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Speaker 1: Uncle Cornelius his story. It was a dull evening in November.

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A drizzling mist had been falling all day about the

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old farm. Harry Haywood and his two sisters sat in

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the house place expecting a visit from their uncle, Cornelius Haywood.

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This uncle lived alone, occupying the first floor above a

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chemist's shop in the town, and had just enough of

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money over to buy books that nobody seemed ever to

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have heard of but himself, for he was a student

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in all those regions of speculation in which anything to

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be called knowledge is impossible. What a dreary night, said Kate.

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I wish uncle would come and tell us a story.

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A cheerful wish, said Harry. Uncle Corney is a lively companion,

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isn't he. You can't even blunder through a Joe Miller

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without tacking a moral to it, and then trying to

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persuade you that the joke of it depends on the moral.

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Here he comes, said Kate, as three distinct blows the

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knob of his walking stick announced the arrival of Uncle Cornelius.

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She ran to the door to open it. The air

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had been very still all day, but as he entered

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he seemed to have brought the wind with him, for

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the first moan of it pressed against raather than shook

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the casement of the low sealed room. Uncle Cornelius was

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very tall, and very thin, and very pale, with large

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gray eyes that looked greatly larger because he wore spectacles

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of the most delicate hair steel, with the largest pebble

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eyes that ever were seen. He gave them a kindly greeting,

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but too much in earnest, even in shaking hands to

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smile over it. He sat down in the armchair by

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the chimney corner. I have been particular in my description

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of him in order that my reader may give due

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weight to his words. I am such a believer in

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words that I believe everything depends on who says them.

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Uncle Cornelius Heywood's story, told word for word by Uncle

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Timothy Warren would not have been the same story at all.

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Not one of the listeners would have believed a syllable

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of it from the lips of round bodied, red faced,

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small eyed little Uncle tim Whereas from Uncle Corny, disbelieve

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one of his stories. If you could one word more

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concerning him, his interest in everything conjectured or believed relative

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to the awful borderland of this world and the next,

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was only equaled by his disgust at the vulgar, unimaginative

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forms which curiosity about such subjects has assumed in the

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present day, with the yearning after the unseen, like that

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of a child for the lifting of the curtain of

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a theater, he declared that, rather than accept such a

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spirit world as the would be seers of the nineteenth

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century thought or pretended to reveal the profits of a

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pouperized workhouse, immortality invented by a poverty stricken soul and

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a sent so greedy that it would gorge on carrion,

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he would rejoice to believe that a man had just

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as much of a soul as the cabbage of Iamblicus,

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namely an aerial double of his body. I'm so glad

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you're come, uncle, said Kate. Why wouldn't you come to dinner?

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We have been so gloomy. Well, Katy, you know I

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don't admire eating. I never could bear to see a

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cow tearing up the grass with her long tongue. As

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he spoke, he looked very much like a cow. He

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had a way of opening his jaws while he kept

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his lips closely pressed together. That made his cheeks fall

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in and his face look awfully long and dismal. I

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consider eating he went on such an animal exercise that

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it ought always to be performed in private. You never

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saw me dine kate, never, Uncle, But I have seen

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you drink nothing but water. I must confess, yes, that

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is another affair. According to one eye witness, that is

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no more than the disembodied can do. I must confess, however,

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that although well attested, this story is to me scarcely credible.

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Fancy a glass of Bavarian beer lifted into the air

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without a visible hand, turned upside down, and set empty

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on the table, and no splash on the floor or

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anywhere else. A solitary gleam of humor shone through the

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great eyes of the spectacles as he spoke. Oh, Uncle,

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how can you believe such nonsense? Said Janet. I do

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not say I believed it, did I? But why not?

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The story has at least a touch of imagination in it.

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That is a strange reason for believing a thing, Uncle

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said Harry, you might have a worse Harry. I grant

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it is not sufficient, but it is better than that

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commonplace aspect, which is the ground of most faith. I

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believe I did say that the story puzzled me, But

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how can you give it any quarter at all? Uncle?

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It does me no harm. There it is between the

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boards of an old German book. There, let it remain well.

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You will never persuade me to believe such things, said Janet.

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Wait till I ask you, Janet returned her uncle gravely.

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I have not the slightest desire to convince you. How

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do we get into this unprofitable current of talk? We

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will change it at once. How are consoles, Harry, oh, uncle,

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said Kate. We were longing for a story, and just

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as I thought you were coming to one, off you

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go to consoles. I thought a ghost story at least

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was coming, said Janet. You did your best to stop

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at Janet, said Harry. Janet began in angry retort, but

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Cornelius interrupted her. You never heard me tell a ghost story, Janet.

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You have just told one about a drinking ghost, Uncle,

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said Janet, in such a tone that Cornelius replied, well,

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take that for your story, and let us talk of

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something else. Janet apparently saw that she had been rude

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and said as sweetly as she might. Ah, but you

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didn't make that one, Uncle, You got it out of

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a German book. May k it make a ghost story,

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repeated Cornelius. No that I never did. Such things are

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not to be trifled with, are they? Said Janet. I

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at least have no inclination to trifle with them. But

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really and truly, Uncle persisted Janet, you don't believe in

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such things? Why should I either believe or disbelieve in them?

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They are not essential to salvation. I presume you must

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do the one or the other. I suppose I beg

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your pardon. You suppose wrong. It would take twice the

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proof I have ever had to make me believe in them,

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and exactly your prejudice, and allow me to say ignorance

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to make me disbelieve in them. Neither is within my reach.

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I postpone judgment. But you young people, of course, are

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wiser and know all about the question. Oh uncle, I'm

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so sorry, said Kate. I'm sure I did not mean

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to vex you, not at all, Not at all, my dear.

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It wasn't you, do you know? Kate went on, anxious

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to prevent anything unpleasant, for there was something very black

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perched on Janet's forehead. I have taken to reading about

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that kind of thing. I beg you will give it

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up at once. You will bewilder your brains till you

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are ready to believe anything, if only it be absurd enough. Nay,

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you may come to find the element of vulgarity essential

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to believe. I should be sorry to the heart to

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believe concerning a horse or dog what they tell you

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nowadays about Shakespeare and Burns. What have you been reading,

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my girl? Don't be alarmed, uncle, only some highland legends

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which are too absurd, either for my belief or for

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your theories. I don't know that, Kate. Why what could

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you do with such shapeless creatures as hot there fords

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and pools, for instance? They are as featureless as the

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faces of the mountains, and so much the more terrible.

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But that does not make it easier to believe in them,

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said Harry. I only said, returned his uncle, that their

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shapelessness adds to their horror. But you allowed almost at least, Uncle,

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said Kate, that you could find a place in your

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theories even for those shapeless creatures. Cornelius sat silent for

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a moment, then, having first doubled the length of his

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face and restored it to its natural condition, said thoughtfully,

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I suspect, Katie, if you were to come upon an

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Ichthiosaurus or a pterodactyl asleep in the shorebury, you would

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hardly expect your report of it to be believed all

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at once, either by Harry or Janet. I suppose not, Uncle,

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But I can't see what. Of course such a thing

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could not happen here and now. But there was a

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time when and a place where such a thing may

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have happened. Indeed, in my time a traveler or two

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have got pretty soundly disbelieved for reporting what they saw

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the last of an expiring race which had strayed over

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the natural verge of its history, coming to life in

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some neglected swamp, itself a remnant of the slime of chaos.

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I never heard you talk like that before, Uncle, said Harry.

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If you go on like that, you'll lend me in

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a swamp. I'm afraid I wasn't talking to you at all, Harry.

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Kate challenged me to find a place for kelpies and

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such like in the theories. She does me the honor

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of supposing I cultivate. Then you think, uncle, that all

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these stories are only legends, which, if you could follow

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them up, would lead you back to some one of

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the awful monsters that have since quite disappeared from the Earth.

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It is possible, though, stories may be such legends. But

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that was not what I intended to lead you to.

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I gave you that only a something like what I

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am going to say. Now, What if, mind I only

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suggest it? What if the direful creatures whose report lingers

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in these tales should have an origin far older still?

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What if they were remnants of a vanishing period of

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the Earth's history long antecedent to the birth of Mastodon

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and iguanadon a stage, namely, when the world as we

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call it had not yet become quite visible, was not

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yet so far finished as to part from the invisible

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world that was its mother, and which on its part,

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had not then become quite invisible, was only almost such,

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and when, as a credible consequence, strange shapes of those

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now invisible regions, gorgons and chimeras dire might be expected

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to gloom out occasionally from the awful fauna of an

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ever generating world upon that one which was being born

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of it. Hence the life periods of a world being

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long and slow. Some of these huge, unformed bulks of

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half created matter might somehow like the megatherium of later times.

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A baby creation to them, wrote at age long intervals,

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clothed in a mighty terror of shapelessness, into the half

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recognition of human beings, whose consternation at the uncertain vision

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were barrier enough to prevent all further knowledge of its substance.

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I begin to have some notion of your meaning, uncle,

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said Kate. But then said Janet, all that must be

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over by this time. That world has been invisible now

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for many years, ever since you were born. I suppose, Janet,

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the changes of a world are not to be measured

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by the changes of its generations. Oh but uncle, there

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can't be any such things. You know that as well

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as I do. Yes, just as well, and no better.

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There can't be any ghosts now, nobody believes such things.

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Oh as to ghosts, that is quite another thing. I

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did not know you were talking with reference to them.

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It is no wonder if one can get nothing sensible

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out of you, Janet, when your discrimination is no greater

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than to lump everything marvelous helpies, ghosts, vampires, doubles, which

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is fairies, nightmares, and I don't know what all under

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the one head of ghosts, and we haven't been saying

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a word about them. If one were to disprove to

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you the existence of the affrits of Eastern tales, you

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would consider the whole argument concerning the reappearance of the

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departed Upset. I congratulate you on your powers of analysis

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and induction, Miss Janet, But it matters very little whether

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we believe in ghosts, as you say or not. Provided

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we believe that we are ghosts, that within this body

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which so many people are ready to consider their own

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very selves, there lies a ghostly embryo, at least which

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has an inner side to a god only can see,

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which says I, concerning itself, and which will soon have

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to know whether or not it can appear to those

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whom is left behind, and thus solve the question of

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ghosts for itself. At least, then you do believe in ghosts, uncle,

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said Janet, in a tone that certainly was not respectful.

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Surely I said nothing of the sort. Janet, the man

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most convinced that he had himself had such an interview

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as you hint at would find ought to find it

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impossible to convince anyone else of it. You are quite

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out of my depth, uncle, said Harry. Surely any honest

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man ought to be believed. Honesty is not all by

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any means that is necessary to being believed. It is

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impossible to convey a conviction of anything. All you can

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do is to convey a conviction that you are convinced.

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Of course, what satisfied you might satisfy another. But till

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you can present him with the sources of your conviction,

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you cannot present him with the conviction, And perhaps not

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even then you can tell him all about it, can't

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you is to telling a man about a ghost, affording

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him the source of your conviction, Is it the same

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as a ghost appearing to him? Really, Harry, you cannot

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even convey the impression a dream has made upon you.

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But isn't that just because it is only a dream?

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Not at all? The impression may be deeper and clearer

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on your mind than any fact of the next morning

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will make. You will forget the next day altogether, But

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the impression of the dream will remain through all the

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following whirl and storm of what you call facts. Now,

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a conviction may be likened to a deep impression on

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the judgment or the reason, or both. No one can

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feel it, but the person who is convinced it cannot

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be conveyed. I fancy that is just what those who

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00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,399
believe in spirit rapping would say. There are the true

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and false of convictions, as of everything else. I mean

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that a man may take that for a conviction in

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his own mind, which is not a conviction, but only

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resembles one. But those to whom you refer profess to

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appeal to facts. It is on the ground of those facts,

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and with the more earnestness, the more reason they can

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give for receiving them as facts, that I refuse all

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their deductions with abhorrence. I mean that if what they

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say is true, the thinker must reject with contempt the

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claim to anything like revelation Therein, then you do not

254
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believe in ghosts after all, said Kate, in a tone

255
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of surprise. I did not say so, my dear, Will

256
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you be reasonable or will you not? Dear uncle, do

257
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tell us what you really think. I have been telling

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you what I think ever since I came, Katie, and

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you won't take in a word. I say, I have

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been taking in every word, Uncle, and trying hard to

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understand it as well. Did you ever see a ghost? Uncle?

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Cornelius Heywood was silent. He shut his lips and opened

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his jaws till his cheeks almost met in the vacuum.

264
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A strange expression crossed the strange countenance, and the great

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eyes of his spectacles looked as if, at the very

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moment they were seeing something no other spectacles could see.

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Then his jaws closed with a snap, his countenance brightened,

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A flash of humor came through the goggle eyes of Pebble,

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and at length he actually smiled as he said, Really, Katie,

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you must take me for a simpleton. How uncle to

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think if I had ever seen a ghost? I would

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confess the fact before a set of creatures like you,

273
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all spinning your webs like so many spiders to catch

274
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and devour Old Daddy long legs. By this time Harry

275
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had grown quite grave. Indeed, I am very sorry, uncle,

276
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he said, if I have deserved such a rebuke. No, no,

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my boy, said Cornelius, I did not mean it more

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than half. If I had meant it, I would not

279
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:03,519
have said it. If you really would like here, he paused.

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Indeed we should, Uncle, said Kate earnestly. You should have

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heard what we were saying just before you came in.

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All you were saying, Katy, yes, answered Kate thoughtfully. The

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00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:18,440
worst we said was that you could not tell a

284
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story without well we did say, tacking a moral to it. Well, well,

285
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I mustn't push it. A man has no right to

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know what people say about him. It unfits him for

287
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occupying his real position amongst them. He least of all,

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00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:37,480
has anything to do with it. If his friends won't

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00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,160
defend him, he can't defend himself. Besides, what people say

290
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is so often untrue. I don't mean to others, but

291
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to themselves. Their hearts are more honest than their mouths.

292
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But Janet doesn't want a strange story. I am sure.

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Janet certainly was not one to have chosen for a

294
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listener to such a tale. Her eyes were so small

295
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that no satisfaction could possibly come of it. Oh, I

296
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don't mind, uncle, she said, with half affected indifference, as

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she searched in her box for silk to mend her gloves.

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You are not very encouraging, I must say, returned her uncle,

299
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,559
making another cowface. I will go away if you like,

300
00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,640
said Janet, pretending to rise. No, never mind, said her

301
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,000
uncle hastily. If you don't want me to tell it,

302
00:18:23,079 --> 00:18:25,319
I want you to hear it. And before I have

303
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,920
done that may have come to the same thing. Perhaps

304
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then you really are going to tell us a ghost story,

305
00:18:31,039 --> 00:18:34,599
said Kate, drawing her chair nearer to her uncle's, and

306
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,119
then finding this did not satisfy her sense of propinquity

307
00:18:38,559 --> 00:18:42,119
to the source of the expected pleasure, drawing a stool

308
00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:45,039
from the corner and seating herself almost on the hearth

309
00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:49,880
rug at his knee. I did not say, so, returned Cornelius.

310
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,079
Once more, I said, I would tell you a strange story.

311
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,519
You may call it a ghost story if you like.

312
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,160
I do not pretend to determine what it is. I

313
00:18:59,279 --> 00:19:03,559
confess that look like one. Though after so many delays,

314
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,519
Uncle Cornelius now plunged almost hurriedly into his narration. In

315
00:19:08,559 --> 00:19:11,440
the year eighteen twenty, he said, in the month of August,

316
00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,960
I fell in love. Here the girls glanced at each other.

317
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,559
The idea of Uncle Corny in love and in the

318
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,119
very same century in which they were now listening to

319
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,519
the confession, was too astonishing to pass without ocular remark.

320
00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:27,480
But if he observed it, he took no notice of it.

321
00:19:27,759 --> 00:19:30,640
He did not even pause. In the month of September

322
00:19:30,759 --> 00:19:34,039
I was refused. Consequently, in the month of October, I

323
00:19:34,079 --> 00:19:37,240
was ready to fall in love again. Take particular care

324
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,079
of yourself, Harry, for a whole month, at least after

325
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,480
your first disappointment, for you will never be more likely

326
00:19:43,519 --> 00:19:46,799
to do a foolish thing. Please yourself after the second.

327
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,279
If you are silly, then you may take what you get,

328
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,559
for you will deserve it, except it be good fortune.

329
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,519
Did you do a foolish thing, then, uncle, said Harry demurely.

330
00:19:57,119 --> 00:19:59,960
I did, as you will see, For I fell in love.

331
00:20:01,039 --> 00:20:04,200
I don't see anything so very foolish in that. I

332
00:20:04,319 --> 00:20:07,799
have repented it since, though, don't interrupt me again, please.

333
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,039
In the middle of October. Then, in the year eighteen twenty,

334
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,279
in the evening, I was walking across Russell Square on

335
00:20:14,319 --> 00:20:17,079
my way home from the British Museum, where I had

336
00:20:17,079 --> 00:20:19,759
been reading all day. You see, I have a full

337
00:20:19,799 --> 00:20:23,279
intention of being precise. Janet, I am sure. I don't

338
00:20:23,319 --> 00:20:26,119
know why you make the remark to me, Uncle, said Janet,

339
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,720
with an involuntary toss of her head. Her uncle only

340
00:20:29,759 --> 00:20:33,000
went on with his narrative. I begin at the very

341
00:20:33,039 --> 00:20:36,079
beginning of my story, he said, for I want to

342
00:20:36,079 --> 00:20:38,759
be particular as to everything that can appear to have

343
00:20:38,799 --> 00:20:42,279
had anything to do with what came afterwards. I had

344
00:20:42,319 --> 00:20:45,319
been reading, I say, all the morning in the British Museum,

345
00:20:46,079 --> 00:20:48,599
and as I walked, I took off my spectacles to

346
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,400
ease my eyes. I need not tell you that I

347
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,119
am short sighted now, for that you know well enough.

348
00:20:54,759 --> 00:20:57,039
But I must tell you that I was short sighted then,

349
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and helpless enough without my spectacles, though I was not

350
00:21:01,279 --> 00:21:04,640
quite so much as I am now, for I find

351
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:09,200
it all nonsense about short sighted eyes improving with age. Well,

352
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,839
I was walking along the south side of Russell Square

353
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,079
with my spectacles in my hand, and feeling a little

354
00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,400
bewildered in consequence, for it was quite the dusk of

355
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,440
the evening, and short sighted people require more light than others.

356
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,839
I was feeling, in fact, almost blind. I had got

357
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,960
more than half way to the other side when from

358
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,000
the crossing that cuts off the corner in the direction

359
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:36,480
of Montague Place, just as I was about to turn

360
00:21:36,519 --> 00:21:39,519
towards it, an old lady stepped upon the curbstone of

361
00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:42,680
the pavement, looked at me for a moment and passed

362
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:47,880
an occurrence. Not very remarkable, certainly, But the lady was remarkable,

363
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,240
and so was her dress. I am not good at observing,

364
00:21:51,279 --> 00:21:54,759
and am still worse at describing dress. Therefore, I can

365
00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:57,799
only say that hers reminded me of an old picture.

366
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,799
That is, I had never seen any anything like it,

367
00:22:01,039 --> 00:22:04,640
except in old pictures. She had no bonnet and looked

368
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,799
as if she had walked straight out of an ancient

369
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,440
drawing room in her evening attire. Of her face, I

370
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,960
shall say nothing now. The next instant I met a

371
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,160
man on the crossing who stopped and address me. So

372
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,440
short sighted was I that though I recognized his voice

373
00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,599
as when I ought to know, I could not identify

374
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,039
him until I have put on my spectacles, which I

375
00:22:26,079 --> 00:22:29,839
did instinctively in the act of returning his greeting. At

376
00:22:29,839 --> 00:22:32,440
the same moment, I glanced over my shoulder after the

377
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:36,359
old lady. She was nowhere to be seen. Where are

378
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,720
you looking at, said James Heatheridge. I was looking after

379
00:22:39,759 --> 00:22:42,960
that old lady, I answered, But I can't see her.

380
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,319
What old lady? Said Heatherage, with just a touch of impatience.

381
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,319
You must have seen her, I returned, you are not

382
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,640
more than three yards behind her. Where is she? Then?

383
00:22:54,319 --> 00:22:57,039
She must have gone down one of the areas, I think.

384
00:22:57,319 --> 00:23:00,160
But she looked a lady, though an old fashioned one one.

385
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,039
Have you been dining, asked James, in a tone of

386
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:09,400
doubtful inquiry. No, I replied, not suspecting the insinuation. I've

387
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,920
only just come from the museum. Then I advise you

388
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,519
to call on your medical man before you go home.

389
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,519
Medical man returned, I have no medical man. What do

390
00:23:20,559 --> 00:23:24,119
you mean I never was better in my life. I

391
00:23:24,319 --> 00:23:27,079
mean that there was no old lady. It was an illusion,

392
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,640
and that indicates something wrong. Besides, you did not know

393
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,119
me when I spoke to you. That is nothing, I returned.

394
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,720
I had just taken off my spectacles, and without them,

395
00:23:36,759 --> 00:23:39,720
I shouldn't know my own father. How was it you

396
00:23:39,799 --> 00:23:43,519
saw the old lady? Then the affair was growing serious

397
00:23:43,599 --> 00:23:46,799
under my friend's cross questioning. I did not at all

398
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,519
like the idea of his supposing me subject to hallucinations,

399
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,119
so I answered, with a laugh, Ah, to be sure,

400
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,759
that explains it. I am so blind without my spectacles

401
00:23:57,759 --> 00:24:00,359
that I shouldn't know an old lady from a big dog.

402
00:24:01,519 --> 00:24:04,799
There was no big dog, said Heatheridge, shaking his head

403
00:24:05,319 --> 00:24:07,640
as the fact for the first time dawned upon me

404
00:24:07,759 --> 00:24:10,839
that although I had seen the old lady clearly enough

405
00:24:10,839 --> 00:24:13,720
to make a sketch of her, even to the features

406
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,240
of her careworn, eager old face, I had not been

407
00:24:17,279 --> 00:24:21,599
able to recognize the well known countenance of James Heatherage.

408
00:24:22,319 --> 00:24:25,160
That's what comes reading till the optic nerve is weakened.

409
00:24:25,279 --> 00:24:28,519
He went on, You will cause yourself serious injury if

410
00:24:28,519 --> 00:24:30,960
you do not pull up in time. I'll tell you

411
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,680
what I'm going home next week. Will you go with me?

412
00:24:34,559 --> 00:24:38,519
You are very kind, I answered, not altogether rejecting the proposal,

413
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:40,960
for I felt that a little change to the country

414
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,720
would be pleasant, and I was quite my own master,

415
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,319
for I had unfortunately means equal to my wants, and

416
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,880
had no occasion to follow any profession. Not a very

417
00:24:52,079 --> 00:24:54,799
desirable thing for a young man, I can tell you,

418
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,559
Master Harry, I need not keep you over the commonplaces

419
00:24:58,599 --> 00:25:01,400
of pressing and yielding. It is enough to say that

420
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:04,559
he pressed and that I yielded. The day was fixed

421
00:25:04,559 --> 00:25:07,720
for our departure together. But something or other, I forget

422
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,680
what occurred to make him advance the date, and it

423
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,160
was resolved that I should follow later in the month.

424
00:25:14,079 --> 00:25:16,200
It was a drisly afternoon in the beginning of the

425
00:25:16,279 --> 00:25:18,680
last week of October when I left the town of

426
00:25:18,799 --> 00:25:22,000
Bradford in a post chaise to drive to Luton Grange,

427
00:25:22,519 --> 00:25:25,880
the property of my friend's father. I had hardly left

428
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,559
the town and the twilight had only begun to deepen

429
00:25:28,839 --> 00:25:31,559
when glancing from one of the windows of the chaise,

430
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,440
I fancied I saw between me and the hedge the

431
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:39,279
dim figure of a horse keeping pace with us. I thought,

432
00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,039
in the first interval of unreasoned that it was a

433
00:25:42,079 --> 00:25:46,000
shadow from my own horse, but reminded myself the next

434
00:25:46,039 --> 00:25:48,640
moment that there could be no shadow where there was

435
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,000
no light. When I looked again, I was at the

436
00:25:52,039 --> 00:25:55,720
first glance convinced that my eyes had deceived me. At

437
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,160
the second, I believed once more that a shadowy something,

438
00:25:59,759 --> 00:26:02,920
with the movements of a horse and harness, was keeping

439
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,039
pace with us. I turned away again with some discomfort,

440
00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:10,000
and not till we had reached an open moorland road,

441
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,599
whence a little watery light was visible on the horizon.

442
00:26:14,079 --> 00:26:16,799
Could I summon up courage enough to look out once

443
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,839
more certainly then there was nothing to be seen, and

444
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,839
I persuaded myself that it had been all a fancy,

445
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,240
and lighted a cigar with my feet on the cushions

446
00:26:27,319 --> 00:26:30,440
before me. I had soon lifted myself on the clouds

447
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,559
of tobacco, far above all the terrors of the night,

448
00:26:34,039 --> 00:26:37,960
and believed them banished forever. But my cigar coming to

449
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,400
an end, just as we turned into the avenue that

450
00:26:40,559 --> 00:26:43,880
led up to the grange, I found myself once more

451
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,759
glancing nervously out of the window. The moment the trees

452
00:26:47,799 --> 00:26:51,319
were about me, there was, if not a shadowy horse

453
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,039
out there by the side of the chaise, yet certainly

454
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:59,279
more than half that conviction in here in my consciousness.

455
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,200
When I saw my friend, however, standing on the doorstep,

456
00:27:04,039 --> 00:27:07,240
dark against the glow of the hall fire, I forgot

457
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,519
all about it. And I need not add that I

458
00:27:09,599 --> 00:27:12,720
did not make it a subject of conversation when I entered,

459
00:27:13,279 --> 00:27:15,519
for I was well aware that it was essential to

460
00:27:15,599 --> 00:27:19,279
a man's reputation that his senses should be accurate, though

461
00:27:19,319 --> 00:27:23,200
his heart might, without prejudice, warm with shadows, and his

462
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:28,000
judgment be a very stable of hobbies. I was kindly

463
00:27:28,039 --> 00:27:31,920
received missus Heatheradge had been dead for some years, and Letitia,

464
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:34,759
the eldest of the family, was at the head of

465
00:27:34,759 --> 00:27:38,640
the household. She had two sisters, little more than girls.

466
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,880
The father was a burly yet gentleman like Yorkshire squire

467
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,400
who ate well, drank well, looked radiant, and hunted twice

468
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,480
a week, and this pastime his son joined him when

469
00:27:50,519 --> 00:27:54,440
in the humor which happened scarcely so often, I, who

470
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,319
had never crossed a horse in my life, took his

471
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,480
apology for not being able to mount me very coolly,

472
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,319
assuring him that I would rather loiter about with a

473
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,519
book than be in at the death of the best

474
00:28:05,599 --> 00:28:09,559
hunted fox in Yorkshire. I very soon found myself at

475
00:28:09,559 --> 00:28:12,599
home with the Heatherages, and very soon again I began

476
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:17,079
to find myself not so much at home, for Miss Heatherage. Letitia,

477
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,880
as I soon ventured to call her, was fascinating. I

478
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,200
have told you, Katy, that there was an empty place

479
00:28:23,279 --> 00:28:26,480
in my heart. Look to the door, then, Katie. That

480
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,799
was what made me so ready to fall in love

481
00:28:28,839 --> 00:28:32,559
with Letitia. Her figure was graceful, and I think even

482
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,200
now her face would have been beautiful but for a

483
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:39,640
certain contraction of the skin over the nostrils, suggesting an

484
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:44,440
invisible thumb and forefinger pinching them, which repelled me. Although

485
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,519
I did not then know what it indicated. I had

486
00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:50,200
not been with her one evening before the impression it

487
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,680
made on me had vanished, and that so entirely that

488
00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:57,480
I could hardly recall the perception of the peculiarity which

489
00:28:57,519 --> 00:29:02,359
had occasioned it. Her observationation was remarkably keen, and her

490
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,680
judgment generally correct. She had great confidence in it herself.

491
00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:09,759
Nor was she devoid of sympathy with some of the

492
00:29:09,839 --> 00:29:13,960
forms of human imagination. Only they never seemed to possess

493
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,880
for her any relation to practical life that was to

494
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,079
be ordered by the judgment alone. I do not mean,

495
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,160
she ever said, so. I am only giving the conclusions

496
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,720
I came too afterwards. It is not necessary that you

497
00:29:27,759 --> 00:29:31,279
should have any more thorough acquaintance with her mental character.

498
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,799
One point in her moral nature of special consequence to

499
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,960
my narrative will show itself by and by. I did

500
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,839
all I could to make myself agreeable to her, and

501
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,599
the more I succeeded, the more delightful she became in

502
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,200
my eyes. We walked in the garden and grounds. Together,

503
00:29:49,519 --> 00:29:54,319
we read, or rather I read and she listened. Read poetry, Katy,

504
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,759
sometimes till we could not read any more for certain

505
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:02,880
haziness and huskiness, which, look now, I am afraid considerably

506
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,200
more absurd than they really were, or even ought to look.

507
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,200
In short, I considered myself thoroughly in love with her.

508
00:30:12,039 --> 00:30:16,119
And wasn't she in love with you? Uncle, don't interrupt me, child,

509
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,200
I don't know, I hoped so. Then I hope the contrary.

510
00:30:20,279 --> 00:30:23,519
Now she liked me. I am sure that is not

511
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,880
much to say. Liking is very pleasant and very cheap.

512
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,480
Love is as rare as a star. I thought the

513
00:30:30,519 --> 00:30:34,160
stars were anything but rare, Uncle. That's because you never

514
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,359
went out to find one for yourself, Katie. They would

515
00:30:37,359 --> 00:30:41,119
prove a few miles apart then, but it would be

516
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,279
big enough when I did find it, right, my dear,

517
00:30:44,519 --> 00:30:48,119
That is the way with love. Letitia was a good housekeeper.

518
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,480
Everything was punctual as clockwork. I used the word advisedly.

519
00:30:52,839 --> 00:30:56,119
If her father, who was punctual to one date the

520
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,599
dinner hour, made any remark to the contrary as he

521
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,680
took the carving knife, Letitia would instantly send one of

522
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,160
her sisters to question the old clock in the hall

523
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,039
and report the time to half a minute. It was

524
00:31:09,079 --> 00:31:11,160
sure to be found that if there was a mistake,

525
00:31:11,279 --> 00:31:14,119
the mistake was in the clock. But although it was

526
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,680
certainly a virtue to have her household in such perfect order,

527
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,880
it was not a virtue to be impatient with every

528
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,240
infringement of its rules on the part of others. She

529
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,000
was very severe, for instance, upon her two younger sisters,

530
00:31:28,079 --> 00:31:31,400
if the moment after the second bell had rung they

531
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,519
were not seated at the dinner table. Washed and aproned.

532
00:31:35,079 --> 00:31:38,359
Order was a very idol with her. Hence the house

533
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,319
was too tidy for any sense of comfort. If you

534
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,799
left an open book on the table, you would, on

535
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,160
returning to the room a moment after, find it. Put

536
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,400
aside what the furniture of the drawing room was like,

537
00:31:50,559 --> 00:31:53,680
I never saw, for not even on Christmas Day, which

538
00:31:53,759 --> 00:31:56,720
was the last day I spent there, was it uncovered.

539
00:31:57,319 --> 00:32:01,039
Everything in it was kept in bibbs and pinafore. Even

540
00:32:01,079 --> 00:32:04,000
the carpet was covered with a cold and slippery sheet

541
00:32:04,039 --> 00:32:08,799
of brown. Holland mister Heatherage never entered that room, and

542
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:14,599
therein was wise. James remonstrated once. She answered him quite kindly,

543
00:32:14,759 --> 00:32:18,720
even playfully, but no change followed. What was worse, she

544
00:32:18,839 --> 00:32:23,240
made very wretched tea. Her father never took tea, neither

545
00:32:23,319 --> 00:32:26,039
did James. I was rather fond of it, but I

546
00:32:26,119 --> 00:32:29,759
soon gave it up. Everything her father partook of was

547
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,599
first rate. Everything else was somewhat poverty stricken. My pleasure

548
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,160
in Letitia's society prevented me from making practical deductions from

549
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:43,880
such trifles. I shouldn't have thought you knew anything about eating, uncle,

550
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:47,240
said Janet. The less a man eats, the more he

551
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,359
likes to have it good Janet. In short, there can

552
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,559
be no harm in saying it now. Letitia was so

553
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,839
far from being like the name of her baptism. And

554
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,960
most names are so good that they are worth thinking about.

555
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,720
No children are named after bad ideas. Letitia was so

556
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:09,079
far unlike hers as to be stingy, an abominable fault.

557
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,319
But I repeat, the notion of such a fact was

558
00:33:12,359 --> 00:33:15,559
far from me then and now from my story. The

559
00:33:15,599 --> 00:33:18,519
first of November was a very lovely day, quite one

560
00:33:18,559 --> 00:33:22,000
of the halcyon days of Saint Martin's summer. I was

561
00:33:22,039 --> 00:33:24,519
sitting in a little arbor. I had just discovered with

562
00:33:24,599 --> 00:33:27,960
a book in my hand, not reading, however, but day dreaming.

563
00:33:28,519 --> 00:33:31,359
When lifting my eyes from the ground, I was startled

564
00:33:31,359 --> 00:33:33,960
to see through a thin shrub in front of the

565
00:33:34,079 --> 00:33:37,680
arbor what seemed the form of an old lady seated,

566
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,400
apparently reading from a book on her knee. The sight

567
00:33:41,599 --> 00:33:45,799
instantly recalled the old lady of Russell Square. I started

568
00:33:45,799 --> 00:33:48,680
to my feet, and then, clear of the intervening bush,

569
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,400
saw only a great stone, such as abounded on the

570
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,599
moors in the neighborhood, with a lump of quarts set

571
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:58,920
on the top of it. Some childish taste had put

572
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,160
it there for an ornament. Smiling at my own folly,

573
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,160
I sat down again and reopened my book. After reading

574
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,280
for a while, I glanced up again and once more

575
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,760
started to my feet, overcome by the fancy that there

576
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,199
verily sat the old lady reading. You will say it

577
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:21,079
indicated an excited condition of the brain. Possibly, but I was,

578
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,639
as far as I can recall, quite collected and reasonable.

579
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,280
I was almost vexed this second time, and sat down

580
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,920
once more to my book. Still, every time I looked up,

581
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:36,280
I was startled afresh. I doubt, however, if the trifle

582
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,159
is worth mentioning or has any significance even in relation

583
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,679
to what followed. After dinner, I strolled out by myself,

584
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:47,840
leaving father and son over their claret. I did not

585
00:34:48,039 --> 00:34:50,599
drink wine, and from the lawn I could see the

586
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:54,679
windows of the library, whither Letitia commonly retired from the

587
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,639
dinner table. It was a very lovely, soft night. There

588
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,920
was no moon, but the star looked wider awake than usual.

589
00:35:02,679 --> 00:35:05,480
Dew was falling, but the grass was not yet wet,

590
00:35:06,039 --> 00:35:08,239
and I wandered about on it for half an hour.

591
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,480
The stillness was somehow strange. It had a wonderful feeling

592
00:35:12,519 --> 00:35:15,440
in it, as if something were expected, as if the

593
00:35:15,519 --> 00:35:18,360
quietness were the mold in which some event or other

594
00:35:18,519 --> 00:35:21,800
was about to be cast. Even then I was a

595
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:26,320
reader of certain sorts of recondite lore. Suddenly I remembered

596
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,679
that this was the eve of all souls. This was

597
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:31,639
the night on which the dead came out of their

598
00:35:31,679 --> 00:35:36,119
graves to visit their old homes. Poor dead, I thought

599
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:39,559
with myself, have you any place to call a home? Now?

600
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,760
If you have, surely you will not wander back here,

601
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,320
where all that you called home has either vanished or

602
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,519
given itself to others to be their home now and

603
00:35:49,599 --> 00:35:53,639
yours no more. What an awful doom the old fancy

604
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,280
has allotted you to dwell in your graves all the year,

605
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,119
and creep out this one night to enter at the

606
00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:05,079
midnight door left open for welcome. A poor welcome, truly,

607
00:36:05,559 --> 00:36:09,119
just an open door, a clean swept floor, and a

608
00:36:09,159 --> 00:36:13,199
fire to warm your ring sodden limbs. The household asleep,

609
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,320
and the house place swarming with the ghosts of ancient times,

610
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:21,440
the miser, the spendthrift, the profligate, the coquette. For the

611
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:25,000
good ghosts sleep and are troubled, with no waking like yours.

612
00:36:26,039 --> 00:36:30,199
Not one man sleepless like yourselves, to question you and

613
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,400
be answered, after the fashion of the old nursery rhyme.

614
00:36:34,119 --> 00:36:37,360
What makes your eyes so hold I've lain so long

615
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:41,519
among the mold? What makes your feet so broad? I've

616
00:36:41,599 --> 00:36:45,599
walked more than I ever rode? Yet who can tell

617
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,559
I went on to myself? It may be your hell

618
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,079
to return. Thus it may be that only on this

619
00:36:52,199 --> 00:36:54,719
one night of all the year you can show yourself

620
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,360
to him who can see you, But that the place

621
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,199
where you were wicked is the hades to which you

622
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:04,000
are doomed for ages. I thought and thought till I

623
00:37:04,079 --> 00:37:07,000
began to feel the air alive about me, and was

624
00:37:07,119 --> 00:37:09,760
enveloped in the vapors that dim the eyes of those

625
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,519
who strained them. For one peep through the dull mica

626
00:37:12,599 --> 00:37:16,079
windows that will not open on the world of ghosts.

627
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,639
At length, I cast my fancies away and fled from

628
00:37:19,679 --> 00:37:23,360
them to the library, where a bodily presence of Letitia

629
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,679
made the world of ghosts appear shadowy. Indeed, what a

630
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:31,880
reality there is about a bodily presence, I said to myself,

631
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,400
as I took my chamber candle in my hand. But

632
00:37:35,559 --> 00:37:38,440
what is there more real in a body? I said again,

633
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,000
as I crossed the hall. Surely nothing, I went on

634
00:37:42,199 --> 00:37:45,719
as I ascended the broad staircase to my room. The

635
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,880
body must vanish if there be a spirit that will remain.

636
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:55,239
A body can but vanish, a ghost can appear. I

637
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:57,920
woke in the morning with a sense of such discomfort

638
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,960
as made me spring out of bed. At once my

639
00:38:01,119 --> 00:38:04,800
foot lighted upon my spectacles. How they came to be

640
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,039
on the floor I could not tell, for I never

641
00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:09,679
took them off when I went to bed. When I

642
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,360
lifted them, I found they were in two pieces. The

643
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,639
bridge was broken. This was awkward. I was so utterly

644
00:38:16,679 --> 00:38:20,360
helpless without them. Indeed, before I could lay my hand

645
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,679
on my hair brush, I had to peer through one

646
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:25,639
eye of the parted pair. When I looked up my

647
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,760
watch after I was dressed, I found I had risen

648
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:33,119
an hour earlier than usual. I groped my way downstairs

649
00:38:33,159 --> 00:38:37,079
to spend the hour before breakfast in the library. No

650
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:39,440
sooner was I seated with a book than I heard

651
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,880
the voice of Letitia scolding the butler in no very

652
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:46,599
gentle tones for leaving the garden door open all night.

653
00:38:47,159 --> 00:38:50,519
The moment I heard this, the strange occurrences I'm about

654
00:38:50,559 --> 00:38:54,360
to relate began to dawn upon my memory the door

655
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,719
had been opened the night long between all saints and

656
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:02,000
all souls. In the middle of that night, I awoke. Suddenly.

657
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,320
I knew it was not the morning by the sensations

658
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,920
I had, for the night feels altogether different from the morning.

659
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:12,719
It was quite dark, My heart was beating violently, and

660
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:17,000
I either hardly could or hardly dared breathe. A nameless

661
00:39:17,119 --> 00:39:20,760
terror was upon me, and my sense of hearing was, apparently,

662
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:25,559
by the force of its expectation, unnaturally roused and keen.

663
00:39:26,159 --> 00:39:29,960
There it was a slight noise in the room, slight

664
00:39:30,199 --> 00:39:34,440
but clear, and with an unknown significance about it. It

665
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,480
was awful to think it would come again. I do

666
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:39,960
believe it was only one of those creeks and the

667
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,119
timbers which announced the torpid age, long sinking flow of

668
00:39:44,159 --> 00:39:47,880
every house back to the dust, a motion to which

669
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,199
the flow of the glacier is as a torrent, but

670
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,960
which is no less inevitable and sure. Day and night

671
00:39:55,079 --> 00:39:58,599
it ceases not but only in the night, when house

672
00:39:58,639 --> 00:40:02,159
and hard are still we hear it. No wonder it

673
00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:06,000
should sound fearful, for are we not the immortal dwellers

674
00:40:06,079 --> 00:40:09,920
in ever crumbling clay? The clay is so near us,

675
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,719
and yet not of us, that its every movement starts

676
00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:19,239
afresh dismay. Or what will its final ruin disclose when

677
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:21,880
it falls from about us? Where shall we find that

678
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:26,000
we have existed all the time? My skin tingled with

679
00:40:26,039 --> 00:40:29,599
the bursting of the moisture from its pores. Something was

680
00:40:29,639 --> 00:40:34,119
in the room beside me, A confused, indescribable sense of

681
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:39,760
utter loneliness, and yet awful presence was upon me, mingled

682
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:44,639
with a dreary, hopeless desolation, as of burnt out love

683
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:49,039
and aimless life. All at once I found myself sitting up.

684
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,079
The terror that a cold hand might be laid upon me,

685
00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:57,159
or a cold breath blow on me, or a corpselike

686
00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,719
face bend down through the darkness over me had broken

687
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,639
my bonds. I would meet half way whatever might be.

688
00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:08,920
Approaching the moment that my will burst into action, the

689
00:41:09,079 --> 00:41:12,800
terror began to ebb. The room in which I slept

690
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,760
was a large one, perfectly dreary with tidiness. I did

691
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:20,440
not know to laughterwards that it was Letitia's room, which

692
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,159
she had given up to me rather than prepare another.

693
00:41:24,079 --> 00:41:28,400
The furniture, all but one article, was modern and commonplace.

694
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:32,079
I could not help remarking to myself afterwards, how utterly

695
00:41:32,199 --> 00:41:36,320
void the room was, of the nameless charm of feminine occupancy.

696
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,760
I had seen nothing to wake a suspicion of its

697
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:43,800
being a lady's room. The article I have accepted was

698
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:48,840
an ancient bureau, elaborate and ornate, which stood on one

699
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,639
side of the large bow window. The very morning before

700
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,039
I had seen a bunch of keys hanging from the

701
00:41:55,159 --> 00:41:59,039
upper part of it, and had peeped in, finding however,

702
00:41:59,199 --> 00:42:02,039
that the pigeonhole were full of papers. I closed it

703
00:42:02,119 --> 00:42:04,880
at once. I should have been glad to use it,

704
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,440
but clearly it was not for me. At that bureau,

705
00:42:08,559 --> 00:42:11,480
the figure of a woman was now seated, and the

706
00:42:11,559 --> 00:42:15,519
posture of one writing. A strange dim light was around her.

707
00:42:16,119 --> 00:42:19,960
But whence it proceeded, I never thought of inquiring, as

708
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,719
if I too had stepped over the bourne and was

709
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:27,159
a ghost myself. All fear was now gone. I got

710
00:42:27,199 --> 00:42:29,719
out of bed and softly crossed the room to where

711
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:33,679
she was seated. If she should be beautiful, I thought,

712
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:36,719
for I had often dreamed of a beautiful ghost that

713
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:40,159
made love to me. The figure did not move. She

714
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,440
was looking at a faded brown paper, some old love letter,

715
00:42:44,559 --> 00:42:48,320
I thought, and stepped nearer. So cool was I now

716
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,440
that I actually peeped over her shoulder. With mingled surprise

717
00:42:52,559 --> 00:42:55,360
and dismay, I found that the dim page over which

718
00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,880
she bent was that of an old account book, ancient

719
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:03,199
household records, and rusty ink held up to the glimpses

720
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:05,639
of the waning moon which shone through the parting and

721
00:43:05,679 --> 00:43:10,280
the curtains, their entrees of shillings and pence of pounds,

722
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,800
there was not one, No doubt, pounds and farthings are

723
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,320
much the same in the world of thought, the true

724
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:19,719
spirit world. But in the ghost world this eagerness over

725
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,559
shillings and pence must mean something awful. To think that

726
00:43:23,679 --> 00:43:26,719
coins which had since been worn smooth in other pockets,

727
00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:29,480
and purses which had gone back to the mint and

728
00:43:29,639 --> 00:43:32,639
been melted down, to come out again and yet again

729
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,119
with the heads of new kings and queens, that dinners

730
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,159
eaten by men and women and children whose bodies had

731
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:43,280
since been eaten by the worms, that polish for the floors,

732
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:47,199
inches of whose thickness had since been worn away. That

733
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:51,559
the hundred nameless trifles of a life utterly vanished should

734
00:43:51,639 --> 00:43:56,320
be perplexing, annoying, and worst of all interesting the soul

735
00:43:56,519 --> 00:43:59,559
of a ghost who had been in hades for centuries.

736
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:04,440
The writing was very old fashioned, and the words were contracted.

737
00:44:05,119 --> 00:44:08,559
I could read nothing but the monies and one single entry,

738
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:15,880
corinths versus currants for a Christmas pudding. Most likely, Ah,

739
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,960
poor lady, the pudding and not the Christmas was her care,

740
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:22,079
not the delight of the children over it, but the

741
00:44:22,119 --> 00:44:25,760
beggarly pence which it cost, and she cannot get it

742
00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:28,599
out of her head, although her brain was powdered, all

743
00:44:28,639 --> 00:44:32,199
as thin as flower ages ago in the mortar of death,

744
00:44:33,159 --> 00:44:37,599
alas poor ghost. It needs no treasured hoard left behind,

745
00:44:38,159 --> 00:44:41,000
no floor stained with the blood of the murdered child,

746
00:44:41,559 --> 00:44:45,920
no wickedly hidden parchment of landed rights. An old account

747
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:49,039
book is enough for the hell of the housekeeping gentlewoman.

748
00:44:50,119 --> 00:44:52,599
She never lifted her face or seemed to know that

749
00:44:52,679 --> 00:44:55,760
I stood behind her. I left her and went into

750
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,679
the bow window, where I could see her face. I

751
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:01,639
was right. It was the same old lady I had

752
00:45:01,679 --> 00:45:04,960
met in Russell Square, walking in front of James Heatherage.

753
00:45:05,599 --> 00:45:08,320
Her withered lips went moving, as if they would have

754
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:13,039
uttered words had the breath been commissioned. Thither, her brow

755
00:45:13,159 --> 00:45:16,639
was contracted over her thin nose, and once and again

756
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:19,440
her shining forefinger went up to her temple, as if

757
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:23,239
she were pondering some deep problem of humanity. How long

758
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:26,000
I stood gazing at her, I do not know, But

759
00:45:26,079 --> 00:45:28,360
at last I withdrew to my bed and left her

760
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,760
struggling to solve that which she could never solve. Thus

761
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:35,960
it was the symbolic problem of her own life. And

762
00:45:36,039 --> 00:45:39,039
she had failed to read it. I remember nothing more.

763
00:45:39,559 --> 00:45:42,719
She may be sitting there, still solving at the insolvable.

764
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:46,480
I should have felt no inclination, with the broad sun

765
00:45:46,599 --> 00:45:49,639
of the squire's face, the keen eyes of James, and

766
00:45:49,679 --> 00:45:52,719
the beauty of Letitia before me at the breakfast table,

767
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:55,920
to say a word about what I had seen, even

768
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,519
if I had not been afraid of the doubt concerning

769
00:45:58,599 --> 00:46:02,840
my sanity, would which the story would certainly awaken. What

770
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,000
with the memories of the night and the want of

771
00:46:05,039 --> 00:46:09,159
my spectacles, I passed a very dreary day, dreading the

772
00:46:09,199 --> 00:46:11,760
return of the night. For cool as I had been

773
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:15,840
in her presence, I could not regard the possible reappearance

774
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:19,639
of the ghost with equanimity. But when the night did come,

775
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:24,159
I slept soundly till the morning the next day. Not

776
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,119
being able to read with comfort, I went wandering about

777
00:46:27,119 --> 00:46:30,000
the place, and at length began to fit the outside

778
00:46:30,039 --> 00:46:33,400
and inside of the house together. It was a large

779
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:38,480
and rambling edifice, parts of it very old, parts comparatively modern.

780
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,239
I first found my own window, which looked out of

781
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:44,760
the back. Below this window, on one side there was

782
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,119
a door. I wondered whither it led, but found it

783
00:46:48,199 --> 00:46:52,519
locked at the moment James approached from the stables. Where

784
00:46:52,519 --> 00:46:55,599
does this door lead, I asked him, I will get

785
00:46:55,639 --> 00:46:58,880
the key, he answered. It is rather a queer old place.

786
00:46:59,159 --> 00:47:02,400
We used to like it when we were children. There's

787
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:04,559
a stair, you see, he said, as he threw the

788
00:47:04,599 --> 00:47:08,360
door open. It leads up over the kitchen. I followed

789
00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:11,599
him up the stair. There's a door into your room,

790
00:47:11,679 --> 00:47:15,440
he said, but it's always locked now. And here's Granny's room,

791
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,559
as they call it. Though why I have not the

792
00:47:17,679 --> 00:47:20,519
least idea, he added, as he pushed open the door

793
00:47:20,559 --> 00:47:24,559
of an old fashioned parlor, smelling very musty. A few

794
00:47:24,599 --> 00:47:27,760
old books lay on a side table. A china bull

795
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:31,360
stood beside them, with some shriveled, scentless rose leaves in

796
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,599
the bottom of it. The cloth that covered the table

797
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:37,960
was riddled by moss, and the spider legged chairs were

798
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:42,079
covered with dust. A conviction sees me that the old

799
00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:45,440
bureau must have belonged to this room, and I soon

800
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:47,920
found the place where I judged it must have stood.

801
00:47:48,599 --> 00:47:50,960
But the same moment I caught sight of a portrait

802
00:47:51,039 --> 00:47:53,599
on the wall above the spot I had fixed upon

803
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:58,719
by Jove. I cried involuntarily. That's the very old lady

804
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:03,039
I met in Russell Square. Nonsense, said James. Old fashioned

805
00:48:03,079 --> 00:48:05,920
ladies are like babies. They all look the same. That's

806
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:09,800
a very old portrait, so I see, I answered, it

807
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:13,239
is like Azukaro. I don't know whose it is, he

808
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,199
answered hurriedly, And I thought he looked a little queer.

809
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,280
Is she one of the family, I asked. They say so,

810
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:22,639
But who or what she was I don't know. You

811
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:26,679
must ask Letty, he answered. The more I look at it,

812
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:29,360
I said, the more I am convinced it is the

813
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:33,239
same old lady. Well, he returned with a laugh. My

814
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,519
old nurse used to say she was rather restless. But

815
00:48:36,639 --> 00:48:40,559
it's all nonsense. That bureau in my room looks about

816
00:48:40,599 --> 00:48:44,519
the same date as this furniture, I remarked. It used

817
00:48:44,559 --> 00:48:47,519
to stand just there, he answered, pointing to the space

818
00:48:47,599 --> 00:48:50,960
under the picture. Well, I remember with what awe we

819
00:48:51,079 --> 00:48:53,639
used to regard it, for, they said, the old lady

820
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,159
kept her accounts at it. Still we never dared touch

821
00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:00,639
the bundles of yellow papers in the pigeon holes. I

822
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:04,119
remember thinking Letty a very heroine once when she touched

823
00:49:04,159 --> 00:49:07,079
one of them with the tip of her forefinger. She

824
00:49:07,159 --> 00:49:09,559
had got yet more courageous by the time she had

825
00:49:09,559 --> 00:49:13,119
it moved into her own room. Then that is your

826
00:49:13,159 --> 00:49:17,360
sister's room. I am occupied, I said, yes, I am

827
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:20,079
ashamed of keeping her out of it. Oh, she'll do

828
00:49:20,199 --> 00:49:23,599
well enough if I were she, though, I added, I

829
00:49:23,639 --> 00:49:27,119
would send that bureau back to its own place. What

830
00:49:27,199 --> 00:49:30,320
do you mean, Heywood, do you believe every old wife's

831
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,639
tale that was ever told. She may get a fright

832
00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:38,440
some day, That's all I replied. He smiled with such

833
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,679
an evident mixture of pity and contempt that for the

834
00:49:41,719 --> 00:49:45,360
moment I almost disliked him, and, feeling certain that Letitia

835
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,599
would receive any such hint in a somewhat similar manner,

836
00:49:49,119 --> 00:49:51,760
I did not feel inclined to offer her any advice

837
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:55,800
with regard to the bureau Little cour During the rest

838
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,119
of my visit, worthy of remark, somehow or other, I

839
00:49:59,199 --> 00:50:02,960
did not make my progress with Letitia. I believe I

840
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:05,599
had begun to see into her character a little, and

841
00:50:05,639 --> 00:50:08,320
therefore did not get deeper in love. As the days

842
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:12,639
went on, I know I became less absorbed in her society,

843
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:16,159
though I was still anxious to make myself agreeable to her,

844
00:50:17,079 --> 00:50:20,719
or perhaps more properly, to give her a favorable impression

845
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:24,119
of me. I do not know whether she perceived any

846
00:50:24,159 --> 00:50:27,559
difference in my behavior, but I remember that I began

847
00:50:27,639 --> 00:50:30,960
again to remark the pinched look of her nose, and

848
00:50:31,039 --> 00:50:33,480
to be a little annoyed with her for always putting

849
00:50:33,519 --> 00:50:36,920
aside my book. At the same time, I dare say

850
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:41,079
I was provoking, for I never was given to tidiness myself.

851
00:50:42,159 --> 00:50:46,519
At length, Christmas Day arrived. After breakfast, the Squire James,

852
00:50:46,519 --> 00:50:50,079
and the two girls arranged to walk to church. Letitia

853
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:53,119
was not in the room at the moment. I excuse

854
00:50:53,199 --> 00:50:55,599
myself on the ground of a headache, for I had

855
00:50:55,599 --> 00:50:58,440
had a bad night. When they left, I went up

856
00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:00,719
to my room, threw myself on the bed, and was

857
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:04,280
soon fast asleep. Along I slept, I did not know,

858
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:08,039
but I woke again with that indescribable yet well known

859
00:51:08,159 --> 00:51:11,800
sense of not being alone. The feeling was scarcely less

860
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:14,960
terrible in the daylight than it had been in the darkness.

861
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,320
With the same sudden effort as before, I sat up

862
00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:21,119
in the bed. There was the figure at the open

863
00:51:21,199 --> 00:51:24,840
bureau in precisely the same position as on the former occasion.

864
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,719
But I could not see it so distinctly. I rose

865
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,760
as gently as I could, and approached it after the

866
00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:35,800
first physical terror. I am not a coward. Just as

867
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,280
I got near enough to see the account book open

868
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:41,800
on the folding cover of the bureau, she started up,

869
00:51:42,079 --> 00:51:46,840
and turning revealed the face of Letitia. She blushed Crimson.

870
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:51,760
I beg your pardon, mister Heywood, she said, in great confusion.

871
00:51:52,519 --> 00:51:55,239
I thought you had gone to church with the rest.

872
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:58,400
I had lain down with a headache and gone to sleep,

873
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:02,280
I replied. But forgive me, miss Heatherage, I added, for

874
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,960
my mind was full of the dreadful coincidence. Don't you

875
00:52:06,039 --> 00:52:08,599
think you would have been better at church than balancing

876
00:52:08,679 --> 00:52:12,639
your accounts on Christmas Day? The better day, the better deed,

877
00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:15,559
She said, with a somewhat offended air, and turned to

878
00:52:15,639 --> 00:52:21,039
walk from the room. Excuse me, Letitia, I resumed, very seriously,

879
00:52:21,639 --> 00:52:25,440
But I want to tell you something. She looked conscious.

880
00:52:25,719 --> 00:52:28,599
It never crossed me that perhaps she fancied I was

881
00:52:28,639 --> 00:52:31,880
going to make a confession. Far other things were then

882
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:34,880
in my mind, for I thought how awful it was

883
00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:38,639
if she, too, like the ancestral ghost, should have to

884
00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:41,840
do an age long penance of haunting that bureau and

885
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:45,440
those horrid figures, and I had suddenly resolved to tell

886
00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:49,360
her the whole story. She listened with varying complexion and

887
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:53,239
face half turned aside. When I had ended, which I

888
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,920
fear I did was something of a personal appeal, she

889
00:52:57,039 --> 00:52:59,199
lifted her head and looked me in the face, with

890
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,559
just a slight girl on her thin lip, and answered me.

891
00:53:03,559 --> 00:53:06,360
If I had wanted a sermon, mister Heywood, I should

892
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:09,199
have gone to church for it. As for the ghost,

893
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:12,639
I am sorry for you, so saying, she walked out

894
00:53:12,639 --> 00:53:15,239
of the room. The rest of the day I did

895
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:18,360
not find very merry. I pleaded my headache as an

896
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:21,639
excuse for going to bed early. How I hated the

897
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:25,760
room now next morning, immediately after breakfast, I took my

898
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:30,199
leave of Luton Grange and lost a good wife, perhaps

899
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:33,960
for the sake of a ghost, uncle, said Janet. If

900
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,800
I lost a wife at all, it was a stingy one.

901
00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:39,880
I should have been ashamed of her all my life long.

902
00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:44,360
Better than a spendthrift, said Janet. How do you know

903
00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:47,360
that returned her uncle? All the difference I see is

904
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:51,440
that the extravagant ruins, the rich and the stingy robs

905
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:56,239
the poor. But perhaps she repented, Uncle said Kate, I

906
00:53:56,320 --> 00:54:00,880
don't think she did, Katie. Look here, Uncle Cornelius drew

907
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:03,679
from the breast pocket of his coat a black edged letter.

908
00:54:04,679 --> 00:54:07,559
I have kept up my friendship with her brother, he said.

909
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,840
All he knows about the matter is that either we

910
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:14,000
had a quarrel or she refuse me. He is not

911
00:54:14,039 --> 00:54:17,519
sure which I must say for Letitia that she was

912
00:54:17,599 --> 00:54:21,320
no tattler. Well, here's a letter I had from James

913
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:25,159
this very morning. I will read it to you, my

914
00:54:25,239 --> 00:54:28,239
dear Heywood. We have had a terrible shot this morning.

915
00:54:28,519 --> 00:54:31,239
Letty did not come down to breakfast, and Lizzie went

916
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:33,920
to see if she was ill. We heard her scream,

917
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,840
and rushing up, there was poor Letty sitting at the

918
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:40,960
old Bureau quite dead. She had fallen forward on the desk,

919
00:54:41,079 --> 00:54:44,920
and HER's housekeeping book was crumpled up under her. She

920
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:48,280
had been so all night long, we suppose, for she

921
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:51,920
was not undressed and was quite cold. The doctor say

922
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:55,760
it was disease of the heart. There, said Uncle Corney,

923
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:59,079
folding up the letter. Do you think the ghost had

924
00:54:59,119 --> 00:55:02,119
anything to do with her? Uncle asked Kate, almost under

925
00:55:02,159 --> 00:55:06,960
her breath. How should I know, my dear. Possibly it's

926
00:55:07,119 --> 00:55:10,000
very sad, said Janet. But I don't see the good

927
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:12,639
of it all. If the ghost had come to tell

928
00:55:12,719 --> 00:55:15,360
that she had hidden away money in some secret place

929
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,159
in the old bureau, one would see why she had

930
00:55:18,159 --> 00:55:21,000
been permitted to come back. But what was the good

931
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,320
of those accounts after they were over and done with?

932
00:55:24,079 --> 00:55:28,559
I don't believe in the ghost, ah, Janet, Janet, But

933
00:55:28,679 --> 00:55:32,320
those wretched accounts were not over and done with. You see,

934
00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:37,639
that is the misery of it. Uncle Cornelius rose, without

935
00:55:37,639 --> 00:55:41,599
another word, bade them good night, and walked out into

936
00:55:41,679 --> 00:55:46,840
the wind and of Uncle Cornelius. His story by George

937
00:55:46,920 --> 00:55:47,519
mac donald