1
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(Thunderclap)

2
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(Chimes)

3
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(Howling wind)

4
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(Thunderclap)

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(Wind howls plaintively)

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It was in February when the catalogue
from the art dealer J.W. Britnell

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appeared on the desk
of my friend Williams.

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Accompanying it was a type-written
communication which ran as follows:

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00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:48,402
'Dear sir,
we beg to call your attention

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00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,046
to number 978
in our accompanying catalogue

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00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:53,049
which we shall be glad
to send you on approval.

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00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:55,527
Yours faithfully,
J.W. Britnell.'

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To turn to number 978 in the catalogue
was the work of a moment,

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and in the place indicated
Mr Williams found the following entry:

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'978. Unknown.
Interesting mezzotint.

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View of a manor house.
Early part of the century.

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Fifteen by ten inches. Black frame.
Two guineas.'

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It was not especially exciting
and the price seemed high.

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However, Mr Williams wrote a postcard

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asking for the article to be sent
on approval

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along with some other engravings
and sketches

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which appeared in the same catalogue.

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A parcel of any kind always arrives
a day later than you expect it,

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and the mezzotint was delivered
to his rooms in college

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by the afternoon post of Saturday.

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It was here that he found it,

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when he came into tea
with his friend, Professor Binks.

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The mezzotint, in a large black frame,
turned out to be rather indifferent.

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It presented a full-face view of a not very
large manor house of the last century,

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with three rows of plain sashed windows
with rusticated masonry about them,

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a parapet with balls or vases
at the angles

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00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,766
and a small portico in the centre.

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00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,602
On either side were trees, and in front
a considerable expanse of lawn.

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The legend AWF sculpsit
was engraved on the narrow margin,

35
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and on the back was a paper label,
the left hand of which had been torn off.

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All that remained were the ends
of two lines of writing.

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The first had the letters:
-NGLEY Hall

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the second: Essex.

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'What is this place, Williams?'
said Binks.

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'Just what I'm going to try to find out,'
said Williams,

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searching in vain through a gazetteer.

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'I can't conceive why Britnell
should want two guineas

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for such a wretched engraving.

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There aren't even any figures
to give it life.'

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00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:37,922
'Oh, it's not so badly done.

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And I should've thought
there were figures,

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or at least a figure,
just on the edge in front.'

48
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,249
And indeed there was.

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Hardly more than a black blot
on the extreme edge of the engraving.

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The head of a man or woman,
a good deal muffled up,

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the back turned to the spectator
and looking towards the house.

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Williams had not noticed it before.

53
00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,251
Later that evening, after dinner
and an hour in the common room,

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00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,091
Williams and a few of his colleagues
retired to his rooms,

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00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,010
and during a lull, Williams
picked up the mezzotint from the table

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without looking at it
and handed it to one of them.

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The gentleman took it carelessly,
but then said in a tone of some interest,

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'It's really a very good piece of work,
Williams,

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and the figure,
though it's rather too grotesque,

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is somehow very impressive.'

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'Yes, isn't it?' said Williams, busy
giving whiskey and soda to the company.

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So it was not until
some time past midnight

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that, on lighting his bedroom candle,
the picture again caught his eye.

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It was face upwards on the table.

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00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,365
And what Williams saw made him
very nearly drop the candle on the floor.

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In the middle of the lawn,
in front of the unknown house,

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there was a figure where no figure
had been at five o'clock that afternoon.

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It was crawling on all fours
towards the house,

69
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:06,371
and it was muffled in a strange black
garment with a white cross on the back.

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I don't know what is the ideal course
to pursue in a situation of this kind,

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I can only tell you what Mr Williams did,
which was to lock it up in a drawer.

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But not before he had Mitten out and
signed an account

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of the extraordinary change
which the picture had undergone

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00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,531
since it had come into his possession.

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00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,961
By now,
in need of a further witness,

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00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,971
he had decided to invite his neighbour,
Nisbet, to breakfast on the following day.

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Nisbet arrived at about 09:30,

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and during the meal nothing was said
about the mezzotint,

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save that he had a picture
on which he wished Nisbet's opinion.

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But at last the moment arrived
for which he had waited.

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With considerable excitement,
he unlocked the drawer,

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00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,089
and placed the picture
face downwards into Nisbet's hands.

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00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:52,240
'Now,' he said, 'I want you to describe
exactly what you see in that picture.'

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'Well,' said Nisbet, 'I have here
a view of a country house,

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English, I presume, by moonlight.

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The moon appears to be on the wane
and there are clouds in the sky.

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There's not much more to be said.

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The house has one, two, three
rows of windows,

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five in each row except at the bottom,

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00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,046
where there's a porch instead
of the middle one, and erm...'

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00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,845
'But what about figures?' said Williams.

92
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:16,962
'There aren't any, but erm...'

93
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'What? No figure on the grass in front?'

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'Not a thing, I'll swear to it.
But there's just one other thing...

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One of the windows on the ground floor,
left of the door, is open.'

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'My goodness,' said Williams,
with great excitement.

97
00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:35,482
'He must've got in.'

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It was quite true. There was no figure.

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And there was the open window.

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After a moment of speechless surprise,
Williams went to the writing table,

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and, after scribbling for a short time,
brought two papers to Nisbet,

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asking him to sign one,
his own description of the picture,

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and then to read the other,

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which was Williams' statement
written the night before.

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'It looks,' said Nisbet,
'as if we were assisting

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at the working out
of a tragedy somewhere.

107
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The question is,
has it happened already,

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or is it going to come off?'

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'I must get the thing photographed
before it goes further,' said Williams.

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'And I'll go and fetch Garwood
who saw the picture last night

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and get him to sign a statement
that the figure, when he saw it,

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hadn't got far across the lawn.

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And I must show it to Old Green.
It's quite likely he'll know the place.

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I'm beginning to think that two guineas
is not a very exorbitant price for it now.'

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'Are you going to sit
and watch it all day?' asked Nisbet.

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'Well, no. I rather imagine
we're meant to see the whole thing.

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Besides, I have an idea that it wouldn't
change much, if at all, in the daytime.

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We might go out for a walk. I shall leave
the picture out on the table here,

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and sport the door.
My Skip can get in, but no one else can.'

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At five o'clock, they returned
to find Williams' Skip

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seated on a chair, gazing at the picture
with undisguised horror.

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He was a servant
of considerable standing,

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and nothing could've been more
alien to his practice

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than to be found sitting
in his master's chair.

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'Begging your pardon, sir,
but it ain't a picture I should 'ang

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where my little girl could see it, sir.

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If she was to catch a sight
of this skeleton 'ere, or whatever it is,

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carryin' off the poor baby,
she'd be in a taking, and no mistake.'

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And with these words, the excellent man
went to continue on his rounds.

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You may be sure that the gentlemen lost
no time in gathering round the engraving.

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There was the house, as before.

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The window, that had been open,
was shut,

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and the figure was once more
on the lawn.

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But now it was erect
and stepping swiftly with long strides

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towards the front of the picture.

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The black drapery
hung down over its face

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revealing only a glimpse
of a white dome-like forehead

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and a few straggling hairs.

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The head was bent down
and the arms were tightly clasped

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over an object
which could dimly be identified

141
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as a child.

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From five until seven,

143
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the three companions sat
and watched the picture by turns.

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But it never changed,

145
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and eventually they agreed
to leave it and to return again later.

146
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When they assembled again,
the figure was gone,

147
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and the house was quiet
under the moonbeams.

148
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There seemed nothing for it
but to spend the evening

149
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over gazetteers and guidebooks.

150
00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:24,484
At 11:30pm,

151
00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,571
Williams read out the following lines
from Murray's <i>Guide</i> To Essex.

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'Sixteen and a half miles, Anningley.

153
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,645
The church has been
an interesting building of Norman date,

154
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,809
but was extensively classicised in
the last century.

155
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,764
It contains the tomb
of the family of Francis,

156
00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,168
whose mansion, Anningley Hall,
a solid Queen Anne house,

157
00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,044
stands immediately
beyond the churchyard

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00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,367
in a park of about 80 acres.

159
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:50,608
The family is now extinct,

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the last heir having disappeared
mysteriously in infancy in the year 1802.

161
00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,205
The father, Mr Arthur Francis,
was locally known

162
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,769
as a talented amateur engraver
in mezzotint.

163
00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:07,609
After his son's disappearance,

164
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,326
he lived in complete retirement
at the hall,

165
00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,001
and was found dead in his studio
on the third anniversary of the disaster,

166
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having just completed
an engraving of the house,

167
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,728
impressions of which
are of considerable rarity.'

168
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,251
When, on his return,

169
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,648
Green the college bursar identified
the house as Anningley Hall,

170
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,322
Williams asked him for a possible
explanation of the figure in the picture.

171
00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,442
'I don't know I'm sure, Williams.

172
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,403
What used to be said
when I first knew the place

173
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was that Old Francis was always very
much down on these poaching fellows,

174
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and by degrees
he got rid of them all but one,

175
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who was the last surviving member
of a very old family.

176
00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,962
I believe they were
lords of the manor at one time.

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00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,084
Anyway, this man always managed
to keep on the right side of the law

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00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,646
until one night
the keepers found him at it.

179
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,970
You can imagine there was a row,
and the man, his name was Gawdy,

180
00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,526
was unlucky enough to shoot
one of the keepers.

181
00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:05,041
He was strung up
in double quick time.

182
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:06,924
And I've been shown the place
where he was buried

183
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,281
on the north side of the church.

184
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,801
It was always said that
some friend of Gawdy's must've planned

185
00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,402
to get hold of Francis' boy
and put an end to his line too.

186
00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:21,289
I must say, it looks now as if Old Gawdy
had managed the job himself.'

187
00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:30,048
I've only to add that the picture
is now in the Ashleian Museum,

188
00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,162
and that though carefully watched,

189
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,966
it has never been known to change again.