Читать книгу The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft - H. P. Lovecraft, W. H. Pugmire - Страница 19

Not long after his mother’s departure Charles Ward began negotiating for the Pawtuxet bungalow.It was a squalid little wooden edifice with a concrete garage, perched high on the sparsely settled bank of the river slightly above Rhodes, but for some odd reason the youth would have nothing else.He gave the real-estate agencies no peace till one of them secured it for him at an exorbitant price from a somewhat reluctant owner, and as soon as it was vacant he took possession under cover of darkness, transporting in a great closed van the entire contents of his attic laboratory, including the books both weird and modern which he had borrowed from his study.He had this van loaded in the black small hours, and his father recalls only a drowsy realisation of stifled oaths and stamping feet on the night the goods were taken away.After that Charles moved back to his own old quarters on the third floor, and never haunted the attic again.

To the Pawtuxet bungalow Charles transferred all the secrecy with which he had surrounded his attic realm, save that he now appeared to have two sharers of his mysteries; a villainous-looking Portuguese half-caste from the South Main St.waterfront who acted as a servant, and a thin, scholarly stranger with dark glasses and a stubbly full beard of dyed aspect whose status was evidently that of a colleague.Neighbours vainly tried to engage these odd persons in conversation.The mulatto Gomes spoke very little English, and the bearded man, who gave his name as Dr.Allen, voluntarily followed his example.Ward himself tried to be more affable, but succeeded only in provoking curiosity with his rambling accounts of chemical research.Before long queer tales began to circulate regarding the all-night burning of lights; and somewhat later, after this burning had suddenly ceased, there rose still queerer tales of disproportionate orders of meat from the butcher’s and of the muffled shouting, declamation, rhythmic chanting, and screaming supposed to come from some very deep cellar below the place.Most distinctly the new and strange household was bitterly disliked by the honest bourgeoisie of the vicinity, and it is not remarkable that dark hints were advanced connecting the hated establishment with the current epidemic of vampiristic attacks and murders; especially since the radius of that plague seemed now confined wholly to Pawtuxet and the adjacent streets of Edgewood.

Ward spent most of his time at the bungalow, but slept occasionally at home and was still reckoned a dweller beneath his father’s roof.Twice he was absent from the city on week-long trips, whose destinations have not yet been discovered.He grew steadily paler and more emaciated even than before, and lacked some of his former assurance when repeating to Dr.Willett his old, old story of vital research and future revelations.Willett often waylaid him at his father’s house, for the elder Ward was deeply worried and perplexed, and wished his son to get as much sound oversight as could be managed in the case of so secretive and independent an adult.The doctor still insists that the youth was sane even as late as this, and adduces many a conversation to prove his point.

About September the vampirism declined, but in the following January Ward almost became involved in serious trouble.For some time the nocturnal arrival and departure of motor trucks at the Pawtuxet bungalow had been commented upon, and at this juncture an unforeseen hitch exposed the nature of at least one item of their contents.In a lonely spot near Hope Valley had occurred one of the frequent sordid waylayings of trucks by “hi-jackers” in quest of liquor shipments, but this time the robbers had been destined to receive the greater shock.For the long cases they seized proved upon opening to contain some exceedingly gruesome things; so gruesome, in fact, that the matter could not be kept quiet amongst the denizens of the underworld.The thieves had hastily buried what they discovered, but when the State Police got wind of the matter a careful search was made.A recently arrested vagrant, under promise of immunity from prosecution on any additional charge, at last consented to guide a party of troopers to the spot; and there was found in that hasty cache a very hideous and shameful thing.It would not be well for the national—or even the international—sense of decorum if the public were ever to know what was uncovered by that awestruck party.There was no mistaking it, even by these far from studious officers; and telegrams to Washington ensued with feverish rapidity.

The cases were addressed to Charles Ward at his Pawtuxet bungalow, and State and Federal officials at once paid him a very forceful and serious call.They found him pallid and worried with his two odd companions, and received from him what seemed to be a valid explanation and evidence of innocence.He had needed certain anatomical specimens as part of a programme of research whose depth and genuineness anyone who had known him in the last decade could prove, and had ordered the required kind and number from agencies which he had thought as reasonably legitimate as such things can be.Of the identity of the specimens he had known absolutely nothing, and was properly shocked when the inspectors hinted at the monstrous effect on public sentiment and national dignity which a knowledge of the matter would produce.In this statement he was firmly sustained by his bearded colleague Dr.Allen, whose oddly hollow voice carried even more conviction than his own nervous tones; so that in the end the officials took no action, but carefully set down the New York name and address which Ward gave them as a basis for a search which came to nothing.It is only fair to add that the specimens were quickly and quietly restored to their proper places, and that the general public will never know of their blasphemous disturbance.

On February 9, 1928, Dr.Willett received a letter from Charles Ward which he considers of extraordinary importance, and about which he has frequently quarrelled with Dr.Lyman.Lyman believes that this note contains positive proof of a well-developed case of dementia praecox, but Willett on the other hand regards it as the last perfectly sane utterance of the hapless youth.He calls especial attention to the normal character of the penmanship; which though shewing traces of shattered nerves, is nevertheless distinctly Ward’s own.The text in full is as follows:

“100 Prospect St.

Providence, R.I.,

February 8, 1928.

“Dear Dr.Willett:—

“I feel that at last the time has come for me to make the disclosures which I have so long promised you, and for which you have pressed me so often.The patience you have shewn in waiting, and the confidence you have shewn in my mind and integrity, are things I shall never cease to appreciate.

“And now that I am ready to speak, I must own with humiliation that no triumph such as I dreamed of can ever be mine.Instead of triumph I have found terror, and my talk with you will not be a boast of victory but a plea for help and advice in saving both myself and the world from a horror beyond all human conception or calculation.You recall what those Fenner letters said of the old raiding party at Pawtuxet.That must all be done again, and quickly.Upon us depends more than can be put into words—all civilisation, all natural law, perhaps even the fate of the solar system and the universe.I have brought to light a monstrous abnormality, but I did it for the sake of knowledge.Now for the sake of all life and Nature you must help me thrust it back into the dark again.

“I have left that Pawtuxet place forever, and we must extirpate everything existing there, alive or dead.I shall not go there again, and you must not believe it if you ever hear that I am there.I will tell you why I say this when I see you.I have come home for good, and wish you would call on me at the very first moment that you can spare five or six hours continuously to hear what I have to say.It will take that long—and believe me when I tell you that you never had a more genuine professional duty than this.My life and reason are the very least things which hang in the balance.

“I dare not tell my father, for he could not grasp the whole thing.But I have told him of my danger, and he has four men from a detective agency watching the house.I don’t know how much good they can do, for they have against them forces which even you could scarcely envisage or acknowledge.So come quickly if you wish to see me alive and hear how you may help to save the cosmos from stark hell.

“Any time will do—I shall not be out of the house.Don’t telephone ahead, for there is no telling who or what may try to intercept you.And let us pray to whatever gods there be that nothing may prevent this meeting.

“In utmost gravity and desperation,

“Charles Dexter Ward.”

“P.S.Shoot Dr.Allen on sight and dissolve his body in acid.Don’t burn it.”

Dr.Willett received this note about 10:30 a.m., and immediately arranged to spare the whole late afternoon and evening for the momentous talk, letting it extend on into the night as long as might be necessary.He planned to arrive about four o’clock, and through all the intervening hours was so engulfed in every sort of wild speculation that most of his tasks were very mechanically performed.Maniacal as the letter would have sounded to a stranger, Willett had seen too much of Charles Ward’s oddities to dismiss it as sheer raving.That something very subtle, ancient, and horrible was hovering about he felt quite sure, and the reference to Dr.Allen could almost be comprehended in view of what Pawtuxet gossip said of Ward’s enigmatical colleague.Willett had never seen the man, but had heard much of his aspect and bearing, and could not but wonder what sort of eyes those much-discussed dark glasses might conceal.

Promptly at four Dr.Willett presented himself at the Ward residence, but found to his annoyance that Charles had not adhered to his determination to remain indoors.The guards were there, but said that the young man seemed to have lost part of his timidity.He had that morning done much apparently frightened arguing and protesting over the telephone, one of the detectives said, replying to some unknown voice with phrases such as “I am very tired and must rest a while”, “I can’t receive anyone for some time, you’ll have to excuse me”, “Please postpone decisive action till we can arrange some sort of compromise”, or “I am very sorry, but I must take a complete vacation from everything; I’ll talk with you later”.Then, apparently gaining boldness through meditation, he had slipped out so quietly that no one had seen him depart or knew that he had gone until he returned about one o’clock and entered the house without a word.He had gone upstairs, where a bit of his fear must have surged back; for he was heard to cry out in a highly terrified fashion upon entering his library, afterward trailing off into a kind of choking gasp.When, however, the butler had gone to inquire what the trouble was, he had appeared at the door with a great show of boldness, and had silently gestured the man away in a manner that terrified him unaccountably.Then he had evidently done some rearranging of his shelves, for a great clattering and thumping and creaking ensued; after which he had reappeared and left at once.Willett inquired whether or not any message had been left, but was told that there was none.The butler seemed queerly disturbed about something in Charles’s appearance and manner, and asked solicitously if there was much hope for a cure of his disordered nerves.

For almost two hours Dr.Willett waited vainly in Charles Ward’s library, watching the dusty shelves with their wide gaps where books had been removed, and smiling grimly at the panelled overmantel on the north wall, whence a year before the suave features of old Joseph Curwen had looked mildly down.After a time the shadows began to gather, and the sunset cheer gave place to a vague growing terror which flew shadow-like before the night.Mr.Ward finally arrived, and shewed much surprise and anger at his son’s absence after all the pains which had been taken to guard him.He had not known of Charles’s appointment, and promised to notify Willett when the youth returned.In bidding the doctor goodnight he expressed his utter perplexity at his son’s condition, and urged his caller to do all he could to restore the boy to normal poise.Willett was glad to escape from that library, for something frightful and unholy seemed to haunt it; as if the vanished picture had left behind a legacy of evil.He had never liked that picture; and even now, strong-nerved though he was, there lurked a quality in its vacant panel which made him feel an urgent need to get out into the pure air as soon as possible.