Speaker 1: The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson. Every night in
Speaker 1: the year forever sat in the small parlor of the
Speaker 1: George at Debenham, the Undertaker and the Landlord, and Fetis
Speaker 1: and myself. Sometimes there'd be more, but blow high, blow low,
Speaker 1: com rain, or snow or frost. We four would be
Speaker 1: each planted in his own particular arm chair. Fettis was
Speaker 1: an old, drunken scotchman, a man of education, obviously, and
Speaker 1: a man of some property since he lived in idleness.
Speaker 1: He'd come to Debenham years ago while still young, and
Speaker 1: by a mere continuance of living, had grown to be
Speaker 1: an adopted townsman. His blue camlet cloak was a local antiquity,
Speaker 1: like the church spire, his place in the parlor at
Speaker 1: the George, his absence from church, his old, crapulous, disreputable
Speaker 1: vices were all things. Of course, in Debenham. He had
Speaker 1: some vague, radical opinions and some fleeting infidelities, which he
Speaker 1: would now and again set forth and emphasize with tottering
Speaker 1: slaps upon the table. He drank rum five glasses regularly
Speaker 1: every evening, and for the greater portion of his nightly
Speaker 1: visit to the George sat with his glass in his
Speaker 1: right hand, in a state of melancholy alcoholic saturation. We
Speaker 1: called him the Doctor, for he was supposed to have
Speaker 1: some special knowledge of medicine, and had been known upon
Speaker 1: a pinch to set a fracture or reduce a dislocation.
Speaker 1: But beyond these slight particulars we had no knowledge of
Speaker 1: his character and antecedents. One dark winter night, it had
Speaker 1: struck nine some time before the Landlord joined us, there
Speaker 1: was a sick man, and the George, a great neighboring proprietor,
Speaker 1: suddenly struck down with apoplexy on his way to Parliament,
Speaker 1: and the great Man's still greater London doctor had been
Speaker 1: telegraphed to his bedside. It was the first time that
Speaker 1: such a thing had happened in Debenham, for the railway
Speaker 1: was but newly open, and we were all proportionately moved
Speaker 1: by the occurrence. He's come, said the Landlord, after he
Speaker 1: had filled and light at his pipe. He said, I
Speaker 1: who not the doctor himself, replied our host, Then what's
Speaker 1: his name? Doctor mac Farland said The Landlord Fetters was
Speaker 1: far through his third tumbler, stupidly fonddled now nodding over now,
Speaker 1: staring maisly around him. But at the last word he
Speaker 1: seemed to awaken and repeat the name mac Farland twice,
Speaker 1: quietly enough the first time, but with certain sudden emotion
Speaker 1: at the second. Yes, said the landlord, that's his name,
Speaker 1: Doctor Wulf mac Farland. Fes became instantly sober, his eyes awoke,
Speaker 1: his voice became clear, loud and steady, his language forcible
Speaker 1: and earnest. We were all startled by the transformation, as
Speaker 1: if a man had risen from the dead. I beg
Speaker 1: your pardon, he said, I am afraid I have not
Speaker 1: been paying much attention to your talk. Who is this
Speaker 1: Wolf mac Farlane? And then, when he had heard the
Speaker 1: landlord ot, it cannot be, it cannot be, he added,
Speaker 1: Yet I would like well to see him face to face.
Speaker 1: Do you know him, doctor, asked the undertaker, with a gasp.
Speaker 1: God forbid was the reply in. Yet the name is
Speaker 1: a strange one. It were too much to fancy too.
Speaker 1: Tell me, Landlord, is he old, well, said the host.
Speaker 1: He's not a young man, to be sure, and his
Speaker 1: hair is white, but he looks younger than you. He
Speaker 1: is older, though years older, but with a slap upon
Speaker 1: the table. It's the rum you see in me face,
Speaker 1: rum and sin. This man perhaps may have an easy
Speaker 1: conscience and a good digestion conscience. Hear me speak, he
Speaker 1: would think I was some good, old, decent Christian, would
Speaker 1: you not? But no, not I. I never canted. Voltaire
Speaker 1: might have canted if it stood in my shoes. But
Speaker 1: that the brains with a rattling Philip on his bald head.
Speaker 1: The brains were clear and active, and I saw and
Speaker 1: made no deductions. If you know this, doctor, I ventured
Speaker 1: to remark, after a somewhat awful paut, I should gather
Speaker 1: that you do not share the landlord's good opinion. Fedis
Speaker 1: paid no regard to me. Yes, he said, with sudden decision,
Speaker 1: I must see him face to face. There was another pause,
Speaker 1: and then a door was closed rather sharply on the
Speaker 1: first floor, and a step was heard upon the stair
Speaker 1: that's the doctor, cried the landlord. Look look sharp, and
Speaker 1: you can catch him. It was but two steps from
Speaker 1: the small parlor to the door of the old George Inn.
Speaker 1: The wide oak staircase landed almost in the street. There
Speaker 1: was room for a turkey rug and nothing more between
Speaker 1: the threshold and the last round of the descent. But
Speaker 1: this little space was every evening brilliantly lit up, not
Speaker 1: only by the light upon the stair and the great
Speaker 1: signal lamp below the sign, but by the warm radiance
Speaker 1: of the bar room window. The George thus brightly advertised
Speaker 1: itself to pass her spy in the cold street. Fedis
Speaker 1: walked steadily to the spot, and we, who were hanging behind,
Speaker 1: beheld the two men meet, as one of them had
Speaker 1: phrased it, face to face. Doctor mac farland was alert
Speaker 1: and vigorous, his white hair set off his pail, and
Speaker 1: placid said although energetic countenance. He was richly dressed in
Speaker 1: the finest of broadcloth and the whitest of linen, with
Speaker 1: a great gold watch chain and studs and spectacles of
Speaker 1: the same precious material. He wore a broad folded tie,
Speaker 1: white and speckled with the lilac, and he carried on
Speaker 1: his arm a comfortable driving coat of fur. There was
Speaker 1: no doubt but he became his years, breathing as he did,
Speaker 1: of wealth and consideration. And it was a surprising contrast
Speaker 1: to see our parlors sot bald, dirty, pimpled and robed
Speaker 1: in his old camlet Cloak confront him at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the stairs. Mac Farland, he said, somewhat loudly, more
Speaker 1: like a herald than a friend. The great doctor pulled
Speaker 1: up short on the fourth step, as though the familiarity
Speaker 1: of the address surprised and somewhat shocked his dignity. Tade
Speaker 1: mac Farland repeated Ferris. The London men almost staggered. He
Speaker 1: stared for the swiftest of seconds at the man before him,
Speaker 1: glanced behind him with a sort of scare, and then
Speaker 1: in a startled whisper fettis he said, you aye, said
Speaker 1: the other me. Did you think I was dead too?
Speaker 1: We are not so easy shot of our acquaintance. Hush, hush,
Speaker 1: explained the doctor. Hush, hush, this meeting is so unexpected.
Speaker 1: I can see you are unmanned. I hardly knew you,
Speaker 1: I confess at first. But I am overjoyed, overjoyed to
Speaker 1: have this opportunity. For the present it must be how
Speaker 1: do you do? And good bye? In one for my
Speaker 1: fly is waiting and I must not fail the train.
Speaker 1: But you shall let me see. Yes, you shall give
Speaker 1: me your address, and you can count on early news
Speaker 1: of me. We must do something for you fettis. I
Speaker 1: fear you were out at elbows. But we must see
Speaker 1: to that. For old langzan As once we sang at suppers,
Speaker 1: money cried fetis, money from you. The money that I
Speaker 1: had from you is lying when I cast it in
Speaker 1: the rain. Doctor mac farland had talked himself into some
Speaker 1: measure of superiority and confidence. But the uncommon energy of
Speaker 1: this refusal cast him back into his first confusion. A horrible,
Speaker 1: ugly look came and went across his almost venerable countenance.
Speaker 1: But my dear fellow, he said, be it, be it
Speaker 1: as you please. My last thought is to offend you
Speaker 1: a I would intrude on none. I will leave you
Speaker 1: my address, However I do not wish it. I do
Speaker 1: not wish to know the roof that shelters you interrupted
Speaker 1: the other I heard your name. I feared it might
Speaker 1: be you. I wished to know if, after all there
Speaker 1: were a god. I know now there is none. Be gone.
Speaker 1: He still stood in the midst of the rug between
Speaker 1: the stairs and the doorway, and the great London Physician,
Speaker 1: in order to escape, would be forced to step to
Speaker 1: one side. It was plain that he hesitated before the thought
Speaker 1: of this humiliation. Quite as he was, there was a
Speaker 1: dangerous glitter in his spectacles. But while he still paused, uncertain,
Speaker 1: he became aware that the driver of his fly was
Speaker 1: peering in from the street at this unusual scene, and
Speaker 1: caught a glimpse at the same time of our little
Speaker 1: body from the parlor by the corner of the barn.
Speaker 1: The presence of so many witnesses sided him at once
Speaker 1: to flee. He crouched together, brushing on the wainscot, and
Speaker 1: made a dart like a serpent, striking for the door.
Speaker 1: But his tribulation was not yet entirely at an end,
Speaker 1: for even as he was passing, Fetis clutched him by
Speaker 1: the arm, and these words came in a whispering, yet
Speaker 1: painfully distinct. Have you seen it again? The great rich
Speaker 1: London doctor, cried out aloud with a sharp, throttling cry.
Speaker 1: He dashed his questioner across the open space, and with
Speaker 1: his hands over his head, fled out the door like
Speaker 1: a detected thief. Before it had occurred to one of
Speaker 1: us to make a movement, the flight was already rattling
Speaker 1: toward the station. The scene was over, like a dream,
Speaker 1: but the dream had left proofs and traces of its passage.
Speaker 1: The next day the servant found the fine gold spectacles
Speaker 1: broken on the threshold, And that very night we were
Speaker 1: all standing breathless by the barroom window, and Fetis at
Speaker 1: are aside, sober and pale and resolute in look, God
Speaker 1: protect us, mister Fettis, said the landlord, coming first into
Speaker 1: possession of his customary senses. What in the universe is
Speaker 1: all this? These are strange things you have been saying.
Speaker 1: Fetis turned toward us. He looked us, each in succession
Speaker 1: in the face. See if you can hold your tongue,
Speaker 1: said he, That man mac Farland is not safe to cross.
Speaker 1: Those that have done so already have repented it too late.
Speaker 1: And then, without so much as finishing his third glass,
Speaker 1: far less waiting for the other two, he bade us
Speaker 1: good by and went forth under the lamp of the
Speaker 1: hotel into the black night. We three turned to our
Speaker 1: places in the parlor and the big red fire and
Speaker 1: four clear candles, and as we recapitulated what had passed,
Speaker 1: the first chill of our surprise soon changed into a
Speaker 1: glow of curiosity. We sat late. It was the latest
Speaker 1: session I have known in the old George. Each man
Speaker 1: before we parted had his theory that he was bound
Speaker 1: to prove. And none of us had any nearer business
Speaker 1: in this world than to track out the past of
Speaker 1: our condemned companion. And I suppose the secret that he
Speaker 1: shared with the great London doctor. It's no great boast,
Speaker 1: but I believe I was a better hand at worming
Speaker 1: out a story than either of my fellows at the George.
Speaker 1: And perhaps there is now no other man alive who
Speaker 1: could narrate it to you and tell you the following
Speaker 1: foul and unnatural events. In his young days, Fetis studied
Speaker 1: medicine and schools of Edinburgh. He had talent of a kind,
Speaker 1: the talent that picks up swiftly on what it hears
Speaker 1: and readily retails it for its own. He worked little
Speaker 1: at home, but he was civil, attentive, and intelligent in
Speaker 1: the presence of his masters. They soon picked him out
Speaker 1: as a lad who listened closely and remembered well. Nay
Speaker 1: strange as it seemed to me when I first heard it,
Speaker 1: He was in those days well favored and pleased by
Speaker 1: his exterior. There was at that period a certain extramural
Speaker 1: teacher of anatomy, whom I shall here designate by the
Speaker 1: letter K. His name was subsequently too well known, the
Speaker 1: man who bore its s cult through the streets of
Speaker 1: Edinburgh in disguise, while the mob that applauded at the
Speaker 1: execution of Burke called loudly for the blood of his employer.
Speaker 1: But mister Kay was then at the top of his
Speaker 1: beaux vogue. He enjoyed a popularity due partly to his
Speaker 1: own talent and addressed partly to the incapacity of his rival,
Speaker 1: the university professor. The students at least swore by his name,
Speaker 1: and Fetis believed himself and was believed by others, to
Speaker 1: have laid the foundations of success when he had acquired
Speaker 1: the favor of this meteorically famous man. Mister Kay was
Speaker 1: a beau vivant as well as an accomplished teacher. He
Speaker 1: liked a sly allusion no less than a careful preparation.
Speaker 1: In both capacities, Fetis enjoyed and deserved his notice, and
Speaker 1: by the second year of his attendance he held the half
Speaker 1: regular position of second demonstrator or sub assistant in his class.
Speaker 1: In this capacity, the charge of the theater and lecture
Speaker 1: room devolved in particular upon his shoulders. He had to
Speaker 1: answer for the cleanliness of the premises and the conduct
Speaker 1: of the other students, and it was a part of
Speaker 1: his duty to supply, receive, and divide the various subjects.
Speaker 1: It was with a view to this last, at that
Speaker 1: time very delicate affair, that he was lodged by mister
Speaker 1: Kay in the same wind and at last in the
Speaker 1: same building with the dissecting room. Here, after a night
Speaker 1: of turbulent pleasures, his hands still tottering, his sight still
Speaker 1: misty and confused, he would be called out of bed
Speaker 1: in the black hours before the winter dawn by the
Speaker 1: unclean and desperate interlopers who supplied the table. He would
Speaker 1: open the door to these men, since infamous throughout the land.
Speaker 1: He would help them with their tragic burden, pay them
Speaker 1: their sordid price, and remain alone when they were gone
Speaker 1: with the unfriendly relics of humanity. From such a scene,
Speaker 1: would return to snatch another hour or two of slumber,
Speaker 1: to repair the abuses of the night, and refresh himself
Speaker 1: for the labors of the day. Few lads could have
Speaker 1: been more insensible to the impressions of a life thus
Speaker 1: passed among the ensigns of mortality. His mind was closed
Speaker 1: against all general considerations. He was incapable of interest in
Speaker 1: the fate and fortunes of another, the slave of his
Speaker 1: own desires and low ambitions, cold light and selfish. In
Speaker 1: the last resort, he had that modicum of prudence miscalled morality,
Speaker 1: which keeps a man from inconvenient drunkenness or punishable theft.
Speaker 1: He coveted besides a measure of consideration from his masters
Speaker 1: and his fellow pupils, and he had no desire to
Speaker 1: fail conspicuously in the external parts of life. Thus he
Speaker 1: made it his pleasure to gain some distinction in his studies,
Speaker 1: and day of to day rendered unimpeachable eye service to
Speaker 1: his employer, mister Kay. For his day of work, he
Speaker 1: indemnified himself by knights of roaring blackguardly enjoyment, And when
Speaker 1: that balance had been struck, the organ that he called
Speaker 1: his conscience declared his self content. The supply of subjects
Speaker 1: was a continual trouble to him as well as to
Speaker 1: his master. In that large and busy class. The raw
Speaker 1: material of the anatomists kept perpetually running out, and the
Speaker 1: business thus rendered necessary was not only unpleasant in itself,
Speaker 1: but threatened dangerous consequences to all who were concerned. It
Speaker 1: was the policy of mister Kay to ask no questions
Speaker 1: in his dealings with the trade. They bring the body,
Speaker 1: and we pay the price, he used to say, dwelling
Speaker 1: on the alliteration quid pro quo, and again, somewhat profanely
Speaker 1: ask no questions. He would tell his assistance for conscience sake.
Speaker 1: There was no understanding that the subjects were provided by
Speaker 1: the crime of murder. Had that idea had been broached
Speaker 1: to him in words, he would have recoiled in horror.
Speaker 1: But the likeness of his speech upon so grave a
Speaker 1: matter was in itself an offense against good manners, and
Speaker 1: a temptation to the men with whom he dealt. Fetis,
Speaker 1: for instance, had often remarked to himself upon the singular
Speaker 1: freshness of the bodies, he had been struck again and
Speaker 1: again by the hang dog abominable look of the Ruffians
Speaker 1: who came to him before the dawn, and putting things
Speaker 1: together clearly in his private thoughts he perhaps attributed a
Speaker 1: meaning too immoral and too categorical to the unguarded councils
Speaker 1: of his master. He understood his duty, in short, to
Speaker 1: have three branches, to take what was brought, to pay
Speaker 1: the price, and to avert the eye from any evidence
Speaker 1: of crime. One November morning, this policy of silence was
Speaker 1: put sharply to the test. He had been awake all
Speaker 1: night with a racking toothache, pacing his room like a
Speaker 1: caged beast, or throwing himself in fury on his bed,
Speaker 1: and had fallen at last into that profound, uneasy slumber
Speaker 1: that so often follows on a night of pain. When
Speaker 1: he was awakened by the third or fourth angry repetition
Speaker 1: to concerted signal, there was a thin, bright moonshine. It
Speaker 1: was bitter cold, windy, and frosty. The town had not
Speaker 1: yet awakened, but an indefinable stir already precluded the noise
Speaker 1: and business of the day. The ghouls had come later
Speaker 1: than usual, and they seemed more than usually eager to
Speaker 1: be gone. Fedis sick with sleep lighted them upstairs. He
Speaker 1: heard their grumbling irish voices through a dream, and as
Speaker 1: they stripped the sack from their sad merchandise, he leaned,
Speaker 1: dozing with his shoulder propped against the wall. He had
Speaker 1: to shake himself to find the men their money, As
Speaker 1: he did so, his eyes lighted on the dead face.
Speaker 1: He started. He took two steps nearer with the candle. Right,
Speaker 1: God Almighty, that is Jane Gollbraith. The men answered nothing,
Speaker 1: but they shuffled nearer the door. Why I know where,
Speaker 1: I tell you, he continued. She was alive and hearty yesterday.
Speaker 1: It's impossible she can be dead. It's it's impossible. You
Speaker 1: should have got this body fairly, chaucer. You must iChon entirely,
Speaker 1: said one of the men. But the other looked feedis
Speaker 1: darkly in the eyes and demanded the money on the spot.
Speaker 1: It was impossible to misconceive the threat or to exaggerate
Speaker 1: the danger. The lad's heart failed him. He stammered some excuses,
Speaker 1: counted out the summon, saw his hateful visitors depart. No
Speaker 1: sooner were they gone than he hastened to confirm his
Speaker 1: doubts by a dozen unquestionable marks. He identified the girl
Speaker 1: he had jested with the day before. He saw with
Speaker 1: horror marks upon her body that might well betoken violence.
Speaker 1: The panic seized him, and he took refuge in his room.
Speaker 1: There he reflected at length over the discovery that he
Speaker 1: had made, considered soberly the bearing of mister Kay's instructions
Speaker 1: and the danger to himself of interference in so serious
Speaker 1: a business, and at last, in sore perplexity, determined to
Speaker 1: wait for the advice of his immediate superior, the class assistant.
Speaker 1: This was a young doctor Wolf mac farlane, a high
Speaker 1: favorite among all the reckless students. Clever, dissipated, and unscrupulous
Speaker 1: to the last degree. He had traveled and studied abroad.
Speaker 1: His manners were agreeable and a little forward. He was
Speaker 1: an authority on the stage, skillful on the ice or
Speaker 1: the links, with skate or golf club. He dressed with
Speaker 1: nice audacity, and to put the finishing touch upon his glory,
Speaker 1: he kept a gig in a strong trotting horse with fettis.
Speaker 1: He was on terms of intimacy. Indeed, their relative positions
Speaker 1: called for some community of life, and when subjects were scarce,
Speaker 1: the pair would drive far into the country in mc
Speaker 1: farland's gig, visit and desecrate some lonely graveyard, and returned
Speaker 1: before dawn with their booty to the door of the
Speaker 1: dissecting room. On that particular morning, mc farland arrived somewhat
Speaker 1: earlier than his wont Fetts heard him and met him
Speaker 1: on the stairs, told him his story, and showed him
Speaker 1: the cause of his alarm. Mac farland examined the marks
Speaker 1: on her body. Yes, he said, with a nod, it
Speaker 1: looks fishy. Well, well what should I do? Asked Fetis?
Speaker 1: Do repeat the other? Do you want to do anything? Least?
Speaker 1: Said soonest men? Did? I should say? Some one else
Speaker 1: might recognize her, objected Fettis. She was as well known
Speaker 1: as the castle rock, we'll hope not, said mc farland.
Speaker 1: And but it does well you didn't, don't you say?
Speaker 1: And there's an end to it. The fact is this
Speaker 1: has been going on too long. Stir up the mud
Speaker 1: and you'll get kay into the most unholy trouble. You'll
Speaker 1: be in a shocking box yourself, So will I if
Speaker 1: you come to that. I should like to know how
Speaker 1: any of us would look, or what the devil we
Speaker 1: should have to say for ourselves in any Christian witness box.
Speaker 1: For me, you know there's one thing certain that practically speaking,
Speaker 1: all our subjects have been murdered. MacFarland cried, Fettis, come now,
Speaker 1: sneered the other, as if you hadn't suspected it yourself. Well,
Speaker 1: Suspecting is one thing, and proof another. Yes, I know,
Speaker 1: and I'm as sorry as you are. This should have
Speaker 1: come here tapping the body with his cane. The next
Speaker 1: best thing for me is not to recognize it, and
Speaker 1: he added coolly, I don't you may if you please.
Speaker 1: I don't dictate, but I think a man of the
Speaker 1: world would do as I do, And I may add
Speaker 1: I fancy that is what kay would look for at
Speaker 1: your hands. The question, of course, is why did each
Speaker 1: choose us too for his assistance? And I answered because
Speaker 1: he didn't want old wives. This was the tone of
Speaker 1: all others to affect the mind of a lad like Feedis.
Speaker 1: He agreed to imitate mac farlane. The body of the
Speaker 1: unfortunate girl was duly dissected, and no one remarked or
Speaker 1: appear to recognize her. One afternoon in his day's works
Speaker 1: were over, Fedis dropped into a popular tavern and found
Speaker 1: mac Farland sitting with a stranger. This was a small man,
Speaker 1: very pale and dark, with cold black eyes. The cut
Speaker 1: of his features gave a promise of intellect and refinement,
Speaker 1: which was but feebly realized in his manners, For he
Speaker 1: proved upon a nearer acquaintance. Coarse, vulgar, and stupid. He exercised, however,
Speaker 1: a very remarkable control over. MacFarlane issued orders like the
Speaker 1: Great bashoror became inflamed at the least discussion or delay,
Speaker 1: and commented rudely on the civility with which he was
Speaker 1: a babe. This most offensive person took a fancy to
Speaker 1: feedis on the spot, plied him with drinks, and honored
Speaker 1: him than usual confidences on his past career. If a
Speaker 1: tenth part of what he confessed were true, he was
Speaker 1: a very loathsome rogue, and the lad's vanity was tickled
Speaker 1: by the attention of so experienced a man. I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty bad fellow myself, the stranger remarked. But mac farland,
Speaker 1: he's a boy, Toddy mc farland. I call him totty.
Speaker 1: Why are you find another glass? Or it might be
Speaker 1: totty you jump up and shut the door Toarty hates me?
Speaker 1: He said again, Oh yes, totty you do. Don't you
Speaker 1: call me that confounded name, growled mc farland. Hear him.
Speaker 1: Did you ever see the lads play knife? He'd like
Speaker 1: to do that all over my body, remarked the stranger.
Speaker 1: We medicals have a better way than that, said Fettis.
Speaker 1: When we dislike a dead friend of ours, we dissect him.
Speaker 1: Mc farland looked up sharply, as though this jest was
Speaker 1: scarcely to his mind. The afternoon passed, Gray, for that
Speaker 1: was the stranger's name, invited Fettis to join them at dinner,
Speaker 1: ordered a feasts so sumptuous that the tavern was thrown
Speaker 1: in commotion, and when all was done, commanded mac farland
Speaker 1: to settle the bill. It was late before they separated.
Speaker 1: The man Gray was incapably drunk. MacFarland, sobered by his fury,
Speaker 1: chewed to the cut of the money he had been
Speaker 1: forced to squander, and the slights he had been obliged
Speaker 1: to swallow, Fedis, with various liquors singing in his head,
Speaker 1: returned home with devious footsteps and a mind entirely in abeyance.
Speaker 1: Next day mac farland was absent from the class, and
Speaker 1: Feedis smiled to himself as he imagined him still squiring
Speaker 1: the intolerable Gray from tavern to tavern. As soon as
Speaker 1: the hour of liberty had struck, he posted from place
Speaker 1: to place in quest of his last night's companions. He
Speaker 1: could find them however, nowhere, so returned early to his rooms,
Speaker 1: went early to bed, and slept the sleep of the trust.
Speaker 1: At four in the morning, he was awakened by the
Speaker 1: well known signal. Descending to the door, he was filled
Speaker 1: with astonishment to find mac farlane with his gig, and
Speaker 1: in the gig one of those long and ghastly packages
Speaker 1: with which he was so well acquainted. What, he cried,
Speaker 1: Have you been out alone? How did you manage? But
Speaker 1: mc farland silenced him, roughly, bidding him turn to business.
Speaker 1: When they had got the body upstairs and laid it
Speaker 1: on the table, mac farland made it first as if
Speaker 1: he were going away. Then he paused and seemed to hesitate.
Speaker 1: And then you had better look at the face, said
Speaker 1: mc farland, In terms of some constraint. You had better,
Speaker 1: he repeated, as Fetis only stared at him in wonder.
Speaker 1: But but where and how and when did you come by?
Speaker 1: It cried the other. Look at the face was the
Speaker 1: only answer. Fetis was staggered. Strange doubts assailed him. He
Speaker 1: looked from the young doctor to the body, and then
Speaker 1: back again. At last, with a start, he did as
Speaker 1: he was bidden. He had almost expected the sight that
Speaker 1: met his eyes, and yet the shock was cruel to
Speaker 1: see fixed him the rigidity of death, and naked on
Speaker 1: that course layer of sackcloth, the man whom he had
Speaker 1: left well clad and full of meat, and upon the
Speaker 1: threshold of a tavern, awoke even in the thoughtless Fetis
Speaker 1: some of the terrors of the conscience. It was a
Speaker 1: grass tibby which re echoed in his soul that two
Speaker 1: whom he had known should have come to lie upon
Speaker 1: these icy tables. Yet these were only secondary thoughts. His
Speaker 1: first concern regarded Wolf. Unprepared for a challenge so momentous,
Speaker 1: he knew not how to look his comrade in the face.
Speaker 1: He durst not meet his eye, and he had neither
Speaker 1: words nor voice at his command. It was mac Farland
Speaker 1: himself who made the first advance. He came up quietly
Speaker 1: behind and laid his hand gently but firmly on the
Speaker 1: other shoulder. Richardson said, he may have the head. Now.
Speaker 1: Richardson was a student who had long been anxious for
Speaker 1: that portion of the human subject to dissect. There was
Speaker 1: no answer, and the murderer resumed a talking of business.
Speaker 1: You must pay me your accounts, you see, must tally
Speaker 1: Fetis found a voice, the ghost of his own. Pay you,
Speaker 1: He cried you for that? Why, yes, yes, course you must,
Speaker 1: by all means, and on every possible account, you must
Speaker 1: returned the other. I dare not give it for nothing.
Speaker 1: You dare not take it for nothing. It would compromise
Speaker 1: us both. This is another case like Chain Galbraate's. The
Speaker 1: more things are wrong, the more we must act as
Speaker 1: if all were right. Where does O Kay keep his money? There,
Speaker 1: answered Feedis, hoarsely, pointing to a cupboard in the corner.
Speaker 1: Give me the key, then said the other, calmly, holding
Speaker 1: out his hand. There was an instant's hesitation, and the
Speaker 1: die was cast. Mac Farland could not suppress a nervous twitch,
Speaker 1: the infinitesimal mark of an immense relief, as he felt
Speaker 1: the key between his fingers. He opened the cupboard, brought
Speaker 1: out pen and ink, and a paper book that stood
Speaker 1: in one compartment and separated from the fronts in a drawer,
Speaker 1: a sum suitable to the occasion. Now look here, he said,
Speaker 1: there is the payment made, first proof of your good fate,
Speaker 1: first step to your security. You have now to clinch
Speaker 1: it by a second. Enter the payment in your book,
Speaker 1: and then you for your part may defy the devil.
Speaker 1: The next few seconds were for Fettis an agony of thought,
Speaker 1: but in balancing his terrors, it was the most immediate
Speaker 1: the triumph. Any future difficulty seemed almost welcome if he
Speaker 1: could avoid a present quarrel with mac farland. He set
Speaker 1: down the candle which he had been carrying all his time,
Speaker 1: and with his steady hand entered the date, the nature,
Speaker 1: and the amount of the transaction. And now said mc farland,
Speaker 1: it's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've
Speaker 1: had my share already by the bye. When a man
Speaker 1: of the world falls into a bit of luck, he
Speaker 1: has a few shillings extra in his pocket. I'm ashamed
Speaker 1: to speak of it, but there's a rule of conduct
Speaker 1: in the case. No treating, no purchase of expensive class books,
Speaker 1: no squaring of old debts, borrow, don't lend. Mac farland
Speaker 1: began feedtis, still somewhat hoarsely. I've put my neck a
Speaker 1: halter to oblige you, to oblige me, cried wolf. Come
Speaker 1: you did, as near as I can see the matter,
Speaker 1: what you downright had to do in self defense? Suppose
Speaker 1: I got into trouble, Where would you be this second
Speaker 1: little matter flows clearly from the first. Mister Gray, is
Speaker 1: the continuation of miss Galbray. You can't begin and then stop.
Speaker 1: If you begin, you must keep on beginning. That's the truth.
Speaker 1: No rest for the wicked. A horrible sense of blackness
Speaker 1: and the treachery of fate seized hold upon the soul
Speaker 1: of the unhappy student. My god, he cried, but what
Speaker 1: have I done? And when did I begin to be
Speaker 1: made a class assistant? In the name of reason? Where's
Speaker 1: the harm in that service wanted? The position service might
Speaker 1: have got it? Would he have been where I am now?
Speaker 1: My dear fellow, said mc crarly, What a boy you are?
Speaker 1: What harm has come to you? What harm can come
Speaker 1: to you? If you your tongue? Why? Men, do you
Speaker 1: know what this life is? There are two squads of us,
Speaker 1: the lions and the lambs. If you're a lamb, you'll
Speaker 1: come to lie upon these tables, like Gray or Jane Galbray.
Speaker 1: If you're a lion, you'll live and drive a horse
Speaker 1: like me, like Kay, like all the world with any
Speaker 1: witted courage. You're staggered at the first, But look at Kay,
Speaker 1: my dear fellow, you're clever. You have pluck. I like you,
Speaker 1: and Kay likes you. You were born to lead the hunt.
Speaker 1: And I tell you, on my honor and my experience
Speaker 1: of life, three days from now you'll laugh at all
Speaker 1: these scarecrows like a high school boy at a farce.
Speaker 1: And with that mac Farland took his departure and drove
Speaker 1: off up the wind in his gig to get under
Speaker 1: cover before daylight. Fedis was thus left alone with his regrets.
Speaker 1: He saw the miserable peril in which he stood involved.
Speaker 1: He saw with inexpressible dismay, that there was no limit
Speaker 1: to his weakness, and that from concession to concession he
Speaker 1: had fallen, from the arbiter of Macfarland's destiny to his
Speaker 1: paid and helpless accomplice. He would have given the world
Speaker 1: to have been a little braver at the time, but
Speaker 1: it did not occur to him that he might still
Speaker 1: be brave. The secret of Jane Galbray and the cursed
Speaker 1: entry in the day Book closed his mouth. Hours passed
Speaker 1: as the class began to arrive. The members of the
Speaker 1: Unhappy Gray were dealt out to one and to another,
Speaker 1: and received without remark. Richardson was made happy with the head,
Speaker 1: and before the hour of freedom, rang Fetis trembled with
Speaker 1: exultation to perceive how far they had already gone towards safety.
Speaker 1: For two days he continued to watch with increasing joy
Speaker 1: the dreadful process of disguise. On the third day, MacFarlane
Speaker 1: made his appearance. He had been ill, he said, but
Speaker 1: he made up for lost time by the energy with
Speaker 1: which he directed the student. To Richardson in particular, he
Speaker 1: extended the most valuable assistance and advice, and that student,
Speaker 1: encouraged by the praise of the demonstrator, burned high with
Speaker 1: ambition hopes, and saw the meddle already in his grasp.
Speaker 1: Before the week was out, mac Farland's prophecy had been fulfilled, Fedis,
Speaker 1: had outlived his terrors and had forgotten his baseness. He
Speaker 1: began to plume himself upon his courage, and had so
Speaker 1: arranged the story in his mind that he could look
Speaker 1: back on these events with an unhealthy pride of his accomplice.
Speaker 1: He saw. But little they met, of course, in the
Speaker 1: business of the class. They received their orders together from
Speaker 1: mister Kay. At times they had a word or two
Speaker 1: in private, and mac farland was from first to last
Speaker 1: particularly kind and jovial. But it was plain that he
Speaker 1: avoided any reference to their common secret, And even when
Speaker 1: Fedis whispered to him that he had cast in his
Speaker 1: lot with the lions and forsworn the lambs, he only
Speaker 1: signed to him smilingly, to hold his peace at length.
Speaker 1: An occasion arose which threw the pair once more into
Speaker 1: a closer union. Mister Kay was again short of subjects.
Speaker 1: Pupils were eager, and it was a part of this
Speaker 1: teacher's pretensions to be always well supplied. At the same time,
Speaker 1: there came the news of a burial in the rustic
Speaker 1: graveyard of Glen Coose. Time has little changed the place
Speaker 1: in question. It stood then as now upon a cross road,
Speaker 1: out of call of human habitations, and buried fathoms deep
Speaker 1: in the foliage of six cedar trees. The cries of
Speaker 1: the sheep upon the neighboring hills, the streamlets upon either hand,
Speaker 1: one loudly singing among pebbles, the other dripping furtively from
Speaker 1: pond to pond, the stir of the wind in the
Speaker 1: mountainous old flowering chestnuts, and once in seven days the
Speaker 1: voice of the bell, and the old tombs of the
Speaker 1: precenter were the only sounds that disturbed the silence round
Speaker 1: the rural church. The resurrection man, to use a by
Speaker 1: name of the period, was not to be deterred by
Speaker 1: any of the sanctities of customary piety. It was part
Speaker 1: of his trade to despise and desecrate the scrolls and
Speaker 1: trumpets of old tombs, the paths worn by the feet
Speaker 1: of worshippers and mourners, and the offerings and the inscription
Speaker 1: of bereaved affection to rustic neighborhoods where love is more
Speaker 1: than commonly tenacious, and where some bonds of blood or
Speaker 1: fellowship unite the entire society of a parish. The body snatcher,
Speaker 1: far from being repelled by natural respect, was attracted by
Speaker 1: the ease and safety of the task to bodies that
Speaker 1: had been laid in earth in joyful expectation of a
Speaker 1: far different awakening. There came that hasty, lamp lit terror,
Speaker 1: haunted resurrection of the spade and mattic. The coffin was forced,
Speaker 1: the crements torn, and the melancholy relics clad in sackcloth,
Speaker 1: after being rattled for hours on moonless byways, were at
Speaker 1: length exposed to uttermost indignities. For a class of gaping
Speaker 1: boys somewhat as two vultures may swoop upon a dying lamb.
Speaker 1: Fetus and MacFarlane were to be let loose upon a
Speaker 1: grave in that green and quiet resting place. The wife
Speaker 1: of a farmer, a woman who had lived for sixty
Speaker 1: years and been known for nothing but good butter and
Speaker 1: a godly conversation, was to be rooted from her grave
Speaker 1: at midnight and carried dead and naked to that far
Speaker 1: away city that she had always honored with her Sunday's best.
Speaker 1: The place beside her family was to be empty till
Speaker 1: the crack of doom, her innocent and almost venerable members
Speaker 1: to be exposed to that last curiosity of the anatomist.
Speaker 1: Late one afternoon, the pair set forth, well wrapped in
Speaker 1: cloaks and furnished with a formidable bottle. It rained without
Speaker 1: remission a cold, dense, lashing rain. Now and again there
Speaker 1: blew a puff of wind, but these sheets of falling
Speaker 1: water kept it down, bottle and all. It was a
Speaker 1: sad and silent drive as far as Pennacock, where they
Speaker 1: were to spend the evening. They stopped once to hide
Speaker 1: their implements in a thick bush not far from the churchyard,
Speaker 1: and once again at the Fisher's tryst to have a
Speaker 1: toast before the kitchen fire, and vary their nips of
Speaker 1: whisky with a glass of ale. When they reached their
Speaker 1: journey's end, the gig was The horse was fed and comforted,
Speaker 1: and the two young doctors, in a private room sat
Speaker 1: down to the best dinner and the best wine the
Speaker 1: house afforded. The lights, the fire, the beating rain upon
Speaker 1: the window, the cold, incongruous work that lay before them
Speaker 1: added zest to their enjoyment of the meal. With every
Speaker 1: glass their cordiality increased. Soon mac farland handed a little
Speaker 1: pile of gold to his companion, a compliment, he said,
Speaker 1: between friends, these little damned accommodations ought to fly like
Speaker 1: pipe lights. Ferris pocketed the money and applauded the sentiment
Speaker 1: to the echo. You are a philosopher, he cried, I
Speaker 1: was an ass till I knew you. You'll encave between
Speaker 1: you by the Lord Harry, but you'll make a man
Speaker 1: out of maid. Of course we will have lauded mc
Speaker 1: farland a man. I tell you, it required a man
Speaker 1: to back me up. The other morning, there are some
Speaker 1: big brawling forty year old cowards who would have turned
Speaker 1: sick at the sight of the damn thing. But not you.
Speaker 1: You kept your head. I watched you well, and why
Speaker 1: not Feris thus paunted himself. There was no affair of mine.
Speaker 1: There was nothing to gain on the one side but disturbance.
Speaker 1: And on the other I could count on your gratitude,
Speaker 1: don't you say? And he slapped his pocket till the
Speaker 1: gold pieces rang. Mac Farland somehow felt a certain touch
Speaker 1: of alarm at these unpleasant words. He may have regretted
Speaker 1: that he had taught his young companion so successfully, but
Speaker 1: he had no time to interfere. For the other noisily
Speaker 1: continued in this boastful strain. The great thing is not
Speaker 1: to be afraid. Now between you and me, I don't
Speaker 1: want to hang, and it's practical. But for all, count
Speaker 1: mac Farland, I was born with a contempt o God, devil, right, wrong, sin, crime,
Speaker 1: and all the other old gallery of curiosity. They may
Speaker 1: frighten boys, but men of the world like you and
Speaker 1: me despise them. Here's to the memory of Gray. It
Speaker 1: was by this time growing somewhat late. The gig, according
Speaker 1: to was brought round to the door with both lamps
Speaker 1: brightly shining, and the young men had to pay their
Speaker 1: bill and take the road. They announced that they were
Speaker 1: bound for Peebles, and drove in that direction till they
Speaker 1: were clear of the last houses of the town. Then,
Speaker 1: extinguishing the carriage lamps, were turned upon their course and
Speaker 1: followed a by road toward Glen Course. There was no
Speaker 1: sound but that of their own passage and the incessant,
Speaker 1: strident pouring of the rain. It was pitch dark, and
Speaker 1: here and there a white gate or a white stone
Speaker 1: in the wall guided them for a short space across
Speaker 1: the night. But for the most part it was at
Speaker 1: a foot pace and almost groping, that they picked their
Speaker 1: way through that resonant blackness to their solemn and isolated
Speaker 1: destination in the sunken woods that traverse the neighborhood of
Speaker 1: the burying ground. The last glimmer failed them, and it
Speaker 1: became necessary to kindle a match and re illumine one
Speaker 1: of the lanters of the gig. Thus, under the dripping trees,
Speaker 1: and environed by huge and moving shadows, they reached the
Speaker 1: scene of their unhallowed labors. They were both experienced in
Speaker 1: such affairs and powerful with the spade, and they had
Speaker 1: scarce been twenty minutes at their task before they were
Speaker 1: rewarded by a dull rattle on the coffin lid. At
Speaker 1: the same time, mac Farlane, having hurt his hand upon
Speaker 1: a stone, flung it carelessly above his head. The grave
Speaker 1: in which they now stood almost to the shoulders, was
Speaker 1: close to the edge of the plateau of the graveyard,
Speaker 1: and the gig lamp had been propped, the better to
Speaker 1: illuminate their labors. Against a tree, and on the immediate
Speaker 1: verge of the steep bank descending to the stream. Chance
Speaker 1: had taken a sure aim with the stone. Then came
Speaker 1: a clang of broken glass. Night fell upon them. Sounds,
Speaker 1: alternately dull and ringing, announced the bounding of the lantern
Speaker 1: down the bank, and its occasional collision with the trees.
Speaker 1: A stone or two, which it had dislodged in its descent,
Speaker 1: rattled behind it into the profundities of the glen. And
Speaker 1: then silence, like night resumed its sway, and they might
Speaker 1: bend their hearing to its utmost pitch, but naught was
Speaker 1: to be heard except the rain, now marching to the
Speaker 1: wind now steadily falling over miles of open country. They
Speaker 1: were so nearly at an end of their bared task,
Speaker 1: that they judged it wisest to complete it in the dark.
Speaker 1: The coffin was exhumed and broken open, the body inserted
Speaker 1: in the dripping sack, and carried between them to the gig,
Speaker 1: one mounted to keep it in its place, and the other,
Speaker 1: taking the horse by the mouth, roped along by wall
Speaker 1: and bush until they reached the wider road. By the
Speaker 1: fissure's tryst, here was a faint, diffused radiancy, which they
Speaker 1: hailed like daylight. By that they pushed the horse to
Speaker 1: a good pace, and began to rattle along merrily in
Speaker 1: the direction of the town. They had both been wetted
Speaker 1: to the skin during their operations, and now as the
Speaker 1: gig jumped among the deep ruts, the thing that stood
Speaker 1: propped between them fell now upon one, and now upon
Speaker 1: the other. At every repetition of the horrid contact, each
Speaker 1: instinctively repelled it with a greater haste, and the process
Speaker 1: natural enough, as it was began to tell upon the
Speaker 1: nerves of the companions. Mac Farland made some ill favored
Speaker 1: jest about the farmer's wife, but it came hollowly from
Speaker 1: his lips and was allowed to drop in silence. Still
Speaker 1: their unnatural burden bumped from side to side, And now
Speaker 1: the head would be laid, as if in confidence, upon
Speaker 1: their shoulders. And now the drenching sackcloth would flap icily
Speaker 1: about their faces. A creeping chill began to possess the
Speaker 1: soul of Fetis. He peered at the bundle, and it
Speaker 1: seemed somewhat larger than at first. All over the countryside,
Speaker 1: or from every degree of distance, the farm dogs accompanied
Speaker 1: their passage with tragic eululations. And it grew and grew
Speaker 1: upon his mind that some unnatural miracle had been accomplished,
Speaker 1: that some nameless change had befallen the dead body, and
Speaker 1: that it was in fear of their unholy burden. The
Speaker 1: dogs were howling. For God's sake, said he, making a
Speaker 1: great have to arrive at speech. For God's sakes, let's
Speaker 1: have a light. Seemingly, mac Farland was effected in the
Speaker 1: same direction, for though he made no reply, he stopped
Speaker 1: the horse, passed the reins to his companion, got down,
Speaker 1: and proceeded to kindle the remaining lamp. They had by
Speaker 1: that time got no further than the cross road down
Speaker 1: the och and clime The rain still poured as though
Speaker 1: the deluge were returning, and it was no easy matter
Speaker 1: to make a light in such a world of wet
Speaker 1: and darkness. When at last the flickering blue flame had
Speaker 1: been transferred to the wick and began to expand and clarify,
Speaker 1: and shed a wide circle of misty brightness round the gig,
Speaker 1: it became possible for the two young men to see
Speaker 1: each other and the thing they had along with them.
Speaker 1: The rain had molded the rough sacking to the outlines
Speaker 1: of the body underneath. The head was distinct from the trunk,
Speaker 1: the shoulders plainly modeled something at once spectral and human.
Speaker 1: Riveted their eyes upon the ghastly comrade of their drive.
Speaker 1: For some time, McFarland stood motionless, holding up the lamp.
Speaker 1: A nameless dread was swathed like a wet sheet about
Speaker 1: the body and tightened the white skin upon the face
Speaker 1: of fetis, A fear that was meaningless, a horror of
Speaker 1: what could not be kept mounting to his brain. Another
Speaker 1: beat of the watch and he had spoken, but his
Speaker 1: comrade forestalled him. It that is not a woman, said
Speaker 1: mac farland in a hushed voice. It was a woman
Speaker 1: when we put her in whispered, EDDI hold that lamp,
Speaker 1: said the other, I must must see her face. As
Speaker 1: Fetis took the lamp, his companion untied the fastenings of
Speaker 1: the sack and drew down the cover from the head.
Speaker 1: The light fell very clear upon the dark, well molded
Speaker 1: features and smooth shaven cheeks of a too familiar countenance
Speaker 1: often beheld in dreams of both of these young men.
Speaker 1: A wild yell rang up into the night. Each leaped
Speaker 1: from his own side into the roadway. The lamp fell
Speaker 1: broke and was extinguished, and the horse, terrified by this
Speaker 1: unusual commotion, bounded and went off towards Edinburgh at a gallop,
Speaker 1: bearing along with it sole occupant of the gig, the
Speaker 1: body of the dead and long dissected gray and of
Speaker 1: the body snatched by Robert Louis Stevenson