Casting The Runes

Scary Books: Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary
: Montague Rhodes James

_April 15th, 190-_



Dear Sir,



I am requested by the Council of the ---- Association to return to you

the draft of a paper on _The Truth of Alchemy_, which you have been good

enough to offer to read at our forthcoming meeting, and to inform you

that the Council do not see their way to including it in the programme.



I am,



Yours faithfully,

< r />
Secretary



April 18th



Dear Sir,



I am sorry to say that my engagements do not permit of my affording you

an interview on the subject of your proposed paper. Nor do our laws allow

of your discussing the matter with a Committee of our Council, as you

suggest. Please allow me to assure you that the fullest consideration was

given to the draft which you submitted, and that it was not declined

without having been referred to the judgement of a most competent

authority. No personal question (it can hardly be necessary for me to

add) can have had the slightest influence on the decision of the Council.



Believe me (_ut supra_).



_April 20th_



The Secretary of the ---- Association begs respectfully to inform Mr

Karswell that it is impossible for him to communicate the name of any

person or persons to whom the draft of Mr Karswell's paper may have been

submitted; and further desires to intimate that he cannot undertake to

reply to any further letters on this subject.



'And who _is_ Mr Karswell?' inquired the Secretary's wife. She had called

at his office, and (perhaps unwarrantably) had picked up the last of

these three letters, which the typist had just brought in.



'Why, my dear, just at present Mr Karswell is a very angry man. But I

don't know much about him otherwise, except that he is a person of

wealth, his address is Lufford Abbey, Warwickshire, and he's an

alchemist, apparently, and wants to tell us all about it; and that's

about all--except that I don't want to meet him for the next week or two.

Now, if you're ready to leave this place, I am.'



'What have you been doing to make him angry?' asked Mrs Secretary.



'The usual thing, my dear, the usual thing: he sent in a draft of a paper

he wanted to read at the next meeting, and we referred it to Edward

Dunning--almost the only man in England who knows about these things--and

he said it was perfectly hopeless, so we declined it. So Karswell has

been pelting me with letters ever since. The last thing he wanted was the

name of the man we referred his nonsense to; you saw my answer to that.

But don't you say anything about it, for goodness' sake.'



'I should think not, indeed. Did I ever do such a thing? I do hope,

though, he won't get to know that it was poor Mr Dunning.'



'Poor Mr Dunning? I don't know why you call him that; he's a very happy

man, is Dunning. Lots of hobbies and a comfortable home, and all his time

to himself.'



'I only meant I should be sorry for him if this man got hold of his name,

and came and bothered him.'



'Oh, ah! yes. I dare say he would be poor Mr Dunning then.'



The Secretary and his wife were lunching out, and the friends to whose

house they were bound were Warwickshire people. So Mrs Secretary had

already settled it in her own mind that she would question them

judiciously about Mr Karswell. But she was saved the trouble of leading

up to the subject, for the hostess said to the host, before many minutes

had passed, 'I saw the Abbot of Lufford this morning.' The host whistled.

'_Did_ you? What in the world brings him up to town?' 'Goodness knows; he

was coming out of the British Museum gate as I drove past.' It was not

unnatural that Mrs Secretary should inquire whether this was a real Abbot

who was being spoken of. 'Oh no, my dear: only a neighbour of ours in the

country who bought Lufford Abbey a few years ago. His real name is

Karswell.' 'Is he a friend of yours?' asked Mr Secretary, with a private

wink to his wife. The question let loose a torrent of declamation. There

was really nothing to be said for Mr Karswell. Nobody knew what he did

with himself: his servants were a horrible set of people; he had invented

a new religion for himself, and practised no one could tell what

appalling rites; he was very easily offended, and never forgave anybody;

he had a dreadful face (so the lady insisted, her husband somewhat

demurring); he never did a kind action, and whatever influence he did

exert was mischievous. 'Do the poor man justice, dear,' the husband

interrupted. 'You forget the treat he gave the school children.' 'Forget

it, indeed! But I'm glad you mentioned it, because it gives an idea of

the man. Now, Florence, listen to this. The first winter he was at

Lufford this delightful neighbour of ours wrote to the clergyman of his

parish (he's not ours, but we know him very well) and offered to show the

school children some magic-lantern slides. He said he had some new kinds,

which he thought would interest them. Well, the clergyman was rather

surprised, because Mr Karswell had shown himself inclined to be

unpleasant to the children--complaining of their trespassing, or

something of the sort; but of course he accepted, and the evening was

fixed, and our friend went himself to see that everything went right. He

said he never had been so thankful for anything as that his own children

were all prevented from being there: they were at a children's party at

our house, as a matter of fact. Because this Mr Karswell had evidently

set out with the intention of frightening these poor village children out

of their wits, and I do believe, if he had been allowed to go on, he

would actually have done so. He began with some comparatively mild

things. Red Riding Hood was one, and even then, Mr Farrer said, the wolf

was so dreadful that several of the smaller children had to be taken out:

and he said Mr Karswell began the story by producing a noise like a wolf

howling in the distance, which was the most gruesome thing he had ever

heard. All the slides he showed, Mr Farrer said, were most clever; they

were absolutely realistic, and where he had got them or how he worked

them he could not imagine. Well, the show went on, and the stories kept

on becoming a little more terrifying each time, and the children were

mesmerized into complete silence. At last he produced a series which

represented a little boy passing through his own park--Lufford, I

mean--in the evening. Every child in the room could recognize the place

from the pictures. And this poor boy was followed, and at last pursued

and overtaken, and either torn to pieces or somehow made away with, by a

horrible hopping creature in white, which you saw first dodging about

among the trees, and gradually it appeared more and more plainly. Mr

Farrer said it gave him one of the worst nightmares he ever remembered,

and what it must have meant to the children doesn't bear thinking of. Of

course this was too much, and he spoke very sharply indeed to Mr

Karswell, and said it couldn't go on. All _he_ said was: "Oh, you think

it's time to bring our little show to an end and send them home to their

beds? _Very_ well!" And then, if you please, he switched on another

slide, which showed a great mass of snakes, centipedes, and disgusting

creatures with wings, and somehow or other he made it seem as if they

were climbing out of the picture and getting in amongst the audience; and

this was accompanied by a sort of dry rustling noise which sent the

children nearly mad, and of course they stampeded. A good many of them

were rather hurt in getting out of the room, and I don't suppose one of

them closed an eye that night. There was the most dreadful trouble in the

village afterwards. Of course the mothers threw a good part of the blame

on poor Mr Farrer, and, if they could have got past the gates, I believe

the fathers would have broken every window in the Abbey. Well, now,

that's Mr Karswell: that's the Abbot of Lufford, my dear, and you can

imagine how we covet _his_ society.'



'Yes, I think he has all the possibilities of a distinguished criminal,

has Karswell,' said the host. 'I should be sorry for anyone who got into

his bad books.'



'Is he the man, or am I mixing him up with someone else?' asked the

Secretary (who for some minutes had been wearing the frown of the man who

is trying to recollect something). 'Is he the man who brought out a

_History of Witchcraft_ some time back--ten years or more?'



'That's the man; do you remember the reviews of it?'



'Certainly I do; and what's equally to the point, I knew the author of

the most incisive of the lot. So did you: you must remember John

Harrington; he was at John's in our time.'



'Oh, very well indeed, though I don't think I saw or heard anything of

him between the time I went down and the day I read the account of the

inquest on him.'



'Inquest?' said one of the ladies. 'What has happened to him?'



'Why, what happened was that he fell out of a tree and broke his neck.

But the puzzle was, what could have induced him to get up there. It was a

mysterious business, I must say. Here was this man--not an athletic

fellow, was he? and with no eccentric twist about him that was ever

noticed--walking home along a country road late in the evening--no tramps

about--well known and liked in the place--and he suddenly begins to run

like mad, loses his hat and stick, and finally shins up a tree--quite a

difficult tree--growing in the hedgerow: a dead branch gives way, and he

comes down with it and breaks his neck, and there he's found next morning

with the most dreadful face of fear on him that could be imagined. It was

pretty evident, of course, that he had been chased by something, and

people talked of savage dogs, and beasts escaped out of menageries; but

there was nothing to be made of that. That was in '89, and I believe his

brother Henry (whom I remember as well at Cambridge, but _you_ probably

don't) has been trying to get on the track of an explanation ever since.

He, of course, insists there was malice in it, but I don't know. It's

difficult to see how it could have come in.'



After a time the talk reverted to the _History of Witchcraft_. 'Did you

ever look into it?' asked the host.



'Yes, I did,' said the Secretary. 'I went so far as to read it.'



'Was it as bad as it was made out to be?'



'Oh, in point of style and form, quite hopeless. It deserved all the

pulverizing it got. But, besides that, it was an evil book. The man

believed every word of what he was saying, and I'm very much mistaken if

he hadn't tried the greater part of his receipts.'



'Well, I only remember Harrington's review of it, and I must say if I'd

been the author it would have quenched my literary ambition for good. I

should never have held up my head again.'



'It hasn't had that effect in the present case. But come, it's half-past

three; I must be off.'



On the way home the Secretary's wife said, 'I do hope that horrible man

won't find out that Mr Dunning had anything to do with the rejection of

his paper.' 'I don't think there's much chance of that,' said the

Secretary. 'Dunning won't mention it himself, for these matters are

confidential, and none of us will for the same reason. Karswell won't

know his name, for Dunning hasn't published anything on the same subject

yet. The only danger is that Karswell might find out, if he was to ask

the British Museum people who was in the habit of consulting alchemical

manuscripts: I can't very well tell them not to mention Dunning, can I?

It would set them talking at once. Let's hope it won't occur to him.'



However, Mr Karswell was an astute man.

This much is in the way of prologue. On an evening rather later in the

same week, Mr Edward Dunning was returning from the British Museum, where

he had been engaged in research, to the comfortable house in a suburb

where he lived alone, tended by two excellent women who had been long

with him. There is nothing to be added by way of description of him to

what we have heard already. Let us follow him as he takes his sober

course homewards.

A train took him to within a mile or two of his house, and an electric

tram a stage farther. The line ended at a point some three hundred yards

from his front door. He had had enough of reading when he got into the

car, and indeed the light was not such as to allow him to do more than

study the advertisements on the panes of glass that faced him as he sat.

As was not unnatural, the advertisements in this particular line of cars

were objects of his frequent contemplation, and, with the possible

exception of the brilliant and convincing dialogue between Mr Lamplough

and an eminent K.C. on the subject of Pyretic Saline, none of them

afforded much scope to his imagination. I am wrong: there was one at the

corner of the car farthest from him which did not seem familiar. It was

in blue letters on a yellow ground, and all that he could read of it was

a name--John Harrington--and something like a date. It could be of no

interest to him to know more; but for all that, as the car emptied, he

was just curious enough to move along the seat until he could read it

well. He felt to a slight extent repaid for his trouble; the

advertisement was _not_ of the usual type. It ran thus: 'In memory of

John Harrington, F.S.A., of The Laurels, Ashbrooke. Died Sept. 18th,

1889. Three months were allowed.'



The car stopped. Mr Dunning, still contemplating the blue letters on the

yellow ground, had to be stimulated to rise by a word from the conductor.

'I beg your pardon,' he said, 'I was looking at that advertisement; it's

a very odd one, isn't it?' The conductor read it slowly. 'Well, my word,'

he said, 'I never see that one before. Well, that is a cure, ain't it?

Someone bin up to their jokes 'ere, I should think.' He got out a duster

and applied it, not without saliva, to the pane and then to the outside.

'No,' he said, returning, 'that ain't no transfer; seems to me as if it

was reg'lar _in_ the glass, what I mean in the substance, as you may say.

Don't you think so, sir?' Mr Dunning examined it and rubbed it with his

glove, and agreed. 'Who looks after these advertisements, and gives leave

for them to be put up? I wish you would inquire. I will just take a note

of the words.' At this moment there came a call from the driver: 'Look

alive, George, time's up.' 'All right, all right; there's something else

what's up at this end. You come and look at this 'ere glass.' 'What's

gorn with the glass?' said the driver, approaching. 'Well, and oo's

'Arrington? What's it all about?' 'I was just asking who was responsible

for putting the advertisements up in your cars, and saying it would be as

well to make some inquiry about this one.' 'Well, sir, that's all done at

the Company's office, that work is: it's our Mr Timms, I believe, looks

into that. When we put up tonight I'll leave word, and per'aps I'll be

able to tell you tomorrer if you 'appen to be coming this way.'



This was all that passed that evening. Mr Dunning did just go to the

trouble of looking up Ashbrooke, and found that it was in Warwickshire.



Next day he went to town again. The car (it was the same car) was too

full in the morning to allow of his getting a word with the conductor: he

could only be sure that the curious advertisement had been made away

with. The close of the day brought a further element of mystery into the

transaction. He had missed the tram, or else preferred walking home, but

at a rather late hour, while he was at work in his study, one of the

maids came to say that two men from the tramways was very anxious to

speak to him. This was a reminder of the advertisement, which he had, he

says, nearly forgotten. He had the men in--they were the conductor and

driver of the car--and when the matter of refreshment had been attended

to, asked what Mr Timms had had to say about the advertisement. 'Well,

sir, that's what we took the liberty to step round about,' said the

conductor. 'Mr Timms 'e give William 'ere the rough side of his tongue

about that: 'cordin' to 'im there warn't no advertisement of that

description sent in, nor ordered, nor paid for, nor put up, nor nothink,

let alone not bein' there, and we was playing the fool takin' up his

time. "Well," I says, "if that's the case, all I ask of you, Mr Timms," I

says, "is to take and look at it for yourself," I says. "Of course if it

ain't there," I says, "you may take and call me what you like." "Right,"

he says, "I will": and we went straight off. Now, I leave it to you, sir,

if that ad., as we term 'em, with 'Arrington on it warn't as plain as

ever you see anythink--blue letters on yeller glass, and as I says at the

time, and you borne me out, reg'lar _in_ the glass, because, if you

remember, you recollect of me swabbing it with my duster.' 'To be sure I

do, quite clearly--well?' 'You may say well, I don't think. Mr Timms he

gets in that car with a light--no, he telled William to 'old the light

outside. "Now," he says, "where's your precious ad. what we've 'eard so

much about?" "'Ere it is," I says, "Mr Timms," and I laid my 'and on it.'

The conductor paused.



'Well,' said Mr Dunning, 'it was gone, I suppose. Broken?'



'Broke!--not it. There warn't, if you'll believe me, no more trace of

them letters--blue letters they was--on that piece o' glass, than--well,

it's no good _me_ talkin'. _I_ never see such a thing. I leave it to

William here if--but there, as I says, where's the benefit in me going on

about it?'



'And what did Mr Timms say?'



'Why 'e did what I give 'im leave to--called us pretty much anythink he

liked, and I don't know as I blame him so much neither. But what we

thought, William and me did, was as we seen you take down a bit of a note

about that--well, that letterin'--'



'I certainly did that, and I have it now. Did you wish me to speak to Mr

Timms myself, and show it to him? Was that what you came in about?'



'There, didn't I say as much?' said William. 'Deal with a gent if you can

get on the track of one, that's my word. Now perhaps, George, you'll

allow as I ain't took you very far wrong tonight.'



'Very well, William, very well; no need for you to go on as if you'd 'ad

to frog's-march me 'ere. I come quiet, didn't I? All the same for that,

we 'adn't ought to take up your time this way, sir; but if it so 'appened

you could find time to step round to the Company orfice in the morning

and tell Mr Timms what you seen for yourself, we should lay under a very

'igh obligation to you for the trouble. You see it ain't bein'

called--well, one thing and another, as we mind, but if they got it into

their 'ead at the orfice as we seen things as warn't there, why, one

thing leads to another, and where we should be a twelvemunce 'ence--well,

you can understand what I mean.'



Amid further elucidations of the proposition, George, conducted by

William, left the room.



The incredulity of Mr Timms (who had a nodding acquaintance with Mr

Dunning) was greatly modified on the following day by what the latter

could tell and show him; and any bad mark that might have been attached

to the names of William and George was not suffered to remain on the

Company's books; but explanation there was none.



Mr Dunning's interest in the matter was kept alive by an incident of the

following afternoon. He was walking from his club to the train, and he

noticed some way ahead a man with a handful of leaflets such as are

distributed to passers-by by agents of enterprising firms. This agent had

not chosen a very crowded street for his operations: in fact, Mr Dunning

did not see him get rid of a single leaflet before he himself reached the

spot. One was thrust into his hand as he passed: the hand that gave it

touched his, and he experienced a sort of little shock as it did so. It

seemed unnaturally rough and hot. He looked in passing at the giver, but

the impression he got was so unclear that, however much he tried to

reckon it up subsequently, nothing would come. He was walking quickly,

and as he went on glanced at the paper. It was a blue one. The name of

Harrington in large capitals caught his eye. He stopped, startled, and

felt for his glasses. The next instant the leaflet was twitched out of

his hand by a man who hurried past, and was irrecoverably gone. He ran

back a few paces, but where was the passer-by? and where the distributor?



It was in a somewhat pensive frame of mind that Mr Dunning passed on the

following day into the Select Manuscript Room of the British Museum, and

filled up tickets for Harley 3586, and some other volumes. After a few

minutes they were brought to him, and he was settling the one he wanted

first upon the desk, when he thought he heard his own name whispered

behind him. He turned round hastily, and in doing so, brushed his little

portfolio of loose papers on to the floor. He saw no one he recognized

except one of the staff in charge of the room, who nodded to him, and he

proceeded to pick up his papers. He thought he had them all, and was

turning to begin work, when a stout gentleman at the table behind him,

who was just rising to leave, and had collected his own belongings,

touched him on the shoulder, saying, 'May I give you this? I think it

should be yours,' and handed him a missing quire. 'It is mine, thank

you,' said Mr Dunning. In another moment the man had left the room. Upon

finishing his work for the afternoon, Mr Dunning had some conversation

with the assistant in charge, and took occasion to ask who the stout

gentleman was. 'Oh, he's a man named Karswell,' said the assistant; 'he

was asking me a week ago who were the great authorities on alchemy, and

of course I told him you were the only one in the country. I'll see if I

can catch him: he'd like to meet you, I'm sure.'



'For heaven's sake don't dream of it!' said Mr Dunning, 'I'm particularly

anxious to avoid him.'



'Oh! very well,' said the assistant, 'he doesn't come here often: I dare

say you won't meet him.'



More than once on the way home that day Mr Dunning confessed to himself

that he did not look forward with his usual cheerfulness to a solitary

evening. It seemed to him that something ill-defined and impalpable had

stepped in between him and his fellow-men--had taken him in charge, as it

were. He wanted to sit close up to his neighbours in the train and in the

tram, but as luck would have it both train and car were markedly empty.

The conductor George was thoughtful, and appeared to be absorbed in

calculations as to the number of passengers. On arriving at his house he

found Dr Watson, his medical man, on his doorstep. 'I've had to upset

your household arrangements, I'm sorry to say, Dunning. Both your

servants _hors de combat_. In fact, I've had to send them to the Nursing

Home.'



'Good heavens! what's the matter?'



'It's something like ptomaine poisoning, I should think: you've not

suffered yourself, I can see, or you wouldn't be walking about. I think

they'll pull through all right.'



'Dear, dear! Have you any idea what brought it on?' 'Well, they tell me

they bought some shell-fish from a hawker at their dinner-time. It's odd.

I've made inquiries, but I can't find that any hawker has been to other

houses in the street. I couldn't send word to you; they won't be back for

a bit yet. You come and dine with me tonight, anyhow, and we can make

arrangements for going on. Eight o'clock. Don't be too anxious.' The

solitary evening was thus obviated; at the expense of some distress and

inconvenience, it is true. Mr Dunning spent the time pleasantly enough

with the doctor (a rather recent settler), and returned to his lonely

home at about 11.30. The night he passed is not one on which he looks

back with any satisfaction. He was in bed and the light was out. He was

wondering if the charwoman would come early enough to get him hot water

next morning, when he heard the unmistakable sound of his study door

opening. No step followed it on the passage floor, but the sound must

mean mischief, for he knew that he had shut the door that evening after

putting his papers away in his desk. It was rather shame than courage

that induced him to slip out into the passage and lean over the banister

in his nightgown, listening. No light was visible; no further sound came:

only a gust of warm, or even hot air played for an instant round his

shins. He went back and decided to lock himself into his room. There was

more unpleasantness, however. Either an economical suburban company had

decided that their light would not be required in the small hours, and

had stopped working, or else something was wrong with the meter; the

effect was in any case that the electric light was off. The obvious

course was to find a match, and also to consult his watch: he might as

well know how many hours of discomfort awaited him. So he put his hand

into the well-known nook under the pillow: only, it did not get so far.

What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and

with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being. I

do not think it is any use to guess what he said or did; but he was in a

spare room with the door locked and his ear to it before he was clearly

conscious again. And there he spent the rest of a most miserable night,

looking every moment for some fumbling at the door: but nothing came.



The venturing back to his own room in the morning was attended with many

listenings and quiverings. The door stood open, fortunately, and the

blinds were up (the servants had been out of the house before the hour of

drawing them down); there was, to be short, no trace of an inhabitant.

The watch, too, was in its usual place; nothing was disturbed, only the

wardrobe door had swung open, in accordance with its confirmed habit. A

ring at the back door now announced the charwoman, who had been ordered

the night before, and nerved Mr Dunning, after letting her in, to

continue his search in other parts of the house. It was equally

fruitless.



The day thus begun went on dismally enough. He dared not go to the

Museum: in spite of what the assistant had said, Karswell might turn up

there, and Dunning felt he could not cope with a probably hostile

stranger. His own house was odious; he hated sponging on the doctor. He

spent some little time in a call at the Nursing Home, where he was

slightly cheered by a good report of his housekeeper and maid. Towards

lunch-time he betook himself to his club, again experiencing a gleam of

satisfaction at seeing the Secretary of the Association. At luncheon

Dunning told his friend the more material of his woes, but could not

bring himself to speak of those that weighed most heavily on his spirits.

'My poor dear man,' said the Secretary, 'what an upset! Look here: we're

alone at home, absolutely. You must put up with us. Yes! no excuse: send

your things in this afternoon.' Dunning was unable to stand out: he was,

in truth, becoming acutely anxious, as the hours went on, as to what that

night might have waiting for him. He was almost happy as he hurried home

to pack up.



His friends, when they had time to take stock of him, were rather shocked

at his lorn appearance, and did their best to keep him up to the mark.

Not altogether without success: but, when the two men were smoking alone

later, Dunning became dull again. Suddenly he said, 'Gayton, I believe

that alchemist man knows it was I who got his paper rejected.' Gayton

whistled. 'What makes you think that?' he said. Dunning told of his

conversation with the Museum assistant, and Gayton could only agree that

the guess seemed likely to be correct. 'Not that I care much,' Dunning

went on, 'only it might be a nuisance if we were to meet. He's a

bad-tempered party, I imagine.' Conversation dropped again; Gayton became

more and more strongly impressed with the desolateness that came over

Dunning's face and bearing, and finally--though with a considerable

effort--he asked him point-blank whether something serious was not

bothering him. Dunning gave an exclamation of relief. 'I was perishing to

get it off my mind,' he said. 'Do you know anything about a man named

John Harrington?' Gayton was thoroughly startled, and at the moment could

only ask why. Then the complete story of Dunning's experiences came

out--what had happened in the tramcar, in his own house, and in the

street, the troubling of spirit that had crept over him, and still held

him; and he ended with the question he had begun with. Gayton was at a

loss how to answer him. To tell the story of Harrington's end would

perhaps be right; only, Dunning was in a nervous state, the story was a

grim one, and he could not help asking himself whether there were not a

connecting link between these two cases, in the person of Karswell. It

was a difficult concession for a scientific man, but it could be eased by

the phrase 'hypnotic suggestion'. In the end he decided that his answer

tonight should be guarded; he would talk the situation over with his

wife. So he said that he had known Harrington at Cambridge, and believed

he had died suddenly in 1889, adding a few details about the man and his

published work. He did talk over the matter with Mrs Gayton, and, as he

had anticipated, she leapt at once to the conclusion which had been

hovering before him. It was she who reminded him of the surviving

brother, Henry Harrington, and she also who suggested that he might be

got hold of by means of their hosts of the day before. 'He might be a

hopeless crank,' objected Gayton. 'That could be ascertained from the

Bennetts, who knew him,' Mrs Gayton retorted; and she undertook to see

the Bennetts the very next day.

It is not necessary to tell in further detail the steps by which Henry

Harrington and Dunning were brought together.

The next scene that does require to be narrated is a conversation that

took place between the two. Dunning had told Harrington of the strange

ways in which the dead man's name had been brought before him, and had

said something, besides, of his own subsequent experiences. Then he had

asked if Harrington was disposed, in return, to recall any of the

circumstances connected with his brother's death. Harrington's surprise

at what he heard can be imagined: but his reply was readily given.



'John,' he said, 'was in a very odd state, undeniably, from time to time,

during some weeks before, though not immediately before, the catastrophe.

There were several things; the principal notion he had was that he

thought he was being followed. No doubt he was an impressionable man, but

he never had had such fancies as this before. I cannot get it out of my

mind that there was ill-will at work, and what you tell me about yourself

reminds me very much of my brother. Can you think of any possible

connecting link?'



'There is just one that has been taking shape vaguely in my mind. I've

been told that your brother reviewed a book very severely not long before

he died, and just lately I have happened to cross the path of the man who

wrote that book in a way he would resent.'



'Don't tell me the man was called Karswell.'



'Why not? that is exactly his name.'



Henry Harrington leant back. 'That is final to my mind. Now I must

explain further. From something he said, I feel sure that my brother John

was beginning to believe--very much against his will--that Karswell was

at the bottom of his trouble. I want to tell you what seems to me to have

a bearing on the situation. My brother was a great musician, and used to

run up to concerts in town. He came back, three months before he died,

from one of these, and gave me his programme to look at--an analytical

programme: he always kept them. "I nearly missed this one," he said. "I

suppose I must have dropped it: anyhow, I was looking for it under my

seat and in my pockets and so on, and my neighbour offered me his, said

'might he give it me, he had no further use for it,' and he went away

just afterwards. I don't know who he was--a stout, clean-shaven man. I

should have been sorry to miss it; of course I could have bought another,

but this cost me nothing." At another time he told me that he had been

very uncomfortable both on the way to his hotel and during the night. I

piece things together now in thinking it over. Then, not very long after,

he was going over these programmes, putting them in order to have them

bound up, and in this particular one (which by the way I had hardly

glanced at), he found quite near the beginning a strip of paper with some

very odd writing on it in red and black--most carefully done--it looked

to me more like Runic letters than anything else. "Why," he said, "this

must belong to my fat neighbour. It looks as if it might be worth

returning to him; it may be a copy of something; evidently someone has

taken trouble over it. How can I find his address?" We talked it over for

a little and agreed that it wasn't worth advertising about, and that my

brother had better look out for the man at the next concert, to which he

was going very soon. The paper was lying on the book and we were both by

the fire; it was a cold, windy summer evening. I suppose the door blew

open, though I didn't notice it: at any rate a gust--a warm gust it

was--came quite suddenly between us, took the paper and blew it straight

into the fire: it was light, thin paper, and flared and went up the

chimney in a single ash. "Well," I said, "you can't give it back now." He

said nothing for a minute: then rather crossly, "No, I can't; but why you

should keep on saying so I don't know." I remarked that I didn't say it

more than once. "Not more than four times, you mean," was all he said. I

remember all that very clearly, without any good reason; and now to come

to the point. I don't know if you looked at that book of Karswell's which

my unfortunate brother reviewed. It's not likely that you should: but I

did, both before his death and after it. The first time we made game of

it together. It was written in no style at all--split infinitives, and

every sort of thing that makes an Oxford gorge rise. Then there was

nothing that the man didn't swallow: mixing up classical myths, and

stories out of the _Golden Legend_ with reports of savage customs of

today--all very proper, no doubt, if you know how to use them, but he

didn't: he seemed to put the _Golden Legend_ and the _Golden Bough_

exactly on a par, and to believe both: a pitiable exhibition, in short.

Well, after the misfortune, I looked over the book again. It was no

better than before, but the impression which it left this time on my mind

was different. I suspected--as I told you--that Karswell had borne

ill-will to my brother, even that he was in some way responsible for what

had happened; and now his book seemed to me to be a very sinister

performance indeed. One chapter in particular struck me, in which he

spoke of "casting the Runes" on people, either for the purpose of gaining

their affection or of getting them out of the way--perhaps more

especially the latter: he spoke of all this in a way that really seemed

to me to imply actual knowledge. I've not time to go into details, but

the upshot is that I am pretty sure from information received that the

civil man at the concert was Karswell: I suspect--I more than

suspect--that the paper was of importance: and I do believe that if my

brother had been able to give it back, he might have been alive now.

Therefore, it occurs to me to ask you whether you have anything to put

beside what I have told you.'



By way of answer, Dunning had the episode in the Manuscript Room at the

British Museum to relate.



'Then he did actually hand you some papers; have you examined them? No?

because we must, if you'll allow it, look at them at once, and very

carefully.'



They went to the still empty house--empty, for the two servants were not

yet able to return to work. Dunning's portfolio of papers was gathering

dust on the writing-table. In it were the quires of small-sized

scribbling paper which he used for his transcripts: and from one of

these, as he took it up, there slipped and fluttered out into the room

with uncanny quickness, a strip of thin light paper. The window was open,

but Harrington slammed it to, just in time to intercept the paper, which

he caught. 'I thought so,' he said; 'it might be the identical thing that

was given to my brother. You'll have to look out, Dunning; this may mean

something quite serious for you.'



A long consultation took place. The paper was narrowly examined. As

Harrington had said, the characters on it were more like Runes than

anything else, but not decipherable by either man, and both hesitated to

copy them, for fear, as they confessed, of perpetuating whatever evil

purpose they might conceal. So it has remained impossible (if I may

anticipate a little) to ascertain what was conveyed in this curious

message or commission. Both Dunning and Harrington are firmly convinced

that it had the effect of bringing its possessors into very undesirable

company. That it must be returned to the source whence it came they were

agreed, and further, that the only safe and certain way was that of

personal service; and here contrivance would be necessary, for Dunning

was known by sight to Karswell. He must, for one thing, alter his

appearance by shaving his beard. But then might not the blow fall first?

Harrington thought they could time it. He knew the date of the concert at

which the 'black spot' had been put on his brother: it was June 18th. The

death had followed on Sept. 18th. Dunning reminded him that three months

had been mentioned on the inscription on the car-window. 'Perhaps,' he

added, with a cheerless laugh, 'mine may be a bill at three months too. I

believe I can fix it by my diary. Yes, April 23rd was the day at the

Museum; that brings us to July 23rd. Now, you know, it becomes extremely

important to me to know anything you will tell me about the progress of

your brother's trouble, if it is possible for you to speak of it.' 'Of

course. Well, the sense of being watched whenever he was alone was the

most distressing thing to him. After a time I took to sleeping in his

room, and he was the better for that: still, he talked a great deal in

his sleep. What about? Is it wise to dwell on that, at least before

things are straightened out? I think not, but I can tell you this: two

things came for him by post during those weeks, both with a London

postmark, and addressed in a commercial hand. One was a woodcut of

Bewick's, roughly torn out of the page: one which shows a moonlit road

and a man walking along it, followed by an awful demon creature. Under it

were written the lines out of the "Ancient Mariner" (which I suppose the

cut illustrates) about one who, having once looked round--



walks on,

And turns no more his head,

Because he knows a frightful fiend

Doth close behind him tread.



The other was a calendar, such as tradesmen often send. My brother paid

no attention to this, but I looked at it after his death, and found that

everything after Sept. 18 had been torn out. You may be surprised at his

having gone out alone the evening he was killed, but the fact is that

during the last ten days or so of his life he had been quite free from

the sense of being followed or watched.'



The end of the consultation was this. Harrington, who knew a neighbour of

Karswell's, thought he saw a way of keeping a watch on his movements. It

would be Dunning's part to be in readiness to try to cross Karswell's

path at any moment, to keep the paper safe and in a place of ready

access.



They parted. The next weeks were no doubt a severe strain upon Dunning's

nerves: the intangible barrier which had seemed to rise about him on the

day when he received the paper, gradually developed into a brooding

blackness that cut him off from the means of escape to which one might

have thought he might resort. No one was at hand who was likely to

suggest them to him, and he seemed robbed of all initiative. He waited

with inexpressible anxiety as May, June, and early July passed on, for a

mandate from Harrington. But all this time Karswell remained immovable at

Lufford.



At last, in less than a week before the date he had come to look upon as

the end of his earthly activities, came a telegram: 'Leaves Victoria by

boat train Thursday night. Do not miss. I come to you to-night.

Harrington.'



He arrived accordingly, and they concocted plans. The train left Victoria

at nine and its last stop before Dover was Croydon West. Harrington would

mark down Karswell at Victoria, and look out for Dunning at Croydon,

calling to him if need were by a name agreed upon. Dunning, disguised as

far as might be, was to have no label or initials on any hand luggage,

and must at all costs have the paper with him.



Dunning's suspense as he waited on the Croydon platform I need not

attempt to describe. His sense of danger during the last days had only

been sharpened by the fact that the cloud about him had perceptibly been

lighter; but relief was an ominous symptom, and, if Karswell eluded him

now, hope was gone: and there were so many chances of that. The rumour of

the journey might be itself a device. The twenty minutes in which he

paced the platform and persecuted every porter with inquiries as to the

boat train were as bitter as any he had spent. Still, the train came, and

Harrington was at the window. It was important, of course, that there

should be no recognition: so Dunning got in at the farther end of the

corridor carriage, and only gradually made his way to the compartment

where Harrington and Karswell were. He was pleased, on the whole, to see

that the train was far from full.



Karswell was on the alert, but gave no sign of recognition. Dunning took

the seat not immediately facing him, and attempted, vainly at first, then

with increasing command of his faculties, to reckon the possibilities of

making the desired transfer. Opposite to Karswell, and next to Dunning,

was a heap of Karswell's coats on the seat. It would be of no use to slip

the paper into these--he would not be safe, or would not feel so, unless

in some way it could be proffered by him and accepted by the other. There

was a handbag, open, and with papers in it. Could he manage to conceal

this (so that perhaps Karswell might leave the carriage without it), and

then find and give it to him? This was the plan that suggested itself. If

he could only have counselled with Harrington! but that could not be. The

minutes went on. More than once Karswell rose and went out into the

corridor. The second time Dunning was on the point of attempting to make

the bag fall off the seat, but he caught Harrington's eye, and read in it

a warning.



Karswell, from the corridor, was watching: probably to see if the two men

recognized each other. He returned, but was evidently restless: and, when

he rose the third time, hope dawned, for something did slip off his seat

and fall with hardly a sound to the floor. Karswell went out once more,

and passed out of range of the corridor window. Dunning picked up what

had fallen, and saw that the key was in his hands in the form of one of

Cook's ticket-cases, with tickets in it. These cases have a pocket in the

cover, and within very few seconds the paper of which we have heard was

in the pocket of this one. To make the operation more secure, Harrington

stood in the doorway of the compartment and fiddled with the blind. It

was done, and done at the right time, for the train was now slowing down

towards Dover.



In a moment more Karswell re-entered the compartment. As he did so,

Dunning, managing, he knew not how, to suppress the tremble in his voice,

handed him the ticket-case, saying, 'May I give you this, sir? I believe

it is yours.' After a brief glance at the ticket inside, Karswell uttered

the hoped-for response, 'Yes, it is; much obliged to you, sir,' and he

placed it in his breast pocket.



Even in the few moments that remained--moments of tense anxiety, for they

knew not to what a premature finding of the paper might lead--both men

noticed that the carriage seemed to darken about them and to grow warmer;

that Karswell was fidgety and oppressed; that he drew the heap of loose

coats near to him and cast it back as if it repelled him; and that he

then sat upright and glanced anxiously at both. They, with sickening

anxiety, busied themselves in collecting their belongings; but they both

thought that Karswell was on the point of speaking when the train stopped

at Dover Town. It was natural that in the short space between town and

pier they should both go into the corridor.



At the pier they got out, but so empty was the train that they were

forced to linger on the platform until Karswell should have passed ahead

of them with his porter on the way to the boat, and only then was it safe

for them to exchange a pressure of the hand and a word of concentrated

congratulation. The effect upon Dunning was to make him almost faint.

Harrington made him lean up against the wall, while he himself went

forward a few yards within sight of the gangway to the boat, at which

Karswell had now arrived. The man at the head of it examined his ticket,

and, laden with coats he passed down into the boat. Suddenly the official

called after him, 'You, sir, beg pardon, did the other gentleman show his

ticket?' 'What the devil do you mean by the other gentleman?' Karswell's

snarling voice called back from the deck. The man bent over and looked at

him. 'The devil? Well, I don't know, I'm sure,' Harrington heard him say

to himself, and then aloud, 'My mistake, sir; must have been your rugs!

ask your pardon.' And then, to a subordinate near him, ''Ad he got a dog

with him, or what? Funny thing: I could 'a' swore 'e wasn't alone. Well,

whatever it was, they'll 'ave to see to it aboard. She's off now. Another

week and we shall be gettin' the 'oliday customers.' In five minutes more

there was nothing but the lessening lights of the boat, the long line of

the Dover lamps, the night breeze, and the moon.



Long and long the two sat in their room at the 'Lord Warden'. In spite of

the removal of their greatest anxiety, they were oppressed with a doubt,

not of the lightest. Had they been justified in sending a man to his

death, as they believed they had? Ought they not to warn him, at least?

'No,' said Harrington; 'if he is the murderer I think him, we have done

no more than is just. Still, if you think it better--but how and where

can you warn him?' 'He was booked to Abbeville only,' said Dunning. 'I

saw that. If I wired to the hotels there in Joanne's Guide, "Examine your

ticket-case, Dunning," I should feel happier. This is the 21st: he will

have a day. But I am afraid he has gone into the dark.' So telegrams were

left at the hotel office.



It is not clear whether these reached their destination, or whether, if

they did, they were understood. All that is known is that, on the

afternoon of the 23rd, an English traveller, examining the front of St

Wulfram's Church at Abbeville, then under extensive repair, was struck on

the head and instantly killed by a stone falling from the scaffold

erected round the north-western tower, there being, as was clearly

proved, no workman on the scaffold at that moment: and the traveller's

papers identified him as Mr Karswell.



Only one detail shall be added. At Karswell's sale a set of Bewick, sold

with all faults, was acquired by Harrington. The page with the woodcut of

the traveller and the demon was, as he had expected, mutilated. Also,

after a judicious interval, Harrington repeated to Dunning something of

what he had heard his brother say in his sleep: but it was not long

before Dunning stopped him.