WEBVTT - Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:17.040 Ephemeral as production of artful explosions. Haunting is the idea 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:24.120 that a former life, its experiments, trials, goods and evils, 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.880 is retained by the spaces when inhabited, and in the 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.520 relics they once possessed, that the ephemera a person leaves 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.360 behind contains a trace of the beyond, which, should one 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:43.480 be so bold or so unlucky, can be summoned at will. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:51.120 Montague Roades James was manifestly obsessed with ephemera. A world 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:56.040 renowned medievalist scholar of prestigious British academia who moonlighted as 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:00.520 a horror author. In nineteen o four, James public among 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:05.480 his best enduring collections ghost Stories of an Antiquary, that is, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.600 one who collects antiques. The book reads at times like 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:15.160 a nonfiction document, citing real places and sworn testimony, blending 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:19.080 details pulled from contemporary life with those of the unknown. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:25.920 The first story in this collection, originally written and printed 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.039 soon after in the National Review, is titled Cannon Albericts 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:33.600 scrap Book. It takes place in the real village of 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.560 Saint Bertrand Command, where an English tourist spends a full 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.280 day surveying the relics of a dilapidated cathedral, with the 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:46.480 sanctuaries caretaker ever looking over his shoulder, and those efforts 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:50.480 pay off, so to speak, in the form of a 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:58.600 scrap book. Cannon Alberts scrap Book by m R James. 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.840 Saint Bertrand de Command is a decayed town on the 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.000 spurs of the Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse and 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.560 still nearer to Bannier de Luchon. It was the site 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.520 of a bishopric until the Revolution, and has a cathedral 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:18.240 which is visited by a certain number of tourists. In 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.240 the spring of eighteen eighty three, an Englishman arrived at 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.160 this old world place. I can hardly dignify it with 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.160 the name of city, for there are not a thousand inhabitants. 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.919 He was a Cambridge man who would come specially from 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.880 Toulouse to see Saint Bertrand's church, and had left two 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.200 friends who were less keen archeologists than himself, and their 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.880 hotel at to loose, under promise to join him on 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.919 the following morning. Half an hour at the church was 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.960 satisfied then, and all three could then pursue their journey 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.919 in the direction of Osh. But our Englishmen had come 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.519 early on the day in question, and proposed to himself 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.720 to fill a note book and to use several dozen 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.800 plates in the process of describing and photographing every corner 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.480 of the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of Command. 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.560 In order to carry out this design satisfactorily, it was 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.320 necessary to monopolize the verger of the church for the day. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.080 The verger or sacristan I prefer the latter appellation, inaccurate 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.920 as it may be, was accordingly sent for by the 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.600 somewhat brusque lady who keeps the inn of the Chapeau Rouge, 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.240 and when he came the Englishman found him an unexpectedly 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.720 interesting object of study. It was not in the personal 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.560 appearance of the little, dry, wizened old man that the 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.680 interest lay. For he was precisely like dozens of other 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.919 church guardians in France, but in a curious furtival rather 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.720 hunted an oppressed air which he had. He was perpetually 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.760 half glancing behind him. The muscles of his back and 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.160 shoulders seemed to be hunched in a continual nervous contraction, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.200 as if he were expecting every moment to find himself 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.600 in the clutch of an enemy. The Englishman hardly knew 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.880 whether to put him down as a man haunted by 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:57.400 a fixed delusion or as one oppressed by a guilty conscience. However, 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.600 the Englishman, let us call him Dennis, too, was soon 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.880 too deep in his notebook and too busy with his 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.880 camera to give more than an occasional glance to the Sacristan. 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.680 Whenever he did look at him, he found him at 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.040 no great distance, either huddling himself back against the wall 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.880 or crouching in one of the gorgeous stools. Dennis Tomb 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.160 became rather fidgety after a while, mingled suspicions that he 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.640 was keeping the old man from his dejenny, that he 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.920 was regarded as likely to make away with Saint Bertrand's 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.599 ivory crosying or with the dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.000 over the font, began to torment him. When you go home, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.479 he said, at last, I'm quite well able to finish 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:34.520 my notes alone. You can lock me in if you like. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:36.760 I shall want at least two hours more here, and 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.760 it must be cold for you, isn't it good? Heavens? 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.080 Said the little man whom the suggestions seemed to throw 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.359 into a state of unaccountable terror. Such a thing cannot 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.280 be thought of for a moment. Leave monsieur alone in 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.200 the church. No, No, two hours, three hours, All will 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.280 be the same to me. I have breakfasted. I am 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.680 not at all cold, with many thanks to Monsieur. Very well, 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.479 my little man, quoth Dennis Stone to himself. You have 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.279 been warned, and you must take the consequences. Before the 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.559 expiration of the two hours. The stalls, the enormous dilapidated organ, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.320 the choir screen of Bishop John Demoleon, the remnants of 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.480 glass and tapestry, and the objects in the treasure chamber 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.480 had been well and truly examined. The sacristan still keeping 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.840 at Dennis Tune's heels, and every now and then whipping 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.080 round as if he had been stung, when one or 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.359 other of the strange noises that trouble a large empty 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.360 building fell on his ear. Curious noises they were sometimes. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.599 Once Denniston said to me, I could have sworn I 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.000 heard a thin metallic voice laughing high up in the tower. 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.279 I darted an inquiring glance at my sacristan. He was 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:48.880 white to the lips. It is he that is it 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.599 is no one. The door is locked, was all he said, 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:53.880 and we looked at each other for a full minute. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.880 Another little incident puzzled Dennis Tune a good deal. He 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.159 was examining a large, dark picture that hangs behind the altar, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.560 one of a series illustrating the miracles of Saint Bertrand. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.320 The composition of the picture is well nigh indecipherable, but 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:14.200 there is a Latin legend below which runs, thus, kalite 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:19.560 s bertrandis the brevit hominem crime diabolus du volibat strangulaire 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.200 How sat Bertram delivered a man whom the devil long 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.440 sought to strangle. Dennis June was turning to the sacristan 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.920 with a smile and a jocular remark of some sort 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.359 on his lips, but he was confounded to see the 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.039 old man on his knees, gazing at the picture with 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.960 the eye of a suppliant in agony, his hands tightly clasped, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.240 and a rain of tears on his cheeks. Denniston naturally 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.880 pretended to have noticed nothing, but the question would not 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.599 go away from him. Why should a daub of this 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.919 kind affect anyone so strongly? He seemed to himself to 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:54.839 be getting some sort of clue to the reason of 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.040 the strange look that had been puzzling him all the day. 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.719 The man must be a monomaniac, but what was his 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.599 mono mania? It was nearly five o'clock, The short day 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.360 was drawing in, and the church began to fill with shadows, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.960 while the curious noises, the muffled footfalls and distant talking 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.320 voices that had been perceptible all day seemed no doubt. 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.119 Because of the fading light and the consequently quickened sense 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:24.040 of hearing to become more frequent and insistent, the sacristan 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.800 began for the first time to show signs of hurry 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.040 and impatience. He heaved a sigh of relief when camera 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.040 and notebook were finally packed up and stowed away, and 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.600 hurriedly beckoned Denniston to the western door of the church 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.840 under the tower. It was time to ring the Angelus. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.559 A few pulls at the reluctant rope, and the great 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.440 bell Betrand high in the tower, began to speak and 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.040 swung her voice up among the pines and down to 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.280 the valleys, loud with mountain streams, calling the dwellers on 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.520 those lonely hills to remember and repeat the salutation of 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.360 the Angel to her, whom he called blessed among women. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.840 With that, the profound quiet seemed to fall for the 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.160 fust time that day. Upon the little town. Dennis Tune 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:07.200 and the sacristan went out of the church. On the doorstep, 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.280 they fell into conversation. Monsieur seemed to interest himself in 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.880 the old choir books in the sacristy. Undoubtedly I was 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:16.480 going to ask you if there were a library in 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.760 the town. No, Monsieur. Perhaps there used to be one 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.680 belonging to the chapter, but it is now such a 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.040 small place. Here came a strange pause of irresolution, as 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.680 it seemed. Then with a sort of plunge, he went on, 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.560 But if Monsieur is amateur de voux, leave, I have 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.600 at home something that might interest him. It is not 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.120 a hundred yards at once. All Dennis Tune's cherished dreams 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.840 of finding priceless manuscripts in untrodden corners of France flashed 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.920 up to die down again the next moment. It was 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.199 probably a stupid missile of plantings printing about fifty Where 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.320 was the likelihood that a place so near to lose 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.000 would not have been ransacked long ago by collectors. However, 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.720 it would be foolish not to go. He would reproach 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.120 himsel elf forever after if he refused. So they set 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.760 off on the way. The curious irresolution and sudden determination 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.800 of the Sacristan recurred to Dennis tune, and he wondered 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.200 in a shamefaced way whether he was being decoyed into 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.560 some purlieu to be made away with as a supposed 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:20.120 rich englishman. He contrived, therefore, to begin talking with his guide, 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.760 and to drag in in a rather clumsy fashion, the 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.000 fact that he expected two friends to join him early 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.680 next morning. To his surprise, the announcement seemed to relieve 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.120 the Sacristan at once of some of the anxiety that 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:35.559 depressed him. That is well, that is very well. Monsieur 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.920 will travel in company with his friends. They will be 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.360 always near him. It is a good thing to travel 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:45.320 thus in company. Sometimes the last word appeared to be 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.640 added as an afterthought, and to bring with it a 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.120 relapse into gloom for the poor little man. They were 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.679 soon at the house, which was one rather larger than 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.160 its neighbors, stone built with a shield carved over the door. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.200 The shield of Alberic de molon To or descendant Dennis 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.319 Tune tells me of Bishop John Demoleon. This Alberic was 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.440 a canon of commands from sixteen eighty to seventeen o one. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.400 The upper windows of the mansion were boarded up, and 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.840 the whole place bore, as does the rest of commands. 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.360 The aspect of decaying age arrived on his doorstep. The 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.360 sacristan paused a moment. Perhaps, after all, the monsieur has 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.439 not the time, not at all, lots of time, nothing 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:27.480 to do till tomorrow. Let us see what it is 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.360 you've got. The door was opened at this point, and 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.880 a face looked out, a face far younger than the sacristan's, 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.120 but bearing something of the same distressing look. Only here 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.240 it seemed to be the mark not so much of 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:45.559 fearful personal safety as of acute anxiety on behalf of another. Plainly, 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.400 the owner of the face was the Sacristan's daughter. She 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.200 brightened up considerably on seeing her father accompanied by an 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.360 able bodied stranger. A few remarks passed between father and daughter, 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:57.960 of which Denniston only caught these words said by the 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:03.040 sacristan he was laughing in the church, words which were 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.280 answered only by a look of terror from the girl. 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.439 But in another minute they were in the sitting room 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.800 of the house, a small high chamber with a stone floor, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.360 full of moving shadows, cast by a wood fire that 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.760 flickered on a great hearth. Something of the character of 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.599 an oratory was imparted to it by a tall crucifix, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.520 which reached almost to the ceiling. On one side. The 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.760 figure was painted of the natural colors, the cross was black. 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.880 Under this stawod a chest of some age and solidity, 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.400 And when a lamp had been brought and chairs set, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.840 the sacristan went to this chest and produced therefrom with 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.520 growing excitement and nervousness, as Dennis Tone thought a large 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.840 book wrapped in a white cloth, on which cloth a 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.000 cross was rudely embroidered in red thread. Even before the 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.720 wrapping had been removed, Dennis Tone began to be interested 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.959 by the size and shape of the volume. Too large 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.480 for a missile, he thought, and not the shape of 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.520 an antiphan phaps. It may be something good after all. 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.120 The next moment the book was open, and Dennistone felt 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.880 that he had at last lit upon something better than good. 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.439 Before him lay a large folio bound perhaps late in 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.640 the seventeenth century, with the arms of Cannon Albert Demoleon 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.920 stamped in gold on the sides. There may have been 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.000 a hundred and fifty leaves of paper in the book, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.439 and are almost every one of them was fastened a 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.680 leaf from an illuminated manuscript. Such a collection Dennis Tune 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.840 had hardly dreamed of in his wildest moments. Here were 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.400 ten leaves from a copy of Genesis, illustrated with pictures 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.640 which could not be later than a d. Seven hundred. 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.760 Further on was a complete set of pictures from a 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.360 psalter of English execution of the very finest kind that 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.240 the thirteenth century could produce. And perhaps best of all, 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.400 there were twenty leaves of unsealed writing in Latin, which, 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.839 as a few words seen here and there told him 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:59.040 at once, must belong to some very early unknown Patristic treatise. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.200 Could it possibly be a fragment of the copy of 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.960 Pappius on the Words of Our Lord, which was known 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.560 to have existed as late as the twelfth century at Memes. 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.840 We now know that these leaves did contain a considerable 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.480 fragment of that work, if not of that actual copy 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.839 of it. In any case, his mind was made up 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.760 that book must return to Cambridge with him, even if 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.440 he had to draw the whole of his balance from 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.680 the bank and stay at St. Bertrand till the money came. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.760 He glanced up at the Sacristan to see if his 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.040 face yielded any hint that the book was for sale. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:34.040 The sacristan was pale, and his lips were working. If 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.480 Monsieur will turn on to the end, so if Monsieur 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.600 turned on, meeting new treasures at every rise of a leaf, 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:42.880 and at the end of the book he came upon 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.719 two sheets of paper of much more recent date than 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.679 anything he had seen yet, which puzzled him considerably. They 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.079 must be contemporary. He decided with the unprincipled canon Alberic, 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.040 who had doubtless plundered the chapter library of Sat. Bertrand 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.720 to form this priceless scrap book. On the first of 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.200 the pay apposheates was a plan carefully drawn and instantly 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.800 recognizable by a person who knew the ground of the 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.920 South Island cloisters of St. Bertrand's. There were curious signs 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.360 looking like planetary symbols, and a few Hebrew words in 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.720 the corners, and in the northwest angle of the cloister 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.880 was a cross drawn in gold paint. Below the plan 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.280 were some lines of writing in Latin, which ran thus 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:31.600 response to twelve me death six in terragatum est in 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:39.080 veny amne response from est venies vamne divis vs. Vivamne 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:46.160 invidendus vives marianne in lectomea eater Answers of the twelfth 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:51.440 of December, It was asked, shall I find it? Answer 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:57.360 thou shalt? Shall I become rich thou wilt? Shall I 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:02.040 live an object of envy that wilt? Shall I die 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:08.480 in my bed thou wilt? A good specimen of the 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.920 treasure hunter's record quite reminds one of Mr Minor Cannon 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.880 catch remain in Old Saint Paul's was Dennis June's comment, 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:20.160 and he turned the leaf. What he then saw impressed him, 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.400 as he has often told me, more than he could 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.280 have conceived any drawing or picture capable of impressing him. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.000 And though the drawing he saw is no longer in existence, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.080 there is a photograph of it which I possess, which 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.680 fully bears out that statement. The picture in question was 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.520 a CPA drawing at the end of the seventeenth century, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.800 representing one would say at first the biblical scene. For 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.920 the architecture the picture represented in interior, and the figures 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.280 had that semi classical flavor about them which the artists 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.400 of two hundred years ago frolled appropriate illustrations of the Bible. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.960 On the right was a king on his throne, the 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.720 throne elevated on twelve steps, the canopy over head soldiers 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.840 on either side, evidently King Solomon. He was bending forward 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:09.680 with outstretched scepter in attitude of command. His face expressed 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.880 horror and disgust. Yet there was in it also the 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:17.200 mark of imperious command and confident power. The left half 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.280 of the picture was the strangest, however, the interest plainly 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.960 centered There. On the pavement before the throne were grouped 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:30.000 four soldiers surrounding a crouching figure, which must be described 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.600 in a moment. A fifth soldier lay dead on the pavement, 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.160 his neck distorted and his eyeballs starting from his head. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.160 The four surrounding guards were looking at the king. In 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.840 their faces, the sentiment of horror was intensified. They seemed, 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.960 in fact, only restrained from flight by their implicit trust 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.640 and their master. All this terror was plainly excited by 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.560 the being that crouched in their midst. I entirely despair 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.240 of conveying, by any words, the impression which this figer 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.400 makes upon anyone who looks at it, I recollect. Once 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.280 showing the photograph of the drawing to a lecturer on morphology, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.160 a person of I was going to say, abnormally sane 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.600 and unimaginative habits of mind. He absolutely refused to be 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.360 alone for the rest of that evening, and he told 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.960 me afterwards that for many nights he had not dared 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.800 to put out his light before going to sleep. However, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.480 the main traits of the figure I can at least indicate. 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.719 At first, you saw only a mass of course matted 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.080 black hair. Presently it was seen that this covered a 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.080 body of fearful thinness, almost a skeleton, but with the 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.119 muscles standing out like wires. The hands were of a 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.639 dusky pallor, covered like the body, with long, coarse hairs 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:53.240 and hideously talented. The eyes, touched in with a burning yellow, 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.560 had intensely black pupils, and were fixed upon the throned 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.639 king with a look of beast like hate. Imagine one 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.560 of the awful bird catching spiders of South America, translated 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.440 into human form and endowed with intelligence just less than human, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.040 And you will have some faint conception of the terror 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:18.480 inspired by the appalling effigy. One remark is universally made 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.680 by those to whom I have showed the picture. It 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:26.600 was drawn from the life. As soon as the first 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.640 shock of his irresistible fright had subsided, Dennis Tune stole 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.280 a look at his hosts. The sacristan's hands were pressed 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.080 upon his eyes. His daughter, looking up at the cross 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:41.160 on the wall, was telling her beads feverishly. At last, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.800 the question was asked, is this book for sale? There 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.560 was the same hesitation, the same plunge of determination that 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.879 he had noticed before, and then came the welcome answer, 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:57.639 If monsieur pleases, how much do you ask for it? 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:03.360 I will take two hundred fifty francs. This was confounding. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.560 Even a collector's conscience is sometimes stirred, and Dennis Tune's 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.280 conscience was tenderer than a collector's. My good man, he 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.200 said again and again, your book is worth far more 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.840 than two hundred and fifty francs. I assure you far more. 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.480 But The answer did not vary. I will take two 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.840 hundred and fifty francs, not more. There was really no 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.359 possibility of refusing such a chance. The money was paid, 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.719 the receipt signed, a glass of wine drunk over the transaction, 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.240 and then the sacristans seemed to become a new man. 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.720 He stood upright, He ceased to throw those suspicious glances 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.160 behind him. He actually laughed, or tried to laugh. Dennis 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.760 Tune rose to go, I shall have the honor of 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.840 accompanying Monsieur to his hotel. Said the sacristan, Oh, no, thanks, 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.200 it isn't a hundred yards. I know the way perfectly, 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.600 and there is a moon. The offer was pressed three 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.720 or four times and refused as often. Then Monsieur will 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.600 summ me if if he finds occasion, he will keep 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.640 the middle of the road. The sides are so rough. Certainly, certainly, 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.600 said Dennis Tune, who was impatient to examine his prize 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.240 by himself, and he stepped out into the passage with 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:16.119 his book under his arm. Here he was met by 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.920 the daughter. She, it appeared, was anxious to do a 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.920 little business of her own account, perhaps like Ghazi, to 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.879 take somewhat from the foreigner whom her father had spared 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.240 a silver crucifix and chain for the neck. Monsieur would 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.760 perhaps be good enough to accept it. Well, Really, Dennis 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.040 Tune hadn't much use for these things. What did mademoiselle 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.359 want for it? Nothing? Nothing in the world. Monsieur is 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.680 more than welcome to it. The tone in which this, 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.080 and much more was said was unmistakably genuine, so that 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.080 Dennis Tune was reduced to profuse thanks and submitted to 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.200 have the chain put round his neck. It really seemed 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.119 as if he had rendered the father and daughter some 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.119 service which they hardly knew how to repay. As he 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.119 set off with his book, they stood at the or 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.840 looking after him, and they were still looking when he 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:04.879 waived them a last good night from the steps of 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:09.560 the Chapeau Rouge. Dinner was over, and Dennis June was 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:13.080 in his bedroom, shut up alone with his acquisition. The 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.119 landlady had manifested a particular interest in him, since he 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:17.600 had told her that he had paid a visit to 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.760 the sacristan and brought an old book from him. He thought, too, 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.280 that he had heard a hurried dialogue between her and 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.159 the said sacristan in the passage outside of the Salamange. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.240 Some words to the effect that Pierre and Bertrand would 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.360 be sleeping in the house had closed the conversation. All 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.399 this time, a growing feeling of discomfort had been creeping 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.879 over him, nervous reaction perhaps after the delight of his discovery. 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:46.719 Whatever it was, it resulted in a conviction that there 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.560 was someone behind him, and that he was far more 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.680 comfortable with his back to the wall. All this, of course, 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:56.639 weighed light in the balance as against the obvious value 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.400 of the collection he had acquired. And now, as I said, 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.600 he was alone in his bedroom taking stock of Canon 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:07.359 Alberic's treasures, in which every moment revealed something more charming. 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.760 Bless Cannon Albarek, said Denniston, who had an inveterate habit 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.520 of talking to himself. I wonder where he is now, 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.880 Dear me, I wish that landlady would learn to laugh 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:20.399 in a more cheering manner. Makes one feel as if 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.439 there was someone dead in the house. Half a pipe more, 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.480 did you say? I think? Perhaps you are right. I 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:29.120 wonder what that crucifix is that the young woman insisted 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.720 on giving me last century. I suppose, yes, probably it 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:35.560 is rather a nuisance of a thing to have around 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.159 one's neck, just too heavy. Most likely her father has 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.280 been wearing it for years. I might give it a 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.760 clean up before I put it away. He had taken 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.320 the crucifix off and laid it on the table when 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:49.800 his attention was caught by an object lying on the 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:53.280 red cloth just by his left elbow. Two or three 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:55.760 ideas of what it might be flitted through his brain 0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:01.280 with their own incalculable quickness. Pen why her No, no 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:06.200 such thing in the house, wrapped, no too black, A 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:10.960 large spider, I trust to Goodness, not no good God. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.720 A hand like the hand in that picture. In another 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:20.399 infinitism or flash, he had taken it in pale, dusky skin, 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:25.679 covering nothing but bones and tendons of appalling strength, coarse 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.800 black hairs longer than ever grew on a human hand, 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.280 nails rising from the ends of the fingers and curving 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:39.119 sharply down and forward, gray, horny, and wrinkled. He flew 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:42.840 out of his chair with deadly, inconceivable terror. Clutching at 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.359 his heart. The shape whose left hand rested on the 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:50.480 table was rising to a standing posture behind his seat. 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:55.119 It's right hand crooked above his scalp. There was black 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:59.119