1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:08,320
The tarn by Hugh Walpole. As
Foster moved unconsciously across the room, bent

2
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,519
towards the bookcase, and stood leaning
forward a little, choosing now one book,

3
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,280
now another. With his eye his
host, seeing the muscles of the

4
00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,120
back of his thin, scraggy neck
stand out above his low flannel collar,

5
00:00:22,719 --> 00:00:27,199
thought of the ease with which he
could squeeze that throat, and the pleasure,

6
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,399
the triumphant, lustful pleasure, that
such an action would give him.

7
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:37,880
The low, white walled, white
ceilinged room was flooded with the mellow,

8
00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:43,799
kindly lakeland sun. October is a
wonderful month in the English lakes, Golden,

9
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:50,759
rich and perfumed, slow suns moving
through apricot tinted skies to ruby evening

10
00:00:50,799 --> 00:00:57,039
glories. The shadows lie then thick
about that beautiful country, in dark purple

11
00:00:57,119 --> 00:01:02,880
patches, in long weblike patterns of
silver gores, in thick splotches of amber

12
00:01:03,079 --> 00:01:08,120
and gray. The clouds passing galleons
across the mountains, now veiling, now

13
00:01:08,159 --> 00:01:14,760
revealing, now descending with ghost like
armies to the very breast of the plains,

14
00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:19,840
suddenly rising to the softest of blue
skies, and lying thin in lazy

15
00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:26,760
languorous color. Fenix's cottage looked across
to low Fells. On his right,

16
00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:32,480
seen through the side windows, sprawled
the hills above dor and water. Fennick

17
00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,959
looked at Foster's back and felt suddenly
sick, so that he sat down,

18
00:01:37,239 --> 00:01:41,439
veiling his eyes for a moment with
his hand. Foster had come up there,

19
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:46,760
come all the way from London to
explain. It was so like Foster

20
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,719
to want to explain, to want
to put things right. For how many

21
00:01:49,799 --> 00:01:55,200
years had he known Foster? Why
for twenty at least? And during all

22
00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,120
those years Foster had been forever determined
to put things right with everybody. He

23
00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:05,319
could not bear to be disliked.
He hated that anyone should think ill of

24
00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,520
him. He wanted everyone to be
his friend. That was one reason,

25
00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:14,879
perhaps why Foster had got on so
well, had prospered so in his career.

26
00:02:15,479 --> 00:02:20,759
One reason two why Fennick had not. For Fennick was the opposite of

27
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,759
Foster in this. He did not
want friends. He certainly did not care

28
00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:28,159
that people should like him, That
is, people for whom, for one

29
00:02:28,199 --> 00:02:31,560
reason or another, he had contempt, And he had contempt for quite a

30
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:38,400
number of people. Fennick looked at
that long, thin bending back, and

31
00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:44,280
felt his knees tremble. Soon Foster
would turn round and that high, reedy

32
00:02:44,479 --> 00:02:49,039
voice would pipe out something about the
books, What jolly books you have,

33
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,159
Fenick. How many many times in
the long watches of the night, when

34
00:02:53,199 --> 00:02:58,680
Fennick could not sleep, had he
heard that pipe sounding close there, yes,

35
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,199
in the very shadow of his bed, And how many times had Fennick

36
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,080
replied to it, I hate you. You are the cause of my failure

37
00:03:07,159 --> 00:03:13,319
in life. You have been in
my way, always, always, always,

38
00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:20,479
always patronizing and pretending, and in
truth showing others what a poor thing

39
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,520
you thought me, How great a
failure, how conceited a fall? I

40
00:03:25,759 --> 00:03:32,639
know you can hide nothing from me. I can hear you. For twenty

41
00:03:32,759 --> 00:03:38,960
years now Foster had been persistently in
Fennick's way. There had been that affair

42
00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:43,319
so long ago now, when Robbins
had wanted a sub editor for his wonderful

43
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,280
review the Parthenon, and Fennick had
gone to see him, and they had

44
00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:52,639
had a splendid talk. How magnificently
Fennick had talked that day, with what

45
00:03:52,919 --> 00:03:57,240
enthusiasm he had shown Robins, who
was blinded by his own conceit anyway,

46
00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,199
the kind of paper the Parthenon might
be. How Robins had caught his own

47
00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:04,960
enthusiasm, how he had pushed his
fat body about the room, crying,

48
00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:11,919
yes, yes, Fenick, that's
fine, that's fine indeed. And then

49
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:17,040
how, after all Foster had got
that job. The paper had only lived

50
00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:20,319
for a year or so, it
is true, but the connection with it

51
00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:26,639
had brought Foster into prominence, just
as it might have brought Fenick. Then

52
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,560
five years later there was Fenick's novel, The Bitter Aloe, the novel upon

53
00:04:30,639 --> 00:04:35,639
which he had spent three years of
blood and tears endeavor. And then in

54
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:43,000
the very same week of publication,
Foster brings out The Circus, the novel

55
00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,279
that made his name, although heaven
knows the thing was poor enough, sentimental

56
00:04:47,319 --> 00:04:53,519
trash. You may say that one
novel cannot kill another, but can it?

57
00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,839
Had not the Circus appeared, would
not that group of London knowles that

58
00:05:00,079 --> 00:05:05,519
conceited limited, ignorant, self satisfied
crowd, who nevertheless, can do by

59
00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:11,600
their talk so much to affect a
book's good or evil fortunes, have talked

60
00:05:11,639 --> 00:05:15,560
about The Bitter Aloe and so forced
it into prominence, as it was,

61
00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:23,279
the book was stillborn, and the
circus went on its prancing, triumphant way.

62
00:05:23,519 --> 00:05:27,399
After that, there had been many
occasions, some small, some big,

63
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,279
and always in one way or another, that thin, scraggy body of

64
00:05:31,319 --> 00:05:36,759
Fosters was interfering with Fenix's happiness.
The thing had become, of course,

65
00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:42,079
an obsession. With Fenick hiding up
there in the heart of the lakes with

66
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:46,439
no friends, almost no company,
and very little money, he was given

67
00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:50,399
too much to brooding over his failure. He was a failure, and it

68
00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:55,560
was not his own fault. How
could it be his own fault, with

69
00:05:55,639 --> 00:06:00,560
his talents and his brilliance. It
was the fault of modern life and its

70
00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:04,600
lack of culture, the fault of
the stupid material mess that made up the

71
00:06:04,639 --> 00:06:12,680
intelligences of human beings, and the
fault of Foster. Always Fennick hoped that

72
00:06:12,759 --> 00:06:15,279
Foster would keep away from him.
He did not know what he would not

73
00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,600
do, did he see the man. And then one day, to his

74
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:26,439
amazement, he received a telegram passing
through this way, may I stop with

75
00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,639
you Monday and Tuesday, Giles Foster. Fennick could scarcely believe his eyes,

76
00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:39,800
and then from curiosity, from cynical
contempt from some deeper, more mysterious motive

77
00:06:39,959 --> 00:06:46,759
that he dared not analyze. He
had telegraphed, come and here the man

78
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,839
was, and he had come,
would you believe it? To put things

79
00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:56,759
right? He had heard from Hamelin
Edis that Fennick was hurt with him,

80
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,240
had some kind of aggrievance. I
didn't to feel that, old man,

81
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,959
and so I thought I'd just stop
by and have it out with you,

82
00:07:04,199 --> 00:07:09,959
see what the matter was, and
put it right. Last night after supper,

83
00:07:10,199 --> 00:07:14,439
Foster had tried to put it right, eagerly his eyes, like a

84
00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,959
good dogs who is asking for a
bone that he knows that he thoroughly deserves.

85
00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:23,519
He had held out his hand and
asked Fennick to say what was up.

86
00:07:24,639 --> 00:07:28,879
Fenick simply had said that nothing was
up. Hamlin Edis was a damned

87
00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,040
fool. Oh, I'm glad to
hear that Foster had cried, springing out

88
00:07:33,079 --> 00:07:36,920
of his chair and putting his hand
on Fenick's shoulder. I'm glad of that

89
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,240
old man. I couldn't bear for
us not to be friends. We've been

90
00:07:42,279 --> 00:07:49,959
friends so long. Lord, how
Fennick hated him at that moment? What

91
00:07:50,079 --> 00:07:55,079
a jolly lot of books you have. Foster turned round and looked at Fenick

92
00:07:55,160 --> 00:08:00,800
with eager, gratified eyes. Every
book here is interesting. I like your

93
00:08:00,879 --> 00:08:05,040
arrangement of them too, And those
open bookshelves. It always seems to me

94
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:09,279
a shame to shut up books behind
glass. Foster came forward and sat down

95
00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,199
quite close to his host. He
even reached forward and laid his hand on

96
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:20,519
his host's knee. Look here,
I'm mentioning it for the last time positively,

97
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:26,000
but I do want to make quite
certain there is nothing wrong between us,

98
00:08:26,439 --> 00:08:30,839
is there? Old man? I
know you assured me last night,

99
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,440
but I just w Fennick looked at
him, and surveying him felt suddenly an

100
00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:41,480
exquisite pleasure of hatred. He liked
the touch of the man's hand on his

101
00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:46,399
knee. He himself bent forward a
little, and thinking how agreeable it would

102
00:08:46,399 --> 00:08:50,720
be to push Foster's eyes in,
deep, deep into his head, crunching

103
00:08:50,759 --> 00:08:56,480
them, smashing them to purple,
leaving the empty staring, bloody sockets.

104
00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:03,679
Said why no, of course not, I told you last night. What

105
00:09:03,879 --> 00:09:09,000
could there be? The hand gripped
the knee a little more tightly. I

106
00:09:09,039 --> 00:09:15,440
am so glad. That's splendid splendid. I hope you won't think me ridiculous.

107
00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,799
But I've always had an affection for
you, ever since I can remember.

108
00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:24,120
I've always wanted to know you better. I've admired your talents so greatly.

109
00:09:24,639 --> 00:09:28,200
That novel of yours, that the
one about the Alloe, the Bitter

110
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:33,960
Alloe. Ah, Yes, that
was it. That was a splendid book.

111
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,879
Pessimistic of course, but still fine. It ought to have done better,

112
00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,360
I remember thinking so at the time. Yes, it ought to have

113
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,720
done better. Your time will come, though. What I say is that

114
00:09:46,799 --> 00:09:52,840
good work always tells in the end. Yes, my time will come.

115
00:09:54,840 --> 00:10:00,360
The thin piping voice went on,
Now I have had more success than I

116
00:10:00,399 --> 00:10:05,000
deserved. Oh, yes I have. You can't deny it. I'm not

117
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,440
being falsely modest. I mean it. I've got some talent, of course,

118
00:10:09,879 --> 00:10:13,159
but not so much as people say. And you why you've got so

119
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:20,200
much more than they acknowledge you have, old man, you have indeed only

120
00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:26,120
I do hope you'll forgive my saying
this. Perhaps you haven't advanced quiet as

121
00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,679
you might have done, living up
here, shut away here, closed in

122
00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:35,960
by all these mountains, in this
wet climate, always raining. Why you're

123
00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,000
out of things, you don't see, people don't talk, and discover what's

124
00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:45,480
really going on. Why look at
me? Fennick turned round and looked at

125
00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:48,919
him. Now I have half the
year in London, where one gets the

126
00:10:48,919 --> 00:10:54,559
best of everything, best talk,
best music, best plays, and then

127
00:10:54,679 --> 00:11:00,480
I'm three months abroad Italy or Greece
or somewhere, and then three in the

128
00:11:00,519 --> 00:11:05,879
country. Now that's an ideal arrangement. You have everything that way, Italy

129
00:11:07,159 --> 00:11:13,159
or Grease or somewhere. Something turned
in Phenix's breast, grinding, grinding,

130
00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:20,279
grinding. How he had longed,
oh, how passionately, for just one

131
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,399
week in Greece, two days in
Sicily. Sometimes he had thought that he

132
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,120
might run to it. But when
it had come to the actual counting of

133
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:33,600
the pennies, and how this fool, this fat head, this self satisfied,

134
00:11:33,799 --> 00:11:39,600
conceited, patronizing. He got up, looked out at the golden sun.

135
00:11:41,919 --> 00:11:45,720
What do you say to a walk? He suggested, The sun will

136
00:11:45,799 --> 00:11:50,759
last for a good hour. Yet
as soon as the words were out of

137
00:11:50,799 --> 00:11:54,360
his lips, he felt as though
someone else had set them for him.

138
00:11:54,399 --> 00:12:00,240
He even turned half round to see
whether anyone else were there. Ever,

139
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,639
since Foster's arrival, and the evening
before he had been conscious of this sensation

140
00:12:05,919 --> 00:12:09,279
a walk. Why should he take
Foster for a walk? Show him his

141
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:15,240
beloved country. Point out those curves
and lines and hollows, the broad silver

142
00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,759
shield of dough and water, the
cloudy purple hills hunched like blankets about the

143
00:12:18,799 --> 00:12:24,360
knees of some recumbent giant. Why
it was as though he had turned round

144
00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:28,879
to someone behind him and had said, you have some further design in this.

145
00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:35,919
They started out. The road sank
abruptly to the lake. Then the

146
00:12:35,919 --> 00:12:41,559
path ran between trees of the water's
edge. Across the lake, tones of

147
00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:46,320
bright yellow light, crocus hued rode
upon the blue. The hills were dark.

148
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,279
The very way that Foster walked bespoke
the man. He was always a

149
00:12:52,279 --> 00:12:56,879
little ahead of you, pushing his
long, thin body along with little eager

150
00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,279
jerks, as though he did not
hurry, he would miss something that would

151
00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:05,559
be immensely to his advantage. He
talked, throwing words over his shoulder to

152
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,679
Fenick, as you throw crumbs of
bread to a robin. Of course,

153
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,159
I was pleased. Who would not
be? After all, it's a new

154
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,600
prize. They've only been awarding it
for a year or two. But it's

155
00:13:16,639 --> 00:13:22,039
gratifying, really gratifying to secure it. When I opened the envelope and found

156
00:13:22,039 --> 00:13:26,080
the check there, well she could
have knocked me down with a feather,

157
00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:31,000
you could. Indeed, of course
a hundred pounds isn't much, but it's

158
00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:35,519
the honor. Whither were they going? Their destiny was as certain as though

159
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,960
they had no free will, free
will. There is no free will.

160
00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:48,360
All is fate. Fenix suddenly laughed
aloud. Foster stopped, Why what is

161
00:13:48,399 --> 00:13:56,559
it? What's what? He laughed? Something amused me. Foster slipped his

162
00:13:56,639 --> 00:14:01,039
arm through Fenix. It is jolly
to be walking along together like this,

163
00:14:01,399 --> 00:14:05,840
arm in arm. Friends. I'm
a sentimental man. I won't deny it.

164
00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:09,399
What I say is that life is
short, and one must love one's

165
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,840
fellow beings, Or where is one? You live too much alone? Old

166
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:20,320
man? He squeezed Phenix's arm.
That's the truth of it. It was

167
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,080
torture, exquisite, heavenly torture.
It was wonderful to feel that thin,

168
00:14:26,519 --> 00:14:31,720
bony arm pressing against his almost you
could hear the beating of that other heart.

169
00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,279
Wonderful to feel that arm and the
temptation to take it in your two

170
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,480
hands. And to end it and
twist it, and then to hear the

171
00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:48,320
bones crack, crack, crack.
Wonderful to feel that temptation rise through one's

172
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:56,320
body like boiling water, and yet
not to yield to it. For a

173
00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:01,840
moment, Phenix's hand touched Foster's.
Then he drew himself apart. We're at

174
00:15:01,879 --> 00:15:05,440
the village. This is the hotel
where they all come in the summer.

175
00:15:07,279 --> 00:15:11,799
We turn off at the right here. I'll show you my tarn, your

176
00:15:11,879 --> 00:15:18,080
tarn, asked Foster. Forgive my
ignorance, but what is a tarn?

177
00:15:18,279 --> 00:15:24,679
Exactly? A tarn is a miniature
lake, a pool of water lying in

178
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:31,600
the lap of the hill, very
quiet, lovely, silent. Some of

179
00:15:31,639 --> 00:15:37,120
them are immensely deep. I should
like to see that. It is some

180
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:43,799
little distance up a rough road.
Do you mind not a bit? I

181
00:15:43,919 --> 00:15:50,799
have long legs. Some of them
are immensely deep, unfathomable. Nobody touched

182
00:15:50,799 --> 00:15:56,399
the bottom, but quiet, like
glass with shadows. Only do you know,

183
00:15:56,519 --> 00:16:00,720
Fennick. But I have always been
a free of water. I've never

184
00:16:00,799 --> 00:16:04,799
learned to swim. I'm afraid to
go out of my depth. Isn't that

185
00:16:04,919 --> 00:16:10,240
ridiculous? But it is all because
at my private school. Years ago,

186
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,240
when I was a small boy,
some big fellows took me and held me

187
00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:18,360
with my head under the water,
and nearly drowned me they did. Indeed,

188
00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:22,480
they went farther than they meant to. I can see their faces.

189
00:16:22,919 --> 00:16:27,679
Fennick considered this. The picture leapt
to his mind. He could see the

190
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:33,440
boys, large strong fellows probably,
and this little skinny thing like a frog,

191
00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,600
their thick hands about his throat,
his legs like gray sticks kicking out

192
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:44,240
of the water, and their laughter, their sudden sense that something was wrong.

193
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:49,639
The skinny body all flaccid, and
still he drew a deep breath.

194
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,360
Foster was walking beside him, now
not ahead of him, as though he

195
00:16:55,399 --> 00:17:03,159
were a little afraid and needed reassurance. Indeed had changed before. And behind

196
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,640
them stretched the uphill path, loose
with shale and stones. On their right,

197
00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,000
on a ridge at the foot of
the hill were some quarries, almost

198
00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:15,720
deserted, but the more melancholy in
the fading afternoon, because the little work

199
00:17:15,799 --> 00:17:19,839
still continued. There, faint sounds
came from the gaunt, listening chimneys.

200
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:25,880
A stream of water ran and tumbled
angrily into a pool below. Once and

201
00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,480
again a black silhouette like a question
mark, appeared against the darkening hill.

202
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:36,640
It was a little steep here,
and Foster puffed and blue. Fennick hated

203
00:17:36,759 --> 00:17:41,079
him the more for that, so
thin and spare, and still he could

204
00:17:41,079 --> 00:17:45,839
not keep in condition. They stumbled, keeping below the quarry, on the

205
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,759
edge of the running water, now
green, now a dirty white gray,

206
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:56,039
pushing their way along the side of
the hill. Their faces were set now

207
00:17:56,119 --> 00:18:00,759
towards Helvellyn. It rounded the cups
of hills, closed in the base,

208
00:18:00,039 --> 00:18:07,119
and then sprawling to the right.
There's the tarn, Fennick exclaimed, and

209
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,519
then added, The sun's not lasting
as long as I had expected. It's

210
00:18:11,519 --> 00:18:17,960
growing dark already. Foster stumbled and
caught Pheneck's arm. This twilight makes the

211
00:18:18,039 --> 00:18:22,200
hills look strange, like living men. I can scarcely see my way.

212
00:18:23,839 --> 00:18:30,720
We're alone here, Fennick answered,
don't you feel the stillness? The men

213
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:36,640
will have left the quarry now and
gone home. There is no one in

214
00:18:36,759 --> 00:18:41,039
all this place but ourselves. If
you watch, you will see a strange

215
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,559
green light steal down over the hills. It lasts but for a moment,

216
00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:52,240
and then it is dark. Ah, here is my tarn. Do you

217
00:18:52,319 --> 00:18:59,079
know how I love this place,
Foster. It seems to belong especially to

218
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,519
me, just as much as all
your work and your glory and fame and

219
00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:10,079
success seem to belong to you.
I have this and you have that.

220
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:18,759
Perhaps in the end we are even
after all. Yes, but I feel

221
00:19:18,759 --> 00:19:22,880
as though that piece of water belonged
to me and I to it, and

222
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:30,240
as though we should never be separated. Yes, isn't it black? It

223
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:36,440
is one of the deep ones.
No one has ever sounded it. Only

224
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,839
hell Vellin knows. And one day
I fancy that it will take me to

225
00:19:41,519 --> 00:19:48,720
into its confidence, will whisp its
secrets? Foster sneezed. Very nice,

226
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:56,440
very beautiful, Fenic. I like
your tarn charming. And now let's turn

227
00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,119
back. That is a difficult walk
beneath the quarry. It's chilly too.

228
00:20:02,759 --> 00:20:07,359
Do you see that little jetty there? Fenick led Foster by the arm.

229
00:20:07,559 --> 00:20:11,519
Someone bilked that out into the water. He had a boat there, I

230
00:20:11,559 --> 00:20:17,200
suppose, come and look down from
the end of the little jetty. It

231
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:22,599
looked so deep, and the mountains
seemed to close round. Fennick took Foster's

232
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,640
arm and led him to the end
of the jetty. Indeed, the water

233
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:33,839
looked deep here, deep and very
black. Foster peered down. Then he

234
00:20:33,839 --> 00:20:38,480
looked up at the hills that did
indeed seem to have gathered close around him.

235
00:20:38,519 --> 00:20:44,599
He sneezed again, I've caught a
cold. I'm afraid. Let's turn

236
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,400
homewards Fenick, or we shall never
find our way home. Then said Fenick,

237
00:20:49,799 --> 00:20:56,039
and his hands closed about the thin, scraggy neck. For the instant

238
00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:02,920
the head half turned, and too
startled strangely. Childish eyes stared. Then,

239
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,759
with a push that was ludicrously simple, the body was impelled forward,

240
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,319
and there was a sharp cry,
a splash, a stir of something white

241
00:21:11,559 --> 00:21:18,799
against the swiftly gathering dusk. Again
and then again, then father spreading ripples.

242
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:27,640
Then silence. The silence extended,
Having enwrapped the tarn, it spread

243
00:21:27,799 --> 00:21:34,079
as though with finger on lip,
to the already quiescent hills. Fenix shared

244
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:40,160
in the silence. He luxuriated in
it. He did not move at all.

245
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,720
He stood there, looking upon the
inky water of the tarn, his

246
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,160
arms folded, a man lost in
intensest thought. But he was not thinking.

247
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:56,079
He was only conscious of a warm, luxurious relief, a sensuous feeling

248
00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:03,200
that was not thought at all.
Foster was gone, that tiresome, prating,

249
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:10,359
conceited, self satisfied fall, gone, never to return. The tarn

250
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:15,599
assured him of that. It stared
back into Fenix's face approvingly, as though

251
00:22:15,599 --> 00:22:21,000
it said, you have done well, a clean and necessary job. We

252
00:22:21,079 --> 00:22:25,799
have done it together, you and
I. I am proud of you.

253
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:32,240
He was proud of himself. At
last he had done something definite with his

254
00:22:32,319 --> 00:22:37,839
life. Thought, eager, active
thought was beginning now to flood his brain.

255
00:22:37,559 --> 00:22:41,680
For all these years, he had
hung around in this place doing nothing

256
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:49,799
but cherished grievances, weak backboneless.
Now at last there was action. He

257
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:56,079
drew himself up and looked at the
hills. He was proud, and he

258
00:22:56,119 --> 00:23:00,319
was cold. He was shivering.
He turned up the collar of his coat.

259
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:04,279
Yes, there was the faint green
light always lingered in the shadows of

260
00:23:04,319 --> 00:23:10,039
the hills for a brief moment before
darkness came. It was growing late.

261
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,599
He had better return. Shivering now
so that his teeth chattered, he started

262
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,880
off down the path, and then
was aware that he did not wish to

263
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:25,880
leave the tarn. The tarn was
friendly, the only friend he had in

264
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,480
all the world. As he stumbled
along in the dark. This sense of

265
00:23:30,559 --> 00:23:36,799
loneliness grew. He was going home
to an empty house. There had been

266
00:23:36,799 --> 00:23:41,720
a guest in it last night.
Who was it? Wife Foster? Of

267
00:23:41,759 --> 00:23:47,240
course, Foster, with his silly
laugh and amiable, mediocre eyes. Well

268
00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:51,880
Foster would not be there now,
No, he would never be there again.

269
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,920
And suddenly Fennick started to run.
He did not know why, except

270
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:02,839
that now that he had left the
tarn, he was lonely. He wished

271
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:04,960
that he could have stayed there all
night, but because he was cold,

272
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:08,680
he could not, And so now
he was running, so that he might

273
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,880
be at home, with the lights
and the familiar furniture and all the things

274
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:18,680
that he knew to reassure him.
As he ran, the shale and stones

275
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,759
scattered beneath his feet. They made
a tit tattering noise under him, and

276
00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:26,359
someone else seemed to be running too. He stopped, and the other runner

277
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:33,920
also stopped. He breathed in the
silence. He was hot now. The

278
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,160
perspiration was trickling down his cheeks.
He could feel a dribble of it down

279
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,759
his back inside his shirt. His
knees were pounding, his heart was thumping,

280
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:48,119
and all around him the hills were
so amazingly silent now, like India

281
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,680
rubber clouds that you could push in
or pull out, as you do those

282
00:24:52,759 --> 00:24:56,599
India rubber faces, gray against the
night sky of a crystal purple, upon

283
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:02,559
whose surface, like the twinkling eyes
of boats at sea, stars were now

284
00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:07,559
appearing. His knees steadied, his
heart beat less fiercely, and he began

285
00:25:07,599 --> 00:25:11,920
to run again. Suddenly he had
turned the corner and was out at the

286
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:18,359
hotel. Its lamps were kindly and
reassuring. He walked then quietly along the

287
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:23,160
lakeside path, and had it not
been for the certainty that someone was treading

288
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:29,319
behind him, he would have been
comfortable and at his ease. He stopped

289
00:25:29,319 --> 00:25:33,319
once or twice and looked back.
And once he stopped and called out,

290
00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:41,359
who's there? Only the rustling trees
answered. He had the strangest fancy,

291
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,759
But his brain was throbbing so fiercely
that he could not think that it was

292
00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:51,759
the tarn that was following him,
the tarn slipping sliding along the road,

293
00:25:52,319 --> 00:25:56,079
being with him so that he should
not be lonely. He could almost hear

294
00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:03,200
the tarn whisp in his ear that
together, and so I do not wish

295
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,960
you to bear all the responsibility yourself. I will stay with you so that

296
00:26:08,039 --> 00:26:14,359
you are not lonely. He climbed
the road towards home, and there were

297
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,160
the lights of his house. He
heard the gate click behind him, as

298
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,200
though it was shutting him in.
He went into the sitting room, lighted

299
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,640
and ready there were the books that
Foster had admired. The old woman who

300
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:32,079
looked after him appeared. Will you
be having some tea, sir? No,

301
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,519
thank you Annie. Will the other
gentleman be wanting any No, the

302
00:26:37,559 --> 00:26:41,960
other gentleman is away for the night. Then there will only be one for

303
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:48,079
supper. Yes, only one for
supper. He sat in the corner of

304
00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:56,400
the sofa and fell instantly into a
deep slumber. He woke when the old

305
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,640
woman tapped him on the shoulder and
told him that supper was served. The

306
00:27:00,759 --> 00:27:06,839
room was dark save for the jumping
light of two uncertain candles. Those two

307
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:11,119
red candlesticks. How he hated them
up there on the mantelpiece. He had

308
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,160
always hated them, and now they
seemed to him to have something of the

309
00:27:15,319 --> 00:27:22,200
quality of Foster's voice, that thin, reedy, piping tone. He was

310
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,599
expecting at every moment that Foster would
enter and yet he knew that he would

311
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:33,319
not. He continued to turn his
head towards the door, but it was

312
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,640
so dark there that you could not
see. The whole room was dark,

313
00:27:37,839 --> 00:27:42,400
except just there by the fireplace,
where the two candlesticks went whining with their

314
00:27:42,559 --> 00:27:48,240
miserable, twinkling plaint. He went
into the dining room and sat down to

315
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:55,000
his meal, but he could not
eat anything. It was odd that place

316
00:27:55,119 --> 00:28:00,440
by the table where Foster's chair should
be, odd, naked, and made

317
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,839
a man feel lonely. He got
up once from the table and went to

318
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:08,559
the window, opened it, and
looked out. He listened for something.

319
00:28:10,799 --> 00:28:15,359
A trickle as of running water,
a stir through the silence, as though

320
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,519
some deep pool were filling to the
brim, A rustle in the trees.

321
00:28:19,599 --> 00:28:26,440
Perhaps an owl hooted sharply, as
though someone had spoken to him unexpectedly,

322
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,519
behind his shoulder. He closed the
window and looked back, peering under his

323
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:37,799
dark eyebrows into the room. Later
on he went up to bed. Had

324
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:44,160
he been sleeping or had he been
lying lazily as one does, half dozing,

325
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:49,079
half luxuriously not thinking? He was
wide awake, now utterly awake,

326
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:55,240
and his heart was beating with apprehension. It was as though someone had called

327
00:28:55,319 --> 00:29:00,400
him by name. He slept always
with his window a little open and blind

328
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:06,839
up to night. The moonlight shadowed
in sickly fashion the objects in his room.

329
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,440
It was not a flood of light, nor yet a sharp splash,

330
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,839
silvering a square, a circle,
throwing the rest into ebony blackness. The

331
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,759
light was dim, a little green, perhaps like the shadow that comes over

332
00:29:21,799 --> 00:29:26,640
the hills just before dark. He
stared at the window, and it seemed

333
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:33,599
to him that something moved there within, or rather against the green gray light.

334
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:40,920
Something silver tinted, glistened. Phenix
stared. It had the look exactly

335
00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:47,400
of slipping water. Slipping water.
He listened his head up, and it

336
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:51,400
seemed to him that from beyond the
window he caught the stir of water,

337
00:29:51,799 --> 00:29:56,799
not running, but rather welling up
and up, gurgling with satisfaction as it

338
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:02,440
filled and filled. He sat up
higher in bed, and then saw that

339
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,680
down the wall paper beneath the window
water was undoubtedly trickling. He could see

340
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:12,279
it lurched to the projecting wood of
the sill, pause, and then slip

341
00:30:12,599 --> 00:30:21,640
slither down the incline. The odd
thing was that it fell so silently beyond

342
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:26,400
the window there was that odd gurgle, but in the room itself absolute silence.

343
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:33,319
Whence could it come? He saw
the line of silver rise and fall

344
00:30:33,359 --> 00:30:37,880
as the stream on the window ledge
ebbed and flowed. He must get up

345
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,319
and close the window. He drew
his legs above the sheets and blankets and

346
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:48,039
looked down. He shrieked. The
floor was covered with a shining film of

347
00:30:48,079 --> 00:30:52,279
water. It was rising as he
looked. It had covered half the short,

348
00:30:52,319 --> 00:30:56,200
stumpy legs of the bed. It
rose without a wink, a bubble,

349
00:30:56,359 --> 00:31:00,559
a brake over the sill. It
poured now in a steady flow,

350
00:31:00,799 --> 00:31:07,000
but soundless. Fennick sat back in
the bed, The clothes gathered to his

351
00:31:07,079 --> 00:31:11,440
chin, his eyes blinking, the
Adam's apple throbbing like a throttle in his

352
00:31:11,559 --> 00:31:17,400
throat. But he must do something, He must stop this. The water

353
00:31:17,519 --> 00:31:21,039
was now level with the seats of
the chairs, but still was soundless.

354
00:31:21,519 --> 00:31:26,319
Could he but reach the door.
He put down his naked foot, then

355
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:33,000
cried again. The water was icy
coal. Suddenly leaning staring at its dark,

356
00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:38,079
unbroken sheen, Something seemed to push
him forward. He fell his head.

357
00:31:38,319 --> 00:31:42,839
His face was under the icy liquid. It seemed adhesive and in the

358
00:31:42,839 --> 00:31:48,480
heart of its ice, hot like
melting wax. He struggled to his feet.

359
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:55,839
The water was breast high. He
screamed again and again. He could

360
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,960
see the looking glass, the row
of books, the picture of Durah's horse,

361
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:05,720
aloof impervious. He beat at the
water, and flakes of it seemed

362
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,480
to cling to him like scales of
fish, clammy to his touch. He

363
00:32:09,599 --> 00:32:15,000
struggled, plowing his way towards the
door. The water was nowt his neck.

364
00:32:15,599 --> 00:32:21,440
Then something had caught him by the
ankle. Something held him. He

365
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:25,400
struggled, crying, let me go, let me go. I tell you

366
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:30,000
to let me go. I hate
you. I hate you. I will

367
00:32:30,119 --> 00:32:37,079
not come down to you. I
will not. The water covered his mouth.

368
00:32:37,319 --> 00:32:44,440
He felt that someone pushed in his
eyeballs would bare knuckles. A cold

369
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:51,440
hand reached up and caught his naked
thigh. In the morning, the little

370
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,759
maid knocked, and, receiving no
answer, came in as was her wont

371
00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:00,839
with his shaving water. What she
saw made her sam She ran for the

372
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:07,880
gardener. They took the body,
with its staring, protruding eyes, its

373
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,880
tongue sticking out between the clenched teeth, and laid it on the bed.

374
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:17,279
The only sign of disorder was an
overturned water jug. A small pool of

375
00:33:17,319 --> 00:33:23,319
water stained the carpet. It was
a lovely morning. A twig of ivy

376
00:33:23,559 --> 00:33:31,640
idly in the little breeze, tapped
the pane end of the tarn