1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:06,400
Canon Alberic's Scrapbook by m R.
James. Saint Bertrand de Commands is a

2
00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,560
decayed town on the spurs of the
Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse and

3
00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,839
still nearer to Bannier de Luchon.
It was the site of a bishopric until

4
00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,120
the Revolution and has a cathedral which
is visited by a certain number of tourists.

5
00:00:20,039 --> 00:00:23,519
In the spring of eighteen eighty three, an Englishman arrived at this old

6
00:00:23,559 --> 00:00:27,359
world place. I can hardly dignify
it with the name of city, for

7
00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:32,079
there are not a thousand inhabitants.
He was a Cambridge man who would come

8
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,359
specially from Toulouse to see Saint Bertrand's
church, and had left two friends who

9
00:00:36,359 --> 00:00:41,119
were less keen archaeologists than himself,
and their hotel at Toulouse, under promise

10
00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,880
to join him on the following morning. Half an hour at the church would

11
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,479
satisfy them, and all three could
then pursue their journey in the direction of

12
00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,479
Osh. But our englishmen had come
early on the day in question, and

13
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,119
proposed to himself to fill a notebook
and to use several dozen plates in the

14
00:00:56,159 --> 00:01:00,679
process of describing and photographing every corner
of the wonderful Church that dominates the little

15
00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:04,439
Hill of Commands. In order to
carry out this design satisfactorily, it was

16
00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,959
necessary to monopolize the verger of the
church for the day. The verger or

17
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,840
sacriston I prefer the latter appellation,
inaccurate as it may be, was accordingly

18
00:01:14,879 --> 00:01:18,640
sent for by the somewhat brusque lady
who keeps the inn of the Chapeau Rouge,

19
00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:23,480
And when he came the Englishman found
him an unexpectedly interesting object of study.

20
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,640
It was not in the personal appearance
of the little, dry, wizened

21
00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,560
old man that the interest lay.
For he was precisely like dozens of other

22
00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:37,200
church guardians in France, but in
a curious furtival rather hunted an oppressed air

23
00:01:37,239 --> 00:01:42,120
which he had. He was perpetually
half glancing behind him. The muscles of

24
00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:46,680
his back and shoulders seemed to be
hunched in a continual nervous contraction, as

25
00:01:46,719 --> 00:01:49,200
if he were expecting every moment to
find himself in the clutch of an enemy.

26
00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:53,760
The Englishman hardly knew whether to put
him down as a man haunted by

27
00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:57,680
a fixed delusion, or as one
oppressed by a guilty conscience, or as

28
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,760
an unbearably henpecked husband. The probability
is when reckoned up certainly pointed to the

29
00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:08,240
last idea, but still the impression
conveyed was that of a more formidable persecutor

30
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:14,120
even than a termagant wife. However, the Englishman, let us call him

31
00:02:14,159 --> 00:02:16,639
Dennis Tombe, was soon too deep
in his notebook and too busy with his

32
00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:22,319
camera to give more than an occasional
glance to the sacristan. Whenever he did

33
00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:24,919
look at him, he found him
at no great distance, either huddling himself

34
00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:30,639
back against the wall or crouching in
one of the gorgeous stalls. Dennis tomb

35
00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,639
became rather fidgety after a while,
mingled suspicions that he was keeping the old

36
00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:38,039
man from his dejane, that he
was regarded as likely to make away with

37
00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:42,000
Saint Bertrand's ivory crosying or with the
dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs over the font,

38
00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,960
began to torment him. Won't you
go home? He said, at

39
00:02:46,039 --> 00:02:49,159
last, I'm quite well able to
finish my notes alone. You can lock

40
00:02:49,199 --> 00:02:52,000
me in if you like. I
shall want at least two hours more here,

41
00:02:52,039 --> 00:02:54,080
and it must be cold for you. Isn't it good? Heavens,

42
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,199
said the little man, whom the
suggestions seemed to throw into a state of

43
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,680
unaccountable terror. Such a thing cannot
be thought of for a moment. Leave

44
00:03:01,759 --> 00:03:07,159
monsieur alone in the church. No, No, two hours, three hours.

45
00:03:07,199 --> 00:03:08,639
All will be the same to me. I have breakfasted. I am

46
00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:14,159
not at all cold, with many
thanks to Monsieur. Very well, my

47
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,639
little man, quoth Denniston to himself. You have been warned, and you

48
00:03:16,719 --> 00:03:22,960
must take the consequences before the expiration
of the two hours. The stalls,

49
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,039
the enormous dilapidated organ, the quoiet
screen of Bishop John de Molians, the

50
00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,360
remnants of glass and tapestry, and
the objects in the treasure chamber had been

51
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:37,319
well and truly examined. The sacristan
still keeping at Dennistoune's heels, and every

52
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,360
now and then whipping round as if
he had been stung, when one or

53
00:03:39,439 --> 00:03:43,840
other of the strange noises that trouble
a large empty building fell on his ear.

54
00:03:44,719 --> 00:03:50,039
Curious noises they were sometimes. Once, Deniston said to me, I

55
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,199
could have sworn I heard a thin
metallic voice laughing high up in the tower.

56
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,840
I darted an inquiring glance at my
sacristan. He was white to the

57
00:03:58,879 --> 00:04:01,919
lips. It is he that is
It is no one. The door is

58
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,039
locked, was all he said,
and we looked at each other for a

59
00:04:05,039 --> 00:04:11,840
full minute. Another little incident puzzled
Denistoone a good deal. He was examining

60
00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,840
a large, dark picture that hangs
behind the altar, one of a series

61
00:04:15,879 --> 00:04:19,399
illustrating the miracles of Saint Bertrand.
The composition of the picture is well nigh

62
00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:26,240
and decipherable, but there is a
Latin legend below which runs, thus klite

63
00:04:26,519 --> 00:04:32,600
s bertrandus le bravit hominem quem diabolus
to volebat strangulaire how Saint Bertram delivered a

64
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:39,000
man whom the devil long sought to
strangle. Denistune was turning to the Sacristan

65
00:04:39,079 --> 00:04:42,639
with a smile and a jocular remark
of some sort on his lips, but

66
00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,120
he was confounded to see the old
man on his knees, gazing at the

67
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,519
picture with the eye of a suppliant
and agony, his hands tightly clasped,

68
00:04:49,879 --> 00:04:55,879
and a rain of tears on his
cheeks. Deniston naturally pretended to have noticed

69
00:04:55,879 --> 00:04:59,439
nothing, but the question would not
go away. From him. Why should

70
00:04:59,439 --> 00:05:02,680
a door be of this kind effect
any one so strongly? He seemed to

71
00:05:02,759 --> 00:05:06,000
himself to be getting some sort of
clue to the reason of the strange look

72
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,959
that had been puzzling him all the
day. The man must be a monomaniac,

73
00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:15,040
But what was his monomania? It
was nearly five o'clock, The short

74
00:05:15,079 --> 00:05:18,839
day was drawing in, and the
church began to fill with shadows, while

75
00:05:18,879 --> 00:05:25,199
the curious noises, the muffled footfalls
and distant talking voices that had been perceptible

76
00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:29,519
all day seemed no doubt. Because
of the fading light and the consequently quickened

77
00:05:29,519 --> 00:05:34,439
sense of hearing to become more frequent
and insistent, The sacristan began for the

78
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:39,800
first time to show signs of hurry
and impatience. He heaved a sigh of

79
00:05:39,879 --> 00:05:44,199
relief when camera and Notebrook were finally
packed up and stowed away, and hurriedly

80
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,360
beckoned Deniston to the western door of
the church under the tower. It was

81
00:05:47,399 --> 00:05:50,839
time to ring the angelus. A
few polls at the reluctant rope, and

82
00:05:50,879 --> 00:05:55,800
the great bell Betrand high in the
tower, began to speak and swung her

83
00:05:55,879 --> 00:05:59,560
voice up among the pines and down
to the valleys loud with mountain streams,

84
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,319
calling the dwellers on those lonely hills
to remember and repeat the salutation of the

85
00:06:03,399 --> 00:06:08,839
Angel to her, whom he called
blessed among women. With that, a

86
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,560
profound quiet seemed to fall for the
first time that day upon the little town,

87
00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,920
and Dennistoune and the sacriston went out
of the church. On the doorstep,

88
00:06:16,959 --> 00:06:21,399
they fell into conversation. Monsieur seemed
to interest himself in the old choir

89
00:06:21,399 --> 00:06:26,519
books in the sacristy. Undoubtedly,
I was going to ask you if there

90
00:06:26,519 --> 00:06:30,120
were a library in the town.
No, Monsieur. Perhaps there used to

91
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,040
be one belonging to the chapter,
but it is now such a small place.

92
00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,839
Here came a strange pause of irresolution, as it seemed. Then with

93
00:06:36,879 --> 00:06:42,720
a sort of plunge, he went
on, But if Monsieur is amateur de

94
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,560
voux, leave, I have at
home something that might interest him. It

95
00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:50,000
is not a hundred yards at once. All Dennistoune's cherished dreams of finding priceless

96
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,959
manuscripts in untrodden corners of France flashed
up to die down again the next moment.

97
00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,040
It was probably a stupid messile of
Plantin's printing about fifteen eight. Where

98
00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,319
was the likelihood that a place so
near to lose would not have been ransacked

99
00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:08,160
long ago by collectors. However,
it would be foolish not to go,

100
00:07:08,759 --> 00:07:13,120
He would reproach himself for ever after
if he refused. So they set off

101
00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,759
on the way. The curious irresolution
and sudden determination of the Sacristan recurred to

102
00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,720
Dennis tune, and he wondered in
a shamefaced way whether he was being decoyed

103
00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:27,040
into some purlieu to be made away
with as a supposed rich Englishman. He

104
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,920
contrived, therefore, to begin talking
with his guide, and to drag in,

105
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,040
in a rather clumsy fashion, the
fact that he expected two friends to

106
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:38,399
join him early next morning. To
his surprise, the announcement seemed to relieve

107
00:07:38,439 --> 00:07:42,639
the Sacristan at once of some of
the anxiety that oppressed him. That is

108
00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,279
well, he said, quite brightly, That is very well. Monsieur will

109
00:07:46,279 --> 00:07:48,639
travel in company with his friends.
They will be always near him. It

110
00:07:48,759 --> 00:07:54,959
is a good thing to travel thus
in company. Sometimes the last word appeared

111
00:07:54,959 --> 00:07:58,079
to be added as an afterthought,
and to bring with it a relapse into

112
00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,279
gloom for the poor little man.
They were soon at the house, which

113
00:08:01,319 --> 00:08:05,560
was one rather larger than its neighbors. Stone built with a shield carved over

114
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:11,240
the door, the shield of Alberic
de Morlion, a collateral descendant. Denistoune

115
00:08:11,279 --> 00:08:16,120
tells me of Bishop John de Morlion. This Albaic was a cannon of commands.

116
00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:20,000
From sixteen eighty to seventeen o one. The upper windows of the mansion

117
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,680
were boarded up, and the whole
place bore as does the rest of commands.

118
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:28,120
The aspect of decaying age arrived on
his doorstep. The sacristan paused a

119
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:33,440
moment. Perhaps he said, perhaps, after all, the monsieur has not

120
00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,840
the time, not at all,
lots of time, nothing to do till

121
00:08:37,879 --> 00:08:41,600
to morrow. Let us see what
it is you have got. The door

122
00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:43,840
was opened at this point, and
a face looked out, a face far

123
00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,279
younger than the sacristan's, but bearing
something of the same distressing look. Only

124
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,039
here it seemed to be the mark
not so much of fear for personal safety

125
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:56,559
as of acute anxiety on behalf of
another. Plainly, the owner of the

126
00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:01,000
face was the Sacriston's daughter, And
but for the expression I have described,

127
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,360
she was a handsome girl enough.
She brightened up considerably on seeing her father

128
00:09:05,399 --> 00:09:11,279
accompanied by an able bodied stranger.
A few remarks passed between father and daughter,

129
00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,080
of which Deniston only caught these words
said by the sacristan he was laughing

130
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:20,840
in the church, words which were
answered only by a look of terror from

131
00:09:20,879 --> 00:09:24,039
the girl. But in another minute
they were in the sitting room of the

132
00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:28,559
house, a small high chamber with
a stone floor, full of moving shadows,

133
00:09:28,639 --> 00:09:31,559
cast by a wood fire that flickered
on a great hearth. Something of

134
00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,679
the character of an oratory was imparted
to it by a tall crucifix, which

135
00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,840
reached almost to the ceiling. On
one side. The figure was painted of

136
00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:45,600
the natural colors, the cross was
black. Under this stood a chest of

137
00:09:45,639 --> 00:09:48,919
some age and solidity, And when
a lamp had been brought and chairs set,

138
00:09:50,159 --> 00:09:54,960
the sacristan went to this chest and
produced therefrom With growing excitement and nervousness,

139
00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,759
as denistone thought a large book wrapped
in a white cloth. On witchcloth,

140
00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:05,919
a cross was rudely embroidered in red
thread. Even before the wrapping had

141
00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:09,360
been removed, Dennis Tune began to
be interested by the size and shape of

142
00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,480
the volume. Too large for a
missile, he thought, and not the

143
00:10:13,519 --> 00:10:18,120
shape of an antiphona. Perhaps it
may be something good after all. The

144
00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:22,159
next moment the book was open,
and Dennistoune felt that he had at last

145
00:10:22,279 --> 00:10:26,120
lit upon something better than good.
Before him lay a large folio, bound

146
00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:31,840
perhaps late in the seventeenth century,
with the arms of Cannon Alberic Demolian stamped

147
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,440
in gold on the sides. There
may have been a one hundred and fifty

148
00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,679
leaves of paper in the book,
and are almost every one of them was

149
00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:43,759
fastened a leaf from an illuminated manuscript, such a collection Dennis Tune had hardly

150
00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,840
dreamed of in his wildest moments.
He wore ten leaves from a copy of

151
00:10:46,879 --> 00:10:52,320
Genesis, illustrated with pictures which could
not be later than AD seven hundred.

152
00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,759
Further on was a complete set of
pictures from a psalter of English execution of

153
00:10:56,799 --> 00:11:01,679
the very finest kind that the thirteenth
century could produce. And perhaps best of

154
00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:07,399
all, there were twenty leaves of
unsealed writing in Latin, which, as

155
00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,240
a few words seen here and there
told him at once, must belong to

156
00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,480
some very early unknown Patristic treatise.
Could it possibly be a fragment of the

157
00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:18,879
copy of Pappius on the Words of
Our Lord, which was known to have

158
00:11:18,919 --> 00:11:24,039
existed as late as the twelfth century
at Nemes. We now know that these

159
00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,840
leaves did contain a considerable fragment of
that work, if not of that actual

160
00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:31,240
copy of it. In any case, his mind was made up that book

161
00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,399
must return to Cambridge with him,
even if he had to draw the whole

162
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,360
of his balance from the bank and
stay at Saint Bertrand till the money came.

163
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,679
He glanced up at the sacristan to
see if his face yielded any hint

164
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:46,559
that the book was for sale.
The sacristan was pale, and his lips

165
00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:50,879
were working. If Monsieur will turn
on to the end, he said.

166
00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,759
So. Monsieur turned on, meeting
new treasures at every rise of a leaf,

167
00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,039
and at the end of the book
he came upon two sheets of paper

168
00:11:58,399 --> 00:12:03,120
of much more recent date than anything
he had seen yet, which puzzled him

169
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:07,240
considerably. They must be contemporary,
he decided, with the unprincipled canon Alberic,

170
00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,399
who had doubtless plundered the chapter library
of Saint Bertrand to form this priceless

171
00:12:11,399 --> 00:12:16,799
scrapbook. On the first of the
paper sheets was a plan carefully drawn and

172
00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:22,240
instantly recognizable by a person who knew
the ground. Of the South Island cloisters

173
00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,639
of Saint Bertrand's there were curious signs
looking like planetary symbols, and a few

174
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:31,399
Hebrew words in the corners, and
in the northwest angle of the cloister was

175
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:37,440
a cross drawn in gold paint.
Below the plan were some lines of writing

176
00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:43,279
in Latin, which ran thus response
to twelve me Death sixteen ninety four in

177
00:12:43,399 --> 00:12:54,440
terragatum est in veniamne responsum est invenies, viamne dives vs. Vivamne invidendis vives

178
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:03,200
marianne in lectomea eta Answers of the
twelfth of December sixteen ninety four, it

179
00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,480
was asked, shall I find it? Answer, thou shalt? Shall I

180
00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:15,159
become rich thou wilt? Shall I
live an object of envy? Thou wilt?

181
00:13:16,039 --> 00:13:20,679
Shall I die in my bed thou
wilt? A good specimen of the

182
00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:26,240
treasure hunter's record quite reminds one of
mister Minor Cannon catch Remaine in Old Saint

183
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:31,279
Paul's was Dennistoune's comment, and he
turned the leaf. What he then saw

184
00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,960
impressed him, as he has often
told me more than he could have conceived

185
00:13:35,039 --> 00:13:39,759
any drawing or picture capable of impressing
him. And though the drawing he saw

186
00:13:39,799 --> 00:13:43,559
is no longer in existence, there
is a photograph of it which I possess,

187
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,240
which fully bears out that statement.
The picture in question was a Sepia

188
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,679
drawing at the end of the seventeenth
century, representing one would say, at

189
00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:58,639
first, a biblical scene. For
the architecture, the picture represented an interior,

190
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:03,360
and the figures had that semi classical
flavor about them which the artists of

191
00:14:03,399 --> 00:14:07,440
two hundred years ago thought appropriate illustrations
of the Bible. On the right was

192
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,639
a king on his throne, the
throne elevated on twelve steps, a canopy

193
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,840
overhead, soldiers on either side,
evidently King Solomon. He was bending forward

194
00:14:16,919 --> 00:14:22,799
with outstretched scepter in attitude of command. His face expressed horror and disgust.

195
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,240
Yet there was in it also the
mark of imperious command and confident power.

196
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,320
The left half of the picture was
the strangest, however, the interest plainly

197
00:14:33,399 --> 00:14:41,000
centered. There on the pavement before
the throne were grouped four soldiers surrounding a

198
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:46,000
crouching figure which must be described in
a moment A fifth soldier lay dead on

199
00:14:46,039 --> 00:14:52,399
the pavement, his neck distorted and
his eyeballs starting from his head. The

200
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,399
four surrounding guards were looking at the
king. In their faces. The sentiment

201
00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,720
of horror was intensified. They seemed, in fact, only restrict from flight

202
00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:05,679
by their implicit trust in their master. All this terror was plainly excited by

203
00:15:05,679 --> 00:15:11,360
the being that crouched in their midst. I entirely despair of conveying, by

204
00:15:11,399 --> 00:15:13,679
any words, the impression which this
figure makes upon anyone who looks at it,

205
00:15:15,519 --> 00:15:18,279
I recollect, once showing the photograph
of the drawing to electra on morphology,

206
00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:24,480
a person of I was going to
say, abnormally sane and unimaginative habits

207
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,279
of mind. He absolutely refused to
be alone for the rest of that evening,

208
00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,080
and he told me afterwards that for
many nights he had not dared to

209
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,200
put out his light before going to
sleep. However, the main traits of

210
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,480
the figure I can at least indicate. At first, you saw only a

211
00:15:41,519 --> 00:15:46,480
mass of coarse, matted black hair. Presently it was seen that this covered

212
00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:52,120
a body, a fearful thinness,
almost a skeleton, but with the muscles

213
00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:56,679
standing out like wires. The hands
were of a dusky pallor, covered like

214
00:15:56,799 --> 00:16:03,799
the body with long, coarse hair, and hideously talented. The eyes,

215
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:08,200
touched in with a burning yellow,
had intensely black pupils, and were fixed

216
00:16:08,279 --> 00:16:14,240
upon the throned king with a look
of beast like hate. Imagine one of

217
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,879
the awful bird catching spiders of South
America translated into human form and endowed with

218
00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:25,080
intelligence just less than human, and
you will have some faint conception of the

219
00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,600
terror inspired by the appalling effigy.
One remark is universally made by those to

220
00:16:30,679 --> 00:16:37,279
whom I have showed the picture.
It was drawn from the life. As

221
00:16:37,279 --> 00:16:41,240
soon as the first shock of his
irresistible fright had subsided Dennis Tune stole a

222
00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:47,000
look at his hosts. The sacristan's
hands were pressed upon his eyes. His

223
00:16:47,159 --> 00:16:49,200
daughter, looking up at the cross
on the wall, was telling her beads

224
00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:55,759
feverishly. At last, the question
was asked, is this book for sale?

225
00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:00,759
There was the same hesitation, the
same plun determination that he had noticed

226
00:17:00,799 --> 00:17:07,880
before, and then came the welcome
answer, If monsieur pleases, how much

227
00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,359
do you ask for it? I
will take two hundred and fifty francs.

228
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:17,200
This was confounding, even a collector's
conscience is sometimes stirred, and Dennis Stune's

229
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:21,519
conscience was tenderer than a collector's.
My good man, he said, again

230
00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,559
and again, your book is worth
far more than two hundred and fifty francs.

231
00:17:25,759 --> 00:17:30,480
I assure you far more. But
the answer did not vary. I

232
00:17:30,519 --> 00:17:33,440
will take two hundred and fifty francs, not more. There was really no

233
00:17:33,559 --> 00:17:38,000
possibility of refusing such a chance.
The money was paid, the receipt signed,

234
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,039
a glass of wine drunk over the
transaction, and then the sacristan seemed

235
00:17:42,039 --> 00:17:47,279
to become a new man. He
stood upright, He ceased to throw those

236
00:17:47,319 --> 00:17:52,759
suspicious glances behind him. He actually
laughed, or tried to laugh. Dennis

237
00:17:52,759 --> 00:17:56,440
Stune rose to go, I shall
have the honor of accompanying Monsieur to his

238
00:17:56,519 --> 00:17:59,880
hotel, said the sacristan, Oh, no, thanks, it isn't a

239
00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:02,680
hundred yards. I know the way
perfectly, and there is a moon.

240
00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:08,160
The offer was pressed three or four
times and refused as often. Then Monsieur

241
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,440
will summon me if he finds occasion. He will keep the middle of the

242
00:18:12,519 --> 00:18:17,960
road. The sides are so rough. Certainly, certainly, said Denistune,

243
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,000
who was impatient to examine his prize
by himself, and he stepped out into

244
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,519
the passage with his book under his
arm. Here he was met by the

245
00:18:25,599 --> 00:18:27,920
daughter. She, it appeared,
was anxious to do a little business of

246
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:33,279
her own account, perhaps like ghazi, to take somewhat from the foreigner whom

247
00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:37,359
her father had spared. A silver
crucifix and chain for the neck. Monsieur

248
00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:41,640
would perhaps be good enough to accept
it. Well, Really, Dennistune hadn't

249
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,359
much use for these things. What
did mademoiselle want for it? Nothing?

250
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:51,519
Nothing in the world. Monsieur is
more than welcome to it. The tone

251
00:18:51,559 --> 00:18:55,440
in which this, and much more
was said was unmistakably genuine, so that

252
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,559
Dennistune was reduced to profuse thanks and
submitted to have the chain put round his

253
00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:03,519
neck. It really seemed as if
he had rendered the father and daughter some

254
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,880
service which they hardly knew how to
repay. As he set off with his

255
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,359
book, they stood at the door
looking after him, and they were still

256
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,480
looking when he waved them a last
good night from the steps of the Chapeau

257
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:18,839
Rouge. Dinner was over, and
Dennistoune was in his bedroom, shut up

258
00:19:18,839 --> 00:19:23,880
alone with his acquisition. The Landlady
had manifested a particular interest in him,

259
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,640
since he had told her that he
had paid a visit to the sacristan and

260
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,519
brought an old book from him.
He thought, too, that he had

261
00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:34,519
heard a hurried dialog between her and
the said Sacristan in the passage outside of

262
00:19:34,519 --> 00:19:40,759
the Salamanger. Some words to the
effect that Pierre and Bertrand would be sleeping

263
00:19:40,759 --> 00:19:45,079
in the house had closed the conversation. All this time, a growing feeling

264
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:51,279
of discomfort had been creeping over him, nervous reaction perhaps after the delight of

265
00:19:51,279 --> 00:19:55,960
his discovery. Whatever it was,
it resolted in a conviction that there was

266
00:19:56,039 --> 00:19:59,640
some one behind him, and that
he was far more comfortable with his back

267
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,759
to the All this, of course, weighed light in the balance as against

268
00:20:03,759 --> 00:20:08,200
the obvious value of the collection he
had acquired. And now, as I

269
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:14,000
said, he was alone in his
bedroom taking stock of Canon Albarek's treasures,

270
00:20:14,039 --> 00:20:18,559
in which every moment revealed something more
charming. Bless Canon Albarek, said Denniston,

271
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,200
who had an inveterate habit of talking
to himself. I wonder where he

272
00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:26,119
is now, Dear me, I
wish that Landlady would learn to laugh in

273
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:30,400
a more cheering manner, makes one
feel as if there was someone dead in

274
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,920
the house. Half a pipe more, did you say? I think perhaps

275
00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,240
you are right. I wonder what
that crucifix is that the young woman insisted

276
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:42,279
on giving me last century. I
suppose yes, probably it is rather a

277
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:47,400
nuisance of a thing to have around
one's neck, just too heavy. Most

278
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,400
likely her father has been wearing it
for years. I might give it a

279
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,400
clean up before I put it away. He had taken the crucifix off and

280
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,400
laid it on the table when his
attention was caught by an object lying on

281
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,680
the red cloth just by his left
elbow. Two or three ideas of what

282
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,799
it might be flitted through his brain
with their own incalculable quickness. A penwiper,

283
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,519
no, no such thing in the
house. A rat, no too

284
00:21:12,559 --> 00:21:18,680
black, A large spider, I
trust to Goodness, not no good God.

285
00:21:19,279 --> 00:21:25,440
A hand like the hand in that
picture. In another infinitismal flash,

286
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,920
he had taken it in pale,
dusky skin, covering nothing but bones and

287
00:21:30,039 --> 00:21:36,880
tendons of appalling strength, coarse black
hairs longer than ever grew on a human

288
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:42,079
hand, nails rising from the ends
of the fingers, and curving sharply down

289
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:48,440
and forward, gray, horny and
wrinkled. He flew out of his chair

290
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,920
with deadly, inconceivable terror, clutching
at his heart. The shape whose left

291
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,920
hand rested on the table was rising
to a standing posture behind his seat.

292
00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:04,400
It's hand crooked above his scalp.
There was black and tattered drapery about it.

293
00:22:06,079 --> 00:22:10,240
The coarse hair covered it as in
the drawing. The lower jaw was

294
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:15,079
thin, what can I call it? Shallow like a beast's teeth showed behind

295
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:21,480
the black lips. There was no
nose, The eyes of a fiery yellow,

296
00:22:21,559 --> 00:22:26,720
against which the pupils showed black and
intense, and the exulting hate and

297
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,880
thirst to destroy life which shone there
were the most horrifying features in the whole

298
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,720
vision. There was intelligence of a
kind in them, intelligence beyond that of

299
00:22:37,759 --> 00:22:42,400
a beast, below that of a
man. The feelings which this horror stirred

300
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:48,480
in Dennis Tune were the intensest physical
fear and the most profound mental loathing.

301
00:22:49,599 --> 00:22:53,319
What did he do? What could
he do? He has never been quite

302
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,920
certain what words he said, but
he knows that he spoke, that he

303
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:02,799
grasped blindly at the silver crucis fix
that he was conscious of a movement towards

304
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,839
him on the part of the demon, and that he screamed with the voice

305
00:23:06,839 --> 00:23:11,440
of an animal in hideous pain.
Pierre and Bertrand, the two sturdy little

306
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:17,000
serving men who rushed in, saw
nothing, but felt themselves thrust aside by

307
00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:21,720
something that passed out between them,
and found Dennistone in a swoon. They

308
00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:25,039
sat up with him that night,
and his two friends were at Saint Bertrand

309
00:23:25,079 --> 00:23:29,960
by nine o'clock the next morning.
He himself, though still shaken and nervous,

310
00:23:30,079 --> 00:23:33,000
was almost himself by that time,
and his story frowned credence with them,

311
00:23:33,319 --> 00:23:38,039
though not until they had seen the
drawing and talked with the sacristan almost

312
00:23:38,079 --> 00:23:41,000
at dawn. The little man had
come to the inn on some pretense and

313
00:23:41,039 --> 00:23:45,480
had listened with the deepest interest to
the story retailed by the landlady. He

314
00:23:45,519 --> 00:23:51,240
showed no surprise. It is he, It is he, I have seen

315
00:23:51,319 --> 00:23:55,680
him myself, was his only comment, and to all questionings but one reply

316
00:23:55,839 --> 00:24:02,519
was vouchsafed, de fois gelle vous
nielfoi jele santi. He would tell them

317
00:24:02,559 --> 00:24:06,279
nothing of the provenance of the book, nor any details of his experiences.

318
00:24:07,319 --> 00:24:10,559
I shall soon sleep, and my
rest will be sweet. Why should you

319
00:24:10,599 --> 00:24:14,720
trouble me? He said? He
died that summer. His daughter married and

320
00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:18,599
settled at Saint Papaul. She never
understood the circumstances of her father's obsession.

321
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,880
We shall never know what he,
or Canon Alberic Demolion suffered. At the

322
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,480
back of that fateful drawing were some
lines of writing which may be supposed to

323
00:24:29,519 --> 00:24:40,799
throw light on the situation. Contradictio
salomonis come demonio nocturno Albericus Demolione delineavit Vidaeus

324
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:51,599
in auditorium ps qi habitat Sancte bertrand
demoniorum effugata intercda Promo misserrimo primam uidi nocte

325
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:59,319
twelve me sixteen ninety four. We
debo mox ultimum pecaui et pass sum plura

326
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:07,440
adhuc pas saurus December twenty ninth,
seventeen O one I e the disputer Solomon

327
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:11,000
with the demon of the night,
drawn by Albert de Molion, versical O,

328
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,119
Lord, make haste to help me, psalm whoso dwelleth x ci Saint

329
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,240
Bertrand who put us devils to flight? Pray for me most unhappy. I

330
00:25:19,279 --> 00:25:22,640
saw it first on the night of
December the twelfth, sixteen ninety four.

331
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,759
Soon I shall see it for the
last time. I have sinned and suffered,

332
00:25:26,759 --> 00:25:32,079
and have more to suffer yet December
than twenty ninth, seventeen o one.

333
00:25:32,599 --> 00:25:37,160
The Garlia Christiana gives the date of
the Cannon's death as December thirty first,

334
00:25:37,279 --> 00:25:41,759
seventeen o one, in bed of
a sudden Caesar. Details of this

335
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,640
kind are not common in the great
work of the Sammathani. I have never

336
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:51,079
quite understood what was Denis Tone's view
of the events I have narrated. He

337
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:55,480
quoted to me once a text from
Ecclesiasticus. Some spirits there be that are

338
00:25:55,519 --> 00:26:00,640
created for vengeance, and in their
fury lay on sore strokes. On another

339
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,920
occasion, he said, Isaiah was
a very sensible man. Doesn't he say

340
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,839
something about night monsters living in the
ruins of Babylon. These things are rather

341
00:26:07,839 --> 00:26:12,960
beyond us at present. Another confidence
of his impressed me rather, and I

342
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,599
sympathized with it. We had been
last year to command to see Canon Alberic's

343
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,279
tomb. It is a great marble
erection, with an effigy of the cannon

344
00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,480
in the large Wig and Soutane,
and an elaborate eulogy of his learning below.

345
00:26:26,519 --> 00:26:30,200
I saw a Dennis Tune talking for
some time with the Vicar of Saint

346
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,200
Bertrand's, and as we drove away, he said to me, I hope

347
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,720
it isn't wrong. You know,
I am a Presbyterian, but I I

348
00:26:37,759 --> 00:26:41,839
believe there will be saying of Mass
and singing of dirges for Alberic de Molion's

349
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,720
rest. Then he added, with
a touch of Northern British in his tone,

350
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,000
I had no notion there came so
dear. The book is in the

351
00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:53,559
went with collection at Cambridge. The
drawing was photographed and then burnt by Dennis

352
00:26:53,559 --> 00:26:57,200
Tune on the day when he left
commands on the occasion of his first visit

353
00:27:00,039 --> 00:27:00,279
of Canon Alberic scrapper