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Speaker 1: Canon Alberick's scrap Book by m R. James. Saint Bertrand

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de Commande is a decayed town on the spurs of

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the Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse and still nearer

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to Bagnier de Lauchamp. It was the site of a

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bishopric until the Revolution and has a cathedral which is

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visited by a certain number of tourists. In the spring

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of eighteen eighty three an Englishman arrived at this old

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world place. I can hardly dignify it with the name

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of city, for there are not a thousand inhabitants. He

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was a Cambridge man who had come specially from Toulouse

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to see Saint Bertrand's church, and had left two friends

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who were less keen archaeologists than himself, and their hotel

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at Toulouse, and a promise to join him on the

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following morning. Half an hour at the church would satisfy them,

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and all three could then pursue their journey in the

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direction of Ousche. But our Englishman had come early on

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the day in question, and proposed to himself to fill

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a note book and to use several dozen plates in

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the process of describing and photographing every corner of the

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wonderful Church that dominates the little hill of Command. In

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order to carry out this design satisfactorily, it was necessary

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to monopolize the verger of the church for the day.

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The verger or sacristan I prefer the latter appellation, inaccurate

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as it may be, was accordingly sent for by the

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somewhat brusque lady who keeps the inn of the Chapeau Rouge,

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And when he came the Englishman found him an unexpectedly

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interesting object of study. It was not in the personal

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appearance of the little, dry, wizened old man that the

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interest lay. For he was precisely like dozens of other

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church guardians in France, but in a curious furtival rather

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hunted and oppressed air which he had. He was perpetually

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half glancing behind him. The muscles of his back and

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shoulders seemed to be hunched in a continual nervous contraction,

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as if he were expecting every moment to find himself

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in the clutch of an enemy. The Englishman hardly knew

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whether to put him down as a man haunted by

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a fixed delusion, or as one oppressed by a guilty conscience,

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or as an unbearably hen pecked her husband. The probabilities,

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when reckoned up, certainly pointed to the last idea, but

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still the impression conveyed was that of a more formidable

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persecutor even than a termagant wife. However, the Englishman, let

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us call him Denistone, was soon too deep in his

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note book and too busy with his camera to give

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more than an occasional glance to the Sacristan. Whenever he

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did look at him, he found him at no great distance,

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either huddling himself back against the wall or crouching in

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one of the gorgeous stools. Denistoone became rather fidgety after

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a while, mingled suspicions that he was keeping the old

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man from his dejeny, though he was regarded as likely

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to make away with Saint Bertrand's ivory crozying or with

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the dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs over the font began

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to torment him. Won't you go home? He said? At last,

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I am quite well able to finish my notes alone.

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You can lock me in if you like. I shall

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want at least two hours more here, and it must

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be cold for you isn't it good? Heavens, said the

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little man, whom the suggestion seemed to throw into a

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state of unaccountable terror. Such a thing cannot be thought

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of for a moment. Leave monsieur alone in the church. No, No,

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two hours, three hours. All will be the same to me.

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I have breakfasted. I am not at all cold, with

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many thanks to Monsieur. Very well, my little man, quoth

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Deniston to himself. You have been warned, and you must

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take the consequences before the expiration of the two hours.

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The stalls, the enormous dilapidated organ, the quiet screen of

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Bishop John de Moolian, the remnants of glass and tapestry,

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and the objects in the treasure chamber had been well

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and truly examined. The sacristan still keeping at denistuone's heels,

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and every now and then whipping round as if he

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had been stung, when one or other of the strange

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noises that trouble a large empty building fell on his ear.

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Curious noises they were sometimes. Once, Deniston said to me,

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I could have sworn I heard a thin metallic voice

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laughing high up in the tower. I darted an inquiring

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glance at my Sacristan. He was white to the lips.

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It is he that is, It is no one. The

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door is locked, was all he said, and we looked

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at each other for a full minute. Another little incident

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puzzled Denistoon a good deal. He was examining a large,

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dark picture that hangs behind the altar, one of a

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series illustrating the miracles of Saint Bertrand. The composition of

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the picture is well nigh and decipherable, but there is

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a Latin legend below which runs, thus, caliite s bertrandis

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le bravit hominem quem diabolus diu volibat strangulaire how Saint

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Bertram delivered a man whom the devil long sought to strangle.

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Denistoon was turning to the Sacristan with a smile and

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a jocular remark of some sort on his lips, but

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he was confounded to see the old man on his knees,

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gazing at the picture with the eye of a suppliant

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and agony, his hands tightly clasped, and a rain of

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tears on his cheeks. Deniston naturally pretended to have noticed nothing,

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but the question would not go away from him. Why

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should ador be of this kind affect any one so strongly?

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He seemed to himself to be getting some sort of

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clue to the reason of the strange look that had

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been puzzling him all the day. The man must be

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a monomaniac, But what was his monomania? It was nearly

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five o'clock, The short day was drawing in, and the

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church began to fill with shadows, while the curious noises,

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the muffled footfalls and distant talking voices that had been

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perceptible all day seemed no doubt. Because of the fading

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light and the consequently quickened sense of hearing to become

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more frequent and insistent, The sacristan began for the first

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time to show signs of hurry and impatience. He heaved

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a sigh of relief when camera and notebook were finally

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packed up and stowed away, and hurriedly beckoned Denniston to

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the western door of the church under the tower. It

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was time to ring the Angelus. A few pulls at

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the reluctant rope, and the great bell Betrand high in

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the tower, began to speak and swung her voice up

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among the pines and down to the valleys loud with

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mountain streams, calling the dwellers on those lonely hills to

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remember and repeat the salutation of the Angel to her,

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whom he called blessed among women. With that, a profound

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quiet seemed to fall for the first time that day

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upon the little town, and Deniston and the sacristan went

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out of the church. On the doorstep, they fell into conversation.

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Monsieur seemed to interest himself in the old choir books

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in the sacristy. Undoubtedly, I was going to ask you

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if there were a library in the town. No, Monsieur.

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Perhaps there used to be one belonging to the chapter,

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but it is now such a small place. Here came

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a strange pause of irresolution, as it seemed. Then with

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a sort of plunge, he went on, But if Monsieur

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is amateur de vieux, leive I have at home something

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that might interest him, it is not a hundred yards

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At once. All Denistoon's cherished dreams of finding priceless manuscripts

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in untrodden corners of France flashed up to die down

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again the next moment. It was probably a stupid missile

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of plant ins printing about fifteen eight. Where was the

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likelihood that a place so near to lose would not

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have been ransacked long ago by collectors. However, it would

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be foolish not to go. He would reproach himself for

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ever after if he refused. So they set off on

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the way. The curious irresolution and sudden determination of the

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Sacristan recurred to Denistoon, and he wondered in a shamefaced

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way whether he was being decoyed into some purlieu to

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be made away with as a supposed rich englishman. He contrived,

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therefore to begin talking with his guide, and to drag

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in in a rather clumsy fashion, the fact that he

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expected two friends to join him early next morning. To

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his surprise, the announcement seemed to relieve the Sacristan at

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once of some of the anxiety that oppressed him. That

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is well, he said, quite brightly, That is very well.

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Monsieur will travel in company with his friends. They will

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be always near him. It is a good thing to

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travel thus in company. Sometimes the last word appeared to

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be added as an afterthought, and to bring with it

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a relapse into gloom for the poor little man. They

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were soon at the house, which was one rather larger

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than its neighbors. Stone built with a shield carved over

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the door, the shield of Alberic de Molion, a collateral descendant,

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Deniston tells me of Bishop John de Mooleion. This Alberic

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was a canon of commands from sixteen eighty to seventeen

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o one. The upper windows of the mansion were boarded up,

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and the whole place bore as does the rest of command.

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The aspect of decaying age arrived on his doorstep. The

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sacristan paused a moment. Perhaps he said, perhaps, after all,

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the monsieur has not the time, not at all, lots

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of time, nothing to do till to morrow. Let us

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see what it is you have got. The door was

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opened at this point, and a face looked out, a

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face far younger than the Sacristan's, but bearing something of

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the same distressing look. Only here it seemed to be

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the mark not so much of fear for personal safety

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as of acute anxiety on behalf of another. Plainly, the

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owner of the face was the Sacristan's daughter Anne, and

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but for the expression I have described, she was a

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handsome girl enough. She brightened up considerably on seeing her father,

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accompanied by an able bodied stranger. A few remarks passed

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between father and daughter, of which Deniston only caught these

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words said by the sacristan. He was laughing in the church,

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words which were answered only by a look of terror

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from the girl. But in another minute they were in

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the sitting room of the house, a small high chamber

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with a stone floor, full of moving shadows, cast by

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a wood fire that flickered on a great hearth. Something

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of the character of an oratory was imparted to it

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by a tall crucifix, which reached almost to the ceiling.

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On one side. The figure was painted of the natural colors,

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the cross was black. Under this stood a chest of

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some age and solidity, And when a lamp had been

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brought and chairs set, the sacristan went to this chest

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and produced therefrom With growing excitement and nervousness, as Deniston thought,

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a large book wrapped in a white cloth. On witchcloth,

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a cross was rudely embroidered in red thread. Even before

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the wrapping had been removed, denistuone began to be interested

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by the size and shape of the volume. Too large

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for a missile, he thought, and not the shape of

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an antophoner. Perhaps it may be something good after all.

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The next moment the book was open, and Deniston felt

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that he had at last lit upon something better than good.

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Before him lay a large folio, bound perhaps late in

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the seventeenth century, with the arms of Canon Alberic de

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Moleon stamped in gold on the sides. There may have

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been one hundred and fifty leaves of paper in the book,

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and on almost every one of them was fastened a

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leaf from an illuminated manuscript, such a collection Denistoune had

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hardly dreamed of in his wildest moments. He were ten

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leaves from a copy of Genesis, illustrated with pictures which

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could not be later than a d. Seven hundred. Further

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on was a complete set of pictures from a psalter

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of English execution of the very finest kind that the

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thirteenth century could produce. And perhaps best of all, there

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were twenty leaves of unsealed writing in Latin, which, as

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a few words seen here and there told him at once,

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must belong to some very early unknown Patristic treaties. Could

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it possibly be a fragment of the copy of Papius

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on the Words of Our Lord, which was known to

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have existed as late as the twelfth century at Nemes,

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we now know that these leaves did contain a considerable

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fragment of that work, if not of that actual copy

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of it. In any case, his mind was made up

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that book must return to Cambridge with him, even if

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he had to draw the whole of his balance from

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the bank and stay at Saint Bertrand till the money came.

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He glanced up at the sacristan to see if his

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face yielded any hint that the book was for sale.

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The sacristan was pale, and his lips were working. If

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Monsieur will turn on to the end, he said. So.

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Monsieur turned on, meeting new treasures at every rise of

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a leaf, and at the end of the book he

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came upon two sheets of paper of much more recent

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date than anything he had seen yet, which puzzled him considerably.

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They must be contemporary, he decided, with the unprincipled canon Alberic,

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who had doubtless plundered the chapter library of Saint Bertrand

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to form this priceless scrap book. On the first of

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the paper sheets was a plan, carefully drawn and instantly

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recognizable by a person who knew the ground of the

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south isle and cloisters of Saint Bertrand's there were curious

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signs looking like planetary symbols, and a few Hebrew words

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in the corners, and in the northwest angle of the

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cloister was a cross drawn in gold paint. Below the

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plan was some lines of writing in Latin, which ran

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thus responsor twelve mis death sixteen ninety four in terragartum

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00:12:45,279 --> 00:12:51,519
est in veniamne response from est in vennies viamne dives

237
00:12:51,879 --> 00:13:00,480
vies vivamne invidendis vives mariarne. In lectoma Ita Answers of

238
00:13:00,519 --> 00:13:03,879
the twelfth of December sixteen ninety four, it was asked,

239
00:13:04,159 --> 00:13:09,240
shall I find it? Answer, thou shalt? Shall I become rich?

240
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:15,200
Thou wilt? Shall I live an object of envy? Thou wilt?

241
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,000
Shall I die in my bed? Thou wilt? A good

242
00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:24,240
specimen of the treasure Hunter's record quite reminds one of

243
00:13:24,279 --> 00:13:27,240
mister Minor canoncach Remain. In Old Saint Paul's was Denis

244
00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:32,039
Stoone's comment, and he turned the leaf. What he then

245
00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,960
saw impressed him, as he has often told me, more

246
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,519
than he could have conceived any drawing or picture capable

247
00:13:37,519 --> 00:13:40,919
of impressing him. And though the drawing he saw is

248
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,679
no longer in existence, there is a photograph of it

249
00:13:43,759 --> 00:13:47,639
which I possess, which fully bears out that statement. The

250
00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:50,320
picture in question was a Seapier drawing at the end

251
00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,080
of the seventeenth century, representing one would say, at first,

252
00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,720
a biblical scene. For the architecture, the picture represented an interior,

253
00:13:59,279 --> 00:14:02,200
and the figures had that semi classical flavor about them

254
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,120
which the artists of two hundred years ago thought appropriate

255
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,799
illustrations of the Bible. On the right was a king

256
00:14:08,879 --> 00:14:12,240
on his throne, the throne elevated on twelve steps, a

257
00:14:12,279 --> 00:14:16,840
canopy overhead, soldiers on either side, evidently King Solomon. He

258
00:14:16,919 --> 00:14:20,720
was bending forward with outstretched scepter in attitude of command.

259
00:14:21,799 --> 00:14:25,159
His face expressed horror and disgust. Yet there was in

260
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,279
it also the mark of imperious command and confident power.

261
00:14:29,519 --> 00:14:32,360
The left half of the picture was the strangest, however,

262
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,799
the interest plainly centered. There on the pavement before the

263
00:14:37,879 --> 00:14:42,200
throne were grouped four soldiers surrounding a crouching figure which

264
00:14:42,279 --> 00:14:45,600
must be described in a moment. A fifth soldier lay

265
00:14:45,679 --> 00:14:50,000
dead on the pavement, his neck distorted and his eyeballs

266
00:14:50,039 --> 00:14:53,639
starting from his head. The force around the guards were

267
00:14:53,639 --> 00:14:56,559
looking at the king in their faces, the sentiment of

268
00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,360
horror was intensified. They seemed, in fact only restraint from

269
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,840
flight by their implicit trust in their master. All this

270
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,919
terror was plainly excited by the being that crouched in

271
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,960
their midst. I entirely despair of conveying, by any words,

272
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,399
the impression which this figure makes upon anyone who looks

273
00:15:14,399 --> 00:15:17,519
at it, I recollect. Once showing the photograph of the

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00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,879
drawing to a lecturer on morphology, a person of I

275
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,960
was going to say, abnormally sane and unimaginative habits of mind.

276
00:15:25,919 --> 00:15:28,720
He absolutely refused to be alone for the rest of

277
00:15:28,759 --> 00:15:31,600
that evening, and he told me afterwards that for many

278
00:15:31,679 --> 00:15:33,879
nights he had not dared to put out his light

279
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,320
before going to sleep. However, the main traits of the

280
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,960
figure I can at least indicate. At first, you saw

281
00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,480
only a mass of coarse, matted black hair. Presently it

282
00:15:46,519 --> 00:15:49,600
was seen that this covered a body, a fearful thinness,

283
00:15:49,799 --> 00:15:53,720
almost a skeleton, but with the muscles standing out like wires.

284
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,919
The hands were of a dusky pallor, covered like the

285
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:03,960
body with long coarse hair and hideously taloned. The eyes,

286
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,039
touched in with a burning yellow, had intensely black pupils,

287
00:16:08,519 --> 00:16:11,000
and were fixed upon the throned king with a look

288
00:16:11,039 --> 00:16:15,600
of beastlike hate. Imagine one of the awful bird catching

289
00:16:15,639 --> 00:16:19,799
spiders of South America translated into human form and endowed

290
00:16:19,799 --> 00:16:23,080
with intelligence just less than human, and you will have

291
00:16:23,159 --> 00:16:27,720
some faint conception of the terror inspired by the appalling effigy.

292
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,000
One remark is universally made by those to whom I

293
00:16:32,039 --> 00:16:37,039
have showed the picture. It was drawn from the life.

294
00:16:37,159 --> 00:16:39,759
As soon as the first shock of his irresistible fright

295
00:16:39,799 --> 00:16:44,240
had subsided, Denistoon stole a look at his hosts. The

296
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,919
sacristan's hands were pressed upon his eyes. His daughter, looking

297
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:49,840
up at the cross on the wall, was telling her

298
00:16:49,879 --> 00:16:55,039
beads feverishly. At last, the question was asked, is this

299
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:59,679
book for sale? There was the same hesitation, the same

300
00:16:59,679 --> 00:17:03,120
plum of determination that he had noticed before, and then

301
00:17:03,159 --> 00:17:08,000
came the welcome answer, If monsieur pleases, how much do

302
00:17:08,039 --> 00:17:10,680
you ask for it? I will take two hundred and

303
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:15,400
fifty francs. This was confounding. Even a collector's conscience is

304
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,720
sometimes stirred and Denistoon's conscience was tenderer than a collector's.

305
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,880
My good man, he said, again and again, your book

306
00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,680
is worth far more than two hundred and fifty francs.

307
00:17:25,799 --> 00:17:29,839
I assure you far more. But the answer did not vary.

308
00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,680
I will take two hundred and fifty francs, not more.

309
00:17:33,759 --> 00:17:36,519
There was really no possibility of refusing such a chance.

310
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,799
The money was paid, the receipt signed, a glass of

311
00:17:39,799 --> 00:17:43,079
wine drunk over the transaction, and then the sacristan seemed

312
00:17:43,079 --> 00:17:46,720
to become a new man. He stood upright, He ceased

313
00:17:46,759 --> 00:17:50,640
to throw those suspicious glances behind him. He actually laughed,

314
00:17:50,759 --> 00:17:54,839
or tried to laugh. Denistuon rose to go. I shall

315
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,400
have the honor of accompanying Monsieur to his hotel, said

316
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,680
the sacristan. Oh, no, thanks, it isn't a hundred yards.

317
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:02,720
I know the way perfectly, and there is a moon.

318
00:18:04,079 --> 00:18:06,599
The offer was pressed three or four times and refused

319
00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:11,079
as often. Then Monsieur will summon me if if he

320
00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:13,799
finds occasion. He will keep the middle of the road.

321
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,240
The sides are so rough. Certainly, certainly, said denistuone who

322
00:18:18,279 --> 00:18:21,240
was impatient to examine his prize by himself, and he

323
00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:23,680
stepped out into the passage with his book under his arm.

324
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,480
Here he was met by the daughter. She, it appeared,

325
00:18:27,519 --> 00:18:29,680
was anxious to do a little business of her own account,

326
00:18:30,039 --> 00:18:33,279
perhaps like Gahazi, to take somewhat from the foreigner whom

327
00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:37,119
her father had spared. A silver crucifix and chain for

328
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,759
the neck. Monsieur would perhaps be good enough to accept it. Well. Really,

329
00:18:41,839 --> 00:18:44,400
Denistune hadn't much use for these things. What did mademoiselle

330
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,720
want for it? Nothing? Nothing in the world. Monsieur is

331
00:18:48,759 --> 00:18:52,119
more than welcome to it. The tone in which this,

332
00:18:52,319 --> 00:18:55,519
and much more was said was unmistakably genuine, so that

333
00:18:55,559 --> 00:18:58,599
Denistoune was reduced to profuse thanks and submitted to have

334
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,680
the chain put round his neck. It really seemed as

335
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,079
if he had rendered the father and daughter some service

336
00:19:04,079 --> 00:19:07,519
which they hardly knew how to repay. As he set

337
00:19:07,519 --> 00:19:09,599
off with his book, they stood at the door looking

338
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,359
after him, and they were still looking when he waved

339
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,119
them a last good night from the steps of the

340
00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:19,359
Chateau Rouge. Dinner was over, and Denistoon was in his bedroom,

341
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,559
shut up alone with his acquisition. The landlady had manifested

342
00:19:23,559 --> 00:19:25,759
a particular interest in him since he had told her

343
00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:27,680
that he had paid a visit to the sacristan and

344
00:19:27,759 --> 00:19:31,240
bought an old book from him. He thought, too, that

345
00:19:31,279 --> 00:19:33,599
he had heard a hurried dialogue between her and the

346
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,319
said sacristan in the passage outside of the Sala Marges,

347
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,319
some words to the effect that Pierre and Bertrand would

348
00:19:40,319 --> 00:19:44,519
be sleeping in the house had closed the conversation. All

349
00:19:44,519 --> 00:19:47,559
this time a growing feeling of discomfort had been creeping

350
00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:52,039
over him, nervous reaction perhaps after the delight of his discovery.

351
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:55,880
Whatever it was, it resolved in a conviction that there

352
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,480
was some one behind him, and that he was far

353
00:19:58,559 --> 00:20:02,079
more comfortable with his back to the wor wall. All this,

354
00:20:02,319 --> 00:20:04,880
of course, weighed light in the balance as against the

355
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,720
obvious value of the collection he had acquired. And now,

356
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,000
as I said, he was alone in his bedroom taking

357
00:20:12,039 --> 00:20:15,519
stock of Canon Alberick's treasures, in which every moment revealed

358
00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:19,960
something more charming. Bless Canon Alberick, said Deniston, who had

359
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,119
an inveterate habit of talking to himself, I wonder where

360
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,440
he is now, Dear me, I wish that Landlady would

361
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,039
learn to laugh in a more cheering manner. Makes one

362
00:20:29,079 --> 00:20:30,880
feel as if there was someone dead in the house.

363
00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:33,920
Half a pipe more, did you say? I think perhaps

364
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,200
you are right. I wonder what that crucifix is that

365
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,480
the young woman insisted on giving me last century. I

366
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,960
suppose yes, Probably it is rather a nuisance of a

367
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,440
thing to have round one's neck, just too heavy. Most

368
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,880
likely her father has been wearing it for years. I

369
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:51,880
might give it a clean up before I put it away.

370
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,960
He had taken the crucifix off and laid it on

371
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,799
the table when his attention was caught by an object

372
00:20:58,039 --> 00:21:00,359
lying on the red cloth just by his left elbow.

373
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:03,839
Two or three ideas of what it might be flitted

374
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:09,759
through his brain with their own incalculable quickness. A pen wiper, no,

375
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,000
no such thing in the house. A rat, no too black,

376
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:19,759
A large spider, I trust, A goodness, not no good God.

377
00:21:20,319 --> 00:21:24,160
A hand like the hand in that picture. In another

378
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:28,880
infinitismal flash, he had taken it in pale, dusky skin,

379
00:21:29,319 --> 00:21:34,240
covering nothing but bones and tendons of appalling strength. Coarse

380
00:21:34,319 --> 00:21:37,319
black hairs longer than ever grew on a human hand,

381
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,759
nails rising from the ends of the fingers and curving

382
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:47,599
sharply down and forward, gray, horny and wrinkled. He flew

383
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,319
out of his chair with deadly, inconceivable terror clutching at

384
00:21:51,319 --> 00:21:54,880
his heart. The shape whose left hand rested on the

385
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,400
table was rising to a standing posture behind his seat.

386
00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:03,599
It's right hand crooked above his scalp. There was black

387
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:07,640
and tattered drapery about it. The coarse hair covered it

388
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,279
as in the drawing. The lower jaw was thin, what

389
00:22:11,319 --> 00:22:15,720
can I call it? Shallow like a beast's teeth showed

390
00:22:15,759 --> 00:22:19,920
behind the black lips there was no nose. The eyes

391
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,640
of a fiery yellow, against which the pupils showed black

392
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:28,039
and intense, and the exulting hate and thirst to destroy

393
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,519
life which shone there were the most horrifying features in

394
00:22:31,559 --> 00:22:36,200
the whole vision. There was intelligence of a kind in them,

395
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,880
intelligence beyond that of a beast, below that of a man.

396
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,680
The feelings which this horror stirred in Denis tone were

397
00:22:44,759 --> 00:22:49,519
the intensest physical fear and the most profound mental loathing.

398
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,400
What did he do? What could he do? He has

399
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,200
never been quite certain what words he said, but he

400
00:22:56,279 --> 00:22:59,319
knows that he spoke, that he grasped blindly at the

401
00:22:59,319 --> 00:23:02,839
silver crucide, that he was conscious of a movement towards

402
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,160
him on the part of the damon, and that he

403
00:23:05,319 --> 00:23:08,720
screamed with the voice of an animal in hideous pain.

404
00:23:10,079 --> 00:23:13,200
Pierre and Bertrand, the two sturdy little serving men who

405
00:23:13,279 --> 00:23:17,039
rushed in, saw nothing, but felt themselves thrust aside by

406
00:23:17,079 --> 00:23:20,039
something that passed out between them, and found Denistone in

407
00:23:20,079 --> 00:23:23,599
a swoon. They sat up with him that night, and

408
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,759
his two friends were at Saint Bertrand by nine o'clock

409
00:23:25,799 --> 00:23:30,000
the next morning. He himself, though still shaken and nervous,

410
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,200
was almost himself by that time, and his story frowned

411
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,640
credence with them, though not until they had seen the

412
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,640
drawing and talked with the sacristan almost at dawn. The

413
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,680
little man had come to the inn on some pretense

414
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,240
and had listened with the deepest interest to the story

415
00:23:44,279 --> 00:23:49,640
retailed by the landlady. He showed no surprise. It is he,

416
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,440
It is he, I have seen him myself, was his

417
00:23:52,519 --> 00:23:55,920
only comment, and to all questionings but one reply was

418
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:02,359
vouchsafed de fois geleevu millefoort Giles Santi. He would tell

419
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,839
them nothing of the provenance of the book, nor any

420
00:24:04,839 --> 00:24:08,720
details of his experiences. I shall soon sleep, and my

421
00:24:08,839 --> 00:24:11,680
rest will be sweet. Why should you trouble me? He said.

422
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,279
He died that summer. His daughter married and settled at

423
00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:19,640
Saint Papoul. She never understood the circumstances of her father's obsession.

424
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,039
We shall never know what he, or Canon Alberic Demoleon suffered.

425
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,839
At the back of that fateful drawing were some lines

426
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,119
of writing which may be supposed to throw light on

427
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:38,319
the situation. Contradictio salimonis come demonio nocturno Albericus de molione

428
00:24:38,559 --> 00:24:45,079
delineavit fidaeus in auditorium p s qui habitat sancte bertrand

429
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:52,400
demoniorum efugato intercidar proma miserrimo primum uidi nocte twelve mis

430
00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:57,720
death sixteen ninety four. We de beau mox ultimum picowi

431
00:24:57,839 --> 00:25:02,640
et passus sum pleura adhuc pas us. December twenty ninth,

432
00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:07,599
seventeen O one i e. The Dispute of Solomon with

433
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,119
the Demon of the Knight, drawn by Albert de Moleon

434
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,920
versical O, Lord, make haste to help me. Salme whoso

435
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,720
dwelleth x c I Saint Bertrand who put us devils

436
00:25:17,759 --> 00:25:20,680
to flight, pray for me most unhappy. I saw it

437
00:25:20,799 --> 00:25:23,680
first on the night of December the twelfth, sixteen ninety four.

438
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,759
Soon I shall see it for the last time. I

439
00:25:26,799 --> 00:25:29,039
have sinned and suffered, and have more to suffer yet

440
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,920
December than twenty ninth, seventeen o one. The Gallia Christiana

441
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,200
gives the date of the Canon's death as December thirty first,

442
00:25:37,279 --> 00:25:41,599
seventeen o one, in bed of a sudden caesar. Details

443
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,480
of this kind are not common in the great work

444
00:25:43,519 --> 00:25:47,920
of the Samarthani. I have never quite understood what was

445
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,519
Denistoon's view of the events I have narrated. He quoted

446
00:25:51,559 --> 00:25:55,000
to me once a text from Ecclesiasticus. Some spirits there

447
00:25:55,039 --> 00:25:57,599
be that are created for vengeance, and in their fury

448
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:02,599
lay on sore strokes. On another occasion, he said, Isaiah

449
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,440
was a very sensible man. Doesn't he say something about

450
00:26:05,559 --> 00:26:08,519
night monsters living in the ruins of Babylon? These things

451
00:26:08,519 --> 00:26:12,279
are rather beyond us at present. Another confidence of his

452
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:16,079
impressed me rather, and I sympathized with it. We had

453
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,960
been last year to command to see Canon Alberic's tomb.

454
00:26:19,519 --> 00:26:21,839
It is a great marble erection with an effigy of

455
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,440
the Cannon in a large Wig and Soutain, and an

456
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,880
elaborate eulogy of his learning below. I saw denistoone talking

457
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,480
for some time with the vicar of Saint Bertrand's, and

458
00:26:31,559 --> 00:26:34,240
as we drove away, he said to me, I hope

459
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,799
it isn't wrong. You know, I am a Presbyterian, but

460
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,799
I I believe there will be saying of Mass and

461
00:26:39,839 --> 00:26:43,799
singing of dirges for Alberic de Mooleon's rest. Then he added,

462
00:26:43,839 --> 00:26:46,480
with a touch of Northern British in his tone, I

463
00:26:46,519 --> 00:26:49,880
heard no notion there came, so dear. The book is

464
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,559
in the went with collection at Cambridge. The drawing was

465
00:26:52,599 --> 00:26:55,720
photographed and then burnt by Denistoon on the day when

466
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,200
he left commande, on the occasion of his first visit

467
00:27:00,039 --> 00:27:01,279
of Canon. Alberic Scrapper