The Shadows on the Wall

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 Betsy Bush Marquette, Michigan, July two thousand six.

(00:22):
The Shadows on the Wall by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.
Henry had words with Edward in the study the night
before Edward died, said Caroline Glynn. She spoke not with acrimony,
but with grave severity. Rebecca Ann Glynn gasped by way
of assent. She sat in a wide flounce of black

(00:43):
silk in the corner of the sofa and rolled terrified
eyes from her sister Caroline to her sister Missus Stephen Brigham,
who had been Emma Glynn, the one beauty of the family.
The latter was beautiful still, with a large, splendid, full
blown beauty. She filled a great rocking chair with her
superb bulk of femininity and swayed gently back and forth,

(01:06):
her black silks whispering and her black frills fluttering. Even
the shock of death, for her brother Edward lay dead
in the house could not disturb her. Outward serenity of demeanor,
but even her expression of masterly placidity changed before her
sister Caroline's announcement and her sister Rebecca Anne's gasp of
terror and distress in response. I think Henry might have

(01:30):
controlled his temper when poor Edward was so near his end,
she said, with an asperity which disturbed slightly the roseate
curves of her beautiful mouth. Of course he did not know,
murmured Rebecca Anne in a faint tone. Of course he
did not know, it, said Caroline quickly. She turned on
her sister with a strange, sharp look of suspicion. Then

(01:51):
she shrank, as if from the other's possible answer. Rebecca
gasped again. The married sister, missus Emma Brigham, was now
sitting up straight in her chair. She had ceased rocking
and was eyeing them both intently, with a sudden accentuation
of family likeness in her face. What do you mean,
she said impartially to them both. Then she too seemed

(02:13):
to shrink before a possible answer. She even laughed, an
evasive sort of laugh. Nobody means anything, said Caroline firmly.
She rose and crossed the room toward the door with
grim decisiveness. Where are you going, asked missus Brigham. I
have something to see to, replied Caroline, and the others

(02:33):
at once knew by her tone that she had some
solemn and sad duty to perform in the chamber of death. Oh,
said missus Brigham. After the door had closed behind Caroline,
she turned to Rebecca. Did Henry have many words with him?
She asked? They were talking very loud, replied Rebecca evasively.

(02:53):
Missus Brigham looked at her. She had not resumed rocking.
She still sat up straight, with a slight knitting of
intensity on her fair forehead between the pretty rippling curves
of her auburn hair. Did you ever hear anything, she
asked in a low voice, with a glance toward the door.
I was just across the hall in the south parlor,

(03:14):
and that door was open, and this door ajar, replied
Rebecca with a slight flush. Then you must have. I
couldn't help it, everything, most of it. What was it?
The old story? I suppose Henry was mad as he

(03:34):
always was, because Edward was living on here for nothing
when he had wasted all the money father left him.
Rebecca nodded with a fearful glance at the door. When
Emma spoke again, her voice was still more hushed. I
know how he felt, said she. It must have looked
as if Edward was living at his expense. But he wasn't. No,

(03:55):
he wasn't. And Edward had a right here according to
the terms of father's wills. And Henry ought to have
remembered it, Yes, he ought. Did he say hard? Things?
Pretty hard? From what I heard? What I heard him
tell Edward that he had no business here at all,
and he thought he had better go away. What did

(04:18):
Edward say? That he would stay here as long as
he lived, and afterward too, if he was a mind to,
and he would like to see Henry get him out?
And then what? Then he laughed? What did Henry say?
I didn't hear him say anything, but but what I

(04:39):
saw him when he came out of this room, he
looked mad. You've seen him when he looked so? Emma nodded.
The expression of horror on her face had deepened. Do
you remember that time he killed the cat because she
had scratched him? Yes, don't. Then Caroline re entered the room.
She went up to the stove in which a wood

(05:01):
fire was burning. It was a cold, gloomy day of fall,
and she warmed her hands, which were reddened from recent
washing in cold water. Missus Brigham looked at her and hesitated.
She glanced at the door, which was still ajar. It
did not easily shut, being still swollen with the damp
weather of the summer. She rose and pushed it together

(05:22):
with a sharp thud, which jarred the house. Rebecca started
painfully with a half exclamation. Caroline looked at her disapprovingly.
It is time you controlled your nerves, Rebecca, she said.
Missus Brigham returned from the closed door, said imperiously that
it ought to be fixed. It shut so hard it

(05:42):
will shrink enough after we have had the fire a
few days, replied Caroline. I think Henry ought to be
ashamed of himself for talking as he did to Edward,
said missus Brigham abruptly, but in an almost inaudible voice. Hush,
said Caroline, with a glance of actual fear at the
closed door. Nobody can hear with the door shut. I

(06:03):
say again, I think Henry ought to be ashamed of himself.
I shouldn't think he'd ever get over it. Having words
with poor Edward the very night before he died. Edward
was enough sight, better disposition than Henry, with all his faults.
I never heard him speak a cross word. Unless he
spoke cross to Henry that last night. I don't know,
but he did. From what Rebecca overheard, not so much cross.

(06:26):
It's sort of soft and sweet and aggravating, sniffed Rebecca.
What do you think really ailed Edward, asked Emma, in
hardly more than a whisper. She did not look at
her sister. I know you said that he had terrible
pains in his stomach and had spasms, But what do
you think made him have them? Henry called it Gastric's trouble.
You know Edward has always had dyspepsia. Missus Brigham hesitated

(06:50):
a moment. Was there any talk of an examination? Said she?
Then Caroline turned on her fiercely. No, said she in
a terrible voice. No. The three sisters souls seemed to
meet on one common ground of terrified understanding through their eyes.
The old fashioned latch of the door was heard to rattle,

(07:11):
and a push from without made the door shake ineffectually.
It's Henry, Rebecca sighed, rather than whispered. Missus Brigham settled herself,
after a noiseless rush across the floor into her rocking
chair again, and was swaying back and forth, with her
head comfortably leaning back. When the door at last yielded
and Henry Glynn entered, he cast a covertly sharp, comprehensive

(07:35):
glance at missus Brigham with her elaborate calm, at Rebecca
quietly huddled on the corner of the sofa with her
handkerchief to her face and only one small, uncovered, reddened
ear as attentive as a dog's, And at Caroline, sitting
with a strained composure in her arm chair by the stove.
She met his eyes quite firmly, with a look of
inscrutable fear and defiance of the fear and of him.

(07:58):
Henry Glynn looked more like this soter than the others.
Both had the same hard delicacy of form and aquilinity
of feature. They confronted each other with the pitiless immovability
of two statues in whose marble lineaments emotions were fixed
for all eternity. Then Henry Glynn smiled, and the smile
transformed his face. He looked suddenly years younger, and an

(08:20):
almost boyish recklessness appeared in his face. He flung himself
into a chair with a gesture which was bewildering from
its incongruity with his general appearance. He leaned his head back,
flung one leg over the other, and looked laughingly at
missus Brigham. I declare, Emma, you grow younger every year,
he said. She flushed a little, and her placid mouth

(08:43):
widened at the corners. She was susceptible to praise. Our
thoughts to day ought to belong to the one of
us who will never grow older, said Caroline in a
hard voice. Henry looked at her, still smiling. Of course,
we none of us forget that, said he in a deep,
gentle voice. But we have to speak to the living.
Caroline and I have not seen Emma for a long time,

(09:06):
and the living are as dear as the dead. Not
to me, said Caroline. She rose and went abruptly out
of the room again. Rebecca also rose and hurried after her,
sobbing loudly. Henry looked slowly after them. Caroline is completely unstrung,
said he. Missus Brigham rocked a confidence in him, inspired

(09:26):
by his manner, was stealing over her out of that confidence.
She spoke quite easily and naturally. His death was very sudden,
said she. Henry's eyelids quivered slightly, but his gaze was unswerving. Yes,
said he, It was very sudden. He was sick only
a few hours. What did you call it? Gastric? You

(09:50):
did not think of an examination? There was no need.
I am perfectly certain as to the cause of his death.
Suddenly missus Brigham felt a creep, as of some live
horror over her very soul. Her flesh prickled with cold.
Before an inflection of his voice, she rose, tottering on
weak knees. Where are you going, asked Henry in a strange,

(10:11):
breathless voice. Missus Brigham said something incoherent about some sewing,
what she had to do some black for the funeral,
and was out of the room. She went up to
the front chamber, which she occupied. Caroline was there. She
went close to her and took her hands, and the
two sisters looked at each other. Don't speak, don't, I

(10:32):
won't have it, said Caroline, finally, in an awful whisper.
I won't, replied Emma. That afternoon, the three sisters were
in the study. Missus Brigham was hemming some black material.
At last, she laid her work on her lap. It's
no use I cannot see to sew another stitch until
we have a light, said she. Caroline, who was writing

(10:53):
some letters at the table, turned to Rebecca in her
usual place on the sofa. Rebecca, you had better get
a lamp, she said. Rebecca started up, even in the dusk.
Her face showed her agitation. It doesn't seem to me
that we need a lamp quite yet, she said, in
a piteous, pleading voice like a child's. Yes we do,
returned missus Brigham, peremptorily, I can't see to sew another stitch.

(11:17):
Rebecca rose and left the room. Presently she entered with
a lamp. She set it on the table, an old
fashioned card table, which was placed against the opposite wall
from the window. That opposite wall was taken up with
three doors. The one small space was occupied by the table.
What have you put that lamp over there? For, asked
missus Brigham, with more of impatience than her voice usually revealed.

(11:41):
Why didn't you set it in the hall and have
done with it? Neither Caroline nor I can see if
it is on that table I thought perhaps you would move,
replied Rebecca hoarsely. If I do move, we can't both
sit at that table. Caroline has her paper all spread around.
Why don't you set the lamp on the study table
in the middle of the room then we can both

(12:01):
see Rebecca hesitated. Her face was very pale. She looked
with an appeal that was fairly agonizing at her sister Caroline.
Why don't you put the lamp on this table, as
she says, asked Caroline, almost fiercely, Why do you act
so Rebecca. Rebecca took the lamp and set it on
the table in the middle of the room without another word.

(12:22):
Then she seated herself on the sofa and placed a
hand over her eyes as if to shade them, and remained,
So does the light hurt your eyes? And is that
the reason why you didn't want the lamp, asked missus
Brigham kindly. I always like to sit in the dark,
replied Rebecca chokingly. Then she snatched her handkerchief hastily from
her pocket and began to weep. Caroline continued to write

(12:46):
Missus Brigham to sew. Suddenly, Missus Brigham, as she sewed,
glanced at the opposite wall. The glance became a steady stare.
She looked intently, her work suspended in her hands. Then
she looked away again and took a few more stitches.
Then she looked again, and again turned to her task.
At last, she laid her work in her lap and

(13:07):
stared concentratedly. She looked from the wall round the room,
taking note of the various objects. Then she turned to
her sisters. What is that? Said she? What asked Caroline harshly,
That strange shadow on the wall, replied missus Brigham. Rebecca
sat with her face hidden. Caroline dipped her pen in

(13:28):
the ink stand. Why don't you turn around and look,
asked missus Brigham in a wondering and somewhat aggrieved way.
I am in a hurry to finish this letter, replied Caroline. Shortly,
missus Brigham rose, her work slipping to the floor, and
began walking round the room, moving various articles of furniture,
with her eyes on the shadow. Then suddenly she shrieked out, look,

(13:51):
look at this awful shadow? What is it? Caroline? Look, look, Rebecca,
look what is it all? Missus Brigham's triumphant city was gone,
Her handsome face was livid with horror. She stood stiffly
pointing at the shadow. Then, after a shuddering glance at
the wall, Rebecca burst out in a wild wail. Oh Caroline,

(14:13):
there it is again. There it is again, Caroline Glen
you look, said missus Brigham. Look what is that dreadful shadow?
Caroline Rose turned and stood confronting the wall. How should
I know? She said? It has been there every night
since he died, cried Rebecca. Every night. Yes, he died Thursday.

(14:36):
In this is Saturday. That makes three nights, said Caroline rigidly.
She stood as if holding her calm with a vice
of concentrated will it it looks like like? Stammered missus
Brigham in a tone of intense horror. I know what
it looks like. Well enough, said Caroline. I've got eyes
in my head. It looks like Edward, burst out Rebecca

(14:59):
in a sort of friend fear. Only yes it does,
asserted missus Brigham, whose horror stricken tone matched her sisters. Only.
Oh it is awful. What is it? Caroline? I ask
you again? How should I know? Replied Caroline. I see
it there like you. How should I know any more
than you? It must be something in the room, said

(15:21):
missus Brigham, staring wildly around. We moved everything in the
room the first night it came, said Rebecca. It is
not anything in the room. Caroline turned upon her with
a sort of fury. Of course it is something in
the room, said she. How you act, what do you
mean talking? So? Of course it is something in the room.

(15:43):
Of course it is, agreed missus Brigham, looking at Caroline suspiciously.
It must be something in the room. It is not
anything in the room, repeated Rebecca, with obstinate horror. The
door opened suddenly and Henry Glynn entered. He began to speak,
then his eyes followed the direction of the others. He

(16:04):
stood staring at the shadow on the wall. What is it?
He demanded in a strange voice. It must be due
to something in the room, missus Brigham said faintly. Henry
Glynn stood and stared a moment longer. His face showed
a gamut of emotions, horror, conviction, then furious, incredulity. Suddenly

(16:26):
he began hastening hither and thither about the room. He
moved the furniture with fierce jerks, turning ever to see
the effect upon the shadow. On the wall, not a
line of its terrible outlines wavered. It must be something
in the room, he declared, in a voice which seemed
to snap like a lash. His face changed. The inmost
secrecy of his nature seemed evident upon his face, until

(16:50):
one almost lost sight of his lineaments. Rebecca stood close
to her sofa, regarding him with woeful, fascinated eyes. Missus
Brigham clutched Caroline's hand. They both stood in a corner
out of his way. For a few moments, he raged
about the room like a caged wild animal. He moved
every piece of furniture. When the moving of a piece

(17:13):
did not effect the shadow, he flung it to the floor.
Then suddenly he desisted. He laughed, What an absurdity, he said, easily,
such a to do about a shadow that's so assented
missus Brigham, in a scared voice which she tried to
make natural. As she spoke, she lifted a chair near her.

(17:36):
I think you have broken the chair that Edward was
fond of, said Caroline. Terror and wrath were struggling for
expression on her face. Her mouth was set, her eyes shrinking.
Henry lifted the chair with a show of anxiety, just
as good as ever, he said, pleasantly. He laughed again,
looking at his sisters. Did I scare you, he said,

(17:59):
I should think you might be used to me by
this time. You know my way of wanting to leap
to the bottom of a mystery. And that shadow does
look queer like, and I thought, if there was any
way of accounting for it, I would like to without
any delay. You don't seem to have succeeded, remarked Caroline dryly,

(18:20):
with a slight glance at the wall. Henry's eyes followed hers,
and he quivered perceptibly. Oh there is no counting for shadows,
he said, and he laughed again. A man is a
fool to try to account for shadows. Then the supper
bell rang and they all left the room, but Henry
kept his back to the wall, as did indeed the others.

(18:44):
Henry led the way with an alert motion, like a boy.
Rebecca brought up the rear She could scarcely walk. Her
knees trembled. So I can't sit in that room again
this evening, she whispered to Caroline. After supper. Very well,
we will sit in the south room, replied Caroline, I
think we will sit in the south parlor, she said aloud,

(19:05):
it isn't as damp as the study, and I have
a cold. So they all sat in the south room
with their sewing. Henry read the newspaper, his chair drawn
close to the lamp on the table. About nine o'clock
he rose abruptly and crossed the hall to the study.
The three sisters looked at one another. Missus Brigham rose

(19:25):
folded her rustling skirts compactly around her, and began tiptoeing
toward the door. What are you going to do, inquired
Rebecca agitatedly. I am going to see what he is about,
replied Missus Brigham cautiously. As she spoke, she pointed to
the study door across the hall. It was a jar.
Henry had striven to pull it together behind him, but

(19:47):
it had somehow swollen beyond the limit with curious speed.
It was still a jar, and a streak of light
showed from top to bottom. Missus Brigham folded her skirts
so tightly that her bulk, with its swelling curves, was
revealed in a black silk sheath, and she went with
a slow toddle across the hall to the study door.
She stood there, her eye at the crack in the

(20:10):
south room. Rebecca stopped sewing and sat watching with dilated eyes.
Caroline sewed steadily. What missus Brigham, standing at the crack
in the study door saw was this Henry Glynn, evidently
reasoning that the source of the strange shadow must be
between the table on which the lamp stood in the wall,

(20:30):
was making systematic passes and thrusts with an old sword
which had belonged to his father, all over and through
the intervening space. Not an inch was left unpierced. He
seemed to have divided the space into mathematical sections. He
brandished the sword with a sort of cold fury and calculation.
The blade gave out flashes of light. The shadow remained unmoved.

(20:55):
Missus Brigham, watching, felt herself cold with horror. Finally, Henry
ceased and stood with the sword in hand and raised
as if to strike, surveying the shadow on the wall threateningly.
Missus Brigham toddled back across the hall and shut the
south room door behind her before she related what she
had seen. He looked like a demon, She said, again,

(21:17):
have you got any of that old wine in the house, Caroline?
I don't feel as if I could stand much more. Yes,
there's plenty, said Caroline. You can have some when you
go to bed. I think we all had better take some,
said missus Brigham. Oh Caroline, what don't ask? Don't speak,
said Caroline. No, I'm not going to replied Missus Brigham.

(21:42):
But soon the three sisters went to their chambers, and
the south parlor was deserted. Caroline called to Henry in
the study to put out the light before he came upstairs.
They had been gone about an hour when he came
into the room, bringing the lamp which had stood in
the study. He set it on the table and waited
a few minutes, pacing up and down. His face was terrible.

(22:04):
His fair complexion showed livid, and his blue eyes seemed
dark blanks of awful reflections. Then he took up the
lamp and returned to the library. He set the lamp
on the center table, and the shadow sprang out on
the wall. Again, he studied the furniture and moved it about,
but deliberately, with none of his former frenzy. Nothing affected

(22:25):
the shadow. Then he returned to the south room with
the lamp and again waited. Again. He returned to the
study and placed the lamp on the table, and the
shadow sprang out upon the wall. It was midnight before
he went upstairs. Missus Brigham and the other sisters, who
could not sleep, heard him. The next day was the funeral.

(22:47):
That evening, the family sat in the south room. Some
relatives were with them. Nobody entered the study until Henry
carried a lamp in. There After the others had retired
for the night, he saw again the shadow on the
wall leaped to an awful life before the light. The
next morning, at breakfast, Henry Glynn announced that he had

(23:08):
to go to the city for three days. The sisters
looked at him with surprise. He very seldom left home,
and just now his practice had been neglected on account
of Edward's death. How can you leave your patience now,
asked Missus Brigham, wonderingly. I don't know how to, but
there is no other way, replied Henry easily. I have

(23:30):
had a telegram from doctor Mitford consultation, inquired Missus Brigham.
I have business, replied Henry. Doctor Mitford was an old
classmate of his who lived in a neighboring city, and
who occasionally called upon him in the case of a consultation.
After he had gone, missus Brigham said to Caroline that,

(23:52):
after all, Henry had not said that he was going
to consult with doctor Mitford, and she thought it very strange.
Everything is very strange, said Rebecca, with a shudder. What
do you mean, inquired Caroline. Nothing, replied Rebecca. Nobody entered
the study that day, nor the next. The third day,

(24:14):
Henry was expected home, but he did not arrive, and
the last to train from the city had come. I
call it pretty queer work, said missus Brigham. The idea
of a doctor leaving his patients at such a time
as this, and the idea of a consultation lasting three days,
there is no sense in it. And now he has
not come. I don't understand it. For my part, I

(24:37):
don't either, said Rebecca. They were all in the south parlor.
There was no light in the study. The door was
ajar presently. Missus Brigham rose. She could not have told why.
Something seemed to impel her some will outside her own.
She went out of the room again, wrapping her rustling
skirts round that she might pass noiselessly, and began pushing

(25:01):
at the swollen door of the study. She has not
got any lamp, said Rebecca in a shaking voice. Caroline,
who was writing letters, rose again, took the only remaining
lamp in the room and followed her sister. Rebecca had risen,
but she stood trembling, not venturing to follow. The door
bell rang, but the others did not hear it. It

(25:22):
was on the south door, on the other side of
the house from the study. Rebecca, after hesitating until the
bell rang the second time, went to the door. She
remembered that the servant was out. Caroline and her sister
Emma entered the study. Caroline set the lamp on the table.
They looked at the wall and there were two shadows.

(25:44):
The sister stood clutching each other, staring at the awful
things on the wall. Then Rebecca came in, staggering, with
a telegram in her hand. Here is a telegram, she gasped.
Henry is dead. End of shadows on the wall by

(26:04):
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman