Repairer of Reputations | Robert W. Chambers | Podcast - Nightshade Diary

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you feel a sharer up your spine from fear? Yes,
it's another story from the Night's Shade Diary. You know
what that means. Check under the bed and make sure
no one or nothing is there. Is the closet door
securely shut. Then leave your disbelief behind, amp up your imagination,
and hang on tight for another ride into terror and mystery.

(00:23):
And like all good horror stories, just imagine it's a
dark and stormy night, and remember screaming like a little
girl is permitted. The Repairer of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers,
Part one. Toward the end of the year nineteen twenty,

(00:46):
the government of the United States have practically completed the
program adopted during the last months of President Winthrop's administration.
The country was apparently tranquil. Everybody knows how the terriff
and labor questions were settled. The war with Germany incident
on that country. Seizure of the Samoan Islands had left
no visible scars upon the Republic, and the temporary occupation

(01:09):
of Norfolk by the invading army had been forgotten in
the joy or repeated naval victories and a subsequent ridiculous
plight of General Van Gartenlaub's forces in the state of
New Jersey. The Cuban and Hawaiian investments had paid one
hundred percent, and a territory of Samoa was well worth
its cost as a coaling station. The county was in

(01:31):
a superb state of defense. Every coast city had been
well supplied with land fortifications. The army, under the parental
eye of the General Staff, organized according to the Prussian system,
had been increased to three hundred thousand men, with a
territorial reserve of a million, and six magnificent squadrons of
cruisers and battleships patrolled the six stations of the navigable seas,

(01:57):
leaving a steam reserve amply fitted to control home waters.
The gentlemen from the West had at last been constrained
to acknowledge that a college for the training of diplomats
was as necessary as law schools are for the training
of barristers. Consequently, we were no longer represented abroad by
incompetent patriots. The nation was prosperous. Chicago, for a moment,

(02:20):
paralyzed after a second great fire, had risen from its ruins,
white and imperial, and more beautiful than the White City,
which had been built for its plaything in eighteen ninety three. Everywhere,
good architecture was replacing bad, and even in New York,
a sudden craving for decency had swept away a great
portion of the existing horrors. Streets have been widened, properly

(02:44):
paved and lighted. Trees had been planted, squares laid out,
elevated structures demolished, and underground roads built to replace them.
The new government buildings and barracks were fine bits of architecture,
and the long system of stone quays which completely surrounded
the island had been turned into parks, which proved a

(03:04):
godsend to the population. The subsidizing of the state theater
and State opera brought its own reward. The United States
National Academy of Design was much like European institutions of
the same kind. Nobody envied the Secretary of Fine Arts,
either his cabinet position or his portfolio. The Secretary of
Forestry and Game Preservation had a much easier time thanks

(03:28):
to the new system of national mounted police. We had
profited well by latest treaties with France and England. The
exclusion of foreigners as a measure of national self preservation,
the settlement of the new independent state of Swanee, the
checking of immigration, the new laws concerning naturalization, and the
gradual centralization of power in the executive all contributed to

(03:52):
national calm and prosperity. When the government solved the Indian
problem in squadrons of Indian cavalry scouts in native costume
were substituted for the pitable organizations tacked on to the
tale of skeletonized regiments by a former Secretary of War,
the nation drew alongside relief. When after the colossal Congress
of religions, bigotry and intolerance relaid in their graves, and

(04:15):
kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together. Many
thought the millennium had arrived, at least in the New World,
which after all, is a world by itself. But self
preservation is the first law, and the United States had
to look on and helpless sorrow as Germany, Italy, Spain,
and Belgium riped in the throes of anarchy, while Russia,

(04:38):
watching from the caucases, stooped and bound them one by one.
And the city of New York the summer of eighteen
ninety nine was signalized by the dismantling of the elevated railroads.
The summer of nineteen hundred will live in the memories
of New York people for many a cycle. The Dodge
statue was removed in that year, and the following winter
began that agitation for the repeal of the law prohibiting suicide,

(05:02):
which boards final fruit in the month of April nineteen twenty,
when the first government lethal chamber was opened on Washington Square.
I had walked down that day from doctor Archer's house
on Madison Avenue, where I had been as a mere
formality ever since that fall from my horse four years before.
I had been troubled at times with pains in the

(05:23):
back of my head and neck, but now for months
they had been absent, and the doctor sent me away
that day, saying there was nothing more to be cured
in me. It was hardly worth his fee to be
told that I knew it myself. Still, I did not
grudge him the money. What I minded was a mistake
which he made at first. When they picked me up
from the pavement where I lay unconscious and somebody had

(05:45):
mercifully sent the bullet through my horse's head, I was
carried to doctor Archer, and he, pronouncing my brain affected,
placed me in his private asylum, where I was obliged
to endure treatment for insanity. At last decided that I
was well, and I, knowing that my mind had always
been as sound as his, if not sounder, paid my tuition,

(06:07):
as he jokingly called it, and left. I told him
smiling that I would get even with him for his mistake,
and he laughed heartily and asked me to call once
in a while. I did so, hoping for a chance
to even up accounts, but he gave me none, and
I told him I would wait. The fall from my
horse had fortunately left no evil results. On the contrary,

(06:29):
and had changed my whole character for the better. From
a lazy young man about town, I had become active, energetic, temper, and,
above all, oh above all else, ambitious. There was only
one thing which troubled me. I laughed at my own uneasiness,
and yet it troubled me. During my convalescence, I had

(06:49):
bought and read for the first time The King in Yellow.
I remember, after finishing the first act that had occurred
to me that I had better stop. I started up
and flung the book into the fire place. The volume
struck the barred grate and fell open on the hearth
in the firelight. If I had not caught a glimpse
of the opening words in the second at, I should

(07:11):
never have finished it. But as I stooped to pick
it up, my eyes became rivetted to the open page,
and with a cry ofd terror. Perhaps it was of
joy so poignant that I suffered in every nerve. I
snatched the thing out of the coals and crept, shaking
into my bedroom, where I read it and re read it,
and wept and laughed and trembled with a horror which
at times assails me. Yet this is a thing direct

(07:34):
troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa, where black stars
hang in the heavens, with the shadows of men's thoughts
lengthened in the afternoon with the twin sun sink into
the lake of Holly, and my mind will bear forever
the memory of the pallid mask. I pray God will
curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world

(07:55):
with his beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible
in its truth, a world which now trembles before the
King in Yellow. When the French government sees the translated copies,
which had just arrived in Paris, London, of course became
eager to read it. It is well known how the
books spread like an infectious disease, from city to city,

(08:17):
from continent to continent, Barred out here, confiscated there, denounced
by press and pulpit, censured even by the most advance
of literary anarchists. No definite principles have been violated in
those wicked pages, no doctrine promulgated, no convictions outraged. It
cannot be judged by any known standard. Yet, although it

(08:40):
was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been
struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human
nature could not bear the strain nor thrive on words
in which the essence of purest poison lurk. The very
banality and innocence of the first Act only allowed the
blow to fall afterward with more awful effect. It was

(09:00):
I remember the thirteenth day of April nineteen twenty that
the first governmental lethal Chamber was established on the south
side of Washington Square, between Wooster Street and South Fifth Avenue,
the block which had formerly consisted of a lot of
shabby old buildings used as cafes and restaurants for foreigners,
had been acquired by the government. In the winter of

(09:21):
eighteen ninety eight, the French and Italian cafes and restaurants
were torn down. The whole block was enclosed by a
gilded iron railing and converted into a lovely garden with lawns,
flowers and fountains. And the center of the garden stood
a small white building, severely classical in architecture and surrounded
by thickets of flowers. Six ionic columns supported the roof,

(09:45):
and a single door was of bronze. A splendid marble
group of the Fates stood before the door, the work
of a young American sculptor, Boris Yvain, who had died
in Paris when only twenty three years old. The inauguration
ceremonies were in progress as I crossed University Place and
injured the square. I threaded my way through the silent

(10:05):
throngs of spectators, but was stopped at four Street by
a cordon of police. A regiment of United States lancers
were drawn up in a hollow square around the lethal
chamber on a raised Tribune facing Washington Park stood the
Governor of New York, and behind them were grouped the
Mayor of New York and Brooklyn, the Inspector General of Police,
the Commandant of the State Troops, Colonel Livingston, Militariat to

(10:29):
the President of the United States, General Blount commanding at
Governor's Island, Major General Hamilton commanding the Garrison of New
York and Brooklyn, Admiral Buffby of the Fleet in the
North River, Surgeon General Lanceford, the staff of the National
Free Hospital, Senators Weiss and Franklin of New York, and
the Commissioner of Public Works. The Tribune was surrounded by

(10:52):
a squadron of hussars of the National Guard. The Governor
was finishing his reply to the short speech of the
Surgeon Jeims General. I heard him say, the laws prohibiting
suicide and providing punishment for any attempt at self destruction
have been repealed. The government has seen fit to acknowledge
the right of man to end in existence which may

(11:12):
have become intolerable to him through physical suffering or mental despair.
It is believed that the community will be benefited by
the removal of such people from their midst Since the
passage of this law, the number of suicides in the
United States has not increased. Now that the government has
determined to establish a lethal chamber in every city, town,

(11:33):
and village in the country, it remains to be seen
whether or not that class of human creatures, from whose
desponding ranks new victims of self destruction fall daily, will
accept the relief thus provided, he paused and turned to
the white lethal chamber, the silence in the street was absolute.
There a painless death awaits him who can no longer

(11:55):
bear the sorrows of his life. If death is welcomed,
let him seek it there. Then, quickly turning to the
military aid of the President's household, he said, I declared
the lethal chamber open. And again, facing the vast crowd,
he cried in a clear voice, citizens of New York
and of the United States of America. Through me, the

(12:15):
Government declared the lethal chamber to be open. The solemn
hush was broken by a sharp, crived command. The squadron
of hussars followed after the governor's carriage. The lancers wheeled
and formed along Fifth Avenue to wait for the commandant
of the garrison, and the mounted police followed him. I
left the crowd to gape and stare at the white

(12:36):
marble death chamber, and, crossing south Fifth Avenue, walked along
the western side of that thoroughfare to Bleaker Street. Then
I turned to the right and stopped before Dingy's shop,
which bore the sign Hamburg Armorer. I glanced into the
door and and saw Hamburg busy in his little shop
at the end of the hall. He looked up at

(12:57):
the same moment, and, catching sight of me, cried in
his deep, hearty voice, Come in, mister Castan Constance. His
daughter rose to meet me as I crossed the threshold
and held at her pretty hand. But I saw the
blush of disappointment on her cheeks, and knew that there
was another Castagne. She had expected, my cousin Louis. I
smiled at her confusion and complimented her on the banner

(13:20):
which she was embroidering from a colored plate. Old Hobberg
sat riveting the worn grease of some ancient suit of armor,
and the ting ting ting of his little hammer sounded
pleasantly in the quaint shop. Presently, he dropped his hammer
and fussed about for a moment with a tiny wrench
the soft clash of the male sent a thrill of
pleasure through me. I loved to hear the music of

(13:42):
steel brushing against eel, the mellow shock of the mallet
on thigh pieces, and the jingle of chain armor. That
was the only reason I went to see Hawkburg. It
never interested me personally, nor did Constance, except for the
factory being in love with Lewis. This did occupy my attention,
and some times even kept me awake at night, But

(14:02):
I knew in my heart that all would come right,
and that I should arrange their future as I expected
to arrange that of my kind Doctor John Archer. However,
I should never have told myself about visiting them just then,
had it not been, as I say that the music
of the tinkling hammer had for me this strong fascination.

(14:22):
I would sit for hours listening and listening, and when
astray sunbeam struck the inlate steal, the sensation it gave
me was almost too keen to endure. My eyes would
become fixed, dilating with a pleasure that stretched every nerve
almost to breaking, until some movement of the old armor
cut off the ray of sunlight. Then, still thrilling secretly

(14:46):
I leaned back and listened again to the sound of
the polishing rag swish, swish, rubbing rust from the rivets.
Constance worked with the embroidery over her knees now and
then pausing to examine more close to the pattern in
the colored play from the the Metropolitan Museum. Who is
this for? I asked. Hamburg explained that in addition to

(15:06):
the treasures of armor in the Metropolitan Museum, of which
he had been appointed Armor, he also had charge of
several collections belonging to rich amateurs. This was the missing
grieve of a famous suit which a client of his
had traced a little shop in Paris on the Qui
dar say He Hobberg had negotiated for and secured the

(15:26):
grieve and malice suit was complete. He laid down his
hammer and read me the history of the suit, trac
since fourteen fifty from owner to owner until it was
acquired by Thomas Dainbridge. When his suburb collection was sold,
his client of Hobberg's bought the suit, and since then
the search for the missing grieve had been pushed until

(15:47):
it was almost by accident, located in Paris. Did you
continue the search so persistently without any certainty of the
grieve being still in existence, I demanded. Of course, he
replied coolly. Then, for the first time I took a
personal interest in Habburg. It was worth something to you,
I ventured. No, he replied, laughing. My pleasure in finding

(16:09):
it was my reward. Have you no ambition to be rich,
I asked, smiling, I want ambition is to be the
best armor in the world, he answered gravely. Constance asked
me if I had seen the ceremony at the Lethal Chamber.
She herself had noticed Calvary passing up Broadway that morning
and had wished to see the inauguration, but her father

(16:30):
wanted the banner finished, and she had stayed at his request.
Did you see your cousin, mister Castaan there, she asked,
with the slightest tremor of her soft eyelashes. No, I
replied carelessly, Luci's regiment is maneuvering out in Westchester County.
I rose and picked up my hat and cane. Are

(16:51):
you going upstairs to see the lunatic again? Laughed Old Hobburg.
If Habburg knew how I loathe that word lunatic, he
would never use it in my presence. Arous us certain
feelings within me which I do not care to explain. However,
I answered him quietly. I think I shall drop in
and see mister Wilde for a moment or two. Poor fellow,

(17:12):
said Constance, with a shake of her head. It must
be hard to live alone year after year, poor crippled
and almost demented. It is very good of you, mister Castain,
to visit him as often as you do. I think
he is vicious, observed Habburg, beginning again with his hammer.
I listened to the golden tinkle on the grief plates.
When he had finished, I replied, No, he is not vicious,

(17:35):
nor is he in the least demented. His mind is
a wonder chamber from which he can extract treasures that
you and I would give years of our lives to acquire.
Hauberg laughed, I continued, a little impatiently. He knows history.
No one else could know it. Nothing, however, trivial escapes
his search, and his memory is so absolute, so precise

(17:59):
in details. Were it known in New York that such
a man existed, the people could not honor him enough. Nonsense,
muttered Halberg, searching on the floor for a fallen rivet.
Is it nonsense, I asked, managing to suppress my felt
Is it nonsense when he says that the tascits and
cossards of the enameled suit of armor, commonly known as

(18:21):
the princes emblazoned can be found among a mass of
rusty theatrical properties, broken stoves and ragpicker's refuse, and a
garret in Pelstreet. Hauberg's hammer fell to the ground, but
he picked it up and asked, with a great deal
of calm, how I knew that the tassirs and left
cosserts were missing from the Prince's and blazoned. I did

(18:44):
not know until mister Wilde mentioned it to me the
other day. He said they were in the garret of
nine nine eight pel Street. Nonsense, he cried, But I
noticed his hand trembling under his leather apron. Is this
nonsense too, I asked pleasantly. Is it nonsense when mister
Wilde continually speaks of you as the Marquis of Avonsher

(19:05):
and of missus Constance. I did not finish, for Constance
had started to refeat, with terror written on every feature.
Hamberg looked at me as slowly smooth as leathern apron.
That is impossible, he observed. Mister Wilde may know a
great many things about armor, for instance, and the princes emblazoned,

(19:26):
I interposed, smiling, Yes, he continued slowly about armor also maybe,
but he is wrong regard to the Marquis of Avonsher, who,
as you know, killed his wife's producer years ago and
went to Australia, where he did not long survive his wife.
Mister Wilde is wrong, murmured Constance. Her lips were blanched,

(19:50):
but her voice was sweet and calm. Let us agree
with you, please, that in this one circumstance, mister Wilde
is wrong, I said, Part two. I climbed the three
dilapidated flights of stairs which I had so often climbed before,
and knocked at a small door at the end of
the quarter. Mister Wilde opened the door, and I walked in.

(20:12):
When he had double locked the door and pushed a
heavy chest against it, he came and sat down beside me,
peering up into my face with his little light colored eyes.
Half a dozen new scratches covered his nose and cheeks,
and the silver wires which support his artificial ears had
become displaced. I thought I had never seen him so
hideously fascinating. He had no ears. The artificial ones, which

(20:36):
now stood out at an angle from the fine wire,
were his one weakness. They were made of wax and
painted a shell pink, but the rest of his face
was yellow. He might better have reveled in the luxury
of some artificial fingers for his left hand, which was
absolutely fingerless, but it seemed to cause him no inconvenience,
and he was satisfied with his wax ears. He was

(20:58):
very small, scarcely higher than a child of ten, but
his arms were magnificently developed, and his thighs as thick
as any athletes. Still, the most valuable thing about mister
Wilde was that a man of his marvelous intelligence and
knowledge should have such a head. It was flat and pointed,
like the heads of many of those unfortunates whom people

(21:20):
in prison in asylums for the weak minded. And he
called him insane, But I knew him to be as
sane as I was. I do not deny that he
was eccentric. The mania he had for keeping that cat
and teasing he until she flowed his face like a
demon was certainly eccentric. I never could understand why he
kept a creature, nor what pleasure he found in shutting

(21:41):
himself up in his room with a surly vicious beast.
I remember once glancing up from the manuscript I was
studying by the light of some tallow dips, and seeing
mister Wilde's squatting motionless on his high chair, his eyes
fairly blazing with excitement, while the cat, which had risen
from her place before the stove, came creeping across else
the floor right at him. Before I could move, she

(22:03):
flattened her belly to the ground, crouch trembled and sprang
into his face, howling and foaming. They rolled over and
over on the floor, scratching and clung until the cat
screamed and fled under the cabinet, and mister Wilder turned
over on his back, his limbs contracting and curling up
like the legs of a dying spider. He was eccentric.

(22:25):
Mister Wilder had climbed into his high chair, and, after
studying my face, picked up a dog eared ledger and
opened it. Henry B. Matthews, he spad bookkeeper with Wysott,
Wysott and Company, dealers and Church ornaments. Called April third,
reputation damaged at the race truck, known as a welcher,

(22:46):
reputation to be repaired by August. First retainer five dollars.
He turned the page and ran his fingers knuckles down
the closely written columns. P. Green Dusonberry, minister of the Gospel,
Fair Beach, New Jersey, reputation damaged in the bowery, to
be repaired as soon as possible. Retainer one hundred dollars.

(23:09):
He coughed, and added, called April sixth. Then you are
not in need of money, mister Wilde, I inquired, listen.
He coughed again. Missus C. Hamilton, Chester of Chester Park,
New York City, called the April seventh, reputation damaged at
Deep France, to be repaired by October. The first retainer
five hundred dollars. Note s Hamilton Chester. Captain USS Avalanche

(23:36):
ordered home from south Sea Squadron October first. While I
said the profession of a repair of reputation is lucrative,
his colorless eyes sought mine. Only wanted to demonstrate that
I was correct. You said it was impossible to succeed
as a repairer of reputations that even if I did
succeed in certain cases, it would cost me more than

(23:59):
I would get aimed by it. To day, I have
five hundred men in my employee who are poorly paid,
but who pursue the work with an enthusiasm which possibly
may be born of fear. These men enter every shade
and great of society. Some even are pillars of the
most exclusive social temples. Others are the proper and pride
of the financial world. Still others hold undisputed its way

(24:22):
among the fancy and the talent. I choose them at
my leisure from those who replied to my first advertisements.
It is easy enough. They are all cowards. I could
treble the number in twenty days if I wished so.
You see, those who have in their keeping the reputations
of their fellow citizens I have in my pay, they

(24:45):
may turn on you, I suggested. He rubbed his thumb
over his cropped ears and adjusted the wax substitutes. I
think not, he murmured thoughtfully. I seldom have to apply
the whip, and then only once. Besides, they liked their wages.
How do you apply the whip? I demanded his face.

(25:05):
For a moment was awful to look upon. His eyes
dwindled to a pair of green sparks. I invite them
to come and have a little chat with me, he
said in a soft voice. A knock of the door
interrupted him, and his face resumed its amiable expression. Who
is it, he inquired, Mister Stilette was the answer. Come tomorrow,

(25:28):
replied mister Wilde. Impossible, began the other, but he was
silenced by a sort of bark from mister Wilde. Come tomorrow,
he repeated. We heard somebody move away from the door
and turn the corner by the stairway. Who is that?
I asked Arnold st lay owner and editor in chief

(25:48):
of the Great New York Daily. He jumped on the
ledger with his fingerless hand, adding I pay him very badly,
but he thinks it is a good bargain. Arnold stilett
I repeated a maze, yes, said mister Weld, with a
self satisfied cough. The cat, which had entered the room
as he spoke, hesitated, looked up at him and snarled.

(26:12):
He climbed down from the chair, and, squatting the floor,
took the creature into his arms and caressed her. The
cat seized, snarling, and presently began a loud purring, which
seemed to increase in timber as he stroked her. Where
are the notes, I asked, He pointed to the table
for the hundred times. I picked up a bundle of
manuscripts entitled The Imperial Dynasty of America. One by one,

(26:34):
I studied the well worn pages, worn only by my
own handling. And although I knew all by heart from
the beginning, when from Carcosa the Hades, Hastur and Aldebaran
to castangn Louis de Calvado's born December nineteenth, eighteen seventy seven,
I read with an eager, rapt attention, pausing to repeat

(26:56):
parts of it aloud and dwelling, especially un held Dred
del Calvados, only son of Hildred Castayn and Edith Land's Castain,
first in succession, et cetera, et cetera. When I finished,
mister Wilde nodded and coughed. Speaking of your legitimate ambition,
he said, how do you Constance and Lewis get along?

(27:19):
She loves him, I replied, simply. The cat on his
knee suddenly turned and struck at his eyes, and he
flung her off and climbed onto the chair opposite me
and doctor Archer. But that's a matter you can settle
any time you wish, he added. Yes, I replied, Doctor
Archer can wait. But it is time I saw my

(27:39):
cousin Louis. It is time, he repeated. Then he took
another ledger from the table and ran over the leaves rapidly.
We are now in communication with ten thousand men, he muttered.
We can count on one hundred thousand within the first
twenty eight hours, and in forty eight hours the state
will rise in moss. The country follows the state, and

(28:03):
the portion that will not. I mean California in the
northwest might better never have been inhabited. I shall not
send them the yellow sign. The blood rushed to my head,
but I only answered, A new broom sweeps clean the
ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that, which

(28:23):
could not rest until it had seized the minds of
men and controlled even their unborn thoughts. Said mister Wilde,
you are speaking of the king in Yellow, I groaned
with a shudder. He is a king who empers have served.
I am content to serve him, I replied, mister Wilde
sat rubbing his ears with his crippled hand. Perhaps Constance

(28:45):
does not love him, he suggested. I started to reply,
but a sudden burst of military music from the street
below drowned my voice. The twentieth Dragoon Regiment, formerly in
garrison at Mount Saint Vincent, was returning from the maneuvers
in Westchester County to its new barracks on East Washington Square.
It was my cousin's regiment. There were a fine lot

(29:08):
of fellows and their pale blue, tight fitting jackets, jaunty busbies,
and white riding breeches with a double yellow stripe into
which their limbs seemed molded. Every other squadron was armed
with lances, from the metal points of which fluttered yellow
and white pennants. The band passed playing the regimental march.
Then came the colonel and staff, the horses crowding and

(29:29):
trampling while their heads bobbed in unison and the pennants
fluttered from their lance points. The troopers who rode with
the beautiful English stee looked brown as berries from their
bloodless campaign among the farms of Westchester, and the music
of their sabers against the stirrups, and the jingle of
spurs and carbines was delightful to me. I saw Lewis

(29:51):
riding with his squadron. He was as handsome an officer
as I have ever seen. Mister Wilde, who had mounted
a chair by the window, saw him too, but said
Lewis turned and looked straight at Habberg's shop as he passed,
and I could see the flush on his brown cheeks.
I think Constance must have been at the window when

(30:12):
the last troopers had clattered by, and the last Pennance
vanished into South Fifth Avenue. Mister Wilde clamored out of
his chair and dragged a chest away from the door. Yes,
he said, it is time that you saw your cousin, Louis.
He unlocked the door, and I picked up my hat
and stick and stepped into the corridor. The stairs were dark.

(30:32):
Groping about, I set my foot on something soft, which
snarled and spit, and I aimed a murderous blow at
the cat, but my kin shivered to splinters against the
ball straight and the beast scurried back into mister Wilde's room.
Passing Homberg's door again, I saw him still at work
on the armor, but I did not stop, and stepping
out into Bleaker Street, I followed it to Wooster, skirted

(30:55):
the grounds of the Lethal Chamber, and crossing Washington Park,
went straight to my rooms and the Benedict. Here I
lunch comfortably, read the Herald and the Meteor, and finally
went to the steel safe in my bedroom and set
the time combination that three and three quarter minutes which
it is necessary to wait while the tom lock is opening,

(31:17):
are to me golden moments for the instant. I set
the combination to the moment when I grasped the knobs
and sweaked back the solid steel doors. I live in
an ecstasy of expectation. Those moments must be like moments
passed in paradise. I know what I am to find
at the end of the time limit. I know what

(31:37):
the mass of safe holds secure for me, for me alone.
The exquisite pleasure of waiting is hardly enhanced when the
safe opens and I live from its velvet crown a
diadem of purest gold blazing with diamonds. I do this
every day, and yet the drove of waiting and at
last touching again the diadem only seems to increase. Is

(31:59):
the days pass. It is a diadem fit for king
among kings, and emperor among emperors. The king in yellow
might scorn it, but it shall be worn by his
royal servant. I held in my arms unto the alarm
on the safe rang harshly, and I then tenderly, proudly,

(32:19):
I replaced it and shut the steel doors. I walked
slowly back into my study, with which faces Washington Square,
and leaned on the window sill. The afternoon sun poured
into my window in a gentle breeze, stirred the branches
of the elms and maples in the park not covered
with buds and tender foliage. A flock of pigeons circled

(32:41):
about the tower of the Memorial Church, sometimes alighting on
the purple tiled roof, sometimes wheeling downward to the Lotus
fountain in front of the marble arch. The gardeners were
busy with the flower beds around the fountain, and the
freshly turned earth smelled sweet and spicy. A lawnmower drawn
by a fat white horse clinked across the green sward,

(33:03):
and watering carts poured showers of spray over the asphalt
drives around the statue of Peter Stuisan, which in eighteen
ninety seven every place the mostrosity supposed to represent Garibaldi.
Children played in a spring sunshine, and nurse girls wheeled
elaborate baby carriages with a reckless disregard for the pasty
faced occupants, which could probably be explained by the presence

(33:26):
of half a dozen trim dragoon troopers languidly lowly on
the benches. The trees the Washington Memorial Arch glistened like
silver in the sunshine, and beyond the eastern extremity of
the square, the gray stone barracks of the dragoons and
the white granite artillery stables were alive with color and motion.

(33:47):
I looked at the lethal chamber on the corner of
the square, opposite a few curious people still lingered about
the gilded iron railing, but inside the grounds the paths
were deserted. I watched the fountains ripple and sparkle. The
sparrows had already found this new bathing nook, and the
basins were crowded with the dusty feathered little things. Two
or three white peacocks picked their way across the lawns,

(34:10):
and a drab colored pigeon sat so motionless on the
arm of one of the fates that seemed to be
part of the sculptured stone. As I was turning carelessly away,
a slight commotion in the group of curious loiterers around
the gates attracted my attention. A young man had entered
and was advancing with nervous strides along the gravel path
which leads to the bronze doors of the lethal chamber.

(34:33):
He paused a moment before the fates, and as he
raised his head to those three mysterious faces, the pigeon
rose from its sculptured perch, circled about for a few moments,
and flew to the east. The young man pressed his
hands to his face and then, with an undefinable gesture,
sprang up the marble steps. The bronze doors closed behind him.
Half an hour later, the floitererslatched away, and the frightened

(34:57):
pigeon returned to its perch in the arms of fate.
I put on my hat and went out into the
park for a little walk before dinner. As I crossed
the central driveway, group of officers past, and one of
them called out hello, Hildred and came back to shake
hands with me. It was my cousin Lewis, who stood
smiling and tapping his spurred heels with his riding whip.

(35:18):
Just back from Westchester, he said, been doing the bucolic
milk and curds. You know, dairymaids and sun bonnets, who
say how and I don't think when you tell em
they are pretty. I'm nearly dead for a square meal
at Delmonico's. What's the news? There is none, I replied pleasantly.
I saw your regiment coming in this morning, did you.

(35:41):
I didn't see you. Where were you and mister Wilde's window?
Oh hell, he began impatiently. That man is stark mad.
I don't understand why you he saw Hannoyd. I felt
by this outburst and begged my pardon. Really, old chap,
he said, I don't mean to run down a man
like you, But for the life of me, I can't

(36:01):
see what the deuce you find in common with mister Wilde.
He's not well bred, to put it generously, he's hideously deformed.
His head is the head of a criminally insane person.
You know yourself. He's been in an asylum, so have I.
I interrupted calmly. Lewis looked startled and confused for a moment,

(36:22):
but recovered and slapped me heartily in the shoulder. You
were completely cured, he began, but I stopped him again.
I suppose you mean that I was simply acknowledged never
to have been insane. Of course, net that's what I meant,
he laughed. I disliked his laugh because I knew it
was forced, but I nodded gaily and asked him where

(36:42):
he was going. Lewis looked after his brother officers, who
had now almost reached Broadway, when intended to sample a
Brunswick cocktail. But to tell you the truth, I was
anxious for an excuse to go and see Hobwark instead.
Come along, I'll make you my excuse. We found on
the old Hobberg, neatly attired in a fresh spring suit,

(37:03):
standing at the door shop and sniffing the air. I
had just decided to take Constance for a little stroll
before dinner, he replied to the impetuous volley of questions
from Lewis, without a walking on the park terrace along
the North River. At that moment, Constance appeared and grew
pale and rosy by turns as Lewis bent over her
small gloved fingers. I tried to excuse myself, ledging an

(37:26):
engagement uptown, and Louis and Constance would not listen, and
I saw I was expected to remain and engage Old
Hobberg's attention. After all, it would just be as well
if I kept my eye on Lewis, I thought, And
when they hailed a Spring Street horse car, I got
in after them and took my seat beside the armor.

(37:48):
The beautiful line of the parks and granite terraces overlooking
the wharves along the North River, which were built in
nineteen ten and finished in the autumn of nineteen seventeen,
had become one of the most popular promenace in the metropolis.
They extended from the battery to a hundred ninetieth Street,
overlooking the Noble River and affording a fine view of
the Jersey Shore and the highlands opposite. Cafes and restaurants

(38:10):
were scattered here and there among the trees, and twice
a week military bands from the garrison plate in a
kiosks on the parapets. We sat down in the sunshine
at the bench at the foot of the equestrian statue
of General Sheridan. Constance tipped her sunshade to shield her eyes,
and she and Lewis began a murmury conversation which was
impossible to catch. Old Hauberg, leaning on his iron headed cane,

(38:34):
lighted an excellent cigar, the mate to which I politely
refused and smiled at vacancy. The sun hung low above
the staten island woods, and the bay was dyed with
golden hues reflected from the sun. Warm sails of the
shipping in the harbor, brag schooners, yachts, clumsy fare boats,
their decks swarming with people, railroad transports carrying lines of brown,

(38:55):
blue and white freight cars, stately sound steamers de classe,
tramp steamers, coasters, dredge or scowls, and everywhere pervading the
entire bay, impudent little tugs, puffing and whistling. Officiously, these
were the grouse, which turned the sunlit waters as far
as the eye could reach and calm. Contrast to the
hurry of sailing vessel and steamer. A silent fleet of

(39:17):
white warships lay motionless in midstream. Constance's merry laugh aroused
me from my reverie. What are you staring at, she inquired,
nothing the fleet, I smiled. Then Lewis told us what
the vessels were, pointing out, each by its relative position
to the old red fort on Governor's Island. The little

(39:38):
cigar shaped thing is a torpedo boat, he explained. There
are four more lines closed together near the tarpin, the Falcon,
the Sea Fox, and the Octopus. The gunboats just above
are the Princeton, the Champlain, the still Water, and the Erie.
Next to them lie the cruisers Ferragut and Los Angeles,
and above them the battleships California and Dakota, and the Washington,

(40:01):
which is the flag shape. Those two squatty looking chunks
of metal which are anchored they're off Castle Williem are
the double turreted monitors, terrible and magnificent. Behind them lies
the ram Osceola. Constance looked at him with deep approval
in her beautiful eyes. What loads of things you know
for a soldier, she said, And we all joined in

(40:22):
the lough which followed. Presently, Lewis rose with a nod
to us, and offered his arm to Constance, and they
strolled away along the river wall. Homburg watched them for
a moment and then turned to me. Mister Wilder was right,
he said, I've found the missing tascits, a left cuissart
of the Prince emblazoned in a wild old junk garret

(40:45):
in pel Street nine nine eight. I inquired with Mile. Yes,
mister Wilder is a very intelligent man, I observed. I
want to give him the credit of this most important discovery,
continued Homburg, and I intend it shall be known that
he is entitled to the fame of it. He won't
thank you for that, I answered sharply, Please say nothing

(41:06):
about it. Do you know what it is worth? Said Hamburg. No,
fifty dollars. Perhaps it is valued at five hundred. But
the owner of the princess and blazon will give two
thousand dollars to the person who completes his suit. That
reward also belongs to mister Wilde. He doesn't want it,

(41:27):
he refuses it, I answered, angrily, What do you know
about mister Wilde. He doesn't need the money. He is
rich or will be richer than any living man except myself.
What will we care for money? Then? What will we care?
He and I? When? When? When? What? Demanded Homburg, astonished,

(41:50):
you will see, I replied, on my guard again. He
looked at me narrowly, much as doctor Archer used to,
and I knew he thought it was mentally unsound. Perhaps
it was fortunate for him that he did not use
the word lunatic just then. No, I replied to his
unspoken thought, I am not mentally weak. My mind is

(42:10):
as healthy as mister Wilde's. I do not care to
explain just yet what I have on hand, but it
is an investment which will pay more than mere gold,
silver and precious stones. It will secure the happiness and
prosperity of a continent, yes, a hemisphere, oh, said Hopper,
And eventually I continued, more quietly, it will secure the

(42:34):
happiness of the whole world, and incidentally your own happiness
and prosperity, as well as mister Wilde's. Exactly, I smiled,
but I could have throddled him for taking that tone.
He looked at me in sons for walm and said,
very gently, why don't you give up your books and studies,
mischief Castaan, and take a tramp among the mountains somewhere

(42:56):
or other. You used to be fond of fishing, a
cast or too at the trap in the Rangeleas, I
don't care for fishing any more, answered, without a shade
of annoyance in my voice. You used to be fond
of everything, he continued, athletics, yawning, shooting, writing. I've never
cared to write since my fall, I said, quietly. Ah, yes,

(43:20):
your fall, he repeated, looking away from me. I thought
this nonsense had gone far enough, so I turned the
conversation back to mister Wilde, but he was scanning my
face again in a manner highly offensive offensive to me.
Mister Wilde, he repeated. Do you know what he did?
This afternoon? He came downstairs and nailed a sign over

(43:42):
the hall door next to mine at red mister Wilde,
repair of reputations, three d bell. Do you know what
a repair of reputations can be? I do, I replied,
suppressing the rage within. Oh, he said again. Louis and
Constance came strolling by a stop to ask, and we

(44:03):
would join them. Homburg looked at his watch. At the
same moment, a puff of smoke shot from the casements
of Castle William, and the boom of the sunset gun
rolled across the water and was re echoed from the highlands.
Opposite the flight came running down from the flag pole.
The beagles sounded on the white decks of the warships,
and the first electric lights sparkled out from the Jersey shore.

(44:27):
As I turned into the city where Hauburg heard, Constance
murmured something to Lewis which I did not understand, but
Louis whispered my darling in reply. And again, walking ahead
with Habbert through the square, I heard a murmur of
Sweetheart and my own Constance, and any the time I
had nearly arrived when I should speak of important matters

(44:49):
with my cousin Louis. Part three. One morning, early in May,
I stood before the steel safe in my bedroom, trying
on the golden jeweled crown. The diamonds flashed fire as
I turned to the mirror, and the heavy beaten gold
burned like a halo about my head. I remembered Camille's
agonized scream and the awful words echoing through the dim

(45:12):
streets of Carcosa. They were the last lines in the
first act, and I dared not think of what followed,
dared not even in the spring sunshine. There in my
own room, surrounded with familiar objects, reassured by the bustle
from the street and the voices of the servants in
the hallway outside. For those poison words had dropped slowly
into my heart as death sweat drops upon a bed

(45:35):
sheet and is absorbed trembling. I put the diadem from
my head and wiped my forehead. But I thought of
Hastur and of my own rpeful ambition. And I remembered
mister Wilde as I had last left him, his face
all torn and bloody from the claws of that devil's creature.
And what he said, Ah, what he said. The alarm

(45:57):
bell in the safe began to war harshly, and I
knew my time was up, but I would not heat it.
And replacing a flashing circlet upon my head, I turned
violently to the mirror. I stood for a long time,
absorbed in the changing expression of my own eyes. The
mirror reflected a flace which was like my own, but

(46:18):
wider and so thin that I hardly recognized it. And
all the time I kept repeating between my clenched teeth,
the day has come, The day has come. While the
alarm in the safe world and clamored, and the diamond
sparkled and flamed above my brow. I heard a door open,
but did not heat it. It was only when I

(46:38):
saw two faces in the mirror. It was only when
another face rose over my shoulder, and two other eyes
met mine. I wheeled like a flash and seized a
long knife from my dressing table. And my cousin sprang back,
very pale, grind hildred. For God's sake, then my hand
fell away. He said, it is I Lewis. Don't you

(47:01):
know me? I stood silent. I could not have spoken
for my life. He walked up to me and took
the knife from my hand. What is all this? He inquired,
in a gentle voice. Are you ill? No, I replied,
but I doubt if he heard me. Come, Come, old fellow,
he cried, Take off that brass crown and toddle into

(47:25):
the study. Are you going to a masquerade? What's all
this theatrical tinsel? Anyway, I was glad he thought the
crown was made of brass and paste. Yet I didn't
like him any better for thinking, so I let him
take it from my hand, knowing that it was best
to humor him. He tossed the splendid diadem in the air,

(47:49):
and catching it, turned to me, smiling, it's dear at
fifty cents, he said, what's it for. I did not answer,
but took the circlet from his hands, placing it in
the safe. Shut the mass of steel door. The alarm
ceased his infernal din at once. He watched me curiously,
but did not seem to notice the sudden ceasing and
the alarm. He did, however, speak of the safe as

(48:11):
a biscuit box, fearing less he might examine the combination,
and led the way into my study. Louis threw himself
on the sofa and flicked that flies with his eternal
writing whip. He wore his fatigue uniform with a braided
jacket and jaunty cap, and I noticed that his writing
boots were all splashed with red mud. Where have you been,
I inquired, jumping mud, creeks and jersey. He said, I

(48:36):
haven't had time to change it. I was rather un
hurried to see you. Haven't you got a glass of something?
I'm dead tired, been in the saddle twenty four hours.
I gave him some branding from my medicinal store, which
he drank with a grimace. Damned bad stuff. He observed,
I'll give you a dress where they saw brandy, That
is brandy. It's good enough for my needs, I said, indifferently.

(48:59):
I used it to chest with He stared in flicked
at another fly. See here, old fellow, he began, I've
got something to suggest to you. It's four years now
that you've shut yourself up here like an owl, never
going anywhere, never taking any healthy exercise, never doing a
damn thing, but poring over those books up there on

(49:19):
the mantelpiece. He glanced along the rows of shelves. Napoleon, Napoleon, Napoleon,
he read Rabbit's Sake? Have you nothing but Napoleon? There?
I wish they were bound in gold, I said, but wait, yes,
there's another book, The King in Yellow. I looked them
steadily in the eye. Have you ever read it? I asked,

(49:42):
I No, Thank God, I don't want to be driven crazy,
I saw. He regretted his speech as soon as he
had uttered it. There's only one word which I loathe
more than I do, lunatic, and that where it is crazy.
But I controlled myself and asked him why he thought
the King in Yellow dangerous? Oh? I don't know, he said, hastily.

(50:03):
I only remember the excitement it created, an enunciation from
pulpits and press. I believe the author shot himself after
bringing forth this monstrosity, did he I understand he is
still alive. I answered, that's probably true. He muttered, Bullets
couldn't kill a fiend like that. It is a book
of great truths, I said, yes, he replied, of truths

(50:27):
which send men frantic and blast their lives. I don't care.
The thing is, as they say, the very supreme essence
of art. It's a crime to have written it, and I,
for one, shall never open its pages. Is that what
you have come to tell me, I asked, No, he said,
I came to tell you that I am going to

(50:47):
be married. I believe. For a moment my heart ceased
to beat, but I kept my eyes on his face. Yes,
he continued, smiling, happily married to the sweetest girl on earth,
Constance Hoberk. I said, mca, how did you know? He cried, astonished.
I didn't know it myself until that evening last April,
when we strolled down to the embankment before dinner. When

(51:11):
is it to be? I asked? It was to have
been next September. But an hour ago a dispatch came
ordering Argent Regiment to the Presidio of San Francisco. We
leave at noon tomorrow tomorrow, he repeated, Just think, Hildred, tomorrow,
I shall be the happiest fellow that ever drew breath
in this jolly world, for constance will go with me.

(51:33):
I offered him my hand in congratulation, and he sees,
and he shook it like a good natured fool he was,
or pretended to be. I'm going to get my squadron
as a wedding present. He rattled on Captain and Missus
Lewis Castaigne. Huh, Hildred. Then he told me where it
was to be and who was to be there, and
made me promise to come and be the best man.

(51:54):
I set my teeth and listened to his boy's chatter
without knowing what I felt. But I was getting to
the of my endurance. And when he jumped up and
switching his spurs till they jingle, said he must go,
I did not detain him. There's one thing I want
to ask of you, I said, quietly. Not with it,
it's promised, he laughed. I want you to meet me

(52:15):
for a quarter of an hour's talk tonight, of course,
if you wish, he said, somewhat puzzled, Where anywhere in
the park there? What time, Hildred midnight? What in the
name of he began, but checked himself and laughing the ascended.
I watched him go down the stairs and hurry away,

(52:35):
his saber banging at every stride. He turned into Bleeker Street,
and I knew he was going to see Constance. I
gave him ten minutes to disappear, and then follow it
in his footsteps, taking with me the jeweled crown and
the silken robe embroidered with a yellow sign. When I
turned into Bleeker Street and entered the door which bore
the sign mister Wilde, repairer of reputations three d bell,

(52:58):
I saw Old Hombert going about in his shop, and
imagine I heard Constance's voice in the parlor. But I
avoided them both and hurried up the trembling stairways to
mister Wilde's apartment. I knocked and entered without ceremony. Mister
wild lay groaning on the floor's face covered with blood,
his clothes torn to shreds. Drops of blood were scattered
about over the carpet, which had also been ripped and

(53:21):
frayed in the evidently recent struggle. It's that cursed cat,
he said, seizing his groans and turning his colorless eyes
to me. She attacked me while I was asleep. I
believe she will kill me. Yet this was too much,
so I went into the kitchen, and, seizing a hatchet
from the pantry, started to find the infernal beast and
settle her. Then and there My search was fruitless, and

(53:45):
after a while I gave it up and came back
to find mister Wilde's squatting on his high chair by
the table. He had washed his face and changed his clothes.
The gray furs which the cat's claws had plowed up
in his face he had filled with colodion, and a
rag hid the wound in his throat. I told him
I should kill the cat when I came across her,
but he only shook his head and turned to the

(54:06):
open ledger before him. He read name after the name
of the people who had come to him in regard
to their reputation, and the sums he had amassed were startling.
I put on the screws now, and then he explained.
One day or other. Some of these people will assassinate you,
I insisted, Do you think so, he said, rubbing his

(54:27):
mutilated ears. It was useless, so arguy with him. So
I took down the manuscript entitled Imperial Dynasty of America
for the last time I should ever take it down
in mister Wild's study. I read it through, thrilling and
trembling with pleasure. When I had finished, mister Wilder took
the manuscript, and, turning to the dark passage which leads

(54:47):
from his study to his bedchamber, called out in a
loud voice. Vance. Then, for the first time I noticed
a man crouching there in the shadows. How I had
overlooked him during my search for the cat. I cannot imagine. Vance,
come in, cried mister wild The figure rose and crept
toward us, and I shall never forget the face that
he raced to mind as a light from the window

(55:09):
illuminated it. Vance, this is mister Castan, said mister Wilder.
Before he had finished speaking, the man threw himself on
the ground before the table, crying and gasping, Oh God,
Oh my God, help me forgive me. Mister Castan. Keep
that man away. You cannot you cannot mean it. You

(55:30):
are different. Save me. I am broken down. I was
in a madhouse, and now when almost coming right, when
I had forgotten the king, the king in yellow, And
but I shall go mad again. I shall go mad.
His voice died into a choking rattle, for mister Wilder
had leaped on him, and his right hand circled a

(55:50):
man's throat. When Vance fell in a heap on the floor,
mister wild clamored nimbly on to his chair again and
rubbed his mangled ear with the stump of his hand.
Turned to me in asked me for the ledger. I
reached it down from the shelf, and he opened it.
After a moments, searching among the beautifully written pages, he
called complacently and pointed to the name Vance Vance. He

(56:13):
read autloud osgoode oswald Vance. At the sound of his voice,
the man on the floor raised his head and turned
a convulse face to mister Wilde. His eyes were injected
with blood, his lips to my fide called April twenty eighth,
continued mister Wilde, occupation cashier in the sea. Fourth National
Bank has served a term of forgery. Singh Singh from

(56:36):
whence he was transferred to the Asylum for the Criminal Insane,
pardoned by the Governor of New York in his charge
from the asylum January nineteenth, nineteen eighteen. Reputation damaged at
Sheepshead Bay, rumors that lived beyond his income. Reputation to
be repaired at once retainer fifteen hundred dollars. Note has

(57:00):
embezzled sums amounting to thirty thousand dollars since March twentieth,
nineteen nineteen. Excellent family and secured present position through uncle's influence. Father,
President of Sea Forth Bank. I looked at the man
on the floor. Get up, Vance, said mister Wilde in
a gentle voice. Vance rose, as if hypnotized. He will

(57:23):
do as we suggest now, observed mister Wilde, and opening
the manuscript, he read the entire history of the Imperial
Dynasty of America. Then a kind and soothing murmur. He
ran over the important points of Vance, who stood like
one stunned. His eyes were so blank and vacant that
I imagined he had become half witted, and remarked it
to mister wild who replied that it was of no

(57:44):
consequence anyway. Very patiently we pointed out to Vance what
his share in the affair would be, and he seemed
to understand. After a while, mister Wilde explained the manuscript,
using several volumes of heraldry to substantiate the result of
his rear searches. He mentioned the establishment of the dynasty
in Carcosa, the lakes which connected Hastur Alde Baron, and

(58:08):
the mystery of the Hades. He spoke of Casilda and Camilla,
and sounded the cloudy depths of Demi and the lakes
of Holli. The scalloped tatters of the king in yellow
must hide yetil forever, he muttered, But I do not
believe Vance heard him. Then by degrees he led Vance
along the ramifications of the imperial family to Oute and

(58:30):
tell from now Talba and Phantom of Truth to Aldinese,
and then, tossing aside his manuscript and notes, he began
the wonderful story of the last King. Fascinated and thrilled
and watched him. He threw up his head. His long
arms were stretched out in a magnificent gesture of pride
and power, and his eyes blazed deep in their sockets

(58:52):
like two emeralds. Vance listened, stupefied as for me. When
at last mister Wilder had finished and pointed to me,
cried the cousin of the king. My head swam with excitement.
Controlling myself with a superhuman effort, I explained to Vance
why Eye alone was worthy of the crown, and why

(59:13):
my cousin must be exiled or die. I made him
understand that my cousin must never marry, even after renouncing
all his claims, and how that least of all, he
should marry the daughter of the Marquis of Avonshire and
bring England into the question. I showed him a list
of thousands of names which mister Wilde had drawn up.

(59:34):
Every man whose name was there had received the yellow sign,
which no living human being dared disregard. The city, the state,
the whole land were ready to rise and tremble before
the pallid mask. The time had come the people should
know the son of Hastur, and the whole world bowed
the black stars which hang in the sky over Carcoso.

(59:57):
Vance leaned on the table, his head buried in his hands.
Mister wild drew a rough sketch on the margin of
yesterday's herald with a bit of lead pencil. It was
a plan of Hauberg's rooms. Then he wrote out the
order and fixed the seal, and shaking like a pulsied man,
I signed my first rid of execution with my name,

(01:00:17):
Hildred Rex. Mister Wilde clambered to the floor, and, unlocking
the cabinet, took a long square box from the first shelf.
This he brought to the table and opened a new knife,
lay in the tissue paper inside, and I picked it
up and handed it to Vance, along with the order
and the plan of Habberg's apartment that mister Wilde told

(01:00:39):
Vance he could go, and he went shambling like an
outcast of the slums. I sat for a while, watching
the daylight fade behind the square towered the Judson Memorial Church,
and finally, gathering up the manuscript and notes, took my
hat and started for the door. Mister Wilde watched me

(01:00:59):
in silence. When I had stepped into the hall, I
looked back. Mister Wilde's small eyes were still fixed on me.
Behind them, the shadows gathered in the fading light. Then
I closed the door behind me and went out into
the darkening streets. And I'd eaten nothing since breakfast, but
I was not hungry. A wretched, half starved creature who

(01:01:19):
stood looking across the street at the Lethal Chamber noticed
me and came up to tell me a tale of misery.
I gave him money, I don't know why, and he
went away without thanking me. An hour later, another outcast
approached and whined his story. I had a blank pit
of paper in my pocket, on which was traced the
yellow sign, and I handed it to him. He looked

(01:01:41):
at it stupidly for a moment, and then, with an
uncertain glance at me, folded it with what seemed to
be exaggerated care, and placed it in his bosom. The
electric lights were sparkling among the trees, and the new
moon shone in the sky above the Lethal Chamber. It
was tiresome waiting in the square. I wondered from the
marble arc to the artillery tables, and back again to

(01:02:03):
the low Doos fountain. The flowers and grass exhaled a
fragrance which troubled me. The jet of the fountain played
in the moonlight, and the musical splash of falling drops
reminded me of the tinkle of chain mail and Hauberk shop.
But it was not so fascinating, and the dull sparkle
of the moonlight on the water brought no such sensations

(01:02:26):
of exquisite pleasure as when the sunshine played over the
polished steel of a corselet on Hobburg's knee. I watched
the bats darting and turning above the water plants in
the fountain basin, but their rapid, jerky flight set my
nerves on edge, and I went away again to walk
aimlessly to and fro among the trees. The artillery stables

(01:02:49):
were dark, but in the Calorie barracks the officer's windows
were brilliantly lighted, and the sally port was constantly filled
with troopers in fatigue, carrying straw, harness and baskets filled
with tin dishes. Twice, the mounted sentry at the gates
was changed. While I wandered up and down the asphalt walk,
I looked at my watch. It was nearly time. The

(01:03:12):
lights in the barracks went out one by one, the
barred gate was closed, and every minute or to an
officer passed in through the side wicket, leaving a rattle
of recruitments and a jingle of spurs on the night air.
The square had become very silent. The last homeless loiterer
had been driven away by the great coated park policemen.
The car tracks along Wooster Street were deserted. The only

(01:03:35):
sound which broke the stillness was the stamping of the
Sentry's horse and the ring of his saber against the
saddle pommel. And the barracks the officers quarters were still lighted,
and military servants passed and repassed before the bay windows.
Twelve o'clock sounded from the new spire of Sainting Francis Xavier,
and at the last stroke of the sad tone, bellow

(01:03:56):
figure passed through the wicket beside the porcos. He turned
the salute of the Sentry, and, crossing the street, entered
the square and advanced toward the Benedict Department House. Lewis
I called the man, pivoted on his spurred heel, and
came straight towards me. Is that you, Hildred, Yes, you're
on time. I took his proffered hand and we strolled

(01:04:19):
toward the lethal chamber. He rattled on about his wedding
and the graces of Constance and their future prospects, calling
my attention to his captain's strolder straps and the triple
gold arabesque on his sleeve, and fatigue cap I believe.
I listened as much to the music of his spurs
and saber as I did to his boyish babble. And
at last we stood under the elms on the fourth street,

(01:04:39):
corner of the square, opposite the lethal Chamber. Then he
laughed and asked me what I wanted with him. I
motioned him to a seat on a bench under the
electric light and sat down beside him. He looked at
me curiously, with the same searching glance which I hate
and fear so in doctors. I felt the insult of
his look, but I did not know it, and I
carefully concealed my feelings. Well, old chap He inquired, what

(01:05:02):
can I do for you. I drew from my pocket
the manuscript and notes of the Imperial Dynasty of America, and,
looking him in the eyes, said, I will tell you
on your word as a soldier. Promised me to read
this manuscript from beginning to end without asking me a question.
Promise me to read these notes in the same way,
and promised me to listen to what I have to

(01:05:24):
tell later. I promise if you wish it, he said, pleasantly,
give me the paper, Hildred. He began to read, raising
his eyebrows with a puzzled, whimsical air, which made me
tremble with suppressed anger. As he advanced, his eyebrows contracted,
his lip seemed to form the word rubbish. Then he
looked slightly bored, but apparently for my sake, read with

(01:05:46):
an attempt at interest, which presently ceased to be an effort.
He started one of the closely written pages. He came
to his own name, and when he came to mind,
he lowered the paper and looked sharply at me for
a moment, but he kept his word and resumed his reading,
and I let the half formed question Diana's lips unanswered.
When he came to the end and read the signature
of mister Wilde, he folded the paper carefully and returned

(01:06:08):
it to me. I handed him the notes, and he
sailed back, pushing his fatigue cap up to his forehead
with a boyish gesture which I remembered so well in school.
I watched his face as he read, and when he finished,
I took the notes with the manuscript and placed them
in my pocket. Then unfolded a scroll marked with a
yellow sign. He saw the sign, but he did not

(01:06:28):
seem to recognize it, and I called his attention to
it somewhat sharply. Well, He said, I see it. What
is it? It is a yellow sign. I said, angrily, Oh,
that's it, is it, said Lewis, in that flattering voice
which doctor Archer used to employ with me. I would
probably have employed again, had I now settled his affair

(01:06:49):
for him. I kept my rage down and answered as
steadily as possible. Listen, you have engaged your word. I
am listening, old Chap, he replied, soothingly. I began to
speak very calmly. Doctor Archer, having by some means become
possessed of the secret of the Imperial succession, attempted to
deprive me of my right legging that because of a

(01:07:10):
fall from my horse four years ago, and become mentally deficient.
He presumed to place me on the restraint in his
own house, in hopes of either driving me insane or
poisoning me. I have not forgotten it. I visited him
last night, and the interview was final. Louis turned quite pale,
but did not move. I resumed triumphantly there yet three

(01:07:32):
people to be interviewed in the interests of mister Wild
and myself. They are my cousin Louis, mister Houberk, and
his daughter Constance. Lewis sprang to his feet, and I
arose also, and flung the paper marked with a yellow
sign on the ground. Oh I don't need that to
tell you what I have to say. I cried, with
a laugh of triumph. You must renounce the crown to me,

(01:07:53):
do you hear to me? Lois looked at me with
a startled air By recovering himself, said kindly, of course
I renounced the What is it? I must renounce the crown,
I said angrily. Of course, he answered, I renounce it. Come,
old chap, I'll walk back to your rooms with you.
Don't try any of your doctor's tricks with me, I cried,

(01:08:14):
trembling with fury. Don't act as if you think I'm insane.
What nonsense, he replied, Come, it's getting late, Hildred, No,
I shouted. You must listen. You cannot marry I forbid it.
Do you hear I forbid it? You shall renounce the
crown and any reward I grant you exile. But if

(01:08:35):
you refuse, you shall die. He tried to calm me,
but I was roused at last, and drawing my long knife,
barred his way. Then I told them how they would
find doctor Archer in the cellar with his throat open.
And I laughed in his face when I thought of
Vance and his knife and the order signed by me. Ah,
you are the king, I cried, But I shall be king.

(01:08:57):
Who are you to keep me from empire? Over all
a habit. I was born the cousin of a king,
but I shall be king. Lewis stood white and rigid
before me. Suddenly a man came running up Fourth Street,
entered the gate of the Lethal Temple, traversed the path
to the bronze doors at full speed, and plunged into
the death chamber with the cry of one demented. And

(01:09:17):
I laughed until I wept tears, for I recognized Vance
and knew that Hamburg and his daughter were no longer
in my way. Go, I cried to Louis, you have
ceased to be a menace. You will never marry Constance now,
and if you marry any one else in your exile,
I will visit you as I did my doctor last night.
Mister Wallde takes charge of you tomorrow. Then I turned

(01:09:39):
and darted into South Fifth Avenue, and with a cry
of terror, Lewis dropped his belt and saber and followed
me like the wind. I heard him close behind me
at the corner of Bleaker Street, and I dashed into
the doorway under hamburg sign. He cried, halt or I fire.
But when he saw that I flew up the stairs,
leaving Hamburg's shop below, he left me, and I heard
him hammer and shouting at their door, as though it

(01:10:01):
were possible to arouse the dead. Mister Wilde's door was open,
and I entered, crying, it is done, it is done.
Let the nations rise and look upon their king. But
I could not find mister Wilde. So I went to
the cabinet and took the splendid dire them from its case.
Then I drew on the white silk robe embroidered with
a yellow sign, and placed the crown upon my head.

(01:10:23):
At last I was king, king by my right and
hastur king because I knew the mystery of the hades,
and my mind had sounded the depths of the Lake
of Holly. I was king the first gray penciling of
dawn would raise a tempest which would take two hemispheres.
That as I stood, my every nerve pitched to the
highest tension, faint with a joy and the splendor of

(01:10:44):
my thought. Without in the dark passage, a man groaned.
I seized a tallow dip and sprang to the door.
The cat passed me like a demon, and the tallow
dip went out. But my long knife flew swifter than she,
and I heard her screech, and I knew that my
knife had found her. For a moment I listened to
her tumbling and thumping about in the darkness, and then

(01:11:04):
when her frenzy seized, I lighted a lamb and raised
it o'er my head. Mister Wilder lay on the floor
with his throat torn open. At first I thought he
was dead, but as I looked, a green sparkle came
into his sunken eyes. His retilated hand trembled, and then
a spasm stretched his mouth from ear to ear. For
a moment, my terror and despair gave place to hope.

(01:11:25):
But as I bent over him, his eyeballs rolled clean
around in his head and he died. Then, while I stood,
transfixed with rage and despair, seeing my crown, my empire,
every hope, and every ambition in my life, lying prostrate
there with the dead, Master Bay came, seized me from
behind and bound me until my veins stood like chords,

(01:11:46):
and my voice failed with the paroxysms of my frenzied screams.
But I still raged, bleeding and infuriated among them, and
more than one policeman felt my sharp teeth. Then, when
I could no longer move, they came nearer. I saw
Old Homberg, and behind him my cousin Lose's ghastly face,
and further away in the corner, a woman Constance, weeping softly. Ah,

(01:12:12):
I see it now, I shrieked. You have seized the
throne of the empire. Woe woe to you were crowned
with the crown of the king in yellow. Editor's note,
Mister Castain died yesterday in the Asylum for the Criminal Insane.

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Repairer of Reputations | Robert W. Chambers | Podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Repairer of Reputations | Robert W. Chambers | Podcast