naar 's Werelds Slechtste Website
The
Monkey’s Paw
WITHOUT, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Lakesnam
Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at
chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes,
putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked
comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.
"Hark at the wind," said Mr. White, who, having
seen a fatal mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of preventing
his son from seeing it.
"I'm listening," said the latter, grimly
surveying the board as he stretched out his hand. "Check."
"I should hardly think that he'd come to-night,"
said his father, with his hand poised over the board.
"Mate," replied the son.
"That's the worst of living so far out," bawled
Mr. White, with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "of all the beastly,
slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathway's a bog,
and the road's a torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose
because only two houses on the road are let, they think it doesn't matter."
"Never mind, dear," said his wife, soothingly;
"perhaps you'll win the next one."
Mr. White looked up sharply, just in time to intercept a
knowing glance between mother and son. The words died away on his lips, and he
hid a guilty grin in his thin gray beard.
"There he is," said Herbert White, as the gate
banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came towards the door.
The old man rose with hospitable haste, and opening the
door, was heard condoling with the new arrival. The new arrival also condoled
with himself, so that Mrs. White said, "Tut, tut!" and coughed gently
as her husband entered the room, followed by a tall burly man, beady of eye and
rubicund of visage.
"Sergeant-Major Morris," he said, introducing
him.
The sergeant-major shook hands, and taking the proffered
seat by the fire, watched contentedly while his host got out whiskey and
tumblers and stood a small copper kettle on the fire.
At the third glass his eyes got brighter, and he began to
talk, the little family circle regarding with eager interest this visitor from
distant parts, as he squared his broad shoulders in the chair and spoke of
strange scenes and doughty deeds, of wars and plagues and strange peoples.
"Twenty-one years of it," said Mr. White,
nodding at his wife and son. "When he went away he was a slip of a youth in
the warehouse. Now look at him."
"He don't look to have taken much harm," said
Mrs. White, politely.
"I'd like to go to India myself," said the old
man, "just to look round a bit, you know."
"Better where you are," said the sergeant-major,
shaking his head. He put down the empty glass, and sighing softly, shook it
again.
"I should like to see those old temples and fakirs
and jugglers," said the old man. "What was that you started telling me
the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?"
"Nothing," said the soldier, hastily.
"Leastways nothing worth hearing."
"Monkey's paw?" said Mr. White, curiously.
"Well, it's just a bit of what you might call magic,
perhaps," said the sergeant-major, off-handedly.
His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor
absent-mindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then set it down again. His
host filled it for him.
"To look at," said the sergeant-major,
fumbling in his pocket, "it's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a
mummy."
He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs.
White drew back with a grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it curiously.
"And what is there special about it?" inquired
Mr. White as he took it from his son, and having examined it, placed it upon the
table.
"It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said
the sergeant- major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled
people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He
put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from
it."
His manner was so impressive that his hearers were
conscious that their light laughter jarred somewhat.
"Well, why don't you have three, sir?" said
Herbert White, cleverly.
The soldier regarded him in the way that middle age is
wont to regard presumptuous youth.
"I have," he said, quietly, and his
blotchy face whitened.
"And did you really have the three wishes
granted?" asked Mrs. White.
"I did," said the sergeant-major, and his glass
tapped against his strong teeth.
"And has anybody else wished?" inquired the old
lady.
"The first man had his three wishes, yes," was
the reply. "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for
death. That's how I got the paw."
His tones were so grave that a hush fell upon the group.
"If you've had your three wishes, it's no good to you
now, then, Morris," said the old man at last. "What do you keep it
for?"
The soldier shook his head. "Fancy, I suppose,"
he said, slowly. "I did have some idea of selling it, but I don't think I
will. It has caused enough mischief already. Besides, people won't buy. They
think it's a fairy-tale, some of them, and those who do think anything of it
want to try it first and pay me afterwards."
"If you could have another three wishes," said
the old man, eying him keenly, "would you have them?"
"I don't know," said the other. "I don't
know."
He took the paw, and dangling it between his front finger
and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped
down and snatched it off.
"Better let it burn," said the soldier,
solemnly.
"If you don't want it, Morris," said the old
man, "give it to me."
"I won't," said his friend, doggedly. "I
threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don't blame me for what happens. Pitch it
on the fire again, like a sensible man."
The other shook his head and examined his new possession
closely. "How do you do it?" he inquired.
"Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud,"
said the sergeant-major, "but I warn you of the consequences."
"Sounds like the Arabian Nights," said
Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper. "Don't you think you
might wish for four pairs of hands for me?"
Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket, and then
all three burst into laughter as the sergeant-major, with a look of alarm on his
face, caught him by the arm.
"If you must wish," he said, gruffly, "wish
for something sensible."
Mr. White dropped it back into his pocket, and placing
chairs, motioned his friend to the table. In the business of supper the talisman
was partly forgotten, and afterwards the three sat listening in an enthralled
fashion to a second instalment of the soldier's adventures in India.
"If the tale about the monkey paw is not more
truthful than those he has been telling us," said Herbert, as the door
closed behind their guest, just in time for him to catch the last train,
"we sha'n't make much out of it."
"Did you give him anything for it, father?"
inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.
"A trifle," said he, coloring slightly. "He
didn't want it, but I made him take it. And he pressed me again to throw it
away."
"Likely," said Herbert, with pretended horror.
"Why, we're going to be rich, and famous, and happy. Wish to be an emperor,
father, to begin with; then you can't be henpecked."
He darted round the table, pursued by the maligned Mrs.
White armed with an antimacassar.
Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it
dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he
said, slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
"If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy,
wouldn't you?" said Herbert, with his hand on his shoulder. "Well,
wish for two hundred pounds, then; that'll just do it."
His father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credulity,
held up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face somewhat marred by a wink
at his mother, sat down at the piano and struck a few impressive chords.
"I wish for two hundred pounds," said the old
man, distinctly.
A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted
by a shuddering cry from the old man. His wife and son ran towards him.
"It moved," he cried, with a glance of disgust
at the object as it lay on the floor. "As I wished, it twisted in my hands
like a snake."
"Well, I don't see the money," said his son as
he picked it up and placed it on the table, "and I bet I never shall."
"It must have been your fancy, father," said his
wife, regarding him anxiously.
He shook his head. "Never mind, though; there's no
harm done, but it gave me a shock all the same."
They sat down by the fire again while the two men finished
their pipes. Outside, the wind was higher than ever, and the old man started
nervously at the sound of a door banging upstairs. A silence unusual and
depressing settled upon all three, which lasted until the old couple rose to
retire for the night.
"I expect you'll find the cash tied up in a big bag
in the middle of your bed," said Herbert, as he bade them good-night,
"and something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe watching you as
you pocket your ill-gotten gains."
In the brightness of the wintry sun next morning as it
streamed over the breakfast table Herbert laughed at his fears. There was an air
of prosaic wholesomeness about the room which it had lacked on the previous
night, and the dirty, shrivelled little paw was pitched on the sideboard with a
carelessness which betokened no great belief in its virtues.
"I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said
Mrs. White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes
be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt
you, father?"
"Might drop on his head from the sky," said the
frivolous Herbert.
"Morris said the things happened so naturally,"
said his father, "that you might if you so wished attribute it to
coincidence."
"Well, don't break into the money before I come
back," said Herbert as he rose from the table. "I'm afraid it'll turn
you into a mean, avaricious man, and we shall have to disown you."
His mother laughed, and following him to the door, watched
him down the road, and returning to the breakfast table, was very happy at the
expense of her husband's credulity. All of which did not prevent her from
scurrying to the door at the postman's knock, nor prevent her from referring
somewhat shortly to retired sergeant- majors of bibulous habits when she found
that the post brought a tailor's bill.
"Herbert will have some more of his funny remarks, I
expect, when he comes home," she said as they sat at dinner.
"I dare say," said Mr. White, pouring himself
out some beer; "but for all that, the thing moved in my hand; that I'll
swear to."
"You thought it did," said the old lady,
soothingly.
"I say it did," replied the other. "There
was no thought about it; I had just -- What's the matter?"
His wife made no reply. She was watching the mysterious
movements of a man outside, who, peering in an undecided fashion at the house,
appeared to be trying to make up his mind to enter. In mental connection with
the two hundred pounds, she noticed that the stranger was well dressed and wore
a silk hat of glossy newness. Three times he paused at the gate, and then walked
on again. The fourth time he stood with his hand upon it, and then with sudden
resolution flung it open and walked up the path. Mrs. White at the same moment
placed
her hands behind her, and hurriedly unfastening the strings of her apron, put
that useful article of apparel beneath the cushion of her chair.
She brought the stranger, who seemed ill at ease, into the
room. He gazed furtively at Mrs. White, and listened in a preoccupied fashion as
the old lady apologized for the appearance of the room, and her husband's coat,
a garment which he usually reserved for the garden. She then waited as patiently
as her sex would permit for him to broach his business, but he was at first
strangely silent.
"I -- was asked to call," he said at last, and
stooped and picked a piece of cotton from his trousers. "I come from 'Maw
and Meggins.'"
The old lady started. "Is anything the matter?"
she asked, breathlessly. "Has anything happened to Herbert? What is it?
What is it?"
Her husband interposed. "There, there, mother,"
he said, hastily. "Sit down, and don't jump to conclusions. You've not
brought bad news, I'm sure, sir," and he eyed the other wistfully.
"I'm sorry -- " began the visitor.
"Is he hurt?" demanded the mother.
The visitor bowed in assent. "Badly hurt," he
said, quietly, "but he is not in any pain."
"Oh, thank God!" said the old woman, clasping
her hands. "Thank God for that! Thank -- "
She broke off suddenly as the sinister meaning of the
assurance dawned upon her and she saw the awful confirmation of her fears in the
other's averted face. She caught her breath, and turning to her slower-witted
husband, laid her trembling old hand upon his. There was a long silence.
"He was caught in the machinery," said the
visitor at length in a low voice.
"Caught in the machinery," repeated Mr. White in
a dazed fashion, "yes."
He sat staring blankly out at the window, and taking his
wife's hand between his own, pressed it as he had been wont to do in their old
courting days nearly forty years before.
"He was the only one left to us," he said,
turning gently to the visitor. "It is hard."
The other coughed, and rising, walked slowly to the
window. "The firm wished me to convey their sincere sympathy with you in
your great loss," he said, without looking round. "I beg that you will
understand I am only their servant and merely obeying orders."
There was no reply; the old woman's face was white, her
eyes staring, and her breath inaudible; on the husband's face was a look such as
his friend the sergeant might have carried into his first action.
"I was to say that Maw and Meggins disclaim all
responsibility," continued the other. "They admit no liability at all,
but in consideration of your son's service they wish to present you with a
certain sum as compensation."
Mr. White dropped his wife's hand, and rising to his feet,
gazed with a look of horror at his visitor. His dry lips shaped the words,
"How much?"
"Two hundred pounds," was the answer.
Unconscious of his wife's shriek, the old man smiled
faintly, put out his hands like a sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap,
to the floor.
In the huge new cemetery, some two miles distant, the old
people buried their dead, and came back to a house steeped in shadow and
silence. It was all over so quickly that at first they could hardly realize it,
and remained in a state of expectation as though of something else to happen --
something else which was to lighten this load, too heavy for old hearts to bear.
But the days passed, and expectation gave place to
resignation -- the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy.
Sometimes they hardly exchanged a word, for now they had nothing to talk about,
and their days were long to weariness.
It was about a week after that that the old man, waking
suddenly in the night, stretched out his hand and found himself alone. The room
was in darkness, and the sound of subdued weeping came from the window. He
raised himself in bed and listened.
"Come back," he said, tenderly. "You will
be cold."
"It is colder for my son," said the old woman,
and wept afresh.
The sound of her sobs died away on his ears. The bed was warm, and his eyes heavy with sleep.
He dozed fitfully, and then slept until a sudden wild cry from his wife awoke
him with a start.
"The monkey's paw!" she cried, wildly. "The
monkey's paw!"
He started up in alarm. "Where? Where is it? What's
the matter?"
She came stumbling across the room towards him. "I
want it," she said, quietly. "You've not destroyed it?"
"It's in the parlor, on the bracket," he
replied, marvelling. "Why?"
She cried and laughed together, and bending over, kissed
his cheek.
"I only just thought of it," she said,
hysterically. "Why didn't I think of it before? Why didn't you think of
it?"
"Think of what?" he questioned.
"The other two wishes," she replied, rapidly.
"We've only had one."
"Was not that enough?" he demanded, fiercely.
"No," she cried, triumphantly; "we'll have
one more. Go down and get it quickly, and wish our boy alive again."
The man sat up in bed and flung the bedclothes from his
quaking limbs. "Good God, you are mad!" he cried, aghast.
"Get it," she panted; "get it quickly, and
wish -- Oh, my boy, my boy!"
Her husband struck a match and lit the candle. "Get
back to bed," he said, unsteadily. "You don't know what you are
saying."
"We had the first wish granted," said the old
woman, feverishly; "why not the second?"
"A coincidence," stammered the old man.
"Go and get it and wish," cried the old woman,
and dragged him towards the door.
He went down in the darkness, and felt his way to the
parlor, and then to the mantel-piece. The talisman was in its place, and a
horrible fear that the unspoken wish might bring his mutilated son before him
ere he could escape from the room seized upon him, and he caught his breath as
he found that he had lost the direction of the door. His brow cold with sweat,
he felt his way round the table, and groped along the wall until he found
himself in the small passage with the unwholesome thing in his hand.
Even his wife's face seemed changed as he entered the
room. It was white and expectant, and to his fears seemed to have an unnatural
look upon it. He was afraid of her.
"Wish!" she cried, in a strong voice.
"It is foolish and wicked," he faltered.
"Wish!" repeated his wife.
He raised his hand. "I wish my son alive again."
The talisman fell to the floor, and he regarded it
shudderingly. Then he sank trembling into a chair as the old woman, with burning
eyes, walked to the window and raised the blind.
He sat until he was chilled with the cold, glancing
occasionally at the figure of the old woman peering through the window. The
candle end, which had burnt below the rim of the china candlestick, was throwing
pulsating shadows on the ceiling and walls, until, with a flicker larger than
the rest, it expired. The old man, with an unspeakable sense of relief at the
failure of the talisman, crept back to his bed, and a minute or two afterwards
the old woman came silently and apathetically beside him.
Neither spoke, but both lay silently listening to the
ticking of the clock. A stair creaked, and a squeaky mouse scurried noisily
through the wall. The darkness was oppressive, and after lying for some time
screwing up his courage, the husband took the box of matches, and striking one,
went down stairs for a candle.
At the foot of the stairs the match went out, and he
paused to strike another, and at the same moment a knock, so quiet and stealthy
as to be scarcely audible, sounded on the front door.
The matches fell from his hand. He stood motionless, his
breath suspended until the knock was repeated. Then he turned and fled swiftly
back to his room, and closed the door behind him. A third knock sounded through
the house.
" What's that?" cried the old woman,
starting up.
"A rat," said the old man in shaking tones --
"a rat. It passed me on the stairs."
His wife sat up in bed listening. A loud knock resounded
through the house.
"It's Herbert!" she screamed. "It's
Herbert!"
She ran to the door, but her husband was before her, and
catching her by the arm, held her tightly.
"What are you going to do?" he whispered
hoarsely.
"It's my boy; it's Herbert!" she cried,
struggling mechanically. "I forgot it was two miles away. What are you
holding me for? Let go. I must open the door."
"For God's sake don't let it in," cried the old
man, trembling.
"You're afraid of your own son," she cried,
struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert; I'm coming."
There was another knock, and another. The old woman with a
sudden wrench broke free and ran from the room. Her husband followed to the
landing, and called after her appealingly as she hurried down stairs. He heard
the chain rattle back and the bottom bolt drawn slowly and stiffly from the
socket. Then the old woman's voice, strained and panting.
"The bolt," she cried loudly. "Come down. I
can't reach it."
But her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly
on the floor in search of the paw. If he could only find it before the thing
outside got in. A perfect fusillade of knocks reverberated through the house,
and he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife put it down in the passage
against the door. He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and
at the same moment he found the monkey's paw, and frantically breathed his third
and last wish.
The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it
were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back and the door opened. A
cold wind rushed up the staircase, and a long loud wail of disappointment and
misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the
gate beyond. The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted
road.