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At
last, however, the order of release was given; and much was Catherine
then surprised by the General’s proposal of her taking his place in his
son’s curricle for the rest of the journey: “the day was fine, and he
was anxious for her seeing as much of the country as possible.”
The remembrance of Mr. Allen’s opinion, ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
No, no, you will proceed into this small vaulted
room, and through this into several others, without perceiving anything
very remarkable in either. In one perhaps there may be a dagger, in
another a few drops of blood, and in a third the remains of some
instrument of torture; but there being nothing in all this out of ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Her habit therefore was thrown off with all possible haste, and she was
preparing to unpin the linen package, which the chaise-seat had
conveyed for her immediate accommodation, when her eye suddenly fell on
a large high chest, standing back in a deep recess on one side of the
fireplace. The sight of it made her start;... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Catherine, as she crossed the hall, listened to the tempest
with sensations of awe; and, when she heard it rage round a corner of
the ancient building and close with sudden fury a distant door, felt
for the first time that she was really in an abbey. Yes, these were
characteristic sounds; they brought to her recollecti... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
it was snuffed and extinguished
in one. A lamp could not have expired with more awful effect. Catherine, for a few moments, was motionless with horror. It was done
completely; not a remnant of light in the wick could give hope to the
rekindling breath. Darkness impenetrable and immovable filled the room. A violent gust... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Mrs. Allen used to take
pains, year after year, to make me like them; but I never could, till I
saw them the other day in Milsom Street; I am naturally indifferent
about flowers.”
“But now you love a hyacinth. So much the better. You have gained a new
source of enjoyment, and it is well to have as many holds upon
happ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Catherine had seen nothing to
compare with it; and her feelings of delight were so strong, that
without waiting for any better authority, she boldly burst forth in
wonder and praise. The General listened with assenting gratitude; and
it seemed as if his own estimation of Northanger had waited unfixed
till that hour. Th... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Being no longer able,
however, to receive pleasure from the surrounding objects, she soon
began to walk with lassitude; the General perceived it, and with a
concern for her health, which seemed to reproach her for her opinion of
him, was most urgent for returning with his daughter to the house. He
would follow them in ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
She was here
shown successively into three large bed-chambers, with their
dressing-rooms, most completely and handsomely fitted up; everything
that money and taste could do, to give comfort and elegance to
apartments, had been bestowed on these; and, being furnished within the
last five years, they were perfect in all ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
In support of the plausibility of this
conjecture, it further occurred to her that the forbidden gallery, in
which lay the apartments of the unfortunate Mrs. Tilney, must be, as
certainly as her memory could guide her, exactly over this suspected
range of cells, and the staircase by the side of those apartments of
whic... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Upon this trust she dared still to remain in his presence, after the
company left them, and nothing occurred to disturb it. In the course of this morning’s reflections, she came to a resolution
of making her next attempt on the forbidden door alone. It would be
much better in every respect that Eleanor should know noth... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
After a
short silence, during which he had closely observed her, he added, “As
there is nothing in the room in itself to raise curiosity, this must
have proceeded from a sentiment of respect for my mother’s character,
as described by Eleanor, which does honour to her memory. The world, I
believe, never saw a better wom... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
But
in England it was not so; among the English, she believed, in their
hearts and habits, there was a general though unequal mixture of good
and bad. Upon this conviction, she would not be surprised if even in
Henry and Eleanor Tilney, some slight imperfection might hereafter
appear; and upon this conviction she need ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
My
letter was from my brother at Oxford.”
Nothing further was said for a few minutes; and then speaking through
her tears, she added, “I do not think I shall ever wish for a letter
again!”
“I am sorry,” said Henry, closing the book he had just opened; “if I
had suspected the letter of containing anything unwelcome, I... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
CHAPTER 26
From this time, the subject was frequently canvassed by the three young
people; and Catherine found, with some surprise, that her two young
friends were perfectly agreed in considering Isabella’s want of
consequence and fortune as likely to throw great difficulties in the
way of her marrying their brother.... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
As
to-morrow is Sunday, Eleanor, I shall not return.”
He went; and, it being at any time a much simpler operation to
Catherine to doubt her own judgment than Henry’s, she was very soon
obliged to give him credit for being right, however disagreeable to her
his going. But the inexplicability of the General’s conduct dw... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
At six o’clock, the General having taken his coffee, the carriage again
received them; and so gratifying had been the tenor of his conduct
throughout the whole visit, so well assured was her mind on the subject
of his expectations, that, could she have felt equally confident of the
wishes of his son, Catherine would ha... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
But, suppose he had made her very much in love with
him?”
“But we must first suppose Isabella to have had a heart to
lose—consequently to have been a very different creature; and, in that
case, she would have met with very different treatment.”
“It is very right that you should stand by your brother.”
“And if you wo... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Catherine’s spirits, however, were
tranquillized but for an instant, for Eleanor’s cheeks were pale, and
her manner greatly agitated. Though evidently intending to come in, it
seemed an effort to enter the room, and a still greater to speak when
there. Catherine, supposing some uneasiness on Captain Tilney’s
account, c... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
The manner in
which it was done so grossly uncivil, hurrying her away without any
reference to her own convenience, or allowing her even the appearance
of choice as to the time or mode of her travelling; of two days, the
earliest fixed on, and of that almost the earliest hour, as if resolved
to have her gone before he ... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Unfortunately, the road she now
travelled was the same which only ten days ago she had so happily
passed along in going to and from Woodston; and, for fourteen miles,
every bitter feeling was rendered more severe by the review of objects
on which she had first looked under impressions so different. Every
mile, as it br... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
in the joyfulness of family love everything for a
short time was subdued, and the pleasure of seeing her, leaving them at
first little leisure for calm curiosity, they were all seated round the
tea-table, which Mrs. Morland had hurried for the comfort of the poor
traveller, whose pale and jaded looks soon caught her no... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Just at present it comes hard to poor James; but that will not
last forever; and I dare say he will be a discreeter man all his life,
for the foolishness of his first choice.”
This was just such a summary view of the affair as Catherine could
listen to; another sentence might have endangered her complaisance, and
made... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
I did not
quite like, at breakfast, to hear you talk so much about the French
bread at Northanger.”
“I am sure I do not care about the bread. It is all the same to me what
I eat.”
“There is a very clever essay in one of the books upstairs upon much
such a subject, about young girls that have been spoilt for home by
g... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Under a mistaken persuasion of her
possessions and claims, he had courted her acquaintance in Bath,
solicited her company at Northanger, and designed her for his
daughter-in-law. On discovering his error, to turn her from the house
seemed the best, though to his feelings an inadequate proof of his
resentment towards he... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
He felt himself bound as much in honour as in affection to Miss
Morland, and believing that heart to be his own which he had been
directed to gain, no unworthy retraction of a tacit consent, no
reversing decree of unjustifiable anger, could shake his fidelity, or
influence the resolutions it prompted. He steadily refus... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
On the strength of this, the General, soon after Eleanor’s marriage,
permitted his son to return to Northanger, and thence made him the
bearer of his consent, very courteously worded in a page full of empty
professions to Mr. Morland. The event which it authorized soon
followed: Henry and Catherine were married, the be... | Austen, Jane - Northanger Abbey |
Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger
LA GRANDE BRETÈCHE (Sequel to “Another Study of Woman.”)
By Honoré De Balzac
Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell
LA GRANDE BRETÈCHE
ADDENDUM
LA GRANDE BRETÈCHE
“Ah! madame,” replied the doctor, “I have some appalling stories in
my co... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
“‘Monsieur,’ said I, ‘whom have I the honor of addressing?’—He took
a chair, placed himself in front of my fire, put his hat on my
table, and answered while he rubbed his hands: ‘Dear me, it is very
cold.—Monsieur, I am Monsieur Regnault.’
“I was encouraging myself by saying to myself, ‘Seek!’
“‘I am,’ he went on, ‘n... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
That was
all the furniture, not enough to fill ten lines in an inventory. “‘My dear sir, if you had seen, as I then saw, that vast room, papered
and hung with brown, you would have felt yourself transported into a
scene of a romance. It was icy, nay more, funereal,’ and he lifted his
hand with a theatrical gesture and ... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
You knew Monsieur de
Merret; what sort of man was he?’
“‘Monsieur de Merret—well, you see he was a man you never could see
the top of, he was so tall! A very good gentleman, from Picardy, and
who had, as we say, his head close to his cap. He paid for everything
down, so as never to have difficulties with any one. He w... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
But what is to be done? That girl is
like a wall. She knows something, but it is impossible to make her
talk.’
“After chatting with me for a few minutes, my hostess left me a prey
to vague and sinister thoughts, to romantic curiosity, and a religious
dread, not unlike the deep emotion which comes upon us when we go in... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
He walked up and down the room, going
from one window to another at a regular pace, his arms folded. “‘Have you had bad news, or are you ill?’ his wife asked him timidly,
while Rosalie helped her to undress. He made no reply. “‘You can go, Rosalie,’ said Madame de Merret to her maid; ‘I can put
in my curl-papers myself... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
“Next morning when he got up he said with apparent carelessness, ‘Oh,
by the way, I must go to the Maire for the passport.’ He put on his
hat, took two or three steps towards the door, paused, and took the
crucifix. His wife was trembling with joy. “‘He will go to Duvivier’s,’ thought she. “As soon as he had left, Mada... | Balzac, Honoré de - La Grande Breteche |
THE ROOM IN THE TOWER
AND OTHER STORIES
THE MORNING POST says: “Messrs Mills & Boon seem to have acquired a
monopoly in clever first novels.” THE PALL MALL GAZETTE says: “We have
come to expect good work from the publishers of ‘In Different Keys’
(Mills & Boon... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But occasionally it is
not so easy to find such an explanation, and for the following story I
can find no explanation at all. It came out of the dark, and into the
dark it has gone again. All my life I have been a habitual dreamer: the nights are few, that is
to say, when I do not find on awaking in the morning that so... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
A curious greyish light shone from
them, and I could read the lettering on the grave nearest me, and it
was, “In evil memory of Julia Stone.” And as usual Jack got up, and
again I followed him through the hall and up the staircase with many
corners. On this occasion it was darker than usual, and when I passed
into the ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
His picture hung between the windows, looking straight across the room
to the other portrait, which hung at the side of the bed. At that I
looked next, and as I looked I felt once more the horror of nightmare
seize me. It represented Mrs Stone as I had seen her last in my dreams: old and
withered and white haired. But ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
My awaking was equally instantaneous, and I sat bolt upright in bed
under the impression that some bright light had been flashed in my face,
though it was now absolutely pitch dark. I knew exactly where I was, in
the room which I had dreaded in dreams, but no horror that I ever felt
when asleep approached the fear that... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
They get sulky--I assure you it is literally
true--if they are checked too often.”
He paused on his way to ring the bell. “Guy Elphinstone’s car, for
instance,” he said: “it was a bad-tempered brute, a violent, vicious
beast of a car.”
“What make?” I asked. “Twenty-five horse-power Amédée. They are a fretful strain o... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Whether it was the remembrance of this rather grim spectacle as I had
seen it that afternoon, or whether Harry’s story had caused some
trouble in my brain, or whether it was merely that the keen bracing air
of this place, to one who had just come from the sleepy languor of the
Norfolk Broads, kept me sleepless, I do no... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
* * * * *
The motor came round about eleven, and we started at once, Harry and Mrs
Morrison, a cousin of his, sitting behind in the big back seat, large
enough to hold a comfortable three, and I on the left of the driver, in
a sort of trance--I am not ashamed to confess it--of expectancy and
de... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
And, so said the chauffeur, there was something wrong with the monster’s
spoon (ignition), and he didn’t rightly know what, and therefore it
seemed the prudent part not to go to Hunstanton (lunch, a thing of the
preterite, having been the object), but to the well-supplied King’s
Lynn. And we all breathed a pious hope t... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But the river Gavon, on the right bank of
which stand this half-dozen of chimneyless and wind-swept habitations,
is a geographical fact of far greater interest to outsiders, for the
salmon there are heavy fish, the mouth of the river is clear of nets,
and all the way up to Gavon Loch, some six miles inland, the
coffee-... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
And the trouble is Sandy’s
trouble. Rather a long story. But there’s a long mile in front of us
yet, if you care to be told.”
During that mile I heard. Sandy had been engaged a year ago to a girl of
Gavon who was in service at Inverness. In March last he had gone,
without giving notice, to see her, and as he walked up... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But directly underneath the steep
escarpment of rock on the far side of the pool it lay foamless and
black, a still backwater of great depth. Above the altar-like erection
again the ground rose up seven rough-hewn steps to the gate itself, on
each side of which, to the height of about four feet, ran the circular
wall o... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Any hope or attempt to rescue Sandy was out of
the question; to dive into that whirlpool of mad water meant instant
death, and even had it been possible for any swimmer to live there, in
the blackness of the night there was absolutely no chance of finding
him. Besides, even if it had been possible to save him, I doubt ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
He opened a
deposit account at a local bank with four more fifty-pound notes,
instead of being patient, and increasing his balance at the savings bank
pound by pound, and he got uneasy about that which he had buried deep
enough for security in the back garden. Thinking to render himself safer
in this regard, he ordered... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
At once almost, it went back to the curious sensation he had
experienced that morning, of feeling that the spirit of Linkworth was
present in the mortuary, though life had been extinct for an hour. It
was not the first time, especially in cases of sudden death, that he had
felt a similar conviction, though perhaps it h... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Clearly Warder Draycott had something on his mind, which he found it
hard to speak of. “Well, sir, if you put it like that,” he began. “But you would tell me I
was half asleep, or had eaten something that disagreed with me at my
supper.”
The doctor dropped his careless manner. “I should do nothing of the kind,” he sai... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
There was a perceptible tremor in the man’s voice as he answered. “Yes, sir. Is it Dr Teesdale?”
“Yes. Has anything happened here with you?”
Twice it seemed that the man tried to speak and could not. At the third
attempt the words came. “Yes, sir. He has been here. I saw him go into the room where the
telephone is.”
... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
AT ABDUL ALI’S GRAVE
Luxor, as most of those who have been there will allow, is a place of
notable charm, and boasts many attractions for the traveller, chief
among which he will reckon an excellent hotel containing a
billiard-room, a garden fit for the gods to sit in, any quantity of
visitors, at least a weekly danc... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Machmout, who says he thinks he is twelve, but does not know for
certain, is kitchen-maid, groom and gardener, and has to an
extraordinary degree some occult power resembling clairvoyance. Weston,
who is a member of the Society for Psychical Research, and the tragedy
of whose life has been the detection of the fraudule... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
On the other side is a mud wall. There
are many other graves about, but they are all asleep. This is _the_
grave, because it is awake, and is moist and not sandy.”
“I thought so,” said Weston, “It is Abdul’s grave he is talking about.”
“There is a red moon sitting on the desert,” continued Machmout, “and it
is now. T... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Then he began scraping the earth away with
his hands, and soon afterwards searched in his clothes which were lying
near for a piece of rope, with which he stepped into the grave, and in a
moment reappeared again with both ends in his hands. Then, standing
astride the grave, he pulled strongly, and one end of the coffin... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“Well, I didn’t suppose it was Balmoral, with our own coffee-coloured
salmon river roaring down to join the waters of our own loch.”
Jim lit a cigarette. “Mabel, you mustn’t think of shooting-lodges and salmon rivers and
lochs,” he said. “It’s a farm-house, rather a big one, though I’m sure
we shall find it hard enoug... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
In the hall, too, with its big open
fireplace, were a couple of big solemn bookcases, full of serious works,
such as some educated minister might have left, and, coming down dressed
for dinner before the others, I dipped into the shelves. Then--something
must long have been vaguely simmering in my brain, for I pounced ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
This, it must be understood, was just from the fringe of
plantations about the house, but this was all we meant to do to-day,
making only a morning of it, since our ladies had expressly desired
first lessons in the art of angling in the afternoon, so that they too
could be busy. Excellently too had Sandie worked the be... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
It was even as I thought: the post-cart was
just striking the high-road below, going away from the house and back to
the village, without having left our letters. I went back to the dining-room. Everything apparently was going wrong
this morning: the bread was stale, the milk was not fresh, and the bell
was rung for Bu... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
There we should
wait to see if anybody attempted to fire it. That somebody, whenever he
showed his light, would be instantly covered by a rifle and challenged. It was about ten when we dismounted and stalked our way up to the house. The light burned in my window; all else was quiet. Personally, I was
unarmed, and so, w... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
I
forget the details of great-great-grandmamma Bridget, but she certainly
cut the throat of some distant relation before she disembowelled herself
with the axe that had been used at Agincourt. Before that she had led a
very sultry life, crammed with amazing incident. * * * * *
But there is one ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
In consequence
she was very considerably dismayed one morning, about a fortnight after
her strange experience in the long gallery, to observe on her left cheek
an inch or two below her turquoise-coloured eyes, a little greyish patch
of skin, about as big as a threepenny piece. It was in vain that she
applied her accust... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
* * * * *
Madge read her attractive book for some minutes, but failing to get
absorbed in it, put it down and limped across to the window. Though it
was still but little after two, it was but a dim and uncertain light
that entered, for the crystalline brightness of the morning had given
place t... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
This sudden revival of hope gave her the necessary stimulus,
and she sprang off the sofa where she lay. She looked out of the window
and saw the dull glow on the horizon. But before she could take a step
forward it was obscured again. A tiny sparkle of light came from the
hearth which did no more than illuminate the ti... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
And somehow I am sure I have nothing to fear.”
* * * * *
It seems that Madge was right, for nothing untoward has come to her. Something, her attitude to them, we must suppose, her pity, her
sympathy, touched and dissolved and annihilated the curse. Indeed, I was
at Church Peveril only l... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
I undressed quickly, and
got into bed, but though I had felt so sleepy before, I now felt
extremely wide-awake. But I was quite content to be awake: I did not
toss or turn, I felt perfectly happy listening to the song and seeing
the light. Then, it is possible, I may have gone to sleep, and what
follows may have been a... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
The water was shallow and
clear, and at the bottom of it I saw its white remains. The water had
disintegrated the cardboard, and it had become no more than a few strips
and shreds of sodden paper. The centre of the fountain was a marble
Italian Cupid which squirted the water out of a wine-skin held under its
arm. And c... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Dick Alingham himself, as was indeed natural, was delighted with his
fairy godmother or his obscure lesion (whichever was responsible), and
(the monograph spoken of above was written after Dick’s death) confessed
frankly to his friend Merwick, who was still struggling through the
crowd of rising young medical practitio... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Lithe and active too was his figure, his movements
were quick and precise, and even Merwick, with his doctor’s eye, trained
to detect any symptom, however slight, in which the drinker must betray
himself, was bound to confess that no such was here present. His
appearance contradicted it authoritatively, so also did his... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“And I am to be prepared to see cat’s eyes painted there instead of my
own when I see it next?” she asked, passing by the canvas. Dick laughed. “Oh, you will hardly notice the difference,” he said. “How odd it is
that I always have detested cats so--they make me feel actually faint,
although you always reminded me of a... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
He
was right too: as soon as he put on the first brush of colour he knew he
was right. It was just those divine and violent colours which would
cause his figure to step out from the picture, it was just that pale
strip of sky above which would focus her again, it was just that strip
of grey-green grass below her feet t... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Yet just now all his
desire was blurred by this dullness of brain that was as unaccountable
as the re-awakening of his desire. For months now he had drunk far more
than he had drunk to-day, yet evening had seen him clear-headed, acute,
master of himself, and revelling in the liberty that had come to him,
and in the coo... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
It was, so to speak, an incalculable
chance that my minute spy-hole should come into opposition with the
other. But it did: and it knocked me out of time.”
I had heard some such theory before, and though Hugh put it rather
picturesquely, there was nothing in the least convincing or practical
about it. It might be so, ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“There was something so odious, so coarse, so unfeeling about this that
I instantly drew my head in, pulled the blind down again, and then, for
what reason I do not know, turned on the electric light in order to see
what time it was. The hands of my watch pointed to half-past eleven. “It was then for the first time, I ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Shaggy wild ponies may stop their feeding for a
moment as you pass, the white scuts of rabbits will vanish into their
burrows, a brown viper perhaps will glide from your path into a clump of
heather, and unseen birds will chuckle in the bushes, but it may easily
happen that for a long day you will see nothing human. Bu... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
The coolness and splash of it is I, and the water-herbs that wave
in it are I also. And my strength and my limbs are not mine but the
river’s. It is all one, all one, dear Fawn.”
* * * * *
A quarter of an hour later he appeared again at the bottom of the lawn,
dressed as before, his wet... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
White moths
hovered dimly over the garden-beds, and the footsteps of night tip-toed
through the bushes. Suddenly Frank rose. “Ah, it is the supreme moment,” he said softly. “Now more than at any
other time the current of life, the eternal imperishable current runs so
close to me that I am almost enveloped in it. Be sil... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But seeking it, as I did,
from Nature, I got much more which I did not seek, but stumbled upon
originally by accident. It is difficult to explain, but I will try. “About three years ago I was sitting one morning in a place I will show
you to-morrow. It is down by the river brink, very green, dappled with
shade and sun,... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Frank had already begun, and was
consuming a large plateful of porridge and milk with the most prosaic
and healthy appetite. “Slept well?” he asked. “Yes, of course. Where did you learn hypnotism?”
“By the side of the river.”
“You talked an amazing quantity of nonsense last night,” remarked Darcy,
in a voice prickly ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Twenty times a day he found
himself saying to himself suddenly at the end of some ten minutes’
silent resistance to the absurdity of Frank’s idea: “But it isn’t
possible; it can’t be possible,” and from the fact of his having to
assure himself so frequently of this, he knew that he was struggling and
arguing with a con... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
The man’s face was bleached to a dull shining whiteness. “Yes, sir,” he said. “It was the master’s voice.”
* * * * *
Together they hurried down the stairs, and through the dining-room where
an orderly table for breakfast had already been laid, and out on to the
terrace. The rain for the... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Then to us: “But really the--well, the nightmare
perhaps, to which I was referring, is of the vaguest and most
unsatisfactory kind. It has no apparatus about it at all. You will
probably all say that it was nothing, and wonder why I was frightened. But I was; it frightened me out of my wits. And I only just saw
somethi... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“As I told you,” he continued, “where there had been that unseasonable
dahlia, there now burned a dim firelight, and my eyes were drawn there. Shapes were gathered round it; what they were I could not at first see. Then perhaps my eyes got more accustomed to the dusk, or the fire burned
better, for I perceived that the... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“The morning had been extraordinarily warm, with a little wind blowing
off the sea, which lay a few miles off sparkling beneath a blue haze,
and all morning in spite of our abominable climb I had had an extreme
sense of peace, so much so that several times I had probed my mind, so
to speak, to find if the horror still ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
I think I tried to scream, but could not, I know I tried to move
and could not. And it crept closer. “Then I suppose the terror which held me spellbound so spurred me that I
must move, for next moment I heard a cry break from my lips, and was
stumbling through the passage. I made one leap of it down the grass
slope, an... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
By an extension of
this--though, indeed, it is scarcely an extension--we may expect to find
that mind can have an effect, not only on what we call living tissue,
but on dead things, on pieces of wood or stone. At least it is hard to
see why that should not be so.”
“Table-turning, for instance?” I asked. “That is one i... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
The footfalls came along the few yards of passage between the bottom of
the stairs and my door, and then against my door itself came the brush
of drapery, and on the panels the blind groping of fingers. The handle
rattled as they passed over it, and my terror nearly rose to screaming
point. “Then a sensible hope struck... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Ten years have elapsed since the events recorded took
place, but they were written down at the time. * * * * *
Jack Lorimer and I were very old friends before he married, and his
marriage to a first cousin of mine did not make, as so often happens, a
slackening in our intimacy. Within a few mon... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
There is nothing in the world to
fear except fear. You know that as well as I do. Now let’s read our
papers with interest. Which do you back, Mr Druce, or the Duke of
Portland, or the Times Book Club?”
That day, therefore, passed very busily for me; and there were enough
events moving in front of that black background... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
For ten days there was no abatement of it, and evening after
evening, as I consulted my barometer, feeling sure that the black finger
would show that we were coming to the end of these abominations, I found
that it had sunk a little lower yet, till it stayed, like a homing
pigeon, on the S of storm. I mention these thi... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
“For myself I shall
hurry to the scene of sleep.”
* * * * *
Outside the threatening promise of the barometer was already finding
fulfilment, and a cold ugly wind was complaining among the pines, and
hooting round the peaks, and snow had begun to fall. The night was
thickly overcast, and... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But though at dinner everyone exhibited
an extraordinary change of spirit, with the rising of the barometer and
the discharge of this huge snow-fall, the intolerable gloom which had
been mine so long but deepened and blackened. The fear was to me now
like some statue, nearly finished, modelled by the carving hands of
t... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Though the other bed stood in shadow I could still see dimly, but
sufficiently, what was there. The shape of a head lay on the pillow, the
shape of an arm lifted its hand to the electric bell that was close by
on the wall, and I fancied I could hear it distantly ringing. Then a
moment later came hurrying feet up the st... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
It is merely the brain that has to be fed and
rested and exercised properly to make the body absolutely healthy, and
immune from all disease. But when the brain is affected, it is as useful
to pour medicines down the sink, as make your patient swallow them,
unless--and this is a paramount limitation--unless he believes... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
This time there
came a rap like that which I had thought during dinner to be the
postman. But whether it was that the room was dark, or that despite
myself I felt rather excited too, it seemed to me now to be far louder
than before. Also it appeared to come neither from here nor there, but
to be diffused through the ro... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
Then even as I looked it faded, and from somewhere close at hand there
sounded another of those shattering knocks. For a moment after there was silence between us, and horror was thick as
snow in the air. But, somehow neither Louis or I were frightened for
more than one moment. The whole thing was so absorbingly intere... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
This
latter, except for a tenancy of rather less than three weeks, now four
years ago, has stood unoccupied since the summer of 1896, and though it
could be taken at a rent almost comically small, it is highly improbable
that either of its last tenants, even if times were very bad, would
think of passing a night in it ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
It like the hall was
oak-panelled, and in the panels hung some half-dozen of water-colour
sketches, which we examined, idly at first, and then with growing
interest, for they were executed with extraordinary finish and delicacy,
and each represented some aspect of the house or garden. Here you looked
up the gap in the ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
By seven I had finished, and just as I got up to light
candles, since it was already dusk, I saw, as I thought, Jack’s figure
emerge from the bushes that bordered the path to the stream, on to the
space in front of the house. Then instantaneously and with a sudden
queer sinking of the heart, quite unaccountable, I saw ... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
But as I tapped at the door I heard his
voice from inside calling loud to me. “Take care,” it said, “he’s close
to the door.”
A sudden qualm of blank fear took hold of me, but mastering it as best I
could, I opened the door to enter, and once again something pushed
softly by me, though I saw nothing. Jack was standing... | Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic) - The room in the tower, and other stories |
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