WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:06.759 The closed window by A. C. Benson. The Tower of 2 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:10.439 Nort stood in a deep angle of the Downs. Formerly 3 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.880 an old road led over the hill, but it is 4 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.559 now a green track covered with turf, the later highway 5 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.480 choosing rather to cross a low saddle of the ridge 6 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.920 for the sake of the beasts of burden. The tower, 7 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:27.239 originally built to guard the great road, was a plain, strong, 8 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:31.719 thick walled fortress. To the tower had been added a 9 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.159 plain and seemly house, where the young Sir Mark de 10 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:40.240 Nort lived very easily and plentifully. To the south stretched 11 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.520 the great Wood of Nort, but the tower stood high 12 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.320 on an elbow of the down, sheltered from the north 13 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:50.280 by the great green hills. The villagers had an odd, 14 00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:54.119 ugly name for the tower, which they called the Tower 15 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:57.719 of Fear, but the name was falling into disuse and 16 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.280 was only spoken, and that heedlessly by ancient men, because 17 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.439 Sir Mark was vexed to hear it. So called Sir 18 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.120 Mark was not yet thirty and had begun to say 19 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.959 that he must marry a wife, but he seemed in 20 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.840 no great haste to do so, and loved his easy, 21 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.560 lonely life, with plenty of hunting and walking on the down. 22 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:23.920 With him lived his cousin and heir Rowland Elise, a heedless, 23 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:26.680 good tempered man, a few years older than Sir Mark. 24 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:29.400 He had come on a visit to Sir Mark when 25 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:31.760 he first took possession of the tower, and there had 26 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:34.760 seemed no reason why he should go away. The two 27 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.400 suited each other. Sir Mark was sparing of speech, fond 28 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:43.040 of books and of rhymes. Rowland was different, loving ease 29 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.680 and wine and talk, and finding in Mark a good listener. 30 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.959 Mark loved his cousin and thought it praiseworthy of him 31 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.680 to stay and help to cheer. So sequestered a house 32 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:58.439 since there were few neighbors within reach. And yet Mark 33 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.519 was not wholly content with his easy life. There were 34 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:05.319 many days when he asked himself why he should go 35 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.599 thus quietly on day by day like a stalled ox. 36 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.479 Still there appeared no reason why he should do otherwise. 37 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:16.639 There were but few folk on his land, and they 38 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.840 were content. Yet he sometimes envied them their bondage and 39 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:24.960 their round of daily duties. The only place where he 40 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.400 could else have been was with the army, or even 41 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.560 with the court. But Sir Mark was no soldier, and 42 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.520 even less of a courtier. He hated tedious gaiety, and 43 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.120 it was a time of peace. So because he loved 44 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.680 solitude and quiet, he lived at home, and sometimes thought 45 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:45.120 himself but half a man. Yet he was happy after 46 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.919 a sort, but for a kind of little hunger of 47 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:52.639 the heart. What gave the tower so dark a name 48 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:56.639 was the memory of old Sir James de Nort, Mark's grandfather, 49 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.360 an evil and secret man who had dwelt at nought 50 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:04.360 under some strange shadow. He had driven his son from 51 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:06.719 his doors, and lived at the end of his life 52 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:10.560 with his books and his own close thoughts, spying upon 53 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:15.919 the stars and tracing strange figures in books. Since his death, 54 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:18.560 the old room in a turret top, where he came 55 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:21.840 by his end in a dreadful way, had been closed. 56 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:25.159 It was entered by a turret door with a flight 57 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:28.680 of steps from the chamber below. It had four windows, 58 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.960 one to each of the winds, but the window which 59 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.560 looked upon the down was fastened up and secured with 60 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:41.479 a great shutter of oak. One day of heavy rain, Roland, 61 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:45.400 being wearied of doing nothing and vexed because Mark sat 62 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:48.159 so still in a great chair reading in a book, 63 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:50.879 said to his cousin at last that he must go 64 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:53.479 and visit the old room in which he had never 65 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.520 set foot. Mark closed his book, and, smiling indulgently at 66 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:03.680 Rolin's restlessness, rose, stretching himself, and got the key, and 67 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.199 together they went up the turret stairs. The key groaned 68 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:11.360 loudly in the lock, and when the door was thrown back, 69 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.400 there appeared a high, faded room, with a timbered roof 70 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:20.319 and with a close, dull smell. Round the walls were presses, 71 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.720 with the doors fast. A large oak table with a 72 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.120 chair beside it, stood in the middle. The walls were 73 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.920 otherwise bare and rough. The spiders had spun busily over 74 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:35.319 the windows and in the angles. Roland was full of questions, 75 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:37.519 and Mark told him all he had heard of old 76 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:40.399 Sir James and his silent ways, but said that he 77 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:43.399 knew nothing of the disgrace that had seemed to envelop him, 78 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.319 or of the reasons why he had so evil a name. 79 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:49.959 Roland said that he thought it a shame that so 80 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:53.399 fair of rooms should lie so nastily, and pulled one 81 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.319 of the casements open, when a sharp gust broke into 82 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.759 the room, with so angry a burst of rain that 83 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.240 he closed it again in haste. Little by little, as 84 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:05.480 they talked, a shadow began to fall upon their spirits, 85 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:08.160 till Roland declared that there was still a blight upon 86 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:10.560 the place, and Mark told him of the death of 87 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.519 old Sir James, who had been found after a day 88 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.839 of silence, when he had not set foot outside his chamber, 89 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:20.800 lying on the floor of the room strangely bedabbled with 90 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.839 wet and mud, as though he had come off a 91 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.560 difficult journey, speechless and with a look of anguish on 92 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:29.959 his face, and that he had died soon after they 93 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:35.000 had found him, muttering words that no one understood. Then 94 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.160 the two young men drew near to the closed window. 95 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.519 The shutters were tightly barred, and across the panels were 96 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:47.480 scrawled in red in an uncertain hand, the words clouded 97 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:52.319 at nemo aperit, which Mark explained was the Latin for 98 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:58.279 the text he shutteth and none openeth. And then Mark 99 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:01.000 said that the story went that it was ill for 100 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:04.000 the man that opened the window, and that shut it 101 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.680 should remain for him. But Roland girded at him for 102 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:10.519 his want of curiosity, and had laid a hand upon 103 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:13.000 the bar as though to open it, But Mark forbade 104 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:18.639 him urgently, nay, said, he let it remain, so we 105 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.240 must not meddle with the will of the dead. And 106 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:24.120 as he said the words, there came so furious a 107 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.759 gust upon the windows that it seemed as though some 108 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.800 stormy thing would beat them open. So they left the 109 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:35.639 room together, and presently descending, found the sun struggling through 110 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:40.759 the rain. But both Mark and Roland were sad and 111 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.519 silent all that day, for though they spake not of it, 112 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.800 there was desire in their minds to open the closed 113 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.959 window and to see what would befall. In Roland's mind, 114 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.439 it was like the desire of a child to peep 115 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.759 into what is forbidden. But in Mark's mind a sort 116 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.720 of shame to be so bound by an old and 117 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:06.240 weak tale of superstition. Now it seemed to Mark for 118 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:09.120 many days that the visit to the turret room had 119 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:13.360 brought a kind of shadow down between them. Roland was 120 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:16.680 peevish and ill at ease, and ever the longing grew 121 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:19.800 upon Mark so strongly that it seemed to him that 122 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:23.519 something drew him to the room, some beckoning of a 123 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:28.360 hand or calling of a voice. Now, one bright and 124 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:31.639 sunshiny morning it happened that Mark was left alone within 125 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.399 the house. Rowland had ridden out early, not saying where 126 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:39.480 he was bound, and Mark sat more listlessly than was 127 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.120 his wont and played with the ears of his great 128 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.040 dog that sat with his head upon his master's knee, 129 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:48.600 looking at him with liquid eyes, and doubtless wondering why 130 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:52.920 Mark went not abroad. Suddenly, Sir Mark's eye fell upon 131 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:54.920 the quay of the upper room, which lay on the 132 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:57.639 window ledge where he had thrown it, and a desire 133 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:59.560 to go up and pluck the heart from the little 134 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:01.639 mystery came upon him with a strength that he could 135 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:05.759 not resist. He rose twice and took up the key, and, 136 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:09.839 fingering it doubtfully, laid it down again. Then suddenly he 137 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.360 took it up and went swiftly into the turret stair 138 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:15.600 and up, turning, turning till his head was dizzy with 139 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:18.279 the bright peats of the world through the loophole windows. 140 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.639 Now all was green where a window gave on the down, 141 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.480 and now it was all clear air and sun, the 142 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:29.439 warm breeze coming pleasantly into the cold stairway. Presently Mark 143 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.920 heard the pattering of feet on the stair below, and 144 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.000 knew that the old hound had determined to follow him, 145 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.759 and he waited a moment at the door, half pleased 146 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.320 in his strange mood to have the company of a 147 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:43.480 living thing. So when the dog was at his side, 148 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:47.279 he stayed no longer, but opened the door and stepped 149 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.679 within the room. The room, for all its faded look, 150 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:56.480 had a strange air about it, and though he could 151 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:00.720 not say why, Mark felt that he was surely expected. 152 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:04.720 He did not hesitate, but walked to the shutter and 153 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.600 considered it for a moment. He heard a sound behind him. 154 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:11.279 It was the old hound, who sat with his head aloft, 155 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:15.240 sniffing the air uneasily. Mark called him and held out 156 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.639 his hand, but the hound would not move. He wagged 157 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:20.879 his tail as though to acknowledge that he was called, 158 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:25.639 and then he returned to his uneasy quest. Mark watched 159 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.120 him for a moment and saw that the old dog 160 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:30.480 had made up his mind that all was not well 161 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.320 in the room, for he lay down, gathering his legs 162 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.519 under him, on the threshold, and watched his master with 163 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:41.840 frightened eyes, quivering visibly, Mark no lighter of heart, and 164 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:44.960 in a kind of fearful haste, pulled the great staple 165 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.120 off the shutter and set it on the ground, and 166 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:51.399 then wrenched the shutter's back. The space revealed was largely 167 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.600 filled by old and dusty webs of spiders, which Mark 168 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.440 lightly tore down, using the staple of the shutters to 169 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:01.480 do this. It was with a strain shock of surprise 170 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.879 that he saw that the window was dark, or nearly so. 171 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.639 It seemed as though there were some further obstacle outside, 172 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:12.039 Yet Mark knew that from below, the leaded panes of 173 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.759 the window were visible. He drew back for a moment, but, 174 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.399 unable to restrain his curiosity, wrenched the rusted casement open. 175 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.879 But still all was dark without, and there came in 176 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.279 a gust of icy wind from outside. It was as 177 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.519 though something had passed him swiftly, and he heard the 178 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.960 old hound utter a strangled howl. Then turning, he saw 179 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:38.519 him spring to his feet, with his hair bristling and 180 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:42.159 his teeth bare, And next moment the dog turned and 181 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:47.519 leapt out of the room. Mark, left alone, tried to 182 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.879 curb a tide of horror that swept through his veins. 183 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.279 He looked round at the room flooded with the southerly sunlight, 184 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:58.000 and then he turned again to the dark window, and, 185 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:02.080 putting a strong constraint upon himself, leaned out and saw 186 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:06.080 a thing which bewildered him so strangely that he thought 187 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.879 for a moment his senses had deserted him. He looked 188 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:14.000 out on a lonely, dim hill side covered with rocks 189 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.879 and stones. The hill came up close to the window, 190 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:19.159 so that he could have jumped down upon it, the 191 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:23.120 wall below seeming to be built into the rocks. It 192 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:27.039 was all dark and silent, like a clouded night, with 193 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.279 a faint light coming from whence he could not see. 194 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.039 The hill sloped away very steeply from the tower, and 195 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.000 he seemed to see a plain beyond, where at the 196 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.799 same time he knew that the down ought to lie 197 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.360 in the plain, there was a light like the fire 198 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.559 lit window of a house. A little below him, some 199 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.039 shape like a crouching man, seemed to run and slip 200 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:54.679 among the stones, as though suddenly surprised and seeking to escape. 201 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:57.200 Side by side with the deadly fear which began to 202 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:00.480 invade his heart, came an uncontrollable desire to leap down 203 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:03.320 among the rocks. And then it seemed to him that 204 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:07.679 the figure below stood upright and began to beckon him. 205 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:10.159 There came over him a sense that he was in 206 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.759 deadly peril, and like a man on the edge of 207 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.759 a precipice who has just enough will left to try 208 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:19.840 to escape, he drew himself by main force away from 209 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:24.320 the window, closed it, put the shutters back, replaced the staple, 210 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.600 and his limbs all trembling, crept out of the room, 211 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:33.399 feeling along the walls like a palsied man. He locked 212 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:37.000 the door, and then, his terror overpowering him, he fled 213 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:40.919 down the turret stairs, hardly thinking what he did. He 214 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.639 came out on the court and going to the great 215 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.919 well that stood in the center of the yard. He 216 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:49.000 went to it and flung the key down, hearing it 217 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.840 clink on the sides as it fell. Even then he 218 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:56.279 dared not re enter the house, but glanced up and down, 219 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.919 gazing about him, while the cloud of fear and horror, 220 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:08.000 by insensible degrees dispersed, leaving him weak and melancholy. Presently, 221 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:11.720 Roland returned full of talk, but broke off to ask 222 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:15.480 if Mark were ill. Mark, with a kind of surliness, 223 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:19.759 an unusual mood for him, denied it somewhat sharply. Roland 224 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:24.679 raised his eyebrows and said no more, but prattled on presently. 225 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.639 After a silence, he said to Mark, what did you 226 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.279 do all the morning? And it seemed to Mark as 227 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:34.559 though this were accompanied by a spying look. An unreasonable 228 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:37.360 anger seized him. What does it matter to you what 229 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.000 I did? He said? May not I do what I 230 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:44.919 like in my own house? Doubtless, said Roland, and sate 231 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:49.360 silent with uplifted brows. Then he hummed a tune and 232 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:54.240 presently went out. They sate at dinner that evening with 233 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:58.960 long silences, contrary to their wont though Mark bestirred himself 234 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:03.639 to ask questions. When they were left alone, Mark stretched 235 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:08.519 out his hand to Roland, saying, Roland, forgive me. I 236 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:10.639 spoke to you this morning in a way of which 237 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:15.120 I am ashamed. We have lived so long together, and 238 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:18.039 yet we came nearer to quarreling to day than we 239 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:23.159 have ever done before, And it was my fault. Roland 240 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:26.639 smiled and held Mark's hand for a moment. Oh, I 241 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.919 had not given it another thought, he said. The wonder 242 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.960 is that you can bear with an idle fellow as 243 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:35.360 you do. Then they talked for a while with the 244 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:39.080 pleasant glow of friendliness. That two good comrades feel when 245 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:43.559 they have been reconciled. Late in the evening, Roland said, 246 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.639 was there any story Mark about your grandfather's leaving any 247 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:52.399 treasure of money behind him? The question grated somewhat unpleasantly 248 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:56.960 upon Mark's mood, but he controlled himself and said, no, 249 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.679 none that I know of, except that he found the 250 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.480 estate rich and left it poor. And what he did 251 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:05.840 with his revenues, no one knows. You had better ask 252 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:08.080 the old men of the village. They know more about 253 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:12.399 the house than I do. But Rowland forgive me once 254 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.039 more if I say that I do not desire Sir 255 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.799 James's name to be mentioned between us. I wish we 256 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.559 had not entered his room. I do not know how 257 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.799 to express it, but it seems to me as though 258 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.799 he had sate there, waiting quietly to be summoned, and 259 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:32.440 as though we had troubled him, and as though he 260 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:36.159 had joined us. I think he was an evil man, 261 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.360 close and evil. And there hangs in my mind a 262 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:44.159 verse of Scripture where Samuel said to the witch, why 263 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:48.559 hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? Oh? He 264 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:52.399 went on, I do not know why I talk wildly thus, 265 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.120 for he saw that Roland was looking at him with 266 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:59.279 astonishment with parted lips. But a shadow has fallen upon me, 267 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:05.080 and there seems evil abroad. From that day forward a 268 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:07.679 heaviness lay on the spirit of Mark that could not 269 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.639 be scattered. He felt, he said to himself, as though 270 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.600 he had meddled lightheartedly with something far deeper and more 271 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.279 dangerous than he had supposed, like a child that has 272 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:24.679 aroused some evil beast that slept. He had dark dreams too. 273 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.480 The figure that he had seen among the rocks seemed 274 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:30.919 to peep and beckon him with a mocking smile over 275 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:36.480 perilous places where he followed unwilling. But the heavier he grew, 276 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:40.279 the lighter hearted Rowland became. He seemed to walk in 277 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:43.679 some bright vision of his own, intent upon a large 278 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.399 and gracious design. One day he came into the hall 279 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.399 in the morning, looking so radiant that Mark cast him 280 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.519 half enviously. What he had to make him so glad? Glad? 281 00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:00.480 Said Roland? Oh, I know it. Merry dreams? Perhaps, what 282 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.000 do you think of a good grave fellow who beckons 283 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.640 me on with a brisk smile and shows me places 284 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:10.400 wonderful places under banks and in woodland pits, where riches 285 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:14.799 lie piled together. I am sure that some good fortune 286 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:19.960 is preparing for me, Mark, but you shall share it. Then, Mark, 287 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.000 seeing in his words a certain likeness with a difference 288 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:28.319 to his own dark visions, pressed his lips together and sate, 289 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:34.680 looking stonily before him. At last, one still evening of spring, 290 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:38.480 when the air was intolerably languid and heavy for mankind, 291 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:42.920 but full of sweet promises for trees and hidden peeping things. 292 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.960 Though a lurid redness of secret thunder had lain all 293 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:50.079 day among the heavy clouds in the plain, the two 294 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:54.880 dined together. Mark had walked alone that day and had 295 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.960 lain upon the turf of the down, fighting against a 296 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.119 weariness that seemed to be poisoning the very springs of 297 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:05.160 life within him. But Roland had been brisk and alert, 298 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:09.359 coming and going upon some secret and busy errand with 299 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.039 a fragment of a song upon his lips, like a 300 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.039 man preparing to set off for a far country, who 301 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:19.079 is glad to be gone. In the evening, after they 302 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.440 had dined, Rowland had let his fancy rove in talk. 303 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:28.240 If we were rich, He said, how we would transform 304 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:32.240 this old place. It is fair enough for me, said 305 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:35.519 Mark heavily, and Roland had chidden him lightly for his 306 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:41.359 somber ways and sketched new plans of life. Mark, wearied 307 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:46.319 and yet excited, with an intolerable heaviness of spirit, went 308 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.519 early to bed, leaving Roland in the hall. After a 309 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:54.759 short and broken sleep, he awoke and, lighting a candle, 310 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:00.400 read idly and gloomily to pass the heavy hours. The 311 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:04.559 house seemed full of strange noises that night. Once or 312 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.559 twice came a scraping and a faint hammering in the wall. 313 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.759 Light footsteps seemed to pass in the turret, but the 314 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.079 tower was always full of noises, and Mark heeded them. 315 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:20.039 Not At last, he fell asleep again, to be suddenly 316 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:23.519 awakened by a strange and desolate crying that came. He 317 00:19:23.640 --> 00:19:26.880 knew not whence, but seemed to wail upon the air. 318 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.680 The old dog who slept in Mark's room heard it too, 319 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.920 He was sitting up in a fearful expectancy. Mark rose 320 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:37.920 in haste, and taking the candle, went into the passage 321 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:41.039 that led to Roland's room. It was empty, but a 322 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.160 light burned there and showed that the room had not 323 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:48.359 been slept in full of a horrible fear. Mark returned 324 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:51.440 and went in hot haste up the turret steps, fear 325 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:55.079 and anxiety struggling together in his mind. When he reached 326 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:58.440 the top, he found the little door broken forcibly open 327 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.680 and a light within. He cast a haggard look round 328 00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:04.799 the room, and then the crying came again, this time 329 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:10.200 very faint and desolate. Mark cast a shuddering glance at 330 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:13.960 the window. It was wide open and showed a horrible 331 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.839 liquid blackness round the bar in the center that divided 332 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:21.319 the casements. There was something knotted. He hastened to the 333 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.519 window and saw that it was a rope which hung heavily. 334 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:28.640 Leaning out, he saw that something dangled from the rope 335 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:31.880 below him, and then came the crying again. Out of 336 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:35.839 the darkness, like the crying of a lost spirit. He 337 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:38.319 could see, as in a bitter dream, the outline of 338 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.240 the hateful hillside, but there seemed to his disordered fancy 339 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.440 to be a tumult of some kind below. Pale lights 340 00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:48.240 moved about, and he saw a group of forms which 341 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:50.640 scattered like a shoal of fish. When he leaned out, 342 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:54.880 he knew that he was looking upon a scene that 343 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:58.640 no mortal eye ought to behold, and it seemed to 344 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:02.319 him at the moment as though he were staring straight 345 00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:08.119 into hell. The rope went down among the rocks and disappeared, 346 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.000 but Mark clenched it firmly, and, using all his strength, 347 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.119 which was great, drew it up hand over hand. As 348 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:18.599 he drew it up, he secured it in loops round 349 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.400 the great oak table. He began to be afraid that 350 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:24.400 his strength would not hold out, and once, when he 351 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:27.359 returned to the window after securing a loop, a great 352 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:31.079 hooded thing like a bird flew noiselessly at the window 353 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:35.359 and beat its wings. Presently he saw that the form 354 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:38.119 which dangled on the rope was clear of the rocks below. 355 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:40.680 It had come up through them as though they were 356 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.960 but smoke. And then his task seemed to him more 357 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:48.680 sore than ever. Inch by painful inch, he drew it up, 358 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:53.799 working fiercely and silently. His muscles were tense, and drops 359 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:56.920 stood on his brow, and the veins hammered in his ears. 360 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:01.240 His breath came and went in sharp sobs. At last 361 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:03.640 the form was near enough for him to seize it. 362 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.799 He grasped it by the middle and drew Roland, for 363 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:11.240 it was Rowland over the window sill. His head dangled 364 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.720 and drooped from side to side. His face was dark 365 00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:19.359 with strangled blood, and his limbs hung helpless. Mark drew 366 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.279 his knife and cut the rope that was tied under 367 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:24.960 his arms. The helpless limbs sank huddling on the floor. 368 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:29.960 Then Mark looked up at the window. A few feet 369 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.119 from him was a face more horrible than he had supposed, 370 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.680 a human face, if it was human, indeed could be. 371 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:41.880 It was deadly, white and hatred, baffled, rage and a 372 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:45.680 sort of devilish malignity glared from the white set eyes 373 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.319 and the drawn mouth. There was a rush from behind him. 374 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.240 The old hound, who had crept up unawares into the 375 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:55.559 room with a fierce outcry of rage, sprang on to 376 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.359 the window sill. Mark heard the scraping of his claws 377 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:02.119 upon the stone. There. The hound leaped through the window, 378 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:04.599 and in a moment there was the sound of a 379 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:09.359 heavy fall outside. At the same instant, the darkness seemed 380 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:12.640 to lift and draw up like a cloud. A bank 381 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:15.920 of blackness rose past the window and left the dark 382 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.799 outline of the down with a sky sown with tranquil stars. 383 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:24.799 The cloud of fear and horror that hung over Mark 384 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:28.759 lifted too. He felt in some dim way that his 385 00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:33.240 adversary was vanquished. He carried Roland down the stairs and 386 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.440 laid him on his bed. He roused the household, who 387 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:40.000 looked fearfully at him, and then his own strength failed. 388 00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:43.400 He sank upon the floor of his room, and a 389 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:49.440 dark tide of unconsciousness closed over him. Mark's return to 390 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:53.319 health was slow. One who has looked into the unknown 391 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:56.519 finds it hard to believe again in the outward shows 392 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.400 of life. His first conscious speech was to ask for 393 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:03.079 his hound. They told him that the body of the 394 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:06.400 dog had been found horribly mangled, as though by the 395 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:09.279 teeth of some fierce animal, at the foot of the tower. 396 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:12.960 The dog was buried in the garden, with a slab 397 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:19.240 above him, on which other words huij serve bone et fidelis. 398 00:24:20.279 --> 00:24:22.480 A silly priest once said to Mark that it was 399 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:25.000 not meet to write scripture over the grave of a beast. 400 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.799 But Mark said warily that an inscription was for those 401 00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:31.960