Collected Fiction Volume 2 (1926-1930): A Variorum Edition (66 page)

8
. re-pass] repass A, B, C

9
. archaic] ancient A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

10
. dismal.] dismal. ¶ A, C

11
. shewed;] showed; A, B, C

12
. gaps] gaps, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

13
. be] lie A

14
. for ever] forever A, B, C

15
. least,] least A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

16
. had]
om.
C

17
. shewing] showing A, B, C

18
. bizarre] bizzare C

19
. recognised] recognized A, B, C

20
. shew] show A, B, C

21
. Widmannstätten] Widmännstätten A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

22
. imbedded] embedded A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

23
. predecessor had been.] predecessor. A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

24
. lightning”,] lightning,” A, B, C

25
. half-choked] half-chocked A

26
. with] with a C

27
. hot,] hot; A, B, C

28
. of]
om.
C

29
. heaven] Heaven A, B, C

30
. family,] family A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

31
. churchgoing] church-going C

32
. the]
om.
A, C

33
. skunk-cabbages] skunk-cabbags A

34
. and odour]
om.
A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

35
. aërolite] aerolite A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

36
. shewn] shown A, B, C

37
. half]
om.
B

38
. folks”.] folks.” A, B, C

39
. shewed] showed A, B, C

40
. connexion] connection A, B, C

41
. was] was next A

42
. everywhere] everywhere were A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

43
. Dutchman’s breeches] “Dutchman’s breeches” A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

44
. neighbours] neighbors B [
revised by HPL
], C

45
. something . . .] something A; something— B [
revised by HPL
], C

46
. Bolton] Bll-/ton B [
revised by HPL to read
Belton]

47
. Nahum’s] Nahum’s, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

48
. the] this A, C

49
. hue] hues A

50
. greying] graying A

51
. goldenrod] golden-rod C

52
. realised] realized A, B

53
. foetid] fetid A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

54
. there”.] there.” A, B, C

55
. horribly] horrible A

56
. lurched] burst A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

57
. door,] door A, C

58
. bail] pail A; handle B [
revised by HPL
], C

59
. Mernie] Merwin A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

60
. and felt]
om.
A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

61
. on] in A

62
. comfortable,] confortable, A

63
. on] of C

64
. livestock.] live-/stock. A; live-stock. C

65
. this] the A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

66
. to] of A

67
. corner] corners A

68
. heaven! . . .] Heaven!— A, B [
revised by HPL to
Heaven! . . .], C

69
. alike!] alike. A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

70
. buggy-wheel] buggywheel C

71
. not]
om.
A [
see below
]; no C

72
. Most . . . 1730.] Most of it built before 1700. A

73
. force,] forces, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

74
. he] He A, B, C

75
. o’] of C

76
. Mernie] Merwin A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

77
. a’] o’ A

78
. gits] gets C

79
. comin’,] comin’ C

80
. ’tain’t] tain’t C

81
. senct]
om.
A

82
. senct] sence A; sense C

83
. getting’] gittin’ A, C

84
. horse] horses A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

85
. horse] horses A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

86
. livestock.] live-/stock. A; live-stock. C

87
. disappeared.] dissappeared. A

88
. smaller] small C

89
. handholds] hand-holds A, B, C

90
. livestock] live-stock C

91
. persons] person A

92
. analyse] analyze C

93
. shewed] showed A, B, C

94
. aërolite] aerolite A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

95
. daemoniac] demoniac A, B, C

96
. on] in A

97
. on] on, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

98
. the]
om.
A

99
. alien] allied A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

100
. that treetop] the treetop A; that tree / top C

101
. unhallowed] unhalloed A

102
. came] come A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

103
. recognise] recognize B, C

104
. men] men, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

105
. out,] out; A, C

106
. a]
om.
C

107
. bee-hives] beehives A

108
. realised] realized A, B, C

109
. greys] grays A

110
. here,”] here.” A

111
. stone . . .] stone— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

112
. thar . . .] thar— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

113
. livin’ . . .] livin’— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

114
. body . . .] body— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

115
. Mernie,] Merwin, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

116
. Nabby . . .] Nabby— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

117
. last . . .] last— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

118
. water . . .] water— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

119
. ’em . . .] ’em— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

120
. here . . .] here— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

121
. home. . . .”] home—” A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

122
. sitting-room] sitting room A, B, C

123
. and the . . . carpet,] where the rag carpet left it bare, A

124
. shewed] showed A, B, C

125
. heaven] Heaven A, B, C

126
. barn,] barn A, B, C

127
. unrecognisable] unrecognizable A, B, C

128
. feverish,] feverish A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

129
. realised] realized A, B, C

130
. shew] show A, B, C

131
. nighted,] blighted, A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

132
. for ever] forever B, C

133
. recognised] recognized A, B, C

134
. over half a century] forty-four years A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

135
. heath”.] heath.” A, B, C

136
. analyse] analyze A, B, C

137
. ever]
om.
C

138
. neighbouring] neighboring A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

139
. too. Numbers] too; numbers A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

140
. stores] stories A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

141
. traveller] traveler A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

142
. spirit] spirits A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

143
. an]
om.
A

144
. aërolite] aerolite A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

145
. that] the C

146
. daemon] demon A, B, C

147
. obeyed] obeyed the C

148
. away . . .] away— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

149
. ye . . .] ye— A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

150
. comin’,] comin’ C

151
. ’tain’t] tain’t C

152
. use. . . .”] use—” A, B [
revised by HPL
], C

In London there is a man who screams when the church bells ring. He lives all alone with his streaked cat in Gray’s Inn, and people call him harmlessly mad. His room is filled with books of the tamest and most puerile kind, and hour after hour he tries to lose himself in their feeble pages. All he seeks from life is not to think. For some reason thought is very horrible to him, and anything which stirs the imagination he flees as a plague. He is very thin and grey and wrinkled, but there are those who declare he is not nearly so old as he looks. Fear has its grisly claws upon him, and a sound will make him start with staring eyes and sweat-beaded forehead. Friends and companions he shuns, for he wishes to answer no questions. Those who once knew him as scholar and aesthete say it is very pitiful to see him now. He dropped them all years ago, and no one feels sure whether he left the country or merely sank from sight in some hidden byway. It is a decade now since he moved into Gray’s Inn, and of where he had been he would say nothing till the night young Williams bought the “Necronomicon”.
^[1]

Williams was a dreamer, and only twenty-three, and when he moved into the ancient house he felt a strangeness and a breath of cosmic wind about the grey wizened man in the next room. He forced his friendship where old friends dared not force theirs, and marvelled at the fright that sat upon this gaunt, haggard watcher and listener. For that the man always watched and listened no one could doubt. He watched and listened with his mind more than with his eyes and ears, and strove every moment to drown something in his ceaseless poring
^[2]
over gay, insipid novels. And when the church bells rang he would stop his ears and scream, and the grey cat that dwelt with him would howl in unison till the last peal died reverberantly away.

But try as Williams would, he could not make his neighbour speak of anything profound or hidden. The old man would not live up to his aspect and manner, but would feign a smile and a light tone and prattle feverishly and frantically of cheerful trifles; his voice every moment rising and thickening till at last it would split in a piping and incoherent falsetto. That his learning was deep and thorough, his most trivial remarks made abundantly clear; and Williams was not surprised to hear that he had been to Harrow and Oxford. Later it developed that he was none other than Lord Northam, of whose ancient hereditary castle on the Yorkshire coast so many odd things were told; but when Williams tried to talk of the castle, and of its reputed Roman origin, he refused to admit that there was anything unusual about it. He even tittered shrilly when the subject of the supposed under crypts, hewn
^[3]
out of the solid crag that frowns on the North Sea, was brought up.

So matters went till that night when Williams brought home the infamous “Necronomicon”
^[4]
of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. He had known of the dreaded volume since his sixteenth year, when his dawning love of the bizarre had led him to ask queer questions of a bent old bookseller in Chandos Street; and he had always wondered why men paled when they spoke of it. The old bookseller had told him that only five copies were known to have survived the shocked edicts of the priests and lawgivers against it and that all of these
^[5]
were locked up with frightened care by custodians who had ventured to begin a reading of the hateful black-letter. But now, at last, he had not only found an accessible copy but had made it his own at a ludicrously
^[6]
low figure. It was at a Jew’s shop in the squalid precincts of Clare Market, where he had often bought strange things before, and he almost fancied the gnarled old Levite smiled amidst tangles of beard as the great discovery was made. The bulky leather cover with the brass clasp had been so prominently visible, and the price was so absurdly slight.

The one glimpse he had had of the title was enough to send him into transports, and some of the diagrams set in the vague Latin text excited the tensest and most disquieting recollections in his brain. He felt it was highly necessary to get the ponderous thing home and begin deciphering it, and bore it out of the shop with such precipitate haste that the old Jew chuckled disturbingly behind him. But when at last it was safe in his room he found the combination of black-letter and debased idiom too much for his powers as a linguist, and reluctantly called on his strange,
^[7]
frightened friend for help with the twisted, mediaeval Latin. Lord Northam was simpering inanities to his streaked cat, and started violently when the young man entered. Then he saw the volume and shuddered wildly, and fainted altogether when Williams uttered the title. It was when he regained his senses that he told his story; told his fantastic figment of madness in frantic whispers,
^[8]
lest his friend be not quick to burn the accursed book and give wide scattering to its ashes.