WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.160 Section four of the Best Ghost Stories. This is a 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.480 LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. 3 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.640 For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. 4 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:17.120 Read by Ben Tucker. The Haunted and the Haunters or 5 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:21.960 The House and the Brain by Edward Bulwer Lytton, a 6 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.920 friend of mine, who is a man of letters and 7 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.160 a philosopher, said to me one day, as if between 8 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.359 jest and Earnest Pantcy, since we last met, I have 9 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:33.240 discovered a haunted house in the midst of London, really 10 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:37.439 haunted and by what ghosts? Well, I can't answer that question. 11 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.039 All I know is this. Six weeks ago, my wife 12 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:42.719 and I were in search of a furnished apartment, passing 13 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.960 a quiet street. We saw in the windows one of 14 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.840 the houses a bill apartments furnished. The situation suited us. 15 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.399 We entered the house, liked the rooms, engaged them by 16 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:55.560 the week, and left them the third day. No power 17 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:58.159 on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer. 18 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:01.840 And I don't wonder at it, what did you see? 19 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:04.840 Excuse me? I have no desire to be ridiculed as 20 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:07.959 a superstitious dreamer. Nor, on the other hand, could I 21 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.239 ask you to accept on my affirmation which you would 22 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.280 hold to be incredible without the evidence of your own senses. 23 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.280 Let me only say this, It was not so much 24 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.200 what we saw or heard, and which you might fairly 25 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:21.680 suppose that we were the dupes of our own excited fancy, 26 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:26.040 or the victims of imposture and others, but drove us away, 27 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:30.640 as it was an undefinable terror which seized both of 28 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:32.959 us whenever we passed by the door of a certain 29 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.519 unfurnished room in which we neither saw nor heard anything. 30 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.159 And the strangest marvel of all was that, for once 31 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:42.840 in my life, I agreed with my wife, silly woman 32 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:45.239 though she be, and allowed, after the third night that 33 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:48.599 it was impossible to stay a fourth in that house. Accordingly, 34 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:50.480 on the fourth morning, I summoned the woman who kept 35 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:52.879 the house and attended on us, and told her that 36 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.879 the rooms did not quite suit us, and we would 37 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:59.159 not stay out our week. She said, dryly, I know 38 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:03.480 why you have stayed longer than any other lodger if 39 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.159 you ever stay a second night, none before you a third. 40 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:08.240 But I take it they've been very kind to you. 41 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:14.280 They who I asked, affecting to smile. Why they who 42 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.120 haunt the house? Whoever they are, I don't mind them. 43 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:19.080 I remember them many years ago when I lived in 44 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.520 this house, not as a servant. But I know they 45 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.560 will be the death of me some day. I don't care. 46 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.560 I'm old and must die soon anyhow, and then I 47 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.520 shall be with them and in this house still. The 48 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.719 woman spoke with so dreary a calmness that really it 49 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:35.800 was a sort of awe that prevented my conversing with her. Further, 50 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:38.560 I paid for my week, and too happy were my 51 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.840 wife and I to get off so cheaply. You excite 52 00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:45.639 my curiosity, said I. Nothing I should like better than 53 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.240 to sleep in a haunted house. Pray, give me the 54 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:52.199 address of the one which you left so ignominiously. My 55 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.639 friend gave me the address, and when we parted, I 56 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.520 walked straight towards the house, thus indicated. It is situated 57 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:00.919 on the north side of Oxford Street, in a dull 58 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.840 but respectable thoroughfare. I found the house shut up, no 59 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:06.960 bill at the window, and no response to my knock. 60 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.479 As I was turning away, a beer boy collecting pewter 61 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:13.400 pots at the neighboring areas, said to me, do you 62 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.919 want any one at that house? Sir, yes, I heard 63 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:20.240 it was to be let let Why the woman who 64 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.759 kept it is dead, has been dead these three weeks, 65 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.039 and no one can be found to stay here, though 66 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.479 mister Jay offered ever so much. He offered mother, who 67 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.560 chars for him, one pound a week just to open 68 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.759 and shut the windows, and she would not would not. 69 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.599 And why the house is haunted? And the old woman 70 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.400 who kept it was found dead in her bed with 71 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:43.560 her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her. Pooh, 72 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:46.000 you speak of mister Jay. Is he the owner of 73 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:50.319 the house? Yes? Where does he live in G Street? 74 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.599 Number blank? What is he in any business? No, sir, 75 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.960 nothing particular, a single gentleman. I gave the pot boy 76 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.439 the gratuity earned by liberal information and proceeded to mister 77 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:05.439 j in G Street, which was close by the street 78 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.199 that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to 79 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:11.520 find mister Jay at home, an elderly man with intelligent 80 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:16.519 countenance and prepossessing manners. I communicated my name and my business. Frankly, 81 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.240 I said, I heard the house was considered to be haunted, 82 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.800 that I had a strong desire to examine a house 83 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.360 with so equivocal a reputation that I should be greatly 84 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:28.120 obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though 85 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.959 only for a night. I was willing to pay for 86 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.800 that privilege, whatever he might be inclined to ask. Sir, 87 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.639 said mister Jay, with great courtesy. The house is at 88 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.439 your service for as short or as long a time 89 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.600 as you please. Rent is out of the question. The 90 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:47.360 obligation will be on my side should you be able 91 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:50.680 to discover the cause of the strange phenomena which at 92 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:54.199 present deprives it of all value. I cannot let it, 93 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.959 for I cannot even get a servant to keep it 94 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.959 in order or answer the door. Unluckily, the house is haunted, 95 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.240 if I may use that expression, not only by night 96 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:06.000 but by day, though at night the disturbances are of 97 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.399 a more unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character. 98 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:12.920 The poor old woman who died in it three weeks 99 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:15.120 ago was a pauper whom I took out of a 100 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:18.399 workhouse for in her childhood she had been known to 101 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:20.680 some of my family, and had once been in such 102 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.439 good circumstances that she had rented that house of my uncle. 103 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:27.639 She was a woman of superior education and strong mind, 104 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.199 and was the only person I could ever induce to 105 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:34.199 remain in the house. Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, 106 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.439 and the coroner's inquest, which gave it a notoriety in 107 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.759 the neighborhood, I have so despaired of finding any person 108 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.199 to take charge of the house much more tenant, that 109 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:45.319 I would willingly let it rent free for a year 110 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.639 to any one who would pay its rates and taxes. 111 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.600 How long is it since the house acquired this sinister 112 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:55.800 character that I can scarcely tell you, but very many 113 00:05:55.879 --> 00:05:58.480 years since the old woman I spoke of said it 114 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:00.759 was haunted when she rented it between thirty and forty 115 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:04.399 years ago. The fact is that my life has been 116 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:07.480 spent in the East Indies and in the civil service 117 00:06:07.560 --> 00:06:10.879 of the company. I returned to England last year on 118 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.959 inheriting the fortune of an uncle, among whose possessions was 119 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:17.240 the house in question. I found it shut up and uninhabited. 120 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.519 I was told that it was haunted, that no one 121 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:22.120 would inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me 122 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:25.199 so idle a story. I spent some money in repairing it, 123 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:28.959 added to its old fashioned furniture. A few modern articles 124 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.600 advertised it, and obtained a lodger for a year. He 125 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:35.160 was a colonel retired on half pay. He came in 126 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:37.800 with his family, a son and a daughter, and four 127 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:40.560 or five servants. They all left the house the next day, 128 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:42.680 And although each of them declared that he had seen 129 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.560 something different from that which had scared the others, a 130 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:50.079 something still was equally terrible to all. I really could not, 131 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:53.040 in conscience soon or even blame the colonel for a 132 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:56.160 breach of agreement. Then I put in the old woman 133 00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:58.399 I have spoke of, and she was empowered to let 134 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.439 the house in apartments. I never had one lodger who 135 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.000 stayed more than three days. I do not tell you 136 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:07.959 their stories. To no two lodgers have there been exactly 137 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:10.839 the same phenomena repeated. It is better that you should 138 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.600 judge for yourself than enter the house with an imagination 139 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:18.439 influenced by previous narratives. Only be prepared to see and 140 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:23.040 to hear something or other, and take whatever precautions you yourself. Please, 141 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:27.040 Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a 142 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.519 night in that house? Yes, I passed not a night, 143 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.240 but three hours in broad daylight alone in that house. 144 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:37.959 My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is quenched. I 145 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.319 have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot complain, 146 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.639 you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid. And 147 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:49.519 unless your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually strong, 148 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.079 I honestly add that I advise you not to pass 149 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:57.399 a night in that house. My interest is exceedingly keen, 150 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.920 said I. And though only a coward will boast of 151 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.480 his nerves and situations wholly unfamiliar to him, yet my 152 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:07.439 nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger that 153 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.680 I have the right to rely on them, even in 154 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:14.079 a haunted house. Mister Jay said very little more. He 155 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:16.040 took the keys of the house out of his bureau, 156 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.800 gave them to me, and, thanking him cordially for his 157 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:22.319 frankness and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried 158 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.959 off my prize, impatient for the experiment. As soon as 159 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.439 I reached home, I summoned my confidential servant, a young 160 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.600 man of gay spirits, fearless temper, and as free from 161 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:37.159 superstitious prejudices as any one I could think of. F 162 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:40.360 said I, you remember in Germany. How disappointed we were 163 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.799 at not finding a ghost in that old castle which 164 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:46.039 was said to be haunted by a headless apparition. Well, 165 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:47.799 I have heard of a house in London which I 166 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.480 have reason to hope is decidedly haunted. I mean to 167 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:53.519 sleep there to night. From what I hear there is 168 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:55.759 no doubt that something will allow itself to be seen 169 00:08:55.879 --> 00:09:00.200 or to be heard, something perhaps excessively horrible. Do you 170 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.159 think if I take you with me, I may rely 171 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.000 on your presence of mind whatever may happen. Oh, sir, 172 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:11.200 pray trust me, answered f grinning with delight. Very well, 173 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:12.919 then here are the keys of the house. This is 174 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:16.240 the address. Go now select for me any bedroom you please, 175 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:18.679 And since the house has not been inhabited for weeks, 176 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.440 make up a good fire. Are the bedwell? See of 177 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.200 course that there are candles as well as fuel. Take 178 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:26.519 with you my revolver and my dagger, so much for 179 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.120 my weapons. Arm yourself equally well. And if we are 180 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.120 not a match for a dozen ghosts, we shall be 181 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:35.879 but a sorry couple of Englishmen. I was engaged for 182 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:37.879 the rest of the day on business so urgent that 183 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:40.039 I had not leisure to think much on the nocturnal 184 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.879 adventure to which I had plighted my honor. I dined 185 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:45.919 alone and very late, and while dining read, as is 186 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.320 my habit, I selected one of the volumes of Macauley's essays. 187 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:51.320 I thought to myself that I would take the book 188 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.600 with me. There was so much of the healthfulness in 189 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:56.600 the style and practical life in the subjects, that it 190 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:01.559 would serve as an antidote against the influence of superstitious fancy. Accordingly, 191 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.679 about half past nine, I put the book into my 192 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.120 pocket and strolled leisurely towards the haunted house. I took 193 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.519 with me a favorite dog, an exceedingly sharp, bold and 194 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.279 vigilant bull terrier, a dog fond of prowling about strange, 195 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:16.960 ghostly corners and passages at night in search of rats. 196 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:20.600 A dog of dogs for a ghost. It was a 197 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.279 summer night, but chilly, the sky somewhat gloomy and overcast. 198 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:27.919 Still there was a moon, faint and sickly, but still 199 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:30.799 a moon, and if the clouds permitted after midnight, it 200 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:34.600 would be brighter. I reached the house knocked, and my 201 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:38.799 servant opened with a cheerful smile. All right, sir, and 202 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.639 very comfortable oh, said I rather disappointed. Have you not 203 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:47.559 seen or heard anything remarkable? Well, sir, I must own 204 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:52.440 I have heard something queer? What what? The sound of 205 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.480 feet pattering behind me? And once or twice small noises 206 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:59.320 like whispers close at my ear. Nothing more. You are 207 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:03.519 not at all frightened. I not a bit of it, sir. 208 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:07.000 And the man's bold look reassured me on one point, viz. 209 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.559 A ville that happened? What might? He would not desert me. 210 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:12.759 We were in the hall, the street door closed, and 211 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:16.039 my attention was now drawn to my dog. He had 212 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.919 at first run eagerly enough, but it sneaked back to 213 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.519 the door and was scratching and whining to get out. 214 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.639 After patting him on the head and encouraging him gently, 215 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.879 the dog seemed to reconcile himself to the situation and 216 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.840 followed me and f through the house, but keeping close 217 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.000 at my heels, instead of hurrying inquisitively in advance, which 218 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:37.480 was as usual a normal habit in all strange places. 219 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:43.039 We first visited the subterranean apartments, the kitchen and other offices, 220 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.639 and especially the cellars, in which there were two or 221 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:48.200 three bottles of wine still left in a bin covered 222 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:52.360 with cobwebs, and evidently by their appearance undisturbed for many years, 223 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.320 it was clear that the ghosts were not wine bibbers. 224 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.360 For the rest we discovered nothing of interest. There was 225 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.360 a gloomy little back yard with very high walls. The 226 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.639 stones of this yard were very damp, And what with 227 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.399 the damp and what would the dust and smoke grime 228 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.360 on the pavement. Our feet left a slight impression where 229 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:14.039 we passed, and now appeared the first strange phenomenon witnessed 230 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:17.240 by myself in the strange abode, I saw just before 231 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.200 me the print of a foot suddenly form itself as 232 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:23.000 it were. I stopped, caught hold of my servant, and 233 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.639 pointed to it. In advance of that footprint, as suddenly 234 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:30.399 dropped another, We both saw it. I advanced quickly to 235 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:34.679 the place the footprint kept advancing before me, a small footprint, 236 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.840 the foot of a child. The impression was too faint 237 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:41.120 thoroughly to distinguish the shape, but it seemed to us 238 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:43.360 both that it was the print of a naked foot. 239 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.840 The phenomenon ceased when we arrived at the opposite wall, 240 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:50.840 nor did it repeat itself. On returning. We remounted the 241 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.480 stairs and entered the rooms on the ground floor, a 242 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.919 dining parlor, a small back parlor, and a still smaller 243 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.759 third room that had been probably appropriated to a footman. 244 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.559 All still is death. We then visited the drawing rooms, 245 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:06.440 which seemed fresh and new. In the front room, I 246 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.399 seated myself in an arm chair. F placed on the 247 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.279 table the candlestick with which he had lighted us. I 248 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.600 told him to shut the door. As he turned to 249 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.480 do so, a chair opposite to me moved from the 250 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.559 wall quickly and noiselessly, and dropped itself about a yard 251 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:23.879 from my own chair, immediately fronting it. Why this is 252 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.879 better than the turning tables, said I, with a half laugh. 253 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.399 And as I laughed, my dog put back his head 254 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:32.759 and howled. F coming back had not observed the movement 255 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:36.000 of the chair. He employed himself now in stilling the dog, 256 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.840 I continued to gaze on the chair, and fancied. I 257 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:42.320 saw on it a pale, blue, misty outline of a 258 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.519 human figure, but an outline so indistinct that I could 259 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.840 only distrust my own vision. The dog now was quiet 260 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:52.799 put back that chair opposite me, said I to F 261 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:58.240 put it back to the wall. F obeyed. Was that you, sir, 262 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:03.480 said he turning about. IY. What why something struck me? 263 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:07.240 I felt it sharply on the shoulder, just here, no, 264 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.360 said I. But we have jugglers present, and though we 265 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.320 may not discover their tricks, we shall catch them before 266 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.799 they frighten us. We did not stay long in the 267 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.759 drawing rooms. In fact, they felt so damp and so 268 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.320 chilly that I was glad to get to the fire upstairs. 269 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.360 We locked the doors of the drawing rooms, a precaution 270 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:28.440 which I should observe we had taken with all the 271 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.519 rooms we had searched below. The bedroom my servant had 272 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:33.799 selected for me was the best on the floor, a 273 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.919 large one with two windows fronting the street. The four 274 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.480 posted bed, which took up no inconsiderable space, was opposite 275 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.399 to the fire, which burnt clear and bright. A door 276 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:45.080 in the wall to the left between the bed and 277 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:48.159 the window communicated with the room which my servant appropriated 278 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.919 to himself. This last was a small room with a 279 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:53.799 sofa bed, and had no communication with the landing place. 280 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:56.960 No other door but that which conducted to the bedroom 281 00:14:57.000 --> 00:14:59.960 I was to occupy. On either side of my fireplace 282 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.639 was a cupboard without locks flushed with the wall and 283 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:06.480 covered with the same dull brown paper. We examined these cupboards, 284 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.519 only hooks to suspend female dresses, nothing else. We sounded 285 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.600 the walls, evidently solid, the outer walls of the building. 286 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.639 Having finished the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a 287 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.919 few moments and lighted my cigar. I, then, still accompanied 288 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:24.399 by f went forth to complete my reconnoiter. In the 289 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:28.360 landing place, there was another door. It was closed firmly, Sir, 290 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:31.919 said my servant in surprise. I unlocked this door with 291 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.759 all the others when I first came. It cannot have 292 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.159 got locked from the inside, for before he had finished 293 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.679 his sins, the door, which neither of us then was touching, 294 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:44.080 opened quietly of itself. We looked at each other a 295 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:48.759 single instant. The same thought seized both some human agency 296 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:53.559 might be detected here. I rushed in first. My servant followed. 297 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:58.120 A small, blank, dreary room without furniture, few empty boxes 298 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:01.960 and hampers in a corner, a small window, the shutters closed, 299 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:05.559 not even a fireplace, no other door than that by 300 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.840 which we had entered. No carpet on the floor, and 301 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:14.440 the floor seemed very old. Uneven worm eaten mended here 302 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.639 and there, as was shown by the whiter patches on 303 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:20.279 the wood, but no living being, and no visible place 304 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.200 in which a living being could have hidden. As we 305 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.000 stood gazing round, the door by which we had entered 306 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.440 closed as quietly as it had before opened, we were imprisoned. 307 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.320 For the first time. I felt a creep of undefinable horror. 308 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:39.080 Not so, my servant. Why they don't think to trap us, Sir, 309 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:40.840 I could break the trumpery door with a kick of 310 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:44.559 my foot. Try first, if it will open to your hand, 311 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:49.360 said I, shaking off the vague apprehension that had seized me. Well, 312 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:53.039 I unclose the shutters and see what is Without I 313 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:55.840 unbarred the shutters. The window looked on the little back 314 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:59.480 yard I have before described. There was no ledge, without 315 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.440 nothing to break the sheer descent of the wall. No 316 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:04.880 man getting out of that window would have found any 317 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:09.119 footing till he had fallen on the stones below. F meanwhile, 318 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.279 was vainly attempting to open the door. He now turned 319 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.400 round to me and asked my permission to use force. 320 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.440 And I should here state in justice to my servant that, 321 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:22.839 far from evincing any superstitious terrors. His nerve, composure, and 322 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:27.279 even gayety amidst circumstances so extraordinary compelled my admiration and 323 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:30.799 made me congratulate myself on having secured a companion in 324 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:34.200 every way fitted to the occasion. I willingly gave him 325 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:37.519 the permission he required. But though he was a remarkably 326 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:41.720 strong man, his force was as idle as his milder efforts. 327 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:44.480 The door did not even shake to his stoutest kick. 328 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:48.880 Breathless and panting, he desisted. I then tried the door, 329 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:52.240 myself equally in vain. As I ceased from the effort, 330 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.119 again that creep of horror came over me, But this 331 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.000 time it was more cold and stubborn. I felt as 332 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:01.039 if some strange and ghastly exhalation and were rising up 333 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.680 from the chinks of that rugged floor and filling the 334 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:08.599 atmosphere with a vehemous influence hostile to human life. The 335 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.319 door now very slowly and quietly opened as of its 336 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:16.400 own accord. We precipitated ourselves into the landing place. We 337 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.839 both saw a large, pale light, as large as the 338 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.720 human figure, but shapeless and unsubstantial, move before us and 339 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.319 ascend the stairs. That led from the landing into the attics. 340 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:28.880 I followed the light, and my servant followed me. It 341 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.240 entered to the right of the landing a small garret, 342 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:33.839 of which the door stood open. I entered in the 343 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.799 same instant. The light then collapsed into a small globule 344 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.359 exceedingly brilliant and vivid, rested a moment on a bed 345 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.440 in the corner, quivered and vanished. We approached the bed 346 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.799 and examined it a half tester, such as is commonly 347 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.240 found an attics devoted to servants. On the drawers that 348 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.039 stood near it, we perceived an old, faded silk kerchief 349 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.799 with the needle still left in a rent half repaired. 350 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.000 The kerchief was covered with dust. Probably it had belonged 351 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.079 to the old woman who had last died in that house, 352 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:07.240 and this might have been her sleeping room. I had 353 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.680 sufficient curiosity to open the drawers. There were a few 354 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:13.599 odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied 355 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:17.119 round with a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took 356 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:20.640 the liberty to possess myself of the letters. We found 357 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:23.079 nothing else in the room worth noticing, nor did the 358 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:26.799 light reappear, but we distinctly heard as we turned to go, 359 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:30.759 a pattering footfall on the floor just before us. We 360 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.000 went through the other attics in all four, the footfall 361 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:37.119 still preceding us. Nothing to be seen, nothing but the 362 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.440 footfall heard. I had the letters in my hand. Just 363 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:43.240 as I was descending the stairs. I distinctly felt my 364 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.319 wrist seized, and a faint, soft effort made to draw 365 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:49.559 the letters from my clasp. I only held them the 366 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.720 more tightly, and the efforts ceased. We regained the bed 367 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:57.559 chamber appropriated to myself, and I then remarked that my 368 00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.640 dog had not followed us when we had left it. 369 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:02.680 He was thrusting himself close to the fire and trembling. 370 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.599 I was impatient to examine the letters, and while I 371 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:08.440 read them, my servant opened a little box in which 372 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:11.079 he had deposited the weapons I had ordered him to bring, 373 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.000 took them out, placed them on a table close at 374 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.920 my bed head, and then occupied himself in soothing the dog, 375 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.079 who however, seemed to heed him very little. The letters 376 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.599 were short, they were dated, the dates exactly thirty five 377 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:27.480 years ago. They were evidently from a lover to his 378 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.960 mistress or a husband to some young wife. Not only 379 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:33.359 the terms of expression, but a distinct reference to a 380 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.880 former voyage indicated the writer to have been a seafarer. 381 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.480 The spelling and handwriting were those of a man imperfectly educated, 382 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:45.319 but still the language itself was forcible. In the expressions 383 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:47.519 of endearment, there was a kind of rough, wild love. 384 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:50.680 But here and there were dark and unintelligible hints at 385 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.559 some secret not of love, some secret that seemed of crime. 386 00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:58.200 We ought to love each other was one of the 387 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:02.680 sentences I remember for how every one else would execrate 388 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.960 us if all was known. Again, don't let any one 389 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:08.960 be in the same room with you at night. You 390 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:13.240 talk in your sleep, And again, what's done can't be undone. 391 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:15.799 And I tell you there's nothing against us unless the 392 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:19.079 dead could come to life. Here there was underlined in 393 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:23.680 a better handwriting of female's they do, and the end 394 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.160 of the letter latest in date. The same female hand 395 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:29.640 had written these words lost at sea the fourth of June, 396 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.440 the same day as I put down the letters and 397 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:37.440 began to muse over their contents. Fearing, however, that the 398 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:40.480 train of thought into which I fell might unsteady my nerves, 399 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.000 I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit 400 00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:46.759 state to cope with whatever of marvelous the advancing night 401 00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:50.519