Casting the Runes | A Ghost Story by M. R. James | A Bitesized Audiobook

[Music] hello and welcome to bite-sized audio on YouTube I'm Simon stanh hope actor audiobook narrator and curator of this channel on the channel you can hear my narrations more than a 100 to date and more to come of classic short stories mostly from the Victorian and Edwardian eras including vintage ghost stories detective stories and other classic Tales of mystery and suspense to accompany the narrations I've put a short profile of the authors in the video description as well as some general b

ackground notes on the stories for those who'd like to know more if you enjoy this content please hit subscribe like share leave a comment if you'd like to and thank you for [Music] [Music] [Music] listening casting the runes by mrma 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 the

ir way to including it in the program I Am Yours Faithfully 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 the draft which you submitted and that it was not declined without having been referred to the Judgment of a m

ost 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 at Supra April 20th the secretary of the association begs respectfully to inform Mr Carwell that it is impossible for him to communicate the name of any person or persons to whom the draft of Mr carswell's Paper may have been submitted and further desires to intimate that he cannot undertake to reply to any further letters on this su

bject and who is Mr Carswell inquired the secretary's wife she had called at his office and perhaps unwarrantedly had picked up the last of these three letters which the IST had just brought in why my dear just at present Mr Carswell 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 lefford Abbey warshire and his 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 t

he next week or two now if you're ready to leave this place I am what 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 Carwell has been pelting me with letters ever since the last thing he wanted was the name of the man we

referred his nonsense too 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 now I dare say

he would be poor Mr Danning then the secretary and his wife were lunching out and the friends to whose house they were bound were wara people so Mrs secretary had already settled it in her own mind that she would question them judiciously about Mr Carswell 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 Abbott of lafford this morning the host whistled did you what in the world brings him up to town goodness know

s 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 neighbor of ours in the country who bought lafa Abby a few years ago his real name is Carswell 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 Carwell nobody knew what he did with himself h

is servants were a horrible set of people he had invented a new religion for himself and practiced no one could tell what appalling rights 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 beca

use it gives an idea of the man now Florence listen to this the first winter he was at lafford this delightful neighbor of ours wrote to the clergyman of his Parish he is 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 Carswell had shown himself inclined to be unpleasant to the children complaining of their trespassing or somet

hing 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 Carswell 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 actuall

y have done so he began with some comparatively mild things Red Riding Hood was one and even then Mr Farah said the wolf was so Dreadful that several of the smaller children had to be taken out and he said Mr Carswell 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 Farrah 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 lefford 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 in pieces or somehow made away with by a horrible hopping creature in white which you s

aw first dodging about among the trees and gradually it appeared more and more plainly Mr Farah 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 Carswell and said it couldn't go on all he said it 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 sl

ide which showed a great mass of snakes centipedes and disgusting creatures with wings and somehow or rather 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 af

terwards of course the mothers threw a good part of the blame on poor Mr Farah 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 Carswell that's the Abbot of lafford my dear and you can imagine how we covered his Society yes I think he has all the possibilities of a distinguished criminal has Carwell 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 el

se asked the secretary who for some minutes had been wearing the frown of the man who was trying to recollect something is he the man who brought out a history of Witchcraft some time back 10 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 be

tween 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 Hedge r 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 men AES but there was nothing to be made of th

at 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 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 no 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 well it hasn't had that effect in the present case but come it's half 3 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 dunny had anything to do with the rejection of his paper well 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 Carwell won't know his name for Dunning hasn't published anything on the same subject yet the only danger is that Carwell might find out if he was to ask the British museum

people who was in the habit of Consulting alchemical manuscripts well 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 Ur to him however Mr Carwell 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 b

een 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 300 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 Lampo and an eminent KC on the subject of ptic sine 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 Har

rington 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 Harington FSA of The Laurels Ashbrook died September 18th 1889 three months were allowed the car stopped Mr Dunning still contemplating the 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 seen that one before well that is a cure ain't it someone been up to their jokes here I should think he got out a duster and and applied it not without saliva to the pain and then to the outside no he said returning that ain't no transfer seems to me as if it was regular in the glass what I mean

in the substance as you might 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 ear glass what's gone with the glass said the driver approaching well and

who'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 oh well sir that's all done at the company's office that work is it's our Mr Tims I believe looks into that when we put up tonight I'll leave word and perhaps I'll be able to tell you tomorrow if you happen to be coming this way this was all that passed that evening Mr Dunning did just go to the trouble of look

ing up up Ashbrook and found that it was in warshire 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 me

n 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 Tims had had to say about the advertisement well sir uh that's what we took the liberty to step round about said the conductor Mr Tims he give wiir the Rough Side of his tongue about that according to him there wen't no advertisement

of that description sent in nor ordered nor paid for nor put up nor nothing let alone not being there and we was playing the fool taking up his time well I says if that's the case All I Ask of You Mr Tims I says is to take a 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 ter him with Arrington on it weren't as plain as ever you see anything blue lette

rs on yellow glass and as I says at the time and you borne me out regular in the glass because if you remember you recollect of me swabbing it with my duster well to be sure I do quite clearly well you may say well I don't think Mr Tims he gets in that car with a light no he told William to hold the light outside now he says where's your precious ad what we've heard so much about here it is I says Mr Tims and I laid my hand on it the conductor paused well said Mr Dunning it was gone I suppose br

oken broke not it there w't if you'll believe me no more trace of them letters blue letters they was on that piece of glass then well it's no good me talking 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 Tim say why he did what I give give him leave to called us pretty much anything 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 uh well that letter in I certainly did that and I have it now did you wish me to speak to Mr Tims myself and show it to him was that what you came in about oh there didn't I say as much said William deal with a if he 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 had to frogs Mar me here I come quiet didn't I all the same for that we had

n't thought to take up your time this way sir but if it so happened you could find time to step round to the company's office in the morning and tell Mr Tims what you seen for yourself we should lay under a very high obligation to you for the trouble you see it ain't being called well one thing and another as we mind but if they got it into their headed at the office as we seen things as weren't there why one thing leads to another and where we should be a 12 months since well you can understand

what I mean amid further elucidations of the proposition George conducted by William left the room the incredulity of Mr Tims who had a noding 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 follow

ing 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 passes 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 unnatu

rally 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 around hastily and in doing so brushed his little portfolio of loose papers onto the f

loor 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 choir 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 D had some conversation with the assistant in charge and took occasion to ask who the Stout gentleman was oh he's a man named Carswell 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't catch him he'd like to meet you I'm sure oh for heaven sake don't dream of it said Mr Dunning I'm particularly anxious to avoid him oh oh very well s

aid 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 IL 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 neighbors in the train and in the tram but as luck would have it both train and car were markedly empt

y 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 the doorstep I've had to upset your household Arrangements I'm sorry to say Dunning but both your servants or the comar in fact I've had to send them to the nursing home oh good Heavens what's the matter it's something like to main poisoning I should think you've not suffered yourself I can see or you wouldn't be walking a

bout I think they'll pull through all right oh dear dear have you any idea what brought it on well they tell me they bought some shellfish 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 8:00 don't be too anxious the solitary evening was thus obviated at the expense o

f 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 pass 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 night gown listening no light was visible no further sound came only a gust of warm or even hot air played for an instant around his ch chins he went back and decided to lock himself into his room there was more unpleasantness however either an economical Suburban company had de

cided 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 T 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 de

clares not the mouth of a human being I do not think it is any use used 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 quivering the door stood open for 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 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 enoug

h he dared not go to the museum in spite of what the assistant had said Carwell 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 lunchtime he betook himself to his Club again experiencing a gleam of satisfaction at seeing the secretary of the association at luncheo

n 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 friend when they had time to take stock of him were rather shocked at his lwn 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 gon I believe that Alchemist man knows it was I who got his paper rejected gon whistled what makes you think that he said Dunning told him of his conversation with the museum assistant and gon could only agree that the guest 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 gon 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 m

an named John Harrington gayon 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 tram car 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 gayon 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 h

e could not help asking himself whether there were not a connecting link between these two cases in the person of Carwell 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 gon 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 Harington 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 gon that could be ascertained from the Bennetts who knew him Mrs Gaton 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 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 su

rprise 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 m

e 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 Carwell why not that is exactly his name Henry Harrington lent 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 Carswell 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 3 months before he died from one of these and gave me his program to look at an analytical program he always kept them I nearly missed this one he said I suppose I must have dropped it anyhow I was looking fo

r it under my seat and in my pockets and so on and my neighbor offered me his said might he give it to 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 afte

r he was going over these programs 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 black most carefully done it looked to me more like runic letters than anything else why he said this must belong to my fat neighbor it looks as if it might be worth returning to him it may be a copy of something evidently someone has taken trouble ove

r 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 supposed 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 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 carswell'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 bow exact

ly 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 had left this time on my mind was different I suspected as I told you that Carswell 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 not time to go into details but the upshot is that I'm pretty sure from information received that the Civil man at the concert was Carswell 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 al

ive 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 w

riting table in it were the choirs of small-sized scribbling paper which he used for his transcripts and from one of these as he took it up there slipped and flattered out into the room with uncanny quickness a strip of thin light paper the window was open but Harrington slammed it too just in time to intercept the paper which he caught I thought so he said it might be the ident iCal 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 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 eff

ect 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 Carswell 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 September 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 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 oh is it wise to dwell on that at least before things are straightened out I think not but I can tell you 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

Buick 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 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 f

ound that everything after September 18th had been torn out you may be surprised at his having gone out alone the evening he was killed killed but the fact is that during the last 10 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 neighbor of carswell'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 Carell's path at any momen

t 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 in in expressable anxi

ety as May June and early July passed on for a mandate from Harrington but all this time Carwell remained immovable at lafford 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 tonight Harrington he arrived accordingly and they concocted plans the train left Victoria at 9: and its last stop before DOA was Cen West Harrington would mark down Carswell at Vi

ctoria and look out for Dunning at Cen 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 any hand luggage and must at all costs have the paper with him dunning's suspense as he waited on the Cen 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 Carwell eluded h

im now hope was gone and there were so many chances of that the rumor of the journey might be itself a device the 20 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 Harington 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 the compartment where Harrin

gton and Carwell were he was pleased on the whole to see that the train was far from Full Carwell 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 Carswell and next to Dunning was a heap of carswell'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 proferred 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 Carwell 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 counseled with Harrington but that could not be the minutes went on more than once Carwell 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 harington's eye and read in it a warning Carwell 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 Carwell 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 the for

m 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 Carwell re-entered the compartment as he did so Dunning managing he knew not how to suppress the tremb

le 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 Carwell uttered the hope 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 Carwell was fidgety and oppresse

d 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 Carwell was on the point of speaking when the train stopped at do 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 Carwell 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 Carswell had now arrived the man at the head of IT examined his ticket and Laden with coat

s he passed down into the boat suddenly the official called after him uh you sir beg pardon did the other gentleman show his ticket what the devil do you mean by the other gentleman caswell'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 hington heard him say to himself and then aloud uh my my mistake sir must have been your rugs ask your pardon and then to a subordinate near him but he got a dog with him or what funny thing I c

ould have swore he wasn't alone well whatever it was they'll have to see to it aboard she's off now another week and we shall be getting the holiday customers in 5 minutes more there was nothing but the lessening lights of the boat the long line of the do lamps the 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 deat

h 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 abille 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'm afraid he has gone into the dark so tell RS 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 traveler examining the front of St wolfram's church at abille then under extensive repair was struck on the head and instantly killed by a stone falling from the scaffold erected around the Northwestern Tower then there being as was clearly proved no workmen on the scaffold at that moment and the Traveler's papers identified him as Mr Carswel

l only one detail shall be added at carswell's sale a set of Buick sold with all faults was acquired by Harington the page with the woodcut of the traveler 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 [Music] [Music] him [Music] you've been listening to a bite-sized audio book read by me Simon stanh hope if you'd like to help me t

o keep producing new content you can find links in the video description to my patreon page or to buy me a coffee another way to support me is through my Band Camp Page bized audio. bandcamp.com where you can hear my narrations of many more classic short stories and you can also purchase and download them to keep this recording is copyright bit-sized audio 2023 thank you for listening