WEBVTT - 2021 Halloween Spooktacular! 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:19.200 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the Spooktacular, the Spooky 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:24.400 spoek Tacular of the Spooktaculars of All Time Tacular. This 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:29.880 is stuff you should know, the Spooktacular the as tradition dictates, 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:34.760 add free spook Tacular m It's in our contract, it is. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.519 We fight for it. Everyone, do not put ads and 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.680 ruin our bad readings of Halloween stories, which we try 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.159 very hard to select from the increasingly small pantheon of 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.639 public domain horror short fiction. I found a few this year, 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.560 so I got a couple in my hip pocket. Oh good, 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.600 I'm glad. I'm glad. I gotta say, uh, nice work. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:57.920 I think both of these that we dug up are 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.400 really really good stories, agreed, m R James and hl 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:06.480 Mankin right. I thought it was Mr James. That's what 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.319 he likes, call me Mr James. He but you're a doctor, 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.360 so what. Yeah. The one I picked this year is 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.319 Lost Hearts by m R James. And I'm pretty psyched 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.200 about this one because it is good. Agreed. It's a corker, 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.240 you can figure it out, but it's still it's it's entertaining. 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:27.800 How about that it's entertaining, it's fun. Uh. There are 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.959 a couple of spooky uh dates in this did you 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.319 notice that we'll talk about that? I didn't know. I 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.480 can't wait to hear it. And um, you know, I 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:44.960 don't think we need a content warning. It's it's spooky. Um. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.800 But you know with kids, and there's always a chance 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:49.440 if you have kids, they may not want to listen. 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.919 It's not over the top because it was written in 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.160 in the nineteenth century, right, yeah, and being written in 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.280 the nineteenth century that we should probably point out there's 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:02.880 a couple of um, yes, touchy, semi racist, uh, just 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.400 terms that will explain. Yeah, I mean, should we go 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.600 ahead and say now, oh sure, go ahead? Yeah? I 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.360 mean we did a podcast on the Roma people, and 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.239 UH made took great pains to tell people that using 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.200 the word gypsy is no longer something you should do. 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:20.960 We're saying jipped off, which is something that I learned 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.200 while doing that podcast. And they use the word gypsy 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.640 in here a couple of times. They also use chinaman 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.280 in here, but they're actually talking about something specific, so 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.320 we'll explain later, okay, Right, And there's a general with 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:38.760 this one lady um sort of xenophobic bent thank people 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:43.160 from other countries. She's a yeah exactly, She's an archetypal 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.079 rural died in the wool salt of the earth woman. 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.120 So all that is to say, the opinions expressed there 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.040 and do not represent those of the hostess. Very nice, 0:02:54.480 --> 0:03:00.320 here with forthwith guarantee void in Tennessee. Alright, Uh, everyone, 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:05.200 turned the lights down. I've got my lights dimmed. Yeah, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:06.959 let's do that. I'm going the first time we're not 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:08.959 in the same room holding hands. I know, I'm a 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.800 little scared. A little scared too. I can't see the 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.640 paper as well with that light off, So I'm gonna 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.799 turn it back on. Okay, Uh, turn the lights down 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.359 to get to pour yourself a spooky drink and gather kids. 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.520 And here we go for the spook tacular. And this 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:33.320 is Lost Hearts by Mr Mr James. I'll start, Okay, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:46.520 sure it was, as far as I can ascertain, in 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.680 September of the year eighteen eleven. Is that a spooky date? 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.360 Chuck Bill, Well, it's coming, Okay, that a post chaise. 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:55.880 I think that's a kind of coach drew up before 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.440 the door of Aswarby Hall in the heart of Lincolnshire. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:01.920 The little boy who jumped out as soon as it 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.560 had stopped, looked about him with the keenest curiosity. During 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.200 the short interval that elapsed between the ringing of the 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.080 bell and the opening of the hall door, he saw 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.200 a tall, square, red brick house built in the rain 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.159 of an A stone pillared porch had been added in 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.880 the purest classical style of seventeen ninety. The windows of 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.920 the house were many, tall and narrow, with small panes 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.560 and thick white woodwork. A pediment pierced with round window 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.479 crowned the front. There were wings to the left and 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.800 the right, connected by curious glazed galleries supported by colonnades 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.760 with the central block. These wings plainly contained the stables 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.520 and offices of the house. Each was surmounted by an 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:46.359 ornamental cupola with a gilded vein cupola. You know, I 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.120 always said coupola, and then every single person on the 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.640 Inspiration four crew called that thing on the dragon capsule 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.640 of the cupola, So I'm just going with that now. 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.960 An evening light shone on the building, making the window 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.960 panes glow like so many fires, so many away from 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.480 the hall in front stretched a flat park studded with 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.520 oaks and fringed with furs, which stood out against the sky. 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.279 The clock in the church tower buried in trees on 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.280 the edge of the park, only its golden weathercock catching 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.840 the light was striking six, and the sound came gently 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.400 beating down the wind. It was an altogether pleasant impression, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.320 though tinged with the sort of melancholy appropriate to an 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.080 evening in early autumn, that was conveyed to the mind 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.360 of the boy who was standing in the porch waiting 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.360 for the door to open to him. The post chaise 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.919 had brought him from Warwickshire, where six months before he 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.440 had been left in orphan. Now, owing to the generous 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.600 offer of his elderly cousin, Mr Abney, he had come 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.960 to live at as Worthy. The offer was unexpected, because 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.160 all who knew anything of Mr Abney looked upon him 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.280 as a somewhat austere recluse into whose steady going household 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.800 the advent of a small boy would import a new 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:02.120 and it seemed incongruous lament. The truth is that very 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.159 little was known of Mr Abney's pursuits or temper. The 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.520 professor of Greek at Cambridge had been heard to say 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:09.920 that no one knew more of the religious beliefs of 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.920 the later Pagans than did the owner of Aswarby. Certainly 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.000 his library contained all the then available books bearing on 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.039 the mysteries, the orphic poems, the worship of Mithras, and 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.360 the neo Platonists. In the marble paved hall stood a 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.400 fine figure of Mythrust slaying a bull, which had been 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.080 imported from the Levant at great expense by the owner. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.040 He had contributed a description of it to the Gentleman's Magazine. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.280 I think not that kind Gentleman's magazine, and he had 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.440 written a remarkable series of articles in the Critical Museum 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.279 on the superstitions of the Romans of the Lower Empire. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.640 It was published in Hustler House. Let me tell you 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:52.080 about my Mythress laying a bull statue. He was looked 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.920 upon in fine as a man wrapped up in his books. 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:56.919 And it was a matter of great surprise among his 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.360 neighbors that he should even have heard of his cousin 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.400 Stephen Elliott, much more that he should have volunteered to 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:09.600 make him an inmate of Aswarbie Hall. All right, so 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.920 this orphan boy showed up at this house to live 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.800 with his relative, who seems like a decent guy. It's 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.320 a little dark, yeah, but it was a surprise because 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.800 he was, like, you know, wrapped up in his books, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.400 a bachelor, not really interested in having a kid around. 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:31.040 All right, shall I whatever may have been expected by 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.200 his neighbors, It is certain that Mr Abney, that's all 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.680 the thin. The austere seemed inclined to give his young 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.720 cousin a kindly reception. The moment the front door was opened, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.000 he darted out of his study, rubbing his hands with delight. 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.480 How are you, my boy? How are you? How old 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.160 are you? Said he? That is, you are not too 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.840 much tired? I hope by your journey to eat your supper? Now, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:02.840 thank you, sir, said Mr Elliott. I'm pretty well. Oh 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.120 that's a good that, that's a good lad, said Mr Abney. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.760 And how old are you, my boy? It seemed a 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.920 little odd that he should have asked the question twice 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.480 in the first two minutes of their acquaintance. I'm twelve 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:20.080 years old. Dick's birthday, sir, said Stephen. And when is 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:25.560 your birthday, my dear boy? Eleventh of September a spooky 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.000 date I think he predicted the whole thing. I got you, okay, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.800 Mr James did eleventh of September. A. That's well, that's 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.400 very well, nearly a year. Hence, isn't it. I like, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.120 ha ha, I like to get these things down in 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:46.680 my book. Sure it's twelve certain, Yes quite, yer, sir, well, 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.080 well take him to Mrs Bunch's room, Parks and let 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.880 him have his tea, supper whatever it is. Yes, sir, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.720 answered the state Mr Parks, and conducted Stephen to the 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.440 lower regions. Mrs Bunch was the most comfortable and human 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.960 person whom Stephen had as yet met in as Warby. 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.560 She made him completely at home. They were great friends 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.640 in a quarter of an hour, and great friends they remained. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.000 Mrs Bunch had been born in the neighborhood some fifty 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.079 five years before the date of Stephen's arrival, and her 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.360 residence at the hall was of twenty years standing. Consequently, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.439 if anyone knew the ins and outs of the house 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.760 and the district, Mrs Bunch knew them, and she was 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:34.520 by no means disinclined to communicate her information. So we 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.760 got a nice lady that lives there, who knows everything 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.360 that's going on. Very nice person, seemingly nice. Aside from 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:45.960 the xenophobia, as we will see, certainly, there were plenty 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.679 of things about the hall and the hall gardens which Stephen, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.160 who was of an adventurous and inquiring turn, was anxious 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:55.560 to have explained to him. Who built the temple at 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.480 the end of the Laura Walk, Who was the old 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.160 man whose picture hung on the staircase sitting at a 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.720 table with a skull under his hand. These and many 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.720 similar points were cleared up by the resources of Mrs 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.880 Bunch's powerful intellect. There were others, however, of which the 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:15.760 explanations furnished were less satisfactory. One November evening, Stephen was 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.520 sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, reflecting on 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.160 the surroundings. It's best having a good man, and will 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.440 you go to heaven? He suddenly asked, with a peculiar 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.880 confidence with which children possess in the ability of their 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.760 elders to settle these questions, the decision of which is 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:37.800 believed to be reserved for other tribunals. Can't wait to 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.439 hear this one. I don't really haven't even worked out 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:47.520 how I'm gonna do it. Let's try this. Good bless 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:51.400 the child, said Mrs Bunch. Masters as kind a soul 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.600 as I ever see, didn't I she's like my age, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:01.360 she's fifty. Yeah, but old timey nineteenth century way different, 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.240 did didn't? I never tell you the little boy as 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.160 he took in out of the street, as you may 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.480 say this seven years back, and the little girl two 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.640 years after I first come here. Now, do tell me 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:21.360 all about them, Mrs Bunch, Now this minute easy. Sorry, 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.000 I added that, so this guy took in a couple 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:28.280 of other kids. Huh, all right, well, said missus much. 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:30.920 The little girl I don't seem to recollect so much 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.640 about I know. Master brought her back with him from 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.439 his walk one day and give orders to Mrs Ellis, 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.319 as was housekeeper then as she should be, took every 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.480 care with and the poor child had no one belonging 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.679 to her. She told me so her own self. And 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.839 here she lived with us a matter of three weeks, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.920 it might be, and then whether she were somethink of 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.520 a gypsy at her blood or whatnot, But one morning 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.719 she out of her bed, for any of us had 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.120 open an eye, and neither trek nor yet trace of 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.760 her have I set eyes on sense. Master was wonderful 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.120 put about and had all the ponds dragged. But it's 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.920 my belief she was had away by them gypsies, for 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.360 there was singing round the house for as much as 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:21.000 an hour the night she went. And Parkes, he declares 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.960 he heard them a colin in the woods all that afternoon. Dear, Dear, 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:29.760 a odd child, said odd. I think she's saying odd 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.320 in the old timing way with an okay, an odd child. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.720 She was so silent it always and all, but I 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:41.800 was wonderful taken up with her, so domesticated, she was surprising. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.880 And what about the little boy, said Stephen, Oh, that 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:52.960 poor boy, sighed Mrs Bunch. He was a foreigner, jeviny, 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.800 he called himself. And he come a tweaking his hurdy 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:02.119 gurdie round about. He was tweaking, speaking his hurdie gurdie. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:07.040 He wasn't working at least, uh tweaking his hurdy gurdie 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.400 rounded about the drive. When went to day and Master 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.680 Adam in that minute and asked all about where he 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.400 came from, how old he was, how he made his way, 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.040 and where was his relatives, and all his kind heart 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.440 could wish but it with the same way with him. 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.040 They're an unruly lot, them foreign nations, I do suppose. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.480 And he was off one fine morning, just the same 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.319 as the girl. Why he went and what he done 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.880 was our question for as much as a year after. 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.280 But he never took his urdie gurdie And there it 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:45.920 lays on the shelf. What is urdie gurdie, Hurdy gurdie. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.440 It's like a kind of like a musical instrument. I think, um, 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.800 like a squeeze box. Maybe. So a little boy named 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.880 Jovanni showed up squeezing his squeezebox on their driveway and 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:02.080 and Mr Mr Abney it is Abney, right, I think so. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.800 Mr Abney brought him in the house and was asking 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:06.680 him a bunch of questions and then took him under 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.160 his wing. Yeah, like every kid he finds. He's like, 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.800 how old are you? Win your birthday? Come inside your mind? 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.240 So I think you guys can all see what we 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.800 were talking about with Mrs Bunched, right, Yeah, I think so. 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.400 I think so. The remainder of the evening was spent 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.200 by Stephen and miscellaneous cross examination of Mrs bunch and 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.240 in efforts to extract a tune from the hurdy gurdy. 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.080 That night he had a curious stream. At the end 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.040 of the passage. At the top of the house in 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:39.160 which his bedroom was situated, there was an old, disused bathroom. 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.440 It was kept locked, but the upper half of the 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.720 door was glazed, and since the Muslim curtains which used 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.320 to hang there had long been gone, you could look 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.240 in and see the lead line bath affixed to the 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.040 wall on the right hand, with its head towards the window. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.480 On the night of which I am speaking, Steven Elliott 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.800 found himself, as he thought, looking through the glazed door. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.720 That means there was a window in it. The moon 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.800 was shining through the window see, and he was gazing 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.800 at a figure which lay in the bath. His description 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.680 of what he saw reminds me of what I once 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.840 beheld myself in the famous vaults of Saint McCann's Church 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:19.160 in Dublin, which possesses the horrid property of preserving corpses 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:23.720 from decay for centuries. A figure inexpressibly thin and pathetic, 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.680 of a dusty leaden color, enveloped in a shroud like garment, 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.800 the thin lips crooked into a faint and dreadful smile. 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.920 The hands pressed tightly over the region of the heart. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.240 As he looked upon it, a distant, almost inaudible moan 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.840 seemed to issue from its lips, and the arms began 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.760 to stir. The terror of the site forced Stephen backwards, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.040 and he awoke to the fact that he was indeed 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.080 standing on the cold boarded floor of the passage in 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.080 the full light of the moon, with a courage which 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.160 I do not think can be common among boys of 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.520 his age. He went to the door of the bathroom 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.320 to ascertain if the figure year of his dream were 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.000 really there. It was not, and he went back to band, 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.680 keep going, yeah, look, this is getting creepy. I know, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.520 that's what I'm saying. It's a good one. He saw 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:18.360 a straight up scary, decaying ghost in the bathtub. M 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.960 Mrs Bunch was much impressed next morning by his story, 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.440 and went so far as to replace the muslin curtain 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.280 over the glazed door of the bathroom ak the window. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.840 Mr Abney moreover, to whom he confided his experiences at breakfast, 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.880 was greatly interested and made notes of the matter and 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:42.359 what he called his book. The Spring Equinox was approaching, 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.760 as Mr Abney frequently reminded his cousin, adding that this 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.400 had been always considered by the agents to be a 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.360 critical time for the young, that Stephen would do well 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:53.760 to take care of himself and shut his bedroom window 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.960 at night, and that the sense or innus had some 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.960 valuable remarks on the subject. Two inside that occurred about 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.560 this time made an impression upon Stephen's mind. Chuck will 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.480 share those two incidents with us now. The first was 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.760 after an unusually uneasy and oppressed night that he had passed, 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.240 though he could not recall any particular dream that he 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.120 had had. The following evening, Mrs Bunch was occupying herself 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.280 and mending his nightgown. Grace is me, master Stephen, She 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.280 broke forth, rather irritably. How do you manage to tear 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.720 your night dress all to flinders this way? Look here, sir, 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.960 what trouble you do give to poor servants that have 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.280 to darn and mend after you. It was indeed a 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:43.200 most destructive and apparently wanton series of slits or scorings 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.600 in the garment, which would undoubtedly require a skillful needle 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.080 to make good. They were confined to the left side 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:53.200 of his chest, long parallel slits about six inches in length, 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.679 some of them not quite piercing the texture of the linen. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.880 Stephen could only express his entire ignorance of their origin. 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.679 He was sure that they were not there the night before, 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.840 but he said, Mrs Bunch stays just the same as 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.919 the scratches on the outside of my bedroom door, and 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:16.639 I'm sure I'd never had anything to do with making them. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.800 I think it gets it across. They think I've nailed 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.119 young Stephen. I think you're nailing it. He's moving closer 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.800 and closer to cockney as we go. That's the one 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.200 I can do. That's the one anybody who can only 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.720 do one can do. Mrs Bunch gazed at him open mouth, 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.359 then snatched up a candle, departed hastily from the room, 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.240 and was heard making her way upstairs. In a few 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:45.160 minutes she came down. Well, she said, Master Stephen. It's 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:47.639 a funny thing to me how them marks and scratches 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.760 can have come. They're too high up for any cat 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.200 or dog to have made him much less a rat 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.639 for all the world, like a chinaman's fingernails. As my 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.600 uncle and the tea trade used to tell us of 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.920 when we was girls together, I wouldn't say nothing to master, 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.280 not if I was you, Master Stephen, my dear, and 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.760 just turned the key of your door when you go 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:13.800 to your bed, so I should probably say like she, 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.160 I was like, what is this daft, old middle agist 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:22.000 woman talking about? And it turns out she's referring to 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.679 apparently there was a trend among the nobility and the 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:29.560 courtisans of China at this time in the early nineteenth 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.840 century I think before, of wearing their fingernails very long 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.000 and pointy. She's saying, these scratches look kind of like 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.440 claw marks, and she kind of likened it to something 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.360 that had long and pointing fingernails like that. So okay, 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.720 not that that excuses everything, but you know, I got you. 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.119 There's a little background to it. I think we all 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:50.800 learned something here. Mrs Bunch is not totally out of 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.359 her mind, all right, So she yells at Stephen to 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.960 go to bed, and he says, I always stay, Mrs 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.480 Bunch as soon as I've said, my prey, oh that's 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.440 a good child. Always say your prayers and then no 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:09.240 one can't hurt you. Here with Mrs Bunch addressed herself 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:13.520 to mending the injured nightgown with intervals of meditation until bedtime. 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:18.639 Interesting this was on a Friday night in March eighteen twelve. 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.080 On the following evening, the usual duet of Stephen and 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.000 Mrs Bunch was augmented by the sudden arrival of Mr Parkes, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.159 the butler, who as a rule kept himself rather to 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.320 himself in the pantry. He did not see that Stephen 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.320 was there. He was moreover flustered and less slow a 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.919 speech than was his. Wont master may get up his 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.760 own wine if he likes of an evening was his 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.600 first remark. Either I do it in the daytime or 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:46.800 not at all. Mrs Bunch, I don't know what it 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.560 may be, very like it's the rats or the wind 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:51.760 got into the cellars. But I'm not as young as 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.000 I was, and I can't go through with it as 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.639 I have done. Well. Mr Parks you know it is 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.680 a surprising place for the rats, is the hall. I'm 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.760 not the nying that to Mrs Bunchen. To be sure, 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.120 many a time I've heard the tale from the men 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.800 in the shipyards about the rats that could speak. I 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.720 never laid no confidence in that before, but tonight, if 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.000 I demeaned myself today my ear to the door of 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.000 the further bin. I could pretty much have heard what 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:20.240 they was saying. Oh man, you're crushing it. Oh damn, 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.479 Mr Parks, I had no patience with your fancies rats 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.240 talking in the wide cellar aded well, Mrs Munch, I've 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:29.399 no wish saw ague with you. All I can say is, 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:31.680 if you choose to go to the far bin and 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.520 lead your ear to the door, you may prove my 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:39.439 words this minute. What nonsense you do talk? Mr Parkes 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.560 not fit for children to listen to. Why you'll be 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.680 frightening Master Stephen. They're out of his wits. What Master 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.360 Stephen said, Parks awakening to the consciousness of the boy's presence. 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:53.280 Master Stephen knows well enough that I'm playing a joke 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:57.680 with you, Mrs Bunch. In fact, Stephen knew too well 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:00.840 to suppose that Mr Park's head, in the first instance 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:05.119 intended a joke. He was interested, not altogether pleasantly in 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:09.280 the situation, but all his questions were unsuccessful in inducing 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.600 the butler to give any more detailed account of his 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:17.080 experiences in the wine cellar. And we have now arrived 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:24.000 at March eighteen twelve. Spooky nope, okay. It was a 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:28.000 day of curious experiences for Stephen, a windy, noisy day 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.359 which filled the house in the gardens with a restless impression. 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.240 As Stephen stood by the fence of the grounds and 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:36.639 looked out into the park, he felt as if an 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.199 endless procession of unseen people were sweeping past him on 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:44.760 the wind, borne on restlessly and aimlessly, vainly striving to 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:47.760 stop themselves, to catch at something that might arrest their 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:50.600 flight and bring them once again into contact with the 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:53.960 living world of which they had formed a part. After 0:22:54.080 --> 0:23:00.520 luncheon that day, Mr Abney said, you're Mr Abney. I'm Emney. 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.320 Yeah you are. Remember you asked him what his age was, 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:06.679 and that's right, that's right. We should probably leave that 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.480 in there. Stephen, my boy, do you think you could 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:12.520 manage to come to me tonight? I don't know if 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.720 this is the same accent. It sounds like Mrs Mrs 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:19.480 a Bunch is transforming into Mr Abney. Do you think 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:21.560 you could manage to come to me tonight? As late 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.600 as eleven o'clock in my study, She'll be busy until 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.680 that time, and I wish to show you something connected 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:30.879 with your future life, which it is most important that 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:33.359 you should know. You are not to mention this matter 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:35.720 to Mrs Bunch, nor to anyone else in the house, 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:37.800 and you had better go to your room at the 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:41.560 usual time. Here was a new excitement added to life. 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.160 Stephen eagerly grasped at the opportunity of sitting up till 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.040 eleven o'clock. He looked in at the library door on 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.000 his way upstairs night evening, and he saw a brazier 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:55.879