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Perhaps
it
was
what
they
had
heard
of
the
infamous
old
wizard
whose
picture
had
once
stared
from
the
paneled
overmantel
,
and
perhaps
it
was
something
different
and
irrelevant
;
but
in
any
case
they
all
half
sensed
an
intangible
miasma
which
centered
in
that
carven
vestige
of
an
older
dwelling
and
which
at
times
almost
rose
to
the
intensity
of
a
material
emanation
.
And
now
swiftly
followed
that
hideous
experience
which
has
left
its
indelible
mark
of
fear
on
the
soul
of
Marinus
Bicknell
Willett
,
and
has
added
a
decade
to
the
visible
age
of
one
whose
youth
was
even
then
far
behind
.
Dr.
Willett
had
conferred
at
length
with
Mr.
Ward
,
and
had
come
to
an
agreement
with
him
on
several
points
which
both
felt
the
alienists
would
ridicule
.
There
was
,
they
conceded
,
a
terrible
movement
alive
in
the
world
,
whose
direct
connection
with
a
necromancy
even
older
than
the
Salem
witchcraft
could
not
be
doubted
.
That
at
least
two
living
men
--
and
one
other
of
whom
they
dared
not
think
--
were
in
absolute
possession
of
minds
or
personalities
which
had
functioned
as
early
as
1690
or
before
was
likewise
almost
unassailably
proved
even
in
the
face
of
all
known
natural
laws
.
What
these
horrible
creatures
--
and
Charles
Ward
as
well
--
were
doing
or
trying
to
do
seemed
fairly
clear
from
their
letters
and
from
every
bit
of
light
both
old
and
new
which
had
filtered
in
upon
the
case
.
They
were
robbing
the
tombs
of
all
the
ages
,
including
those
of
the
world
's
wisest
and
greatest
men
,
in
the
hope
of
recovering
from
the
bygone
ashes
some
vestige
of
the
consciousness
and
lore
which
had
once
animated
and
informed
them
.
A
hideous
traffic
was
going
on
among
these
nightmare
ghouls
,
whereby
illustrious
bones
were
bartered
with
the
calm
calculativeness
of
schoolboys
swapping
books
;
and
from
what
was
extorted
from
this
centuried
dust
there
was
anticipated
a
power
and
a
wisdom
beyond
anything
which
the
cosmos
had
ever
seen
concentered
in
one
man
or
group
.
They
had
found
unholy
ways
to
keep
their
brains
alive
,
either
in
the
same
body
or
different
bodies
;
and
had
evidently
achieved
a
way
of
tapping
the
consciousness
of
the
dead
whom
they
gathered
together
.
There
had
,
it
seems
,
been
some
truth
in
chimerical
old
Borellus
when
he
wrote
of
preparing
from
even
the
most
antique
remains
certain
"
Essential
Saltes
"
from
which
the
shade
of
a
long-dead
living
thing
might
be
raised
up
.
There
was
a
formula
for
evoking
such
a
shade
,
and
another
for
putting
it
down
;
and
it
had
now
been
so
perfected
that
it
could
be
taught
successfully
.
One
must
be
careful
about
evocations
,
for
the
markers
of
old
graves
are
not
always
accurate
.
Willett
and
Mr.
Ward
shivered
as
they
passed
from
conclusion
to
conclusion
.
Things
--
presences
or
voices
of
some
sort
--
could
be
drawn
down
from
unknown
places
as
well
as
from
the
grave
,
and
in
this
process
also
one
must
be
careful
.
Joseph
Curwen
had
indubitably
evoked
many
forbidden
things
,
and
as
for
Charles
--
what
might
one
think
of
him
?
What
forces
"
outside
the
spheres
"
had
reached
him
from
Joseph
Curwen
's
day
and
turned
his
mind
on
forgotten
things
?
He
had
been
led
to
find
certain
directions
,
and
he
had
used
them
.
He
had
talked
with
the
man
of
horror
in
Prague
and
stayed
long
with
the
creature
in
the
mountains
of
Transylvania
.
And
he
must
have
found
the
grave
of
Joseph
Curwen
at
last
.
That
newspaper
item
and
what
his
mother
had
heard
in
the
night
were
too
significant
to
overlook
.
Then
he
had
summoned
something
,
and
it
must
have
come
.
That
mighty
voice
aloft
on
Good
Friday
,
and
those
different
tones
in
the
locked
attic
laboratory
.
What
were
they
like
,
with
their
depth
and
hollowness
?
Was
there
not
here
some
awful
foreshadowing
of
the
dreaded
stranger
Dr.
Allen
with
his
spectral
bass
?
Yes
,
that
was
what
Mr.
Ward
had
felt
with
vague
horror
in
his
single
talk
with
the
man
--
if
man
it
were
--
over
the
telephone
!
What
hellish
consciousness
or
voice
,
what
morbid
shade
or
presence
,
had
come
to
answer
Charles
Ward
's
secret
rites
behind
that
locked
door
?
Those
voices
heard
in
argument
--
"
must
have
it
red
for
three
months
"
--
Good
God
!
Was
not
that
just
before
the
vampirism
broke
out
?
The
rifling
of
Ezra
Weeden
's
ancient
grave
,
and
the
cries
later
at
Pawtuxet
--
whose
mind
had
planned
the
vengeance
and
rediscovered
the
shunned
seat
of
elder
blasphemies
?
And
then
the
bungalow
and
the
bearded
stranger
,
and
the
gossip
,
and
the
fear
.
The
final
madness
of
Charles
neither
father
nor
doctor
could
attempt
to
explain
,
but
they
did
feel
sure
that
the
mind
of
Joseph
Curwen
had
come
to
earth
again
and
was
following
its
ancient
morbidities
.
Was
daemoniac
possession
in
truth
a
possibility
?
Allen
had
something
to
do
with
it
,
and
the
detectives
must
find
out
more
about
one
whose
existence
menaced
the
young
man
's
life
.
In
the
meantime
,
since
the
existence
of
some
vast
crypt
beneath
the
bungalow
seemed
virtually
beyond
dispute
,
some
effort
must
be
made
to
find
it
.
Willett
and
Mr.
Ward
,
conscious
of
the
skeptical
attitude
of
the
alienists
,
resolved
during
their
final
conference
to
undertake
a
joint
secret
exploration
of
unparalleled
thoroughness
;
and
agreed
to
meet
at
the
bungalow
on
the
following
morning
with
valises
and
with
certain
tools
and
accessories
suited
to
architectural
search
and
underground
exploration
.
The
morning
of
April
6th
dawned
clear
,
and
both
explorers
were
at
the
bungalow
by
ten
o'clock
.
Mr.
Ward
had
the
key
,
and
an
entry
and
cursory
survey
were
made
.
From
the
disordered
condition
of
Dr.
Allen
's
room
it
was
obvious
that
the
detectives
had
been
there
before
,
and
the
later
searchers
hoped
that
they
had
found
some
clue
which
might
prove
of
value
.
Of
course
the
main
business
lay
in
the
cellar
;
so
thither
they
descended
without
much
delay
,
again
making
the
circuit
which
each
had
vainly
made
before
in
the
presence
of
the
mad
young
owner
.
For
a
time
everything
seemed
baffling
,
each
inch
of
the
earthen
floor
and
stone
walls
having
so
solid
and
innocuous
an
aspect
that
the
thought
of
a
yearning
aperture
was
scarcely
to
be
entertained
.
Willett
reflected
that
since
the
original
cellar
was
dug
without
knowledge
of
any
catacombs
beneath
,
the
beginning
of
the
passage
would
represent
the
strictly
modern
delving
of
young
Ward
and
his
associates
,
where
they
had
probed
for
the
ancient
vaults
whose
rumor
could
have
reached
them
by
no
wholesome
means
.
The
doctor
tried
to
put
himself
in
Charles
's
place
to
see
how
a
delver
would
be
likely
to
start
,
but
could
not
gain
much
inspiration
from
this
method
.
