Chapter X

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Episode Transcript

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Chapter ten of Sinister House by LelandHall. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Read by Ben Tucker, Chapter ten. By the time we
were back in the gloomy house behindthe hemlocks, it was seven o'clock.
Annette at once told Giles that ifhe meant to stay and watch, she
had better make a fire in theliving room, and, without stopping to

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think how difficult it might be forhim to help himself, thus we groped
our way upstairs and into Julia's room. Julia was lonesome and very weak,
but all was not abandoned in thathouse. The old servant downstairs in the
kitchen was making a hot soup forJulia's supper, and Annette despatched me to
fetch it. Upon returning with itto the chamber, I found that Annette

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had lighted a lamp by the bed, had smoothed out the pillows, and
was talking quietly with her patient.The room was cold, of course,
and still far from being cheerful,for the bright lamp was heavily shaded,
and the gas flickered in the drafts. I had no sooner given the soup
over to my wife than Julia askedfor news of Eric, and I must
tell her that I had yet tofind him. At that she tried to

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get out of bed, but Annetterestrained her. But you will find him,
Pierre, she begged me. Hemust not be left alone. I
am not sick. That is onlymy body, his mind, his spirit.
He will not tell me I cannothelp him, because, oh you
know why, Pierre. But you, he cannot help you, Julia.

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All she said was together. Shewasn't rambling, but she was terribly excited.
I tried to convince her that itwould be dangerous to her to bring
him back to the house. Sheunderstood, but she had a secret faith
of some sort in Eric's being ableto save her, even though his mere
presence in her room that night mightdeliver her to death at the hands of

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his familiars. She was of twominds. I promised to find Eric,
but I did not promise to bringhim back to the house, and I
am not sure that she exacted thatdefinitely out of me, Annette followed me
out into the hall and whispered tome to stop in the kitchen for something
to eat. Whether I felt hungryor not. Make Giles eat something too.
She added, When I was halfway downstairs, she leaned over from

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above to ask me where I shouldtake Eric if I found him, to
the Carraway club, I whispered back. She had since told me that she
felt better to know that I shouldnot bring him back to the house.
She both believed and did not believe. If you don't find him, come
back here, sure, she said, as she turned into the chamber.
On my way to the kitchen,I glanced into the living room for Giles.

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There was no warmth or charm inthe place. He had lit the
gas and was sitting before the grate, in which a miserable, lightless fire
was smoldering. We couldn't eat much, but we found some wine in the
kitchen, and each drank a glassful. To tell the truth, I was
glad to get away from my wife'scousin. He was depressed and sullen as
well he might be. I don'tknow what it was kept him in the
house unless he shared with the restof us the feeling that something as usual

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was going to happen there. Thatnight, I hunted high and low for
Eric in the ford. I wentmile after mile along every road I thought
he could have taken and farther thanI thought he could have progressed. I
even went to the village of Stanton, but there I found the village store
and the post office closed for thenight, and the cross roads were deserted.
I went to the caraway club,all dark and deserted. The caretaker

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looked at me as if I wereSatan blowing in on the wind. He
had not seen Eric. I toldhim I might be back later, and
not to keep me waiting too longoutside in the cold. Again and again,
I stopped the car and called asloudly as I could across the fields
that lay invisible in the darkness.Lonely, and when swept on either side
of the road, I left thecar and felt my way through paths along

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the edge of the cliffs, evendown by the river bed, falling and
hurting myself more than once. Itwas all of no avail. Near midnight,
I returned to the house, chilledto the bone, disheartened and gloomy
in my mind. I both hopedand feared to find Eric there, but
he had not returned. Giles wasstill before the cold, smoldering fire in

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the living room, to which thegaslight gave no look of charm. Nothing,
Giles told me, had happened inthe house. Annette had not come
downstairs. No sound came from above. The silence in the desolate room was
depressing. I heard only the rattleof a dead branch against one of the
windows now, and then the steadyroar of the high wind and the chimney

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and about the house, and thecontinuous banging of that loosened and forgotten shudder.
That thing, said, Giles,will drive me mad. I made
a move to go out on theVerandah, no use, Pierre, I've
been out there. You can't reachit from outside. Gotta get at it
from inside through the bluebeard room,he groaned. Ah, Giles, I

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whispered, you too, begin tofeel something in this house. I feel
death and desolation about it. Hemuttered. I'm damn cold, and I
can't make this fire burn. Imade no move to help him. Let
the cold and the bleakness get intheir work on him. For my part,
though I had yelled myself hoarse overall the countryside and had returned forlorn

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and tired, I felt the housewas harmless. Warily, I sat on
the sofa where the night before Ihad sat motionless with fear under the rose
colored hanging in the hallway, yellowishand faded in the dingy gas light that
fell on it. From the livingroom, I saw drafts of air pass
like waves. I heard the roaringof the wind and the banging of that
inaccessible shutter. I shivered with bodilycold, but I knew there was nothing

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in the house at present to fear. The very desolation made me feel safe.
Somewhere a clock struck one Still,there was no sound from upstairs.
Are we going to sit like thisall night? Giles grumbled, Why don't
you stretch out on this sofa andtry to sleep. I can't sleep with
that shudder banging. Cover your headwith sofa pillows. He made no reply.

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The slow minutes dragged on. Iwould to heaven. I had some
whiskey, he said, after awhile. No use to hunt for it
in this house. I had beensurprised enough to find even wine. Eric
never drank, never smoked, neverswore, queer, queer, not like
the rest of us. I fellto thinking about him. I concluded he

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was something of an ascetic, madehuman and vulnerable by the one great love
in his life. Yet I hadto grant that I felt in him a
great tenderness towards everything ardent, visionarytoo. Some thing, some one had
checked him, done him deep inall but mortal harm. Julia could heal,
but she I turned up my coatcollar and shoved my stiff hands deeper

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into my pockets. Julia must besleeping. What should I say to her?
If she woke and asked for herhusband? How could I reassure her
where was he? Had he fallenin the darkness and twisted his leg?
The sound of the wind began toirritate me, and the banging of the
shutter got on my nerves as itgot on Giles's. What did Julia fear

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in that room? That she wouldnot have it opened in those dreary minutes?
If ever, my imagination, wereit too wild, would have evoked
evil and unearthly things might have picturedbefore me the dark, gruesome interior of
that room, perhaps a suicide hangingfrom the ceiling, vague in the darkness,
yet visibly swaying on the cord.It was never my imagination that found

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evil in the house. To night, there was not the faintest thrill,
and that new nerve of mine thehouse was not as it had been.
The evil was gone from it.The gentle sensitive master was lost in the
night and had left his dwelling bleak, lonely but safe. If only the
wind would rest for a while,and that nerve racking banging cease. I

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jumped up and began pacing the floor. Giles poked at the fire, a
longing to speak with my way.Life grew stronger and stronger in me.
If I could talk only five minuteswith a net, the remainder of the
night would pass more cheerfully. Hadshe heard me return in the car and
had not called me, no,I had tried to make no noise.
Maybe she was anxious about me.I started myself thinking that perhaps Eric's familiars

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had come back without him and haddone mischief upstairs. No sound from up
there for hours, not a stepon the floor, not the creak of
a door's opening, not the murmurof a voice. Maybe a neette was
cold. I stood this as longas I could, and then I took
off my boots and stole up thestairs. It was dark and drafty in

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the upper hallway. I went ontiptoe to the door of the room in
which I knew. Julia lay andlistened for some sound. Nothing. I
started to go down again, butI couldn't. Annette, I whispered,
Annette. I listened again, noresponse. Slowly and without a sound,
I opened the door and looked intothe chamber. In a big chair by

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the side of the bed, awayfrom the door, sat my wife,
bundled in her heavy coat. Thebright light from the lamp streamed over her
hands, which lay up turned uponthe knitting in her lap. Her head
had fallen back against the top ofthe chair in shadow. She was fast
asleep. Julia lay fast asleep inthe bed, turned on her side,
away from a net, her cheekresting on both her hands. I could

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hardly see their breathing. There waslittle movement in the room. The fluttering
of the gas flame, the curtainsblowing in from the window, which was
opened not more than an inch,the ruffling now and then of the triangular
bit of sheet that hung over theedge of the bed. That was all.
It was no use to wake them. I closed the door as quietly

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as I could, But as Idid so, I had the feeling that
I was closing it upon a sceneset for a drama. Ready and waiting,
but not to be disturbed until theacting should begin. And just then,
for the first time in that longnight, my nerve of horror shuddered
within me. I was all butovercome with forebodings. I thought I heard
a moan from the room of sleep, on which I had closed the door.

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I paused. I thought I hearda new, strange sound. It
was the beating of my own heart. As I stole down stairs again like
a murderer for stealth, the clockstruck two. When I took my place
again on the sofa, I feltthe house was no longer safe. The
banging of the shutter terrified me.I hid my face in my hands.

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Instantly, I thought A voice rangshatteringly loud in my ears, crying,
we will kill her. To night, I sprang to my feet. In
the doorway stood Eric. He lookedas if something in the night had wrung
the blood out of him. Hishair was wild about his pale face.
His clothes were all deranged and insome places torn. My first thought was

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to throw him out of the house, his own house. The murderous cry
I had heard told me that hisfamiliars had come back with him. I
had no doubt they were already abovein the chamber of RESTful sleep. They
had yelled out on their way upthe stairs. But as I looked at
Eric, a mild gentleness in hisface cast a spell over me and restrained
me. He began to speak strangewords in an extraordinarily subdued voice. I

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have been walking in the wind.Out of the whirlwind. A voice spake
unto me, saying, the lawof man cannot lay a finger upon thee.
Nor hast thou sinned against the lawof God. Inasmuch as thou wast
patient in his sight, so willhe care for thee. Yet though thou
carriest thy burden to a secret partof the earth, and there bury it,

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it shall not be forgotten. Gilesand I looked at him in silence.
You can hardly imagine the effect ofhis words and his manner upon us.
While he went on talking like aprophet from an ancient time, I
caught no sense in his words,which veiled rather than made clear, something
about his responsibilities under the justice lawsof heaven, and about his wife Julia,

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who as a human companion, remainedmore dear to him than the purest
bliss in sanctimony he could dream of, and he talked as if this style
of expression were the most familiar andthe most natural to him. At last,
he must have read our bewilderment andour discomfiture in our eyes, which
remained fastened upon his face. Hebroke off his rapt discourse, and,

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stepping quietly into the room, beggedus to excuse his diffuseness, and ask
us if we had been sleeping.I could not but wonder if the knight
had changed him into a mild idiot. Damnation sleeping, cried the matter of
fact, Giles. In this desolatehouse, listen that shudder's been banging without
let up. How can a mansleep in such a racket? Eric recognized

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the sound and looked at me.Can you not fasten it? Pierre,
no, eric I answered, walkingout of the spell his words had cast
over me, and eyeing him curiously. We can not reach it from the
outside. Never mind the damned thing, Gild growled. Indeed, gentlemen,
replied Eric, I would not haveyou disturbed. Thus, I regret that

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you have not been able to sleep, watching the house in my absence too,
But I think we can fasten it. He went on, from the
inside. Quietly, he fingered overthe keys on a ring he had taken
from his pocket. While he wasdoing so, I heard the dull sound
of footfalls on the floor above myhead. The planks creaked. My heart
grew faint within me. But Ericwent on quietly this key. Selecting a

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bright yale key that glistened even underthe dingy gaslight, I found by chance
to day it will, I feelsure, open the door for you,
gentlemen, you know what door,I might say, the door to your
repose. The whole house seemed tome full of secret horrors. I heard
the sound of voices above me.Terror invaded me, and I took a

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step forward. Eric, misinterpreting myaction, said courteously, no, not
you nor I either, For asyou know, I promised my wife Julia
that while she is in the house, she is still here? Is she
not? But you, mister Pharaoh. He walked over to Giles and gave
him the keys. You, hewent, unkindly and without a trace of

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emotion. Who are pleased to stirup the dead this night? They will
come to you. Take the key, Do not be afraid. Let us
go together and fasten the shutter.Then you will sleep soundly, and perhaps
for a long time. I wouldI could sleep. A blast of wind
swept through the room and nearly torethe straining, whistling blue gas flame from

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the burner. Very distinctly, Iheard a moan from upstairs. Giles got
up and accepted the key upon myword. He said, sleep or no
sleep, we can have a lookat that room. We all heard at
that moment the sound of his stayEric weeping. That said, Eric,
simply is my wife Julia. Shecan not sleep at night when I am

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in the house. She needs you, Eric, I cried out. He
looked at me in mild surprise.Oh no, he answered, gently,
not me. Come, mister Pharaoh. We shall need a light. There
is a lamp in the dining room. Come. They went away together.
I had been perhaps three or fourminutes alone, somehow unable to move,

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when I heard the rapid stamping ofa foot on the floor of the room
above me. I rushed to thestairway. Just as I reached the top,
a neett flung open the door ofJulia's chamber and ran out into the
hall, crying loudly, help Pierre, come quick. Together we pushed back
into the room where the scene hadbeen made ready the acting had begun.

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Julia lay rigid on the bed,her head bent back as if a heavy
hand were at her throat. Withher arms, she kept up a weak
movement, as if she were tryingto repel something from before her face.
Her gasping for breath was frightful tohear. Annette went to one side of
the bed, I to the other. I could see that Julia's eyes were
half opened, but they were glazed. Annette tried to lift her in hopes

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that would ease her struggle for breath, but it did no good. We
were powerless to help or relieve.Go for the doctor quick, Annette called
to me in anguish. As Istarted to go, Julia began trying to
speak. I leaned over her andput my head close to her lips.
I felt awful things crawling on myface, like the feet of giant moths.

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What is it, Julia? Isobbed. She made a sound as
of words, but I could notcatch her meaning. She is trying to
say something about a room. Annettewhispered, she has been trying to say
it for a long time. Ohdear, what does the porch ow mean,
go for the doctor, Pierre,go for the doctor. She is
dying. She cannot live like thisagain. I started, but Julia wrestled

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and Annette's arms, and my wifecalled to me, fearing she could not
hold her. Suddenly I guessed whatJulia might mean by the room. I
ran for the stairs. Half waydown, something caught me from behind,
round the neck and under the chin, so that I lost my balance and
fell forward to the lower floor,hardly conscious of the sharp pain in my
head and in my elbow. Istruggled to my feet against something beating the

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air about me. Staggered on alongthe corridor and gained the dining room.
The door to the forbidden room wasopen. I went in in the harsh
light of the unshaded lamp Eric held. I saw vaguely that it was a
large room, the largest in thehouse, and that the walls were paneled
in wood. Eric was standing bythe fireplace. Giles was kneeling by the

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wall, fingering something in one ofthe panels. Waving my arms round my
head to keep off the things thatwere bent upon strangling me, I made
my way towards the two men.I tried to call out to them,
but my voice was stifled in mythroat. Giles, still unconscious of my
approach, said triumphantly, Ah,there it is, And just as I

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came up behind Eric, a longpanel in the wall swung open like a
door. We three men stood facingthe full sized portrait of a woman.
It was physically repulsive, morally odious. I looked at little but the face,
the lidless, flat eyes, thecruel yet simpering malice. I recognized
them. For a couple of secondswe stood without moving. Then Eric swung

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the lamp high above his shoulder andhurled it at the canvas. The chimney
crashed. There was a spurt ofbrownish yellow flame, and as the instant
darkness settled, a piercing scream behindus, and the dull sound of a
body fallen to the floor. Myeyes were at first blind in the sudden
gloom, but I smelt the oilysmoke of the extinguished lamp, and I
heard, even above the roar ofthe wind, Eric's loud and rapid breathing,

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like the panting of a dog.In a moment or two, I
felt him brush by me, andas I began to see again, I
made him out kneeling beside a whitefigure on the floor, vague and hardly
distinguishable, I knew it was Julia. He picked her up in his arms
and carried her towards the dining roomdoor. I followed them as closely as

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I could, anxious and full offear, for Julia was moaning, and
I knew that the as yet invisiblepowers of malice had left me to fasten
themselves once more on her. Ericcarried her along the hallway and started up
the stairs. Annette, who hadrun down into the lower hallway, went
up backwards ahead of him, tryingto pull him forward, while I followed

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just below him and supporting him.When in the face of those malignant fiends
that were opposing him, he allbut fell back. I never knew whether
he felt or saw them. Hemay have thought that Julia was struggling in
his arms only in a delirium.He swayed from side to side, leaning
now against the wall, now againstthe frail banister, which bent out perilously
under his weight and threatened to giveway. Sometimes he had to fight half

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a minute to gain a step.Though Annette was pulling him forward and I
was bracing him from behind never haveI been witness of such a struggle.
The invisible odds were all but toomuch for us. It was like a
man striving to swim against a powerfulcurrent. And how Eric, not a
physically strong man, progressed against it, I cannot say. At the top

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of the stairs, he reeled andnearly fell, but Annette clutched him and
managed to drag him into the chamber. He laid Julia down on the bed.
She poor victim, was almost exhausted. She put her hands weakly to
her throat, and her moans grewmore feeble. A bright shaft of light
from the lamp fell across the sheetover her breast. The gas flame flickered
in the draft. I stood closebeside Eric, looking down at her,

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while Annette, having found and foldeda piece of paper, was fanning her
as if that would make her breathingeasier. They were doing their utmost to
strangle her. As yet I hadnot seen them, but I had felt
their hands. I knew they wereat their devilish work. Julia's weaker and
weaker movements were too eloquent for meto be in doubt, but she was

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losing strength. At last, shelay motionless in her bed. And then
I thought I saw something, Aspectral hand at her slender throat, A
faint point of light, crossing andrecrossing her breast, as swiftly as a
spider weaves about its prey. Ericsaid, in a cold, strained voice,
she is dying. And he threwhimself on his knees beside the bed.

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No, Eric, God help you. She is being murdered by the
evil that haunts you, I whispered, bending to his ear. Julia lay
so still, I thought she wasalready gone. But no, at the
doorway of death. She turned,opened her eyes and looked at her husband.
She whispered, her lips hardly moving. I have loved you, I

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trust you. But the two fiendsbecame incandescent. I saw them try to
throw themselves upon her. They gotin each other's way, but Julia,
with the last strength she had,swept them as with her arm, sat
up in bed and cried out ina loud voice, Eric, tell me
who are they? You and Itogether we shall defeat them. Her strength

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was then exhausted, and she fellover against him. He clasped her head
to his breast as if he wouldsave her. Merely by enfolding her in
his arms. But I saw themalignant toue lope round the head of the
bed and try to tear her fromhim. Could he see them, I
do not know, Though he raisedhis head as if to face them.
I think his eyes were sightless.Hold A snart, he said, and

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his voice was full of the bitteresthatred. You will burn in hell for
this. At last, a terribleburst of wind ripped out the gas,
and in the darkened room the shapesof Holda and Morgan's snart glowed cold like
phosphorus. They desisted from their murderouswork. Cowled by his voice. They

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stood above him as he knelt bythe bed with Julia in his arms,
balked on the verge of retreat,motionless save for the flickering of their outlines.
The cold that touched me from themwas like the cold of ether on
the skin. I heard Julia's faintvoice. Who was that evil woman?
Eric took a deep breath, heldit an instant, then still, with

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his face upturned and his eyes likethose of blind persons that look towards what
they do not see, he said, she was my wife. They stepped
back, from him. I knowyour wickedness. Hold a snart, you
know my crime. I will layboth for judgment before my wife Julia.

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He half rose from his knees,lifting Julia with him, and shouted,
get out of this cursed house.I know now that since a certain hour
in the past, Eric had neverfeared them living. He did not fear
them dead. But I for anawful minute, I held my breath.
But they went away, as ifcaught in a whirlwind. The door slammed

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behind them. I heard a hideousshrill whistle in the hallway. I heard
the crash of broken glass downstairs.A shriek of hatred died away in the
night. Outside. The wind madeonly a low moan. The house and
the room were silent. A clockstruck three enden of Chapter ten.