly nothing

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in the external appearance of this house, to bear out the tails of the

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horror that was said to rain within, it was neither lonely nor unkempt.

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It stood crowded into a corner of
the square and looked exactly like the houses

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on either side of it. It
had the same number of windows as its

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neighbors, the same balcony overlooking the
gardens, the same white steps leading up

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to the heavy black front door,
and in the rear there was the same

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narrow strip of green with neat box
borders running up to the wall that divided

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it from the backs of the adjoining
houses. Apparently, too, the number

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of chimney pots on the roof was
the same, the breadth and angle of

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the eaves, and even the height
of the dirty area railings. And yet

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this house in the square that seemed
precisely similar to its fifty ugly neighbors,

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was, as a matter of fact, entirely different, horribly different. Wherein

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lay this marked, invisible difference is
impossible to say. It cannot be ascribed

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wholly to the imagination, Because persons
who had spent some time in this house,

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knowing nothing of the facts, had
declared positively that certain rooms were so

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disagreeable they would rather die than enter
them again, and that the atmosphere of

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the whole house produced in them symptoms
of genuine terror, while the series of

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innocent tenants who had tried to live
in it and been forced to DeCamp at

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the shortest possible notice was indeed little
less than a scandal in the town.

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When Shorthouse arrived to pay a week
end visit to his aunt Julia in her

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little house on the sea front at
the other end of town, he found

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her charge to the brim with mystery
and excitement. He had only received her

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telegram that morning, and he had
come anticipating boredom. But the moment he

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touched her hand and kissed her apple
skin wrinkled cheek, he caught the first

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wave of her electrical condition. The
impression deepened when he had learned that there

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were to be no other visitors,
and that he had been telegraphed for with

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a very special object. Something was
in the wind, and the something would

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doubtless bear fruit. For this elderly
spinster aunt, with a mania for physical

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research, had brains as well as
willpower, and by hook or by crook

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she usually managed to accomplish her ends. The revelation was made soon after tea,

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when she sidled close up to him
as they paced slowly along the sea

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front in the dusk. I've got
the keys, she announced, in a

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delighted yet half awesome voice, got
them till Monday, the keys of the

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bathing machine, or he asked,
innocently, looking from the sea to the

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town. Nothing brought her so quickly
to the point as feigning stupidity. Neither,

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she whispered, I've got the keys
of the haunted house in the square,

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and I'm going there to night.
The shorthouse was conscious of the slightest

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possible tremor down his back. He
dropped his teasing tone. Something in her

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voice and manner thrilled him. She
was in earnest. But you can't go

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alone, he began. That's why
I wired for you, she said,

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with decision. He turned to look
at her. The ugly lined, enigmatical

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face was alive with excitement. There
was the glow of genuine enthusiasm round it

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like a halo. Her eyes shone. He caught another wave of her excitement,

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and a second tremor, more marked
than the first, accompanied it.

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Thanks Aunt Julia, he said,
politely, Thanks awfully I should not dare

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to go quite alone, she went
on, raising her voice. But with

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you I should enjoy it immensely.
You're afraid of nothing, I know.

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Thanks so much, he said again. Er is anything likely to happen?

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A great deal has happened, she
whispered, though it's been most cleverly hushed

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up. Three tenants have now come
and gone in the last few months,

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and the house is said to be
empty for good. Now. In spite

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of himself, Shorthouse became interested.
His aunt was so very much in earnest.

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The house is very old, indeed, she went on. And the

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story, an unpleasant one, dates
a long way back. It has to

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do with a murder committed by a
jealous stableman who had some affair with the

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servant in the house. One night, he managed to secrete himself in the

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cellar, and when everyone was asleep, he crept upstairs to the servants quarters,

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chased the girl down to the next
landing, and before anyone could come

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to the rescue, threw her bodily
over the banisters into the hall below.

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And the stableman was caught, I
believe, and hanged for murder. But

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it all happened a century ago.
And I've not been able to get more

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details at the story. Shorthouse now
felt his interest thoroughly aroused, but though

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he was not particularly nervous for himself, he hesitated a little on his aunt's

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account. On one condition, he
said, at length, nothing will prevent

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my going. She said firmly,
but I may as well hear your condition

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that you guarantee your power of self
control if anything really horrible happens. I

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mean that you are sure you won't
get too frightened, Jim, she said

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scornfully. I'm not young, I
know, nor are my nerves. But

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with you I should be afraid of
nothing in the world. This, of

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course settled it. Her. Shorthouse
had no pretensions to being other than a

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very ordinary young man, and an
appeal to his vanity was irresistible. He

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agreed to go instinctively. By a
sort of subconscious preparation, he kept himself

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and his forces well in hand the
whole evening, compelling an accumulative reserve of

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control by that nameless inward process of
gradually putting all the emotions away and turning

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the key upon them, a process
difficult to describe but wonderfully effective. As

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all men who have lived through severe
trials of the inner man well understand later

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it stood him in good stead.
But it was not until half past ten,

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when they stood in the hall well, in the glare of friendly lamps,

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still surrounded by comforting human influences,
that he had to make the first

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call upon this store of collected strength. For once the door was closed and

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he saw the deserted, silent streets
stretching away in the white moonlight before them,

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it came to him clearly that the
real test that night would be in

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dealing with two fears instead of one. He would have to carry his aunt's

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fear as well as his own,
And as he glanced down at her sphinxlike

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countenance and realized that it might assume
no pleasant aspect in a rush of real

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terror, he felt satisfied with only
one thing in the whole adventure, that

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he had the confidence in his own
will and power to stand against any shock

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that might come. Slowly, they
walked along the empty streets of the town.

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A bright autumn moon silvered the roofs, casting deep shadows. There was

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no breath of the wind, and
the trees in the formal gardens by the

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sea front watched them silently as they
passed along. To his aunt's occasional remarks,

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Shorthouse made no reply, realizing that
she was simply surrounding herself with mental

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buffers, saying ordinary things to prevent
herself thinking of extraordinary things. Few windows

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showed lights, and from scarcely a
single chimney came smoke or sparks. Shorthouse

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had already begun to notice everything,
even the smallest details. Presently, they

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stopped at the street corner and looked
up at the name on the side of

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the house full in the moonlight,
and with one accord, but without remark,

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turned into the square and crossed over
to the side of it that lay

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in the shadow. The number of
the house is thirteen, whispered a voice

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at his side, and neither of
them made the obvious reference, but passed

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across the broad sheet of moonlight and
began to march up the pavement in silence.

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It was about half way up the
square that short House felt an arm

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slipped quietly but significantly into his own, and knew then that their adventure had

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begun in earnest, and that his
companion was already yielding imperceptibly to the influences

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against them. She needed support.
A few minutes later they stopped before a

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tall, narrow house that rose before
them into the night, ugly in shape

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and painted a dingy white. Shutterless
windows without blinds stared down upon them,

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shining here and there in the moonlight. There were weather streaks in the wall

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and cracks in the paint, and
the balcony bulged out from the first floor

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a little unnaturally. But beyond this
generally forlorn appearance of an unoccupied house,

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there was nothing at first sight to
single out this particular mansion for the evil

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character it had most certainly acquired.
Taking a look over their shoulders to make

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sure they had not been followed,
they went boldly up the steps and stood

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against the huge black door that fronted
them forbiddingly. But the first wave of

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nervousness was now upon them, and
Shorthouse fumbled a long time with the key

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before he could fit it into the
lock at all. For a moment,

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if truth were told, they both
hoped it would not open, for they

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were prey to various unpleasant emotions.
As they stood there on the threshold of

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their ghostly adventure, Shorthouse shuffling with
the key, and hampered by the steady

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weight on his arm, certainly felt
the solemnity of the moment. It was

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as if the whole world, for
all experience, seemed at that instant,

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concentrated in his own consciousness, were
listening to the grating noise of that key.

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A stray puff of wind wandering down
down the empty street woke a momentary

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rustling in the trees behind them,
but otherwise this rattling of the key was

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the only sound audible, And at
last it turned in the lock, and

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the heavy door swung open and revealed
a yawing gulf of darkness beyond. With

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a last glance at the moonlit square, they passed quickly in, and the

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door slammed behind them with a roar
that echoed prodigiously through the empty halls and

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passages. But instantly with the echoes, another sound made itself hurt, and

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Aunt Julia leaned suddenly so heavily upon
him that he had to take a step

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backwards to save himself from falling.
A man had coughed so close beside them,

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so close that it seemed they must
have been actually by his side in

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the darkness, with the possibility of
practical jokes in his mind. Shorthouse at

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once swung his heavy stick in the
direction of the sound, but it met

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nothing more solid than air. He
heard his eyes to give a little gasp

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beside him. There's someone here,
she whispered. I heard him be quiet,

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he said sternly. It was nothing
but the noise of the front door.

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Oh, get a light, quick, she added, as her nephew,

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fumbling with a box of matches,
opened it upside down and let them

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all fall with a rattle, on
to the stone floor. The sound,

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however, was not repeated, and
there was no evidence of retreating footsteps.

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In another minute, they had a
candle burning, using an empty end of

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a cigar case as a holder,
And when the first flare had died down,

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he held the improptu lamp aloft and
surveyed the scene. And it was

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dreary enough in all conscience, For
there is nothing more desolate in all the

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abodes of men than an unfinished house, dimly lit, silent and forsaken,

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and yet tenanted by rumor with the
memories of evil and violent history. They

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were standing in a wide hallway.
On their left was the open door of

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a spacious dining room, and in
front the hall ran ever narrowing into a

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long dark passage that led apparently to
the top of the kitchen stairs. The

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broad uncarpeted staircase rose in a sweep
before them, everywhere draped in shadows,

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except for a single spot about half
way up, where the moonlight came in

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through the window and fell on a
bright patch on the boards. This shaft

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of light shed a faint radiance above
and below it, lending to the objects

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within its reach a misty outline that
was infinitely more suggestive and ghostly than complete

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darkness. Filtered moonlight always seemed to
paint faces on the surrounding gloom. And

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a short house peered up into the
well of darkness and thought of the countless

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empty rooms and passages in the upper
heart of the old house. He caught

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himself longing again for the safety of
the moonlit square or the cozy, bright

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drawing room they had left an hour
before. Then, realizing that these thoughts

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were dangerous, he thrust them away
again and summoned all his energy for concentration

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on the present aunt Julia. He
said aloud severely. We must now go

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through the house from top to bottom
and make a thorough search. The echoes

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of his voice died away slowly all
over the building, and in the intense

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silence that followed, he turned to
look at her. In the candle light.

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He saw that her face was already
ghastly pale. But she dropped his

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arm for a moment and said in
a whisper, stepping close in front of

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him, I agree. We must
be sure there's no one hiding. That's

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the first thing. She spoke with
evident effort, and he looked at her

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with admiration. You feel quite sure
of yourself. It's not too late,

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I think so, she whispered,
her eyes shifting nervously towards the shadows behind.

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Quite sure. Only one thing,
What's that? You must never leave

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me alone for an instant, as
long as you understand that any sound or

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appearance must be investigated at once,
For to hesitate means to admit fear.

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That is fatal. Agreed, she
said, a little shakily, after a

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moment's hesitation, I'll try arm in
arm shorthouse, holding the dripping candle in

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the stick, while his aunt carried
the cloak over her shoulders. Figures of

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utter comedy to all but themselves.
They began a systematic search, stealthily,

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walking on tiptoe and shading the candle
lest it should betray their presence. Through

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the shutterless windows. They went first
into the big dining room. There was

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not a stick of furniture to be
seen. The walls, ugly mantlepieces,

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and empty grates stared at them.
Everything they felt resented their intrusion, watching

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them as it were, with veiled
eyes. Whispers followed them. Shadows flitted

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noiselessly to the right and left.
Something seemed ever at their back, watching,

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waiting an opportunity to do them injury. There was the inevitable sense that

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operations which went on when the room
was empty had been temporarily suspended till they

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were well out of the way again. The whole dark interior of the old

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building seemed to become a malignant presence
that rose up, warning them to desist

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and mind their own business every moment
the strain on the nerves increased. Out

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of the gloomy dining room, they
passed through large folding doors into a sort

205
00:17:55,799 --> 00:18:00,759
of librri or smoking room, wrapped
equally in silence, darkness, and dust,

206
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,759
And from this they regained the hall
near the top of the back stairs.

207
00:18:07,759 --> 00:18:11,000
Here a pitch black tunnel opened before
them into the lower regions, and

208
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:18,400
it must be confessed. They hesitated, but only for a minute. With

209
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:22,000
the worst of the night still to
come, it was essential to turn from

210
00:18:22,039 --> 00:18:26,720
nothing. Aunt Julius stumbled at the
top step of the dark descent, ill

211
00:18:26,759 --> 00:18:32,119
lit by the flickering candle, and
even Shorthouse felt at least half the decision.

212
00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:37,400
Go out of his legs. Come
on, he said, peremptorily,

213
00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,079
and his voice ran on and lost
itself in the dark empty spaces below.

214
00:18:42,599 --> 00:18:48,799
I'm coming, she faltered, catching
his arm with unnecessary violence. They went

215
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,960
a little unsteadily down the stone steps, a cold, damp air, meeting

216
00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:00,000
them in the face, close and
malodorous. The kitchen to which the stairs

217
00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:04,119
led, along a narrow passage,
was large, with a lofty ceiling.

218
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:11,319
Several doors opened out of it,
some into cupboards with empty jars still standing

219
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,319
on the shelves, and others into
horrible, little, ghostly back offices,

220
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,400
each colder and less inviting than the
last. Black beetles scurried over the floor,

221
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,759
and once when they knocked against a
deal table standing in a corner,

222
00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,519
something about the size of a cat
jumped down with a rush and fled,

223
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:37,240
scampering across the stone floor into the
darkness. Everywhere there was a sense of

224
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:44,720
recent occupation, an impression of sadness
and gloom. Leaving the main kitchen,

225
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,519
they next went towards the scullery.
The door was standing ajar, and as

226
00:19:49,559 --> 00:19:55,279
they pushed it open to its full
extent, Aunt Julia uttered a piercing scream,

227
00:19:55,599 --> 00:19:57,960
which she instantly tried to stifle by
placing her hand over her mouth.

228
00:20:00,559 --> 00:20:04,400
For a second. Shorthouse stood stock
still, catching his breath. He felt

229
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,799
as if his spine had suddenly become
hollow, and some one had filled it

230
00:20:07,799 --> 00:20:12,880
with particles of ice. Facing them
directly in their way, between the door

231
00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:18,920
posts stood the figure of a woman. She had disheveled hair and wildly staring

232
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:23,920
eyes, and her face was terrified
and white as death. She stood there

233
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:30,960
motionless for the space of a single
second. Then the candle flickered and she

234
00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:37,839
was gone, utterly gone, and
the door framed nothing but the empty darkness,

235
00:20:38,519 --> 00:20:44,039
only the beastly jumping candle light.
He said quickly, in a voice

236
00:20:44,079 --> 00:20:48,480
that sounded like some one else's and
was only half under control. Come on,

237
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:55,359
Aunt there's nothing there. He dragged
her forward, with a clattering of

238
00:20:55,359 --> 00:21:00,440
feet and a great appearance of boldness. They went on, but over his

239
00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:06,519
body the skin moved as if crawling
ants covered it, and he knew by

240
00:21:06,519 --> 00:21:10,559
the weight on his arm that he
was supplying the force of locomotion. For

241
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,880
two. The scullery was cold,
bare and empty, more like a large

242
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:22,079
prison cell than anything else. They
went round it, tried the door into

243
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:27,200
the yard and the windows, but
found them all fastened securely. His aunt

244
00:21:27,279 --> 00:21:32,880
moved beside him like a person in
a dream. Her eyes were tightly shut,

245
00:21:33,279 --> 00:21:37,000
and she seemed merely to follow the
pressure of his arm. Her courage

246
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,759
filled him with amazement. At the
same time he noticed that a certain odd

247
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:47,559
change had come over her face,
a change which somehow evaded his power of

248
00:21:47,599 --> 00:21:53,720
analysis. There's nothing here, aunty, he repeated aloud. Quickly, let's

249
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,799
go upstairs and see the rest of
the house. Then we'll choose a room

250
00:21:57,839 --> 00:22:03,200
to wait up in. She followed
him obediently, keeping close to his side,

251
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,160
and they locked the kitchen door behind
them. It was a relief to

252
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,519
get up again. In the hall, there was more light than before,

253
00:22:12,079 --> 00:22:18,599
for the moon had traveled a little
further down the stairs. Cautiously, they

254
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,799
began to go up into the dark
vault of the upper house, the boards

255
00:22:22,839 --> 00:22:27,599
creaking under their weight. On the
first floor they found the large double drawing

256
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:33,880
rooms, a search of which revealed
nothing. Here also was no sign of

257
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:41,319
furniture or recent occupancy, nothing but
dust and neglect and shadows. They opened

258
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,880
the big folding doors between the front
and back drawing rooms, and then came

259
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:51,640
out again to the landing and went
on upstairs. They had not gone up

260
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:57,519
more than a dozen steps when they
both simultaneously stopped to listen, looking into

261
00:22:57,519 --> 00:23:04,119
each other's eyes with any new apprehension. Across the flickering candle flame from the

262
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:10,680
room they had left. Hardly ten
seconds before came the sound of doors quietly

263
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,759
closing. It was beyond all question
they had heard the booming noise that accompanies

264
00:23:15,799 --> 00:23:19,440
the shutting of heavy doors, followed
by the sharp catching of the latch.

265
00:23:22,039 --> 00:23:26,480
We must go back and see said
Shorthouse briefly, in a low tone,

266
00:23:26,599 --> 00:23:30,599
and turning to go downstairs again.
Somehow she managed to drag after him,

267
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:37,200
her feet catching in her dress,
her face livid. When they entered the

268
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,519
front drawing room, it was plain
that the folding doors had been closed half

269
00:23:41,559 --> 00:23:47,559
a minute before. Without hesitation,
Shorthouse opened them. He almost expected to

270
00:23:47,599 --> 00:23:51,880
see someone facing him in the back
room, but only darkness and cold air

271
00:23:52,039 --> 00:23:57,640
met him. They went through both
rooms, finding nothing unusual. They tried

272
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:02,559
in every way to make the doors
closed of themselves, but there was not

273
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,039
wind enough even to set the candle
flame flickering. The doors would not move

274
00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:14,839
without strong pressure. All was silent
as the grave. Undeniably, the rooms

275
00:24:14,839 --> 00:24:19,720
were utterly empty, and the house
utterly still. It's beginning, whispered a

276
00:24:19,799 --> 00:24:25,519
voice at his elbow, which he
hardly recognized as his aunt's. He nodded

277
00:24:25,519 --> 00:24:30,039
acquiescence, taking out his watch to
note the time. It was fifteen minutes

278
00:24:30,079 --> 00:24:34,960
before midnight. He made the entry
of exactly what had occurred in his notebook,

279
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,400
setting the candle in its case upon
the floor. In order to do

280
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:42,519
so, it took a moment or
two to balance it safely against the wall.

281
00:24:44,759 --> 00:24:48,559
Aunt Julia always declared that at this
moment she was not actually watching him,

282
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,759
but had turned her head towards the
inner room, where she fancied she

283
00:24:52,839 --> 00:24:59,599
heard something moving. But at any
rate, both positively agreed that there came

284
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,000
a sound of rushing feet, heavy
and very swift, and the next instant

285
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,559
the candle was out. But to
Shorthouse himself had come more than this,

286
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,359
and he has always thanked his fortunate
stars that it came to him alone,

287
00:25:11,599 --> 00:25:15,759
and not to his aunt too.
For as he rose from the stooping position

288
00:25:15,839 --> 00:25:21,279
of balancing the candle, and before
it was actually extinguished, a face thrust

289
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:23,839
itself forward, so close to his
own that he could have almost touched it

290
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:29,720
with his lips. It was a
face working with passion, a man's face,

291
00:25:30,279 --> 00:25:34,640
dark, with thick features and angry, savage eyes. It belonged to

292
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,640
a common man, and it was
evil in its ordinary, normal expression,

293
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:44,640
no doubt. But as he saw
it alive with intense, aggressive emotion,

294
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:52,000
it was a malignant and terrible human
countenance. There was no movement of the

295
00:25:52,079 --> 00:25:57,640
air, nothing but the sound of
rushing feet, stalking or muffled feet,

296
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:04,240
the apparition of the and the almost
simultaneous extinguishing of the candle. In spite

297
00:26:04,279 --> 00:26:08,680
of himself, Shorthouse uttered a little
cry, nearly losing his balance, as

298
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,160
his aunt clung to him with her
whole weight. In one moment of real,

299
00:26:12,599 --> 00:26:18,160
uncontrollable terror, she made no sound, but simply seized him bodily.

300
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,720
Fortunately, however, she had seen
nothing, but had only heard the rushing

301
00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:29,039
feet. For her control returned almost
at once, and he was able to

302
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:34,079
disentangle himself and strike a match.
The shadows ran away on all sides before

303
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:38,160
the glare, and his aunt stooped
down and groped for the cigar case with

304
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:45,599
the precious candle. Then they discovered
that the candle had not been blown out

305
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:51,920
at all. It had been crushed
out. The wick was pressed down into

306
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,839
the wax, which was flattened,
as if by some smooth, heavy instrument.

307
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:03,000
How his companion so quickly overcame her
terror. Shorthouse never properly understood,

308
00:27:03,839 --> 00:27:08,839
but his admiration for her self control
increased tenfold, and at the same time

309
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:14,720
served to feed his own dying flame, for which he was undeniably grateful.

310
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,880
Equally inexplicable to him was the evidence
of physical force they had just witnessed.

311
00:27:21,759 --> 00:27:26,640
He at once suppressed the memory of
stories he had heard of physical mediums and

312
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:32,400
their dangerous phenomena, For if these
were true, and either his aunt or

313
00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:37,920
himself was unwittingly a physical medium,
it meant that they were simply aiding to

314
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,960
focus the forces of a haunted house
already charged to the brim. It was

315
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:49,519
like walking with unprotected lamps among uncovered
stores of gunpowder. So with as little

316
00:27:49,519 --> 00:27:55,319
reflection as possible, he simply ReLit
the candle and went up to the next

317
00:27:55,359 --> 00:28:00,599
floor. The arm in his trembled. It's true and his his own tread

318
00:28:00,759 --> 00:28:04,200
was often uncertain, But they went
on with thoroughness, and after a search

319
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:08,480
revealing nothing, they climbed the last
flight of stairs to the top floor.

320
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:15,839
Of all. Here they found a
perfect nest of small servants rooms with broken

321
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:22,079
pieces of furniture, dirty cane bottomed
chairs, chests of drawers, cracked mirrors,

322
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:29,039
and decrepit bedsteads. The rooms had
low sloping ceilings already hung here and

323
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:34,400
there with cobwebs, small windows,
and badly plastered walls, a depressing and

324
00:28:34,519 --> 00:28:40,880
dismal region which they were glad to
leave behind. It was on the stroke

325
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,200
of midnight when they entered a small
room on the third floor, close to

326
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:49,279
the top of the stairs, and
arranged to make themselves comfortable for the remainder

327
00:28:49,319 --> 00:28:55,920
of their adventure. It was absolutely
bare, and was said to be the

328
00:28:56,039 --> 00:29:02,279
room then used as a clothes closet
into which the infuriated groom had chased his

329
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:08,519
victim and finally caught her outside.
Across the narrow landing began the stairs leading

330
00:29:08,599 --> 00:29:14,160
up to the floor above and the
servants quarters, where they had just searched

331
00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:18,640
in spite of the chilliness of the
night. There was something in the air

332
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:25,039
of this room that cried for an
open window. But there was more than

333
00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:30,640
this. Shorthouse could only describe it
by saying that he felt less master of

334
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:36,960
himself here than in any other part
of the house. There was something that

335
00:29:37,079 --> 00:29:42,599
acted directly on the nerves, tiring
the resolution, in feebling the will.

336
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,160
He was conscious of this result before
he had been in the room five minutes,

337
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,000
and it was in the short time
they stayed there that he suffered the

338
00:29:52,039 --> 00:30:00,079
wholesale depletion of his vital forces,
which was for himself the chief horror of

339
00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:04,319
the whole experience. They put the
candle on the floor of the cupboard,

340
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,839
leaving the door a few inches ajar, so that there was no glare to

341
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:15,880
confuse the eyes and no shadow to
shift about on walls and ceiling. Then

342
00:30:17,279 --> 00:30:21,799
they spread the cloak on the floor
and sat down to wait with their backs

343
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:26,839
against the wall shorthouse was within two
feet of the door on to the landing.

344
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:33,759
His position commanded a good view of
the main staircase leading down into the

345
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,839
darkness, and also of the beginning
of the servants stairs going to the floor

346
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:45,400
above. The heavy stick lay beside
him within easy reach. The moon was

347
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,119
now high above the house. Through
the open window, they could see the

348
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:55,599
comforting stars, like friendly eyes watching
in the sky. One by one,

349
00:30:56,119 --> 00:31:00,200
the clocks of the town struck midnight, and when the sounds died away,

350
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:07,240
the deep silence of a windless night
fell again over everything. Only the boom

351
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:15,960
of the sea, far away and
lugubrious, filled the air with hollow murmurs.

352
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,680
Inside the house, the silence became
awful, awful, he thought,

353
00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:30,160
because any minute now it might be
broken by sounds pretending terror. The strain

354
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:36,599
of waiting told more and more severely
on the nerves. They talked in whispers,

355
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:41,599
when they talked at all. For
their voices a loud sounded queer and

356
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:48,559
unnatural. A chilliness, not altogether
due to the night air, invaded the

357
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:55,799
room and made them cold. The
influences against them, whatever these might be,

358
00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,200
were slowly robbing them of self confidence
and the power of decisive action.

359
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:07,480
Their forces were on the wane,
and the possibility of real fear took on

360
00:32:07,559 --> 00:32:13,759
a new and terrible meaning. He
began to tremble for the elderly woman by

361
00:32:13,799 --> 00:32:17,119
his side, whose pluck could hardly
save her. Beyond a certain extent,

362
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:25,480
he heard the blood singing in his
veins. It sometimes seemed so loud that

363
00:32:25,559 --> 00:32:34,079
he fancied it prevented his hearing properly
certain other sounds that were beginning very faintly

364
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:39,279
to make themselves audible in the depths
of the house. Every time he fastened

365
00:32:39,279 --> 00:32:46,480
his attention on these sounds, they
instantly ceased. They certainly came no nearer.

366
00:32:49,119 --> 00:32:52,640
Yet he could not rid himself of
the idea that movement was going on

367
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:59,440
somewhere in the lower regions of the
house. The drawing room floor, where

368
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:05,359
the doors that had been so strangely
closed, seemed too near. The sounds

369
00:33:05,359 --> 00:33:09,359
were further off than that. He
thought of the great kitchen with the scurrying

370
00:33:09,519 --> 00:33:15,079
black beetles, and of the dismal
little scullery. But somehow or other,

371
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:21,960
they did not seem to come from
there either. Surely they were not outside

372
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:29,400
the house. Then suddenly the truth
flashed into his mind, and for the

373
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:34,920
space of a minute he felt as
if his blood had stopped flowing and turned

374
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:42,759
to ice. The sounds were not
downstairs at all. They were upstairs,

375
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:49,119
upstairs, somewhere among those horrid,
gloomy little servants rooms with their bits of

376
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:54,359
broken furniture, low ceilings and cramped
windows, upstairs where the victim had first

377
00:33:54,359 --> 00:34:00,960
been disturbed and stalked to her death. And the moment he discovered where the

378
00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:06,200
sounds were, he began to hear
them more clearly. It was the sound

379
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:12,280
of feet moving stealthily along the passage
overhead, in and out among the rooms

380
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:17,400
and past the furniture. He turned
quickly to steal a glance at the motionless

381
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:22,440
figure seated beside him, to note
whether she had shared his discovery. The

382
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:27,920
faint candle light coming through the crack
and the cupboard door threw her strongly marked

383
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,519
face into vivid relief against the white
of the wall. But it was something

384
00:34:31,559 --> 00:34:37,400
else that made him catch his breath
and stare again. An extraordinary something had

385
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:42,719
come into her face and seemed to
spread over her features like a mask.

386
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,039
It smoothed out the deep lines and
drew the skin everywhere a little tighter,

387
00:34:47,519 --> 00:34:52,400
so that the wrinkles disappeared. It
brought into the face, with the sole

388
00:34:52,519 --> 00:34:59,440
exception of the old eyes, an
appearance of youth and almost of childhood.

389
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:07,159
He stared in speechless amazement, amazement
that was dangerously near to horror. It

390
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:12,320
was his aunt's face, indeed,
but it was her face of forty years

391
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:17,159
ago, the vacant, innocent face
of a girl. He had heard stories

392
00:35:17,199 --> 00:35:22,679
of that strange effect of terror,
which could wipe a human countenance clean of

393
00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:29,199
other emotions, obliterating all previous expressions, but he had never realized that it

394
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:34,039
could be literally true, or could
mean anything so simply horrible as what he

395
00:35:34,159 --> 00:35:39,880
now saw. For the dreadful signature
of overmastering fear was written plainly in that

396
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:45,920
utter vacancy of the girlish face beside
him. And when feeling his intense gaze,

397
00:35:46,119 --> 00:35:51,360
she turned to look at him.
He instinctively closed his eyes tightly to

398
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:55,679
shut out the sight. Yet when
he turned a minute later, his feelings

399
00:35:55,719 --> 00:36:00,920
well in hand, he saw,
to his intense relief another expression. His

400
00:36:01,039 --> 00:36:06,880
aunt was smiling, and though the
face was deathly white, the awful veil

401
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:13,639
had lifted and the normal look was
returning anything wrong was all he could think

402
00:36:13,679 --> 00:36:17,039
of to say at the moment,
and the answer was eloquent coming from such

403
00:36:17,039 --> 00:36:23,639
a woman. I feel cold and
a little frightened, she whispered. He

404
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:28,639
offered to close the window, but
she seized hold of him and begged him

405
00:36:28,639 --> 00:36:32,559
not to leave her side, even
for an instant. It's upstairs, I

406
00:36:32,679 --> 00:36:38,000
know, she whispered, with an
odd half laugh. But I can't possibly

407
00:36:38,039 --> 00:36:45,360
co up. But Shorthouse thought otherwise, Knowing that an action lay their best

408
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:50,920
hope of self control, he took
the brandy flask and poured out a glass

409
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:55,920
of neat spirit, stiff enough to
help anybody over anything. She swallowed it

410
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,559
with a little shiver. His only
idea da now was to get out of

411
00:37:00,599 --> 00:37:07,159
the house before her collapse became inevitable. But this could not safely be done

412
00:37:07,199 --> 00:37:13,119
by turning tail and running from the
enemy. Inaction was no longer possible.

413
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:19,039
Every minute he was growing less master
of himself, and desperate aggressive measures were

414
00:37:19,079 --> 00:37:24,760
imperative without further delay. Moreover,
the action must be taken towards the enemy,

415
00:37:25,119 --> 00:37:31,280
not away from it. The climax, if necessary and unavoidable, would

416
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:36,679
have to be faced boldly. He
could do it now, but in ten

417
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:40,079
minutes he might not have the force
left to act for himself, much less

418
00:37:40,119 --> 00:37:47,360
for both. Upstairs, the sounds
were meanwhile becoming louder and closer, accompanied

419
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:53,719
by occasional creaking of the boards.
Someone was moving stealthily about, stumbling now

420
00:37:53,760 --> 00:38:00,000
and thin awkwardly against the furniture,
waiting a few moments to allow the tremendous

421
00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:05,199
dose of spirits to produce its effect, and knowing this would last but a

422
00:38:05,199 --> 00:38:10,119
short time under the circumstances, Shorthouse
then quietly got on his feet, saying

423
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:16,119
in a determined voice, Now,
Aunt Julia, we'll go upstairs and find

424
00:38:16,199 --> 00:38:20,840
what all this noise is about.
You must come too, It's what we

425
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,400
agreed. He picked up his stick
and went to the cupboard for the candle.

426
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:30,599
A limp form rose shakily beside him, breathing hard, and he heard

427
00:38:30,639 --> 00:38:36,840
a voice say, very faintly something
about being ready to come. The woman's

428
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,639
courage amazed him, it was so
much greater than his own, And as

429
00:38:40,679 --> 00:38:46,280
they advanced, holding aloft the dripping
candle, some subtle force exhaled from this

430
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:52,239
trembling, white faced old woman at
his side. That was the true source

431
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:58,360
of his inspiration. It held something
really great that shamed him and gave him

432
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:04,199
the support without which held have proved
far less equal to the occasion. They

433
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,079
crossed the dark landing, avoiding with
their eyes the deep black space over the

434
00:39:08,119 --> 00:39:14,760
banisters. Then they began to mount
the narrow staircase to meet the sounds,

435
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:21,559
which minute by minute grew louder and
nearer. About half way up the stairs,

436
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,360
Aunt Julia stumbled, and Shorthouse turned
to catch her by the arm,

437
00:39:25,519 --> 00:39:30,880
and just at that moment there came
a terrific crash in the servant's cortdor overhead.

438
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:36,559
It was instantly followed by a shrill, agonized scream that was a cry

439
00:39:36,599 --> 00:39:40,320
of terror and a cry for help
melted into one. Before they could move

440
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:45,280
aside or go down a single step, someone came rushing along the passage overhead,

441
00:39:45,519 --> 00:39:51,000
blundering horribly, racing madly at full
speed, three steps at a time

442
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:55,719
down the very staircase where they stood. The steps were light and uncertain,

443
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,000
but close behind them sounded the heavier
tread of another person, and the staircase

444
00:40:01,119 --> 00:40:07,719
seemed to shake. Shorthouse and his
companion just had time to flatten themselves against

445
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:13,280
the wall when the jumble of flying
steps was upon them, and two persons,

446
00:40:13,599 --> 00:40:16,840
with the slightest possible interval between them, dashed past at full speed.

447
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,760
It was a perfect whirlwind of sound
breaking in upon the midnight silence of the

448
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:29,920
empty building. The two runners,
pursuer and pursued, had passed clean through

449
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,800
them where they stood, and already
with a thud, the boards below had

450
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:39,719
received first one then the other.
Yet they had seen absolutely nothing, not

451
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:45,599
a hand or arm, or face, or even a shred of flying clothing.

452
00:40:46,199 --> 00:40:52,159
There came a second's pause, Then
the first one, the lighter of

453
00:40:52,199 --> 00:40:57,840
the two, obviously the pursued one, ran with uncertain footsteps into the little

454
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,559
room which Shorthouse and his aunt had
just left. The heavier one followed.

455
00:41:04,119 --> 00:41:10,079
There was a sound of scuffling,
gasping and smothered screaming, and then out

456
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:17,960
onto the landing came the step of
a single person treading weightily. A dead

457
00:41:19,039 --> 00:41:22,679
silence followed for the space of half
a minute, and then was heard a

458
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:29,239
rushing sound through the air. It
was followed by a dull, crashing thud

459
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:34,239
in the depths of the house below. On the stone floor of the hall,

460
00:41:36,039 --> 00:41:43,639
utter silence reigned after nothing moved.
The flame of the candle was steady.

461
00:41:45,559 --> 00:41:49,639
It had been steady the whole time, and the air had been undisturbed

462
00:41:49,639 --> 00:41:55,320
by any movement whatsoever. Palsied with
terror, Aunt Julia, without waiting for

463
00:41:55,360 --> 00:42:01,280
her companion, began fumbling her way
downstairs. She was crying gently to herself,

464
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:07,199
and when Shorthouse put her arm round
her and half carried her, he

465
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,239
felt that she was trembling like a
leaf. He went into the little room

466
00:42:12,679 --> 00:42:16,679
and picked up the cloak from the
floor, and arm in arm. Walking

467
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:23,239
very slowly, without speaking word or
looking once behind them, they marched down

468
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:30,119
the three flights into the hall.
In the hall they saw nothing but the

469
00:42:30,119 --> 00:42:34,880
whole way down the stairs, they
were conscious that some one followed them step

470
00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:40,920
by step. When they went faster, it was left behind, and when

471
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:46,559
they went more slowly, it caught
them up. But never once did they

472
00:42:46,599 --> 00:42:52,920
look behind to see, and at
each turning of the staircase they lowered their

473
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:58,079
eyes for fear of the following horror
they might see upon the stairs above.

474
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:05,079
With trembling hands, Shorthouse opened the
front door, and they walked out into

475
00:43:05,079 --> 00:43:08,800
the moonlight and drew a deep breath
of the cool night air. Blowing in

476
00:43:09,559 --> 00:43:14,960
from the sea end of the empty
house