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Speaker 1: The closed window by A. C. Benson. The Tower of

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Nort stood in a deep angle of the Downs. Formerly

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an old road led over the hill, but it is

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now a green track covered with turf, the later highway

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choosing rather to cross a low saddle of the ridge

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for the sake of the beasts of burden. The tower,

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originally built to guard the great road, was a plain, strong,

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thick walled fortress. To the tower had been added a

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plain and seemly house, where the young Sir Mark de

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Nort lived very easily and plentifully. To the south stretched

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the great Wood of Nort, but the tower stood high

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on an elbow of the down, sheltered from the north

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by the great green hills. The villagers had an odd,

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ugly name for the tower, which they called the Tower

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of Fear, but the name was falling into disuse and

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was only spoken, and that heedlessly by ancient men, because

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Sir Mark was vexed to hear it. So called Sir

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Mark was not yet thirty and had begun to say

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that he must marry a wife, but he seemed in

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no great haste to do so, and loved his easy,

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lonely life, with plenty of hunting and walking on the down.

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With him lived his cousin and heir Rowland Elise, a heedless,

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good tempered man, a few years older than Sir Mark.

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He had come on a visit to Sir Mark when

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he first took possession of the tower, and there had

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seemed no reason why he should go away. The two

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suited each other. Sir Mark was sparing of speech, fond

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of books and of rhymes. Rowland was different, loving ease

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and wine and talk, and finding in Mark a good listener.

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Mark loved his cousin and thought it praiseworthy of him

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to stay and help to cheer. So sequestered a house

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since there were few neighbors within reach. And yet Mark

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was not wholly content with his easy life. There were

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many days when he asked himself why he should go

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thus quietly on day by day like a stalled ox.

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Still there appeared no reason why he should do otherwise.

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There were but few folk on his land, and they

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were content. Yet he sometimes envied them their bondage and

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their round of daily duties. The only place where he

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could else have been was with the army, or even

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with the court. But Sir Mark was no soldier, and

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even less of a courtier. He hated tedious gaiety, and

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it was a time of peace. So because he loved

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solitude and quiet, he lived at home, and sometimes thought

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himself but half a man. Yet he was happy after

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a sort, but for a kind of little hunger of

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the heart. What gave the tower so dark a name

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was the memory of old Sir James de Nort, Mark's grandfather,

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an evil and secret man who had dwelt at nought

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under some strange shadow. He had driven his son from

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his doors, and lived at the end of his life

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with his books and his own close thoughts, spying upon

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the stars and tracing strange figures in books. Since his death,

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the old room in a turret top, where he came

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by his end in a dreadful way, had been closed.

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It was entered by a turret door with a flight

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of steps from the chamber below. It had four windows,

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one to each of the winds, but the window which

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looked upon the down was fastened up and secured with

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a great shutter of oak. One day of heavy rain, Roland,

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being wearied of doing nothing and vexed because Mark sat

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so still in a great chair reading in a book,

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said to his cousin at last that he must go

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and visit the old room in which he had never

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set foot. Mark closed his book, and, smiling indulgently at

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Rolin's restlessness, rose, stretching himself, and got the key, and

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together they went up the turret stairs. The key groaned

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loudly in the lock, and when the door was thrown back,

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there appeared a high, faded room, with a timbered roof

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and with a close, dull smell. Round the walls were presses,

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with the doors fast. A large oak table with a

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chair beside it, stood in the middle. The walls were

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otherwise bare and rough. The spiders had spun busily over

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the windows and in the angles. Roland was full of questions,

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and Mark told him all he had heard of old

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Sir James and his silent ways, but said that he

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knew nothing of the disgrace that had seemed to envelop him,

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or of the reasons why he had so evil a name.

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Roland said that he thought it a shame that so

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fair of rooms should lie so nastily, and pulled one

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of the casements open, when a sharp gust broke into

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the room, with so angry a burst of rain that

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he closed it again in haste. Little by little, as

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they talked, a shadow began to fall upon their spirits,

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till Roland declared that there was still a blight upon

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the place, and Mark told him of the death of

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old Sir James, who had been found after a day

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of silence, when he had not set foot outside his chamber,

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lying on the floor of the room strangely bedabbled with

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wet and mud, as though he had come off a

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difficult journey, speechless and with a look of anguish on

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his face, and that he had died soon after they

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had found him, muttering words that no one understood. Then

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the two young men drew near to the closed window.

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The shutters were tightly barred, and across the panels were

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scrawled in red in an uncertain hand, the words clouded

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at nemo aperit, which Mark explained was the Latin for

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the text he shutteth and none openeth. And then Mark

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said that the story went that it was ill for

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the man that opened the window, and that shut it

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should remain for him. But Roland girded at him for

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his want of curiosity, and had laid a hand upon

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the bar as though to open it, But Mark forbade

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him urgently, nay, said, he let it remain, so we

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must not meddle with the will of the dead. And

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as he said the words, there came so furious a

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gust upon the windows that it seemed as though some

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stormy thing would beat them open. So they left the

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room together, and presently descending, found the sun struggling through

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the rain. But both Mark and Roland were sad and

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silent all that day, for though they spake not of it,

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there was desire in their minds to open the closed

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window and to see what would befall. In Roland's mind,

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it was like the desire of a child to peep

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into what is forbidden. But in Mark's mind a sort

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of shame to be so bound by an old and

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weak tale of superstition. Now it seemed to Mark for

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many days that the visit to the turret room had

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brought a kind of shadow down between them. Roland was

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peevish and ill at ease, and ever the longing grew

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upon Mark so strongly that it seemed to him that

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something drew him to the room, some beckoning of a

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hand or calling of a voice. Now, one bright and

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sunshiny morning it happened that Mark was left alone within

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the house. Rowland had ridden out early, not saying where

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he was bound, and Mark sat more listlessly than was

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his wont and played with the ears of his great

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dog that sat with his head upon his master's knee,

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looking at him with liquid eyes, and doubtless wondering why

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Mark went not abroad. Suddenly, Sir Mark's eye fell upon

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the quay of the upper room, which lay on the

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window ledge where he had thrown it, and a desire

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to go up and pluck the heart from the little

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mystery came upon him with a strength that he could

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not resist. He rose twice and took up the key, and,

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fingering it doubtfully, laid it down again. Then suddenly he

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took it up and went swiftly into the turret stair

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and up, turning, turning till his head was dizzy with

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the bright peats of the world through the loophole windows.

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Now all was green where a window gave on the down,

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and now it was all clear air and sun, the

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warm breeze coming pleasantly into the cold stairway. Presently Mark

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heard the pattering of feet on the stair below, and

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knew that the old hound had determined to follow him,

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and he waited a moment at the door, half pleased

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in his strange mood to have the company of a

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living thing. So when the dog was at his side,

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he stayed no longer, but opened the door and stepped

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within the room. The room, for all its faded look,

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had a strange air about it, and though he could

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not say why, Mark felt that he was surely expected.

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He did not hesitate, but walked to the shutter and

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considered it for a moment. He heard a sound behind him.

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It was the old hound, who sat with his head aloft,

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sniffing the air uneasily. Mark called him and held out

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his hand, but the hound would not move. He wagged

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his tail as though to acknowledge that he was called,

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and then he returned to his uneasy quest. Mark watched

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him for a moment and saw that the old dog

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had made up his mind that all was not well

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in the room, for he lay down, gathering his legs

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under him, on the threshold, and watched his master with

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frightened eyes, quivering visibly, Mark no lighter of heart, and

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in a kind of fearful haste, pulled the great staple

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off the shutter and set it on the ground, and

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then wrenched the shutter's back. The space revealed was largely

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filled by old and dusty webs of spiders, which Mark

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lightly tore down, using the staple of the shutters to

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do this. It was with a strain shock of surprise

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that he saw that the window was dark, or nearly so.

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It seemed as though there were some further obstacle outside,

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Yet Mark knew that from below, the leaded panes of

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the window were visible. He drew back for a moment, but,

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unable to restrain his curiosity, wrenched the rusted casement open.

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But still all was dark without, and there came in

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a gust of icy wind from outside. It was as

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though something had passed him swiftly, and he heard the

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old hound utter a strangled howl. Then turning, he saw

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him spring to his feet, with his hair bristling and

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his teeth bare, And next moment the dog turned and

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leapt out of the room. Mark, left alone, tried to

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curb a tide of horror that swept through his veins.

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He looked round at the room flooded with the southerly sunlight,

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and then he turned again to the dark window, and,

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putting a strong constraint upon himself, leaned out and saw

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a thing which bewildered him so strangely that he thought

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for a moment his senses had deserted him. He looked

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out on a lonely, dim hill side covered with rocks

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and stones. The hill came up close to the window,

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so that he could have jumped down upon it, the

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wall below seeming to be built into the rocks. It

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was all dark and silent, like a clouded night, with

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a faint light coming from whence he could not see.

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The hill sloped away very steeply from the tower, and

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he seemed to see a plain beyond, where at the

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same time he knew that the down ought to lie

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in the plain, there was a light like the fire

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lit window of a house. A little below him, some

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shape like a crouching man, seemed to run and slip

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among the stones, as though suddenly surprised and seeking to escape.

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Side by side with the deadly fear which began to

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invade his heart, came an uncontrollable desire to leap down

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among the rocks. And then it seemed to him that

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the figure below stood upright and began to beckon him.

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There came over him a sense that he was in

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deadly peril, and like a man on the edge of

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a precipice who has just enough will left to try

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to escape, he drew himself by main force away from

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the window, closed it, put the shutters back, replaced the staple,

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and his limbs all trembling, crept out of the room,

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feeling along the walls like a palsied man. He locked

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the door, and then, his terror overpowering him, he fled

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down the turret stairs, hardly thinking what he did. He

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came out on the court and going to the great

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well that stood in the center of the yard. He

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went to it and flung the key down, hearing it

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clink on the sides as it fell. Even then he

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dared not re enter the house, but glanced up and down,

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gazing about him, while the cloud of fear and horror,

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by insensible degrees dispersed, leaving him weak and melancholy. Presently,

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Roland returned full of talk, but broke off to ask

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if Mark were ill. Mark, with a kind of surliness,

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an unusual mood for him, denied it somewhat sharply. Roland

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raised his eyebrows and said no more, but prattled on presently.

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After a silence, he said to Mark, what did you

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do all the morning? And it seemed to Mark as

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though this were accompanied by a spying look. An unreasonable

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anger seized him. What does it matter to you what

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I did? He said? May not I do what I

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like in my own house? Doubtless, said Roland, and sate

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silent with uplifted brows. Then he hummed a tune and

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presently went out. They sate at dinner that evening with

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long silences, contrary to their wont though Mark bestirred himself

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to ask questions. When they were left alone, Mark stretched

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out his hand to Roland, saying, Roland, forgive me. I

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spoke to you this morning in a way of which

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I am ashamed. We have lived so long together, and

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yet we came nearer to quarreling to day than we

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have ever done before, And it was my fault. Roland

240
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,639
smiled and held Mark's hand for a moment. Oh, I

241
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,919
had not given it another thought, he said. The wonder

242
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,960
is that you can bear with an idle fellow as

243
00:14:32,039 --> 00:14:35,360
you do. Then they talked for a while with the

244
00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,080
pleasant glow of friendliness. That two good comrades feel when

245
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,559
they have been reconciled. Late in the evening, Roland said,

246
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,639
was there any story Mark about your grandfather's leaving any

247
00:14:47,679 --> 00:14:52,399
treasure of money behind him? The question grated somewhat unpleasantly

248
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,960
upon Mark's mood, but he controlled himself and said, no,

249
00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,679
none that I know of, except that he found the

250
00:14:59,759 --> 00:15:02,480
estate rich and left it poor. And what he did

251
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,840
with his revenues, no one knows. You had better ask

252
00:15:05,879 --> 00:15:08,080
the old men of the village. They know more about

253
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,399
the house than I do. But Rowland forgive me once

254
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,039
more if I say that I do not desire Sir

255
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,799
James's name to be mentioned between us. I wish we

256
00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:21,559
had not entered his room. I do not know how

257
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,799
to express it, but it seems to me as though

258
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,799
he had sate there, waiting quietly to be summoned, and

259
00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:32,440
as though we had troubled him, and as though he

260
00:15:32,519 --> 00:15:36,159
had joined us. I think he was an evil man,

261
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,360
close and evil. And there hangs in my mind a

262
00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,159
verse of Scripture where Samuel said to the witch, why

263
00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,559
hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? Oh? He

264
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,399
went on, I do not know why I talk wildly thus,

265
00:15:53,039 --> 00:15:55,120
for he saw that Roland was looking at him with

266
00:15:55,159 --> 00:15:59,279
astonishment with parted lips. But a shadow has fallen upon me,

267
00:15:59,559 --> 00:16:05,080
and there seems evil abroad. From that day forward a

268
00:16:05,159 --> 00:16:07,679
heaviness lay on the spirit of Mark that could not

269
00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:11,639
be scattered. He felt, he said to himself, as though

270
00:16:11,679 --> 00:16:15,600
he had meddled lightheartedly with something far deeper and more

271
00:16:15,679 --> 00:16:19,279
dangerous than he had supposed, like a child that has

272
00:16:19,279 --> 00:16:24,679
aroused some evil beast that slept. He had dark dreams too.

273
00:16:24,879 --> 00:16:27,480
The figure that he had seen among the rocks seemed

274
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,919
to peep and beckon him with a mocking smile over

275
00:16:31,039 --> 00:16:36,480
perilous places where he followed unwilling. But the heavier he grew,

276
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,279
the lighter hearted Rowland became. He seemed to walk in

277
00:16:40,399 --> 00:16:43,679
some bright vision of his own, intent upon a large

278
00:16:43,759 --> 00:16:48,399
and gracious design. One day he came into the hall

279
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,399
in the morning, looking so radiant that Mark cast him

280
00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,519
half enviously. What he had to make him so glad? Glad?

281
00:16:55,799 --> 00:17:00,480
Said Roland? Oh, I know it. Merry dreams? Perhaps, what

282
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,000
do you think of a good grave fellow who beckons

283
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,640
me on with a brisk smile and shows me places

284
00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:10,400
wonderful places under banks and in woodland pits, where riches

285
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,799
lie piled together. I am sure that some good fortune

286
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,960
is preparing for me, Mark, but you shall share it. Then, Mark,

287
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,000
seeing in his words a certain likeness with a difference

288
00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:28,319
to his own dark visions, pressed his lips together and sate,

289
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,680
looking stonily before him. At last, one still evening of spring,

290
00:17:35,079 --> 00:17:38,480
when the air was intolerably languid and heavy for mankind,

291
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,920
but full of sweet promises for trees and hidden peeping things.

292
00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,960
Though a lurid redness of secret thunder had lain all

293
00:17:47,079 --> 00:17:50,079
day among the heavy clouds in the plain, the two

294
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,880
dined together. Mark had walked alone that day and had

295
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,960
lain upon the turf of the down, fighting against a

296
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,119
weariness that seemed to be poisoning the very springs of

297
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:05,160
life within him. But Roland had been brisk and alert,

298
00:18:05,599 --> 00:18:09,359
coming and going upon some secret and busy errand with

299
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,039
a fragment of a song upon his lips, like a

300
00:18:12,079 --> 00:18:15,039
man preparing to set off for a far country, who

301
00:18:15,079 --> 00:18:19,079
is glad to be gone. In the evening, after they

302
00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,440
had dined, Rowland had let his fancy rove in talk.

303
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,240
If we were rich, He said, how we would transform

304
00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,240
this old place. It is fair enough for me, said

305
00:18:32,279 --> 00:18:35,519
Mark heavily, and Roland had chidden him lightly for his

306
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:41,359
somber ways and sketched new plans of life. Mark, wearied

307
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:46,319
and yet excited, with an intolerable heaviness of spirit, went

308
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,519
early to bed, leaving Roland in the hall. After a

309
00:18:50,599 --> 00:18:54,759
short and broken sleep, he awoke and, lighting a candle,

310
00:18:55,079 --> 00:19:00,400
read idly and gloomily to pass the heavy hours. The

311
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,559
house seemed full of strange noises that night. Once or

312
00:19:04,559 --> 00:19:07,559
twice came a scraping and a faint hammering in the wall.

313
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:12,759
Light footsteps seemed to pass in the turret, but the

314
00:19:12,839 --> 00:19:16,079
tower was always full of noises, and Mark heeded them.

315
00:19:16,079 --> 00:19:20,039
Not At last, he fell asleep again, to be suddenly

316
00:19:20,079 --> 00:19:23,519
awakened by a strange and desolate crying that came. He

317
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,880
knew not whence, but seemed to wail upon the air.

318
00:19:27,759 --> 00:19:30,680
The old dog who slept in Mark's room heard it too,

319
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,920
He was sitting up in a fearful expectancy. Mark rose

320
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,920
in haste, and taking the candle, went into the passage

321
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,039
that led to Roland's room. It was empty, but a

322
00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,160
light burned there and showed that the room had not

323
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,359
been slept in full of a horrible fear. Mark returned

324
00:19:48,519 --> 00:19:51,440
and went in hot haste up the turret steps, fear

325
00:19:51,519 --> 00:19:55,079
and anxiety struggling together in his mind. When he reached

326
00:19:55,079 --> 00:19:58,440
the top, he found the little door broken forcibly open

327
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,680
and a light within. He cast a haggard look round

328
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,799
the room, and then the crying came again, this time

329
00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:10,200
very faint and desolate. Mark cast a shuddering glance at

330
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,960
the window. It was wide open and showed a horrible

331
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,839
liquid blackness round the bar in the center that divided

332
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,319
the casements. There was something knotted. He hastened to the

333
00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,519
window and saw that it was a rope which hung heavily.

334
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,640
Leaning out, he saw that something dangled from the rope

335
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,880
below him, and then came the crying again. Out of

336
00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,839
the darkness, like the crying of a lost spirit. He

337
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,319
could see, as in a bitter dream, the outline of

338
00:20:38,319 --> 00:20:42,240
the hateful hillside, but there seemed to his disordered fancy

339
00:20:42,319 --> 00:20:45,440
to be a tumult of some kind below. Pale lights

340
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,240
moved about, and he saw a group of forms which

341
00:20:48,279 --> 00:20:50,640
scattered like a shoal of fish. When he leaned out,

342
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,880
he knew that he was looking upon a scene that

343
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,640
no mortal eye ought to behold, and it seemed to

344
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,319
him at the moment as though he were staring straight

345
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:08,119
into hell. The rope went down among the rocks and disappeared,

346
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,000
but Mark clenched it firmly, and, using all his strength,

347
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,119
which was great, drew it up hand over hand. As

348
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,599
he drew it up, he secured it in loops round

349
00:21:18,599 --> 00:21:21,400
the great oak table. He began to be afraid that

350
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,400
his strength would not hold out, and once, when he

351
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,359
returned to the window after securing a loop, a great

352
00:21:27,559 --> 00:21:31,079
hooded thing like a bird flew noiselessly at the window

353
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,359
and beat its wings. Presently he saw that the form

354
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,119
which dangled on the rope was clear of the rocks below.

355
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:40,680
It had come up through them as though they were

356
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,960
but smoke. And then his task seemed to him more

357
00:21:44,039 --> 00:21:48,680
sore than ever. Inch by painful inch, he drew it up,

358
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,799
working fiercely and silently. His muscles were tense, and drops

359
00:21:53,839 --> 00:21:56,920
stood on his brow, and the veins hammered in his ears.

360
00:21:57,279 --> 00:22:01,240
His breath came and went in sharp sobs. At last

361
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,640
the form was near enough for him to seize it.

362
00:22:04,079 --> 00:22:06,799
He grasped it by the middle and drew Roland, for

363
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,240
it was Rowland over the window sill. His head dangled

364
00:22:11,279 --> 00:22:14,720
and drooped from side to side. His face was dark

365
00:22:14,759 --> 00:22:19,359
with strangled blood, and his limbs hung helpless. Mark drew

366
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:21,279
his knife and cut the rope that was tied under

367
00:22:21,279 --> 00:22:24,960
his arms. The helpless limbs sank huddling on the floor.

368
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,960
Then Mark looked up at the window. A few feet

369
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,119
from him was a face more horrible than he had supposed,

370
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,680
a human face, if it was human, indeed could be.

371
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,880
It was deadly, white and hatred, baffled, rage and a

372
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,680
sort of devilish malignity glared from the white set eyes

373
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,319
and the drawn mouth. There was a rush from behind him.

374
00:22:49,519 --> 00:22:52,240
The old hound, who had crept up unawares into the

375
00:22:52,319 --> 00:22:55,559
room with a fierce outcry of rage, sprang on to

376
00:22:55,599 --> 00:22:58,359
the window sill. Mark heard the scraping of his claws

377
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,119
upon the stone. There. The hound leaped through the window,

378
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,599
and in a moment there was the sound of a

379
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,359
heavy fall outside. At the same instant, the darkness seemed

380
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,640
to lift and draw up like a cloud. A bank

381
00:23:12,759 --> 00:23:15,920
of blackness rose past the window and left the dark

382
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,799
outline of the down with a sky sown with tranquil stars.

383
00:23:22,519 --> 00:23:24,799
The cloud of fear and horror that hung over Mark

384
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,759
lifted too. He felt in some dim way that his

385
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,240
adversary was vanquished. He carried Roland down the stairs and

386
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,440
laid him on his bed. He roused the household, who

387
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,000
looked fearfully at him, and then his own strength failed.

388
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,400
He sank upon the floor of his room, and a

389
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:49,440
dark tide of unconsciousness closed over him. Mark's return to

390
00:23:49,519 --> 00:23:53,319
health was slow. One who has looked into the unknown

391
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,519
finds it hard to believe again in the outward shows

392
00:23:56,559 --> 00:24:00,400
of life. His first conscious speech was to ask for

393
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,079
his hound. They told him that the body of the

394
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,400
dog had been found horribly mangled, as though by the

395
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,279
teeth of some fierce animal, at the foot of the tower.

396
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:12,960
The dog was buried in the garden, with a slab

397
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:19,240
above him, on which other words huij serve bone et fidelis.

398
00:24:20,279 --> 00:24:22,480
A silly priest once said to Mark that it was

399
00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:25,000
not meet to write scripture over the grave of a beast.

400
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,799
But Mark said warily that an inscription was for those

401
00:24:28,839 --> 00:24:31,960
who read it to make them humble, and not to

402
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,319
increase the pride of what lay below. When Mark could

403
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:38,920
leave his bed, his first care was to send for

404
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,400
builders and the old Tower of Nought was taken down

405
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,400
stone by stone to the ground, and a fair chapel

406
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,319
built upon the site. In the wall there was a

407
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,359
secret stairway which led from the top chamber and came

408
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,039
out among the elder bushes that grew below the tower.

409
00:24:55,279 --> 00:24:58,359
And here was found a coffer of gold, which paid

410
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,440
for the church, because until it was found, it was

411
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:06,200
Mark's design to leave the place desolate. Mark is wedded

412
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,759
since and has his children about his knee. Those who

413
00:25:09,799 --> 00:25:12,599
come to the house see a strange and wan man

414
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,880
who sits at Mark's board, and whom he uses very tenderly.

415
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,880
Sometimes this man is merry and tells a long tale

416
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,440
of his being beckoned and led by a tall and

417
00:25:23,559 --> 00:25:28,359
handsome person smiling down a hillside to fetch gold. Though

418
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,599
he can never remember the end of the matter, but

419
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,359
about the springtime he is silent, or mutters to himself,

420
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,519
and this is Rowland. His spirits seems shut up within

421
00:25:39,599 --> 00:25:43,319
him in some close cell, and Mark prays for his release,

422
00:25:44,079 --> 00:25:46,920
but till God call him. He treats him like a

423
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,880
dear brother, and with the reverence dw to one who

424
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,559
has looked out on the other side of death, and

425
00:25:54,640 --> 00:26:01,960
who may not say what his eyes beheld. End of

426
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,319
the Closed Window recording by raf Bull