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" I should like to know how any one of us would look, or what the devil we should have to say for ourselves, in any Christian witness-box. "
Robert Louis Stevens may be known world wide for Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but his short ghost stories are just as horrifying as his longer works. Rae Wilson shares her observations on Stevenson's cautionary tale and and invites you question your own ambition fueled denial.
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Sneaky Snitch by Kevin MacLeod http://incompetech.com
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Reminiscing- by Maarten Schellekens courtesy of Classicals.de
https://www.classicals.de/
------------
Dark Shadows - by David Fesliyan
https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★In the oral tradition of storytelling, Echoes in the Dark, delivers classic works of gothic fiction weekly. Hosted and curated by Ms. Rae (an award-winning educator, actor, and literary analyst) the collection of stories spans popular works by authors like Edgar Allan Poe as well as lesser known works by authors such as Guy de Maupassant. Each story is followed by a literary analysis.
If you’re looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you.
A Note on Content: While these stories are generally appropriate for listeners aged 12 and up, classic Gothic literature frequently explores themes of murder, romantic affairs, and "tortured souls." Stories are performed exactly as written in their original historical context.
If you are looking to learn more ways to boost your literary analysis visit:
Speaker: Welcome to Echoes in the
Dark, a podcast dedicated to the
oral
Speaker: tradition of storytelling.
Speaker: If you're looking to enjoy
more classic literature, struggle to
Speaker: find the time to read, hate
reading, or just love listening to
Speaker: stories, then this podcast
is for you.
Speaker: At the end of each story,
I'll share my analysis on the
story's
Speaker: deeper meanings.
Speaker: The Body Snatcher by Robert
Lewis Stevenson is a short story
that
Speaker: was originally published in
1884 in the newspaper The Paul Mall
Speaker: Gazette.
Speaker: Stevenson is best known for
the fictional works Treasure Island
Speaker: and Strange Case of Dr.
Speaker: Jekyll and Mr.
Speaker: Hyde.
Speaker: He wrote some 21 books.
Speaker: The entire short story is
told in first-person limited
narration.
Speaker: If you want to follow
along, you can get a copy on my
website,
Speaker: betteressaywriting.com.
Speaker: The Body Snatcher by Robert
Lewis Stevenson.
Speaker: Every night in the year,
four of us sat in the small parlor
of
Speaker: the George at Devon Home.
Speaker: The Undertaker and the
Landlord and Fetz and myself.
Speaker: Sometimes there would be
more but blow high, blow low, come
rain
Speaker: or snow or frost, we four
would be each planted in his own
particular
Speaker: armchair.
Speaker: Fetz was an old drunken
Scotchman, a man of education,
obviously,
Speaker: and a man of some property
since he lived in idleness.
Speaker: He had come to Debenham
years ago while still young, and by
a
Speaker: mere continuance of living
had grown to be an adopted townsman.
Speaker: His blue camlet cloak was a
local antiquity like the church
spire.
Speaker: His place in the parlor at
the George, his absence from church,
Speaker: his old scrapulous,
disreputable vices were all things,
of course,
Speaker: in Debenham.
Speaker: He had some vague radical
opinions and some fleeting
infidelities,
Speaker: which he would now and
again set forth and emphasize with
totering
Speaker: slaps upon the table.
Speaker: He drank rum, five glasses
regularly every evening, and for the
Speaker: greater portion of his
nightly visit to the George sat with
his
Speaker: glass in his right hand in
a state of melancholy alcoholic
saturation.
Speaker: We called him the doctor,
for he was supposed to have some
special
Speaker: knowledge of medicine and
had been known upon a pinch to set a
Speaker: fracture or reduce a
dislocation.
Speaker: But beyond these slight
particulars, we had no knowledge of
his
Speaker: character and antecedents.
Speaker: One dark winter night, it
had struck nine, sometime before the
Speaker: landlord joined us.
Speaker: There was a sick man in the
George, a great neighboring
proprietor
Speaker: suddenly struck down with
apoxapy on his way to Parliament,
and
Speaker: the great man's still
greater London doctor had been
telegraphed
Speaker: to his bedside.
Speaker: It was the first time that
such a thing had happened in
Debenham,
Speaker: for the railway was but
newly opened and we were all
proportionately
Speaker: moved by the occurrence.
Speaker: He's come, said the
landlord, after he filled and
lighted his
Speaker:pipe.
Speaker: He, said I.
Speaker: Who?
Speaker: Not the doctor.
Speaker: Himself, replied our host.
Speaker: What's his name?
Speaker: Doctor MacFarlane, said the
landlord.
Speaker: Fets was far through his
third tumbler, stupidly fuddled, now
Speaker: nodding over, now staring
mazily around him.
Speaker: But at the last word he
seemed to awaken and repeated the
name
Speaker: MacFarlane twice, quietly
enough the first time, but with
sudden
Speaker: emotion at the second.
Speaker: Yes, said the landlord,
that's his name, doctor Wolf
McFarlane.
Speaker: Fetz became instantly
sober.
Speaker: His eyes awoke, his voice
became clear, loud, and steady, his
Speaker: language forcibly an
earnest.
Speaker: We were all startled by the
transformation as if a man had risen
Speaker: from the dead.
Speaker: I beg your pardon, he said.
Speaker: I am afraid I have not been
paying much attention to your talk.
Speaker: Who is this Wolf McFarlane?
Speaker: And then when he heard the
landlord out, it cannot be.
Speaker: It cannot be, he added.
Speaker: And yet I would like well
to see him face to face.
Speaker: Do you know him, doctor?
Speaker: asked the undertaker with a
gasp.
Speaker: God forbid, was the reply.
Speaker: And yet the name is a
strange one.
Speaker: If it were too much to
fancy too.
Speaker: Tell me, landlord, is he
old?
Speaker: Well, said the host, he's
not a young man to be sure, and his
Speaker: hair is white, but he looks
younger than you.
Speaker: He's older though.
Speaker: Yeah is older, but with a
slap upon the table, it's the rum
you
Speaker: see in my face.
Speaker: Rum and sin.
Speaker: This man perhaps may have
an easy conscience and a good
digestion.
Speaker: Conscience Hear me speak.
Speaker: You would think I was some
good old decent Christian, would you
Speaker: not?
Speaker: But no, not I.
Speaker: I never can't it.
Speaker: Voltaire might have canted
if he stood in my shoes, but the
brains
Speaker: with a rattling fillip on
his bald head, the brains were clear
Speaker: and active, and I saw and
made no deductions.
Speaker: If you know this doctor, I
ventured to remark, after a somewhat
Speaker: awful pause, I should
gather that you do not share the
landlord's
Speaker: good opinion.
Speaker: Fets paid no regard to me.
Speaker: Yes, he said with sudden
decision, I must see him face to
face.
Speaker: There was another pause,
and then a door was closed rather
sharply
Speaker: on the first floor, and a
step was heard upon the stair.
Speaker 1: That's the doctor, cried
the landlord.
Speaker 1: Look sharp and you can
catch him.
Speaker: It was but two steps from
the small parlour to the door of the
Speaker: old George Inn.
Speaker: The wide oak staircase
landed almost in the street.
Speaker: There was room for a turkey
rug and nothing more between the
threshold
Speaker: and the last round of the
descent.
Speaker: But this little space was
every evening brilliantly lit up not
Speaker: only by the light upon the
stair and the great signal lamp
below
Speaker: the sign, but by the warm
radiance of the barroom window.
Speaker: The George thus sprightly
advertised itself to passers by in
the
Speaker: cold street.
Speaker: Betts walked steadily to
the spot, and we, who were hanging
behind,
Speaker: beheld the two men meet as
one of them had phrased it face to
Speaker:face.
unknown: Dr.
Speaker: McFarlane was alert and
vigorous, his white hair set off,
his
Speaker: pale and placid, although
energetic, countenance.
Speaker: He was richly dressed in
the finest of broadcloth and the
whitest
Speaker: of linen, with a great gold
watch chain and studs and spectacles
Speaker: of the same precious
material.
Speaker: He wore a broad, folded
tie, white and speckled with lilac,
and
Speaker: he carried on his arm a
comfortable driving coat of fur.
Speaker: There was no doubt but he
became his years, breathing as he
did,
Speaker: of wealth and
consideration, and it was a
surprising contrast
Speaker: to see our parlor sot,
bald, dirty, pimpled, and robbed in
his
Speaker: old camlet cloak, confront
him at the bottom of the stairs.
Speaker: McFarlane, he said,
somewhat loudly, more like a herald
than a
Speaker: friend.
Speaker: The great doctor pulled up
short on the fourth step as though
Speaker: the familiarity of the
dress surprised and somewhat shocked
his
Speaker: dignity.
Speaker: Toddy McFarlane repeated
Vetz.
Speaker: The London man almost
staggered.
Speaker: He stared for the swiftest
of seconds at the man before him,
glanced
Speaker: behind him with a sort of
scare, and then in a startled
whisper
Speaker: Fetz, he said.
Speaker 1: You I said the other.
Speaker 1: Me.
Speaker: Do you think I was dead
too?
Speaker: We are not so easy to shut
of our acquaintance.
Speaker: Hush, hush, exclaimed the
doctor.
Speaker: Hush, hush, this meeting is
so unexpected.
Speaker: I can see you are unmanned.
Speaker: I hardly even knew you, I
confess at first.
Speaker: But I am overjoyed,
overjoyed to have this opportunity.
Speaker: For the present it must be
how do you do?
Speaker: And goodbye in one, for my
fly is waiting, and I must not fail
Speaker: the train, but you shall
let me see.
Speaker: Yes, you shall give me your
address and you can count on early
Speaker: news of me.
Speaker: We must do something for
you, Fetz.
Speaker: I fear you are out at
elbows, but we must see to that for
old
Speaker: Lang sign, as once we sang
at suppers.
Speaker: Money cried Fetz.
Speaker: Money from you!
Speaker: The money that I had from
you is lying where I cast it in the
Speaker:rain.
Speaker: doctor McFarlane had talked
himself into some measure of
superiority
Speaker: and confidence, but the
uncommon energy of this refusal cast
him
Speaker: back into his first
confusion.
Speaker: A horrible, ugly look came
and went across his almost vernable
Speaker: countenance.
Speaker: My dear fellow, he said, be
it as you please, my last thought
Speaker: is to offend you.
Speaker: I would intrude on none.
Speaker: I will leave you my
address, however.
Speaker: I do not wish it.
Speaker: I do not wish to know the
roof that shelters you, interrupted
Speaker: the other.
Speaker: I heard your name.
Speaker: I feared it might be you.
Speaker: I wish to know if after all
there were a god.
Speaker: I know now there is none.
Speaker: Be gone.
Speaker: He still stood in the
middle of the rug between the stair
and
Speaker: the doorway, and the great
London physician, in order to
escape,
Speaker: would be forced to step to
one side.
Speaker: It was plain that he
hesitated before the thought of this
humiliation.
Speaker: White as he was, there was
a dangerous glitter in his
spectacles.
Speaker: But while he still paused
uncertain, he became aware that the
Speaker: driver of his fly was
peering in from the street at the
unusual
Speaker: scene, and caught a glimpse
at the same time of our little body
Speaker: from our parlor, huddled by
the corner of the bar.
Speaker: The presence of so many
witnesses decided him at once to
flee.
Speaker: He crouched together,
brushing on the Wainscot, and made a
dart
Speaker: like a serpent striking for
the door.
Speaker: But his tribulation was not
yet entirely at an end, for even as
Speaker: he was passing, Fetz
clutched him by the arm, and these
words
Speaker: came in a whisper and yet
painfully distinct.
Speaker: Have you seen it again?
Speaker: The great rich London
doctor cried out aloud with a sharp,
throttling
Speaker: cry.
Speaker: He dashed his questioner
across the open space and, with his
hands
Speaker: over his head, fled out of
the door like a detected thief.
Speaker: Before it had occurred to
one of us to make a movement, the
fly
Speaker: was already rattling toward
the station.
Speaker: The scene was over like a
dream, but the dream had left proofs
Speaker: and traces of its passage.
Speaker: Next day the servant found
the fine gold spectacles broken on
Speaker: the threshold, and that
very night we were all standing
breathless
Speaker: by the barroom window, and
Fetz at our side, sober, pale, and
Speaker: resolute in look.
Speaker: God protect us, Mr.
Speaker: Fetz, said the landlord,
coming first into possession of his
customary
Speaker: senses.
Speaker: What in the universe is all
this?
Speaker: These are strange things
you have been saying.
Speaker: Fetz turned towards us.
Speaker: He looked us each in
succession in the face.
Speaker: See if you can hold your
tongues, he said he.
Speaker: That man MacFarlane is not
safe to cross.
Speaker: Those that have done so
already have repented it too late.
Speaker: And then without so much as
finishing his third glass, far less
Speaker: waiting for the other two,
he bade us goodbye and went forth
under
Speaker: the lamp of the hotel into
the black night.
Speaker: We three turned to our
places in the parlor with the big
red fire
Speaker: and four clear candles.
Speaker: And as we recapitulated
what had passed, the first chill of
our
Speaker: surprise soon changed into
a glow of curiosity.
Speaker: We sat late.
Speaker: It was the latest session I
have known in the old George.
Speaker: Each man before we parted
had his theory that he was bound to
Speaker: prove, and none of us had
any near business in this world than
Speaker: to track out the past of
our condemned companion, and
surprise
Speaker: the secret that he shared
with the great London doctor.
Speaker: It is no great boast, but I
believe I was a better hand at
worming
Speaker: out a story than either of
my fellows at the George, and
perhaps
Speaker: there is now no other man
alive who could narrate to you the
following
Speaker: foul and unnatural events.
Speaker: In his young days, Fett
studied medicine in the schools of
Edinburgh.
Speaker: He had talent of a kind and
the talent that picks up swiftly
what
Speaker: it hears and readily
retells it for its own.
Speaker: He worked little at home,
but he was civil, attentive, and
intelligent
Speaker: in the presence of his
masters.
Speaker: They soon picked him out as
a lad who listened closely and
remembered
Speaker: well.
Speaker: Nay, strange as it seemed
to me when I first heard it, he was
Speaker: in those days well favored
and pleased by his exterior.
Speaker: There was, at that period,
a certain extramural teacher of
anatomy,
Speaker: whom I shall hear designate
by the letter K.
Speaker: His name was subsequently
too well known.
Speaker: The man who bore its
sculpts through the streets of
Edinburgh
Speaker: in disguise, while the mob
that applauded at the execution of
Speaker: Burke called loudly for the
blood of his employer.
Speaker: But Mr.
Speaker: K was then at the top of
his vogue.
Speaker: He enjoyed a popularity due
partly to his own talent and
address,
Speaker: partly to the incapacity of
his rival, the university professor.
Speaker: The students at least swore
by his name, and Fetz believed
himself
Speaker: and was believed by others
to have laid the foundations of
success
Speaker: when he had acquired the
favor of this materially famous man.
Speaker: Mr.
Speaker: K was a bon vivant as well
as an accomplished teacher.
Speaker: He liked a sly illusion no
less than a careful preparation.
Speaker: In both capacities, Fetz
enjoyed and deserved his notice, and
Speaker: by the second year of his
attendance, he held the half regular
Speaker: position of second
demonstrator or sub assistant in his
class.
Speaker: In this capacity, the
charge of the theater and lecture
room devolved
Speaker: in particular upon his
shoulders.
Speaker: He had to answer for the
cleanliness of the premises and the
conduct
Speaker: of the other students, and
it was a part of his duty to supply,
Speaker: receive, and divide the
various subjects.
Speaker: It was with a view to this
last, at that time, very delicate,
Speaker: affair that he was lodged
by Mr.
Speaker: K.
Speaker: In the same wind and at
last in the same building with the
dissecting
Speaker: rooms.
Speaker: Here, after a night of
turbulent pleasures, his hands still
tottering,
Speaker: his sights still misty and
confused, he would be called out of
Speaker: bed in the black hours
before the winter dawn by the
unclean and
Speaker: desperate interlopers who
supplied the table.
Speaker: He would open the doors to
these men, since infamous throughout
Speaker: the land.
Speaker: He would help them with
their tragic burden, pay them their
sordid
Speaker: price, and remain alone
when they were gone, with the
unfriendly
Speaker: relics of humanity.
Speaker: From such a scene, he would
return to snatch another hour or two
Speaker: of slumber to repair the
abuses of the night and refresh
himself
Speaker: for the labors of the day.
Speaker: Few lads could have been
more insensible to the impressions
of
Speaker: a life thus passed among
the ensigns of mortality.
Speaker: His mind was closed against
all general considerations.
Speaker: He was incapable of
interest in the fate and fortunes of
another,
Speaker: a slave of his own desires
and low ambitions.
Speaker: Cold, light, and selfish in
the last resort, he had the modicum
Speaker: of prudence, miscalled
morality, which keeps a man from
inconvenient
Speaker: drunkenness or punishable
theft.
Speaker: He coveted, besides, a
measure of consideration from his
masters
Speaker: and his fellow pupils, and
he had no desire to fail
conspicuously
Speaker: in the external parts of
his life.
Speaker: Thus, he made it his
pleasure to gain some distinction in
his
Speaker: studies and day after day
rendered unimpeachable eye service
to
Speaker: his employer, Mr.
Speaker: K.
Speaker: For this day of work, he
indemnified himself by nights of
roaring,
Speaker: blackguardedly enjoyment.
Speaker: And when that balance had
been struck, the organ that he
called
Speaker: his conscience declared
itself content.
Speaker: The supply of subjects was
a continual trouble to him as well
Speaker: as to his master.
Speaker: In that large and busy
class, the raw material of the
autonomous
Speaker: kept perpetually running
out, and the business thus rendered
necessary
Speaker: was not only unpleasant in
itself, but threatened dangerous
consequences
Speaker: to all who were concerned.
Speaker: It was the policy of Mr.
Speaker: K to ask no questions in
his dealings with the trade.
Speaker: They bring the body and we
pay the price, he used to say,
dwelling
Speaker: on the alliteration, quid
pro quo.
Speaker: And again and somewhat
profanely, ask no questions, he
would tell
Speaker: his assistants, for
conscience' sake.
Speaker: There was no understanding
that the subjects were provided by
Speaker: the crime of murder.
Speaker: Had that idea been broached
to him in words, he would have
recoiled
Speaker: in horror.
Speaker: But the lightness of his
speech upon so grave a matter was in
Speaker: itself an offense against
good manner and a temptation to the
Speaker: men with whom he dealt.
Speaker: Betts, for instance, had
often remarked to himself upon the
singular
Speaker: freshness of the bodies.
Speaker: He had been struck again
and again by the hang dog,
abominable
Speaker: looks of the ruffians who
came to him before the dawn, and,
putting
Speaker: things together clearly in
his private thoughts, he perhaps
attributed
Speaker: a meaning too immoral and
too categorical to the unguarded
counsels
Speaker: of his master.
Speaker: He understood his duty, in
short, to have three branches to
take
Speaker: what was brought, to pay
the price, and to avert the eye from
Speaker: any evidence of crime.
Speaker: One November morning, this
policy of silence was put sharply to
Speaker: the test.
Speaker: He had been awake all night
with a racking toothache, pacing his
Speaker: room like a caged beast of
throwing himself in fury on his bed,
Speaker: and had fallen at last into
that profound, uneasy slumber that
Speaker: so often follows on a night
of pain.
Speaker: When he was awakened by the
third or fourth angry repetition of
Speaker: the concerted signal.
Speaker: There was a thin, bright
moonshine.
Speaker: It was bitter, cold, windy,
and frosty.
Speaker: The town had not yet
awakened, but an indefinable stir
already
Speaker: polluted the noise and
business of the day.
Speaker: The ghouls had come later
than usual, and they seemed more
than
Speaker: usually eager to be gone.
Speaker: Fett, sick with sleep,
lighted them upstairs.
Speaker: He heard them grumbling
Irish voices through a dream, and as
they
Speaker: stripped the sack from
their sad merchandise, he leaned
dozing,
Speaker: with his shoulder propped
against the wall.
Speaker: He had to shake himself to
find the men their money.
Speaker: As he did so, his eyes
lighted on the dead face.
Speaker: He started.
Speaker: He took two steps towards.
Speaker: Nearer with the candle
rays.
Speaker: God almighty, he cried,
that is Jane Gulbraith.
Speaker: The men answered nothing,
but they shuffled nearer the door.
Speaker: I know her, I tell you, he
continued.
Speaker: She was alive and hardy
yesterday.
Speaker: It's impossible she can be
dead.
Speaker: It's impossible you should
have got this body fairly.
Speaker: Sure, sir, you're mistaken
entirely, said one of the men, but
Speaker: the other looked Fetz
darkly in the eyes and demanded the
money
Speaker: on the spot.
Speaker: It was impossible to
misconceive the threat or to
exaggerate the
Speaker: danger.
Speaker: The lad's heart failed him.
Speaker: He stammered some excuses,
counted out the sum, and saw his
hateful
Speaker: visitors depart.
Speaker: No sooner were they gone
than he hastened to confirm his
doubts.
Speaker: By a dozen unquestionable
marks he identified the girl he had
Speaker: jested with the day before.
Speaker: He saw, with horror, marks
upon her body that might well be
token
Speaker: violence.
Speaker: A panic seized him, and he
took refuge in his room.
Speaker: There he reflected at
length over the discovery that he
had made,
Speaker: considered soberly the
bearing of mister K's instructions
and
Speaker: the danger to himself of
interference in so serious a
business,
Speaker: and at last, in sore
perplexity, determined to wait for
the advice
Speaker: of his immediate superior,
the class assistant.
Speaker: This was a young doctor,
Wolf McFarlane, a high favorite
among
Speaker: all the reckless students,
clever, dissipated, and unscrupulous
Speaker: to the last degree.
Speaker: He had travailed and
studied abroad.
Speaker: His manners were agreeable
and a little forward.
Speaker: He was an authority on the
stage, skillful on the ice, or the
Speaker: links with skate or golf
clubs.
Speaker: He dressed with nice
audacity, and to put the finishing
touch
Speaker: upon his glory, he kept a
gig and a strong trotting horse.
Speaker: With Fets, he was on terms
of intimacy.
Speaker: Indeed, their relative
positions called for some community
of
Speaker: life, and when subjects
were scarce, the pair would drive
far
Speaker: into the country in
McFarlane's gig, visit and desecrate
some
Speaker: lonely graveyard, and
return before dawn with their booty
to the
Speaker: door of the dissecting
room.
Speaker: On that particular morning,
McFarlane arrived somewhat earlier
Speaker: than his wont.
Speaker: Fetz heard him and met him
on the stairs, told him his story,
Speaker: and showed him the cause of
his alarm.
Speaker: McFarlane examined the
marks on her body.
Speaker 1: Yes, he said with a nod,
it looks fishy.
Speaker 1: Well what should I do?
Speaker 1: asked Fetz.
Speaker: Do, repeated the other.
Speaker: Do you want to do anything?
Speaker: Lise said soon as Mendon, I
should say.
Speaker: Someone else might
recognize her, objected Fetz.
Speaker: She was as well known as
the Castle Rock.
Speaker: Well hope not, said
McFarlane, and if anybody does,
we'll You
Speaker: didn't don't you see?
Speaker: There's an end.
Speaker: The fact is, this has been
going on too long.
Speaker: Stir up the mud and you'll
get Kay into the most unholy
trouble.
Speaker: You'll be in a shocking box
yourself, so will I.
Speaker: If you come to that I
should like to know how any one of
us would
Speaker: look or what the devil we
should have to say for ourselves in
Speaker: any Christian witness box.
Speaker: For me, you know, there's
one thing certain that, practically
Speaker: speaking, all our subjects
have been murdered.
Speaker: McFarland cried Fetz.
Speaker: Come now, sneered the
other, as if you haven't suspected
it yourself.
Speaker: Suspecting is one thing and
proof another?
Speaker: Yes, I know, and I'm as
sorry as you are this should have
come
Speaker: here, tapping the body with
his cane.
Speaker: The next best thing for me
is to not recognize it, and he added
Speaker: coolly, I don't.
Speaker: You may, if you please, I
don't dictate, but I think a man of
Speaker: the world would do as I do.
Speaker: And I may add, I fancy that
is what Kay would look for at our
Speaker:hands.
Speaker: The question is why did he
choose us two for his assistance?
Speaker: And I answer because he
didn't want old wives.
Speaker: This was the tone of all
others to affect the mind of a lad
like
Speaker: Fetz.
Speaker: He agreed to imitate
McFarlane.
Speaker: The body of the unfortunate
girl was duly dissected, and no one
Speaker: remarked or appeared to
recognize her.
Speaker: One afternoon, when his
day's work was over, Fetz dropped
into
Speaker: a popular tavern and found
McFarlane sitting with a stranger.
Speaker: This was a small man, very
pale and dark with coal black eyes.
Speaker: The cut of his features
gave a promise of intellect and
refinement
Speaker: which was but feebly
realized in his manners, for he
proved, upon
Speaker: a nearer acquaintance,
coarse, vulgar, and stupid.
Speaker: He exercised, however, a
very remarkable control over
MacFarlane,
Speaker: issued orders like the
great Basha, became inflamed at the
least
Speaker: discussion or delay, and
commented rudely on the servility
with
Speaker: which he was obeyed.
Speaker: This most offensive person
took a fancy to Fetz on the spot,
plied
Speaker: him with drinks, and
honored him with unusual confidences
on his
Speaker: past career.
Speaker: If a tenth part of what he
confessed were true, he was a very
Speaker: loathsome rogue, and the
lad's vanity was tickled by the
attention
Speaker: of so experienced a man.
Speaker: I'm a pretty bad fellow
myself, the stranger remarked.
Speaker: But McFarlane is the boy.
Speaker: Toddy McFarlane, I call
him.
Speaker: Toddy, order your friend
another glass.
Speaker: Or it might be Toddy.
Speaker: You jump up and shut the
door.
Speaker: Toddy hates me, he said
again.
Speaker: Oh yes, Toddy you do.
Speaker: Don't you call me that
confounded name, growled McFarlane.
Speaker: Hear him?
Speaker: Did you ever see the lad's
play knife?
Speaker: He would like to do that
all over my body, remarked the
stranger.
Speaker: We medicals have a better
way than that, said Fetz.
Speaker: When we dislike a dead
friend of ours, we dissect him.
Speaker: McFarlane looked up sharply
as though this jest were scarcely
Speaker: to his mind.
Speaker: The afternoon passed.
Speaker: Gray, for that was the
stranger's name, invited Fetz to
join him
Speaker: at dinner, ordered a feast
so sumptuous that the tavern was
thrown
Speaker: into commotion, and when
all was done, commanded McFarlane to
Speaker: settle the bill.
Speaker: It was late before they
separated.
Speaker: The man, Grey, was
incapably drunk.
Speaker: McFarlane, sobered by his
fury, chewed the cud of the money he
Speaker: had been forced to squander
and the slights he had been obliged
Speaker: to swallow.
Speaker: Fetts, with various liquors
singing in his head, returned home
Speaker: with devious footsteps and
a mine entirely in abeyance.
Speaker: Next day, McFarlane was
absent from the class, and Fetz
smiled
Speaker: himself as he imagined him
still squirming the intolerable
grave
Speaker: from the tavern to tavern.
Speaker: As soon as the hour of
liberty had struck, he posted from
place
Speaker: to place in quest of his
last night's companions.
Speaker: He could find them,
however, nowhere.
Speaker: So returned early to his
rooms, went early to bed, and slept
the
Speaker: sleep of the just.
Speaker: At four in the morning, he
was awakened by the well known
signal.
Speaker: Descending to the door he
was filled with astonishment to find
Speaker: McFarlane with his gig.
Speaker: And in the gig, one of
those long and ghastly packages with
which
Speaker: he was so well acquainted.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: he cried.
Speaker: How did you manage?
Speaker: But MacFarlane silenced him
roughly, bidding him turn to
business.
Speaker: When they had got the body
upstairs and laid it on the table,
Speaker: McFarlane made at first as
if he were going away.
Speaker: Then he paused and seemed
to hesitate, and then you had better
Speaker: look at the face, said he,
in tones of some constraint.
Speaker: You had better, he
repeated, as Fetz only stared at him
in wonder.
Speaker: But where and how and when
did you come by it?
Speaker: cried the other.
Speaker: Look at the face was the
only answer.
Speaker: Fetz was staggered, strange
doubts assailed him.
Speaker: He looked from the young
doctor to the body and then back
again,
Speaker: at last, with a start.
Speaker: He did as he was bidden.
Speaker: He had almost expected the
sight that met his eyes, and yet the
Speaker: shock was cruel to see
fixed in the rigidity of death and
naked
Speaker: on that coarse layer of
sackcloth, the man whom he had left
well
Speaker: clad and full of meat and
sin upon the threshold of a tavern.
Speaker: Awoke, even in the
thoughtless fets, some of the
terrors of the
Speaker: conscious.
Speaker: It was a crash TB, which
re-echoed in his soul that two whom
he
Speaker: had known should have come
to lie upon these icy tables.
Speaker: Yet these were only
secondary thoughts.
Speaker: His first concern regarded
Wolf.
Speaker: Unprepared for a challenge
so momentous, he knew not how to
look
Speaker: his comrade in the face.
Speaker: He durst not met his eye,
and he had neither words nor voice
at
Speaker: his command.
Speaker: It was McFarland himself
who made the first advance.
Speaker: He came up quietly behind
and laid his hand gently but firmly
Speaker: on the other's shoulder.
Speaker: Richardson, said he, may
have the head.
Speaker: Now Richardson was a
student who had long been anxious
for that
Speaker: portion of the human
subject to dissect.
Speaker: There was no answer, and
the murderer resumed.
Speaker 1: Talking of business, you
must pay me.
Speaker 1: Your accounts, you see.
Speaker 1: Beth spot in a voice the
ghost of his own.
Speaker 1: Pay you he cried.
Speaker 1: Pay you for for that Why
yes.
Speaker: Of course you must.
Speaker: By all means and on every
possible account you must, returned
Speaker: the other.
Speaker: I dare not give it for
nothing.
Speaker: You dare not take it for
nothing.
Speaker: It would compromise us
both.
Speaker: This is another case like
Jane Galbraith.
Speaker: The more things are wrong,
the more we must act as if all were
Speaker: right.
Speaker: Where does OK keep his
money?
Speaker: There, answered Fetz
hoarsely, pointing to a cupboard in
the corner.
Speaker: Give me the key, then, said
the other calmly holding out his
hand.
Speaker: There was an instant's
hesitation and the die was cast.
Speaker: MacFarlane could not
suppress a nervous twitch, the
infantismal
Speaker: mark of an immense relief
as he felt the key between his
fingers.
Speaker: He opened the cupboard,
brought out pen and ink and a paper
book
Speaker: that stood in one
compartment and separated from the
funds in
Speaker: a drawer as some suitable
to the occasion.
Speaker: Now, look here, he said.
Speaker: There is the payment made.
Speaker: First proof of your good
faith.
Speaker: First step to your
security.
Speaker: You have now to clinch it
by a second.
Speaker: Enter the payment in your
book, and then you, for your part,
may
Speaker: defy the devil.
Speaker: The next few seconds were
for Fetz an agony of thought, but in
Speaker: balancing his terrors, it
was the most immediate that
triumphed.
Speaker: Any future difficulty
seemed almost welcome if he could
avoid
Speaker: a present quarrel with
McFarlane.
Speaker: He set down the candle
which he had been carrying all this
time,
Speaker: and with a steady hand
entered the date, the nature, and
the amount
Speaker: of the transaction.
Speaker: And now, said MacFarlane,
it's only fair that you should
pocket
Speaker: the Loucre.
Speaker: I've had my share already,
by the by when a man of the world
falls
Speaker: into a bit of luck, has a
few shillings extra in his pocket.
Speaker: I'm ashamed to speak of it,
but there's a rule of conduct in the
Speaker: case.
Speaker: No treating, no purchase of
expensive class books, no squaring
Speaker: of old debts.
Speaker: Borrow, don't lend.
Speaker: McFarlane, begged Fett
still somewhat hoarsely.
Speaker: I have but my neck and a
halter to oblige you.
Speaker: To oblige me, cried Wolf.
Speaker: Oh come, you did as near as
I can see the matter, what you
downright
Speaker: had to do in self-defense.
Speaker: Suppose I got into trouble.
Speaker: Where would you be?
Speaker: The second little matter
flows clearly from the first.
Speaker: Mr.
Speaker: Grey is the continuation of
Miss Galbreth.
Speaker: You can't begin and then
stop.
Speaker: If you begin, you must keep
on beginning.
Speaker: That's the truth.
Speaker: No rest for the wicked.
Speaker: A horrible sense of
blackness and the treachery of fate
seized
Speaker: upon the soul of the
unhappy student.
Speaker: My God, he cried.
Speaker: What have I done?
Speaker: And when did I begin to be
made a class assistant in the name
Speaker: of reason?
Speaker: Where's the harm in that?
Speaker: Service wanted the
position.
Speaker: Service might have got it.
Speaker: Would he have been where I
am now?
Speaker: My dear fellow, said
MacFarlane, what a boy you are.
Speaker: What harm has come to you?
Speaker: What harm can come to you
if you hold your tongue?
Speaker: Why, man, do you know what
this life is?
Speaker: There are two squads of us,
the lions and the lambs.
Speaker: If you're a lamb, you'll
come to lie upon these tables like
Grey
Speaker: or Jane Galbraith.
Speaker: If you're a lion, you'll
live and drive a horse like me.
Speaker: Like Kay, like all the
world with any wit or courage.
Speaker: You're staggered at first,
but look at Kay, my dear fellow,
you're
Speaker: clever.
Speaker: You have pluck.
Speaker: I like you.
Speaker: And Kay likes you.
Speaker: You were born to lead the
hunt, and I tell you, on my honor
and
Speaker: my experience of life,
three days from now you'll laugh at
all
Speaker: these scarecrows like a
high school boy at a farce.
Speaker: And with that, McFarlane
took his departure and drove off up
the
Speaker: wind in his gig to get
undercover before daylight.
Speaker: Fetz was thus left alone
with his regrets.
Speaker: He saw the miserable peril
in which he stood involved.
Speaker: He saw, with inexpressible
dismay, that there was no limit to
Speaker: his weakness and that, from
concession to concession, he had
fallen
Speaker: from the arbiter of
McFarland's destiny to his paid and
helpless
Speaker: accomplice.
Speaker: He would have given the
world to have been a little braver
at
Speaker: the time, but it did not
occur to him that he might still be
brave.
Speaker: The secret of Jane
Galbraith and the cursed entry in
the day book
Speaker: closed his mouth.
Speaker: Hours passed, the class
began to arrive, the members of the
unhappy
Speaker: gray were dealt out to one
and to another and received without
Speaker: remark.
Speaker: Richardson was made happy
with the head, and before the hour
of
Speaker: freedom rang, Fetz trembled
with exultation to perceive how far
Speaker: they had already gone
toward safety.
Speaker: For two days he continued
to watch with increasing joy the
dreadful
Speaker: process of disguise.
Speaker: On the third day, McFarlane
made his appearance.
Speaker: He had been ill, he said,
but he made up for lost time by the
Speaker: energy with which he
directed the students.
Speaker: To Richardson, in
particular, he extended the most
valuable assistance
Speaker: and advice, and that
student, encouraged by the praise of
the
Speaker: demonstrator, burned high
with ambitious hopes and saw the
medal
Speaker: already in his grasp.
Speaker: Before the week was out,
McFarlane's prophecy had been
fulfilled.
Speaker: Fets had outlived the
terrors and had forgotten his
baseness.
Speaker: He began to plume himself
upon his courage and had so arranged
Speaker: a story in his mind that he
could look back on these events with
Speaker: an unhealthy pride.
Speaker: Of his accomplice he saw
but little.
Speaker: They met, of course, in the
business of the class, they received
Speaker: their orders together for
Mr.
Speaker: K.
Speaker: At times they had a word or
two in private, and McFarlane was,
Speaker: from first to last,
particularly kind and jovial.
Speaker: But it was plain that he
avoided any reference to their
common
Speaker: secret, and even when Fetz
whispered to him that he had cast in
Speaker: his lot with the lions and
forsworn the lambs, he only signed
Speaker: to him smilingly to hold
his peace.
Speaker: At length, an occasion
arose which threw the pair once more
into
Speaker: a closer union.
Speaker: Mr.
Speaker: K was again short of
subjects, pupils were eager, and it
was a
Speaker: part of this teacher's
pretensions to be always well
supplied.
Speaker: At the same time, there
came the news of a burial in the
rustic
Speaker: graveyard of Glencourse.
Speaker: Time was little changed the
place in question.
Speaker: It stood then as now upon a
crossroad out of call of human
habitations,
Speaker: and buried fathomed deep in
the foliage of six cedar trees, the
Speaker: cries of the sheep upon the
neighboring hills, the streamlets
Speaker: upon either hand, one
loudly singing among pebbles, the
other
Speaker: dripping furtively from
pond to pond, the stir of the wind
and
Speaker: mountainous old flowering
chestnuts, and once in seven days
the
Speaker: voice of the bell and the
old tunes of the precentor were the
Speaker: only sounds that disturbed
the silence around the rural church.
Speaker: The resurrection man, to
use a by name of the period, was not
Speaker: to be deterred by any of
the sanctities of customary piety.
Speaker: It was part of his trade to
despise and desecrate the scrolls
Speaker: and trumpets of old tombs,
the paths worn by the feet of
worshippers
Speaker: and mourners, and the
offerings and the inscriptions of
bereaved
Speaker: affection.
Speaker: To rustic neighborhoods,
where love is more than commonly
tenacious,
Speaker: and where some bonds of
blood or fellowship unite the entire
of
Speaker: a parish, the body
snatcher, far from being repelled by
natural
Speaker: respect, was attracted by
the ease and safety of the task.
Speaker: To bodies that had been
laid in earth, in joyful expectation
of
Speaker: a far different awakening,
there came that hasty, lamp-lit,
terror-haunted
Speaker: resurrection of the spade
and matok.
Speaker: The coffin was forced, the
cremants torn, and the melancholy
relics
Speaker: clad in sackcloth after
being rattled for hours on moonless
byways,
Speaker: were at length exposed to
uttermost identities before a class
Speaker: of gaping boys.
Speaker: Somewhat as two vultures
may swoop upon a dying lamb, Fetz
and
Speaker: MacFarlane were to be let
loose upon a grave in that green and
Speaker: quiet resting place.
Speaker: The wife of a farmer, a
woman who had lived for sixty years,
had
Speaker: been known for nothing but
good butter and a godly
conversation,
Speaker: was to be rooted from her
grave at midnight and carried, dead
Speaker: and naked, to that faraway
city that she had always honored
with
Speaker: her Sunday's best.
Speaker: The place beside her family
was to be empty till the crack of
Speaker: doom, her innocent and
almost vulnerable members to be
exposed
Speaker: to that last curiosity of
the anatomist.
Speaker: Late one afternoon, the
pair set forth, well wrapped in
cloaks
Speaker: and furnished with a
formidable bottle.
Speaker: It rained without
remission, a cold, dense, lashing
rain.
Speaker: Now and again there blew a
puff of wind, but these sheets of
falling
Speaker: water kept it down.
Speaker: Bottle and all, it was a
sad and silent drive as far as
Pencuke,
Speaker: where they were to spend
the evening.
Speaker: They stopped once to hide
their implements in a thick bush not
Speaker: far from the churchyard,
and once again at the Fisher's Trist
Speaker: to have a toast before the
kitchen fire and vary their nips of
Speaker: whiskey with a glass of
ale.
Speaker: When they reached their
journey's end, the gig was housed,
the
Speaker: horse was fed and
comforted, and the two young doctors
in a private
Speaker: room sat down to the best
dinner and best wine the house
afforded.
Speaker: The lights, the fire, the
beating rain upon the window, the
cold,
Speaker: incongruous work that lay
before them added zest to their
enjoyment
Speaker: of the meal.
Speaker: With every glass, Their
cordiality increased.
Speaker: Soon McFarlane handed a
little pile of gold to his
companion.
Speaker: A compliment, he said.
Speaker: Between these little duh
accommodations all to fly like
pipelines.
Speaker: Fetts pocketed the money
and applauded the sentiment to the
echo.
Speaker: Your philosopher, he cried.
Speaker: I was an ass till I knew
you.
Speaker: You and Kay, between you
and by the Lord Harry, but you'll
make
Speaker: a man of me.
Speaker: Of course we shall,
applauded McFarlane.
Speaker: A man I tell you.
Speaker: It required a man to back
me up the other morning.
Speaker: There's some big brawling
forty year old cowards who would
have
Speaker: turned sick at the look of
the d thing.
Speaker: But not you.
Speaker 1: You kept your head.
Speaker 1: I watched you.
Speaker: Well and why not?
Speaker: Fetts thus vaulted himself.
Speaker: It was no fair mind.
Speaker: There was nothing to gain
on the other side but disturbance,
and
Speaker: on the other I could count
on your gratitude, don't you see?
Speaker: And he slapped his pocket
till the gold pieces rang.
Speaker: MacFarlane somehow felt a
certain touch of alarm at these
unpleasant
Speaker: words.
Speaker: He may have regretted that
he had taught his young companion so
Speaker: successfully, but he had no
time to interfere, for the other
noisily
Speaker: continued in this boastful
strain.
Speaker: The great thing is not to
be afraid, not between you and me.
Speaker: I don't want to hang.
Speaker: That's practical.
Speaker: But for all Kent
MacFarlane, I was born with the
contempt.
Speaker: Hell, God, devil, right,
wrong, sin, crime, and all the old
gallery
Speaker: of curiosities.
Speaker: They may frighten boys, but
men of the world like you and me
despise
Speaker: them.
Speaker: Here's to the memory of
Gray.
Speaker: It was by this time growing
somewhat late.
Speaker: The gig, according to
order, was brought round to the door
with
Speaker: both lamps brightly
shining, and the young men had to
pay their
Speaker: bill and take the road.
Speaker: They announced that they
were bound for Peebles, and drove in
Speaker: that direction till they
were clear of the last houses of the
Speaker:town.
Speaker: Then, extinguishing their
lamps, returned upon their course
and
Speaker: followed a by road toward
Glencourse.
Speaker: There was no sound but that
of their own passage and the
incessant
Speaker: strident pouring of the
rain.
Speaker: It was pitch dark.
Speaker: Here and there a white gate
or a white stone in the wall guided
Speaker: them for a short space
across the night.
Speaker: But for the most part it
was at a foot's pace and almost
groping,
Speaker: that they picked their way
through the resonant blackness to
their
Speaker: solemn and isolated
destination.
Speaker: In the sunken woods that
traverse the neighborhood of the
burying
Speaker: ground, the last glimmer
filled them, and it became necessary
Speaker: to kindle a match and
reilluminate one of the lanterns of
the
Speaker:gig.
Speaker: Thus, under the dripping
trees and environed by huge and
moving
Speaker: shadows, they reached the
scene of their unhallowed labors.
Speaker: They were both experienced
in such affairs and powerful with
the
Speaker: spade, and they had scarce
between twenty minutes at their task
Speaker: before they were rewarded
by a dull rattle of the coffin lid.
Speaker: At the same moment,
MacFarlane, having hurt his hand
upon a stone,
Speaker: flung it carelessly above
his head.
Speaker: The grave, in which they
now stood almost to the shoulders,
was
Speaker: close to the edge of the
plateau of the graveyard, and the
gig
Speaker: lamp had been propped, the
better to illuminate the laborers
against
Speaker: a tree, and on the
immediate verge of the steep bank
descending
Speaker: to the stream.
Speaker: Chance had taken a sure aim
with the stone, then came a clang
Speaker: of broken glass.
Speaker: Night fell upon them.
Speaker: Sounds alternately dull and
dislodged in its descent, rattled
Speaker: behind it into the
profundities of the glen, and in
silence, like
Speaker: night, resumed its sway,
and they might bend their hearing to
Speaker: its utmost pitch, but
naught was to be heard except the
rain,
Speaker: now marching to the wind,
now steadily falling over miles of
open
Speaker: country.
Speaker: They were so nearly at an
end of their abort task that they
judged
Speaker: it wisest to complete it in
the dark.
Speaker: The coffin was exhumed and
broken open, the body inserted into
Speaker: the dripping sack and
carried between them to the gig, one
mounted
Speaker: to keep it in place, and
the other, taking the horse by the
mouth,
Speaker: groped along by wall and
bush until they reached the wider
road
Speaker: by the fishers tryst.
Speaker: Here was a faint, diffuse
radiancy which they held like
daylight.
Speaker: By that they pushed the
horse to a good pace and began to
rattle
Speaker: along merrily in the
direction of the town.
Speaker: They had both been wetted
to the skin during their operations,
Speaker: and now as the gig jumped
among the deep ruts, the thing that
Speaker: stood propped between them
fell now upon one and now upon the
Speaker:other.
Speaker: At every repetition of the
horrid contact, each instinctively
Speaker: repelled it with the
greater haste, and the process,
natural though
Speaker: it was, began to tell upon
the nerves of the companions.
Speaker: McFarlane made some ill
favorite jest about the farmer's
wife,
Speaker: but it came howily from his
lips, and was allowed to drop in
silence.
Speaker: Still, their unnatural
burden bumped from side to side, and
now
Speaker: the head would be laid as
if in confidence upon the shoulders,
Speaker: and now the drenching sack
cloth would flap icily about their
Speaker:faces.
Speaker: A creepy chill began to
possess the soul of Fetz.
Speaker: He peered at the bundle and
it seemed somehow larger than at
first.
Speaker: All over the countryside
and from every degree of distance
the
Speaker: farm dogs accompanied their
passage with tragic olulations, and
Speaker: it grew and grew upon his
mind that some unnatural miracle had
Speaker: been accomplished, that
some nameless change had befallen
the
Speaker: dead body, and that it was
in fear of their unholy burden that
Speaker: the dogs were howling.
Speaker: For God's sake, said he,
making a great effort to arrive at
speech,
Speaker: for God's sake, let us have
a light.
Speaker: Seemingly MacFarlane was
affected in the same direction, for
though
Speaker: he made no reply, he
stopped the horse, passed the reins
to his
Speaker: companion, got down, and
proceeded to kindle the remaining
lamp.
Speaker: They had by that time got
no farther than the crossroad down
to
Speaker: Alkinglini.
Speaker: The rain still poured as
though the dulge were returning, and
Speaker: it was no easy matter to
make a light in such a world of wet
and
Speaker: darkness.
Speaker: When at last the flickering
blue flame had been transformed to
Speaker: the wick and began to
expand and clarify and shed a wide
circle
Speaker: of misty brightness round
the gig.
Speaker: It became possible for the
two young men to see each other and
Speaker: the thing they had along
with them.
Speaker: The rain had molded the
rough sacking to the outlines of the
body
Speaker: underneath.
Speaker: The head was distinct from
the trunk, the shoulders plainly
molded.
Speaker: Something at once spectral
and human riveted their eyes upon
the
Speaker: ghastly comrade of their
drive.
Speaker: For some time MacFarlane
stood motionless, holding up the
lamp.
Speaker: A nameless dread was
swarthed like a wet sheet about the
body,
Speaker: and tightened the white
skin upon the face of Fetz.
Speaker: A fear that was
meaningless, a horror of what could
not be kept
Speaker: mounting to his brain.
Speaker: Another beat of the watch
and he had spoken.
Speaker: But his comrade forestalled
him.
Speaker: That is not a woman, said
MacFarlane in a hushed voice.
Speaker: It was a woman when we put
her in, whispered Fetz.
Speaker: Hold the lamp, said the
other.
Speaker: I must see her face.
Speaker: And as Fetz took the lamp,
his companion untied the fastenings
Speaker: of the sack and drew down
the cover from the head.
Speaker: The light fell very clear
upon the dark, well molded features
Speaker: and smooth, shaven cheeks
of a too familiar countenance.
Speaker: Often beheld in dreams of
both these young men.
Speaker: A wild yell rang up into
the night.
Speaker: Each leaped from his own
side into the roadway, the lamp
fell,
Speaker: broke, and was
extinguished, and the horse,
terrified by this
Speaker: unusual commotion, bounded
and went off toward Edinburgh at a
Speaker: gallop, barely along with
it, so occupant of the gig.
Speaker 1: The body of the dead and
long dissected Gray.
Speaker: So that was The Body
Snatcher by Robert Lewis Stevenson.
Speaker: I have to confess, I got a
little girlish giggle, a little jump
Speaker: for joy when I saw that
Stevenson had also authored Treasure
Island
Speaker: and the Strange Case of Dr.
Speaker: Jekyll, Mr.
Speaker: Hyde.
Speaker: I had never heard of this
author, but I'm very familiar with
those
Speaker: two stories.
Speaker: So that was kind of a
little funzy-wunesie.
Speaker: Um gosh, this story for me,
the ending was a real twist.
Speaker: So of course, you know,
something bad went down between
these
Speaker:guys.
Speaker: And with the title, you
know there's something naughty going
on
Speaker: with bodies.
Speaker: There's nothing uh
mysterious about that.
Speaker: And yet the idea that they
are riding along in the dark with
this
Speaker: body that suddenly kind of
becomes unwrapped uh as they're
going
Speaker: along.
Speaker: Um, and both guys get very
uncomfortable by the fact that I
just
Speaker: I like the way Stevenson
has written how um they're going
along
Speaker: in the dark, and the body
kind of flops to one side and flops
Speaker: to the other, and the wind
is going and um the covering is kind
Speaker: of coming off.
Speaker: And so I think that's all
pretty funny because I could just
imagine
Speaker: these guys riding along in
the dark, and you know, this dead
body
Speaker: kind of falls against you,
then this the the head of the dead
Speaker: body falls.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I find it funny.
Speaker: I find it funny.
Speaker: I thought the author did a
great job of being very descriptive
Speaker: with that.
Speaker: Um, but the big reveal that
it was Gray's body instead of this
Speaker: woman, uh didn't I didn't
particularly love that.
Speaker: And I, you know, I figure
we're gonna start with that before
we
Speaker: go into what does it all
mean?
Speaker: Okay, so just thinking it
through, um Gray was the last straw
Speaker: for these two.
Speaker: The death of uh this thug
changed the relationship between
these
Speaker: two men.
Speaker: And um really left them
both being very callous, uh
heartless
Speaker: and uh kind of I don't
know, um one could say even with
dead souls
Speaker: themselves.
Speaker: Um so I can understand why
Stevenson picked this character to
Speaker: be the big reveal.
Speaker: But when reading the story,
I did feel a bit unsatisfied, like,
Speaker: oh, was that guy?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I just I figure, you know,
you went to go dig up this lady, and
Speaker: so can't we have her?
Speaker: Or like I don't know.
Speaker: I part of me was just like,
maybe she vanishes, or maybe it's
Speaker: one of them that's actually
in the wrapping and the casing and
Speaker: the sack, right?
Speaker: Like, and then they turned
on the light, and staring back at
them
Speaker: was the face of you know,
one of these guys, and that would
kind
Speaker: of symbolize your, you
know, you've just desecrated a
grave, though
Speaker: it wasn't the first time
they've done that, so yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I was gonna say, like, that
can be like you've lost your soul,
Speaker: ha ha ha.
Speaker: But it wasn't the first
time they robbed Grave.
Speaker: So I don't know.
Speaker: I didn't, I didn't
particularly love the big reveal.
Speaker: I love the description of
everything up until we got our big
reveal.
Speaker: Um, I was also wondering,
like, oh, are they gonna get caught?
Speaker: I kind of thought they were
gonna get caught, and uh, you know,
Speaker: one of them would go to
jail or something, some big
disgrace.
Speaker: But no, it's just like, oh
my gosh, the guy who's dead is here.
Speaker: The dead man's haunting us.
Speaker: He's haunting us, we'll
never be okay.
Speaker: Um, what happens after
that, though?
Speaker: I mean, I guess that means
it's a good story when you've got
your
Speaker: audience going, well, what
happens next?
Speaker: Namely, after this moment,
you know, we know fast forward these
Speaker: guys are no longer talking,
they've parted ways.
Speaker: And so did uh Fets ever set
up shop as a doctor?
Speaker: Did he graduate?
Speaker: Did he finish his schooling
and um have a successful practice
Speaker: and then get out of town?
Speaker: Or after seeing this body,
was he like, nope, dropping out of
Speaker: the program?
Speaker: I am done with this whole
doctor thing.
Speaker: I ain't down with this.
Speaker: I'm gonna take the money
that I've swindled um out of, what
is
Speaker: it, McFarland or what have
you?
Speaker: And I'm going to go move
out of town, buy some old property,
and
Speaker: become a drunkard.
Speaker: A good amount of time has
passed since these two have seen
each
Speaker: other.
Speaker: One of them has clearly set
up a uh, you know, good private
practice.
Speaker: I mean, he is rushing to
see this wealthy gentleman who has
um
Speaker: taken ill.
Speaker: So he's doing all right for
himself.
Speaker: Whatever um uh frustrations
he felt about dealing with dead
bodies,
Speaker: you know, once he
graduated, who was like, I got I got
my uh practice,
Speaker: I'm good.
Speaker: I'm good, I'm that money
will help me sleep.
Speaker: Maybe he also gets a little
tipsy at night, but all the same,
Speaker: his conscience isn't
bothering him.
Speaker: He set himself up in a way
so that he is able to sleep at
night.
Speaker: We don't know what he did.
Speaker: We I would like to know
what he did though, because that
could
Speaker: help us all, right?
Speaker: Like, what was your secret,
bro?
Speaker: Okay, so um, but you know,
Fets Fets did not have that secret.
Speaker: He did not set himself up
in a way where he could sleep well
at
Speaker: night.
Speaker: He uh clearly was still
impacted by his decisions many moons
later,
Speaker: and enjoying that
moonshine, that uh whiskey or
whatever he was
Speaker: drinking, um, in order to
not think about or dwell on his
past.
Speaker: And so maybe he never did
finish his medical schooling, and
that's
Speaker: why he only helped with
very small minor injuries, like, uh,
you
Speaker: got a broken bone, I'll fix
that.
Speaker: Um, though I felt like I
mean, these guys were seeing each
other
Speaker: kind of as old men, so it's
not like five years had passed or
Speaker:anything.
Speaker: So, how much money did you
really make?
Speaker: Like, did you really make
enough money to live off of?
Speaker: I just I don't know.
Speaker: I feel like he had to have
done something else with his life in
Speaker: order to be able to afford
drinking every night.
Speaker: So that's my thought on the
ending.
Speaker: You may disagree, maybe
you're like, I thought it was
perfect.
Speaker: I certainly didn't see it
coming in terms of who the big
reveal
Speaker: was.
Speaker: Maybe you saw it coming,
but I didn't.
Speaker: Um, okay, so what does this
all mean?
Speaker: What can we learn?
Speaker: Oh, so many things to
learn.
Speaker: Stevenson, you talented,
talented writer.
Speaker: Um, so let's start with how
well do we know our friends?
Speaker 1: Mmm, yes.
Speaker: And we get this actually
from the beginning.
Speaker: We've got four guys who all
stood around every night doing the
Speaker: same thing, keeping each
other company, a little bit of
conversation,
Speaker: a few drinks.
Speaker: That's the way it goes
night after night.
Speaker: And it is so common to
establish relationships like this.
Speaker: When you are occupying a
space, whether it is a physical
space
Speaker: or an online space, when
you are regularly showing up and
there
Speaker: are others who are
regularly showing up, you're just
naturally
Speaker: going to develop
connections.
Speaker: And you may not even think
to ask the other person anything
about
Speaker: their past because it's the
present experience that is what
matters.
Speaker: Um, you know, you guys are
living in the moment, discussing the
Speaker: moment, uh, focused on the
now.
Speaker: And so it really is very
easy to see how um these guys are
all
Speaker: spending time together and
yet really never knowing anything
about
Speaker: Vets' past.
Speaker: And think of your own life
where you have relationships with
people
Speaker: that you don't know
everything that they have done when
they haven't
Speaker: been around you, what their
previous beliefs were.
Speaker: Is this also a big deal
when it comes to American politics?
Speaker: In terms of we have
politicians who uh in their older
age, like
Speaker: a lot of positions, you
have to be at least 25, I think, in
order
Speaker: to run.
Speaker: So in their uh older age,
maybe they're in their 40s and
they're
Speaker: running for office, and um
they are being questioned about
decisions
Speaker: they made when they were 19
or 22.
Speaker: It's like, oh, you know,
uh, we found this social media post
where
Speaker: you said this horrible
things or you had a tattoo, and
people
Speaker: think that tattoo is has
you associated with this belief or
this
Speaker: religion or this gang or
what have you.
Speaker: We found evidence that you
once purchased a pack of tarot cards
Speaker: and uh you wore a velvet
cloak, so I bet that makes you um a
devil
Speaker: worshiper or something, you
know, whatever.
Speaker: And so with all that being
said, we just who we are today is
not
Speaker: necessarily who we were in
the past, it's certainly a part of
Speaker: our identity, and yet it
doesn't necessarily align with our
current
Speaker: beliefs.
Speaker: So it's a very, very
interesting area.
Speaker: Um and with technology, um,
you know, it's become increasingly
Speaker: become a problem for many
people in their professional
careers.
Speaker: A lot of companies have to
ask people, is there anything we
need
Speaker: to know before you we bring
you on for this job?
Speaker: And you know, this story
was when in written back in like
1884,
Speaker: I believe.
Speaker: And so even back then,
before all this technology and
internet
Speaker: and all that stuff, um, we
still have this idea of your past
can
Speaker: come back to haunt you.
Speaker: Whatever you did, if you
did something wrong, it's going to
come
Speaker: back.
Speaker: Uh and maybe not the way
you want.
Speaker: Now, speaking of coming
back, so the wrongdoings effects
they
Speaker: came back in two different
ways.
Speaker: One, the big reveal with um
the murder gangster being in the
cart
Speaker: with them as they are
headed back from their grave
robbing.
Speaker: So that is a wrongdoing
coming back, and then we have
McFarland
Speaker: magically, miraculously
being the doctor who is called upon
to
Speaker: tend to the patron of the
establishment.
Speaker: And though Fetz doesn't
experience any negative outcome from
that
Speaker: encounter, the reminder's
there.
Speaker: That's you know, that's
pretty much it.
Speaker: And I guess that could be
something.
Speaker: Stevenson is saying.
Speaker: It's like, hey, whatever
you've done in the past, it's gonna
come
Speaker: back.
Speaker: And um, I almost want to
say, come back to haunt you.
Speaker: It's going to come back,
right?
Speaker: I mean, clearly Fetz was
haunted by his actions pretty much
every
Speaker: day, um, courtesy of his uh
alcoholism.
Speaker: But whatever it is,
whatever that secret is, whatever
that bad
Speaker: thing is, it's gonna come
back.
Speaker: And maybe it doesn't come
back in the uh form of something
that
Speaker: scares the bejesus out of
you, like a dead man that was
dismembered
Speaker: long ago sitting next to
you in a cart, but it could just
come
Speaker: back in terms of being in
the presence, in the embodiment of
someone
Speaker: you know or thought you
knew, and maybe that enough is in
and
Speaker: of itself upsetting.
Speaker: So, how well do we know
people and what you did?
Speaker: It's going to come back no
matter what, no matter where you
move
Speaker: to, it's a coming.
Speaker: What is your place?
Speaker: What is your place in your
job in society?
Speaker: What is your role?
Speaker: This idea that uh Mr.
Speaker: K, Dr.
Speaker: K had been paying these
young men, these assistants, to do
their
Speaker: job, which is just to make
sure that we have what we need for
Speaker: class and a setup for
class.
Speaker: That's your job.
Speaker: Know your place.
Speaker: And um, I mean, think about
people who work in positions of
service,
Speaker: right?
Speaker: Even the nurse who works in
the hospital with the doctor, is it
Speaker: that nurse's place to
question the doctor's prescription
or advice
Speaker: for the patient?
Speaker: As long as it's not looking
like something that could
potentially
Speaker: harm the patient, who is
the nurse to question it?
Speaker: The doctor has more
training often.
Speaker: And if you are uh working
for an employer and your employer
has
Speaker: set up for products to be
shipped a certain way, is it your
place
Speaker: to say, hey, I think the
way you're shipping it is not a good
Speaker:way.
Speaker: It's bad for the
environment.
Speaker: You should ship it a
different way.
Speaker: You don't have all the
information.
Speaker: So are you out of line to
say this to your employer?
Speaker: I mean, your employer might
say, Well, thanks a million, but we
Speaker: have people who have done
lots of research on this and we're
shipping
Speaker: it this way because the way
you're suggesting the product would
Speaker: not arrive in one piece, it
might get broken, or it's not cost
Speaker: effective, and then we
would not be able to pay you your
salary.
Speaker: We actually wouldn't be
able to meet the deadline for
shipping
Speaker: out this product on time.
Speaker: So there's a lot of things
that can go into the decision-making
Speaker: process of making something
that is well-loved, well received,
Speaker: very popular, work.
Speaker: Um, this class was this
doctor, his skills, his talent, his
time,
Speaker: well loved, well received.
Speaker: And in order to take his
class, he needed a well-oiled
machine.
Speaker: He needed something that
would work.
Speaker: So um, should the young
man, especially Fets, should he have
asked
Speaker: questions sooner?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You know, I don't think I
don't know that anyone would think
to
Speaker: ask questions.
Speaker: My job as a medical student
is to set up the facility, and I'm
Speaker: trusting that the people
who I work for are know what they
are
Speaker: doing and have arranged for
things to work correctly.
Speaker: I'm just gonna do my part.
Speaker: So, what is your place?
Speaker: Is it your place to ask
questions?
Speaker: Um, probably not.
Speaker: Um yeah, and another really
interesting thing, okay.
Speaker: So even if we are kind of
on the fence about what is your
place?
Speaker: Um, even I'm gonna even
throw that out there, parent and
child,
Speaker: right?
Speaker: What is your place?
Speaker: So the parent is doing
something, the child's like, that's
look
Speaker: kind of shady.
Speaker: Well, you are the child.
Speaker: How do you know if what I'm
doing is shady, or maybe you're just
Speaker: perceiving it as shady
because you don't know the whole
story,
Speaker: right?
Speaker: You see me taking this pen,
but what you don't know is I
actually
Speaker: left this pen here
yesterday, and this is my pen.
Speaker: Okay, pen is a bad example,
but you get what I mean.
Speaker: All right, so another thing
to look at is all success derived
Speaker: from the abuse of others?
Speaker: Now, if you are on that
bandwagon of oh, capitalism is bad,
and
Speaker: all capitalism is bad, all
businesses are bad, all corporations
Speaker: are bad, anybody with money
is evil, then you might be like,
yes,
Speaker: Ray, this story is
screaming that if you're successful,
it's because
Speaker: you abused others.
Speaker: Oh, you have um earned your
riches courtesy of the blood and
sacrifice
Speaker: of others.
Speaker: I don't really know that
that is what Stevenson is arguing,
but
Speaker: I do think he raises the
question: is success derived from
the
Speaker: abuse of others?
Speaker: Because you have to also
keep in mind, though Fetz and
McFarlane
Speaker: um have garnered their
success, courtesy of the dead bodies
from
Speaker: the abuse of others, people
that were murdered, right?
Speaker: That's how they um were
able to, by ignoring the that these
murders,
Speaker: they were able to keep
their position in this class and uh
get
Speaker: all the accolades
associated with their position uh to
get the
Speaker: training that they needed.
Speaker: We also have to look at the
people in which Fets keeps company.
Speaker: And so those men, like the
landlord, the landlord is a
successful
Speaker: landlord.
Speaker: He's got people patronizing
his establishment, and yet we do not
Speaker: have any indication that he
has skeletons, literal skeletons,
Speaker: in his closet or buried
beneath the floorboards or anything.
Speaker: So I don't think we can
actually say that Stevenson is
arguing
Speaker: that all success is derived
from the abuse of others, because
Speaker: even our narrator um in
that sense would be someone who
would
Speaker: have um uh shady paths and
we don't we don't get that sense.
Speaker: And so while success can be
courtesy of the abuse of others, it
Speaker: is not um an automatic
thing.
Speaker: All right, we're getting
towards the end of my thoughts on
this,
Speaker: but I got a few more.
Speaker: So the thoughtlessness of
ambition.
Speaker: So we've got Fets, who was
just focused on his good grades and
Speaker: being excellent at his job
in terms of setting up for classes,
Speaker: making sure that he kept
track of all the transactions.
Speaker: Um, he did not even think
about where these bodies were coming
Speaker: from, why there were so
many bodies.
Speaker: And he does point out there
is a difference between having a
feeling
Speaker: and knowing something.
Speaker: And haven't we all felt
that, thought that, right?
Speaker: There's that difference
between feeling, you know, I don't
think
Speaker: these data centers that are
running AI are actually good for the
Speaker: environment.
Speaker: I don't think uh social
media is actually it's increased
skin
Speaker: screen time for my kid, but
they love it so much.
Speaker: I don't, I don't know.
Speaker: I don't think it's um it
might not be great for my kid to be
on
Speaker: social media, but they do
love it.
Speaker: And they their friends are
on it, so I'm just gonna ignore it.
Speaker: And then, you know, later
on it's like, you know, you not it's
Speaker: not that just because you
saw some headlines that said social
Speaker: media is damaging to
children's mental health.
Speaker: It's because you know you
are seeing your child who is
physically
Speaker: harming themselves or they
are mentally distraught or they no
Speaker: longer want to go to school
because of something related to
social
Speaker: media.
Speaker: You're seeing someone in
your life actually suffering a great
Speaker: deal because of social
media.
Speaker: And that is the difference
between you're having a feeling this
Speaker: might not be too good, to
actually knowing this is not good.
Speaker: I may have a feeling that
my usage of AI tools like Gemini
isn't
Speaker: the greatest.
Speaker: I mean, I've seen articles
that say um using these AI tools
require
Speaker: a lot of data centers.
Speaker: And these data centers use
a lot of energy and are being very
Speaker: disruptive uh towards uh
small towns and various
neighborhoods.
Speaker: And I tell myself, okay,
I'm not gonna use it much.
Speaker: However, when every time I
sign up for um some new piece of
software,
Speaker: or even software that's not
new for me, but something I've been
Speaker: using for years, and all of
a sudden now they're incorporating
Speaker: AI into it.
Speaker: And I'm wondering, uh, is
this good?
Speaker: Do I need all this AI?
Speaker: I don't really know.
Speaker: Is this helpful?
Speaker: And with my own business,
just being able to say, get out
podcast
Speaker: episodes and do research,
being able to use um some tools like
Speaker: AI in order to help me
figure out, well, what's the best
software
Speaker: to do my editing?
Speaker: And what's the platform I
should be using in order to send out
Speaker: my episodes?
Speaker: And, you know, oh, maybe I
recorded something, the sound wasn't
Speaker: good.
Speaker: Is there a way I could
clean up that sound um without
having to
Speaker: re-record everything?
Speaker: So while it is beneficial
for my business needs, and um I also
Speaker: realize that there is
somebody with a huge data center
across
Speaker: from their home who is very
frustrated and pissed off that they
Speaker: are having to pay for the
their like their electric bill is
higher
Speaker: because of that data
center.
Speaker: And um maybe they're not
able to get a peaceful night's sleep
Speaker: because of all of the
lights that are being emitted from
that
Speaker: data center.
Speaker: I've seen the reports, and
yet I'm not really going to know to
Speaker: really fully understand it
and believe it and um fully
comprehend
Speaker: it on a cellular level
until I find myself faced with a
data center
Speaker: right in my backyard.
Speaker: And so I ambition it can be
very thoughtless, right?
Speaker: I want my podcast episodes
to sound good, I want them to get
out
Speaker: there, I want to be able to
uh ultimately be able to pay my
bills
Speaker: with the money earned from
uh reading these amazing stories and
Speaker: expanding my vocabulary and
having these thoughtful
conversations,
Speaker: and yet that's thinking
about me the same way Fetz was
thinking
Speaker: about himself and his own
uh medical ambitions and not
thinking
Speaker: about where are all these
bodies coming from?
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So lastly, how did Fets get
his money?
Speaker: Okay, so we see him kind of
um I don't know, evil,
Machiavellian,
Speaker: kind of a not nice guy.
Speaker: He's become the lion at the
end, and he is showing, he is the
Speaker: student, showing the
teacher, I paid attention, I learned
from
Speaker: you.
Speaker: Um, you want my silence?
Speaker: You've got to pay me.
Speaker: Of course I did this thing
for you because I knew you would pay
Speaker: me, and you did.
Speaker: That was kind of like the
sentiment when they're sitting down
Speaker: having their meal and
drinks before they go out to this uh
dig
Speaker: up this body.
Speaker: And I thought that was fun.
Speaker: It was a little unexpected,
but I didn't think it was fun.
Speaker: I thought, oh, that's kind
of funny, right?
Speaker: He got you, poop-poop-poop.
Speaker: Um however, I just don't
get the feeling that he has earned
enough
Speaker: money to kind of retire
from working life um at this point.
Speaker: Like he's doing he's doing
good, but like his friend told him,
Speaker: uh, McFarland told him,
like, don't go around giving away
money,
Speaker: settling your debts, uh,
doing any like crazy investments.
Speaker: Just keep your money and
keep your mouth shut.
Speaker: Um, that single transaction
would not have been enough for this
Speaker: guy to go off and just live
away the rest of his life without
Speaker: earning anything.
Speaker: So, how does he get his
money?
Speaker: And we can we can assume
there may have been a few other
transactions,
Speaker: but again, I just don't
feel like given the span of time, it
would
Speaker: have been um enough money.
Speaker: So that is one question I
would have liked to answer, but
Stevenson
Speaker: doesn't answer it for us.
Speaker: Um, and I guess it's not a
major point for him, but it does
bring
Speaker: up the question how do you
get your money?
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: And so if you have found
yourself in a position of
thoughtless
Speaker: ambition, um and maybe you
have friends where you could ask
yourself,
Speaker: well, how how well do I
really know them?
Speaker: Um how did you get your
money?
Speaker: How did your friends get
their money?
Speaker: Maybe you don't even have
any money.
Speaker: Maybe that's the problem.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, it just kind
of brings up this question,
Stevenson
Speaker: brings up this question of
so how you know the people who seem
Speaker: to well, I almost said the
people who seem to have it all, but
Speaker: Fats doesn't really seem to
have it all, does he?
Speaker: I mean, he's got nice
property, he's got clothes, he's got
drink,
Speaker: and yet there's clearly a
loneliness.
Speaker: It's not like the guys
married with kids or anything like
that,
Speaker: which for that period in
time that probably would have been
thought
Speaker: of as um part of the having
it all uh process in terms of having
Speaker: this kind of legacy per se.
Speaker: Um so how do those who have
found some level of success how do
Speaker: they get there?
Speaker: I think would be the
ultimate question.
Speaker: Uh maybe we're not really
looking at well actually, yeah, you
Speaker: could say we're looking at
even those who um are not
financially
Speaker: well off.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: The thug.
Speaker: The thug who um is having
people pay for things, but all the
other
Speaker: thugs or criminals,
murderers who bring bodies to the
door.
Speaker: We don't know their
backstory, we just know that they
murdered
Speaker: somebody or have come into
possession of a dead body, and
they're
Speaker: dropping it off, and then
they get their pay, and then they go
Speaker: on their way.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: It's not described that
these men are all like really well
dressed
Speaker: or anything like that.
Speaker: They're just kind of shady
characters.
Speaker: And so they are not um the
same financial position as um the
primary
Speaker: thug, I think, Gray, or
McFarland.
Speaker: So we know they're not of
that same class, lower lower class,
Speaker:right?
Speaker: So when we look at the
whole class spectrum, how do any of
us
Speaker: get by or get the things
that we need?
Speaker: That's a really big
question.
Speaker: Because it kind of goes
beyond money, right?
Speaker: Um even if you do not use
money as a currency to get the
things
Speaker: you need in life.
Speaker: Maybe you're constantly
bartering, I don't know.
Speaker: Um, but how do you get it?
Speaker: How do you get what you
need?
Speaker: It's all an exchange.
Speaker: We're all exchanging
something, whether we want to admit
it or
Speaker: not.
Speaker: So there you have it.
Speaker: There's the lessons
learned, courtesy of Stevenson.
Speaker: Um, by golly, I did enjoy
this one very much.
Speaker: I thought it was
wonderfully written, and I hope you
enjoyed it
Speaker: too.
Speaker: I hope you enjoyed this
story, and do come back for another
Gothic
Speaker: tale.