It was raining cats and dogs when they drove out Dracut County to talk to old man Colin Knight. The sky was an unrelenting gray, like layers of sodden flannel, and the rain just kept on pouring and pouring until Harold thought it would never end all year; that Massachusetts would never be dry again.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyitA3Nsyy5
copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmjY8eDnpV
The three of them went in his car----Harold (himself), Michael and Hubert Orr. Emil Bryce wanted to come, but at the last moment his mother had come, but at the last moment his mother had insisted that he go over to Cambridge for Sunday lunch to meet his cousins from New Mexico. "Emil's mother is one of those ladies who won't take no for an answer," explained Hubert, as they drove through the rain.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡYehRmMIvzg
"Show a mother who will," replied Michael; and Harold thought, with sadness and regret, of Gloria Wildman. Bruce had called Harold this morning and told him that she was still in intensive care, and that the doctors at Ol' Spithead Clinic were being extremely reticent about her chances of survival. "Overwhelming psychological and physiological trauma," they had diagnosed.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡG195gee59y
So far, Harold hadn't told Michael or Hubert about the gruesome events of the night before. He needed to think them all out for himself before he discussed them with anybody, especially with anybody as opinionated as Michael. He would tell them, later today or early tomorrow, but at the moment his mind was still a clamor of rushing ghosts, opening graves and shattered eyeballs. He couldn't make any sense of what had happened, and he didn't want to confused himself any further by attempting to rationalize it. This had all gone way beyond Dr. Lockwood's "post-bereavement hysteria." This was another world, another existence, more mystical and more powerful than anything that doctors or psychiatrists could handle; and if he was going to be able to do anything at all for Nancy or Wilbur Price or any of those hundreds of restless ghosts who had pursued him last night, then he was going to have to understand it clearly, without prejudice or easy assumptions.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPVIN3Xrqm
"Entry into the region of the dead is by succession...." The way Nancy had said that, it was almost as if she had been reading from a book. "You are always called by the loved one who died immediately before you." Those words reinforced Harold's earlier opinion that the deaths that had been taking place in Ol' Spithead were a summoning, the dead beckoning the living, a kind of séance in reverse, with tragic and often gruesome consequences.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpBEgYrZt0
At least Harold knew one thing now; that he himself was charmed and protected by his unborn son. Maybe not against the full power of the force which lay within the George Badger, but certainly against Nancy.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡg92peiDtnN
Harold felt bitter, as he drove; bitter and tired. He also had a terrible sense of impotence and defeat, a fear that nothing he was able to do would help put Nancy to rest. Knowing that her spirit was trapped in that hideous limbo with all those rotting and skeletal apparitions was far worse than accepting that she was dead. The pain was greater, his feeling of loss heightened by a feeling of helplessness and despair.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MDXvr1sSr
Harold played Brahms on the car's tapedeck to calm his nerves, and talked with Michael and Hubert about Pauline Champion, and music, and the George Badger, and Pauline Champion.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfRqT8ol7R
"Is she stuck on you," asked Michael, as they drove into the outskirts of Burlington.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡlo1nNgGrJ3
"Who are you talking about? Pauline?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMPSJljKNc
"None other."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDr43lcsGk
"I don't know," said Harold. "I suppose we do share a kind of vague rapport."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1IlpvB5Xl
"You hear that?" said Hubert. "A kind of vague rapport. That's educated talk for 'we're just good friends.'"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9c7Z5RkpC8
Michael took off his glasses and polished them with a scrumpled-up Kleenex. "I have to admire your speed, Harold. When you want something, you certainly go straight in there and get it."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOL2SPn5h4
"She's an attractive girl," Harold replied.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡpB67WvCyBA
"Well, sure she is," said Michael, and Harold thought he detected a hint of jealousy in his voice.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡULN1KST5hv
Hubert, leaning forward in the back seat, gripped Michael affably on the shoulder. "Don't you worry about Michael," he said. "Michael's been in love with Pauline Champion ever since he first laid eyes on her.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSkYVdNji5
They took a right at Burlington, turning off I-95 and heading northwest on I-93. The car splashed through sheets of puddles, and sloughed through roadside floods. The windshield wipers kept up a steady, rubbery protest and raindrops hovered on the side windows like persistent memories that refused to let go.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHGtODZrbB
They reached Tewksbury five or ten minutes after noon. It was just a small community, and Michael was quite certain that could remember where the Knight house was, but all the same they spent another ten minutes driving round and round the green, looking for the front gates. An old man was standing by the side of the green in a full-length waterproof cape and a fisherman's sou'wester, and he watched them gravely as they passed him for the third time.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16mO77H1cZ
Harold pull in to the side of the road. "Pardon me, sir. Can you direct me to a house called Summerworth?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpSQoN3c7l
The old man came forward, and stared into the car like a country policeman who suspected them of being hippies, or radicals, or big-city insurance salesman.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡhu2YYRBYiN
"The Knight place. That what you want?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkTX914R2g
"Yes, sir. We have an appointment to see Mr. Colin Knight at 12:00."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyGIp5wshD
The old man reached under his raincape and produced a pocketwatch. He opened the case and peered at it through the lower half of his bifocals. "In that case, you're going to be late. It's thirteen minutes after."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡOz8Rx7J861
"Could you just direct us, please?" asked MIchael.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGmPDwQHnT
"Well, it's simple enough," said the old man. "Follow this road around to the other side of the green, then take a left by that maple."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdrFWRKtk1
"Thanks," Harold told him.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78Ag07nJgu
"Don't thank me," the old man said. "I wouldn't go there if you paid me."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡLca72ODSv1
"The Knight place? Why not?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuee9b5TEp
"That place is bad fortune, that's what that place is. Bad fortune, and ill luck; and if I had my way I'd see it burned down to the cellars."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMyv2yDqiT
"Oh, give us a break," said Michael, obviously trying to coax the old man to tell them more. "Mr. Knight's a recluse, that's all. That doesn't mean that there's anything spooky about his house."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡU365b8TP1p
"Spooky? Spooky! Let me tell you something, son, if you want to see anything spooky, you ought to go past the Knight place one summer night, that's what you ought to do. And if you don't hear the strangest noises you ever heard, groanings and roarings and the like, and if you don't see the oddest lights dancing around on the rooftops, then you can come back to me and I'll give you dinner, free of charge, and your fare back to wherever it is you came from."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNU413g6XV
"Salem," said Hubert."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSH4oKD1bV
"Salem, is it?" asked the old man. "Well, if you're Salem folks, you'll know what kind of thing it is that I'm talking about."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5Y1b9a4Yb
"Groanings and roarings?" asked Michael.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPZnU0ra7o
"Groanings and roaring," the old man affirmed, without explaining anything more.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DhNIFylHJ
Michael looked at Harold and Harold looked back at Michael. "Everybody still game, I hope?" Harold asked. Michael said, "Sure. Hubert?" And Hubert replied, "I'm game. What's a little groaning and roaring?" Michael said, "You forgot the odd lights."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCPfE0pO4o
They thanked the old man, put up the car windows again, and drove around the green. Past the spreading maple tree, almost hidden by creepers and unkempt bushes, they found the high wrought-iron gates of Summerworth, the house in which the Knight family had lived ever since 1774. Michael said, "There is it. I don't know how I could have forgotten where it was. I could have sworn it was farther along the green the last time I came here."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ydZW70oi7
"Spookier and spookier," grinned Hubert.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoL4ctKKPr
Harold stopped the car outside the gates and climbed out. Beyond the gates, there was a wide gravel driveway, and then a fine white 18th-century mansion, with a pillared doorway, green-painted shutters, and a gray-shingled mansard roof with three dormer windows. Most of the shutters on the first floor were closed, and Harold wasn't exactly gratified to see a brindled Doberman standing not far away from the steps which led up to the front door, watching him closely with its ears pricked up.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡu64jmIjMxo
"The bell-pull's over here," said Michael, and tugged at a black iron handle which protruded from one of the gateposts. They heard a very faint jangling sound inside the house, and the Doberman trotted a little way towards the gates, and then stopped again, and stared at them ferociously.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡayWoyTwyhO
"Are you good with dogs?" Michael asked him.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5ds9pWUaL
"I'm wonderful with dogs," Harold assured him. "I just lie there and cower and let them eat me alive. Nobody's ever complained to the ASPCA about the way I've treated dogs."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡlESpXe8g0G
Michael glanced at Harold acutely. "Something on your mind?" he asked the latter.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbeBzMv6lN
"Am I that transparent?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2S8u2yqWI
"If you're not making flippant remarks, you're totally silent. Did you see your wife again last night?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡcin4IkiRBi
"No comment."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡxguLS3ynaU
"That bad, huh?" Michael asked Harold.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5W3dq5MR2
"Worse."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3lS73cqUO
Michael came over and unexpectedly took hold of his hand. "I'm sure you'll tell us when you're ready," he said. "Just remember that you don't have to carry this thing on your own. You've got friends now, people who understand what's going on."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡJs5deXhMlr
"Thanks," Harold said, meaning it. "Let's see where we get with old man Knight first. Then we'll go get drunk, and I'll tell you what happened."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwwDzK4FwV
They waited for almost five minutes. Hubert got out of the car, too, and lit a cigarette. Michael rang the bell again, and the Doberman came a little closer, and yelped and yawned all in a single breath.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1Z3T666x1
"Maybe they're not home," suggested Hubert.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgt0uIXLvi
"The guy's a hermit, he never goes out," said Michael. "He's probably peering at us through a crack in one of the shutters, sizing us up."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡccOIPotU3Z
He was about to ring the bell for the third time when the front door of the house suddenly opened, and a tall broad-shouldered man in a gray morning dress appeared. He whistled sharply to the dog, which turned its head, hesitated, and then loped disconsolately away from the gates, as if it was deeply disappointed that it wouldn't get chance to sink its teeth into their calf-muscles.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡPL1OOVVV1t
The broad-shouldered man approached the gates with the slightly-rolling walk of a 60-year-old body builder. The same way that Charles Atlas used to walk. When he came close, Harold could see that he was an Indian; with a magnificent fleshy nose and a face as coppery and wrinkled as a fallen maple-leaf. Although he wore full morning-dress, with a high white collar and a bow-tie, he also wore a long necklace of painted nuts or beads, from which was suspended a silver medallion and a brush of wild turkey feathers. The shoulders of his jacket sparkled with rain.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWJrXd9UYE
"Go now," the Indian said. "You are not welcome here."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbQ2UGqnAu
"That's too bad," Harold told him. "The fact of the matter is, I've got a little something that Mr. Knight may be interested in."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpfoe4ja0l
"There is no one of that name here. Go now," the Indian repeated.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXimofAxaz
"Would you just tell Mr. Knight that my name is Harold Winstanley, that I'm an antique-dealer from Ol' Spithead, and that I have with me a writing case that used to belong to Henry Herrick, Sr. who was one of the jurors at the Salem Witch Trials."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnK2qEIQ2i
"There is no-one called Knight here."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpIBNXF77F
"Come on, pal," Harold coaxed him. "All you have to do is say 'Henry Herrick's writing case.' If Mr. Knight still doesn't want to see us after you've said that, well, we'll call it quits. But at least give him the chance to take a look at it. It's a very rare antique, and I just know that Mr. Knight would be interested."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKDK710Iza
The Indian thought this over for so long that Michael and Harold started to look at one another worriedly. But at last he said, "Stay here, please, gentlemen. I will speak to him."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLy2OYHwPJ
"Speak," said Hubert, pretending to be impressed. "They don't pow-wow anymore. They speak. Next thing you know, they'll be using 'aggressively-oriented cosmetic,' instead of war-paint."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡPa9yLWvr3D
"Can it, Hubert," said Michael.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wnKhvMhem
They waited outside the gates for a further five minutes, maybe longer. The rain had settled down to a fine drizzle by now, but it was still heavy enough to plaster their hair against their heads, and bedraggled Michael's beard. Every now and then, the Doberman, which was waiting for them just out of savaging range, gave itself a brisk and anticipatory shake.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡsw70yVZgsO
Eventually, the tall Indian emerged from the house again, and without a word, unlocked the gates and opened them up. Harold went to the back of the car, and took out the Herrick writing-case, tucking it under his raincoat so that it wouldn't get wet. The Indian waited until they were all inside the grounds, and then locked the gates behind them. The Doberman quivered as they passed, torn between the command it'd been given and its natural bloodlust. Hubert said, "Throw it a leg, Michael. It looks hungry."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iZ9QK5lc9
They climbed the stone steps to the front door, and the Indian ushered them inside. The hallway was paneled in dark oak; with a dark hand-carved staircase on the right-hand side, leading to a galleried landing. On the walls were oil paintings of all the Knights, from Joshua Knight in 1676 to Colin Knight in 1948. They were serious, oval-faced, without a smile between them.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjGm4XSQf6
The Indian said, "Upstairs. I shall take your coats."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHCkHbgGrI
They handed him their raincoats, and after he had hung them up on a huge and hideous hallstand, they followed him up the uncarpeted stairs. On the walls of the landing there were halberds and pikes, fowling-pieces and strange arrangements of metal that looked like torture instruments. There was also a glass case, almost impenetrably dusty, which contained something that could have been a mummified human head.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr1uARfGdr
Throughout the house, there was a smell of staleness and closeness, as if the windows hadn't been opened for twenty years. Yet there were always noises, squeaks and bangings, as if unseen people were moving from room to room, opening and closing doors. There was supposedly nobody here but old man Knight, his alleged granddaughter, and his Indian manservant, but it sounded as if there were a score of other people around. Once, Harold even thought he heard a man laughing.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbLxyPvqGK
The Indian took them along an uncarpeted corridor, with a polished boarded floor, and then into an anteroom, sparsely furnished with English-looking antiques and a broken celestial globe. Above the empty fireplace was an oddly incompetent painting of five or six cats, American shorthairs by the look of them.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTr9d9luQM
"Mr. Knight will be with you by and by," said the Indian, and left them alone.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡdleeQP55wi
"Well," said Michael, "we're in. That's an achievement in its own right."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnuiU28qtO
"It doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to let us see his library," Harold said.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1HCaVMwpC
"That Indian's kind of weird," said Hubert. "He looks so Indian. I haven't seen a face like that outside of an 1860s photograph album."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCYxRPnWUT
They made nervous smalltalk for a while, and then the anteroom door opened, and a girl came in. They all stood up like territory boys at an Oklahoman weeding, and nodded their heads to her, and chorused, "How do you do, miss."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsgJKbMTBg
She stood by the door, one hand on the knob, and looked at us in remote and hostile appraisal. She was quite petite, no more than five-feet-two, with a thin, sharply-cut face, large dark eyes, and straight black hair that fell brushed and glossy halfway down her back. She wore a black linen daydress, simply cut, and yet it appeared from where Harold was standing that she wore nothing underneath. Her shoes were black and shiny with dagger-like toes and extravagantly high heels.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMhposkbYK
"Mr. Knight has asked me to escort you into the library," she said, in a clipped Bostonian accent. Michael raised an eyebrow in his direction. This was definitely chic. But what was she doing here, shuttered up in Tewksbury with an eccentric old hermit and an Indian dressed like William Randolph Hearst? Especially if she wasn't Knight's granddaughter?copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhnMOeCcbw
The girl disappeared, and they had to hurry to follow her through to the next room. She led them across a hallway, her heels clicking on the hardwood floors, and as she passed one of the unshuttered windows, and the gray afternoon light fell through the fine linen of her dress, Harold saw that he had been right. He could even see a mole on the right cheek of her bare butt. He knew that Hubert had noticed, too, because he loudly cleared his throat.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qZm9JyWDa
At last they were admitted to the library. It was a vast, long room, which must have taken up nearly half of the upper floor of the house. At the far end of it, there was an arched window of stained-glass, and the colored light which strained through its amber-and-green panes illuminated the serried spines of thousands and thousands of leather-bound books, as well as huge bound volumes of prints and paintings.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡckWtJlW4wU
Seated at a wide oak table in the middle of the library, with open books spread all around him, sat a white-haired old man, with a face that had shrunken like a monkey's from age and lack of sunlight. It was still possible to recognize him as a Knight, however----he had kept in old age the same oval features as his portrait downstairs, and the downward-drooping eyelids that had distinguished his forebears.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkbc70rJcC
He had been reading with a magnifying-glass. As they came in, he laid it down, and removed his glasses, and examined them long-sightedly. He was wearing a worn-out white shirt, a black cardigan, and black fingerless mittens on his hands. Harold thought he looked rather like an irascible crow.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡgi3fFdZd9C
"You had best introduce yourself," he said, dryly. "It is not often that I permit visitors to interrupt my work, so I had better know who they are."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmXjPHFLLb
"I'm Harold Winstanley; I'm an antique dealer from Ol' Spithead. This is Michael Trotter and Hubert Orr, both from the Peabody Museum."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBwSODTfn6
Colin Knight sniffed in one nostril, and put his glasses back on his nose. "Does it take the three of you to show me a writing-case?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDoVS38Shh
Harold laid the Herrick writing-case down on the table. "It's a fine piece, Mr. Knight. Surely a man of history like yourself is interested in it?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEDsYt9DfV
"But that's not why you came. Not the main reason. Don't play games with me, sir!"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWwkOkYIAl
Harold looked up. The girl in black had stepped away from them, and was standing with her back to one of the bookshelves, watching them closely, almost as closely and almost as carnally as the Doberman had watched them. Harold couldn't tell whether she wanted to rape them or bite their necks, but the look in her eyes was certainly intent, and unswervingly avaricious. In the shadows, her black dress had become opaque again, but the thought of her nudity beneath it was curiously erotic; and somehow dangerous, too.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsYdnRhvKy
Michael said. "You're right, Mr. Knight. We didn't really come here to show you this case, although it's a very rare antique, and I hope you take some pleasure out of seeing it. The real reason we're here is because we very badly need the use of your library."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfdrHbUQOa
Old man Knight sucked at his dentures, and said nothing. copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡMD6iYVDXDd
Michael went on, uncertainly, "The truth is, Mr. Knight, we have a very tricky historical problem, and even though the Peabody has quite a stock of literature and charts and so forth, it doesn't have the relevant material we need to solve this problem. I was hoping---- we were all hoping----that we might find it here."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡirFhF29WyT
There was a very long silence, and then Colin Knight pushed his chair back, and stood up, and walked slowly and thoughtfully around the other side of the table, running his hand along the edge of it to keep his balance.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡvl9IMQUHHJ
"You realize what a massive impertinence this is?" he asked them.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡStmYMlUpix
"It's not really an impertinence, Mr. Knight," Harold put in. "There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of lives at stake. There are some souls at stake, too."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBZhTEk3BS
Colin Knight stiffly raised his head, and stared at Harold with one keenly-focused eye. "Souls, sir?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6e6O1WJIE
"That's right. Souls."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡsB7PzTatit
"Well, now," he said. He approached the writing-case, and touched the initials on the top of it with his chalk-dry fingertips. "Well, now, this is indeed a very fine case. Herrick's you say?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1V50cYFx1g
"Henry Herrick, Senior. The 12th juror at the Salem Witch Trials."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYmE4bF1Uo
"Hm. Appropriate that you should bribe your way into my library with such an item. What's your price?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnZNczHm30
"No price, sir."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4VV58UKFV
"No price? Are you insane?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05UnKYzp0u
"No, Mr. Knight, not insane. What I mean is, I don't want any money for it. All I want is access to your books."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGROt3nbqr
"I see," said Colin Knight. He had opened up the lid of the writing-case a little way, but now he closed it again. "Well, that's not too easy a request for me to grant you. I'm working here, you see. I'm trying to finish my history of 17th-century religion in Massachusetts. The definitive work. I estimate that it will take me another year to finish, and I daren't waste a minute. I could be writing now, you see, rather than talking to you. Supposing I were ten minutes away from finishing my book when I died? Wouldn't I regret this conversation then!"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgv7cBf6lV
"Mr. Knight, we know exactly what we're looking for," said Michael. "If your library is clearly indexed, we shouldn't have to disturb you for more than a day or so. And we could always come at night, when you're asleep."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1m1VKLUjbV
"Hmmm," said Colin Knight. "I never sleep at night. I take three hours during the afternoon; and that I find quite sufficient for my needs."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0BFO5Jcg9
"In that case, may we please come here during the afternoons?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsq9zCKPI6
Colin Knight touched the writing-case again. "This actually belonged to Henry Herrick? You have evidence?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKtMGdyBxK
"There are three short letters in it, in Herrick's authenticated handwriting," Harold told him. "What's more, one of the accounts of the Witch Trials specifically mentioned 'Herrick's letter-box.'"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlK71zcKLt
"I see." Old man Knight opened the case up again, and let his hand stray over the silver-topped inkpots, the sand-shaker, and the ivory-stemmed pens. There was even a piece of green sealing-wax, which must at the latest have been Victorian. "You certainly do tempt me," he said. "I could find considerable inspiration in an item like this."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpVkyuWjkF
The girl in the black dress said, "Maybe your visitors would like some sherry, Colin."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5pTR57qGF
Colin Knight looked up at her, surprised; but then nodded, "Yes, Sarah. Maybe they would. Sherry, gentlemen?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡbc1Wk3vxNh
They accepted, rather uncomfortably, but then Colin Knight beckoned them down to the far end of the library, by the stained-glass window, and offered them a seat on a large leather-upholstered sofa. When they sat down on it, it made a loud noise of escaping air, and clouds of dust surrounded them, like the clouds of battle. Colin Knight eased himself into a brocade armchair, right before them. The green light from the stained-glass window illuminated his face and made him look as if he were dead and moldering already. But there was plenty of intelligence and animation in his eyes, and when he spoke he was both novel and alert.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IGW2frZzL
"I should like to know, of course, what it is that you're looking for. I may be able to help. In fact, if you are looking for anything at all that is here, I am sure to be able to help. I have spent the past fifteen years cataloging and indexing this entire collection, as well as adding to it, from time to time, and selling off some of the less worthwhile prints and books. A library is a living thing, gentlemen. It should never be allowed to become complacent, otherwise its usefulness will wither; and its information become inaccessible to anyone without a pick or a jackhammer. Of course, you don't really understand what I'm talking about, not at this time, but when you start to use this library, if I agree to let you, you will discover at once how human it is. It lives and breathes, as I do; it is at least as alive as I do; it is at least as alive as Sarah and Tyee."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0Q3UI929Q
"Tyee? That's your Indian manservant? The one who showed us in?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡHk3JgoMMVA
"Indeed. He used to work for the Robbins family, years ago, out at New Dunwich; but when the last of them passed away, he came here. No introduction, you know. Just appeared on the doorstep, with his suitcase. Sarah thinks he's a wizard."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WiLSk1kkA
"A wizard?" laughed Hubert.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YBV2vEcxN
Colin Knight gave a twisted, humorless smile. "Stranger things have been known, round and about this part of Massachusetts. Magical country, of its kind. At least it was, before the old families died out, and the old ways were all but forgotten. The first settlers, you see, had to learn what the Indians already knew, that to survive, in this country, you had to come to terms with the native spirits and gods. They didn't have any trouble, of course, accepting the existence of such things. In those days, in the 17th century, they believed without doubt in God and his angels; and in Satan and his demons. So to believe in a few more supernatural forces wasn't a difficult mental jump for them; not like it would be today. They had to rely on the Indians a very great deal, especially in those first hard winters; and many of them came to know the Pawtuckets and the Narragansetts immediately. Some settlers, they say, were more adept at summoning up the Indian spirits than the Indians themselves. It was said that the Robbins could do it; and one of the Knights was supposed to have had a hand in it, too."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2e86YpuKbq
"Mr. Knight," said Michael, very anxious that they shouldn't be sidetracked, "what we're really trying to discover, not to beat around the bush, is the precise location fo the wreck of the George Badger."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfmD0fY2zi
As if right on cue, Sarah came into the library with a small silver tray of sherry. She came click-clacking over to them, and handed it around. For one strangely tantalizing second, she leaned across in front of Harold, and he glimpsed her small bare breasts through her dress. Harold accepted his sherry from her with a smile, but the look she gave him in return was one of pure cold indifference.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFgeBjJfvg
When she had gone, and closed the library door behind her, Colin Knight said, in a phlegm-thickened voice, "The George Badger? What the devil do you know about her?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yvbEtA9eL
"Only that she used to belong to Ahab Marsh, who had christened her after George Badger the evangelist preacher," said Michael. "Only that she set sail from Salem in a terrible storm in 1693 and was never seen again. At least, that's what the history books say. But they also say that every single reference to her was cut from every single logbook and broadsheet, and that Ahab Marsh forbade anyone ever to mention her again. And the inference is that she foundered, quite soon after departing Salem, and was driven back into Lobster Bay by a strong northeasterly wind, and finally went down off Ol' Spithead Neck."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz1Wc2ba4L
Colin Knight sucked in his cheeks, and regarded them thoughtfully. "She sank over 291 years ago," he said, carefully choosing his words. "The likelihood pf there being anything salvageable left of her is slim to nonexistent, wouldn't you say?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHqKV13Fhz
"Not if she really did go down where we think she did," Michael argued. "On the west side of Ol' Spithead peninsula, the bottom is very soft mud, and if the George Badger behaved like every other sinking ship of the time, which we have no reason to doubt that she did, she would have plunged into that mud right up to her waterline, maybe higher, and buried herself within a matter of weeks."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡVk7rvMV5W9
"So?" asked Colin Knight.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQv8gpq6tb
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"If that happened, then the George Badger will still be there. Preserved, right up to the orlop deck, at least. But that means that whatever she was carrying in her hold will be preserved, too."87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZx6dXhRq7
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"You know she was carrying?"copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfs4HYRC4N
"No, not really," said Hubert. "All we know is that the people of Salem were in a hell of a hurry to get rid of it; and that it was contained in a specially-made copper vessel, or could have been."87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYpZzsM20k
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Michael added: "We've been diving in the area, looking for the wreck, for over a year now. I'm sure it's there; I'm convinced of it. But unless we can find some documentary evidence of where she might have sunk, it's going to take us the rest of our lives to locate her. It's not even worth doing echo-soundings until we have a pretty good idea of where she is. There are so many small boats and so many heaps of trawl-nets down there, we'd be forever picking up likely-looking signals, and of course we'd have to dive down and investigate them all."87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tbCBs21yv
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Old man Knight was sipping his sherry all this time; but when Michael had finished, he set down his glass on the table beside him and gave a dry, thin sniff.copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJI3Np2E16
"I simply don't understand why you want to find the wreck of the George Badger?" Colin Knight told them. "What is so desperately urgent about it?"87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchuJoIHFA7
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Harold looked at him carefully. "You know what's in it, don't you?" he asked the old man. "You know what's down there, and why they tried to get rid of it?"87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM76b6FETHE
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Colin Knight looked back at Harold, just as shrewdly, and smiled. "Yes," he admitted. "I know her dirty little secret. And if you can convince me that you have a strong enough reason for salvaging it, and that you know what dangers you may be up against, I'll tell you what it is."copyright protection83ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmmeqaDsPF
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