Salisbury assented, and the two men sat sipping and smoking reflectively for some minutes before Dyson began. He lifted the bed of wool on which the opal had reclined, and saw beneath, no more jewels, but a little old pocket-book, worn and shabby with use. It is revealed through a journal in the box that Dr. Black didnt kill his wife, but he had her soul removed and turned into diamond, which is also in the box. said he. I will not set down here in minute detail what followed; outwardly I went about the day's labour as before, saying nothing to my wife. Salisbury sat down on the settle by the hearth, and sniffed the mingled fumes of incense and tobacco, wondering and dumb before all this splendour after the green rep and the oleographs, the gilt-framed mirror, and the lustres of his own apartment. "The Inmost Light" (1894) Background See notes for T he Great God Pan. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. Paperback. he said, when it was done; 'it may be important that I should have every word in its place. In point of fact the jingle of the paper found in the archway had 'got into his head,' and do what he would he could not help muttering over and over, 'Once around the grass, and twice around the lass, and thrice around the maple tree.' His relations, so it appeared afterwards, had lost sight of him for many years and didn't even know he was a doctor, much less where he lived. It seems to me a dull place enough. 'What did I do? Our common reporter is a dull dog; every story that he has to tell is spoilt in the telling. The Inmost Light Close. ', 'No; I dare say not. When he was saying that he would not have looked on that face when alive for a thousand guineas, or two thousand guineas, I was thinking of the face I had seen, but I said nothing. I think you will say I did pretty well when I tell you that within a few weeks I had made myself an intimate friend of Black's. if you want to know my theory, it is this: I believe that Dr. Black killed his wife. There are the rows of red houses and the rows of white houses and the bright green Venetians, and the blistering doorways, and the little backyards they call gardens, and a few feeble shops, and then, just as you think you're going to grasp the physiognomy of the settlement, it all melts away. No, when men say that there are strange things in the world, they little know the awe and the terror that dwell always with them and about them." 'Would you mind saying that again, sir? When he got home, drenched to the skin, his clothes hanging lank about him, and a ghastly dew besmearing his hat, his only thought was of his health, of which he took studious care. With many hesitations, and with much inward resentment of the folly of the thing, Salisbury told his tale, and repeated reluctantly the absurd intelligence and the absurder doggerel of the scrap of paper, expecting to hear Dyson burst out into a roar of laughter. However, I may as well tell you what I do know. I am as far away from the heart of the case as ever. The official video for the LP's latest single, "The Inmost Light", can be seen below. 'I beg your pardonwasn't looking where I was going. And now before me there crouched this wretched creature, bent and feeble, with shrunken cheeks, and hair that was whitening fast, and limbs that trembled and shook together, and misery in his eyes. I turned to the bed where my wife was sleeping peacefully, and lay down again, weeping bitter tears, for the sun had set on our happy life and had risen with a dawn of terror to us both. '"Well," he said, "as I fancy your motive in inquiring into the question must be mere curiosity, I think I may tell you my opinion with tolerable freedom. Arthur Machen THE GREAT GOD PAN & INMOST LIGHT + 1st 1894 + Fine Copy + HORROR + 1,950.00 + 5.00 Postage. Average rating. The story follows a scientist who incarcerates his wife's soul in a beautiful shining jewel. You know perfectly well that in your heart you think the oddness in that case is of my making, and that it is all really as plain as the police reports. I began to study the great science which still occupies me. What science do you mean? The science of the great city; the physiology of London; literally and metaphysically the greatest subject that the mind of man can conceive Yet I feel sometimes positively overwhelmed with the thought of the vastness and complexity of LondonLondon is always a mystery. (89), The foul paper, from which all pattern or trace of a pattern had long vanished, subdued and penetrated with the crime of the evil street, was hanging in mouldering pennons from the wall. Members: Reviews: Popularity: Average rating: Conversations: 17: None: 1,034,229 (3.13) 1: Lane, 1895 - 168 pages. Design, Layout. Dyson had calculated on his words producing an effect, and he was not disappointed. To describe the poor neighborhoods of London as a backwoods not only conjures images of the backwoods or frontiers of early America, but it also takes on a racial tone. 'I think you are misled by a too fervid imagination; the mystery of London exists only in your fancy. ", '"But the verdict," I answered, "the verdict was given from your own evidence. And then after thinking it all over, and putting one thing with another, it seemed to me that the only person likely to give me much assistance would be Black himself, and I made up my mind to find him. And the provoking part of it is that it's the merest nonsensebut, however, I will tell you all about it, by and by. The shop-keeper seems distressed when Dyson appears and relays the rhyme, but gives him the box anyway. 'Look here, Travers, the time is nearly up. I was even then forming myself, though all unconsciously. You will remember that the doctor said it was the brain of a devil? The fellow rose to his feet, and returned the stare a little curiously, and then began in stereotyped phrase, Dyson enjoyed the situation and a dawning perplexity on the man's face. It's a poor notion. And yet another. The Inmost Light is a short horror story by Welsh author Arthur Machen. The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light: 1894-00-00: Arthur Machen: John Lane : 168+ 4+ 16 hc? The sky had cleared, and white fleecy clouds were fleeting across the moon, high in the heaven. She ran out and disappeared in the darkness, while the man lurched slowly into the street, grumbling indistinctly to himself in a perplexed tone of voice. Arthur Machen. He looked about him, as if to discover how far he might be from the haven of Oxford Street, but strolling carelessly along, he had turned out of his way, and found himself in an unknown region, and one to all appearance devoid even of a public-house where shelter could be bought for the modest sum of twopence. Title:: The great god Pan, and, The inmost light, Author:: Machen, Arthur, 1863-1947: Author:: Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872-1898: Note: Boston, Roberts Bros., 1894 I was telling you that on the whole I had been successful in my inquiries, investigation, or whatever you like to call it, into the matter. Why, it's Dyson! It was a piece of common dirty paper, to all appearance torn out of a cheap exercise-book, and in the middle were a few lines written in a queer cramped hand. ', 'Ah, well, you may be right; but yet I am sure you are not. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. The Inmost Light (1894) by Caitlin Duffy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Let us have Chianti; it may not be very good, but the flasks are simply charming. The Inmost Light by Arthur Machen It's not a book in and of itself, but it is a story that you'll find in several old books that collect and anthologize Machen's stories. has had to go and see his friends in Paris,' it began. The man slunk piteously out of his own shop, and went into a back parlour. Through the writing on the paper, Dyson discovers the name of the shop, the name of the shop-keeper and a rhyme that he must relay to the shop-keeper in order to receive a wooden box. I suppose it would before long have faded into the background of my brainI should not have forgotten it, for such a thing could never be forgottenbut one morning as I was looking over the paper my eye was caught by a heading over some two dozen lines of small type. Travers had sunk into his seat, his face still white with terror, with one hand over his eyes, and Dyson speculated a good deal as he walked rapidly away as to what queer chords those could be on which he had played so roughly. said Dyson at length. I don't wonder at Black's doing what I firmly believe he did. Yet I feel sometimes positively overwhelmed with the thought of the vastness and complexity of London. However, as I have begun, I will go on. It has a velvet back, you know. Just repeat it again, will you, and I will write it down. Jobs at the Library; The Inmost Light. Harlesden, you know, or I expect you don't know, is quite on the out-quarters of London; something curiously different from your fine old crusted suburb like Norwood or Hampstead, different as each of these is from the other. I have always been firmly opposed myself to any partnership between physiology and psychology. ', 'My good man, I shall most certainly do nothing of the kind. ', 'How the dickens is that? There is a region of knowledge which you will never know, which wise men seeing from afar off shun like the plague, as well they may, but into that region I have gone. But however that may be, I can't conceive a greater loneliness in a desert at midnight than there is there at midday. . Mark as owned Buy Browse . That's right; try some of this tobacco. I must be going now, Dyson. But first we will have something to drink, and you may as well light your pipe.'. Machen has turned has his back for good on writing society tales. My financial state was described by a friend as "stone broke." As he passed along, hurrying, and shrinking from the full sweep of the rain, he noticed the innumerable bell-handles, with names that seemed about to vanish of old age graven on brass plates beneath them, and here and there a richly carved penthouse overhung the door, blackening with the grime of fifty years. I won't ask you to come in now, but perhaps some other day" I caught him up at that, and told him I should be only too glad to come and see him. He locked his door, and cut the strings, and unfolded the paper layer after layer, and came at last to a small wooden box, simply but solidly made. You heard what I said perfectly well. The Inmost Light Arthur Machen Novel | English | 27/03/14 Synopsis One evening in autumn, when the deformities of London were veiled in faint blue mist, and its vistas and far-reaching streets seemed splendid, Mr. Charles Salisbury was slowly pacing down Rupert Street, drawing nearer to his favourite restaurant by slow degrees. Arthur Machen was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. Enjoy our complete collection, Gothic, Ghost, Horror & Weird Library, Return to the Arthur Machen library , or . Read Lore. 'Come to my rooms some evening; say next Thursday. J. He said: "At the commencement of the examination I was astonished to find appearances of a character entirely new to me, notwithstanding my somewhat large experience. (103). THE DEEP ONES: "The Inmost Light" by Arthur Machen. How many deaths? I shall never forget the first time I went to his room; I hope I shall never see such abject, squalid misery again. Because the two were school friends, they decide to share a bottle of wine in a local restaurant and exchange stories. Series: Dyson Chronicles. And another man before that. Black magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes. Dyson opened it at the first leaf, and dropped the book again appalled. . There was nothing more. Depend upon it, it is mere nonsense, a wanton scribble. Plot Summary Mr. Charles Salisbury happens to run into his friend Dyson one night in London. Nothing disagreed with you, has it? What are commonly called the pleasures of life had never any attractions for me, and I lived alone in London, avoiding my fellow-students, and in my turn avoided by them as a man self-absorbed and unsympathetic. 3 Reviews. ', 'Well, in plain language, we have no good writers in London who make a speciality of that kind of thing. However, the factors that came into play to cause her death can only be described as supernatural. "The brain of a devil," he repeated, "and I have no doubt that Black found some way of putting an end to it. I always thought he was a bit queer in his head, or else had been and got into some trouble or other. The Great God Pan is a horror and fantasy novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Well, well, it's no good discussing it any more. A few days after I came back to town I thought I would look him up, but when I gave the two rings at the bell that used to summon him, there was no answer. Summary of 5 reviews. This eBook features the unabridged text of 'The Great God Pan, and the Inmost Light by Arthur Machen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)' from the bestselling edition of 'The Complete Works of Arthur Machen'. But he sighed with relief when his fingers touched the crumpled surface in an inside pocket, and he drew it out gently and laid it on the little desk by his easy-chair with as much care as if it had been some rare jewel. I am no dealer in unproved theories; what I say I have proved for myself, and at a terrible cost. Copies and Availability. You remember I was getting rather hard up when you came to my place at Charlotte Street? ', A good many hours after Salisbury had returned to the company of the green rep chairs, Dyson still sat at his desk, itself a Japanese romance, smoking many pipes, and meditating over his friend's story. ', 'It is pretty good here. ", '"The brain of a devil." Common terms and phrases. The story follows a scientist who incarcerates his wife's soul in a beautiful shining jewel. He looked at the stone again, with a feeling that was almost awe, and placed it gently on the table under the lamp, and watched the wonderful flame that shone and sparkled in its centre, and then turned to the box, curious to know whether it might contain other marvels. ', 'Ah, I see. Dyson's abode was in one of the quietest of the quiet streets that led down from the Strand to the river, and when Salisbury passed from the narrow stairway into his friend's room, he saw that the uncle had been beneficent indeed. "The Inmost Light" is a 1894 short novel by Welsh author and mystic Arthur Machan, originally published along with "The Great God Pan" in John Lane's Keynotes Series. $15.99. We may as well have a big flask. The otherwise rather unsuccessful Novel of the Iron Maid perfectly evokes the mood: He had stood there for some time, vainly endeavouring to rid himself of some of his superfluous moisture, and listening for the passing wheel of a hansom, when his attention was aroused by a loud noise coming from the direction of the passage behind, and growing louder as it drew nearer. Show Details. For one night my wife consented to what I asked of her, consented with the tears running down her beautiful face, and hot shame flushing red over her neck and breast, consented to undergo this for me. He was a strange man, and as we sat together smoking, I often wondered whether he were mad or sane, for I think the wildest dreams of Paracelsus and the Rosicrucians would appear plain and sober fact compared with the theories I have heard him earnestly advance in that grimy den of his. The street lamps were few and at long intervals, and burned behind grimy glasses with the sickly light of oil, and by this wavering glimmer Salisbury could make out the shadowy and vast old houses of which the street was composed. The Inmost Light Lyrics [Verse 1] You enter the play Heeding the call Like a baby you stain You emit and you crawl Rock the cradle, bound to sway [Verse 2] You burn up the void Hedonic and free. 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