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(Thunderclap)

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(Chimes)

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(Howling wind)

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(Thunderclap)

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The sale room of an old and famous
firm of book auctioneers in London

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is of course a great meeting place
for collectors, libraries and dealers.

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And it was in such a sale room that
the remarkable series of events began

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which were detailed to me
not many months ago

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by the person
whom they principally affected,

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namely Mr James Denton, MA, FSA, etc,
some time of Trinity Hall,

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and now of Rendcomb Manor
in the county of Warwick.

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On a certain spring day, he was
in London for a few days' business,

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which principally concerned
the furnishing of the house

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which he had just finished
building at Rendcomb,

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and with time on his hands he thought
he'd spend an hour in the sale room.

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He was making good progress
with the catalogue,

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when he was interrupted by a friend

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asking if he was looking
for anything in particular.

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'I thought there might be some
Warwickshire collection,' said Denton,

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'but I don't see anything
under Warwick.'

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'I believe I noticed something like
a Warwickshire diary,' said his friend.

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'Yes, yes, here it is.
Poynter: Lot 486.'

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At that moment, Mr Denton discovered
that he could spare no more time

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before going for his train.

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But he was able to confirm that there
were four largish volumes of the diary

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and that it concerned the years
about 1710.

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So it seemed worthwhile
to leave a commission of £25 for it

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which he proceeded to do.

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The following morning,
he laid before his aunt

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a statement of the results
of his visit to town,

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particulars of carpets, of chairs
and of wardrobes.

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'But I don't see any chintzes here,'
said his aunt. 'Did you go to...?'

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'Oh! I am sorry,' said Denton quickly,

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'but the fact is I was on my way there
and I happened to be passing Robins.'

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'l suppose that means another parcel
of horrible old books!' replied his aunt.

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And indeed a parcel containing
the four volumes of Poynter's diary

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arrived a few days later.

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On the Sunday morning after church,
Mr Denton's aunt came into the study

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and was diverted from what
she'd been going to say

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by the sight of the four brown
leather quartos on the table.

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'Are these the things that made you
forget my chintzes?' she said.

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She picked up one of the volumes
and opened it at random,

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dashing it to the floor the next instant
with a cry of disgust

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as an earwig fell
from between the pages.

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But in picking it up, they noticed a piece
of patterned stuff had been fastened

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to one of the pages
by an old-fashioned pin.

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James detached it
and handed it to his aunt.

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Now I don't know exactly
what the fabric was,

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but it had a design printed upon it

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which completely fascinated
Miss Denton.

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'It is a most charming pattern,'
she said.

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'Look how delightfully the lines ripple.
It reminds one of hair.

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And then these knots of ribbon
at intervals,

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they give just the relief of colour
that's wanted. I wonder...'

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'Erm...l was going to say,'
said James with deference,

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'I wonder if it would cost much
to have it copied for our curtains.

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I suppose you could have a block
cut from it in wood or metal.'

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'Now, really, that is a capital idea,'
said his aunt.

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After she'd gone, James examined
the pattern more closely.

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It ran in vertical bands,

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and there was some indication that these
were intended to converge at the top.

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She was right, too,
in thinking that these main bands

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resembled rippling tresses of hair.

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The thing now was to find out what firm
would undertake the reproduction

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of an old pattern of this kind.

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After two unsuccessful inquiries,

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he entrusted a firm
in Bermondsey with the job.

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'It's 'eart-rending, isn't it, sir,'
said their Mr Cattell,

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'to picture the quantity of really
lovely mediaeval stuff of this kind

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that lays well nigh unnoticed
in many of our country 'ouses?

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Much of it in peril of bein'
cast aside as so much rubbish.

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What is it Shakespeare says?
"Unconsidered trifles."

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I often say, sir,
Shakespeare 'as a word for us all.'

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About a month later,

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being advised that some samples
were ready for his inspection,

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Mr Denton met Mr Cattell again and
had, it seems, reason to be satisfied.

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'Do you think it would be popular
if it were generally obtainable?'

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asked Mr Denton.

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'I 'ardly think it,'
said Mr Cattell pensively.

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'It wasn't popular with the man
that cut the block.

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It was as if he scented something
almost evil in the design.'

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By October, sufficient quantity
of the stuff had been manufactured

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to furnish curtains for the three or four
bedrooms which were to be fitted with it.

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On the feast of Simon and Jude,

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the aunt and nephew
returned from a short visit

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to find all completed and their satisfaction
at the general effect was great.

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Dressing for dinner that night
and taking stock of his room

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where a large amount of the chintz
was displayed,

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Mr Denton congratulated himself
on the luck

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which had first made him
forget his aunt's commission.

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At breakfast, however, he was
induced to qualify his satisfaction.

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'I rather regret,' he said,
'that we allowed them

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to join up the vertical bands
of the pattern at the top.

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As I was reading in bed last night,
they kept catching my eye rather.

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There was an effect
as if someone kept peeping out.

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Perhaps it was the wind
that made it seem so.'

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'l thought it was a perfectly still night,'
said his aunt.

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'Well, there was enough
to sway my curtains

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and rustle them more than I wanted,'
said James.

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That night, a bachelor friend of his
came to stay

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and was lodged in the room
on the same floor as his host.

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Miss Denton retired first,
and the two men at about eleven.

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But James,
not yet inclined for bed,

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sat down in an armchair
to read for a time.

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Then he dozed and later woke
and bethought himself

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that his brown spaniel,
which ordinarily slept in his room,

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had not come upstairs with him.

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Then he thought he was mistaken.

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For happening to move his hand which
hung down over the arm of the chair,

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he felt on the back of it just
the slightest touch of a surface of hair.

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And stretching it out, he stroked
and patted a rounded something.

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But instead of a responsive movement,
absolute stillness greeted his touch,

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making him look over the arm.

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What he'd been touching
rose to meet him.

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It was in the attitude of one that
had crept along the floor on its belly,

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and it was, so far as could be
recollected, a human figure.

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But of the face now rising
to within a few inches of his own,

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no feature was discernible,
only hair.

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Shapeless as it was, there was about it
so horrible an air of menace

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that, moaning with fear, he bounded
from his chair and rushed from the room.

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Forgetting the baize door in the corridor
outside opened towards him,

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he beat against it with all the force in him,

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feeling all the time
a soft tearing at his back,

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which seemed to be growing in power
with the pursuer's rage.

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Then at last, he was through the door,
shutting it behind him

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and had gained his friend's room.

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It seems curious that
during all the time that had elapsed

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since the purchase of Poynter's diary,

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James Denton should not have
sought an explanation

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of the presence of the pattern
that had been pinned into it.

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Now he examined the relevant volume
more closely,

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what he suspected about it
turned out to be correct.

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Two or three leaves were pasted
together but written upon,

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and they yielded easily to steaming.

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The entry was made in 1707.

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'Old Mr Casbury of Accrington
told me this day,

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much of young Sir Everard Charlett,

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whom he remembered
Commoner of University College.

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This Charlett was
a personable young gent,

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but noted for his extravagances,

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and if the full history
of his debaucheries had been known,

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no doubt would have been expelled.

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He was a very beautiful person,

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and constantly wore his own hair
which was very abundant.

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Note that Mr Casbury said that
he remembers not the year

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of Sir Everard Charlett's death,

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but it was 1692 or '93.

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He died suddenly in October

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when he was found in the town ditch,

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the hair plucked clean off his head.

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He was buried next night
in St peters-in-the-East.

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But two years after, being moved
to his country estate by his successor,

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it was said that
the coffin proved quite full of hair.

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His chambers being afterward stripped,

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Mr Casbury came by part
of the hangings of it,

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which it was said
this Charlett had designed expressly

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for a memorial of his hair,

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giving the fellow that drew it
a lock to work by.

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And the piece
which I have fastened in here

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was parcel of the same
which Mr Casbury gave to me.

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He said he believed
there was a subtlety in the drawing

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but had never discovered it himself
nor much liked to pore upon it.'

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The money spent upon the curtains might
as well have been thrown into the fire,

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as they were.

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Mr Cattell's comment
upon what he heard of the story

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took the form of a quotation
from Shakespeare.

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You may guess it without difficulty.

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It began with the words:

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'There are more things...'