WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:05.679 Chapter one of the Man Who found Out a Nightmare. 2 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:10.839 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in 3 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.720 the public domain. For more information nor to volunteer, please 4 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:21.960 visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by phil Schenevert The Man 5 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:30.440 Who found Out a Nightmare by Algernon Blackwood, Chapter one. 6 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:36.039 Professor mark Ebor, the Scientist led a double life, and 7 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:39.640 the only persons who knew it were his assistant, Doctor 8 00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:44.039 laid Law, and his publishers. But a double life need 9 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:47.439 not always be a bad one, And as doctor laid 10 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:52.039 Law and the gratified publishers well knew, the parallel lives 11 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:57.520 of this particular man were equally good and indefinitely produced, 12 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.520 would certainly have ended in a heaven somewhere that can 13 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:08.920 suitably contain such strangely opposite characteristics as his remarkable personality combined. 14 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:13.719 For Mark Ebor F R. S. Et cetera, et cetera, 15 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:18.519 was that unique combination hardly ever met with an actual life. 16 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:24.640 A man of science and a mystic as the first 17 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.400 his name stood in the gallery of the Great and 18 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:33.000 as the second. But there came the mystery, for under 19 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:37.560 the pseudonym of Pilgrim, the author of that brilliant series 20 00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:41.519 of books that appealed to so many, His identity was 21 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:44.680 as well concealed as that of the anonymous writer of 22 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:50.560 the weather reports in a daily newspaper. Thousands read the sanguine, optimistic, 23 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:55.879 stimulating little books that issued annually from the pen of Pilgrim, 24 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.680 and thousands bore their daily burdens better read. While the 25 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:06.280 press generally agreed that the author, besides being an incorrigible 26 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:11.599 enthusiast and optimist, was also a woman, but no one 27 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.199 ever succeeded in penetrating the veil of anonymity and discovering 28 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:21.599 that Pilgrim and the biologist were one and the same person. 29 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:26.759 Mark Ebor, as doctor Laidlaw knew him in his laboratory, 30 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:31.680 was one man. But mark Ebor, as he sometimes saw 31 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:36.240 him after work was over, with rapt eyes and ecstatic face, 32 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:40.759 discussing the possibilities of union with God and the future 33 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.039 of the human race, was quite another. I have always held, 34 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:48.919 as you know, he was saying one evening as he 35 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.159 sat in the little study beyond the laboratory with his 36 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.560 assistant and intimate, that vision should play a large part 37 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:59.479 in the life of the awakened man, not to be 38 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:03.400 regarded as infallible, of course, but to be observed and 39 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:08.879 may use as a guidepost to possibilities. I am aware 40 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:13.280 of your peculiar views, sir, the young doctor put in deferentially, 41 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:17.919 yet with a certain impatience, for visions come from a 42 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.840 region of the consciousness where observation and experiment are out 43 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:26.759 of the question. Pursued the other with enthusiasm, not noticing 44 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:31.360 the interruption, And while they should be checked by reason afterwards, 45 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:36.360 they should not be laughed at or ignored. All inspiration, 46 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:41.199 I hold is of the nature of interior vision, and 47 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:45.319 all our best knowledge has come. Such is my confirmed belief, 48 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:49.039 as a sudden revelation to the brain prepared to receive it, 49 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:55.039 prepared by hard work, first by concentration, by the closest 50 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:59.960 possible study of ordinary phenomena. Doctor Laidlaw allowed himself to observe, 51 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:07.199 perhaps sighed the other, but by a process nonetheless of 52 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:12.520 spiritual illumination. The best match in the world will not 53 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.120 light a candle unless the wick be first suitably prepared. 54 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:23.040 It was Laidlaw's turn to sigh. He knew so well 55 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:27.120 the impossibility of arguing with his chief. When he was 56 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.399 in the regions of the mystic But at the same time, 57 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.360 the respect he felt for his tremendous attainments was so 58 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:39.879 sincere that he always listened with attention and deference, wondering 59 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.600 how far the great man would go and to what 60 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:48.759 end this curious combination of logic and illumination would eventually 61 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:54.879 lead him. Only last night, continued the elder man, a 62 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:58.839 sort of light coming into his rugged features. The vision 63 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.519 came to me again, the one that has haunted me 64 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:06.240 at intervals ever since my youth, and that will not 65 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:12.920 be denied. Doctor Laidlaw fidgeted in his chair. About the 66 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:16.439 tablets of the gods, you mean, and that they lie 67 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.720 somewhere hidden in the sands, he said patiently. A sudden 68 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:23.879 gleam of interest came into his face as he turned 69 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.680 to catch the professor's reply. And that I am to 70 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:32.279 be the one to find them, to decipher them, and 71 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:36.279 to give the great knowledge of the world. Who will 72 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.680 not believe? Laughed Laidlaw, sharply yet interested in spite of 73 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:46.240 his thenly veiled contempt. Because even the keenest minds in 74 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.439 the right sense of the word, are hopelessly unscientific, replied 75 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:55.920 the other gently, his face positively aglow with the memory 76 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.639 of his vision. Yet what is more likely, he continued, 77 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:04.560 after a moment's pause, fearing into space with rapt eyes 78 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.360 that saw things too wonderful for exact language to describe, 79 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.839 and that there should have been given to man in 80 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:16.079 the first ages of the world some record of the 81 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.199 purpose and problem that had been set him to solve. 82 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:23.680 In a word, he cried, fixing his shining eyes upon 83 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.959 the face of his perplexed assistant, that God's messengers in 84 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.519 the far off ages should have given to his creatures 85 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.399 some full statement of the secret of the world, of 86 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:40.000 the secret of the soul, of the meaning of life 87 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:45.639 and death, the explanation of our being here, and to 88 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:49.399 what great end we are destined in the ultimate fullness 89 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:55.120 of things. Doctor Laidlaw sat speechless these outbreaks of mystical 90 00:06:55.240 --> 00:07:00.240 enthusiasm he had witnessed before. With any other man he 91 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:04.000 would not have listened to a single sentence. But to 92 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:09.680 Professor Ebor, man of knowledge and profound investigator, he listened 93 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:15.600 with respect, because he regarded this condition as temporary and pathological, 94 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:19.720 and in some sense a reaction from the intense strain 95 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:26.279 of the prolonged mental concentration of many days. He smiled 96 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.920 with something between sympathy and resignation as he met the 97 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:35.160 other's rapt gaze. But you have said, Sir, at other times, 98 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:38.759 that you consider the ultimate secrets to be screened from 99 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:44.720 all possible the ultimate secrets, yes, came the unperturbed reply. 100 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:50.839 But that there lies buried somewhere an indestructible record of 101 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.879 the secret meaning of life, originally known to men in 102 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:59.839 the days of their pristine innocence. I am convinced, and 103 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:04.360 by this strange vision so often vouchsafed to me, I 104 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.319 am equally sure that one day it shall be given 105 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:12.120 to me to announce to a weary world this glorious 106 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:17.079 and terrific message. And he continued, at great length and 107 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:21.199 in glowing language, to describe the species of vivid dream 108 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:25.120 that had come to him at intervals since earliest childhood, 109 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:29.839 showing in detail how he discovered these very tablets of 110 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:36.360 the gods and proclaim their splendid contents, whose precise nature was, always, however, 111 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.639 withheld from him. In the vision to a patient and 112 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.639 suffering humanity, the scrutator Sir Well described Pilgrim as the 113 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.799 apostle of hope, said the young doctor gently when he 114 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:53.720 had finished. And now if that reviewer could hear you 115 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:59.000 speak and realize from what strange depths comes your simple faith. 116 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.159 Professor held up his hand, and the smile of a 117 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:08.120 little child broke over his face, like sunshine in the morning. 118 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:12.519 Half the good my books do would be instantly destroyed, 119 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.080 he said, sadly. They would say that I wrote with 120 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:20.080 my tongue in my cheek. But wait, he added, significantly, 121 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:25.240 Wait till I find these tablets of the gods. Wait 122 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:28.720 till I hold the solution of the old world problems 123 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.000 in my hands. Wait till the light of this new 124 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:38.320 revelation breaks upon confused humanity and it wakes to find 125 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.000 its bravest hopes justified. Ah, then, my dear lay law. 126 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:47.360 He broke off suddenly, But the doctor, cleverly guessing the 127 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:52.559 thought in his mind, caught him up immediately. Perhaps this 128 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:56.320 very summer, he said, trying hard to make the suggestion, 129 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.000 keep pace with honesty in your explorations. In a series 130 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:04.519 you're digging in the remote civilization of what was once Chaldea, 131 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.679 you may find which you dream of. The Professor held 132 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:13.399 up his hand and the smile of a fine old 133 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:21.279 face perhaps, he muttered softly, perhaps, And the young doctor, 134 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:25.279 thanking the gods of science that his leader's aberrations were 135 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:29.799 so harmless. A character went home, strong in the certitude 136 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.519 of his knowledge of externals, proud that he was able 137 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:38.279 to refer his visions to self suggestion, and wondering complacently 138 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:42.440 whether in his old age he might not, after all 139 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.159 suffer himself from visitations of the very kind that afflicted 140 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:50.960 his respected chief. And as he got into bed and 141 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.600 thought again of his master's rugged face and finely shaped head, 142 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:58.399 and the deep lines traced by years of work and 143 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:02.320 self discipline, he turned over on his pillow and fell 144 00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:05.799 asleep with a sigh that was half of wonder, half 145 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:17.240 of regret. End of chapter one, Chapter two of The 146 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:22.440 Man Who found Out a Nightmare by Algernon Blackwood. This 147 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:29.399 LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter two. It 148 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:34.080 was in February nine months later when Doctor Laidlaw made 149 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:37.200 his way to Charing Cross to meet his chief. After 150 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:42.120 his long absence of travel and exploration. The vision about 151 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:46.080 the so called tablets of the Gods had meanwhile passed 152 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:51.120 almost entirely from his memory. There were few people in 153 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.000 the train for the stream of traffic was now running 154 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:58.039 the other way, and he had no difficulty in finding 155 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.679 the man he had come to meet. The shock of 156 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:04.440 white hair beneath the low crowned felt hat was alone 157 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:09.440 enough to distinguish him by easily. Here I am, at last, 158 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:14.639 exclaimed the professor, somewhat wearily, clasping his friend's hand as 159 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:18.159 he listened to the young doctor's warm greetings and questions. 160 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.399 Here I am a little older and much dirtier than 161 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:26.039 when you last saw me. He glanced down laughingly at 162 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:31.879 his travel stained garments, and much wiser, said Laidlaw, with 163 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.159 a smile, as he bustled about the platform for Porter's 164 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:39.879 and gave his chief the latest scientific news. At last 165 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:45.240 they came down to practical considerations. And your luggage where 166 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:47.480 is that? You must have tons of it, I suppose, 167 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:53.200 said Laylaan, hardly anything. Professor Ebor answered, nothing in fact, 168 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:58.399 but what you see? Nothing but this hand bag, laughed 169 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:02.440 the other, thinking he was joking, And a small portmanteau 170 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.600 in the van was the quiet reply, I have no 171 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:11.440 other luggage. You have no other luggage, repeated Laydlaw, turning 172 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.320 sharply to see if he were in earnest. Why should 173 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:20.440 I need more, the professor added, simply something in the 174 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:24.360 man's face, our voice, or manner the doctor hardly knew, 175 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:29.559 which suddenly struck him as strange. There was a change 176 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.639 in him, a change so profound, so little on the surface, 177 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:37.440 that is, that at first he had not become aware 178 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.519 of it. For a moment, it was as though an 179 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:47.120 utterly alien personality stood before him in that noisy, bustling throng. Here, 180 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:51.559 in all the homely friendly turmoil of a charing Cross crowd, 181 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:56.919 A curious feeling of cold passed over his heart, touching 182 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:01.120 his life with icy finger, so that he actually trembled 183 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:05.120 and felt afraid. He looked quickly at his friend, his 184 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:11.519 mind working with startled and unwelcome thoughts. Only this, he repeated, 185 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:15.080 indicating the bank. But where's all the stuff you went 186 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.919 away with? And have you brought nothing home? No treasures? 187 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.440 This is all I have, the other said briefly. The 188 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:28.039 pale smile that went with the words caused the doctor 189 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:35.200 a second indescribable sensation of uneasiness. Something was very wrong, 190 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.960 something was very queer, he wondered, now that he had 191 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.679 not noticed it sooner. The rest follows of course, by 192 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:47.879 slow freight, he added, tactfully and as naturally as possible. 193 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:51.039 But come, sir, you must be tired and didn't want 194 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:54.200 of food after your long journey. I'll get a taxi 195 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:57.720 at once, and we can see about the other luggage afterwards. 196 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:00.759 It seemed to him he hardly knew quite what he 197 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.919 was saying. The change and his friend had come upon 198 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:08.039 him so suddenly, and now grew upon him more and 199 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:12.600 more distressingly. Yet he could not make out exactly in 200 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:17.879 what it consisted. A terrible suspicion began to take shape 201 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:24.080 in his mind, troubling him dreadfully. I am neither tired 202 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:28.519 nor in need of food, Thank you, the professor said quietly. 203 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:33.200 And this is all I have. There is no luggage 204 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:37.679 to follow. I have brought home nothing, nothing but what 205 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:44.000 you see. His words conveyed finality. They got into a taxi, 206 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:47.399 tipped the porter, who had been staring in amazement at 207 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.159 the venerable figure of the scientist, and were conveyed slowly 208 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.399 and noisily to the house in the north of London, 209 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:59.399 where the laboratory was the scene of their laborers of years. 210 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.240 And the whole way Professor Ebor uttered no word, nor 211 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:08.279 did doctor Laidlaw find the courage to ask a single question. 212 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.840 It was only late that night before he took his departure, 213 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:15.799 as the two men were standing before the fire in 214 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:19.639 the study, that study where they had discussed so many 215 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:24.240 problems of vital and absorbing interest, that Doctor Laidlaw at 216 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:28.279 last found streth to come to the point with direct questions. 217 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.480 The professor had been giving him a superficial and desultory 218 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:37.200 account of his travels, of his journeys by camel, of 219 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.159 his encampments among the mountains and in the desert, and 220 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:45.200 of his explorations among the buried temples and deeper into 221 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:50.200 the waste of the prehistoric sands. When suddenly the doctor 222 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:54.200 came to the desired point with a kind of nervous rush, 223 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:59.799 almost like a frightened boy. And you found he began stammering, 224 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.480 looking hard at the other's dreadfully altered face, from which 225 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.880 every line of hope and cheerfulness seemed to have been obliterated. 226 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:13.119 As the sponge wipes markings from a slate. You found, 227 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:19.039 I found, replied the other, in a solemn voice. And 228 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:21.920 it was the voice of the mystic, rather than the 229 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.799 man of science. I found what I went to seek. 230 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.599 The vision never once failed me. It led me straight 231 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:34.079 to the place, like a star in the heavens. I 232 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:39.799 found the tablets of the gods. Doctor Laidlaw caught his 233 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.319 breath and steadied himself on the back of a chair. 234 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.160 The words fell like particles of ice upon his heart. 235 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:49.480 For the first time the professor had uttered the well 236 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:53.240 known phrase without the glow of light and wonder in 237 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:58.559 his face that always accompanied it. You have brought them, 238 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:02.640 he faltered. I have brought them home, said the other, 239 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.480 in a voice with a ring like iron, and I 240 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:14.559 have deciphered them. Profound despair. The bloom of outer darkness, 241 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:19.240 the dead sound of a hopeless soul freezing in the 242 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:23.160 utter cold of space, seemed to fill in the pauses 243 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:29.119 between the brief sentences. A silence followed, during which doctor 244 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.920 Laidlaw saw nothing but the white face before him, alternately 245 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:37.680 fade and return. And it was like the face of 246 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:44.720 a dead man. They are alas indestructible, he heard the 247 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:51.920 voice continue, with its even metallic ring. Indestructible, Laidlaw repeated mechanically, 248 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:56.359 hardly knowing what he was saying. Again, a silence of 249 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:00.640 several minutes passed, during which, with a creepy being cold 250 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:04.720 about his heart, he stood and stared into the eyes 251 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:07.680 of the man he had known and loved so long, 252 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:12.400 ah and worshiped too, the man who had first opened 253 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.960 his own eyes when they were blind, and had led 254 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:19.839 him to the gates of knowledge, and no little distance 255 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:24.160 along the difficult path beyond, the man who, in another direction, 256 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.960 had passed, on the strength of his faith, into the 257 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.440 hearts of thousands by his books. I may see them, 258 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:36.599 he asked at last, in a low voice he hardly 259 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.319 recognized as his own. You will let me know their message. 260 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:46.759 Professor Ebor kept his eyes fixedly upon his assistant's face 261 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:49.920 as he answered, with a smile that was more like 262 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:54.759 the grin of death than a living human smile. When 263 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:58.440 I am gone, he whispered, When I have passed away, 264 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.240 then you shall find them and read the translation I 265 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.599 have made. And then, too, in your turn, you must try, 266 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.039 with the latest resources of science at your disposal, to 267 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:18.240 aid you to compass their utter destruction. He paused a moment, 268 00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:21.680 and his face grew pale as the face of a corpse. 269 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.960 Until that time, he added, presently, without looking up, I 270 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.559 must ask you not to refer to the subject again, 271 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:40.039 and to keep my confidence meanwhile apsolutely. End of chapter 272 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:48.359 two Chapter three of The Man Who found Out a 273 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.079 Nightmare by Algernon Blackwood. This librevox recording is in the 274 00:20:54.119 --> 00:21:01.440 public domain. Chapter three. A year past slowly by, and 275 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:03.599 at the end of it Doctor Laidlaw had found it 276 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.240 necessary to sever his working connection with his friend and 277 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:12.559 one time leader, Professor Ebor, was no longer the same man. 278 00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:16.799 The light had gone out of his life, the laboratory 279 00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:20.799 was closed. He no longer put pen to paper or 280 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:24.599 applied his mind to a single problem. In the short 281 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.759 space of a few months, he had passed from a 282 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:31.079 hale and hearty man of late middle life to the 283 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.960 condition of old age, a man collapsed and on the 284 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:39.880 edge of dissolution death. It was plain lay waiting for 285 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:43.160 him in the shadows of any day, and he knew it. 286 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:47.839 To describe faithfully the nature of this profound alteration in 287 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:52.279 his character and temperament is not easy, But Doctor Laidlaw 288 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:57.279 summed it up to himself in three words, loss of hope. 289 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:03.920 The splendid mental powers remained indeed undimmed, but the incentive 290 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:06.279 to use them, to use them for the help of 291 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:11.119 others had gone. The character still held to its fine 292 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:15.480 and unselfish habits of years, but the far goal to 293 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:19.000 which they had been the leading strings had faded away. 294 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:24.079 The desire for knowledge, knowledge for its own sake had died, 295 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:29.960 and the passionate hope which hitherto had animated with tireless energy. 296 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:34.319 The hardened brain of this splendidly equipped intellect had suffered 297 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:40.039 total eclipse. The central fires had gone out. Nothing was 298 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:45.359 worth doing, thinking, working, for there was nothing to work 299 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:50.440 for any longer. The professor's first step was to recall 300 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.039 as many of his books as possible. His second to 301 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:58.400 close his laboratory and to stop all research. He gave 302 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:04.559 no explanation, he invited no questions. His whole personality crumbled away, 303 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.680 so to speak, till his daily life became a mere 304 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:12.200 mechanical process of clothing the body, feeding the body, keeping 305 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.279 it in good health so as to avoid physical discomfort, 306 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:20.079 and above all, doing nothing that could interfere with sleep. 307 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.720 The Professor did everything he could to lengthen the hours 308 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:30.000 of sleep, and therefore of forgetfulness. It was all clear 309 00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:33.920 enough to doctor Laidlaw. A weaker man, he knew, would 310 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.160 have sought to lose himself in one form or another 311 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:42.799 of sensual indulgence, sleeping, drafts, drink. The first pleasures that 312 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:46.519 come to hand self destruction would have been the method 313 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:51.000 of a little boulder type and deliberate evil doing, poisoning. 314 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:54.160 With his awful knowledge all he could the means of 315 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.079 still another kind of man. Mark Ebor was none of these. 316 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:05.039 He held himself under fine control, facing silently and without 317 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:09.640 complaint the terrible facts he honestly believed himself to have 318 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:14.759 been unfortunate enough to discover. Even to his intimate friend 319 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:19.920 and assistant, doctor Laidlaw, he vouchsafed no word true, explanation 320 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:25.200 or lament. He went straight forward to the end, knowing 321 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:29.720 well that the end was not very far away, and 322 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:33.079 death came very quietly one day to him as he 323 00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:35.759 was sitting in the arm chair of the study, directly 324 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:39.720 facing the doors of the laboratory, the doors that no 325 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:43.880 longer opened. Doctor Laidlaw, by happy chance, was with him 326 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:47.359 at the time and just able to reach his side 327 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.279 in response to the sudden, painful efforts for breath, just 328 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.240 in time too, to catch the murmured words that fell 329 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:58.680 from the pallid lips like a message from the other 330 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:04.119 side of the grave. Read them if you must, and 331 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:09.519 if you can destroy. But his voice sank so low 332 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:13.519 that Doctor laid Law only just caught the dying syllables, 333 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:21.759 but never never give them to the world. And like 334 00:25:21.799 --> 00:25:25.640 a gray bundle of dust loosely gathered up in an 335 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:30.799 old garment, the professor sank back into his chair and expired. 336 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:34.839 But this was only the death of the body. His 337 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:46.039 spirit had died two years before, end of chapter three 338 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:49.960 Chapter four of The Man Who found Out a Nightmare 339 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:55.119 by Algernon Blackwood. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. 340 00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:00.519 Chapter four. The estate of the dead man was small 341 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.920 and uncomplicated, and Doctor laid Law, as sole executor and 342 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:09.960 residuary Legatee, had no difficulty in settling it up. A 343 00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.440 month after the funeral, he was sitting alone in its 344 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:17.880 upstairs library, the last sad duties completed, and his mind 345 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:21.440 full of poignant memories and regrets for the loss of 346 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:24.839 a friend he had revered and loved, and to whom 347 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:29.880 his debt was so incalculably great. The last two years 348 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:34.160 indeed had been for him terrible to watch the swift 349 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:37.799 decay of the greatest combination of heart and brain he 350 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:41.799 had ever known, and to realize he was powerless to help, 351 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.720 was a source of profound grief to him that would 352 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.559 remain to the end of his days. At the same time, 353 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:54.599 an insatiable curiosity possessed him. The study of dementia was, 354 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:59.079 of course outside his special province as a specialist, but 355 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.960 he knew enough of it to understand how small a 356 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.680 matter might be the actual cause of how great an illusion. 357 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:10.279 And he had been devoured from the very beginning by 358 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:15.160 a ceaseless and increasing anxiety to know what the professor 359 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:19.000 had found in the sands of Chaldea, what these precious 360 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:22.880 tablets of the gods might be, and particularly for this 361 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.960 was the real reason that had sapped the man's sanity 362 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.119 and hope, what the inscription was that he had believed 363 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:34.319 to have deciphered thereon. The curious feature of it all 364 00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:37.599 to his own mind, was that, whereas his friend had 365 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.240 dreamed of finding a message of glorious hope and comfort, 366 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:45.160 he had apparently found, so far as he had found 367 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.559 anything intelligible at all, and not invented the whole thing 368 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.920 in his dementia, that the secret of the world and 369 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:55.640 the meaning of life and death was of so terrible 370 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:59.160 a nature that it robbed the heart of courage and 371 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:03.200 the soul of hope. What then could be the contents 372 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:06.880 of the little brown parcel the Professor had bequeathed to 373 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:12.480 him with his pregnant, dying sentences. Actually, his hand was 374 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:16.480 trembling as he turned to the writing table and began 375 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:21.599 slowly to unfasten a small old fashioned desk, on which 376 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:26.480 the small guilt initials M E stood forth as a 377 00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:30.640 melancholy memento. He put the key into the lock and 378 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:35.880 half turned it. Then suddenly he stopped and looked about him. 379 00:28:36.359 --> 00:28:39.200 Was that a sound at the back of the room. 380 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:43.000 It was just as though someone had laughed and then 381 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.960 tried to smother the laugh with a cough. A slight 382 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:52.000 shiver ran over him as he stood listening. This is absurd, 383 00:28:52.440 --> 00:28:56.559 he said aloud, Too absurd for belief that I should 384 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:02.240 be so nervous. It's the effect of curiosity unduly prolonged. 385 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:06.960 He smiled a little sadly, and his eyes wandered to 386 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:11.440 the blue summer sky and the plane trees swaying in 387 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.920 the wind below his window. It's the reaction, he continued, 388 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:19.799 the curiosity of two years to be quenched in a 389 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:24.480 single moment. The nervous tension, of course, must be considerable. 390 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.519 He turned back to the brown desk and opened it 391 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:32.359 without further delay. His hand was firm now, and he 392 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:35.920 took out the paper parcel that lay inside without a tremor. 393 00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:40.000 It was heavy. A moment later there lay on the 394 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:43.680 table before him a couple of weather worn plaques of 395 00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:48.039 gray stone. They looked like stone, although they felt like metal, 396 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.079 on which he saw markings of a curious character that 397 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:55.480 might have been the mere tracings of natural forces through 398 00:29:55.519 --> 00:30:00.559 the ages, or equally well, the half obliterated hi glyphics 399 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:03.839 cut upon their surface in past centuries by the more 400 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:08.359 or less untutored hand of a common scribe. He lifted 401 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:12.279