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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10787-0.txt b/10787-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2651ab5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,491 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10787 *** + +SAILORS' KNOTS + +By W.W. Jacobs + + +1909 + + + +"THE TOLL-HOUSE" + + +"It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the +house; people die in every house. As for the noises--wind in the chimney +and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me +another cup of tea, Meagle." + +"Lester and White are first," said Meagle, who was presiding at the +tea-table of the Three Feathers Inn. "You've had two." + +Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing +between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of +arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. +Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly +expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water. + +"We'll try and keep your nerves in their present healthy condition," he +remarked. "For my part I have a sort of half-and-half belief in the +super-natural." + +"All sensible people have," said Lester. "An aunt of mine saw a ghost +once." + +White nodded. + +"I had an uncle that saw one," he said. + +"It always is somebody else that sees them," said Barnes. + +"Well, there is a house," said Meagle, "a large house at an absurdly low +rent, and nobody will take it. It has taken toll of at least one life of +every family that has lived there--however short the time--and since it +has stood empty caretaker after care-taker has died there. The last +caretaker died fifteen years ago." + +"Exactly," said Barnes. "Long enough ago for legends to accumulate." + +"I'll bet you a sovereign you won't spend the night there alone, for all +your talk," said White, suddenly. + +"And I," said Lester. + +"No," said Barnes slowly. "I don't believe in ghosts nor in any +supernatural things whatever; all the same I admit that I should not care +to pass a night there alone." + +"But why not?" inquired White. + +"Wind in the chimney," said Meagle with a grin. + +"Rats in the wainscot," chimed in Lester. "As you like," said Barnes +coloring. + +"Suppose we all go," said Meagle. "Start after supper, and get there +about eleven. We have been walking for ten days now without an +adventure--except Barnes's discovery that ditchwater smells longest. It +will be a novelty, at any rate, and, if we break the spell by all +surviving, the grateful owner ought to come down handsome." + +"Let's see what the landlord has to say about it first," said Lester. +"There is no fun in passing a night in an ordinary empty house. Let us +make sure that it is haunted." + +He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed to him in the +name of our common humanity not to let them waste a night watching in a +house in which spectres and hobgoblins had no part. The reply was more +than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with considerable art +the exact appearance of a head which had been seen hanging out of a +window in the moonlight, wound up with a polite but urgent request that +they would settle his bill before they went. + +"It's all very well for you young gentlemen to have your fun," he said +indulgently; "but supposing as how you are all found dead in the morning, +what about me? It ain't called the Toll-House for nothing, you know." + +"Who died there last?" inquired Barnes, with an air of polite derision. + +"A tramp," was the reply. "He went there for the sake of half a crown, +and they found him next morning hanging from the balusters, dead." + +"Suicide," said Barnes. "Unsound mind." + +The landlord nodded. "That's what the jury brought it in," he said +slowly; "but his mind was sound enough when he went in there. I'd known +him, off and on, for years. I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the +night in that house for a hundred pounds." + +[Illustration: "I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the night in that +house for a hundred pounds."] + +He repeated this remark as they started on their expedition a few hours +later. They left as the inn was closing for the night; bolts shot +noisily behind them, and, as the regular customers trudged slowly +homewards, they set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the house. +Most of the cottages were already in darkness, and lights in others went +out as they passed. + +"It seems rather hard that we have got to lose a night's rest in order to +convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts," said White. + +"It's in a good cause," said Meagle. "A most worthy object; and +something seems to tell me that we shall succeed. You didn't forget the +candles, Lester?" + +"I have brought two," was the reply; "all the old man could spare." + +There was but little moon, and the night was cloudy. The road between +high hedges was dark, and in one place, where it ran through a wood, so +black that they twice stumbled in the uneven ground at the side of it. + +"Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this!" said White again. "Let +me see; this desirable residential sepulchre lies to the right, doesn't +it?" + +"Farther on," said Meagle. + +They walked on for some time in silence, broken only by White's tribute +to the softness, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the bed which was +receding farther and farther into the distance. Under Meagle's guidance +they turned oft at last to the right, and, after a walk of a quarter of a +mile, saw the gates of the house before them. + +[Illustration: "They saw the gates of the house before them."] + +The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and the drive was choked +with rank growths. Meagle leading, they pushed through it until the dark +pile of the house loomed above them. + +"There is a window at the back where we can get in, so the landlord +says," said Lester, as they stood before the hall door. + +"Window?" said Meagle. "Nonsense. Let's do the thing properly. Where's +the knocker?" + +He felt for it in the darkness and gave a thundering rat-tat-tat at the +door. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes crossly. + +"Ghostly servants are all asleep," said Meagle gravely, "but I'll wake +them up before I've done with them. It's scandalous keeping us out here +in the dark." + +He plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the emptiness +beyond. Then with a sudden exclamation he put out his hands and stumbled +forward. + +"Why, it was open all the time," he said, with an odd catch in his voice. +"Come on." + +"I don't believe it was open," said Lester, hanging back. "Somebody is +playing us a trick." + +"Nonsense," said Meagle sharply. "Give me a candle. Thanks. Who's got +a match?" + +Barnes produced a box and struck one, and Meagle, shielding the candle +with his hand, led the way forward to the foot of the stairs. "Shut the +door, somebody," he said, "there's too much draught." + +"It is shut," said White, glancing behind him. + +Meagle fingered his chin. "Who shut it?" he inquired, looking from one +to the other. "Who came in last?" + +"I did," said Lester, "but I don't remember shutting it--perhaps I did, +though." + +Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and, still carefully +guarding the flame, began to explore the house, with the others close +behind. Shadows danced on the walls and lurked in the corners as they +proceeded. At the end of the passage they found a second staircase, and +ascending it slowly gained the first floor. + +"Careful!" said Meagle, as they gained the landing. + +He held the candle forward and showed where the balusters had broken +away. Then he peered curiously into the void beneath. + +"This is where the tramp hanged himself, I suppose," he said +thoughtfully. + +"You've got an unwholesome mind," said White, as they walked on. "This +place is qutie creepy enough without your remembering that. Now let's +find a comfortable room and have a little nip of whiskey apiece and a +pipe. How will this do?" + +He opened a door at the end of the passage and revealed a small square +room. Meagle led the way with the candle, and, first melting a drop or +two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece. The others seated themselves +on the floor and watched pleasantly as White drew from his pocket a small +bottle of whiskey and a tin cup. + +"H'm! I've forgotten the water," he exclaimed. "I'll soon get some," +said Meagle. + +He tugged violently at the bell-handle, and the rusty jangling of a bell +sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes roughly. + +Meagle laughed. "I only wanted to convince you," he said kindly. "There +ought to be, at any rate, one ghost in the servants' hall." + +Barnes held up his hand for silence. + +"Yes?" said Meagle with a grin at the other two. "Is anybody coming?" + +"Suppose we drop this game and go back," said Barnes suddenly. "I don't +believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command. You may +laugh as you like, but it really seemed to me that I heard a door open +below and steps on the stairs." + +His voice was drowned in a roar of laughter. + +"He is coming round," said Meagle with a smirk. "By the time I have done +with him he will be a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some +water? Will you, Barnes?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"If there is any it might not be safe to drink after all these years," +said Lester. "We must do without it." + +Meagle nodded, and taking a seat on the floor held out his hand for the +cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome smell of tobacco filled the +room. White produced a pack of cards; talk and laughter rang through the +room and died away reluctantly in distant corridors. + +"Empty rooms always delude me into the belief that I possess a deep +voice," said Meagle. "To-morrow----" + +He started up with a smothered exclamation as the light went out suddenly +and something struck him on the head. The others sprang to their feet. +Then Meagle laughed. + +"It's the candle," he exclaimed. "I didn't stick it enough." + +Barnes struck a match and relighting the candle stuck it on the +mantelpiece, and sitting down took up his cards again. + +"What was I going to say?" said Meagle. "Oh, I know; to-morrow I----" + +"Listen!" said White, laying his hand on the other's sleeve. "Upon my +word I really thought I heard a laugh." + +"Look here!" said Barnes. "What do you say to going back? I've had +enough of this. I keep fancying that I hear things too; sounds of +something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's only fancy, +but it's uncomfortable." + +"You go if you want to," said Meagle, "and we will play dummy. Or you +might ask the tramp to take your hand for you, as you go downstairs." + +Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up and, walking to the +half-closed door, listened. + +"Go outside," said Meagle, winking at the other two. "I'll dare you to +go down to the hall door and back by yourself." + +Barnes came back and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle. + +"I am nervous but rational," he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. +"My nerves tell me that there is something prowling up and down the long +passage outside; my reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where are +my cards?" + +He sat down again, and taking up his hand, looked through it carefully +and led. + +"Your play, White," he said after a pause. White made no sign. + +"Why, he is asleep," said Meagle. "Wake up, old man. Wake up and play." + +Lester, who was sitting next to him, took the sleeping man by the arm and +shook him, gently at first and then with some roughness; but White, with +his back against the wall and his head bowed, made no sign. Meagle +bawled in his ear and then turned a puzzled face to the others. + +"He sleeps like the dead," he said, grimacing. "Well, there are still +three of us to keep each other company." + +"Yes," said Lester, nodding. "Unless--Good Lord! suppose----" + +He broke off and eyed them trembling. + +"Suppose what?" inquired Meagle. + +"Nothing," stammered Lester. "Let's wake him. Try him again. _White! +White!_" + +"It's no good," said Meagle seriously; "there's something wrong about +that sleep." + +"That's what I meant," said Lester; "and if he goes to sleep like that, +why shouldn't----" + +Meagle sprang to his feet. "Nonsense," he said roughly. "He's tired +out; that's all. Still, let's take him up and clear out. You take his +legs and Barnes will lead the way with the candle. Yes? Who's that?" + +He looked up quickly towards the door. "Thought I heard somebody tap," +he said with a shamefaced laugh. "Now, Lester, up with him. One, two-- +Lester! Lester!" + +He sprang forward too late; Lester, with his face buried in his arms, had +rolled over on the floor fast asleep, and his utmost efforts failed to +awaken him. + +"He--is--asleep," he stammered. "'Asleep!" + +Barnes, who had taken the candle from the mantel-piece, stood peering at +the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor. + +[Illustration: "Barnes, stood peering at the sleepers in silence and +dropping tallow over the floor."] + +"We must get out of this," said Meagle. "Quick!" Barnes hesitated. "We +can't leave them here--" he began. + +"We must," said Meagle in strident tones. "If you go to sleep I shall +go--Quick! Come." + +He seized the other by the arm and strove to drag him to the door. +Barnes shook him off, and putting the candle back on the mantelpiece, +tried again to arouse the sleepers. + +"It's no good," he said at last, and, turning from them, watched Meagle. +"Don't you go to sleep," he said anxiously. + +Meagle shook his head, and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. +"May as well shut the door," said Barnes at last. + +He crossed over and closed it gently. Then at a scuffling noise behind +him he turned and saw Meagle in a heap on the hearthstone. + +With a sharp catch in his breath he stood motionless. Inside the room +the candle, fluttering in the draught, showed dimly the grotesque +attitudes of the sleepers. Beyond the door there seemed to his over- +wrought imagination a strange and stealthy unrest. He tried to whistle, +but his lips were parched, and in a mechanical fashion he stooped, and +began to pick up the cards which littered the floor. + +He stopped once or twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest +outside seemed to increase; a loud creaking sounded from the stairs. + +"Who is there?" he cried loudly. + +The creaking ceased. He crossed to the door and flinging it open, strode +out into the corridor. As he walked his fears left him suddenly. + +"Come on!" he cried with a low laugh. "All of you! All of you! Show +your faces--your infernal ugly faces! Don't skulk!" + +He laughed again and walked on; and the heap in the fireplace put out his +head tortoise fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. +Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did the listeners' +features relax. + +"Good Lord, Lester, we've driven him mad," he said in a frightened +whisper. "We must go after him." + +There was no reply. Meagle sprung to his feet. "Do you hear?" he +cried. "Stop your fooling now; this is serious. White! Lester! Do you +hear?" + +He bent and surveyed them in angry bewilderment. "All right," he said in +a trembling voice. "You won't frighten me, you know." + +He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness in the direction +of the door. He even went outside and peeped through the crack, but the +sleepers did not stir. He glanced into the blackness behind, and then +came hastily into the room again. + +He stood for a few seconds regarding them. The stillness in the house +was horrible; he could not even hear them breathe. With a sudden +resolution he snatched the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame +to White's finger. Then as he reeled back stupefied the footsteps again +became audible. + +He stood with the candle in his shaking hand listening. He heard them +ascending the farther staircase, but they stopped suddenly as he went to +the door. He walked a little way along the passage, and they went +scurrying down the stairs and then at a jog-trot along the corridor +below. He went back to the main staircase, and they ceased again. + +For a time he hung over the balusters, listening and trying to pierce the +blackness below; then slowly, step by step, he made his way downstairs, +and, holding the candle above his head, peered about him. + +"Barnes!" he called. "Where are you?" Shaking with fright, he made his +way along the passage, and summoning up all his courage pushed open doors +and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then, quite suddenly, he heard the +footsteps in front of him. + +He followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they led +him at last into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken floor. +In front of him a door leading into an inside room had just closed. He +ran towards it and flung it open, and a cold air blew out the candle. He +stood aghast. + +[Illustration: "Into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken +floor."] + +"Barnes!" he cried again. "Don't be afraid! It is I--Meagle!" + +There was no answer. He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time +the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him. Then suddenly +the steps broke out overhead again. + +He drew back hastily, and passing through the kitchen groped his way +along the narrow passages. He could now see better in the darkness, and +finding himself at last at the foot of the staircase began to ascend it +noiselessly. He reached the landing just in time to see a figure +disappear round the angle of a wall. Still careful to make no noise, he +followed the sound of the steps until they led him to the top floor, and +he cornered the chase at the end of a short passage. + +"Barnes!" he whispered. "Barnes!" + +Something stirred in the darkness. A small circular window at the end of +the passage just softened the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of +a motionless figure. Meagle, in place of advancing, stood almost as +still as a sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes +fixed on the shape in front he fell back slowly and, as it advanced upon +him, burst into a terrible cry. + +"Barnes! For God's sake! Is it you?" + +The echoes of his voice left the air quivering, but the figure before him +paid no heed. For a moment he tried to brace his courage up to endure +its approach, then with a smothered cry he turned and fled. + +The passages wound like a maze, and he threaded them blindly in a vain +search for the stairs. If he could get down and open the hall door---- + +He caught his breath in a sob; the steps had begun again. At a lumbering +trot they clattered up and down the bare passages, in and out, up and +down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled, and then as they +drew near entered a small room and stood behind the door as they rushed +by. He came out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction, +and in a moment the steps were after him. He found the long corridor and +raced along it at top speed. The stairs he knew were at the end, and +with the steps close behind he descended them in blind haste. The steps +gained on him, and he shrank to the side to let them pass, still +continuing his headlong flight. Then suddenly he seemed to slip off the +earth into space. + + +Lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming into the room, +and White sitting up and regarding with some perplexity a badly blistered +finger. + +"Where are the others?" inquired Lester. "Gone, I suppose," said White. +"We must have been asleep." + +Lester arose, and stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes with +his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed. At the noise +of their approach a figure which had been lying asleep at the other end +sat up and revealed the face of Barnes. "Why, I've been asleep," he said +in surprise. "I don't remember coming here. How did I get here?" + +"Nice place to come for a nap," said Lester, severely, as he pointed to +the gap in the balusters. "Look there! Another yard and where would you +have been?" + +He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In response to his +startled cry the others drew near, and all three stood gazing at the dead +man below. + +[Illustration: "All three stood gazing at the dead man below."] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. Jacobs + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10787 *** diff --git a/10787-h.zip b/10787-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c98cc6f --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h.zip diff --git a/10787-h/026.jpg b/10787-h/026.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ef2b1f --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/026.jpg diff --git a/10787-h/027.jpg b/10787-h/027.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..63d3045 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/027.jpg diff --git a/10787-h/028.jpg b/10787-h/028.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9eb4da2 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/028.jpg diff --git a/10787-h/029.jpg b/10787-h/029.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..267fc63 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/029.jpg diff --git a/10787-h/030.jpg b/10787-h/030.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..176cfd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/030.jpg diff --git a/10787-h/10787-h.htm b/10787-h/10787-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8aa1e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/10787-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1188 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<meta content="pg2html (binary version 0.12a)" + name="generator"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + Sailors' Knots: "THE TOLL HOUSE" + by W.W. Jacobs. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times; + } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin: 15%; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. Jacobs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Toll-House + Sailor's Knots, Part 7. + +Author: W.W. Jacobs + +Release Date: January 22, 2004 [EBook #10787] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL-HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1> + SAILORS' KNOTS +</h1> +<br /> +<h2> + By W.W. Jacobs +</h2> +<br /><br /> +<h3> + 1909 +</h3> + +<br><br> +<h2>Part 7.</h2> + + +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="title (50K)" src="title.jpg" height="718" width="453" /> +</center> +<br><br> +<br /><br /> +<hr> +<br /><br /> + + +<h2>List of Illustrations</h2> +<br /> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + + + + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-26"> +"I'm a Poor Man, But I Wouldn't Spend the Night in That +House for a Hundred Pounds." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-27"> +"They Saw the Gates of The House Before Them." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-28"> +"Barnes, Stood Peering at the Sleepers in Silence And +Dropping Tallow over the Floor." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-29"> +"Into a Vast Bare Kitchen With Damp Walls and A Broken +Floor." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-30"> +"All Three Stood Gazing at the Dead Man Below." +</a></p> + + + + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + + + + +<a name="2H_4_7"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + "THE TOLL-HOUSE" +</h2> +<p> + "It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the + house; people die in every house. As for the noises—wind in the chimney + and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me + another cup of tea, Meagle." +</p> +<p> + "Lester and White are first," said Meagle, who was presiding at the + tea-table of the Three Feathers Inn. "You've had two." +</p> +<p> + Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing + between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of + arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. + Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly + expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water. +</p> +<p> + "We'll try and keep your nerves in their present healthy condition," he + remarked. "For my part I have a sort of half-and-half belief in the + super-natural." +</p> +<p> + "All sensible people have," said Lester. "An aunt of mine saw a ghost + once." +</p> +<p> + White nodded. +</p> +<p> + "I had an uncle that saw one," he said. +</p> +<p> + "It always is somebody else that sees them," said Barnes. +</p> +<p> + "Well, there is a house," said Meagle, "a large house at an absurdly low + rent, and nobody will take it. It has taken toll of at least one life of + every family that has lived there—however short the time—and since it + has stood empty caretaker after care-taker has died there. The last + caretaker died fifteen years ago." +</p> +<p> + "Exactly," said Barnes. "Long enough ago for legends to accumulate." +</p> +<p> + "I'll bet you a sovereign you won't spend the night there alone, for all + your talk," said White, suddenly. +</p> +<p> + "And I," said Lester. +</p> +<p> + "No," said Barnes slowly. "I don't believe in ghosts nor in any + supernatural things whatever; all the same I admit that I should not care + to pass a night there alone." +</p> +<p> + "But why not?" inquired White. +</p> +<p> + "Wind in the chimney," said Meagle with a grin. +</p> +<p> + "Rats in the wainscot," chimed in Lester. "As you like," said Barnes + coloring. +</p> +<p> + "Suppose we all go," said Meagle. "Start after supper, and get there + about eleven. We have been walking for ten days now without an + adventure—except Barnes's discovery that ditchwater smells longest. It + will be a novelty, at any rate, and, if we break the spell by all + surviving, the grateful owner ought to come down handsome." +</p> +<p> + "Let's see what the landlord has to say about it first," said Lester. + "There is no fun in passing a night in an ordinary empty house. Let us + make sure that it is haunted." +</p> +<p> + He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed to him in the + name of our common humanity not to let them waste a night watching in a + house in which spectres and hobgoblins had no part. The reply was more + than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with considerable art + the exact appearance of a head which had been seen hanging out of a + window in the moonlight, wound up with a polite but urgent request that + they would settle his bill before they went. +</p> +<p> + "It's all very well for you young gentlemen to have your fun," he said + indulgently; "but supposing as how you are all found dead in the morning, + what about me? It ain't called the Toll-House for nothing, you know." +</p> +<p> + "Who died there last?" inquired Barnes, with an air of polite derision. +</p> +<p> + "A tramp," was the reply. "He went there for the sake of half a crown, + and they found him next morning hanging from the balusters, dead." +</p> +<p> + "Suicide," said Barnes. "Unsound mind." +</p> +<p> + The landlord nodded. "That's what the jury brought it in," he said + slowly; "but his mind was sound enough when he went in there. I'd known + him, off and on, for years. I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the + night in that house for a hundred pounds." +</p> +<a name="image-26"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="026.jpg" height="461" width="455" +alt="'I'm a Poor Man, But I Wouldn't Spend the Night in That +House for a Hundred Pounds.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + He repeated this remark as they started on their expedition a few hours + later. They left as the inn was closing for the night; bolts shot + noisily behind them, and, as the regular customers trudged slowly + homewards, they set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the house. + Most of the cottages were already in darkness, and lights in others went + out as they passed. +</p> +<p> + "It seems rather hard that we have got to lose a night's rest in order to + convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts," said White. +</p> +<p> + "It's in a good cause," said Meagle. "A most worthy object; and + something seems to tell me that we shall succeed. You didn't forget the + candles, Lester?" +</p> +<p> + "I have brought two," was the reply; "all the old man could spare." +</p> +<p> + There was but little moon, and the night was cloudy. The road between + high hedges was dark, and in one place, where it ran through a wood, so + black that they twice stumbled in the uneven ground at the side of it. +</p> +<p> + "Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this!" said White again. "Let + me see; this desirable residential sepulchre lies to the right, doesn't + it?" +</p> +<p> + "Farther on," said Meagle. +</p> +<p> + They walked on for some time in silence, broken only by White's tribute + to the softness, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the bed which was + receding farther and farther into the distance. Under Meagle's guidance + they turned oft at last to the right, and, after a walk of a quarter of a + mile, saw the gates of the house before them. +</p> +<a name="image-27"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="027.jpg" height="334" width="448" +alt="'They Saw the Gates of The House Before Them.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and the drive was choked + with rank growths. Meagle leading, they pushed through it until the dark + pile of the house loomed above them. +</p> +<p> + "There is a window at the back where we can get in, so the landlord + says," said Lester, as they stood before the hall door. +</p> +<p> + "Window?" said Meagle. "Nonsense. Let's do the thing properly. Where's + the knocker?" +</p> +<p> + He felt for it in the darkness and gave a thundering rat-tat-tat at the + door. +</p> +<p> + "Don't play the fool," said Barnes crossly. +</p> +<p> + "Ghostly servants are all asleep," said Meagle gravely, "but I'll wake + them up before I've done with them. It's scandalous keeping us out here + in the dark." +</p> +<p> + He plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the emptiness + beyond. Then with a sudden exclamation he put out his hands and stumbled + forward. +</p> +<p> + "Why, it was open all the time," he said, with an odd catch in his voice. + "Come on." +</p> +<p> + "I don't believe it was open," said Lester, hanging back. "Somebody is + playing us a trick." +</p> +<p> + "Nonsense," said Meagle sharply. "Give me a candle. Thanks. Who's got + a match?" +</p> +<p> + Barnes produced a box and struck one, and Meagle, shielding the candle + with his hand, led the way forward to the foot of the stairs. "Shut the + door, somebody," he said, "there's too much draught." +</p> +<p> + "It is shut," said White, glancing behind him. +</p> +<p> + Meagle fingered his chin. "Who shut it?" he inquired, looking from one + to the other. "Who came in last?" +</p> +<p> + "I did," said Lester, "but I don't remember shutting it—perhaps I did, + though." +</p> +<p> + Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and, still carefully + guarding the flame, began to explore the house, with the others close + behind. Shadows danced on the walls and lurked in the corners as they + proceeded. At the end of the passage they found a second staircase, and + ascending it slowly gained the first floor. +</p> +<p> + "Careful!" said Meagle, as they gained the landing. +</p> +<p> + He held the candle forward and showed where the balusters had broken + away. Then he peered curiously into the void beneath. +</p> +<p> + "This is where the tramp hanged himself, I suppose," he said + thoughtfully. +</p> +<p> + "You've got an unwholesome mind," said White, as they walked on. "This + place is qutie creepy enough without your remembering that. Now let's + find a comfortable room and have a little nip of whiskey apiece and a + pipe. How will this do?" +</p> +<p> + He opened a door at the end of the passage and revealed a small square + room. Meagle led the way with the candle, and, first melting a drop or + two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece. The others seated themselves + on the floor and watched pleasantly as White drew from his pocket a small + bottle of whiskey and a tin cup. +</p> +<p> + "H'm! I've forgotten the water," he exclaimed. "I'll soon get some," + said Meagle. +</p> +<p> + He tugged violently at the bell-handle, and the rusty jangling of a bell + sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again. +</p> +<p> + "Don't play the fool," said Barnes roughly. +</p> +<p> + Meagle laughed. "I only wanted to convince you," he said kindly. "There + ought to be, at any rate, one ghost in the servants' hall." +</p> +<p> + Barnes held up his hand for silence. +</p> +<p> + "Yes?" said Meagle with a grin at the other two. "Is anybody coming?" +</p> +<p> + "Suppose we drop this game and go back," said Barnes suddenly. "I don't + believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command. You may + laugh as you like, but it really seemed to me that I heard a door open + below and steps on the stairs." +</p> +<p> + His voice was drowned in a roar of laughter. +</p> +<p> + "He is coming round," said Meagle with a smirk. "By the time I have done + with him he will be a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some + water? Will you, Barnes?" +</p> +<p> + "No," was the reply. +</p> +<p> + "If there is any it might not be safe to drink after all these years," + said Lester. "We must do without it." +</p> +<p> + Meagle nodded, and taking a seat on the floor held out his hand for the + cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome smell of tobacco filled the + room. White produced a pack of cards; talk and laughter rang through the + room and died away reluctantly in distant corridors. +</p> +<p> + "Empty rooms always delude me into the belief that I possess a deep + voice," said Meagle. "To-morrow——" +</p> +<p> + He started up with a smothered exclamation as the light went out suddenly + and something struck him on the head. The others sprang to their feet. + Then Meagle laughed. +</p> +<p> + "It's the candle," he exclaimed. "I didn't stick it enough." +</p> +<p> + Barnes struck a match and relighting the candle stuck it on the + mantelpiece, and sitting down took up his cards again. +</p> +<p> + "What was I going to say?" said Meagle. "Oh, I know; to-morrow I——" +</p> +<p> + "Listen!" said White, laying his hand on the other's sleeve. "Upon my + word I really thought I heard a laugh." +</p> +<p> + "Look here!" said Barnes. "What do you say to going back? I've had + enough of this. I keep fancying that I hear things too; sounds of + something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's only fancy, + but it's uncomfortable." +</p> +<p> + "You go if you want to," said Meagle, "and we will play dummy. Or you + might ask the tramp to take your hand for you, as you go downstairs." +</p> +<p> + Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up and, walking to the + half-closed door, listened. +</p> +<p> + "Go outside," said Meagle, winking at the other two. "I'll dare you to + go down to the hall door and back by yourself." +</p> +<p> + Barnes came back and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle. +</p> +<p> + "I am nervous but rational," he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. + "My nerves tell me that there is something prowling up and down the long + passage outside; my reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where are + my cards?" +</p> +<p> + He sat down again, and taking up his hand, looked through it carefully + and led. +</p> +<p> + "Your play, White," he said after a pause. White made no sign. +</p> +<p> + "Why, he is asleep," said Meagle. "Wake up, old man. Wake up and play." +</p> +<p> + Lester, who was sitting next to him, took the sleeping man by the arm and + shook him, gently at first and then with some roughness; but White, with + his back against the wall and his head bowed, made no sign. Meagle + bawled in his ear and then turned a puzzled face to the others. +</p> +<p> + "He sleeps like the dead," he said, grimacing. "Well, there are still + three of us to keep each other company." +</p> +<p> + "Yes," said Lester, nodding. "Unless—Good Lord! suppose——" +</p> +<p> + He broke off and eyed them trembling. +</p> +<p> + "Suppose what?" inquired Meagle. +</p> +<p> + "Nothing," stammered Lester. "Let's wake him. Try him again. <i>White! + White!</i>" +</p> +<p> + "It's no good," said Meagle seriously; "there's something wrong about + that sleep." +</p> +<p> + "That's what I meant," said Lester; "and if he goes to sleep like that, + why shouldn't——" +</p> +<p> + Meagle sprang to his feet. "Nonsense," he said roughly. "He's tired + out; that's all. Still, let's take him up and clear out. You take his + legs and Barnes will lead the way with the candle. Yes? Who's that?" +</p> +<p> + He looked up quickly towards the door. "Thought I heard somebody tap," + he said with a shamefaced laugh. "Now, Lester, up with him. One, two— + Lester! Lester!" +</p> +<p> + He sprang forward too late; Lester, with his face buried in his arms, had + rolled over on the floor fast asleep, and his utmost efforts failed to + awaken him. +</p> +<p> + "He—is—asleep," he stammered. "'Asleep!" +</p> +<p> + Barnes, who had taken the candle from the mantel-piece, stood peering at + the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor. +</p> +<a name="image-28"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="028.jpg" height="453" width="458" +alt="'Barnes, Stood Peering at the Sleepers in Silence And +Dropping Tallow over the Floor.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + "We must get out of this," said Meagle. "Quick!" Barnes hesitated. "We + can't leave them here—" he began. +</p> +<p> + "We must," said Meagle in strident tones. "If you go to sleep I shall + go—Quick! Come." +</p> +<p> + He seized the other by the arm and strove to drag him to the door. + Barnes shook him off, and putting the candle back on the mantelpiece, + tried again to arouse the sleepers. +</p> +<p> + "It's no good," he said at last, and, turning from them, watched Meagle. + "Don't you go to sleep," he said anxiously. +</p> +<p> + Meagle shook his head, and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. + "May as well shut the door," said Barnes at last. +</p> +<p> + He crossed over and closed it gently. Then at a scuffling noise behind + him he turned and saw Meagle in a heap on the hearthstone. +</p> +<p> + With a sharp catch in his breath he stood motionless. Inside the room + the candle, fluttering in the draught, showed dimly the grotesque + attitudes of the sleepers. Beyond the door there seemed to his over- + wrought imagination a strange and stealthy unrest. He tried to whistle, + but his lips were parched, and in a mechanical fashion he stooped, and + began to pick up the cards which littered the floor. +</p> +<p> + He stopped once or twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest + outside seemed to increase; a loud creaking sounded from the stairs. +</p> +<p> + "Who is there?" he cried loudly. +</p> +<p> + The creaking ceased. He crossed to the door and flinging it open, strode + out into the corridor. As he walked his fears left him suddenly. +</p> +<p> + "Come on!" he cried with a low laugh. "All of you! All of you! Show + your faces—your infernal ugly faces! Don't skulk!" +</p> +<p> + He laughed again and walked on; and the heap in the fireplace put out his + head tortoise fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. + Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did the listeners' + features relax. +</p> +<p> + "Good Lord, Lester, we've driven him mad," he said in a frightened + whisper. "We must go after him." +</p> +<p> + There was no reply. Meagle sprung to his feet. "Do you hear?" he + cried. "Stop your fooling now; this is serious. White! Lester! Do you + hear?" +</p> +<p> + He bent and surveyed them in angry bewilderment. "All right," he said in + a trembling voice. "You won't frighten me, you know." +</p> +<p> + He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness in the direction + of the door. He even went outside and peeped through the crack, but the + sleepers did not stir. He glanced into the blackness behind, and then + came hastily into the room again. +</p> +<p> + He stood for a few seconds regarding them. The stillness in the house + was horrible; he could not even hear them breathe. With a sudden + resolution he snatched the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame + to White's finger. Then as he reeled back stupefied the footsteps again + became audible. +</p> +<p> + He stood with the candle in his shaking hand listening. He heard them + ascending the farther staircase, but they stopped suddenly as he went to + the door. He walked a little way along the passage, and they went + scurrying down the stairs and then at a jog-trot along the corridor + below. He went back to the main staircase, and they ceased again. +</p> +<p> + For a time he hung over the balusters, listening and trying to pierce the + blackness below; then slowly, step by step, he made his way downstairs, + and, holding the candle above his head, peered about him. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes!" he called. "Where are you?" Shaking with fright, he made his + way along the passage, and summoning up all his courage pushed open doors + and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then, quite suddenly, he heard the + footsteps in front of him. +</p> +<p> + He followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they led + him at last into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken floor. + In front of him a door leading into an inside room had just closed. He + ran towards it and flung it open, and a cold air blew out the candle. He + stood aghast. +</p> +<a name="image-29"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="029.jpg" height="487" width="453" +alt="'Into a Vast Bare Kitchen With Damp Walls and A Broken +Floor.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + "Barnes!" he cried again. "Don't be afraid! It is I—Meagle!" +</p> +<p> + There was no answer. He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time + the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him. Then suddenly + the steps broke out overhead again. +</p> +<p> + He drew back hastily, and passing through the kitchen groped his way + along the narrow passages. He could now see better in the darkness, and + finding himself at last at the foot of the staircase began to ascend it + noiselessly. He reached the landing just in time to see a figure + disappear round the angle of a wall. Still careful to make no noise, he + followed the sound of the steps until they led him to the top floor, and + he cornered the chase at the end of a short passage. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes!" he whispered. "Barnes!" +</p> +<p> + Something stirred in the darkness. A small circular window at the end of + the passage just softened the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of + a motionless figure. Meagle, in place of advancing, stood almost as + still as a sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes + fixed on the shape in front he fell back slowly and, as it advanced upon + him, burst into a terrible cry. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes! For God's sake! Is it you?" +</p> +<p> + The echoes of his voice left the air quivering, but the figure before him + paid no heed. For a moment he tried to brace his courage up to endure + its approach, then with a smothered cry he turned and fled. +</p> +<p> + The passages wound like a maze, and he threaded them blindly in a vain + search for the stairs. If he could get down and open the hall door—— +</p> +<p> + He caught his breath in a sob; the steps had begun again. At a lumbering + trot they clattered up and down the bare passages, in and out, up and + down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled, and then as they + drew near entered a small room and stood behind the door as they rushed + by. He came out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction, + and in a moment the steps were after him. He found the long corridor and + raced along it at top speed. The stairs he knew were at the end, and + with the steps close behind he descended them in blind haste. The steps + gained on him, and he shrank to the side to let them pass, still + continuing his headlong flight. Then suddenly he seemed to slip off the + earth into space. +</p> +<p> + Lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming into the room, + and White sitting up and regarding with some perplexity a badly blistered + finger. +</p> +<p> + "Where are the others?" inquired Lester. "Gone, I suppose," said White. + "We must have been asleep." +</p> +<p> + Lester arose, and stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes with + his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed. At the noise + of their approach a figure which had been lying asleep at the other end + sat up and revealed the face of Barnes. "Why, I've been asleep," he said + in surprise. "I don't remember coming here. How did I get here?" +</p> +<p> + "Nice place to come for a nap," said Lester, severely, as he pointed to + the gap in the balusters. "Look there! Another yard and where would you + have been?" +</p> +<p> + He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In response to his + startled cry the others drew near, and all three stood gazing at the dead + man below. +</p> +<a name="image-30"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="030.jpg" height="694" width="491" +alt="'All Three Stood Gazing at the Dead Man Below.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/10787-h/title.jpg b/10787-h/title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84180c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787-h/title.jpg diff --git a/10787.txt b/10787.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89ff534 --- /dev/null +++ b/10787.txt @@ -0,0 +1,910 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. Jacobs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Toll-House + Sailor's Knots, Part 7. + +Author: W.W. Jacobs + +Release Date: January 22, 2004 [EBook #10787] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL-HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +SAILORS' KNOTS + +By W.W. Jacobs + + +1909 + + + +"THE TOLL-HOUSE" + + +"It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the +house; people die in every house. As for the noises--wind in the chimney +and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me +another cup of tea, Meagle." + +"Lester and White are first," said Meagle, who was presiding at the +tea-table of the Three Feathers Inn. "You've had two." + +Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing +between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of +arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. +Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly +expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water. + +"We'll try and keep your nerves in their present healthy condition," he +remarked. "For my part I have a sort of half-and-half belief in the +super-natural." + +"All sensible people have," said Lester. "An aunt of mine saw a ghost +once." + +White nodded. + +"I had an uncle that saw one," he said. + +"It always is somebody else that sees them," said Barnes. + +"Well, there is a house," said Meagle, "a large house at an absurdly low +rent, and nobody will take it. It has taken toll of at least one life of +every family that has lived there--however short the time--and since it +has stood empty caretaker after care-taker has died there. The last +caretaker died fifteen years ago." + +"Exactly," said Barnes. "Long enough ago for legends to accumulate." + +"I'll bet you a sovereign you won't spend the night there alone, for all +your talk," said White, suddenly. + +"And I," said Lester. + +"No," said Barnes slowly. "I don't believe in ghosts nor in any +supernatural things whatever; all the same I admit that I should not care +to pass a night there alone." + +"But why not?" inquired White. + +"Wind in the chimney," said Meagle with a grin. + +"Rats in the wainscot," chimed in Lester. "As you like," said Barnes +coloring. + +"Suppose we all go," said Meagle. "Start after supper, and get there +about eleven. We have been walking for ten days now without an +adventure--except Barnes's discovery that ditchwater smells longest. It +will be a novelty, at any rate, and, if we break the spell by all +surviving, the grateful owner ought to come down handsome." + +"Let's see what the landlord has to say about it first," said Lester. +"There is no fun in passing a night in an ordinary empty house. Let us +make sure that it is haunted." + +He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed to him in the +name of our common humanity not to let them waste a night watching in a +house in which spectres and hobgoblins had no part. The reply was more +than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with considerable art +the exact appearance of a head which had been seen hanging out of a +window in the moonlight, wound up with a polite but urgent request that +they would settle his bill before they went. + +"It's all very well for you young gentlemen to have your fun," he said +indulgently; "but supposing as how you are all found dead in the morning, +what about me? It ain't called the Toll-House for nothing, you know." + +"Who died there last?" inquired Barnes, with an air of polite derision. + +"A tramp," was the reply. "He went there for the sake of half a crown, +and they found him next morning hanging from the balusters, dead." + +"Suicide," said Barnes. "Unsound mind." + +The landlord nodded. "That's what the jury brought it in," he said +slowly; "but his mind was sound enough when he went in there. I'd known +him, off and on, for years. I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the +night in that house for a hundred pounds." + +[Illustration: "I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the night in that +house for a hundred pounds."] + +He repeated this remark as they started on their expedition a few hours +later. They left as the inn was closing for the night; bolts shot +noisily behind them, and, as the regular customers trudged slowly +homewards, they set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the house. +Most of the cottages were already in darkness, and lights in others went +out as they passed. + +"It seems rather hard that we have got to lose a night's rest in order to +convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts," said White. + +"It's in a good cause," said Meagle. "A most worthy object; and +something seems to tell me that we shall succeed. You didn't forget the +candles, Lester?" + +"I have brought two," was the reply; "all the old man could spare." + +There was but little moon, and the night was cloudy. The road between +high hedges was dark, and in one place, where it ran through a wood, so +black that they twice stumbled in the uneven ground at the side of it. + +"Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this!" said White again. "Let +me see; this desirable residential sepulchre lies to the right, doesn't +it?" + +"Farther on," said Meagle. + +They walked on for some time in silence, broken only by White's tribute +to the softness, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the bed which was +receding farther and farther into the distance. Under Meagle's guidance +they turned oft at last to the right, and, after a walk of a quarter of a +mile, saw the gates of the house before them. + +[Illustration: "They saw the gates of the house before them."] + +The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and the drive was choked +with rank growths. Meagle leading, they pushed through it until the dark +pile of the house loomed above them. + +"There is a window at the back where we can get in, so the landlord +says," said Lester, as they stood before the hall door. + +"Window?" said Meagle. "Nonsense. Let's do the thing properly. Where's +the knocker?" + +He felt for it in the darkness and gave a thundering rat-tat-tat at the +door. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes crossly. + +"Ghostly servants are all asleep," said Meagle gravely, "but I'll wake +them up before I've done with them. It's scandalous keeping us out here +in the dark." + +He plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the emptiness +beyond. Then with a sudden exclamation he put out his hands and stumbled +forward. + +"Why, it was open all the time," he said, with an odd catch in his voice. +"Come on." + +"I don't believe it was open," said Lester, hanging back. "Somebody is +playing us a trick." + +"Nonsense," said Meagle sharply. "Give me a candle. Thanks. Who's got +a match?" + +Barnes produced a box and struck one, and Meagle, shielding the candle +with his hand, led the way forward to the foot of the stairs. "Shut the +door, somebody," he said, "there's too much draught." + +"It is shut," said White, glancing behind him. + +Meagle fingered his chin. "Who shut it?" he inquired, looking from one +to the other. "Who came in last?" + +"I did," said Lester, "but I don't remember shutting it--perhaps I did, +though." + +Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and, still carefully +guarding the flame, began to explore the house, with the others close +behind. Shadows danced on the walls and lurked in the corners as they +proceeded. At the end of the passage they found a second staircase, and +ascending it slowly gained the first floor. + +"Careful!" said Meagle, as they gained the landing. + +He held the candle forward and showed where the balusters had broken +away. Then he peered curiously into the void beneath. + +"This is where the tramp hanged himself, I suppose," he said +thoughtfully. + +"You've got an unwholesome mind," said White, as they walked on. "This +place is qutie creepy enough without your remembering that. Now let's +find a comfortable room and have a little nip of whiskey apiece and a +pipe. How will this do?" + +He opened a door at the end of the passage and revealed a small square +room. Meagle led the way with the candle, and, first melting a drop or +two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece. The others seated themselves +on the floor and watched pleasantly as White drew from his pocket a small +bottle of whiskey and a tin cup. + +"H'm! I've forgotten the water," he exclaimed. "I'll soon get some," +said Meagle. + +He tugged violently at the bell-handle, and the rusty jangling of a bell +sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes roughly. + +Meagle laughed. "I only wanted to convince you," he said kindly. "There +ought to be, at any rate, one ghost in the servants' hall." + +Barnes held up his hand for silence. + +"Yes?" said Meagle with a grin at the other two. "Is anybody coming?" + +"Suppose we drop this game and go back," said Barnes suddenly. "I don't +believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command. You may +laugh as you like, but it really seemed to me that I heard a door open +below and steps on the stairs." + +His voice was drowned in a roar of laughter. + +"He is coming round," said Meagle with a smirk. "By the time I have done +with him he will be a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some +water? Will you, Barnes?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"If there is any it might not be safe to drink after all these years," +said Lester. "We must do without it." + +Meagle nodded, and taking a seat on the floor held out his hand for the +cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome smell of tobacco filled the +room. White produced a pack of cards; talk and laughter rang through the +room and died away reluctantly in distant corridors. + +"Empty rooms always delude me into the belief that I possess a deep +voice," said Meagle. "To-morrow----" + +He started up with a smothered exclamation as the light went out suddenly +and something struck him on the head. The others sprang to their feet. +Then Meagle laughed. + +"It's the candle," he exclaimed. "I didn't stick it enough." + +Barnes struck a match and relighting the candle stuck it on the +mantelpiece, and sitting down took up his cards again. + +"What was I going to say?" said Meagle. "Oh, I know; to-morrow I----" + +"Listen!" said White, laying his hand on the other's sleeve. "Upon my +word I really thought I heard a laugh." + +"Look here!" said Barnes. "What do you say to going back? I've had +enough of this. I keep fancying that I hear things too; sounds of +something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's only fancy, +but it's uncomfortable." + +"You go if you want to," said Meagle, "and we will play dummy. Or you +might ask the tramp to take your hand for you, as you go downstairs." + +Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up and, walking to the +half-closed door, listened. + +"Go outside," said Meagle, winking at the other two. "I'll dare you to +go down to the hall door and back by yourself." + +Barnes came back and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle. + +"I am nervous but rational," he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. +"My nerves tell me that there is something prowling up and down the long +passage outside; my reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where are +my cards?" + +He sat down again, and taking up his hand, looked through it carefully +and led. + +"Your play, White," he said after a pause. White made no sign. + +"Why, he is asleep," said Meagle. "Wake up, old man. Wake up and play." + +Lester, who was sitting next to him, took the sleeping man by the arm and +shook him, gently at first and then with some roughness; but White, with +his back against the wall and his head bowed, made no sign. Meagle +bawled in his ear and then turned a puzzled face to the others. + +"He sleeps like the dead," he said, grimacing. "Well, there are still +three of us to keep each other company." + +"Yes," said Lester, nodding. "Unless--Good Lord! suppose----" + +He broke off and eyed them trembling. + +"Suppose what?" inquired Meagle. + +"Nothing," stammered Lester. "Let's wake him. Try him again. _White! +White!_" + +"It's no good," said Meagle seriously; "there's something wrong about +that sleep." + +"That's what I meant," said Lester; "and if he goes to sleep like that, +why shouldn't----" + +Meagle sprang to his feet. "Nonsense," he said roughly. "He's tired +out; that's all. Still, let's take him up and clear out. You take his +legs and Barnes will lead the way with the candle. Yes? Who's that?" + +He looked up quickly towards the door. "Thought I heard somebody tap," +he said with a shamefaced laugh. "Now, Lester, up with him. One, two-- +Lester! Lester!" + +He sprang forward too late; Lester, with his face buried in his arms, had +rolled over on the floor fast asleep, and his utmost efforts failed to +awaken him. + +"He--is--asleep," he stammered. "'Asleep!" + +Barnes, who had taken the candle from the mantel-piece, stood peering at +the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor. + +[Illustration: "Barnes, stood peering at the sleepers in silence and +dropping tallow over the floor."] + +"We must get out of this," said Meagle. "Quick!" Barnes hesitated. "We +can't leave them here--" he began. + +"We must," said Meagle in strident tones. "If you go to sleep I shall +go--Quick! Come." + +He seized the other by the arm and strove to drag him to the door. +Barnes shook him off, and putting the candle back on the mantelpiece, +tried again to arouse the sleepers. + +"It's no good," he said at last, and, turning from them, watched Meagle. +"Don't you go to sleep," he said anxiously. + +Meagle shook his head, and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. +"May as well shut the door," said Barnes at last. + +He crossed over and closed it gently. Then at a scuffling noise behind +him he turned and saw Meagle in a heap on the hearthstone. + +With a sharp catch in his breath he stood motionless. Inside the room +the candle, fluttering in the draught, showed dimly the grotesque +attitudes of the sleepers. Beyond the door there seemed to his over- +wrought imagination a strange and stealthy unrest. He tried to whistle, +but his lips were parched, and in a mechanical fashion he stooped, and +began to pick up the cards which littered the floor. + +He stopped once or twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest +outside seemed to increase; a loud creaking sounded from the stairs. + +"Who is there?" he cried loudly. + +The creaking ceased. He crossed to the door and flinging it open, strode +out into the corridor. As he walked his fears left him suddenly. + +"Come on!" he cried with a low laugh. "All of you! All of you! Show +your faces--your infernal ugly faces! Don't skulk!" + +He laughed again and walked on; and the heap in the fireplace put out his +head tortoise fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. +Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did the listeners' +features relax. + +"Good Lord, Lester, we've driven him mad," he said in a frightened +whisper. "We must go after him." + +There was no reply. Meagle sprung to his feet. "Do you hear?" he +cried. "Stop your fooling now; this is serious. White! Lester! Do you +hear?" + +He bent and surveyed them in angry bewilderment. "All right," he said in +a trembling voice. "You won't frighten me, you know." + +He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness in the direction +of the door. He even went outside and peeped through the crack, but the +sleepers did not stir. He glanced into the blackness behind, and then +came hastily into the room again. + +He stood for a few seconds regarding them. The stillness in the house +was horrible; he could not even hear them breathe. With a sudden +resolution he snatched the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame +to White's finger. Then as he reeled back stupefied the footsteps again +became audible. + +He stood with the candle in his shaking hand listening. He heard them +ascending the farther staircase, but they stopped suddenly as he went to +the door. He walked a little way along the passage, and they went +scurrying down the stairs and then at a jog-trot along the corridor +below. He went back to the main staircase, and they ceased again. + +For a time he hung over the balusters, listening and trying to pierce the +blackness below; then slowly, step by step, he made his way downstairs, +and, holding the candle above his head, peered about him. + +"Barnes!" he called. "Where are you?" Shaking with fright, he made his +way along the passage, and summoning up all his courage pushed open doors +and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then, quite suddenly, he heard the +footsteps in front of him. + +He followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they led +him at last into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken floor. +In front of him a door leading into an inside room had just closed. He +ran towards it and flung it open, and a cold air blew out the candle. He +stood aghast. + +[Illustration: "Into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken +floor."] + +"Barnes!" he cried again. "Don't be afraid! It is I--Meagle!" + +There was no answer. He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time +the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him. Then suddenly +the steps broke out overhead again. + +He drew back hastily, and passing through the kitchen groped his way +along the narrow passages. He could now see better in the darkness, and +finding himself at last at the foot of the staircase began to ascend it +noiselessly. He reached the landing just in time to see a figure +disappear round the angle of a wall. Still careful to make no noise, he +followed the sound of the steps until they led him to the top floor, and +he cornered the chase at the end of a short passage. + +"Barnes!" he whispered. "Barnes!" + +Something stirred in the darkness. A small circular window at the end of +the passage just softened the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of +a motionless figure. Meagle, in place of advancing, stood almost as +still as a sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes +fixed on the shape in front he fell back slowly and, as it advanced upon +him, burst into a terrible cry. + +"Barnes! For God's sake! Is it you?" + +The echoes of his voice left the air quivering, but the figure before him +paid no heed. For a moment he tried to brace his courage up to endure +its approach, then with a smothered cry he turned and fled. + +The passages wound like a maze, and he threaded them blindly in a vain +search for the stairs. If he could get down and open the hall door---- + +He caught his breath in a sob; the steps had begun again. At a lumbering +trot they clattered up and down the bare passages, in and out, up and +down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled, and then as they +drew near entered a small room and stood behind the door as they rushed +by. He came out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction, +and in a moment the steps were after him. He found the long corridor and +raced along it at top speed. The stairs he knew were at the end, and +with the steps close behind he descended them in blind haste. The steps +gained on him, and he shrank to the side to let them pass, still +continuing his headlong flight. Then suddenly he seemed to slip off the +earth into space. + + +Lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming into the room, +and White sitting up and regarding with some perplexity a badly blistered +finger. + +"Where are the others?" inquired Lester. "Gone, I suppose," said White. +"We must have been asleep." + +Lester arose, and stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes with +his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed. At the noise +of their approach a figure which had been lying asleep at the other end +sat up and revealed the face of Barnes. "Why, I've been asleep," he said +in surprise. "I don't remember coming here. How did I get here?" + +"Nice place to come for a nap," said Lester, severely, as he pointed to +the gap in the balusters. "Look there! Another yard and where would you +have been?" + +He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In response to his +startled cry the others drew near, and all three stood gazing at the dead +man below. + +[Illustration: "All three stood gazing at the dead man below."] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. 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Jacobs. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times; + } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin: 15%; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. Jacobs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Toll-House + Sailor's Knots, Part 7. + +Author: W.W. Jacobs + +Release Date: January 22, 2004 [EBook #10787] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL-HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1> + SAILORS' KNOTS +</h1> +<br /> +<h2> + By W.W. Jacobs +</h2> +<br /><br /> +<h3> + 1909 +</h3> + +<br><br> +<h2>Part 7.</h2> + + +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="title (50K)" src="title.jpg" height="718" width="453" /> +</center> +<br><br> +<br /><br /> +<hr> +<br /><br /> + + +<h2>List of Illustrations</h2> +<br /> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + + + + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-26"> +"I'm a Poor Man, But I Wouldn't Spend the Night in That +House for a Hundred Pounds." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-27"> +"They Saw the Gates of The House Before Them." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-28"> +"Barnes, Stood Peering at the Sleepers in Silence And +Dropping Tallow over the Floor." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-29"> +"Into a Vast Bare Kitchen With Damp Walls and A Broken +Floor." +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#image-30"> +"All Three Stood Gazing at the Dead Man Below." +</a></p> + + + + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + + + + +<a name="2H_4_7"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + "THE TOLL-HOUSE" +</h2> +<p> + "It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the + house; people die in every house. As for the noises—wind in the chimney + and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me + another cup of tea, Meagle." +</p> +<p> + "Lester and White are first," said Meagle, who was presiding at the + tea-table of the Three Feathers Inn. "You've had two." +</p> +<p> + Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing + between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of + arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. + Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly + expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water. +</p> +<p> + "We'll try and keep your nerves in their present healthy condition," he + remarked. "For my part I have a sort of half-and-half belief in the + super-natural." +</p> +<p> + "All sensible people have," said Lester. "An aunt of mine saw a ghost + once." +</p> +<p> + White nodded. +</p> +<p> + "I had an uncle that saw one," he said. +</p> +<p> + "It always is somebody else that sees them," said Barnes. +</p> +<p> + "Well, there is a house," said Meagle, "a large house at an absurdly low + rent, and nobody will take it. It has taken toll of at least one life of + every family that has lived there—however short the time—and since it + has stood empty caretaker after care-taker has died there. The last + caretaker died fifteen years ago." +</p> +<p> + "Exactly," said Barnes. "Long enough ago for legends to accumulate." +</p> +<p> + "I'll bet you a sovereign you won't spend the night there alone, for all + your talk," said White, suddenly. +</p> +<p> + "And I," said Lester. +</p> +<p> + "No," said Barnes slowly. "I don't believe in ghosts nor in any + supernatural things whatever; all the same I admit that I should not care + to pass a night there alone." +</p> +<p> + "But why not?" inquired White. +</p> +<p> + "Wind in the chimney," said Meagle with a grin. +</p> +<p> + "Rats in the wainscot," chimed in Lester. "As you like," said Barnes + coloring. +</p> +<p> + "Suppose we all go," said Meagle. "Start after supper, and get there + about eleven. We have been walking for ten days now without an + adventure—except Barnes's discovery that ditchwater smells longest. It + will be a novelty, at any rate, and, if we break the spell by all + surviving, the grateful owner ought to come down handsome." +</p> +<p> + "Let's see what the landlord has to say about it first," said Lester. + "There is no fun in passing a night in an ordinary empty house. Let us + make sure that it is haunted." +</p> +<p> + He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed to him in the + name of our common humanity not to let them waste a night watching in a + house in which spectres and hobgoblins had no part. The reply was more + than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with considerable art + the exact appearance of a head which had been seen hanging out of a + window in the moonlight, wound up with a polite but urgent request that + they would settle his bill before they went. +</p> +<p> + "It's all very well for you young gentlemen to have your fun," he said + indulgently; "but supposing as how you are all found dead in the morning, + what about me? It ain't called the Toll-House for nothing, you know." +</p> +<p> + "Who died there last?" inquired Barnes, with an air of polite derision. +</p> +<p> + "A tramp," was the reply. "He went there for the sake of half a crown, + and they found him next morning hanging from the balusters, dead." +</p> +<p> + "Suicide," said Barnes. "Unsound mind." +</p> +<p> + The landlord nodded. "That's what the jury brought it in," he said + slowly; "but his mind was sound enough when he went in there. I'd known + him, off and on, for years. I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the + night in that house for a hundred pounds." +</p> +<a name="image-26"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="026.jpg" height="461" width="455" +alt="'I'm a Poor Man, But I Wouldn't Spend the Night in That +House for a Hundred Pounds.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + He repeated this remark as they started on their expedition a few hours + later. They left as the inn was closing for the night; bolts shot + noisily behind them, and, as the regular customers trudged slowly + homewards, they set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the house. + Most of the cottages were already in darkness, and lights in others went + out as they passed. +</p> +<p> + "It seems rather hard that we have got to lose a night's rest in order to + convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts," said White. +</p> +<p> + "It's in a good cause," said Meagle. "A most worthy object; and + something seems to tell me that we shall succeed. You didn't forget the + candles, Lester?" +</p> +<p> + "I have brought two," was the reply; "all the old man could spare." +</p> +<p> + There was but little moon, and the night was cloudy. The road between + high hedges was dark, and in one place, where it ran through a wood, so + black that they twice stumbled in the uneven ground at the side of it. +</p> +<p> + "Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this!" said White again. "Let + me see; this desirable residential sepulchre lies to the right, doesn't + it?" +</p> +<p> + "Farther on," said Meagle. +</p> +<p> + They walked on for some time in silence, broken only by White's tribute + to the softness, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the bed which was + receding farther and farther into the distance. Under Meagle's guidance + they turned oft at last to the right, and, after a walk of a quarter of a + mile, saw the gates of the house before them. +</p> +<a name="image-27"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="027.jpg" height="334" width="448" +alt="'They Saw the Gates of The House Before Them.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and the drive was choked + with rank growths. Meagle leading, they pushed through it until the dark + pile of the house loomed above them. +</p> +<p> + "There is a window at the back where we can get in, so the landlord + says," said Lester, as they stood before the hall door. +</p> +<p> + "Window?" said Meagle. "Nonsense. Let's do the thing properly. Where's + the knocker?" +</p> +<p> + He felt for it in the darkness and gave a thundering rat-tat-tat at the + door. +</p> +<p> + "Don't play the fool," said Barnes crossly. +</p> +<p> + "Ghostly servants are all asleep," said Meagle gravely, "but I'll wake + them up before I've done with them. It's scandalous keeping us out here + in the dark." +</p> +<p> + He plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the emptiness + beyond. Then with a sudden exclamation he put out his hands and stumbled + forward. +</p> +<p> + "Why, it was open all the time," he said, with an odd catch in his voice. + "Come on." +</p> +<p> + "I don't believe it was open," said Lester, hanging back. "Somebody is + playing us a trick." +</p> +<p> + "Nonsense," said Meagle sharply. "Give me a candle. Thanks. Who's got + a match?" +</p> +<p> + Barnes produced a box and struck one, and Meagle, shielding the candle + with his hand, led the way forward to the foot of the stairs. "Shut the + door, somebody," he said, "there's too much draught." +</p> +<p> + "It is shut," said White, glancing behind him. +</p> +<p> + Meagle fingered his chin. "Who shut it?" he inquired, looking from one + to the other. "Who came in last?" +</p> +<p> + "I did," said Lester, "but I don't remember shutting it—perhaps I did, + though." +</p> +<p> + Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and, still carefully + guarding the flame, began to explore the house, with the others close + behind. Shadows danced on the walls and lurked in the corners as they + proceeded. At the end of the passage they found a second staircase, and + ascending it slowly gained the first floor. +</p> +<p> + "Careful!" said Meagle, as they gained the landing. +</p> +<p> + He held the candle forward and showed where the balusters had broken + away. Then he peered curiously into the void beneath. +</p> +<p> + "This is where the tramp hanged himself, I suppose," he said + thoughtfully. +</p> +<p> + "You've got an unwholesome mind," said White, as they walked on. "This + place is qutie creepy enough without your remembering that. Now let's + find a comfortable room and have a little nip of whiskey apiece and a + pipe. How will this do?" +</p> +<p> + He opened a door at the end of the passage and revealed a small square + room. Meagle led the way with the candle, and, first melting a drop or + two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece. The others seated themselves + on the floor and watched pleasantly as White drew from his pocket a small + bottle of whiskey and a tin cup. +</p> +<p> + "H'm! I've forgotten the water," he exclaimed. "I'll soon get some," + said Meagle. +</p> +<p> + He tugged violently at the bell-handle, and the rusty jangling of a bell + sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again. +</p> +<p> + "Don't play the fool," said Barnes roughly. +</p> +<p> + Meagle laughed. "I only wanted to convince you," he said kindly. "There + ought to be, at any rate, one ghost in the servants' hall." +</p> +<p> + Barnes held up his hand for silence. +</p> +<p> + "Yes?" said Meagle with a grin at the other two. "Is anybody coming?" +</p> +<p> + "Suppose we drop this game and go back," said Barnes suddenly. "I don't + believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command. You may + laugh as you like, but it really seemed to me that I heard a door open + below and steps on the stairs." +</p> +<p> + His voice was drowned in a roar of laughter. +</p> +<p> + "He is coming round," said Meagle with a smirk. "By the time I have done + with him he will be a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some + water? Will you, Barnes?" +</p> +<p> + "No," was the reply. +</p> +<p> + "If there is any it might not be safe to drink after all these years," + said Lester. "We must do without it." +</p> +<p> + Meagle nodded, and taking a seat on the floor held out his hand for the + cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome smell of tobacco filled the + room. White produced a pack of cards; talk and laughter rang through the + room and died away reluctantly in distant corridors. +</p> +<p> + "Empty rooms always delude me into the belief that I possess a deep + voice," said Meagle. "To-morrow——" +</p> +<p> + He started up with a smothered exclamation as the light went out suddenly + and something struck him on the head. The others sprang to their feet. + Then Meagle laughed. +</p> +<p> + "It's the candle," he exclaimed. "I didn't stick it enough." +</p> +<p> + Barnes struck a match and relighting the candle stuck it on the + mantelpiece, and sitting down took up his cards again. +</p> +<p> + "What was I going to say?" said Meagle. "Oh, I know; to-morrow I——" +</p> +<p> + "Listen!" said White, laying his hand on the other's sleeve. "Upon my + word I really thought I heard a laugh." +</p> +<p> + "Look here!" said Barnes. "What do you say to going back? I've had + enough of this. I keep fancying that I hear things too; sounds of + something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's only fancy, + but it's uncomfortable." +</p> +<p> + "You go if you want to," said Meagle, "and we will play dummy. Or you + might ask the tramp to take your hand for you, as you go downstairs." +</p> +<p> + Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up and, walking to the + half-closed door, listened. +</p> +<p> + "Go outside," said Meagle, winking at the other two. "I'll dare you to + go down to the hall door and back by yourself." +</p> +<p> + Barnes came back and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle. +</p> +<p> + "I am nervous but rational," he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. + "My nerves tell me that there is something prowling up and down the long + passage outside; my reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where are + my cards?" +</p> +<p> + He sat down again, and taking up his hand, looked through it carefully + and led. +</p> +<p> + "Your play, White," he said after a pause. White made no sign. +</p> +<p> + "Why, he is asleep," said Meagle. "Wake up, old man. Wake up and play." +</p> +<p> + Lester, who was sitting next to him, took the sleeping man by the arm and + shook him, gently at first and then with some roughness; but White, with + his back against the wall and his head bowed, made no sign. Meagle + bawled in his ear and then turned a puzzled face to the others. +</p> +<p> + "He sleeps like the dead," he said, grimacing. "Well, there are still + three of us to keep each other company." +</p> +<p> + "Yes," said Lester, nodding. "Unless—Good Lord! suppose——" +</p> +<p> + He broke off and eyed them trembling. +</p> +<p> + "Suppose what?" inquired Meagle. +</p> +<p> + "Nothing," stammered Lester. "Let's wake him. Try him again. <i>White! + White!</i>" +</p> +<p> + "It's no good," said Meagle seriously; "there's something wrong about + that sleep." +</p> +<p> + "That's what I meant," said Lester; "and if he goes to sleep like that, + why shouldn't——" +</p> +<p> + Meagle sprang to his feet. "Nonsense," he said roughly. "He's tired + out; that's all. Still, let's take him up and clear out. You take his + legs and Barnes will lead the way with the candle. Yes? Who's that?" +</p> +<p> + He looked up quickly towards the door. "Thought I heard somebody tap," + he said with a shamefaced laugh. "Now, Lester, up with him. One, two— + Lester! Lester!" +</p> +<p> + He sprang forward too late; Lester, with his face buried in his arms, had + rolled over on the floor fast asleep, and his utmost efforts failed to + awaken him. +</p> +<p> + "He—is—asleep," he stammered. "'Asleep!" +</p> +<p> + Barnes, who had taken the candle from the mantel-piece, stood peering at + the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor. +</p> +<a name="image-28"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="028.jpg" height="453" width="458" +alt="'Barnes, Stood Peering at the Sleepers in Silence And +Dropping Tallow over the Floor.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + "We must get out of this," said Meagle. "Quick!" Barnes hesitated. "We + can't leave them here—" he began. +</p> +<p> + "We must," said Meagle in strident tones. "If you go to sleep I shall + go—Quick! Come." +</p> +<p> + He seized the other by the arm and strove to drag him to the door. + Barnes shook him off, and putting the candle back on the mantelpiece, + tried again to arouse the sleepers. +</p> +<p> + "It's no good," he said at last, and, turning from them, watched Meagle. + "Don't you go to sleep," he said anxiously. +</p> +<p> + Meagle shook his head, and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. + "May as well shut the door," said Barnes at last. +</p> +<p> + He crossed over and closed it gently. Then at a scuffling noise behind + him he turned and saw Meagle in a heap on the hearthstone. +</p> +<p> + With a sharp catch in his breath he stood motionless. Inside the room + the candle, fluttering in the draught, showed dimly the grotesque + attitudes of the sleepers. Beyond the door there seemed to his over- + wrought imagination a strange and stealthy unrest. He tried to whistle, + but his lips were parched, and in a mechanical fashion he stooped, and + began to pick up the cards which littered the floor. +</p> +<p> + He stopped once or twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest + outside seemed to increase; a loud creaking sounded from the stairs. +</p> +<p> + "Who is there?" he cried loudly. +</p> +<p> + The creaking ceased. He crossed to the door and flinging it open, strode + out into the corridor. As he walked his fears left him suddenly. +</p> +<p> + "Come on!" he cried with a low laugh. "All of you! All of you! Show + your faces—your infernal ugly faces! Don't skulk!" +</p> +<p> + He laughed again and walked on; and the heap in the fireplace put out his + head tortoise fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. + Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did the listeners' + features relax. +</p> +<p> + "Good Lord, Lester, we've driven him mad," he said in a frightened + whisper. "We must go after him." +</p> +<p> + There was no reply. Meagle sprung to his feet. "Do you hear?" he + cried. "Stop your fooling now; this is serious. White! Lester! Do you + hear?" +</p> +<p> + He bent and surveyed them in angry bewilderment. "All right," he said in + a trembling voice. "You won't frighten me, you know." +</p> +<p> + He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness in the direction + of the door. He even went outside and peeped through the crack, but the + sleepers did not stir. He glanced into the blackness behind, and then + came hastily into the room again. +</p> +<p> + He stood for a few seconds regarding them. The stillness in the house + was horrible; he could not even hear them breathe. With a sudden + resolution he snatched the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame + to White's finger. Then as he reeled back stupefied the footsteps again + became audible. +</p> +<p> + He stood with the candle in his shaking hand listening. He heard them + ascending the farther staircase, but they stopped suddenly as he went to + the door. He walked a little way along the passage, and they went + scurrying down the stairs and then at a jog-trot along the corridor + below. He went back to the main staircase, and they ceased again. +</p> +<p> + For a time he hung over the balusters, listening and trying to pierce the + blackness below; then slowly, step by step, he made his way downstairs, + and, holding the candle above his head, peered about him. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes!" he called. "Where are you?" Shaking with fright, he made his + way along the passage, and summoning up all his courage pushed open doors + and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then, quite suddenly, he heard the + footsteps in front of him. +</p> +<p> + He followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they led + him at last into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken floor. + In front of him a door leading into an inside room had just closed. He + ran towards it and flung it open, and a cold air blew out the candle. He + stood aghast. +</p> +<a name="image-29"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="029.jpg" height="487" width="453" +alt="'Into a Vast Bare Kitchen With Damp Walls and A Broken +Floor.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p> + "Barnes!" he cried again. "Don't be afraid! It is I—Meagle!" +</p> +<p> + There was no answer. He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time + the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him. Then suddenly + the steps broke out overhead again. +</p> +<p> + He drew back hastily, and passing through the kitchen groped his way + along the narrow passages. He could now see better in the darkness, and + finding himself at last at the foot of the staircase began to ascend it + noiselessly. He reached the landing just in time to see a figure + disappear round the angle of a wall. Still careful to make no noise, he + followed the sound of the steps until they led him to the top floor, and + he cornered the chase at the end of a short passage. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes!" he whispered. "Barnes!" +</p> +<p> + Something stirred in the darkness. A small circular window at the end of + the passage just softened the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of + a motionless figure. Meagle, in place of advancing, stood almost as + still as a sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes + fixed on the shape in front he fell back slowly and, as it advanced upon + him, burst into a terrible cry. +</p> +<p> + "Barnes! For God's sake! Is it you?" +</p> +<p> + The echoes of his voice left the air quivering, but the figure before him + paid no heed. For a moment he tried to brace his courage up to endure + its approach, then with a smothered cry he turned and fled. +</p> +<p> + The passages wound like a maze, and he threaded them blindly in a vain + search for the stairs. If he could get down and open the hall door—— +</p> +<p> + He caught his breath in a sob; the steps had begun again. At a lumbering + trot they clattered up and down the bare passages, in and out, up and + down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled, and then as they + drew near entered a small room and stood behind the door as they rushed + by. He came out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction, + and in a moment the steps were after him. He found the long corridor and + raced along it at top speed. The stairs he knew were at the end, and + with the steps close behind he descended them in blind haste. The steps + gained on him, and he shrank to the side to let them pass, still + continuing his headlong flight. Then suddenly he seemed to slip off the + earth into space. +</p> +<p> + Lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming into the room, + and White sitting up and regarding with some perplexity a badly blistered + finger. +</p> +<p> + "Where are the others?" inquired Lester. "Gone, I suppose," said White. + "We must have been asleep." +</p> +<p> + Lester arose, and stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes with + his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed. At the noise + of their approach a figure which had been lying asleep at the other end + sat up and revealed the face of Barnes. "Why, I've been asleep," he said + in surprise. "I don't remember coming here. How did I get here?" +</p> +<p> + "Nice place to come for a nap," said Lester, severely, as he pointed to + the gap in the balusters. "Look there! Another yard and where would you + have been?" +</p> +<p> + He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In response to his + startled cry the others drew near, and all three stood gazing at the dead + man below. +</p> +<a name="image-30"><!--IMG--></a> +<center> +<img src="030.jpg" height="694" width="491" +alt="'All Three Stood Gazing at the Dead Man Below.' +"> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/10787-h/title.jpg b/old/10787-h/title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84180c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10787-h/title.jpg diff --git a/old/10787.txt b/old/10787.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89ff534 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10787.txt @@ -0,0 +1,910 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. Jacobs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Toll-House + Sailor's Knots, Part 7. + +Author: W.W. Jacobs + +Release Date: January 22, 2004 [EBook #10787] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL-HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +SAILORS' KNOTS + +By W.W. Jacobs + + +1909 + + + +"THE TOLL-HOUSE" + + +"It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the +house; people die in every house. As for the noises--wind in the chimney +and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me +another cup of tea, Meagle." + +"Lester and White are first," said Meagle, who was presiding at the +tea-table of the Three Feathers Inn. "You've had two." + +Lester and White finished their cups with irritating slowness, pausing +between sips to sniff the aroma, and to discover the sex and dates of +arrival of the "strangers" which floated in some numbers in the beverage. +Mr. Meagle served them to the brim, and then, turning to the grimly +expectant Mr. Barnes, blandly requested him to ring for hot water. + +"We'll try and keep your nerves in their present healthy condition," he +remarked. "For my part I have a sort of half-and-half belief in the +super-natural." + +"All sensible people have," said Lester. "An aunt of mine saw a ghost +once." + +White nodded. + +"I had an uncle that saw one," he said. + +"It always is somebody else that sees them," said Barnes. + +"Well, there is a house," said Meagle, "a large house at an absurdly low +rent, and nobody will take it. It has taken toll of at least one life of +every family that has lived there--however short the time--and since it +has stood empty caretaker after care-taker has died there. The last +caretaker died fifteen years ago." + +"Exactly," said Barnes. "Long enough ago for legends to accumulate." + +"I'll bet you a sovereign you won't spend the night there alone, for all +your talk," said White, suddenly. + +"And I," said Lester. + +"No," said Barnes slowly. "I don't believe in ghosts nor in any +supernatural things whatever; all the same I admit that I should not care +to pass a night there alone." + +"But why not?" inquired White. + +"Wind in the chimney," said Meagle with a grin. + +"Rats in the wainscot," chimed in Lester. "As you like," said Barnes +coloring. + +"Suppose we all go," said Meagle. "Start after supper, and get there +about eleven. We have been walking for ten days now without an +adventure--except Barnes's discovery that ditchwater smells longest. It +will be a novelty, at any rate, and, if we break the spell by all +surviving, the grateful owner ought to come down handsome." + +"Let's see what the landlord has to say about it first," said Lester. +"There is no fun in passing a night in an ordinary empty house. Let us +make sure that it is haunted." + +He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed to him in the +name of our common humanity not to let them waste a night watching in a +house in which spectres and hobgoblins had no part. The reply was more +than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with considerable art +the exact appearance of a head which had been seen hanging out of a +window in the moonlight, wound up with a polite but urgent request that +they would settle his bill before they went. + +"It's all very well for you young gentlemen to have your fun," he said +indulgently; "but supposing as how you are all found dead in the morning, +what about me? It ain't called the Toll-House for nothing, you know." + +"Who died there last?" inquired Barnes, with an air of polite derision. + +"A tramp," was the reply. "He went there for the sake of half a crown, +and they found him next morning hanging from the balusters, dead." + +"Suicide," said Barnes. "Unsound mind." + +The landlord nodded. "That's what the jury brought it in," he said +slowly; "but his mind was sound enough when he went in there. I'd known +him, off and on, for years. I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the +night in that house for a hundred pounds." + +[Illustration: "I'm a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the night in that +house for a hundred pounds."] + +He repeated this remark as they started on their expedition a few hours +later. They left as the inn was closing for the night; bolts shot +noisily behind them, and, as the regular customers trudged slowly +homewards, they set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the house. +Most of the cottages were already in darkness, and lights in others went +out as they passed. + +"It seems rather hard that we have got to lose a night's rest in order to +convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts," said White. + +"It's in a good cause," said Meagle. "A most worthy object; and +something seems to tell me that we shall succeed. You didn't forget the +candles, Lester?" + +"I have brought two," was the reply; "all the old man could spare." + +There was but little moon, and the night was cloudy. The road between +high hedges was dark, and in one place, where it ran through a wood, so +black that they twice stumbled in the uneven ground at the side of it. + +"Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this!" said White again. "Let +me see; this desirable residential sepulchre lies to the right, doesn't +it?" + +"Farther on," said Meagle. + +They walked on for some time in silence, broken only by White's tribute +to the softness, the cleanliness, and the comfort of the bed which was +receding farther and farther into the distance. Under Meagle's guidance +they turned oft at last to the right, and, after a walk of a quarter of a +mile, saw the gates of the house before them. + +[Illustration: "They saw the gates of the house before them."] + +The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and the drive was choked +with rank growths. Meagle leading, they pushed through it until the dark +pile of the house loomed above them. + +"There is a window at the back where we can get in, so the landlord +says," said Lester, as they stood before the hall door. + +"Window?" said Meagle. "Nonsense. Let's do the thing properly. Where's +the knocker?" + +He felt for it in the darkness and gave a thundering rat-tat-tat at the +door. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes crossly. + +"Ghostly servants are all asleep," said Meagle gravely, "but I'll wake +them up before I've done with them. It's scandalous keeping us out here +in the dark." + +He plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the emptiness +beyond. Then with a sudden exclamation he put out his hands and stumbled +forward. + +"Why, it was open all the time," he said, with an odd catch in his voice. +"Come on." + +"I don't believe it was open," said Lester, hanging back. "Somebody is +playing us a trick." + +"Nonsense," said Meagle sharply. "Give me a candle. Thanks. Who's got +a match?" + +Barnes produced a box and struck one, and Meagle, shielding the candle +with his hand, led the way forward to the foot of the stairs. "Shut the +door, somebody," he said, "there's too much draught." + +"It is shut," said White, glancing behind him. + +Meagle fingered his chin. "Who shut it?" he inquired, looking from one +to the other. "Who came in last?" + +"I did," said Lester, "but I don't remember shutting it--perhaps I did, +though." + +Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and, still carefully +guarding the flame, began to explore the house, with the others close +behind. Shadows danced on the walls and lurked in the corners as they +proceeded. At the end of the passage they found a second staircase, and +ascending it slowly gained the first floor. + +"Careful!" said Meagle, as they gained the landing. + +He held the candle forward and showed where the balusters had broken +away. Then he peered curiously into the void beneath. + +"This is where the tramp hanged himself, I suppose," he said +thoughtfully. + +"You've got an unwholesome mind," said White, as they walked on. "This +place is qutie creepy enough without your remembering that. Now let's +find a comfortable room and have a little nip of whiskey apiece and a +pipe. How will this do?" + +He opened a door at the end of the passage and revealed a small square +room. Meagle led the way with the candle, and, first melting a drop or +two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece. The others seated themselves +on the floor and watched pleasantly as White drew from his pocket a small +bottle of whiskey and a tin cup. + +"H'm! I've forgotten the water," he exclaimed. "I'll soon get some," +said Meagle. + +He tugged violently at the bell-handle, and the rusty jangling of a bell +sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again. + +"Don't play the fool," said Barnes roughly. + +Meagle laughed. "I only wanted to convince you," he said kindly. "There +ought to be, at any rate, one ghost in the servants' hall." + +Barnes held up his hand for silence. + +"Yes?" said Meagle with a grin at the other two. "Is anybody coming?" + +"Suppose we drop this game and go back," said Barnes suddenly. "I don't +believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command. You may +laugh as you like, but it really seemed to me that I heard a door open +below and steps on the stairs." + +His voice was drowned in a roar of laughter. + +"He is coming round," said Meagle with a smirk. "By the time I have done +with him he will be a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some +water? Will you, Barnes?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"If there is any it might not be safe to drink after all these years," +said Lester. "We must do without it." + +Meagle nodded, and taking a seat on the floor held out his hand for the +cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome smell of tobacco filled the +room. White produced a pack of cards; talk and laughter rang through the +room and died away reluctantly in distant corridors. + +"Empty rooms always delude me into the belief that I possess a deep +voice," said Meagle. "To-morrow----" + +He started up with a smothered exclamation as the light went out suddenly +and something struck him on the head. The others sprang to their feet. +Then Meagle laughed. + +"It's the candle," he exclaimed. "I didn't stick it enough." + +Barnes struck a match and relighting the candle stuck it on the +mantelpiece, and sitting down took up his cards again. + +"What was I going to say?" said Meagle. "Oh, I know; to-morrow I----" + +"Listen!" said White, laying his hand on the other's sleeve. "Upon my +word I really thought I heard a laugh." + +"Look here!" said Barnes. "What do you say to going back? I've had +enough of this. I keep fancying that I hear things too; sounds of +something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's only fancy, +but it's uncomfortable." + +"You go if you want to," said Meagle, "and we will play dummy. Or you +might ask the tramp to take your hand for you, as you go downstairs." + +Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up and, walking to the +half-closed door, listened. + +"Go outside," said Meagle, winking at the other two. "I'll dare you to +go down to the hall door and back by yourself." + +Barnes came back and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle. + +"I am nervous but rational," he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. +"My nerves tell me that there is something prowling up and down the long +passage outside; my reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where are +my cards?" + +He sat down again, and taking up his hand, looked through it carefully +and led. + +"Your play, White," he said after a pause. White made no sign. + +"Why, he is asleep," said Meagle. "Wake up, old man. Wake up and play." + +Lester, who was sitting next to him, took the sleeping man by the arm and +shook him, gently at first and then with some roughness; but White, with +his back against the wall and his head bowed, made no sign. Meagle +bawled in his ear and then turned a puzzled face to the others. + +"He sleeps like the dead," he said, grimacing. "Well, there are still +three of us to keep each other company." + +"Yes," said Lester, nodding. "Unless--Good Lord! suppose----" + +He broke off and eyed them trembling. + +"Suppose what?" inquired Meagle. + +"Nothing," stammered Lester. "Let's wake him. Try him again. _White! +White!_" + +"It's no good," said Meagle seriously; "there's something wrong about +that sleep." + +"That's what I meant," said Lester; "and if he goes to sleep like that, +why shouldn't----" + +Meagle sprang to his feet. "Nonsense," he said roughly. "He's tired +out; that's all. Still, let's take him up and clear out. You take his +legs and Barnes will lead the way with the candle. Yes? Who's that?" + +He looked up quickly towards the door. "Thought I heard somebody tap," +he said with a shamefaced laugh. "Now, Lester, up with him. One, two-- +Lester! Lester!" + +He sprang forward too late; Lester, with his face buried in his arms, had +rolled over on the floor fast asleep, and his utmost efforts failed to +awaken him. + +"He--is--asleep," he stammered. "'Asleep!" + +Barnes, who had taken the candle from the mantel-piece, stood peering at +the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor. + +[Illustration: "Barnes, stood peering at the sleepers in silence and +dropping tallow over the floor."] + +"We must get out of this," said Meagle. "Quick!" Barnes hesitated. "We +can't leave them here--" he began. + +"We must," said Meagle in strident tones. "If you go to sleep I shall +go--Quick! Come." + +He seized the other by the arm and strove to drag him to the door. +Barnes shook him off, and putting the candle back on the mantelpiece, +tried again to arouse the sleepers. + +"It's no good," he said at last, and, turning from them, watched Meagle. +"Don't you go to sleep," he said anxiously. + +Meagle shook his head, and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. +"May as well shut the door," said Barnes at last. + +He crossed over and closed it gently. Then at a scuffling noise behind +him he turned and saw Meagle in a heap on the hearthstone. + +With a sharp catch in his breath he stood motionless. Inside the room +the candle, fluttering in the draught, showed dimly the grotesque +attitudes of the sleepers. Beyond the door there seemed to his over- +wrought imagination a strange and stealthy unrest. He tried to whistle, +but his lips were parched, and in a mechanical fashion he stooped, and +began to pick up the cards which littered the floor. + +He stopped once or twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest +outside seemed to increase; a loud creaking sounded from the stairs. + +"Who is there?" he cried loudly. + +The creaking ceased. He crossed to the door and flinging it open, strode +out into the corridor. As he walked his fears left him suddenly. + +"Come on!" he cried with a low laugh. "All of you! All of you! Show +your faces--your infernal ugly faces! Don't skulk!" + +He laughed again and walked on; and the heap in the fireplace put out his +head tortoise fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. +Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did the listeners' +features relax. + +"Good Lord, Lester, we've driven him mad," he said in a frightened +whisper. "We must go after him." + +There was no reply. Meagle sprung to his feet. "Do you hear?" he +cried. "Stop your fooling now; this is serious. White! Lester! Do you +hear?" + +He bent and surveyed them in angry bewilderment. "All right," he said in +a trembling voice. "You won't frighten me, you know." + +He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness in the direction +of the door. He even went outside and peeped through the crack, but the +sleepers did not stir. He glanced into the blackness behind, and then +came hastily into the room again. + +He stood for a few seconds regarding them. The stillness in the house +was horrible; he could not even hear them breathe. With a sudden +resolution he snatched the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame +to White's finger. Then as he reeled back stupefied the footsteps again +became audible. + +He stood with the candle in his shaking hand listening. He heard them +ascending the farther staircase, but they stopped suddenly as he went to +the door. He walked a little way along the passage, and they went +scurrying down the stairs and then at a jog-trot along the corridor +below. He went back to the main staircase, and they ceased again. + +For a time he hung over the balusters, listening and trying to pierce the +blackness below; then slowly, step by step, he made his way downstairs, +and, holding the candle above his head, peered about him. + +"Barnes!" he called. "Where are you?" Shaking with fright, he made his +way along the passage, and summoning up all his courage pushed open doors +and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then, quite suddenly, he heard the +footsteps in front of him. + +He followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they led +him at last into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken floor. +In front of him a door leading into an inside room had just closed. He +ran towards it and flung it open, and a cold air blew out the candle. He +stood aghast. + +[Illustration: "Into a vast bare kitchen with damp walls and a broken +floor."] + +"Barnes!" he cried again. "Don't be afraid! It is I--Meagle!" + +There was no answer. He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time +the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him. Then suddenly +the steps broke out overhead again. + +He drew back hastily, and passing through the kitchen groped his way +along the narrow passages. He could now see better in the darkness, and +finding himself at last at the foot of the staircase began to ascend it +noiselessly. He reached the landing just in time to see a figure +disappear round the angle of a wall. Still careful to make no noise, he +followed the sound of the steps until they led him to the top floor, and +he cornered the chase at the end of a short passage. + +"Barnes!" he whispered. "Barnes!" + +Something stirred in the darkness. A small circular window at the end of +the passage just softened the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of +a motionless figure. Meagle, in place of advancing, stood almost as +still as a sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes +fixed on the shape in front he fell back slowly and, as it advanced upon +him, burst into a terrible cry. + +"Barnes! For God's sake! Is it you?" + +The echoes of his voice left the air quivering, but the figure before him +paid no heed. For a moment he tried to brace his courage up to endure +its approach, then with a smothered cry he turned and fled. + +The passages wound like a maze, and he threaded them blindly in a vain +search for the stairs. If he could get down and open the hall door---- + +He caught his breath in a sob; the steps had begun again. At a lumbering +trot they clattered up and down the bare passages, in and out, up and +down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled, and then as they +drew near entered a small room and stood behind the door as they rushed +by. He came out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction, +and in a moment the steps were after him. He found the long corridor and +raced along it at top speed. The stairs he knew were at the end, and +with the steps close behind he descended them in blind haste. The steps +gained on him, and he shrank to the side to let them pass, still +continuing his headlong flight. Then suddenly he seemed to slip off the +earth into space. + + +Lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming into the room, +and White sitting up and regarding with some perplexity a badly blistered +finger. + +"Where are the others?" inquired Lester. "Gone, I suppose," said White. +"We must have been asleep." + +Lester arose, and stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes with +his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed. At the noise +of their approach a figure which had been lying asleep at the other end +sat up and revealed the face of Barnes. "Why, I've been asleep," he said +in surprise. "I don't remember coming here. How did I get here?" + +"Nice place to come for a nap," said Lester, severely, as he pointed to +the gap in the balusters. "Look there! Another yard and where would you +have been?" + +He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In response to his +startled cry the others drew near, and all three stood gazing at the dead +man below. + +[Illustration: "All three stood gazing at the dead man below."] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll-House, by W.W. 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