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Speaker 1: Hi, this is Marlene with Miami Ghost Chronicles and I

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want to welcome you to another episode of Stories of

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the Supernatural. Wherever you find us, whether it's a video

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or podcast on your favorite platform, please like and subscribe

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to us that you can get notification of when a

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new show is released. You can also find us some

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major social media platforms. If you go to Miamighostchronicles dot com,

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you can find links to the videos or MP three

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files which you can download and enjoy without commercial interruptions.

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If you're into classic horror, ghost and adventure stories, I

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narrate Night Shape diiary and you can find links at

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nightshapediary dot com. If scary stories are your bag, and

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listening to encounters with cryptids, ghost dog men, and other

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weird creatures sends us shure up your spine, then go

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to Supernaturalstorytime dot com for links to our weekly podcasts.

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Noteworthy news about the paranormal world, true crime, conspiracy stories,

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and anything that is just plain weird can be found

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at Eerie dot news or visit angel then Fiction Stories

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tab at Miami ghost Chronicles dot com. Please subscribe to

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my newsletter on substack just go to Mppelliser dot Com

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for a link. I want to thank you for being

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part of my audience and I think you are all wonderful.

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Hi everybody, this is Marlene with stories of the supernatural

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and continuing into tradition that we started last year for

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Christmas Time ghost stories. This is Spirits of the Season

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twenty twenty four and our first story is How Fear

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Departed from the Long Gallery by E. F. Benson. Church

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Paraville is a house so beset and frequented by specters,

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both visible and audible, that none of the family which

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it shelters under its eightre and a half of green

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copper roofs takes psychical phenomena with any seriousness. For to

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the Paravills, the appearance of a ghost is a matter

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of hardly greater significance than is the appearance of the post.

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To those who live in more ordinary houses. It arrives,

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that is to say, practically every day. It knocks or

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makes other noises. It is observed coming up the drive

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or in other places, And myself, when staying there, have

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seen the present Missus Paravel, who is rather short sighted,

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peer into the dusk while we were taking our coffee

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in the terrace after dinner and say to her daughter,

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my dear, was not that the blue lady who has

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just gone into the shrubbery. I hope she won't frighten Flow.

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Whistle for Flow. Dear Flow, it may be remarked, is

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the youngest and most precious of many dotsons. Blanche paravel

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give a cursory whistle and crunched the sugar left unmelted

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at the bottom of her coffee cup between her very

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white teeth. Oh, Darling, Flow isn't so silly as to mine,

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she said. Poor blue Aunt Barbara is such a bore.

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Whenever I meet her, showys looks as if she wanted

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to speak to me. But when I say what is it,

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Aunt Barbara, she never utters, but only points somewhere towards

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the house, which is so vague. I believe there was

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something she wanted to confess about two hundred years ago,

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but she has forgotten what it is here. Flow gave

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two or three short, pleased barks and came out of

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the shrubbery, wagging her tail and capering around what appeared

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to be a perfectly empty space on the lawn. There.

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Flow has made friends with her, said Missus paravale I.

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Wonder why she in that very stupid shade of blue.

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From this, it may be gathered that, even with regard

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to psychical phenomena, there is some truth in the proverb

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that speaks of familiarity. But the Paravols did not exactly

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treat their ghosts with contempt, since most of that delightful

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family never despised anybody except such people as avowedly did

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not care for hunting or shooting, or golf or skating.

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And as all of their ghosts are of their family,

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it seems reasonable to suppose that they all, even the

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poor blue lady, excelled at one time in field sports.

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So far then they harbor no such unkindness or contempt,

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but only pity a one parable indeed, who broke his

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neck in vainly attempting to ride up the main staircase

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on a thoroughbright mare after some monstrous and violent deed

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in the back garden. They are very fond and Blind

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comes downstairs in the morning with an eye unusually bright,

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when she can announce that Master Anthony was very loud

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last night. He apart from the fact of his having

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been so faul a Ruffian, was a tremendous fellow across country,

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and they like these indications of the continuance of his

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super vitality. In fact, it is supposed to be a compliment.

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When you go to stay at Church Parville to be

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assigned a bedroom which is frequented by defunct members of

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the family, it means that you are worthy to look

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on the august and villainous dead. And you will find

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yourself shown into some vaulted or tapest chamber without benefit

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of electric light, and are told that great great Grandmamma

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Bridget occasionally has vague business by the fireplace, but it

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is better not to talk to her, and that you

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will hear Master Anthony awfully well, and he attempts to

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front staircase any time before morning. There you are left

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for your knight's repose, and, having quakingly undressed, begin reluctantly

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to put out your candles. It is drafty in these

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great chambers, and the salmn tapestry swings and bellows and subsides,

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and the firelight dances on the forms of huntsmen and

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warriors and stern pursuits. Then you climb into your bed,

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a bed so huge that you feel as if the

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desert of sahara was spread for you and pray like

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the mariners who sailed with Saint Paul for a day,

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and all the time you are aware of Freddy and

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Harry and Blanche, and possibly even Missus Parrville are quite

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capable of dressing up and making these quieting tappings outside

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your door. So when you open it, some inconjecturable horror

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frontsh you myself. I stick steadily to the assertion that

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I have an obscure volvular disease of the heart, and

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so sleep undisturbed in the new wing of the house,

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where amp Barbara and great great Grandmama Bridget and Master

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Anthony never penetrate. I forget the details of great great

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Grandmamma Bridget. She certainly cut the throat of some distant

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relation before she disembelled herself with the axe that had

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been used at Agincourt. Before that, she had led a

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very sultry life crowned with amazing incident. But there is

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one ghost at Church Parville, at which the family never laugh,

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in which they feel no friendly and amused interest, and

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of which they only speak just as much as is

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necessary for the safety of their guests. More properly, it

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should be described as two ghosts, for the haunting question

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is that of two very young children who are twins.

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These not without reason the family take very seriously. Indeed,

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the story of them, as told by Missus Paravel, is

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as follows. In the year sixteen o two, the same

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being the lost of Queen Elizabeth's reign, A certain Dick

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Paravel was in great favor at court. He was brother

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to Master Joseph Paravel, then owner of the family house,

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and Lance, who two years previously, at the respectable age

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of seventy four, became father of twin boys, first born

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of his progeny. It is known that the royal and

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ancient Virgin had said to handsome Dick, who with nearly

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forty years his brother's junior, tis pity that you are

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not master of church Paravel, And these words probably suggested

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to him a sinister design. Be that as it may.

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Handsome Dick, who very adequately sustained the family reputation for wickedness,

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set off to ride down to Yorkshire and found that

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very conveniently, his brother Joseph had just been seized with

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an apoplexy, which appeared to be the result of a

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continued spell of hot weather, combined with the necessity of

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quenching his thirst with an augmented amount of sack, and

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had actually died while handsome Dick, with God knows what

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thought in his mind, was journeying northward. Thus it came

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about that he arrived at church Paravel just in time

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for his brother's funeral. It was with great propriety that

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he attended the obsequies and turned to spend a sympathetic

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day or two of mourning with his widowed's sister in law,

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who was but a faint hearted dame, little fit to

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be made with such hawks as these. On a second

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night of his day, he did that which the Paravels

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regret to this day. Injured the bedroom where the twins

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slept with their nurse, and quietly strangled the latter as

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she slept. Then he took the twins and put them

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into the fire which warms the long gallery. The weather,

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which up to the day of Joseph's death had been

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so hot, had changed suddenly to bitter cold, and the

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fire was heaped high with burning logs and was exultant

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with flame. In the core of this conflagration, he druck

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out a cremation chamber, and into that he threw the

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two children, stamping them down with his writing boots. They

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could just walk, but they could not walk out of

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that ardent place. It is said that he laughed as

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yet had more logs. Thus he became master of Church Paravel.

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The crime was never brought home to him, but he

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lived no longer than a year in the enjoyment of

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his bloodstained inheritance. When he lay dying, he made his

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confession to the priest who attended him, but his spirits

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struggled forth from its fleshly coil before absolution could be

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given him. On that very night, there began in Church

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Paravel the haunting, which to this day is but seldom

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spoken of by the family, and then only in low

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tones and with serious men. For only an hour or

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two after Handsome Dick's death, one of the servants, passing

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the door of the long gallery heard from within peals

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of the loud laughter, so jovial and yet so sinister,

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which he had thought would never be heard in the

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house again. In a moment of that cold cur ridge,

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which so nearly akin to mortal terror, he opened the

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door and entered expecting to see, he knew not what

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manifestation of him who lay dead in the room below. Instead,

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he saw two little white robe figures toddling toward him,

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hand in hand across the moonlit floor. The watchers in

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the room below ran upstairs, startled by the crash of

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his fallen body, and found him lying in the grip

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of some dread convulsion just before morning. He regained consciousness

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and told his tale. Then, pointing with trembling and ash

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gray finger toward the door, he screamed aloud and so

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fell back dead. During the next fifty years, the strange

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and terrible legend of the twin babies became fixed and consolidated.

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Their appearance. Luckily, for those who inhabit the house was

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exceedingly rare, and during these years they seemed to have

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been seen four or five times. Only on each occasion

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they appeared at night between sunset and sunrise, always in

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the same long gallery, and always as two toddling children,

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scarcely able to walk, And on each occasion the luckless

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individual who saw them died either speedily or terribly, or

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with both speed and terror. After the accursed vision had

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appeared to him. Sometimes he might live for a few months.

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He was lucky if he died, as did the servant

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who first saw them in a few hours. Vastly more

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awful was the fate of a certain Missus Canning. Why

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the ill luck to see them in the middle of

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the next century, or, to be quite accurate, in the

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year seventeen sixty. By this time the hours in the

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place of their parents were well known, and up till

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a year ago, visitors were warned not to go between

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sunset and sunrise into the long gallery. But Missus Canning,

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a brilliantly clever and beautiful woman admirer also in front

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of the notorious skeptic Monsieur Voltaire, willfully went and sat

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night after night, in spite of all protestations, in the

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haunted place. For four evenings she saw nothing. But on

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the fifth she had her will for the door in

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the middle of the gallery opened, and there came toddling

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towards the ill omened, innocent little pair. It seemed that

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even then she was not frightened, but she thought it good,

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poor wretch, to mock at them, telling them it was

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time for them to get back into the fire. They

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gave no word in answer, but turned away from her

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crying and sobbing. Immediately after, they disappeared from her vision

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as she rustled downstairs to where the family and guests

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in the house were waiting for her, with a triumphant

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announcement that she had seen them both and must needs

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write to Monsieur Voltaire, saying that she had spoken to

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spirits made manifest. It would make him laugh, But when

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some months later the whole news reached him, he did

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not laugh at all. Missus Canning was one of the

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great beauties of her day, and in the year seventeen

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sixty she was at the height and zenith of her blossoming.

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The chief beauty if it is possible to single out

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one point where all was so exquisite. Lay in the

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dazzling color and incomparable brilliance of her complexion. She was

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just not thirty years of age, but in spite of

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the excesses of her life, retained the snow and roses

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of girlhood, and she courted the bright light of day,

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which other women shunned for, but showed to great advantage

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the splendor of her skin. In consequence, she was very

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considerably dismayed one morning, about a fourth night after her

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strange experience in the long gallery to observe on her

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left cheek, an inch or two below her turquoise colored eyes,

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a little grayish patch of skin, about as big as

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a threepenny piece. It was in vain that she applied

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her custom washes and angoents, vain too, with the arts

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of her farduce and of her medical adviser. For weeks

238
00:13:51,919 --> 00:13:57,399
she slept herself secluded, martyring herself with solitude and unaccustomed physics,

239
00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,279
and for a result, at the end of the week

240
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:04,159
she had no muloriation to comfort herself with. Instead, this

241
00:14:04,279 --> 00:14:09,600
woeful gray patch had doubled itself in size. Thereafter, the

242
00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,960
nameless disease, whatever it was, developed in new and terrible ways.

243
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,799
From the center of the discolored place. There sprouted forth

244
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,240
little lichen like tendrils of greenish gray, and another patch

245
00:14:21,279 --> 00:14:25,720
appeared on her lower lip. This, too, soon vegetated, and

246
00:14:25,759 --> 00:14:28,360
one morning, on opening her eyes to the horror a

247
00:14:28,399 --> 00:14:31,559
new day, she found that her vision was strangely blurred.

248
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,799
She sprang to her looking glass, and when she saw

249
00:14:34,919 --> 00:14:38,960
causer to shriek aloud with horror. From under her upper

250
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,240
eyelid growth had sprung up mushroom like in the night,

251
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,919
and its filaments extended downward, screening the pupil of her eye.

252
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,679
Soon after her tongue and throat were attacked, the air

253
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,039
passages became obstructed, and death by suffocation was merciful after

254
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,120
such suffering. More terrible, yet, was the case of a

255
00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:02,039
certain Colonel Blantyre, who fired at the children with his revolver.

256
00:15:02,559 --> 00:15:04,919
But he went through is not to be recorded here.

257
00:15:05,639 --> 00:15:09,159
It is his haunting. Then the paravelles take quite seriously,

258
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,120
and every guest, on his arrival in the house is

259
00:15:12,159 --> 00:15:14,799
told that the long gallery must not be entered after

260
00:15:14,919 --> 00:15:19,279
nightfall on any pretext whatever. By day, however, it is

261
00:15:19,279 --> 00:15:23,559
a delightful room, an intrinsically merits description, apart from the

262
00:15:23,639 --> 00:15:27,480
fact that the due understanding of its geography is necessary

263
00:15:27,519 --> 00:15:30,759
for the account that here follows. It is full eighty

264
00:15:30,759 --> 00:15:33,120
feet in length and is lit by a row of

265
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,200
six tall windows looking over the gardens. At the back

266
00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,840
of the house, a door communicates with a landing at

267
00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,759
the top of the main staircase, and about half way

268
00:15:42,799 --> 00:15:45,799
down the gallery, in the wall facing the windows is

269
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,080
another door communicating with the back staircase, and servants quarters,

270
00:15:50,559 --> 00:15:53,840
and thus the gallery forms a constant place of passage

271
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,480
for them and going to the rooms on the first landing.

272
00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,840
It was through this door that the baby figures came.

273
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,559
They appeared to Missus Canning, and on several other occasions

274
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,799
they have been known to make their entry here. For

275
00:16:06,919 --> 00:16:09,519
the room out of which Handsome Dick took them lies

276
00:16:09,639 --> 00:16:12,759
just beyond at the top of the back stairs. Further

277
00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:16,399
on again in the gallery is the fireplace into which

278
00:16:16,399 --> 00:16:19,240
he thrusts them, and at the far end a large

279
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,919
bow window looks straight down the avenue. Above this fireplace

280
00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:27,559
there hangs, with grim significance a portrait of Handsome Dick

281
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,679
and the insolent beauty of early manhood, attributed to Holben,

282
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,399
and a dozen other portraits of great merit face the windows.

283
00:16:36,039 --> 00:16:38,639
During the day. This is the most frequented sitting room

284
00:16:38,639 --> 00:16:42,240
in the house, for its other visitors never appear there then,

285
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,480
nor does it then. Every sound with the harsh, jovial

286
00:16:45,559 --> 00:16:49,120
laugh of Handsome Dick, which sometimes after dark has fallen,

287
00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:53,320
is heard by passers by on the landing outside. While

288
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,600
Blanche does not grow bright eyed when she hears it,

289
00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,600
she shuts her ears and hastens to put a greater

290
00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,159
distance between her and the sound of that atrocious mirth.

291
00:17:03,799 --> 00:17:06,960
But during the day, the long galleries frequented by many occupants,

292
00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:11,839
and much laughter is known why sinister or satinines resounds there.

293
00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,000
When summer lies hot over the land, those occupants lounge

294
00:17:16,039 --> 00:17:19,079
in the deep window seats, and when winter spreads his

295
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:24,000
icy fingers and blows shrilly between his frozen palms, congregate

296
00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:27,599
around the fireplace at the far end, and perch in

297
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,960
companies of cheerful chatterers upon sofa and chair, and chair

298
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,319
back and floor. Often have I sat there on long

299
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,359
August evenings up till dressing time, But never have I

300
00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,920
been there when anyone is seemed disposed to linger overlaid

301
00:17:43,039 --> 00:17:47,119
without hearing the warning it is close on sunset, shall

302
00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:50,160
we go? Later on? In the shorter autumn days, they

303
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,559
often have tea laid there. And sometimes it has happened that,

304
00:17:53,799 --> 00:17:57,720
even while merriment was most uproarious, Missus Paravell has suddenly

305
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,200
looked out of the window and said, my DearS is

306
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,680
getting so late. Let us finish our nonsense downstairs in

307
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,400
the hall. And then for a moment a curious hush

308
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,480
always falls a loquacious family and guests alike, and as

309
00:18:10,519 --> 00:18:13,079
if some bad news had just been known, we all

310
00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,079
make our silent way out of the place. But the

311
00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:18,720
spirits of the paravels, of the living ones, that is

312
00:18:18,759 --> 00:18:22,599
to say, are the most mercurial imaginable, and the blight

313
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,400
which the lot of a handsome dick and his doings

314
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,759
cast over them, passes away again with amazing rapidity. A

315
00:18:29,799 --> 00:18:34,200
typical party, large, young, and peculiarly cheerful, was staying at

316
00:18:34,279 --> 00:18:38,359
Church Paraville shortly after Christmas last year, and as usual,

317
00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:42,799
in December thirty first Missus Parroville was given her annual

318
00:18:42,799 --> 00:18:46,240
New Year's Eve ball. The house was quite full, and

319
00:18:46,319 --> 00:18:48,599
she had commandeered as well the greater part of the

320
00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:53,119
paravel arms to provide sleeping quarters for the overflow from

321
00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,599
the house. For some days past a black and windless

322
00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,240
frost has stopped all hunting. But it is an ill

323
00:19:00,279 --> 00:19:03,799
windlessness that blows no good. If so mixed a metaphor

324
00:19:03,839 --> 00:19:06,480
may be forgiven. And the lake below the house had

325
00:19:06,519 --> 00:19:08,880
for the last day or two been covered with an

326
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,599
adequate and admirable sheet of ice. Everyone in the house

327
00:19:12,599 --> 00:19:15,359
had been occupied all the morning of that day, and

328
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,400
performing swift and violent maneuvers on the elusive surface, And

329
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,599
as soon as lunch was over, we all, with one exception,

330
00:19:22,799 --> 00:19:27,480
hurried out again. This one exception was Madge Dalrymple, who

331
00:19:27,519 --> 00:19:31,200
had had the misfortune of to fall rather badly earlier

332
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,480
in the day, but hope, by resting her injured knee

333
00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:36,920
instead of joining the skaters again, to be able to

334
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,119
dance that evening. The hope it was true, was the

335
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,960
most sanguine soret, for she could but hobble ignobly back

336
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,519
to the house, but with the breezy optimism which characterizes

337
00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:51,680
the paravels. She is Blanche's first cousin. She remarked that

338
00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:54,839
it would be but tepid enjoyment that she could in

339
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,880
the present state, derived from further skating, and thus she

340
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:03,039
sacrificed a little, but might gain much. Accordingly, After a

341
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,240
rapid cup of coffee, which was served in the long gallery,

342
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,759
we left Madge comfortably reclined on the big sofa at

343
00:20:09,799 --> 00:20:12,960
right angles to the fireplace, with an attractive book to

344
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,440
beguile the tedium filled tea. Being of the family, she

345
00:20:16,519 --> 00:20:19,440
knew all about handsome Dick and the babies, and the

346
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,200
fate of missus Canning and Colonel Blantyre. But as we

347
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,599
went out, I heard Blanche state her, don't run it

348
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:29,319
too fine, dear, and Madge I replied, no, I'll go

349
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,839
away well before sunset, and so we left her alone

350
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,680
in the long gallery. Madge read or attracked a book

351
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,440
for some minutes, but, failing to get absorbed in it,

352
00:20:38,519 --> 00:20:41,400
put it down and limped across the window. Though it

353
00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,640
was still but little after two, it was but a

354
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,720
dim and uncertain light that injured, for the crystalline brightness

355
00:20:47,759 --> 00:20:51,920
of the morning had given place to availed obscurity produced

356
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,880
by flocks of thick clouds, which were coming sluggishly up

357
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,759
from the northeast. Already the whole sky was overcast with them,

358
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:04,319
and occasionally a few snowflakes fluttered waveringly down past the

359
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,119
long windows. From the darkness and bitter cold of the afternoon,

360
00:21:08,759 --> 00:21:10,680
it seemed to her that there was to be a

361
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,119
heavy snowfall before long, and these outward signs were echoed

362
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,440
inwardly in her by that muffled drowsiness of the brain, which,

363
00:21:19,599 --> 00:21:21,799
to those who are sensitive to the pressure and lightness

364
00:21:21,839 --> 00:21:25,960
of weather portense storm. Madge was pekittily, the prey of

365
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,759
such external influences to her. A brisk morning gave ineffable

366
00:21:30,759 --> 00:21:35,160
brightness and briskness of spirit, and correspondingly, the approach of

367
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,759
heavy weather produced a somnolence in sensation that both drowsed

368
00:21:39,759 --> 00:21:42,920
and depressed her. It was in such mood as this

369
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,720
as she limped back again to the sofa beside the

370
00:21:45,759 --> 00:21:49,839
log fire. The whole house was comfortable and heated by

371
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,279
water pipes, and though the fire of logs and peat

372
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,200
in adorable mixture had been allowed to burn low, the

373
00:21:56,279 --> 00:22:00,079
room was very warm. Udly, she watched the dwindling flame,

374
00:22:00,759 --> 00:22:03,119
not opening her book again, but lying on the sofa

375
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:08,720
with face towards the fireplace, intending drowsy, and not immediately

376
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,039
to go to her own room and spend the hours

377
00:22:11,079 --> 00:22:13,440
until the return of the skaters made gayety in the

378
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,880
house again. In writing one or to neglected letters, still drowsily,

379
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:21,039
she began thinking over what she had to do to communicate.

380
00:22:21,839 --> 00:22:25,079
One letter several days overdue should go to her mother,

381
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,880
who was immensely interested in the psychical affairs of the family.

382
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:35,000
She would tell her mother how Master Anthony had been

383
00:22:35,079 --> 00:22:37,680
prodiously active on the staircase a night or two ago,

384
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,319
and how the blue Lady, regardless of the serrity of

385
00:22:40,319 --> 00:22:42,680
the weather, had been seen by missus Parraville that morning

386
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,440
strolling about. It was rather interesting. The blue Lady had

387
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,799
gone down the lower walk and had been seen by

388
00:22:48,839 --> 00:22:52,279
her into the stables, where at the moment Freddy Parroville

389
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,680
was inspecting the frost bound hunters identically. Then a sudden

390
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,160
panic has spread through the stables, and the horses had

391
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,640
whinnied and kicked and shied and sweated of the fatal twins.

392
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,359
Nothing had been seen for many years past, but as

393
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,119
her mother knew, the Pearavels never used the long Gallery

394
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:13,079
after dark. Then, for a moment she sat up, remembering

395
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,680
that she was in the long Gallery now, but it

396
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,359
was still but a little half past two, and if

397
00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,480
she went to her room in half an hour, she

398
00:23:20,519 --> 00:23:23,119
would have ample time to write this and another letter

399
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,680
before tea, till then she would read her book. She

400
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,359
found she had left it on the windowsill, and it

401
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,799
seemed scarcely worthwhile to get it. She felt exceedingly drowsy.

402
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,559
The sofa where she lay had been lately recovered in

403
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,000
a grayish green shade of velvet somewhat the color of lichen.

404
00:23:40,519 --> 00:23:44,799
It was very thick, soft texture, and she luxuriously stretched

405
00:23:44,839 --> 00:23:47,920
her arms out, wandered each side of her body, and

406
00:23:48,039 --> 00:23:51,319
pressed her fingers into the nap. How horrible that story

407
00:23:51,319 --> 00:23:54,480
of missus Canning was. The growth on her face was

408
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:57,559
of the color of lichen. And then, without further transition

409
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,960
or blowing a thought, Madge fell asleep. She dreamed. She

410
00:24:02,079 --> 00:24:04,720
dreamed that she awoke and found herself exactly where she

411
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,400
had gone to sleep, and exactly the same attitude. The

412
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,599
flames of the logs had burned up again and leaped

413
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,319
on the walls, fitfully illuminating the picture of handsome Dick

414
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,480
above the fireplace. In her dream, she knew exactly what

415
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,640
she had done today and for what reason she was

416
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,000
lying there now instead of being out with the rest

417
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,519
of the skaters. She remembered, also still dreaming, that she

418
00:24:27,599 --> 00:24:29,440
was going to write a letter or two before tea,

419
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,720
and prepared to get up in order to go to

420
00:24:31,799 --> 00:24:34,480
her room. As she half rose, she caught sight of

421
00:24:34,519 --> 00:24:37,200
her own arms lying out on each side of her

422
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,519
on the gray velvet sofa, but she could not see

423
00:24:40,599 --> 00:24:43,440
where her hands ended and where the gray velvet began.

424
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,200
Her fingers seemed to have melted into the stuff. She

425
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,440
could see her ris quite clearly, and a blue vein

426
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,640
on the back of her hands, and here and there

427
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,279
a knuckle. Then in her dream she remembered the last

428
00:24:55,319 --> 00:24:58,119
thought which had been in her mind before she fell asleep,

429
00:24:58,599 --> 00:25:01,839
namely the growth of the lichen colored vegetation on the

430
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,519
face and the eyes and the throat of missus canning.

431
00:25:05,319 --> 00:25:08,519
At that thought, the strangling terror of real nightmare began.

432
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,799
She knew that she was being transformed into this gray stuff.

433
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,400
She was absolutely unable to move. Soon the gray would

434
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,039
spread up her arms and over her feet. When they

435
00:25:19,079 --> 00:25:21,680
came in from skating, they would find her nothing but

436
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,920
a huge, misshapen cushion of lichen colored velvet, and that

437
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,519
would be she. The horror grew more cute, and then

438
00:25:29,519 --> 00:25:32,119
by violent effort, she shook herself free of the clutches

439
00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:36,640
of this very evil dream, and she awoke. From anute

440
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:38,839
or two She lay their, conscious only of the tremendous

441
00:25:38,839 --> 00:25:42,839
relief of finding herself awake. She felt again with her

442
00:25:42,839 --> 00:25:45,559
fingers a pleasant touch to the velvet, and drew them

443
00:25:45,559 --> 00:25:48,759
backwards and forwards, assuring herself that she was not as

444
00:25:48,799 --> 00:25:53,119
her dreamer suggested, melting into grayness and softness. But she

445
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,680
was still, in spite of the violence of her awakening,

446
00:25:55,799 --> 00:25:59,160
very sleepy, and lay there to looking down. She was

447
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,920
aware that she could not her hands at all. It

448
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,880
was very nearly dark. At that moment. A sudden flicker

449
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,799
of flame came from the dying fire, and a flare

450
00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:11,839
of burning gas from the peat flooded the room. The

451
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,240
portrait of Handsome Dick looked eavily down on her, and

452
00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:18,279
her hands were visible again, And then a panic worse

453
00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:21,279
than the panic of her dream seized her. Daylight had

454
00:26:21,319 --> 00:26:24,000
altogether faded. She knew that she was there alone, in

455
00:26:24,039 --> 00:26:27,559
the dark, in the terrible gallery. The panic was of

456
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,599
the nature of nightmare, for she felt unable to move

457
00:26:30,599 --> 00:26:33,519
for terror, But it was worse than nightmare because she

458
00:26:33,599 --> 00:26:36,440
knew she was awake. And then the full cause of

459
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,440
this frozen fear dawned on her. She knew the certainty

460
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,119
of absolute conviction that she was about to see the

461
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,599
twin babies. She felt a sudden moisture break out on

462
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,400
her face and within her mouth. Her tongue and throat

463
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,240
were suddenly dry, and she felt all tongue great along

464
00:26:52,279 --> 00:26:55,440
the inner surface of her teeth all power of movement

465
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,440
and slipped from her limbs, leaving them dead and inert,

466
00:26:58,559 --> 00:27:01,599
and she stared with white eyes to the blackness. The

467
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,960
spurt of flame from the peat had burned itself out

468
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,640
again in darkness and compassed her. Then on the wall

469
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,440
opposite her, facing the windows, there grew a faint light

470
00:27:10,559 --> 00:27:14,119
of dusky crimson. For a moment she thought it, but

471
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,559
heralded the approach of the awful vision. Then hope revived

472
00:27:17,559 --> 00:27:20,319
in her heart, and she remembered that thick cloud that

473
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,519
overcast the sky before she went to sleep, and guessed

474
00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:26,240
that this light came from the sun not yet quite

475
00:27:26,279 --> 00:27:29,599
sunk and set. This sudden revival of hope gave her

476
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,759
the necessary stimulus, and she sprang off the sofa where

477
00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:35,160
she lay. She looked out of the window and saw

478
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,880
the dull glow on the horizon, but before she could

479
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,319
take a step forward, it was obscured again. A tiny

480
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,000
sparkle of light came from the hearth, which did no

481
00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:47,200
more than illuminate the tiles of the fireplace. As snow

482
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,480
falling heavily tapped at the window panes, there was neither

483
00:27:50,559 --> 00:27:54,319
light nor sound except these. But the courage that had

484
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,880
come to her, giving her the power of movement had

485
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,680
not quite deserted her. She began feeling her way down

486
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,279
the gaps, and then she found that she was lost.

487
00:28:02,759 --> 00:28:06,759
She stumbled again a chair, and, recovering herself, stumbled against another.

488
00:28:07,279 --> 00:28:10,039
Then a table barred her way, and turning swiftly aside,

489
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,359
she found herself up against the back of a sofa.

490
00:28:14,519 --> 00:28:16,400
Once more, she turned and saw the dim gleam of

491
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,039
the firelight on the opposite side to that on which

492
00:28:19,039 --> 00:28:21,640
she expected it. In her blind groping, she must have

493
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,000
reversed her direction. But which way was she to go now?

494
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,880
She seemed blocked in by furniture, and all the time

495
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,599
insistent imminent was the fact that the two innocent terrible

496
00:28:32,599 --> 00:28:35,400
ghosts were about to appear to her. Then she began

497
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,839
to pray lighten our darkness. Oh Lord, she said to herself.

498
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,200
She could not remember how the pair continued, and she

499
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,640
had sore need of it. It was something about the

500
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,079
perils of the night. All this time she felt about

501
00:28:48,119 --> 00:28:51,960
her with groping, fluttering hands. The fire glimmer, which should

502
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,960
have been on her left, was on her right. Again.

503
00:28:54,559 --> 00:28:58,519
Therefore she must turn herself around. Lighten our darkness, she whispered,

504
00:28:59,079 --> 00:29:02,599
and then aloud she repeated, light in our darkness. She

505
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,039
stumbled up against the screen and could not remember the

506
00:29:05,079 --> 00:29:09,839
existence of any such screen. Hastily she felt beside it

507
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:14,079
with blind hands, and touched something soft and velvety. Was

508
00:29:14,119 --> 00:29:16,559
it the sofa on which she had lain? If so,

509
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,000
where was the head of it? It had a head

510
00:29:20,359 --> 00:29:22,839
and a back and feet. It was like a person

511
00:29:23,559 --> 00:29:27,240
a covered with gray lichen. Then she lost her head completely.

512
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,440
All that remained to her was to pray. She was lost,

513
00:29:31,039 --> 00:29:33,400
lost in this awful place where no one came in

514
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,480
the dark except the babies that cried. And she heard

515
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,160
her voice rising from whisper to speech, and speech to scream.

516
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,359
She shrieked out the holy words. She yelled them as

517
00:29:43,359 --> 00:29:47,680
if blaspheming, as she groped among the tables and cheers

518
00:29:48,119 --> 00:29:50,640
and the pleasant things of ordinary life which had become

519
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,160
so terrible. Then came a sudden and awful answer to

520
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,160
her screamed prayer. Once more pocket of inflammable gas in

521
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,279
the peat on the hearth was reached by the smoldering embers,

522
00:30:01,279 --> 00:30:04,279
and the room started into light. She saw the evil

523
00:30:04,319 --> 00:30:07,680
eyes of handsome Dick. She saw the little ghostly snowflakes

524
00:30:07,759 --> 00:30:11,680
falling thickly outside, and she saw where she was, just

525
00:30:11,759 --> 00:30:14,799
opposite the door through which the terrible twins made their entrance.

526
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,799
Then the flame went out again and left her in

527
00:30:17,839 --> 00:30:20,880
blackness once more. But she had gained something, for she

528
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,559
had her geography. Now The center of the room was

529
00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:26,759
bare of furniture, and one swift dart would take her

530
00:30:26,799 --> 00:30:29,440
to the door of the landing above the main staircase

531
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,799
and into safety. In that gleam, she had been able

532
00:30:32,799 --> 00:30:35,839
to see the handle of the door, bright brass, luminous

533
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,559
like a star. She would go straight for it. It

534
00:30:38,599 --> 00:30:41,240
was but a matter of a few seconds. Now. She

535
00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:44,160
took a long breath, partly of relief, partly to satisfy

536
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,960
the demands of her galloping heart. But the breath was

537
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,920
only half taken. When she was stricken once more into

538
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:54,160
the immobility of nightmare, there came a little whisper. It

539
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,839
was no more than that from the door opposite which

540
00:30:56,839 --> 00:31:00,559
she stood, and through which the twin babies entered. It

541
00:31:00,599 --> 00:31:03,319
was not quite dark outside, for she could see that

542
00:31:03,359 --> 00:31:05,680
the door was opening, and they stood in the opening,

543
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:10,440
two little white figures. Side by side. They came towards her, slowly, shufflingly.

544
00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:13,480
She could not see face or form at all distinctly,

545
00:31:14,039 --> 00:31:17,240
but the two little white figures were advancing. She need

546
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,680
them to be the ghosts of terror, innocent of the

547
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,480
awful doom they were bound to bring, even as she

548
00:31:22,599 --> 00:31:26,680
was innocent. With the inconceivable rapidity of thought, she made

549
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,400
up her mind what to do. She had not hurt

550
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,279
them or laughed at them, and they they were but

551
00:31:32,319 --> 00:31:34,559
babies when the wicked and the bloody deed had sent

552
00:31:34,599 --> 00:31:37,759
them to the burning death. Surely the spirit of these

553
00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:40,920
children would not be inaccessible to the cry of one

554
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,480
who was of the same blood as they, who committed

555
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,079
no fault that merited the doom they brought. If she

556
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,839
entreated them, they might have mercy. They might forbear to

557
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,400
bring the curse on her. They might allow her to

558
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,599
pass out of the place without blight, without the sentence

559
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,119
of death or the shadow of things worse than death

560
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,400
upon her. It was but for the space of a

561
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,079
moment that she hesitated. Then she sank down on to

562
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,079
her knees and stretched out her hands towards them. Oh,

563
00:32:09,079 --> 00:32:12,319
my dear she said, I only fell asleep. I have

564
00:32:12,359 --> 00:32:15,480
done no more wrongful than that. She paused a moment,

565
00:32:15,559 --> 00:32:18,240
and her tender girl's heart thought no more of herself,

566
00:32:18,359 --> 00:32:21,799
but only of them, those little innocent spirits, on whom

567
00:32:21,839 --> 00:32:24,400
so awful a doom was laid, that they should bring

568
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,799
death where other children bring laughter, and doomed for delight.

569
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,000
But all those who had seen them before had dreaded

570
00:32:31,039 --> 00:32:34,680
and feared them, or had mocked at them. Then, as

571
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,839
the enlightenment of pity dawn on her, her fear fell

572
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,160
from her, like the wrinkled sheet that holt the sweet

573
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,920
folded buds of spring DearS. I am so sorry for you,

574
00:32:44,039 --> 00:32:47,039
she said. It is not your fault that you must

575
00:32:47,119 --> 00:32:49,920
bring me which you must bring, But I am not

576
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,720
afraid any longer. I am only sorry for you. God

577
00:32:52,759 --> 00:32:56,279
bless you, you poor darlings. She raised her head and

578
00:32:56,359 --> 00:32:59,640
looked at them. There was so dark she could now

579
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,720
see their faces, though all was dim and wavering, like

580
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,440
the light of pale flames shaken by a draft. But

581
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,240
the faces were not miserable or fierce. They smiled at

582
00:33:08,279 --> 00:33:11,839
her with shy, little baby smiles, and as she looked

583
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,559
they grew faint, fading slowly away like wreaths of vapor

584
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,119
in frosty air. Madge did not at once move when

585
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,359
they advantage, for instead of fear, they were wrapped around

586
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,880
her a wonderful sense of peace, so happy and serene

587
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,200
that she could not willingly stir and so perhaps disturb it.

588
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,480
Before long, she got up and feeling her way, but

589
00:33:32,559 --> 00:33:35,960
without any sense of nightmare pressing her on, or frenzy

590
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,359
of fear to spur her, she went out a long

591
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,400
gallery to find Blanche just coming upstairs, whistling and swinging

592
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,920
her skates. How's the leg, dear, she asked, You're not

593
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,119
limping anymore. Till that moment, Madge had not thought of it.

594
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,119
I think it must be all right, she said, I'd

595
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,319
forgotten it anyhow, Blanche, dear, won't you be frightened for me?

596
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,200
Will you? But but I have seen the twins for

597
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,039
a moment. Blanche, face white with terror, what she was

598
00:34:02,079 --> 00:34:05,519
said in a whisper. Yes, I saw them just now,

599
00:34:05,839 --> 00:34:08,320
But they were kind. They smiled at me, and I

600
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,880
was sorry for them, And somehow I'm sure I have

601
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,519
nothing to fear. It seems that Madge was right, for

602
00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:18,400
nothing has come to touch her. Something her attitude to them.

603
00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:22,800
You must suppose her pity. Her sympathy touched and resolved

604
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,119
and annihilated the curse. Indeed, I was at church Paravale

605
00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:30,880
only last week, arriving there after dark. Just as I

606
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,320
passed the gallery door, Blanche came out. Ah, there you are,

607
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,639
she said, I've just been seeing the twins. They looked

608
00:34:38,679 --> 00:34:42,239
too sweet and stopped nearly ten minutes. Let us have

609
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:48,840
tea at once. The Crown Derby, played by Marjorie Bowen.

610
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,400
Martha plynne Is said that she had never seen a ghost,

611
00:34:54,079 --> 00:34:55,840
and that she would very much like to do so,

612
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,800
particularly at Christmas, where you can laugh as you like.

613
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:03,159
That is the correct time to see a ghost. I

614
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,760
don't suppose you ever will, replied her cousin Mabel comfortably,

615
00:35:07,159 --> 00:35:09,920
while her cousin Clara shuddered and said that she hoped

616
00:35:10,119 --> 00:35:12,440
they would change the subject. We disliked even to think

617
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,400
of such things. The three elderly, cheerful women sat round

618
00:35:16,519 --> 00:35:20,280
a big fire, cozy and content after their pleasant activities.

619
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,000
Martha was the guest of the other two, who owned

620
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,880
the handsome, convenient country house. She always came to spend

621
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,199
her Christmas with the Wintons, and found the leisurely country

622
00:35:30,199 --> 00:35:34,199
life delightful after the bustling rounds of London. For Martha

623
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,719
managed an antique shop of the better sort and worked

624
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,079
extremely hard. She was, however, still full of zest for

625
00:35:41,159 --> 00:35:44,920
work or pleasure, though sixty years old, and looked backwards

626
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,639
and forwards for succession of delightful days. The other two,

627
00:35:48,679 --> 00:35:52,519
Mabel and Clara, led quieter but none the less agreeable lives.

628
00:35:53,119 --> 00:35:56,280
They had more money and fewer interests, but nevertheless enjoyed

629
00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,519
themselves very well. Talking of ghosts, said Mabel, I wonder

630
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,199
how that old woman at Hartley's is getting on. For Hartleys,

631
00:36:04,199 --> 00:36:07,119
you know, is supposed to be haunted. Yes, I know,

632
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:10,000
smiled Miss Pym. But all the years that we have

633
00:36:10,119 --> 00:36:13,119
known of the place, we have never heard anything definite.

634
00:36:13,159 --> 00:36:16,840
Have we no put in Clara? But there is that

635
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:21,039
persistent rumor that the house is uncanny, and for myself

636
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,639
nothing would induce me to live there. It is certainly

637
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:28,119
very lonely and dreary down there on the marshes, conceited Mabel.

638
00:36:28,679 --> 00:36:31,480
But as for the ghost, you never hear what it

639
00:36:31,559 --> 00:36:36,360
is supposed to be, even who has taken it, asked

640
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,079
Miss Pim, remembering Hartley's as very desolate, indeed and long

641
00:36:40,159 --> 00:36:44,199
shadow a mess la Fane, an eccentric old creature. I

642
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,719
think you met her here once two years ago. I

643
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,760
believe that I did, but don't recall her at all.

644
00:36:50,679 --> 00:36:53,880
We have not seen her since. Hartley's is so ungettable,

645
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,440
and she didn't seem to want visitors. She collects china, Martha,

646
00:36:58,519 --> 00:37:00,559
so really you ought to go in and see her

647
00:37:00,559 --> 00:37:04,760
in talk shop. With the word china, some curious associations

648
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:08,280
came into the mind of Martha Pim. She was silent

649
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,960
while she strove to put them together, and after a

650
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,199
second or two, they all fitted together into a very

651
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:17,079
clear picture. She remembered that thirty years ago, yes, it

652
00:37:17,159 --> 00:37:19,800
must be thirty years ago, when as a young woman,

653
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,000
she had put all her capital into the antique business

654
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,800
and had been staying with her cousins. Her aunt had

655
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,840
then been alive, that she had driven across the marsh

656
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,159
to Hartley's, where there was an auction sale. All the

657
00:37:32,199 --> 00:37:35,239
details of this she had completely forgotten, but she could

658
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,920
recall quite clearly purchasing a set of gorgeous china, which

659
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,800
was still one of her proudly lights, A perfect set

660
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,920
of Crown Derby save that one plate was missing. How

661
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,360
aunt She remarked that this miss Lafine should collect china too,

662
00:37:50,599 --> 00:37:52,719
for it was at Hartley's that I purchased my dear

663
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,199
old Derby service. I've never been able to match that plate.

664
00:37:57,199 --> 00:37:59,960
A plate was missing, I seemed to remember, said Clara.

665
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:01,880
Didn't they say that it must be in the house

666
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,920
somewhere and that it should be looked for. I believe

667
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,480
they did, but of course I never heard any more,

668
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,920
and that missing plate has annoyed me ever since. Who

669
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,239
had Hartley's an old connoisseur, Sir James Sewell. I believe

670
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,000
it was some relation to this miss la Fane, but

671
00:38:20,199 --> 00:38:23,480
I don't know. I wonder she has found the plate,

672
00:38:23,639 --> 00:38:26,760
mused Miss Pim. I expect she has turned out and

673
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,480
ransacked the whole place. Why not trot over an hour,

674
00:38:30,519 --> 00:38:33,360
suggested Mabel. It is not much use to her if

675
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,760
she has found it one odd plate. Don't be silly,

676
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,039
said Clara. Fancy going over the marshes this whether to

677
00:38:40,079 --> 00:38:43,079
ask about a plate missed all those years ago. I'm

678
00:38:43,119 --> 00:38:46,440
sure Martha wouldn't think of it. But Martha did think

679
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,559
of it. She was rather fascinated by the idea, how

680
00:38:49,679 --> 00:38:52,280
queer and pleasant it would be off after all these years,

681
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,800
nearly a lifetime, she should find the Crown Derby plate,

682
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,840
the loss of which had always irked her. And this

683
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,519
hope did not seem so altogether fantastical. It was quite

684
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,480
likely that old miss la Faine, poking about in the

685
00:39:05,519 --> 00:39:09,199
ancient house, had found the missing piece, and of course,

686
00:39:09,599 --> 00:39:12,719
if she had been a fellow collector, she would be

687
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:16,199
willing to part with it to complete the set. Her

688
00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:19,239
cousin endeavored to dissuade her. Miss Lefane, she declared, was

689
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,079
a recluse, an odd creature who might greatly resent such

690
00:39:23,079 --> 00:39:26,960
a visit and such a request. Well, if she does,

691
00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:30,280
I can but come away again, smiled Miss Pim. I

692
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,840
suppose she can't buy my head off, and I'd rather

693
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,719
like meeting these curious types. We've got a love for

694
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,719
old China, uncommon. Anyhow, it seems so silly to think

695
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,719
of it after all these years. A plate, a Crown

696
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,320
Derby plate, corrected Miss Pim. It is certainly strange that

697
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,039
I didn't think of it before, But now that I've

698
00:39:50,039 --> 00:39:53,000
got into my head, I can't get it out. Besides,

699
00:39:53,079 --> 00:39:57,199
she said, hopefully I might see the ghost so full. However,

700
00:39:57,559 --> 00:40:00,760
for the days with pleasant local engagements that Miss Pim

701
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:03,559
had no immediate chance of putting her scheme into practice,

702
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,679
but she did not relinquish it. And she has several

703
00:40:06,679 --> 00:40:09,639
different people what they knew about Hartley's and Miss Laffane,

704
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,559
and no one knew anything, say that the house was

705
00:40:12,599 --> 00:40:16,039
supposed to be haunted and the owner cracky? Is there

706
00:40:16,039 --> 00:40:20,000
a story? Asked? Miss Pim associated ghost with knee tails

707
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,800
into which they fitted as exactly as nuts into shells,

708
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,840
but she was always told, oh no, there isn't a story.

709
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:30,199
No one knows anything else about the place. Don't know

710
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:33,719
how the idea got about old Sewell was half crazy.

711
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:36,559
I believe it was buried in the garden that gave

712
00:40:36,559 --> 00:40:42,159
a house a nasty name, very unpleasant, said Martha Pim, undisturbed.

713
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,719
This ghost seemed too elusive for her to track down.

714
00:40:46,159 --> 00:40:48,559
She would have to be content if she could recover

715
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,280
the crown Derby plate. For that, at least, She was

716
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,519
determined to make a try, and also to satisfy that

717
00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:58,400
faint tingling of curiosity roused in her by this talk

718
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:02,039
about Hartley's and the remembrance of that day so long ago,

719
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:04,360
when she had gone to the auction sail at the

720
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,159
lonely old House. So the first free afternoon, while Mabel

721
00:41:08,159 --> 00:41:12,199
and Clara were comfortably taking their afternoon repose, Martha Pim,

722
00:41:12,639 --> 00:41:15,119
who was of a more lively habit, got out her

723
00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:18,280
little governor's cart and dashed away across the Essex Flats.

724
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,199
She had taken minute directions with her, but she soon

725
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:26,960
lost her way under the wintry sky, which looked as

726
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,119
gray and hard as metal. The marshes stretched bleakly to

727
00:41:30,159 --> 00:41:34,159
the horizon. The olive brown broken reeds were harsh as scars.

728
00:41:34,199 --> 00:41:37,480
On the saffron tinted bogs, where the sluggish waters that

729
00:41:37,599 --> 00:41:40,280
rose so high in winter were filmed over with the

730
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,239
first stillness of a frost. The air was cold, but

731
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:47,119
not keen. Everything was damp. Faintness of mist blurred the

732
00:41:47,159 --> 00:41:50,800
black outlines of trees that rose stark from the ridges

733
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:55,079
above the stagnant dikes. The flooded fields were haunted by

734
00:41:55,119 --> 00:41:59,519
blackbirds and whitebirds, gulls and crows whining above the long

735
00:41:59,599 --> 00:42:03,840
ditch and wintry wastes. Miss Pim stopped the little horse

736
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,039
and surveyed the spectral scene, which had a certain relish

737
00:42:07,079 --> 00:42:10,440
about it to one sure to return to a homely village,

738
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:14,119
a cheerful house and good company. A withered and bleached

739
00:42:14,119 --> 00:42:17,079
old man in color like the dun landscape, came along

740
00:42:17,079 --> 00:42:20,519
a road between the sparse elders. Miss Pim, buttoning up

741
00:42:20,519 --> 00:42:23,679
her coat, asked the way to Hartley. As he passed her,

742
00:42:23,679 --> 00:42:27,320
he told her straight on, and she proceeded straight, indeed

743
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,719
across the road that went with the undeviating length across

744
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,159
the marshes. Of course, thought miss Pim, maybe was in

745
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:36,719
a place like this, you are bound to invent ghosts.

746
00:42:37,639 --> 00:42:41,400
The house sprang up suddenly on a knell ringed with

747
00:42:41,519 --> 00:42:44,880
rotting trees, incompassed by an old brick wall that the

748
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,840
perpetual damp had overrun with lichen blue, green white colors

749
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:52,039
of decay. Partly, it is no doubt there was no

750
00:42:52,079 --> 00:42:54,559
other residence of human being in sight, and all the

751
00:42:54,599 --> 00:42:58,400
wide expanse. Besides, she could remember it surely after all

752
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,320
this time, the sharp rising out of the marsh, the

753
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:04,440
colony of tall trees, and then fields and trees had

754
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,440
been green and bright. There been no water on the flats.

755
00:43:07,559 --> 00:43:11,280
It had been summertime. She certainly thought Miss Pim must

756
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,320
be crazy to live here, and I'd rather doubt if

757
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,519
I shall get my plate. She fastened up the good

758
00:43:17,519 --> 00:43:20,800
little horse by the garden gate, which stood negligently ajar

759
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,519
and injured. The garden itself was so neglect that it

760
00:43:23,559 --> 00:43:26,119
was quite surprising to see a trim appearance in the house,

761
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:28,800
curtains at the window, and a polish on the brass

762
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,360
door knocker, which must have been recently rubbed there considering

763
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,199
the taint in the sea of damp which rusted and

764
00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:38,760
rotted everything. It was a square built, substantial house with

765
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,199
nothing wrong with it, but the situation. Miss Pim decided

766
00:43:42,639 --> 00:43:45,159
that was not very attractive, being built of that drab

767
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:49,519
plastered stone so popular one hundred years ago, with flat

768
00:43:49,559 --> 00:43:53,159
windows and door. While one side was gloomily shaded by

769
00:43:53,199 --> 00:43:56,599
a large evergreen tree of a cypress variety, which gave

770
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,800
a blackish tinge to that portion of the garden. There

771
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,360
there was no pretense that flower beds nor any manner

772
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,760
of cultivation. In this garden. Were a few rank wheats

773
00:44:06,159 --> 00:44:10,320
and straggling bushes matted together above the dead grass on

774
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,320
the enclosing wall, which appeared to have been built high

775
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:17,440
as protection against the ceaseless winds that swung along the flats,

776
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,599
where the remains of the fruit trees, their crucified branches

777
00:44:21,079 --> 00:44:24,800
rotting under the great nails that held them up, looked

778
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,079
like the skeletons of those who had died in torment.

779
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,960
Miss Pim took in these noxious details as she knocked

780
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,079
firmly at the door. They did not depress her. She

781
00:44:34,159 --> 00:44:36,920
really felt extremely sorry for anyone who could live in

782
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,400
such a place. She noticed at the farnt of the garden,

783
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,639
the corner of the wall, a headstone showing above the sodden,

784
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:47,239
colorless grass. I remembered what she had been told about

785
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,920
the old antiquary being buried there in the grounds of Hartney's.

786
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:54,559
As the knock had no effect, she stepped back and

787
00:44:54,599 --> 00:44:57,719
looked at the house. It was certainly inhabited, with those

788
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:02,079
neat windows, white curtains, and rap blinds all pulled precisely

789
00:45:02,159 --> 00:45:05,000
the same level, And when she brought her glance back

790
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,119
to the door, she saw that it had been opened,

791
00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:09,920
and that someone considerably obscured by the darkness of the

792
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:13,920
passage was looking at her intently. Good afternoon, said Miss

793
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,159
Pim cheerfully. I just thought that I would call to

794
00:45:17,199 --> 00:45:21,360
see miss la Fane. It is Miss Lafaane, isn't it.

795
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:26,440
It's my house, was a querulous reply. Martha Pim had

796
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,360
hardly expected to find any servants here, though the old

797
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,559
lady must, she thought, worked pretty hard to keep the

798
00:45:31,599 --> 00:45:34,199
house so clean and tidy as it appeared to be.

799
00:45:35,079 --> 00:45:38,440
Of course, replied, may I come in. I'm Martha Pim

800
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,480
staying with the Wintons. I met you there. Do come in,

801
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:45,320
was the faint reply. I get so few people to

802
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:50,119
visit me. I'm really very lonely. I don't wonder, thought

803
00:45:50,119 --> 00:45:52,800
Miss Pim. But she had resolved to take no notice

804
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,480
of any eccentricity on the part of her hostess, and

805
00:45:55,519 --> 00:45:58,119
so she entered the house with her usual agreeable candor

806
00:45:58,119 --> 00:46:02,119
and courtesy. Such was badly lit, but she was able

807
00:46:02,119 --> 00:46:04,440
to get a fair idea of Miss le Fane. Her

808
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,559
first impression was that this poor creature was most dreadfully old,

809
00:46:08,159 --> 00:46:09,960
older than any human being had the right to be.

810
00:46:10,639 --> 00:46:14,039
Why she felt young in comparison, so faded, feeble, and

811
00:46:14,119 --> 00:46:17,760
pallid was Miss le Fane. She was also monstrously fat.

812
00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:22,760
Her gross flaccid figure was shapeless, and she wore badly

813
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,960
cut full dress of no color at all, but stained

814
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,840
with earth and damp where Miss Penn supposed she had

815
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:32,320
been doing futile gardening. This gown was doubtless designed to

816
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:35,920
disguise her stoutness, but it had been so carelessly pulled

817
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,599
about that it only added to it being rucked and

818
00:46:38,679 --> 00:46:40,960
rolled all over the place, as Miss Pim put it

819
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:46,079
to herself. Another ridiculous touch about the appearance of the

820
00:46:46,119 --> 00:46:49,480
poor old lady was her short hair. The crepit as

821
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,239
she was, and lonely as she lived, she had actually

822
00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:55,519
had her scanty relics of white hair cropped around her

823
00:46:55,559 --> 00:46:59,159
shaking head. Dear me, dear mirror, she said, in her

824
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:02,400
thin treble voice, how very kind of you to come.

825
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:05,360
I suppose you prefer the parlor. I generally sit in

826
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:09,880
the garden. The garden, but not in this weather. I

827
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:13,159
get used to the weather. You've no idea how use

828
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:17,679
one gets to the weather, I suppose, so, conceded Miss Pim.

829
00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:22,880
Doubtfully you don't live here quite alone? Do you? Quite alone? Lately?

830
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,719
I had a little company, but she was taken away.

831
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,039
I'm sure I don't know where. I haven't been able

832
00:47:29,039 --> 00:47:32,880
to find a trace of her anywhere, replied the old lady, peevishly.

833
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:37,639
Some wretched companion that couldn't stick it, I suppose, thought

834
00:47:37,639 --> 00:47:41,679
miss Pim. Well, I don't wonder, but someone ought to

835
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,639
be here to look after her. They went into the parlor,

836
00:47:44,679 --> 00:47:47,199
which the visitor was dismayed to see was without a fire,

837
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:50,719
but otherwise well kept, And there on dozens of shelves

838
00:47:51,159 --> 00:47:53,920
was a choice array of china, at which Martha's Pim's

839
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:58,119
eyes glistened. Aha, cried miss La Fain, I see you've

840
00:47:58,119 --> 00:48:01,840
noticed my treasures. Don't you envy me? Don't you wish

841
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:06,280
that you had some of those pieces? Martha Pim certainly did,

842
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,960
and she looked eagerly and greedily round the walls, tables

843
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,400
and cabinets, while the old woman followed her with little

844
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,440
thin squeals of pleasure. It was a beautiful look, a

845
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:22,199
little collection, most choicely and elegantly arranged, and Martha Pim

846
00:48:22,599 --> 00:48:25,800
thought it marvelous that this feeble, ancient creature should be

847
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,119
able to keep it in such precise order, as well

848
00:48:28,119 --> 00:48:31,559
as doing her own housework. Do you really do everything

849
00:48:31,599 --> 00:48:35,519
yourself here and live quite alone? She asked, and she

850
00:48:35,639 --> 00:48:38,360
shivered even in her thick coat, and wished that Miss

851
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:41,039
La Faine's energy had risen to a fire. But then

852
00:48:41,079 --> 00:48:44,400
probably she lived in the kitchen, as these lonely eccentrics

853
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:48,920
often did. There was some one, answered Miss La Faine cunningly.

854
00:48:49,519 --> 00:48:52,159
But I had to send her away. I told you

855
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:55,519
she's gone. I can't find her, and I'm so glad,

856
00:48:55,519 --> 00:48:58,519
of course, she added wistfully. It leaves me very lonely.

857
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:02,880
But then I couldn't stand her impertinence any longer. She

858
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:05,800
used to say that was her house and her collection

859
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,360
of china. Would you believe it? She used to try

860
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,280
to chase me away from looking at my own things.

861
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:16,079
How very disagreeable, said Miss Pym, wondering which of the

862
00:49:16,079 --> 00:49:18,840
two women had been crazy. But hadn't you better get

863
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:22,840
some one else? Oh no, was a jealous answer. I

864
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:25,320
would rather be alone with my things. I daren't leave

865
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,440
the house for fear some one takes them away. There

866
00:49:28,519 --> 00:49:31,559
was a dreadful time once when an auction sale was held.

867
00:49:31,559 --> 00:49:35,920
Here were you here, then asked Miss Pim. But indeed

868
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:39,280
she looked old enough to bend anywhere. Yes, of course,

869
00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:43,719
Miss Laffaine replied rather peevishly, and Miss Pimp, of course,

870
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:46,159
decided she must be a relation of old Sir James

871
00:49:46,159 --> 00:49:49,920
Sewell Clara Mabel had been very foggy about it all.

872
00:49:50,519 --> 00:49:53,639
I was very busy hiding all the china, the one

873
00:49:53,679 --> 00:49:58,280
they got a Crown Derby tea service with one plate missing,

874
00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:01,320
cried Martha Pim. I bond, and do you know it

875
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:05,519
was wondering if you'd found it? I hid it, piped

876
00:50:05,519 --> 00:50:09,280
miss le Faine. Oh you did, did you? Well? That's

877
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,480
rather funny behavior. Why did you hide this stuff away

878
00:50:12,519 --> 00:50:17,239
instead of buying it? How could I buy what was mine? Oh,

879
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,559
Sir James left it to you, then asked Martha Pim,

880
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:25,079
Feeling very muddled. She bought a lot more, squeaked miss

881
00:50:25,159 --> 00:50:27,679
le Fane, But Martha Pim tried to keep her to

882
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:32,000
the point. If you've got the plate, she insisted, you

883
00:50:32,119 --> 00:50:35,400
might let me have it. I'll pay quite handsomely. It'd

884
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:38,039
be so pleasant to have it after all these years.

885
00:50:38,679 --> 00:50:41,519
Money is no use to me, said miss La Faine mournfully.

886
00:50:42,119 --> 00:50:44,800
Not a bit of use. I can't leave the house

887
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:49,000
or the garden. Well you have to live, I suppose,

888
00:50:49,079 --> 00:50:52,880
replied Martha Pimp cheerfully. And do you know I'm afraid

889
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:55,880
you're getting rather morbid and dull living here all alone.

890
00:50:56,480 --> 00:50:58,920
You really ought to have a fire. Why it's just

891
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:02,519
on Christmas and very damp. I have felt the cold

892
00:51:02,519 --> 00:51:05,360
for a long time, replied the other. She re seated

893
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:08,760
herself with a sigh one of the horsehair chairs, and

894
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:10,679
Miss Pim noticed with a start that her feet were

895
00:51:10,679 --> 00:51:13,519
covered only by a pair of white stockings. One of

896
00:51:13,559 --> 00:51:17,840
those nasty health fiends, thought miss Pim. But she doesn't

897
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:20,719
look too well for all that, So you don't think

898
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:24,519
that you could let me have the plate, she asked, briskly,

899
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,440
walking up and down for the dark meat clean parlor

900
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:30,400
was very cold, indeed, and she thought that she couldn't

901
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,079
stand this much longer, as there seemed to be no

902
00:51:33,119 --> 00:51:36,320
sign of tear or anything pleasant and comfortable, and she

903
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:39,760
had really better go. I might let you have it,

904
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:43,920
sighed miss La. Fine, since you've been so kind as

905
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,440
to pay me a visit. After all, one plate isn't

906
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:51,960
much use, is it? Of course not, I wondered you

907
00:51:52,079 --> 00:51:55,880
troubled to hide it. I couldn't bear, wailed the other,

908
00:51:56,400 --> 00:52:01,159
to see the things going out of the house, couldn't

909
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:03,239
stop to go into all of this, it was quite

910
00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:06,360
clear the old lady was very eccentric, indeed, and that

911
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:09,400
nothing very much could be done with her. No wonder

912
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:12,199
that she had dropped out of everything, and no one

913
00:52:12,239 --> 00:52:15,920
ever saw her or knew anything about her. Though Miss

914
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:19,039
Pim felt that some effort ought really to be made

915
00:52:19,039 --> 00:52:22,480
to save her from herself. Wouldn't you like a run

916
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,119
in my own, little governess cart, She suggested, we might

917
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:28,599
go to tea with the Winton's on the way back.

918
00:52:29,119 --> 00:52:31,880
They'd be delighted to see you. And I really think

919
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:36,199
that you do want taking out of yourself. I was

920
00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:40,039
taken out of myself some time ago, replied Miss Lafine.

921
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:44,320
I really was, and I couldn't leave my things. Oh,

922
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,599
she added, with pathetic gratitude. It is very very kind

923
00:52:47,639 --> 00:52:51,000
of you. Your things would be quite safe, I'm sure,

924
00:52:51,039 --> 00:52:54,239
said Martha Pim, hearing her. Who would ever come up

925
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:58,519
here this hour winter's day? They do, oh they do,

926
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:03,239
and she might ain't come back, prying and nosing and

927
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:06,840
saying that it was all hers, all, my beautiful china hers.

928
00:53:08,039 --> 00:53:11,719
Miss Lea Faine squealed in her agitation, and rising up,

929
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:15,000
ran around the walls, fingering with flaccid yellow hands, the

930
00:53:15,039 --> 00:53:18,840
brilliant glossy pieces on the shelves. Well, then I'm afraid

931
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:21,800
that I must go. They'll be expecting me, and it's

932
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:24,840
quite a long ride. Perhaps some other time you'll come

933
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:29,559
and see us. Oh must you go, quired Miss la

934
00:53:29,599 --> 00:53:32,679
Faane Dolefully, I do like a little company now and then,

935
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:36,559
and I trusted you from the first. The others, when

936
00:53:36,559 --> 00:53:39,639
they do come, are always after my things and have

937
00:53:39,719 --> 00:53:44,400
to frighten them away. Frighten them away, replied Martha Pim.

938
00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:48,719
However do you do that? It doesn't seem difficult. People

939
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:52,840
are so easily frightened, aren't they. Miss Pim suddenly remembered

940
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:56,400
that Hartley's had the reputation of being haunted. Perhaps the

941
00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:59,079
queer old Thing played on that the lonely house with

942
00:53:59,119 --> 00:54:02,199
the grave in the garden was dreary enough around which

943
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,719
to create a legend. I suppose you've never seen a ghost,

944
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:08,719
she asked pleasantly. I'd rather like to see one. You know,

945
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,159
there is no one here about myself, said Miss Leffaine.

946
00:54:13,199 --> 00:54:16,400
So you've never seen anything. I thought it must all

947
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:19,880
be nonsense. Still, I do think it rather melancholy for

948
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:23,760
you to live here all alone. Miss lef Fain sighed, Yes,

949
00:54:24,599 --> 00:54:27,480
it's very lonely. Do stay and talk to me a

950
00:54:27,519 --> 00:54:31,599
little longer. Her whistling voice dropped cunningly, And I'll give

951
00:54:31,599 --> 00:54:35,199
you the crown Derby plate. Are you sure you've really

952
00:54:35,199 --> 00:54:39,599
got it? Miss Pim asked, I'll show you. Fat and

953
00:54:39,639 --> 00:54:43,519
waddling as she was, she seemed to move very lightly

954
00:54:43,639 --> 00:54:46,400
as she slipped in front of Miss Pimp and conducted

955
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:51,079
her from the room going down up the stairs. Such

956
00:54:51,119 --> 00:54:53,519
a gross, odd figure and that clumsy dress with a

957
00:54:53,519 --> 00:54:56,960
fringe of white hair hanging on to her shoulders. The

958
00:54:57,039 --> 00:54:59,199
upstairs of the house was as neat as the parlor

959
00:55:00,199 --> 00:55:03,280
well in its place, but there was no sign of occupancy.

960
00:55:03,519 --> 00:55:06,440
The beds were covered with dust sheets. There were no

961
00:55:06,559 --> 00:55:10,840
lamps or fire steps. Ready, I suppose, said Miss Pimp

962
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,719
to herself. She doesn't care to show me where she

963
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:17,039
really lives. But as it passed from one room to another,

964
00:55:17,519 --> 00:55:20,360
she could not help saying where do you live, Miss

965
00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:24,360
le Faine. Mostly in the gardens, said the other. Miss

966
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:26,760
Pim thought of those horrible health nuts that some people

967
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:31,159
indulged in. Well, sooner you than I, she repeated, cheerfully.

968
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:34,400
In the most distant room, of all a dark, tiny closet.

969
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:37,320
Miss Lafaine opened a deep cupboard and brought out a

970
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,440
crown to replate, which her guest received with a spasm

971
00:55:40,519 --> 00:55:44,760
of joy, for was actually that missing from her cherish set.

972
00:55:45,199 --> 00:55:47,559
It's very good of you, she said, the light. Won't

973
00:55:47,559 --> 00:55:50,239
you take something for it, or let me do something

974
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:53,880
for you. You might come and see me again, replied

975
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:57,920
miss le Faine wistfully. Oh, yes, of course I should

976
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:00,320
like to come and see you again. But now that

977
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:02,880
she had got what she had come for, the plate,

978
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,840
Martha Pim wanted to be gone. It was really very

979
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:08,760
dismal and depressing in the house, and she began to

980
00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:11,880
notice a fearful smell. The place had been shut up

981
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:14,760
too long. There was something damp rotting somewhere in this

982
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:18,239
horrid little dark closet. No doubt I really must be going,

983
00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:20,760
she said hurriedly. Miss le Faine turned as if to

984
00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,800
cling to her, but Martha Pim moved quickly away. Dear me,

985
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:28,000
wailed the old lady. Why are you in such haste?

986
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:34,079
There's a smell, murmured Miss Pym rather faintly. She found

987
00:56:34,119 --> 00:56:37,119
herself hastening down the stairs with miss le Faine, complaining

988
00:56:37,199 --> 00:56:41,360
behind her, how peculiar people are she used to talk

989
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:46,320
of a smell, Well, you must notice it yourself. Miss

990
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,239
Pym was in the hall. The old woman had not

991
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:51,599
followed her, but stood in the semi darkness at the

992
00:56:51,599 --> 00:56:55,559
head of the stairs, a pale, shapeless figure. Martha Pim

993
00:56:55,760 --> 00:56:58,360
hated to be rude and ungrateful, but she could not

994
00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:01,519
stay another moment. She hurried away. It was in her cart.

995
00:57:01,559 --> 00:57:05,199
In a moment, really that smell. Goodbye, she called out,

996
00:57:05,199 --> 00:57:08,400
with false cheerfulness, and thank you so much. There was

997
00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:12,719
no answer from the house. Miss Pim drove on. She

998
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:15,440
was rather upset, and took another way than that by

999
00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:18,239
which had come away, that led past a little house

1000
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:20,920
raised above the marsh. She was glad to think that

1001
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:23,920
the poor old creature at Hartley's had such near neighbors,

1002
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:27,360
and she reined up the horse, dubious as to whether

1003
00:57:27,559 --> 00:57:30,239
she should call someone and tell them that poor old

1004
00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:33,920
Miss Lafaine really wanted a little looking after alone in

1005
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:36,599
a house like that, and plainly not quite right in

1006
00:57:36,639 --> 00:57:40,039
her head. A young woman, attracted by the sound of

1007
00:57:40,079 --> 00:57:42,639
the governess cart, came to the door of the house

1008
00:57:42,639 --> 00:57:45,199
and see miss Pim called out, asking if she wanted

1009
00:57:45,199 --> 00:57:49,519
the keys of the house. What house, asked Miss Pim.

1010
00:57:50,039 --> 00:57:53,519
Hartley's mum. They didn't put a board out as no

1011
00:57:53,519 --> 00:57:55,639
one is likely to pass, but is to be sold.

1012
00:57:56,400 --> 00:58:00,159
Miss La Faine wants to sell or let it. I've

1013
00:58:00,159 --> 00:58:03,920
just been up to see her. Oh no, Mom, she's

1014
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:07,599
been away a year abroad somewhere. Couldn't stand the place.

1015
00:58:07,679 --> 00:58:10,440
It's been empty since then. I just run in every

1016
00:58:10,519 --> 00:58:14,039
day and keep things tidy. Loquacious and curious. The young

1017
00:58:14,079 --> 00:58:17,159
woman had come to the fence. Miss Pim had stopped

1018
00:58:17,159 --> 00:58:21,159
her horse. Miss Lafane is there now, she said, She

1019
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:25,599
must have just come back. She wasn't there this morning. Mom,

1020
00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:29,760
tisn't likely she'd come either. Fair scared she was, mom,

1021
00:58:30,039 --> 00:58:34,119
fair chased away, didn't dare move her China. Can't say

1022
00:58:34,119 --> 00:58:37,280
I've noticed anything myself, but I never stay long. And

1023
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:42,639
there's a smell, yes, murmured Martha Pimp faintly, there's a smell.

1024
00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:47,039
What what chased her away? The young woman, even in

1025
00:58:47,079 --> 00:58:52,000
that lonely place, lowered her voice. Well, as you aren't

1026
00:58:52,039 --> 00:58:54,800
thinking of taking the place. She got an idea in

1027
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:58,079
her head that old Sir James well he couldn't bear

1028
00:58:58,199 --> 00:59:01,760
to leave Hartley's. Mom. He's buried in the garden and

1029
00:59:01,840 --> 00:59:04,719
she thought he was after her. Chasing round the bits

1030
00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:09,039
of china, Oh, cried Miss Pim. Some of it used

1031
00:59:09,039 --> 00:59:11,840
to be his. She found the lot stuffed away. He

1032
00:59:11,920 --> 00:59:14,480
said there were to be left in Hartney, but Miss

1033
00:59:14,599 --> 00:59:19,079
Lafane would have the things sold. I believe that's years ago. Yes, yes,

1034
00:59:19,119 --> 00:59:21,920
said Miss Pim, with a sick look. You don't know

1035
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:26,159
what he was like, do you no, Mum? But I've

1036
00:59:26,159 --> 00:59:30,440
heard he was very stout and very old. I wonder

1037
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:34,440
who it was you saw at Hartley's. Miss Pim took

1038
00:59:34,480 --> 00:59:38,280
a crown Derby plate from her back. You might take

1039
00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:40,440
that back when you go, she whispered. I shan't want

1040
00:59:40,440 --> 00:59:44,199
it after all. Before the astonished young woman could answer,

1041
00:59:44,199 --> 00:59:48,559
Miss Pim had darted off across the marsh, the short hair,

1042
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:53,199
that earth stained robe, the white sox I generally live

1043
00:59:53,239 --> 00:59:57,199
in the garden. Miss Pim drove away break neck speed, frantically,

1044
00:59:57,280 --> 00:59:59,840
resolving to mention to no one that she had paid

1045
00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,960
a visit to Hartley's, nor likely again to bring up

1046
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:06,599
the subject of ghosts. She shook and shuddered in the damp,

1047
01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:09,079
trying to get out of her clothes, in her nostrils,

1048
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:19,239
that indescribable smell. Christmas Meeting by Rosemary Temperly. I have

1049
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:23,440
never spent Christmas alone before, accuse me an uncanny feeling.

1050
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:26,239
Sitting alone in my furnished room, with my head full

1051
01:00:26,239 --> 01:00:28,440
of ghosts and the roomful of voices of the past.

1052
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:31,800
It's a drowning feeling. All the Christmases of the past

1053
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:36,000
coming back in a mad jumble. The childish Christmas with

1054
01:00:36,079 --> 01:00:39,760
a household of relations, a tree in the window, sixpences

1055
01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:42,239
in the pudding, and the delicious quinkly stalking in the

1056
01:00:42,320 --> 01:00:46,079
dark morning. The adolescent Christmas with mother and father, the

1057
01:00:46,119 --> 01:00:49,480
war and the bitter cold, and the letters from abroad.

1058
01:00:50,079 --> 01:00:53,079
The first really grown up Christmas with a lover, the

1059
01:00:53,119 --> 01:00:56,800
snow and the enchantment red wine and kisses, and the

1060
01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:59,719
walk in the dark before midnight, with the ground so

1061
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:03,480
wide and the stars diamond brighten a black sky. So

1062
01:01:03,599 --> 01:01:08,400
many Christmases through the years, and now the first Christmas

1063
01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:13,440
alone but not quite loneliness, A feeling of companionship with

1064
01:01:13,599 --> 01:01:16,960
all the other people who are spending Christmas alone, millions

1065
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:20,360
of them past and present. A feeling that if I

1066
01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:23,199
close my eyes there will be no past or future,

1067
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:27,239
only an endless present, which is time, because it is

1068
01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:32,239
all we ever have. Yes, however cynical you are, however religious,

1069
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:35,599
it makes you feel queer to be alone at Christmas time.

1070
01:01:36,400 --> 01:01:39,719
So I'm absurdly relieved when the young man walks in.

1071
01:01:40,239 --> 01:01:43,559
There's nothing romantic about it. I'm a woman of nearly fifty,

1072
01:01:44,119 --> 01:01:47,679
a spinster school marm with grim dark hair in myopic

1073
01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:51,599
eyes that once were beautiful. And he's a kid of twenty,

1074
01:01:51,800 --> 01:01:55,960
rather unconventionally dressed with a flowing white colored tie and

1075
01:01:56,039 --> 01:02:00,199
black velvet jacket and brown curls which could do the

1076
01:02:00,239 --> 01:02:03,679
taste of the barber scissors. The effeminacy of his dress

1077
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:09,400
is belied by his features narrow piercing blue eyes, an

1078
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:12,760
arrogant jutting nose and chin. Not that he looks strong.

1079
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:16,480
The skin is fine drawn over the prominent feature, and

1080
01:02:16,559 --> 01:02:21,119
he is very white. He burst in without knocking and pauses, says,

1081
01:02:22,039 --> 01:02:25,519
I'm so sorry. I thought this was my room. He

1082
01:02:25,559 --> 01:02:29,800
begins to go out, that hesitates and says, are you alone? Yes?

1083
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:35,239
It's queer being alone at Christmas, isn't it? May I

1084
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:39,199
stay and talk. I'd be glad if he would. He

1085
01:02:39,239 --> 01:02:42,400
comes right in and sits down by the fire. I

1086
01:02:42,440 --> 01:02:45,239
hope you don't think I came in here on purpose.

1087
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:48,159
I really did think it was my room, he explains.

1088
01:02:48,679 --> 01:02:51,159
I'm glad you made the mistake, but you're a very

1089
01:02:51,239 --> 01:02:54,440
young person to be alone at Christmas time. I wouldn't

1090
01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:56,760
go back to the country to my family. It would

1091
01:02:56,840 --> 01:03:01,159
hold up my work. I'm a writer. I see. I

1092
01:03:01,199 --> 01:03:04,639
can't help smiling a little. That explains his rather unusual dress.

1093
01:03:05,239 --> 01:03:08,199
And he takes himself so seriously, this young man. Of course,

1094
01:03:08,760 --> 01:03:11,519
you mustn't waste a precious moment of writing, I say

1095
01:03:11,559 --> 01:03:15,599
with a twinkle. No, not a moment. That's what my

1096
01:03:15,679 --> 01:03:21,199
family won't see. They don't appreciate urgency. Families are never

1097
01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:26,320
appreciative of the artistic nature. No they aren't. He agrees, seriously,

1098
01:03:27,079 --> 01:03:31,039
what are you writing? Poetry and a diary combined. It's

1099
01:03:31,079 --> 01:03:35,119
called My Poems and I by Francis Randall. That's my name.

1100
01:03:35,639 --> 01:03:38,320
My family says, there's no point in my writing. That

1101
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:42,039
I'm too young. But I don't feel young. Sometimes I

1102
01:03:42,079 --> 01:03:44,239
feel like an old man. It's too much to do

1103
01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:48,159
before he dies. Revolving faster and faster on the wheel

1104
01:03:48,199 --> 01:03:53,280
of creativeness. Yes, yes, exactly, you understand. You must read

1105
01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:56,960
my work sometime. Please read my work. Read my work.

1106
01:03:57,559 --> 01:04:00,480
A out of desperation in his voice, look of fear

1107
01:04:00,480 --> 01:04:03,599
in his eyes make me say we're both getting much

1108
01:04:03,599 --> 01:04:06,880
too solemn for Christmas Day. I'm going to make you

1109
01:04:06,920 --> 01:04:10,760
some coffee, and I have a plumb cake. I move about,

1110
01:04:10,840 --> 01:04:15,360
clattering cups, spooning coffee into my percolator. But I must

1111
01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:18,000
have offended him, for when I look around, I finally

1112
01:04:18,039 --> 01:04:23,519
has left me. I am absurdly disappointed. I finish making coffee, however,

1113
01:04:24,239 --> 01:04:26,199
then turned to the bookshelf in the room. It is

1114
01:04:26,239 --> 01:04:30,519
piled high with volumes, for which the landlady has apologized profusely.

1115
01:04:31,159 --> 01:04:33,280
Hope you don't mind the books, miss, but my husband

1116
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:36,000
won't part with him, and there's nowhere else to put them.

1117
01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:38,559
We charge a bit less for the room for that reason.

1118
01:04:39,360 --> 01:04:42,559
I don't mind. I said, books are good friends. But

1119
01:04:42,679 --> 01:04:46,679
these aren't very friendly looking books. I take one at random,

1120
01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:50,400
or does some strange fate guide my hand. Sipping my

1121
01:04:50,440 --> 01:04:53,800
coffee and inhaling my cigarette smoke, I begin to read

1122
01:04:53,800 --> 01:04:57,199
the battered little book published I see in spring eighteen

1123
01:04:57,280 --> 01:05:02,000
fifty two. It's mainly poetry or stuff, but vivid. But

1124
01:05:02,079 --> 01:05:06,239
there's a kind of diary, more realistic, less affected. Out

1125
01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:09,639
of curiosity to see if there are any amusing in comparisons,

1126
01:05:10,320 --> 01:05:13,719
I turned to the entry for Christmas Day eighteen fifty one.

1127
01:05:14,119 --> 01:05:18,159
I read my first Christmas Day alone. I'd rather an

1128
01:05:18,159 --> 01:05:21,280
odd experience. When I went back to my lodgings after

1129
01:05:21,320 --> 01:05:24,320
a walk, there was a middle aged woman in my room.

1130
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:27,360
I thought at first I'd walk into the wrong room,

1131
01:05:27,599 --> 01:05:30,760
but this was not so, and later, after a pleasant talk,

1132
01:05:30,840 --> 01:05:34,719
she disappeared. I suppose she was a ghost, but I

1133
01:05:34,760 --> 01:05:38,079
wasn't frightened. I liked her. But I do not feel

1134
01:05:38,119 --> 01:05:42,280
well tonight, not well at all. I have never felt

1135
01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:47,280
ill at Christmas before. A publisher's note followed the last entry.

1136
01:05:48,079 --> 01:05:51,320
Francis Randall died from a sudden heart attack on the

1137
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:55,119
night of Christmas Day eighteen fifty one. The woman mentioned

1138
01:05:55,199 --> 01:05:57,719
in his final entry in his diary was the last

1139
01:05:57,760 --> 01:06:00,519
person to see him alive. In spite of request for

1140
01:06:00,599 --> 01:06:03,559
her to come forward, she never did so. Her identity

1141
01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:11,159
remains a mystery. Transition by Algernon Blackwood, John Mudberry was

1142
01:06:11,199 --> 01:06:13,239
on his way home from the shops, his arms full

1143
01:06:13,280 --> 01:06:16,559
of Christmas presents. Was after six o'clock in the streets

1144
01:06:16,559 --> 01:06:19,599
were very crowded. He was an ordinary man, lived in

1145
01:06:19,639 --> 01:06:24,239
an ordinary suburban flat with an ordinary wife and ordinary children.

1146
01:06:24,760 --> 01:06:27,239
He did not think the ordinary, but everybody else did.

1147
01:06:27,800 --> 01:06:30,719
He had ordinary presents for each one, a cheap blotter

1148
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:33,480
for his wife, a cheap air gun for the boy,

1149
01:06:33,480 --> 01:06:37,119
and so forth. He was over fifty, bald in an office,

1150
01:06:37,239 --> 01:06:41,719
decent in mind, and habits of uncertain opinions, uncertain politics,

1151
01:06:41,760 --> 01:06:46,679
and uncertain religion. Yet he considered himself a decided positive gentleman,

1152
01:06:47,159 --> 01:06:50,320
quite unaware that the morning newspaper determined his opinions for

1153
01:06:50,360 --> 01:06:54,559
the day. He just lived from day to day. Physically,

1154
01:06:54,599 --> 01:06:56,800
he was fit enough except for a weak heart, which

1155
01:06:56,840 --> 01:06:59,960
never troubled him, and his summer holidays was bad golf

1156
01:07:00,519 --> 01:07:03,280
while the children Bathe and his wife fred Galvarus, on

1157
01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:07,199
the sands. Like the majority of men, he dreamed idly

1158
01:07:07,280 --> 01:07:10,800
of the past, muddled away the present, and guessed vaguely,

1159
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:15,280
after imaginative reading on occasions at the future. I'd like

1160
01:07:15,320 --> 01:07:18,400
to survive, all right, he said, provided it's better than this,

1161
01:07:19,119 --> 01:07:22,079
surveying his wife and children and thinking of his daily

1162
01:07:22,119 --> 01:07:25,599
toil otherwise, and he shrug his shoulders, as a brave

1163
01:07:25,679 --> 01:07:29,159
man should. He went to church regularly, but nothing in

1164
01:07:29,239 --> 01:07:32,400
church convinced him that he did survive, just as nothing

1165
01:07:32,440 --> 01:07:35,280
in church enticed them into hoping that he would. On

1166
01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:40,800
the other hand, nothing in life persuaded him that he didn't. Wouldn't, couldn't.

1167
01:07:41,800 --> 01:07:45,119
I'm an evolutionist, he'd loved to say, two thoughtful cronies

1168
01:07:45,119 --> 01:07:48,840
over a glass, having never heard that Darwinism had been questioned.

1169
01:07:50,360 --> 01:07:52,519
And so he came home gaily, happily with his bunch

1170
01:07:52,559 --> 01:07:55,960
of Christmas presents for the wife and little ones, stroking

1171
01:07:56,039 --> 01:07:59,920
himself upon their keen enjoyment and excitement. The night before,

1172
01:08:00,119 --> 01:08:02,480
he had taken the wife to see magic at a

1173
01:08:02,480 --> 01:08:07,239
select London theater where the intellectuals went, and been extraordinarily stirred.

1174
01:08:07,760 --> 01:08:11,440
He had gone questionably yet expecting something out of the common.

1175
01:08:11,960 --> 01:08:15,400
It's not musical, he warned her, nor force, nor comedy,

1176
01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:18,079
so to speak. And an answer to her question as

1177
01:08:18,079 --> 01:08:21,319
to what the critics had said, he had wriggled side

1178
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:25,239
and put his guardy necktie straight four times in quick succession.

1179
01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:27,680
For no man in the street with any claim to

1180
01:08:27,720 --> 01:08:31,199
self respect could be expected to understand what the critics

1181
01:08:31,199 --> 01:08:35,000
had said, even if he understood the play. And John

1182
01:08:35,119 --> 01:08:38,920
had answered truthfully, oh, they just said things. But the

1183
01:08:38,920 --> 01:08:42,199
theater is always full, and that's the only test. And

1184
01:08:42,359 --> 01:08:45,119
just now, as he crossed the crowded circus to catch

1185
01:08:45,159 --> 01:08:49,039
his bus a chance at his mind, having glimpsed an advertisement,

1186
01:08:49,159 --> 01:08:52,199
was full of this particular play, or rather the effect

1187
01:08:52,239 --> 01:08:54,479
that had produced upon him at the time, for it

1188
01:08:54,520 --> 01:08:59,319
had thrilled him inexplicably with its marvelous speculative hint, its

1189
01:08:59,319 --> 01:09:03,520
big audacity, its alert and spiritual beauty. Thought plunged to

1190
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:08,039
find something plunged after this bizarre suggestion of a bigger universe,

1191
01:09:08,680 --> 01:09:12,720
after this quasi jocular suggestion that man is not the

1192
01:09:12,800 --> 01:09:17,560
only then dashedful tilt against a sentence that memory thrust

1193
01:09:17,640 --> 01:09:22,520
beneath his nose. Science does not exhaust the universe. At

1194
01:09:22,560 --> 01:09:26,399
the same time, dashedful tilt against destruction of another kind

1195
01:09:26,439 --> 01:09:31,119
as well. How it happened, he never exactly knew. He

1196
01:09:31,159 --> 01:09:33,439
saw a monster glaring at him with the eyes of

1197
01:09:33,479 --> 01:09:38,039
blazing fire. It was horrible. It rushed upon him. He dodged.

1198
01:09:38,600 --> 01:09:41,600
Another monster met him round the corner. Both came at

1199
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:45,600
him simultaneously. He dodged again, a leap that might have

1200
01:09:45,640 --> 01:09:49,439
cleared a hurdle easily, but was too late. Between the

1201
01:09:49,479 --> 01:09:52,760
pair of them, his heart literally in his gullet, he

1202
01:09:52,880 --> 01:09:58,159
was mercilessly caught, bones crunched. There was a soft sensation icye,

1203
01:09:58,239 --> 01:10:03,439
cold and hot as fire. Horns and voices roared, battering

1204
01:10:03,520 --> 01:10:08,399
ramse he saw in a carepace of iron, then dazzling light.

1205
01:10:09,399 --> 01:10:12,600
Always faced the traffic, he remembered with a frantic gell,

1206
01:10:13,319 --> 01:10:16,840
and by some extraordinary luck, escaped miraculously on to the

1207
01:10:16,880 --> 01:10:20,800
opposite pavement. There was no doubt about it. By the

1208
01:10:20,800 --> 01:10:23,279
skin of his teeth, he had dodged a rather ugly death.

1209
01:10:23,800 --> 01:10:28,119
First he felt for his presence all were safe, and

1210
01:10:28,159 --> 01:10:31,680
then instead of congratulating himself and taking breath, he hurried

1211
01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:34,640
homewards on foot, which proved that his mind had lost

1212
01:10:34,680 --> 01:10:39,079
control a bit, thinking only how disappointed the wife and

1213
01:10:39,159 --> 01:10:42,319
children would have been, if well, if anything had happened.

1214
01:10:42,920 --> 01:10:45,840
Another thing he realized, oddly enough, was that he no

1215
01:10:45,920 --> 01:10:49,319
longer really loved his wife, but had only great affection

1216
01:10:49,439 --> 01:10:52,880
for her. What made him think of that, Heaven only knows,

1217
01:10:52,960 --> 01:10:55,199
but he did think of it. He was an honest

1218
01:10:55,239 --> 01:11:00,119
man without pretense. This came as a discovery. Somehow. He

1219
01:11:00,159 --> 01:11:02,399
turned a moment and saw the crowd gathered about in

1220
01:11:02,520 --> 01:11:06,520
tangled taxicabs, policemen's helmets gleaming in the lights of the

1221
01:11:06,520 --> 01:11:10,399
shop windows. Then hurried on again, his thoughts full of

1222
01:11:10,439 --> 01:11:14,039
the Joyce's presence would give, of the scampering children, and

1223
01:11:14,079 --> 01:11:17,760
of his wife, bless her silly heart, eyeing the mysterious parcels.

1224
01:11:18,439 --> 01:11:22,079
And though he could never explain how he presently stood

1225
01:11:22,119 --> 01:11:24,199
at the door of the jail like building that contained

1226
01:11:24,199 --> 01:11:28,760
his flat, having walked the whole three miles, his thoughts

1227
01:11:28,800 --> 01:11:30,600
had been so busy and absorbed that he had hardly

1228
01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:34,800
noticed the length of weary trudge. Besides, he reflected, thinking

1229
01:11:34,800 --> 01:11:37,479
of the narrow escape, I've had a nasty shock. It

1230
01:11:37,560 --> 01:11:39,760
was a damn near thing, now I come to think

1231
01:11:39,800 --> 01:11:42,840
of it. He still felt a bit shaking and bewildered,

1232
01:11:43,359 --> 01:11:46,760
yet at the same time he felt extraordinarily jolly and

1233
01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:51,000
light hearted. He counted his Christmas parcels, hugged himself in

1234
01:11:51,079 --> 01:11:54,680
anticipation and joy, and let himself in swiftly with his

1235
01:11:54,760 --> 01:11:59,560
latch key. I'm late, he realized, But when she seized

1236
01:11:59,560 --> 01:12:02,439
a brown pan parcels, she'll forget to say a word.

1237
01:12:02,920 --> 01:12:05,920
God bless the old faithful soul. And he softly used

1238
01:12:05,920 --> 01:12:09,479
the key a second time and injured his flat on tiptoe.

1239
01:12:10,119 --> 01:12:12,720
In his mind was the master impulse of that afternoon,

1240
01:12:13,119 --> 01:12:16,720
the pleasure these Christmas presents would give his wife and children.

1241
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:20,239
He heard a noise. He hung a pat and coat

1242
01:12:20,319 --> 01:12:24,159
in the poky vestibule they never called it hall, and

1243
01:12:24,199 --> 01:12:28,399
moved softly toward the parlor door, holding the packages behind them.

1244
01:12:28,439 --> 01:12:31,760
Only of them, he thought, not of himself with his family,

1245
01:12:32,039 --> 01:12:36,079
that is, not of the packages. Pushing the door cunningly, ajar,

1246
01:12:36,680 --> 01:12:39,800
he pipped in shyly this amazement. The room was full

1247
01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:43,600
of people. He withdrew quickly, wondering what it meant, a party,

1248
01:12:44,199 --> 01:12:48,720
and without his knowing about it, extraordinary keen disappointment came

1249
01:12:48,760 --> 01:12:51,319
over him. But as he stepped back the vestibule he

1250
01:12:51,359 --> 01:12:54,960
saw was full of people too. He was uncommonly surprised,

1251
01:12:55,000 --> 01:12:59,239
yet somehow not surprised at all. People were congratulating him.

1252
01:13:00,079 --> 01:13:03,079
There was a perfect mob of them. Moreover, he knew

1253
01:13:03,119 --> 01:13:06,720
them all vaguely remembered them at least, and they all

1254
01:13:06,800 --> 01:13:10,439
knew him. Isn't it a game, laughed someone patting him

1255
01:13:10,439 --> 01:13:13,920
on the back. They haven't the least idea, and the

1256
01:13:13,960 --> 01:13:17,560
speaker was old. John Palmer, the bookkeeper at the office,

1257
01:13:17,760 --> 01:13:21,920
emphasized that they not the least idea. He answered with

1258
01:13:21,960 --> 01:13:25,159
a smile, saying something he didn't understand yet knew was right.

1259
01:13:26,000 --> 01:13:29,640
His face apparently showed the utter bewilderment. He felt. The

1260
01:13:29,680 --> 01:13:32,640
shock of the collision had been greater than he realized.

1261
01:13:32,680 --> 01:13:38,239
Evidently his mind was wandering. Possibly only the opting was.

1262
01:13:38,880 --> 01:13:41,239
He had never felt so clear headed in his life.

1263
01:13:41,840 --> 01:13:45,600
Ten thousand things grew simple suddenly. But how thickly these

1264
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:50,600
people pressed about him, How familiarly my parcels, he said, joyously,

1265
01:13:50,640 --> 01:13:54,359
pushing his way across the throng. These are Christmas presents

1266
01:13:54,399 --> 01:13:57,399
I've bought for them, he nodded, towards the room. I've

1267
01:13:57,439 --> 01:14:01,079
saved for weeks, stops, the cards and bills, then several

1268
01:14:01,079 --> 01:14:05,000
other good things to buy them, good man, said Palmer,

1269
01:14:05,039 --> 01:14:08,319
with a happy laugh. It's the heart that counts. Mudberry

1270
01:14:08,399 --> 01:14:11,600
looked at him. Palmer had said an amazing truth. Only

1271
01:14:12,159 --> 01:14:16,439
people would hardly understand and believe him? Would they? Ah,

1272
01:14:16,520 --> 01:14:19,720
he has feeling stuffed and stupid, muddled somewhere between two meetings,

1273
01:14:20,079 --> 01:14:22,720
one of which was gorgeous and the other stupid beyond belief.

1274
01:14:23,279 --> 01:14:26,439
If you please, mister bud Berry, step inside. They are

1275
01:14:26,479 --> 01:14:30,720
expecting you, said a kindly pompous voice, and turning sharply,

1276
01:14:31,199 --> 01:14:33,680
he met the gentle, foolish eyes of Sir James Epiphany,

1277
01:14:34,119 --> 01:14:36,800
a director of the bank where he worked. The effect

1278
01:14:36,840 --> 01:14:40,439
of the voice was instantaneous, from long habit. They are.

1279
01:14:40,479 --> 01:14:43,319
He smiled from his heart and advanced, as from the

1280
01:14:43,359 --> 01:14:46,680
custom of many years. Oh, happy and gay. He felt

1281
01:14:47,199 --> 01:14:51,520
his affection for his wife was real. Romance indeed had gone,

1282
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:56,560
but he needed her and she needed him. And the children, Millie,

1283
01:14:56,600 --> 01:15:01,079
Bill and Jean. He deeply loved them. Life was worth living. Indeed,

1284
01:15:01,760 --> 01:15:05,000
in the room was a crowd, but in astounding silence.

1285
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:09,000
John Mudberry looked around him. He advanced towards his wife,

1286
01:15:09,000 --> 01:15:11,560
who sat in the corner armchair with Milly on her knee.

1287
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:15,279
A lot of people talked and moved about. Momentarily the

1288
01:15:15,319 --> 01:15:18,239
crowd increased. He stood in front of them, in front

1289
01:15:18,279 --> 01:15:21,199
of Milly and his wife and he spoke, holding out

1290
01:15:21,199 --> 01:15:25,079
his packages. It's Christmas Eve, he whispered, shyly, and I've

1291
01:15:25,479 --> 01:15:29,479
brought you something, something for everybody. Look. He held the

1292
01:15:29,520 --> 01:15:34,600
packages before their eyes. Of course, of course, had a

1293
01:15:34,640 --> 01:15:37,079
voice behind him. But you may hold them out like

1294
01:15:37,119 --> 01:15:40,439
that for a century. They'll never see them, of course

1295
01:15:40,479 --> 01:15:43,560
they won't. But I love to do, the old sweet thing,

1296
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:47,800
replied John Munberry, then wondered, with a gasp of stark ambatzment,

1297
01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:53,880
Why he said it, I think, whispered Milly, staring round her. Well,

1298
01:15:53,880 --> 01:15:56,840
what do you think, her mother asked sharply, you're always

1299
01:15:56,840 --> 01:16:02,279
thinking something odd. I think the girl continued dreamily, that

1300
01:16:02,359 --> 01:16:06,239
Daddy's already here. She paused, and added, with a child's

1301
01:16:06,239 --> 01:16:11,039
impossible conviction, I'm sure he is. I feel him. There

1302
01:16:11,079 --> 01:16:15,039
was an extraordinary laugh, Sir James Epiphany laughed. The others,

1303
01:16:15,079 --> 01:16:18,800
all crowded them, also turned their heads and smiled. But

1304
01:16:18,840 --> 01:16:21,600
the mother, thrusting the child away from her, rose up

1305
01:16:21,640 --> 01:16:25,119
suddenly with a violent start. Her face had turned to chalk.

1306
01:16:25,840 --> 01:16:28,239
She stretched her arms out into the air before her.

1307
01:16:28,880 --> 01:16:32,720
She gasped and shivered. There was anguish in her eyes. Look,

1308
01:16:33,000 --> 01:16:36,800
repeated John, these are the presents that I brought, but

1309
01:16:36,880 --> 01:16:40,079
his voice apparently was soundless, and with a spasm of

1310
01:16:40,319 --> 01:16:44,039
icy pain, he remembered that Palmer answered, James, some years

1311
01:16:44,079 --> 01:16:48,760
ago had died. It's magic, he cried, But I love you, Ginny.

1312
01:16:49,199 --> 01:16:52,079
I love you, and and I've always been true to you,

1313
01:16:52,640 --> 01:16:55,560
as true as steel. We need each other. Oh, can't

1314
01:16:55,560 --> 01:16:58,479
you see we go on together, you and I forever

1315
01:16:58,560 --> 01:17:03,680
and ever. Think interrupted and exquisitely tender voice, don't shout.

1316
01:17:04,479 --> 01:17:08,880
They can't hear you now, and turning John Mudberry with

1317
01:17:09,039 --> 01:17:12,319
the eyes of Everward Minturn, their president of the year

1318
01:17:12,319 --> 01:17:17,039
before Minton had gone down with a Titanic. He dropped

1319
01:17:17,079 --> 01:17:20,600
his parcels. Then his heart gave an enormous leap of joy.

1320
01:17:21,359 --> 01:17:24,640
He saw her face, the face of his wife, looked

1321
01:17:24,640 --> 01:17:27,880
through him, but the child gazed straight into his eyes.

1322
01:17:28,279 --> 01:17:31,399
She saw him. The next thing he knew was that

1323
01:17:31,479 --> 01:17:35,119
he heard some tinkling far far away, sounded its miles

1324
01:17:35,119 --> 01:17:39,920
below him. Inside him, he was sounding himself, all utterly bewildering,

1325
01:17:40,000 --> 01:17:44,000
like a bell. It was a bell. Millie stopped down

1326
01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:48,199
and picked up the parcels. Her face shone with happiness

1327
01:17:48,199 --> 01:17:50,880
and laughter. But a man came in soon after, a

1328
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:54,399
man with a ridiculous solemn face, a pencil and a notebook.

1329
01:17:55,159 --> 01:17:58,079
He wore a dark blue helmet. Behind him came a

1330
01:17:58,119 --> 01:18:03,319
string of other men something something He could not see

1331
01:18:03,319 --> 01:18:06,600
exactly what it was, But when he pressed forward through

1332
01:18:06,640 --> 01:18:09,119
the laughing throng to gaze upon it, he dimly made

1333
01:18:09,199 --> 01:18:14,239
out two eyes, a nose, a chin, a deep red smear,

1334
01:18:14,359 --> 01:18:18,319
and a pair of folded hands upon an overcoat. Women's

1335
01:18:18,399 --> 01:18:21,399
form fell down upon them. Then, and he heard soft

1336
01:18:21,439 --> 01:18:25,800
sounds of children weeping strangely, and other sounds as a

1337
01:18:26,119 --> 01:18:31,199
familiar voice is laughing, laughing gaily. They'll join us presently.

1338
01:18:31,600 --> 01:18:35,439
It goes like a flash and turning with great happiness

1339
01:18:35,920 --> 01:18:38,600
in his heart. He saw that, Sir James said, said it,

1340
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:42,119
holding Palmer by the arm, as with some natural yet

1341
01:18:42,199 --> 01:18:46,640
unexpected love of sympathetic friendship. Come on, said Palmer, smiling

1342
01:18:46,720 --> 01:18:49,399
like a man who accepts a gift and universal fellowship.

1343
01:18:50,079 --> 01:18:54,319
Let's help him. They'll never understand still, we can always try.

1344
01:18:55,319 --> 01:18:58,920
The entire throng moved up with laughter and amusement. It

1345
01:18:58,960 --> 01:19:01,279
was a moment of heart each genuine life. At last,

1346
01:19:02,079 --> 01:19:06,600
Delight and joy and peace were everywhere. Then John Mudbury

1347
01:19:06,680 --> 01:19:12,199
realized the truth that he was dead. A Curious experience

1348
01:19:12,319 --> 01:19:15,880
by Norah Loughs. I once had a curious experience, and

1349
01:19:15,960 --> 01:19:18,960
those dismiss it as a silly girl's fancy should think again.

1350
01:19:19,640 --> 01:19:21,359
I was twenty three at the time and had been

1351
01:19:21,399 --> 01:19:24,800
married for two years. When Greg proposed to me in

1352
01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:27,920
an offhand way, I said, you know, or you should

1353
01:19:27,920 --> 01:19:31,079
do that. I am not the domestic type. If you

1354
01:19:31,159 --> 01:19:34,159
really want little wifey waiting with a castrole in the

1355
01:19:34,159 --> 01:19:37,159
oven and your slippers warming by the well swept hearth,

1356
01:19:37,720 --> 01:19:40,600
you must look elsewhere. Greg said that if he had

1357
01:19:40,600 --> 01:19:43,600
been interested in castroles and well warmed slippers, he'd have

1358
01:19:43,640 --> 01:19:46,920
settled for Amanda. Between me and Amanda, I must confess

1359
01:19:47,479 --> 01:19:49,840
it had been, as the Duke of Wallington said of Waterloo,

1360
01:19:49,920 --> 01:19:53,439
a damn close run thing. But I had one, and

1361
01:19:53,520 --> 01:19:55,399
for two years Greg and I lived a bit of

1362
01:19:55,439 --> 01:19:59,199
that happily ever after, stuff happy as lark's as they say,

1363
01:19:59,720 --> 01:20:02,239
though we had no nest. The form for which he

1364
01:20:02,319 --> 01:20:05,359
worked was busy grooming him a nice term for holding

1365
01:20:05,399 --> 01:20:07,640
the carrot while out of his reach at one end

1366
01:20:08,119 --> 01:20:11,439
and applying stick at the other. Young Men with potential

1367
01:20:11,960 --> 01:20:15,399
must be mobile must gain experience at all levels. So

1368
01:20:15,520 --> 01:20:19,279
Gregg shuttled about, and I went with him, dragging my

1369
01:20:19,359 --> 01:20:22,439
portable typewriter, my thick note book, and a bag of

1370
01:20:22,479 --> 01:20:26,319
reference books. I had already published one novel, highly praise,

1371
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:32,760
savagely criticized, not very profitable. And then Gregg's firm decreed

1372
01:20:33,520 --> 01:20:35,960
that to complete his grooming, he must spend three months

1373
01:20:35,960 --> 01:20:39,560
in New York. The wives of the fully groomed are recognized,

1374
01:20:40,079 --> 01:20:43,920
and they may accompany their husband's expenses paid, but those

1375
01:20:44,079 --> 01:20:48,399
ungroomed are presumed to be single footloose. I said, Darling,

1376
01:20:48,800 --> 01:20:51,920
we simply can't afford it. I'll find some place and

1377
01:20:52,039 --> 01:20:55,039
tuck in and finish my book. Three months will just

1378
01:20:55,079 --> 01:20:58,239
about do it. I squinted at him. I do squint

1379
01:20:58,279 --> 01:21:01,199
when I concentrate. I said, you go and fall in

1380
01:21:01,199 --> 01:21:04,640
love with some American floozy and I'll disown you. I

1381
01:21:04,640 --> 01:21:06,600
didn't want him to feel that he must provide for

1382
01:21:06,680 --> 01:21:09,640
me while we were separated. It had been all right

1383
01:21:09,960 --> 01:21:16,000
when I tagged about after him Leeds, Bradford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol, Norwich.

1384
01:21:16,960 --> 01:21:20,520
Mostly we had lived in cheap hotels, cheap furnished flats

1385
01:21:21,079 --> 01:21:24,159
when we were somewhere where food was provided, we ate

1386
01:21:24,199 --> 01:21:27,720
what was offered. Otherwise, I bought things like beef burghers,

1387
01:21:27,880 --> 01:21:31,600
fish fingers very often. My only cooking facility was a

1388
01:21:31,640 --> 01:21:34,840
frying pan on a gas ring. But I felt that

1389
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:37,399
in a way I earned my key for the next

1390
01:21:37,399 --> 01:21:40,079
three months, he would not have even the benefit of

1391
01:21:40,119 --> 01:21:44,000
my company, and living is expensive in America, so I

1392
01:21:44,039 --> 01:21:47,399
began to look around for a job. A Faiish knowledge

1393
01:21:47,439 --> 01:21:51,279
of archaeology and ancient history is not the most readily

1394
01:21:51,319 --> 01:21:54,359
marketable asset, and I was quite glad to find part

1395
01:21:54,399 --> 01:21:57,479
time employment and a public library in a Suffolk town

1396
01:21:57,560 --> 01:22:02,000
called Bildon. There was also lucky enough to find not

1397
01:22:02,079 --> 01:22:06,000
a flat but a furnished house at an astonishingly low rent,

1398
01:22:06,520 --> 01:22:09,000
so low indeed that until I saw the place I

1399
01:22:09,039 --> 01:22:12,560
had the darkest suspicions. The ancient made an appointment for

1400
01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:16,119
me to meet missus Willis at the house eighteen Hillcrest

1401
01:22:16,199 --> 01:22:20,159
Avenue on the following afternoon. Hilcrest Avenue was a quiet

1402
01:22:20,159 --> 01:22:22,760
cul de sac with an easy walk of the town

1403
01:22:22,840 --> 01:22:27,000
center at the top of wet and Suffolk passes for

1404
01:22:27,079 --> 01:22:30,640
a hill a very slight rise. It consisted mainly of

1405
01:22:30,720 --> 01:22:35,000
pairs of semi detached houses, either ancient nor modern, all

1406
01:22:35,119 --> 01:22:37,960
very neat and spruce, with a small garden in front,

1407
01:22:38,239 --> 01:22:41,760
a longer one behind the house at a living room, a

1408
01:22:41,840 --> 01:22:45,680
dining room, kitchen, two fair sized bedrooms, and a tiny

1409
01:22:45,720 --> 01:22:48,960
one a bathroom. It was completely furnished and a good

1410
01:22:49,039 --> 01:22:52,800
solid stuff everything, missus Willis said, pulling open a drawer

1411
01:22:52,840 --> 01:22:56,600
in the kitchen down to the last eggspoon. Then I

1412
01:22:56,760 --> 01:22:59,920
asked myself, why so cheap? I lived in some tatty

1413
01:23:00,079 --> 01:23:04,399
rooms that call themselves flatlets and costs double, She answered

1414
01:23:04,399 --> 01:23:08,760
my unspoken question. I didn't feel justified in asking much,

1415
01:23:08,800 --> 01:23:11,960
because there are so many snacks from the tenant's point

1416
01:23:11,960 --> 01:23:15,319
of view. Insecurity of tenure, for one thing, I have

1417
01:23:15,359 --> 01:23:17,840
to ask for a sign agreement that a week's or

1418
01:23:17,840 --> 01:23:21,159
at most a fortnight's notice will be accepted. You see,

1419
01:23:21,199 --> 01:23:23,720
the house belongs to an old aunt of mine. She

1420
01:23:23,800 --> 01:23:26,920
is very ar threadd, quite incapable of looking after herself,

1421
01:23:27,439 --> 01:23:30,760
and I'm much too far away and too busy personally.

1422
01:23:30,840 --> 01:23:33,279
I don't think she will ever leave the home where

1423
01:23:33,279 --> 01:23:35,880
she is now, but she is convinced that she will

1424
01:23:35,920 --> 01:23:38,880
one day find a housekeeper and be able to come back.

1425
01:23:39,720 --> 01:23:42,479
It would be unkind to try to make her see sense.

1426
01:23:43,319 --> 01:23:46,119
Then she began to fret about the house standing empty,

1427
01:23:46,680 --> 01:23:49,600
so I offered to let it, and she quite took

1428
01:23:49,640 --> 01:23:52,880
to the idea. It's a great nuisance for me. I

1429
01:23:52,920 --> 01:23:55,600
have to see potential tenants and generally keep an eye

1430
01:23:55,680 --> 01:23:59,760
on things. She glanced around. Doesn't look too bad, does it?

1431
01:24:00,520 --> 01:24:03,600
And you needn't worry about the garden. A man comes

1432
01:24:03,640 --> 01:24:06,920
half a day a week. I felt that this could

1433
01:24:06,920 --> 01:24:10,720
not be a very profitable enterprise. How long has your

1434
01:24:10,720 --> 01:24:13,960
aunt been in this home, I asked, missus willis in

1435
01:24:14,079 --> 01:24:18,680
mental arithmetic? Almost four years? She said, fortunately, as she

1436
01:24:18,760 --> 01:24:21,520
is comfortably off. I reckon that she spends at least

1437
01:24:21,520 --> 01:24:25,239
three pounds a week answering advertisements and closing stamp to

1438
01:24:25,319 --> 01:24:29,199
dressed envelopes, most of which never come back. But there

1439
01:24:29,199 --> 01:24:31,600
it is. It's her hobby, the one thing that keeps

1440
01:24:31,600 --> 01:24:36,039
her alive. What about the gas and electricity? Asked, oh,

1441
01:24:36,079 --> 01:24:39,439
well there, I did make a stand. It was such

1442
01:24:39,439 --> 01:24:42,800
a nuisance having the stuff caught off and put on again,

1443
01:24:42,840 --> 01:24:45,479
and people going off without paying their bills. So I

1444
01:24:45,479 --> 01:24:48,800
had meters there under the sink. Well I must be off,

1445
01:24:48,880 --> 01:24:51,439
I hope you'll be happy here, and don't worry too

1446
01:24:51,520 --> 01:24:55,119
much about the week's notice. The housekeeper my aunt is

1447
01:24:55,159 --> 01:24:59,399
looking for went out with the crinoline. I moved in

1448
01:24:59,479 --> 01:25:02,319
later that after to noon, blessing my luck. I decided

1449
01:25:02,319 --> 01:25:05,239
that the dining room at the back and adjoining kitchen

1450
01:25:05,800 --> 01:25:08,600
should be my work and living room. One end of

1451
01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:11,600
the good solid table holding my typewriter and my books,

1452
01:25:12,199 --> 01:25:16,640
the other my simple, haspazard meals. The house had I

1453
01:25:16,680 --> 01:25:19,960
now realized that faintly musty smell it comes from mis use,

1454
01:25:20,359 --> 01:25:23,359
and I opened all the windows. I'd noticed that, despite

1455
01:25:23,399 --> 01:25:26,640
its nearness to the main shopping center, this near suburb

1456
01:25:26,680 --> 01:25:29,640
had a little shopping precinct of its own. I went

1457
01:25:29,680 --> 01:25:33,039
down to investigate and found it perfect for my purpose.

1458
01:25:33,680 --> 01:25:36,720
The general store had a deep freeze and a delicatess encounter.

1459
01:25:37,359 --> 01:25:40,319
Next door was a launderette, and beyond it an off

1460
01:25:40,399 --> 01:25:45,279
license and a sub post office, both endearingly miniature. A

1461
01:25:45,359 --> 01:25:49,920
chemist's shop and a hairdressers completed the semicircle. The housewives

1462
01:25:49,960 --> 01:25:53,039
in this area were well created for, and I was

1463
01:25:53,079 --> 01:25:56,439
one of them. Lucky me. The rot set in when

1464
01:25:56,880 --> 01:25:59,880
the June evening glow waning I got up and switched

1465
01:26:00,039 --> 01:26:02,760
on the light. As I type, I tend to look

1466
01:26:02,840 --> 01:26:05,439
up and stir straight ahead. And from the place where

1467
01:26:05,439 --> 01:26:08,680
I had chosen. Where I looked at was a sideboard

1468
01:26:08,760 --> 01:26:12,720
of the kind called a chiffonier. Somebody by the last

1469
01:26:12,760 --> 01:26:15,920
tenor perhaps missus Willis, had given its flat surface a

1470
01:26:15,960 --> 01:26:19,000
hasty swipe with a duster. The thing was made. I

1471
01:26:19,000 --> 01:26:22,399
think of rosewood, and I say, my circular swipe had

1472
01:26:22,479 --> 01:26:25,560
left a richly glowing area edged thickly with gray dust.

1473
01:26:26,359 --> 01:26:29,479
A similar swipe had been made at the delicately framed

1474
01:26:29,520 --> 01:26:33,399
mirror which formed its back. For some reason that I

1475
01:26:33,439 --> 01:26:37,359
cannot explain, what remained dusty on the rosewood smeared on

1476
01:26:37,399 --> 01:26:41,880
the glass bothered me. I simply could not concentrate. I

1477
01:26:41,920 --> 01:26:44,960
got up, went into the kitchen, found a rather dirty duster,

1478
01:26:45,439 --> 01:26:48,079
and did a bit of cleaning up. At the same time,

1479
01:26:48,159 --> 01:26:50,159
I took my coffee cup and the plate from which

1480
01:26:50,199 --> 01:26:52,920
I had eaten my two sausage rolls into the kitchen.

1481
01:26:53,640 --> 01:26:55,840
Then I sat down, typed a few lines, and knew

1482
01:26:55,880 --> 01:26:58,840
that the good spirit had gone from me, who said

1483
01:26:58,880 --> 01:27:02,720
that kogent thing that complaints of all riders. What can

1484
01:27:02,760 --> 01:27:05,800
I do? For posey. Now that the good spirit has

1485
01:27:05,840 --> 01:27:08,199
gone from me? What can I do but useless sit

1486
01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:13,720
and overread what I have written deadly the thing we

1487
01:27:13,840 --> 01:27:17,920
all fear so check. I wasted an hour in a

1488
01:27:17,920 --> 01:27:20,680
futile chase, and then gave up and went to bed.

1489
01:27:21,159 --> 01:27:23,960
In the morning, I woke up quite early and got

1490
01:27:23,960 --> 01:27:26,439
out of bed with a thought near to me, I

1491
01:27:26,479 --> 01:27:28,560
don't want to come back to an unmade bed in

1492
01:27:28,760 --> 01:27:32,319
a littered kitchen. Up to that morning, although I had

1493
01:27:32,319 --> 01:27:35,520
never enjoyed absolute squalor, I had been a bit slap

1494
01:27:35,520 --> 01:27:38,560
happy about time. So long as a bed was made

1495
01:27:38,560 --> 01:27:41,399
before it was occupied, a cup washed before it was

1496
01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:45,039
used again, I had been content to shuffle along what

1497
01:27:45,199 --> 01:27:47,960
had got into me. I left a neatly made bed

1498
01:27:48,399 --> 01:27:51,279
a tidy kitchen behind me when I went to the library.

1499
01:27:51,800 --> 01:27:55,520
It was Sunday, a busy day, my longest day. Ten

1500
01:27:55,560 --> 01:27:58,199
in the morning to three in the afternoon. At about

1501
01:27:58,279 --> 01:28:01,119
half past twelve, there was a little lull and had

1502
01:28:01,159 --> 01:28:05,319
time to say to the head librarian, a pleasant, very

1503
01:28:05,319 --> 01:28:09,479
academic looking woman, Miss Forbes, who wrote that verse beginning,

1504
01:28:09,560 --> 01:28:12,199
what can I do for posey? It haunts me and

1505
01:28:12,279 --> 01:28:15,600
I can't trace it? She said, I never heard it.

1506
01:28:16,000 --> 01:28:20,680
Posy sounds a bit archaic. Could it be chaucier? No,

1507
01:28:21,800 --> 01:28:24,640
not that it mattered, Just an idle thought on the

1508
01:28:24,680 --> 01:28:28,079
way home about enough of what is called convenience food

1509
01:28:28,079 --> 01:28:30,560
to sustain me through the weekend. I put in a

1510
01:28:30,600 --> 01:28:33,079
good session of work. That must he smelled inside the

1511
01:28:33,079 --> 01:28:36,119
house still bothered me, and I again opened the windows,

1512
01:28:36,239 --> 01:28:40,159
this time noticing that they were very dirty. Something impelled

1513
01:28:40,199 --> 01:28:43,039
me to clean them. When I told Greg that I

1514
01:28:43,119 --> 01:28:46,039
was not the domestic type, I was being, as always

1515
01:28:46,720 --> 01:28:50,479
flatly truthful. I was born and lived until I was

1516
01:28:50,520 --> 01:28:54,199
eight in Jamaica, where hard help was plentiful. I was

1517
01:28:54,239 --> 01:28:56,840
then sent to school in London, and there we made

1518
01:28:56,840 --> 01:28:59,840
our beds and took turns with a washing up. After that,

1519
01:29:00,199 --> 01:29:04,239
college digs, marriage, and a nomad life. The only ordinary

1520
01:29:04,279 --> 01:29:06,880
household of which I had ever been apart was that

1521
01:29:06,920 --> 01:29:10,000
of my grandmother in school holidays, and she not only

1522
01:29:10,039 --> 01:29:12,760
wanted no help from me, she had the obsessive idea

1523
01:29:12,920 --> 01:29:16,159
unless I was studying, I was wasting my time and

1524
01:29:16,279 --> 01:29:18,840
my parents hard earned money. I had never in my

1525
01:29:18,920 --> 01:29:22,800
life cleaned a window from a sour smelling cupboard under

1526
01:29:22,800 --> 01:29:24,760
the sink. I chose the least filthy of a number

1527
01:29:24,760 --> 01:29:27,439
of clothes, washed it, and armed with it in a

1528
01:29:27,520 --> 01:29:30,800
duster and a bucket of water, set to starting on

1529
01:29:30,840 --> 01:29:34,159
the dining room table. I was awkward and slow. As

1530
01:29:34,159 --> 01:29:37,600
a matter of fact, physical activities have never been my thing.

1531
01:29:38,399 --> 01:29:41,760
Hopeless that Jim a mockery on the hockey field. I

1532
01:29:41,760 --> 01:29:44,640
am not built for it. Too too tall, too loosely

1533
01:29:44,640 --> 01:29:47,319
put together. It took me most of the morning to

1534
01:29:47,359 --> 01:29:51,800
clean that one window, largely because smears would shift when

1535
01:29:51,800 --> 01:29:54,399
I was inside they were out, and vice versa. I

1536
01:29:54,479 --> 01:29:56,960
wasted a lot of time making exit and entrances through

1537
01:29:56,960 --> 01:29:59,720
the kitchen. But in my way I am throwing. Shortly

1538
01:29:59,720 --> 01:30:03,560
before lunchtime, that window looked a lot better, So much

1539
01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:06,239
so indeed, that I made resolved to clean all the

1540
01:30:06,279 --> 01:30:11,760
others in due course. One a day. Perhaps instant coffee

1541
01:30:11,760 --> 01:30:14,720
and some fish fingers restored me, and I sat down

1542
01:30:14,760 --> 01:30:17,800
to type, but the smell of that kitchen cupboard haunted me.

1543
01:30:18,359 --> 01:30:22,520
I simply could not concentrate. Work done in such circumstances

1544
01:30:22,640 --> 01:30:25,199
is never good. So I gave in and went to

1545
01:30:25,239 --> 01:30:29,159
empty and cleanse that offensive retreat. It was a disgusting job,

1546
01:30:29,199 --> 01:30:32,239
but I was rewarded by finding in the cupboards furthest

1547
01:30:32,279 --> 01:30:36,319
corner a container of something called clear Shine, on which

1548
01:30:36,399 --> 01:30:39,039
the label promised that it took the labor out of

1549
01:30:39,039 --> 01:30:43,000
window cleaning, simply spray on and rub. I put this

1550
01:30:43,079 --> 01:30:46,079
treasure carefully on one side and carried the rest out

1551
01:30:46,079 --> 01:30:49,399
to the dustbin, which was crammed to the brim largely,

1552
01:30:49,439 --> 01:30:53,359
it seemed to me, with cartons and packages of discarded foodstuffs,

1553
01:30:53,880 --> 01:30:57,279
a five femity pack of biscuits, and an open pack

1554
01:30:57,760 --> 01:31:02,319
containing four current buns, ardest wood, some moldy green cheese,

1555
01:31:02,800 --> 01:31:06,079
some evil smelling fish still in the can. I braced

1556
01:31:06,119 --> 01:31:10,279
myself and remembered that fire purchase. June is not a

1557
01:31:10,319 --> 01:31:13,720
month when birds suffer much privation. But I gave them

1558
01:31:13,720 --> 01:31:16,960
the biscuits and the buns, hoping that some woodpecker might

1559
01:31:16,960 --> 01:31:19,319
come along to deal with the latter. Then I made

1560
01:31:19,319 --> 01:31:21,600
a bonfire at the furthest end of the back garden.

1561
01:31:22,079 --> 01:31:24,079
As I returned to the house, the sun shine on

1562
01:31:24,119 --> 01:31:29,159
the clean window and twinkled at me encouragingly. I needed encouragement.

1563
01:31:29,560 --> 01:31:32,680
I was bone wearied, far too tired now to face

1564
01:31:32,680 --> 01:31:36,439
the typewriter. When missus Willis showed me around I had

1565
01:31:36,520 --> 01:31:40,640
noticed that the sitting room contained a television set. I'd relax,

1566
01:31:40,720 --> 01:31:43,560
I thought, as so many thousands do feed up in

1567
01:31:43,600 --> 01:31:47,000
front of the box. But relaxed I could not. The

1568
01:31:47,039 --> 01:31:49,800
sofa and the armchairs in this room were covered in

1569
01:31:49,840 --> 01:31:53,319
a pretty floral chintz, which unclose or acquaintance didn't feel

1570
01:31:53,319 --> 01:31:56,760
a look or even smell. Right all through a moderately

1571
01:31:56,880 --> 01:31:59,880
entertaining program, half my mind was busy with the thought

1572
01:31:59,880 --> 01:32:02,880
of that launderette at the foot of the hill, and

1573
01:32:02,920 --> 01:32:06,079
with the thought that tomorrow was Monday, my free day.

1574
01:32:06,840 --> 01:32:10,720
Few people change books on Mondays, either they have not

1575
01:32:11,279 --> 01:32:13,800
completed the reading, or they are busy with other things,

1576
01:32:14,640 --> 01:32:19,239
such a washing at home or visiting launderettes. The thing snowballed.

1577
01:32:19,800 --> 01:32:22,279
I found out, for instance, that every tenant the house

1578
01:32:22,760 --> 01:32:25,560
had ever had I'd used the same few articles of

1579
01:32:25,600 --> 01:32:29,880
bed linen, those at the front further back door blankets

1580
01:32:30,239 --> 01:32:32,920
with which the malls had made merry, and linen that

1581
01:32:33,039 --> 01:32:36,239
acquired black stripes simply by being in the cupboard for

1582
01:32:36,319 --> 01:32:39,800
so long unused. The launderette saw a lot of me

1583
01:32:39,920 --> 01:32:43,960
that week on my free days Monday and Tuesday. I

1584
01:32:44,039 --> 01:32:46,760
did do it. Your soft job. On the other days,

1585
01:32:46,800 --> 01:32:49,439
I left my bundle on my way to the library.

1586
01:32:49,960 --> 01:32:51,920
The one woman charge took care of it, and I

1587
01:32:51,960 --> 01:32:56,119
collected it on the way home. Another ridiculous thing happened too.

1588
01:32:56,960 --> 01:33:00,079
In the general store, saw some fresh garden piece. I

1589
01:33:00,119 --> 01:33:02,840
could just remember how they tested cooked through the sprig

1590
01:33:02,840 --> 01:33:06,039
of mit. I thought, how silly to buy frozen peas

1591
01:33:06,079 --> 01:33:10,520
when fresh ones are in season. I never studied psychology,

1592
01:33:11,119 --> 01:33:12,880
but I had right enough to know what was wrong

1593
01:33:12,920 --> 01:33:17,560
with me. Fundamentally, I thought I did not like or

1594
01:33:17,680 --> 01:33:19,640
was not satisfied with the story on which I should

1595
01:33:19,720 --> 01:33:24,800
be working. Second novels are notoriously tricky. Anyone can write

1596
01:33:24,800 --> 01:33:29,000
a first novel. I've lost my nerve, never glad confident

1597
01:33:29,079 --> 01:33:32,119
morning again, or had chosen a bad subject, or made

1598
01:33:32,159 --> 01:33:34,680
a wrong approach, or God help me. I was one

1599
01:33:34,720 --> 01:33:38,399
of the one novel gang, and now I was taking

1600
01:33:38,399 --> 01:33:41,359
a refuge from my predicament by pretending to be busy

1601
01:33:41,399 --> 01:33:45,840
with other things. Not a pleasant thought. In fact, I

1602
01:33:45,960 --> 01:33:49,079
thought to flee from scrub the kitchen floor, scrubbed the

1603
01:33:49,119 --> 01:33:53,039
laughter shelves. That activity brought me a bonus. My right

1604
01:33:53,079 --> 01:33:54,920
wrists gave way and I had to wear a wide

1605
01:33:55,000 --> 01:33:58,279
leather strap a kind of miniature buskin on it for

1606
01:33:58,319 --> 01:34:03,279
a fortnight professional typists or those profoundly inspired kin type

1607
01:34:03,279 --> 01:34:05,880
with one hand, I could not. I could only do

1608
01:34:05,960 --> 01:34:09,479
little jobs, such as separating meat knives from tablespoons in

1609
01:34:09,520 --> 01:34:12,920
the baize lined compartments of the kitchen drawer, and bringing

1610
01:34:13,000 --> 01:34:15,159
order to the things which hung on hooks on the dresser,

1611
01:34:15,720 --> 01:34:19,800
and throwing out seven why seven stinking old sweaty socks

1612
01:34:19,800 --> 01:34:23,520
at somebody's secret in the cupboard under the stairs. During

1613
01:34:23,520 --> 01:34:26,800
this period, a sweet girl the library typed four let

1614
01:34:26,880 --> 01:34:28,920
us to Greg for me, and I made shift to

1615
01:34:28,960 --> 01:34:31,840
sign them, hoping that he would not think that I

1616
01:34:31,840 --> 01:34:35,760
had taken to drink or drugs. Her spelling was highly individual.

1617
01:34:36,560 --> 01:34:39,000
By the time I could discard the strap, I knew

1618
01:34:39,000 --> 01:34:41,600
what was wrong with my book. It was the approach.

1619
01:34:42,279 --> 01:34:44,319
It was a first persons story, and I had been

1620
01:34:44,319 --> 01:34:47,920
writing in the third The good spirit had not abandoned me.

1621
01:34:48,199 --> 01:34:51,760
It came back now, very powerful that character. I can

1622
01:34:51,840 --> 01:34:54,720
only relate what he or she sees with his own

1623
01:34:54,760 --> 01:34:59,399
eyes ears. So I needed more than one narrator, and

1624
01:34:59,439 --> 01:35:02,000
by heaven I had them quite suddenly, three of them,

1625
01:35:02,479 --> 01:35:06,439
three people saying I with their separate, differing stories, making

1626
01:35:06,600 --> 01:35:10,600
a hole wonderful, that kind of thing that makes up

1627
01:35:10,640 --> 01:35:14,159
for the self distrust, the loneliness, the frustrations. I couldn't

1628
01:35:14,159 --> 01:35:18,119
wait to get started. I practically ran home, pausing only

1629
01:35:18,159 --> 01:35:21,159
to buy a slice of veal and ham pie, some eggs,

1630
01:35:21,359 --> 01:35:24,199
a loaf, and a bit of cheese. This was Wednesday,

1631
01:35:24,239 --> 01:35:28,079
a clear free day. Tomorrow, tomorrow, in my immaculate, sweet

1632
01:35:28,079 --> 01:35:31,439
smelling house, I should sit down, make a fresh start,

1633
01:35:31,960 --> 01:35:36,199
prove myself to not be one of the one book brigade.

1634
01:35:37,119 --> 01:35:39,159
But even as I put my purchases down on the

1635
01:35:39,239 --> 01:35:44,279
kitchen table, the gas cooker cried out, what about me? Me? First,

1636
01:35:45,159 --> 01:35:47,680
I cleaned it once, like the rest of the house,

1637
01:35:48,199 --> 01:35:50,960
on that kind of superficial cleanliness. It had been filthy.

1638
01:35:51,600 --> 01:35:55,720
It was now not filthy, but a little soiled. Pulling

1639
01:35:55,720 --> 01:36:00,520
off a saucepan left handily, I'd spilt some milk, all right,

1640
01:36:00,560 --> 01:36:03,600
I said to it. But that is the last thing

1641
01:36:03,800 --> 01:36:06,840
in the cleaning line that I shall do. Here. Using

1642
01:36:06,880 --> 01:36:10,159
my right hand a little casually, I cleaned it. Then

1643
01:36:10,159 --> 01:36:12,840
I went into the dining room, sat down, made the

1644
01:36:12,960 --> 01:36:18,399
usual sandwich top paper carbon copy paper with steady company fingers.

1645
01:36:18,439 --> 01:36:22,239
I typed part one, Chapter one, Oh joy, and then

1646
01:36:22,279 --> 01:36:24,920
the bell rang a cursed as I went to the door,

1647
01:36:25,560 --> 01:36:28,439
somebody collecting, somebody wanting to know if I had put

1648
01:36:28,479 --> 01:36:32,199
my name on the electoral somebody wanting to know if

1649
01:36:32,720 --> 01:36:36,159
mister A, Missus B. Miss C still lived here, and

1650
01:36:36,199 --> 01:36:39,039
if not, what was there any fording address? Hell, I

1651
01:36:39,039 --> 01:36:42,079
said it last blast, I'll tell whoever it is. We're

1652
01:36:42,119 --> 01:36:46,600
to look for a subscription a vote a bygone tenant. Squinting,

1653
01:36:46,640 --> 01:36:50,279
I opened the door and there was Missus Willis. She said,

1654
01:36:50,720 --> 01:36:54,600
good evening, Missus Fraser. I'm sorry to disturb you so late.

1655
01:36:55,600 --> 01:36:59,039
In fact, it was not late. How possibly my squinting

1656
01:36:59,079 --> 01:37:02,079
scal made her think that she was not exactly welcome.

1657
01:37:02,760 --> 01:37:05,680
I said, come in she and she said, well just

1658
01:37:05,720 --> 01:37:07,920
for a minute. I'm in a bit of a hurry.

1659
01:37:07,920 --> 01:37:10,159
But I was fairly near and and I thought I

1660
01:37:10,199 --> 01:37:15,199
should come and explain personally. A completely unforeseen thing has happened.

1661
01:37:16,199 --> 01:37:20,359
My aunt has found a housekeeper. What did she expect

1662
01:37:20,399 --> 01:37:23,039
me to do? Fell flat on my face, set myself

1663
01:37:23,039 --> 01:37:26,199
on fire. I said, how nice for her? When do

1664
01:37:26,239 --> 01:37:30,159
I move? We were in the sitting room with sparkling

1665
01:37:30,199 --> 01:37:34,760
window fresh curtains, crisp, clean, chintz. I could see her

1666
01:37:34,800 --> 01:37:39,119
taking it all in well, she said, hesitantly. I told

1667
01:37:39,119 --> 01:37:42,720
her a fortnight. I thought you must have a week's notice,

1668
01:37:43,319 --> 01:37:45,760
and that it would take me at least a week two.

1669
01:37:46,319 --> 01:37:48,399
But you seem to have done it. The place even

1670
01:37:48,439 --> 01:37:52,199
smells differently. I'm so sorry. It does seem a shame.

1671
01:37:53,439 --> 01:37:56,720
A thought struck me. I said, would you call your

1672
01:37:56,760 --> 01:38:01,359
aunt a dominant personality, missus Willis. She gave that a

1673
01:38:01,359 --> 01:38:04,960
second's consideration. Yes, I would. I mean the way she

1674
01:38:05,039 --> 01:38:08,560
has stuck to this idea about coming home most women

1675
01:38:08,560 --> 01:38:15,159
of her age. Anne was, I mean, is she house proud? Oh,

1676
01:38:15,319 --> 01:38:19,640
very much, so terribly particular. She'd empty and ash tree

1677
01:38:19,680 --> 01:38:22,000
as soon as you ground out the stuff. You know,

1678
01:38:23,239 --> 01:38:25,720
I know, I said, meaning that I knew what had

1679
01:38:25,720 --> 01:38:29,560
got into me. I'd been for a month possessed. Missus

1680
01:38:29,600 --> 01:38:32,079
Willis said, I do hope you don't mind too much.

1681
01:38:32,279 --> 01:38:35,359
I did want I don't mind a bit, I said, truthfully.

1682
01:38:35,960 --> 01:38:40,399
I thought tomorrow the world A cheap hotel, a baby sitter,

1683
01:38:40,880 --> 01:38:44,239
anonymous and undemanding, a chalet in a holiday camp, a

1684
01:38:44,319 --> 01:38:48,520
caravan attend to the middle of a field, missus Willis

1685
01:38:49,000 --> 01:38:52,039
touched a Chintz cover. She said, you must have gone

1686
01:38:52,079 --> 01:38:54,800
to considerable expense. I think it would be only fair

1687
01:38:54,840 --> 01:38:58,640
to return, shall we say, a week's rent. I thought

1688
01:38:58,720 --> 01:39:02,319
the wrong story line, with which, in any other surroundings

1689
01:39:02,359 --> 01:39:05,800
I might have bashed on the bad second novel that

1690
01:39:05,840 --> 01:39:09,000
can ruin one's career, and of the good, sound, wonderful

1691
01:39:09,000 --> 01:39:12,159
one that was ready. I said, that is very kind,

1692
01:39:12,199 --> 01:39:15,439
missus Willis, But in fact I owe the house more

1693
01:39:15,479 --> 01:39:19,880
than it owes me. Living here has been quite an experience.