1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:07,120
Speaker 1: The manuscript by Otto Larsen. Two men sat chatting together

2
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,199
one evening. Their daily business was to occupy themselves with literature.

3
00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,880
At the present moment they were engaged in drinking whisky,

4
00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,640
an occupation both agreeable and useful, and in chatting about books,

5
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,600
the theater, women, and many other things. Finally they came

6
00:00:23,719 --> 00:00:28,120
round to that inexhaustible subject for conversation, the mysterious life

7
00:00:28,199 --> 00:00:31,879
of the soul, the hidden things, the unknown, that theme

8
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,600
for which Shakespeare has given us an oft quoted and

9
00:00:34,679 --> 00:00:38,399
oft abused device, which one of the men, mister X

10
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,359
now used to point his remarks. Raising his glass, he

11
00:00:42,399 --> 00:00:45,719
looked at himself meditatively, in a mere opposite, and in

12
00:00:45,759 --> 00:00:48,359
a good imitation of the manner of his favorite actor,

13
00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,359
he quoted, there are more things in heaven and earth

14
00:00:51,679 --> 00:00:56,439
than are dreamt of in thy philosophy, Horatio. Mister wy

15
00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,679
arranged a fresh glass for himself and answered, I believe it.

16
00:01:01,039 --> 00:01:03,079
I believe also that it is given but to a

17
00:01:03,119 --> 00:01:06,480
few chosen ones to see these things. It never fell

18
00:01:06,519 --> 00:01:10,560
to my lot, I know, fortunately for me, perhaps for

19
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,799
at least so it appears to me, these chosen ones

20
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,560
appear on closer investigation to be individuals of an abnormal

21
00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,400
condition of brain. As far as I personally am concerned,

22
00:01:21,719 --> 00:01:24,519
I know of nothing more strange than the usual logical

23
00:01:24,519 --> 00:01:28,000
and natural sequence of events on our globe. I confess

24
00:01:28,159 --> 00:01:31,640
things do sometimes happen outside of this orderly sequence. But

25
00:01:31,719 --> 00:01:35,400
for the cold blooded and thoughtful person, the strange, the

26
00:01:35,439 --> 00:01:39,599
apparently inexplicable, usually turns out to be a sum of chance,

27
00:01:40,599 --> 00:01:43,439
that chance we will never be quite clever enough to

28
00:01:43,519 --> 00:01:47,599
fully take into our calculations. As an instance, I would

29
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,439
like to tell you the story of what happened several

30
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,680
years back to a friend of mine, a young French writer.

31
00:01:54,799 --> 00:01:58,239
He had a good, sincere mind, but he also had

32
00:01:58,359 --> 00:02:01,920
a strong leaning toward Mistuss's, something which was just then

33
00:02:01,959 --> 00:02:04,000
in danger of becoming as much of a fashion in

34
00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:07,319
France as it is here now. The event of which

35
00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:09,599
I am about to tell you threw him into what

36
00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:12,560
was almost a delirium, which came near to robbing him

37
00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,319
of his normal intelligence, and therefore came near to robbing

38
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,280
French readers of a few excellent books. This was the

39
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,639
way it happened. It was about ten years back, and

40
00:02:24,719 --> 00:02:27,479
I was spending the spring and summer in Paris. I

41
00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,120
had a room with the family of a concierge on

42
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,159
the left bank Rue de va Gerard, near the Luxembourg Gardens.

43
00:02:34,759 --> 00:02:38,159
A few steps from my modest domicile lived my friend

44
00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:41,479
Lucien F. We had become acquainted through a chain of

45
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,919
circumstances which do not belong to this story. But these

46
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,439
circumstances had made firm friends of us, a friendship which

47
00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,360
was a source of great pleasure and also of assistance

48
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,919
to me in my study of Paris conditions. This friendship

49
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,400
also enabled me to enjoy better and cheaper whisky than

50
00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,919
one can usually meet with in the city by the Seine,

51
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,520
a real good jameson Highland. Lucy and F had already

52
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,319
published several books which had aroused attention through the oddity

53
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,439
of their themes, and their gratifying success had made it

54
00:03:12,479 --> 00:03:16,000
possible for him to establish himself in a comfortably furnished

55
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,639
bachelor apartment on the corner of the Rue de Vaucherarde

56
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,719
and the Rue de Conde. The apartment had a corridor

57
00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,960
and three rooms, a dining room, a bedroom, and a

58
00:03:27,039 --> 00:03:30,719
charming study with an enclosed balcony, the three windows of

59
00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:33,439
which a large one in the center, and two smaller

60
00:03:33,479 --> 00:03:35,840
ones at the side sent a flood of light in

61
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,520
over the great writing table, which filled nearly the entire balcony.

62
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,960
Inside the room, near the balcony stood a divan covered

63
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,960
with a bear skin rug. Upon this divan I spent

64
00:03:47,039 --> 00:03:50,400
many of my hours in Paris occupied in the smoking

65
00:03:50,439 --> 00:03:54,120
of my friend's excellent cigars and the sampling of his

66
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,439
superlatively good whisky. At the same time, I could lie

67
00:03:58,479 --> 00:04:00,560
staring up at the tops of the tree in the

68
00:04:00,599 --> 00:04:05,159
Luxembourg gardens while Lucian worked at his desk. For unlike

69
00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,479
most writers, he could work best when he was not alone.

70
00:04:10,479 --> 00:04:13,840
If I remained away several days, he would invariably ring

71
00:04:13,919 --> 00:04:16,399
my bell early some morning and drag me out of

72
00:04:16,399 --> 00:04:19,439
bed with the remark, the whiskey is ready. I can't

73
00:04:19,439 --> 00:04:23,040
write if you are not there. During the particular days

74
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,079
of which I shall tell you, he was engaged in

75
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,480
the writing of a fantastic novelette, The Force of the Wind,

76
00:04:28,959 --> 00:04:31,480
a work which interested him greatly, and which he would

77
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,439
interrupt unwillingly at intervals to furnish coffee for the well

78
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,240
known newspaper that numbered him among the members of its staff.

79
00:04:39,079 --> 00:04:41,480
His books were printed by the same house that did

80
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,920
the printing for the paper. Often as I lay in

81
00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:47,839
my favorite position on the divan, the bell would ring,

82
00:04:47,879 --> 00:04:49,680
and we would be honored by a visit from the

83
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,279
printer's boy, Adolph, a little fellow in a blue blouse,

84
00:04:53,879 --> 00:04:57,480
the true type of Paris gayman. Adolph rejoiced in a

85
00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,759
broken nose, a pair of crafty eyes, and had his

86
00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,839
fists always full of manuscripts, which he treated with a

87
00:05:03,879 --> 00:05:07,040
carelessness that would have driven a literary novice to despair.

88
00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,199
The long rolls of yellow paper would hang out of

89
00:05:10,199 --> 00:05:13,160
his trousers pockets, as if ready to fall apart at

90
00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,600
his next movement, and the disrespectful manner in which he

91
00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,360
crammed my friend Lucian's scarcely dried essay into the breast

92
00:05:20,439 --> 00:05:23,120
of his blouse would have certainly called forth remarks from

93
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,560
a journalist of more self conceit. But his eyes were

94
00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,040
so full of sly cunning, and there was such an

95
00:05:29,079 --> 00:05:32,079
atmosphere of Paris about the stocky little fourteen year old

96
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,879
Chap that we would often keep him longer with us

97
00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,879
and treat him to a glass of anisette to hear

98
00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,600
his opinion of the writers whose work he handled. He

99
00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,360
was an amusing cross between a tricky little Paris gaymon

100
00:05:44,439 --> 00:05:47,360
and a real child, and he hit off the characteristics

101
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,000
of the various writers with a keen touch of actuality,

102
00:05:50,319 --> 00:05:52,800
as he could put into his stories of how many

103
00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,240
sentimies he had won that morning at craps from his

104
00:05:55,319 --> 00:05:59,120
friend Pierre. Pierre was another employee of the printing house,

105
00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,879
Adolph's comrade in his study of the mysteries of Paris streets,

106
00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,639
and now his rival. They were both in love with

107
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,439
the same girl, the fifteen year old daughter of the

108
00:06:09,519 --> 00:06:12,839
keeper of La Prunelle cafe, and her favor was oft

109
00:06:12,879 --> 00:06:16,040
in the prize of the morning's game. Now and then

110
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,560
this rivalry between the two young Parisians would drop into

111
00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,639
a hand to hand fight. I myself was witnessed to

112
00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,680
such a skirmish one day in front of La Prunelle.

113
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,199
The rivals pulled each other's hair mightily, while the manuscripts

114
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,720
flew about over the pavement, and Virginny, in her short skirts,

115
00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:35,600
stood at the door of the cafe and laughed until

116
00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:39,439
she seemed about to shake to pieces. Pierre was the strongest,

117
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,439
and Adolph came off with a bloody nose. He gathered

118
00:06:42,519 --> 00:06:45,720
up his manuscripts in grim silence, and left the battlefield

119
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,319
and the still laughing Virginny with an expression of deep

120
00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,959
anger on his wounded face. The following day, when I

121
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,680
teased him a little because of his defeat, he smiled

122
00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,800
a sly smile and remarked, yes, but I want a

123
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,000
frank from him, the big stupid animal. And so it

124
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,959
was I, after all who took Virginny out. That evening.

125
00:07:05,519 --> 00:07:08,000
We went to the Cafe naut where I let them

126
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,160
put me in a coffin and pretended to be decaying

127
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,360
to amuse her. She thought it was lots of fun.

128
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,160
One morning, Lucian had come for me as usual, put

129
00:07:17,199 --> 00:07:19,759
me on the divan and seated himself at his writing table.

130
00:07:20,279 --> 00:07:22,519
He was just putting the last words to his novel,

131
00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,240
and the table was entirely covered with the scattered leaves

132
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,240
closely written. I could just see his neck as he

133
00:07:29,319 --> 00:07:33,199
sat there, a thin, sinewed, expressive neck. He bent over

134
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,399
his work, blind and deaf for anything else. I lay

135
00:07:36,399 --> 00:07:38,319
there and gazed out over the tops of the trees

136
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,040
in the park, up into the blue summer sky. The

137
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:43,480
window on the left side of the desk stood wide open,

138
00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,319
for it was a warm and sultry day. I sipped

139
00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:50,160
my whisky slowly. The air was heavy and thunder threatened

140
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,720
in the distance. After a little while, the clouds gathered together, heavy,

141
00:07:54,879 --> 00:07:58,720
low hanging copper hued real thunder clouds, and the trees

142
00:07:58,759 --> 00:08:03,079
in the park rustled softly. The air was stifling and

143
00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:08,160
lay heavy as lead on my breast, Lucian. Lucian did

144
00:08:08,199 --> 00:08:11,240
not hear or see anything. His pen flew over the paper.

145
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,079
I fell back lazily on my divan. Then suddenly there

146
00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,199
was a mighty tumult. A strong gust of wind swept

147
00:08:18,199 --> 00:08:20,560
through the street, bending the trees in the gardens quite

148
00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,480
out of my horizon. With a crash, the right hand

149
00:08:24,519 --> 00:08:27,720
window in the balcony flew wide open, and like a cyclone,

150
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,560
the wind swept through, clearing the table in an instant

151
00:08:30,639 --> 00:08:32,960
of all those loose sheets of paper that had lain

152
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:37,080
scattered about it. The devil. Why don't you shut the window,

153
00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:40,480
I cried, springing up from the sofa. Spare your energy.

154
00:08:40,519 --> 00:08:43,240
It's too late, said Lucian, with a gentle mockery in

155
00:08:43,279 --> 00:08:47,080
his soft voice. Look there, he pointed out into the street,

156
00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,519
where his sheets of paper went swirling about in the

157
00:08:49,519 --> 00:08:53,759
heavy air like white doves. A second later came the rain,

158
00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,120
a veritable cloud burst. We shut the windows and gave

159
00:08:57,159 --> 00:08:59,840
ourselves up to melancholy thoughts about the lost man Yu,

160
00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,360
the recovery of which now seemed utterly hopeless. That's one

161
00:09:05,399 --> 00:09:08,000
thousand francs at least that the wind has robbed me of,

162
00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:12,639
sighed Lucian. Well, and Finn it doesn't matter so much.

163
00:09:13,159 --> 00:09:16,159
But do you know anything more tiresome than to work

164
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,200
over the same subject a second time? I can't think

165
00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,279
of doing it. It would fairly make me sick to

166
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,200
try it. We were in a sad mood that morning.

167
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,720
When we went out to breakfast at about two o'clock,

168
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,679
we looked about for some traces of the lost manuscript.

169
00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,480
There was nothing to be seen. It had vanished, completely,

170
00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,240
whirled off to all four corners of the earth. Probably

171
00:09:37,759 --> 00:09:41,840
this manuscript from which Lucian had expected so much. Truly

172
00:09:41,879 --> 00:09:44,559
it was the force of the wind. Now comes the

173
00:09:44,639 --> 00:09:48,200
strange part of the story. One morning, two weeks later,

174
00:09:48,799 --> 00:09:51,159
Lucian stood in the door of my little room, pale

175
00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,960
as a ghost. He had a bundle of printer's proofs

176
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,559
in his hand and held them out to me without

177
00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:00,639
a word. I looked at it and read the force

178
00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,240
of the wind by Lucian. F it was a good

179
00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,480
bundle of proofs, the entire first proofs of Lucian's novel,

180
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,919
that novel, the manuscript of which we had seen blow

181
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,320
out of the balcony window and whirled away by the winds.

182
00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,320
My dear man, I exclaimed, as I handed him back

183
00:10:16,399 --> 00:10:19,759
the proofs. You have been industrious, indeed, to write your

184
00:10:19,879 --> 00:10:22,720
entire novel over again in so short a time, and

185
00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:27,440
to have proofs already. Lucian did not answer. He stood silent,

186
00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:29,679
staring at me with a weird look in his otherwise

187
00:10:29,759 --> 00:10:34,440
so sensible eyes. After a moment, he stammered, I did

188
00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,399
not write the novel over again. I have not touched

189
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:39,440
a pin since the day the manuscript blew out of

190
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,399
the window. Are you a sleep walker, Lucian? Why do

191
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,360
you ask? Why? That would be the only natural explanation.

192
00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:50,759
They say, we can do a great many things in sleep,

193
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:53,440
of which we know nothing when we wake. I have

194
00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,399
heard queer stories of that men have committed murders in

195
00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,759
their sleep. It happens quite often that sleepwalkers write letters

196
00:10:59,759 --> 00:11:03,080
in a handwriting. They do not recognize when awake. I

197
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,480
have never been a sleep walker. Lucian answered, oh, you

198
00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:09,279
never can tell. I remarked, would you rather explain it

199
00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:11,840
as magic or the work of fairies? Or do you

200
00:11:11,879 --> 00:11:16,039
believe in ghosts? Your muse has fascinated you, you mystic?

201
00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:19,039
And I laughed and trilled a line from the mascot

202
00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,279
which we had seen the evening before at the lyric.

203
00:11:22,519 --> 00:11:25,080
But my merriment did not seem to strike an answering

204
00:11:25,159 --> 00:11:28,120
note in Lucian. He turned from me in silence, and

205
00:11:28,159 --> 00:11:31,240
with an offended expression, took his hat and his proofs.

206
00:11:31,759 --> 00:11:35,600
And humorous and skeptic as he was ordinarily, he parted

207
00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:38,240
from me with the words uttered in a theatrical tone,

208
00:11:38,919 --> 00:11:41,240
there are more things in heaven and Earth than are

209
00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,759
dreamed of in thy philosophy. He turned on his heel

210
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,360
and left the room to be candid. I was unpleasantly

211
00:11:49,399 --> 00:11:52,120
affected by the little scene. I could not for an

212
00:11:52,159 --> 00:11:56,080
instant doubt Lucian's honesty. He was so pale, so frightened,

213
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,840
almost so touching in the alarm and excitement of his soul.

214
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,279
Of course, the only explanation that I could see was

215
00:12:03,279 --> 00:12:05,559
that he had written his novel in a sleep walking state.

216
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:08,879
For certainly, no printer could set up type from a

217
00:12:08,879 --> 00:12:12,120
manuscript that did not exist, to say nothing of printing

218
00:12:12,159 --> 00:12:15,720
it and sending out proofs. Several days passed, but Lucian

219
00:12:15,799 --> 00:12:18,039
did not come near me. I went to his place

220
00:12:18,159 --> 00:12:20,960
once or twice, but the door was locked. Had the

221
00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,919
devil carried him off bodily, or had this strange and

222
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,320
inexplicable occurrence robbed him of his sanity and robbed me

223
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,440
of his friendship and his excellent whisky. After three useless

224
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,759
attempts to find him at home, and after writing him

225
00:12:33,759 --> 00:12:36,120
a letter which he did not answer, I gave up

226
00:12:36,159 --> 00:12:40,080
Lucian without any further attempt to understand his enigmatical behavior.

227
00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,720
A short time after I left for my home, without

228
00:12:43,759 --> 00:12:48,000
having seen or heard anything more of him. Months passed

229
00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,840
I remained at home, and one evening, when, during the

230
00:12:50,879 --> 00:12:53,679
course of a gay party, the conversation came round to

231
00:12:53,799 --> 00:12:58,120
the subject of mysticism and occult occurrences, I dished up

232
00:12:58,159 --> 00:13:02,080
my story of the enigmatical manuscript the unknown The occult

233
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,279
was the rage just then, and my story was received

234
00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:08,679
with great applause and called forth numerous quotations as to

235
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,480
more things in heaven and Earth. I came to think

236
00:13:12,519 --> 00:13:14,759
so much of it myself that I wrote it out

237
00:13:14,799 --> 00:13:18,200
and sent it to Professor Flammarian, who was just then

238
00:13:18,279 --> 00:13:20,919
making a study of the unknown, which he preserved in

239
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:26,240
his later book lesn Connieux. The occupying myself with the

240
00:13:26,279 --> 00:13:29,120
story brought my mind around again to memories of Lucien.

241
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,039
One day I saw a notice in La Figero to

242
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,799
the effect that his book The Force of the Wind

243
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,159
had appeared in a second large edition and had aroused

244
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:45,720
much attention, particularly in spiritualistic circles. I seemed to see

245
00:13:45,799 --> 00:13:48,320
him again before me, with his long nervous neck, which

246
00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:51,679
was so expressive. The vision of this neck rose up

247
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,200
before me whenever I drank the same sort of whisky

248
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,759
that I had drunk so often with him, and the

249
00:13:56,799 --> 00:13:59,360
longing to hear something more of my lost friend came

250
00:13:59,399 --> 00:14:03,279
over me. I sat down one evening, when in a

251
00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,320
sentimental mood, and wrote to him, asking him to tell

252
00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:08,799
me something of himself and to send me his book.

253
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,480
A week later I received the little book and the

254
00:14:12,519 --> 00:14:15,840
following letter, which I have here in my pocket. It

255
00:14:15,919 --> 00:14:18,679
is somewhat crumpled, for I have read it several times

256
00:14:19,039 --> 00:14:21,000
but no matter. I will read it to you now,

257
00:14:21,559 --> 00:14:24,399
if you will pardon my awkward translating of the French original.

258
00:14:24,879 --> 00:14:29,679
Here it is, dear friend, many thanks for your letter.

259
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,840
Here is the book. I have to thank you also

260
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,720
that you did not lay my behavior of your last

261
00:14:35,799 --> 00:14:38,879
days in Paris up against me. It must have seemed

262
00:14:38,919 --> 00:14:42,399
strange to you. I will try to explain it. I

263
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,360
have been nervous from childhood. The fact that most of

264
00:14:45,399 --> 00:14:49,320
my books have treated of fantastic subjects, somewhat in the

265
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,759
manner of Edgar Allan Poe has made me more susceptible

266
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,200
for all that world which lies beyond and about the

267
00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,759
world of everyday life. I have sought after and yet

268
00:14:58,799 --> 00:15:02,159
feared the mystical, cool and lucid as I can be

269
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,879
at times. I have always had an inclination for the enigmatical,

270
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,000
the unknown. But the first thing that ever happened in

271
00:15:10,039 --> 00:15:12,720
my life that I could not explain or understand was

272
00:15:12,759 --> 00:15:15,639
the affair of the manuscript. You remember the day I

273
00:15:15,679 --> 00:15:18,159
stood in your room, I must have looked the picture

274
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,840
of misery. The affair had played more havoc with my

275
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,799
nerves than you can very well understand. Your mockery hurt me,

276
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,279
and yet under all I felt ashamed of my own

277
00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,600
thoughts concerning this foolish occurrence. I could not explain the phenomenon,

278
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,360
and I shivered at the things that it suggested to me.

279
00:15:35,799 --> 00:15:38,879
In this condition, which lasted several weeks, I could not

280
00:15:39,159 --> 00:15:42,639
bear to see you or any one else, and I

281
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,279
was impolite enough even to leave your letter unanswered. The

282
00:15:46,279 --> 00:15:48,799
book appeared and made a hit, since that sort of

283
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,759
thing was the center of interest just then. But almost

284
00:15:51,799 --> 00:15:54,879
a month passed before I could arouse myself from that

285
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,919
condition of fear, and I had almost said softening of

286
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,639
the brain which prevented my enjoyment of my success. Then

287
00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:07,519
the explanation came. Thanks to this occurrence. I know now

288
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,639
that I shall never again be in danger of being haunted,

289
00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,600
and I know now that chance can bring about stranger

290
00:16:14,639 --> 00:16:18,879
happenings than can any fancied visitations from the spirit world.

291
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,240
Here you have the story of this mystic occurrence which

292
00:16:23,279 --> 00:16:26,399
came near endangering my sanity, and which turns out to

293
00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:29,200
be a chance combination of a gust of wind, a

294
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,320
sudden downpour of rain, and the strange elements in the

295
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,639
character of our little friend Adolph the printer's boy. You

296
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,840
remember that funny little chap with the crafty eye, his

297
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,720
talent for gambling, in his admiration for the girl of

298
00:16:42,799 --> 00:16:46,120
La Prunelle, A queer little mixture, this child who has

299
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,519
himself alone to look too for livelihood and care. The

300
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,639
typical race of the Paris streets, the modified gayman from

301
00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:58,559
Les Miserabla. About a month after the appearance of my book,

302
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,519
I lay on the demand one day your favorite place

303
00:17:01,559 --> 00:17:04,839
you remember, and lost myself in idle reasonings on the

304
00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,319
same old subject that never left my mind day or night.

305
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,839
When the bell rang and Adolph appeared to call for

306
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,079
the essay on Le Boulevard, there was an unusually nervous

307
00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:18,039
gleam in his eyes. That day I gave him an

308
00:17:18,039 --> 00:17:20,559
anisset and tried to find out what his trouble was.

309
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,400
I did find it out, and I found out a

310
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,799
good deal more. Besides, thanks to his good fortune as

311
00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,279
a gambler, Virginny came to look upon him with favor.

312
00:17:31,039 --> 00:17:33,680
Pierre was quite out of the race, and Adolph's affection

313
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,119
was reciprocated as much as his heart could desire. But

314
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,680
with his good fortune and love came all the suffering

315
00:17:39,799 --> 00:17:43,000
all the torture, the suspicions that tear the hearts of

316
00:17:43,079 --> 00:17:46,960
us men when we set our hopes upon a woman's truth.

317
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,000
Young as he was, he went through them all. And

318
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,039
now he was torturing himself with the thought that she

319
00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,079
did not really love him and was only pretending while

320
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,200
she gave her heart to another. Perhaps he was right?

321
00:17:59,599 --> 00:18:03,400
Why not? I talked to Adolf as man to man

322
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,960
and managed to bring back a gleam of his usual

323
00:18:06,039 --> 00:18:09,759
jollity and sly humor. He took another glass of Annisette

324
00:18:09,799 --> 00:18:15,319
and said, suddenly, Monsieur Lucienne, I did something. Did what

325
00:18:15,519 --> 00:18:18,599
I asked something I should have told you long ago.

326
00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:21,680
It was wrong, and you've always been so nice to me.

327
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,039
You remember the day two months ago when we had

328
00:18:25,079 --> 00:18:28,319
such a sudden wind and rain storm, a regular cloud burst.

329
00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:32,160
I was down here in this neighborhood fetching manuscripts from

330
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,680
Monsieur le Vuquire and Monsieur Leroy. I was to have

331
00:18:35,799 --> 00:18:38,759
come up here for copy from you too, But then

332
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,160
you'll understand, after all I've been telling you. I came

333
00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:45,400
round pass La Prunell and Virginny stood in the doorway,

334
00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:47,720
and she'd promised to go out with me that evening,

335
00:18:49,039 --> 00:18:51,519
so I ran up to speak to her. And then

336
00:18:51,599 --> 00:18:53,880
when I went on again, I saw a sheet with

337
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,000
your writing lying in the street. You know, I know

338
00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:00,359
all the gentlemen's writing, whose copy I fetch? Then I

339
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,240
was frightened. I thought to myself the devil. I thought, here,

340
00:19:04,279 --> 00:19:08,279
I've lost Monsieur Lucienne's manuscript. I couldn't remember calling for it,

341
00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:10,400
but I thought I must have done so before I

342
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:14,160
got to Monsieur LeRoy's. I can't remember much except Virginny

343
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,400
these days. I took up the sheet and saw three

344
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,200
others a little further on, and I saw a lot

345
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,200
more shining just behind the railing of the Luxembourg garden.

346
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,400
You know how hard it rained. The water held the

347
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,839
paper down so the wind couldn't carry it any further.

348
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,519
I ran into the garden and picked up all the sheets,

349
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,640
thirty two of them. All of them except the first

350
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,440
four I found in the street, had blown in behind

351
00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,680
the railing, and I can tell you I was precious

352
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,119
glad that I had them altogether. I ran back to

353
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,680
the office, told them I had dropped the manuscript in

354
00:19:48,759 --> 00:19:52,200
the street, but asked them not to say anything. To

355
00:19:52,279 --> 00:19:55,160
you about it. But the sheets were all there, you

356
00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,160
always numbered them so clearly and handsome. August the compositor,

357
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:02,440
promised he wouldn't tell on me. I knew if the

358
00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,839
foreman heard of it, he'd put me out, for he

359
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,200
had a grudge against me. So nobody knew anything about it.

360
00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:11,440
But I thought I ought to tell you, cause you've

361
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,480
been so nice to me. Maybe you'll understand how one

362
00:20:14,519 --> 00:20:16,920
gets queer at times when a girl like Virginny tells

363
00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,240
you she likes you better than Pierre, and yet you

364
00:20:19,279 --> 00:20:21,960
think she might deceive you for his sake, that big

365
00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:26,119
stupid animal. But now I'll be going much obliged for

366
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,000
your kindness, Monsieur Lucien, and for the annisset. And he

367
00:20:30,079 --> 00:20:33,880
left me. There you have the explanation, the very simple

368
00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,759
and natural explanation of the phenomenon that almost drove me crazy.

369
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:43,480
The entire supernatural occurrence was caused by a careless boy's

370
00:20:43,519 --> 00:20:47,319
love affairs, by a gust of southwest wind, by a

371
00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,359
sudden heavy rain, and by the chance that I had

372
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:55,640
used English ink, the kind that water cannot blur. All

373
00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,039
these simple natural things made me act so foolishly toward

374
00:20:59,079 --> 00:21:01,599
a good friend the sort of friend I have always

375
00:21:01,599 --> 00:21:04,359
known you to be. Let me hear from you and

376
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,200
tell me what you people up north think of my book.

377
00:21:09,559 --> 00:21:13,519
I give you my word that the unknown powers shall

378
00:21:13,559 --> 00:21:19,200
never again make me foolish enough to risk losing your friendship, Yours, Lucien.

379
00:21:20,319 --> 00:21:23,960
So this is my story. Yes there are more things

380
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,119
in heaven and earth, but the workings of chance are

381
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,039
the strangest of all. And this whiskey is really very good.

382
00:21:31,799 --> 00:21:32,359
Here's to you.