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00:00Gates of Imagination Presents
00:02The Judge's House by Bram Stoker, read by Arthur Lane
00:05When the time for his examination drew near, Malcolm, Malcolmson made up his mind to go
00:13somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions of the seaside, and also he feared
00:19completely rural isolation, for of old he knew its charms, and so he determined to find some
00:24unpretentious little town where there would be nothing to distract him. He refrained from
00:29asking suggestions from any of his friends, for he argued that each would recommend some place of
00:34which he had knowledge, and where he had already acquaintances. As Malcolmson wished to avoid
00:40friends, he had no wish to encumber himself with the attention of friends' friends, and so he
00:45determined to look out for a place for himself. He packed a portmanteau with some clothes and all
00:50the books he required, and then took ticket for the first name on the local timetable, which he did
00:55not know. When at the end of three hours' journey he alighted at Benchurch, he felt satisfied that he
01:02had so far obliterated his tracks as to be sure of having a peaceful opportunity of pursuing his
01:06studies. He went straight to the one inn, which the sleepy little place contained, and put up for the
01:12night. Benchurch was a market town, and once in three weeks was crowded to excess, but for the
01:19remainder of the twenty-one days it was as attractive as a desert. Malcolmson looked around
01:24the day after his arrival to try to find quarters more isolated than even so quiet an inn as the
01:30good traveller afforded. There was only one place which took his fancy, and it certainly satisfied his
01:36wildest ideas regarding quiet. In fact, quiet was not the proper word to apply to it. Desolation was the
01:42only term conveying any suitable idea of its isolation. It was an old, rambling, heavy-built
01:48house of the Jacobean style, with heavy gables and windows unusually small, and set higher than was
01:54customary in such houses, and was surrounded with a high brick wall massively built. Indeed, on
02:00examination, it looked more like a fortified house than an ordinary dwelling. But all these things pleased
02:06Malcolmson. Here, he thought, is the very spot I have been looking for, and if I can get opportunity
02:12of using it I shall be happy. His joy was increased when he realised beyond doubt that it was not at
02:18present inhabited. From the post office he got the name of the agent, who was rarely surprised at the
02:24application to rent a part of the old house. Mr. Carnford, the local lawyer and agent, was a genial old
02:30gentleman, and frankly confessed his delight at anyone being willing to live in the house.
02:34To tell you the truth, said he, I should be only too happy, on behalf of the owners, to let anyone
02:41have the house rent-free for a term of years, if only to accustom the people here to see it inhabited.
02:47It has been so long empty that some kind of absurd prejudice has grown up about it,
02:51and this can be best put down by its occupation. If only, he added with a sly glance at Malcolmson,
02:57by a scholar like yourself, who wants its quiet for a time.
03:01Malcolmson thought it needless to ask the agent about the absurd prejudice. He knew he would get
03:08more information, if he should require it, on that subject from other quarters. He paid his three
03:13months' rent, got a receipt, and the name of an old woman who would probably undertake to do for him,
03:19and came away with the keys in his pocket. He then went to the landlady of the inn, who was a cheerful
03:26and most kindly person, and asked her advice as to such stores and provisions as he would be likely
03:31to require. She threw up her hands in amazement when he told her where he was going to settle
03:36himself. Not in the judge's house, she said, and grew pale as she spoke. He explained the locality of
03:44the house, saying that he did not know its name. When he had finished, she answered,
03:48Aye, sure enough, sure enough the very place. It is the judge's house, sure enough.
03:55He asked her to tell him about the place, why so-called, and what there was against it.
04:00She told him that it was so-called locally because it had been many years before.
04:04How long she could not say, as she was herself from another part of the country.
04:08But she thought it must have been a hundred years or more. The abode of a judge, who was held in great
04:13terror on account of his harsh sentences and his hostility to prisoners at assizes.
04:18As to what there was against the house, itself she could not tell. She had often asked, but
04:25no one could inform her. But there was a general feeling that there was something, and for her
04:31own part she would not take all the money and drink water's bank and stay in the house an hour
04:35by herself. Then she apologized to Malcolmson for her disturbing talk.
04:41It is too bad of me, sir, and you, and a young gentleman too, if you will pardon me saying it,
04:47going to live there all alone. If you were my boy, and you'll excuse me for saying it,
04:52you wouldn't sleep there a night, not if I had to go there myself and pull the big alarm bell that's
04:57on that roof. The good creature was so manifestly in earnest and was so kindly in her intentions
05:03that Malcolmson, although amused, was touched. He told her kindly how much he appreciated her interest
05:10in him, and added, But my dear Mrs. Witham, indeed you need not be concerned about me.
05:16A man who is reading for the mathematical tripos has too much to think of to be disturbed by any
05:21of these mysterious somethings, and his work is of too exact and prosaic a kind to allow of his
05:26having any corner in his mind for mysteries of any kind. Harmonical progression, permutations and
05:32combinations, and elliptic functions have sufficient mysteries for me.
05:36Mrs. Witham kindly undertook to see after his commissions, and he went himself to look for
05:41the old woman who had been recommended to him. When he returned to the judge's house with her,
05:46after an interval of a couple of hours, he found Mrs. Witham herself waiting with several men and
05:51boys carrying parcels, and an upholsterer's man with a bed in a car, for she said, though tables and
05:57chairs might be all very well, a bed that hadn't been aired for mayhap fifty years was not proper for
06:03young bones to lie on. She was evidently curious to see the inside of the house, and though manifestly
06:09so afraid of the somethings that at the slightest sound she clutched on to Malcolmson, whom she
06:14never left for a moment, went over the whole place. After his examination of the house, Malcolmson
06:20decided to take up his abode in the great dining room, which was big enough to serve for all his
06:25requirements, and Mrs. Witham, with the aid of the charwoman, Mrs. Dempster, proceeded to arrange
06:31matters. When the hampers were brought in and unpacked, Malcolmson saw that with much kind
06:37forethought she had sent from her own kitchen sufficient provisions to last for a few days.
06:43Before going she expressed all sorts of kind wishes, and at the door turned and said,
06:48And perhaps, sir, as the room is big and draughty, it might be well to have one of those big screens
06:54put round your bed at night, though truth to tell I would die myself if I were to be so shut in with
06:59all kinds of, of things, that put their heads round the sides or over the top and look on me.
07:05The image which she had called up was too much for her nerves, and she fled incontinently.
07:11Mrs. Dempster sniffed in a superior manner as the landlady disappeared, and remarked that for her own
07:16part she wasn't afraid of all the bogeys in the kingdom. I'll tell you what it is, sir, she said.
07:21Bogeys is all kinds and sorts of things, except bogeys, rats and mice and beetles and creaky doors
07:28and loose slates and broken panes and stiff drawer handles that stay out when you pull them and then
07:33fall down in the middle of the night. Look at the wainscot of the room. It is old, hundreds of years
07:39old. Do you think there's no rats and beetles there? And do you imagine, sir, that you won't see none of
07:44them? Rats is bogeys, I tell you, and bogeys is rats, and don't you get to think anything else?
07:49Mrs. Dempster, said Malcolmson gravely, making her a polite bow, you know more than a senior
07:55wrangler, and let me say that as a mark of esteem for your indubitable soundness of head and heart,
08:02I shall, when I go, give you possession of this house, and let you stay here by yourself for the
08:07last two months of my tenancy, for four weeks will serve my purpose. Thank you kindly, sir, she answered.
08:14But I couldn't sleep away from home a night. I am in Greenhouse Charity, and if I slept a night away
08:20from my rooms I should lose all I have got to live on. The rules is very strict, and there's too many
08:25watching for a vacancy for me to run any risks in the matter. Only for that, sir, I'd gladly come here
08:31and attend on you all together during your stay. My good woman, said Malcolmson hastily, I have come here
08:38on purpose to obtain solitude, and believe me that I am grateful to the late Greenhouse for having so
08:43organised his admirable charity, whatever it is, that I am perforce denied the opportunity of suffering
08:49from such a form of temptation. St. Anthony himself could not be more rigid on the point.
08:56The old woman laughed harshly. Ah, you young gentlemen, she said, you don't fear for naught,
09:02and belike you'll get all the solitude you want here. She set to work with her cleaning,
09:09and by nightfall, when Malcolmson returned from his walk, he always had one of his books to study
09:14as he walked. He found the room swept and tidied, a fire burning in the old hearth, the lamp lit,
09:20and the table spread for supper with Mrs. Witham's excellent fare.
09:25This is comfort indeed, he said as he rubbed his hands.
09:29When he had finished his supper, and lifted the tray to the other end of the great oak dining table,
09:35he got out his books again, put fresh wood on the fire, trimmed his lamp, and set himself down
09:40to a spell of real hard work. He went on without pause till about eleven o'clock, when he knocked
09:47off for a bit to fix his fire and lamp, and to make himself a cup of tea. He had always been a tea
09:53drinker, and during his college life had sat late at work and had taken tea late.
09:57The rest was a great luxury to him, and he enjoyed it with a sense of delicious,
10:02voluptuous ease. The renewed fire leaped and sparkled, and threw quaint shadows through the
10:08great old room, and as he sipped his hot tea he revelled in the sense of isolation from his kind.
10:15Then it was that he began to notice for the first time what a noise the rats were making.
10:20Surely, he thought, they cannot have been at it all the time I was reading.
10:24Had they been, I must have noticed it. Presently, when the noise increased,
10:30he satisfied himself that it was really new. It was evident that at first the rats had been
10:35frightened at the presence of a stranger, and the light of fire and lamp, but that as the time went
10:41on they had grown bolder and were now disporting themselves as was their wont. How busy they were,
10:47and hark to the strange noises. Up and down behind the old wainscot, over the ceiling and under the
10:53floor they raced and gnawed and scratched. Malcolmson smiled to himself as he recalled
10:59to mind the saying of Mrs. Dempster, Bogies is rats, and rats is bogies. The tea began to have
11:05its effect of intellectual and nervous stimulus. He saw with joy another long spell of work to be
11:11done before the night was past, and in the sense of security which it gave him, he allowed himself
11:16the luxury of a good look round the room. He took his lamp in one hand, and went all around,
11:23wondering that so quaint and beautiful an old house had been so long neglected.
11:27The carving of the oak on the panels of the wainscot was fine, and on and round the doors
11:32and windows it was beautiful and of rare merit. There were some old pictures on the walls,
11:38but they were coated so thick with dust and dirt that he could not distinguish any detail of them,
11:43though he held his lamp as high as he could over his head. Here and there as he went round,
11:49he saw some crack or hole blocked for a moment by the face of a rat, with its bright eyes glittering
11:54in the light, but in an instant it was gone, and a squeak and a scamper followed.
12:00The thing that most struck him, however, was the rope of the great alarm bell on the roof,
12:05which hung down in a corner of the room on the right-hand side of the fireplace.
12:08He pulled up close to the hearth, a great high-backed carved oak chair, and sat down to
12:14his last cup of tea. When this was done he made up the fire, and went back to his work,
12:20sitting at the corner of the table, having the fire to his left.
12:24For a little while the rats disturbed him somewhat with their perpetual scampering,
12:29but he got accustomed to the noise as one does to the ticking of a clock,
12:32or to the roar of moving water, and he became so immersed in his work that everything in the world,
12:38except the problem which he was trying to solve, passed away from him. He suddenly looked up,
12:44his problem was still unsolved, and there was in the air that sense of the hour before the dawn,
12:49which is so dread to doubtful life. The noise of the rats had ceased. Indeed it seemed to him that
12:56it must have ceased but lately, and that it was the sudden cessation which had disturbed him.
13:00The fire had fallen low, but still it threw out a deep red glow.
13:05As he looked he started in spite of his sang-froid. There on the great high-backed carved oak chair by
13:12the right side of the fireplace sat an enormous rat, steadily glaring at him with baleful eyes.
13:18He made a motion to it as though to hunt it away, but it did not stir. Then he made the motion of
13:24throwing something. Still it did not stir, but showed its great white teeth angrily,
13:29and its cruel eyes shone in the lamplight with an added vindictiveness.
13:34Malcolmson felt amazed, and seizing the poker from the hearth, ran at it to kill it.
13:40Before, however, he could strike it, the rat, with a squeak that sounded like the concentration
13:45of hate, jumped upon the floor, and running up the rope of the alarm bell, disappeared in
13:50the darkness beyond the range of the green-shaded lamp. Instantly, strange to say,
13:55the noisy scampering of the rats in the wainscot began again. By this time Malcolmson's mind was
14:01quite off the problem, and as a shrill cockcrow outside told him of the approach of morning,
14:06he went to bed and to sleep. He slept so sound that he was not even waked by Mrs. Dempster coming
14:12in to make up his room. It was only when she had tidied up the place, and got his breakfast ready,
14:18and tapped on the screen which closed in his bed, that he woke. He was a little tired still after
14:24his night's hard work, but a strong cup of tea soon freshened him up, and taking his book,
14:29he went out for his morning walk, bringing with him a few sandwiches, lest he should not care to
14:34return till dinner-time. He found a quiet walk between high elms some way outside the town,
14:40and here he spent the greater part of the day studying his lapless.
14:43On his return he looked in to see Mrs. Witham, and to thank her for her kindness.
14:49When she saw him coming through the diamond-paned bay window of her sanctum,
14:53she came out to meet him and asked him in. She looked at him searchingly, and shook her head as
14:59she said, You must not overdo it, sir. You are paler this morning than you should be.
15:05Too late hours and too hard work on the brain isn't good for any man. But tell me, sir,
15:09how did you pass the night? Well, I hope. But my heart... Sir, I was glad when Mrs. Dempster told
15:16me this morning that you were all right and sleeping sound when she went in.
15:20Oh, I was all right, he answered, smiling. The somethings didn't worry me as yet. Only the rats,
15:27and they had a circus, I tell you, all over the place. There was one wicked-looking old devil that
15:31sat up on my own chair by the fire and wouldn't go till I took the poker to him, and then he ran up
15:36the rope of the alarm bell and got to somewhere up the wall or the ceiling. I couldn't see where
15:40it was so dark. Mercy on us, said Mrs. Witham. An old devil, and sitting on a chair by the fireside.
15:48Take care, sir. Take care. There's many a true word spoken in jest. How do you mean?
15:54Upon my word, I don't understand. An old devil. The old devil, perhaps. There, sir, you needn't laugh,
16:01for Malcolmson had broken into a hearty peal. You young folks thinks it easy to laugh at things
16:05that makes older ones shudder. Never mind, sir. Never mind. Please, God, you'll laugh all the
16:10time. It's what I wish you myself. And the good lady beamed all over in sympathy with his enjoyment,
16:17her fears gone for a moment. Oh, forgive me, said Malcolmson presently. Don't think me rude,
16:24but the idea was too much for me, that the old devil himself was on the chair last night.
16:29And at the thought, he laughed again. Then he went home to dinner.
16:35This evening, the scampering of the rats began earlier. Indeed, it had been going on before his
16:41arrival, and only ceased whilst his presence by its freshness disturbed them. After dinner,
16:46he sat by the fire for a while and had a smoke, and then, having cleared his table, began to work
16:52as before. Tonight the rats disturbed him more than they had done on the previous night. How they scampered
16:58up and down and under and over. How they squeaked and scratched and gnawed. How they, getting bolder
17:05by degrees, came to the mouths of their holes, and to the chinks and cracks and crannies in the
17:10wainscotting till their eyes shone like tiny lamps as the firelight rose and fell. But to him,
17:16now doubtless accustomed to them, their eyes were not wicked. Only their playfulness touched him.
17:22Sometimes the boldest of them made sallies out on the floor or along the mouldings of the wainscot.
17:28Now and again as they disturbed him, Malcolmson made a sound to frighten them,
17:33smiting the table with his hand or giving a fierce,
17:35Hish! Hish! so that they fled straightway to their holes.
17:40And so the early part of the night wore on, and despite the noise, Malcolmson got more and more
17:45immersed in his work. All at once he stopped, as on the previous night, being overcome by a sudden,
17:52sense of silence. There was not the faintest sound of gnaw or scratch or squeak. The silence was as of
17:59the grave. He remembered the odd occurrence of the previous night, and instinctively he looked at the
18:04chair standing close by the fireside. And then a very odd sensation thrilled through him. There,
18:11on the great old high-backed carved oak chair beside the fireplace, sat the same enormous rat,
18:17steadily glaring at him with baleful eyes. Instinctively, he took the nearest thing to his
18:22hand, a book of logarithms, and flung it at it. The book was badly aimed, and the rat did not stir,
18:29so again the poker performance of the previous night was repeated. And again the rat, being closely
18:34pursued, fled up the rope of the alarm bell. Strangely, too, the departure of this rat was
18:40instantly followed by the renewal of the noise made by the general rat community. On this occasion,
18:47as on the previous one, Malcolmson could not see at what part of the room the rat disappeared,
18:52for the green shade of his lamp left the upper part of the room in darkness, and the fire had burned low.
18:59On looking at his watch, he found it was close on midnight, and not sorry for the divertissement,
19:05he made up his fire and made himself his nightly pot of tea.
19:08He had got through a good spell of work, and thought himself entitled to a cigarette,
19:13and so he sat on the great oak chair before the fire and enjoyed it.
19:18Whilst smoking, he began to think that he would like to know where the rat disappeared to,
19:22for he had certain ideas for the morrow not entirely disconnected with a rat trap.
19:28Accordingly, he lit another lamp, and placed it so that it would shine well into the right-hand
19:32corner of the wall by the fireplace. Then he got all the books he had with him,
19:37and placed them handy to throw at the vermin. Finally, he lifted the rope of the alarm bell,
19:43and placed the end of it on the table, fixing the extreme end under the lamp.
19:48As he handled it, he could not help noticing how pliable it was, especially for so strong a rope,
19:53and one not in use. You could hang a man with it, he thought to himself.
19:59When his preparations were made, he looked around, and said complacently,
20:02There now, my friend, I think we shall learn something of you this time.
20:07He began his work again, and though as before somewhat disturbed at first by the noise of the
20:11rats, soon lost himself in his propositions and problems. Again he was called to his immediate
20:16surroundings suddenly. This time it might not have been the sudden silence only which took his
20:21attention. There was a slight movement of the rope, and the lamp moved. Without stirring,
20:26he looked to see if his pile of books was within range, and then cast his eye along the rope.
20:32As he looked, he saw the great rat drop from the rope on the oak armchair, and sit there glaring at
20:37him. He raised a book in his right hand, and taking careful aim, flung it at the rat. The latter,
20:44with a quick movement, sprang aside and dodged the missile. He then took another book, and a third,
20:49and flung them one after another at the rat, but each time unsuccessfully.
20:53At last, as he stood with a book poised in his hand to throw, the rat squeaked and seemed afraid.
21:01This made Malcolmson more than ever eager to strike, and the book flew and struck the rat
21:05a resounding blow. It gave a terrified squeak, and turning on his pursuer a look of terrible
21:11malevolence, ran up the chair back and made a great jump to the rope of the alarm bell,
21:16and ran up it like lightning. The lamp rocked under the sudden strain, but it was a heavy one,
21:21and did not topple over. Malcolmson kept his eyes on the rat, and saw it by the light of the second
21:27lamp, leap to a moulding of the wainscot, and disappear through a hole in one of the great
21:31pictures which hung on the wall, obscured and invisible through its coating of dirt and dust.
21:37I shall look up my friend's habitation in the morning, said the student, as he went over to
21:42collect his books. The third picture from the fireplace, I shall not forget. He picked up the books one by
21:48one, commenting on them as he lifted them. Conic sections he does not mind, nor cycloidal oscillations,
21:56nor the Principia, nor quaternions, nor thermodynamics. Now for the book that fetched him.
22:02Malcolmson took it up and looked at it. As he did so he started. A sudden pallor overspread his face.
22:09He looked round uneasily and shivered slightly as he murmured to himself,
22:12The Bible my mother gave me. What an odd coincidence. He sat down to work again,
22:19and the rats in the wainscot renewed their gambles. They did not disturb him, however.
22:24Somehow their presence gave him a sense of companionship. But he could not attend to his
22:29work, and after striving to master the subject on which he was engaged, gave it up in despair,
22:35and went to bed as the first streak of dawns stole in through the eastern window.
22:39He slept heavily but uneasily, and dreamed much, and when Mrs. Dempster woke him late in the morning
22:46he seemed ill at ease, and for a few minutes did not seem to realise exactly where he was.
22:51His first request rather surprised the servant.
22:55Mrs. Dempster, when I am out today I wish you would get the steps and dust or wash those pictures,
23:00especially that one the third from the fireplace. I want to see what they are.
23:04Late in the afternoon Malcolmson worked at his books in the Shaded Walk, and the cheerfulness of
23:11the previous day came back to him as the day wore on, and he found that his reading was progressing
23:16well. He had worked out to a satisfactory conclusion all the problems which had as yet
23:21baffled him, and it was in a state of jubilation that he paid a visit to Mrs. Witham at The Good
23:26Traveller. He found a stranger in the cosy sitting room with the landlady, who was introduced to him
23:32as Dr. Thornhill. She was not quite at ease, and this, combined with the doctor's plunging
23:38at once into a series of questions, made Malcolmson come to the conclusion that his presence was not
23:43an accident, so without preliminary he said,
23:47Dr. Thornhill, I shall with pleasure answer you any question you may choose to ask me if you will
23:52answer my one question first. The doctor seemed surprised, but he smiled and answered at once.
23:59Yes. Done. What is it? Did Mrs. Witham ask you to come here and see me and advise me?
24:06Dr. Thornhill for a moment was taken aback, and Mrs. Witham got fiery red and turned away.
24:12But the doctor was a frank and ready man, and he answered at once and openly.
24:17She did, but she didn't intend you to know it. I suppose it was my clumsy haste hat made you suspect.
24:24She told me that she did not like the idea of your being in that house all by yourself,
24:28and that she thought you took too much strong tea. In fact, she wants me to advise you if possible
24:33to give up the tea and the very late hours. I was as a keen student in my time, so I suppose I may
24:38take the liberty of a college man, and without offence, advise you not quite as a stranger.
24:44Malcolmson, with a bright smile, held out his hand.
24:47Shake, as they say in America, he said. I must thank you for your kindness, and Mrs. Witham too,
24:52and your kindness deserves a return on my part. I promise to take no more strong tea,
24:58no tea at all till you let me, and I shall go to bed tonight at one o'clock at latest.
25:02Will that do?
25:04Capital, said the doctor. Now tell us all that you noticed in the old house.
25:09And so Malcolmson then and there told in minute detail all that had happened in the last two nights.
25:14He was interrupted every now and then by some exclamation from Mrs. Witham,
25:18till finally when he told of the episode of the Bible, the landlady's pent-up emotions found vent
25:24in a shriek, and it was not till a stiff glass of brandy and water had been administered that
25:28she grew composed again. Dr. Thornhill listened with a face of growing gravity, and when the
25:35narrative was complete and Mrs. Witham had been restored, he asked. The rat always went up the
25:40rope of the alarm bell. Always? I suppose you know, said the doctor after a pause, what the rope is.
25:48No. It is, said the doctor slowly, the very rope which the hangman used for all the victims of
25:55the judge's judicial rancor. Here he was interrupted by another scream from Mrs. Witham, and steps had
26:01to be taken for her recovery. Malcolmson, having looked at his watch and found that it was close
26:06to his dinner hour, had gone home before her complete recovery. When Mrs. Witham was herself again,
26:12she almost assailed the doctor with angry questions as to what he meant by putting such horrible ideas
26:17into the poor young man's mind. He has quite enough there already to upset him, she added.
26:24Dr. Thornhill replied, My dear madam, I had a distinct purpose in it. I wanted to draw his
26:30attention to the bell rope and to fix it there. It may be that he is in a highly overwrought state
26:35and has been studying too much, although I am bound to say that he seems as sound and healthy a young
26:40man, mentally and bodily, as ever I saw. But then the rats, and that suggestion of the devil.
26:47The doctor shook his head and went on. I would have offered to go and stay the first night with
26:52him, but I felt sure it would have been a cause of offence. He may get in the night some strange
26:57fright or hallucination, and if he does I want him to pull that rope. All alone as he is it will give us
27:03warning, and we may reach him in time to be of service. I shall be sitting up pretty late tonight
27:09and shall keep my ears open. Do not be alarmed if Benchurch gets a surprise before morning.
27:15Oh, doctor, what do you mean, what do you mean? I mean this, that possibly, nay, more probably,
27:21we shall hear the great alarm bell from the judge's house tonight. And the doctor made about as effective
27:26an exit as could be thought of. When Malcolmson arrived home, he found that it was a little after
27:32his usual time, and Mrs. Dempster had gone away. The rules of greenhouse charity were not to be
27:37neglected. He was glad to see that the place was bright and tidy, with a cheerful fire and a
27:43well-trimmed lamp. The evening was colder than might have been expected in April, and a heavy
27:48wind was blowing with such rapidly increasing strength that there was every promise of a storm
27:53during the night. For a few minutes after his entrance, the noise of the rats ceased, but so soon
28:00as they became accustomed to his presence, they began again. He was glad to hear them, for he felt once
28:06more the feeling of companionship in their noise, and his mind ran back to the strange fact that they
28:11only ceased to manifest themselves when that other, the great rat with the baleful eyes, came upon the
28:17scene. The reading lamp only was lit, and its green shade kept the ceiling and the upper part of the
28:23room in darkness, so that the cheerful light from the hearth spreading over the floor and shining on
28:29the white cloth laid over the end of the table was warm and cheery. Malcolmson sat down to his dinner
28:35with a good appetite and a buoyant spirit. After his dinner and a cigarette, he sat steadily down
28:41to work, determined not to let anything disturb him, for he remembered his promise to the doctor
28:46and made up his mind to make the best of the time at his disposal. For an hour or so he worked all
28:52right, and then his thoughts began to wander from his books. The actual circumstances around him,
28:58the calls on his physical attention, and his nervous susceptibility were not to be denied.
29:03By this time the wind had become a gale, and the gale a storm. The old house, solid though it was,
29:11seemed to shake to its foundations, and the storm roared and raged through its many chimneys and its
29:16queer old gables, producing strange, unearthly sounds in the empty rooms and corridors.
29:22Even the great alarm bell on the roof must have felt the force of the wind, for the rope rose and fell
29:27slightly, as though the bell were moved a little from time to time, and the limber rope fell on the oak
29:32floor with a hard and hollow sound. As Malcolmson listened to it, he bethought himself of the
29:38doctor's words, It is the rope which the hangman used for the victims of the judge's judicial rancor.
29:44And he went over to the corner of the fireplace, and took it in his hand to look at it.
29:49There seemed a sort of deadly interest in it, and as he stood there he lost himself for a moment
29:54in speculation as to who these victims were, and the grim wish of the judge to have such a ghastly
30:00relic ever under his eyes. As he stood there, the swaying of the bell on the roof still lifted the
30:06rope now and again. But presently there came a new sensation, a sort of tremor in the rope,
30:12as though something was moving along it. Looking up instinctively, Malcolmson saw the great rat coming
30:18slowly down towards him, glaring at him steadily. He dropped the rope and started back with a muttered curse.
30:24And the rat turning ran up the rope again and disappeared, and at the same instant Malcolmson
30:30became conscious that the noise of the rats, which had ceased for a while, began again.
30:37All this set him thinking, and it occurred to him that he had not investigated the lair of the rat
30:42or looked at the pictures as he had intended. He lit the other lamp without the shade, and holding it up
30:48went and stood opposite the third picture from the fireplace on the right-hand side, where he had
30:53seen the rat disappear on the previous night. At the first glance, he started back so suddenly
30:59that he almost dropped the lamp, and a deadly pallor overspread his face. His knees shook,
31:05and heavy drops of sweat came on his forehead, and he trembled like an aspen.
31:10But he was young and plucky, and pulled himself together, and after the pause of a few seconds
31:15stepped forward again, raised the lamp, and examined the picture which had been dusted and washed,
31:20and now stood out clearly. It was of a judge dressed in his robes of scarlet and ermine.
31:27His face was strong and merciless, evil, crafty, and vindictive, with a sensual mouth,
31:34hooked nose of ruddy colour, and shaped like the beak of a bird of prey. The rest of the face was of a
31:40cadaverous colour. The eyes were of peculiar brilliance, and with a terribly malignant expression.
31:45As he looked at them, Malcolmson grew cold, for he saw there the very counterpart of the eyes of
31:53the great rat. The lamp almost fell from his hand. He saw the rat with its baleful eyes peering out
32:01through the hole in the corner of the picture, and noted the sudden cessation of the noise of the
32:06other rats. However, he pulled himself together, and went on with his examination of the picture.
32:12The judge was seated in a great high-backed carved oak chair, on the right-hand side of a great stone
32:19fireplace, where, in the corner, a rope hung down from the ceiling, its end lying coiled on the floor.
32:26With a feeling of something like horror, Malcolmson recognised the scene of the room as it stood,
32:32and gazed around him in an awestruck manner, as though he expected to find some strange presence
32:38behind him. Then he looked over to the corner of the fireplace, and with a loud cry, he let the lamp
32:44fall from his hand. There, in the judge's armchair, with the rope hanging behind, sat the rat with the
32:51judge's baleful eyes, now intensified and with a fiendish leer. Save for the howling of the storm
32:58without, there was silence. The fallen lamp recalled Malcolmson to himself. Fortunately,
33:04it was of metal, and so the oil was not spilt. However, the practical need of attending to it
33:10settled at once his nervous apprehension. When he had turned it out, he wiped his brow,
33:16and thought for a moment. This will not do, he said to himself. If I go on like this,
33:21I shall become a crazy fool. This must stop. I promised the doctor I would not take tea.
33:27Faith, he was pretty right. My nerves must have been getting into a queer state.
33:32Funny I did not notice it. I never felt better in my life. However, it is all right now,
33:37and I shall not be such a fool again. Then he mixed himself a good stiff glass
33:42of brandy and water, and resolutely sat down to his work. It was nearly an hour when he looked up
33:47from his book, disturbed by the sudden stillness. Without, the wind howled and roared louder than
33:54ever, and the rain drove in sheets against the windows, beating like hail on the glass.
34:00But within there was no sound whatever save the echo of the wind as it roared in the great chimney,
34:05and now and then a hiss as a few raindrops found their way down the chimney in a lull of the storm.
34:11The fire had fallen low and had ceased to flame, though it threw out a red glow.
34:15No. Malcolmson listened attentively, and presently heard a thin squeaking noise, very faint.
34:22It came from the corner of the room where the rope hung down, and he thought it was the creaking
34:26of the rope on the floor as the swaying of the bell raised and lowered it. Looking up, however,
34:32he saw in the dim light the great rat clinging to the rope and gnawing it. The rope was already
34:38nearly gnawed through. He could see the lighter colour where the strands were laid bare.
34:43As he looked, the job was completed, and the severed end of the rope fell clattering on
34:48the oaken floor, whilst for an instant the great rat remained like a knob or tassel at
34:54the end of the rope, which now began to sway to and fro. Malcolmson felt for a moment another
34:59pang of terror, as he thought that now the possibility of calling the outer world to his
35:04assistance was cut off. But an intense anger took its place, and seizing the book he was
35:09reading he hurled it at the rat. The blow was well aimed, but before the missile could reach
35:14him, the rat dropped off and struck the floor with a soft thud. Malcolmson instantly rushed
35:20over towards him, but it darted away and disappeared in the darkness of the shadows of the room.
35:26Malcolmson felt that his work was over for the night, and determined then and there to vary
35:30the monotony of the proceedings by a hunt for the rat, and took off the green shade of the lamp
35:34so as to ensure a wider spreading light. As he did so, the gloom of the upper part of the room
35:40was relieved, and in the new flood of light, great by comparison with the previous darkness,
35:47the pictures on the wall stood out boldly. From where he stood, Malcolmson saw right opposite to
35:53him the third picture on the wall from the right of the fireplace. He rubbed his eyes in surprise,
35:59and then a great fear began to come upon him. In the centre of the picture was a great irregular
36:05patch of brown canvas, as fresh as when it was stretched on the frame. The background was as
36:11before, with chair and chimney corner and rope, but the figure of the judge had disappeared.
36:16Malcolmson, almost in a chill of horror, turned slowly round, and then he began to shake and tremble
36:22like a man in a palsy. His strength seemed to have left him, and he was incapable of action
36:28or movement, hardly even of thought. He could only see and hear. There, on the great high-backed
36:36carved oak chair, sat the judge in his robes of scarlet and ermine, with his baleful eyes glaring
36:42vindictively, and a smile of triumph on the resolute cruel mouth, as he lifted with his hands a black cap.
36:49Malcolmson felt as if the blood was running from his heart, as one does in moments of
36:55prolonged suspense. There was a singing in his ears. Without, he could hear the roar and howl of the
37:02tempest, and through it, swept on the storm, came the striking of midnight by the great chimes in the
37:08marketplace. He stood for a space of time that seemed to him endless still as a statue, and with
37:14wide-open, horror-struck eyes, breathless. As the clock struck, so the smile of triumph on the
37:21judge's face intensified, and at the last stroke of midnight, he placed the black cap on his head.
37:28Slowly and deliberately, the judge rose from his chair and picked up the piece of the rope of the
37:33alarm bell which lay on the floor, drew it through his hands as if he enjoyed its touch, and then
37:39deliberately began to knot one end of it, fashioning it into a noose. This he tightened and tested with
37:45his foot, pulling hard at it till he was satisfied, and then making a running noose of it, which he held
37:51in his hand. Then he began to move along the table on the opposite side to Malcolmson, keeping his eyes
37:57on him until he had passed him, when with a quick movement he stood in front of the door. Malcolmson then
38:03began to feel that he was trapped, and tried to think of what he should do. There was some fascination
38:08in the judge's eyes, which he never took off him, and he had perforce to look. He saw the judge approach,
38:15still keeping between him and the door, and raised the noose and throw it towards him as if to entangle
38:20him. With a great effort, he made a quick movement to one side, and saw the rope fall beside him, and
38:26heard it strike the oaken floor. Again the judge raised the noose and tried to ensnare him, ever keeping
38:32his baleful eyes fixed on him, and each time, by a mighty effort, the student just managed to evade
38:37it. So this went on for many times, the judge seeming never discouraged nor discomposed at failure,
38:44but playing as a cat does with a mouse. At least in despair, which had reached its climax,
38:50Malcolmson cast a quick glance round him. The lamp seemed to have blazed up, and there was a fairly
38:56good light in the room. At the many rat holes and in the chinks and crannies of the wainscot,
39:01he saw the rat's eyes, and this aspect, that was purely physical, gave him a gleam of comfort.
39:09He looked around and saw that the rope of the great alarm bell was laden with rats.
39:13Every inch of it was covered with them, and more and more were pouring through the small circular
39:18hole in the ceiling whence it emerged, so that with their weight the bell was beginning to sway.
39:23Hark! It had swayed till the clapper had touched the bell. The sound was but a tiny one, but the bell
39:31was only beginning to sway, and it would increase. At the sound the judge, who had been keeping his
39:37eyes fixed on Malcolmson, looked up, and a scowl of diabolical anger overspread his face. His eyes
39:43fairly glowed like hot coals, and he stamped his foot with a sound that seemed to make the house shake.
39:48A dreadful peal of thunder broke overhead as he raised the rope again, whilst the rats kept running
39:54up and down the rope as though working against time. This time, instead of throwing it, he drew
40:00close to his victim and held open the noose as he approached. As he came closer, there seemed
40:05something paralysing in his very presence, and Malcolmson stood rigid as a corpse. He felt the
40:11judge's icy fingers touch his throat as he adjusted the rope. The noose tightened, tightened.
40:16Then the judge, taking the rigid form of the student in his arms, carried him over and placed him
40:22standing in the oak chair, and stepping up beside him, put his hand up and caught the end of the
40:27swaying rope of the alarm bell. As he raised his hand, the rats fled squeaking and disappeared through
40:34the hole in the ceiling. Taking the end of the noose which was round Malcolmson's neck, he tied it to
40:40the hanging bell rope, and then descending pulled away the chair. When the alarm bell of the judge's
40:46house began to sound, a crowd soon assembled. Lights and torches of various kinds appeared, and soon a
40:53silent crowd was hurrying to the spot. They knocked loudly at the door, but there was no reply.
40:59Then they burst in the door and poured into the great dining room, the doctor at the head.
41:04There, at the end of the rope of the great alarm bell, hung the body of the student,
41:09and on the face of the judge in the picture was a malignant smile.
41:34.
41:41.
41:46.
41:53.