WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:05.440 Chapter three of The Feasting Dead by John Metcalf. The 2 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:09.599 LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Ben Tucker. 3 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:16.640 Chapter three, question and answer between us tumbled over each other, 4 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.280 standing on no ceremony of greeting. Is he with you? Yes, 5 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.120 but you could not have my deligrim so soon? Is 6 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:31.199 he all right? He? You will see. We got into 7 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:37.719 the car flebart, Monsieur Vignon explained, Interjectorily has left, and 8 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.159 it is I who am cheffeur. I fear I am late, 9 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.039 I mumbled something to which he paid no attention. We 10 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.159 had shot out of the station yard into the gathering 11 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:50.799 dusk of the highway. Monsieur Vignon still driving like a maniac. 12 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.920 His manner, notwithstanding, had a kind of distrait debonair moroseness, 13 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:59.320 and the conditions generally as we careened wildly onwards were 14 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:04.319 unfavorable conversation. Yet I did once attempt it. Dennis has 15 00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:08.519 been terribly ill, I said, he is not himself, or 16 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:11.239 he would not have run away and I would not 17 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:13.840 have had to trouble you. How does he seem now? 18 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:19.719 Monsieur Vignon's nearer shoulder gave me an absent shrug. I 19 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:25.680 cannot tell you we are albideviled nespar as. The evil 20 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.959 days are on this. They are on your boy, who 21 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.799 does not know you are here. But won't I bet 22 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:34.680 you let you talk to him, or get with him 23 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:38.400 ten feet of him. My heart sank, but despair goaded 24 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.079 me to a flare of anger too. We shall see 25 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.040 about that, I said. The chateau, when we entered it 26 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.319 at nightfall, was a place of dark, uneasy stillness. A 27 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.840 man whose face was unfamiliar had admitted us, and he 28 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:54.920 immediately retreated again from us. Where is Dennis, I asked 29 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:58.079 Monsieur Vignon. Where is he? We had passed from the 30 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:00.280 hall into a small salon to the left, where and 31 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:03.239 I remembered it had once been promised that Denis should 32 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.799 devote a daily hour to the study of des Mouseilles, 33 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:10.000 the Dumas and Victor Hugo. Whether he had ever done 34 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.159 so I doubted, But two walls of the room were 35 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:16.800 book lined. Where is he? I repeated, But at this 36 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.360 very instant, hearing a step along the hall, I glanced 37 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:22.560 up towards the door, and there, staring back, frozenly at me, 38 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.199 was Denis. It was a glimpse only that I had 39 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.479 of him, for with a kind of indignantly affrighted ah, 40 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:32.599 he vanished. I rushed out after him into the hall, 41 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:35.759 calling his name. A man. It was he who had 42 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:40.159 led us in. Stood there dinner would be. He was beginning, 43 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:44.840 where's my boy le juon Garson? I interrupted him? Which 44 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.039 way did he go? Just now? Which is his room? 45 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:52.599 The fellow regarded me consideringly, as he replied slowly, SiZ sime. 46 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.479 But he stopped then with a quick and as if 47 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.719 guilty or surreptitious movement crossed him. Dennis's old room was 48 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:05.800 on the first floor, by the stairhead. Having run up 49 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:07.639 to it, I tried the door, but it was locked, 50 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.599 and there was no answer to my knocks. Dennis, I cried, Dennis, 51 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:14.960 are you there? Not a sound? It was just possible, 52 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.599 though most unlikely, that the door had been locked from 53 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:22.120 the outside. I knocked and called again, in vain. Descending 54 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:25.479 to the salon, I debated wretchedly. It appeared but too 55 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.280 evident that Monsieur Vignon had spoken truly, and that Dennis 56 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:32.719 had not ceased to regard me as his enemy. I 57 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:36.159 recalled in misery the intonation of his ah when he 58 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.840 caught sight of me some moments since it had been 59 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:42.919 an eh, not merely of disconcertment and dismay, but I 60 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.439 realized of actual execration. Monsieur Vignon had come out into 61 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:52.120 the hall. You see, he murmured dryly. I was right. 62 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.719 At dinner, no place was laid for Denis, and Monsieur 63 00:03:56.759 --> 00:04:01.840 Villon must have noticed my disappointedly inquiring glances in the presence, however, 64 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.039 of the ever attendant dorlo as I gathered was his name. 65 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:07.400 Nothing of any importance could be said, and our talk 66 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:12.080 was of trivialities. Meanwhile, my mind ran feverishly on what 67 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.199 I had so far discovered. I had already seen alas 68 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:17.920 enough to recognize that matters could not be adjusted off 69 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.279 hand or hurried, and that the home bringing of my 70 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:25.839 poor prodigal would prove no simple and probably no brief procedure. 71 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.040 There would be difficulties, especially in a foreign country, about 72 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:33.480 compelling him forcibly to go with me, and in consulting 73 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.480 with Monsieur Villon, and striving to come at the inner 74 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:38.720 truth of the whole business, I must do what I 75 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:42.959 could to practice greater patience and restraint. After the meal, 76 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.800 I again followed Monsieur Villon into the salon, where he 77 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.240 motioned me to a seat by the fire. As you 78 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.480 will doubtless have observed, he began immediately anticipating one, though 79 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:56.120 certainly not the most pressing of the questions, that burned 80 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:00.920 upon my tongue. Marseilles and Augustine Argonne. They were, in 81 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.519 all benevolence snatched from me by an aunt, my sister 82 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:09.079 in law, who considered the atmosphere here not altogether sympathetic 83 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:13.680 to young children. Mon dieu, how very right she was. 84 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.639 My good resolutions at such words broke down and I 85 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.720 burst out and my child, Monsieur, what about him? He 86 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.120 wasn't at dinner with us? Where is he now? Is 87 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.600 he safe now this minute? When did he come here? 88 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:29.040 And why you have told me nothing? 89 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:29.240 Yet? 90 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:33.720 There was a person, a creature Raoul who ah sah, 91 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.199 Monsieur Wignon had raised a nervously, or it may have 92 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:42.680 only been contemptuously deprecating hand to check me. Let us 93 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.279 not speak that name too loudly. It is a name 94 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:49.480 to me of ridicule and of annoyance to others, many 95 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:54.360 people whose susceptibilities one must regard of well, of something 96 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:59.959 infinitely worse. It he paused, continuing, presently you are bad 97 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.519 found now that you are here to hear of this 98 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.800 this nonsense anyhow, and I may just as well propel 99 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:12.040 you and forewarn you, Enfant, It was of that in 100 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.319 fact I wrote to you, or any how, of that 101 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:17.360 I was thinking when I advised you in my letter 102 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.720 not to send me your boy again. When I told 103 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.920 you I was the victim of a persecution, as in 104 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:27.680 a mood of some exasperation, I recall I did. I 105 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:32.560 was hardly exaggerating, and but I broke in. I don't 106 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:37.040 understand how I hesitated, for my most urgent question would 107 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:43.079 not be repressed. Is he is it here now? Monsieur 108 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:47.839 Viaignon considered me. Warily it if we ought to call 109 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:53.480 this damnable old wive's tale an itat is not here 110 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.800 or active now that this to say, Enfant, it is 111 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:01.920 not here now. After a moment, he went on morosely, 112 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:07.079 as far understanding, there are things of which one can 113 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:11.439 perceive the effect upon oneself and the others, but which 114 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:15.639 one may not altogether understand, and may indeed, in this 115 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:19.759 sense entirely repudiat. As I have just told you this, 116 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:25.800 this nuisance, this most supreme and consummate nuisance is not 117 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:30.519 with us actually more but your boy, your boy, are 118 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.319 I very late last night in search of it? He 119 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:37.759 is trying, He will do his best to get it back. 120 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.120 It would be hard to describe the unhappy confusion into 121 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:45.480 which these words had thrown me. What was I to believe? 122 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.560 Monsieur Villon had alluded almost scoffingly to Raoul, as if 123 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:53.240 to a sort of troublesome but relatively minor notifiable disease 124 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:56.680 or garden pest, much as he might have spoken of 125 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:01.800 some curiously periodic scarlatina or potato blight. Yet underneath his 126 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:05.879 shrugging air, I could define a genuine and continuing apprehension. 127 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:11.519 He rose abruptly, with an access of agitation. Is this thing? 128 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.920 Is this kind of molestechon or superstition of a mollusteschon 129 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:21.879 is not entirely unexempled, if one may credit certain authors, 130 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:27.759 certain boogiemongers of or of at least two centuries or ago. 131 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:31.079 He had moved to the bookshelves, ran a finger along 132 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.320 the tops of a few heavy looking tomes, and half 133 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.320 pulled one out. No matter, he said, pushing the volume 134 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.960 into place again. It is there and duly catalogued, though 135 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:48.759 under an evasive appellation. They called these these preposterousnesses, or 136 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:52.960 the caste of mind that fostered and engindered them. Some 137 00:08:53.399 --> 00:09:00.000 norm simply that the nameless undecidedly he resumed his seat. 138 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:04.679 I I give you my word of honor that when 139 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:08.919 I first met you, and until recently, this particular nameless 140 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:14.399 add not to my recognition, bothered us, or at all events. 141 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:18.320 I do not deny that it, or the the rumor 142 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.799 of it, was supposed to have bothered us in the past, 143 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.519 but it was presumed to be gone. Don't mem there 144 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:29.559 was a technical, an academical risk of which I might 145 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.039 no doubt have warned you earlier. A tide of bewildered 146 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.679 anger swelled in me. Yes, I said, bitterly, rumor or not, 147 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:40.240 whatever the thing was, and whether we are mad or 148 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:46.159 saying you might, indeed you certainly should have warned me. Yes, 149 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:50.080 you would have left, and rightly or a moir most 150 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.519 excusably at such a history. You would have delighted it 151 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.159 and me. And what would that have mattered if I had? 152 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:01.799 I almost shouted on a longer to contain the explosion 153 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:04.840 of impatience, I had had to wait on tenter hooks 154 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:07.440 all through the drive from font and then there through 155 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:09.759 dinner to ask anything of what I had been bursting 156 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:12.120 desperately to ask, And now, when I could at last 157 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:15.360 demand straightforward answers, I was treated to nothing but side 158 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:20.600 steppings and prevarications. Monsieur Villon was silent, his head bowed. 159 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:23.519 I was entirely convinced that he knew very well he 160 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.360 had not told me the whole story and was still 161 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:32.879 keeping something back this nameless I insisted, what is it? 162 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:36.840 I mean, this particular specimen. We're just beating round the 163 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.480 bush about it all, and I can't in the least 164 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.799 follow what it is you really think you're telling me. 165 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.639 If you are telling me, what is it, That's what 166 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.039 I've got to know. But whatever it is, you surely 167 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:53.279 could have stopped my boy from from meeting it. He 168 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.759 told me it was something he chummed up with in 169 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.639 the village, a kind of semi vagrant, it sounded, but 170 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.759 my words trailed away. Monsieur viaignon his face white under 171 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.120 my accusation, toiled his brandy, of which a glass was 172 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:11.240 before me. Too untasted, he raised his own glass all 173 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.159 at once and drained it. His expression showed an almost 174 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:20.960 morbid exaltation. Ah bah it you say it, Ebbien. It 175 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.679 is something, if you please, that Ebb's enflows and that 176 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.720 refuses to be satisfact or really dead. Something that cops 177 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.480 up and comes and goes, and is repeated to have 178 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:36.639 plagued my family through three generations, something that has nourished 179 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:40.600 itself at intervals. So the tel runs at our expense 180 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:44.720 and owns its vary being and persistence to its victims. 181 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:49.399 All that is in the text book. We are not 182 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:54.200 unique in this affliction. The so and souls you will hear, ah, yes, 183 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:58.840 a final family, but they have a san gnome as 184 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:03.879 for this this particular example, as you say, it has 185 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:07.360 a human shape which you have seen. It eats, drinks, 186 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:12.639 sleeps as other men. While it exists mont dir, it 187 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.440 has even minded my edges and bought support tea or 188 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.279 thought at the epissiary before I suspected it, until it 189 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:25.679 was recognized. And then when it was recognized, oh how 190 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:29.399 do you do? But to exist it must, as they say, 191 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:34.000 have an an attachment, and its attachment must be young. 192 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:39.440 If and when it's victim, it's Pettitami dies. The pest 193 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.440 of transverse its attentions with believe to the children of 194 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:48.519 another and the neerest branch. The thing is amorous and 195 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:55.279 and ropecious. Norm no norm gell eat dar Geluvumit's theory 196 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:01.759 kel imbecility, separate gull the fantastic in cre. His voice 197 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.519 had risen wildly on a note it might be equally 198 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.799 of scorn or terror. As a knock at first soft, 199 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.440 then louder, was repeated on the door. The man Dorleo entered, 200 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.320 wearing a look of remonstrance. Monsieur should know that such 201 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:21.279 excitement of which the noise penetrated to the kitchen is 202 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.559 very bad for him. Go to bed, monsieur, I advise 203 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.320 it to go to bed. Well, you may forget our troubles, 204 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:32.600 possibly in sleep. Meekly accepting the rebuke, and I imagined, 205 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:36.600 rather welcoming the excuse to escape further questioning, Monsieur Vignon 206 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:39.960 said to me, Doleou is right, and if you will 207 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.279 forget me, I shall leave you now. My health laterally 208 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:50.039 is precarious. Doleo will give you anything, your choir. But 209 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:53.480 first he turned to the man, where is the young Monsieur? 210 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.759 Is he in his room? And I'm quiet. 211 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:00.600 Yes, he is in his room, as is to be 212 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:02.919 ivered from the very fact that his room is not 213 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:08.759 entirely quiet. The noises are again, while not as yet excessive. 214 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:13.279 My heart sank at these words, though they conveyed nothing new. 215 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:18.000 The poltergeist disturbances, however, were connected in my mind with Raoul, 216 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:23.559 and their continuance depressed me. A good night, said Monsieur Villon. 217 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.440 I was desperately tired, but lingered a little longer in 218 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:31.919 the library. What honestly could I believe in? What tries 219 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.080 still to disbelieve? Ordinarily, of course the recital which my 220 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:39.480 host had just concluded, would be dismissible as a farrago 221 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:43.559 of lurid and unpleasant nonsense. But I had had experience 222 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:47.480 alas myself, of what you plainly contradicted this consoling view. 223 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:51.120 As I was going over what Monsieur Vignon had said 224 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.000 and sipping my brandy, at last my eye fell on 225 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.639 the volume he had started to pull out from the shelves. 226 00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.759 It protruded slightly still, and I got up and took 227 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:04.360 it my seat. Lejent d'ttre fois. The tomb was entitled tritely, 228 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.080 But I had scarcely flicked over a haphazard page or 229 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:08.960 two before I read, as if my glance had been 230 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.840 directed to the spot esse anile le marte se reglarent 231 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.960 de vivante. I experienced a cold, grew of that sort 232 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.679 of surprise which is not surprised at all, but eerie confirmation, 233 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:27.159 and immediately restored the volume. The dead shall feast upon 234 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.240 the living. There it was, and I did not want 235 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:34.600 at present to read more. It was the completion of 236 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.039 the passage in that dream that I had had some 237 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.440 weeks ago about my wife holding the book before her 238 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.080 non existent face. I don't know what had made me 239 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:48.000 so optimistic in leaving England as to the prospect of 240 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:51.440 an early return there with my boy. No doubt I 241 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:53.759 had the legal right to compel him to come home, 242 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.759 but if he still repulsed me and offered physical resistance, 243 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:03.120 the practical difficulties would be put it mildly formidable. On 244 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.360 the morning after my arrival, and throughout that day and 245 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:07.320 the next, I had tried again to speak with him, 246 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.519 but either his room would be locked and silent, or 247 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.919 if I caught sight of him at all upon the 248 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.600 stairs or in the grounds, he would take literally to 249 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:19.720 his heels. Where does he eat? I asked for he 250 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.600 continued absent from our meals, and it appeared that sometimes 251 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:25.679 he would raid the larder and carry off his plunder 252 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:29.480 to the fields. Neither Monsieur Villon nor his domestics had 253 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:31.720 any control over him, and even if they had, I 254 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.120 could not have relied on them to exercise it upon 255 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:36.960 my behalf. As to the servants, they were in all 256 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.159 respect so uncooperative as to be almost obstructionist, while in 257 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:44.559 particular their extraordinary reticence caused me to think that they 258 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:47.519 had probably been forbidden to gossip with me upon this 259 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:51.320 or any other subject. How fervently I wished that Goderic 260 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:54.080 were here, but of course he could not desert his 261 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:58.159 patience at short notice, Nor obviously was Monsieur Villon's hospitality 262 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:01.639 in my gift. Denis, I found, had done as I 263 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.200 had thought, and managed to stow away upon a fishing 264 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.640 boat at Brixham. It had been evidently useless for him 265 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.799 to pretend that his visit had my sanction, and he 266 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.400 must have known I would eventually pursue him. But beyond 267 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:17.400 his infatuated determination to be reunited with raoulat and a cost. 268 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:19.839 I doubted whether he could have had much of a 269 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.160 settled plan of action and campaign. He had steered as 270 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.880 clear as possible, it seemed, of Monsieur Vignon, and so 271 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:27.920 as far as I could gather, had confided the manner 272 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:32.119 of his crossing only half inadvertently to Dorle, who had 273 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:36.440 retailed the story subsequently to his master. It was a 274 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.240 beautiful kettle of fish all round. I sent a wire 275 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.400 to the police at Winchester, reflecting what slight satisfaction it 276 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:46.319 had brought me thus to have proved them wrong in 277 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:49.240 my anxiety. I had little or no help from Monsieur Villon, 278 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:52.559 either he was genuinely ill or feigned it to avoid 279 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.119 my badgering. Never joining me at breakfast, he would retire, 280 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:59.720 though with excuses, immediately after lunch and dinner, And since 281 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:01.960 our talk on the first evening had said nothing to 282 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:05.880 me of the least seriousness, sincerity, or moment as to 283 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:10.279 what should have been our common problem, left my own devices. 284 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.440 I would wander wretchedly around the estate in nearer villages, 285 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:17.839 exchanging a bolsieu occasionally with some peasant, but often meeting 286 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.200 no one. As I chose the less frequented paths. The 287 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.519 autumn days were dull, but now and then a brighter 288 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:26.400 spell invited me to extend my rambles towards a pie 289 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:29.599 that topped a line of rocky hillocks to the north. 290 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.039 One afternoon, it was the fourth or fifth since my arrival. 291 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:37.640 I had set out thither at about three o'clock. I 292 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.559 paid no particular heed to where I was going, and 293 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.359 walked on, I suppose, with my head bent in gloomy thought, 294 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.160 for which I certainly had food enough. Yes, the position 295 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:50.240 was fantastic, and a description of it given baldly would 296 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:54.519 provoke only pitying disbelief. And yet the history was true. 297 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.880 That was I knew that, as much of it as 298 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:00.839 I had seen with my own eyes was true. As 299 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:05.160 for the rest, For Monsieur Vignon's wild, while have contemptuous 300 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:09.079 elaborations on the theme, I reserved judgment. He was a 301 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:12.119 sick man, whatever the cause, and his troubles seemed reflected 302 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:16.000 in the unprosperous, depleted and decayed condition generally of his 303 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:20.599 estate and household. The chateau was in disrepair, in its staff, 304 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.519 whether by flight or by dismissal, reduced to an uneasy remnant. 305 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:29.400 Why for example, had the trusted Fleabart left, my heart 306 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:33.839 was leaden with misgiving. Could Monsieur Vignon a diabolic suspicion 307 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:37.720 flashed into my brain? Could he initially have asked Dennis 308 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:40.720 to the chateau, or anyhow have gone on having him 309 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:45.119 there in order to to safeguard his children? Could he, 310 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.480 at one time to protect them, to divert something from 311 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:51.680 them and fasten it on Denis, have actually been tempted 312 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:55.039 to promote and foster the disastrous intimacy between Raoul and 313 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:59.160 my boy. But I rejected such a vile hypothesis as 314 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:02.759 altogether to far fetched. My mind as well must be 315 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:07.480 infected to have harbored it, And suddenly roused from my reverie, 316 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:10.839 I looked about me. The country was unfamiliar and very lonely. 317 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:13.359 In a small half ruined church or chapel with a 318 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:18.200 graveyard attached, added to its general air of desolation. In 319 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:21.160 that indifference of purpose which is born of mental exhaustion 320 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:25.279 rather than of any even idle curiosity, I entered the 321 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:29.599 graveyard and wandered aimlessly among its tombs. Some distance off, 322 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:32.599 I noticed a man was wending towards me down the road. 323 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.119 Ahead I loitered absently around the inside of the boundary wall. 324 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.160 The burial ground was evidently disused, and the graves were untended, 325 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.160 many overgrown with bramble or rank grass. Now and then 326 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:49.000 a date caught my eye eighteen thirty eighteen thirteen, seventeen 327 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:53.640 seventy possibly the all at once I stopped, transfixed as 328 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:56.720 in the silence and aims stole staring back at me. 329 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:00.680 It was inscribed upon a headstone slightly taller than the rest, 330 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:05.720 though lichen coated, tilted, cracked and weather worn as they rivache, 331 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:13.720 and just as decipherable below Yes Raoul Mireau, eighteen seventy three. 332 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:17.240 A footfall made me start. It was the man I 333 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:19.240 had seen on the ground, and whose approach over the 334 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:23.400 grass had been noiseless. He seemed a respectable, decent fellow 335 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.640 of the sturdy bonum type, probably a small tradesman or 336 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.480 petty farmer. But he was regarding me and the grave 337 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.599 with a frown of somber disapproval. He gave a significant 338 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:36.680 upward jerk of the head and pointed to the tomb. 339 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:42.920 Monsieur knows, perhaps of whom datistic grave. In a double disconcertment, 340 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:49.519 I stammered faintly, Yes, I know the No, I cannot. 341 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.359 I mean, it is the name, the same name as 342 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.839 somebody's I know. The man took a step backward, crossing himself, 343 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:00.880 and said, coldly, enough, Zin, it is to be hoped 344 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.720 that Monsieur knows osso that it is a bad name. 345 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.279 Hallo barsieur Monsieur. He was going slowly away from me, 346 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:13.319 but on an impulse I detained him. Why who who 347 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:18.400 was he? I asked? Was he a criminal? Or? My 348 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:21.960 tongue faltered, and as the man's glance met mine searchingly, 349 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:24.440 it was as if a thousand things had passed wordlessly 350 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:29.359 between us. No, Monsieur in life, he is not a criminal. 351 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.680 But he paused, then, stooping, traced with a forefinger that 352 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:38.759 eight eighteen seventy three that Monsieur was when he died. 353 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:43.119 It is there Cateniston, and is so far as it 354 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:47.640 goes character. My father was mayor of the commune and 355 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:51.440 could remember all about it. I have even myself seen 356 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.519 the burial record, which was in the register of the 357 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.240 parish before the amalgamission. I can tell you no more 358 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:01.079 than that, if you please, monsieur, that he died almost 359 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:06.440 eighty years ago, in eighteen seventy three, again he crossed himself, 360 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:09.200 and this time, as he withdrew, I did not stay him. 361 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:12.599 I was thrown momentarily into a kind of panic. In 362 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:16.279 a sense, my talk several evenings since with Monsieur Vignon 363 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.279 should have prepared me for this further shock. Yet I 364 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:21.599 had still tended. Then, I think to discount a good 365 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:24.559 deal of his discourse as crazy ranting, which he had 366 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:29.559 not repeated and probably repented. But now the story borne 367 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:33.079 out in another mouth had gained fresh substance and solidity, 368 00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:38.200 something a mortuary breath of evil had addressed me, subverting 369 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:43.839 reason and defeating sanity. Raoul, if it were he dead 370 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:47.880 eighty years ago, or what would lead this steady countryman 371 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:51.559 and sober citizen thus to accost me so suspiciously and reprehendingly, 372 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.799 Waiting only until he disappeared across a field, I walked 373 00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:59.640 quickly back to the chateau. That same evening I got 374 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:03.160 miss Urvaillon's consent to my begging Goderic if he could 375 00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:06.279 possibly arrange it to join me at the earliest opportunity. 376 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:10.599 I had spent six days here quite uselessly. My boy 377 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.519 remained obdurate in avoiding me, keeping out of doors as 378 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:15.720 much as he could, and eating his meals. I knew 379 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:19.319 not when or precisely where. This could not go on indefinitely, 380 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.039 and he must be removed somehow, But I did not 381 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.720 feel confident of my ability to hail him home single handedly, 382 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.720 or wish either to invoke police assistance French or British. 383 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.559 I worded my letter to Goderich very strongly, and having 384 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:37.720 posted it was slightly easier in mind. Otherwise I was 385 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.279 more tortured by anxiety than ever, and my discovery of 386 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:43.519 the lonely grave had had a horrible effect on me. 387 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:46.759 Coupled with the queer manner of the honest fellow who 388 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:50.680 had spoken to me beside it, his doubting, fearful looks, 389 00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:53.799 and his ambiguous reticence, it left me pray to a 390 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:58.200 complete bewilderment and cold dismay of Dennis. Meanwhile, as I 391 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.960 have just said, I caught only fleeting glimpses Monsieur Viagnon, 392 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.039 who had warned me that he Denis would try to 393 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:08.519 get it back, pretended to have interceded with him. But 394 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.160 on this I placed no least reliance. I had little 395 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:14.640 real idea of what my boy did with himself all day, 396 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.119 of whether he still slept in the same room, though 397 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:21.319 I was assured this was so, or of when he fed, 398 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:25.640 or bathed or changed his clothes. As to this last point, 399 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:29.039 I had brought with me for him some clean shirts, socks, 400 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:31.839 and underwear, which I had handed to dor Lo and 401 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.960