The Judge's House

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information and to find out
how you can volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
and recorded by William Coon July two thousand six. The

(00:25):
Judge's House by Bram Stoker. When the time for his
examination drew near, Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to
go somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions
of the sea side, and also he feared completely rural isolation,
for of old he knew its charms, and so he
determined to find some unpretentious little town where there would

(00:49):
be nothing to distract him. He refrained from asking suggestions
from any of his friends, for he argued that each
would recommend some place of which he had knowledge and
where he had already acquaintances. As Malcolmson wished to avoid friends,
he had no wish to encumber himself with the attention
of friends friends, and so he determined to look out
for a place for himself. He packed a portmanteau with

(01:12):
some clothes and all the books he required, and then
took ticket for the first name on the local time table,
which he did not know. When at the end of
three hours journey he alighted at ben Church, he felt
satisfied that he had so far obliterated his tracks as
to be sure of having a peaceful opportunity of pursuing

(01:32):
his studies. He went straight to the one inn which
the sleepy little place contained, and put up for the night.
Ben Church was a market town, and once in three
weeks was crowded to excess, But for the remainder of
the twenty one days it was as attractive as a desert.
Malcolmson looked around the day after his arrival to try
to find quarters more isolated than even so quiet an inn.

(01:55):
As the good traveler afforded. There was only one place
which took his fancy, and it certainly satisfied his wildest
ideas regarding quiet. In fact, quiet was not the proper
word to apply to it. Desolation was the only term
conveying any suitable idea of its isolation. It was an old, rambling,

(02:16):
heavy built house of the Jacobean style, with heavy gables
and windows unusually small and set higher than was customary
in such houses, and was surrounded with a high brick wall.
Massively built. Indeed, on examination it looked more like a
fortified house than an ordinary dwelling. But all these things

(02:37):
pleased Malcolmson. Here, he thought, is the very spot I
have been looking for, and if I can get opportunity
of using it, I shall be happy. His joy was
increased when he realized beyond doubt that it was not
at present inhabited. From the post office he got the
name of the agent, who was rarely surprised at the
application to rent a part of the old house carn

(03:00):
for the local lawyer and agent was a genial old gentleman,
and frankly confessed his delight at any one being willing
to live in the house. To tell you the truth,
he said, I should be only too happy on behalf
of the owners to let any one have the house
rent free for a term of years, if only to
accustom the people here to see it inhabited. It has

(03:21):
been so long empty that some kind of absurd prejudice
has grown up about it, and this can be best
put down by its occupation, if only, he added, with
a sly glance at Malcolmson, by a scholar like yourself
who wants its quiet for a time. Malcolmson thought it
needless to ask the agent about the absurd prejudice. He

(03:44):
knew he would get more information if he should require
it on that subject from other quarters. He paid his
three months rent, got a receipt and the name of
an old woman who would probably undertake to do for him,
and came away with the keys in his pocket. He
then went to the land lady of the inn, who
was a cheerful and most kindly person, and asked her

(04:04):
advice as to such stores and provisions as he would
be likely to require. She threw up her hands in
amazement when he told her where he was going to
settle himself. Not in the judge's house, she said, and
grew pale as she spoke. He explained the locality of
the house, saying that he did not know its name.
When he had finished, she answered, aye, sure enough, sure enough,

(04:27):
the very place it is, the judge's house. Sure enough.
He asked her to tell him about the place why
so called, and what there was against it. She told
him that it was so called locally because it had
been many years before. How long she could not say,
as she herself was from another part of the country,
but she thought it must have been a hundred years

(04:48):
or more. The abode of a judge who was held
in great terror on account of his harsh sentences and
his hostility to prisoners at assizes. As to what there
was against the house itself, she could not tell. She
had often asked, but no one could inform her. But
there was a general feeling that there was something, And
for her own part, she would not take all the

(05:09):
money in drink Water's bank and stay in the house
an hour by herself. Then she apologized to Malcolmson for
her disturbing talk. It is too bad of me, sir,
and you and a young gentleman too, if you will
pardon me saying it, going to live there all alone?
If you were my boy, and you'll excuse me for
saying it, you wouldn't sleep there a night, not if

(05:32):
I had to go there myself and pull the big
alarm bell that's on the roof. The good creature was
so manifestly in earnest and was so kindly in her
intentions that Malcolmson, although amused, was touched. He told her
kindly how much he appreciated her interest in him, and added,
but my dear missus, witham indeed, you need not be

(05:54):
concerned about me a man who was reading for the
mathematical Tripuss has too much to think of to be
disturbed by any of these mysterious somethings, And his work
is of too exact and prosaic a kind to allow
of his having any corner in his mind for mysteries
of any kind. Harmonical progression, permutations and combinations, and elliptical

(06:16):
functions have sufficient mysteries for me. Missus Witham kindly undertook
to see after his commissions, and he went himself to
look for the old woman who had been recommended to him.
When he returned to the judge's house with her after
an interval of a couple of hours, he found Missus
Witham herself waiting with several men and boys carrying parcels,

(06:36):
and an upholsterer's man with a bed in a car.
For she said, though tables and chairs might be all
very well, a bed that hadn't been aired for mayhap
fifty years was not proper for young bones to lie on.
She was evidently curious to see the inside of the house,
and though manifestly so afraid of this somethings, that at

(06:57):
the slightest sound she clutched on to Malcolmson, whom she
never left for a moment, went over the whole place.
After his examination of the house, Malcolmson decided to take
up his abode in the great dining room, which was
big enough to serve for all his requirements, and Missus Witham,
with the aid of the charwoman, Missus Dempster, proceeded to

(07:18):
arrange matters. When the hampers were brought in and unpacked,
Malcolmson saw that, with much kind forethought, she had sent
from her own kitchen sufficient provisions to last for a
few days. Before going, she expressed all sorts of kind wishes,
and at the door turned and said, and perhaps, sir,
as the room is big and drafty, it might be

(07:39):
well to have one of those big screens put round
your bed at night. Though, to tell the truth, I
would die myself if I were to be so shut
in with all kinds of things that put their heads
round the sides or over the top and look on me.
The image which she had called up was too much
for her nerves, and she fled in conquers. Missus Dempster

(08:02):
sniffed in a superior manner as the landlady disappeared, and
remarked that for her own part, she wasn't afraid of
all the bogies in the kingdom. I'll tell you what
it is, sir, she said. Bogies is all kinds and
sorts of things, except bogies, rats and mice and beetles
and creaky doors and loose slates and broken panes and
stiff drawer handles that stay out when you pull them

(08:25):
and then fall down in the middle of the night.
Look at the wainscot of this room. It is old,
hundreds of years old. Do you think there's no rats
and beetles there? And do you imagine, sir, that you
won't see none of them? Rats as bogies, I tell you,
and bogies as rats. And don't you get to think
anything else, missus Dempster, said Malcolmson gravely, making her a

(08:49):
polite bow you know, more than a senior wrangler. And
let me say that, as a mark of esteem for
your indubitable soundness of head and heart, I shall, when
I go, give you possession of this house and let
you stay here by yourself for the last two months
of my tenancy. For four weeks will serve my purpose.
Thank you kindly, sir, she answered, but I couldn't sleep

(09:12):
away from home a night. I am in Greenhouse's charity,
and if I slept the night away from my rooms,
I should lose all I have got to live on.
The rules is very strict, and there's too many watching
for a vacancy for me to run any risks in
the matter. Only for that, sir, i'd gladly come here
and attend on you altogether during your stay, My good woman,

(09:33):
said Malcolmson hastily, I have come here on purpose to
obtain solitude. And believe me that I am grateful to
the late Greenhouse for having so organized his admirable charity.
Whatever it is that I am perforce deny the opportunity
of suffering from such a form of temptation. Saint Anthony
himself could not be more rigid on the point. The

(09:55):
old woman laughed harshly. Ah, you young gentlemen, she said,
you don't fear for nought, And BUTI like you'll get
all the solitude you want here. She set to work
with her cleaning, and by nightfall when Malcolmson returned from
his walk, he always had one of his books to
study as he walked. He found the room swept and tidied,
a fire burning in the old hearth, the lamp lit,

(10:17):
and the table spread for supper with Missus Whham's excellent fare.
This is comfort, indeed, he said, as he rubbed his hands.
When he had finished his supper and lifted the tray
to the other end of the great oak dining table,
he got out his books again, put fresh wood on
the fire, trimmed his lamp, and set himself down to

(10:38):
a spell of real hard work. He went on without
pause till about eleven o'clock, when he knocked off for
a bit to fix his fire and lamp, and to
make himself a cup of tea. He had always been
a tea drinker, and during his college life had sat
late at work and taken tea late. The rest was
a great luxury to him, and he enjoyed it with
a sense of delicious, luptuous ease. The renewed fire leaped

(11:03):
and sparkled and through quaint shadows through the great old room,
and as he sipped his hot tea, he reveled in
the sense of isolation from his kind. Then it was
that he began to notice for the first time what
a noise the rats were making surely, he thought they
could not have been at it all the time I

(11:24):
was reading. Had they been, I must have noticed it presently.
When the noise increased, he satisfied himself that it was
really new. It was evident that at first the rats
had been frightened at the presence of a stranger and
the light of the fire and lamp, but that as
the time went on they had grown bolder and were
now disporting themselves as was their wont how busy they were,

(11:47):
and hark to the strange noises. Up and down behind
the old wainscot, over the ceiling, and under the floor
they raced and gnawed and scratched. Malcolmson smiled to himself
as he recalled to mind the same of Missus Dempster,
bogies as rats, and rats as bogies. The tea began
to have its effect of intellectual and nervous stimulus, and

(12:08):
he saw with joy another long spell of work to
be done before the night was past. And in the
sense of security which it gave him, he lowed himself
the luxury of a good look around the room. He
took his lamp in one hand and went all around,
wondering that so quaint and beautiful an old house had
been so long neglected. The carving of the oak on

(12:29):
the panels of the wainscot was fine, and on and
round the doors and windows. It was beautiful and of
rare merit. There were some old pictures on the walls,
but they were coated so thick with dust and dirt
that he could not distinguish any detail of them, though
he held his lamp as high as he could over
his head. Here and there, as he went round he
saw some crack or hole blocked for a moment by

(12:51):
the face of a rat, with its bright eyes glittering
in the light. But in an instant it was gone,
and a squeak and a scamper followed. The thing that
most struck him, however, was the rope of the great
alarm bell on the roof, which hung down in a
corner of the room, on the right hand side of
the fireplace. He pulled up close to the hearth a great,

(13:13):
high backed, carved oak chair, and sat down to his
last cup of tea. When this was done, he made
up the fire and went back to his work, sitting
at the corner of the table, having the fire to
his left. For a little while. The rats disturbed him
somewhat with their perpetual scampering. But he got accustomed to
the noise, as one does to the ticking of a
clock or to the roar of moving water, And he

(13:36):
became so immersed in his work that everything in the
world except the problem which he was trying to solve,
passed away from him. He suddenly looked up. His problem
was still unsolved, and there was in the air that
sense of the hour before the dawn, which is so
dread to doubtful life. The noise of the rats had ceased. Indeed,

(13:57):
it seemed to him that it must have ceased but lately,
and that it was the sudden cessation which had disturbed him.
The fire had fallen low, but still it threw out
a deep red glow. As he looked, he started, in
spite of his sang freud. There on the great, high backed,
carved oak chair by the right side of the fireplace

(14:18):
sat an enormous rat, steadily glaring at him with baleful eyes.
He made a motion to it, as though to hunt
it away, but it did not stir. Then he made
the motion of throwing something. Still it did not stir,
but showed its great white teeth angrily, and its cruel
eyes shone in the lamplight with an added vindictantness. Malcolmson

(14:44):
felt amazed, and, seizing the poker from the hearth, ran
at it to kill it. Before, however, he could strike it,
the rat, with a squeak that sounded like the concentration
of hate, jumped upon the floor, and, running up the
rope of the alarm bell, disappeared in the darkness beyond
the range the green shaded lamp. Instantly strange to say,
the noisy scampering of the rats in the wainscot began again.

(15:10):
By this time, Malcolmson's mind was quite off the problem,
and as a shrill cock crow outside told him of
the approach of morning, he went to bed and to sleep.
He slept so sound that he was not even waked
by Missus Dempster coming in to make up his room.
It was only when she had tidied up the place
and got his breakfast ready and tapped on the screen
which closed in his bed, that he woke. He was

(15:32):
a little tired still after his night's hard work, but
a strong cup of tea soon freshened him up, and
taking his book, he went out for his morning walk,
bringing with him a few sandwiches lest he should not
care to return till dinner time. He found a quiet
walk between high elms some way outside the town, and
here he spent the greater part of the day studying

(15:52):
his laplace. On his return, he looked in to see
Missus witham and to thank her for her kindness. When
she saw him coming through the diamond paned bay window
of her sanctum, she came out to meet him and
asked him in. She looked at him searchingly and shook
her head as she said, you must not overdo it, sir.
You are paler this morning than you should be. Two

(16:15):
late hours and too hard work on the brain isn't
good for any man. But tell me, sir, how did
you pass the night? Well? I hope, but my heart, sir,
I was glad when Missus Dempster told me this morning
that you were all right and sleeping sound when she
went in. Oh, I was all right, he answered, smiling.

(16:36):
The somethings didn't worry me as yet. Only the rats
and they had a circus. I tell you, all over
the place there was one wicked looking old devil that
sat up on my own chair by the fire and
wouldn't go till I took the poker to him. And
then he ran up the rope of the alarm bell
and got to somewhere up the wall or the ceiling.
I couldn't see where. It was so dark. Mercy on us,

(16:58):
said missus, witham and old and sitting on a chair
by the fireside. Take care, sir, take care. There's many
a true word spoken in jest. How do you mean
upon my word? I don't understand an old devil? The
old devil? Perhaps there, sir, you needn't laugh, for Malcolmson
had broken into a hearty peal you young folks thinks

(17:21):
it's easy to laugh at things that make older ones shudder.
Never mind, sir, never mind, Please God, you'll laugh all
the time. It's what I wish for you myself. And
the good lady beamed all over in sympathy with his enjoyment,
her fears gone for a moment. Oh forgive me, said Malcolmson. Presently,

(17:41):
don't think me rude, But the idea was too much
for me. That the old devil himself was on the
chair last night. And at the thought he laughed again.
Then he went home to dinner this evening. The scampering
of the rats began earlier, indeed, it had been going
on before his arrival, and only see while his presence,
by its freshness, disturbed them. After dinner, he sat by

(18:04):
the fire for a while and had a smoke, and then,
having cleared his table, began to work as before tonight.
The rats disturbed him more than they had done on
the previous night. How they scampered up and down, and
over and under, how they squeaked and scratched and gnawed,
How they, getting boulder by degrees, came to the mouths

(18:25):
of their holes, and to the chinks and cracks and
crannies in the wains cutting, till their eyes shone like
tiny lamps as the firelight rose and fell. But to him,
now doubtless accustomed to them, their eyes were not wicked.
Only their playfulness touched him. Sometimes the boldest of them
made sallies out on the floor or along the moldings

(18:45):
of the wainscot. Now and again, as they disturbed him,
Malcolmson made a sound to frighten them, smiting the table
with his hand, or giving a fierce ship, so that
they fled straightway to their holes, and so the early
part of the night wore on, and despite the noise,
Malcolmson got more and more immersed in his work. All

(19:07):
at once he stopped, as on the previous night, being
overcome by a sudden sense of silence. There was not
the faintest sound of gnaw or scratch or squeak. The
silence was as of the grave. He remembered the odd
occurrence of the previous night, and instinctively he looked at
the chair standing close by the fireside, and then a

(19:28):
very odd sensation thrilled through him. There on the great, old,
high backed carved oak chair beside the fireplace, sat the
same enormous rat, steadily glaring at him with baleful eyes. Instinctively,
he took the nearest thing to his hand, a book

(19:49):
of logarithms, and flung it at it. The book was
badly aimed, and the rat did not stir. So again
the poker performance of the previous night was repeated, and
again the rat, being closely pursued, d fled up the
rope of the alarm bell. Strangely, too, the departure of
this rat was instantly followed by the renewal of the
noise made by the general rat community. On this occasion,

(20:11):
as on the previous one, Malcolmson could not see at
what part of the room the rat disappeared, for the
green shade of his lamp left the upper part of
the room in darkness, and the fire had burned low.
On looking at his watch, he found it was close
on midnight, and not sorry for the divertissemnt, he made
up his fire and made himself his nightly pot of tea.

(20:33):
He had got through a good spell of work and
thought himself entitled to a cigarette, and so he sat
on the great oak chair before the fire and enjoyed it.
Whilst smoking, he began to think that he would like
to know where the rat disappeared to, for he had
certain ideas for the morrow, not entirely disconnected with a
rat trap. Accordingly, he lit another lamp and placed it

(20:55):
so that it would shine well into the right hand
corner of the wall by the fireplace. Then he got
all the books he had with him and placed them
handy to throw at the vermin. Finally, he lifted the
rope of the alarm bell and placed the end of
it on the table, fixing the extreme end under the lamp.
As he handled it, he could not help noticing how
pliable it was, especially for so strong a rope and

(21:17):
one not in use. You could hang a man with it,
he thought to himself. When his preparations were made, he
looked around and said complacently, there now, my friend, I
think we shall learn something of you. This time he
began his work again, and, though as before, somewhat disturbed
at first by the noise of the rats, soon lost

(21:39):
himself in his propositions and problems. Again he was called
to his immediate surroundings suddenly. This time it might not
have been the sudden silence only which took his attention.
There was a slight movement of the rope, and the
lamp moved without stirring. He looked to see if his
pile of books was within range, and then cast his
eye along the rope. As he looked, he saw the

(22:01):
great rat drop from the rope on the oak arm
chair and sit there, glaring at him. He raised the
book in his right hand, and taking careful aim, flung
it at the rat. The latter, with a quick movement,
sprang aside and dodged the missile. He then took another
book and a third and flung them one after another
at the rat, but each time unsuccessfully. At last, as

(22:25):
he stood with a book poised in his hand to throw,
the rat squeaked and seemed afrayed. This made Malcolmson more
than ever eager to strike, and the book flew and
struck the rat a resounding blow, and it gave a
terrified squeak, and, turning on his pursuer a look of
terrible malevolence, sprang up the chair back and made a
great jump to the rope of the alarm bell, and

(22:46):
ran up it like lightning. The lamp rocked under the
sudden strain, but it was a heavy one and did
not topple over. Malcolmson kept his eyes on the rat,
and saw it, by the light of the second lamp,
leap to a molding of the way Mainscott and disappear
through a hole in one of the great pictures which
hung on the wall, obscured and invisible through its coating
of dirt and dust. I shall look up my friend's

(23:09):
habitation in the morning, said the student, as he went
over to collect his books the third picture from the fireplace,
I shall not forget. He picked up the books one
by one, commenting on them as he lifted them. Conic sections.
He does not mind, nor secloidal oscillations, nor the principia,

(23:30):
nor quaternions, nor thermodynamics. Now for the book that fetched him,
Malcolmson took it up and looked at it. As he
did so, he started, and a sudden pallor overspread his face.
He looked round uneasily and shivered slightly as he murmured
to himself, the Bible, my mother gave me, What an

(23:52):
odd coincidence. He sat down to work again, and the
rats in the wainscot renewed their gambols. They did not
disturb him high, however, somehow their presence gave him a
sense of companionship. But he could not attend to his work, and,
after striving to master the subject on which he was engaged,
gave it up in despair and went to bed. As
the first streak of dawn stole in through the eastern window.

(24:16):
He slept heavily but uneasily, and dreamed much, And when
Missus Dempster woke him late in the morning, he seemed
ill at ease, and for a few minutes did not
seem to realize exactly where he was his first request
rather surprised the servant, Missus Dempster. When I am out
to day, I wish you would get the steps and
dust or wash those pictures, especially that one third from

(24:38):
the fireplace. I want to see what they are. Late
in the afternoon, Malcolmson worked at his books in the
shaded walk, and the cheerfulness of the previous day came
back to him as the day wore on, and he
found that his reading was progressing well. He had worked
out to a satisfactory conclusion all the problems which had
yet baffled him, and it was in a state of

(24:59):
jubilation that he paid a visit to Missus witham At
the Good Traveler. He found a stranger in the cozy
sitting room with the landlady, who was introduced to him
as doctor Thornhill. She was not quite at ease, and this,
combined with the doctor's plunging at once into a series
of questions, made Malcolmson come to the conclusion that his
presence was not an accident. So without preliminary he said,

(25:24):
doctor Thornhill, I shall with pleasure answer you any question
you may choose to ask me, if you will answer
me one question first, The doctor seemed surprised, but he
smiled and answered at once done, what is it? Did
Missus Witham ask you to come here and see me
and advise me? Doctor Thornhill for a moment was taken aback,

(25:47):
and Missus Witham got fiery red and turned away. But
the doctor was a frank and ready man, and he
answered at once and openly. She did, but she didn't
intend you to know it. I suppose it was my
clumb haste that made you suspect. She told me that
she did not like the idea of your being in
that house all by yourself, and that she thought you

(26:07):
took too much strong tea. In fact, she wants me
to advise you, if possible, to give up the tea
in the very late hours. I was a keen student
in my time, so I suppose I may take the
liberty of a college man and without offense, advise you,
not quite as a stranger. Malcolmson, with a bright smile,
held out his hand shake. As they say in America.

(26:29):
He said, I must thank you for your kindness, and
Missus Whham too, and your kindness deserves a return on
my part. I promised to take no more strong tea,
no tea at all till you let me, and I
shall go to bed to night at one o'clock at
the latest. Will that do capital, said the doctor. Now
tell us all that you noticed in the old house,

(26:52):
And so Malcolmson then and there told in minute detail
all that had happened in the last two nights. He
was interrupted every now and then by some exclamation from
Missus Witham, till finally, when he told of the episode
of the Bible, the landlady's pent up emotions found vent
in a shriek, and it was not till a stiff
glass of brandy and water had been administered that she

(27:12):
grew composed again. Doctor Thornhill listened with a face of
growing gravity, And when the narrative was complete and Missus
Witham had been restored, he asked, the rat always went
up the rope of the alarm bell always, I suppose
you know, said the doctor, after a pause. What the
rope is? No, it is, said the doctor slowly, the

(27:38):
very rope which the hangman used for all the victims
of the judge's judicial rancor. Here he was interrupted by
another scream from Missus Witham, and steps had to be
taken for her recovery. Malcolmson, having looked at his watch
and found that it was close to his dinner hour,
had gone home before her complete recovery. When missus Wham

(27:58):
was herself again, she almost assailed the doctor with angry
questions as to what he meant by putting such horrible
ideas into the poor young man's mind. He has quite
enough there already to upset him, she added. Doctor Thornhill replied,
my dear Madam, I had a distinct purpose in it.
I wanted to draw his attention to the bell rope

(28:19):
and to fix it there. It may be that he
is in a highly overwrought state and has been studying
too much, although I am bound to say that he
seems as sound and healthy a young man mentally and
bodily as ever I saw. But then the rats and
that suggestion of the devil. The doctor shook his head
and went on, I would have offered to go and

(28:40):
stay the first night with him, but that I felt
sure it would have been a cause of offense. He
may get in the night some strange fright or hallucination,
and if he does, I want him to pull that
rope all alone, as he is. It will give us
warning and we may reach him in time to be
of service. I shall be sitting up pretty late to night,
and shall keep my ears open. Do not be alarmed

(29:01):
if ben Church gets a surprise before morning. Oh doctor,
what do you mean? What do you mean? I mean
this that? Possibly, nay more probably, we shall hear their
great alarm bell from the Judge's house to night, and
the doctor made about as effective an exit as could
be thought of. When Malcolmsond arrived home, he found that

(29:25):
it was a little after his usual time, and Missus
Dempster had gone away. The rules of Greenhouse's charity were
not to be neglected. He was glad to see that
the place was bright and tidy, with a cheerful fire
and a well trimmed lamp. The evening was colder than
might have been expected in April, and a heavy wind
was blowing with such rapidly increasing strength that there was

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every promise of a storm during the night. For a
few minutes after his entrance, the noise of the rats ceased,
but so soon as they became accustomed to his presence,
they began again. He was glad to hear them, for
he felt once more the feeling of companion ship in
their noise, and his mind ran back to the strange
fact that they only ceased to manifest themselves when that other,

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the great rat with the baleful eyes, came upon the scene.
The reading lamp only was lit, and its green shade
kept the ceiling in the upper part of the room
in darkness, so that the cheerful light from the hearth,
spreading over the floor and shining on the white cloth
laid over the end of the table, was warm and cheery.
Malcolmson sat down to his dinner with a good appetite

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and a buoyant spirit. After his dinner and a cigarette,
he sat steadily down to work, determined not to let
anything disturb him, for he remembered his promise to the
doctor and made up his mind to make the best
of the time at his disposal. For an hour or
so he worked all right, and then his thoughts began
to wander from his books the actual circumstances around him.

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The calls on his physical attention and his nervous susceptibility
were not to be denied. By this time, the wind
had become again, and the gale a storm. The old
house solid though it was seemed to shake to its foundations,
and the storm roared and raged through its many chimneys
and its queer old gables, producing strange, unearthly sounds in

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the empty rooms and corridors. Even the great alarm bell
on the roof must have felt the force of the wind,
for the rope rose and fell slightly, as though the
bell were moved a little from time to time, and
the limber rope fell on the oak floor with a
hard and hollow sound. As Malcolmson listened to it, he
bethought himself of the doctor's words, it is the rope

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which the hangman used for the victims of the judge's
judicial rancor. And he went over to the turner of
the fireplace and took it in his hand to look
at it. There seemed a sort of deadly interest in it,
and as he stood there he lost himself for a
moment in speculation as to who these victims were, and
the grim wish of the judge to have such a

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ghastly relic ever under his eyes. As he stood there,
the swaying of the bell on the roof still lifted
the rope now and again. But presently there came a
new sensation, a sort of tremor in the rope, as
though something was moving along it. Looking up instinctively, Malcolmson
saw the great rat coming slowly down towards him, glaring

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at him steadily. He dropped the rope and started back
with a muttered curse, and the rat, turning, ran up
the rope again and disappeared. And at the same instant
Malcolmson became conscious that the noise of the rats, which
had ceased for a while, began again. All this set
him thinking, and it occurred to him that he had
not investigated the lair of the rat or looked at

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the pictures as he had intended. He lit the other
lamp without the shade, and holding it up, went and
stood opposite the third picture from the fireplace, on the
right hand side, where he had seen the rat disappear
on the previous night. At the first glance, he started
back so suddenly that he almost dropped the lamp, and
a deadly pallor overspread his face. His knees shook, and

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heavy drops of sweat came on his forehead, and he
trembled like an aspen. But he was young and plucky
and pulled himself together, and after the pause of a
few seconds, stepped forward again, raised the lamp and examined
the picture, which had been dusted and washed, and now
stood out clearly. It was of a judge dressed in

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his robes of scarlet and ermine. His face was strong
and merciless, evil, crafty, and vindictive, with a sensual mouth,
hooked nose of ruddy color, and shaped like the beak
of a bird of prey. The rest of the face
was of a cadaverous color. The eyes were of peculiar brilliance,
and with a terribly malignant expression. As he looked at them,

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Malcolmson grew cold, for he saw there the very counterpart
of the eyes of the great rat. The lamp almost
fell from his hand. He saw the rat with its
baleful eyes, peering out through the hole in the corner
of the picture, and noted the sudden cessation of the
noise of the other rats. However, he pulled himself together

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and went on with his examination of the picture. The
judge was seated in a great, high backed, carved oak
chair on the right side of a great stone fireplace,
where in the corner a rope hung down from the ceiling,
its end lying coiled on the floor. With a feeling
of something like horror, Malcolmson recognized the scene of the

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room as it stood, and gazed around him in an
awe struck manner, as though he expected to find some
strange presence behind him. Then he looked over to the
corner of the fireplace, and with a very loud cry,
he let the lamp fall from his hand. There in
the judge's arm chair, with the rope hanging behind, sat
the rat with the judge's baleful eyes now intensified and

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with a fiendish leer. Save for the howling of the
storm without there was silence. The fallen lamp, recalled Malcolmson
to himself. Fortunately it was of metal, and so the
oil was not spilt. However, the practical need of attending
to it settled at once his nervous apprehensions. When he
had turned it out, he wiped his brow and thought

(35:14):
for a moment, this will not do, he said to himself.
If I go on like this, I shall become a
crazy fool. This must stop, I promised the doctor. I
would not take tea faith. He was pretty right. My
nerves must have been getting into a Queer State funny.
I did not notice it. I never felt better in
my life. However, it is all right now, and I

(35:38):
shall not be such a fool again. Then he mixed
himself a good stiff glass of brandy and water, and
resolutely sat down to his work. It was nearly an
hour when he looked up from his book, disturbed by
the sudden stillness without. The wind howled and roared louder
than ever, and the rain drove in sheets against the windows,

(35:58):
beating like hail on the glass. But within there was
no sound whatever, save the echo of the wind as
it roared in the great chimney. And now and then
a hiss as a few rain drops found their way
down the chimney In a lull of the storm. The
fire had fallen low and had ceased to flame, though
it threw out a red glow. Malcolmson listened attentively and

(36:19):
presently heard a thin squeaking noise, very faint. It came
from the corner of the room where the rope hung down,
and he thought it was the creaking of the rope
on the floor, as the swaying of the bell raised
and lowered it. Looking up, however, he saw in the
dim light, the great rat clinging to the rope and
gnawing it. The rope was already nearly gnawed through. He

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could see the lighter color where the strands were laid
bare as he looked. The job was completed, and the
severed end of the rope fell clattering on the oaken floor,
whilst for an instant the great rat remained like a
knob or tassel at the end of the rope, which
now began to sway to and fro Malcolmson felt for
a moment another pang of terror as he thought that

(37:04):
now the possibility of calling the outer world to his
assistance was cut off, But an intense anger took its place, and,
seizing the book he was reading, he hurled it at
the rat. The blow was well aimed, but before the
missile could reach him, the rat dropped off and struck
the floor with a soft thud. Malcolmson instantly rushed over

(37:24):
towards him, but it darted away and disappeared in the
darkness of the shadows of the room. Malcolmson felt that
his work was over for the night, and determined then
and there to vary the monotony of the proceedings by
a hunt for the rat, and took off the green
shade of the lamp so as to ensure a wider
spreading light. As he did so, the gloom of the
upper part of the room was relieved, and in the

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new flood of light great by comparison with the previous darkness,
the pictures on the wall stood out boldly. From where
he stood, Malcolmson saw right opposite to him the third
picture on the wall, from the right of the fireplace.
He rubbed his eyes in surprise, and then a great
fear began to come upon him. In the center of

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the picture was a great irregular patch of brown canvas,
as fresh as when it was stretched on the frame.
The background was as before, with chair and chimney, corner
and rope, but the figure of the judge had disappeared. Malcolmson,
almost in a chill of horror, turned slowly round, and

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then he began to shake and tremble, like a man
in a palsy. His strength seemed to have left him,
and he was incapable of action or movement, hardly even
of thought. He could only see and hear. There on
the great high backed, carved oak chair sat the judge
in his robes of scarlet and ermine, with his baleful

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eyes glaring vindictively, and a smile of triumph on the
resolute cruel mouth. As he lifted with his hands a
black cap, Malcolmson felt as if the blood was running
from his heart, as one does in moments of prolonged suspense.
There was a singing in his ears. Without he could

(39:14):
hear the roar and hall of the tempest, and through
it swept on the storm. Came the striking of midnight
by the great chimes in the market place. He stood
for a space of time that seemed to him endless,
still as a statue with wide open horror struck eyes, breathless.
As the clock struck, so the smile of triumph on

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the judge's face intensified, and at the last stroke of
midnight he placed the black cap on his head. Slowly
and deliberately, the judge rose from his chair and picked
up the piece of the rope of the alarm bell
which lay on the floor, drew it through his hands
as if he enjoyed its touch, and then deliberately began

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to not one end of it fash it into a noose.
This he tightened and tested with his foot, pulling hard
at it till he was satisfied, and then making a
running noose of it, which he held in his hand.
Then he began to move along the table on the
opposite side to Malcolmson, keeping his eyes on him until

(40:18):
he had passed him, when, with a quick movement, he
stood in front of the door. Malcolmson then began to
feel that he was trapped and tried to think of
what he should do. There was some fascination in the
judge's eyes, which he never took off him, and he
had perforce to look. He saw the judge approach, still
keeping between him and the door, and raise the noose

(40:41):
and throw it towards him, as if to entangle him
with a great effort. He made a quick movement to
one side, and saw the rope fall beside him, and
heard it strike the oaken floor. Again, the judge raised
the noose and tried to ensnare him, ever keeping his
baleful eyes fixed on him, and each time, by a
mighty effort, the student must managed to evade it. So

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this went on for many times, the judge seeming never
discouraged nor discomposed at failure, but playing as a cat
does with a mouse. At last, in despair, which had
reached its climax, Malcolmson cast a quick glance round him.
The lamp seemed to have blazed up, and there was
a fairly good light in the room. At the many

(41:23):
rat holes and in the chinks and crannies of the wainscot,
he saw the rat's eyes, and this aspect, that was
purely physical, gave him a gleam of comfort. He looked
around and saw that the rope of the great alarm
bell was laden with rats. Every inch of it was
covered with them, and more and more were pouring through
the small circular hole in the ceiling whence it emerged,

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so that with their weight, the bell was beginning to sway.
Hark it had swayed till the clapper had touched the bell.
The sound was but a tiny one, but the bell
was only beginning to sway, and it would increase. At
the sound, the judge, who had been keeping his eyes
fixed on Malcolmson, looked up, and a scowl of diabolical

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anger overspread his face. His eyes fairly glowed like hot coals,
and he stamped his foot with a sound that seemed
to make the house shake. A dreadful peal of thunder
broke overhead as he raised the rope again, whilst the
rats kept running up and down the rope as though
working against time. This time, instead of throwing it, he

(42:27):
drew close to his victim and held open the noose
as he approached. As he came closer, there seemed something
paralyzing in his very presence, and Malcolmson stood rigid as
a corpse. He felt the judge's icy fingers touch his
throat as he adjusted the rope. The noose tightened, tightened.

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Then the judge, taking the rigid form of the student
in his arms, carried him over and placed him standing
in the oak chair, and stepped up beside him, put
his hand up and caught the end of the swaying
rope of the alarm bell. As he raised his hand,
the rats fled, squeaking and disappeared through the hole in
the ceiling. Taking the end of the noose which was

(43:11):
round Malcolmson's neck, he tied it to the hanging bell rope,
and then, descending, pulled away the chair. When the alarm
bell of the judge's house began to sound, a crowd
soon assembled, lights and torches of various kinds appeared, and
soon a silent crowd was hurrying to the spot. They

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knocked loudly at the door, but there was no reply.
Then they burst in the door and poured into the
great dining room, the doctor at the head. There, at
the end of the rope of the great alarm bell
hung the body of the student, and on the face
of the judge in the picture was a malignant smile.

(43:56):
End of the Judge's House by Bram Stoker