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Speaker 1: Markhaim by Robert Louis Stevenson. Yes, said the dealer. Our

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windfalls are of various kinds. Some customers are ignorant, and

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then I touch a dividend on my superior knowledge. Some

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are dishonest. And here he held up the candle so

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that the light fell strongly on his visitor. And in

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that case, he continued, I profit by my virtue. Markham

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had but just entered from the daylight streets, and his

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eyes had not yet grown familiar with the mingled shine

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and darkness in the shop. At these pointed words, and

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before the near presence of the flame, he blinked painfully

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and looked aside. The dealer chuckled. Ere you come to

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me on Christmas Day, he resumed, When you know that

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I I am alone in my house, put up my

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shutters and make a point of refusing business. Well, you

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will have to pay for that. You will have to

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pay for my loss of time when I should be

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balancing my books. You will have to pay besides, for

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a kind of manner that I remark in you to

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day very strongly. I am the essence of discretion, and

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asked no awkward questions. But when a customer cannot look

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me in the eye. He has to pay for it.

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The dealer once more chuckled, and then changing to his

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usual business voice, though still with a note of irony.

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You can give, as usual, a clear account of how

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you came into the possession of the object, he continued.

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Still your uncle's cabinet are remarkable, collector, sir, and the

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little pale, ranch olded dealer stood almost on tiptoe, looking

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over the top of his gold spectacles and nodding his

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head with ever remark of disbelief. Markheim returned his gaze

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with one of infinite pity and a touch of horror.

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This time said he you are in error. I have

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not come to sell, but to buy. I have no

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curios to dispose of my uncle's cabin that is bare

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to the wainscoat, even were it still intact. I have

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done well on the stock exchange, and should more likely

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add to it than otherwise. And my errand to day

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is simplicity itself. I seek a Christmas present for a lady,

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he continued, waxing more fluent as he struck into the

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speech he had prepared. Uncertainly, I owe you every excuse

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for thus disturbing you. Upon so small a matter. But

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the thing was neglected yesterday. I must produce my little

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compliment at dinner, and as you very well know, a

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rich marriage is not a thing to be neglected. There

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followed a pause, during which the dealer seemed to weigh

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the statement incredulously. The ticking of many clocks among the

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curious number of the shop on the faint rushing of

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the cabs in a near thoroughfare, filled up the interval

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of silence. Well, sir, said the dealer. Be it so,

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you are an old customer after all, and if, as

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you say, you have the chance of a good marriage,

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far be it from me to be an obstacle. Here

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is a nice thing for a lady. Now, he went on.

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This hand glass fifteenth century warranted comes from a good

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collection too. But I reserved the name in the interest

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of my customer, who was just like yourself, my dear sir,

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the nephew and sole air of a remarkable collector. The dealer,

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while he thus ran on in his dry and biting voice,

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had stooped to take the object from its place, And

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as he had done so, a shock had passed through Markheim,

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a start both of hand and foot, A sudden leap

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of many tumultuous passions to the face. It passed as

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swiftly as it came, and left no trace beyond a

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certain tree. Rumbling of the hand that now received the glass.

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A glass, he said hoarsely, and then paused and repeated

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it more clearly, A glass for Christmas? Surely not? And

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why not? Cried the dealer, Why not a glass? Mark

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Him was looking upon him with an indefinable expression. You

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ask me, why not? He said? Why? Look here? Look

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in it? Look at yourself? Do you like to see it? No?

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Nor I not any man. The little man had jumped

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back when Markham had so suddenly confronted him with the mirror,

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But now perceiving there was nothing worse on hand, he chuckled.

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Your future, lady, sir, must be pretty hard favored, said he.

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I ask you, said, markueim for a Christmas present, and

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you give me this, this damned the reminder of years

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and sins and follies, this hand conscience? Did you mean it?

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Had you a thought on your head? Tell me it

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will be better for you if you do. Come. Tell

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me about yourself. I hazard a guest, now that you

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are in SECRETA very charitable man. The dealer looked closely

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at his companion. It was very odd marchand did not

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appear to be laughing. There was something in his face

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like an eager sparkle of hope, but nothing of mirth.

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What are you driving at? The dealer asked, Not charitable,

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returned the other gloomily. Not charitable, not pious, not scrupulous, unloving, unbeloved.

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I am to get money, a safe to keep. It

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is that, all, dear god man? Is that all? I

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will tell you what it is? Began the dealer with

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some sharpness, and then broke up again into a chuckle.

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But I see this is a love match of yours,

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and you have been drinking the lady's health. Ahh ah,

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cried Mark. I'm with a strange curiosity. Ah have you

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been in love? Tell me about that? I cried the dealer. Aye,

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in love. I never had the time, nor have I

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the time today for all this nonsense? Will you take

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the glass? Where is the hurry? Returned Mark, I'm it

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is very pleasant to stand here talking, and life is

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so short and insecure that I would not hurry away

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from any pleasure, No, not even from some mild or

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one as this we should rather cling, cling to what

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little we can get, like a man that a clip, said,

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Every second is a clip, if you think upon it,

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a clip a mile high, high enough if before to

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dash us out of every feature of humanity. Hence it

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is best to talk pleasantly. Let us talk of each other.

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Why should we wear this mask? Let us be confidential.

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Who knows we might become friends. I have just one

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word to say to you, said the dealer. Either make

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your purchase or walk out of my shop. True, true,

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said Mark, I'm enough fooling to business. Show me something else.

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The dealer stooped once more, this time to replace the

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glass upon the shelf, his thin blonde hair falling over

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his eyes. As he did so, Mark I moved a

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little nearer. With one hand in the pocket of his greatcoat,

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he drew himself up and filled his lungs. At the

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same time, many different emotions were depicted together on his face, terror,

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horror and resolve, fascination and a physical repulsion, And through

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a haggard lift of his upper lip, his teeth looked out.

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This perhaps may suit, observed the dealer, And then, as

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he began to re arise, Mark I'm bounded from behind

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upon his victim. The long skiwer like dagger flashed and fell.

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The dealer struggled like a hen, striking his temple on

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the shelf, and then tumbled on the floor in a heap.

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Time had some score of small voices in that shop,

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some stately and slow, as was becoming to their great age,

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others garrulous and hurried. All these told out the seconds

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in an intricate chorus of tickings. Then the passage of

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a lad speed heavily running on the pavement, broke in

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upon these smaller voices and startled markim into the consciousness

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of his surroundings. He looked about him awfully. The candle

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stood on the counter, its flames solemnly wagging in a draft,

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And by that inconsiderable movement, the whole room was filled

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with noiseless bustle, and kept heavinged like a sea, the

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tall shadows nodding, the gross blots of darkness, swelling and

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dwindling as with respiration, the faces of the portraits and

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the China guards changing and wavering like images in water.

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The inner door stood ajar and peered into that league

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of shadows. With a long slit of daylight, like a

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pointing finger. From these fear stricken rovings, Markheim's eyes returned

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to the body of his victim, where it lay both

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humped and sprawling, incredibly small and strangely meaner than in life,

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in these poor, miserly clothes, in that ungainly attitude, the

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dealer lay like so much sawdust. Marcheim had feared to

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see it, and lo it was nothing. And yet as

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he gazed this bundle of old clothes and pool of blood,

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began to find eloquent voices. There it must lie. There

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was none to work the cunning hinges or direct the

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miracle of locomotion. There it must lie till it was

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found found I and then then with this dead flesh,

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lift up a cry that would ring over England and

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all the world with the echoes of pursuit eye. Dead

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or not, this was still the enemy. Time was that

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when the brains were out, he thought, and the first

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word struck into his mind. Time, now that the deed

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was accomplished, time which it closed for the victim, had

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become instant and momentous for the slayer. The thought was

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yet in his mind when first one and then another,

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with every variety of patient voice, one deep as the

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bell from a cathedral turret. Another ringing on its treble,

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notes the prelude of a waltz. The clocks began to

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strike the hour at three in the afternoon. The sudden

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outbreak of so many tongues and that dumb chamber staggered him.

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He began to bestir himself, going to and fro with

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the candle, beleagued by moving shadows, and startled to the

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soul by chance reflections in many rich mirrors, some of

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whom design, some from Venice or Amsterdam. He saw his

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face repeated and repeated, as it were an army of spies.

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His own eyes met and detected him, and the sound

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of his own steps lightly as they fell vexed, the

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surrounding quiet and still. As he continued to fill his pockets,

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his mind accused him with a sickening iteration as the

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thousand faults of his design. He should have chosen a

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more quiet hour. He should have prepared an alibi. He

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should not abuse the knife. He should have been more

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cautious and only bound and gagged the dealer and not

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killed them. He should have been more bold and killed

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the servant. Also, he should have done all things otherwise

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poignant regrets, weary incessant toiling of the mind to change

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what was unchangeable, to plan what was now useless, to

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be the architect of the irrevocable past. Meanwhile, and behind

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all this activity, brute terrors, like the scurrying of rats

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in the deserted attic, filled the more remote chambers of

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his brain with riot. The hand of the Constable would

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fall heavy on his shoulder, and his nerves would jerk

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like a hooked fish. Or he beheld in galloping defile,

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the dock, the prison, the gallows, and the black coffin.

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Terror of the people in the street sat down before

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his mind like a besieging army. It was impossible, he thought,

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but that some rumor of the struggle must have reached

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their ears and set on edge their curiosity. And now

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in all the neighboring houses he divined them sitting motionless

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and with uplifted ear, solitary people condemned to spend Christmas

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dwelling alone on memories of the past, and now startlingly

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recalled from that tender exercise. Happy family parties struck into

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silence round the table, the mother still with raised finger,

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every degree, and age and humor, but all by their

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own harms, prying and hearkening, and weaving the rope that

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was to hang him. Sometimes it seemed to him he

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could not move too softly. The clink of the tall

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Bohemian goblets rang out loudly like a bell, and alarmed

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by the bigness of the ticking, he was tempted to

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stop the clocks, and then again, with a swift transition

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of his terrors, the very silence of the place appeared

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a source of peril and a thing to strike and

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freeze the passer by, and he would step more boldly

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and bustle aloud among the contents of the shop, and

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imitate with elaborate bravado the movements of a busy man

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at ease in his own house. But he was now

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so pulled about by different alarms that while one portion

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of his mind was still alertent cunning, another trembled on

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the brink of lunacy. One hallucination in particular, took a

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strong hold on his credulity. The neighbor hearkening with white

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face beside his window. The passer by arrested by a

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horrible surmise on the pavement. These could at worst suspect

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they could not know. Through the brick walls and shattered windows,

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only sounds could penetrate. But here within the house was

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he alone. He knew he was. He had watched the

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servant set forth, sweethearting in her poor best out for

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the day, written in every ribbon, and smile. Yes, he

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was alone, of course, And yet in the bulk of

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empty house above him, he could surely hear a stir

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of delicate footing. He was surely conscious, inexplicably conscious of

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some presence, ay, surely to every room and corner of

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the house. His imagination followed it, And now it was

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a baseless thing, and yet had eyes to see with.

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And again it was a shadow of himself. And yet

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again behold the image of the dead dealer, reinspired with

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cunning and hatred. At times, with a strong effort, he

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would glance at the open door, which still seemed to

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repel his eyes. The house was tall, the skylight small

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and dirty, the day blind with fog, and the light

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that filtered down to the ground story was exceedingly faint

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and showed dimly on the threshold of the shop. And

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yet in that strip of doubtful brightness did there not

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hang wavering a shadow. Suddenly, from the street outside, a

236
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,919
very jovial gentleman began to beat with a starf on

237
00:16:29,039 --> 00:16:33,759
the shop door, accompanying his blows with shouts and braileries,

238
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,279
in which the dealer was continually called upon by name. Markheim,

239
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,480
smitten into ice, glanced at the dead man, but no,

240
00:16:43,039 --> 00:16:46,200
he lay quite still. He was fled away far beyond

241
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,120
earshot of these blows and shoutings. He was sunk beneath

242
00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,679
seas of silence, and his name, which would once have

243
00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:57,759
caught his notice above the howling of a storm, had

244
00:16:57,759 --> 00:17:03,600
become an empty sound. And presently the jovial gentleman desisted

245
00:17:03,639 --> 00:17:08,799
from his knocking and departed. Here was a broad hint

246
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,240
to hurry what remained to be done, to get forth

247
00:17:12,279 --> 00:17:15,920
from this accusing neighborhood, to plunge into a bath of

248
00:17:16,039 --> 00:17:20,000
London multitudes, and to reach on the other side of day,

249
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:25,440
that haven of safety and apparent innocence his bed. One

250
00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:29,720
visitor had come, at any moment, another might follow and

251
00:17:29,839 --> 00:17:34,000
be more obstinate to have done the deed, and yet

252
00:17:34,039 --> 00:17:37,960
not to reap the profit would be too abhorrent. A failure,

253
00:17:38,799 --> 00:17:43,279
the money that was now Marquim's concern, and as a

254
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:49,559
means to that, the keys. He glanced over his shoulder

255
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,480
at the open door, where the shadow was still lingering

256
00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,359
and shivering, and with no conscious repugnance of the mind,

257
00:17:59,039 --> 00:18:02,279
yet with a tremor of the belly, he drew near

258
00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:07,240
the body of his victim. The human character had quite departed,

259
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,759
like a suit half stuffed with bran. The limbs lay scattered,

260
00:18:13,319 --> 00:18:17,359
the trunk doubled on the floor, and yet the thing

261
00:18:17,519 --> 00:18:23,440
repelled him. Although so dingy and inconsiderable to the eye,

262
00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:27,279
he feared it might have more significance to the touch.

263
00:18:28,039 --> 00:18:31,240
He took the body by the shoulders and turned it

264
00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:36,160
on its back. It was strangely light and supple, and

265
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:40,000
the limbs, as if they had been broken, fell into

266
00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:44,599
the oddest postures. The face was robbed of all expression,

267
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,240
but it was as pale as wax and shockingly smeared

268
00:18:49,319 --> 00:18:54,519
with blood. About one temple that was for markuhin the

269
00:18:54,559 --> 00:18:59,880
one displeasing circumstance, It carried him back upon the instant,

270
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,680
to a certain fair day in a fisher's village, a

271
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,039
gray day, a piping wind, a crowd upon the street,

272
00:19:08,599 --> 00:19:13,079
the blare of brasses, the booming of drums, the nasal

273
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,799
voice of a ballad singer, and a boy going to

274
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,319
and fro buried overhead in the crowd, and divided between

275
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,839
interest and fear, until coming out upon the chief place

276
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:31,119
of concourse, he beheld a booth and a great screen

277
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:40,000
with pictures dismally designed, garishly colored brown rig with her apprentice,

278
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:45,599
the Mannings with their murdered guest wear in the death

279
00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:51,440
drip of thirtle, and a score besides of famous crimes.

280
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,359
The thing was as clear as an illusion. He was

281
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,240
once again that little boy. He was looking once again,

282
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,000
and with the same sense of physical revolt of these

283
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,319
vile pictures. He was still stunned by the thumping of

284
00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,640
the drums. A bar of that day's music returned upon

285
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,799
his memory, and at that for the first time a

286
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:20,079
qualm came over him, a breath of nausea, a sudden

287
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:25,400
weakness of the joints which he must instantly resist and conquer.

288
00:20:27,599 --> 00:20:31,599
He judged it more prudent to confront than to flee

289
00:20:31,759 --> 00:20:37,000
from these considerations, looking the more hardily in the dead face,

290
00:20:37,599 --> 00:20:41,880
bending his mind to realize the nature and greatness of

291
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:46,200
his crime. So little a while ago, that face had

292
00:20:46,279 --> 00:20:51,440
moved with every change of sentiment that pale mouth had spoken,

293
00:20:52,079 --> 00:20:56,200
that body had been all on fire with governable energies.

294
00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,480
And now and by his act, that piece of life

295
00:21:00,559 --> 00:21:06,279
had been arrested, as the horologist with interjected finger arrests

296
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:11,920
the beating of the clock. So he reasoned, in Vain

297
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,839
he could rise to no more remorseful consciousness. The same

298
00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:22,599
heart which had shuddered before the painted effigies of crime,

299
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:28,440
looked on its reality, unmoved. At best. He felt a

300
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,119
gleam of pity for one who had been endowed in

301
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,000
Vain with all those faculties that can make the world

302
00:21:36,039 --> 00:21:40,440
a garden of enchantment, one who had never lived, and

303
00:21:40,519 --> 00:21:46,640
who was now dead, but of penitence, No, not a tremor.

304
00:21:49,079 --> 00:21:55,519
With that. Shaking himself clear of these considerations, he found

305
00:21:55,519 --> 00:22:01,160
the keys and advanced towards the open door of the shop. Outside,

306
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,839
it had begun to rain smartly, and the sound of

307
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:09,000
the shower upon the roof had banished silence like some

308
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,839
dripping cabin. The chambers of the house were haunted by

309
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,960
an incessant echoing, which filled the ear and mingled with

310
00:22:19,039 --> 00:22:23,720
the ticking of the clocks, and as Marqueim approached the door,

311
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,680
he seemed to hear, in answer to his own cautious tread,

312
00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:33,400
the steps of another foot. With Drawing up the stair,

313
00:22:34,559 --> 00:22:39,799
the shadow still pulpitated loosely on the threshold. He threw

314
00:22:39,839 --> 00:22:44,160
a ton's weight of resolve upon his muscles and drew

315
00:22:44,319 --> 00:22:50,200
back the door. The faint, foggy daylight glimmered dimly on

316
00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:54,200
the bare floor and stairs, on the bright suit of

317
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:59,440
armor poosted hal but in hand, upon the landing, and

318
00:22:59,519 --> 00:23:04,039
on the dark wood carvings and framed pictures that hung

319
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,680
against the yellow panels of the wainscot. So loud was

320
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,799
the beating of the rain through all the house that,

321
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,480
in Markheim's ears it began to be distinguished into many

322
00:23:16,519 --> 00:23:23,640
different sands, footsteps and sighs, The tread of regiments marching

323
00:23:23,839 --> 00:23:28,880
in the distance, the chink of money in the counting,

324
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:35,599
and the creaking of doors held stealthily adure appeared to

325
00:23:35,799 --> 00:23:39,599
mingle with the patter of the drupts upon the cupola

326
00:23:39,799 --> 00:23:43,720
and the gushing of the water in the pipes. The

327
00:23:43,839 --> 00:23:47,519
sense that he was not alone grew upon him to

328
00:23:47,599 --> 00:23:52,440
the verge of madness. On every side, he was haunted

329
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,759
and begirt by presences. He heard them moving in the

330
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,880
upper chambers from the sharp heard the dead man getting

331
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,200
to his legs, And as he began with a great

332
00:24:04,279 --> 00:24:09,279
effort to mount the stairs, feet fled quietly before him,

333
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,960
and followed stealthily behind. If he were but death, he thought,

334
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,640
how tranquility he would possess his soul. And then again,

335
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:25,039
and hearkening with ever fresh attention, he blessed himself with

336
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:30,640
that unresting sense which held the outposts and stood a

337
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:35,839
trusty sentinel upon his life. His head turned continually on

338
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,920
his neck. His eyes, which seemed starting from their orbits,

339
00:24:40,279 --> 00:24:45,839
scouted on ever's side and on ever side, were half rewarded,

340
00:24:46,279 --> 00:24:51,599
as with the tail of something nameless vanishing. The four

341
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,079
and twenty steps to the first floor were four and

342
00:24:55,200 --> 00:25:02,000
twenty agones. On that first story the door stood ajar,

343
00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:07,359
three of them, like three ambushes. Shaking his nerves like

344
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,799
the throats of cannon. He could never again, he felt,

345
00:25:12,279 --> 00:25:18,480
be sufficiently immured and fortified from men's observing eyes. He

346
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:23,759
longed to be home, get in by walls, buried among bedclothes,

347
00:25:24,039 --> 00:25:28,599
and invisible to all but God, And at that thought

348
00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:33,880
he wondered a little, recollecting tales of other murderers, and

349
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,599
the fear they were said to entertain of heavenly avengers.

350
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,680
It was not so, at least with him. He feared

351
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:46,119
the laws of nature, lest, in their callous and immutable procedure,

352
00:25:46,799 --> 00:25:51,359
they should preserve some damning evidence of his crime. He

353
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:58,799
feared tenfold more with a slavish, superstitious terror, some scision

354
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:06,440
in the tenuity of man's experience, some wilful illegality of nature.

355
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,400
He played a game of skill, depending on the rules,

356
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:17,279
calculating consequence from cause. And what if nature, as the

357
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:22,960
defeated tyrant overthrew the chessboard, should break the mold of

358
00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:28,079
their succession, the like had before the Napoleon, So writers said,

359
00:26:28,599 --> 00:26:32,799
when the winter changed the time of its appearance, the

360
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:38,200
like might befall Markheim. The solid walls might become transparent

361
00:26:38,759 --> 00:26:42,559
and reveal his doings like those of bees in a

362
00:26:42,599 --> 00:26:46,960
glass hive. The stout planks might yield under his foot

363
00:26:47,079 --> 00:26:51,079
like quicksands, and detain him in their clutch eye. And

364
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:55,640
there were soberer accidents that might destroy him, If, for instance,

365
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:00,440
the house should fall and imprison him beside the body

366
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,559
of his victim, or the house next door should fly

367
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,720
on fire, and the fireman evade him from all sides.

368
00:27:08,319 --> 00:27:11,880
These things he feared, and in a sense these things

369
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,720
might be called the hands of God reached forth against sin.

370
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,519
But about God himself he was at ease. His act

371
00:27:19,759 --> 00:27:24,640
was doubtless exceptional, but so were his excuses, which God knew.

372
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,279
It was there and not among men that he felt

373
00:27:28,319 --> 00:27:32,920
sure of justice. When he had got safe into the

374
00:27:33,039 --> 00:27:36,559
drawing room and shut the door behind him, he was

375
00:27:36,599 --> 00:27:41,680
aware of a respite from alarms. The room was quite dismantled,

376
00:27:42,079 --> 00:27:47,559
uncarpeted besides, and strewn with packing cases and incongruous furniture.

377
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:52,000
Several great peer glasses, in which he beheld himself at

378
00:27:52,079 --> 00:27:57,000
various angles, like an actor on a stage, many pictures,

379
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,240
framed and unframed, standing with their faces to the wall,

380
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:06,759
a fine shoretn sideboard, a cabinet at marketry, and a

381
00:28:06,799 --> 00:28:11,599
great old bed with tapestry hangings. The windows opened to

382
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,720
the floor, but by great good fortune, the lower part

383
00:28:15,759 --> 00:28:19,000
of the shutters had been closed, and this concealed him

384
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,680
from the neighbors. Here. Then Marqueim drew in a packing

385
00:28:23,759 --> 00:28:27,680
case before the cabinet and began to search among the keys.

386
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,160
It was a long business, but there were many, and

387
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,599
it was irksome besides, for after all, there might be

388
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,920
nothing in the cabinet, and time was on the wing.

389
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,200
But the closeness of the occupation sobered him. With the

390
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,640
tail of his eye, he saw the door, even glanced

391
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:51,000
at it from time to time directly, like a besieged commander,

392
00:28:51,519 --> 00:28:55,519
pleased to verify the good estate of his defenses. But

393
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,319
in truth he was at peace. The rain falling in

394
00:28:59,359 --> 00:29:05,319
the street sounded natural and pleasant. Presently on the other side,

395
00:29:05,759 --> 00:29:08,720
the notes of a piano were wakened to the music

396
00:29:08,799 --> 00:29:12,359
of a hymn, and the voices of many children took

397
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:17,319
up the air and words. How stately, how comfortable was

398
00:29:17,359 --> 00:29:23,240
the melody, how fresh the youthful voices. Markueim gave ear

399
00:29:23,319 --> 00:29:27,480
to it smilingly as he sorted out the keys, and

400
00:29:27,599 --> 00:29:33,359
his mind was thronged with answerable ideas and images, church

401
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:39,200
going children and the pealing of the high organ, children afield,

402
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,599
bathers by the brook side, ramblers on the brambly common,

403
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:50,839
kite flyers in the windy and cloud navigated sky, and

404
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,880
then at another cadence of the hymn back again to church,

405
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,920
and the somnolence of summer Sundays, and the high, gentee

406
00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:03,599
ill voice of the parson, which he smiled a little

407
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,640
to recall, and the painted Jacobean tombs, and the dim

408
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:14,599
lettering of the Ten Commandments in the chancel. And as

409
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,319
he sat thus, at once busy and absent, he was

410
00:30:18,359 --> 00:30:21,480
startled to his feet. A flash of ice, a flash

411
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,599
of fire, a bursting gush of blood went over him,

412
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,880
and then he stood, transfixed and thrilling. A step mounted

413
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,680
the stairs, slowly and steadily, and presently a hand was

414
00:30:32,759 --> 00:30:35,640
laid upon the knob, and the lock clicked, and the

415
00:30:35,759 --> 00:30:41,559
door opened. Fear held Markheim in a vice. What to expect.

416
00:30:41,559 --> 00:30:44,799
He knew, not whether the dead man walking, or the

417
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:49,440
official ministers of human justice, or some chance witness blindly

418
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,720
stumbling in to consign him to the gallows. But when

419
00:30:52,759 --> 00:30:56,720
a face was thrust into the aperture, glanced round the room,

420
00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,640
looked at him, nodded and smiled as if in friendly recognition,

421
00:31:02,119 --> 00:31:05,759
and then withdrew again. When the door closed behind it,

422
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,839
his fear broke loose from his control in a hoarse cry.

423
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:16,160
At the sound of this, the visitant returned. Did you

424
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:20,079
call me, he asked pleasantly, And with that he entered

425
00:31:20,079 --> 00:31:24,599
the room and closed the door behind him. Marchim stood

426
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,279
and gazed at him with all his eyes. Perhaps there

427
00:31:28,319 --> 00:31:31,519
was a film upon his side, but the outlines of

428
00:31:31,559 --> 00:31:35,319
the newcomer seemed to change and waver, like those of

429
00:31:35,359 --> 00:31:39,319
the idols in the wavering candlelight of the shop. And

430
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,759
the times he thought he knew him, and the times

431
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,599
he thought he bore a likeness to himself, and always

432
00:31:47,079 --> 00:31:50,200
like a lump of living terror that lay in his bosom,

433
00:31:50,359 --> 00:31:53,799
the conviction that this thing was not of the earth

434
00:31:54,079 --> 00:31:59,000
and not of God. And yet the creature had a

435
00:31:59,039 --> 00:32:03,519
strange air of commonplace as he stood looking on Marqueim

436
00:32:03,559 --> 00:32:07,240
with a smile. And when he added, you are looking

437
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:10,440
for the money, I believe it was in the tones

438
00:32:10,519 --> 00:32:16,519
of every day politeness. Marquim made no answer. I should

439
00:32:16,599 --> 00:32:19,759
warn you, resumed the other, that the maid has left

440
00:32:19,759 --> 00:32:23,720
her sweetheart earlier than usual, and will soon be here.

441
00:32:24,799 --> 00:32:28,920
If mister Marqueim be found in this house, I need

442
00:32:29,039 --> 00:32:34,720
not describe to him the consequences. You know me, cried

443
00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:39,599
the murderer. The visitor smiled, you have long been a

444
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,759
favorite of mine, he said, and I have long observed

445
00:32:43,799 --> 00:32:49,200
and often sought to help you. What are you, cried

446
00:32:49,279 --> 00:32:55,640
Marquind the devil. What I may be returned the other

447
00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:02,039
cannot affect the service I propose to render you, it can,

448
00:33:02,799 --> 00:33:08,799
cried Markueim. It does be helped by you, know, never

449
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:13,279
not by you. You do not know me yet, Thank God,

450
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:19,559
you do not know me. I know you, replied the visitant,

451
00:33:20,079 --> 00:33:24,319
with a sort of kind severity, or rather firmness. I

452
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:29,720
know you to the soul know me, cried Marqueim. Who

453
00:33:29,759 --> 00:33:33,039
can do so? My life is but a travesty and

454
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:37,079
slander on myself. I have lived to belie my nature.

455
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,640
All men do. All men are better than this disguise

456
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:45,200
that grows about and stifles them. You see each dragged

457
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,640
away by life, like one whom brabos have seized and

458
00:33:48,759 --> 00:33:51,839
muffled in a cloak. If they had their own control,

459
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:55,680
if you could see their faces, they would be altogether different.

460
00:33:55,720 --> 00:34:00,400
They would shine out for heroes and saints. I am

461
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:06,279
worse than most. Myself is more overlaid. My excuse is

462
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,119
known to me and God. But had I the time,

463
00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:16,960
I could disclose myself to me inquired the visitant to you,

464
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:21,880
before all returned the murderer. I supposed you were intelligent.

465
00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:25,960
I thought, since you exist, and you would prove a

466
00:34:26,079 --> 00:34:30,039
reader of the heart. And yet you would propose to

467
00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:36,800
judge me by my acts. Think of it, my acts.

468
00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:40,719
I was born, and I have lived in a land

469
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,320
of giants. Giants have dragged me by the wrists since

470
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:48,679
I was born out of my mother, the giants of circumstance,

471
00:34:49,519 --> 00:34:52,920
And you would judge me by my acts? But can

472
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,239
you not look within? Can you not understand that evil

473
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,000
is hateful to me? Can you not see within me

474
00:34:59,119 --> 00:35:03,840
the clear writing conscience, never blurred by any wilful soil pastry,

475
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:10,320
although too often disregarded. Can you not read me for

476
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,880
a thing that surely must be common as humanity? The

477
00:35:15,199 --> 00:35:22,440
unwilling senner. All this is very feelingly expressed, was the reply.

478
00:35:23,079 --> 00:35:28,159
But it regards me not. These points of consistency are

479
00:35:28,159 --> 00:35:31,280
beyond my province. And I care not in the least

480
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,119
by what compulsion. You may have been dragged away so

481
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:40,840
as you are, but carried in the right direction. But

482
00:35:41,079 --> 00:35:46,159
time flies. The servant delays, looking in the faces of

483
00:35:46,199 --> 00:35:49,599
the crowd and at the pictures on the hoardings. But

484
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,800
still she keeps moving nearer. And remember it is as

485
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,039
if the gallows itself were striding towards you through the

486
00:35:57,119 --> 00:36:04,639
Christmas streets. Help you, I who know all? Shall I

487
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:09,519
tell you or where to find the money? For what price?

488
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:16,119
Asked Marqueim, I offer you the service for a Christmas gift,

489
00:36:16,599 --> 00:36:21,880
returned the other. Marquis could not refrain from smiling with

490
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,760
a kind of bitter triumph. No, said he, I will

491
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,519
take nothing at your hands. If I were dying of thirst,

492
00:36:29,559 --> 00:36:32,320
and it was your hand that put the pitch to

493
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,599
my lips, I should find the carriage to refuse. It

494
00:36:35,679 --> 00:36:40,039
may be credulous, but I will do nothing to commit

495
00:36:40,159 --> 00:36:46,320
myself to evil. I have no objection to a deathbed repentance,

496
00:36:46,599 --> 00:36:52,519
observed the visitant. Because you disbelieve the efficacy, Marquim cried,

497
00:36:53,599 --> 00:36:56,800
I do not say, sir, returned the other. But I

498
00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,719
look on these things from a different side. And when

499
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:06,880
the life is done, my interest fall. The man has

500
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,559
lived to serve me, to spread black looks under color

501
00:37:11,639 --> 00:37:15,840
of religion, or to sew tears in the wheat field,

502
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:21,079
as you do in a course of weak compliance with desire.

503
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,000
Now that he draws so near to his deliverance, he

504
00:37:26,079 --> 00:37:30,639
can add but one act of service to repent, to

505
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:35,400
die smiling, and thus to build up incompetence and hope,

506
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,960
the more timorous of my surviving followers. I am not

507
00:37:40,119 --> 00:37:44,320
so hard a master. Try me accept my help. Please

508
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,519
yourself in life as you have done hitherto please yourself

509
00:37:48,599 --> 00:37:52,599
more amply, spread your elbows at the board. And when

510
00:37:52,639 --> 00:37:55,800
the night begins to fall and the curtains to be drawn,

511
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,360
I tell you, for your greater comfort, that you will

512
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,639
find it even easy to compound your quarrel with your

513
00:38:02,679 --> 00:38:07,639
conscience and to make a truckling peace with God. I

514
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,880
came but now from such a death bed, and the

515
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:15,199
room was full of sincere mourners, listening to the man's

516
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,719
last words. And when I looked into that face, which

517
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:24,320
had been set as a flint against mercy, I found

518
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:29,239
it smiling with hope. And do you then suppose me

519
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,760
such a creature? Asked markin Do you think I have

520
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:38,079
no more generous aspirations than to sin, and sin, and sin,

521
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,599
and at the last sneak and to heaven? My heart

522
00:38:42,039 --> 00:38:46,400
rises at the thought. Is this than your experience of mankind?

523
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,239
Or is it because you find me with red hands,

524
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,679
that you presume such baseness, and is this crime of

525
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,719
murder indeed so impious as to try up the very

526
00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:02,480
springs of good? Murder is to me no special category,

527
00:39:02,559 --> 00:39:06,519
replied the other. All sins are murder, even as all

528
00:39:06,599 --> 00:39:12,000
life is war. I behold your race like starving mariners

529
00:39:12,039 --> 00:39:16,440
on a raft, plucking crusts out of the hands of famine,

530
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:21,119
and feeding on each other's lives. I follow sins beyond

531
00:39:21,199 --> 00:39:25,599
the moment of their acting. I find in awe that

532
00:39:25,679 --> 00:39:30,599
the last consequence is death. And to my eyes, the

533
00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:35,159
pretty maid who thwarts her mother with such taking graces

534
00:39:35,199 --> 00:39:39,719
on a question of a ball, drips no less visibly

535
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:45,320
with human gore than such a murderer as yourself. Do

536
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,280
I say that I follow sins, I follow virtues. Also

537
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:54,079
they differ not by the thickness of a nail. They

538
00:39:54,119 --> 00:40:00,519
are both scythes for the reaping angel of death. Evil

539
00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:05,280
for which I live consists not in action, but in character.

540
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,440
The bad man is dear to me, not the bad act,

541
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,039
whose fruits, if we could follow them far enough down

542
00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:16,920
the hurtling cataract of the ages, might yet be found

543
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,920
more blessed than those of the rarest virtues. And it

544
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,199
is not because you have killed a dealer, but because

545
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:30,079
you are Markheim that I offered to forward your escape.

546
00:40:30,519 --> 00:40:34,159
I will lay my heart open to you, answered Marqueim.

547
00:40:35,079 --> 00:40:37,880
This crime on which you find me is my last.

548
00:40:38,559 --> 00:40:41,039
On my way to it, I have learned many lessons.

549
00:40:41,079 --> 00:40:45,320
Itself is a lesson, a momentous lesson. Hitherto I had

550
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,199
been driven with revolt to what I would not. I

551
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,840
was a bond, slave to poverty, driven and scourged. There

552
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,800
are robust virtues that can stand in these temptations. Mine

553
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,320
was not so. I had a thirst of pleasure. But

554
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:05,000
to day and out of this deed I pluck both

555
00:41:05,079 --> 00:41:09,480
warning and riches, both the power and a fresh resolve

556
00:41:09,679 --> 00:41:16,360
to be myself. I become in all things a free

557
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:21,199
actor in the world. I begin to see myself all changed,

558
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:27,280
these hands, the agents of good, this heart at peace.

559
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:33,119
Something comes over me out of the past, something of

560
00:41:33,199 --> 00:41:36,960
what I have dreamed on Sabbath evenings to the sound

561
00:41:37,119 --> 00:41:41,320
of the church organ, of what I forecast when I

562
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:47,760
shed tears over noble books, or talked an innocent child

563
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:53,800
with my mother. There lies my life. I have wandered

564
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:57,199
a few years. But now I see once more my

565
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:02,360
city of destination. You ought to use this money on

566
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,719
the stock exchange, I think, remarked the visitor. And there

567
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:11,800
if I mistake not, you have already lost some thousands, Ah,

568
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:17,079
said Markuim. But this time I have a sure thing.

569
00:42:18,599 --> 00:42:25,239
This time again you will lose, replied the visitor quietly. Ah,

570
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:30,840
but I keep back the half, cried Marqueim. That also

571
00:42:31,559 --> 00:42:37,239
you will lose, said the other. The sweat started upon

572
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,920
Marqueim's brow. Well then what matter, he exclaimed, Say it

573
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:46,239
be lost, Say I am plunged again in poverty, Shall

574
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,920
one part of me and that the worse continue until

575
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:56,599
the end to override the better. Evil and good run

576
00:42:56,679 --> 00:43:01,719
strong in me, hailing me both ways. I do not

577
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,920
love the one thing. I love all. I can conceive

578
00:43:06,079 --> 00:43:10,840
great deeds, renunciations, martyrdoms. And though I be fallen to

579
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,559
such a crime as murder, pity is no stranger to

580
00:43:13,599 --> 00:43:17,360
my thoughts. I pity the poor, who knows their childs

581
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,280
better than myself. I pity and help them. I prize love.

582
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,519
I love honest laughter. There is no good thing nor

583
00:43:24,599 --> 00:43:27,159
true thing on earth, but I love it from my heart.

584
00:43:27,599 --> 00:43:30,360
And are my vices only to direct my life and

585
00:43:30,519 --> 00:43:33,559
my virtues to lie without effect, like some passive lumber

586
00:43:33,599 --> 00:43:37,239
of the mind. Not so good also is a spring

587
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:42,719
of acts. But the visitant raised his finger. For six

588
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,440
and thirty years that you have been in this world,

589
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:50,119
said he, through many changes of fortune and varieties of humor,

590
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:55,960
I have watched you steadily fall. Fifteen years ago you

591
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:00,119
would have started at a theft. Three years back you

592
00:44:00,119 --> 00:44:04,320
would have blenched at the name of murder? Is there

593
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:08,599
any crime? Is there any cruelty or meanness from which

594
00:44:08,639 --> 00:44:13,760
you still recoil five years from now? I shall detect

595
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:20,119
you in the fact downward, downward lies your way. Nor

596
00:44:20,159 --> 00:44:26,400
can anything but death avail to stop you. It is true, Markheim,

597
00:44:26,519 --> 00:44:31,119
said huskily, I have in some degree complied with evil.

598
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:35,840
But it is so withal the very saints, in the

599
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:40,559
mere exercise of living, grow less dainty and take on

600
00:44:40,679 --> 00:44:45,280
the tone of their surroundings. I will propoun to you

601
00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:49,760
one simple question, said the other, and as you answer,

602
00:44:50,159 --> 00:44:54,440
I shall read to you your moral horoscope. You have

603
00:44:54,599 --> 00:44:59,119
grown in many things more lax. Possibly you do right

604
00:44:59,199 --> 00:45:02,400
to be so, And at any account it is the

605
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,639
same with all men. But granting that are you in

606
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:12,000
any one particular, however trifling more difficult to please with

607
00:45:12,119 --> 00:45:16,320
your own conduct? Or do you go in all things

608
00:45:17,159 --> 00:45:23,320
with a looser rein in any one, repeated Marquim, with

609
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:28,519
an anguish of consideration. No, he added, with despair, in none,

610
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:34,880
I have gone down in all, then, said the visitor.

611
00:45:35,639 --> 00:45:40,239
Content yourself with what you are, for you will never change,

612
00:45:40,599 --> 00:45:44,079
and the words of your part on this stage are

613
00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:50,840
irrevocably written down. Marquis stood for a long while silent,

614
00:45:51,119 --> 00:45:55,039
And indeed it was the visitor who first broke the silence.

615
00:45:56,159 --> 00:45:59,840
That being so, he said, shall I show you the money?

616
00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:09,199
And grace? Cried Marqueim. Have you not ried it? Returned

617
00:46:09,199 --> 00:46:12,360
the other two or three years ago? Did I not

618
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:16,639
see you on the platform of revival meetings? And was

619
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,440
not your voice the loudest in the hymn? It is true,

620
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,760
said Markueim, And I see clearly what remains for me

621
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:26,840
by way of duty, I thank you for these lessons

622
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,320
from my soul. My eyes are opened, and I behold

623
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:35,840
myself at last for what I am. At this moment,

624
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,639
the sharp note of the door bell rang through the house,

625
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:44,079
and the visitant, as though this were some concerted signal

626
00:46:44,119 --> 00:46:47,239
for which he had been waiting, changed at once in

627
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:51,320
his demeanor. The maid, he cried, she has returned as

628
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,039
I forewarned you, and that is now before you. One

629
00:46:54,119 --> 00:46:57,960
more difficult passage her master, you must say, is ill.

630
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,400
You must let her in with an assured but rather

631
00:47:00,559 --> 00:47:05,320
serious countenance, no smiles, no overacting, and I promise you success.

632
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:08,760
Once the girl within and the door closed, the same

633
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,199
dexterity that has already rid you of the dealer will

634
00:47:12,199 --> 00:47:16,159
relieve you of this last danger in your path. Thence

635
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,679
forward you have the whole evening, the whole night, if needful,

636
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:23,159
to ransack the treasures of the house and to make

637
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:27,360
good your safety. This is help that comes to you

638
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:32,559
with the mask of danger. Up, he cried, Up, Friend,

639
00:47:33,079 --> 00:47:40,360
your life hangs trembling in the scales. Up and act mark,

640
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:45,199
iim steadily regarded his Counselor. If I be condemned to

641
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:48,719
evil acts, he said, there is still one door of

642
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:54,320
freedom open. I can cease from action. If my life

643
00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:58,920
be an ill thing, I can lay it down. Though

644
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:02,320
I be as you say, truly at the beck of

645
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:07,559
every small temptation, I can yet, by one decisive gesture,

646
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:12,519
placed myself beyond the reach of all. My love of

647
00:48:12,639 --> 00:48:16,719
good is damned to barrenness. It may, and let it be.

648
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,320
But I have still my hatred of evil. And from that,

649
00:48:21,519 --> 00:48:25,320
to your galling disappointment, you shall see that I can

650
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:31,920
draw both energy and courage. The features of the visitor

651
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:38,159
began to undergo a wonderful and lovely change. They brightened

652
00:48:38,199 --> 00:48:43,119
and softened with a tender triumph. And even as they brightened,

653
00:48:43,559 --> 00:48:48,719
faded and dislambed. But Markim did not pause to watch

654
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:54,280
or understand the transformation. He opened the door and went downstairs,

655
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:59,599
very slowly, thinking to himself. His past went soberly before him.

656
00:49:00,039 --> 00:49:03,519
He beheld it as it was, ugly and strenuous, like

657
00:49:03,559 --> 00:49:10,039
a dream, random as chance, madly a scene of defeat life.

658
00:49:10,159 --> 00:49:14,039
As he thus reviewed it tempted him no longer. But

659
00:49:14,159 --> 00:49:17,679
on the further side he perceived a quiet haven for

660
00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:22,000
his bark. He paused in the passage and looked into

661
00:49:22,039 --> 00:49:26,039
the shop, where the candle still burned by the dead body.

662
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,159
It was strangely silent. Thoughts of the dealer swarmed into

663
00:49:31,199 --> 00:49:34,199
his mind as he stood gazing, and then the bell

664
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:38,800
once more broke out into impatient clamor. He confronted the

665
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:45,320
maid upon the threshold with something like a smile. You

666
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:48,960
had better go for the police, said he, I have

667
00:49:49,199 --> 00:49:57,199
killed your master and of Markheim by Robert Louis Ditnson