 The Secret of the Growing Gold This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Haley Flagg The Secret of the Growing Gold by Bram Stoker When Margaret DeLondra went to live at Brent's Rock, the whole neighborhood awoke to the pleasure of an entirely new scandal Scandals in connection with either the DeLondra family or the Brents of Brent's Rock were not few and if the secret history of the county had been written in full Both names would have been found well represented It is true that the status of each was so different that they might have belonged to different continents or to different worlds for the matter of that For hitherto their orbits had never crossed The Brents were accorded by the whole section of the county a unique social dominance and had ever held themselves as high above the Yeoman class to which Margaret DeLondra belonged as a blue-blooded Spanish Hidalgo out tops his peasant tenetry The DeLondras had an ancient record and were proud of it in their way as the Brents were of theirs But the family had never risen above Yeomanry and although they had been once well to do in the good old times of foreign wars and Protection their fortunes had withered under the scorching of the free trade sun and the piping times of peace They had as the elder members used to assert stuck to the land with the result that they had taken root in it body and soul In fact, they having chosen the life of vegetables had flourished as vegetation does Blossomed and thrived in the good season and suffered in the bad Their holding Dander's Croft seemed to have been worked out and to be typical of the family which had lived in it The latter had declined generation after generation Sending out now and again some abortive shoot of unsatisfied energy in the shape of a soldier or sailor Who had worked his way to the minor grades of the services and had their stopped cut short either from unheeding Gallantry in action or from that destroying cause to men without breeding or youthful care The recognition of a position above them which they feel unfitted to fill So little by little the family dropped lower and lower the men brooding and dissatisfied and drinking themselves into the grave the women drudging at home or marrying beneath them or worse in process of time all Disappeared leaving only two in the Croft Wickham DeLondra and his sister Margaret the man and woman seemed to have inherited in masculine and feminine form Respectively the evil tendency of their race Sharing in common the principles though manifesting them in different ways of sullen passion voluptuousness and recklessness The history of the Brents had been something similar but showing the causes of decadence in their aristocratic and not their plebeian forms They too had sent their shoots to the wars But their positions had been different and they had often attained honor for without flaw They were gallant and brave deeds were done by them before the selfish Dispation which marked them had sapped their vigor the present head of the family if family it could now be called when one remained of the direct line Was Jeffrey Brent? He was almost a type of worn-out race Manifesting in some ways its most brilliant qualities and in others its utter degradation He might be fairly compared with some of those antique Italian nobles whom the painters have preserved to us with their courage Their unscrupulousness their refinement of lust and cruelty the voluptuary actual with the fiendish potential He was certainly handsome with that dark aquiline commanding beauty which women so generally recognized as dominant With men he was distant and cold, but such a bearing never deters woman kind The unscrupable laws of sex are so arranged that even a timid woman is not afraid of a fierce and haughty man And so it was that there was hardly a woman of any kinder degree who lived with in view of Brents rock Who did not cherish some form of secret admiration for the handsome wastrel? The category was a wide one for a Brents rock rose up steeply from the midst of a level region and for a circuit of 100 miles it lay on the horizon with its high old towers and steep roofs Cutting the level edge of wood and hamlet and far scattered mansions So long as Jeffrey Brent confined his dissipations to London in Paris in Vienna anywhere out of sight and sound of his home Opinion was silent It is easy to listen to far-off echoes unmoved and we can treat them with disbelief or scorn or disdain or whatever Attitude of coldness may suit our purpose But when the scandal came close to home It was another matter and the feelings of independence and integrity which is in people of every community Which is not utterly spoiled asserted itself and demanded that condemnation should be expressed Still there was a certain reticence in all and no more notice was taken of the existing facts than was absolutely necessary Margaret DeLondra bore herself so fearlessly and so openly She accepted her position as the justified companion of Jeffrey Brents So naturally that people came to believe that she was secretly married to him and therefore thought it wiser to hold their tongues Lest time should justify her and also make her an active enemy The one person who by his interference could have settled all doubts was debarred by circumstances from interfering in the matter Wickham DeLondra had quarreled with his sister or perhaps it was that she had quarreled with him And they were on terms not merely of armed neutrality, but of bitter hatred The quarrel had been antecedent to Margaret going to Brents Rock. She and Wickham had almost come to blows There had certainly been threats on one side and on the other and in the end Wickham overcome with passion had ordered His sister to leave his house She had risen straight away and without waiting to pack up even her own personal belongings had walked out of the house On the threshold she had paused for a moment to hurl a bitter threat at Wickham that he would ruin shame and despair to the last hour Of his life his act of that day Some weeks had since passed and it was understood in the neighborhood that Margaret had gone to London when she suddenly appeared Driving out with Jeffrey Brent and the entire neighborhood knew before nightfall that she had taken up her abode at the Rock It was no subject of surprise that Brent had come back unexpectedly for such was his usual custom Even his own servants never knew when to expect him for there was a private door of which he alone had the key by which he sometimes Entered without anyone in the house being aware of his coming. This was his usual method of appearing after a long absence Wickham De Laundre was furious at the news He vowed vengeance and keeps mind level with his passion drank deeper than ever He tried several times to see a sister, but she contemptuously refused to meet him He tried to have an interview with Brent and was refused by him also Then he tried to stop him in the road, but without a veil for Jeffrey was not a man to be stopped against his will Several actual encounters took place between the two men and many more were threatened and avoided At last Wickham De Laundre settled down to a morose vengeful acceptance of the situation Neither Margaret nor Jeffrey was of a Pacific temperament and it was not long before there began to be quarrels between them One thing would lead to another and wine flowed freely at Brent's rock now and again The quarrels would assume a bitter aspect and threats would be exchanged in uncompromising language that fairly odd the listening servants But such quarrels generally ended where domestic altercations do in reconciliation and in a mutual respect for the fighting qualities proportionate to their manifestation Fighting for its own sake is found by a certain class of persons all the world over to be a matter of absorbing interest And there is no reason to believe that domestic conditions minimize its potency Jeffrey and Margaret made occasional absences from Brent's rock and on each of these occasions Wickham De Laundre also Abcentred himself, but as he generally heard of the absence too late to be of any service He returned home each time in a more bitter and discontented frame of mind than before At last there came a time when the absence from Brent's rock became longer than before Only a few days earlier there had been a quarrel exceeding in bitterness anything which had gone before But this too had been made up and a trip on the continent had been mentioned before the servants After a few days Wickham De Laundre also went away, and it was some weeks before he returned It was noticed that he was full of some new importance Satisfaction exaltation they hardly knew how to call it He went straight away to Brent's rock and demanded to see Jeffrey Brent and on being told that he had not yet Returned said with a grim decision, which the servants noted I shall come again. My news is solid It can wait and turned away Week after week went by and month after month and then there came a rumor Certified later on that an accident had occurred in the Zermatt Valley Whilst crossing a dangerous pass the carriage containing an English lady and the driver had fallen over a precipice The gentleman of the party mr. Jeffrey Brent having been fortunately saved as he had been walking up the hill to ease the horses He gave information and a search was made the broken rail the excoriated roadway The marks where the horses had struggled on the decline before finally pitching over into the torrent all told the sad tale It was a wet season and there had been much snow in the winter So that the river was swollen beyond its usual volume and the eddies of the stream were packed with ice All search was made and finally the wreck of the carriage and the body of one horse were found in an eddy of the river Later the body of the driver was found on the sandy torrent swept waste near Tosh But the body of the lady like that of the other horse had quite disappeared and was what was left of it by that time Whirling amongst the eddies of the Roan on its way down to the lake of Geneva Wickham De Laundre made all the inquiries possible But could not find any trace of the missing woman He found however in the books of the various hotels the name of mr. And mrs. Jeffrey Brent and he had a stone Erected at Zermatt to his sister's memory under her married name and a tablet put up in the church at Breton the parish in which Both Brent's Rock and Danterscroft were situated There was a lapse of nearly a year after the excitement of the matter had worn away and the whole neighborhood had gone on It's a custom way Brent was still absent and De Laundre more drunken more morose and more revengeful than before then there was a new excitement Brent's Rock was being made ready for a new mistress It was officially announced by Jeffrey himself in a letter to the vicar that he had been married some months before to an Italian lady And that they were then on their way home Then a small army of workmen invaded the house and hammer and plane sounded and a general air of size and paint pervaded the atmosphere One wing of the old house the south was entirely redone and then the great body of the workmen departed leaving only materials for the Doing of the old hall when Jeffrey Brent should have returned for he had directed that the decoration was only to be done under his own eyes He had brought with him accurate drawings of a hall in the house of his bride's father For he wished to reproduce for her the place to which he had been accustomed as The molding had all to be redone some scaffolding poles and boards were brought in and laid on one side of the great hall And also a great wooden tank or box for mixing the lime which was laid in bags beside it When the new mistress of Brent's Rock arrives the bells of the church rang out and there was a general jubilation She was a beautiful creature full of the poetry and fire and passion of the south and the few English words Which he had learned were spoken in such a sweet and pretty broken way that she won the hearts of the people Almost as much by the music of her voice as by the melting beauty of her dark eyes Jeffrey Brent seemed more happy than he had ever before appeared But there was a dark anxious look on his face that was new to those who knew him of old And he started at times as though at some noise that was unheard by others and So months passed and the whisper grew that at last Brent's Rock was to have an heir Jeffrey was very tender to his wife and the new bond between them seemed to soften him He took more interest in his tenants and their needs than he had ever done and works of charity on his part As well as on his sweet young lives were not lacking He seemed to have set all his hopes on the child that was coming and as he looked deeper into the future The dark shadow that had come over his face seemed to die gradually away All the time Wickham DeLondra nursed his revenge Deep in his heart had grown up a purpose of vengeance which only waited an opportunity to crystallize and take a definite shape His vague idea was somehow centered in the wife of Brent for he knew that he could strike him best through those he loved And the coming time seemed to hold in its womb the opportunity for which he longed One night he sat alone in the living room of his house It had once been a handsome room in its way But time and neglect had done their work and it was now little better than a ruin Without dignity or picturesqueness of any kind He had been drinking heavily for some time and was more than half stupefied He thought he heard a noise as of someone at the door and looked up Then he called half savagely to come in but there was no response With a muttered blasphemy he renewed his potations Presently he forgot all around him sank into a daze But suddenly awoke to see standing before him someone or something like a battered ghostly addition of his sister For a few moments there came upon him a sort of fear The woman before him with distorted features and burning eyes seemed hardly human And the only thing that seemed a reality of his sister as she had been Was her wealth of golden hair and this was now streaked with gray She eyed her brother with a long cold stare And he too as he looked and began to realize the actuality of her presence Found the hatred of her which he had had once again surging up in his heart All the brooding passion of the past year seemed to find a voice at once as he asked her Why are you here you're dead and buried I am here wickham delandra for no love of you But because I hate another even more than I do you A great passion blazed in her eyes Him he asked and so fierce a whisper that even the woman was for an instant startled till she regained her calm Yes him she answered But make no mistake my revenge is my own and I merely use you to help me to it Wickham asked suddenly did he marry you The woman's distorted face broadened out in a ghastly attempt at a smile It was a hideous mockery for the broken features and seemed scars took strange shapes and strange colors And queer lines of white showed out as the straining muscles pressed on the old cicatresses So you would like to know it would please your pride to feel that your sister was truly married Well, you shall not know that was my revenge on you and I do not mean to change it by a hair's breath I have come here tonight simply to let you know that I am alive So that if any violence be done me where I'm going there may be a witness Where are you going demand her brother That is my affair and I am not the least intention of letting you know Wickham stood up But the drink was on him and he reeled and fell as he lay on the floor He announced his intention of following his sister and with an outburst of splenetic humor told her that he would Follow her through the darkness by the light of her hair and of her beauty At this she turned on him and said that there were others beside him that would rue her hair and her beauty too As he will she hissed for the hair remains though the beauty be gone When he withdrew the linchpin and sent us over the precipice into the torrent He had little thought of my beauty Perhaps his beauty would be scarred like mine Where he whirled as I was amongst the rocks of the visp and frozen on the ice pack in the drift of the river But let him be where his time is coming And with a fierce gesture she flung open the door and passed out into the night Later on that night mrs. Brent who was but half asleep became suddenly awake and spoke to her husband Jeffrey was not that the click of a lock somewhere below our window But Jeffrey though she thought that he too had started at the noise seemed sound asleep and breathed heavily Again mrs. Brent dozed but this time awoke to the fact that her husband had arisen and was partially dressed He was deadly pale and when the light of the lamp which he had in his hand fell on his face She was frightened at the look in his eyes What is it Jeffrey what does thou she asked hush little one he answered in a strange horse voice Go to sleep. I'm restless and wish to finish some work. I left undone Bring it here my husband. She said I am lonely and I feel when thou ought to weigh For reply he merely kissed her and went out closing the door behind him She lay awake for a while and then nature asserted itself and she slept Suddenly she started brought awake with the memory in her ears of a smothered cry from somewhere not far off She jumped up and ran to the door and listened, but there was no sound She grew alarmed for her husband and called out Jeffrey Jeffrey After a few moments the door of the great hall opened and Jeffrey appeared at it But without his lamp hush he said in a sort of whisper and his voice was harsh and stern Hush get to bed. I am working and must not be disturbed go to sleep and do not wake the house With a chill in her heart for the harshness in her husband's voice was new to her She crept back to bed and lay there trembling too frightened to cry and listened to every sound There was a long pause of silence and then the sound of some iron implement striking muffled blows Then there came a clang of heavy stone falling followed by a muffled curse Then a dragging sound and then more noise of stone on stone She lay all the while in an agony of fear and her heart beat dreadfully She heard a curious sort of scraping sound and then there was silence Presently the door opened gently and Jeffrey appeared His wife pretended to be asleep, but through her eyelashes. She saw him wash from his hands something white that looked like lime In the morning he made no illusion to the previous night and she was afraid to ask any question From that day there seemed some shadow over Jeffrey Brent He neither ate nor slept as he had been accustomed and his former habit of turning suddenly as though someone were speaking from behind him revived The old hall seemed to have some kind of fascination for him He used to go there many times in the day, but grew impatient if anyone even his wife entered it When the builder's foreman came to inquire about continuing his work Jeffrey was out driving The man went into the hall and when Jeffrey returned the servant told him of his arrival and where he was With a frightful oath he pushed the servant aside and hurried up to the old hall The workman met him almost at the door and as Jeffrey burst into the room he ran against him The man apologized big patterns, but I was just going out to make some inquiries I directed 12 sacks of lime to be sent to you, but I see there are only 10 Cursed the 10 sacks and the 12 too was the ungracious and incomprehensible rejoinder The workman looked surprised and tried to turn the conversation I see sir. There's a little matter which our people must have done But the governor will of course see it set right at his own cost What do you mean that he asked on sir? So media it must have put a scaffold pole on it and cracked it right down the middle and it's sticking off You'd think to stand anything Jeffrey was silent for quite a minute and then said in a constrained voice and with much gentler manner Tell your people that I am not going on with the work and the hall at present I want to leave it as it is for a while longer All right, sir I'll send up a few of our chaps to take away these poles and lime bags and tidy the place up a bit No, no, said Jeffrey leave them where they are I shall send and tell you when you are to get on with the work So the foreman went away and his comment to his master was That sending the bill sir for the work already done appears to me that money's a little shaky in that quarter Once or twice DeLondre tried to stop Brent on the road and at last Finding that he could not attain his object rode after the carriage calling out. What has become of my sister your wife? Jeffrey lashed his horses into a gallop and the other seeing from his white face and from his wife's collapse Almost into a faint that his object was attained rode away with a scowl and a laugh That night when Jeffrey went into the hall He passed over to the great fireplace and all at once started back with a smothered cry Then with an effort he pulled himself together and went away returning with a light He bent down over the broken hearthstone to see if the moonlight falling through the storied window had in any way deceived him Then with a groan of anguish sank to his knees There sure enough through the crack in the broken stone Were protruding a multitude of threads of golden hair just hinged with gray He was disturbed by a noise at the door and looking round saw his wife standing in the doorway In the desperation of the moment. He took action to prevent discovery and lighting a match at the table Stooped down and burned away the hair that rose through the broken stone Then rising as nonchalantly as he could he pretended surprise at seeing his wife beside him For the next week he lived in an agony for whether by accident or design He could not find himself alone in the hall for any length of time At each visit the hair had grown afresh through the crack and he had to watch it carefully Lest his terrible secret should be discovered He tried to find a receptacle for the body of the murdered woman outside the house But someone always interrupted him and once when he was coming out of the private doorway He was met by his wife who began to question him about it and manifested surprise that she should not have before noticed the key Which he now reluctantly showed her Jeffrey dearly and passionately loved his wife so that any possibility of her discovering his dread secrets Or even of doubting him filled him with anguish And after a couple of days had passed he could not help coming to the conclusion that at least she suspected something That very evening she came into the hall after her drive and found him there sitting mootily by the deserted fireplace She spoke to him directly Jeffrey I have been spoken to by that fellow delandre and he says horrible things He tells me that a week ago his sister returned to his house The wreck and ruin of her former self with only her golden hair as of old and announced some fell in tension He asked me where she is And oh jeffrey she is dead. She is dead. So how can she have returned? I am in dread and I know not where to turn For answer jeffrey burst into a torn of blasphemy which made her shudder He cursed elandre and his sister and all their kind and in his special he hurled curse after curse on her golden hair Oh hush hush she said and was then silent where she feared her husband when she saw the evil effect of his humor Jeffrey in the torrent of his anger stood up and moved away from the hearth But suddenly stopped as he saw a new look of terror in his wife's eyes He followed their glance and then he too shuddered for there on the broken hearth stone Lay a golden streak as the point of the hair rose through the crack Look look she shrieked it is some ghost of the dead come away come away And seizing her husband by the wrist with a frenzy of madness. She pulled him from the room That night she was in a raging fever The doctor of the district attended her at once and special aid was telegraphed for to london Jeffrey was in despair and in his anguish at the danger of his young wife almost forgot his own crime and its consequences In the evening the doctor had to leave to attend to others But he left Jeffrey in charge of his wife His last words were remember you must humor her till I come in the morning Or till some other doctor has her case in hand What you have to dread is another attack of emotion See that she has kept warm nothing more can be done Late in the evening when the rest of the household had retired Jeffrey's wife got up from her bed and called to her husband Come she said come to the old hall. I know where the gold comes from. I want to see it grow Jeffrey would feign have stopped her But he feared for her life or reason on the one hand unless in a paroxysm She should shriek out her terrible suspicion And seeing that it was useless to try and prevent her wrapped a warm rug about her and went with her to the old hall When they entered she turned and shut the door and locked it We want no strangers amongst us three tonight. She whispered with a wanned smile We three neighbors. We are two said Jeffrey with a shudder. He feared to say more Sit here said his wife as she put out the light sit here by the hearth and watch the gold growing The silver moonlight is jealous. See it steals along the floor towards the gold our gold Jeffrey looked with growing horror and saw that during the hours that had passed The golden hair had protruded further through the broken hearth stone He tried to hide it by placing his feet over the broken place And his wife drawing her chair beside him lent over and laid her head on his shoulder Now do not stir dear. She said let us sit still and watch We shall find the secret of the growing gold He passed his arm round her and sat silent And as the moonlight stole along the floor she sank to sleep He feared to wake her and so sat silent and miserable as the hours stole away Before his horror struck eyes the golden hair from the broken stone grew and grew And as it increased so his heart got colder and colder till at last He had not power to stir and sat with his eyes full of terror watching his doom In the morning when the london doctor came neither jeffrey nor his wife could be found Search was made in all the rooms but without a veil As a last resource the great door of the old hall was broken open And those who entered saw a grim and sorry sight There by the deserted hearth jeffrey brunt and his young wife sat cold and white and dead Her face was peaceful and her eyes were closed in sleep But his face was a sight that made all who saw it shudder For there was on it a look of unutterable horror The eyes were open and stared glassily at his feet Which were twined with tresses of golden hair streaked with gray Which came through the broken hearth stone End of the secret of the growing gold Recording by hailey flag of texas The gypsy prophecy this is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Kate McKenzie the gypsy prophecy by Bram Stoker I really think said the doctor that at any rate one of us should go and try whether or not the Thing is an imposture Good said Considine after dinner we will take our cigars and stroll over to the camp Accordingly when the dinner was over and the la tour finished Joshua Considine and his friend dr. Burley went over to the east side of the moor where the gypsy Incantment lay As they were leaving Mary Considine who had walked as far at the end of the garden where it opened Into the laneway called after her husband Mine Joshua you to give them a fair chance but don't give them any clue to a fortune And don't you get flirting with any of the gypsy maidens And take care to keep Gerald out of harm For answer Considine held up his hand as if taking a stage oath and whistled the air of the old song The Gypsy Countess Gerald joined in the strain and then breaking into merry laughter The two men passed along the laneway to the common turning now and then to wave their hands to Mary For leaned over the gate in the twilight looking after them It was a lovely evening in the summer The very air was full of rest and quiet happiness as though an outward type of the Peacefulness and joy which made a heaven of the home of the young married folk Considine's life had not been an event for one The only disturbing element which he had ever known was in his wooing of Mary Winston And the long continued objection of her ambitious parents Who expected a brilliant match for their only daughter Where Mr. and Mrs. Winston had discovered the attachment of the young barrister They had tried to keep the young people apart by sending their daughter away for a long round of visits Having made her promise not to correspond with her lover during her absence Love however had stood the test Now the absence nor neglect seemed to cool the passion of the young man And jealously seemed a thing unknown to his sanguine nature So after a long period of waiting the parents had given in and the young folk were married They had been living in the cottage a few months and were just beginning to feel at home Gerald Burley joshua's old college chum and himself as some time victim of Mary's beauty Had arrived a week before to stay with them for as long a time as he could tear himself away From his work in London when her husband had quite disappeared Mary went into the house and sitting Down at the piano gave an hour to Mendelssohn it was but a short walk across the common And before the cigars required renewing the two men had reached the gypsy camp The place was as picturesque as gypsy camps when in villages and when business is good Usually are there were some few persons around the fire investing their money in prophecy And a large number of others poorer or more parsimonious who stayed just outside the Bounds but near enough to see all that went on as the two gentlemen approached the villagers Who knew joshua made way a little and a pretty keen eyed gypsy girl tripped up And asked to tell their fortunes joshua held out his hand but the girl Without seeming to see it stared at his face in a very odd manner Gerald nudged him you must cross her hand with silver he said it is one of the most Important parts of the mystery joshua took from his pocket a half crown And held it out to her but without looking at it she answered you have to cross The gypsy's hand with gold and Gerald laughed you are at a premium as a subject he said Joshua was of the kind of man the universal kind who can tolerate being stared at by a Pretty girl so with some little deliberation he answered all right here you are my pretty girl But you must give me a real good fortune for it and he handed her a half sovereign which She took saying it is not for me to give good fortune or bad but only to read what the stars Have said she took his right hand and turned it palm upward but the instant her eyes met it she Dropped it as though it had been red hot and with a startled look glided swiftly away Lifting the curtain of the large tent which occupied the center of the camp she disappeared Within sold again said the cynical Gerald joshua stood a little amazed and not all Together satisfied they both watched the large tent in a few moments there emerged from the opening Not the young girl but a stately looking woman of middle age and commanding presence The instant she appeared the whole camp seemed to stand still The clamour of tongues the laughter and noise of the work were for a second or two arrested And every man or woman who sat or crouched or lay stood up and faced the imperial looking gypsy The queen of course then the Gerald we are in luck tonight The gypsy queen threw a search in glance around the camp and then without hesitating an instant Came straight over and stood before joshua Hold out your hand she said in a commanding tone Again Gerald spoke Soto voce I have not been spoken to in that way since I was at school Your hand must be crossed with gold a hundred percent at this game whispered Gerald as joshua laid another half sovereign on his upturned palm The gypsy looked at the hand with hinted brows then suddenly looking up into his face said Have you a strong will have you a true heart that can be brave for one you love I hope so but I'm afraid I have not vanity enough to say yes Then I will answer for you for I read resolution in your face Resolution desperate and determined if need be you have a wife you love Yes emphatically then leave her at once never see her face again Go from her now my love is fresh and your heart is free from wicked intent Go quick go far and never see her face again Joshua drew away his hand quickly and said thank you Stiffly but sarcastically as he began to move away I say said Gerald you're not going like that old man No use in being indignant with the stars or their prophet And moreover you're sovereign what of it at least hear the matter out Silence ribald commanded the queen you know not what you do Let him go and go ignorant if you will not be warned Joshua immediately turned back at all events we will see this thing out he said now madam You have given me advice but I paid for a fortune Be warned said the gypsy the stars have been silent for long Let the mystery still wrap them round My dear madam I do not get within touch of a mystery every day And I prefer for my money knowledge rather than ignorance I can get the latter commodity for nothing when I want any of it Gerald echoed the sentiment as for me I have a large and unsalable stock on hand The gypsy queen eyed the two men sternly and then said as you wish You have chosen for yourself and have met warning with scorn And a bill with levity on your own heads be the doom Amen said Gerald with an imperious gesture the queen took Joshua's hand again And began to tell his fortune I see here the flowing of blood It will flow before long It is running in my sight it flows through the broken circle of a severed ring Go on said Joshua smiling Gerald was silent must I speak plainer Certainly we commonplace mortals want something definite The stars are a long way off and their words get somewhat dulled in the message The gypsy shuddered and then spoke impressively This is the hand of a murderer the murderer of his wife She dropped the hand and turned away Joshua laughed Do you know said he I think if I were you I should prophecy some Jewish Prudence into my system for instance you say this hand is the hand of a murderer Well, whatever it may be in the future or potentially it is at present not one You ought to give your prophecy in such terms as the hand which will be a murderer's or rather The hand of one who will be the murderer of his wife The stars are not really good on technical questions The gypsy made no reply of any kind but with drooping head and despondent mean walked slowly to her tent and lifting the curtain disappeared without speaking the two men turned homewards and walked across the mall presently after some little hesitation Gerald spoke Of course old man this is all a joke a ghastly one but still a joke But would it not be well to keep it to ourselves How do you mean well not tell your wife it might alarm her Alarm her my dear Gerald what are you thinking of why she would not be alarmed or afraid of me If all the gypsies that ever didn't come from Bohemia agreed that I was to murder her or even to have a hard thought of her whilst so long as she was saying Jack Robinson Gerald remonstrated old fellow women are superstitious far more than we men are and also they are blessed or cursed with a nervous system to which we are strangers I see too much of it in my work not to realise it take my advice and do not let her know or you will frighten her just your lips unconsciously hardened as he answered my dear fellow I would not have a secret for my wife why it would be the beginning of a new order of things between us we have no secrets from each other if we ever have then you may begin to look out for something odd between us still said Gerald at the risk of unwelcome interference I say again be warned in time the gypsies very words said joshua you and she seemed quite of one accord tell me old man is this a put up thing you told me of the gypsy camp did you arrange it all with her majesty this was said with an air of bantering earnestness Gerald assured him that he only heard of the camp that morning but he made fun of every answer of his friend and in the process of this railery the time passed and they entered the cottage Mary was sitting at the piano but not playing the dim twilight had waked some very tender feelings in her breast and her eyes were full of gentle tears when the men came in she sold over to her husband's side and kissed him joshua struck a tragic attitude Mary he said in a deep voice before you approach me listen to the words of fate the stars have spoken and the doom is sealed what is it dear tell me the fortune but do not frighten me not at all my dear but there is a truth which it is well that you should know nay it is necessary so that all your arrangements can be made beforehand and everything be decently done and in order go on dear i'm listening Mary Considine your effigy may yet be seen at madame two swords the duris imprudent stars have announced their felt hiding that this hand is red with blood your blood Mary Mary my god he sprang forward but too late to catch her as she fell fainting on the floor i told you said gerald you don't know them as well as i do after a little while Mary recovered from her swoon but only to fall into strong hysterics in which she laughed and wept and raved and cried keep him from me from me joshua my husband and many other words have been treaty and of fear joshua considine was in a state of mind bordering on agony and when at last Mary became calm he knelt by her and kissed her feet and hands and hair and called her all the sweet names and said all the tender things his lips could frame all that night he sat by her bedside and held her hand far through the night and up to the early morning she kept waking from sleep and crying out as if in fear so she was comforted by the consciousness that her husband was watching beside her breakfast was late the next morning but during it joshua received a telegram which required him to drive over to withering nearly 20 miles he was loath to go but Mary would not hear of his remaining and so before noon he drove off in his dog cart alone when he was gone Mary retired to her room she had not appeared at lunch but when afternoon tea was served on the lawn under the great weeping willow she came to join her guest she was looking quite recovered from her illness of the evening before after some casual remarks you said to Gerald of course it was very silly about last night but I could not help feeling frightened indeed I would feel so still if I let myself think of it but after all these people may only imagine things and I have got a test that can hardly fail to show that the prediction is false if indeed it be false she added sadly what is your plan asked Gerald I shall go myself to the gypsy camp and have my fortune told by the queen capital may I go with you oh no don't spoil it she might know you and guess at me and suit her utterance accordingly I shall go alone this afternoon when the afternoon was gone Mary Considine took her way to the gypsy encampment Gerald went with her as far as the near edge of the common and returned alone half an hour had hardly elapsed when Mary entered the drawing room where he lay on a sofa reading she was ghastly pale and was in a state of extreme excitement hardly had she passed over the threshold when she collapsed and sank moaning on the carpet Gerald rushed to aid her but by a great effort she controlled herself and motioned him to be silent he waited and his ready attention to her wish seemed to be her best help for in a few minutes she had somewhat recovered and was able to tell him what had passed when I got to the camp she said there did not seem to be a soul about I went into the centre and stood there suddenly a tall woman stood beside me something told me I was wanted she said I held out my hand and laid a piece of silver on it she took from her neck a small golden trinket and laid it there also and then seizing the two threw them into the stream that run by then she took my hand in hers and spoke not but blood in this guilty place and turned away I called hold of her and asked her to tell me more after some hesitation she said the last alas I see you lying at your husband's feet and his hands are red with blood Gerald did not feel at all at ease and try to laugh it off surely he said this woman has a craze about murder do not laugh said Mary I cannot bear it and then as if with a sudden impulse she left the room not long after Joshua returned bright and cheery and as hungry as a hunter after his long drive his presence cheered his wife who seemed much brighter but she did not mention the episode of the visit to the Gypsy camp so Gerald did not mention it either as if by tacit consent the subject was not alluded to during the evening but there was a strange settled look on Mary's face which Gerald could not but observe in the morning Joshua came down to breakfast later than usual Mary had been up and about the house from an early hour but as the time drew on she seemed to get a little nervous and now and again threw around an anxious look Gerald could not help noticing that none of those at breakfast could get on satisfactorily with their food it was not all together that the chops were tough but that the knives were also blunt being a guest he of course made no sign but presently saw Joshua draw his thumb across the edge of his knife in an unconscious sort of way have the action Mary turned pale and almost fainted after breakfast they all went out on the lawn Mary was making up a bouquet and said to her husband get me a few of the tea roses dear Joshua pulled down a cluster from the front of the house the stem bent but was too tough to break he put his hand in his pocket to get his knife but in vain lend me your knife Gerald he said but Gerald had not got one so he went into the breakfast room and took one from the table he came out feeling its edge and grumbling what on earth has happened to all the knives the edges seem all ground off Mary turned away hurriedly and entered the house Joshua tried to sever the stalk with the blunt knife as country cooks sever the necks of foul the scoreboys cut twine with the little effort he finished the task the cluster of roses grew thick so we determined to gather a great bunch he could not find a single sharp knife in the sideboard where the cutlery was kept so he called Mary and when she came told her the state of things she looked so agitated and so miserable that he could not help knowing the truth and as if astounded and hurt asked her do you mean to say that you have done it she broke in oh Joshua I was so afraid he paused and a set white look came over his face Mary said he is this all the trust you have in me I would not have believed it oh Joshua Joshua she cried intuitively forgive me and wept bitterly Joshua thought a moment and then said I see how it is we shall better end this or we shall all go mad he went into the drawing room where are you going almost screamed Mary Gerald saw what he meant that he would not be tied to blunt instruments by the force of a superstition and was not surprised when he saw him come out through the French window bearing in his hand a large girker knife which usually lay on the centre table and which his brother had sent him from northern India it was one of those great hunting knives which worked such havoc at close quarters with the enemies of the loyal girkers during the mutiny of great weight but so evenly balanced in the handers to seem light and with an edge like a razor with one of these knives a girker can cut a sheep in two when Mary saw him come out of the room with the weapon in his hand she screamed in an agony of fright and the hysterics of last night were promptly renewed Joshua ran toward her and seeing her falling through down the knife and tried to catch her however he was just a second too late and the two men cried out in horror simultaneously as they saw her fall upon the naked blade when Gerald rushed over he found that in falling her left-handed struck the blade which lay partly upwards on the grass some of the small veins were cut through and the blood gushed freely from the wound as he was tying it up he pointed out to Joshua that the wedding ring was severed by the steel they carried her fainting to the house when after a while she came out with her arm in a sling she was peaceful in her mind and happy she said to her husband the gypsy was wonderfully near the truth too near for the real thing ever to occur now dear Joshua bent over and kissed the wounded hand end of the gypsy prophecy read by Kate McKenzie the coming of Abel Bahena this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Kate McKenzie the coming of Abel Bahena by Bram Stoker the little Cornish port of Pencastle was bright in the early April when the sun had seemingly come out to stay after a long and bitter winter boldly and blackly the rock stood out against a background of shaded blue where the sky fading into mist met the far horizon the sea was of true Cornish hue sapphire save where it became deep emerald green in the fathomless depths under the cliffs where the seal caves opened their grim jaws on the slopes the grass was parched and brown the spikes of fursbushes were ashy gray but the golden yellow of their flowers streamed along the hillside dipping out in lines as the rock cropped up and lessening into patches and dots so finally it died away altogether where the sea winds swept around the jutting cliffs and cut short the vegetation as though with an ever working aerial sheath the whole hillside with its body of brown and flashes of yellow was just like a colossal yellow hammer the little harbour opened from the sea between towering cliffs and behind a lonely rock pierced with many caves and blowholes through which the sea in storm time sent its thunderous voice together with a fountain of drifting spoon hence it wound westwards in a serpentine course guarded at its entrance by two little curving piers to left and right these were roughly built of dark slates placed endways and held together with great beams browned with iron bands then it flowed up the rocky bed of the stream as winter torrents had of old put out its way amongst the hills this stream was deep at first with here and there where it widened patches of broken rock exposed at low water full of holes where crabs and lobsters were to be found at the ebb of the tide from amongst the rocks rose steady bursts used for warping in the little coasting vessels which frequented the port higher up the stream still flowed deeply for the tide run far inland but always calmly for all the force of the wildest storm was broken below some quarter mile inland the stream was deep at high water but at low tide there were each side patches of the same broken rock as lower down through the chinks of which the sweet water of the natural stream tickled and murmured after the tide had ebbed away here too rose mooring posts for the fisherman's boats at either side of the river was a row of cottages down almost on the level of high tide they were pretty cottages strongly and snugly built with trim narrow gardens in front full of old-fashioned plants flowering currants colored prim roses wallflower and stonecrop over the fronts of many of them climbed clematis and wisteria the window sides and door posts of all were as white as snow and the little pathway to each was paved with light colored stones at some of the doors were tiny porches whilst others were rustic seats cut from tree trunks or from old barrels in nearly every case the window ledges were filled with boxes or pots of flowers or foliage plants two men lived in cottages exactly opposite each other across the stream two men both young both good-looking both prosperous and who had been companions and rivals from their boyhood abel behenna was dark with a gypsy darkness which the Phoenician mining wanderers left in their track eric samson which the local antiquarian said was a corruption of saga monson was fair which the ruddy hue which marked the path of the now wild norsemen these two seem to have singled out each other from the very beginning to work and strive together to fight for each other and to stand back to back in all endeavors they had now put the coping stone on their temple of unity by falling in love with the same girl sarah trafuses was certainly the prettiest girl in pen castle and there was many a young man who would gladly have tried his fortune with her but that there were two to contend against and each of these the strongest and most resolute man in the port except the other the average young man thought that this was very hard and on account of it for no good will to either of the three principles whilst the average young woman who had less worse should before to put up with the grumbling of her sweetheart and the sense of being only second best which it implied did not either be sure regard sarah with friendly eye thus it came in the course of a year or so the rustic courtship is a slow process that the two men and women found themselves thrown much together they were all satisfied so it did not matter and sarah who was vain and something frivolous took care to have her revenge on both men and women in a quiet way when a young woman in her walking out can only boast one not quite satisfied young man it is no particular pleasure for her to see her escort cast sheep's eyes at a better looking girl supported by two devoted swans at length there came a time which sarah dreaded and which he had tried to keep distant the time when she had to make a choice between the two men she liked them both and indeed either of them might have satisfied the ideas of even a more exacting girl but her mind was so constituted that she thought more of what she might lose than of what she might gain and whenever she thought she had made up her mind she became instantly assailed with doubts as to the wisdom of her choice always the man whom she had presumably lost became endowed afresh with a newer a more bountiful crop of advantages than had ever arisen from the possibility of his acceptance she promised each man that on her birthday she would give him his answer and that day the eleventh of april had now arrived the promises had been given singly and confidentially but each was given to a man who was not likely to forget early in the morning she found both men hovering round her door neither had taken the other into his confidence and each was simply seeking an early opportunity of getting his answer and advancing his suit if necessary daemon as a rule does not take pivious with him when making a proposal and in the heart of each man his own affairs had a claim far above any requirements of friendship so throughout the day they kept seeing each other out the position was doubtless somewhat embarrassing to sarah and though the satisfaction of her vanity that she should be thus adored was very pleasing yet there were moments when she was annoyed with both men for being so persistent her only consolation at such moments was that she saw through the elaborate smiles of the other girls when in passing they noticed her door that doubly guarded the jealousy which filled their hearts sarah's mother was a person of commonplace and sordid ideas and seeing all along the state of affairs her one intention persistently expressed to her daughter in the plainest words was to so arrange matters that sarah should get all that was possible out of both men with this purpose she had cunningly kept herself as far as possible in the background in the matter of her daughter's wooing and watched in silence at first sarah had been indignant with her for her sordid views but as usual her weak nature gave way before persistence and she had now got to the stage of acceptance she was not surprised when her mother whispered to her in the little yard behind the house go up the hillside for a while i want to talk to these two they're both red hot for you and now is the time to get things fixed sarah began a feeble remonstrance but her mother cut her short i tell you girl that my mind is made up both these men want you only one can have you but before you choose you'll be so arranged that you'll have all that both have got don't argue child go up the hillside and when you come back i'll have it fixed i see you wait quite easy so sarah went up the hillside to the narrow pass between the golden furs and mrs trafuses joined the two men in the living room of the little house she opened the tack with a desperate courage which is in all mothers when they think for their children how so ever mean the thoughts may be you two men you're both in love with my sarah their bashful silence gave consent to the bear-faced proposition she went on neither of you have much again they tacitly acquiesced in the soft impeachment i don't know that either of you could keep a wife though neither said a word their looks and bearing expressed distinct dissent mrs trafuses went on but if you'd put what you both have together you'd make a comfortable home for one of you and sarah she eyed the men keenly with her cunning eyes half shut as she spoke then satisfied satisfied from her scrutiny that the idea was accepted she went on quickly as if to prevent argument the girl likes you both and may have it's hard for her to choose why don't you toss up for her first put your money together you've each got a bit put by i know let the lucky man take the lot and trade with it a bit and then come home and marry her neither of you's afraid i suppose and neither of you'll say that you won't do that much for the girl that you both say you love able broke the silence you don't seem a square thing to toss for the girl she won't like it herself and it doesn't seem seem respectful like to her eric interrupted he was conscious that his chance was not so good as abels in case sarah should wish to choose between them you're afraid of a hazard not me said abel boldly mrs trafuses seeing that her idea was beginning to work followed up the advantage it is settled that you put your money together to make a home for her whether you toss for her or leave it for her to choose yes said eric quickly enable agreed with equal sturdiness mrs trafuses his little cunning eyes twinkled she had sarah step in the yard and said well here she comes and i leave it to her and she went out during her brief walk on the hillside sarah had been trying to make up her mind she was feeling almost angry with both men for being the cause of her difficulty and as she came into the room said shortly i want to have a word with you both come to the flagstaff rock where we can be alone she took her hat and went out of the house up the winding path to the steep rock crowned with a high flagstaff where once the wreckers firebasket used to burn this was the rock which formed the northern jaw of the little harbour there was only room on the path for two abreast and it marked the state of things pretty well when by a sort of implied arrangement sarah went first and the two men followed walking abreast and keeping step by this time each man's heart was boiling with jealousy when they came to the top of the rock sarah stood against the flagstaff and the two young men stood opposite her she had chosen her position with knowledge and intention for there was no room for anyone to stand beside her they were all silent for a while then sarah began to laugh and said i promise the both of you to give you an answer today i've been thinking and thinking and thinking till till i began to get angry with you both i'm blaming me so and even now i don't see many nearer than ever i was to making up my mind eric said suddenly let us toss for at last sarah showed no indignation or terror at the proposition her mother's eternal suggestion had scalded her to the acceptance of something of the kind and her weak nature made it easy for her to grasp it any way out of the difficulty she stood with downcast eyes idly picking at the sleeve of her dress seeming to have tacitly acquiesced in the proposal both men instinctively realizing this pulled each a coin from his pocket spun it in the air and dropped his other hand over the palm on which it lay for a few seconds they remained thus all silent then abel who was the more thoughtful of the men spoke sarah is this good as he spoke he removed the upper hand from the coin and placed the latter back in his pocket sarah was little good or bad it's good enough for me take it or leave it as you like she said to which he quickly replied may last but the constant's you is good enough for me i did but think of you lest you might have some pain or disappointment hereafter if you love eric better nor me god's name say so and i think her man i know to stand inside likewise if i'm the one don't make us both miserable for life face to face with the difficulty sarah's weak nature proclaimed itself she put her hands before her face and began to cry saying was my mother she keeps telling me the silence which followed was broken by eric who said hotly to abel let the lass alone can't you she wants to chew this way let her it's good enough for me and for you too she said it now must avoid by it hereupon sarah turned upon him in sudden fury and cried hold your tongue what is it to you at any rate and she resumed her crying eric was so flabbergasted that he had not a word to say but stood looking particularly foolish with his mouth open and his hands held out with the coins still between them all was silent till sarah taking her hands from her face left his directly and said as you too can't make up your minds i'm going home and she turned to go stop said abel in an authoritative voice eric you hold the coin and i'll cry now before we settle it let us clearly understand the man who wins takes all the money that we both have got brings it to bristol and ships on a voyage and trades with it then he comes back marry sarah and they two keep all whatever there may be as a result of the trading is this what we understand yes said eric i'll marry him on my next birthday said sarah having said it the intolerably mercenary spirit of her actions seemed to strike her and impulsively she turned away with a bright blush fire seemed to sparkle in the eyes of both men said eric a year so be the man that wins is to have one year toss cried abel and the coin spun in the air eric caught it and again held it between his outstretched hands heads cried abel a palace sweeping over his face as he spoke as he leaned forward to look sarah leaned forward too and their heads almost touched he could feel her hair blowing on his cheek and it thrilled through him like fire eric lifted his upper hand the coin lay with its head up abel stepped forward and took sarah in his arms with a curse eric held the coin far into the sea then he leaned against the flagstaff and scowled at the others with his hands thrust deep into his pockets abel whispered wild words of passion and delight into sarah's ears and as she listened she began to believe that fortune had widely interpreted the wishes of her secret heart and that she loved abel best presently abel looked up and caught sight of eric's face as the last ray of sunset struck it the red light intensified the natural readiness of his complexion and he looked as though he was steeped in blood abel did not mind his scowlful now that his own heart was at rest he could feel unalloyed pity for his friend he stepped over meaning to comfort him and held out his hand saying it was my chance old lad oh grudge at me i'll try to make sarah a happy woman and you should be a brother to his both brother be damned was all the answer eric made as he turned away when he'd gone a few steps down the rocky path he turned and came back standing before abel and sarah who had their arms around each other he said you have a year make the most of it and be sure you're in time to claim your wife be back to have your bands up in time to be married on the 11th of april if you're not i'll tell you why she'll have my bands up and you may get back too late what do you mean eric you're mad no more mad than you are abel the henna you go that's your chance i state that's mine i don't mean to let the grass grow under my feet sarah cared no more for you than for me five minutes ago and she may come back to that five minutes after you're gone you won by a point only the game may change the game won't change said abel shortly sarah you'll be true to me you won't marry till i return for a year added eric quickly that's the bargain i promise for the year said sarah a dark look came over april's face and he was about to speak but he mastered himself and smiled i mustn't be too hard or get angry tonight come eric we played him fort together i won fairly i played fairy all the game of our wooing you know that as well as i do and now when i'm going away i shall look to my old and true comrade to help me when i'm gone i'll help you non said eric so help me god it was god help me said abel simply then let him go on helping you said eric angrily the devil is good enough for me and without another word he rushed down the steep path and disappeared behind the rocks when he had gone abel hoped for some tender passage with sarah but the first remark she made chilled him how only all seemed without eric and this note sounded till he had left her at home and after early on the next morning abel heard a noise at his door and on going out saw eric walking rapidly away a small canvas bag full of gold and silver lay on the threshold on a small slip of paper pinned to it was written take the money and go i stay god for you the devil for me remember the 11th of april eric samson that afternoon abel went off to bristol and a week later sailed on the star of the sea bound for pahan his money including that which had been erics was on board in the shape of a venture of cheap toys he had been advised by a shrewd old mariner of bristol whom he knew and who knew the ways of the chersonese who predicted that every penny invested would be returned with a shilling to boot as the year wore on sarah became more and more disturbed in her mind eric was always at hand to make love to her in his own persistent masterful manner and to this she did not object only one letter came from abel to say that his venture had proved successful and that he had sent some 200 pounds to the bank at bristol and was trading with 50 pounds still remaining in goods for china wither the star of the sea was bound and once she would return to bristol he suggested that eric's share of the venture should be returned to him with his share of the profits this proposition was treated with anger by eric and a simply childish by sarah's mother more than six months had since then elapsed but no other letter had come and eric's hopes which had been dashed down by the letter from pahan began to rise again he perpetually assailed sarah with an if if abel did not return would she then marry him if the eleventh of april went by without abel being in the port would she give him over if abel had taken his fortune and married another girl i'm ahead of it would she marry him eric as soon as the truth were known and so on in an endless variety of possibilities the power of the strong will and a determined purpose over the woman's weaker nature became in time manifest sarah began to lose her faith in abel and to regard eric as a possible husband and a possible husband is in a woman's eye different to all other men a new affection for him began to arise in her breast and the daily familiarities of permitted courtship furthered the growing affection sarah began to regard abel as rather a rock in the road of her life and had it not been for her mother's constantly reminding her of the good fortune already laid by in the bristol bank she would have tried to have shut her eyes all together to the fact of abel's existence the eleventh of april was saturday so that in order to have the marriage on that day it would be necessary that the bounds should be called on sunday the 22nd of march from the beginning of that month eric kept perpetually on the subject of abel's absence his outspoken opinion that the latter was either dead or married began to become a reality to the woman's mind as the first half of the month were on eric became more jubilant and after church on the 15th he took sarah for a walk to the flagstaff rock there he asserted himself strongly i told abel and you too that he was not here to put up his bands in time for the eleventh i'll put it mine for the twelfth now the time has come when i mean to do it he hasn't kept his word here sarah struck in out of her weakness and in decision he hasn't broken it yet eric ground his teeth of anger if you mean to stick up for him he said as he smoked his hands savagely on the flagstaff which sent forth a shivering murmur well and good i'll keep my part of the bargain on sunday or you shall give notice of the bands and you can deny them in the church if you will if abel is in pen castle on the eleventh he can have them cancelled and his own put up but till then i'll take my course and walk to anyone who stands in my way with that he flung himself down the rocky pathway and sarah could not but admire his viking strength and spirit as crossing the hill he strode away along the cliffs towards buid during the week no news was heard of abel and on saturday eric gave notice of the bands of marriage between himself and sarah defuses the clergyman would have demonstrated with him for although nothing formal had been told to the neighbors it had been understood since abel's departure that on his return he was to marry sarah but eric would not discuss the question it is a painful subject sir he said with a firmus which the parson who was a very young man could not but be swayed by surely there is nothing against sarah or me why should there be any bones made about the matter the parson said no more and on the next day he read out the bands for the first time had missed an audible buzz from the congregation sarah was present contrary to custom and though she blushed furiously enjoyed her triumph over the other girls whose bands had not yet come before the week was over she began to make her wedding dress eric used to come and look at her at work and the sight thrilled through him he used to say all sorts of pretty things to her at such times and there were to both delicious moments of love making the bands were read a second time on the 29th and eric's hope grew more and more fixed though there were to him moments of acute despair when he realized that the cup of happiness might be dashed from his lips at any moment right up to the last at such times he was full of passion desperate and remorseless and he ground his teeth and clenched his hands in a wild way as though some taint of the old berserker fury of his ancestors still lingered in his blood on the thursday of that week he looked in on sarah and found her amid a flood of sunshine putting finishes touches to her white wedding gown his own heart was full of gait and the sight of the woman who was so soon to be his own so occupied filled him with a joy unspeakable and he felt faint with longer asexo see fending over he kissed sarah on the mouth and then whispered in her rosy ear your wedding dress sarah and for me as he drew back to admire her she looked absurdly and said to him perhaps not for you there is more in a week yet for able and then cried out in dismay for with a wild gesture and a fierce oath eric dashed out of the house banging the door behind him the incident disturbed sarah more than she could have thought possible for it awoke all her fears and doubts and indecision afresh she cried a little and put by her dress and to soothe herself went out to sit for a while on the summit of the flagstaff rock when she arrived she found that there a little group anxiously discussing the weather the sea was calm and the sun bright but across the sea were strange lines of darkness and light and close into shore the rocks were fringe with foam which spread out in great white curves and circles as the current drifted the wind had backed and came in sharp cold puffs the blowhole which ran under the flagstaff rock from the rocky bay without to the harbor within was booming at intervals and the seagulls were screaming ceaselessly as they wheeled about the entrance of the port it looks bad if you heard an old fisherman say to the coast guard i seen it just like this once before when the east indian man kormandel went to pieces in desert bay sara did not wait to hear more she was of a timid nature where danger was concerned and could not bear to hear of wrecks and disasters she went home and resumed the completion of her dress secretly determined to appease eric when she should meet him with a sweet apology and to take the earliest opportunity of being even with him after her marriage the old fisherman's weather prophecy was justified that night a dusk a wild storm came on the sea rose and lashed the western coasts from sky to silly and left a tale of disaster everywhere the sailors and fishermen of pencastle all turned out on the rocks and cliffs and watched eagerly presently by a flash of lightning a catch was seen drifting under only a jib about half a mile outside the port all eyes and all glasses were concentrated on her waiting for the next flash and when it came a chorus went up that it was the lovely alice trading between bristol and pensance and touching at all the little ports between god help them said the harbour master for nothing in this world can save them when they are between budented tajel and the wind on shore the coast guards exerted themselves and aided by brave hearts and willing hands they brought the rocket apparatus onto the summit of the flagstaff rock then they burned blue lights so that those on board might see the harbour opening in case they could make any effort to reach it they worked gallantly enough on board but no skill or strength of man could avail before many minutes were over the lovely alice rushed to her doom on the great island rock that guarded the mouth of the port the screams of those on board were faintly born on the tempest as they flung themselves into the sea in a last chance for life the blue lights were kept burning and eager eyes peered into the depths of the waters in case any face could be seen and ropes were held ready to fling out in aid but never a face was seen and the willing arms rested idle eric was there amongst his fellows his old icelandic origin was never more apparent than in that wild hour he took a rope and shouted in the ear of the harbour master i shall go down on the rock over the seal cave the tide is running up and someone may drift in there keep back man came the answer are you mad wouldn't slip on that rock you were lost no man could keep his feet in the dark on such a place in such a tempest not a bit came the reply you remember how abel the henna saved me there on a night like this when my boat went on the gold rock he dragged me up from the deep water in the seal cave and now someone may drift in there again as i did and he was gone into the darkness the projecting rock hid the light on the flagstaff rock but he knew his way too well to miss it his boldness and sureness of foot standing to him he shortly stood on the great round top rock cut away beneath by the action of the waves over the entrance of the seal cave where the water was fathomless there he stood in comparative safety for the concave shape of the rock beat back the waves with their own force and though the water below him seemed to boil like a seething cauldron just beyond the spot there was a space of almost calm the rock too seemed here to shut off the sound of the gale and he listened as well as watched as he stood there ready with his coil of rope poised to throw he thought he heard below him just beyond the well of the water a faint despairing cry he echoed it with a shout that rang into the night then he waited for the flash of lightning and as it passed flung his rope out into the darkness where he had seen a face rising through the swell of the phone the rope was caught for he felt a pull on it and he shouted again in his mighty voice tie it round your waist and i shall pull you up then when he felt that it was fast he moved along the rock to the far side of the sea cave where the water was something stiller and where he could get foothold secure enough to drag the rescued man on the overhanging rock he began to pull and shortly he knew from the rope taken in that the man he was now rescuing must soon be close to the top of the rock he steadied himself for a moment and drew a long breath that he might at the next effort complete the rescue he had just bent his back to the work when a flash of lightning revealed to the other each to the other the two men the rescuer and the rescued eric sanson and abel behenner were face to face and none knew of the meeting save themselves and god on the instant a wave of passion swept through eric's heart all his hopes were shattered and with the hatred of cain his eyes looked out he saw in the instant of recognition the joy enables face that his was the hand to succor him and this intensified his hate whilst the passion was on him he started back and the rope ran out between his hands his moment of hate was followed by an impulse of his better manhood but it was too late before he could recover himself abel encumbered with the rope that should have aided him was plunged with a despairing cry back into the darkness of the devouring sea then feeling all the madness and the doom of cain upon him eric rushed back over the rocks heedless of the danger and eager only for one thing to be amongst other people whose living noises would shut out that last cry which seemed to ring still in his ears when he regained the flagstaff rock the men surrounded him and through the fury of the storm he heard the harbour master say we feared you were lost when we heard a cry how white you were where as you wrote was that anyone drifted in no one he shouted it answer for he felt that he could never explain that he had let his old comrade slip back into the sea and at the very place and under the very circumstances in which that comrade had saved his own life he hoped by one bold lie to set the matter at rest forever there was no one to bear witness and he he should have to carry that still white face in his eyes and that despairing cry in his ears forever more at least one should know of it no one he cried more loudly still slipped on the rock the rope fell into the sea so saying he left them and rushing down the steep path gained his own cottage and locked himself within the remainder of that night he passed lying on his bed dressed in motionless staring upwards and seeming to see through the darkness a pale face gleaming wet in the lightning with its glad recognition turning to ghastly despair and to hear a cry which never ceased to echo in his soul in the morning the storm was over and all was smiling again except that the sea was still boisterous with his unspent fury great pieces of wreck drifted into the port and the sea around the island rock was strewn with others two bodies also drifted into the harbour one the master of the wrecked catch the other a strange seaman whom no one knew sarah saw nothing of eric till the evening and then he only looked in for a minute he did not come into the house but simply put his head in through the open window well sarah he called out an allowed voice though to her it did not ring truly is the wedding dress done sunday week mind sunday week sarah was glad to have the reconciliation so easy but womanlike when she saw the storm was over and her own fears groundless she at once repeated the cause of the fence sunday so be it she said without looking up fable isn't there on saturday then she looked up sorcery so her heart was full of fear of another outburst on the part of her impetuous lover where the window was empty eric had taken himself off and with a pout she resumed her work she saw eric no more till sunday afternoon after the bands had been called the third time when he came up to her before all the people with an air of proprietorship which half pleased and half annoyed her not yet mister she said pushing him away as the other girls giggled wait till sunday next if you please day after saturday she added looking at him sorcery the girls giggled again and the young men go forward they thought it was the snub that touched him so they became as white as a sheet as he turned away but sarah who knew more than they did left so she saw triumph through the spasm of pain that overspread his face the week passed uneventfully however as saturday junei sarah had occasional moments of anxiety and as to eric he went about at night time like a monk possessed he restrained himself when others were by but now and again he went down amongst the rocks and caves and shouted aloud this seemed to relieve him somewhat and he was better able to restrain himself for some time after all saturday he stayed in his own house and never left it as he was to be married on the morrow the neighbours thought it was shyness on his part and did not trouble will notice him only once was he disturbed and that was when the chief bowman came to him and sat down and after a pause said eric i was over in bristol yesterday i was in the road makers getting a coil to replace the one you lost the night of the storm and there i saw michael hevins of this place he was a salesman there he told me that abel bahenna had come home the week he relaxed on the star of the sea from canton and he had lodged a sire money in the bristol bank in the name of sarah bahenna he told michael so himself and that he had taken passage on the lovely alice to pencastle bear up man for eric had with a ground dropped his head on his knees with his face between his hands he was your comrade i know but we couldn't help him it must have gone down with arrest that awful night i thought i'd better tell you lest it might come some other way and you might keep sarah trifutas from being frightened they were good friends once and women take these things to heart would not do to let her be pained with such a thing on her wedding day then he rose and went away leaving eric still sitting disconsolate with his head on his knees poor fellow remember the chief bowman to himself takes it to heart oh well right enough they were true comrades once and abel saved him the afternoon of that day when their children had left school they strayed as usual on half holidays along the key and the paths by the cliffs presently some of them came running in a state of great excitement of the harbour where a few men were unloading a cold catch and a great many were super intending the operation one of the children called out there was a porpoise in the harbour mouth we saw it come through the blowhole had a long tail and it was deep under the water it was no porpoise so another was a seal but had a long tail came out of the seal cave the children bore various testimony but on two points they were unanimous it whatever it was had come through the blowhole deep under the water and had a long thin tail a tail so long that they could not see the end of it there was much unmerciful chaffing of the children by the men on this point but it as it was evident that they had seen something quite a number of persons young and old male and female went along the high paths on either side of the harbour mouth to catch a glimpse of this new addition to the fauna of the sea a long tailed porpoise or seal the tide was now coming in there was a slight breeze and the surface of the water was rippled so that it was only at moments that anyone could see clearly into the deep water after a spell of watching a woman called out that she saw something moving up the channel just below where she was standing there was a stampede to the spot but by the time the crowd had gathered the breeze had freshened and it was impossible to see with any distinctness below the surface of the water and being questioned the woman described what she had seen but in such an incoherent way that the whole thing was put down as an effective imagination had it not been for the children's report she would not have been credited at all her semi hysterical statement that what she saw was like a pig with the entrails out was only thought of anything by the old coast guard who shook his head or did not make any remark for the remainder of the daylight this man was seen always on the bank looking into the water but always with disappointment manifest on his face erica rose early on the next morning he had not slept all night and it was a relief to him to move about in the light he shaved himself with a hand that did not tremble and dressed himself in his wedding clothes there was a haggard look on his face and he seemed as though he had grown years older in the last few days still there was a wild uneasy light of triumph in his eyes and he kept murmuring to himself over and over again this is my wedding day people cannot play around living or dead living or dead living or dead he sat in his armchair waiting with an uncanny quietness for the church hour to arrive when the bell began to ring he arose and passed out of his house closing the door behind him he looked at the river and saw the tide had just turned in the church he sat with Sarah and her mother holding Sarah's hand tightly in his old time as they referred to lose her when the service was over they stood up together and were married in the presence of the entire congregation but no one left the church both made the responses clearly Eric's being even on the defiance side when the wedding was over Sarah took her husband's arm and they walked away together the boys and younger girls being cuffed by their elders into a decorous behavior so they would feign of followed close behind their heels the way from the church led down to the back of Eric's cottage a narrow passage being between it and that of his next neighbor when the bridal couple had passed through this the remainder of the congregation who had followed them at a little distance were startled by a long shrill scream from the bride they rushed through the passage and found her on the bank with wild eyes pointing to the riverbed opposite Eric Sonson's door the falling tide had deposited there the body of Abel Bahena stark upon the broken rocks the rope trailing from its waist had been twisted by the current round the mooring post and had held it back while the tide had ebbed away from it the right elbow had fallen in a chink in the rock leaving the handout stretched towards Sarah with the open palm upward as though it were extended to receive hers the pale drooping fingers open to the class all that happened afterwards was never quite known to Sarah Sonson whenever she would try to recollect there would become a buzzing in her ears and a dimness in her eyes and all would pass away the only thing that she could remember of it all and that she never forgot was Eric's breathing heavily with his face whiter than that of the dead man as he muttered under his breath devil's help devil's faith devil's price the end end of the coming of Abel Bahena recording by Kate McKenzie Zurich Switzerland the burial of the rats part one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Hailey Flag the burial of the rats by Bram Stoker leave in Paris by the Orlean Road cross the incent and turn to the right you find yourself in a somewhat wild and not at all savory district right and left and before you and behind and on every side rise great heaps of dust and waste accumulated by the process of time Paris has its night as well as its day life and the sojourner who enters this hotel in the Rue de Rivoli or the Rue Saint-Henare late at night or leaves at early in the morning can guess in coming near Montrouge if he has not done so already the purpose of those great wagons that look like boilers on wheels which he finds halting everywhere as he passes every city has its peculiar institutions created out of its own needs and one of the most notable institutions of Paris is its rag picking population in the early morning and Parisian life commences at an early hour may be seen in most streets standing on the pathway opposite every court nally and between every few houses as still in some American cities even in parts of New York large wooden boxes into which the domestics or tenement holders empty the accumulated dust of the past day round these boxes gather and pass on when the work is done to fresh fields of labor and pastures new squalid hungry-looking men and women the implements of whose craft consists of a coarse bag or basket slung over the shoulder and a little rake with which they turn over and probe and examine in the minutest manner the dustbins they pick up and deposit in their baskets by aid of their rakes whatever they may find with the same facility as a china man uses his chopsticks Paris is a city of centralization and centralization and classification are closely allied in the early times when centralization is becoming a fact its forerunner is classification all things which are similar or analogous become grouped together and from the grouping of groups rises one whole or central point we see radiating many long arms with innumerable tentatively and in the center rises a gigantic head with a comprehensive brain and keen eyes to look on every side and ears sensitive to hear and a voracious mouth to swallow other cities resemble all the birds and beasts and fishes whose appetites and digestions are normal Paris alone is the analogical apothesis of the octopus product of centralization carried in an ad absurdum it fairly represents the devil fish and in no respects is the resemblance more curious than in the similarity of the digestive apparatus those intelligent tourists who having surrendered their individuality into the hands of seers cook or guzz do Paris in three days are often puddled to know how it is that the dinner which in london would cost about six shillings can be had for three francs in a cafe at the palais royale they need have no more wonder if they will but consider the classification which is a theoretic specialty of Parisian life and adopt all around the fact from which the shifter has his genesis the Paris of 1850 was not like the Paris of today and those who see the Paris of napoleon and baron host man can hardly realize the existence of the state of things 45 years ago amongst other things however which have not changed or those districts where the waste is gathered dust is dust all the world over in every age and the family likeness of dust heaps is perfect the traveler therefore who visits the environs of montruche can go back in fancy without difficulty to the year 1850 in this year i was making a prolonged stay in Paris i was very much in love with a young lady who though she returned my passion so far yielded to the wishes of her parents that she had promised not to see me or to correspond with me for a year i too had been compelled to accede to these conditions under a vague hope of parental approval during the term of probation i had promised to remain out of the country and not to write to my dear one until the expiration of the year naturally the time went heavily with me there was not one of my own family or circle who could tell me of Alice and none of her own folk had i'm sorry to say sufficient generosity to send me even an occasional word of comfort regarding her health and well-being i spent six months wondering about europe but as i could find no satisfactory distraction in travel i determined to come to paris where at least i would be with an easy hail of london in case any good fortune should call me thither before the appointed time that hope deferred make if the heart's sick was never better exemplified than in my case for in addition to the perpetual longing to see the face i loved there was always with me a harrowing anxiety that some accident should prevent me showing Alice in due time that i had throughout the long period of probation been faithful to her trust and my own love thus every adventure which i undertook had a fierce pleasure of its own for it was fraught with possible consequences greater than it would have ordinarily borne like all travelers i exhausted the places of most interest in the first month of my stay and was driven in the second month to look for amusement whether so ever i might haven't made sundry journeys to the better known suburbs i began to see that there was a terra incognita in so far as the guidebook was concerned in the social wilderness lying between these attractive points accordingly i began to systematize my researches and every day took up the thread of my exploration at the place where i had on the previous day dropped it in the process of time my wanderings led me near montrose and i saw that ear about lay the ultimate thula of social exploration a country as little known as that round the source of the white nile and so i determined to investigate philosophically the chiffonniere his habitat his life and his means of life the job was an unsavory one difficult of accomplishment and with little hope of adequate reward however despite reason obstinacy prevailed and i entered into my new investigation with a keener energy that i could have summoned to aid me in any investigation leading to any end valuable or worthy one day late in a fine afternoon toward the end of september i entered the holy of holies of the city of dust the place was evidently the recognized abode of a number of chiffonniers for some sort of arrangement was manifested in the formation of the dust heaps near the road i passed among these heaps which stood like orderly centuries determined to penetrate further and trace dust to its ultimate location as i passed along i saw behind the dust heaps a few forms that flitted to and fro evidently watching with great interest the advent of any stranger to such a place the district was like a small switzerland and as i went forward my torturous course shut out the path behind me presently i got into what seemed a small city or community of chiffonniers there were a number of shanties or huts such as maybe met within the remote part of the bog of allen rude places with water walls plastered with mud and roofs of rude thatch made from stable refuse such places as one would not like to enter for any consideration and which even in watercolor could only look picturesque if judiciously treated in the midst of these huts was one of the strangest adaptations i cannot say habitations i had ever seen an immense old wardrobe the colossal remnant of some boudoir of charles the seventh or henry the second had been converted into a dwelling house the double doors lay open so that the entire menage was open to public view and the open half of the wardrobe was a common sitting room of some four feet by six in which sat smoking their pipes round a charcoal brazier no fewer than six old soldiers of the first republic with their uniforms torn and worn threadbare evidently they were of the mauvet suje class their bleary eyes and limp jaws told plainly of a common love of absinthe and their eyes had that haggard worn look of slumber and ferocity which follows hard in the wake of drink the other side stood as of old with its shelves intact save that they were cut to half their depth and in each shelf of which there were six was a bed made with rags and straw the aft dozen of worthies who inhabited this structure looked at me curiously as i passed and when i looked back after going a little way i saw their heads together in a whispered conference i did not like the look of this at all for the place was very lonely and the men looked very very villainous however i did not see any cause for fear and went on my way penetrating further and further into the sahara the way was torturous to a degree and from going around in a series of semicircles as one goes in skating with the dutch role i got rather confused with regards to the points of the compass when i had penetrated a little way i saw as i turned the corner of a half made heap sitting on a heap of straw an old soldier with threadbare coat hello said i to myself the first republic is well represented here in its soldiery as i passed him the old man never even looked up at me but gazed on the ground with stolid persistency again i remarked to myself see what a life a rude warfare can do this old man's curiosity is a thing of the past when i had gone a few steps however i looked back suddenly and saw that curiosity was not dead for the veteran had raised his head and was regarding me with a very queer expression he seemed to me to look very like one of the six worthies in the press when he saw me looking he dropped his head and without thinking further of him i went on my way satisfied that there was a strange likeness between these old warriors presently i met another soldier in a similar manner he too did not notice me whilst i was passing by this time it was getting late in the afternoon and i began to think of retracing my steps accordingly i turned to go back but could see a number of tracks leading between different mounds and could not ascertain which of them i should take in my perplexity i wanted to see someone of whom to ask the way but could see no one i determined to go on a few mounds further and so try to see someone not a veteran i gained my object for after a couple of hundred yards i saw before me a single shanty such as i had seen before with however the difference that this was not one for living in but merely a roof with three walls open in front from the evidence says which the neighborhood exhibited i took it to be a place for sorting within it was an old woman wrinkled and bent with age i approached her to ask her the way she rose as i came close and i asked her my way she immediately commenced a conversation and it occurred to me that here in the very center of the kingdom of dust was a place to gather details of the history of peresian ragpicking particularly as i could do so from the lips of one who looked like the oldest inhabitant i began my inquiries and the old woman gave me most interesting answers she had been one of the satuces who had sat daily before the guillotine and had taken an active part among the women who signalized themselves by their violence in the revolution while we were talking she said suddenly but monsieur must be tired standing and dusted a rickety old stool for me to sit down i hardly like to do so for many reasons but the poor old woman was so civil that i did not like to run the risk of hurting her by refusing and moreover the conversation of one who had been at the taking of the best steel was so interesting that i sat down and so our conversation went on while we were talking an old man older and more bent and wrinkled even than the woman appeared from behind the shanty here is pierre said she monsieur can hear stories now a few wishes for pierre was in everything from the best steel to waterloo the old man took another stool at my request and we plunged into a sea of revolutionary reminiscences this old man albeit clothed like a scarecrow was like any one of the six veterans i was now sitting in the center of the low hut with the woman on my left hand and the man on my right each of them being somewhat in front of me the place was full of all sorts of curious objects of lumber and of many things that i wished far away in one corner was a heap of rags which seemed to move from the number of bourbon it contained and in the other a heap of bones whose odor was something shocking every now and then glancing at the heaps i could see the gleaming eyes of some of the rats which infested the place these loathsome objects were bad enough but what looked even more dreadful was an old butcher's axe with an iron handle stained with clots of blood leaning up against the wall on the right hand side still these things did not give me much concern the talk of the two old people was so fascinating that i stayed on and on till the evening came and the dust heaps through dark shadows over the veils between them after a time i began to grow uneasy i cannot tell how or why but somehow i did not feel satisfied uneasiness is an instinct in means warning the psychic faculties are often the centuries of the intellect and when they sound alarm the reason begins to act although perhaps not consciously this was so with me i began to rethink me where i was and by what surrounded and to wonder how i should fare in case i should be attacked and then the thought suddenly burst upon me although without any overt cause that i was in danger prudent whispered be still and make no sign and so i was still and made no sign for i knew that four cunning eyes were on me four eyes if not more my god what a horrible thought the whole shanty might be surrounded on three sides with villains i might be in the midst of a ban of such desperados as only half a century a periodic revolution can produce with a sense of danger my intellect and observation quickened and i grew more watchful than was my want i noticed that the old woman's eyes were constantly wondering toward my hands i looked at them too and saw the cause my rings on my left little finger i had a large signet on the right a good diamond i thought that if there was any danger my first care was to avert suspicion accordingly i began to work the conversation round to ragpicken to the drains of the things found there and so by easy stages to jewels then sees in a favorable opportunity i asked the old woman if she knew anything of such things she answered that she did a little i held out my right hand and showing her the diamond asked her what she thought of that she answered that her eyes were bad and stooped over my hand i said as nonchalantly as i could pardon me you'll see better thus and taking it off handed it to her an unholy light came into her withered old face as she touched it she stole one glance at me swift and keen as a flash of lightning she bent over the ring for a moment her face quite conceals as i was examining it the old man looked straight out in front of the shanty before him at the same time fumbling in his pockets and producing a screw a tobacco and a paper and a pipe which he proceeded to fill i took advantage of the pause and the momentary rest from the searching eyes on my face to look carefully round the place now dim and shadowy and the gloaming they're still lay all the heaps of very reeking foulness there the terrible blood stained axe leaning against the wall in the right hand corner and everywhere despite the gloom the baleful glitter of the eyes of the rats i could see them even through some of the chinks of the boards at the back low down close to the ground but stay these latter eyes seemed more than usually large and bright and baleful for an instant my heart stood still and i felt in that whirling condition of mind in which one feels a sort of spiritual drunkenness and as though the body is only maintained erect in that there is no time for it to fall before recovery then in another second i was calm coldly calm with all my energies in full vigor with the self-control which i felt to be perfect and with all my feeling and instincts alert now i knew the full extent of my danger i was watched and surrounded by desperate people i cannot even guess at how many of them were lying there on the ground behind the shanty waiting for the moment to strike i knew that i was big and strong and they knew it too they knew also as i did that i was an englishman and would make a fight for it and so we waited i had i felt gained an advantage in the last few seconds for i knew my danger and understood the situation now i thought is the test of my courage the enduring test the fighting test may come later the old woman raised her head and said to me in a satisfied kind of way a very fine ring indeed a beautiful ring oh me i once had such rings plenty of them and bracelets and earrings or for in those days i led the town a dance but they've forgotten me now they've forgotten me they why they never heard of me perhaps their grandfathers remember me some of them and she laughed a horse croaking laugh and then i am bound to say that she astonished me for she handed me back the ring with a certain suggestion of old-fashioned grace which was not without its pythos the old man oid her with a sort of sudden ferocity half rising from a stool and said to me suddenly and hoarsely let me see it i was about to hand him the ring when the old woman said no no do not give it to pierre pierre is eccentric he loses things and such a pretty ring cat said the old man savagely suddenly the old woman said rather more loudly than was necessary wait i shall tell you something about a ring there was something in the sound of her voice that jarred upon me perhaps it was my hypersensitiveness brought up as i was to such a pitch of nervous excitement but i seem to think that she was not addressing me as i stole a glance around the place i saw the eyes of the rats and the bone heaps but missed the eyes along the back but even as i looked i saw them again appear the old woman's weight had given me a respite from attack and the men had sunk back to their reclining posture i once lost a ring a beautiful diamond hoop that had belonged to a queen and which was given to me by a farmer of the taxes who afterwards cut his throat because i sent him away i thought it must have been stolen and taxed my people but i could get no choice the police came and suggested that it had found its way to the drain we descended i in my fine clothes for i would not trust them with my beautiful ring i know more of the drain since then and of rats too but i shall never forget the horror of that place alive with blazing eyes a wall of them just outside the light of our torches well we got beneath my house we searched the outlet of the drain and there in the filth found my ring and we came out but we found something else also before we came as we were coming toward the opening a lot of sewer rats human ones this time came towards us they told the police that one of their number had gone into the drain and had not returned he had gone in only shortly before we had and if lost could hardly be far off they asked help to seek him so we turned back they tried to prevent me going but i insisted it was a new excitement and had i not recovered my ring not far did we go till we came on something there was but a little water and the bottom of the drain was raised with brick rubbish and much matter of the kind he had made a fight for it even when his torch had gone out but there were too many for him they had not been long about it the bones were still warm but they were picked clean they had even eaten their own dead ones and there were bones of rats as well as of the man they took it cool enough those others the human ones and joked of their comrade when they found him dead though they would have helped him living but what matters it life or death and you had no fear i asked her fear she said with a laugh me have fear ask pl but i was younger then and as i came through that horrible drain with its wall of greedy eyes always moving with the circle of the light from the torches i did not feel easy i kept on before the men know it is a way i have i never let the men get it before me all i want is a chance and a means and they ate him up took every trace away except the bones and no one knew it no one sound of him ever was made here she broke into a chuckling fit of the ghastliest merriment which it was ever my lot to hear and see a great poetess describes her heroine singing oh to see or hear her singing scarce i know which is divinest and i can apply the same idea to the old crown in all save the divinity for i scarce could tell which was the most hellish the harsh malicious satisfied crew laugh are the leer and grin and the horrible square open into the mouth like a tragic mask and the yellow gleam of a few discolored teeth in the shapeless gums in that laugh and with that grin and the chuckling satisfaction i knew as well as if it had been spoken to me in words of thunder that my murder was settled and the murderers only bided the proper time for its accomplishment i could read between the lines of her gruesome story the commands to her accomplices wait she seemed to say by your time i shall strike the first blow find the weapon for me and i shall make the opportunity he shall not escape keep him quiet and then no one will be the wiser there will be no outcry and the rats will do their work it was growing darker and darker the night was coming i stole a glance around the shanty still all the same the bloody axe in the corner the heaps of filth and the eyes on the bone heaps and in the crannies of the floor pierre had been still ostensibly filling his pipe he now struck a light and began to puff away at it the old woman said dear heart how dark it is pierre like a good lad like the lamp pierre got up and with the lighted match in his hand touched the wick of a lamp which hung it one side of the entrance to the shanty and which had a reflector that threw the light all over the place it was evidently that which was used for the sortonate night not that stupid not that the lantern she called out to him he immediately blew it out saying all right mother i'll find it and he hustled about the left corner of the room the old woman saying through the darkness the lantern the lantern oh that is the light that is most useful to us poor folks the lantern was the friend of the revolution it is the friend of the chiffonier it helps us when all else fails hardly had she said the word when there was a kind of creak in at the whole place and something was steadily dragged over the roof again i seemed to read between the lines of her words i knew the lesson of the lantern one of you get on the roof with a noose and strangle him as he passes out if we fail within as i looked out of the opening i saw a loop of rope outlined black against the lurid sky i was now indeed the set pierre was not long and fine in the lantern i kept my eyes fixed to the darkness on the old woman the air struck his light by its flash i saw the old woman raised from the ground beside her where it had mysteriously appeared and then hide in the folds of her gown the long sharp knife or dagger it seemed to be like a butter sharpening iron fine to a keen point the lantern was lit bring it here pierre she said place it in the doorway where we can see it see how nice it is it shuts out the darkness from us it is just right just right for her and her purposes it threw all its light on my face leaving in gloom the faces of both pierre and the woman who sat outside of me on each side i felt that the time of action was approaching but i knew now that the first signal in movement would come from the woman and so watched her i was all unarmed but i had made up my mind what to do at the first movement i would seize the butcher's axe in the right hand corner and fight my way out at least i would die hard i stole a glance round to fix its exact locality so i could not fail to seize it at the first effort for then if ever time and accuracy would be precious good god it was gone all the horror the situation burst upon me but the bitterest thought of all was that if the issue of the terrible position should be against me alice wouldn't fallibly suffer either she would believe me false and any lover or anyone who has ever been one can imagine the bitterness of the thought or else she would go on loving long after i had been lost to her and to the world so that her life would be broken and embittered shattered with disappointment and despair the very magnitude of the pain braced me up and nervous me to bear the dread scrutiny of the plotters i think i did not betray myself the old woman was watching me as a cat does a mouse and had her right hand hidden in the folds of her gown clutching i knew that long cruel looking dagger had she seen any disappointment in my face she would i felt have known that the moment had come and would have sprung on me like a tigress certain have taken me unprepared i looked out into the night and there i saw a new cause for danger before and around the hut were at a little distance some shadowy forms and they were quite still but i knew that they were all alerting on guard small chance for me now in that direction again i stole a glance around the place in moments of great excitement and of great danger which is excitement the mine works very quickly and the keenness of the faculties which depend on the mind grow in proportion i now felt this an instant i took in the whole situation i saw that the axe had been taken through a small hole made in one of the rotten boards how rotten they must be to allow such a thing being done without a particle of noise the hut was a regular murder trap and was guarded all round a garter lay on the roof ready to entangle me with his noose if i should escape the dagger of the old hag in front the way was guarded by i know not how many watchers and at the back was a row of desperate men i had seen their eyes still through the crack in the boards of the floor when last i looked as i lay prone waiting for the signal to start erect if it was to be ever now for it end of the burial of the rats part one recording by hailey flag of texas